Interview: Tim Fogarty of El Ten Eleven
Oct22

Interview: Tim Fogarty of El Ten Eleven

The propulsive rhythms and postive vibes of El Ten Eleven make for a great experience, live or recorded. They recently swung through Chicago, playing Lincoln Hall. Tim Fogarty played a great show. Perhaps not as memorable as the last time they played Chicago, but how can you top a street festival concert caught in a torrential downpour? El Ten Eleven songs are chock-full of ear candy – in Tim Fogarty’s drums, gritty electronic triggers mix with massive drum sounds. You can also get your ear canals tangled in Kristian Dunn’s web of interlocking guitar and bass loops, all built up live. Armed with an array of pedals and noisemakers, An El Ten Eleven show really gets bodies moving. Even if you’re not the “moving” type. You’ll at least sway, guaranteed. The effect is hypnotic. The best part is that this huge sound is built up quite organically by just two guys. Tim Fogarty is the piston that charges the chugging 2-stroke engine that is El Ten...

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Interview: David Bazan and Alex Westcoat of Bazan + Band
Oct11

Interview: David Bazan and Alex Westcoat of Bazan + Band

David Bazan recently hit the stage at Lincoln Hall with a revved-up band and recharged setlist. You’d be forgiven for expecting a morose affair. Last year he released a highly publicized “break-up with God” album, Curse Your Branches. To support it, he embarked on a solo tour, strumming a classical guitar in intimate living room shows. Bazan has always had great songs. His recordings have continued to evolve with a whack-a-mole array of collaborators. Unfortunately, the live renderings of those songs were often just serviceable. No matter how talented a rotating cast, you can’t fake the on-stage chemistry that comes from steadily playing together. As he descended deeper into his crisis of faith, retired Pedro the Lion, and embraced booze, he produced some uncomfortably shambolic solo shows. Forget all that. This incarnation of Bazan + Band fired on all cylinders. They put the pedal to the metal on “Transcontinental,” torqued-up classics like “When They Really Get to Know You,” and rewired “Gas and Matches” with gritty guitars. The band displayed the veteran chemistry that comes with a full tour under their belt. Sideman Blake Wescott provided counterpoint on guitar as well as ballsy background vocals on “Start Without Me” and “That’s How I Remember.” Young drummer Alex Westcoat completed Bazan’s shift from shoegaze to power pop with his energetic timekeeping. Bazan reasserted himself as one of indie-rock’s most articulate songwriters. He also kept the sing-along crowd on their toes with lyrical change-ups to reflect his renunciation of faith. On “The Fleecing,” he frankly replaced “why I still believe it” with “why I don’t believe it”. In a twist of convention, David Bazan has cleaned up, and lost Jesus. He has embraced agnosticism. But far from leading him into a downward spiral, he’s actually become a more powerful performer. Many of his old songs are thematically schizophrenic; ersatz morality tales full of gratuitous infidelity and misogyny that might’ve scandalized evangelical audiences, but fail to shock in a post-LaBute world. And the increasing desperation of his characters dovetailed with his own edging toward alcoholism. In contrast, the new Bazan tunes are honestly sobering. He’s retired the pulp fiction and started over with stark autobiography. Interestingly, as I interviewed him and Westcoat about the qualities they appreciate in great musicians, the word “spirituality” came up a couple times. While he may have left behind tidy religious doctrines, it’s still hard to avoid some numinous terms when talking about creative...

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Interview:Aron Sanchez & Arone Dyer of Buke and Gass
Sep12

Interview:Aron Sanchez & Arone Dyer of Buke and Gass

From their homemade instruments to their screen-printed posters, Buke and Gass embody the DIY ethic. Both veteran musicians, they’ve carved out a fascinating niche with this latest project by multi-tasking to the max. While Arone weaves a tapestry of treble with her modified ukelele, jingle shoe, and brave alto, Aron shreds it apart with his jigsaw guitar-bass and jagged bass drum stabs. It is methodical madness. Seeing them live is a treat, then. Where the recording might wear you out with its relentless rhythmic polygamy, the concert will absorb you as you watch this small band make a big, big sound with every available limb. Without that visual reference, you might dismiss them as trying too hard. But that’s not possible after you take into account the fact that they basically make all of their own gear. Nor is it possible after you see their lighthearted demeanor on stage. Arone is bike mechanic. Aron builds instruments for Blue Man Group. These are natural born engineers. They are tinkering with rhythm, showing us how to hotrod a waltz into a rollicking 12/8, or realign a wonky melody by simply bypassing the downbeat. These aren’t ivory-tower-theory heads. This is blue-collar Genesis. It’s the sound of the Avett Brothers getting run through a Deerhoof-grinder. It might help you think of ways you can reengineer your own faltering creative...

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Interview:Francis White of White Mystery

TheBestDrummerInTheWorld.com learns about the elusive “Yin and Yang” that is the magic behind sister/brother duo White Mystery. Francis White supplies the head-rattling primal beat to their garage rock. We caught up with him before a sweaty show at Crown Liquors in...

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“Perfecting Process” with Mike Belitsky of The Sadies

The Sadies are crossing the country right now in support of their fantastic new record, Darker Circles.  Here in Chicago they’ll be playing Schubas on Friday, August 20.  The last time I saw them there they blew the lid off the place with an explosive 90-minute set of musical TNT packed with original and traditional material.  The show is not to be missed. The Sadies are an example of a band that keeps on getting better and better with each album.  Mike Belitsky, their drummer, gives insight into their remarkable musical progress. ————————————————————————————- Mike Belitsky holds the drummer’s throne for one of the hardest working bands in the world, The Sadies.  In 12 years, they have covered a dizzying amount of terrain – physically and musically.  Taking an opposite trajectory than most bands—i.e.: burst onto the scene and then fizzle out—they keep popping up with more cohesive albums and surprising collaborations. Dip into their catalog at any point, and you will sense a confluence of styles, particularly in the rhythm section.  Nowhere is this more apparent than on “Ten More Songs,” the epic final cut on their latest album, Darker Circles.  Cymbal rolls swell into an airy 6/8 waltz, which washes out and then back into turbulent drum fills that finally crash into a galloping tom roll. The Sadies Live at The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, California from The Wooden Lens on Vimeo. Belitsky’s musical adaptability is more impressive in concert.  He makes hairpin turns from driving straight-ahead rock to swinging country waltz.  What could tie all these loose ends together?  These shows all drip with punk sweat. Punk intensity is at the core of Belitsky’s beat.  “I was inspired mostly by punk rock.  I played along to all the Ramones records.”  When he was 16, one of his sister’s friends came back from England with a suitcase full of punk records and punk fashion.  That sparked a group of kids in his neighborhood to start a band.  They drafted him to play their garage-sale kit and the gigs immediately started rolling in.  Nevermind that he’d barely held a set of drumsticks.  “I told them, ‘I’ve only been playing for a couple of days.’  They said, ‘It doesn’t matter, its punk rock.  Just show up.’” He did show up, and he’s been showing up ever since, with greater success each time.  He jobbed and toured around the Eastern Seaboard for a few years with Jale and Pernice Brothers.  He also had a band with Andrew Scott, who also played in a number of groups, including the Sadies.  In 1998, Scott left to commit to Sloan full-time. ...

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