#johnny brenda’s

[argosy]

I wanna be as dangerous as a dancing dragon

Or a steam engine, a loaded gun

Being loved for my hazard and a will to destruct

“And isn't that just love, a will to destruct”

[sinceileftyoublog]

The Rural Alberta Advantage Interview: The Ultimate Arbiters

Photo by Leroy Schultz

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Like all bands still dealing with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Rural Alberta Advantage had to adapt. Due to the worldwide pause on live music, they were unable to follow 2017′s excellent The Wild the way they knew best: writing, workshopping, playing live, then finalizing. Fast-forward, and they surprise released an EP, The Rise (Saddle Creek), last spring, announcing the return of founding keyboardist Amy Cole, their first music in five years because they could simply no longer wait. They survived by remotely sharing demos, ignoring the typical album release cycle, releasing this batch of songs soon after they were finalized. Ready to tour and then play some more unreleased material, the band launched on a U.S. tour, their first since the pandemic, in May 2022. By the third show, lead vocalist and guitarist Nils Edenloff, followed by the rest of the band, tested positive for COVID. As many bands two years in had the pandemic in their rearview mirror, The Rural Alberta Advantage were left wondering when it would seem a bit more normal.

Thankfully, the band was able to play a handful of shows in Canada during the latter half of 2022, finally bringing The Rise to the stage and even--yes--debuting an unreleased song. That tune, “Plague Dogs”, was released as a standalone single last month with the announcement of what will (hopefully) be their first full U.S. tour post-COVID. (No, “Plague Dogs” is not a pandemic reference; it was inspired by the Richard Adams novel of the same name.) Though The Rural Alberta Advantage are planning to release a full-length later this year, “a culmination of everything we’ve been working on this whole time,” as Cole told me over Zoom earlier this month, they aren’t taking their time for granted. Instead, they want to put as many songs out into the world as they can and play for as many people as possible. Their tour starts tomorrow night at Lincoln Hall in Chicago.

Read my interview with Cole below, edited for length and clarity, about “Plague Dogs”, The Rise, and the history of the band.

Since I Left You: It seemed fitting to me that the debut of “Plague Dogs” coincided with the announcement of these tour dates, because the video shows live footage and the song has such a live sound. Was that something the you purposefully did?

Amy Cole: Yeah, it was. It sort of always is. It wasn’t because of the live video that we wanted to make the song sound more live. We’re always trying to capture what we sound like live. We’ve had varying degrees of success over the years [doing it], but it’s always our goal, because we consider ourselves a live band. I’m going to rehearsals right after this, and it’s when the three of us are in a room together that we feel the best. With Gavin Gardiner, who has been a friend for many years and has been the one recording and producing these last few songs with us, we’re able to get that [live feel.]

SILY: It definitely has a loud-quiet-loud dynamic going on. Was that also something the band went into recording trying to do?

AC: A lot of our songs do that. [laughs] We weren’t trying to rip ourselves off, but we love playing with dynamics in our songs. Whenever we can try to do it in an inventive way we don’t feel like we’ve done before, we do. This time, there are all these ups and downs and dropouts, and we really leaned into that aspect of the song. We go by feel: we work songs to death until we all feel really great about them. We’re really happy with how “Plague Dogs” turned out.

SILY: I’ve never seen you live before. Do your songs tend to take on new life live, arrangement-wise or in any other way?

AC: Yes, 1000 percent. That’s what was so challenging about The Rise. It was the first time we weren’t able to do what we normally do, which is start a song, get it to a place where we feel like we can try it out live, and then go on tour and road test that song, see what’s working and what isn’t, so by the time we get into the studio, we’ve played it live for a bunch of people and feel like we’ve got it to a really good place [to record]. Because of the pandemic, we weren’t able to do that with the songs on The Rise. That was really challenging for us. We were going in a lot more blind than normally. “Plague Dogs” we were able to play live quite a few times for people during the shows we did back in the fall. When we were recording, we felt really good about where we were at with it; we were feeling really encouraged by its response at our shows. When we went in to record it with Gavin, we knew what parts needed to be bigger, what parts needed to be smaller. That bridge in the middle didn’t come up until our last mixing session, where we thought, “Let’s amp the bass up four times as much as it is compared to the rest of the song, and let’s lean into the organ.”

SILY: Was there a different way you went about getting the feedback you needed for The Rise?

AC: Not really. Each of us played demos for close, trusted friends and loved ones. Sometimes, you’ll get a good, honest response, but sometimes they’re gonna be nice. What’s lucky with the three of us is we really trust each other’s taste. Even if it was just one of us not feeling it, we’ll listen and keep going and hacking away until the three of us are good with it. The ultimate arbiter is the three of us, so we really had to rely on that because we didn’t have a live audience telling us something was good or okay or not great. Luckily, we feel like it worked out for The Rise, but we’re happy our new songs we’re recording, we’re playing live, listening for feedback and seeing what’s hitting.

SILY: “Plague Dogs”’ launching point was the Richard Adams novel of the same name. Do you find that films or books are often the origins for your songs?

AC: I’m speaking for Nils, but sometimes he gets the idea for songs from TV or films or art. A lot of Hometowns and our first couple records was inspired by real stories from Nils’ personal life, as tons of songwriters do. A lot of those songs were about people and places he was thinking about from back home. That’s where he drew a lot of inspiration in the early days. If he were the one answering, he’d say inspiration comes from a lot of places for him. Plague Dogs happened to be the inspiration for this song, which made a lot of people [incorrectly] think it was inspired by the pandemic. [laughs]

SILY: How do you think the band has grown over time, instrumentally, lyrically, or in general?

AC: We’ve grown in the ways that people do over the 15, close to 20 years we’ve been a band. We’ve definitely gotten a lot better musically. We’ve learned a lot about making music, writing songs. We all know each other a lot better. We’ve been through a lot together, and we know how to collaborate. We know how to listen to each other and present our ideas to each other. Anyone who has worked in a group would understand this, but people have really different styles of working and communicating, and it takes a long time to learn how to best work with another person. We’ve gotten to a place where we’re super comfortable with each other and get each other, and now we sound tighter.

SILY: What else are you specifically looking forward to on this tour besides road testing new material?

AC: I’m sure it’s the answer every band gives: getting to play in front of people after not being able to do so after a number of years. We never took it lightly, but we’ll never take it for granted again. To be on stage and get to be the ones performing is one of the best experiences you can have as a musician, playing your songs in front of people who want to hear them. The fact that we’re going to get to do that again is an incredible gift. We weren’t sure we’d ever get to do this again. There were long stretches where we didn’t know what the future held for us, but we’re so happy it’s this.

SILY: Is there anything you’ve been listening to, watching, or reading lately you’ve enjoyed?

AC: I watched a bit of Wednesday. My friend edited the show, including the iconic dance sequence that went viral recently, so I was very excited for him. I watched Fleishman Is in Trouble. I love The Amber Ruffin Show, which I hope comes back. She’s a writer for Late Night with Seth Meyers, which I also watch all the time. I just watched “Seth and Lizzo Go Daydrinking” last night. I loved it. It was so hilarious. Lizzo’s amazing. I was happy she won Record of the Year.

I was listening to Television just before we got on. I’ve been listening to them a lot the last couple days.

SILY: Mourning Tom Verlaine?

AC: Yeah. Listening to how much of the seeds of so many bands are in them. 

02/23 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall

02/24 – Milwaukee, WI @ Shank Hall

02/25 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Café

02/26 – Omaha, NE @ Slowdown

02/28 – Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive

03/02 – Kansas City, MO @ recordBar

03/03 – St. Louis, MO @ Old Rock House

03/04 – Indianapolis, IN @ Hi-Fi

03/22 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall

03/23 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom

03/24 – Woodstock, NY @ Levon Helm Studios

03/25 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s

03/27 – Washington DC @ Songbyrd

03/28 – Richmond, VA @ Richmond Music Hall

03/29 – Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall

03/31 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom

04/01 – Detroit, MI @ El Club

04/02 – London, ON @ Rum Runners

06/16 – Beaumont, AB @ Beaumont Blues & Roots

07/06 – Calgary, AB @ Wildhorse Saloon Stampede Party

07/07 – Orillia, ON @ Tudhope Park

[livefromphilly]

Rosali.

Johnny Brenda's, April 2024.

[hit-song-showdown]

Year-End Poll #11: 1960

More information about this blog here

To quote a song from a certain John Waters adaptation, "Welcome to the 60's." And to mark the occasion, here's some songs from that decade of sex, drugs, and rock and roll! Woo!

So our modern perceptions of any given decade are rarely exhibited by the Billboard Hot 100 charts, especially when the decade is only just starting. I have my own thoughts on when the 60's truly comes into its own, but we'll get to that later. In the meantime, the top hits of 1960 wouldn't seem that out of place in the 1950s. Compositions, traditional pop, and doo-wop. Elvis is back on the charts after his time in the military.

However, there is one song featured in this poll that was truly a sign of where pop music was heading. If anyone can't figure out which one it is, don't worry. The same song will return in a future 1960s poll.

[alwayshappyhoursomewhere]

Before FaoI's second show in Niigata (from guillaume_cizeron's ig stories)

[fairweathermyth]

I think about you all the time. But we say it's just pretend. Fuck work, you're here. Every day's the weekend.

ALEX LAHEY Every Day’s the Weekend live at Johnny Brenda’s 

[hate5sixofficial]

Soulside 2023-12-10 Johnny Brenda's Philadelphia, PA

[popentertainment-concertphotos]

Cindy Lee – Johnny Brenda’s – Philadelphia, PA – November 17, 2022

Photos by Cecilia Orlando © 2022

[stepffan]

brenda living her best life

[stuff-made-by-orose]

i went on a trip to philadelphia and here's lots of bits of paper that i encountered while there

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

New Audio: Sweeping Promises Shares Synth Punk Ripper "You Shatter"

New Audio: Sweeping Promises Shares Synth Punk Ripper "You Shatter" @swpromises @subpop @subpoplicity

Sweeping Promises — Lira Mondal (vocals, bass, production) and Caufield Schnug (guitar, drums, production — can trace their origins to a chance meeting in Arkansas, which led to a decade of playing together in an eclectic assortment of projects. Their relentless practice has made perfect: Meticulously controlling every aspect of their craft, from the first note they write together, through…

[myvinylplaylist]

Dick Clark 20 Years Of Rock N’ Roll (1973)

Contains 20 Original Hits Electronically reproduced for Stereo

Gatefold; includes 24 page "Yearbook" and the pictured flexi-disc, "Inside Stories," containing Dick Clark's recount of 'first time' broadcast appearances by artists on his show over the years.

Buddha Records

[sinceileftyoublog]

Pet Shop Boys Box Set Review: Smash: The Singles 1985-2020

(Parlophone)

BY JORDAN MAINZER

“It’s in the music / It’s in the song,” sings Neil Tennant on Pet Shop Boys’ “Vocal”, a 2010s club banger about the power of a communal groove. It’s a simple, but appropriate summation of their new box set Smash: The Singles 1985-2020. A collection of 55 remastered tracks, from the band’s “Imperial Phase” to their surprising late-career critical success, Smash makes the case for the London synth pop duo as some of the most concisely affecting pop songwriters of all time. Though each track sounds crisp and timeless, the set’s improved audio quality is secondary to the strength of the collection as a whole, one that puts the the band’s idiosyncratic, lesser-known songs on the same pedestal as their massive hits. 

The casual music fan and non-PSB-diehard is likely familiar with, at the very least, the ever-relevant “West End Girls”. A perfect slice of deadpanned, Thatcher-era pop, it’s a predecessor to Pulp’s “Common People”, a satire of our penchant to fetishize those of a different socioeconomic status. That the band’s tone isn’t obvious is perhaps their greatest trick--from the get-go, they fully embraced commercialism while singing about the suburban hellscapes brought upon by capitalism (“Suburbia”) and society’s swindlers (“Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)”. To Tennant and Chris Lowe, though, this wasn’t hypocrisy: It was the perfect melding of the minds, the former’s pop songwriting chops with the latter’s artistic, experimental edge. Take “Love Comes Quickly”, which wouldn’t hit as hard without its Reichian choral background, panning synths, and Tennant’s croon-to-falsetto from which you can trace a direct line to the likes of Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor. Ditto the band’s inspired disco-ifed covers of songs from other genres: Brenda Lee’s “Always On My Mind”, the whistling synths emulating pedal steel guitar, or U2 and Boys Town Gang mashup “Where The Streets Have No Name/I Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”.

What you perhaps come to appreciate most about Pet Shop Boys from Smash is how many of their club-conquering songs take place in intimate settings. For every horn-inflected, Latin pop jam like “Domino Dancing”, there’s the unspoken infidelity of “So Hard” or the paranoid obsession of “Jealousy”, lovers waiting for the other to come home from being out. On the surface, “Se a Vida É (That’s the Way Life Is)” sounds basic, but it’s a thoughtful reflection on the complications of life and how they change as you age, all atop a brass section, strummed guitars, and percussive drums from SheBoom. And even on a certain dance song like “I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind of Thing”, the narrator spends most of the time in their own head, thinking about their journey from getting out of their comfort zone to letting loose on the floor.

Of course, at the heart of the band’s introspection is an unavoidable societal context. Pet Shop Boys came to fruition in an age of state-sanctioned homophobia, governmental response to AIDS met with, at best, a shrug, and at worst, demonization. Tennant came out as gay in a 1994 interview in Attitude magazine, and before that, his references to his sexual orientation in song were somewhat veiled. On early religious satire “It’s a Sin”, Tennant laments being blamed “for everything I long to do / No matter when or where or who”. The stunning, whispered eulogy “Being Boring” is about a friend of his who died from AIDS; sullen, he sings, “All the people I was kissing / Some are here and some are missing.” You can hear the difference in songs with similar themes after Tennant came out; on “I Don’t Know What You Want But I Can’t Give It Anymore”, he theatrically leans into the jealousy, chanting over wailing backing vocals, “Is he better than me? Was it your place or his? Who was there?” And while the famously understated Lowe has never publicly come out, it’s long been speculated that his added verse on “Paninaro ‘95″ refers to an ex lover who passed from AIDS. The band’s inclusion of this version over the original on Smash speaks volumes, given the disgusting rise of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation today.

Ultimately, what allowed Pet Shop Boys to continue succeeding, as society’s attitudes and tastes changed, is their adaptation. A diss track like “Yesterday, When I Was Mad” represents Tennant at his most bitter, chiding critics. “You have a certain quality, which really is unique / Expressionless, such irony, although your voice is weak,” he sings, putting himself in the mindset of a stuffy journalist unamused by a track like, say, “Left to My Own Devices”. Over two decades later, on “The Pop Kids”, Tennant adopts a different mindset rife with humility thinking about the band’s early days: “We were young but imagined we were so sophisticated / Telling everyone we know that rock was overrated.” It’s those very rock-oriented elements that, ironically, comprised their best later-career tunes. Ali McLeod’s guitar and BJ Cole’s pedal steel stand out on “You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You’re Drunk”, a moment inspiring to polymaths like Death Cab For Cutie guitarist Dave Depper. The Smiths’ Johnny Marr provides guitar on “Home And Dry”, whose additional snares and seaside synths fit alongside Tennant’s autotuned vocals on the band’s most wistful track. And acoustic guitar from Tennant himself buoys “I Get Along” and the Xenomania-produced “Did You See Me Coming?” They’re the type of songs that make you think were age truly nothing but a number, you’d be looking at a second collection of eternal songs in another 35 years.

[maxellminidisc]

Have not listened to my vinyl collection in way too long and completely forgot my collection of vinyl singles is insane

[theamazingstories]

Replay – MOVIE SERIALS – ALL IN BLACK & WHITE FOR A DIME!

Replay – MOVIE SERIALS – ALL IN BLACK & WHITE FOR A DIME!

Figure 1 – Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow! As I sit here tonight it’s snowing up a treat (if you like that kind of thing) in Vancouver, BC, whose weather is usually about the same as San Francisco; i.e., seldom snowy, often wet and/or gloomy, but sometimes gloriously warm and sunny, even in autumn. Figure 1 is the view out my front door tonight (Wednesday, November 29); what looks like a…

[note-a-bear]

If this shirt had been available in a size other than "uncomfortably too large" I would have grabbed one. Now I'm waiting for their store to restock