popwreckoning

Art Brut‘s frontman, the irrepressible and extremely funny Eddie Argos, has been working on a side project with girlfriend Dyan Valdes (of the Blood Arm) called Everybody Was in the French Resistance…NOW! The interesting bit about this side project is that it isn’t just any side project: Argos and Valdes decided to go through the decades of popular music, writing and recording song responses to 12 famous tunes throughout popular music history for their album Fixing the Charts, released on Cooking Vinyl earlier this year and available now.

Responses to songs from artists as varied as the Mamas and the Papas, Frank Sinatra, and Avril Lavigne made it to this album. Even the show tune standard “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” made famous by Gerry and the Pacemakers in the ’60s and now forever linked to my footy team, Liverpool Football Club, did not escape Argos and Valdes’s touch. They just played at South by Southwest last month, and the Austin Chronicle noted of their performance, “…Argos’ wry wit and genial irony has a half-life longer than a SXSW showcase allows. Plus, he’s legitimately funny.” Catch this act at a venue near you.

Tour Dates
Apr 23 – Echo / Los Angeles
Apr 24 – Casbah / San Diego
Apr 27 – Bottom of the Hill / San Francisco
Apr 29 – Mississippi Studios / Portland
Apr 30 – Red Room Coffee and Concert House / Kennewick, WA
May 01 – High Drive / Seattle
May 04 – Turf Club / Minneapolis
May 05 – Frequency / Madison, WI
May 06 – Schubas / Chicago
May 07 – Majestic Café / Detroit
May 08 – El Mocambo / Toronto
May 09 – La Sala Rossa / Montreal
May 11 – Great Scott / Boston
May 12 – Mercury Lounge / New York City
May 13 – Union Hall / Brooklyn
May 14 – North Star / Philadelphia
May 15 – DC9 / Washington, DC
May 16 – Local 506 / Chapel Hill
May 17 – Earl / Atlanta
May 18 – Bottletree / Birmingham
May 19 – Exit In / Nashville
May 21 – Mango’s / Houston
May 22 – Emo’s indoors / Austin
May 23 – Hailey’s / Denton, TX
May 26 – Rhythm Room / Phoenix

Everybody Was in the French Resistance…NOW!: myspace

The second night of Butch Walker’s month-long Wednesday night residency at Hollywood’s Hotel Café was quite a bit of a party. I’ve lived in LA for close to a year now, but I still get excited at celebrity sightings, and Butch’s collection of famous friends did not disappoint me in the slightest. In attendance that night were Jeremy Piven, Derrick Whibley (of Sum 41 and Avril Lavigne-marriage-drama fame), and not in the VIP section but in the crowd with the rest of us plebians, Alex Solowitz, best known for his portrayal of Mickey Parke in the faux MTV boy band 2ge+her. Damn, I love Los Angeles.

Tonight, Butch would be treating the crowd to a live, stripped-down rendition of The Rise and Fall of Butch Walker and the Lets-Go-Out-Tonites. He played the album straight through, no deviations aside from his usual shtick; references to the ‘97 hit “How Bizarre” by OMC, comparing his riffing and soloing to every Led Zeppelin song that ever existed, while consequently singing “baby, baby, baby, baby!” much like Robert Plant does on every other Led Zeppelin song. You know. The usual.

He did make up for missing a song the previous week, treating us to “#1 Summer Jam,” and resolving to not miss a single song from The Rise and Fall… Pausing for a minute in the musical revelry, he talks about the forgiveness that his hardcore fans give him for his wackiness, refers to himself as being compared to Jason Mraz with tattoos, and tells us how sometimes, he wants to be filthy, stinkin’ famous. And then things happen like the YouTube video of him recording his version of “You Belong With Me” from the previous week, and he gets torn the hell up, and he realizes that he likes his little bubble. And he loves his hardcore fans. It’s good to be loved.

Getting close to the end of the album, Butch pulls out his big political song, “Paid to Get Excited,” and flat out admits that he had no idea what he was thinking when he wrote the album. Or why he wrote a political song. After playing through the first two verses and choruses, he also admits, “I don’t even like this last song! So I’m gonna do something different,” and segues into Dramarama’s “Anything, Anything,” which is a KROQ favorite and absolute staple.

In my mind, that was the cover of the night. However, soon after, Walker busts into Pulp’s “Common People,” and I honestly think I was one of five people in the entire audience who knew the song. Still, as great a song as it is, I’m not sure if it was Butch’s best choice for a cover. Shatner did it better.

Finally, the highlight of the entire night was the unintentional encore. As he’s leaving the stage for the night, someone holds up a cake with a candle in it and the crowd begins singing “Happy Birthday,” as Walker’s 40th birthday was on the Saturday to follow. That just set him off in a rockin’ mood and he did not want to stop. Calling up Hotel Café regular, Jim Bianco, the boys jam a little bit more, treating the crowd to the title track off of Jim Bianco’s latest album, Sing. I will totally and completely admit to loudly singing the harmonies from the crowd on that one. Continuing on, the boys bust out into a cover of Prince’s “Kiss” with Ari Gold himself, Jeremy Piven, joining them on the drum set….sans cymbals and with woodwhacks instead of sticks.

I have yet to be disappointed by one of these shows these month. I know that everything says its sold out, but they’ve been selling a small number of tickets at the door. Come on down and join the fun, and GET THERE EARLY!!!!!

Butch Walker: website | myspace | Sycamore Meadows review | interview with | @ grog shop | @ hotel cafe: night 1

“We’re the Hadituptohere’s and we’ve had it up to here with rock ‘n roll.”

While this basic statement of love begins the Hadituptohere’s live performances, it seems to also be the same idea that bore punk rock. Of course that idea has mutated.

Somewhere along the way punk rock was commandeered (you probably already knew…I blame Blink 182, but feel free to blame any other band that proclaims “pop punk”). Just a few short years ago Avril Lavigne opined in Rolling Stone that she was the first to blend punk with other sounds.

That is a false, weird statement.

Furthermore, why blend punk with anything?

The Hadituptohere’s prove it was fine where it was. Their latest record, Wild City, Honest Dancing, being the most supreme example.

On the record the Hadits seemingly channel the spirits of any number of bands: The Stooges, Black Flag, The Plugz, or any other band that could have/should have been on the Repo Man soundtrack.

This implies some sort of mimicry, which is unfair. You shouldn’t necessarily like a band just because they remind you of other stuff you like. The Hadits channel these bands but turn it into something raucous and true.

“Party” may be the best of the 12 song album. Stu (guitar and vocals) casually transitions between riffs while Steve (bass) delivers an atypical flowing bass line. Jared (drums and vocals) continues to be punk rock’s Keith Moon.

Lyrically the songs delve into the social and emotional (“If I read the right books would that make me a scholar?/If I said the right words would that make me a prophet?”) and the revelry created at their live shows (“And we’ll dance till we get this town out of the gutter/Let’s sing because it sounds so much better together”).

Download Wild City, Honest Dancing here. A vinyl release will be upcoming. Want more information on the Hadituptohere’s? Check their myspace.

Tracklisting:
01. Wild City
02. P’s & Q’s
03. The Stories
04. Windows
05. Heritage Hills
06. Shake Those Hips, Raise Those Hands
07. A Separate Place
08. Party
09. American Ship Building
10. In A Small Diner A Bit South Of The City
11. Keep It Together
12. Bag of Bricks/Honest Dancing

Hadituptohere: myspace

Written by Adam Leroy

Death Cab for Cutie‘s frontman Ben Gibbard seems to be all over the  music news outlets these days. First the guy gets attention for his marriage to Zooey Deschanel. Now his band’s getting attention for being  the lead single for the popular “Twilight” series’ next movie “New Moon.” I think his name constantly coming up in half the headlines on my Google Reader was a sign that he needed to be featured on PopWreckoning as well and what better place to feature somebody so in the spotlight than by putting that person under cover?

Give Gibbard a guitar and put him alone on a stage and inevitably the guy slips into some sort of cover song. No matter the original quality of the song, he’ll cover it. Indie or pop, he’s done it all. I’m actually really surprised there hasn’t been a Death Cab cover album yet.

So for this week I bring you the best (or maybe the worst if you don’t have a sense of humor) of Ben Gibbard’s cover songs. He’s done a ton, so look for this to be a multi-parter.

-

.Backstreet Boys – “I Want It That Way” (original, 1998)
.“I Want It That Way” (cover, 2001)

Bellingham, WA. If I could go back in time to any show, it would be this tiny show at the 5th Floor Coffeehouse in January 2001 in Bellingham. Gibbard’s local, so it was intimate with family and friends. This was also his first public solo show since Death Cab formed four years prior. The atmosphere was already special. So when Gibbard acts all serious and hypes up this little cover he is about to whip out, it was like the icing on the cake for an already perfect show. A big breath…the anticipation builds…”You are – my fire.” Laughter. Backstreet Boys was not expected, but like I said, this show was a special occasion. This cover isn’t mind-blowing. Gibbard is pitchy in spots. And it is just downright silly that he is playing it off as this great masterpiece of a song that he is covering as a simple acoustic piece. Yet that is the genius of so many of Gibbard’s covers. Musically, they’re nothing too complicated, but he brings such a fun performance to his versions, that they really are treats.

-

.Michael Jackson – “Thriller” (original, 1984)
.“Thriller” (cover, 2007)

Gibbard covered this song  at Theater of the Living Arts and I was unsure about including it on here. Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” sounds nothing like this and yet that is exactly what won me over to this cover. Gone are the glossy synth notes that cue Jackson’s “Thriller” so well that you know what it is within two notes before it hits that lovely rolling bass.  Gibbard’s version is definitely that signature Death Cab indie folk sound. He’s managed to strip the Jackson hit into a simple strummed guitar tune. I also am a dork and I think it is hilarious that Gibbard had to read the lyrics off a piece of paper for this and still forgets lines midway through. I find it part of his charm.

-

.Avril LaVigne – “Complicated” (original, 2002)
.“Complicated” (cover, 2008)

I’m pretty sure I wanted to shoot myself whenever Avril’s “Complicated” came on the radio in 2002. Her voice was just so nasally and her idea of punk was just so…pop. Not too mention she had that ridiculous intro, “Uh huh. Life’s like this.” Gag me. I guess you could say she was acting on her lyric: “trying to be cool, but looked like a fool.” Then Gibbard comes along and nearly six years later and turns it into a slow, folky number. About 50 seconds in, Gibbard starts chuckling and says, “This is a serious song.” I’m not sure if he is telling that to the audience or a reminder to himself, but either way, it is his personality that makes this song worth the listen. Heck as much as I love his music, the best part is the end when he gives a little commentary on the song, “It’s pretty cut and dry. Complicated? What the hell are you talking about? I like to dress in different clothes.” Aw, Ben. This is why we love you.

Death Cab for Cutie: website | myspace