Search Results for: JOHN

THE THRILLS GOLDEN STATE CELEBRATION ‘SO MUCH FOR THE CITY’

Interviews,

FOREWORD: Impressive Dublin quintet, the Thrills, deserve better American recognition. I never even heard their ’07 album, Teenager. But in ’03, the guys took off from Ireland for sunny California seeking musical stimulation. The result, So Much For The City, brought critical plaudits. ‘04s Let’s Bottle Bohemia (featuring Van Dyke Parks idiosyncratic orchestral input) was nearly as good. This article originally appeared in Aquarian Weekly.

Growing up as neighborhood friends in damp, urban Dublin, Ireland, singer-songwriter Conor Deasy and guitarist …

JOSH ROUSE FEELS RIGHT AT ‘HOME’

Interviews

FOREWORD: Josh Rouse hit the ground running with ‘98s excellent debut, Dressed Up Like Nebraska. ‘01s Home was nearly as good and ‘03s magnificient conceptual singer-songwriter era paean, 1972, showed off skillful pop hooks. ‘05s Nashville found Rouse staying in stride while ‘06s Subtitulo didn’t fare as well. Look forward to his next work. This article originally appeared in Aquarian Weekly.

Spawn from America’s wide-open heartland terrain, Tennessee-bound Nebraskan singer-songwriter-guitarist Josh Rouse delivers homespun confessionals with strikingly meditative melancholia. But …

JILL SOBULE CLAIMS ‘UNDERDOG VICTORIOUS’

Interviews

 

 

 

FOREWORD: I interviewed conversationalist folk satirist, Jill Sobule, at the old Paramus Picture Show, where she was headlining to support ‘04s Underdog Victorious. She had received a smidgen of aboveground fame with flirtatious lesbian gag, “I Kissed A Girl,” nearly a decade earlier. And she knew my friend, Phil Calitre, since they both attended Colorado University. In ’09, Sobule got online fans to raise thousands for the recording of California Years.

Blessed and cursed by having a hit …

SUPERCHUNK BRING ME ‘CUP OF TEA’ AND ‘COME PICK ME UP’

Interviews

FOREWORD: In the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, before Arcade Fire became enormous and got respected indie label, Merge Records, topnotch exposure, I was friendly with owners Laura Balance and Mac Mc Caughen, the ex-couple that fronted Chapel Hill combo, Superchunk. I’ve seen ‘em play riveting sets at Maxwells and Mercury Lounge. Nowadays, I have trouble getting serviced with new CD’s by their still-thriving company. Such is life. I’ve included two Aquarian Weekly articles herein. The first was done to

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TEENAGE FANCLUB COMEBACK WITH FRIENDLY ‘HOWDY!’

Interviews,

FOREWORD: Teenage Fanclub roughen up glammy power pop with noisy guitars in a way shoegazers and grungemeisters approved. The Scottish band, led by Norman Blake, achieved tremendous indie exposure for ‘91 masterpiece, Bandwagonesque. I spoke to Blake ten years hence, during promotion for TF’s valiant Howdy! It bettered future endeavors such as ‘02s middling Words Of Wisdom And Hope (done with Half Japanese pop eccentric, Jad Fair) and ‘05s return-to-form Man-Made. This article originally appeared in Aquarian Weekly.

Prior to …

STEELY DAN RISE UP AS ‘TWO AGAINST NATURE’

Interviews, ,

FOREWORD: It’s rare when you get the chance to interview a band you grew up with once they receive fame and fortune -especially one with such a mystical aura.  But I got to speak candidly to Steely Dan co-leader Walter Becker when the band reassembled following a few solo LPs.

Luckily, by the time these unequivocal ‘70s-based jazz-rock ‘meshers’ got back together to do 2000’s Two Against Nature, they were looking for further exposure.

Three years later, I tried to

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VELVET CRUSH MAXIMIZE POWER POP ON ‘STEREO BLUES’

Interviews

FOREWORD: Velvet Crush mainstays Paul Chastain and Ric Menck make more money backing up power pop icon, Matthew Sweet, than they did leading their own exuberant combo. But that’s life in the music biz. They haven’t collaborated on a new recording since I did this interview promoting ‘04s worthy Stereo Blues. This article originally appeared in Aquarian Weekly.

Just as Canada’s Sadies and Arizona’s Calexico make a living headlining and sidelining, multi-instrumentalists Paul Chastain and Ric Menck concurrently front …

WILDHEARTS U.S. INVASION ‘MUST BE DESTROYED!’

Interviews,

FOREWORD: I took my eleven-year-old son, Johnny, to see demonic English rockers, the Wildhearts, at Philadelphia’s South Street club, Theatre Of Living Arts, in February ‘04. They were opening for grateful nouveau rich proteges The Darkness. Though my son kept me from enjoying a guaranteed night of post-show debauchery, I still had a helluva good night throwing back Heinekens at the densely populated stage left area. Over the phone during our interview weeks before, Ginger giddily warned the public, “We’re

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CHRIS WHITLEY READILY JOURNEYING INTO ‘TERRA INCOGNITA’

Interviews

FOREWORD: The late Chris Whitley was a magical guitarist whom I was mesmerized by at the Knitting Factory in ’95. By that time he had become inspired by New York’s growing noise rock scene. Prior to ‘97 s Terra Incognita, I met Whitley at a lower Manhattan café to shoot the breeze. He was sincere, forthright, and smoked a lot.

Tragically, lung cancer killed him by age 45. Up to his untimely demise, he had continually put out great, yet

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VISQUEEN’S ‘KING ME’

Interviews,

FOREWORD: Visqueen’s lead voice, Rachel Flotard, rifles through hard rockin’ blazers with the best of ‘em. Her fiery declarations on ‘03s King Me capture lusty heart-wrecked emotions with first-rate furor and passion. On ’04 follow-up, Sunset On Dateland, Visqueen reliably bashed through another fine batch of high-energy tunes.

They opened for Cheap Trick and the Donnas, gaining some underground hype. I caught ‘em at Maxwells in Hoboken for a brisk ’03 headlining set. Afterwards, Ronnie Barrett, who backed another powerhouse

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THE REPUTATION READY ‘TO FORCE A FATE’

Interviews

FOREWORD: Another band that had so much potential but fell apart too soon. The Reputation, led by wailing soprano, Elizabeth Elmore, was rapidly touring to reach maximum accessibility on influential Green Day-sponsored pop-punk label, Lookout Records. But when Green Day left the label, Lookout’s money revenue dried up and the Rep called it quits after two potent albums. Elmore, who was working on a law degree at the time we spoke in ’04, no doubt pursued legal work after her

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ROONEY ‘CALLING THE WORLD’ VIA CALIFORNIA POP

Interviews

FOREWORD: Saw Rooney at the Meadowlands’ Izod Center March of 2008, opening for Jersey-born Disney idols, Jonas Brothers. My daughter, Nicki (a huge Jonas Brother fan) and I got to sit front row. I always thought I got special treatment that evening because the Jonas’ remembered me from an Irving Plaza interview. As for Rooney, their catchy hand-me-down pop really won me over before the screaming girls took over the arena for the latest teen dreams. This article originally appeared

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