Get The Band Back Together: An interview with Neil Jarvis & Show # 893

Get The Band Back Together is an album by Neil Jarvis. Perhaps best known as being in the Manchester band Sprinters, this album is the third solo album under the Neil Jarvis name. Prior to this Sprinters released two excellent albums, 2017’s Sprinters and 2019’s Struck Gold. Neil’s earlier solo albums were recorded the same way as this one was, on a 4-track cassette recorder. Weekends (2012) and Halloween Summer (2014) featured lo-fi, psych/surf influenced sounds that were sometimes experimental. Get The Band Back Together is more acoustic based, but it still features the sometimes haunting nostalgic feeling that is present throughout all of Neil’s songs.

“Spring, Again” starts off Get The Band Back Together. It is very much a soundscape recording as it features the sounds of someone walking outside and unlocking or locking doors before entering a fenced in area. Acoustic guitar fades in with dusty lax rhythms. The title track blends acoustic guitar, fuzzy electric guitar and looming, ethereal synthesizers. With lyrics such as “And I know you’ll never be the same/And I know we’ll never be the same,” they express a feeling that many people can relate to. The song shows a complexity and duality of two different feelings. One of the joy of a reunion and the other of how that even when this does happen, things just won’t be the same. In the opening moments of Get The Band Back Together, Neil Jarvis shows the listener how he is a master of his craft. “Green & Blue” brings forth acoustic guitars mixed with psych inspired surf riffs. The song features a more introspective mood. Without the drums, Neil’s voice with its reverb effect produces a melancholic feeling, one that is also positive looking towards something new and unexpected.

“Old House” features just an acoustic and vocal track. The reverb on Jarvis’ vocal this time adds more depth to the track. Although it has been compared to Daniel Johnston, the track feels different than Johnston. With lyrics such as “I’ll be here with you/Through the seasons/And through/In this old house,” and “The sun keeps on shining on us/And as sure as the rain keeps on falling on us,” Jarvis creates a character driven song that gives character to an old house as the main character in the song stays there with the house displaying a sense of isolation and togetherness. “Yosemite” features a drum machine and layered distorted psychedelic guitars. Lyrics such as “California/Your burning/Thought I’d warn ya/Don’t disappear” pop up through the haze of guitars and float back down again in this atmospheric track that adds more musical currents to Get The Band Back Together’s aural aesthetics.

“Song For David Berman” is a track influenced by Berman’s music and is directly influenced by the song “People” from Berman’s band Silver Jews. Featuring acoustic guitar and synthesizers that add character in the background, the song with lyrics such as “They say that you shouldn’t crest too soon/They say that you shouldn’t peak too soon,” contemplates the death of Berman by putting it in a larger context. The lyrics are repetitive and effective as they provide a deeper poignancy. “Near Miss” brings more ambiance to the dynamics of Get The Back Together. The reverb and echo present in this song seem to recall a Kurt Vile influence. You can really feel it on this song with its sparse open space sounds that provides the intimacy of seeing an acoustic musician at a small club, minus the people. “Jingle” is a short instrumental piece featuring acoustic guitars and cinematic sounding synthesizer. “Courage” features harmonica. In a more folk-like setting, Jarvis applies the harmonica to his nostalgic melodies in this song that call for bravery in difficult times.

“Time” ends Get The Band Back Together. This track tackles the “time is on our side” cliché, showing the opposite as it puts a spin on it calling for change before you regret it. In this subtle arrangement, Neil Jarvis wraps up Get The Band Back Together. Recorded on a 4-track cassette recorder during lockdown in April 2020-June 2021, Get The Back Band Together takes Jarvis’ earlier tried and true method of recording/writing songs, but adds a sense of maturity and poignancy that sets this collection of songs apart from both Sprinters and his earlier work. 

Grab a cassette/digital copy of Get The Band Back Together on the Neil Jarvis Bandcamp page:  

Continue reading for an interview that Revolution Rock did with Manchester musician Neil Jarvis:

RR: Let’s Get The Band Back Together was written during lockdown and recorded to 4-track like your first few solo albums. How did it feel to return to this recording method after using the standard band/studio approach for the most recent Sprinters albums?

NJ: It was fun. Recording in a studio can be very long winded and you really need to be patient with it. The last 2 Sprinters albums took a long time to record. Recording at home is a much easier process and you can write a song and have it finished the same day. I much prefer it organic that way and having more control of the sound

RR: What inspired the songs on this album. Were they written prior to the lockdown or during and do you think any of them might appear with Sprinters during live shows in the future?

NJ: All the songs were written in lockdown. I recorded an acoustic version of "Teenage Riot" by Sonic Youth during the start of COVID and really liked the vibe. I think I decided at that point I wanted to make an acoustic record. It is definitely a pandemic album as cliche as that sounds. Pretty much all the songs are inspired/galvanized by it in some way. I doubt Sprinters will be playing any of the songs from it though. But I would like to play some solo shows at some point.

RR: Last time we spoke you said that your solo stuff was a bit more experimental than the Sprinters material. Do you feel that is true of Let’s Get The Band Back Together?

NJ: Not really for this album. Once I decided I wanted to make an acoustic record, I was aiming to make something more sophisticated. In my head at the time I was thinking I wanted to make something like "Sea Change" by Beck. It didn’t really turn out like that in the end though.

RR: Having released your last solo record in 2014, what are the most significant changes in the process of writing and recording the songs on Get the Band Back Together, compared to Halloween Summer?

NJ: I’ve definitely learned not to think too much about the songwriting process. I was very precious about it for a while and would often not finish songs because I didn’t think they were good enough. I’ve learned to persevere and finish stuff. As this was just me on the album it was very much a loner thing; recording in my spare room at home. Half of Halloween Summer was a band playing together so I guess that was different. Some of these songs seemed to come really quick too. I would start them with lyrics in mind and they would come together very fast. None of the songs were work in progress songs that I wrote and worked on over time - like a lot of the Sprinters songs.

RR: I wanted to ask about a few of the songs on Let’s Get The Band Back Together, “Let’s Get The Band Back Together,” “A Song For David Berman” and “Green & Blue.” What inspired these tracks?

NJ: With "Get The Band Back Together" I had had the title in my head for a few months and at first wanted to write a Jeff Tweedy-esq kind of tongue in cheek track about getting an old band back together, and make it kind of funny. When I actually sat down to write it, it was around the time of the vaccines being rolled out, and it ended becoming something else entirely and more of sentiment of it’s time to return back to normality. But it’ll probably never be the same.

"Green & Blue" is about getting through the last summer. We have an allotment behind our house and that saved us during the first major lockdown. We spent most of our time there in summer. It was at the time when you couldn’t leave your garden. The green and blue is a metaphor for that but also finding new unexpected freedoms.

"Song For David Berman," is really a eulogy to David. The lyrics reference the Silver Jews song "People." 

‘‘People send people up to the moon
When they return, well, there isn't much
People be careful not to crest too soon’’

His death really stayed with me and I had the idea from hammering Silver Jews and the Purple Mountains record for weeks. The song is a twist on "People" and I think that’s really what tragically happened to David.

RR: Follow up to the previous question: What did David Berman's music mean to you? What stood out about his songs/poetry, and has it inspired your own song writing?

NJ: I always loved Silver Jews. I’m a huge Pavement fan, and that’s where the link came, but David’s lyrics really stood out to me. I was actually blown away by his final music he did with Woods, "Purple Mountains." It was my favourite record of that year and when he passed I was in total shock. The song "All My Happiness Is Gone" is really something else. His lyrics directly inspired "Song For David Berman." 

RR: You mentioned that the album’s cover is from the last live gig you were at before the pandemic. What do you remember of that gig and do you remember taking this photo at all?

NJ: I think the photograph was taken by accident on my old film camera. I had accidentally clicked when I was putting it away (it’s an old point and shoot camera) The show I think was the last Sprinters show we did in Manchester in March 2020, which also ended up bring the last live show I went to. The rest of the tour was cancelled. When I decided to go with the album title, I found the picture and thought it fit nicely.

RR: How do you think the process of writing/performing/recording with Sprinters will change now that you have created this new album entirely as a solo artist? Are there experiences from this creative process you will be applying to the next sessions with Sprinters?

NJ: I actually scrapped the third Sprinters album and started again. I realized it sounded too much like the first 2 records and wanted to do something different. I’ve been - trying - to write on a synthesizer and trying to work a new sound whilst also keeping it within a Sprinters style. It would be good to return to tape for this next album as it sounds so much better. But maybe not on the 4-track, but on a reel-to-reel or 8-track. 4-track recording definitely had its limitations. But I think none of us want to spend 12 months recording a new album (like we did on the first 2) we want to get it done fast next time.

Show 893 Playlist (Originally Aired On July 31st, 2021)(Neil Jarvis, The Wipers, Protomartyr):

1.  Dumb - Pizza Slice 
2.  Real Sickies - Give and Take 
3.  OBGMS - Outsah 
4.  Jesse Fellows - (The) Fly
5.  Heavy Manners - Flamin' First (2021 Fresh Mix)
6.  Torres - Last Forever 
7.  Torres - Hug From A Dinosaur
8.  Alan Vega - Nothing Left 
9.  Neil Jarvis - Get The Band Back Together 
10. Neil Jarvis - Green & Blue 
11. Neil Jarvis - Song For David Berman 
12. La Luz - Watching Cartoons 
13. Mario & Maria - What I Like 
14. Daniel Romano's Outfit - Nocturne Child 
15. The Descendents - Like The Way I Know 
16. Dead Fibres - Secret Handshake 
17. Fitness - Theme II 
18. Ryley Walker - Striking Down Your Big Premier 
19. The Lee Harvey Oswalds - Not You, The Blonde 
20. The Wipers - Window Shop For Love
21. The Wipers - Mystery (4-Track Demo) 
22. Mannequin Pussy - Perfect 
23. Worry - Acapulco, 2 AM
24. Anxious Pleasers - What Do You Care About 
25. Amyl & The Sniffers - Guided By Angels 
26. The Armed - An Iteration
27. Metz - Sugar Pill 
28. Greys - Minus Time 
29. Protomarytr - Born To Be Wine 
30. Protomarytr - Too Many Jewels

DOWNLOAD/LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE HERE.

Detroit Soul & Shows # 892 & 891

For a late/mid July episode of Revolution Rock we were joined by guest host Graeme Sylvio of CJAM FM’s Sylvio & Soul. Airing on July 24th, 2021, the episode featured a collection of obscure tracks from Detroit artists in the soul, R&B and funk genres. Here is some info about some of the selections that were featured on the show. The playlist is found below. You can hear Sylvio & Soul on CJAM FM every Sunday from 2:30-4 PM EST.

The Miracles – Got A Job (1958)

This is the very first single released by a at the time new emerging songwriter Smokey Robinson. The song was written by Robinson as a response to the 1957 hit Billboard Pop and R&B single “Get A Job” by The Silhouettes, an R&B vocal group from Philadelphia. In The Miracles track, Smokey sings a comedic song of a down-on-his-luck character finding a job in a grocery store, which they ultimately hate, but they keep doing it anyway. At the time that this song was recorded, it was the beginning of Robinson and Berry Gordy Jr.’s songwriting partnership (Gordy co-wrote this track). Motown didn’t exist yet. This “answer song” was originally released in 1958 on Smokey Robinson’s 18th birthday on End Records. Disappointed with the way the label operated, despite the record selling well, Gordy decided to start his own record label following the release of this single.

The Fantastic Four – Alvin Stone (The Birth & Death of a Gangster) (1975)

Recorded several years after their 1967 top ten US R&B Billboard hit “The Whole World Is A Stage,” “Alvin Stone (The Birth & Death of a Gangster)” was a song recorded for the Westbound label in 1975. The album of the same name, which the song is also found on only contained six tracks, but is a powerful late 70s soul album. Alvin Stone (The Birth & Death of a Gangster) is a concept album about a 1930’s gangster named Alvin Stone. It was meant to be a soundtrack/concept album to a film that never existed. The Fantastic Four started out in 1965 with ”Sweet” James Epps, the brothers Ralph and Joseph Pruitt and Wallace “Toby” Childs. Ric-Tic records released their first single. By the time they signed to Westbound in 75, the lineup had changed featuring Cleveland Horne and Ernest Newsome in place “Toby” Childs and Ralph Pruitt.

Dave Hamilton – Highland Sound (Dave Hamilton’s Detroit Funk: Rare and Unreleased Twisted Funk 1967-1973)

Dave Hamilton was a guitarist and vibraphone player that is perhaps best known for his work as a session musician at Motown during the 1960s. He was one of the original members of Motown’s house band that played on many, many Motown recordings, The Funk Brothers. Some of Hamilton’s early guitar credits include John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom Boom,” The Marvelettes “Please Mr. Postman” and vibes on Mary Wells “My Guy,” to name a few. He left Motown to pursue a solo career in 1962. He continued to release singles and produce music. Hamilton released a jazz album in 1963 entitled Blue Vibrations. He also had several different labels and being a producer as well made a large amount of different recordings in the 60s and 70s, most of which remained unreleased for quite some time. Following his passing in 1994, Ace Records released several compilations of his unreleased material, which they acquired including the album Detroit City Grooves and Dave Hamilton’s Detroit Funk.

Show 892 Playlist (Originally Aired On July 24th, 2021)(Obscure Detroit Soul, R&B, Funk w/Guest Host Graeme Sylvio):

1.  The Satintones - Motor City (Going To The Hop/Motor City - Tamla Motown - 1959)
2.  The Miracles - Got A Job (35th Anniversary Collection - Motown - 1994)
3.  The Marvelettes - All The Love I've Got (The Sound of Detroit (Original Gems From The Motown Vaults) - One Day Music - 2012)
4.  Melvin Davis - I Don't Want You (Detroit Soul Ambassador - Vampi Soul - 2010)
5.  Don Hart and The Fyve - Keep Holding On (Lou Beatty’s Detroit Soul - Thirty Rare Gems from the vaults of La Beat Records - Grapevine - 2006)
6.  The Fantastic Four - Alvin Stone (The Birth and Death of a Gangster) (Alvin Stone (The Birth and Death of a Gangster) - Westbound Records - 1975)
7.  The Dynamic Superiors - Soon (The Dynamic Superiors - Motown - 1975)
8.  Chairmen of the Board - Skin I'm In (Skin I'm In - Invictus Records - 1974)
9.  8th Day - You've Got To Crawl (Before You Can Walk) (8th Day - Invictus Records - 1971)
10. Caroline Crawford - The Strut (Nice and Soulful - Mercury Records - 1979)
11. The Black Nasty - Party On 4th Street (Party On 4th Street - Big Hit Records - 1976)
12. Dave Hamilton - Highland Sound (Dave Hamilton's Detroit Funk - BGP Records - 2006)
13. Herbie Thompson - Jungle Time (Jungle Time/Let Your Love (Grow Stronger) - Big Hit Records - 1971)
14. The Dramatics - Don't Leave Me To Be Lonely (Funky Funky Detroit - Funky Delicacies - 2003)
15. Andre Williams - Mozelle (Mr Rhythm - Regency - 1996)
16. Nathaniel Mayer and The Fabulous Twilights - I've Got News (For You) (Going Back To The Village of Love - Fortune Records - 1963)
17. The Delteens with the Orbits - Listen To The Rain (Listen To The Rain/Why Don't You Love Me - Fortune Records - 1961)
18. Nolan Strong & The Diablos - Mind Over Matter (I'm Going To Make You Mine) (Mind Over Matter - Fortune Records - 1963)
19. The Holidays - Watch Out Girl (No Greater Love/Watch Out Girl - Golden World - 1966)
20. Rose Batiste - Hit & Run (The Golden Torch Story (A Collection of 30 Classic Northern Soul Shakers) - Goldmine Soul Supply - 1995)
21. The CombiNations - The Feeling Is Fine (While You Were Gone - Solid Rock - 1967)
22. Mary Wells - Drop In The Bucket (Tamla Motown Early Classics - Spectrum Music - 1996)
23. Richard Street & The Distants - Save Me From This Misery (Answer Me/Save Me From This Misery - Thelma Record Co. - 1962) 
24. Frankie "Sugar Chile" Robinson - I'll Eat My Spinach (Broke-Down Piano/I'll Eat My Spinach - Capitol Records - 1951)
25. Shorty Long - Night Fo' (Last Here Comes The Judge - Soul Records - 1968)
26. Pat Lewis - Can't Shake It Loose (Can't Shake It Loose/Let's Go Together - Golden World Records - 1966)
27. Lemont Dozier - Fortune Teller (Tell Me) (Dearest One/Fortune Teller (Tell Me) - Mel-O-Dy Records - 1962)

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the July 24 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 891 Playlist (Originally Aired On July 17th, 2021)(The Beach Boys, Funkadelic's Maggot Brain (50th Anniversary), Smithereens Songtracks, The Blow Up, Swell Maps):

1.  The Beach Boys - Big Sur 
2.  The Beach Boys - Add Some Music To Your Day
3.  Martin Shiller - Future Prints 
4.  Grassy Knoll & The Magic Bullit - World Stopped Spinning 
5.  Century Egg - Ring A Bell 
6.  betaboys - So Shy 
7.  Paul Jacobs - The Boys Are Back 
8.  Chad VanGaalen - Golden Pear 
9.  Ty Segall - Hit It and Quit It 
10. Brittany Howard - You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks 
11. Mavis Staples - Can You Get To That One 
12. Funkadelic - Back In Our Minds 
13. Joe Strummer - Junco Partner (Acoustic)
14. Danny & The Darleans - You Colonized My Mind (Demo) 
15. The Ray Beats - Guitar Beat 
16. The Feelies - Original Love 
17. Richard Hell & The Voidoids - Another World 
18. Squid - Pamphlets 
19. black midi - Slow
20. black midi - Hogwash and Balderdash
21. Pale Lips - Don't Take Your Switchblade To New York
22. Matt Ellis - Missing You 
23. Bloodshot Bill - Can't Dance Alone 
24. PRIORS - Astral 
25. Swell Maps - Vertical Slum 
26. Swell Maps - Off The Beach 
27. The Yardbirds - Stroll On 

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the July 17 file to download/stream the episode.

Under The Table: Vern Smith Interview & Show # 890

Under The Table is a novel from Chicago author Vern Smith. Set in the TV production world of Toronto in 1989, Under The Table follows a collection of underdog characters and outcasts that find themselves on the cusp of the 90s as an old world and new world looms in Hollywood North. In Under The Table, Nathan Collins, a former PGA Tour caddy turned parking lot attendant working for a TV production studio that is producing an out of control TV comedy called The Otto Show becomes entangled with an on set cop named Claire Malik and a payroll heist scheme. The story also involves a Billy Idol obsessed set decorator named Cyrus Dagan who spirals out of control as the story progresses, along with Arlene Marion a sketchy producer of the TV show comedy that is being filmed during the story and Veronica Williams, her resentful assistant. Overall, Under The Table transports the reader to a certain time and place that doesn’t exist anymore, but one that feels so real as you read it. Under The Table is a darkly comic character driven tale that is a twist on the traditional heist/crime genre that thrills while it keeps you guessing.  

Grab a copy of the novel through Run Amok Books.

Listen to an interview that Revolution Rock did with Vern Smith:

  

Show 890 Playlist (Originally Aired On July 10th, 2021)(Vern Smith Interview):

1.  Mission of Burma - This Is Not A Photograph 
2.  Mission of Burma - Outlaw 
3.  Pegboy - That's When I Reach For My Revolver
4.  Graham Coxon - Fame and Fortune 

VERN SMITH INTERVIEW PT. I

5.  Rational Youth - Dancing On The Berlin Wall Cold War Night Life
6.  The B-52's - Planet Claire
7.  Nena - 99 Luftbaloons (Live at the Pinkpop Festival 1983)
8.  Generation X - Wild Youth (Live Osaka, Japan 1979) 

VERN SMITH INTERVIEW PT. II 

9.  Gordon Dick - Siwash Rock 
10. Sugluk - Fall Away 
11. Willie Dunn - Down By The Stream (Starlight Maiden) 
12. Huron Lines - The Company I Keep 
13. T. Hardy Morris - Just Pretend Everything Is Fine 
14. Tuns - Keeping Options Open 
15. Status/Non-Staus - Find a Home 
16. Danny Laj & The Looks - You & Me 
17. Miesha and the Spanks - Mixed Blood Girls 
18. Trophy Knife - America's Favourite Pastime (CJAM: Live Off The Floor)
19. The Garrys - Sintaluta 
20. The Plugz - Reel Ten 
21. The Plugz - El Cavo Y La Cruz 

22. Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog - They Met In The Middle 

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the July 10 file to download/stream the episode.

White Blood Cells, Blue & Shows # 889, 888 & 887

On June 22nd, 1971 Joni Mitchell released her fourth full-length album Blue. The album has since gone on to be named one of the best albums of all time from many musical critics and was a commercial breakthrough. It went to number nine on the Canadian RPM Album Charts, number three on the UK Album Charts and number fifteen on the Billboard 200 Charts. Musically, Mitchell produced an album that was open, honest and not afraid to go to darker places. The personal honesty displaced by Mitchell on Blue was a reflection of the happenings in her life at the time. Mitchell had by this point in her career stopped touring and decided to travel overseas which in part inspired the songs that would make up Blue. Recorded at A&M Studios in Hollywood, California, Blue is notable for its simple musical accompaniments and arrangements. Several of the songs feature just piano, guitar and Appalachian dulcimer. On the album Mitchell works through relationships, her life, pain and grief. in 2021, Blue celebrated its 50th anniversary.  This album is now identified as a classic, but it continues to have a profound effect on fans and listeners. 

Originally released on July 3rd, 2001 White Blood Cells was the third full-length album released from The White Stripes. This was also the first critically acclaimed album from the band. Featuring breakout singles such as “Fell In Love With A Girl” and “Dead Leaves On The Dirty Ground,” the album also featured songs such as “We’re Going To Be Friends,” “This Protector,” “Hotel Yorba” which showcased Jack White’s songwriting abilities. This was the band’s commercial breakthrough record and was also the first album that the band recorded outside of Detroit. White Blood Cells was recorded at Easley-McCain Recording in February 2001 in less than four days. The album would go on to sell over one million copies. The innocence and rawness that is displayed on this album mixes with the simplicity of the band’s dynamic which contrasted with the complexities of the lyrics that White expressed. The Michael Gondry Lego themed music video for “Fell In Love With A Girl” also helped quite a bit. In 2021, this album celebrated its 20th anniversary. Third Man Records released White Blood Cells XX as part of its Vintage Vault series featuring demos, outtakes and a live concert. It was also reissued digitally featuring a live concert from the Gold Dollar in Detroit from 2001 and also on vinyl through Third Man Records.   

Show 889 (Originally Aired On July 3rd. 2021)(Joni Mitchell's Blue, The White Stripes White Bloodcells Anniversaries):

1.  Sloan - A Case Of You
2.  Universal Honey - Carey
3.  Arc Isis - Little Green
4.  The Supremes - All I Want
5.  Cat Power - Blue
6.  Beth Orton - River (Live Radio Broadcast)
7.  Joni Mitchell - Hunter (Demo)
8.  Neil Young (Ft. Joni Mitchell) - Raised On Robbery
9.  Neil Young - Everybody's Alone
10. Ed Kuepper - Spratch The King of Eurodisco
11. Desperate Journalist - Personality Girlfriend
12. Yoo Doo Right - Presto Presto, Bella's Dream
13. Packs - Clingfilm
14. Julien Baker - Ringside
15. Mononegatives - Living In The Age
16. Aversions - Famous Last Lines
17. Dean Marino - Devil's Day
18. The Routes - Society
19. Night Beats - Hell In Texas
20. The White Stripes - Dead Leaves and The Dirty Ground (Peel Session)
21. The White Stripes - Fell In Love With A Girl (Alternate Take)
22. The White Stripes - Hotel Yorba
23. The White Stripes - The Union Forever
24. The White Stripes - We're Going To Be Friends
25. The White Stripes - I Think I Smell A Rat
26. The White Stripes - This Protector

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the July 3 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 888 (Originally Aired On June 26th, 2021)(Guest Hosts Brady & Carley Part II - Shoobies, Dragsville, Mudhoney, The Garrys, Evaporators):

1.  Shoobies - Surfin' Surgeon
2.  Dragsville - Royal Drag
3.  Avantis - Gypsy Surfer
4.  Link Wray - Dinosaur
5.  Amyl & The Sniffers - 70s Street Munchies
6.  Viagara Boys - In Spite of Ourselves
7.  Dry Cleaning - John Wick
8.  Dale Crover - The Bowie Mix
9.  Mudhoney - An Ounce of Decption
10. Chad VanGaalen - Golden Pear
11. CHAI - Action
12. Century Egg - Do You Want To Dance?
13. Bachelor - Stay In The Car
14. The Garrys - Get Thee To A Nunnery
15. Childbirth - Siri, Open Tinder
16. Shadow Show - What Again Is Real?
17. Habibi - Detroit Baby
18. TEKE::TEKE - Yori Ni
19. Fitness - December '98
20. Leanne Betasamosake Simpson - Head of the Lake
21. The Mountain Goats - The Slow Part in Death Metal Songs
22. Lucy Dacus - VBS
23. Man Or Astro Man - Defcon 5
24. Damaged Bug - Smile For A While
25. Oblivians - Pinball King
26. The Amino Acids - The Amino Acids vs The Space Bettys 
27. Amyl & The Sniffers - Gacked On Anger
28. Cellos - Bury Me On Highway 3
29. Los Plantronics - Plantrosaurus
30. Tough Age - My Life's A Joke and I'm Throwing It Away
31. The Evaporators - I Can't Be Shaved
32. The Evaporators - I Can't Puke
33. The Evaporators - I Say That On Purpose To Bug You
34. Paul Jacobs - Your Last Words

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the June 26 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 887 (Originally Aired On June 19th, 2021)(Guest Hosts Brady & Carley Part I - Cub, METZ, Linda Lindas, Black Country, New Road, Parquet Courts):

1.  Cub - Go Fish
2.  The Exbats - Try Burning This One
3.  The Rolling Stones - Connection
4.  Catl. - Get Outta My Car
5.  The Highest Order - I'd Ask You To Stay
6.  Daniel Romano - Green Eye Shade
7.  Shotgun Jimmie - 401
8.  The Blasters - I'm Shakin'
9.  The Ventures - The In Crowd
10. NOV3L - Group Disease
11. Squid - Houseplants
12. METZ - Slow Decay
13. The Linda Lindas - Big Mouth
14. Colleen Green - You're So Cool
15. No Joy - Hare Tarot Lies

16. Black Country, New Road - Instrumental
17. Black Country, New Road - Athens, France
18. Godspeed You! Black Emperor! - Fire at Static Valley
19. Women - Grey Skies
20. Neil Jarvis - Time
21. Lightman Jarvis Ecstatic Band - Elastic Band
22. Faux Fur - Rough Palms
23. Sarcasm - (Above The) People Wall
24. Autogramm - Anxiety
25. Souvenir - Holding Pattern

26. PONY - Chokecherry
27. Tommy & The Commies - Devices
28. Pardoner - Spike

29. Parquet Courts - Hey Bug
30. Parquet Courts-  Outside
31. Parkay Quarts - Uncast Shadow of a Southern Myth

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the June 19 file to download/stream the episode.

Baby Giant 2: Shawn McDonald Interview & Shows # 886 & 885

2 is the second album by Baby Giant. From London, Ontario, Baby Giant is made up of musicians Shawn McDonald and Tim McDonald. The band started out around 2017 to record a collection of reworked/reimagined songs in commemoration of an earlier band that the McDonald’s had been in called Grassy Knoll & The Magic Bullit (that album is called Grassy Magic). Being in numerous bands such as The Fine Print, Dragsville, Hurricane & Able and many others Shawn McDonald really showcases his songwriting abilities on 2, both on his own and in collaboration with Tim McDonald. The album was recorded by Tim McDonald (credited as King Woobs) and released in 2018. 

 
“She Don’t Want To Fall In Love” starts off 2. With its syrupy melodies and nostalgic feeling it evokes the sunny melancholy of The Vaselines and 80s Flying Nun bands such as The Clean. With lyrics such as “I don’t want to fall in love/I just want your candy” and “Everyday is Halloween/That’s what she told me/I’m just atmosphere,” this song is an effective character driven tale. “Wyoming,” stirs up 60s fuzzy melodies as one of several songs on 2 that focus on different places (the others being “Minnesota” and “Japan”). The enduringly existential and catchy chorus of “Wyoming” utilizes the first part of this US Western states name as it poses the question of “Why.” The acoustic jangle of “Nobody Loves You” drums up an early rock n’ roll aesthetic while lyrically the person in this song is haunted by an unrequited love, “Sky Writer” is one of the highlights of 2. A jangly Byrds track pulling influence from early 60s concept albums/songs by The Who and The Pretty Things, the song tells the tale of a skywriter blurring the line between duty, heroism and the mundaneness of everyday life. “High Tide” is a surf song with psychedelic undercurrents, while “Minnesota” brings in nostalgic keyboards and hooky bassline and guitar lines that juxtapose with the lyrics. Dominated by what sounds like drums from an 808 drum machine and low-fi effect laden guitars, the words “Take a look at me and tell me are you real/Or are you imagination/Behind the steering wheel that night” and “Nobody was really sure if they would win the fight that night/On the streets of Minnesota” drive home potent surreal lyrics. 

 
“Do What You Want” rattles with a 60s R&B rave up sound combining ramshackle acoustic grooves with blues guitar licks and slides, while lyrically it swaggers with a story about an aloof character that seems proud of having a detachment from his surroundings. “Wall To Wall” features what sounds like synth bass with steady drumbeats and trippy surf guitar sounds and lyrics such as “I was looking at you/You were looking at me/That’s what they say,” “It’s wall to wall,” that features characters surrounded in a cozy confusion of emotions. “Japan” picks up the tempo with driving drums and fuzzy guitars. With lyrics such as “I guess I’ll have to try to understand/My baby’s gonna move off to Japan” and “I can’t believe that she loves me/I can’t believe that she’s so free” this song is an evocative, yet complex mixture of emotions and thoughts. 2 ends with “Legs Won’t Stop,” a restless instrumental track that is full of mood, lethargy and a contemplative atmosphere. Throughout 2, the music displays a bedroom recording aesthetic contrasted with 60s melodies, lo-fi and rock and roll sounds. The songs found on 2 stir up something in the listener. They have a depth to them and prove to be more than just atmosphere.  

Continue reading for an interview that Revolution Rock did with musician Shawn McDonald.  He talks about some of the bands he has played/recorded with and what he is currently working on.
 
RR: You played in a band called Grassy Knoll & The Magic Bullit. When did this band form/with who and what do you remember of the recording/time period of the lost album Hollandays that was recently put out online?

SM: Grassy formed in late 2000 I think. Me on Electric Guitar, Noel [Greaves] on acoustic guitar and my brother Tim [McDonald] on drums. Over the next two years we went through I think 4 bass players. We did a live to air on CHRW [94.9 FM Radio Western in London, ON] which we released as our first album and just kept playing and playing. By the time we got to the Hollandays sessions in which was supposed to be our first “studio” album two things were happening, we were about as tight and fun as we could get and my brother got married and was thrown out of the band because we needed absolute commitment! The Hollandays album was so named because it was recorded by a guy named Jason Hollander. What I remember most about the sessions is we recorded them after hours in an office Hollander’s Mom owned. I also remember we teased my brother mercilessly because he was wearing some sort of collarless black mandarin shirt the whole time. We kept calling him Morpheus or Neo.

RR: Some of the songs on Hollandays are also on She Woke Up In A Frantic, which was another album that Grassy Knoll released. When was this one recorded and how do you feel it differs from Hollandays?

SM: She Woke Up In A Frantic was Grassy 2.0. By that time Noel, Geez [Ryan O’Driscoll] (bass player on Hollandays) and I had moved to Toronto. We had met a bunch of bands from TO and had made the band a fantastic live act with Sean [McNabney] on drums and Tom Barnes on bass. We did a few of the old songs because we felt they never got the right treatment. We recorded this in I think 4 or 5 days with Andy Magoffin at the House of Miracles in London. I remember he was kind of pissed off at us because we put “produced by Andy Magoffin” on the Album. He told me he didn’t produce it, he recorded it. He said that the job of a producer was to accurately reflect what a band was on record and that all he did for us was to press record. I think he was used to bands agonizing over their albums, but for us, we had played everything so much that we knew exactly what the songs were. I think he found the ease of it unsettling. A couple of years later he apologized and said that actually, that’s what the band needed and he would accept the credit.

RR: I was wondering about a few of the songs with this band. What inspired the songs “Ground Under Your Feet,” “Such and Such,” “Canada Arm” and “Summer’s Almost Gone”?

SM: “Ground Under Your Feet” was a great example of Noel addressing the audience. When he was at his best he would write songs that spoke directly to the listener or the crowd. Musically, I think I was listening to a lot of John Lee Hooker.

“Such and Such” I stole the riff from the Fall. “Athlete Cure” off I Am Kurious Oranj. I realized later that they stole it from Spinal Tap, “Tonight I’m Gonna Rock you Tonight.” This is really fitting for me because as much as I wanted us to be like the Fall, we were definitely more like Spinal Tap. I wrote the lyrics in Budapest.

“Canada Arm” was an attempt to write a Kinks song from Something Else. I stole a little climb from “Susannah’s Still Alive.” My Grandfather had worked for Canadair and we were sitting around talking about that and how maybe he helped build the Canadarm. Noel turned it into a song about a loser that had great, underappreciated things inside him. Tom Barnes told me that he joined our band because he heard us play the song live, noticed the similarity to “Sussanah’s Still Alive” and thought it was a coincidence. When I told him I did it on purpose, he was in.

“Summer’s Almost Gone” reflects the sort of sweet Hippie underbelly that we had in the early days. Noel wrote great lyrics for it and I threw in a nice riff that I thought reminiscent of Jerry Garcia, even though none of us listened to the Dead. It was our last song of the night for a good long time.

RR: You played in a band called The Fine Print who had an EP called Standing Out. How did this band differ from other bands that you were in and where did you record this EP?

SM: The Fine Print was actually Tom Barnes’ band with his old buddy Dave Cavanaugh (they were in a band called Curiosity Shop back in the day.) The bass player was Phil [Glennie]. After Grassy disintegrated in TO I held on there for a bit and then moved back to London, probably a year later. When I got back Tom and Dave told me they had a 60’s Mod style band going and they wanted me to play lead on it. I really needed this because I hadn’t had a band in awhile and I was getting rusty. The main differences between Grassy and The Fine Print were Tom actually had a great singing voice! I was exclusively coming up with 60’s style riffs and having a blast. Around this time I was also in a band called the Psychodaisies. London Music Hall of famer Jack Whiteside was our leader and we played nothing but obscure shit from 63-66. These 2 bands really helped me learn how to be in a band without having to be like a founder member. And it taught me how to get Psych.

RR: Dragsville was a band with more country influences. They released Welcome To Dragsville in 2014. How did this group come together and what do you remember about your time with this band and this album?

SM: Dragsville started because I wanted to start a band with Jesse Whiteside, a bandmate from high school. He had recently moved back to London and we put this thing together with Dave from the Fine Print and Geez from Grassy. Jesse had previously been a member of Tacoma Hellfarm Tragedy. We wanted to be country but like Burrito Brothers country. Jesse had a Pedal steel so that was cool. We wrote some songs, played a bit but then the whole thing kind of petered out. The thing I remember most about this band was that I had to play bass, which didn’t really make a lot of sense.

RR: I wanted to ask you about Hurricane & Able. Weird Canada described your Last Temptation of H&A album as going “well with a broken heart, a day off, your comfy bed and a pack of cigarettes.” Do you think that is an accurate description of the songs? Maybe you could talk about about the dynamics of the music that you and Barry Weatherhead (of Hurricane & Able) made during that time.

SM: That quote from Weird Canada was almost embarrassing. It was just so dramatic but we took it as a compliment. I think the way I read that was that all those things are things that are evocative or that have feeling and I think that Barry and I did indeed find a lot of comfort doing those albums together. Writing songs together and then recording them was all we did together, aside from sitting around and talking about how we wrote the best songs around. And we really did have a musical and emotional connection and I suppose it shows in the work.

RR: I heard that you used Mr. Dress Up’s piano on one of the Hurricane & Able records. Could you describe this experience and how this came to be?

SM: Barry worked at Ryerson and when the kids went on holidays we would go into the studio there and record. It was amazing. Mr. Dressup’s piano just happens to be in there and when Barry told me the history of the piano I insisted that we use it. Problem was neither of use are competent piano players so we would sit beside each other, one guy playing the left hand with two hands and the other the right with two hands. Barry put it all together and it sounds like we know what we were doing.

RR: You’ve released two albums with Baby Giant. 2 was released in 2018 and has several songs on it that deal with different places (“Wyoming,” “Minnesota,” “Japan”). Maybe you could talk a bit about these songs and this album in general?

SM: Baby Giant is when my brother Tim and I finally got doing music together again. "Japan" was actually an old song from the Grassy days, it’s my take on the Buzzcocks or Sham 69. The other place songs like “Wyoming” and “Minnesota” were songs that were taken from our aborted USA 50 states tribute album. I think we got 10 states in before we realized it was just a stupid idea. I have also written a song called “Man Oh Manitoba” which I believe should be their provincial song.

RR: It is a longer song on 2, but the song “Sky Writer” has a jangly sound to it. What inspired this song and how did it come together?

SM: “Sky Writer” has that jangle because it’s played on an electric 12-string. I wanted to write a sort of early rock opera song like A Quick One or SF Sorrow. The skywriter just struck me as something sort of heroic but banal. Like he’s up there flying an old prop plane, doing all these maneuvers just to write Happy Anniversary. I stole the riff from The Kinks. In the middle 8 we tried to make my guitar sound like a dive-bombing plane. Pretty successfully I think.

RR: When was the last time you played with a live band. Do you remember the show at all and who was it with?

SM: The last gig I really remember was the David Bowie Birthday Bash. I’m in a Bowie tribute act called Hunger City and we threw a birthday party for the old guy at the Richmond January 4 2020. The place was packed, people were lined up down the street, the band was on fire and the night could not have gone any better. I hadn’t seen a night like that in a long time and it really is the kind of night that reminds you why you keep going.

RR: What is next for you musically? Are you working on anything else at this time?

SM: During the lockdown I started socially distantly writing songs with Dawn Redskye for some Home County Folk festival remote thing. She’s got a great voice and writes great songs, and I added some reverby Beach House/Cowboy Junkies/Mazzy Star licks. It ended up sounding really good so when we can we will probably write a bunch of tunes and make a record. I’ll send it to you when it’s done!

Check out some of the episodes below for music from bands featuring Shawn McDonald.

Show 886 (Originally Aired On June 12th, 2021)(Grassy Knoll & The Magic Bullit, Baby Giant, The Fine Print, Hurricane & Able, Modest Mouse, Nap Eyes, Century Egg, The Delmonas, Lungbutter)

1.  Packs - Hold My Hand
2.  Lou Barlow - Privatize
3.  Japanese Breakfast - Sit
4.  The Garrys - Get Thee To A Nunnery
5.  Treephones - Seeds
6.  Lincoln St. Exit - The Bummer
7.  Heavy Trash - That's What Your Love Gets
8.  Willie Dunn - I Pity The Country
9.  Karen Dalton - Reason To Believe
10. Grassy Knoll & The Magic Bullit - Such and Such
11. Grassy Knoll & The Magic Bullit - Canada Arm
12. Baby Giant - Sky Writer
13. Baby Giant - High Tide
14. The Fine Print - Tonight
15. Hurricane & Able - The Novel
16. Dragsville - That Girl
17. SpaceSlave - She Don't Need A Hero
18. Nap Eyes - Following A God Desire
19. Gruff Rhys - Can't Carry On
20. Modest Mouse - Poison The Well
21. Modest Mouse - We Are Between
22. The Pesticides - Jessy
23. Bad Buddy - Mind Control
24. The Delmonas - Chains
25. Century Egg - Do You Want To Dance?
26. Boy Wonder - Kinda Blue Too
27. Ducks Ltd. - Annie Forever
28. Cluttered - Don't Hold Your Breath
29. The Descendents - Baby Donca Know
30. Lungbutter - Bravo
31. Lungbutter - Jellyfish
32. Lungbutter - Solar

DOWNLOAD/LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE HERE.

Show 885 (Originally Aired On June 5th, 2021)(X - Wild Gift 40th Anniversary, Dirtbombs - Ultraglide in Black 20th Anniversary, Reigning Sound, Juliana Hatfield, NOV3L):

1.  Reigning Sound - You Don't Know What You're Missing 
2.  Matt Sweeny & Bonnie Prince Billy - Hall of Death
3.  Tekke::Tekke - Barbara
4.  Needles//Pins - Back to the Bright 
5.  Easy Idiot Brainworms Power Games
6.  X - We're Desperate 
7.  X - I'm Coming Over 
8.  X - In This House That I Call Home Wild Gift
9. Grassy Knoll & The Magic Bullit - Ground Under Feet
10. Baby Giant - Minnesota 
11. Tough Age - Giuseppe Pizzeria
12. Paul Jacobs - The Boys Are Back
13. Run Coyote - Shadowlands 
14. Bachelor - Stay In The Car 
15. Juliana Hatfield - Gorgon 
16. The Beaches - Blow Up 
17. Julia Jacklin & RVG - Army of Me 
18. Black Midi - John L
19. Squid - Padding 
20. NOV3L - Stranger 
21. Delta 5 - Mind Your Own Business 
22. Gang of Four - Elevator (Demo) 
23. Print Head - All I Want 
24. Autogramm - Mantra 
25. Matt Ellis - I Don't Wanna Know 
26. Anxious Eaters - Suck 
27. The Dirtbombs - If You Can't Want 
28. The Dirtbombs - Ode To A Black Man 
29. The Dirtbombs - I'll Wait

DOWNLOAD/LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE HERE.

Bob Dylan's 80th Birthday Bash & Bob Dylan Covered Shows # 884, 883 & 882

On May 24th, 2021 Bob Dylan turned eighty years old. To celebrate this Revolution Rock did two shows focusing on the music of Bob Dylan. One episode focused on selections from Dylan’s vast discography and one show focused on cover song versions of Bob Dylan’s music.  Dylan has 39 studio albums to date, not counting compilation albums, live albums, singles, box sets and his Bootleg Series. You can find selections from some of these releases in the May 22nd episode of Revolution Rock. The show on May 29th shows his vast influences across different decades and genres. 

Here are some quotes from previous articles written for this website from the past and present:

In the span fourteen of months from January 1965 to roughly February 1966, Bob Dylan made a transition from the folk music scene that he was a part of starting in Greenwich Village into the wild spontaneous world of rock music. Already able to fill Carnegie Hall, Dylan looked for something new and did not want to be labeled as a protest songwriter. It is also fitting that his first album where he would experiment with what he would eventually call his “wild mercury sound” was produced by Tom Wilson. Wilson produced the three acoustic Dylan albums that preceded Bringing It All Back Home (The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963), The Times They Are A Changin’ (1964) and Another Side Of Bob Dylan (1964)) and Wilson would assist in bringing Dylan’s electric sound to a new audience. 

In 2014, The Basement Tapes Complete were released as part of Bob Dylan’s bootleg series. This set took us through Dylan’s next phase of music following his “Dylan goes electric” era. Those songs reached out to Dylan’s roots exploring folk music, roots rock and country, which led to the sounds that would produce both Music From Big Pink by The Band and 1967’s stripped down John Wesley Harding. The Cutting Edge: 1965-1966: Bootleg Series Vol.12 rewinds the tape, going back to the time before any of that occurred. We see Dylan searching for a sound through rock music, which would put him in the public eye. The Cutting Edge shows the listener what it would be like to be a fly on the studio wall as Bob Dylan and a series of musicians create three very different highly influential albums that brought in a rock & roll sound with a new kind of lyric.

Blood On The Tracks is an album where the songs take on a literate, complex narrative, but also shows a more personalized Bob Dylan, whether it is autobiographical or not, shedding his emotional turmoil and heartbreak. With the recently released Bootleg Series Volume 14: More Blood, More Tracks, we see glimpses into the creative process and a devotion to these songs that came at a time in Dylan’s career when people thought they had him figured out. The lyrics on this album are delivered in a raw, unapologetic, unnerving fashion. Dylan rearranges the concepts of time within the context of the songs on this album, challenging song conventions and his approach to lyrics that are different from what he had done before. As the listener makes their way through the album’s ten tracks, the pains of break ups, their aftermath and emotional baggage that come along with them, we see that these are tracks we all must cross at some point. But, sometimes certain feelings are not so easy to leave behind.

What’s left to say about Rough and Rowdy Ways? The bard’s 39th studio album was met with glowing praise on its release, with dozens of articles acclaiming the Protean-songwriter’s return to original material after a clunky series of covers-records. Like the other great late-era Dylan albums (think Time Out of Mind and Love & Theft), the legend hoarsely intones his elliptical poetry over sympathetic bare-bones blues arrangements. However, what stands out about the record is the quality of Dylan’s songwriting. His acerbic verse describes encounters with the spectre of death in “Black Rider,” the Pygmalion-cum-Frankenstein creation of an idealized lover in “My Very Own Version of You,” and describes passing into old age as a tumultuous sea-voyage on “Crossing the Rubicon.” It also features the best up-tempo numbers to come from Dylan in over a decade, such as in the bluesy “Goodbye Jimmy Reed” or the hard-hitting satire of “False Prophet.” Then there is “Murder Most Foul,” the epic seventeen minute piano ballad about the assassination of JFK which landed Dylan his first ever number one single. Though just shy of eighty, Rough and Rowdy Ways proves that Dylan has lost no steam and is still capable of producing some of the most profound and moving music of his storied career.

Find the Bob Dylan & Bob Dylan Covered playlists/episodes below.

Show 884 Bob Dylan Covered Playlist (Originally Aired On May 29th, 2021):

1. Beck - Leopard Skin Pill-Box Hat (War Child Presents Heroes Vol 1 - Parlophone - 2009)
2. Queens of the Stone Age - Outlaw Blues (Chimes of Freedom: The Song of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International - Fontana - 2012)
3. White Stripes - One More Cup Of Coffee (White Stripes - Sympathy For The Record Industry - 1999)
4. 13th Floor Elevators – It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue (Easter Everywhere - International Artists - 1967) 
5. R.L. Burnside – Everything is Broken (Tangled Up in Blues: Songs of Bob Dylan - House of Blues - 1999) 
6. Julie Dorion – On the Road Again (Subterranean Homesick Blues: A Tribute - Reimagine Music - 2010) 
7. Lee Renaldo - Visions of Johanna (Outlaw Blues Volume Two - Imaginary Records - 1993) 
8. Patti Smith –Drifters Escape (Chimes of Freedom: The Song of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International - Fontana - 2012)
9. Cowboy Junkies – If You Gotta Go, Go Now (Rarities, B-Sides, and Slow, Sad Waltzes - True North/Latent - 1999)
10. The Byrds - You Ain’t Going Nowhere (Sweetheart of the Rodeo - Columbia Records - 1968)
11. Neil Young & The Sadies - This Wheel’s On Fire (Garth Hudson Presents A Canadian Celebration of The Band - Curve Music/Sony Music - 2010)
12. Neko Case - Buckets of Rain (Live From Austin, TX - Austin City Limits 2007)
13. Daniel Romano’s Outfit - Neighborhood Bully (Do (What Could Have Been) Infidels By Bob Dylan & The Plugz - 2020)
14. Daniel Romano’s Outfit - License to Kill (Do (What Could Have Been) Infidels By Bob Dylan & The Plugz - 2020)
15. Daniel Romano – Jokerman (Do (What Could Have Been) Infidels By Bob Dylan & The Plugz - 2020)
16. Richard Hell & the Voidoids – Going, Going, Gone (Destiny Street - Red Star - 1982/Omnivore Recordings - 2021) 
17. Ramones – My Back Pages (Acid Eaters - Radioactive - 1993) 
18. The Headstones – Tweeter and the Monkey Man (Picture of Health - MCA - 1993) 
19. PJ Harvey – Highway 61 Revisited (Rid of Me - Island - 1993) 
20. David Lynch - The Ballad of Hollis Brown (The Big Dream - Sacred Bones/Sunday Best -  2013)
21. The Clash - The Man In Me (Vanilla Tapes) (London Calling: 25th Anniversary Legacy Edition - Epic - 2004)
22. Devo (as Dove) - Gotta Serve Somebody (Live 1980)(Recombo DNA -  Rhino - 2000)

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the May 29 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 883 Bob Dylan 80th Birthday Bash Playlist (Originally Aired On May 22nd, 2021):

1.  Bob Dylan - Mixed Up Confusion (Biograph - Columbia Records - 1985)
2.  Bob Dylan - Don't Think Twice, It's Alright (Demo) (No Direction Home: The Soundtrack:  Bootleg Series Vol 5 - Columbia Records - 2005)
3.  Bob Dylan - Black Diamond Bay (Desire - Columbia Records - 1976)
4.  Bob Dylan - When The Ship Comes In (The Times They Are A-Changin' - Columbia Records - 1964)
5.  Bob Dylan - Spanish Harlem Incident (Another Side of Bob Dylan - Columbia Records - 1964)
6.  Bob Dylan - She Belongs To Me (Bringing It All Back Home - Columbia Records - 1965)
7.  Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited (Highway 61 Revisited - Columbia Records - 1965)
8.  Bob Dylan - I Want You (Blonde On Blonde - Columbia Records - 1966)
9.  Bob Dylan - Dirt Road Blues (Time Out of Mind - Columbia Records - 1997)
10. Bob Dylan - High Water (For Charley Patton) (Love and Theft - Columbia Records - 2001)
11. Bob Dylan - Someday Baby (Modern Times - Columbia Records - 2006)
12. Bob Dylan - World Gone Wrong (World Gone Wrong - Columbia Records - 1993)
13. Bob Dylan & The Band - Belshazzar (Bootleg Series Vol 11: The Basement Tapes Complete - Columbia Records - 2014)
14. Bob Dylan & The Band - 900 Miles From My Home (Bootleg Series Vol 11: The Basement Tapes Complete - Columbia Records - 2014)
15. Bob Dylan - The Man In Me (New Morning - Columbia Records - 1970)
16. Bob Dylan & The Band - Medicine Sunday (Take 1) (The Cutting Edge: 1965-1966: Bootleg Series Vol.12 - Columbia Records - 2015)
17. Bob Dylan & The Band - Jet Pilot (Take 1) (The Cutting Edge: 1965-1966: Bootleg Series Vol.12 - Columbia Records - 2015)
18. Bob Dylan & The Band - I Wanna Be Your Lover (Take 2) (The Cutting Edge: 1965-1966: Bootleg Series Vol.12 - Columbia Records - 2015)
19. Bob Dylan - Tombstone Blues (Take 9) (The Cutting Edge: 1965-1966: Bootleg Series Vol.12 - Columbia Records - 2015)
20. Bob Dylan - As I Went Out One Morning (John Wesley Harding - Columbia Records - 1967)
21. Bob Dylan & The Band - Going, Going, Gone (Planet Waves - Columbia Records - 1974)
22. Bob Dylan & The Band - Lo and Behold (The Basement Tapes - Columbia Records - 1975)
23. Bob Dylan & The Band - Open The Door, Homer (The Basement Tapes - Columbia Records - 1975)
24. Bob Dylan - You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go (Blood On The Tracks - Columbia Records - 1975)
25. Bob Dylan & The Band - Rainy Day Women No. 12 & 35 (Isle of Wight Live 1969: Another Self Portrait:  Bootleg Series Vol 10 - Columbia Records - 2013)
26. Bob Dylan & The Hawks - Tell Me, Momma (Bob Dylan Live 1966: The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert:  The Bootleg Series Vol 4 - Columbia Records - 1998)

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the May 22 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 882 Playlist (Originally Aired On May 15th, 2021)(Kraftwerk, Blue Peter Paul Humphrey tribute, N.E.E.T., The Chills, Bob Dylan):

1.  Kraftwerk - Pocket Calculator
2.  Kraftwerk - Computer Love
3.  Brent Amaker and The Rodeo - Pocket Calculator
4.  Kristian North - Halfway To Heaven
5.  Blue Peter - Same Old Place
6.  Blue Peter - Radio Silence
7.  Blue Peter - Don't Walk Past
8.  N.E.E.T. - Digital
9.  N.E.E.T. - 1969
10. N.E.E.T. - Sunglasses After Dark
11. Iceage - Gold City
12. Rec Centre - The Last Time I Vomited
13. Juliana Hatfield - Mouth Full Of Blood
14. Spencer Krug - River River
15. Born Ruffians - Ring Finger
16. The Leather Uppers - Slow Puke
17. The Dry Heaves - I Can't Puke
18. Vaguess - Cherry-Flavored Chunks
19. Electric Vomit - Boredom Abolishing
20. The Follow Ups - Just For Dave
21. Poison Suckers - Stick Up
22. The Routes - Mesmerised
23. Bob Dylan & The Band - I Threw It All Away (Live)
24. Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash - Guess Things Happen That Way (Take 3)
25. Bob Dylan - I Went To See The Gypsy (Take 6)
26. Bob Dylan & The Plugz - Don't Start Me Talking
27. Bob Dylan - Romance In Durango (Live)
28. Beams - Born To Win
29. The Chills - Monolith
30. The Chills - Hidden Bay

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the May 15 file to download/stream the episode.

Pink Dogs On The Green Grass: Paul Jacobs Interview & Show # 881

Paul Jacobs latest release is Pink Dogs On The Green Grass. Out via Blow The Fuse Records, Pink Dogs On The Green Grass finds Paul Jacobs expanding his DIY garage style with more hazy pop melodies pulling in influences from the likes of Kurt Vile and Cass McCombs. With just thirteen tracks, this album follows 2020’s outtakes/demo collection Portrait of George (Demo & Songs I Forgot About) and 2018’s EASY.

“Christopher Robbins” starts off Pink Dogs On The Green Grass. Featuring bongos, a prominent drumbeat, a mixture of synths and guitar, this song brings forth lethargic melodies that also pop up at differing points throughout this album. Inspired by a few different people, including a manager for the band Pottery (who Paul also plays drums with), Jacobs has stated “This song’s about working for the man and doing what you gotta do to pay the bills until you find out what’s next.” With its off-kilter, yet infectious bongo grooves, “Christopher Robbins” captures something that isn’t clearly defined, but something that seems familiar. “Day To Day” arrives next, one of the many strong moments found on this album, this track adds flute to the mix of its hazy melodies and psychedelic folk vibes. “Day To Day” was inspired “by a trip with friends during which we played at a festival near a river out in the woods. The experience stuck with us as one of the greatest times in our lives” Jacobs has explained. This song with its chorus of “I just hope that you get to whatever you want to do/And I just hope that no one ever makes a fool of you” Jacobs transports the listener into nostalgic, yet hopeful thoughts as the words “I hope one day you’ll get the chance/To say whatever it is that you want to say,” bring on a melancholic feeling that sticks with you. “Half Rich Loner” was the lead off single for Pink Dogs On The Green Grass. Another track featuring mesmerizing, prominent drums, this track also moves with psychedelic garage vibes. With words such as “I was the half rich loner/Hanging underneath the ceiling/Staring at the photo/Or taking notes at the meeting/Yeah that was me,” Jacobs evokes working middle class thoughts, but also reveals stronger ambitions. While potentially autobiographical to a degree, this track with its hammer on guitar parts, rolling basslines and psychedelic drum breakdown, shines bright amongst the other tracks that make up the multi-layered sonic landscape of Pink Dogs On The Green Grass.

“Most Delicious Drink” marches with foggy melodies that recall the songs of The Clean featuring evocative synthesizer sounds and lyrics about well, a delicious drink that you want to last forever. Seemingly about nothing in particular, this song along with the track that follows it “Cherry” create a certain effect on the listener. Psychedelic sounds and effects permeate these songs. “Cherry” especially creates a contemplative mood. Blow The Fuse Records described the lyrics of Paul Jacobs as “those unwanted moments in life that stick with you, like unexpected encounters or bizarre situations that repeat themselves in your dreams,” songs like these definitely fit into that framework. “Everything’s Fine” delivers a fuzzy psychedelic air, as “Underneath The Roses” creates a dream-like trance with the music. Blending elements of Kurt Vile, Cass McCombs and early Beck, “Underneath The Roses” also features flute and casual guitars while lyrically it produces themes of unrealized realities. “Dancing With The Devil” is dominated by a hypnotic bassline and drum part and an omnipresent synthesizer, as Jacobs tells a stream of consciousness tale over top about getting new shoes, making something to eat and going dancing with the devil.

With its weary song structure and lyrics such as “She believes that he is up there watching over everyone/No you can’t take that back,” “Glory Days Yesterday” is somewhat enigmatic, as “Kathy’s Bible” begins with drums and kaleidoscopic riffs. With its tongue-in-cheek attitude, lyrics such as “I found the book to be quite long after that” following several lyrics juxtaposing different thoughts, “Kathy’s Bible” is yet another track that could fit into the unexpected situations that repeat themselves category that is found throughout Pink Dogs On The Green Grass. “The Boys Are Back” is another catchy mid-tempo track that features lyrics such as “I bet you’ve never stood on the inside looking outside/And I wonder if you had an opinion that you had to hide” that conjures up many different thoughts as revolving basslines, handclaps and other effects layer overtop. “Hello Sunshine” ends Pink Dogs On The Green Grass with its fizzy psychedelic, sunbaked melodies that are seamless.

Already having several albums in his discography, Pink Dogs On The Green Grass shows Paul Jacobs branching out by finding a new way of approaching his music. Musically, references have been made to Cass McCombs, Kurt Vile, early Beck, but you can also hear the influence of 60s psychedelia and bands such as The Byrds and Lou Reed. Lyrically, Jacobs words are at times surreal. They are sometimes about different characters or observations and often take on cryptic meanings. While some have said that the lyrics reveal unwanted moments that stick with you, Pink Dogs On The Green Grass is much more than that. With Pink Dogs On The Green Grass, Paul Jacobs reveals that the grass sometimes turns yellow on the other side and that sometimes the green grass can be found in the every day moments we find ourselves in.

Listen to Revolution Rock's interview with Paul Jacobs:   

Show 881 Playlist (Originally Aired On May 8, 2021)(Paul Jacobs Interview):

1.  Osees - Carrion Crawler (Live Levitation Sessions)
2.  Osees - Meat Step Lively (Live Levitation Sessions II)
3.  Eddie & The Showmen - Movin'
4.  The Sadies - Clear A Path
5.  Kid Congo Power & The Pink Monkey Birds - (Are You) Ready Freddy
6.  Kiwi Jr. - Guilty Party
7.  Paul Jacobs - Day To Day
8.  Paul Jacobs - Born In A Zoo

PAUL JACOBS INTERVIEW PART ONE 

9.  Paul Jacobs - Baby (With Bells)
10. Paul Jacobs - Stages For You
11. Paul Jacobs - The Telephone
12. Paul Jacobs - Soul Catcher
13. Paul Jacobs - Suckin' On A Cigarette

PAUL JACOBS INTERVIEW PART TWO 

10. Paul Jacobs - Cherry
11. Paul Jacobs - Dancing With The Devil
12. Bob Dylan - New Pony
13. Bob Dylan - Slow Train
14. Bob Dylan - Neighborhood Bully
15. Bob Dylan - Everything Is Broken
16. Pottery - Texas Drums Pts I & II
17. Pottery - Hot Like Jungle
18. Paul Jacobs - Christopher Robbins

DOWNLOAD/LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE HERE

Full Moon Fever: An Interview with Matt Ellis & Shows # 880, 879, 878

Hamilton musician Matt Ellis has been played in many different bands such as The Vapids, Flesh Rag and PlasticHeads. Usually on guitar, Matt recorded a series of Ramones inspired EPs in 2020 at his home where he played all of the instrumentation. All of the proceeds from these releases went towards different non-profit organizations in Toronto and Hamilton. Following a remix, the addition of real drums provided by Jimmy Vapid of The Vapids, Curtis Tone from PlasticHeads and two new tracks, Full Moon Fever was released on vinyl at the end of February 2021 on Surfin Ki Records. With an obvious Ramones influence, the songs that make up Full Moon Fever pull from the Dee Dee Ramone penned catalogue of Ramones tracks with a dash of The Spits, DBOY and Seattle band HEAD.

“DMT Is Good For Me” starts off the album with a trip, literally. As the character in the song leaves the boringness of everyday life and unemployment through other means, the fast paced track attacks with heavy guitar riffs, escapist lyrics and a brief Johnny Thunders styled solo. “My Neighbourhood Is A Dump” is a gritty track that lyrically is just as catchy as the best Ramones tracks. With lyrics such as “Garbage fills the streets and no cares/This neighbourhood’s a dump” and “I don’t care/I don’t care anymore,” Ellis taps into a fervent frustration as the outside world and internal world of the character in this song falls into disarray and despair. “Flowers in the Moonlight” acts as sort of title track. A little more mid-tempo, Ellis gets more dynamic lyrically with words such as “The whole wide world is burning/But I feel nothing yet,” “Right now you have my heart/But I’ll show you my soul.” These words combined with a slice of UK punk and the chorus of “Like a flower in the moonlight,” provides the listener with a moment of thought symbolizing growth, despite the difficult times. “Monster Under My Bed” digs into B-Movie paranoia and is actually a track dating back to an earlier band called The Scabs that Ellis had with TV Freaks drummer Nathan Burger when he was 15, “Poison Holiday” brings in more of a grimy Spits influence with Ramones songs such as “Havana Affair." During these musical moments, the character in the song vents about not being able to sling hamburgers in Hamilton, avoiding the news and being stuck in a vicious cycle of a forced “Poison Holiday.”

“Die Tonight” takes the love song on with a morbid twist, “Rat Fucker” is an ode to a slimy, greedy individual. With razor sharp guitar licks, grimy, loud barre chords, a steady drumbeat and punchy basslines, Ellis sneers with contempt on this track. “Stay Home” is a pretty straightforward song with Ramones 1976 vibes. A more up-tempo track, the song descends into themes of mundane isolation, panic and anxiety. “PigHead” features buzzsaw guitars ala “Pinhead” as lyrically it comments on police brutality, “Missing You” blends Undertones-styled guitar leads with Ramones catchiness as a down on their luck love-sick character is stuck in a literal and metaphorical limbo, “Bad Day” starts off with a heavy drumbeat as a guitar slide transports us to a world of someone who “Had a bad day/And is gonna make you pay” and is at their breaking point.

“Walk Alone” ends Full Moon Fever. With its 80s punk riffs intertwined with darker lyrics such as “I always walk alone these streets at night/In the darkness I don’t feel alright” and a chorus of “Gimme my life,” the character in this song addresses the darkness of isolation as they look for some kind of meaning. At 18 tracks, none of the songs on Full Moon Fever go past the two-minute mark. Running through themes of isolation, frustration, boredom and escapism, Full Moon Fever delves into a manic dynamic of punk rock and suburban paranoia. Full Moon Fever more than anything proves that rock and roll will always rise above hard times. 

Grab a copy of Full Moon Fever on Vinyl over at Matt Ellis' Bandcamp page:

Continue reading for an interview that Revolution Rock did with Hamilton musician Matt Ellis:

RR: The new record Full Moon Fever had its start as several Ramones inspired EPs recorded in 2020. What inspired you to create these tracks musically or lyrically?

ME: I started recording the FMF album shortly after the first COVID-19 lockdown. I went stir crazy pretty fast and set up a recording studio in our spare bathroom. I started writing songs and they came out fast. The Ramones vibe or formula just kind of happened. They have a couple “rules” they used in their songs. All downstrokes on the guitar, minimal solos, and the songs are fast and short and to the point which I like. It all just came naturally because I love them so.

I wrote and recorded 4 songs a month for 4 months and released them every second Friday on Bandcamp. The money from each of the 4 releases was given to different organizations/non-profits in Toronto and Hamilton. Everyone seemed to like the songs so it was decided to remix and master them properly for an album.

Photo By: Nina Danger

RR: Although primarily Ramones influenced what were some other bands that you think may have influenced the sound of Full Moon Fever? 

ME: Some bands I’ve been enjoying are the great Canadian band DBOY who has a meat and potatoes punk rock approach that I really dig. The New SPITS album got a lot of plays on my turntable. The band HEAD from Seattle are definitely an influence on this album. The VAPIDS, because before I was in that band I was a fan. Jimmy Vapid was a big help with album artwork, drums and the other main man in this project. 

The album name FMF in part comes from Tom Petty, who I love as a songwriter. I took the name of his first solo record for my own. Also, my daughter was born on a full moon and it felt right to call it that because a lot of the songs come from my fear of the future she might have. It feels like the whole world has Full Moon Fever right now. 

RR: When/where did you record the tracks for Full Moon Fever and how did you get connected with Surfin’ Ki Records for the vinyl release?

ME: Surfin Ki records has released a number of Vapids records over the last 10 or so years. He also released the first Flesh Rag record. Carlo is the man behind the scenes and our Italian Rock 'n' Roll blood brother! A couple years ago Jimmy Vapid and myself got to hang out with him for a weekend in California. We had many beers and many laughs! I knew he liked my solo EPs so I remixed the songs as an album and had Jimmy Vapid and Curt from PLASTICHEADS play drums on tracks that originally had drum machines. I recorded two more songs for the LP to give it something fresh.

RR: There are some pretty cool lo-fi music videos that you made for some of the tracks on Full Moon Fever (“My Neighbourhood Is A Dump,” “Rat Fucker,” “DMT is Good For Me”). They all seem to have a different theme. Was there any aesthetic or mood you were going for when you were creating any of these videos and how did you come up with the tin foil monster for “DMT Is Good For Me”?

The music videos just came about by me trying to make the best of this messed up year. The whole album was recorded on an old MacBook I was given by my father in law. I filmed a couple videos on my cell phone by myself with a tripod and just figured it out on that old computer. The tinfoil monster just comes from my love of low budget movies and just being a goofball with cabin fever. I think DMT is actually a great drug but on the kind of budget I’m working with it’s very hard to present it in a visually stunning way. Let’s call it "low budget isolation madness."

RR: You’ve played in many different bands such as The Vapids, PlasticHeads and Flesh Rag. What was the first band that you played in and do you remember anything about the first live show that you played?

ME: The first band I played in was called ‘THE SCABS’ Nathan Burger was in the band from FLESH RAG and TV FREAKS. About 18 years ago we played our first show. It was a house party. We were like 15 year old kids and we wore lipstick and covered Misfits, GG Allin, Stooges and Ramones songs. Still cornerstones of my musical influence. The song ‘Monster Under My Bed’ from FMF was a Scabs song Burger and I wrote. It was a weird thing to record a song I wrote when I was only 15. But it works on the album and It was nice to put something from so long ago on vinyl.

Photo By: Nina Danger

RR: You play guitar primarily, but also play drums and bass. What was the first instrument that you played? Was it the guitar and what was the first guitar you played do you remember?

ME: I can barely play drums! But bass I have played in a few bands and Guitar.... yes! My first guitar my parents bought me at a garage sale. It was a cheap one but it was almost unplayable. After singing in the Scabs I wanted to learn guitar and my parents helped me buy a proper one. A cream colour Fender Strat. Kinda like the one Wayne really wants in Wayne’s World! I played it for a couple years and sold it. I really wish I still had it.

RR: Ramones have lots of albums. What do you feel some of their under appreciated albums are and do you have a favourite one in general?

ME: My favourite album is the first album. Its simplicity and power is unmatched in a debut album. The first 3 or maybe even 4 albums are perfect! The “best” I’d say is Rocket to Russia as it has the perfect hard punk songs to pop songs ratio. It should have made them huge and been a hit! The most underrated is Too Tough To Die. Tommy Ramone stepped back behind the board to produce and it shows. The Dee Dee songs he sings are killer! The demos he sings on from that album are some of my favourite Ramones demos! A couple people have said my album is Dee Dee Ramone influenced and they'd be correct. His songs are always my favourites.

RR: What’s next for you musically?

ME: I’d really like to get back to rehearsing and record our second album with PLASTICHEADS. We had a European tour get cancelled because of COVID. I really miss playing with that band. I play bass in a side project with TJ and Burger from TV FREAKS called ANXIOUS PLEASERS and we are releasing a limited tape and the songs will be on Bandcamp very soon. We recorded them December-ish 2019 and decided to put them out after waiting this long.

I think I’d also like to do another solo album but I’m in no rush. Right now working alone is the only thing I have creatively. It's different but has been satisfying. FMF has sold really well and people like it so maybe I’ll give ‘em more of what they want. I’m not reinventing the wheel, I’m just continuing in a musical tradition. You don’t need to come up with a new style or sound but if you can connect with people and the songs are good, that’s what really counts. FMF Is kind of an end of the world type album and sadly there is no shortage of inspiration at the moment.

Show 880 (Originally Aired On May 1st, 2021)(Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers, Iggy Pop, Bob Dylan, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Matt Ellis):

1. Rolling Stones - Bitch (Live)
2. Rolling Stones - Dead Flowers
3. Iggy Pop - Glow in the Dark 
4. Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - 40 LB Block of Cheese
5. Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Calvin 
6. Alex Chilton and Hi Rhythm Section - Boogie Shoes (Live)
7. Art Bergmann - Your Second Amendment 
8. Neil Young - Monday Morning 
9. Willie Dunn - Wounded Lake 
10. Bob Dylan - Hard Times In New York Town (1961 Home Tape Demo)
11. Bob Dylan - No More Auction Block (Live at Gaslight Cafe, Greenwich Village 1962)
12. Bob Dylan - Baby, Let Me Follow You Down
13. Bob Dylan - Song To Woody 
14. Bob Dylan - Masters of War (Whitmark Demo)
15. Bob Dylan - Oxford Town 
16. Bob Dylan - Mama, You’ve Been On My Mind (Another Side of Bob Dylan Outtake)
17. Guided by Voices - Trust Them Now 
18. White Lung – Blow it South 
19. Dumb – Artfact 
20. Teenanger – Straight to Computer
21. Girlfriends & Boyfriends - Stephaney 
22. Paul Jacobs - Half Rich Loner 
23. Daniel Romano - Don’t Turn Around Janet
24. Teenage Art Scene - Rocket
25. Dinosaur Jr. - And Me 
26. Dean Marino - Footnotes 
27. Property! - The Isolator 
28. Pale Lips - (You Make Me) Wanna Be Bad
29. Matt Ellis - Stay Home 
30. Richard Hell & The Voidoids - Crack of Dawn (Demo)

DOWNLOAD/LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE HERE.

Show 879 (Originally Aired On April 24th, 2021) (The Kingsmen, La Luz, Triptides, The Byrds Fifth Dimension, Bob Dylan, Souvenir):

1. The Kingsmen - Louie, Louie (Shindig 1965)

2. The Kingsmen - Haunted Castle
3. The Kingsmen - Money 
4. La Luz - Tale of My Lost Love
5. Triptides - It Won’t Hurt You 
6. Triptides - Let It Go
7. The Byrds - Mr. Spaceman 
8. The Byrds - Eight Miles High (Alternate RCA Version)
9. The Byrds - What’s Happening ?!?! 
10. The Armed – An Iteration 
11. Special Interest – Young, Gifted, Black, in Leather 
12. Psychic Void – Alley Dweller 
13. METZ – Slow Decay 
14. Sam Coffey & The Iron Lungs - Spirit Of The Radio 
15 The Coathangers - Stasher
16. Cold Warps - Everyone I Know
17. No Museums - Perimeter Won’t Tighten Anymore 
18. Johnny West - The Stillness of Us 
19. Cory Hanson - Limited Hangout 
20. Bob Dylan - Country Pie 
21. Bob Dylan  - Woogie Boogie
22. Bob Dylan - Father of Night 
23. Bob Dylan - Days of '49 
24. Bob Dylan - Billy 7 
25. Bob Dylan - Big Yellow Taxi [Joni Mitchell cover] 
26. The Glebes - Theme 
27. Klazo - This and That 
28. Priors - VideoDrome
29. The Famines - The Second World War 
30. King Khan Unlimited - Megpie Eyes 
31. Souvenir – I'm Leaving 
32. Fitness – Priest's Feet 
33. Chad VanGaalen – Nothing is Strange 

DOWNLOAD/LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE HERE.

Show 878 (Originally Aired On April 17th, 2021)(Unwound, Muddy Waters, John Lurie, Matt Ellis):

1. Unwound – Look a Ghost 
2. Tunic – Shaking Hands
3. Japandroids – Racer X 
4. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Government Came {Ashes to the Sea or Nearer to Thee}
5. Neil Jarvis - Get The Band Back Together
6. Bill Jr. Jr. - Renaissance Man
7. Not You - Mabel
9. Neil Young - Come Along and Say You Will 
10. South River Slim - Blind Lemon Girl
11. Hank III - 7 Months, 39 Days 
12. Townes Van Zandt - Turnstyled, Junkpiled 
13. Muddy Waters – Long Distance Call 
14. Muddy Waters – Long Distance 
15. Muddy Waters - The Same Thing 
16. Muddy Waters – The Blues Had a Baby and They Named It Rock and Roll 
17. John Dwyer - City Maggot
18. John Lurie - Al Is Hated 
19. John Lurie - Al Al Al Al 
20. Marvin Pontiac - I Hope She Is Okay
21. Marvin Pontiac - My Little Garden Gnome 
22. The Lounge Lizards - The First and Royal Queen 
23. Tuns – In Another Life 
24. Spencer Krug – Fading Graffiti 
25. Born Ruffians – Beyond the Lightning 
26. Dry Cleaning – Unsmart Lady
27. Pony – My Room 
29. Matt Ellis - Monster Under My Bed 
30. Matt Ellis - My Neighbourhood Is A Dump 

DOWNLOAD/LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE HERE.