Always liked Johnathon Ford. Big fan of Roadside Monument. Remember seeing Unwed Sailorin Nashville, maybe with Saxon Shore, and instead of falling asleep and hating Unwed Sailor for sounding nothing like Roadside Monument, I fell in love with their engaging, not repetitive melody lines. I recognized the bass as a real instrument, with real capability, not background filler.
Haven't followed Unwed Sailor through all of their albums, but it sounds like the newest, Little Wars, is similar to the earlier incarnations.
Now with all that said, let's all declare what we really want to say: ROADSIDE MONUMENT DIED TOO SOON!
Unwed Sailor is on tour with Ford's other band, Native Lights. Southern dates & another vid after the jump...
Dec 3 2009 The AllWays Lounge w/ Native Lights New Orleans, Louisiana
Dec 4 2009 The Spanish Moon w/Native Lights Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Dec 5 2009 The Bottletree w/Native Lights Birmingham, Alabama
Dec 6 2009 The Fly Bar w/Native Lights Tampa, Florida
Dec 7 2009 Propaganda w/Native Lights Lake Worth, Florida
Dec 8 2009 The Engine Room w/Native Lights Tallahassee, Florida
Dec 9 2009 Redlight Redlight w/Native Lights Orlando, Florida
Dec 10 2009 Caledonia Lounge w/Native Lights Athens, Georgia
Dec 11 2009 Drunken Unicorn w/Native Lights Atlanta, Georgia
Dec 12 2009 The End w/Native Lights Nashville, Tennessee Dec 13 2009 Vino’s w/ Native Lights Little Rock, Arkansas
50 things publishers shouldn't do: At 3 Guys 1 Book.
How to become the most famous author in the world: At HTML Giant. Reactions to Rick Moody's Twitter story: At HTML Giant.
Review of Mel Bosworth's book. The review could be longer, but I still want to read the book and plus I like this website a lot: At Outside Writers Collective.
Only Thieves Greetings From Levy Park, T.L.H Self-released, 2009
There's something instantly likable about Only Thieves--a je ne sais quoi that makes them instantly memorable. Can't put my finger on it. On the tip of my tongue. That same quality that made Hey Mercedes, Nada Surf and The Promise Ring bands to admire. An unimpeachable optimism that shines through even when singing about horrible badness. An ability to transmit bounciness while sitting still. Don't know what it is---the charisma, the ineffable "knack"--but Only Thieves has it.
It's appropriate to review this EP this time of the year, the first song is titled "Hammered for the Holidays," a tongue-in-cheek song about a treacherous drunken trip down the interstate and late for Christmas. This is a punk band in the loosest sense, a crowded bar rock band-type that is capable of playing the hits while making their own shine through. "Hammered" will be added to the canon of ironic holiday songs, the tradition laid by "Grandma Got Ran Over By Reindeer" and that Adam Sandler has maximized. The third song, "Watertower Scars" is perfectly suburban, perfectly real and again perfectly bouncy, making rock better for being pop. "Ghosts In Your Bedroom" and "I Got Left Behind" kind of makes me want to clap or at least slap someone repeatedly on the back--the repetitive intros sets the pacing up perfect for making the chorus stick so well, two simple numbers done well.
All of this is wrapped nicely by "Does This Bus Stop at 8th Avenue?" an inquiring screed about familial love transmitted through transportation. Again with The Promise Ring, it's something right off of Nothing Feels Good and there's nothing wrong with that. Nothing at all, though the Thieves tone their distortion down. A solid 5-song EP that I've already returned to repeatedly. Only Thieves will be stealing our joy if they don't have a full-length hit soon. 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...
