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THE INDIE ROCK BLOG
The Indie Rock Blog is a collection of Sugartune Artist News and entries from our friends at the Rock and Roll Report. If sweet, sugartunes are stirring in your soul, keep your soul stirred with a subscription to our news feed. 
According to this CNN story Venerable N.Y. nightclub facing last call the historic New York and rock and roll institution The Bottom Line could be facing eviction. Hopefully something will happen to turn things around. Hey Bruce wanna chip in a couple of bucks?
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Stylus is a great web based magazine. The first thing I saw when I checked it out today was a feature on the underrated gems of the Beach Boys circa 1967-71 and I was hooked. Massive in rock and roll scope, this is a very enjoyable read.
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Today we conclude Jeremy Hartley’s piece on Thai Rock and Roll. Apart from being a member of Thai/American band The Darlings, Jeremy has proven to be an excellent rock and roll scribe and hopefully he’ll write more in the future (once he’s finished his EP of course). So settle back, crack open a cold beer and get ready for some more Thai rock and roll fun.
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Part 3
There are loads and loads of other bands playing diverse styles of music who aren’t really linked with any of the entities mentioned above.
A list will have to suffice: there are a load of bands under the Hualampong Riddim label run by ska-reggae-fusion jazz kingpins T-Bone, including funk rockers Apartment Kuhn Pha and several bands featuring members of T-Bone and Skalaxy that run the gamut from ska to trip hop to jazz. Justice Music deals in nu metal with bands like Ebola and Quake and has been organizing shows at a place called Zest Pub, a hotel bar not far from the Nana red light district. I saw a band today called Pollution that reminded everyone of Nirvana but who were quite good and will be playing the next Noise Pop event. Panda Records has Red Twenty and the infinitely cute and catchy all-girl Bear Garden.
We are also trying to open the scene to bands from the region, particularly from Malaysia and Singapore, both of which have strong music scenes. To date, there has been little interaction between Thailand and its neighbors to the south, which is a problem everyone seems keen to remedy. Malaysia’s Spunky Funggy (pop punk) made it up here last year and I hear that the Singaporean surf-punk band Force Vomit and another called Opposition Party are going to come up. I know that all of these scenes are also looking to mingle more with international bands and would go to great lengths to set up shows for them.
In any case, there are a lot of shows coming up and the number of bands playing out seems to be growing daily. Things are only going to get better.
Read this antiMUSIC - musicNEWS Sept 2003: Bad News For Clear Channel if you want to see what could but probably won’t happen to our friend Clear Channel in the U.S. Perchance it is to dream….
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Rock and roll constantly re-invents itself by using its past in as many different ways as possible. It’s the nature of the rock ‘n roll beast. It can either be original and exciting or derivative and boring and sometimes all four can co-exist on the same album! Just because a band or performer looks to the past doesn’t mean that they are condemned to repeat it and this article from the LA Weekly “The Kids Aren’t Alright…They’re Amazing” by Jay Babcock, points out eloquently some of those bands and performers that are using past influences with flair and originality. Rock and roll is not about reinventing itself nor about copying its past. It’s about doing both, with attitude. At least that should always be the goal.
Another heads up by that excellent “superblog” Rock Critics Daily.
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Being a father, one can’t help but get nostalgic about something every week or so, especially when I compare what I experienced as a kid to what my son experiences today. A perfect case in point is cartoons. I love cartoons almost as much as I love rock and roll and one day as I was watching some cartoons with my son I suddenly blurted out “This show is terrible! Whatever happened to The Banana Splits?” Well my son turned to me and asked me what the heck I was talking about and I explained to him that the Banana Splits was a psychedelic live action/cartoon show that was really cool when I was a kid and the four guys in the Banana Splits were in a band and every week they played a new song, just like The Archies, Josie and the Pussycats and The Monkees. As he tried to hide that confused look that kids often betray when they have no clue what you are talking about, we started talking about the kind of kids shows I use to watch and after listening to “The Tra La La Song” the topic eventually turned to Bubblegum Pop, a much maligned but fun rock and roll diversion. Now Bubblegum is kind of like a car wreck. You don’t want to look but damn you can’t help yourself! Deep down I should reject it out of hand due to the undisputed fact that it’s a cynical manufactured “product” by people that don’t even perform the actual music (Monkees fans relax, I know, I know…) but for every “Sugar Sugar” there is a “Stepping Stone” so take it for what it is and relax. Even that media darling and rock critic God Lester Bangs had some good things to say about Bubblegum. According to his essay on Bubblegum Pop published in The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll he opines “The basic bubblegum sound could be described as the basic sound of rock & roll–minus the rage, fear, violence and anomie that runs from Johnny Burnette to Sid Vicious…[T]he wonderful irony was that it worked.” And the Banana Splits’ theme song, “with its strange imagery–’Four banana, three banana, two banana, one/Five bananas playin’ in the bright blue sun’–will be in my head unto the grave.” (Thanks to Rock Critics Daily and Rickey Wright for the quote).
If you’re looking to bone up on your Bubblegum knowledge, start with this excellent history and discography. For extra credits you might want to read Bubblegum Music Is the Naked Truth: The Dark History of Prepubescent Pop, from the Banana Splits to Britney Spears which is an exhaustive survey of Bubblegum Pop from the sixties to today. Now I’m not going to argue whether Bubblegum Pop still thrives (are Britney Spears and ‘Nsync Bubblegum? This must be debated by all concerned immediately!) even though I think its’ heyday was in the close of the sixties and the early part of the seventies. What you have today is I suppose a hybrid of Pop/bubblegum or as I like to call it “pap” but I digress. Bubblegum pop is as much a part of the rock and roll landscape as punk (shock!) and garage (horror!) and there is no doubt in my mind that when sung by a giant beagle named Fleagle, it was the coolest stuff on TV, and perhaps still is. Tra La La, La La La La…..
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There is no denying the genius that is Phil Spector. There is also no denying that he is one weird cat. This whole tragedy (MTV.com - News -Phil Spector Shot Actress, Detectives Conclude) would have made (and probably will be made into) one hell of a (weird) movie. Sad but true but let’s not forget that basic rule of our legal system that we are innocent until proven guilty.
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Check out Turn On. Tune In. Download. for an interesting take on the morality, or lack of, in illegal file sharing. I have been perfectly clear on my take on the P2P debate. It is illegal and essetially amounts to stealing in its current form. Why do people download? Well, most of the people that I know who do it do it for the following reasons: (a) They are trying to locate some obscure rock and roll nugget which is not available on CD or they can’t find it, (b) They want to sample a song or two from a band they have heard about before buying the CD. If they like the songs they buy the CD, if they don’t they end up deleting the file anyways, (c) They are looking to experience a new type of music (rock and roll fan interested in bluegrass for example) and they want to get up to speed on the genre. If they like the stuff they usually end up buying a heap of CDs soon thereafter, and (d) They only want one song from an album. If iTunes or something similar comes to Windows as it has proven so far, they will actually pay a reasonably cost for reasonable fair use of the song. The record companies could also allways go back to releasing something equivalent to the 45 that is cheap,legal and has tangible value. The debate continues.
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This October 3-5, San Francisco plays host to an incredibly cheap yet incredibly cool rock and roll festival, Budget Rock. Get to San Fran by any means possible but for God’s sake book your tickets now as they sell out fast! Just another reason why I am planning on putting together a global calendar of cool rock ‘n roll events so that somewhere you will know that there is some cool rock and roll waiting there just for you. I’m all a tingle!
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While I am not one to get hopelessly caught up in the nostalgia racket, I must admit that I enjoy quite a bit of the rock and roll that was played from about 1964 to 1968 thereabouts. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that I quite enjoy current bands that accept and build on this rock and roll foundation, bands like Sloan, The High Dials, Wellwater Conspiracy, R.E.M., Oasis even U2 to some extent. And no doubt about it, it’s a lot of fun digging up obscure rock and roll nuggets from this era as well as listening to bands inspired by the mid-sixties rock and roll scene. While I don’t listen to this stuff exclusively, I like it a lot so a magazine like Garage and Beat is just the ticket for my rock ‘n’ roll lovin’ eyes and ears. They have all kinds of cool articles and tidbits on little known rock ‘n’ roll bands of the past as well as tips on some great current music. If you ever feel like going back in time while staying firmly in 2003, order a couple of issues of Garage and Beat and enjoy the ride. Sherman, set the Wayback Machine for 1965! Fab.
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In a recent interview, Mike Mills of R.E.M. claims that there are not as many good indie rock record labels as there once were. Now we can debate that one ad nauseam but he does recommend one indie rock label in particular, Kindercore Records. I checked them out, looks cool but I haven’t ordered anything as of yet but I will soon. Hey, who am I to argue with Mike Mills? The guy knows his rock and roll (and Nudie suits!). Check them out and let me know what you think. Are they good for some rock and roll kicks?
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Check out the excellent music search engine MusicMoz the Open Music Project when you’re trying to track down some cool rock and roll info this weekend. And if you really want to help out, Music Moz is looking for editors and submissions to build this open database into the premiere music database site on the ‘Net. Check it out, and they are looking for an editor for the genre “Garage Rock” so apply now!
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So the weekend is right around the corner and the weather is looking grim. What is a rock and roll fan to do? Well, the idea of CD shopping comes up but you feel like relaxing in quiet with a good book. What to read you wonder? What rock and roll literary masterpiece can I lose myself in this weekend? If this sounds like you, check out Beat Books, a very cool book store in London that specializes in “rare and used books, magazines and ephemera from the Beat Generation, the Sixties CounterCulture, and the Avant-Gardes.” There are some really cool books available and depending on what you are looking for, the prices can be reasonable, although if you’re in the mood, you can drop $9000.00 on a letter from John Lennon to his first wife Cynthia written in 1974. I mean really, could you possibly find stuff like this at Amazon? Not bloody likely (use a British accent when you say that!). Very cool stuff for the rock and roll reader, and collector, in all of us.
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If you’re looking for some really cool rock and roll radio this week, check out the Record Hospital on WHRB-FM broadcasting from Harvard University (thank God for college radio!). Broadcast Monday through Friday from 10pm-5am, and Sunday nights from 12am-5am, the Record Hospital “has for twenty years been devoted to the best in underground music, including punk, pop, hardcore, emo, grind, noise, electronic, no wave, indie rock, and crust.” I particularly enjoyed “Our Little Rendez-Vous” broadcasting every Tuesday from 10pm to midnight which features, according to the host “Two hours of looking in the universe for rock’n'roll from all dimensions.” Great rock ‘n’ roll radio from Harvard Square. Who would have thunketh?
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Another long lost rock ‘n’ roll classic is finally set to be released when Let It Be …..Naked is released this November (RollingStone.com: News: The Beatles Get “Naked”). Intended to be the Beatles attempt at getting back as nature intended, warts and all (hence the goofy new title), their Get Back album was the Beatles performing as a relatively simple four piece rock and roll band. Of course we all know that Get Back morphed into the horrific Phil Spectorized Let It Be but now we will all be able to hear them as they had really intended (why so long a wait?). Of course, the new release differs slightly from the original Get Back but the bonus disc should definitely be interesting. Now Macca can finally shut up about The Long and Winding Road!
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I was doing the garage sale circuit with my wife and son last weekend when I stopped to let them out to check out the first “sale” of the day while I looked for parking. Since there was no places available I gave up and while waiting in the van for them to finish, my 8 year old son wandered over and told me that I should check it out since they were selling books (ah he knows me so well!). Well I found a parking spot post haste and checked out what was on offer. Believe it or not, there was one rock and roll book available! “Pourin’ It All Out: An Insider’s View of the Rock Scene” by Jay Saporita is an enjoyable paperback describing the rock ‘n’ roll scene circa 1979-80. To give you an idea of the time, in the chapter on Punk he states “As we move into the eighties, punk appears to be dying out.” Yes it’s that old. I don’t even think that the guys in Green Day were born when this thing was published! Jay writes some great articles on Punk, the Grateful Dead, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Stevie Wonder and the death of Sid Vicious. What fascinated me though was the chapters on radio and the concluding chapter “Loose Lips.” As for radio, he talks to Vin Selsa a DJ at WNEW-FM (at the time) on the state of FM radio and its future. Reading it is like reading a prediction from Nostradamus. In dismissing AM programming and trumpeting the free form format of FM radio as vastly superior, Jay notes “But severe warning signs have risen of late, indicating that the uniqueness of FM may soon be gone. It, too, may become homogenized and tightly structured, and worst of all, it may lose all its identity.” Creepy huh? And get this one. In the chapter “Loose Lips” John Scher, who was the president of Monarch Entertainment Bureau makes this prediction:
“When I think of rock ‘n’ roll in the eighties I think of video. Not just feature-length films….but more of a participation in the art of video. Video discs, kind of like a combination of a record and a miniature movie, should be available within five years. Instead of buying an album, the customer gets a disc which contains not only the group’s new songs but also a film of them performing the tunes. He goes home, inserts it into a home unit, and he’s got his very own private concert!” Sounds great doesn’t it? Now go turn on MTV or Much Music. Depressing isn’t it?
Anyways, besides being a window into the rock and roll past this is a great book with some great pictures so pick it up on your next trip to a garage sale or flea market, for better or for worse. Who knows what rock and roll treasure you might find?
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“Where the loud sound abounds” is how Norton Records describe themselves and boy they’re not kidding! They have got so much incredible rock ‘n’ roll that you can’t possibly get bored of this label. From garage band masters of the past The Sonics and The Wailers to Andre Williams backed by current garage faves The Green Hornets to some really cool archival radio broadcasts featured on “Norton 300 Mad Daddy – Wavy Gravy! Atom Smashin’ Zoomeratin’ Mello Jello Radio Broadcasts 1958-1964” Norton has something that is bound to buzz your brain. Check ‘em out. You can order their massive 80 page catalog here featuring tons of records, books, magazines and generally cool rock and roll stuff that you will wonder how you ever got by without. A definite musical necessity for all you rock ‘n rollers. And check out their smutty vintage paperbacks! Cool.
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According to Blame Canada it is technically legal to share music files in the overtaxed winter wonderland that is Canada! Huzzah!
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The article Internet Radio: Failed Promise? is an excellent, though slightly geeky, overview on the current state of Internet radio. It’s worth a quick read as this form of radio holds the most hope in the battle for radio diversity.
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Today we feature part 2 of Jeremy Hartley of the Thai band The Darlings and his look at the Thai rock and roll scene. So relax as we drift off to the sticky sweet Thai capital of Bangkok for more rock and roll fun. Take it away Jeremy!
Part 2
The very first concert I saw here was at the bar. Noise restrictions made it impossible to organize concerts there on any sort of regular basis (this lack of a regular venue around which to build the scene continues to be a problem, though not so much that it is a burden, which I’ll explain later), but these regulations are suspended on public holidays, during which Khao San is typically packed solid with people. The first Immortal show I saw featured two nu metal rock rap outfits, Ebola and Cough. To my live-music starved ears these bands sounded not so much like Linkin Park knock offs as straight up rock machines and it was refreshing to see the kids go absolutely nuts when they the bands took the stage. Several months later, the owner organized “Sepulchrefest”, for which he invited a group of nine or ten bands to play short sets that included at least one Sepultura cover. As lame as this concept was, License to Kill and the now defunct Superman, two insane hardcore bands from the Thailand Hardcore Collective, tore the place to shreds.
Sadly, after several months of attracting few customers, Immortal Bar found itself in the unfortunate position of having to find a way to cater more to the automatons wandering up and down Khao San Road. They brought in several DJs who played the sort of B-grade hip hop that brought in the party girls who brought in the soccer hooligans who filled up the register and emptied the beer cooler. I was squeezed out as DJ in favor of guys who could play Nelly and Destiny’s Child without any qualms.
Right around this time a group of people appeared on the scene with a strong DIY spirit.
A punk rocker named Sophie opened Chaos City punk bar, tattoo shop and all-around squat in the northern city of Chiang Mai. The scene up there is very strong, covering punks, rude boys, Vespa-riding mods, black metal, nu metal, garage rockers, everything (which is strange as there are more Thai people in LA than there are in Chiang Mai). The Chaos City house band, Decay of Thailand, put on fierce sets of all covers, which is unfortunate, but they definitely owned those songs. Last I heard, Chaos City closed its doors and the Nasty, the lead singer of Decay, left the band. Sophie is still working to book shows and promote the scene and can be reached at ironthorn@hotmail.com , and fronts her own punk rock band Atomic Influx (I think).
A guy named Chris also puts out a hardcore zine, sells CDs and promotes the Thai music scene. He can be reached via his website at Elephant Eye Records. Chris is a good source of information relating to punk and hardcore across the entire Southeast Asian region.
The guys from the Eastbound Downers held their first gig during S Downer’s birthday in 2002. He had rented two barges and a sound system and we floated down the River Kwai (as in The Bridge On, starring Alec Guinness) to the sounds of the awesome metal-core band Zealot and the Eastbound Downers. Everyone got drunk and mean diarrhea. The Downers’ music draws inspiration from a strange mix of bands including At the Drive In and The New York Dolls and they are pretty awesome live.
This party made it clear that if there were ever going to be any shows, the bands would probably have to take care of the arrangements themselves.
The Downers eventually hooked up with Bank, the front man of the strange, experimental keyboard-driven pop group Red Twenty , who helped them record their demo and album at his Bama studio , home to the previously mentioned Adulterer.
After gigging around for about a year at parties, street festivals and art galleries (the excellent venue About Café in Bangkok’s China town), the Downers launched their Noise Pop concert series, a rotating independent rock showcase for any bands playing their own music. The first Noise Pop featured The Downers, Adulterer, the excellent System Suckers (metal), The Darlings (my band, kind of a mix between The Ramones and Weezer, but with more swearing), and the amazing and now defunct Crux (emo-core) at Paradise Disco, in the heart of the Nana red light district. A more rock n roll venue does not exist anywhere in the world, I can almost guarantee it.
Sadly, Paradise changed ownership just as it started to become known as a cool venue. Because the bar didn’t know what it wanted to be, it didn’t have any regular customers. We should have seen the writing the wall when the owner bought a mechanical bull in a bid to build his bar’s clientele. Now it’s one of a countless number of pool halls to be found in the area.
Around the same time that the Downers started getting out and about, a record label called New Destiny appeared on the scene with its own collection of pop punk bands, including Crux, the fun Stage Clear, Young Sing, and the excellent Brandnew Sunset (I saw them play this afternoon. They are probably the tightest band on the scene, playing an emotional blend of emo punk, 80s rock and Iron Maiden. They’re hilarious and totally nice and will probably get grabbed by an international label).
In the past year, the bands under the Thailand Hardcore Collective, Bama and New Destiny have been working more closely together to arrange shows and bring real rock to Thailand. These are the bands and circumstances with which I am most familiar, but there are countless other things happening as well.
A group of guys calling themselves “Dude/Sweet” has been organizing punk rock parties and the occasional concert during the past year. These parties are heavily indebted to the recent garage rock rebirth, but they can be kind of a guilty pleasure.
A band called Futon (comprising an international group of DJs and artists) recently released its “I Wanna Be Your Dog” single under its Rehab Records . The song, a dance cover of The Stooges song, is all over the radio here and rumor has it that the band has been picked up by a British label.
To be concluded next week.
And for more Southeast Asian rock and roll fun check out this post from the excellent blog Coolfer.
And if you think that there is no rock and roll in Vietnam then think again according to this.
This post is like a really cool rock and roll version of National Geographic!
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Newsweek has a pretty good article on the “state of the music industry” (Out of Tune) that makes for an interesting read although I have a hard time getting past that depressingly sad sack family picture at the beginning of the article.
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Rock and Roll has often been seen as part of a revolutionary political movement for better of for ill since the sixties (folk led the battle before that). From the MC5 to The Clash to Black Flag and R.E.M. to name just a few, there have always been bands that feel rock ‘n’ roll is the method that is most appropriate to inciting whatever revolution or issue they may be preaching about. Keith Richards firmly believes that the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of Communism in the former Soviet Union is as a direct result of blue jeans and rock ‘n roll. Despite the fact that rock and roll is often associated with this revolutionary fervor because it is the province of rebellious youth, other forms of music have perhaps articulated the need for revolution far better than rock ‘n roll, with the reggae works of Bob Marley and Peter Tosh being prime examples. At the very least, “political” rock ‘n’ roll often inspires thought and debate and that is certainly a healthy thing since ultimately rock and roll is about freedom as much as it is about anything else and the more freedom the better in my perhaps naïve world view. Political rock and roll done right is great since the first thing it requires is a good song. The message in the music can perhaps be thought provoking but even if you couldn’t care less about the message, the song should still be able to pop your rock and roll cork. Political rock and roll done poorly often dates badly, especially if the issue has been dead and buried or the message so mangles the other good points of the song (like melody perhaps?) that the average listener just gives up and skips to the next track. Should we care what some rich rock star thinks about third world debt or the destruction of the rainforest (to use just two convenient examples)? No we shouldn’t, but if the issue is articulated well enough that we start to investigate it and form an opinion on or own that may or may not agree with said rock star than that is in fact a “good thing” and I have no problems with that. The reason why I am writing about this whole issue (again) is because I came across a fascinating little web site that you should check out. Sounds Celebrating Resistance is a cool site that, although currently inactive, features a really interesting archives section on “political music” that is truly well written and thought provoking. Granted you might not want to slap on some of the music discussed for your next frat party but the diversity of music it covers is absolutely astounding. If you were ever interested in the messages of rock ‘n’ roll (non-satanic of course), this might interest you. If you have something to say about this whole issue, contact the editor to see if he can get something more current up that might be able to contribute to. After all, it’s still all about rock and roll, isn’t it?
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After a quick scan of The Rock and Roll Report I realized that I forgot to pick a Record Label of the Week so for this week we go to the U.K. for the excellent label Revola Records. A real diverse selection of cool music including the “lost” pop classic “Visualize” by Thomas and Richard Frost which made me aware of this label in the first place. Now that’s the kind of stuff I find cool. Hope you do to.
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This morning I had to bring in my cool rock and roll vehicle to the garage (a 2002 Dodge Caravan. They’re all the rage with Guns & Roses I’m told.) so I grabbed a random fistful of CDs for the ride out. As I settled down in traffic I looked down to see what I had taken with me and I pulled out 4 cds: “The Best of The Who, The Millennium Collection” (The Who is one of those bands that you have to reassess every once in a while. They have so much stuff out there that is so good and so much fun so why do we have to listen to the same tracks over and over again on the radio? Ah, but that is a complaint I have with most “classic rock” radio so I will save that rant for another time). “This Is Fort Apache” (An excellent compilation of bands that recorded at Fort Apache Studios in Boston featuring “Murdering Stone” by The Walkabouts which is just killer). “Is This It” by The Strokes (New album coming out this fall). And Finally “Sheik Yerbouti” by Frank Zappa. Quite a varied collection if I do say so myself.
I started my rock and roll ride with The Who and ended it with The Strokes but most of the trip was done listening to Uncle Frank (that gives you a good idea how far my garage is!). Now as you know, I hate classifying my rock ‘n roll but how in the hell do you classify Frank Zappa? Doowop classical klezmer hard rock with a touch of comedy? Art post-cubist deconstructional dada rock? It is an absurd exercise. You either like him or you don’t and granted, I don’t like all of his stuff (not that I could possibly keep up with the quantity of it. His discography is the size of a phone book!) but I love this album. So as I bombed down the highway listening to “Baby Snakes” and “Broken Hearts are for Assholes” at full volume, I smiled like a maniac as this album was one of a bunch of “seminal” rock and roll albums I remembered getting into in quick succession as a teenager (the others were Kiss Alive, Equinox by Styx (!), Love You Live by the Stones and Never Mind the Bollocks by The Sex Pistols….I think I just defined “eclectic”). So in the spirit of pointing out cool rock and roll sites on the “Net that you might want to check out, I came up with these three that you can use to plan your trip to your own version of Zappa Paradise. They are:
The Official Frank Zappa Homepage: The official site. Oodles of stuff you can read and buy. A good start.
Planet Zappa: A fan site with an extensive discography and some great articles. Very cool.
Zappa Analysis: Well, this is a bit much but is quite interesting if you want to try to get into the head of the late, great genius although you know what they say, too much analysis spoils the broth! Or something like that. Enjoy.
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Creature
Moonshine Orchestra
The Snitches