David J and Zia McCabe interview [Listen 21:15] – Getting the Magic with David J S03 Ep03 (Part 2 of 2)
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S03 Ep03 (Part2 of 2)- Getting the Magic with David J
Interview Date: September 12, 2012 @5pm EDT
Halloween Special Guests: (Audio) David J (of Bauhaus and Love and Rockets): is an indie legend and a Goth Rock icon. David John Haskins (aka David J) was a key member in the band Bauhaus, as well as the band Love and Rockets, and now is forging a solid solo career. He is someone I can easily say is a person who formed the soundtrack of my high school years with classic songs like: "No New Tale to Tell," "Ball of Confusion," "Ziggy Stardust," "So Alive," and "Bela Lugosi's Dead.” At that time I knew him as the sunglass and suit wearing bass player who had a fantastic Dub quality; as the years have gone on, my respect for him and his musical legacy has only grown. In this podcast we go into David J’s past and talk about 4AD, Bauhaus, the song Bela Lagosi’s Dead, Double Dare, the Goth Movement, Love and Rockets and much more. http://www.davidjonline.com
Halloween Special Guest: (Written) Zia McCabe of the Dandy Warhols: is the keyboard player, percussionist, song writer and bass guitarist, for the Dandy Warhols. In this half of the written interview I ask her what (if any) feminist issues she feels strongly about, major labels, her thought on the vinyl music industry and the latest Dandy Warhols album This Machine.
Zia McCabe of the Dandy Warhols Interview - 'This Interview Kills' (Part 2 of 2)
GTV - Would you care to discuss some feminist issues that you feel strongly about?
Zia McCabe - Uh, like what? I’m not sure exactly what feminist issue is. The right to decide what happened to our body ie abortion. Of course I’m pro choice, just like I would never tell a guy he couldn’t get a vasectomy. What else? If you want to do what “men” do, do it. If you want to be stay at home mom, do that! The problem is, both those things should be valued and respected equally and there lies our problem. Now who suffers from this the most? The children; because no one (male or female) is home to raise the children. Everyone is out being a man.
GTV - With the industry changing as much as it has and with it the whole paradigm shift, who gains from a band making it big these days?
Zia McCabe - I don’t really understand. If the music is good, everyone gains. If it sucks then just the band and label and industry in general gains. The radio stations have something to play between their commercials.
GTV - Where is the money in the music industry today?
Zia McCabe - Licensing.
GTV - What’s you take on Vinyl records and the independent Record Store?
Zia McCabe - I love vinyl, I DJ vinyl whenever I can. I love touching it and looking for odd out of print records and playing them in my living room and out at gigs. The rise in popularity in vinyl is saving the indie record store. They should prolly jump on this whole cassette mini movement too, or is that just in Portland?
GTV - “This Machine” came out earlier this year and is, in my opinion, one of your strongest albums yet. Are you, yourself, as a musician searching for more? What would you say accounts for the band's growth?
Zia - Thank you and yes, I am always looking to learn and well, most searching is from within but I’m always looking to learn about new ways to express myself. I believe everyone in my band works this way and if one or more of us grows stagnant for a period there seems to always be one of us that has gained new insight and enthusiasm that can keep the ball rolling.
GTV - Where did the title “This Machine” come from?
Zia - Arlo Guthrie had a sticker on his guitar that said, “This Machine Kills Fascists” then later Donovan had a sticker on his guitar that said “This Machine Kills” . Courtney was telling me about this when we were shooting the video for Smoke It and my replay was that he should have a sticker on his guitar that said “This Machine”. The guitar has been laying around the studio ever since and at some point Courtney realized it was a fitting name for this album.
GTV - Is this a political record?
Zia - No I wouldn’t say that. Alternative Power To The People is the closest thing to political on there and it’s (well the video more than the song) just about power and alternatives and how we don’t have much say most the time.
GTV - Nice artwork on the cover; how does it relate to the album?
Zia - Uh, cool local artist painting something very North West USA which is where we’re all from.
GTV - “Sad Vacation” is a great song, do you have a penchant for heavy pop?
Zia - Oh jeeze, I don’t know what I have a “penchant” for but no, I don’t think heavy pop would be it. More likely, vintage country and anything old like old Hawaiian with all that pretty pedal steel and stuff like that.
GTV - I think Courtney was just experimenting with different singing styles in the his lower register, not sure if he was actually going for Iggy Pop, that’s where he ended up though huh? I dig it!
Zia - “Don’t shoot she cried” is a great atmospheric song with ethereal choral undertones to it; it was written by yourself and Brent Deboer.
GTV - What is that song about and how did it come together?
Zia - I came into the studio and Brent already had this pretty music and I knew right away that I had words for it so I ran out to my truck with a copy of the demo and practiced for a minute and came back in a few minutes later to track it. It’s about my sister getting held up at gun point in her home when she was a young mother. Two masked men came to rob her and took the little cash she had that was meant for rent. It’s not in the song but in real life one of the guys felt bad that she was just a poor young mom and gave a little of the money back to her on the way out the door when his partner wasn’t looking. She must have been terrified.
GTV - This is a song that you contributed to the album; is this an indication of a shift in song-writing responsibilities?
Zia - Like I said, we are all experimenting with new ways to express ourselves. ; )
GTV - What song off the new album gets the biggest response live?
Zia - I’m not sure, maybe Sad Vacation.
GTV - A lot of the “classic” bands like the Rolling Stones, the Searchers and the Kinks are hitting their 50th Anniversary. What milestones would you like to achieve?
Zia - Well our 20th Anniversary is just around the corner, that seems like a pretty big deal to me.
- End -
David J and Zia McCabe interview [Listen 18:57] – Having some lunch with David J S03 Ep03 (Part 1 of 2)
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S03 Ep03 (Part1 of 2)- Having some lunch with David J
Interview Date: September 12, 2012 @5pm EDT
Halloween Special Guests: (Audio) David J (of Bauhaus and Love and Rockets): is an indie legend and a Goth Rock icon. David John Haskins (aka David J) was a key member in the band Bauhaus, as well as the band Love and Rockets, and now is forging a solid solo career. He is someone I can easily say is a person who formed the soundtrack of my high school years with classic songs like?: "No New Tale to Tell,:" "Ball of Confusion," "Ziggy Stardust," "So Alive," and "Bela Lugosi's Dead.” At that time I knew him as the sunglass and suit wearing bass player who had a fantastic Dub quality; as the years have gone on, my respect for him and his musical legacy has only grown. In this podcast we talk about David J`s new album "Not Long for this World," using Kickstarter, the song "Because You're Gone," “Hank Williams to the Angel of Death," and what it takes to do a great cover song, and much more. http://www.davidjonline.com
Halloween Special Guests: (Written) Zia McCabe of the Dandy Warhols: is the keyboard player, percussionist, song writer and bass guitarist, for the Dandy Warhols.
Zia McCabe of the Dandy Warhols Interview - 'This Interview Kills Fascists' (Part 1 of 2)
GTV - I kind of see the Dandy Warhols as the vanguard of the MTV video generation. How important are videos today and do you see a new future for the music video?
Zia McCabe - One of the first places people go to check out a band they’ve never heard is Youtube. If you don’t have songs on there with actual videos then the viewer/listener is going to get a live version filmed on someone’s phone with the speaker distorting or a still shot of the album cover or something that a fan has put up to get the song onto Youtube. While these versions are fine for the hardcore fan. A video that gives you proper visual stimulation while the song plays goes a lot further. So yes, I believe videos can be important, though I don’t see the big budget ones being as necessary. Oh but I do love that M.I.A. dessert one with the cars on their sides. Dang, that thing was worth every penny!
GTV - In my discussion with Anton Newcombe, we got on the topic of bands getting discovered (half way through the interview). He said that being discovered and promoted by a major label as the only route to success is a farce, and he stated that no one needs to get permission to be successful. After I saw the movie "Dig!" it seems to be the direction you took (signed to a major label and well promoted.) Do you think a band can "make it" outside of the regular channels today? If so, what would a band need to do to be successful outside of the regular channels?
Zia McCabe - I don’t know if being signed to a major label can even be considered the “regular channels” these days. Now it’s all about the niche. The Dandy’s have done it all. The major label (just before they, for the most part, crumbled), then we made up our own label (kinda) and self released an album and now we are on an indie. It was a helluva good time having all that money spent on us but ultimately a drag having those fools up in our business threatening our artistic integrity left and right. And well, we sucked at having our own label and hardly anyone even knew we released an album on Beat The World (different story in Australia because we did sign with a label to release it, thank god). Now, we’ve settled in the middle, working with great indies in the different territories, we have press coverage again and someone looking after the bits that we have proven to ourselves have no business looking after. This has become a DIY world though and you can “make it” via a myriad of different options. A la cart!
GTV - I’ve seen some interviews with you where you talk about some of the ways you have been able to find a happy medium with being in a rock band and also being a mother. They seem to be two extreme poles of existence. Could you elaborate on this. You identify as a feminist, yes? Has this been the foundation to occupy both worlds successfully?
Zia McCabe - There are things in our lives we manage to pull off without exactly knowing how. Balancing Rock and Roll and motherhood is for sure one of them. I’m sure most parents with careers and well adjusted children feel the same way. You just do it. Every day you make sure your little one is part of your life and feel, without a doubt, loved and safe. And when you blow it, you find a way to make it up to them the next day. A feminist? Me? Ha! Ya, know, I never really used to identify myself that way. It’s a title I accept reluctantly. I believe in myself. I believe in the innate magic and beauty and strength of the female energy in nature but never thought of it as something to rely on. Yes, woman can roar, and yes men can be tender. But it’s not about that and that’s why I have always avoided feminism as my creed. I didn’t believe woman turning into men was the answer. I do believe that we as women have strengths and talents that are not being understood, celebrated or encouraged in our society and that the male energy is out of control all over the place messing stuff up. We are out of balance is all. Sounds like a small thing but sadly it’s not.
Come back next week for the finale of our GTV Halloween Special with Zia from the Dandy Warhols and David J. You don’t want to miss it! We’ll see you next week.
Mira Calix interview (Part 2 of 2) Listen: 27:44 – I love to hear her speak, yet well I know that music hath a far more pleasing sound – S03 Ep02
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S03 Ep02 (Part 2 of 2)- I love to hear Mira Calix speak, yet well I know
Interview Date: September 11, 2012 @2pm EDT
Special Guest: Mira Calix - As far as Electronica artists go, Chantal Passamonte aka Mira Calix is much more organic, not only in the sounds she uses (through collecting field recordings, capturing analogue sounds, and working with chamber instruments and other ensembles), but also with the direction her music has taken, evolving away from a strictly electronic sound to incorporating classical orchestration and working in dance, film, theatre, opera, and within the visual arts. In this podcast we talk about the collaboration with Gavin Bryers on the Shakespeare sonnet “Nothing like the sun” , we discuss her work with Mark Clifford of SeeFeel, the album “Eyes set against the sun”, her famous award winning piece “My Secret Heart”, the recent Alfred Hitchcock soundtrack commission and much much more.. Check out more here: http://www.miracalix.com/
The Connection
Mira Calix (Chantal Passamonte) mentioned the band My Bloody Valentine (MBV) as an influence during her interview, and they're a band worth a description here, although by now, they've gotten enough publicity and time to become more familiar to the world but, in their day in the early '90's, they were one of the best alternative 
bands you never heard of. They had a resurgence after they disbanded in the mid 90's and the strength of their sound kept them popping up throughout new music scenes and generations. I can recall reading a review in a university paper only six years ago about the the writer's "new find" they called a goldmine of a discovery, and of which they were extremely proud to find and relishing the music and describing with great amounts of ebullience, "especially when turned up loud." It wasn't the most brilliant writing, or thorough review, but what made it memorable, was that their music was being rediscovered and loved again as new and groundbreaking despite their disappearance from the scene, apart from the few tracks in Sofia Coppola's movie, Lost In Translation, but in the midst of approximately fifteen years passing and through new and contrary popular music scenes, their music still remains to enthrall new listeners.
Passamonte seemed a bit taken aback by referring to MBV and their ilk as counter to the mainstream, but this only reveals the difference in the music scene when one crosses the pond. My Bloody Valentine had better success in the UK, and perhaps was not so underground to her, but to the twenty-somethings in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada (the land where Blackberries now rot on the vine) MBV were the darlings of the underground; you had to have connections to the scene in Toronto to be in the know. At that time, North America was taken over by Nirvana and The Red Hot Chilly Peppers; it was nearly impossible to hear anything else above the buzz.
And while MBV is great music to play loudly on your system, they deserve much more description than that. A good listen, or just a little research on the internet will reveal how original and intricate the band and their sound is.
But first off, some description of the leader of MBV, Kevin Shields, is in order. Something of the J.D. Salinger of the music world, he's reclusive, rarely talks to the media, and extremely meticulous with his sound. Deeply involved in every nuance, it becomes easily understood how such an innovative sound could have emerged from such fastidiousness and creativity. When he has opened up in interviews, he reveals himself an extremely artistic personality, but also a rare one countered with a heavy dose of wisdom - no doubt, something that's served him well in securing ownership of his music, although its led to difficult and perhaps underhanded dealings with record labels, but events which he eventually came out on top of due to his passion and persistence, and something he seems reflect upon without bitterness when his passion is checked by his intellect and maturity.
Speaking on the MBV sound, it's lush, layered, encompassing, and original. The guitar work had been something of a impassioned debate in the day. It was believed to be heavily manipulated through effects and massively reworked through the studio, yet, Shields attests, turns out to be rather simply, a guitar tuned to a chord with liberal use of a tremolo bar and run through an amp turned up to 11. The sound launched them into high critical acclaim, and heads of the Madchester, or 
"shoegazer" sound, but unfortunately record sales weren't as stellar to match the acclaim. They failed to chart in the U.S. That, plus inactivity led to members of the band falling away, yet it's the originality of the sound which makes them reappear and indelible on those who heard them in the past. And requests for more output, thanks in part to Sophia Coppola, has led to their immortality to the degree that rereleases and remasters, and new tours coming out, plus, although Shields has stated no firm date, he speaks of unreleased material finally finished and due out soon. While Shields may not follow most people's notion of time, his work is something to watch for when it does come. It's more than worth owning a seminal band who's been so influential to so many, Mira Calix included. His work has inspired more than one generation of music lover.
Next Week's Guests:
Audio interview - David J - bassist for the gothic rock band Bauhaus and Love and Rockets.
Written interview - Zia McCabe Keyboards, etc. from the Dandy Warhols.
Links to occupy your time and enlighten your soul:
John McLaughlin's new album "Now Here This" coming out Oct 18th!
“It’s the best thing I ever did, from the beginning until today” -John McLaughlin
"The best Jazz album yet this year" -GoingThruVinyl
http://www.johnmclaughlin.com/project/now-here-this/
COMING SOON: John McLaughlin will be coming on the show to talk about his new album!
I also wanted to congratulate Micky Hart on a great tour! Here is a link to some free live tracks; get them while they're still up.
http://mickeyhart.net/download
Check out our interview with Micky Hart Here
Not swimming in the mainstream (Part 1 of 2) – the Mira Calix interview S03 Ep02
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S03 Ep02 (Part1 of 2)- Not swimming in the mainstream with Mira Calix
Interview Date: September 11, 2012 @2pm EDT
Special Guest: Mira Calix - As far as Electronica artists go, Chantal Passamonte aka Mira Calix is much more organic, not only in the sounds she uses (through collecting field recordings, capturing analogue sounds, and working with chamber instruments and other ensembles), but also with the direction her music has taken, evolving away from a strictly electronic sound to incorporating classical orchestration and working in dance, film, theatre, opera, and within the visual arts. In this podcast we talk about her inspirations, how she got started, some people she has aligned herself with like Strictly Kev of the DJ food project, Radiohead, John Peel, the record labels 4AD and Warp, and we get into a few of her early projects. Check out here site here: http://www.miracalix.com/
Musicians in Any Other Form Would Smell Just as Sweet
We've mentioned before how musicians have a penchant towards turning their creativity to media arts. David Byrne, David Bowie, Ron Wood, Brian Eno, and of course Bob Dylan are well known for their paintings. These artists have been pretty established for their work outside of music, but Marilyn Manson, George Clinton and others you may be surprised to learn have tried their hand at fine art and have been getting some recognition as well.
What exactly prompts them to pick up another form to express their creativity is often debated with explanations ranging from simply monetary gain to the honest and legitimate burning desire to create in another manifestation.
We'll present some work here, for your consideration; give us some feedback, if you have any on which is worth merit on it's own or not.
David Bowie has stated in an interview with the New York Times that the difference between the art world and the rock-music world is that one has a brain. And while one could say there is different section of people each art form draws to itself, I would say that it's completely wrong to say that rock-music aficionados are altogether brainless. We have gathered a small sample for your consideration, and we don't require an art major for this, just state your interpretation of it's merit or not, and explain why. (Pretend that you're proving to David Bowie that you're not brainless. Hover your mouse over the artwork on the page for the artist's name.
Not altogether brainless, and in-fact, we're betting that some of you are pretty astute. Although some artists like Jerry Garcia never placed too much weight on his visual art, he did attend art-school, and for a time considered becoming an artist before music took hold of his life.
Others, specifically, Tony Bennett who paints using his birth name Anthony Benedetto or just Benedetto takes things a little more seriously, and apparently paints every day. It's paid off for him though, his work hangs in some pretty prestigious galleries and museums. He's given back though, and established an art school in his native Astoria, Queens, NY.
Perhaps, Brian Eno is the most well known amongst the "rock-music world" for the visual art that he produces, but take a look at the others and let us know of your impression.
Getting Knocked Out by Wanda Jackson (Part 2 of 2) – the Wanda Jackson interview [Listen 24:04] S03 Ep01
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S03 Ep01 (Part2 of 2)- Getting knocked out by Wanda Jackson
Interview Date: August 23, 2012 @1pm EDT
Special Guest: Wanda Jackson - has been called "The Queen of Rockabilly" and is by all accounts a Rock'n'Roll legend - she has a distinct style in both Rockabilly and Country (often bouncing between both styles on the same record). Credited as being the first women to record a Rock'n'Roll single; Wanda Jackson is a crucial figure in the Rock genre and the feminist movement. In this podcast we talk about the songs “Mean Mean Man,” “Let’s have a party” “Fujiyama Mama”, Ken Nelson, Buddy Holly, Joe Maphis,and Roy Clark.
Wanda Jackson has some "Unfinished Business" coming out a week from today; her new album is out October 9 and is produced by Justin Towns Earle (Steve Earle's Son) from Suger Hill Records. Check out more at: http://www.wandajackson.com/
Tribute to Joe Maphis
Joe Maphis, born Otis W. Maphis, known as "the King of the Strings," and his playing lived up to the title. His custom built double necked Mosrite guitar had one shorter, and strung to an octave higher. He could play between the two seamlessly. He could play multiple stringed instruments equally well, as he displayed for audiences shifting through banjos, mandolins, and guitars. He played with some of the greats including Wanda Jackson, and his influence spread further to Merle Travis, Jimmy Bryant, and Chet Atkins.
To those in the know, he's a respected guitarist, and one who's skill earned him recognition in the Country Music Hall of Fame, where his double necked guitar can be seen on display; to those who don't know him, he deserves a moment of your attention, where, he'll easily capture and hold it for the duration. He was known for having a bit of flair and absolute ease of application. What is strange, in that I've never seen it mentioned, is that you can see it in his smile. It's often there captured in his pictures; it's not arrogant, it's not cocky, but it's a little sly and knowing.
You can see that he to
Parting Thoughts:
I thought I might put a link to Joe Maphis knockin' everyone out!