CD Review: J Marinelli's half of his split w/The Elsinores

CD: J Marinelli/Elsinores split cassette
ARTIST: J Marinelli

What the hell is wrong with us? Why haven’t we reviewed J Marinelli’s half of his recently released cassette split with fellow Lexington rockers The Elsinores?

Do we think fawning over Marinelli’s sometimes weird, sometimes trashy but always awesome one-man version of “maximum stomp and swing” will make us look bad? Maybe. Do we ask our own questions and then answer them? Sometimes.

But yeah it’s weird; of all the bands we’ve covered there’s never been a definitive J Marinelli article or post or whatever, and it sucks because he’s really our favorite rocker. If you’re constantly going around telling people that you’re way more punk than such and such, well, Marinelli is punk rock and DIY personified.

A few of the 10 songs found on the split won’t be unfamiliar to Marinelli fans. Again showing his penchant for revisiting and re-working his songs, the stripped down, less swingin’ version of “4,000 More Years” (originally only 400 years on his Pity The Party EP) stands out and seems more charming and almost endearing looking back on what most people agree is the worst presidency ever. Four more years? On that day in 2005, for some, it seemed like 4,000, and it seemed like world war three was imminent.

This softer sounding side (hear “Month of Mondays”) is the yin to Marinelli’s “caveman guitar” yang. Whether it’s “the scene” (and his place in it or apart from it) or the interweaving friendships and/or (mainly) animosities found therein, (the rollicking opener “Ricky Loud’s Big Choice”) Marinelli pulls no figurative punches, lyrically or sonically.

The sauntering jam “Countrypolitan” stands out, with Marinelli again opining on the scene and certain segments of it:

“Back where I don’t come from the scene ain’t been much fun/in a deep freeze around these fuckin’ middle aged babies/replete with infantile fashions oral fixations and poor life choices/sick strata of a slick niche market/wide glass ceiling revealing nothing.”

The rockin’ “Butt-Hurt Frat Priest” is maybe the one song that approaches Marinelli’s class-consciousness type bent. 28-year old “popped collar” privileged fraternity members will vote this song worst of 2012. But it’s one of the best songs on the split.

Not sure what “Post Up” is about but it’s as psychobilly as you’ll ever hear Marinelli.

Think Marinelli is beholden to the punk rock elite? “Captain Integrity” not only appears to be a swift “U.R. Dismissed” to Ian MacKaye, (“autographed my friend’s Minor Threat EP/he’ll e-bay it next week to make his rent money/selling punk nostalgia keeps you so busy/I guess that’s why you didn’t see me when I played in DC”) …but it sounds like it would’ve fit well on 2010’s Pre-Emptive Skankery Sessions, a record that, after what almost two years, after repeated listens, we’re just going to go ahead and say it: it’s surpassed or at least equaled Keep It Fake in total awesomeness.

One neat thing that Marinelli’s included on the bandcamp page is the lyrics. So not only can you sing along, you’ll appreciate the stories he’s telling and better appreciate what we think is a mature vision of “the scene,” friendships, and oh yeah punk rock. Marinelli’s vocals are often kind of hard to decipher, singing through various delay effects or at volume levels somewhere past “10” (and sometimes simultaneously), so if you know what he’s singing it will mean more to you.

Sometimes the thought briefly crosses our collective mind here that on first look, people at a bar or wherever seeing Marinelli for the first time will see him sitting behind his makeshift drum kit, banging on his guitar and see a kazoo or harmonica, wearing a raccoon skin hat, and think he’s something of a no-talent busker; it’s not always easy for one-man bands. Hear “Rebel Without Applause” and “Hey Pinkerton” on PSS for Marinelli’s thoughts on that.

But J Marinelli is no joke. There are tons of bands out there. Who’d have thought that this one guy would or could mean so much to us? That he would in essence be our favorite band? Maybe it’s a suggestive thing; that Marinelli so easily loses himself in his performances, rocking out, that you simply can’t help but feel the same, and you’ll soon be up shaking your ass and pumping your fists.

Maybe we’ll end up doing the definitive J Marinelli interview. When we talk to him we’ll thank him for keeping rock and roll relevant and rebellious. If punk rock ever needed a slap in the face or a kick in the ass, Marinelli is the man for the job.

VIDEO: Sly Roosevelt "Trains" Live at Trackside

'Nother awesome video we came across that we thought we'd share.

Huntington's Sly Roosevelt performs "Trains" off their recently released full-length debut Animal Tracks as part of the very awesome Live at Trackside series.

Related: "Animal Tracks" CD review and H-D article

VIDEO: J. Marinelli @ Grandma’s House, Ewing NJ (full set)

Sometimes something so good comes along you don’t want to ruin it by saying much about it. This is the way we feel about J Marinelli.

When we saw somebody had filmed a recent set of his from his tour, we knew it was time to get awesome. Almost makes up for not being able to catch him. Almost.

Documentary filmmaker Amy Oden to screen "From the Back of the Room" at Blank Gallery Saturday

Courtesy photo

Washington, D.C.-based documentary filmmaker Amy “KC” Oden (above) comes to Huntington tonight for a screening of From the Back of the Room, her recently released film about the contributions women have made to the punk/DIY scenes over the years...


Reposted from The Huntington Herald-Dispatch

There is no vast, benevolent collective consciousness that oversees punk rock like some sort of deity. People bring their own attitudes and yes, ignorance into outlets (songs and shows) that for so long embraced, at its best, progressive causes and solidarity, at its worst, violence, racism, and sexism.

For Washington D.C.-based documentary filmmaker Amy “KC” Oden, it was an ugly incident at a local show that drove her to make “From the Back of the Room,” which chronicles the contributions women have made to the punk, hardcore and do-it-yourself movements over the past few decades.

Oden comes to Blank Gallery in Huntington Saturday night for a screening of the documentary.

“The first thing that really attracted me to punk, like so many people, was the energy,” Oden said over the phone on the way to Detroit for the Allied Media Conference and a workshop on D.I.Y. film production.

After starting going to punk shows in the D.C. area as barely a teenager in the mid-90’s, and getting turned on to D.C. punk bands like Bad Brains, Amy was indeed a punk rocker.

It was only after her feminist perspective crystallized as an adult, and one particular incident at a local show Oden was clued into, that combined to serve as the impetus to make the documentary.

“This guy was approached by a friend of his who told him she was treated really inappropriately at a show and was being pushed around and she wasn’t sure she wanted to participate in this community anymore, and it was really heartbreaking for her,” Oden said.

“He was the kind of person who’d thought always about these ideas, and he’s been involved in collective organizing for feminist events in the D.C. area. So I think something clicked in his brain and he was like ‘Alright we have to do something about this.’

“He actually got in touch with me, and we just started talking and it went from there.”



Four years later, after traveling the U.S. and Canada to interview notable female punks like Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill/Le Tigre) among others, “From the Back of the Room” was released in August of last year to critical praise and a warm embrace from those in the punk/hardcore/D.I.Y. community.

“Kathleen Hanna was definitely awesome,” Oden said. “Another favorite was Anna Joy from Blatz, just because I listened to them a lot growing up. She’s an English teacher at a university in California and she’s just really articulate and in touch.”

Oden said one thing that surprised her was the diversity of opinion inside of the community of rockers she interviewed.

“You know, it’s funny, you don’t think about how nuanced things are until you look at something up close, like anything, even a group you consider yourself a part of.”

Bringing the stories of how important punk and hardcore have been to these women over the years, in person and at the screenings for the documentary, is what it’s all about for Oden.

“At first I was intimidated, because you’re just meeting people all the time. But I’m into it, it’s been really fun doing the screenings. It’s almost like an immediate reward for the work that I put in. it just feels really good that people care enough about it to show up.”


IF YOU GO
“From the Back of the Room” screening
WHERE: Blank Gallery, 1102 3rd Ave., Huntington
WHEN: Saturday, July 7
TIME: 7 P.M.
COST: $5 donation strongly encouraged
ONLINE: www.fromthebackoftheroom.com/

Henry Rollins "Capitalism" Tour comes to Charleston 10.23

WVRockscene will be hosting ticket sales and promoting Henry Rollins’ 10.23 “Capitalism” show in Charleston. Rollins is traveling the U.S., hitting all 50 state capitals for spoken word shows in advance of the November presidential election.

Check out the PRESS RELEASE below for details...

Henry Rollins hits the campaign trail this fall for a two-month tour hitting all 50 state capitals -- starting September 6 at Hawaiian Brian’s in Honolulu, HI -- and wrapping up on the eve of the Presidential election at the 9:30 Club in the nation’s capital.

Titled “Capitalism,” Henry’s latest talking tour offers not so much a voting guide as an outside viewpoint -- and an unflinching quest for truth that’s sadly lacking in the profit-driven American mass media. “I will be performing across our fine nation, doing shows in the capital city of each state. We will be going all the way up to election eve,” says Henry. “It’s always a great time to be in America, but this will be the highpoint of this year’s tour. Shepard Fairey did a great poster for the tour to make it extra noteworthy. I can’t wait to start this one.”

On “Capitalism,” Henry will continue to dish anecdotes gleaned and perspective gained from the road less traveled -- sharing experiences that include recent visits to North Korea, Mongolia, Bhutan, Vietnam, India, Tibet, Sudan, Uganda, Haiti and Cuba. And in the spirit of the season, of course, expect both pointed commentary and wry observations about the American democratic process as it unfolds.

Tickets for “Capitalism” go on sale Friday, June 29. Check with local venues for full ticket information.

(You can buy your tickets for the Charleston show safely and securely visit our friends at Brown Paper Tickets. (http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/257753) Click on any of the conveniently placed BPT widgets or links to get your tickets.

John Radcliff Turns His House Into a Venue in Parkersburg

photo: PM Beat

Parkersburg-based John Radcliff (above) has opened his doors for his 816 Quincy Street Concert Series.


We think house shows are cool, lotta people do. It’s not everyone, though, who will let strangers walk into their house for a few hours. Who can't envision some totally awesome scenario where everyone just goes nuts and trashes the place?


Parkersburg-based musician John Radcliff doesn't care. Well, we're sure he cares, he just trusts people and wants to put on cool shows by any means. He's been hosting some neat looking house shows at his 816 Quincy Street Concert Series. And he’s got one lined up tonite, as he welcomes The Kernal, Mechanical River (Joel T. Hamilton) and Andrew Combs (and you, if yer up there) into his residence.


We caught up with Radcliff to see what possessed him to host house shows…

WVRockscene: House shows seem to have been a weird mix of popular yet underutilized. You see some around here but you might think there'd be more. When did you decide to welcome musicians and strangers off the street into your home for this Quincy Hill House Concert Series?

John Radcliff: I started hosting shows in 2007. I came across Kevin Montgomery on Myspace and really enjoyed his music. I got to reading about him and this thing he does called, the 50 States in 50 Days tour. I had been hosting songwriter parties for a couple years and thought I could host a musician for a concert just as easily. I wasn't really planning on making it a continuing thing until I started getting emails from other artist wanting to know if they could play at my house. Pretty soon, I found myself looking at touring schedules for acts I really liked and trying to fit house concerts in the holes in their touring schedule.

Success with the first few shows made me want to keep on doing it. I find that the strangers that show up are usually some of the most interesting people I meet. There is a certain amount of apprehension about letting people into my house. But your realize pretty quickly that those are the people that really love music. Since Parkersburg isn't a really big town, I think guests really appreciate the quality of the artists that play at my house. Because otherwise, we don't attract that level of performer to the area. Since I started, there have been a couple bars that have started going after these kind of acts. And that is really refreshing, because the whole Mid-Ohio Valley wins, and I like to think it has made the music scene around Parkersburg that much better.

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rockscene: Obviously for the most part bands play bars. While playing out like that is still cool, what are some of the pros of house shows versus playing at a bar (time/cost/atmosphere) and some of the cons as it relates to hosting something like these?

Radcliff: The best part is that seeing an act at a house concert really is the best way to see them. Most of the crowd are there to hear the music, and you don't get the noise and distractions you would at a bar or a large venue. It's intimate and you can actually sit down and talk with the performers in a casual setting after the show. I'm lucky that I have really cool neighbors that don't mind the extra noise or traffic. My reward is the two hours of incredible music and the looks on people's faces when they understand how right I was about the uniqueness and fun of house concerts. The con is cleaning up the next day.

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rockscene: As it relates to the pros, what's the response been from the musicians and even attendees who've come to 816 Quincy Street for a show?

Radcliff: While I haven't toured extensively myself, I've slept on enough floors and back seats of cars to know how great it is to have a comfortable place to sleep and a warm meal. Besides hosting the shows, I have the room to let the acts stay the night. I try to make them as comfortable as possible before they head back out on the road. I think that goes a long way. First time house concert goers are the best. I know it was an eye opener for me at my first show I hosted. Most shows are $10 a head and I think people are apprehensive about laying down that kind of cash. But once they step through the door and commit to it, I think they feel the same way I do.

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rockscene: You live in Parkersburg, right? I've heard of one or two places to play up there but do you see what you're doing here as something as an asset to the town?

Radcliff: Absolutely. The Adelphia Music Hall and Marietta Brewing Company have been great about bringing music to the area. But when I started hosting shows, there wasn't hardly anywhere to go see good music. I've lived here since 2003, so I'm probably not the best resource. But for what I wanted to listen to, there wasn't anything. I knew there were people in the area that would enjoy these types of shows. A lot of them came to my songwriter parties. But you know there have to be more people that are interested. It really works for both the artist and the area. It leads to bigger things, as well.

There is another house concert host in Parkersburg, Steve Tuck, that put together a really nice festival to raise money for The Children's Home Society. Steve is an absolute saint, and we're joining up to bring Kevin Montgomery back September 24th. It's really neat, because Kevin's 50 State in 50 Days tour is about raising awareness about foster children that age out of care. It's so closely related to what Steve does, it's like the perfect storm. But in a really good way.

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rockscene: You've signed up for this "Concert in Your House" thing, how much is that going to help with promotions etc.?

Radcliff: I literally just signed up last week. I've received two emails from artist wanting to play here in the fall. So I would expect the more I work with acts through CIYH, the better it will work for me. Probably a lot more exposure. I think they'll enjoy Parkersburg too!

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rockscene: Does being a musician (again, the pros and cons) give you an insight others might not have when it comes to booking these shows and convincing these musicians to come to your house and play?

Radcliff: I'm sure they like that I have a PA set up and ready to go when they arrive. I try to be reasonable and work with them any way I can. I think that comes from being a musician and knowing how much easier it is to put on a good show when your mind isn't clouded with other things. As far as booking, I have pulled from that network a few times to get acts here. I'm sure there's a certain amount of trust in knowing you're working with someone who really cares about music.

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rockscene: You most recently released "Naked Souls" -- what's up with any recording or other highlights you're looking forward to the rest of 2012?

Radcliff: I have Haggard Wulf from Morgantown coming July 21st and Chris Bathgate August 27th. As far as my music, I'm doing a project called Demolicious. It's the songs I've written recently that I maybe want to record. So I've made demos of six of them so far. When I get to a point where I'm ready to choose and do make the next CD, it'll be fun to look back on them. I've also tried to video tape myself the day or the next after I write the song. So I'll have three layers to all the ones that make the final cut. It'll be fun to have that all out there to see the evolution of the songs. They are all on my Youtube site. There's also a few videos of the house concerts I've had. But I'm in the middle of editing a lot of them out and posting. So it's kind of thin right now.

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rockscene: You've got Shovels and Rope booked for September?
Radcliff: Yes!!!!!! The day after Labor Day, September 4th. It's funny because I landed the three acts that will be here Wednesday night through the booking agent for Shovels and Rope. It was a last minute thing, but when I listened to them I was just like, "Hell Yeah!" I saw Shovels and Rope at the Nelsonville Music Festival and really thought it would be a long shot at best. But I ended up getting two incredible shows out of it. I'm really thankful you're taking the time to ask me about it and pass it on. It's just too good to keep a secret. Thank you!

John Radcliff 816 Quincy Street Concert Series
WED 6.27 The Kernal, Mechanical River (Joel T. Hamilton) and Andrew Combs
816 Quincy St., Parkersburg 8 p.m.
$10 suggested donation
Facebook event page? Here.

Lucero Brings "Women & Work" to V Club Tuesday

Courtesy photo

Lucero (L-R: Rick Steff, Brian Venable, Ben Nichols, Todd Beene, Roy Berry, John C. Stubblefield) performs at The V Club Tuesday night as part of its Summer “Women & Work” tour.


Reposted from The Huntington Herald-Dispatch

Given the very rich rock and roll history Memphis, Tennessee has, it wouldn’t surprise anyone that the critically acclaimed alt-country band Lucero was influenced by it, in ways both subtle, and overt.

What may surprise some is the music they bonded over before forming 14 years ago.

“For us as a band, we all grew up punks, and we all met at punk rock shows,” guitarist Brian Venable said over the phone from Carrboro, North Carolina, where Lucero kicked off its Summer “Women & Work” tour.

“When you’re young, you might not realize where you’re from,” he added. “Everyone wants to go somewhere else, to get out. We were trying to do something different.”

Lucero performs at The V Club Tuesday night with Houston-based country rocker Robert Ellis, who was just nominated for Emerging Artist of the Year by the Americana Music Association.

“Women & Work,” Lucero’s eighth studio release, finds the band embracing its Memphis roots; a bigger, more soulful sound, with horns, steel guitar, and piano/organ. Lucero also recently played with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra’s Opus One musician series, and in May, recorded some songs for the PBS-syndicated Sun Studio Sessions.



“Just being from Memphis, playing with the musicians and knowing the people and the history and recordings, you realize you’re a Memphis musician, and there’s a lot to be said about that,” Venable said.

Released on ATO Records, (home to Drive-By Truckers and My Morning Jacket) a lot of positive things have been said about “Women & Work” since its March release. The record, a raucous soundtrack to a bar-based weekend, with some gospel nods (hear the female chorus on “Go Easy”) thrown in, has received praise from Rolling Stone and The New York Times (among others) and that’s cool, Venable said, if a little unreal.

“It’s one of those things where it kind of doesn’t seem real. But it doesn’t affect our day-to-day touring. It’s also something that your grandparents and people like that, you can go, ‘Look, the New York Times likes us.’ They all know what The New York Times is. It’s like getting your records into a Best Buy or a Wal-Mart. Your relatives are like ‘Oh, you’re a big deal,’” Venable said with a laugh. “Sure.”

But Lucero is a big deal to their fans. That the hard livin’, hard lovin’ songs singer-guitarist Ben Nichols and crew come up with means so much to the fans, means that much more to the band.

“That’s the awesome thing,” Venable said of the love Lucero is constantly shown by its fans. “Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees. We’re so busy making music and living day to day, and you get people who come up and are like ‘Your music got me through a divorce,’ or ‘We’re getting married to your music.’

“Music means a lot to a lot of people, but sometimes as a musician you miss out on the importance of it to people. I mean, I have favorite bands, but it never occurred to me that my band would be someone’s favorite band until they came up and told me.”

The long, winding musical path Lucero finds itself on? Venable said the journey is the destination.

“We’ve been really lucky being a band for 14 years, to be able to stretch our legs, so to speak, creatively, where a lot of bands if they break up after six or eight years, they might not get to try it like we have.

“It’s just one of those things,” he added. “None of us have real job-qualified educations. The joke is we’re too dumb and too uneducated to do anything else. We’re lucky enough to play music for a living, so we’re going to run with it as long as we can.”


IF YOU GO

Lucero
w/Robert Ellis
WHERE: The V Club, 741 6th Ave.
WHEN: 9:30 p.m. Tuesday
COST: $18
INFO: www.vclublive.com or (304) 781-0680
ONLINE: www.luceromusic.com/

Q&A w/Tucker Riggleman and Paul Cogle of Bishops

It’s always cool to see new bands form, ‘specially when they’re made up of cool dudes we’ve talked to in the past. Such is the case with Bishops, which grew out of Tucker Riggleman (The Demon Beat/Prison Book Club) recording some solo stuff with Paul Cogle (Nagato/Vox Populi).

Fast forward a few months, and after adding drummer Andrew Ford and pulling guitarist Adam Meisterhans (The Demon Beat/PBC/Rozwell Kid) in, Bishops is releasing a full-length in July and heading out on tour. We caught up with Riggleman and Cogle to learn more and talk about some rock songs…


WVRockscene: The first Bishops full band show was June 10? How did that go?

Paul Cogle: The first band show went great! Loved playing the “Ice Breaker” in front of all our friends.

Tucker Riggleman: It was definitely a lot of fun. Everyone was real attentive and had nice things to say. It’s only gonna get better from here.

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rockscene: You’re set to release the full-length real soon right?

Cogle: Yes, it’s recorded and we are in the mixing stage. It’s got a sound all it’s own – Trashy Garage Rock, Dream POP/Shoe Gaze and just down right Rock at times.

Riggleman: Yup, and it’s sounding way bigger than I ever expected. Everyone really brought their best. It definitely doesn’t really sound like anything else I’ve ever done. People keep asking me ‘What kind of band is Bishops?’ and I never have an answer. We have some songs that are pulled back and soaked in reverb, and that might be followed by a raved up, almost punk sounding song. It covers a lot of ground, but somehow still makes sense that it’s coming from the same band.

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rockscene: Tucker you’d previously done solo stuff, still write in PBC, but played the MACRoCk solo Bishops set, how & when did this collaboration with Paul come about out of your own writing? Did you two say ‘Let’s start a band!’ at any point?

Cogle: I’ve been bugging Tucker for a few years about doing some recordings for either PBC or the Demon Beat and schedules had never worked, out but last fall we talked (about a side project) he’d like to record and wanted to know if I’d be involved. I jumped at the chance. It’s been a really good time!

Riggleman: I’ve been writing songs pretty frequently since I was about 16 years old. Once I got to college I had the opportunity to do some solo shows and travel around a bit with that, but I was never really satisfied with the representation of the songs. Everything I write has more of a “full-band” feel to it in my head. Paul is a great guy and is very active in the West Virginia music scene.

I was finally able to find the time to go check out his studio in Falling Waters in early 2012 and cut some acoustic demos of a bunch of songs I had recently written. Once we got Andrew in there and plugged in the amps it all just felt pretty perfect. I was finally hearing the songs the way I had heard them in my head all of those years.

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rockscene: Paul I thought I’d seen a Nagato show mentioned online not too long ago, what’s it like being in a band like Bishops with Tucker, something so different than Nagato?

Cogle: I’m a real music junky and love playing as many styles and with as many different people as possible (this is how I grow). Bishops and Nagato are so far apart but still, all a part of me.

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rockscene: Paul, what’s up with Nagato, you gonna do another EP or anything? Still playing shows obviously right?

Cogle: Yep, still playing shows and getting ready to record a full length. Been a lot of challenges in “Nagatoland” but all is well. Greg Ball (also in Hovel) now lives back in Morgantown so there are a few schedule challenges but we do get together every few months.

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rockscene: Tucker not to get too personal or specific but just looking at stuff you’d said on Facebook about life sucking in general, and then you have the lyrics on “I Wanna Marry Rock and Roll,” -- “Everything sucks don't you think I know/Tomorrow's gonna suck, just let it go.” But now the obvious question how cathartic is it now to have this band for you?

Riggleman: It is very cathartic. I think everyone needs that outlet. The Demon Beat’s songs are written by Adam, and PBC’s almost entirely by John, so it’s definitely nice to be able to cut loose and get some shit off of my chest. I think the entire act of writing, recording, and performing music is insanely therapeutic, and it always seems to help me out when I’m down.

I think as I get older I just realize that a lot of the negative or shitty things that happen around me are out of my control, so if I can try to remember to just sit back, let it go, and play some music with my friends it will make this whole “growing up” thing at least a bit easier.

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rockscene: Is Meisterhans supposed to be in the band now?

Cogle: He started out as a fan, then a utility player but I think he needed to be in the band after what he brought to the recordings. Adam is great! Like cream, he rises to the top. Can’t wait for you all to hear the songs!

Riggleman: Yeah, we recorded one of the early practices we had with just a room mic and let Adam check it out so he could add some parts to the recording, but the parts ended up being so good and his enthusiasm about playing was awesome, so he’s going to start playing live with us as well.

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rockscene: Where did you guys record at? And given each of your own respective amounts of recording how did it go for Bishops?

Cogle: We recorded at my house. Tucker, Andrew Ford (PBC) and myself. The energy was really good and we knocked-out the main tracks in an afternoon. All first takes! Was a pure joy to record. Adam came in a few days later and did his cuts. It’s all been really good. Lots of good performances captured to tape.

Riggleman: Paul has a great studio with amazing gear that he built from the ground up. That’s where we practice too, so it was a very comfortable environment to track in. I’ll admit, it being a brand new band I was a bit nervous about how the tracking would go, but I’ll be damned if we didn’t do 10 songs in one take each for the basic live tracking. Andrew and Paul are such professionals, and I’m really lucky that they let me add my sloppy playing style overtop of their locked in rhythms.

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rockscene: You’re going out on tour with New God in July, how much are you looking forward to that?

Cogle: It’s gonna be a great time – totally looking forward to it!

Riggleman: I’m very excited about this, especially because Kenny (from New God/The Christmas Lights) and I grew up playing shows together in our very first bands, so it’s really come full circle for us. He’s an amazing musician, and New God is going to turn some heads. Check out their record “Motorcar” if you haven't already.

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rockscene: Tucker maybe a side issue but you started Big Bullet Booking recently, what made you wanna do that and how’s it gone so far?

Riggleman: That is really just an attempt for me to take my years of booking experience to the next level. To kind of get my foot in the door. It’s been going pretty well. This tour actually started as Kenny from New God approaching me about booking a tour for them, and then I was like, ‘Well I’ve got this new band and we’d love to play some of the shows with you,” and he was all about it. I also have recently helped booked some stuff for my friend JKutchma from Durham, North Carolina.

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rockscene: You’ve each been in and still are in multiple bands. How exciting is it to be in this band right now?

Cogle: The hardest part is scheduling. All the bands (we are in) are with our friends and time has to be shared with all our music endeavors but that said, I’m totally excited about Bishops and the future!

Riggleman: It’s very exciting. Like I said, it’s been years in the making for me to finally have an outlet for my songs the way I’ve always wanted them to be heard. That being said, it’s still just as important to me to go out and be super loud with The Demon Beat, or rock out with PBC. Each has its place in my life and are equally cathartic in different ways for me. I think we’re all pretty lucky to be involved in so many different projects. It’s hard for some people to find one band that they like to play in.

Bishops art: Jordan Hudkins

Sample mix of “Get Down” from Bishops soon-to-be-released debut record

Video(s) courtesy Bucket of Rock Blog

Bishops: “Shit Happens” 6.15 @ Church St. Pub

CD Review: "All the Stuff and Gore"

CD: All the Stuff and Gore
ARTIST: The Renfields

Fans of The Renfields have for years had the same problem: where to go to hear all their records. If these fans are at all like us, they may have been trolling the internet, looking first at MySpace, now at Facebook Renfields pages, wanting to hear more, screaming:

“There’s got to be a better way!”

Yes, dear friends, Team Transylvania has released its two-disc box set All the Stuff and Gore just for you!

Only a few people really know our own “fiendish,” bloodthirsty affection for The Renfields. Since first hearing “Prom Night” what, around 2006 or 2007 (?) there hasn’t been any other band we’ve loved hearing more than the Transylvania pogo-punk stylings of these undead horror movie lovers, re-animated with the parts of dead Ramones.

Not only will Renfields fans finally get their favorite records, The Night THEY Came Home and Bastard Sons of Ed Wood, there are like a dozen or so unreleased songs, some old, some new, so even the most diehard Renfields fans will have new songs to fall in love with and sing along to.

“War of the Robots,” “Transylvania Fight Song,” and “Renfields Go!” are included on disc one, and disc two (Stalk and Slash Splatterama I and II) has the most awesome “Ramones Zombie Massacre” (just included on a Ramones tribute comp) and the very much still unreleased “Porkchopp3D”, dedicated to Eamon Hardiman’s murderous pig-headed backwoods killer, is actually one of the most badass Renfields songs ever. Cool to see Hardiman team up with The Renfields.

The one thing that longtime fans of The Renfields will be able to agree on is the very clear progression the band has shown since those older records were released.

It seems like for so long, Vincent had a hard time putting, much less keeping a live Renfields act together. Now, with the current Fiend and Dick Ramses having been in the band a couple of years, Vincent and Team Transylvania have displayed not only with their very raucous energy and chemistry a step forward but also capture a bigger sound with better production. They just sound like a better band, not surprisingly.

But one thing that must be addressed in the live act: the samples. Having the movies that are so important to The Renfields (what the songs are about, duhhh) be a part of these songs pulls everything together. Hate to not see that live.

One last thing: the Ramones nods displayed so prominently in parts by The Renfields. Some readers will maybe get that the title of their own box set is a lift off the Ramones’ vault-like two-cassette greatest hits comp.

While some things have changed (for the better) for The Renfields, some things haven’t changed: the fun. Listening to The Renfields horror-themed version of plug-in-and-go punk rock, this reviewer really is reminded of those days of old, discovering those Ramones tapes, a wholly innocent punk rock love blooming. Except where the Ramones may have been more prone to sing about babysitting and locket love and needles and pins, The Renfields sing about slumber party massacres, but it is just as fun, and just as catchy.

But yeah, there’s stuff for Renfields fans old and new on All the Stuff and Gore. As much as we’d been anxiously waiting to hear this very much treasured box set, it’s even more awesome than anticipated, this coming from someone who considers himself a Renfields afficianado/expert.

All the Stuff and Gore is the perfect Christmas-in-June gift for that hard to buy for Renfields fan, and a great way for new Renfields fans to love the band as much as we do.

Renfields GO!



All the Stuff and Gore box set includes:
*every Renfields song ever recorded
*acoustic demos and rare tracks
*stickers
*first ever Renfields show flyer
*Transylvania Devil Bats team poster
*Textured CD cover art via Jason Kisner @ Killer Design

Royal Thunder brings “CVI” (and the story behind it) to V Club tonight

Photo: Christy Parry

Atlanta-based Relapse Records artists Royal Thunder (L-R: Josh Coleman, Josh Weaver, Mlny Parsonz, Lee Smith) brings its debut record CVI to the V Club Tuesday night with Valient Thorr, Holy Grail and The Kickass


Reposted from The Huntington Herald-Dispatch

Numerology is of course a very real thing. Whether or not the number 23 is actually appearing everywhere in some sort of cosmic conspiracy, it’s a neat thing to think about.

It can also make you insane, apparently.

For the Atlanta-based rock band Royal Thunder, 106, or, as they’ve titled their new, critically acclaimed Relapse Records debut, “CVI,” is that number.

“The 106?” singer and bassist Mlny Parsonz (that’s how she spells it for the band) asks back over the phone, almost like you don’t know about a horror story she doesn’t want to talk about.

“No, it’s actually a pretty significant story,” she continued. “Originally Royal Thunder was an instrumental band, and the drummer was born on January sixth, 106. They found $106 in the street one day, and it led to some woman crying, and it turns out it was her money, and they got into a lot of trouble with the cops thinking they stole the money.

“And the original drummer went to stay at a friend’s house, and when they woke up in the morning, the drummer was talking to the guy’s grandmother and apparently she was dead, and he didn’t realize it, but she was 106 years old.

“So whatever it means, this number has followed us on a daily basis.”

Royal Thunder, with “CVI,” released May 22, following the band quite literally around the country, comes to Huntington tonight for a show at the V Club with Valient Thorr, Holy Grail, and The Kickass.

Parsonz said praise from outlets like NPR and Revolver Magazine for Royal Thunder’s version of Southern-infused hard rock and metal in general, and for her vocal range and power in particular, is always cool, given the band’s modest aspirations getting started.

“Our hopes and dreams for this band were to just be a successful Atlanta band,” Parsonz said just a few days removed from Royal Thunder’s CD release show and a three-day jaunt of shows with Baroness. “Of course, everybody wants something more than that, a lot of musicians do. You just hope you can pay your bills with it one day.”

But fielding questions about songs like “Parsonz Curse,” spelling out some sort of generational affliction on her dad’s side of the family for strangers in the press? That’s taking some getting used to.

“It was a little uncomfortable for me to even be as personal as I was,” Parsonz said of her lyrics. “We were just another band, I thought we could be off-the-grid, and people wouldn’t focus on it. But all of this is happening, and people are focusing on it, and I want to be open but still keep my boundaries and not just give all the details all of this personal stuff.”

Parsonz, on the subject of personal stuff, said that, yeah, being married to founding member and lead guitarist Josh Weaver makes for smoother chemistry in Royal Thunder.

“I, um,” Parsonz said, pausing to calculate the time they’ve been together. “I’ve been with Josh for almost half my life, and we’ve been married for eleven years and just always have had such a connection with music. You would never know we’re married; we’re like best friends. We don’t really bring our marriage into the music, but inevitably when you’re playing music with your partner it’s going to translate in some way whether it’s energy or subconscious chemistry.

“I do think it makes for a chemistry and energy you can’t really explain.”

And all that flattering praise for the new record? There may be one person not following it too closely. “To be honest, I don’t read a lot of the press because it can make me feel too much pressure, and it makes me feel bad,” Parsonz said with an almost apologetic laugh. “But I hear a lot of good things, and I’m grateful for that.”

Parsonz said that as much as the number 106 has followed Royal Thunder, the band doesn’t believe they’re cursed, or, alternately, given their rapid ascendance in popularity, blessed.

“No, we definitely worked our asses off,” Parsonz said about any cosmic benevolence the number may carry for the band. “I think it’s just interesting. It was like, 106 was such a huge part of our lives, and now it’s being sent out even further into the universe. It’s really cool.”





IF YOU GO Valient Thorr, Royal Thunder, The Kickass, Holy Grail
WHERE: The V Club, 741 Sixth Ave.
WHEN: Tuesday, June 12, 9 p.m.
COST: Advance $10, at door $12
INFO: www.vclublive.com or (304) 781-0680

CD Review: "Animal Tracks"

CD: Animal Tracks
ARTIST: Sly Roosevelt

On the song “Bluejays,” on their recently released full-length debut Animal Tracks, Sly Roosevelt singer-guitarist Sean McDaniel sings “We’ve got something special here.”

If he’s referring to the record, he’s right.

You have to imagine that Sly Roosevelt knew what it was doing all along to pull together what even at first glance appears to be a surrealist petting zoo-themed concept record. On Animal Tracks, though, this Huntington-based indie rock band not only ties together the album art (ably done by Jarrod Schneider) with songs like “Bluejays,” “Lion,” “Minks” and “Wolf,” but a populist, anti-Wall Street manifesto theme seems to have buried itself in some of the lyrics of these songs.

Heck, the band samples 90 seconds worth of Teddy Roosevelt’s August 6 1912, “Confession of Faith” to open the record.

Over twelve songs worth of richly arranged songs that ebb and flow between laid-back almost jazzy intros building into rocked out choruses, jammed out bridges and soaring solos by lead guitarist Jyosh Sanders, it’s McDaniel’s stunning vocal range, from delicate whisper-to-shrieking-howl, that really help make Animal Tracks such a wild ride.

Alexander Durand (bass) and Matt Marshall (drums) have steered the band DIY-style through their own studio in addition to their rhythm section role. Megan Durand adds so much to the songs with synth and piano part.

Standout tracks for us are “Lion,” (which you may have already seen the YouTube “Meet the King” series and video the band did for the song) “Opportune Moment,” “Atoms,” and what makes this CD something more than just animal crackers, “Elijah,” which finds McDaniel ending up on the no-fly list with his conspiracy theory lyrics:

“Gimme the vaccine for Wall Street… Gimme the vaccine for this mock democracy… Gimme the vaccine for this vaccine/I haven’t had the flu in years… I guess I’m gearing up for the plague…”

Not only is the CD something you should buy just to see how the art flushes out the very rich, animal-infested landscape Sly Roosevelt has created here, but this seems like a band that would have an energy live that may be hard to capture on a record. Jon Parsons (mixing) and Russ Fox (mastering) deserve kudos have done that here, we think it would just be cool to see them rock these songs out live.

But yeah, Sly Roosevelt has something special here. Animal Tracks is a great record and a great full-length debut for these cats.



--- Related: Making "Tracks" -- Sly Roosevelt releases "Animal Tracks" at V Club Friday (Huntington Herald-Dispatch article)

Making "Tracks" -- Sly Roosevelt to release "Animal Tracks" at V Club Friday

photo: Alene Baldwin

One step at a time, Sly Roosevelt (L-R: Matthew Marshall, Megan and Alexander Durand, Sean McDaniel, Jyoshua Sanders) have built their own studio, recorded their own record, and put it out themselves. The Huntington-based indie band releases their debut full-length "Animal Tracks" at the V Club Friday night.


Reposted from The Huntington Herald-Dispatch

It’s an exciting time to be in Sly Roosevelt. The Huntington-based indie band has spent eight months working like dogs, putting time and money into their studio and publishing outfit. Friday night, the band will release their debut full-length, “Animal Tracks,” at the V Club.

Since forming in 2008 with the nucleus of singer-guitarist Sean McDaniel, bassist Alexander Durand and drummer Matthew Marshall, and after welcoming lead guitarist Jyoshua Sanders and Megan Durand on keyboards a year or so later, Sly Roosevelt has been making a name for themselves with their highly charged version of indie rock.

Speaking over the phone from their studio in the Prichard Building on Sixth Avenue, McDaniel said that Sly Roosevelt is ready to get “Animal Tracks” out.

“I’m relieved to have it done, it seems like it’s been years in the making,” the 28-year old Proctorville, Ohio native said. “I’m extremely proud of how it went down and the decisions we made to do it ourselves.”

That do-it-yourself ethos pervaded every step in the process. With Alexander Durand and Marshall handling production, and Durand’s Bully Good Publishing handling duplication and packaging, Sly Roosevelt literally controls the method of production, no small luxury for a band.

“Matthew and I were interested in creating a studio environment, and fantasized about all this great equipment,” Alexander Durand said. “That went on the backburner for a few years. Then, when we had the opportunity to get the gear, it was just thrilling to have our own studio.”

McDaniel said everyone going in on the studio has paid off. “About a year ago we made a decision, every band has to make the decision, whether they want to go into a studio or build their own. We took a couple of thousand dollars, everyone pitched in money, and we started to accumulate gear.

“It gave us the freedom to comb through, to have control that we wouldn’t have had if we had to spend two months hovering over an engineer’s shoulder. That would’ve never happened and we would have never got the results we have if we didn’t put in the time and effort to build this thing.”

“We’re able to do it now the way we want to do it,” Megan Durand added.

“The wait has been totally worth it,” Sanders said of the new record, which was mixed by Jon Parsons and mastered by Russ Fox.

“The EP, “Old ‘P’” it does vary drastically from the album because it’s a totally different recording, and we got to see it with new eyes,” Sanders added. “It helped us realize that this is important, we need to be serious about it and it does takes precedence in our lives.”

While not necessarily a concept record, “Animal Tracks” is tied together lyrically and visually, with CD art provided by local artist Jarrod Schneider.

“There’s all these references to animals in the lyrics,” McDaniel said. “And the animal metaphor is crucial to the whole album, how it plays off different symbols, how we’re all animals, and these are our tracks,” he said with a laugh.

To help promote the album, Sly Roosevelt has been putting out a series of “Meet the King” episodes on YouTube, with a drinking, cursing Michael Bradbury dressed as a lion, and recently debuted the official video for “Lion,” off the new record.

Everyone in Sly Roosevelt is looking forward to an out-of-state string of shows in June, taking their music (evoking bands like Modest Mouse and At the Drive-In) to an unfamiliar audience spanning nine states.

“People have to want to listen to our music,” Marshall said. “They have to want to break away from the monotony of normal, popular music. If they have that mindset, I think they’ll love our band.”

“This is a pretty monumental time for us,” McDaniel added. “Getting the album done, establishing Bully Good, having all these things come to a head is a huge milestone. The tour is too, we’ve all been so excited, and terrified at the same time.”


IF YOU GO:
Sly Roosevelt CD Release w/Love Culture and AC30
WHERE: The V Club, 741 6th Ave. (304) 781-0680
WHEN: Friday, June 1, 10 p.m.
COST: $5
INFO: www.vclublive.com
ONLINE: www.slyroosevelt.com

Best split ever? PBC pairs up with Uncle Bengine and the Restraining Orders

Well it’s been out and available, up and online for like a month or something, and not only is Uncle Bengine and the Restraining Orders one of the best band names ever maybe, but the Harrisonburg, Va.-based trio’s 13-song split with Prison Book Club, released on Funny/Not Funny Records, is one of the best pairings of bands on a split release we’ve heard together in recent memory.

Maybe, as with so many times in the past, anytime we’ll mention PBC we mention The Demon Beat. Their recent pairing with Elephant Child was solid; the bands fit well together as far as badass, jammed out garage rock.

But it’s been neat to see (hear, really) how PBC has progressed with their own mix of country and rock since releasing Required Reading in 2009. This split effort has five previously unreleased PBC songs with their take on Neil Young’s “Unknown Legend” thrown in, and has PBC maybe employing more slide guitar sounds via Adam Meisterhans.

So, if nothing else, there’s enough songs here for PBC fans to almost make an EP out of it in their own head.

John Miller, with his country-tough voice, continues to share singing and songwriting duties (and life on the road) with longtime friend Tucker Riggleman in PBC. A perfect voice for this band. “Lights of the City” and “Drinkin’ by the River” are almost perfect anthems for life in not-much-to-do, not-much-money West Virginia, Western Maryland, or wherever you are. Riggleman’s stripped down, ethereal and simultaneously haunting sounding “Darker Side of Town” is another example of this. Riggleman sings as much as pines:

“When you take the poison long enough

One of these days it won’t let you back up

There’s a darker side of town

That’s where all my friends are bound”

Miller’s somber and (maybe) sober “Wouldn’t We” rounds out PBC’s contributions in jammed out badassery, with clangy guitar tones giving way to soaring solos. Something of a theme song for the band maybe, Miller sings: “We are the wayfarers/We are the light bearers. We are what we are.”

Both PBC and The Demon Beat deserve kudos for getting so much music out on splits and EPs and whatever, in between their full-length releases. Ever since you heard about PBC forming, who was in it, you knew they’d be awesome. No surprises here. Will look forward to hearing more new stuff from ‘em. And thumbs up to whoever arranged the songs on the split. Great job.

CD Review: "Young Spillers"

CD: Young Spillers
ARTIST: J Marinelli

There’s something to be said about our own excitement about hearing J Marinelli slightly revamp and re-rock songs he’s already released. Heck, some of our favorite records from the past four or five years are his Stone Age Kicks cover series.

But for fans of the Morgantown native/icon and now Lexington resident’s angry one-man band, even 2010’s Pre-Emptive Skankery Sessions, Marinelli’s most recent 14-song full-length, with some previously released songs remade in salty, surly, or even somber fashion, maybe it’s not so much bittersweet, as it is just not surprising, and just not long enough!

We still love each and every song Marinelli, a veteran of Morgantown bands like The D’arbys, Braille Drivers and Swiss Army Tractor, now playing in Lexington’s Arcane Rifles, has ever released, though.

Marinelli returns in 2012 with his limited (now sold out) three-song, vinyl Young Spillers EP, (Stencil Trash) a release that, at barely five minutes worth of maximum-stomp-and-swing running time, with songs that Marinelli fans young and old will recognize, half serves as a tease, but just as much, reminds you why you love this distinctly Appalachian folk/punk rock rebel.

“Doves and Vultures” and “You Are Dismissed,” both off what we consider to be the definitive and most awesome Marinelli release, 2007’s Keep It Fake, revisit and remind listeners of Marinelli’s righteous indignation at two-faced scenesters and his own determination to “keep Morgantown weird,” even now in his absence, serving as the punk rock consciousness of a scene that he isn’t a part of anymore, one that he embodies with his own DIY ethos and by example.

One of the neat things about following Marinelli since his 2006 debut EP Pity The Party is, not only his own affections for re-recording his songs, but it’s noticing an increasing (?) trend for Marinelli stripping down his own angry one-man band persona and sound. Maybe this was first heard on Stone Age Kicks 2, as Marinelli picked up a banjo and delivered soft, touching renditions of “Head On” and “Wave of Mutilation.” The standout acoustic/harmonica version of “Pomade Years” on PSS is maybe another example of this.

We say all this because when you hear “20 Class A Cigarette Burns,” on the Young Spillers EP, if it sounds exactly like some old acoustic demo might, it’s because this just might be an original demo for the Braille Drivers’ 2001 release White Dwarfs and Red Giants. Great to see Marinelli pulling from that catalog.



Not surprising: that we’d go on for so long about a three-song release.

Also no surprise: we get so much from a dude sitting behind a very minimalist drum kit (kick/snare/hi-hat) with his caveman guitar, banjo, kazoo or harmonica, takin’ it to the shit talkers and solo schlock rockers, keeping his own distinct version of Appalachian folk and punk rock very much dangerous, and anything but fake.

--- Young Spillers is available for free download at the J Marinelli bandcamp page

Something that sucks: Arms and Sleepers calls it quits

Arms and Sleepers (above) have made friends and fans all over the world (even Charleston, W.Va.) with their music. The duo announced an indefinite hiatus last month.

Got some bummer news recently. As of April 2012, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based ambient/down-tempo duo Arms and Sleepers, are on an “indefinite hiatus.” The first news of this seemed to indicate something more permanent, like a break-up, but still, indefinite hiatuses are never good when it comes to bands and expecting new music from them anytime soon.

It’s crazy but we’ve been following and covering Max Lewis and Mirza Ramic pretty much since around the time that they formed back in 2006.

It was around this time that they visited The Empty Glass in Charleston to play a show with The Concept. It was at this show that my wife and I met the A&S dudes, who were sharing the bill with The Concept.

Getting to see their music combined with tour footage and miscellaneous footage projected on a screen behind two dudes messing with synths and computers was as engrossing visually as it is sonically.



One of the things that was great over the years was to follow the group as it released new music, and see how they progressed since releasing “Bliss Was It In That Dawn To Be Alive” so many years ago.



I got to cover A&S around this time in Graffiti, and I know that Bill Lynch covered the group in the Gazette on one of their return trips to the Glass. WVRockscene even caught up with A&S here for a Q&A and a few reviews.

It just sucks enormously. Arms and Sleepers was one of the only groups that my wife and I could agree that we both liked. Nothing goes on forever, but Arms and Sleepers, since 2006, have released a lot of great music. Judging how much time I’ve spent on their bandcamp page, even if they’re no longer a functioning unit, I’ll no doubt remain a fan of their music. I have collected enough of their CDs over the years that I am assured of this fact.

Check out some youtube clips and visit their bandcamp page to hear all Arms and Sleepers releases.