(photo by me)

Our friend, David Eric Grohl, wrote Metallica an open letter from the standpoint of just being a fan. Sounds like something we’d do. Yeah, basically he beat us to it. Plus his “PS” torches anything we would have come up with, even if it was still 2002. Good one Dave!

Dear METALLICA,

Hey, it’s Dave! Remember me? Yeah, I’m the guy that’s been listening to your band faithfully since 1983. I bought your first album Kill ‘Em All from a mailorder catalogue called Under The Rainbow, I think. Actually I can’t remember. It was 1983 for Christsakes! But that album changed my life and I’ve been listening to your albums ever since (even St Anger!).

I can’t wait to hear the new shit, and no matter what you guys do I’ll always be first one at the shop waiting to hear it. I’m sure you’ll come out and blow everybody’s fuckin’ minds, because you’re fuckin’ METALLICA!

Good luck. And don’t release it until it’s kick-ass.

Yours, Dave Grohl.

P.S. Are you finished recording the drums yet?

Fuck Yeah!!! Unkle’s “MORE STORIES” is kicking my ass right now. Not that I should have expected anything less, but being the pessimist that I am I wasn’t really sure what this bonus disc and “part 2″ of their last record “War Stories” was actually going to be. No one wants to fork over some cash for some shitty euro remixes. We’ve all been played the fool and done that once or twice haven’t we?

Well you won’t be disappointed here… this is a record containing a mix of B-sides, remixes, unreleased War Stories session tracks, and music composed for the film Odyssey In Rome (by Abel Ferrara who made flicks like The Driller Killer, Ms. 45, King of New York and Bad Lieutenant). I found out about this little fucker a while back and wanted to buy it but being as broke as I was at the time, I couldn’t fork over the $50 bucks for this Japanese import. Now I’m beating myself up for not resorting to other forms of prostitution to get-dat-money. Now that I have it (I stole it), I can’t stop dancing. And I recommend buying this record at once, so I can balance out my crime of stealing it. Don’t blow it.

Ever since Unkle’s “War Stories” came out almost a year ago, I’ve been dancing in mesh shirts ever since. I don’t think I’ve played a cd this much since “In Utero” when I was about 13… And If you’ve ever been lucky enough to see the brilliance that goes on when Travis and I dj, you know what I’m talkin about. It’s a staple and the shit slays.

Unkle - “Can’t Stop”

Unkle - “Blade In The Back”

Unkle - “Turnstile Blues [Surrender Sounds Sessions #4] - Autolux”

“Odyssey In Rome” trailer

About 6 months ago I saw Unkle at the Echoplex. I guess their manager screwed the pooch and didn’t get Richard File’s Visa in time so he couldn’t board the plane to get over to America. In case you aren’t aware Richard File is half of this incarnation of Unkle (and the best incarnation by far if you ask me) so I hope they fired that knucklehead manager. So Richard and the other guitar player they had this summer in Europe (when Travis saw em and said they kicked ass) didn’t get to come to America and in their place they had two other pussies with lame Alternative Press hair cuts and wallet chains playing air guitar in place of him. Great, I just paid to watch two dorks pretend to air guitar to the cd.

The highlight of the show was when Chris Goss plugged in for a song or two then you really got to hear what a real live guitar actually sounded like and then the jig was really up. It was still a pretty decent show and I had a killer time but that could have been cuz of the yellow guy. I’m sad to say since then Richard File and Unkle have parted ways. I’m not sure why but that news makes me sad. The official Unkle page says: “In January 2008, the official Unkle website announced that Richard File had, after ten years’ collaboration, left Unkle due to his solo work with his new band named We Fell to Earth.”

Anyways… I’m smoked and I got work super early so just check out these tracks from this thing. I guarantee satisfaction.

Troy boy

Unkle - “Restless” video

Unkle - “Hold My Hand” video

Here are three “new” Oasis songs that leaked today. Triple the jerk material that I expected to find when I woke up today. I can’t seem to find the actual mp3s of these songs anywhere but they’re out there, I guess that’s what you get for being on “rock n’ roll” time and sleeping all day. Oh fucking well. So if one of your glorious Buddyhead readers have these mp3s (and I know some of you do) please email them to me, pronto @ travis@buddyhead.com. No word if these are even on the new album… either way though, it’s new Oasis to me. Sounds killer dudes. Looks like we’ve got a rocker and two mellow Noel numbers. Shit yeah! High five Noel, high five Gem, high five Liam, high five Andy and high five Zack! By the way, you guys all owe me a pint.

Update: Thanks to two Buddyhead readers (who obviously get up much earlier than I do) that go by the names Deborah Thomsen and Carrie Dennis, we now have those three “new” Oasis songs plus five demos from “Don’t Believe The Truth” and a live song (that I didn’t know about) for you to all hear. Fuckin’ A! Give those two pirates a round of applause.

And sorry we had to take the Dennis Wilson songs down, we’ll have them up back up at some point. I guess I jumped the gun… I tend to to do that and I’ll tell you it’s not a very good trait to have.

Oasis - “Nothing On Me”

Oasis - “I Wanna Live A Dream (In My Record Machine)”

Oasis - “Stop The Clocks”

Don’t Believe The Truth Demos

Oasis - “Eyeball Tickler (demo)”

Oasis - “Meaning of Soul (demo)”

Oasis - “A Bell Will Ring (demo)”

Oasis - “Love like a bomb (demo)”

Oasis Live

Noel - “Stop The Clocks” 2003.05.03 (Zanzibar Bandwagon)

Oasis - “Nothing On Me”

Oasis - “I Wanna Live A Dream (In My Record Machine)”

Oasis - “Stop The Clocks”

(All photos by Dean Torrance)

I’ve got some good news music fans, check this…

On June 17, 2008 Dennis Wilson’s critically acclaimed solo opus, “Pacific Ocean Blue”, will be re-released, expanded and titled “Legacy Edition”! Yes, that was a collective “FINALLY!” you just heard from fans worldwide. Lemme explain a bit, not only have 20 new tracks been added to it but this album has been out of print for almost 20 years now! It’s now considered a “lost classic” to pretty much everyone who’s heard it. My favorite music magazine, Mojo, champions it every chance they can. Example: they listed it as one of “The 67 lost albums you must own!”. You can pre-order the new 2xCD for $23 bucks from Amazon by clicking here. I dare you to buy this amazing record RIGHT NOW. As Rollins might say… “DO IT!”

You can go to http://www.pacificoceanblue.net/ to hear short streams.

Released (only a month after I was born) back in August 1977, “Pacific Ocean Blue” made Dennis Wilson (who was known in some circles as the “troubled alcoholic drummer”) the first Beach Boy to release a solo record. Think that hurt a few egos?

Not only was Dennis first but he proved he could make really good records on his own as well. To me, “Pacific Ocean Blue” sounds way more like California than “Pet Sounds” or any other Beach Boy’s record does. It was produced by Dennis and his close friend & writing partner Gregg Jakobson. They co-wrote songs for The Beach Boys in the past including “Forever” (which is on every best of I’ve ever seen), “Baby Blue”, “Celebrate the News” and “San Miguel”. “Pacific Ocean Blue” shot up the U.S. charts and “peaked” at #96 (and was on them charts for 12 weeks). It went on to sell almost 300,000 copies (which out sold all those whack disco records The Beach Boys were putting out at the time) and then it went out of print for about 20 years. I’ve seen the cd on ebay for as much as $250…

Gregg Jakobson and the album’s original engineer, John Hanlon, went back into the studio this past year, brought up all the old tracks and finished what Dennis left unfinished. They are the reason this new re-issue comes with 20 previously unreleased tracks including some that were supposed to be Dennis’s follow up album which he was working on when he died. Here’s what the press release says you’re gonna get when you buy it:

The first disc is the original album newly remastered by Vic Anesini from the 1st generation master tapes, which for whatever reason were not used for the ‘91 CD, and 4 bonus tracks listed below. Disc Two, Bambu (The Caribou Sessions), is a roundup of various tracks that Dennis recorded during his term as a solo artist for Jim Guercio’s Caribou Records. Bambu was to be the follow up album to Pacific Ocean Blue but was never completed. One point I want to make about the unreleased recordings is that we’re not saying this is what Dennis intended to be the finished Bambu album but a compilation of the best tracks he recorded during the POB/Bambu/Caribou period. The truth of the matter is that Dennis recorded constantly during this period and tracks that have been labeled as Bambu tracks over the years were started before and during Pacific Ocean Blue sessions. Who knows for sure what would have ended up on the final album but we do have the roadmap for where he was going. We’ll save all of the details for the liner notes but the bottom line is if you’re a fan you won’t be disappointed. If you’re not familiar with anything I’m yapping about then prepare to become a fan of a great lost classic album by a grossly underrated artist that hopefully will be rediscovered by a whole new audience. Or to put it bluntly as my dear departed friend Nick Venet once said to me, “You either get it…or you’re an asshole”

All of the reviews I’ve seen so far have been really positive (somewhere in the ballpark 4.5 to 5 stars out of 5), but a couple reviews have been questioning why the unfinished demo of “Holy Man” has been finished with the addition of a vocal by Taylor Hawkins, the Foo Fighters drummer. Like this review here from Uncut for example. First, let me admit that when I first heard Taylor finished a Dennis song, it didn’t sound like a very good idea. Man I was wrong (which is a pretty rare thing mind you). After hearing both the version of “Holy Man” on disc 2 and the “London Version” (which will come out as a a single separately and features Brian May & Roger Taylor of Queen singing the chorus, doing back ups, Rog lays down some sick percussion and Brian rips a “face-melting” guitar solo as well) all I can say is that Dennis would be proud of how everyone came together and finished his song in a very tasteful and Dennis-like fashion.

I was curious how they finished a 30 year old Dennis Wilson song without Dennis here? And from reading all the reviews of I could tell allot of other people were also wondering about this “Holy Man” story. So to set the record straight I asked my friend Gregg Jakobson what he had to say on the subject. Here’s what he told me…

“For all of you who are wondering about this Taylor Hawkins vocal on Holy Man…

Here’s the thing. When we first started - Dennis was so inspired. He had met his first Holy Man, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. He couldn’t believe there really was such a person.

The tracks for Holy Man came easy and they were great. (inspired event) We tried and tried on the lyrics. Other people tried. They all ended in the waste basket. It was very frustrating but Dennis always said, “Gregg, don’t worry about it. It’ll happen.” And it did - but -many years later, all at the same time. Maharishi died. (He was the inspiration). Taylor was in town, a fan of Dennis’s. He’s also a family friend and interestingly enough has the same gravely, whisky, smokers voice as Den. They sound very much alike. We were in the studio mixing the Holy Man track, Taylor comes down to the studio, we hammer out a lyric, Taylor sings it. Perfect! It was meant to be. Destiny.

For Dennis, this is what music is all about. He would have been so honored that all these talented people came together to finish one of his pieces.

For Dennis, it was always about brotherhood! The brotherhood of music.”

-Gregg Jakobson

Baba Jake

I also hit up my other friend Taylor Hawkins (who is a bearded surfing drummer just like Dennis) and asked him a few things about Dennis Wilson, Holy Man and Queen. Here’s what he told me:

“I first heard Dennis’ album from Greg Jakobsen who was the father of my girlfriend at the time. The thing that struck me the most was the rawness of it and how it reminded me of John Lennon’s - “Plastic Ono Band”. I was also struck by the childlikeness of the delivery. There was no sort of airs and graces to the lyrics; they were simple and universal, and I believed them. It’s a record that when I listen to it I believe what he is saying. It grew to become one of my favorite albums of all time. Dennis is somewhat of an icon to me, because he was the only real surfer in the Beach Boys and he kind of represents the real California Beach Bum Rock and Roll vibe. It amazes me that throughout the mid to late 70s, Dennis’ music really was the only vital music being made by anyone in the band.

As far as me playing or singing on this song it really came out of me and Greg just staying in touch and they just wanted to finish the track. There is no other connection than that. I wasn’t trying to sound like or mimic Dennis, I just wanted to do him and his legacy a bit of justice.

And as for the members of Queen getting involved, I have been stalking them for years and seeing as the Beach Boys were a big harmony group, I figured why not ask Brian and Roger if they would want to lend their beautiful harmonies, which I sometimes felt were Beach Boys inspired to this loving tribute.”

-Taylor Hawkins

A documentary clip about Dennis…

In case you aren’t familiar… Dennis Wilson was (and still is) to most people, THE Beach Boy. Sure Brian was the genius and the heart and soul of the band as far as songwriting went, but he spent all of his time couped up and tripping out with his feet in a sandbox. Dennis was the one all the guys wanted to be, he was the rebellious one who didn’t really give a fuck, tended to bend and at times break the rules, the one all the girl’s swooned over, the one who drank the most, the one who drove the fastest cars and he was the only Beach Boy who actually surfed! In short, he was the cool one and I highly recommend you buy this newly available album I’ve been in love with for years now.

Al Jardine on Dennis

And I’ll now leave you with a few Dennis quotes:

“All I need is a big surfboard and a piano.”

“They say I live a fast life. Maybe I just like a fast life. I wouldn’t give it up for anything in the world. It won’t last forever, either. But the memories will.”

” I don’t know why everybody doesn’t live at the beach, on the ocean. It makes no sense to me, hanging around the dirty, ugly-as-shit city. That’s why I always loved and was proud to be a Beach Boy; I always loved the image. On the beach, you can live in bliss.”

“Pacific Ocean Blue” Legacy Edition Tracklisting:
Disc: 1
1. River Song
2. What’s Wrong
3. Moonshine
4. Friday Night
5. Dreamer
6. Thoughts Of You
7. Time
8. You And I
9. Pacific Ocean Blues
10. Farewell My Friend
11. Rainbows
12. End Of The Show
13. Tug Of Love (Previously Unreleased bonus track)
14. Only With You (Previously Unreleased bonus track)
15. Holy Man (Instrumental) (Previously Unreleased bonus track)
16. Mexico(Previously Unreleased bonus track)
Disc: 2
1. Under The Moonlight (Previously Unreleased)
2. It’s Not Too Late (Previously Unreleased)
3. School Girl (Previously Unreleased)
4. Love Remember Me (Previously Unreleased)
5. Love Surrounds Me (Previously Unreleased)
6. Wild Situation (Previously Unreleased)
7. Common (Previously Unreleased)
8. Are You Real (Previously Unreleased)
9. He’s A Bum (Previously Unreleased)
10. Cocktails(Previously Unreleased)
11. I Love You(Previously Unreleased)
12. Constant Companion(Previously Unreleased)
13. Time For Bed(Previously Unreleased)
14. Album Tag Song(Previously Unreleased)
15. All Alone
16. Piano Variations On Thoughts Of You (Previously Unreleased)
17. Holy Man (Taylor Hawkins Version Previously Unreleased bonus track)

Also check out Dennis in “Two Lane Blacktop”. A 60’s film that’s up there with “Easy Rider” and “Vanishing Point”.

“Two Lane Blacktop” trailer

It’s a fact, look it up.

Hi, I’m Meathead.  Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve spiced up your life with my Pulitzer prize-winning Internet web column, but I’ve been busy these past couple weeks getting all sweaty.  I’m sure you’ve been there, you know what it’s like.  But it’s okay, just relax, everything’s cool.  Seriously, chill the fuck out.

You know what’s one of my favorite frozen, pre-packaged desserts based on a Mexican food staple?  Hint: You’re looking right at a picture of it, and it’s also mentioned in the title.  Give up?  I’m talking about the delicious, savory Choco Taco.  I know what you’re thinking.  “Buddyhead is a music website!  I come here to read about music!  Choco Tacos aren’t music!  Therefore, my conclusion is that an opinion piece on Choco Tacos has no place on Buddyhead!  This is bullshit!  I’m calling my state representative right now!” But don’t worry, this actually is music-related.  Just be patient and you’ll see.  Besides, your state representative is probably too busy banging your mother to pick up the phone.   BURN

Choco Tacos have long been the choice of the most discerning frozen pre-packaged dessert connoisseur.  No one knows its exact origin, but the first historical record of Choco Taco consumption took place on May 29, 1574.  On the day before his untimely death, King Charles IX of France was offered a croissant by his wife.  He replied with “Léchez mon cul, salope!  Je voudrais un Choco Taco putain! (Lick my ass, bitch! I want a fucking Choco Taco!)” [citation needed]  The next day, he was hit by a bus while on his way to see Yes in concert.

Did you know that the accused conspirators in the Lincoln assassination were given Choco Tacos as their last meal before their execution on July 7, 1865?  Of course, they shit them right back out when they died.  I’m sure ol’ Honest Abe would have appreciated the irony.  It’s unknown whether Lincoln himself was a fan of Choco Tacos, but it’s quite hard to fathom that he wasn’t.  My heart swells with pride when I picture our sixteenth president sitting at his desk, signing the Emancipation Proclamation with one hand while trying not to get ice cream on it from the Choco Taco in his other hand.  At least that’s what I hope my heart is swelling with, and not just cholesterol.  America!

John Wayne, a.k.a. “The Thin White Duke,” never attempted to hide his passion for Choco Tacos, as you can plainly see in this unaltered photograph from the 1960’s.  Any attempts to confront Mr. Wayne about it were met with a fist to the face (if he was in a good mood that day).  Other famous celebs who are also unabashed Choco Taco enthusiasts include Alan Alda, Slim Pickens, the guy who sang the Mr. Belvedere theme song, Walter Mondale, Russia’s Czar Nicholas II, and Snow Dogs star Cuba Gooding, Jr.  I don’t know about you, but when I hear that Cuba Gooding, Jr. likes something, I’m all over it like shit on rice.  If you’re reading this, Cuba, call me sometime!  We should go rollerblading next week!  Oh, who am I kidding?  Nobody that cool reads this page.

It causes me great mental anguish to consider that there are some folks out there who have never tried a Choco Taco.  It’s sad that anyone would choose to waste their life like that.  Why would you not want to be eating a Choco Taco right now, as Cuba Gooding, Jr. is undoubtedly doing as I type this sentence?  It’s a waffle-cone shell filled with ice cream and fudge, and it’s topped with chocolate and peanuts!  I don’t mean to sound harsh, but quite frankly, if that doesn’t make you salivate uncontrollably, you should probably be dragged out into the street and shot.  We don’t need people like you polluting our society.  Just wait until I’m president and you’ll see how serious I am about this.

I once bought a taco from a nearby taco stand — well, actually, it was just a guy in a van, but that’s beside the point — and then took it home and poured chocolate syrup on it.  Then I ate it.  I soon determined that that was not the wisest idea I’ve ever had.  One should not tempt God by trying to make their own Choco Tacos at home.  If man were meant to make their own Choco Tacos, Lloyd Bridges would still be alive right now, and he’d be doing commercials for Gold Bond medicated powder.  Man, that would be weird.  So just be glad that I took one for the team and ate a spicy chorizo taco coated in Hershey’s syrup.  I did it so you wouldn’t have to.  I’m like the Jesus of bad food combinations.  Please send me a check for 10 percent of your weekly income.

Now, I know I said that this update would tie in to music somehow.  Unfortunately, I was just fucking with you.  It has nothing to do with music whatsoever.  Sorry.  I promise that the next thing I write will be an in-depth review of the new Rascal Flatts album!  That will make you smile and say “Aah, this is the Buddyhead I know and love.” (see below)

A while ago my friend was all “oh Akron Family, yeah…they’re SO such-and-such” and played me some of Love Is Simple. We were driving around on a beautiful day and it sounded terrific and totally weird — all this super euphoria, big guitar and mystical shaman nonsense — all of which can be very likable in the right quantities. I was curious, and got more curious when I asked around and people responded with this “oh-shit-you-don’t-know-about-this?” reverence, saying things like “…its ’60s Grateful Dead, Neil Young and math rock…” or “…killed it at Coachella…” or “…singer quit the band, joined a Buddhist monastery…” I could forgive the punctuation in their name and the fact that they’re not actually from Akron, Ohio; at that point it was like “nice to meet you, new favorite band.” This is also what I was thinking when I skipped dinner and rushed to the club (since, naturally, a band with this cache of utter, ocean-deep awesomeness would most certainly sell out the rinky dink Rickshaw Stop). I call my friend Muhammad to take pictures. He was kind enough to ditch his gig photographing the Breeders to join me for what promised to a two-set consciousness-expanding rock odyssey from the Akron/Family.

(photos by Muhammad Asranur)

Read the rest of this entry »

Ever since I wrote about Neil Young’s out of print live album “Time Fades Away” (here and here) I’ve been getting emails about it. At first, people were writing me to say thank you for throwing it up for download because the album only came out on LP and has since been long out of print. Lately the emails I’ve been getting are asking me to put the record back up. Well, I’ve finally gotten around to it. So here it is kids, enjoy. Hopefully this shit will be on the new Neil Young boxset coming out soon. Speaking of, when is that big motherfucker of a boxset coming out? Anyone know?

(Download Neil Young - “Time Fades Away” LP)

And here’s my favorite song off the album, along with Jubilee’s cover of it which you can find as a b-side on their first single “Rebel Hiss” over @ http://www.jubilee.LA

Neil Young - “LA”

Jubilee - “LA”

The past few days have been a crazy rock n’ roll week… if you want you can listen to the new muxtape I made while you read exactly why this week ruled. http://buddyhead4.muxtape.com/

On Wednesday, I invited myself to DJ with Shepard Fairy at the Glasshouse in Pomona,CA before Love & Rockets played their first full show in nine years. I’m not counting them playing the Mick Jones song “Should I Stay or Should I Go” twice at the Joe Strummer tribute show a few months ago at the Key Club as a real show. Did anyone else realize they played a Mick Jones song or am I the only one? What the fuck?!?

Anyways, Shepard and I hung out for the first time in about six years and DJed everything from Richard Hell to The Stooges to Ultra Vivid Scene to CSNY (yeah I dropped “Carry On” into the mix) to Redd Kross. It was a fun DJ set and good to catch up with Shepard after all these years. The guy is seriously one of the nicest and coolest dudes around, it’s no wonder he’s had all the success he’s had. Who else would be cool with me bum-rushing their DJ gig opening for Love & Rockets?

Anyways, enough about us… Love & Rockets took the stage and to be honest I didn’t know what to expect from one of my favorite bands dusting off their hits live for the first time in long while… but they straight up FUCKING KILLED IT! Even with the sound guy fucking up a ton the band sounded great and tight as fuck. Daniel Ash’s guitar sounded like a chainsaw and those fuckers can sing like birds!

Sure, being the super-fan that I am, I’m convinced I could have wrote a better set list… like how about not opening (”Ball Of Confusion”) and closing (”Should I Stay or Should I Go”) with covers dudes? And how about you guys play at least one song off your best record “Sweet FA”? I was really hoping to hear Judgement Day (should have been on the greatest hits too) but once they tore into “Kundalini Express” I wouldn’t have known if the roof caved in cuz I was head banging so hard. Hopefully these dudes make a new record and do a proper tour. By the way, if you haven’t picked up the last Bauhaus record “Go Away White”… buy that shit now. I’ve been DJing “Endless Summer Of The Damned” every-time I get the chance. Shit rules.

Love & Rockets - “Kundalini Express” live @ The Glasshouse

Last week Troy Boy posted about how Jane’s Addiction was reuniting with Eric Avery for the first time in SEVENTEEN years and begged the powers that be to slide us into this seated event. Well, as you would have guessed, we didn’t get invited. So instead I planned on going to see the Joy Division documentary that Grant Gee made (he also made Radiohead’s “Meeting People Is Easy”) but when I arrived at the Arclight with my friend (who’s also named Travis) the movie was sold out.

So with nothing to do we decided to stop by the El Rey where the first-ever U.S. NME Awards show and the Jane’s/Eric reunion was going to go down hoping we could somehow sneak in. Well, the rock gods were on our side cuz as soon as we showed up we ran into Z Berg of The Like and with her help did the old switch-er-roo of badges and walked right in. Thanks Z, I owe you one. Or is it two now?

“NME Awards” video

To make a long and boring story short the awards show sucked just like they usually do… for the most part it was a douchebag fest with a bunch of bands I’ve never heard of and don’t care to ever hear again winning awards. Somehow Oasis was up for an award but didn’t win (must have been a miscount), Har Mar played, some shitbox band dressed in skeleton costumes played, and Evan Dando played two songs acoustic. Mick Jones accepted an award for something, said cool shit, and played a few songs with his band while Sienna Miller danced around with her dress pretty much falling off. Damn shes hot. I’m sure a bunch of other shit happened too but I was too busy waiting for Jane’s Addiction to play and listening to Happy Tom from Turbonegro nuke everyone. I love that guy.

Happy Tom, who’s a new resident to San Diego, had this to say about the first ever US NME awards: “The NME Awards USA is an attempt to bring LA and London closer. Which makes sense, as they’re both shit sandwiches: the less bread you’ve got the more shit you get.” I couldn’t agree more. Tom also went on to tell me about his intimate experience with Evan Dando back in the early 90’s and how “his dick tasted like a stick made out of heroin dipped in chocolate”. Interesting rock trivia for sure. On a side, but related note, Happy Tom ended up being interviewed on San Diego’s Channel 9 News for the story titled “Marijuana Boat Washes Ashore”. I’m fully backing his decoy theory.

So back to the NME awards… after standing around listening to a bunch of bands I couldn’t care less about play and random British people talk, the original Jane’s Addiction line up took the stage and I bum-rushed to the front and center of the stage to check out the rock. Troy Boy (and a few other friends) even texted me saying he saw me on the webcast head banging in the front row and I was a dick for getting in. Sorry dude, didn’t plan it… just happened. Check out a couple shitty camera phone photos I popped off and there’s more on my flickr if you care.

Here’s my review…. they totally fucking ruled. Hopefully this little event made Eric Avery realize a full-on tour with those three other dudes is a good idea. It’s mind blowing how one guy can de-jive a band so much. Eric Avery is Jane’s. And yes, for the record… of course Navarro had his shirt off and is still full of cheese. But together as a band the original line up of Jane’s Addiction, even in 2008, fucking slay. They played “Stop”, “Mountain Song”, “Trip Away” and “Jane’s Says”. I was hoping for them to kick into “Whores” but none the less, it was an awesome mini-show. Let’s hope they bail on the idea of getting back together with the douche from Satellite Party and can talk Eric Avery into at least playing a few more shows with them. Here’s some video footage of what you missed. Bummed you weren’t there Troy Boy.

(The photo above was taken by Travis Schneider)

“Stop”

“Mountain Song”

“Ocean Size” (camera phone)

I was considering going into detail here about the insane Sly Stone show I attended with Ian Rogers (who has Sly’s face tattooed on his arm) and his wife Julie Saturday night at the House of Blues but I’m sure Ian will post something on his blog about it. And not only is Ian way more of a Sly fan/expert (Ian should be Sly’s manager) but this page already has way too many grammatical errors so I’m gonna quit while I’m ahead. I will say this about the Sly show though… I’ve never seen anyone vocally announce so many “piss breaks” during a set. Dude is WAY out there on “planet outer-space”. Oh and check out Paranorm’s post on Sly… shit’s rad.

I ‘d like to welcome an OG Buddyhead alumni, Nate Cavilerri, back to the head. You can check out his first post in a while called “Party Mountain“. Much more to come. Good to have you back Nate. Sorry that was so long everyone… it’s just been a while.

Welcome to Party Mountain.

Instead of playing Rock Band or watching The Wire or stuff on YouTube, these are the kinds of things that people do on Party Mountain.

Good bands play on Party Mountain all the time. When No Age played they were so good that Party Mountain started on fire. That was, like, four years ago though.

The guy with the Ray Bans and scarf might be like “What the hell is *he* doing on Party Mountain? Oh great.” But don’t worry about it. His friend on the bike is nice. She’s just shy.

Mad Superdelegates.

Young Bob Dylan put a free fro yo machine on Party Mountain, but the cast of Superbad can’t have any.

Come back soon to Party Mountain!

Jane’s Addiction are going to get “back together” AGAIN for another reunion tour, this time it’s gonna be some dork named Carl (who played bass in Satellite Party) pretending to be Eric Avery. All I have to say on that subject is… FUCKING WEAK DUDES.

BUT… get this, Eric Avery has agreed to reunite with the band for one night only. Yeah, I just ejaculated in my shorts right now. To say I’m psyched would be a huge understatement… WOOO! FUCK YEAH!

“Trip Away”

So the real Jane’s Addiction will be performing at the first-ever U.S. NME Awards show at the El Rey here in Los Angeles. I guess they are getting crowned with some “Godlike Genius Award” during the ceremony and then will be playing a few songs.

In the press release we got emailed Eric totally nukes the other dudes in the band with this statement:

“I’ve chosen to reject the prospects of reuniting in the past for personal and philosophical reasons. I have always considered reunions to be a way to make a quick buck, and it sells short my own experience of it the first time around,” He adds, “The reason I started to even consider this is because it’s honoring the past instead of trying to recreate it.”

If Travis and I don’t get into this show there is zero justice in the world of rock n’ roll… not only do we DJ pretty much every show at the El Rey but I’m one of the biggest Jane’s fans on the planet. I mean who the fuck is getting into this? I’ll prolly end up standing outside cause that’s life but I’ll do whatever it takes to get in… except suck off an aids infested dick. I swear. Hey, Uncle Scott, you feel like crushing some heads that night? Let me get on your shoulder while you moshing through the front doors. Let’s do this shit!!!

So yeah, if you got an a couple tickets to this seated event and you wanna get two of the most “rock n’ roll” dudes in this town in… hit me up. And if Navarro is reading this like I know he is… Yo dude, stop waxing your chest for two seconds, get the dreadlocks rocking again (see photo above if you forgot how much cooler you were) and call Travis back… WE NEED TICKETS BRO! WOO! And you guys better play “Trip Away”, “Ocean Size” and “Whores”… in that order. Do it!

- Troy Boy

After putting it off for a few months, I finally got around to jumping on the Muxtape bandwagon.  I rummaged through my mp3 library and arranged a selection of hip, happenin’ tunes for you to enjoy bitch and complain about.  If you’ve got roughly 37 minutes and 10 seconds to kill, please feel free to click on the image of the obsolete music format below:

Hi, I’m Meathead.  As you may recall, I’ve posted several articles here on Buddyhead over the past few weeks.   But it’s all been a sham.  I thought I could get away with it, but I soon realized that I had underestimated the intelligence of the average Buddyheadite.  I now know better, and I hope you can forgive my mistakes.

When a person, regardless of sexual orientation, logs on to the internet and surfs to Buddyhead.com, they come to be informed of the latest happenings in the music business (or “biz,” as they’re calling it these days).  People, like you, are very busy with everyday things like work, school, kids, mortgages, band practice, fixing that damn screen door again, Clive Barker novels, angioplasties, earwax, robbing Office Depot at knifepoint, potstickers, prayer meetings, getting your necktie caught in the ATM, oil changes, laundry, waterboarding, wearing form-fitting rubber suits, the Yankees, pushin’ th’ little daisies and makin’ ‘em come up, store-brand barbecue sauce, tax returns — you know, the daily grind.  You simply do not have the time to sift through a bunch of unnecessary tripe, like a photograph of Hulk Hogan on acid.  I mean, honestly, why should that even be on Buddyhead?  What does it have to do with music, or anything else for that matter?  No, you don’t want to see Hulk Hogan on acid.  You come to Buddyhead for the straight-up facts; nothing more or less.  You deserve to be presented with quality, informative writings, accompanied by relevant and visually appealing images.

When I first heard that Buddyhead was looking for new contributors for their website, I have to admit I got really excited.  I thought it would be my big chance to finally be “in with the cool crowd,” or “down with the in crowd,” or whatever their slogan is.  I’d finally have something more interesting to talk about at parties than the history of aluminum foil.  Well, first I’d actually get invited to parties, and then I’d have something more interesting to talk about while I covertly transfer the contents of the cheese platter to my jacket pockets.  I’d also get to finally have a cool haircut and maybe even get one of those wallet chains.  All I had to do was convince Aaron (North) and Travis that I’m a normal person who enjoys and knows a lot of things about music.

I have to be honest here.  I don’t really know a lot of things about music.  I mean, I know who Eddie Vedder is, but I wouldn’t say that makes me an expert, and therefore I wasn’t sure I could even be a Buddyhead writer.   But then I remembered those famous words uttered by Thomas Jefferson just before he was shot by Mexicans: “Fake it until you make it.”  So I faked it.  I wrote a letter to the Buddyhead guys telling them I know a lot of cool stuff about today’s music and that I have many rock stars’ phone numbers in my Rolodex.   As proof of my alleged expertise, I lifted a review of some popular new band from the trendy Pitchfork website and attached it, along with my résumé, to my application.   I don’t know why I thought Aaron and Travis wouldn’t catch on to my blatant plagiarism, but wouldn’t you know it, they didn’t.  Aaron wrote back a short time later to tell me I’d gotten the job!  Aaron reminded me, however, of the responsibilities that come with this prestigious job.  He told me to stick to serious music journalism only: “None of that Meathead Perspective shit here, brah, this is Buddyhead!”  Wow, it was so easy!  He even referred to me as “brah.”  I was finally a brah!

Unfortunately, due to my relatively low IQ, it didn’t occur to me until numerous hours later that I would need to find a way to maintain this façade of brahness.  Certainly I couldn’t continue stealing ideas from Pitchfork.  After giving it some earnest thought, I decided to take a break for a while, and do some Crown Royal shots while watching CNN.   Suddenly, as if by magic, I broke free from the soothing, hypnotic trance caused by the whiter-than-whiteness of Lou Dobbs’ teeth, and the thought hit me: why don’t I just try to bullshit my way through it?  It doesn’t matter what I say as long as I sound like I’m right when I say it.  I mean, it works for Lou Dobbs.

And that’s exactly what I did.  I wrote some articles which I thought would appear informative enough to pass muster at Buddyhead, then sat back and waited for the cool points to start racking up.  Boy, was I in for a surprise!  Turns out that my lack of knowledge didn’t go unnoticed, after all.  I was quickly scolded by a number of eagle-eyed readers for not doing sufficient research before critiquing hot bands like Radiohead, Phil Collins, and So-And-So and the What’s-Their-Faces.  Most recently, I attempted to review a new music video by the musical group Crystal Castles, and was immediately shot down.  Apparently I’d gotten many crucial facts wrong, things that any real journalist would have known.  I thought Crystal Castles had gotten their name from a computer game, but instead they got it from somewhere else.  Rats!  These glaring inaccuracies rendered my point, that the video sucked, completely and irrevocably moot.  And more importantly, I had tarnished the Buddyhead name that Aaron and Travis had worked so hard to build over the years.  For this, I am deeply sorry.

I can only hope that they, and you, can forgive my careless and grossly irresponsible charade, and allow me to continue my tenure here.  While I may not be as “in the know” as the rest of you, I promise that I will do my best to educate myself as much as I can before writing about the artists you hold near and dear to your hearts, lest I offend anyone yet again.  That is simply not what Buddyhead stands for.

Thank you for your understanding,

Meathead

P.S.: I was going to dedicate this column to the memory of Charlton Heston, but I don’t really want to get shot in the afterlife, so n/m.

P.P.S.: Vampire Weekend sucks so hard.  I mean what the hell.

In the last four to seven years (depending what you count) the world of independent rock music has been trading its riffs for hi-hats and any of the lo-fi aesthetic that once defined it for a slick dance-floor gloss. Now, I’m not hating on all of this—I’ve got my share of Rapture records—but if I have to hear one more radio-ready disco-pop act described as “post punk,” I’m going to shiv someone.

No Age - Eraser

In the late ‘70s/early ‘80s when punk rock got it’s guts cut out of it and sold back to the kids as “new wave” (note: I also have my share of New Order, so don’t start) the inevitable backlash came in one form as “no wave,” a New York movement most famous perhaps for a little band called Sonic Youth.
Now I can’t speak to whether there’s a burgeoning re-emergence of “no wave” or whether LA punks No Age would want to be associated with it, but they seem to be cut from the same noise-as-pop cloth. I just picked up Weirdo Rippers, a compilation of the young band’s early singles and b-sides and I gotta say, I’m sold. The duo swing back and forth between tracks like “Sun Spots” a wash of atmosphere and “Every Artist Needs a Tragedy” that start as a wall of white noise before the hooks sneak up underneath. The most straight-up asskicker of the bunch is definitely “Everybody’s Down,” which rides a wiry guitar riff straight to the end.

The band is fairly new, having formed in 2005 out of the ashes of Wives, but they’ve already signed to Sub Pop (which may help me forgive them for dropping The Thermals, but that’s neither here nor there.) Watch for a new full length from No Age this year; from the variety of sounds on Weirdo Rippers, they could go anywhere with it, and I’m sure there’ll be a lot of writers like me trying to come up with clever-sounding new genre names for it. Oh well, call it art-punk, noise-pop, distorted-dreamscape-dissatisfacti-core or whatever. I call it a welcome relief.

Sorry if I made anyone upset with my last post about Radiohead.  I honestly didn’t mean to be so hard on them, seeing as how they did have some decent songs back in the 90’s.   Sure, In Rainbows may have been a complete and utter disappointment, but that certainly doesn’t mean that Radiohead doesn’t have at least one more hit in them before they’re crushed to death under the weight of their own self-importance.   I should have chosen my words a little more carefully, as we all know that Radiohead fans are an emotionally fragile bunch, and I’d hate to be responsible for yet another mass suicide.  So please accept my most sincere apologies for my lack of sensitivity.  Buddyhead deserves better.

While I’m throwing sorries around,  I’d also like to apologize to the guy who pointed out my lack of research when writing about that Provigil ad banner a couple of weeks ago.   Oh shit, busted!  I thought I could get away with it, but Inspector DZK is on the case.  Thanks for setting me straight, dude.  I bet you’re a real hit at parties.  And you’re right, Buddyhead readers don’t come here for that shit.  They come here to read the infamous gossip page watch Raconteurs videos.  In that spirit, I thought I’d talk about a video I saw on the internet today.

I log on to MySpace every now and then, mainly so they won’t delete my account for inactivity or some bullshit like that.   Inevitably, as soon as I get there, I see a plug for some new horrible flavor-of-the-week hipster band that is apparently all the rage right now but nobody will give a shit about by the time you’re done reading this sentence.  Usually I just ignore them — I mean, what’s the point of looking at hipsters if you’re not able to reach out and physically strangle them?  Maybe the next Firefox update will let me do that, but in the meantime, my only options are to A) log out of MySpace and lock myself in the closet, or B) buy some piano wire and go for a walk down Vermont Ave.

For reasons known only to the Lord Jesus Christ, I let my masochistic curiosity get the best of me this time and clicked on the latest piece of shit that MySpace is telling me to like.  It’s a video by some group with the oh-so-ironically retro-cool name “Crystal Castles.”  Yeah, Crystal Castles was an Atari game from the early 80’s.  I played it for about five minutes once, then turned it off because it was fucking retarded, and I played some Zaxxon instead.  I would bet a substantial amount of money that there’s an indie hipster band somewhere out there with that name too.  Hopefully DZK, the official Buddyhead fact-checker, will drop by soon to let us know.  Or what about Jungle Hunt?  Anybody remember that game?  Anybody want to start a band called that?

Even more idiotic than the band’s name is the name of this particular song: “Courtship Dating.”  Are you kidding me?  What in the fuck kind of dumb-ass title is that?  The kind that makes me want to click on the link just so I can have something to regret later.  So I did.  And I do.  For a brief moment as the video was loading, I felt a little guilty.  Maybe I was being unfair by judging them so harshly before even giving them a chance.  Who knows, maybe they’re actually really talented!  Maybe I was wrong about them!

Nope, I was right.  You know those songs that start out sounding kind of cool, like it’s building up to something interesting, and then it makes a hard left and immediately starts hemorrhaging gallon after gallon of suck as you frantically scramble to find the button to turn it off?   Well, “Courtship Dating” isn’t one of them.  It blows chunks right from the get-go.  Oh, what’s this?  Retro-sounding 8-bit noises?  No fucking way!  That’s so unexpected and innovative!  Like, it totally takes me back to when I was a kid with my Commodore 64, and I have fond memories of that (even though, let’s be honest, it was a piece of shit), so naturally I’ll just transfer these warm, fuzzy feelings of nostalgia onto “Courtship Dating” and enjoy that too!  I’ll ignore the fact that I can’t understand one goddamned word this dumb girl is “singing,” because I’m just so enthralled by those Nintendo-esque arpeggios!

One thing I can say in favor of this heaping helping of audio/visual tragedy is that, at least, the quality of the video is on pretty much the same level as the quality of the so-called music.  They put about as much effort into making an interesting visual accompaniment as I put into heating up a Pop-Tart.  Actually, no, fuck that, I make damn good Pop-Tarts.

It all begins with Lil’ Miss Poser in a dark room with a strobe light, half-heartedly mouthing along to the non-words that someone actually allowed her to record in a studio, while some shithead in a Slayer t-shirt (seriously? Slayer?) pretends to be rocking out with some unidentifiable object that resembles a large toothbrush.  I can only imagine that this is something they thought other people would actually enjoy watching.  This goes on for roughly 40 seconds, and then we’re treated to a shot of them performing live in front of their eight fans, accompanied by an extremely brief noise interlude that, quite frankly, is the only part of the entire song that even approaches vaguely resembling interesting.  Then it’s back to more of the same strobe light shit.  Thankfully, the question “Could this music video possibly be any less enjoyable?” is finally answered.

The answer is a resounding “YES!”  First we get another moment of pointless-as-everything-else noise (sorry, it might have worked once, but twice is pushing it), and then WOW!  It’s poser-girl standing around in the kitchen eating something.  I wish it were my excrement — maybe someday!  I mean, don’t get me wrong, I don’t condone violence, especially against women, but am I the only one who gets the uncontrollable urge to beat her with a shovel just from looking at her?  I bet she likes The Killers.  Oh look, she’s drinking a can of Pepsi!  Yeah, that’s something I really want to sit and watch for an extended period of time!  Maybe she’ll defrost the freezer next! Could I please watch her cook some ramen for three minutes?  That’s what I call compelling entertainment.

Instead we get some more self-gratifying live footage and some “hey look at us, we’re out on the road touring” footage.  Honestly, this is the most unsettling thing about this video.  The thought that someone may have actually gone out of their way to see these losers, and possibly even paid for admission, causes me the kind of physical pain that can only be dulled by hard liquor and possibly an Oxycontin or two.   Then again, maybe they’re just the openers, and the audience is just humoring them while awaiting the headlining act.   I can’t really take comfort in that idea, though, because what band worth a shit would want these guys to open for them?  Goddamn it.

I guess this is the kind of stuff MySpace Tom listens to.   Look, Tom, if you want to listen to this shit in the privacy of your own home, that’s your business.  You have that right as an American (or Canadian or whatever the fuck you are).  But you really might want to keep this sort of thing to yourself.  Next thing we know, you’ll be pushing Neutral Milk Hotel on us again.

Oh, I almost forgot to share Crystal Castles - “Courtship Dating” with you guys!  How silly of me!  Here it is.  I hope it has the same effect on you as it did on me.

About a two weeks ago I went to Amoeba and dropped about 50 bucks on a bunch of crap I didn’t really need. As always I hit the Ride section in hopes that I would discover something that I don’t already have, like a new album. And to my surprise I found “Hurricane #1″…

Later that night I picked up Travis and headed over to the Wiltern to check out BRMC for the 30th time. Which for the record was borderline depressing because they didn’t play any of the heavy shit and didn’t play very well. I love them, but the show almost put me to sleep. On the way over we listened to few of these Hurricane tracks and ended up singing along to almost all the songs which was so weird since neither of us had ever heard this album before. The good thing is, is that the songs are pretty catchy, but the lyrics are little predictable. Hence the reason why Travis and I were singing over this shit at first listen. It was actually pretty funny listening to Travis sing.

Hurricane #1 - “Just Another Illusion”

Hurricane #1 - “Touchdown”

Hurricane #1 - “Faces In A Dream”

Anyhoo, about a year after Ride disbanded Andy Bell decided to put together this band. Hurricane #1, put out two records on Creation, but the band drew a ton of bad press, and borderline ridicule due to their similarity to Oasis… Then in 1999 Andy took some time off the play guitar for some band called “Gay Dad”. Yeah, I’m not really sure what that was all about. But the Gallagher bros saved him and now the guy plays bass in Oasis and is totally winning right. In case you aren’t sold just throw on the live Oasis album, “Familiar to Millions” album, and listen to Noel cays “Can I have everybody singing Who the fuck is Andy Bell?“. And check out who wrote “Turn Up The Sun” which is the first song on the last Oasis record. Guy wins.

So here are a couple of tracks that I dig from this.
Hope you like em too.

Love,

Troy Boy

Speaking of Madchester…. This is a really cool documentary about (my favorite band from Manchester) The Stone Roses that someone sent me a DVD of a few years ago (thank you whoever that was) and now, like everything, it’s on youtube in six parts. Get into it. Also get into my third muxtape @ http://buddyhead3.muxtape.com/.

Blood On The Turntable Documentary 1/6

And here are some of my favorite early songs by The Roses to accompany the video… Listen to these while you practice the Ian Brown dance.

The Stone Roses - “Tell Me”

The Stone Roses - “I Am The Resurrection”

The Stone Roses - “Waterfall”

The Stone Roses - “Sally Cinnamon”

The Stone Roses - “I Wanna Be Adored”

Blood On The Turntable Documentary 2/6

Blood On The Turntable Documentary 3/6

Blood On The Turntable Documentary 4/6

Blood On The Turntable Documentary 5/6

Blood On The Turntable Documentary 6/6