Live review for Decibel Magazine
“Let’s just hang out instead of playing the show.”
This tongue-in-cheek statement was heard often at the reunion of six bands in Pomona, CA. The varied line-up, inspired by the new tome of 90’s hardcore, Burning Fight, was a blatant hugfest as bandmates showed up from around the country to play songs that were older than some of the audience.
A show in Chicago or one the night before in San Diego were warm-ups for everyone except openers Festival of Dead Deer who showcased their old school take on unnerving noise punk. But their performance wasn’t enough to soften the blow of Minneapolis’ Threadbare. The band, who never played the West Coast, resurrected their jarring brickbat riffs while vocalist Brian Lorvo’s shriek was enough to rip hairs from the back of your neck. Portraits of Past was the perfect illustration of how damaging screamo could be before people knew it could get you laid while Undertow followed with pure hardcore intensity. Vocalist John Pettibone (formerly of Himsa) incited the crowd as he perched on top of the barricade and dove into the pit, pig-piled by two dozen gang vocalists. Trailblazing Spock rockers Swing Kids arrhythmically gyrated the crowd before anticipated headliners Unbroken. The two bands shared member Eric Allen, who committed suicide in 1998, but as vocalist for the hardcore legends, his loss was most felt during their set. Scream-a-longs were accompanied by tears and Allen’s mother came out to give a simple, emotional thanks.
The night ended with more hugs and jokes and everyone talked about when this would happen again. Maybe not on stage, but it didn’t really seem that was the point.
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Interview for Monitor This!
What do a famous director, a Foo Fighter, and a Jackass have in common? They all love The Sounds. Over the last ten years, the Swedish dance rock group has accumulated fans as diverse as Quentin Tarantino, Dave Grohl, and Bam Margera on the strength of their hot-blooded live shows and glistening pop. “People have told us they usually don’t like this kind of music, but they really like us,” drummer Fredrrk Nilsson says. “It’s nice to know people have open minds when it comes to our music.”
But it’s almost impossible to not fall in love with the sound of The Sounds, especially on their latest release, “Crossing The Rubicon”. The band’s sticky sweet hooks and shiny production are balanced by serious songwriting chops and singer Maja Ivarsson’s sass-fueled vocals and party ‘til dawn lyrics. This is far more than the simple Nu-new Wave critics like to throw around. “People seem to think that if you can’t compare us to something they don’t know what to think about the music,” Nilsson says. “We like to get inspired by all different kinds of music, so if someone from the outside needs to call it something that’s fine by me. I don’t care so much about that.” Aside from tipping his hat to influences like Fleetwood Mac and Dire Straits, Nilsson also cites the band’s work with producer Mark Saunders (Tricky, The Cure) and musicians James Iha and Mark Schlesinger (both in supergroup Tinted Windows) as helping to create their original sound. “It’s nice to be in different studios with different people,” Nilsson says. “You learn a bunch of things working with different people. Every time you work with someone new you learn something that’s really exciting.”
This desire for the band to evolve is the heart of Crossing The Rubicon. The title itself, Nilsson says, stems from some tough decision that were made to in the recent past. “We weren’t really happy with some situations with labels, and we decided to get rid of them and found ourselves in a spot where we would either find a major record deal or do everything by ourselves. And once we made that choice, we couldn’t go back. It was being past the point of no return.”
At the moment these risks have paid off immensely for The Sounds as “Crossing The Rubicon” is packed with their strongest material yet, and their tireless touring schedule has brought their fevered performances to thousands. “I like the studio,” Nilsson says, “but it’s a totally different experience when you connect with the people you perform for.” When The Sounds come around your town, though, make sure you don’t let Tarantino steal your spot in the front.
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Review for Decibel Magazine
The Devil Wears Prada
With Roots Above and Branches Below
Ferret
2.0
May God Have Mercy
The Devil Wears Prada? Was The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 already taken? Anyways, this band somehow exists and their new album is “With Roots Above and Branches Below”, and it’s just… seriously, It’s like I’m reviewing a band comprised of aliens who wrote music on some distant planet that sucks.
I can see it now. The band throws darts at a board sectioned into “Chugging metal garbage”, “Chugging metal garbage with pinch harmonics”, “Pathetic, twelfth generation At The Gates riff” or “Shameful emo pop chorus”. The last one takes up half the board. These are grown men singing Avril Lavigne parts that blond girls whose parents own a beach house listen to when their bag of dicks boyfriend makes out with a different skank.
Even if Altars of Madness-era Morbid Angel supplied the metal side, the constant shuddering pop rock is enough to justify burying this record under a hundred pounds of bear traps. And I don’t know why a band with such slick production would use super shitty sounding keyboards, but maybe that’s them being punk as fuck.
Parents, if you want your baby to grow up stupid and a pussy with an annoying haircut who always talks about the next gauge they’re getting in their ears or something, buy “With Roots Above…”. Oh, and I guess The Devil Wears Prada are Christian so if you adore fucking terrible music but hate bands that use their “faith” to push records, this is kind of a coin toss.
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Review for The Music Press
Matt Ward is a singer-songwriter who is known for his gospel and Americana indie rock. It’s his his sixth full-length. This is our review in real time.
1. For Beginners- Dirty guitar and reverbing vocals that sounds about sixty years old. Something about Mt. Zion and a “Natural gate” whatever that means. Ooh, hand-clapping. This sounds like it’s building up to something huge and I bet it doesn’t come. Nope. A pretty slight song for an opener, but not bad.
2. Never Had Nobody Like You- This sounds even older, with a distorted guitar that is possibly played out of a broken speaker he found in an alley. Man, more hand-clapping. This sounds very Buddy Hollyish, and it’s again only like 2 1/2 minutes so it’s hard to hate it. I bet my mom would ask me why I don’t play music like this if she heard it.
3. Jailbird- This reverb vocal thing is already getting a little much. This is an alt-country type song, but can’t this guy sing without it sounding like he’s on a windswept plane? Not bad, and the layers of some foreign noise are pretty good, but nothing spectacular.
4. Hold Time- Time for some brooding strings, I guess. For a title track, this is sure fucking boring. I’m gonna surf the internet until something happens. Apparently, there’s some sort of Toby Keith “fracas“. Can’t wait.
5. Rave On- Hey, this is actually a Buddy Holly song. Oh, and it’s a lot better than the original. Screeching guitar noise with a full country twang. I guess we’re not getting rid of the reverb voice, but I guess we’ll just run with it. Best song so far, and it’s a cover so that’s too bad, but still, rad. But this guy either can’t afford a full drum set or he just loves clapping his hands. I think sometimes creepy looking Zooey Deschanel is doing the light back-up vocals. She and M. Ward are in She & Him, and her sister is on this show, which is apparently about having sex on dead people.
6. To Save Me- This is like an updated Jerry Lee Lewis song with The Grandaddy singer doing what he does best, which is like saying “Doot Doot Doo” or something. And he apparently also brought one of his keyboards with him to do a cute little keyboard thing. This actually sounds just like another band, but I don’t have time to go look it up without missing the next song, so listen to this and e-mail me.
7. One Hundred Million Years- This is the least reverby song, and it has a nice Woody Guthrie folk thing going on. M. Ward has such a wonderful, honest voice so why is he always singing through a tin can? On a related note, Zooey Deschanel was in Live Free or Die, which I thought was Live Free or Die Hard, which ruled, but instead it’s just some dumb other movie.
8. Stars of Leo- Eh, just more of the same. Nothing special. Also, did you know there may be a Die Hard Five? Wait, the song got better when, you guessed it, the clapping came in. Yeah, now this shit is getting good… but then it just stopped. I like short songs, but sometimes he could really push some of these into the maybe four-minute realm.
9. Fisher of Men- Disposable country rambler. If this doesn’t pick up soon, I’m going to find “Fisher King” clips on Youtube. Oh yeah, the dancing in Grand Central Station. One of the best scenes ever in a movie? Top ten at least.
10. Oh Lonesome Me- Didn’t they just rip off that Fisher King scene for some T-mobile bullshit? Can’t look that up now; here’s a cover of a song everyone knows and I don’t like, but this is a much slower, sadder version. Oh damn, nice going, M. Ward. This is awesome. Now this cover is the best track on the record so far. Wait, now it’s Lucinda Williams showing up to make it even sadder. Chet Atkins‘ ghost probably feels like an asshole right now. This is the song to hear, people. Violins, broken guitar strings, and pure heartbreak. This is like the musical version of that Fisher King scene.
11. Epistemology- Some psuedo-honky tonk pseudo-stomper that probably would’ve been a minor hit on VH1 back when Rockabye was literally ruining people’s lives.
12. Blake’s View- Sweet little tune. Actually, one of the better songs, with some nice creeping organ and a tale of finding love after death. Could use some clapping.
13. Shangri-La- Some more old-timey minor country riffage. Forgettable, but fine. I like The Kinks song better.
14. Outro (AKA- I’m a fool to want you)- Ok, so I guess this a Frank Sinatra song, but I’ve never heard it. So far it’s just guitar jamming. And now it sounds like a Sade song. I’m pretty sure The Chairman of the Board would be busting Ward’s kneecaps right about now. Ok, that was fine for an outro, I suppose.
Uh, so, that’s it. What are you guys doing later? Oh, and here’s a Youtube version of “Oh Lonesome Me”.
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Interview for Monitor This!
“We used to say that if we ever got to open for AC/DC, even just once, that would make us completely happy.” That’s singer Cormac Neeson discussing what it’s been like for the last six months, and counting, to have his band The Answer open for the rock legends. “We’ve been very grateful for the opportunities we’ve received.” But after one quick listen to Everyday Demons, the British band’s new album, you’ll understand why everyone from Aerosmith to Def Leppard to Jimmy Page are outspoken fans.
Started in 2000 by teenage fans of 70’s rock, The Answer’s debut album, Rise, was a massive hit in Europe and Japan with its faithful recreation of sweaty, long-haired guitar solos and soaring vocals that fill arenas. There wasn’t a single note that sounded like any sort of modern trendy rock, and three years later the band used their touring legs to produce another genuine slab of blues-fueled hard rock.
“I think the biggest difference is that we’re completely aware of who we are as a band,” Neeson says. “When Rise came out, we’d been together for a few years but we hadn’t really put together a tour that lasted more than a couple weeks. And now we’ve been out and touring the world pretty much constantly. So I think on the back of that we’ve become much better performers and gotten a lot better at our songwriting.” Neeson admits that getting into the groove of Everyday Demons took a little time, but that it helped find the perfect tone for the album. “We put five or six songs together and road-tested them on a tour in Holland,” Neeson says. “By the time we got back we decided the songs weren’t going to make the grade and we scrapped them and began again. Then we spent the next three months kind of perfecting [Everyday Demons].” And while the band sells tens of thousands of records with little effort in other countries, Neeson and the rest of the band think they’re ready to take on America.
“We haven’t had much time to play in the States yet, but a lot of young, vibrant kids have been coming out,” Neeson says. “I think with the record and some headlining shows our future looks really bright.” Another potential six months on the road with AC/DC would probably make most bands look towards a nice long vacation before another tour, but Neeson says they have no interest.
“It’s good to be busy in a band,” Neeson says plainly. “We’ve cleared the calendar for the next year and a half. Once we’ve done as much touring around the world as we possibly can, then maybe we’ll take a rest.”
