#phil collins's drumming on this record is out of this world good

[blindmanbaldwin]

There's nothing I can recognize; this is nowhere that I've known. With no sign of life at all, I guess that I'm alone, And I feel so secure that I know this can't be real but I feel good. Cuckoo cocoon have I come to, too soon for you?

“Cuckoo Cocoon” - Genesis

[torley]

Text and photos by Stacie Joy It's very possible that you at least heard the "In the Air Tonight" car on East Village streets this holiday season — you know, the 1985 Mazda Rx-7 GSL with an arena-ready sound system that plays the 1981 Phil Collins mega-hit on repeat. A mutual neighborhood friend led me to meet the car's owner — Don Garcia, a Bushwick-based plumber. We had questions for Garcia after the car was spotted in the East Village on Dec. 14... the subsequent EVG video clip was viewed nearly 120,000 times on Twitter ... Saturday night is not over until the ‘In the Air Tonight’ mobile makes a dance stop pic.twitter.com/IB89cJRyVd— evgrieve (@evgrieve) December 15, 2019 The two men shown in the video were walking by, and spontaneously felt compelled to start dancing along to the song, featuring that epic drum break, now played at sports arenas around the world. (Gothamist has more on this dance story here.) This holiday season, Garcia initially used the car — and its sound system — for a toy drive at the St Mary’s Healthcare System for Children. He does the Toys for Tots with the Legendary Muscle Cars Auto Club. Garcia seemed surprised but appreciative of the attention. He answered some questions before letting me do a ride-along in the East Village as he demonstrated the newly wired sound system and lighting. And of course, playing "In the Air Tonight." (For the record, Garcia did not wear any ear plugs, though I did for this trip)... How long have you been doing this? I have had this car for seven years, working on it all that time. But as far as the music and lights part, I started [on Dec. 13] — the day before the videos surfaced. Why this song? I was playing this song because it’s such a good song to tune the car stereo and speakers to. It’s a song that makes you want to go out and do something you didn’t think you could. It was me and Lito, the guy who wired my car. We’d been in Williamsburg earlier testing it out, and we were driving through the East Village when these two guys came out of a bar and requested, well demanded, that we put the song up loud, so we did. They jumped in front of the car and started dancing. We opened the doors at the light, pumped up the sound, and there were about 30 or 40 people standing there watching. When the song ended, we drove off. Do you play any others? Yes. I like rap, Spanish music, older stuff with no bad language. I like family-friendly stuff. Any conversations with the NYPD? No. Do you play the same song the entire time over and over? It's a good song and has a clear sound. People will stop and look, especially at night when you can see the lights. Garcia also said that he never gets tired of the song. It was interesting to be in the passenger seat as we rolled through the neighborhood with lights flashing and the song pumping. Lot of bass, and, of course, the famous drum solo. People waved, they pointed, danced, smiled and gave us thumbs up. A lot of people whipped out their phones and started filming. I didn’t see anyone react negatively.

[moremusic]

I started this website to promote the Adelaide scene and the bands that make it great. But every now and then I hear a song that I can’t stop listening to, and even if the band isn’t from Adelaide I interview them. That current song is “Dive In” by this weeks guest, Gone Fishin’. They hail from Wagga Wagga. Here is their interview.

Tell us a little bit about Gone Fishin’? Members, how did you get together etc?

Gone fishin�� came about I think mostly through mutual friends. We didn’t all know each other super well but Joey Skewes our guitarist knew that we were all into the same sort of stuff. We started jamming on some originals straight away and got really close pretty quickly.

Bass and trumpet - Mitch Davoren

Electric guitar - Austin Bellany

Guitar - Joey Skewes

Drums and backing vocals - Lachlan Coe

Lead vocals and synth - Anna Skewes

What are you short and long terms goals?

In terms of this year we would love to have a show in a city, maybe Canberra or Melbourne would be amazing. We’d also love to have an EP out before the end of the year

Some long term goals we’re aiming for include some bigger headlining shows and mostly just growing our following as much as possible. A tour is something we all dream of, it’d be incredible to play overseas and grow our monthly listeners to the thousands.

How was it dealing with the Covid Pandemic? Is everything back to normal?

We managed to form just after things started to settle down in terms of COVID (start of 2022). We haven’t really struggled in that area of things which we are very grateful for.

What is your career highlight so far?

Definitely the release of our single ‘Dive In’. It was possibly a year in the making, just with things going wrong with recording and sending it off. Thankfully Austin did amazing engineering and managed to get it across to Caleb Skewes who did an incredible job for us on the production. We’ve been so happy that so many people have been enjoying it.

Your song “ Dive in” is beautiful. I listen to it a lot. What is it about and how did you come up with?

The song sort of speaks to a girl who has rushed into a bunch of different relationships and has been constantly hurt over very small and short romances. And something that we’ve seen through school in particular is that potential friendships are often ruined by this unnecessary pain, and people feel like they have to avoid each other. Hence the line ‘no need to try and hide from your boyfriend’. I think overall we are trying to encourage younger people to slow down and think about who they chose to become romantic with to avoid pain and heartbreak.

Have you got any new music coming out? Or are you still recording?

We’re currently in the decision phase where we love all our songs and can’t choose which ones to release. We’re hoping to get in contact with some professional producers and studios to get at least a couple more songs going. Our good friend Josh Barr has been a huge help in linking us up with some big names.

Who are the greatest influences on you? Individually and as a band?

Joey Skewes - Alvvays

Mitch Davoren - Coldplay

Lachlan Coe - Spacey Jane

Austin Bellany - Snarky Puppy

Anna Skewes - The 1975

As a band I think someone we all take influence from would be The Strokes. Especially there debut album ‘Is This it’. We’ve written a few tunes that take from the choppy and tight movement particularly in the guitar and bass lines.

If you could invite 4 musicians to dinner dead or alive) who would you invite?

It’d have to be Paul McCartney, Lauren Hill, Phil Collins, and Chris Martin

Any gigs coming up you want to promote?

We’ll be playing at the Jungle Duke in Wagga Wagga along side The Radicals and Social Afterparty on the 17th of June! Starting at 8pm

And again in Wagga at the Festival of W on the 1st of July which will be awesome:)

If you were given the chance to support one artist in the world, who would you pick?

We’d all agree on Gang of Youths for sure. A few of us saw them live with Greta Ray opening who did such a great job, it’d be a dream to be up there with them

If you were stuck on a deserted island with only one record, what would it be?

We think something pretty influential, like

In Rainbows by Radiohead, incredible album

Where can people find out more about you?

Check out our Insta and Facebook for more info

https://instagram.com/gone_fishinofficial?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

[db-reviews]

#155 - The Window Of Life - Pendragon (1993)

Neo-prog, for me, is never a complex genre that defies expectations, nay ‘less we talk about Marillion or IQ. Among the vast but seemingly dim stars of the 90s Neo Prog scene, with groups like Arena, Collage, Abraxas, and Pallas, one, I think stands at the most mysterious, and the most introspective of which, has to go to Pendragon. While they existed during the hay-day of Neo Prog in the 80s, they really got on their own track in the 90s, specifically with the release of ‘The World’. There, they showcased their full capabilities to strip away from the more standard pop sound of The Jewel and Kowtow, and instead showcase a bit more inspiration from the past. ‘The World’ was what really pushed Pendragon to the window of new frontiers, and the key to that window lay in wake of their fourth album, ‘The Window Of Life’.

If there is one obvious I’d like to get out of the way, it is that the sound Pendragon likes to use here on this record is very unoriginal to put it bluntly. The sound found here is definitely reminiscent of styles of Genesis, Yes, and some slight twiddling of Camel and Todd Rundgren’s Utopia. Heck, in The Walls of Babylon, after the 2+ minutes of synths and guitars, has a part that sounds very much like the beginning of Watcher Of The Skies from Foxtrot. This isn’t a hit on Pendragon as many Neo Prog bands have done these similar heavy inspirations of songs (Supper’s Ready sixth part of Apocalypse in 9/8 comes to mind with Marillion’s Grendel and IQ’s Harvest of Souls taking massive inspiration from such), but it is something to disclose as for anyone interested in a more, I guess, newer sounding Prog Rock album.

Despite the album’s less than new sounding elements, Pendragon showcases that they can absolutely make up for that fact by showing off very moving instrumentals in each song. Clive Nolan’s keyboards, in tandem with Nick Barrett’s guitars, absolutely sells this album in my humble opinion. After 3 albums of developing their sound, Pendragon absolutely masters these moody elements that sound very much like 80s Arena Rock of Journey and Boston, but put through the Progressive Rock ringer to make their more symphonic status into a newer element, and so, whilst the sound may not be “original”, the primary acts the band deploys sure makes up for it, at least for me. This is why I love classic Neo Prog like IQ and Marillion; the meshing of old Symphonic Prog with more famous and popular genres like Pop, Punk, and AOR just creates for an interesting, but very rewarding possibility.

I should also talk about Fudge Smith’s drumming styles, because they are good, like, really good. I’d say they could rival Phil Collins in his prime, as this expert of a musician just crafts these magical drum beats that work so well within the stratosphere of the album’s magic. Really, the best part of the album is just the very magical array of beautiful instrumentals.

I will say though, that I am really not the hugest fan of Nick’s singing. I know he is putting his all, but I cannot help but find him a bit monotone and a little lifeless. I think he needs MORE emotion and MORE drive in his vocals. Get more rowdy and raise your voice more, or get more cryptic when the moment shines with lower vocals. Create a varied dynamic to get the listener more pumped up. I think he should try a little more is what I say.

I also think the bass is a little nonexistent. I swear, on my first listen, I didn’t even know there was a bass until I looked it up. I am sure Peter Gee’s bass is very good, but I never once heard it until I kinda noticed it in some tracks by taking a keen ear. It sounds way too muted, especially in conjunction with Nick’s guitars and Nolan’s keyboards. It is a bit of a shame to be honest.

Even though I find that this album doesn’t always have the highest points of interest in the musical department, Pendragon’s ‘The Window of Life’ is one that is a great showcase of more Neo Prog music. Lots of beautiful workings on the guitar and keyboards, and the really tight drumming just bleeds masterfully. The album is a little imperfect as discussed before, but nevertheless it is still a fantastic showcase of one of Neo Prog’s more prolific bands of the 90s through early 2000s.

4.5/5

[torley]

Meet the owner of the 'In the Air Tonight' car that plays the Phil Collins classic on repeat Text and photos by Stacie Joy It's very possible that you at least heard the "In the Air Tonight" car on East Village streets this holiday season — you know, the 1985 Mazda Rx-7 GSL with an arena-ready sound system that plays the 1981 Phil Collins mega-hit on repeat. A mutual neighborhood friend led me to meet the car's owner — Don Garcia, a Bushwick-based plumber. We had questions for Garcia after the car was spotted in the East Village on Dec. 14... the subsequent EVG video clip was viewed nearly 120,000 times on Twitter ... Saturday night is not over until the ‘In the Air Tonight’ mobile makes a dance stop pic.twitter.com/IB89cJRyVd— evgrieve (@evgrieve) December 15, 2019 The two men shown in the video were walking by, and spontaneously felt compelled to start dancing along to the song, featuring that epic drum break, now played at sports arenas around the world. (Gothamist has more on this dance story here.) This holiday season, Garcia initially used the car — and its sound system — for a toy drive at the St Mary’s Healthcare System for Children. He does the Toys for Tots with the Legendary Muscle Cars Auto Club. Garcia seemed surprised but appreciative of the attention. He answered some questions before letting me do a ride-along in the East Village as he demonstrated the newly wired sound system and lighting. And of course, playing "In the Air Tonight." (For the record, Garcia did not wear any ear plugs, though I did for this trip)... How long have you been doing this? I have had this car for seven years, working on it all that time. But as far as the music and lights part, I started [on Dec. 13] — the day before the videos surfaced. Why this song? I was playing this song because it’s such a good song to tune the car stereo and speakers to. It’s a song that makes you want to go out and do something you didn’t think you could. It was me and Lito, the guy who wired my car. We’d been in Williamsburg earlier testing it out, and we were driving through the East Village when these two guys came out of a bar and requested, well demanded, that we put the song up loud, so we did. They jumped in front of the car and started dancing. We opened the doors at the light, pumped up the sound, and there were about 30 or 40 people standing there watching. When the song ended, we drove off. Do you play any others? Yes. I like rap, Spanish music, older stuff with no bad language. I like family-friendly stuff. Any conversations with the NYPD? No. Do you play the same song the entire time over and over? It's a good song and has a clear sound. People will stop and look, especially at night when you can see the lights. Garcia also said that he never gets tired of the song. It was interesting to be in the passenger seat as we rolled through the neighborhood with lights flashing and the song pumping. Lot of bass, and, of course, the famous drum solo. People waved, they pointed, danced, smiled and gave us thumbs up. A lot of people whipped out their phones and started filming. I didn’t see anyone react negatively. Sound & Music https://evgrieve.com/2019/12/meet-owner-of-in-air-tonight-car-that.html