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The Antics of Anton Newcombe Continue, We Missed Ye
As the Brian Jonestown Massacre released their 11th album, Who Killed Sgt. Pepper?, this past week, frontman and mastermind of the neo-psychedelic band took time out to be interviewed by Impose magazine. And, yes, things got strange and preachy, just like we like our Anton Newcombe.
On the cultural suffocation of the Beatles Sgt. Peppers:
“I’m having a go at The Beatles and pop culture in general because basically it’s suffocating. That mythology machine, fools get it. It’s a situation of someone is paying them 500 million to play that record, so they make 650 million—that is 120 million. That is how that works. It’s not because Sgt. Pepper is the greatest rock record of all time. When you get down to brass tacks, if you’re smart, it’s not a rock record. There’s jazz in “When I’m 64.” There’s “With or Without You” that’s tour orchestra. This isn’t rock music, it’s some b.s. professional vernacular. It’s the experimental showcase. It’s not John, Paul, George or Ringo on any track. It’s an army of people.”
On Thinking Like Mozart:
I think like Mozart. I’ll go, “What’s that song? Oh, it’s mine. I haven’t made it yet and it’s already done. All the parts.” That is very difficult for a person who writes music, even if you are The Strokes.
On Tom of MySpace:
“Consistently, I was the first to put music and social networking together when there was no Myspace. Tom [from Myspace] was in a band with Dean Taylor, my old guitar player. He had less than 200 profiles on Myspace and the rest were fake.” read more
Wussy? What the Hell Kind of Sissy Name Is That?
Take their name literally at your own peril: America’s best rock band is signed to a record store and makes a living in stone masonry. The lead singers are in love. And they’ve been favorably touted by Rolling Stone, Spin, Blender, and Village Voice (plus, you know, Crawdaddy!). So why haven’t you heard of Wussy?
Crawdaddy!: Has it been detrimental or beneficial to be known as a band with a couple? Are you comfortable with lyrics skewed to be “about you?”
Lisa Walker: I think that people are always gonna read into a song what they put into it themselves, so I think whether or not you’re writing about your significant other or something from your past or maybe something a friend told you, I feel like, if it’s a good song, I feel good if people can get something from it. I don’t really mind how they interpret it, I just feel really good if something resonates and that people would care enough to wonder what it’s about.
Chuck Cleaver: People sometimes, I think, have a hard time separating fact from fiction too… when a novelist writes a work of fiction, I don’t think anybody ever questions that some of it, if not almost all of it, has nothing to do with his real life. Whereas some people think that songwriters specifically have to write about things that always happen to them and that’s not really necessarily true. I mean, yeah, we are in the songs, but at the same time, there might be incidents in that particular song that never happened between us. If it’s out there, we’re usually okay with it. [Laughs]
Crawdaddy!: How did you and Lisa first get together—musically—in the first place?
Cleaver: I had to sing a solo show, some kind of awards show, in Cincinnati. I’d been in a band previously [Ass Ponys] and they wanted me to sing… and I don’t do that a whole lot, so I was kind of weirded out, a little nervous. And [me and Lisa] knew each other vaguely, and she said, “Hey, have you ever thought about singing with anybody else?” and we gave it a try. It wasn’t really rehearsed. I wrote some words out on a napkin, she sang, and it was pretty immediate, I think, just like “Wow, I really like the way this sounds.” She’s just an amazing harmony singer… she could sing with anybody, really. Why she picked my caterwaul, I have no idea.
Crawdaddy!: Well, the contrast.
Walker: I love that.
Cleaver: So we were playing out, the two of us on our own. And we knew Mark, who could play just about any instrument.
Walker: So he picked the one he didn’t know how to play yet, to play with us.
Celebrate President’s Day with Great and Mortal Men
Blast from the past… In honor of President’s Day, the federal holiday that gets all of you out of school and many of us out of work, read back on this interview that ran in our Smoke-Filled Room in the summer of ‘08. prior to the presidential election.
Of Great and Mortal Men: 43 Songs for 43 US Presidencies is a collection of songs, each one written for the-then 43 US presidents. It’s a comprehensive project crafted by three songwriters—Christian Kiefer, Matthew Gerken, and Jefferson Pitcher—and recorded by a slew of artists, including Bill Callahan, Califone, and Mark Kozelek that pays tribute to the great and mortal men that run these United States. But don’t take it from me… read it from the lips of the masterminds behind the project in our Smoke-Filled Room.
Read the interview behind Of Great and Mortal Men.
Wayne Coyne: The Flaming Lips’ Freaky Frontman
I caught up with Wayne Coyne, mastermind behind the Flaming Lips, on the phone last week. Maybe it’s because he’d been trapped in his house during a snowstorm in Oklahoma City for five days by the time of our conversation, or more likely, that’s just the kind of ebullient personality he projects, but he was totally engaged and awesome to talk to. I could have sat on the phone with him for hours, but I didn’t want to presume that he didn’t have anything better to do than shoot the shit with me, because he most obviously does—even if he is trapped inside his house during a blizzard. It’s Coyne’s manic, unrestrained energy that’s been channeled into the Flaming Lips’ own brand of psychedelica, and it’s that trippy, musical theater that’s secured them the kind of enduring success not often seen in rock bands—especially one that’s still making new fans, scoring headlines, and garnering critical accolades nearly 30 years after their inception.
For a band of self-proclaimed freaks, it’s their frontman—the wise and whimsical Wayne Coyne—that leads the Flaming Lips’ charge into fearless, uncharted territory, unassumingly inspiring a legion of followers through his actions on the stage, in the way he lives his life, and the passion with which he nurtures his artistry. A man unafraid to strip down to confront his staunch individuality and expose himself, here he is, from his mouth to the page: The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne.
Crawdaddy!: Tell me about the first time you used the bubble to walk on the crowd?
Wayne Coyne: That was at Coachella in 2004, yeah. I practiced it in my front yard like, the day before we went out there, and I even rehearsed it backstage a little bit just to see if I was going to break anybody’s neck or anything by walking on top of them. It was hellish! I was scared that I was going to, ya know… not necessarily that I would get hurt but that I would fall into the crowd and suffocate, or I was going to hurt somebody, or the whole thing would go completely wrong, ya know? It was a significant moment of panic and fear… but I had fun… I didn’t care if it would have gone bad, I just thought, “Fuck it, I’m going to go for it.” And then we saw all the pictures in the paper the next day and everything; it came again as a great relief. Just like, “Cool! People liked it!” You don’t really know what people are going to think of it, they could think it’s a stupid gimmick or whatever. So yeah, it was a big moment.
Emailing with D. Crane of BOAT: Talks Album, Coney Island, Orange Vinyl
BOAT at Brooklyn's Union Pool, November 13, 2009
It’s been a busy couple of months for one of my favorite bands, BOAT. In mid-November of last year, the Seattle band flew out to the East Coast to play a string of shows from Boston to Philadelphia, including two nights in Brooklyn, in support of their new album, Setting the Paces.
I caught up with Crane via email this week to talk a little about that album, its curious color, and the band’s recent sojourn eastward.
Crawdaddy!: Your new album, Setting the Paces, is a really up-beat, fun album filled with lots of awesome rock guitar. Did you guys intend to kick out the jams (so to speak) on this one?
D. Crane: I think the jamkicking is a product of our drummer J. Long who joined the band since 2007’s “Let’s Drag Our Feet!.” He plays awesome rock drums…and to keep up with him, we played awesome rock guitar. Also, I play bass more on this record, M. McKenzie and J. Goodman got to flex their guitar muscles more. J. Goodman is actually super muscular.
More interview and video after the jump!
Emailing with Peter Silberman of the Antlers: Their Acclaimed Album, Sylvia Plath, and Drunk Photographers
The Antlers have been one of the most lauded bands of the last year, riding on a wave of buzz and expectation after the release of their critically acclaimed Hospice. We caught up with songwriting mastermind Peter Silberman in the middle of a whirlwind month to talk abut the band’s recent Haiti benefit, the grueling months behind the record, and of course, what it’s like being the road.
Crawdaddy!: I know you’ve been recently involved with a high profile Haiti benefit. Can you tell me a little bit about that effort?
Peter Silberman: It was a bit of a last minute thing, as many of these relief benefits have been, which made it all the more surprisingly how such an amazing lineup could be assembled so quickly. We were really grateful to have a chance to help the cause, and of course, honored to share a bill with Patti Smith and Yo La Tengo.
Crawdaddy!: Tell me about the making of the beautiful, epic, Hospice.
Silberman: It took a really long time. I don’t think I’ve ever worked on something for that long in my entire life. I have a hard time remembering that time in my life (about 2 or 3 years ago), and an even harder time wanting to remember it.
Crawdaddy!: How did you feel when the critical accolades started rolling in? Did you expect the album to be so well-received?
Silberman: Absolutely not. Even in believing in something as much as I did with Hospice, most of me was prepared for it to fall on deaf ears, and as soon as I began expecting failure, I realized this record was going to be my last attempt at making music. When people began responding so positively to Hospice, I changed my mind. I was glad I didn’t quit.
Crawdaddy!: I garnered from your website some association with Sylvia Plath. Tell me about your relationship with her works.
Silberman: I don’t have much of a relationship with her writing, to be honest. I’m more interested in her as a person than as an author. The way in which she’s perceived by others, both her fans and her husband, is interesting.
Crawdaddy!: Share a notable experience from being on the road from the past year.
Silberman: In Holland, we were attacked by an old, drunk British rock photographer asshole.
Read the rest of the interview after the jump.
Talkin’ And Listenin’ to the Reverend Horton Heat
In the pantheon of commercially successful psychobilly bands, the Reverend Horton Heat more or less stands alone. The dusty storm of country-flavored sounds they like to kick up has made its way to such notable mainstream fare as The Drew Carey Show, the Cartoon Network’s Johnny Bravo, and even a commercial for comfort food slingers Boston Market. Of course, if we’re going by TV appearances, I suppose legendary creep-rockers the Cramps outdid every hep cat in the game when they appeared on the original Beverly Hills 90210. Yes, it was a Halloween episode (natch).
Such anomalies aside, the Rev have basically ruled the roost since exploding onto the scene with 1990’s Smoke ’Em If You Got ‘Em. September of ’09 saw the release of the band’s 10th effort, Laughin’ and Cryin’ with the Reverend Horton Heat, a collection of honky-tonk throwback numbers leaning heavily on the humor. Genial entries like “Rural Point of View” and “Please Don’t Take the Baby to the Liquor Store” crack wise in a playful manner generally not seen since the heyday of Carl Perkins or Hank Williams. That’s not to say the Rev is stuck in the last century; the trio get their shots in at modern life, particularly in the extreme metal mockery “Death Metal Guys.”
This Love Is Fucking Right! Slumberland at 20
When a 24-year-old Mike Schulman started Slumberland Records 20 years ago in Washington, DC to put out some of his friend’s singles, his ambitions were modest. Two decades later, Slumberland has more of a presence than ever. He’s relocated to California, has a baby and a day job now, but talking to him, it’s not hard to tell that music is still high on his list of priorities. He’s still running around to record stores—now he’s surfing the internet, too—finding music that he thinks is “fantastic!,” which he says enthusiastically about each of his bands. True music lovers are lovers forever—family, jobs, changes in scenery won’t stifle that. We caught up with Schulman on the phone a few weeks back to talk about Slumberland’s 20th anniversary, where the label’s been, and where it’s headed.
Crawdaddy!: Tell me the story of how Slumberland was started.
Mike Schulman: I had a group of friends and we were all in a couple of bands together, in different combinations—maybe six or eight people who made three or four different bands. We were all pretty green. We got really excited about music in high school and college, as one does. We were all really into poppy stuff, but also the noisy stuff: The Birthday Party, the Lower East Side thing, punk rock. So we started bands because that’s what you do.
Brian Eno Says Records are Like Whale Blubber
[via Hypebot]
The Observer has an interview with Brian Eno, in which writer Paul Morely has a series of conversations with Eno that were filmed for a BBC Arena documentary. The article breaks down the conversation into topics like “On Talking”, “On the Intensity of Ideas”, “On Listening”, “On Destiny”… it goes on for awhile, but it’s all pretty great actually.
The article ends with a bit from Eno about “On the End of an Era”, in which he states that the “record age” was just a blip on the radar, and that we all need to stop hanging on to that and move on to whatever is next and figure it out. Read the quote after the jump, and watch a video of Eno. read more
Feature Interview: J. From White Zombie: More Genial Than Human
by: James Greene Jr.
Crawdaddy!: You lived in Moscow as a kid. What was that like?
Jay Yuenger: [Laughs] Well, that’s a very rock ‘n’ roll question! I was in kindergarten at the time, so I only have the vaguest memories. My father was the Moscow bureau chief for the Chicago Tribune. At the time, Russia was still heavily communist, so we lived in a building with all these foreign families. All my friends were kids of other newspaper people and embassy representatives. I do remember we had state-assigned servants who were believed to be reporting all our actions to the KGB.
Crawdaddy!: Weird. So what drew you to New Orleans?
Yuenger: It’s the most unique American city. There are only few truly unique cities left in this country. Sante Fe is one, Vegas is another, and then there’s New Orleans. It’s not really a part of the US. It’s its own country. Plus, it’s surrounded by music. You’ll literally look out your window and see a group kids going by playing trombones. It’s cool and old; you can have no money and live in a mansion. The downside is that it’s really crazy here, nothing works, everyone’s corrupt… so, you know.
Crawdaddy!: You once explained your “Silver Surfer” production style, wherein you envision the Silver Surfer breakdancing and try to imagine the music he’s dancing to. Do you have any other styles that involve superheroes dancing?
Yuenger: [Laughs] No, I have no other dancing hero styles of production. That particular record, that artist, Odoms, just always made me think of the Silver Surfer flying through the cosmos. You know, all those great, old 1960s Jack Kirby comics. And the Surfer eventually stops and finds a disco to get down in.
read more
by: James Greene Jr.
published: March 12, 2010
in column: Feature Story, What Goes On, interview
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