hello to Ken from Cork (and Mitch Bury of Adams, Mass)
Archive for the 'live' Category
Hot off the heels of spewing obscenties recording their second album this past weekend, Glass Rock travels to Detroit, MI this coming April 17th for a slammin gig with Xiu Xiu at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (valet parking). Hope to see you. As a primer, we spoke to GnR guitarist Dave Mies indeed about Michigan, one of the great states in the Union and the homeland of many figures of both controversy (Dr. Jack Kevorkian) and celebration (Grand Funk Railroad). Let’s see what Slowhand had to say, honorarily called Slow-Mitten for this Great Lakes related expose.
Mitten in Action
1) Who is your favorite person from Michigan?
Sorry, I know you want me to pick one, but it’s a photo finish. Smokey Robinson and Awesome Allison (of Awesome Color) came in neck and neck.
2) Why them?
Smokey, what can I say? Man writes a killer love song over and over again without fail, then he sweet talks it right into your bones.
If I was trapped on a desert Island with a lady and could only hear ten songs, they’d all be his. If I was alone, I’d want the same, just to remind me why life used to be worth living.
When I was growing up, there was never any music in the house. My folks aren’t philistines or anything, they just never got the bug. So, my first real exposure was the stuff my friends in middle school were into, mostly punk/ hardcore/ metal, mixed in with some U2 /Cure/ Smiths or whatever. I had though (and still do to some extent) a huge gap in my knowledge regarding anything that happened in my folks generation. I recognized the tunes on the oldies stations, but I had zero context on any of it.
Anyway, I’ve always had a huge thing for that “Tears of a Clown” song, but I swear to fucking god, between the high, smooth vocals and the name “Smokey,” I thought it was sung by a woman. Even with the male perspective in the song, my mental image was something like a more polite Tina Turner.
When I was around twenty, my girlfriend’s mom was from Camden New Jersey, where she grew up dancing to all that Motown stuff. She still had all her old Miracles albums and you can imagine my surprise when I put a face to the voice and compared it to the one in my head (not to mention the fantasies that went with it, which I will take to my grave).
Awesome Allison, what can I say? She’s willing to stage dive into a crowd of five or five hundred, knows more imaginary coitus positions than anybody I know, says shit like “Man I haven’t got a reach around this entire tour, don’t complain” or “Hey dude, let’s find a sex shop and get some poppers,” pounds the skins like an animal, pounds the brews like a forty year old roofer and never fails to put a smile on my face. I don’t see her or Michael and Derek much, so I’m bummed they’ll be out of town when we hit the motor city.
3) What is your favorite Michigan affiliated music moment and why?
Tall Firs opening for Awesome Color; we actually cleared the room. The only one left standing was Awesome Derek’s father, so I asked him… “who farted?”
After the show D’s dad was super complementary about my playing, mostly cause I cranked the reverb through the fuckin’ roof. He digs the super soaked riffage too and he told me on the sly what a disappointment Derek’s dry tone has been all these years.
- Tone Repentance Cake, Nuthin to Lose
Well, thanks Dave and good luck in Detroit makin that thang sing! Derek, don’t worry all-particularly-once-boys have disappointed our dads at some point or another. Glass Rock Life will be sponsoring a men’s support group immediately after the show on Saturday featuring beers, tears, and terror (the actual things not a local band). Please RSVP at glassrocklife@gmail.com and prepare to put five on it. Thanks everyone!
Have you risen and don’t know what to do? Well Glass Rock Heads, Glass Rock heads -ha- to Detroit for a show on April 17th after a week of arguing about reverb so head on over to MOCAD. FYI band hearthrob and huge Ziggy fan Aaron Mullan will not be with us as he is either playing with Michael Rother or working for SY in Barcelona or hiding in a corner. (Loser.) Ladies, save your flowers or send them overseas to your main man or give them to a more deserving receipient like someone in hospice care. Thanks and have a wonderful week filled with vitamin D and methadone!
Funkier Than Mapquest
Glass Rock returns to Echo Canyon next week to get **** deep into some Wild Horses. Before then however, the three Wild Horses of Tall Firs are slaying it at Glasslands on March 6th at midnight. These so-called friends of Soft Location have set an impossibly high standard with their new tunes. That is why all creative energy must now be concentrated on humming [basslines] that move the Glass Rock music to perfection. Damn!
To quote these ribald suckers: Hello All
Well, after our whirlwind romance that led to the Glass Rock project, we’re having a solo (trio) moment and getting the band back together. We’ve got half of a new album in the can, and we’re going to play our first live show in NYC since, geez, when? When’s the last time YOU remember being at at Tall Firs show?
The recently-upgraded tallfirs.org is currently streaming mp3′s of a couple of the new cuts, so when we hit those big arena-rock choruses next Saturday we wanna hear everybody arm-in-arm chanting along.
All the other bands are nice boys with guitars too, so it’s not going to be one of those shows where somebody has contact mics on a cat and sheets of feedback are flying off the stage and Ryan and Aaron are transfixed and you and Dave don’t give a shit and you’re stuck in the back of the room and can’t even talk to your friends because the sheer volume is removing all the air from the room. Not gonna be like that at all. It’s gonna be really fun and your fingers are going to turn into bloody stumps from compulsively twitterfacing your acquaintances about what a lovely time you’re having.
WARNING!: we go on at midnight, that’s right.. midnight! This is no sweat for most of our fun crazed, sex obsessed, eternally youthful crew. However, we know there’s a few turncoats among us who wanna hang up their spurs and turn in early on a Saturday night. That’s right, on a Saturday night!! WTF!! Anyway, don’t worry about these folks. If a virtual orgy of laughing, drinking, looking good and feeling better is too much for their old bones, then they should stay home and the rest of us will just split their share of happiness.
Love,
Tall Firs
Way to fuck up Dave
Back in business round here. First off, we have an exciting new Science and Psychology feature with the wholly unaccredited Aaron Mullan, sound engineer for Sonic Youth, bass player in a band yet to be named, and Man of a Thousand Ambiguous Facial Expressions. That’s Aaron over there <, psyching out Dave Mies of Glass Rock into dissonance when he had in fact been nailin’ it with the taste of a grieving Eric Clapton.
To begin with, we asked Aaron to provide some dream interpretation for an unnamed member of Glass Rock who is so interesting that [he] tells people about [his] dreams. Let’s check it out. To stay within APA guidelines, we are reprinting the entire analytic process. Glass Rock believes in transparency when concerns independent non stop post balls psychoanalytical jumbalayah. Peace and love.
Glass Rock: So, did I have too much to dream last night! I was in a bed with Eddie Murphy and William F. Buckley Jr.? What does this mean? (We were just talking).
Aaron: I need more info to analyze this.
GR: I was in the middle.
A: Your lack of details is making me think this is not a real dream.
GR: Man I wish I could remember more. It really happened. [My significant other] can verify that I groggily stated it.
A: Hmmn, can you free associate about each of them?
GR: WFBJ–conservative, thought of as eloquent but rather, long winded, deceased
EM–funny, probably gay [-a-& b-], nice leather suits
A: Oh this is easy. Dreams are the subconscious’ (is that how you make that word possessive?) presentations of wish-fulfillment fantasies. In this case your subconscious is expressing your desire to be accepted by and have some amount of familiarity/intimacy with men across a wide spectrum. If it’s the leather-suit era Eddie Murphy I would say he represents a young man at the peak of his potency. All males want to be associated with the virile and lauded, with the hopes that the harem attracted by these males may contain some spare available females. Eddie Murphy being ‘probably gay’ speaks to the unquantifiable (incalculable?) nature of his sexual power (and the increased likelihood of bonus females). Buckley represents a man of your grandfather’s generation. You may disagree with Buckley on some things, but he is widely respected and you still look for his approval. So your subconscious is expressing your desire for respect within the established social power structure plus your simultaneous and contradictory desire to upend the current mating hierarchy (which is really what the social power structure is).
Aaron and the townspeople check out a disturbance.
GR: Can I send you all my dreams? Eeriely, your analysis seems spot-on as far as conscious, related/similar (internal) struggles which i am aware of . . . I think I’m about to have a nervous breakdown, my head really hurts, the cognitive dissonance between “Eddie Murphy” and “William F Buckley Jr” is hard to take.
A: This seems like the absolute most normal and basic aspect of being a male human. I wouldn’t worry about it.
GR: Thanks Aaron.
Thanks also to our friends who came to check us out in Brooklyn last night. We are grateful for the warm campfire vibe and hope you felt it as well. As we work over North America -a&b- we visit Detroit on 4/17 minus Freud and the more shallow members of the group look forward to seeing you. Have a nice weekend getting wasted again.
Hiatus is hard for working people. But it’s really gonna happen starting now. Playing live at Union Pool, Brooklyn NY, Thursday 9 pm sharp. Please complete your own funk countdown and pre-show preparations. Here’s some help for one NICE EFFING FUNKY. Dream analysis with Aaron Mullan of Tall Firs coming soon. Don’t give up.
Dudes/Dudettes- Hey it turns out ‘ol Kathy’s gonna be in NYC next week recruiting for her Upper Peninsula Death Cult, so we thought we’d get the band back together and bust some jammage at Union Pool before she heads back out to MI and gets caught up in the ritualized Satanarchistic violence of the equinox celebrations. Don’t worry though, shit is gonna get totally hectic here too! Expect the usual: liquified zombies, slot machines, free venison steaks, blah blah.
Look at that time- 9pm. That’s a great Thursday night set time, don’t you agree? Anyone who gets too caught up in the GnR set and has to go home and start fucking right away has plenty of hours until daylight. And for the Party Patrol, you have Man Benu (Bentley Rules!) and Hallelujah still to rock out to before you go home and fuck. Right on!
So few photographs of drummers surface that this nice shot by Claudia deserves top billin. This is Rynnnn doing his thing. As we focus on 2010, Glass Rock II, and the nude beach i.e. spring and summer, a Move on from Tour Already shout to great supporters Clash magazine who gave our liveness a rip roaring review from Manchester DEAF INSTITUTE WRITE-UP. Sincere thanks.
Two Glass Rock gigs coming up in spiritual homelands Brooklyn and Detroit, 2/18/10 at Union Pool and 4/17/10 at the Museum of Contemporary Art. In between showcasing the lithe dexterity of a young lynx or cougar we developed in the UK, we ready Glass Rock II: Volume 4 and deal with the pressure to have fun by having fun. Come join us.
From an instore we did at Pure Groove in London in December. What nice people and what a cool shop…
