Number 535

Foo Fighters

“Monkey Wrench”

(2000)

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Genre:Alt Rock

art by ozzerauz

I have been trying to think of another Band that were world famous, who had broken up and its spin off just as big. Wings with Paul McCartney come to mind, but they were never as great as The Beatles were they?. After that its a bit of a struggle to think of anyone else. Sure you throw in a couple of hundred solo artists from “World Famous” bands but that doesn’t compare with Nirvana & Foo Fighters or Beatles & Wings. Metallica & Megadeth? Ugh, I give up. I don’t want to upset Nirvana fans (being one myself) but you have to ask who was really the driving force in Nirvana? If Kurt had survived being fatalistic about breathing then I’m sure Kobain and Grohl would have been the same league as Lennon/McCartney of the new Millennium. Guess we will never know.

pic by BrazenPhotography

Since the first Foo Fighters album was a collection of Dave Grohl solo recordings, their second, The Colour and the Shape, is in many ways their official debut, and it certainly does sound different than its predecessor. Producer Gil Norton has tightened up the sound considerably — his control was so tight that drummer William Goldsmith left the band during the recording, leaving Grohl to record the rhythm tracks for the bulk of the album. Certainly, Norton’s big, shiny production makes The Colour and the Shape sound more professional than the debut, but the presence of a full band makes a difference, too. The full Foo Fighters make Grohl’s songs heavier, not punkier, which may be a little unsettling to fans of the debut’s ragged, amateurish edge.

art by ThEnemY

 It’s also strange that the album has such a glossy, arena-ready sound, since Grohl’s songs are introspective, quite different than the endearing punk-pop of its predecessor. They’re also not quite as catchy as before, but the band compensates by delivering them with a brutal energy. Still, the lack of immediate hooks prevents The Colour and the Shape from truly catching fire ~ [Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide]

Early Grohl …. When Grohl was a young child, his family (father James, mother Virginia, and older sister Lisa) relocated from Ohio to Springfield, Virginia a suburb of Washington, DC. Three years later, his parents divorced, and Grohl grew up living with his mother. At the age of twelve, Grohl began tinkering with the guitar. He started with lessons, but eventually grew tired of them, and began to play in bands with friends. A year later, a summer stay at his cousin’s house spawned Grohl’s interest in punk rock. Grohl’s cousin Tracy took him to numerous punk shows during that summer, and Grohl returned to Springfield as a convert.

pic by hautsi

Over the next several years, Grohl played in several local bands, including a stint on guitar in a band called Freak Baby. At the same time, he had been teaching himself to play drums by banging on various items in his bedroom. When Freak Baby kicked out its bass player, Grohl decided to switch to drums, and the new band called themselves Mission Impossible. He later joined a hardcore/post-punk band called Dain Bramage. During his developing years as a drummer, Grohl cited John Bonham as his greatest influence, and eventually had Bonham’s three-circle logo tattooed on his wrist.
Grohl attended the former Thomas Jefferson High School as a freshman and sophomore. During his junior year, he briefly attended Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria, before transferring to Annandale High School. ~[Source:Wikipedia]

Roll call…..

For Paul McCartney & Wings see Number 583

For the Beatles see Number 947, 894 & 587

For Metallica visit Mellow Mix Vol 1 #033

For Megadeth see Number 981

For John Lennon see Number 639

For Hole visit Mellow Mix Vol 1 #030

What does Rolling Stone think about the FOO?

Foo Fighters‘ second album begins with a song about fear. “I’ve never been so scared,” sings Dave Grohl on “Doll,” a supershort ballad about a dare he shouldn’t have taken. The dare is not identified. Could it have been starting Foo Fighters after a career as Nirvana’s drummer? Or is it something a little more complicated?

When Foo Fighters’ eponymous first album came out, following Kurt Cobain’s suicide, it was hungrily received by a nation of Nirvana fans looking for a substitute and maybe wanting to comfort Grohl in his grief. The best songs on Foo Fighters’ debut sounded much like Nirvana (the quiet mumbles followed by loud screams; the melody under the noise). Grohl seemed to be emulating — and maybe speaking for — Kurt Cobain when Grohl yelled, “I don’t owe you anything,” on “I’ll Stick Around.” On The Colour and the Shape, Foo Fighters’ second album, there are certainly moments that bring to mind Grohl’s ex-band. You can’t listen to “My Hero,” a song about the disillusioning experience of finding out that your idol is merely human, without wondering if it’s about Cobain. Grohl’s repeated chorus on “Enough Space” recalls Cobain’s keenings on Nevermind’s “Stay Away” so much that you wonder if the song is an hommage.

art by almihigh

The lyrics on Foo Fighters seemed random; here, they are inward looking. There might be a concrete reason for that: Grohl recently split up with his wife (he is reportedly now dating Louise Post of Veruca Salt). The Colour and the Shape gives the impression that Grohl is working out some romantic issues — there are lots of relationship tunes both about breaking up and about a new love, such as the lovesick-soft, then bracingly loud “Up in Arms” and the truly mushy “Everlong,” in which Grohl chronicles being smitten with a singer. On the single “Monkey Wrench,” one of the harderedged songs on Colour, he sings: “I was always caged, but now I’m free.”

art by control (my fave)

On “New Way Home,” the last song on The Colour and the Shape, Grohl has an epiphany. He is driving to an unnamed location in Seattle, passing “boats and the Kingdome,” when he realizes that he “felt like this on my way home.” More important, Dave Grohl proclaims, “I’m not scared.” Whatever his fear was — starting the band, breaking up with his wife, making a highly autobiographical second record, or something totally different — it has been worked through. At least for now. ~ [RS 761 - May 29, 1997]]

Artist Fact File

Name:Foo Fighters……………..Related to³:Nirvana

Yrs Active:1995 to now…………Site:www.foofighters.com

Best Song¹:Everlong.…………..#1fan:www.foofans.com

Best Album²:The Color & The Shape.Grammy Awards:6

Albums Sold:18 Million +……….Next best thing:Audioslave

¹Number of downloads WINMX ²Artistdirect choice ³Associated acts or collaborations

Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (Do we love John or Paul?) and the Album ranked at Number (You work it out)

This song has a crowbarred rating of 74.2 out of 108 pts

Lyrics to the song

Previous Song 534 ….. Next Song 536

Tags:Foo Fighters, 2000, Alt Rock, Wings, The Beatles,Metallica, Megadeth, Nirvana,YouTube, Music Video, Rolling Stone Magazine, Crowbarred, New Zealand, Crowbarred Unleashed, The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time, Mellow Mix Volume 1, Mellow Mix Volume 2, Mellow Mix Volume 3, Mellow Mix Volume 4, Mellow Mix Volume 5, Mellow Mix Volume 6, Mellow Mix Volume 7, Mellow Mix Volume 9, Mellow Mix Volume 10, Mellow Mix Volume 11, Mellow Mix Volume 12

As DJ BJ, Reyes has DJed shows with !!!, Berlin dwelling Chicks on Speed, DAT Politics, FS Blumm, DFA-signed Juan MacLean, the Killers, Matmos, Nudge, Nice Nice, Apparat, the Books, big apple legends New York Dolls, and Peaches, to name only a few. Know that it’s a much longer list, set to include Born Ruffians as of this coming Monday, October 13th at Holocene. In addition to these slots, Reyes holds it down once a month at his Supernature club night with Copy and E*Rock at Branx.

Needless to say, Manny Reyes is one busy dude, but he’s taken the time out to answer these questions and compose Hang the DJ’s first ever companion mix to the playlist he lays out in detail. Have fun reading and listening:

How did you decide on your DJ name?
One night working at Kinko’s me and a friend made fake business cards. Mine said “90% of DJs suck, DJ BJ swallows” and “Any genre, Any time, Any Place” plus my cell number on the other. I got a few gigs using the cards and I was going to [use] a real name when I got my first weekly at a drag queen bar in Vegas in 2003, but they LOVED DJ BJ and made me promise not to change it.

As the Rapture say, “People don’t dance no more, they just stand there like this”—how often do you encounter this?
I encounter this pretty often because I’m not always a dance DJ. For instance, if I play an indie show like Born Ruffians I’ll throw a bunch of Television, T-Rex, and Neutral Milk Hotel alongside Silver Apples, Cluster, and Boards of Canada. Wait, I can think of people who would dance to all that, haha.

Ideal crowd?
All-ages!

How do you feel about requests?
I feel awesome about them, good to keep a connection flowin’…

Do you have a story about a particular request or requester?
[In] summer 2003 I was DJing my dance party weekly Tramps in Vegas. It was “straight night at the drag queen bar”: Tom of Finland pictures on red velvet walls, tons of cute 18 and older indie kids dancing. Lots of requests for the Rapture, Peaches, DJ Assault—very dancey crowd. One night this drunk tattooed guy comes up to the booth and says I can have money if I play some good rock music. I ended up playing the first side of Television’s “Marquee Moon” for $200 while the dude danced with his buddies all night. Now that is my lucky record up on my wall.

My other favorite story was when I DJed New Years Eve at Holocene and this drunk pretty girl asked for Prince… As I was playing Prince!

Do you DJ full time? What do you do outside of DJing?
I DJed full-time for a few years but missed having health insurance so I got a cool job at Whole Foods. I also spend two days a week with my left-field dance band Atole. Plus I’m working on a coloring book full of abstract drawings for kids Pre-Kindergarten, and my first solo record (Explosivo!)—queer-themed Spanish vocals over psych electronic pop. My friend Cody from Vegas (who lives here now and plays in Flaspar) is making it with me.

Where can we find you?
Supernature, second Saturdays at Branx as well as at various events around town.

How’d you get your current main gig?
Marius and I wanted to move our night at Someday to a smaller, more underground location. We approached Branx about it and we are stoked.

How’s the night doing at Branx?
The music has always been fun and solid and the space and sound are perfect for live electronic dance bands. E*Rock, Marius and I wanted a dance night where we could ask friends to play and have a chance to experiment with our own records and live performances. So far, so good. We’re planning some awesome events, including our first Rotture edition with a special appearance by Seattle’s Truckasauras 9/8. Plus E*Rock is playing a live set post-Ratatat [tour]! with me and Marius DJing.

Is Supernature’s name from the Goldfrapp album?
Sort of… It is also the name of Solenoid’s last dance record. But both those records were influenced by Cerrone’s 1977 full-length Supernature—a concept dance record about a future where science goes awry and turns nature dark and scary.

I also think there is a certain type of person who is so awesome and cool with themselves they’re supernatural, like my friends Patricia Furpurse or Deb at Dot’s—they’re so much fun to be around and both ladies have a unique and awesome fashion sense.

How long have you been spinning?
I started spinning acid techno and house at underground all-ages Mexican raves when I was 16 in 1994. My best friend Luis Gonzales aka DJ Image was 17 and an established DJ. I would spin for a few minutes here and there when he had to go to the restroom, dance, or make out with a girl. I would always play “Popcorn” by Hot Butter from my mom’s disco collection to freak kids out, most of them pretending to be high. It’s funny thinking about the hours of practice I would put in for just 15 minutes work, ha!

What do you see as the major differences between DJing in Portland as opposed to Vegas? Are there any similarities?
DJs in Vegas can get paid thousands a night at dozens of high-end night clubs. That’s the biggest difference. Tons of those DJs have pre-recorded sets too, like a CD playing as they stand up there egging the audience and looking/acting very cool. Dead fucking serious.

Vegas has better hip-hop, R&B plus soul DJs and dance nights. This party “the Get Back” [has been] going on eight years or so [and] is my favorite dance night period. However, Portland has better clubs and club music overall. Three years ago I DJed Vegas and this guy called me an asshole because I didn’t have any Candlebox on me. Then he told me the disco shit I was playing wasn’t ever gonna work. He was talking about Morgan Geist, Lindstrom and various Italo classics. Ha!

What drew you to DJing originally?
I love to dance. Plus in 1983 when I was five, my older musician cousin gave me my first record: Devo’s Are We Not Men. He also showed me movies like Wild Style and Beat Street—tons of highly-influential DJs and electro-producers performing; I wanted to do what they were all doing. Also my sister’s favorite movie is Sixteen Candles and I always wanted to be the DJ at the school dance who has a crazy hat on jumping up-and-down with his hands up in the air the whole time. So rad.

Vinyl or..
This is a silly question now-a-days when some of the world’s most high-profile DJs (many of them vinyl purists) are traveling to the U.S. with laptops because their vinyl isn’t allowed across the border. However, as a Portland-only DJ that loves to support locally-owned record stores, I will always prefer and romanticize vinyl.

What songs will we find ourselves dancing to with you?
Here are the last 5 new records I bought that I absolutely love. You can check them out alongside other select tracks @

1.) Aphex Twin: “Analogue Bubblebath (Dumb Dan Edit)”

People gonna bite me on this one, or at least I hope so ’cause I wanna hear this killer dance edit of an Aphex Twin classic everywhere I go.

2.) Yaz: “Situations (Hercules and Love Affair Club Mix)”

Raw almost punk vocals over the signature Yaz melody and classic piano house vibes. So good.

3.) Morgan Geist - “Detroit”

This dude is one of my biggest influences. His Unlassics series are some of the best dance records around..

4.) Black Devil Disco Club: “With Heavy Cream”

I love mystery and anonymity in music. No one knows if this dark space disco record was recorded recently or 28 years ago; timeless.

5.) Boy 8 Bit: “Suspense is Killing Me”

For years I never got into Mad Decent (Diplo’s hyped label) until this year when Boy 8-Bit came out. So good!

How would you describe yourself in five words or less—complete sentence or not:
Crazy for my Baby Tim.

How do you describe the genre you play?
Electro, Techno, Disco, House, and New Wave—mostly songs heavy on melody and groove. I love to play shoegaze, ambient, indie rock and good experimental electronic records.

Who are your other favorite Portland DJs?
DJ Copy and Linoleum are most up-to date these days with the best new jams mixed with tasteful oddities from the ’70s and ’80s. However, DJ Brokenwindow is my all-time favorite for his amazing mash-up skills and thorough knowledge of weird and older dance music and history.

DJ BJ spins next at Supernature, Saturday October 11th at Branx and on Monday, October 13th at Holocene with Nurses and Born Ruffians.

Links:
SupernatureSpace
AtoleSpace

Photo by Nilina Mason-Campbell

Shit happens. We all know that. But it's what we do with that shit in life that is the important part. In the case of East Oaklander Duke, ne D'Andre Johnson, of new Oakland rap group with a blues twist, the High Decibels, the MC/poet has managed to take the negatives dealt him in life and spin them into something a lot more positive.

In fact if weren't for one of his earliest humiliations as an artist - being booed offstage at a talent showcase at his Oakland high school - that he wouldn't be doing what he is doing right now. "I went to Skyline High School, and at that school, they have a really good performing arts program, and they do this thing called "Showtime at the Line," like at the Apollo with the Sandman and all," he recently recalled of the night that he and his brother entered the contest. They were confident that their rap performance would win over the audience.

Not so. "The theater holds like five thousand people and it was packed. So we started out our song, and the music started skipping. And I was first. I just started busting a cappella. The music came back on and I was off beat. And we got booed off the stage," said Duke of the incident that happened about eight years ago when he was 14. "And for the next year I would be walking down the hallway and one person would start booing, and before I would get to the end of the hallway, the whole hallway was booing."

That Dude

While most rappers would feel defeated and hang up the mic all together at that point, Duke instead decided to step back from rap, but wholeheartedly take up spoken word. He enthusiastically began entering poetry slams whenever possible and became quite proficient, winning many battles on the healthy Bay Area poetry slam scene.

Fast forward several years to a poetry slam at the Starry Plough in Berkeley one night last year. It was there that longtime musician-producer KC Booker, who used to be in the '90s soul/funk-pop group Big Soul, saw Duke perform onstage and was so impressed that he invited him to front a new group he was about to put together. Soon Duke's childhood buddy and rapper Chief - born Javarae Forrest - joined the High Decibels and not long after they began recording their recommended, recently released debut, HD, on Rolling Jack Records, which is refreshingly unlike most generic rap releases coming out these days. Instead of loops and samples near all the music is original with KC, who plays a mean blues guitar, leading a tight band and DJ.

When Duke and Chief perform at Element Lounge tonight, Oct. 9, they will be joined by KC Booker on electric guitar, Aaron Taunton on electric bass, and Deane Jenkins on drums. If you go - and you really should - be sure to listen to the song "Duke Gonna Get Em," which despite its upbeat, fun vibe is actually a really tragic song about Duke's little sister, Pumpkin, who was one of this year's Oakland murder statistics.

"I wrote that (song) right after my little sister got murdered with her cousin - they were 15- and 17-year-olds - in February on the 13th, the day before Valentine's Day," said Duke. "They were in the wrong place and the wrong time. A couple of guys they were with were into some stuff. And they were just victims of random violence."

"She like R&B and she liked to party and go out and dance," he continued. "So I was like, 'I'm a-gonna make this for her - a little club banger.'" Again Duke takes that the shit in life and turns into something positive.

THE HIGH DECIBELS
Thurs/9, 11 p.m., call for price
Element Lounge
1028 Geary, SF
(415) 440-1125

I never really counted myself as a huge Kooks fan.  I loved the band name, but the music lacked the bite and wittiness of Arctic Monkeys, the grittiness and swagger of The Rakes, and the theatrics and brashness of Kaiser Chiefs.  At the end of the day, Luke Pritchard is basically Alex Turner's more pop-driven cousin.  I knew they would be fun to see live, it was just a matter of how good they would be and how well their songs would translate.

As we circled The Loop in search of a cheap and quick dinner, a sign on a lamp post kindly informed us that The Kooks would be performing an acoustic session at precisely 6 PM.  A quick look at our cell phones read 6:12, so we sprinted over to the record store and heard the remnants of what sounded like a good, if short, set.  The man standing next to me was taping it, so hopefully some audio will surface on the Internet of the performance.  If he was just bootlegging it for fun, well, that was quite bold.

A quick autograph session followed, and I was lucky enough to finagle this:

I've never met anyone in a band before, whether out of my own shyness or impatience, so this was a nice surprise.  Pritchard and guitarist Hugh Harris seemed overwhelmed at the amount of people who crammed in the tiny store to see them, which I hoped would melt away in their performance later.

A few hours (and a few sandwiches) after, the lights finally dimmed inside the Pageant and The Whigs walked on.  No one was prepared for this musical tour-de-force from Athens, Georgia.  They picked up their instruments, plugged in, and WHAM!  We were hit with a hurricane of straight-up rock goodness.  They only got better as the night went on.  The singer/guitarist Parker Gispert stalked across the stage like a hunter going after his prey, then leaped back across the ground he had covered in a single bound.  Their drummer, Julian Dorio, is the closest thing I've ever witnessed to Animal from "the Muppets", a borderline Keith Moon.  He pounded the drums with every single fiber and ounce of energy in his body as if it would be the last song he would ever play.  Bassist Tim Deaux attempted to be the calm one for as long as he could, but finally relented and grooved back and  forth with Gispert like two madmen at their own personal dance party.  It was like watching How To Be An Excellent Rock Band 101.  This is what music today needs: passion.  And The Whigs have plenty of it.  I could see the sweat literally pouring off of them as they beat the living hell out of their instruments.  Please listen to them, the two bands I kept thinking of while watching them were Kings of Leon and My Morning Jacket.  I get to see them again opening for said Kings of Leon (in addition to We Are Scientists) in November, and their performance has made me even more excited for it.

In the aftermath of The Whigs, we discussed how The Kooks could possibly follow a set like that.  Any misgivings were immediately silenced when they bounded on and launched into my favorite song of theirs, "Always Where I Need To Be".  I wished I could have heard it a bit later in the set so they could have been properly warmed up and comfortable, but it was a great opener and set a party-like atmosphere for the rest of the show.  All the hits were there: Naive, Mr. Maker, She Moves In Her Own Way, You Don't Love Me...the list of very good pop songs this band has in its repertoire is pretty impressive.  The rest of the band definitely takes a backseat to Pritchard though.  Although dressed in jeans and a long sleeved shirt, he transformed into a charismatic frontman.  He jumped on speakers, clapped along with the crowd, ran across the stage, and even crowd-surfed.  However, once the music stopped, he morphed back into the quiet, unassuming man that we met earlier, rarely saying more than a few words at a time.  Sometimes before beginning another song, an awkward silence would fill the venue as we waited for something, anything, to happen from the band.

All in all though, The Kooks are surprisingly great live.  Songs that sound nice on the records become more aggressive, not to mention better, when played live.  Onstage, they were musically flawless, and above all, they were entertaining.  Who knew that The Kooks could rock so hard?

The music video for "Always Where I Need To Be"

Panda Bear and Ariel Pink collaborator John Maus released a Noah Lennox-approved LP last year, Love Is Real on UK label Upset The Rhythm. Director Dima Dubson went back an album, though, to 2006's Songs, to craft an alternate video for the triumphant, swirling synth flight "Through The Skies For You." The original featured black and white footage of Astro Boy soaring in the ether, while Dima's plays with skylines, soft camera focus, and giant crying eyes, pairing as a more interpretive and suitably impressionistic cousin clip.

Now with the recent death of Richard Wright, and after listening to Relics and other Pink Floyd`s albums from the seventies, I think that Roger Waters was wrong about Wright`s skills as a composer and as a keyboard player when his ego fired Wright from Pink Floyd. Wright`s contributions for the band were underrated by Waters when he took control of the band to record the overrated The Wall album, an album that I don`t like very much. Also, for the first time I had the chance to listen to Syd Barrett`s songs as I have never listened to The Piper at the Gates of Dawn album. So I consider this album a a very good compilation of songs from their early years (1967-68) before they became more famous.

I can see that Pink Floyd with Barrett was in sound a combination of Psychedelia and Pop, and also it was an experimental band. He was a good guitarist and a good singer, and his songs are psychedelic but also accessible. It is a shame that his mental health changed in a brief time. After he had to leave the band, Waters and Wright had to compose more songs to keep the band alive. Wright`s Remember a Day and Paintbox are very good too, really showing to me Wright`s contributions to the sound of the band. Waters`songs are also very good, and they show to me that he was a better composer during those years than in The Wall, and that his leadership qualities were then in better control to keep the band really functioning as a band for several years. It was until he lost control of his leadership qualities that he became impossible to work with and his songs became of less quality in The Wall, in my opinion. Julia Dream, one of his songs, is one of my favourites, with a very good use of the mellotron by Wright. I also can say this about Cirrus Minor, with Wright again playing very good keyboards. The Nile Song, another song composed by Waters is also very good, played without keyboards, in a heavy way. Biding my Time was a previously unreleased song composed by Waters, also good.

In conclusion, it is a very good compilation, in my opinion.

by Guillermo


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