Kings of Leon, currently on a run of headlining the biggest festivals throughout the states, announced a headlining tour to carry throughout the end of October which featured an excellent headlining performance on day 1 of Austin City Limits when they were joined by Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, but PopWreckoning was lucky enough to catch up with them before ACL. In regards to their St. Louis show, their show presence and abilities continue to grow as they become one of the bigger names in rock today. They showcased material both new and old for thousands of screaming St. Louisans who packed the Scottrade Center. Photos below.
March 20, 2006, started like any other Monday: got up, got ready, go to class, meet up with friends. But this Monday did have an extra buzz of excitement. After class, a few of my friends and I were planning on heading to Lawrence, Kan. from our school in Omaha, Neb. to see Andrew McMahon’s new band, Jack’s Mannequin perform. Even the blizzard that started forming in the early afternoon wasn’t going to hold us back.
Snow was constantly beating against the window, but we just held our coffees close and spent the car singing along with songs from “Konstantine” to “Bruised.” We talked about our crushes on McMahon. His hair, his eyes…that voice! We knew he had suffered some struggles the past year, but in the car, It hadn’t really hit us…
Our excitement only grew as we stood at the front of the packed venue and the backdrop with the JM scribble and white stars was revealed. This was it. We were going to see our beloved pianist at last.
The a Capella recording of “Holiday from Real” blasted over the speakers. First the guitarist, then the drummer and finally Andrew appeared and in unison, they switched the recording out for the real thing and began strumming chords and hitting keys.
This is when it hit me that this concert could have been stopped by a force more powerful than the blizzard we drove through. The lush hair of McMahon we had seen in pictures was gone. A shorter, thinner brown was scattered on his head. He was always thin, but now even more so, his cheeks more hollowed. And, since I was front row, what hit me the hardest was seeing his beautiful, long fingers on the keyboards. Cracked and creased nails were making contact with the ivory keys, bent from sessions upon sessions of chemo. This show could have not happened, and that sent a shiver down my spine. This was his first show outside of California since he had been diagnosed with leukemia. Looking at him then, it was evident that since his days in Something Corporate, a lot had changed.
What hadn’t changed was his energy. When he reached the line, “Fuck yeah,” it practically shook the venue with how long and loud McMahon and the crowd shouted it. It wasn’t just a line in the song. It was a “Fuck yeah, I beat this cancer. Fuck yeah, this show is happening. And fuck yeah, you can bet there will be more. So yeah, fuck yeah, we can live like this. We can find hope.”
That hope is something McMahon is hoping to pass on. Three years later, McMahon is doing a solo tour and releasing a documentary of that dark period in his life called “Dear Jack.”
“As far as the documentary, I hope there is a strong element of truth and relatability, as far as the people who have struggled through a similar circumstance, feel like it is an honest portrayal of what happens in those rooms and in the life of somebody dealing with [cancer],” says McMahon. “From there, obviously, it is to instill hope in people and let them know that even though it is a sickness they are dealing with, and altogether different, that a very hard situation can yield a positive result. I guess part of me hopes just that people find hope in the film.”
The film is officially released on DVD on Nov. 3. Three special screenings will take place at the Landmark Theater in Chicago on Oct. 8, the IFC Theater in NYC on Oct. 22, and a TBA theater in Los Angeles Oct. 28.
McMahon says he is a little nervous for people to see the film for the first time, “I have mixed feelings about it. For me, putting out records, a lot of times the feelings that are attached to an album, you put them to bed. With this documentary, the intention was to release it well over a year ago and even before Passenger. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in the position to be incredibly objective about the film at that point. We kept going through edits and not really getting all the way there. I think the fact that it is sort of behind me at this point, I can finally feel like this is my past and it was a part of my life, but not the life I’m living anymore. It was almost essential that I got past that before we could put it out and I could look at it objectively and say what I liked and didn’t like about the movie. With that said, it never really drummed up old feelings for me as much as it has let me say goodbye to them. I’m trying to look at this as a way to close a chapter in my life. Nothing else.”
Even his family is joining the public in seeing it for the first time. McMahon wanted to protect them from having to watch it over and over because it is a hard thing for them to watch.
“Dear Jack” is directed by Corey Moss and John Morrisoe. McMahon and his family shot most of the footage from the start of his getting sick and diagnosed to the concerts post recovery. He even had the camera in the hospital when the doctor told him he had cancer.
“It coincided with sort of the same period of time that a transit kind of happened. It was the first time that I had been away from Something Corporate. I was separated from my girl. I was kind of out on my own for the first time. I was documenting that extensively. I had been filming my every day for nearly six months before the circumstances that led me to the hospital. I had a real rapport with the camera. During the day or at the end of the day, a lot of the time, two or three times a day, I would sit down with the video camera and say here is what’s going on today. Here’s where I am on the record. Here’s where I am in my head space. It became this close friend of mine.”
“In turn, when I was put in the hospital, I hadn’t found out I was sick right away. I just found out I had bad blood work. I remember my instinct at that moment. I called my tour manager because I was in the city and had to go to the hospital in Jersey kind of holed up on a day off. I asked him to bring me my keyboard and my video camera. That was it. It became this sort of thing. I look back and I see some of the comments that I was making and I felt somehow obligated to continue that documenting and continuing that documenting, what I had started to document, even though it had taken this dark turn. That’s why I did it. I didn’t expect anybody to see it, to be perfectly honest. It became this art therapy thing for me, I guess.”
McMahon says he would love to see the film more publicly broadcast, but might have a hard time finding a home for it. “The music channels seem like the most sensible place for something like this, but at the same time, sort of the heaviness of the movie itself, I’m not necessarily sure it would make the most sense on those channels for that public.”
This challenge only adds to McMahon’s nervous excitement to get the film out.
“It is a strange thing. I’m more curious how people will see it from a film standpoint because that’s how I relate to it. It is a pretty heavy film, and the alternative would be anything but. It is a pretty truthful piece at that because we weren’t expecting it to be released and this movie is kind of shot from my perspective. It is definitely a firsthand account of the event.”
This firsthand account and loose string of interviews with family and friends called for the film to have an extra element. It called for a narrator and McMahon could think of no one better than Tommy Lee.
“We brought Tommy in for a couple of reasons. 1. He has a great voice. 2. He was a regular installation in my home movies at that point. He came and visited me in the hospital. He was on the phone with me. I was working on my record with him before I got sick and was working on his record as well. He was able to bring an extra face to this and add some variety than just have some celebrity involved in the narration. In the same sense, he was very much a part of my life at that time, so it kind of worked out all for the best I think.”
So while there are no concrete plans to air the documentary beyond the three theatrical showings, fans do have the DVD release to look forward to on Nov. 3 and pre-orders are already getting exclusive content. There’s even a mini-solo acoustic tour happening right now with just Andrew McMahon and his guitarist Bobby Raw performing a few songs mostly from the Jack’s catalogue, but also dipping further into the Something Corporate well.
“We wanted it to be for the core fans, for the people who saw me tour during that period of time. It is special.”
The special stripped down tour began Sunday, Oct. 4 in Denver and continues through Oct. 29 in California. McMahon will also appear at the screenings of “Dear Jack” and provide a Q and A session following the shows.
Tour Dates:
Oct. 4 – Daniels Hall / Denver, CO
Oct. 6 – Varsity Theater / Minneapolis, MN
Oct. 7 – Lakeshore Theater / Chicago, IL
Oct. 10 – The Southgate House / Newport, KY
Oct. 12 – Highline Ballroom / New York, NY
Oct. 14 – Arts at the Armory / Somerville, MA
Oct. 15 – World Cafe Live / Philadelphia, PA
Oct. 18 – Sixth & I Synagogue / Washington, DC
Oct. 19 – Bowery Ballroom / New York, NY
Oct. 25 – Swedish American Hall / San Francisco, CA
Oct. 27 – House of Blues / Anaheim, CA
Oct. 29 – Troubadour / West Hollywood, CA
Whatever your opinions are of the Twilight Saga, the movie’s sure know how to pick a killer soundtrack.
The lead single off the New Moon soundtrack is Death Cab for Cutie‘s “Meet Me On the Equinox.” On Wednesday, Oct. 7, the video for the single will premiere on MTV at 8 p.m. (all time zones). It will be immediately posted on MTV.com.
Walter Robot, who also did the beautiful paper dolls video for “Grapevine Fires” directs.
Sometimes, it just needs to be loud. For the members of Retribution Gospel Choir, that time is now.
Sub Pop has just announced that they will release the band’s second full-length on Jan. 26, 2010.
The band has been praised for their rough, aggressive dynamics and emotional lyrics. Members Alan Sparhawk and Steve Garrington also play in Low, a more restrained sort of rock band than Retribution Gospel Choir.
Chop Shop recording and KC favorites The Republic Tigers embark today, Oct. 6, on a fall tour alongside Yourself And The Air. The mini-trek kicks off in Pittsburgh.
The Republic Tigers are currently writing and recording the follow-up to their 2008′s Keep Color. The yet-untitled release is slated for spring 2010 release and the band is producing the it themselves in their Kansas City studio.
Tour Dates:
Oct. 6 – Brillobox / Pittsburgh, PA
Oct. 7 – Black Cat – Backstage / Washington, DC
Oct. 8 – Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar / Charlottesville, VA
Oct. 10 – North Star Bar / Philadelphia, PA
Oct. 11 – Metro Gallery / Baltimore, MD
Oct. 12 - Union Hall / Brooklyn, NY
Oct. 13 – Mercury Lounge / New York, NY (also w/ Clem Snide)
Oct. 14 - TT The Bears / Cambridge, MA
Oct. 16 – Beachland Ballroom / Cleveland, OH
Nov. 20 – The Granada Theatre / Lawrence, KS (w/ Cowboy Indian Bear, Stick Figa, Dead Girls)
Dec. 4 – Johnson County Community College / Overland Park, KS (w/ Ad Astra Per Aspera)
“Dear Jack” is a powerful documentary that follows singer/pianist Andrew McMahon of Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin fame through his battle with cancer.
One interesting observation I have made, quite recently in fact, is that DJ companies tend to have a longer life in the music industry than a good majority of acts and Basement Jaxx is no exception.
The electronica/house duo has been churning out club favorites for a decade (plus!), Their beats have been used in a variety of mediums, from movie soundtracks (such as Lara Croft: Tombraider and Just Married) to Coca-Cola commercials. Their re-mixing skills are also in high demand, and their assistance for such projects has been solicited by the likes of Missy Elliott, Justin Timberlake, and N*E*R*D*.
Despite a brief lapse in productivity (almost four years to be exact), the UK emcees recently released their 5th studio album Scars in September and will be hitting the US for a handful of shows to promote it. The festivities begin in San Francisco, where they will be playing alongside acts such as The Faint and Infected Mushroom for Live 105 FM’s Subsonic Halloween Spook-Fest at the Cow Palace on October 30.
I, personally, will get the pleasure of seeing their Halloween set at the Hard Haunted Mansion Party being thrown at the Shrine Expo Center. This event is a two day festival (beginning Friday, October 30), and an ungodly amount of music.
After the chaos that will obviously follow the Hard Haunted Mansion Party, the boys will be off to the Century Room in Ontario on November 3 and the Congress Theatre in Chicago on November 6. Their last US show will be at the Santos Party House in Manhattan on November 7.
Tour dates:
Oct. 30 – Cow Palace (Live 105 event) / San Francisco, CA
Oct. 31 – HARD Haunted Mansion party / Los Angeles, CA
Nov. 3 – Century Room / Toronto, ON
Nov. 6 – Congress Theatre / Chicago, IL
Nov. 7 – Santos Party House / New York, NY
Friendly Fires is a pop trio from the UK and one of my favorite bands of the year. They’ve been making quite a name for themselves and were one of the nominated for this year’s Mercury Prize. I haven’t listened to their entire album in whole, but I keep running across its songs on different occasions and find myself loving them. I think I’ve covered the whole album by now and nothing on it disappoints me. They also make really fun and creative music videos, which all contain some pretty wild and funky dance moves by lead singer Ed McFarlane, which he alone could only pull off so that they don’t look lame, but instead rather impressive.
.Friendly Fires – “Paris”
“Paris” was the second single released from their album and a track that really started to get them noticed. It features backing vocals from Au Revoir Simone during the chorus, which to me is the best part of the song. I say so because the vocals are matched with Ed McFarlane’s words, which are sung so high they express a youthful yearning for something out of reach, both combining for a stargazing chorus. Musically it’s quick with soft percussion featuring cowbells and an immensely depressed synthesizer for an organ feel.
.Aeroplane Remix
I like this mix a lot more than the original. It starts off with moody synthesizers with every press on the keyboard an isolated note. The track employs some mixed cool and refreshing musical ‘ah’s’ that are more windy than wordy. It also isolates the best part of the song, Au Revoir Simone’s vocals. In fact, McFarlane’s vocals are absent, which isn’t really a loss, just because the female vocals make it an intimate song. The mix also takes the cowbells from the original and amplifies them with a slight electronic touch that bounce and prance across the song for a glockenspiel effect. It’s really just a pretty mix.
.Arto Mwambe Remix
A little rougher take on the song but still creative and good nonetheless. The Arto mix takes the soft, shoe gazey feel of the original and breathes a little more of a dance club vibe. We have some heavier dance beats, a touch of trance synths, and the lyrics come off more like rap than singing. This mix gets a little repetitive at times because it fails to diversify itself, but it really locks you in a trance if you’re on the dancefloor taking some medication you shouldn’t be taking.
.Justus Kohncke Remix
I have to say I really like this mix. It’s the most re-worked of them all with a long instrumental intro that keeps the soft, intimate mood of the track. It breaks in with the vocals, which are heavier, coming across more direct to the listener. It then features a multitude of sounds that keep churning in a light trance/electro vibe.
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Concert Calendar
Nov 23, 2011
HaHa Tonka @ Recordbar, Kansas City MO
Nov 25, 2011
Thee Oh Sees @ The Granada, Lawrence KS
