John Richards

Good morning and welcome to the Morning Show with John! It's Monday. Sorry. Released in 2003, the record is a concept album, exploring a theme of long-distance romance. Singer, songwriter Ben Gibbard penned the lyrics, which are somber and focus on the need to be loved. www.deathcabforcutie.com

The music video released for "Classic Girl" featured clips from the film Gift, directed by and starring band frontman Perry Farrell and his then-girlfriend and muse, Casey Niccoli. Casey Niccoli, aka the 'Classic girl', dated Perry Farrell from 1982 to 1993, and through those years witnessed first-hand the evolution of Jane's Addiction as both girlfriend and creative muse. "I was 18, and I really wanted to move," she recalled. "L.A. was so exciting to me. I had $250 to my name, packed up my car and moved to L.A. I felt like I belonged here. I got into the punk scene, and three or four years later I met Perry. My boyfriend's band played a benefit show with Psi Com (Farrell's former band). I just showed up, and I was immediately just mesmerized, fell in love." Nicolli and Farrell began dating a year later. www.bakersfield.com

"I really enjoyed reading the Seattle Times article about Jeremiah Green. Ben Gibbard was quoted in the article affectionally describing early Modest Mouse feral. The world feels like a less interesting place without Jeremiah. If it's in the flow please play something off the first two albums as a reminder that his music will always be with us. 💔 -Claire in Mammoth Lakes" Read the beautiful piece here: www.seattletimes.com

A birthday request for Heather! Happy birthday!

Depeche Mode will be here in Seattle, playing Climate Pledge Arena in support of the new album "Memento Mori." They'll be here on Sunday, November 26th. -- "Ghosts Again" is Martin Gore and Dave Gahan's first new music since the sudden 2022 passing of bandmate Andy Fletcher. “It’s not often that we record a song that I just don’t get sick of listening to," said Gahan "I’m excited to be able to share it.” www.depechemode.com

The Yeah Yeah Yeah's released this record on this day in 2009! Consequence of Sound described this track: "“Hysteric” kicks in shortly after sounding like it belongs in a John Hughes flick." - consequenceofsound.net

From Stereogum, "The veteran Ontario indie-folk musician Hayden will soon release his first album in eight years, and he’s announcing it with a lot of star power. April’s Are We Good features drums by Big Thief’s James Krivchenia and two songs produced by the National’s Aaron Dessner. Its lead single, out today, is a Feist collaboration called “On A Beach.” The song arrives with a video featuring not just Leslie Feist but also Dessner’s National bandmate Matt Berninger and Hollywood legend Steve Buscemi. The latter connection goes back more than a quarter-century: Hayden did the music for Buscemi’s 1996 directorial debut Trees Lounge.". Watch the video here: www.youtube.com

Bright Eyes released Four Winds on this day in 2007. Watch their Live On KEXP At Home: www.youtube.com

Want the most confusing band shirt ever bought in an official bands merch store? shop.americanmary.com

Influences of Richard Wagner's Prelude to Das Rheingold can be heard throughout the track "All Day Long." New Order have subsequently used the piece as a concert opener.

Happy birthday to Guy Garvey of Elbow, born on this day in 1974. The Take Off and Landing of Everything is the sixth studio album by English rock band Elbow, released in 2014. - elbow.co.uk

Aaron Huffman, co-founder and bassist of Harvey Danger, died on this day in 2016 at 43 years old. In 1992, Huffman and Sean Nelson formed Harvey Danger with fellow University of Washington students Jeff Lin and Evan Sult.

Built to Spill will be performing at the Treefort Music Fest 2023 on March 22nd! Get your tickets: bit.ly This album was recorded three times: The first time, frontman Martsch attempted to play all the instruments except drums. Ek and Martsch were dissatisfied with the results so Martsch brought in Nelson and Plouf and recorded the album again. Unfortunately, the tapes were destroyed by heat when Ek was driving from Seattle to Boise. The band rehearsed some more, then recorded the album a third time. www.builttospill.com

Happy birthday, Sarah in Boston! CAKE FOR BREAKFAST And now, here is NIN performing their first single ever on a show called... Dance Party USA: www.youtube.com

Brand new from Scotland's Young Fathers -formed in Edinburgh in 2008 by Alloysious Massaquoi, Kayus Bankole and Graham 'G' Hastings Young Fathers have visited KEXP more than once - including this set, hosted by Atticus - Live in the KEXP Studio: youtu.be

Noah Lennox, aka Panda Bear explained in a 2009 interview: "I'm not big on possessions but, for some reason, being the owner of a space, a safe house for my wife and my daughter, has become the most important thing for me, for better or worse." Learn how Animal Collective used a JUNO-60 arpeggiator to make this great song: articles.roland.com anmlcollectve.bandcamp.com

Playing Showbox SoDo Saturday, May 20th. Watch the music video for 'Echolalia': www.youtube.com. Support the upcoming album from Yves Tumor, out March 17th: yves-tumor.bandcamp.com

This week, this album (TV On the Radio's debut) turns 19 years old! Tunde Adebimpe and David Andrew Sitek were the only TV on the Radio members to play on this track, with guest appearances from Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs on guitar and Katrina Ford of Celebration on backing vocals. bit.ly TV on the Radio performing "Staring at the Sun" live: youtu.be www.tvontheradio.com

It's Blitz! was released on this day in 2009! Frontwoman Karen O told the New Musical Express January 17, 2009, with a grin: "I figured if we were going to write a dance song it should be about heads bouncing on the floor and murder and slaughter." -- Here's a link to the official music video, directed by British comedian Richard Ayoade: www.youtube.com

On this day in 1982 - Beauty and the Beat hits #1 in America, making The Go-Go's the first all-girl band with a #1 album. Go-Go's bass player Kathy Valentine wrote this song in 1978 when she moved from Texas to Los Angeles to pursue music. She was living in a ramshackle apartment with dim prospects when she took out the guitar and came up with the song, which is about not giving up. It was the first song she ever wrote.

Who is She? is a Seattle isupergroup featuring members of Tacocat, Chastity Belt, and Lisa Prank,. They say, "This is our take on the Le Tigre song “My My Metro Card.” We love Le Tigre and public transit and wanted to make this song about Seattle, so we added some of our favorite Seattle bus lines and sprinkled in a local billionaire villain. It was also tied into a local sports scandal so it’s now technically a jock jam." -- Read about their short-lived hockey residency: www.kexp.org

"I just watched the film "The Banshees of Inisherin" and I can't stop talking that way. As I type this, you mentioned you will be in Dublin for your birthday. Might you play a Fontaines DC song in celebration of that? Your choice. It's your birthday after all. Happy birthday. James in Baltimore " Fontaines D.C. have shared their cover of Nick Drake’s “’Cello Song.” It appears on a forthcoming covers compilation, The Endless Coloured Ways: The Songs of Nick Drake, which is out July 7 via Chrysalis. The collection features covers from Feist, Liz Phair, Let’s Eat Grandma, Philip Selway of Radiohead, Skullcrusher, and many many more.

The Shins were not truly a band when James Mercer composed the song, and the idea of making music his career seemed uncertain. The song's creation was partially a reaction to the music scene in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the band's hometown, which Mercer described as "macho, really heavy, and aggressive." Mercer sent a demo to Sub Pop Records and label co-founder Jonathan Poneman caught a concert in San Francisco while the band was on tour with Modest Mouse. He offered the band a one-off single deal, and the label included it in their Single-of-the-Month series, issuing a 7" single to fan club members in February 2001. bit.ly

Songwriter Robbie Robertson was an only child. His mother was Rosemarie Dolly Chrysler, a Cayuga and Mohawk woman who was raised on the Six Nations Reserve southwest of Toronto, Ontario.

Brand new debut from London dream pop duo Deary! The band say Fairground is "about the sensory overload of life in London, starting out as a letter to a loved one from singer and guitarist Dottie." Dottie came together with bandmate Ben during lockdown in early 2021, and they bonded over a mutual love of Elizabeth Fraser (Cocteau Twins). bit.ly

"Kiss Them For Me" is a tribute to the '50s and '60s blonde bombshell actress Jayne Mansfield, and includes Manfield's famous catch phrase "divoon." This song is the opening track of Superstition, the 10th studio album by Siouxsie and the Banshees, released in 1991.

Chapterhouse were a five-piece from Reading, England that were led by Andrew Sherrif and Stephen Patman. 1991's "Whirlpool" was their debut studio album. -- That's Slowdive's Rachel Goswell on backing vocals on this song.

Waves Crashing infuses lush soundscapes into fresh melodic hooks putting a new spin on alternative music from the 80s & 90s. wavescrashing.bandcamp.com

The band's first effort for Capitol Records was an album which was recorded before Come Down called The Black Album, which was rejected by Capitol for, according to frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor, containing "no hit songs". It was later released as a double album in 2004 with Come On Feel the Dandy Warhols, an album composed of B-sides and previously unreleased material.

When Loaded was originally released in 1970, the song's bridge was cut. The box set Peel Slowly and See and reissue Loaded: Fully Loaded Edition restored the missing section.

Cowboy Junkies released "The Trinity Sessions" in 1988. This song was originally written by Lou Reed, who was often quoted as saying that the Cowboy Junkies' version was his favorite. Cowboy Junkies are a Canadian alt-country band formed by three siblings from the Timmins entertainment family (Margo Timmins, vocals; Michael Timmins, songwriter & guitars; Peter Timmins, drums) plus Alan Anton on bass. The group formed in Toronto in 1986.

Kurt Cobain listed She Hangs Brightly in his top fifty albums of all time. Here is the entire handwritten list: bit.ly

After the well-received first EP “Of My Mind” released in the spring of 2019, the Seattle based 4-piece Tourist Activities is back with a two-track single “Wrong Side / Oh For One” via fellow DIY label Den Tapes, as a preview from their forthcoming debut album - touristactivities.bandcamp.com

LA mystic rock mainstay Death Valley Girls have shared their magnetic third single, Magic Powers, from their upcoming album 'Islands in the Sky'. deathvalleygirls.bandcamp.com

"Hi John, I just found out that I'm getting a big grant for my artwork. Can you help me celebrate by playing one of my favorite Bob Mould songs, Dreaming I Am from Workbook, or maybe something else celebratory from Bob or Husker Du? Thanks! Aaron, an amplifier in AZ" By 1985 Hüsker Dü was the best-selling band on SST Records. The band had wanted to produce their previous album New Day Rising, but SST insisted on sending long-time label producer Spot. With Flip Your Wig, the band was finally allowed to self-produce. Recording took place over several sessions in the band's hometown of Minneapolis from March to June 1985, by far the longest the band had spent in the studio. Guitarist Bob Mould and drummer Grant Hart each wrote roughly half the songs, which continued the band's trend toward power pop and away from the fast, noisy hardcore punk of their earliest material. bit.ly

"Hi John and crew--we listen to you every morning as the kids get ready for school and we have breakfast. If you have room in todays set, could you make a birthday dedication to Ryan from the critter crew? I'd love a good De La Soul song so we can dance. Thanks for considering! Shelby in Fremont"

Sampling Spinning Wheel from Dr. Lonnie Smith.

The Bodhisattva vow is a vow (Sanskrit: praṇidhāna, lit. aspiration or resolution) taken by some Mahāyāna Buddhists to achieve full buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings. In the Mahayana Lalitavistarasutra, the bodhisattva Siddhartha (before becoming Sakyamuni Buddha) is said to have taken the following vow: I will attain the immortal, undecaying, pain-free Bodhi, and free the world from all pain.

For all who love Seamus Troy.