Plenty of people go to see bands when they come through their town, but most people don’t think about everything that it takes to get those bands to their favorite club. Being on tour for a musician is both enlightening and daunting, as physically and mentally draining as it is stimulating. And no matter what, there are always stories to tell. In Tales From The Golden Road we let musicians tell their own stories of life on the road to get a behind-the-scenes, up-close look at what really goes down between each show. 

This month Glide Magazine is excited to share dispatches from Brooklyn rockers Spirit Animal as they squeeze in one last tour before the year comes to a close. The band’s sound is anthemic and poppy, clearly suited for large stages and festivals. Spirit Animal recently released a new EP called World War IV and you can bet they are bringing the album’s soaring rock sound on this tour. In between shows, the band will take us behind the scenes. Rock on!

We’ve seen it all, now.

The southeast run continued after Durham, hitting Atlanta before we got to kick it with a bunch of musician buds in Nashville. The day after our show at The High Watt we took the tour gang to Prince’s Hot Chicken. A couple of us had been there before, so we were able to provide fair warning. Even the medium heat brings a tear to your eyes and ass.

St. Louis was next, at the Blueberry Hill Duck Room, which Chuck Berry made famous. The place is a memorabilia masterpiece, with sports and music idols as far as the eye can see. Show was great, but it was the last of the sunny days, sadly. The weather turned treacherous in the Midwest, and following a post-show McDonald’s scavenger hunt in St. Paul, we spun out on the exit ramp, crossed four lanes of traffic, and slammed into the barrier. Remarkably, both of Cal’s cheeseburgers made it through the madness unscathed. Paul wasn’t so lucky. Bun down.

After 8 inches of snow piled up overnight we decided to get an extra early start on our trek to Chicago. That proved prescient. Cars were strewn along the side of the highway, flipped over, and deep in the ditches. We must have seen 50. We worried about the condition of our van following the previous night’s wreck as we fishtailed about. So we hit a local mechanic in Hilton, WI who was luckily open. Turns out we didn’t have any damage, just a propensity for finding every patch of black ice on earth. Feeling confident in our vehicle for some reason, we headed back to the highway only to spin out AGAIN, crossing four lanes of traffic AGAIN…but narrowly missing the dividing rail this time. We drove 40 miles an hour for the next 240 miles and made it to Chicago in 11 hours flat.

Chicago was a highlight. Tons of faces new and old. They sang along. We half-joked about being alive. And some guy got kicked out for throwing a snowball.

Winter is coming.

Stay tuned for more! 

Check out the first installment!

The post Tales of the Golden Road: Spirit Animal Slide Across The South And Midwest appeared first on Glide Magazine.

Not too many years ago, Austin singer-songwriter Kevin Russell, the man behind the entity known as Shinyribs, had a revelation. He was discussing schoolteachers with his kids, and mentioned his first two were Miss Martin and Miss Gibson. That’s when he realized his destiny had been shaped decades ago, like the headstocks of his favorite guitars.

In fact, Miss Gibson’s impact reached even further. The Beaumont, Texas, native remembers the moment his 7-year-old ears heard her pronouncement, “You are a writer.” He knew even then that he wanted to apply that skill to songs; she gave him the confidence to pursue that dream. Seven years later, he started strumming and composing, and now, on February 24, 2017, Shinyribs the man and Shinyribs the eight-person band are about to dose fans with the exuberant swamp-pop soul-funk of their fourth release, I Got Your Medicine. Tracked at Houston’s legendary SugarHill Recording Studios, it carries a New Orleans R&B vibe — with extra gris-gris added by Russell’s co-producer, Jimbo Mathus.

Russell’s band years started during high school, in Shreveport, La. A move to Dallas, another to Austin, and formation of his last band, the Gourds, followed. In 2007, to cover payments on his new family vehicle, Russell started doing a monthly side gig at a Houston club, using the name bestowed upon him by a transient woman he’d once presented with a plate of ribs. In 2010, he released his Shinyribs debut, Well After Awhile. Gulf Coast Museum came in 2013.

By then, the 19-year-old Gourds had recorded with Larry Campbell at Levon Helm’s Woodstock studio, toured internationally and played countless shows. It was time to move on. With 2015’s Okra Candy, Shinyribs became a band, with drummer/percussionist Keith Langford, keyboardist Winfield Cheek and bassist Jeff Brown. With I Got Your Medicine it’s a party — attended by the Tijuana Train Wreck Horns and the Shiny Soul Sisters.

It might be a rent party at a trailer park, but hey, fun is fun, and that’s what Shinyribs are all about. Russell loves nothing more than challenging people’s sensibilities while making them laugh, which he can do merely by stepping onstage. He’s got a balding dome, longish white goatee, Santa-sized belly and no ass at all, and he’s usually wearing a wild suit picked up at a place called Soul Train Fashions (in New Orleans, natch). He’s a jovial presence, all right (a regular “hippie redneck Buddha,” said the Dallas Observer). When he straps on a guitar, mandolin or six-string ukulele and strums “Poor People’s Store,” “Take Me Lake Charles” or “Bolshevik Sugarcane,” or wiggles his non-ass while doing his best “Let’s Get It On” Marvin Gaye, he can turn even the most uptight audience into booty-shakers.

“I just do what comes natural and what turns me on,” says Russell. “Humor is really important to me in music. I love Coasters and Tony Joe White songs; you don’t know if it’s a joke or if they’re serious.”

And Russell is a master at balancing tongue-in-cheek with heart ’n’ soul. The title tune is a case in point: it’s drawn from his experience helping a down-and-out husband run errands for his anxiety-ridden wife. The lyric There’s a mall dying inside you and you never bought that dream references Russell’s love of empty old malls, which he finds “kind of depressing and kind of beautiful at the same time.” Buoyance comes from Tiger Anaya’s and Mark Wilson’s doo-wop/soul-flavored horns and backing vocals by Sally Allen and Alice Spencer.

They put a gospel groove on “Don’t Leave It a Lie,” and throw several retro influences into Ted Hawkins’ “I Gave Up All I Had.” Russell, who produced the 2015 compilation Cold and Bitter Tears: The Songs of Ted Hawkins, puts a particular hurt on that one.

“I’ve learned a lot about singing and how to write songs just from listening to his music,” he says. But inspiration comes from every direction. The honky-tonk-meets-Chuck Berry rocker “Trouble, Trouble,” for example, recalls a phrase he used to hear on a Dallas soul station.
“Tub Gut Stomp and Red-eyed Soul” gets its title from Russell’s definition of his musical style; an energetic Naw’lins romper, it’s filled with “freak-out juice” and “Jimbo stew.”

Speaking of Jimbo, Russell says their alliance was another confluence of strange events. It started years ago, when he heard Mathus’ Confederate Buddha album.

“I knew I had to meet this guy, so I got his number, called him up and said, ‘This is Kevin Russell. You may or may not know who I am, but I think you have my record collection and I want it back.’”

They’ve been friends ever since. One night, Mathus was supposed to open for Shinyribs in Beaumont after an appearance in Houston. The Mississippi resident hadn’t counted on Houston’s Friday afternoon gridlock, however. He missed the gig but showed up anyway.
“That was the first time he heard us with the horns,” Russell says. “He grabbed me after that show and said, ‘We gotta make a record! This is too good!”

Maybe his ears were captivated by the syncopated sexiness of “A Certain Girl,” their Allen Toussaint cover, or their gorgeous rendering of the Toussaint McCall/Patrick Robinson ballad, “Nothing Takes the Place of You.” Or maybe it was the bluesy “I Knew It All Along,” Russell’s very-successful attempt to write “just a real good done-me-wrong soul song,” or “Hands on Your Hips,” his take on “a good old jealousy song.”
“I Don’t Give A Shit,” a duet with Spencer, began as a country frolic about a couple who can’t stand each other, but love each other anyway. They rocked it up for the album — once they stopped laughing long enough to sing.

Gospel rave-up “The Cross Is Boss” puts a clever, slightly satirical finish on the affair; Russell says the song — like the album — is meant as a reminder that not every issue has to be taken so seriously.

“A lot of people are so tightly wound, they can’t let themselves go,” he says. “I feel like I can demonstrate to them that you can shake your hips, roll around on the floor, scream and shout, and it’s OK: people will still accept you. It’s just music; relax and have some fun.”

http://www.shinyribs.org

The post Shinyribs Announce Jimbo Mathus-produced Album, ‘I Got Your Medicine’ appeared first on Glide Magazine.

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The end of a presidency is always a cause for contemplation and rumination, this time more than ever. As we approach the final days of President Obama’s 8-year term in office, it’s only natural that we reflect on the man, who he is, what he accomplished, and how he got there. While the specter of his successor looms heavily on the minds of at least 50% of this country, we turn towards the man who inherited an impossible task and weathered the blows of a gale force opposition in order to lead us towards a calmer sea.

With that in mind, Barry, now streaming on Netflix, is as timely a movie as has ever been released. That’s about all it is, however. I can only imagine that everyone involved in its production had the best of intentions in making their movie, but we all know exactly what the road to Hell is paved with.

In this case, the Hell is cinematic, and no amount of well-intentioned hero building can make up for the dreadful lack of subtly or nuance as Barry aimlessly plods through its entirely pointless narrative. There’s neither a director nor cast on this planet who could spin gold from this straw man of script, though I will go so far as to concede that best efforts were indeed made.

Barry follows a young Barack (Devon Terrell) as he begins his studies at Columbia University in New York City. There, he attempts to rectify his personal identity with the perceptions of others—the white establishment who sees him as a black man, and a black population who views him as an outsider. Along the way, seeds are planted that will eventually grow into the president we would elect in 2008.

Admirable, to be sure, and filled with attempts at commentary on race relations and identity that should be all too relevant in today’s environment. The problem is that it all feels as though it was written by someone who never bothered to give these issues any real thought; instead, the script aimlessly goes through the motions, saying all the right things in all the wrong ways. Points are pounded home with the subtlety of a jackhammer, leaving precious little room for anything resembling poignance.

Screenwriter Adam Mansbach is best known for his tongue-in-cheek children’s book for adults, Go the Fuck to Sleep, whose unsubtle reflections charmed the internet several years ago, inspiring many of our most beloved actors to give readings from the book—Samuel L. Jackson most famously—much to our collective delight. None of said delight transfers to Barry, however, as Mansbach composes a story that desperately seeks purpose.

Worse still, it exists atop a peak of clichés and tropes so tired that your yawns of boredom feel something like sympathy. Young Barack reads Invisible Man while listening to Jesse Jackson—in case you needed a hint that this was a film about race—his mother raises her fist and yells, “Right on, brother” at the group singing “This Land is Your Land” in the park—if you weren’t sure that social justice was a theme—and Obama says things like, “The president’s an actor”—GET IT? SEE, HE BECOMES PRESIDENT LATER SO…

To their credit, director Vikram Gandhi brings a cinematic artistry a script such as this does not deserve, while Terrell’s performance is near uncanny as a young Obama. Barry is almost worth watching for these two elements alone, but not quite. Not even Anya Taylor-Joy, as Obama’s white girlfriend Christine—a stand in for all of us who just don’t get what the big deal is—can help spin this into something worth watching. Neither can Jason Mitchell, a stand out as Eazy-E in last year’s Straight Outta Compton, who here represents Barack’s, and in turn our own, introduction to the realities of marginalized living in 1980s America.

Like so much of Barry, their presence feels wasted. Words that should be infused with power come out as the trite observations of a college freshman newly aware of the concept of social justice, thanks to Mansbach’s ham fisted writing. While I could give points for the attempts made to address these issues, they feel so disingenuous that the net effect is a loss.

Perhaps it’s an issue of time. We’ve barely begun to process the good that President Obama did for our country, and not nearly enough time has passed to allow for the kind of nuance and insight allowed by history. As a result, Barry feels largely like telling us what we already knew, packaged in a clean veneer of fictionalization. Of course, all biopics suffer from this inclination to some degree or another, but here it feels especially grievous.

One day, it seems likely that we’ll get an Obama biopic worthy of his legacy. Today is not that day. The two hours you’d spend watching Barry would be better spent reading the many think pieces examining the man and his legacy that have been published, and will no doubt be published still in the coming weeks leading up to the next inauguration. This was a valiant attempt, no doubt, but the mark is well beyond missed.

Barry is now available for streaming on Netflix.

The post Netflix Misses the Mark with Ham Fisted ‘Barry’ (FILM REVIEW) appeared first on Glide Magazine.

In the ensuing years following Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s 2005 self-released debut album, vocalist/multi-instrumentalist/songwriter Alec Ounsworth has continued pushing himself creatively, releasing three additional Clap Your Hands Say Yeah full-lengths (for which he again wrote all of the music and lyrics) and issuing two solo projects. The group has also grown a robust international fanbase: In 2015 alone, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah toured in Latin and South America, Japan and Europe. All of these experiences have helped Ounsworth refine his vision for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, as the group heads into its twelfth year and the release of its fifth album, The Tourist.

Like previous Clap Your Hands Say Yeah records, The Tourist nods to Ounsworth’s musical heroes—a group that includes artists such as John Cale, Robert Wyatt, Tom Waits and Nick Cave. However, this album also shows a natural progression from previous records. “Better Off” and “The Vanity Of Trying” are lush, keyboard-augmented songs, while “A Chance To Cure” and “Ambulance Chaser” are rhythmically askew, and the sighing “Loose Ends” is delicate, acoustic-based folk-rock.

The Tourist emerged from a period where Ounsworth was doing a lot of intense soul-searching, and processing personal events that irrevocably shaped his life and future. But although most of these songs came together during this time of reflection, he considers the record to be cathartic—an exhale of sorts, rather than a collection of songs where he was indulging in self-pity or letting things stagnate or fester.

“The album was a type of purge,” he says. “A purge of certain emotional confusion that manifested itself in the last several years. It was not an easy album to make, by virtue of the fact that it was an emotional time for me.”

Ounsworth spent about a week recording The Tourist at Dr. Dog’s Philadelphia-based studio with a drummer and bassist. After that, he and engineer Nick Krill spent a few months “tidying things up” and recording additional embellishments: backup vocals, keyboards, guitars and more percussion. That gives The Tourist more of a band feel than the last album, and contributes to why the record possesses a musical lightness.  Check out the first track “Fireproof” below…

The Tourist was then mixed by Dave Fridmann, who also worked on two previous Clap Your Hands Say Yeah albums, 2007’s Some Loud Thunder and 2014’s Only Run. Ounsworth says he and Fridmann are on the same musical wavelength, which makes their long-time working relationship an anchor of sorts.  “Dave and I don’t necessarily stick with what’s easiest which is fine and anxiety-inducing, in a good way,” he says. “He challenges me to do something a little bit different.”

Having that space and freedom to explore as part of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is crucial to Ounsworth and a vital part of the band’s identity. As anyone who’s seen him perform a living room show will attest, this mindset also often results in songs with dramatically different arrangements. But as a musician and leader of an independent project, Ounsworth prides himself on honesty across all aspects of the band, from live performances to the studio.

“I am a relatively solitary person and seem to work best alone,” he says. “I do count on others to help the project as the process of making and releasing an album moves forward, but if it doesn’t match what I have in mind, it’s hard for me to really be there for it. I guess this is one reason why the project has been independent all this time. Trust me, I understand that thinking this way is both an asset and a liability.”

Tracklisting:

1. The Pilot
2. A Chance To Cure
3. Down (is Where I Want To Be)
4. Unfolding Above Celibate Moon (Los Angeles Nursery Rhyme)
5. Better Off
6. Fireproof
7. The Vanity Of Trying
8. Loose Ends
9. Ambulance Chaser
10. Visiting Hours

The post Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Announce Fifth LP ‘The Tourist’ appeared first on Glide Magazine.

Temples, the English four-piece consisting of James Bagshaw (vocals, guitar), Tom Walmsley (bass, backing vocals), Sam Toms (drums) and Adam Smith (keys), will release their new album, Volcano, on March 3rd via Fat Possum. They’ve announced they’ll be headlining the 2017 Desert Daze Caravan, along with Night Beats, Deap Vally, Froth and JJUUJJUU kicking off Wed. Feb. 22nd in San Francisco and taking them all over the west coast, south, and south west before the tour wraps up Fri. March 17th in Dallas. Check out “Certainty” off Volcano below…

Temples Tour Dates (new dates in bold):
Sun. Jan. 22 – Hebden Bridge, UK @ The Trades Club, Heavenly Weekend
Wed. Feb. 22 — San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel (Desert Daze Caravan)
Fri. Feb. 24 — Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom (Desert Daze Caravan)
Sat. Feb. 25 — Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s (Desert Daze Caravan)
Sun. Feb. 26 — Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre (Desert Daze Caravan)
Tue. Feb. 28 — Felton, CA @ Don Quixote’s (Desert Daze Caravan)
Wed. March 1 — Nevada City, CA @ Miners Foundry Cultural Center (Desert Daze Caravan)
Thu. March 2 — Pomona, CA @ Glass House (Desert Daze Caravan)
Fri. March 3 — Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy and Harriet’s (Desert Daze Caravan)
Sat. March 4 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent (Desert Daze Caravan)
Sun. March 5 — Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up Tavern (Desert Daze Caravan)
Sat. March 11 — Phoenix, AZ @ Downtown Phoenix [VIVA PHX] (Desert Daze Caravan)
Fri. March 17 — Dallas, TX @ Trees (Desert Daze Caravan)
Thu. March 30 – London, UK @ The Electric

The post Temples Headlining 2017 Desert Daze Caravan w/ Night Beats, Deap Vally, Froth & JJUUJJUU appeared first on Glide Magazine.

♥♥♥

Paul McCartney, Stevie Nicks, Ozzy Osbourne, Peter Gabriel. These names come to mind when you think of artists who went on to achieve solo success after already finding it in a band. Though many musicians have gone on to prove their own mettle, it is no easy feat to extricate yourself from a band’s image and brand your own sound and style. The sad fact is, almost every band is going to take a break because life happens. Yet, when music is in your very marrow you can’t blame a guy for trying to make the beat go on.

Pete – or Peter as he calls himself these days – Doherty, the former front man of The Libertines and Babyshambles, known to be notorious in life and lyrics, delivers a surprisingly tepid performance on his new solo endeavor The Hamburg Demonstrations. Doherty seems to have always struggled to find his niche in the solo world, with press accounts reporting that some live performances were met with him getting pelted with coins and alcohol to get off the stage.

In fairness, it must be hard to distance oneself from the excitement that was The Libertines. During that collaboration, Doherty helped lead a revival of punk garage-rock bands and contributed vocals and lyrics on two albums produced by Mick Jones of The Clash. The music was tight, fast-paced, and the messages were on point. The majority of the new songs on The Hamburg Demonstrations are a markedly mellow and unfocused departure. The songs often blur into one another, leaving the listener feeling listless and with a trigger finger to skip to the next track to see if there is something new around the bend.

In the midst of mellow and dreamy love song “I Don’t Love Anyone (but You’re Not Just Anyone),“ which to its credit is beautifully crafted in a musical sense, Doherty launches into a displaced verse of “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again.” It feels so out of place, the listener feels like they are listening to an intoxicated patron at the local karaoke night who forgot what song they were singing.

While the album is not one you can put on and listen to from start to finish, there are some hallmarks of a Doherty performance that fans are sure to appreciate. The messaging, while not as tight as we know Doherty can deliver, is there in songs like “Kolly Kibber”, named after the famed character from the Graham Greene novel. Credit too must be given where it is due, as “She is Far” is the gem of the album. With sweet lyrics and a perfect storm of violins and subtle drums to round it out, it is certainly mixtape or playlist worthy. If only the rest of the album could have followed suit.

The post Pete Doherty Swipes and Misses With ‘Hamburg Demonstrations’ (ALBUM REVIEW) appeared first on Glide Magazine.

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead owned the Denver area on 12/15 and 12/16/16 as they triumphed at the Ogden Theatre and then a night later at the Boulder Theater. As can be told by the photos and setlists, The Grateful Dead catalog is in good hands when Russo, Scott Metzger, Tom Hamilton, Marco Benevento and Dave Dreiwitz bring their Dead formula to the stage. Photos by Todd Radunsky.

Setlist

Ogden Theater,
Denver, CO
2016.12.15

Set 1 (9:13PM – 10:32PM)
Don’t Ease Me In (TH)>
Viola Lee Blues @ (All) ->
Space ->
Truckin’ (SM) ->
St. Stephen Jam ->
Truckin’ Reprise # (SM) ->
Born Cross Eyed Jam ->
Loser (TH) ->
Marco Solo $ ->
The Eleven (All) ->
Shakedown Street % (TH)

Set 2 ^ (11:08PM – 12:5?)
Golden Road To Unlimited Devotion (All) ->
Greatest Story Ever Told (SM) ->
Terrapin Suite & (TH & JR) ->
King Solomon’s Marbles *
Row Jimmy (TH) ->
Drums ->
Good Lovin’(SM) ->
The Wheel Reprise + (All) ->
Good Lovin’ Reprise @@ ->

E: GDTRFB ## (All) ->
Sugar Magnolia / SSDD $$ (SM)

@ – With a Throwing Stones Jam
# – First time played by Almost Dead, with Throwing Stones Teases (Band)
$ – With the usual spate of teases & familiar themes – see what you can find / what you remember
% – With “Chameleon” (Herbie Hancock) Teases (Band)
^ – With Estimated Prophet Teases throughout the set
& – With a “Duo Jam” & “Hateframe” (Benevento Russo Duo) Teases (JR)
* – With an Uncle John’s Band Tease (Band)
+ – Finishes The Wheel from Ogden Theatre on 2015.02.14
@@ – First Time Played by Almost Dead
## – With out the usual WBYGN Ending
$$ – Proceeded by a “WBYGN Ending” Tease (Band)

Boulder Theater
Boulder, CO
2016.12.16

Set One (9:18pm – 10:28pm)
Big Railroad Blues (TH) >
Feel Like A Stranger (SM)
Bird Song @ (TH) ->
The Other One # (SM)
Mississippi Half Step $ (TH) ->
Three Question Marks Jam % ->
Let It Grow^ (SM)

Set Two (11:04pm – 12:44am)
Alice D Millionaire & (SM) ->
I Know You Rider (All)
Tennessee Jed (TH) ->
Becky Jam ->
Tennessee Jed Reprise (TH) * ->
The Wheel Jam + ->
Let It Grow Jam ->
The Wheel @@ (All) ->
They Love Each Other ## (TH) ->
Estimated Prophet $$ (SM) ->
Touch Of Grey (TH)

E: Dancing In The Streets %% (SM) ->
Pork & Slaw ^^ ->
Dancing In The Streets (SM) ->
My Sharona Jam && ->
Dancing In The Streets Reprise ** (SM)

@ – With Cryptical Teases x 2 (TH)
# – With a “Hippie Dream” (Neil Young) Jam – may become a track, depending on length
$ – With a “Walk on the Wild Side” (Lou Reed) Tease (DD)
% – First Time Played by Almost Dead, Joe Lukasik Cover; not the entire song. Used to be covered by the Benevento Russo Duo.
^ – With an Other One Tease (Band), a Cryptical Tease (MB) & an Unknown Tease (MB)
& – Not played by Almost Dead since Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn, NY 2015-01-23, a gap of 77 shows
* – Not played by Almost Dead since Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn, NY 2015.10.3, a gap of 52 shows
+ – First Time Played By Almost Dead
@@ – Unfinished, with a “”Moonlight Mile” (Rolling Stones) Jam – may become a track, depending on length
## – With a “Shortnin’ Bread” (James Whitcomb Riley) Tease, a “Hamp’s Hump” (Lou Donaldson) Tease (JR), a West LA Fade Away Tease (MB) and a “Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer” (Robert Lewis May) Tease (MB)
$$ – With a Uncle John’s Band Tease (SM) & an “Inspector Gadget Theme” (Unknown) Tease (SM)
%% – With a Feel Like a Stranger Tease (MB)
^^ – WOLF! cover, First Time Played by Almost Dead
&& – The Knack cover, First Time Played by Almost Dead
** – Not Played by Almost Dead since Summer Camp, Chillicothe, IL, 2015.05.23, a gap of 59 shows

The post Joe Russo’s Almost Dead Tackle “The Catalog” at The Ogden and Boulder Theater (PHOTOS) appeared first on Glide Magazine.

The High Sierra Music has announced the initial artist lineup of the 27th Annual High Sierra Music Festival running June 29-July 2, 2017 at the Plumas-Sierra County Fairgrounds in Quincy, CA.  The initial artist lineup includes Trey Anastasio Band, Ween, Galactic, Mike Gordon, Con Brio, Fruition, The Suffers, Aoife O’Donovan, Billy Strings, The Lil’ Smokies, Big Something, Achilles Wheel, and more to be announced. Early bird tickets are currently on sale now…

The post Ween, Trey Anastasio Band, Galactic, The Suffers Lead 2017 High Sierra Music Festival Phase 1 Lineup appeared first on Glide Magazine.

On December 23, Nine Inch Nails will self-release Not The Actual Events, a new five- song EP. It finds Reznor and now official bandmate Atticus Ross taking an unexpected left turn from 2013′s Hesitation Marks and sounding unrecognizable from their current film work. “It’s an unfriendly, fairly impenetrable record that we needed to make,” says Reznor. ”It’s an EP because that ended up being the proper length to tell that story.”

The post Nine Inch Nails Announce New EP ‘Not The Actual Events’ appeared first on Glide Magazine.

Having made a name for themselves in the re-emerging local music scenes in New Jersey, alt-folk band Lowlight released their debut LP, Where Do We Go From Here, earlier this year. The chemistry of the musicians in Lowlight came when Renee Maskin (lead vocals, guitar) and Colin Ryan (drums) came together to record for their now defunct group Seapost. Those sessions were engineered by Derril Sellers (guitar, background vocals) who then brought in his wife Dana Sellers (keyboards, background vocals) to write some new songs after those sessions. The rest, as they say, is history.

Just in time for the holidays, Lowlight have recorded a rendition of Tom Waits’ “New Year’s Eve” off his 2011 album Bad As Me, and today we are excited to share an exclusive listen of it right here on Glide Magazine. The band traded out the song’s accordion for a piano and gave it a full band arrangement, presenting the song in a rootsier light. They recorded this track live on December 3rd at Andy Bova’s Simple Sound Studio in Oceanport, NJ. Andy – who has produced records by Dentist, Rick Barry, and more – recorded, engineered, produced, and mixed everything. “New Year’s Eve” is part of a longer Simple Sound Session, which includes another, brand new Lowlight song and an interview with CoolDad Music’s Jim Appio. The entire session will be available at cooldadmusic.com on Friday, December 30th. This was the first in a planned series of Simple Sound Sessions.

Reflecting on Lowlight’s cover, lead vocalist and guitarist Renee Maskin says, “‘New Year’s Eve’ is a great holiday song because it captures a range of emotions experienced around this time of year. There’s a lot of revelry, but also sorrow and loss. We admire the poignant beauty that Tom Waits often manages to capture in his songs, and does so well in this one.”

LISTEN: 

Lowlight’s debut LP, Where Do We Go from Here, is available now from BNS Sessions. For more info, check out their Facebook page. 

Photo Credit: Jim Appio

The post SONG PREMIERE: New Jersey’s Lowlight Offer Spirited Take On Tom Waits’ “New Year’s Eve” appeared first on Glide Magazine.

For British-born guitar player Chris Green, he loves living in the South – especially at this time of the year. When he first moved to America he lived in Chicago. “For five years I dealt with four or five foot snowdrifts outside my door, digging out my car, digging out the garage and all of that kind of stuff. I miss it slightly but now I have a four year old boy and he can go outside for so much more of the year now that we’re down here.” It has also given Green a chance to get a real tan: “I’m slowly morphing into an American now. I got a mean tan this summer and so much so I don’t think people believe I’m English,” Green told me. “It took a lot of work, I’ll tell you that. You have to go from blue to white to pink to lobster red before you finally get to brown.” But the traffic situation was a whole different ballgame. “I went from Chicago traffic to Atlanta traffic and it’s like total punishment,” he said with a laugh.

Weather, tans and traffic aside, Green is having a really good spell. He has just released a solo EP, Unveil, featuring five knock-out instrumental tunes that focus on depth and emotion rather than speedy fingers and show-offy theatrics. For him, each song has a meaning and he hopes those feelings will translate to the listener. “I think a lot of people have forgotten what it is to be moved by a piece of music that uses no lyrics,” explained Green just prior to his EP’s release. “The listener gets to interpret the piece however they see fit. That was my goal. For me, to finally move freely within music with no boundaries was a complete luxury, and a challenge at the same time. What I’ve laid down on this album isn’t just notes, it’s laying every emotion I experienced during a turbulent time of my life without using a single word.”

A lot indeed has happened in Green’s circle the past several years. He lost his best friend, who happened to be his father, several Tyketto bandmates had family members become severely ill and Green himself picked up a nasty intestinal bug after performing on a cruise. It was enough to put Tyketto on the backburner this fall despite releasing their latest album Reach in October.

But for Green, who joined Tyketto in 2012 and has played in Rubicon Cross and Furyon, you take life as it comes and you cherish every moment. Posting on his Facebook this past Saturday, Green wrote, “Make the most of what you have and the loved ones that surround you. We all take things for granted and it’s worth remembering that even though we think things are tough (and they very well might be), there’s people out there going through worse. Hug your family, call a friend or loved one, make the most of what you’ve got.”

Green grew up in a musical household. His father, Dave Green, was a guitar player in several bands during the sixties and seventies, most notably Deep Feeling, who released Guillotine in 1971, and which Green covers their track “Welcome For A Soldier” on Unveil.

Talking with Green earlier this month, Glide got to know this unsung guitar god a little better.

A lot has been happening in your world these past few months. Can you update us on everything and everybody?

In regards to the Tyketto stuff, yeah, it was a real tough few months. We regularly go out around November to tour in Europe and on the lead-up to this particular tour, the drummer Mike [Clayton], his wife Izzy found out that she had cancer again, which was devastating. I mean, obviously devastating to the family but to all of us because we’re all kind of family. Everyone knows each other’s wives and girlfriends and stuff and I can only imagine what they’re going through right now. But it was a big blow and at that point Mike begrudgingly said, “Look, I’m going to have to not do this tour. I’ve got to stay here, I’ve got to be here with her.” So he had to stay there to be with her.

We started training a new drummer up and then Chris [Childs], our bass player, found out that his mom had basically fallen really sick and only had like, at most, maybe a month left to live. So it was a huge dark shadow and at that point we all just put our hands up and just said, look, there are forces out of our control here and we just need to postpone this. Not cancel it but postpone it and see if we can do this again at some time when everyone is more on their game, you know.

Izzy is going through all of her treatment at the moment and she’s been an absolute trooper with that. So everyone is back on the mend. So we cancelled the tour and then I think maybe a week after we cancelled the tour, I went down with like an infection in my intestines and I was basically in bed for the better part of two or three weeks. And that carried on all the way over to when we would have left to go on tour. So it really was just not meant to be. It’s just been a real tough time. And Danny [Vaughn, singer], who lives in Spain, he’d be on tour with us right now as well and they just had these floods go all the way through their village and washed away practically everything there.

I can only imagine us all being an absolute wreck on this tour. So we’ve rescheduled it and we’re going back over in January. We’re flying to Frankfurt for rehearsals and then I think our first show is in Switzerland and then we will be snaking back through Germany, Holland, Belgium I believe and then in the UK. And everyone is excited and it looks like the right decision. Everyone is going to go back and we’ll be in full force with the original band that played on this album.

I’m ready for 2016 to be over with

Yeah, all of us, we’re all in agreement that 2016 really couldn’t end quick enough. It’s just been one of those years. It started off so great with the recording of the album and then it just took this massive bomb at the tail end of the year. But we’ve all helped each other along. Like I said, the great thing about Tyketto is that it’s a real family and everyone is always there for each other. So we’ll be back next year stronger than ever.

So what happened with you? Do you know what caused you to be so sick?

Well, we’ve played on the Monsters Of Rock Cruise that goes out of Miami every year for the last three years and this year we also got on the one out of LA, the Monsterwood Cruise that went to Catalina and Ensenada. And anyone out there that goes on cruises knows that these things are like petri dishes for germs. Everyone is touching the same handles to go into the same restaurants and bathrooms and doors to go outside and concert rooms and unless you are vigilant about sanitizing your hands and stuff, you’re going to get sick. And generally people do get sick. Out of four cruises, I’ve been sick three times. One of them I came off with a virus, one of them I had been bitten by a tick on one of the islands and was in the emergency room a couple of days after I got back. Then I got away with one! (laughs) And I was perfectly well and I couldn’t believe it.

The in-joke in the band is I’m like sick boy. If someone is going to get sick, Chris is going to get sick. Never travel with Chris because his planes are always delayed and he’s stuck at the airport all night. I just happen to have the worst luck when it comes to that kind of stuff. And on this occasion I thought I had got away with it but I got back and I had picked up something and I left it too long and eventually when I got the antibiotics, the antibiotics I took killed off all of the good bacteria in my system as well and it left this really gnarly bacteria that got into my intestine and just ran rampant. I was extremely sick. I lost about fourteen pounds in two weeks.

It seems like you can’t win with these things. You take one thing for another thing and that thing doesn’t do so good. I try hard not to take antibiotics unless it’s essential. In England when you get sick you pretty much have to crawl in, be on your death bed before a doctor would even consider giving you antibiotics. They’re really stingy with them. They kind of just turn you around, pat you on the head and say, “You’ll be fine. Just go back to work and rest in the evening.” (laughs) That British mentality is, “Stop moaning about it, you’ll be fine.”

Well you sound good now and probably some of that has to do with your new record that just came out. How long have these songs been kicking around wanting to come out?

Forever! I mean, I’ve said it before that I probably beat Def Leppard in terms of how long it can possibly take to get a record out. I suppose this thing was really the best part of five years in the making. I was very close to my father when he was alive and he passed away unfortunately in 2011. We’d stay up late at night talking about the music business and you know he’d been in the music industry for decades. I grew up with him being on TV and being in reasonably famous bands. So he was really like my mentor for the industry. I didn’t sign some really shady record deals because of his advice. His advice was really, really invaluable to me.

I remember one night I was talking about how difficult being in a band is and I never get my own way enough, I’ve always got to compromise (laughs). And I think he just kind of got fed up with me and said, “Why don’t you stop whinging about it and do your own band under your own name. Then you’re the boss and you can do everything you want and I don’t have to sit and listen to this.” (laughs) “Oh I’ve never thought of that.” And I left it. After he passed away I thought, you know what, I should do that. I was going through one of those life is too short frames of mind so I started writing some instrumental music and it came together relatively quickly. I’d been in progressive rock bands when I was younger so I was used to writing long musical passages and all of that kind of stuff. And I tried some very, very different writing techniques on this.

One of the tracks I just wrote an entire acoustic piece and then wrote a lead guitar line over the top of it; so kind of backwards. I wrote the rhythms first and then created the melodies. And that was a track called “Remember.” It’s just acoustic guitar and strings and electric guitar. Then there is “Once Forgotten” and the reason I named it that is because I was going through a stage of trying to write music without even having a guitar in my hands. So what I would do is I’d get on the plane with my MacBook, and I was doing a lot of transatlantic flights because I was playing in different American bands. I was playing in Firehouse and Nelson and I had like Logic Pro, like a music program, and if you hit caps lock it brings up like a picture of a keyboard and you can actually play notes in so I got like a sound, a guitar synth sound, and basically wrote the whole of that progressive track without even having a guitar in my hand. I wrote it I think in one plane ride. And I probably drank way too much red wine, you know, cause it’s free booze on those planes and the next day I evidently completely forgot about this song.

So when I was trying to collect from the pool of ideas I had for what I was going to lay down in the studio, I suddenly came across this song that I’d written like twelve months prior and couldn’t even remember it. So I don’t know how much of that wine I drank on the plane but it was evidently enough that I couldn’t remember writing this. So I actually then had to go about learning the entire song on a guitar, which proved to be quite difficult because when you write stuff on the guitar you generally write it to fit around what your hands are capable of doing. So that was a bit of a challenge. There were a lot of big stretches and I had to rearrange a few notes. But I called it “Once Forgotten” because that’s exactly what I did (laughs). And the reason I then called the next track “Remember” was because I didn’t want to make the same mistake again. So I thought if I call it “Remember,” I will definitely remember what it was called (laughs).

You have a song on here about your father but it’s not the first time that he has inspired a piece of music by you.

That’s true. The first track on the album, “Undefeated,” I actually came up with that melody, I improvised it, when I was playing a show in Raleigh, North Carolina. I was doing a show with CJ [Snare] from Firehouse and he was like, “Just do a guitar solo.” So he played a couple of keyboard chords and I just let it out and ripped out this solo and the whole beginning section of it I kept and it’s actually the beginning of that “Undefeated” track. It was completely spur of the moment and then I took the idea and with him in mind I just wrote this in what I think is probably the most emotive piece I’ve ever written as far as instrumental stuff. I really like that song and I was unsure where to put it and in the end I thought, you know what, I’m going to put it right at the beginning. It’s just got that real anthemic vibe to it. If they do a remake of Top Gun, I think I might throw my hat in the ring for that to be the theme tune cause it’s got that whole anthemic vibe about it (laughs). Then the last track on the album, “Welcome For A Soldier” is actually a cover of a track by his seventies band Deep Feeling. It was a 1971 album called The Guillotine and that track, “Welcome For A Soldier” was the first track on there. I basically replaced all of the vocals four-part harmonies with guitar lines.

When you’re creating songs without words do you always have a story that propels it?

Well, I had very different approaches to each one of these songs. The first track that was more like a structured track was “Unveil.” When I wrote that I basically had in mind, I was a huge fan of all of those Shrapnel Records players in the kind of neoclassical movement – Vinny Moore, Paul Gilbert, Jason Becker, Marty Friedman, all of those guys. I just always wanted to write one of those neoclassical kind of based tunes but I loved really heavy music. So I dropped all the tuning to just try and create something that I thought would sound in keeping with what those guys were doing back then but with a much more heavy edge to it. “Once Forgotten” was basically my attempt at just, I’m going to write a song without repeating any section. So my inspiration for that was the much more progressive bands that I grew up listening to.

The difficult thing for me, especially when I’m writing, is I stop listening to all music that’s not music I’m writing. I know that sounds a little pompous but the reason being is that I get really scared that I’m going to steal ideas. So I have to stop because I think if I listen to, I don’t know, Mr Big the day before, I’m petrified I’m going to subconsciously pinch one of their lines (laughs). So I just basically stop listening to outside music and it’s worked so far. It’s very focused but it’s also like cabin fever. I get real cabin fever when I’m in that zone writing music.

Were you hearing all these intricate notes and chords and riffs from a very young age?

Yes, absolutely. You know what, my biggest struggle as a guitar player growing up until I went to guitar college, was I just couldn’t play what was in my head. I had all of these notes and riffs and ideas and my fingers just could not keep up with what I wanted to do. I ended up going to the Guitar Institute Of Technology in London and that was really the breakthrough. I basically spent eight hours a day at college playing guitar and then I’d go home and practice for hours. So I went in there really like a beginner to intermediate player but in my head thinking I’m an intermediate to pro player. But then when I came out I realized I was only really an intermediate player at the end of the college, and I had to absorb all the knowledge, refine the techniques I’d learned and then get out there and get in bands and stuff and start making it happen live.

So I locked myself away probably for about a good year after getting back from college. I kind of thought, oh yeah, here we go, I’m going to burst on the scene, I’m ready and my chops are good. But we were in what I class as the dark ages, the mid-nineties, where no bands were playing solos. Grunge was kind of, I suppose, on it’s last legs and numetal was on it’s way in and nobody was playing intricate guitar stuff. In fact, if you did you were kind of classed as just like a vapid musician or you’d have to get into like progressive rock, which is why I ended up getting into that. I’ve done all this work, I’m not going to bounce out and play three chord songs in cargo shorts. That’s just not me. That’s not what I do. So really, as soon as I came out of college and had those capabilities I was able to play all this stuff I had in my head, even all of my solos, and I used to love writing solos for songs. One of my favorite players growing up was a guy called Vito Bratta, who was in White Lion. He was such a master at creating songs within songs during his solo break. It was almost like he’d go off into a departure of a different key or something; it’d be like a movement within the song. So that was a big inspiration to me. Now, I’ll be in bed and I can write like half a song in my head and then I’ll go down to the studio and just play it out. It can happen that quickly.

You have a range of emotions on this record. For someone who speaks through the guitar, what is the hardest emotion to convey in just notes?

The one I think you have to get very right is inspiration. I use, or I try to use, a lot of like Classical music progressions, reminiscent of like, I don’t know, John Williams film scores. There’s always this immense feeling of inspiration in the movement, when they change keys from minor to major keys and it just really draws you in and that’s really hard to execute cause a lot of rock music and rock-based music is in minor keys. You don’t really listen to a lot of major stuff. They never do major keys properly and I think that’s quite difficult. I think that’s where inspiration is probably the hardest emotion to put across but when you achieve it I think it can be the most honest.

When you first picked up a guitar, what kind of guitar was it?

It was a black Encore. It probably cost fifty pounds. I was eleven years old. I had been begging my dad to let me have an electric guitar and he kind of forced me to play this acoustic. He didn’t even want me to play guitar. My mom didn’t want me to play the guitar cause she didn’t want me to be like him. He didn’t want me to play guitar cause he didn’t want me to be like him (laughs). Basically, I would go in his study and I would just pick up this guitar and I’d bang away on the strings not knowing what to do. The funny thing is, my four year old son does exactly the same thing. So eventually he said, “I’ll show you a couple of things on guitar,” and he realized just how into it I was. I practiced for hours just simple chords backwards and forwards. Eventually he got a friend of his to teach me because he wouldn’t teach me himself.

Why?

Well, I kind of get it now because now that I have a child I realize that teaching a child stuff like that, like music, if they go to a teacher there’s this element of authority that they know they have to listen. It’s really kind of easy to goof off and tell your parents, “I don’t want to do this.” Like the producer for this record for example, a phenomenal musician, he taught at the New York Conservatory and he knows everything about Jazz theory, his son is a prodigy but he won’t teach him piano. He drives him an hour away to have piano lessons for the same reason.

What was your first I can’t believe I’m here moment?

Funny enough, the first one, which isn’t that big of a deal to anybody else, but in my hometown there’s a town next door called Haywards Heath and growing up if you were any kind of local band you got a chance to play Clair Hall because this was the place that had the stage that was like a proper show stage. It was five feet off the ground. We were all playing pubs and dingy clubs and stuff like that. So to play a gig at Clair Hall was like, okay, you’ve elevated to like local hero status. So I think when I was like eighteen maybe, my progressive rock band, we got a show there. I think I’ve got a video of it somewhere but I remember thinking, that’s it, we’ve got it, Clair Hall, doesn’t get any better than this and now we can concentrate on taking over the country and the world and all that kind of stuff, which evidently didn’t happen with that band (laughs). But that was the first time. And most people probably think, Oh my God, Clair Hall? The last time I went back to England I wandered in there to have a look and it hadn’t changed a single bit but it brought back a lot of memories, cause I’d gone to see Battle Of The Bands there all the time, my favorite bands, so it was great seeing it.

But let’s take it up a little bit in scale now. The next time that that probably happened was when I played in Firehouse. The guitar player had fallen sick, and CJ, who I was working with on the Rubicon Cross album, called me and said, “Listen, do you want to go and do a tour of India?” I was like, India? They actually listen to rock music? “You wouldn’t even believe it. So you want to do it?” So I was like, I’ll do it for the experience. So no rehearsals, they just sent me links to how they do the songs live. We land in India, we stay at the Maharaja’s summer palace and we had machine gun mounted jeeps on either side of our car wherever we went from the moment we landed in India. Then there’s billboard posters everywhere of the band and I was like, but there’s shacks everywhere, poverty, who is going to turn up for this thing? I can’t see one person with the long hair or a band t-shirt.

So we get to the soundcheck and they’ve built this stage, same size as like Madison Square Garden, out of giant bamboo. And it’s a festival stage in a football stadium. And I’m like, okay, this is weird. No one is here and there’re women brushing leaves off of the football field with brooms. There must have been like fifty women just brushing leaves. So we do the soundcheck and we come back and there’s 43,000 people packed into this football stadium. We’re playing with White Lion, they were the other band on the bill, and we go out onstage and it was unbelievable. They sang every word to every song in perfect English. I doubt they could even speak English but they knew every word. There was a point in the concert where CJ turned around and said, “Just do a solo in E minor” and ran off behind the keyboard. And I’m thinking, okay, I’m being put on the spot here. So I just made up a solo, 43,000 people in front of me, and I held this big note and I let it down and everyone screamed and then CJ walked over to me and kind of waved his hands down to tell the crowd to quiet down and it just went silent. And he whispered in my ear, “That’s what it’s like to have 43,000 people in the palm of your hand.” And it was just me and him talking on the stage with these people waiting for us to start again. It was the most surreal, unbelievable feeling I’ve ever had in my life. I’m a bit younger than those guys and so this scene, the late eighties/early nineties rock scene, I was still too young to be in a professional band at that time so it kind of passed me by. So this was a chance to see and relive what those guys were doing back in the day. It was a wonderful experience and a great tour as well.

We were talking about Tyketto earlier. When you came into that band, and that band had been around a while, how do you think it changed when you came into the lineup?

The band can probably answer that question probably better than me but I had some big shoes to fill. Brooke St James, the original guitar player, had a very specific sound so I worked very hard to make sure that I stayed very true to how he played all the songs. I played the solos note for note, made sure that it was as the fans wanted to hear it. But the guys now, Danny and Mike, who are the original members in the band, they say this is the most positive live entity that this band has ever had, the most positive incarnation of the band. A real compliment from the band and the fans, them saying that I look so natural up there it’s as if I was always in the band. And it feels like that up there as well. It’s not me saying I’m doing a better job than the original guitar player. I’m just doing the best job that I can and it seems to be working. So I don’t question that. We get out, we enjoy, we have smiles on our faces when we’re playing, we have a great time and it just so happens that the caliber of musicianship is really there with these guys. We can have a lot of fun onstage without worrying about whether we’re going to play our parts. Everyone knows that everybody else is going to do their job.

What is your predominant guitar?

I’m sitting in my studio right now and I have guitars all over the walls, all over the place. I own something like 140 or 150 guitars in total. It’s completely out of control (laughs). My go-to guitar is a Paul Reed Smith guitar. I have two PRS guitars, no, I’ve got three actually, PRS guitars. I forgot about that (laughs). But those are the ones that are my go-to guitars because they are very good at the acrobatics of lead guitar. I can kind of get up on the high notes and move around quickly on those. I guess my second ones I play are my Les Pauls and then I’ve got some really nice Gibson SGs that I don’t take out live cause they’re very old vintage ones. Most of my guitars are over fifty years old.

Is that because you like to collect the vintage guitars or because each one kind of has it’s own special personality that you like tinkering with?

A lot of these guitars my dad left me. He was a guitar hoarder and unfortunately it got passed down (laughs). I had all these guitars but was like, I don’t seem to have a Les Paul and then it was like, I got a black Les Paul but I don’t have the Goldtop and then it just started spiraling out of control. You want a twelve string and a six string and then a seven string? Why not (laughs).

Do you like getting all techie and experimental in the studio or do you like to have all that mostly worked out when you’re creating the actual song?

Oh yeah, I am incredibly meticulous and when I go into the studio I hate surprises. So I will go in there and work everything out note for note and then go in and execute it and get out of there. The studio is actually my least favorite environment. It’s just very strange to me. When you go out and play live, how you play is always slightly different every single time you play, which is why sometimes you come away from a gig like, wow, that was a real cracker, that gig was really cool. So you have to immortalize one take and that’s going to be the take that everybody will listen to and that’s the one that everybody is always going to know. It’s a really bizarre concept to me because that’s it. For someone as meticulous as me, it means that I am so paranoid about getting it just right that I will bowl over take after take after take after take that are probably exactly the same, perfectly good, just for the sake of looking for this holy grail take that’s just going to jump out at me. So the producers have to kind of calm me down a little and say, “Look, we’re going to have to take over here or this album’s going to take a year to make.” (laughs) So I do one or two takes and they go, “That’s great, let’s move on to the next thing.” It was a big lesson in just chilling out and letting it go a little.

Did you inherit that from your dad?

OCD, absolutely (laughs)

What do you miss most about your dad?

You know what it is, I still get times now where something great will happen and I’ve got to call dad and then it kind of very quickly registers that he’s just not there anymore. Cause I would share everything with him. He was always so supportive of me and he had a really successful career but he would always tell me that I was doing so much better than he ever did. He was just so inspiring and now that all of this stuff is happening, it’s just like, man, I really wish I could just chat with him and stuff. It’s just little things that anybody who has lost a parent will know, which is you crave things like being able to hear their voice. I’ve rummaged around on videos just to kind of find a bit in the video where he’s talking just to hear his voice. That’s probably what I miss the most, just talking to him, whether it’s talking about nothing at all, whether it’s sitting down and watching an old comedy with him. We were best friends so it was really difficult.

If you wanted to turn your fans onto your dad’s music, what do you recommend?

I absolutely would say the band Deep Feeling. In 1971, they released an EP called The Guillotine and it was like six tracks and it is some of the best British seventies prog rock. It’s got some phenomenal harmonies and the musicianship is amazing. There are a couple of covers on there; there’s like a bass guitar version of “Classical Gas” and it’s a really, really amazing body of work. Even now, I still listen to it all the time. It’s one of my favorite albums. So I definitely would recommend people going to listen to that one.

And your band is going on tour starting in January.

We head out on January 8^th but if you go to my website
it has all of my tour dates, information and there’s a limited edition signed copy of my CD at the moment which you can purchase on that website. But you’ll get all the information you need there about videos, photos, links to other stuff I’ve done.

A great Christmas gift

The perfect stocking filler (laughs)

The post Chris Green of Tyketto/Rubicon Cross Lets Six String Scorch on ‘Unveil’ EP (INTERVIEW) appeared first on Glide Magazine.

Marc Ford has always seemed like a guy you can’t help but root for. His wicked guitar tone appears to be in complete contrast to his humble demeanor. When he asked his fans to help fund his latest studio album The Vulture, it was one of the few instances where a Kickstarter Campaign wasn’t met with the usual skepticism and eye rolls. But listening to this man, most know as the former lead guitarist for The Black Crowes play, it’s still difficult for the uninitiated to connect him to the unassuming figure on stage. His sound is so ferocious that fans often refer to him as “Marc Fucking Ford.” In fact, Ford has two Facebook fan groups referencing this very nickname.

Ford along with his band – The Neptune Blues Club – tore through his late set at the Iridium on Friday December, 16th as the first snow of the winter fell on Manhattan. He was supporting The Vulture with just bass and drums, but it sounded like there were more musicians onstage. Opening with “Steady Rolling Man,” the Neptune Blues Club tore the place down. Ford mentioned that he would be changing up the setlist from the early show and highlighted not only The Vulture but the band’s 2008 self-titled album. However it was the newer compositions particularly: “Devil’s in the Details,” “The Same Coming Up” and “This Ride” that were all particularly strong.

Sitting just a few feet from this wiry figure under a hat this reviewer couldn’t believe all that lead music was coming out of just a single guitar. His solos seemed to contain different thematic stages within and it was a pure delight. “Dream #26” from 2014’s Holy Ghost album was a nice change of pace and highlighted Ford’s singing, as his voice serves as the perfect foil to his playing. The set ended with another song from the new album – “Arkansas Gas Card” – sung by drummer Anthony Arvizu. While Ford sat this one out vocally, he guitar. It’s a crime more people don’t know about Marc Ford’s solo work. From 2002’s It’s About Time to 2007’s Weary and Wired, and 2010’s Fuzz Machine, the guy has put together some excellent material. If you’re looking to hear what those eras sounded like onstage, there’s a great recording of his 2008 Malibu show out there. What else can one say, except #bemoreford!

Photos by Ross Edmond

The post Marc Ford and The Neptune Blues Club Stir Up The Iridium (SHOW REVIEW/PHOTOS) appeared first on Glide Magazine.

Goodbye, Darling: Zsa Zsa Gabor Dies at 99

Actress, celebrity, and glamour queen Zsa Zsa Gabor passed away suddenly yesterday, December 18, reportedly of a heart attack. She was 99. Gabor rose to fame after winning Miss Hungary in 1936, and quickly gained prominence both as a “celebutante” and as an actress, appearing in films such as the original Moulin Rouge in 1952 and the Orson Welles masterpiece Touch of Evil in 1958. In later decades, she was known for playing satirical versions of herself on both television and in the movies. In later years, she’d largely retired from public life due to failing health and age. Gabor leaves behind a long-lasting legacy of glitz and glamour, setting the bar for fabulousness for stars to this day and, most likely, well beyond.

Announcement Trailer for ‘Blade Runner 2049′ Gives Hope for Worthy Follow Up

This morning brought our first glimpse at Blade Runner 2049, taking us back into the world of replicants that Ridley Scott brought us into back in 1982. Little is revealed in the announcement trailer, aside from showing us a glimpse at Ryan Gosling, a blade runner like Deckard before him, meeting his forebear in a tense confrontation. No word yet on whether 2049 will delve into the “is Deckard a replicant or isn’t he” controversy, but it does seem likely that Gosling is hunting Deckard. Director Denis Villeneuve (Arrival) takes on directorial duties, and while we don’t see much, it does seem as though Villeneuve matches Scott’s dark, dirty tone. It might be too soon to declare that this will definitely be amazing, but this is certainly a positive first sign. Blade Runner 2049 opens October 6, 2017.

(Warner Brothers)

‘John Wick: Chapter 2′ Releases Full Trailer

Last October’s teaser for John Wick: Chapter 2 gave us plenty to look forward to in the sequel to the 2014 surprise. The first full length trailer is hot off the presses and looks every bit as fun and amazing as it’s predecessor. Keanu Reeves’ deadly master assassin is once again pulled back into the fray after a contract is put out on his life; this time, John Wicks heads to Rome where we can only assume he’s planning to kill literally everyone in Europe. There, he faces off against Ruby Rose, Common, and Ian McShane in a battle for his life. As an added bonus, Reeves is reunited with his The Matrix co-star Laurence Fishburne for the first time since The Matrix Revolutions in 2003. Director Chad Stahelski and writer Derek Kolstad have also reunited, assuring us another rollicking romp of violence and mayhem. John Wick: Chapter 2 opens everywhere on February 10, 2017.

‘Rogue One’ Blasts the Competition from the Sky

As expected, Rogue One dominated the box office this weekend, taking in $155 million (well over $100 million over the rest of the top 9 combined). Though not as big as last year’s The Force Awakens (which took in $247 million), Rogue One met the expectations of Disney, who had downplayed their expected take in the months leading up to release. Coming in a (very) distant second was Moana, earning $11.6 million, followed by Office Christmas Party with $8.4 million. Rounding out the top five was newcomer Collateral Beauty with $7 million and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them with $5 million. For the full top 10, see below.

1. Rogue One-$155 million
2. Moana-$11.6 million
3. Office Christmas Party-$8.4 million
4. Collateral Beauty-$7 million
5. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them-$5 million
6. Manchester By the Sea-$4.1 million
7. La La Land-$4 million
8. Arrival-$2.7 million
9. Doctor Strange-$2 million
10. Nocturnal Animals-$1.3 million

(Box Office Mojo)

The post Film Bits: RIP Zsa Zsa Gabor; ‘Blade Runner 2049′ First Look; ‘John Wick: Chapter 2′ Releases First Full Trailer appeared first on Glide Magazine.

Heavy rock outfit Red Fang have long been one of Portland’s most respected and notable exports, so it was fitting that they chose the Wonder Ballroom to close out their tour on Saturday, December 17. The sold out crowd only proved to make it an even more fitting tour stop. With the release of their fourth studio LP Only Ghosts earlier this year, Red Fang have been steadily building upon an already loyal following. The same can be said for their tour mates, Whores and Torche, both of whom released widely praised albums this year.

The trio known as Whores kicked off the evening’s festivities with a quick-fire set that demonstrated a propensity for crushing riffs as much as melodic songs. Guitarist and singer Christian Lembach has a voice that is vaguely reminiscent of Kurt Cobain’s grungy growl, and in the live setting it coupled well with abrasive yet strangely catchy songs that often veered into the realm of sludge, death metal, and punk. As a trio Whores are capable of making a lot of noise, and their set felt sharp and aggressive in all the right ways.

Florida’s Torche were a bit underwhelming. Frontman Steve Brooks definitely possesses charisma, but his vocals were turned way down, making them hard to distinguish. The band tapped into a swirling mélange of droning sludginess that was closer to industrial rock than metal, and was always swelling towards something larger. Though Torche’s energetic stage presence was difficult to ignore, many of their songs tended to blend together, but part of this could have been blamed on the sound.

Red Fang hit the stage all smiles, wasting no time before slicing into a cascade of punishing riffs. The band’s sound is close to stoner metal, but also shimmers with rock and roll bravado with strong hooks. Their 90-minute set put a strong focus on Only Ghosts but also gave fair billing to songs from their other albums. Binding the set was the band’s ability to keep a constant speed going, rarely letting up and always shredding hard. Guitarist Bryan Giles swapped vocal duties throughout the set with bassist Aaron Beam, with Giles’ gritty vocals bringing to mind High On Fire and Sleep’s Matt Pike and Beam falling closer to more straightforward rockers like Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme.

The beauty of catching Red Fang live is watching two different yet equally talented vocalists perform alongside one another. Meanwhile, guitarist David Sullivan bit into one heavy riff after another, backed by the mammoth percussive blasts of drummer John Sherman. Together, the members of Red Fang showed an adoring hometown audience what makes their band chemistry so strong. In the process, they also capped off an epic year that has seen them emerge as one of the most exciting, heavy forces in rock music.

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You may not recognize Matt North by name, but there is a pretty, pretty good chance you’ve seen his face. North has acted in numerous roles, one of the most notable starring in seven episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm as Jason Alexander’s William Morris agent. Besides his work in film and TV, North is also an accomplished session drummer in Nashville, the city he now calls home. But on February 21st the drummer will step into the spotlight as a singer-songwriter with the release of his self-produced debut solo album Above Ground Fools (Round Badge Records). 

The album’s ten original tunes touch on subjects like doomed romance, the death of newsworthy news, male jealousy, legal battles, and other upbeat tales of personal failure, all of them true and stemming from personal experience. To make Above Ground Fools happen, Matt enlisted the skills of a handful of Nashville A-listers including bassist Chris Donohue (Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris), guitarist Stuart Mathis (Lucinda Williams, Wallflowers), keyboardist Michael Webb (Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton), Michael McAdam (Steve Earle), Billy Livsey (Brendan Benson), Christopher Wild, and The Nashville Horns.

Today we are excited to premiere the new video for rootsy rocker “No Hard Feelings” right here on Glide Magazine. The video features North and his band performing the song in a dive bar, which complements the soaring organ and the defiant, care-free attitude of the song.

Matt North offers up the story behind the video for “No Hard Feelings”

“I was encouraged to shoot this video by an unlikely secret weapon: my mother-in-law, Shelley Green. In the 1970s, Shelley was a record exec in Los Angeles for MCA, Warner Brothers, and Dot Records. She was Elton John’s point person when he first came to America and worked for The Who when they were on MCA. When I first met my wife as a struggling drummer in L.A., she had this photo on her wall of her Mom with Keith Moon that felt like a potential omen for being in the right place. So yeah, once my album was done, who was first person I sent it to? My mother-in-law. Shelley worked with bands to pick radio singles, she pitched videos to MTV in the early 80s, and this song was one of her picks. I don’t know a songwriter out there who can brag about strategizing career moves over power-lunches with his mother-in-law, but at my age, it’s kinda punk rock, no?”

LISTEN:

Matt North releases Above Ground Fools on Round Badge Records February 21. For more music and info visit mattnorth.net.

The post VIDEO PREMIERE: Drummer Matt North Steps Into the Spotlight With Rootsy Rocker “No Hard Feelings” appeared first on Glide Magazine.

As 2016 comes to a final close, Glide recently chose its top rock/folk/alt/singer-songwriter albums of the year. However it would be wrong to leave out a list of the top jazz oriented albums of the year. Glide’s resident jazz critic Doug Collette has chose his top ten albums in the jazz world of 2016. Lets take a look!

Will Bernard - Out & About:  One of the beauties of  Will Bernard’s records is the authoritative band-leading by which he authoritatively leads the ensemble to make sure each member gets his chance to contribute: which he manages to do without sacrificing his own instrumental voice. Every member of the all-star group on Out and About comes close to stealing the spotlight, particularly keyboardist Bryan Charette (saxophonist John Ellis is a close second), but instead, the playing of their respective instruments only sets off Bernard’s own guitar in more vivid relief.

Mike Dillon - Functioning Broke: In keeping with the paradox of this album’s title, percussionist Dillon manages to entrance his listeners by following his own impulses to create in the  spirit of the moment. A dozen cuts pass in such quick succession, Functioning Broke seems to be over almost as soon as it begins. Still, the impression it makes is as clear and memorable as the image on the back cover of the CD.

Pat Metheny – Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny: Pat Metheny’s willingness and ability to integrate himself within the trio of his one-time band collaborator is as much a testament to the Missouri-born guitarist and composer’s humility as his prodigious skill. But none of those virtues would matter so much if the unit within which he’s working here didn’t manifest its own measure of excellence. Trumpeter Vu and his comrades compose vivid material original material and play it with comparable high style.

Charlie Hunter- Everybody Has A Plan Until They Get Punched in the Mouth: Returning to his eight-string guitar after some years playing a seven-string instrument, Charlie Hunter nevertheless eschews mere grooves to emphasize song structure here. The numbers cornetist Kirk Knuffke and trombonist Curtis Fowlkes imbue with the celebratory spirit of New Orleans are not the only ones that highlight how beautifully recorded this album is: long-time Hunter collaborator Bobby Previte’s punchy drum work comes through with great nuance, as do the low notes of Hunter’s trademark axe.

Harvey Mandel- Snake Pit: While Snake Pit isn’t so innovative as Jeff Beck’s classic Blow by Blow, there are some marked similarities between the two record. Utilizing novelty on every front here–except that of the ‘real strings’ that recall George martin’s orchestral arrangements for El Becko– the once and future guitarist of Canned Heat and hired gun for ‘The God Father of British Blues’ John Mayall offers newly-composed original material to a group of accompanists with whom whom he’d never met prior to these sessions. The result is a slate of fresh, contemporary blues, the wholly instrumental likes of which should have remarkable durability.

Pat Metheny- The Unity Sessions: Configuring this double CD set of live performances separate from a previously-released DVD collection restores the concept of The Unity Band as the Grammy-Award winning bandleader/composer/guitarist originally intended: a far more spare (and spontaneous) instrumental unit than his Groups. Thus, while the main quartet (guitarist Metheny, saxophonist Chris Potter, bassist Ben Williams and drummer Antonio Sanchez) is augmented by multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Giulio Carmassi, the lean arrangements inspire similarly restrained  improvisations.

Allison Miller & Honey Ear Trio - Swivel Lean: The peripatetic percussionist spearheads two trios with somewhat similar but distinctly different acoustic/electric foundations for sax, bass and drums. With her collaborators, Miller creates multi-toned, ambient backdrops in front of the intuitive interactions during which improvisations, the respective lineups venture just far enough into abstract realms. Both ensembles actually utilize electronics to supply shape and purpose to sounds stretching the boundaries of traditional jazz.

Brad Mehldau - Blues & Ballads (w/Trio); Nearness (w/Joshua Redman): Hardly a year goes by that pianist composer Brad Mehldau’s work isn’t on the ‘Best of.’ But that’s only because, whether solo or in collaboration in some form, his music engages with great intensity. And so it is with 2016′s titles, the one a totally engrossing encounter with his trio, the other a similarly stirring cull of live recordings with his kindred spirit saxophonist Redman. Mehldau continues to amaze with the versatility of his talent and his willingness to experiment.

Nolatet – Dogs: Even with New Orleans as the foundation of this group figuratively and literally—the rhythm section of bassist James Singleton and drummer Johnny Vidacovich are staples of the Crescent City scene—this quartet refuses to play to predictable form. Instead, the ensemble,  rounded out by keyboardist Brian Haas (of Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey) and percussionist/vibist Mike Dillon, transcends labels to engage in an interplay as intelligent as it is muscular. In so doing, Nolatet  creates a dialect all its own from the respective languages of its individuals.

John Scofield- Country For Old Men: The venerable guitarist unites with old friends (keyboardist Larry Goldings, bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Bill Stewart) for a foray into country music that is much more than just an exercise in style. In fact, Sco and co. render the songs just recognizably on their interpretations of material from Hank Williams, Dolly Parton and Merle Haggard, among others. Musiclovers only casually familiar with this genre (and/or these musicians), as well as devout fans of C&W, should  find this album a source of pure pleasure.

The post Glide’s Top Ten Jazz Albums of 2016 appeared first on Glide Magazine.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has officially announced next year’s inductees: Pearl Jam, Tupac Shakur, Journey, YES, Electric Light Orchestra and Joan Baez will all join the class of 2017. Chic’s Nile Rodgers will be given the Award For Musical Excellence.  Although Pearl Jam was expected to get in its first time around, this has to be a surprising victory for Journey, YES and Electric Light Orchestra who weren’t considered shoo-inns this time around.  Of those nominees that didn’t make the cut, they include: The Cars, Kraftwerk, MC5, Depeche Mode, Jane’s Addiction, Bad Brains, Steppenwolf and Janet Jackson.

The induction ceremony will be held at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on April 7th, 2017. An edited version will later air on HBO and there will be a radio broadcast on SiriusXM. Ticket details will be announced in January.

The post Pearl Jam, Tupac Shakur, Journey, YES, ELO, Joan Baez Top Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2017 Inductees appeared first on Glide Magazine.

The video for Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings’ rendition of “Please Come Home For Christmas” from the holiday album It’s A Holiday Soul Party! was released today. Completed and planned for release before Jones lost her battle with pancreatic cancer, the song’s heartbreaking sentiment now feels more powerful. Watch the stop-motion claymation video, made in the style of holiday classics like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer below…

This past week saw family, friends and fans gather in Brooklyn, NY and Augusta, GA to celebrate Sharon at memorials in each of her home cities. All fans will soon be able to celebrate Sharon’s strength, courage, humor and talent at home too. The critically acclaimed documentary Miss Sharon Jones! will be available worldwide on Netflix beginning January 7.

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It’s been a rough year to say the least, but believe it or not some amazing music has been released. In the newest installment of Wannabe, artist Chris Prunckle looks back on his favorite albums of 2016 in his signature six-panel comic strip form. This is the first of two parts, so stay tuned! Click on the image for full resolution (best viewed on desktop):

The post Wannabe Picks His Favorite Albums of 2016 (Part I) appeared first on Glide Magazine.

Take Five is a seasonal jazz column by Glide contributor Doug Collette, who will be taking snap-shot reviews of recent jazz albums…

Cameron Mizell - Negative Spaces: Alternately insistent and intoxicating, this album belies its title with uninterruptedly elevating sounds, most of them emanating from Mizell’s guitar, the authority and invention of which carries over into the musicianship surrounding him. Brad Whitely may be quickest on the uptake with his battery of keyboards, but drummer Kenneth Salters is ever-present, helping in no small part to maintain a fluidity that gives this album a circularity that compels repeated (and regular) listenings. Last but not least, before the record’s over, Mizell and company rock with all the grace and decisive action with which they insinuate themselves elsewhere.

Wolfgang Muthspiel: Rising Grace:Almost immediately after Wolfgang Muthspiel begins this opening title song with the deft precise picking of an acoustic, the trumpet of Ambrose Akinmusire begins to unfurl, thereby setting the tone for the album: the guitarist at the top of the bill acts as the central catalyst around which his very esteemed cast of accompanists orbit, as each displays their respective talents, albeit in a most restrained and judicious way. As a result, fans of the brilliant pianist Brad Mehldau may not hear enough of the intricate intensity of his work, but Muthspiel makes sure none of his original material here becomes simply a vehicle for improvisation: the musicianship is all in service of the song(s).

Nick Sanders & Logan Strosahl - Janus:  It’s quite obvious right from the start of this record that pianist Nick Sanders and saxophonist Logan Strosahl delight in playing with each other. The interplay they enact with their respective instruments is continuously playful, even when they descend from the gaiety that pervades most of these tracks to engage in a more thoughtful exploration of a song, as on the solemn take of Monk’s “Thelonious” and the brief but pungent “Be Bop Tune.” The camaraderie between these two musicians is extraordinary even in the most delicate moments.

Jonathan Goldberger- Surface to Air: In keeping with the vivid cover photos of a fog-drenched forest inside and outside this digi-pak, a veritable cloud of ambiance arises from the first notes here, billowing in waves as the acoustic guitars, percussion and upright bass proceed, alternately brisk and deeply mesmerizing, through each successive track. Because the threesome play as if in a trance from one cut to another, there’s a cumulative effect to Goldberger’s collaboration with Rohin Kehmani  (tabla and percussion) and  Jonti Siman (upright bass) that transfers directly to the listener: it’s as intoxicating as it is all-enveloping.

Wadada Leo Smith - America’s National Parks: A work that otherwise might sprawl resides right in the trumpeter’s sweet spot stylistically: it’s not too amorphous or reminiscent of Miles Davis. The concept  depicted by the title no doubt helps, but the persistent presence of The (aptly named) Golden Quintet is absolutely essential:  the insistence of their playing, from drummer Pheeroan akLaff to pianist Anthony Davis, is clear and focused, keeping Smith reined in and tied to the compositions just enough to maintain a balance of the accessible and the abstract. That said, with but six tracks over the course of this two-CD set, that discipline might well have been even further enhanced with  the album distilled to a single disc.

The post Take Five: Cameron Mizell, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Wadada Leo Smith & More (JAZZ LP RECAPS) appeared first on Glide Magazine.