Today we're spending Seven Questions In Heaven with Redlands singer Ben Lohle:
Describe your music for our readers who may not be familiar with you.
Well, we're an american indie pop rock band from Denver, CO and we touch on a handful of styles.
Who are your musical influences and idols?
For me personally, I'm very fond of singer-songwriters because it's such raw talent and not like what you see nowadays where these kids hide behind a computer and drag stuff around. Eventually, I see myself taking my music more in that direction because that's my true passion, but I'd say I'm heavily influenced by artists like Tom Petty and Ryan Adams.
What was the first album, cassette, or CD you bought with your own money?
Honestly, I think it was like a Backstreet Boys album. Millennium, I believe haha.
What was the strangest gig you've ever played?
So we had a show cancel on us when we were on tour in Florida a few years back and we wanted to play a show so we all got on the phone and started calling all the bars and venues in the area. Well, we ended up playing this one place, I forget the name, but it was a gay bar and little did we know, but it was known to be the "gayest" bar in Florida haha. Anyways, that was a weird show, but I think we all milked it for what it was worth. We all drank for free and partied pretty well that night and surprisingly they loved our show, or us haha we couldn't tell, but we didn't care.
What is your current favorite guilty pleasure?
Currently, I don't know. I feel like I've cut everything out of my life that I should feel guilty about partaking in, but I like Starbucks now and then.
If they named an ice cream flavor after you, what would be the name and why?
Hmm they'd probably call it Creepy T-Rex because when we go out and get crazy I like to get up on the stage or a table and do my best T-Rex impression haha.
Final question: You're the opening act of a music festival. You can get any five artists, living or dead, to perform on the bill with you. Which five do you choose and what song do you all perform as the final jam?
Tom Petty, The Maine, Augustana, Ryan Adams, Parachute. I think we’d all HAVE to cover "I Want It That Way" by The Backstreet Boys because that would be too great hahaha.
Today we have the music video for "Cold Blood," the first single off Swedish band groombridge's upcoming album, Boy From Golden City. The haunting video stars the two young sons of singer Dyle, who wrote the song after the boys were stricken with life-threatening health problems last year. Here's what Dyle had to say about the song:
"It's a big relief to finally release "Cold Blood." We've been working very hard the last 1.5 years making this new album happen. I had a very tough time recording this album, with two of my boys being really ill. So recording the new tracks was more like therapy for me. There is nothing that makes sense anymore if you don't know whether your kids will survive or not. I put all my emotions into the songs and I guess that's what you'll hear. I guess you couldn't do that in every band and I'm very glad to be a part of groombridge. We're more like a family than a normal rock band.
It also makes me very happy to see my two boys in that music video and for me it's kind of a reconciliation. If you've been through rough times you learn to appreciate the good times more. Even though our music may be melancholic, we're all yearning for the good moments in life ;-)"
Here's the video for groombridge's "Cold Blood." Make sure you stick around for the ending scene, which totally makes the video and the meaning of the song.
Today we're spending Seven Questions In Heaven with Bryan McPherson, who will be releasing his third album, Wedgewood, on June 10th through O.F.D. Records.
Describe your music for our readers who may not be familiar with you.
Folk music. Music of the people.
Who are your musical influences and idols?
I grew up on Bob Dylan, Guns N Roses, Sex Pistols, The Ramones, Michael Jackson, '90s punk bands like Rancid, NOFX, Avail and lately I have been listening to Bill Faye, Leonard Chen, Townes Van Zandt, Bright Eyes, Tom Petty, Against Me!, Billy Bragg, and Bruce Springsteen.
What was the first album, cassette, or CD you bought with your own money?
I bought GNR's Appetite For Destruction LP.
What was the strangest gig you've ever played?
I have played so many strange gigs. I just played in a cave in Germany. It was pretty rad.
What is your current favorite guilty pleasure?
Haribo candy.
If they named an ice cream flavor after you, what would be the name and why?
Del Fuego. Because it would be hot.
Final question: You're the opening act of a music festival. You can get any five artists, living or dead, to perform on the bill with you. Which five do you choose and what song do you all perform as the final jam?
Prince, Bob Dylan, Sex Pistols, Nirvana and Janis Joplin singing "Purple Rain."
Sigue Sigue Sputnik guitarist Neal X has a new band, The Montecristos, his successful attempt at bringing "some life and excitement and adventure back into my life and the lives of the people I know and love." Neal had just gotten off the road with Marc Almond and was nice enough to talk with us about Born To Rock 'n' Roll, the new band, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, and more!
How are you doing today?
Really great, thank you. It's Election Day here. My kids got a day off school because their school is a polling booth. So I've taken my daughter and three of her ten-year-old friends out to the movies and we went to see the new Avengers movie, which is plotless but it's kind of fun. It's really dumb, but it's fun.
You just got off the road with Marc Almond. How did that go?
I've been working with Marc over twenty years now, touring with him, and this was the best and most fun tour and I think we did really good business. It was strange. These days, I don't know what it's like in the States, but in the UK people buy tickets at the last minute. I guess they wait and see if something else may be on or we're of a generation where people don't like to commit to things too far ahead because the audience is aging with us. All the shows were really full, better than expected business. Everyone made money. Promoter was very happy. Band was happy. Audience was unbelievably happy. It's good all around.
Let's talk about The Montecristos. What brought you all together?
I had a real need for it. I've kind of been sitting on the idea for ages. I really wanted to do a rock 'n' roll band and be in a rock 'n' roll band. I felt a bit like time might be out. I'm the last of a dying breed almost. My contemporaries have either lost it, lost the spark, dying, or stopped trying to shock or be inventive or do anything new. And I figured it's about time. The next generation hasn't got anything coming. There's no great rock 'n' roll bands. The Stones are still out there, okay. There don't seem to be any great young ones coming through. There's no New York Dolls. There's no Iggy. There's no Sigue Sigue Sputnik even. There's no Clash. There's no Pistols.
Were you friends with the members of the band or did you find them?
I found them. It was more like I had a dream and I found people to fit that dream. I met Gemma, the trumpeter, playing with a guy called Roy Wood. I don't know if you're aware of him in the States. He was in a band called The Move in the '60s. He then had a band called Electric Light Orchestra with Jeff Lynne. He left to form a band called Wizzard. If he was American, he'd be celebrated like Phil Spector. He's a really inventive English guy, but he talks a bit funny and looks a bit weird so he's kind of ridiculed a bit here. But he's really great and I found Gemma, the trumpeter, playing with him. She had it all from the back of the hall. She had the charisma. She played great. And I thought, "Yeah, yeah, if I get this together, I'm going to be calling her." So I tracked her down. It's kind of easy these days with the Internet.
Sophie, the sax player, came with her. They were a ready-made unit. Emma, the bass player—I really wanted to work with girls. Women rule my world. I'm married, I don't know if you are. Look at the happy marriages, women make all the big decisions. I love and respect women. I wanted a girl bass player, didn't want a thuggy dumb guy. I wanted someone with charisma who could really play and I found Emma after much research on the Internet on a video on YouTube which has got 200,000 views or something now, doing a slap bass solo. And she's only twenty minutes up the road. The dummer, Hugh, he's actually a doctor of Latin percussion. He's a phenomenal percussionist, plays piano brilliantly, really superb multi-instrumentalist. Marc Almond found him actually. Antony, Antony and the Johnsons, ran a Meltdown festival in England at the Royal Festival Hall. Marc found Hugh and said, "I found a percussionist," which alarmed us because normally it's not his thing, but Hugh was just phenomenal.
What can people expect from your debut album, Born To Rock 'n' Roll?
Hopefully, it's just a slice of energy and it's a statement of intent of where we aim to go. It isn't a be-all end-all of it. I referenced a couple tracks from the past. We do a Gene Vincent song. We do a song by the Young Rascals, which was a big hit in the States but unknown in Britain. One of my friends, an American mum from my kid's school, her mum's uncle wrote "Good Lovin'." I recorded a version of that with Stiv Bators for Stiv's album in 1990 and unfortunately he died during the recording. He got hit by a car in Paris and died. I just felt it was time to show the world what we were trying to do with that. I just wanted to bring some life and excitement and adventure back into my life and the lives of the people I know and love that love the same sort of music.
During the recent run with Marc Almond, what were the fans' reactions to the new songs?
We cherry-picked just a few shows that we played the opening, basically the shows where we had a day off afterwards. Marc's shows are long and fully energetic, it's full-on hour and forty-five minutes. I've got to pace myself. But we got a really, really favorable reaction. In fact, I was just talking to a friend today who saw it and she said, "It was amazing that they responded the same way as they did to Marc's songs." People really seemed to love it. Dancing, super enthusiastic and attentive. Sometimes being the opening act, people are there to chat and order drinks, but I felt we really got a lot of attention.
What led you to update a few Sigue Sigue Sputnik classics for the new album?
I felt we were much maligned by the media in the UK, I don't know whether it was the same in the States. When we first came out, we were treated as a breath of fresh air and the saviors of rock 'n' roll. It very quickly turned. The press turned on us and just seemed kind of trite and comedic. And I thought, although maybe we weren't really as good as we thought we were, we sure weren't as bad as the media made us out to be. I wanted to reclaim some of those songs and reimagine them for the 21st century and show they were really great songs and we did have something.
You guys were unlike anything that came before you. You had such had a unique style and sound, how did you go about creating that?
I felt the big thing was to go back to basics. In starting anything, I think it's really good to understand the history of where you're coming from. With Sputnik, it was very much a conscious decision not to be influenced by what was going on around us by our contemporaries. Everyone was sort of eating off the same table there. So we went right back to the '50s, the roots of the '50s and rock 'n' roll, and studied the purity of that. We imagined, "What would it be like if Elvis from the future crash landed on the planet and found this world of super high-tech equipment, but only had a stack of Roots Of The Cramps or Elvis records or Eddie Cochran records? Would it sound like Soft Cell or The Thompson Twins or Depeche Mode or whatever or would it sound much more rock 'n' roll-y?" That was the vision, to make it absolutely kind of contrived to be that very, very simple rock 'n' roll. That's why we had the fifth generation of rock 'n' roll concerts. The '50s and Elvis was the first generation, Beatles second generation, Velvet Underground third generation, punk rock fourth generation, and we were the fifth generation.
I feel like you guys, like you alluded to earlier, you never got a fair shake. You were known for the commercials or the hair and people weren't paying enough attention to the music.
It depends on how you're perceived. I can't tell how we're perceived. I think musically, we did have great strong points. It is difficult listening to some of those early records now, I have to admit. That's one of the reasons why I wanted to rework them. I do feel the songs are strong enough that David Bowie covered "Love Missile F1-11." I didn't feel that was a footnote in history when Bowie covered us. I felt that was a warm glow of a kindred spirit that really "got" us. I met David's original drummer from the Spiders Of Mars last week on tour. Woody Woodmansey, he came backstage. From his reaction, he wasn't thinking, "Oh, that's just some stupid hair band back in the day." He was very gracious and very kind. I feel maybe it's a media attention thing that people have short attention spans. I feel that we did have a bit more going on than we were given credit for.
You're in charge of a music festival and you can get any five acts, dead or alive, to appear on the bill with you. Who do you choose?
It's got to be Elvis. T. Rex because I never saw them. The Velvet Underground. David Bowie definitely. And Suicide, who I'm going to see in a month-and-a-half's time in London. They're playing the Barbican in London and it's so great that they're back out there and still playing. I'm so thrilled for them. The last time I saw them was possibly 1987 at CBGB. I was one of seven in the audience. Now it's a sell-out show in front of a thousand people or something in London. How great is that?
Hopefully the same will happen for you with The Montecristos.
You know, it feels good. It really does feel like there's something going on. There's a buzz and everyone's positive about it and you gotta have that feeling that everything you touch just works for you. I really feel that at the moment. Sometimes you grab out for it, reach out for it, and it's just a little bit out of reach. Now it seems fate's dealing us a lucky hand.
Today we're spending Seven Questions In Heaven with Kingswood singer Fergus Linacre:
Describe your music for our readers who may not be familiar with you.
We are a rock band but with quite a diverse sound. Sometimes harder QOTSA vibes, then more bluesy like Zeppelin, at times soulful, sweet or sad. Well that's what someone said once anyway. In truth like any artist you just need to listen to the music.
Who are your musical influences and idols?
Personally, I grew up listening to whatever my brothers listened to. Queen, Aerosmith, Extreme, all big singers so I guess that's who I learnt to sing from. We got to meet Steven Tyler when we opened for Aerosmith in Australia which was a bit of a thrill. Today's influence comes from anywhere of any genre as long as it's good. I've been loving Sia's latest record.
What was the first album, cassette, or CD you bought with your own money?
Green Day's Dookie. I used to go to the music department of our school and learn how to play all the riffs on guitar.
What was the strangest gig you've ever played?
In 2012, we did a tour of the army bases in Afghanistan, TK, Kabul, Kandahar and Dubai. It was an incredibly rewarding experience. I don't know if "weirdest" is the right word but the shows were defiantly the most different from festivals or club shows we have ever done.
What is your current favorite guilty pleasure?
Saltwater Taffy's. Such a good texture.
If they named an ice cream flavor after you, what would be the name and why?
Ferga'lick'us, cos it makes the girls go loco.
Final question: You're the opening act of a music festival. You can get any five artists, living or dead, to perform on the bill with you. Which five do you choose and what song do you all perform as the final jam?
Neil Young, Ella Fitzgerald, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Robert Plant. And we would play "Somewhere Over The rainbow."
This rocks! Check out the Biters' "Low Lives In Hi Definition," a new track from their upcoming debut album Electric Blood, which will be released on July 10th via Earache Records.
Today we're spending Seven Questions In Heaven with The Ruminaters' drummer Teddy!
Describe your music for our readers who may not be familiar with you.
We recently were told in a review that we sound like "London Calling era Clash fused with The Strokes." That works for us.
Who are your musical influences and idols?
John, Paul, George and Ringo. Julian Casablancas, David Gilmour. As far as influences go, we have been listening to a bunch of really cool stuff lately like Gap Dream, Mac Demarco, Mr Elevator & The Brain Hotel.
What was the first album, cassette, or CD you bought with your own money?
Honestly couldn’t tell you with any certainty but probably Jack Johnson's Brushfire Fairytales. Or Jamiroquai?
What was the strangest gig you've ever played?
Once we played a show in an old fashioned hotel in Potts Point Sydney that was based on Hotel Chelsea in New York. We played in the lobby on top of a massive rotating record player and we all got our own engraved hip flask. We spent the night roaming the hotel which was lined wall to wall in weird and wonderful things.
What's the first thing you look for when you hit a new town?
Surf, pool table, and Buck Hunter.
What is your current favorite guilty pleasure?
Musically? I’m now listening to Jamiroquai because you reminded me.
Final question: You're the opening act of a music festival. You can get any five artists, living or dead, to perform on the bill with you. Who do you choose?
Beatles, Strokes, Pink Floyd, Neil Young, and The Kinks.
Culture Brats is intelligent, witty, and insightful commentary on pop culture from the '80s to today. The children of the '80s are reclaiming pop culture!
