Liturgy Interview

Hunter from Liturgy is a cool dude. If you haven't heard, Liturgy rules. I spoke to Hunter on the streets of Deep Ellum during parade of flesh's brofest. Google image for the picture.
Liturgy also has a new record out May 10th called Aesthethica. Which is why Hunter laughed so hard when I asked him that question... Hunter also has an essay for sale about Transcendental Black Metal limited to 151 copies. Nowadays you have to be a philosopher.

P.S.- I'm a nerd. Fuckin' deal.

Liturgy Interview by Acolyte-BSA

POST-POST-SCRIPT:

Check out our newest video with interviews and performances from LITURGY live at RED 7 in Austin:

LITURGY: NO ROOTS from ACOLYTE on Vimeo.

Spazm 151

Dallas hardcore from the 90s. Texas punk kills.



Spazm 151 S/T LP

The Matchbox is Dead/Rich Fownes interview

This is old news (like a couple months) but the greatest rock and roll band of the 2000's has finally died, the Eighties Matchbox B-line Disaster is no more! They where a truly amazing rock and roll band that I personally believe everyone needs to check out like yesterday (that is if you don't live in places like England where they where famous). The following is an email interview with one time member Rich Fownes who played guitar for the Matchbox on the In The Garden EP (one of the greatest bursts of energy ever recorded). Rich Fownes has also played in such acts as With Scissors and is the frontman of Bad For Lazarus. So I wanna thank Rich for his time filling this out and in quite a speedy fashion as well...



ABSA: To setup up with, what instrument did you play for TEMBLD?

Rich - Guitar

ABSA: What gear did you use with TEMBLD?

Rich - old days : Marshall JCM 2000 / Gibson SG
new days : Fender Supersonic / Danelectro DC 59

ABSA: When did you become aware of TEMBLD?

Rich - when Psychosis Safari came out, they were just everywhere. It was just as I was getting into old-skool punk aswell. As far as I could tell there wasn't anyone else in our country at that point that felt that real.

ABSA: How did you start playing with TEMBLD?

Rich - My mum knew Marc's mum. Rock is dead.

ABSA: What was your role, if any, in song writing?

Rich - I wrote as much as anyone. Everyone was as involved as anyone else.

ABSA: What was your reason for leaving, if any?

Rich - The inner workings of Matchbox were so complex and intense it would necessitate a book to explain it. Which is an idea that's been chucked around. A hundred long stories short - it was just a very dark time. I didn't feel very connected to the material we were making. That band was so important to me as a fan, and I didn't really want to be a part of the era that I would have been disappointed of, even if I weren't in the band.

ABSA: Heard you left for NIN. How did that come about? I also heard you got kicked out? Heard you played guitar at TEMBLD last show, can you tell me how you ended up back on the axe for the Matchbox?

Rich - When I was playing with UNKLE live we supported NIN. Trent asked me to try out, but I was asked to leave because I was too young and handsome. Due to the usual bizarre, internal dynamics, Tristan refused to play the final two shows. I was more than happy to revisit the classics with old, dear friends one last time.

ABSA: Who are your influences as far as playing guitar?

Rich - It changes all the time. Tonally and vibe-wise I really aspire towards Reverend Horton Heat at the moment.


ABSA: Bands y'all listened to growing up?

Rich - Depends how far you want to go back. My childhood was a pretty heavy regime of my mum's favourites. Billy Ray Cyrus and Whitney Houston. Shakin' Stevens when things got a little fruity.

ABSA: Listen to any hip hop?

Rich - yep

ABSA: Listen to any country?

Rich - Not really

ABSA: Bands/Projects you've been involved with?

Rich - I can't remember dates but chronologically : With Scissors / Eighties Matchbox / UNKLE / Bad For Lazarus / The Painted Smiles / something new I can't talk about yet

ABSA: Who did the main song writing for the band or was it a true democratic effort? (lyrics/melodies/riffs)?

Rich - It was a true democracy during my years. Which was probably the major mistake. It was a great idea but in reality everyone was pulling in their own direction, and I think the amount of compromises everyone felt like they allowing probably bred some resentment.

ABSA: So over in America it seems like after the Matchbox released their first record they blew up in England and Europe and a lot of people started talking about 'gothabilly'/'psychosis rock' as if the Matchbox created or started this gothabilly scene? And TONS of bands seemed like they latched on to this sorta dark heavy fuzzed out rockabilly sort of sound soon afterward. Was/is it actually a scene over there, separate from punk, psychobilly, goth, and metal?

Rich - They came up at the same time as The Libertines / The Strokes etc so where put into the garage-rock bracket. It wasn't untrue, but I don't think there was another band like them.

ABSA: It seemed to me that the Matchbox could have been a lot more famous than they where and from the outside it almost appeared as if that was intentional? Was that the case? Did the members shun celebrity or did they just party too much? Or was it just bad luck?

Rich - None of the above really. I can't explain how chaotic it was, and I wouldn't be able to pick one example anecdote over another. When I first joined, Sym said to me "the thing about this band is no more than 2 out of 5 people are ever firing on full cylinders at any one time. The more involved I became the louder that got in my head.

ABSA: I feel like TEMBLD had been seemingly going downhill for a couple years before their breakup. I mean, you could kinda see it in Guy's face in live videos. Earlier live videos he seemed more confidant and more recent ones he looked like he was having anxiety attacks on stage. Would you agree/disagree? Explain?

Rich - As far as I'm concerned that's a very astute observation. I don't think he had panic attacks, but I definitely felt like he was changing his act. I'm sure it was intentional aswell; he said to me that he didn't want to be 'adolescent' anymore and that kind of saddened me. I didn't think the reckless abandon was childish at all, and I missed that personally.

ABSA: Know why Marc Norris left?

Rich - you'd have to talk to Marc

ABSA: Salem is way more famous in England than in Texas, where I'm from, and it seems like a lot of kids have latched onto this whole 'witch house' thing they started. Are you aware of Salem? Any thoughts about this new wave of dark electronic music?

Rich - haven't heard of it to be honest

ABSA: Die Antwoord is a hip hop group from South Africa thats blown up recently. Are either of y'all aware of Die Antwoord? Thoughts?

Rich - They're fucking genius. Full flex.

ABSA: It said on TEMBLD's facebook that all the members of the Matchbox became involved in different projects? What projects are Guy/Sym/Tom involved with (when did they start, who is in them etc etc), if you know?

Rich - As far as I've heard Guy is working with Tom White. Tom is living in Ireland concentrating on his paintings (which are amazing!) and Sym is talking to a few people.

ABSA: Bands/Projects we should know about?

Rich - Bad For Lazarus (duh) / Take A Worm For A Walk Week / Fixit Kid / Hawk Eyes / The Wander Phantom / Restlesslist / Orion Arm / Lakey / There's so many I feel like I'm forgetting...sorry!

The Tanks

I saw these guys at 1919 Hemphill in Fort Worth and they blew me the fuck away. A drummer, a bassist, and a mammoth yelling like a straight edge christian version of david yow. I grabbed their new LP on vinyl and it came with a CD! Score! So they killed it live, with their singer wearing metal gauntlets on his arms with a dress on just walking straight into people like a fucking brick wall singing straight into their faces as we looked back anxious and wild. Their drummer pounded away at those skins like they fucked his girlfriend, I swear I don't know how the dude didn't break a cymbal that night. Their bassist writhed, jumped around and generally fucking grooved to the post-hardcore/post-thrash insanity that is The Tanks. I don't really know much about them other than their super cool dudes from Iowa? Check 'em out. Here are two records. CRANK THAT SHIT HOMMIE

The Tanks on lamespace







Keep Breaking Down




Summon Creature

The Joe Buck Interview

"There is no country music, so how could there be outlaw country?"
- Joe Buck

Prologue:

I've got a couple beers down and a half pack of Pall Malls. The club already has a hazy atmosphere of cigarette smoke, I notice, walking towards the merch boothes. With beer arrogance I walk up to Joe Buck Yourself's counter and ask the woman behind it if I could interview Joe Buck. She said, "Totally..." or "Yeah..." or something the band, the Good Ole Country Boys or GCB for short, was playing loud as fuck. They're a country band whose bassist wears a Pantera shirt and a drummer whose too old to be coked up so he just plays that way. Its awesome. The woman behind the Joe Buck's booth ended up being his wife. She beckoned me over to where Joe Buck, almost in disguise, is watching the band and smiling like a child. Say anything you want about Joe Buck, the man loves Country music, and God bless him. After they finish we depart the club into the 30 degree chill that has past over North Texas. I'm in Fort Worth in the parking lot of the Railhead on February 13th 2011 climbing into Joe Buck's new ride. He's since upgraded from that mythic old Winnebago.
"It gets eighteen miles per gallon" slapping the hood as we pass by. Part pride, part parody.
We settle in and I speak with him for a few hours about Country music, Fear (the band), global warming, and spirituality. Joe Buck has a way of speaking that's faster than any southerner ought to allow, but the man never wastes a word either. Joe Buck is more than a musician, he's a philosopher with a message. Joe Buck is trying to stop the Apocalypse.
We need Joe Buck.

Interview:

JOE BUCK INTERVIEW by Acolyte-BSA

Epilogue:

Theres a knock at the trailer door and Joe Buck's wife asks if he got her text message and Joe Buck says "No". Apparently the last band had finished a little while ago. Whoops, its midnight. There are rushed good byes and thank yous. Back in the club Joe Buck is ready to play in a quite literal flash. Immediately he dives into a half improvised set with a big chunk carved out in the middle that was all awesome covers. I've seen Joe Buck three times and he always manages to top himself, but this show was truly exceptional. He is an expert at working a crowd, a skill I imagine he picked up as a street performer in Nashville. Tonight I feel is a little bit more selfish, all the covers where of Texas Country artists like David Allen Coe and Waylon Jennings. His music is a labor of pure love and you can see it when he plays.
Buy his records, watch him play.
Joe Buck is coming to YOUR town.



Feb 25 Twain Harte, CA @ Lupita Eproson House
Feb 26 San Francisco, CA @ Thee Parkside
Mar 2 Santa Cruz, CA @ Crepe Place
Mar 3 Chico, CA @ Lost on Main
Mar 4 Sacramento, CA @ The Blue Lamp
Mar 5 Reno, NV @ The Alley
Mar 6 Salt Lake City, Utah @ Burt's Tiki Lounge
Mar 10 Gunnison, CO @ Gunnison Brewery
Mar 12 Kearney, NE @ The Garage
May 18 Lexington, KN @ Buster's Billiards and Backroom
May 19 Memphis, TN @ The Hi-Tone Cafe
May 20 New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
May 21 Austin, TX @ Red Seven
May 22 Tulsa, OK @ The Marquee
May 25 Denver, CO @ Thee Kings
May 26 Kansas City, Missouri @ Davey's Uptown
May 27 Chicago, IL @ Brauer House
May 28 Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom

http://www.myspace.com/joebuckyourselfmotherfucker/shows

The Telescopes 'Taste'

Generally written off as a Jesus and Mary Chain and Spacemen 3 rip The Telescopes earlier records are a lot more diverse than tag lines may describe. The Telescopes are to shoegaze what The Cro-Mags are to Hardcore. The Cro-Mags started late and therefore benefited from the influence of every major and influential hardcore punk bands of that era. They fused everything that they where influenced by and injected their own new york attitude into it. The Telescopes do a very similar move on their first LP 'Taste', and the title itself gives an air of pretension more overt and obvious than the Mary Chain or Spacemen 3 (see also the lyric in There Is No Floor, 'there is no 13th floor'). The record was released in 1989 and its sound is equally influenced by records like Psychocandy or the Perfect Prescription but these dudes where obviously waaaay stoked on garage punk. Like they are definately down with the Stooges and Iggy Pop but they where probably waaay more excited about The Iguanas or Them. They also have much more of a Rolling Stones influence with a bit of the Buzzcocks. So like check this shit out.

The Telescopes - The Perfect Needle/I Fall She Screams/Oil Seed Rape




The Telescopes - Taste

http://www.mediafire.com/?mkdjkzyoqjz

DJ SCREW PART III: FREESTYLE KINGZ

now they hate to see the way we shine

they hate Lil' Flip teeth they always blind

i've got 25 carrats

I have a cage that got 25 parrots

you can't wear it

it's a rolex

we be sipping moet

i'm the freestyle king these niggas know that

How often do you get to hear a dude spit about his menagerie?

Freestyle Kingz