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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. 
This week’s Radio Station of the Week is Jangle Pop Radio. Another delightful power pop rock and roll treasure, Jangle Pop Radio is actually a number of radio streams that go from ’60s and Wall of Sound classics to the ’90s and beyond. Another Live 365 classic.
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Last Sunday I was watching The Simpson’s episode where they visit Britain and I almost choked when Homer made the comment “There goes Jimmy Page. History’s greatest thief of black music.” (I’m paraphrasing here). Are you wondering what Homer was talking about? If so I encourage you to read The Thieving Magpies: Jimmy Page’s Dubious Recording History over at Perfect Sound Forever for a bit of an explanation. Charles R. Cross in the excellent illustrated history of Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin: Heaven and Hell does address this issue. He even goes so far as to admit Mr. Page’s tendency to “borrow” from the past when he states, “You can call Led Zeppelin musical pilferers, or you can call them talented fans who could take others’ ideas and expand on them.” Unfortunately, he eventually dismisses the whole issue by saying “But even detractors of the band must acknowledge that they borrowed less as they developed, and their greatest work didn’t come until they began to discover their own ideas.” Now I realize that Rock and Roll by it’s nature pilfers from pretty much every form of music, from classical to reggae to the blues but the case against Jimmy Page is quite a strong one. Doesn’t mean I like Led Zeppelin any less but it does mean that one should be up front about one’s influences, and give credit where credit is due don’t you think?
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Press Release issued with respect to the status of Kindercore Records as posted to the Auddities mailing list:
11/25/03
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
KINDERCORE RECORDS FOUNDERS FILE SUIT AGAINST THE TELEGRAPH COMPANY,
I.D.E.A. INC.
Kindercore Records founders Daniel Geller and Ryan Lewis today filed a
lawsuit against I.D.E.A. (International Development of Entertainment
Alliances), also known as The Telegraph Company, Kindercore General Manager
Jerod Gunsberg and I.D.E.A. CEO Stanley Hartman for breach of contract,
slander, libel, and a host of other infractions.
A strategic partnership formed in 2001 between the Kindercore label and
Telegraph was intended to strengthen the label’s administration and further
the aesthetic and ideals that Geller and Lewis had established. The
partnership quickly devolved over the 18 months that the relationship
existed, culminating in the recent announcement that Kindercore was folding.
Geller states, “We were as surprised as anyone on November 12th to learn
that Kindercore would be closing. We were also surprised on November 14th
to find out the label was not closed and would now be run by Stan Hartman
who had previously stated to us that he wanted nothing to do with the
creative side of running a record label”.
In the beginning, Geller and Lewis expected that their partnership with
Telegraph would allow them to continue guiding the artistic direction of
Kindercore while also allowing more time for them to work on their own
music. Geller and Lewis perform in bands on the Kindercore label - I Am The
World Trade Center and The Agenda respectively.
Lewis says, “We’re artists at heart and have always been about the music.
We saw this partnership as a chance to keep the label going in the same
artistic direction that we had established and to also uphold our
commitments to our artists.”
Instead, after the agreements were signed, Geller and Lewis began to see
their roles at the label rapidly diminish, a situation that came to a head
when Kindercore signed two bands that Geller and Lewis had passed on (in one
case) and had never even heard (in the other). Compounding this lack of
control over their own company, Geller and Lewis’ own bands were then
dropped from the label, a curious move considering that I Am The World Trade
Center is the second biggest selling act on Kindercore.
“Since being in bands on the roster was essentially the last real connection
we had with the label we started, we had no other choice but to await
further news on the future of Kindercore”, Geller says. “At this point, we’
re very concerned for the bands that are still associated with Kindercore.”
Lewis elaborates, stating that he and Geller are doing “everything we can to
bring a quick resolution to this situation. Bringing this legal action was
the last thing we wanted to do, but we felt it was the only thing we could
do to help the friends and artists who had faith in us when we entered into
this arrangement with Telegraph.”
Quinn Heraty, of the law firm Heraty Hall, is representing the plaintiffs. A
legal fund has been established to help offset the costs associated with
furthering this action. Please visit www.heratyhall.com/kindercore for more
information on how to contribute.
Legal inquiries can be directed to Quinn Heraty at Heraty Hall.
212-979-3728 | kindercore@heratyhall.com | www.heratyhall.com
Press inquiries can be directed to Joshua Bloom at Fanatic Promotion, LLC.
212-616-5556 | josh@fanaticpromotion.com | www.fanaticpromotion.com
There was a time before Green Day, Blink 182 and the Offspring when another generation of rockers played melodic, punk pop. The Romantics, The Jam, The Buzzcocks and The Knack were pumping out some great, fun rock and roll. Sure some critics complained that this “mod revival” was nothing more than a regurgitation of the sounds of the ’60s but try telling that to the people behind the great website The Mod Pop Punk Archives. This is the kind of website I love. First of all, it’s jam packed with stuff which means the person/people who created it actually care about the music. Second, it re-introduced me or better yet introduced me to a lot of great music that immediately made me dig into my old record collection to see if I still had some of this stuff. A great site with tons of information, MP3s, news and links. Guaranteed to make you start looking for that Jam record you used to have kicking around and remind you why you liked My Sharonna the instant you heard it. Good stuff.
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If your tastes in rock and roll veer towards vintage Kiss, Cheap Trick and The Sweet then you might want to head over to the Record Label of the Week, Fastlane Records. What I like about this label is that they have a mission. Fastlane Records specializes in “hard rock/glam/power-pop and melodic rock” done with visual flair and a nod to the classics of yesteryear. Their website is extremely well done and they have a stream of some of their band’s tunes so you can get a feel for their stuff before plunking down your hard earned cash. It’s kind of heartening to see a bunch of glam rock and rollers cavorting about in makeup and spandex, smashing and crashing their way through some pretty cool rock and roll. Fastlane is also set to release what looks like a very interesting Cheap Trick tribute called Tricked Out that could be fun. Go check out Fastlane Records just in case you thought that nobody remembered that mascara was once almost as important as Marshall amps. And geez have fun, the guys at Fastlane certainly look like they are.
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Ok so EMI is out of the bidding for Warners Records and Edgar Bronfman is buying Warners instead. What does this mean to the average Rock and Roll Fan. Is Ed going to initiate some kind of amazing, booze related tie in? Will Edgar Bronfman take the assets of Warners and search out new and eclectic rock and roll by hiring a diverse bunch of A & R people who are willing to hunt out some distinctly cool rock and roll and then sign the bands in question, promote them with patience while at the same time scouring the world for even more original and fun rock and roll because that’s what music fans want and need? I go for the booze option.
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According to Almost Famous by Evelyn McDonnell, rock criticism today is crap. According to the article, “some writers blame the decline in trenchant, in-the-trenches criticism on media’s increasing starry-eyed obsession with celebrities” and the fact that now the bands of today are so cloistered that critics can’t get near them to write about them, and even if they can they have no place to write those long, critical think pieces like they could during the glory days of Rolling Stone and The Village Voice. Of course, while mainstream rock criticism may be dying, nobody mentions the thousands of websites pumping out great stuff by writers in it for the love of the music and not the paycheck. And maybe just maybe those bands that are not currently accessible are not in fact the real bands carrying on the rock and roll revolution? Maybe the real future of rock and roll can be found in all those bands recording and touring for all those struggling indie rock labels with no real PR budget that actually require an effort to go and see and who are, strangely enough, more than accessible as long as you’re willing to ride in the van with them to the next gig 500 miles away. Maybe real rock and roll fans have turned to the ‘Net because they can’t stand smelling those freaking Calvin Klein perfume packs in every issue of Rolling Stone. Just a thought.
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Sorry people but I read this on the Auddities mailing list:
From FLAGPOLE — the Athens, Ga., music weekly:
Not so fast, says Stan Hartman, CEO of Kindercore, The Telegraph Company and International Development of Entertainment Alliance (IDEA). “Kindercore absolutely is not dead, and we’ll continue to function. We’re going through some changes, but I want it to be clear that we are not halting business practices and the label will continue to release records next year.”
Keep an eye out and tell Mike Mills to relax.
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I just came across a really cool site called Aural Innovations who call themselves “The Global Source for Space Rock Exploration.” If you are looking for obscure psychedelic ditties like “Pull Up The Paisley Covers: A Psychedelic Omnibus” then this is the place. Obscure, eclectic and fun, all the ingredients are there for a truly warped musical adventure. Take the controls Nr. Sulu. Scotty accelerate to Warp 5, we’re going in.
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One of the things that made rock and roll take off in the ’60s was the introduction of the portable AM radio. Now all the kids had a way of listening to the latest Top 40 hits at the beach with all their friends. The huge popularity of these little transistor radios fueled the growth of Top 40 radio which eventually created FM as a response and so the beat goes on. Now you won’t catch most people these days listening to AM radio for their music fix but if you have a Pocket PC the days of listening to Internet Radio at the beach may be not that far off. This turorial at About.Com gives you the lowdown on how it can be done. So off to the beach you go! Surf over to The Rock and Roll Report, check out one of the ‘Net based stations of the week and enjoy! And if anybody kicks sand in your face don’t forget to gamble for a stamp and send away for that Charles Atlas workout course so you will be able to deal with that clod in no time!
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As I have pointed out in the past, there are tons of legal MP3s out there waiting to be downloaded for your listening pleasure but how do you know what’s good and what’s crap? Nobody has the time, or bandwidth to listen to all this stuff but there are sites out there that act as filters for all this music and the article Livewire: Plucking Musical Gems from the Web points out a couple of them. I am going to put some of them through the test and see what happens but of course we must not forget that “good music” is probably one of the most subjective terms out there. And don’t forget about Fingertips which I posted about last week since it doesn’t appear in the article.
Apparently it’s a bad time to be a rock journalist. The decline of the music industry and the paucity of good magazines has left many a budding Lester Bangs to pound out their stuff on a lowly blog. But according to Like Falling Off a Blog the music blogs available these days are just amazing. Oh really? Then why do I not see The Rock and Roll Report referenced anywhere? Does this person not realize that Mick Jagger himself once, almost, kind of, not really visited here once (never). Just messing with you all but there are some great blogs out there which I will hopefully be visiting more often once I get this f$%%^ news reader program to work! A great place to start is Rock Critics Links. Trust me you’ll need to take a break from your computer to get some fresh air once you starting clicking on the links on this site but it is well worth it. Have a great weekend!
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For the right side of weird this week we journey into the netherworld of the dead! No, not the Grateful Dead but the actual dead! And not any normal dead but dead rock stars. I know you’re probably thinking: Buddy Holly, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones, Kurt Cobain, the usual suspects but no. There’s more. Much more. You wanna know how much? Then check out the Dead Rock Stars Club. Just since last July they have added 112 people to the list. How can something so unbelievably sad be so entertaining? I don’t know but it is!
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The radio station of the week is another interesting pick because unless you live in Portugal you can’t listen to it. Radio 100 in Santarém, Portugal features 2 shows that sound really cool and the guy that runs them, Carlos Quintino, maintains blogs for both with links to the bands he features. The first is the BangBang Radio Show broadcast Sundays at 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM local time. To give you an idea of what was played last week you can check out the playlist at the BangBang Radio Show blog here. The other show is RetroPop Radio Show broadcast Wednesdays from 9:00 PM to 10:00 PM featuring Punk Rock to Synth Pop from the ’70s to the ’80s. The blog for that show can be found here. Despite the fact that most of us can’t listen to these shows, the blogs are excellent ways to see what Carlos is playing thus allowing you to at least get ahold of the music from the bands that he features so that you can listen to them at home. I have asked Carlos to let me know as soon as Radio 100 starts streaming on the ‘Net as these 2 shows look great! Ahh, rock and roll lives and breaths all over the world. It makes my heart go all pitter patter!
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As we have seen with the Rolling Stone “Top 500 Albums of All Time” list, rock and roll writers have some kind of urge to put things in lists. The 100 best guitarists, the 50 best psychedelic singles from the sixties, the top 10 grossing concert tours of the year. Lists, Lists, Lists. Well if this is your idea of fun then you’ll just love RockList.Net. They have more lists than you can shake a drumstick at. Here’s an idea, print out a couple of these lists, get together with a bunch of friends and some beverages of your choice and argue away! Just try and stay friends. More Rock and Roll Fun from your humble servant here at the Rock and Roll Report.
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Check out the Squeezebox, a very cool MP3 player that connects to your stereo. With Squeezebox, you can listen to Internet radio just as you would terrestrial radio! Finally, you can listen to all those great stations I rave about on The Rock and Roll Report from the comfort of your armchair! Very cool.
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Believe it or not, one of the bitterest feuds in the history of rock and roll was temporarily put aside when Roger Waters performed with the other members of Pink Floyd at the recent funeral of their long time manager Steve O’Rourke according to this piece in Undercover. They performed the classic “Great Gig in the Sky” and “Fat Old Sun.” Now let the rumors begin. Ah hell, I’ll go first. Pink Floyd will reunite with their classic post-Syd Barret line-up in early 2004 for a massive world tour that will kick off in, hmmm let’s see, Estonia while concluding with a triumphal homecoming in London on April 1st where Syd Barett will come out of seclusion to join them on stage for Arnold Layne while playing the electric triangle. How’s that?
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Did your kids like School of Rock? Yeah mine to. Do you think they would want to get their chance at playing in a rock and roll band? Most definitely. If so then check out this amazing program called Little Kids Rock. Like the Rock and Roll Library I’ve posted about in the past, this is a very cool approach to music education that kids will actually want to do. No more triangle for you Johnny it’s time to get out that Fender Strat and rock and roll. It’s nice to see some people actually trying to promote learning in a cool, fun way. And check out some of the people involved! From Jason Newsted to Bonnie Rait and B.B. King. More power to them. Hell I want to go!
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I’ve always admired Keith Richards. He was the first guy to really turn me on to rock and roll. He introduced me to Chuck Berry and Chess Records (you do understand that I do not unfortunately mean literally) and the countrified sounds of Gram Parsons. The guy is no doubt as “elegantly wasted” as they come (with another of my influences Hunter S. Thompson coming in a close second) but the man knows his rock and roll (and blues, and reggae). It was nice to read the article Sympathy for the Vicar to see another side of the “Human Riff” just to show you that rock and roll rebels don’t always burn up or fade away, sometimes they just mumble affably off into the backyard of their moated english country houses, caring only for their mums, sheppards pie and the next perfect riff.
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Well they originally denied it but Microsoft have confirmed that they will be jumping into the legal music download fray next year after all according to this piece in Rolling Stone. I suppose it was inevitable that Bill and the boys would want a piece of the action but is it really worth it? I sense that in 1 or 2 years people will actually be clamouring to buy CDs so that they can at least listen to music when their hard drives crash.
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According to Music Labels Tap Downloading Networks the record labels are following what’s hot and what’s not on the P2P networks as a way to guage the public’s taste in music. If this is true, everybody start trading those Tragically Hip, Sloan and High Dials tunes post haste!
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Think you’ve got what it takes to make it in Rock and Roll? Do you want a chance to prove it? If you do, surf over to The Global Battle of the Bands which according to their website will be “the first-ever worldwide talent competition for pop and rock bands.” Again to quote a press release (I’ll try not to make this a habit I promise):
“Forget about artificial Pop Idol-style competitions, this is the real deal with real bands playing real music - live. Encompassing all musical genres, The Global Battle of the Bands will strive to bring the best un-manufactured new talent in the world to a wider audience. Throughout each year, starting in 2004, local qualifying heats and national finals will be organised in countries around the world, with the eventual winners of these going forward to a world final, BOB Awards, which will be held in a different major city each year.
To kick off The Global Battle of the Bands, we are organising a ‘soft launch’ of the concept with the European Global Battle of the Bands in January — date to be confirmed — 2004 at London’s Mean Fiddler (formerly Astoria II). Featuring invited emerging bands from around Europe chosen on the strength of their music and live performances by our network of scouts and industry experts. The best bands will be eligible to go on to the Global Battle of the Bands World Final
We already have hundreds of entries but we still want more. We are seeking as many exciting new signed or unsigned bands as we can find for consideration. Any band entering the competition has to be able to perform live on stage on February 5, 2004. A band can have up to eight members and there is no age limit.
For any band to be considered we will need to receive a music CD (or MP3s) with two or three songs, general information/biography and a photograph (or jpg). From this initial introduction we will make further enquiries about suitable candidates locally through our agents. Further details can be found at www.bobawards.net All material should be sent to: Arctic Talent Management, 7 Willow Road, London NW3 1TH United Kingdom or by email to: music@arctictm.com”
Now I don’t know much more about this than you but I would check the site for further details. Who knows, maybe you could be the next one hit wonder!
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Now this looks like a good reason to watch TV! According to Day in Rock on AntiMusic, on November 30th Ray Manzarek of the Doors will host a TV special called Temples of Rock. According to the press release:
“On Sunday, November 30 from 9-11P ET/PT, host Ray Manzarek, organist for The Doors, takes Travel Channel viewers on a psychedelic tour through time in the world premiere special TEMPLES OF ROCK. The two-hour special visits some of the most important performing and recording sites in rock and roll, namely: The Cavern, CBGB, Fillmore Auditorium, the Fillmore East, Motown’s Hitsville USA, Sun Studio and the Whisky a Go Go. Along the way, viewers will share in the eyewitness accounts of how The Cavern audience attacked George Harrison on the night of Ringo Starr’s debut with the Beatles, will hear stories of the unique relationship between the Fillmore East and the neighboring Tisch School of the Arts, and will get a peek at the less than stately bathrooms of the NY Bowery’s CBGB.
In addition, this unique documentary interviews rock and roll legends Dickey Betts, Graham Nash, Johnny Ramone, Martha Reeves, Smokey Robinson, Ringo Starr and members of the bands The Byrds, Chicago, Grateful Dead, and Talking Heads.
TEMPLES OF ROCK features over 15 original songs from the golden days of the rock and roll age including: “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Dark Star,” “Ferry Cross the Mersey,” “Heat Wave,” and “White Rabbit.” Rare photos and archival footage of this period in music history are also included. Viewers will see film of The Temptations recording “My Girl,” in the original Motown Studio and video of the Allman Brothers Band performing “Whipping Post” live at the Fillmore East. And, they’ll meet a young punk rocker who traveled 1,013 miles for the opportunity to work at Sun Studio. A highlight of the program is host Ray Manzarek’s monologue performed on the stage of the Whisky a Go Go, set to The Doors’ song “The End” in which he recounts the infamous tale of The Doors final performance there.”
Set your Tivos, fire up the VCRs and get ready for something that could, that should be cool. My only problem is that I don’t get this channel in Canada (as far as I could tell) so if any of my American friends could make a (sshhhh) copy for me I would be most appreciative.
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If you ever wondered whether Jann Wenner was still in control of that fashion, sorry music magazine Rolling Stone, then look no further than the 500 best albums of all time list that comes out Friday. You can check out the top 10 here. I love the Beatles and I love the Stones but egads what is the big deal with Sergeant Peppers besides the fact that it reminds a whole bunch of people of how they wish they were back at the Haight during the “summer of love” man (if they were in fact ever there. Me suspects that a lot of the people pining for the “golden days” only read about it in their daily newspaper before heading out to Little League practice or their High School Glee Club). I am not trouncing Sergeant Peppers, far from it but aside from select songs like “A Day in the Life” has it really aged all that well? Certainly not as well as Revolver in my book. Now I haven’t seen the complete list and I might actually fork out the cash to pick up this “collectors edition” on Friday but I’m not looking forward to any massive revelations. Anybody who thinks they can put a definitive “best of” list together is sadly deluded, but it is fun to argue about and I suppose that is the whole purpose of the exercise (well that and advertising). About the only thing that I can be sure about is that rock and roll keeps evolving with great tunes coming out daily only to fade away while hidden classics are everywhere to be found but are unfortunately locked away on the tiny little independent record labels that they were recorded on. This is the kind of rock and roll I want to find but I doubt it will be anywhere on this list. Thanks Jann and Rolling Stone. Thanks for nothing.
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OK let me get this straight. Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull criticizes all the American flags people have flying in the States and he has to apologize while an Asbury Park classic rock station removes Jethro Tull’s music from their playlist. The Dixie Chicks criticize George Bush and everybody freaks out and a whole bunch of radio stations start banning their music and attacking the group for being “un-American.” What part of freedom of speech don’t people understand here? I don’t want to get political here but why is freedom of speech only popular when it doesn’t ruffle any feathers? Geez I don’t even like these two groups and I’m talking about them! Come on people, remember the marketplace of ideas and all that good democratic stuff. I thought that’s what we in the West are supposed to be promoting. Sorry for this non-rock and roll interlude. I just realized that I have made “political” references in the last 3 posts! Ah well, tommorrow we’ll talk about Keith Richards!
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Creature
Moonshine Orchestra
The Snitches