Tag: music

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Naked Raygun: Combat Rock

Melodic punk rock with strong views and a solid spine might not be a rare commodity, but it sure doesn’t come around like this very often. Naked Raygun has consistently taken the punk sound to new places. They are as catchy as they are aggressive, as loud as they are intelligent, and as fun as they are serious.

Steve Albini once said of Chicago that “things like music, art, and other creative pursuits tend to be done as passions and for camaraderie rather than as careers. Careerism brings with it an ugly insincerity and conservatism.” That’s not to say that sincere music doesn’t come from other places, but punk rock from the Midwest (e.g., Hüsker Dü, Jesus Lizard, Albini’s own Big Black, et al.) tends to be very serious. Naked Raygun is no exception.

Naked Raygun

Emerging from Chicago in 1981, Naked Raygun took cues from the art-punk of Gang of Four and Wire, but retained a more confrontational attitude. The core members — singer Jeff Pezzati, bass player Pierre Kezdy, drummer Eric Spicer, and guitarist John Haggerty (future Big Black member Santiago Durango played with them early on and Bill Stephens stepped in to replace Haggerty for the final record) — soldiered through the fickle music industry until 1991, only to return in 2006 to a fan base hungry for their brand of war-torn punk rock. I caught up with Eric Spicer to talk about Naked Raygun past, present, and future.

Roy Christopher: You guys planned to reunite for Chicago’s annual punk festival in 2006, but stayed together afterward. What about the show prompted the reunion and what kept you together after?

Eric Spicer: Yes, we played Riot Fest 2006. I saw the line up for RF 2005 and thought, “Wow, that’s really cool.” I didn’t get to go to either of the shows for whatever reason, but I liked the idea. I got in touch with Mike, the promoter. I asked him if he would be interested in having Naked Raygun play the next year. He got back to me right away and said, “Hell Yes.” I told him that we hadn’t played out in a long time and I wasn’t sure if anyone remembered us. Keep in mind that after our reunion show in 97, I was totally out of the music scene, and since we hadn’t played for such a long time, I expected Naked Raygun to be a lost memory. Mike said not to worry about it! So, I got in touch with Pierre and Bill. It took a while to nail Jeff down. Eventually we got our collective shit together and played RF 2006. We knew that if we were going to play RF 2006, we’d need to practice a lot, so we thought why not play some shows after that? We got along with Mike and eventually asked him to manage us. It’s worked out well. We’ve played a bunch of shows and did a West Coast tour.

We picked up where we left off, as far as the line up goes: Jeff, Pierre, Bill, and me.

RC: What’s keeping John Haggerty from returning to the fold?

ES: I don’t know what’s up with John. I called him a couple of times before the documentary DVD was released. We wanted him to be a part of it, but he wouldn’t have anything to do with it. He has some deep-seated problems from long ago that primarily have to do with money. I tried to tell him he should get over it, none of us ever made any money playing in this band anyway. He has his issues and won’t return my phone calls.

RC: With the web in full effect these days, how are things different now than they were when you guys split?

ES: Ah yes, The World Wide Web… For the most part, I think it’s very cool. MySpace in particular. I’ve been in touch with people I haven’t heard from in years. And the instant accessibility is amazing, that’s probably the biggest thing. Anyone can just Google your name and contact you with a few mouse clicks. I really haven’t had any bad experiences online. The one difference is that when a band has a show booked, they just put out a bulletin or post flyers on friends pages. I can remember me and Camilo sitting in the back of a Chicago bus with flyers, glue, and a pint of whiskey. We would get hammered and put up flyers. Those were good times.

RC: Is Punk dead?

ES: I imagine you snickering as you wrote this question, Roy. As we all know, “Punk” was a media term attached to a sub-genre of late 70’s and early 80’s music. Music that I love and still listen to today. Is it dead? I don’t think so. There are lots of bands out there that are making some really good music that are influenced by Punk. Rise Against is a great band. They are some of the most ethical and socially conscious guys you’ll meet, as well as good guys and personal friends of mine. Rancid is one of my favorite bands. Tim Armstrong, the singer, wrote and produced songs for Pink. They are actually pretty good songs. Is he any less “Punk”? I guess what I’m thinking is that Punk is more spirit than anything else. There was a bowling alley in Chicago called the Fire Side Bowl that used to let Punk bands play there. Alkaline Trio, Fall Out Boy and Rise Against all played there. They’re all very popular, but if you asked them whom they listened to growing up, it would be a list of Punk bands.

RC: Is there new Naked Raygun material in the works?

ES: I sure hope so. We told each other that we would work on new stuff. It’s hard in the sense that we don’t want to write songs that suck, and anything new that’s released will be held up and compared to everything else we ever wrote. Know what I mean? I’m sure we will have something new out in the not too distant future.

RC: What’s next?

ES: I don’t know. Getting this band together for anything is like herding cats. It’s tough, ya know? We all have jobs, wives, and children. And we’re not twenty-years old anymore. I would love to quit my job like I used to, tour the East coast and then fly over to Europe for a two-month tour. That’s just not possible, it takes a lot of planning and is a complete logistical nightmare. Hopefully we’ll play some shows out East this fall, maybe play Chicago later this year, get back out West soon, and I’ll buy a gun and a longer rope and get the strays into the recording studio.

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Radio Silence: The Salad Days of American Hardcore

In the early eighties, American hardcore brought extra speed and confrontation to the DIY punk-rock game. Radio Silence: A Selected Visual History of American Hardcore Music (MTV Press) documents a big chunk of the beginnings of this genre and its culture. Authors Nathan Nedorostek and Anthony Pappalardo opened up their archives of letters, original artwork, records, tapes, fliers, t-shirts, zines, and photographs — all the the sacred ephemera of the movement. Continue reading “Radio Silence: The Salad Days of American Hardcore”

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Sonic Youth: Goodbye 20th Century

No band has been more consistent while simultaneously being more experimental than Sonic Youth. Ever. When it comes to making great records while still pushing the limits of themselves and their listeners, Sonic Youth are the reigning ensemble. I doubt that anyone in the know — fan or foe — would contest that. In Goodbye 20th Century (Da Capo), their first authorized biography, David Browne wades through waves of feedback and gets behind the amps of the nearly three decades of noise from this veritable institution of American music. Continue reading “Sonic Youth: Goodbye 20th Century”

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Tom Waits: By Demons Be Driven

Somewhere in a dark corner of rock and roll’s junkyard, there’s a carnival going on. An old white blues man is noisily trying to shake off his demons. His once-shiny suit is dusty from the melee, and the twisted metal of his soul is on display. As a crowd gathers in the night, the carnie growls in delight. That ol’ devil’s got ‘im in fevers and fits, howling his gospel to any and all who’ll listen. Continue reading “Tom Waits: By Demons Be Driven”

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Music for Magazines: This is Not a Record Review

I wouldn’t even bother writing about Coldplay’s latest record, but as the water of the music industry recedes, Viva la Vida has landed as a big fish in a little pond. Dave Allen exerted quite a bit of effort vilifying the record over at Pampelmoose, and while I don’t disagree with all of his points, I think his keyboard’s venom is at least partially misplaced. This is not a record review. Continue reading “Music for Magazines: This is Not a Record Review”

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Cadence Weapon: Check the Technique

I am hereby requesting a bandwagon late-pass. Out of nowhere a few months ago, someone sent me the video for “Sharks” by Cadence Weapon (embedded below). Like many who’ve heard the track, I was instantly hooked, and started looking for more. Well, lucky me, Cadence Weapon had just put out a new disc of his glitchy Hip-hop called Afterparty Babies (Anti, 2008). It’s been in or near the top of the playlist ever since.

Cadence Weapon

I’ve been down since thirteen literally, bombing the whole system up, beautifying the scenery. — Big Juss, Company Flow

Before dropping the bubbly beats and fresh rhymes, Cadence Weapon a.k.a. Rollie Pemberton used to write reviews for a major music website, but way before that, his dad was Edmonton, Alberta’s premiere source for Hip-hop. At age thirteen, Rollie knew he wanted to rap, and his starting young is evident in the work: His records — though he’s only been making them for a few years — are those of a veteran. He’s grown up with this ish. It’s in his bloodstream.

Clever and catchy Hip-hop that doesn’t outsmart itself might be more prevalent now than ever, but it still isn’t lurking on every airwave. I’m glad to pass the name Cadence Weapon on to you. He gets respect for the rep when he speaks. Check the technique and see if you can follow it.

Roy Christopher: Tell me about the new record. What’s different this time around?

Cadence Weapon: This record is faster paced, more cohesive and tied to a connecting concept. It’s more personal and drawing from more dancefloor influences than IDM or grime.

RC: Your dad was a Hip-hop pioneer up there in Edmonton. What are your earliest impressions of Hip-hop and music?

CW: I grew up on rap music and culture so I just saw it as normal. Predictably, I was isolated not knowing many other people who were into rap music so it was just something I liked myself. I saw it as an extension of poetry or any other artistic expression, and I still do.

RC: Though Hip-hop as a genre is often innovative and rebellious, it’s also steeped in strict traditions and rules. What’s your take on this contradiction — and negotiating it as an artist?

CW: It’s one of the strangest things about the music. It’s the most open-ended genre in terms of possibilities. You can sample someone walking down the street and rap about your mom’s hat if you wanted to, because there are no constraints in rap, just the ones built by the individual. The regimented nature of rap is a response to its corporate status: People thinking you have to maintain the status quo to retain sales. It’s shitty.

RC: Comedian David Spade once said that acts spend the first part of their career looking for a hook and the rest of it trying to bury that hook. To me, this is analogous to one having a “hit” (e.g., De La Soul’s “Me, Myself, and I,” or more recently, Aesop Rock‘s “No Regrets”) Do you ever resent the attention you got from “Sharks”?

CW: The success of “Sharks” doesn’t bother me. As with any single, it’s seen as representative of who I was at the time of its release. It’s a catchy song, it’s youthful and aggressive and not necessarily who I am right now, but I accept it as a period in my life. I am not trying to get rid of the memory of that song, I feel like there are still layers to it that people haven’t necessarily uncovered.

RC: What’s next for Rollie Pemberton? And for Cadence Weapon?

CW: Next for Rollie Pemberton: making the most of my free time, playing basketball, getting back into party mode, bettering myself.

Next for Cadence Weapon: actually collaborating with people on my next album, writing about death and body image and the other side of the world, starting a band, rapping harder.

———-

Here’s the video that launched the fandom, “Sharks” from Cadence Weapon’s debut record, Breaking Kayfabe (Upper Class, 2005) (runtime :4:22):

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Dave Allen: Every Force Evolves a Form

I can’t remember the first time I heard Gang of Four, but I do distinctly remember a lot of things making sense once I did. Their jagged and angular bursts of guitar, funky rhythms, deadpan vocals, and overtly personal-as-political lyrics predated so many other bands I’d been listening to. Dave Allen was the man behind the bass, and now he’s the man behind Pampelmoose, a Portland-based music and media blog. Continue reading “Dave Allen: Every Force Evolves a Form”

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Sound Unbound is out!

Sound Unbound is now available! I recently served as Assistant Editor to Paul D. Miller a.k.a. DJ Spooky on his essay collection, Sound Unbound: Sampling Digital Music and Culture. Contributors include Erik Davis, Manuel De Landa, Cory Doctorow, Chuck D, Brian Eno, Dick Hebdige, Vijay Iyer, Jaron Lanier, Jonathan Lethem, Moby, Steve Reich, Simon Reynolds, Scanner aka Robin Rimbaud, Bruce Sterling, Lucy Walker, and Saul Williams, among many others — and now it’s out. Continue reading “Sound Unbound is out!”