Young Dubliners tips its hat to traditional Irish songs for a change; quintet headlines ShamRock fest Saturday
By Chris Nixon
San Diego Union-Tribune
March 15, 2007
“I came over here 20 years ago,” said Young Dubliners lead singer Keith Roberts, recently reflecting on his journey from Ireland to America as a young man. “I probably got a much different reception than those that came before me. We have potatoes back home now, and I was able to fly here instead of coming on a hideous boat.”
This St. Patrick's Day finds Roberts reflecting on his Irish heritage more than ever. His band, the Young Dubliners, released its first album of traditional Irish songs last month, “With All Due Respect – the Irish Sessions.” Now, the Los Angeles-based quintet will headline the 11th annual ShamRock festival downtown on Saturday.
The Young Dubliners have always walked the line between traditional Irish music and original rock tunes, but this is Roberts' first foray into the canon of Irish songs. Self-described as “thirteen songs of love, war, emigration, incarceration and drinking” in the album's liner notes, the band puts its own rocking spin on traditionals like “Follow Me Up to Carlow” and “The Rocky Road to Dublin.”
Roberts and his band also give a nod to Shane MacGowan of The Pogues (probably Ireland's greatest modern songwriter), covering his song “If I Should Fall From Grace With God” and the ballad “Pair of Brown Eyes.”
“We've always been a band who put out original albums. This is more of a labor of love more than anything else. But this thing has taken on a life of its own,” said Roberts about “With All Due Respect.”
While the band tours all over the States, Southern California and particularly San Diego have provided the Young Dubs constant support and energetic crowds.
“A lot of people thought we were from San Diego for a while,” said Roberts. “Bands enjoy playing places where they think they're enjoyed. Nothing's more pleasing to get up on stage and have people sing them back to you. San Diego has always just been a really welcoming spot.”
After playing the House of Blues in Los Angeles the past 13 years on St. Patrick's Day, the Young Dubliners will headline this year's ShamRock in downtown San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter.
The festival features 60,000 square feet of Astroturf, two stages, six bands, four DJs and many gallons of green beer.
“We just decided that San Diego deserves a proper Paddy's Day gig,” mused Roberts. “We always gotten a great reaction there and it does feel like a home away from home.”
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
DISCOGRAPHY
“With All Due Respect – the Irish Sessions” (429 Records, 2007)
“Real World” (2005, Higher Octave)
“Absolutely” (2002, Higher Octave)
“Red” (2000, Higher Octave)
“Breathe” (1995, Volcano)
THEY'RE WITH THE BAND
Keith Roberts – vocals, guitar
Brendan Holmes – bass
Chas Waltz – violin, keys, harmonica
Bob Boulding – guitar
David Ingraham – drums
***
SHAMROCK FESTIVAL
LINEUP AND SCHEDULE
The 11th annual ShamRock with the Young Dubliners runs from 11 a.m. to midnight Saturday in the Gaslamp Quarter along Sixth Avenue and G Street. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the gate. Details: (619) 233-5008.
THE BANDS
Carly Hennessy: Irish pop/R&B/soul singer known for her ultra-poppy, tailor-made-for-radio sound. Her 2001 debut, “Ultimate High,” is on MCA.
The Fenians: Solid Orange County five-piece traditional Irish band playing originals and standards.
The Down's Family: Local Irish punk rock band sounding like a cross between The Pogues and Social Distortion.
NRG: Local song-and-dance revue for the convention center crowd, giving ShamRockers an opportunity to get that refill of green beer.
Cobblestone: Traditional Irish quartet with regular gigs at The Field. They've played ShamRock since 2000.
A YOUNG DUBLINER ON ST. PADDY'S DAY
Dubliner Keith Roberts knows his St. Patrick's Day festivities. He's been celebrating the day every year since he was a wee lad growing up in Ireland.
As opposed to American revelers drinking green beer and adorning themselves with shamrocks, St. Paddy's means one important thing for an Irish kid: no school.
“It had a lot more significance growing up as a saint's holiday,” remembered Roberts. “Being in a very Catholic country, it meant a day off from school. You had to go to Mass, but you didn't care because you got a day off from school.
“If it fell on a weekend you cursed it forever because it was useless to you. There was a parade in the city center, but that was it. It was not a night to go party your head off.
“When I got here, I was stunned by what happens here: It was brilliant. And it basically helped launch a lot of our careers in the Celtic rock world. For me now, it's our big day. It's the day for all of our bands to go out and have a hell of a gig, if not a hell of a month of gigs.
“The religious significance has all been washed aside. I don't think there's anybody here going to Mass on St. Patrick's Day, unless they're holding the ceremony at the local pub.”
– CHRIS NIXON
Thursday, March 15, 2007
BDB is 'Born in the U.K.'
Badly Drawn Boy proudly flying the Union Jack
By Chris Nixon
San Diego Union-Tribune
March 15, 2007
British artist Badly Drawn Boy – aka Damon Gough – engages in a self-dialogue on his latest album's opening track, “Swimming Pool,” pondering the meaning of home and country. It goes something like this:
In the left speaker: “You think it matters where you were born?”
In the right speaker: “No, not really. It only matters that you can be proud of where you came from.”
So starts Badly Drawn Boy's fifth disc, a celebration of his growth from boy to man and the swirling world that surrounded his coming of age in his homeland of Great Britain.
The songs are brimming with British references from his young adulthood: Virginia Wade (the last British woman to win Wimbledon), the Silver Jubilee (in 1977), the Sex Pistols, Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher and the Falklands War. In a nod to his hero Bruce Springsteen (whose music has almost nothing to Gough besides great lyrics), he christened the collection of 13 tracks “Born in the UK.”
Referencing his opening discussion, is Gough proud of where he came from? Throughout the album, the scruffy songwriter notes his own faults along with his country's foibles, but he also manages to find an overwhelmingly positive spin on personal and national stumbling blocks. He still lives in his hometown of Manchester, so you get the sense he's inspired by his native soil.
“I want to stand up and say I'm proud to be English,” says Gough in his press biography. “And it seems that that right's been taken away from us for some reason – being proud of where you're from is part of being a human being.”
In retrospect, the 37-year-old musician's career seems almost effortless leading up to “Born in the UK.” His debut in 2000, “The Hour of Bewilderbeast,” won him the coveted Mercury Prize, and Gough's prowess motivated music geek author Nick Hornby (“High Fidelity”) to tab BDB to score his movie “About a Boy.” Beautiful, lyrical songs flowed from him as he recorded four albums in four years.
After rounding out his contract with his original label XL with the highly personal album “One Plus One Is One” in 2004, Gough signed with EMI and looked to assemble another collection of music. Halfway through recording a new record with producer Stephen Street (The Smiths, Blur), the man in the trademark knit cap scrapped the sessions and all the material.
“Stephen was brilliant, and it's kinda inexplicable how it didn't work,” explains Gough, again from the biography on his Web site www.badlydrawnboy.co.uk. “It's like the stars weren't aligned or something. I blame myself. At the time I was devastated. I had to phone him and say,
'I'm not sure I can continue with this material.' I just wasn't feeling where it was going.”
So Gough went back to the drawing board, toiling over a new set of songs until he met Nick Franglen (one half of electronica duo Lemon Jelly). Gough and Franglen would sculpt “Born in the UK” out of an original set of 25 songs, whittling the album down to 13 after six months in the studio.
While “Born in the UK” doesn't quite reach the orchestral pop heights of his 2002 release, “Have You Fed the Fish?,” or the stripped-down beauty of his debut, “The Hour of Bewilderbeast,” Gough's hard-earned fifth disc proves he is a songwriting talent to keep an eye on down the road.
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
By Chris Nixon
San Diego Union-Tribune
March 15, 2007
British artist Badly Drawn Boy – aka Damon Gough – engages in a self-dialogue on his latest album's opening track, “Swimming Pool,” pondering the meaning of home and country. It goes something like this:
In the left speaker: “You think it matters where you were born?”
In the right speaker: “No, not really. It only matters that you can be proud of where you came from.”
So starts Badly Drawn Boy's fifth disc, a celebration of his growth from boy to man and the swirling world that surrounded his coming of age in his homeland of Great Britain.
The songs are brimming with British references from his young adulthood: Virginia Wade (the last British woman to win Wimbledon), the Silver Jubilee (in 1977), the Sex Pistols, Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher and the Falklands War. In a nod to his hero Bruce Springsteen (whose music has almost nothing to Gough besides great lyrics), he christened the collection of 13 tracks “Born in the UK.”
Referencing his opening discussion, is Gough proud of where he came from? Throughout the album, the scruffy songwriter notes his own faults along with his country's foibles, but he also manages to find an overwhelmingly positive spin on personal and national stumbling blocks. He still lives in his hometown of Manchester, so you get the sense he's inspired by his native soil.
“I want to stand up and say I'm proud to be English,” says Gough in his press biography. “And it seems that that right's been taken away from us for some reason – being proud of where you're from is part of being a human being.”
In retrospect, the 37-year-old musician's career seems almost effortless leading up to “Born in the UK.” His debut in 2000, “The Hour of Bewilderbeast,” won him the coveted Mercury Prize, and Gough's prowess motivated music geek author Nick Hornby (“High Fidelity”) to tab BDB to score his movie “About a Boy.” Beautiful, lyrical songs flowed from him as he recorded four albums in four years.
After rounding out his contract with his original label XL with the highly personal album “One Plus One Is One” in 2004, Gough signed with EMI and looked to assemble another collection of music. Halfway through recording a new record with producer Stephen Street (The Smiths, Blur), the man in the trademark knit cap scrapped the sessions and all the material.
“Stephen was brilliant, and it's kinda inexplicable how it didn't work,” explains Gough, again from the biography on his Web site www.badlydrawnboy.co.uk. “It's like the stars weren't aligned or something. I blame myself. At the time I was devastated. I had to phone him and say,
'I'm not sure I can continue with this material.' I just wasn't feeling where it was going.”
So Gough went back to the drawing board, toiling over a new set of songs until he met Nick Franglen (one half of electronica duo Lemon Jelly). Gough and Franglen would sculpt “Born in the UK” out of an original set of 25 songs, whittling the album down to 13 after six months in the studio.
While “Born in the UK” doesn't quite reach the orchestral pop heights of his 2002 release, “Have You Fed the Fish?,” or the stripped-down beauty of his debut, “The Hour of Bewilderbeast,” Gough's hard-earned fifth disc proves he is a songwriting talent to keep an eye on down the road.
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Who Are They?
It's not like old days, but rebuilt Who has plenty of power
By Chris Nixon
For The Union-Tribune
March 3, 2007
Pete Townshend windmills: 79. Trademark Roger Daltrey microphone twirls: 6. Townshend jumps (back-scratcher style): 4. The Who rock the ipayOne Center: Priceless.
Celebrating his 63rd birthday Thursday night, The Who's Roger Daltrey (left) led partner Pete Townshend through nearly 30 tunes from 40 years of music. Thirty years ago, you could have quadrupled those numbers at a performance of The Who, adding a smashed guitar, a dismantled drum set and countless shattered eardrums to the ledger.
As the near-capacity ipayOne Center crowd stood to acknowledge the two rock icons at the end of a two-hour set Thursday night, the number of back-scratchers and windmills mattered little.
For a couple of hours, Daltrey – celebrating his 63rd birthday – and the 61-year-old Townshend transformed the audience of mostly baby boomers back into youngsters. The years seemed to melt away from the surviving two members of The Who as the reconstituted version slammed into extended versions of “Baba O'Riley” and “My Generation” (including a portion of “Cry If You Want” from 1982's “It's Hard” album).
Daltrey's guttural, masculine vocals haven't declined a bit in the last decade and Townshend continues to defy his age. The cagey Rock and Roll Hall of Famers drew from the youth of their solid backing band, temporarily reaching the heights of past Who performances. But at times the surgical reconstruction of the classics muddled the brief bursts of passion and musical exploration.
“Let's give it up to the people who've done an amazing reconstruction job,” bantered guitarist Townshend between songs Thursday night. The audience acknowledged the backing band as each took a bow: bassist Pino Palladino (subbing for longtime bassist John Entwistle, who died in 2002), guitarist Simon Townshend (subbing on backing vocals for his brother Pete), keyboardist John “Rabbit” Bundrick (the longest-tenured musician in the band behind Daltrey and Townshend) and drummer Zak Starkey (Ringo Starr's son filling in admirably for the departed Keith Moon).
This band of substitutes held its ground (especially the younger Townshend brother), but failed to capture the spark of the original lineup. Palladino's bass solo in “My Generation” paled next to the Entwistle original. And Starkey, despite flourishes of electricity, played on the safe side compared with Moon's reckless abandon on the drums.
The renewed Who fired off three early tunes to start: “I Can't Explain,” “The Seeker” and “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere.” The initial momentum slowed to a standstill as Townshend indulged himself in 11 tracks from the 2006 album “Endless Wire,” including a six-song excerpt from the recent mini-opera “Wire & Glass” midshow.
Walking the fine line between new material and recognizable tunes, mainstays such as “You Better You Bet” and “Won't Get Fooled Again” rejuvenated the congregation of hard-core fans. For the encore, Daltrey and Townshend revisited the rock opera “Tommy” for a four-song medley before closing with the sweet acoustic tune “Tea & Theater.”
With top ticket prices reaching almost $200 (the low end was $60), Daltrey and Townshend missed an opportunity to turn a whole new generation of fans onto their music.
But these rock 'n' roll survivors still hold a unique place in our collective heart. Like aging uncles you've known and loved through the years, Daltrey and Townshend have stood the test of time. And for one chilly March night in San Diego, The Who captured the imagination of the boomer audience and recaptured some of their heyday luster.
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
By Chris Nixon
For The Union-Tribune
March 3, 2007
Pete Townshend windmills: 79. Trademark Roger Daltrey microphone twirls: 6. Townshend jumps (back-scratcher style): 4. The Who rock the ipayOne Center: Priceless.
Celebrating his 63rd birthday Thursday night, The Who's Roger Daltrey (left) led partner Pete Townshend through nearly 30 tunes from 40 years of music. Thirty years ago, you could have quadrupled those numbers at a performance of The Who, adding a smashed guitar, a dismantled drum set and countless shattered eardrums to the ledger.
As the near-capacity ipayOne Center crowd stood to acknowledge the two rock icons at the end of a two-hour set Thursday night, the number of back-scratchers and windmills mattered little.
For a couple of hours, Daltrey – celebrating his 63rd birthday – and the 61-year-old Townshend transformed the audience of mostly baby boomers back into youngsters. The years seemed to melt away from the surviving two members of The Who as the reconstituted version slammed into extended versions of “Baba O'Riley” and “My Generation” (including a portion of “Cry If You Want” from 1982's “It's Hard” album).
Here's what The Who performed
The set list for Thursday
night's Who show at ipayOne Center:
“I Can't Explain”
“The Seeker”
“Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere”
“Fragments”
“Who Are You?”
“Behind
Blue Eyes”
“Real Good Looking Boy”
“Wire & Glass” medley
“Sound
Round”
“Pick up the Peace”
“Endless Wire”
“We Got a Hit”
“They
Made My Dream Come True”
“Mirror Door”
“Baba O'Riley
“Eminence
Front”
“A Man in a Purple Dress”
“Black Widow's Eyes”
“You Better
You Bet”
“My Generation”
“Won't Get Fooled Again”Encore:
“Tommy” medley
“Pinball Wizard”
“Amazing Journey”
“Sparks”
“See Me, Feel Me”
“Tea & Theatre”
Daltrey's guttural, masculine vocals haven't declined a bit in the last decade and Townshend continues to defy his age. The cagey Rock and Roll Hall of Famers drew from the youth of their solid backing band, temporarily reaching the heights of past Who performances. But at times the surgical reconstruction of the classics muddled the brief bursts of passion and musical exploration.
“Let's give it up to the people who've done an amazing reconstruction job,” bantered guitarist Townshend between songs Thursday night. The audience acknowledged the backing band as each took a bow: bassist Pino Palladino (subbing for longtime bassist John Entwistle, who died in 2002), guitarist Simon Townshend (subbing on backing vocals for his brother Pete), keyboardist John “Rabbit” Bundrick (the longest-tenured musician in the band behind Daltrey and Townshend) and drummer Zak Starkey (Ringo Starr's son filling in admirably for the departed Keith Moon).
This band of substitutes held its ground (especially the younger Townshend brother), but failed to capture the spark of the original lineup. Palladino's bass solo in “My Generation” paled next to the Entwistle original. And Starkey, despite flourishes of electricity, played on the safe side compared with Moon's reckless abandon on the drums.
The renewed Who fired off three early tunes to start: “I Can't Explain,” “The Seeker” and “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere.” The initial momentum slowed to a standstill as Townshend indulged himself in 11 tracks from the 2006 album “Endless Wire,” including a six-song excerpt from the recent mini-opera “Wire & Glass” midshow.
Walking the fine line between new material and recognizable tunes, mainstays such as “You Better You Bet” and “Won't Get Fooled Again” rejuvenated the congregation of hard-core fans. For the encore, Daltrey and Townshend revisited the rock opera “Tommy” for a four-song medley before closing with the sweet acoustic tune “Tea & Theater.”
With top ticket prices reaching almost $200 (the low end was $60), Daltrey and Townshend missed an opportunity to turn a whole new generation of fans onto their music.
But these rock 'n' roll survivors still hold a unique place in our collective heart. Like aging uncles you've known and loved through the years, Daltrey and Townshend have stood the test of time. And for one chilly March night in San Diego, The Who captured the imagination of the boomer audience and recaptured some of their heyday luster.
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
Silversun: 'Just along for the Ride'
And it's been a good one lately for Silversun Pickups
By Chris Nixon
For The Union-Tribune
March 1, 2007
Since the mid-1990s, the Los Angeles neighborhood of Silver Lake – along with Echo Park to the south – serves as the epicenter of L.A.'s alternative music scene.
Beck, Karen O, Eels, Jane's Addiction, Pavement and the late great Elliott Smith all called the 'hood home. Located east of Hollywood with a population of 45,000, the L.A. borough wasn't always a Mecca of music.
“I would say in the mid-'90s, this area was, for lack of a better term, ghetto,” said Silversun Pickups' drummer Christopher Guanlao, from his home in Silver Lake. “It was just so cheap, so artists flocked here. You could get a two-bedroom apartment for $600 at that time.
“Silver Lake is not just a cheap place to live anymore: We've actually got clubs like Spaceland or Silver Lake Lounge or The Echo,” continued Guanlao. “It's easier to be creative when you have a bunch of people around that are creative. You end up feeding off one another.”
From stylish Silver Lake springs Silversun Pickups, a quartet firmly grounded in the psychedelic rock lineage of My Bloody Valentine and Smashing Pumpkins. Vocalist-guitarist Brian Aubert and bassist Nikki Monninger formed the band six years ago, adding Guanlao and keyboardist Joe Lester along the way. The Silversun Pickups found common ground in their friendship, which predated the critically acclaimed albums, the packed audiences and the accolades.
“First and foremost, we've just been friends,” recalled Guanlao. “Basically our friendship added another dynamic. If it wasn't for Silversun Pickups, I think we'd still be on Brian's porch drinking beer and hanging out.
“As far as arguments or discussions, we're very much like a family. At the end of the day, we're still going to be friends. We never really knew how far this band thing was going to go anyway. So we're just along for the ride.”
So far, the ride has swept the four Angelenos from local buzz band to a name on the tongues of late-night talk-show hosts. On the strength of incendiary live shows and the band's pleasing 2006 debut, “Carnavas,” Silversun seems poised for larger public awareness.
Recorded in studios around Hollywood and L.A., the album's 11 tracks range from the brooding atmospheric rock of “Three Seed” to the fuzzy retro guitar riffage of “Well Thought Out Twinkles.”
“Carnavas” rekindles the well-tailored guitar rock of Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), absent from mainstream music since the Chicago band's demise.
With help from producer Dave Cooley, Silversun Pickups crafted an album seamlessly melding Aubert's raspy vocals with his humming guitars, Guanlao's metronomic drum riffs and Monninger's droning bass lines and feminine counterpoint vocals. Any one of the album's 11 songs could easily find itself on alternative radio, a credit to Cooley's ability to focus the band's skills.
“Dave Cooley was great because he really pushed us,” said Guanlao of the producer, known more for his mixing and mastering work with everyone from D'Angelo to Polyphonic Spree. “Even when he lost an argument, the idea that he was fighting against us helped out. I know that sounds kind of weird. He really pushed us to our limits. He challenged us and got the best that we could do.”
On the heels of “Carnavas” (released in July of last year), SSPU set forth to tour and spread the good word. The fruits of its labor seem to be paying dividends, with Silversun Pickups scoring higher profile gigs at every turn.
The band performed live on the “Late Show With David Letterman” in December, and also on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” a couple of weeks back.
Locally, the Pickups played the FM 94/9 Holiday Hootenanny with Modest Mouse, The Shins and Pete Yorn in December at UCSD's RIMAC Arena, along with airplay on both 94/9 and 91X.
Guanlao and his band are trying to keep it real in the face of growing admiration and adoration.
“We have second cousins calling us and asking for tickets, which is cool,” said Guanlao, who plays with OK Go and Snow Patrol at SDSU's Open Air Theatre Saturday. “For us, we just try to keep the blinders on and just try to keep going forward and not worry about what's going on around us. It helps us to be grounded and focused.”
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
SILVERSUN PICKUPS
Etymology: The band took its name from the strip mall at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Silver Lake Boulevard, in the L.A. neighborhood of Silver Lake.
Hometown: Los Angeles
Year formed: 2005
Sounds like: Smashing Pumpkins, My Bloody Valentine
LINEUP
Brian Aubert – vocals, guitar
Nikki Monninger – bass, vocals
Christopher Guanlao – drums
Joe Lester – keyboards
DISCOGRAPHY
“Pikel” (EP) (Dangerbird Records, 2005): This debut six-song extended-play single finds the Pickups in a search to find its voice. On the other hand, Nikki Monninger's sweet backing vocals (a la Kim Deal) and Brad Aubert's guitar riffs give a glimpse of the goodness to come.
“Carnavas” (Dangerbird Records, 2006): The full-length debut packs 11 radio friendly tracks into one palatable package. More than merely radio fodder, SSPU finds the perfect balance between tightknit rock 'n' roll and contagious melody.
– CHRIS NIXON
STRAIGHT OUTTA SILVER LAKE
Continue east beyond the glitter and gutters of Hollywood, and you have the bustling arts communities of Silver Lake and Echo Park. Led by the Silversun Pickups, a new generation of L.A. bands hails from Silver Lake. Here's a sampling:
Earlimart: This four-piece and its brand of bittersweet acoustic pop have been around for a while, but a new album in 2007 might propel Earlimart into the spotlight. Sounds like: Heir apparent to Elliott Smith.
Darker My Love: Tim Presley and his crew draw on 1960s psych pop influences, complete with fuzzed-out guitars and blissed-out feedback. DML is also on Dangerbird Records, same as Silversun Pickups. Sounds like: Early Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Black Angels, Clinic.
Giant Drag: Led by the edgy Annie Hardy, Giant Drag writes compact indie pop tunes brimming with Hardy's charismatic vocals. Check out 2005's “Hearts and Unicorns,” which deserved more notice. After performing as a duo for three years, Giant Drag is now just Hardy, who hopes to release a new record this year. Sounds like: This band is smart like Metric, sweet like The Like and hard like The Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O.
400 Blows: Named after the classic Francois Truffaut film, this black-clad trio cranks distortion-drenched spiny rock, often sliding into odd-time signatures. They play the Casbah March 13 with Qui (David Yow of The Jesus Lizard) and Triclops. Sounds like: Love child of Nebula's stoner rock and The Locust's noisy post-punk.
Midnight Movies: One of L.A.'s brightest young bands since coming on the scene in 2002, Midnight Movies channels 1970s NYC art rock. Gena Olivier's vocals hover over dark thumping indie rock. They play March 9 at San Diego's Beauty Bar. Sounds like: Nico with Velvet Underground, Ladytron.
Honorable mentions: Sailing, Autolux (at the Casbah March 15), Going Stag, Radio 4, Irving, Radar Brothers.
– CHRIS NIXON
By Chris Nixon
For The Union-Tribune
March 1, 2007
Since the mid-1990s, the Los Angeles neighborhood of Silver Lake – along with Echo Park to the south – serves as the epicenter of L.A.'s alternative music scene.
Beck, Karen O, Eels, Jane's Addiction, Pavement and the late great Elliott Smith all called the 'hood home. Located east of Hollywood with a population of 45,000, the L.A. borough wasn't always a Mecca of music.
“I would say in the mid-'90s, this area was, for lack of a better term, ghetto,” said Silversun Pickups' drummer Christopher Guanlao, from his home in Silver Lake. “It was just so cheap, so artists flocked here. You could get a two-bedroom apartment for $600 at that time.
“Silver Lake is not just a cheap place to live anymore: We've actually got clubs like Spaceland or Silver Lake Lounge or The Echo,” continued Guanlao. “It's easier to be creative when you have a bunch of people around that are creative. You end up feeding off one another.”
From stylish Silver Lake springs Silversun Pickups, a quartet firmly grounded in the psychedelic rock lineage of My Bloody Valentine and Smashing Pumpkins. Vocalist-guitarist Brian Aubert and bassist Nikki Monninger formed the band six years ago, adding Guanlao and keyboardist Joe Lester along the way. The Silversun Pickups found common ground in their friendship, which predated the critically acclaimed albums, the packed audiences and the accolades.
“First and foremost, we've just been friends,” recalled Guanlao. “Basically our friendship added another dynamic. If it wasn't for Silversun Pickups, I think we'd still be on Brian's porch drinking beer and hanging out.
“As far as arguments or discussions, we're very much like a family. At the end of the day, we're still going to be friends. We never really knew how far this band thing was going to go anyway. So we're just along for the ride.”
So far, the ride has swept the four Angelenos from local buzz band to a name on the tongues of late-night talk-show hosts. On the strength of incendiary live shows and the band's pleasing 2006 debut, “Carnavas,” Silversun seems poised for larger public awareness.
Recorded in studios around Hollywood and L.A., the album's 11 tracks range from the brooding atmospheric rock of “Three Seed” to the fuzzy retro guitar riffage of “Well Thought Out Twinkles.”
“Carnavas” rekindles the well-tailored guitar rock of Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), absent from mainstream music since the Chicago band's demise.
With help from producer Dave Cooley, Silversun Pickups crafted an album seamlessly melding Aubert's raspy vocals with his humming guitars, Guanlao's metronomic drum riffs and Monninger's droning bass lines and feminine counterpoint vocals. Any one of the album's 11 songs could easily find itself on alternative radio, a credit to Cooley's ability to focus the band's skills.
“Dave Cooley was great because he really pushed us,” said Guanlao of the producer, known more for his mixing and mastering work with everyone from D'Angelo to Polyphonic Spree. “Even when he lost an argument, the idea that he was fighting against us helped out. I know that sounds kind of weird. He really pushed us to our limits. He challenged us and got the best that we could do.”
On the heels of “Carnavas” (released in July of last year), SSPU set forth to tour and spread the good word. The fruits of its labor seem to be paying dividends, with Silversun Pickups scoring higher profile gigs at every turn.
The band performed live on the “Late Show With David Letterman” in December, and also on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” a couple of weeks back.
Locally, the Pickups played the FM 94/9 Holiday Hootenanny with Modest Mouse, The Shins and Pete Yorn in December at UCSD's RIMAC Arena, along with airplay on both 94/9 and 91X.
Guanlao and his band are trying to keep it real in the face of growing admiration and adoration.
“We have second cousins calling us and asking for tickets, which is cool,” said Guanlao, who plays with OK Go and Snow Patrol at SDSU's Open Air Theatre Saturday. “For us, we just try to keep the blinders on and just try to keep going forward and not worry about what's going on around us. It helps us to be grounded and focused.”
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
SILVERSUN PICKUPS
Etymology: The band took its name from the strip mall at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Silver Lake Boulevard, in the L.A. neighborhood of Silver Lake.
Hometown: Los Angeles
Year formed: 2005
Sounds like: Smashing Pumpkins, My Bloody Valentine
LINEUP
Brian Aubert – vocals, guitar
Nikki Monninger – bass, vocals
Christopher Guanlao – drums
Joe Lester – keyboards
DISCOGRAPHY
“Pikel” (EP) (Dangerbird Records, 2005): This debut six-song extended-play single finds the Pickups in a search to find its voice. On the other hand, Nikki Monninger's sweet backing vocals (a la Kim Deal) and Brad Aubert's guitar riffs give a glimpse of the goodness to come.
“Carnavas” (Dangerbird Records, 2006): The full-length debut packs 11 radio friendly tracks into one palatable package. More than merely radio fodder, SSPU finds the perfect balance between tightknit rock 'n' roll and contagious melody.
– CHRIS NIXON
STRAIGHT OUTTA SILVER LAKE
Continue east beyond the glitter and gutters of Hollywood, and you have the bustling arts communities of Silver Lake and Echo Park. Led by the Silversun Pickups, a new generation of L.A. bands hails from Silver Lake. Here's a sampling:
Earlimart: This four-piece and its brand of bittersweet acoustic pop have been around for a while, but a new album in 2007 might propel Earlimart into the spotlight. Sounds like: Heir apparent to Elliott Smith.
Darker My Love: Tim Presley and his crew draw on 1960s psych pop influences, complete with fuzzed-out guitars and blissed-out feedback. DML is also on Dangerbird Records, same as Silversun Pickups. Sounds like: Early Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Black Angels, Clinic.
Giant Drag: Led by the edgy Annie Hardy, Giant Drag writes compact indie pop tunes brimming with Hardy's charismatic vocals. Check out 2005's “Hearts and Unicorns,” which deserved more notice. After performing as a duo for three years, Giant Drag is now just Hardy, who hopes to release a new record this year. Sounds like: This band is smart like Metric, sweet like The Like and hard like The Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O.
400 Blows: Named after the classic Francois Truffaut film, this black-clad trio cranks distortion-drenched spiny rock, often sliding into odd-time signatures. They play the Casbah March 13 with Qui (David Yow of The Jesus Lizard) and Triclops. Sounds like: Love child of Nebula's stoner rock and The Locust's noisy post-punk.
Midnight Movies: One of L.A.'s brightest young bands since coming on the scene in 2002, Midnight Movies channels 1970s NYC art rock. Gena Olivier's vocals hover over dark thumping indie rock. They play March 9 at San Diego's Beauty Bar. Sounds like: Nico with Velvet Underground, Ladytron.
Honorable mentions: Sailing, Autolux (at the Casbah March 15), Going Stag, Radio 4, Irving, Radar Brothers.
– CHRIS NIXON
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Yorn, reborn
Singer-songwriter is taking a 'completely different approach from what I've done'
By Chris Nixon
For The Union-Tribune
February 15, 2007
Pete Yorn's good looks and seemingly effortless ability to churn out engaging pop songs often lead people to take the young songwriter for granted.
The New Jersey-bred, Southern California-based musician has sold records (his debut “Musicforthemorningafter” went gold) and gained critical acclaim (Rolling Stone picked him as one of the “Ten to Watch in 2001”), but Yorn hasn't become a household name one would expect he deserves.
Paste magazine editor Josh Jackson called Yorn's 2006 release “Nightcrawler” one of the year's most overlooked albums. If you haven't heard him, you should. If you have, take another listen.
The singer-songwriter, and now rising pop star, just completed a trilogy of albums, marking his early years as a musician: morning (“Musicforthemorningafter” in 2001), day (“Day I Forgot” in 2004) and night (“Nightcrawler” in 2006). As shown throughout all three releases, his true gift lies in crafting perfect mainstream rock tunes.
As the sun sets on this period of Yorn's life, Yorn took a moment to reflect on his line of business before moving on to his next phase.
“To me, it's a loose trilogy,” said Yorn, standing outside a recording studio in Mar Vista on Los Angeles' Westside, where he's recording his fourth album. “I think after finishing touring for 'Day I Forgot' and halfway through putting songs together for 'Nightcrawler,' I realized that I was exploring a lot of the same themes. From a technical standpoint, I recorded all three records in a similar fashion. So, I saw parallels there.”
The 32-year-old songwriter-guitarist-drummer emerged into the music marketplace with “Musicforthemorningafter,” a collection of 15 songs (including the hidden track “A Girl Like You”) filled with earnest love songs and bubblegum hooks.
“The 'Morning' was the innocence, and I hear it: I hear it in my voice and I hear it in the production,” recalled a now older and wiser Yorn. “When I hear that record – which is rare – but when I do go back and listen, it takes me back to an innocent time. I didn't have any notion of what anybody thought of me. People hadn't put labels on me. I was in it by myself and just going for it. The whole 'Night' thing is just a metaphor for a later period in my life.”
While he's only been in the business less than a decade, his career has reached modest heights.
Yorn followed “Morning” with “Day I Forgot,” a strong yet formulaic set of songs. The album earned the RIAA gold certification, leading to touring gigs with R.E.M., Coldplay and the Foo Fighters, a promising start to a young career.
Despite sounding similar to his previous outings, last year's “Nightcrawler” showcased Yorn's ability to crank out radio-friendly pop songs with substance. Honing his sound into a pop sheen with help from Dave Grohl and Natalie Maines (of the Dixie Chicks), any of the album's 14 tracks could have been a radio hit if they had gotten any airplay.
“Nightrawler” made a few “Best Of” lists, but, again, Yorn's abilities were overshadowed by the perception that pretty boys can't be serious artists: “You have to fight to balance out (criticism) and stay pure and focused on what's important to you.”
Today, while he doesn't come out and say it, Yorn hints that he's tired of the same sound and the same process. So, for his fourth album, he's coming at the recording from a different angle.
“It's a completely different approach from what I've done,” said an animated Yorn, energized by his latest work. “Everything is beat-driven, taking things off old obscure records and putting them into the computer and manipulating them. Then taking some of my folkier songs and putting them with the beats. It's creating a really fresh sound. What I'm doing is very different from what I've done in the past.”
Yorn seems to have mastered the three-minute pop song. Now, he's headed for greener pastures, more experimental music and a new day in his career.
“As far as where I am right now, I almost feel like it's a rebirth,” said Yorn. “I went through a phase: (my) mid-20s to early 30s. I'm able to look back on that period and realize this is what it is. And now, you change as a person. I feel like I have an opportunity to create something completely new and fresh.”
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
Discography
“Musicforthemorningafter” (2001, Columbia Records): Reached No. 111 in the U.S. charts. Rock-solid debut disc from Yorn established his ability to write sweet pop songs wrapped in rock 'n' roll. The single “Strange Condition” got a leg up from the Farrelly Brothers when they included the song on the “Me, Myself and Irene” soundtrack. Beware: One listen and the single “For Nancy ('Cos It Already Is)” will become a guilty pleasure for even the most jaded hipster. Take my word for it.
“Day I Forgot” (2003, Columbia Records): Reached No. 18 in the U.S. charts. Yorn sidesteps the ubiquitous sophomore slump by sticking to the formula that gave album No. 1 a fan base: short, sharp, shockingly infectious pop songs. But sometimes formulas sound, well, formulaic. The tunes aren't necessarily on par with his first disc, but he manages to assemble a coherent set of ear candies with help from R.E.M.'s Peter Buck.
“Nightcrawler” (2006, Columbia Records): Reached No. 50 in the U.S. charts. The 32-year-old singer-songwriter righted the ship with last year's “Nightcrawler.” Music pundits uttered many “return to form” comments, which are cliché but true in this case. Natalie Maines and Martie Maguire of Dixie Chicks fame lend vocals and fiddles on “The Man.” Like his previous albums, “Nightcrawler” pleasantly slides by without major incident, merging into one long, sweet pop song. The one bump in the road comes in the electronic stomp of “Georgie Boy,” giving fans a glimpse of Yorn's momentum in new directions.
– CHRIS NIXON
By Chris Nixon
For The Union-Tribune
February 15, 2007
Pete Yorn's good looks and seemingly effortless ability to churn out engaging pop songs often lead people to take the young songwriter for granted.
The New Jersey-bred, Southern California-based musician has sold records (his debut “Musicforthemorningafter” went gold) and gained critical acclaim (Rolling Stone picked him as one of the “Ten to Watch in 2001”), but Yorn hasn't become a household name one would expect he deserves.
Paste magazine editor Josh Jackson called Yorn's 2006 release “Nightcrawler” one of the year's most overlooked albums. If you haven't heard him, you should. If you have, take another listen.
The singer-songwriter, and now rising pop star, just completed a trilogy of albums, marking his early years as a musician: morning (“Musicforthemorningafter” in 2001), day (“Day I Forgot” in 2004) and night (“Nightcrawler” in 2006). As shown throughout all three releases, his true gift lies in crafting perfect mainstream rock tunes.
As the sun sets on this period of Yorn's life, Yorn took a moment to reflect on his line of business before moving on to his next phase.
“To me, it's a loose trilogy,” said Yorn, standing outside a recording studio in Mar Vista on Los Angeles' Westside, where he's recording his fourth album. “I think after finishing touring for 'Day I Forgot' and halfway through putting songs together for 'Nightcrawler,' I realized that I was exploring a lot of the same themes. From a technical standpoint, I recorded all three records in a similar fashion. So, I saw parallels there.”
The 32-year-old songwriter-guitarist-drummer emerged into the music marketplace with “Musicforthemorningafter,” a collection of 15 songs (including the hidden track “A Girl Like You”) filled with earnest love songs and bubblegum hooks.
“The 'Morning' was the innocence, and I hear it: I hear it in my voice and I hear it in the production,” recalled a now older and wiser Yorn. “When I hear that record – which is rare – but when I do go back and listen, it takes me back to an innocent time. I didn't have any notion of what anybody thought of me. People hadn't put labels on me. I was in it by myself and just going for it. The whole 'Night' thing is just a metaphor for a later period in my life.”
While he's only been in the business less than a decade, his career has reached modest heights.
Yorn followed “Morning” with “Day I Forgot,” a strong yet formulaic set of songs. The album earned the RIAA gold certification, leading to touring gigs with R.E.M., Coldplay and the Foo Fighters, a promising start to a young career.
Despite sounding similar to his previous outings, last year's “Nightcrawler” showcased Yorn's ability to crank out radio-friendly pop songs with substance. Honing his sound into a pop sheen with help from Dave Grohl and Natalie Maines (of the Dixie Chicks), any of the album's 14 tracks could have been a radio hit if they had gotten any airplay.
“Nightrawler” made a few “Best Of” lists, but, again, Yorn's abilities were overshadowed by the perception that pretty boys can't be serious artists: “You have to fight to balance out (criticism) and stay pure and focused on what's important to you.”
Today, while he doesn't come out and say it, Yorn hints that he's tired of the same sound and the same process. So, for his fourth album, he's coming at the recording from a different angle.
“It's a completely different approach from what I've done,” said an animated Yorn, energized by his latest work. “Everything is beat-driven, taking things off old obscure records and putting them into the computer and manipulating them. Then taking some of my folkier songs and putting them with the beats. It's creating a really fresh sound. What I'm doing is very different from what I've done in the past.”
Yorn seems to have mastered the three-minute pop song. Now, he's headed for greener pastures, more experimental music and a new day in his career.
“As far as where I am right now, I almost feel like it's a rebirth,” said Yorn. “I went through a phase: (my) mid-20s to early 30s. I'm able to look back on that period and realize this is what it is. And now, you change as a person. I feel like I have an opportunity to create something completely new and fresh.”
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
Discography
“Musicforthemorningafter” (2001, Columbia Records): Reached No. 111 in the U.S. charts. Rock-solid debut disc from Yorn established his ability to write sweet pop songs wrapped in rock 'n' roll. The single “Strange Condition” got a leg up from the Farrelly Brothers when they included the song on the “Me, Myself and Irene” soundtrack. Beware: One listen and the single “For Nancy ('Cos It Already Is)” will become a guilty pleasure for even the most jaded hipster. Take my word for it.
“Day I Forgot” (2003, Columbia Records): Reached No. 18 in the U.S. charts. Yorn sidesteps the ubiquitous sophomore slump by sticking to the formula that gave album No. 1 a fan base: short, sharp, shockingly infectious pop songs. But sometimes formulas sound, well, formulaic. The tunes aren't necessarily on par with his first disc, but he manages to assemble a coherent set of ear candies with help from R.E.M.'s Peter Buck.
“Nightcrawler” (2006, Columbia Records): Reached No. 50 in the U.S. charts. The 32-year-old singer-songwriter righted the ship with last year's “Nightcrawler.” Music pundits uttered many “return to form” comments, which are cliché but true in this case. Natalie Maines and Martie Maguire of Dixie Chicks fame lend vocals and fiddles on “The Man.” Like his previous albums, “Nightcrawler” pleasantly slides by without major incident, merging into one long, sweet pop song. The one bump in the road comes in the electronic stomp of “Georgie Boy,” giving fans a glimpse of Yorn's momentum in new directions.
– CHRIS NIXON
Fiasco: Faith healer
Lupe Fiasco's religious background puts backbone in his rhyme schemes
By Chris Nixon
For The Union-Tribune
February 8, 2007
Bismillaah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem, chants Lupe Fiasco, his first words on the Chicago native's full-length debut “Food & Liquor.” It's Arabic, and it's the first words in the first chapter (the Al-Fatiha) of the Koran, the holy book of Islam. It means: “In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.”
Recited five times a day by devout Muslims, the Al-Fatiha is simply a prayer. Fiasco's album “Food & Liquor” – nominated for Best Rap Album at the 2007 Grammy Awards – is a modern prayer: asking forgiveness for his sins of adolescent misogyny, praying for the crackheads and the crooked cops, praying for the outcast skater kids and the pedophile Catholic priests, praying for possibilities beyond drug deals and drive-bys.
Born Wasalu Muhammad Jaco to a gourmet chef mother and a musician father in the Southside of Chicago, Lupe's parents raised him – along with his nine siblings – in the Islamic faith. A bright kid prone to skateboarding and daydreaming, Lupe (pronounced “lou-pay”) grew up in a tough neighborhood. He learned life's lessons firsthand, as street kids do, from the characters on his block, as both the righteous and the sinners roamed the cracked sidewalks on his street.
Despite the exterior chaos skulking outside his front door, his parents promoted advancement through education and knowledge. Lupe rhymes in “American Terrorist”: The ink of a scholar is worth a thousand times more than the blood of a martyr.
The 24-year-old MC still holds his religion near but condemns the use of religion to promote violent actions. Also from “American Terrorist”: Camouflaged Torahs, Bibles and glorious Korans / The books that take you to heaven and let you meet the Lord there / Have become misinterpreted, reasons for warfare / We read 'em with blind eyes, I guarantee you there's more there.
While Islam remains part of his guiding principles, Lupe doesn't want to get branded as “the Muslim MC.”
“I was born Muslim, so Islam plays a part in everything I do, to a certain extent,” said Fiasco in a recent interview with AllHipHop.com. “I'm not like the poster boy for Islam; you know what I'm saying? So it's like I still got my flaws and stuff like that, so I don't really wear that on my sleeve.”
Lupe's education on the streets of Chicago led him to his lyrical prowess, which resounds as his strength throughout “Food & Liquor.” Fiasco's appeal doesn't stem from rhyming style and rhythmic flow, but from his lyrical content and his skilled high-profile collaborators.
Whether teaming with this generation's answer to Ella Fitzgerald (Jill Scott in the beautiful “Daydreamin' ”) or the modern equivalent of Phil Spector (Pharrell Williams, who produced the single “I Gotcha”), Fiasco understands the dynamics of creating an infectious tune with intellectual depth (from the AllHipHop.com interview): “Catch their ear, and then at the same time, teach them something, you know?”
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
SAMPLER PLATE
From the early days in the Bronx projects to today's glossy mainstream rap, sampling remains the backbone of hip-hop. Capturing snippets from songs both familiar and obscure, rap's patchwork of assembled clips marks an ingenious recycling of music: using snippets of other songs to create a totally new one.
By teaming with top producers like Pharrell Williams, Kanye West, Mike Shinoda, Craig Kallman, Needlz, Soundtrakk, Prolyfic and Brandon Howard, Lupe Fiasco's “Food & Liquor” uses the talents of these producers to reconstitute old songs into fresh creations.
Here's a list of samples used in “Food & Liquor”:
“Real”: “How Does It Feel,” Harvey Mason
“Just Might Be OK”: “Humphrey's Overture,” Paul Humphrey
“Kick, Push”: “Bolero Medley,” Celeste Legaspi
“The Instrumental”: “Nestle,” Far
“He Say She Say”: “The Last One to Be Loved,” Burt Bacharach
“Daydreamin'”: “Daydream in Blue,” I Monster
“The Cool”: “Life on Mars,” Dexter Wansel
“Hurt Me Soul”: “Stay With Me,” Cecil Holmes
“Pressure”: “Pressure Cooker,” Thelma Houston
“American Terrorist”: “The Romantic Warrior,” Return to Forever
“The Emperor's Soundtrack”: “Between the Walls,” UFO
– CHRIS NIXON
By Chris Nixon
For The Union-Tribune
February 8, 2007
Bismillaah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem, chants Lupe Fiasco, his first words on the Chicago native's full-length debut “Food & Liquor.” It's Arabic, and it's the first words in the first chapter (the Al-Fatiha) of the Koran, the holy book of Islam. It means: “In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.”
Recited five times a day by devout Muslims, the Al-Fatiha is simply a prayer. Fiasco's album “Food & Liquor” – nominated for Best Rap Album at the 2007 Grammy Awards – is a modern prayer: asking forgiveness for his sins of adolescent misogyny, praying for the crackheads and the crooked cops, praying for the outcast skater kids and the pedophile Catholic priests, praying for possibilities beyond drug deals and drive-bys.
Born Wasalu Muhammad Jaco to a gourmet chef mother and a musician father in the Southside of Chicago, Lupe's parents raised him – along with his nine siblings – in the Islamic faith. A bright kid prone to skateboarding and daydreaming, Lupe (pronounced “lou-pay”) grew up in a tough neighborhood. He learned life's lessons firsthand, as street kids do, from the characters on his block, as both the righteous and the sinners roamed the cracked sidewalks on his street.
Despite the exterior chaos skulking outside his front door, his parents promoted advancement through education and knowledge. Lupe rhymes in “American Terrorist”: The ink of a scholar is worth a thousand times more than the blood of a martyr.
The 24-year-old MC still holds his religion near but condemns the use of religion to promote violent actions. Also from “American Terrorist”: Camouflaged Torahs, Bibles and glorious Korans / The books that take you to heaven and let you meet the Lord there / Have become misinterpreted, reasons for warfare / We read 'em with blind eyes, I guarantee you there's more there.
While Islam remains part of his guiding principles, Lupe doesn't want to get branded as “the Muslim MC.”
“I was born Muslim, so Islam plays a part in everything I do, to a certain extent,” said Fiasco in a recent interview with AllHipHop.com. “I'm not like the poster boy for Islam; you know what I'm saying? So it's like I still got my flaws and stuff like that, so I don't really wear that on my sleeve.”
Lupe's education on the streets of Chicago led him to his lyrical prowess, which resounds as his strength throughout “Food & Liquor.” Fiasco's appeal doesn't stem from rhyming style and rhythmic flow, but from his lyrical content and his skilled high-profile collaborators.
Whether teaming with this generation's answer to Ella Fitzgerald (Jill Scott in the beautiful “Daydreamin' ”) or the modern equivalent of Phil Spector (Pharrell Williams, who produced the single “I Gotcha”), Fiasco understands the dynamics of creating an infectious tune with intellectual depth (from the AllHipHop.com interview): “Catch their ear, and then at the same time, teach them something, you know?”
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
SAMPLER PLATE
From the early days in the Bronx projects to today's glossy mainstream rap, sampling remains the backbone of hip-hop. Capturing snippets from songs both familiar and obscure, rap's patchwork of assembled clips marks an ingenious recycling of music: using snippets of other songs to create a totally new one.
By teaming with top producers like Pharrell Williams, Kanye West, Mike Shinoda, Craig Kallman, Needlz, Soundtrakk, Prolyfic and Brandon Howard, Lupe Fiasco's “Food & Liquor” uses the talents of these producers to reconstitute old songs into fresh creations.
Here's a list of samples used in “Food & Liquor”:
“Real”: “How Does It Feel,” Harvey Mason
“Just Might Be OK”: “Humphrey's Overture,” Paul Humphrey
“Kick, Push”: “Bolero Medley,” Celeste Legaspi
“The Instrumental”: “Nestle,” Far
“He Say She Say”: “The Last One to Be Loved,” Burt Bacharach
“Daydreamin'”: “Daydream in Blue,” I Monster
“The Cool”: “Life on Mars,” Dexter Wansel
“Hurt Me Soul”: “Stay With Me,” Cecil Holmes
“Pressure”: “Pressure Cooker,” Thelma Houston
“American Terrorist”: “The Romantic Warrior,” Return to Forever
“The Emperor's Soundtrack”: “Between the Walls,” UFO
– CHRIS NIXON
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Of Montreal in Night&Day
Tips to create: Be 'confused and freaked out'
By Chris Nixon
For The Union-Tribune
January 25, 2007
A cold dark winter in a small Oslo apartment might not fit neatly into most people's vacation plans, but for singer/multi-instrumentalist Kevin Barnes, the unpleasantness of Norway's stark, dark wintry landscape turned out to be a pleasant place to create art.
Under the moniker Of Montreal, the 32-year-old Barnes spent his winter of discontent writing the 12 songs on his eighth full-length disc “Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?”
Tiptoeing between the vocal symphonics of Queen and the early nu-wave pop of Flock of Seagulls or Gary Numan, “Hissing Fauna” is a gorgeously crafted album of pretty pop songs. But take a closer look and the lyrics reveal the pain behind the process: I spent the winter on the verge of a total breakdown while living in Norway / I felt the darkness of the black metal bands / But being such a faun of a man / I didn't burn down any old churches / Just slept way too much, just slept.
With the release of “Hissing Fauna” on the horizon, Barnes now sits in his cozy living room in his home in Athens, Ga. He's playing with his daughter, Alabee, before embarking on an extensive tour to support the album, including a stop at Soma Tuesday night in San Diego, talking openly about the winters in Norway and his career in music.
“Quality of life is obviously important,” said Barnes. “But the more comfortable and at peace you are, probably the less desire you have to be creative. It's always good from an artistic standpoint to be confused and freaked out.”
Playing almost all the instruments on “Hissing Fauna,” Barnes sequestered himself to piece the album together: “The first half was done in Oslo on a laptop and a MIDI keyboard, just me in a tiny little room working on stuff by myself. Then, I came home to Athens and I had more instruments lying around so I was able to flush things out and do some more interesting stuff.”
The solitude resulted in a stunning pastiche of humming synths and layered vocal harmonies, making “Hissing Fauna” Of Montreal's best effort to date.
You may have heard Of Montreal without knowing it. A few tunes from his 2005 album “Sunlandic Twins” ended up in TV ads for Outback Steakhouse, NASDAQ and Garmin GPS. The album was also a critical success, giving Barnes a broader stage to stand on and a wider audience.
“We definitely reached a larger audience with 'Sunlandic Twins,' but hopefully it will continue to progress,” said Barnes. “I don't really have ambitions to become the next David Bowie or anything, to become a superstar. I just want to make interesting music and be able to support myself that way.”
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
By Chris Nixon
For The Union-Tribune
January 25, 2007
A cold dark winter in a small Oslo apartment might not fit neatly into most people's vacation plans, but for singer/multi-instrumentalist Kevin Barnes, the unpleasantness of Norway's stark, dark wintry landscape turned out to be a pleasant place to create art.
Under the moniker Of Montreal, the 32-year-old Barnes spent his winter of discontent writing the 12 songs on his eighth full-length disc “Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?”
Tiptoeing between the vocal symphonics of Queen and the early nu-wave pop of Flock of Seagulls or Gary Numan, “Hissing Fauna” is a gorgeously crafted album of pretty pop songs. But take a closer look and the lyrics reveal the pain behind the process: I spent the winter on the verge of a total breakdown while living in Norway / I felt the darkness of the black metal bands / But being such a faun of a man / I didn't burn down any old churches / Just slept way too much, just slept.
With the release of “Hissing Fauna” on the horizon, Barnes now sits in his cozy living room in his home in Athens, Ga. He's playing with his daughter, Alabee, before embarking on an extensive tour to support the album, including a stop at Soma Tuesday night in San Diego, talking openly about the winters in Norway and his career in music.
“Quality of life is obviously important,” said Barnes. “But the more comfortable and at peace you are, probably the less desire you have to be creative. It's always good from an artistic standpoint to be confused and freaked out.”
Playing almost all the instruments on “Hissing Fauna,” Barnes sequestered himself to piece the album together: “The first half was done in Oslo on a laptop and a MIDI keyboard, just me in a tiny little room working on stuff by myself. Then, I came home to Athens and I had more instruments lying around so I was able to flush things out and do some more interesting stuff.”
The solitude resulted in a stunning pastiche of humming synths and layered vocal harmonies, making “Hissing Fauna” Of Montreal's best effort to date.
You may have heard Of Montreal without knowing it. A few tunes from his 2005 album “Sunlandic Twins” ended up in TV ads for Outback Steakhouse, NASDAQ and Garmin GPS. The album was also a critical success, giving Barnes a broader stage to stand on and a wider audience.
“We definitely reached a larger audience with 'Sunlandic Twins,' but hopefully it will continue to progress,” said Barnes. “I don't really have ambitions to become the next David Bowie or anything, to become a superstar. I just want to make interesting music and be able to support myself that way.”
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
Up from the ashes
Everclear's Art Alexakis: He can see Everclearly now
By Chris Nixon
For the Union-Tribune
January 25, 2007
Everybody loves a rock star on the rise: young, rail-thin and good-looking with a guitar slung over the shoulder and an earnest look in the eyes.
But rarely do you hear about the journey to the stage: a father skipping out on his family, poverty in the projects, a teenage brother dying of a heroin overdose, a failed suicide attempt.
You don't hear about the tribulations brewing behind the platinum records and sold-out shows: two divorces and drug abuse. And you certainly don't hear the story when the stage lights dim: bankruptcy and another broken marriage.
You don't hear these stories unless you're talking with Art Alexakis, lead singer of Everclear and rock 'n' roll survivor.
Whether speaking candidly about his single parent upbringing in the Mar Vista Gardens housing projects in Los Angeles, his band's startling rise to fame in the late-1990s on the back of three-straight platinum albums or the slow rebuilding of his life after the songs stopped paying the bills, the 44-year-old Alexakis remains a storyteller.
His stories make for an entertaining conversation. More importantly Alexakis' stories give his songs a timeless appeal, pulling the listener into his world.
As with a lot of musicians driven to perform, Alexakis knew early on he had to write songs: “I realized I was never going to be a Wall Street banker. I'm never going to be the guy that's going to be successful the way that the world deems the normal way to do it. I play rock 'n' roll. That's what I do.”
Everclear started as a trio in 1992, after Alexakis, disillusioned with the Bay Area music scene, left San Francisco. Along with bassist Craig Montoya and drummer Scott Cuthbert, Alexakis penned some of the most memorable singles of the 1990s: “Santa Monica” (from 1995's “Sparkle and Fade”), “I Will Buy You a New Life” from 1998's critical and popular success story “So Much for the Afterflow” and “Wonderful” from 2000's “Songs From an American Movie, Vol. 1: Learning How to Smile.”
Everclear provided an accessible alternative to grunge bands, trading the snarling guitar riffs of Soundgarden for Alexakis' crisp, compact songwriting. The threesome received an unfair branding by some critics as Nirvana-lite, but Alexakis' songs simply contained more pop sensibilities than the metal-driven Soundgarden or the punk-influenced Nirvana.
The sudden success caused some emotional jarring for Alexakis, which he had to battle through despite the accolades and dollar bills thrown at him.
“To be honest with you, I grew up poor,” said Alexakis. “I grew up in a housing project. So when all that stuff was going on, it was like a whirlwind and I made a lot of bad choices. I think I was one of the few that got to live the rock 'n' roll dream. And I'm still standing.”
After Everclear's disappointing sixth album, “Slow Motion Daydream,” Capitol Records dropped the band in 2004. Alexakis parted ways with Montoya and Cuthbert, taking a break from recording to reassess his career and his life.
“I still wanted to do Everclear, but I wanted it to change,” said Alexakis. “I knew it was going to be a long process. I didn't know I was going to lose my wife and go through bankruptcy along the way. But looking back now, I couldn't get to where I'm at now if I had still been in that place.”
It took a year or two, but Alexakis rebuilt his life and started the current incarnation of Everclear as a five-piece group. Now, the band returns with a new album, “Welcome to the Drama Club,” finding a wiser Alexakis writing songs on a par with the band's heyday.
“We appeal to a lot of kids as well, but mostly we appeal to people who have grown up with our music or alternative music and have gone on to something else: People who don't listen to alternative radio anymore,” said Alexakis. “People who have lived a lot of life and can connect more with someone who writes songs about failure and hope and heartbreak and trying to make sense of it all.”
Everclear may never reach the dizzying heights of the late-1990s, but the group rolls into San Diego's House of Blues Monday as the headliner of the Van Wilder Tour with a renewed sense of purpose.
“I'm 44 and I get to play guitar in a rock band and I have a healthy kid,” said Alexakis. “I love the music I'm making. I love talking to my fans on Myspace. I just put my heart out there. I have a great job.”
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF ART ALEXAKIS
Even rock stars have chores when they're not on tour. As Everclear lead singer Art Alexakis talked via phone to help preview his upcoming San Diego show, his hometown of Portland was digging out from a rare snowstorm. This complicated his daily schedule, which usually consists of driving his teenage daughter Annabella to high school before settling down to talk with management and press.
“This is what I do in the morning: I take my kid to school, I come home and I do press,” confessed a deadpan Alexakis, poking fun at his non-glamorous lifestyle while not on tour. “Today, I have to take my kid to school because it's a snow day. It snowed in Portland, and when it snows in Portland people loose their minds. The whole city shut down for three days. I have one four-wheel drive vehicle and my girlfriend took that to work. And now I have this rental car, this hoopty Chrysler, and I have to take my kid to school.”
Before skipping out the door into the rain, sleet and snow, the bleach-blond singer admitted that he might consider a change of scenery: “I love San Diego. I almost moved there (when I was younger). When my daughter graduates from high school, I'm probably going to move to San Diego.”
– CHRIS NIXON
DISCOGRAPHY
“World of Noise” (1993)
“Sparkle and Fade” (1995)
“So Much for the Afterglow” (1997)
“Songs From an American Movie, Vol. 1: Learning How to Smile” (2000)
“Songs From an American Movie, Vol. 2: Good Time for a Bad Attitude” (2000)
“Slow Motion Daydream” (2003)
“Welcome to the Drama Club” (2006)
LINEUP
Art Alexakis – vocals, guitar
Dave French – guitar
Sam Hudson – bass
Josh Crawley – keyboards
Brett Snyder – drums
By Chris Nixon
For the Union-Tribune
January 25, 2007
Everybody loves a rock star on the rise: young, rail-thin and good-looking with a guitar slung over the shoulder and an earnest look in the eyes.
But rarely do you hear about the journey to the stage: a father skipping out on his family, poverty in the projects, a teenage brother dying of a heroin overdose, a failed suicide attempt.
You don't hear about the tribulations brewing behind the platinum records and sold-out shows: two divorces and drug abuse. And you certainly don't hear the story when the stage lights dim: bankruptcy and another broken marriage.
You don't hear these stories unless you're talking with Art Alexakis, lead singer of Everclear and rock 'n' roll survivor.
Whether speaking candidly about his single parent upbringing in the Mar Vista Gardens housing projects in Los Angeles, his band's startling rise to fame in the late-1990s on the back of three-straight platinum albums or the slow rebuilding of his life after the songs stopped paying the bills, the 44-year-old Alexakis remains a storyteller.
His stories make for an entertaining conversation. More importantly Alexakis' stories give his songs a timeless appeal, pulling the listener into his world.
As with a lot of musicians driven to perform, Alexakis knew early on he had to write songs: “I realized I was never going to be a Wall Street banker. I'm never going to be the guy that's going to be successful the way that the world deems the normal way to do it. I play rock 'n' roll. That's what I do.”
Everclear started as a trio in 1992, after Alexakis, disillusioned with the Bay Area music scene, left San Francisco. Along with bassist Craig Montoya and drummer Scott Cuthbert, Alexakis penned some of the most memorable singles of the 1990s: “Santa Monica” (from 1995's “Sparkle and Fade”), “I Will Buy You a New Life” from 1998's critical and popular success story “So Much for the Afterflow” and “Wonderful” from 2000's “Songs From an American Movie, Vol. 1: Learning How to Smile.”
Everclear provided an accessible alternative to grunge bands, trading the snarling guitar riffs of Soundgarden for Alexakis' crisp, compact songwriting. The threesome received an unfair branding by some critics as Nirvana-lite, but Alexakis' songs simply contained more pop sensibilities than the metal-driven Soundgarden or the punk-influenced Nirvana.
The sudden success caused some emotional jarring for Alexakis, which he had to battle through despite the accolades and dollar bills thrown at him.
“To be honest with you, I grew up poor,” said Alexakis. “I grew up in a housing project. So when all that stuff was going on, it was like a whirlwind and I made a lot of bad choices. I think I was one of the few that got to live the rock 'n' roll dream. And I'm still standing.”
After Everclear's disappointing sixth album, “Slow Motion Daydream,” Capitol Records dropped the band in 2004. Alexakis parted ways with Montoya and Cuthbert, taking a break from recording to reassess his career and his life.
“I still wanted to do Everclear, but I wanted it to change,” said Alexakis. “I knew it was going to be a long process. I didn't know I was going to lose my wife and go through bankruptcy along the way. But looking back now, I couldn't get to where I'm at now if I had still been in that place.”
It took a year or two, but Alexakis rebuilt his life and started the current incarnation of Everclear as a five-piece group. Now, the band returns with a new album, “Welcome to the Drama Club,” finding a wiser Alexakis writing songs on a par with the band's heyday.
“We appeal to a lot of kids as well, but mostly we appeal to people who have grown up with our music or alternative music and have gone on to something else: People who don't listen to alternative radio anymore,” said Alexakis. “People who have lived a lot of life and can connect more with someone who writes songs about failure and hope and heartbreak and trying to make sense of it all.”
Everclear may never reach the dizzying heights of the late-1990s, but the group rolls into San Diego's House of Blues Monday as the headliner of the Van Wilder Tour with a renewed sense of purpose.
“I'm 44 and I get to play guitar in a rock band and I have a healthy kid,” said Alexakis. “I love the music I'm making. I love talking to my fans on Myspace. I just put my heart out there. I have a great job.”
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF ART ALEXAKIS
Even rock stars have chores when they're not on tour. As Everclear lead singer Art Alexakis talked via phone to help preview his upcoming San Diego show, his hometown of Portland was digging out from a rare snowstorm. This complicated his daily schedule, which usually consists of driving his teenage daughter Annabella to high school before settling down to talk with management and press.
“This is what I do in the morning: I take my kid to school, I come home and I do press,” confessed a deadpan Alexakis, poking fun at his non-glamorous lifestyle while not on tour. “Today, I have to take my kid to school because it's a snow day. It snowed in Portland, and when it snows in Portland people loose their minds. The whole city shut down for three days. I have one four-wheel drive vehicle and my girlfriend took that to work. And now I have this rental car, this hoopty Chrysler, and I have to take my kid to school.”
Before skipping out the door into the rain, sleet and snow, the bleach-blond singer admitted that he might consider a change of scenery: “I love San Diego. I almost moved there (when I was younger). When my daughter graduates from high school, I'm probably going to move to San Diego.”
– CHRIS NIXON
DISCOGRAPHY
“World of Noise” (1993)
“Sparkle and Fade” (1995)
“So Much for the Afterglow” (1997)
“Songs From an American Movie, Vol. 1: Learning How to Smile” (2000)
“Songs From an American Movie, Vol. 2: Good Time for a Bad Attitude” (2000)
“Slow Motion Daydream” (2003)
“Welcome to the Drama Club” (2006)
LINEUP
Art Alexakis – vocals, guitar
Dave French – guitar
Sam Hudson – bass
Josh Crawley – keyboards
Brett Snyder – drums
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Taking the time to incubate
Incubus came in from years on the road to unwind, reflect and energize itself
By Chris Nixon
For The Union-Tribune
January 11, 2007
Give us time to shine / Even diamonds start as coal sings Incubus vocalist Brandon Boyd on “Diamonds and Coal,” a track from the band's sixth full-length studio album, “Light Grenades.” Boyd uses the metaphor to describe a burgeoning romantic relationship (and learning to love instead of squabbling), but the 30-year-old singer could be talking about himself.
After 15 years honing his songwriting skills and maintaining a career in music, Boyd fine-tuned his vocal skills to evolve into one of rock's best singers.
“We formed the band in 1991,” recalled Boyd recently, as he prepared to start the band's current tour in Vancouver, B.C. “We started playing concerts shortly after that, playing people's backyards and bar mitzvahs and whatever we could get. When we started, I didn't know what I was doing. I can say that with pure confidence. I just knew that I liked it, and I knew there was an energy there that was very infectious.”
Born in the Los Angeles suburb of Calabasas, Incubus fought and clawed for gigs until earning a major-label contract with Immortal/Epic Records (a subsidiary of Sony) in 1996. The band's third studio album, “Make Yourself” (1999), yielded a single in “Pardon Me,” catapulting the five-piece group into the national spotlight. Mixing crunching guitars by Mike Einziger, scratching and samples from turntablist Chris Kilmore and Boyd's riveting melodies, Incubus built a sound all its own: softer than Korn, harder than Pearl Jam.
After five albums, years on the road and a nasty contract renegotiation with Sony, Boyd, Einziger, Kilmore, drummer Jose Pasillas and bassist Ben Kenney were mentally and physically exhausted.
“As a young band we just stayed on the road for 10 years,” said Boyd. “We'd come off to make a record, rest for two weeks and then go right back onto the road. We wanted to build our career by keeping that kind of pace. After doing that for 10 years, we got pretty burnt out with all the traveling and everything.”
Boyd and company ended up taking a year off to reflect on the past and create the material that would develop into “Light Grenades”: “During the break, everybody had a chance to rest and reassess and unpack and get to know families and friends again.”
“We basically let our lives fall apart and put them back together again; all the stuff you have to go through as a human being,” continued Boyd, who spent many weekends with grandparents in Chula Vista growing up. “So when we went back to start writing this album, there was no shortage of things to write about because we actually had a chance to live on the other side again. Touring is an amazing experience, but it's very sheltered and bubble-esque. We needed to break out of that.”
From the opening notes of the trip-hop tune “Quicksand” to the all-out rocking title track, “Light Grenades” shows a young band hitting its stride.
“I feel like this is our strongest record, in that it sounds more multidimensional than it does chaotic,” admitted Boyd. “On our other albums, one of the dark qualities, but also one of the endearing qualities, about us is we're all over the place. We do a little bit of this, little bit of this. On this record, we are still doing that, but it's in more of a mature way. We've found a way to do it that's not scatterbrained.”
By surviving the trials and tribulations of life in the music business, Incubus has emerged as a more cohesive unit. “Over the years we've not only learned restraint, but we've actually learned how to craft a song and how to craft a memorable album and how to put on a memorable concert and how to do it in a sustainable fashion. (And ) In way so we can actually do it every night.”
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
By Chris Nixon
For The Union-Tribune
January 11, 2007
Give us time to shine / Even diamonds start as coal sings Incubus vocalist Brandon Boyd on “Diamonds and Coal,” a track from the band's sixth full-length studio album, “Light Grenades.” Boyd uses the metaphor to describe a burgeoning romantic relationship (and learning to love instead of squabbling), but the 30-year-old singer could be talking about himself.
After 15 years honing his songwriting skills and maintaining a career in music, Boyd fine-tuned his vocal skills to evolve into one of rock's best singers.
“We formed the band in 1991,” recalled Boyd recently, as he prepared to start the band's current tour in Vancouver, B.C. “We started playing concerts shortly after that, playing people's backyards and bar mitzvahs and whatever we could get. When we started, I didn't know what I was doing. I can say that with pure confidence. I just knew that I liked it, and I knew there was an energy there that was very infectious.”
Born in the Los Angeles suburb of Calabasas, Incubus fought and clawed for gigs until earning a major-label contract with Immortal/Epic Records (a subsidiary of Sony) in 1996. The band's third studio album, “Make Yourself” (1999), yielded a single in “Pardon Me,” catapulting the five-piece group into the national spotlight. Mixing crunching guitars by Mike Einziger, scratching and samples from turntablist Chris Kilmore and Boyd's riveting melodies, Incubus built a sound all its own: softer than Korn, harder than Pearl Jam.
After five albums, years on the road and a nasty contract renegotiation with Sony, Boyd, Einziger, Kilmore, drummer Jose Pasillas and bassist Ben Kenney were mentally and physically exhausted.
“As a young band we just stayed on the road for 10 years,” said Boyd. “We'd come off to make a record, rest for two weeks and then go right back onto the road. We wanted to build our career by keeping that kind of pace. After doing that for 10 years, we got pretty burnt out with all the traveling and everything.”
Boyd and company ended up taking a year off to reflect on the past and create the material that would develop into “Light Grenades”: “During the break, everybody had a chance to rest and reassess and unpack and get to know families and friends again.”
“We basically let our lives fall apart and put them back together again; all the stuff you have to go through as a human being,” continued Boyd, who spent many weekends with grandparents in Chula Vista growing up. “So when we went back to start writing this album, there was no shortage of things to write about because we actually had a chance to live on the other side again. Touring is an amazing experience, but it's very sheltered and bubble-esque. We needed to break out of that.”
From the opening notes of the trip-hop tune “Quicksand” to the all-out rocking title track, “Light Grenades” shows a young band hitting its stride.
“I feel like this is our strongest record, in that it sounds more multidimensional than it does chaotic,” admitted Boyd. “On our other albums, one of the dark qualities, but also one of the endearing qualities, about us is we're all over the place. We do a little bit of this, little bit of this. On this record, we are still doing that, but it's in more of a mature way. We've found a way to do it that's not scatterbrained.”
By surviving the trials and tribulations of life in the music business, Incubus has emerged as a more cohesive unit. “Over the years we've not only learned restraint, but we've actually learned how to craft a song and how to craft a memorable album and how to put on a memorable concert and how to do it in a sustainable fashion. (And ) In way so we can actually do it every night.”
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
Dead Rock West
Frank Lee Drennen takes another career twist with a new band
By Chris Nixon
For the Union-Tribune
January 4, 2007
The early days with Christopher Hoffee in a duo called Homer Gunn (named after his grandpa); the gritty country rock of the Hatchet Brothers with friend Gregory Page during a lengthy residency at the Ould Sod; the visceral rock of his on-again, off-again band Loam ... from country troubadour to distortion-driven rocker, former San Diego musician Frank Lee Drennen discovers imaginative ways to reinvent himself with each turn of his multifaceted career.
Dead Rock West features Cindy Wasserman and Frank Lee Drennen, a former San Diegan who still fronts the band Loam.
With his new band, Dead Rock West, Drennen finds himself strumming pleasant roots rock with vocalist Cindy Wasserman, multi-instrumentalist Phil Parlapiano (mandolin, organ), drummer Bryan Head and bassist David J. Carpenter.
“I'm definitely one of those people that feels most comfortable doing a lot of different projects,” Drennen said recently from his home in Los Angeles. “But Dead Rock West is easily and by far my priority. Side projects are good for me to help stir my imagination.”
Drennen will be pulling double duty at tonight's show at The Casbah (which also features San Diego's Truckee Brothers), both with Loam (expected to release a new disc in 2007) and Dead Rock West.
His “priority” band is set to issue “Honey and Salt” this month. Driven by the vocal harmonies between Wasserman and Drennen, this beautifully constructed album finds the veteran San Diego musician in rare form.
On the chemistry between Wasserman and himself, Drennen admits: “It just really clicked, the two voices. It was something special that you don't get very often. I learned how to harmonize listening to Byrds' records. I love harmonies.”
Mixed by the well-traveled Richard Dodd, “Honey and Salt” oozes the well-crafted country rock feel of some his former employers: early Wilco, Tom Petty, and The Traveling Wilburys. After recording the album in L.A.'s Echo Park, Drennen cold-called Dodd to gauge his interest in working with a relatively new artist: “I asked if he would ever consider mixing someone who wasn't rich or famous.”
Dodd gives the album a subtle mix, seamlessly blending the harmonies, strings, pedal steel and mandolins into a cohesive whole.
“The thing I'm personally proud of with this record is it doesn't hit you over the head,” Drennen said. “But after you listen to it a few times, it starts grabbing you. My hope in this age of instant gratification is that people will give it the time to sink in. Because musically, we put everything we've got into it. And lyrically, I'm super proud of every song.”
On “Honey and Salt,” Drennen and the rest of Dead Rock West decided to stick with analog recording on 2-inch tape, as opposed to the industry standard of digital recording with programs like ProTools. According to Drennen, you can't hear the difference between analog and digital recording much these days. The primary distinction derives from the recording process.
Drennen explains: “With digital, you don't have to wait for the tape machine to rewind. So it's instantaneous: fast, fast, fast. You've got an unlimited number of tracks. But you could record 24 vocal tracks and edit them all together to make this super-Über Cindy or super-Über Frank.
“Working with tape is a little slower, but it allows you to gather yourself while you're rewinding. The record represents what we're able to do. It's not a fake version of what Dead Rock West is. In this day and age, it really makes us unique.”
On the topic of songwriting, Drennen collaborated with some of San Diego's elite musicians on “Honey and Salt.”
“I've actually done some co-writing with people from San Diego: 'Pretty Disaster' I wrote with Dave Howard; 'Desert Rose' I wrote with Jeff Berkley; 'All I Know' I wrote with Gregory (Page),” Drennen said. “There's a lot of San Diego representation. And just so you know, I live in Los Angeles, but I consider San Diego to be my circle, my original circle. That's where I learned to do what I do, from playing with those guys and going to their shows. That's my touchstone for me, and it still is.”
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
By Chris Nixon
For the Union-Tribune
January 4, 2007
The early days with Christopher Hoffee in a duo called Homer Gunn (named after his grandpa); the gritty country rock of the Hatchet Brothers with friend Gregory Page during a lengthy residency at the Ould Sod; the visceral rock of his on-again, off-again band Loam ... from country troubadour to distortion-driven rocker, former San Diego musician Frank Lee Drennen discovers imaginative ways to reinvent himself with each turn of his multifaceted career.
Dead Rock West features Cindy Wasserman and Frank Lee Drennen, a former San Diegan who still fronts the band Loam.
With his new band, Dead Rock West, Drennen finds himself strumming pleasant roots rock with vocalist Cindy Wasserman, multi-instrumentalist Phil Parlapiano (mandolin, organ), drummer Bryan Head and bassist David J. Carpenter.
“I'm definitely one of those people that feels most comfortable doing a lot of different projects,” Drennen said recently from his home in Los Angeles. “But Dead Rock West is easily and by far my priority. Side projects are good for me to help stir my imagination.”
Drennen will be pulling double duty at tonight's show at The Casbah (which also features San Diego's Truckee Brothers), both with Loam (expected to release a new disc in 2007) and Dead Rock West.
His “priority” band is set to issue “Honey and Salt” this month. Driven by the vocal harmonies between Wasserman and Drennen, this beautifully constructed album finds the veteran San Diego musician in rare form.
On the chemistry between Wasserman and himself, Drennen admits: “It just really clicked, the two voices. It was something special that you don't get very often. I learned how to harmonize listening to Byrds' records. I love harmonies.”
Mixed by the well-traveled Richard Dodd, “Honey and Salt” oozes the well-crafted country rock feel of some his former employers: early Wilco, Tom Petty, and The Traveling Wilburys. After recording the album in L.A.'s Echo Park, Drennen cold-called Dodd to gauge his interest in working with a relatively new artist: “I asked if he would ever consider mixing someone who wasn't rich or famous.”
Dodd gives the album a subtle mix, seamlessly blending the harmonies, strings, pedal steel and mandolins into a cohesive whole.
“The thing I'm personally proud of with this record is it doesn't hit you over the head,” Drennen said. “But after you listen to it a few times, it starts grabbing you. My hope in this age of instant gratification is that people will give it the time to sink in. Because musically, we put everything we've got into it. And lyrically, I'm super proud of every song.”
On “Honey and Salt,” Drennen and the rest of Dead Rock West decided to stick with analog recording on 2-inch tape, as opposed to the industry standard of digital recording with programs like ProTools. According to Drennen, you can't hear the difference between analog and digital recording much these days. The primary distinction derives from the recording process.
Drennen explains: “With digital, you don't have to wait for the tape machine to rewind. So it's instantaneous: fast, fast, fast. You've got an unlimited number of tracks. But you could record 24 vocal tracks and edit them all together to make this super-Über Cindy or super-Über Frank.
“Working with tape is a little slower, but it allows you to gather yourself while you're rewinding. The record represents what we're able to do. It's not a fake version of what Dead Rock West is. In this day and age, it really makes us unique.”
On the topic of songwriting, Drennen collaborated with some of San Diego's elite musicians on “Honey and Salt.”
“I've actually done some co-writing with people from San Diego: 'Pretty Disaster' I wrote with Dave Howard; 'Desert Rose' I wrote with Jeff Berkley; 'All I Know' I wrote with Gregory (Page),” Drennen said. “There's a lot of San Diego representation. And just so you know, I live in Los Angeles, but I consider San Diego to be my circle, my original circle. That's where I learned to do what I do, from playing with those guys and going to their shows. That's my touchstone for me, and it still is.”
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
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