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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. 
How does this sound: a website “created by a Dutch music teacher for other obsessive collectors of amazing sounds.” Sound interesting? Bizarre? Confusing? Well it’s actually all of these things when you visit 52 Weeks. Hurry up they are already on week 5!
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Screaming out of Sydney Australia is I-94 Bar, a great rock and roll e-zine featuring news, reviews and interviews with bands you might of heard of and a bunch that you haven’t and that’s what I like so much about it. Very cool stuff from down under. Highly recommended.
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Yes it’s true. Legendary American alt-rock radio station WOXY-FM (“97X The Future of Rock and Roll”) has been sold. While this is a sad day for the citizens of the Dayton-Cincinnati area (insert your own WKRP joke here) the interesting thing is that the couple that owns the station plans on continuing broadcasting as an Internet only webcaster. Now I am a big supporter of Internet radio and I have only heard good things about WOXY but I feel kind of sad at the same time. Doug and Linda Balogh are selling mainly because the current business climate makes it very difficult to survive as a single station company, especially with an alt/indie rock format. Local radio is dying people and, even though more people will have the potential to listen to WOXY (it is already one of the most popular streaming stations on the ‘Net), the local bands and music fans that listened in their cars and on their boom boxes in the backyards of Cincinnati and environs will be losing out on a valuable community resource. Sometimes progress sucks but the bottom line is that the station and its’ format are not going away and that is a good thing for all rock and roll fans. Good luck WOXY, we’ll still be listening.
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So says Clear Channel Vice President Tom Glade in “Corporate owners of US radio, TV blasted at hearing.” I am starting to wonder if the pendulum might be getting ready to swing the other way?
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We are constantly hearing from record labels lamenting the fact that the Internet is destroying their business. It is nice to see that some labels are actually embracing the ‘Net instead of ignoring it. One such label is Ingrooves and how they are doing it is described in the article “San Francisco record label presses online music.” A new, creative way to use technology can be found if only the bean counters would get out of the way and let the music lovers and geeks lead the charge.
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Are you starting to plan your summer vacation and don’t know what to do? Check out Sounds like a good time on Canoe for some music festival ideas. Of particular interest to me are the site directories Festival Finder and Festivals. I still say going to Europe and rock festival hopping is the coolest way to spend your summer vacation.
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Hey, if you’re looking for a, ahem, different type of music magazine that reviews only the finest, and sometimes not so finest in psychedelic music, then The Lama Reviews is just for you. Pretty cool site. Don’t forget to check out The Lama Workshop and my particular favourites 50 Psychedelic Favorites and 20 Great British LPs for some truly great esoteric rock and roll fun. Far out man!
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Are you a struggling artist who just wants to say no to the record labels? Want to tread your own path in the digital wilderness? Well according to the Wired article “Just say no to record labels” Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno just may have the answer for you. They are creating “Magnificent Union of Digitally Downloading Artists” or MUDDA for short, which essentially will assist musicians in offering digital downloads directly to the public with the musicians themselves setting the price. Hmmm, putting musicians in charge of their own destiny? Are these two British rockers mad? We will soon so, won’t we?
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You stare at your bulging record and CD shelves and sigh. You quite possibly have the largest collection of 1966 era psychedelic accordion based rock and roll on the planet and you have no one to share it with. Your husband thinks that you are nuts, the kids shun you, what is a poor girl to do? Start your own radio station that’s what. Not a good enough reason for you? Need more? Well About.Com have 8, count ’em 8 reasons why you should start your own radio station. Check it out and see if you fall into any of the 8. Or make up your own reason. Hell this is rock and roll after all! Power to the people. Power to the people right on.
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If you are interested in audio gear, recording and the tools you can use to create the next Pet Sounds (or Use Your Illusion 1 and 2) then check out Audiohead. Now this site appears to be brand new but interesting. Be warned that not all of the musicians are of a rock and roll nature so tread softly and try not to judge.
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Well after just 10 issues, Bang Magazine is toast. I had posted about Bang back in September but obviously that vote of confidence was not enough to keep things going! Tough times when these days anybody can be an instant publisher on the web.
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On a somewhat ironic note, my selection for Radio Station of the Week next week currently finds themselves without a home so in the interest of helping out this excellent rock and roll radio program, I am posting for your information this important announcement regarding Cherry Bombs Radio:
Dear Cherry Bombs Listeners,
Unfortunately we have some very sad news to pass on to you all. As you know, the show’s home since its humble beginnings 10 months ago, has been Liquid London, a DAB station owned by Virgin Radio. However, we have just received news that due to a senior level management decision regarding the priorities and direction of the station, Virgin have decided that with immediate effect, Liquid London will no longer feature any live or specialist music shows. Instead, Liquid London will revert to being a fully automated station.
DO NOT PANIC!
Obviously, Paul, Jim and I are absolutely devastated by this news, but DO NOT PANIC! This is not the end of the Cherry Bombs show. We are currently exploring a number of avenues with regard to finding a new home for the show and hope to be able to announce some good news on where and when you can hear your favourite power-pop show back on the airwaves on a different station!
We would like to thank a number of members of the Virgin Radio management team for helping us make this happen.
Mailing List
Until such time as we can make an announcement regarding our new home, we have set up a mailing list feature on www.cherrybombs.co.uk where you are able to register your email address and we’ll keep you informed of any developments on when we will be back on the airwaves! If you know any regular listeners who may not be in receipt of this message, please help us to keep them aware of developments by urging them to register their email address at the Cherry Bombs site.
As we have not had the opportunity to air a fairwell show, if any bands or labels who are friends of the show would be prepared to give some exposure to ourplight by getting listeners to sign up to the mailing list through their websites, we would be eternally
grateful.
Thank yous!
There are however a number of people we would like to thank who have helped make the show such a roaring success so far.
Firstly, our gratitude goes to all those at Virgin Radio who gave us access to some of the most amazing broadcast and recording studios in the country. A particularly big thank you goes to Mark, Virgin Radio’s head engineer, for generously donating his spare time, hard work and extensive knowledge that made it possible for us to record so many amazing live sessions.
Secondly, all the bands and record labels for keeping us informed about the developments in this genre and mostly for ensuring this genre not only exists, but is in fact flourishing. Making high quality pop music is a difficult, costly and thankless area of the industry to work in but so many bands and labels are flying the flag and making what we do worthwhile!
Lastly, but by no means leastly [sic], the listeners! Without you guys we might as well not bother. We are so grateful to you all for tuning in so religiously each week, for your emails, messages and suggestions and for supporting the bands and labels that are doing so much good work!
Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read this far! Hopefully we should have some news regarding our new home soon, but until such time: this is Cherry Bombs
signing off.
Love Russ, Paul & Jim
Rock and roll has always had genres or niches. Originally during the mid-sixties there was a distinction made between pop and rock. Then there evolved styles such as psychedelic rock, folk rock, blues rock, mod and beat but somehow it was all still considered generally a part of Rock ‘n’ Roll. The ‘70s and ‘80s exacerbated things until nowadays, music has splintered into so many genres and sub-genres and sub-sub genres that the term “rock and roll” is almost a historical reference. Almost. But there are bands and record labels that still cling to the seemingly antiquated concept of what rock and roll is and always has been. Radio stations that continue to play it and magazines, clubs and websites that continue to promote it. Sure they might sometimes refer to it as garage, power pop, freak beat, punk, indie rock or alternative but really, when you dig deep down, everybody would probably agree that it is all in essence Rock and Roll. Music made with real instruments for the most part by bands with plenty of attitude that have no problem pillaging hooks from the best rock and roll that came before them in order to create a sound that is both timeless and yet new. Sometimes it gets popular, most times it is bubbling under the mainstream consciousness but it always means the same thing to those that make the music and those that listen to it: fun, hip shaking songs that compel you to have a great time. Why do I bring this up (again)? Because I just read an article on Canada.Com entitled Rock ‘n’ roll: A to Z: A guide to music genres (by way of Music Journalist) which as usual reduces rock and roll to a bunch of genres for the supposed ease of music critics, “consumers” and the record store clerks of Wall Mart and Best Buy. When it comes to classifying music, the current rage is to add “alt” to the beginning of everything as in “alt-country”, “alt-rock”, “alt-polka” or alt-whatever so as to indicate that the musical style in question is an “alternative” to the mainstream genre. But what if rock and roll itself is not mainstream? How do you classify it? The answer is that you don’t. Instead of further dividing and classifying the music I say you drag it all back in kicking and screaming and if anybody asks what the hell this type of music is you just tell them what it is not. It’s not country (although it will gladly steal some of country’s licks). It’s not reggae (but it will help itself to its’ rhythm). It’s not blues (but it will gladly steal pretty much everything that the blues has to offer thank you very much), and it’s definitely not classical or the opera (that’s two aisles down by the Broadway musical soundtracks sir).
Am I just being naïve? Perhaps. Hopelessly retro and “unhip.” Maybe. Anxious to listen
to a rock and roll that means more than depressingly mindless drivel pounded out by electronic machines that erase all soul and songcraft from music? Most definitely. We don’t have to mindlessly retread the rock and roll of the past to create the rock and roll of the future as there is no need. As Greg Shaw of Bomp Records has pointed out, rock and roll is more like a process, a process that is continually evolving and yet builds on what has happened before it. The same attitudes and emotions, influences and passions that have kicked out the jams in the past will continue to fuel honest to goodness, niche-free rock and roll now and into the foreseeable future, whether we want it to or not. We are not condemned to be haunted by the specters of the past because this presumes that their influence is a bad thing. Bring on the Beatles and the Stones. Bring on the Pretty Things and the 13th Floor Elevators. Bring on the New York Dolls, The Runaways and The Ramones. Bring on Springsteen and R.E.M. Bring on Jet and the White Stripes. Niche-free rock and roll unabashedly builds on rock and roll’s past while continuing to provide for it’s continually evolving future. As usual, some people get it, and some people don’t. Sure there will always be the extremes that spit out crap with no sense of artistic integrity but they will never last and you shouldn’t be so concerned with that or with what is currently “fashionable.” You and I listen to rock and roll, not because it’s a “musical journey” or a “wellspring of inspiration.” No, we listen to rock and roll because it forms a direct connection with our hips and our hearts, bypassing our brain if necessary. I might not be able to describe my rock and roll in a neat and tidy package but that’s why I like it so much. That is why rock and roll continues to survive. That is why rock and roll continues to thrive. Long live rock and roll.
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Don’t know what power pop is? Looking for a radio station that plays melodic, hook filled rock and roll 24/7? Always wanted to be in Cheap Trick? Well if any of this applies to you, and even if it doesn’t, check out Power Pop Radio and let the good times roll. Great music, tons of power pop links featuring news, record labels, bands and festivals, Power Pop Radio is another Live 365 station done right. Why can’t we hear this stuff on regular broadcast radio?
Later.
So you listen to Little Steven’s Underground Garage and you’re looking for more? Go to The Garage and get ready for a whole new rock and roll world that you only dreamed ever existed. Record labels, a radio guide, news, bands, the works. The Garage is a fantastic resource for all your garage rock needs. If you’re looking for rock and roll attitude then park yourself in The Garage.
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If you are in the LA area, or plan to be soon, you might want to check out a free Beatles photography exhibit featuring the photos of the legendary Harry Benson. The details:
“Once there was a way…Photographs of The Beatles” by Harry Benson
Apex Fine Art
152 N. La Brea
Los Angeles
Tue-Sat 11AM-5PM
Ends Feb 21st, 2004
Admission is FREE!
323.634.7887
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Somewhere in California, ultra cool power pop lives and breathes on a record label that knows nothing else. On that label are a bunch of bands that ooze rock and roll hooks. And one of those bands wrote a song called “My Sharona” that you know you love but you just aren’t man enough to admit it. That label is Smile Records. Run by Tony Valenziano (who is interviewed by Publicity Whore here) Smile Records is home to such great bands as the Wondermints, sparkle*jets U.K. and of course The Knack. You can get a taste of Smile Records by checking out Smile Radio and try before you buy. Not only will listening to Smile Records make you smile, it will also make you grin, smirk and giggle. Gotta love it.
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I had a weird rock and roll moment while channel surfing Saturday night. I was flicking between a WGBH fundraiser featuring “The Grateful Dead at Winterland” and Jet playing on Saturday Night Live. What was weird was how I seemed to change moods depending on which band was playing. I actually like the Grateful Dead so it was fun hearing them segue from “Casey Jones” to “Johnny B. Goode” but then when Jet came on I couldn’t stop smiling just knowing that a band like that was brand new and playing honest to goodness rock and roll today. It’s always great to hear rock and roll played today, vibrant and new and keeping the spirit and attitude alive for some of us who still remember why rock and roll is truly the great, life affirming music that it has always been. The other thing that I was thinking about Saturday night was “does anybody actually still watch Saturday Night Live?”
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Despite the best efforts of its owners, the legendary Bottom Line Night Club has closed its doors according to NY Music Club the Bottom Line Shuts Doors for Good. Another rock and roll landmark gone but not forgotten.
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Just a quick note that Reuters reports Independent Music Labels to Fight Sony-BMG Merger. Go get’em boys!
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In anticipation of the February 9th, 1964 introduction of the Beatles to the USA by way of the Ed Sullivan Show, you can get your Beatles fix satisfied by checking out Beatle Bits by respected Beatles author Terry Ott. Highly recommended for all you Beatlemaniacs out there!
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According to the Reuters news story CDs predicted to go the way of vinyl analysts are predicting that music downloads will be the most popular way for people to purchase their music in the future relegating CDs to the scrap heap. Am I the only one who is not too crazy about entrusting my entire music collection to my computer? Sound quality aside, I like to have something tangible to play on my stereo, with liner notes to read while listening. I consider MP3s to be a convenience but only as an addition to my CD collection and not as a replacement. Now, downloads are probably going to remain popular with the public at large but what happens when the record companies and their technical partners change their codec, the underlying format that the download is coded to (like MP3, WMA or AAC)? Or what happens when your computer crashes? Or when the record label has decided that you have listened enough to that particular track and that it is time to renew your “subscription” to that song? I think that indie rock labels have the opportunity to further differentiate themselves from the majors by offering to the public CDs that are of higher fidelity and quality than that of a download while stressing their selection and inherently better musical taste. Labels like Bomp and Not Lame could perhaps offer custom downloads but I predict that their customers would be more interested in still purchasing an “album” as opposed to a bunch of disconnected musical files because they understand the value in both the record company’s musical taste as well as the physical product that they are buying. I certainly hope so.
UPDATE! Coolfer makes a good point about the numbers cited to reach the supposed conclusion that CDs are doomed in Innumeracy Gone Wild. I too could not figure out exactly how 1/3 of all downloads by 2008 could equal the death of the CD but hey, my math is not exactly up there so I’ll leave it to the experts (and my son) to crunch the numbers!
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The other day driving into work “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen came on the radio and for what seems like the millionth time me and my wife sang along and did the typical Wayne’s World “head bob” but after the song ended I asked my wife “What in the heck is that song about?” And so the Google journey began. Fist stop was the actual lyrics to the song since I don’t really understand half the words that I am singing along to (shades of Steve Miller’s “the pompitude of love”). Queen Words is probably the best spot that I could find. Next stop was Queen Collector and their background on the actual song. Despite the fact that it is a site for collectors of Queen memorabilia, the site gives you some valuable insight into what went on behind the making of Bohemian Rhapsody. It is here that I learned that “The song’s composer, Freddie Mercury, never revealed his inspiration for his lyrics except to say that they were personal, about relationships.” Ok fair enough. The killer line for me though was “It’s one of those songs which has such a fantasy feel about it,” he (Mercury) said in 1976. “I think that people should just listen to it, think about it and then make up their own minds as to what it says to them”. Great! OK let’s take a look at some of the lyrics and see what comes up:
Mama, just killed a man
Put a gun against his head
Pulled my trigger, now he’s dead
For the longest time I thought the line went “Pulled the trigger, now he’s dead” so I figured this kid’s mom killed some guy and he was taking the fall for her. When I realized it was “Pulled my trigger” I started to get a headache.
I see a little silhouetto of a man
Scaramouch, scaramouch will you do the fandango
Thunderbolt and lightning - very very frightening me
Gallileo, Gallileo,
Gallileo, Gallileo,
Gallileo Figaro - magnifico
By this point I just figured the kid was Italian. Images of Pinochio somehow floated through my head.
Oh mama mia, mama mia, mama mia let me go
Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me
for me
for me
The kid is obviously possessed.
So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye
So you think you can love me and leave me to die
Oh baby - can’t do this to me baby
Just gotta get out - just gotta get right outta here
The kid runs away.
Ooh yeah, ooh yeah
Nothing really matters
Anyone can see
Nothing really matters - nothing really matters to me
The kid kills himself.
Just for your edification, Queen Words points out that:
“Incidentally, “Bismillah” is the opening word in the Qu’ran (Koran) and literally means “In the name of Allah.”
“Scaramouch” according to the dictionary means “a stock character who appears as a boastful coward.”
“Beelzebub” is one of the many names given to “The Devil.””
OK I’ll admit it. I have no clue what this song is actually about. But really, does anybody? All I know is that it has one of the best guitar breaks in rock and roll and that is enough for me. For me. For meeeeeeee!
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CNET is running an article (CD lock loosened for freer copying) on improvements to CD anti-copying technology by a company called Macrovision that will allow for less restrictions on the use of the CDs you have already bought. I am of two minds on this. I can understand the necessity of protecting intellectual property on the one hand but treating your customers like criminals by making them jump through hoops to use something that they have already bought seems a bit ridiculous in my books. I suppose that this is at least a step in the right direction but if I can’t play a CD I just bought on my computer I’m not going to be a happy camper and I might not be buying much more from that label. At least that’s the plan.
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When I started this whole blogging thing last June I had no clue what I was doing. To me blogging seemed to solve the problem of removing technical obstacles for people who just wanted to write for the Web with minimal technical fuss and muss. It allowed me to start The Rock and Roll Report without having to worry unduly about HTML, FTP and Server Side Includes. It was like a breath of fresh air. The first two things I did once I decided to start a website dedicated to cool rock and roll resources on the Internet was start a free blog at Blogger and register a domain name.
Blogger (now owned by Google) is an incredibly easy way to get started blogging. Simple, free and quite powerful, Blogger kept up with me as I stumbled through the early learning phases of my blog (this phase of course will never end as I continue to stumble ever so ungracefully into 2004). Blogger is the perfect way to decide if maintaining a blog is something that you want to do as I rapidly came to the conclusion that it requires a fair amount of dedication and work to maintain a blog (not that I am adverse to work, some of my best friends work!). As I continued my blogging adventures I also started to look around to see what other blogging software existed and to analyze each in light of what I was hoping to do with The Rock and Roll Report. This brings up another important point to those in the blogging game. In my opinion, do not get so settled on any software platform that you are blind to other, possibly better solutions to your needs. Look around and see what’s out there as blogging is a rapidly growing activity with a rapidly growing support network.
One software program I kept reading about was a program called Movable Type by the company Six Apart. Everybody that used it seemed to think it was the greatest thing since pop-tarts so naturally I looked into it myself. While extremely powerful it did require some level of geek knowledge and the more I read the more I felt uncomfortable at this point in pursuing a Movable Type solution since I wanted to concentrate more on writing and less on, shudder, programming. Six Apart did offer a solution to my problem though. They were on the verge of releasing a program called Type Pad, which essentially is a hosted version of Movable Type. Easy, straightforward and built for blogging, Type Pad also featured domain mapping, something that really interested me since I owned my own domain name. The downside is that you have to pay to play but they do offer you a 30-day free trial so I took the plunge and signed up. So far I’m impressed and I haven’t even scratched the surface. One thing I like, aside from the domain mapping, is the fact that I will be able to easily migrate to Movable Type when (or if) the time comes. And the service from Six Apart and the Type Pad community in general has been great. Type Pad is working well for me and you should check it out to see if it could work for you. Six Apart as a company are small and responsive to their customer needs and their help desk is wonderful. All their products are platform independent so Macheads, Windows gurus and Linux geeks can all share in the fun. Type Pad really does foster your creativity by releasing you from the technical stuff and for this alone I would not hesitate to recommend them. With three different plans, one is bound to suit your needs from Basic to Pro and you can move a up as you become more and more comfortable with the software and blogging in general. While you have to pay you are paying for quality and extremely responsive tech support (which is worth its weight in gold when you are in a jam) so I don’t think this should be the overriding factor in your evaluation. Try it, test it and see if you like it. Even if you don’t let Six Apart know why. It wouldn’t surprise me if you received an answer back relatively quickly asking you for more details. You might even be convinced to give them a second shot. Go on, get out there and start a blog. You will be amazed at how creative you really are.
Next time I’ll talk about the importance of buying a domain name.
Later.
Creature
Moonshine Orchestra
The Snitches