Alternative Press are giving the world the first sounds from the highly anticipated new studio album from Michigan’s Small Brown Bike.
The new album, entitled Fell & Found, will be released on April 26th through No Idea Records. The album was produced by J Robbins and is the band’s first full-length featuring the four original members since Our Own Wars that was released in 1999 by No Idea Records. The band’s last full leangth, The River Bed, was released in 2003 by Lookout! Records.
Fell & Found features 11 new songs recorded at Million Yen Studios in Chicago, IL. Mike Reed, singer/guitarist, had this to say about the new album: “This record brings together everything we've done as a band, but still feels new. We didn’t over think things and just had fun making music again. We’ve written 20 or so songs since we got back together and these are some of our favorites”.
Working with J Robbins was also a big factor in the overall sound of the album. Reed said, “Recording with J was something we've always wanted to do. It was such an honor to make it happen. He put in long days and kept the ship running smoothly. It was gratifying to come full circle and still have fun in the studio with your best friends. We owe a lot of that to J”.
You can head over to Alternative Press to hear the track “As We Go”, get the track listing, and view the cover art for the album.
Small Brown Bike had released material on Second Nature, Smallman, and were part of the No Idea Records family, releasing several ground breaking albums before leaving the label to release their final swan song for Lookout! Records and ultimately break up in 2004.
The band reformed with their original line up in 2009. They have played select shows since and have released two 7”s of new material entitled Composite Vol. 1 and Composite Vol. 2. that came out on No Idea Records.
Crucial Links:
http://www.altpress.com/news/entry/exclusive_small_brown_bike_new_album_details_song_stream/
http://www.alternativepress.com
http://www.smallbrownbike.com/
http://www.noidearecords.com
Friday, January 28, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Interview with The THermals
The Thermals are a trio of rockers from Portland Oregon. They recently followed up their breakthrough album "The Body, The Blood, The Machine," with their 4th album, "Now We Can See." .It is a polished, catchy 11 track soft pop/punk rock jam.The Thermals are thoughtful, powerful and fun.
The Thermals lead singer Hutch Harris and drummer Westin Glass sat down with me in Cleveland at the Beachland Ballroom and Tavern to tell Rotting Rhythms about their music, Twitter, Beer Lube and more. So, read on and find out....
THERMALS: It's a long long tour, and we all have girlfriends back home. So it's the NOGL tour - No One Gets Laid tour. No one in the band gets laid. There is one single girl touring with us, and she's not gettin laid either.
HAMMER: That's not cool. You aren't lettin her get some 'cause of band solidarity or something?
THERMALS: Totally. I'm gonna change my guitar stings while we do this.
HAMMER: What? You're not going out there with old strings so you can bust some strings on stage and look rockstar?
THERMALS: Nope. It looks rockstar, but then it sounds like shit.
HAMMER: Do you guys concentrate on sound in live shows? A lot of bands just care about the performance/showmanship aspect. and not the sound.
THERMALS: You gotta concentrate on both, I think. It depends on, if you're playing in someone's basement it's all about freakin out, but if you're up on stage and there are like a ton of people, it's not cheap to come out to shows. I want it to sound really good, and I think it usually does. We have our sound engineer with us.
HAMMER: Your own sound people huh? You guys are high rollin. Are you makin money as The Thermals yet?
THERMALS: Yes. We are rich. So filthy rich.
HAMMER: You signed to Kill Rock Stars and they gave you a 6 digit advance and such?
THERMALS: They wrote us one of those big novelty checks. Like 6 feet big. I was just reading about the band No Doubt going back on tour and each member has their own tour bus. ANd I was thinking, only ONE bus?? I would be pretty sad if I was them.
HAMMER: I would think Gwen needs a bus just for her stuff.
THERMALS: Yeah. But I wanna get to the point where you don't get on anything with wheels at all. Yeah. You just fly to the airport in the city then take a helicopter from the airport to the venue. It's the No Wheels Tour.
HAMMER: Yes. That would work. Or maybe hovercrafts could work.
THERMALS: We would hover. Or maybe jet packs. .Someone has to ride the jetpack with you though. You can't steer your own jet pack.
HAMMER: That would be good for making sweet entrances. Dropping in for the opening. You'd have to add stuff to your rider though about a retractable roof, for your entrances. Do you guys have a favorite type of venue to play and favorite rider items to ask for? Do you have a crazy long rider? Do you ask for a harem of girls and such?
THERMALS: We can ask for those thing, but we don't get them. We ask for a lot of young boys, they're surprisingly refreshing before you play. No, our rider says vodka and carrots. It's healthy, it's all about healthy. The new, we had this once on this tour, the new hottest drink to drink is just vodka and strawberries. You gotta try it - it's the jam. Vodka and strawberries. It's the new frozen margarita.
HAMMER: Do you cut up the strawberries and put them in the vodka or do you just buy a pack of strawberries and eat them while you drink vodka?
THERMALS: No, no, no, the strawberries have to be in the vodka, or you could chew up the strawberries and spit them in the cup, that works too.
HAMMER: So your posse is really growing now, with people to chew your strawberries, drive your jet packs and all that.
THERMALS. I know and they're all loud and rowdy.
HAMMER: And that's probably why you need 7 tour busses.
THERMALS: It is.
HAMMER: The Thermals started out in Portland right. And your 4th album just came out, so you've been collecting the posse for a while, but, tell me about this new album. I like it, it sounds a bit pop/punky and happier than some of the old stuff.
THERMALS: Totally, totally.
HAMMER: Wa that a conscious discion you made?
THERMALS: It was just to be not into politics and not into religion. There's a lot of death on it, but it's still upbeat. But we consider the other stuff to be upbeat too, you know, even if the lyrics are heavy. I don't think there's ever any down tones, it's all pretty up to us.
HAMMER: Did you have to get into a particular mindset to make this album though? The last one was a concept/theme kind album..
THERMALS: Yeah, this one kind of is too. It's mostly about death and like evolution and earthly things about water and land. It was just that Kathy and I took our time, I don't know that we had to go any place we weren't already, but we took our time writing it and tried to be really thoughtful about it. We spent a little time with the lyrics and that's why it took us a little while longer to get it out. We weren't gonna just toss something off, we wanted to take our time and make something that was as good as the last one.
HAMMER: You guys switched labels between the last record and this one too (from Sub Pop to Kill Rock Stars) right? So that probably took some time right?
THERMALS: Yeah.
HAMMER: Was it an amicable split?
THERMALS: It was. It was like a breakup that took years to happen. And you're just like, don't even wanna let people know you broke up.
HAMMER: So is it weird when you see them in the street? Do you go, like 'hey'.
THERMALS: Yeah, like you feel like you broke up with a person.
HAMMER: Like you bump into them at CMJ Fest or something and it's uncomfortable.
THERMALS: Totally it is. You're like 'hey.' Actually we saw them at SXSW and were like 'hey, yeah, I'm toatlly gonna come to your showcase, but I have to go..' But, it's good. We are still on good terms with them. We still have to work with them all the time and I'd be bummed if we were on bad terms.
HAMMER: So, why did you go to Kill Rock Stars then?
THERMALS: We just got the contract we wanted more. We just wanted a one off deal where we licensed it to the label, no strings attached on either end. There were a lot of labels that were down with that, but Kill Rock Stars had just moved to Portland and it was perfect timing and they're like really great people too.
HAMMER: Did you play the KRS showcase at SXSW this year?
THERMALS: We did.
HAMMER: Who did you play with?
THERMALS: That was the one that was at Club de Ville, with, uh - man they all run together - Shakey Hands, Marnie Stern, Thao and I think that's all we saw though, cause we were coming from another show already. I think Horse Feathers played and Paper Chase played.
HAMMER: How was the overall SXSW experience?
THERMALS: It was really really fun, it was so awesome. We played 8 shows in 4 days.
HAMMER: All in Austin?
THERMALS : All downtown, except for the Mess with Texas show which was another 10 or 12 blocks from downtown at this gigantic park. But the rest of them were all there, we would have guitars and pedals and cymbols and snare drum and kick drum pedal and we were just playing a show then picking everything up and walking to the next show. It was really fun, I had a blast. We got to hang out with really cool people. Kill Rock Stars folks were down in Austin as well and everyday as soon as we were done playing everyday we would just go to their hotel and hang out by the pool and drink frozen margaritas and just get sunburns and swim. And tequila, we drank a lot of tequila.
HAMMER: No vodka and strawberries at SXSW?
THERMALS: That was frozen margaritas. That was back, that was our jam. Vodka and strawberries we diHAMMER't discover until just recently.
HAMMER: That's the new tour drink?
THERMALS: Yeah.
HAMMER: How long have you been out on tour now?
THERMALS: This is the 9th or 10th show, but we've been out longer than that.
HAMMER:And Westin, you're the newest member of the band - the new drummer. Is there pressure because Hutch just kicks out drummers left and right?
THERMALS: Ha, that's not true.
HAMMER: Is it Kathy who kicks out the drummers then?
THERMALS: Most of the last drummers they chose to leave. Just in time though, ha.
HAMMER:Westin, how long have you been playing with The Thermals now.
THERMALS: My first show with these guys was in December. There's definitely pressure. There's a legacy of amazing badass drummers who have recorded on all these records they have put out and have played live with them and I just try not to think about it. I try to just play as well as I can.
HAMMER: Westin, you diHAMMER't play on the new record, correct?
THERMALS: No. Kathy played the drums on the new record.
HAMMER: So is your goal now to just show up Kathy's drumming?
THERMALS: Haha. I don't think showing up Kathy is possible. She is a badass drummer. My goal is just to live up to her basically.
HAMMER: OK. What other goals do you guys have on tour?
THERMALS: To Twitter as much as possible.
HAMMER: Oh no, you guys are Twittering huh?
THERMALS: Yeah. Kind of obsessively.
HAMMER: What, you're putting out those messages like, 'I'm in the basement at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland right now?'
THERMALS: I've twittered 3 times during this interview.
HAMMER: Ha. Did you tell everyone you were getting interviewed for Deviant Nation, check it out?
THERMALS: Not yet, but I probably will. There's not much that doesn't get Twittered. It's a minute by minute account of everything that is happening.
HAMMER: You guys really enjoy that, the Twittering?
THERMALS: You haven't seen ours. Ours is different than everyone else. Ours isn't like 'I'm in the airport.' Ours is like fun a it's a lot of retarded weird gibberish. Kathy calls it Cryptic Gibberish. It's like diarreah of the text. Someobdy did call it Twitterieah. You're just gonna have to check it out. You'll get disentery of the figures.
HAMMER: So what is it? www.twitter.com/thethermals ?
THERMALS: Yeah. www.twiter.com.thethermals Don't follow us though. I recommend that nobody follows us. Caus it's just like, there's a million a day and it's just total B.S. Go look at it once in a while but I woulHAMMER't recommend being a follower because you'll just get annoyed.
HAMMER: Do you think a lot of people have the Twitter?
THERMALS: We're trying to kill Twitter actually. I feel like Twitter will probably be over by the time we are done with this tour.
HAMMER: Ha. You're giving out drinking tips on the Twitter I'm sure. What else goes out on the Twitter.
THERMALS: Vodka and strawberries has already been Twittered.Almost the minute Kathy invented it. And we've been quoting Peter Gabriel songs and, like, referencing Total Recall. That's been the last 160 or so.
HAMMER:Really? How does Total Recall fit?
THERMALS: I don't know if you've ever heard of Quado dud. He's only like a legend around these parts. Everywhere I go I say he's a legend.
HAMMER: Of course. The weird animal that comes out of that dudes stomach. I know my Arnie movies.
THERMALS: It's most just us entertaining ourselves and us making ourselves laugh. It's perfect for tour cause tour is so boring a lot of times. You's just sitting in the van and waiting for something.
HAMMER: So, you guys Twitter each other. When one guys is in the front seat and one guy is in the back.
THERMALS: Yep. yep. And Kathy hates us doing it too.
HAMMER: Yeah. That's just disgusting.
THERMALS: Yeah. But it's rad cause not only does it make us laugh but it pisses people off, too so that just makes it really fun. It's more fun for us when people write on the Twitter that they are 'unfollowing.'
HAMMER: Ha. Is it cause they don't know who Quado is?
THERMALS: Ha. Yeah. They don't know what we're talking about and they're so annoyed that we've posted, like, 100 Twitters in the last 6 hours.
HAMMER:It's all about the revelation of Quado.... so, town to town there will be Twitters flying. We will all long on to www.twitter.com/thethermals and follow you, I'm sure.
THERMALS: Do not follow us.
HAMMER: Ha. What else do you mention to the members of Deviant Nation that they should not do? Is there something you've done on this tour that you've figured out, is not cool.
THERMALS: No. Like I said it's the Noone Gets Laid Tour. If we do make mistakes, we try not to make too many mistakes, but usually they are sexual.
HAMMER: Is there crazy inappropriatte phone sex or some?
THERMALS: Actually, we just heard about 'sexting' last night.
HAMMER: You've got Twitter and the sexting going on?
THERMALS: Yes. But you have to be sure not to accidentally send one of the sexts to your honey out on the Twitter.
HAMMER: Well, everybody might fall in love with you if you did that.
THERMALS: Yeah, or be freaked out.
HAMMER: But you'll send out the smooth words right?
THERMALS: Yeah. It's a lot of people's dream.
HAMMER: But just you guys sext and Twitter. The girls don't? Kathy doen't participate?
THERMALS: No. She doesn't get it. She doesn't understand. So it's just really homoerotic. 'Those aren't pillows,' we usually text that once a night. Or last night, 'this pillow is a like a bag of hairy marshmallows, like 2 large hairy marshmallows.'
HAMMER: Wow. So Twitter seems to be, like, you guys really aren't using it well?
THERMALS: Yeah. We try to abuse it as much as possible. We are trying to push the forum.
HAMMER: You're trying to advance the technology. OK. So, the Peter Gabriel Twittering - or Tweets - is that caus Peter Gabriel is an influence?
THERMALS: Quado does a really good cover of 'In Your Eyes.'
HAMMER: Quado huh?
THERMALS: Yes. We are Twatting on the Twitter. Twatting is probably appropriate for Deviant Nation magazine right? Twattery.
HAMMER: Yes. There are a bunch of twats on Deviant Nation.
THERMALS: Our thing should be 2 Twats.
HAMMER: Follow our twats? People might wonder if you're transexuals and that would build buzz, right?
THERMALS: Yeah. We might reveal that, it's an air of mystery.
HAMMER: So, is Peter Gabriel an influence?
THERMALS: No. We like grunge. We like the '90s, Breeders, Sonic Youth and Nirvan. It's cool that Sonic Youth is putting out a new album, but they're still '90s. Like Dinosaur Jr. putting out their new album, but they're stil '90s.
HAMMER: Yeah. There sound diHAMMER't change much and I guess Sonic Youth isn't gonna change their sound much. Who have you played with lately, that you really like the sound of?
THERMALS: We played with a bunch of bands at SXSW with some bands like Hold Stedy and Cursive, but we've done tours with both those guys.
HAMMER: So, how much do you have left on this current tour?
THERMALS: A lot. Fucking forever of not getting laid. like 33 more days.
HAMMER: Will you guys have pussy lined up for you in Portland the second you get back. Like standing at the city limits for you.
THERMALS: Yeah. I do have something lined up. Some late dinner reservation that night.
HAMMER On the last 30 days do you guys have any final goals and new places you are looking forward to?
THERMALS: Yeah. We are playing Little Rock and San Antonio, but most of the cities we have been to.
HAMMER: What is your favorite city to play in?
THERMALS: Cleveland of course. New York City is really rad. But, actually, the time before the last time we played Cleveland we had probably the craziest game ever. People pelted us with whip cream and water balloons and liter, and shaving cream.
HAMMER: I diHAMMER't bring any of that stuff, but I can go pick some up before the doors open if that makes you feel better.
THERMALS: One time we played the tavern here and people kept bringing us tequilla shots in between songs. Then all these people just fell down on stage and we played some Misfits song and some guy just jumped up on stage and sang the whole thing.
HAMMER: That's audience participation to the max. Has the response for the new songs been good.
THERMALS: People have been pretty stoked. The people really wanna hear The Body and The Blood songs I been noticing. The people that know the new songs are stoked but not everyone knows the new songs yet.
HAMMER: They don't know you from the Billboard charts. Aren't you on the Billboard charts?
THERMALS: We are. I think we are 199 and a half or something. It is on there.
HAMMER: Is that a first for you guys?
THERMALS: Yeah. It probably is. I don't know for sure. We are like #5 on the College Music Journal charts too, so, it's cool.
HAMMER: Will you guys play CMJ this year.
THERMALS: Not this year. We will be in Europe.
HAMMER: Well, Hutch, you are the founding member and songwriter and singer of the band, what should Europe know about you before you go over there? What should the hot tattooed models and members of Deviant Nation know about you?
THERMALS: I don't know. Do they listen to music or are they just looking at porno all the time. I don't know what to tell them specifically. Maybe get a good lube.
HAMMER: You do have a history of nudity on stage, is there lube on stage with The Thermals?
THERMALS: They do have this thing called Beer Lube in Madison, that we diHAMMER't get, but I guess it's a beer flavored lube, stout, micro, porter, Chec style.
HAMMER: Alright. Have you tried the local Cleveland micro stuff?
THERMALS: No. I diHAMMER't know they had one. What is it?
HAMMER: They have the Great Lakes Brewery.
THERMALS: Ah. I did know that. My aunt used to have that, she used to live in Cleveland and we used to stay with her all the time.
HAMMER: So, nothing else we need to tell the people, huh? Except for Beer Lube.
THERMALS: No. I think we touched on a lot of good stuff.
HAMMER: Well this is the exact interview structure I planned out, so I guess it worked out well.
THERMALS: Yeah, yeah. Awesome.
Check out the Thermals personal Web site at http://www.thethermals.com
The Thermals lead singer Hutch Harris and drummer Westin Glass sat down with me in Cleveland at the Beachland Ballroom and Tavern to tell Rotting Rhythms about their music, Twitter, Beer Lube and more. So, read on and find out....
THERMALS: It's a long long tour, and we all have girlfriends back home. So it's the NOGL tour - No One Gets Laid tour. No one in the band gets laid. There is one single girl touring with us, and she's not gettin laid either.
HAMMER: That's not cool. You aren't lettin her get some 'cause of band solidarity or something?
THERMALS: Totally. I'm gonna change my guitar stings while we do this.
HAMMER: What? You're not going out there with old strings so you can bust some strings on stage and look rockstar?
THERMALS: Nope. It looks rockstar, but then it sounds like shit.
HAMMER: Do you guys concentrate on sound in live shows? A lot of bands just care about the performance/showmanship aspect. and not the sound.
THERMALS: You gotta concentrate on both, I think. It depends on, if you're playing in someone's basement it's all about freakin out, but if you're up on stage and there are like a ton of people, it's not cheap to come out to shows. I want it to sound really good, and I think it usually does. We have our sound engineer with us.
HAMMER: Your own sound people huh? You guys are high rollin. Are you makin money as The Thermals yet?
THERMALS: Yes. We are rich. So filthy rich.
HAMMER: You signed to Kill Rock Stars and they gave you a 6 digit advance and such?
THERMALS: They wrote us one of those big novelty checks. Like 6 feet big. I was just reading about the band No Doubt going back on tour and each member has their own tour bus. ANd I was thinking, only ONE bus?? I would be pretty sad if I was them.
HAMMER: I would think Gwen needs a bus just for her stuff.
THERMALS: Yeah. But I wanna get to the point where you don't get on anything with wheels at all. Yeah. You just fly to the airport in the city then take a helicopter from the airport to the venue. It's the No Wheels Tour.
HAMMER: Yes. That would work. Or maybe hovercrafts could work.
THERMALS: We would hover. Or maybe jet packs. .Someone has to ride the jetpack with you though. You can't steer your own jet pack.
HAMMER: That would be good for making sweet entrances. Dropping in for the opening. You'd have to add stuff to your rider though about a retractable roof, for your entrances. Do you guys have a favorite type of venue to play and favorite rider items to ask for? Do you have a crazy long rider? Do you ask for a harem of girls and such?
THERMALS: We can ask for those thing, but we don't get them. We ask for a lot of young boys, they're surprisingly refreshing before you play. No, our rider says vodka and carrots. It's healthy, it's all about healthy. The new, we had this once on this tour, the new hottest drink to drink is just vodka and strawberries. You gotta try it - it's the jam. Vodka and strawberries. It's the new frozen margarita.
HAMMER: Do you cut up the strawberries and put them in the vodka or do you just buy a pack of strawberries and eat them while you drink vodka?
THERMALS: No, no, no, the strawberries have to be in the vodka, or you could chew up the strawberries and spit them in the cup, that works too.
HAMMER: So your posse is really growing now, with people to chew your strawberries, drive your jet packs and all that.
THERMALS. I know and they're all loud and rowdy.
HAMMER: And that's probably why you need 7 tour busses.
THERMALS: It is.
HAMMER: The Thermals started out in Portland right. And your 4th album just came out, so you've been collecting the posse for a while, but, tell me about this new album. I like it, it sounds a bit pop/punky and happier than some of the old stuff.
THERMALS: Totally, totally.
HAMMER: Wa that a conscious discion you made?
THERMALS: It was just to be not into politics and not into religion. There's a lot of death on it, but it's still upbeat. But we consider the other stuff to be upbeat too, you know, even if the lyrics are heavy. I don't think there's ever any down tones, it's all pretty up to us.
HAMMER: Did you have to get into a particular mindset to make this album though? The last one was a concept/theme kind album..
THERMALS: Yeah, this one kind of is too. It's mostly about death and like evolution and earthly things about water and land. It was just that Kathy and I took our time, I don't know that we had to go any place we weren't already, but we took our time writing it and tried to be really thoughtful about it. We spent a little time with the lyrics and that's why it took us a little while longer to get it out. We weren't gonna just toss something off, we wanted to take our time and make something that was as good as the last one.
HAMMER: You guys switched labels between the last record and this one too (from Sub Pop to Kill Rock Stars) right? So that probably took some time right?
THERMALS: Yeah.
HAMMER: Was it an amicable split?
THERMALS: It was. It was like a breakup that took years to happen. And you're just like, don't even wanna let people know you broke up.
HAMMER: So is it weird when you see them in the street? Do you go, like 'hey'.
THERMALS: Yeah, like you feel like you broke up with a person.
HAMMER: Like you bump into them at CMJ Fest or something and it's uncomfortable.
THERMALS: Totally it is. You're like 'hey.' Actually we saw them at SXSW and were like 'hey, yeah, I'm toatlly gonna come to your showcase, but I have to go..' But, it's good. We are still on good terms with them. We still have to work with them all the time and I'd be bummed if we were on bad terms.
HAMMER: So, why did you go to Kill Rock Stars then?
THERMALS: We just got the contract we wanted more. We just wanted a one off deal where we licensed it to the label, no strings attached on either end. There were a lot of labels that were down with that, but Kill Rock Stars had just moved to Portland and it was perfect timing and they're like really great people too.
HAMMER: Did you play the KRS showcase at SXSW this year?
THERMALS: We did.
HAMMER: Who did you play with?
THERMALS: That was the one that was at Club de Ville, with, uh - man they all run together - Shakey Hands, Marnie Stern, Thao and I think that's all we saw though, cause we were coming from another show already. I think Horse Feathers played and Paper Chase played.
HAMMER: How was the overall SXSW experience?
THERMALS: It was really really fun, it was so awesome. We played 8 shows in 4 days.
HAMMER: All in Austin?
THERMALS : All downtown, except for the Mess with Texas show which was another 10 or 12 blocks from downtown at this gigantic park. But the rest of them were all there, we would have guitars and pedals and cymbols and snare drum and kick drum pedal and we were just playing a show then picking everything up and walking to the next show. It was really fun, I had a blast. We got to hang out with really cool people. Kill Rock Stars folks were down in Austin as well and everyday as soon as we were done playing everyday we would just go to their hotel and hang out by the pool and drink frozen margaritas and just get sunburns and swim. And tequila, we drank a lot of tequila.
HAMMER: No vodka and strawberries at SXSW?
THERMALS: That was frozen margaritas. That was back, that was our jam. Vodka and strawberries we diHAMMER't discover until just recently.
HAMMER: That's the new tour drink?
THERMALS: Yeah.
HAMMER: How long have you been out on tour now?
THERMALS: This is the 9th or 10th show, but we've been out longer than that.
HAMMER:And Westin, you're the newest member of the band - the new drummer. Is there pressure because Hutch just kicks out drummers left and right?
THERMALS: Ha, that's not true.
HAMMER: Is it Kathy who kicks out the drummers then?
THERMALS: Most of the last drummers they chose to leave. Just in time though, ha.
HAMMER:Westin, how long have you been playing with The Thermals now.
THERMALS: My first show with these guys was in December. There's definitely pressure. There's a legacy of amazing badass drummers who have recorded on all these records they have put out and have played live with them and I just try not to think about it. I try to just play as well as I can.
HAMMER: Westin, you diHAMMER't play on the new record, correct?
THERMALS: No. Kathy played the drums on the new record.
HAMMER: So is your goal now to just show up Kathy's drumming?
THERMALS: Haha. I don't think showing up Kathy is possible. She is a badass drummer. My goal is just to live up to her basically.
HAMMER: OK. What other goals do you guys have on tour?
THERMALS: To Twitter as much as possible.
HAMMER: Oh no, you guys are Twittering huh?
THERMALS: Yeah. Kind of obsessively.
HAMMER: What, you're putting out those messages like, 'I'm in the basement at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland right now?'
THERMALS: I've twittered 3 times during this interview.
HAMMER: Ha. Did you tell everyone you were getting interviewed for Deviant Nation, check it out?
THERMALS: Not yet, but I probably will. There's not much that doesn't get Twittered. It's a minute by minute account of everything that is happening.
HAMMER: You guys really enjoy that, the Twittering?
THERMALS: You haven't seen ours. Ours is different than everyone else. Ours isn't like 'I'm in the airport.' Ours is like fun a it's a lot of retarded weird gibberish. Kathy calls it Cryptic Gibberish. It's like diarreah of the text. Someobdy did call it Twitterieah. You're just gonna have to check it out. You'll get disentery of the figures.
HAMMER: So what is it? www.twitter.com/thethermals ?
THERMALS: Yeah. www.twiter.com.thethermals Don't follow us though. I recommend that nobody follows us. Caus it's just like, there's a million a day and it's just total B.S. Go look at it once in a while but I woulHAMMER't recommend being a follower because you'll just get annoyed.
HAMMER: Do you think a lot of people have the Twitter?
THERMALS: We're trying to kill Twitter actually. I feel like Twitter will probably be over by the time we are done with this tour.
HAMMER: Ha. You're giving out drinking tips on the Twitter I'm sure. What else goes out on the Twitter.
THERMALS: Vodka and strawberries has already been Twittered.Almost the minute Kathy invented it. And we've been quoting Peter Gabriel songs and, like, referencing Total Recall. That's been the last 160 or so.
HAMMER:Really? How does Total Recall fit?
THERMALS: I don't know if you've ever heard of Quado dud. He's only like a legend around these parts. Everywhere I go I say he's a legend.
HAMMER: Of course. The weird animal that comes out of that dudes stomach. I know my Arnie movies.
THERMALS: It's most just us entertaining ourselves and us making ourselves laugh. It's perfect for tour cause tour is so boring a lot of times. You's just sitting in the van and waiting for something.
HAMMER: So, you guys Twitter each other. When one guys is in the front seat and one guy is in the back.
THERMALS: Yep. yep. And Kathy hates us doing it too.
HAMMER: Yeah. That's just disgusting.
THERMALS: Yeah. But it's rad cause not only does it make us laugh but it pisses people off, too so that just makes it really fun. It's more fun for us when people write on the Twitter that they are 'unfollowing.'
HAMMER: Ha. Is it cause they don't know who Quado is?
THERMALS: Ha. Yeah. They don't know what we're talking about and they're so annoyed that we've posted, like, 100 Twitters in the last 6 hours.
HAMMER:It's all about the revelation of Quado.... so, town to town there will be Twitters flying. We will all long on to www.twitter.com/thethermals and follow you, I'm sure.
THERMALS: Do not follow us.
HAMMER: Ha. What else do you mention to the members of Deviant Nation that they should not do? Is there something you've done on this tour that you've figured out, is not cool.
THERMALS: No. Like I said it's the Noone Gets Laid Tour. If we do make mistakes, we try not to make too many mistakes, but usually they are sexual.
HAMMER: Is there crazy inappropriatte phone sex or some?
THERMALS: Actually, we just heard about 'sexting' last night.
HAMMER: You've got Twitter and the sexting going on?
THERMALS: Yes. But you have to be sure not to accidentally send one of the sexts to your honey out on the Twitter.
HAMMER: Well, everybody might fall in love with you if you did that.
THERMALS: Yeah, or be freaked out.
HAMMER: But you'll send out the smooth words right?
THERMALS: Yeah. It's a lot of people's dream.
HAMMER: But just you guys sext and Twitter. The girls don't? Kathy doen't participate?
THERMALS: No. She doesn't get it. She doesn't understand. So it's just really homoerotic. 'Those aren't pillows,' we usually text that once a night. Or last night, 'this pillow is a like a bag of hairy marshmallows, like 2 large hairy marshmallows.'
HAMMER: Wow. So Twitter seems to be, like, you guys really aren't using it well?
THERMALS: Yeah. We try to abuse it as much as possible. We are trying to push the forum.
HAMMER: You're trying to advance the technology. OK. So, the Peter Gabriel Twittering - or Tweets - is that caus Peter Gabriel is an influence?
THERMALS: Quado does a really good cover of 'In Your Eyes.'
HAMMER: Quado huh?
THERMALS: Yes. We are Twatting on the Twitter. Twatting is probably appropriate for Deviant Nation magazine right? Twattery.
HAMMER: Yes. There are a bunch of twats on Deviant Nation.
THERMALS: Our thing should be 2 Twats.
HAMMER: Follow our twats? People might wonder if you're transexuals and that would build buzz, right?
THERMALS: Yeah. We might reveal that, it's an air of mystery.
HAMMER: So, is Peter Gabriel an influence?
THERMALS: No. We like grunge. We like the '90s, Breeders, Sonic Youth and Nirvan. It's cool that Sonic Youth is putting out a new album, but they're still '90s. Like Dinosaur Jr. putting out their new album, but they're stil '90s.
HAMMER: Yeah. There sound diHAMMER't change much and I guess Sonic Youth isn't gonna change their sound much. Who have you played with lately, that you really like the sound of?
THERMALS: We played with a bunch of bands at SXSW with some bands like Hold Stedy and Cursive, but we've done tours with both those guys.
HAMMER: So, how much do you have left on this current tour?
THERMALS: A lot. Fucking forever of not getting laid. like 33 more days.
HAMMER: Will you guys have pussy lined up for you in Portland the second you get back. Like standing at the city limits for you.
THERMALS: Yeah. I do have something lined up. Some late dinner reservation that night.
HAMMER On the last 30 days do you guys have any final goals and new places you are looking forward to?
THERMALS: Yeah. We are playing Little Rock and San Antonio, but most of the cities we have been to.
HAMMER: What is your favorite city to play in?
THERMALS: Cleveland of course. New York City is really rad. But, actually, the time before the last time we played Cleveland we had probably the craziest game ever. People pelted us with whip cream and water balloons and liter, and shaving cream.
HAMMER: I diHAMMER't bring any of that stuff, but I can go pick some up before the doors open if that makes you feel better.
THERMALS: One time we played the tavern here and people kept bringing us tequilla shots in between songs. Then all these people just fell down on stage and we played some Misfits song and some guy just jumped up on stage and sang the whole thing.
HAMMER: That's audience participation to the max. Has the response for the new songs been good.
THERMALS: People have been pretty stoked. The people really wanna hear The Body and The Blood songs I been noticing. The people that know the new songs are stoked but not everyone knows the new songs yet.
HAMMER: They don't know you from the Billboard charts. Aren't you on the Billboard charts?
THERMALS: We are. I think we are 199 and a half or something. It is on there.
HAMMER: Is that a first for you guys?
THERMALS: Yeah. It probably is. I don't know for sure. We are like #5 on the College Music Journal charts too, so, it's cool.
HAMMER: Will you guys play CMJ this year.
THERMALS: Not this year. We will be in Europe.
HAMMER: Well, Hutch, you are the founding member and songwriter and singer of the band, what should Europe know about you before you go over there? What should the hot tattooed models and members of Deviant Nation know about you?
THERMALS: I don't know. Do they listen to music or are they just looking at porno all the time. I don't know what to tell them specifically. Maybe get a good lube.
HAMMER: You do have a history of nudity on stage, is there lube on stage with The Thermals?
THERMALS: They do have this thing called Beer Lube in Madison, that we diHAMMER't get, but I guess it's a beer flavored lube, stout, micro, porter, Chec style.
HAMMER: Alright. Have you tried the local Cleveland micro stuff?
THERMALS: No. I diHAMMER't know they had one. What is it?
HAMMER: They have the Great Lakes Brewery.
THERMALS: Ah. I did know that. My aunt used to have that, she used to live in Cleveland and we used to stay with her all the time.
HAMMER: So, nothing else we need to tell the people, huh? Except for Beer Lube.
THERMALS: No. I think we touched on a lot of good stuff.
HAMMER: Well this is the exact interview structure I planned out, so I guess it worked out well.
THERMALS: Yeah, yeah. Awesome.
Check out the Thermals personal Web site at http://www.thethermals.com
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Music Review: Bridge and Tunnel - East/West
Bridge and Tunnel is a punk-influenced indie rock quartet that is intense and thoughtful. East/West is their debut full length and it is a solid release, with a welcome guitar screech and dose of distrust/skepticism/reality. The band sounds a bit like the Jazz June mixed with Cap 'n' Jazz mixed with Anti Flag. They’ve got some bouncy art rock riffs, a few sing along verses, some gentle meandering moments that explode into a punch of raw frustration.
Released on No Idea Records late last year, East/West is kind of a throwback record, to the era of Fugazi, Rainer Maria, Superchunk, The Ghost, Archers of Loaf and the like. It is a record that is intense and fitful but doesn’t rely on spitting and fury alone, it is based on intelligence and hope. Smart lyrics, dynamic musical shifts, varied vocals and vocal deliveries and layers of emotion make East/West a pretty good album.
The album starts with high pitched guitar picking and frontman/guitarist Jeff Cunningham shouting “How easily we forget, how easily we comply” – with a gruff tone similar to Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music. Guitarist Rachel Rubino adds in her stressed vocals, to accentuate and battle with Cunningham’s later, and it gives the songs a feeling of building and togetherness and a powerful mix of sounds that build a wall of fury or tease each other when appropriate.
The song “Wartime Souvenirs” is a frustrated tale of people forgetting there is a war going on, forgetting there are atrocities occurring everywhere, as they buy new DVDs and get lost in their own lives. The 2nd track “Call to the Comptrollers Office” is about struggling to create beauty and do things that matter in a place that tires you out with constant motion and bombards you with bright lights and slogans. The dueling and complimentary male/female vocals are again used, as they are on most of the album.
The 3rd track on the album – “Night Owls” – is the strongest on the album. It drives with machine gun like rhythm and is a danceable singable beat that swims in arty guitar bends and has wonderful lyrics. On this track Rubino takes the lead on the vocals and thrusts out "All my friends are into liquid trends, when they drink what they can and they pretend to dance. When the volume’s up, and the lights go down, and the shoes come off, the informal gowns will not cover up the maps I’ve drawn on your arms, around your ribs, through your chest to your heart, where I live in a cage with a wheel and a maze. It’s so perfect. I’m amazed at how we’re all struggling to feel alive tonight in the city bathed in neon lights. All my friends think they’re chemists when they combine powders and liquids in their test tub throats and their iron lungs, in their funneled nostrils and drug-numbed tongues."
The album continues along with songs of intensity with bouncing sing along parts, beautiful soft math-rock/twiddling breakdowns, solid rhythm sections and more great lines – like “So please bear with me while I try to balance my professional posturing with my punk rock posturing.” On “DEAR SIR” the band cranks out some gritty metal guitar riffs and pounding drums, on “Town Hall Gathering” Rubino ratchets up her voice to a quiet falsetto and Cunnigham counters it wonderfully with some gruff screaming and the bass dances quietly in time behind it all. At various times teach instrument gets it’s chance to shine a bit though, kind of jazz like in a solo, and there is an instrumental song – “The World Series” – to show that the band can play well enough to do an instrumental only track, something Fugazi used to do on each record.
East/West is not equal to a Fugazi recording, but it is up there, in intensity, smarminess, intelligence, creativity and competentness.
Listen to Bridge and Tunnel- Call to the Comptrollers Office.
Released on No Idea Records late last year, East/West is kind of a throwback record, to the era of Fugazi, Rainer Maria, Superchunk, The Ghost, Archers of Loaf and the like. It is a record that is intense and fitful but doesn’t rely on spitting and fury alone, it is based on intelligence and hope. Smart lyrics, dynamic musical shifts, varied vocals and vocal deliveries and layers of emotion make East/West a pretty good album.
The album starts with high pitched guitar picking and frontman/guitarist Jeff Cunningham shouting “How easily we forget, how easily we comply” – with a gruff tone similar to Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music. Guitarist Rachel Rubino adds in her stressed vocals, to accentuate and battle with Cunningham’s later, and it gives the songs a feeling of building and togetherness and a powerful mix of sounds that build a wall of fury or tease each other when appropriate.
The song “Wartime Souvenirs” is a frustrated tale of people forgetting there is a war going on, forgetting there are atrocities occurring everywhere, as they buy new DVDs and get lost in their own lives. The 2nd track “Call to the Comptrollers Office” is about struggling to create beauty and do things that matter in a place that tires you out with constant motion and bombards you with bright lights and slogans. The dueling and complimentary male/female vocals are again used, as they are on most of the album.
The 3rd track on the album – “Night Owls” – is the strongest on the album. It drives with machine gun like rhythm and is a danceable singable beat that swims in arty guitar bends and has wonderful lyrics. On this track Rubino takes the lead on the vocals and thrusts out "All my friends are into liquid trends, when they drink what they can and they pretend to dance. When the volume’s up, and the lights go down, and the shoes come off, the informal gowns will not cover up the maps I’ve drawn on your arms, around your ribs, through your chest to your heart, where I live in a cage with a wheel and a maze. It’s so perfect. I’m amazed at how we’re all struggling to feel alive tonight in the city bathed in neon lights. All my friends think they’re chemists when they combine powders and liquids in their test tub throats and their iron lungs, in their funneled nostrils and drug-numbed tongues."
The album continues along with songs of intensity with bouncing sing along parts, beautiful soft math-rock/twiddling breakdowns, solid rhythm sections and more great lines – like “So please bear with me while I try to balance my professional posturing with my punk rock posturing.” On “DEAR SIR” the band cranks out some gritty metal guitar riffs and pounding drums, on “Town Hall Gathering” Rubino ratchets up her voice to a quiet falsetto and Cunnigham counters it wonderfully with some gruff screaming and the bass dances quietly in time behind it all. At various times teach instrument gets it’s chance to shine a bit though, kind of jazz like in a solo, and there is an instrumental song – “The World Series” – to show that the band can play well enough to do an instrumental only track, something Fugazi used to do on each record.
East/West is not equal to a Fugazi recording, but it is up there, in intensity, smarminess, intelligence, creativity and competentness.
Listen to Bridge and Tunnel- Call to the Comptrollers Office.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Apex Manor premieres new video & announces East Coast tour dates!
Apex Manor are celebrating the release day of their debut album, The Year of Magical Drinking, with a new video for "My My Mind" and new East Coast tour dates!
Directed by Jonathan Singer-Vine, the cousin of band member Adam Vine, the video for "My My Mind" features bloody heartache in the gritty desert. "My cousin happens to be an incredibly talented video director (Nick Cannon, Marty Mcfly), and he came up with the idea for this when he first heard the song," Vine says. "So we headed out to the high desert in mid-December, at the beginning of the LA monsoon, and the clouds parted just enough for us to make this."
Watch "My My Mind" now!
The west coast tour of the brand new Apex Manor band starts Feb 2 in Santa Cruz, but now east coast fans will get their chance.
Apex Manor's debut album, The Year of Magical Drinking is in stores now!
Keep up with Apex Manor on Facebook & Twitter.
Apex Manor on tour:
Feb 2 Santa Cruz, CA Crepe Place
Feb 4 Seattle, WA Tractor Tavern
Feb 5 Portland, OR Mississippi Studios
Feb 7 Salt Lake City, UT Urban Lounge
Feb 8 Denver, CO Hi Dive
Feb 10 Tucson, AZ Hotel Congress
Feb 12 Los Angeles, CA Satellite
Feb 24 San Francisco, CA Cafe Du Nord (Noise Pop Festival)
Mar 16-19 Austin, TX SXSW Festival
Mar 21 Washington, DC Red Palace
Mar 22 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
Mar 23 Cambridge, MA TT the Bear's
Mar 26 New York, NY The Mercury Lounge
Mar 28 Chicago, IL Schubas Tavern
Mar 29 Minneapolis, MN 400 Bar
Apex Manor Website
Directed by Jonathan Singer-Vine, the cousin of band member Adam Vine, the video for "My My Mind" features bloody heartache in the gritty desert. "My cousin happens to be an incredibly talented video director (Nick Cannon, Marty Mcfly), and he came up with the idea for this when he first heard the song," Vine says. "So we headed out to the high desert in mid-December, at the beginning of the LA monsoon, and the clouds parted just enough for us to make this."
Watch "My My Mind" now!
The west coast tour of the brand new Apex Manor band starts Feb 2 in Santa Cruz, but now east coast fans will get their chance.
Apex Manor's debut album, The Year of Magical Drinking is in stores now!
Keep up with Apex Manor on Facebook & Twitter.
Apex Manor on tour:
Feb 2 Santa Cruz, CA Crepe Place
Feb 4 Seattle, WA Tractor Tavern
Feb 5 Portland, OR Mississippi Studios
Feb 7 Salt Lake City, UT Urban Lounge
Feb 8 Denver, CO Hi Dive
Feb 10 Tucson, AZ Hotel Congress
Feb 12 Los Angeles, CA Satellite
Feb 24 San Francisco, CA Cafe Du Nord (Noise Pop Festival)
Mar 16-19 Austin, TX SXSW Festival
Mar 21 Washington, DC Red Palace
Mar 22 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
Mar 23 Cambridge, MA TT the Bear's
Mar 26 New York, NY The Mercury Lounge
Mar 28 Chicago, IL Schubas Tavern
Mar 29 Minneapolis, MN 400 Bar
Apex Manor Website
Monday, January 24, 2011
Dance Gavin Dance use Facebook to release new song
DANCE GAVIN DANCE just released a new song from their upcoming album Downtown Battle Mountain II. Go here to listen to "Heat Seeking Ghost of Sex"
The new album is in stores March 8th via Rise Records. Catch the band on a full US tour this March and April, then the UK in May and finishing up the summer playing every date of Warped Tour.
Dance Gavin Dance on Facebook
Rise Records
The new album is in stores March 8th via Rise Records. Catch the band on a full US tour this March and April, then the UK in May and finishing up the summer playing every date of Warped Tour.
Dance Gavin Dance on Facebook
Rise Records
Friday, January 14, 2011
Music Review: Thursday/Envy Split
Thursday is kind of a hardcore/alternative rock band, Envy is kind of a hardcore/noise metal outfit – Thursday is from New Jersey, Envy is from Japan, but Thursday must listen to Envy because they approached the U.S. label for Envy, Temporary Residence Records, in 2006 and suggested doing a split record. A couple years later it was done and unleashed on eardrums everywhere.
The album features four songs by Thursday – really only 3 songs and one song remixed by Anthony Molina of Mercury Rev – and three songs by Envy. The Thursday songs are the strongest tracks from the band in a few years. Envy apparently brought out the best in them. The harsh guitars, beating drums and intensity of Thursday struck me more than any of the Thursday songs since some garbage, Full Collapse. Thursday is a band that crafts catchy rockers that are edgy and overdriven and have some scream punctuations and crashing drums. They had forgotten how to punctuate their sweet progressions and bleed their intensity on the album, but Envy – a tremendously powerful rock outfit with crashing noise and delicate feedback skills – seems to have kicked some of their power over to Thursday. Which bodes well for Thursday.
“As He Climbed The Dark Mountain” and “An Absurd And Unrealistic Dream of Peace” are classic Thursday – driving, intense, spitting rockers reminiscent of bands like Boy Sets Fire, At the Drive In, and Planes Mistaken for Stars with Geoff Ricky’s falsetto singing. However, “In Silence” is an instrument track, that is moody, dark and crushing, and is remixed by Molina as an even spacier, trippy, fire bomb of a song – called Appeared And Was Gone” – and it leads perfectly to the three Envy songs.
Envy as usual bounces between intricate little ballets of death and all out apocalyptic disturbances with their songs “An Umbrella Fallen Into Fiction,” “Isolation Of A Light Source” and “Pure Birth And Loneliness.” Although, “Umbrella…” actually starts off a bit peppier than normal for this sweaty, cloudy, kneecap-breaking band – who’s sound is similar to Explosions in the Sky and Godspeed You Black Emperor mixed with Shai Hulud. The song is about seven minutes long and is mostly builds slowly to a powerful burst. The final two songs are a tug of war between unsettled peace and evil barking metal windstorms.
Overall, I’m surprised how well these two bands sit together on the short album. I think Thursday rose to the occasion to be as intense and rib-cracking as Envy always is – I think Envy slaughters cats in their sleep or something, and make it into beautiful art. This split is a great listen if you are in the mood to pound something for 20 minutes or so.
Listen to Thursday from this split ep here.
The album features four songs by Thursday – really only 3 songs and one song remixed by Anthony Molina of Mercury Rev – and three songs by Envy. The Thursday songs are the strongest tracks from the band in a few years. Envy apparently brought out the best in them. The harsh guitars, beating drums and intensity of Thursday struck me more than any of the Thursday songs since some garbage, Full Collapse. Thursday is a band that crafts catchy rockers that are edgy and overdriven and have some scream punctuations and crashing drums. They had forgotten how to punctuate their sweet progressions and bleed their intensity on the album, but Envy – a tremendously powerful rock outfit with crashing noise and delicate feedback skills – seems to have kicked some of their power over to Thursday. Which bodes well for Thursday.
“As He Climbed The Dark Mountain” and “An Absurd And Unrealistic Dream of Peace” are classic Thursday – driving, intense, spitting rockers reminiscent of bands like Boy Sets Fire, At the Drive In, and Planes Mistaken for Stars with Geoff Ricky’s falsetto singing. However, “In Silence” is an instrument track, that is moody, dark and crushing, and is remixed by Molina as an even spacier, trippy, fire bomb of a song – called Appeared And Was Gone” – and it leads perfectly to the three Envy songs.
Envy as usual bounces between intricate little ballets of death and all out apocalyptic disturbances with their songs “An Umbrella Fallen Into Fiction,” “Isolation Of A Light Source” and “Pure Birth And Loneliness.” Although, “Umbrella…” actually starts off a bit peppier than normal for this sweaty, cloudy, kneecap-breaking band – who’s sound is similar to Explosions in the Sky and Godspeed You Black Emperor mixed with Shai Hulud. The song is about seven minutes long and is mostly builds slowly to a powerful burst. The final two songs are a tug of war between unsettled peace and evil barking metal windstorms.
Overall, I’m surprised how well these two bands sit together on the short album. I think Thursday rose to the occasion to be as intense and rib-cracking as Envy always is – I think Envy slaughters cats in their sleep or something, and make it into beautiful art. This split is a great listen if you are in the mood to pound something for 20 minutes or so.
Listen to Thursday from this split ep here.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
East River Pipe's new album now streaming in its entirety!
East River Pipe's new album, We Live in Rented Rooms, can now be streamed in its entirety in the Merge store.
Under the pen name East River Pipe, F.M. Cornog has made six extraordinary albums, all recorded and mixed entirely on a cheap multi-track mini-studio, with a bare minimum of outboard gear. These biting, ruminative micro-masterpieces have won Cornog much critical praise, but never fame and fortune. He has painted his America as a neon-lit wasteland filled with deluded losers, cheats, junkies, ultra-capitalist businessmen, freeway-roaming dreamers, and the tragically fated.
East River Pipe’s music has been described by the New York Times as “gentle, smart, and unspeakably sad.” Rolling Stone characterized him as “one of our generation’s great eccentric songwriters.” Sometimes harrowing, occasionally scathing, and often heartbreakingly beautiful, his songs have been covered by artists as diverse as David Byrne, Lambchop, the Mountain Goats, and Okkervil River.
You can stream East River Pipe's whole album on the Merge Web site here.
Under the pen name East River Pipe, F.M. Cornog has made six extraordinary albums, all recorded and mixed entirely on a cheap multi-track mini-studio, with a bare minimum of outboard gear. These biting, ruminative micro-masterpieces have won Cornog much critical praise, but never fame and fortune. He has painted his America as a neon-lit wasteland filled with deluded losers, cheats, junkies, ultra-capitalist businessmen, freeway-roaming dreamers, and the tragically fated.
East River Pipe’s music has been described by the New York Times as “gentle, smart, and unspeakably sad.” Rolling Stone characterized him as “one of our generation’s great eccentric songwriters.” Sometimes harrowing, occasionally scathing, and often heartbreakingly beautiful, his songs have been covered by artists as diverse as David Byrne, Lambchop, the Mountain Goats, and Okkervil River.
You can stream East River Pipe's whole album on the Merge Web site here.
Music Review: The Sounds of Animals Fighting - The Ocean and the Sun
The band members are the walrus, the lynx, the nightingale, and the skunk, and even though they are missing opposable thumbs, they play quite well. This is not the greatest CD ever, but it’s pretty good.
The Sounds of Animals Fighting play songs that sound like Queens of the Stone Age, with more talent, and mewithoutyou or Mars Volta. The songs on The Ocean and the Sun are dark rockers, that meander a bit, but they don’t follow any formula. That makes them unique and intelligent, but not largely memorable.
This is the 3rd CD from The Sounds of Animals Fighting, a noisy, experimental rock outfit with rotating members – usually denoted as the bear, the Ferret and other animals. They improvise, they make racket and they produce some decent stuff, but they also produce some garbage. The Ocean and the Sun is decent stuff though.
Released on Epitaph Records, it’s a 12 song CD that has some bouncy rockers, some mumbling love songs, and some trippy, jam-band tracks. It has a good variety. It sounds crisp and clear and there are a couple riffs that are sugary sweet. The vocals switch from male to female and are intense and engaging. The lyrics are interesting – centering around the power of mother nature, struggle, dichotomy, and stuff along those lines – but the CD is unsteady, and a lot the songs spiral out of control, or fail to capitalize on their promise.
The Ocean and the Sun is one of the only prog-rock CDs I’ve heard come out in a while. If you do like bands like Queens of the Stone Age, Pink Floyd, and King Crimson this is a CD that you may get into, but it will take a few listens. There are nuggets of greatness in there, and the sounds aren’t like crazy fighting but they aren’t like easily accessible rockers, they are in between. The Sounds of Animals Fighting is probably a band that is best enjoyed live – like Don Caballero – but you will probably never know for sure, because the band has only ever played four live shows.
Hear "The Ocean and the Sun" from The Sound of Animals Fighting here.
The Sounds of Animals Fighting play songs that sound like Queens of the Stone Age, with more talent, and mewithoutyou or Mars Volta. The songs on The Ocean and the Sun are dark rockers, that meander a bit, but they don’t follow any formula. That makes them unique and intelligent, but not largely memorable.
This is the 3rd CD from The Sounds of Animals Fighting, a noisy, experimental rock outfit with rotating members – usually denoted as the bear, the Ferret and other animals. They improvise, they make racket and they produce some decent stuff, but they also produce some garbage. The Ocean and the Sun is decent stuff though.
Released on Epitaph Records, it’s a 12 song CD that has some bouncy rockers, some mumbling love songs, and some trippy, jam-band tracks. It has a good variety. It sounds crisp and clear and there are a couple riffs that are sugary sweet. The vocals switch from male to female and are intense and engaging. The lyrics are interesting – centering around the power of mother nature, struggle, dichotomy, and stuff along those lines – but the CD is unsteady, and a lot the songs spiral out of control, or fail to capitalize on their promise.
The Ocean and the Sun is one of the only prog-rock CDs I’ve heard come out in a while. If you do like bands like Queens of the Stone Age, Pink Floyd, and King Crimson this is a CD that you may get into, but it will take a few listens. There are nuggets of greatness in there, and the sounds aren’t like crazy fighting but they aren’t like easily accessible rockers, they are in between. The Sounds of Animals Fighting is probably a band that is best enjoyed live – like Don Caballero – but you will probably never know for sure, because the band has only ever played four live shows.
Hear "The Ocean and the Sun" from The Sound of Animals Fighting here.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
The Measure (sa) (2004-2011) announce breakup and detail final shows and possible final releases.
The Measure (sa) (2004-2011) announce breakup and detail final shows and possible final releases.
Press Release 1/11/10
The Measure (sa) have made a public announcement about 2011 being the end of the band. Guitarist/ Vocalist, Lauren Denitzio, had the following to say about why the band will soon be calling it a day, their final shows, and future releases from the band.
“After a number of lineup changes, the Measure increasingly became Fid and I finding ways to continue making music together. For a while, that was working, but this Fall I made the decision that I can’t continue with the band. There were a lot of personal reasons behind that and I realized that my heart just wasn’t in the project anymore. It’s not fair to anyone to try to keep going after that, especially when you’re expected to tour and write music and play shows and look like you’re having a good time. As far as parting ways goes, it’s a fairly amicable event and I’m glad that we’re ending the band on good terms and as friends.
We started the band when I was 20, and if you had told me then that I would get to travel around the country, put out over 18 records and play with some of my favorite bands because of it, I’d think you were out of your mind. It’s been a great privilege and I hope those experiences don’t end here. Fid and I will certainly be putting out music in other bands soon, so stay tuned.
We’re planning on releasing the next collection record of the more recent 7”s later in 2011 and intend on playing Fest 10 (Oct 28,29,30-2011) for one final show. There’s a possibility of another couple 7”s as well. Locally, we’ll be playing our last shows during the second weekend in April in Brooklyn and New Brunswick. Details to be announced soon.
We want to thank everyone who has been so helpful and supportive over the years. Especially those who have set up shows, given us places to stay and put out records for us (Don Giovanni, Kiss of Death, Salinas, Chunksaah, Ernest Jenning, Art of the Underground, Los Diaper, Team Science, Snuffy Smiles and No Idea) . We’re incredibly grateful to the awesome folks at No Idea who have both distro’d our records and put out a split 7” and LP for us, getting our music out there to a larger audience than we were able to do on our own. They’ve been one of our favorite labels for a long time and it was an honor to get to work with them so closely both as a label and as friends.
To Mike Regrets, Big A, J Nixon, Mikey Yannich, Joel Control, Tim Burke!, Chris Pierce, Gore, Joey Birds, DanO, CJ, and Marco Reosti: thanks for getting through this band with us”.
punkrockneverstop,
Lauren + Fid
The Measure (sa) released their final studio album, Notes, at the end of 2010 on No Idea Records. You can stream still stream the album in its entirety on the band’s Punknews.org band profile page!
The Measure (sa) discography:
Historical Fiction
Released March 2006 on LP
May 2007 on CD
vinyl on Don Giovanni & Salinas Records
CD on Team Science Records
Union Pool 7"
Released November 2006 on Idiot Box Industries
Old Crow 7"
Released May 2007 on Los Diaper Records
Side A - Old Crow
Split 7" with the Modern Machines
Released May 2007 on Salinas Records
Split 7" with O Pioneers!!!
Released Summer 2007 on Kiss of Death Records
Split 7" with Off With Their Heads
Released October 2007 on Chunksaah Records
Historical Fiction [single]
Released October 2007 on Kiss of Death and Team Science Records
Means to an End 7"
Released February 2008 on Salinas Records
Split 7" with Blotto
Released March 2008 on Snuffy Smiles
One Chapter in the Book: A Collection of Standard Waits and Measurements
Released September 2008 on Kiss of Death and Team Science Records
Lauren's Gonna Hate This - Bonus 7"
Released in limited quantity with "One Chapter in the Book"
Songs about People... and Fruit n' Shit
12" EP
Released October 2008 on Don Giovanni Records
Split 7" with Flamingo 50
Released January 2009 on Ernest Jenning Record Co.
Split 7" with Dead Mechanical, Pretty Boy Thorson, and Basement Black Released February 2009 on Traffic Street Records How to Thrash a Million
Split 7” with The Ergs x 2
Released October 2009 on No Idea Records
Split 7” with New Bruises
Released July 2010 on Kiss of Death Records
Crucial Links:
http://www.punknews.org/bands/themeasuresa
http://www.myspace.com/themeasuresa
http://www.noidearecords.com
http://www.thefestfl.com
Press Release 1/11/10
The Measure (sa) have made a public announcement about 2011 being the end of the band. Guitarist/ Vocalist, Lauren Denitzio, had the following to say about why the band will soon be calling it a day, their final shows, and future releases from the band.
“After a number of lineup changes, the Measure increasingly became Fid and I finding ways to continue making music together. For a while, that was working, but this Fall I made the decision that I can’t continue with the band. There were a lot of personal reasons behind that and I realized that my heart just wasn’t in the project anymore. It’s not fair to anyone to try to keep going after that, especially when you’re expected to tour and write music and play shows and look like you’re having a good time. As far as parting ways goes, it’s a fairly amicable event and I’m glad that we’re ending the band on good terms and as friends.
We started the band when I was 20, and if you had told me then that I would get to travel around the country, put out over 18 records and play with some of my favorite bands because of it, I’d think you were out of your mind. It’s been a great privilege and I hope those experiences don’t end here. Fid and I will certainly be putting out music in other bands soon, so stay tuned.
We’re planning on releasing the next collection record of the more recent 7”s later in 2011 and intend on playing Fest 10 (Oct 28,29,30-2011) for one final show. There’s a possibility of another couple 7”s as well. Locally, we’ll be playing our last shows during the second weekend in April in Brooklyn and New Brunswick. Details to be announced soon.
We want to thank everyone who has been so helpful and supportive over the years. Especially those who have set up shows, given us places to stay and put out records for us (Don Giovanni, Kiss of Death, Salinas, Chunksaah, Ernest Jenning, Art of the Underground, Los Diaper, Team Science, Snuffy Smiles and No Idea) . We’re incredibly grateful to the awesome folks at No Idea who have both distro’d our records and put out a split 7” and LP for us, getting our music out there to a larger audience than we were able to do on our own. They’ve been one of our favorite labels for a long time and it was an honor to get to work with them so closely both as a label and as friends.
To Mike Regrets, Big A, J Nixon, Mikey Yannich, Joel Control, Tim Burke!, Chris Pierce, Gore, Joey Birds, DanO, CJ, and Marco Reosti: thanks for getting through this band with us”.
punkrockneverstop,
Lauren + Fid
The Measure (sa) released their final studio album, Notes, at the end of 2010 on No Idea Records. You can stream still stream the album in its entirety on the band’s Punknews.org band profile page!
The Measure (sa) discography:
Historical Fiction
Released March 2006 on LP
May 2007 on CD
vinyl on Don Giovanni & Salinas Records
CD on Team Science Records
Union Pool 7"
Released November 2006 on Idiot Box Industries
Old Crow 7"
Released May 2007 on Los Diaper Records
Side A - Old Crow
Split 7" with the Modern Machines
Released May 2007 on Salinas Records
Split 7" with O Pioneers!!!
Released Summer 2007 on Kiss of Death Records
Split 7" with Off With Their Heads
Released October 2007 on Chunksaah Records
Historical Fiction [single]
Released October 2007 on Kiss of Death and Team Science Records
Means to an End 7"
Released February 2008 on Salinas Records
Split 7" with Blotto
Released March 2008 on Snuffy Smiles
One Chapter in the Book: A Collection of Standard Waits and Measurements
Released September 2008 on Kiss of Death and Team Science Records
Lauren's Gonna Hate This - Bonus 7"
Released in limited quantity with "One Chapter in the Book"
Songs about People... and Fruit n' Shit
12" EP
Released October 2008 on Don Giovanni Records
Split 7" with Flamingo 50
Released January 2009 on Ernest Jenning Record Co.
Split 7" with Dead Mechanical, Pretty Boy Thorson, and Basement Black Released February 2009 on Traffic Street Records How to Thrash a Million
Split 7” with The Ergs x 2
Released October 2009 on No Idea Records
Split 7” with New Bruises
Released July 2010 on Kiss of Death Records
Crucial Links:
http://www.punknews.org/bands/themeasuresa
http://www.myspace.com/themeasuresa
http://www.noidearecords.com
http://www.thefestfl.com
Friday, January 7, 2011
Music Review: Ben Nichols - The Last Pale Light in the West
The sparse, dark, and aggressive alt-country, bluegrass, and southern rock ballads of The Last Pale Light in the West are guttural poems set to knee slapping fireside guitar riffs. The 7-song CD is a short, but impressive, solo debut for Lucero lead singer Ben Nichols. It is reminiscent of Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 classic Nebraska. A stark recording, the only instruments on The Last Pale Light in the West are guitars, an accordion, a piano, and Nichol’s gruff, engaging voice.
The recording is a soft piece with grim themes. The guitars lead everything, while the pianos and accordions haunt the stories Nichols tells. All the songs are written by Nichols and based on the 1985 Cormac McCarthy novel Blood Meridian: or the Evening Redness in the West. McCarthy’s Meridian is considered by many to be a modern America classic of literature, a gritty western novel about a teenage runaway “the kid,” who joins a gang of scalp hunters who massacre Indians on the U.S.-Mexico border in the 1800s. The story is based on actual events and has been praised for it’s nightmarish beauty and magnificent language. As Nichols translates the novel into brief songs he displays his gift for crafting a story and delivering intricate emotions and settings through brief phrases.
Only one song on The Last Pale Light in the West is longer than five minutes, and the closing song is an instrumental tune. Nichols begins the album with the title song, which sets the theme for the album, telling the story of a remorseless character who is bound to go west. The second song is “The Kid” – a rolling biography of The Kid – a tune that tells of a forgotten child who meets up with the devil.
The lyrics throughout the album work in many of the characters and places from Blood Meridian, and Nichols powerfully sorrowful voice shines through crisply — thanks to engineering by Doug Easley — overtop the soft, or possibly barren and dead with a harsh blood-tinged wind blowing, musical landscape that Nichols and his two partners (Rick Steff on accordian and piano, and Todd Beene on guitar) produce. Nichols’ minimal lyrics illustrate the bleak musical layout: “Don’t believe in Hell / But he figures somehow / Even if it’s real / It’s gonna spit him back out”; “I done some preachin’ back in Texas before the war / Now I hunt heathens ‘cause it pays better than the Lord / I ride with Demons / The Devil at my side / Be it us or the heathens, we must all pay a heavy price”; “They took my ears in Omaha / Thought me dead but I weren’t at all / Left them bleeding in the mud / Branded me for horse thievery / Between my eyes for all to see / Left them bleeding in the mud / When this world was made / Was never meant to save / Everyone in kind / And I don’t believe / God much had me / Had me much in mind”. His phrasing delivers coldness and despair with pinpoint accuracy.
The Last Pale Light in the West is a gorgeous black and white photo of a homeless man on a cold New York street. Neon lights are around the corner, but the dark alley is the only way to get there, and there is no guarantee that the neon lights will save anybody. Going down the alley is a scary prospect, but there may be no way to stop your momentum, so you sharpen your teeth and challenge the shadows to a duel.
Check out a video for Davy Brown off Last Pale Light In The West here.
The recording is a soft piece with grim themes. The guitars lead everything, while the pianos and accordions haunt the stories Nichols tells. All the songs are written by Nichols and based on the 1985 Cormac McCarthy novel Blood Meridian: or the Evening Redness in the West. McCarthy’s Meridian is considered by many to be a modern America classic of literature, a gritty western novel about a teenage runaway “the kid,” who joins a gang of scalp hunters who massacre Indians on the U.S.-Mexico border in the 1800s. The story is based on actual events and has been praised for it’s nightmarish beauty and magnificent language. As Nichols translates the novel into brief songs he displays his gift for crafting a story and delivering intricate emotions and settings through brief phrases.
Only one song on The Last Pale Light in the West is longer than five minutes, and the closing song is an instrumental tune. Nichols begins the album with the title song, which sets the theme for the album, telling the story of a remorseless character who is bound to go west. The second song is “The Kid” – a rolling biography of The Kid – a tune that tells of a forgotten child who meets up with the devil.
The lyrics throughout the album work in many of the characters and places from Blood Meridian, and Nichols powerfully sorrowful voice shines through crisply — thanks to engineering by Doug Easley — overtop the soft, or possibly barren and dead with a harsh blood-tinged wind blowing, musical landscape that Nichols and his two partners (Rick Steff on accordian and piano, and Todd Beene on guitar) produce. Nichols’ minimal lyrics illustrate the bleak musical layout: “Don’t believe in Hell / But he figures somehow / Even if it’s real / It’s gonna spit him back out”; “I done some preachin’ back in Texas before the war / Now I hunt heathens ‘cause it pays better than the Lord / I ride with Demons / The Devil at my side / Be it us or the heathens, we must all pay a heavy price”; “They took my ears in Omaha / Thought me dead but I weren’t at all / Left them bleeding in the mud / Branded me for horse thievery / Between my eyes for all to see / Left them bleeding in the mud / When this world was made / Was never meant to save / Everyone in kind / And I don’t believe / God much had me / Had me much in mind”. His phrasing delivers coldness and despair with pinpoint accuracy.
The Last Pale Light in the West is a gorgeous black and white photo of a homeless man on a cold New York street. Neon lights are around the corner, but the dark alley is the only way to get there, and there is no guarantee that the neon lights will save anybody. Going down the alley is a scary prospect, but there may be no way to stop your momentum, so you sharpen your teeth and challenge the shadows to a duel.
Check out a video for Davy Brown off Last Pale Light In The West here.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Music Review: Ben Weaver - The Ax in the Oak
Ben Weaver is a songwriter, musician, poet and artist – the press materials with his new album The Ax in the Oak state that Weaver lives in an old warehouse surrounded by organs, synthesizers, guitars, samplers, pianos, a dog, Polaroid cameras, sketch books, boxes of CDs, a Powerbook, and back issues of the “New Yorker.” He used all his skills and experiences to produce The Ax in the Oak. However, Weaver didn’t write the album at his place, he wrote most of it in Berlin, which may have given the album its tinge of weirdness and reserved feel.
Weaver’s sixth release, which is available on Bloodshot Records, is a pleasant stroll, similar to albums from Kind of Like Spitting, American Analog Set, and Red House Painters.
He deals out soft, weird, personal ballads set to guitars, gentle electronics, and some violins. As a writer with a book of poetry, many of Weaver’s songs feel like pleasant poems set to music. They lack any real musical hook, unfortunately.
A few of the lyrics are catchy and interesting/thought provoking – “my angels have all started loosing their legs, who put the blue roses next to Tennessee’s bed” - but I couldn’t tell you which song they are in or what the song is about - the CD kind of runs together. The Ax in the Oak was produced by Brian Deck (Iron and Wine, Modest Mouse and Califone) who has done fine work in the past, but here the words and the fairly benign music seem to blend together. The sound is crisp, but the album is a bit bland, nothing jumps up and screams for attention, point of view is hard to find in the repetition of sounds.
The Ax in the Oak is not an album to instantly take out of the CD player, but it is just a background piece of music and it takes a lot of hard listening to pull the good parts.
The most interesting part of this release is probably the artwork – crude drawings of telephone poles and telephone lines, with black crows throwing black shoes up on the lines. The song booklet has each song on a different page and each page has a telephone poll and some ominous black shoes hanging from the lines. Weaver may be a black crow, hanging around, right now he isn’t maturing into a bright, powerful eagle, but he has time to do it – he’s only 29.
Check out Ben Weaver doing "Anything With Words" off The Ax in the Oak here.
Weaver’s sixth release, which is available on Bloodshot Records, is a pleasant stroll, similar to albums from Kind of Like Spitting, American Analog Set, and Red House Painters.
He deals out soft, weird, personal ballads set to guitars, gentle electronics, and some violins. As a writer with a book of poetry, many of Weaver’s songs feel like pleasant poems set to music. They lack any real musical hook, unfortunately.
A few of the lyrics are catchy and interesting/thought provoking – “my angels have all started loosing their legs, who put the blue roses next to Tennessee’s bed” - but I couldn’t tell you which song they are in or what the song is about - the CD kind of runs together. The Ax in the Oak was produced by Brian Deck (Iron and Wine, Modest Mouse and Califone) who has done fine work in the past, but here the words and the fairly benign music seem to blend together. The sound is crisp, but the album is a bit bland, nothing jumps up and screams for attention, point of view is hard to find in the repetition of sounds.
The Ax in the Oak is not an album to instantly take out of the CD player, but it is just a background piece of music and it takes a lot of hard listening to pull the good parts.
The most interesting part of this release is probably the artwork – crude drawings of telephone poles and telephone lines, with black crows throwing black shoes up on the lines. The song booklet has each song on a different page and each page has a telephone poll and some ominous black shoes hanging from the lines. Weaver may be a black crow, hanging around, right now he isn’t maturing into a bright, powerful eagle, but he has time to do it – he’s only 29.
Check out Ben Weaver doing "Anything With Words" off The Ax in the Oak here.
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