Doom & Gloom is a duo from California with a great song called “The Big One”:
+ “The Big One” live and acoustic:
Author: aftertheshow (Page 147 of 191)
Did you know Norah Jones had a side project band a few years ago?
Apparently it was a “joke” band, but they released a full album. One of the songs on it is “The Best Part”:
Photo Credit: Brendan Pattengale
Last night I saw The Milk Carton Kids play the second of two consecutive shows at Largo in LA.
The Milk Carton Kids, the duo of Joey Ryan + Kenneth Pattengale, are touring in support of their new album The Ash & Clay, and they played new songs like “Honey, Honey” as well as older favorites (“New York,” “Charlie,” and “Girls, Gather ‘Round”).
The audience at Largo was really eclectic — people of all ages, and everyone seemed to really enjoy and appreciate the duo’s repartee between songs.
The crowd even (audibly) recognized “Michigan,” the penultimate song of the set, from the song’s very first guitar notes.
Joey focused more on strumming chords and was smoother in his presentation than Kenneth, who was slightly more spastic in demeanor and did more finger picking.
See upcoming tour dates at The Milk Carton Kids website for San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, NY, and Australia dates!
Photo Credit: After The Show
Ex Cops played their first ever LA show last night, opening for Bleached at The Troubadour.
The band kicked off their set with “Ken,” followed by “You Are A Lion, I Am A Lamb,” which set the tone for their band as one of controlled energy, dreamy guitar tones, and lush male-female vocals.
Ex Cops (Brian Harding and Amalie Bruun) were backed by 3 other musicians, and they played to a packed house (mostly full of teenagers).
Photo Credit: After The Show
They played a brand new song that sounded good — nice bass line and chord changes. Ex Cops’ penultimate song was “James,” which sounded way too rushed! “James” is such an amazing song but I couldn’t appreciate it when it was played so fast.
Check out: Ex Cops’ official website + Twitter for 2 more LA dates + the rest of the tour.
Roddy Bottum of Imperial Teen and Faith No More kindly answered questions about scoring for films, the joy of being in Imperial Teen, and what the band will play at their upcoming shows (May 24th San Francisco & May 25th LA).
After The Show: The 4 of you in Imperial Teen evenly split all songwriting credit, so how do you decide who sings lead vocals on any given song? Like do you sing “You’re One” because you brought the idea for it to the group?
Roddy Bottum: we’ve done that all different ways. usually it’s whoever happens to be at the microphone takes over. we write a lot of our lyrics together. will has the strongest singing voice so we usually let him take over in that department. but if it’s a super unique perspective that i feel comes from me i’ll insist on singing.
the girls mostly sing backups but lynn has sung leads on a couple songs in the past. usually ideas that she has brought to the table.
You’ve lived in LA, NY, & SF over the years…How do their music scenes differ, and was one place/time better for you as a musician?
SF was such a beautiful place back when i lived there. it was affordable more than anything and all different types of artists could get by and make music and rent spaces at affordable prices. i remember paying $160 a month for rent on 16th street in the mission. that was with six roommates but still…. such affordable housing doesn’t exist anymore and it’s changed the demographic.
LA is more serious minded, if you want to get into the music biz, it’s clearly a good option. there’s SO much work there. a lot of it is sketchy stupid hollywood television crap but there is a lot of opportunity. NYC is a nut i haven’t cracked yet. i’ve just moved there temporarily and am looking for my niche. i do know there is more culture and inspiration there for me now. there are vibrant classical progressive scenes and theater, obviously, and opera. i’m into opera. i’m going to write an opera and a musical next year in NYC.
When you’re scoring, what are your goals/responsibilities and how do you work?
all scoring jobs are different. my favorite ones are when i’m left alone and the director or producers trust me and let me do my own thing. that’s a unique and wonderful situation. i do stuff on the computer and play stuff and record it. whatever works. it’s all about pleasing the big project at the end of the day.
How do you inject your own essence/personality into a score while also respecting what the director wants for the project?
i usually feel pretty strongly about the notion that the director has hired me to be me. it’s really all i can bring to a project, myself. that said, i kind of just try to keep it as honestly pleasing to myself as i can. sometimes i feel a little misunderstood and there’s some rewriting that gets done but for the most part it’s all about making my personality or perspective heard.
At recent shows you’ve played new songs from Feel The Sound as well as older favorites like “Million $ Man,” “Sugar,” and “Yoo Hoo.” Are there any plans for the upcoming shows to add in other old songs like “Pig Latin” or “My Spy”?
we were practicing ‘pig latin’ for a little bit. ‘my spy’ i don’t think we ever played live. we’re playing ‘our time’ and ‘room with a view’ this time around. those feel really good and we’re attempting another song off of FEEL THE SOUND. we haven’t done it yet but it was sounding good at practice. and another old song we hadn’t played in a long time.
It seems so rare for a band to stay productive, friendly, and positive over decades. What is it about your 4 personalities / work ethics / attitudes that makes IT a strong, fun band nearly 20 years after forming?
we have a lot of respect for each other and we really make each other laugh. we have a short hand language that we resort to that gets a lot of mileage. we’re a family that doesn’t really tire of each other. it’s still so much fun. we only do it for that joy of it. we certainly don’t make money doing what we do.
Did many Faith No More fans follow you to Imperial Teen? The two bands seem very different stylistically.
there are usually a couple of FNM fans in the house. that band really pushed the envelope as far as diversity goes. to the FNM fans’ credit… they are super open minded and usually get something out of what IT does. totally, though, night and day stylistically.
“Room With A View” and “Baby and the Band” sound like autobiographical stories of IT…so does “It’s You” to a lesser extent…
i think we only really write autobiographically. there were a couple tell all’s on this last record. we sometimes come from a ‘veiled’ perspective but usually tell it like it is and wear our hearts mostly on our collective sleeve. we aren’t great at writing about other people. pretty narcissistic.
What’s one of your favorite lyrics you’ve ever written?
i really like, ‘the hawk bit the chicken…. killing boys but giving birth to men.’ i’m good at writing lyrics. i wish i did it more. that’s why i got to write a musical.
Imperial Teen has some rare, out of print songs like “Pretty,” “Sweet and Touching,” and the cover “Shayla.” Any chance that newer fans can somehow hear those songs?
probably not a chance in hell. a couple of our records are out of print and we don’t have any of that old vinyl left.
How has your attitude/approach to songwriting changed over the years…have you noticed any major shifts from when you were 25 vs when you were 45?
my stylistic approach has changed a lot. i’m bored with the 4/4 time signature, honestly, and i like to confuse it up a lot more than i used to. it used to bug me when rhythms were confusing but now i like it. i also am open more to sounds as opposed to riffs. but i still really like a cheeky perspective. that sounds kind of lame but i think you know what i mean.
Does it matter to you how Feel The Sound has done commercially? It deserves so much more commercial success, and it’s on Merge. Do you think there’s some bias against older musicians amongst the more youth-centric indie demographic?
i was surprised and am always surprised when our stuff doesn’t catch on like wild fire. i love what we do and it always seems super likable to me. i don’t think there’s a bias against older musicians as much as there is a really short collective attention span. people like ‘new.’ that’s clear. i like new too but i also am a really loyal fan. i will see bands that i loved back when again and again and again. i saw frightwig and killing joke both last weekend and couldn’t have been happier… something about that time in your life… your twenties. the wallop of familiarity.
Care to share the meaning of “Seven”? Was it inspired by your sister?
yeah, it was about my sister. how she was younger and always taking care of me. that dichotomy. a younger person taking care of an older person, being wiser. it kind of reads sad, does it?
Thanks Roddy! Check out RoddyBottum.com & Roddy’s Twitter + ImperialTeen.com
Allie Gonino is one-third of the band The Good Mad and plays Laurel on ABC Family’s The Lying Game. Allie talks about recording in Nashville, songs she uses to help get into character, and what she learned from opening for Justin Bieber.
After The Show: What was your experience like recording The Good Mad’s EP in Nashville?
Allie Gonino: I had such a blast recording ALTA. The first smart thing we did was hire Phil Swann to produce it. He kept things moving swiftly, and put together a really good mix. His energy is so fun to have around, so the recording process was always light and enjoyable for us. Another treat was getting to work with awesome studio musicians such as Joe Spivey and Paul Scholten.
It was amazing to watch/listen to Joe work, he played mandolin, dobro, bazooki, and banjo on ALTA. He added all the necessary touches needed to complete the feel of the EP. And Nashville in spring is definitely something to experience. Beautiful countryside and so many awesome places to hear live music and eat delicious food. I know that will always be a sacred memory for Adam, Andy, and me.
You play guitar, violin, mandolin, and piano – do you prefer one instrument over the others to compose on? What about playing live?
Believe it or not, I don’t do a ton of composing with instruments. I tend to enjoy writing songs with my voice, acapella. I’ve written a few songs on guitar, and they’re probably my more “marketable” songs. Playing live though, I definitely prefer the violin.
What’s the most challenging part about playing music as Laurel on The Lying Game? Is it hard to separate yourself from the character when you’re playing music (with a fictionalized version of your own band)?
Honestly, playing the musician side of Laurel is the least challenging aspect of that role because it is so close to real life. The only thing different between the way Laurel performs is that she’s a little more timid and less experienced. I don’t try to “put on” any act with Laurel, as opposed to when I perform, I’m telling a story, and I usually like to embellish. It’s always surreal because we do have so many similarities, and I believe life and art imitate each other.
Every character I play is a different aspect of myself, or at least, there are things that we definitely have in common. Part of keeping my head on straight is realizing I am already the woman I’ve always wanted to be. No character I play is separate from me, and ironically, no character I play is me. That’s the paradox.
Do you have any advice for teens about managing stress and balancing school with all the activities they do?
Yes, let’s talk about managing stress! First thing for managing stress is to stop eating sugar, and other foods/drinks that cause acidity in the body. Caffeine, cigarettes, alcohol, fried and processed food, red meat, drugs (both legal and otherwise), all create acidity. This doesn’t mean you should never consume these things, but combined with our public water quality – which is another conversation altogether – air pollution, social media obsession, relationship stress, and many more environmental factors, eliminating such dietary factors would be one smart way to lower stress levels.
Massage therapy, meditation, reading entertaining literature, laughing, dancing, and restful sleep are all great ways to keep balance. The body gets its most restful and repairing hours of sleep between 11pm and 8am. And the number one way to manage stress: mindful, deep breathing!
How does your songwriting process/collaboration work in The Good Mad?
A lot of the time we’ll write songs on our own and bring them to the rest of the members to put everyone’s scent on it. However, there definitely have been instances where we’ll get together and someone will bring a hook or a melody line, or lyrics and we’ll work on it. It’s different for every song. We just try to make the song sound the best that it can, no one person is trying to hog the attention. The most important thing is that the song feels whole and moves the way that feels best to us.
What did you learn opening for Justin Bieber, performing for crowds of 17,000 people a night?
I think most importantly, I learned I definitely want to play to crowds like that again. Alternatively, I’m so unbelievably grateful for that experience, that if it never happened again, I’d be fine. That’s not to say I’m not going to shoot for it though. It’s a rush like no other. I know I wouldn’t have been prepared for that kind of gig without all the experience I’d had leading up to that. I also learned how important it is to know how to operate a water gun.
What bands have you been listening to lately? Do you listen to certain songs to help get into character before filming a scene?
I’ve been listening to Feist’s Metals, Alt-J, and Nicki Bluhm a lot lately. Usually if I need to get in the mood to cry for a scene I’ll listen to a Coldplay song or two. Katy Perry’s “The One that Got Away” has been helpful in those times, as well as “Holocene” by Bon Iver. If I need to get pumped up though, Beyoncé and Emily Haines are my go-to ladies.
What Metric and Lana Del Rey songs do you most connect with?
All of them? Ha. Most recently Metric’s “Poster of a Girl” and “Synthetica” have been on repeat. As for Lana, “Video Games” is the song that totally captures the feeling of my early twenties. Not even so much in the lyrics, but more in its whole vibe. Sometimes, I imagine myself as an old woman listening to that song and feeling all the power behind it, and it makes me cry. Not in a sad way, but in a fond way.
Despite all the trials, terrors, mistakes, heart breaks… when you reflect on your memories, if you’ve lived a life you’ve loved, you’ll be filled with an overwhelming sense of joy and gratitude. That’s my favorite thing about music. Music is the closest technology we have to time travel.