Captain Beefheart - R.I.P.

For many years Captain Beefheart aka, Don Van Vilet, had suffered from the debilitating disease of multiple sclerosis and Friday he succumbed to the disease at the age of 69. There is not a lot more you can comment about the legacy of Vilet than what has already been said through out the internet in the past 24 hours. Such an outpour of remembrance for Vilet throughout the world gives light onto what an influence Vilet was in the 60s, 70s, and the early part of the 80s.

Throughout the 60s and 70s, there was never a lack of abundance of blues/R&B-insipried rock. You had the popular groups such as the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Who, etc. You also had bands not thrusted in the limelight who ascribed to the same influences, such as, Ten Years After, Moby Grape, and many others. Point is, the 60s and 70s had an explosion of white folk putting out their interpretations of the music their black contemporaries created.

However, Captain Beefheart and his contemporary, Frank Zappa did things differently. They took all those influences that groups all around the world were becoming famous for, and made it weird, made it crazy. They took the doo-wop sound, took the blues/jazz/R&B sound and took it in directions never heard before. In the broad scope of avant-garde and experimental rock, Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa were the pioneers in bringing such music to a much larger audience. And for that Captain Beefheart, along with Frank Zappa should never be forgotten. Here is a performance from 1975 with Zappa and Vilet doing the Zappa composition, "The Torture Never Stops".

Pt. 1


Pt. 2

Richie Havens - Woodstock '69

Richie Havens is one of the long lost folk heroes of the 60s and 70s. After performing a 3 hour set at the Woodstock Music Festival when most of the performers were delayed in getting to the festival, Haven's popularity boomed and Havens had a moderately successful career going into the 70s. Reason for the large delay was that New York Highway 17 was completely closed down during the festival due to the large volume of people and cars coming to Yasgur's Farm in Bethel, New York. Here is the first song performed at the Woodstock Music Festival, "Handsome Johnny".




Hey, look yonder, tell me what's that you see
Marching to the fields of Concord?
It looks like Handsome Johnny with a musket in his hand,
Marching to the Concord war, hey marching to the Concord war.

Hey, look yonder, tell me what you see
Marching to the fields of Gettysburg?
It looks like Handsome Johnny with a flintlock in his hand,
Marching to the Gettysburg war, hey marching to the Gettysburg war.

Hey, look yonder, tell me what's that you see
Marching to the fields of Dunkirk?
It looks like Handsome Johnny with a carbine in his hand,
Marching to the Dunkirk war, hey marching to the Dunkirk war.

Hey, look yonder, tell me what you see
Marching to the fields of Korea?
It looks like Handsome Johnny with an M1 in his hand,
Marching to the Korean war, hey marching to the Korean war.

Hey, look yonder, tell me what you see
Marching to the fields of Vietnam?
It looks like Handsome Johnny with an M15,
Marching to the Vietnam war, hey marching to the Vietnam war.

Hey, look yonder, tell me what you see
Marching to the fields of Birmingham?
It looks like Handsome Johnny with his hand rolled in a fist,
Marching to the Birmingham war, hey marching to the Birmingham war.

Hey, it's a long hard road, it's a long hard road,
It's a long hard road, before we'll be free.

Hey, what's the use of singing this song, some of you are not even listening.
Tell me what it is we've got to do: wait for our fields to start glistening,
Wait for the bullets to start whistling.
Here comes a hydrogen bomb, here comes a guided missile,
Here comes a hydrogen bomb: I can almost hear its whistle.

Top LPs and EPs of 2010

Arcade Fire

Its that time of year again, where folks all around the blogosphere flex their music listening prowess by throwing together a top ten/twenty/ninety-two list of albums of the respective year. And for me, I am no different. In 2010 we have seen an amazing amount of quality albums thrown at us with Outkast rapper Big Boi throwing out his debut solo effort, Arcade Fire taking Billboard by storm by rising to Number #1 in the album charts, and Damon Albarn throwing us a curveball with the new look and sound of the Gorillaz. Now here is my list of the top LPs and EPs of 2010. 


TOP LPs


1. Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma

Cosmogramma

Number one with a bullet. Steve Ellison aka Flying Lotus has shown once again that he is a force to be reckoned with in the electronic/hip-hop world, with his third full length offering 'Cosmogramma'. However we should not be so surprised by Ellison's musical prowess, as he comes from a fantastic musical pedigree. Ellison is the great-nephew of both John and Alice Coltrane, Alice Coltrane in which 'Cosmogramma' is dedicated to. According to Ellison, Cosmogramma is a portmanteau of the Alice Coltrane phrase 'Cosmic Grammar'. On the album, we see guest performances by Ellison's cousin Ravi Coltrane, Radiohead's Thom Yorke, and Los Angeles bass extraordinaire Thundercat. 


2. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

Plastic Beach

Gone are the curtains, and the backdrops, and the large monitors that disguised the backing band to the virtual band of 2D, Murdoc, Noodle, and Russel Hobbs. While they are still there, their previous prominent role has been diminished for now. Plastic Beach originally in 2007 was a project entitled 'Carousel' by Gorillaz's creators Damon Albarn and Jaime Hewlett, which eventually evolved into the Gorillaz's third album and their first since Demon Days in 2005. According to Albarn, 'Plastic Beach' is their biggest and most 'pop' album out of the three. And big would be an understatement, as 'Plastic Beach' sees guest work from a wide variety of guests like, Lou Reed, Snoop Dogg, Mos Def, Bobby Womack, Mark E. Smith of The Fall, and Gorillaz regulars, De La Soul. 


3. Native - Wrestling Moves

Wrestling Moves

If you are happening to read this and don't know who Native is, then you aren't paying enough attention. I have had the extreme fortune to interview this band and the lead singer/bass player Bobby Markos on two separate occasions, which can be seen on this blog. Native is an up and coming post-punk/math rock quartet from Valparaiso, Indiana. They have taken the DIY/underground punk scene by storm with their visceral and in-your-face live shows and their debut LP on the marvelous Sargent House label, 'Wrestling Moves'. Bands many, many years their elder only hope to come out with an album containing such force and emotion, much less in their debut LP. Only time can tell what this young group from Indiana will bring to us next. 


4. The National - High Violet 

High Violet

Knock on wood, we have yet to see a disappointing effort from the Cincinnati post-punk/baroque pop (what?) quintet, and 'High Violet' does not let us down. The National jumped in the Black Friday crowd and released a deluxe edition of 'High Violet' which included a new version of 'Terrible Love', three B-sides and, three live versions of other various tracks from the album - at a lower price than the regular album. Coming off of what many critics hailed as the best album of 2007, 'Boxer', 'High Violet' may in time be hailed as the best album by the Brooklyn-based quintet. High Violet is also the highest charted album by the band, coming in at Number #3 in the Billboard Charts, selling well over 400,000 copies in just six months.  


5. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

The Suburbs

Next to The Strokes, Arcade Fire has quite possibly become the biggest 'indie rock' band in North America. While 'Funeral' and 'Neon Bible' have been hailed as some of the best albums of the 2000's, 'The Suburbs' has the numbers behind it - Number #1 in the Billboard charts for an entire week in the last month of August, selling well over 150,000 copies at the time. While 'Funeral' and 'Neon Bible' were short and concise works, 'The Suburbs' is a sprawling 16 track album that took even the most ardent fans by surprise. Like The National, we haven't seen and we certainly don't hope to see in the near future, a dud by Arcade Fire. So in the mean time we have this gem to listen to for years and years to come. 


6. Teebs - Ardour

Ardour

As we have seen with Brainfeeder, run by Steve Ellison (Flying Lotus) over the years, you could look up any artist on there, get their album without any preconceived notion of what you were getting yourself into, and be absolutely blown away. Teebs' debut album, 'Ardour', is no exception. Through the hazy and beautiful IDM contained in the album, we see a DJ/producer on the rise ready to take the electronic/hip-hop scene by storm. The influence of Flying Lotus on Teebs' sound is absolutely uncanny. 'Ardour' sounds and feels like it could have been Flying Lotus' 'Amnesiac'. B-sides from 'Cosmogramma, that are good enough to be put together as one cohesive album. Knowing it comes from this new DJ on the rise, makes us all sit on the edge of our seat waiting on what will come next in the next full length by the Brainfeeder artist. 


7. Curren$y - Pilot Talk I/II

Pilot Talk I/II

If Dr. Dre released as many albums as Curren$y has in the past couple of years, Dr. Dre's last album probably would have came out almost a decade ago. While mixtapes are released at a maddening pace across the hip-hop world, rarely do you see a hip-hop artist have two full length albums released by a label, and have both of them be GOOD. This is what you have with Curren$y's Pilot Talk I and II. Not only they are some of the best hip-hop albums of the year, they are also a fantastic throw-back to the jazz rap that rap groups A Tribe Called Quest and Gang Starr made famous in the 80s and 90s. Both Pilot Talk I and II are so good, that its hard and unfair to talk about one and not the other. Besides the obvious similarities in album names, both albums are companion albums to each other and can be seen as a hip-hop double album.


8. Jaga Jazzist - One-Armed Bandit

One-Armed Bandit

For a band that claims that they don't listen to a lot of Frank Zappa, they have released probably one of the best Zappa influenced/sounding jazz fusion albums since the passing of Frank Zappa. One listen to the title-track to the album conjures up thoughts of a long lost Zappa album stored away in the family vault that could be considered one of his best ever. Luckily for all of us, Jaga Jazzist shows no signs of slowing down, or signs of abandoning their jazz roots. While continuing with the post-rock sensibilities that showed up on their last album, 'What We Must', the nu-jazz sound that prompted the BBC to declare their debut album, 'Livingroom Hush', the best jazz album of 2002 - returns to the forefront with, 'One-Armed Bandit'. 


9. Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid (Suites II + III)

The ArchAndroid (Suite II & III)

This year has been inundated with quality debut albums, and that is always welcome to the music-listening people around the world. Janelle Monae gave us a little insight to what she was capable of when she released her Suite I EP back in 2007, but none of us expected this as a follow up. A 18 track art-pop opera that conjures up the sounds of soul and funk greats James Brown and Prince and the odd art-pop sensibilities of Bjork. Nonetheless, its a bold statement by the Atlanta pop artist to release an album of this magnitude as her debut album.   One just wonders how she will top this offering, if she releases another - much less come near it. But we should applaud Monae for making such a bold statement and album in her debut offering. Not enough pop artists dare to take the risks that Monae has done, and we can only hope that this is not the last we hear from Monae. 


10. The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt

The Wild Hunt

Like I have said before, Kristian Matsson aka The Tallest Man On Earth can do no wrong. Matsson has the uncanny ability to fill up any venue or room with just his voice and a guitar. Not anyone since Bob Dylan has such a folk artist done the same, which may explain why critics compare the Swedish folk singer's voice to Dylan. The Wild Hunt is the follow-up to the critically acclaimed debut, 'Shallow Grave' - which is quickly become just as acclaimed as the debut. While the formula is the exact same from both albums, its almost impossible to not be fully ingrained in the listening experience of Matsson, and feel like he is in the room with you singing just to you. Few solo artists have the ability to do that, and Matsson is one of those few artists. 


Honorable Mention: 


11. Local Natives - Gorilla Manor


12. Delta Spirit - History From Below 


13. Joanna Newsom - Have One One Me 


14. Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty


15. Blacastan - Blac Sabbath


16. Cee Lo Green - The Lady Killer 


17. The Black Keys - Brothers


18. Yeasayer - Odd Blood 


19. Yellow Swans - Going Places


20. 22 - Flux 


21. Phosphorescent - Here's To Taking It Easy 


22. Gil-Scott Heron - I'm New Here


23. Brian Eno - Small Craft on Milk Sea 


24. Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate - Ali & Toumani 


25. John Legend & The Roots - Wake Up! 


26. Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky


27. Menomena - Mines 


28. Gayngs - Relayted


29. Aloe Blacc - Good Things 


30. The Black Angels - Phosphene Dream 


TOP EPs


1. The Tallest Man on Earth - Sometimes the Blues Is Just A Passing Bird

Sometimes The Blues Is Just A Passing Bird

There are some years when an artist comes out with a fantastic LP and then surprises us with a little gift of an EP. Not only getting an EP by Matsson was a pleasant surprise, but he throws us a little curveball in sound. Matsson goes *GASP* electric. On the track "The Dreamer", we hear Matsson thrown down his acoustic guitar, for an electric one, and by some weird cosmic happening, it may be Matsson's best song so far in his career. Hopefully Matsson's decision to go electric is responded a little nicer when Bob Dylan did it 45 years ago. 


2. Nails - Unsilent Death

Unsilent Death

Probably the most stark in music styles in a 'best of' list you will see in awhile. Nails is the latest signing to one of the best independent metal labels out there today, Southern Lord. There must be something in the water, but Nails is one of the newest and best hardcore/thrash metal trios to come out of Southern California in years. (see, Ghostlimb) In typical hardcore fashion, Nail's second EP clocks in at just 14 minutes and is such a kick in the face with its ferocity, that it lends itself to repeated listens. And while the vast majority of the songs on the EP clock in at no longer than a minute, the near four minute, 'Depths', feels like a metal epic in comparison. 


3. Freddie Gibbs - Str8 Killa 

Str8 Killa 

Next to Sufjan Steven's hour long 'All Delighted People', Gibb's Str8 Killa EP is one of the longest EPs to come out this year clocking in at 36 minutes. Gibbs barrages us with rhymes and such a flow that reminds us of the biting gangsta-rap intellect of 2Pac. In about five years, Gibbs has given us six mixtapes and a look into a MC that could be on the rise with the popularity of Str8 Killa. I mean a glowing review from the Rolling Stone can't hurt, can it? Very rarely do you see the publication come out and praise an EP like it has for Gibb's debut EP. What it all means for this up and coming MC has yet to be seen. 


4. Teebs & Jackhigh - Tropics

Tropics

Like The Tallest Man On Earth, getting a Teebs EP complement to the fantastic Ardour is something that would make any music fanatic like myself giddy. Not much is known about Jackhigh or whether he or she even exists, but we do know that Jackhigh has done a fantastic collaboration with Teebs. Such a collaboration that we hope to see some solo Jackhigh in the near future. Tropics starts where Ardour left off, in giving us an amazing hazy-chill IDM experience that shows off its Flying Lotus influences so much in a way that makes us eagerly await for what is next for the Brainfeeder DJ. 


5. Nadja - Sky Burial 

Sky Burial 

Nothing is more beautiful than seeing two people love each other so much, coming together and creating such a soul crushing drone-doom metal experience. While 'Sky Burial' is not as cathartic as Nadja's 'Radiance of Shadows' and reminds us more of 'Truth Becomes Death', its still an amazing sight to behold. The married couple of Nadja (Aidan Baker & Leah Buckareff) making such cathartic music is just about unheard of, but Nadja does it in such grace and beauty, that you can't ignore it. 'Sky Burial' is a two song EP that spans almost 40 minutes. While the title track is not one of their best outputs, but the first track, 'Jaguar' reminds of a massive slow-moving drone epic along the likes of Emeralds', "Underwater Mountains". At the maddening pace that Nadja releases music, its not unheard of to hear another gem like 'Sky Burial'. 


Honorable mention: 


6. Castevet - The Echo and The Light


7. Flying Lotus - Pattern + Grid World


8. Dirty Projectors & Bjork - Mount Wittenberg Orca


9. Delta Spirit - The Waits Room 


10. The War on Drugs - Future Weather 

Bobby Markos of Native Interview

Bobby Markos 

Bobby Markos is the lead singer and bass player of Northwest Indiana math-rock/post-punk band Native. Recently I got the chance to talk to the band, and learned about Bobby's blog called BudsNSuds, a blog on sodas of all kinds. As of recent, I got the chance to talk to Bobby and talk about his blog and the world of soda. 


Q. So tell us, how does one become a connoisseur of soda? 

Essentially anyone can be a "connoisseur", it is just a matter of knowing your flavors, your preference and knowing why you like things. It's good to know your area's specialties. It's also good to know some about ingredients and what makes each soda special. A lot of memorization but after while it just gets to be a habit.

Q. Do you make your own soda or plan on making your own? 

I'm starting the process of learning brewing technique. I'd really like to get into the game in some point of my life, really push the limits as far as root beers and ginger ales go. I feel like there's a lot of ground to be reached still with microbrewing and fire brewing techniques. Hopefully I'll be able to settle down as a full time brewer at some point in my life.

Q. Now, these sodas that you showcase on your site, are they what you would call micro-brewed sodas? 

Some are micro-brewed, some are fire-brewed, each brand differs. I think that's what sets brands apart and really opens the game up to anyone who can be innovative.

Q. Down here in the south the only soda that I have seen on your site has been Jones Soda. Is there more of a variety of different sodas in the mid-west? 

The midwest is really rich as far as variety of specialty sodas go. We're lucky to have big cities like Louisville, Chicago and Milwaukee that have big breweries and put out some fine brands like Ale 8, Goose Island and Sprecher (just to name a few, there's scores more).

Q. Now with Jones Soda, they have been known to make some odd flavors like, 'Mashed Potatoes" and "Gravy". Do you know of any other crazy soda flavors out there? 

With artificial flavoring the skies the limit with soda flavors. For example, i've seen chocolate sodas, chai cola, and other novelty flavors like bacon and such.  

Q. Now, there are beer and wine snobs but, are there soda snobs? 

I believe that a soda snob is someone who refuses to drink most mainstream brands and drinks exclusively bottled or speciality, gourmet sodas. Admittedly I'm a bit of a snob, but I still really enjoy Coke and Dr. Pepper. 

Q. What are some of your favorite sodas that some of us novices should know about? 

Ale 8 from Kentucky definitely knocked me on my ass, still one of my favorite ginger ales. Anything from Sprecher is near gold, they have a fantastic company and are really setting the pace for fire-brewed soda (try their cherry cola or their ginger ale). I'm also a huge fan of Dublin Dr. Pepper, which is Dr. Pepper still made at the original plant in Texas. It's hard to come by anywhere but there, but you can order cases off their website. 

Q. With your website, budsnsuds.org, have you been contacted by any of the soda manufacturers about the good work you've done? Gotten any free soda? 

I haven't yet but we're still in the beginning stages. Once we reach a certain level of followers and traffic I'd like to start reaching out to companies to see if they'd like to have regular reviews of their products. If music magazines can do it, so can I. 

Q. Now according to you, what makes a good soda? 

That all depends on what we're going for. If we're talking about dark colas, it's important to have a variety of "hints" of flavoring, meaning mixes of citrus, cherry and anything else you can think of. This way, the flavors will rise at different levels in the bottle depending on their weight and density, giving drinkers a well rounded drinking experience. For ginger ale and ginger brew, it's important to lay on the spice. I've found that the truest and best ginger ales are those that almost hurt to drink, leave the throat burning. They're good to sip, and are surprisingly delicious and enjoyable. 

Q. As a Atlanta area native, I must ask. Have you been to the World of Coke? If you haven't and you do end up going, do NOT drink Beverly. 

Unfortunately I haven't been yet, but I'd really like to. I think Coke is the greatest soda ever created just because of how versatile it is, it can go with anything and has stood the test of time. 

__________

Be sure to check out Bobby's blog budsnsuds.org, and check out the newest in sodas around the country! 

Native Interview

Native

Native is a up and coming post-punk/post-hardcore band from Northwest Indiana. In three short years, they have come from the local music scene of Indiana and Illinois, to being signed with Sargent House, being fellow label mates with the likes of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, RX Bandits, and Zach Hill, and drawing critical acclaim from the music press from all around. Recently I got the opportunity to talk to the band and ask about the future of Native. 

Q. Just looked at your Myspace page and saw that you currently only have 6 shows in the next three months, which by your standards is taking it easy. Are you guys planning on any more shows or tours in the near future?

Yes, by our standards six shows is staying super low key. We thought it might be nice to take it easy and write before Ed and Bob finish up school. Ideally this means writing our asses off and finalizing songs, getting them ready to play live and record. But taking time off also means just working at our jobs and being unhappy letting Netflix ruin our lives.

So we're fairly excited to leave on our next tour in January with RX bandits and Fake Problems. We will be escaping the Midwest cold and heading west for the second time ever as Native. One of the shows we're most excited for thats coming up is playing the Beat Kitchen in Chicago on November 27th. Our favorite Chicago bands will be joining us for one of the bests shows ever. Shout out to Castevet, Noumenon, and Cloud Mouth.

Q. You have toured with the likes of This Town Needs Guns, Castevet, and La Dispute. Are there any other bands you have toured with that more people should know more about? 

The last tour we were on was with Former Thieves. This band has a way of pumping us up like no other band does. They hit our hard/soft spot. We can't say enough about Former Thieves. If you are unfamiliar then you should change that. I feel the same way about all the bands we have been out with thus far. This Town Needs Guns were so cool, we learned so much from them. They taught us any bit of professionalism we have, even though thats not saying much. 

We are bffe's with Castevet and Los Angeles (La) Dispute. Between Nick from Castevet and us we have probably single handedly kept all of the Flattop Grills in the greater Chicago land area in business. La Dispute and us go as far back to the days of touring with our old bands so we have magic together, the kind of magic that makes Criss Angel look like phony. 

Q. Are there any bands that you would like to tour with in the future?

Bands that We're looking forward to touring with are Balance and Composure, and Slingshot Dakota. The list goes on but these two bands are on our must tour with asap list.  Oh and Dragon Force, and a handful of local band that existed when we were preteens. shout out to I, Heart.

Q. To say you have caught the attention of a few of music publications and sites, would be a massive understatement. What has it been like in such a short time to receive the critical acclaim from the people of Punknews.org, Alternative Press, Absolute Punk, etc.?

What a nice compliment/question. We often discuss many aspects of our band, press being one of those things. All of it is really amazingly flattering including the bad stuff. We read Absolute Punk, Punk News, and AP even before Native was a thought in our heads, Absolute Punk being our favorite. It's completely special that they say anything about us let alone how often they do. We met Adam (from Absolute Punk) who works there and he is one of our top favorite dudes. So to actually get around to answering the question, it's hard to think about. It's as if someone hacked these websites and faked the magazines. It's nice to hear nice things, but when bad things are said we make fun of the idiot who says stupid wrong things. Just kidding! We honestly enjoy any press about us.

Q. It's getting to close to a year since 'Wrestling Moves' came out. Are you currently working on a follow up to that? If so, what can you tell us about it? 

We are in the early stages of writing our next album. I wish there were things to talk about, but we only have one song that were playing live/ talking about. Its called "Word City"; we wrote it to be a banger. Some things I can say are that it will be recorded well. It will brush on topics that are more socially driven, topics that the world can relate with. Wrestling Moves was about giant hurtles and friendships. So the new stuff will be a more mature Native. Musically it will borrow and elaborate on the thoughts and feelings of both of our previous releases. But I may be getting ahead of myself. Thats the plan anyways. 

Q. Earlier this year you got to perform at the SXSW Music Festival in Austin, Texas. What is the band's mindset in performing a show at a large festival like that (albeit performed at local venues), than it is at a regular Native show? 

Festivals are just like any show, but different too. Just like any show in the sense that some go good and some don't. SXSW went rather well for us, but we also played a festival where the sound guy looked like Beetlejuice and we blew the power. Needless to say us standing in the dark, with our dicks in our hands, was the best part of our set that night. So some go well, and some make you want to die. We grew up playing basements, so thats our definition of a normal Native show. Although we enjoy playing almost anywhere as long as its inside. We hate playing outdoors.

Q. Sonny Kay, who works with your label, Sargent House, won a couple of awards recently for the artwork he has done for the label. Have you guys considered letting him do the artwork for future albums? And who is the person who currently does the artwork for the band? 

Fantastic question. This gives us the opportunity to plug all of our friends that do things for us.

Our friends currently working on things for us: 

Stacy Kline (she is working on a website right now. She is up to incredible things keep them peepers peeled)

Ashton Lorraine http://ashtonlorraine.tumblr.com/

Ben Sears http://bensears.tumblr.com/

Our friends who have done things for us in the past for the exception of Ben Sears:

Adam Vass http://adamxvass.com/

David Summers http://www.summersphotography.org/

Q. When I first saw you guys at Swayze's in Marietta, it really took me aback to see you and La Dispute play right on the floor with the crowd surrounding you, as opposed to the local bands who opted to played on stage. Only because around here, you hardly see bands do anything like that. What is your guy's motivation and reasoning to do that? 

There are many reasons for playing on the floor. Part of it is like framing a painting in a more appropriate frame. Instead of us being framed by a stage were framed by people. It makes for a more intimate setting. We like having people so close we can't move. Some of our first shows were with Lion of the North who hated playing stages, PA systems that worked, and turning down. They were super low maintenance, and I feel as if it rubbed off on us.

Q. Since you have been on the road almost non-stop for a few years, have there been any crazy happenings or people that have stood out to you guys? 

There are a ton of things that have been awesome. There is one thing that we have mentioned in interviews before and its the best thing any of us have seen. 

We were on the way to a show in South Bend Indiana, and there was a guy who was test driving a red convertible from what we gathered a shitty used car lot. The dude pulls up to us at a red light, puts the car into park, and hops out and runs away. He left the car running and ran fast and hard. To our recollection he was wearing either a polo, Hawaiian shirt, a brown blazer, or a trench coat. We're not completely sure. But we have been asked in interviews who would we like to meet and this man was listed.  

Q. I have noticed that Bobby currently writes for a Soda blog called budsnsuds.org. Is there really a large community for microbrewed soda, if so, what are some lesser known sodas out there that people should know about?

This is funny because it started out as a pot on beer blog, that was way successful. It was probably so successful because Bobby devoted massive amounts of time to it. Long story short, he ended up smoking himself clean, And although he felt dishonest blogging about a pot and beer, he thought the URL budsnsuds.org would make too cute of a soda blog to just throw away. That is the true story of how buds and suds came to be.

#1 soda of all time according to Bobby is............. Diet 7-Up.

Q. Last question. As one who absolutely loves a well made pun, is there any story behind the song 'What Are You Dylan In My House' from your debut EP, 'We Delete; Erase'? 

...Dylan... Honestly we were watching Degrassi one night and Marco's boyfriend was this really dumb dude named ...Dylan... So we ended up making really stupid jokes about him not having any scripted lines in the show. all he says is ...Dylan... in a really dramatic way. This very stupid joke evolved into some other joke where we swapped doing with Dylan in normal everyday sentences. The best thing we came up with that night was what are you Dylan in my house. As far a song titles go we could have gone with a Dylan pun or we also have a plethora of jokes in poor taste about Page or Wheelchair Jimmy. Drake is the worst rapper ever by the way.

--
Native:
http://www.myspace.com/nativein
http://www.purevolume.com/native
http://nativetimes.tumblr.com
http://www.sargenthouse.com

Concert Update - Halloween

Every year it is the same old routine all around the nation. Kids who are already jacked-up on the prospect of getting candy, go out and eat 1 metric ton worth of it and vandalize any house that handed out Christianity literature, warning about the evils of All Hallows' Eve. 

However for some folk who like to break out of that routine do the next best thing: Go see live music. Bands all across the country relish the opportunity to let loose and have fun with their audience on Halloween, and possibly pull out a rarely played song or two from their back catalogue. 

This year is looking to be another fantastic year to go see a show or two. Also this year has a fantastic line-up of festivals right near the state of Georgia. To start off this update, we're going to take a look at three festivals happening in Florida, North Carolina, and Louisiana this upcoming weekend. 

Festivals


The Voodoo Experience

October 29-31, 2010

The Voodoo Experience is held in The Big Easy, New Orleans, every year around Halloween. Luckily for some, last year and this year, it is being held on Halloween Weekend. The Voodoo Experience in the past has showcased world-renowned popular acts such as R.E.M., Nine Inch Nails, The Flaming Lips, 50 Cent, 311, Duran Duran, and various jazz and funk greats including The Original Meters, Trombone Shorty, Galactic, and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. 

This year, the 11th edition of the festival, has Muse, Ozzy Osbourne, and My Morning Jacket as the headliners. Oddly enough, it is My Morning Jacket, and not Ozzy Osbourne that will be closing out the festival on Halloween. Other performers include, Weezer, MGMT, Paul Van Dyk, Galactic, Jonsi of Sigur Ros, and roughly around 100 other artists from around the world. 

The October 30th headlining show for Ozzy Osbourne will be the start of his North American tour, which will end in late February in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Ozzy Osbourne's appearance at the Voodoo Experience will be his first in New Orleans since 2001.  

The Voodoo Experience takes place at City Park behind the New Orleans Museum of Art. 

http://www.thevoodooexperience.com/

The Fest 

October 29-31, 2010

Thats right, just, The Fest. But The Fest, is not some ordinary fest. No, no, sir or madam. The Fest is one of the premier punk festivals in the nation. Held in Gainesville, Florida, The Fest takes place each year on the weekend of 'The Worlds Largest Cocktail Party', or more commonly known as the Georgia-Florida game. 

The Fest is in it's 9th incarnation and has showcased bands like, The Bouncing Souls, The Lawrence Arms, Dillinger Four, and Gainesville natives, Less Than Jake. The Fest has been sponsored by local independent label No Idea Records for the past few years along with the Tampa music magazine REAX. 

This year The Fest, which is being called 'Ye Olde Fest 9' has some of the best bands in metal and punk today including, Me First and The Gimme Gimmes, High On Fire, Suicide Machines, Valient Thorr, Kylesa, and Torche. 

Also on the line-up is the new music project by ex-Bear Vs. Shark members Mark Paffi and Brandon Moss, Bars of Gold. Local Valdosta, Ga band Ninja Gun will also be performing on Saturday. Some of The Fest veterans for this year include, A Wilhelm Scream, Algernon Cadwallader, Local Athens, Ga band American Cheeseburger, and Bomb The Music Industry. 

The Fest takes place at various venues in the city of Gainesville including, The Venue, Common Grounds, The Atlantic, 8 Seconds, and the Holiday Inn. 

http://www.thefestfl.com/

Moogfest

October 29-31, 2010

For years and years the South has been neglected when it comes to a premier electronic festival. (Miami does not constitute as 'The South') Detroit has the legendary Detroit Electronic Music Festival, California has the Nocturnal Music Festival and the Electric Daisy Festival, New York City has the Electric Zoo, and Miami (like I said, not the 'The South' when it comes to a lot of people) has the Winter Music Conference and the Ultra Music Festival. 

With the help of AC Entertainment and the city of Asheville, North Carolina, Moogfest looks to become the festival to go to for electronic music for the South. 

Headlining this year is new wave/post-punk legends DEVO, indie-electronic darlings MGMT, trip-hop pioneers Massive Attack, and Pretty Lights. Also performing at the festival are Jonsi of Sigur Ros, Outkast rapper Big Boi, English electropop band Hot Chip, and D.C. music legends Thievery Corporation. 

Moogfest will take place at various music venues in the city of Asheville. Venues include the Asheville Civic Center, the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, The Orange Peel, and Stella Blue

For those who don't know, AC Entertainment is also responsible for the summer music festival, Bonnaroo in Manchester, TN and the Big Ears Festival, an avant-garde festival held each March in Knoxville, TN. 

http://moogfest.com/

Concerts

For those who cannot dole out the hundreds of dollars to attend these fine festivals, not to worry. There are plenty of shows around Georgia to fill your live music needs. 

For those who like to go see live music know when a big festival comes near a major metropolitan area, will be rest assured that some of the artists will get in the groove with a show right before or after the festival, and Atlanta and Athens benefit from that this year. 

Massive Attack

Massive Attack and Thievery Corporation will perform two full sets at the majestic and legendary Fox Theatre on Friday. Starting at 8pm, where the Fabulous Fox is more known for the home of the Atlanta Ballet and numerous Broadway shows, will host venue to 4-5 hours of non-stop trip-hop. 

Other artists getting their Moogfest and The Fest pre-game and post-game on in Atlanta are Pretty Lights and Mimosa at The Tabernacle on Friday. Jonsi from Sigur Ros and Mountain Man will also be there on Sunday and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes will be playing at the Loft on Friday. 

In Athens, stoner metal trio High On Fire will be performing at the 40 Watt Club on Saturday. 

Weezer

Other shows of interest during the weekend include Weezer at Chastain Park, Band of Horses at The Fox Theatre, and Dawes at Smith's Olde Bar on Saturday. On Sunday, 311 will close out a jam-packed weekend at the Fox Theatre by performing their album, 'Music', in its entirety. Also closing out the weekend will be Bad Relgion with The Aggrolites and Off With Their Heads at the Masquerade.   

UPDATE: 

DEVO has apparently cancelled their U.S. tour due to guitarist Bob Mothersbaugh requiring surgery on his cut right thumb. However the promoters of Moogfest posted this on their Facebook page concerning the matter: 

"We were on the phone yesterday with Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale from Devo. In spite of Bob's horrible accident, both of them are still coming to Moogfest and they are working on a couple of performance ideas, including a possible collaboration with another band/artist. We're all still discussing the possibilities but both Mark and Gerald have promised something immensely entertaining, at the very least."

Thomas Pridgen Interview

The Memorials

Thomas Pridgen is a professional drummer who has played with the likes of Christian Scott and Juliette Lewis. However, he is mostly known for his stint as the drummer for The Mars Volta, which includes winning a Grammy for 'Best Hard Rock Performance' with the song 'Wax Simulacra' from The Mars Volta's 2008 album, 'The Bedlam in Goliath'. I got the chance to speak with Pridgen on his new musical project. 

Q. Word on the street is that you have a new music project called The Memorials. Can you tell us a little about this new musical endeavor of yours?

Yeah we're about a year old now. We're about to put our first record out. The music is like progressive soul rock. Hard to put in words honestly, but I'm making music with a fun bunch of people. 

Q. From playing in The Mars Volta for around three years, what are the most discernible aspects of being musician that you have picked up in working with those guys?

I dunno. I'm glad I played in that band, I'm also glad I'm not playing in that band. I totally did a lot for those [guys], [and] to be under-appreciated and not paid for my services; I treated those guys as family/homies. I brought them to my hood. I totally opened myself to them. Told them things that i didn't tell people, and then in the end it backfired in ways that I wasn't ready for. Parting ways is one thing, but getting screwed over money, that's unforgivable. Getting lied on and snitched on by a band mate to the police and [expletive]. C'mon homie that doesn't play out well where I'm from. 

Q. What is it like now, having a lot more creative control over the band you play in? 

I totally put a lot of my passions in the creative ideas of this band. I've always been someone that [with] people I was working with would listen to. I'm from the Bay Area. Its a lot of creative people here. Before I didn't care if people knew I did it or put the idea in someones ear. So I guess it's not too different, just more a known thing now that I'm somewhat of a leader.

Q. Other than The Memorials, are you in any other projects that you can tell us about?
I got called for some pretty nice gigs, but I'm really determined to kill it with The Memorials. I love these guys on more levels than money and fame. I've been playing on records though. I did a record with Curren$y the spitta, I played on Foxy Shazam's record. I did a record with Jordan Ferriera called 'Elixir on Mute'. I also did a record with a guy by the name of Jon Reshard, and The Memorials album. 

Q. Who are some of your biggest influences on you as a musician? From the numerous projects you have played in, you show a knack to play different styles at such a high level.
I'm influenced by Tony Williams and Vinnie Coluita and Dennis Chambers and all the other greats that every drummer in the world talks about. 

I got my idea to learn every style from my grandmother. She felt like I should learn all aspects of music and I just tried to keep it authentic and keep it me. I'm a total free bird. 

Q. Who are some of the artists/bands that you have been listening to lately that some of us should know?

Fela Kuti, Lamb of God, Venitian Snares, [expletive] people give me. I listen to a [expletive]-load of hip-hop and rap. I love Squarepusher and Portishead and System. And everything good. I'm a music lover.  

Q. When can we expect the debut LP from The Memorials to drop?

January 18th. We pushed it back. I was kinda on the fence about it, but now I'm just embracing it. I know when it comes out everyone's going to flip out. We wrote and recorded the music in a week. I'm really proud of that.  Hopefully people will see me and my band for what we are, real musicians. 

Q. What is the name of this aforementioned album? 

The record is self titled. It's our first one, and we feel like our name speaks for itself. We didn't just name our band The Memorials because we saw the word on a sign or on a monument. 

The Memorials:

Definition:  

Something designed to keep the memory alive.

"Music are memorials. Songs can bring back the feelings of certain memories; such as a first love, a vacation, the music your parents played while you we're growing up, making love and babies, etc. Lot's of things are memorials to mark the time, place, and feelings you've had in life such as your first car, or your first guitar(drums!!). Music definitely implies the same mark! Just like Jacob, who fought the angel in Genesis, named the place where he fought to commemorate the date and place where he wrestled God and God did not prevail. Music can mark not only our feelings at a time, but it can also show us our tenacity, our sense of self-worth, our imagination. The music The Memorials makes is both thought compelling and it will etch out a place for the band to leave it's mark, telling the world we were here!"

I think its important to have some kind of a message. I totally play drums for a reason. I hope my drumming sounds like it all makes sense. I want this band to be about something and I wanted each song to mean something. I want this band to be memorable.  

Q. What label are you signed to for The Memorials? 

We got lucky and it took a while, but we have our own label with major distribution. 

Q. Do you guys have any upcoming shows?

Yeah. We're planning a tour for late January and all of February. I'm trying to go conquer the world.

Q. What are your aspirations for your new band The Memorials?

Just to keep having fun, making music and touring the world. I'm happy doing what I've always been happy doing.  That all the other BS is just extra.

Along with Thomas Pridgen, The Memorials consist of: 

Lead singer - Viveca Hawkins

Lead guitarist - Nick Brewer

Bass guitar - Uriah Duffy (formerly of Whitesnake) 

Organ/mellotron - Nehemiah Johnson 

Keys - Michael Aaburg 

Percussion - Marquinho 

Percussion - Valentino Peeps 

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