Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Adriana Kaegi's TAG album is going viral-- I co-wrote...
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Le UN -- or FRONT COVER GAGA
I'm happy to say that this month I have 2 front cover stories on the stands... how quaint does that sound!....one on BETH DITTO for OUT and one essay on David Byrne for FADER.... here's Beth in all her glory of every kind...
http://www.out.com/detail.asp?id=25015
I haven't got a link for the Byrne piece, but Fader's editor Julianne Shepherd encouraged a return to the old-school more free-flowing, less rigid style of writing the aesthetic I came up in in the UK rock press when it was a vibrant force and trained a whole generation of writers...
Also WORD magazine in the UK, edited by charming Mark Ellen, ran a piece on musicians lecturing and there's an interview with me plus a pic of me reading from THE BOOK of EXODUS to the audience at NY's Fillmore, before Family Man's WAILERS came onstage.... and here's a link to that reading...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y60QbvTeYNw
Special one love shout-outs to Pete Shelton, Charlie Shelton, Charles Nuckolls and Joly of punkcast.com for working with me like family to make it happen.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Book of Exodus is in the NY Review of Books
Thursday, January 29, 2009
In Memoriam -- New York Times
I was called on to participate in the obituary Rob Kenner wrote for the New York Times about Vincent 'Tata' Forde, who was Bob Marley's mentor back in the government yards of Trenchtown; and then I wrote the NY Times obit for Gary Kurfirst, manager of the Talking Heads and Peter Tosh, among other progressives and New Wavers.
Here's the links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
I interviewed the super McGregor kids for the New York Times
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Isaac Hayes: how Black Moses bared his soul
Friday, June 20, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
An Interview with Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg Interview: Part 1
The Punk Professor sits down with Billy Bragg in the first of an exclusive two-part interview.
Billy Bragg Interview: Part 2
The Punk Professor sits down with Billy Bragg in the second of an exclusive two-part interview.
You can also meet up with me again soon for a big ol' reasoning with Mick Jones and Tony James of Carbon/Silicon, who've been lurking in the swamps of punk since they were in The Clash and Generation X respectively. And if you want to join the conversation -- hey, you know where to write.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Glad And Sad
From Jay Scheib:
Dear Punk Professor,
I recently began collaborating on a performance work with the punk rock bank The World Inferno Friendship Society. I was confronted by a new world. But I ask you, what exactly does punk sound like? I often hear bands that don't have a sound that makes me automatically think of punk per se. In the case of the World Inferno it is more of a raison d'etre, or more of an energy than any particular sound (their sound is wildly diverse) but just to arm me in the future, what does punk sound like? (and since there are obviously no rules about the sound of PUNK? what makes something punk in the first place...) Surely there is much written on the subject and I could just ask... but I thought I would ask the Professor in hopes of getting a smart answer, and a deeper understanding...J
Dear Jay,
Seems like you understand more than you know. You're already feeling what I love about punk, its questioning, collective aspect, which shapes both one-bloke-with-a-guitar-touching-thousands like Billy Bragg and an ever-evolving collective like the World Inferno Friendship Society. It's fab that you're working with this highly-regarded Brooklyn crew and I hope to keep everyone posted on your performance. They wear sharp Moddish suits and do clever cabaret but WIFS somehow remind me of Crass, the great anarchist collective, whose poetic rants and stark graphics represented the movement's ideals. They also make me think of the world/fusion work the Clash's Joe Strummer was doing with the Mescaleros before he died -- cos in punk there shouldn't really be rules, and just like sounds, genders often mix it up in punk just like they do in your Inferno. Siouxsie & the Banshees also subscribed to Weimar Germany cabaret chic, with its whiff of decadence wafted about by the musical Cabaret.
Having said that, of course, the typical Punk groove convention, as you probably suspected, is of the "harder-faster-louder" school; plus with a
Several questions from Maria Catamero:
1) Is the internet killing the independent label?
It really shouldn't as the internet can be used to build a fan base besides keeping punk's DIY spirit alive. The internet's access to so much music does mean, though, that however brilliant you are, it's easy to get lost. Thus just as in the "real" world, all press is good. Here's proof: sales of "What We Want," the dance track by Ashley Alexandra Dupre, the hooker and raver who recently toppled New York's crusading Governor General, Elliot "Steamroller" Spitzer, have soared faster than his reputation vanished.
2) Why don't modern bands have the same longevity the way bands like the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Madonna, etc., etc. etc.?
Frankly not sure I agree on this one. An extended career's really down to artists having the ability to sustain their own musical force. You say it yourself -- Madonna (launched 1980s,) isn't the same generation as the Stones (b. 1960s,) who are a decade older than Bowie (first rocked big time in the early 1970s.) That means new waves of talent keep on rolling in, hoping to crash an audience; and theoretically at least, the internet should make it easier to find 'em (see above). There are many cases of enduring adoration of artists who might have been forgotten, like Morrissey or the New York Dolls. Not to mention the continued fascination with first-wavers who keep cropping up in this column, like the Clash's Mick Jones and his Carbon/Silicon, and the Slits, whose first American tour in three decades is selling out right now to adoring kids not born when they first ripped their fishnets. It all proves that fans' interest in artists -- of every era, including punk -- really does sustain, if only for the nostalgia value. People will still be buying Bjork, maybe directly from an implant in their brains, when she's a pixie-like pensioner. There's no reason to think that artists starting out now won't experience the same long, sometimes fractious love affair with their audiences.
3) Do you think the political climate and energy in the States at the moment will inspire really great music or more crap?
OK, I'll be chargin $35.00 a minute for this psychic insight! If we look back, it's usually said that edgy times of great struggle and stress, e.g., Berlin in the 1930s, Seething London in the 1970s, produce dynamic art. I've always found that a really depressing analysis. Well, America's current depression is certainly about to put the theory to the test. There hasn't been a recent musician or band making unifying anthems that rouse social awareness on a mass level, the way Bob Marley, Curtis Mayfield, the Clash, George Clinton or James Brown did and still do. Maybe Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is a candidate; or Kanye West's social observation on "Gold Digger." If you, Fierce Reader, have ideas on others, please shemail me.
4) Do you think the declining value of the US dollar will have an effect on American music abroad and international music Stateside?
The dramatic dwindling of the dollar makes Euro-hungry Yank musicians a cheap date for the rest of the world. A comparatively meager international deal swells impressively when translated into our sad little dollars. That's the good bit. They can afford us -- but can we afford them? The bad bit is that some mid-range foreign tours might find it harder to play America, because the money isn't there. Or should I say, here. Certainly, American Immigration policies are far more of a musical killjoy and have a far bigger impact than the exchange rate on the global flow of music. All visa requests by Cuban artists, for example, have been rejected by the INS since 2003. Foreign musicians tell me they're nervous about coming here in case they get tempted into a gig or recording session -- and then get busted for doing what comes naturally, like jamming with the US artists you've been digging for years. Getting the necessary H1 visa is a lengthy, delicate process which cannot be pulled together in time for a quick tour. There's sure plenty to sing about now, if artists feel the need to make socially conscious music - but then, there always is.
5) How long do you think it will be before the CD medium is completely phased out?
To answer this I turned to the multi-talented music industry veteran, producer and DJ Brian Michel Bacchus, who signed Norah Jones when he was a corporate A&R man, and now owns his own label, SoulFeast Music, as well as heading Content Acquisition and A&R for the top digital distributors, INgrooves:ONE Digital. Over to you, Brian.
"I'd say it's 5-10 years, perhaps sooner, before CDs are phased out completely. The CD has basically become a storage medium and even as that, it is inadequate with only 700 MB. People who get CDs now usually put them in their computer to be stored on their hard drives, usually with iTunes, and then listen to them on their computer or on their iPod or some other mp3 device. Labels like Ropeadope have even completely stopped manufacturing CDs. When you look at the sales of devices that play music, only two have been selling in the past few years - iPods and turntables. What does that tell you? Try buying a stand alone single player CD player that is not a high-end model. Almost impossible to find. Although sales across the board in the music business are depressed from previous years, I think the future of recorded music sales is in digital downloads and niche areas like vinyl. Seven-inch 45s are very hot now in rock and roll. The success of magazines like WaxPoetic and stores like Brooklyn's DopeJams only confirm this trend."
Was Lydia Lunch underage when she first started performing with Teenage Jesus and the Jerks?
Underage for what? Drinking or joining the Army? (special thanks to Kid Creole)
Some glad news now. In the spirit of punky experimentation the next Punk Professor column will be filmed, so you'll get to see me rabbit on about weighty matters of the day with the noted British Bard, Billy Bragg. He's broken a six-year silence with the new "Mr. Love and Justice," which has generally been hailed as a fantastic work, with B.B. displaying a maturity and mastery that's worth the wait. So get polishing those screens, ready for the Punk Professor to bust out visually, aided and abetted by punk's prominent conscience and humanist, Billy Bragg.
Now for the bad news. In the last column, we mourned producer Joe Gibbs. Now another Jamaican talent has left us - Mikey Dread, the DJ whose rolling delivery and lanky lope were familiar to everyone who dug his work with key collaborators, the Clash. He toured widely with them, produced their popular single "Bank Robber," and contributed to their sprawling 'Sandinista' opus. Like many other music lovers in the first punk era, the Clash got into Mikey Dread through his phantasmagoric singles, notably "Dread at the Controls," also the name of his influential Jamaican radio show which was pirated globally on cassette; and the freaky dub of "Parrot Jungle" which drove everyone wild with its effects and ambiance. The Rasta was too raw and real for his early employers, the Jamaican Broadcasting Corporation, who demoted him to the late night slot. But he soon had the station's hottest show, playing strictly dub music and parlayed his popularity into a respected musical career. Mikey passed away on March 15th. He was 54 years old.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
The Melody Lingers On...
Q: I am a Chinese boy; this is the first time to chat with you. I want to ask you what I should do to improve my English level?
A: Dear Xie Yong,
You are so right to Think Punk. There is no better way to learn a language than to follow your passion and tune in to whatever people like you are reading and watching and listening to in the place that interests you. Of course, in the case of learning English, you're lucky enough to get loads of opportunities -- US, UK, Oz, Canada, great chunks of Africa, India and Asia etc -- thanks to the old colonies, whose main upside was making large sectors of the globe able to communicate.
For a start, I recommend you watch BBC America and hang out on this site as much as you can. Really. All the BBC America reality shows like How Clean Is Your House, Bargain Hunt, You Are What You Eat, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, etc. reveal raw British everyday life in all its coziness, like no other TV station. Plus the drama and comedy are dead authentic.
Obviously I think you should listen to punk to get some proper Anglo flavor. Punk isn't exactly associated with great diction, but I kicked the concept around with some fellow punkoids and top punk photog Janette Beckman voted for The Jam "because they're so sharp and clever," while Joly of punkcast.com insists you can't go wrong with John Lydon, ex Rotten, of the Sex Pistols and PiL, "because of his clear enunciation." I like the Raincoats, who sometimes sing quite slowly, which could be helpful. (See below for info on a rare Raincoats gig in London).
My own vote, though, was for the late, great Ian Dury, who was punk's funniest wordsmith. Find songs like "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick", "Clever Trevor" and of course, "Sex and Drugs & Rock'n'Roll" to hear how the likes of Lily Allen learned to sing a story. Try and get the studio versions, though, because on the live versions on ITunes, Dury's cockney accent might be a bit hard for a beginner.
Q: Is Punk Dead!?
A: Dear Coreen,
When it began in the 1970s, punk had the shock of the new. Now it's part of the social/cultural pantheon. Now we can say that though the ideals of punk may be endlessly betrayed, they'll never die. And a wise word from my esteemed editor/publisher, Miss Grace: "Personally, I don't think it's dead. It's just older now and requires naps."
Q: Hey Punk Prof
I saw some damn car commercial that was using the Clash version of "Pressure Drop" in the background. I think we can agree that Joe’s spinning in his grave (can't we?). But I wonder - is the whole idea of "selling out" passé? Since Moby sold every song on "play" to the advertisers, it seems like what used to be selling out is just cool. Is it just a matter of perspective? A financial necessity for musicians today? Should we still hate it? And I wonder who owns rights to the Clash songs. Someone ok'd that, and I’m old enough to think it ain't cool.
A: Very perspicacious questions, Kurt, and I can recall many anguished evenings discussing this and other punk ethics questions.
And so did Joe Strummer! Our London Spy, author Chris Salewicz's recent biography of Joe Strummer, Redemption Song, told me on the phone about interviewing Joe on this very point in Spring 2002, when “London Calling” was being used to sell Jaguar X Type cars. Joe had been quite sniffy when a dog food brand wanted to use the band for a commercial; but as Chris described, imitating Joe's voice precisely, "... and I just thought -- Jaguar! Yay! We've turned down millions of dollars, but every group deserves something, specially twenty years after the fact. I can use this money to finance the Mescaleros!" That same year, the Clash's 'Should I Stay or Should I Go' was used in a Stolichnaya vodka ad.
Ultimately I think the answer is found in an old song by Mark Stewart of Bristols's post-punk combo, The Pop Group: "We Are All Prostitutes," with the Margaret Thatcher sleeve. Mark was in post-punk angry pretenders, The Pop Group, whose anguished free jazz yowl and urgent funky groove is much missed. Having said that, Mark's new album, 'Edit,' is coming out very soon. See more info below.
As brand-dependent bands everywhere choke in shock at my cheek, think about this.
You can argue that in allying with corporations, often the Medicis or patrons of today, you are just trying to reach as many people (as well as make as much dosh) as possible. The problem with this argument, of course, is context. So you make a song that has a conscious aspect, something to say. To have it harnessed to sell, E.G. a polluting chemical company, or promote a political party, would make a true fan want to vomit and definitely reduce the credibility of the artist concerned. Tainted love, INDEED.
Ultimately, of course, it's a personal choice, often determined by depth of pocket. But just like you and Joe Strummer, Kurt, I believe that artists should monitor the public use of their music very cautiously so they don't look like total wankers.
And before I get any snide comments about this punk column appearing under a corporate banner, let me say again that I am a genuine BBC America fan and was before I started writing this column, so like Joe Strummer, I just thought, Yay! If I rabbit on about BBC America programming it's because I dig it. So that's that. Drop round my place if you don't believe me. Ask my cat, Laszlo. He's very good at guessing who's shagging who on 'Hotel Babylon.'
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For a real wish-you-were-here punk rock London night out, grab a new DVD from the UK, "Ruts: 16th July 2007."
The London gig was the first time original Ruts drummer Dave Ruffy and bass player Segs Jennings had reunited since the death of their lovely lead singer, Malcolm Owen, a man I was super-fond of, who OD'd in July, 1980. The accidental tragedy happening just weeks after Joy Division's Ian Curtis killed himself signaled the end of an era, as John Robb says in his loving liner notes. At the show, Owen's role was taken by long-time Ruts fanatic, Henry Rollins. "It was real thinking music without being boring or too cool. It was fantastic," says Rollins on the interview DVD of why he and his hardcore crew were all so keen on the band.
Happy jam at the Ruts' finale with the Damned's Captain Sensible at the fore
Goodbye to all that -- for now! l. to. r Segs Jennings, Paul Fox, Dave Ruffy, Henry Rollins
The show has all the atmosphere of an uncensored, rollicking gig of old comrades who love playing. Captain Sensible from The Damned, still in his trademark red beret and Dave Vanian, complete with cloak, sprint through "New Rose" (the first ever UK punk 45!) as ardent as ever. Misty in Roots display the sort of roots grandeur that made them a favorite of the Rock Against Racism activist organization supported by the Clash. In a nice twist, when the (black) Rasta band started a label in the early 1980s, their first signing was (white punks) The Ruts, whose "In A Rut" and "Babylon Is Burning," made the band loved everywhere punk took root.
Sadly, the show was a benefit for the Ruts' guitarist, Paul "Foxy" Fox, who died in October, 2007. Though Paul looks somewhat gaunt on this DVD, he's very up and chipper and plays like a champ. Big punks appear in support, like Tom Robinson, Splodgenessabounds, the UK Subs, John Otway, TV Smith and Eddie 'Tenpole' Tudor and the Peafish House Band.
"Malcolm was like Iggy Pop," reminisces Segs. "He used to head butt the cymbals, it usually sounded great. But one night we were in Devon and we'd drunk some local cider before the show and he head butted the cymbals.... I had to take him to hospital in the ambulance after the gig!" They all laugh on the DVD, and I did too -- but under the circumstances, the funny memory has a bitter aftershock; a sad reminder of how "going mental" really can go too far. I miss Malcolm.
The interviews between all the various punks are rambling and hilarious, sometimes poignant. Asked about working with Rollins, Segs says, "It was great! Of course it was a bit funny when Henry did thirty press-ups before the rehearsal! Henry was bang on time, he puts the punk in punctual!" Ta-da!
It's a big moment for the pioneering women of punk -- our time has come again sisters! (If it ever went away...) Legendary Rough Trade band and Kurt Cobain favorites, The Raincoats, are playing an all-age Saturday afternoon show on March 1 st . in London's St Peter's Church, Kensington Park Rd., W.11, to raise money for a house for Aids orphans in Uganda. They'll be a full band, as originals Ana da Silva and Gina Birch have enlisted Bat for Lashes player Lizzie and drummer Alison from ATV.
And finally, U.S fans around the land can get to see the Slits. For more info on the dates by scene godmothers, the band the Punk Professor jams with on You Tube! and their The Revenge of the Killer Slits e.p., with its unforgettable take on Marvin Gaye's "Heard It Through The Grapevine," see below.
Large and in charge - The Slits
It would be kinda sad if after all that great gals' music, the Slits and Raincoats hadn't had some musical daughters. I'm partial to Mika Miko songs, specially the slower ones like "Jogging Song (He's Your Mr. Right)" and "Oh Head Spin." They'll be playing at South By South West and at Noise Pop in San Francisco introducing their new “C.Y.S.L.A.B.F.” album on the Kill Rock Stars label and their “666” EP on PPM, supported by No Age.
l. to r. Michelle Suarez, Jessie Clavin, Jenna Thornhill, Jennifer Clavin, Katelyn Hall
Since We Last Met.....
Singer Alice Nutter and drummer Harry Hammer from the anarchist punk rocker collective Chumbawumba who had a massive pop hit with 1998's irresistible 'Tubthumping' have formed a new nine-person combo called The Sex Patels, playing lengthy, sitar-drenched raga versions of songs by the Sex Pistols, Talking Heads and X-Ray Spex...
I have spent the morning paying tribute to the Jamaican producer, Joe Gibbs , who died aged 65 on February 21, by listening to the new re-issue on the fine Shanachie label, "Dennis Brown: The Best of the Joe Gibbs Years". In the punk era, the Joe Gibbs label was a brand of excellence. Joe released other classics like Althia and Donna's international pop hit, "Uptown Top Ranking" and the top punk favorite, Culture's Two Sevens Clash -- one of my Top Ten Ever selections, also recently re-isssued by Shanachie in a seriously loving edition. The Dennis Brown/Joe Gibbs work is still a rush of emotional, uplifting power. Mastersinger Dennis's wraparound velvet voice rings out over the energizing glory of the horn sections on "Money In My Pocket" "Ain't That Loving You", "Malcolm X" and "Oh Mother." A great testament.
Must-hear classic: Dennis Brown on the Joe Gibbs label
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For Mika Miko tour dates and info:
http://www.killrockstars.com/press/467/
http://www.myspace.com/mikamiko
To buy the Ruts Benefit DVD with the Damned, Tom Robinson and many others including the Ruts w/Henry Rollins, go to
http://www.myspace.com/TheRutsOfficialPage
For the new Ruts single, a remake of 'Babylon Is Burning' by the Ruts w/Henry Rollins:
http://WWW.INDIESTORE.COM/THERUTS
http://www.myspace.com/TheRutsOfficialPage
Mark Stewart's new album 'Edit' will be out in April (Europe) and May (UK/USA). Two tracks, 'Secret Suburbia' and 'Loner' are on http://www.myspace.com/markstewartmaffia
More details about Mark Stewart's 'Edit' can be found here: http://www.crippled.com/?cat=products&subcat=0&id=183
For those smashing Slits, check: