Hometown love

CENTERPIECE
The Big 10

San Diego is home to some serious talent – a look at the current local music scene

By Nina Garin
STAFF WRITER

December 30, 2004

San Diego's music scene is as diverse as the people who live here – rock and blues and hip-hop and Latin music all happily coexist under the sun.

Maybe this harmonious atmosphere explains why so many locals groups – including Switchfoot, P.O.D, Pinback and Nickel Creek – go on to become national stars.

With so much variety and talent here, it's never hard to find a good band to get fanatical and crazy about. But for those who need a little push, we explore some of the musicians who make up the current music scene in San Diego.

Some, like The Album Leaf and Louis XIV, are poised to be the "Next Big Thing." Others, like Lady Dottie and the Diamonds, just play music and sing because it's all they know, it's all they love.

We asked two music critics to pick five of their personal favorite groups. These are just a sampling of bands that keep San Diego's musical landscape fresh, thriving and always exciting.


THE ALBUM LEAF
HOMETOWN: San Diego

WHO THEY ARE: Jimmy LaValle – vocals, keys, guitar

Drew Andrews – guitar, keys, bass

Timothy Reece – drums

Matthew Resovich – violin

Andrew Pates – live visuals

THE SOUND: Brian Eno-inspired ambient electronic music

LATEST RELEASE: "In a Safe Place" (2004, Sub Pop Records)

ON THE WEB: www.albumleaf.com; www.subpop.com

NEXT LOCAL GIG: With Rogue Wave, 8:30 p.m. Jan. 20 at the Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd.; $12; (619) 232-HELL

THE SKINNY: The Album Leaf's music is so subtle and understated you might miss all the complexities and sonic layers occurring simultaneously. A closer listen reveals a weeping violin, toy Glockenspiels tinkling in the distance, the pitter-patter of quiet electronic drum loops, mumbled poetry and the sweeping, bubbling notes of an accordion.

Borrowing its name from a Chopin piece, the Album Leaf is the brainchild of Jimmy LaValle. A veteran of brilliant and varied San Diego bands like Tristeza, Gogogo Airheart and the Locust, LaValle teams with Black Heart Procession's Pall Jenkins and Icelandic indie rockers Sigur Ros on his latest creation, 2004's "In a Safe Place." LaValle recorded the disc in Iceland with Sigur Ros's Sundlaugin Studios in 2003.

"In a Safe Place" reflects the simple beauty of the Islandic landscape and deserves multiple playbacks. Listen closely: Behind all the subtleties you can hear the sound of a great San Diego band being born.

– CHRIS NIXON


ALFRED HOWARD & THE K23 ORCHESTRA
HOMETOWN: San Diego

WHO THEY ARE: Alfred Howard – rhymes, poems

Travis Daudert – guitar

Steve Craft – drums

Jeremy Eikam – bass

Aaron Irwin – percussion

Josh Rice – keyboards

THE SOUND: Hip-hop and improvisational funk influenced by the spoken-word poetry movement

LATEST RELEASE: "Live at Lestat's, Vols. I and II" (2004, self-released)

ON THE WEB: www.alhowardk23.com

NEXT LOCAL GIG: Free New Year's show, 9 p.m. tomorrow at Winston's, 1921 Bacon St. in Ocean Beach; http://winstonsob.com or (619) 222-6822.

THE SKINNY: Public Enemy's Chuck D. once called hip-hop "the black CNN." With rap's current focus on party tunes, red carpets and extravagant consumption, the lion's share of today's hip-hop is the musical equivalent of the E! Channel: inherently stupid, irrelevant and devoid of meaning or substance.

An East Coast transplant who now calls San Diego his home, Alfred Howard drops rhymes with staccato, machine-gun delivery and pinpoint accuracy, shooting down misconceptions about hip-hop while drowning out the poseur MCs. After migrating to San Diego, Howard hooked up with the five guys in the K23 Orchestra. The band provides a jazzy, percussion-driven backdrop heavily influenced by Miles Davis' funky 1970s fusion and the groove-oriented jazz of Karl Denson and the Greyboy Allstars.

While the band won Best Hip-Hop Group at the San Diego Music Awards in 2003 and 2004, Howard and the band clearly don't want to be associated with rap's mainstream (from "Disneyland History"): Turn on the rap station and I hear Nelly pound / And I know I've got more talent in my left pinkie fingernail clipping / And infinite more purity when I'm on the microphone ripping.

– CHRIS NIXON


CATTLE DECAPITATION
HOMETOWN: Downtown

WHO THEY ARE: Michael Laughlin, drums

Travis Ryan, vocals

Troy Oftedal, bass

Josh Elmore, guitar

WHAT THEY PLAY: Disturbing, pro-vegetarian death metal

LATEST RELEASE: "Humanure" on Metal Blade Records

ON THE WEB: www.cattledecapitation.com; www.metalblade.com

NEXT LOCAL GIG: The band leaves in January for a national tour that brings them to Los Angeles' Key Club on Feb. 2. A San Diego show is likely to be added, check the Web site for updates.

THE SKINNY: Cattle Decapitation is a gross band name; its song lyrics are even grosser. And the cover of this heavy metal group's album "Humanure," featuring bloody, human-infested cow feces, is the grossest thing of all. But underneath all that gore, is a seemingly well-adjusted group of vegetarians.

"I've always liked music that has some sort of sociological message," said Travis Ryan.

They may have a pro-vegetarian message, but it's very difficult to understand what the band is trying to say. Cattle Decapitation's music is a barrage of speedy guitars and vocals that are scary enough to freak out even Freddy and Jason. Still, since the band formed in 1998, its fan base has been growing so much that the guys will be on tour for the next four months, playing to a diverse crowd ranging from metal addicts to emo kids – because those who really listen will find that the band's noise-assault can be quite addicting. And, in the end, the group is sending leftist messages about human selfishness, overpopulation and the mistreatment of animals.

"I hope people don't take us too seriously," Ryan said about the band's gory reputation. "Everything is very tongue-in-cheek, very sarcastic."

– NINA GARIN


ARABELLA HARRISON
HOMETOWN: Spring Valley

WHO THEY ARE: She's solo, but when Harrison has live shows she performs with her band, Brothers and Sisters, featuring Grant Reinero, Ian Woodward, Chris Vanacore, Mike Scalia and Lisah Nicholson

THE SOUND: Romantic country fused with pop

LATEST RELEASE: Her self-titled debut EP will be released early next year on Better Looking Records

ON THE WEB: www.arabellaharrison.com

NEXT LOCAL GIG: Harrison is finishing up her album, so she won't be playing locally for a while. Her only scheduled gig is on Jan. 21 at Spaceland in Los Angeles.

THE SKINNY: Even though Harrison hasn't released an album yet, her voice is one of the most recognized in town. Harrison, also known as Araby, once sang with such now-defunct groups as Jejune and the And/Ors. She also appears on CDs by such San Diego stars as the Blackheart Procession, No Knife and Bartender's Bible.

But only in the last year did this Berklee School of Music graduate and full-time composer of TV commercials decide it was time to step out on her own. Raised in Hawaii, she moved to San Diego in 1995. She has the kind of voice that's both innocent and tortured – a little bit Joan Baez and a little bit Emmylou Harris, two women who influence her solo material.

"I grew up listening to Emmylou, Gram Parsons, the Band," she said. "So that's the style I go back to when I write my own songs."

Along with penning lyrics, Harrison also composes all the music parts, including guitar, bass, drums, piano and harmonica. After that, her friends in Brothers and Sisters bring in their own indie pop touches to give the music an idiosyncratic feel of its own.

– NINA GARIN


LADY DOTTIE AND THE DIAMONDS
HOMETOWN: Mid-City

WHO THEY ARE: Dorothy Mae Whitsett, vocals

Joe Guevara, piano-vocals

Steven Rey, stand-up bass

Nate Beale, guitar

Andy Robillard, drums

WHAT THEY PLAY: Old-fashioned blues with a modern twist

LATEST RELEASE: None; this is the kind of music you need to hear live.

ON THE WEB: www.henryspub.com

NEXT LOCAL GIG: Every Monday night at the Tower Bar on University Ave.; Wednesday nights at Henry's Pub in the Gaslamp.

THE SKINNY: Without even realizing it, 60-year-old Whitsett has created a San Diego supergroup. Her old-fashioned blues band, Lady Dottie and the Diamonds, is made up, not of aging blues rockers, but of young, hipster musicians.

But Whitsett, a cook at the Mission Cafe, doesn't care that she's playing with members from Gogogo Airheart and Jejune. Sh's just interested in their skills.

"The only time we practice is when we're playing," she says. "Well, really, they all just follow me."

While the band doesn't perform original music, its covers of Etta James and Aretha Franklin songs are gritty and passionate enough to sound like the real thing. The band fuses a rollicking piano with sultry stand-up bass, but the show-stealer is the Alabama-bred Whitsett. Her voice sounds like a combination of all the greatest blues albums you've ever heard.

"I've been singing all my life," she said. "Not in a money-making way; I've just been singing the blues for fun. That's sufficient enough for me."

– NINA GARIN


BUNKY
HOMETOWN: San Diego

WHO THEY ARE: Emily Joyce – vocals, drums

Rafter Roberts – vocals, guitar

THE SOUND: Playful, raucous, shiny, indie pop

LATEST RELEASE: "Born to Be a Motorcycle" (Officially due in stores March 2005, but available now at Asthmatic Kitty Records' Web site)

ON THE WEB: www.bunkymusic.com; www.asthmatickitty.com

NEXT LOCAL GIG: None scheduled.

THE SKINNY: The boy-girl duo Bunky simply and eloquently exudes a quirky innocence and a pure love for each other that finds its way into every note they play. Together, they form a one-two indie pop punch. Emily croons with her sweet good girl vocals; Rafter rocks the guitars and shouts riotous choruses.

Collectively, they are Bunky: a little sweet, a little tough, mostly busting with exuberant joy. The duo surrounds themselves with San Diego's best musical refugees – from Pinback, the Album Leaf and Rocket From the Crypt, to name a few. Roberts remains a pillar of the local scene, performing as a member of the Black Heart Procession and Gogogo Airheart and producing numerous San Diego bands while making a living creating advertising jingles for Visa, Hot Wheels, Panasonic and U.S. Cellular.

Bunky's debut album, "Born to Be a Motorcycle," finally gives critics something to talk about. Both the album and the group are worth the chatter.

– CHRIS NIXON


LOUIS XIV
HOMETOWN: San Diego

WHO THEY ARE: Jason Hill – vocals, guitar

Brian Karscig – guitar, vocals

Mark Maigaard – drums

Jimmy – bass

THE SOUND: Gritty retro psychedelic rock

LATEST RELEASE: "Blue and Pink EPs" (2005, Atlantic Records)

ON THE WEB: www.louisxiv.net

NEXT LOCAL GIG: Big Night California with the Violent Femmes, 9 p.m. tomorrow at Qualcomm Stadium; $109.99-$179.99; (619) 220-TIXS.

THE SKINNY: Rising from the ashes of San Diego supergroup Convoy, Louis XIV packs enough attitude and rock history IQ to evoke images of 1960s era Kinks or early Rolling Stones. After gaining local cred and national attention (the Convoy boys starred in a Sheraton commercial covering the Stones' "Let's Spend the Night Together"), Convoy members Brian Karscig, Jason Hill and Mark Maigaard released the self-titled "Louis XIV" in 2003.

Since then, the quartet released a few EPs, traveled to the SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas, stunned record label execs with their performance, signed a major-label deal with Atlantic Records and plan to record new studio album soon. Not bad for a year's work.

– CHRIS NIXON


MAIZ
HOMETOWN: South Bay

WHO THEY ARE: Karlos Paez, vocals-trumpet

Damian DeRobbio, bass

Mike Cannon, percussion

WHAT THEY PLAY: Mexi-reggae

LATEST RELEASE: "Feed Your Spirit (Alimenta tu Espiritu)" on West Up Records

ON THE WEB: www.bsideplayers.com

NEXT LOCAL GIG: None scheduled, but B-Side Players (Paez leads the band) will perform Jan. 8 at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach.

THE SKINNY: There are two kinds of reggae in this town: the kind that fraternity boys like to play at their parties and the kind that's socially conscious. With its lyrics about poverty and oppression, Maiz is definitely of the socially conscious variety.

Maiz, Spanish for the inexpensive corn product used in Latin American countries, has a repertoire of songs in both English and Spanish. Singer Karlos Paez, best known as the leader of the popular Latin dance band B-Side Players, soulfully wails about indigenous workers and not trusting the government.

But the band isn't all about being serious. With its horn-tinged song and beats that are similar to the classic Kingston, Jamaica, sound, Maiz can also get a crowd to groove. But a Bob Marley clone, Maiz is not – Paez and his band fuse plenty of Latin rhythms to keep their sound distinctly San Diegan.

– NINA GARIN


SCARLET SYMPHONY
HOMETOWN: La Mesa

WHO THEY ARE: Gary Hankins, vocals

Zach Wheeler, bass

Aaron Swanton, guitar-vocals

Josh Wheeler, drums

THE SOUND: Jazz-dance-rock

LATEST RELEASE: "Vulture" on Phantoms Records

ON THE WEB: www.scarletsymphony.com

NEXT LOCAL GIG: The Casbah's New Year's Eve party, 8:30 p.m. tomorrow; 2501 Kettner Blvd.; www.casbahmusic.com or (619) 220-TIXS.

THE SKINNY: Scarlet Symphony could have been superfamous by now. If the fashionable rockers signed a contract with Island or Sony Records like they almost did, the boys just might have been hosting MTV's New Year's Eve in Times Square. But, by choice, Scarlet Symphony did not sign a big record deal and the band will be playing their New Year's Eve show here at home. The quartet, whose oldest member is 23, felt that creative control of their schizophrenic music was more important than big money and becoming best friends with Paris Hilton.

Since forming a year and a half ago, this La Mesa-based group has been sparking up the music scene with its mix of rock, pop, jazz and electronic music. After playing close to three shows a week for almost a year, the band has the kind of loyal following that those big labels dream about. But the band has decided to release its upcoming album on its own label early next year. And if the guys can sell their old tour van, they might make enough money to get back to Japan, where they recently finished a small but successful tour.

Scarlet Symphony – which includes identical twin brothers Zach and Josh Wheeler – cites musicians like David Bowie, Patti Smith and Joh Coltrane as influences. "We haven't decided what kind of band we are," said Aaron Swanton. "We just play whatever comes out."

– NINA GARIN


THE SULTANS
HOMETOWN: San Diego

WHO THEY ARE: Slasher (John Reis) – guitar, vocals

Tony DiPrima – drums, vocals

Black Velvet (Dean Reis) – bass

THE SOUND: Growling, snarled punk rock put through a power-pop filter for easier consumption.

LATEST RELEASE: "Shipwrecked" (2004, Swami Records)

ON THE WEB: www.alhowardk23.com

NEXT LOCAL GIG: The Sultans don't have a local gig in the works, but Reis' seminal band, Rocket From the Crypt, plays the Casbah on Jan. 16 to celebrate the club's 16th anniversary; 2501 Kettner Blvd.; (619) 232-HELL or www.casbahmusic.

THE SKINNY: While not as ballistic as Hot Snakes or as popular as Rocket From the Crypt, the Sultans trio remains a hidden San Diego treasure cranking out tasty power pop. John Reis – who also runs Swami Records (Beehive and the Barracudas, RFTC, the Husbands) – teams with brother Dean and RFTC drummer Tony DiPrima.

When you watch the Sultans live, you can see John Reis let loose in his onstage persona Slasher. For the Sultans, says John Reis, "It's nice to make music with your brother and hang out." The Sultans 2004 gem, "Shipwrecked," was overlooked, so go back and check it out yourself.

– CHRIS NIXON

First Nights in S.D.

NIGHT LIFE
Fun for all

Have a rockin' family New Year's Eve at First Night

By Chris Nixon
December 30, 2004

Tired of taking care of out-of-control friends on New Year's Eve? Looking for a festive atmosphere to bring your kids, but hoping you won't be embarrassed by humanity and its penchant for excess during the annual holiday?

Two local New Year's Eve events implement concepts not normally associated with the traditionally boozy holiday: alcohol free and family friendly.

Both First Night San Diego near Seaport Village in downtown San Diego and North County's First Night Escondido focus on providing safe, kid-oriented celebrations for fiesta partakers.

"We try to incorporate the involvement of as many groups, organizations and individuals as is possible," says First Night San Diego organizer Patti Brooks. "We're about positive collaboration (between different) interests, attitudes, ages, talents, artistic endeavors and backgrounds."

Now in its 13th year, First Night San Diego will fill the Embarcadero Marina Park North, located near Seaport Village, with seven hours of music, karaoke, contests, food and fireworks. The party begins with a kickoff parade including the Eden Prairie Marching Band from Eden Prairie, Minn.

First Night S.D. features six stages of country, rock 'n' roll, Latin, oldies, big band, contemporary and jazz. At midnight, fireworks will light up the skies over San Diego Bay.

"Alcohol-free means safe," says Brook. "Family friendly means we encourage participation of people of all ages. We are about diversity. At the same time, we like to encourage families celebrating as a unit."

Escondido's massive First Night party celebrates 10 years this year, featuring more than 30 performers on 12 stages in the area surrounding the California Center for the Arts, Escondido.

First Night Escondido offers a wide variety of musical types and entertainment options: from mimes to Motown, from classical to country. The Escondido party also puts an emphasis on satisfying the needs, and early bedtimes, of kids by lighting fireworks at 8 p.m. along with the traditional midnight fireworks show. First Night Escondido has reasons for teens to stick around, too, with a battle of the bands giving the spotlight to young and up-and-coming local acts.

Particle Article

It's difficult to get bored with Particle

By Chris Nixon
December 23, 2004
San Diego Union-Tribune

Despite the onslaught of studio trickery and overdubbed live shows (see Ashlee Simpson's recent "performance" on "Saturday Night Live"), connecting with a live crowd and enhancing the dance remains central to a musician's artistic and commercial success.


Such late-'60s hippie bands as the Grateful Dead knew it. The early 1990s East Coast jam band renaissance, which fostered the careers of Phish, Blues Traveler and the Spin Doctors, embraced it.

Now, a new generation of bands applies the improvisational style of the Dead and Phish to DJ and electronic dance music cultures. Through constant touring and Internet trading of live recordings, these young lions build a grassroots audience and spread the word through nontraditional means.

Leading the way is West Coast quartet Particle, whose musical DNA consists of electronic dance music – formed around trance-inducing beats and synthesizer-driven melodies – along with a improvisational counterculture jam-band mentality. The group strives for a more human interaction between audience and performer, fueled equally by binary code and organic instrumentation. But drummer Darren Pujalet emphasizes the band's natural elements.

DATEBOOK

Particle
8 p.m. Wednesday; 4th & B, 345 B St, downtown; $13; (619) 231-4343

"If you come to a Particle show, you'll see that I play a lot of dance-oriented and electronic-styled grooves and riffs," Pujalet said during a cell phone conversation recently from his home base in Manhattan Beach. "But you'll also notice it's much more improvisational-based than most DJ dance music. We try to craft music that is more heartbeat oriented. If you start running, your heart is not beating fast right away. But after a minute or so, you're chugging pretty good."

James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, often describes his form of funk as "on the one." With their penchant for utilizing technology, Particle might describe its version of improv electronic funk as "on the ones and zeros."

The kids following and digging on Particle's music are not the "Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" freaks of the 1960s or the trust-fund hippies of the 1990s. They are a tech-savvy eclectic crowd, comprehending the '60s infatuation with free form jams, '70s disco clichés and '80s kitsch.

Particle gigs are no doubt dance-friendly affairs, summoning the essence of J.B.'s funk with a new-school spin. The growing legions of the band's fans – dubbed "Particle People" – freely trade live shows online to spread the word.

Bassist Eric Gould, keyboardist Steve Molitz, guitarist Charlie Hitchcock and Pujalet formed Particle in the autumn of 2000. Four years and more than 500 shows later, the band released its debut studio album, "Launchpad."

Produced by Tom Rothrock (Beck, Moby, Coldplay, Foo Fighters), the disc contains 10 tracks of condensed Particle complete with ripping solos by Hitchcock and Molitz's space-age synth work.

For the guys in Particle, the process of boiling their live jams down to the essence wasn't difficult.

"In the live context, you can take your time and write a whole chapter, just take your time and craft your words and speak randomly at times," says Pujalet, who attended San Diego State University in the mid-'90s. "But in the studio, you have to confine that chapter into a paragraph. And you have to really get your point across quickly."

And Particle's talking points seemed to connect with critics across the country, garnering the band rave reviews from the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and New Yorker magazine among others. The band just returned from its first European tour and plans to tour internationally well into 2005.

But for Pujalet, the main objective remains connecting with the audience on a deeper level.

"When I play in front of somebody," said Pujalet, who will play with Particle Wednesday at 4th & B downtown for a special Particle People Appreciation Show, "if I can take them away from their daily lives and responsibilities for even five minutes, I've done my job."

Chris Nixon is San Diego writer.

Stranger In A Strange Land

Neko Case was 'struck with terror' during her first live recording, but she soldiered on

By Chris Nixon
December 2, 2004
San Diego Union-Tribune

What happens when you get some of the world's top minds together to talk about their work? If you're vocalist Neko Case, you engage the group by getting them to sing along with an old-time hymn.

In June 2003, Case recorded a version of the traditional song "Wayfaring Stranger" along with 300 audience members of the ideaCity Conference.

"You get 20 minutes to be a genius about something," says Case, taking a break from recording her upcoming studio album. "I'm not even closely related to a genius, so I had to trick them by making them participate in some singing. I wanted to show them what making a recording was like and how easy it was to make music."

Captured live at the Isabel Bader Theatre in Toronto, "Wayfaring Stranger" is the final track on Case's newly released collection of 11 live performances titled "The Tigers Have Spoken." Recorded over seven nights in Chicago and Toronto during 2003 and 2004, the process of making a live album turned out to be anything but easy for the fiery singer.

Neko Case
Neko Case, with the Sadies and Dexter Romweber
8 p.m. Sunday; Brick by Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave., Bay Park; $15; (619) 275-5483

Born: Sept. 8, 1970 in Alexandria, Va.
Raised: Tacoma, Wash.
School: Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Has worked with: the Sadies, Calexico, the New Pornographers, the Corn Sisters

Discography:
"The Virginian" – 1998
"Furnace Room Lullaby" – 2000
"Blacklisted" – 2002
"The Tigers Have Spoken" – 2004

Influences:

Hometown heroes
"There was a band called Girl Trouble in my hometown, which was a big influence on me. They were one of the first bands that I hung out with, and they had a lady who was a drummer in their band and I thought they were the coolest. They weren't the bad macho punk rock going on at the time. It was so self-conscious and uptight and lame. There was no melody left. And Girl Trouble was like this bright shining star. They were so unself-conscious that they would spontaneously start dancing during their concerts and be silly and just have fun. Ladies were invited, for a change. They seemed to get a lot of joy out of everything involved with being in their band. So they were a big deal to me."

Banded together
"I was heavily influenced by all the bands I was in, especially Maow. I learned everything about being in the music business from Maow, those tough ladies. We all sang, we all played instruments. We all chopped the wood, you know?"

Hallelujah
"I was really influenced by gospel music, which is weird I guess because I'm not really a religious person. But I love the passion of it. Bessie Griffin and the Staple Singers are a really big deal to me. I love a lot of really obscure records too, like the Gospelaires of Dayton, Ohio."

"I went into the project thinking it was going to be quite easy, but soon thereafter I was struck with terror," admits Case. "I didn't think I'd be nervous at the shows, but I guess whenever there's a giant recording truck outside, I get nervous. We were all nervous. We wanted to do a good job."

Born in Virginia and raised in Tacoma, Wash., Case developed her artistry while living in Vancouver. While attending art school in Canada, she first hit the music scene as drummer and vocalist for the punk trio Maow. Punk-rock drummers tend to be fierce and passionate by nature. So when Case decided to tackle the role of country singer-songwriter, her intense approach and her firebrand voice set her apart from the crowd.

"I think a lot of this music wasn't made in an attempt to get something for it; it was made to express something genuinely," says Case. "It's a very satisfied kind of music ... very uniting and universal. And I don't really think you have to translate it. The way it's sung and the way it's performed, people can relate."

Case fired her first shots in the roots revolution with "The Virginian" in 1998, followed by 2000's "Furnace Room Lullaby" and the top-notch album "Blacklisted" in 2002. Both her solo albums and her work with Canadian retro-popsters the New Pornographers have won Case the adoration of fans and critical raves.

And now Case is lazing about in her pajamas on a sunny day in Tucson, Ariz., hanging out with her dog, Lloyd, and reflecting on the experience of recording a live album.

"You can never really be objective about your sound," says Case, who recorded the disc with the Toronto band the Sadies ("my favorite live band ever"). "So that was another thing: I had to let go of a lot of control. I'm a big control freak in the studio. Not like a tyrant or anything, but I'm kind of hard on myself.

"So there are parts of my performance where I have to say, 'Well, it's live.' There are errors in it, but it's what I wanted to make. I wanted to make a live record and not cheat. And I feel proud that we all accomplished that."

Chris Nixon is a San Diego writer.

Lovely Latinas

'It's been a very rich experience'

'Latinas' tour brings together three diverse talents

By Chris Nixon
November 4, 2004
San Diego Union-Tribune

Three different singers. Three different backgrounds. Three styles of music. For Mariana Montalvo (Chile), Belo Veloso (Brazil) and Toto la Momposina (Colombia), Putumayo World Music's "Latinas: Women of South America" tour represents a chance to connect with kindred musicians and share sisterhood with fellow Latinas.

"Between us, there is a very good exchange," says the 51-year-old Montalvo by phone in English, her third language after Spanish and French. Her tour bus hums in the background as it speeds between concerts during this current Putumayo tour.

"We spend a lot of time together on the bus," she said of the touring group. "There are 20 of us, with the musicians. The road is tiring. But sometimes we take out the guitars on the bus and we jam together. We learn from each other new instruments or songs. It's been a very rich experience."

Organized by the world music label Putumayo, this group of 20 musicians will hit 29 cities in six weeks in support of the compilation CD "Women of Latin America." The disc brings together the music of Lila Downs and Susana Baca along with Montalvo, Veloso and la Momposina, offering the listener a chance to hear the feminine perspectives of Latino music.

Montalvo's own story mirrors the experiences of many Latinas.

Born and raised in Chile, the assassination of Salvador Allende and the violent military coup of Augusto Pinochet forced Montalvo's family to flee the country in 1974 and resettle in Paris.

But the young Mariana carried with her Chile's traditions and music. She particularly connected with a music movement called nueva cancion or "new song."

Born in the 1970s during Pinochet's brutal dictatorship, nueva cancion combines traditional Chilean music with contemporary sounds. Like many artists living under dictatorships, the nueva cancion musicians were forced to compose lyrics using the language of allegory and metaphor, never condemning Pinochet by name but implying criticism by telling a simple story.

Montalvo identified with this form of lyricism and used her own version in her music.

"In nueva cancion, you compose your songs to say something," emphasizes Montalvo. "It's not completely traditional. It's 'new traditional' with words that are important. In the Chilean nueva cancion, nothing is more important than the words."

Montalvo also embodies one of Putumayo's core principles: Music can help us connect with and understand each other cross-culturally.

On her 2004 release "Piel de aceituna" ("Olive skinned"), she integrates music from all over South America, along with touches of Parisian wistfulness and African rhythms.

"I think that 80 percent of our music comes not only from Chile but from all over Latin America: rhythms and melodies," says Montalvo. "On the last album, I also translated some French songs into Spanish and I surrounded the words with traditional Latin American instruments.

"I also sang with an African singer and I translated the fado from Portugal. When I like something that touches me, I take it and I incorporate it."

Montalvo believes cross-cultural awareness may be our only hope for a peaceful coexistence worldwide.

"Culture is not about marketing or money," said Montalvo, who will perform at UCSD's Mandeville Auditorium with Veloso and la Momposina on Sunday. "For me, it's about music and the exchange with other people. You can do this really easily because every culture has music. You can meet singers from all over the world. In this Putumayo tour, there is really a musical exchange between the three different singers.

"For me, culture is the only thing that can save this world. When you put people together who don't like one another because of governments or other problems and you make them sing together or make music together or do theater together, there is no problem between them."

On the "Latinas" tour, Montalvo has felt the musical connection firsthand, feeling the bonds of sisterhood with her tourmates: "We have different backgrounds and different personal stories. And we sing our stories. We have different musical languages but the same soul."

Chris Nixon is San Diego writer.

Datebook

"Latinas: Women of Latin America," with Mariana Montalvo, Toto la Momposina and Belo Veloso

8 p.m. Sunday; Mandeville Auditorium, UCSD campus, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla; $22-$32; (619) 220-TIXS

A river runs through company's veins

About Putumayo
Stretching 980 miles from the hills of Colombia to the Amazon River, the Putumayo River cuts through the South American rain forests and remains a major transportation route for commerce.

Dan Storper traveled through the region in 1974. The entrepreneur was struck by the river's beauty and named his clothing company after it.

Started in 1991 by Storper, the Putumayo World Music label brings diverse groups of artists together on its compilations, often focusing on different parts of the world: "Brasiliero," "Congo to Cuba" and "Women of Latin America."

The label introduces mainstream America to international artists rarely heard on commercial radio, widening our musical horizons. The albums tend to favor artists who update traditional music, adding contemporary sounds to the world music genre while staying true to the essence of customs and culture.

While the compilations avoid music too challenging or noisy for the mellow listener, they try to give exposure to deserving artists such as Africa's Oliver Mtukudzi and Brazil's Chico Cesar and Mariana Montalvo.

The Artists

Toto La Momposina: Emerging from the Island of Mompos in Colombia's Magdelena River, the "Queen of Cumbia" melds sweet lyricism and the swaying rhythms of South America. One listen to her beautiful voice, her infectious traditional music and her amazing lyrics should help spread the word in this country.

Belo Veloso: Many words have been written to describe Brazil's bossa nova and tropicalia music: quiet, subtle, sensuous. Vocalist Belo Veloso embodies all of these words, and for good reason. She hails from one of Brazil's most celebrated musical families. Growing up the niece of Caetano Veloso and Maria Bethania, Belo Veloso comes by her smooth jazz-tinged vocal style and orchestrated compositions honestly.

– CHRIS NIXON

Localese: Alfred Howard

Localese

By Chris Nixon
September 16, 2004
San Diego Union-Tribune

With the emergence of spoken word and the Def Poetry Slam in the 1990s, the link between poetry and hip-hop culture developed a concrete connection. In the past few years, spoken-word poet Alfred Howard has solidified the connection further by adding a live band playing fusion, funk and soul. Howard published a collection of poems titled "Serpentine Highway" (Altered States Press) in 2002, then put the lyrics to music with his band, the K23 Orchestra. The San Diego-based band also released "Kudra" and won the San Diego Music Awards Best Hip-Hop Band in 2003.

Beginning with the aptly titled "Bleeding Polished Cacophony," Howard furthers his poetic output with "14 Days of the Universe in Incandescent Bloom" (self-release, HHH). Drummer John Staten – who also mans the drum kit for Karl Denson's Tiny Universe – adds percussive flavor to the poet's articulate musings. While K23 Orchestra vets Travis Daudert (guitar), Josh Rice (keyboards) and Aaron Irwin (percussion) contribute to the disc, the album's 23 tracks focus on Howard's skills as a wordsmith.

On another note, I'd like to give a hearty toast to San Diego's own punk stalwarts, the Dragons, who, after righteously representing S.D., are calling it quits after 13 years. After many rocking nights at the Casbah and numerous "Exile on Kettner" shows, the boys always gave it all for their shows. Cheers.

Finally, I'd like to invite everyone to help participate in the local music scene by voting for their favorite bands in conjunction with the upcoming San Diego Music Awards. You can vote at www.sandiegomusicawards.com. The ceremonies will be held Sept. 28 at Humphrey's by the Bay. All proceeds from San Diego Music Awards events are used to purchase guitars for elementary schools in San Diego County.

Chris Nixon is a San Diego writer.

Dada dreamers

The Pixies return for a fall tour – 'It seemed interesting again'

By Chris Nixon
September 16, 2004
San Diego Union-Tribune

The 1980s stretched across 10 long years, a time when disco and glam heavy metal dominated the charts. But in the late '80s, the Pixies rocketed out of Massachusetts, blowing apart the money-grubbing hairspray posers and the limp balladry dominating the American airwaves.

Despite their short recording career (1987-1991), leader Frank Black and his cohorts churned out five of alternative rock's best albums. The Boston band's gigantic sound set the stage for the grunge revolution, which blew formulaic pop music off the charts for a few years in the early '90s. Nirvana, for one, often apologized for ripping off the Pixies.

DATEBOOK

The Pixies with the Thrills
6:30 p.m. Tuesday; RIMAC Arena, UCSD campus, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla; $36; (619) 220-TIXS.

But in the beginning, there was surrealism. And it was good.

Charles Michael Kitridge Thompson IV's tutelage at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst only lasted a year or two, but the future rock star discovered his passion for the surrealist masters during his short collegiate tenure. Thompson – later known as Black Francis and later still as Frank Black – had his head set afire with maniacal dada musings and surrealist images from the likes of Luis Bu×uel and Salvador Dali. The beautiful thing about Black and the Pixies: they didn't take themselves too seriously, but you knew they meant every nonsensical word.

"It's not like you have to sing a song about what happened to you on the way to the store the other day," says Black from his home in Oregon. "It's OK to make stuff up and rhyme a bunch of words and be crazy and weird."

The Pixies
Hometown: Boston, Mass.

The lineup
Frank Black (vocals, guitar)
Kim Deal (bass, vocals)
Joey Santiago (guitar)
David Lovering (drums)

Discography
"Wave of Mutilation: The Best of the Pixies" 2004 (compilation)
"Pixies at the BBC" 1998 (live)
"Death to the Pixies" 1998 (compilation)
"Trompe Le Monde" 1991
"Bossanova" 1990
"Doolittle" 1990
"Surfer Rosa" 1988
"Come On Pilgrim" 1987

"This ain't the planet of soouwwund!!!!!" yowls Black on the Pixies great 1991 disc, "Trompe Le Monde." The quartet did create its own atmosphere, weather systems and gravitational forces.

Joey Santiago's buzz-tone surf guitar renderings, Kim Deal's ethereal call-and-response with Black's guttural vocal musings and drummer David Lovering's pounding pulse held the maelstrom together.

In 1992, the Pixies' planet of sound fell silent. Deal went on to form the Breeders with sister Kelly. Black had his solo career. Santiago produced and performed in projects like the Martinis. Lovering became a magician.

But a chapter seemed to be missing from the Pixies' story. With a fall tour and rumors of a possible new studio album, 2004 finds the Pixies back to finish the book.

When asked why the Pixies recently rekindled the spark that started alternative rock, Frank Black simply says: "the dough." You get points for honesty, Frank. But to his credit he adds, "And the fact I suppose that it had been a long time since we did it. It seemed interesting again. Before, after five or six years it had started to become boring. Now, we've had this extended sabbatical and it doesn't seem so boring anymore."

Surrealistic pillow talk
Whether telling tales of monkeys ascending to heaven or expounding on the benefits of elevators, Pixies lead singer and vocalist Frank Black explores the non-narrative world of dada and surrealism in his songwriting. Here are the artists and musicians who made Black unreal:

THE DARK DIRECTOR OF MIDNIGHT MOVIES:
David Lynch

Black: "My influences primarily would be from the world of film. The most contemporary guy that had an influence on me as I started to write what was to become my first Pixies songs would be David Lynch and his most famous midnight movie 'Eraserhead.' He is what I would consider a surrealist filmmaker and probably one of the few out there right now. There is not too many times when I walk down to the mall, walk into a film and say, 'Wow, that was a truly surreal film.' So I have to give him a lot of credit.

THE CLASSIC SURREALISTS:
Dali and Bunuel

Black: "I wasn't a real good student and I dropped out, but I was able to extract a few things from that experience. When I was in college, I was into all the classic surrealist film guys, whether it was Luis Bu×uel or Salvador Dali. This is all pretty stock stuff. You learn about surrealist filmmakers from the 1920s and the surrealist art movement."

THE ROCK DADAISTS:
Dylan and the Beatles

Black: "I will give credit to Bob Dylan and the Beatles for being so famous and having such a huge impact on popular music. In the big mainstream kind of way, it was those two artists who really presented the world with surrealist images or a non-narrative type of rock lyric. It became just a part of pop music. Even before I discovered David Lynch, I was a little kid listening to the Beatles or Bob Dylan singing 'Quinn the Mighty Eskimo.' You know, 'Come all without, come all within. You'll not see nothing like the Mighty Quinn.' So it didn't seem unusual to me to incorporate that type of lyric. It didn't really seem wrong to me to pursue something that was non-narrative."

– CHRIS NIXON

With a highly publicized reunion at this year's gigantic Coachella Festival in Indio followed by a hugely successful tour, the Pixies seem to be firing on all cylinders.

Everyone's really enjoying it and everyone's playing really well," says Black. "Kim is singing really great. And I have had some voice lessons, so I don't blow my voice out as quickly as I used to. So I find it pleasurable to be able to keep singing the high notes. Everyone's a little bit better than they were before because of experience."

But will the Pixies return to churning out records a decade after turning the rock world on its head?

"I have no problem with it," says Black nonchalantly. "The gigs are still good and the couple of recording sessions we've had have gone really well. We want to be creative, we don't want to only make money."

Chris Nixon is a San Diego writer.

Prototype vs. Posers

The face in the 'mirror'

For Korn's Jonathan Davis, introspection put the band on the path back to its roots

By Chris Nixon
September 2, 2004
San Diego Union-Tribune

Originators transcend labels. Metallica knew this. Nirvana knew this. And Korn knows this now.

While Metallica dealt with thrash metal imitators flooding the market in the 1980s and the media saddled Nirvana with the "grunge" moniker in the 1990s, the Bakersfield-bred quintet spawned a whole generation of rap-rock clowns miming the band's fierce music.

DATEBOOK

Projekt Revolution with Korn, Linkin Park, Snoop Dogg and the Used
Doors open 1:30 p.m., tomorrow; Coors Amphitheatre, 2050 Entertainment Circle, Chula Vista; $38-$53.50; (619) 220-TIXS

"We're not 'rap rock,' we're not 'nu-metal,' " says Korn lead singer Jonathan Davis from his Los Angeles home. "We might have invented a new genre of heavy music or rock, but I believe the term 'nu-metal' was made up for all the bands that followed us. Those guys to me are nu-metal. And we're just Korn.

"When Metallica came out, you couldn't call them a thrash band," elaborates Davis. "They were just Metallica. Tons of bands came out after them that sounded just like them. But they are still Metallica. And it's the same with Nirvana and the whole grunge thing. Along with Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, they created a whole movement. They always come up with a word for it, but for me it's to label all the followers."

Bands like Korn and Limp Bizkit forged a new sound in the late 1990s, melding aspects of heavy metal, turntable scratching and rhythmic hip-hop-influenced vocals and grunge's introspective lyricism. Limp Bizkit came off as whiny; Korn was simply scary. With wild-eyed creepiness and bombastic guitar riffs, Davis and his compadres scored a huge hit in their 1994 double-platinum self-titled album.

Korn
Hometown: Bakersfield

Discography:
"Take a Look in the Mirror" (2003)
"Untouchables" (2002)
"Issues" (1999)
"Follow the Leader" (1998)
"Life Is Peachy" (1996)
"Korn" (1994)

The lineup:
Jonathan Davis (vocals, bagpipes)
Reginald "Fieldy Snuts" Arvizu (bass)
David Silveria (drums, percussion)
James "Munky" Shaffer (guitars)
Brian "Head" Welch (guitars)

– CHRIS NIXON

Despite the glut of rich suburban kids with backward baseball caps shouting about their pained existences, Korn continued to sidestep the posers with 1996's "Life Is Peachy" (double platinum), 1998's "Follow the Leader" (quintuple platinum) and 1999's "Issues" (triple platinum).

After selling almost 20 million albums in its first seven years, Korn decided to create a more textured, finely crafted album in 2002's "Untouchables." The album still went platinum, but fell short of sales expectations. With the rap-rock movement waning and more mainstream singer-songwriters such as Norah Jones, Dave Matthews and John Mayer retaking the airwaves, Korn's once-soaring popularity seemed on the decline.

With the band's most recent studio release "Take a Look in the Mirror," Davis and the band decided to circle the wagons and return to Korn's original raw sound. The album also marked the group's first self-produced effort.

"It was a total return to our roots, back to basics," says Davis. "We did 'Untouchables' and it went over everybody's head. So we went back to our roots. We said, 'Let's go back to what we did back in the day.' "

Give my regards
to Broadway
Growing up in Bakersfield, Jonathan Davis' first exposure to music came from the bright lights of Broadway: "The first thing that got me into music was probably Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Jesus Christ Superstar.' The music was amazing, so I loved it to death. Then it went from Andrew Lloyd Webber to Christian death metal, Skinny Puppy, Duran Duran and Depeche Mode."

Hip-hop, hooray

"From there I got into hip-hop, like in '81 when it first came out. In the early '80s I was into hip-hop for a while. It was pretty easy for me to get the early hip-hop albums, 'cause I was a DJ. I would spin and do dances at schools. I was really into it. I was listening to N.W.A., Rob Base, Eric B. and Rakim, L.L. Cool J and all of that old-school stuff. That's what I loved."

Confessions of a shock rocker

"I really didn't get into rock and heavy metal until just before I got into the band. I listened to Slayer a bit when I was a kid. Slayer and Pantera were the two bands that blew me away. Just recently, I've been listening to a lot of death metal, Cannibal Corpse and bands like that."

– CHRIS NIXON

Rampant illegal downloading of Korn's last two albums has also hurt sales. Though many artists encourage trading their music online, Davis' views have changed on the subject over the past few years.

"I'm not in favor of downloading," states Davis. "At first I was, because we don't make any money off of it. But now we're doing our own thing and we're working so hard on it. No one knows how hard it is to make a record. It's long grueling hours away from my family. I love doing it. Don't get me wrong; it's my passion in life. But when you work so hard and somebody just comes along and steals it? That's not cool."

With the music industry going through some tough times, 2004 finds Korn taking steps to reverse the trend. First the band is joining with Linkin Park, Snoop Dogg and the Used for the Projekt Revolution tour, which stops at Chula Vista's Coors Amphitheatre tomorrow. They are also breaking away from Epic Records, to self-release all future albums.

"Everything's changed. The music industry is dead now. There is a lot of (crappy) music coming out now. Downloading is kind of killing it too. (Record labels) are only trying to sign bands that are going to be one-hit wonders. The bands have a hit, sell a million records and then they can't deliver on the next one. They (record companies) stopped developing artists by signing a band, putting them on the road, putting the money into them and watching them grow. That's exactly what Epic Records did back when Richard Griffiths was president there. They believed in us and put us out there, and we ended up being one of the biggest rock bands in the world.

"We're putting out our greatest hits record, which is our last album for Epic," adds Davis about the planned Oct. 19 Epic release. "So we're getting off our label and we're going to put out our own albums now. It's going to be self-published, no label. So it's exciting times for us. Exciting and scary."

Chris Nixon is a San Diego writer.

Swedish sweaters

'You're getting the good Swedish stuff'

By Chris Nixon
August 12, 2004
San Diego Union-Tribune

Since the insidiously infectious music of ABBA exploded into the worldwide market during the 1970s, Sweden's main musical exports have consisted of vacuous, flavor-of-the-month pop. From Roxette to Ace of Base, the Nordic country tucked between Finland and Norway historically has churned out Top 40 fodder whose credo is "all-style, no substance."

Underneath all the spangles and pomp of Sweden's pop exports, a real rock scene developed. The current wave of Swedish rock bands – including the Hives, the Soundtrack of Our Lives, Sahara Hotnights and the Hellacopters – shed the sugary fluff for more significant riffs, more substantial melodies and tougher lyrics.

Spanning the gap between shiny pop and gritty rock, the Cardigans opened the door for legitimate rock bands to find audiences outside of Sweden.

"I'm not saying we had anything to do with it, but it did seem that when we started to get outside the borders of this country – maybe eight or nine years ago – things started to change," says guitarist and primary songwriter Peter Svensson from his home in Stockholm. "More real bands started to be heard outside of Sweden, not just the record company product.

"The record companies are really slow and dumb. If one band is breaking or making it, they immediately start to look for similar things. There are a lot of great Swedish bands that have been coming out over the last five years. I think you're lucky, because you're getting the good Swedish stuff."

With breakout hits like 1996's massive single "Love Fool" and 1998's "My Favorite Game," the quintet cracked the American market with its sweet pop melodies and bittersweet lyrics. Accessible and challenging, Svensson's thick orchestrated compositions along with Nina Persson's sweet sultry vocals and tough lyrics combined for a potent songwriting duo.

After recording four albums and almost a decade of constant touring since its 1992 inception, the Cardigans was burnt out on the music industry and the expectations of being recording artists.

"We needed to take a really long break after 'Gran Turismo,' " says Svensson. "We had been touring constantly and making albums for seven or eight years. Before the break, we never really had time to just sit down and get distance from all the things we had been doing. It was like a train going really fast. By taking that break, all the members of the band had some time to slow things down and get a life outside of the band."

The media's tendency to focus on one band member caused problems within the band, but not the jealousy one might think. Being an attractive female lead singer fronting five guys, Persson received the majority of the spotlight when the Cardigans became pop stars. In reality, none of the Cardigans wanted to assume the band's leadership role when it came to media coverage.

"I think our problem is that Nina is not very comfortable with that situation," admits Svensson. "It's not like the rest of the band is feeling 'Why don't we get the attention?' I think our problem is that no one in the band really wants the attention. And Nina is probably the one that wants it the least. Whenever the band is in the spotlight, she's the one they're going to pull out and do separate interview with and separate photos. She really wants just to be a fifth of the band."

The members took 18 months away from the Cardigans to regroup before reuniting to record 2004's "Long Gone Before Daylight," a cohesive collection of 14 songs. The break allowed the band to enjoy the process of recording and touring again.

"I think when we got back together, it seemed much more sincere," says Svensson. "It was more important just to be really good friends in a band rather than trying to be a part of a crazy industry and trying to create singles and selling albums. We tried to focus on the stuff that made us start up the band from the beginning. So, it's been a little bit different this time around."

Chris Nixon is a San Diego writer.

One of my favorite bands

In the 'pressure' cooker

Cake has survived 12 years in the rock biz by letting its songs carry the load
By Chris Nixon
August 5, 2004
San Diego Union-Tribune

As popular music in America goes, nobody listens to lyrics anymore. A song's music serves as the lightning rod for screaming fans, radio play and subsequent critical and financial success. The hook counts for everything: a catchy melody, a fleeting infectious chorus, a gorgeous harmony, a bumpin' beat.

Enter Sacramento quintet Cake, brimming with clever lyrics and carefully constructed mini pop symphonies.

Led by songwriter John McCrea and crafty trumpeter Vince DiFiore, Cake continues to carve its own niche. After 12 years of existence and a major-label recording career over the past decade, the group lures new fans with each release.

Often described as sarcastic, ironic, satirical, sardonic and even caustic, McCrea's lyrics cleverly use metaphors and a sly tongue-in-cheek attitude to create his image of the perfect woman, tell stories of lost love and comment on the benefits of bench seats versus bucket seats in automobiles.

"I've heard other people describe it as 'droll.' I've heard 'self-imposed alienation,' and 'deadpan,' " says DiFiore from Sacramento. "It's really in the tradition of American songwriting, but after going through the phase shifter of the influence of the psychedelia movement. But I think John wanted to write a song that everybody would understand, with a format that seemed like there was a lot of sobriety involved."

McCrea knows how to turn a clever phrase. Consider this from "Open Book" on the 1996 album "Fashion Nugget": You may think she's an open book / But you don't know which page to turn to, do you?

And he uses the most American of metaphors – the automobile – to describe his calm exterior and his chaotic inner workings: I've got wheels of polished steel / I've got tires that grab the road / I've got seats that selflessly hold my friends / And a trunk that can carry the heaviest of loads – but under my hood is internal combustion / Satan is my motor, from "Satan Is My Motor" on 1998's "Prolonging the Magic."

Even though lyrics play a central role in Cake's initial appeal, the band's airtight compositions featuring interlocking pieces give the songs a longer shelf life in the ears of listeners.

"We realized that we didn't want to waste the listener's time," says DiFiore, who has been with the band since its inception in 1992. "If there's a good song, you make a tight arrangement for it and then you let it be. You don't try to add a bunch of excess that is going to take away from a simple statement."

Along with guitarist Xan McCurdy, bassist Gabe Nelson and drummer Paulo Baldi, DiFiore and the band fashion tunes drawing from sad pedal steel country, groove funk bluegrass and muscle car rock. DiFiores' trumpet playing adds another melodic line to Cake's songs, separating the band's sound from the pack of current pop bands with unique instrumentation.

"In the '70s, there were a lot of bands playing horn-band funk: Sly and the Family Stone, who we often reference as an influence, War, Carlos Santana," says DiFiore. "But there are also a lot of Spanish-language radio stations around here playing Mexican norte×os and ranchera music. I think it came from those two aspects.

"(McCrea) wanted to shy away from the saxophone, because the saxophone is too much of a fun, good-time party instrument and the trumpet is a little sadder. So that's why John recruited a trumpet player to play with him."

CAKE
Hometown:

Formed in Sacramento in 1992

Discography:

"Pressure Chief" (due for release Oct. 5)

"Comfort Eagle" (2001)

"Prolonging the Magic" (1998)

"Fashion Nugget" (1996)

"Motorcade of Generosity" (1994)

Touring Lineup:

John McCrea – vocals, guitar

Xan McCurdy – guitar

Gabe Nelson – bass

Paulo Baldi – drums

Vince DiFiore – trumpet

– CHRIS NIXON

With the new album "Pressure Chief" due in October, Cake seems to be hitting its stride in terms of its music and its success. The band's Saturday's performance at the Del Mar Racetrack (which coincides with the annual Microbrew Festival) marks the start of a new touring cycle, so expect a fresh set of tunes at the show.

Life on the road is tough for DiFiore. But as long as Cake deals with the glare of the spotlight, the stormy nature of touring and internal strife, the band will keep at it: "Being a touring rock band is part traveling salesman and part fisherman. Sometimes I think I'm in 'Death of a Salesman,' I think of the dudes who were out in the boat in 'The Perfect Storm' and I think of being an adolescent. So we'll keep at it as long as we can deal with the tug of those dark themes."

Chris Nixon is a San Diego writer.

The gospel according to Randolph
The pedal steel wizard tries to bring 'this joy to the mainstream musical world'
By Chris Nixon
July 29, 2004
San Diego Union-Tribune

Robert Randolph lived in two different worlds growing up. During the week, he ran in the roughneck streets of urban New Jersey, a world where gunshots were the final word. But come Sunday, he clapped his hands and sang along with the rest of the congregation to celebrate at the African-American Pentecostal House of God church. In his Christian world, the word of God and the slide guitar had the final say.

"It was a pretty tough life growing up, which it is for anybody growing up in an inner-city environment," says Randolph, reflecting on his years as a young man in the city. "As a teenager, I got into some pretty tough situations. There were a bunch of incidents: losing friends, losing different family members. After time, things started to build up for me, and it made more sense not to be involved with those things.

"Luckily for me, I got into music. It kept me off the streets."

After leaving behind the thug life, Randolph focused his efforts on learning the 13-string pedal steel, an instrument normally associated with Hawaiian slack key music or honky-tonk country.
The young musician followed a long tradition of pedal steel playing in the House of God church, an institution often referred to as "Sacred Steel." Randolph became a prodigy, joining fiery gospel fervor with the bluesy licks of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix.

"For me being able to play music in church, first you develop this relationship (between music and religion)," says the 26-year-old pedal steel master. "Music is always to be played from the heart to form a connection with the listener, to really dig down deep within yourself and really express your feelings musically, to make that connection.

"You have a lot of people who have been taught music, who have been taught by a teacher, who have been all about the musical notes. Some of those people have a really hard time connecting with the audience or the listener. Growing up in church and having a different outlook on life allowed me to have that advantage over some artists out there."

His gifts as an emotional performer have served Randolph well. While working at a New York City law office as a paralegal, a bootlegged tape of one of Randolph's performances reached the ears of keyboardist John Medeski of Medeski Martin and Wood.

With the North Mississippi Allstars, Medeski and Randolph teamed up for the 2001 project titled "The Word." Combining the ever-experimental world of Medeski, the roots rock of the Mississippi band and the hallelujah shimmy shake of Randolph's Sacred Steel background, "The Word" produced a buzz among critics and brought Randolph's pedal steel playing to the mainstream's ears for the first time.

A virtuoso's faves
Robert Randolph knows his pedal steel history. When asked
about the greatest players of all-time, the 26-year-old virtuoso immediately
gave a shout-out to his three favorites:

Calvin Cooke: Born in 1944 in Cleveland, Cook is part of the long line of great pedal steel players emerging out of joyous church jams and gospel music. His big expressive voice has won him the moniker "the B.B. King of gospel pedal steel guitar." Says Randolph: "He comes out of the scared steel tradition. He's so soulful."

Julian Tharpe: Nashville session man Tharpe may have backed country stars like Ray Price and Barbara Mandrell, but he also created highly regarded crossover albums like "The Jet Age." Tharpe was also known for the unusual choice of playing a 14-string pedal steel. Randolph says: "He's an old school, jazzy pedal steel player. He's amazingly cool."

Buddy Emmons: This Nashville elite pedal steel player performed with everyone from Ernest Tubbs to Roger Miller to the Everly Brothers. Randolph says: "Buddy's the all-time country great. He was the first guy to really play in that whole context that you hear down in Nashville. He is
the all-time greatest on that thing."

When asked how he'd be considered alongside the trio, Randolph said: "I just need to continue to be original and come up with my own ideas. Those guys, they had their own tone. Great musicians. A great musician is someone who is completely unique and plays with all the heart and soul they have. That's where I want to be."
– CHRIS NIXON

Randolph rode the wave of notoriety by releasing "Live at the Wetlands" on his own Dare label in 2002, where he performed with cousins Marcus Randolph (drums) and Danyel Morgan (bass), now known as the Family Band.

"Mainly, what I try to do (in my live shows) is bring this positive, party life vibe of joyous singing and dancing together," says Randolph, talking from Milwaukee on tour with Eric Clapton. "It's really different from a lot of young black musicians today. Bringing this joy to the mainstream musical world is what I've been trying to do. And it's been going over really well. Somebody has to do it."

So how do you translate the live energy to a sterile studio environment? Randolph and the Family Band (which now includes Jason Crosby on Hammond B-3 organ, piano and violin) faced the challenge in the recording sessions for 2003's "Unclassified." The album's clap-your-hands, stomp-your-feet mentality perfectly captures the band's live shows.

Says Randolph: "We try and bring forth enough energy so if somebody's listening, they feel like they're in the room with us. That's what we try and create when we go into the studio.

"This Clapton tour we're on right now has catapulted us into the next level of respectability by musicians and audiences. It's a great, great thing to be playing with Clapton. He's the nicest guy. Everyday, I'm getting to talk to him and at the end of the show every night we come out and jam together. So it's really amazing."

Chris Nixon is a San Diego writer.

Gomez in the U-T

Gomez invites you into its garage
By Chris Nixon
Special to the Union-Tribune
July 22, 2004

Standing in a vast sea of automobiles and pavement, musician Ben Ottewell pokes fun at himself and the less-than-idyllic surroundings he finds himself in. Calling from a pay phone in a Seattle parking lot, Ottewell states in a deadpan English accent: "Now, this is the glamorous rock 'n' roll lifestyle."

Ottewell and the five-piece British band Gomez may have not traded up from parking lots to palatial hotel suites, but the group's retro-pop sound and electronic experimentations have poised the five Brits on the brink of mainstream American recognition.

British music fans have long been hip to Gomez. With its refined take (adding splashes of cellos, electronic beats or mellow horns) on boogie blues, roots rock and pop harmonies, the quintet scored a major-label deal without ever playing a live show. Ottewell and his mates – Tom Gray (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Paul Blackburn (bass, guitar), Olly Peacock (drums) and Ian Ball (vocals, guitar, harmonica) – created a masterpiece of pastiche rock by simply huddling in their cramped garage in a small town outside Liverpool.

"We had recorded the album already, but we did go to a studio to make it a bit more sparkly (after we got the deal). We created the first record in the garage really, not a studio," said Ottewell. "We don't sound like most of them at the moment, but we are truly a garage band."
Gomez's 1998 debut disc, "Bring In On," garnered the band the prestigious Mercury Prize, beating out the Verve, Cornershop, Robbie Williams and Massive Attack's classic "Mezzanine" album. Ottewell's gravelly vocals combined with the band's bluesy atmospherics and airy instrumentation set Gomez apart from the glut of retro Brit-rock bands coming out of Europe in the late 1990s. The 1998 album "Liquid Skin" found the five-piece delving into electronics even further, anchored by the songwriting talents of Ottewell, Gray and Ball.

Too many songwriters in one band can lead to friction, but Gomez members seem to keep their heads about them when deciding which songs make the cut for a record.

"Sometimes people in the band hit on a golden period in their writing; it kind of ebbs and flows like that," said Ottewell. "And we're not too precious about it either, which is good. It just naturally evolves from which songs people are getting most excited about or getting the best inspiration from."

the buzz > > > > > > > >

Hometown: Southport, England

Discography

"Split the Difference" – 2004

"In Our Gun" – 2002

"Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline" – 2000, B-sides and rarities

"Liquid Skin" – 1999 "Bring It On" – 1998

Lineup

Ben Ottewell – vocals, guitar

Tom Gray – vocals, guitar, keyboards

Paul Blackburn – bass, guitar

Olly Peacock – drums

Ian Ball – vocals, guitar, harmonica

Gomez followed the one-two punch of its first two albums by taking some time away from the road. During the hiatus, the band released "Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline" in 2000, a collection of B-sides and rarities. They also crafted the brilliant studio album "In Our Gun," a rambling collection of electronic blues songs and acoustic ballads. Much like Beck's "Mellow Gold" and subsequent albums, Gomez seems to capture the essence of bluesy acoustic music while stretching the boundaries with modern studio tactics and clever instrumentation.
"When we did 'In Our Gun,' we hadn't played live for a long time," said Ottewell. "So I think what we got out of that was a more 'studio' record. So it's more ephemeral. It's more of an introverted record."

This year, with Gomez's "Split the Difference," the band's rash of tours in the months before hitting the studio was reflected in the recording process. The live influence can be heard throughout the album, giving the album less of a knob-twiddling studio feel and more of an upfront live sound: "This one is coming straight off the road, so it makes sense for us to sound a little more live. It's more of a rock record, as far as we can be a rock band."

The British group seems to have found its muse in producer Tchad Blake (Los Lobos, Soul Coughing, Travis), keeping the album more cohesive than previous efforts. The album helped Gomez score a spot on this year's Lollapalooza. But the legendary touring festival closed shop after just a few weeks after the tour was announced, citing poor ticket sales.

"When we first heard about it, we were devastated," continued Ottewell, who will play the intimate environs of the Belly Up Tavern tomorrow night. "I think we're hitting most of the places we were going to be hitting for Lollapalooza. The Thrills are supporting us, and they were also going to be out on the road with Lollapalooza. It should be a fun tour. It just gave us a chance to put together Gomezapalooza."

Chris Nixon is a San Diego writer.

Warped Religion

Just got back from a few weeks in the High Sierras. Here's the Bad Religion/Warped Tour preview I put together for the Union-Tribune:

So happy together

Bad Religion, Vans Warped Tour make a fine pairing

By Chris Nixon
July 1, 2004
San Diego Union-Tribune

Bad Religion's Brian Baker and the Vans Warped Tour have been living parallel existences for the past decade.

Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman gave birth to the annual punk rock summer camp 10 years ago. The former Minor Threat and Dag Nasty guitarist Baker joined Bad Religion 10 years ago. Both epitomize punk's explosion since 1994, allowing the music to reach new ears without giving up its political conscience and the central tenants of the genre's aesthetic.

"(The Warped Tour) is a main reason punk rock has become an accredited musical genre," says Baker from his home in Washington, D.C. "You can walk into a mall (record shop) and there's a punk section, like there's an R&B section and a gospel section. You're dealing with a tour that can draw 20,000 to 30,000 people in any city."

The Warped Tour continues to book a cutting-edge blend of young-blood punks and old schoolers, with a splash of indie hip-hop.

And Warped has been a significant help to the career of Bad Religion.

The 13th album by the Los Angeles-based sextet – titled "The Empire Strikes First," commenting on the U.S. actions in Iraq – features songs penned by singer Greg Graffin and guitarist Brett Gurewitz. The duo wrote together during Bad Religion's early days. In 1994, Gurewitz left the band to concentrate on his successful label, Epitaph Records.

Bad Religion brought in Baker to beef up the band's sound in the 1990s. In 2001, Gurewitz rejoined the group for "The Process of Belief." The effort reunited Gurewitz and Graffin, a potent writing combo.

"When those two are on and together, working with and against each other, I think the music that comes out of them is absolutely spectacular," says Baker, who has a 24-year punk-rock resume. "The great albums come from Brett and Greg's dynamic. You remain relevant if you do something people think has value."

The Warped Tour continues to reinvent itself, adding little-known and local acts while bringing in punk's top echelons to draw the crowd. Lyman and the tour have also included up-and-coming hip-hop artists over the years, despite criticism from hardcore punk rockers.

"A lot of very relevant acts, from Black Eyed Peas to Jurassic 5 to Eminem to Ice-T to Kool Keith, they've all been on the Warped Tour," says Lyman, who once worked for San Diego's Bill Silva, along with Los Angeles promoters Goldenvoice and Perry Farrell's Lollapalooza Tour in its infancy. "There's a lot of that cool, underground hip-hop going on at the Warped Tour, but we're not out to force it down people's throats. I think if I stay with the roots (of punk) and put this stuff in as an addition, the kids will accept it more.

"Way back when, blink-182, nobody knew who they were. And they started on the Warped Tour."

So how does a tour, advertising itself as a bastion of punk rock, remain true to the roots of the punk-rock lifestyle? Like much of modern life, it involves compromise. Lyman promotes a controlled form of sponsorship, weaning a tour's needs from advertising dollars.

The Warped Tour continues to draw thousands, while Bad Religion continues to crank out pertinent political punk rock. So when does one get too old to be a punk? Lyman and Baker prove it's the mentality and not the mileage that punk music is all about.

"I think it's a good thing for kids, and I think it's a good thing for our scene," says Lyman. "Everyone will let me know when it's time to end."

Chris Nixon is a San Diego writer.

Sole-less America

Here's the Local H preview which ran in the San Diego Union-Tribune's Night&Day section on Thursday, June 10, 2004:

POP MUSIC
Local H gets right to the 'Soles' of the matter

By Chris Nixon
June 10, 2004

'It's 1980. Welcome to Rock 'n' Roll High School," says an announcer during the preview for the cult film, starring legendary punks the Ramones. "Rock 'n' Roll High School, the school where the students rule."

Like most 1980s party films ("Up the Creek," "Hot Dog ... the Movie"), "Rock 'n' Roll High School's" simplistic plot revolves around sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Starring actress P.J. Soles as Riff Randell, one student's love for the Ramones incites general anarchy among the student body of Vince Lombardi High School. Randell battles the evil new principal, Miss Evelyn Togar, finally blowing up the school with the help of Joey and the rest of the Ramones.

For the Chicago-based duo Local H, the fascination with Soles stems from her roles in numerous classic films from the late 1970s and early '80s: "I've seen 'Halloween' a million times," said singer Scott Lucas during a recent interview from his home in the Windy City. " 'Rock 'n' Roll High School' has always been a favorite of ours. . . . I realized: She is in all of these movies that I grew up on and have seen a million times.

"(Soles) always seemed to be around in all these movies that have been really important to me. They're not the American Film Institute's Top 100 of anything, yet they're really important to me."

With its 2004 album, "Whatever Happened to P.J. Soles?," Local H ponders the fate of Soles and the fleeting nature of stardom.

Emerging from Chicago's Zion neighborhood, guitarist-singer Lucas and drummer Brian St. Clair prove the adage "less is more," discovering that the sum of two is greater than four. After creating Local H as a traditional four-piece band, Lucas had an epiphany: He could play the bottom strings of his guitar through a bass pickup, allowing him to play guitar and bass parts through one instrument.

So Local H was born as a power rock duo.

Since flirting with mainstream success in the mid-'90s (warming up for bands like Stone Temple Pilots and Veruca Salt), Lucas and St. Clair have maintained a devout underground following. Banking on the 1996 breakout single "Bound for the Floor," the press saddled Local H with the albatross moniker of "grunge."

For the past decade, the pair continued to merge post-grunge rock and catchy choruses with a tip of the cap to Nirvana, S.T.P. and Soundgarden. Despite such high-quality albums as 1998's "Pack Up the Cats" and 2002's "Here Comes the Zoo," Local H still struggles to escape the grunge tag.

"The big trick with us was trying to survive that whole mid-'90s kind of thing, just try to get out of it with our dignity intact," said Lucas.

In April, Local H released "Whatever Happened to P.J. Soles?" with songs dealing with pop culture and the misconceptions fed by the retro VH-1 culture and America's numerous makeover shows. The opening track, titled "Where Are They Now?," begins with Lucas screaming You're never, you're never, you're never going to get it.

To obtain the album's roughed-up sound, Lucas felt obliged to mangle his vocal chords before each take for "Whatever Happened to P.J. Soles?"

"Before we'd record a song (for the last record), I'd stand in the corner and scream my head off," says Lucas in a gravelly voice. "I'd just try and cash my voice out until it was 70 percent gone, then do the vocal. If you listen to a song like 'Halcyon Days,' my voice is almost completely gone, and that's probably my favorite vocal on the record."

Lucas finishes the thought by giving props to an unlikely source: "I think Rod Stewart is probably the best singer of all time. How does he do it? He always sounds like he's got laryngitis. It's great."

Chris Nixon is a San Diego writer.

Here's a recent SignOn profile I wrote on Courtney Love and her upcoming show at 4th & B. Click on the screen shot to view the full page. 

Nixon at the tables during a house party at our San Diego pad. 

Here's the profile I wrote for MxPx. They just happen to be my next victim for a Night&Day story... if I can get the interview done in the next few days. The article is slated to run June 24 in the U-T. Click the image to read the entire profile. 

Here's the Local H profile I wrote up for SignOnSanDiego. Click the image to read the entire profile. 

H stands for "Hoarse"

Just catching up with y'all in blogworld. I have a Local H preview coming out this Thursday in Night&Day. Lead singer and guitarist Scott Lucas sounded like his vocals chords had been sliced and diced Ginsu style. He actually works at getting a rough voice, screaming between vocal takes for the band's latest album "Whatever Happened to P.J. Soles?" He also said his favorite singer of all time is Rod Stewart...

Method to the smoothness

Here's the Night&Day story on Zero 7 which ran Thursday, June 3, 2004. I had a chance to check out the show at 4th & B. While seeing and hearing the four vocalists firsthand was a treat, the show seemed a little rehearsed and scripted. So here's the preview:

POP MUSIC
The method according to Zero 7

'We try to sit in a room together and do something that we like'

By Chris Nixon
June 3, 2004

Akin to the protagonist in Sting's "Englishman in New York," Sam Hardaker finds himself wandering around suburban Maryland searching for a proper British breakfast. The North Londoner sounds a tad lost during a phone conversation from his Ramada Inn room, where culture shock seems to be setting in – sans a spot of tea.

"We're doing a gig in D.C. tonight. But for some reason there was a mixup with the hotel, so we've ended up in a hotel 20 miles outside of D.C.," says Hardaker. "I was just out trying to get some food and I'm kind of struggling. It's all junk food. That's all there is. We haven't been here since the last time we were touring, and it takes me a bit to re-acquaint myself with your charming ways. I guess we spend a lot of time on big roads, and big roads don't tend to have the stuff I want near them."

Big roads have taken Hardaker and childhood friend Henry Binns – who make up the core of British soulful chill-out masters Zero 7 – from their homes in London and reluctantly through America's fast food drive-ins and the meat grinder of played-out pop culture.

After serious overexposure, their beautiful songs adorn the elevators, doctors' offices and strip malls of America, making their tunes the musical equivalent of a Supersized Big Mac meal.

"Our music was used a lot on TV," says Hardaker, lamenting on his music's association with fashion and fads. "They would use 20 seconds of our music on a home makeover program or a holiday show or gardening shows. It just seemed to be everywhere. After a while, it was pretty horrible. A lot of people were like, 'I just wish this music would go away.' "

Before the big-time saturation, big roads also brought Zero 7's knack for creating lush, organic settings to the world, exposing new legions of fans to its sultry summation of 1970s soul and jazz.

Growing up in the same neighborhood, the duo bonded through their mutual obsession for music.

"We were both really influenced by underground pirate radio stations in London," says Hardaker. "You could just tune into hundreds of illegal radio stations being broadcast from the projects. So there was all this really great music being played on the radio, especially on the weekends. A lot of old stuff being played – soul, funk and jazz – stuff that we wouldn't necessarily have heard. So that was really influential as far as our musical development."

After discovering the joys of '60s and '70s grooves through pirate radio, both Hardaker and Binns worked as engineering assistants at one of London's prestigious recording studios, Mickie Most's RAK Studios. Along with Nigel Godrich (who would later produce Beck and Radiohead), the trio recorded the top bands and artists of the day, performers like Robert Plant and the Pet Shop Boys.

During their off-hours, ensconced in a tiny back room, Hardaker and Binns concocted the programmed beats and melodies that became Zero 7's 2001 debut album "Simple Things."

Bringing in the vocal talents of Mozez (pronounced "Moses"), Sia Furler and Sophie Barker, the two producers sculpted an album filled with 14 lush compositions and beautiful, organic instrumentation. "Simple Things" sold over 1 million copies worldwide, while getting nominated for the Mercury Prize and the music industry's exalted Shortlist.

After a year of touring, Zero 7 faced the daunting task of matching the critical and commercial success of the first record.

"We definitely felt pressure," says Hardaker reflecting on the making of "When It Falls," released in March on Elektra. "We felt pressure because we wanted to make a record that we were proud of and felt good about. Going from the first record – where nobody knows who you are – to having this idea that somehow people are taking you seriously, there's definitely a different atmosphere. Suddenly, you're a recording artist. At the end of the day, we try to sit in a room together and do something that we like."

For "When It Falls," Hardaker and Binns brought back the trio of vocalists from the debut ( Mozez, Barker and Furler), adding Tina Dico on the tracks "Home" and "The Space Between." The disc retains the first album's silky appeal, while delving further into orchestral composition.

Like many records that represent a place and time, "Simple Things" found critics scrambling for words of excited affirmation. But down-tempos and jazzy electronica's evolution from trendy lounge soundtrack into the elevator music of the new millennium doomed Zero 7's follow-up, proving the fickle nature of fashion.

A few critics in England panned "When It Falls," including a particularly scathing review by the Guardian's Alexis Petridis. In the United States, critics conveyed a mix of muted praise and adoration.

"It's difficult, because the first album took us into some quite mainstream places," says Hardaker, who will take the stage at 4th & B Saturday with the 10-piece version of Zero 7. "I guess naturally it will level out at a place where we can happily exist with what we want to do and any sort of commerciality the record company may want to get out of us."

Chris Nixon is San Diego writer.

the buzz > > > > > > > >
Hometown: London, England

Discography: "Simple Things" (2001), "When It Falls" (2004)

Albums Zero 7's Sam Hardaker listened to when recording "When It Falls":

David Crosby, "If Could Only Remember My Name" (1971): "It's his first solo album. I don't think it's in my all-time Top 10, but there are some good songs on it."

Common, "Electric Circus" (2002): "His record came out around the time we were making our album, and we were digging on the hip-hop vibe."

Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man, "Out of Season" (2003): "I think the production is nice in a subtle way. It's really interesting without trying to be anything really cool."

The Beach Boys, "Surf's Up" (1971): "There's a song on there called 'Surf's Up' and an instrumental called 'Feel Flows' which is pretty. And 'Til I Die' is one of the best songs I've ever heard."

– CHRIS NIXON

"And God is seven, this monkey's gone to heaven"

Just finished writing up an article previewing an upcoming San Diego show by the British band Zero 7. I think the guy was grumpy because he couldn't find any good food in the terrible Maryland town he was in. No breakfast = bad mood...for me anyway. But I'm part British, so maybe it's the same for this guy Sam Hardaker that I interviewed. He sort of complained about the abundance of junk food in America. I compared his critique of American cuisine to the relative whoring out of his music for makeover television shows. It's late. I'm tired. From my perspective it works, but who knows...

No Trans Am-bush

As you can read below, I was worried that my piece on the hyper-political band Trans Am was killed because of content too strong for the minds of Union-Tribune readers. Not so. They just spaced...which says my writing isn't that memorable I guess. Now I know how that red-faced guy screaming at an editor feels when his Letter to the Editor doesn't get printed. Somehow our puny monkey minds always suspect a conspiracy behind each slight, sling or arrow. No conspiracy, just some overworked schmuck forgot to put it in the paper. Fishbone said it best with their awesome album title: "Give a Monkey a Brain, and He'll Swear He's the Center of the Universe." Cheers, cn

Trans Am nixed

Last week I was scheduled to write a piece on Washington, DC trio Trans Am for Night&Day. I did the interview and wrote the piece, but for some reason the U-T didn't print it. I think it probably had to do with space. I hope they didn't shy away from the band's political views. Either way, here's a peek at what I handed in. I'd be interested to hear anyone's thoughts.

Here's the story:

Over an ominous, minor-key synthesizer riff and a simple drum machine click track, the voice of President George Bush echoes: "Our commitment to weapons of mass destruction is America's tradition. In the battle of Iraq, we destroyed hospitals and schools. In this battle, we have fought for the cause of war…”

The quote does not represent the president’s actual words but a spliced speech reassembled on “Uninvited Guest,” a track from Trans Am’s latest album “Liberation.” The song’s 2:12 minutes reveal the album’s political subtext. The majority of “Liberation” remains a claustrophobic electronic diatribe on the current state of foreign affairs.

“Hearing Bush’s voice just makes people have knee-jerk reaction: a lot of people just cringe instantly,” said Trans Am guitarist/keyboardist Phil Manley during a recent cell phone conversation form the band’s home base in Washington, D.C. “Most of the people who respond to us certainly agree with our politics. In Europe, we’ve gotten a lot of positive response for this song, because this administration is so universally hated.”

The song splices together segments of President Bush’s speech on the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln’s deck, in the rolling Pacific just off San Diego’s shores. Delivered on May 2, 2003, critics have attacked Bush’s address, since titled the “Mission Accomplished” speech. For Trans Am, the address provided the perfect opportunity to have its voice heard.

“Basically, we found the speech online, then we loaded it onto our computer and we painstakingly reassembled it,” said Manley about the making of “Uninvited Guest.” “We tried to recreate the pacing in his voice, which I think we succeeded in doing. It’s so easy to turn those speeches on their end. It was our interpretation of what’s really happening.”

But is taking someone’s voice and manipulating it digitally a legal activity?

“That’s a good question,” said Manley. “Yeah, I think it is. But the best thing that could happen to Trans Am right now if we were to get sued by the government. We don’t sell enough records. People aren’t going to know. But if it were to happen, go for it. Sue the pants off us. I don’t care. It’d be one thing if they were playing it on the radio everyday…but they’re not. They’re not playing it on major networks anyway. It’s not on Clear Channel, that’s for sure.”

Since Sept. 11, 2001, many among America’s music community have written songs about the United States and its political role in the world. From Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red White and Blue (The Angry American)” to Steve Earle’s “John Walker’s Blues,” musicians use the language of music to express their political opinions. While country music habitually represents America’s clear-eyed mainstream conscious, indie rockers often take the easy route using sly cynicism and tongue-in-cheek sarcasm to express political views.

In stark contrast to Trans Am’s eight previous full-length albums on Thrill Jockey Records since 1996, “Liberation” takes a more overt political stance.

“In the past, we may have been dabbling in politics, but certainly only in abstract and obtuse ways,” said Manley, who will perform at the Casbah Wednesday with drummer Sebastian Thomson and bassist/keyboardist Nathan Means. “Both ‘Surveillance’ and ‘Future World’ both have undertones of politics and dystopian societies. But this new one is definitely a full-on assault.”

Often associated musically with the prog-rock/post-punk scene along with Chicago hipsters Tortoise, Trans Am’s sound combines ‘80s synth pop, electro funk and artsy dance tunes. The trio comes by “Me Decade” noise honestly.

“(Our music) stems from being children of the ‘80s,” said Manley. “We were born in the ‘70s, but we really came of age in the ‘80s. I think the first electronic music I was exposed to was probably Herbie Hancock ‘Rockit’ and then also Kraftwerk’s ‘Tour de France’ and New Order’s ‘Blue Monday.’ I remember there was something called ‘Friday Night Videos.’ I remember being totally blown away when I first saw (the video for) this band Houdini. It was all break dancing and a brand new sound.”

But Trans Am’s main mode of communication comes through its music. Manley simply states: “Our lives are mostly consumed by music. That’s pretty much where we make our statements.”

Chris Nixon is San Diego writer.

Datebook
The Casbah
2501 Kettner Blvd
8:30 p.m. Wednesday
$12. Information: (619) 232-4355.