popwreckoning

Arriving in the Seattle Center on Sunday proved that people don’t give a shit about the weather when good music is involved. It reminded me of a movie I recently saw – “Taking Woodstock,” where the famous Woodstock festival was almost put to a halt because of a terrible rainstorm.

We’re Seattle, it doesn’t affect us much.

But in defiance of the sky’s will, the rain did stop and start during various times during the day – the most ironic one actually was during the Cold War Kids set on the main stage when they started playing their hit “Hang Me Up To Dry.” Seriously. Everyone had just put on their hooded raincoats, and the sun came out all of sudden. It was magical. Even the front man Nathan Willett noticed it – “clothes are just coming off all over the place.” For being the first set on the main stage, the Cold War Kids rocked Memorial Stadium. Guitarist Jonnie Russell brought a lot of the charisma to the stage, switching instruments, and beating a cymbal with a maraca. It took a little while for the crowd to build up their energy, seeing that it was early in the day, and wet, but the Cold War Kids didn’t really give a crap about the rain. They played some old songs and some new songs, but since I was pretty close to the stage, I noticed that the crowd sucked compared to Saturday. But it was early yet, so I didn’t mind.

And they were great warm up for Yeah Yeah Yeahs, who were next on the main stage.

Holy crap, I’m so glad I had a second chance to see them. They came to the Sasquatch Festival back in May, and I missed them because Bon Iver played at the exact same time, and when I saw that they were playing at Bumbershoot too, I jumped to joy.

Let me tell you – that is one live show you can’t afford to miss. Karen O came bounding on stage in this multi-colored stringy, almost harness-like get up, with a equally colorful cape, and Nick came out with his ridiculously awesome hair and dark pair of wayfarers, and they killed it. The rain had started again by then, but I couldn’t count how many people crowd surfed in that hour-and-a-half. A few people around me actually were dropped because people weren’t paying attention to them enough to remember to hold them up. Karen said over and over how awesome the crowd was – and I couldn’t argue with her. We were singing along to slower hits like “Runaway” from It’s Blitz! and frantically jumping and dancing to older heavy hits like “Date With A Night.” Karen O is the epitome of a front-woman, with her melodic singing, fantastic shrieking, and something that sounds almost like an orgasm, especially during “Date With A Night” as she shouts “I’ll set you, I’ll set it off!” At this point, I was thinking to myself, “why are they playing at 2:30 p.m. in the afternoon?” The scheduling for Sunday didn’t make much sense, having Yeah Yeah Yeahs in the early afternoon and Jason Mraz being the headliner at 9:30 p.m. But that’s a testament to how great a show Yeah Yeah Yeahs put on.

During the last half of “Skeletons,” where Karen O wasn’t singing, and it was just a powerful keyboard solo, a huge gust of wind blew in and tossed the tarps lining the stage around like sails on a boat. I might have been the only one who thought it was cool, but it fit perfectly into the song. But the best part of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ set came when Nick switched to an acoustic guitar and we all knew “Maps” was coming.

“This is a song about love. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Seattle – Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Seattle – love.” And Karen O put her hand on her heart. Her stage presence reminds of Freddie Mercury – with her wild outfits and insurmountable amount of energy. It’s amazing. And on this day, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs could feel the love from Seattle, and Seattle – for sure – could feel the love from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

After my sister and I left the main stage, trotting through puddles and slowly ascending the wet stairs, we took a breather to have some lunch and shop around to give my sister’s back a rest. At 6 p.m., we headed over to the Broad Street Stage to catch the Vivian Girls. The audience was quite a bit smaller than Matt & Kim or Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head from the previous day, but the crowd they did have were really into it. But I think the Vivian Girls music is more fit for smaller clubs than large festivals. I haven’t heard much of their music, but oddly enough, they were very reminiscent of late 90s indie chick rock, but with a little more grungy edge. I’d like to think that Kurt Cobain would enjoy their music. That’s basically how I can describe it, with everything from their vocal stylings, fashion, and stage presence. My sister made some odd comparison as, “the less poppy Donnas.” I personally wouldn’t go see them again live, as I like my live shows to be slightly more energetic, but I listen to their self-titled record a lot. I’m a 90s kid, so the Vivian Girls are my kinda nostalgia.

At that point, the batteries in my camera died, so I had to run down the street to OfficeMax and pick up some more AAs before we got in line for Patton Oswalt at the Charlotte Martin Theater. I’ll just say this – I haven’t laughed that hard in…well I don’t remember the last time I laughed that hard. And I’m so glad I got to see him Sunday, because his set on Monday is during Franz Ferdinand – which is the one band I’m not missing for anything.

The last act of the night – Jason Mraz, I went merely to appease the wishes of my sister. I own one Jason Mraz album from when I was 14, and since then, my musical taste had changed a bit, so I wasn’t nearly as excited to see him as the thousands of girls and frat boys packed inside Memorial Stadium. It’s almost insane how much ladies go crazy for Jason Mraz. He has the appeal of a younger Dave Matthews, certainly with the instruments he works into his live performance. Even though it took me awhile to warm up to him, he’s awesome live. He’s way better than on his record, without a doubt. But it took him a long time to get to the more upbeat, crowd-pleasing songs. At the beginning, I was almost bored, as the songs didn’t fit the enthusiasm of the crowd and the greatness of the venue. This is where I questioned the scheduling again.

His beachy, surfer-dude, chill persona didn’t fit at 9:30 p.m. Chill music doesn’t work well with people who are already tired. But once he got to the second half of the show, and busted out with some Lionel Richie, everyone sang along to “party, karamu, fiesta, forever!” It didn’t make much sense to me, but I sang along as well. He played some more upbeat songs, “The Remedy” and “Coyotes,” which kept the energy up. By then, I was having fun, but what made me and the rest of the people around me extremely frustrated were the constant stream of people leaving. Now, we were towards the front of the crowd, and people who were much closer than we were left 20 minutes in. And they kept leaving throughout the show. I ask you – why squeeze your way to the most crowded area of the venue if you’re just going to leave halfway through? I don’t get it. The father with his 3-year-old standing right in front of me stayed all the way through. And it was adorable, especially during “I’m Yours,” when the 3-year-old sang all the words. That’s how big a spectrum Jason Mraz appeals to. You’ve got middle-aged women, frat boys, boy-crazy teenage girls, and fathers and their young sons.

By the end of Jason Mraz’s set and he played a wicked version of “Butterfly,” I was dancing along like the uber fangirl standing right next to me. From starting slow, to picking up the tempo and getting the crowd more involved, and ending with a bang – Mraz did not disappoint me. At that point, the scheduling made more sense having him as the headliner – because his fans love him.

I’ve still got one more day of this. Yes.

Bumbershoot: website | day 1

Written by: Abby Williamson

Readymade Breakup‘s Alive on the Vine has a diverse range of instrumentation and lyrical elements, but in the grand scheme is a heavily Americana-influenced album. With their folksy riffs and vocal hand offs, they remind me a lot of Austin darlings Band of Heathens.

These New Jersey boys experiment with lots of styles on this album, but they really shine when they are jamming away on jazzy riffs on bass by Gay Elvis or upbeat tempos led by Spicy O’Neil on drums. Vocalist Paul Rosevear, however, was at his best on poppier numbers like “Surrender” than on those folksy tracks like “Honey, You Might Be Right”. Rosevear, while a decent singer, left me perplexed. He would sometimes channel Freddie Mercury and experiment with some falsetto and other times he’d throw in these strange soulful yelps. After listening to the album, I’m not convinced he’s quite figured out his sound yet.

So because of these strange scream-folk-yelps, I was left disappointed in what should have been phenomenal tracks like the Beatles-esque “Stretch Your Hand”. Ironically, it was a song named “Ugly” that I found the most appealing on the album, thanks to the drum rolls and rhythmic breaks of O’Neil. A poppier number than most on the album, but quite enjoyable.

Tracklisting:
01. One by One
02. Honey, You Might Be Right
03. Talking to Myself
04. Surrender
05. I Don’t Mind
06. Stretch Your Hand
07. See You Sad
08. Quiet
09. Ugly
10. Back to the Bubble

Readymade Breakup: website | myspace

Written by: Bethany

The Smashing Pumpkins ventured forth for a worthwhile and exhilarating, if unusually awkward, two-night stay at Kansas City’s The Midland by AMC (one would be remiss to not note the corporate sponsorship of this music venue). Singer and guitarist Billy Corgan would surely be unhappy, or would he? Despite ceaseless battles with record companies (the band is currently label-less), Corgan is palpably torn between a need for notoriety and fame, and a dogmatic, unbridled artistic freedom, and has been for some time. I quite vividly recall an intimate, sold-out performance in Lawrence, Kansas during which Corgan at some length ranted against the commercial success of Korn, and this in the early 2000s.

Band relevance is something about which Corgan obsesses. Standing in the front row and watching Corgan glance to see if I know and parrot the lyrics to “I of the Mourning” tells me that he still holds such a concern; he appears strangely pleased and displeased with his current plight, but he has a cold tonight too.

The previous evening he draconianly chastised the audience for failing to recite the lyrics to one of his key hits: Siamese Dream‘s outstanding, ironic “Today”. He had a point there, but here’s the paradox: Billy Corgan eschews success just as much as he seeks it. As much as he despises the audience, he will shake its collective hand: Corgan tonight willingly admits that he has spite for audiences, but he also mingles with the crowd, even entering the seated areas. He, for instance, does not share the same malaise that his 1990s musical rival Kurt Cobain did concerning notoriety and fame, but notwithstanding, like Cobain, Corgan certainly does not wish to pander to the audience, in principle. He, too, finds that a grave offense against his musical integrity, and perhaps rightly so.

This latest incarnation – including new players Ginger Reyes (bass guitar) and Jeff Schroeder (rhythm guitar) – is amidst a so-called anniversary tour; the band that ignited the 1990s with its drama king, artsy, theatrical Queen and Black Sabbath indebted take on “grunge,” particularly in the wake of Nirvana’s unfortunate self-immolation, is celebrating twenty years of “infinite sadness” (drug abuse, band in-fighting, major depression), as well as, no doubt, substantial commercial and aesthetic, creative success – in the past.

But one must wonder at the entire notion of an anniversary tour with a new band, let alone a new corpus of songs. The band also is planning to record a new album, the follow up to Zeitgeist (2007), after it completes this tour. As Corgan concedes tonight, the band is not a “jukebox,” which means that it wants to attain commercial success again, but by absolutely functioning artistically on its own terms. Think Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead here. It’s possible, but it’s also incredibly improbable. (New single “G.L.O.W.,” however, could help Corgan attain such heights, as it is a true, obscure, satiric late-Halloween treat.) Its appearance on video games may indeed influence youthful fans.

But to the tour: it’s exceedingly difficult to applaud such an endeavor given that two main band members are noticeably missing, and that, technically, the band did say its farewell in 2001. The band reformed only recently, after Corgan’s FutureEmbrace (2005) solo tour, and after Corgan posted an emotional, romantic ad in the Chicago Tribune. The original Smashing Pumpkins emanated a sense of eccentric, artistic sincerity and materiality, a defined, reliable notion of integrity, even if it sought and accepted financial, commercial success. The music was undeniably great and cathartic, and the lineup was part of the music. Now Corgan finds the concept “reunion” to be a negative, and he is correct because it’s not an actual re-union. But perhaps that’s no matter; new music must be created by Corgan, as he is too talented; the band must move on, although the majesty and singularity of the Smashing Pumpkins of 1990s will be forever mourned.

Corgan, Pumpkin King, has conveniently retained the band’s name, but this band isn’t the Pumpkins of yesteryear; the latest incarnation is analogous in its lineup to the band that now dubs itself Guns N’ Roses: in GNR, for instance, all of its original members, save for Icarus-like, perfectionist, egoist crooner W. Axl Rose (who notably is, like Corgan, a notorious puppet-master) are nowhere to be seen. That said, Corgan’s new band (though doubtlessly Zwan-like) does dramatically and compellingly rock and roll; one can certainly appreciate a band’s pragmatic evolution, in spite of a wistful, desirous nostalgia for this seminal, alternative group in all its magisterial brightness: The musical universe simply would not be itself without the prodigious, masterful “boy wonder” Corgan and his several comrades, without The Smashing Pumpkins, past or present.

Ironic though it may be however, the bulk of the three-hour set entailed cuts from inarguably the band’s most “commercial” CD: the superb double-album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995): from the heavy metal-leaning, torturous, amorous poetry of “Bodies” (“Love is suicide!”) to the light-sounding, catchy, and youth-evoking “1979″, basically a new wave pop song , and a song into which one can enter a lost, surreal state of idealism, the band reveled in past dignity and stardom.

Corgan and his new band embraced its triumphant history, and all of this despite Corgan’s redundant, vociferous claims to refrain from playing solely hit songs, from pandering essentially. He did spend, however, a solid twenty minutes teasing the audience with song snippets on acoustic guitar: Corgan playfully mocked the crowd by turning down song requests; he and Schroeder had fun with this, with Corgan claiming his music was all just about “good times.” Hardly. Really it was, again, Corgan’s need to be both pertinent and idolized.

Corgan is, after all, a veracious, remarkable contradiction in terms. No requests, but he will play major songs. Maybe that’s a compromise of sorts; maybe it’s Corgan simply teasing. Corgan’s zeal, for example, was most evident in quite possibly the biggest and most recognizable song from the CD, excluding “Bullet with Butterfly Wings”: during the mercurially irate and morose song “Zero,” Corgan proved that he still both relishes playing songs from the recent past and pleasing an appreciative, devoted audience; a noticeable, gothic and passionate, hyperactive intensity accompanied Corgan’s performance , and he confidently deferred to the audience for one of its critical if bawdy, encoded lines: “Wanna go for a ride?” This time the audience nailed it; it was an excellent, energetic if atypical, rushed rendition.

The band played several other songs from Mellon Collie, including a moving, pristine version of “Galapogos”, with guitarists Corgan and Schroeder underscoring the quintessential soft-loud sound dynamic of alternative music. New songs were a mix between acoustic balladry (“Sunkissed”) and Sabbath-like metal sound and fury; probably the most stimulating new bit was “I am One, pt. 2,” which was part of the two-song encore. Other highlights: show opener “Ava Adore,” during which Corgan literally skirted about the stage in full-on Freddie Mercury mode, both kicking an amplifier and throwing confetti; and also the delightful Fleetwood Mac cover about mortality, “Landslide,” which appeared on the band’s rarities CD, Pisces Iscariot (1994). If this is the last time Corgan plays his major hits, so be it; tonight –tonight — was a rare, awe-inspiring and beautiful moment.

The Smashing Pumpkins: website | myspace

Written by: William Carl Ferleman

Pseudonyms, break ups, surgery and pictures of Steve McQueen: lead singer of British rock group The Subways, Billy Lunn, shares all this and more with PopWreckoning‘s Bethany in the interview below:

PopWreckoning, Bethany: Can you tell me a little bit about your band history? Obviously, you and your brother [Josh Morgan] have known each other all your lives, but how did you guys meet up with Charlotte [Cooper]?
Billy Lunn, The Subways: Well basically, me and my brother, when we were still in school and when we would get bored at lunchtime, we used to go off and just jam out. I had just started learning to play the guitar and he wanted to learn to play the drums, so we’d jam out together at school and whenever we’d get home from school. Once we’d bought a drum kit and a guitar, we’d jam out there.
I met Charlotte when we used to go swimming together. So we started going out and then Charlotte would be hanging out at the house with us, and Josh and I would start jamming. So one day we asked Charlotte if she wanted to play along with us. We had a spare bass guitar and she said yes and started.
We were really young and felt we had nothing better to do because we were three kids from suburbia. Then we started writing our own songs after doing too many Nirvana covers and Green Day covers. We started playing some shows. We played our first show at a venue called the Harlow Square and after that we started thinking about playing in London. So we recorded a few demos in our parent’s front room, so we’d make like thirty demos and send that out to as many as possible and we started booking gigs. Eventually, after a couple of years of doing that, we started getting noticed by a couple of people in London. Crowds started coming out to the shows and we got some label interest that came out to the venues. I started a website forum so our friends could come and join, that kind of thing. Then we managed to get the Glastonbury competition in 2004.
I used to record local bands in our parent’s front room when they couldn’t afford the 2000 pound fee for the local recording studio and I used to bring some bands around and say, “I’ll record you guys.” And one band when we started recording them, we asked what they were going to do with that CD, with that mix. And they said, “Oh Michael Eavis is running this competition to play this festival, Glastonbury Festival, and if he really likes your demo, he’ll let you play in the festival.” So we thought, we should do that because we have lots of stuff in demos and that’s enough to find one song, so we put all the demos on one CD and sent them off and didn’t really think much more of it.
Then one we day we got a call from Michael Eavis saying we’d really like you to play at Glastonbury Festival. It was one of our first big breaks, basically. We went from playing for 250 people to about 10,000 people at that one show. After that we organized our first tour of the UK and it was also funded. It basically just kicked off. In 2004, in November, we signed a record deal with Warner to record our first album Young For Eternity and released it in 2005.

PW: So how did the other band react when they found out you had won the same contest they were entering?
BL: I think they kind of forgot about it. I don’t think they ended up sending that CD in. Which is really strange because they were the ones who notified us about it. I still see the guys a lot and we don’t talk about it. So I think it was completely forgotten, which is ok.
PW: So, there’s no tension from it?
BL: Oh no, we’re best friends. We’ve been friends for like eight years now. They don’t mind.

PW: Ok. Now, why do you and your brother have different last names?
BL: Our parents divorced about 10 years ago and they never really told us about it until a couple of years ago when the band first started. So after I found that out, I took my mom’s maiden name. It’s actually for my mother’s father, my granddad, who really got me into writing short stories and got me into storytelling and being creative. When he died, it was probably one of the worst things that ever happened to me in my life. I thought it would almost be true to take his name. It also adds to the mystery and the confusion of being in a rock band.

PW: Did he get to hear any of your guys’ songs before he died?
BL: No, our band started a few years after he actually died, so when we formed the band I just thought it would be a good idea. I’ve always liked it when fiction novelists take on different names, pseudonyms. I’ve found that really sort of fascinating. It would be cool, like Freddie Mercury, to have a sort of a stage name.

PW: Yeah, definitely. On your latest album you guys have a harder sound than your first record. Did that happen naturally or did you make a decision to progress the music that way?
BL: For us, it was really an organic thing. After we released our first album, Young For Eternity in 2005-that was in the UK, we released it in the US in 2006-we toured for about two and a half years after that. And when we were on tour we got to tour with bands like Oasis and we did an American tour with bands like Taking Back Sunday, and we played to these audiences, these really huge audiences.
When you think of how we wrote Young For Eternity before that, we were just playing these tiny little London venues. So when it came time for All of Nothing, we were on tour, these two and a half years of touring when we were just consistently writing. We were finding time in sound check in these different venues and when we got to play these amazing venues.
When the venues got bigger and the audiences got bigger and they got crazier, I eventually got quite theatrical on stage and started diving off speakers and balconies and I guess that’s when I started getting huge with the songwriting process. All of the songs that we were writing from then on just got heavier and heavier and more raucous and rambunctious. I think that played a big part in making the rock sound really, really huge.
I remember the first time I went to America and I listened to the radio, it was shortly after we had finished Young For Eternity, the first record, I can remember saying to my brother, “God, this music sounds huge compared to British music.” I just turned to him and said, “You know, next time we make a record, we should really get an American producer because I want our next record to sound like this.” And we did this with Butch Vig, who did Smashing Pumpkins and Sonic Youth. Butch Vig produced our next record and we knew we had the right guy. The album was as big as we had always imagined it to be.

PW: Is America radio really that different than British radio? What artists do you hear over there that you aren’t hearing here and the other way around?
BL: Well actually, they aren’t really that different, but the heavy American rock sound is really different to the more subdued English rock sound. There’s a particular style of being understated and we wanted to be really loud and brash and sort of in your face. I think the American style of wide screen production is more suited to our style and our tastes, I guess.

PW: What other differences have you noticed between America and the UK? Like with touring is it harder to get American audiences’ attention than say the at home crowd?
BL: I think in terms of touring, that the distances between each city and each venue in the UK is so minuscule compared to America. One thing that really amazed us about touring in America is that you’d get on the bus in Arizona where it is really hot and widespread and the landscape is huge and it was just desert. But then you’d get off the bus and you’d be in the Rockies and it would be a really cold, snowy sort of condition. That sort of freaked us out, but it made for a more interesting tour, I guess.
I think one thing that really, really, really sort of surprised us when we got to America is that the audiences were just so rambunctious and energetic. Heckling, yelling and whooping and it was awesome! We played this one show in North Carolina, in Chapel Hill and it was awesome. There were like twenty, thirty people in the audience and each and every person was throwing their hands in the air and screaming along to the songs. It was fantastic.
That sort of thing happens now in the UK, now that we play bigger gigs at 2,000 capacity venues and 3,000 capacity venues. There’s not a massively huge difference, I guess. But America is so huge that each state is basically like a new country. The reactions are different. The weather and I guess their conditions, so that makes their reactions different like people in different countries are different. And we love that.

PW: Do you guys have plans to tour in America soon?
BL: Yeah, well we recently finished a really short-a whistle stop tour, I think that’s what they call it. We did New York, Boston, San Francisco and then Los Angeles and then finished up in San Diego. That was amazing. That was actually one of the hardest tours we’ve done. It was a really short tour, but the whole reason was that before we even left the country, our tour manager and our sound engineer, they just didn’t come through in time, so we just left them behind.
It was just a hard tour. We took a plane to New York and then with three hours of sleep hopped a train to Boston and got no sleep. But it was awesome. So, sometime next year after we finish the European dates we’ve got planned, we’d like to come back to America. We’re just looking for a big support slot. That would be amazing for us.

PW: You recently under went voice surgery. Has that been hard to get back into the touring schedule? Does that still give you problems or are you all-recovered? Have you had to change your lifestyle because of that?
BL: Everything is totally fine now. I sing and I scream ten times better than I ever did before. I look back on it and it was a really, really tough time. The doctor said that I might never sing again if the recovery process goes awry. But it was totally cool.
I guess, at the time, I was sort of psyched out and sort of stressed out. I couldn’t speak for three weeks and I couldn’t sing for two months. Singing, and talking especially, is my favorite thing ever. I couldn’t imagine living without it. We stayed positive and went into a local rehearsal studio and just jammed out for six hours a day perfecting all the songs that we had written on tour.
I guess that’s sort of why we came out with the album that we did that we’re really, really proud of. We got this opportunity to sort of sit back after this whirlwind tour and really look at these songs and concentrate on them. We got to figure out what sort of record we really wanted to make with All or Nothing. I got to say I feel like I was reborn. I feel like that process was a rebirth, I’m a completely new purpose. I got this edge, since I’m not finished.

PW: Is there something you do now to protect your throat so this doesn’t happen again?
BL: Yeah, warming up. Before every show anyway, I always sit down with an acoustic guitar and warm up. But other warm ups too that Charlotte and I do. I think because we have more harmonies on the new record and we really need to go and rehearse them before we do them on stage. I guess just sitting down and sounding things out before the show really, really helps out.
I hardly drink before any of the shows. Well, I don’t drink before any of the shows and I hardly drink on tour at all. Maybe one or two beers if there is a day off. I really try to look after my voice. When I’m on stage, I relish the opportunity to be up there and play for the audience and get them going by singing about all the things that matter the most to me in the world. I don’t want to risk that ever again with my voice leaving me.

PW: That is very impressive. Especially that you don’t drink on tour. It seems like so many rock stars are through six beers before the show even starts.
BL: Yeah, there are so many rock and rollers out there who love to drink. I’m one of these people who wants to look back in 10, 15 or 20 years, if I’m still alive, and remember all the amazing things that we get to experience. This is like an adventure. I’ve been given this opportunity to go out on this adventure and explore the world.
Not only that, but explore myself and learn new things about myself. I feel like if I just drink all the time when the band’s out, it would all be rather pointless unless I’m aware, completely aware. I find that the buzz is a thousand-fold when I’m on stage in front of the audience of the audience, when it’s me playing to my fans. It is a real organic, natural feeling that you get.

PW: Now, you recently did a show in Germany where it was just you because Charlotte was sick and you played an acoustic set. How was that received and was it hard to quickly adapt all your songs into acoustic numbers? Did you have that prepared beforehand?
BL: I write all my songs on acoustic guitar anyways. That’s where the ideas sort of spring from. I’m always traveling with an acoustic guitar and I’m always sitting down and jamming out with an acoustic guitar. When I found out Charlotte was ill, I phoned my manager and said, “We’re not canceling a show are we?” and said, “Yeah, we’re going to have to because Charlotte can’t play.”
So I said, “Well, I feel really terrible letting the fans down because they’ve been looking forward to this for such a long time. I mean, we’ve all been looking forward to this for such a long time. You know, book me a ticket over there to Hamburg and I’ll play the show on acoustic.”
So, before I boarded the plane, I was rehearsing the songs. It’s pretty easy to break some of our songs down into acoustic anyway, since that’s how they’re written initially. I’ll write an idea on the acoustic guitar and take it to Charlotte if I think it needs working on melodically or I’ll take it to Josh if I think it needs working on rhythmically. I don’t really want to miss out on a chance to get on the stage and play if for people.
It was great. I think they were really surprised that I turned up. They were really happy about it. Halfway through the show I ended up phoning Charlotte and I got the audience to wish Charlotte, wish her a get well soon in German.

PW: So how do you say that in German?
BL: I have no idea. I think I just spoke it really slowly in English.

PW: Now you and Charlotte used to date, but how do you keep such a good friendship, while being in a band and having all that time together?
BL: I think mainly we realized that music is the most important thing to us and nothing was ever going to get in the way of us playing together on the stage. When we broke up and were working on the record, being able to go through that while making the record was a totally incredible thing because it did actually teach us what we really, really, really love and that’s playing music together.
It sort of helped make the record. We wrote “Obsession” about it and we really honestly put our feelings into the songs. I guess it was pretty therapeutic making the record at that particular time. It sort of got all the issues out of the way.
When couples usually break up, they spend time apart from each other, don’t they? But Charlotte and I were sort of forced into this environment where we were sort of forced to overcome any issues that we had and just get on with it. We were sort of lucky to be able to do that you know?
We realized that life is sort of full of hard times and good times. We still have fun together and we still really appreciate what we’ve done for each other in this life. Whenever we’re on stage and we’re playing these songs together, there’s never really any awkwardness like people might think. We really consider it a celebration of all that we’ve been through.

PW: Do you have any tips or advice for people going through break ups so that they can get to the point that you and Charlotte are at?
BL: Yeah, just talk through it. Charlotte and I played through it, but that’s how we sort of communicate with the world: by playing our instruments and singing melodies. I guess that’s probably the most important thing. Not only do you get closure, but you learn about yourself and you learn about relationships and how we should treat people. You learn about your mistakes and how to become a better person because of it. That’s one of the main things, becoming a better person and realizing when it’s time to move on and learn a lot.

PW: I know Charlotte DJs in her off time. Do you and Josh have anything you do during the band’s off time?
BL: Well, Charlotte DJs and I DJ whenever I can. We love DJing. It is so much fun. You basically get to play all your favorite records and pretend that it is you performing them. It is easy and you get free drinks and everybody loves it. It’s just a great time. I don’t know.
I guess when we’re not playing music, we’re still playing music. When we’re not touring, we’re writing. When we’re not writing, we’re rehearsing new ideas. I don’t think there’s anything, there’s no other sort of hobbies that will mean as much to us as music in our lives.

PW: My last question: what is the most surprising or strangest thing that you guys put on your rider?
BL: A framed picture of Steve McQueen. We asked for that at every show that we ever did on our first ever UK tour. Everyday the promoter would say that was the strangest request to have on a rider. That’s it really. I’ve actually still got a bunch of them out my house up on the walls. I love Steve McQueen. I think he’s amazing.

PW: So you just have a collection of McQueen photos? Now did anybody refuse to give that to you?
BL: No. We just had it on the first tour, that first ever tour, and every venue did it for me. It was great. It was very hospitable.

PW: Well, that’s awesome. Thank you.
BL: Thanks.

The Subways: website | myspace

Ghostland Observatory describes their style as a “robot making love to a tree,” so it is fitting that their third album would be called Robotique Majestique. However, with such a promisingly unique description, this Austin duo failed to deliver more of the exciting electro funk offered on their previous releases.

This is music that is supposed to make you want to move around and there are a few tracks that do that. “Heavy Heart” is a welcome track after the instrumental “Opening Credits” that sound like they should be the theme to 2001: A Space Odyssey. “Heavy Heart” has a pulsated rhythm provided by drummer Thomas Turner and Freddie Mercury style vocals from vocalist Aaron Behrens. In contrast to the first song, I would expect this song on the soundtrack to Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Another song worth listening to is “Dancing On My Grave,” which slows things down, but still keeps up with energy. This is impressive because some of the faster tracks on the album feel like they are lacking energy.

The whole album acts as a blast from the past with its synthesizer heavy parts. However, because it does borrow a lot from the past, you might be better off just listening to some original 70s or 80s music.

The main problem with this album is that after awhile all the weird spacey sound effects get repetitive as do Behrens’ vocals, which get really annoying after awhile. If you try to listen to this album in full, you’ll feel inclined to space out instead of hearing the space and robot sounds. The band’s first two albums were a lot more fun and energetic, but for a third album release, this just disappoints.

Robotique Majestique was released by Trashy Moped Recordings.

Tracklisting:
01. Opening Credits
02. Heavy Heart
03. No Place For Me
04. Freeheart Lover
05. Dancin’ On My Grave
06. Robotique Majestique
07. The Band Marches On
08. Holy Ghost White Noise
09. HFM
10. Club Soda

Ghostland Observatory: Website | Myspace
Trashy Moped: Website

Written by: Bethany