Lucky 13

What’s wrong with playing ‘Louie Louie’? Nothing, what a stupid question, why even mention it? Good point. Well… sit upon my knee my son and I will begin. I’m currently demolishing in quick fire style Mike Barnes’ lovely page turning Bio of Captain Beefheart; and even though I truly love some of the Captains music (especially ‘Safe as Milk’) some of it just seems too much damn work to actually sit down and listen to. I ‘appreciate’ as much as the next Red Bull fuelled music fan but sometimes I just think music should soothe, excite, pep up and put a spring in your step rather than beat you into a confused pulp and ‘educate’ to a point where you don’t even know whether you like it or not. You think you should like it, all the magazines say you should, and it seems to be the commonly accepted position after all they’ve been correct and on the money about the other 9 best albums so why is it that this one isn’t doing it for you, your heart is staying un-fluttered and un-impressed by the ‘angular guitar’. The same can be said for Frank Zappa, for every truly great piece of work that he created there are 5 that cause a head scratching and a eyebrow raising "well that was 5 minutes of my life I’m never gonna get back" attitude to. Should music be that hard to listen to? Yoko Ono…oh NO...OH NO! Indeed. It’s ‘challenging’ and ‘outside the box’ and all the other buzz expressions to politely say annoying. Scott Walker went that way as well, from the beautiful Burt Bacharach and Jacques Brel arrangements of his earlier work he now routinely punches slabs of meat and bangs bricks together to ‘push the envelope’… spare us.

Here are a bunch of songs that will always work for me, always cheer me up and always recharge my battered psyche. Lucky 13

‘Let it Rock’ – Chuck Berry
‘Then He Kissed Me’ – The Crystals
‘Saved’ – Lavern Baker
‘I Saw the Light’ – Todd Rundgren
‘Wrap it Up’ – Sam & Dave
‘I Want You’ – Bob Dylan
‘The Rat’ – The Walkmen
‘Foxy Lady’ – The Jimi Hendrix Experience
‘Louie, Louie’ – The Kingsmen
‘Saturday Sun’ – Nick Drake
‘Tainted Love’ – Gloria Jones
‘Beast of Burden’ – The Rolling Stones
‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’ – The Smiths

the devils in the details...

Keeping and maintaining a blog takes some level of dedication and constant thought for the reader, at least that’s what it says in the book. I personally just spew out a load of random gibberish regarding whatever coherent views I maintain that day and some of it works. Every now and then when I see no albums/singles/EP’s/Gigs worth mentioning I create a list of various songs or artists for my beautiful online droogs to investigate in the hope that their own personal tastes and collections can be grown to include artists such as Todd Rundgren, Frank Zappa and Phil Spector records. Although I can’t perform miracles I still look forward to the day long in the future when some twenty something verjazzled bint wanders up to me and mentions that "that Captain Beefheart is bare sick bruv!" only then I will feel I have in some respect participated in this world.

I don’t really believe in the diary concept. The idea that thoughts and general musings are somehow supposed to be kept secret while at the same time noted down and kept in chronological dated order seems a bit suspect, surely if something is supposed to be kept personal then probably best not writing it down and logging it in your own fair handwriting would be a good tip. It's almost false modesty, "oh please don't read that, it's private...what do you mean the handwriting is messy!!" its the same as pop stars and movie icons thanking God in their speeches trying to be selfless and modest when what they are in fact saying if you read between the lines is "thank god for making me so fucking talented, it is truly a gift that I'm the greatest thing around"...do me a favour.

You can probably tell that I don’t have anything interesting to post music wise today, probably due to the fact the sun is shining, I’m stuck at work and the only music to pass through my psyche in the last 48 hours has been a constant loop of ‘Safe As Milk’ by Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band and a handful of pub rock songs for my upcoming foray from semi musical retirement into the world of cover bands and mercenary cash for hire type playing.

There will be proper posts coming your way in the next few weeks (ok next week) including an interview with Dev Hynes/Lightspeed Champion/Blood Orange as well as a review of the new album from Brooklyn band Forest Fire so in the mean time Friday is here, log off and go and get some fresh air…

Before Playlists we had the Skip button...

With the recent re-issue of Nirvana’s breakthrough album ‘Nevermind’ calling to arms all the ex-grungers of my generation to pull out their old baggy jumpers before giving the ol’ girl another listen with fresh re-mastering and extra tracks I was alarmed to see drummer Dave Grohl’s view that ‘Lounge Act’ was simply considered filler and was simply written to order to complete the album. He even went as far as to say that it was his least favourite of the tracks that he played on with the group. I always loved the track and although I can see where his points may originate I can’t possibly agree with them.

This leads me very nicely into my latest inclusion of bile and random chat, what are the tunes that should have been chucked off your favourite albums? The ones that you ALWAYS skip but you feel bad for not liking as the rest of the material is of such strong stock? Like the little bow legged middle child, you don’t hate them, but they aren’t holding their end up properly in the great scheme of things. In 2011 such trivialities no longer matter with playlist keeping all the good stuff together and quietly un-ticking the dregs off to the recycle bin like a cyber room 101.

Here are a few of my choices…

Ctrl-alt.Del!

‘Sloop John B’ – From one of (if not) the greatest album of the 60s. ‘Pet Sounds’ by The Beach Boys. The album to teenage love and romance has this old folk song crow barred into the mix for no other reason than Rhythm Guitarist Al Jardine mentioned it to Brian Wilson who saw this as a personal challenge to take the bare bones structure and chord sequence apart and then re-make it in his own style. A fine piece of work on it’s own but one that doesn’t fit in with the whole cycle and concept of the album as a separate entity.

‘Rainy Day Women #12 & 35’ – The opener on the bone’ fide classic ‘Blonde on Blonde’ by Bob Dylan. First of all it’s a long album anyway so the fact this stoned nonsense wasn’t binned either shows the unwavering backbone Dylan had/has or simply that he was too stoned to care. The musical example of your drunken relative telling you a joke…maybe you had to be there to get it?

‘Love to You’ – Right, this has always been a bone of contention with me regarding George Harrison. He loved to moan about not getting enough songs on Beatles albums, Lennon/McCartney give him a space or two for his own creations and how does he repay them? With tosh like this. On ‘Revolver’ he was given 3 spaces no less, the amazing ‘Taxman’ (with McCartneys Fuzz guitar solo keeping the sitars at bay) and ‘I Want to Tell You’ on side 2 of the album, but ‘Love to You'?… Really? Imagine if this was swapped with the single ‘Rain’ or ‘Paperback Writer’ both written within the same time period, how much better would this already phenomenal album be? This is why he was quickly demoted back down to 1 song per album on the follow up album ‘Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band’ and his contribution? I can’t chuffing believe it either ‘Within Without You’… we had to wait until 'The White Album' before he finally stepped up to the mark and produced the goods, stay away from the brown acid.

‘Pentonville’ – Right before I get my windows bricked in I’m not standing on a soapbox and crowing that Babyshambes debut ‘Down in Albion’ is a classic album, it definitely has it’s moments but this track (which features ex-Doherty cell mate The General) is beyond comprehension. Pointless is too weak a word for this dribble. Smacks of "you promised I could do a track" during the recording sessions, just ignore and play ‘Loyalty Song’ again without a hint of irony.

‘Don’t Stop’ – Shields up once again. I love the Stone Roses as much as the next post baggy Oasis fan but there is no need for this. For those not in ‘the know’ after the 5 star indie banger that is ‘Waterfalls’ the demo version of the same song is played backwards (keep awake at back!) and then a ton of reverb is dropped over it while Ian Brown mumbles over the top. Poor show indeed, maybe the extended version of ‘I am the Resurrection’ for the closer is a blessing, otherwise we might have had ‘Fools Gold’ backwards, remixed and featuring Jazzy Jeff.

'Little James'? – Oasis… too easy. In fact the whole album doesn’t have many saving graces. ‘I Can See A Liar’ would have to be right up there too for ‘Standing on the Shoulder of Giants’


God bless The Ramones

IC1s - 'Levitate' single review

IC1s
'Levitate'

For all of you out there in cyber-land still worried about whether your jeans are skinny enough or whether your keyboards and haircuts are ironic enough for post 80s indie pop you can fear no more. IC1s have released their debut single 'Levitate' and instead of trying to re-invent the wheel like a lot of bands they've decided to get another 3 wheels and run over the boring wimpy NME flavour of the week tat and just simply kick out the jams muddy funsters!

'Levitate' should be released with a warning 'MUST BE PLAYED LOUD' and this isn't due to a bad mastering mix but down to the fact that true rock and roll in its purest form is always best when played loud, proud and dripping with arrogance.

IC1s wear their influences on their sleeves, with rock and roll guitars, fat bass notes reminiscent of The Who and lead vocalist Dan Coburn acting as the ring master for the rock and roll circus that is IC1s.

Already a fan favourite at their gigs 'Levitate' complete with it's driving verse and sing along chorus 'Levitate' is bound to be a massive festival track in 2012

download from the link below.

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/levitate-single/id465274305

far too many carbs before Marbs...

The blog will be a little quiet from Monday as I will be sunning my royal behind in sunny Spain, although fear not little ones as I have a great interview with Dev Hynes (Lightspeed Champion/Blood Orange)prepared which will be all formatted and ready to publish as soon as I'm back in dear ol' blighty...

Also one to watch out for while I'm away is on the 19th September when the debut single 'Levitate' from IC1s will be released via Gary Powell's (The Libertines) 25 Hour Convenience Store Records and is a perfect introduction to the band and their no frills rock and roll sound. A teaser trailer for the single is currently on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1k6yh07FuA

October also has in store: Todd Rundgren (in Todd we trust)
Miles Kane @ Electric Ballroom

Late October also sees the official release of 'The Smile Sessions' from the original Beach Boys recording dates which I've already dismissed as a pointless cash in although in typical fashion will probably spin a 180 once I've heard and digested.

The Vaccines - Post Reading Interview

Questions for THE VACCINES

Interview with Justin Young Vocals/Guitar

Q. Since the group started you’ve taken off pretty quickly, do you think you’ve been given enough time to really settle into your own sound and style or do you worry about being almost sonically type cast already?

A: I think that can happen to bands that rise too quickly. Fortunately for us we had our record finished before people really knew who we were. We’d been working hard on our sound for nearly two years. It evolved during that period and it will continue to evolve. We’ve never done the same thing for too long. You just need to look at our pasts to see that is true. I’m excited about moving forward. Hopefully people will move forward with us.

Q. ‘Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra)’ only lasts 1 min 24, when you were recording it did you ever worry it needed to be longer or maybe add another verse or solo or something? It’s a very brave thing to do especially for a single.

A. We didn’t realise how long it was until it was finished. It always felt complete to me. It doesn’t need another verse. And it has a solo! I like the immediacy of it. It’s an exciting song. I think if you start letting song length dictate its character, you’re in trouble. Also, I grew up on a healthy diet of 30second punk rock songs.

Q. The 2nd release ‘Post Break up Sex’ is one that has already been assimilated into every indie DJ’s record bag, is the song based on any real situation or real life experience? Do you think songs are better if the writer has actually based it on a real life experience?

A. Yes it absolutely is based on a real situation. I’ve noticed my lyrics get criticised for their tried and tested, simple subject matter but I only ever write about things that are very important to me and things that are affecting me. I think if the writer doesn’t believe in what he is saying, no one else will either. So it’s very important to me to sing about my life and things that make me feel impassioned, however simple they are.

Q. Who would you say is your biggest influence both musically and with song writing?

A. I can’t really speak for the band as a whole. And obviously I have maybe major influences. When we made the record we listened to bands we thought made great, direct, energetic and exciting rock n roll. It wasn’t about what they were playing, but how they were playing it. Stuff like The Monks, The Modern Lovers, The Clash, The Velvet Underground.

Q. Were there any bands that you were looking forward to seeing while at Reading?

A. I wish I could have stayed the whole weekend. There was so much I wanted to see. Metronomy were good. Everyone was actually! It was a great day. Everyone I spoke to seemed really happy with how their show went. A lot of kids really into their music. No pretensions.

Q. Even though the first release only came out 9-10 months ago, are you writing any new material for the next album yet? Do you get time to write on the road?

A. I find writing on the road hard. It’s not the right environment. But we have started writing the new record. When songs come, they come and they’ve now started to, so we're excited about that. Although as the record is new, it still feels fresh to us and it’s still great fun and fulfilling playing it live.

Q. Are there any up and coming bands you may have seen on the circuit or met through support slots that you think are ones to watch?

A. Hundreds. Other Lives just supported us at The Forum in London. They blew us away.

Q. The track ‘Wolfpack’ was recently used in an episode of The Vampire Diaries on the soundtrack, what is your opinion on songs being used in adverts and commercials, where does the line exist between promotion for the band and selling out?

A. It’s hard for a band to sell out. I think they have to say one thing and do another. But when you’re clear about what it is you want then I don’t think any one can have any complaints. I think films and commercials etc, (providing they are not too tacky) are a great way to open up your music to a new audience and get it out there. Why limit who is exposed to your art? I’m proud of ours and I want as many people to hear it as possible. It’s also a good way for bands to get paid in an era where people don’t really buy records. You can download our music for free, but don’t complain when our music gets used on TV.

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http://www.thevaccines.co.uk/gb/home/

many thanks to Karen Piper at Radar Maker and Lauren Clifford at Coda Music Agency LLP

Miles Kane Interview @ Reading Festival 2011

This is the footage of my recent interview with Miles Kane backstage at Reading Festival 2011, we discussed his album, his recent live shows as well as the new Last Shadow Puppets project with Alex Turner...



thanks to Jodie for her camera and filming skills...