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Friday, Aug 15 2014, 2PM
"Taking their name from a Suede song, the group cites influence from one of the greatest Brit-pop supergroups, often reaching the high bar of their namesake. Perhaps its the combination of their Strokes-saturated riffs, speedy pop melodies, and Matthew Hitt’s distinctive vocals that give the band their total pop-punk aura." Read on and catch the band in all their sweet and sweaty fury in fabulous live in-studio video, all just a click away: blog.kexp.org
Casablancas, former lead singer of The Strokes: "I think I realised something recently about my voice. I always feel like I don’t have a good voice technically. People say, ‘You’ve got a great voice’, and I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’ But I think it’s something that I wouldn’t trade - I feel confident that I can make things sound cool. Like, I remember I tried doing a song with someone else, and it’s funny, I can just sing in the melody... Maybe I don’t have the best range or the most stunningly accurate pitch, but I feel like I can sing a line and make it sound cool. Whereas some people who can sing better still perform and it sounds cheesy." www.clashmusic.com/feature/julian-casablancas-interview Check out our review of his 2013 album, Comedown Machine: http://blog.kexp.org/2013/03/28/album-review-the-strokes-comedown-machine/
The Wimps hit the Mural Stage at 5:30 tonight at Seattle Center. Free to the public, this is our thank-you to everyone for supporting us. Catch the details right here: blog.kexp.org Their "Secret Message" was a Featured Song of the Day; read all about it, and download your own copy here: blog.kexp.org
"I just thought it was better to be Pete Best than Linda McCartney. Apart from anything, I couldn't deal with being the second guitarist and having this strange, Lady Macbeth role in it, along with being general mother to four blokes. I have a low boredom threshold. I want the best bits - verse-chorus, verse-chorus, that's it. The whole thing of playing middle eights and triple choruses to finish isn't music, it's brainwashing. If you want to hear the chorus again, rewind it. Also, I don't feel any kind of need to bare myself in public. I'm not into angst. Someone like Brett has a lot of ghosts to exorcise. I don't. I've always liked humour in music." www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2002/mar/10/life1.lifemagazine4
Ironically, "The main riff for both 'Come as You Are' and Killing Joke's 'Eighties' bear a striking resemblance to the main riff from the song 'Life Goes On' by The Damned, released on their 1982 album Strawberries (i.e., two years prior to the release of 'Eighties'). Nirvana's verses are rhythmically closer to The Damned's song than to the Killing Joke song." en.wikipedia.org
"Although members of British group Killing Joke claimed the main guitar riff of 'Come as You Are' plagiarized the riff of 'Eighties,' the band reportedly did not file a copyright infringement lawsuit, which Rolling Stone magazine attributes to 'personal and financial reasons.' However, conflicting reports state that Killing Joke did file a lawsuit but that it was either thrown out of court, or that it was dropped following Cobain's death. Geordie Walker, Killing Joke's guitar player, said that the band was 'very pissed off about that, but it's obvious to everyone. We had two separate musicologists' reports saying it was. Our publisher sent their publisher a letter saying it was and they went 'Boo, never heard of ya!', but the hysterical thing about Nirvana saying they'd never heard of us was that they'd already sent us a Christmas card!'"en.wikipedia.org
On reviews describing Modern Guilt as his darkest album yet: "I think the album just doesn’t have those two other funky songs that the other records have. We just took those off. And if you leave them on, then they cast all the rest of the songs in this light of being slightly ironic or not completely sincere. I thought, 'What if we just take these couple songs off?' If you go out to the other records, even Odelay, and read the lyrics, like in 'Devil’s Haircut' and 'Ramshackle,' they’re not always bright and happy. They’re kind of dark. But at the same time, I listen to Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, Radiohead, Nick Cave, Tom Waits -- that’s dark. You know, what I’m doing is pretty lightweight in comparison to what I listen to. It’s like I was removing some of the colors, trying to get the simplicity and make it a little more monochromatic." Our own Jim Beckmann interviewed Beck at Bumbershoot 2008; catch it all here: blog.kexp.org
"From his early punk roots with Hüsker Dü in the 1980s through his alternative pop years with Sugar in the 1990s, and in the years between and afterwards with his ten solo albums, the veteran songwriter has explored a variety of styles but has returned again and again to the smart, muscular guitar rock he does so well." Mould played the Bumbershoot Music Lounge last September; follow the link to read more, and see videos from that performance: blog.kexp.org
Back in 2012, Alt-J performed a sensational set for our Amplifier Club members at the lovely Triple Door Theatre; check out video from that session here: http://blog.kexp.org/2012/10/09/live-video-alt-j-at-the-triple-door/ If you'd like to receive invitations to these special shows, find out how right here: www.kexp.org/donate
"Personally I don’t think younger people today are any less politically aware or active than their 1960’s and 1970’s counterparts – remember, on the eve of the Iraq war there were some of the biggest peacetime political demonstrations in history – I just think young and old alike are generally quite disillusioned with mainstream politics and the willingness of politicians to respond to their needs. Who can blame them? Much of the public suspect, quite rightly I think, that most politicians are more concerned about their relationships with media barons and big business than with the general population. At each election we’re presented with a gallery of toads and weasels from which to choose and so the electoral turnout declines still further. But if you look at the activity within single issue groups and general activity on the Internet then I think that picture tells a different story..." More from this brilliant musician right here: www.thethe.com
In celebration of Matt Johnson, who was born this day 53 years ago in London, England. "Johnson had his first band Roadstar when he was only 11 years old, performing mainly covers. At 15, Johnson quit school and began writing to music publishing companies, finding employment at De Wolfe as a tea boy. Johnson eventually started to use De Wolfe's recording studio for his own demos. In 1979, Johnson had an ad run in the New Musical Express asking for a musical collaborator; synth player Keith Laws answered Johnson's request, and the two formed the The. The group debuted at the Africa Centre in London's Covent Garden on May 1979. In the '80s, the The became less of a band and more of a Johnson solo project supported by a revolving door of musicians like Thomas Leer, Jim Foetus, Neneh Cherry, Jools Holland, and Sinead O'Connor." Read more on his fascinating life here: www.allmusic.com
"The flaming embers of '60s garage rock, and the flaming hot fire of the 2010s garage punk sound, burn bright in Twin Peaks. The band was formed by four young Chicago natives (vocalist/guitarist Cadien Lake James, guitarist Clay Frankel, bassist Jack Dolan and drummer Connor Brodner) in the early 2010s. The guys had known each other and been friends since elementary school, but only formed a band after the duo James had with his brother Hal split up so Hal could join the Smith Westerns. They began playing together near the end of high school, then went out on tour during their senior year. Before heading out on the road, they had quickly and cheaply recorded an album in James' basement to sell in order to keep them in gas and beer." www.allmusic.com/artist/twin-peaks-mn0003113604/biography
"The first band I was in was around seventh or eighth grade. And we didn't have a name. It was me and my buddies, Joe McCutcheon, Paul Pettinelli, and James Grieve. Joe was into Metallica and Bob Marley, I don't really remember what James did but I think he was a better guitarist than me and took the leads. Paul couldn't play the bass at all but he was still down to just make noise and I think we told him where to put his fingers on most of the songs. He held it down though for sure. The one show we played was at a chaperoned house party with a bunch of middle school punk bands. We were a bunch of stoner hippie kids so they billed us as 'Grateful Dead II.' I got in a fistfight with one of the kids that night and we covered 'Heroin' by Velvet Underground because it was only two chords. I couldn't make this shit up." More from an incredibly entertaining interview with North Carolinian Stuart McLamb: www.undertheradarmag.com/interviews/the_love_language_my_firsts/
These guys take the Mural Stage at 7:30 tonight at Seattle Center! More deets here: blog.kexp.org For a little preview, dig into our archives with us for some live video from a blisteringly dark performance they did here in 2009: blog.kexp.org
Last summer, Mudhoney played from the top of the Space Needle in celebration of Sub Pop's Silver Jubilee. Catch the breathtaking performance right here: blog.kexp.org
"Not only will Thunderpussy make you question your life choices, they will teach you life lessons like, 'A hard man is good to find,' and 'Booty is in the eye of the beholder.' Comprised of Molly Sides (This Bitch Don't Fall off), Whitney Petty (The Grizzled Mighty), Leah Julius (Cumulus, Sundries), and Lena Simon (La Luz, Kairos), this new Seattle sex bomb will blow up in your face like a handful of napalm. Get ready for rock n roll's new diamond in the muff." More fun to dig into in the band's Soundcloud: soundcloud.com
"On today’s Song of the Day, his languid rasp of a singing voice stands out a jangly guitar riff. And sure, there’s one of those trademark Mascis squalls of a guitar solo midway, but the track still has a more laid-back feel then you might find on a Dinosaur album." Download and listen to "Every Morning" here: blog.kexp.org
A request from Birthday Boy and a former DJ assistant to Kevin and Cheryl years back. Hope you have a fantastic weekend, Bill!
"Kim Deal, Kelley Deal, Josephine Wiggs, and Jim Macpherson played their first show together on Friday June 19, 1992, in a snooker hall behind Warrington Rugby Club in the north of England, near Manchester. Two days later they supported Nirvana in Dublin and Belfast, and then played at Glastonbury. Back in the US, after playing 27 sold-out shows that fall, they made their way to San Francisco to record Last Splash." Read on, and get your tix here for their upcoming show at Showbox Market on Wednesday, September 10th: www.axs.com
Check out this clip from Jon Spencer on how to play a theremin! www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyF_UN8g9f0
"When we were going to Auburn University, Mystery Science Theater was basically what kept us sane. It's the one thing we had to look forward to throughout the week, besides playing, and we decided to cover the song for this free single we did for Estrus Records, 'Amazing Thrills in 3D.' After that, because of disinformation, people thought that we actually wrote the 'Love Theme.' Of course, we tell people that it was Joel who wrote it, that we can't take the credit for it, but it's weird how people get confused and come up with the most inane, crazy relationships between Man or Astroman? and Mystery Science Theater. But that's good, I think, because disinformation is pretty much the gasoline that drives Man or Astroman? and Mystery Science Theater." www.mst3kinfo.com
Must be seen to be believed. Enjoy it again, but with the visuals, here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0zQHNmz0gU
"What other band is even nearly as iconic to KEXP DJs and listeners as Pixies? Their early independent spirit sent a beacon for other artists to follow and their eventual rise from arty cult rockers to alternative music mainstays proved that unique and uncompromising artists could make a huge and lasting impact." More from our very recent incredible live in-studio session with this legendary band: blog.kexp.org
More from our theremin set, in honour of Léon Theremin. "Toto Miranda, Josh Lambert, and Yvonne Lambert came together as a junky, dirty, hook-heavy electronic trio called the Octopus Project in the late '90s. Their music caught the ears of the folks at Peek-a-boo Records in 2001, and the band released their first album on that label, Identification Parade, one year later. Their second album, One Ten Hundred Thousand Million, followed in 2004, and the Octopus Project went on to tour heavily over the course of the next year, appearing at festivals like Noise Pop, Wall of Sound, and SXSW, where the trio snagged the title of Best Experimental Band. the Octopus Project managed to make their way back into the studio amid all this touring, teaming up with Black Moth Super Rainbow for their third release, 2006's The House of Apples and Eyeballs." www.allmusic.com/artist/the-octopus-project-mn0000893493/biography
Here are some great photos of Eddie appearing in the Broadway play, "Million Dollar Quartet": www.playbillvault.com
Their next gig is September 20 @ Parque de la Victoria in Jaen, Spain
Theme from the 1959-61 TV series "The Rebel" starring Nick Adams as Johnny Yuma.
Simon Crum was a comic character that Ferlin Husky developed based his neighbor, Simon Crump.
The Cues were originally put together to do backing vocals for some of their biggest R&B artists.
Dale's playing tomorrow night at the Post Time Honky Tonk in Dallas.