The Days of Lore

Liam Finn: No place like home

Monday, December 7th, 2009 | interviewZ, musiX | No Comments

At a recent Portland performance Liam Finn was a man possessed, bouncing between guitar and drums while his own looped beats and guitars blasted alongside him. Musical partner Eliza-Jane Barnes provided sort of a calming elegance with her sweet harmonies and delicate percussion.

That chemistry and energy is difficult to catch on wax. And while Finn’s recorded output is tame in comparison, it does capture one thing—his knack for blending pop sensibilities with fearless noise experimentation. It’s good stuff, and his debut I’ll Be Lightning easily made TDoL’s 2008 Year-End List.

Of course, I was drawn in before hearing a single note due to my unrequited love for his father Neil Finn, whose bands Split Enz and Crowded House are embedded deep into the soundtrack of my youth. The 26-year-old Liam occasionally tours with Crowded House (which also includes his uncle, Tim Finn) and has worked with his father on the 7 Worlds Collide project, a collaboration with musicians including Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy and Cribs/Modest Mouse/Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr.

With his numerous projects and constant touring it’s amazing that Finn found the time to record Champagne In Seashells. The EP—his first with Barnes—continues with Finn’s ear for melody as well as an itchy finger for using the studio to its fullest, adding plenty of white noise and mutant electronica. As with his debut, Finn recorded the five songs at his father’s Roundhouse Studios in New Zealand, many of the songs reflecting life on the road (”Long Way To Go”). As Finn explains: “It’s been a crazy few years where we haven’t been anywhere for longer than a few days or a week here, a week there.”

The Days of Lore caught up with Finn during his recent U.S. jaunt, as he discussed new projects, his old man and what to expect in 2010.

TDoL: I wanted to ask you about this instrument you recently acquired called the Tafelberg.
Liam Finn: It’s quite funny, actually, I didn’t even know it was called the Tafelberg until someone asked about it in an interview recently and I didn’t know what they were talking about. We know it as the drum-guitar. Basically it’s this thing that this man called Yuri Landman made for me. I got introduced to him through a friend from a band called the Luyas, and she had this weird, experimental instrument called a Moodswinger made by him. She told me all about how he’s this crazy mad scientist kind of guy. He’s really into making weird atonal, sort of Sonic Youth-y noise instruments. So I got in touch with him and told him that I wanted an instrument that I could hit with drumsticks, and he had already been talking to the band the Dodos about making something similar. And he designed this thing for me and I ended up with this crazy 24-string drum-guitar … what the hell was it? [laughing] Tagernaffel? Tafelberg!

Live you’re pretty much a one-man band. Have you considered going out with a full band?
I think it’s definitely something that’s on the horizon. We’ve been doing this for a few years now, and as much as it still seems like it’s molding and changing, I really feel like hearing my songs in more of a band lineup I suppose. We actually just made a record down in New Zealand with some friends.

Is it the Having a Baby project?
Yeah, yeah, well that was kind of its working title. We’ve still yet to decide on a name. We’re affectionately referring to it as BARB, kind of a weird middle-aged woman’s name. It did start out of the fact that probably all of us—including Lawrence Arabia and Connan Mockasin—were doing things on our own for so long that we were kind of craving that band experience again. It was all a very collaborative record. It was quite refreshing. [Editor's Note: The new recording from BARB is due out in New Zealand in early 2010. No release-date has been set in the States.]

How much has your father’s songwriting influenced your own?
Melody-wise and harmony-wise I love what my dad does, and I think it’s actually rubbed off on me. Genetically it probably has as well—the way I hear music or the way I naturally make it. I don’t think I’ve ever tried to specifically make music that’s not like my father’s. So if it’s sounding like that, it’s not like I go “Oh god, I better fuck this up, put some noise on it.” That comes from my other influences, loving bands like Sonic Youth and more noisy kinds of things.

As a kid did you think your father’s music was dorky?
Not at all really. I’ve always loved it, being so immersed in it. It’s just different. It’s like when you grow up with you parents blasting music, and you just inherit the love for it like they do. I grew up with all that Beatles and Neil Young stuff, but also Crowded House. I was really, really interested in Split Enz especially—altered my life really.

Your first record I’ll Be Lightning was written about your time living in London …
Yeah, yeah, I spent about three years years over there, a couple of years before I wrote I’ll Be Lightning. I was confronting an intense time. Living in that country is intense enough with a band and a long-term girlfriend and stuff like that. And everything pretty much fell apart over there, so I think that it can be good for inspiration. I feel like I can speak about it, like it doesn’t bother me. It was quite a long time ago, actually.

Was there an underlying theme on Champagne In Seashells?
Again, it’s probably very—in hindsight—obvious to me that it’s kind of about whatever’s going on in my life. I suppose a lot of the songs have reference to traveling and being away from home and a certain nomadic life that EJ and I have taken on. And without sounding earnest about it, the effects it takes on relationships and normal life stuff you try to maintain while having this quite extraordinary life. It’s been amazing and incredibly stimulating, so once again—good for writing stuff.

I can imagine it’s an intense lifestyle, especially for any length of time …
Yeah, we only had three weeks to record that EP, and I had a few songs we had been writing backstage. But I wanted to write a few while I was back in New Zealand. It was just after the 7 Worlds Collide project, so I felt really invigorated by that whole experience.

What’s life looking like in 2010?
I’m really excited to have more time on my hands to make another record of my own and work on a few things, but ultimately the goal for the year is to make a followup to I’ll Be Lightning. [The EP] was a good way to keep things moving without feeling like you’re making your followup record. My ultimate goal is that every record sort of keeps changing with who you’re working with or how you’re doing it so that it feels like a first record every time.

“Long Way to Go” - Liam Finn + Eliza Jane

Tags: 7 Worlds Collide, BARB, Champagne In Seashells, Crowded House, Eliza Jane, I'll Be Lightning, Liam Finn, Neil Finn, Split Enz

John Darnielle gives up the goat to TDoL

Monday, November 9th, 2009 | interviewZ, musiX, pdX | 1 Comment

John Darnielle is just all right with me. He’s an intelligent guy, not to mention one of this generation’s great storytellers (musically speaking, of course), but still has this sort of—for lack of a better word—dude-ish humility about him … and he listens to metal.

Darnielle has been leading his Mountain Goats in one form or another since 1991—way back at a time when I was listening to this album religiously. Of course, those early lo-fi boombox recordings are a far cry from the lush sounds found on albums like We Shall All Be Healed and the latest The Life of the World to Come. The new record finds Darnielle naming each song after a verse in the Bible to let listeners know that “bigger things, darker things, heavier things” lie within. Plus, he says, it looks kinda bitchin’.

Musically, The Life is spare—guitar, bass, drums, occasionally only piano—which effectively directs more attention to the lyrics, though it doesn’t necessarily make for an exciting listen (honestly, I like Darnielle’s approach to music sometimes more than the music itself). I find the stripped-down The Life of the World In Flux (acoustic demo versions of the record, plus a couple of bonus tracks/verses) to be much more gritty and urgent.

What connects Darnielle to listeners (and separates him from many other songwriters) are his surprisingly candid takes on music, religion and even songwriting—all which can be found in his songs, on his music blog Last Plane to Jakarta, and in interviews. Over the years The Mountain Goats have built a cult-like following (sorta like those Finnish death metal bands Darnielle seems to love). The band will perform Wednesday, Nov. 11 at Portland’s Wonder Ballroom, which I’m guessing will be a religious experience for many.

Darnielle recently talked to TDoL about the Good Book as an actual good book, being an atheist who dislikes the company of atheists, and writing songs by the light of a television.

TDoL: On this album you delved deeper into the Bible than you ever have. What made you decide to go as far as to name every song after a Bible verse?
John Darnielle: Well, I’ve been doing that for a long time, just not as concentrated. I think the first one of those was a long time ago, a song on Nothing For Juice called “I Corinthians 13: 8-10,” which was a story about a couple of people during the Warsaw uprising in the Warsaw ghetto. It was a very in-the-moment story, and I wanted to have a song title that kind of, was like a big finger going there’s something bigger at issue here. I’ve occasionally written songs like that over the years. And I wrote one about a year ago, and I was like “Hey I kinda like that song.” And the next time I wrote a song I did the same thing, and once I had two then I started picturing a whole list of them and how bitchin’ that would look [laughs]. Everything tends to start with really simple aesthetics of what would look cool. I never trust people who say, “Yes I had this vision of making an album that would somehow be a big gesture.”

That might be the best thing I’ve ever heard a songwriter say …
So then somebody might say, “Oh so it didn’t have any deeper meaning.” No, it comes after. It’s like with any major life decision you make. It’s like, why did you take this job? It’s not like you sat down with a big chart and said, “What am I going to do in life, and how will this job help me?” It’s like no, you need a job so you go apply for your job and then later you can see the bigger things. And creating things is the same thing. I’m always telling people—and they don’t believe me—but when I try to write songs, the first couple lines are spat out while I’m watching television or something. I’ll pick up the guitar while I’m watching Law & Order and I’ll bark out some lines and then it goes somewhere. I assume that songwriters who sit down with a big vision first are the ones writing very boring songs. It sort of has to come from the playful part of your brain. It has to come from the little kid with finger-paints to be interesting to me.

You’re an atheist, right?
I am, but I’m an atheist who can’t really stand the company of other atheists [laughs]. You know what I mean? There’s nothing more tiresome than a person who never grew out of saying how awesome it is to have discovered that there’s no god. You know the kid who shows up in kindergarten and goes, “You know Santa is your mom and dad.”? The bully who hits that kid in the face is like my hero. I mean, I doubt strongly. I’m always open to a religious conversion, I would love to have a massive religious conversion, but I don’t see it happening.

Has anything come close?
You know, the experience of music—to be really corny about it—when you’re 17 and you find a song that you’re quite certain there was a definitive way for you to discover it so you could have this communion with the spirits inherent in this piece of music. The notion that that’s all just a biochemical or psychological process is kind of attractive to me. The notion that it’s more than a construct of the human psyche is not just really attractive to me, but seems to have some truth in it somewhere. But, I mean, once you start looking at any religious ideology it’s going to be drawn with so many problems by the time you get in even for a few minutes.

Some people “find God” after dealing with difficult times in their lives. Drug use and depression are both things you’ve faced in your life. How did you deal with it?
It’s the many thousands of things that I did after various times. I can’t really say, “Well, I had a wound and I treated it with peroxide.” It’s more like, “Well I had a lot of friends, and I had a lot of ideas, and I had a lot of other things to do, I had a job, and I had a guitar, and I had records, I had books, and I had a garden to work in.” I don’t think that climbing out of that situation is the same as dressing a wound. Drug abuse and depression are these stops, not even stops—they’re sort of lines on a long path.

Do you have a fascination with the Bible? Is “fascination” the right word?
[Laughing] I like the Bible. I enjoy reading it. I think it’s awesome. For one thing it’s pretty impossible to imagine an American writer that doesn’t have a very strong relationship to the Bible as a text. If you’re not interested as a writer I think you’re kind of in the bush league. It’s where the real writers go to start looking at how to grapple with questions, and what to do with them, and how to tell stories that raise interesting questions. And, honestly, to not answer them—because the Bible is a less didactic book than some of its followers seem to think. It’s more of a really sort of gory, really productive poem in my opinion.

Who are some of the storytellers that have spoken to you?
Joan Didion is a person I always name first and foremost. I think she’s the greatest living American writer. One thing is she doesn’t trust stories, and neither do I. The difference is she’s not a romantic and I am. When she tells a story, she enters immediately assuming that the story is not true and that it’s there for some purpose other than the purpose it would have you believe. Where I’m the kid who wants to believe in Santa and I want to take everything at face value first, for as long as I can. But the common obsession is the idea of the story as having some sort of totemic functionality. In recent years William Gass—talk about people who don’t trust stories. He refuses to tell a story outright. At all. It’s very hard to figure out what’s going on in his books, but I think underneath there’s this idea, there’s this sort of a trusting symbolism.

Are all of the stories in your songs true?
No, no … I mean, define true. It varies. Generally speaking, I’m a storyteller, but over the past four, five years I’ve been sort of experimenting with telling stories that are also true.

It seems like the songs have become more simple in recent years …
Again, it has to do with aesthetics. I think most of the poetry I admire tends to arrive at simplicity. A good writer learns to pare things down and do more with less. Not to make it weightier, but to use [words] better. When you first learn to cook you thrown in all the spices you can, and later you learn that if you just use these two and put them in the right way, that’s all you need. I think I’m more compact than I used to be. The songs aren’t likely to have as many words in them. [Laughing] I mean when you talk too much no one hears a word you say, right?

“Psalms 40:2″ - The Mountain Goats (The Life of the World to Come)

“Proverbs 6:27″ - The Mountain Goats (The Life of the World In Flux)

Tags: John Darnielle, Last Plane to Jakarta, Nothing For Juice, The Life of the World In Flux, The Life of the World to Come, The Mountain Goats, We Shall All Be Healed

Purple Rhinestone Eagle walks with the wizard … and talks with TDoL

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 | interviewZ, musiX, pdX, politiX | No Comments

It was a few years ago while doing an article on Portland’s New Bloods that I stumbled upon Purple Rhinestone Eagle. The name was enough. And the music … sort of this doom-y Sabbath-meets-Love love-fest led by a lanky guitarist who channeled Hendrix and Blackmore provided the final blow. I was also intrigued by this tight-knit community of musicians made up of women who celebrated diversity and sexual freedom with the DIY spirit of punk rock in a city that, while liberal, is still 95 percent white.

Purple Rhinestone Eagle—guitarist/vocalist Andrea Genevieve, bassist Morgan Ray Denning and drummer Ashley Spungin—released its latest EP Amorum Tali in March on Eolian Records. It’s a psychedelic blast from another time and place, where black-light posters come to life. Where riffs rule (and rattle your ribcage). Where black leather and tie-dye go together and peace and love frolic on gloomy days.

It’s looking to be a busy year for the three-piece. PRE will hit the road for six weeks, but not before playing a fist-full of Portland shows, including an afternoon performance at the PDX Pop Now! fest on July 26. Then it’s back in the studio to record a full-length follow-up to Amorum Tali. I’ll just let them explain. The ladies of Purple Rhinestone Eagle took some time to talk to TDoL about music as a tool for social change, MJ vs. Prince, and giving their audiences “loin vibrations.”

TDoL: Purple Rhinestone Eagle is active in many causes for queer and women’s rights. What are your thoughts on rock ‘n’ roll as an avenue for bringing awareness?
Andrea: I feel that music can be a very good tool for social change. It doesn’t take place of the hard work that is done by activists/organizers, but music can be a great motivator. Also, it’s a great way to release all sorts of feelings and emotions. People really need that. It’s essential to feeling human.
Morgan: Also, sometimes it feels like causes can become exclusive or create divisions … music is a great connector. It brings people together to focus on the positive aspects of movements and people, rather than focusing on all the negative things that happen in the world.

You put out a zine as well …
Andrea: Well, we’re slowly working on a zine. It was mainly Ashley’s idea but we’re all going to write and contribute to it. It’s going to be an “etiquette” zine for how to respectfully approach/compliment female musicians. A lot of “compliments” we (and other female musician friends) receive actually don’t feel like compliments. For example comments like, “Wow, I didn’t expect that” or “That was great. You play like a dude,” feel really shitty because it makes you realize how many preconceived notions people have about you because you’re a lady.
Morgan: People just need to think a little bit before speaking sometimes, and we hope this zine will help with that, along with giving music-making ladies a place to share and vent about their experiences.
Ashley: We all got it pretty bad on tour, but I think I got it the most. I mean people started throwing things at me. “Hey i think you are a good drummer! Now I’m going to throw this empty beer can at you!” What? I wanted to make a PowerPoint presentation and show it after we play while we break down. The zine is a little more reasonable.

You started out in Philadelphia. What brought you to Portland?
Andrea: We went on tour with New Bloods a couple of springs ago. We were all having a tough time in Philly and we wanted a little mental health vacation. Also Portland is a great place for music so we decided to go for it and move 3,000 miles from everything we knew. Pretty romantic, I must say.
Morgan: Portland has been good to us … the scene here is incredibly friendly and supportive. We all decided playing music was one of the best things in all of our lives, so why not get serious about it? Here we can do that.

Tell me about the recording process for Amorum Tali.
Andrea: We recorded Amorum Tali in a full analog studio. The first recording we did in Portland was digital and although it sounded great, we really feel that for our sound we need to record the old-fashioned way—on tape. We recorded for about three and a half days and then mixed for about three days. It was a tedious process that turned out beautifully. We’re really excited to get in the studio again this fall. We’ve got all of these crazy ideas for this time around.

Where does the title come from?
Andrea: The title means “Talons of Love” in Latin. The “Talons of Love” concept is something that has been with us since the inception of this band. It’s kind of an inside joke that also holds great significance to us, if that makes any sense.

Aside from the more obscure music you listen to, what’s something you like that might surprise people?
Andrea: Yeah lots of weird, obscure music. But uh, I do enjoy a little Erasure from time to time. I guess that might be surprising. And despite what Ashley might say, I’m not into Journey.
Morgan: I’m actually kind of a pop punk freak … something I get picked on for, but I feel no shame …
Ashley: Late-’60s era Grateful Dead. People, give it a chance!

Andrea, what/who made you pick up a guitar?
Andrea: It wasn’t any one person that made me decide to take up the guitar although I do have some big heroes/sheroes. I just had this really strong desire to learn how to play it. I was about 15 when I started. It’s such a finicky instrument but so alluring! I’m still in the process of figuring out all its beautiful subtleties. Total life long student and super proud of it.

What influences your live performances?
Andrea: I love the way the MC5 handled the stage, James Brown, etc. Rock ‘n’ roll is this sex-love-apocalypse explosion. I love anyone who can channel that raw energy.
Morgan: I love Freddie Mercury and Iggy … they both just owned it. Our song “Loin Vibrations” is actually about the relationship between those on stage and those in the crowd … it is extremely sexual, whether you’re literally feeling the low end rumbling in your loins, or feeling the energy passing between the people involved … capturing some of that is our goal.
Ashley: Animal from the Muppets … and Ginger Baker.

And if you had to choose between …
Page or Blackmore?
Andrea: Oddly, I’d have to say Page.
Morgan: Agreed.
Ashley: Same. I just can’t get behind Deep Purple. Rainbow on the other hand …

Zeppelin or Sabbath?
Andrea: The Edgar Winter Group. Just kidding, Sabbath for sure.
Morgan: No question: Sabbath.
Ashley: Sabbath. Every. Day.

Bonham or Moon?
Andrea: Bonham. But Moon is my homie, too.
Morgan: Moon!
Ashley: I could go on about this one but I will just answer. Bonzo!

MJ or Prince?
Andrea: Prince. What a god.
Morgan: Prince … what a tiny, amazing man!
Ashley: MJ … I’m still grieving.

You have a long tour ahead. What’s life on the road like?
Andrea: We’re the type of band that likes good food and yoga on the beach. Don’t get me wrong, we enjoy partying it up and staying up late, but we like to stay pretty healthy, too. And we take really long to do anything (like getting up in the morning, deciding what snacks to pick out … ).  All of our roadies attain the great patience of wise monks by the end of tour.
Ashley: Touring is like a quest to bring forth the music to the people. Each day we venture to a new location and with us we bring rock ‘n’ roll sorcery. It’s nonstop jokes, weird snacks (which, yes, sometimes take me a while to pick out), meeting great people, and getting inspired by the places we see. It’s very far out.

“Walk With the Wizard” - Purple Rhinestone Eagle

Tags: Amorum Tali, Andrea Genevieve, Ashley Spungin, Eolian Records, Morgan ray Denning, New Bloods, Portland music, Purple Rhinestone Eagle

Viva Voce, indeed

Monday, June 22nd, 2009 | interviewZ, musiX, pdX | 1 Comment

Not enough has been written about the vocals of Viva Voce’s Anita and Kevin Robinson. Yeah, there are the great, no-frills rock songs, Anita’s rambunctious guitar twang, and that whole husband/wife angle—but their voices will melt your heart.

Viva Voce’s (pronounced Vee-vah-VOH-chay) latest record Rose City is exactly as I said—no frills, and the songs goes down easy. The Robinsons use their tools to great effect, putting together jangly pop that could have been born in the Paisley Underground, and occasionally brings to mind the shimmering brilliance of seminal Davis, Calif. indie rockers Thin White Rope. A compliment in the highest form. Kevin even sounds a bit like TWR vocalist Guy Kyser when he reaches for that low, smoky register.

Now if you read TDoL with any regularity (and I know you do), you know I’m in love with female vocalists like Barbara Manning and Neko Case. Add Anita Robinson to that list. Her voice falls in that same sweet and silky range—never leaping where it shouldn’t—simply strong and beautiful. And her vocals become even more striking when she’s harmonizing with herself (”Good As Gold”), or with her hubby on the album’s title track. It’s no secret why she was recruited by James Mercer to sing backup with The Shins in 2007 (a tour in which Viva Voce played some dates).

It’s been three years since the release of Viva Voce’s last record Get Yr Blood Sucked Out. In that time Kevin and Anita performed as Blue Giant (a noticeably more sparse and countrified project), before spending the better part of a year building a home studio. Viva Voce released Rose City—named after the Robinson’s home base of Portland—in May on Barsuk. The record took only a month to record, which is 0.00490196078 the time it took Axl Rose to complete Chinese Democracy. Rose City blends ramshackle looseness with lush production … it doesn’t hurt that there’s not a bad song in the batch.

Viva Voce just returned home from a month of touring, which freed up Kevin Robinson to answer a few ramshackle questions. Also, not a bad one in the batch.

TDoL: You spent a month writing and recording Rose City. What was the process like?
Kevin Robinson: It was a fast process. We didn’t squeeze the life out of ideas, just let it happen naturally. We tried to capture a moment in time you know? Very few takes are more than the first one.

The production is gorgeous.
Well thank you! I’ve produced a lot of records and I’m very happy with this one.

How have the addition of Evan Railton and Corrina Repp changed the band? Do you prefer it to being a two-piece?
We added them to the live lineup after we had finished the album by ourselves. Corrina and Evan had contributed some keys and vocals to the record and it felt natural to fade them into the live sonics.

You named a record and song after Portland. It seems you two have really fallen in love with the city. How has your songwriting changed from the days of living in Alabama?
I was really young when I lived in Alabama, so my songwriting then seemed a little green. I hope I’ve matured a little with age, but truthfully I like a lot of the same stuff I liked back then. It may seem strange coming from two southerners, but we really do love living in Portland.

Your Web site says you and Anita met at a punk show in an abandoned warehouse. Who were you there to see?
I can’t really remember! The events of the show were “overshadowed” to say the least.

Do you both come from a punk background?
Sort of. “Punk” as it’s known didn’t really come through our small towns. Black Flag and Fugazi didn’t stop in Muscle Shoals! So what we had was a strange mashup of our own version of what you could call DIY, with whatever music we grew up on. There is a real purist sense of superiority with hardcore “punks,” which is understandable, but back then we wouldn’t raise an eyebrow at a band covering Led Zeppelin in any given set with their own material.

Rose City received a 7.6 from Pitchfork, which by their standards is pretty good. Do you pay attention to reviews, or sort of block them out?
I’ve never really lived my life by the validation of others, and truthfully I could give two shits as to what arm-chair journalists think of the art I make. It’s always nice to be understood and appreciated, but it would be toxic to have expectations. Rating music or art by grades is pretty juvenile in my opinion. But whatever … what do I know? I’m not getting paid by Apple to run huge banner ads on my Web site, am I?

“Rose City” - Viva Voce

“Good As Gold” - Viva Voce

Video for “Octavio,” directed by Alicia J. Rose

Tags: Anita Robinson, Barsuk Records, Blue Giant, Get Yr Blood Sucked Out, Kevin Robinson, Portland, Rose City, The Shins, Thin White Rope, Viva Voce

TDoL has a Melvin …

Thursday, May 21st, 2009 | interviewZ, musiX, pdX | No Comments

… not the kind I used to get from seniors in gym class … an actual Melvin. Buzz Osborne has fronted the Melvins for the past 25 years, bashing it out heavy and weird while influencing floods of bands over the years of the stoner metal ilk. Without the Melvins, there’d be no Kyuss or Queens of the Stone Age.

The band has not-so-quietly recorded 20-some albums with core members King Buzzo and drummer Dale Crover, who had a brief stint as skinsman for Nirvana during the Bleach years. Not much has changed, save for the fact that they finally added some consistent members a few years back in Big Business’ Coady Willis and Jared Warren.

The Melvins were one of Kurt Cobain’s favorites (Cobain had actually tried out for bass in the early days), which no doubt helped get the band signed to Atlantic Records in the early ’90s. In 1993 the Melvins released their Atlantic debut Houdini, a classic among the band’s followers that brought the slow and weird meat-and-potatoes sludge of songs like “Hooch” and, my personal favorite, “Teet” to a wider audience.

Almost a decade later, the Melvins were asked to play the album in its entirety at the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in England. They obliged, and continue to play it today. But it’s not a case of a band resting on its laurels—the Melvins released Nude With Boots last year and, according to the outspoken Osborne, have no plans of stopping. Why should they?

The Melvins are playing a string of shows this month, including in Portland at the Roseland Theater on May 24—expect Houdini in its entirety as well as a few surprises. King Buzzo obliged to answer a few questions in his lovable, curt way—which I liken to a wedgie with words.

TDoL: You’ve been playing Houdini live since performing it at All Tomorrow’s Parties in 2004. Wasn’t the album requested by someone at that festival?
Buzz Osborne: Yes this is true. They requested we play the Houdini record all the way through.

Is there an album of yours that you’d rather play live?
Not really, I guess. It’s a pretty good record for us to play all in one go. Lots of variety.

Someone else’s album you’d like to play in its entirety?
Tommy by the Who.

What do you think it is about Houdini that makes people return to it?
Do people return to it? I know we have but that’s because we know it now. Lots of our records have songs we had no intention of playing live.

Why did you choose to cover KISS’ “Going Blind” of all songs?
It’s a good song. I’ve always thought KISS had some good songs and some that were less than good. “Going Blind” is one of the really good ones.

I agree. What are you listening to these days?
Bobby Darin and Lou Reed.

I’ve read that you collect toys, but not records, which I found interesting. What’s your most prized possession?
Why is that interesting? Should I collect records? I have a ton of music and I listen to a ton of music all the time … just not on record. I don’t care what format music is on. No one should. My most prized possession would be my dogs.

Do you find that some people concentrate on the Melvins’ place in a certain time in music rather than the fact that you’re still making relevant, creative music today?
Actually, I find most people are interested in our new stuff as well as our old. I suppose some people only recognize the older elements of what we have done, but they are usually not fans of our band … so who cares what they think? I couldn’t be bothered worrying about things of no consequence.

Twenty-five years playing music … great? Surreal? Just what you do?
Of course it’s great. Doing anything for 25 years is a little surreal. What do I do? I go go go until it’s gone gone gone.

“Teet” - Melvins (Houdini)

“Going Blind” - Melvins (Houdini)

“The Kicking Machine” - Melvins (Nude With Boots)

Tags: Buzz Osborne, Dale Crover, Houdini, Kurt Cobain, Melvins, Nude With Boots

The Vaselines enter The Days of Lore

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009 | interviewZ, musiX, pdX | 5 Comments

Like many, my introduction to The Vaselines came via Nirvana’s Incesticide record in 1992. “Molly’s Lips” and “Son of a Gun” were cheery pop songs that sounded a little less Nirvana-like than the rest of the album. Of course, Nirvana would later cover “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam” for its Unplugged album and, as with the brothers Meat (who incidentally have a new record out May 12), The Vaselines were soon on everybody’s cool-and-hip radar.

The Vaselines weren’t even a band by that point. Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee (for whom Cobain would name his daughter after) broke up—personally and professionally—in 1989, only three years after they formed. The band have only a pair of EPs and one full-length—Dum-Dum—released a few months before they called it a day. Ever since Mr. Cobain professed his undying love for the Scotland duo’s jangly garage pop, The Vaselines have maintained indie-rock cult status, and in 1992 Sub Pop re-released The Vaselines’ first two EPs and Dum-Dum as The Way of The Vaselines.

On May 5 Sub Pop re-released the re-release with a much more grandiose title Enter The Vaselines. And with that Kelly and McKee will also play a few U.S. dates, including one here in Portland at the Doug Fir on Wednesday, May 13. The show, no doubt, will be packed. Gee, imagine a world where Kurt Cobain didn’t endorse bands. Who could blame him? The Vaselines are everything I like about music: Sweet, catchy, naughty, ramshackle, strange, beautiful.

Eugene Kelly took some time to talk to TDoL about the upcoming tour and his first encounter with his biggest fan.

TDoL: When you formed The Vaselines in 1986, how did you think it would end up?
Eugene Kelly: We just wanted to write songs and play gigs. We were lucky that we released a single soon after we’d formed, but we didn’t have any plans. It was one day at a time and we were both at college so it wasn’t a full-time job being in The Vaselines.

Is it strange performing songs you wrote over 20 years ago, considering the fact that The Vaselines could have just as easily ended up long-gone and forgotten?
We could’ve been dead and gone and no one would’ve missed us if it wasn’t for Nirvana then Sub Pop introducing us to a new audience. It’s not strange to play these songs after 20 years at all. They feel new and fresh to us. We didn’t perform many of them live 20 years ago as we split soon after the Dum-Dum album was released.

Kurt Cobain asked you to reform in 1990 to perform with Nirvana in Edinburgh. It was obviously before Nirvana broke. What made you decide to do it?
I was interested in meeting these guys from far over the ocean who seemed to be fans of ours. It was a positive thing in my life at a time when—post-split, post-break up, post-college—I didn’t have much to be cheery about.

How did Kurt react to meeting you two?
We were introduced and chatted before the show; he seemed very shy and introverted.

You’ve both been involved in projects post-Vaselines. Does The Vaselines still satisfy a musical part of you that hasn’t been tapped into since?
I’ve played mostly folk-based acoustic music for the last few years and played solo shows, so playing electric guitar again is fantastic. I’ve missed making a racket.

What are you most looking forward to with the tour?
Simply getting to go to places that The Vaselines haven’t been before and seeing who is waiting to see us play. I can’t wait.

“Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam” - The Vaselines

“Sex Sux (Amen)” - The Vaselines

“Molly’s Lips” - Nirvana

Tags: Doug Fir, Enter The Vaselines, Eugene Kelly, Frances McKee, Incesticide, Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, Sub Pop, The Vaselines

The love of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 | interviewZ, musiX | 1 Comment

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have been busy little buggers. Since the release of the New Yorkers’ first full-length in February, they’ve become one of the most talked about bands on these here Interwebs. Endless touring and press has made it a challenge for TDoL to snag an interview with TPoBPaH … to that I say OMG (!), WTF (?), BYOB (!) and WKRP (in Cincinnati).

Well, it finally happened—just as the band added new tour dates, including a stop here in Portland on July 23 at Backspace. I was giddy. I’ve been taken by the band’s rambunctious power-pop since hearing them a couple of months ago at Your New Favorite Song … not to mention TPoBPaH tugged at my heartstrings with a tune called “Kurt Cobain’s Cardigan.” The songs are bite-sized sugar-bombs of pure ear candy: Shiny, shiny hooks and cheery boy-girl vocals courtesy of guitarist Kip Berman and keyboardist Peggy Wang, sullied to perfection by a thin layer of crackling distortion. It’s the type of music that makes you feel like you can fly … although I don’t recommend trying such a thing.

TPoBPaH just released a 7-inch for “Young Adult Friction” on Slumberland, a song that would sound just as at home at a dance party as a dingy punk-rock hub. Impossible not to like. Te prometo.

So, without further ado—after two months of enduring the pains of being patient—The Days of Lore caught up with Kip Berman (who bares a striking resemblance to Jason Biggs) to discuss the state of the economy and the power of pop music.

TDoL: I interviewed JB Townsend last year, and he said that while he had read some great reviews of the Crystal Stilts, some of the references to influences were a bit lazy. How do you feel about being compared to other bands, and the comparisons that come from that?
Kip Berman: Just that anyone rates us along their favorites is super sweet. Plus, I hope people who like our music go back and discover the bands we draw a lot of inspiration from, as a bunch of those bands are pretty under-appreciated.

What might someone be surprised to find in your record collection?
Let me check … The Hunches Yes. No. Shut It. alongside Belle and Sebastian’s This is Just a Modern Rock Song EP. Those records are probably eying each other suspiciously, though I love them both.

How have the songs changed since the band started?
I think the biggest change was when Kurt [Feldman] joined up on drums about a year and a half ago. Up until then, we relied on a drum machine which we programmed lazily with one of two possible drum beats.

If the band were to make a departure in its sound, which direction could you see it going?
It’s not a self-conscious “now let’s play doom metal” sort of thing, but more of wanting to always continue to get better and make pop music that we love. I feel that pop is so wonderfully broad a style of music that you could never ever get bored or fully exhaust it—it’s infinite.

Is it difficult to be in a band these days with state of the economy and the music industry?
The economic situation is pretty scary, but I don’t have a lot of sympathy for “The Music Industry.” There’s so much great music coming out now that I find it hard to see how, as a fan, things are bad. Maybe Metallica is only making 20 million this year instead of 35? We’re just happy to have people be excited for our shows and come out and have fun. Getting to make music with your friends and getting to tour and meet new people is pretty much the best thing ever.

What’s your motto for being in a band?
“Peggy is always right.”

And motto for life?
Be excellent to each other … and party on, dudes!

“Come Saturday” - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

“Young Adult Friction” - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

“Kurt Cobain’s Cardigan” - TPoBPaH (split 7-inch with Parallelograms)

Tags: Crystal Stilts, Kip Berman, Peggy Wang, Slumberland Records, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart