You thought it could be killed with finals, but it’s back, baby! Here’s the next installment of My First Time, the interview series that gives a little peek into the musical firsts of some bands I’ve been crushing on as of late. This week it’s Asthmatic Kitty’s own Cryptacize. Chris, Nedelle and Mike were kind enough to all three share their thoughts on their musical firsts.
First record you bought
Chris: Devo, Freedom of Choice
Nedelle: Soundtrack to “Dirty Dancing”
Mike: Beastie Boys, License to Ill
First record that changed your life
C: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band, the movie soundtrack
N: Michael Jackson, Thriller
M: Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run
First concert you attended
C: Devo, age 10
N: I only went to one ‘cool’ concert in my first 21 years, Smashing Pumpkins when I was 16
M: Poison, age 10 or 11
First concert that blew you away
C: Caroliner Rainbow
N: A musical, I’m sure… I can’t remember which one..
M: Misha Mengelberg/Han Bennink at Mills College, late 90s.
First time playing live
C: ‘Brown bag concert’ Mirman Elementary School aged 7
N: Talent show in second grade, I sang “Pennies from Heaven” dressed as a penny.
M: Fifth grade band
First tour (horror stories, unexpectedly great shows, etc)
C: The Curtains (west coast 2002) - temporarily lost my bandmates in the middle of nowhere in southern Oregon, there was some construction going on and traffic was not moving at all for like an
hour. So my bandmates went for a walk
N: Tour with my friends The Moore Brothers, (west coast 2003).
M: Last fall with Cryptacize. We played in a dirt basement for an audience of 6 nursing kittens.
First instrument you learned and/or first piece of equipment you loved
C: The drums
N: Singing first, then the violin
M: First one I’ve loved is this beautiful cowbell hand made in New York by Cali Rivera.
First band you were a part of
C: The Blocks, an imaginary new wave band I would draw pictures of
N: ‘PBE’ or ‘Pretty Brown Eyes’, an R&B duo with my best friend and a Casio.
M: The Bricks, a classic rock cover band.
First time getting press and/or being interviewed
M: Not exactly, but very close to this time right now
C: I was on a game show when I was a kid
First song you wrote and/or recorded
C: Cover of “I’m Not Your Stepping Stone” a la Sid Vicious
N: A sappy ballad for PBE called “Starlight”, I wrote it in the bathtub.
First awesome thing that happened solely because you were in a band
C: Being asked to play a show
N: Recording in a real studio (The Hangar in Sacramento, 2002)
M: I got to meet Radio Racer.
First horrible thing that happened solely because you were in a band
C: My parents started googling me
N: Stage fright
M: I became arrogant, self-obsessed, and jealous.
First reactions from your family when you played them your music
C: Wow
N: My parents said my songs were too sad
M: A mix of horror and encouragement.
First musical obsession (band, song, singer, genre or otherwise)
C: The whipping sound in “Whip It” by Devo
N: Whitney Houston’s vibrato, I practiced diligently to sound like her.
M: That whole double bass drum fad really blew my mind for most of my adolescent years.
I’m wildly in love with Islands’ new record Arm’s Way and will look for any excuse I can to say so. Here’s a video I stumbled across on the interwebs of Nick covering Sinead O’Connor’s “Red Football,” of which I had previously not heard.
Brooklyn’s Bishop Allen are setting off on a string of tour dates later this month that’ll take them all along the upper east coast before depositing them in Europe for a few dates. They’re also recording this spring, so let’s cross our fingers for a speedy release!
You can also read a cute blurb written by Christian’s mom over at eMusic about her favorite song of her son’s band.
Bishop Allen Tour Dates
May 14 Northampton @ Iron Horse
May 15 Cambridge @ Middle East [D]
May 16 Brooklyn @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
May 17 Bennington @ Sunfest
May 18 Washington, D.C. @ Black Cat
May 21 Gothenburg @ Woody West
May 22 Oslo @ Mono
May 23 Stockholm @ Debaser
May 24 Copenhagen @ Loppen
May 25 Berlin @ Roter Salon
May 26 Munster @ Gleis 22
May 27 Koln @ Werkstatt
May 28 Gronigen @ Vera
May 29 Utretch @ Tivoli
May 30 Barcelona @ Primavera
Busdriver’s taking a break from recording his new record to do a series of tour dates taking him all over the US. But more importantly he’s also sharing a new song, “Ellen Disingenuous,” with us. The song may or may not make the new record, but is apparently a good example of what the album will sound like.
MP3:Busdriver - Ellen Disingenuous
I was initially a little “meh” about the production on “Ellen Disingenuous,” but it’s growing on me with each listen. Still I think it’s probably a step back from Roadkillovercoat. Thankfully Busdriver picks up the slack with his rapid-fire delivery. I’m three listens in and still have only caught a few phrases outside of the chorus. It’s like a rap song plus a tongue twister!
Busdriver Tour Dates
May 8 9:30 Club Washington DC
May 9 First Unitarian Church Philadelphia PA
May 10 Webster Hall New York NY
May 11 Middle East Downstairs Cambridge MA
May 14 Crofoot Ballroom Pontiac MI
May 15 The Abbey Pub Chicago IL
May 16 Triple Rock Club Minneapolis MM
May 19 Neumos Seattle, WA
May 20 Berbatis Pan Portland OR
May 21 1015 San Francisco CA
May 22 El Rey Los Angeles CA
A friend sent me this nice little song on AIM today. Young Rival apparently used to be known as The Ride Theory (a band equally as unknown to me), but have switched up their name and just posted this demo to their myspace page.
MP3:Young Rival - 4:15
There’s a lot rattling around in this song. It starts off like a lighter Black Rebel Motorcycle Club song before adding a melody that seems culled from a crop of Zombies-inspired Elliott Smith ones. All things considered, I’d say that it most reminds me of Favourite Sons. But whoever they’ve got rattling around in their record collection, it’s serving them well.
I just realized that I never posted my photos of the Apples in Stereo headlining FreeKY fest. It was probably the tightest, best time I’ve ever seen them play (setting aside the elation I felt when I first caught them at Busters). We got old favorites like “Ruby” and “Strawberryfire” alongside tons off the new record and even one new one loosely titled “I Was Just About to Blow Your Mind.” The Backseat Sandbar guys actually got a recording of it, so look for that to pop up sooner or later.
The only thing that’s been keeping me going the past few days at work was the Dark Meat record. For some reason I only gave it two listens or so when it was first released — for that I’d like to apologize to everyone in Athens, GA (1/3 of you are in this band, I think). The record’s tons of fun and a great kick-start to your summer break.
MP3:Dark Meat - Well Fuck You Then
It’d be so easy to write a song called “Well F*ck You Then” and have it as an angry punk song. Well Dark Meat take that energy and passion and somehow manage to turn it into what I can only describe as a fairly joyful song. I’d imagine there’s a good bit of (middle?) finger pointing and shouting by the crowd when it gets to this song in the band’s setlist. I’m fairly jealous of that, actually. Oh well, I’ll just keep on rocking the album.
In other news. Iron Man is the best movie I’ve seen since the twofer of No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood. Definitely the best action movie I’ve seen in forever.
Here’s that bootleg I promised you all a little while ago. The Duke Spirit stopped off with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club to celebrate Record Store Day at CD Central (my work). They absolutely rocked it — as evidenced by the dozens of their CDs we sold — and now you can have that performance to keep.
