4/30/2012

ROGER WATERS The Wall tour 2012



ROGER WATERS THE WALL SMASHES ATTENDANCE RECORDS IN SOUTH AMERICA

THE WALL MAKES ITS TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO NORTH AMERICA ON APRIL 27TH WITH 41 SHOWS 


LOS ANGELES, CA (April 30, 2012)  Roger Waters’ extraordinary production of The Wall has smashed attendance records in South America with a record breaking 15 open-air stadiums shows in Chile, Brazil and Argentina, playing to over 750,000 fans.  This is the largest number of stadium shows ever played in South America by an international artist on one tour. The South American leg included a record breaking 9 sold out shows in Buenos Aires, River Plate Stadium, exceeding the previous record of 5 nights, held by the Rolling Stones (see link below to photos of The Wall in River Plate Stadium). 

The Wall, an aural and visual masterpiece, has so far played 150 shows for a gross of US $218M in 27 countries. Due to overwhelming popular demand, The Wall returns to North America in 2012 kicking off this weekend, April 27 and 28th, at the Foro Sol stadium in Mexico for a historic run of 41 performances at stadiums and arenas.  The U.S. and Canadian leg begins on May 1st at the Toyota Center in Houston, TX with dates through July 14th at the Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, PA, including 2 nights at New York’s prestigious Yankee Stadium and 1 once-in-a-lifetime night at the world-famous Los Angeles Coliseum, for a total of 9 stadium shows.   Tickets are available now at Ticketmaster.com and LiveNation.com.

The Pollstar Music Industry Awards, as voted by the music industry, has honored Roger Waters and The Wall Live with two of the highest accolades - the coveted “Major Tour of the Year” and “Most Creative Stage Production” of 2010.  The Wall also won the “Most Creative Stage Production” for a second consecutive year in 2011.

The best arena show ever.  Period.” New York Post

“The Wall Live is flawless. Everyone should see it once before they die.Philadelphia Inquirer



April 27                         Mexico City, MX          Foro Sol
April 28                         Mexico City, MX          Foro Sol



May 1                           Houston, TX                Toyota Center                            
May 3                           Austin, TX                   Frank Erwin Center                     
May 5                           Tulsa, OK                    BOK Center                               
May 7                           Denver, CO                 Pepsi Center                              
May 11                         San Francisco, CA       AT&T Park                                 
May 13                         San Diego, CA            Valley View Casino Center          
May 15                         Phoenix, AZ                US Airways Center                     
May 19                         Los Angeles, CA          Los Angeles Coliseum                                       
May 22                         Portland, OR               Rose Garden                             
May 24                         Seattle, WA                 Key Arena                                 
May 26                         Vancouver, BC            BC Place       

Mystery Jets "Radlands"

Mystery Jets - Radlands

Street Date, June 5th, 2012, Rough Trade





Mystery Jets are Blaine Harrison, Will Rees, Kai Fish and Kapil Trivedi. On the making of the album Radlands, Blaine explains:

We've always wanted to make a record in America and after touring Serotonin the time felt perfect to go and do it. Our first three albums were entirely conceived and recorded in London so going out to Austin felt like the furthest place from everything we knew.  We arrived with a handful of songs, but one in particular felt like it captured the spirit of why we had come there. It was called Radlands (a fusion of the 1970s Terrence Malick film Badlands and Redlands, Keith Richard's Sussex estate), which is also what we named our studio; a big old wooden house on the banks of the Colorado river.

All we brought on the plane were the guitars on our backs, so we ended up borrowing all this amazing valve gear from an old guy called jack who ran a little studio up in the hills-which is why the songs sound the way they do. In the daytime we wrote lyrics on the porch and in the evenings a family of Deer would gather in the back yard to hear us play. Some nights we drove into town to drink and bring people back to play on the songs.

When we arrived home, it was hard to believe any of it even happened. It somehow all felt like a strange dream. But when Dan Carey heard it and invited us down to his studio we listened back to everything and it was all there, it was real. All we were missing were some gospel singers, which he found in the Streatham community ladies choir...

Twelve months on, and we are gearing up to take Radlands on the road. Its been a long time and we cannot wait to see you all again.

xBlaine

Comic:
The limited edition double vinyl format of Radlands (500 copies only) will include a 32+ page illustrated comic called Radlands - The Ballad of Emmerson Lonestar and features covers by Eisner Award-winning British comic artist Glenn Fabry, famous for his work on Preacher and The Authority. Richard Elms co-wrote the comic with Mystery Jets and this is his first published comic.

Tour Dates:

12 June 2012  House Of Blues  Boston, MA
14 June 2012  Music Center At Strathmore North Bethesda, MD
15 June 2012  Beacon Theatre  New York NY
16 June 2012  Merriam Theater Philadelphia PA
18 June 2012  Olympia de Montreal     Montreal QC   
19 June 2012  The Sound Academy       Toronto ON    
21 June 2012  Marathon Music Works    Nashville TN
22 June 2012  Vic Theatre     Chicago IL
23 June 2012  Pabst Theatre   Milwaukee WI
25 June 2012  Paramount Theatre       Denver CO
26 June 2012  The Gallivan Center     Salt Lake City UT
29 June 2012  The Orpheum Theatre   Los Angeles CA
30 June 2012  The Fox Theatre  Oakland CA    

Track List:
1. Radlands  
2. You Had Me At Hello      
3. Someone Purer
4. The Ballad of Emmerson Lonestar  
5. Greatest Hits  
6. The Hale Bop  
7. The Nothing
8. Take Me Where The Roses Grow  
9. Sister Everett      
10. Lost In Austin      
11. Luminescense  

4/23/2012

Andrew Vachss interview 1995


photo: Daniel Murtagh

Andrew Vachss Interview
by Alexander Laurence

Andrew Vachss is an internationally renowned author who has been translated into many languages. He has written several novels, most of them published by Random House and Vintage, including Blue Belle, Down In The Zero, and most recently, Footsteps of The Hawk. Most of which feature the strange character, Burke. Vachss has also recently published a book with DC Comics, Batman: The Ultimate Evil.

He lives in New York City where he practices law, specializing in child abuse cases.
Alexander Laurence: You must get a lot of letters from your readers? What have those been like?
Andrew Vachss: I get thousands of letters. These range from "You've saved my life" to "I'd like to take yours." I've gotten letters from serial killers, and bizarre crazed stalkers who decide that we are going to be together in this life or the next. Most of the letters I get aren't weird at all. They're from people in the victim/predator food chain.

AL: In the new book Footsteps of The Hawk, there is quite a lot about corruption in boxing. Is this your critique of the problems with today's boxing rules?
AV: It's intended to be. You can see that the book was absolutely prescient. The book talks about building up absolute stiffs with strong looking records so that their skin color can get them a fight and being easily defeated without any risks to the so-called champion.

AL: How do you think we can regulate boxing properly? Do you think that boxing was any better controlled in the 1940s and 1950s?
AV: I don't think things will change because as long as the public continues to get sucker punched and as long as they continue to pay fifty bucks to watch a person like Mike Tyson beat up a tomato can, why would it change? The only thing that will change it is dollars. The boycott is the traditional civil rights weapon and it's no less applicable to boxing. I wouldn't pay fifteen cents to see these fights. In the 1940s there was regulation by the mob. Some people would actually argue that it was better. I'm not going to take a position that organized crime is the salvation for any of our problems. The proliferation of cable TV has created a demand for product. So you can see a title fight any night of the week. The other thing that has changed is that there is no boxing commission. There's one for every sport except boxing. There's no centralized control. You can be knocked out cold in 25 straight fights and some states will still license you.

AL: There a sense in your books that everyone is having a moral crisis. How do you think that we are going to remedy this in practical terms?
AV: I'm not that sort of pontificator. Every one of these problems has the same remedy, which there is an enemy and you fight it. A lot of the young people I speak to all over the world—I don't care if it's Oslo or Melbourne, or Brooklyn, it's the same thing—they actually want to be in a war. I don't mean that they want to get guns and kill people. I mean that they want to fight for something. It's really unclear to them what there is to fight about, so you get a certain amount of energy expended in nonsense. There are legitimate enemies. I think that it's human nature to seek balance, safety, and peace, and to be willing to go to war to find it.
What we have is the lack of balance but we don't have the war.

AL: You have dealt with many serial killers, child molesters, and criminals. What do you think of the idea that the prisons create career criminals?
AV: It's a good place to learn crime without question. But it's simplistic to say that the prisons are responsible. The prisons still have to get their product from some place, and they do get it essentially from the maltreatment of children. There's no bio-genetic code for a serial killer. If you bred Ted Bundy and Squeaky Fromme you wouldn't get a mass murderer. You'd get whatever was raised. That's what we seem to have forgotten completely. The maternal instinct that people used to talk about we have almost devolved past.
If you look at the most awesome animal of the jungle, the elephant, nothing can bother it. But a baby elephant without its mother is food. So animals have figured out a long time ago, that if they don't protect their own, they won't survive as a species. Let me give you another example. Why did the dinosaurs vanish from the earth?

AL: There are several theories about that ...
AV: Right. There's only one truth though. That is because they are lizards and they don't protect their young. And eventually we, people, evolved and we figured out that we can kill them in the egg. And we did it! We killed them and they didn't adapt and survive. Other animals which protected their young survived. Sharks survived because we couldn't get to them. We are not going to survive forever if we keep maltreating our children.

AL: Child abuse has been there from the start?
AV: Since there has been children which is forever. That's the point. We are just looking at it now and saying "Oh my God, look at all this child abuse that has just started ..." There's no evidence to support that view, and all the evidence supports the contrary, which is that children have been perceived as the property of their parents to do as they wish.

AL: How did you get involved with representing children in sexual abuse cases?
AV: I was an investigator for the federal government in sexually transmitted diseases. My job was what you're doing now except I'd ask different questions. My questions to you would be: "Well, you got syphilis, pal, and I need to know all the people that you have been with sexually within the hot zone." And then find those people, and ask them the same questions. Right? To try to break the chain at some point. At the time, I thought that I was a pretty tough kid. I was happy working in whore houses, juke joints, and gambling dens, and having myself a fine old time. I never realized that people had sex with babies. And when I realized that, and I realized that by—I was going to say a "man" but not a man—a male sitting as close to me as you are now, sort of giggling about how he ripped his child's rectum out to have fun, I thought that I saw the devil. But it wasn't the devil at all. As a matter of fact, it was not an atypical attitude, although the method was extreme. Since then that is what I have done whether it was the war in Biafra or running a maximum security prison. When I went to law school it was to exclusively to represent children and that's what I've done ever since.

AL: Do you consider yourself a participant in what you write?
AV: This isn't Raymond Chandler. This is what I do. The books are an organic extension of what I do, and I wish only that the books were fiction.

AL: What is your interest in prostitutes?
AV: Where do you get a prostitute from? Do you think that it's a career choice? If you go out on a stroll tonight and talk to some working girls, how many do you think will have not come from abusive childhoods? Do you think that they were reading counseling catalogues?

AL: Maybe 20%.
AV: I doubt that. You might if you go way up the ladder. If you go up to Heidi Fliess type stuff you may find women who for their own reasons made that as their career choice, but if you find these little girls who are walking around the corner, giving their money to a pimp, if you think that was a career choice, you must be crazy. They're simply continuing a cycle and playing out a script that was written for them when they were children. And that's my interest as you put it, I'm sure. The self-concept of such people is profoundly damaged by their prior lives, and they're exploited at every step in their lives, and it's not anything resembling a glamorous profession.

AL: No. Some of them delude themselves into thinking so.
AV: Of course. And some kids who are having sex with their fathers delude themselves into thinking it's an affair, too. The capacity to self-delude is part of the capacity to survive.

AL: Do you believe in the absolute innocence of children?
AV: I don't think that children are absolutely innocent as some type of religious concept. I do think that they are entitled fundamentally not to be abused and the fact that they're powerless to protect themselves is why intervention is required. So there's the absolute. You don't have any right to have sex with a baby, that you don't have any right to beat a baby, torture or hurt a baby for your own amusement. There are the absolutes, whether they are absolutely innocent or not. What I see is the abuse of children and its consequences, and that's what I write about.

AL: What sort of influence do you want to have on your readers?
AV: I want them to be angry. If they are not angry then the book has failed. It's not more complicated than that.

An avid fan of Vachss' has constructed a well-done archive of information, further interviews, and reviews which can be found here [see: History of The Zero]. His books are highly recommended, as are those of his wife, attorney Alice Vachss.

4/21/2012

Brian Jonestown Massacre: new tour 2012








 BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE begin new tour on April 27th. All photos by Daniel Murtagh.

Blitzen Trapper announce tour




BLITZEN TRAPPER ANNNOUNCE SUMMER TOUR SCHEDULE
+
PREMIERE NEW VIDEO FOR “STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND”
+
RECORD STORE DAY SINGLE OUT TOMORROW APRIL 21

Tour includes Wilco support dates (Jun. 25-Jul.02) + Appearances at Sasquatch, Wakarusa,  Pickathon & Newport Folk Festivals

Watch “Stranger In A Strange Land” here.

Sub Pop road warriors Blitzen Trapper have scheduled a ton of summer dates in support of their latest release, American Goldwing.  The tour, which kicks-off at Sasquatch Festival in George, WA on May 26th, will wrap up at Pickathon in Happy Valley, OR on August 5th. Highlights include performances at the venerable Newport Folk Festival in Newport, RI on July 27th and Wakarusa in Ozark, AR on June 1st. Blitzen Trapper will also support Wilco from June 25th-July 2! The summer tour will be preceded by a one-off date in Silverton, OR for Oregon Garden Brewfest on April 28th. Full tour dates below.

Just in time for the tour, Blitzen Trapper will release a new single for Record Store Day! The “Hey Joe”/”Skirts On Fire” 7” single will be available in a limited edition run of 1800 and on yellow vinyl.   Meanwhile, American Goldwing track, “Stranger in A Strange Land” is now the subject of a video. The clip features landscapes found in Nome Alaska where there are no indigenous trees or mountains within plain sight. Film maker Luke Norby along with the help of Blitzen Trapper drummer Brian Koch compiled a series Norby’s incidental shots including shivery hand held pans in 20 below zero conditions and segments from a sweeping driving shot that Norby shot from the back of a truck in 2010. Nome is known for housing the finish line to the Iditarod or "The Last Great Race", an 1100-mile race across the length of Alaska. The video also includes intermittent overlays of Singer/Guitar player/Songwriter Eric Earley along with a glimpse of the final mile from the 2010 Iditarod final finisher A.K.A "The Red Lantern" and a cameo by John Boyles walking out into the frozen Bearing Sea.

What people are saying about Blitzen Trapper:
“Blitzen Trapper's Eric Earley performs the amazing feat of making alt-country seem fresh on the band's gripping sixth album. This Portland, Oregon quintet has long excelled at energizing rootsy sounds with trashy noise, but Earley's true trump card is smart, vivid songwriting that transcends genres.” - SPIN Magazine

 “It's a simplistic but intoxicating roots fantasy - full of Dylan mysticism, spidery acoustic Dead jamming, tasty 1970s rock moves and evocations of high-plains drifters with ichy trigger fingers drinking from jam jars.“ – Rolling Stone

 “The stories here are the stuff of swamp rock legend: Characters are drinking too much whiskey late at night, fantasizing about loving or leaving the finest women in town, returning home, and piecing together the wonders of the natural world… Blitzen Trapper has once again succeeded in crafting an album that fits with the classics.” - Under the Radar


Tour Dates:
Apr. 28 – Silverton, OR - Oregon Garden Brewfest
May 26 - George, WA - Sasquatch Music Festival
May 29- Denver, CO - Bluebird
May 30- Lincoln, NE - Bourbon Theatre
May 31- Kansas City, MO - Riot Room
Jun.  01- Ozark, AR - Wakarusa Festival
Jun.  02 - Oklahoma City, OK - ACM@UCO Performance Lab
Jun.  04- Santa Fe, NM - Sol Santa Fe
Jun.  05- Flagstaff, AZ - The Green Room
Jun.  06 - Pioneertown, CA -  Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown
Jun.  09- Petaluma, CA - Mystic Theatre
Jun.  25- Salt Lake City, UT - Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre*
Jun.  26- Boise, ID - Idaho Botanical Garden Outlaw Field*
Jun.  28- Missoula, MT - Big Sky Brewing Company*
Jul. 01 - Duluth, MN - Bayfront Festival Park*
Jul. 02- Rochester, MN - Mayo Civic Center Auditorium*
Jul. 05 – Victor, ID - Victor City Park Thursday Music on Main Series 
Jul 07 – Winnipeg, MB - Folk Festival
Jul. 08 -  Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
Jul. 09 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall
Jul. 13 - South Burlington, VT -  Higher Ground
Jul. 14 – New York, NY  - Stuyvesant Town Oval "Music On The Oval Series" *FREE SHOW
Jul. 15 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
Jul. 17 - Alexandria, VA - The Birchmere
Jul. 27– Newport, RI - Newport Folk Festival
Aug. 03-05 - Happy Valley, OR - Pickathon Festival

 *w/ Wilco

 

4/19/2012

A Place To Bury Strangers: West Coast Tour

A Place To Bury Strangers Announce West Coast Tour with This Will Destroy You
US Dates Run Through June
A Place To Bury Strangers will join Suicide Squeeze signees This Will Destroy You on a west coast tour this June. The two bands share an affinity for layered sonics and noisey, sweaty perfomances. Their sounds are dark and crushing. If APTBS are guitars as jet engines, TWDY are strings as avalanche. Strangers are currently touring in support of their Onwards To The Wall EP, a prelude to their full length album, Worship, due out June 26 (June 11 UK/EU) on Dead Oceans. The first single is available now for streaming:
The band also recently put out a split 7" with Ceremony on Famous Class records to benefit the Ariel Panero Memorial Fund at VH1 Save the Music. The disc is a family affair; Ceremony are former members of Skywave (Ackermann's pre-APTBS outfit) and Famous Class is run by long time friend Cyrus Lubin, who also plays drums on "And I'm Up" from the upcoming Worship. You can listen to the track "Burning Plastic" here:
APTBS will be touring in Europe through the middle of May before returning for their June dates with TWDY and capping off their summer at Metallica's Orion Festival in Atlantic City.

RECENT PRAISE FOR APTBS

"APTBS deliver the noisiest, most jagged fuzz in the catchiest packages..." -ALTERNATIVE PRESS

"Onward to the Wall opens with "I Lost You"...a pummeling onslaught of banshee-wail guitar stacked on top of a chugging motorik bass riff, plus some gnarly, rancid feedback." -PITCHFORK

"APTBS re-arrange the basic elements of Noise-Pop by destroying whatever preconceived notion you had towards the genre. Instruments are merely tools used to test the limits and knowledge of what sonic exploration really means, and Onwards to the Wall resembles the Home Depot at times." -AQUARIUM DRUNKARD

"Onwards to the Wall is, by all accounts, punishing, brutal, bloody, visceral, damning and torturous while retaining a knack for melody and sugar-coated pop songsmithery." -POPMATTERS

04/19/12 - Oslo, NO - Blaa
04/20/12 - Stockholm, SE - Strand
04/21/12 - Malmo, SE - Debaser
04/23/12 - Hamburg, DE - Hafenklang
04/24/12 - Berlin, DE - C-Club
04/25/12 - Weinheim, DE - Cafe Central
04/26/12 - Lausanne, SUI - Impetus Festival
04/27/12 - Barcelona, SP - Sidecar
04/28/12 - Murcia, SP - 12 & Medio
04/29/12 - Madrid, SP - Moby Dick
05/01/12 - Utrecht, NL - Tivoli De Helling
05/02/12 - Nijmegen, NL - Doornroosje
05/04/12 - Antwerp, BE - Trix Club
05/05/12 - Courtrai, BE - De Kreun
05/06/12 - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso
05/08/12 - London, UK - Cargo
05/09/12 - Birmingham, UK - Hare & Hounds
05/10/12 - Manchester, UK - Sound Control
05/11/12 - Glasgow, UK - King Tuts
05/12/12 - Newcastle, UK - Cluny
05/13/12 - Leeds, UK - Cockpit
06/02/12 - Austin, TX - 29th Street Ballroom*
06/03/12 - El Paso, TX - Low Brow*
06/04/12 - Houston, TX - Rhythm Room*
06/05/12 - San Diego, CA - Casbah*+
06/06/12 - Visalia, CA - Cellar Door*+
06/07/12 - Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex*+
06/08/12 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill*+
06/09/12 - Chico, CA - Cafe Coda*
06/10/12 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir *
06/11/12 - Seattle, WA - Crocodile*
06/12/12 - Vancouver, BC - Biltmore Cabaret*+
06/24/12 - Atlantic City, NJ - Metallica's Orion Festival, Bader Field
* = w/This Will Destroy You
+= APTBS headlines

The Cribs announce US Tour

The Cribs Announce North American June Tour

In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull Out May 15th On Wichita Recordings




After sold out UK and US Spring Tours, culminating with a packed house at Music Hall Of Williamsburg, The Cribs are back! The band will be returning this June to North America for a string of dates, starting on the East Coast and making their way across the country. Tickets are on sale today, head over to The Cribs website to grab your tickets while they last.

In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull is the fifth studio album from Wakefield trio The Cribs. The recording process for this album saw the band split their time between Abbey Road in London, Steve Albini’s EAR studio in Chicago, and David Fridmann’s Tarbox Road studio in Upstate New York.

Tour Dates

06/05 - Johnny Brendas - Philadelphia, PA
06/06 - Irving Plaza - New York, NY
06/07 - Black Cat - Washington DC
06/08 - Motorco Music Hall - Durham, NC
06/09 - Masquerade: Hell Stage - Atlanta, GA
06/11 - Fitzgerald's: Upstairs - Houston, TX
06/12 - The Parish - Austin, TX
06/15 - El Rey Theater - LA
06/16 - Great American Music Hall - San Francisco, CA
06/18 - Venue - Vancouver CA

Watch the video below of 7-year-old Emy interviewing Ryan Jarman of The Cribs for Noisey:

4/18/2012

The Black Angels "Entrance Song" Video

Entrance Song Video

Screen Shot 2012-04-18 at 11.19.22 AM

Check out the new version of The Black Angels’ video for Entrance Song HERE!

Austin Psych Fest 5

Austin Psych Fest 5 is almost here and there are only a few tickets left. Get yours now before they are gone: http://bit.ly/I0nFHR

Also, the DVD from Austin Psych Fest 4 is now on sale, you can watch the trailer here: http://bit.ly/GWbn51

Watch Out Boy/ I’d Rather Be Lonely 7”

Pitchfork also recently debuted The Black Angels’ new track, “I’d Rather Be Lonely,” from their upcoming 7” being released via Blue Horizon on April 21. This single comes as a Record Store Day exclusive and will include yet another new song, “Watch Out Boy,” on orange vinyl. Included in the package is a download card featuring a bonus MP3 of their cover of The Zombies’ “She’s Not There.” To locate a participating indie record store near you, visit RecordStoreDay.com.

New Tour Dates

A number of tour dates have been added to The Black Angels’ already busy schedule. Check them out below!

4/18/12

Los Angeles, CA

The Music Box

Tickets

The Horrors,

Moon Duo

4/19/12

Solana Beach, CA

Belly Up Tavern

Tickets

The Horrors

4/20/12

Indio, CA

Coachella Festival

Tickets

Various

4/27/12

Austin, TX

Austin Psych Fest 5

Tickets

Various Acts

4/28/12

Austin, TX

Austin Psych Fest 5

Tickets

Various Acts

4/29/12

Austin, TX

Austin Psych Fest 5

Tickets

Various Acts

6/23- 6/24/12

Atlantic City, NJ

Orion Music Festival

Tickets

Various Acts

8/1/12

Oklahoma City, OK

ACM@UCO Performance Lab

Tickets

Night Beats

8/2/12

St. Louis, MO

Old Rock House

Tickets

Night Beats

8/3 - 8/5/12

Chicago, IL

Grant Park - Lollapalooza

Tickets

Various Acts

8/3- 8/5/12

Montreal, QC

Osheaga Music and Arts Festival

Tickets

Various Acts

8/4/12

Buffalo, NY

The Town Ballroom

Tickets

Night Beats

8/7/12

Albany, NY

Northern Lights

Tickets

Night Beats

8/8/12

Pittsburgh, PA

Mr. Small's Theatre

Tickets

Night Beats

8/9/12

Cincinnati, OH

Taft Theatre

On Sale 4/20

Night Beats

8/10/12

Nashville, TN

Exit/In

Tickets

Night Beats

8/11/12

Little Rock, AR

Stickyz Rock N' Roll Chicken Shack

Tickets

Night Beats

The Black Angels Website

The Black Angels Facebook

The Black Angels Twitter

The Horrors @ Henry Fonda Theater






All photos by Angel Ceballos.

The Horrors and the Black Angels play tonight at the Henry Fonda Theater on
Wednesday, April 18th 2012.

4/16/2012

The Dandy Warhols "Sad Vacation"

Dandy Warhols Stream New LP On Rolling Stone, Premiere "Sad Vacation" Video On VEVO

This Machine Out April 24 On The End Records




Click Here To Watch "Sad Vacation" On VEVO

Click Here To Stream This Machine On Rolling Stone

The Dandy Warhols have been a band for 18 yrs.

This Machine is the Dandy's 8th official studio album and was recorded over the course of 2011 at The Dandy Warhols rock clubhouse/ entertainment megaplex/studio The Odditorium. The band recorded the album with their longtime engineer - producer Jeremy Sherrer. Taylor-Taylor describes this record as "stripped down, woody and extremely guitar centric."

The album was mixed Tchad Blake who also mixed The Dandy Warhols Odditorium or Warlords of Mars and Come Down. Tchad is well known for his recent work with The Black Keys, Blitzen Trapper and Pearl Jam. The album cover for This Machine was painted by local Portland, Oregon painter Hickory Mertsching.

Famed Science Fiction writer Richard Morgan penned the band’s official Bio for This Machine. It’s 4 short stories that do a much better job entertaining than this bullet point list. You can download the bio here.

Stand out track, Autumn Carnival was co authored by Courtney Taylor Taylor and David J of Love and Rockets. About the album, Courtney says, "We've been told that its our gothiest. I thought it was our grungiest so I'm really hoping its a hit with goths who are...um, really outdoorsy?"

And do check out their various incarnations and side projects. Blue grass blues to Berlin '77. Some pretty deep and interesting music. And stories: Pete International Airport, Immigrant Union, Brush Prairie, One Model Nation.

Husky announce album and tour


Husky to release Forever So on July 10th in North America
+
Support The Head And The Heart and Shearwater tours this summer

Download “History’s Door” here.
Video- “The Woods

Melbourne, Australia band Husky will release their fantastic debut album, Forever So via Sub Pop on May 28 in UK and Europe and July 10th in North America via CD, LP and digitally. The album features 13 tracks and includes the singles and videos for “History’s Door,” “The Woods,” and “Tidal Wave.”

Husky will hit the road this summer which includes support tours for Sub Pop label mates The Head and The Heart (May 31st-June 10th) and Shearwater (July 13th-21st). Full tour dates below.

Huksy’s video for “The Woods” has been added to this week’s episode of MTVU’s “The Freshmen”. The show spotlights emerging artists on air and online, with the chance for one of the videos to get an automatic add into rotation on the channel the following week. Fans can vote on these videos online, starting Monday morning, and votes will end on Friday at 2:00 PM (EST). Vote here!

Front man Husky Gawenda and keyboard player Gideon Preiss are cousins who grew up together, making music and poring over their parents' record collections. Though the four band members have disparate tastes, their shared passion for classic sounds, rich harmonies, and artful songwriting points back to the artists they grew up on: Crosby Stills & Nash, Bob Dylan, the Doors, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, the Beach Boys. Yet while Gideon took easily to the life of the performing musician, playing in myriad bands throughout his teenage years, Gawenda shied away from the spotlight. "I was actually terrified of performing," he admits. "It took a lot of will power to start singing my own songs in front of anybody, but I was determined to do it, because I always had the dream of playing music as my way of life."

Augmented by bassist Evan Tweedie and drummer Luke Collins, whom Preiss met on the Melbourne music scene, the foursome began playing small local shows in late 2008. Even at the outset, the band's primary goal was making a record that would bring their songs to full fruition (read more @Sub Pop).

"Forever So is breathtaking in its ambition, a shimmering fog of kaleidoscopic storytelling, each a song a Nick Drake-esque fairytale delivered with full indie-orhestration." **** [Band to Watch] -Rolling Stone Australia

"With indie folks songs that are totally accessible and sweet while for the most part avoiding being predictable or twee, there is certainly enough about Forever So to suggest that everything is in place for Husky to make an impact. Don't be surprised if 2012 is a big year for this likeable quartet." - Drum
"A sweet, little gem" -Cream

"This outstanding debut album weaves understated sincerity into wintry introspectiveness forced upon anyone in the city of four-seasons-a-day. Husky's mid-tempo folk reflects upon the world with genuine originality, too - the songs avoid the more obvious tricks in the composers playbook, leaving ample space for frontman Husky Gawanda's lyrical confessions." - Sydney Morning Herald

May 10 - Brighton, UK - Great Escape Festival
May 11 - Brighton, UK - Great Escape Festival
May 12 - Brighton, UK - Great Escape Festival
May 19 - Hamburg, DE - Beatlemania
May 20 - Berlin, DE - Privatclub
May 21 - Koln, DE - Blue Shell
May 23 - Munster, DE - Gleiss 22
May 31 - Reno, NV - Knitting Factory*
Jun. 01 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore*
Jun. 02 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore*
Jun. 05 - Phoenix, AZ - Crescent Ballroom*
Jun. 08 - Houston, TX - Warehouse Live*
Jun. 09 - Austin, TX - Stubb's Waller Creek*
Jun. 10 - Austin, TX - Stubb's Waller Creek*
Jun. 12 - Chicago, IL - Schubas
Jun. 15 - Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Bowl^
Jul. 13 - Phoenix, AZ - Crescent Ballroom**
Jul. 14 - San Diego, CA - Soda Bar**
Jul. 15 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo**
Jul. 17 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill**
Jul. 19 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios**
Jul. 20 - Seattle, WA - The Crocodile**
Jul. 21 - Vancouver, BC - Media Club**
* w/ The Head and The Heart
** w/ Shearwater
^ w/ Felice Brothers

4/15/2012

Brian Jonestown Massacre interview



Brian Jonestown Massacre interview 2012
Anton Newcombe talks about life and love
By Alexander Laurence

I did an interview with Anton Newcombe of Brian Jonestown Massacre in 2000. At that point the band was in transition. The initial lineup had broken up, and a new one had taken its place. Anton had introduced me to a lot of new music and bands over the years. By 2003, a new lineup, very much like the one we know today, had come together finally. In a period of a year, many things had happened to Brian Jonestown Massacre, to take them from this small obscure indie band, to the internationally known band they are today.

First: they had played several strong tours in Europe and the UK, and music fans had embraced them there. Patti Smith invited the BJM to play a high profile gig at Meltdown Festival, and they were soon taken seriously by important journalists. A greatest hits collection came out in 2004 and they became known to other musicians: namely Iggy Pop and Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols. Lastly there was the controversial film, DIG: The Movie, that highlights possibly the worst aspects of the Brian Jonestown Massacre and the Dandy Warhols. This is a film that Anton Newcombe still rejects to this day.

In the last decade, BJM has played many tours and festivals, and they have become an awesome and vital touring band. Also added to the mix: their song is the theme song to TV show Boardwalk Empire. Even in the past two years, there are many people who have just discovered this band. So it’s good news for all concerned that there is a new record AUFHEBEN (2012) which comes out on May 1st. There is a new tour 2012, that takes the BJM to Austin’s Psych Fest, the United States, Europe, and even Australia. More than fifty shows worldwide this summer, which proves that Anton Newcombe and Brian Jonestown Massacre are bigger than ever. I got to speak to him over the phone this week, right before the tour begins.

(PART ONE)

AL: This new album, Aufheben, sounds more cohesive as an album. How did it come about?

Anton: I have my studio in Berlin. I have been working with Fabien Leseure. He is an engineer that works here in my studio. He works with other bands as well. I made him a partner without having him buy the shit. I like to record and experiment myself. But there is freedom in having someone push buttons because that is their main function. You can float around and record tracks very quickly. I am into conceptual art as a form of communication. I don’t want to define things or make things perfect. I want the listener to acknowledge that there is an idea. I want them to interact with it in some way. I don’t care if they “get it.” It doesn’t need to be finished. Music should capture your attention and break free of it. There are people who are fanatical about the Stone Roses and their achievements. People like Peter Hook attached themselves to that band, and have drug them out of the realm of having those songs recorded, to being produced records. That made them more part of a guild than a craftsmanship thing. They could never duplicate that, so it’s like an albatross around their neck. People always look at the Stones Roses on the strength of their first album. I am more interested in documenting something and never finishing it, because I don’t have that agenda and I love international music. There are bands in France who insist on singing songs in English. I tell them that we already have American artists, like Katy Perry and Beck, who have these nonsense lyrics that don’t mean anything. They could probably do something better in French, than half-assed in English. Nicki Minaj is not producing very profound lyrics, so why is your average Swedish band trying to sing in English?

AL: I have interviewed many Swedish bands and I asked them that question, and they always say that they listen to American and UK bands, and not Swedish bands.

Anton: The Hives are fun. Good times. I am not getting on their case. I was thinking more about people like Beck. Beck doesn’t really say anything about life or anything. You have no insight into the world of human beings.

AL: You don’t really know anything about Beck from listening to his records.

Anton: You don’t know anything about that guy and his perspective. All you know is he is very imaginative, and he does what he does, and he is likable. It’s crazy how great his ability is to have built that wall. In this world with TMZ and everything? Nobody knows one interesting thing about Beck. I met him so I know a little more. Beck is great. But that is a neat trick to do what he has done. Beck has done all these albums and he never talks about himself in an interview.

AL: So how do you do your albums today? Do you write all the songs beforehand and book time in a studio? Or do you live in a studio, and create as you go along?

Anton: I have done albums every which way. We own a studio here in Berlin. It’s a two-story auto body shop. The top floor looks like an internet start up company. There is a massive kitchen and four bunk beds. If you want to lay out. There is a shower and a bath. There is a living room where I do my TV show. There is a downstairs where there is all the electric goodies. I come here every day. But I go home at night and go to sleep. But I can accommodate guests. If you wanted to come out here and visit me and David Strauss, I would say “Here’s the keys to my place. You are right here.” At this point I could record an album anywhere. I could go to Iceland and record in Bjork’s studio, or go to London and record with Nigel Godrich. You get into a mentality where you are surrounded by Vox guitars and you don’t feel like doing anything. Now you can hit the road because almost everyone has their little studio somewhere.

AL: When I first heard your new album it reminded me of the band Minimal Compact. They were a band from Israel, and the only one who toured outside of Israel, and they sound like a band where there’s a war going on all the time. So here we are in 2012, and Aufheben also sounds like a correspondent from a war.

Anton: Exactly. I am glad you are picking up on that. Absolutely. There is the whole Brave New World / 1984 aspect of our whole society. I knew that 2012 was coming. I love esoteric information. I have been a sucker for Leonard Nimoy’s “In Search Of” series. I love things that bump in the night. I don’t believe in ghosts but I love a ghost story. I wanted to make a 2012 album.

AL: What was it like working with Matt Hollywood again? You turn on the tape and Matt is in the room again. What was that like?

Anton: Very difficult. When I am cooking and I am in a manic fit, it is really difficult to keep up with me. I will keep going. I have energy that others’ don’t have. I will work on something for twelve hours. I can be around someone and make fun of them. I will write one of my best songs ever that is making fun of them. It’s like I am on one of those low budget kid shows from the 1970s. It’s good to do something goofy and keep people laughing. I am different from most of the bands who started around the same time as me. I am the opposite.

AL: How are you different?

Anton: I know how they work. A band like Metallica will just make up a hundred different parts and edit them together. Nirvana did this too. Then they will learn how to play the recording. I taught Peter Hayes how to play the guitar. He has improved over the years. He used to play like I did on Haight Street. It was tuned to one thing strumming like a hippie. It was like Syd Barrett just got out of a mental hospital. It was like Peter Hayes’ great contribution was telling a record company “Hey we got this band called BRMC and we are going to buy leather jackets and sunglasses and sound like the Jesus and Mary Chain.” And the record company eats it up. Another friend will go: “We are going to rip off Roky Erickson.” Another goes “We are going to record with Dave Fridmann…” Cool, that’s your plan.

AL: How about you?

Anton: My plan is I want my own studio.and I want full control. I sit there like I am in a boat. I am a sailor. I am not my 20-year old self when I first moved to San Francisco and I wanted to learn how to record. I know how to record. I just sit there in that boat and wait for the wind. If it doesn’t come that day I don’t sweat it. I apologize to the people around me. I’ll play around with some mini-moogs. I’ll do some cover song in some weird way, until I get some spark of creation. I am not thinking at all. I am mumbling words and taking dictation until I get something on tape and it’s done. I have no goals, but sometimes I come out of the studio with two or three songs. I want to get to a whole range of human emotions. I am into shamanism. I have to put myself into character. I will be like Daniel Day-Lewis. I will be this person so I can enter the world of songs. Except I am more like a modern shaman, or Ezekiel, and I here to throw the wrench into the devil’s plan. I am speaking from this voice which is like an undefined higher power.

AL: You are like this modern day Ezekiel, while most bands are just these “cool looking” hipster bands with the one hit. They disappear after a few years.

Anton: They just want fame. There are all these talent contests now. People today will smack some bum in the face with a brick just to be famous. It seemed like people like Courtney Taylor wanted to get in the mix with Ione Skye and everyone. More so than being free and being that other person that has something that I don’t have. That was his ticket to go his whole life. It was a different style than me.

AL: What does that mean?

Anton: If Courtney could have slapped down ten thousand dollars as an investment, and flipped that for one hundred million, out of the whole rock business. If he could have got the model girlfriend, and a property, and been able to talk about movies, and hang out with Ione Skye, he didn’t need the music. I always got that impression from that guy. He wanted to get to that dinner party where Shepard Fairey shows up, and knows who you are.

AL: There will always be those bands that have the one hit, and they think they are important, and as big as the Beatles, and in two years, they have broke up.

Anton: Exactly. I have an ace up my sleeve. I had an original plan where I was going to write a bunch of great songs first. I wanted to release everything in reverse. My oldest songs would actually be the songs I released before I quit. At one of our earliest shows in San Francisco at Peacock Lounge, we were talking to Warner Bros and they offered me a big deal. They told me: “You guys are the next Nirvana. What do you want?” I was talking to Travis Threlkel and Ricky Maymi backstage. I told my band: “Let’s just take a bunch of money and go to Brazil and never come back.” Just to fuck with the record company.

(PART TWO: Click here)




RIDE @ Fonda Theatre // 12.19.24 // THE PORTABLE INFINITE

All photos taken by Martin Worster