#I work on an indie music morning radio show. The name is ‘indie’ (and is mostly very DIY indie smaller artists)

[sweetdreamsjeff]

Amazing 'Grace': How Australia Gave Jeff Buckley His Biggest Hit

23 August 2024 | 12:00 pm | Jeff Jenkins

“In that moment, Jeff Buckley became a superstar in Australia.”

“I’ve got something I’d like to play you,” the woman from the overseas label announced.

It’s the start of 1994, and I’m at a Sony sales conference on the Gold Coast. We’ve been running through the major priorities for the year – Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Pearl Jam and C+C Music Factory – when the representative from the company’s New York office mentions a new signing.

“I’ll play it during morning tea,” she says.

As she pressed play on the CD, you could hear a Mojo Pin drop. The Sony staff – music fans, grizzled music veterans and cynical indie types – were all united. No one had to say a word. The look on everyone’s face said it all: “This guy is special.”

In that moment, Jeff Buckley became a superstar in Australia.

Hearing him sing Hallelujah for the first time was a revelation. Nothing needed to be said. It was as if Sony’s Australian staff made a pact: we’re going to make this record a hit.

Jeff Buckley’s debut album, Grace, was released in the US 30 years ago today. The album’s Australian release came the following month, when Inpress editor Andrew Watt put Buckley on the cover and eloquently explained the album’s appeal. “Every now and then a new artist comes along whose sheer quality and artistic vision is so obvious that you just know you’re going to be listening to him for a long, long time.

“Grace is an album that seems so complete and so vivid in its expression that it’s almost an insult to try and deconstruct it and examine it to try and find out what makes it work.

“Probably the highest compliment that can be paid to Grace is that it’s timeless. It’s a brilliant album now, it would have been 10 years ago, and it will be in 10 years’ time.”

The record company bio that accompanied Grace had a section where the label listed what format it fitted. Grace ticked most of the boxes – alternative, AOR, easy listening, heavy metal, jazz, jazz/rock and “all other”. But Buckley responded: “That’s all just useless typing … everything it’s not, it is.

“What is it?” he added. “It’s just American music.”

And yet, Grace didn’t connect with American audiences. It peaked at number 149 in the US. Australia was the only country where it landed in the Top 10.

The American critics were initially unsure of what to make of the album. “Jeff Buckley sounds like a man who doesn’t yet know what he wants to be,” stated the three-star review in Rolling Stone.

John Encarnacao had no such reservations in his four-and-a-half-star review in Juice. “What kind of person wouldn’t like this disc?” he asked. “Maybe someone afraid of involvement. Or someone unprepared for music to penetrate their outer layers. Or anyone who rolls their eyes at the names Joni Mitchell, Neil Young or Sinead O’Connor. Grace is one of those sacred recordings.”

Grace received some play on US college radio but was shunned by the mainstream stations. “The songs were too long, and they didn’t have any hooks,” Buckley explained, relaying the complaints of the American radio programmers.

“It’s all a question of taste. I have no idea. I don’t know how their minds work, and if I ever do find out, I’ll hang myself from the nearest tree. I’m not really bitter about it at all.

“It’s a total crapshoot dealing with radio, so it doesn’t matter. Just so long as people come to the shows and enjoy it and get what they want, I can’t ask for more.”

And that’s exactly what Australians did – they embraced Buckley live. That first Jeff Buckley tour in 1995 is referred to in the same hushed, reverential tones as The Beatles’ 1964 visit and Nirvana’s shows in 1992.

You had to be there.

In Melbourne, Buckley did three shows at small venues – the Lounge, the Prince Patrick Hotel and the Athenaeum Theatre, as well as a set live to air on Triple R’s rooftop.

Lainey Wilson Has Never Been In It For The Awards: ‘I Want To Feel Something & I Want People To Feel Something’

Amazing 'Grace': How Australia Gave Jeff Buckley His Biggest Hit

23 August 2024 | 12:00 pm | Jeff Jenkins

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“In that moment, Jeff Buckley became a superstar in Australia.”

Jeff BuckleyJeff Buckley (Source: Supplied/'You And I' album cover)

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“I’ve got something I’d like to play you,” the woman from the overseas label announced.

It’s the start of 1994, and I’m at a Sony sales conference on the Gold Coast. We’ve been running through the major priorities for the year – Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Pearl Jam and C+C Music Factory – when the representative from the company’s New York office mentions a new signing.

“I’ll play it during morning tea,” she says.

As she pressed play on the CD, you could hear a Mojo Pin drop. The Sony staff – music fans, grizzled music veterans and cynical indie types – were all united. No one had to say a word. The look on everyone’s face said it all: “This guy is special.”

In that moment, Jeff Buckley became a superstar in Australia.

Hearing him sing Hallelujah for the first time was a revelation. Nothing needed to be said. It was as if Sony’s Australian staff made a pact: we’re going to make this record a hit.

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Jeff Buckley’s debut album, Grace, was released in the US 30 years ago today. The album’s Australian release came the following month, when Inpress editor Andrew Watt put Buckley on the cover and eloquently explained the album’s appeal. “Every now and then a new artist comes along whose sheer quality and artistic vision is so obvious that you just know you’re going to be listening to him for a long, long time.

“Grace is an album that seems so complete and so vivid in its expression that it’s almost an insult to try and deconstruct it and examine it to try and find out what makes it work.

“Probably the highest compliment that can be paid to Grace is that it’s timeless. It’s a brilliant album now, it would have been 10 years ago, and it will be in 10 years’ time.”

The record company bio that accompanied Grace had a section where the label listed what format it fitted. Grace ticked most of the boxes – alternative, AOR, easy listening, heavy metal, jazz, jazz/rock and “all other”. But Buckley responded: “That’s all just useless typing … everything it’s not, it is.

“What is it?” he added. “It’s just American music.”

And yet, Grace didn’t connect with American audiences. It peaked at number 149 in the US. Australia was the only country where it landed in the Top 10.

The American critics were initially unsure of what to make of the album. “Jeff Buckley sounds like a man who doesn’t yet know what he wants to be,” stated the three-star review in Rolling Stone.

John Encarnacao had no such reservations in his four-and-a-half-star review in Juice. “What kind of person wouldn’t like this disc?” he asked. “Maybe someone afraid of involvement. Or someone unprepared for music to penetrate their outer layers. Or anyone who rolls their eyes at the names Joni Mitchell, Neil Young or Sinead O’Connor. Grace is one of those sacred recordings.”

Grace received some play on US college radio but was shunned by the mainstream stations. “The songs were too long, and they didn’t have any hooks,” Buckley explained, relaying the complaints of the American radio programmers.

“It’s all a question of taste. I have no idea. I don’t know how their minds work, and if I ever do find out, I’ll hang myself from the nearest tree. I’m not really bitter about it at all.

“It’s a total crapshoot dealing with radio, so it doesn’t matter. Just so long as people come to the shows and enjoy it and get what they want, I can’t ask for more.”

And that’s exactly what Australians did – they embraced Buckley live. That first Jeff Buckley tour in 1995 is referred to in the same hushed, reverential tones as The Beatles’ 1964 visit and Nirvana’s shows in 1992.

You had to be there.

In Melbourne, Buckley did three shows at small venues – the Lounge, the Prince Patrick Hotel and the Athenaeum Theatre, as well as a set live to air on Triple R’s rooftop.

“His shows caused the biggest buzz in town since the Stones were here in March,” I wrote in Inpress.

I took my friend Nova Weetman to the Athenaeum show. She wrote about it in her recent book, Love, Death & Other Scenes. “I was down the front,” she recalled, “weeping as the strains of Hallelujah lifted us up.”

Buckley was a potent mix of Jackson Browne and Jimmy Page. He had the heart of a poet. And he could rock like a god. As one Rolling Stone live review said, “The punchline is, Jeff Buckley can get away with anything.”

Interviewing Buckley was no easy task. He seemed troubled, knowing that the interviewer would inevitably ask about his father.

Jeff’s mother, Mary, had been briefly married to a then-unknown Tim Buckley. When he was eight, Jeff spent a week with his dad; apart from that, he never knew him. Two months after that meeting, Tim Buckley died of a heroin overdose.

The young Buckley loved record stores. “They’re a really emotional place,” he said. “All my life, I tried to work in one, but they never accepted me, and now I’m in them. I go to Tower Records and see all these lives in the bins.”

He noted the sad irony of his record being filed next to his father’s catalogue. “Separated all our lives, and now I’m right there in the bin next to him.”

David Browne, the author of Dream Brother, the biography of Jeff and Tim Buckley, noted that the younger Buckley “was painfully aware of the mistakes Tim had made in his life, and struggled to avoid them”, though “the weight of acclaim helped undo them both”.

That first Australian tour sent Grace into the Top 10. I remember a backstage scene when a Sony rep informed Buckley that the album had gone gold and was headed for platinum. “But do I really want that?” the artist responded.

In Sydney, he visited Bondi Beach at sunrise. “I tried to swim, but the water was too cold,” he smiled. “My nuts totally contracted into my body.”

Thirty years after it was released, Grace has gone eight-times platinum in Australia, and it remains a consistent seller.

Buckley returned in February 1996 for bigger shows, forging a rare connection with Australian audiences.

On the morning show on ABC radio in Melbourne, Raf Epstein has a popular segment called Changing Tracks, where a listener talks about a song that was playing at a pivotal moment in their life.

Recently, Julie recounted her memories of driving down Puckle Street in Moonee Ponds in September 1995. “I was listening to triple j,” she wrote. “I had just given birth to my only daughter … and I was in a loveless marriage. I was feeling extremely emotional and desperate. My husband had not wanted to be a father and was reluctant to involve himself in parenting.”

Like Tim Buckley decades before, Julie’s husband said, “I don’t want this.”

She realised she would be better off on her own.

“Listening to the radio that morning, I heard Jeff Buckley for the first time,” Julie continued. “Singing with a lilting, powerful, emotionally charged voice, he seemed to soothe my pain, and it lifted me out of the hole I had found myself in. I bought the CD that day, and his music supported me through probably the worst 12 months of my life.

“Every time I hear Jeff singing, he reminds me of the strength I found in the most vulnerable time in my life. For that, I am grateful.”

In that first interview with Inpress, Buckley revealed his desire to write a new American national anthem. “I hate the national anthem,” he declared. “The song itself is about having kicked somebody’s arse in war with bombs and stuff. Someday, there will be a [new] song, and hopefully, if I live into old age, I’ll make a stab at it.

“That will be my crowning achievement if I can replace that awful thing called the national anthem.”

He also said he hoped that Grace would be timeless. “If I make it into old age, I’d like to be able to visit it and have it still be true. The things I love the best are very timeless.”

Buckley highlighted Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, Duke Ellington and Allen Ginsberg. His favourite Ginsberg poem was Kaddish, which includes the line:

And how Death is that remedy all singers dream of.

Sadly, Jeff Buckley didn’t make it to old age. On May 29, 1997, while in Memphis working on the follow-up to Grace, he went for a swim in the Wolf River. His body was found on June 4.

Jeff Buckley never got to write that new national anthem. But one of his wishes came true: Grace is timeless.

In that first Australian interview, Buckley mused about his second album. “I’ll make an album that’s so not me,” he predicted. “But it will be me.” He even revealed he had a title for the record: My Sweetheart The Drunk.

The posthumous album Sketches for My Sweetheart The Drunk was released the year after Buckley’s passing.

“The songs that would have been My Sweetheart The Drunk (as well as all the other recorded material he left behind) are the true ‘remains’ of Jeff Buckley, not the speck of dust that was pulled out of the Wolf River,” his mother Mary Guibert said.

The Sketches album entered the Australian charts at number one. It was Buckley’s first number-one anywhere in the world.

Guibert also compiled the 2000 live album Mystery White Boy, which included five songs from the Palais Theatre in St Kilda, as well as Buckley’s cover of Big Star’s Kanga-Roo, recorded at Sydney’s Phoenician Club.

The great tragedy of Jeff Buckley and the modern music business is that Grace was his only completed album.

In the liner notes for Sketches, Bill Flanagan wrote: “If the music business ran in the ’90s as it did in the ’60s, Jeff would have had five albums out … But Jeff loved searching more than arriving.”

By the time Tim Buckley died, aged 28, he had released nine studio albums. Jeff, who died at 30, released just one.

But then, we were blessed to have experienced Jeff Buckley’s genius. One perfect album and some magical live shows.

Hallelujah.

[basgevers]

Desert Island Discs: Oasis - Cast No Shadow

Ah. Britpop. Some of it was good. Blur. Sleeper. Suede. Supergrass. The Divine Comedy. Dodgy. And some of it was, well, not so much. Menswear. Drugstore. Northern Uproar. Salad. You get the idea I’m sure.

Whenever I think of Britpop I always think of the bloke who lived in the flat above me. Stan, his name was, and he’d play Robbie Williams every night before he’d go up the town. I reckon he only had the single “Angels” as it was all he ever played. After a night out you’d hear him struggling up the stairs at 2am, more often than not with some bird he’d picked up on his trawl, followed by a lot of crashing and banging. Then silence (“wait wait wait, you’ve got to hear thish song from Robbie Williamsh, itsh <belch> fabuloush.”), then “Angels”, the loud singalong version, and then after two repeat plays there’d be more banging, if you get my drift …

None of which has anything to do with my next choice on my indie desert island other than that it came from the same period.

So, I was an Oasis fan. Well, to my friends and acquaintances at least that is, because I was in fact, during that whole period, a sheltered, closeted Blur fan. To me and most of the popular press at the time, Blur where the Beatles, purveyors of carefully crafted, lyrically clever music, while Oasis where the Stones. Grunts, balls to the wall, in yer face RAWK. Blur had cheeky chappie music, they had Phil Daniels, they had music with wit and humour.  Oasis just had volume, an overdrive pedal and someone named Bonehead. Oasis was real man’s music, Blur whimsical art-college faffery. But to this day I still prefer the Beatles, even though I’ll admit to anyone who asks that the Stones wrote the better music.

Still, it’s Oasis that seem to have stood the test of time. Every weekend, “Wonderwall” is played at some wedding somewhere around the country. After a Christmas single (apparently Paul McCartney still rakes in more than £500k per year from “Wonderful Christmas Time”), this is the next best thing, having your songs sung in chorus in a Best Western hotel next to a motorway by groups of drunken middle-aged men standing in a circle with their ties tied around their heads, air-guitaring away and getting the lyrics wrong. (I suspect this is very much the way that my neighbour Stan spent his early Sunday mornings back in the day.)

So, where was I? Oh yes. Oasis. Desert Island. So in the early 90’s I was working for a large computer company that no longer exists, having been bought over by a company that makes printers as well as, it turns out, a malt vinegar-based sauce, blended with tomato, dates, tamarind extract, sweetener and spices. They’d send us down for a week to Farnborough where we had a training centre. Essentially, this training turned into a week-long binge-drinking session on account of our ridiculous per-diem rates which allowed us, if we pooled our resources together, to clean out the hotel mini-bar every evening for a week and still come out the other end with money to spend. So we’d get drunk, then decamp to someone’s room where we’d all sing along to “Angels” at top volume.

After one particularly gruelling trip in which I had learned nothing except the price of a pint of Bailey’s (£27 back in the day, or £45 in today’s money) I remember hearing “Cast No Shadow” on the radio, and I remember thinking that this was not the way I imagined my life to go, in a shitty hotel in a shitty town, eating shitty food with a stinking hangover in a dining room full of photocopier salesmen from Guildford while the air show was going on (“shut the fucking windows!!”) . Somehow the words “Chained to all the places that he never wished to stay / Bound with all the weight of all the words he tried to say/ As he faced the sun he cast no shadow” resonated with me, and I resolved there and then to change my life, just as soon as I got back to Aberdeen.

So whenever I hear this song, it reminds me of a time in my life when change was needed, something I reflected upon sitting in Terminal 2 at Heathrow waiting for the flight back home.

It’s a song that fills me with hope, even though the lyrics are not that positive. I guess the message is not to turn into the man in the song - casting no shadow, being invisible, a nobody. It’s what I strive for everyday I think, though not always with success.

[ackermansupremacy]

More marley kids headcanons because i’m still distraught

The sheer amount of content that i could write for them is a s t r o n o m i c a l

Gabi

•An animal lover!

•Has a really big intimidating dog like a rottweiler or mastiff that her friends are lowkey scared of

•But it has some headass name like ‘Fluffy’ or ‘Princess’

•Or something oddly human like Joe or Robert LMAO

•She drinks a lot of energy drinks so shes up until like 3am blasting music

•I saw another post saying that they could see her being a kpop stan and i SEE IT

•She would be a boygroup stan and would stan NCT

•She would really like Gorillaz too Rhinestone eyes would be her JAM

•When shes not playing roblox shes plays things like overwatch and league of legends until the sun rises

•Yet somehow shes still full of energy the next morning??

•Her deepest secret is that she has a wattpad account and randomly publishes stories and never updates them

•She also reads like,,,1D fanfic and would never admit it

•Her walls are covered in doodles in the spaces between her miscellaneous band posters

•Shes the kind of angsty kid that acts like she doesn’t like you

•But honestly? You’re her role model

•She really admires you :)

•Especially if you’re a single parent

•Whenever someone asks she always says

•“I wanna be just like my mom/dad when i get older” :)

•She’ll never admit it to you, but she just wants you to be proud of her

Zofia

•She strikes me as the daintier type but like at the same time not really??

•Shes definitely no stranger to fun

•She loves amusement parks and its one of her favorite places to go

•Surprise her with tickets to disneyland and she’ll cry

•She enjoys fashion but dislikes makeup so shes never really bothered trying to get good at it

•I think she has like, two different types of music she listens to

•She likes classical music when shes trying to focus on things like her hobbies or homework but indie music is her go to

•Mozart, Bach, Beach Bunny and Melanie Martinez being some of her favorites

•I think shes artistic too

•Her room always smells slightly of acrylic paint

•Her room is always really clean

•Other than that one single moldy coffee cup... iykyk

•it has a black and white minimalistic aesthetic

•But her walls have her favorite pieces that shes hand painted framed

•Along with a Van Gogh tapestry next to her bed

•A simple girl, she has a pink betta fish

•It probably has some fancy long name

•Like Elizabeth or Charlotte

•The tanks is perfectly matched to the aesthetic of her room

•She would take such good care of it it would live way past the life expectancy

•She probably takes some sort of martial arts class as well

•Like judo or karate and shes REALLY good at it

•Trophies and medals are all over your house because shes so proud of them

•She just keeps making you proud huh

Falco

•Oh this sweet child

•Hes so gullible

•Hes really smart but he just...believes everything Colt tells him

•And he always finds out its not true the hard way

•It would be dumb stuff that would send him into a crisis too

•Like Colt once told him that if he wasn’t asleep by midnight he would die or something and he actually believed it

•So when he couldn’t sleep he started saying his goodbyes to everyone LMAO

•After a teary eyed conversation you had to convince him it wasn’t true and made Colt apologize

•That gave him trust issues

•As i said in a previous headcanon, I think he would play a lot of instruments

•Piano, guitar and the cello are among his favorites

•He has the most diverse music taste out of all of them

•Its mostly mainstream music though

•He would just hear a song on the radio or on tik tok and would add it to his playlist if he liked it

•Resulting in the most random music

•From bands like coldplay, to doja cat, to cardi b to occasional kpop...

•His dirty secret is that he really likes boybands

•He loves backstreet boys, one direction and 5sos

•Gabi found out and made fun of him for it so he never told anyone after that

•His room is pretty bare and empty other than mass amounts of instruments

•Most of them he never even plays anymore

•He def has empty water bottles everywhere

•But the little bit that he does have in his room is organized chaos

•“Do you have a paperclip?” “to the left of my keyboard pedal on the floor” “Bro...” 

Udo

•B-Babie...

•One of his favorite things is watching a good mystery show or movie, especially the classics like Agatha Christie’s mysteries

•He loves writing them too!

•He takes it very seriously and probably has a mystery novel in the works that he plans to publish when he gets older

•Hes really passionate about it if you ask him about it he could talk about it for hours!

•He has a chameleon or a snake or some other reptile

•Gives it a cute name like Henry or a fandom name like Dobby

•Or something unique nature related like petrichor

•Its his lil buddy it always rides around on his shoulder :)

•His music taste is also diverse

•Zofia introduced him to indie music and he loves it

•He loves bands like The 1975, The Neighbourhood and Jack Stauber

•But his all time favorite band is The Beatles

•His favorite song is Beautiful Boy by John Lennon because it reminds him of when you used to sing to him when he was a little kid :)

•He collects The Beatles posters and vinyls and displays them on the walls in his room

•His room is pretty cluttered with things like clothes, books and school supplies strewn about but his desk is always spotless and organized

•Notebooks with story ideas, his laptop and a gaming controller being the only things on it

•His deepest secret is that he struggles with anxiety which makes him pretty clingy to you :(

•And he doesn’t want to keep sleeping in your bed like he did when he was little so he has a playlist of all the lullabies you sang to him when he was younger

•And he can’t sleep without it :(

•Hes not the most athletic, but I could see him joining the soccer team Falco and Gabi are on just for fun and tries to convince Zofia to join too

•Kinda sad but i think he cries himself to sleep a lot and doesn’t really know why

•Sometimes when he feels really really sad he comes into your room and you watch tv together until he falls asleep

•And hes v tiny so hes easy to carry into his room

•Hes my precious boy I love him so much :,(((((((((((

******

I have two more things I wanna publish for these absolute jelly beans before i take a break from writing for them unless y’all wanna request more hahahahaplzrequestthingshahaha

[etoileholland]

lead me to your door

@mayberosey​ asked: The Tom and reader are neighbors (apartment setting) and every time he passes by her apartment, she plays different types of genres. She would play classical to jazz to rock to indie and so on. Tom finds it endearing that she has such wide range of music taste, but one day it just stops. And it lasts for maybe a week or two. So he’s worried but doesn’t do anything. When he finally hears music playing, the sounds are more mellow and it doesn’t change for a few days. That’s when Tom decided to knock on her door...

Pairing: Tom x female reader

Word count: 1.9k

Warnings: none 

A/N: so I've been on a lil hiatus from writing but I finally finished this so I wanted to share it. Requests are open and I’m personally out of ideas, so please don’t hesitate to send something in. Although please don’t send in any requests about drama revolving around Tom’s girlfriend, I’ve already received a few and I won’t write those xx also the gif isn’t mine, all credit goes to its respective owner

“L, is for the way you look at me. ‘O’ is for the only one I see, ‘V’ is very very, extraordinary…”

Tom smiled to himself when he heard the faint music from the other side of the wall. It was 8am and his neighbour was already playing music. It was something that he had to grow accustomed to when he moved in about a month ago. At first it was a bit annoying to always hear some form of music from the apartment right next to his, but now, he welcomed it.

He was eating breakfast in the kitchen, and the music accompaniment was a nice way to start the day. He mouthed along to the familiar words, a smile erupted on his face as he enjoyed his scone.

Tom had grown to find there was a schedule with the music that he heard from next door. Since today was Monday, it was usually old jazz tunes, like Sinatra, Benny Goodman or Louis Armstrong. Tuesday’s were a mix of contemporary pop music, Wednesday’s were nothing but music from The Beatles, Thursday and Friday were dedicated to Harry Styles, Saturday’s was an array of songs and genres from the ‘60s to about the 80’s, and Sunday's were nothing but sad songs, the theme usually revolving around unrequited love.

He often wondered why there was such a distinct schedule, and why you only listened to sad songs on Sunday’s. It had become a bit of a game for him to try to figure out why, but so far he’s settled on the idea that maybe you had your heart broken on a Sunday, and therefore, dedicated sad songs to that day only.

On the weekdays, the music would stop around 10am, and would pick back up again around 6pm, and would cease around 9pm. It was rare to hear music past that point, which made him think that you went to bed extremely early. And on the weekends, the music would go from noon to midnight, which suggested you stayed up later.

He loved building a fantasy around the person he deduced based on your patterns and music choice, but the truth is that he had never met you. He had no idea who his neighbour was, and he didn’t want to knock on your door in case you were a creep or something.

He figured his neighbour was a female, since he often heard a light airy laugh from the other side of the wall, but it could be a man with a really high pitched laugh. Or you could be married, or old, but he had no idea, and frankly he had no intention of finding out.

Until one day, the music stopped.

It happened abruptly, he awoke one day on a Tuesday morning and realised that there wasn’t any music coming from your apartment. But he didn’t worry since he figured you were either sleeping in, or you had left early for work or something. He was gone the whole day at a rehearsal for the show he was in, so he didn’t think twice about the silence.

The next day, Wednesday around noon, he was hoping to hear the melodic voices of Lennon and McCartney from the other side of the wall, but once again it was silent. Usually at this point in the day, you had already finished the first two Beatles albums, and were quick to put on ‘A Hard Day’s Night’. He began to wonder if maybe you were out of town, but the nagging thought in the back of his head wondered if something bad had happened.

I’ll give it a few more days, and then if I still hear silence, I’ll check up on them, he thought to himself.

—

A week had gone past, and still radio silence. It was beginning to worry Tom, and he knew that he would have to go check on you, but every time he tried, he couldn’t.

He would head out to go to the gym, and would walk past your door, hesitating to see if he should knock. His hand would hover over the doorbell, but always stopped a centimetre away from pushing it.

Maybe they moved, or maybe something really bad happened, he thought, or maybe they’re out of town?

The thoughts swirled around his head, making him anxious and flustered until he decided that he shouldn’t bother you. And besides, how would he even start the conversation?

He backed away from your door, but then swiftly took a step forward and nearly knocked on the dark wood grained door.

What am I thinking? He thought, before beginning to pace the hallway while he thought of the best way to handle this. Don’t be dumb, there’s no good way to start a conversation with them. Would I really be stupid enough to say, “‘Hey, not to sound like a creep but I noticed I don’t hear you playing music anymore?’ or ‘hey, so I’ve never once spoken to you before but I can always hear you from my apartment and I find pleasure in knowing you’re alive but now I hear nothing and I’m assuming the worst?’” They’ll call the cops on me for sure.

He paced around in front of your door for about a minute, until walking back in the direction of his apartment, surrendering to his ever-so-increasingly intrusive thoughts.

—

Today had marked two weeks without hearing music from your apartment, and Tom had grown increasingly worried. If it’s still silent by this time tomorrow, I’ll confront my fear and knock on the door.

Miraculously, he didn’t need to knock on your door at all. When he awoke at 9am on a Tuesday, he almost didn’t hear the faint music playing from the room on the other side of his bedroom wall.

He pressed his ear to the wall and could hear a somber song playing. His eyes nearly welled up with tears when he realised that you were okay. But as the day went on, he grew worried. Tuesday’s were your ‘pop music’ days, but he only heard sad Taylor Swift songs.

Well that’s odd, they only play those on Sunday, he pondered.

The next four days were filled with heart wrenching ballads, somber piano music floating through the air. The nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach never went away, and he knew that he would have no choice but to knock on your door.

He figured the best way to go about it was to inquire about the music, and say that as a caring neighbour, he wanted to make sure all was well.

Standing in front of the mirror, wearing his favourite pair of jeans and t-shirt, he left his apartment and walked over to your front door.

You can do it Tom, just say you’re concerned about their health and well-being.

As he lifted his arm to knock on your door, you had just opened your door and were startled to see someone standing in front of your door.

“Holy shit!” You exclaimed as you closed your door, but Tom put his hand out to keep your door open.

“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t trying to startle you.” He exhaled, stepping back into the hallway.

“I figured, I’m sorry for that, I just wasn’t expecting anyone to be standing on the other side of my door.”

“Me either.” He breathed, holding an arm out and propping himself up against the wall. “Were you about to head out?”

“I was just going to go down to pick up a package from the front desk, but it can definitely wait.”

He nodded his head and unsuccessfully pushed a stray curl away from his face, it falling right back near his eye in a matter of seconds. You stood there admiring the man in front of you, making a mental note of the loose curl in front of his face, and his slightly awkward demeanour. He was handsome, and you found it cute how he was speechless.

“Well, do you mind telling me why you were just about to knock on my door?” You inquired while Tom let out a small laugh.

“Right.” He placed his hand on the back of his neck and took a deep breath in. “I don’t want to overstep, but I was wondering if everything was alright with you?”

He saw a distinct shift in your facial expressions, but he continued to ramble on. “It’s just that I can always hear you playing music from my apartment right next door, and I love hearing it, but I noticed that it stopped for about two weeks. And then when it started again, it was only sad songs and you only usually play those on Sunday’s. Oh gosh, now I sound like a creep for observing that and I promise I’m not, I just thought it was odd and I wanted to make sure you were alright.” He took a deep breath out and paused before saying, “I hope that wasn’t too weird.”

You laughed lightly, before saying, “I’ve experienced weirder. But thank you for checking up on me…” you trailed off, realising that you don’t actually know your neighbours name.

“I-I’m Tom.” He stated, and you told him your name as well.

“It’s nice to meet you Tom, and once again thank you. I just went through a hard patch in my life, and listening to sad music made me feel better, in a way. But it’s nice to know you care, so thank you again.” You smiled, and Tom smiled back.

“Right, well I probably should get going since I know I’ve already made the weirdest first impression,” you both laughed, “but I’m glad to know you’re alright. But if you’re not, my apartment is 2B so you’re more than welcome to come over.” He blushed, gaze fixed on the carpeted floor.

“It was a perfectly fine first impression, but if you don’t mind me asking, do you like my music choice?” You laughed, and Tom’s face broke out into a smile, brown eyes piercing through yours.

“I wasn’t expecting that question, but yes, absolutely. I’ve found a lot of good songs and artists because of you. I’ve been loving FINNEAS’ album, and ELO, so I can thank you for that.” He grinned, the crinkles by his eyes becoming prominent.

“You’re welcome.” You had your door open all the way now, and you could smell that your pizza in the oven was nearly ready.

“Mm, that smells good.” Tom commented, and you looked into your apartment to make sure the oven wasn’t on fire.

“It does, I made some pizza and I think it’s nearly done.”

“I think so as well.” He added, the both of you sharing a comfortable silence. “I’ll let you eat though, but I’m glad to know you’re alright.” He smiled and began to take a step back when you lightly grabbed his arm, surprising you both.

“Wait, would you want to come inside? I made enough pizza for at least two people, and I also have a bottle of wine if you’d want some.” You asked, hoping that your very attractive neighbour would say…

“Yes, I’d love that. Only if it’s okay with you, of course.”

“It is okay, I asked you.” You smiled, and Tom laughed nervously.

“Right.” He half smiled.

“Well, come on in.” You motioned for him to step in, “let’s eat and listen to some music, yeah?”

“Absolutely.”

————

mes anges (taglist): @scarletxwidow @sunflowerhollands @fangirlwithasweettooth​ @taciturnspidey​ @musicalkeys​ @harrysleftchelseaboot​ @quaksonhehe​ @halfblood-princess-505​

[ellstcreativejournal]

Update

Sorry I haven't written in a while. School started on Tuesday. Here is a recap I guess.

Aug 21, 2021

Dad drove me back to campus today. I can barely drive so I only drove some of the ways. We stopped and got BBQ - shared some wings and though a couple years before we would've cleaned our plate, both of us couldn't finish the meal. A lot of things have changed with our health I guess. I felt sick to my stomach - not sure if it was my IBS or anxiety, but it happened.

When he dropped me off at my house I cried. His ankles were swollen and his arms were boney and it reminded me of my great grandfather who passed away last year. I didn't want to think about it but I did.

I ended up going to my friends' new dorm and we got high and celebrated my friend's 21st birthday. We were watching a movie after we smoked and someone started banging on the door - we all immediately ran to their bedrooms and acted like we were asleep. I actually almost shit my pants. Turns out it was just RA's trying to introduce themselves. Oh well.

Made an appearance at my other friend's party and I wanted to die while being there. Went home after an hour and went to bed.

Aug 22, 2021

Got up early this morning and went to audition for a local rock band. They were all frat boys and their music taste was shit but I still learned how to play the songs they wanted because being a girl in an all-boy band is hot. I jammed with them for two straight hours then went home and ordered pad thai. I think it went well honestly.

Went to a Mexican Restaurant with my friends and our fake ID's worked. I got a mojito and I was tipsy after drinking half of it and I was considering getting another one but we wanted to go home and get high.

So we went home and got high.

Aug 23, 2021

The last day before class started. I honestly can't tell you what I did except I did spend $20 on a stuffed unicorn toy at target. Don't know her name yet but leaning towards Beans/Baby because she is literally full of beans and you can hold her like a baby. I also got some new candles.

Didn’t get the part in the band but they told me I could come jam with them when they practice? So they just want a hot indie girl to be eye candy for their shitty ass band. I don’t jam for free. These jams don’t come free. Jams Runs Free - Sonic Youth.

My friend's parents took us out to dinner and it was so fucking good. I also bought some new rings at this little art shop. Just a lot of spending money today. I tried to put school out of my mind.

I think I went to my friend's dorm and got high again.

Aug 24, 2021

First day of classes. Got a pumpkin spice latte because I'm a stupid white bitch and today was the first day of them being back. My classes weren't too bad but I only had two, so who knows. Econ professor seems like a fucking idiot though.

I ended up getting a job for the radio station run by students on campus. I'm excited as fuck and thank you Jesus it pays ($8.50 an hour though - not so good, Al). Might have my own radio show too but we will see. As of right now I do promotions and PR.

PS. Mare of Easttown is such a good fucking show.

Aug 25, 2021

The second day of classes. My Italian professor is sweet as always and my Geology professor is so hot. I don't mean to be sexist but he can get this pussy any day - if only his wife didn't literally work in the same building (JUST KIDDING...sorta). I have a drawing lecture once a week and it seems like it will be fun to get back into visual art again - I haven't drawn or sketched since late middle school but I used to be good at it. The only issue is I have to buy a fuck ton of supplies with my own money (welcome to college).

I met this dude on bumble and he asked me out tonight but I cancelled because I was tired. Another group of friends who threw the party the other night wanted my roommate and I to go get drunk with them at a Mexican restaurant but I cancelled on them too. Its a fucking school night on the first week of the semester - miss me with that shit.

They stopped by our apartment to see it since they hadn't yet. My ex-roommates boyfriend is a twat and isn't welcome in my house anymore. He can suck my fat cock.

Made brownies and ate half the pan while sitting on the couch watching Mare of Easttown. Went to bed.

Aug 26, 2021

Econ class was canceled so I didn't have to get up that early. Straight after my major class, I had to run off the bus to get to work on time. I put my two weeks in as they haven't really respected my school schedule. I have an interview at a bookstore next week - fingers crossed.

A coworker told me I was giving her Billie Eilish vibes with my outfit? Is that a good thing? Don't really listen to her but I support women so I think it's a good thing.

Got directly exposed to covid so had to go buy my own weed for the week, which really wasn't a bad thing. I miss my friends.

Hung out with my roommates and the frat boys who live next door were having a huge party. We sat out on our balcony and listened to the loud music while two of us smoked a bowl. Went to bed.

Heres one of my favorite songs rn

bye

[bananaofswifts]

At the beginning of March, the National’s Aaron Dessner traveled back to the United States from Paris, where he’d been living with his family, to shack up at Sonic Ranch Studio in Tornillo, Texas to work on the next Big Red Machine album with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. Those plans — obviously — soon shifted, as the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic set in. Dessner and his family were able to relocate to their home in upstate New York as lockdown orders went into effect, and the musician soon settled into a groove of homeschooling his kids and focusing fully on music in a way he hadn’t in a while, due to the National’s regularly rigorous touring schedule. 

In the middle of what Dessner describes as one of the most productive moments of his career, Taylor Swift called. 

A longtime and avowed fan of the National, Swift asked if Dessner wanted to try collaborating on a few songs remotely. He said of course, and asked if she was looking for anything in particular. He noted that he had plenty of material at the ready, but acknowledged he’d been in a more experimental mood, due to the Big Red Machine sessions; not to mention, Dessner added, he’d never really ventured into the pop world Swift has dominated for well over a decade. She told him to send everything he had. 

“I think she was interested in the emotions that she feels in some of the music that I’ve made,” Dessner tells Rolling Stone.” So I just sent her a folder of things I’d done recently and was excited about. Hours after, she sent back a fully written version of ‘Cardigan.’ It was like a lightning bolt struck the house.” 

Over the next few months, Dessner and Swift crafted the bulk of Swift’s eighth studio album, Folklore, which was released today, July 24th, after being announced the day before. Folklore is yet another mesmerizing musical move from Swift — a shift in sound, style and palette towards a vaster indie sound (à la, of course, the National) that still feels distinctly Swift-ian, as if she’s been making music like this her whole career. Lyrically, too, the record finds Swift playing with character and myth in new ways that — befitting the album’s title — recall the great American folk tradition. 

Dessner wasn’t the album’s only collaborator; Swift wrote several songs with regular producer Jack Antonoff, as well as songwriter named William Bowery, who doesn’t seem to have much of an internet footprint. Vernon also contributed to two songs, singing on one of the album’s many stunners, “Exile,” while Dessner’s brother and National bandmate, Bryce Dessner, helped orchestrate it with a mix of musicians scattered around the globe (none of whom even knew what they were playing on when they recorded their parts).

Dessner spoke with Rolling Stone about working with Swift, their instant chemistry, how the album developed under a thick cloud of secrecy and more.

When Taylor first reached out, did she have a specific vision in mind for the album? 
She was a bit cryptic. I didn’t know that we were actually working on a record for quite a while. It just seemed that she was seeking me out to collaborate. And then we were both feeling very inspired by it. Once there were six or seven songs that we had written over a couple of weeks, she said, “Hey can we talk?” Then she said, ‘This is what I’m imagining,’ and started to tell me about the concept of Folklore. Then she mentioned that she’d written some songs at an earlier stage with Jack [Antonoff], and they felt like they really fit together with what we were doing. It was a very inspiring, exhilarating collaborative process that was almost entirely remote. Very sort of warp speed, but also something about it felt like we were going toe-to-toe and in a good pocket. 

After “Cardigan,” how did these songs develop and do you think she pushed you in any new directions as a songwriter? 
When you’re working with someone new, it takes a second to understand their instincts and range. It’s not really conscious. She wrote “Cardigan,” and then “Seven,” then “Peace.” They kind of set a road map, because “Cardigan” was this kind of experimental ballad, the closest thing to a pop song on the record, but it’s not really. It’s this emotional thing, but it has some strange sounds in it. “Seven” is this kind of nostalgic, emotional folk song. Even before she sang to it, I felt this nostalgia, wistful feeling in it, and I think that’s what she gravitated towards. And “Peace,” that just showed me the incredible versatility that she had. That song is just three harmonized bass lines and a pulse. I love to play bass like that — play one line then harmonize another, and another, which is a behavior I stole from Justin Vernon, because he’s done that on other things we’ve done together. And actually, that’s his pulse, he sent me that pulse and said, “Do something with this.” But when she wrote that song, which kind of reminds me of a Joni Mitchell song over a harmonized bassline and a pulse, that was kind of like, “Woah, anything can happen here.” That’s not easy to do.

So, in the morning I would wake up and try to be productive. “Mad Woman” is one I wrote shortly after that, in terms of sound world, felt very related to “Cardigan” and “Seven.” I do have a way of playing piano where it’s very melodic and emotional, but then often it’s great if whoever’s singing doesn’t sing exactly what’s in the piano melody, but maybe it’s connected in some way. There was just some chemistry happening with her and how she was relating to those ideas.

“Epiphany” was something she had an idea for, and then I imagined these glacial, Icelandic sounds with distended chords and this almost classical feeling. That was another one where we wrote it and conceived it together. She just has a very instinctive and sharp musical mind, and she was able to compose so closely to what I was presenting. What I was doing was clicking for her. It was exhilarating for us, and it was surreal — we were shocked by it, to be honest [Laughs]. I think the warmth, humanity and raw energy of her vocals, and her writing on this record, from the very first voice memos — it was all there. 

Do you think that chemistry might’ve had something to do with her being a National fan, and you being a fan of her music? 
We met Taylor at Saturday Night Live in 2014, or whenever that was that we played and Lena Dunham was hosting. We got to meet her, and that was our first brush with a bona fide pop star. But then she came to see us play in Brooklyn last summer and was there in a crazy rainstorm, like torrential downpour, and watched the whole show and stayed for a long time afterwards, talking to me and my brother. She was incredibly charming and humble. That’s the nice thing about her, and a lot of people I’ve met that have that kind of celebrity. It’s great when you can just tune it out and be normal people and chat, and that’s how that felt. So, we knew that she was a big fan, and we really got into the 1989 album. Our Icelandic collaborator, Ragnar Kjartansson, is a crazy Swiftie. So we’ve kind of lived vicariously through him. I’ve always been astonished by how masterful she is in her craft. I’ve always listened to her albums and put them in this rarefied category, like, “How did she do that? How does anybody do that? How do you make ‘Blank Space?’” There was an element that was intimidating at first, where it just took me a second to be like… Not because I think her music is better than what we’ve done, but it’s just a different world. 

Were there particular songs, albums or artists the two of you discussed as reference points for this album?
“Betty,” which is a song she wrote with William Bowery, she was interested in sort of early Bob Dylan, like Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, I think. “Epiphany,” early on, felt like some weird Kate Bush-meets-Peter Gabriel thing. I think we talked a little about those things, but not a lot. Actually, I think she really trusted me as far as my instincts to where the music would ultimately go, and also the mixing process.  We really wanted to keep her voice as human, and kind of the opposite of plastic, as possible. That was a bit of a battle. Because everything in pop music tends to be very carved out, a smiley face, and as pushed as possible so that it translates to the radio or wherever you hear it. That can also happen with a National song — like if you changed how these things are mixed, they wouldn’t feel like the same song. And she was really trusting and heard it herself. She would make those calls herself, also. 

You mentioned William Bowery — who is he?
He’s a songwriter, and actually because of social distancing, I’ve never met him. He actually wrote the original idea for “Exile,” and then Taylor took it and ran with it. I don’t actually know to be totally honest. 

We’ve been trying to track him down, he doesn’t have much of an internet presence.
Yeah, I don’t fully know him, other than he wrote “Betty” and “Exile” with her. But you know she’s a very collaborative person, so it was probably some songwriter. 

So it’s not an alias for anyone?
No, no, no. I mean, I don’t know — she didn’t tell me there was a “Cardigan” video until literally it came out, and I wrote the song with her [laughs]. So I don’t know. But I’m pretty sure he’s an actual songwriter. She enjoys little mysteries. 

“These are kind of these folkloric, almost mythical tales that are woven in of childhood, lost love, and different sentiments across the record.”

With the National, you and your brother write the music, Matt Berninger adds the lyrics, and then you fuse it — was it a similar process on Folklore?
Taylor is very collaborative in that sense that, whenever she sent a voice memo, she would send all the lyrics and then ask me what I thought. And sometimes we would debate certain lines, although generally she’s obviously a strong writer. So she would ask me if I liked one line, and she would give me alternate lines and I would give her my opinion. And then when she was actually tracking vocals, I would sometimes suggest things or miss things, but she definitely has a lot of respect for the collaborative process and wants whoever she’s writing with to feel deeply included in that process. It was nice, and was a back and forth, for sure. And she would sometimes have ideas about the production if she didn’t like something, especially. She would, in a tactful way, bring that up. I appreciated that, too, since I wanted to try to turn over every leaf, take risks and sometimes get it wrong. That always takes a second, to get over and then you start again. 

You mentioned earlier that once you had six, seven songs, she was able to describe a concept behind the album. I’m curious what that conversation was like. 
She would always explain what each song was about to me, even before she articulated the Folklore concept. And I could tell early on that they were these narrative songs, often told from a different… not in the first person. So there are different characters in the songs that appear in others. You may have a character in “Betty” that’s also related to one in “Cardigan,” for example. And I think that was, in her mind, very, very important. It doesn’t seem like, for this record at least, that she was inspired to write something until she really knew what it was about. And I think I’m used to a more — at least lately — impressionistic and experimental world of making stuff without really knowing what it is. But this was more direct, in that sense. That was really helpful, to know what it was about and it would guide some of the choices we were making. 

Every time she would send something, she would narrate a little bit, like how it fit, or what it was about. And then when she told me about Folklore as a concept, it made so much sense. Like “The Last Great American Dynasty,” for example, this kind of narrative song that then becomes personal at the end — it flips and she enters the song. These are kind of these folkloric, almost mythical tales that are woven in of childhood, lost love, and different sentiments across the record. It was binding it all together and I think it’s personal, but also through the guise of other people, friends and loved ones.

You were working in secret — how did that affect the process? Was that a difficult burden?
It was. I was humbled and honored and grateful for the opportunity and for the crazy sort of alchemy we were having. But it was hard not to be able to talk openly with my usual collaborators, even my brother at first. I didn’t know if I could really tell him, because we normally… Ultimately, he helped me quite a bit, he orchestrated songs. But we always help each other. But eventually, we figured out how to do it. Towards the end of the process, I said to Taylor, ‘I really feel that I need to try a few experiment and try to elevate a few moments on the record because we have time, and we’ve really done a ton of work here, and it all sounds great, but I think we can go even further.’ And then she said, ‘Well what does that mean?’ And I explained how that would work, and the way that we work. Our process is very community-oriented, and we have long-time collaborators that we have a good understanding with. So I was able to say, to my friends, ‘This is a song I’m working on, I can’t send it to you with the vocals, and I can’t tell you what it is, but I can explain what I’m imagining.’ And the same with my brother, he knows my music so well that that was very easy for him to just take things that we were working on, add to that, and do his kind of work. So it was all remote and everyone was in their corner and we were shipping things around. It was incredibly fast because of that, because you didn’t have eight people needing to come to the studio. You had eight people working simultaneously — one in France and one in L.A. and one in Brooklyn. This is how it went, and it was fun. We got there. 

When were you able to tell everyone who contributed that this was the Taylor Swift record, what was their reaction?
You can imagine. I think they realized it was something big because [of] the confidentiality, and they were like, ‘It could only be a few things.’ I couldn’t tell them until, basically, when she announced it. Just in the moments after she announced it, I basically told everyone. I was like, ‘By the way…’ And they were thrilled. Everyone’s thrilled. Nobody seemed mad, everyone was thrilled and honored. Even Justin Vernon had not heard anything else except “Exile,” even though the pulse of that song “Peace,” he gave that song to me. It was important to have it be a surprise, and you know how it can be with someone in her position, with all the speculation, and she’s always under a lot of pressure like that. So it was really important to the creative freedom she was feeling that this remained a secret, so she could just do what we were doing. 

Being such longtime friends and collaborators with Justin, what was it like hearing “Exile” for the first time? His voice and Taylor’s together? 
He’s so versatile and has such a crazy range, and puts so much emotion… Every time he sings when I’m in his presence, my head just kind of hits the back of the wall. That’s the same on this song. William Bowery and Taylor wrote that song together, got it to a certain point, then I sort of interpreted it and developed a recording of it, and then Taylor tracked both the male and female parts. And then we sent it to Justin and he re-did obviously the male parts and changed a few things and also added his own: He wrote the “step right out” part of the bridge, and Taylor re-sang to that. You feel like, in a weird way, you’re watching two of the greatest songwriters and vocalists of our generation collaborating. I was facilitating it and making it happen, and playing all the music. But it was definitely a “Wow.” I was just a fan at that point, seeing it happen. 

Are there any moments that really stick out to you as particularly pivotal in shaping the sound of this record? 
The initial response. When we first connected, and I sent a folder of music and Taylor wrote “Cardigan,” and she said, “This is abnormal. Why do you have all these songs that are so emotional and so moving to me? This feels fated.” And then she just dove into it and embraced this emotional current. And I hope that’s what people take out of it: The humanity in her writing and melodies. It’s a different side to her. She could have been every bit as successful just making these kinds of songs, but it’s so great that she’s also made everything that she’s ever made, and this is a really interesting shift, and an emotional one. It also opens other doors, because now it’s kind of like she can go wherever she wants, creatively. The pressure to make a certain kind of… bop — or whatever you want to call it — is not there really anymore. And I think that’s really liberating, and I hope her fans and the world are excited by that because I am. It’s really special. 

[thedeaditeslayer]

Bruce Campbell talks ‘Evil Dead,’ ‘Spider-Man,’ ‘Xena’

mm

The first time Bruce Campbell came across Sam Raimi, they were students at Michigan’s West Maple Junior High School.

“Sam was a year younger than me,” Campbell recalls, “and I remember him dressed as Sherlock Holmes playing with dolls in the middle of the floor. And I remember going way around him. And I found out later that it was Sam Raimi. We didn’t really come into contact until we got until high school.”

What a connection they made. After bonding over D.I.Y. filmmaking, Campbell and Raimi went on to do 1978 shoestring horror-short “Within the Woods” together, which they evolved into 1981 demonic thriller “Evil Dead.”

Campbell would periodically reprise signature “Evil Dead” character Ash Williams in various sequels and offshoots. And appear in Raimi-produced “Xena: Warrior Princess,” portraying slippery “king of thieves” Autolycus on that ’90s-iconic TV fantasy epic.

And then there’s Campbell’s memorable cameos in Raimi’s blockbuster, Tobey Maguire-starring “Spider-Man” film trilogy: the ring announced in the first, 2002 film, “snooty usher” in the 2004 sequel and a maître d’ in 2007′s “Spider-Man 3.”

Of course, Campbell’s made a mark outside that dynamic duo. He drew raves for his portrayal of a nursing-home-bound Elvis Presley in 2002 indie comedy-horror gem, “Bubba Ho-Tep.” Then there’s his role of Sam Axe on USA Network spy drama “Burn Notice.” Not to mention numerous other film, TV, voice acting and even video-game work.

The cult-fave actor will make his first ever trip to Huntsville this week, for Oct. 24 events at Von Braun Center’s Mark C. Smith Concert Hall featuring “Evil Dead” screenings followed by a Campbell-led chat about the film, his life as an actor and beyond. Tickets for these 3 and 7:30 p.m. events start at $32, via ticketmaster.com.

His upcoming projects include a comedy album with actor Ted Raimi, Sam’s brother, called “The Lost Recordings.” Campbell also is readying a book of essays called “The Cool Side of My Pillow,” which finds him riffing on subjects ranging from noise to the environment. He hopes to have both released by the end of this year. More info at bruce-campbell.com. On a recent afternoon, Campbell checked in from his Oregon home for a phone interview. Edited excerpts are below.

Bruce, when you do an “Evil Dead” screening event, do your discussions turn up new things about the film or that you haven’t thought of in a long time?

Every show turns up something new because it puts you on the spot. Someone will say something that will then trigger something that you had forgot. I just sat down the other day before one of these shows with my guy who is my frontman and I was like, “OK, l’m just going to tell the story of making this movie.” It’s not for questions I’m just going to tell you basically what you’re about to see. But yeah, every show triggers some new thing. I’ve seen the movie. I know how it ends. But that is the challenge, finding some new, weird tidbits.

Back in high school how did you and Sam Raimi first bond? Did you share a class or something?

Basically I got into typing class, that’s what started it. I could not believe I was stuck in this stupid class where everyone around me seemed to know how to type. I’m like, “How do you know this?” It was very frustrating. So I went to a counselor for the first time ever – I’d never gone to try to get out of anything.

So I go there and I say, “Hey can I drop this dumb typing class?” She goes, "Yeah, what do you want? I go, “What do you got?” So she comes up with “radio speech.” And I’m like, “Radio speech? Wait they do the morning announcements (at school) and stuff?” and I’m like yeah let me get all over that.

So I got into a class and Sam Raimi was also in the class. And the guy who taught radio speech also directed all the plays. We didn’t know how critical that was. The first year I couldn’t get in anything in my high school. I was auditioning for everything but I didn’t have a class with this guy. By the next year I had a class with him, and then me and Sam were in basically all the plays after that. We found out how the deal worked.

So I met him in radio speech and we’d do the morning announcements together and got to talking about what we do in our neighborhoods. I was making little regular-8 (millimeter film) movies and Sam was making Super-8 movies. So we started to join forces during the course of that high school run, that two or three years in there.

We were very productive. We didn’t really get into trouble because we were too busy like filming parties. We wouldn’t go to the parties we’d film the parties and use them in some way in our little films so it was a great guerrilla filmmaking period.

A celeb or well-known person you were surprised to learn they’re an “Evil Dead” fan?

I heard Charlie Sheen, one of his favorite things was to smoke a doobie and watch “Evil Dead 2,” and Alice Cooper’s favorite horror movie is “Evil Dead.”

If it’s good enough for Alice Cooper it’s good enough for me. You host the quiz show “Last Fan Standing.” What do you make of the mainstreaming of nerd-culture?

Every generation has its deal. In the ’40s most moviegoers were in their 40s and so the actors were in their 40s. Humphrey Bogart and Spencer Tracy and all the guys were in their 40s. You didn’t have to be 21. And then as the audience got younger the actors got younger and the people who run the companies get younger and so they’re really just catering to what’s popular.

Comic books have always been popular but now they’re really popular. Not really sure what that’s all about but yeah social media has certainly helped but I think it’s another form of escapism. Whenever times get weird, people want escapism. During The Depression they did the Busby Berkeley splashy musicals where everyone was happy all the time, when life was really miserable. And some decades where we’re really doing okay, the movies turned introspective and we go after ourselves and figure out why we’re like this and like that. And so I think we’re in a phase where we just want to be taken away to another galaxy and Marvel is very happy to help.

And you’ve been a part of that. In Sam’s “Spider-Man” trilogy, which of your cameos did you have the most fun with?

Well I don’t know it’s hard to lineate because they’re so critical. The first one I named Spider-Man. If I wasn’t in the movie a billion dollar franchise would be called The Human Spider. He wants to get in the theater in the second one, past the snooty usher who won’t let him in because he’s late, because it will spoil the illusion, so I think I’m technically the only character who’s ever defeated Spider-Man. And in part three, a superhero comes to a mortal for help. He wants me to help him propose to his girlfriend so it’s sort of a landmark case where a superhero goes to a mortal for help which is pretty rare. So I can’t delineate because they’re all critical to the “Spider-Man” universe.

Do you have any cool mementos from "Evil Dead or elsewhere from your career? Maybe something like the chainsaw from “Evil Dead 2”?

You know, it’s weird I’m not a hoarder, I’m not a collector. My brother, he has the shotgun from “Evil Dead,” but not because he loves movie trivia, he just likes guns. My brother also has I think the set of keys to the original cabin. That’s a pretty good one. Not sure how he got that one.

I have weirder ones. Like I have a prop from a 1989 movie called “Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat.” I have Van Helsing’s holy bottle where he shakes the holy water at them. And I have what I call my tchotchke shelf, where most people would look at it and they couldn’t identify what importance each item is, but there’s a story for each one.

Some of your favorite actors outside the horror genre?

Oh, I l love a lot of the old time actors. William Holden, he starred in “Bridge on The River Kwai” one of my favorite movies. I like the guys who had to work a lot. In the old days and actor would finish a job on Friday he was under contract, he took two weeks off and started a new movie a couple weeks later. Actors kind of just do one or two movies a year if they’re lucky these days and it doesn’t help them refine their craft.

I feel like the guys who worked a lot got good because they got really used to the process. I’m a fan of the studio system. Not all movies were good and not every actor was happy under the studio system, but I think a busy actor’s a good actor.

For your role in “Bubba Ho-Tep,” what was your process for tapping into Elvis’s vibe?

What guy doesn’t want to be Elvis, you know? So I worked with an Elvis impersonator for about a half an hour and then he gave up on me. He goes, “Look, man, you’re never going to get it.” I’m like, “Wow either I suck or you suck as a teacher but somebody here sucks.”

No, but I watched a bunch of footage and documentaries. There’s a good one, all his Memphis Mafia who worked with him, a filmmaker basically got them all drunk one night and interviewed them all and that’s where the good stories are. You learn a little more of the human side of him. But that’s pretty much it. I’ve never been a stage performer so mercifully there wasn’t that much of it, just in quick flashbacks.

And there’s a part of me, in the back of my mind, I want to know that Elvis' descendants, somebody, a daughter, niece, somebody has watched that movie and approved. We’ll see.

I thought it was a cool creative take on that whole Elvis thing.

I agree. That’s why I did it. It was one of the weirdest scripts I’ve ever read But yet it wraps up though. It has a weird premise but it has a really interesting theme of what do you do with old people. Do we forget these old people? And are they still useful in society, old people? And I thought it had a sweet ending, that these two old guys they kind of rally themselves one more time.

What’s a well-known role you’ve turned down?

Turned down? I don’t have a lot of those. I don’t operate in that rarified air of saying, “Oh I turned ‘Titanic’ down.” I tried to get a part in a studio movie called “The Phantom” and Billy Zane wound up getting the part." And it was down to me and Billy, I was number two for the job, but I didn’t really enjoy the process very much because it seemed more political than actually acting. It was amazing how many people you had to audition for, and you had to go up the ranks and each time it got a little more tense as you move up. So I’m good doing these weirdo little movies.

I read the budget for “Within the Woods,” the predecessor of “Evil Dead,” was a princely 1,600 bucks. What was the most expensive line item, you think?

Food and probably fake blood. Tom Sullivan, who did the special effects, probably needed to mold a few things, so he probably spent a couple hundred bucks on molds. A lot of it was footage because Sam Raimi likes to shoot footage, so we probably bought a lot of rolls of film. And we did go to a cabin to shoot it, so had to get in the car and travel so maybe a little gas money in there too. That’s about it.

What can you tell us about the status of the next installment of the “Evil Dead” franchise?

We’re honing-in, circling the building now trying to lock in a partner. We have a couple of bidders and we’re trying to just find the correct suitor and we have a script written and a director picked. Sam Raimi hand -picked a guy named Lee Cronin, who’s a very good Irish filmmaker. And it’s got a very good modern tale. It’s a modern-day urban “Evil Dead,” it’s called “Evil Dead Rise.” And we’re hoping to do that next year.

You were a producer on 2013 “Evil Dead” remake. What’s the key to making a reboot effective?

Well rebooting can be very confusing and frustrating and not always successful. Reboot, sequel, remake we have all these crazy terms. What we’re doing now is we’re saying," Look, this is another ‘Evil Dead’ movie and that book gets around, a lot of people run into it and it’s another story." The main key with “Evil Dead” is they’re just regular people who are battling what seems to be a very unstoppable evil, and so that’s where the horror comes from. It’s not someone who’s skilled. They’re not fighting a soldier. They’re not fighting a scientist. They’re not fighting anybody more than your average neighbor. This one is going to be a similar thing. We’re going to have a heroine, a woman in charge, and she’s going to try and save her family.

Speaking of a female protagonist, when you’re at a con or meet fans somewhere, who has the most passionate superfans: “Evil Dead” or “Xena”?

“Xena” hits them at an emotional level. Like, they’ll come up to me and Lucy Lawless (the actor who played the show’s title role) and just burst into tears, because her character helped them get through a difficult time. “Xena” is more representative of overcoming your struggles in life. “Evil Dead” fans are pretty fervent but they don’t cry as much.

[alright--okay]

you ever been to a basement show? pt. 1

tsukishima kei x reader

summary: Tsukishima sees you everywhere, and for a big school thats weird. And it’s not like he’s gonna do anything, that’d be even weirder, but one day in your shared lecture he sees you wearing a shirt with some small band’s name. A band he know. And well, now he has to know who you are.

word count: ~1.5 k

a/n: this is college au where Tsukki is basically into really indie/alt music and so are you so you guys start as like concert buddies/friends and grow as more. I started this a while ago and have been posting to ao3 but I’m trying to find motivation to write more so imma start posting to tumblr lol hope anyone reading enjoys <3

read on ao3!

pt. 1 Polite Company - Rainbow Kitten Surprise

Tsukishima saw you everywhere, it didn’t make any sense. If the University of Tokyo was so big, why was he seeing the same girl all around campus?

Particularly in his one stupid archeology elective. The class was a joke compared to everything else he was taking but it gave him a break from his other more intense courses and he wasn’t about to refuse the opportunity to slack off. You were not only in the large lecture portion of the class but also in his recitation, meaning he saw you three times a week, not including the glances he caught of you just from walking around.

And he wasn’t stalking you (he swears), it’s just that you were … everywhere. Sitting in the last row of the lecture hall (just a few seats to the right of him), waiting for the TA outside the classroom for recitation (usually on your phone), or doing work in the student center as he passed through (always with your headphones on, always).

He had no clue who you were. You most probably weren’t an archeology major like himself, he would have seen you in the intro classes or any of the higher-level courses. Yeah, Tokyo was big but he could at least recognize some other people in the major, and he had never seen you in the three years he had been attending the University of Tokyo. Or at least didn’t notice you before, but that also seemed unlikely.

Today was no different. The lecture portion of the course was a little too early for anyone’s liking, so Tsukishima went to take his usual seat in the back row, ready to half pay attention, half play on his phone. You were already there, headphones atop your head as you continued to look at your phone, the faint sound of music escaped the padding by your ears but it was too muffled to make out an actual beat.

Tsukishima said a quick “excuse me” as he moved to step over your legs and bag on the ground. You remained quiet, giving a polite smile as you tucked your legs in, attempting to give him more room to pass. That’s when he caught sight of your sweatshirt. Normally he paid no mind to what you, let alone anyone, was wearing but the bubbled blue outline of the word “Forests” gave him pause. That was a band. That was a small band. How the fuck were you aware of their presence.

Tsukishima quickly made his way past you as he realized he really shouldn’t be staring at your chest (even if it was just to read your sweatshirt, he swears). He tried to nonchalantly maneuver his way into one of the old lecture hall seats a few down from yours before quickly pulling out his phone.

No way is it the same Forests, he thought as he brought up the band’s website and quickly scrolling through there merch.

Starring back at him was the same fucking sweatshirt. That meant you knew this band, this tiny band. He was so used to being alone in his music taste. Akiteru only listened to what was on the radio and Yamaguchi entertained Tsukishima when he went on rants about music and bands, but he didn’t really listen to any of it. Tsukishima had come to accept that his music-listening experience was mostly gonna be reserved for laying in his bed alone, staring at the ceiling, and absorbing the lyrics. This was fine, he could still enjoy the music just fine. But … you knew some of his music.

~~~

Tsukishima tried to ignore the thoughts of you. He didn’t know you, you were a random person who just so happened to maybe, possibly listen to the same type of music as him. Who cares?

It was a little later in the week and Tsukishima was making his way to the recitation for this stupid elective. The TA, as usual, was late so Tsukishima made his way over to the wall to wait, his own pair of headphones supplying a flow of music.

When you made an appearance from around the corner, Tsukishima couldn’t help the extra attention he paid to your clothing. And god fucking damn it. That was a Mom Jeans shirt. There was someone who listened to the same music as him. Or at least similar. But that was enough for Tsukishima to decide he wanted to talk to you.

To yama:

i have a situation

From yama:

oh ?? care to elaborate ?

Tsukishima paused. This was weird, wasn’t it? He had never interacted with you besides the time he had to move past you to get to his seat. And the lecture was huge. Nobody talked to each other unless you were already friends or were in desperate need of notes. Tsukishima was in neither of those situations.

To yama:

okay so theres this girl and before you say anything no im not trying to ask her out but she was wearing a shirt for a band i listen to

From yama:

that you listen to? not to say youre some hipster indie boy…. but you tend to listen to v obscure music

To yama:

yea i know that thats why im kinda freaking out like do i say something?? and if i do say something what would i even say

From yama:

go for it !! if shes anything like you she probably doesnt get to talk about music much either so just bring up her shirt or something itll be fine tsukki

To yama:

yea ill think about it

Tsukishima put his phone away as someone held the door open for him. Apparently the TA arrived sometime while he was texting Yamaguchi so he quickly made his way into the classroom, taking a seat a few rows behind you.

He would talk to you.

Just not today.

~~~

After the recitation the day before, you had pushed your headphones back onto your ears as soon as the TA was finished and made your way out of the room, his eyes following as you did so. Tsukishima had gone back to his apartment only to be further interrogated by Yamaguchi. What band? There were multiple bands? Did he know you? What class was this again? Are you cute? That’s where Tsukishima cut him off, moving into his room to attempt some work.

It was now Thursday morning, meaning it was time for the second half of the lecture. He was gonna do it. Tsukishima was going to talk to you.

He walked into the lecture hall, you again were already sitting in your seat at the back. Tsukishima (calmly, obviously he was calm) walked over to your seat and sat beside you.

~~~~~~

Who the fuck was this guy?

Yeah, you had seen him around, but he never talked to you, or anyone else in the class for that matter. And yet here he was, sitting next to you and gesturing for you to take off your headphones.

“Can I help you?” you said, complying by slipping the headphones around your neck.

He took a small, almost hesitant pause, “I noticed your shirt the other day, you listen to Forests?”

Your eyes grew slightly wider, “You know who they are?”

“Um, yeah and I’m not used to people listening to the same music as me so I thought I’d … I don’t know … say hi? Introduce myself?”

“Well, you haven’t done a very good job on that plan so far,” you paused to give him a small smile, “just saying.”

Tsukishima gave you a smirk of his own, “Hi,” he emphasized, making you smile wider, “I’m Tsukishima Kei. And you are?”

“l/n y/n,” you replied, smile still in place. “So you listen to Forests. Anyone else I might know?”

Tsukishima paused for a moment, and you knew exactly what he was thinking. Bands you listened to every day were not necessarily what everyone else listened to (which let’s be real, understandable), so replying to a question like this meant either replying with more popular bands people had likely heard of or going full-on obscure and have the person stare at you in confusion. But after a moment, Tsukishima responded with his own small list.

“I know a couple of them actually,” you saw his mouth give a small uptick, probably not used to that response, “what-” The two of you were interrupted by the professor being the lecture, but you quickly turned back to the boy at your side, now in a quieter voice you asked, “what were the names of the other bands? I’ll look them up.”

Tsukishima slowly listed them off again as you typed them into your phone, excited to see what this random guy in your lecture listened to.

Time passed slowly as you and Tsukishima put your attention back to the material at hand, but as the class came to the end and the two of you were packing up your things, your mind drifted to the coming weekend.

Yeah, you just met the guy, but it couldn’t hurt to ask. He seemed kinda nice after all, and he’d probably be into it.

“Hey Tsukishima,” you called to get his attention, “you ever been to a basement show?”

[louistomlinsoncouk]

Q&A: Louis Tomlinson On 'Kill My Mind,' Taylor Swift, Oasis And More

Louis Tomlinson released his invigorating new single, the indie-rock leaning "Kill My Mind," this past week. The song has become an instant hit, earning raves from his massive fan base and critics.

When I spoke to him by phone this past Friday morning as he was leaving rehearsal for an upcoming show in Madrid, Spain, he said, "With this song I feel like I'm finally comfortable musically."

As a fan who grew up on bands like Oasis and the criminally underrated British band James, both of whom were featured on Tomlinson's recent playlist of "Kill My Mind," influences, Tomlinson is very excited to explore his rock side.

I spoke with Tomlinson about what led to the new direction musically, the love he still has for One Direction fans, why he admires Taylor Swift's social media skills and Liam Gallagher's rock star attitude and more.

Steve Baltin: How gratifying has the response to "Kill My Mind" been?

Louis Tomlinson: I think for anyone who works creatively it's always important to take risks and get out of your comfort zone a little bit. But, for me, with this song I feel like I'm finally really comfortable musically. I think I played around with a few different sounds on my previous singles. And I think I really found my home now. Before I was kind of making music that I think I assumed was the music I was supposed to make as opposed to just following my heart and doing what I love. I feel really comfortable and really confident in this song.

Baltin: It's comfortable for you, but for the fans it is still a little new. So that's what I meant about the response being gratifying.

Tomlinson: Yeah, you're right. It's taking a risk I suppose with the fan base. But I think also where I'm lucky and what my fans have reacted to is they see how comfortable I am and how natural this is for ne. And I think they feed into that. The reaction has been absolutely incredible, it has been amazing. I feel great about the whole process.

Baltin: Do you feel like you are more comfortable in general as you get older and that is extending to music?

Tomlinson: Yeah, and I think as you grow up you're more confident and use your experience and trust yourself really. I think in this process it was important for me to trust myself cause when I first played the song for the record labels they were probably a little bit shocked, when I say record labels I mean my American label and UK label, but very excited. I think it's very important to push the boundaries and it makes me feel a lot better.

Baltin: Do you feel like this is the direction you want to grow musically?

Tomlinson: It's definitely taught me a lot and the reaction being so great, like the playlist I uploaded, this is a lot of my inspiration and a lot of my influences. I think this is probably the biggest statement off the album.I wrote this song with the deliberate intention of feeling a little bit shocking and exciting.

Baltin: Is "Kill My Mind" indicative or does it set the tone for the rest of the album?

Tomlinson: Definitely, I did a long of songwriting over the last two to three years and I've worked with a lot of different people.  I wrote three or four songs with Jamie Hartman, who's obviously on "Kill My Mind." And that was the first of that bunch and it made the songwriting after that a lot easier. One thing I did just want to mention is on the sonics of the song, other songs I released were really emotionally heavy. It was a great song for me and I needed to get it off my chest, but that's also kind of what made me excited also about the sound of "Kill My Mind" and the album kind of following on from that. It feels exciting, fun and nostalgic as opposed to being too emotionally heavy cause I didn't want to be defined as an artist who writes sad songs. That's now what I want to be.

Baltin: But every great artist has that diversity, from Elton John to the Stones, they have that range of sad songs and rock tracks. Who are those artists that inspire you for their evolution and range?

Tomlinson: It's a good question because sometimes in music, I'm not gonna mention any names, you get those bands that follow the radio trends. You lose a bit of identity and who they are as artists. If I think about my favorite band ever, Oasis, and I think about Liam Gallagher, I think it's almost as impressive he's retained such a strong and well-known sound, but still makes it different enough and exciting enough. People have been listening to Liam Gallagher for however many years and still they're interested.

Baltin: I have interviewed Liam multiple times and part of what makes him so special as an artist is he just doesn't give a damn.

Tomlinson: No he don't (laughs). It's refreshing.

Baltin: Going back to the playlist, James for example is a band I love. It's interesting because it often takes time when making a record to gain perspective on what a song or record is about. Did you feel all these influences right away or did it take a minute to hear them?

Tomlinson: I think that playlist, when I put it together, it was kind of a combination of general inspiration to me across my life and also specific to that song. But where I'm from in England, the North of England, that band sound was very prominent anywhere. And it's something that I've always loved and is a little bit different to your average One Direction fan's music choice. I've made some other playlists as well. It's really amazing for me for fans of mine who haven't heard someone like a Sam Fender, unbelievable, and just to get that moment of me sharing what I love listening to music and them giving their feedback is really nice.

Baltin: What would be the coolest thing you could hear someone say about these songs you turned them on to?

Tomlinson: For me, I'm big on lyrics and I suppose that's why I mentioned Sam Fender, I think he is a fantastic lyricist. And if there's a song or a lyric or something that I resonate with and then I get feedback from the fans that they also like that, it makes us feel even more connected and even more on the same page. And social media in general, obviously that is a massive conversation and there are of course pros and cons and everyone can be on social media less. But the amazing thing for me is it gives me a chance to have a real, genuine, direct relationship with my fans. I know that I wouldn't feel as close to my fans without social media. What is great when Taylor Swift, and she is f**king amazing with her fans, does these listening parties and brings fans to the house, the involvement of the fans is never ending. Nobody knows better than these people. So I'm always looking for clever and different ways to involve them and feel like they're included in the whole creative.

Baltin: Talk about how bringing this song to the stage excites you and also invigorates other older songs as well.

Tomlinson: Yeah, and that I have trouble with, putting a set list together because there are certain songs that fans gravitate to. I feel like, especially with my earlier couple of songs, like the Steve Aoki song, I love the song and it was a great song for me at the time, but musically it feels so different to where I'm at with "Kill My Mind" that we actually did completely strip that and start again and made a bit of an indie-pop version of it, my version of it. So it fits more in line with the rest of the stuff.

Baltin: What songs are you excited to bring to the stage and see how people respond to them?

Tomlinson: Well "Kill My Mind" obviously, I'm very excited to do that live. It's a song that naturally leans to a good live show. So that's an obvious one. But I think there are a couple of, on the album in general, songs that are written with fans in mind. So a little bit more sentimental songs and those are always special moments where, like you say, I can make eye contact with people in the first few rows and I can watch their brains thinking about the lyrics and how it relates to them.

[dailytomlinson]

Louis Tomlinson released his invigorating new single, the indie-rock leaning "Kill My Mind," this past week. The song has become an instant hit, earning raves from his massive fan base and critics.

When I spoke to him by phone this past Friday morning as he was leaving rehearsal for an upcoming show in Madrid, Spain, he said, "With this song I feel like I'm finally comfortable musically."

As a fan who grew up on bands like Oasis and the criminally underrated British band James, both of whom were featured on Tomlinson's recent playlist of "Kill My Mind," influences, Tomlinson is very excited to explore his rock side.

I spoke with Tomlinson about what led to the new direction musically, the love he still has for One Direction fans, why he admires Taylor Swift's social media skills and Liam Gallagher's rock star attitude and more.

Steve Baltin: How gratifying has the response to "Kill My Mind" been?

Louis Tomlinson: I think for anyone who works creatively it's always important to take risks and get out of your comfort zone a little bit. But, for me, with this song I feel like I'm finally really comfortable musically. I think I played around with a few different sounds on my previous singles. And I think I really found my home now. Before I was kind of making music that I think I assumed was the music I was supposed to make as opposed to just following my heart and doing what I love. I feel really comfortable and really confident in this song.

Baltin: It's comfortable for you, but for the fans it is still a little new. So that's what I meant about the response being gratifying.

Tomlinson: Yeah, you're right. It's taking a risk I suppose with the fan base. But I think also where I'm lucky and what my fans have reacted to is they see how comfortable I am and how natural this is for ne. And I think they feed into that. The reaction has been absolutely incredible, it has been amazing. I feel great about the whole process.

Baltin: Do you feel like you are more comfortable in general as you get older and that is extending to music?

Tomlinson: Yeah, and I think as you grow up you're more confident and use your experience and trust yourself really. I think in this process it was important for me to trust myself cause when I first played the song for the record labels they were probably a little bit shocked, when I say record labels I mean my American label and UK label, but very excited. I think it's very important to push the boundaries and it makes me feel a lot better.

Baltin: Do you feel like this is the direction you want to grow musically?

Tomlinson: It's definitely taught me a lot and the reaction being so great, like the playlist I uploaded, this is a lot of my inspiration and a lot of my influences. I think this is probably the biggest statement off the album.I wrote this song with the deliberate intention of feeling a little bit shocking and exciting.

Baltin: Is "Kill My Mind" indicative or does it set the tone for the rest of the album?

Tomlinson: Definitely, I did a long of songwriting over the last two to three years and I've worked with a lot of different people.  I wrote three or four songs with Jamie Hartman, who's obviously on "Kill My Mind." And that was the first of that bunch and it made the songwriting after that a lot easier. One thing I did just want to mention is on the sonics of the song, other songs I released were really emotionally heavy. It was a great song for me and I needed to get it off my chest, but that's also kind of what made me excited also about the sound of "Kill My Mind" and the album kind of following on from that. It feels exciting, fun and nostalgic as opposed to being too emotionally heavy cause I didn't want to be defined as an artist who writes sad songs. That's now what I want to be.

Baltin: But every great artist has that diversity, from Elton John to the Stones, they have that range of sad songs and rock tracks. Who are those artists that inspire you for their evolution and range?

Tomlinson: It's a good question because sometimes in music, I'm not gonna mention any names, you get those bands that follow the radio trends. You lose a bit of identity and who they are as artists. If I think about my favorite band ever, Oasis, and I think about Liam Gallagher, I think it's almost as impressive he's retained such a strong and well-known sound, but still makes it different enough and exciting enough. People have been listening to Liam Gallagher for however many years and still they're interested.

Baltin: I have interviewed Liam multiple times and part of what makes him so special as an artist is he just doesn't give a damn.

Tomlinson: No he don't (laughs). It's refreshing.

Baltin: Going back to the playlist, James for example is a band I love. It's interesting because it often takes time when making a record to gain perspective on what a song or record is about. Did you feel all these influences right away or did it take a minute to hear them?

Tomlinson: I think that playlist, when I put it together, it was kind of a combination of general inspiration to me across my life and also specific to that song. But where I'm from in England, the North of England, that band sound was very prominent anywhere. And it's something that I've always loved and is a little bit different to your average One Direction fan's music choice. I've made some other playlists as well. It's really amazing for me for fans of mine who haven't heard someone like a Sam Fender, unbelievable, and just to get that moment of me sharing what I love listening to music and them giving their feedback is really nice.

Baltin: What would be the coolest thing you could hear someone say about these songs you turned them on to?

Tomlinson: For me, I'm big on lyrics and I suppose that's why I mentioned Sam Fender, I think he is a fantastic lyricist. And if there's a song or a lyric or something that I resonate with and then I get feedback from the fans that they also like that, it makes us feel even more connected and even more on the same page. And social media in general, obviously that is a massive conversation and there are of course pros and cons and everyone can be on social media less. But the amazing thing for me is it gives me a chance to have a real, genuine, direct relationship with my fans. I know that I wouldn't feel as close to my fans without social media. What is great when Taylor Swift, and she is f**king amazing with her fans, does these listening parties and brings fans to the house, the involvement of the fans is never ending. Nobody knows better than these people. So I'm always looking for clever and different ways to involve them and feel like they're included in the whole creative.

Baltin: Talk about how bringing this song to the stage excites you and also invigorates other older songs as well.

Tomlinson: Yeah, and that I have trouble with, putting a set list together because there are certain songs that fans gravitate to. I feel like, especially with my earlier couple of songs, like the Steve Aoki song, I love the song and it was a great song for me at the time, but musically it feels so different to where I'm at with "Kill My Mind" that we actually did completely strip that and start again and made a bit of an indie-pop version of it, my version of it. So it fits more in line with the rest of the stuff.

Baltin: What songs are you excited to bring to the stage and see how people respond to them?

Tomlinson: Well "Kill My Mind" obviously, I'm very excited to do that live. It's a song that naturally leans to a good live show. So that's an obvious one. But I think there are a couple of, on the album in general, songs that are written with fans in mind. So a little bit more sentimental songs and those are always special moments where, like you say, I can make eye contact with people in the first few rows and I can watch their brains thinking about the lyrics and how it relates to them.

[hlupdate]

Louis Tomlinson released his invigorating new single, the indie-rock leaning “Kill My Mind,” this past week. The song has become an instant hit, earning raves from his massive fan base and critics.

When I spoke to him by phone this past Friday morning as he was leaving rehearsal for an upcoming show in Madrid, Spain, he said, “With this song I feel like I’m finally comfortable musically.”

As a fan who grew up on bands like Oasis and the criminally underrated British band James, both of whom were featured on Tomlinson’s recent playlist of “Kill My Mind,” influences, Tomlinson is very excited to explore his rock side.

I spoke with Tomlinson about what led to the new direction musically, the love he still has for One Direction fans, why he admires Taylor Swift’s social media skills and Liam Gallagher’s rock star attitude and more.

Steve Baltin: How gratifying has the response to “Kill My Mind” been?

Louis Tomlinson: I think for anyone who works creatively it’s always important to take risks and get out of your comfort zone a little bit. But, for me, with this song I feel like I’m finally really comfortable musically. I think I played around with a few different sounds on my previous singles. And I think I really found my home now. Before I was kind of making music that I think I assumed was the music I was supposed to make as opposed to just following my heart and doing what I love. I feel really comfortable and really confident in this song.

Baltin: It’s comfortable for you, but for the fans it is still a little new. So that’s what I meant about the response being gratifying.

Tomlinson: Yeah, you’re right. It’s taking a risk I suppose with the fan base. But I think also where I’m lucky and what my fans have reacted to is they see how comfortable I am and how natural this is for ne. And I think they feed into that. The reaction has been absolutely incredible, it has been amazing. I feel great about the whole process.

Baltin: Do you feel like you are more comfortable in general as you get older and that is extending to music?

Tomlinson: Yeah, and I think as you grow up you’re more confident and use your experience and trust yourself really. I think in this process it was important for me to trust myself cause when I first played the song for the record labels they were probably a little bit shocked, when I say record labels I mean my American label and UK label, but very excited. I think it’s very important to push the boundaries and it makes me feel a lot better.

Baltin: Do you feel like this is the direction you want to grow musically?

Tomlinson: It’s definitely taught me a lot and the reaction being so great, like the playlist I uploaded, this is a lot of my inspiration and a lot of my influences. I think this is probably the biggest statement off the album.I wrote this song with the deliberate intention of feeling a little bit shocking and exciting.

Baltin: Is “Kill My Mind” indicative or does it set the tone for the rest of the album?

Tomlinson: Definitely, I did a long of songwriting over the last two to three years and I’ve worked with a lot of different people. I wrote three or four songs with Jamie Hartman, who’s obviously on “Kill My Mind.” And that was the first of that bunch and it made the songwriting after that a lot easier. One thing I did just want to mention is on the sonics of the song, other songs I released were really emotionally heavy. It was a great song for me and I needed to get it off my chest, but that’s also kind of what made me excited also about the sound of “Kill My Mind” and the album kind of following on from that. It feels exciting, fun and nostalgic as opposed to being too emotionally heavy cause I didn’t want to be defined as an artist who writes sad songs. That’s now what I want to be.

Baltin: But every great artist has that diversity, from Elton John to the Stones, they have that range of sad songs and rock tracks. Who are those artists that inspire you for their evolution and range?

Tomlinson: It’s a good question because sometimes in music, I’m not gonna mention any names, you get those bands that follow the radio trends. You lose a bit of identity and who they are as artists. If I think about my favorite band ever, Oasis, and I think about Liam Gallagher, I think it’s almost as impressive he’s retained such a strong and well-known sound, but still makes it different enough and exciting enough. People have been listening to Liam Gallagher for however many years and still they’re interested.

Baltin: I have interviewed Liam multiple times and part of what makes him so special as an artist is he just doesn’t give a damn.

Tomlinson: No he don’t (laughs). It’s refreshing.

Baltin: Going back to the playlist, James for example is a band I love. It’s interesting because it often takes time when making a record to gain perspective on what a song or record is about. Did you feel all these influences right away or did it take a minute to hear them?

Tomlinson: I think that playlist, when I put it together, it was kind of a combination of general inspiration to me across my life and also specific to that song. But where I’m from in England, the North of England, that band sound was very prominent anywhere. And it’s something that I’ve always loved and is a little bit different to your average One Direction fan’s music choice. I’ve made some other playlists as well. It’s really amazing for me for fans of mine who haven’t heard someone like a Sam Fender, unbelievable, and just to get that moment of me sharing what I love listening to music and them giving their feedback is really nice.

Baltin: What would be the coolest thing you could hear someone say about these songs you turned them on to?

Tomlinson: For me, I’m big on lyrics and I suppose that’s why I mentioned Sam Fender, I think he is a fantastic lyricist. And if there’s a song or a lyric or something that I resonate with and then I get feedback from the fans that they also like that, it makes us feel even more connected and even more on the same page. And social media in general, obviously that is a massive conversation and there are of course pros and cons and everyone can be on social media less. But the amazing thing for me is it gives me a chance to have a real, genuine, direct relationship with my fans. I know that I wouldn’t feel as close to my fans without social media. What is great when Taylor Swift, and she is f**king amazing with her fans, does these listening parties and brings fans to the house, the involvement of the fans is never ending. Nobody knows better than these people. So I’m always looking for clever and different ways to involve them and feel like they’re included in the whole creative.

Baltin: Talk about how bringing this song to the stage excites you and also invigorates other older songs as well.

Tomlinson: Yeah, and that I have trouble with, putting a set list together because there are certain songs that fans gravitate to. I feel like, especially with my earlier couple of songs, like the Steve Aoki song, I love the song and it was a great song for me at the time, but musically it feels so different to where I’m at with “Kill My Mind” that we actually did completely strip that and start again and made a bit of an indie-pop version of it, my version of it. So it fits more in line with the rest of the stuff.

Baltin: What songs are you excited to bring to the stage and see how people respond to them?

Tomlinson: Well “Kill My Mind” obviously, I’m very excited to do that live. It’s a song that naturally leans to a good live show. So that’s an obvious one. But I think there are a couple of, on the album in general, songs that are written with fans in mind. So a little bit more sentimental songs and those are always special moments where, like you say, I can make eye contact with people in the first few rows and I can watch their brains thinking about the lyrics and how it relates to them.

[fuchsiagrasshopper]

I Watch You

Benjamin Poindexter x Reader

No Warnings| Wordcount 1.6K

AN: First actual reader one shot. I may be open to requests for this fandom after posting this, as I would like to do more one-shots, and maybe some follow-ups if readers like a certain idea. 

The world stopped moving when it was night, at least when Dex was inside of his apartment. The speed of the city disappeared the moment his door closed behind him. The rigid structure his job provided was necessary, but the stillness of the dark in his room was welcome. He inhaled slowly, afraid even the sound of his breathing would disturb the quiet he had worked so hard to keep. It had become a new routine before Dex went to bed. He would watch the window in the building across from his. Watch you as you went about the mundane in your life, and not wanting to miss a moment of it.

Dex had the lights turned off in his room, so you could never make him out across the dark. You were the night owl to his early riser. It was eleven at night, and you were still curled into the arm of your sofa. He could make out the glow of the television on your face. Sometimes you would turn away, either distracted by your phone or the Irish Setter next to you. You'd named your dog Bandit, as Dex recalled hearing when you took him out to walk at the park. It had happened on occasion, you would pass each other when he was on a run, but you would give a friendly smile, not one of recognition.

Dex had wondered what it would be like to speak to you, imagined it so many times that he swore a few of the conversations had happened. In his head, he could be as smooth and well versed in social interactions as he wanted, but reality was a disappointing enemy to confront. It seemed impossible that he would ever be able to bridge the distance between the alleyway of the two buildings.

You worked for a radio show that discussed indie film and music. Not exactly his interest, but he did find himself tuning to your show when he would have a day stuck at his desk. You were soft spoken, at least until a topic would arise that would incite your passion. There was a fire in you, and Dex wanted to warm himself with it.

The light of the TV switched off, and he watched as you stood, stretching for a moment before dimming the light on the wall. You disappeared around the hall, the red head of Bandit following behind. The show was over for the night. You always kept the drapes of your bedroom shut, and Dex felt a certain frustration that he would have to go to sleep. He respected your need to keep the place where you slept private. Some lines he didn't wish to cross.

Once when you had walked through your living room in nothing but a lace bra and panties he had averted his eyes. Dex had needed to breathe deeply, and his hands had clutched the sheets in bunches until his knuckles turned white. But he didn't look up again until you were decent.

Dex crawled under his own sheets, repositioning many times to try and find the perfect spot to settle. His thoughts lingered on what was happening across the street. How did you sleep, did you have a side of the bed you preferred, and what did you wear? He hated not knowing, but he had never seen that side of you, and so he had to imagine.

Dex was good at imagining. Mostly he thought of situations with you, like what it would be like to stay up late on your sofa, or going for a walk in the park with Bandit. Other intimate ideas passed through his mind often. How would it feel to take your hand, touch your lips, share your bed? He was sure there wasn't another person in your life with whom you spent such company. Dex couldn't entertain that being a possibility, because it made his heart sped up and did something ugly to his thoughts.

Clearing his mind of all thought, he closed his eyes and waited for sleep to come. The night passed into the day in the blink of an eye, and he was rising to the sound of his alarm. It was still hours before work, the slot in which he filled with a run to get his heart pumping for the day.

Dressed and ready to go, he left his apartment, taking the steps with purpose. It was that early time in the morning where the air still clung to the chill of the night. As he stepped out the door of his building, the brush of the cold breeze made him more alert, and he immediately spotted the swift flash of red coming towards him.

“Bandit, no,” You called.

Dex was startled by your break in routine. He had never seen you outside your building at this hour. A quick survey of your outfit told him this wasn't common for you either. You still had on flannel bottoms tucked into boots, and your coat was haphazardly zipped halfway up.

Bandit coming towards him drew his attention away from you for a moment, and he crouched down before the animal. Taking off his gloves, he threaded his fingers through the soft red hair and gave the dog a scratch in the sweet spot behind the ears.

“Hey buddy,” Dex said quietly, dipping his head while Bandit breathed warmly in his face. It was familiar and pleasant. He liked dogs, having been around ones for therapy before. He'd thought of getting his own, but his work schedule would leave the animal neglected, and Dex refused to abandon something when he hated the feeling.

“Well, you certainly have a way with him. He's usually so grouchy to any new face he meets,” You said, approaching with a smile of relief.

Dex could feel his blood rushing, and he hadn't even gone for his run yet. “He's just protective of you. That's a smart animal you've got.”

Your eyes met his, and your face carried a delicious blush from the cool air. “I'm sorry if we bothered you. Normally I don't get up this early with him, but he just didn't want to sleep this morning, and his leash got out of my hand before I knew it. Good thing you were here..?”

“Dex,” He said, filling in the question

“Thank you, Dex,” You said softly. “My name's Y/N.”

“Y/N, it's nice to meet you.” Up close he could see your eyes, and how they emitted a gentle nature. Your hair was pulled away from your face, loose tendrils swaying in the wind and tickling your neck. You still carried the weight of sleep with you, from the sag of your shoulders to the shadows on your face. Dex wanted to do something to help you. “So, is Bandit a runner?”

“If I let him be, he definitely would. Why?”

“I'm thinking I'm going for a run anyway, and you look like you could use a bit more sleep. Why don't I take him off your hands for a little while.”

“Oh, I couldn't ask you to do that. I wouldn't want him to give you trouble,” You said, but your dog had already parked down beside Dex and was looking at him in anticipation.

“It's no trouble. The company would be nice,” said Dex, giving Bandit another scratch on the head.

“If it's alright with you,” You said, but Dex could see the lingering doubt you had about passing your dog off to a stranger.

“I'll bring him right back. If not, you know where I live.”

You gave a little laugh. It was flinty and full of light. “Guess I do. You don't look like a dognapper to me, and you're a Federal Agent, so I should trust you.”

Dex couldn't help but frown. He didn't like someone else knowing something about him, and his eyes narrowed. “How do you know that?”

“I've seen you coming home from work. The jacket and the hat were a dead giveaway,” You spoke fast and you were looking at the ground, embarrassed. “Sorry, I wasn't watching you or anything. It's just one of those things you notice.”

Dex wished you had been watching him. Maybe then...no, better to not go there right now. “It's fine. I wasn't exactly trying to be inconspicuous.”

“I'd better let you go on that run,” You said, looking down at Bandit who had his paw resting on Dex's leg. “He's starting to get fed up with both of us.”

“What apartment do I return him to?” Dex already knew which one was yours from counting the windows in your building, but you couldn't know that.

“3A. When you're done, come over and I'll make you breakfast as a thank you. I can't even get my mother to look after him for a weekend, but it looks like you two made fast friends.”

Animals had great senses. Dex wanted to be closer to you, and he wondered if Bandit felt that. “It's no problem.”

“Great, I’ll see you in a while then,” You said, giving a small wave as you headed for the door of your building. “Don't work too hard you two.”

Dex doubted he'd need to run fast this morning. His heart was already hammering in his chest from the time spent with you. The thought of the breakfast invite in your apartment was incentive enough to get moving, and he only had to take a step before Bandit leaped up and kept pace beside him. Using the leash as his guide, Dex started for the park, already planning in his head how he could get used to this new routine with a running partner if it meant being with you.

[benthemusicalbeard]

22 Jan 2020

Hello Reader, I trust this posting finds you well. Back to the normal format of three songs to give a listen to and if you like them, which I of course hope that you do, that you feel in some way compelled to listen to more from each artist. 

At this stage I should quickly point you in the direction of new album releases from bands Field Music, Ephemerals & Bombay Bicycle Club, all of which have been released in the last ten days and will be forming the basis of my listening during the next few days!

First song this week comes from one of my random Spotify journeys during which I found the group Mamas Gun. The five piece group formed in London in 2008 and have released four albums to date. The song I heard first of theirs, the one I’m sharing, grabbed me straight away. The group straddle the genres of soul, pop and funk which combines to a wholesome, easy listening, summery sound for you to use in your battle against the winter months! Uncut magazine claimed the group’s style to be ‘as heart-warmingly catchy as anything from Stevie Wonder's '70s purple patch’ which if you can get close to that promises to be half decent. I’ve listened to the latest album from which the song I’m sharing is from, 2018′s ‘Golden Days’ which was met with wide acclaim and it’s an album I will return to when the summer is upon us, I’ll call it now but could well be my album of my summer. As well as the shared track give opening track ‘You Make My Life A Better Place’ & ‘I Need A Win’ a good listen!

Mamas Gun - London Girls - https://youtu.be/tKq4SXlKwEU

Second this week and Teleman. Whilst driving I don’t really listen to the radio that much but I really ought to as I unearthed this little gem last night on my way back from work. I hate adverts on radio, so tend to stick to BBC radio, more specifically 6Music. Without wanting to sound like an advert of my own it’s a great mix of old and new, right across the alternative & indie genres. On my way home I tuned in and caught a song which I immediately did some research on when I got in. The song was called ‘Dusseldorf’ by London indie-pop group Teleman. Reading up on them they have been championed since their inception by Mark Riley, no coincidence it was on his show I heard them. Formed in 2012 after three of the band members left the defunct Pete & The Pirates, they have supported the likes of Maximo Park, Kaiser Chiefs & Suede on UK Tours and have released three albums of their own. Whilst working very hard (in case my bosses are reading this) I listen to music and gave their second album, the 2016 ‘Brilliant Sanity’ a listen as Dusseldorf is the opening track from this album. The record has a sense of the new wave to it, ‘Dusseldorf’ also has a twinge of Kraftwerk about it, and owes a lot of it’s success to the vocals & melodies of guitar & synth playing brothers Thomas & Jonny Sanders. There are some other standout tracks, namely ‘Tangerine’ and ‘Melrose’, the latter being a quirky synth driven album track which builds to a dramatic finale. Well worth a listen to fans of the indie pop genre and I look forward to listening to their other albums in the coming days.

Teleman - Dusseldorf - https://youtu.be/QN7YA4FO7TY

Finally tonight and a left field choice, Wishbone Ash. I won’t be offended if you’ve never heard of them. I have been aware of them since the age of about 5 or 6 when I first went rooting through my Dad’s vinyl collection. Due to his (and subsequently my) need to alphabetise his music Wishbone Ash was the band name towards the end of his collection, only to be out-alphabeted by Yardbirds, Yes and ZZ Top from memory. In amongst the boring coloured album sleeves was the album ‘Argus’ by Wishbone Ash which I remember for having some sort of warrior figure on the cover standing facing a sunrise morning, complete with standard issue daft helmet and spear. It wasn’t until a number of years later that I took temporary ownership of the records that I could finally see what they sounded like. Verdict, not too bad! Originating from the rock hotbed of Torquay (citation needed here....) the band achieved success in the early 1970′s with their first eight albums all reaching Top 40 in the album charts, Argus itself peaking at number 3. The group are still going strong to this day, albeit with an altered lineup, and released their 22nd album in 2014. However, at the height of their fame they were considered a pioneering rock group with their use of harmony twin guitars as evidenced in the song I’ve picked of theirs to share. The two original guitarists in the group, Andy Powell & Ted Turner have, on numerous occasions, been included in polls for the most influential guitarists of all time. Flying slightly under the radar of bigger rock groups of the time, Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Sabbath, Deep Purple etc. their brand of bluesy, folk and heavy rock with a tinge of the progressive has not aged as well as music of their contemporaries, but it is as equally as important to the most rockiest of rock fan.

Wishbone Ash - Runaway - https://youtu.be/sD6OWWxt6h8

There we have it. I have added these tracks to the Spotify playlist like what I said I would do! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5xBbDj3MupuzhrJYTFw9wC  Please feel free to give it an add, a listen, a sniff etc. It contains every song from the blog and will be updated with each posting. Until next time!

[feel199x]

○o｡..:* video killed the radio star *:..｡o○

underground rapper!bangchan, radio host!reader

masterlist

a/n: babygirl nation RISE! 

The short, horrible, but undeniable fact was that you were broke. Very broke, broker than broke. And it was unusual job, sure, but people had told you had a very sultry, soothing voice. Okay, one person, but you digress. A late night radio host wasn’t a job you expected to come across while job hunting, but that’s what you had found. You had called them immediately, asking if they had already filled in the position. You gave a large, silent exhale of relief as they informed you that not many people wanted to be up all night and shuffling music for whoever was listening, and whatever unholy reason they had to be listening to the radio at that hour. You had gone into the station, ready for an interview, but instead of sitting and reviewing your lack of a resume- they gave you the job.

At first, you were happy, overjoyed. The ad posted online gave decent benefits and payed well enough to keep you steady. And if your show gained enough popularity, there would even be room for a possibility of a promotion. But as nights turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months, the reason they took you in so quickly became clear. Working nights wasn’t easy, it was far, far, from the difficult level you had imagined it to be. But you still loved your job, even if it messed up your sleeping schedule a bit. It gave you time to work on the work your college classes had assigned, and when you would finish, you would take in callers.

You didn’t get that many, but enough to keep you occupied and awake until your shift was over. But one night, as the night dragged on and on, like it had the planets as chains, someone called. The most of your callers were older men, their raspy, tired voices. Sometimes you got some feminine voices, who always seemed to be sweet and understanding- just looking for someone to talk to pass the time to call you. You had even got your fair share of creeps, but that was few and far in between.

“Caller,” you said, “You’re on the air.”

“Oh,” he sounded almost surprised, “Hi.”

 First time callers were always a bit nervous, and if they got too nervous they would hang up. Even if this one conversation didn’t end well, it would set the tone for the rest of the callers. And the space between would grow farther and farther until the only thing playing was the indie music you had selected.

“Caller,” you teased, “A name would be nice.”

There was a shuffling and a muffling of the voice before you actually gotten an answer, you thought he had hung up when he finally spoke.

 “Chan,” he told you, “My name is Bangchan.”

 “Alright Chan, you sound young. What’s keeping you up this late?”

“Finals. And I’m working on a personal project.”

“Personal project? Please, do tell.”

There was a pause in the line, as if he was contemplating whether he’d like to tell the entire city about his passions.

 “My music.”

 “Music? What type? Are you popular? What’s your stage name?”

 He laughed, and you swore that your heart had skipped a beat. He explained to you that he was in a rap group called 3racha with a couple of his other buddies, and though they were underground, they were doing pretty well in their own realm. And then you talked about anything, and everything. He was in university, and finishing up his last year. But as it was almost time for your  shift to end, you heard silence in the line for a few minutes, and you assumed he had fallen asleep. You smiled to yourself. “Good morning Chan,” you whispered, and with that, you ended the phone connection.

 The following morning you had an 8 am lecture, but as you zoned out and nearly fell asleep, there was only one thing on your mind. The caller from the night before. But finally, you decided that anthropology wasn’t as important as sleep, and dozed off in the middle of class. And, for better or for worse, you hadn’t gotten caught. Mostly rested, you made your way out of the lecture hall and met up with a highschool friend, Woojin.

“Did you eat?” he asked, “Please tell me you ate.”

“Good morning to you too.”

“You didn’t answer my question, egghead.”

“Does three cans of redbull count?”

Woojin gave you a glare and exasperated sigh as he rubbed his temples. He pulled a bakery bag from inside his backpack and threw it at you.

“You would be dead in a ditch without me. You need to quit your job.”

You feigned offense, clutching your shirt as if you had been shot.

“Woojin,” you said in a shaky half whisper, “that hurt. I don’t think I’ll recover this time.”

He gave an annoyed scoff as he started walking without you.

“Hey!” you ran after him, “Stop! Woojin, wait! Why are you running?”

He slowed his pace after you had followed him into the courtyard. You took a deep breath of fresh air in an attempt to stop your heavy breathing. You hadn’t majored in athletics for a reason. “Why are we in the courtyard?”

“I don’t know.”

You shot him a look and he shrugged. You looked around and it looked like they were setting up for a performance. A group of people beginning to gather around the small black stage. You looked around for any fliers or banners to give you a hint as to who performing, but there wasn’t any. You clutched the breakfast food Woojin had given you. You raised an eyebrow to Woojin and he shrugged again, you were about to leave when three boys stepped on the stage, until you heard a familiar voice.

“My name is CB97..”

People were beginning to crowd around the stage, the college students eager for a distraction between their classes. You couldn’t see the boys anymore, and you knew better than to force your way through a crowd of tired and restless college students, more than likely on a sugar rush due to the energy drinks consumed.

“Woojin, you have to put me up on your shoulders.”

 He gave you a face of bewilderment and disgust. “Why?” he asked, even though he knew he couldn’t fight you once you made up your mind, “Please don’t make me.” Even with his begging, he crouched down for you to get on his shoulders. “Hurry up,” he said, “Before I regret it.”

“And we are 3racha..”

 It was him, the one in the center. It couldn’t be anyone else. You watched as they performed a few songs, completely entranced with the flow and sharpness of their words. But as the performance ended, you started to panic. You didn’t know whether you should approach him after his performance, or if it would be weird and crossing some professional line. But before you could decide anything, Woojin was pulling you away.

“Lunch is on you,” he grumbled, “And we’re eating fried chicken.”

 And so you did, but as Woojin happily ate, your mind was somewhere else. You stared at your food, mindlessly playing with it as lunch time came and went. What if that was the last time you’d ever seen him? And what if he never called the station back? All these thoughts and more flooded your mind.

 Woojin sighed loudly and you quickly looked up at him, turning your thoughts away from the rapper. “What is it?” he asked, “What mess did you get yourself into now? Is it a boy, dear god, please let it be anything but a boy.” You threw your fork at him. “It is,” you said very matter-of-factly, “It is a boy.” His expression softened slightly as you explained the situation.

“Just wait until he calls back and tell him.”

“What if he doesn’t?”

“He will.”

 Woojin was always sure of everything, even when you were younger. It was reassuring most of the time, but sometimes it sparked some jealousy in the pits of your stomach. You wished you could be sure of things too. But soon enough, night came, and you were at your shift. You waited eagerly for Chan’s call, so much so that your pulse hurt from the nervousness and adrenaline.

He didn’t call that night.

 But he did the next night, and every night after that for two months. But you couldn’t bring yourself to tell him that you saw him until you had downed six cans of redbull to finish a project that made up most of your final grade.

“I saw you.”

“You saw me? When?”

“You performed at my university. I was sitting on my friends shoulders?”

There was a pause in the line, and you could feel yourself panicking.

“You should’ve talked to me after the show.”

You groaned loudly, letting your head drop into your hands.

“I thought you might’ve filed a complaint with the station.”

 There was a loud burst of laughter on the line and the tension in your soul eased. You were almost finished with your paper, and now it felt like a weird burden and sense of guilt was lifted off of your shoulders.

“I wouldn’t do that. I’ve been listening to your show for a while now, even before I had called.”

 You were surprised to say the very least, and suddenly very embarrassed about the things you had mentioned on the air.

“You should come to my next show tomorrow. It’s in the young wings bar. At six.”

“It’s a date.”

 You were glad that this was a radio show, otherwise people would’ve been able to see your flushed face from the comment you had just made. You made a vow never to drink more than four redbulls in a row.

“It’s a date.”

 You were glad he decided to end the call there, because otherwise, you would’ve definitely messed that situation up. You did a happy little dance in your chair, rolling around the room as you started to play music again.

 You couldn’t wait to meet Chan again, but this time, more formally. The excitement was so good, that you hadn’t even drank redbull the entire day. You were bouncing off the walls, and Woojin was severely annoyed, but luckily more happy for you.

 “You’re like a kangaroo,” he said, “If you greet him with the way you look right now, he’d probably call animal control.” You softly punched him. “I’m just excited,” you said, “Like you with your singing career.” He nodded as the both of you approached the bar. You were a bit nervous, although you have heard about the bar- it was definitely hard to find, because when Chan had said he was an underground rapper, you didn’t know he meant literally underground. You sat at a table, closest to the stage. Soon, the bar began to crawl with people. It was beginning to crowd as people opted to stand when there weren’t anymore seats to be available. The rap group walked on the stage, and as soon as he recognized you he waved, a big smile spreading across his face.

“Hello babygirl.”

 You made an ‘O’ face, trying to avoid people’s curious gazes. Even Woojin was surprised, giving you a raised eyebrow to question your life decisions. But Chan himself quickly moved on, introducing his group. And the performance was nothing but exceptional, you had always admired musicians, but listening to Chan. You could feel the passion he felt, you heard it in his voice and how he gave everything he was- blood, sweat, and tears, into the performance. However, before you anticipated, it was over. You rubbed your hands, as you waited for the bar to clear out. Chan and his group was popular, as they deserved to be, but as time stretched between the end of the performance and the people that almost refused to leave, you grew anxious.

“Woojin,” you said quickly, “What if he doesn’t like me?”

“He’s called your show literally every day for like, two months.”

 Woojin gave you a push into the group of people that were talking to Chan, and they took your sudden burst into the conversation as their cue to leave. He bid you a goodbye, and motioned for you to call him if anything happened.

“Hey.”

“Hi there.”

“Babygirl? Really?”

He smiled cheekily. “Do you want me to say it again?”

“I very much do not.”

You followed Chan as he lead you backstage and into an alley, it was a relief to feel the cool air against your skin compared to the heat that built up inside the bar. The two of you sat against the brick wall and chatted.

“Can I,” he said suddenly, “Can I kiss you.”

Your eyes widened, and before you could say anything-

“Yeah you’re right, I’m so-”

“Oh, shut up.”

You cupped his face, and stared him right in the eye. “Do it,” you urged, “I dare you.” and he did, and it was the best goddamned kiss of your life. It was soft, gentle, and he smiled into the kiss.

“Please don’t talk about this on your show, babygirl.”

[tr33-g1rl]

Cars On Roads Like Blood In Veins

This wouldn’t work. We both knew it, but it was still so easy to get attached. Even though we hardly had any time at all. We used every second we had, milked it for all it was worth. For some reason we had convinced ourselves that we could make it longer, that somehow we were above everything else this world had ever seen and that we could make it because we were somehow a magical duo that could make miracles happen.

You see, we thought, “Hey, opposites attract, so we should work.”

I’m loud but I used to be quiet, and you’re quiet but you used to be loud. You liked pop songs with the occasional rap, and I liked indie with touches of electronic. You liked band-tees and jeans, while I liked tank tops and sweatpants.

Okay, I realize that we’re not perfect opposites, but if I’m headed north, you’re going west. We’re not exactly different, but we’re clearly not the same. We just know that we didn’t start heading the same direction and we’re certainly not going to the same destination. If I’m being honest, I’m not going to plead for you to come with me, or ask if I can come with you. We’re just not meant to do this together and that’s fine.

The awful part of it is, though, that we more or less got attached. We may not be headed for the same spot, but somehow, on the criss-crossing roads of this country, our cars began to move at the same speed as you passed my on-ramp and my car was thrown into the same herd as the one you were traveling with.

 And at some point, either you or I ran out of gas at the same the other one decided they needed a cheap pop or a candy bar or maybe a cigarette. We took the same exit, one of us found the gas station and the other followed. You went into the store first, and I followed a few seconds later.

I remember being struck by how pedestrian you looked. I’m on the road a lot, and usually the people you see look somehow… bizarre. Hell, I’ve seen my car; there’s old food wrappers and costumes and papers and a work uniform scattered everywhere in my car except the driver’s seat. But you looked so normal  especially compared to me in my cosplay, headed straight from a convention on a long car ride home.

You looked at me like I was a fairy… or a mad witch, more like. But I brought a smile to your face and that somehow that gave me the courage to wink at you. This forced a chuckle from you, even though you looked deadass tired at approximately three in the morning when we were just outside of Abilene, Texas.

You got back in your big rig and I followed you back to the highway. We were alone with only each other, ourselves and the hosts on the ever changing radio stations. I remember that at one point we were on the same station, and I could tell because you rolled your windows down and sang along, horribly, to whatever shitty pop song the radio was trying to bring back from the previous year. I don’t remember the name of the song, but I rolled my windows down too and joined in on the fun. After the song ended, we didn’t know what to do, so we both rolled our windows up. It was cold out, after all, and my costume didn’t even let me wear a full shirt.

A few more towns and the Texas-Oklahoma state line later and we were in Broken Bow, Oklahoma. I started to get in the turn lane, planning to stop and rest for the night. It was only when I began to press on my brakes that I realized you had moved over two lanes to get behind me. Now it was you following me to the crappy hotel that costed forty-nine dollars a night per room.

I parked in the front.  No one appeared to be crowding this place and the front of the lot was almost completely open. You had to park your truck in the back. By the time I had my room key, you were inside and standing behind me, waiting your turn. I was in the elevator, bag in hand, when I heard you tell the receptionist, “Just give me the room next to her.” I’m pretty sure you heard my laughter from down the hallway.

I dropped my backpack on my bed and propped my door open with one of my shoes. I heard the door next to me open and close. I thought you were just ignoring me, but a minute later I saw you, in your pajamas, push my door open and laugh. I smiled at you, my legs swinging back and forth as I sat on the bed. You just flopped down next to me as I turned on the TV to some shitty Hallmark movie that was playing.

I changed into my pajamas and took off my wig and make-up. You gasped, teasing me, when I came back looking like a completely different looking person.

“Possibly your most daring look of the night,” you had told me. I just elbowed you and told you to shut up, the movie was on and we were missing it. Though, we laughed…because the movie was worth missing.

Instead we played those weak party games you’re supposed to play at sleepovers when you’re a kid. You later told me you never had. I’d only played them with coworkers on slow nights. But, as it turned out, ‘Would You Rather’ and ‘Truth or Dare’ and ‘This or That’ were really fun, especially at about 11:30, when you had been driving since the same time but a day in the past and hadn’t slept at all.

You ended up falling asleep in my room. Your room was just a wasted forty-nine dollars and a cubby hole for your duffle bag. Instead, we slept together, curled up on the floor in front of the TV, kept warm by only the blanket you had brought in from the cabin of your truck and by each other’s almost fever-high body temperature.

You were warm because of some sickness you had picked up somewhere back in your hometown that was somewhere more south than Austin, and I was warm because of a sunburn I had picked up while outside in the courtyard of the convention center. Even like this our warmth was somehow a blessing even though we both woke up at some point during the night, sweating, to take off the blanket and turn on the weak fan.

The next morning we exchanged phone numbers and headed back to the road. But now no music blared through the radio. We had each other on a video call, phone resting against our dash, camera at a really unflattering angle for both of us. But still we talked, laughed and told each other about where we were headed. I still feel sad that you didn’t say the same place as me. Still, we stopped at the same gas station to get lunch; a cheap coffee and a lunchable for you, a cup of soda and a bag of gummy worms for me.

I laughed at how you ate two stacks of cracker, meat and cheese at one time. You laughed at how I had to chew really hard to seperate the partially stale worms into pieces. You burnt your tongue on the coffee. I choked on a small piece of ice. We shook our heads at each other and got back in our cars.

We must’ve looked weird. An eighteen wheeler and a Volvo with no port for an aux cord. Maybe we were both just kinda old school like that.

By the time we reached Westville, I could’ve sworn we had maybe met when we were a couple years younger, then you moved and we had just forgotten about each other and now we had somehow met again. You just felt so comfortable, like the blanket that I now knew was in your passenger seat.

Between 5:45 to 6:30 at the latest, we had reached the border of Kansas and I was so close to home and I could tell. By all three; the scenery, the drop of my heart into my gut, and the fact you were growing quieter. By the time we were in Independence, we were back to making deep small-talk, like we were convinced that maybe, maybe we could convince each other that we wanted to go in the same direction.

But I knew that West wasn’t home, and you knew that North held nothing for you.

When we reached Iola, I had resorted to telling you all about Kansas City, about how much I loved it, about how much you would love it. You started telling me about California, how much prospect it held, how good I could do there.

The next half hour we was spent in silence. But we started laughing together again by Garnett, but by then we only had an hour and fifteen minutes left.

And we filled those precious minutes with everything we could. I bitched about how much I simultaneously love and hate my job, you told me about how you were missing a concert on this trip.

Finally, we reached Kansas City, Kansas. We stopped at a QuikTrip just off the highway. We were both running low on gas, anyway, and even though we were about to be separated, likely to never see each other again, we were both practical people. And this little interaction, whatever it had been, was not enough to stop our lives in our tracks.

We both made light talk as we filled our tanks and went inside to pick up something to eat. I handed you a coffee, and you handed me a bottle of strawberry Fanta. I paid for both of our collective treats, and when you tried to protest, I just hushed you. “You’re going farther than me; you’ll need the gas money later,” I said. You shook your head and rolled your eyes, but you put your wallet away all the same.

I told the cashier I wanted the receipt.Which is weird, because I usually tell them to trash it. I guess I just wanted something to remember you by; some physical proof that all of this happened and that you weren’t just some highway wraith that I had imagined seconds before my own car crash death. But as far as the single piece of evidence hinted, this whole experience had been just as real as I could believe.

And there we stood, you in front of your truck and me in front of my Volvo. We didn’t know how we could or should end this. Hell, we didn’t even know it there was a standard protocol for such unique events like this. But here we were and we’d be damned if we weren’t going to be the first ones to show people how it’s done.

I held my hand out, offering a handshake as a farewell. You laughed and pushed my hand aside before pulling me into a hug. I didn’t even try to resist. I just wrapped my arms around you in return. We pulled apart and looked each other in the eyes.

“You’re sure?” I asked.

“Very,” You said.

“Then I wish the best of luck to you.”

“Right back at you.”

Then we both nodded and you opened the door to your giant monster of a truck, and I got in my mouse of a car. We really must’ve looked like quite the duo, driving everywhere together. But now our number of two would subtract one, and we would each be solo acts again.

We both pulled out onto the street at the same time. I was turning left and you were turning right. I was headed back to my hometown and you were going to turn onto the US Route 50 and take it all the way to California. I’d like to think that the light turned red just for us so we could have those precious thirty seconds.

We wasted the first ten by looking at the traffic. And the next five were spent looking at the light, seeing if it would turn. The next ten we just didn’t make eye contact. Then we finally looked at each other, and I saw you see me. So I did what I thought would make us both feel better. I winked and blew you a kiss. You pretended to dodge it with a disgusted face. It made me laugh. I stuck my tongue out at you in retaliation.

Then the light turned, and I was forced to turn away from you.

But I hope that’s how you remember me; a laugh on my face and my tongue sticking out like a fool. If you do choose to remember me.

I choose to remember you. Something about us changed me; it made me realize just how good the world can be and just how happy other people can make me. In those brief hours together, I think I came to love you, but there was no heartbreak when we parted. Just happiness that for the little amount of time we had together, we were not-quite-perfect together.

You changed me and everything I knew. For that, I thank you.

[tonguetiedmag]

music: weekly roundup (our favorite song submissions of the week)

The Astral Plane Parade - Swimming Pool

Hugo Costin, AKA The Astral Plane Parade, relishes in the simplicity of his guitar on “Swimming Pool.” The Australian singer-songwriter says he “wrote it to champion tenderness and compassion in relationships.” He is successful in doing so, immediately beginning his plea: “I want to fall into your sheets like a swimming pool surrounded by palm trees.” The song loops the line and a handful of others, emphasizing his dire need to be fully enveloped by his lover. 

Atari Ferrari - Born in the Wrong Time

Washington-native Atari Ferrari was born by way of the death of David Bowie. A plan for a one-night tribute has blossomed into so much more, including their song “Born in the Wrong Time” off their September release Rebel. “Born in the Wrong Time” sees the world as it is, dark, but remains optimistic: “Waking up in a world of sorrow… Where did all the peace and the love go? Maybe there is a better tomorrow.” Atari Ferrari separate themselves from the hokey and stale nature that could plague such a song. With an older rock sound, “Born in the Wrong Time” is just enough sugar to make reality go down. 

Lucy Neville - Wasting Our Time

Lucy Neville invigorates the electro-pop genre with “Wasting Our Time.” The Australian artist finds the right balance between singer-songwriter honesty and alt-pop fun in the form of a choral loop: “we were just wasting our time.” “Wasting Our Time” is the lyrical manifestation of when you find someone you think you’re into, but things don’t work out. Neville is here to save the day with a hypnotic funk to dance away such worries.

Sam Brockington - Breathe

It’s particularly refreshing to know when others face struggles. In “Breathe,” Sam Brockington sings about the hardships of keeping up in the music industry and how it takes over one’s life and emotions. “Breathe” is confessional indie pop for moments of crisis you need to sit through and let pass. Brockington sings, “be gone, steal my heart,” extending “heart,” his voice almost cracking to vocally display anguish. Nevertheless, the upbeat nature of the song makes everything feel like it’s going to be alright.  

Moxie Raia - Shades of Blue

Moxie Raia’s “Shades of Blue” can also be categorized under “escape from reality.” The song is a fantasy of a healthy relationship, bringing momentary peace. She sings, “you make peace from all these pieces...“cool and warm like a summer night.” A pop song accompanied by an R&B groove, “Shades of Blue” feels not cold, but like being wrapped in a July sunset instead.

Moscow Apartment - Orange

Moscow Apartment already sound like an indie radio darling with “Orange.” The song begins with ease: “I didn’t like the color orange as it creeps across my floor at midnight. Now it takes on a new shape.” It picks up, eventually dancing its way toward a chorus colored by trumpets. Moscow Apartment describe the song as about “the weird twilight zone feeling,” which can be at sunset or when your surroundings suddenly feel like a movie. With “Orange” as the soundtrack for these peculiar moments, bizarreness must be like an indie dance party.

 Mimoza - Love for Days

Mimoza’s “Love for Days” is an unapologetic song of romance. It is properly unashamed of its feminine dreaminess, declaring “these days are made for love and I’ve got love for days.” The Kosovo-born singer explains “Love for Days” celebrates the moment two people are falling for each other, but haven’t taken that big step just yet. She sings, “If you fall first I’ll fall back and love you unafraid” over big drums and humming synth. Mimoza isn’t hiding from anything here.   

Leonie Kingdom - So Much More

There’s a lot to be sad about, and Leonie Kingdom’s “So Much More” is here for that. Kingdom denotes the song as for those experiencing the unbearable so they know will get through it. Over an acoustic guitar and simple piano-based instrumental, she sings: “Why can’t I let these demons lie? Oh, this life’s been glorified. While so much time passed me by.” Despite the song’s somber elements, Kingdom is generally cheery, pushing that “Life goes on. That’s the best part.” 

PINES - Speak

PINES “Speak” is the song you probably hear at a club when it is a little too late in the night when things aren’t exactly awry but are definitely a little weird. A rhythmic, dark EDM track, “Speak” is the anthem for those that deem connection as ruined by conversation: “Look in my eyes and please don’t speak tonight…please don’t tell me this feels right. Your words are all for show.” The female voice purs,  “conversation won’t make it right,” lightly seducing listeners to dance-- forget thinking and speaking. PINES’ song finds its place in the post-aughts techno boom and the melancholy nature of pop’s current state. 

Daniella Mason - Morning Mourning 

Upon first listen, unless you listen closely, it might not seem so obvious that Daniella Mason’s “Morning Mourning” is about the death of her mother. With a big choral finish and fuzzy vibrations throughout, the song appears as a mellow jam. However, aside from the title, Mason clues listeners in with the repetitive chorus: “What if it’s all I can do to get up in the morning?” She later sings, “All i have is left memory of your sweat and tears as you pursued right into the sky blue.” At the end, the repeating chorus builds with a choir as if Mason is working her way to defeat her grief.

Runrummer - Soul Wrinkles

The mellifluous “Soul Wrinkles” gives permission to not be ashamed of one’s life experiences, good or bad. Runrummer chose the song as the name of her EP and to close out the tracklist for that very reason-- “There's no point in having regrets, as those things molded you into who you are and we need to accept and embrace that." “Soul Wrinkles” of indie-glazed pop, too shy to be a full-out anthem, but sure enough to embrace the past. Runrummer starts, wondering, “Do you really wanna know about the wrinkles in my soul?” She makes her way to say, “Like a master you can roll around all the wrinkles in my soul.”

Isaac Dunbar - blonde 

Isaac Dunbar’s alt-pop bop “blonde” floats between its bitterness and playful hiccups, resulting in a song to sing along to when the person you are enamored with is a little too self-confident. Dunbar initially admits, “Crowned and cool, bound to drool over her.” In the chorus, he sings, “Lately I’ve been missing blonde… let her ruin my emotions,” closing the chorus off with a quick, synthesized, “Ew!” Playing “blonde” on repeat is definitely the way to get over your coky crush. 

Gaspar Narby - Words of July

Swiss producer Gaspar Narby features the gentle vocals of LEES on “Words of July.” The song starts with sounds of a storm, evolving into lyrics of a warmer nature, evoking summer nostalgia. LEES sings, “I’ll show you the flowers within my skin.” The rhetorical use of water sounds makes example again after “Hide me in the shade of your gaze. You know I’m here.” Like you might do when hiding away on a rainy day, LEES singing of memories elicits a fond, yet dark construction of the past.  

Listen to all of these songs on our playlist!

Article by: Haley Bosselman