Interview with Tommy Flake - Getting under his second skin

Rich Rossi has kindly allowed PPO to share this interview with Tommy Flake . Presented here is the second half. For the first half head over to the fabulous Orangemen44.com site and get it!


You spent significant time in two cities known for great power pop, Champaign Ill (Cheap Trick, Shoes, Material Issue) and the Minneapolis MN. (Prince, Replacements, Blow Pops). How did these scenes influence you, if at all ?

Well, Cheap Trick was a huge influence as well as Prince and the Replacements. The Elvis Brothers, Last Gentlemen, Farmboys, Hum, Menthol, Didjits, The Bears, Pop The Balloon, and That's Rentertainment (not a band - a store that rented records and had several musicians that recommended bands to me - Jeff Merritt (owner of Parasol Records and That's Rentertainment), Paul Chastain, and Steve Scariano) were all influences from Champaign. BTW, Three of those bands included Adam Schmitt. In MPLS, besides the before mentioned: Bands like The Honeydogs, Vena Cava, Rex Daisy,
The Hang Ups, and Polara. I would say these bands and artists influenced my music as much as all the other great bands I came up listening to.

You've opened for some of music's luminaries including Throwing Muses, Primus, Smashing Pumpkins, and Material Issue. Any favorites? Anyone you care to forget?

Cheap Trick, Primus, The Elvis Brothers, Pop The Balloon, The Tarbabies among others that we opened for early on in my experiences were influential to me as a drummer due to the amazing drummers in those bands (Bun E. Carlos, Herb, Brad Elvis, Rick Menck, Dan Bitney- now in Tortoise).

Lets say you're flying over the Pacific accompanied by the other guys in one of the bands you've toured with. Your plane goes down on an uncharted island. In order to survive you have to eat one of the guys in the band. Which one would you sacrifice and why?

Well, the band was Hot Glue Gun it would have to be Mike Clayton since when I was in the band it was really the two of us with different bass players all the time. Peachfuzz- Ken - he looks tasty. The Beatifics - I would say Chris cause I would need him to stop coming up with harebrained ideas of what we were going to record on the next record instead of ideas to get us off the island. The Elvis Brothers - Graham would be eaten because he would be the best preserved and most likely to annoy me to death. Pinnipeds - I would have to eat my cousin Drew since he's the only other member. Clip the Daisies - I would eat Dan since he was the biggest of us and probably held the most amount of THC. Phyllis - I would have to pick Dave - again for sheer mass. Tommy Flake - I would have to eat myself I guess. (I'm leaving out quite a few bands, but there are too many to list here and I really need to get back to work).

Having toured for several notable bands, I'm betting you have a humorous story or two. Can you share one?

Definitely, my best Rock n Roll story is when I opened for Cheap Trick in the Elvis Brothers. We were in our smallish dressing room and Robin walked in. I was 19 and had grown up listening and loving this band and now Robin Zander was talking to me. He invited us to their dressing room. I take a seat on the couch in there and moments later Bun E. walks in with a brief case, sets it down on the coffee table and opens it up. Inside, the only contents were: a box of kleenex, a cartoon of cigarettes, and about an ounce of weed with pipes in the pen holders. If that weren't enough, when they went out to play in the outdoor amphitheater, he had a window unit air conditioner right behind him on full! I didn't think that my love for him could get any bigger...


You can order Tommy Flake's latest LP as a CDR from Kook Kat Musik HERE or download it at CD Baby HERE.

Dead Leaf Echo - "Kingmaker" (Premiere)

NYC-based dream pop act Dead Leaf Echo have released their new single, "Kingmaker."  The song is four minutes of shimmering, Cocteau-esque bliss rock that's sure to make any shoegazer feel waves of cool nostalgia wash over them.
"Kingmaker" was mixed by legendary 4AD producer John Fryer, and is the first single from the band's forthcoming debut LP. The song is available on 7-inch via Custom Made Music, backed with exclusive track "I Belong." The first 100 people to order the 7-inch will receive limited, hand-screened copies. Check out Dead Leaf Echo's official site to see a preview of how the hand-screened art will look.
A 7-inch release party for "Kingmaker" will be held at Spike Hill in Brooklyn on February 4, where Dead Leaf Echo, Apollo Heights, Her Vanished Grace, and Washerwoman will all perform live. Perfect Prescription DJs Stephan C and Voidsong spin between bands.
Take a listen to "Kingmaker," and check out Dead Leaf Echo's tour dates below.

Kingmaker by Dead Leaf Echo

Tour Dates:
02/04 - Brooklyn, NY - Spike Hill ("Kingmaker" 7-inch Release Party)
02/09 - Chicago, IL - Darkroom
02/10 - Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
02/11 - Columbus, OH - Ace of Cups
03/07 - Baltimore, MD - Metro Gallery
03/08 - Washington, DC - Velvet Lounge
03/09 - Chapel Hill, NC - Nitelight
03/10 - Atlanta, GA - TBA
03/11 - New Orleans, LA - TBA
03/12 - Houston, TX - Dean's
03/13-17 - Austin, TX - SXSW

Someone has cloned PPO!

WTF!
http://spsoundart.blogspot.com/2011_11_01_archive.html

PETER CASE & PAUL COLLINS REUNITE FOR SPRING TOUR! THE NERVES, THE PLIMSOULS & THE BEAT LIVE!

Prior to Peter Case forming The Plimsouls in '78, he was part of two other influential mid-to-late '70s bands with Paul Collins  – The Nerves and The Breakaways (Paul would later go on to form his own highly-respected group, The Beat). Both Peter and Paul have enjoyed successful solo careers on record and on the road, but this spring they’ll once again be reunited for a very special North American tour. The two frontmen (along with bassist Timm Buechler and drummer Amos Pitsch) will be performing classic numbers by their bands, The Nerves and The Breakaways, as well as material by The Plimsouls and The Beat. For fans of energetic live performances, visceral rock & roll, and raucous, hook-laden songs that draw as much from the golden age of '60s pop as they do from punk, these shows should prove to be nothing short of nirvana.

 

PETER CASE AND PAUL COLLINS 2012 TOUR DATES:
March 01 Iron Road Studios, Vancouver BC, CAN
March 02 The Funhouse, Seattle WA
March 03 The Star Theatre, Portland OR
March 05 Red Devil Lounge, San Francisco CA
March 07 The Echo, Los Angeles CA
March 08 Bar Pink, San Diego CA
March 09 Pappy and Harriet's, Pioneertown TBA CA
March 11 Club Congress, Tucson AZ
March 13 Rhythm Room, Phoenix AZ
March 16 TBA SXSW Official Showcase, Austin TX
March 17 Alejandro Escovedo's Taco Party at Maria's Taco Express Austin TX mid-afternoon
March 17 Freddie Steady's 12th Annual Frontier A Go Go And Rock & Roll Hootenanny, Austin TX 5:30 PM
March 18 The Blue Door, Oklahoma City OK (acoustic duo)
March 19 The Record Bar, Kansas City MO
March 20 The Outland, Springfield MO
March 22 The New Amsterdam, St. Paul MN
March 24 Shank Hall, Milwaukee WI (w/ Chuck Prophet)
March 25 Empty Bottle, Chicago IL
March 27 Ace of Cups, Columbus OH
March 28 Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland OH
March 30 Stage on Herr, Harrisburg PA
March 31 Bridge Street Live, Collinsville CT
April 13 WXPN "Free At Noon" Concert Series, Philadelphia PA
April 18 Hi-Tone, Memphis TN
April 19 The High Watt, Nashville TN
April 20 JJ Bohemia's Chattanooga TN
April 21 The Star Bar, Atlanta GA
April 22 Jack of the Woods, Asheville NC
[more dates to be announced soon]

The Plimsouls embodied rock & roll in its purest, undistilled form in the era when post-punk droned and new wave popped. Whether on record or onstage, this foursome unleashed urgent, white-hot performances of expertly constructed songs by frontman Peter Case that effortlessly straddled the perfection of British Invasion pop, the raucous, edgier side of early punk and garage rock, and the foundational elements of maximum R&B and wailing soul.

All of this is documented perfectly in one moment – or one night as the case may be - on the latest Plimsouls live album, Beach Town Confidential.  Recorded at the height of their onstage power at The Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, CA on August 13, 1983, this recording captures Peter Case, Eddie Muñoz, Dave Pahoa and Louie Ramírez ripping through these 16 tracks with a youthful and reckless abandon. Six of these songs have never been recorded before by The Plimsouls (“Making Time,” “Fall On You,” “The Price Of Love,” “Who’s Gonna Break The Ice?,” “Jumpin’ In The Night” and “You Can’t Judge A Book”), plus it also features the only live recordings of “Magic Touch,” “Oldest Story In The World” and “Hobo.”

The Plimsouls’ Beach Town Confidential was produced by Peter Case and mixed by Peter and Andrew Bush. It will be released Feb. 7, 2012 though Alive Naturalsound Records on LTD. Edition Vinyl (w/ mp3 download card), CD and Digital formats. In addition, Alive is also producing an extremely limited run of 200 pink vinyl LPs (w/ download card) exclusive to mail orders only.

 

FOR MORE INFO ON PETER CASE:
http://www.petercase.com
http://www.alive-totalenergy.com/x/?page_id=2345

FOR MORE INFO ON PAUL COLLINS:

http://www.thepaulcollinsbeat.com

http://www.facebook.com/paulcollinsbeat

FOR MORE INFO ON THE PETER CASE & PAUL COLLINS TOUR:

http://www.facebook.com/peterpaulcaco

FOR BOOKING INQUIRIES:

roggie@rajiworld.com

FOR MORE INFO ON ALIVE RECORDS:
http://www.alive-totalenergy.com

Pre-order the new Ex Norwegian single

A little teaser for the upcoming full length, House Music, Ex Norwegian make a strong return with this quirky pop song "Original Copy" inspired by Adidas and whosampled.com. The non-album psychedelic b-side "Ebaneezer Beaver" was originally recorded (but unreleased at the time) by The Mirage in 1968.

releases 14 February 2012
Produced by Roger Houdaille.
Engineered by Ryan Haft & Roger Houdaille.
Mixed by Zach Ziskin.

Pre-order Now $1.25 USD

Dying Van Gogh Records
304 Park Avenue South 11th Floor
New York City, NY 10010
786-253-3427 | 800-827-7763
www.dyingvangogh.com

The Go Wows

The Go Wows are a new band from Austin, Texas. The band features ex members of Austin, TX Garage band The Texreys.  Here are three righteous samples, maybe we will see them at SXSW!
Brendan 'Wig' Kibble (vocals/guitar)
Eddy Best (lead guitar)
Tim Neil (bass)
Lee Lazarine (drums)
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Go-Wows/328710540501846

THE ARTERIES “DEAD SEA” NOW AVAILABLE FOR PAY-WHAT-YOU-WANT ON BANDCAMP

THE ARTERIES have put up their 2011 LP Dead Sea on Bandcamp for a price of pay-what-you-want. Fans of the U.K. punk band can download the album for free or give the band a donation in exchange for the record.
Dead Sea came out in October 2010 in the U.K. and a vinyl pressing became available on Paper + Plastick in early 2011. The band spent October and November of 2011 touring the U.S. with The Flatliners and played The Fest 10 in Gainesville, Fla. They then toured in their home country and the rest of Europe with Mikey Erg and The Slow Death.



The Arteries plan to begin writing again when their drummer, Rhys, heals from a hand injury.

The Riffbackers - The Curtain Shop And Alterations

The Rifbackers are offering their brilliant album "The Curtain Shop And Alterations" as a free download from Bandcamp. GO GET IT, you wont be sorry.

The Curtain Shop And Alterations was released at the end of 2009 under their own label Rainbow Lane Records, with great acceptance by the critics, record labels and specialized power pop sites (Not Lame, Kool Kat Musik, Jam Records, Powerpopaholic, PowerPop Overdose, AbsolutePowerPop...) and the general public.

THE LAUREATES’ NEW VIDEO FOR “ROBBERS” UNVEILED TODAY

After the release of  Chicago favorites, The Laureates’ 2011 LP, Spells, The Laureates have a session up on Daytrotter and a brand new video for the track, “Robbers”. The video is a short story of the world of reality being overtaken by charming black and white animation, with a clever, vintage feel. As objects and their surroundings slowly morph into illustrations until they finally over-take the real world.

Robbers from The Laureates on Vimeo.

Directed and animated by Sara Jean Cough (www.ladylens.com) and illustrated by Joey Potts (www.joeypotts.com), the video for “Robbers” was shot in Chicago’s Rational Parka and at drummer, Peter Gray’s house. Born out of a narrative initially conceived by the band, Cough, Potts and DOP, Brian Keller tweaked the story to its whimsical result.

The band took a moment to elaborate on the video’s creation: “This was a new experience for us, so it took some time. From conceptualizing, organizing the production team, shooting, editing and animating, the whole process took a few months. Sara Jean Cough (Director) is a friend of the band and some of us have worked with her before in creative collaborations, so she was naturally a great fit to direct this project. Her boyfriend Joey Potts is an excellent illustrator and came up with all the awesome drawings that you see in the video. Brian Keller is a top-notch cinematographer and a friend of Sara Jean, and he made the shooting process a very comfortable experience, especially given that we've never shot a video before and we're not entirely sure how to act in front of the camera. Our actors are friends of the band and production team, and they were awesome to work with. We had a lot of fun shooting the robber scenes.

We wanted this video to play to the lyrics and feel of the song, but offer a little more than what you might interpret with a spin on the turntable. The concept is loosely based on the lyrics themselves, but I think we re-analyzed the song when we were thinking about this video to come up with a secondary concept that would work in the visual space. It wouldn't be enough to just have robbers lifting stuff from people's homes...it had to have an extra something, which is where the animation and surrealist ideas came into play. Everybody did such a great job on this video - the actors and production team were brilliant to work with, and we couldn't be happier with the result."

The Laureates, Spells Available for FREE download from Candy Dinner

Director / Animator / Compositing Artist: Sara Jean Cough (www.ladylens.com)

Illustrator / Animator: Joey Potts (www.joeypotts.com)

Director of Photography / Editor: Brian Keller (www.briankellerstudio.com)

Galaxie 500 - On Fire - 1989

Having already made a fine account of themselves on Today, the three members of Galaxie 500 got even better with On Fire, recording another lovely classic of late '80s rock. As with all the band's work, Kramer once again handles the production, the perfect person to bring out Galaxie 500's particular approach. The combination of his continued use of reverb and the sudden, dramatic shifts in the music -- never exploding, just delivering enough of a change -- makes for fine results. Consider "Snowstorm," with Krukowski's soft-then-strong drums and Wareham's liquid solo and how they're placed in the mix, leading without dominating. Yang's vocals became more prominent and her bass work more quietly narcotic than before, while Krukowski adds more heft to his playing without running roughshod over everything, even at the band's loudest. Wareham in contrast more or less continues along, his glazed, haunting voice simply a joy to hear, while adding subtle touches in the arrangements -- acoustic guitar is often prominent -- to contrast his beautifully frazzled soloing. Leadoff track "Blue Thunder" is the most well-known song and deservedly so, another instance of the trio's ability to combine subtle uplift with blissed-out melancholia, building to an inspiring ending. There's more overt variety throughout On Fire, from the more direct loner-in-the-crowd sentiments and musical punch of "Strange" to the Yang-sung "Another Day," a chance for her to shine individually before Wareham joins in at the end. Again, a cover makes a nod to past inspirations, with George Harrison being the songwriter of choice; his "Isn't It a Pity" closes out the album wonderfully, Kramer adding vocals and "cheap organ." -AMG

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The future of PPO?

With the fall of MegaUpload and SOPA/PIPA coming up in congress, I am a little concerned about the future of PPO. Thoughts or opinions? Alternatives?

Supremium - Tales - 2001

Los Angeles' power-pop influenced rock quartet Supremium consists of singer /guitarist/ bassist Bruce Witkin, who moved to L.A. with Johnny Depp and played in Adam Ant's band; guitarist/singer Coz Canler, also a member of the Romantics; keyboardist/vocalist Doug Nahory, who has also worked with Alanis Morissette; and drummer/percussionist Rob Klonel. The group's inspirations span early '60s, late '70s, and early '80s pop, all of which are on display in Supremium's live shows and their 2001 debut album Tales. -AMG

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Neon - Neon - 2005

Australia has a long and proud history of power-pop bands, and you can see the lineage forming when you listen to Neon – from this band back to Automatic, then Ammonia, then Hoodoo Gurus. On their self titled debut, Melbourne three-piece turn up the fuzz.

Sure, they’re following in the long line of alterna-rock power chord heroes; from Big Star to Cheap Trick to Superdrag, but Neon still have a distinctly Australian bent to their sound. They’ve also got energy and bouncy pop-rock songs galore, which is what makes Neon a joy to behold. The likes of “A Man”, album highlight “Hit Me Again”, single “Dizziness” and the sludge-drive of “All I Want” are full of wicked little hooks, and supple bass from Britt Spooner (although it – funnily enough – sounds distinctively like that of producer Steve McDonald, from legendary power-poppers Red Kross, or at least it’s got his supple nature stamped all over it).

In addition to the steady drumming from Jamie Gurney and Josh Bitmead’s perfectly monotone sing-song voice, it makes for a damn enjoyable little nugget of alterna-rock. Only power ballad “Into Your Eyes” fails to hit the mark, coming off as ponderous compared to its boisterous rock counterparts. But that’s a rare lowlight on Neon – for the most part the thrills come fast and furious on this debut.

It helps that McDonald has done a bang-up job in the production chair, giving this self-titled debut a crisp, clean but still rockin’ sound. “Hit Me Again” aims for the stars, and there’s a plethora of material on Neon that’s gonna be just perfect for radio sing-alongs; Neon could be your new favourite band. With a long-time coming international deal now in the bag, it seems likely that this three-piece are set to embark on a long-term strategy to fame and fortune. -reocities.com

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