Discussions Magazine Music Blog

DIRTY GHOSTS/Metal Moon: Available February 21st, 2012!

2012-02-10T10:42:00.000-08:00

DIRTY GHOSTS

METAL MOON

2.21.12

2012 debut album from this Punk/Alt-Rock band led by Allyson Baker. Back in the '90s, she was sneaking into Dwarves shows and frequenting mosh pits before she was barely out of junior high; by age of 17, she was playing guitar for some of Toronto's most notorious punk and hardcore bands (Teen Crud Combo R.I.P.), before leaving her friends and family behind in 2000 to shake some action in San Francisco. Dirty Ghosts may be her new band, but it's the five-years-in-the-making product of a habit she just can't quit, a sound and vision that--despite numerous obstacles along the way--just had to be unleashed. And, as this dead-cool debut ultimately proves, good things happen when you refuse to give up the ghost.

THE CIVIL WARS performing live at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards!

2012-02-10T08:59:00.000-08:00

Remember to catch 2X Grammy nominees THE CIVIL WARS performing LIVE at the 54th annual GRAMMY AWARDS on Sunday, February 12th, 2012!

PLUS

Catch them LIVE on Jay Leno on Monday, February 13, 2012!

And remember to read our EXCLUSIVE interview with THE CIVIL WARS here!

PINK FLOYD/The Wall: Experience it like never before! Coming February 28th, 2012!

2012-02-08T14:08:00.000-08:00

PINK FLOYD

THE WALL

THE EXPERIENCE VERSION (3CD)

THE IMMERSION VERSION (7CD)

DOUBLE VINYL LP PRESSING

AVATAR/Black Waltz: Available February 14th, 2012!

2012-02-02T11:02:00.000-08:00

AVATAR

BLACK WALTZ

2.14.12

Black Waltz is Avatar's 2012 debut album produced by Swedish Grammy Award winning producer Tobias Lindell. (Europe, Hardcore Superstar, Mustache). Avatar captures the essence of what groups like Rammstein, In Flames and System Of A Down have done; bring Heavy Metal to the wider masses. The album artwork is designed by Caroline Falk (Hardcore Superstar, Crashdiet). Avatar has toured with Megadeth, Helloween, Stone Sour and In Flames.

IN MEMORY OF DON CORNELIUS

2012-02-01T08:00:00.000-08:00

Remembering DON CORNELIUS:

The legend of SOUL TRAIN!

Spaz waxes poetic on the iconic TV show’s history and gains a little insight from the ‘Soul Conductor’ himself!

By Stephen SPAZ Schnee

When American Bandstand brought Rock ‘n’ Roll into American living rooms in the ‘50s, it helped to usher in one of the most exciting periods in music. From bobby-soxers to greasers, every teenager in the U.S. tuned in to view the latest dance crazes, listen to the latest hits and watch host Dick Clark introduce some of the hottest acts on the planet. While not technically a ‘music video’ show (it was more of a dance show), American Bandstand was a cultural phenomena. It spawned many copycat programs throughout the ‘50s and ‘60s, yet none of them lasted more than a season or two.

Nearly two decades later, in October of 1971, a fairly similar weekly music television show hit the airwaves which would ultimately change the playing field; that show was called Soul Train. Instead of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Soul Train featured the absolute best in Soul, Funk, and R&B, all performed by the hottest black artists on the scene. Similar in format to American Bandstand, Soul Train was an hour long program that featured dancers groovin’ to the latest hits, live and/or lip synched performances by new artists and veteran performers plus host Don Cornelius, who may not have been as suave as Dick Clarke, but he was certainly twice as cool!

Cornelius came up with the idea of the show while he was a disc jockey in Chicago. While he has always denied that the show was based on the American Bandstand format, the shows were destined to be compared, even four decades later. But the real difference was in the musical acts, many of whom performed live on Soul Train while AB’s musical guests would lip-synch to their latest recordings.

“There were certain artists that didn’t want to lip-synch”, says Don today. “If we wanted them to do the show, we had to do it the way they wanted to do it… even though it wasn’t the tradition with the dance show format. We tried things with the Barry White Orchestra, James Brown…”

From Marvin Gaye and Aretha Franklin to The Isley Brothers and Sly & The Family Stone, Soul Train was both a platform for new artists and a showcase for the veteran performer.

While many acts were initially eager to hitch a ride on Soul Train, it wasn’t that easy at first to snag some of the bigger acts.

“It took a little while for some of the major people like James Brown, Stevie Wonder, The Jackson Five and Aretha Franklin.” remembers Don. “It took awhile to get that caliber of guests. Once we started to see those artists come in, we knew that we were going to make it. Those artists in particular were the ones that started to put us on the map, so to speak.”

The show received an overwhelming response not only from Soul/Funk fans but also from those who followed Rock, Pop and Jazz. While parts of Middle America may still have been feeling racial tensions in the early ‘70s, music fans were generally color-blind. Most Top 40 stations played Soul, Pop, Rock and Country, not bothering to base airplay on skin color. Soul Train helped in knocking down those racial barriers and brought the music home, literally and figuratively.

By the time MTV premiered in August of 1981, the local and syndicated dance/music video shows suffered and began disappearing from television programming. Thankfully, Soul Train stayed on track and flourished. Since MTV didn’t showcase any of the popular black artists of the time, the Soul/Funk/R&B musician’s only real shot at television airtime was via Don and Soul Train. Even when MTV broke the color barrier in 1983 and began featuring videos from black artists, Soul Train thrived. And it continued to do so for a few decades more, coming to its final destination in 2006, thirty five years after it began its journey.

While the legend of Soul Train lives on, the actual episodes of the television show remained elusive for all but the hardcore collector/bootlegger. Now, that has changed with Time/Life’s Best Of Soul Train DVD collections. There’s a three DVD set which features amazing footage from the show’s most acclaimed era (1971-79) including performances from Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson, The O’Jays, the Chi-Lites, Sly & The Family Stone, Marvin Gaye, The Jackson Five and many others. Alongside these performances, you’ll find popular segments of the show (the scramble board, commercials, etc) and plenty of the smooth coolness of host Don Cornelius. The episodes are crisp, clear and are visually stunning. In my brief conversation with the man himself, he assured me that all episodes of Soul Train look as beautiful as those featured here.

There’s also a single disc DVD that features the best of these performances, including some sizzling work from The Isley Brothers, Gladys Knight & The Pips and many others. For the novice, this may be your best introduction into the fast-paced and funky world of Soul Train.

Because of his work with Soul Train, Don Cornelius himself has become a Pop Culture icon and his name has become synonymous with the Soul music that he helped bring to the masses. Modestly, the ‘Soul Conductor’ doesn’t quite see it that way.

“That would be presumptuous to think that on my part… but if that’s the case, I’d like that very much!”

(This feature originally ran in August of 2010)

Thanks to Don Cornelius

Special thanks to John McCormack, Maureen O'Connor, Michael Mitchell and Thomas Hemesath.

SOUL TRAIN, VOL. ONE

SOUL TRAIN, VOL. TWO

SOUL TRAIN: DANCE DANCE DANCE

BEST OF SOUL TRAIN (3 DVD SET)

BEST OF SOUL TRAIN (9 DVD SET)

Soul Train Promo Reel from Saguaro Road on Vimeo.

GRECHEN PETERS' Hello Cruel World is available NOW!

2012-01-31T16:26:00.000-08:00

GRETCHEN PETERS

HELLO CRUEL WORLD

Available NOW!

2012 album from the Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter. The title, Hello Cruel World, is a pun on the famed exit line - a joke that, like the lovely melodies and deliciously textured arrangements framing these 11 songs - sweetens this captivating music spun from a year of turmoil. Peters calls Hello Cruel World her "most close-to-the-bone work, written at a time when I felt absolutely fearless about telling the truth." Peters and her guest Rodney Crowell sing, "life is still a beautiful disaster," on "Dark Angel." But Peters keeps the accent on the "beautiful" throughout her ninth disc, with both her poetic language and the spare, evocative sounds she created in the studio to support her organic story-telling.

MARISA MONTE/O Que Voce Quer Saber De Verdade: Available March 27th, 2012!

2012-01-28T00:22:00.000-08:00

BRAZILIAN SUPERSTAR

MARISA MONTE

RETURNS WITH MARCH 27 RELEASE OF

O QUE VOCE QUER SABER DE VERDADE

(WHAT YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW)

On March 27, Blue Note Records will release O Que Você Quer Saber De Verdade (What You Really Want To Know), the long-awaited new album from Brazilian superstar Marisa Monte. O Que Você Quer Saber De Verdade is the celebrated singer/songwriter’s first new album in six years since the release of her twin albums Universo Ao Meu Redor and Infinto Particular, the latter of which Jon Pareles named one of his Top 10 albums of 2006 in The New York Times.

O Que Você Quer Saber De Verdade was produced by Monte with co-producer Dadi and recorded in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles and New York. The album features musicians such as the Oscar-winning multi-instrumentalist Gustavo Santaolalla, the Brazilian power trio Nação Zumbi, Argentinean tango group Café de los Maestros, a duet with Rodrigo Amarante of the Brazilian-American super group Little Joy, and a string ensemble performing arrangements by the American maestros Greg Cohen and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson.

The album features songs penned by Monte along with long-time musical partners Arnaldo Antunes, Carlinhos Brown and Dadi. Monte also covers some of her favorite artists including Jorge Ben (“Descalço no Parque”) and a version of the classic tango “Lencinho Querido” by Juan de Dios Filiberto and Gabino Coria Penaloza.

* * *

Marisa Monte was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1967. Her father, Carlos Monte, was one of the directors of the Portela Samba school, and she begin her musical studies on piano, drums and music theory at a very early age. Despite growing up during the height of the Musica Popular Brasileira movement—MPB was the post-bossa nova popular music of Brazil—Monte’s first interest was in classical music and opera, and inspired by her idol Maria Callas she traveled to Italy at age 18 to study classical singing.

It was while abroad that Monte first fully recognized the musical richness of her homeland, and decided to return to Brazil and join the ranks of the MPB, following in the footsteps of her greatest influences, including Elis Regina, Gal Costa, Jorge Ben, Caetano Veloso, Nara Leão and Maria Bethânia, and establishing herself as a star in her own right.

Monte’s self-titled debut album in 1989 was an instant hit in Brazil, with stunning interpretations of everything from Gershwin and Kurt Weill to Brazilian pop, R&B and an old Carmen Miranda tune. She went on to release a string of critically acclaimed albums that broadened her international profile and further explored her eclectic and original vision: Mais (1991), Rose And Charcoal (1994), A Great Noise (1996), and Memories, Chronicles and Declarations (2000), as well as Tribalistas (2003), her successful collaboration with Carlinhos Brown and Arnaldo Antunes that sold over 2 million albums worldwide.

In 2006, Monte simultaneously released Universo Ao Meu Redor, a collection of samba songs both old and new, and Infinito Particular, a contemporary pop record on which she returned to unrecorded songs from over the course of her 15 years of songwriting. Jon Pareles of The New York Times named Infinito Particular one of his Top 10 albums of the year, writing that “Monte released two lovely albums this year. Infinito Particular is the more introspective one, a set of gravity-defying ballads. Her voice floats amid ghostly electronics and a handful of winds and strings, contemplating love and transformation.”

The “Infinito Ao Meu Redor” worldwide tour behind the albums’ release hit 140 shows throughout 50 cities in 15 countries across 4 continents. Monte has sold 9 million albums and won 3 Latin Grammy Awards. She was named the most important living Brazilian singer by Rolling Stone Brazil.

JESSIE BAYLIN/Little Spark: Available NOW!

2012-01-27T08:59:00.000-08:00

JESSIE BAYLIN

LITTLE SPARK

Available NOW!

2012 album from the singer/songwriter. Jessie Baylin is a wanderer. A Jersey girl by birth, she attended music school in New York City and later moved to Los Angeles, where she launched her songwriting career as an Indie-Folk regular at the Hotel Cafe. Now settled in Nashville, she funnels her wanderlust into the gorgeous, pastoral songs that fill her third album. Little Spark may be an Alt-Country record on the surface, but Baylin dives deep into the genre’s roots, mining a mix of Western Blues, Laurel Canyon Folk, and 1970s singer/songwriter Pop. String arrangements rub shoulders with pedal steel guitars, and girl group harmonies most of them supplied by The Watson Twins, in their best cameo performance since Jenny Lewis’ Rabbit Fur Coat echo alongside Baylin’s Country-cabaret croon.

CANDICE ANITRA/Big Tree: Available April 3rd, 2012!

2012-01-25T03:58:00.000-08:00

CANDICE ANITRA

BIG TREE

4.3.12

Candice Anitra hates how social constructs put people in boxes, including rigidly corrugated musical categories. Embodying the subtle rapture of Joan Armatrading, the robust confidence of Meshell Ndegeocello, and the thespian gender inquisition of Cheryl Dunye, the left-of-soul singer-songwriter bucks convention rather than live as a square peg in a round hole. Hailing from Philadelphia, the Brooklyn-based songstress was reared in a musical family whose voices were limited to home and church. When the adolescent impetus to find her own voice struck, she was stifled by her father’s telling her she “wasn’t ready.” After high school, Candice set sail for New York University’s heralded Tisch School of the Arts. There, she discovered her vocal prowess upon receiving accolades for her performance in dramatic roles that called for her to sing. By 2006, a post-collegiate Candice had written a stage play, instructed a youth theater workshop, and assumed lead vocal duties for a local NYC band. Though the band dissolved, former classmates Ion & Sanford, who as Force Theory Productions scored award-winning films Favela Rising and Jesus Camp, gave Candice some music to write to – her entry into songwriting – and jumped to produce Candice’s maiden solo musical voyage, the 2008 EP Easier.

SARA RADLE/Same Sun Shines: Available February 21st, 2012!

2012-01-24T14:30:00.000-08:00

SARA RADLE

SAME SUN SHINES

2.21.12

The story of Sara Radle’s music career is one that began in San Antonio, Texas in the late 90’s but she is probably most known for being the reason The Rentals reunited in 2005.

In 1996, at the age of seventeen, she began carving out a name for herself in the Texas music scene with punk-pop trio Lucy Loves Schroeder and her own solo project. Eight years later, ex-Weezer bassist Matt Sharp played a show with her in Dallas, and very soon after, he asked her to relocate to Los angeles, CA in 2005 to re-form The Rentals. Radle and Sharp re-built the band from the ground up, wrote some songs together, recorded the group’s Last Little Life EP, and toured the world.

Fans were sad to see Radle leave The Rentals in 2008, when she soon after joined Los Angeles-based indie-rock band Walking Sleep. With her September 2010 fourth solo album release, Four, it was time she returned to her true passion – writing and recording her own music.

With her upcoming fifth solo record, Same Sun Shines, Radle displays her full versatility as a musician by playing every instrument on the record, including guitars, drums, piano, and violin. She also entered new territory by engineering and mixing the record’s collection of ten infectious pop songs herself. Same Sun Shines continues Radle’s diary-entry lyrical style, using a mix of honesty, heart, humor, and bite to tell stories of love, loss, relationships, and even death. From intimate moments with scaled down instrumentation, to fully orchestrated arrangements that have you questioning how one person was able to make a recording that sounds as full as a room of musicians playing together, every song on Same Sun Shines reflects Radle’s unique signature style that mixes rock, 50’s and 60’s pop, Americana, punk, and classic country. The latter is apparent on her cover of Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys, a song made famous by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. The Same Sun Shines version features big guitars and driving drums, and Radle in a duet with legendary indie singer/songwriter Mary Lou Lord.

LANA DEL REY/Born To Die: Available January 31st, 2012!

2012-01-19T11:01:00.000-08:00

LANA DEL REY

BORN TO DIE

1.31.12

Highly anticipated 2012 debut album from the New York-based singer, songwriter and performer. She has described herself as a "gangsta Nancy Sinatra" and cites Britney Spears, Thomas Newman and Bruce Springsteen as her musical influences. Lana Del Rey's direct influences were visual as well as musical; David Lynch, soundtracks for `50s black and white movies, the whirring sound of the Ferris at Coney Island, fame itself. She lived in a New Jersey trailer park and decked her homestead in flags, streamers and seasonally inappropriate Christmas lights. Like these things she loves, the album sparkles with color and vitality. Includes the hit singles 'Video Games' and 'Blue Jeans'.

SOJA/Strength To Survive: Available January 31st, 2012!

2012-01-19T10:39:00.000-08:00

SOJA

STRENGTH TO SURVIVE

1.31.12

Highly-anticipated 2012 release produced by John Alagia (Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer, O.A.R). Soja is an international touring machine having rocked theaters in more than 15 countries around the world. In the past year and a half alone, they’ve played more than 360 dates, on large headline dates in addition to tours opening for acts like O.A.R,, Dave Matthews Bond and Matisyahu.

An EXCLUSIVE interview with GRAFITTI6's JAMIE SCOTT!

2012-01-12T13:44:00.000-08:00

Heart And Soul:

An EXCLUSIVE interview with

GRAFFITI6’s

JAMIE SCOTT

By Stephen SPAZ Schnee

     Regardless of what you may have heard, the music industry is alive and well and cranking out tunes by the hundreds, if not thousands, each and every week. From DIY efforts recorded in small bedrooms around the world to big budget studio recordings funded by major labels, the parade of tunes can make your head spin. Trying to find something that connects to head, heart and soul can be a bit of a chore, though. But when that song hits you, it feels like a momentous mix of Christmas and the Fourth of July. Graffiti6’s U.S. debut single “Free” is one of those songs.
     Released towards the end of 2011, “Free” is the perfect combination of modern and retro styles: a production that blends electronics and acoustic Pop with a melody that sounds like it’s straight off a vintage Northern Soul single. Vocalist Jamie Scott’s heartfelt vocals and TommyD’s pristine production add a timeless quality to “Free”, ensuring that it’s magic will sound just as captivating 10 years from now.
     The British duo’s full length debut, Colours, expands upon the musical blueprint of “Free” by adding even more genres and creating one delicious Pop pie of an album. From Soul to Pop, Electro to Folk, Colours is as perfect as modern Pop music gets. It is an album that will satisfy music fans looking for something with substance yet it is slick enough to shift millions of units. Colours is the kind of album that bridges the gap between the cool and the commercial. It’s jam packed full of songs that are sophisticated yet easy to love.
     While both of Graffiti6’s members have made a name for themselves in the business (including TommyD’s production work and two albums from Jamie Scott & The Town), this collaboration is perhaps the most fully realized outing that either has been involved with. The album has been long in the making (they began working together in 2008) but it has been worth the wait. Judging by the reaction from audiences so far, its probably safe to say that Jamie and Tommy will have to leave their solo careers on the backburner and concentrate on this project full time.
     Stephen SPAZ Schnee was able to catch up with Jamie to discuss the band, the album and more…

SPAZ: Your debut album, Colours, is just about to drop. How are you feeling about the album and the reaction you have encountered so far?
JAMIE SCOTT: Really excited because I have been waiting for the album to be released in the U.S. for a while now and the reaction we have got so far from playing shows and touring America has been overwhelming

SPAZ: Pop music today seems more about style over substance, yet Graffiti6 bucks the trend and puts the heart and soul back into the music. Did you realize that you were doing something a little different when you began putting the album together?
JAMIE: I think we never really sat down and questioned what we were writing and producing. That was really the reason it flowed like it did. But it’s cool to hear people say that about our music

SPAZ: When writing for the album, where did you draw your greatest inspiration from? Does it tend to be music or other forms of art that inspire you?
JAMIE: The inspiration lyrically for the album and for anything that we wrote or I've written for myself has always been from personal experience. In terms of musical inspiration, I think everyone has influences but the idea is that you find your own style I suppose. The collaboration between Tommy and myself became a mix of genres because of our eclectic mix of influences.

SPAZ: While the album is lushly produced, the songs remain the primary focus. Are the songs usually born on an acoustic guitar, or perhaps based around a studio-created groove? Maybe a bit of both? JAMIE: Most of the album was written on the guitar or wurly first before any production took place but there were a few tracks like “Colours” and “Calm The Storm” that we were just jamming in the studio and became songs.

SPAZ: Production-wise, when putting together the album, did you both work out each track together or did you lay down the basics and let Tommy D take it to the next level?
JAMIE: We pretty much worked together on everything. That became the signature sound of what we were doing. It was the chemistry we both had when playing together.

SPAZ: Is there a difference between your approach to songwriting in the context of Graffiti6 versus your solo material?
JAMIE: No, not really. It's still about writing a good song.

SPAZ: Were there moments when a song would take a completely different direction than what you imagined when writing it? And were there times when you had to set a song aside because you had two differing opinions and couldn’t reach a compromise?
JAMIE: We only recorded 17 songs in all. 12 made the album, a further 3 made the EP and the remaining tracks were the ones that we both weren't convinced about. So yes, I would say that is correct. IN terms of direction, we both worked together so much on the album, that was really never an issue.

SPAZ: The album is very cohesive yet takes many detours down various musical paths including House, R&B, Pop, etc. Where do you think Graffiti6 fits in?
JAMIE: We've already seen the album as a merge of Folk, Blues and Northern Soul but after touring we have had so many different references that I'm not sure any more. But I suppose that's the whole point of music - you take your own personal view on things.

SPAZ: When you write a song like “Free”, which is by far the best single of 2011, at which point did you realize “OK, I think we might have something here?”
JAMIE: The minute we first started writing the verse, actually. I felt that something was really special about it already.

SPAZ: Do you feel that the Internet is a blessing or a curse in regards to Graffiti6?
JAMIE: When we first released the record on our own label in the UK, the internet was actually a blessing because it enabled us to reach a lot of people without spending much money that we didn't have.

SPAZ: What’s next for Graffiti6?
JAMIE: Touring America, hopefully, for the rest of the year and playing to big crowds after the record comes out.

SPAZ: What is currently spinning on your CD and DVD players?
JAMIE: (CD) Lewis Taylor’s Bitter Sweet and Ryan Adams’ new record. (DVD) Flight Of The Conchords.

Thanks to Jamie Scott

Special thanks to Jacki Feldstein, Alexis Goldberg and Richard Wilson

FOXY SHAZAM/The Church Of Rock And Roll: Available January 24th, 2012!

2012-01-12T10:01:00.000-08:00

FOXY SHAZAM

THE CHURCH OF ROCK AND ROLL

1.24.12

2012 release, the fourth album from the Cincinnati outfit. Foxy Shazam is made up of six individuals. Eric Nally (vocals), Daisy (bass), Aaron McVeigh (drums), Alex Nauth (horns), Loren Turner (guitar), and Sky White (piano). The band's name came from a saying in high school meaning "cool shoes." Eric Nally states that going to an all-black school influenced his soulful singing and has added flare to the band's overall style. Foxy Shazam has worked with critically acclaimed producer John Feldman who has worked with Neon Trees, Plain White T's, and Panic! At the Disco.

YOU ME AT SIX/Sinners Never Sleep: Available NOW!

2012-01-12T09:45:00.000-08:00

YOU ME AT SIX

SINNERS NEVER SLEEP

Available NOW!

2011 release, the third album from the British Alt-Rock band. The highly-anticipated follow-up to Hold Me Down, Sinners Never Sleep was recorded in Los Angeles in early 2011 with producer Garth Richardson (Funeral For A Friend, Biffy Clyro and Rage Against The Machine). The album features guest appearances from Bring Me The Horizon frontman Oli Sykes and Parkway Drive vocalist Winston McCall.

GRETCHEN PETERS/Hello Cruel World: Available January 31st, 2012!

2012-01-05T10:05:00.000-08:00

GRETCHEN PETERS

HELLO CRUEL WORLD

1.31.12

KAREN DALTON/1966: Available January 24th, 2012!

2012-01-03T12:59:00.000-08:00

KAREN DALTON

1966

1.24.12

Archive collection of previously unreleased impromptu recordings from the underground Folk legend. Karen Dalton was a remote, elusive creature. A hybrid of tough and tender with an unearthly voice that seemed to embody a time long past. As is often the case with such fragile beings, she instinctively understood that the only way to survive the harshness of the world around her, was to keep herself hidden. So it comes as no great surprise that she rarely sang in public or ventured into the unnatural setting of a recording studio. Only twice, for 1969's It's So Hard To Tell Who's Going To Love You The Best and then again for 1971's In My Own Time, was she coaxed from her habitat into the studio. Other times she made music in casual settings, sitting around a kitchen table or wood burning stove with her friends, singing and playing until daybreak.

This haunting piece of work is both a testament to her unique talents and a glimpse into the world of an enigmatic artist who never fully understood the power of those talents. While the sound quuality may not be quite up to par with her modest studio output, 1966 finds Dalton more relaxed and less guarded than she's ever sounded on any of her other recordings. It's a wonder to behold.

ENTER SHIKARI/Flash Flood Of Colour: Available January 17, 2012!

2012-01-03T09:10:00.000-08:00

ENTER SHIKARI

FLASH FLOOD OF COLOUR

1.17.12

2012 release, the third album from the British Post-Hardcore band. The album was produced by former-SikTh guitarist Dan Weller throughout May and June 2011 at Karma Sound Studios in Thailand and in London, UK. It was then mixed in Vancouver by Mike Fraser.

BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB/A Different Kind Of Fix: Available January 17th, 2012!

2011-12-30T14:46:00.000-08:00

BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB

A DIFFERENT KIND OF FIX

1.17.12

2012 release, the third album from the British Alt-Rock/Pop band. Recorded in Hamburg, London and Atlanta, A Different Kind Of Fix sees the guitars firmly plugged back in for album number three, but added to the mix are synths, sampled loops, layered vocals from all four band members and washes of reverb throughout. Production-wise, the album reunites BBC with Jim Abbiss--who produced their debut--and also introduces them to Ben Allen (noted for his work with Animal Collective) whilst lead singer, Jack Steadman co-produces throughout. Includes first single, "Shuffle", "How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep" and "Take The Right One".

SAFETYSUIT/These Times: Available January 10th, 2012!

2011-12-15T11:42:00.000-08:00

SAFETYSUIT

THESE TIMES

1.1.12

2012 release from the Nashville-based band. These Times is a a scintillating hookfest of arena-ready rock anthems, offering unequivocal proof that the group has the goods to break wide open. Working with producers Howard Benson, Espionage (the New York-based Norwegian team of Espen Lind and Amund Bjørklund) and OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder, these four skilled and remarkably self-assured musicians have cooked up a strikingly melodic, sharply drawn, viscerally immediate album filled with songs that stick in the head and heart.

LABEL PROFILE: Sireena Records

2011-11-30T11:18:00.000-08:00

The electric and eclectic world of German reissue label

SIREENA RECORDS

By Stephen SPAZ Schnee

     The greatest musical gift that we have today is that we already have over 100 years of recorded music to immerse ourselves in. From classical to Heavy Metal, there is so much for a music fan to discover and rediscover. No matter what you are looking for, genre-wise, it is out there and ready to be found.
     If you are a fan of slightly obscure German and European Prog Rock, Krautrock, Jazz Fusion and Rock 'n' Roll, then there's a label I'd like to introduce you to: Sireena Records. Already over a decade old, Sireena's catalog generally consists of reissues by artists that might be obscure to the general public but are adored by the music aficianado. From Octopus and Harlis to Shaa Khan and Bullfrog, there is a treasure trove of great artists to acquaint yourselves with. Mixed in with '70s and '80s reissues are some bona-fide current releases by some of the bands, including live recordings.
     Sireena was founded in 2000 by Tom Redecker and Lothar Gartner. Redecker has steered the label forward for over a decade and shows no sign of slowing down. Alongside Bend Paulat, who has been part of the Sireena family since 2008, Redecker has plenty of releases planned for 2012 and beyond. One look at where they have come from and where they are headed will tell any music fan that this is a quality label that will continue to excite and surprise listeners for a long time to come....

STEPHEN SPAZ SCHNEE: Before starting the label, were you an avid music collector? If so, what types of music were you collecting (genres, bands, formats, etc)?

TOM REDECKER: My interest in music always was big. I didn’t care if it was Rock, Folk, or even Jazz: I absorbed everything like a sponge. Music from the USA, England, France, Germany, I didn’t care. I spent all my pocket-money on records and music mags. And for concert tickets. Thank God I worked as a stagehand at concerts and I was able to see a lot of bands live!

SPAZ: What inspired you to start up a label?
TOM: There were several vinyl releases which had not yet been published on CD. Therefore, Lothar and I founded Sireena Records in 2000. We were two huge music fans. Krautrock, folk, hardrock, psychedelic – there was and still is NO border in regard to the taste of music. Meanwhile there are a lot of labels which specialized in reissues – great labels like Rhino or Bear Family – but we are even more specialized…

SPAZ: How did you go about picking the name of the label?

TOM: Sireena is a title from my musical project The Perc Meets The Hidden Gentleman. We thought that this also fits as our label-name.

SPAZ: When did the label first start operations?

TOM: We started in the year 2000 with the first label release of a CD called Pueblo Woman from Electric Family (Sireena 2001), which contained live recordings and studio outtakes.

SPAZ: When you first set up the label, what were your initial goals? And do you feel you’ve achieved those goals so far?

TOM: We had no special targets except to produce CDs and vinyl and to survive. And we are still alive! There are still so many diamonds to be dug out. Guess that is our main goal.

SPAZ: How do you go about picking the titles that you release?

TOM: We do have long lists which we created on our own and which are growing constantly. This is due to the fact that many fans of our vinyl are steadily feeding us with worthy sugestions. We have very close contact to music collectors all over the world with whom we are communicating with. Once we receive a suggestion, we research, apply for licence, and possibly have a future release on the label.

SPAZ: Is there an elusive album out there that you have been eager to reissue but haven’t been able to get the rights to?

TOM: This is something we face time and again. Especially the major labels, whoare not often willing to give their permission and license to us. Therefore, we prefer to work directly together with the artist. We do have a fine series called The Artist’s Choice. Here, we publish music directly out of the artist’s archives which is special fun to us. But in the meantime, we also get permissions from record companies and publishers to produce our records.

SPAZ: Is there a particular artist (or artists) out there that you would love to have on your roster?

TOM: Neil Young! To me, he’s still the greatest musician alive. Journey Through The Past is not yet available on CD but I would much more prefer to reissue it on 180gm heavy vinyl. Neil, if you’re reading this, please contact me!!

SPAZ: If you had a choice, would you prefer to reissue an album as it was originally released or do you like the opportunity of adding bonus tracks?

TOM: Depends on what kind of album it is. If the original was a concept album then you don’t need any bonus tracks. But if I heard fantastic additional tracks, then it would make sense to add them to the album.

SPAZ: Which format do you personally prefer? (CD/Vinyl/Cassette/MP3)

TOM: Definitely vinyl! I am very happy that the interest to buy vinyl is rising. It is the format of the music collectors.

SPAZ: As a collector and music lover, how do you view the current music scene?

TOM: The music disappears more and more into the internet and that worries me. But I don’t give up!

SPAZ: How do you view the idea of a future filled with download-only releases? Don’t you feel that collectors will always want to physically own the music that they purchase?

TOM: Definitely! As already mentioned, we’re producing for music collectors not for music consumers. Collectors want to have a physical CD/vinyl at hand, preferably vinyl, and mp3 files are of no interest to them.

SPAZ: Do you see the resurgence in the popularity of vinyl growing?

TOM: It makes us very happy. It is definitely much more fun. It is more expensive, the handling is more complex but that’s all OK: this way it is more fun. We release music on vinyl which hasn’t been released on vinyl before. From Stone The Crows, Mott The Hoople or Chic. Exclusively on vinyl – wouldn’t have thought about it five years ago – but it is working!

SPAZ: At the end of the day, do you have a particular personal favorite amongst your own label releases?

TOM: Very difficult. I have a relation to all our releases and I don’t want to highlight one of them. They all are our babies.

SPAZ: What would you like people to know about the label?

TOM: We are music maniacs but this is our gear! This helps us to go on searching and finding. Join us during this search.... there’s so much more to explore !

SPAZ: How can our readers contact the label with suggestions, comments and praise?

TOM: http://www.sireena.de/ or info@sireena.de

An EXCLUSIVE Interview With NILS LOFGREN

2011-11-23T14:08:00.000-08:00

Dream big. Work hard.

Stay humble.

An EXCLUSIVE interview with

E STREET BAND member

and solo artist

NILS LOFGREN

By Dave Rayburn

At the tender age of 17, Nils Lofgren was asked to join Neil Young’s band, playing on some of his most classic material of the early ‘70s. Lofgren went on to pursue a favorable solo career, with tours that would earn him a reputation for stage theatrics including playing guitar while doing flips on a trampoline. In 1984 he was asked to join Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band... and the rest is history.

With guest appearances by Lou Gramm (Foreigner), Paul Rodgers (Free, Bad Company, Queen), and legendary soul singer, Sam Moore (Sam & Dave), Old School marks his first album of new material in five years. Gearing up for the release, Nils took time to speak about the new album, his storied musical path, and the loss of his dear friend Clarence Clemons.

DAVE RAYBURN: You’ve obviously been influenced by a lot of different musicians and musical styles, having grown up during a golden period of pop culture. Do you remember the very first record you ever bought, or maybe even a particular song you heard as a child that made a profound difference in your life?

NILS LOFGREN: Well, the profound differences came from the Beatles, the Stones, and Jimi Hendrix. Mainly it was the Beatles who I discovered rock & roll through. I was a classical accordionist. I studied classical music. I was entering contests. But, it was the Beatles who, with a few more sophisticated melodies and harmonies, turned me on to the raw power of rock & roll, and I quickly… through them and the Stones and the British invasion, discovered Stax, Volt, Motown, the old R&B and blues guys, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, etc.. And, it was just kind of an explosion in the early to mid sixties. Originally, I would play it all on the accordion. I used to play Beatles medleys in the 9th grade variety show. It was a while before I picked up the guitar. The earliest records I bought, even before then, were things like “Red Roses for a Blue Lady” by Wayne Newton… “Moon River” by Andy Williams… and I’d learn them on accordion! But, fortunately, as I grew up and got mature enough to understand the visceral power of rock & roll... I never looked back.

DAVE: “Miss You Ray” is a stellar, standout track on this album. Upon the very first listen it feels every bit as classic and poignant as some of Neil Young’s or James Taylor’s best ballads. It’s precise and simple. And, it only makes sense that it was written in honor of one of the musical greats of our time, Ray Charles. Still, it feels timeless and applicable to those outside of those name-dropped within the song. With the new album being dedicated to your longtime band mate, Clarence Clemons, how has this song been recently presented in your live repertoire?

NILS: Well, I was headed towards 60 years old, which I survived June 21st, while I was making this record. And, I’ve long ago become accustomed that if you live long enough… unfortunately you start saying goodbye to family and friends. The greatest hero in my life was my father. I lost him 13 years ago. Along the way I‘ve lost some grandmothers and aunts and uncles and people that really were great influences on me. And, in my musical community, way back to Danny Whitten in Crazy Horse, and Ben Keith more recently, who was in the Tonight’s The Night band with me and the Trans band. So, loss becomes a part of life. And, I’ve had no greater musical hero than Ray Charles. I got to see Ray play live. Never knew him, but I felt like I knew him through the music. So, I used that as a metaphor for dealing with a new frontier at my age. Loss has become a part of life, and you have to be a little careful to focus on the family and friends left or you can kind of drown in the sorrow.

And, of course, I’ve been singing “Miss You ‘C’” the last four months in my shows for my dear departed friend and band mate, Clarence Clemons, and changing the words to be more appropriate to Clarence, myself and some of the losses we’ve experienced together. Of course, there’s no greater loss than having to say goodbye to Clarence recently. I love Clarence. He knows that, wherever he is. And, it’s a very respectful song that covers the emotional territory with a nod to Ray Charles.

DAVE: What is your fondest memory of “the Big Man” from your 27 years at his side?

NILS: Well, there’s no single memory. What comes to mind is a deeper friendship off stage. We spoke every week. I pretty much walked down the hall and visited Clarence in the Temple of Soul every show. There were many great moments where Bruce might be doing something special, and in the dark, me and Clarence got to just sit there as band mates and admire our leader without having to be out front singing and playing, because life’s a little different there on the frontline. When the lights hit, you gotta be on. It was nice to have moments where we just sit side by side and catch our breath for the next go round while Bruce, obviously, does the heavy lifting. But, just thousands of great moments and memories of Clarence... Fortunately there was never an uncomfortable period on stage or off stage with Clarence. Even when we’d respectfully disagree about something or debate something, it was always a deep friendship and respect for each other that I’ll always cherish.

DAVE: Three years ago you underwent bilateral hip surgery, which you reference in several places throughout the new album. Obviously, this was a very life-changing experience for you. What kind of activities and/or stage antics have you had to sideline as a result?

NILS: Three years ago, to my horror, I had to have both hips taken out and replaced. Basically, I refer to it in the “Ain‘t Too Many of Us Left” lyric, “hard street B-ball”, which was my hobby. I loved playing basketball. That’s how I stayed in shape. Between that and jumping off the trampoline and doing back flips with my guitar on and leaping off drum risers, having too much fun as a performer… both hips were bone on bone with no cartilage left for years. I hobbled on in great pain, hoping the medical community would come up with a better fix. I came to find out that that even if you wanted to spend a little extra money, there’s no flubber hips that give you ten foot vertical shooting abilities, and there’s no bionic hips that you can abuse… like I abused them when I played basketball or jumped off trampolines. So, it was a very ominous but successful adventure. It changed my life for the good, but my surgeon assured me that I can’t play basketball like that. I’ve gotta leave the trampoline in the closet. The new hips don’t like impact, they love motion. So, the good news is… I did the last tour, Working on a Dream, with the new hips. No pain. Leaping around… I ran all my pirouette spins, while I’m performing, by the surgeon. And, judging by my x-rays and my progress and recovery, he ok’d all of that. It’s still considered low-impact even though it may look traumatic on stage. So, it’s the quality of life versus the reality of impact. And, I’m thrilled to do the right thing… be a little smart about it. Shoot around some basketball and play horse, but avoid that heavy three-on-three and five-on-five games that I just can’t do anymore.

DAVE: Speaking of “Ain’t Too Many of Us Left”… it’s a very autobiographical track that delves into that recent period in your life, and features some haunting lyrics inspired by a specific phone call from your old “boss”, Neil Young. Can you recount that call?

NILS: When I actually got into the hospital… very early on… it might have been a few days in… the phone rang. Amy was living at the hospital with me. She took the phone call and said, “Hey, it’s your buddy, Neil Young.” She put the phone up to my head and helped me hold it. Neil was, of course, very encouraging and just wanted to wish me well and see how I was doing. And, even though I was kind of early on in the process and seemed to be on track to heal, I’ll never forget it. He said, “Look man, there ain’t too many of us left. So, get well.” It was a very prolific statement that I took to heart. Even in my haze, I filed it away as potential for a great song down the road, and I’m glad I got it written and out on this record. And... no better friend to ask to help sing it than the great Sam Moore.

DAVE: After being on the road for an incredible forty-three years, and also having worked extensively with the likes of Ringo Starr, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen… can you share a few of your favorite moments along the way, whether it was something you put on record, a particular concert you played, or something that may have happened behind the scenes… that you look back on and absolutely treasure?

NILS: Thanks to my work in the E Street Band as the swing man, once Steve came back in the band, I challenged myself to learn a little pedal steel guitar, bottleneck, dobro, lap steel, six-string banjo… just some other instruments. So, more recently, after the last tour ended, Working on a Dream, I got a call to play on a country record by Jerry Lee Lewis. Next thing I know, I find myself in L.A. as a session lap steel guitarist with Jerry Lee Lewis singing for me. Jim Keltner was there on drums. Robbie Robertson came in and played some guitar. It was just a magical day in the studio with Jerry Lee Lewis. Out of the blue, he actually moved over to the guitar to play some of the first recorded guitar sessions in his life. I’m sittin’ there playing lap steel just like, “wow, how lucky am I?” We did a few takes of a song called “Blues after Midnight”, and all of a sudden I hear Jerry Lee goin’, “Play that steel, killer!” And, I look around waiting for “the killer” to play the steel guitar and I went, “Oh my God, is he talkin’ to me?!?” All of a sudden here I am having Jerry Lee Lewis call me “killer” and tell me to take a solo on my lap steel. I mean, what a beautiful moment for me. It kind of highlights the journey.

Another great one, in ’89… when we were putting the first All-Star Band together with Ringo… I was very vocal… we all were about what fans we were of his work. This was his first musical project since the Beatles and we were very serious about making it a good one for him. I went up to him and asked, “What are the rules? What would you like from us or from me?” And he said, “Look, I brought you in because you’re one of my favorite musicians. Play what you want. Sing what you want. Wear what you want. Go where you want. Be you all the time. That’s what I want.” So, I said, “I’ve got a wireless guitar. Do you mind if I come up on your drum riser and visit you?” And he said, “No, come up whenever you want.” So, I was up there one day, standing right behind him, playing some great song by one of my great band members, and he was just enjoying the sound. How great everything sounded. He couldn’t believe how well he heard it. The monitor man, who he didn’t know, came up and… unbeknownst to Ringo, there were two wedges… big monitors built into a grate underneath his drum riser, blowing up at him. And he didn’t even realize this. It just sounded good to him. And the guy said to him, “Mr. Starkey, I’m your monitor man. What would you like me to change?” And he looked right at the guy and said, “What’s a monitor?” He never had a monitor in his life. All of a sudden it was just like a kid in a candy store. He was like, “You mean anytime I want, all night long, I can just have you turn up anything I want?” Watching him discover the power of having a monitor system that he could control… was just such a beautiful moment.

DAVE: Throughout the new album, there’s the running theme of a man taking inventory, whether it’s of the world we live in… the people we love… or the time we have left. As the record pulls listeners across a range of emotion and query, there is an underlying feeling of comfort and awareness that culminates most specifically in the track “Dream Big”. It’s beautiful advice. Where did the idea for this song come from?

NILS: It’s a little bit of a dark piece in the sense that, for me, at 60 now…looking around to all I’ve lost and all I have left, and the blessings I still have… case in point, my fabulous wife Amy, a great home with six dogs, and (laughs)... some healing hips to dance around and go sing for ya. The point of that song is… “dream big, work hard, stay humble, dance a lot.” I mean, I feel like that’s a requirement just to keep my head above water. It’s not a luxury anymore. I’ve gotta really pay attention and focus on some hope and future to not get bogged down with the blues of the day. I don’t pretend to know, but I was hobbling around there in quite a bit of pain a few years. So, my message is… even if you’re in a wheel chair, find a way to dance in your head, or dance with your heart, or help others.

DAVE: Old School is a great return to form. The songwriting is solid, and your playing is as impeccable and creative as ever. Your confidence and your craft shine through as we listen to one of rock music’s most celebrated sidemen rise up and hold his own. With the new album dropping in stores now, are you planning to hit the road and tour the new material?

NILS: I’m grateful to have some new music I’m really proud of. Right now I’m trying to get a video or two made. I just played a few weeks ago. I did three weeks in the East, and we literally got the record in our hands the last few nights. So, it was fun to do a few songs from the album and sign them at the end of the night for everybody. And, I’ll continue to do that. My intent is to get out and play a lot next year.

Special thanks to:

Nils Lofgren

Craig Swedin

Larry Germack

NILS LOFGREN

OLD SCHOOL

Available NOW!

An EXCLUSIVE interview with BECOMING SANTA's Jack Sanderson!

2011-11-23T13:09:00.000-08:00

Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus

(And His Name Is Jack):

An EXCLUSIVE interview with BECOMING SANTA’s

JACK SANDERSON

By Stephen SPAZ Schnee

     If you are old enough to read this, then you probably stopped believing in Santa Claus long ago. But while you may have been told that Santa was merely a fictional being, the magic of the jolly man in the red suit has more than likely stayed deep within you. Remember what it was like to believe that good ol’ Kris Kringle would be sliding down your chimney to deliver your presents? The fact that you didn’t have a chimney didn’t bother you one bit: all that mattered were the gifts galore that you would find under the tree on Christmas morning!
     Truth be told, the magic of Santa is not so much about a mythological man, but about the spirit of giving. No matter how old you are or what you believe in, the joy of the holiday season is born in a simple giving gesture. Whether you hand a child a gift or offer a stranger a smile, the spirit of Santa lives within us all.
     Sometimes, if you lose sight of the magic of Christmas, you must take a journey in order to find it again. Hollywood has made plenty of movies dealing with this very subject, but the documentary Becoming Santa is quite possibly the most effective example of one person’s road to rediscovering that Christmas feeling.
     In Becoming Santa, writer/actor Jack Sanderson decides to don the red suit and jump head first into the holiday season. The film follows him as he attends Santa school before he tackles a handful of volunteer positions to the delight of small children everywhere he goes. The majority of the film focuses on Jack’s first holiday season as Santa, but it also features interviews with the people he encounters along the way including a handful of veteran Santas who offer plenty of insight into their lifestyles. On top of all of that, the filmmakers (Sanderson and director Jeff Myers) manage to add just the right amount of historical info tracing Santa’s evolution over the years.
     Becoming Santa is humorous, informative, poignant, eye-opening, head-scratching and thoroughly entertaining. Christmas may be more commercialized than ever now, but one view of this film will hopefully help to readdress the balance and inspire the viewer to look beyond the red suit and beard and reconnect with that holiday magic again.
     Stephen SPAZ Schnee was able to sit down for a chat with Jack Sanderson about Santa, the making of this documentary and much more…

SPAZ: Becoming Santa is just about ready to drop. How are you feeling about the reaction to the film and everything leading up to it’s release?
JACK SANDERSON: You know, I couldn’t have asked for it to be better. I suspected that when Jeff and I started the project that it might have a universal appeal and I think it does. I’ve had many people say to me “I didn’t think I was going to like it because I thought it would be too sweet and too cloying,” but no, it’s just honest without being cloying.

SPAZ: I thought it was interesting because it not only showed Jack Sanderson’s journey but also a historical look at Santa.
JACK: Our goal from the beginning was too also show the people that were using Santa to keep the spirit alive.

SPAZ: What inspired you to take this journey to Becoming Santa?
JACK: I used to do TV commercials and every July or August, they would start casting the Christmas commercials. I noticed that every Santa who showed up for an audition had a real beard, his own suit and his wife had driven him to the audition. (laughs) And I thought “OK, there’s some Santa Claus subculture going on here that the rest of the world doesn’t know about!” When I looked into it, I discovered The Amalgamated Order Of Real Bearded Santas and the Fraternal Order Of Real Bearded Santas, which was really the biggest and the best of those organizations. And you know, there is no character left in contemporary culture that people dress up as to celebrate a holiday. Centuries ago, people used to dress up as other characters… people used to dress up as Guy Fox or Saint Patrick. Santa Claus is the only mythology left that is almost universally embraced. And thank heavens it’s him! (laughs) Think of the other options…if everybody was dressing up as Genghis Khan once a year, we’d have a problem!

SPAZ: How were you able to take this idea and pull it all together? Was it a long process from conception to first day of filming?
JACK: There are many independent films in Hollywood. I was at a conference where the examples they presented of independent films were The King’s Speech, Black Swan and Blind Side: those were the three independent films that the studio execs kept referencing. I just sat there thinking “Just because you spent less than $40 million doesn’t make it an independent film.” So, I feel that Becoming Santa is truly an independent film. I got the idea for the film and it took me three years to find someone who agreed with me that it was a good idea (director Jeff Myers). Jeff and I spent two years trying to convince other people to contribute funds and also trying to find someone we could follow through Santa School and then getting jobs as Santa. Ultimately, we couldn’t find anybody that was willing to do it. I couldn’t deny that I was the right shape. I figured I can grow a pretty good beard, so I grew my beard out. It got to that day when I felt like we’re not finding anybody, I’ve got the beard, it’s June and I’m already dreading Christmas, so I’m going to go bleach my beard and dive into this.

SPAZ: How did Jeff Myers get involved?
JACK: I used to live in Chicago and I had known Jeff there. We lost touch when I moved out here (Los Angeles) and then I ran into him at the YMCA. We reconnected and started talking about maybe doing something together. It had been about 10 years since we had seen each other. I told him about the Santa idea and he thought it was great and from the point that I told him about it, it was three year before we finally started shooting. Initially, Jeff and I paid for it ourselves and then, towards the end, we were able to get other investors.

SPAZ: Was it difficult to convince all the participants that you were not there to mock them… that your intentions were good?
JACK: There are five major Santa schools across the United States. The school that’s featured in the film is the American Events Santa School run by Susen Mesco. She’s entering her 30th year of training Santas. Susan is the only one who was not afraid of us. At the time that we were filming, Borat and Bruno had already been out and people were afraid we were going to make fun of them. I wanted to do some filming at the annual luncheon that the Fraternal Order Of Real Bearded Santas has every year and they were afraid that I was going to make fun of them. After many phone calls and much negotiating, I finally had them all to my office where I was working. I was talking to the president of the Fraternal Order on a Tuesday and the luncheon was coming up on Sunday and he was calling me and telling me I couldn’t shoot because there were people who thought I was up to no good. Without thinking, I said “Bring whoever you want to my office on Thursday, I’ll show you some of the footage we’ve shot so far and answer any questions that anybody has.” He called me back 20 minutes later and said “Ten of us will be there on Thursday at your office.” I was working for a TV producer and I had to walk into my boss’ office and say, “I have a meeting on Thursday here in the office with ten Santas.” He just looked at me blankly and said “I’m not going to be here on Thursday if that’s happening!” (laughs) They came in, I answered all of their questions and once they saw the footage, they said that I could shoot at the luncheon. At the luncheon, they do an annual fashion show. I really wanted footage of that fashion show. That year’s theme was Santa Sleepwear. Jeff was sorry we missed it the year before and I was glad we missed it because the year before, the theme was Santa Swimwear! (laughs). I was in the fashion show showcasing one of Adele Saidy’s Santa costumes and Adele is the premier Santa Claus suit maker in the United States.

SPAZ: Were you a bit surprised at just how serious some of the Santas were about their ‘craft’?
JACK: Yes. When we started the project, I thought that being Santa was a job and the people that we met along the way showed us that being Santa is a lifestyle. A lot of the gentlemen that we met are Santa 24/7. They wear what we call Santa Casual, so even when they aren’t wearing their regular suit, they are wearing red pants and a green shirt or candy-striped socks or whatever. And they all have those Santa Hawaiian shirts!

SPAZ: Once you bleached your hair and beard, did you immediately see a change in the way people treated you even before donning the Santa suit?
JACK: Yes. I’ll give you some examples.. I was running a marathon for a charity event. When I went to the hotel to register, the woman behind the counter asked me “Do you play Santa?” and I said “I do.” She said, “Well, we can’t put Santa in just any room,” and she upgraded me to a suite! I went to the DMV to get a new license and the woman behind the counter said “Do you play Santa?” and I said “I do,” and I gave her a ‘Nice’ sticker. She said, “Ah, I knew it! You go right to the front of the line,” and I was in and out of the DMV in 12 minutes!

SPAZ: Being Santa for a prolonged period is hard work. Did this give you a whole new appreciation for those who become Santa every year?
JACK: Yes. In the Fraternal Order Of Real Bearded Santas, there are over 300 members. I would say that 95% of them love children and want to make sure that children have an experience of magic in their lives and Santa is the way that they do it. And then there’s 5% or less who just love the attention they get from being Santa and they’re not that interested in working with children. They’ll do private parties and commercials or whatever. But that’s fine. When you look at the whole scope of Santas across the United States, there are probably less than 2-3% of them that are making a living at it. The great majority of them do it because they love children and they love giving back and creating magic for children.

SPAZ: What do you want the viewer to walk away with after watching Becoming Santa?
JACK: What Jeff and I wanted was people to walk away from the documentary wondering how they could be more Santa-like. One of the things that I developed an appreciation for along that way, and what Santa embodies, is secret giving. In America, many people are very vocal about organizations that they give to or about the fact that they give or donate at all. For something to be truly charitable, it should be anonymous. A recipient of charity should not feel indebted to the person who gave it to them. They should just be able to feel appreciative that empathy in humanity still exists. I feel that that is something that is being lost, particularly in the United States. But the ways in which a majority of these Santas give are not necessarily monetarily. They give by creating a sense of magic in children’s lives and by making children feel important, which doesn’t happen very often. One of the things that surprised me along the way was how many times I would encounter a child who I could tell was not used to being listened to. So, when I would actually listen to them, they would have more to say because somebody was listening!

SPAZ: Do you believe in the magic of Christmas?
JACK: I believe that everybody defines the magic of Christmas differently for themselves.

SPAZ: What’s next for Jack Sanderson?
JACK: Jeff Myers and I are talking about doing some other projects. We haven’t settled on anything. We’re still debating. It’s Christmas and I am employed for the entire month of December as Santa Claus in Hong Kong. I am doing it again. It’s going to be on a year by year basis. I am not the guy who will commit to the Santa lifestyle. I’m not going to go out and buy a red car…. Hey, look, I’m 46 and when you bleach your hair white, it’s a huge obstacle in dating! (laughs)

SPAZ: What do you currently have spinning in your CD and DVD players?
JACK: I just finished watching all of Downton Abbey (British TV series), which I loved. I thought it was terrific. And I tend to watch Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat on a fairly regular basis. It’s one of my all-time favorite movies. It’s awesome. Music-wise, the three discs in my player are an album from P.J. Olsson, the Corsairs’ self-titled release and Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins.

Thanks to Jack Sanderson

Special thanks to Rick Rieger, Lauren Watt and Mary Flynn.

BECOMING SANTA

Available NOW!

ELLIE GOULDING/Lights: Available NOW!

2011-11-23T11:19:00.000-08:00

ELLIE GOULDING

LIGHTS

Available NOW

Ellie Goulding is a complicated thing in a seemingly simple package. On first hearing, she’s a bright and shiny 22 year old singer-songwriter, with her fingers on her guitar, her feet in a night-club and her head in the heavens. But very few singer-songwriters, young or old, can flip between dance-til-you drop euphoria (‘Starry Eyed ) and wistful, journeying space-folk (Guns and Horses), between lyrics that talk obliquely about sleeping around (Under The Sheets ) and those that pin-point the love-hate relationship every leaver has about their home town (Wish I Stayed). Very few can do all that and leave us, the listeners, with enchantment, curious romance and, somehow, a sense of vastness, of travel, of space and time, It’s pop, Jim, but not as we know it. Ellie’s songs are built around big proper tunes that lift you up and spin you round, yet there’s something off-centre about them, something sparkly, filmic, haunting, odd. She mixes heartfelt emotion with other-worldly atmospherics, spins cool electronica into dreamy warmth.

ADELITAS WAY/Home School Valedictorian: Available NOW!

2011-11-23T11:02:00.000-08:00

ADELITAS WAY

HOME SCHOOL VALEDICTORIAN

2011 sophomore album from the Las Vegas-based Alt-Rockers. Home School Valedictorian defines and hones in on the quartet’s sound. The 11-track album definitely achieves the type of 'next level' sound the band strived for. Singles 'Sick', 'The Collapse' and 'I Wanna Be' are loaded with heavy guitar riffs layered under the intense unrivaled sound of DeJesus’ lead vocals. Home School Valedictorian was recorded in 2010 at Malibu’s Chateau Relaxo Studio, the album was produced by Dave Bassett (Shinedown, Josh Groban, Halestorm) and engineered by Tadpole (Disturbed, Finger Eleven).

FAB FAN MEMORIES: THE BEATLES BOND

2011-11-22T14:15:00.000-08:00

When They Was Fab:

An EXCLUSIVE interview with

LOUISE HARRISON and

producers DENNIS SCOTT,

BRYAN CUMMING & NATHAN BURBANK

By Stephen SPAZ Schnee

No matter how much information is available at our fingertips, whether on the ‘net or in books, we can never get enough of The Beatles. From the heady days of vinyl in the ‘60s up through the age of digital downloads, The Beatles have continued to dominate the music world, even 40 years after they split. Practically every Rock band with a snappy tune has been compared to the Fab Four at some point in their career and most bands borrow from the blueprint that John, Paul, George and Ringo wrote back in the ‘60s.

Four decades after they called it a day, they are still being listened to by new generations of music fans, many of whom were born after the deaths of John Lennon (1980) and George Harrison (2001). Even after they told their own story in The Beatles Anthology, there still seems to be a passionate desire to learn more. The recent release of Fab Fan Memories: The Beatles Bond is the latest chapter in The Beatles’ tale: a collection of fans talking about how the band affected their lives. From normal folks off the street to celebrities like Alan Menken, Phil Keaggy, Janis Ian and Melissa Manchester, everyone has their own personal memory of The Beatles.

The most dominant voice on this fascinating release is Louise Harrison, George’s older sister, who shares some of her own Beatles memories and introduces each of the subjects discussed. Louis has been involved with many projects over the years, making her a familiar and comforting voice to many Beatles fans. On Fab Fan Memories, her relaxed and friendly voice practically steals the show.

In a unique twist, on this release, brief musical interludes are provided by two separate bands: The WannaBeatles and The Liverpool Legends. The WannaBeatles are a quartet of dedicated and stellar musicians featuring Grammy-winning producer Dennis Scott. They provide the Beatles-influenced originals and are executive producers of Fab Fan Memories. The Liverpool Legends are a Branson-based Beatles tribute band that Louise Harrison helped create and is still involved with.

Stephen SPAZ Schnee was able to connect with Louise, Dennis and fellow WannaBeatles members Bryan Cumming and Nathan Burbank to discuss this fab and gear release and to shed light on all things Beatles related…

SPAZ: Fab Fan Memories is now available. How are you feeling about the project and everything leading up to it?

LOUISE HARRISON: I’m really happy with how the project turned out. All the people that I’ve given it to have been very, very happy to listen to it. They’ve all thought it really gives a nice, friendly insight to the response that people have had toward the Beatles all these years. I’m hoping that it will be something that people will enjoy having as part of their library.

DENNIS SCOTT: It’s great when a project lives up one’s expectations. That has certainly been the case with Fab Fan Memories. Both longtime Beatles fans as well as new listeners have expressed a deep appreciation for this album which allows them to tell their stories about The Beatles. As one of the album’s producers, is very gratifying to know that this album has helped accomplish that goal. Conceptually, this project “come together” even better than I could have hoped for. It is the power of the idea behind the album that makes the recording itself so unique.

NATHAN BURBANK: Knowing how much the Beatles influenced me growing up, It was fun talking to Beatle fans about how the band influenced them. I now feel even more rooted into the worldwide Beatles family.

BRYAN CUMMING: This has been an unusual project, full of unexpected surprises, with a tight deadline that brought a lot of creativity into the process.

SPAZ: How did this project come about?

DENNIS: A series of related incidents caused the idea to germinate. As you know, I play with a Beatles tribute band known as The WannaBeatles. The group was approached to write and perform a theme song for a Beatles themed local TV show. It was agreed that the audio track for that show would also be used as the content for an upcoming CD. However, that did not go quite as planned. At around the same time, I attended a Nashville based Beatles Meetups Group where I saw guest stand up and tell their own “Beatles Stories.” I was touched by affection and friendship of these fellow fans. Some of their stories were just amazing. It was an “ah ha” moment wherein I knew that somewhere in all of this was an album that needed to be made.

NATHAN: The same spirit that visited Paul the morning he woke up with “Yesterday” in his head must have visited Dennis in his sleep. I think he woke up knowing that we were to make an album which married interviews with music, and that it was to be called, Fab Fan Memories – The Beatles Bond.

SPAZ: How did you decide which audio bytes to use for the release? I’m sure you had plenty to choose from?

DENNIS: Yes. It’s too bad CDs don’t have a longer playing time because there were several stories that did not make it to the final mix. During the editing process, I gravitated towards the interviews that were touching or funny rather than a regurgitation of Fab Four facts. It is the emotional attachment to The Beatles that impressed me. Hearing what fans went through during those times really struck a chord with me.

NATHAN: Some audio bytes were obvious – the dancing Barbies; the man losing his job in order to acquire a Beatle’s autograph, etc. – while others were more subjective. Sometimes one of us would remember an interview we had personally done and so we would suggest certain parts of it be included. The hard part was having so many good stories but so little space!

BRYAN: It was like editing a documentary, finding and staying tuned in to the underlying themes. But even more intuitively, it boiled down to the selecting most entertaining and engaging stories, and then finding music that best fit the tone of that particular segment.

SPAZ: Louise, how did you get involved with the Fab Fan Memories?

LOUISE: I received a call from Dennis Scott in Nashville. I’ve worked a number of times with different people from Nashville. I have a great respect for everything that Nashville is all about. I’m very spontaneous about everything. I don’t give much thought to what I’m getting into most of the time, which isn’t always good for me, but I immediately said yes. I was thrilled with the idea of working with Beatles fans because, let’s face it, for the last 48 years, they have been my family and they consider me their global mum. I was happy to be part of something that was bringing the fans to the fore and giving them a chance to have a voice in the whole story of The Beatles.

SPAZ: You’ve done voice over work with Beatles-related projects in the past, correct?

LOUISE: I’ve done so much stuff that I don’t even remember half of the things that I’ve done! (laughs). Back in the ‘60s, I was doing daily Beatle reports on about 21 radio stations all across the country. In the ‘90s, I put together what I called Good Earth Keeping Tips, which were environmental spots that were addressed to Beatle people and anybody else who was interested about the environment. I did 170 of those public service announcements and they were broadcast on 9200 radio stations all across the country during ’93 and ’94. So, yes, my voice is fairly well-known to Beatles fans all across the planet, really.

SPAZ: Instead of interviewing obvious celebrities in regards to the Beatles’ influence on them, you’ve thrown a curveball and featured people not normally associated with them and their music including Melissa Manchester, Billy Swan, Phil Keaggy, Wesley Orbison and Janis Ian. Did you purposely try to avoid the obvious artists and go for the ones that the public may not immediately realize were influenced by the Beatles?

DENNIS: Although celebrity appearances are interesting and help draw attention to the product, I wanted to hear from the everyday fans. And “In the end” (sorry, but life is full of Beatles song titles) I learned that when it comes to The Beatles all of us are everyday fans.

NATHAN: We started talking to anyone we thought would have an interesting take on the Beatles – fellow musicians and fans - and then we slowly widened the circle as we made more contacts. Practically everyone over the age of twelve has a Beatles’ story to tell.

BRYAN: The reality is that the influence of the Beatles is far deeper than has been documented by cultural historians at this point in time. Almost by accident, we wound up with a Studs Terkel type of approach, where interviews with everyday people provide the essential material from which the cultural landscape can be observed.

SPAZ: Dennis, tell us a little about The WannaBeatles. Does the band normally do Beatles-influenced recordings as opposed to Beatles covers? Or a bit of both?

DENNIS: The WannaBeatles came about when three other musicians and I were playing a gig at a Mexican Restaurant. At some point in the evening, we started playing Beatles songs and felt an immediate reaction from the crowd. That turned in to a regular Beatles night billed as “Beatles and Fajitas.” We became inspired to do a better job re-creating the music and went back to school using all the technological aids available to us. Four years later, we’re doing a high energy show that not only covers Beatles songs but also includes songs we have written in tribute to or in the style of The Beatles. Although we are not a “look alike” band, we introduce comedic elements that offer fun and variety for our audiences. This includes Beatles parodies (i.e. “Crème Brule” for “Yesterday”). And, because people say I look like Paul Simon, we have worked up a spoof of Simon and Garfunkel (“The Sounds of Nonsense). Audience involvement is almost as important as the songs which, of course, are timeless.

SPAZ: The Liverpool Legends appear on the album as well. Isn’t this the group that Louise had a hand in putting together?

LOUISE: Back in the early part of the 21st century, I became good friends with Marty Scott, the guy who plays George in this band. I had met him shortly after my brother died. If we believe in anything dealing with eternal life or things like that, it just seemed to me that my brother’s being had sort of enabled this particular meeting. When I met Marty and got to know him, he became so much of a substitute or replacement brother to me and has been ever since. When he realized that I didn’t have much in the way of resources, he said “Hey, why don’t we put together a Beatle band and that way, you’ll have something to keep you occupied and something to keep me out of mischief and a way of making a living.” So, that was really how we started this thing. I think that my brother’s being had something to do with us being able to round up just the right guys as quickly as we did. We have done something that’s very exceptional: it’s just a phenomenal group of people. We have had such tremendous acclaim from everybody that has seen us. People walk out of the show in awe and they come over to me and say “This is the best show I’ve ever seen!” so I guess we’re doing something right!

SPAZ: Is it a bit strange seeing someone portraying the ‘role’ of your brother?

LOUISE: Not really. Let’s face it: people have been portraying my brother for the last 40 years so I’ve gotten used to it!

SPAZ: The Beatles seem to have surpassed Elvis in being the most influential Rock artists of all time. Why do you think that their appeal has stood the test of time?

DENNIS: In my opinion, it was the culmination of various forces at work that brought the Beatles together. It was the times in which we were living as well as their undeniable talent that allowed the group to grow. They created music that was melodically and lyrically interesting. Add to that the contributions of George Martin, their producer, and you have songs that are memorable and will continue to endure.

LOUISE: I’ve talked to many theologians, philosophers, psychiatrists and all kinds of people over the years and so many of them have said the Beatles phenomenon went far beyond just the music. Their message has resonated with people all across the planet, the good people. Again, I’ve been very very privileged to be part of that Beatle family because, inevitably, the people that I am associating with, the people that love The Beatles are the positive people that want to do some good in the world. I think the message is something that people want to hear, people want to live by it. The Beatle message is so, so important, especially the lines in John’s song ‘Imagine’, where he says “Imagine all the people sharing all the world” and “Imagine all the people living life in peace”. Those are two of the most important things that The Beatles, as a group, ever said and although it was John that said it, they were all part of that mindset.

NATHAN: The Beatles were intentional not to copy their successes. They were constantly looking for new sounds and new subject matter. In the song, “She Loves You,” for example, they wrote the lyric from a third person’s perspective, which was a fresh way to write a love song. In the song, “You’re Gonna Lose that Girl,” John further expanded this approach by speaking to a girl’s current boyfriend, rather than to the girl directly. Couple these ideas with creative chord changes and melodies, and you get an idea of why the Beatles created such a lasting legacy.

BRYAN: It was a combination of factors that made them so big. The central factor was their talent and cohesiveness and chemistry as a group, but along with this raw material were the essential roles played by Brian Epstein and George Martin, and of course, the timing of the cultural moment.

SPAZ: With each passing year, the Beatles’ dedicated fan base continues to grow. Even with the Beatles Anthology and all the info on the internet, there still seems to be a desire for more info. Are you surprised that there is still so much to share, as you have proven with Fab Fan Memories?

DENNIS: No, there is a tremendous thirst for any new tidbit of information or discovered recordings. When it comes to Beatles fans, you can never have too much. That’s why Fab Fan Memories: The Beatles Bond is becoming a welcome addition to collectors. And, of course, getting Louise Harrison’s memories and unique perspective on tape is quite a treat.

LOUISE: I’m certainly hoping that there still is a lot of space for people to want to know more about The Beatles because, finally, after 45 years of people saying to me “Isn’t it about time you wrote a book about The Beatles and about your experience with them?”, I’m finally writing my book about them and it’s called It’s About Time.

NATHAN: By hearing what others think about the Beatles, it broadens one’s own understanding. It’s akin to having multiple camera shots of the same scene. People want to keep learning about the group they love by studying them through different lenses.

BRYAN: What we've learned with Fab Fan Memories is that there's no bottom to the well of art. The Beatles are like Shakespeare or Bach: popular, endlessly fascinating and worthy of our attention, because it's constantly fresh and alive. Their music does exactly what great art is supposed to do.

SPAZ: What’s next?

LOUISE: (laughs) Well, apart from trying to finish my book and starting Help Keep Music Alive (her charity dedicated to keeping music programs in schools across the U.S.), I may get a chance to put my feet up now and again. But I’m not really holding my breath that that might happen

DENNIS: With Laurie Montgomery at the helm, our distributor, MDI, is busy setting up interviews and shows that will help bring the Fab Four memories to an ever growing audience. The WannaBeatles and I continue to tour. As a producer who wears several hats, I am completing work on writing a producing music for a touring showed based on the popular children’s character Clifford, The Big Red Dog. More projects are in the wings.

SPAZ: What do you have currently spinning on your CD and DVD players?

LOUISE: I hardly have time to put my CD or DVD player on at all, as a matter of fact! One of George’s songs that keeps going through my mind when I’m not thinking of anything is a song, a fairly obscure one, where he sings “I don’t want to do it” (‘I Don’t Want To Do It’, written by Bob Dylan and featured on the Porky’s Revenge soundtrack). I don’t know why, but that keeps going through my mind.

DENNIS: Being consumed with music of one form or the other, 24/7, I like to roll down the car window and just enjoy the sounds of silence. However, if there is to be any music coming through my speakers, you can bet that it will be courtesy of The Beatles.

NATHAN: I tend to listen to a lot of theatrical cast recordings and soundtracks. I’m particularly interested in how arrangers create tension and mood for film underscoring.

BRYAN: The "Disk Repair" utility!

Thanks to Louise Harrison and Dennis Scott

Special thanks to Laurie Montgomery, Bryan Cumming and Nathan Burbank

FAB FAN MEMORIES:

THE BEATLES BOND

Available NOW!

An EXCLUSIVE interview with JACK OSBOURNE!

2011-11-03T11:57:00.000-07:00

Rockin’ On Heaven’s Door:

An EXCLUSIVE interview with

JACK OSBOURNE,

producer of

GOD BLESS OZZY OSBOURNE

By Stephen SPAZ Schnee

Over the years, Ozzy Osbourne has been called many things: a Heavy Metal pioneer, a Rock ‘n’ Roll wildman, an icon, a reality TV star, a television pitchman, an inspiration and a survivor. He’s also been called things that are far too risqué to print! Through it all, he has remained as relevant as ever. From the pre-teen to the octogenarian, Ozzy Osbourne has managed to become a name that every generation seems to be familiar with, even if they’ve never heard a note of his groundbreaking work with Black Sabbath or his solo output. Not bad or a working class kid from Birmingham, England!

But do we know the real Ozzy Osbourne? Is he the dove-chomping Rock maniac that we’ve read about all of these years or is he the bumbling yet lovable dad from the reality series The Osbournes? Is there a chance that he could be both of these things… and more? Even with all the information we receive on a daily basis via the internet, could there be another side of Ozzy that we don’t know?

Three years ago, Ozzy’s son Jack decided that it was time to introduce the real Ozzy Osbourne to the world. With directors Mike Piscitelli and Mike Fleiss on board, he set about creating God Bless Ozzy Osbourne, a documentary told from the point of view of Ozzy’s family and friends. And what we learn in this stunning film is that what we already know about Ozzy only touches the surface of this complicated yet simple man who changed the course of Rock music.

Beginning with his humble upbringings in Birmingham as John Osbourne, God Bless Ozzy Osbourne focuses on his rise to stardom with Black Sabbath, his temporary fall from the top of the Rock heap and his rebirth in the ‘80s as one of the most successful solo rockers in the world. The film digs deeper than the headlines and concentrates on the effects that success had on him and those that were closest to him: his family. While we are treated to interviews with a variety of famous people (Tommy Lee, Henry Rollins, members of Black Sabbath and Sir Paul McCartney), we learn of a different side of Ozzy through comments from his siblings and children from his first marriage. And for the first time, we get a chance to look beyond Ozzy and see John, a man who still struggles with his immense fame and fortune.

After viewing God Bless Ozzy Osbourne a few times, Stephen SPAZ Schnee was able to have a chat with producer Jack Osbourne, who discussed the origins of the film about his father and so much more…

SPAZ: God Bless Ozzy Osbourne is just about ready to drop on DVD. How are you feeling about the project and the reaction you’ve received so far?

JACK OSBOURNE: It’s a bit of a double-edged sword. We worked on the film for so long… three and a half years… and in a weird way, I’m glad it’s over. It was a constant uphill struggle with getting it made. The edit wasn’t right, this didn’t work, that didn’t work… it wasn’t an easy film to finish. In a way, I’m glad when this DVD comes out, the ship will officially set sail. The response was definitely not what I expected. It was way more positive than I would ever have imagined. There’s always the naysayers out there and I thought we were going to get slightly slammed, but apart from one or two reviews, everyone loved it.

SPAZ: Was the film your idea or did someone approach you about doing it?

JACK: It came from a conversation I had in London with a colleague of mine. I was saying how I was getting really tired of doing on-camera stuff and I really wanted to get more into producing and directing. And he said “Why don’t you do a documentary about your dad?” And my response was “Oh, yeah, ‘cause nobody’s heard that story before!” (laughs) And then I thought, actually, that no one’s ever heard it from our perspective. Everything that’s been done has been about his career and not so much about his life. So, that’s what I thought I’d set out to do.

SPAZ: How much convincing did it take to get Ozzy on board with the film? I’m sure he has probably had enough of cameras following him around…

JACK: Verbally, he was totally on board. He was totally cool and had no problem with it. But then physically, getting to get used to it took awhile. Mike Piscitelli, one of the directors, who was kind of attached to my dad for the most part, he did really an amazing job. He became friends with my dad. My dad and he had this relationship to where my dad was really open with him, but that took a long time to happen. If we would have only spent four months shooting this film, my dad wouldn’t have opened up as much. Considering we had no time constraints on it, it worked out for the best.

SPAZ: Was it difficult to decide what went into the film and what didn’t? Did you leave that up to the directors or where there moments that you felt were too personal to remain in the film?

JACK: It was really tough. The film focuses on the late ‘60s to the mid ‘80s: that’s the main focus on it. As far as the storytelling goes, we kept it at a time where people don’t really know that much. If we went into the ‘90s and ‘00s, we’d get into Ozzfest and The Osbournes… and people kind of know that story. I just thought we’d be repeating the same story. I wanted to focus on the lesser known story.

SPAZ: To be honest, I would have loved for the film to by twice, maybe three times longer than it actually is…

JACK: It’s something that we really struggled with. The original cut of this film is two and a half hours.

SPAZ: Wow! Any chance of a director’s cut edition in the future?

JACK: I think so. There’s a definite possibility…maybe even a Part 2. We left out so much.

SPAZ: The public has differing opinions, misconceptions and views on Ozzy: there’s the Heavy Metal groundbreaker, the Wild Man of ‘80s Rock, the reality TV star, and some that aren’t so flattering. God Bless Ozzy Osbourne manages to address all these opinions and present him as a grounded, normal human being without taking away any of the magic or mystery. Was this your goal in making the film?

JACK: Kind of. We wanted people to see Ozzy and to see John. John’s the guy who, when he’s not on stage, he’s the guy who sat at home painting. Ozzy’s the guy who gets crazy when he has to. I think that’s one of the more unique characteristics of my dad: he’s essentially two people! (laughs)

SPAZ: The death of Randy Rhodes is such an emotional part of the film and is felt in practically every frame afterwards. Was it difficult to deal with such a sensitive issue?

JACK: It was. My one regret with the film is that we didn’t have my dad talking present day about Randy’s death. We used archival footage of him talking about it. We added it in the DVD extras of my dad kind of talking about the whole experience, but in a way, I wanted my dad to still have something to a degree. He’s given up so much doing the reality show and living his life in the limelight. And I thought, it’s OK to not give everyone everything all the time.

SPAZ: In the film, you get a sense that Ozzy is humble and still trying to make sense of his fame, wealth and ongoing popularity. Would you say that this still the case?

JACK: Absolutely. He comes from a working class background and mentality. In England, success is encouraged and yet frowned upon. It’s so strange in England the way everyone is brought up. Everyone’s encouraged to go out there and do big things, but when you do big things, everyone turns around and says “Why have you done big things?” It’s weird. My dad struggles with the fact that people admire, love and respect him…. As he says in the film, he hates it when people come up to him and ask him for his autograph, but he hates when people don’t come up to him and ask him for his autograph.

SPAZ: On the bonus features, there’s one segment where Ozzy starts getting frustrated and angry with director Mike’s questions. Were there a lot more of these moments, or was Ozzy fairly patient and accommodating through the whole filming process?

JACK: That was a rare time. My dad and Mike have a great deal of respect for each other. My dad is not one of these guys that just blows up out of nowhere: you can feel it coming. And Mike was always very cognizant of that. In the same respect, my dad never really wanted to hurt Mike’s feelings. My dad has the ability to go absolutely apeshit and he didn’t. Out of respect, they never cared to push each other to a point where it got ugly.

SPAZ: It’s nice to see Sir Paul interviewed in the film since The Beatles were the band that inspired Ozzy to become a musician in the first place. Was it difficult to pin him down to do the interview or have they been friends for awhile?

JACK: They haven’t been friends for a very long time… I guess for about 10 years. We asked him through a mutual friend and he agreed, so we were very lucky to have him on board.

SPAZ: What would you like the viewer to walk away with after watching the film?

JACK: I want the viewer to walk away with a more comprehensive understanding of who Ozzy is. To understand the father that he is… the musician… the artist.

SPAZ: What’s next for Jack Osbourne?

JACK: I have my production company now and I’m working on developing some reality shows. Hopefully, we’re going to be doing the Black Sabbath horror movie. There’s a bunch of things brewing…

SPAZ: What do you currently have spinning in your CD and DVD players?

JACK: I just got the Lord Of The Rings Blu-Rays and I’ve been listening to the new My Morning Jacket album quite a bit.

Thanks to Jack Osbourne

Special thanks to Lauren Watt, Mary Flynn, Fred Kelly and Robert Gill

GOD BLESS OZZY OSBOURNE

DVD

BLU-RAY

11.15.11

DAVID MEAD/Dudes: Available November 15th, 2011!

2011-11-03T09:08:00.000-07:00

DAVID MEAD

DUDES

11.15.11

2011 album from the acclaimed singer/songwriter. In late 2010, Mead enlisted the financial support of his fans via Kickstarter to raise funds ($20,925) for a new album, Dudes. As the title implies, the songs are all written from the perspective of men. Recorded in nine days in NYC and produced by Ethan Eubanks and Mead (executive produced by Adam Schlesinger), it deepens Mead’s songwriting with strains of Randy Newman-esque wry humor ('Bocce Ball') and sharp storytelling ('The Smile Of Rachael Ray').

DAVID NAIL/The Sound Of A Million Dreams: Available November 15th, 2011!

2011-11-03T08:23:00.000-07:00

DAVID NAIL

THE SOUND OF A MILLION DREAMS

11.15.11

2011 sophomore album from the Country vocalist. The Sound Of A Million Dreams is the follow-up to Nail's acclaimed first outing, I'm About To Come Alive, which garnered Nail a Grammy nomination for Best Male Vocal Country Performance for his hit "Turning Home" and an Academy of Country Music Award nomination for Single Of The Year for his "Red Light." The Sound Of A Million Dreams was produced by famed producers Chuck Ainlay and Frank Liddell and includes Nail's hit "Let It Rain".

HARLIS: The reissues on SIREENA RECORDS

2011-10-30T14:53:00.000-07:00

HARLIS

HARLIS

NIGHT MEETS THE DAY

While German Prog/Art rockers JANE may be a familiar name outside of the Prog arena, HARLIS were a tremendously talented offshoot of the band who recorded two albums that didn’t conform to the Prog Rock rulebook, but didn’t stray to far from it either. Led by former JANE member CHARLY MAUCHER, Harlis were a bit looser than their contemporaries, which added a raw edge to their sound. While the band features excellent musicians, Harlis’ sound is more about the band as a whole as opposed to the skills of the individuals. Adding a bit more Blues and British and American Rock influences into the mix may have turned away some Prog fans, but in doing so, their sound has a timeless quality to it.

Harlis’ 1975 self-titled debut was a joyous slice of Rock that didn’t really belong to any defined genre. The opening track, “BMW”, straddles the line between the Blues and Pub Rock, while “Free” sounds like a Joe Cocker-led Gospel nugget. “Grey Rain” veers towards melodic Pop territory. “Runaway” is another bluesy rocker that adds a little Lemmy to the Cocker-esque vocals. “Bells Of Bothfeld” is a nice instrumental that does showcase the great musicianship without sounding like a pretentious noodle-fest. The album closes with “Michael” and ‘Time Will Run”, which are both spacious Pop tunes with Prog flourishes. While the band may sometimes sound a little unsure of themselves in a few spots, the album is a breath of fresh air.

Night Meets The Day (1976) is a concept album with a nautical theme and is a far more adventurous album than their debut. The band is tighter yet more spacious in their playing, which allows them to express their musical vision with more feeling. The atmosphere of the album is more melancholy, although not dark or depressing. On songs like “Shipwrecked Stranded”, Harlis sound even more like a band working together as a unit, playing live together in the studio and capturing the moment on tape. While the individual players are exceptional, it’s interesting to hear their understated and relaxed interaction. The album’s instrumental, “Endless Sea”, sounds like it’s floating about the room instead of bouncing off the walls. Sure, there are rockers here (“Ruler Of The Island”, “The Last Sea Battle” and “King Of The Pirates”), the album is more about atmosphere, feeling and vibes.

Both albums are recommended to fans of Jane, Prog Music and German Rock. While the albums are not as slick as records by like-minded bands, that is the core of the band’s charm. They may not have been destined for Top 40 success in the

U.S.

, it sure would have been nice if FM radio had embraced them all those years ago….

Both Harlis albums have been reissued by SIREENA RECORDS. I'll be covering a lot of the label's releases here on the Discussions Magazine blog in the near future.

THE DREAMING/Puppet: Available November 1st, 2011!

2011-10-20T13:35:00.000-07:00

THE DREAMING

PUPPETT

11.1.11

2011 album from this Alt-Rock band featuring former members of Stabbing Westward and Murderdolls. Formed in 2005 by frontman Christopher Hall, the voice behind platinum Rock outfit Stabbing Westward, The Dreaming assembles and all-star roster of musicians including Johnny Haro on drums (ex-Econoline Crush, Stabbing Westward), guitarist Eric Griffin (ex-Murderdolls, Wednesday 13), and bassist Martin Kelly (ex-Living Dead Lights). Since their inception, The Dreaming have become road warriors relentlessly touring with the likes of Ill Nino, Godhead, RA, Trust Company, Flaw, Julien-K, Powerman 5000 and Wednesday 13.

GRAM PARSONS: Early Years Box Set Available NOW

2011-10-19T12:08:00.000-07:00

GRAM PARSONS

THE EARLY YEARS BOX SET

AVAILABLE NOW

Deluxe box set containing two CDs, one DVD, a picture disc vinyl LP and four posters. Disc One includes Gram Parsons-The Early Years Volume 1, featuring folk recordings (1963-65) of Gram and the Shilos originally released in 1979. The disc also featured "Volume Two" which were previously unreleased recordings of early performances focusing on Gram's solo efforts, Disc Two is the Big Mouth Blues: A Conversation with Gram Parsons interview disc. Disc Three is the first official DVD release of rare and only performance of "Gram Parsons and the Fallen Angels" previously released on VHS tape. Closing out the DVD is a very rare video performance by Gram of "Hot Burrito #1". The picture disc LP is packaged in its own clear jacket with color picture of Gram on Side One, with the original record labels logo on Side Two.

An EXCLUSIVE interview with M83!

2011-10-06T11:21:00.000-07:00

LIVING IN A DREAM:

An EXCLUSIVE interview with M83’s ANTHONY GONZALEZ

By Stephen SPAZ Schnee

There used to be a time when the double album was a grand and bold musical statement from an artist and not just a regular release with a few remixes added as a bonus. From The Beatles’ White Album and The Who’s Tommy to Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti and Pink Floyd’s The Wall, any band brave enough to release a double album caught the attention of the critics and music fans alike. Even Prince’s 1999 and XTC’s English Settlement set new heights for those artists, attracting more fans than ever. But over the years, the double album has become a real rarity. While you may find many two disc releases on the shelves, the second CD usually contains nothing more than bonus demos, acoustic versions or remixes. In essence, the legitimate double album seems to be a thing of the past… but thank goodness nobody told M83’s Anthony Gonzalez that!

When Gonzalez moved from his homeland of France to Los Angeles nearly two years ago, his new surroundings inspired a prolific period of songwriting and experimenting with music. Early on, the transplanted Frenchman realized that his vision was much larger than a conventional 45 minute album. The songs that poured out of him began to form an album that would exceed anyone’s expectations, even his own. By the time it was complete, Gonzalez had created a double album that was mysterious, dark and utterly beautiful.

From Ambient and Electronica to Shoegaze and Dream Pop, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is an ambitious project and is the culmination of everything released in M83’s decade-long career. While the band’s sound has progressed over the years, this is an album that takes the best elements from all of their past releases and adds more depth and power to the mix. Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming takes the listener on a trip through different moods and atmospheres and leaves an indelible impression on their senses. This is an album that is raw and powerful yet unabashedly joyful. The album never outstays its welcome: every note is there for a reason and the entire project would feel incomplete were you to remove even one track. This is what double albums are all about.

Stephen SPAZ Schnee sat down to speak with Anthony about Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, his inspiration and much more…

SPAZ: Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is just about ready to drop. How are you feeling about the album and things in your world right about now?

ANTHONY GONZALEZ: I feel excited. I haven’t felt this excited for a long time… maybe since Before The Dawn Heals Us (2005). I feel confident and proud of this record. I’m just so excited to go back on the road and play shows in front of my fans. Sometimes, it’s hard to be a musician. Some people think its all holidays all the time. But sometimes, it’s very stressful. Emotionally, it can be hard to cope with everything. But when you feel good about an album, you’re excited to talk about it and play live shows. You’re looking forward to it. You’re like a kid… you’re just excited about everything.

SPAZ: The album is a very ambitious two CD release. When you started recording the album, did you plan on so many songs making the album or did it evolve over time?

ANTHONY: You never know what to expect when you start composing an album, obviously. But early on, I realized I wanted a double album. We’d been touring a lot for the previous album and being on stage and on the road for such a long time made me realize that I wanted to create a big project. I couldn’t wait to go back into the studio while I was still on the road. When I first moved to L.A. one and a half years ago, I was so excited about being in the studio again. I was enjoying myself so much. I was playing with my keyboard like I’ve never played before. I was experimenting and improvising. That was the first time that happened in many years. When you’re excited about being in the studio, it flows out of you and you keep composing and composing. At the end, you have a lot of songs to pick from. (laughs)

SPAZ: The era and the art of the double album has all but disappeared over the years. Was there ever a time that you felt you should compromise and whittle the album down to an average album-length single disc?

ANTHONY: Yeah, definitely. It’s the wrong time to be releasing a double album. But I thought that if I don’t do it now, it would be even more difficult to release a double album in two, three or five years. But I’ve been working on this album for a year and that’s a long period of time. Sometimes, you start to lose confidence and you start doubting yourself. But other times, you feel proud. I like to feel as if this album is a gift to myself. There was so much pleasure in the making of this album. I was feeling all these different emotions. If I felt like this during the making of the album, hopefully people will feel like this listening to it. So, I said let’s go for it, let’s go double. I didn’t want to have any regrets. I wanted to do something for myself for once.

SPAZ: While the tracks on the album certainly flow together very well, each track has it’s own personality (and in some cases, multiple personalities). Did you initially create the songs as distinct individual tracks, or were you always looking at these tracks falling under a unifying theme?

ANTHONY: I can’t say that all the songs are part of a main theme. Some of them are… the ambient songs and small interludes are part of that theme. But I love pop songs and I wanted this album to have pop songs as well. I think this album is like a combination of all my previous albums together. I wanted to have a lot of different elements: epic songs, slow songs, quiet interludes and pop songs.

SPAZ: Some of the lovely and moving melodies are gentle and understated, while others are powerful and loud. Were the song arrangements dictated by the melodies or did the melodies come out of the song arrangements? Tracks like “Soon, My Friend” and “Reunion” are very different, yet equally effective.

ANTHONY: You know what? I have no idea! (laughs) I’m not waking up and saying to myself “OK, today I’m going to work on an epic track or I’m going to work on a slow interlude.” I write what comes naturally so I don’t have the feeling that its forced. I didn’t have to fight against the songs. It was just a natural progression. It makes sense that some of the songs needed to be very epic and very orchestrated. But you also want to keep some songs very quiet because they didn’t need anything more.

SPAZ: The album, like all of your releases, seem to draw from the last 30 years of Pop, Rock and Electronic music, from Brian Wilson to OMD, yet you manage to maintain a very distinct sound. What influences you?

ANTHONY: A lot of things. This is what I like about being a musician, being an artist: you can be inspired by so many different things. I was moving to a new city (L.A.). I was going out to see movies. I was going out to live shows. I was going to museums. I was reading a lot of books as well. I was just being inspired by anything. Its funny because sometimes I feel like I don’t want to make music because I don’t feel like something good is going to come out of my brain. But for this whole year, I felt so inspired by everything and anything. It could be something simple like meeting a new friend or talking to some people at a party. Or being inspired by a movie you just saw the day before. This album was inspired by one year in my life.

SPAZ: Are you sometimes surprised by your fan’s interpretations of your songs?

ANTHONY: It does surprise me, but in a good way. It’s exactly what I like about music. It’s very different from reading a book where everything is written on a page or watching a movie where everything is up there on the screen. There’s this feeling of freedom and I like that. I can’t wait for people to tell me stories about them listening to the album.

SPAZ: People tend to create their own visuals in their head while listening to the music… Do you think that music videos can take away from a listener’s own personal attachment to a song?

ANTHONY: Yeah, of course. Sometimes, the video can be a perfect match for the music. But sometimes it doesn’t happen that way and that’s a risk. I grew up watching videos during the MTV era. This is part of my culture. I couldn’t picture myself releasing an album with no music videos. Its part of the process of the making of an album.

SPAZ: What’s next for M83?

ANTHONY: I’m really excited to go back on tour. It’s been two years now since we’ve played any shows. I couldn’t be any happier than I am today. I am proud of this album and I’m ready to travel and play this album in front of my fans.

SPAZ: What is currently spinning on your CD and DVD players?

ANTHONY: Recently, I was listening to and love the new Mogwai EP. I’ve also had the chance to listen to the new Zola Jesus album. It’s really, really good and I can’t stop listening to it. On my DVD player, I have Halloween 2 from Rob Zombie. I just saw it two days ago. His Halloween movies are really good movies, honestly. I was a big fan of the original Halloween movies, but… I don’t know… this guy comes from a different planet!

Thanks to Anthony Gonzalez

Special thanks to Jacki Feldstein, Nicole Blonder and Anthony Balboa

M83

HURRY UP, WE'RE DREAMING

10.18.11

An EXCLUSIVE interview with CHRIS ISAAK!

2011-10-06T10:43:00.000-07:00

HERE COMES THE SUN:

An EXCLUSIVE Interview with

CHRIS ISAAK

By Stephen SPAZ Schnee

Memphis-based DJ and music fan Sam Phillips launched his Sun Records label in 1952, initially focusing on Blues and Rhythm & Blues artists. While the label didn’t score any huge hits for the first few years, their luck changed in 1954 when a young man named Elvis Presley walked through the door. From that moment, Rock ‘n’ Roll music as we know it was born. Add some Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison to the mix and you’ve got the most influential label of the Rock ‘n’ Roll era.

Some 30 years later, 1985 to be exact, a young man named Chris Isaak released his debut album, Silvertone. While he may have looked, at the time, like the latest entry in a long-line of Rockabilly artists, one listen to the album was proof that this singer, songwriter and guitarist was much more than a Retro-billy throwback: Isaak had depth, charm and a heartbreaking beauty in his voice and songs. More Elvis and Roy than Johnny, Carl and Jerry, Isaak’s music was heavily influenced but not dictated by the sound of Sun Records. His melodies were timeless, the arrangements were simple and the production did not carry the weight of ‘80s studio trickery. Isaak, like those Sun artists that influenced him, was the real deal.

Since then, Chris Isaak has continued to travel his own path, taking his influences with him but always staying true to his own musical vision, which seemed to incorporate numerous genres. Scoring a huge hit with “Wicked Game” in the early ‘90s, the sudden brush with fame lifted Isaak into the spotlight, a place where he has seldom strayed ever since. From rapturously received tours to critically-adored albums, and even the odd acting gig and TV series in between, Isaak has continued to perfect his unique sound without compromising his integrity or losing his large fanbase. In fact, he is now more popular than ever.

With a solid catalog of originals behind him, Isaak finally decided to revisit the music that inspired him as a child. Along with his ace backing band, Silvertone, Isaak entered Sun Studios in Memphis to record an album of songs by the artists who created Rock ‘n’ Roll within those very same walls over 50 years before. From hits like “Ring Of Fire” and “Oh, Pretty Woman” to lesser known tracks like “Dixie Fried” and “Miss Pearl”, Isaak and his band had completed nearly 40 tracks before deciding they had enough to work with.

While it may have been difficult to decide which 14 tracks were going to make it onto his 2011 album, Beyond The Sun, the results are stunning. A few of the tracks may be remarkably close to the originals, yet Isaak and his band add their own personalities into the mix and put the Rock ‘n’ Roll passion right back into the songs. This isn’t just a stop-gap tribute album to tide his fans over: this is an artist revisiting the magic and reigniting the fire that set him in motion so many years ago. The Deluxe Edition of the album is even better since it includes a second CD containing an additional 11 tracks.

Stephen SPAZ Schnee was able to catch up with Chris Isaak to chat a little about Beyond The Sun, his career and so much more…

SPAZ: Beyond The Sun is just about ready to drop. How are you feeling about this project and everything leading up to it?

CHRIS ISAAK: You know, I’m really excited and I’m dying for people to hear the record. For a record to be a hit, people have got to hear it, first of all. So far, everybody that’s heard it that I’ve played it for went, “Wow! You should have done this record a long time ago! (laughs) I love this kind of music! What is this?” When I was a kid, I was listening to this music. In the packaging, I put in pictures that I had from when I was about 20 or 21, the first pictures that I took before I had a band or anything else. I worked all summer and I got a Shure microphone and a Silvertone guitar, I borrowed my dad’s jacket, I snuck into the college theater and stood up on the stage and had my picture taken. And I said, “Look! Now, I look just like Elvis and I’m ready to go!” (laughs). And that’s all the music I wanted to play was that Sun Sessions music. I’ve been wanting to make this record a long time.

SPAZ: What inspired you to do this project now as opposed to any other time in your career?

CHRIS: Because when I started off, I thought I looked a little like Elvis when I combed my hair back. When I was boxing, everybody who was on my boxing team, their nickname for me was Elvis. That was before I even sang. When I went to Japan, I cut my hair short and that sort of killed that. But when I was starting off, I didn’t want to fall into a thing where that was what I did, somebody else’s music. I wanted to make sure I could write my own songs and have my own sound. On purpose, I struggled hard to write my own songs and not to do cover songs in the beginning.

SPAZ: I really liked the different approaches to the songs, both in the arrangements and at the mixing stage (with a few tracks being recorded or mixed down to mono). In essence, you’ve re-created these songs as Chris Isaak vehicles. Was it a little daunting to record these tracks, knowing that they are iconic Rock ‘n’ Roll classics?

CHRIS: Thank you. I appreciate what you just said because that’s exactly what I was trying to do. I said, “This is not a throw-away record. We’re not going in and like, hey, let’s have some fun and cut a few oldies and then be done. Let’s really work on this like we do any other album.” We rehearsed more for this album because we were going to cut it all live… and we did. The vocals you hear, those were done with those guys all at one time. If I make a mistake, we do another take.

SPAZ: All these tracks were one take?

CHRIS: Yes. I’d try it in three four takes, but we’d get it in one pass. We wouldn’t fix it. I’m proud of that but hardly anybody goes in without wearing headphones and being separated so that they can, later on, fix the mistakes. But in the old days at Sun, everybody was in the same room, everyone bled into everyone’s microphone. Elvis was standing there singing and you heard him. Jerry Lee Lewis was playing piano heard the piano over in the vocalist’s microphone. You could kinda feel like it was party going on. You could tell where people were standing in the room because you could hear it between two or three microphones. And that’s what we did. When I went in, I told the guys, “Listen, we can’t play forever in there because I’m singing this stuff, so if I’m singing it good, you better hit it because that’s the one we’re gonna use!”… and we went in and everybody played great. I never had so much in the studio. I think part of it was that everybody realized that this isn’t a rehearsal, this isn’t a practice, we’re making a record. Everybody could hear what the other guy was doing. You’re playing together instead of through earphones and hoping that somebody else later makes sense of it.

SPAZ: Your passion for the material is apparent in every track. Did any first takes make the album, or was it a long recording process?

CHRIS: I’m so proud of the band. Talk about passion for this music! If somebody listened to this record and said “Oh, I’ve got a great singer. We should make one of those records. Let’s hire some guys in L.A. and let’s do it,” I don’t think you could. My drummer, Kenny (Dale Johnson), loves this kind of music and he’s a natural fit for it. He plays in shuffle, which a lot of those songs have, or a ‘stripper beat’… they didn’t have very many straight ahead rock beats on those recordings. He plays with a real subtle groove that nobody else has got… and that’s tricky. The bass player (Rowland Salley) comes from background where he played early Country Western and Bluegrass. He played a standup bass and he totally loves this kind of music. My piano player (Scotty Plunkett)… how many guys can cop Jerry Lee Lewis riffs and then throw their own riffs in with it and make it sound like its blended? Scotty is a monster on piano. But for him to be able to capture that style of Jerry Lee and some of those simple Gospel piano riffs… When we started off, we said “Let’s learn all these songs and then when we’ve made the record, let’s not listen to it at all. When we’re done with rehearsing, let’s go into the studio, let’s cut it, let’s have fun and let’s do it our own way.” So, on “Ring Of Fire”, Scotty’s playing a B-3 Organ, which is not on the original. We’d do stuff like have a guitar and piano go back and forth on a solo that isn’t on the original version. I said “We’ll just do whatever feels good to us. We already know the songs.” At the end, the only time I listened to it was at the end when I was done mixing. I thought, OK, now I wanna hear: what did we come up with versus the originals. I still have to laugh because I’ll listen to some things that those guys did and I love those guys so much. When we were recording, we had Roland James, who played guitar on all Jerry Lee Lewis’ stuff… he’s just a great guy and my favorite guitar player. He was in and I remember asking him “Hey, Roland. I’ve got a question. It sounds stupid, but I just don’t know who else to ask but you were there: how loud did you play in the room, because I’m singing, you know?” He said, “Chris, we played as loud as we wanted!” My guitar player (Hershel Yatovitz) was standing there right next to me and just gave me a big grin, like, oh boy, all bets are off. And then I could have kissed Roland because he continued on, “You gotta remember though, Chris. It was 1956 and we didn’t want to play very loud!” (laughs)

SPAZ: Being a fan and artist from the days of the record LP, when putting the tracklist together, do you still think of things in ‘vinyl’ terms with the songs making up a Side One and a Side Two?

CHRIS: We’re actually putting this out on vinyl, so we actually have a real Side A and Side B. This is a perfect record for that. What was fun for me is that you usually make a record and you have 16 songs you record and then you cut it down and put out 13. On this record, we had so much fun recording it…my manager asked “How many songs did you guys cut?” I said “We’re up to 38 songs and we’re still going.” And she’s like “Stop! Please! You have enough for three albums!” And I s aid “Let’s put out a double,”… and we did! (The Deluxe Edition of Beyond The Sun has 11 additional tracks.) It was fun because we knew these songs and we practiced a bunch. When we’d go into cut ‘em, it wasn’t like, “Oh, we have to go in and overdub and we’ll fix that…” No, some of the songs we cut, I bet we cut ‘em in three takes. We’d rehearse it plenty and then we just went in and played.

SPAZ: It’s been over a quarter century since your debut album, Silvertone, was released. Did you think that you’d still be at it in 2011?

CHRIS: You know, when I started off, you never dream where life’s going to take you. It could take you bad places or it could take you good places. You just hope it’s going to be something nice and I’ve just been really really lucky. I hooked up with Kenny and Roly, Hershel and Scotty, my crew… people I’ve worked with I’ve been with forever. Some people don’t understand that if you are a musician, the road can be your life and if you don’t have friends out there on the road with you, it can be a really lonely ride. I guess that’s why people end up getting in trouble. But they’re my friends. Here I am, years later with those same guys… and it’s a ball.

SPAZ: You’ve cultivated your own unique sound over the years, which is as timeless now as it was then. Have you ever been tempted… or even encouraged by the powers that be, to alter your sound and try to fit into whatever cookie-cutter sound is popular at the time?

CHRIS: I’ve been lucky. I have good producers. I always kinda knew what I wanted to sound like. I’ve always been drawn to a pretty vocal and song that’s got some kind of truth to it. So, I always thought that if you had a song that has a ring a truth and you’re singing well, it’s going to be fun, good music. The trend just kind of went around us. I do remember at one point, a person at the record company said “Chris, you’re a surfer and you’re in good shape: you should take your shirt off when you’re up on stage!” And I said, “Why would I do that?” And they said, “For the girls.” I said, “I’m a singer, not a stripper!” (laughs). And I was thinking ahead and I said, “You know, if I start taking my shirt off now, my career’s going to be over in about three years! I don’t want to do that!”

SPAZ: What’s next for Chris Isaak?

CHRIS: I’m going to go out on tour all over the U.S. We’re going to tour Australia. The record’s coming out and I think that there’s a lot of interest in it. So, we’re so excited to actually play it live. It’s so much fun to play this music live. The look on people’s faces when you kick into “Ring Of Fire” or something… it’s just a ball

SPAZ: What do you currently have spinning on your record, CD and DVD players?

CHRIS: I just introduced a bunch of films for that Turner Classic Movies channel… I watch old movies all the time. They called me and asked me to come down to the studio for a bit… I watched Rebel Without A Cause a couple of times in a row so I could talk about it. What a fun, strange film. I always find something new in it. (Audio-wise), when I travel, usually in my car, I’ve got Jerry Lee Lewis going on.

Thanks to Chris Isaak

Special thanks to Jacki Feldstein and Kimberly McCoy

CHRIS ISAAK

BEYOND THE SUN

BEYOND THE SUN (DELUXE EDITION)

10.18.11

KITTY, DAISY & LEWIS/Smoking In Heaven: Available October 18th, 2011!

2011-10-06T07:25:00.000-07:00

KITTY, DAISY & LEWIS

SMOKING IN HEAVEN

10.18.11

2011 sophomore album from the British retro-obsessed siblings. While the band’s influences are firmly rooted in the past, Smoking In Heaven hurtles towards an interminable future with songs that boast stylings of R&B, Soul, Ska, Pop and jazz, adding another dimension to their unique style and sound. ·Album consists entirely of original material written by the band and recorded/produced by the band on entirely vintage analogue equipment in their home studio.

An EXCLUSIVE interview with Director NICK STRINGER!

2011-09-30T09:58:00.000-07:00

From Sea To Shining Sea:

An EXCLUSIVE Interview with

NICK STRINGER,

Director of

TURTLE: THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY

By Stephen SPAZ Schnee

It has often been said that space is the final frontier…but is it really? Do we actually know enough about our own planet to go searching for signs of life on others? While the stars and planets may inspire and fascinate mankind, there are still so many mysteries to be explored here on Earth. From the rise and fall of ancient civilizations in Africa to the discovery of previously unknown animal species in New Guinea, there is still so much to learn about this world that we live in.

This planet’s great oceans hold, and often hide, some of the most fascinating, exciting and downright scary mysteries of all. Who needs to worry about aliens attacking us, when we have fearsome Great White sharks patrolling our waters and looking for their next meal? How was it that we put a man on the moon some 20 years before we discovered the remains of the Titanic, which was still conveniently located here on Earth?

We know so much, yet so little, about ocean life. From jellyfish to sea horses, dolphins to hump back whales, the wonders that we seek amongst the stars can be easily found just a few feet off of our shores. One of the most fascinating sea creatures of all is the female Loggerhead Turtle, who spends the first 20+ years of her life migrating around the world, only to find herself laying eggs on the very beach that she was hatched.

The epic adventure she takes during those first few decades is the subject of a remarkable documentary called Turtle: The Incredible Journey. From her first rush to the ocean as a small hatchling to her return to the beach to lay her eggs some 21 years later, Turtle documents every aspect of this phenomenal creature’s life. Beautifully shot, the wonders of underwater life are displayed in vibrant colors juxtaposed with the cold darkness of this world that we still don’t fully understand.

Director Nick Stringer offers up more than just a film with great underwater footage. There is action, adventure, romance, comedy and horror on display, all of which keeps the viewer riveted to the screen. With narration by actress Miranda Richardson, Turtle: The Incredible Journey is not just a documentary, it is a moving piece of filmmaking.

Stephen SPAZ Schnee caught up with Stringer to discuss the film and the magic of bringing this real life story to the screen…

SPAZ: Turtle: The Incredible Journey is just about to drop on DVD. How are you feeling about the project and everything leading up to it?

NICK STRINGER: I’m really pleased by the response we’ve had to Turtle. The film is still on release in the US and has played in about 130 theatres in 30 cities so far. It’s done well at the film festivals and seems to have attracted a wide audience especially families, which is really pleasing. There’s also been a number of special screenings in the US and elsewhere around the world which have helped raise awareness and money for turtle conservation. So all in all, I’m delighted that, in its own way, Turtle is making a little ripple.

SPAZ: How did you get involved with the film?

NICK: Twenty years ago, I was lucky enough to see a big female loggerhead lay her eggs on a beach in Florida. For that short moment I witnessed what this creature had spent 20 years trying to achieve. I was completely awestruck and her story has stuck with me ever since.

After March of the Penguins, it seemed there was at last an appetite to see stories from the natural world on the big screen. I’d always wanted to tell a story of the sea and telling it through the eyes of the turtle seemed the perfect way to do it.

There are so many unknown journeys in the ocean, but the loggerhead’s odyssey around the North Atlantic is one of the few we’re beginning to understand. It is truly an epic. It begins from the moment she is born and lasts for the next 20 years of her life. It takes her around the entire North Atlantic and ultimately back to the same stretch of coast where she was born. And the odds are stacked against her, just one in 10,000 loggerheads survive the journey,

There is something enigmatic about these creatures. The turtle is like the old sage of the sea, they have been around since the age of the dinosaurs, more than a hundred million years. They have seen so much change and survived so many natural catastrophes. It would be a travesty if they were to disappear on our watch.

SPAZ: Turtle has a great balance of drama, comedy, joy, sadness, action, adventure and even some genuinely scary moments. This is everything that Disney, Pixar and even reality TV strives for. Was it hard to choose which moments to leave in and which to leave out?

NICK: What happens in the natural world is as good as anything we can dream up in Hollywood. I think that many of the elements you mention are inherent within the turtle’s story. There are some spectacular scenes in Turtle, but we had to work very hard to capture them and in the end very little got left on the cutting-room floor.

The biggest challenge was to bring the emotional narrative to life and how to balance it. It’s a fine line. The last thing I wanted was an all-singing all-dancing Nemo, but you have to feel empathy for the protagonist. Many would argue against that but when you get close to animals, you realize that they are individuals with individual challenges and they no doubt experience things that we identify with; fear, contentment, cold and pain. So it’s right to bring an emotional dynamic to their lives. But we also have a duty to inform, so hopefully we achieved both. For me, Mel Finn’s beautifully lyrical script handles it masterfully.

SPAZ: While this film follows the first 21 years of the titular character, how long did it take you to actually put together this project?

NICK: The film took us two years to make. While I’d have loved to have followed a single animal for 20 years, I think even the ultimate purist would forgive us for filming a number of different turtles across the Atlantic to tell the life of one individual. We relied heavily on the film’s scientific consultant, Dr Jeanette Wyneken, a leading turtle biologist, to advise us when and where to film the different stages of the turtle’s story. The ‘Saving Private Ryan’ scenes of hatchlings emerging and swimming out to the Gulf Stream were filmed in Florida. With extraordinary luck, we captured rare footage of juveniles in the Azores and the adult turtles were filmed in the Florida Keys and the Caribbean.

Two years is still a high-pressure schedule for a film of this kind. Finding turtles at sea can take time, filming them actually doing something is a test of will. You can spend days waiting for the weather to settle and then spend more days diving on reefs looking for signs of activity and still see virtually nothing, but then the ocean always throws up surprises. One of the highlights came after two weeks of looking for mating turtles and on the very last day of filming a radio call came in from our spotter plane. They had sighted a pair of turtles just a few hundred meters from our boat. Slowly, the cameraman and DOP Rory McGuinness approached them and we were finally rewarded with a wonderful scene to two turtles locked in a loving embrace. He swam in their company for more than an hour until his air finally ran out. It was such a good feeling to finish principal photography on a high.

SPAZ: Miranda Richardson’s narration is perfect, adding the right amount of emotion to each scene. How did she get involved with the project?

NICK: The moment I heard Miranda’s voice I knew she was right. She has a wonderful story-telling voice, considered, understated but powerful. Whether she would do it was another question, but it turned out that she was a great lover of nature and as a WWF ambassador she is a champion for wildlife conservation. So I think that swung it and she’s been a big fan of the film ever since.

When we met she had a very clear vision of how the narration should be read. It made me nervous, but she pitched it beautifully and I was sucked right in.

SPAZ: When dealing with all the different elements, how treacherous does filming a movie like this get for the film crew?

NICK: The risks are always there, we work in quite small crews and everyone looks out for one another. We were buzzed by sharks, stung by Portuguese Man O’War and attacked by swarms of midges on the beaches of Florida, but thankfully that’s as bad as it got. I think the worst enemy is really the weather. Working in small boats tens of miles off shore made us quite vulnerable. Squalls whip up quickly and our boat was twice swamped by waves. We were also caught in a bad lightening storm, but Rory assured me that the safest place to be was in the water, so we duly jumped in and ended up with a great underwater storm sequence.

SPAZ: In this day and age, does it still amaze you that these wonderful sea creatures are still so mysterious to us, no matter how much we study them?

NICK: Yes, very much so. The oceans are in some sense our own Inner Space. There are so many unknown journeys and undiscovered creatures. The loggerhead turtle’s journey is one of the few we are really beginning to understand, but things are changing quickly and it’s an incredibly exciting time to be exploring the oceans. Satellite tags have opened up our understanding of how fish, turtles, whales and sharks travel the oceans. There really are superhighways for ocean life and discovering them is helping us to understand where they go and how best to protect them. Still, we face a huge uphill battle as fishing fleets around the world continue to plunder the oceans, decimating fisheries, destroying marine habitats and taking so much unnecessary by-catch. It is the most destructive and wasteful industry on Earth, yet because it happens on the oceans, it remains largely out of sight and out of mind.

SPAZ: While the film is entirely kid friendly, it certainly provides adults with a reminder of things they may have forgotten since their schooldays. Were you aiming this film at a specific audience or hoping for it to reach viewers of all ages?

NICK: I really wanted to make something that would appeal to kids and adults alike. I especially hoped it would appeal to families and that seems to have happened with audience ratings being particularly high on weekend matinees. At some of the screenings I’ve been to, it’s been really exciting to see kids as young as 6 or 7 in the audience lining up to ask questions. I think it’s important that we keep telling stories from the natural world and that we continue reaching out to the next generation.

SPAZ: While you certainly touch on many issues in the film (environmental and otherwise), you do it with subtlety and grace. Do you feel that holding back a little leaves the viewer a little more emotional than if you just hit them over the head?

NICK: It was tempting to do be more confrontational. As a wildlife film maker, I’ve been privileged to be able to explore the natural world and see how it’s changing. In the Caribbean, stunning reefs that I had dived on 15 years ago had completely died off. All that was left were bleached and broken corals. Nearly, everywhere you go the story is the same. It’s probably the greatest natural loss in our time and it’s something I am passionate about. But with Turtle I wanted to engage the wider audience, including young kids, rather than scare them off so yes I held back a little and let the imagination take care of the rest. My approach was to stay true to the turtle’s story and somehow I think something more powerful comes from it. And one also has to have hope, and I think in the case of the Atlantic loggerhead there are some reasons to be hopeful.

SPAZ: Society has been so fascinated with space exploration for so long, yet we have so much more to discover and understand here in our vast oceans. Do you hope that a film like Turtle might take the viewer one step closer to understanding… and perhaps inspire them?

NICK: The oceans are the last great frontier on Earth and you don’t need a rocket to go there. Our attachment to the oceans runs deep. The weather, the air we breathe and our very survival is dependent on the oceans, so exploring should be paramount.

In some ways the turtle embodies our relationship with the ocean. Once a land dweller, the turtle returned to the ocean and made it home. But it’s still something of an alien in the sea. It still has to breathe air and return to the land to lay its eggs. And given the turtle starts its journey on a beach from the day it’s born she’s the perfect protagonist for us to follow on a journey into the sea. To that end, I wanted to immerse the audience in the turtle’s odyssey; to experience it through her eyes and to capture the enormity of her journey, to see the other great nomads of the sea and experience the spectacle and magic of life the oceans. Hopefully that inspires.

SPAZ: What’s next for Nick Stringer?

NICK: Right now I’m making a documentary about a new remote underwater camera that can track and film large marine creatures for the first time. It’s really exciting as it could ultimately open a little window on the lives of some of the oceans most magnificent creatures.

I’m also writing my next feature film. It’s still in it’s infancy but the subtext is about a man’s changing relationship with the natural world.

SPAZ: What is currently spinning in DVD player?

NICK: The kids tend to hog it with Thomas the Tank Engine and Bob the Builder but I still try and get out to the cinema. Recent films include Tree of Life, The Skin I Live In and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

Thanks to Nick Stringer

Special thanks to Mary Flynn, Lauren Watt and Tony Perez

TURTLE: THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY

11.15.11

MURS/Love & Rockets, Vol. 1: Available October 11th, 2011!

2011-09-29T14:12:00.000-07:00

MURS

LOVE & ROCKETS, VOL. 1:

THE TRANSFORMATION

2011 release from the hardest-working rapper alive. If he’s not running circles around America as part of Paid Dues, the annual Hip Hop festival that he created and organized, he’s doing backflips across a stage in Budapest, or shaking hands with fans in Japan before catching a bullet train to a packed in-store performance. When he’s not on the road, he’s in the studio, feverishly adding album after album to a cavernous discography. From the rhymes in his notepad to the hair on his head, Murs is not your average rapper. Hell, he’s not your average guy. Never has been. Listening to Murs is something like listening to a regular guy who just happens to know how to rap. His lyrics are straightforward, down-to-earth, and honest, delivered with a vocal tone and forcefulness that recalls a slightly more relaxed Ice Cube.

An EXCLUSIVE interview with EVA LONGORIA!

2011-09-29T11:09:00.000-07:00

Will The Cycle Be Unbroken?

An EXCLUSIVE interview with

EVA LONGORIA

By Stephen SPAZ Schnee

For decades, the news headlines have been filled with horror stories about hazardous and harmful child labor practices in countries all over the world. We’ve read about the terrible working conditions, the long hours and the low pay, yet these articles have always concentrated on countries that seemed light years away from our comfy, cozy world. If you think that you aren’t affected by the exploitation of child laborers, think again.

The Harvest (La Cosecha), a new documentary from director U. Roberto Romano, spotlights three children (ages 12 to 16) from migrant families who endure the very same hardships that we’ve heard about over and over again in the news, but the major, and perhaps most shocking, difference is that these children are based here in America!

While the issue of immigration is a hot political topic all across the U.S., the atrocious working conditions of young migrant farm workers is seldom, if ever, addressed by vote-seeking politicians. The Harvest readdresses the situation, giving these children a name, a face and a voice: The Harvest makes the subject matter very real and very human. It is a touching and moving piece of filmmaking, yet the strength and determination of the film’s three main protagonists (Zulema, Pearla and Victor) is ultimately inspiring.

The film was produced by Shine Global, Inc., a company dedicated to ending the abuse and exploitation of children worldwide through the production of documentary films. Actress Eva Longoria, one of the stars of the immensely popular TV series Desperate Housewives, came on board as an executive producer, helping to raise enough funds to help complete the film. Longoria has long been an advocate for farm workers and was eager to help raise awareness of the plight of these children, most of whom have never experienced the joys of childhood.

Stephen SPAZ Schnee was able to catch up with Eva and discuss the film and the ongoing child labor issues here in the U.S….

SPAZ: How did you get involved with The Harvest?

EVA LONGORIA: I’ve been a long-time advocate for farm workers for over 15 years. Shine Global, which is a production company that produces documentaries to bring to light the exploitation of children that is happening all over they world, they chose to do child farm workers in America as their next project. They asked if I would come on board to raise funds to get it completed. I said “Absolutely!”

SPAZ: It seems unfathomable that children are put through such tough working conditions… and at such a young age… here in the United States. This is an issue that has remained quiet for some time. How is it that their cries have gone unheard for so long?

EVA: Every time we show the documentary, people go “Where is this? In Mexico? In Africa?” And we go, “No, no! In the United States!” That’s the main reason we wanted to do the documentary. We wanted to humanize the issue that children are a large labor force in the United States for OUR agriculture. This law, The Fair Labor Standards Act that was passed in 1938 excluded agriculture to protect family farms. Well, today, about 1% of farms are family owned. So, that loophole has allowed for exploitation of child labor here in the United States. Hopefully, we’ll be able to use this documentary as a political tool to get some sort of reform… Not immigration reform because this is NOT an immigration issue and I want to be very clear: it is NOT an immigration issue: it is a labor issue and it is a humanitarian issue. It would be great if it could help us pass some sort of guest-worker program where these people don’t live in the shadows anymore and the kids can go to school and participate as active members of our community.

SPAZ: While the focus of The Harvest is on the exploitation of migrant children, there are many other underlying stories told throughout the film, including that of the struggles of the migrant families in general as well as the economic hardships faced by the farms that hire the workers. But it also shows the love, loyalty and hard work that goes into their everyday lives. Are you pleased that the film offers the viewer a voice and a face to all of these issues… and that it may lead to a better understanding of the migrant family’s life?

EVA: Absolutely. We wanted to humanize it. I can sit here and tell you statistics all day long, but when you see that little boy washing his hands with Clorox every morning to get the pesticides out of his fingernails and off of his arms, something inside of you breaks. There’s no way I could have told you that, but when you see it you definitely have a visceral reaction to it. Also, the fact that we told it through the eyes of the children was very important… because children are raw and natural and honest. There really was no censorship when they were speaking. It was beautiful to see it unfold, at the same time painful. Roberto Romano, the director, and I were talking and he said “The craziest thing, at the end of the day is that they’re happy!” And you think, “How can these kids possibly be happy waking up at four in the morning, working all day, going to school, trying to study, get home and do it all over again?” They are living below the poverty line, not knowing where their next meal is going to come from… You see it’s because they are with their family, and family is the most important thing in the Latino culture. As long as they are together, they are happy. In the film, Victor says “I don’t want to be rich when I grow up. I don’t want to have some amazing job. I just want to be happy.” They don’t define themselves through their work. They define themselves through their culture and who they are, not what they do.

SPAZ: I felt that the very last few frames of the film were very poignant once you realize that this is a cycle that will only continue.

EVA: Yeah. You see the multi-generations in the fields and they cannot break the cycle of poverty because of the lack of education. These kids cannot go to school and they can’t keep up because they have to go to work. An 8 year old or a 10 year old should not be thinking about how to put food on the table.

SPAZ: How can people get involved to put an end to this abuse and exploitation?

EVA: There’s a lot of things people can do. One major thing is recognizing that the problem is an American problem. People say “Oh, those are immigrants, those are not citizens.” If you consume produce, fruit and vegetables, it affects you and you should be concerned about where your food comes from and who prepares it for you. On a smaller level, buy organic. People always say they’ve adjusted the pesticides so they are no longer that harmful to the farm workers. Well, they’ve adjusted the pesticide levels for a 160lb. grown man. If there are children in the fields, it’s still three or four times what their little bodies can handle. They are getting cancer at a phenomenal rate. So, when you can, buy organic because that means that these people who are interacting with the foods are not in a toxic environment. On a bigger scale, you can support the CARE Act. Six times, we’ve introduced it into Congress and it still has not passed. It would put provisions into agriculture that are currently lacking to get children out of the fields.

SPAZ: What would you like the viewer to walk away with after watching The Harvest?

EVA: I want them to walk away with compassion and to have a different perspective and a different point of view.

Thanks to Eva Longoria

Special thanks to Mary Flynn, Rick Rieger and Beth Portello

The Harvest (La Cosecha)

10.11.11

ROBBY HECHT/Last Of The Long Days: Available October 4th, 2011

2011-09-22T13:15:00.000-07:00

ROBBY HECHT

Last Of The Long Days

10.4.11

2011 sophomore album from the singer/songwriter. Last Of The Long Days takes the listener through a broad spectrum of emotions touching on forgiveness, love, indifference, joy, self-doubt and more. He writes with an honesty that captures the truth of a sentiment, building allegorical themes that allow anyone to relate the songs to the experiences of his or her own life. Last of The Long Days is a low-key stunner, an album marked by well-crafted melodies, poetic lyrics and arrangements that bring every note and emotion to life. Producer Lex Price (Mindy Smith, Matthew Ryan) has fashioned an intimate yet powerful record full of understated touches that add emotional resonance to every song.

An EXCLUSIVE Interview with ANVIL!

2011-09-16T10:43:00.000-07:00

METAL DISORDER:

An EXCLUSIVE Interview with

ANVIL guitarist/vocalist

STEVE "LIPS" KUDLOW

By Stephen SPAZ Schnee

Canadian Heavy Metal band Anvil is celebrating their 30th Anniversary as a recording unit with the release of the anthology Monument Of Metal. While the album contains 19 of their finest musical moments (including re-recordings of a handful of their early tracks), it’s merely an introduction to the band’s journey, which has been a long, frustrating and ultimately fruitful one.

Led by guitarist Steve Lips Kudlow and his childhood friend drummer Robb Reiner, the band has gone through many personnel changes over the years, although their riff rockin’ Heavy Metal sound has remained largely unchanged. While their early ‘80s contemporaries were fast becoming millionaires by jumping from one Metal trend to the next, Anvil were largely forgotten as Hair Metal took root and became the music of choice for Rock fans all over the world.

Like any other trend, Hair Metal and all the bands who sailed that ship were cast aside by Grunge, then Nu-Metal, Hardcore and every other trendy Metal genre that was quickly snapped up by the general public (and just as quickly discarded). Through it all, Anvil kept doing what they did best: creating classic Heavy Metal.

In 2008, longtime Anvil fan, former roadie and film director Sasha Gervasi put together a documentary entitled Anvil: The Story Of Anvil, which thrust the band into the spotlight again and made them instant Metal heroes. The band has never looked back and are busier than they’ve ever been.

Earlier this year, Anvil released their 14th studio album, Juggernaut Of Justice, and received some of their finest reviews to date. The album’s closing track, the glorious horn-heavy “Swing Thing”, is quite possibly the first Swing Metal track ever to be recorded, and it’s one of the band’s crowning achievements.

Barely half a year later, the Monument Of Metal compilation is about to hit the shelves and take Anvil to a new level of Heavy Metal insanity. Stephen SPAZ Schnee was able to catch up with guitarist/vocalist Steve LIPS Kudlow to discuss Anvil’s latest releases and talk about their career thus far…

SPAZ: A few months back, you released Juggernaut Of Justice and you’ve got the Monument Of Metal compilation dropping at the end of September. How are you feeling about things right now?

STEVE ‘LIPS’ KUDLOW: I feel pretty good. We’re about to start touring… well, we have been touring and it’s been quite non-stop. This has been the first actual few weeks that I haven’t been that busy. Having three weeks off, it seems like an eternity… but it’s not that long!

SPAZ: It’s your 30th Anniversary as a recording unit: did you ever consider releasing a box set spanning your three decade-long career?

LIPS: I think it was something that we were considering and it still may happen. The compilation album was the door-opener for all of it. We picked the choice tunes (for Monument Of Metal) and then we’re probably going to re-release the whole back catalog. We were talking about doing it in a box set but we’re not sure. But they may just come out individually over a duration of time. Our European label wants us to do that. But there’s some issues that still have to get worked out like unreleased tracks, obscure things that never saw the light of day… getting those included so there’s something more there than just the old catalog. There’s a bunch of stuff in the works, but everything takes time. We like to concentrate on the future rather than worrying and focusing on what we’ve already done.

SPAZ: Given that Monument Of Metal is a single disc collection, was it difficult to choose the tracks? And what were the criteria for the 19 tracks that ended up on the album?

LIPS: It’s really interesting because we didn’t really put a criteria on them. We just went, “Well, off of this album, which song?” And then we’d pick a few songs and say “This was on the first Anthology (released in 2000) and this wasn’t. And since it stands the test of time, OK, we’ll use this one!” That’s sort of how we went about doing it. We talked about the records and just picked our favorites at the moment. That’s really what it came down to. This is the second anthology that we put out. We couldn’t keep pressing the first Anthology because we had to keep buying the rights (of the songs) from the original label so we had to make a new one. We changed a few things from the first one and added a couple of re-records. Because of the legal aspect of using the old versions, it would have cost us a lot of money. Even if you own the studio albums, you’re going to want this because it has stuff you don’t have.

SPAZ: It’s pretty amazing while listening to Monument Of Metal and noticing that you have remained pretty true to your original sound over the years. Have you ever been tempted to alter your sound to keep up with the ever-changing music scene (like so many of your contemporaries have done)?

LIPS: It’s my own self-belief in my personal identity. That’s what it comes down to. I can’t be anybody else. I’m not going to contrive things just to make money. That doesn’t work for me because I take responsibility for it all, even if it’s in a detrimental way. That’s just the way it is. I’m not going to change what I’m doing… because that’s who I am! (laughs) I think that there are those who are easily influenced by outside people who are inconsequential… people who are just money-makers and want to make money. Their attitude is “Why wouldn’t you want to change your sound to make money?” If you think about it in those terms, then they are probably right if you look at it from their perspective. But from another perspective… this is what I do. When I create a song, it’s one of my songs and it sounds like one of my songs: it has an identity. Now, why would I want to change that when I’ve worked 30 years at maintaining an identity? (laughs)

SPAZ: Some bands change their style only to find that their old style has become hip again and they scramble to regain their old audience.

LIPS: It’s really the trend-oriented, commercial pop bands like Poison, who disappeared and were replaced with Alternative Rock and bands like Nirvana. The incredibly pretentious style got replaced with an incredibly unpretentious style. That sort of illustrates how trends work. Trends work like a pendulum. They swing back and forth. What might be out of date today is tomorrow’s biggest thing… and vice versa. So there’s no point in trying to change anything you do. Just wait for the pendulum to swing back! (laughs) That’s the reality of it. For most, they’re never gonna last long enough for that ever to happen. For the most part, that’s usually the case. When the pendulum does swing back, all these bands are scrambling and putting the band back together and trying to get back out on the road and going again. They didn’t stay at it, so whatever record they put out is certainly not going to have the flow. It’s going to be picking up… but not picking where they left off. It’s going to pick up further down the road because they let it slip. There’s no real way to make up for the lost time.

SPAZ: Juggernaut Of Justice is your 14th album. Back in ’81, when you released Hard ‘n Heavy, did you ever think you’d still be putting out albums 30 years on?

LIPS: I hoped I would be. You have to understand that my perspective was not to become the commercial hit of the day. I never wanted to do that. That’s not what this is about. This is Hard Rock and Hard Rock is a hard sell anyway. I never wanted to be a commercial commodity and I stayed away from it pretty much for 30 years. If you are a commercial band, that’s very very short lived. So, I’d rather put out 20 albums that are exactly the way I want to do it and what I want to do than two or three albums that are completely contrived record company product. You can always do that… or at least attempt to do that… but then you are either a hit or you are gone. I never wanted to go in that direction. That’s not with this is about. This is about longevity. It would make a lot more sense to put out a lot of hardcore records and then maybe at you’re 20th record, make an attempt at selling out! (laughs) If you hit it out of the ballpark after 20 records, then everybody’s got 20 records to buy. For us, that kind of innocently happened in a sense. Here, we stayed in the underground and we were very accepting of our situation. Then along comes a fan, from a long time ago, and makes a movie… and that changes the course of everything. The thing that’s very cool is that, what you always worry about when you’re in a Metal band is that when you become popular is that people immediately start pointing their fingers and say “Sell out! Sell out! Sell out!” But in this particular case, the movie actually glorifies the fact that we weren’t sell-outs! And it’s that that made it so successful! (laughs). People are not condemning us for becoming popular because we became popular by being unpopular!

SPAZ: Albums seem to be a dying art form these days. When putting Juggernaut… together, did you think of it as one whole, or do you still think in terms of Side A and Side B?

LIPS: I think we put it together so it would run as one whole thing. That’s what we were looking to do. You want people to listen to it from beginning to end.

SPAZ: Where on earth did “Swing Thing” come from? It’s an excellent mix of metal and horns plus a great showcase for Robb’s skills. Any chance of doing more tracks like that?

LIPS: It’s interesting. Robb has been a fan of this music for many, many years. In fact, that’s what started him on drums: seeing Buddy Rich on Here’s Lucy. As a young kid, he took drum lesson from Jazz teachers. That’s where his roots are. He took lessons until he was about 17. I’ll never forget it… his teacher used to come and give him lessons at his house and I’m standing next to Robb, his teacher and Robb’s mom and his teacher goes “This is Robb’s last lesson. There’s nothing more that I can teach him. He’s already surpassed my abilities!” It was pretty insane. He’s extraordinary fanatical in everything he does. Having that in the band, we’ve utilized many things from that genre, but of course it’s not recognizable because it’s being presented in a completely different format. We’re using distorted guitars so it really doesn’t sound like Swing when you remove the horns, let’s put it that way. But in this particular case… my father passed away about five years ago and I inherited his car. Along with his car came all these cassette tapes: Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman and, of course, the radio stations. I began listening and I wouldn’t change the stations… and it really dawned on me as to why my father thought what I was doing was noise. And how archaic and Neanderthal what I was doing in comparison to what was going on in these songs. It is how remarkable how simplistic things became. And it’s not just necessarily the music as much as musicians not being educated by the things that have been. They fall out of trend and great abilities get lost. We’re never going to see a clarinetist like Benny Goodman ever again. There isn’t a call for it so no one is striving to get there. Kids are getting up now and they’re going “I’m gonna learn how to play guitar!” That’s what’s been going on in the last 50 years. Having said that, it’s gone through an incredible evolution. Now, one day I woke up with this chord progression that I could hear being played, in my mind, with horns. And I thought that’s really interesting. I wonder how that would work if I wrote all the guitars that I’m hearing in horns. Usually when I think of things, I think of things in guitars and I never fathom horns, but this was a weird moment. I could hear the horns, so I figured it out on the guitar and I began arranging it with the band. I created a bed track that you could put horns right n top of it and that was what I was really striving to do. So I leave the tapes with our producer, Bob Marlette, who says “Lips, it’s not a problem. My wife plays. We can do it with real horns.” About a week later, he sends me the recording and I put the headphones on and I listened to it and I practically had to go empty my pants! (laughs) From a musician’s point of view, when you break barriers with a piece of music, that is the most gratifying feeling you can ever have… when you’ve created something that no one else has ever heard or fathomed before. Nothing can be more fulfilling than doing something like that.

SPAZ: Heavy Metal and Hard Rock has so many subgenres nowadays. Which genre do you think best describes Anvil?

LIPS: Part of the problem is where do we fit in? Where do you pigeonhole Anvil?

SPAZ: To me, it’s Rock ‘n’ Roll.

LIPS: It can be. There’s a lot of factors. The Juggernaut… album is like a template of all different kinds of Metal. You look at a song like “When Hell Breaks Loose”, that’s kind of Speed Metal. You’ve got a song like “Paranormal”, and that’s your dark, slow Metal. And then you’ve got “New Orleans Voodoo” and that’s like Scorpions Metal. There’s a lot of different facets on that record.

SPAZ: What’s next for Anvil?

LIPS: We have an American tour coming up in October. In November, we’re in Europe with Saxon. Then in the Spring, it’ll probably be South America. We’ve got a lot of touring this year. A lot of touring.

SPAZ: What do you currently have spinning on your CD and DVD players?

LIPS: The most recent thing I watched on DVD would have to have been Withnail & I. Every time I tried to watch it before, I couldn’t hear the sound or I fell asleep. I finally sat down with a pair of headphones and watched it. Good movie. And yesterday, I went through the process of listening to the vinyl version of Juggernaut… and the CD version.

SPAZ: And which one was better?

LIPS: The CD. It’s not because the vinyl isn’t good, it’s just that the CD is better. It’s clearer and the output is way way higher.

Thanks to Steve LIPS Kudlow

Special thanks to Anthony Balboa, Jenny Modglin, Andreas Katsambas and Kevin Farrell

ANVIL

MONUMENT OF METAL:

THE VERY BEST OF ANVIL

9.27.11

An EXCLUSIVE Interview with GEORGE LYNCH

2011-09-16T09:31:00.000-07:00

KILLING WITH KINDNESS:

An EXCLUSIVE Interview with

GEORGE LYNCH

By Stephen SPAZ Schnee

With his distinctive guitar style and his chameleon-like ability to embrace and transcend any genre, George Lynch has been one of Rock’s most respected guitar players ever since he debuted with Dokken three decades ago. While many musicians are content to play it safe and stay in their comfort zone, George has made a career out of taking chances and expanding his musical horizons.

Since he left Dokken for the first time in the late ‘80s, George has worked heavily with his own projects Lynch Mob and Souls Of We as well as his own solo work and numerous collaborations. In between all of this, he found the time to rejoin Dokken for a few years, which resulted in an upsurge in popularity for the band.

Through it all, George has never been one to live solely in the past. While not ashamed of his yesterdays with Dokken, his vision is firmly focused on today and tomorrow. He may not always stray from his Hard Rock roots, yet it is plainly obvious that he is a musician unafraid to go where his instincts take him.

While putting together a new Souls Of We album, circumstances steered the proposed album in a new direction. Powerman 5000 drummer Adrian Ost came on board for a majority of the project while Cinderella drummer Fred Coury joined in as well. While Souls Of We frontman London LeGrand was scheduled to be the sole vocalist on the album, it evolved to include guest vocals from a great variety of Rock singers including Will Martin (Earshot), Marc Torien (Bulletboys) and Keith St. John (Montrose). The resulting release, Kill All Control, is an album that embraces every aspect of Lynch’s musical past while also standing firmly in the here and now and gazing into the future. In short, it ROCKS!

Stephen SPAZ Schnee was able to catch up with George to discuss the album and his past, present and future…

SPAZ: Kill All Control has just hit the streets. How are you feeling about the album and things up to this point?

GEORGE LYNCH: Well, any artist is always optimistic and hopeful about their newest project. These records are not easy to make. You create what you think is this masterpiece out of thin air. Really, the reward is watching your creative effort evolve into something tangible. Commercial success is important as well, not because the artist wants to be a billionaire but because you truly believe people will appreciate the results of your efforts.

SPAZ: You’ve got a great set of vocalists on this album. Did you write the songs with these particular guys in mind or did you choose the best voice for each song once the songs were in the can?

GEORGE: The whole thing was one giant happy accident! (Laughs) London was the sole vocalist on the record initially. He had to bail from the record due to personal reasons and over the next two years, we had a parade of wonderful singers who came and went and left wonderful contributions in their wake. We edited the various vocalists’ performances to match the songs. The one exception is Will Martin's tracks which he worked very hard on and which remained intact.

SPAZ: How did you come to choose these vocalists in the first place?

GEORGE: I've always loved Will's voice and writing and have approached him in the past to collaborate. The timing just worked this time around. Marc Torien was subbing for Oni on some Canadian Lynch Mob dates and came in and knocked out a few tracks. Keith St. John and I have been friends and he offered to fill in the gaps and finish off the remaining songs.

SPAZ: When writing songs for Kill All Control, were any of these songs earmarked for a new Lynch Mob album or was the songwriting approach a bit different?

GEORGE: No. This was intended to be a completely different animal from Lynch Mob. We (the core band; Adrian Ost and Nic Spec) wrote all the songs instrumentally over a 10 day period then tracked it all in 14 days at Slate Studios. Getting the vocals done took almost another two years!

SPAZ: Listening to the album, it’s definitely a George Lynch album, but still sounds relevant and modern. Is it easy to keep things fresh without sacrificing your style?

GEORGE: It all depends on who you're playing with. I'm very much a musical "Zelig" and am highly influenced by my environment and the other musicians I surround myself with. If I'm jamming with Fusion or Blues cats, that's what I become.

SPAZ: The industry is a much different beast than it was back in the day with Dokken and early Lynch Mob. Has the recording process changed drastically along with everything else?

GEORGE: Yes, of course. You have to be prepared to do everything yourself and squeeze out a lot of bang for your buck. Some of my records have been self-funded in recent years. You have to replace a lot of capital with sweat equity these days.

SPAZ: Hard Rock and Heavy Metal have so many subgenres these days. Where do you think Kill All Control fits in? It’s a great Rock ‘n’ Roll album, first and foremost…

GEORGE: I'd say it belongs in the Modern Rock genre. But who knows? I hate pigeon-holing and categorizing art. That's what were forced to do to be able to market it but I don't think of the music I help create when we're creating it; which isn't very smart business-wise.. But I'm a lousy businessman.

SPAZ: While the album has an aggressive, dark tone to it, it successfully steers clear of the utter hopelessness that many bands these days specialize in. What do you want the listener to walk away with when they listen to Kill All Control?

GEORGE: I think this record's statement is all about hope and being cautiously optimistic about where we are going forward. And I think this record is opening a door to a new chapter in my writing efforts ... Taking a socially conscience tack going forward.

SPAZ: You’ve always moved forward musically. Does it frustrate you that there are still people out there that only want to see you back with Dokken?

GEORGE: Well, that's human nature. Those songs represent an era and personal history in those listeners’ lives that defines them. I understand that. And the fallout from that is that recognition allows me to create what I consider more personal and important music... To continue to chase the ideal that resides in my imagination.

SPAZ: Have you ever wanted to put out an album completely different than what people expect from you? A George Lynch bluegrass album doesn’t seem like such a bad idea...

GEORGE: All that! Of course. And not just to be different or throw a curve at folks but because I genuinely love other styles of music and that fire burns in my belly. There's is a Blind Lemon Lynch record in the pipeline! (Laughs)

SPAZ: Coming from a vinyl-based era, do you have an opinion on the whole “vinyl vs. CD” debate?

GEORGE: By law, all releases should be required a certain percentage to be released on vinyl. In my new country, Lynchtopia, it will be mandatory.(Laughs)

SPAZ: Is there any music out there that inspires you today? If so, what helps your creative juices flow?

GEORGE: Everything. Jam bands, the classics, Blues, Texas guitar guys, new Metal There's great stuff everywhere.

SPAZ: What’s next for George Lynch?

GEORGE: Working on what was to be the new Lynch Mob record, probably be going into studio early winter 2011…working on a project called Tooth And Nail with Jeff Pilson and Mick Brown from Dokken; two CD set. One CD is all new original songs; the second is re-recordings of classic Dokken songs. My biggest passion at the moment is this native American music/politico documentary film I'm working on called Shadowtrain ( http://www.shadowtrainmovie.com/). I'm also building and selling my own hand-built guitars, Mr. Scary Guitars. There's a website for that as well. (http://mrscaryguitars.com/)

SPAZ: What do you currently have spinning on your record, CD and DVD players?

GEORGE: The new T-Bone Burnett compilation and some old Uli-Jon Roth.

Thanks to George Lynch

Special thanks to Kevin Farrell, Anthony Balboa and Ryan Rainbolt

GEORGE LYNCH

KILL ALL CONTROL

AVAILABLE NOW

BEN RECTOR/Something Like This: Available September 20th, 2011!

2011-09-15T09:40:00.000-07:00

BEN RECTOR

SOMETHING LIKE THIS

9.20.11

2011 release from the singer/songwriter. Ben Rector's success has been remarkably quick: playing piano and guitar for only a few years, he has already released four albums, toured alongside Five for Fighting, Matt Wertz, Dave Barnes, and Ben Kweller, where he's played his songs for thousands of people and won fans in cities all over the country. A strong word of mouth buzz brought him across the country over the past two years, and to continued surprise, almost each and every show sold out. TV shows have also showed interest in Ben's indie rise, synching songs he has written in One Tree Hill, Drop Dead Diva, Pretty Little Liars, and more.

THE BARR BROTHERS' Self-Titled Debut Album available September 27th, 2011!

2011-09-15T09:30:00.000-07:00

THE BARR BROTHERS

THE BARR BROTHERS

9.27.11

One of the first Christmas presents that Brad and Andrew Barr received were two pairs of red boxing gloves. They set up a makeshift ring in their basement in Providence, RI and hung a bell from the water pipes. When the bell rang, it was the signifier that all rules of decent brotherly conduct were suspended for 3 minutes. It was the one time they could unleash the latent fury of being bound to each other without the threat of mom and dad coming to break it up. Anything goes. No noses were broken, no ears bitten, but by the end of each match, the impact and recoil, there was always some blood left on the floor. Within a year or so, the gloves were nothing more than nylon rags covered in ripped plastic. Brad and Andrew, in search of a new outlet, discovered rock n' roll. It was 1983.

They taught themselves how to play, at first on cardboard boxes and home-strung imitation guitars, then on actual, zebra-striped electric guitars and drums. "Wipe Out" and "Johnny B. Goode" were among the first songs absorbed into the repertoire. With the same energy they used to attack each other with boxing gloves, they attacked the popular hits of the day and old blues songs they found in their father's record collection. A healthy diet of classic and esoteric rock paved the way to the discoveries that lay ahead.

Skip ahead to 2004. The brothers had spent most of the previous decade criss-crossing North America, playing music with their spirited, improv-based rock trio, The Slip. That Spring, the band was playing a small club in Montreal, QC when a fire broke out in the venue. They grabbed a few guitars/drums and rushed out onto the rainy street with the rest of the concert goers. As the club's mezzanine was swallowed by flames, Andrew offered his coat to one of the waitresses from the bar. One year later, Brad and Andrew Barr were living in Montreal. That waitress is now one of their managers.

In his first apartment in the new city, Brad shared an adjoining wall with Sarah Pagé, a classically trained harpist from Montreal with a propensity for the experimental. As tender and visceral as she is virtuosic, her melodies would seep through the cracks of the wall and into the music Brad was writing. From this nebulous relationship, a friendship developed and the brothers, with Sarah, began recording and performing around Montreal. Soon, their friend and multi-instrumentalist Andrés Vial was brought in to lend his wide array of expertise to the outfit, playing keyboards, bass, vibes, percussion, and singing. They called themselves The Barr Brothers. With Brad's songs setting the context for the agile imaginations of the other musicians, a unique sound was born, one reliant on interwoven string arrangements, wide open spaces, and a multitude of musical traditions.

Though the boxing gloves have been long since retired, and the music, for the most part, is more refined than clobbering, there's always room for some blood on the floor

MINDLESS BEHAVIOR/#1 Girl: Available September 20th, 2011!

2011-09-08T09:12:00.000-07:00

MINDLESS BEHAVIOR

#1 GIRL

9.20.11

Mindless Behavior is a dynamic group of young men armed with limitless talent, drive, energy and a fearless passion for music and performing. Barely into their teens, the quartet's energetic fusion of Pop, Hip Hop, and R&B quite simply has the potential to transform the entire musical landscape as we know it. Comprised of four spirited 14 year old boys - Prodigy, Roc Royal, Ray Ray and Princeton - Mindless Behavior employs an insane sleek and futuristic fashion style, epic dance moves, and global-ready pop songs. Their sound resonates with lush harmonies and messages that speak to listeners of all ages.

JAPANESE POPSTARS/Controlling Your Allegiance: Available NOW!

2011-09-08T09:03:00.000-07:00

THE JAPANESE POPSTARS

CONTROLLING YOUR ALLEGIANCE

2011 release from the Electronic trio. In the two years since their debut album, We Just Are, dropped, they've toured The States, Australia, Europe and, of course Japan. But it's Controlling Your Allegiance that's the real leap forward, not least because they've used vocalists for the first time. And not just any old session singers either. First single, 'Destroy', featured an idiosyncratic and eerily compelling vocal from Jon Spencer (of Blues Explosion fame) set atop a squelching, brooding slab of nu-electro that climaxes in an unholy riot of angry synths. Decky from the Japstars had the idea of enlisting The Cure's Robert Smith for one of the rough edits.

WILL DAILEY & THE RIVALS: Available September 20th, 2011!

2011-09-07T14:38:00.000-07:00

WILL DAILY & THE RIVALS

WILL DAILY & THE RIVALS

9.20.11

2011 album from the singer/songwriter. Will is a two time winner of the Boston Music Awards "Best Singer/Songwriter". Will has performed at FarmAid with Neil Young, Dave Mathews and John Mellencamp, as well as recording with T Bone Burnett and John Mellencamp.

KATY B/On A Mission: Available September 13th, 2011!

2011-09-07T14:16:00.000-07:00

KATY B

ON A MISSION

9.13.11

2011 debut from the British singer/songwriter. Combining the rhythms of a currently resurgent UK underground club scene with a songwriting ear for the vernacular and songs that celebrate being young, staying up far too late raving and falling for the wrong boys, she s a fresh new pop star.