The News Review:
- Born to Run Home page 1 – Music – Village Voice – Village Voice
- n the Beat: David Menconi on music
- Louis Pattison on the New York music scene of the late-70s | Music |…
- Rough Trade getting due as Canadian innovators
- New York Dolls for April tour
- Peregrine Fresh Air
- Chili Peppers players (not their singer) unleash impressive musical…
Born to Run Home page 1 – Music – Village Voice – Village Voice
Village Voice – Mar 3, 2007
And yet his prints are all over the area. Located a few blocks south and west of Life Café is a building that back in the early ’80s housed the club A7 where Malin’s teenage hardcore band Heart Attack would open for Bad Brains and SS Decontrol and blast through songs with titles like “Hitler” and “God Is Dead”; today he leases the space for his neighborhood bar Niagara. Between then and now in sorta chronological order Malin dropped out of high school disbanded Heart Attack worked odd jobs ranging from gas station attendant to health-food store clerk to all-purpose “man with a van” (the mention of which now inevitably leads to a comical tale about moving Barbra Streisand’s bed) formed the East Village glam-punk act D Generation recorded three undervalued major label albums befriended childhood heroes Joey Ramone and Joe Strummer opened the infamous St. Marks Place club Coney Island High watched D Generation disintegrate and Coney be shut down and around the turn of the century re-emerged on the local scene as a storytelling solo artist mining a sound that pulled predominantly from his love of classic rock Americana and powerpop. “There are some people who were like ‘What the fuck are you doing? You sound like Bruce-Seger-Cruisers-Jovi-whatever’ ” says Malin. “But to me it’s all just rock ‘n’ roll and you take those three or four minutes you have in a song to say what you gotta say. When I was younger it was all pretty angry and aggressive but now I’m more secure; I’m capable of exposing more of myself without being so self-conscious about it.
n the Beat: David Menconi on music
News & bserver – Mar 3, 2007
His grandfather taught him clock repair and he handled much of it while growing up. But Woody doesn’t have much time for fixing clocks nowadays because the band keeps him too busy. CC started out deeply underground playing thrash-punk along the lines of Black Flag and Motorhead. Even early on CC was heavy as well as fast drawing from Black Sabbath’s heavy metal as well as Black Flag’s runaway velocity. By now the ’90s incarnation of CC also owes a large debt to such blues-rock boogie bands as ZZ Top. While the Weathermans may have found their son’s thrashy music utterly foreign they’ve always been among CC’s best patrons. Indeed their friend John Wenberg (whose son Jack played in the Chapel Hill band Snatches of Pink) cites them as model band parents… Even early on CC was heavy as well as fast drawing from Black Sabbath’s heavy metal as well as Black Flag’s runaway velocity. By now the ’90s incarnation of CC also owes a large debt to such blues-rock boogie bands as ZZ Top. While the Weathermans may have found their son’s thrashy music utterly foreign they’ve always been among CC’s best patrons. Indeed their friend John Wenberg (whose son Jack played in the Chapel Hill band Snatches of Pink) cites them as model band parents. “The neat thing about Toney and Karen is that they have a way of being able to appreciate people for who they are regardless of what they might be” says Wenberg. “They see and value that uniqueness in others and certainly in their own children. Then as now CC toured incessantly spreading its music and its souvenirs everywhere.
Louis Pattison on the New York music scene of the late-70s | Music |…
Guardian – Mar 3, 2007
Blame the baby boomers who shed their aversion to good old capitalism and four decades on continue to applaud as their heroes strut the stage in progressively smaller more reinforced corsets. But if like me you’d actually rather eat goat’s head soup than read another magazine cover story promising the truth about what Keef had for breakfast the morning the Stones wrote Paint It Black maybe it’s time to get digging some new crates. The New York music scene of the late-70s is of course as far from an undiscovered cultural gem. Whereas the 1960s now have something of a colostomy whiff to them though that Big Apple sound has somehow remained forever young. From the Strokes’ polished homage to the angular bands of CBGBs to LCD Soundsystem’s millennial revision of Studio 54 disco and artsy no-wave it’s a musical era that’s apparently still squeezing out fresh offspring too stubborn to turn up its toes and become a mere museum piece. What’s her secret? According to the BBC’s nce Upon A Time In New York: The Birth f Hip Hop Disco And Punk it wasn’t that the Big Apple of the 1970s was not characterised by its world of opportunities – but by its lack of them. Affairs commence with a slow pan across the wartorn streets of Basra which on closer inspection turns out to be the Lower East Side… Blondie’s Chris Stein recalls being able to buy cocaine from his local corner shop. But with rents dirt cheap subsidised further if you could lug a canvas of your artwork down to City Hall the city became a haven for artists poets and musicians – a diverse bunch but sharing the same hunger. There were the New York Dolls snarling proto punks done up in full transvestite dress and their followers Television the Ramones and Talking Heads. There was disco superclub Studio 54 known for its spirit of insane opulence (Bianca Jagger celebrated her 30th birthday by riding into the club on a white horse led by a man with his willy out). And in the Bronx the sidewalks came alive to the block parties of hip-hop pioneers DJ Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaataa. And what’s fascinating is that you can still smell that desperation that sense of struggle. The best bit of archive footage comes about 10 minutes in.
Rough Trade getting due as Canadian innovators
Toronto Star – Mar 3, 2007
When Canada’s sexually charged band Rough Trade brought its gender-bending punk-inspired sound to the charts more than 25 years ago its lewd and crude lyrics were banned from radio recalls singer Carole Pope. Now the band’s seminal CD Weapons (1983) is being re-released and the subversive group is being honoured as pioneers in indie music. Pope says there’s no doubt Toronto’s bold club scene featuring her and Kevan Staples opened doors for unconventional artists today. "We definitely did (open doors) because there weren’t that many strong women out there" Pope says by phone from her home in Los Angeles. "People don’t even know about that scene or really how influential Toronto was… " "There was such a ready audience for it" Pope recalls of the band’s brash sexual politics. "People were really hungry for something different and we always had a sense of humour about it about everything we did. " Pope says it’s gratifying to now be considered one of the Canadian music industry’s early innovators and is flattered the band will be inducted into Canadian Music Week’s Indies Hall of Fame at an evening showcase Wednesday. n the whole current popular music is disappointing she says. "Mostly I think everything is regurgitated now" says Pope. "A lot of music I’ve heard it before. Two or three times.
New York Dolls for April tour
The Age – Mar 3, 2007
Photo: ReutersPUNK pioneers the New York Dolls will tour Australia for thefirst time next month. The band plays the Best of V Festivalat the Sidney Myer Music Bowl with the Pixies Phoenix and Jarvison Wednesday April 4 as well as their own show at the city’s Hi FiBar on Monday March 26. The seminal cross-dressing cult band’s hard-edged soundsneering attitude and outrageous style presaged both punk rock andheavy metal and inspired bands such as the Ramones and Kiss whichdecided to wear make-up after seeing one of the raucous liveshows. The band was originally managed by Malcolm McLaren a yearbefore he shot the Sex Pistols to stardom. ver the years membersBilly Murcia Johnny Thunders Jerry Nolan and Arthur Kane all diedfrom their hard-living ways.
Peregrine Fresh Air
Scoop.co.nz – Scoop.co.nz (press release) – Mar 3, 2007
Recloose joins the Fresh Air 2007line up offering a set that promises to be great for agroove or just sitting back and enjoying a quality dose ofsummer sounds. Their debut album‘Club Poems’ was rated 5 out of 5 by Real GrooveMagazine: “ut of nowhere New Zealand’s finest livedance-punk band have made the best techno album to come outof this country ever…” Making their debut appearance inQueenstown Pig ut is definitely something to get your earsaround. Last year the event was sold out well inadvance and ticket sales this year will remain limited toensure the crowd has space to move – so music lovers getin fast!The full range of multi-award-winning Peregrinewines will be available throughout the event along with abevy of locally brewed ales. Local cuisine will be availableall day but patrons are free to bring a picnic (no alcohol)to help sustain their energy. Gates open for the show at2pm with Pig ut kicking off proceedings at 2pm on Saturday3rd March 2007. Tickets for the event are on sale now andare available online or at Ticketek all Play It Againstores Cosmic Corner Dunedin and Christchurch or directlyfrom the vineyard.
Chili Peppers players (not their singer) unleash impressive musical…
DesMoinesRegister.com – Mar 3, 2007
Frusciante rated the MVP for the Chili Peppers elevating nearly every song with his adventurous psychedelic guitar explorations. He veered from feedback in the tasty grind of “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” to gentle strumming and lead falsetto vocals for his own tender solo version of Fleetwood Mac’s “Songbird. ” The Chili Peppers’ other choice of cover song was inspired: The Ramones’ “Havana Affair” saw a deft transition from punk to funk and made the most of Kiedis’ bark. Even the rote encore (flat drum solo leading into the expected final blast of “Give It Away”) was redeemed when Kiedis left the stage and the core Chili Peppers trio sunk into a deep reggae groove; Frusciante then launched into the psychedelic stratosphere to end the night as blissfully as it began no lead vocalist to distract just three instrumentalists whose synergy has evolved well beyond the narrow confines of what makes the Chili Peppers popular on radio and in music videos. For Gnarls Barkley the singer was the most impressive thing. Last time the Chili Peppers performed in central Iowa way back in the (prehistoric to some) grunge era of 1991 at Stephens Auditorium in Ames the California boys brought with them the then-little-known bands Pearl Jam and the Smashing Pumpkins. A year ago Gnarls Barkley also would have rated a relatively obscure hopeful and Cee-Lo spent years as the standout in an Atlanta rap crew (Goodie Mob) deserving of more recognition.