Coal Porters invite you to celebrate the release of Durango; their 4th and finest offering of hot alt. bluegrass. Recorded in Colorado with legendary producer Ed Stasium.
McCabe & Mrs. Miller is a collaboration between Victor Krummenacher (Camper Van Beethoven, Monks of Doom) and Alison Faith Levy (The Sippy Cups, The Loud Family). Having worked together on and off for many years, Alison and Victor have finally realized their dream of writing and performing as a duo. Although it seems an unlikely pairing, their voices blend together in the tradition of classic duets, and their songwriting styles mesh into a fine mix of blues, folk, and country. Digging at the roots of their rootlessness, these songs sweep out the dark corners of longing, regret and desire with the intimate wit and wisdom of old friends. Their debut album Time for Leaving is due March 9, 2010 (through Magnetic Motorworks) and was produced by Bruce Kaphan (American Music Club).
Time For Leaving is a broad, ambitious work that finds the San Francisco-based duo traveling across the rural backroads and steel rails of Americana music. Snaky blues numbers ("Fare Thee Well" and "Couldn't Sit Still") intertwine with bittersweet folk ballads ("Come Back Home To Me" and "Forgiveness"), two-step country ("Your Magic Fingers"), rootsy pop-rock ('Red Wine & Chocolate"), gentle acoustic instrumentals ("Union City Blues") and bawdy, backroom jazz ("Playground").
Between the touring schedules of both of their high-profile bands, they have found the time to perform with the likes of Cracker, Built to Spill and The Knitters. Their live show has evolved into a formidable, dramatic force. The band also includes Jonathan Segel (Camper Van Beethoven) on violin and mandolin, Doug Hilsinger on guitar, John Hanes on drums and Paul Olguin on bass.
Sunday night at The Scala saw the coronation of The Duke And The King. That dynamic duo, Simone Felice and Robert ‘Chicken’ Byrd, who’d crafted the mellifluous, wounded Nothing Gold Can Stay have now totally assimilated the transcendent voice of Reverend Loveday and the voluptuous fiddle of Simi Stone. At the End Of The Road Festival they’d been excitingly finding their way; here they were a band.
Put together these four New Yorkers, self-styled glam-soul-folk outfit, discover, in Dylan’s words, ‘the blood of the land in (their) voice’. Tapping into the mystery and tragedy of their homeland, creating music that’s genuinely americana, and abundantly joyful. A sense of church here, though good church, the room infused with benevolence and bonhomie. From the get-go they feed off this, and it turns into a glorious ride.
Simi’s violin is now to the fore; there at the intro to opener ‘If You Ever Get Famous’, as she is for the anthemic take on Neil Young’s ‘Helpless’ at the set’s climax. During ‘Suzanne’ she and Burke carry on a breathtaking, flirtatious conversation; his voice, her strings. The Reverend meanwhile, from behind his kit, throwing in vocal lines that never fail to seize the scruff of the heart.
They play much of the album and a few Felice Brothers tunes; a beautiful ‘The Devil Is Real’ as first encore; waving goodbye with ‘One More American Song’, a triumphant, broken flag of a finale.
Live! Beg, Borrow & Steal showcases THE PLIMSOULS at the height of their power, tearing the roof off and on the verge of starting a riot on L.A.'s old Sunset Strip. Recorded at the Whisky A Go Go on October 31, 1981, this previously unreleased 18 song live album includes many of The Plimsouls' classics as well as plenty of surprises. It has been stunningly remastered, features previously unpublished and gorgeous photos by renowned photographer Bob Matheu, and also includes three pummelling tracks ("New Orleans," "Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!" and "Run Run Run") with special guests The Fleshtones.
The album will be in-stores (in both vinyl and CD) and digitally online through Alive Records on February 23rd. The first vinyl pressing of the record will also include a poster and is limited to 1,000 copies. Considering that all of The Plimsouls official studio releases are currently out of print, this explosive live document of the band igniting The Whisky nearly three decades ago stands as not only a highly anticipated release from the band, but also as a testament to the power of pure, unadulterated rock & roll.
Formed in 1978 by Peter Case (vocals, guitar) following his departure from The Nerves and The Breakaways, with Louie Ramirez (drums), Dave Pahoa (bass) and Eddie Muñoz (guitar), The Plimsouls effectively blended roots, British Invasion and garage rock into one unique soul-punk, garage-pop combo.
"They boasted a soulful front man and gifted songwriter in Peter Case; a brittle, unconventional lead guitarist in Eddie Muñoz; and a gutsy, power-packed rhythm section in bassist Dave Pahoa and drummer Lou Ramirez. The ‘Souls didn’t just replicate the cliches of power pop, as so many others did – they, and especially Case, were intent on putting their own imprint on the rock and R&B styles they derived their sound from. Their keen originality and their ‘let’s-rock’ attitude removed them from the run of the mill. Despite the misguided notions of observers intent upon categorization, The Plimsouls were always their own men." — Chris Morris
I've been listening to the new Midlake album The Courage Of Others for a few weeks now and after the initial bedding-in process it quickly became clear that it's a major release. The Trials Of Van Occupanther was a special record, and now they've done it again but in a very different fashion. While Van Occupanther was immediate this is a grower. They've eradicated all trace of the West Coast and espoused the measures of folk music. These are slower, more sedate songs. There's prominent guitar, harpsichord, and flute. What's similar is that they're again songs of another time and place. Another rustic environment in a simpler time but now addressed in the first person without characters - no Roscoe's here.
A couple of years back I talked at some length to Tim Smith while he waited to take the stage at Latitude. The resulting piece ran in Rock'n'Reel. I don't know if there was something the band or Bella Union didn't like about it but they've never even acknowledged its existence. Still it reads fine to me and given the issue is now out of print I feel quite happy to post it here.
LAKE SUPERIOR
It’s a warm Wednesday night and the two evenings of celebration of Bella Union’s 10th anniversary are reaching their climax. An alert and committed Royal Festival Hall crowd are back in their seats and good-naturedly await the arrival of Midlake, in the main un-phased by the interminable hiatus while the guitar tech and the sound desk get Tim Smith’s monitors just right. Abruptly all is in order and host Paul Morley is centre-stage for a mercifully brief introduction and then the five members of the band appear.
Unassuming, slightly furtive, and bookish, they take their positions and launch into ‘We Gathered In Spring’. It’s the first of eight songs they’ll perform from the album that’s brought them here, The Trials Of Van Occupanther. That each of these songs is greeted with warm applause of recognition, and that the audience almost beatifically gives itself up to the wash of sound flooding from the stage, is indicative of how this music has infiltrated its way into people’s lives. That they also play a song co-written with The Chemical Brothers, and are joined for ‘Young Bride’ by Paul Weller, affirms that they are set fair to be something significantly more than just the latest indie phenomena.
Over the last year the band have played a lot in the UK, progressing from shows at Kilburn’s intimate Luminaire to Shepherd’s Bush Empire to this South Bank palace of culture. Their increasing visibility and audience has been the consequence of the richness, mystery, and surprise of Van Occupanther. It’s a record of magic and otherness. A series of conceptually linked songs set in the American wilderness in the late 19th century, involving a ‘lonely scientist’, in an atmosphere that’s mainly pastoral but at times menacing. Harking back to pre-punk days and gentle psych-folk it has a rich and organic sound that warms and reassures, and its lyrical elisions invite you to join, as part-creator, this second life.
Comparisons are made, not altogether accurately, to later Fleetwood Mac and America, and the shade of the mysterious Jimmie Spheeris has been invoked by the band itself. However in their spirit of evocation of other times, though not necessarily musically, they are perhaps closest to Tandy and The Band. Tim Smith is both their singer and the composer of all their material. Talking from a trailer at the Latitude Festival he told some of their story.
The group are predominately Texans. Tim comes from San Antonio, the others from Houston and Arlington, and Eric Nichelson from Louisiana. They met in the small town of Denton. A little to the northwest of Dallas it’s a place that in recent years has been musically remarkably fertile. Slobberbone, Centro-matic, South San Gabriel, and Lift To Experience all came out of there. As Tim explains it was a conducive and nurturing atmosphere: “It’s a small town of about 100,000 people; two universities and a lot of students. It’s got coffee shops, bars, places to play. It’s like a little Austin. People go for the good arts programmes and form bands. There are lots of bands. It’s a nice little community. “
They’d all come to study jazz and met on a course in the late 90s. Tim wasn’t much into rock but the others, particularly Paul Alexander, were: “Paul was also studying jazz but he always loved The Pixies, Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine. I knew The Beatles and that was about it. Around 1998 when we started playing together I turned onto OK Computer. Slowly I stopped listening to jazz. I still respected it but I thought I’d rather listen to Bjork than Charlie Parker. I started to hear more; Portishead, and definitely Radiohead were huge for us.”
Tim’s then instrument was saxophone: “When we got together we were playing a lot of jazz-funk stuff. Quite a different band; a female vocalist, trombone, trumpet. I was playing tenor sax. We played two, three shows and realised we had to change things around. That’s when we started to become the band we are now. I realised saxophone was going to be out. I put it down, picked up the guitar and started to write.”
Their first recording was a seven-track mini-album called Milkmaid Grand Army. Appearing in 2001 it has tantalising titles like ‘She Removes Her Spiral Hair’ and ‘I Lost My Bodyweight in the Forest’. Bella Union intend reissuing it shortly though Tim is not particularly enamoured with it: “That was something to sell at shows in Austin or Dallas as we didn’t have anything to give to anyone who latched on to us. They were the songs we were then playing but it’s quite disjointed. So many different influences there; one song might sound like Clinic, another like Rufus Wainwright. We still hadn’t found our style. If the label wants to put it out that’s fine but I’m not real proud of it. I’d call it a bad diary reading.”
The line-up needed one final tweak and that happened when Evan Jacobs left: “Eric, our lead guitarist, was then acting as our manager. He didn’t play guitar at the time. We had another guy in the band but he decided he wanted to go on to do other things. He now has his own band Tacks, The Boy Disaster and he went on to play piano in The Polyphonic Spree for a while.”
As Tim tells it Eric hadn’t considered being a member of Midlake: “He had no idea. We knew he played some acoustic guitar, joking around. He was friends with McKenzie the drummer. After Evan left we tried out one or two people, and it didn’t work out with them, so we thought we’d give Eric a call. He would need to get an electric guitar and learn how to play but he was very thrilled and it was a good fit. I knew it was the best line-up.”
Eric Pulido’s joining was one of a number of turning points that were seemingly serendipitous. Tim had not intended being the singer: “I’d written and recorded songs for another singer to audition but we found we liked my voice on the tape.”
Songwriting came first, though it was difficult: “I enjoyed that most of all. My first love was writing songs but to begin with it was awful. I’d write a song and hate it in a week. Then I’d go two weeks, and then maybe a month. But I wanted to keep doing it ‘cos I was never satisfied. I’m very critical but I can go on loving a song a lot longer than I used to.”
In 2003 they were contacted by Bella Union, an unknown label to them. The drummer from Lift To Experience had given Simon Raymonde the demos for their first album and Simon had loved them:“We had no idea who they were and it sounded a bit fishy. Simon wrote back and said he wanted to have our babies. After being turned down by so many other labels it felt really good to have people appreciate what we were doing.”
These were demos for Bamnan And Slivercork released in 2004. It’s something of a Cinderella album. Most people who’ve heard it do so in the wake of Van Occupanther and in many cases have been disappointed that it’s quite different. Where Van Occupanther sounds natural Bamnan sounds more artificial. There are some examples of Van Occupanther’s trademark harmonies but not enough, and while the keen ear can pick intimations of the phrasing and concerns of the later album it is clearly indebted to certain fairly obvious influences. Thus Tim’s thoughts on it are a little contradictory: “I think we felt during Bamnan And Slivercork we had finally found the proper voice. We were listening to The Flaming Lips, Grandaddy and Mercury Rev. They were big influences. We tried to write songs and make them sound a certain way. We did start a concept album so it’s not so all over the place. It’s unified bits of music.”
It’s a record that probably deserves better and revisited after the first flush of infatuation with Van Occupanther has abated it gives a lot more. Though drenched in Mercury Rev a song like ‘Balloon Maker’ is memorable and does still get played live. Tim recalled: “I remember thinking I couldn’t write a better song than ‘Balloon Maker’, but half a year later I was listening to different things. You change your taste. Then there was no question about it, I could write something better than that.”
He’s quite easy that things panned out in the way they did: “It’s fine. I’d love that people had heard the first album but I’m a much bigger fan of Van Occupanther than Bamnan. No question. It feels better. The problems on Bamnan we’d learnt how to fix.” But they’d also decided to make a change: “I don’t know if it was on purpose. It was just the music we started listening to; a lot of that 70s folk stuff, like Joni Mitchell and Neil Young. We were a band that sounded nothing like that and I was in love with this other music. So what could I do? I couldn’t be in this other band. I had to do what I loved to listen to.”
Along with Young, Mitchell and others, the name of Jimmie Spheeris is often mentioned: “He’s my favourite. That album, Isle Of View, is definitely my favourite album of the last four years. I tried to tune my guitar like him. I read online the way he would do it, and tried a bit of that. I’d written ‘Chasing After Deer’ and ‘We Gathered In Spring’. When the band heard them it was such a departure from ‘Balloon Maker‘ that things had to change. We had originally planned to have more keyboards and we had the sounds ready to go, already programmed, but every time we’d add a keyboard to this album it’d sound colder, so we left it off, and it remained more of a piano and guitar record.”
Tim writes alone but is then happy for all contributions: “It’s hard for me to write with other people, but everyone can have a go, work out parts they want to put on a song. Anyone’s welcome to pick up a guitar, play the piano, whatever. We‘ll switch around and whoever comes up with the best part that’s what’s on the album.” They record at home: “It allows a lot more time to be creative, and not to worry about the money. It took us about a year. We had day jobs. We don’t anymore. When we finished the album we had a seven-week tour over here, and our jobs didn’t want us back after that. “
Van Occupanther ironically was not planned as a concept album: “I wasn’t really trying that with Van Occupanther. I had the name first and then there was the song, and the album was going to be called that, but I never had the idea of a whole album based around this guy or the village. The songs were written around the same time and from some kind of place similar, but I wasn’t really trying to do that. The label didn’t think Van Occupanther would connect with an audience. So we all agreed to find some sort of prefix and decided upon The Trials Of. We could all live with that. That makes it sound more like a concept album.”
The striking images on the cover of the two figures, either out of a mummers’ play or The Shining or some David Lynch-like fantasia, came from Tim’s imagination: “That was in the middle of making the album. I actually drew a guy that looked like the guy in the gold and then I painted a picture like that with another guy in the painting in a burgundy velvet suit. The painting was going to be the cover but just looking around I was so influenced by a lot of the 70s covers and thought we needed a real photograph. So we went out to the Texas woods and shot it”.
Did that rustic, simple existence appeal to him: “I think it was about wanting to live in a different place and time. I love so much of what’s going on now. Computers, iTunes. But there’s a lot I don’t feel a part of. Humility, and all the virtues, go out the window these days. I just kind of romanticise the nineteenth century, like the 70s, way out proportion. I look at old photographs or watch movies from the 70s; everything looks so beautiful, so perfect. But everything looks better in retrospect, like today will look good.”
At the Festival Hall one song, ‘The Pills Won’t Help You Now’, was a co-write with The Chemical Brothers: “They approached Bella Union. I’d never talked to them. They had written the backing tracks, or the chord progression, for two tracks. I picked one, had written the melody in two weeks and sang on it. I gave it back to them, they were quite pleased and that was it. It was such an honour, though to be honest I don’t know too much about the Chemical Brothers’ stuff. I don’t think of myself as too big into electronic music at all but its fun to do occasionally.”
They also played ‘The Children Of The Grounds ‘ intended for their next album: “It’s a little darker sounding. I think the next album will be darker. Maybe half the album is written. I still have a lot to write but I just want to get started recording. We’ll begin when we get back. We’re still waiting on gear to come in, but now we’ve got a proper studio or at least a space we can convert. We recorded the first two in the living room.
“We’re doing it ourselves again. We’re still figuring things out. It’s a learning thing. It’s a bit of a frustrating process as being fun. It can be so gruelling by the time it’s done. I’m just saying that as it might take us a year. There’s pressure but I’m quite confident it’ll be a better album. I’m pretty sure from listening to the demos. I just think the songs are better. I don’t know if there’s any ‘Roscoe’s? There’s definitely no ‘Roscoe’s in the bunch, but you can’t expect to write 20 of those! We’ll see.”
And so we will. And we’ll see how Tim and Midlake manage a level of fame that’s still a little bewildering. Later this year they return for one show, topping the bill at a festival: “To headline one of the days at a festival. I couldn’t believe when I heard that. That people would want to come and hear your music, and have you on a festival is so strange to me. People don’t know who we are. Actually that’s not really true. I’ve got to stop thinking like that!”
Bands your editor saw in 2009. The final grisly toll of the damned
Band Roll – 2009
15th Jan – Damon & Naomi, Left Outsides 16th Jan – Wildebeests 22nd Jan – Judy Collins, Eric Andersen, Carolyn Hester, Roger McGuinn 23rd Jan – Easy Come Night – Jason McNiff, Ben Thomas, The Lorcas, Dexter Bentley 25th Jan – Ugly Guys 29th Jan – Chris Cacavas. Tailors, Treecreeper 30th Jan – Jeremy Gluck & the Yohawks, Sextress, the Spivs 1st Feb – The Coal Porters 7th Feb – Angie Boxall, Tailors, Emily Barker 8th Feb – James McMurtry Jon Dee Graham 12th Feb – Quiet Loner, Dan Raza 14th Feb – The Rosinators 19th Feb – Benjamin Thomas, Savage Nomads 21st Feb – Onions, Foghorn Leghorn, Moon Music Orchestra, The See See, Danny & The Champs, Magic Numbers (Winterlude) 26th Feb – Instant Flight, James MacArthur 27th Feb – Boycott Coca-Cola Experience, Vic Goddard & The Subway Sect 28th Feb – Ben Thomas, Jason McNiff, Andy Hankdog, Trent Miller, The Lorcas 1st March – The Bleach, The Trophy Husbands 7th March – Norton Money, Trevor Moss & Hannah Lou, Charnock & Russell 8th March – Alan Tyler, Jack Day, Ange & The Wagon Band, The Travelling Band 14th March – Al Perkins, B J Cole, Two Fingers Of Firewater, (Steelin’ Aint A Crime) 21st March – Benjamin Thomas, Grantura 24rd March – The Lorcas, Jason Walker, Benjamin Thomas, Eddie Johns, Quiet Loner, Dan Raza 28th March – Bob Dylan 2nd April – The Mekons, De Rosa 4th April – The Rockingbirds 5th April – John Miller & His Country Casuals 13th April – Will Treecreeper, The Henry Brothers, William Elliott Whitmore 14th April – Redlands Palomino Co. The Rockingbirds 18th April – King Salami and The Cumberland Three, The Rosinators 19th April – Princes In The Tower, Emily Barker (Wenstock) 23rd April – Emma Tricca, Colorama 24th April – Jeremy Gluck & The Yohawks, Marc Jeffrey & Jon Klein 25th April – Mary Epworth and the Jubilee Band, Emma Tricca, The Moon Music Orchestra, Dan Raza, The See See, Danny & The Champs, Trevor Moss & Hannah Lou 26th April – Bob Dylan 30th April – Alejandro Escovedo 2nd May – Dan Raza, Ben Folke Thomas, Monroe's Revenge 3rd May – Spring Park Motel, Thomas Bailey 7th May – Chris Mills, Case Hardin, Liam Dullaghan 8th May – Ben Folke Thomas, Moon Music Orchestra 9th May – Ben Folke Thomas, Rachel Harrington 14th May – Eileen Rose & The Holy Wreck 19th May – Dave Rave, The Plastic Heroes, Dead Cigarettes 24th May – The Wolf People, Mac Macleod 28th May - Yngve and The Innocent, Ben Folke Thomas 31st May - Alan Tyler and the Lost Sons 2nd June – John Wesley Harding, Amy Speace 6th June – John Wesley Harding 14th June – Will Scott, Hungry Dog Brand 17th June – Ghost Town Showdown, Quiet Loner, Blazin’ Zoos, Midsensations, Graham Larkbey, Henry Brothers, Dan Raza, Smokey Angle Shades 19th June – Ornette Coleman. Master Musicians Of Joujouka, Patti Smith 21st June – Florence Joelle, Emma Tricca, Jason McNiff, Quiet Loner 25th June – Wolf People 26th June – Pretenders, Ben Harper, Seasick Steve, Ben Harper, Fleet Foxes, Magic Numbers, Neil Young (Paul McCartney) 27th June – John Crampton, Simon Onions 1st July – Big Star 4th July - The Benny Andersson Band, Tommy Körberg, The Swingle Singers, Miss Li 8th July – Southern Tenant Folk Union, Jim Byrne 10th July - Paulo Nutini, Marina & The Diamonds 11th July - King Salami and The Cumberland Three, Princes In The Tower, Wolf People 16th July – Barry Melton, Graham Larkbey & The Escape Committee 18th July – Fairport Convention 19thJuly - Graham Larkbey & The Escape Committee, The Snakes, The Loving Cup, The Coal Porters, Little George 25th July – Sailorette, Pete Thompson, Jason McNiff 28th July – Rodney Crowell, The Flatlanders 2nd Aug – Emma Scarr, Slim’s Cider Company 13th Aug – Bermondsey Joyriders, Johnny Throttle 15th Aug – Lucky Strikes 20th Aug – Roky Erickson 22nd Aug – Snakes, Anna Page 1st Sept – Joe Hurley 5th Sept – Loose Salute, McNiff, Hankdog & Wilson, Cusack 6th Sept – The Jailbirds, Ben Folke Thomas 10th Sept – Alan Tyler, Trevor Moss & Hannah Lou, Pete Greenwood, Tom Huddleston, Jason McNiff 11/12/13 Sept - The Duke & The King, Emily Barker, Euros Childs, Herman Dune, Explosions In The Sky Darren Hayman, The Low Anthem, The Broken Family Band, Beth Jeans Houghton, Okkervil River, Fleet Foxes, Josh T Pearson, The Travelling Band Bob Log III, Okkervil River, Magnolia Electric Co. Steve Earle, Neko Case, Richmond Fontaine, The Hold Steady, Archie Bronson 16th Sept – Hungry Dog, Onions, Ellen Mary McGhee, Bob Rafkin, Sweet Innocence, Suzy Almond, AJ Dehany, Glassglue 18th Sept – The Duke & The King, Willard Grant Conspiracy 30th Sept – Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby 2nd Oct – Mott The Hoople 17th Oct – Jamie Clarke, Simon J Alpin 21st Oct – The Broken Family Band 24th Oct - Samson & Delilah, Trent Miller, Ben Folke Thomas 25th Oct – Alan Tyler, Turnstyle Junkpile, Cusack, Onions, Walking Wounded 27th Oct – Greencorn Plantation, The Annullments, Smokey Angle Shades 29th Oct – Christopher Rees, Trent Miller 31st Oct - Trent Miller, Ben Folke Thomas 6th Nov – Spring Park Motel, Easter Sun, Plastic Pals 7th Nov - Ben Folke Thomas, Instant Flight, Plastic Pals 8th Nov – The Louche 9th Nov – Jim Jones Revue 10th Nov – Harrisburg, Dan Sandman, Ben Folke Thomas, Songdog, Jason McNiff 12th Nov – Ange Boxall, Ben Folke Thomas 18th Nov – Joe Plug, Low Anthem 20st Nov – Sunbirds, The R G Morrison, Hankdogs, Ben Folke Thomas, Danny & The Champs 21st Nov – Emily C. Smith, Ben Folke Thomas, Quiet Loner, Hankdogs, The Jolenes, Velvet Underpants 22nd Nov – The Duke & The King 26th Nov – Alan Tyler, Ben Folke Thomas 29th Nov – Kid Congo Powers and The Pink Monkey Birds, The Crushers, King Salami and The Cumberland Three 6th Dec - Ben Folke Thomas, Redlands Palomino Company 10th Dec - Ben Folke Thomas, Angie Boxall 15th Dec – Wolf People, Kurt Vile & The Violaters 16th Dec – Josh T Pearson, Joe Gideon & The Shark 18th Dec – Treecreeper, Moon Music Orchestra, Travelling Band, Danny & The Champs 19th Dec – The Jim Jones Revue
