John Richards

Dave Grohl is no stranger to losing a bandmate to tragedy; Kurt Cobain also died an untimely death before Grohl started the Foo Fighters.

Chris Cornell on "The Day I Tried to Live": "It's about trying to step out of being patterned and closed off and reclusive, which I've always had a problem with. It's about attempting to be normal and just go out and be around other people and hang out. I have a tendency to sometimes be pretty closed off and not see people for long periods of time and not call anyone. It's actually, in a way, a hopeful song. Especially the lines "One more time around/Might do it", which is basically saying, 'I tried today to understand and belong and get along with other people, and I failed, but I'll probably try again tomorrow.' A lot of people misinterpreted that song as a suicide-note song. Taking the word "live" too literally. "The Day I Tried to Live" means more like the day I actually tried to open up myself and experience everything that's going on around me as opposed to blowing it all off and hiding in a cave." ❤

Screaming Trees' Mark Lanegan's incredibly harrowing and honest memoir, " Sing Backwards and Weep," was released in 2020: www.theguardian.com Already a very tough year for losses. You are not alone.

Alice in Chains released 'Jar of Flies' on this date in 1994. The album's title originates from a science experiment that Jerry Cantrell conducted in third grade. The experiment consisted of maintaining two jars full of flies. The flies in one jar would be overfed, while the flies in the other jar would be underfed. The flies that were overfed reproduced rapidly, but then died from overcrowding. The flies that were underfed managed to survive throughout the year. Concerning the anecdote, Layne Staley said "I guess there's a message in there somewhere. Evidently that experiment had a big impact on Jerry."

Chris Cornell (Soundgarden) stepped in for Layne Staley's (Alice in Chains, Mad Season) vocals of this live performance. Watch the video of this phenomenal performance here: www.youtube.com

"Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns" tells the story of Mother Love Bone frontman Andrew Wood, his heroin addiction, and his fiancé, Xana La Fuente. La Fuente danced in a strip club to support the pair as Wood tried to break through in the music industry, hence the "dancer" in the title. She only lasted one hour before deciding it wasn't for her. --- Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard, who later formed Pearl Jam, were in Mother Love Bone along with Wood, Bruce Fairweather and Greg Gilmore. The entire band is credited as writers on this track. Pearl Jam has played this song live many times over their career. --- See a hand-held film of a live performance at Bumbershoot in 1989: www.youtube.com

Watch the video for "Alive" from Pearl Jam's 2018 Seattle "Home Shows" (Remember that? The band’s two home town shows in 2018 raised nearly $11 million for 100 organizations working to reduce homelessness in Seattle and King County.): www.udiscovermusic.com

The Black Tones are on the lineup for the 2022 Capitol Hill Block Party, July 22-24. www.capitolhillblockparty.com Eva Walker, who "colored this tune with a cosmic peal of feedback she coaxed out of a ’72 Marshall JMP. "It started to remind me of pulsars, sounds that have been captured in space," she says.

New single + video from Tacoma band Enumclaw! www.youtube.com enumclaw6.bandcamp.com

New single from Soccer Mommy who'll be at Day In Day Out 2022 August 12th! www.dayindayoutfest.com

beabadoobee has quickly became one of the more fascinating and beloved young pop artists to emerge in recent years. Now, she’s about to return with a sophomore album. It’s called Beatopia, after an imaginary world she created as a child. It’s out in July. Read more on Stereogum: www.stereogum.com

The Juliana Hatfield Three performed live in the KEXP studio in 2015. They opened the set with this classic track. Check out the full session here: youtu.be julianahatfield.bandcamp.com

Bartees Strange recently stopped by for an In-studio - check out the full performance here: www.youtube.com They're opening for Car Seat Headrest at The Paramount Theatre on Friday, April 22.

By request. RIP to Taylor Hawkins, who died unexpectedly at age 50 this past Friday.

"Hi John, hope you’re doing well. Can you please play “Sadness” by Porno for Pyros? Thanks for all the great music! Doug from Toronto"

"Great set John! Great way to start Monday! Any chance of squeezing in Sky Cries Mary while doing all this Seattle music? Best, Kevin in Beacon Hill"

NEW MUSIC from Wet Leg -- they played a sold-out show at The Crocodile on Saturday! They'll be back to play at Thing! Festival at Fort Worden in Port Townsend this summer!-- thingnw.org The track is named after Rhian’s oldest friend, "Angelica," and was recorded in bedroom-pop-esque fashion in Hester’s living room. "It’s laced with disenchantment," Rhian says. "Even though the chorus is 'good times, all the time.' That’s just impossible, isn’t it?" -- bit.ly DJ Larry Mizell Jr. sat down with British band Wet Leg for a recent KEXP Sound & Vision podcast and found out just how silly they really are == www.kexp.org

"Hi John I was at the Wet Leg show on Saturday night. I’m old enough to have REM, U2, Elvis Costello, 10000 Maniacs, Pearl Jam, The Replacements, etc play in rooms the same size at The Crocodile. The Wet Leg show felt like those shows: the start of something big and magical. Then I was lucky enough to meet them as they came to the Screwdriver Bar after the show. They were great to speak with before they went to their next gig. Could you play Left of the Dial for Wet Leg and Taylor Hawkins and all of the other musicians who have brought us so much joy. Play it for yourself too. You are not alone. - Kelly"

Fontaines D.C. will be LIVE on KEXP on Saturday, May 14 at 12:30 PM. This session is NOT open to the public, so be sure to tune in or re-listen from the 2-week streaming archive. kexp.org They play that night at Showbox SoDo with Just Mustard. bit.ly ---- The title of Fontaines D.C.'s forthcoming album, 'Skinty Fia,' draws its name from an old Irish cuss word that translates to “the damnation of the deer”. The album is scheduled to released on April 22. bit.ly youtu.be fontainesdc.bandcamp.com fontainesdc.com

In a retrospective review, AllMusic's Steve Huey cited Paranoid as "one of the greatest and most influential heavy metal albums of all time", which "defined the sound and style of heavy metal more than any other record in rock history"

The Afghan Whigs are back with a new single, "I’ll Make You See God," their first track in five years since the release of In Spades. It’s also the first song the band has released since their guitarist Dave Rosser passed away in 2017. Since then, band leader Greg Dulli released a solo album that was written while processing his death. Dulli describes it as "one of the hardest rock songs we’ve ever done" and that "it was written and performed on sheer adrenalin." The song will also be featured on the soundtrack for the upcoming Playstation game Gran Turismo 7. bit.ly

Bachelor is the project from Melina Duterte (Jay Som) and Ellen Kempner (Palehound). John selected this song,"Stay in the Car," as a free KEXP Song of the Day last year: www.kexp.org -- Bachelor shared a live performance recorded exclusively for KEXP in August 2021. They closed out their set with "Stay in the Car": youtu.be

Soak, the alias of musician Bridie Monds-Watson, said their new album, ‘If I Never Know You Like This Again’, will be released on May 20. You can pre-order it here: soakmusic.bandcamp.com. Check out SOAK in the KEXP studio from 2019, hosted by Cheryl Waters: bit.ly.

For Kirsten in Oakland! Turnin' On The Screw is the first track off Queens of the Stone Age's fifth album, Era Vulgaris.

James Goodson’s Dazy and Ian Shelton’s Militarie Gun have released a collaborative track, “Pressure Cooker.” “Ever since I met Ian, we’ve had a tendency to veer off into long conversations about songwriting, but when he suggested we should try to do something together I thought he was just being friendly,” says Goodson in a statement. “He kept bringing it up so finally I showed him a song I’d been working on, and in no time at all he was sending back vocals and new ideas. I’m always blown away by the amount of energy and personality that Militarie Gun can pack into a song, and it was really cool to work together and see that happening in real time.” bit.ly dazysound.bandcamp.com

This song by Toronto producer Josh Korody features Cadence Weapon (the musical pseudonym of rapper/writer Rollie Pemberton) jumping in halfway through for an unexpected verse of nonsensical but clever as hell lines like, “On the web I surf like Brian Wilson.” The track was one of KEXP's songs of the day late last year: www.kexp.org

Is it a happy Monday though? Lets make it one.

Does that beat sound familiar? "Fools Gold" was built around a loop from James Brown's "Funky Drummer." It was guitarist John Squire who actually discovered the track. He recalled: "We were signing copies of our single, 'She Bangs The Drums,' in a Manchester record shop called Eastern Bloc. The owner said we could pick a couple of albums as a thank you and I picked out a breakbeats album because I liked the cover and I wanted to see what it was all about. That's where I heard the 'Funky Drummer' loop that we built 'Fools Gold' around."

“We wanted Big Moon Lake to acknowledge the lyrical social commentary that was littered throughout our first two records whilst expanding the experimental and personal sound that you will hear throughout the new record. The track is playful and teases everyday themes of missing out, numbness, drinking, smoking and eating badly and generally wanting more for yourself in life. Its resolve being that in hindsight everything is in front of you, it’s on your doorstep and in this case that’s the wondrous county of Yorkshire.” www.lifeband.co.uk

I just wrote the dumbest song It's gonna be a sing along All our friends will clap and sing Our enemies will laugh and be pointing

Half Asian / half Latinx. Two sisters, a cousin, and their close friend. The Linda Lindas channel the spirit of original punk, power pop, and new wave through today's ears, eyes, and minds. - thelindalindas.bandcamp.com

Brand new music from Odesza! The album will be released July 22, just in time for 3 sold out shows at Climate Pledge arena. Pre-save/pre-order the album here: odesza.lnk.to

Bloc Party will be playing the Sold OUT Just Like Heaven fest, featuring Interpol, Modest Mouse, The Shins, MIA, and more at Brookside at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA on Saturday May 22nd.

Portugal. The Man will perform at the WaMu Theater with alt-J tomorrow! bit.ly While recording this album and hanging in LA, we got into a conversation with Jeff Bhasker and Ryan Tedder about how much we missed laughter," frontman John Gourley said in a statement. "The last few years it’s been so easy to forget the fun in what we do. We talked about childhood memories of laughing at the world and ourselves while flipping through Mad Magazine. We missed those days and remembered that we all make music. So we took that afternoon to make a song about it." bit.ly

"Hey team.. Last weekend was supposed to be awesome, I had tickets to both Nation of Language and Wet Leg. Unfortunately, the previous weekend I went to my first indoor unmasked space in two years for a friend's birthday and immediately caught covid. As a responsible citizen with mild symptoms I stayed home. Can you play something sufficient to soothe the cosmic unfairness? - Thanks, Eva in Fremont"

New single from Dehd! They'll be at Neumos May 5th. Watch their Live on KEXP at Home performance from 2020: www.youtube.com

Band of Horses will be in Seattle at Climate Pledge Arena, playing with The Black Keys and The Velveteers on October 2. bit.ly Band of Horses’ sixth album unexpectedly delivers on all the qualities that defined their initial success: soaring emotions, crunchy guitars, and Ben Bridwell’s cotton-candy whine. bit.ly

For Jens in Seattle! "Shabooh Shoobah" starts with "The One Thing," and ends with this song. Think about that for a second. Now dance. DANCE!

RIP to Taylor Hawkins. Have a great week and hug someone you love, Morning Show faithful!