The Church Gear

One of the things that amazed me about the Church show I saw last month was the amount of aural textures the band created with what seemed to be very small pieces of equipment. True, the guitarists were utilizing more than a few pedals, but the suprising thing what how everything was powered by combo amps about the same size as the one sitting in your basement, attic, or garage right now.
I get that amplification often is an extention of a dude's penis and that when you see a wall of Marshall stacks, only one or two may really contain working parts. But I think it's pretty badass that a band as established as The Church is utilizing the utmost amount of efficiency in their live shows and not sacrificing a thing in sound quality.

WW: The Church has had a distinctive and influential guitar sound that has perhaps not received the recognition it deserves. If I may ask, what kinds of rigs and guitars have you used to create your unique sound?
Marty Wilson-Piper: I'll answer that question in three parts.
First of all, recognition is in the eye of the beholder. My top ten guitarists aren't in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. What does that tell you? Success is what it's all about? You know what, I know it isn't all about that. I know Rory Gallagher, Paul Kossoff, Bill Nelson, Richard Thompson, Tom Verlaine, Robert Fripp and whoever else I could think of in a row that aren't in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are amazing. I don't care what anybody thinks. I don't care if people agree with me, I accept it if they disagree with me, but those seven guys I just named off the top of my head, oh yeah and Harvey Mandel and Terje Rypdal, nine, I know those nine guys are not getting in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. So how can I care about getting recognition, if nine people I love, and who have been around and what geniuses they are since day one, aren't getting in there. If it isn't going to come around for them, it isn't going to come around for me. And the people who like what I do, that's enough. That's great. People come up to me and say, "Hey, Marty, I love the way you play guitar." Wow. Imagine being a guitarist in the world and having people say that to you. That's amazing.
I'm completely content with that, I don't need some kind of institution to recognize me. And if they do, great. If they do, I'll be grateful and then say, "Now let me tell you about Paul Kossoff, Tom Verlaine, Richard Thompson, Bill Nelson, Robert Fripp..." and that will be my speech.It's an emotional thing for me. I guess I've learned some kind of adept skills on the guitar but it was never about that.
If I do something that looks tricky, it comes from an emotional place. I'm interested in the tone, I'm very interested in doing something very different.
Having said that, I've listened to Derek Trucks, and he's amazing, and he's sort of a very traditional slide guitar player in a blues band, and he's completely the opposite of what I do, but I think he's brilliant. Or Jeff Beck, there's a real recognized amazing guitar player.
As for my and Peter's (Koppes) rig, we both usually use a Vox AC 30. He has a 50-watt Marshall and I have a 15-watt Orange. In the studio I've got a 100-watt Orange. I've got 3 '60s AC 30s and with a blend of those I come up with some sort of great tone. Peter has got an AC 30 and his Marshall 50 and he uses a kind of Danelectro amp, it's an effects amp. Sometimes he uses it for his tone as well.
For this tour Matchless have leant me an amp. So I've got a very colorful rig at the moment. My guitar tech Davida, who plays with me when I'm doing solo shows, she's leant me her 15-watt Orange and Matchless leant me their 30-watt amp. So I've got a green amp and an orange amp so I'm looking very autumnal one side and sort of springy on the other. So it might change my mood by just looking around. I might look around and go, "Ooh...the autumn sound." Anyway...Loads of pedals...I use a big, long Boss volume pedal, which is one of the most pieces of effects that I use in my rig. It has nothing in it but it sort of gives you expression with your foot in your fingers. Expressing notes with a volume pedal is an amazing thing. Of course I've got one of those OC-1, stereo chorus vibratos. The one I'm actually using on the road is Peter's, but I've got one in the studio in England. I've got one of those old Boss yellow pedals, the C-1s, I think they're called. I've got one of those funny green Line-6 pedals for reverse delay. I try to use the authentic stuff. I've also got a UE-405 Ibanez effects unit with a compressor, analog delay, stereo chorus and a parametic, which I never use.
I've also got an Electro Harmonix Big Muff but it sounds kind of muddy because it was fixed and has never sounded the same. When you're a guitarist you can tell the difference between muddy in a good way and muddy in a bad way. Mine is muddy in a bad way.
I've usually got a wah pedal but I may buy one on tour to use in places in songs where it makes sense. Usually I like to use [an Ernie Ball Crybaby.]
I've also got a '59 Jazzmaster; it's my main guitar. I also play a Roger McGuinn Limited Edition Rickenbacker 12-string, strung the other way around; it's got compressors in it. Rickenbacker, I must say, have been very kind to me. That guitar I just took in to get fixed up because it was in such a disgraceful state. It had so many things wrong with it it was unbelievable, and they fixed the whole thing up for me brilliantly. I'm getting a Rickenbacker bass for this guitar and I'll be playing it if I can get it to work. I saw the bass player from Dead Meadow play and he had a really warm sound, so I hope it can work out. I also use a Takamine acoustic 12-string, which I've had for 25 years and it's a really nice guitar. It doesn't look like it will be but it sounds great.
Peter's playing a new-ish strat and he has '59 Telecaster but I don't think he's bringing it on this tour. He's also got a Taylor 12-string. He's probably going to bring the AC 30 on this tour so he can get a dirty sound as opposed to my clean sound. He's probably bringing a Fender Deluxe and an effects amp. He's got a huge number of pedals I couldn't even begin to tell you what they are--20 pedals or something. He uses a [Sony] GP-5 to get those symphonic sounds.
And I think that's about it for me and Pete.

Thanks to my fact-checkin' cuz for hitting me up with the interview above which was originally published in Denver Westword.
The photo of The Church's gear was lifted from Steve Kilby's blog, which is quite good.
My review of The Church's Chicago show can be found here over at Glorious Noise.

Bob Nastanovich Joins Poison Control Center For Pavement's "Two States"

Awesome video footage of Bob Nastanovich joining Poison Control Center on stage for a drunken rendition of "Two States." His wife jumps on stage later on for a few screams and Bob offers a drunken speech on how Des Moines bests Chicago. I agree in some aspects, but I think it may have been the booze talkin'.

Bob Nastanovich of Pavement w/ The Poison Control Center "TWO STATES" from TAPES FOR LIFE on Vimeo.

Thanks to reader Patrick Tape Fleming for the link and for capturing the footage. Patrick and Ashley Fleming are two talented Iowa filmmakers that recently won "Best Iowa Filmmakers of 2009" for their film That March.

2009 80/35 Recap

Last summer, my wife and I stumbled across the 80/35 Music Festival in Des Moines and got comped a pair of tickets at the last minute.
Free tickets?
The Flaming Lips?
You bet!
Full account of the show here.
But the biggest beef what how little we knew about the event until, literally, a week before the actually took place. Call it first year mistakes, the Des Moines event coordinators being selfish, or the inability of a Midwestern city to figure out how to adequately promote in the age of new media. Whatever the excuse, it what poorly executed event that ran the risk of ending just a quickly as it was put together.
Apparently, last year’s festival was successful enough to grab some additional money from the city and get another reprieve.
The extra money did get 80/35 some additional press-I actually ran across a few articles that focused on the event well before it happened-but it didn’t do much (for me) in terms of attracting enough bands for me to fork over the money for tickets.
And yes, the festival organizers decided to increase ticket prices this year, apparently oblivious that people are still hurting in today’s economy.
Maybe they’ll figure it out-if they manage to get a third year-as attendance was reportedly well below expectations and the figure needed to break even. And perhaps future organizers will learn to schedule their shit at different times instead of directly competing with KGGO’s Geezerfest.
Don’t laugh. I actually liked the line-up from the classic rot festival a grey hair more than this year’s 80-35.
So while I missed 80-35, James Wilson from CR/IC legends The Douglas Four recently located to Des Moines went to the festival and buzzed back what he thought of the show(s) and of the scene there in general.
Actually, we’re probably too old to refer to things like a “scene” anymore, but apparently, there’s a few fucksticks in DM that still think our capitol city is better than your place. Reality check: it’s Des Moines. A band with a misspelled rodent name who haven’t had a hit in twenty years doubled the attendance of your indiefest. And no matter how hard you try, 80-35 will never be on par with Pitchfork, Rothbury, or whoever you’d eventually like to turn into.
You know what I’d like? A festival that has the balls to have Ratt, the replacement singer of Bad Company, April Wine, Pat Travers on the same bill as Cymbals Eat Guitars, the dude from Pavement, Public Enemy, and House of Large Sizes joining Head East on stage for a medley of “Never Been Any Reason” and “Two Liter Man.”
Now there’s a line-up I’d pay $100 to see!
Here’s the skinny with Wilson’s take on the 2009 edition of 80-35, begining with a dream that I had how Japandroids were at the festival:

Glam-Racket: Japandroids were one of the bands I wanted to see this year at 80-35…
Wilson: Were Japandroids scheduled to play 80-35? They’re playing here July 20th…
Glam-Racket: Never mind…you’re right…I’m confused
Wilson: 80-35 was fun...
Glam-Racket: How big were the crowds?
Wilson: Definitely bigger on Saturday. I think Ben Harper headlining on sat was a big draw for the hippie contingent. I saw in the paper that they estimated approx 30k for attendance.
Glam-Racket: Actually, that area downtown probably couldn’t handle that many people and I think the promoters are now saying the paid attendance is more like 12,000 total for the entire event.
Wilson: I had to work until 6 on Friday so by the time I got there it was raining and I missed Tilly and The Wall, but I could hear their set from my office...so that was kind of cool. That being said, I didn't have any problem getting to the front for anyone I wanted to see.
Glam-Racket: Top 5 bands?
Wilson: Malkmus, Cymbals Eat Guitars, the House of Large Sizes reunion, the Tilly set I heard from work, and the 4 songs we heard from Margot and The Nuclear So and So's before we got annoyed by the Des Moines Social Club hipster faction and left.
Glam-Racket: Who the fuck are they and why do they think they’re important enough to kill the vibe for other paying attendees?
Wilson: The first encounter at the social club was when we stopped in to their bar for 2 dollar Grainbelts about a month ago. I had seen some advertisements about it being a non profit organization supporting local arts and music. They also boast the slogan "you are a member," so we go in and order drinks. Two bartenders working at the time must have decided that we were not cool enough for them to waste time waiting on us, so after that night we decided never to go back.
On Saturday, we’re waiting to for Margot and the Nuclear So and So's to take the stage and people are packing in pretty tight. Guess who comes up? Those same two shitty bartenders and four others pushing through the crowd to the front. They and hop the barrier for the press and stand in there like self-important pieces of shit. My wife actually asked if they were press or something? And their response was a smug "or something." That was bad enough but then once the band started playing they were flailing around drunk as fuck almost burning everyone in the front row with lit cigarettes. We got pissed and left.
So fuck them and fuck that place. Actually i wrote an email to the director of the organization and told him what went on both at the bar and at the show and told him that we didn't "want" to be members of that shitty club. He apologized and said he would chastise those responsible but I'm still gun-shy about going back.
Glam-Racket: Other than doucheness at a music festival-which is to be expected-what’s your take on the Des Moines music scene so far?
Wilson: There really hasn't been much worth seeing before 80-35. Seems like terrible emo or terrible metal...or worse a bunch of Slipknot imitators. I'm excited for Fall as it seems the Vaudeville Mews is getting some shows. Hope it gets better.
Glam-Racket: What was the biggest disappointment of the weekend?
Wilson: Probably that the weather wasn't nicer...but if it wasn't raining it would've been super hot so I guess it could be worse in the long run. Flava Flav was a no show as well so that was a bummer for my wife who was in the front row for Public Enemy. Even got on the cover of the Des Moines Register on Saturday!
Glam-Racket: Don’t. Don’t. Don’t. Don’t believe the hype!
Wilson: I was in the back when they announced that Flava was not going to show due to being in the hospital! There was just this mass exodus from the front after that announcement. I got the feeling most folks were there to see him. There was no mention of that hospital visit on any national news sites, by the way. In an interview Chuck D did that morning, he was blasting Flav for his lack of professionalism by being a no show...seemed like a cover.
Glam-Racket: Any signs of Bob Nastanovich? How close to a Pavement reunion were we?
Wilson: Bob didn't grace the stage. I was hoping for it, though. I thought I might have seen him milling around back stage during the set. Malkmus did give him a shout out in the form of "so does everyone know Bob? Figured everyone would by now." I found out Thursday night-way too late-that he was going to be at the Mewes with Poison Control Center for a kickoff party. Still kicking myself for not going to that.
Glam-Racket: What the fuck does Nastanovich do there in Des Moines?
Wilson: From what I saw on the news when they interviewed him about the Kentucky Derby. He is the odds maker at Prairie Meadows racetrack.
Glam-Racket: Got the song list for Malkmus’ set? What was the highlight?
Wilson:
Gardenia
Baby C'mon
Senator (New Song)
Jenny and The Ess Dogg
Baltimore
Out Of Reaches
Tigers (New Song)
Bill Fay (New Song)
Pencil Rot
Water And A Seat
Cribz (New Song)
Ret (Think this is new that's all that was on the set list)
The new stuff was great...reminded me of CRCR-era Pavement. I always liked “Jenny and the Ess Dogg” so it was cool to hear that one.
Glam-Racket: Loudest band?
Wilson: Cymbals Eat Guitars. Man, those guys are good with great 90's era noise guitar solos!
Thanks to our man for braving the pricks and giving us the low down on the 80-35 Festival.

Photo lifted from the 80-35 website.

The Devil And Daniel Johnston

Oh yeah. Just finished The Devil and Daniel Johnston doc. Highly recommended. Two in a row. Here comes the obligatory opine on the subject matter.
I guess I never really had an opinion of Johnston, and still don’t today. I mean, the dude’s crazy. I think he’d even admit that. And I’ve got a thing for the crazies. Something seems so pure about what they do and those moments of brilliance shine a little brighter when you know that someone isn’t really playing with a full deck upstairs.
But Johnston seemed a bit too precious even for my tastes and that includes the period before he went completely bonkers. It’s the period after he went completely batty that bothers me. From Gibby Haynes ridiculous interview with an obviously-off-his-meds Johnston (to his questionably honest response to the question if Gibby was indeed the one that fed Johnston some LSD, thereby escalating his diminishing mental state). To Steve Shelly attempting to put Daniel on some kind of indie-revival, only to discover that Johnston was not the type of person to follow logic, let alone a fucking itinerary. To Atlantic records for attempting to cash in on a bipolar man-just like any other signing-with almost total disregard for creating a contract that considered this man’s mental state. And to us, really, for expecting Johnston to fall in line like any other alterna-idol. Relishing his aloofness. Secretly hoping for a glimpse of his insanity.
I mean really: any decent person would have just said, “Fuck it. This dude needs help. Never mind SXSW appearances. Forget albums. To hell with Jad Fair collaborations.”
It all ended up the same: disastrous. And in watching the car crash, you can’t help but bark out “Leave him alone!” like some Chris Crocker type.
It seemed like only his parents were versed enough to properly address Johnston’s condition. Their patience is unnerving, particularly his Father. This is a man-a former fighter pilot, no less-that should be enjoying his golden years in peace. Instead, he’s battling his overweight adult son for the controls of his Cessna because Daniel decided he wanted to become Casper the friendly ghost. As stoic, patient, and strong as this man is, retelling the story of this frightening event breaks him into tears.
What’s strange about The Devil and Daniel Johnston is that I didn’t immediately want to run out and get his music. I did want to check out some of his art-cartoonish characters that provide a telling glimpse into Johnston’s mind. It’s a tad overpriced for my pocketbook, but it’s refreshing that he has a creative outlet and doesn’t have to rely on events that can trigger mental instability (Daniel has a tendency to restrict his meds before performances).
The film leaves you wondering: what will happen when his parents pass away? Financially, he made have found some stable footing (his family runs his website and his sellable goods) but one has to consider that his two elderly parents are the most stable sources in his life. When they’re gone, how will their absence impact Daniel and his art?
It’s a question that obviously is left unanswered, but one that isn’t is the story of Daniel’s muse, Laurie. There’s a touching bonus feature on the DVD that shows their reunion. Laurie is charming and very supportive of Daniel’s work. Daniel, on the other hand, is decked out in a stained sweat shirt and is obviously still smitten with Laurie.
“Will you marry me?” he asks within the first few minutes of the meeting.
She politely laughs knowing that Johnston is probably serious about his question, but smart enough to know that being out of reach has provided Daniel with enough material to fuel his entire career.
And Daniel’s career has provided director Jeff Feuerzeig enough material for a totally engaging documentary.

D.R.I. - Dealing With It

The album before Dealing With It established DRI as one of the fastest bands in America. It was filled with songs, all underneath a minute, but none of them managed to demonstrate that the band really intended to move beyond the notoriety of bashing out primitive punk rock at breakneck speed.
Enter album number two, a record that not only shows the band taking themselves a little more seriously (a good thing), it also shows them becoming a band of virtual groundbreakers, contributing to a new style of hybrid punk/metal called thrash.
I have to confess that as soon as they made the jump into that burgeoning genre is the moment I started to lose interest. There was simply too many good metal bands mining similar tempos with better results. But while DRI tightroped between punk and metal on Dealing With It, they were at their highest point for me conceptually. They still lamented life with the parents (“Mad Man”), rallied on about God and politics (“God Is Broke” and “Reaganomics”) without being too informed or too preachy, and generally just kicked around some great fast songs to help overcome the boredom of everyday life.

Bruce Springsteen - The River

It’s not the best Springsteen album-that title probably goes to Born To Run-but The River ranks as my personal favorite. It’s the album that introduced me to Bruce and, as a double record, gave me a nice overview of a variety of different moods our boy from New Jersey possessed.
I suppose that The River is fairly limited in epic scope while filled with songs-a-plenty about life, love, and those annoying Mother-in-laws.
Considering this, The River is probably the best record that a 14 year old kid could stumble upon when examining his collective works. It’s full of out and out rockers (“Ties That Bind,” “Out On The Street,” “Two Hearts”), blue-collar heartbreak (“The River,” “Fade Away,” “Independence Day”) and a bunch of songs that only began to grow as I grew with them.
The best examples are probably later on in the album, a section that I frequently skipped over as a teenager. These were the ones that didn’t immediately grab me-they weren’t intended to-but when I became old enough to appreciate things like space, mood, and sublety, then I began to understand how great Springsteen was, even at that young of age, was an incredible craftsman of rock and roll.
The song that did it for me both then and now is the title track. The appeal was because I grew up in a river town, so the imagery was something I could relate to. I remember vividly thinking how the protagonist, a young man who knocked up his high school sweetheart and then is forced to face the consequences, could have been anyone in my hometown. And as honorable as getting married and doing the right thing might have been, it doesn’t provide him with the tools to keep love strong.
He reminsices of the time when his passion ran deep. Years later, it all seems like a cruel joke as he surveys the remanents of his lost love. “Is a dream a lie that don’t come true” he ponders, “or is it something worse?”
With The River, I became a full-fledged fan of The Boss. I jumped into his back catalog and found that his talent was established well before that two-fer. Every week, I watched the ads for his show in Des Moines supporting The River, longing for a chance to see him and for an allowance that could even afford a ticket.
I got that opportunity a few years later, but I’ll forever be fond of the album that introduced me to Springsteen even when there are other parts of his catalog that are more deserving of praise.

Bruce Springsteen - Working On A Dream

Let’s get right down to it: “Outlaw Pete,” the opening track of Bruce Springsteen’s sixteenth album Working On A Dream does sound just like Kiss’ “I Was Made For Loving You.” It’s not a complete re-write, but there’s a series of do-do-do’s and a guitar part that mimic the same note sequence as Paul Stanley singing “I was made for lovin’ you baby,” from the horrific Dynasty album.
It’s enough to get Gene Simmons’ attention, but not similar enough to get him to try to sue The Boss.
The déjà-vu won’t leave you mad at Springsteen, but it will have you scratching your head “Why?” Why didn’t any of the performers, producers, confidants, whoever, come up to him and say “You know Bruce, that one part sound like that shitty Kiss song…The one when they went disco…Whadya say we rework it, or better yet, just leave that section out?” Seriously: the song, which drags on for a yawn inducing eight minutes, doesn’t need it at all.
No sir, what it and The Boss needs is a district manager. Someone who can sit him down and advise him on little matters like Kiss, Wal Mart, and his own legacy within the scope of rock and roll.
Working On A Dream isn’t about to change Springsteen’s place in rock history, but more to the point, it won’t going to help it either. It comes off like the third installment of the Human Touch/Lucky Town sessions but even less focused. And even though the liner notes to attribute the performers as the E Street Band, one could make the argument that their character has been all but erased here, supplemented with misguided attempts to sound updated and relevant. Producer Brendan O’Brien may be to blame for some of the unnecessary bombast and clutter within the arrangements, but the real fault lies with Springsteen for putting O’Brien in the predicament for having to cover up what was a weak album before the tape even started rolling.
Take “Queen Of The Supermarket,” a faux lust piece where Springsteen seemingly has run down a list of blue-collar careers primarily held by women (Waitress? Already been done. Hairstylist? Ditto. Checkout girl? Perfect!) and then slapped a few clichés and sappy phrases on it. O’Brien layers so much shit on top of the lyrical nonsense that by the time the song reaches the second half, he has Patty Scialfa doing an over-the-top refrain, a ridiculous orchestral swell, and the fucking beeps of a checkout aisle in the mix. It’s the most embarrassing thing ever in Springsteen’s catalog and it’s almost bad enough to make you give up on listening to the rest of the album.
As for the songs that are at least tolerable, they suffer from an uncomfortable feeling of this iconic artist is growing lost as he approaches his sixth decade, and no one has the good sense to light a fire under his ass or challenge his authority. “Life Itself” sounds like he’s trying to channel Warren Zevon. “Good Eye” finds him aping the blues while the rest of the band sounds like they’re lost inside of the interloping rhythms of Bruce’s distorted yelps and repetitive harmonica. “Tomorrow Never Knows” utilizes a nice acoustic shuffle before, once again, Brendan O’Brien starts tossing pointless vocal effects and worthless instrumentation into the mix.
Working On A Dream is nothing more than a half-hearted attempt at building excitement for another arena tour with the E Street Band. The thing is, the show itself is excitement enough and Bruce’s latest greatest hits compilation for Wal-Mart will probably do more to fill the seats than any memorable track on this album.
And for good reason: the songs on that compilation hark back to a time when Springsteen was a reliable champion of the everyman while Working On A Dream sounds like a white collar effort from someone who’s become part of the problem.
The only dream that is being worked on here is The Boss’ financial well-being.

This review originally appeared in Glorious Noise.