Search Results for: JOHN

LES SAVY FAV READY TO ‘GO FORTH’

Interviews

FOREWORD: Les Savy Fav began in ’95 when Rhode Island School of Design student, Tim Harrington, and some pals, decided to try their hand making music. Bearded theatrical singer, Harrington, who wore makeup and defied male sexuality, got his first break when ‘99s The Cat & The Cobra received lots of college and underground airplay for Les Savy Fav. By ’01, they’d completed Go Forth.

I caught up with Harrington at Brooklyn club, Warsaw, where his frenzied agit-pop group tore

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LOS LOBOS CONTINUE BUILDING LEGACY ‘THIS TIME’

Interviews,
FOREWORD: If it weren’t for La Bamba, the movie based on popular Latin-American ‘50s rocker, Ritchie Valens, Los Lobos would’ve never gained aboveground attention. Thanks to that lucky break, they’ve been able to expand their musical horizons in many varied directions, brushing back mainstream success to concentrate on roots-based musings.
 
Strewn across a dozen albums, Los Lobos’ folk-y Tex-Mex-designed Rhythm & Blues-sidled boleros, rancheros, and nortenos deserve the same widespread attention garnered by the #1 La Bamba soundtrack.
 
After this

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STEPHIN MERRITT’S MAGNETIC FIELDS, 6THS, AND FUTURE BIBLE HEROES

Interviews,

FOREWORD: Reserved singer-songwriter, Stephin Merritt, may indeed be as reclusive and shy as the press indicates. Suffering from an ear disease that prohibits loud music and now living in Los Angeles (after a long spell in the Big Apple), Merritt puts his despair-riddled life experiences into depressive canticles and facetious missives. First time I met him in person, the Magnetic Fields were playing Maxwells and Merritt had his tiny chihuahua named Irving in his pocket prior to their retro-fit neo-Classically

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GREG DULLI’S TWILIGHT SINGERS GET WHIGGED OUT

Interviews, ,

FOREWORD: Capable Cincinnati singer-guitarist, Greg Dulli, slowly gained prominence, first as the leader of the Afghan Whigs, then under the pseudonymous Twilight Singers banner, and finally, as wily collaborator in the Gutter Twins. Getting back to the Whigs – I’m still curious to find their formative ’88 debut, Big Top Halloween (pictured below). ’00s Up In It and ’02s Congregation easily sufficed. And ‘93s Gentlemen, released in the heat of grunge’s populist surge, found a wider international audience due

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THE FROGS ARE PUNKER THAN YOU

Interviews,

FOREWORD: I was not so much impressed by the Frogs off-the-cuff home-recorded coffeehouse-styled punk-imbibed novelties as much as I was intrigued by their audacious rips on conservative moralists and asshole media types. Wisconsin brothers Dennis and Jimmy Flemion began the Frogs was back in 1980, but only received properly publicized exposure ten years after when several soon-to-be-famous grunge artists touted them. I interviewed Dennis Flemion in ’01, when the Frogs last album, Hopscotch Lollipop Sunday Surprise, was released, and then

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COME KEEPS DRIPPING ON ‘NEAR LIFE EXPERIENCE’

Interviews, ,

 

FOREWORD: Though I’d spoken to Come boss, Thalia Zadek, and right-hand axe man, Chris Brokaw, several times before (at the Mercury Lounge and other venues), this 1997 interview at a Chelsea café in Manhattan was our first ‘sitdown.’ Zedek had worked her way up the alt-rock no wave ladder through formative bands such as Dangerous Birds, Uzi, and Live Skull, releasing a few solo albums after Come disbanded in ’99. Chris Brokaw, former Codeine drummer, made over a half-dozen hard-to-find

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MASTERS OF REALITY SKEW THE BLUES

Interviews,

FOREWORD: Masters Of Reality frontman Chris Goss informally inspired the entire stoner rock movement of the late ‘90s. I met Goss at a cordial dinner ’97 party at some small Manhattan eatery prior to this interview – which was conducted over the phone due to a horrendous accident blocking the Washington Bridge.

At the schmoozing dinner party were many High Times and Smug Magazine pals. As the smoke cleared and after Goss performed acoustically, I got to speak to the

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LILYS / SWIRLIES @ KNITTING FACTORY

Live Reviews

Lilys / Swirlies / Knitting Factory / May 23, 2003

Lilys mainstay, Kurt Heasley, and Swirlies mastermind, Damon Tutunjian have a lot in common. Both originally took inspiration from cynical trailblazing UK noise-rock shoegazers Jesus & Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine; gained significant underground prominence around ’92; survived some lean years; and returned to the studio for worthy ’03 albums promoted for curious Knitting Factory patrons this rainy Friday eve.

Splitting time living between New York and Boston, Tutunjian …

HIGH LLAMAS / LOW / MAGNETIC FIELDS @ TRAMPS

Live Reviews

High Llamas / Low / Magnetic Fields / Tramps, April 9, 1998

Pleasantly charming lightweight art-pop rarely gets any more intimate and mesmerizing than this wonderfully adorned triple bill on a rainy Thursday evening at Tramps. The well-balanced lineup of sure-footed underground musicians made sure the audience went away both relaxed and pleased. Several fans left before the High Llamas finished, but that was mainly because they were ultimately satisfied and probably tired (the headliners played for more than 80 …

AMY RIGBY WISHIN’ AND HOPIN’ TO BE ’18 AGAIN’

Interviews

FOREWORD: I befriended self-proclaimed ‘mod housewife’ Amy Rigby (birth name: Amelia Mc Mahon) after catching her live show several times in Brooklyn and New York. I originally did a piece on her for HITS magazine to support ‘96 breakthrough, Diary Of A Mod Housewife. She was always kind despite having to do full-time secretarial work to make ends meet when not performing. Rigby and her then-current band (Dennis Diken of the Smithereens; Brad Albetta of Mary Lee’s Corvette; Jon Graboff,

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WILL RIGBY READILY BECOMES ‘PARADOXAHOLIC’

Interviews

FOREWORD: Originally, drummer Will Rigby was in acclaimed ‘80s indie pop band, the DB’s (pictured below). Unlike most of his peers, he continued being a viable artist into the ‘90s and beyond (though I’m not sure what he’s been up from ’07 onward). Once married to topical songbird, Amy Rigby, he went on to release two solo albums. He has also been potent sideman for respected artists Steve Earle, Matthew Sweet, and Freedy Johnston.

A hilarious humorist when he wants

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THE SIGHTS HAVE ‘GOT WHAT WE WANT’

Interviews, ,

FOREWORD: The Sights are diminutive singer-guitarist, Eddie Baranek, and whomever he decides to jam with. I originally befriended Eddie following a phone interview to support ‘02s colorful ‘60s-imbued garage rock set, Got What We Want. For a twentysomething kid, he had tremendous passion and a great knowledge of rock history. I met him at Bowery Ballroom and we partied like it was 1999. That night, he didn’t let a Rolling Stone reporter onto the guest list because that now-sterile publication

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