Sunday, April 28, 2013

Burnt Bizkit; Jonesin for more Tom

It's too easy to rip Limp Bizkit.

Pounding on the Led Zeppelin of rap-metal was clichéd before people even started doing it.

Yeah, of course they sucked. Yeah, of course dudes who chanted out the words to "Nookie" were gargantuan douche bags. Yeah, of course Fred Durst was a talentless blob of skin and bone. Yeah, of course that guitarist guy looked like a f*cking jackass with all that paint all over his face. Yeah, of course their contribution to music was to make every other band and solo artist sound so much better because of the stream of awful shit spewing forth from the stage every time they played.

But so what? Their fans are their fans, their music is their music, why bother taking shots?

Because they're still around. Limp Bizkit should not still be together, playing and making music. Of course saying things like this just fuels Durst's fire, so he'd probably just flip the middle finger and start humping at whoever said such a thing. Just like he does here in the video for "Gold Cobra," a single from the 2011 album of the same name.


What the shit? Why are you so mad Durst? It's not our fault that you're an old man pretending to be a kid. It's not our fault that you could put all of the big jugs and hot cars in the world in your video and it still wouldn't change the fact that the only reason you get laid is because you're a rock star.

If you have to stick around, and play shows, like Wednesday's sold-out gig at the Theatre of the Living Arts in Philadelphia, just play "Three Dollar Bill Ya'll" from front to back and embrace the nostalgia. Don't make new stuff. You're embarrassing yourself. Seriously. Stop.

Go ahead, bite my chest hair: T.J. in his prime.
One guy we don't mind having around is Tom Jones. This guy can and has crooned everything, from bawdy originals to cornball covers to whacked out collaborations (pairing up with Art of Noise to cover Prince's from "Kiss," covering "Hot Legs" with Tina Turner), and as far as I'm concerned he can keep on doing it until the day that he dies. Shit, he can keep on doing it after he dies - they can just stuff him and wheel him around and play classics like "What's Up Pussycat" while his dead, hairy-chested body sits there in all its glory.

I mean, we're not that far from that right now. Have you seen this dude lately?

But yo, the 72-year-old (!!!) is actually tackling serious material now, having a real-deal renaissance a la Johnny Cash in the twilight of his life. Not surprisingly, music execs aren't getting it, as one called Jones' 2010 album "Praise & Blame" a "sick joke," even though it's freaking rad as hell. On his latest album he does Leonard Cohen's "Tower of Song." He does Blind Willy Johnson and Richard Thompson.

It's no longer about witnessing a Cheese Fest when Jones plays out, as he will May 17 at the Theatre of the Living Arts. Could actually be a cool show for all the right reasons. Go here to buy tickets.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Evangelina and the Boys: Hold the pepperoni, bring the rock at Extreme Pizza

You say it's weird to have a show at a joint like Extreme Pizza on Wilmington's recently revived Lower Market Street area (or LOMA for short). 

You say it would be odd to be munching on one of Extreme's signature pizzas, which go by names like Peace In The Middle East, Mr. Pestato Head, Pandora's Box or Poultry Geist, while taking in a set of sultry tunes merging alt-pop with a variety of other sounds by Evangelina and the Boys.

Evangelina has a new side band, and they're called The Boys.
You say a pub-type place, like Dead Presidents or the Del Rose Cafe, is more appropriate for that sort of thing.

Well maybe you weren't around Newark in the mid-1990s, when Jam'n & Java was one of THE spots to catch live music.

Or maybe you forgot about one of the most amazing moments in music video history, a moment so amazing that whenever I see it again, I still can't believe it.


And, if you don't have a kid, you probably never saw "Lemonade Mouth," and in that case you never saw the scene where Dante's Pizzeria is the only place that will let the banned kids' band play. True, the pizza place show got a bit out of hand, but still:



But Extreme Pizza has become a sneaky cool place to catch a show, and it's not quite like Dante's or Al's restaurant on "Happy Days." It's a swank, relaxing, low-lit establishment where the typical Wilmington Yuppie douche faction is surprisingly non-existent.

Evangelina and the Boys perform at Extreme Pizza, 201 N. Market St., Wilmington, on Friday April 26. Singer song-writer Chad Michael Jervis opens at 8 p.m. Best part: It's free. Visit Extreme Pizza's website for more info.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Hump Day Chat: Geeking on Midnight Oil, and The Punk vs. The Godfather

Doo doo, doo doo, doo doo doot.
As has become custom here at First State Rock, Michael Anthony of the rock hall blog Cleveland Does Not Rock joins our very own G.E. Smith for a random chat about rock music, some of which pertains to the Delaware Valley music scene. Or maybe not. Here goes:

G.E. Smith: You into the vid for "Power and the Passion" by Midnight Oil? It came on VH1 Classic's "120 Minutes" the other night. That video and song scares the shit out of me. What the f*ck is wrong with that Peter Garrett guy?

Michael Anthony: Haha yeah man. His moves seem to be a mistake.

G.E. Smith: They're more exaggerated in that tune. Like as if it's great or something. It sounds like dung.

Michael Anthony: Isn't it a little weird how no one cares about them now? Unless you live in AUS. I don't know why but I dig 'em. I'd never listen to 'em but it's pretty good. The singles at least. I bet the album tracks are ass. You into "Dead Heart"?

G.E. Smith: Yea I love "Dead Heart," and I like "Dream World" even better. I'm actually pretty into them. At least I used to be. I saw them in concert during all that Greenpeace shit and I have three of their albums. There's some not so bad deep cuts, like "Stars of Warburton" on "Blue Sky Mining."

Michael Anthony: I thought maybe you started hating them. Like I hate Elvis Costello now.

Gas face: Is it really that hard to play bass?
G.E. Smith: Who do respect more, Costello or Sting?

Michael Anthony: Haha I hate Elvis relative to how much I loved him in the past, but I wouldn't go so far as to compare him to Sting (whose "Back To Bass: 2013" tour comes to the Pier Six Pavillion in Baltimore on June 12, and the Borgata in Atlantic City from June 13-14). You think they're even comparable? Sting has no "Oliver's Army." Not even close. Both racist, both play soft rock now, neither ever played punk rock.

G.E. Smith: Yea definitely. I guess it comes down to who is more of a Fake Punk. Who is more longing to have punk roots and who fails worse in that department.

Michael Anthony: I don't think either tries now. Maybe both were just unwittingly shoehorned into punk/ New Wave but were really just aching to be adult-contemporary losers all along. At least Midnight Oil has the radical politics going on. You ever see how their most recent album cover jacks Wire?

G.E. Smith: Who, Oil? What year did that come out?

Michael Anthony: 2002. Similar cover to "A Bell Is A Cup."

G.E. Smith: You think that bald asshole dresses as Fred Krueger for Halloween?

Michael Anthony: Yeah. Or Slender Man.

G.E. Smith: You think Oil could have gone the Kiss/ Alice Cooper/ Misfits route?

Michael Anthony: You think if Garrett did a reverse Kiss people would like him better with makeup on?

G.E. Smith: You think him and his band ever jam naked in the desert?

Michael Anthony: Just him.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Rock and Roll PB&J: Soraia, Tony Travalini at Mojo Main

For some reason, there are certain things that bring comfort to your life. Someone else might think they're mediocre, or even shit, but to you they restore order amidst the chaos. They're things like this:


And this:


And this:


If you were going to come up with a local concert equivalent of this, it'd be something like Friday's (April 26) show at Mojo Main, where Philadelphia-based Soraia will be joined by Tony Travalini and the Still Lifes. Back in the day (and by back in the day I mean five years ago), you could find these two acts at the original Mojo, Mojo 13 in Holly Oak, pretty regularly, playing alongside acts like Dead Loretta, She Slash He, The Tressels and, well, Von Hayes.

You are the one true king.
Soraia is led by lead singer Soraia Mansour, who sort of resembles that beautiful and horrifying fire lady on "Game of Thrones." They'll be pimping the superb tunes from their latest album, "In the Valley of Love and Guns." In addition to the always steady Travalini and his Still Lifes, there's also Kind of Creatures, an up-and-coming new (and by new we mean, like, they just played their first show last month) band with some pretty interesting sounds going on. Definitely check out their set.

The bands Tone and Gang Age round out the night of music, which begins at 9 p.m. Admission is $5, and tickets can be purchased in advance at Ticketfly.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

"Happy" Record Store Day? SHIT NO

Main Street Jukebox in Stroudsburg, Pa. Bought "Pleased To Meet Me" here.
Everyone was going around on Saturday, as they do every year, Tweeting and Facebooking and commenting "Happy Record Store Day." Why? What was so happy about it?

According to me, it sucked. It sucked because Rainbow Records, the last record store on Newark's Main Street, is closing down at the end of June. Great. F*cking great. Main Street has 14 pizza places, 65 bars, 10 boutique clothing stores, 24 ice cream joints, and 745 restaurants. And three parking lots. BUT AS OF JULY NO RECORD STORES. This is a college town. What the f*ck?

Smug asshole.
It sucked because of Metallica. Thanks, jackasses, for your Great Stand against Napster and the music pirates of the world. You did justice by millionaire douchebag rockstars, like yourselves, everywhere who didn't want their sex and money train derailed by music fans. The real tragedy is that Lars Ulrich, maybe the dumbest man alive, actually had a point: Free downloading of music DOES hurt recording artists, who can't make money if people aren't buying it. Unfortunately, by vilifying people who just love music, you only emboldened them to find new ways to continue "stealing" it, and at a higher rate. There's a way for this to work, it will just take someone with more smarts than the braintrust that is Metallica.

It sucked because of the record industry, which had a brief glimpse of sanity in the early 1990s before turning inspired alt and indie-rock acts into cash cows, which eventually killed great bands like Superdrag, and then ushered in rap-metal, and then boybands, and then faux-indie rock, and then castrated rock like The Shins, and then The Killers, and so on. The industry controls what's popular like the government controls what party is in power (what?).

It sucked because of fans, who have become too confused or too lazy or both to delve deep into the outer reaches of the Internets to find and discover great new bands. Clearly there's a need for band sites like the Bandcamps, and the Facebook, and the ReverbNations or whatever other MySpace replacements are out there, but there are now TOO MANY options for fans. They can't find what they should be finding. The f*ckfaces at snob clubs like Pitchfork only contribute to the confusion.

It sucked because of MTV, and then MTV2, and then VH1, and then VH1 2, and now VH1 Classic, all of which started out as channels that just played music videos and then started stuffing programming which stuff that had nothing to do with music. That spectrum ranges from "I'm A Pregnant Teen, I Love Evil Clowns, But No One Knows It" on MTV to airings of movies like "Fletch" on VH1 Classic that have NOTHING to do with music at all. You can say, well, anyone can watch whatever video they want on YouTube. Well, they don't. And you can say, well, no one makes videos anymore. And I'd say, well, that's the problem. For all its negatives MTV did some amazing things for music, introducing bands like R.E.M., The Replacements, Jane's Addiction and various acts on "120 Minutes," introducing rap to mainstream society on "Yo! MTV Raps," keeping metal alive on "Headbanger's Ball" and making Mark Mothersbaugh famous. Today, the latter gives parents everywhere joy on a daily basis via "Yo Gabba Gabba," which actually helps promote music through the appearance of cool bands on the show.

Yes, this is the Devo guy. And, yes, he is keeping music alive.
It sucked most of all because it's reality. No one wants to buy CDs or tapes or vinyl anymore. Maybe the labels and artists could contribute to help indie stores stay open. Maybe artists could treat releases like Cracker Jack boxes and put special prizes in each one, like codes to downloads or special artwork or even those little comic book thingys they put in the actual boxes for the caramel popcorn treats with the peanut shit.

And maybe someday it will come back due to the retro factor. Until then, we'll just follow along like little sheep and download the latest Lumineers single on iTunes. Yay. Does the fun ever start?

Friday, April 19, 2013

Do the creep: Graham Parker & The Rumour at The Queen

My brain just melted trying to decipher Graham Parker from Marshall Crenshaw.

Now is Parker is the gangly geek who wrote and sang the sweet single "Someday, Somewhere," or is that Crenshaw?

Is Crenshaw the sickly looking geek-in-denial who is constantly lauded for nothing in particular, or is that Parker?

Old age is a bitch. Heck, sometimes I can't separate between Marshall Crenshaw, Graham Parker or Graham Repulski.

But thanks to the Internets I think I got it.

All of you! You are gonna dieeeee!
Graham Parker, who will be at World Cafe Live at the Queen in Wilmington with his band, The Rumour, on Saturday (April 20), is the guy who already looked like the preacher from "Poltergeist II" when he busted out with his 1976 debut "Howlin' Wind" (really? at age 26?).

He then got by-passed by Elvis Costello upon the fellow-Brit's 1977 debut, pretty much because Costello was a clone of Parker - the voice, the R&B-inflected rock, the nerdish charm - only with better tunes and far worse teeth.

Marshall Crenshaw is the "Someday, Somewhere" guy, and what has me on edge right now is the fact that this is the second mention of Crenshaw in the short life-span of First State Rock. Kill me now.

Parker had just one Top 40 hit, "Wake Up (Next To You)," but there's plenty of decent Van Morrison rips like "Heat Treatment":

He also churned out of some of the most awesomely bad album covers of all time.


But he was a pretty solid live performer, which makes his performance Saturday a best bet for local music fans.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Hump Day Chat: Purling Hiss, Breeders, Yo Gabba Gabba

Purling Hiss, spawned from the increasingly secular Philly music scene.
Cleveland Does Not Rock's Michael Anthony joins us today for a rambling conversation about
music, some of which has actual relevance.

Michael Anthony: This band Purling Hiss gets gooed for but it sounds like wimpy Dinosaur Jr. Who needs it? You heard it? Check it out here.

popzeus: Looked 'em up. Philly psych-rock. About to go on tour in Europe. Has a record out on Drag City. Produced by a dude from another Philly band, War On Drugs. It's not bad. Compared to most other awful shit.

Michael Anthony: It sounds like a bad late '90s Dino Jr. song. Decent but not the same.

popzeus: You were talking about how that scene has gotten douchey, and how they started shunning bands from out of town.

Michael Anthony: Something like that. What I heard was there are certain cliques and it's very insular. Like if you follow slacker indie rock you wouldn't play at or go to a venue that featured earnest folk bands. I guess it's kind of normal but what I heard is that it kind of shuts out people from reaching a broader audience other than their niche.

Thee Oh Sees: Never saw the goofy eyeglasses thing before.
popzeus: Yeah, why would you only be into one kind of music and nothing else? Seems kind of snobbish to me.

Michael Anthony: How about this band Thee Oh Sees? Cool psych rock I guess but no hooks. I feel like most "lower"-fi bands are just as bad as the early '00s dance rock and garage rock bands when it comes to "attitude" over substance.

popzeus: Or "clothes" over substance. Stuff like that, to me, isn't horrid, it's just so mediocre that I wish it sucked. On a whim, I'll grab a classic like The Breeders' "Last Splash" to cleanse my pallet and hear something inspired. You into that album?

Michael Anthony: Yea man, it's good.

Popzeus after Tuesday's 'Last Spash' listen.
popzeus: I was surprised at how good "Last Splash" is. Been a while since I gave it an honest listen.
If you just try and dig it for what it is instead of some monolith of alt-rock it's pretty rad.

Michael Anthony: Yea really good hooks I think. Interesting but not off-putting or inaccessible. Perfect balance, probably.

popzeus: It whacker her out. She was afraid to do anything else, probably because she thought she'd never be able to hit that mark again. It blows anything Frank Black ever did solo out of the water.

Michael Anthony: "Headache" though. That should be on AM radio.

popzeus: Yea. First three tracks on "Teenager of the Year." Wow.

Michael Anthony: His self-titled album is a little fey. "Abstract Plain" is tighty.

popzeus: Yeah. "Thalassocracy" too.

Michael Anthony: You ever see that super f*cked up tune about "Rainbows" on "Yo Gabba Gabba"? With that old guy?

popzeus: Yea we are actually watching that one right now.

Michael Anthony: Shit, so are we.

popzeus: "Rainbow Connection." That "Muppets" tune. That fuct Paul Williams guy.

Michael Anthony: Yea, that vid is fuct looking. Because of the old fuc.

popzeus: What part are you on? The sunshine song?

Michael Anthony: Lance doing the rain cloud. "Rainbow Connection" tune just ended. Do the rain cloud! Do the rain cloud! Work it!

Friday, April 12, 2013

Black Crowes: Rock Hall or not?

Fact: There have been 5,000 members in The Black Crowes.
They say you can judge a tune by whether you'll keep it on if it randomly comes on the radio (actually, I just said that. just now). And when judged by that standard, I have to say that The Black Crowes' "She Talks To Angels" is a pretty damn fine track. Love hearing that shit in ShopRite while I'm prowling for new Turkey Hill ice cream flavors.

But as a band with any historical significance, The Crowes, who swooped in for a sold out show at Philly's Electric Factory on April 12, are a major league failblog.

Their first break through hit, "Hard To Handle," is a freaking cover. The other big hits on "Shake Your Money Maker" - "Twice As Hard," "Jealous Again," etc. are almost worse than covers, ripping the Stones while Honkifying every blues lick and vocal hook ever. And that whole Rich vs. Chris Robinson brother rivalry? Come on man. We already saw that shit with the Kinks.

On "The Southern Harmony and Melody Maker" the Crowes moved on and started to ape the Faces, Allman Bros, Aerosmith and other 70s rock acts, and by the time the time the vagina album cover came out for "Amorica," it was all a downhill slide of live and greatest hits comps.

Oasis had much more success, and much longer run, stealing from the Beatles, Stones, Stone Roses, Smiths, etc.

Noel and Liam are shoe-ins for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when they become eligible in 2019. But the Robinsons are gonna have a thorn in their pride when they're up in 2015. At least they should - you never know how many Crowes CDs Jann Weiner has in his collection.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Diamond Head, Diamond State: Metal greats play Mojo 13

Remember Anvil? Remember how the Canadian metal band's story emerged out of nowhere as something important back in 2008, and how the "rockumentary" "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" - which somehow captured every dramatic and important moment on the band's comeback tour - came out and was on VH1 Classic practically every day?

Clearly, there's video and testimonials to support the fact that Anvil did indeed play a big festival with Metallica back in the early 1980s. But there's little else - the music and crude lyrics were seemingly more of an influence on Nickelback than any future metal band. Something about the whole deal just didn't seem right - did Anvil really still have a following today and that justified the movie, or did the hype of the movie make it so that Anvil had a following?

Anvil: I didn't buy this stupid shit for a second. You?
(Also, are you like me? Did you feel like this was basically a stab at a quote-unquote real-life version of "This is Spinal Tap," only not funny or cool? Just wondering.)

You don't have any of that shit with Diamond Head, a band that emerged from Stourbridge, England in the late 1970s and turned segments of the music world on their asses with a mysterious untitled album in 1980 that merged Led Zeppelin and Judas Priest. Musically, it set the template for bands like Metallica and Megadeth, who both cite them as influences.

But unlike Anvil, these dudes are legit, and the proof is out there. Go ahead and YouTube "Lightning To The Nations," which fans and writers went on to name that first album, and you will be blown away by what you hear if you are into stuff like Sabbath, Led Zep or early metal. Brian Tatler tears it up with wicked solos and razor-like riffs, and singer Sean Harris could pass for Robert Plant in a Zeppelin tribute band. 
 
Is this good or bad? I can't tell.
The chugging "Sucking My Love" is, appropriately enough, 10 minutes of awesome, the title track bangs away like Judas Priests' best cock-rock moments, only with black metal subbing in for some of Priests' more schlocky moments, and there's a reason why Metallica and others later covered the dastardly "Am I Evil?"

And we know Metallica was heavily influenced by them, because drummer Lars Ulrich has said he patterned the band's sound after Diamond Head, and the setlists to their early shows were stuffed with Diamond Head tunes.

Sadly, the band couldn't cash in, and it all fell apart when they signed with MCA, either because they took all kinds of bad advice, couldn't write or record any more decent songs or their contract with the devil ran out. 
Better have a lawyer present.
The band will be at Mojo 13, 1706 Philadelphia Pike, in Holly Oak, on Thursday (April 11).

Coffin Dust, Skeleton Hands, and 9 Crown Monarch open up starting at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $18 in advance, $20 day of show. Go here to buy them now or get them at the door.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Phoenix on 'SNL': Old dudes play boring alt-pop

Phoenix: 'SNL' and Coachella see the next big thing. I see this.
Not sure if anyone else has noticed, but aside from the occasional big pop star score (Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj, Frank Ocean) “Saturday Night Live’s” musical guests have stunk on ice, especially the rock offerings.

It’s almost as if Lorne Michaels and Co. were trying to make modern duplicates of some of my horrid mock 1980s musical guest-host pairings, using my Don Pardo impression.

Sarandon: Genius in 'Fright Night.'
“Musical guest...Wall of Voodoo! With your host … Edie McClurg!” Or, “Musical guest The Domino’sNoid!
… After the Fire! With your host … Chris Sarandon!” Or, “Musical guest … Kajagoogoo! … with your host …

It’s true, there’s been some names. “SNL” recently had Muse, world conquerors who have been on the cover of Rolling Stone. This off-key, ham-fisted collection of douchebags also sound like a modern-rock version of The Fixx covered in steaming cow dung.
They had The Lumineers, who are still hot shit at the moment. I checked it out, wondering what all the fuss was about … yeah, as expected, it’s just a bunch of Renaissance Faire rejects dressing up like its 1880 playing your typical pop stuff, just with old-timey instruments.
McClurg: An early Melissa McCarthy.

And now we have Phoenix, which might just be the most infuriating of all. These Frenchies came out and played pleasant enough pop tunes with a decent bounce, including the Cure-esque “Entertainment” and the bouncy “Trying To Be Cool.”

But they’ve been around since 1995 which, despite the best efforts of those of us careening into our late 30s, is a long-ass time ago. Singer Thomas Mars looks like he’s about 49. This is a big band? This is an act worthy of an “SNL” spot and a headlining gig at Coachella? Really? Why do they get the nod over 100 other worthy bands who've been waiting their turn for decades?

Only Thom Yorke makes more stupid looking faces.
Maybe the real culprits are the “SNL” folks, who are now clearly enslaved by Budweiser and their musical tastes. Yup, there’s the problem.

Phoenix is our area on May 12 for the WRFF Radio 104.5 6th Birthday Show, at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, N.J. They'll be playing alongside acts like Paramore, Passion Pit, and, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, who are probably along to make Phoenix look younger to the kiddie crowd.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Play ball with Sylvan Wolfe

The Wilmington band Sylvan Wolfe and former New York Yankees OF Oscar Gamble kind of have absolutely nothing in common.

Yet it just feels so right putting ol' Oscar's card right over there.

Maybe it's because, like evil clowns and bad album covers, I'm obsessed with unintentionally funny baseball cards. I mean, what about this one, this one or this one?

Or maybe it just feels like it's time to go out and see some shows now that the baseball season is underway. Like, you could be going to check out a show tonight instead of watching the season premiere of "Mad Men," aka "Sopranos"-lite. (seriously, though, if you're going to stay in and watch TV, you should be watching "Game of Thrones" anyway.)

Or, most likely, I feel like it's worth the gamble of going out to see a band you might not have heard, like Sylvan Wolfe, in the same way Steinbrenner took a Gamble on Oscar Gamble for the 1976 season (it was a decent one, as "The Grouch" hit 17 dongs and racked up 57 RBI. Unfortunately, the Yanks didn't double down for another season - Gamble signed with the Chicago White Sox for the 1977 season and pounded 31 homers, racked up 83 RBI and hit .297 for a career year in which he finished 29th in the MVP voting).

Whether it's an interesting hybrid of blues and surf music, or a barrage or alt-rock, or smoldering folk, the band's tunes are all smothered in a warmingly gorgeous reverb capped off by singer Christa Boeykens' commanding vocals.

Sylvan Wolfe, which also features Peter Daly on drums, Jonathan Reed on bass and Son Bui and David Santini on guitars, has been hitting venues throughout the area of late, playing tunes from their EP, "Black Branch." That release features songs like "White Washed Soul," which is what it might have sounded like if Joan Osborne had taken it a step further in the directions of Janis Joplin and/or early 1990s Lollapalooza and a step further away from Lilith Fair shit. "Sheeps Clothes" and the title track are decidedly modern but still echo back to some cool '90s sounds. I don't know if that was intentional, but I'm down with it.

The band's next gig is April 27 at Mojo Main, 270 E. Main St., Newark, when they'll open for Wussy and The Cocks. The show, which starts at 8 p.m., is an 18 and over event and admission is $10.

Friday, April 5, 2013

'90s nostalgia: Cure for The Grand's ills

Biased opinion alert: The Grand's booking of The Pixies was genius.
Today, The News Journal had a story about The Grand slashing a quarter of its staff, having a huge revenue shortfall, and eyeing deeper cuts as a way for the 135-year-old venue to stay in business.

One reason cited was "increased competition." Duh. World Cafe Live at the Queen opened down the street a few years ago. Wonder why there aren't as many slices of the same pie to go around when there are more people eating it?

When the Queen opened, there was talk about cooperation between the venues, or at least some kind of drawing of turf. As in, "Hey, Queen, you take the adult-contemporary acts and the alt-rock bands, and we'll take the jazz, classical and pop icon group."

That didn't really happen, and what you're left with is Saturday (April 6)'s recreation of The Who's classic "Who's Next" album at The Grand and similar odes to Led Zeppelin tonight (April 5) and Pink Floyd tomorrow (April 6) at The Queen.

Really?

Look, I know nothing about demographics, budgets, scheduling, costs to book bands or any of that stuff. But it seems to me that a big part of the solution is simple.

Both venues could easily put butts in their seats if they realized who will come downtown.

It seems to me like a big segment of the concert-going population is in the 25-40 range. These are people with a decent amount of disposable dough that they'd be willing to spend on a night out to see one of their favorite all-time bands. And a good chunk of them on the younger end don't have kids, so they don't have to worry about baby sitters.

The Grand should pass, especially sans DeYoung (far right).
But those bands are not Styx, or REO Speedwagon, or anyone from the 1970s or 1980s.

These two venues have to look at who the REO Speedwagons and Styx are for this generation. These venues HAVE to look at the 1990s.

The Atlanta Journal-Constituion just did a story on this a few days ago. Down there, Sugar Ray, Everclear, Barenaked Ladies and Blues Traveler will all be in town this weekend. Smash Mouth, Collective Soul and Gin Blossoms are all out there too. Do some of these bands suck? Sure. Will people pay decent money to see them? You bet.

The Grand did it with The Pixies, but they haven't continued to dig deeper into that gold mine. The Grand could easily book Stone Temple Pilots and charge $45 a head and sell out the place in a day. I'm thinking that would put The Grand in the black for that night.

Nostalgia goldmine: right there waiting.
What about Weezer? Live? Soundgarden? What about a cheesy package show at The Queen featuring Better Than Ezra, Marcy Playground and Harvey Danger?

What about the slew of indie-rock reunions? I'm sure the show bookers at The Queen and The Grand never heard of Archers of Loaf or Guided By Voices or maybe even Pavement. But these bands have hardcore followings, and their ongoing classic lineup reunion tours would have easily sold out The Queen. Same goes for The Breeders' "Last Splash" anniversary tour, just covered on this blog, which hits Philly in May. I personally would pay a pretty penny to see any of those three shows in a beautiful venue like The Grand (or The Queen).

Big-time score for Firefly.
What about hip-hop? I know that sounds scary to both of those venues, but the Firefly Music Festival showed some balls and put rap legends and Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Public Enemy on their sked of almost all rock acts. I'm sure they'll draw a new crowd with that booking - why not do the same at The Grand and/or The Queen? What are you afraid of?

Speaking of Firefly, why can't those venues get any of the acts playing the festival? More exposure for Delaware means more bands see a viable audience here means they'll come back. Yo Grand and Queen - go git em. Just like you did with Wilco and Bright Eyes a few years ago.

This is Dave Mason WHEN HE WAS COOL.
The Queen had the right idea when it went after acts like Richard Marx and Bryan Adams. There's a big market with huge selling '80s pop acts no matter how "uncool" a segment of the music world deems them to be. The Grand has the WRONG idea with acts like Dave Mason, which regardless of how it sells paints the picture of a venue that's out of touch - when you're booking a show, you're advertising for future shows. Not sure if 60-year-old guys stuck in the '70s is a vibrant target market.

Keep hitting that pipeline of nostalgia. The Grand could hit the '80s and score that late 30s to late 40s crowd. Like the Queen did, get someone like Psychedelic Furs, but go further. Get The Cure, or Morrissey, both of whom could easily sell out the venue.

But, to me, the 1990s seems like the next target to hit, and it's a big fat one.

And maybe The Grand has already made plans to do just that when it fills out its summer schedule.

Let's hope so.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Breeders ride "Last Splash" nostalgia wave into Philly

Look, Kim Deal is a pretty lady. But she puts absolutely zero effort into embracing traditional beauty and sexiness – makeup, cleavage, tight skirts, etc. – and therefore no one in the real world would ever label her as “hot.”

Except for millions of indie-rock dudes everywhere.

What if Wilt had played rock music?
This is because Kim benefits from the Rock Star Goggles, which for years have been a popular item with fans of the Rolling Stones (seriously, Mick has always been one of the ugliest dudes in music yet I’m betting his stats compare to Wilt Chamberlain), Guns ’N’ Roses (many women thought Axl, Slash and the boys to be sexy dudes, but I’m pretty sure they’re nasty looking gutter garbage who smell like 5,000 stale cigs covered in a bar’s worth of booze) and Christie Brinkley, who was obviously seeing something completely different than the rest of the world whenever she looked at Billy Joel.

Indie-rock chicks wear the Goggles too when they ogle guys like Ryan Adams, Britt Daniel and Conor Oberst.

And so do indie-dudes when they gaze upon Kim, and it’s only made worse by the fact that none of them would have kicked her out of bed in the first place. But put a bass on her, toss her up on stage with the Pixies and have her sing about a big black Garter snake (and not the one in your yard) in “Gigantic,” and it’s all over.

Oberst: Hot indie-rock guy, or psycho killer in the making?
Want to kick it up a notch? Put her back in the Breeders and have her tour with sister Kelley (her  twin, whoah) on the “Last Splash” 20th anniversary tour. And make sure she's doing it with the classic Breeders lineup, which includes drummer Jim MacPherson (also a one-time beat minder for Guided By Voices***) and Josephine Wiggs on bass. Reports from the tour so far are that the crowds are stuffed with overweight dudes in their late 30s and early 40s who can’t help but sing along to tunes like "Cannonball" and “Do You Love Me Now?” and “Divine Hammer” (another phallic reference…interesting).

The Breeders bring that tour, where they play the seminal 1993 album front-to-back, to The Trocadero Theatre, 1003 Arch St., in Upper Darby, Pa., on May 5. Tickets are $20 in advance, $23 on the day of the show, an absolute steal by today’s concert standards, even if you’re not smitten with Kim like I am.

Doors open at 7 p.m., and the show starts at 8. Go here to purchase tickets.

Here's the classic lineup, doing their thing back in the day.



*** GBV fans know all about the cross-over action that took place with The Breeders and Guided By Voices, both of which hail from Dayton, Ohio. The Breeders covered GBV's "Shocker In Gloomtown," and even included the band in a clever video that got ample play on MTV. Kim Deal and Bob Pollard were buds at one point, and Deal was producing some of the stuff on 1996's "Under The Bushes, Under The Stars" before some weird shit went down. They were supposed to be in a side project called The Amps until Bob backed out (or Kim cut him out?), but then Deal did The Amps anyway and they cranked the criminally underrated 1995 album "Pacer."




Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Spintos to play a home game in Arden

The Spinto Band are easily one of the most successful bands to ever emerge from Delaware, right up there with First State Rock patron saint George Thorogood, who can be seen atop Caesar Rodney’s horse all over this bloody page (Yeah, that’s who that is and, yeah, his face is basically melted).

The Wilmington-bred band has done exceptionally well since forming in 1996, going from releasing their own stuff and playing out locally to putting out a critically acclaimed album on a major label (2006’s “Nice and Nicely Done,” featuring the single “Oh Mandy,” came out on Virgin UK) and appearing on “The Jools Holland Show,” the huge TV gig and industry taste-maker factory run by the former Squeeze keyboard player. If you’re on there, you’ve either done something awesome, are in the process of doing something awesome, or will at a later date do something awesome.

But despite continuing to put out cool albums with solid singles (“Take It” from last year’s “Shy Pursuit”) and accompanying quirky and well-made videos in the years to follow, the Spintos kept taking a step down from Bar/None and Virgin UK to smaller labels to essentially putting stuff out on their own again with the help of a distributor (like the forthcoming "Cool Cocoon").
Spinto slide=not complicated.

Why? In the words of the Kyocera guy, it’s really not that complicated.

Thanks to the various bandmaking sites, anyone can put out music, and anyone can be in a band, and anyone can promote themselves. Thanks to technology, anyone can record well-made music and even better-made videos.

And thanks to the fact that a lot of incredible music has been made, a lot of incredible music can also be copied.

It’s an overcrowded field now. Music consumers are faced with so many options now that it’s overwhelming, and they just reach for the obvious. As always, great bands are obscured. And despite the fact that the Spintos went as far as they did, you still get shit like this:

The Spintos are having an amazing career and their accomplishments cannot be understated. That being said, if they had hit the open market in the early 1990s instead of the early 2000s, they’d have reached a level on par with one of their influences, Pavement, and maybe even higher.

The band is at Arden Gild Hall, 2126 The Highway, in Arden, on Saturday (April 6). Buried Beds open the shop at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 day of show.