Returning the Screw

NYC’s Bishop Allen is the band that will hide in the washroom until forced out to play. Their charmingly self-concious hooky pop is almost as awkward as a computer programmer who is forced to talk to a girl. Or at least it was. The first single from their new EP, “January”, has recently been made available on their Web site. “Corazon” shows the boys are getting some confidence and have developed into a more mature pop act. Singer Christian Rudder sounds a lot like Ian McCulloch from Echo and the Bunnymen, which, I think is more coincidence than an attempt to jump on the retro ’80s bandwagon.

If “Corazon” is any indication of where the band is headed, then I’m excited to hear about where they go from here.

Aprill 11, 2006. That’s the date you should mark on your calendar. Why? Because that’s the day that Jade Tree is releasing three of Avail’s old records:

• Dixie
• 4am Friday
• Over the James

Of these, Over the James is probably my favorite. Check out Scuffle Town [MP3 - 1.9 MB], which is a 1:18 of education on how hardcore can and should be played, and how it can be an enriching and empowering experience.

I accidentally stumbled across Lawrence Livermore’s blog, which was a completely awesome find. Livermore was one of my favourite punk writers; I used to track down a copy of his zine, Lookout!, whenever it came out, and I still pick up Punk Planet once or twice a year to read his column. He has led an interesting life that has seen him growing up a tough guy greaser in his native Detroit, to living in rural California growing pot, to becoming an important presence in the punk scene, co-founding Lookout Records, which gave the world Green day, Operation Ivy, and brought bands like Screeching Weasel, The Queers wider audiences. I can’t believe the guy is pushing 60, though.

In a posting dated, uh, tommorrow, he writes about a gig his band played in Victoria, B.C. and I think I was at that show. If I remember correctly, The Potatomen were sandwiched between cub and the Mr T Experience. MTX’s set was more karaoke because singer Dr. Frank had laryngitis and so people from the audience came up and sang Mr. T Experience songs accompanied by the band. Jon Murphy from the local band The Stupes sang a bunch.

I made it a point to track down Livermore after their set and gave him a copy of the newest issue of my zine. He promised to read it and let me know what he thought, but, I wasn’t too shocked when I never heard from him.

Good times.

Lee’s Palace, February 3, 2006

I’ve always liked Lee’s Palace as a venue, except when it’s packed so tight you can’t move your foot without stepping on someone else’s. Such was the case last night as I went with some friends to check out the first of two nights The Sadies’ are playing to record a live record or DVD or something. Bringing with them are a list of kindred spirits, like, among others, Greg Keelor and Jim Cuddy from Blue Rodeo, Neko Case, Jon Langford, Jon Spencer, a couple of guys from the Deadly Snakes, Gary Louris from the Jayhawks, Kelly Hogan, and Garth Hudson from The Band, which I thought was especially cool.

But while the show had a Last Waltz feel to it, it didn’t seem to have that focussed sense of purpose; rather it seemed to be a tribute to friends and family and of similar roads traveled. The Sadies are a band that other musicians seem to be attracted to, and the nature of their collaborations with other musicians over the years make them more than just hired guns, but full participants in the creative process, and so when they started making calls to see who would want to come out for this recording, everyone wanted in.

Part of what makes them The Sadies is that, while they are fully capable of carrying the show themselves and being the centre of attention all night, they were happy to remain in the background while one of their friends took the spotlight. The two most obvious examples of this was during Jon Spencer’s and Neko Case’s segments. Spencer took control of the proceedings almost immediately, shaking and wailing like only Jon Spencer does.

Neko Case, who, if the early reviews are any indication, is only going to be bigger when her new CD is released next month, waved shyly to the crowd when she was introduced. But there is something about her that brings out the weirdos. When she was putting on her guitar, some loser shouted “Sing a song for me, Neko!”

“Um, yeah, I think that’s what I’m up here for,” she retorted.

The guy behind me shouted, “Rated X, honey. Sing it for me, baby.” And I’m thinking, are they fucking joking?

Anyway, after almost two hours, the band brought everyone back for the pre-requisite production number, and I hope it was an amazing experience for the musicians, but I didn’t really get anything from it. Thinking about it afterward, I wondered if the contrived nature of the show made it harder to connect with; it was more variety show than rock show.