DollSquad. Aprenda inglés (del bueno) con Harlem

"DollSquad ain’t just another cutesy girl band"

Dice OSCAR CUBILLO que DollSquad son seis australianas de Melbourne que pasan el día ocupadas en empleos formales (seguros, arqueología, funcionariado...) y de noche se embuten en escotados trajes de cuero para rocanrolear con el salvajismo del garaje primitivo. Y que las seis barbarellas han editado un segundo álbum, Lethal in leather, en la escuela Sonics y Trashmen. Su cantante, Joey (abogada en la vida normal), defiende que tras su maquillaje hay autenticidad.

Influencias.
Well our influences are wide and varied both individually among the members of the band and in terms of the united image and sound of the band. Of course Lyn Carey (The Carrie Nations), The Ronettes, She, The Daughters of Eve, Goldie & The Gingerbreads, Nikki & The Corvettes, Shocking Blue, Joan Jet, Quatro and Johnny Thunders and Paul Collins' Beat, Radio Birdman, The Zeros. Also bands like The Yum Yums, The Dictators, Le Tigre, Redd Kross, Teen Machine, The Undertones, The Fuzztones, The New York Dolls, Exploding Hearts, X, Steve Lucas, Elinor Rigby, The Stems, The Friggs. Maria Dallas, Dinah Lee and Lulu.

We jumble all of these around so that there is a dramatic dichotomy between the softness of the girl groups sound (“Doll”) an the military like toughness and urgency of 77 rock n roll bands like Radio Birdman and The Dictators (“Squad”). That is why the band name is one word: “DollSquad”. We want to be a fusion between two (usually) mutually exclusive or contradictory images: the feminine and the tough.

Seis chicas en la banda.
Competent girl bands are rare. Girl bands that survive more than a few years are rare! Girl bands with more than 4 members are rare. Girl bands that write all their own material are rare. DollSquad has been going for over 6 years now. We write our own songs. Right now we have myself on vocals, Yolanda on guitar, Lulu on percussion and backing vocals, Alice on organ, Ash on drums and Alex on bass. The aim was to capture all of the best parts of 60s garage punk and 77 power pop combined with the atmosphere, harmonies and gang image of the sixties girl groups and we need three part harmonies to make this ‘girl group’ sound authentic! Very few lady bands merge both of these styles and make it work. She, The Runaways, The Pandoras, The Brood, Babes In Toyland and Nikki and the Corvettes are some of the bands I admire for achieving this so well. Many (by all means not all) lady bands are either sexy and sweet sounding with passive lyrics or they play fast kick-arse rock n roll but tend to play down the fact that they are women because they often dress in a more masculine way with jeans etc. The connotation is that pretty girls or women generally can't rock... unless they dress like guys! This always disappoints us. It is a little bit like a cop out for us. It does not have to be that way.

Cuero negro.
DollSquad ain’t just another cutesy girl band! And on the other hand we don’t want to dress like a pre-pubescent boys to be taken seriously as rock n rollers! Each of us laughs at the fact that jeans, converse and t-shirts is what DollSquad often wear off-stage. We wear these clothes when we are setting up our gear or doing sound check. This is not an outfit for the stage!

Leather outfits are classic rock n roll wear. They have been worn by Elvis, Suzi Quatro, Lita Ford and Doc Neeson (The Angels).

There is a very big feminist aspect to that band because of the above but that does not mean we can’t also be a fun band. Again it is about the fusion of things that people do not ordinarily group together: feminism and fun though many people don’t think about DollSquad enough to see it. In my opinion DollSquad is even more feminist than many obviously political bands because we are not compromising our image as women. Instead of being intimidated about being women in the rock n roll scene we emphasize the fact that we are women so much that this fact is transformed from a passive non-threatening thing into a powerful tool against narrow mindedness. I think our message is more subliminal than obvious political bands but in that respect it is much more potent than getting up on a soapbox in dungarees and saying that men suck. The real enemy is the social conditioning that says women dance to bands or have boyfriends in bands but they don’t play in bands themselves.

Trabajos al margen.
We are professional musicians and each of us can play a few instruments and has been in quite a few bands in the past. Some were all girl some were mixed gender. Of course we do all have professional day jobs too. I am a lawyer working in insurance underwriting, Yolanda is a professional sales representative, Alice works for the government (shhhhh) Aleks is an archeologist, Ash is a drumming teacher and Lulu is a graphic designer.

Lethal in leather.
‘Lethal In Leather’ is an intentionally ‘Australian’ album. I particularly wanted a departure from the last album and from the image associated with the band on the last album and the recordings before that. Out with the cute girlie dresses and in with the leather. 'Lethal In Leather’ was produced by Steve Lucas from 'legendary Australian band' X. Despite the fact that DollSquad was courted briefly by Kim Fowley who was up for the task of production, we chose to record our second album with Steve Lucas at Bakehouse Studios in Melbourne, Australia. The band’s idea is that Australian bands should be recording in Australia, not overseas. Making an album is not like buying a designer pair of jeans! You don’t go to some big name producer just to get their ‘name’ on your record. The record has to stand up on its own not because of the ‘brand’. We did not want a well known producer involved with our album on this occasion. While it was the ultimate compliment to get attention from Kim Fowley, we felt that Australian bands should be utilizing the resources at home so as to foster our musical economy. Where is it stated that the further something is from Australia they better it is? I actually chose Steve Lucas because I loved the fact that his band called X intentionally disassociated themselves from the Australian mainstream music scene. They gave up a mainstream deal in order to remain true to their art. They did not want to be hair styled, and glamorized to ‘fit’ into somebody’s idea of what they should be just to make money. That was something I respected. Of course we want to make money with our music but on our own terms! Plus because Steve had never produced anybody before he would be give the album a fresh and pure production and he would not be limited by ‘the way things are usually done’. He made the recording process a lot of fun too. We recorded live and we did 15 songs in one day! 11 of them made it on the album. There is a lot of variety on the album in terms of song styles and lyrics. We have moved on and progressed from the last album. Yolanda and I are now a song writing partnership. There is nothing on that album that we cannot do at a live show and that is something to boast about in an age where many bands are using pro tools to fix up every single imperfection and dub and over dub a million times. They are using drum machines and samples. Yuk! Sod that idea right off. Live and raw that is where it is at for ‘Lethal in Leather’. ‘Lethal in Leather’ is actually a gatefold digipack and it has a really great booklet inside with photos of each of us in catsuits as well as in really wild costumes that tie in very well with the lyrics of the songs. I am dressed as a vampire, and Yolanda as a cave girl and Lulu as a bad girl and Alice as a dreaming prom queen and our bass player at the time as a spy and Ash as a rock n roll girl. These are all titles or themes in the songs. It’s very clever artwork and it’s got a lot of in jokes and humor about it too. You have to see it to believe it really! The cd is also now coming out on Vinyl (Kamikaze Records). This album is by far the best recording DollSquad has ever done and one of the main reasons for that is that we had an objective person in Steve Lucas who was making the hard decisions so that we did not have any opportunity to be self indulgent. Bands amongst themselves cannot be objective. Every band needs a producer, but they need to find the right one for them! We found that in Steve Lucas.

Puesta en escena.
All our gigs are fantastic when people have fun and dance. This always makes a good atmosphere - I enjoy them all. DollSquad always try to entertain our audience. We try to make a fun show. Being in a girl band is always a novelty I guess and that is ok but then you also must have the musical competence and prowess to support it. The image can be sexy but it has to be strong. Also, the songs have to be good with catchy melodies and danceable back beats so people can dance to them.

Chuck Prophet. Aprenda inglés (del bueno) con Harlem

Chuck Prophet comienza hoy una gira española con escalas en Cádiz (14 de abril), Granada (15), Benidorm (16), Huesca (17), Santoña (18), Bilbao (19), Madrid (20) y Vitoria (21). Aprovechando la circunstancia, OSCAR CUBILLO, nuestro reportero más dicharachero, le plantea una serie de cuestiones al rockero. Éste contesta desde Nottingham, con la mente puesta en las paellas que se piensa comer estos días.

"If I didn’t love all music, I’d have to get a real job"

Influencias.
Influences? Everything and everyone I’ve ever heard. From The Cramps to Mendelssohn’s version of folk music. The Stones, Kelly Willis, The Velvet Undergound. If I didn’t love all music, I’d have to get a real job. I know I wasn’t ever much of one to turn the radio off and I couldn’t deliver enough newspapers to buy all the records I wanted. So, Leadbelly, sure. Alex Chilton, absolutely. Toss in Keith Richards and Little Richard, Edith Piaf and Marianne Faithfull and Johnny Cash. Stir well and garnish with The Clash.

Songwriter o roots rocker.
A songwriter. And all songwriters come from their roots. The term ‘roots-rock’ really doesn’t make a lot of sense to me because I can’t quite figure out what other kind of rock and roller there might be.

Mejor recuerdo de Green On Red.
The constant adventure. That’s why I do what I do: the pleasure of the adventure. We saw the world as kids, really, and we never saw our own country quite the same again. Adventure. That’s what Green On Red was about.

Let Freedom Ring.
Let Freedom Ring! will cut your taxes, help you lose weight and show you how to be the life of the party. It’ll make you win the lottery. To be more serious, it’s a record that’ll probably help Europeans understand how many Americans see themselves. And the mistakes we’ve made. And you can dance to it.

Tour.
We deliver the goods. Some tight, noisy stuff, some quiet acoustics. A few unexpected covers, lots of ingredients. Now I’m thinking about paella again. Playing solo is sort of like being naked. There’s a video of the title song of Let Freedom ring a fan shot in Serbia and I think the power came from car batteries, just me and an old acoustic – but that song is there. Naked. With the band, I’ve got nice clothes on. It’s fun to have it both ways. There are some loud numbers, some soft ones. It’s almost certain I’ll say whatever crosses my mind onstage and act the fool. It’s guaranteed fun

España.
Great museums, superb food, friendly people, a glorious climate, pretty women. Euros. History. Zurracapote on Thursdays! What’s not to like in Spain?

Mink DeVille.
Willy was one of the greats, and a genuinely nice man. I’ve always found it sad and somewhat embarrassing that he never found a broad audience in his native country but thrived in Europe. It was a dark day last summer to hear that he’d died. Those Spanish ballads with Doc Pomus are indispensable records. And he was really embraced in Germany. Good folks like Willy DeVille make it impossible for people to hang it up. So get ready, Spain: the Mission Express is heading your way at full throttle. When do we eat?

* El que quiera más detalles sobre el personaje y su gira española, puede echar un vistazo a la entrada anterior *

The Godfathers. Aprenda inglés (del bueno) con Harlem

"We wanted to inject back a dose of some real rock and roll that had been sadly missing for years"

Los parámetros clásicos y guitarreros del rock, influencias del pub rock, el punk, la música negra y el pop coinciden en la propuesta de Godfathers, una banda londinense que presume de nombre “poderoso, glamoroso y peligroso”, y que 25 años después de su formación pisa los escenarios con la imagen trajeada convertida en marca de la casa. OSCAR CUBILLO entrevistó al cantante Peter Coyne en una reciente visita a España. Tomo morrudos, retomamos la charla ahora que están a punto de actuar en Bilbao (31 de marzo, Kafe Antzokia), Canarias (1 de abril, Paraninfo de la Universidad de Las Palmas) y Ponferrada (3, Freakland Festival).

ORIGEN
When we formed The Godfathers in 1985 the music scene had become very bland, very light-weight and we wanted to inject back a dose of some real rock and roll that had been sadly missing for years - music with an edge, something different, something noisy, exciting and totally thrilling. I'd like to think we definitely achieved that with great records like 'Birth School Work Death', 'I Want Everything', 'Walking Talking Johnny Cash Blues', 'This Damn Nation' and 'Cause I Said So'.

INFLUENCIAS.
Beatles/Rolling Stones/Sex Pistols/Stooges/Who/Johnny Thunders/Small aces/Ramones/Kinks/T Rex & thousands of others as well!!

NOMBRE.
We were searching for inspiration for a name for the group in a huge film reference book called Halliwell's Film Guide, when we came across a section devoted to Francis Ford Copolla's epic gangster classic The Godfather. We wanted a name that sounded powerful, glamorous, dangerous and there it was staring right back at us and daring to be used. Hopefully by now the name means the purveyors of some of the most exciting rock music imaginable. The Godfathers' name also means that we always get paid the correct money at the end of each concert!!

MULTI O INDIE.
It's totally different releasing an album on Sony/Epic or your own label. You have to do all the work yourself and there's always so much work to be done!! But you retain control better, get more job satisfaction from your endeavours and certainly don't have to sell your soul as part of the deal.

ELEGANTES.
We love to wear suits and look smart on stage - it's part of the performance and of being in a band like The Godfathers. It's an event, an occasion, a night out, you are meeting people - dress up for it! Our clothes, of course, are also a contradiction - we might look clean or neat but we play 100% dirty, filthy rock and roll. Lovely!CONCIERTOS.
On stage we love to interact with our audience and for our audience to interact with us - they are always the best nights when we can get a great response going.

SPAIN IS PAIN.
The Godfathers have been privileged to have played many fantastic concerts in Spain over the years - the Spanish and Basque audiences have always been tremendous to play to and get a big response from. Beautiful people and loyal fans who are as fanatical about their rock and roll music as The Godfathers.

PRIMER DISCO, 'HIT BY HIT'.
Our debut album 'Hit By Hit' was originally released on our own Corporate Image label in 1986 and consisted of 10 tracks that included our first 4 singles - 'Lonely Man', 'This Damn Nation', 'I Want Everything' and 'Love Is Dead. It is now being re-released in February in a vastly expanded, 29 track, deluxe 2 CD edition, again on our label Corporate Image. As well as the original recordings, we have also added two Radio 1 sessions, live recordings from the period and rarities that have been previously unreleased. There's live versions of 'Hit By Hit' stuff as well as live covers of the Sex Pistols 'Anarchy In The UK', the Ramones 'Blitzrieg Bop' an lots more besides. It's going to be cool - see www.myspace.com/theoriginalgodfathers for more details.

The Walk On By. Aprenda inglés (del bueno) con Harlem

Girona (8 de septiembre, Mariscal); Montblanc (9, Lennon); Amposta (10 Feeling); Madrid (11, Wurlitzer Ballroom); Urretxu (12, Gaztetxe); Vitoria (13, Ibu Hots)

"If you come to a show you will see real punk music is all about"

OSCAR CUBILLO, hermano brother, ha charlado con Solomon, cantante y guitarrista del grupo australiano The Walk On By, una nueva ameba, muy ruidosa, que sale del pantano donde moraban Nick Cave o los Scientists.

Que dónde y cómo creastéis esta banda.
The Walk On By was started in Sydney about May 2008, I had four songs I had written on guitar, I organized a jam with Leah and Dave, after one rehearsal I knew these were the poeple for my band, everything fell into place. There was an intensity in the air that you could taste.

Que cuáles son vuestras bandas favoritas.
All 3 of us have very different musicals tatse, I think this is the reason the band works so well, some of my infulences are, Rowland S Howard, Nick Cave, Nikki Sudden, Chrome Cranks, Albert Camus, Salvador Dali, The Wreckery, Crime and the city Solution. My favorite bands are mainly Australian bands like The Holy Soul, The Drones, Piano Is Drunk, Silvermoon, La Mancha Negra, The Nhomeas,The Whores, Bain Wolfkind and Slug Guts also I am a big fan of Dimi Dero Inc and Mark Steiner

Que si es cierto que os han echado de clubes rockeros por sonar demasiado alto.
Yes we have been banned from Bar Me in Sydney, it is a old famous Jazz bar, I have no idea how we got the show, people like Frank Sinatra have played there, we had a good crowd, things got a bit loud and heavy and the owner tried to call the police, but the end of the night, people were jumping on the piano on the stage and our amps were on 13, everyone except the owner was having a good time.

Que contéis algo de vuestro EP Mislaid y de vuestras letras.
Our songs are true and honest, we don't pretend to be anyone or sound like anyone, we do things the way we want and the way we like, if people don't like what we are doing we tell them to fuck off and listen to something else. Mislaid was a prefect title for the time that the EP was released, we were doing something but we didn't know what it was, I was mentally mislaid.

Que cómo serán los conciertos de esta gira española.
No matter when or where we play we always give it everything we have, it is not uncommon for me to throw up after a show because of exhaustion, past shows have included, dislocated knees, fractured ribs, broken guitars and PA's. If you come to a show you will see real punk music is all about.Que como sois tan rockeros, nos digáis que significa rock para vosotros.
I would say we are a punk influced rock band, like real punk music we don't care if people like it, we have something to say and we say our way. What does rock mean to me not much it's just a word, but it should be loud, dirty, sleezy and a big fuck you.

Que si sois profesionales, o tenéis trabajos a parte.
Because of the way the Austarlian music industry is unless you are prepared to play shit music that is made for 12 year old girls it is very hard to be in a band and not to have a day job. We pay for all our own recordings and tours, because we love doing it. We are really excited to be playing shows in Spain. Who knows, we may not leave.

Kevin Junior. Aprenda inglés (del bueno) con Harlem

"My daily life gives plenty influence to write a song"

Kevin Junior nació en Akron, Ohio, hace unos 41 años. Su estilo a veces remite al difunto Nikki Sudden, otro maldito. Ahora divulga el cedé Ruins (a collection of rarities, b-sides & outtakes), coeditado por dos sellos regionales: Hanky Panky y Sunthunder. OSCAR CUBILLO ha charlado con él.

Que dónde estás.
In the dephs of Hell! The West side of Chicago. It's trecherous here, very dangerous. It's an all-black area, so when they see me walking around here they think I'm absolutly sick in the mind or an undercover police officer. That one always makes me laugh since I've had so many problems with the police in the past. "Outlaw" is much more appropriate than "Man Of The Law" if your talking about me! Not that I want to be that in any way. I don't wish to be either one. I don't have a home anymore, for about the past 6 months, so I stay where I can & today it's with an old friend who lives in these trenches.

Que comentes tus influencias.
Besides my life? Because that's the biggest one. I kind of stopped looking to others for musical influence at least 10-15 years ago & now find the most influence just coming from within myself. My daily life gives plenty influence to write a song. But before that? Yea, of course there have been loads of things that shaped my musical direction & sound. I grew up on soul & pop music from the 60's & 70's. My parents listened only to soul & R&B, so that stayed with me and I still find myself listening to loads of that-Al Green (my favorite vocalist), Delfonics, Bobby Womak, Curtis Mayfield, Billy Stewart. I love the soul records that came out of Chicago, Memphis, & Philidelphia. My first album that I owned was an Elvis record, but the first one I bought with my own money was Kiss 'Alive 2'. The next ones I remember buying were several Rolling Stones albums. Those records just changed my life. As a kid I liked so many different kinds of music. I would always buy the new Todd Rundgren, Cheap Trick, Kinks, The Who. I still love those people. I got into punk & new wave pretty heavy. I came home from the record shop one day with the new Ramones Lp 'End Of The Century' which Phil Spector produced (I'm a huge fan of his) and my Mother & Sister were laughing at the cover & saying how ugly they were. I was furious about this. I felt like they were insulting me! So, I dunno...some of my biggest influences are The Beatles (& all of they're solo records), Brian Wilson, Alex Chilton, Burt Bacharach, Dan Penn, The Raspberries, Dylan, The Faces, Laura Nyro, New York Dolls, Carole King and more of the usual suspects.Que cuando oímos Ruins nos acordamos de Jacobites y de Nikki Sudden.
Well, obviously I like them because I've played on several Nikki Sudden & Epic Soundtracks records & tours. I was Epic's guitar player from 1995 until his death. I've played on 3 of his albums-the most recent "Good Things" is an album of just him & I that was recorded on my 4-track machine at his flat in London in 1996. We did a very nice tour of Europe just a month before his death. We had a full band together (which included Chamber Strings drummer Anthony Illarde & Plush bass player Russell Bassman), but this one was just an acoustic duo tour. He died a couple days after I came back to the States. Nikki as well. I was his guitar player on & off since 1995. I'm on a bunch of his records also. 'Red Brocade' is one that we did here in Chicago & I think that is a very good record. Played lots & lots of tours with Nikki. Played onstage with Kusworth as well & maybe a couple records.
Do I think I sound like The Jacobites? Nah, not really at all. I mean, we have played together on numerous tours & LPs, but I am my own man. We're kindred spirits, I will say. I think that fate brought us all together to make music. I do love they're music very much and we were always a good fit playing together. It always felt natural and I was very comfortable playing in they're bands & being able to contribute something. It was an experience that I value. The very sad part though is that I've now lost 2 of the closest friends in my life with both Nikki & Epic passing away. Not a day goes by that I don't think about them & miss them both terribly. Nikki was always there for me for those years after Epic died-I never did handle that one too well-Epic & I were best friends. Epic & I were like brothers that never fought or disagreed about anything. Nikki & I were like brothers that did fight & disagree quite often, yet we were so close and he & I became so much closer after Epic died. Now there is no one in my life to help me cope with Nikki's death because Nikki was the "pappa" of the bunch. The ringleader. He brought so many people together & there are a lot of great people I wouldn't know if if wasn't for him. It's a hard one to swallow-him being gone. He always thought he'd outlive everyone. I thought so as well. It's a much more lonely world now.
What was the question again? Do i think I sound like The Jacobites? Nah, not really..

Que, como también tocas en The Chamber Strings, describas ésa banda.
It's just basically my band no matter who else is in the band at the time. I'll always make my music under that name. Whatever songs I write. It's just the outlet I use to make my music. The only reason that this album "Ruins" is listed as a Kevin Junior album is because it features songs from my previous bands. Whenever I release an album of new material, it will be titled the Chamber Strings even if there is no band. That's the way 'Gospel Morning' was. When I was making that 1st album I didn't have any band members yet.

Que Chrissie Hynde también nació en Akron; a ver si ella es popular allí.
Oh yea! We went to the same schools. She was actually one of my first favorite musicians & influences. James Honey-man Scott is still one of my favorite guitarists. She turned me on to The Kinks, who became an important influence on my songwriting. Akron is an industrial town. Former Rubber capital of the world. It's a strange, dark, beautiful, & ghostly town. I love it.

Que cuentes algo del nuevo álbum, Ruins.
Eh, I don't like to say much about my lyrics, but it's just a bunch of songs that either never came out on anything or were very rare releases. It's nice to be able to put a lot of these tracks on one collection. Besides the ones that have never been released, you would have to search out so many different singles, imports, compilations, etc..to get all these tracks.
I would keep putting out more of them in volumes if there is enough public interest. I've got boxes of tapes of unreleased music. The problem is that they are spread out all over the place (I don't have a home, so my belongings end up in storage spaces all over the world!), so I will need to start doing that soon before the tapes get destroyed or worse, tossed out in the garbage!

Que por qué editas Ruins en dos pequeños sellos independientes españoles.
They both wanted it, so they both got it! Both labels contacted me around the same time. Hanky Panky first & I said yes. Then came Sunthunder & I told them I already made a deal with Hanky Panky. So, they called them up & decided to put they're money together. They both seem like good labels & good people to me, so I'm happy to be working with them.

Jolie Holland. Aprenda inglés (del bueno) con Harlem

"Music has the power to loosen the grip of obscure emotions from upon the heart"

Jolie Holland terminó hace escasos días una gira española en la que presentó su último disco, The Living & the Dead, y se topó con OSCAR CUBILLO, quien le lanzó una decena de preguntas.

Influencias.
I am so influenced by everything. I never know what makes the strongest impression that might come through in my work. Every song has different influences, as well.

Cantautora.
I sing songs and I write them. And I ignore the baggage that comes with definitions.

Sinceridad femenina.
Depends on the woman. I would never ask that question. It makes no sense to me, and I can't think of any proof that might actually support it.

Profesional.
I don't have another job besides playing or writing music. I never decided to make my living playing music. But the day came when I knew that my "day job" was taking too much energy away from the music, and also that the music could sort of support me.

Música.
Music carries our culture. And it is a healer. To quote my dear friend's mother, "music has the power to loosen the grip of obscure emotions from upon the heart". He adds, "you can tell whether its good music, or bad, by whether it loosens or tightens that grip".

Poesía.
I'm sure it always was in the songs too.

Literatura.
I used to read a lot, now I write more. Sherman Alexie, Tom Spanbauer, Maya Deren, Sally Fallon, and Bulgakov are some of my favorite writers.

Dislikes.
I don't like music that I don't like. I'm sure it has more to do with particular recordings or songs than genre.

The Living & the Dead.
It was so great to work with all those great musicians: M Ward, Marc Ribot, Shahzad Ismaily and Rachel Blumberg.

Letras.
I usually just refer to the most centrally important emotional experience that is present for myself or my circle of friends. The aftermath of Katrina, in New Orleans, was an important subject for the last record.

Conciertos.
I'm on the road with Grey Gersten, who is a fabulous musician. I'm really excited to be touring with him. I play guitar, piano, and violin. He plays bass and electric guitar. See you soon!

Wired For Mono. Aprenda inglés (del bueno) con Harlem

Barakaldo (9 de junio, Edaska); Liérganes (10, Los Picos); Gijón (11, Acapulco); Miranda de Ebro (12, Fabrica de Tornillos); Aranda de Duero (13, Sol)

"We want to say a little more than "yeah", "baby" and "come on"

A Wired For Mono aún le quedan cinco fechas en España. Y OSCAR CUBILLO ha charlado con Lars, bajista del cuarteto sueco. Según él (mi hermano brother), su segundo disco, States Of Exile, editado en CD y vinilo por el sello guipuzcoano GP Records, remite a los juveniles Mando Diao y los flotadores The Soundtrack Of Our Lives. Si él lo dice...

Que por qué hay tantas buenas bandas de rock and roll en Escandinavia.
I think it’s very natural for kids in Sweden to learn to play an instrument when you’re like 10 years old. Then we get fed with all the American and English music all the time so we want to be like our heroes on the TV and radio. Also people in Sweden learn English the same way, by watching American films and TV-shows.

Que quiénes son vuestros artistar preferidos.
Oh, there’s to much too mention, but a few of them always pops up, like Rolling Stones, Beatles, The Byrds, Love... really classic 60’s rock and pop. Of the more modern music I would say bands like Silverbullit, TSOOL and Mazarine Street. All those are Swedish bands.

Que como tocáis garage rock y pop lisérgido, describas dichos estilos para nuestros entendidos lectores.
I would say Wired For Mono is grounded in classic rock from the 60’s but with a contemporary touch. We don’t try to be a retro band. We’re vintage but with a contemporary sound! But basically, it’s just rock and roll.

Que si soy profesiones o tenéis otros curros.
We’re professional musicians but we do have other things that we do. These days it’s very hard to survive as a musician just playing music since noone is buying records anymore. Please buy our records!

Que qué nos cuentas de vuestro último álbum, States Of Exile.
I think it’s a very good album, much more together than our first album. There’s quite a few different styles of music going on In the songs. Very good production I think. If we have the opportunity to scream into a microphone in front of people, we want to say a little more than "yeah", "baby" and "come on". The lyrics for this album are really a lot about where we were as a band and as individuals at the moment. some lyrics are very personal. States of Exile as a title really captures what the lyrics are about on this album.

Que por qué publicáis con un sello español, y por qué sacáis también vinilo.
We got in touch with GP a couple of years ago when they were organizing a tour for us and we talked about maybe them releasing the album. Since we lika to work with them it came natural. We’re happy with GP. And, of course, the vinyl release which Is very cool. I think people have to start buying records again, it’s much more fun with a vinyl record than an mp3. And it sounds better!

Que cómo son los conciertos de esta gira.
Come to the shows and you’ll see! Our shows are always very electric, high energy rock and roll shows. But this time we’re gonna try some different things, so don’t miss Wired For Mono on the road in Spain!

Mike Farris. Aprenda inglés (del bueno) con Harlem

"I'm a believer. I'm on a journey, like many others, in search of truth through enlightenment"

OSCAR CUBILLO no sólo se dedicó a hacer el mal en el Azkena Rock Festival. También charló con Mike Farris, a quien el sábado escuchamos dos veces al frente de su Roseland Rhythm Revue. Por la tarde bajo la carpa, sobre el escenario dedicado a Ron Asheton en Mendizabala, y por la mañana bajo el sol, en la plaza de la Virgen Blanca.

Por cierto, enhorabuena a la organización. Lo de programar bolos gratuitos de Eli Paperboy Reed y Mike Farris ha sido el mayor acierto de esta edición. Por fin una novedad que no es una mera tontá destinada a engordar el dossier de prensa. Ya sólo falta que el próximo año no coincida con el concierto sabatino de La Iguana. Ya sería la leche.

En fin. Al grano.

Que si es muy diferente cantar como y hacerlo como frontman de Screaming Cheetah Wheelies.
Playing with the Wheelies was a great experience for me in many ways. At the same time it was difficult for me because I always found myself compromising my own creativity because I was making music with 4 other people and I never felt like it was fair for me to assert only my musical direction on the rest of the guys... that just wouldn't be fair and it wasn't what Screaming Cheetah Wheelies was about. It actually got to the point in that band where I was leading the way more and more and, again, that wasn't the way that band was intended to function. Now I am able to explore all the various aspects of music that I have always wanted without any obstacles.

Que por qué terminó la aventura de SCW.
We were good, maybe, but not quite good enough!! One of the big reasons bands break up is financial and that was a big problem with us. Another big reason was the fact that rock radio here in America had begun to move away from where we wanted to go. Radio, at the time, was playing Limp Bizkit and Marilyn Manson, etc, and so I faced a choice: try and chase the trends of rock radio and be something I'm not and look like an idiot for doing so, or call it quits. I saw it as a good opportunity to bring that era to a close and go out and explore other music that I had wanted to do for years and years, so that's what I did. I learned a lot making music with Rick, Bobby, Steve and Terry and I will always love my brothers. We share a great bond. We invested20a 100 pounds of heart and soul into that band! I still consider the Azkena Rock Festival our last show together, even though we played one or two more shows here stateside after ARF. That night in Vitoria was poignant moment for us and is the way I choose to remember us.

Qué hay de tus influencias.
There's just way too many to list so I'll give you a few of what I am listening to right now: Son House, Pops Staples, Mavis Staples, Queens of the Stone Age, the Raconteurs/White Stripes, Louis Armstrong, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Black Keys, Plant/Krauss, Buddy Miller... We could be here all day.

Que qué es lo que más te gusta de la música soul.
Soul music has a much broader definition to me than the term suggests and I don't think I am alone when I say that. For instance, early ZZ Topp is soul music. AC/DC (and I know you guys just had them over there in your el pais!) is soulful and bluesy. That's why I was drawn to them both when I was a kid. Lots of rock and roll is very soulful and bluesy. That being said, what initially draws me to the music is melody and rhythm, and soul/blues music is very primal. I'm only interested in music that has sweat and dirt on it's back, with the smell of the raw earth. If it's been cleaned up and sprayed with a bunch of perfume and deodorant, then I'm not interested.

Que por qué el soul es tan profundo y enérgico.
Because it's mostly been born out of struggle. If you don't understand struggle then you'll never get it. The catch here is: everybody struggles with life at some point. Some more than others. Soul music or any ancient music is comforting. It makes you feel less alone in your dark moments and ultimately lifts you up!!

Que si te gusta el gospel, por lo apasionado de tu estilo, cercano al sentimiento gospel.
I like old old spiritual music. Most anything produced in the last 30-40 years I probably won't like.

Que si crees crees en Dios.
I am a believer. I'm on a journey, like many others, in search of truth through enlightenment. It's the only way to really know how to love.

Que nos digas algo de Shout Live, tu último disco.
When I did "Salvation In Lights" I took those songs straight to the studio and they were recorded without the benefit of having been seasoned on the road. After a year of touring and playing these shows with the Roseland Rhythm Revue, the songs had grown to be something completely different and exciting so I decided, along with my label representative, Tyler Pittman, to record these new versions of the songs, along with some new ones. It was important for me that the growth be documented.
I also wanted to show people what our weekly series the "Sunday Night Shout!" was like. As for the actual recording process, it was absolutely important for me to have a truly live record, recorded with all vintage gear, no overdubs, etc., and we are all really proud of what we ended up with!

Que por qué te gusta tanto el Azkena Rock Festival.
Azkena was very loving toward me and the Screaming Cheetah Wheelies. It was one of the most memorable shows of my life, and I have had lots of memorable moments in my career! The people there are such big music fans and they all treat us so well! Vitoria, as well as all of Espana and all the provinces have such a deep, rich history, and I can feel the history there! America is a young country really, so that is a treat! The other thing I love about Vitoria and the basque region is the food. You have some of the best food in the world! We are going to spend some time in San Sebastián as well and we plan on eating lots and lots of food!

Grey Daturas. Aprende inglés (del bueno) con Harlem

Bilbao (29 de abril, El Balcón de la Lola); Madrid (3 de marzo, Wurlitzer Ballroom); Badalona (4, Estraperlo -Club del Ritme-)

"We’re definately more psychedelic than metal"

Este power-trio monolítico de metal psicodélico ejecuta un rock persuasivo e hipnótico con similares efectos narcóticos a las ‘daturas’, los hongos alucinógenos que los nominan. Lo dice OSCAR CUBILLO, ha arrancado unas reflexiones y confesiones a Robert MacManus, del grupo australiano.

Que si Australia es una influencia.
Australia has and always will have a massive influence on our music, not to mention our artwork as well. We’re influenced by a lot of incredible Australian bands and artists, not to mention the Australian landscape. We made a contious decision early on that we want the artwork for our posters, shirts and releases to look as Australian as possible, that’s who are, it’s were we’re from and we don’t want people to get confused and think we’re an American or British band, we’re Australians and we’re proud of that.

Más influencias.
The Birthday Party / Nick Cave, AC/DC, Pink Floyd, John Coltraine, Sun Ra, John Cage, Black Sabbath, Darkthrone, The Dirty Three and Dead Can Dance have all had a huge influence on our sound. Stockhusen, Faust, Cluster, Einstürzende Neubauten and the German krautrock scene had a massive influence as well .

Que si sois una banda psicodélica, más que metálica.
We’re definately more psychedelic than metal, in saying that i listen to a lot of metal and we try and make our music as heavy as possible, but in a more subliminal way, as apposed to be straight up and predictable. The lest thing we want to be labeled as is a metal band, for us that’s way too limiting.

Que por qué escogísteis el nombre. Que si acaso tomáis narcóticos.
I named the band after a crazy story my friend told me about a friend of his that rubbed the oils from a Datura plant into his eyes as he wanted to go on a heavy trip, he subsiquentially went crazy and has never returned to normal.
No we don’t use drugs, we used to, like everyone does when they’re younger, but not anymore. These daye it’s all about Red Bulls and Coffee.

Que qué contáis de vuestro último disco, Return to Disruption.
When we recorded Return to Disruption we wanted to take what we recorded on Dead in the Woods to a far darker and heavier place, we wanted to experiment more with the idea of free rock and psychic rhythms, i feel confident that we did that. Return to Disruption is my favourite record by far, Dead in the Woods is my second. I’m very proud of those albums.

Que cómo será, concretamente, el concierto en Bilbao.
It’s going to be awesome, the fact that we’re playing with Year of no Light it’s guaranteed to be an killer show. Our Spanish promoter Artur Garcia (Wombat Booking) is our tour driver / roadie on this tour so i’m really looking forward to returning to his home Town.

Que si recordáis algo de vuestra actuación en las fiestas de Bilbao.
A really cool heavy metal bar called Metal World and all the open air bars and food stands, we got really lucky playing the same weekend as Big Week, it was an awesome way to start our first European tour.

Bob Dylan -y 3-. Aprenda inglés (del bueno) con Harlem

Y, por fin, llega a su fin la entrevista de Bill Flanagan al enorme Bob Dylan que hemos fusilado directamente de su web oficial (www.bobdylan.com).

Hay que echarle morro.

"My records were never perfect. So there is no point in trying to duplicate them. Anyway, I’m no mainstream artist"

Going back to that song you wrote for the movie that you mentioned earlier, Life is hard has the formality of an old Rudy Vallee or Nelson Eddy ballad right down to the middle eight (“Ever since the day. . .”). Do you figure that if you start a song in that style, you stick with the rules right down the line?
Sure, I try to stick to the rules. Sometimes I might shift paradigms within the same song, but then that structure also has its own rules. And I combine them both, see what works and what doesn’t. My range is limited. Some formulas are too complex and I don’t want anything to do with them.

Forgetful heart. how do you decide to put an Appalachian banjo on a minor key blues? Is it something you think of ahead of time or does it come up in the session?
I think it probably came up at the studio. A banjo wouldn’t be out of character though. There is a minor key modality to "Forgetful heart". It’s like Little Maggie or Darling Cory, so there is no reason a banjo shouldn’t fit or sound right.

You wrote a lot of these songs with Robert Hunter. How does that process work?
There isn’t any process to speak of. You just do it. You drive the car. Sometimes you get out from behind the wheel and let someone else step on the gas.

You must have known Hunter a long time. Do you remember where you first met?
It was either back in ’62 or ‘63 when I played in the Bay area. I might have met him in Palo Alto or Berkeley or Oakland. I played all those places then and I could have met Hunter around that time. I know he was around.

Didn’t Hunter play in a bluegrass band with Jerry Garcia?
Yeah, it was either that or a jug band.

Have you ever thought about composing anything with those Nashville songwriters?
I’ve never thought about that.

Neil Diamond did an album years ago where he co-wrote with different Nashville songwriters.
Yeah, that might have worked for him. I don’t think it would work for me.

You don’t think it would work for you?
No. I’m okay without it. I’m not exactly obsessed with writing songs. I go back a ways with Hunter. We’re from the same old school so it makes it’s own kind of sense.

Do you listen to a lot of songs?
Yeah – sometimes.

Who are some of your favorite songwriters?
Buffett I guess. Lightfoot. Warren Zevon. Randy. John Prine. Guy Clark. Those kinds of writers.

What songs do you like of Buffett’s?
"Death of an unpopular poet". There’s another one called "He went to Paris".

You and Lightfoot go way back.
Oh yeah. Gordo’s been around as long as me.

What are your favorite songs of his?
"Shadows", "Sundown", "If you could read my mind". I can’t think of any I don’t like.

Did you know Zevon?
Not very well.

What did you like about him?
"Lawyers", "Guns and money", "Boom boom Mancini". Down hard stuff. "Join me in L.A." sort of straddles the line between heartfelt and primeval. His musical patterns are all over the place, probably because he’s classically trained. There might be three separate songs within a Zevon song, but they’re all effortlessly connected. Zevon was a musician’s musician, a tortured one. "Desperado under the eaves". It’s all in there.

Randy Newman?
Yeah, Randy.

What can you say?
I like his early songs, "Sail away", "Burn down the cornfield", "Louisiana"..., where he kept it simple. Bordello songs. I think of him as the Crown Prince, the heir apparent to Jelly Roll Morton. His style is deceiving. He’s so laid back that you kind of forget he’s saying important things. Randy’s sort of tied to a different era like I am.

How about John Prine?
Prine’s stuff is pure Proustian existentialism. Midwestern mindtrips to the nth degree. And he writes beautiful songs. I remember when Kris Kristofferson first brought him on the scene. All that stuff about "Sam Stone" the soldier junky daddy and "Donald and Lydia", where people make love from ten miles away. Nobody but Prine could write like that. If I had to pick one song of his, it might be "Lake Marie". I don’t remember what album that’s on.

A lot of the acts from your generation seem to be trading on nostalgia. They play the same songs the same way for the last 30 years. Why haven’t you ever done that?
I couldn’t if I tried. Those guys you are talking about all had conspicuous hits. They started out anti-establishment and now they are in charge of the world. Celebratory songs. Music for the grand dinner party. Mainstream stuff that played into the culture on a pervasive level. My stuff is different from those guys. It’s more desperate. Daltrey, Townshend, McCartney, The Beach Boys, Elton, Billy Joel. They made perfect records, so they have to play them perfectly … exactly the way people remember them. My records were never perfect. So there is no point in trying to duplicate them. Anyway, I’m no mainstream artist.

Then what kind of artist are you?
I’m not sure, Byronesque maybe. Look, when I started out, mainstream culture was Sinatra, Perry Como, Andy Williams, Sound of Music. There was no fitting into it then and of course, there’s no fitting into it now. Some of my songs have crossed over but they were all done by other singers.

Have you ever tried to fit in?
Well, no, not really. I’m coming out of the folk music tradition and that’s the vernacular and archetypal aesthetic that I’ve experienced. Those are the dynamics of it. I couldn’t have written songs for the Brill Building if I tried. Whatever passes for pop music, I couldn’t do it then and I can’t do it now.

Does that mean you create outsider art? Do you think of yourself as a cult figure?
A cult figure, that’s got religious connotations. It sounds cliquish and clannish. People have different emotional levels. Especially when you’re young. Back then I guess most of my influences could be thought of as eccentric. Mass media had no overwhelming reach so I was drawn to the traveling performers passing through. The side show performers - bluegrass singers, the black cowboy with chaps and a lariat doing rope tricks. Miss Europe, Quasimodo, the Bearded Lady, the half-man half-woman, the deformed and the bent, Atlas the Dwarf, the fire-eaters, the teachers and preachers, the blues singers. I remember it like it was yesterday. I got close to some of these people. I learned about dignity from them. Freedom too. Civil rights, human rights. How to stay within yourself. Most others were into the rides like the tilt-a-whirl and the rollercoaster. To me that was the nightmare. All the giddiness. The artificiality of it. The sledge hammer of life. It didn’t make sense or seem real. The stuff off the main road was where force of reality was. At least it struck me that way. When I left home those feelings didn’t change.

But you’ve sold over a hundred million records.
Yeah I know. It’s a mystery to me too.

"Life is hard" comes from a tradition that got pretty much wiped out by the popularity of swing and blues and rock n roll. I remember Leon Redbone said once that the big break in 20th century music was not in the 50’s when rock came in; it was when swing and jazz knocked off parlor piano ballads in the late 20’s and early 30’s. Do you ever wish that old style had stuck around a little longer?
Today, the mad rush of the world would trample over delicate music like that. Even if it had survived swing and jazz it would never make it past Dr. Dre. Things changed economically and socially. Two world wars, the stock market crash, the depression, the sexual revolution, huge sound systems, techno-pop. How could anything survive that? You can’t imagine parlor ballads drifting out of hi rise multi-towered buildings. That kind of music existed in a more timeless state of life. I love those old piano ballads. In my hometown walking down dark streets on quiet summer nights you would sometimes hear parlor tunes coming out of doorways and open windows. Somebody’s mother or sister playing "A bird in a gilded cage" off of sheet music. I actually tried to conjure up that feeling once in a song I did called "In the summertime".No one was expecting a new album from you right now. I heard even the
record company was surprised. How do you know it’s time to go in and make a new one?
You never do know. You just think sometimes if not now I’ll never do it. This particular album was supposed to come out next Fall sometime; September, October; when the movie’s released. We made it last year and it was supposed to be put away for a year. But then the guys from the record company heard it, and decided that they would like to put it out in early spring and not wait for the movie.

You don’t use elevated language on these songs – it’s mostly every-day
speech and imagery. Did you decide to keep a lid on the poetry this time
out - was it what the musical style demanded?
I’m not sure I agree. It’s not easy to define poetry. Hank Williams used simple language too.

"It's all good" is a terrific song. You use that common catch phrase as a
hook and describe a world that gets darker and more miserable with every
verse – it’s kind of funny and kind of scary. How did that song get
started?
Probably from hearing the phrase one too many times.

Every girl named Roxanne feels a connection to Sting. Every Alison
thinks Elvis Costello was singing about her. You expecting to meet a lot of
Jolenes?
Oh gosh, I hope not.

Any chance your Jolene is the same woman who got Dolly Parton so worked up?
You mean that woman with the flaming locks of auburn hair?

Yeah! Whose smile is like a breath of Spring.
Oh yeah, I remember her.

Is it the same one?
It’s a different lady.

At the end of "Jolene" I noticed that those riffs start happening. I’ve seen you do that live, but I’ve never heard that on any of your records. I assume that’s Donnie playing with you.
Yeah, it is. The organ sound and steel guitar combined make those riffs.

Tony, your bass player has been with you now for. . . what?
Gee, I don’t know, probably for a while. Fifteen, twenty years.

How about your drummer, George?
Not as long as Tony but longer than my last drummer.

Where does George come from to play like that?
George is from Louisiana. He’s from New Orleans.

There’s no characters on this record like the ones in "Desolation row", except maybe Judge Simpson in "Shake, shake mama". Would he be one of these archetypal figures like Cinderella or Shakespeare in the alley? Oh, most definitely. He’s a possum huntin’ judge.

Certain singers show up in "It's all good". Neil Young and Alicia Keys
have popped up on your recent albums. Do you think all your musician
friends are going to be looking for shout-outs now? Once you start down
that road how do you get out of it?
Well these people are archetypes, too. They might not think of themselves like that, but they are. They represent an idea.

Could you write a song about anybody?
Well I bet you could, yeah.

How would you get Stevie Wonder into a song?
When Stevie Wonder recorded "Blowin' in the wind"/ I was playin’ cards/ I was drinkin’ gin/

Could you write a song like Stevie wonder?
I could write one like "Superstition" but I couldn’t write one like "Sir Duke".

Could you write a song about George Bush?
Well sure. George’s name would be easy to rhyme.

In the song "I feel a change coming on" the character says. . .
Wait a minute Bill. I’m not a playwright. The people in my songs are all me. I thought we talked about that?

What exactly makes it you?
It’s in the way you say things. It’s not necessarily the things you say that make you who you are.

Okay, I think the line is, “I see my baby coming, she’s walking with the village priest/I feel a change coming on”.
Yeah, but you’re leaving a lot out.

Okay, but that’s the part I remember. I assume the guy, or you, are talking about being hooked up with somebody and feeling pretty good about it. Given what a hard time women have given the men, or you , in the other songs on the album, we can read this as a happy ending or a sign of trouble ahead. What are the chances that the guy in "Feel a change" is likely to live happily ever after?
You might be reading too much into it. It’s not a fairy tale type song. There are degrees of happiness. You go from one to the other and then back again. It’s hard to be completely happy when those around us are suffering and groaning from hunger. But I know what you mean. You are talking about riding off into the sunset hoping that whatever you’ve done will outlive you.

Isn’t that the Hindu point of view?
Maybe it is.

A lot of performers give God credit for their music. How do you suppose
God feels about that?
I’m not the one to ask. It sounds like people just giving credit where credit is due.

How do you think this new record will be received?
I know my fans will like it. Other than that, I have no idea.

Bob Dylan -2-. Aprenda inglés (del bueno) con Harlem

"The Rolling Stones are truly the greatest rock and roll band in the world and always will be. The last too"

In that song Chicago after dark, were you thinking about the new President?
Not really. It’s more about State Street and the wind off Lake Michigan and how sometimes we know people and we are no longer what we used to be to them. I was trying to go with some old time feeling that I had.

You liked Barack Obama early on. Why was that?
I’d read his book and it intrigued me.

Audacity of Hope?
No it was called Dreams of My Father.

What struck you about him?
Well, a number of things. He’s got an interesting background. He’s like a fictional character, but he’s real. First off, his mother was a Kansas girl. Never lived in Kansas though, but with deep roots. You know, like Kansas bloody Kansas. John Brown the insurrectionist. Jesse James and Quantrill. Bushwhackers, Guerillas. Wizard of Oz Kansas. I think Barack has Jefferson Davis back there in his ancestry someplace. And then his father. An African intellectual. Bantu, Masai, Griot type heritage - cattle raiders, lion killers. I mean it’s just so incongruous that these two people would meet and fall in love. You kind of get past that though. And then you’re into his story. Like an odyssey except in reverse.

In what way?
First of all, Barack is born in Hawaii. Most of us think of Hawaii as paradise – so I guess you could say that he was born in paradise.

And he was thrown out of the garden.
Not exactly. His mom married some other guy named Lolo and then took Barack to Indonesia to live. Barack went to both a Muslim school and a Catholic school. His mom used to get up at 4:00 in the morning and teach him book lessons three hours before he even went to school. And then she would go to work. That tells you the type of woman she was. That’s just in the beginning of the story.

What else did you find compelling about him?
Well, mainly his take on things. His writing style hits you on more than one level. It makes you feel and think at the same time and that is hard to do. He says profoundly outrageous things. He’s looking at a shrunken head inside of a glass case in some museum with a bunch of other people and he’s wondering if any of these people realize that they could be looking at one of their ancestors.

What in his book would make you think he’d be a good politician?
Well nothing really. In some sense you would think being in the business of politics would be the last thing that this man would want to do. I think he had a job as an investment banker on Wall Street for a second - selling German bonds. But he probably could’ve done anything. If you read his book, you’ll know that the political world came to him. It was there to be had.

Do you think he’ll make a good president?
I have no idea. He’ll be the best president he can be. Most of those guys come into office with the best of intentions and leave as beaten men. Johnson would be a good example of that … Nixon, Clinton in a way, Truman, all the rest of them going back. You know, it’s like they all fly too close to the sun and get burned.

Did you ever read any other presidential autobiographies?
Yeah, I read Grant’s.

What was he like? Any similarities?
The times were different obviously. And Grant wrote his book after he’d left office.

What did you find interesting about him?
It’s not like he’s a great writer. He’s analytical and cold, but he does have a sense of humor. Grant, besides being a military strategist, was a working man. Worked horses. Tended the horses, plowed and furrowed. Brought in all the crops – the corn and potatoes. Sawed wood and drove wagons since the time he was about eleven. Got a crystal clear memory of all the battles he’d been in.

Do you remember any particular battle that Grant fought?
There were a lot of battles but the Shiloh one is most interesting. He could’ve lost that. But he was determined to win it at any price, using all kinds of strategies, even faking retreat. You could read it for yourself.

When you think back to the Civil War, one thing you forget is that no battles, except Gettysburg, were fought in the North.
Yeah. That’s what probably makes the Southern part of the country so different.

There is a certain sensibility, but I’m not sure how that connects?
It must be the Southern air. It’s filled with rambling ghosts and disturbed spirits. They’re all screaming and forlorning. It’s like they are caught in some weird web - some purgatory between heaven and hell and they can’t rest. They can’t live, and they can’t die. It’s like they were cut off in their prime, wanting to tell somebody something. It’s all over the place. There are war fields everywhere. . . a lot of times even in people’s backyards.

Have you felt them?
Oh sure. You’d be surprised. I was in Elvis’s hometown – Tupelo. And I was trying to feel what Elvis would have felt back when he was growing up.

Did you feel all the music Elvis must have heard?
No, but I’ll tell you what I did feel. I felt the ghosts from the bloody battle that Sherman fought against Forrest and drove him out. There’s an eeriness to the town. A sadness that lingers. Elvis must have felt it too.

Are you a mystical person?
Absolutely.

Any thoughts about why?
I think it’s the land. The streams, the forests, the vast emptiness. The land created me. I’m wild and lonesome. Even as I travel the cities, I‘m more at home in the vacant lots. But I have a love for humankind, a love of truth, and a love of justice. I think I have a dualistic nature. I’m more of an adventurous type than a relationship type.

But the album is all about love – love found, love lost, love remembered, love denied.
Inspiration is hard to come by. You have to take it where you find it.

Getting back to politics, what did you think of Jesse Ventura, being a Minnesotan and all?
He did some good things or tried to. I never met him. All I know about the governor is that he’s a Rolling Stones fan.

Your old cohorts?
I hear from Keith once in a while but that’s about it.

What do you think of the Stones?
What do I think of them? They’re pretty much finished, aren’t they?

They had a gigantic tour last year. You call that finished?
Oh yeah, you mean Steel Wheels. I’m not saying they don’t keep going, but they need Bill. Without him they’re a funk band. They’ll be the real Rolling Stones when they get Bill back.

Bob, you’re stuck in the 80’s.
I know. I’m trying to break free.

Do you really think the Stones are finished?
Of course not, They’re far from finished. The Rolling Stones are truly the greatest rock and roll band in the world and always will be. The last too. Everything that came after them, metal, rap, punk, new wave, pop-rock, you name it . . . you can trace it all back to the Rolling Stones. They were the first and the last and no one’s ever done it better.

This dream of you has this wonderful South of the Border feel, but at the same time, I detect echoes of Sam Cooke, the Coasters, the Brill Building, and Phil Spector. Were those records from the 50's and 60's important to you? Did you try to capture some of that flavor in This dream of you?
Those fifties and sixties records were definitely important. That might have been the last great age of real music. Since then or maybe the seventies its all been people playing computers. Sam Cooke, the Coasters, Phil Spector, all that music was great but it didn’t exactly break into my consciousness. Back then I was listening to Son House, Leadbelly, the Carter family, Memphis Minnie and death romance ballads. As far as songwriting, I wanted to write songs like Woody Guthrie and Robert Johnson. Timeless and eternal. Only a few of those radio ballads still hold up and most of them have Doc Pomus’ hand in them. Spanish Harlem, Save the Last Dance for Me, Little Sister... a few others. Those were fantastic songs. Doc was a soulful cat. If you said there was a little bit of him in This dream of you I would take it as a compliment.Even though many of the tracks on the album are about love, the album is full of pain – sometimes in the same song. In Beyond here lies nothing, the song is underscored by a feeling of foreboding. You’re moving down "boulevards of broken cars.” You’re going to love "as long as love will last.” Is pain a necessary part of loving? Oh yeah, in my songs it is. Pain, sex, murder, family - it goes way back. Kindness. Honor. Charity. You have to tie all that in. You’re supposed to know that stuff.

Getting back to This dream of you, the character sings, “How long can I stay in this nowhere café?” Where is that café?
It sounds like it’s south of the border or close to the border.

You’re not saying?
Well, no, it’s not like I’m not saying. But if you have those kind of thoughts and feelings you know where the guy is. He’s right where you are. If you don’t have those thoughts and feelings then he doesn’t exist.

The character in the song reminds me a lot of the guy who is in the song Across the borderline.
I know what you’re saying, but it’s not a character like in a book or a movie. He’s not a bus driver. He doesn’t drive a forklift. He’s not a serial killer. It’s me who’s singing that, plain and simple. We shouldn’t confuse singers and performers with actors. Actors will say, “My character this, and my character that.” Like beating a dead horse. Who cares about the character? Just get up and act. You don’t have to explain it to me.

Well can’t a singer act out a song?
Yeah sure, a lot of them do. But the more you act the further you get away from the truth. And a lot of those singers lose who they are after a while. You sing, “I’m a lineman for the county,” enough times and you start to scamper up poles.

What actor could you hear singing This dream of you?
Gosh I don’t know, James Cagney, Mickey Rooney...

How about Humphrey Bogart?
Yeah, sure, him too. Funny thing about actors and that identity thing. Every time I run into Val Kilmer, I can’t help myself. I say, “Why, Johnny Ringo - you look like somebody just walked on your grave.” Val always says, “Bob, I’m not Johnny Ringo. That’s just a role I played in a movie.” He could be right, he could be wrong. I think he’s wrong but he says it in such a sincere way. You have to think he thinks he’s right.

Do you think actors have to be sincere?
Not at all. Mae West wasn’t. She was just who she was on the screen. Just like Jimmy Stewart and Burt Lancaster.

And Johnny Weissmuller.
Yeah, Lon Chaney, too.

Could that mean that Alec Guinness is Hitler?
Well sure, a part of him is. But of course he’s not Hitler. And neither is anybody else. Hitler was Hitler.

Do you remember images of Hitler from growing up?
No, not growing up. He was dead by the time I was four or five. I never had a real understanding of that.

Never had an understanding of what?
How you take a failed landscape painter and turn him into a fanatical mad man who controls millions. That’s some trick. I mean the powers that created him must have been awesome.

Well, the social and economic conditions of the Weimar Republic were so different than now.
Yeah sure, looking back in hindsight, you can see that someone would have to take control. But still, it’s so perplexing. Like why him? You could see that the man’s a total mutt. No Aryan characteristics whatsoever. You couldn’t guess his ancestry. Brown hair, brown eyes, pasty complexion, no particular type of stature, Hitler mustache, raincoat, riding whip, the whole works. He knew something. He knew that people didn’t think. Look at the faces of the millions who worshipped him and you see that he inspired love. It’s scary and sad. The torch of the spoken word. They were glad to follow him anywhere, loyal to the bone. Then of course, he filled up the cemeteries with them.

It brings to mind Hitler talking to the crowd in Triumph of the Will by Leni Riefenstahl.
Yeah, it’s clear as day.

Bob Dylan. Aprende inglés (del bueno) con Harlem

Bob Dylan nos gusta tanto, pero tanto tanto, que no nos importa hacerle publicidad gratuita. Por eso, ante la inminente llegada a las tiendas de su nuevo álbum, Together through life, el martes 28 de abril, reproducimos aquí la entrevista que Bill Flanagan (vaya nombre de spaguetti western, pardiez) le ha hecho para promocionar el CD en su propia web (www.bobdylan.com).

Es larga, así que la colaremos en varias entregas. Aquí va la primera...

A lot of this album feels like a Chess record from the fifties. Did you have that sound in your head going in or did it come up as you played?
Well some of the things do have that feel. It’s mostly in the way the instruments were played.

You like that sound?
Oh yeah, very much so. . . the old Chess records, the Sun records. . . I think that’s my favorite sound for a record.

What do you like about that sound?
I like the mood of those records - the intensity. The sound is uncluttered. There’s power and suspense. The whole vibration feels like it could be coming from inside your mind. It’s alive. It’s right there. Kind of sticks in your head like a toothache

Do you think the Chess brothers knew what they were doing?
Oh sure, how could they not? I don’t think they thought they were making history though.

Did you ever meet Howlin’ Wolf? Muddy Waters?
I saw Wolf perform a few times but never met him. Muddy I knew a little bit.
I suspect that a lot of men will identify with my wife's home town.

Do you ever get in hot water with your in-laws over your songs?
No not really. The only person it could matter to gets a kick out of it. That song is meant as a compliment anyhow.

Do relatives come up to you at cookouts and ask when you’re going to write a song for them?
Oh yeah, one of my uncles’ wives used to pester me all the time, “Bobby, when are you gonna write a song about me … put me on the radio?” It would make me uncomfortable.

How would you get out of it?
I’d say, "I already did 'Auntie'. You’re just not listening to the right stations".

Do you have a picture in your head of where these songs take place? Where is the guy in Life is hard standing when he sings that song?
Well the movie’s kind of a road trip from Kansas City to New Orleans. The guy’s probably standing along the way somewhere.

Movie?
Yeah.

Right, you mentioned something about that before. How did you get involved?
The French director, Olivier Dahan, approached me about composing some songs for a film he was writing and directing.

When was that?
I can’t remember exactly, it was sometime last year.

What did you find intriguing about that? You must get approached for movie songs all the time.
I had seen one of his other movies, the one about the singer Edith Piaf, and I liked it.

What’s this new one about?
It’s kind of a journey. . . a journey of self discovery. . . takes place in the American South

Who’s in it?
At the time we were talking I didn’t know who was going to be in it. I think Forest Whitaker and Renee Zellweger are in it now.

And he wanted you to do the soundtrack?
Yeah, pretty much. But he wasn’t too specific. The only thing he needed for sure was a ballad for the main character to sing towards the end of the movie. And that’s the song Life is hard.

Were all the songs on this record written for the movie then?
Well no, not really. We started off with Life is hard and then the record sort of took its own direction.

The new record’s very different from Modern Times which was a number one hit. It seems like every time you have a big hit, the next time out you change things around. Why don’t you try to milk it a little bit?
I think we milked it all we could on that last record and then some. We squeezed the cow dry. All the Modern Times songs were written and performed in the widest range possible so they had a little bit of everything. These new songs have more of a romantic edge.

How so?
These songs don’t need to cover the same ground. The songs on Modern Times songs brought my repertoire up to date, and the light was directed in a certain way. You have to have somebody in mind as an audience otherwise there’s no point.

What do you mean by that?
There didn’t seem to be any general consensus among my listeners. Some people preferred my first period songs. Some, the second. Some, the Christian period. Some, the post Colombian. Some, the Pre-Raphaelite. Some people prefer my songs from the nineties. I see that my audience now doesn’t particular care what period the songs are from. They feel style and substance in a more visceral way and let it go at that. Images don’t hang anybody up. Like if there’s an astrologer with a criminal record in one of my songs it’s not going to make anybody wonder if the human race is doomed. Images are taken at face value and it kind of freed me up.

In what way?
Well for instance, if there are shadows and flowers and swampy ledges in a composition, that’s what they are in their essence. There’s no mystification. That’s one way I can explain it.

Like a locomotive, a pair of boots, a kiss or the rain?
Right. All those things are what they are. Or pieces of what they are. It’s the way you move them around that makes it work.

(to be continue)

Clem Snide. Aprenda inglés (del bueno) con Harlem

Barcelona (23 de abril, La [2] de Apolo); Bilbao (24, Kafe Antzokia); Mallorca (25, Teatre Lloseta); Santoña (26, Club Tropicana)

"Hungry bird is sad because I was still dealing with the death of my mother"

Más vale tarde que nunca. Aún le quedan cuatro escalas a la gira española en que el lánguido Eef Barzelay presenta su novedad, Hungry Bird (Houston Party), acabada unos tres años ha. La banda se disolvió durante la grabación, que se edita ahora, y Eef reúne a Clem Snide para una gira. El álbum arranca bien, etéreo, entre Will Johnson y The National, y al final decae por la pura tristura. Eef le puso al día a OSCAR CUBILLO desde Los Ángeles, California.

Main musical influences.Neil Young , Daniel Johnston, Hank williams, Tom Waits.

Eef Barzelay and Clem Snide.
I don't think there is much difference. With clem snide I still write the songs but we work out the parts together. I'm always looking for people to work with and for the Eef Barzelay records I was helped by other people (ben folds friends) than the men of Clem Snide. So it didn't feel right to call it Clem Snide.

Why did Clem Snide split.
I had a painful break up with Pete the guitarist and also with our long time manager. At the same time, our record label was going out of business. I had to suffer for a few years and so now the gods are smiling down on Clem Snide and it feels great!!! Clem Snide has been around in one form or another since 1991 so at this point it can never die.

Strange touring with an album recorded three years ago.
Not really I'm been having a good time making the songs come to life on stage and also we are playing a lot of old song from all the old records.

Hungry Bird & sad music.
I'm just an atheist jew living in Nashville singing the blues. I think Hungry bird is sad because I was still dealing with the death of my mother.

Concerts.
More on the loud and punk side of Clem Snide but also sweet and tender when it needs to be.

Smart and cool on stage.
But of coarse. Nosotros estamos muy guapos (sic).

Last tour.
Clem Snide is back!!!! And we hope to have a new record out next year and keep playing and touring.

Cult Of Luna. Aprenda inglés (del bueno) con Harlem

"Post-metal is a really stupid label, invented by a journalist who wanted to sell more issues"

Hace poco OSCAR CUBILLO nos hacía saber que "tembló el misterio" durante el reciente concierto de Cult Of Luna en Bilbao. Presentaban su nuevo disco, Eternal Kingdom, y, por lo visto, fue un concierto con pasajes diversos, dominador de la gradación y muy bien conjuntado a pesar de que estéticamente cada uno de los siete componentes pareciese ir a su bola. Bonitas estampas dibujaron con su coreografía, no tan anárquica como parecía, entre los cabezazos a la nada, las patadas al aire y las sacudidas del espinazo. Arrancaron amasando atmósferas del gusto David Lynch, al poco desfilaron marciales y con trompeta como si fuesen huestes de la película 300, y después compusieron instrumentales post-rock que nos hicieron imaginar a Explosions In The Sky pero estallando ingrávidos como acorazados estelares.

En la segunda parte se endurecieron. El vocal rugiente y gutural asumió más protagonismo, el volumen siguió atronando pero distinguible (los juveniles, tatuados, chulitos y estetas luneros protegían sus tímpanos con tapones), y el trance se recreció hipnótico, absorbente como un agujero negro, con más violencia que la de Earth, más nervios, articulaciones y matices que Sunn O))), y un dominio de la gradación que ya les gustaría a Mogwai.

Por si esto fuera poco, poco antes Oscar había charlado con Johannes Persson, guitarrista, y cantante ocasional, del septeto sueco.

Que cuáles son vuestras principales influencias.
Well, when we started we wanted to "experiment" with a lot of dark and slow atmospheric music, for example bands like Neurosis, but later we opened the "area" of influences and every passionate and emotional musical expression was welcome.Que si puedes definir el sludge metal y post-metal.
Well, i would say that sludge-metal is bands like Eyehategod, Bongzilla or also stuff like early Isis. slow and noisy heavy riffs. Melvins, early Today Is The Day and Unsane could be a bit the "roots" in early 90´s also of course Black Sabbath.
About post-metal, i think is a really stupid label, invented by a journalist who wanted to sell more issues, or that didn't know too much about what he was talking about, just because all the bands included in the label "post-metal" are still really metal. The bands those were labeled like post-rock like Tortoise or Mogwai were or are something different than rock like White Stripes or indie-rock like Dinosaur Jr., dont you think? if Isis is considered post meal then bands like Tool could be considered post-metal too. I think the bands are considered post-metal are just metal bands with influences of post-rock stuff like Mogwai or Godspeed you Black emperor but still metal, I think Cult of Luna is this situation. For me post-metal would be stuff like Khanate or Sunno))) bands those really are going defitnly a few steps beyond about experimentation in metal sounds.

Que cuáles son las diferencias entre bandas de heavy metal como Judas Priest y Iron Maiden, y bandas de post rock como Isis, Neurosis y Breach.
Well, obviously theres differences between "standard" metal bands like Judas Priest or Iron Maiden and bands like Neurosis or Isis, first of all bands like Neurosis and Isis have some punk-diy roots (in fact Neurosis in their early albums their music was punk rock, and were released by alternative tentacles, label of Jello Biafra) at least in the begining of their careers. Aparte of that, maybe here there´s really some connection between post-rock and post-metal: because thinking about it there´s a similar difference between Isis and Iron Maiden than between Goodspeed You Black Emperor and Rollings Stones, that´s a good example.

Que si un fan de Cult Of Luna es muy diferente de uno de Judas Priest.
I think cult of luna fans are not, at least in general, really typical "metal heads" fans of classic metal bands. But it doesn´t mean that somebody who have grown up listening classic metal can like cult of luna nowadays.

Que nos cuentes algo de vuestro último disco, Eternal kingdom.
Eternal kingdom is a new step in our evolution, on this album we have tried to let behind our post rock influences i think. there are less effects on guitars and less instrumental "landspaces".