THUNDERLIP – “Thunderlip” CD ’07 (Lucid, US) – I have to admit it, and this may be a funny forum to do so, but I actually like the movie “The Sound Of Music.” My dad used to always watch it & play the soundtrack on his record player. I remember that one song from it, “My Favourite Things.” Well, what led to this review is one of my favourite kind of things. Would Julie Andrews like this album? I don’t know. I know she did appear topless in a movie not long after “TSOM,” so she may have some rawk & roll in her after all, but that’s beside the point. This is the point: One of my favourite things is to be out working during the day, driving from one place to another and I spy a local music emporium. A glance at the clock tells me I have a few minutes to kill, so I amble in & browse through the budget discs. I’m thinking, “Hmm…I’ve been looking for that used copy of ‘Sabotage,’” something like that. Suddenly, what to my wondering eyes does appear than a strange-looking cover I’ve never seen. It says…what is that, “THUNDER CLIP?” No, looking at the spine it’s THUNDERLIP. Weird name and the skull with the helmet on the front looks decidedly like something off a Manilla Road album from 1982. Turning it over, I see titles that could be from the Scott/Young song-book, like “Backseat Bedlam” & “Denim Destiny.” ‘Course, I also see some darker references like “The Prophecy,” “The Impaler” & well…now, they’ve got me. The last song is “Prophecy II: The Second Coming.” You know I’m a sucker for shit like that and hey, it’s $6. I figure a couple good songs, at least, why not. You know what happens next, right? Of course you do. I wouldn’t be writing a review like this if it ended up being a living piece of aardwolf dung like it is 9 out of 10 times. No, this is that magical 10th time. The mutha starts out great and then just keeps getting better. It kick my ass from front to back. Starting with the balls-out rawk of “Mister Informer,” there isn’t an ounce of let-up…no, it’s a ton of ass-whup. John Manning (another brother of Peyton or Eli?) and James Yopp do as much Les Paul-thru-Marshall-harmony-&-lead-solo dueling as you’d typically expect from a vintage Robbo/Gorham work-out. Chuck Krueger puts down a solid mile-long tract of Souther-fried barroom metal crooning. Hell, check him out in “Backseat Bedlam” when, in best Stevn T fashion, he calls out the guitarists name before a riveting solo. Thing is, this is top-level stuff, Rawk with the capital “R” and it needs to get imbedded with the force of a country wallop deep into the 2007 Top 10. From North Carolina, my friends, we have a damn dangerous crew on the loose and apparently they have 2 albums before this! Lovers of all things related to T Lizzy, Maiden, Bible Of The Devil, Dirty Power and the like (in other words, RAYSREALM gods), get busy writing. And, hey, give Julie Andrews a chance. This is so good, even she might like it!
www.myspace.com/thunderlip
LOUDNESS – “Metal Mad” CD ’08 (Tokuma, Jap) – Are we really going to have this debate? Is someone actually going to try and argue with me about how great LOUDNESS in general & Akira Takasaki in particular are? Save it. There are some things I will sit down and discuss like a rational human being. Most things, actually. Much as I love Brooks Robinson, I will sit for, oh, maybe five minutes and let someone try to convince me that Craig Nettles was a better 3rd baseman. Much as I think “24” may be the greatest action/drama TV show of all time, I’d probably let someone try to argue for NYPD Blue. For a moment or so. But come talking to me about how there’s been a better overall metal band for the last…hmmm…25 years or a better metal axe-slinger than Akira? Not happening. Sorry, no can do. Once again, Mr. Takasaki and crew have proven why I love them so much. Striking once again with the re-united & better-than-ever line-up of Mr. T (sorry, couldn’t resist that), Niihara, Yamashita and Higuchi, the LOUDNESS guys come up aces in every corner. From the opening salvo of “Fire Of Spirit,” through crushers like “High Flyer” and the more involved “Crimson Paradox” and “Call Of The Reaper,” this is simply metal supreme. Have these guys updated their sound, with a rawer production and more down-tuned, Pantera-styled riffage? Sure, but the fact remains that this is a lean, mean metal machine just as it was in the “Devil Soldier” days when they were just kids. Don’t know what else to tell you. Go on Amazon, plunk down your credit card for $40+ and order this baby. Sure, it’s a tall price to pay for one CD, but in quality per song ratio, it’s pretty tough to top. Here’s hoping for another US Tour!
http://loudness.jp
GRAVEYARD – “Graveyard” CD ’08 (Tee Pee, Swe) – Ok, when you think of Gothenburg Sweden, the first thing that’s naturally going to come to mind is the legendary death metal scene that emanated from around those parts. Point is, after hearing this GRAVEYARD disc, I gotta say that’s missing a nice part of the picture. Now on first blush, it seems a lot of people are comparing this 4-piece (Joakim Nilsson –guitar/vocals, Jonatan Ramm – guitar/vocals, Rikard Eldlund – bass, Axel Sjoberg – drums) to another Swedish outfit, Witchcraft. I can’t say that’s a bad jumping off point but it doesn’t tell anywhere near the whole story. Sure, I’m betting GRAVEYARD have listened to their fair share of Pentagram as well as ancient vinyl treasures like November & Morly Grey. The fact remains that there’s also some other pretty interesting things going on here. Listen to the real & boisterous Stooges overtone that creeps in right from the get-go in opener “Evil Ways” (not the Santana song). Check out the jazzy, Larry Coryell-like lead guitar lines in “Lost In Confusion” and the back-room, smoky “Blue Soul.” Then grab an earful of “Submarine Blues.” This one somehow seamlessly combines that vintage SG-thru-Marshall ’70 crush with a distinct nod to some of the great early ‘90’s leaders like Mudhoney & early Soundgarden. Throw in uncontrolled drum insanity a la the master Keith Moon and you’ve got something that goes quite further than just being called a winner here. Yes, when you mix in emotional vocals along with a super variety of songs, amazing lead guitar throughout and a production job that’s nothing short of superior, you’ve got an early 2008 favourite working here. Excellent, and very nice to see this on Tee Pee Records. Sweet digipak, too.
www.myspace.com/graveyardsongs
IGNITOR – “Road Of Bones” CD ’07 (Cruz Del Sur, US) – The first thing I have to admit that I noticed about this disc by IGNITOR is the fact that the vocalist and one guitarist are women. Of course, that doesn’t make any difference to me from a musical standpoint, except to say that once again, this poo-poos the idiots who always are going on about how women can’t rock. IGNITOR sure as hell rocks, as do nearly every band who come flying in on the Cruz Del Sur imprint. This is a label that has to explain their commitment to metal to no one, having become home of some of the best in the business. Joining a roster that includes Bible Of The Devil, Slough Feg, Hammers Of Misfortune, Pharoah, etc. you’d better be able to bring the goods and IGNITOR do, through a series of ass-busting ‘80’s-styled bullet-belters like “March To The Guillotine,” “Phoenix” and “Broken Glass.” Am I ready to say these guys are going to replace BOTD on my shortlist of current desert island disc producers? Well, not yet, but let me say that for anybody who stands at the altar of Priest, Maiden & Accept, this should be a purchase you make.
www.cruzdelsurmusic.com
MOTHER SUPERIOR – “Grande” CD ’08 (Kicking, US) – After giving quite a few spins to 2007’s sprawling MS opus “Three Headed Dog,” it was really a nice surprise to get this thoughtfully assembled collection of re-mixes, live tracks and new songs in the mail from the SUPERIOR crew. Sort of like a nice cognac & smoke after a fine meal. Well, ok, I don’t drink cognac nor smoke, but you know what I mean. Or even if you don’t….MOTHER SUPERIOR, are the band that’s supplied the musical stew for Henry Rollins to croon over in recent years and, in their spare time, they’ve also managed to simply be one of the best rawkin’ bands around themselves. Their penchant for delivering bluesy hard rock, somehow then blended with Beatle-level harmonies & melodies, strikingly excellent writing skills & finger-scalding guitar has always really impressed. Now they’ve issued “Grande,” and while some bands’ decisions to deliver comp’s speaks of spreading things too thin, nothing could be further from the truth here. Listen to the scintillating new version of “Four Walls” or the absolutely blinder live takes on “Five Stars” or “Beg Borrow Steal.” You can’t help but love a band who show so many sides & do it so seamlessly. When you add in newies like “Brain Child” and a ridiculously good version of “Happiness Is A Warm Gun,” you’ve got a record that stands completely on it’s own. Now, you’ve just gotta go order it so it can stand on your shelf next to all the other MS discs. Real. Good. Music.
www.kickingrecords.com
WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE – “Kiss The Ground, Curse The Sky” CD ’08 (Underdogma, US) – 2 of these guys have beards, one doesn’t. Ok, so the one dude in WAGD sans facial hair is NOT named Beard. The thing is, right about now, 3 albums into their career, this Massachusetts band is, like Billy F. Gibbons & crew were around “Tres Hombres,” running on all 8 cylinders. One thing that I always use as a rule of thumb in determining the really great bands is when you can’t say exactly who they sound like…that depth of originality. With WAGD, if I had to be put on notice to give a comparison or be beaten to within an inch of my life with a rusty tire iron, I’d might be given to mention a certain Maryland band called Clutch. But even that is just not a fair comparison and, in that lies this band’s charm…the fact that while they surely play a bluesy, grooving version of heavy rawk/metal, they’re easily their own animal. Hell, check out the opening (& mostly instrumental) “Brown Rabbit,” “Burn” (“Kashmir” if it were written in a backwoods garage), the thundering firepower of “The Guns Of August” or the gorgeous ballads “Dusk & Done” & “On The Sea.” The thing that makes a band like WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE stand out is that they have made an album that will matter not only in 2008 but that you’ll still take out to listen to in 2018. That’s truly great stuff. Kudos for the awesome digipak, as well.
www.wereallgonnadie.com
www.underdogma.com
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Saturday, March 8, 2008
HIGHBINDER - The Highs That Bind - Interview!
A really good question came up over on the Peacedogman.com site awhile back about “sophomore slump” records. You know, the band puts out a complete blinder for their debut and then, either through brain-lock or bad advice dumps a clinker on us 2nd time around. Well, what about the band that starts out solid enough, hinting at greatness and then proceeds to open up more jets than the Blue Angels on their next one, let’s call it the “sophomore explosion.” Think Priest unleashing “Sad Wings Of Destiny” after “Rocka Rolla,” that kinda thing. Well, this very same sort of Technicolor, panavision follow-up has been accomplished by Michigan/Ohio-based HIGHBINDER, with their massive “Moreneverthanever,” a disc that impressed so much around the ‘REALM that it came in a strong #2 on my 2007 Album of The Year list. Taking a base in pure, raw metal they bring in influences from hard rock, country & industrial and they do so without muddying the waters but rather, stirring them up into a boiling cauldron. Or…well, lets’ just say they’re real freaking good. Recently, I had the opportunity to pose some questions to the HIGHBINDER guys and the results are one of my absolute favourite interviews ever on this site, as well as one of the most entertaining. Handled mostly by drummer Nick, the rest of the band kicked in here & there but due to the sensitive and weird nature of the questions and answers, they will strictly be known collectively as…wait for it…HIGHBINDER.
RAY - You guys are called HIGHBINDER. It was mentioned to me by an associate that this is in some way related to smoking herbal materials. Having never ventured near a substance frowned on by the US Gov’t in my entire life (by the way, I have some swampland in lower Alabama for you to take a look at after we’re done here), I wasn’t sure. Can you fill us in on your choice of band monicker?
HIGHBINDER - In our younger days, working on building the railroad in the old American West, discrimination against us was a common occurrence on account of our rich Asian heritage. While not technically slaves, we were the next best thing. We worked day and night, driving rails. During this time, although we had pretty cool hats, an idea was forming in our heads about what we should do when the rails were all laid. Years passed, and finally, when they drove the golden spike at Promontory, our time had come. All we needed was a name. Enter Highbinder. Where did it come from you ask? In ol' Frisco where the first Chinatowns grew, the local yakuza employed hatchet men, called 'highbinders' by the white folks. They literally carried hatchets and chopped dudes up. A fine tradition that carries on to this day! We wanted to be part of that glorious tradition, and here we are. Yes we smoke dope.
RAY - It was once told to me that the best place to start is at the beginning. Since I’ve already fucked that up and this is the 2nd question, I’ll just say “fuck it.” Then, after I say “fuck it,” since that isn’t a question, I’ll ask this: How did y’all get interested in music? And, yes, I mean from the beginning, for God’s sake. If you’re mother went to a Fred Waring concert when she was pregnant with you (mine did…sheesh!) , we want to know about it. Points for knowing who Fred Waring was.
HIGHBINDER - Knowing that you attended a Fred Waring concert en utero explains your pleasing diction, and I'm sure that if you were to sing your questions we'd understand you completely! No one could stress those consonants like old Fred. Old dead Fred. Back to the 2nd question at hand. It's not easy getting into music, but that's the benefit of being as skinny and pointed as we are. We can fit through holes most people wouldn't even SEE. We can even do that Lethal Weapon strait jacket trick (but only for money, which I think was the main moral lesson of that movie). The problem is, once you get in, you can't get out. Its reruns of “The Prisoner” for the rest of our worthless lives. What I don't get is, after seeing first hand how hard it is to get into music, how can you explain the Fat Bassist Union? It'd be like stuffing an orca down its own blowhole. And yet...there they are...
RAY - By this time, we should know why you’re called HIGHBINDER. What we’d now like to know is why ARE you HIGHBINDER? In other words, what led to the 4 of you coming together and deciding to make the Gosh-darn unholy racket you insist on making?
HIGHBINDER - Andy's dad is Captain Kirk. Nuff said. One song DONE. Actually, to tell you the truth, we're not even sure ourselves. The only analogy I can think of is bread mold. Leave four pieces of bread in your glove box, throw in some cottage cheese, donate car to brother in law. Two years later when you get it back, we'll be in that glove box, wondering how we got there. We are penicillin.
RAY - I understand that 2 of you are from Ohio & 2 are from Michigan. How the hell does that work? My 13 year old son is a geography bee dude, but I’m not. No, he did not actually win a geography bee, he is actually a small winged insect with a map tattooed to his body. Don’t ask…. Anyway, are half of you living in one state & half in the other? Are they that close? Do you practice over the phone? What the hell is going on with all that?!
HIGHBINDER - It's part of our work release program. Community outreach services blow! But yes, two in Michigan, two in Ohio. Southeast Michigan is the net that catches all the garbage coming from Detroit, however the weave is too open, which allows all the used tampons to slide through to Toledo. Toledo is the pearl of the skanky vag that is northwestern Ohio. As you can see, it's a perfect fit! Seriously, we all live like ten minutes away from each other. If they ever build that border fence between the states, we're royally screwed.
RAY - Quick, we have a red-light challenge! (I was just watching Cash Cab). I just did a mad-lib thing based on “The Night Before Christmas” with some friends & what I brought away from that was the following question: Is it possible for one to lay one’s urethra aside of one’s nose? Your take?
HIGHBINDER - Is this some kind of trick question? I haven't been able to detach the damn thing no matter how hard I try. It's always poking me in the eye. I'd like to give you the benefit of the doubt, so I'll go off by myself and cry. It's not cool to make fun of peoples' horrifyingly disfiguring genital face attachments. YOU try goin to the bathroom like this; we'll see whose laughing then! That's right, GOD. And when God laughs, puppies frolic, so it's cool.
RAY - Your first album (God, I love saying “album” in this age of the 80-minute recordable medium!), “All The Way To Hell” was pretty damn straight-forward. Now before you start getting all hissy on me, I’m not saying straight-forward is bad. I like straight-forward and gave the album a good review…so good in fact, that you sent me a t-shirt. Still, when I heard “Moreneverthanever” for the first time, it was like you suddenly went from a black & white copy to a full-length feature in Panavision & Surround-Sound. You guys really opened up some new doors on this one! I’m hearing everything from country to industrial. Any commentary?
HIGHBINDER - Actually, we totally agree with you about that straightfoward thing, also that it's not necessarily a bad thing. Dare I say we were rushed into recording the All the Way To Hell... yes I do. Go into the studio, and three mind crushing, ear piercing, foreskin flapping days latter we had our first album. Not bad, quite enjoyable really, but it was clear to us that we hadn't fully delved into what we were capable of yet. The first thing we did when we got out of that studio was start work on the songs for the next album, trying to go places that we hadn't even thought possible for ourselves.
Some bands rally around other bands to form their sound. Not us. Emulation is flattery, but also masturbation. We all love The Who, as one example among many, but for us it would be incredibly boring to even attempt to sound like them alone. Our influences are far too varied and weird (we all love weirdness) to limit ourselves to one style anymore, and you can definitely see the proof in Moreneverthanever. I guess we're one of the few bands whose influences actually don't show up in the music we make. When they do, they're stretched beyond recognition to the point where even we can't say what goes where. When people ask, 'what are your influences?' we have to shrug and look stoned.
Most of the credit for the leap from All the Way... to Moreneverthanever has to go to our producer, Randy Wilson, who had to deal with us for two years, in three different studios, in various states of mental breakdown. Without him it might have sounded just as scattershot, only also like shit.
The answer to this question has been much too serious. Zebra chunks.
RAY - Speaking of what the hell does certain stuff mean, what the hell does “Moreneverthanever” mean?
HIGHBINDER - Its a state of being. Actually, of being in the state of Ohio and playing rock shows in a post industrial city that for all intents and purposes might as well be in the gulag. Crackheads accost you for cigarettes and offer you one tooth blowjobs. The only decent skyscrapers are flooded up to the fourth floor with mercury water. The only good riots happen in polish town. Bars and churches outnumber all the other buildings. Sometimes the bars are in the churches, and sometimes punk bands here write songs about that. As you can see, it’s hard to find a word to describe what it’s like here. After about fifteen minutes of unintentionally huffing gas fumes it just popped out of my mouth.
RAY - I noticed that Andy is listed as playing lead guitar and Jon as baritone guitar. Here is where I become a musical ignoramus. (Well, I’ve been one for awhile, actually). What is a baritone guitar? Is Jon a frustrated sax player? You got some ‘splainin’ to do!
HIGHBINDER - You know that song Sludge Factory? You only need one baritone guitar to play that whole song. All the parts. Imagine how much heroin that one guy would have to do! Jesus... Jon is not satisfied with your normal puny guitars made for pinko commie bastards. Therefore we had to send off to Acme for the fabled baritone guitar of earthly pounding +5. In reality, it boils down to a normal guitar that has been rebuilt by the government into a deadly 1970s killing machine, bigger, stronger, muddier and twenty times harder to record. At last count, Jon is still not satisfied with his tone and is constantly looking for a way to make it sound more like two planets colliding.
In other words, it’s NOT a six string bass...IT IS EVERYTHING ELSE!
RAY - You know one thing I like about HIGHBINDER? I think the stuff the 2 guitarists do is just some of the most refreshing, different & kick-ass stuff this side of grits (you can send my next t-shirt to the same address!). Really, you don’t do a ton of what could be called traditional soloing, but the interplay is, to be frank (although my name really is Ray) staggering. How much time do you take working out some of this guitar stuff?
HIGHBINDER - The idea process is actually very quick. Andy opens his internal database and starts chugging out a riff or melody. Jon reaches into the primordial, unknowable depths of his soul and pulls out the first fish with legs (or tits if you prefer) which gets layered on. It’s the honing of that madness that takes time, but we never obsess over every note and pause. I think the reason it sounds different than what you're used to is down to the simple fact that we don't give a fuck about co-opting the tropes of an overdone instrument. Let's face it, too many guitarists sound like each other. Boring. Andy doesn't even have a favorite guitarist. Now that's freakin freedom.
RAY - Your song titles are eye-catchers: “Codename: Tornado,” “Terracotta Monster,” “Queen Is Bled,” “Death To False Jons….” Your lyrics are also not exactly typical fare. That is, they are unintelligible. No, I’m just kidding. What I mean is that they tend to make you think more than those of your everyday, garden-variety rawkin’ band. Any comments on this? Maybe you don’t like to talk about your lyrics, as some people don’t, but if you do, could you pick say 3 tracks from the new album(!) and tell us a little more about them?
HIGHBINDER - . I'll take unintelligible, that works for me. We like to give the illusion of meaning. Am I giving away our secrets here? Too late. We all write lyrics, as we all write the music, not that I'm going to tell you who wrote what. I'll give you one more secret...all the songs on this album are inspired somehow by zombies. I'm not joking, seriously. Different states of zombie-tude. Let's see...three songs...
The Dead Never Smile - You'll notice here that this song kinda apes a 'normal' song lyrically. Short lines and such. Yet in this case the girl who wants to hold your hand is a flesh devouring mindless monster, who you can never shake off no matter how far you run. Eventually you'll run out of gas, but she'll just keep shambling.
Codename:Tornado – It’s about being in the service of God, only instead of saving people and doling out Hail Mary’s bullets are used. That’s it; nobody ever said I was complex. Ahem …the undead.
Ebony and Irony – At the turn of the millenieum I was living in the flipperpit of an orca named Carl in Puget Sound (that’s in Washington State for you geography buffs). On December 31, 2000 a 9 foot tall steel monolith, resembling the monolith from “2001 a Space Odyssey” mysteriously appeared on top of a hill in a well known Seattle park. Three days later, and after much media fanfare, the monolith was gone. Ebony and Irony is about three people who have never met going about their mundane morning routines and stumbling upon something impossible. Oh and did I mention the Orca I was living under’s second cousin’s neighbor’s great, great, great, great, great, great, grandfather fifteen times removed was a zombie?
RAY - I’m really curious also, if you didn’t above to know more about “Whaler.” That is a monster cut!
HIGHBINDER - Ah Whaler, what a bitch. That one almost killed us. At some point we decided that we needed to do a sea shanty, and this is our version of what we'd be singing from the rigging on our galactic pirate ship whilst bombarding. But there wasn't enough outer space in that idea to fully satisfy us. Near the middle, when the song goes underwater, we're also riding in the stomach of a giant space whale on our way to populate a new universe. I just blew my own mind. The lyrics were written in a fit of insanity about ten minutes before going into the vocal booth to record them, believe it or not, after a year or so of obsessing over the fact that we had none. Sometimes it's best to back yourself into a corner and set a fucking deadline people. Basically, it's about colonizing and imperialism...and space whales/zombie pirates. Tell me it gets cooler than zombie pirates and I'll call you a damn liar.
RAY - Red-light challenge! If you were told that there was an entire race of miniature Richard Simmons’ living under your pillow and that they worshipped an upside-down ampersand, how would you react?
HIGHBINDER - Ask George W. He's gotta deal with that shit every day. Makes me wonder if they still have that big red doomsday button. Scary thought.
RAY - What in God’s name made you decide to cover The Ox’s (R.I.P.) “Boris The Spider?” That is a very cool and certainly unusual cover. And…IT’S CREEPING ME OUT!!!
HIGHBINDER - I mentioned The Who a little ways back, and obviously, they are a band we all agree on. Why Boris the Spider? Do I look like some kind of existential guru here? This is a problem for us, we never ask ourselves why. If we did, we'd probably never do anything, but I'll try and answer this. To my knowledge no one had done it before. If you know of anyone who has, please let us know so we can break their kneecaps. Maybe we did it so we could write an obsequious letter to Chris Stamp (former manager of The Who, and General Zod's brother) and bask in his approval. He liked it, and bask we did. All I can say is that we did. Oh. It was such wonderful basking.
We just all really like that song, and it's freakin fun to play! What more are ya looking for in a cover I ask thee, my droog?
RAY - Ok, technophile time. What kinds of equipment do you guys use? Why DON’T you use Flying V’s? Or maybe the drummer uses Flying V’s?
HIGHBINDER - Equipment
Andy - JCM 900 – 2X12 Travel Cab with Celestion Heritage and Vintage, Myriad uppers, downers, laughers, gassers, and an arsenal of Reverend guitars.
Jon – JCM TSL2000 with a shot reverb, buckshot, and a shot of Jagermiester – 4X12 Ampeg Cabinet, ACO2700 Coconut Monkey, and an Epiphone Les Paul Baritone
Keeler - SWR 750 amp - 8X10 Megoliath cabinet complete with auto-erotic Pee-Wee, Epiphone 5-string Les Paul Bass caressed lovingly into submission through a regular regiment of dropping and bouncing off of walls, and an odd scent that has yet to be determined.
Nick - I'm taking a stand against elitist, hard on for hardware, you must buy this new rubber doohickey made by drummers who work at NASA or “you suck” drummers. I look at my drums and think, "I don't give a shit about you. Now I will beat you." And they find it refreshing.
RAY - “All The Way To Hell” was on Sin Klub and the new album(!) is a self-release. Tell us about that. Did you decide that it made more business sense to go it on your own, are you egotistical, what’s the deal?
HIGHBINDER - The short answer is that our former label was in the process of breaking into lots of shiny pieces when they picked us up. Not exactly good planning on their part, I gotta admit! Even if we wanted to be on Sinklub, which did alright by us in the short time we were with them (they hooked us up with you for example), it's no longer an option. It was, for the most part, an amicable split. We're pretty freakin amicable guys.
RAY - So what’s the scene like in Michigan/Ohio/wherever you’re hanging your hat? Are there many clubs that welcome HIGHBINDER with open arms around them there parts?
HIGHBINDER - Toledo and Detroit are really what I would call our home base, and we've definitely sucked out all the juice from those two cities. We're the local go to band; people just throw shows at us here. You'd think that would be pretty cool, but man, let me tell you...this is a hard town. All the bands here agree. I'm trying not to blame anyone. Fuck that, yes I am. Audiences here don't give much back to you while you’re pouring your own guts out onstage, if you're lucky enough to have an audience that night. It's a great place to cut your teeth as a band; it toughens you up and teaches you that you ain't a rockstar. When we go out of town it's a revelation how different people are. We played a show in Newcomerstown OH once. Town looked completely dead, like a horror movie. Let me tell you, those people packed the VFW and ROCKED THE FUCK OUT. i.e. Beer and blood dripping from the ceiling.
Here...not so much. The bartenders love us.
RAY - Have you played much outside the greater Michigan/Ohio/etc. area? When the hell are you coming to Baltimore?!?! We need bands to roll through this way who actually plug their guitars in and turn the volume up when they play?
HIGHBINDER - We'd love to come to Baltimore. Know any good bars where I can get a long island for less than seven bucks? We'll play there!
RAY - Do any of you have hearing damage from playing? Do you use earplugs? Are you as loud as HIGH ON FIRE? What do I have in store when you pull up the HIGHBINDER express into my local watering hole?
HIGHBINDER - WHAT?! We've never actually sat down and compared hearing loss, but I'm sure we're all dealing with it. Keeler (bass) has been wearing earplugs for as long as I can remember, and the rest of us are starting to follow suit now that we can't hear the police sirens behind us. Its not very fun though. So much more rockin just to blow our heads off with volume, but, alas we're not kids anymore. We'll gladly blow YOUR head off with volume.
And none of us wear earplugs onstage. That's just wrong.
RAY - Red-light challenge! What is the difference between George W. Bush and a rock hyrax?
HIGHBINDER - I was going to say that, like the common rat, a hyrax's teeth never stop growing...but looking at Georgie boy I'm not sure that counts as a difference. I'm gonna say two points. IQ points.
RAY - What is next on the agenda for the HIGHBINDER guys? Touring, I’d guess, although I understand you have some personal things going on like a new baby in the “band family?” Any ideas percolating for the next set of slaying songs?
HIGHBINDER - What's next, what's next... Basically we're in standby mode for the moment until Jon's son can learn to lock his own cage. Then it’s ON! For now though, we're really bearing down on our next recording, writing songs, and thinking up cover art. Probably a shorter format this time, five to seven song EP or whathaveya. As for the music itself, somewhere between the driving riff rock of All the Way... and the melodic weirdness of Moreneverthanever.
RAY - Ok, here’s always a fun one! Tell us the most stupid, funny, ridiculous, sad, tragic or just plain weird story that has involved HIGHBINDER.
HIGHBINDER - We were playing a show in Bowling Green, and as per usual our ritual involved a tobaccoless product via a short stop in the van. There we were, just minding our own bidness when one of us gets the bright idea to peer out of the blinds our van comes so readily equipped with. Only a few feet away, talking to a compatriot of ours was a local law enforcer, the kind that would’ve run all 13 of us in like dogs had he known what we were up to.
Needless to say something had to be done, so in a brief fit of panic/genius Andy called the very fellow the officer was talking to. Conversation is as follows:Andy: “Hey (name deleted), is that a cop you’re talking to?Friend: Yeah…Andy: “Can you make him…y’know….go away from where he’s at right now?”Friend: “Oh yeah, okay man, see you tomorrow, then! Nice talking to you!!”Andy: “Alright then!”A few moments later, and with the help of our buddy, the officer left, and we rolled out of the van like a clown car on fire.The rest, as they say, is irrelevant.
RAY - Any final comments for the readership?
HIGHBINDER - Andy – Build an elevator….
Jon – Ice-cold Hamster
Keeler- (Expletive Deleted)
Nick - Come out and see my new band, Fuck Phil Collins.
To be honest, I don’t think there’s a whole lot more that needs to be said. What we have here is a failure to fall into the typical, the clichéd or the worn-out. HIGHBINDER is a band who have taken a form of music sometimes known as metal, sometimes known as heavy and have blasted all expected life-forms off the map by making it into something all their own while still producing songs that are exciting, memorable and kick-ass. You simply won’t find an album released in 2007 (and many other years) that’s better than HIGHBINDER’s “Moreneverthanever.” You know what to do.
www.highbinder.com
www.myspace.com/highbinder
RAY - You guys are called HIGHBINDER. It was mentioned to me by an associate that this is in some way related to smoking herbal materials. Having never ventured near a substance frowned on by the US Gov’t in my entire life (by the way, I have some swampland in lower Alabama for you to take a look at after we’re done here), I wasn’t sure. Can you fill us in on your choice of band monicker?
HIGHBINDER - In our younger days, working on building the railroad in the old American West, discrimination against us was a common occurrence on account of our rich Asian heritage. While not technically slaves, we were the next best thing. We worked day and night, driving rails. During this time, although we had pretty cool hats, an idea was forming in our heads about what we should do when the rails were all laid. Years passed, and finally, when they drove the golden spike at Promontory, our time had come. All we needed was a name. Enter Highbinder. Where did it come from you ask? In ol' Frisco where the first Chinatowns grew, the local yakuza employed hatchet men, called 'highbinders' by the white folks. They literally carried hatchets and chopped dudes up. A fine tradition that carries on to this day! We wanted to be part of that glorious tradition, and here we are. Yes we smoke dope.
RAY - It was once told to me that the best place to start is at the beginning. Since I’ve already fucked that up and this is the 2nd question, I’ll just say “fuck it.” Then, after I say “fuck it,” since that isn’t a question, I’ll ask this: How did y’all get interested in music? And, yes, I mean from the beginning, for God’s sake. If you’re mother went to a Fred Waring concert when she was pregnant with you (mine did…sheesh!) , we want to know about it. Points for knowing who Fred Waring was.
HIGHBINDER - Knowing that you attended a Fred Waring concert en utero explains your pleasing diction, and I'm sure that if you were to sing your questions we'd understand you completely! No one could stress those consonants like old Fred. Old dead Fred. Back to the 2nd question at hand. It's not easy getting into music, but that's the benefit of being as skinny and pointed as we are. We can fit through holes most people wouldn't even SEE. We can even do that Lethal Weapon strait jacket trick (but only for money, which I think was the main moral lesson of that movie). The problem is, once you get in, you can't get out. Its reruns of “The Prisoner” for the rest of our worthless lives. What I don't get is, after seeing first hand how hard it is to get into music, how can you explain the Fat Bassist Union? It'd be like stuffing an orca down its own blowhole. And yet...there they are...
RAY - By this time, we should know why you’re called HIGHBINDER. What we’d now like to know is why ARE you HIGHBINDER? In other words, what led to the 4 of you coming together and deciding to make the Gosh-darn unholy racket you insist on making?
HIGHBINDER - Andy's dad is Captain Kirk. Nuff said. One song DONE. Actually, to tell you the truth, we're not even sure ourselves. The only analogy I can think of is bread mold. Leave four pieces of bread in your glove box, throw in some cottage cheese, donate car to brother in law. Two years later when you get it back, we'll be in that glove box, wondering how we got there. We are penicillin.
RAY - I understand that 2 of you are from Ohio & 2 are from Michigan. How the hell does that work? My 13 year old son is a geography bee dude, but I’m not. No, he did not actually win a geography bee, he is actually a small winged insect with a map tattooed to his body. Don’t ask…. Anyway, are half of you living in one state & half in the other? Are they that close? Do you practice over the phone? What the hell is going on with all that?!
HIGHBINDER - It's part of our work release program. Community outreach services blow! But yes, two in Michigan, two in Ohio. Southeast Michigan is the net that catches all the garbage coming from Detroit, however the weave is too open, which allows all the used tampons to slide through to Toledo. Toledo is the pearl of the skanky vag that is northwestern Ohio. As you can see, it's a perfect fit! Seriously, we all live like ten minutes away from each other. If they ever build that border fence between the states, we're royally screwed.
RAY - Quick, we have a red-light challenge! (I was just watching Cash Cab). I just did a mad-lib thing based on “The Night Before Christmas” with some friends & what I brought away from that was the following question: Is it possible for one to lay one’s urethra aside of one’s nose? Your take?
HIGHBINDER - Is this some kind of trick question? I haven't been able to detach the damn thing no matter how hard I try. It's always poking me in the eye. I'd like to give you the benefit of the doubt, so I'll go off by myself and cry. It's not cool to make fun of peoples' horrifyingly disfiguring genital face attachments. YOU try goin to the bathroom like this; we'll see whose laughing then! That's right, GOD. And when God laughs, puppies frolic, so it's cool.
RAY - Your first album (God, I love saying “album” in this age of the 80-minute recordable medium!), “All The Way To Hell” was pretty damn straight-forward. Now before you start getting all hissy on me, I’m not saying straight-forward is bad. I like straight-forward and gave the album a good review…so good in fact, that you sent me a t-shirt. Still, when I heard “Moreneverthanever” for the first time, it was like you suddenly went from a black & white copy to a full-length feature in Panavision & Surround-Sound. You guys really opened up some new doors on this one! I’m hearing everything from country to industrial. Any commentary?
HIGHBINDER - Actually, we totally agree with you about that straightfoward thing, also that it's not necessarily a bad thing. Dare I say we were rushed into recording the All the Way To Hell... yes I do. Go into the studio, and three mind crushing, ear piercing, foreskin flapping days latter we had our first album. Not bad, quite enjoyable really, but it was clear to us that we hadn't fully delved into what we were capable of yet. The first thing we did when we got out of that studio was start work on the songs for the next album, trying to go places that we hadn't even thought possible for ourselves.
Some bands rally around other bands to form their sound. Not us. Emulation is flattery, but also masturbation. We all love The Who, as one example among many, but for us it would be incredibly boring to even attempt to sound like them alone. Our influences are far too varied and weird (we all love weirdness) to limit ourselves to one style anymore, and you can definitely see the proof in Moreneverthanever. I guess we're one of the few bands whose influences actually don't show up in the music we make. When they do, they're stretched beyond recognition to the point where even we can't say what goes where. When people ask, 'what are your influences?' we have to shrug and look stoned.
Most of the credit for the leap from All the Way... to Moreneverthanever has to go to our producer, Randy Wilson, who had to deal with us for two years, in three different studios, in various states of mental breakdown. Without him it might have sounded just as scattershot, only also like shit.
The answer to this question has been much too serious. Zebra chunks.
RAY - Speaking of what the hell does certain stuff mean, what the hell does “Moreneverthanever” mean?
HIGHBINDER - Its a state of being. Actually, of being in the state of Ohio and playing rock shows in a post industrial city that for all intents and purposes might as well be in the gulag. Crackheads accost you for cigarettes and offer you one tooth blowjobs. The only decent skyscrapers are flooded up to the fourth floor with mercury water. The only good riots happen in polish town. Bars and churches outnumber all the other buildings. Sometimes the bars are in the churches, and sometimes punk bands here write songs about that. As you can see, it’s hard to find a word to describe what it’s like here. After about fifteen minutes of unintentionally huffing gas fumes it just popped out of my mouth.
RAY - I noticed that Andy is listed as playing lead guitar and Jon as baritone guitar. Here is where I become a musical ignoramus. (Well, I’ve been one for awhile, actually). What is a baritone guitar? Is Jon a frustrated sax player? You got some ‘splainin’ to do!
HIGHBINDER - You know that song Sludge Factory? You only need one baritone guitar to play that whole song. All the parts. Imagine how much heroin that one guy would have to do! Jesus... Jon is not satisfied with your normal puny guitars made for pinko commie bastards. Therefore we had to send off to Acme for the fabled baritone guitar of earthly pounding +5. In reality, it boils down to a normal guitar that has been rebuilt by the government into a deadly 1970s killing machine, bigger, stronger, muddier and twenty times harder to record. At last count, Jon is still not satisfied with his tone and is constantly looking for a way to make it sound more like two planets colliding.
In other words, it’s NOT a six string bass...IT IS EVERYTHING ELSE!
RAY - You know one thing I like about HIGHBINDER? I think the stuff the 2 guitarists do is just some of the most refreshing, different & kick-ass stuff this side of grits (you can send my next t-shirt to the same address!). Really, you don’t do a ton of what could be called traditional soloing, but the interplay is, to be frank (although my name really is Ray) staggering. How much time do you take working out some of this guitar stuff?
HIGHBINDER - The idea process is actually very quick. Andy opens his internal database and starts chugging out a riff or melody. Jon reaches into the primordial, unknowable depths of his soul and pulls out the first fish with legs (or tits if you prefer) which gets layered on. It’s the honing of that madness that takes time, but we never obsess over every note and pause. I think the reason it sounds different than what you're used to is down to the simple fact that we don't give a fuck about co-opting the tropes of an overdone instrument. Let's face it, too many guitarists sound like each other. Boring. Andy doesn't even have a favorite guitarist. Now that's freakin freedom.
RAY - Your song titles are eye-catchers: “Codename: Tornado,” “Terracotta Monster,” “Queen Is Bled,” “Death To False Jons….” Your lyrics are also not exactly typical fare. That is, they are unintelligible. No, I’m just kidding. What I mean is that they tend to make you think more than those of your everyday, garden-variety rawkin’ band. Any comments on this? Maybe you don’t like to talk about your lyrics, as some people don’t, but if you do, could you pick say 3 tracks from the new album(!) and tell us a little more about them?
HIGHBINDER - . I'll take unintelligible, that works for me. We like to give the illusion of meaning. Am I giving away our secrets here? Too late. We all write lyrics, as we all write the music, not that I'm going to tell you who wrote what. I'll give you one more secret...all the songs on this album are inspired somehow by zombies. I'm not joking, seriously. Different states of zombie-tude. Let's see...three songs...
The Dead Never Smile - You'll notice here that this song kinda apes a 'normal' song lyrically. Short lines and such. Yet in this case the girl who wants to hold your hand is a flesh devouring mindless monster, who you can never shake off no matter how far you run. Eventually you'll run out of gas, but she'll just keep shambling.
Codename:Tornado – It’s about being in the service of God, only instead of saving people and doling out Hail Mary’s bullets are used. That’s it; nobody ever said I was complex. Ahem …the undead.
Ebony and Irony – At the turn of the millenieum I was living in the flipperpit of an orca named Carl in Puget Sound (that’s in Washington State for you geography buffs). On December 31, 2000 a 9 foot tall steel monolith, resembling the monolith from “2001 a Space Odyssey” mysteriously appeared on top of a hill in a well known Seattle park. Three days later, and after much media fanfare, the monolith was gone. Ebony and Irony is about three people who have never met going about their mundane morning routines and stumbling upon something impossible. Oh and did I mention the Orca I was living under’s second cousin’s neighbor’s great, great, great, great, great, great, grandfather fifteen times removed was a zombie?
RAY - I’m really curious also, if you didn’t above to know more about “Whaler.” That is a monster cut!
HIGHBINDER - Ah Whaler, what a bitch. That one almost killed us. At some point we decided that we needed to do a sea shanty, and this is our version of what we'd be singing from the rigging on our galactic pirate ship whilst bombarding. But there wasn't enough outer space in that idea to fully satisfy us. Near the middle, when the song goes underwater, we're also riding in the stomach of a giant space whale on our way to populate a new universe. I just blew my own mind. The lyrics were written in a fit of insanity about ten minutes before going into the vocal booth to record them, believe it or not, after a year or so of obsessing over the fact that we had none. Sometimes it's best to back yourself into a corner and set a fucking deadline people. Basically, it's about colonizing and imperialism...and space whales/zombie pirates. Tell me it gets cooler than zombie pirates and I'll call you a damn liar.
RAY - Red-light challenge! If you were told that there was an entire race of miniature Richard Simmons’ living under your pillow and that they worshipped an upside-down ampersand, how would you react?
HIGHBINDER - Ask George W. He's gotta deal with that shit every day. Makes me wonder if they still have that big red doomsday button. Scary thought.
RAY - What in God’s name made you decide to cover The Ox’s (R.I.P.) “Boris The Spider?” That is a very cool and certainly unusual cover. And…IT’S CREEPING ME OUT!!!
HIGHBINDER - I mentioned The Who a little ways back, and obviously, they are a band we all agree on. Why Boris the Spider? Do I look like some kind of existential guru here? This is a problem for us, we never ask ourselves why. If we did, we'd probably never do anything, but I'll try and answer this. To my knowledge no one had done it before. If you know of anyone who has, please let us know so we can break their kneecaps. Maybe we did it so we could write an obsequious letter to Chris Stamp (former manager of The Who, and General Zod's brother) and bask in his approval. He liked it, and bask we did. All I can say is that we did. Oh. It was such wonderful basking.
We just all really like that song, and it's freakin fun to play! What more are ya looking for in a cover I ask thee, my droog?
RAY - Ok, technophile time. What kinds of equipment do you guys use? Why DON’T you use Flying V’s? Or maybe the drummer uses Flying V’s?
HIGHBINDER - Equipment
Andy - JCM 900 – 2X12 Travel Cab with Celestion Heritage and Vintage, Myriad uppers, downers, laughers, gassers, and an arsenal of Reverend guitars.
Jon – JCM TSL2000 with a shot reverb, buckshot, and a shot of Jagermiester – 4X12 Ampeg Cabinet, ACO2700 Coconut Monkey, and an Epiphone Les Paul Baritone
Keeler - SWR 750 amp - 8X10 Megoliath cabinet complete with auto-erotic Pee-Wee, Epiphone 5-string Les Paul Bass caressed lovingly into submission through a regular regiment of dropping and bouncing off of walls, and an odd scent that has yet to be determined.
Nick - I'm taking a stand against elitist, hard on for hardware, you must buy this new rubber doohickey made by drummers who work at NASA or “you suck” drummers. I look at my drums and think, "I don't give a shit about you. Now I will beat you." And they find it refreshing.
RAY - “All The Way To Hell” was on Sin Klub and the new album(!) is a self-release. Tell us about that. Did you decide that it made more business sense to go it on your own, are you egotistical, what’s the deal?
HIGHBINDER - The short answer is that our former label was in the process of breaking into lots of shiny pieces when they picked us up. Not exactly good planning on their part, I gotta admit! Even if we wanted to be on Sinklub, which did alright by us in the short time we were with them (they hooked us up with you for example), it's no longer an option. It was, for the most part, an amicable split. We're pretty freakin amicable guys.
RAY - So what’s the scene like in Michigan/Ohio/wherever you’re hanging your hat? Are there many clubs that welcome HIGHBINDER with open arms around them there parts?
HIGHBINDER - Toledo and Detroit are really what I would call our home base, and we've definitely sucked out all the juice from those two cities. We're the local go to band; people just throw shows at us here. You'd think that would be pretty cool, but man, let me tell you...this is a hard town. All the bands here agree. I'm trying not to blame anyone. Fuck that, yes I am. Audiences here don't give much back to you while you’re pouring your own guts out onstage, if you're lucky enough to have an audience that night. It's a great place to cut your teeth as a band; it toughens you up and teaches you that you ain't a rockstar. When we go out of town it's a revelation how different people are. We played a show in Newcomerstown OH once. Town looked completely dead, like a horror movie. Let me tell you, those people packed the VFW and ROCKED THE FUCK OUT. i.e. Beer and blood dripping from the ceiling.
Here...not so much. The bartenders love us.
RAY - Have you played much outside the greater Michigan/Ohio/etc. area? When the hell are you coming to Baltimore?!?! We need bands to roll through this way who actually plug their guitars in and turn the volume up when they play?
HIGHBINDER - We'd love to come to Baltimore. Know any good bars where I can get a long island for less than seven bucks? We'll play there!
RAY - Do any of you have hearing damage from playing? Do you use earplugs? Are you as loud as HIGH ON FIRE? What do I have in store when you pull up the HIGHBINDER express into my local watering hole?
HIGHBINDER - WHAT?! We've never actually sat down and compared hearing loss, but I'm sure we're all dealing with it. Keeler (bass) has been wearing earplugs for as long as I can remember, and the rest of us are starting to follow suit now that we can't hear the police sirens behind us. Its not very fun though. So much more rockin just to blow our heads off with volume, but, alas we're not kids anymore. We'll gladly blow YOUR head off with volume.
And none of us wear earplugs onstage. That's just wrong.
RAY - Red-light challenge! What is the difference between George W. Bush and a rock hyrax?
HIGHBINDER - I was going to say that, like the common rat, a hyrax's teeth never stop growing...but looking at Georgie boy I'm not sure that counts as a difference. I'm gonna say two points. IQ points.
RAY - What is next on the agenda for the HIGHBINDER guys? Touring, I’d guess, although I understand you have some personal things going on like a new baby in the “band family?” Any ideas percolating for the next set of slaying songs?
HIGHBINDER - What's next, what's next... Basically we're in standby mode for the moment until Jon's son can learn to lock his own cage. Then it’s ON! For now though, we're really bearing down on our next recording, writing songs, and thinking up cover art. Probably a shorter format this time, five to seven song EP or whathaveya. As for the music itself, somewhere between the driving riff rock of All the Way... and the melodic weirdness of Moreneverthanever.
RAY - Ok, here’s always a fun one! Tell us the most stupid, funny, ridiculous, sad, tragic or just plain weird story that has involved HIGHBINDER.
HIGHBINDER - We were playing a show in Bowling Green, and as per usual our ritual involved a tobaccoless product via a short stop in the van. There we were, just minding our own bidness when one of us gets the bright idea to peer out of the blinds our van comes so readily equipped with. Only a few feet away, talking to a compatriot of ours was a local law enforcer, the kind that would’ve run all 13 of us in like dogs had he known what we were up to.
Needless to say something had to be done, so in a brief fit of panic/genius Andy called the very fellow the officer was talking to. Conversation is as follows:Andy: “Hey (name deleted), is that a cop you’re talking to?Friend: Yeah…Andy: “Can you make him…y’know….go away from where he’s at right now?”Friend: “Oh yeah, okay man, see you tomorrow, then! Nice talking to you!!”Andy: “Alright then!”A few moments later, and with the help of our buddy, the officer left, and we rolled out of the van like a clown car on fire.The rest, as they say, is irrelevant.
RAY - Any final comments for the readership?
HIGHBINDER - Andy – Build an elevator….
Jon – Ice-cold Hamster
Keeler- (Expletive Deleted)
Nick - Come out and see my new band, Fuck Phil Collins.
To be honest, I don’t think there’s a whole lot more that needs to be said. What we have here is a failure to fall into the typical, the clichéd or the worn-out. HIGHBINDER is a band who have taken a form of music sometimes known as metal, sometimes known as heavy and have blasted all expected life-forms off the map by making it into something all their own while still producing songs that are exciting, memorable and kick-ass. You simply won’t find an album released in 2007 (and many other years) that’s better than HIGHBINDER’s “Moreneverthanever.” You know what to do.
www.highbinder.com
www.myspace.com/highbinder
Thursday, February 28, 2008
A7X
My buddy the Peacedogman was just kind enough to let me do an article on the roots of AVENGED SEVENFOLD. Check out it and a bunch more of killer new stuff on his rawkin' site at: www.peacedogman.com
Sunday, February 17, 2008
SIGH's Does Matter!
SIGH – “Hangman’s Hymn – Musikalische Exequien” CD ’07 (The End, Jap) – You know, there are some places I really want to go in this world. And, before any of the smart-asses out there say “Well, you’ve already gone insane, mental, whatever…” you know what the hell I mean. I’m talking about traveling, baby, so play me some traveling music! How ‘bout some Native American folk (or hell, Wardog, for that matter) for the American West. Throw on some old Lizzy or Glyder and we’ll board the boat for Ireland. Play me Tony Bourge’s opening riff to “She’s As Hot As A Docker’s Armpit” and the flight leaves for Wales today. And brothers & sisters, whadya say to Japan? Hmm…let’s see, which Loudness disc or Bow Wow album is going to be the soundtrack for that voyage? Well, over the last couple weeks since I first heard “Hangman’s Hymn…”, I’m thinking it might end up being this shiny little piece of explosive auditory cranium crush by SIGH. Now about here, it would be easy for me to play the super-intelligent know-it-all reviewer & say that I expected a mighty text of earbending pleasure like this to burst forth from the guts of this Japanese juggernaut any year now. Truth be known, however, this is the first damn thing I ever heard by SIGH. So, I’ve been living behind the door the last umpteen years, you can crucify me but at least I’ll die happy as I may spend my last few minutes listening to this CD. Throughout the course of this disc, which is divided into 3 so-called “Acts” (of 3 or 4 songs each), SIGH take a powerful punch with a highly energized brand of black metal, augmented with echoes of related genres like death, thrash & even occasionally (but not often), trad metal. So what makes “Hangman’s Hymn…” so captivating, then? It’s the angles they come from and the imagination they bring to the table that makes this record not only stand out but fly to the top of the pack. Each song is laced with beautifully varied vocal deliveries, from very harsh screaming to way more melodic. And, rather than using this effect as a mere black & white dynamic as so many bands have done, SIGH blends things so seamlessly that the result is fantastic. Add to that the use of keys and orchestration that fits like a glove into the tapestry of the sometimes complex & yet always ass-kicking songs and it’s easy for the listener to see why they’ve latched onto a real winner. As the icing on the cake, the guitar work here is just awesome. Whether we’re talking about the hacksaw rhythms or the trend-setting, edgy lead work, “scintillating” is a good word to describe the fretsmanship on offer and when the guitars actually get into dogfights with the keyboards, well, listening nirvana (not Curt!) can’t be far behind. I often hesitate when it comes to recommending really extreme metal to those on the “periphery” of heavy stuff, as I’m concerned it’ll scare ‘em away. When I sit back with this baby, though, & dig hard on cuts like “Dies Irae/The Master Malice” or “Overture/Rex Tremendae/I Saw The World’s End,” I’m pretty damn sure it’s worth the effort anyone can make to open their ears to this masterpiece.
www.sighjapan.com
www.myspace.com/sighjapan
THE MARS VOLTA – “Bedlam In Goliath” CD ’08 (Universal, US) – I really have to hand Omar & Cedric of THE MARS VOLTA a lot of credit. To put it simply, what they’ve done is to take music that is very challenging and gotten it in front of a helluva lot of people. Doing that in 2008 is about as hard as walking in front of a freight train going full speed and still making it to work that day. The thing about THE MARS VOLTA is that their music is not only challenging to the listener, it also includes damn good songs and they don’t sound like anybody else…at all. They remind me of a band from back in the early ‘70’s, a bunch of really killer musicians who are also very creative and when they get together to write & record, it’s for the sheer joy of doing it. Of course, there are many bands today who do it for this reason…that’s what this site is all about. But what puts me in mind of the early ‘70’s with these cats is that they sell a lot of records. Back in the day, you’d amble into a record store & see new releases by groups like Nektar, Soft Machine & Return To Forever right on the front racks next to Sabbath, Zeppelin, Doobie Bros., ZZ Top…and people dug it. They were buying it, taking chances on expanding their listening horizons with music that pushed ‘em yet still stirred something emotionally. I could talk about the songs being more compact here, yet still bristling with vitality. I could talk about Cedric’s wonderful vocal range or Omar’s Santana-on-prog-steroids guitar ripping but wouldn’t that be so cliché? Yeah. So, for anybody reading, this one is easy. When your significant other drags you out to Wal*Mart or Best Buy today, grab this. You’re not going to have an easier time finding a great album all year.
www.themarsvolta.com
SAVIOURS – “Into Abaddon” CD ’08 (Kemado, US) – I saw these guys open for Witchcraft a few months back & when they did a few songs from their debut album “Crucifire,” they reminded me of what Bible Of The Devil would be like if they had a good bit less talent and WAY less impressive songs. SAVIOURS then went on that night to motor through a couple cuts from this (at that point unreleased) 2nd disc and my ears perked up a bit. Kinda like that Joan Jett-ish looking girl standing near me who had other things perking up…well, it was a bit cool in the bar that night. But, I digress. The new songs, as evidenced on this 2nd disc are surely better. Cuts like “Cavern Of The Mind,” “Mystichasm” and “Inner Mountain Arthame” are considerably more focused, giving SAVIOURS’ Maiden/thrash amalgam a boost in the catchiness department. One thing that continues to nag me about this band however is the fact that they have a pair of guitar players who come up with some very interesting riffs and yet the leads are often quite pedestrian & not very memorable or innovative at all. What’s that all about? In summary, better than they were but still a ways to go.
www.myspace.com/saviours666
ICARUS WITCH – “Songs Of The Lost” CD ’07 (Cleopatra, US) – Now here is a band who has really improved a lot, from the last time I heard them. I had an EP by these guys from a few years back that, while decently played, fell quickly into the category of super-bland & forgettable metal. Imagine my pleasant surprise and delight then, when I loaded up this “Songs Of The Lost” CD and found myself totally enjoying it. As always, the main thing comes down to songs, and these dudes have stepped it up big-time, with tracks like “Written In The Stars,” “Devil’s Hour” and “Queen Of Lies” reaching into actual Manilla Road territory at points. Especially impressive are the vocals of Matthew Bizilia, much more intense and infused with melody than the vox on the group’s previous work. Also, the guitar presence of Quinn Lukas is really notable. I’m not saying he’s morphed into Akira or anything crazy like that, but the guy belts out some really nice riffs & surprisingly exploratory leads throughout the course of this disc. Bottom line is, ICARUS WITCH has come up with some serious goods on “Songs Of The Lost” & any metal fan will be making a good move by checking it out.
www.icaruswitch.com
www.sighjapan.com
www.myspace.com/sighjapan
THE MARS VOLTA – “Bedlam In Goliath” CD ’08 (Universal, US) – I really have to hand Omar & Cedric of THE MARS VOLTA a lot of credit. To put it simply, what they’ve done is to take music that is very challenging and gotten it in front of a helluva lot of people. Doing that in 2008 is about as hard as walking in front of a freight train going full speed and still making it to work that day. The thing about THE MARS VOLTA is that their music is not only challenging to the listener, it also includes damn good songs and they don’t sound like anybody else…at all. They remind me of a band from back in the early ‘70’s, a bunch of really killer musicians who are also very creative and when they get together to write & record, it’s for the sheer joy of doing it. Of course, there are many bands today who do it for this reason…that’s what this site is all about. But what puts me in mind of the early ‘70’s with these cats is that they sell a lot of records. Back in the day, you’d amble into a record store & see new releases by groups like Nektar, Soft Machine & Return To Forever right on the front racks next to Sabbath, Zeppelin, Doobie Bros., ZZ Top…and people dug it. They were buying it, taking chances on expanding their listening horizons with music that pushed ‘em yet still stirred something emotionally. I could talk about the songs being more compact here, yet still bristling with vitality. I could talk about Cedric’s wonderful vocal range or Omar’s Santana-on-prog-steroids guitar ripping but wouldn’t that be so cliché? Yeah. So, for anybody reading, this one is easy. When your significant other drags you out to Wal*Mart or Best Buy today, grab this. You’re not going to have an easier time finding a great album all year.
www.themarsvolta.com
SAVIOURS – “Into Abaddon” CD ’08 (Kemado, US) – I saw these guys open for Witchcraft a few months back & when they did a few songs from their debut album “Crucifire,” they reminded me of what Bible Of The Devil would be like if they had a good bit less talent and WAY less impressive songs. SAVIOURS then went on that night to motor through a couple cuts from this (at that point unreleased) 2nd disc and my ears perked up a bit. Kinda like that Joan Jett-ish looking girl standing near me who had other things perking up…well, it was a bit cool in the bar that night. But, I digress. The new songs, as evidenced on this 2nd disc are surely better. Cuts like “Cavern Of The Mind,” “Mystichasm” and “Inner Mountain Arthame” are considerably more focused, giving SAVIOURS’ Maiden/thrash amalgam a boost in the catchiness department. One thing that continues to nag me about this band however is the fact that they have a pair of guitar players who come up with some very interesting riffs and yet the leads are often quite pedestrian & not very memorable or innovative at all. What’s that all about? In summary, better than they were but still a ways to go.
www.myspace.com/saviours666
ICARUS WITCH – “Songs Of The Lost” CD ’07 (Cleopatra, US) – Now here is a band who has really improved a lot, from the last time I heard them. I had an EP by these guys from a few years back that, while decently played, fell quickly into the category of super-bland & forgettable metal. Imagine my pleasant surprise and delight then, when I loaded up this “Songs Of The Lost” CD and found myself totally enjoying it. As always, the main thing comes down to songs, and these dudes have stepped it up big-time, with tracks like “Written In The Stars,” “Devil’s Hour” and “Queen Of Lies” reaching into actual Manilla Road territory at points. Especially impressive are the vocals of Matthew Bizilia, much more intense and infused with melody than the vox on the group’s previous work. Also, the guitar presence of Quinn Lukas is really notable. I’m not saying he’s morphed into Akira or anything crazy like that, but the guy belts out some really nice riffs & surprisingly exploratory leads throughout the course of this disc. Bottom line is, ICARUS WITCH has come up with some serious goods on “Songs Of The Lost” & any metal fan will be making a good move by checking it out.
www.icaruswitch.com
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Making A Federale Case About This!
FEDERALE – “Federale” CD ’07 (Private, US) – My soon-to-be 14 year old son is a geography whiz. I’m not talking about somebody who can answer a hard question on Jeopardy every now and then, no, this kid actually nearly won the State Geography Bee last year & may be headed for the finals this year. Thing is, he tells me details about certain places all the time and one of the locales he talks about that I’d love to visit is Monument Valley, which straddles the border of Utah & Arizona. Through the wonders of the internet, I’ve sat for hours looking at photos of this massive land with huge, monolithic rock mesas rising out of the ground like behemoth, tribal altars. So, the $ 64,000 question is, what does all this have to do with a rock band from Brooklyn, NY called FEDERALE? What it has to do with them is the fact that these guys have managed to create an entire album laced with riffs every bit as towering and imposing as those mesas. It may be a cliché to say that this album is heavy as shit, yet it’s a simple fact. You don’t have to go any further than the opener, “Hong Kong Trails” to be yanked up by the collar and slammed head-first into a concrete wall by the sheer power of the riffing generated by guitarists Jesse Cohen & John Stendrini. Kudos go to the production work of Josh Clark, also because the guitar sound that dominates this disc is one of the most powerful I’ve heard since the days when bands like Montrose, Point Blank & Mountain trod the boards in their youth. But before you go ahead & think FEDERALE is about nothing more than tone, here’s the deal. Sure, these guys listened to their steady diet of Tony McPhee, Leslie West & Randy Holden but they also know how to write songs. Straight-up riff fests like the aforementioned “Hong Kong…” & “Transcendental Lunch” pave the way for a beauty like “Robin Trower.” I am not kidding you, they have a song called “Robin Trower.” That alone, my friends should be a reason for you to buy this. But in case it’s not, I’m here to tell you that the star of this song is actually the vocal work of Strendrini, who lays down a bluesy, heartfelt performance that calls to mind everybody from Chris Robinson to the guy in Throttlerod, with his golden yet powerful pipes. And then, investigate the sprawling 8 ½ minute “Quarter Roy,” a mid-paced crusher that morphs into a swirling Southern-rawk guitar blowout before coming back in for a smooth landing. Not enough? How ‘bout the slow boil of “Jessefron,” laced with it’s bubbling slide or the flat-out heavy boogie explosion of closer “Car Crash.” The interesting thing is, I received this disc in the mail probably minutes after I posted my 2007 Top 10 and it is just so damn good that I couldn’t have lived with myself if I hadn’t added it at #1. In truth, had I gotten it before the list went up it would’ve gone much higher…probably as high as one of those mesas in Monument Valley. I know it’s corny, but the disclaimer on the inside cover of this one is the damn truth: “This record is not meant to be played at low volumes. Seriously…don’t even bother.”
www.myspace.com/federale
DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN – “Ire Works” CD ’07 (Relapse, US) – I have quite an admission to make. Ok, it’s not that I secretly listen to High School Musical or that Montana chick. I do that out in the open because I have daughters who are 5 and 10 years old. It’s not that I secretly wear women’s clothing. In a house with 2 adults & 5 kids, I unabashedly wear whatever I can find that’s clean. No, my dirty little secret is that, before I heard this album a couple weeks ago, I’d never heard DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN. There it is, news story: Underground music writer had never even heard one of the most name-dropped bands of the last few years. Why, you ask? Not really sure. I guess, with all the other stuff I get in the mail it was one of those things I never got around to. Plus, when you couple that with seeing their name plastered all over the front of every newsstand metal rag around, I kinda figured…ok, trendy, watered-down stuff, no need to bother. Well, upon hearing “Ire Works,” that was an incorrect assumption…mostly. DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, at least on this record, strikes me as a band of really good musicians. They would have to be, to play the kind of turn-on-a-dime, genre-leaping stuff involved here. I mean, let’s face it, from the jaw-dropping mathematics of “Fix Your Face” to the neo-electronics of “Acting As A Wave,” it’s a pretty impressive shape-shifting deal going on when you consider the fact that the material tends to have a real flow to it. Not only that, when “Mouth Of Ghosts” hits at the end of the album, you find yourself wondering if you’ve stepped into a lost Mars Volta session. Still, the reason for my “mostly” comment earlier is the fact that, as good as this is, there’s stuff out there like Japan’s SIGH that mows it under like a freight train and the mainstream people remain oblivious to it. My hope is that perhaps exposure to good, solid innovation like “Ire Works” will lead them to explore a little deeper.
www.dillingerescapeplan.com
IRON MAN – “Submission” CD EP ’07 (Private, US) – IRON MAN guitarist and long-time Iommi aficionado Alfred Morris III recently told me that, with the type of music on this disc and beyond, they are looking to garner mass appeal. I have a couple things to say about that. The first is that I hope they get it. Alfred has labored long & hard to bring his vision of doomy crushdom down hard on the public it’s high time they get some kudos for it. Secondly, I think he may be right, because after listening to these 5 songs, it’s obvious to me anybody into heavy music who has a grain of sense would dig ‘em. See, Alfred knows what the early Sabs knew: there’s something to be said for good songwriting and variety. Sure, “Black Sabbath” was slow but “N.I.B.” wasn’t. They mixed it up and did it with flair, just like IRON MAN does on this short but sweet record. From opener “Burn The Sky” to “Run From The Light” and “Among The Filth & Slime,” this 4-piece put on a clinic of simply killer heavy rock, laced with melody and memory. New vocalist Joe Donnelly has a commanding voice that fits the proceedings like a glove and of course, at the center is the pulverizing melting asphalt riff-machine called Alfred Morris. God, I wish this was a longer release but these 5 songs will do until the new full-length, coming later this year, hits the streets.
www.myspace.com/ironmanband
www.myspace.com/federale
DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN – “Ire Works” CD ’07 (Relapse, US) – I have quite an admission to make. Ok, it’s not that I secretly listen to High School Musical or that Montana chick. I do that out in the open because I have daughters who are 5 and 10 years old. It’s not that I secretly wear women’s clothing. In a house with 2 adults & 5 kids, I unabashedly wear whatever I can find that’s clean. No, my dirty little secret is that, before I heard this album a couple weeks ago, I’d never heard DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN. There it is, news story: Underground music writer had never even heard one of the most name-dropped bands of the last few years. Why, you ask? Not really sure. I guess, with all the other stuff I get in the mail it was one of those things I never got around to. Plus, when you couple that with seeing their name plastered all over the front of every newsstand metal rag around, I kinda figured…ok, trendy, watered-down stuff, no need to bother. Well, upon hearing “Ire Works,” that was an incorrect assumption…mostly. DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, at least on this record, strikes me as a band of really good musicians. They would have to be, to play the kind of turn-on-a-dime, genre-leaping stuff involved here. I mean, let’s face it, from the jaw-dropping mathematics of “Fix Your Face” to the neo-electronics of “Acting As A Wave,” it’s a pretty impressive shape-shifting deal going on when you consider the fact that the material tends to have a real flow to it. Not only that, when “Mouth Of Ghosts” hits at the end of the album, you find yourself wondering if you’ve stepped into a lost Mars Volta session. Still, the reason for my “mostly” comment earlier is the fact that, as good as this is, there’s stuff out there like Japan’s SIGH that mows it under like a freight train and the mainstream people remain oblivious to it. My hope is that perhaps exposure to good, solid innovation like “Ire Works” will lead them to explore a little deeper.
www.dillingerescapeplan.com
IRON MAN – “Submission” CD EP ’07 (Private, US) – IRON MAN guitarist and long-time Iommi aficionado Alfred Morris III recently told me that, with the type of music on this disc and beyond, they are looking to garner mass appeal. I have a couple things to say about that. The first is that I hope they get it. Alfred has labored long & hard to bring his vision of doomy crushdom down hard on the public it’s high time they get some kudos for it. Secondly, I think he may be right, because after listening to these 5 songs, it’s obvious to me anybody into heavy music who has a grain of sense would dig ‘em. See, Alfred knows what the early Sabs knew: there’s something to be said for good songwriting and variety. Sure, “Black Sabbath” was slow but “N.I.B.” wasn’t. They mixed it up and did it with flair, just like IRON MAN does on this short but sweet record. From opener “Burn The Sky” to “Run From The Light” and “Among The Filth & Slime,” this 4-piece put on a clinic of simply killer heavy rock, laced with melody and memory. New vocalist Joe Donnelly has a commanding voice that fits the proceedings like a glove and of course, at the center is the pulverizing melting asphalt riff-machine called Alfred Morris. God, I wish this was a longer release but these 5 songs will do until the new full-length, coming later this year, hits the streets.
www.myspace.com/ironmanband
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Top 10's For 2007: Ray & Readers Weigh In!
Well, I’ve sat around for too many long nights now, racking my brain and finally thought to myself: It’s simple, Ray. Just pull out the CD’s that came out this year that you’d put in your road case if you were going on a trip. Easy, right? Yup. Here they are. Sure, there was plenty of good stuff but to me, this was the cream. And, below that, we find you, the readers’ selections and, some damn fine ones as well! Just goes to show the really nice variety of stuff we talk about on here and it points out the wonderful world of music we explore each year and every day. Thanks to everyone for, once again, the largest turn-out I’ve seen around these parts and here’s hoping for a killer 2008. We’ve already seen some killer releases and I expect a bunch more. Be here to share ‘em with me!
RAY’S TOP 11 ALBUMS FOR 2007 (11? Yes...because I can)
1. AGAINST NATURE – “The Anxiety Of Influence”
2. HIGHBINDER – “Moreneverthanever”
3. CHUCK NORRIS EXPERIMENT – “The Return Of Rock & Roll”
4. MAWWAL – “Black Flies”
5. HAUNTED GEORGE – “Pile O’ Meat”
6. KEVIN K – “Hollywood”
7. IRON RIDGE – “Heaven Light Shining”
8. YOKESHIRE – “The Witching Hour”
9. GLYDER – “Playground For Life”
10. BLACK GASOLINE – “She Gave Us Magic”
11. FEDERALE - "Federale"
READERS’ TOP 10 ALBUMS FOR 2007
1. WITCHCRAFT – “The Alchemist”
2. THE HIDDEN HAND – “The Resurrection Of Whiskey Foote”
3. HIGH ON FIRE – “Death Is This Communion”
4. SLOUGH FEG – “Hardworlder”
5. CLUTCH – “From Beale Street To Oblivion”
6. BIG BUSINESS – “Here Come The Waterworks”
7. BLUE CHEER – “What Doesn’t Kill You…”
8. MOUNTAIN – “Masters Of War”
9. MUNICIPAL WASTE – “The Art Of Partying”
10. PRIDE TIGER – “The Lucky Ones”
RAY’S TOP 11 ALBUMS FOR 2007 (11? Yes...because I can)
1. AGAINST NATURE – “The Anxiety Of Influence”
2. HIGHBINDER – “Moreneverthanever”
3. CHUCK NORRIS EXPERIMENT – “The Return Of Rock & Roll”
4. MAWWAL – “Black Flies”
5. HAUNTED GEORGE – “Pile O’ Meat”
6. KEVIN K – “Hollywood”
7. IRON RIDGE – “Heaven Light Shining”
8. YOKESHIRE – “The Witching Hour”
9. GLYDER – “Playground For Life”
10. BLACK GASOLINE – “She Gave Us Magic”
11. FEDERALE - "Federale"
READERS’ TOP 10 ALBUMS FOR 2007
1. WITCHCRAFT – “The Alchemist”
2. THE HIDDEN HAND – “The Resurrection Of Whiskey Foote”
3. HIGH ON FIRE – “Death Is This Communion”
4. SLOUGH FEG – “Hardworlder”
5. CLUTCH – “From Beale Street To Oblivion”
6. BIG BUSINESS – “Here Come The Waterworks”
7. BLUE CHEER – “What Doesn’t Kill You…”
8. MOUNTAIN – “Masters Of War”
9. MUNICIPAL WASTE – “The Art Of Partying”
10. PRIDE TIGER – “The Lucky Ones”
Friday, February 8, 2008
The KEVIN K Interview! A True Rawk Lifer Speaks Out!
“Rock and roll” is a funny expression. What does it mean? The sound of a Chuck Berry riff while he duckwalked across the stage? A Little Richard scream!? Or is it more a feeling, the wind roaring in the window of a Z-28 while you cruise down the road with “Powerage” blasting? A spirit, a non-giving-a-fuck-moment in time of Keith Moon driving a Cadillac into the pool or Bonzo hurling a TV over a balcony? How about a bunch of guys banging out 3 chords in a dingy garage or a greasy little club just because they love it? Let me introduce you to a guy named KEVIN K. Over the course of many years and even more albums, not to mention shows too numerous to mention (huh?) in cities too widespread to map out, he has honed to perfection a wondrous craft of rawkin’ power pop that, in this writer’s humble opinion, defines the term rock & roll. (Check out my reviews in “Some New Reviews, Baby”Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Mr. KEVIN K.
RAY: Hey Kevin, how’s it going? I know that you’ve had a long history of involvement with music. Rather than guess what to ask or what’s important to you, why don’t I let you tell us? Take us back to whatever is your earliest interest or involvement with music and bring us where you are today. Don’t worry, we’ve got nowhere to go, we’ll sit back & listen….
KEVIN: Well, it’s a long story compared to a lot of my friends who aren’t here today… Alan, my brother and I played organized hockey in Buffalo for 5 years. By age 14, I never grew anymore physically…mentally, YES. I was a good fast skater, good in the corners, knew how to dig the puck out & get it to the open man. But man, that 1968 game when I suffered a concussion…that was it for me. I wanted to have a job that I could do for life and meet girls. It was either a jock or a musician. My parents made me and Alan watch The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show and Elvis Presley, the comeback show where he was dressed all in leather. WOW! It was life-changing for us. These girls were going crazy. Unbelievable and you don’t have to get a concussion!! I took up drums and Alan guitar. And we got good FAST! Playing dances and playing clubs at age 17. I looked so young I would wear huge platform shoes & pencil in a fake mustache. Between sets I had to stand outside the bar. We loved the Stones, Hendrix. Cactus, Beatles. I remember seeing the New York Dolls on Don Kirschner’s Rock Concert in 1974. Man! We didn’t know what to think. They were great but out of tune & why does the guitar player have all that hair in his face? 1976 we heard the Sex Pistols & saw the Dead Boys live in 1977 and 1978. It changed our lives…this is it! It was the first time I was ever scared at a show. I mean we were nervous sitting in the front and Stiv Bators is having an epileptic fit onstage & Cheetah with that stare. Oh man! We never experienced this before. This is our music! We cut our hair off, colored it blonde. Subscribing to Rock Scene Magazine. We knew by 1980 we wanted to live in New York City, play CBGB, that was it. And what is amazing is all our heroes, we knew them all. By 1984 we opened for Johnny Thunders, Dee Dee Ramone, Cheetah Chrome, Dictators. So even though I have never become well known, Alan and I really accomplished what we wanted as kids. We lived in New York City for 21 years, played at CBGB I think 45 times, became addicted to drugs, lost everything. We were homeless a few times and in 1996, Alan died of a heroin overdose. It ended really sad. But, I try to keep Alan involved in my music today. When writing, I will ask myself “What would Alan do in this part?” And it works. I mean, I’m sure I’m damaged by everything that’s happened but life is for the living. Simple.
RAY: I know this is an age-old question and one you’ve probably heard a million times before but who were some of your biggest influences from the past, possibly some of your contemporaries? Also, is there anybody out there today who impresses you musically, lyrically?
KEVIN: Well, of course The Ramones, Iggy Pop, The Stones, Bob Dylan. New bands, I don’t know, this band Click Five is ok.
RAY: The one thing I’ve gotten from listening to the discs you’ve sent me is just a sense of pure rock enjoyment…if that makes any sense. With “Mr. Bones,” “Hollywood” & “Cool Ways” I just get the sense of wanting to get in a ’72 Camaro, rolling the windows down, cranking the shit to “11” and ripping down the open road. Any commentary, or am I just having a mid-life crisis?
KEVIN: Yeah, I try to keep things enjoyable. I think I’m pretty good at writing things that people can hear and relate to in their own lives. My songs are real. I have lived them. Never do I have writer’s block. I really think “Cool Ways” might be the best collection of songs I have done. I was feeling good about my life. NOT my bank account, though!
RAY: How in the hell do you write songs that have as great hooks as “Story Of A Girl” or “Cool Ways?” Does songwriting work a specific way for you, that is hear a hook in your head & figure it out on guitar? Do you sit for hours cranking out stuff, looking for something that sticks? Is it always different?
KEVIN: I think it’s a combination of everything. I just can’t seem to get what I want. By writing, it’s my therapy. I would for sure be in the nuthouse if I couldn’t play guitar and sing. Plus, I’m good at taking ideas, either chords or lyrics from the greats like Iggy or The Ramones or The Beatles. I think it helps me because I have a large range of music I listen to…blues, rock, country, I even have The Spice Girls CD. I love Frank Sinatra. I saw him at Radio City Music Hall with Don Rickles. When Frank sang “New York, New York” I was in tears. If it’s pop, I’ll listen. I’m open to all kinds of songs. I love Grand Master Flash, takes me back to my cocaine years in NYC and actually going to Studio 54. Plus, we always had to be as stoned on drugs as Johnny Thunders was and we saw him play at least 30 times in the city. It’s hard to write when you’re happy and rick and dating Jennifer Love Hewitt. At least for me it would be.
RAY: Do you consider your music to be a particular genre? Or do you just roll with whatever comes out & call it “KEVIN K?” For instance, “Mr. Bones” strikes me as a killer, metalized hard rawk direction while “Hollywood” & “Cool Ways” are stick-to-your-brain, magnificent power pop gems. But, each still has an inkling of the other, the KEVIN K Factor, I guess?
KEVIN: No genre. It’s just another KEVIN K outlook on life at that particular year.
RAY: I know you’ve been all around, from Buffalo to Manhattan to LA to Florida. What has that kind of traveling, moving around, done to your music, do you think? Do you think your stuff would sound the same, the same ideas would come out of your brain, if you’d stayed in one place?
KEVIN: NEVER! By touring different countries and seeing and talking with kids from around the world, it has opened my mind from just being American. Example: I have done 3 tours of Poland which were some of the craziest audiences. I mean, stage diving, slam dancing, incredible! They really like me because I’m 100% Polish. My grandparents came over on the boat to Ellis Island from Warsaw, so I have been in a lot of Polish music magazines. These kids have had NOTHING. One kid would by, say a Ramones cassette and make copies for his friends. Nobody had CD’s or band t-shirts. In fact, 2 of my CD’s have been released in Krakow Poland on cassette! I love that. Sometimes I think we get lost in OUR world of the definition of success is how much money you make. I always tell people, in America I’m just a loser, a nothing, a zero. But in Europe I’m known as a survivor and that’s what makes it so nice for me touring there. If I didn’t have my tours of Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, etc. I would probably be dead. And I love playing in Berlin. Probably my favourite city in the world besides the OLD New York City of the 1980’s…Iggy and Bowie completely captured the feeling of life in Berlin with “Lust For Life” and “Heroes”…those records are perfect. I just finished writing and demoing 10 new songs to be recorded in Berlin later this year. This one will be really dark sounding, lots of keyboards. I read two great books, “The Fall Of The Berlin Wall” by William F. Buckley, Jr. and “The Wall Came Tumbling Down” by Jerry Bornstein. I put myself in another state of mind. Two weeks of very intense late nights with my guitar, keyboard, vodka and Vicadins. I conducted an experiment on my brain…and it worked.
RAY: You’ve got different musicians that you’ve worked with, from different areas. In fact, on “Hollywood,” you work with different people on different tracks, recorded everywhere from France to LA. The subtleties of their playing comes through (to these ears, anyway) and yet there’s an unmistakable flow that lets it work so well as an album. What made this work the way it did?
KEVIN: Well, it works because the people I work with all have the same taste in music. Plus I always come up with the framework for every song…bass, drums, backing vocal. I do all the pre-production on my 4 track cassette machine. No shit, I spend hundreds of hours on it. So when I get to the studio to record I have the basic foundation of what the song will sound like, no surprises. I don’t know how bands write in the studio! What a fucking waste of time. Plus, if I didn’t work like I do I would never have 17 CD’s out. I’d be working at Wal-Mart, bringing in the shopping carts from the parking lot. I still might someday be bringing in the shopping carts for Wal-Mart.
RAY: I know this may be a tough subject, and if you’d like to bail on this one, I’ll totally understand. You’d mentioned that your brother died during the ‘90’s. Was this something sudden or was it over time? Obviously, it affected you deeply as a person, I would think. How about musically? Was your brother involved in music?
KEVIN: ALAN K…Oh, I like talking about my brother. Well, we were in a few bands together for 25 years. From New Toys, Lone Cowboys and Road Vultures. We lived together, wrote songs and traveled together. I like to tell people we went through the war together. When he died I lost my left arm and half my brain. When your heroes are Johnny Thunders and Iggy Pop, chances are you’re gonna try drugs. It’s a fact. Alan just couldn’t deal with getting older & still not having a proper record deal. No money. I saw the good use of heroin when he wrote songs on the Road Vultures “Ride” CD. Very creative. And, then I saw the BAD side of heroin when he sold his clothes and his guitar. He went through 4 or 5 detox clinics in NYC and Florida. He was clean for almost a year when he went back to NYC. This was November of 1996. We weren’t talking and I didn’t even know he was back in the city. Then I got the phone call from the police. Kevin, this is the detective. We are calling you to tell you we found your brother. Found? Yes, he is dead. Just like that. But in NYC when they deal with 20 dead bodies a day it’s like a walk in the park to them. So I had him cremated and put his ashes on Johnny Thunders’ and Jerry Nolan’s graves out in Queens, NY. This was HARD for me. I didn’t know what to do. I started using drugs, drinking…just being really careless about my life. This went on for at least 6 months. But somehow, I had enough. I couldn’t be sad anymore. It wasn’t helping me at all. So I made the choice to jump in full speed ahead in writing, touring and recording…never taking a break. Now it’s almost 12 years. When I have time off, that’s when the demons start bothering me. Still, my brother visits me all the time in dreams. Also my best friend Peter who died while I was on tour in France a couple years ago. But I like it. These people are dead and they are not coming back. I accept it. Cheetah Chrome told me he really, REALLY misses Stiv. All the time. But he is gone. It’s done. I’m just happy we had many great, crazy times together and so many amazing songs Alan wrote. So, at least I have that!
RAY: Playing live has always been talked about by rock & roll bands as the driving force behind what they do. How do you feel about playing live as opposed to studio work?
KEVIN: I like both. The live is great when you have a great audience that doesn’t throw shit at you or spit. And after the show, they buy lots of merchandise and the girl factor, too. Studio I also love…just the start of a song and then the end, when it’s done, very satisfying.
RAY: What kinds of places are you and your band(s) playing these days? I suppose different size/style rooms are the order of the day, depending on where you’re at, eh? Where do you go over better?
KEVIN: I play anywhere and everywhere. If I can get pail I’ll play a show in your basement. These days you can’t be picky. Johnny Thunders would also play any club. He once told me at this club on East Houston Street (used to be a bad area of town), “I used to come down here to buy drugs…now I come down here looking for work.” My French guys saw Johnny play at some clubs that would only fit 50 people. That’s why Johnny was so popular in Europe, he would play anywhere.
RAY: The video footage I saw of you at CBGB was very cool…the sense of history and the way you seem to have a palpable connection to the place. Do you think playing at clubs like this give the artist a different sort of feeling than, let’s say, pulling into some place in the middle of nowhere that you’ve never heard of to do a one night show, possibly never to return there again?
KEVIN: CBGB. That club and Hilly made Alan and I who we became. CBGB taught me a lesson fast. If you think you are a great singer or guitar player, you get to NYC and you ain’t worth shit. There are 100 better singers, 100 better guitar players. At CB’s you would move your amps and drums from the front of the club, right thru the audience and right up on stage. No sound check, nothing, when the lights would turn blue it was time to play your 20 MINUTE SET…that’s it. If you can’t do it good in that time and under those conditions, too bad for you. I LOVED THIS. No bullshit. It really toughened me up for sure. And some nights we would open for Cheetah Chrome…wooooo….I thought we were gonna get stabbed. ON STAGE! And if you didn’t watch your gear, someone would take it. I used to move my drums by cab and we lived at 89 Bleecker Street. Walking it would take 4 minutes to get to CBGB…I would pay the cab drivers $20 for that ride! And they were helpful, they would pop open the trunk while I broke my balls loading in my 24 inch bass drum. Some nights I remember leaving CBGB at 5:00 AM. The sun would start to rise. It was surrealistic.
RAY: What’s next on the agenda for KEVIN K after “Cool Ways?” Any new recording plans formalized? What is your status as far as a label goes?
KEVIN: The new project, it might be called “Berliner.” I hope to even record at Hansa Studios. That’s where Iggy did the “Lust For Life” record, right by the Wall. I’ll probably stay with the same label, Rankoutsider Records. It’s owned by Pat Todd (Lazy Cowgirls). We’re the same age and come from the same school of music, so we understand each other really well. VERY good communication.
RAY: Any big plans for touring/gigs? Have you ever played Baltimore? Will you? (Please!)
KEVIN: The February German “Hollywood” tour dates are up on myspace.com/kevinkrock. In May I will be in Spain for 2 weeks. I think my first band called New Toys in 1981 played The Marble Bar in Baltimore (Man, The Marble Bar…such memories…RD).
RAY: Do you think you’ll ever get too old for this shit? Does this stuff make you a living? If not, how do you get by?
KEVIN: Well, I think as time goes by, I would like to get a good rhythm and blues band. Like a sax player, trombone, keyboards. I have been old for so long I don’t even think about it. I still sing young and that’s good. Well, I have not had any other job for 13 years, only music. I worked at Sounds Record Store at 20 St. Marks Place for 7 years. Then I was a foot messenger for 4 years. That was fun. I loved taking the subway, drinking a beer in a brown bag. How I get by? That’s easy. 1) No girlfriend. 2) No car. 3) No apartment. 4) No kids (at least I don’t think so). 5) No health insurance. So, I have no expenses. I stay with friends in LA, Detroit, NYC, France, Germany. I mean I live a very strange life. Like I’m invisible. I have not been to the movies in 20 years. The last movie I saw was “Pale Rider.” I never go to dinner. Sometimes I don’t even think I’m human. I’m like a lost cat looking for a warm place to sleep!
RAY: Quick Red-Light Challenge: RAMONES – “Ramones,” TELEVISION – “Marquee Moon,” MONTROSE – “Montrose,” NEW YORK DOLLS – “Too Much Too Soon” or TALAS – “Talas.” Which one do you take to a desert island?
KEVIN: RAMONES…and Jennifer Love Hewitt…can I have both?
RAY: With your long involvement in music, can you tell myself and the readers some sort of story about something that has happened to you (connected to the music scene) that is either uproariously funny, touching, unusual or just plain weird?
KEVIN: Oh man, there have been hundreds. In fact, I have been writing a book for 3 years now, just stories that happened to me. It’s gonna be called “KEVIN K…How To Be A Successful Loser.” In Spain, I had a guy interview me and he says, “So Kevin, was it fun playing in the NEW YORK DOLLS?” I said, “Yeah, but Johnny was a real pain in the ass!” Jerry Nolan was using my drums and one night at the Continental he is looking down and says, “Kev..oh..ah…do you have some drum sticks I could use?” Jerry didn’t even have drum sticks! But see this is why I loved these guys. They were real, no big star attitude. They would always sign autographs, take pictures. NEVER did I think these guys were losers. Jerry Nolan would talk for hours about clothes. He was my idol. In 1991 Johnny Thunders was at our apartment at 338 E. 13th St. and he says to Alan and I, “Hey you guys are the same size as me. If you each give me $100 I’m going to Thailand after my Japan tour and have some suits made. I’ll get you each one made.” We said “No, Johnny.” Sure enough, John dies after the Japan tour. We go to the funeral home, there is John in the casket with a nice black suit on. We were sitting with John’s mother and she says to me, “Doesn’t John look nice in his new suit? He had it made in Thailand!” So there you go. Back in the 1980’s, I got into a cab once and looked at the driver’s picture and the name on the glove compartment and it said Albert Bouchard…the drummer from Blue Oyster Cult! Gene Simmons from Kiss called us on the phone asking for a demo tape of Road Vultures. When he had Simmons Records. This guy is a total jackass. About 8 years ago I saw Jennifer Love Hewitt filming a street scene. So I called my roommate on the phone. I started walking down the street and hear girls talking next to me. And, it’s Jennifer with a friend. We walked down the street right next to each other and I couldn’t say anything, I was speechless. I mean, I was so close to her I could smell her perfume! So that’s how “Jennifer Love Song” came about. I sent it to her. I think she thinks I’m a scary old Polish guy with tattoos. That’s ok. The last time I saw Iggy live was at Irving Plaza. After a GREAT show, I get into the dressing room and I’m standing there with Iggy, Steven & Liv Tyler and Bob Gruen and nobody is saying anything…quiet…and Iggy smells like a goat! No shirt on like a caveman…classic…and this is 1 hour after the show. IGGY IS KING! The last time I saw Dee Dee Ramone, he says to me, “Hey Kevin, tell your friends I’m selling pot now! And it’s high grade!” The last time I saw Joey Ramone was at a club. He was leaving and I said, “Joey, man, it’s great to see you. And I gave him my “Party Down” and “Rule The Heart” CD’s. So he says “AAhhh…thanks man.” So I look out the window and see Joey walking up 3rd Avenue with the “Party Down” CD in the left hand and the “Rule The Heart” CD in the right hand, just looking at them. That’s a nice memory for me. At the record store I worked at, people would come in and give me a list of records and bring them to the cash register. So one day my boss says “Kevin, find these records for this guy and make it fast. I said “Cool.” So, I’m running all over the store, rock, classical, pop, dance. I get all the records, like 25 and bring them to the counter…the guy has his back to me. I say, “Sir here are your records.” The guy turns around & it’s LOU REED! Wow! He was nice to me. He said “Thanks.” I worked one year at Tower Records in NYC. I was known as the Tower Plower because I had sex with at least one girl from every department, rock, pop, cassettes, classical, soundtracks, video & dance…yup, that was good. Another time I’m working the cash register. My boss says “Kevin go outside & tell that guy that he cannot sit on the steps.” (At Sounds Record Store we were on the 2nd floor and there were like 15 steps leading to the front door. We would not let people sit there). I look out the window…sure , enough…GG Allin. And this is the 1984 GG Allin, the complete CRAZY INSANE GG ALLIN that just got released from prison. And he doesn’t look too happy. I said to my boss “Ahhhh, that’s GG Allin, I can’t tell him that.” My boss says “Look, either you tell him to move or you’re fired.” I said “Can I think about it for 10 minutes?” Well, I go outside. I sit down next to GG. He has on mirrored sunglasses and is drinking a 20 oz. beer in a brown paper bag. I say, “Excuse me, sir, can you please move? We don’t let people sit here.” He says nothing for like 3 minutes, then turns and looks at me. Gives me the look of “I will move this time, next time you ask me to move I’ll cut you’re fucking heart out.” He gets up, walks away. I go inside, I think I wet my pants.
RAY: Any final comments for the readers of RAYSREALM?
KEVIN: Please buy a KEVIN K CD. You will not be let down. If you want to hear real true rockin roll from New York City, this is it. If I’m in your town someday, come say “Hi.” Let’s have a drink. There really are not too many of me around anymore. Jenkooya (Polish for “thanks”).
Wow, there you have it! Timeless stories and a real, true insight from one of the real veterans of the very heart of rock & roll, KEVIN K. You want some true entertainment with hooks that go on forever and a real life feel that’ll take your breath away? Grab “Hollywood,” ROAD VULTURES – “Ride” or his latest, the scintillating “Cool Ways” and have yourself a slice of that lust for life called rawk. NOTE: KEVIN K's discs are available at cdbaby.com
RAY: Hey Kevin, how’s it going? I know that you’ve had a long history of involvement with music. Rather than guess what to ask or what’s important to you, why don’t I let you tell us? Take us back to whatever is your earliest interest or involvement with music and bring us where you are today. Don’t worry, we’ve got nowhere to go, we’ll sit back & listen….
KEVIN: Well, it’s a long story compared to a lot of my friends who aren’t here today… Alan, my brother and I played organized hockey in Buffalo for 5 years. By age 14, I never grew anymore physically…mentally, YES. I was a good fast skater, good in the corners, knew how to dig the puck out & get it to the open man. But man, that 1968 game when I suffered a concussion…that was it for me. I wanted to have a job that I could do for life and meet girls. It was either a jock or a musician. My parents made me and Alan watch The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show and Elvis Presley, the comeback show where he was dressed all in leather. WOW! It was life-changing for us. These girls were going crazy. Unbelievable and you don’t have to get a concussion!! I took up drums and Alan guitar. And we got good FAST! Playing dances and playing clubs at age 17. I looked so young I would wear huge platform shoes & pencil in a fake mustache. Between sets I had to stand outside the bar. We loved the Stones, Hendrix. Cactus, Beatles. I remember seeing the New York Dolls on Don Kirschner’s Rock Concert in 1974. Man! We didn’t know what to think. They were great but out of tune & why does the guitar player have all that hair in his face? 1976 we heard the Sex Pistols & saw the Dead Boys live in 1977 and 1978. It changed our lives…this is it! It was the first time I was ever scared at a show. I mean we were nervous sitting in the front and Stiv Bators is having an epileptic fit onstage & Cheetah with that stare. Oh man! We never experienced this before. This is our music! We cut our hair off, colored it blonde. Subscribing to Rock Scene Magazine. We knew by 1980 we wanted to live in New York City, play CBGB, that was it. And what is amazing is all our heroes, we knew them all. By 1984 we opened for Johnny Thunders, Dee Dee Ramone, Cheetah Chrome, Dictators. So even though I have never become well known, Alan and I really accomplished what we wanted as kids. We lived in New York City for 21 years, played at CBGB I think 45 times, became addicted to drugs, lost everything. We were homeless a few times and in 1996, Alan died of a heroin overdose. It ended really sad. But, I try to keep Alan involved in my music today. When writing, I will ask myself “What would Alan do in this part?” And it works. I mean, I’m sure I’m damaged by everything that’s happened but life is for the living. Simple.
RAY: I know this is an age-old question and one you’ve probably heard a million times before but who were some of your biggest influences from the past, possibly some of your contemporaries? Also, is there anybody out there today who impresses you musically, lyrically?
KEVIN: Well, of course The Ramones, Iggy Pop, The Stones, Bob Dylan. New bands, I don’t know, this band Click Five is ok.
RAY: The one thing I’ve gotten from listening to the discs you’ve sent me is just a sense of pure rock enjoyment…if that makes any sense. With “Mr. Bones,” “Hollywood” & “Cool Ways” I just get the sense of wanting to get in a ’72 Camaro, rolling the windows down, cranking the shit to “11” and ripping down the open road. Any commentary, or am I just having a mid-life crisis?
KEVIN: Yeah, I try to keep things enjoyable. I think I’m pretty good at writing things that people can hear and relate to in their own lives. My songs are real. I have lived them. Never do I have writer’s block. I really think “Cool Ways” might be the best collection of songs I have done. I was feeling good about my life. NOT my bank account, though!
RAY: How in the hell do you write songs that have as great hooks as “Story Of A Girl” or “Cool Ways?” Does songwriting work a specific way for you, that is hear a hook in your head & figure it out on guitar? Do you sit for hours cranking out stuff, looking for something that sticks? Is it always different?
KEVIN: I think it’s a combination of everything. I just can’t seem to get what I want. By writing, it’s my therapy. I would for sure be in the nuthouse if I couldn’t play guitar and sing. Plus, I’m good at taking ideas, either chords or lyrics from the greats like Iggy or The Ramones or The Beatles. I think it helps me because I have a large range of music I listen to…blues, rock, country, I even have The Spice Girls CD. I love Frank Sinatra. I saw him at Radio City Music Hall with Don Rickles. When Frank sang “New York, New York” I was in tears. If it’s pop, I’ll listen. I’m open to all kinds of songs. I love Grand Master Flash, takes me back to my cocaine years in NYC and actually going to Studio 54. Plus, we always had to be as stoned on drugs as Johnny Thunders was and we saw him play at least 30 times in the city. It’s hard to write when you’re happy and rick and dating Jennifer Love Hewitt. At least for me it would be.
RAY: Do you consider your music to be a particular genre? Or do you just roll with whatever comes out & call it “KEVIN K?” For instance, “Mr. Bones” strikes me as a killer, metalized hard rawk direction while “Hollywood” & “Cool Ways” are stick-to-your-brain, magnificent power pop gems. But, each still has an inkling of the other, the KEVIN K Factor, I guess?
KEVIN: No genre. It’s just another KEVIN K outlook on life at that particular year.
RAY: I know you’ve been all around, from Buffalo to Manhattan to LA to Florida. What has that kind of traveling, moving around, done to your music, do you think? Do you think your stuff would sound the same, the same ideas would come out of your brain, if you’d stayed in one place?
KEVIN: NEVER! By touring different countries and seeing and talking with kids from around the world, it has opened my mind from just being American. Example: I have done 3 tours of Poland which were some of the craziest audiences. I mean, stage diving, slam dancing, incredible! They really like me because I’m 100% Polish. My grandparents came over on the boat to Ellis Island from Warsaw, so I have been in a lot of Polish music magazines. These kids have had NOTHING. One kid would by, say a Ramones cassette and make copies for his friends. Nobody had CD’s or band t-shirts. In fact, 2 of my CD’s have been released in Krakow Poland on cassette! I love that. Sometimes I think we get lost in OUR world of the definition of success is how much money you make. I always tell people, in America I’m just a loser, a nothing, a zero. But in Europe I’m known as a survivor and that’s what makes it so nice for me touring there. If I didn’t have my tours of Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, etc. I would probably be dead. And I love playing in Berlin. Probably my favourite city in the world besides the OLD New York City of the 1980’s…Iggy and Bowie completely captured the feeling of life in Berlin with “Lust For Life” and “Heroes”…those records are perfect. I just finished writing and demoing 10 new songs to be recorded in Berlin later this year. This one will be really dark sounding, lots of keyboards. I read two great books, “The Fall Of The Berlin Wall” by William F. Buckley, Jr. and “The Wall Came Tumbling Down” by Jerry Bornstein. I put myself in another state of mind. Two weeks of very intense late nights with my guitar, keyboard, vodka and Vicadins. I conducted an experiment on my brain…and it worked.
RAY: You’ve got different musicians that you’ve worked with, from different areas. In fact, on “Hollywood,” you work with different people on different tracks, recorded everywhere from France to LA. The subtleties of their playing comes through (to these ears, anyway) and yet there’s an unmistakable flow that lets it work so well as an album. What made this work the way it did?
KEVIN: Well, it works because the people I work with all have the same taste in music. Plus I always come up with the framework for every song…bass, drums, backing vocal. I do all the pre-production on my 4 track cassette machine. No shit, I spend hundreds of hours on it. So when I get to the studio to record I have the basic foundation of what the song will sound like, no surprises. I don’t know how bands write in the studio! What a fucking waste of time. Plus, if I didn’t work like I do I would never have 17 CD’s out. I’d be working at Wal-Mart, bringing in the shopping carts from the parking lot. I still might someday be bringing in the shopping carts for Wal-Mart.
RAY: I know this may be a tough subject, and if you’d like to bail on this one, I’ll totally understand. You’d mentioned that your brother died during the ‘90’s. Was this something sudden or was it over time? Obviously, it affected you deeply as a person, I would think. How about musically? Was your brother involved in music?
KEVIN: ALAN K…Oh, I like talking about my brother. Well, we were in a few bands together for 25 years. From New Toys, Lone Cowboys and Road Vultures. We lived together, wrote songs and traveled together. I like to tell people we went through the war together. When he died I lost my left arm and half my brain. When your heroes are Johnny Thunders and Iggy Pop, chances are you’re gonna try drugs. It’s a fact. Alan just couldn’t deal with getting older & still not having a proper record deal. No money. I saw the good use of heroin when he wrote songs on the Road Vultures “Ride” CD. Very creative. And, then I saw the BAD side of heroin when he sold his clothes and his guitar. He went through 4 or 5 detox clinics in NYC and Florida. He was clean for almost a year when he went back to NYC. This was November of 1996. We weren’t talking and I didn’t even know he was back in the city. Then I got the phone call from the police. Kevin, this is the detective. We are calling you to tell you we found your brother. Found? Yes, he is dead. Just like that. But in NYC when they deal with 20 dead bodies a day it’s like a walk in the park to them. So I had him cremated and put his ashes on Johnny Thunders’ and Jerry Nolan’s graves out in Queens, NY. This was HARD for me. I didn’t know what to do. I started using drugs, drinking…just being really careless about my life. This went on for at least 6 months. But somehow, I had enough. I couldn’t be sad anymore. It wasn’t helping me at all. So I made the choice to jump in full speed ahead in writing, touring and recording…never taking a break. Now it’s almost 12 years. When I have time off, that’s when the demons start bothering me. Still, my brother visits me all the time in dreams. Also my best friend Peter who died while I was on tour in France a couple years ago. But I like it. These people are dead and they are not coming back. I accept it. Cheetah Chrome told me he really, REALLY misses Stiv. All the time. But he is gone. It’s done. I’m just happy we had many great, crazy times together and so many amazing songs Alan wrote. So, at least I have that!
RAY: Playing live has always been talked about by rock & roll bands as the driving force behind what they do. How do you feel about playing live as opposed to studio work?
KEVIN: I like both. The live is great when you have a great audience that doesn’t throw shit at you or spit. And after the show, they buy lots of merchandise and the girl factor, too. Studio I also love…just the start of a song and then the end, when it’s done, very satisfying.
RAY: What kinds of places are you and your band(s) playing these days? I suppose different size/style rooms are the order of the day, depending on where you’re at, eh? Where do you go over better?
KEVIN: I play anywhere and everywhere. If I can get pail I’ll play a show in your basement. These days you can’t be picky. Johnny Thunders would also play any club. He once told me at this club on East Houston Street (used to be a bad area of town), “I used to come down here to buy drugs…now I come down here looking for work.” My French guys saw Johnny play at some clubs that would only fit 50 people. That’s why Johnny was so popular in Europe, he would play anywhere.
RAY: The video footage I saw of you at CBGB was very cool…the sense of history and the way you seem to have a palpable connection to the place. Do you think playing at clubs like this give the artist a different sort of feeling than, let’s say, pulling into some place in the middle of nowhere that you’ve never heard of to do a one night show, possibly never to return there again?
KEVIN: CBGB. That club and Hilly made Alan and I who we became. CBGB taught me a lesson fast. If you think you are a great singer or guitar player, you get to NYC and you ain’t worth shit. There are 100 better singers, 100 better guitar players. At CB’s you would move your amps and drums from the front of the club, right thru the audience and right up on stage. No sound check, nothing, when the lights would turn blue it was time to play your 20 MINUTE SET…that’s it. If you can’t do it good in that time and under those conditions, too bad for you. I LOVED THIS. No bullshit. It really toughened me up for sure. And some nights we would open for Cheetah Chrome…wooooo….I thought we were gonna get stabbed. ON STAGE! And if you didn’t watch your gear, someone would take it. I used to move my drums by cab and we lived at 89 Bleecker Street. Walking it would take 4 minutes to get to CBGB…I would pay the cab drivers $20 for that ride! And they were helpful, they would pop open the trunk while I broke my balls loading in my 24 inch bass drum. Some nights I remember leaving CBGB at 5:00 AM. The sun would start to rise. It was surrealistic.
RAY: What’s next on the agenda for KEVIN K after “Cool Ways?” Any new recording plans formalized? What is your status as far as a label goes?
KEVIN: The new project, it might be called “Berliner.” I hope to even record at Hansa Studios. That’s where Iggy did the “Lust For Life” record, right by the Wall. I’ll probably stay with the same label, Rankoutsider Records. It’s owned by Pat Todd (Lazy Cowgirls). We’re the same age and come from the same school of music, so we understand each other really well. VERY good communication.
RAY: Any big plans for touring/gigs? Have you ever played Baltimore? Will you? (Please!)
KEVIN: The February German “Hollywood” tour dates are up on myspace.com/kevinkrock. In May I will be in Spain for 2 weeks. I think my first band called New Toys in 1981 played The Marble Bar in Baltimore (Man, The Marble Bar…such memories…RD).
RAY: Do you think you’ll ever get too old for this shit? Does this stuff make you a living? If not, how do you get by?
KEVIN: Well, I think as time goes by, I would like to get a good rhythm and blues band. Like a sax player, trombone, keyboards. I have been old for so long I don’t even think about it. I still sing young and that’s good. Well, I have not had any other job for 13 years, only music. I worked at Sounds Record Store at 20 St. Marks Place for 7 years. Then I was a foot messenger for 4 years. That was fun. I loved taking the subway, drinking a beer in a brown bag. How I get by? That’s easy. 1) No girlfriend. 2) No car. 3) No apartment. 4) No kids (at least I don’t think so). 5) No health insurance. So, I have no expenses. I stay with friends in LA, Detroit, NYC, France, Germany. I mean I live a very strange life. Like I’m invisible. I have not been to the movies in 20 years. The last movie I saw was “Pale Rider.” I never go to dinner. Sometimes I don’t even think I’m human. I’m like a lost cat looking for a warm place to sleep!
RAY: Quick Red-Light Challenge: RAMONES – “Ramones,” TELEVISION – “Marquee Moon,” MONTROSE – “Montrose,” NEW YORK DOLLS – “Too Much Too Soon” or TALAS – “Talas.” Which one do you take to a desert island?
KEVIN: RAMONES…and Jennifer Love Hewitt…can I have both?
RAY: With your long involvement in music, can you tell myself and the readers some sort of story about something that has happened to you (connected to the music scene) that is either uproariously funny, touching, unusual or just plain weird?
KEVIN: Oh man, there have been hundreds. In fact, I have been writing a book for 3 years now, just stories that happened to me. It’s gonna be called “KEVIN K…How To Be A Successful Loser.” In Spain, I had a guy interview me and he says, “So Kevin, was it fun playing in the NEW YORK DOLLS?” I said, “Yeah, but Johnny was a real pain in the ass!” Jerry Nolan was using my drums and one night at the Continental he is looking down and says, “Kev..oh..ah…do you have some drum sticks I could use?” Jerry didn’t even have drum sticks! But see this is why I loved these guys. They were real, no big star attitude. They would always sign autographs, take pictures. NEVER did I think these guys were losers. Jerry Nolan would talk for hours about clothes. He was my idol. In 1991 Johnny Thunders was at our apartment at 338 E. 13th St. and he says to Alan and I, “Hey you guys are the same size as me. If you each give me $100 I’m going to Thailand after my Japan tour and have some suits made. I’ll get you each one made.” We said “No, Johnny.” Sure enough, John dies after the Japan tour. We go to the funeral home, there is John in the casket with a nice black suit on. We were sitting with John’s mother and she says to me, “Doesn’t John look nice in his new suit? He had it made in Thailand!” So there you go. Back in the 1980’s, I got into a cab once and looked at the driver’s picture and the name on the glove compartment and it said Albert Bouchard…the drummer from Blue Oyster Cult! Gene Simmons from Kiss called us on the phone asking for a demo tape of Road Vultures. When he had Simmons Records. This guy is a total jackass. About 8 years ago I saw Jennifer Love Hewitt filming a street scene. So I called my roommate on the phone. I started walking down the street and hear girls talking next to me. And, it’s Jennifer with a friend. We walked down the street right next to each other and I couldn’t say anything, I was speechless. I mean, I was so close to her I could smell her perfume! So that’s how “Jennifer Love Song” came about. I sent it to her. I think she thinks I’m a scary old Polish guy with tattoos. That’s ok. The last time I saw Iggy live was at Irving Plaza. After a GREAT show, I get into the dressing room and I’m standing there with Iggy, Steven & Liv Tyler and Bob Gruen and nobody is saying anything…quiet…and Iggy smells like a goat! No shirt on like a caveman…classic…and this is 1 hour after the show. IGGY IS KING! The last time I saw Dee Dee Ramone, he says to me, “Hey Kevin, tell your friends I’m selling pot now! And it’s high grade!” The last time I saw Joey Ramone was at a club. He was leaving and I said, “Joey, man, it’s great to see you. And I gave him my “Party Down” and “Rule The Heart” CD’s. So he says “AAhhh…thanks man.” So I look out the window and see Joey walking up 3rd Avenue with the “Party Down” CD in the left hand and the “Rule The Heart” CD in the right hand, just looking at them. That’s a nice memory for me. At the record store I worked at, people would come in and give me a list of records and bring them to the cash register. So one day my boss says “Kevin, find these records for this guy and make it fast. I said “Cool.” So, I’m running all over the store, rock, classical, pop, dance. I get all the records, like 25 and bring them to the counter…the guy has his back to me. I say, “Sir here are your records.” The guy turns around & it’s LOU REED! Wow! He was nice to me. He said “Thanks.” I worked one year at Tower Records in NYC. I was known as the Tower Plower because I had sex with at least one girl from every department, rock, pop, cassettes, classical, soundtracks, video & dance…yup, that was good. Another time I’m working the cash register. My boss says “Kevin go outside & tell that guy that he cannot sit on the steps.” (At Sounds Record Store we were on the 2nd floor and there were like 15 steps leading to the front door. We would not let people sit there). I look out the window…sure , enough…GG Allin. And this is the 1984 GG Allin, the complete CRAZY INSANE GG ALLIN that just got released from prison. And he doesn’t look too happy. I said to my boss “Ahhhh, that’s GG Allin, I can’t tell him that.” My boss says “Look, either you tell him to move or you’re fired.” I said “Can I think about it for 10 minutes?” Well, I go outside. I sit down next to GG. He has on mirrored sunglasses and is drinking a 20 oz. beer in a brown paper bag. I say, “Excuse me, sir, can you please move? We don’t let people sit here.” He says nothing for like 3 minutes, then turns and looks at me. Gives me the look of “I will move this time, next time you ask me to move I’ll cut you’re fucking heart out.” He gets up, walks away. I go inside, I think I wet my pants.
RAY: Any final comments for the readers of RAYSREALM?
KEVIN: Please buy a KEVIN K CD. You will not be let down. If you want to hear real true rockin roll from New York City, this is it. If I’m in your town someday, come say “Hi.” Let’s have a drink. There really are not too many of me around anymore. Jenkooya (Polish for “thanks”).
Wow, there you have it! Timeless stories and a real, true insight from one of the real veterans of the very heart of rock & roll, KEVIN K. You want some true entertainment with hooks that go on forever and a real life feel that’ll take your breath away? Grab “Hollywood,” ROAD VULTURES – “Ride” or his latest, the scintillating “Cool Ways” and have yourself a slice of that lust for life called rawk. NOTE: KEVIN K's discs are available at cdbaby.com
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