#my dad has been friends w the singer from this band for decades and if I play any of their songs my mom makes me turn it off

[black-arcana]

LZZY HALE On JON BON JOVI's Praise: 'How Sweet Of Him To Say All These Things'

Lzzy Hale says it was "sweet" of Jon Bon Jovi to say that she should join SKID ROW as the band's new singer.

The 40-year-old Hale, who has fronted her band HALESTORM for more than two and a half decades, handled the vocal duties for SKID ROW for four shows only after the group's fourth frontman since Sebastian Bach's departure — "Swedish Idol" contestant Erik Grönwall — quit the band to focus on his health. She later took to social media to thank SKID ROW for the opportunity and express her hope to rejoin them at some point, but ruled out a full-time position in SKID ROW for the time being.

In a June 2024 interview with Rock Sound where he answered interview questions from some of the magazine's cover stars, including Hale, Jon praised Lzzy, saying: "She should please join SKID ROW. Please, Lzzy Hale, join SKID ROW. Put the two bands [HALESTORM and SKID ROW] together, if you need to. But this is the best thing that happened to Snake [SKID ROW guitarist Dave Sabo] since he met me. [Laughs]"

Recounting how Jon ended up mentioning her name, Lzzy told Heavy Consequence in a new interview (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I got asked to send in a question, a random question, to Jon Bon Jovi, 'cause they were trying to gather questions from musicians to ask him for this interview. And so then the interview comes out, and so I'm getting all these like Google alerts for this interview. I'm, like, 'Oh, cool. I'll listen to what he said to answer my question,' 'cause it's not just me asking questions. And then they mentioned me to him and he's, like, 'Oh, please join SKID ROW. You are the best thing to happen to Snake since he met me.' And all of this stuff about what I can do. And my internal teenager's, like, 'Jon Bon Jovi knows who I am. Oh my God.' And then I'm, like, 'Oh my God. How sweet of him to say all these things.' And then from that, then I'm hearing from my dad, who's, like, 'I remember you blasting…' We [HALESTORM] used to cover [BON JOVI's] 'Living On A Prayer' back in PA [Pennsylvania] bars and stuff, and, and he's, like, you used to listen to [SKID ROW's] 'Slave To The Grind'. What are you thinking right now?' I'm, like, 'I don't know what to think. This is crazy.'"

She continued: "It's like this full-circle… In 1996, if you had told me that this was going to be this beautiful bookend to this story of my journey in rock, I would have said, 'You're a liar. That will never happen to me.' And so the fact that it has, it's so much more than just, like, 'Oh, look, I got mentioned by some rock stars.' It became this beautiful thing that now I can carry forever. That's great. I get to put that on my tombstone. [Laughs]"

A short time after Jon's interview with Rock Sound was first posted online, Lzzy shared the clip on her social media and she wrote in an accompanying message: "What a compliment, what an honor, and what a tremendous piece of advice! Thank you for your kind words and candor @jonbonjovi watch the full interview at @rocksound".

Back in December 2022, Sabo looked back on his childhood friendship with Jon Bon Jovi and how it inspired him and his bandmates to become better songwriters. He told Colombia's W Radio: "First of all, [Jon and I] have been best friends since we were children. He grew up three streets away from where I grew up, so we've known each other for an awfully long time — well over 40 years now. His work ethic and his commitment to music and his perseverance showed me and showed us that it was possible to be able to have success in the music business. He was very, very helpful at the very beginning with our band and he's always been a great mentor to me. And he's always been one hundred percent honest with me regarding all aspects of our relationship. We would always play him our music that we were writing and he would always give us his honest opinion. And he was the one who, at the very beginning, was really pushing us to be better songwriters, to be better musicians, to be a better band. And he was the guy that really instilled in us that being just good isn't good enough. You've gotta aspire to be great. And that was him teaching us that."

Despite the fact that the 1989 debut album from the Sebastian Bach-fronted SKID ROW went five times platinum and produced several hit singles — including "18 And Life", "I Remember You" and "Youth Gone Wild" — there was initially a lot of bitterness surrounding its success, largely due to the fact that in return for the helping hands of Jon Bon Jovi, SKID ROW reportedly had to enter a publishing deal with Jon's then-newly established Underground Music Company in which they waived their rights to publishing royalties. All money was paid to Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora. After a public dispute, Sambora gave his share of the money back to SKID ROW.

Around a decade ago, Bach reflected on the business arrangement he and his then-bandmates made with Bon Jovi, telling ArtScenics TV: "Bon Jovi took us on our first tour and we signed some papers with him that he got a cut of, if we made it big, that he would get compensated for helping us out. Nobody expected us to get as big as we got. Nobody thought that we would become a big band. That happens all the time in the music industry. Jon was, like, 'We'll take you on tour, but if you guys make it big,' then he gets a cut of it. So I was bitter about that for awhile, but then I realized that we probably wouldn't have made it as big, or maybe at all, if he didn't take us."

Back in 2015, Bach told Rodney Holder of Australia's Music Business Facts that he no longer harbored any resentment toward Bon Jovi over the publishing royalties generated by the "Skid Row" album.

"We signed a publishing deal with Bon Jovi's company, which gave him an extremely large cut of the first album," he recalled. "And when that happened, none of us realized it, really, and we were very bitter when we found that out. But our next record debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard chart, so quit your fucking whining. [Laughs] It's, like, I look back… He took us on tour… Nobody thought we'd make it. There was a million bands. We could have been BANG TANGO or TIGERTAILZ or… We could have been… There's a billion bands. We could have been BABYLON A.D. … Anyway, so, the fact that we were one of the bands that did make it was like a needle in the haystack. So for Bon Jovi to put us on the road in front of his crowd every night, that's how we made it. So he deserved to get paid for that. He could have taken any other band. So we re-did all those deals after the first album — for 'Slave To The Grind' and 'Subhuman Race' and the best-of album. We re-did all those."

[williamismyhomeboy]

Interview on www.quitmyscene.com March 30th 2005

Interviewer: Cassidy Myers Interviewee: William of The Academy Is... Date of interview: March 30, 2005 Cassidy: So first off how has the tour been going with Fall Out Boy? William: The tour has been spectacular. It’s our first tour were our record is out. So, it’s been our first real look at how our record is going to come out, you know? And its been magical. In just a short period of time. It’s been great. C: How did deal come along with Fueled By Ramen? W: Well we had an EP and we just started playing local shows in Chicago and we had a couple new demos. We kind of revaluated our songwriting process, like how we are going to move forward, and not be counterproductive, and actually have a focus. We were always friends with Fall Out Boy Growing up and Pete the bass player liked us a lot and he told John Janick that is head of Fueled By Ramen and he got him to come check us out. So, he flew up, at the time Mike and I were living in an apartment together writing the record for out friends Tony and Johnny. He came up and stayed in our apartment for like three days, up to like three in the morning every night, talking about music, talking about our future, showing him some new stuff. At that point it was just all big dreams, no songs written, and it couldn’t have worked out better, he believes in us and signed up with a real simple deal and you know, here we are.

C: So why the name change from The Academy To The Academy Is...? W: Well, obviously we were originally named The Academy. Right after our EP came out we ran into some legal problems, with other artists or organizations called The Academy or Academy. So, basically we had everything worked out, we where going to keep the name, but there was this rock singer from like the 60’s or 70’s, who was only released in Great Britain, but he went under the name The Academy. But, we couldn’t get a hold of him or any label of his, so instead of risking that, plus with all these other legal sharks around us, we figured we could just get out of the water. We wanted to change it to something very subtle, but you have to understand at the time we were changing our sound, we were changing the way we where going to write songs for now on. That’s where we were at the same juncture, but we didn’t want to alienate the people that saw us spring up. Our local following, we didn’t want to alienate those people saying that, “We changed our name and we changed our sound.” So, we just changed it very subtlety and I think it is just very open ended and it is what it is, its means whatever you want it to mean. C: So the song "Black Mamba" is about the horrible reviews you guys got by critics from the EP, so was the song kind of your way to get back at the critics? W: “Black Mamba” isn’t just a middle finger to critics. “Black Mamba” is a lot different, it’s about our focus, and it’s like telling people our focus isn’t about Rolling Stones or any critic thinks about our music. If they love it, great, if the don’t, great. That’s America, we’re all entitled to our opinions and that’s what is beautiful about it. But as far as art goes, I believe what we are doing is art and art is so subjective, how can you really judge it that intensely? Being so ignorant and not knowing anything about it. For us it was focusing on this song is for people, this music is for people, and this record is for people. It’s not for some guy in a suit, well it is for some guy in a suit, but it’s not about we he thinks about it, it’s not about the credibility. It’s for people thinking for themselves and making their own decisions and just loving music. C: When you were presented with the chance to play music for a living was it an easy choice or a gamble that you got lucky on? W: None of us, was presented with that, here go play music for the rest of your life, it will be simple, here you go, you know? This is how I started it, like when I was a senior in high school, I decided I wanted to do music, I want to perform. I still had a solo project back then and I just fell in love with performing. That was just me and an acoustic guitar and singing on a stole. I fell in love with that, I fell in love with writing with song writing, I fell in love with the music. So, I knew I wanted to do it, for me it was a really hard decision because at that point everything for the past 11 years of my life was all devoted to school and academics and education. My future was going to start after college, I was going to do what a lot of people do and for me I value education to no end, but that’s not where my heart said and my heart said music, so that’s what I got to do. So, I graduated a semester early and I went on tour right away. If it was like my dads mini-van or me, my guitar and me best friend in the world, Johnny Minardi and we just went and booked our own tour on the east coast through the biggest snow storm of the past decade. It was like really dangerous, but it was really great and that’s how I started. It was a decision, it wasn’t a presentation and that’s how it goes for all of us. We had to really work for that opportunity. It was a conscience decision.

C: Do you miss playing solo as Remember Maine and will Remember Main ever making a comeback? W: Thank you for knowing about that. It seems like people out here [in Seattle, WA] actually know about it, like someone was yelling it out in the crowd today and I was like what? It is always wild. I love performing solo and I’m not thinking about music and this project and that project, I’m thinking about it as my creative release and what I do as my release. Am I going to record under the name Remember Maine anymore? I don’t know, maybe. Am I going to perform stuff of my own? Everyday. I don’t know, we’ll have to see, all I know its going to be a really long future of songwriting whether if it’s with me or this band.

C: What do you think about the RIAA still suing kids for downloading music to this day? W: While I found out a lot of the bands I love through downloads through like mp3.com or purevolume. There’s that and I think that’s the right way to go, there doing it the right way, purevolume and mp3.com, are doing it the right way, but these other guys like Kazza and Napster, aren’t doing it the right way and it is stealing music. It’s like stealing paintings off a museum wall, it takes away everything rock and roll is about, like going to the record store and coming home like “Now I’m broke, but I spent all my money on these records that are going to change my life,” for me it just doesn’t make sense, but for young people who are just are coming up in this new generation of music and the way it is socially accepted, like how it goes about. That’s all they know, they don’t know about buying records. That’s what we are trying to do and what record labels are trying to do is cracking down on this. Like they don’t see as big as turn like they did in the 90’s because everyone is burning CDs, no ones making any money, so how are going to have rock and roll bands that are going to change the world if labels can’t stick around long enough to build a career for them. So, for me I’m a supporter. C: What have you been listening to lately? W: Well, I listen to tons of Jon Lennon “legend” that record. Don Henley’s greatest hits, he wrote so many hits it’s beyond belief. A lot of Simon and Garfunkel, the new Kings of Leon record, is so good, if you haven’t picked it up, pick it up, it’s really, really good, it’s rock and roll. Listening to a lot of old David Bowie. Listening to Peter Gabriel. That’s pretty much what I have on rotation. C: Anything else you would like to say? W: Check out our record, our website is theacademyis.com, go there and see where we are going to be around in your city. Thank you so much.

[a9saga]

2, 5, 10, 18!

!!!!! thank you anon :))

2. what are your favorite singers?

well if this is referring to soloists then i really love david bowie. he’s #1. i don’t listen to many soloists actually, since i started listening to mostly rock music in middle school i found it harder to get into soloists than bands for some reason. i also love marina and the diamonds, and i’ll occasionally listen to some little richard, patti smith. of course i like the solo careers of people in bands i like such as jack white, john lennon, etc. and i like some singles by michael jackson, prince, demi lovato, lady gaga, beyonce, britney spears, james brown, and other various stars of various decades. like i said it isn’t often i get deeply into soloists.

and if this question is referring to singers as in just general vocalists, then well…. david bowie is still high up there lol. at first i didn’t know what to think of his voice for its tone. i didn’t dislike it, it’s just not a voice you hear a lot of dead ringers of. but god he’s so freaking versatile w his range, so smart in how he managed to hit such a variety of notes and never bothered to hit notes he couldn’t, and he made singing sound so easy too, without ever singing lazily.

freddie mercury of course is also great, which i don’t need to elaborate on to anyone, and i also love his contemporary little admirer luke spiller of the struts. he definitely takes some (but not all) influence from freddie in his singing, but he also in general just doesn’t sound like a lot of singers you hear today. his voice is so full and he places his voice more in his throat than up high, like you hear in singers like the weeknd, taylor swift, and, well, just about everyone else these days. not that that’s always a bad thing, plenty of vocalists who do that are talented. but it just always stood out to me.

and for others, well… again, marina and the diamonds. beyonce and lady gaga are ridiculously good of course of course. robert plant. alex turner. hayley williams is way more talented than she needs to be. yeeun from wonder girls bc she always reminded me a bit of hayley williams. yeah, i think i’ve listed enough. this was certainly a much longer answer than necessary.

5. what do you think the best popular song of the year is so far?

no roots by alice merton came out last year but has become a good hit this year, it’s gotten a good amount of radio play on more than just alternative and rock stations, and i like it quite a lot. i can see her hitting it big in the marina/lana/florence kind of indie girl scene. if you’re gonna narrow it down to hits that came out this year… hm. this is america by childish gambino is good (i’m not even linking it bc there’s no way anyone hasn’t heard of it). i like nicki minaj’s new song chun li. janelle monae’s new album “dirty computer” as a whole is as awesome as you’ve heard it is and i’d highly recommend it. friends by marshmello and anne marie is p groovy even if a lot of the lyrics are kinda dumb. jack white’s over and over and over is cool. and greta van fleet are dropping an album this summer but haven’t released a single off of it yet, and there’s no way that it’s not going to be one of the most hyped rock projects of this year, so assume when it’s out that i’ll consider whatever hits it spawns added to this list.

10. what are the best songs your parents have gotten you into?

cheesy as it is (and you well know this by now if you follow diana) i’ve loved the beatles since i was little. but the songs i enjoyed most then like “can’t buy me love” and “martha my dear” have since mostly been passed by more impressive, deeper cuts like “love you to”, “helter skelter”, “because”, “happiness is a warm gun”, “the long and winding road”, “blue jay way”, “for no one”, and a fuck load more. also my dad was the one who raised my interest in the clash and the talking heads, which i like a lot now.

18. who were your favorite musicians as a kid?

well, as i explained above.. the beatles. also bob marley, diana and i and our dad used to have a lot of dance parties to the beatles and bob marley and the stones when we were like four. i liked demi lovato and miley cyrus and selena gomez when i was in elementary school, like almost every other girl my age in the western hemisphere. i liked the backstreet boys and i liked the nsync songs i knew that i just assumed were by the backstreet boys. i liked jesse mccartney and hilary duff when i was four and five, and i liked a lot of songs i didn’t know who sang, like “since u been gone” and “break away” by kelly clarkson, “complicated” by avril lavigne, “bad day” by daniel powter, “you’re beautiful” by james blunt, all of which i just assumed were by hilary duff or jesse mccartney. and i liked various classic rock songs i didn’t really know the artists of either at the time, such as “american woman” by the guess who, “changes” by david bowie, “rock and roll” by led zeppelin, a few simon and garfunkel songs, and despite that i’m not big on this band anymore, no one in my family has forgotten that i used to sing bon jovi’s “livin on a prayer” as “sittin on a chair”.

thank you again….. i’ve been writing this for so long but i’ve enjoyed it too.

music asks

[wildlyburningsandwich-blog1]

Discover great events and parties, follow your favourite places and friends and see what's happening near you. Toastr makes it easy for you to follow event organisers to be notified of their events in the near future.

All events and parties nearby!

Find out all the parties and events in sandiego nearby and get notified for upcoming events.

All events and parties in sandiego

Explore all the parties and events from City-Winery-NYC. Follow City-Winery-NYC and get notified everything he/she creates a new events/party.

All events and parties from City-Winery-NYC

Bruce Hornsby has built one of the most diverse, collaborative and adventurous careers in contemporary music. Drawing from a vast wellspring of American musical traditions, the singer/pianist/composer/bandleader has created a large and accomplished body of work and employed a vast array of stylistic approaches. Throughout this period, Hornsby has maintained the integrity, virtuosity and artistic curiosity that have been hallmarks of his work from the start. Hornsby and his band The Range's first album The Way It Is (1986) was steadily and slowly building in popularity in the U.S. when in August the title track exploded on BBC Radio One in England, then Europe, the rest of the world and finally in the United States. The record went on to sell three million records, the band played Saturday Night Live and opened for Steve Winwood, John Fogerty, Huey Lewis, the Grateful Dead and the Eurythmics before becoming headliners on their own tour supported by Crowded House. Soon Hornsby was being approached regularly to collaborate with a broad range of musicians and writers, a demand that continues to this day. He has played on records for Bob Dylan, Robbie Robertson, Bonnie Raitt (piano on her iconic "I Can't Make You Love Me"), Willie Nelson, Don Henley, Bob Seger, Squeeze, Stevie Nicks, Chaka Khan, Charlie Haden, Jack DeJohnette, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver), Leon Russell, Chris Whitley, Warren Zevon, Bernie Taupin, Brandon Flowers (of the Killers), Cowboy Junkies, Shawn Colvin, Bela Fleck, Randy Scruggs, Hillary Scott, the Wild Magnolias, Clint Black, Sara Evans, Clannad and many more. He has worked on his own records with Ornette Coleman, Jerry Garcia, Eric Clapton, Sting, Elton John, Mavis Staples, Phil Collins, Pat Metheny, Branford Marsalis, Wayne Shorter and Justin Vernon, among others. Along with his early collaborator, brother Jonathan Hornsby and latter-day partner Chip deMatteo, Bruce has co-written songs with Robert Hunter (the great Grateful Dead lyricist), Robbie Robertson, Don Henley, Leon Russell, Charlie Haden, Chaka Khan, and Jack DeJohnette. His songs have been recorded by another broad array of artists including Tupac Shakur (his iconic "Changes"), Akon, E-40, Chaka Khan, Don Henley, Leon Russell, Willie Nelson, Mase, Randy Scruggs, and Robbie Robertson. Over the years Hornsby has successfully ventured into bluegrass, jazz, classical, and even electronica, reflected on acclaimed releases like two projects with Ricky Skaggs- Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby (2007) and the live Cluck Ol' Hen (2013), the jazz trio album Camp Meeting (2007) with Jack DeJohnette and Christian McBride, and Solo Concerts (2014), a stylistic merging of traditional American roots music and the dissonance and adventure of modern classical music. This latter-day interest has led to an orchestral project spearheaded by Michael Tilson Thomas featuring this new music; the first performance occurred in January 2015 with Tilson Thomas' New World Symphony. His three Grammy wins (along with his ten Grammy losses!) typify the diversity of his career: Best New Artist (1986) as leader of Bruce Hornsby and the Range, Best Bluegrass Recording (1989) for a version of his old Range hit "The Valley Road" that appeared on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Will The Circle Be Unbroken Volume Two, and a shared award with Branford Marsalis in 1993 for Best Pop Instrumental for "Barcelona Mona", a song written and performed for the 1992 Olympic Games. The sales stats and breadth of his collaborations (including being sampled many times by rap/hip-hop artists) speak volumes about Hornsby's unique fusion of mainstream appeal and wild musical diversity. His albums have sold over eleven million copies worldwide. Harbor Lights (1993) won the Downbeat Reader's Poll Album of the Year in 1994. Tupac Shakur co-wrote a new song over "The Way It Is" music called "Changes"; it was a major worldwide hit in 1998, selling 15 million copies. In 2006 his 4 CD set Intersections was selected as one of the best boxed sets of the year by the New York Times. His song "Levitate" was selected in 2011 by Sports Illustrated as one of the top 40 sports songs of all time. Bruce and his current band The Noisemakers' latest record ( a collection featuring Bruce on the Appalachian dulcimer) "Rehab Reunion" (2016) entered the Billboard album chart at 101, marking his tenth album appearance on the venerable chart over a thirty-year period. In 2016 the annual Rolling Stone "Hot List" selected Bruce as "Hot Surprise Influence", citing his influence and inspiration on such modern artists as Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) and Ryan Adams. Throughout the years Hornsby has participated in several memorable events: the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opening concert in September 1995 (with the performance included on the concert album), Farm Aid IV and VI, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival (many times), the Newport Jazz Festival (2007), New Orleans Heritage and Jazz Festival (1997 and 2011), Woodstock II (1994), Woodstock III (1999, with the band's performance included on the concert album), and the Bonnaroo Festival (2011). Hornsby, solo and with Branford Marsalis, has performed the National Anthem for many major events including the NBA All-Star game, four NBA Finals, the 1997 World Series Game 5, the night Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig's all-time consecutive game streak, and the soundtrack to Baseball: A Film By Ken Burns. Bruce's long involvement with the Grateful Dead began when the group asked him to open two shows in Monterey, CA in the spring of 1987. Bruce and the Range continued to open shows for the Dead in 1988, 1989 and 1990, and after the tragic death of Dead keyboardist Brent Mydland the band asked him to play with them. He started winging it with them with no rehearsal for five nights at Madison Square Garden in September 1990,, and played more than 100 shows with them until March 1992. He continued to sit in with the band every year until Jerry Garcia passed away in 1995. He played in the first post-Dead band "The Other Ones" in 1998 (the album "The Strange Remain" chronicles that tour) and 2000. Bruce reunited with the band for the 50th Anniversary Fare Thee Well concerts in June and July 2015 at Levi's Stadium (Santa Clara,CA) and Soldier Field (Chicago). He appears on seven Grateful Dead records including "Infrared Roses" and "View From The Vault II". Bruce has been part of many tribute records including two Grateful Dead collections, the original Deadicated (1991) and the recent massive compilation curated by the band The National entitled Day of the Dead. He recorded "Black Muddy River" with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver and Justin's high school band DeYarmond Edison. Other tribute record appearances include Two Rooms- A Tribute To The Songs of Elton John and Bernie Taupin, a Keith Jarrett tribute, a tribute to The Band, a Fats Domino collection, Ricky Skaggs Big Mon- the music of Bill Monroe, and a Jackson Browne tribute record. A University of Miami alum, Hornsby has partnered with The Frost School of Music to establish the Creative American Music Program, a curriculum designed to develop the creative skills of talented young artist/songwriters by immersing them in diverse American folk, blues, and gospel traditions that form the foundations of modern American songwriting. Indeed, Bruce Hornsby's restless musical spirit continues to spontaneously push him forward into exciting new musical pursuits. He's composed and performed for many projects with long-time collaborator, filmmaker Spike Lee including end-title songs for two films, Clockers (1995, with Chaka Khan) and Bamboozled (2001). He contributed music for If God is Willin' And the Creek Don't Rise (2010), Old Boy (2013) and Chiraq (2015), and full film scores for Kobe Doin' Work, Lee's 2009 ESPN Kobe Bryant documentary, 2012's Red Hook Summer, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus (2015), and Lee's film for the NBA2K16 video game (2015). Bruce wrote and performed the end title song "Set Me In Motion" for Ron Howard's Backdraft (1991) and a featured song "Big Stick" for Ron Shelton's Tin Cup (1996). He's currently working with DeMatteo on a musical entitled SCKBSTD, and contributed music for Disney/Pixar's Planes: Fire And Rescue (2014). Hornsby is also featured onscreen in and contributed music to the Robin Williams/ Bobcat Goldthwaite film World's Greatest Dad (2009), the first (and last!) time he has been asked to "act." Three decades after Bruce Hornsby established his global name as the creator of pop hits that defined "the sound of grace on the radio," as a Rolling Stone reviewer once wrote, such projects continue and are consistent with his lifelong pursuit of musical transcendence. "It's always been about staying inspired, broadening my reach and range of abilities and influences, and exploring new areas", Hornsby says. "I'm very fortunate to be able to do that, to be a lifelong student, and to continue to pursue a wide-ranging musical life."

An Evening w/ Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers

Garland Jeffreys has been making provocative, personally charged urban rock and roll since the late 1960s. 14 Steps To Harlem, the third album in six years by this “beloved rock-soul-reggae singer-songwriter” (New York Times) is set to release April 28 on his own Luna Park Records. Produced with James Maddock with core band members Mark Bosch, Charly Roth, Brian Stanley and Tom Curiano, guest spots by Brian Mitchell and Ben Stivers, a gorgeous duet with daughter Savannah and a radiant violin solo by Laurie Anderson, this record delivers what fans have come to expect from Jeffreys: edgy immediacy and literate, emotionally raw lyrics coupled with a still supple voice capable of singing in a practically limitless number of styles. Jeffreys has long held the respect of his peers and the breadth of contributors to his recordings and performances reflect that, as well as an ahead of his time penchant for musical genre-bending: Dr. John, The E Street Band, John Cale, Michael Brecker, Larry Campbell, The Rumour, James Taylor, Phoebe Snow, Sly & Robbie, Sonny Rollins, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Bruce Springsteen, U2 and Lou Reed among many more have recorded and performed with him. With a string of critically acclaimed records and radio hits including “Wild in the Streets” and his cover of the garage rock classic “96 Tears” it’s a testament to both the broad appeal and diversity of his music that his songs have been covered by hardcore punk legends The Circle Jerks (whose version of “Wild in the Streets” is a skater anthem), psych-folkies Vetiver and jazz trumpeter Randy Brecker. “Wild in the Streets” was recently featured in and included on the soundtrack album of the Baz Luhrmann-helmed Netflix original series “The Get Down.” A 2016 Long Island Hall of Fame inductee, a NY Blues Hall of Famer, performing in the Wim Wenders film “The Soul of a Man,” recipient of the prestigious Schallplattenkritik Prize in Germany and the Tenco and Premio Prizes in Italy, and performing at world-class festivals such as Byron Bay Blues, Montreux Jazz, Ottawa Folk and Fuji Rock, Garland Jeffreys will not go gently into that good night. Here’s what people are saying about his recent shows: • His live performances and his joy for life are undiminished. He will still jump from the stage and strut through the audience. When one story ends there’s always another about to begin... — No Depression • Backed by a crack band, Jeffreys bring his great songs, powerful voice and buoyant personality — The New Yorker • A seriously satisfying high-octane show — Huffington Post

Garland Jeffreys (Album Release)

More so than ever before, Kasey Chambers is writing like a true storyteller. The unrequited, antiquated refrains of 'Oh Grace' are sung as a man yearning his one true love. Likewise the broken-hearted nostalgia of 'Bittersweet' captures the story of two old lovers from both sides. Even 'Stalker' sees Kasey shedding her skin and imagining prowling after the fictional Spencer Reid, the socially-awkward genius from Criminal Minds. "In the show, the characters really have no personal life, so I kept thinking 'How would I get the character Spencer Reid to notice me? What crime am I willing to commit?'" But despite finding new ways to craft her stories, Kasey Chambers is still inimitably her. From the red dust of her nomadic childhood to the surf coast where she's raised her family, Kasey's always maintained that her records have been a testament to "who [she] was at the time". And her newest album is proof that she's unwilling to settle for anything less.

Kasey Chambers

Bob Schneider Austin-based singer/songwriter/creative force of nature Bob Schneider has a guy in his band, Oliver Steck, who plays keyboards, accordion, trumpet and assorted whistles and horns. Also, Schneider notes, “Oliver also does a lot of dancing. He doesn’t necessarily get paid for the dancing. He does it because he can’t not.” Apparently, the same could be said of Schneider in terms of artistic endeavors in general. He can’t not be creating something. Sometimes it’s writing songs — he has written some 2,000 songs in the past 16 years — sometimes it’s creating videos to accompany some of those songs and sometimes it’s making gallery-ready art, including paintings and collages. He also has played a wedding singer in an indie film, written two books and penned a rock opera that has a title that can’t be printed in a family newspaper. Some of his musical mates even wonder when — or whether — he ever sleeps. “I love making things, so that’s what I spend a lot of my time doing,” says Schneider… “I do have periods where I feel like I’ll never create anything that’s any good ever again. The good news is, it doesn’t stop me from creating things, and eventually that feeling will pass and I can look over the stuff that I’ve made and figure out which of it is better than the other stuff. Because I like to do it so much, I’ll end up with quite a bit of it at the end of the year.” Schneider has been a recording artist for 25 years, putting out his first record (“Party Till You’re Dead”) in 1991 as frontman for Joe Rockhead, a funk-rock combo in the vein of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. That band was followed by his best-known group, Ugly Americans, which toured with the Dave Matthews Band and Big Head Todd and the Monsters. Ugly Americans was a kind of alt-rock supergroup, with former members of Cracker, Poi Dog Pondering and Mojo Nixon’s band. Schneider also fronted a full-on funk ensemble that played around Austin in the late 1990s called The Scabs, at the same time he was establishing himself as a solo artist. His first solo project, “Songs Sung and Played on Guitar at the Same Time,” came out in 1998, and he’s gone on to record an almost inconceivably diverse and eclectic array of songs since then, with his work making it onto the soundtracks of seven major motion pictures (and one indie film). All told, Schneider has been the singer and main songwriter on nearly 30 studio albums, and he has been named Musician of the Year six times at the Austin Music Awards. Considering the renowned strength of the music scene in Austin, that’s saying something. His artistry coupled with his movie-star looks and boyish charm makes it a wonder he’s not a household name around the rest of the country the way he is in Austin. The past few years, Schneider has grouped the songs he’s written in a year under an album title, just to kind of keep track of when they were written. Titles for recent years have included “Here’s the Deal,” “The Ever Increasing Need to Succeed,” “Into the Great Unknown” and “Mental Problems.” This year’s theme (and the name of his current concert tour) is “The Practical Guide to Everything.” Schneider has a fantastic website where fans can listen to all of the songs from the three five- song “King Kong Suite” EPs he released last year, with humorous commentary from Schneider himself between songs. The website also has the 10 videos he created for “King Kong” songs using public-domain found footage, including the menacing “Black Mountain” video that culls scenes from Francis Ford Coppola’s directorial debut. The website also offers a chance to stream his regular Monday evening shows at Austin’s Saxon Pub. Adapted from “Bob Schneider surfs an ocean of creative juices” written by Randy Erickson and published in the LaCrosse Tribune, April 14, 2016.

Bob Schneider w/ Sugar Dirt & Sand

"I've been writing a lot of songs lately -- they come in waves, and I seem to be riding one right now. I'm playing some special solo shows in April to try them out. These shows will be mostly new songs, and a lot of me figuring stuff out along the way. It'll be fun and weird and cool. So, if you wanna see some works in progress, come on down. Help me figure out just how sturdy these songs are. Rock and Roll, Josh"

Josh Ritter: Works In Progress Tour (Rescheduled)

Find out all the parties and events in sandiego nearby and get notified for upcoming events.

All events and parties in sandiego

[viralhottopics]

Nashville lies at the heart of a divided country: Trump got bubbas to the polls

As the president staged a rally attended largely by out-of-towners, Democratic-leaning denizens of Tennessees Brooklyn pondered an urban-rural rift

Men in stetsons, check shirts and jeans swing their partners around to the thrum of drums, fiddle, keyboard and steel guitar of Mike Oldham & The Tone Rangers. The walls at Roberts Western World in Nashville, Tennessee, are coated with beer logos spelled out in neon or on lampshades or mirrors, old concert posters, photos of country music greats and three rows of cowboy boots for sale. The tiled floor is barely visible under the heaving crowd.

At this and other honky tonk bars on Broadway, Nashvilles main tourist drag, the music is old country: songs about drink, divorce, hardscrabble heartbreak, the miserable struggle to make ends meet. It is a playlist that has taken on new resonance in the era of Donald Trump, like a requiem for white working class voters in small towns who, feeling left behind with nothing to lose, propelled him to the White House.

But Nashville is a booming city where southern civility, religion and conservatism collide with a young, creative and liberal population. Paradoxically, the heart of country music is increasingly at odds in class, culture and politics with the heartland that surrounds it. In this it mirrors the dislocation of other burgeoning American cities that are islands of Democratic blue in deep red Republican states.

There is a vast gulf in ideology and approach to the world, said Bruce Dobie, a Nashville-based media entrepreneur. Its just crazy right now. My street and city are overwhelmingly Democratic. Were astonished by everything we see at the moment.

Dobie estimated that when the US president rolled into Nashville on Wednesday for a campaign-style rally, around 80% of the crowd was from out of town. Trumps warm-up acts were country singers the Gatlin Brothers and Lee Greenwood, whose rendition of God bless the USA earned a cheer with the words to the hills of Tennessee. Trump joined him on stage, grinned, shook his hand and raised two thumbs up as the crowd chanted USA! USA!, some with fists raised, in a near-religious frenzy.

So Im thrilled to be here in Nashville, Tennessee, the home of country music, southern hospitality and the great president Andrew Jackson, Trump said, referring to the 19th-century populist described by the state museum as champion of the common man and notorious for forcing Native Americans off their land.

The crowd waved signs including Promises made, promises kept, Lefty media lies and Women for Trump. Carma Williams, 63, a retired office manager who had travelled from 70 miles away, said: I love him because hes honest. Hes doing everything he said he would do during the campaign. I think hes the first president whos done that.

Inside Roberts Western World after Trumps rally in Nashville, Tennessee. Photograph: Jon Morgan for the Guardian

Outside the Nashville Municipal Auditorium there was a modest gathering of protesters. One stood out. James Walker was wearing a red Make America great again baseball cap, sunglasses, a beard, a black North Face jacket and khaki trousers. He held aloft a sign that said: Ive made a huge mistake.

The 31-year-old explained: I voted for Trump. I thought it would be a positive change, a change that Obama didnt come through on, and it would shake things up. It has shaken things up but in a bad way. I realise now that some of the things that were just campaign promises seemed to carry on beyond the election and become a reality.

Walker, who grew up in California and spent two years in the military, said he ordered the trademark Make America great again hat many weeks ago but it had only just arrived. So that was the spark: I know what Im going to do with this.

He expressed a desire for atonement. I dont know what thats going to be but this is the first step: showing up and being honest.

Walker now works as a wine broker and lives across the Cumberland river in east Nashville, dubbed the citys own Brooklyn with its embrace of beards, tattoos and artisanal foods, along with Jack Whites record label and an explosion of diverse guitar bands and songwriters. Walker added: Its mostly Democratic, blue territory. Only a few of my friends admitted to voting for Trump and did so in confidence. Today is the first day Ive gone public.

Beside him at Wednesdays demonstration was Lisa Kaas Boyle, an environmental attorney holding a bag that posed the question: What would Dolly do? a reference to country music hall-of-famer Dolly Parton, who supports gay rights but said of Trump and rival Hillary Clinton: I think theyre both nuts. Surveying the queue of thousands of Trump supporters that snaked up and around and down a grassy hill, she said: Im shocked by this huge turnout. It really feels like a gut punch for me. Im sure they came from far and wide. Its shocking to me that people have no regard for their fellow Americans.

Boyle has just returned to Nashville after 30 years, partly to be close to family and partly in response to Hillbilly Elegy, author JD Vances personal insight into problems of the white working class including alcoholism, divorce, domestic violence, drugs and hopelessness. As the Washington Post put it, elites in both parties are studying the book as a sort of Rosetta Stone to understand the conditions that enabled the rise of Trump.

The 52-year-old, said: After reading Hillbilly Elegy, I feel progressives have to be involved. I cant just hang out in California with my like-minded friends. I have to make a difference here.

In last years election, Trump trounced Hillary Clinton by 26% in Tennessee, a Bible belt state that was the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan and was last won by a Democrat when Bill Clinton, a southerner, carried it in 1996. Among the few counties he did not win were those containing Memphis and Nashville.

There are a lot of liberal artists

Now, Nashville is thriving with an influx of young professionals priced out of other cities. A record 13.9 million people visited the area in 2016, up 45% over the past decade. The music industry is worth $10bn to the region, according to a 2013 report commissioned by the Music City Music Council, and includes Americana, jazz and other genres as well as country.

It has come a long way since the Grand Ole Opry barn dance became a radio hit in the 1940s, leading to a recording industry and stars from Hank Williams then to Taylor Swift today. It has long been seen as music of the conservative heartland when Elton John denied a rumour that he would perform Trumps inauguration, he suggested, Why not ask … one of those fucking country stars? Theyd do it for you but its relationship with politics has always been more complex than often assumed.

Downtown Nashville. Visitors to the area, drawn by its famous music scene, are up 45% over the past decade. Photograph: Jon Morgan for the Guardian

Bob Dylan, the troubadour responsible for some of the 60s defining protest songs, spent the end of the decade in Nashville and collaborated with Johnny Cash, the man in black who performed for presidents and prisoners. Merle Haggards 1969 Okie from Muskogee was regarded as a conservative anthem but he later defended the Dixie Chicks after they condemned George W Bushs invasion of Iraq and recorded a song in support of Hillary Clinton.

During last years presidential election an informal survey conducted by the trade publication Country Aircheck found that 46% of industry professionals supported Trump while 41% favoured Clinton. But unlike Hollywood, most prefer to remain silent, perhaps fearing that any declaration of allegiance risks losing half their audience.

Earlier this month an analysis by BuzzFeed found that of the 87 artists currently on either Billboards Top Country Albums or Hot Country Songs charts, only five Sturgill Simpson, Justin Moore, Chris Janson, Maren Morris and the Brothers Osborne have gone on the record with clear pro or anti-Trump views.

Sitting at the bar at the Red Door Saloon in east Nashville, Clay Johnson, 29, a composer, said: Trump probably got a lot more support from country music artists than hip-hop artists. But there are a lot of liberal artists. It would be wrong to paint them all as conservatives.

Musing on the urban-rural divide, he added: In rural Tennessee youll see people whove lived there and grown up there. In Nashville people tend to come and go like in any city. Its population versus space. Its shitty how one side can dictate how the other side lives because they live different lives. Its the same anywhere. When you live in the city, its different from living on a farm.

At another table as the clock ticked past 1am was Zie Campbell, 25, a freelance illustrator and teacher. Tennessee is a red state, Nashville is not, she said. Its a melting pot, as much of a New York as its going to get down here. This has been very hard for our specific community because we are surrounded by ignorance and bigotry.

In the rural areas theres not a desire to experience anything else. My dad smokes Marlboro Reds, Ill smoke Marlboro Reds. My dad listens to Johnny Cash, Ill listen to Johnny Cash. In the city you dont have that option any more: whether or not you are seeking it, youre forced to see others.

Zie Campbell, an illustrator and teacher in Nashville: This has been very hard for our specific community. We are surrounded by ignorance. Photograph: Jon Morgan for the Guardian

Campbells parents live 220 miles away in Knoxville. Her father voted for Trump but she found Clintons defeat devastating. She continued: I am an example of the exact opposite of my dads opinions. When the sexual harassment allegations against Trump came out, my dad and I had a long conversation. I cried. We decided were not talking politics after that.

If the other side is willing to bomb Dresden, how do you fight that?

How can the rift between urban and rural, between blue and red, be healed? I dont know if there is something to be done, Campbell said. I dont think anyone is trying to sway anyone else. I dont think theres a whole lot of grey area.

Dobie, the media entrepreneur, said: Thats the $64m question. If youre a modern Democrat youre not in the mood to pussyfoot any more, having been subjected to what amounted to the bombing of Dresden in the last election. Trump committed Dresden. No one is in the mood be accommodating or easy.

Were now in a moment when I dont see much room for sitting around the campfire and holding hands. If the other side is willing to bomb Dresden, how do you fight that? You really have to take it to the streets.

Both parties are likely to compete fiercely for what might be described as the country music constituency. Dobie said: Struggling to meet bills, shooting a deer, breaking up with your girlfriend the lyrics of the country song speak the needs, desires and concerns of the conservative folk and thats why its been successful.

Thats the crowd were all talking about. Thats the demographic thats up for grabs in America and Clinton couldnt harness. Trump got the bubbas to the polls; Clinton did not. The bubbas are listening to country music.

Clay Johnson, a composer in Nashville: Its shitty how one side can dictate how the other side lives. Photograph: Jon Morgan for the Guardian

The divisions here are reflected across America, after an election that exposed brutal faultines and the education split among whites was said to be the critical factor.

Nadine Hubbs, a professor of music at the University of Michigan and author of Rednecks, Queers, and Country Music, said: In the US, our cities are places where many of us go to prosper while small towns or exurbs or suburbs are often places where people are left behind.

Nashville and Austin [in Texas] are really good examples of this phenomenon. To bridge the gap there are economic inequalities we need to pay attention to. Often the most unbridgeable gaps are the ones created by contempt for another group: lack of respect and stripping of dignity.

The way people who are prospering look down on folks who are in rural spaces, often associated with country music, creates the kind of divisions that are really hard to bridge.

The elites talk about the need for education of people in rural spaces; well, we know almost nothing about them. The economic and social segregation of the classes is worse maybe than its ever been in our history.

Read more: http://ift.tt/2mUBKAi

from Nashville lies at the heart of a divided country: Trump got bubbas to the polls

[houstonlocalus-blog]

So There: The Best of The Week

Ben Folds. Photo: Ben Folds/Big Hassle

  Well, SXSW is happening in Austin and the best acts there will be in town over the next nine or so days. This week features performances by Ben Folds, Minus The Bear, Conor Oberst and more while locals like B L A C K I E and Astragal will round out the edges. Houston, here’s how to navigate this insane week of shows.

  Wednesday if you’re up for a drive then you could head to Dosey Doe at their Big Barn for the bizarre yet intriguing sounds of That 1 Guy.  While his latest release is a single called “Bomb Dignity” from two years ago, don’t let that dissuade you from checking him out.  Playing a mix of homemade instruments, you won’t catch something so strange that you’ll walk away loving as much as this guy.  The all ages show has doors at 7 pm and tickets between $10 and $15.

  If you’d rather stay close in, you could catch the hooky pop rock of Georgia’s Eureka California at Walter’s.  To my knowledge this band is a duo, but boy are they strong and their latest release, Versus from last year, is really good.  The post punk of Georgia’s Feather Trade will be on as direct support while the acoustic emo jams of Greg Cote & The Real Life Friends will go on prior. The shoegaze indie pop of Houston’s Astragal will also be on hand where the indie emo rock of Since Always will open the all ages show with doors at 8 pm and an $5 cover.

  Cool Moon. Photo: Peter Wheiland

  Rudyard’s will bring in the haunting beauty of New York’s Elizabeth Devlin.  Mixing autoharp with vocals that stick to your ribs, Devlin feels like an act you’re foolish to miss out on, and her latest release, Orchid Mantis from this year, is a gorgeous nod to her strengths as a singer songwriter. Houston’s Adam Bricks will provide his singer songwriter prowess as direct support while the indie rock of Cool Moon will open the 21 & up show with doors at 8 pm with an $8 cover.

  Over at Satellite Bar, the good time garage rock of Chicago’s Bleach Party will be on hand for all to enjoy.  Someone once compared this four-piece to a band that would play on a “luau episode of Scooby Doo,” and honestly that is what they sound like.  Almost if the Beach Boys and The Ventures dropped a garage rock album, last year’s Endless Bender sounds like the soundtrack to a beach party that you never want to end.  The surf rock of Houston’s Total Nightmare will be on as direct support and the math punk of Galveston’s Blast Dad will go on prior.  Huntsville’s The Hammer Party will open the all ages show with doors at 8 pm with a $10 cover.

  Thursday you can catch the piano based antics of Ben Folds at Jones Hall.  Twenty years ago I caught this unknown band at SXSW called Ben Folds Five, and I’ve seen Folds solo several times since and he never disappoints. His latest release was a live album, but So There from 2015 was his catchiest and most inventive in years.  Because he rarely swings through our city, this is a rare treat to catch him in such a grand setting doing what he does best. There’s no word of openers but that could change for the all ages show with doors at 7 pm and tickets between $29 and $99.

  Genesis Blu. Photo: Brian Keith/Courtesy of Artist/Facebook

  House of Blues will host the popular East Coast hip hop of The Lox.  Back after what seemed like forever, the group that includes Jadakiss and crew dropped Filthy America….It’s Beautiful late last year and proved they weren’t done yet.  New York’s Uncle Murda will be on as direct support and Don Flamingo will go on beforehand.  Houston’s Genesis Blu will open the all ages show and rep the H as only she can with doors at 7 pm and tickets between $25 and $45.

  You can get your laughs in at The Secret Group when they host the 12,000 Degrees Comedy Battle.  The show, hosted by Mycal Dede & Zach Dickson, should be full of laughs while two other comics battle it out for entertainment supremacy.  Karaoke, comedy, and even rap battling will all ensure with this edition featuring Austin’s Zac Brooks and Houston’s Rich Williams.  The all ages show with doors at 7:30 pm has a $5 cover.

  Dead To The World. Photo: Scot Overholser/Courtesy of Artist/Facebook

  Satellite Bar will host the punk rock of New York’s The Jukebox Romantics.  Sounding like a mix of Swingin’ Utters and Rancid, these guys play sing-song punk that’s pretty solid and their latest, Transmissions Down from 2015, is worth checking out.  Houston’s Action Frank will bring their pop punk on as direct support while the harder punk of Dead To The World will energetically go on before.  Bottom of The Food Chain will open the all ages show with doors at 8 pm and a $5 cover.

  Continental Club will have the legendary Chicago soul singer Renaldo Domino.  Possibly one of the sweetest voices you can hear, he dropped tracks like “Not Too Cool To Cry” and “I’ll Get You Back,” and he doesn’t get down here often.  If he can still sing like he did back in the day, then this show is worth making it out for with doors at 10 pm and a TBA cover.

  On Friday you could get your St. Patty’s Day going with the one place who takes the day so seriously that they get started at 11 am — Mucky Duck.  For over 25 years the venue has had a crazy traditional St. Patty’s celebration and this one is no exception to that.  Traditional Irish dancing from the Clann Kelly Irish Dancers, and Drake Irish Dancers as well as sets from Piper Jones Band, Kristen Coyle & the Black Swans, Frances Cunningham, and Whitney Rose will all be a part of the celebration.  Hosted by the always entertaining Jim Mackenzie along with an Irish sing-a-long from Martin Burniston, the all-day affair has tickets between $20 and $22.

  Over in the corridor for Last Concert Cafe and Eastdown Warehouse for the For The Community 13 Fest.  More than seventy bands over three days, and poetry and so much more will be on hand.  Sets from Vanilla Whale, HAKEEM, Space Villains* and so many more will be on hand. The all ages event with doors at 2 pm is 100% FREE with the entire list of artists and set times available here.

  Conor Oberst. Photo: Tony Bonacci/Grandstand Media

  Of course, I’d guess that most of you would be headed to Warehouse Live when they bring Conor Oberst into the ballroom.  While he’ll always be known as the lead singer of Bright Eyes, Oberst has made some solid albums under his own name.  His latest, last year’s Ruminations, is probably his best since his debut solo album almost a decade ago.  The rootsy Americana folk sounds of New York’s The Felice Brothers will be on as direct support and openers for the all ages show with doors at 7 pm and tickets between $29 and $31.

  At the now-roller rink at Discovery Green, you can get groovy at the Rainbow and Roll event hosted by Mayor Turner’s LGBTQ Advisory Board.  Performances by Crawford Nation’s Aria, Linda D, Alexa D and more as Beyoncé, Janet Jackson and more will all be on hand.  Plus roller skating sounds pretty much like Xanadu for the all ages event that starts at 7 pm and is 100% FREE.

  Revention Center will bring the massively popular Detroit rapper Big Sean over to perform the larger scale room. Here in support of last year’s I Decided, Sean has been getting bigger and bigger since his debut ten years ago. Atlanta’s Madeintyo will be on as direct support and opener for the all ages show with doors at 7 pm for the sold out show.

  Sandy Ewen. Photo: Lauren Roesler-Graves

  Walter’s will bring in the protest freeform jazz of This Saxophone Kills Fascists.  One of the more intriguing acts going today, his latest album Live At Obsidian, January 26, 2017 should give you an idea of his intensity.  The improvised experimental jazz guitar of Houston’s Sandy Ewen will be on as direct support while the intense grime hip hop of B L A C K I E will go on prior. The lo-fi, bizarre and never the same sounds of Ak’chamel will also be on hand while Tex Kerschen’s Zone Control will open the all ages show with doors at 8 pm and a measly $5 cover.

  Satellite Bar will have lead singer of Dead Milkmen Joe Jack Talcum over to perform. Talcum has always had an intriguing voice and a bizarre acoustic lo-fi sound, and while you can’t stream his newest album, his 2014 album Home Recordings 1993-1999, should give you an idea of what he brings to his solo sets.  For some reason there are a bunch of punk bands on beforehand including The Gloryholes, Houston’s Kemo For Emo, and Feels Like Murder. The all ages show has doors at 8 pm and a $10 cover.

  D&W will bring the Texas Americana roots sounds of Quiet Morning & the Calamity over for a late night set.  This group reinvented themselves bringing a more earnest sound in and they’re always worth making it out for.  The all ages show with doors at 9 pm is 100% FREE.

  Night Beats. Photo: Uncredited/Ground Control Touring

  On Saturday you could make your way to the studio at Warehouse Live when British psych group Temples comes to town.  This four-piece makes trippy neo-psych music, they’ve become well known for their crazy live sets, and their latest release, Volcano from last year, is pretty great. The popular R&B meets psych sounds of Seattle’s Night Beats will be on as direct support while the impressive blues duo Deap Vally of LA will go on prior.  The dreamy psych pop of California’s Froth will also be on the bill while kraut psych of JJUUJJUU will open the all ages show with doors at 6 pm and tickets between $25 and $27.

  You can get your electro pop on when Sunset SNST (formerly The Firebird Band) swings by Satellite Bar to play. Featuring Chris Broach from emocore band Braid, Sunset is like a mix of eighties New Order mixed with hints of Yaz thrown in.  They’ll have their debut album Turn Out The Lights on hand at the show, and you can get an idea of their sound on the single “National Monument.”  The electro pop of Houston’s Camera Cult will provide direct support while the dark and hypnotic electronica of MIEARS will go on beforehand.  Tee Vee will open things up with their catchy electronic goodness for the all ages show with doors at 8 pm and a $10 cover.

  Walter’s will host the celebrated electronics of Montreal’s Marie Davidson.  Hailed by critics as genius, Davidson’s latest release Perte d’identite is a dark synth tour de force.  Dylan Cameron will bring his impressive techno dance sounds on as direct support while Maramuresh will go on before.  Houston’s Hedrick & Murland will also be on hand while the minimal synths of Houston’s Funeral Parlor will open the all ages show with DJ sets from Andy V and Bad Bones. The doors are at 8 pm and tickets between $10 and $13.

  Beach Slang. Photo: Charlie Lowe/Polyvynyl Records

  Downstairs in the big room at White Oak Music Hall you can catch the quirky sounds of Minus The Bear.  The indie rock five-piece has been making waves since they began and their latest Voids from this year is their most cohesive to date.  The can’t be missed indie fuzz rock of Beach Slang will be on hand as direct support, and I promise you don’t wanna’ miss them play last year’s A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings in person.  Houston native turned Austin transplant Bayonne will open the all ages show with his mix of live instrumented electronica with doors at 8 pm and tickets between $22.50 and $27.

  Over at Boondock’s you can get groovy with the Les Femmes show.  Featuring DJ sets from GRRRL Parts DJs Angiesliste, and Gracie Chavez, the all female DJ event is a good way to end a Saturday.  The 21 & up show with visuals from Leckie, gets going around 10 pm and it’s 100% FREE.

  Sunday you can get started at Civic TV Collective for Dr Wiggins’ Sunday Matinee show.  This edition will feature the always amazing lo-fi indie rocks of Houston’s Hearts Of Animals.  In December they dropped a new track called “Cat Karma” that basically blew my mind, and while there’s no word of when the new album will drop, the recent live sets from them have been pretty epic.  The power punk pop of Houston’s K. Campbell will open things up as well as a quick acoustic set from The Wiggins at the all ages and 100% FREE show with doors at 2 pm.

  Later on you should swing by the studio at Warehouse Live for the fuzzy soulful pop of LA’s Chicano Batman. These guys are pretty amazing and they impress wherever they perform, plus their new album Freedom Is Free from this year is like if Alejandro Escovedo played with Toro Y Moi.  Sad Girl will bring their lo-fi surf pop on as direct support while The Shacks will open the all ages show with doors at 7 pm and tickets between $14 and $16.

  Ruiners. Photo: Jordan Asinas

  Over at The Clinic you can get down with the catchy garage pop of Pennsylvania’s Spill. Seriously, if this four-piece is half as strong live as their latest release Top Ten from last year, then this should be a killer show.  The indie rock of Albany’s Aficionado will pop direct support while the crazed energy of Houston’s Ruiners will go one beforehand. As one of the last shows under this name, Valens will open the all ages show with doors at 7 pm and tickets between $5 and $7.

  Satellite Bar will have the heavy rock sounds of Denver’s Cloud Catcher.  Playing guitar-based and doom-inspired sounds, this power trio brings plenty of riffs and heavy goodness on their newest album, this year’s Trails of Cosmic Dust.  Houston’s Funeral Horse will show them how energetic heavy metal can be as direct support while the chunky riffs of The Dirty Seeds will open the all ages show with doors at 8 pm and a $10 cover.

  Monday you can get your groove on with the electro pop jams of Austria’s SOHN downstairs at White Oak Music Hall.  This producer singer songwriter definitely knows how to drop tracks that are as sexy as they are groovy, and his latest release Rennen from last year might make you sweat or take off clothes.  The avantgarde electronica of the UK’s William Doyle will be on as direct support and opener for the all ages show with doors at 7 pm and tickets between $17 and $22.

  Colleen Green. Photo: Eric Pena/Hardly Art

  Walter’s will have a barn burner when the rock n’ roll mayhem of sibling duo White Mystery of Chicago swings by to perform.  Here in support of their upcoming release Fuck Your Mouth Shut, these two do more as a duo than some bands do with three times as many members. The fuzz rock bedroom pop of LA’s Colleen Green will be on as direct support, and I promise you won’t want to miss her.  The electronic fusion of LA’s The Memories will also be on the bill while the lo-fi pop of San Francisco’s Emotional will be on beforehand.  Houston’s Rose Ette will bring their indie pop rock on as openers for the all ages show that’s 100% FREE for the adults and $5 for minors with doors at 8 pm.

  Tuesday things get back to normal when the massively popular show Grownup Storytime returns to Rudyard’s.  The Bootown produced show has become a staple for most Houstonians and tourists alike, and it’s always a hilarious and fun time,  There are two shows at 8 pm and 10 pm, it’s 21 & up, and like always both carry a measly $5 cover.

  That’s about all that’s happening around town this week.  No matter what you decide to embark on, remember that getting home safe is best for you and everyone else, so be mindful when you drink.

So There: The Best of The Week this is a repost

[phclemenza-blog]

Track 1: Any Trouble – Where Are All the Nice Girls? (1980)

A simple life is all I need

Two shots of fantasy and one of make-believe

I never tried too hard to make this succeed

You're the only one I need

—       Second Choice written by Clive Gregson

This quote could be the unofficial motto of a diffident and rather understated 80s pub band called Any Trouble. They grew out of the “angry young man” singer-songwriter movement led by Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, and Graham Parker, but Any Trouble, led by singer/songwriter/rhythm guitarist Clive Gregson, always seemed to have some tenderness under that angry façade. Any Trouble is also a band that had such bad luck that I will be using Spinal Tap references to demarcate the sections.

Merely a two-word review, just said, “Sh*t Sandwich…”

I first ran across the band Any Trouble in my high school days in the early 80s, and thought they were slight but passably enjoyable but not much more. However, my esteem for them has grown to the point where I wanted to start this blog to sing, as it were, their praises. So why the sea change in opinion?

In the states in the early 80s, there were three ways to encounter aspiring British bands at least in the Northeast: the then still nascent MTV, 92.7 FM WLIR from Long Island (usually via tapes from friends), and underground radio shows like London Underground. At the time, Any Trouble had already been dropped by Stiff Records and had reinvented themselves as a keyboard-heavy, pastel-coloured 80s New Wave band in the A-ha and Spandau mold. I found this music on early MTV (even though to this day I do enjoy their 1983 eponymous album which I purchased on vinyl back in the day, featuring some fine pop songs buried under layers of keyboard, especially “I’ll Be Your Man” and “Touch and Go”). Gregson explained it in the liner notes from their Complete Stiff Recordings compilation, “The result was my least favorite AT album…featuring some of the best songs! For the first time we tried to chase fashion…and failed miserably. The keyboard and synth heavy sound was a million miles from the guitar jangle we’d previously made…and nobody seemed to much care for the new approach.”1

Years later when I rediscovered the band researching on the extremely helpful and useful AllMusic site, I was surprised that they were a pub band originally. Their driving, heartfelt, singer/songwriter style of pub fare was so much up my alley that I was shocked to find I was unfamiliar with it (although I did faintly remember the video for “Second Choice” on MTV’s very early days, probably before Stiff stiffed them).

If it was in dubly…

The problems for Any Trouble started with the comparisons to the other angry young men, especially Elvis Costello. They had a bespectacled, unconventional-looking lead singer who also wrote the songs and played guitar, and they played jangly, R&B-based pop rock. Some even called their first hit, Second Choice, “stunningly derivative…a retread of ‘Less than Zero’” and Gregson’s voice a “nasal” version of Costello’s distinctive baritone full of “overall nice-guy swellness.”2Gregson even acknowledged the similarities: “Nobody could deny that our first album owed a sonic and arrangement debt to EC’s first LP. Both records are primarily guitar based and focused on mostly short-ish, uptempo, R’n’B based pop rock songs…It was all too easy a comparison to make because EC was there first and had already achieved a great deal of commercial success, we rather come off as a poor runner up.”1

Also reviews at the time were less than forgiving with Any Trouble’s pub band style, something that had, in the cognoscenti’s opinion, run its course 5 years prior with bands like Brinsley Schwartz and a hundred others who never cracked the billboards charts let alone the public’s perception but who inspired Rockpile, Elvis Costello, and a host of punk bands who were pub rocks followers. It is difficult to imagine a band being chastised today for their style being a few years out of date given all of the retro styles being plumbed for inspiration but the seventies were a decade that started with the end of the Beatles and witnessed pub rock, punk rock, disco, and the start of new wave to name a few. Times were a-changing quickly then.

Though Any Trouble espoused the angry young men’s attitude their soft hearts belied their message and in an age of punk, it was inexcusable. Any Trouble’s “nice girls” seemed like Graham Parker’s “local girls” but Clive Gregson still wanted to “kiss her feet and shake her hand”. The band’s name was derived from a misremembered line in the great film Blazing Saddles when Cleavon Little holds himself hostage oddly to save his own life. At least the Shoes correctly cited John Lennon in naming themselves. Talk about an unpretentious, even self-marginalized band.

Their self-effacing approach helps explain their rather diminished legacy, though luck and other factors played a role. This is a band that was happy just to be on the Stiff Records roster though that also ended being to their detriment. But for that we have to review their full history.

We traveled the world and elsewhere…

Any Trouble was formed in 1975 in Crewe, England while Gregson was attending teacher training college. They started as an acoustic trio covering artists  like the Who, the Band, the Beatles, and Bruce Springsteen. Their name stuck quickly but “[i]t seemed to conjure up a vision of something approaching an Oi! Band to certain punters who were never slow to let us know they were very disappointed by our brand of melodic (albeit pretty rapid!) pop-rock.” They were even billed as “Andy Trouble” once.1

In a couple of years punk was sweeping the UK, but Any Trouble was more influenced by the singer-songwriter artists like Costello, Parker, and Rockpile, who had “a clearer connection to the American stuff [they] were already playing”. The band moved to Manchester in 1978 and set their lineup: Gregson (vocals, guitar, and keyboards), founding member & lead guitarist Chris Parks, drummer Mel Harley, and bassist and backing vocalist Phil Barnes. Gregson had started to write songs in his “hyperactive new wave style.” 1

By mid-1979, they were ready for a demo tape. The group borrowed money from Phil Barnes’s dad, and on August 17 recorded four songs in eleven hours at Pennine Studios. After 5 more hours of mixing, Any Trouble were ready to release an indie double-A-side single of “Yesterday’s Love” and “Nice Girls”. 500 copies were pressed, some of which the band sold at gigs, but Barnes and Parks, who worked at an HMV record store, would give a copy to each label sales rep. They eventually gave a copy to the legendary John Peel, who was on a road show at Manchester University but “he dropped it into a big black bin bag that was already full of records and demo tapes: every band in the north west had apparently had the same idea!” 1 A few weeks later Peel played “Yesterday’s Love”, and soon the song was making the rounds at the various BBC radio shows. “So in essence we had a single that nobody could really buy, recorded by a band with no professional management or structure, getting what amounted to A-list airplay at the BBC…Pretty amazing!” 1

The band found a professional manager and started fielding offers from major labels like EMI, WEA, Rak, Chrysalis, and Stiff. The studio reps visited their shows and tried the band out in the studio. Once the band heard that Stiff wanted them, the competition was over. “[W]e were already fans of the label, their artists, their style – so we duly signed to Stiff in early 1980.” 1 “We went with Stiff because they were our kind of people working with acts that we actually liked!”4

Any Trouble returned to Pennine Studios with former Squeeze producer John Wood, and made a record in a couple of weeks. “When we made our first album that was our live sound. Just like the Beatles - that first album was our stage show. We made the whole record in less than three weeks - and we should have done it in less than a day really (laughs).” 3

Expectations were high for the release. Gregson: “Half of me was absolutely thrilled that Allan [music journalist Allan Jones of “Melody Maker”] and various other media folk were waxing so lyrical about the album and the band…and half of me couldn’t really understand what they were getting so excited about! I liked the record but I mostly thought of it as a starting point and far from the finished article.” 1 “But Allan was really taken with it and stuck us on the front cover of Melody Maker saying this is the greatest thing since sliced bread and we patently weren't.”3 Talk about modest!

Artie Fufkin, Polymer Records…

The marriage to Stiff was clearly a huge mistake. “In terms of chart success, fame, and fortune, Stiff and Any Trouble patently didn’t work! We were spectacularly unsuccessful…we actually weren’t anything like a ‘typical’ Stiff band…We simply didn’t have the strong visual image that Ian Dury, Madness et al had in spades. Check out our Stiff videos…talk about a band in search of a look!” 1

The album also faltered overseas as the fledgling Stiff America label was out of its depth. “The label was becoming rather more mainstream in many ways... and I think they felt that what Any Trouble was all about was right for the new times. They were hopeful that we could also spearhead breaking the label in the USA.”4 “When we arrived in the States in December 1980 as part of the Son of Stiff tour, we had the most added airplay record nationwide but no albums in stores and no effective distribution or marketing programme…a glorious missed opportunity.” 1  

Like Artie Fufkin, apparently, the Stiff America reps had no timing. A Stiff rep also reportedly encouraged Gregson to go solo (as “Buddy” Gregson to compound a bad idea). Stiff did think highly enough of Any Trouble as a live band to put out an “official bootleg” live album but the disc never did get a proper release outside of Germany (in 1989) and as a radio promotion until “The Complete Stiff Recordings 1980-1981” compilation came out in 2013.

“But by the time we had improved and got better the fuss had all gone. You only really get one shot in the big nasty world of the music business and it went disastrously wrong because we weren't really ready for it.”3

Puppet Show and Spinal Tap…

The band followed up Where Are All the Nice Girls? with Wheels in Motion but with a new drummer, new producer, and a relocation to London. The record company started getting nervous about the lack of commercial success. Searching for scapegoats, Wood was removed as producer and replaced by Mike Howlett but the excecs had a falling out with him as well, over the mixes and tended to replace rougher but visceral mixes with the more polished final mixes. The band toured the US to support the album but after about a month were summarily dropped by Stiff. Their manager tried to keep the tour going by booking them to open for Molly Hatchett (Any Trouble Mach 2?). However, the band instead returned to The Stiff office in New York to get tickets back to England but instead had their van robbed. They did return home but did so with their tails between their legs. Of the relationship, Gregson said, “I’ve often thought that being able to say ‘I was in a band signed to Stiff Records’ is not a million miles away from being able to say ‘I was in a Merseybeat band in the 60s’”. 1

How much more black could this be? The answer is none, none more black…

The band then went their separate ways—“we had no manager, no label, no money, and no real prospects.” 1 But Gregson conjured up the version of Any Trouble that I originally encountered in 1983 and signed a deal with EMI America. However, the band never would tour the US to support the album even though they were signed to an American label. They  did return to England and Europe.

Any Trouble was so surprised that EMI America picked up the option on a second album that they reunited with producer John Wood and produced a double album with each a different approach for each of the four album sides with guest musicians on side one, horns and string on side 2, moody ballads on side 3, and an odds’n’sods side 4. Gregson calls this the best album of their original run. EMI did not release the double album in the states, replacing it with a single disc version, again did not support a US tour, and finally dropped the band from the label.

Any Trouble played one last gig at Dingwalls in London and would not reunite for another 23 years. “I always say that getting away from EMI in 1985 was the end of my involvement in the music business and the start of my involvement in the Clive Gregson business!”4 The reunited band now has now produced 2 albums: Life in Reverse (2007 on Stiff Records and again produced by John Wood) and Present Tense (2015 on Cherry Red). Clive Gregson has put out 15 solo albums since 1985 when EMI liberated him, including five from his pairing as a folk duo with Christine Collister.5

The Tracks

A note on the track listings – They are listed by the original UK 1980 LP order by side and track for the original 10 songs (e.g., A1 means the song appeared on side A and was track 1 of that side). The original running time was 34:31. In the US three songs were added, two covers—Springsteen’s “Growing Up” and ABBA’s “Name Of The Game”—and the B-side “No Idea” and one song (“Honolulu”) was omitted.6 I, however, first become acquainted with the album via the 1997 Compass release, the first on CD, which included 3 extra tracks to the original ten (run time 43:07). When the band reorganized and resigned with Stiff in 2007, a reissue of the CD with the same track listing as the 1997 disc was released with one addition, the original 1979 single version of “New Girl”. The 2013 Complete Stiff Recordings CD1 of a 3-disc set covers the album and adds the original 1979 single version of “Nice Girls”, a remix of “Turning Up the Heat”, and a demo of “The Hurt” to the 1997 CD version.

As with a lot of forgotten discs, it has evolved over the years. I list all of the songs below.

A1                  Second Choice

(Also released as a single with B-side of “The Name of the Game” & “Bible Belt” (live))

Written-By – Clive Gregson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sryujH_qX-4

I never felt the need to cry or rejoice.

I never felt the need to raise my voice.

I only wanted to be one of the boys.

Now, you’ve made me second choice.

The first cut on the album was the single, as was typical in those days, and it also served as a good introduction to Any Trouble’s frenetic music style and its world view. The song opens with Parks and Gregson doubling each other with Byrds-like jangly guitar work and the rhythm section embracing a ska beat. After the opening lines from Gregson, the chorus settles into a more standard pop fare with more of a walking bass line (with two notes per beat) and fewer fills on the drums. The style is Any Trouble at its best: a simple pop song a bit sped up.

As to whether Any Trouble was power pop, it seemed Gregson himself was not sure though he leaned against it, “I was never that sure that we really were a ‘power pop’ band... I always felt that we were rather more of a simple pop/rock band with a bit of an r 'n' b sensibility. I also had roots in contemporary folk music and was never averse to bringing some of that influence to the table. Most acts who were tagged with the ‘power pop’ label had a much tougher, edgy guitar sound than us... we specialised in a particularly scratchy Fender jangle through tinny amps sound! Chris was also very country influenced as a guitarist... Our songs tended to be short-ish with a proper melody, hook lines and plenty of relationship angst themes! Nowadays it all seems to have a rather naïve charm and not much actual ‘power’ at all...”4

As regards Gregson’s message, it takes the rebuffed lover and delves into his psyche from “the nursery school floor” to what he wants today, which in Gregson’s world is merely the girl, the simple life, and the requisite imagination to think this is success.

A2                  Playing Bogart

Written-By – Nick Simpson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB-N46M-CaM

Give me something for the man

Who doesn't have to try too hard

Spent a little time rehearsing my tom petty leer

Well I dressed up for my conquest

Come out fighting no holds barred

And I pray for courage and some halfway decent beer

“Playing Bogart” was the only cover on the original album. It was written by Nick Simpson, the lead singer of a band called 23 Jewels out of Manchester.7 The single came out a year earlier and the band would only generate two singles and an EP before fading into the ether in 1981.8 The 23 Jewsels version of the song can be heard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP1QqAARG8U.

The song fits into Any Trouble’s ethos of the nerdy everyman trying to live up to ideal male hero like Humphrey Bogart who always got the girl and looked cool smoking and drinking something neat. The hero waits for his chance at a party to meet a girl, tries to live up to his ideal, but is scared off by her other suiters and ends up sitting on his bed smoking a single cigarette in the dark (there might be a metaphor there). Even though he has that “7:30 Friday night feeling” in his bones, he is defeated before he even starts knowing that he cannot carry off the image he has set for himself with his weariness with the same conversations, his eyes red from smoke and his legs going lame—it’s no wonder with the pathos the hero feels: “all martyrs suffer as I walk back slowly through the bar.” He consoles himself that he is better off by himself if he loses “playing Bogart” unlike those “good-time people [making] excuses on their telephones.”

The hero girding himself for the conquest is also belied by the tense and nervous musical style of the song. If he presents himself as cool and calm like Bogart, that certainly isn’t how he is feeling under it all from the start of the song if one listens to its kinetic style. Any Trouble takes the already fast but sloppy 23 Jewels version and quickens the pace while making the song a tight, neurotic anthem in the Any Trouble vein.

A3                  Foolish Pride

Written-By – Clive Gregson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmrIo5iL6vk

She’s so high class, you’re gonna have to let her pass and swallow your foolish pride.

“Foolish Pride” is the first ballad-y, slower song on the album, but as Gregson said, “[W]e played pretty much everything at a furious tempo. Even the ‘slow’ songs…”9 It might be the prettiest and most idealistic song on the album. The guitars soar—and is that a pedal guitar added in as well?—as he sees the girl with “angel eyes” and the song follows a typical boy-meets-girl love song until the hero realizes that she is not the one for him and the guitars crash back to earth. They scratch out a nervous tempo while the hero realizes that he has to swallow his foolish pride and let her go because he is not man enough.

A4                  Nice Girls

(Also, 1979 original version released as a B-side to “Yesterday’s Love”; re-released 1980)

Written-By – Clive Gregson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itYqWUSAqRQ&index=4&list=PLJbEfr2GyzFsFPD5eBY_-69ZCw_BWmIOA

Oh, where are all the real girls?

They act the way they feel girls?

I may love Where Are All the Nice Girls? since it follows Rob Gordon’s compilation tape rules from the John Cusack film High Fidelity. It starts off “with a killer to grab attention” and then takes it up a notch. Then it “cools it off a notch” with “Foolish Pride”, but probably the best song on the album and the one that give it its title comes.

“Nice Girls” starts with a simple, plaintive guitar riff and then Gregson sings his most mournful. A second guitar followed by a Procol Harum organ, a “perfect drunkenly sad-organ” 10, then takes up the cause. Finally, drums and bass take it to the next level. A jumpy chorus breaks up the mournful strains, but the song continues to build until it finally fades away.

[Re. the 1979 B-side: The original “Nice Girls” B-side recording is a bit looser (9 seconds longer) than the 1980 LP version. The lonely organ is missing but the result might sound a bit closer to the Any Trouble live sound when they are playing a slow song towards the end of the night to the hoots of the crowd to keep their anticipation up for the kicker at the end. There is also no fadeout like on the album—maybe the old studio did not have that functionality yet.]

A5                  Turning Up The Heat

(Also, a remix version was added to the 2013 Complete Stiff Recordings CD1)

Written-By – Clive Gregson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKgx4Y0j5SY&index=6&list=PLJbEfr2GyzFsFPD5eBY_-69ZCw_BWmIOA

Look around you baby and you see them all havin’ fun.

Hey, now, why are you the lonely one?

Again Rob Gordon would be happy: “Heat” builds on the power of “Nice Girls”. A chorus with female backing singers is added for the first time on the album which creates a new wrinkle. Gregson actually sounds like early “I’m the Man”-era Joe Jackson. I am not sure what the lyrics are all about—landing at an airport and there are crowds and then there is a girl who’s lonely and that turns up the heat?—but it is a great pop song.

[Re. the Remix: The remix version has a bit more treble and sounds a bit faster clocking in at 2:54 as opposed to 3:00 for the original. Maybe it sounded a bit more New Wave in the high, fast version like a Vapers tune.]

B1                  Romance

Written-By – Clive Gregson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEJ-SMjEvkg&index=10&list=PLJbEfr2GyzFsFPD5eBY_-69ZCw_BWmIOA

They say love’s a mystery.

All seems so clear to me:

Love’s another promise I could never keep.

Side A set up the formula for Where Are All the Nice Girls?, but Side B blows the doors off. The album starts going in all sorts of directions and each is better than the last. “Romance” gets the heart pumping right away with a double beat followed by guitars, bass, and drums frantically racing each other up and down the melody. The last thing it seems is romantic—“sweating in the shade.” Quite the contrary, the words talk about love being a Kafkaesque mystery. Gregson starts out talking to “you”, his alter ego he is advising, then about “they”, i.e., society telling him how he should act and feel, and finally “I”, where he finally owns his failure in romance as “another promise I could never keep.” The song then rushes to an abrupt finish.

B2                  The Hurt

(Also, a demo version appears on The Complete Stiff Recordings, CD1)

Written-By – Clive Gregson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG5fuMfYmbs

Loving you is like playing with fire.

I tried it once and it burned my desire.

“The Hurt” barely misses a beat with Gregson again shout-singing his heart out in Joe Jackson style all the while being chased by racing guitars. At least he is actually trying love this time, but now he is afraid of “the hurt”. Neurotically, he is sure it is rushing towards him. At least he is now being honest with himself as the music echoes his inner turmoil unlike in “Romance”.

[Re. the Demo: It sounds a bit looser and slower (15 seconds longer than the LP version). It sounds a bit like a Greg Kihn cover of the song.]

B3                  Girls Are Always Right

(Also released as a single with B-side “No Idea”)

Written-By – Clive Gregson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8cz7Tusig0

The way that girls act is a problem for me.

Everything they do is complete mystery.

They stand around being so outspoken.

They’re just waiting for their hearts to be broken.

“Girls Are Always Right” takes a moment to cool the heat from the first two songs on side B at least initially. Then Gregson sings his heart out in a song that seems to mirror Joe Jackson’s classic “Is She Really Going Out With Him?” As the lovelorn singer wallows in self-pity apparently finally having “the hurt” catch up with him and his only solace is the sarcasm in saying that the girls are always right. The song takes the intensity building in the last two songs and, though it is slower, keeps it building. The female backing singers return like a Greek chorus and with snarling guitars prod and harass the hero. The song is “four minutes of evocative yet tender, poppy angst.” 10 “Girls Are Always Right” is Any Trouble at their gut-wrenching best.

The song builds slowly and progressively. It starts with a shimmery guitar twang and then twinkling cymbals, laconic piano, an occasional bass beat, and a second complementary guitar join in. Then Gregson voice floats in. Finally, drums and a proper bass line join to a crescendo about a minute in. The guitars shimmer and entwine like cooing doves or a couple in love. Then the piano returns with the cymbals momentarily until a second crescendo about two minutes into the song with backing singers now joining in. The piano and guitar (no cymbals this time) return one last time as the song again builds to one last crescendo about 3.5 minutes in. The song soars and builds throughout.

B4                  Honolulu

(Note: Dropped from 1980 US version of the LP)

Written-By – Clive Gregson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZE-1O2v_Sbc&index=12&list=PLJbEfr2GyzFsFPD5eBY_-69ZCw_BWmIOA

I don’t care if I never say a word.

This kind of a love should be seen and not heard.

“Honolulu” feels like a fresh break from the romantic cycle of the previous three songs, both musically and lyrically. The song starts with Gregson soto voce and upbeat about meeting a girl while a guitar strums. He is just voicing his desires, living in the moment about love being “seen and not heard”.

The music amps up to Any Trouble’s typical frenetic pace but now it sounds like excitement, not neuroses, even if it is all just a dream. The female backup singers appear one last time, doubling Gregson’s wishes as if the girl is into it for once. But it is short-lived…

B5                  (Get You Off) The Hook

Written-By – Clive Gregson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GWiYPryuG4&list=PLJbEfr2GyzFsFPD5eBY_-69ZCw_BWmIOA&index=13

Because you're closed in the pages of a hist'ry book And the last one says that you've run out of luck But you can't sew, and you can't cook So the time has come to GET YOU OFF THE HOOK...

The album ends with Gregson again heartbroken and in pain on “The hook”. However, this time he tells himself (addressed again as “you”) that it will be all right—he’ll save himself. The song starts in a mournful shuffle like a lonely man walking the streets and hesitates as he recounts all of the problems he now faces, but it races as he declares that he will get himself of the hook. Now, the song is upbeat with a playful organ riff—a la Steve Nieve on Elvis Costello’s “You Belong to Me” or “Senior Service”—rising over the guitars, and it ends the album in a series of false starts as the hero again has some trepidation but the happy organ keeps breaking through.

Yesterday's Love

(1979 single with B-side “Nice Girls”, re-released 1980 & Track 1 on the 1997 CD release)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYVm73yMAdg

I don’t want to be your lover

I just want to hold you for the rest of the night.

“Yesterday's Love” roars off at the start of Who Are All the Nice Girls? as it was first released on CD (in 1997). That was the version that I was first introduced to and fell in love with. However, I now acknowledge that the original LP version is the best one given the cogent, economic, and effective artistic message it presents. Being the completist that I am, I still prefer the more bloated 13-song CD version though a good compromise would just be to prepend “Yesterday's Love” at the beginning of the LP.

It is a shame that this emphatic song did not make the final album cut since it is Rob Gordon’s perfect kickoff to the album. Initially, it is just Gregson singing in your right ear (love the low tech mixing) like an angel (or devil) on your shoulder. The lines above burst through to open up “Yesterday's Love”, which is a strong Any Trouble version of power pop. The closest comparison in feel is Elvis Costello’s “The Beat” from This Year’s Model, which came out the year before the single was recorded. The song may have been cut just for its blasé approach to love not fitting the album ethic. “Yesterday's Love” is terrific, it must be said, and it is not a surprise it made them a mini-sensation prior to producing their first album.

No Idea

(Side A Track 3 on the 1980 US release & Track 6 on the 1997 CD release; Also released as the B-side to “Girls Are Always Right” single)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGn07K9VqcQ&index=7&list=PLJbEfr2GyzFsFPD5eBY_-69ZCw_BWmIOA

And the only love I know is like a light out in the dark

Shining! Shining! Everywhere.

“No Idea” is maybe the most positive song on the extended album, which may have been why it ended up on the cutting room floor. It is another great power-pop tune about love, loneliness, and loss. The lines above just shimmer--great song but it would get lost in the mix. It does show why Where Are All the Nice Girls? is a lost classic: even a rejected track could have been a standout on an average album. Here it seems repetitive and almost forgettable.

Growing Up

(Side B Track 1 on the 1980 US release & Track 11 on the 1997 CD release)

Written-By – Bruce Springsteen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdeszR8o90g&index=9&list=PLJbEfr2GyzFsFPD5eBY_-69ZCw_BWmIOA

I took month-long vacations in the stratosphere, and you know it's really hard to hold your breath

I swear I lost everything I ever loved or feared, I was the cosmic kid in full costume dress

“Growing Up” was an addition to the US edition of the 1980 LP to appeal to the American crowd. Thematically, it fits in with the idea of emotional growth and Any Trouble rips through it joyfully earning their pub band stripes.  It was also a great cover at a time when Springsteen had not yet broken as big as he soon would. However, the Springsteen anthem is at odds with the romantic hero Gregson espouses in detail in the rest of the album The Boss had other ambitions.

The music is typical Any Trouble at a hyperkinetic pace. Their version is about half a minute quicker than the Boss’s. They forego the piano intro for a nervous guitar but add a rousing organ solo by producer Bob Sargeant.

Also, one of the features of the original song is ending each chorus with a rhyming progression from “they said, ‘Sit down,” I stood up” to “they said, ‘Come down,’ I threw up” to “they said, ‘Pull down,’ I pulled up.” Gregson in his hurried style blows right by that progression repeating three times some garbled variation of the last line (“I stood in the mortar and up the driveway, when they said, ‘Pull down,’ I pulled up.” Maybe?). Apparently, the band did not find this out until they played in New York: “I vividly remember playing our version of Springsteen’s ‘Growing Up’ in the Boss’s own backyard only for some guy in the crowd to bellow, “You got the words wrong!’ at the end...and he was right!”1

That was not the only thing the band got wrong with the song. Springsteen’s title was “Growin’ Up”, not “Growing Up”.

Name Of The Game

(Side B Track 6 on the 1980 US release; Also released as the B-side to “Second Choice” single)

Written-By – Benny Goran Bror Andersson, Bjoern K. Ulvaeus, Stig Erik Leopold Anderson (ABBA cover)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee4xHnWvvYk&list=PLZBgEVaTJlNOM5vwPuHU_XsCzKDDjqZwP&index=20

What's the name of the game? Does it mean anything to you?

What's the name of the game? Can you feel it the way I do?

Tell me please, 'cause I have to know

I'm a bashful child, beginning to grow

Another addition to the 1980 US LP was “Name of the Game”. I guess since Americans love ABBA (and yet “Honolulu”, which is in America after all, was taken off the album). It is a nice cover with a disco beat is a pub rock setting. Again it is a nice fir thematically for the band: uncertainty, love, etc.

But it is the least essential song on the list. It was left off the CD reissues of the album until the comprehensive three-disc Complete Stiff Recordings and then as part of the live set At the Venue (disc 3), not Where Are All the Nice Girls?

Ours go to eleven…

They had the dodgiest band name I can ever remember and their stage clothes were laughable, but the songs were world class and on-stage they played with the energy and enthusiasm of four escaped convicts let loose in a bar full or women.

I loved ’em but always stood back from the stage—Clive sang with such passion that he kept spitting over the front row and insisted on playing the ugliest Telecaster I’ve ever seen! Nearly twenty years later I can still sing the words to every song on this album and wish I could see them play the Venue just one more time before I die. (Nigel Dick, former Stiff Records press officer) 11

I loved the whole album…amazed at how much great lyric and melody Clive Gregson could squeeze into tracks that were moving at 90 m.p.h.!!! (Dennis Locorriere, Dr. Hook) 11

I was far away from Manchester, England when I first discovered an album with four curious looking guys staring up at me. It was as if they were they were saying, “Hey, aren’t you going to listen to us?” I was a DJ in Santa Barbara, California, at a little progressive radio station called KTYD. The DJ’s had a lot of freedom to pick their own music and often initialed the cuts they liked. I turned it over an d every song had someone’s initials on it. My curiosity heightened and I placed it on the turntable. Being female, I put the needle down on “Girls Are Always Right”. It was love at first listen. I decided to segue it into “It’s Different for Girls” by Joe Jackson. Beautiful. (Erin Riley) 11

Where Are All the Nice Girls? is an album that not only does not have a weak track, you could take any of these tracks and they would be a standout on another album. There is an urgency that is tangible.

The perfect storm of a finely honed pub band with many influences coming together at the right time musically created this lost classic:  “I think you’d get four completely different answers if you asked the band what influenced our sound! I’ve always been obsessed with The Beatles, Chris’s guitar hero was Tim Renwick (Sutherland Brothers and Quiver), Phil wanted to be Kenny Gradney (Little Feat) and Mel was very into Genesis. And of course we didn’t sound remotely like any of those bands at all! We were essentially a fairly basic two guitar/bass/drums band who somehow got spannered into New Wave…”9

Reviewing the tracks on this album in its various incarnations helped me rediscover what it is that I truly enjoy about it. Of course, there is the nerdy romantic hero with whom identify, but there is also the nervous, energetic, driving music that may or may not be Power Pop.

The one thing that I came away with in re-reviewing the album was how good side B of the original album was. It may not be the side B of Abbey Road but the way the songs build and musically and lyrically is pretty impressive. It is also something that is lost when listening to the album in the CD version with bonus tracks added.

Unfortunately, Gregson does not seem to think much of his first record, “I listen back to that first record now and I don't much like it - I don't think we were very good at all. It's very derivative and we didn't play very well and it was just a good honest attempt at what we were doing at that time. A lot of smarter people saw through it and saw it for what it was - just a naive little pop record.”3 But I think there is a timelessness that is based more on feeling that may be lost even on the artist that recorded it. Maybe a naïve little pop record that is made extremely well can transcend such inherent limitations.

There definitely is a style that is embodied by Any Trouble. As Clive Gregson said of the 2007 reconstructed version of the band, “[S]o off we went, having not played together at all in the interim! We recorded the first song for that album…and it sounded exactly like Any Trouble! That either means that we’ve not learned a thing on the intervening 33 years…or that we’d got it dead right first time round...I’ll let the listener make their own mind up on that…”9

Credits 1

Clive Gregson : Lead Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards

Phil Barnes: Bass & Vocals

Chris Parks: Guitars

Mel Harley: Drums

Alison Tulloch & Diane Robinson: Backing Vocals (“Turning Up the Heat”, “Girls Are Always Right”, “Honolulu”)

Bob Sargeant: Organ (“Growing Up”)

Engineer – Paul Adshead

Producer – John Wood (except “No Idea” & “Growing Up”: Bob Sargeant; “Yesterday’s Love”, “Nice Girls (single version), and “The Hurt” (demo): Any Trouble)

Recorded at Perrine Sound Studios, Oldham & Mixed at Sound Techniques, Chelsea (except “No Idea” & “Growing Up”: recorded & mixed at Roundhouse Studios, London; “Yesterday’s Love”, “Nice Girls (single version), and “The Hurt” (demo): recorded & mixed at Perrine Sound Studios)

References

1 Interview with Clive Gregson from Any Trouble: The Complete Stiff Recordings 1980-1981 booklet

2 Trouser Press (http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=any_trouble)

3 "Clive Gregson - The Triste Interview". Triste Magazine. October 1999. (http://www.triste.co.uk/gregson.htm)

4 Goggins, Patrick. "Interview with Clive Gregson (September 2014)". Dispatches from Coconut Grove blog (http://dispatchesfromcoconutgrove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/interview-with-clive-gregson.html).

5 AllMusic.com’s Clive Gregson page: http://www.allmusic.com/artist/clive-gregson-mn0000788222/discography

6 Discogs “Where Are All the Nice Girls?” page (https://www.discogs.com/master/view/39536)

7 Dicsogs Nick Simpson page (https://www.discogs.com/artist/676115-Nick-Simpson-2)

8 Discogs 23 Jewels page (https://www.discogs.com/artist/913634-23-Jewels)

9  "An Interview with Clive Gregson of Any Trouble (18th November 2014)". Band on the Wall. (https://bandonthewall.org/2014/11/an-interview-with-clive-gregson-of-any-trouble/)

10 “Underrated Classics: Any Trouble” (June 5th, 2012) on Heave Media (http://www.heavemedia.com/2012/06/05/underrated-classics-any-trouble/)

11 Any Trouble: Where Are the Nice Girls? 1997 Compass Records CD booklet

Other links:

Wikipedia Any Trouble page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Any_Trouble

AllMusic.com’s Any Trouble page: http://www.allmusic.com/artist/any-trouble-mn0000589564

A�<���