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.
Thursday, September 30, 2004
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."
"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."
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.
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.
"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.
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.' "
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.
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.
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