Saturday: Frisco Freakout brings together top local psych bands for charity
October 15, 2010
The third annual Frisco Freakout, taking place this Saturday, October 16th at Thee Parkside (1:30pm, $15), finds some of the Bay’s best psych rock bands uniting for an all day, all ages festival benefiting a great cause. On deck at the Freakout: Sic Alps, Howlin Rain, Wooden Shjips, Greg Ashley, Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound, Carlton Melton, White Manna, Young Prisms, Glitter Wizard, Strangers Family Band, Jeffertitti’s Nile, and Mass At Dawn.
Proceeds benefit Creativity Explored, an organization that “enables adults with developmental disabilities to express themselves artistically in a way that is personally rewarding and appreciated by others.”
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Interview: Wallpaper. plays a Bay Area festival for the very first time
October 15, 2010
In the spirit of the upcoming Treasure Island Music Festival October 16-17, The Bay Bridged had a chat with Wallpaper. The local band is scheduled to play on Saturday, along with a number of other dance-friendly electro acts.
This is the last in our series of interviews leading up to the festival. Previous interviews have featured Surfer Blood, Phantogram, and the Mumlers.
The most interesting musicians are almost always the ones that deftly walk a fine line between two halves of some fundamental contradiction – bands that hide gorgeous melodies under an ocean of sonic chaos or rappers whose lyrics reveal real emotional depth underneath standard-issue hip-hop bravado. Wallpaper., Eric Frederic’s solo electronic music project turned flesh-and-blood party band, is nothing if not a big heaping pile of contradictions. It’s high art masquerading as low art that’s so deft at satirizing the trashy pop music landscape while simultaneously giving it a big, sweaty hug that it’s often lightyears ahead of what even the most forward-thinking pop producers have in their bag of tricks. We talked to Frederic about his alter ego, Ricky Reed, how something he invented years ago as a joke somehow became the biggest force in pop music this year, and how arranging Bach chorales in college helped him write songs like “Doodoo Face.â€
TBB: You initially started Wallpaper as a solo project and it’s since transitioned into something you perform with a live band. What inspired the shift?
The impetus was that I wanted to perform songs I had written live and a guy just sitting behind laptop onstage is utterly boring. Also, a live performance always sounds better with live drums. There’s something very visceral, intense and sort of primal about live drumming. The live band setup we do is with drums, vocals and backing tracks with certain elements removed (like the vocals, kick, snare and some guitar) and we fill those gaps live. It creates a really intimate interplay between what’s happening live and the backing tracks.
TBB: Are you running the tracks from a laptop on stage?
Hell no, we’re running that shit off an iPod! When we first started doing it some industry people were like “you know a lot of people use laptops, why don’t you use that?” I was like, “have you seen our live shows? We have girls dancing on stage and people spilling drinks on us. Our live shows look Lightning Bolt or Hella or something. If we can use your laptop that’s cool.” If we can run these tracks off of something reliable, portable and easy, we’ll do that. That’s the sort of band we are – we’re going to do the easiest thing that will let us put on the best show. We don’t need expensive analog synths and complex laptop rigs.
TBB: Once you started knowing that you were going to be playing all your songs live, did it change the way you were writing songs?
Totally. When we first started playing live, I was in school at UC Berkeley and we were playing a lot of college parties. I was like, “man, these songs should jam a little harder, they should be a little more funky.” I was starting to get really, really, really deep into funk music and, at the time, I was doing a pretty intense study of West African drumming in school. All that came together into my making music a lot funkier and lot more danceable.
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Photos: Liz Phair, Loquat @ The Independent 10/10/10
October 14, 2010
Liz Phair
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Backseat Beat, Episode 4: The Downer Party
October 14, 2010
Backseat Beat is a video series highlighting indie musicians and the city by the Bay. Armed with Flip cameras, we interview bands in the back seat of our ‘83 Volvo as we spirit them away to unexpected, forgotten corners of San Francisco, where they plug in outdoors to play a few tunes. Each band’s performance transforms these urban spots from their anonymous day to day existence into surreal, magical backdrops.
If it’s Friday night and you’re facing a quiet evening at home, perhaps playing Farmville while finishing off the cold second half of the burrito you bought for lunch, then The Downer Party would be the perfect soundtrack. The perfect soundtrack, that is, to burn your ears off with hook-laden tales of whiskey-soaked debauchery, and to propel you off your fucking couch and into that loud dive bar you’ve been meaning to go to but haven’t yet because it’s on top of a hill and you only have that stupid fixie.
In addition to having the best band name ever in the history of rock, The Downer Party have been busy recording, playing “an extended tour… of the Bay Area” (including in swank venues like the Academy of Sciences), and plotting to break laws in several other urban areas next year. Elementary school music teacher and resident hellcat Sierra Frost sings, writes the songs and plays guitar, and has done a bang up job surrounding herself with some legitimate rockers (i.e. more than just tattoos and cigarettes – although there are plenty of those to go around).
The band may look like a walking hangover, but August Churchill plays guitar while working more pedals than you have fingers on one hand, Josh Merry holds down the bass while harmonizing with August and Sierra, and Christopher Crawford is not only the band’s lone ginger, nonsmoker, and vegetarian, but he also works up a lather behind his drum kit. The band steamed up the back seat as we drove them to an abandoned Greyhound bus yard, where they played a few tunes off their yet-to-be-released EP, Cities.
Not to damage their reputation, but The Downer Party couldn’t have been sweeter or more polite during the shoot. The songs in episode 4 will be lodged in your head for days (see above). Enjoy — and while you’re at it, take a moment to like Backseat Beat on Facebook, and while you’re there, leave a few kind words for the latest addition to the show, host Jaime Lee Currier.
— Dana Goldberg
The Downer Party
myspace.com/​downerpartytime
Backseat Beat
http://backseatbeat.net
http://facebook.com/backseatbeat
Created by Brad Robertson
Hosted by Jaime Lee Currier
Produced by Dana Goldberg and Brad Robertson
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Interview: Surfer Blood says Belle & Sebastian is their main riff at Treasure Island
October 14, 2010
In the spirit of the upcoming Treasure Island Music Festival October 16-17, The Bay Bridged had a chat with Tyler Schwarz of Surfer Blood. They are scheduled to play Sunday along with all the weekend’s indie rock acts. Stay tuned for more interviews from this year’s artists leading up to the festival.
TBB: You seemed to have a lot of success right out of the gate, and you have continued to be successful. How does it feel?
We starting to get into our mold, bigger shows. It’s still really exciting every day. We are going on tour with Interpol. Playing Treasure Island is exciting. I am happy we are playing festivals. I am happy we are playing Treasure Island especially. We haven’t played many festivals in the U.S. It’s fun to see people you like.
TBB: Are there any bands you particularly want to see?
There are a lot of great bands playing. Belle and Sebastian are playing. That’s like icing on the cake for me. That’s my main riff. [Asks the other guys in the band over the phone] Yeah, Belle and Sebastian!
TBB: So you recently had a song appear on 90210.
I had people texting me, telling me. I had no clue.
TBB: Are you guys fans of the show?
Of the original, I was a huge fan. I have all sisters. Older sisters, my mom, my grandma, oh man. Luke Perry, he was Dylan right? I think he died in a car crash? On the show. I remember there was one scene where someone gets in a car crash. It was a rainy night, I think it was Dylan.
I love 90210. The guy at the burger place was so cool. Mel, I think. Melrose Place was cool too, but too many people were getting married on the show. It just started getting weird.
TBB: Have you started writing the next album?
Yeah we have been writing on the road, writing at sound check. When we get home from the Interpol tour we are going to work on stuff. Â Whether it be demos, or recordings, or just jamming. It will be cool.
TBB: So you haven’t decided on a direction yet?
I know its going to have a bunch of guitars. Guitar music, I guess. I think it is going to be completely different than the first thing. It’s not going to be punk at all.
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Ticket Giveaway Wednesday: Win tickets to see Hoodoo Gurus, Zola Jesus, Matt Costa, and Villagers!
October 13, 2010
Hoodoo Gurus, The Wrong Words @ Great American Music Hall, October 14th
To enter send an email to contest@thebaybridged.com with “I want to see Hoodoo Gurus!” in the subject line and your full name in the body. The FIRST person to enter will win a pair of tickets to the show!
Show is at 8pm, $21/26 and all ages.
Zola Jesus, Broken Spindles @ Milk, October 15th
To enter send an email to contest@thebaybridged.com with “I want to see Zola Jesus!” in the subject line and your full name in the body. The SECOND person to enter will win a pair of tickets to the show!
Show is at 9pm, $10, 21+.
Matt Costa, Threes and Nines @ Slim’s, October 15th
To enter send an email to contest@thebaybridged.com with “I want to see Matt Costa!” in the subject line and your full name in the body. The THIRD person to enter will win a pair of tickets to the show!
Show is at 9pm, $16, all ages.
Villagers, Dave Smallen (Street to Nowhere), The Attachments @ Rickshaw Stop, October 19th
To enter send an email to contest@thebaybridged.com with “I want to see Villagers!” in the subject line and your full name in the body. The FOURTH person to enter will win a pair of tickets to the show!
Show is at 8pm, $12 and all ages.
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Kelley Stoltz talks about home recording and To Dreamers (Podcast #234)
October 13, 2010
This week, our podcast features the amazing Kelley Stoltz, whose latest album, To Dreamers, is out now on Sub Pop Records. Stoltz’s latest work is another winning batch of eclectic rock-pop from the home recording wizard, but it might be a little surprising to hear a rawer, slightly lo-fi influence also permeate some of the songs. Chalk that up in part to Stoltz’s presence in and around the Bay’s lo-fi scene, as the drummer in Sonny and the Sunsets and an early champion of The Fresh & Onlys via Stoltz’s Chuffed Records. Kelley Stoltz hasn’t abandoned the great Kinkseque pop he’s known for, but it has a bit more nerve this time around.
We sat down with Kelley a few months ago to talk about To Dreamers, his early days in the Bay Area scene, and his affinity for solitary song recording.
Upcoming Shows:
Friday, October 15th
Cafe Du Nord
with The Fresh & Onlys and Carletta Sue Kay (To Dreamers/Play It Strange record release show)
9:30pm, $12
After his record release show, Kelley Stoltz heads up and down the West Coast. In November, he heads to Europe. See all of his upcoming dates at his MySpace page.
Links:
- Visit Kelley Stoltz on MySpace.
- Purchase To Dreamers and Kelley’s previous albums on Sub Pop and on iTunes.
- Watch Kelley’s recent video from Yours Truly.
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Interview: Phantogram
October 13, 2010
In the spirit of the upcoming Treasure Island Music Festival October 16-17, The Bay Bridged had a chat with Phantogram. The New York-based band is scheduled to play on Saturday, along with a number of other dance-friendly electro acts.
Stay tuned for more interviews from this year’s artists leading up to the festival. The first interview of this series featured Will Sprott of the Mumlers.
TBB: How would you describe your sound in six words or less?
Beat-heavy dream drone pop.
TBB: Where did the band name come from?
We wanted our band name to convey the idea of a message from another world, ghosts, parallel universe, or subconscious. Josh suggested Phantogram, and we looked up what a phantogram was and we found it to be a good fit.
TBB: Can you tell me about the song writing process?
The songwriting process is different every time. Sometimes we get together and bring ideas to the table that we worked on separately, and see what meshes well. Sometimes Josh writes a song on guitar or piano, or Sarah writes an idea on piano or guitar. Lyrics are sometimes written on the spot, or we go back to our journals and see if any old ideas are fitting for a particular vibe. Josh writes most of the lyrics and most of the beats. We use samplers, tapes, records, drums, percussion, guitar, synthesizers, and other toys to create our sound.
TBB: What are some of your influences?
We listen to so many different kinds of music. We enjoy everything from old soul, french pop from the 60′s, to post-rock. Some artists that we are into are OH NO, Talking Heads, Why?, Flying Lotus, Guided By Voices, Mogwai, Francios Hardy, Flaming Lips, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Jay Dilla, Slowdive, etc…
TBB: Do you guys like to play large music festivals?
It’s a lot of fun! It’s great to share the stage and meet other bands that we admire. The only downside to playing festivals is that it can get a little bit stressful with setting up and having less time to soundcheck. So far, we’ve had a blast playing festivals.
