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!

'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.