Sharks Live!

That's pronounced "l-eye-vvvv" up in the headline, not "l-ivvvv", but I could see how one could read it that way.

Sharks is a UK band with Rise Records, which has rounded up the best of the bands' songs over the last two years onto a CD and the band is touring the US in April and May with Social Distortion (dates below).

From the PR blurb:
"Sharks was named one of Alternative Press’ 100 Bands You Need to Know in 2011 and will be on the entire Vans Warped Tour this summer. Starting April 26th the band will touring the US with Social Distortion and Chuck Ragan. See dates below.

Sharks’ US debut The Joys Of Living 2008-2010 comes out April 5, in a unique partnership between their own label Velvet Scene and Rise Records. The 14-song album is actually a compilation of sorts, showcasing the band’s first 2 years worth of recorded material ('Shallow Waters' and 'Show Of Hands' EP's and the 'Common Grounds' single) as well as 2 brand new songs."


Here's a glimpse of the band covering the Replacements' "Can't Hardly Wait":


Sharks Tour Dates (w/ Social Distortion and Chuck Ragan):
-April 26 Albuquerque / Sunshine Theatre
-April 27 El Paso / Club 101
-April 29 Tulsa / Cain’s Ballroom
-May 3 Kansas City, MO / Beaumont Club
-May 4 St. Louis / The Pageant
-May 5 Chicago, IL / Mayne Stage
-May 6 Indianapolis / Egyptian Room @ Old National Centre
-May 7 Milwaukee / The Rave
-May 8 Cincinnati / Bogart’s
-May 9 Kalamazoo, MI / The Strutt (SHARKS & CHUCK RAGAN ONLY)
-May 10 Columbus / LC Pavilion
-May 11 Pittsburgh / Stage AE
-May 12 West Chester, PA / The Note (SHARKS & CHUCK RAGAN ONLY)
-May 13 Baltimore / Rams Head Live!
-May 14 Asbury Park / The Stone Pony Summer Stage
-May 15 Providence / Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel
-May 16 Brooklyn, NY / The Bell House (SHARKS & CHUCK RAGAN ONLY)
-May 17 Norfolk / The NorVa
-May 18 Richmond / The National

Here's the official new video for the Sharks single "It All Relates" - you gotta skip ahead to 1:06 before any music occurs...but it's worth the wait. The song rocks.

March 30, 1978 - Guns on the Roof

"On this day in Clash rock history...."



Yes, allegedly, on March 30, 1978, The Clash’s bassist Paul Simonon & drummer Topper Headon were arrested after shooting racing pigeons from the roof of Chalk Farm Studios in London. Four police cars & a helicopter were required to make the arrest. They were fined $1,360. (Thanks, Paul)

Johnny Green, road manager for the Clash in the late 1970, called this the 'infamous pigeon incident' in his book "A Riot of Their Own". The band later wrote about this incident for their song "Guns on the Roof. Hear a live version of the song below.


Need more Clash today? Read what Rolling Stone writes:
"In 1979, 'Rolling Stone' writer Mikal Gilmore went to London to hang out with The Clash. What he learned from Joe Strummer, Mick Jones and the rest of the band."

LCD Soundsystem - Final Stretch

[Image from BrooklynVegan]
Click to BrooklynVegan for the review, setlist, fan comments and much more on the first night of LCD Soundsystem's start of their series of 'finale' shows this week in New York.

"The show is long and great, full of hits and rarities, and you'll want to dance, so if you're going to the second show tonight (3/28), or the third tomorrow, or the fourth the day after that, or LCD's final show ever at MSG on Saturday, try to go with some energy."

More goods on the night at Jamband.com, which wrote:

"LCD Soundsystem kicked off its final stretch of performances last night at New York’s Terminal 5. In sharp contrast to the group’s tight single-set show, last night’s performance consisted of three sets and a short encore. The band ran through material recorded throughout its career and brought out a male choir and horn section on select songs.

LCD frontman James Murphy explained the show’s multi-part format before the group’s first set break and apologized to fans for the ticket fiasco when the group’s final show went onsale. At the start of its second, LCD Soundsystem bused into “45:33,” a piece of music Murphy created for Nike and later worked into parts of the band’s breakthrough album Sounds of Silver. The extended suite of songs opened into something of a livetronica jam that featured guest appearances by former Maktub/Soulive vocalist Reggie Watts and members of both The Juan MacLean and Shit Robot."

Dandelion Don't Tell No Lies

"Dandelion don't tell no lies...." - Great song. That is all.



From Wikipedia:

"Dandelion" is a song by the British rock 'n roll band The Rolling Stones.
It was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and first released as a B-side to "We Love You" in August, 1967. A lighthearted song, it reached # 14 in the United States, and effectively became the A-side there (as the edgier "We Love You" disappointed at # 50 on US charts). This is reflected in "Dandelion" appearing on both the US and United Kingdom versions of Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2) in 1969, while "We Love You" appeared only on the UK version.

The first demo version of the song was titled Sometimes Happy, Sometimes Blue and had different lyrics. It was sung and played by Keith Richards.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney are rumoured to have contributed the falsetto backing vocals for this song. (Lennon and McCartney are also credited with the backing vocals on "We Love You".) It has been included on several compilations, including Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2), More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies), Singles Collection: The London Years, and Rolled Gold+: The Very Best of the Rolling Stones"

The Hagar Diaries

Rolling Stone Mag has a picture series with words from Sammy Hagar's new book "Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock".

Rolling Stone picks out parts from Hagar's years in VH2 - here's a fun part about the band rehearsing and finding their groove. Lot more at the link above on Eddie's slow descent into alcoholism.

"We started playing, and the engineer Donn Landee recorded everything we did. I made up the first line on the spot: "Summer nights and my radio." It just popped into my head the first time I heard that riff. The rest of the song I scatted my way through. I did the same thing with "Good Enough" -- I really had my scat together. Eddie couldn't believe it. Dave apparently didn't have good rhythm and wasn't a great singer, didn't have any range. I was singing Eddie's guitar licks with him. After five hours, they were freaking out. "We've got a band," they kept saying."

- Click here and scroll down for Chapters 19 and 20 from the book.

- See a recent video with Sammy at the Gibson Guitar site.

Thee Oh Sees at SXSW

I've been reading/hearing good buzz action from SXSW about San Francisco band Thee Oh Sees. If anyone remembers the cool Coachwhips from early '00s, Thee Oh Sees is led by the same guy (John Dwyer) and his punked-up garage rock band just finished up two months of shows this past weekend.

Here's a clip of some of the excitement of the band and its fans at a March 17 SXSW house party gig. This doesn't look or sound too dissimilar from a Coachwhips gig I saw in 2002, when Dwyer got the band off the stage and into the crowd for a straight-up rock show in front of us. Great fun that was.

The Clash - Ooh Baby Ooh (early 'Gates of the West')

Here's an early demo version from The Clash of their song "Gates of the West" in an early form, called, presumably "Ooh Baby Ooh" if it had a title at all.

If you've never heard it, it's worth a blast through, to get the understanding of how this song progressed from a typical Mick Jones' early love-type song to a call to arms with band input from either Bernie Rhodes or Joe Strummer, to turn this into a Super Clash song.



And if you're wonderin' what Mick Jones has been up to lately, well, he was singing 'Should I Stay Or Should I Go" at a W hotel opening in London last week! True dat. Check it out here.

Renaissance Rabblerousers Rocket Glide

No, Renaissance Rabblerousers is not the name of a new band, but I suppose it could be. Take it. use it.

On the web this week that you may have caught or missed, or I may have slogged or pissed...

- There are two new books out on David Bowie - the first is called "Starman: The Definitive Biography" by Paul Trynk and the second is called "Any Day Now" by Kevin Cann. Click the link to read The Guardian's breakdown of both. Get more recent Bowie news at Bowie Wonderworld.

- DuranDuran was excellent in the Unstaged concert at LA's Mayan Theater last night, directed by David Lynch. Catch LA Weekly's review of the proceedings. Here's Ology's take on it.

- The Canadian Press wonders how many Junos Arcade Fire might win after its big Grammy take last month.

- Popmatters hits up Marky Ramone for the old 'twenty questions' gambit. Sample wisdom:
Q: Time travel: where, when, and why?
A: Back to the ‘60s and ‘70s when music was real and the city was dangerous.

And your moment of rock and roll cover zen: Eddie Vedder sings the Ramones' "I Believe in Miracles" with Seattle rockers Zeke.

Holy Ghost! - Jam For Jerry

I'm a sucker for ANY period New Order - early, mid or late. DFA label synth pop band Holy Ghost! really takes the New Order template and drives it to summer 2011 with this track 'Jam For Jerry', from their upcoming release in April.

Pitchfork writes:
"Holy Ghost! innately grasp the visceral appeal of propulsive dance, but "Jam For Jerry" pairs it with the conflicted emotions that stem from tragedy. On the New Order-like chorus, Frankel warmly exclaims, "If I could change it all I would/ If only I could," then appends it with a nearly swaggering vote of confidence ("You can quote me/ Hold me to it"); a dose of inexplicable guilt gets thrown in there too: "I get the feeling I've done, something half wrong." The second half of the song is subsumed by that chorus, which gives way to an instrumental outro that builds and then, simmers down to silence, never quite resolved."

Here's how the song sounded from a recent Holy Ghost! live gig - awesome.


I have Holy Ghost!'s 2007 song 'Hold On' on my MP3 device, and dig its somewhat slower synth pop. Holy Ghost! playes this weekend at the dance-centric Ultra Music Festival. Then See Holy Ghost! on tour in your town and dance your gazonga off.

Lard - 70s Rock Must Die

A decade or so ago, the two guys from Ministry (Al Jourgensen and Paul Barker) got together with Dead Kennedys' singer Jello Biafra to create Lard the band. One of the band's finer moments was this musical lambast of hair metal and 1970s cock rock called "70s Rock Must Die", a so-awesome rippage of the tight jeans, poufed hair and hedonistic lifestyle of the 70s rockers. All the cutting lyrics are not easily heard the first time, so they're reprinted below for your sing-a-long pleasure. Sing along - Devil's horns high!



70s Rock Must Die
I was cruisin' in a car
Down Melrose Boulevard
When I stopped all the traffic
I was laughin' so hard
Standin' on the corner
Was this rock n roll dude
In leather pants thinkin' he was cool
He had the jacket
He had the shades
Farrah Fawcett hair
Or was that a wig
Face like a turtle
Trying in vain to look stoned
You could tell he'd been practicing
At home in the mirror
He'd probably been posing like that all day
Didn't matter that is was a hundred degrees
In the shade

Well c'mawn, well c'mawn
Seventies rock must die
Well c'mawn, well c'mawn
Seventies rock must die

Bogus bands, plastic rock stars
Stupid clothes and the worst made cars
Country rock making us all sick
While John Travolta wags his double-knit prick

Being a teen back than
Man, it was a drag
Bicentennial and no one burned the flag
You think we live in pretty desperate times
When people wanna go back to nineteen seventy five
My Saturday Night Fever fantasy
Lock the Bee Gees in a Pinto
And ram it from the rear
Burn, baby

Well c'mawn, well c'mawn
Seventies rock must die
Well c'mawn, well c'mawn
Seventies rock must die

Suck my ego, pay to play
Got nothing more to say
As we sell you a stairway to boredom

Look around at the hip people
Set in their ways
Reaching back to the things they used to say they hate
Young old brats playing fossil rock
Pistols reunions pass for rebellion

Radio and TV gettin' to damn bland
With collegiate boy Neil Young copy bands
Underground's becoming an alternative joke
Even Aerosmith hates all the Aerosmith clones
I know they don't make 'em like the Son of Sam
But even punks wanna go back to seventy seven

Well c'mawn, well c'mawn
Seventies rock must die
Well c'mawn, well c'mawn
Seventies rock must die

Hugh Cornwell tour hits Phoenix this weekend

Saturday night sees the Phoenix appearance of singer-guitarist Hugh Cornwall, best known for his years in the Stranglers during the original '76-79 punk era. Hugh is playing with a full band, including former Blondie drummer Clem Burke and others. Several cool local rock bands, including hosts and friends Glass Heroes, will help set the mood.

Hugh's website says this about the dates:
"First set will feature Hugh solo classics and Stranglers hits, followed by Rattus Norvegicus IV." Yes! That means fans will be able to hear classics from Rattus Norvegicus like 'Sometimes', 'London Lady' and the classic Stranglers classic 'Get a Grip on Yourself' - sounds like a sweet deal for $5. The show goes down at George & Dragon in Phoenix.

Hugh Cornwell - Clem Burke dates:
22nd Mar - HOUSTON, TX Numbers
23rd Mar - AUSTIN TX, Lovejoys
24th Mar - DALLAS, TX, Double Wide
26th Mar - PHOENIX, AZ George & Dragon
27th Mar - LONG BEACH, CA Alex's Bar

Here's the band a few weeks ago performing the Stranglers' smash hit 'Golden Brown':

The Baseball Project in AZ all week!

Spring fever is in the air, and baseball's part of it! Steve Wynn, Scott McCaughey, Linda Pitmon and Peter Buck make up The Baseball Project, a supergroup of great rock musicians who combine their love of baseball with their music-making talents to create something (duh) winning!

The quartet's new release High and Inside mixes insightful lyrics about baseball players past and present with a sharp melodic sensibility and engaging choruses. Opener "1976" is one of the catchiest songs to ever be written about anything from Detroit. (In this case, it's Tigers phenom pitcher Mark "The Bird" Fidrych.) "Ichiro Goes to the Moon" is a manic punk-pop track that marvels at the Seattle Mariners outfielder's ability to eat, build rockets, and yes, play baseball.

According to their schedule, the band flies into Phoenix this week to soak up some baseball, play their songs at some of the Spring training games and a concert and likely just hang out in the sun! See the band at several games this week and check out the early show Friday night at Martini Ranch.

SXSW - The Naked and the Famous "Young Blood"

There's a bit of a buzz on the young New Zealand band The Naked and the Famous at SXSW this week. At my last count, there's about 4-5 videos from different venues of the band playing their song below 'Young Blood'.

I like the song, but the drummer drags down this particular version a bit. Nice Kate Bush-isms in the "yeah, yeah, yeah" parts...

More on The Strokes from SPIN

Read interview snippets with bandmembers in The Strokes in this month's SPIN.

Here are a few:

From Albert Hammond, Jr:
"Hammond is comfortable up here, away from the fray in the East Village, where he still has an apartment. His friend, comedian David Cross (see page 62!) lives in the area, and in 2008 showed the land to Hammond, who then had the house built, right around the time of his split with then-fiancée British model Agyness Deyn. The house is simple but beautiful -- classic-country exterior, contemporary interior, wraparound porch, gleaming cherry wood floors, giant fireplace, white bearskin rug. It's the sanctuary Hammond needed after the past few years, which included what he calls a "hardcore" drug rehab that proved to be not the smallest, but definitely not the only, obstacle impeding the Strokes' return."

From Fab Moretti:
"Moretti taps his feet. "I think this record will determine a lot about our future."

"How would you describe the album?" I ask.

"Some type of gigolo or a prostitute or something that's easy."

I raise one eyebrow.

"I'd hope everyone has a night with this record," he grins."

SXSW - The Joy Formidable

Another magical moment captured on video from South by Southwest - Brit noise trio The Joy Formidable kicking out pulsating rhythms, feedbacked guitars and musical mayhem in a bike shop in Austin, TX. Thanks to the dude who videotaped it.

Rock Clip of the Week - The Real Kids, All Kindsa Girls

Heard Boston band The Real Kids' 1977 punk-pop classic "All Kindsa Girls" the other day and wanted to get it onto my blog - if you haven't heard it, you should! Rock it below!



From Filmthreat:
"Led by singer/songwriter John Felice, the Real Kids exploded onto the Boston club scene playing long-forgotten tunes from the ’50s by the likes of Eddie Cochran and Buddy Holly. As well as Felice’s dazzling, punky originals such as “Solid Gold (Thru and Thru)”, “Taxi Boys”, “Just Like Darts” and the classic anthem “All Kindsa Girls”. All of these tunes were captured on their self-titled debut release for Marty Thau’s Red Star Records in 1978. “The Real Kids” remains one of the best debut albums in the history of rock’n'roll."

Foo Fighters at SXSW - My Hero

The Foo Fighters played the SXSW Interactive closing party on Tuesday night at short notice and played their "Wasting Light" new LP all the way through, then started in playing what Dave Grohl called the "massive hits".

Here's what the start of that second part of the set looked and sounded like. They began that set with "My Hero".

Duran Duran at SXSW

Duran Duran opened their South by Southwest set at Stubbs in Austin, TX last night with - get this - "A View to a Kill!" See below.



Consequences of Sound's Cap Blackard was there and wrote:

"Stubbs and SXSW played host to the kick-off of Duran Duran’s 2011 world tour. LeBon and co. delivered a smashing 12 song performance beginning with “View to a Kill” ending with “Girls on Film” and highlighting the entirety of their thirty year career. The tour is backing their recently released 13th album, All You Need is Now. A few new tracks punctuated the catalog-digging performance, including one that the band jokingly restarted after botching the intro. “We did say that this was our first show of the tour, right?” Set highlights included the long-retired “Friends of Mine” from their first album, the new track “Being Followed”, an outstanding performance of “The Chauffer” featuring LeBon on what looked like an ocarina, and their encore rendition of “Girls on Film” featuring an interlude of the Motown track “Poppa Was A Rollin’ Stone” and solos from every performer. Naturally, “Hungry Like the Wolf”, “Notorious”, and “Ordinary World” were performed, “Rio” was surprisingly absent. As always, the incomparable Simon LeBon, owned the stage. Whether exuding a profound sexual presence (posturing like a badass, asking the audience who their daddy was), or just being goofy (“flying” around the stage, miming creating a large orb, then shoving the orb in his mouth and growing at the front row) there is no doubt that he is the man, and everyone in the audience had been Simon LeBoned."

It's Friday! Tomorrow, After Thursday!

Everyone's looking forward to the weekend! Is this song *not* super poppy stupid fun and everyone thinks otherwise? It's got hit all over it!

It's "Friday" from Rebecca Black, part of the Ark Music Factory, and it's time to get down! Partyin' Partyin' YEAH! We We We So Excited!



Bohemian discovered the background behind this little ditty, and from all input, it's part of a company that will help your son or daughter achieve the ultimate in today's world - superficial pop fame! Anyway, it's a good-to-go pop song - How can you not like the chorus? Shame the autotune.

Don't like it? Well, here are some other Fridays for you:

Pop Docs! Upside Down - The Creation Records story

Coming soon to a DVD player near you! Upside Down - The Creation Records Story, the story of Alan McGee's 1980s-1990s UK record label and his gathering of a talented bunch of "...lunatics, sociopaths, misfits, drug addicts and fucked-up farmers" in bands like Oasis, Teenage Fanclub, Jesus & Mary Chain, Primal Scream and many others.

The film premiered last night at SXSW and shows again on Thursday. The Austinist wrote: "The film makes its North American Premiere at SXSW this year, and it features interviews with label founder Alan McGee as well as key band members like Noel Gallagher and Jim Read, lesser known acts from the label and even "Trainspotting" author Irvine Welsh.

Tracing the evolution of Creation from its humble beginnings in Glasgow to the near-bankruptcy from funding the recording of My Bloody Valentine's Loveless, this is must-see doc for music lovers."

Watch the trailer here. DVD by May.


Check out more upcoming pop documentaries on The Replacements, Big Star and others. at Popmatters.

Nicole Atkins - New LP, SXSW dates

I've been a sucker for Nicole Atkins' soaring, sultry voice and cool songs ever since hearing her debut LP a few years ago, catching her live backing up the Pipettes and seeing that searing Letterman appearance.

Now she's returned with a new LP, Mondo Amore (scroll down for a track) and here are the dates she and her band will be playing in Austin for SXSW.

March 16 - 11pm @ Antone's
Official SXSW showcase w/ The Greenhornes & Stephen Kelogg

March 17 - 4pm @ The Stage on Sixth
Paste Magazine SXSW Party w/ J Mascis, John Vanderslice, Rural Alberta Advantage (free)

March 18 - 3pm @ La Zona Rosa
Rolling Stone SXSW Party (free)

March 18 - 5pm @ Clive Bar
Sneak Attack Media SXSW Party w/ Only Son & Craig Wedren (free)

March 19 - 9pm @ Cedar St. Courtyard
Steve Madden SXSW Party w/ Funeral Party & The Raveonettes

Here's her new song "Vultures":

SXSW Music Week

The South by Southwest film and interactive festivals are raging already, and the music fest which started the whole thing kicks off this week.

- Click over to iTunes to grab free tracks by many of the bands playing.

- Click here to see where and when your favorite band is playing.

- Brooklyn Vegan's gone crazy - Nine SXSW shows/parties during the week!

- Find all the free drinks and fun parties at Austin 360.

- Here are more of the officially sponsored bashes.

Like you, I'll be scouring other music blogs and YouTube to catch some of the action. Rock on. Drink on. Fall over on.

Neil Diamond 'The Bang Years 1966-1968'

Anyone with a slight interest in 60s pop music will be thrilled to grab a copy of Columbia's new release of Neil Diamond's "The Bang Years: 1966-1968". The title refers to the songs during the years Neil Diamond recorded for the label Bang Records.

Columbia/Legacy has taken these pop works, remastered them in original mono, and cleaned up the shizznit to give us all a fantastic rockin' pop treat of a young Brooklyn songwriter who was picking tunes out at the Brill building on Broadway in NCY. The songs are great, but Neil himself wrote the liner notes, depicting his life as a young dad and husand, trying to make ends meet. He got a year-long contract writing for the Leiber & Stoller stable, but nothing amazing happened during that period. On the day his contract ended, he brought his songs to Elle Greenwich and Jeff Barry, they loved them and Neil started recording 'em and using all the cool handclaps and backing girl vocals of the day.

One commentor on Amazon's page captures the collection wonderfully:
"This joyful, action-packed single-CD collection gathers most of Neil Diamond's work for the Bang! record label, recorded from 1966-68 when Diamond was making the transition from a struggling songwriter in the Brill Building song factory into a full-fledged '70s pop icon. These bouncy early songs are bursting with energy and vibrant life; there's also his hunger as a new artist, which helps propel the beat, and having Brill Building pros like Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich pitching in makes things just that much sweeter. This set includes several classic songs -- "Cherry, Cherry," "Red, Red Wine" and the beautifully constructed sunshine pop smash, "Solitary Man" as well as Diamond's own version of "I'm A Believer," a song best known from the hit version by the Monkees."

However, at least one audiophile at Amazon was bothered by the remastering. He wrote:
"On the surface it all looked good, prior to release: 23 of Neil's prime cuts mixed in all their warm, punchy mono glory. As the original recordings were. However, Diamond's warm baritone is essentially lost on "The Bang Years": instead we have a cacaphony of ridiculous treble which all but drowns the artist's voice and most of the warm lower-end instrumentation. Where you should have a pleasant resonance in the lower instrumentation and percussion you have an overly-digitized brick wall. It's ugly, and you can't listen to too much of it. It's absurdly compressed and limited, and done very amateurishly and very heavy-handedly."

I liked this CD package. The songs are great, bristling with energy and fun, and the the CD packaging is awesome. Neil's honest liner notes really capture the period of the day. This collection was (rush?) released last week, just a week before Diamond’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this week Tuesday March 14.

Tracklist:
1. Solitary Man
2. Cherry, Cherry
3. Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon
4. Kentucky Woman
5. Thank the Lord for the Night Time
6. You Got to Me
7. I’m a Believer
8. Red, Red Wine
9. The Boat That I Row
10. Do It
11. New Orleans
12. Monday, Monday
13. Red Rubber Ball
14. I’ll Come Running
15. La Bamba
16. The Long Way Home
17. I’ve Got the Feeling (Oh No No)
18. You’ll Forget
19. Love to Love
20. Someday Baby
21. Hanky Panky
22. The Time Is Now
23. Shilo

Read another fine review at The Second Disc. Here' a video clip about the CD.

New Smithereens LP in April - The Smithereens 2011

New Jersey's favorite garage-pop rockers The Smithereens are back with a new LP in a few weeks, called The Smithereens 2011. You can pre-order the songs at iTunes.

Smithereens 2011 is the band's first CD of new material in 12 years. The album was produced by renowned producer Don Dixon (R.E.M and others), who also produced the Smithereens' breakthrough LP "Especially For You."

From Wikipedia:
"The group spent some time in its initial semi-celebrity phase defending itself in Rolling Stone against thinly-veiled accusations of sounding too much like The Byrds and The Beatles, pointing out that its Marshall Amplifier-heavy live sound was closer to heavy metal than it was to The Beatles. The Smithereens have always worn their inspirations proudly, but the band also influenced other musicians, most notably Kurt Cobain during the period he was writing Nevermind. Ironically, some feel the Smithereens (like many early 1990s bands) were hurt by the rise of grunge."

Here's how the band looked and sounded in January at a very appreciative BB Kings audience in NYC doing their classic rocker "Blood and Roses". Watch guitarist Jim Babjak take his riffs to the people!

Rock 'n Roll is still the Best Drug

"If you wanna find out what you're really made of,
let go, let go, all you gotta do is let go...."

Arctic Monkeys - New Tour, new song "Brick by Brick"

Arctic Monkeys have a new video for "Brick by Brick" out (love the vinyl-playing, cig-smokin' babe in the video) and a new North American tour to boot. Check it all out below and click to Billboard for more details.



May 17: Washington, D.C. (9:30 Club)
May 18: Philadelphia, Pa. (The Electric Factory)
May 19: Boston, Mass. (House of Blues)
May 21: Toronto, Ontario (Kool Haus)
May 22: Montreal, Quebec (L'Olympia)
May 24: New York, N.Y. (Rumsey Playfield)
May 26: Detroit, Mich. (Clutch Cargoes)
May 27: Milwaukee, Wisc. (The Rave)
May 28: Minneapolis, Minn. (First Avenue)
May 30: Denver, Colo. (The Ogden Theatre)
May 31: Salt Lake City, Utah (In the Venue)
Jun. 3: Los Angeles, Calif. (Hollywood Palladium)
Jun. 10-11: Sheffield, England (Don Valley Bowl)
Jun. 26: Roeser, Luxembourg (Rock A Field Festival)
Jul. 1: Werchter, Belgium (Rock Werchter)
Jul. 8: Kinross, Scotland (T in the Park)
Jul. 14: Meco, Portugal (Super Bock Super Rock Festival)
Jul. 17: Bern, Switzerland (Gurten Festival)
Jul. 29-31: Naeba Ski Resort, Japan (Fuji Rock Festival)
Aug. 20-21: Staffordshire, England (V Festival)

45 Cat - the home of the online 7" single

Yep, I could spend some time digging around the archives at 45Cat, "...an online archive dedicated to the magic of the vinyl seven inch single. Discuss, rate, research or simply admire some of the 84,074 (mostly) UK records we have on our database so far, or help add some more."

The Strokes Talk Myth at Pitchfork

The Strokes are interviewed at Pitchfork about their history, the myth they created on NYC's Lower East side at the start of the last decade and how their new LP "Angles" came together. A good read for Strokes fans (count me in!)

Here's a bit:
"The Strokes made a couple of attempts to commit songs to tape, but each session left the band frustrated with their inability to properly capture their sound. They had halfheartedly sent these early demos out to a few labels, but most didn't bother to reply. Manager Ryan Gentles recalls that Hammond kept a small collection of rejection letters. "They got rejections from Matador and Hollywood. Albert would frame and hang them on his wall."

By the time the band showed up at Gordon Raphael's Transporterraum studio in the East Village in October 2000, pessimism had set in. "Julian let me know up front that they never had good luck with recording and didn't like the process," says Raphael. "I asked if he had any special requests and he said, 'Yeah, make it sound like nothing that's going on right now.' Everyone was using Pro Tools and digital technology, tripling the snare drum and adding samples to make things 25 stories tall. So I thought: 'What could be the opposite of that? How about I record the band playing together in one room?'"

Times have certainly changed in 10 years! The band's new LP "Angles" is out in a few weeks.

Rock Clip of the Week - Screams, "Paper Dolls"

Here's this week's rock clip of the week, with a nod to the powerpop fest I'm involved in this weekend (see below).

It's the Midwestern rock band from the late 1970s called Screams, which had a Cheap Trick-esque hard pop edge that was all the rage then, but with its own artistic notions. I have Screams' original LP and it's a fine slab of rock back in the day. I dug it so much I even covered this song in my 2006 covers series.

So be happy, Friday people, it's Screams, with "Paper Dolls" - Alright! Alright! Dig the fun.

Dfactor live - this weekend's International Pop Overthrow show

Who-Hoo! It's time for another International Pop Overthrow show!

David Bash's celebration of rockin' guitar bands is now in its 13th year (I think?) and it continues to be a fine showcase for bands in Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Detroit, Chicago, New York, Liverpool and elsewhere.

This weekend's IPO shows in Phoenix will be the 4th time I've played at an IPO show - the first two were in NYC - one with the band Anthemic Pop Wonder and another time solo, and then two years ago in PHX as a solo act. But this year, our Dfactor trio is roaring and ready to hit it on Saturday night, so I'm duly excited to play again and grateful to David Bash for inviting us.

A few years ago, I covered Cheap Trick's "Come On, Come On" at the show - this year I wanted the band initially to cover Badfinger's "Baby Blue", but then we opted for a lesser-known cover. COme on out for that and the rest of our swell songs.

Besides other fine Pheonix bands performing (include Pawl, The Breakup Society, Veyron Crash, Mergence and Unlucky before Noon), we will be treated to a set from the living legend Dave Rave, longtime Canadian rock n roller and formerly of Teenage Head from the 1980s. All shows will be tonight and Saturday night at Hollywood Alley, 2610 W. Baseline Rd. in Mesa, AZ - $10 cover.

Diggin' The Boom Bang - 'Tobacula' MP3

Garage rock's still alive in Norman, OK - that's where The Boom Bang hails from and that's where they come up with catchy dirty little rockers like "Tabocula".

Their promo blurb tells us:
"The Boom Bang is comprised of a group of young friends from suburban Oklahoma City that play loud, fun music. Creating a combination of garage, surf and punk music not unlike Ty Segall, Jeff The Brotherhood or Thee Oh Sees, the foursome of James Smith (Vocals), Tommy McKenzie (Guitar), Weston Lorance (Bass), and Charles Whetstone (Drums) has been playing together for two years.

In that time, the band has managed to work their way onto festival performances at South By Southwest, DFest, the Norman Music Festival, and the Neon Reverb Music Festival. With one national release under their belt through Guestroom Records, The Boom Bang’s debut full-length World War Fun is now scheduled for release on Norman, Oklahoma’s Nice People Records to be followed by a national tour in June and July of 2011."



'World War Fun'! Great title, that. A mix of garage, surf and punk music is always pretty welcome around here at Waved Rumor. And with lyrics like this - "Don't know what I did, to deserve a gig like this...", they sound like they're keeping the fun and naivety in the right place. Bit too much echo on them vocals though, maybe?

Grab the MP3 to The Boom Bang's 'Tobacula' here.

Midweek Fly Bys

Here are some highs and lows of music and moshing from round the fingertips.


- Rolling Stone is streaming the new Telekinesis debut, which has some sweet melodies, rock crunch and some GBV-esque pop things going on from singer-songwriter Michael Lerner.

- MTV Networks and Rhapsody have partnered to give music fans two free months of music.

- So Much Silence has the goods on new music from Phoenix band Kinch, and the release of a song from a hopeful upcoming record.

- Hypebot asks "Will the connected car kill off local radio?". As cars become further techsualized, and stremaing music players are placed in cars, will you want or need to listen to local radio anymore? Good point.

- And here's your moment of uncapped Edge, from 31 years ago:

The Strokes - video for "Under Cover of Darkness"

The Strokes have unveiled their video for the first single 'Under Cover of Darkness' from the upcoming "Angles" LP, out March 21.

It involves the band playing along with the song, while dressed in tuxedos and looking bored (dignified?). There is a chalice. Nice setting, is that the New York Opera House or something? An unseen audience claps at the end.

NME has another track from the LP called 'You're So Right' which is streaming at it site (via Pitchfork).

Here's 'Under Cover of Darkness'