popwreckoning

New York City based-indie Camera Records will release a split 7″ vinyl single on April 22 from two acclaimed bands: Isle of Wright’s Mercury prize-nominated The Bees (also known as A Band of Bees in America) and esteemed California quartet The Mother Hips. The single offers two brand new, limited edition tracks: “Papa Echo” by The Bees and “Childish Dreams” by The Mother Hips.

The release marks the first studio recordings since 2007′s Octopus by The Bees and Kiss The Crystal Flake by The Mother Hips. The coupling of the two bands unites their signature psychedelic-70′s-power-pop, however, both The Bees and Mother Hips possess a colorful range of styles and influences, such as 60′s rock, country, reggae and jazz.

Both The Bees and The Mother Hips are currently working on material for new full-length records in their own studios, in between tour dates. The single will be released digitally at a later date.

Side A’s “Papa Echo” from The Bees swirls their well-known psychedelia with blazing Latin-jazz and salsa rhythms. Side AA’s “Childish Dreams” from The Mother Hips brings a fresh punch to the bands’ repertoire, “melding heady Revolver-era vocals with Zombies-esque pop.” The record is enveloped in an antique green sleeve screen-printed in NYC with original hand-drawn lettering.

The Mother Hips Tour Dates:
04/10 | Los Angeles, CA
04/11 | Solana Beach, CA
04/12 | Solana Beach, CA
05/01 | Philadelphia, PA
05/02 | New York, NY
05/03 | New York, NY
05/09 | Chicago, IL
05/10 | Chicago, IL
05/15 | Sacramento, CA
05/16 | Chico, CA
05/17 | Modesto, CA
05/18 | San Francisco, CA
05/31 | Santa Barbara, CA
06/05 | Reno, NV
06/13 | Santa Cruz, CA
06/14 | Santa Cruz, CA
07/03-06 | Quincy, CA High Sierra Music Festival
08/24 | San Francisco, CA Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival Golden Gate Park

The Bees Tour Dates:
Apr 19 Rock’N'Roll and Soul (DJ SET) LONDON
May 23 Hare and Hounds (DJ SET) BIRMINGHAM
May 31 Summer Party 2008 NOTTINGHAM
Aug 30 Moseley Folk Festival BIRMINGHAM

The Mother Hips: website | myspace
The Bees: website | myspace

Two of the four wonderful fellas from New York’s The Postelles took some time to chat me up about what they’ve been up to and where the year will take them. Hit play to listen to “White Night” and check out what they have to say.

boomp3.com

Jessica/PopWreck(oning): Hey guys, thank you for wanting to work with PopWreck(oning). We dig your sound and are glad you’re taking some time to talk with us. When and how did The Postelles come to be?
Daniel Balk: Thanks so much, we love PopWreck(oning). We met in high school in New York and have been playing music in separate bands up until eight months ago when we started The Postelles.
PW: How did you all first get involved with music; playing, writing, performing?
DB: I’ve wanted to be a musician since as long as I can remember. From the first time I heard The Beatles in 1st grade, I wanted to be in a band. The Beatles were so well known for the fact that they wrote all their songs, that it made me want to be a songwriter above anything else.
Billy Cadden: I grew up in Woodstock and ever since I was a kid I have been around music. It has always been a part of my life. My first touring experience was actually with the Indigo Girls, because my mom was friends with a band member. They would let me go out on stage when I was little and would often serenade me with “Billy Don’t Be A Hero” which was cool. The reason I took up the drums was because, in my first band, every other instrument was taken, but the drums worked out for me nonetheless.
PW: Having lived in New York City for several years myself, I know what a chaotic yet amazing and diverse place it can be � how has living in New York influenced your sound and who/what do you consider other influences?
BC: New York has one of the best music scenes so I feel lucky growing up here and getting to go to a lot of live shows. Two of my biggest musical influences are Kings of Leon and Muse. After seeing both of them at Lollapalooza and then again in the city, I know what I want everyone who sees us to feel from our live performance.
DB: New York definitely gives you more of a push to be the best you can be, because there are so many good bands competing to play at the same music venues or get on the best New York blog or whatever. Other than the city, I’m musically influenced by tons of bands, some being The Beatles, The Band, Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, The Supremes, The Ramones; the list could go on forever.
PW: What are some of your favorite places to hang out in the city and catch a show?
BC: I really like Webster Hall.
DB: A lot of venues are over 21 so its tough for us as we are all under 21. But Bowery Ballroom is great for shows, best sound in the city.
PW: One of my favorite places is the Bowery Ballroom, too! You guys just recently played a show there; what was that like?
BC: It was insane. Some of my favorite bands have played the Bowery so I was really excited to get on that stage. We also had our own VIP section blocked off upstairs for us. We never used it, but it was nice to have.
DB: As I said before the Bowery has the best sound in the city. It was amazing to be up on the same stage that The Strokes, Libertines, Wilco and so many other bands have played. It definitely felt surreal. It was also nice having a crew carry our amps, which we’ve never had before.
PW: Next month you leave for a stint in Europe, do you have plans to tour the States anytime soon?
DB: Yeah, we do. We got the opportunity to tour Europe first so we took it, but we are planning to go through the US in June and July. But check our MySpace, we’re always adding new gigs every week.
PW: Your song “White Night” appears on Tank Farm Clothing’s “Future Sounds, vol. 31″ (which is available for free with any online purchase) � how did you get to be involved with that project?
DB: Future Sounds Blog really liked “White Night” so they featured it on the compilation. Other than that, we didn’t have much to do with it, but I do think its really great and has some really good bands on it.
PW: Retone Records recently released your self-titled EP: What went into making the record and did you achieve what you set out to with it?
BC: We went in to the studio without a producer or any outside ears, so it was a real learning experience for us. We learned a lot about our instruments and the whole recording process. I am still very proud of the record.
DB: Writing wise, the EP was a lot of work, but we recorded the six songs in four days. We wanted the EP to sound exactly like we do live and I think we achieved that. We still enjoy playing the record live which is great.
PW: What does the rest of 2008 hold for The Postelles?
DB: Hopefully a lot of shows and a record release of some kind. We are recording right now and should have something new to release soon, but 2008 is going to be a lot of fun.
PW: Be sure to give us a heads up on the new record!
BC: I am looking forward to touring the most. Going on tour with other bands while traveling across the country has always been a dream of mine.
PW: What are you guys listening to right now?
BC: In the past week or two my most played song is “Midnight Surprise” by Lightspeed Champion. Our guitarist David and I recently saw him play and actually got to meet him. The show
was amazing. He even played a song he has never played live before as per our request.
PW: I just saw him last week, as well. It was so, so good! And Dev is just so sweet.
DB: I think the MGMT song “Weekend Wars” is amazing. Other than that I’m not too in love with anything going on right now, but I do like Lightspeed Champion a lot. There are a few new bands I like, but I think overall the music scene needs something fresh. It seems like a lot of bands are trying to outdo each other in terms of being different and not focusing on actually writing good songs. Some bands are more interested in the scene, rather the music, but there are some good new bands that I feel are changing that.
PW: That’s probably a fair assessment about some bands. Well I hope you guys set out to change that! Thanks again for talking with me, it’s been wonderful getting to know more about The Postelles!

The Postelles: myspace

The latest batch of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductions will take place in New York City at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on March 10th.
Leonard Cohen will be inducted by Lou Reed

The Dave Clark Five (Dave Clark, Lenny Davidson, Rick Huxley, Denis Payton and Mike Smith) will be inducted by Tom Hanks

Madonna will be inducted by Justin Timberlake

John Mellencamp will be inducted by Billy Joel

Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff will be inducted by Jerry Butler

The Ventures (Bob Bogle, Nokie Edwards, Gerry McGee, Mel Taylor, Don Wilson) will be inducted by John Fogerty

Little Walter will be inducted by Ben Harper

Luck was not on my side, last night, as I ventured a few hours north to New York City to catch Tina Dico‘s only show in the United States until the spring. I’d left home with what should have been plenty of time, but I believe New York was spiting me with delayed transportation for having moved back to Philadelphia from “The Big Apple” (no real New Yorker calls it that) this past June. I love New York, regardless, but am truly bummed to have missed Tina’s set, arriving just as it finished.

I did, however, manage a brief meeting with the lovely Ms. Dico thanks to the wonderful ladies of Cornerstone [Promotion]. I’m happy to report that Tina was super sweet and said she looked forward to my attendance when she’s back for a full-length US tour, which will hopefully stop through Philadelphia so I’m not at the whim of NJ Transit and the MTA.

Until the spring tour and April release (US) of her new album Count To Ten, check out Tina’s video for the first single “On The Run.”

Birdie Busch was playing upstairs at the venue I’d trekked to for Tina, and I did manage to catch a few of her songs (A Room in the City, Water, Gigi), which was great and made me feel a bit better about having made the trip up. Not a total bum night, and I guess that’s all I can ask for.

Tina Dico: website | myspace
Birdie Busch: myspace

New York indie band Pablo will begin tracking their new record tomorrow at Levon Helms Studio.

Yesterday marked the beginning of the CMJ (College Music Journal) Music Marathon in New York City. The marathon celebrates all that music and film have to offer, new and old, over the course of five chaotic days. During last year’s marathon I volunteered my services, along with many other music enthusiasts, to get into the shows for free. For what I think was probably 10 or 20 hours of service over the course of the week, I received a badge that allowed me to get into just about any show I wanted, which was seriously a dream come true. I picked apart the CMJ schedule for the bands I wanted/needed to see and literally created an all-inclusive timetable of my own to make the best use of my time over the week. Each day I had a listing of the band playing along with time and venue (obvi) but I went so far as to map out the best subway route(s) to take so I wouldn’t have to stop and think for a second. For the marathon, I made sure to purchase a 7-Day Unlimited Metrocard because I knew between subways and buses I’d get more than my $24 worth for the week (generally a single ride on the subway/bus is $2).

Over the course of the week between classes, my internship, being an RA, volunteering for the marathon and attending shows, I probably got about 4 hours of sleep a night, but it was absolutely worth it. Since high school I’d been heavily involved in my local music scene and decided that I would one day want to start a record label. Attending college in New York City was great at helping me get my foot in the door through internships, but during the fall of my junior year I interned with a company that absolutely sucked (not to name names, BurnLounge), and ruined all of my aspirations and desires to be involved in the music business. Immediately following I’d taken an internship with a [not so typical] women’s fashion magazine and found something new to love. It was working at the CMJ Music Marathon and attending shows like it was my job that opened my eyes to how much I truly love and want to be a part of the music industry.

Needless to say I was initially destroyed when I moved back to Philadelphia and got a full-time job, dashing my hopes of volunteering at this year’s CMJ Marathon. Last year I got to see Ben Lee (awesome), Birdie Busch (amazing), Boys Like Girls (fun), Breakup Breakdown (excellent), Dan Keyes (beautiful), David Bazan (melancholily gorgeous), Forward Russia! (off the wall), Hotel Lights (haunting), Kaddisfly (okay), Kevin Devine (my #1 true love, see also: omg amazing as always!), Matt Nathanson (amusing), Pablo (so good), Rooney (booty-shakin’), Scenes From A Movie (not bad), Snowden (okay), Soft (pretty good), Straylight Run (beautiful), The Decemberists (rad), The Format (fun), The Hint (good), The Oranges Band (awesomely fun), The Rapture (dance party orgy), These Arms Are Snakes (awful!), Tigers & Monkeys (amazing!), Valencia (amazing, they’re my boys in the most literal sense) and Wax On Radio (awful!). There were also a ton of amazing people I met through volunteering and just around the city that week. I ran myself ragged all over New York and loved every second of it.

After actually seeing who was playing this year, my disappointment at not being able to attend dissipated. There are very few bands in the line-up that I recognize or care to see, and some bands just seem totally out of place on the roster (Bouncing Souls, The Counting Crows ?!?!) — though maybe it’s not possible to be out of place at CMJ. There are 38 bands, out of hundreds, that I’d like to see play this year, only five of whom I’d try to go out of my way for. My lack of excitement for the current line-up makes me feel way better about not volunteering this year, and even about not being in New York.

In the future I hope to get back in the festival game, but this year I’m okay with missing it. Mostly, I’d like to head over to Austin for SXSW and City Limits, perhaps even Coachella in CA someday. There are music festivals all over begging for volunteers to help out in exchange for free shows, great music, and rad people, and I would like to be able to do that professionally (though the technical definition of professional makes that impossible as I wouldn’t be “earning a living” by it — whatever). You want in? Let’s go, go, go!