And, there's a Christmas bonus. Not only did Matthew give us the 5 best things he's read recently, but also lets us know 5 things he likes about Christmas and 5 things he doesn't like about Christmas...
5 best things about Christmas
1) Baking pies
2) Spending time with family
3) Singing Christmas carols
4) The Charlie Brown Christmas Special
5) The traditions--decorating, putting my son in Santa's lap, fireplaces, and holiday parties with friends
5 things he doesn't like about Christmas
1) Holiday consumerism and busyness
2) The Shrek Christmas Special
3) "Silver Bells"--a ridiculous excuse for a song in my opinion
4) Spending more than three days with family
5) The struggle I have to engage the hope of Jesus
5 Best Things Matthew Paul Turner has read recently... 1) Entertainment Weekly
Red Collar's Pilgrim was Deckfight's favorite album of 2009. Here's an article I did on them for the December issue of Bootleg magazine. Red Collar can be found on MySpace and over here on the interwebs. Pilgrim is now available in vinyl and in stores in conjunction with Suburban Home Records.
If you read a lot of music journalism pieces, they tend to involve restaurants - neutral places that aren't intimidating for the band or journalists. So you'll get elaborate descriptions of what your favorite band member ate at that one time in their life, a single meal immortalized forever in the annals of rock and roll. This piece will be no different, except that it is, because though I ate with Beth and Jason Kutchma, the originators of Red Collar, I don't remember what they ate, well maybe I remember a little bit, but it doesn’t matter because it doesn’t mean anything. The band, its people, the music – it should MEAN SOMETHING. Because that's what this is about, this piece, this band called Red Collar. Because why else would it happen?
Why would four people ride around the country in a van to spread music? Though I don't know the ages of Beth and Jason or Mike or Jonathan, they're not young (they alluded to that), they're not naive, they didn't just graduate from high school and doing this for kicks. There's a lot of music. There are a lot of bands.
"Cities used to be defined by their music and their scene, and that's not the case anymore," Jason said. "Every town looks the same when you're going through on the highway." That comment was prompted when I asked Jason to tell me about The Boiler Room. Much of this crazy story is detailed in three parts of their blog, but it's essentially a case of mistaken venue identity, in two different Kentucky towns with a venue both named The Boiler Room, both with club-type people, not punk rock people. Jason wrote on the blog:
"These two bars were so similar that if Nate (one of the Boiler Room promoters) said, “Meet me by the guy with the bleached tips, the stonewashed jeans, pink polo shirt, and a gold chain with a gold Taurus attached to it,” then I would’ve been able to say “Nate, I’m patting him on the head, how can you not see me?”"
They eventually found twenty-plus towns with a Boiler Room of some sort, showing how ridiculous and how so many towns are in fact, the same. Beth and Jason didn't directly say this, but in a lot of ways Red Collar wants music to MEAN SOMETHING again, and it might just be their job, nay, their responsibility to show us all.. Music will only mean something if the band makes it mean something. The band’s live performances are a testament to the energy and passion for playing, echoing the live shows we’ve seen by famous bands in the course of our lives.
The band played a show at Reggie’s in April 2008 with Hammer No More The Fingers. In the midst of an outstanding set, Jason, on guitar, throws his instrument down, not as contrived bravado but internal energy erupting as an impulsive blast of expression. The band works up a fury, as if exorcising the devil right there in the room, to give old Scratch the beating of his life. The band’s rhythm is tribal, guttural, a musical transformation from harmony to rough and brazen musical crash and burn. Their set is as powerful as it is electrifying, redefining what a rock show should be. It’s a tough decision for an audience, the body goes from riding the groove to standing there transfixed, taking a close look at the distinct musical detonation on the floor on display
Afterwards Hammer’s drummer Jeff Stickley says, “We gotta follow that,” referring to the fury filled set their fellow Durhamites.
Red Collar has found a way to make it happen, though practicalities get in the way - a van. Twenty-five days gone, nineteen days gone and nineteen more days gone for an unsigned band touring in two circles around the Midwest and the South. Though it's repetitive, the up and down back again, load in, plug in, load out of the road, it's necessary, it's part of the deal.
"Without going back and hitting these cities, it's hard to build up an audience for them,” Beth said. "I can't imagine doing a one-off, then never coming back." She sums touring up: "It's not easy, it's fun as hell."
Beth and Jason are from Pennsylvania and moved to Durham , North Carolina for the weather. They put an ad on Craigslist, found their guitarist Mike and hit it off. During a live show it’s more than apparent with Jason and Mike displaying desperation coupled with energy that makes a show a show.
Red Collar released an EP in 2008, and their full length album Pilgrim earlier this year. In that time, everyone has tried to put Red Collar into categories, into a place. But much to their liking and Jason's spur-accessorized sneakers, they haven't found a place. They've been featured on uber-hip Seattle station KEXP, their album has streamed on PunkNews as well as Spinner.com.
Blogs have made their mark on the album in between it all. Most describe their sound somewhere between The Hold Steady and Fugazi. People are intrigued by the band’s live shows, their catchy choruses, their feel for melody and for excellent lyrics.
The EP shares some material as the full length, and they've been playing those songs for a year or two, maybe three. Beth estimates they've played ‘Used Guitars’ five to six hundred times, but enjoy the longevity of their songs, because they are good songs. Jason says he tosses many, and even though technology is really easy these days, it doesn't mean that everything written should be recorded. He feels a lot of it should be trashed. "Bands go and record without knowing if (the songs) have any life to them. Bands make this huge tactical mistake,” he said. "People say, 'why don't you play that song anymore?' Because those words don't have any meaning to me anymore."
Instead the band prefers to work hard to maximize the life and meaning of those songs. To hold and cradle and cuddle and lift and let free songs that will stay, keep and preserve and last and mean something.
"What I've discovered through the years is that the music, that's what was important. The music is what grabs you. But after the twelfth time, you come back for the lyrics," Jason said.
Everyone has that feeling that something big is about to burst, but Jason and Beth really do seem to not care, and just keep plugging away at their thing. It's that individual thing again, about not making a mark, but reclaiming a mark from The Boiler Room-sub-sub culture that has rendered all punk rock the same. They talked a little bit about being an "exhibit" at a festival like South by Southwest where every band is hoping to mean something, and it turns out they all MEAN NOTHING just by them all being in the same place.
"I think the caliber of music in the Triangle is by far the best I've seen. I don't know if it's what I'm used to, I just feel the caliber, the bar has really been raised,” Beth said.
"The Triangle is really strange. There really isn't a Chapel Hill sound, there's not a Durham sound, there's not a Triangle sound," Jason said. “What do they share? They all play notes. That's the only commonality. I think it's a really great area, where people are encouraged. I could list fifty right now, and none of them would sound alike and they're all excellent at what they do, with a unique sound.”
Sounds great. All the bands are unique. All the bands have vision. All the bands are trying their hardest. Sign each and every one of them.
"It's a real blessing to have that, but also a curse,” Jason said. He says everyone says they want individuality, but they all want the same. Like the slogan in a chain of House of Blues venues across the country - "Unity in Diversity” - words that really MEAN NOTHING.
"As much as the public likes to say, not the bands themselves, the public, as much as they like to say ‘I want something individual’ - they don't. They want a stamp. The Athens sound. The Seattle sound."
I'll stop Jason here, because I do agree, but he'd be lying if he says his band doesn't sound like anyone. They may not sound like a lot of bands, but as he says "they all play notes" and Red Collar is kind of in this punk rock vein that relies on certain nods and winks to get by as he said when they were at the wrong Boiler Room. "This was a place that we shouldn't be. You just got that vibe with the social identifiers.”
Doesn't Red Collar depend on the stamp just a little? I didn't ask him that.. But maybe that doesn't matter. Maybe it's not always the exact output of sound, but the attitude that comes in making the sound. The attitude that's confident enough not to replicate another band and the attitude to not care if some of the influences are worn on the sleeve. It's an attitude about not caring either way.
"They're striving, they're being individual," Jason continues about Triangle bands. "There's no pressure on any one in that town, in those three towns, except for the way they want to sound."
"Sometimes there might be stamps, there might be connected dots, there might be similarities. Maybe the only similarity is that Red Collar only cares about being the best band they can be and playing with whomever they want, making their songs, their albums, their shows, their tours, MEAN SOMETHING. "To us, we're human beings that play music and we're all great friends," he said.
After the interview, Jason played a solo set to about fifteen people, none of which stood closer than five feet to the stage. It was an opening slot for a folk singer. I couldn't tell if Jason cared or not, but I firmly believe he didn't. More after the jump...
For the uninitiated, South of the Border is the greatest place on earth. It's a kitschy tourist trap (yes, they still exist!) just south of North Carolina's border in South Carolina. Driving past at night reveals a great neon sombrero above a water tower with every building lit up declaring such things as "Pedro's Coffee Shop" and "Ice Cream" (I think). For those that don't stop (but why wouldn't you?) many laughs and jollies comes from the billboards leading up to the place, such as "You never sausage a place!"...ha!
Three years ago, I wrote this piece for Pine magazine about shopping at South of the Border on Black Friday. Some highlights: bullwhips, Martha's Vineyard hats and large cut-outs of Richard Petty. It's still one of my favorite pieces, not sure why.
Back to a more regular schedule next week--hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.More after the jump...
It’s official. The Black Eyed Peas have become robots. At least, that’s what one is led to believe from their single, “Boom Boom Pow.”
Their groove-a-tron single starts with a computerized Will.i.am instructing the audience to “get that.” This isn’t a request, by the way. You “gotta get that.” Get what you may ask? Why, the “boom boom boom,” of course.
For the remaining three minutes of the song, it’s not too hard to get some “boom boom boom.” Through a collection of vocal effects, the group provides ample amounts of “boom” for everyone at the club to last them the rest of the evening.
The most refreshing part of the song comes from Fergie. It seems she’s done singing. She’s gotten to the point in her career that she can drop the one thing (besides peeing her pants) that gave her some form of use in the group. She’s got abs. She doesn’t need to sing anymore.
Also, she provides us with our only dose of “future boom boom boom.” So that’s nice. How can she accomplish this time-traveling feat? Well, she’s “so 3008,” so she has capabilities that aren’t afforded to the rest of us that are “so 2000 and late.” Sorry everybody, get an auto-tune program and maybe you can do some sit-ups with Fergie. Until then, chickens, stop trying to jack her style.
Another delightful part of the song comes towards the end. After Will.i.am drops the beat per Fergie’s request, he describes the size of his beat. I had a fairly good idea that the beat wasn’t too short, but I’m glad he could place a more concrete visual of the dimensions of the beat.
“Beats so big I’m steppin’ on leprechauns, Sh***in’ on y’all with the boom boom.”
I’m thinking this means the beat is at least four feet tall. Leprechauns usually run around three feet so I think an extra foot would provide enough room to be able to comfortably step on them. I don’t much appreciate being sh** on, but as long as it’s with the “boom boom,” I’m alright with it. In fact, that sounds kind of nice.
Pitch shifting, digitally induced stutters, auto-tuned verses: All evidence that the Black Eyed Peas are speaking to us from the future where people become robots and music abuses leprechauns. I appreciate the heads up and look forward to the Olympics once everyone gets robotic legs to match their robotic vocal cords.More after the jump...
School is back in session. Or close to it at least. Now's the time that English teachers pull out pop quizzes and try to lead discussions on the summer's required reading. Please. Why didn't they just break all your new crayons and mock you for having a He-Man lunchbox? Oh, they did that too? Well, don't know what to tell you except to check out our 5 worst required reading books after the jump... 5. Passage to India by E.M. Forster "You can't remember why books are so boring...just that they are." Co-worker Allison
(Tie) 4. Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway & The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthone.
"Boring." Co-worker Bill
"Snoozefest." Co-worker Bill
3. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
We all knew decapitation was bad, just not this bad. 2. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
"Nothing relates to American high school freshmen quite like the struggles of Okonkwo the African tribesman an the Protestant missionaries who threaten his culture. And there were no Cliffs Notes." My friend, Daniel
1. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
Multi-colored highlighters, chainmail making lessons and my Andre the Giant impersonator of a teacher giving sword fighting lessons for two months.
Pop Prick is by Josh Rank. He can be found at: www.joshrank.blogspot.com.
Dierks Bentley “Sideways” The literary genius of Dierks Bentley
This Top 40 country song follows in the same vein of such literary greats like James Joyce, Virginia Woolfe, and William Faulkner. It’s rare to find a contemporary song that employs the classic writing device of “stream of consciousness” narrative.
“Hey girl, what’s your name?
It’s so loud in here I can’t hear a thing
But I sure do like your style
And I can see you came to rock
In your blue jeans and white tank top
Man, that look drives me wild”
It’s almost as if he wrote the lyrics without thinking about them at all. As if he were walking through a honky-tonk bar, saw a pretty little thing, and spoke exactly what he was thinking into a teletype.
It’s lyric writing like this that the world of music doesn’t see enough of. People spend too much time paying attention to rhyme, content, and general aesthetic pleasantness. Bentley may be at the forefront of a new movement in music.
After passing some time rambling, the song stumbles upon a few rhymes. This is where the song veers off course. It should have just stuck to lyrics that any drunk hillbilly could come up with after pouring a jug of moonshine down his throat so the genius would not be lost. However. Bentley tries to force some rhymes:
“And it’s, hey now, here we go
DJ don’t play nothing slow
Keep those girls out on the floor
Gotta make them want to come back for more”
He somehow manages to keep the hillbilly simplicity while including rhyming words. This is commendable for the simple fact that it still has mass appeal to the country community while employing some literary technique. This is why the song has managed the acclaim it has.
I, however, like to focus on the more unique aspects of the song. All the pretty rhymes overshadow, but don’t erase the stream-of-consciousness beauty.
“Ain’t no need to fight
Y’all take the redneck stuff outside
That’s what parking lots are for”
Beautiful. And he brings it back to the moonshine thought pattern by including two words that aren’t even words and a double negative. Jeff Foxworthy would be proud.
Bentley may seem like a dumbass who would fail a seventh grade English class, but that’s an image he's created just to sell records. His true love for classic literature pokes through in the subtle devices he uses to write his music. Now if only he could find a way to write about something more than drunk girls at a bar, he might gain the recognition he deserves in the literary community.
Pop Prick will be a new ongoing feature by Josh Rank. He can be found at: www.joshrank.blogspot.com.
Daughtry “No Surprise” How a song about Santa Claus could climb to the top of the charts in the middle of summer
Literally, the first thing Chris Daughtry says in this song which wasn’t included in the lyrics because it would make it too obvious, is “Ho-ho-ho.” Seriously. First verse:
“I've practiced this for hours, gone round and round” (Gone around the world giving many gifts)
“And now I think that I've got it all down” (He knows how to con a mother into the sack)
“And as I say it louder I love how it sounds” (He’s proud of his carnal achievements)
“’Cause I'm not taking the easy way out” (He’s taking the easy way in)
“Not wrapping this in ribbons” (Because he’s sick of wrapping presents)
“Shouldn't have to give a reason why” (It’s pretty obvious, Santa)
Chorus:
“It's no surprise I won't be here tomorrow” (Back to the North Pole)
“I can't believe that I stayed till today” (He fell asleep after plugging the Mom)
“Yeah you and I will be a tough act to follow” (Mrs. Claus is a bad lay)
“But I know in time we'll find this was no surprise” (Of course Santa has to leave, he hates having children see him if he’s not in a mall)
Though I'm not going to run through the whole song, Daughtry is singing a song about Santa Claus nailing some random Mom and accidentally falling asleep. The genius of this song is that he disguises it as if it’s about some everyday schlub leaving his girlfriend. How else would the song sell in August?
It even documents when Santa first slid down the chimney that fateful night.
“Our favorite place we used to go/The warm embrace that no one knows”
He’s obviously talking about finding the woman waiting for him by the fireplace. How did he go down a chimney while the fire was still lit? Magic. Santa is magical.
And I thought Daughtry was a talentless hack that only got famous for having a good voice. Yes, I know that can be construed as talent, but not creative talent. It would be like getting famous for being able to toast bread perfectly every time. Good for you, but who really gives a sh**. I thought the lyrics were nothing more than the equivalent of a bad poem ripped from an eighth grader’s diary and put to the tune of any VH-1 band from the 90’s like Fuel or Third Eye Blind.
After close examination, I see that I was wrong. Quite the opposite is true, really. It’s the same as looking at a Picasso painting and only seeing a bunch of sh** thrown together. It’s only after you study you come to realize the shapes are arranged in a genius way. Daughtry’s “No Surprise” is just like a Picasso painting. And Daughtry is just as magical as Santa Claus.
