Watch: Sage Francis - “Love the Lie” (Co-Written by Sparklehorse)
“The first demos I worked on for this album were with Mark [Linkous],” Sage Francis told The Find of his new collabo-heavy LP, Li(f)e. “He was the first one who opened up and took the risk of sending me music that was actually for his own record, just to see what I could do with the music he makes.”
Not only are we hearing part of a composition conceived originally for the late Sparklehorse mastermind’s final works in the stop-motion video above, but this new Jim Foltice-directed clip features a robot love story (a theme close to my heart) to boot. [Permalink]
Nick-a-Nees, Providence. Saturday September 11th, Girl Haggard will release “Country & Eastern” on 75 or Less Records!
Loose Endz
I get this band, or they get me… either way I’m SUPER excited about Loose Endz. The group hails from Oakland, CA and oozes with punk rock goodness.
Their story goes like this: ”Erick and Jon were bros. Jon started dating Erica. It was cute. Jon and Erick started making horrible music in Jon’s practice space. Jon asked Erica to play bass. Erick asked Sunshine to come sing. Alex came to hang out for a week and played some drums with us. Magic happened. Now we party.”
Hello SLUTEVER! A Few Questions by S. Childress
Nicole Snyder and Rachel Gagliardi make up the the brat punk, lo-fi, dynamic duo that goes by the name Slutever. The best way to describe the music of this Philadelphia-based band is “the kind of noisy shit-gaze that will take you out, beat you up and never call you back.” Their first EP “I’M SORRY I’M NOT SORRY” is available at slutever.bandcamp.com. You can catch them playing with Best Coast and Cults Sept. 7th at the First Unitarian Church and Sept. 21st at JR’s Bar in Philly. Can’t make it to Philly? Well, you can check out their free show Nov. 4th at Vassar College in Pughkeepsie, NY. I have been keeping in touch with these ladies while they’ve been on the west coast this summer and had the opportunity to ask them a few questions.
1. How long have you known each other, and when did you decide to form a band?
R: We met in high school and bonded over our love of weed during our Music Theory class’s production of Hey Arnold!: The Musical.
N: Yeah, we were in the same Music Theory program in high school and had a lot of mutual interests and friends. I remember sitting in Rachel’s car in the parking lot of a Chic-Fila eating milkshakes and moping over the same boy. That’s the first memory I have of us really bonding. As for the band, we were living together last year and both wanted to make music with the same aesthetic. It just seemed like the natural progression of our friendship.
2. How long did it take to write and record Sorry I’m Not Sorry?
N: It’s hard to say. We had been playing around with those songs for a bit and when we realized we would be spending our summers apart, we pushed to get it done by mid-June. That totally didn’t happen at all. We had the basic tracks done in June, but we had to email each other vocal and lead guitar overdubs for almost a month to get it right. We wanted to take our time with it because it’s the first recording we’ve done and it means a lot to us.
3. What kind of equipment do you use and are they hand-me-downs, pawn shop specials, or things you sought out?
R: I use a really shitty Fender Strat that’s covered in blood. I got it when I was like, 14. And an overdrive pedal.
N: I’ve got a left-handed DiPinto Bacchus (a birthday present from years ago), a delay pedal, and a sweet Japanese chorus pedal from the ‘80s that I found in Portland. We have aMapex drum kit with some stupid shitty cymbals - pretty basic.
4. What was your inspiration for “Teen Mom”? What is your attraction to the MTV show, and did it prompt you to write the song?
R: TEEN MOM is my favorite show in the world. I am obsessed with reality television and teen pregnancy so naturally, the show is my biggest weakness. I wrote the song while watching 16 & Pregnant, actually. I was bumming about my ex and watched these little teens and it broke my heart.
5. Do each of you write the songs individually and bring them to each other or do you write them together?
R: I wrote Teen Mom, Seventh Grade, and Smells Like Milk. Nicole wrote No Offense, So Prone, and Sun Hot.
N: You can tell who wrote what by who’s singing. On ‘Sorry I’m Not Sorry’, we wrote our own songs but brought them to each other for input and finishing touches. We’re working on writing together, but I don’t really understand how people do it. We’ll figure it out. Maybe.
6. If you could have or do anything during a live show what would it be?
R: My ultimate live show would be playing alongside Blink 182 while watching televison and drinking Yoohoo.
N: That sounds pretty fucking good to me. I’d like to be able to crowd surf while playing guitar. Or do any cool guitar tricks, really. I wish I was rock’n’roll enough to smash shit, but I’m not. Not yet, anyways.
7. What are your plans for the future? What bands/musicians would you like to tour with, and what cities would you like to visit during your tour?
R: We’re really stoked on our show with Best Coast and Cults, would love to work with them both in the future. Our friends OMAR are a super rad band from Philly that we will for sure be touring with. Reading Rainbow, etc. I’d love to make it to Texas.
N: Definitely excited and equally nervous for that Best Coast show. I get back from Seattle like 4 days before the show and we haven’t had a chance to play together for three months. So that will be interesting. We’re both in school right now, so it’s hard to do the big, exciting things we want to. I just want to tour the USA in a cool van. I don’t care who comes.
8. What makes television so great these days, and why does it hold so much power over Slutever?
R: Television captures the American dream and is where I spend 90% of my days.
N: TV just fucking rules, I don’t know. You can just zone out and not care for a minute. Rachel has turned me on to some real shitty shit. Like, reeeeal shitty. Keeping Up With the Kardashians shitty. But whatever, I’m not even embarrassed to say I’m a sucker for all things reality TV. I’m pretty addicted to Seinfeld right now, but I can’t wait for new seasons of Dexter and Breaking Bad.
9. Do the lyrics come first or the music, and why?
N: Writing-wise, there is absolutely no science behind what I’m doing. I’ll just get one riff or line and go from there. Listening-wise, I used to care a lot more about lyrics. Now, I’m less picky. I just wanna hear good songs.
10. What would you guys like the good people who will be reading this interview to know about Slutever that we didn’t cover?
Rachel doesn’t wear deodorant so she smells like a fucking trash can.
My Vote Toste sign still hangs on my kitchen wall. Even though he didn’t win any elections, I was always impressed by how organized and hard working he was. Everyone who worked on a Toste campaign was a volunteer and his organizers were the best around.
I remember I fought with my hire ups during my days at ACORN and CWA as to why they wouldn’t endorse Toste. They couldn’t “take chances” on some one who wasn’t winnable was their point of view. It would “damage their credibility”.
I felt it was their duty to support and lend resources to the candidate whose values, goals, and plans most aligned with the organizations…right? During the 2006 election, when I was still canvass director at ACORN, our head organizer walked into my office and somehow the topic came to district five and Jeff Toste.
“Toste is an asshole.” she says. I stared at her for a second, then said,
“He’s my friend.”
“Oh!…really?”
“Yep.” Then she walked out of the room, things were never quite the same between us after that. I invited Jeff to come speak to our canvassers and organizers, and was very proud to see many of them volunteer and join his ranks.
Watch the whole play act by act here.
