Author Archive for Tommy Herman

Three Tracks You Have To Hear, Now

“Do It Like A Dude (Labrinth Remix)” by Jessie J

“Do It Like A Dude (Labrinth Remix)” pulls from many worlds of music; electronic-pop, synthesizers, electric-guitar riffs, hip-hop, and is sure to have you getting your groove on.

“P.I.” by Tape Deck Mountain

Tape Deck Mountain is a three piece post-fi band from San Diego, California. “P.I.”, a song from the bands upcoming Secret Serf EP, has recently been leaked to the public. Their EP is due out January 11 on Lefse.

Tape Deck Mountain – “P.I.” by forcefieldpr

“Lillian (Won’t You Play Drums)” by White Fence

Tim Presley the singer of Darker My Love and musician for The Fall has found time to record for his psychedelic pop solo project, White Fence. This track reminded me of Ponds “Annie Orangetree,” a total compliment, check it out!

White Fence – Lillian (Won’t You Play Drums?) by forcefieldpr

Tame Impala At The Black Cat

For years Washington DC’s The Black Cat has provided Washingtonians with a place to see some of the best up and comers from across the globe. Last Tuesday was no exception, when Australian four piece psych-rock outfit, Tame Impala, kicked off their US tour. The house was packed with youngsters from DC’s burgeoning hipster scene who were draped up, and tricked out with the usual hipster garb, flannel, flats, tight jeans, and leather jackets.

It was one of the rare shows where everyone in attendance wanted to be in the front row.

Kuroma, led by former Whigs bassist, and semi-member of MGMT, Hank Sullivant kicked off the show with their thirty-minute set. They were followed by psych-rock band Stardeath and White Dwarfs, who are fronted by Dennis Coyne, the nephew of Flaming Lips front man Wayne Coyne. Both opening acts garnered a good response from the usually boring DC crowd. The trio of bands meshed well together.

When Tame Impala took the stage, the masses compressed like an accordion. They created an impenetrable wall, “There are too many people, I can’t get anywhere close to the front,” recalled Neon photographer, Zack Helminiak.

The band opened with “It Is Not Meant to Be,” the intro track from their album, Innerspeaker. Initially, what stuck out most were Kevin Parker’s atmospheric vocals and his ability to simultaneously play lead guitar. That’s not to say the other members talents didn’t stick out, they did.  Rhythm guitarist Dominic Simper, and bassist Nick Allbrook who make up the bands rhythm section, are the heart of the band. Their precise melodies make way for Parker’s transcendent guitar solos. Typically, the drummer of a band would be included when talking about the rhythm section. However, Jay Watson’s versatility takes him beyond just maintaining a rhythm. His raw power and showmanship were highlighted in songs like “Desire Be Desire Go,” and “Alter Ego.” If Simper and Allbrook are the heart of the band, Watson, is undoubtedly the soul.

Although a majority of the bands set were songs from 2010’s Innerspeaker, including singles “Lucidity,” and “Solitude Is Bliss,” they played “Skeleton Tiger” and “Half Full Glass of Wine” from their self-titled EP. The latter was the bands last song; it featured a long, enjoyable instrumental rock-out that had the crowd screaming, and flickin’ their bics for more. I was disappointed there was no encore, but to their credit, Tame Impala definitely went out on a high note, and left DC wanting more.

This Day In Music: November 19

1983: Tom Evans from Badfinger committed suicide by hanging himself in his back garden from a willow tree. Family members said the singer, songwriter was never able to get over his former bandmate’s Pete Ham’s suicide. Evans co-wrote ‘Without You’ a hit for Harry Nilson and Mariah Carey.

1994: Crosby Stills & Nash member David Crosby had a successful liver transplant operation at Dumont-UCLA in Los Angeles. Crosby’s liver was deteriorated from extensive alcohol and drug abuse, as well as hepatitis-C.

2001: Scott Weiland lead singer with The Stone Temple Pilots was arrested after allegedly fighting with his wife at the Hard Rock hotel in Las Vegas. Weiland was booked on one count of domestic battery and was released 12 hours later. The band had performed at the club that night.

2002: Safety experts blasted Michael Jackson after dangling his baby from a third-floor hotel balcony. Jacko was in Berlin for an awards ceremony and was showing his nine-month old baby to his fans outside the hotel.

This Day In Music: November 18

1972: Danny Whitten died of a drug overdose aged 29. Member of Neil Young’s Crazy Horse and writer of ‘I Don’t Wanna Talk About It’, covered by Rod Stewart, Rita Coolidge and Everything But The Girl. The Neil Young song ‘The Needle and the Damage Done’ was written about Whitten’s heroin use (before he died of an overdose).

1993: Nirvana recorded their MTV unplugged special at Sony Studios, New York.

2003: Following allegations of sexual abuse of a 12-year old boy, police raided Michael Jackson’s Neverland ranch. Jackson denied the allegations, the search came on the day that his latest greatest hits album, ‘Number Ones’ was released in the US.

Interview with Painted Face

Neon American Interview with Painted Face

Neon American recently met up with Allie Alvarado before her show at the U St. Music Hall. She was kind enough to sit down, have some drinks with us, and tell us about her solo act known as Painted Face.

Neon: Has drinking before a show ever gone wrong?

PF: Yes, one time when I was playing not as Painted Face but, I was playing in the band called Bloodlines. We were on tour and playing in Texas, it was pretty early and no one was there [at the venue] so I was like, this is my night, no one is going to be here! I was playing guitar in that band, not really singing or anything but, I got wasted, and a whole bunch of people showed up, so it was kind of a disaster. I was expecting total freedom, but realized I had to play; it was a lot of fun though.

Neon: How long were you with Bloodlines for?

PF: A year or so, it is hard to remember, we used to practice a lot and a lot of practices, in my mind make it seem like I was in the band a lot longer.

Neon: You were with another band called Telepathy also, which was the more recent of the two?

PF: They actually were happening at the same time, around five years ago…

Neon: Did one band know about the other?

PF: (Laughs) Well, two people from telepathy were playing in Bloodlines, so I went on tour with them back to back one summer, and incidentally left the band after the second tour. In the end it turned out to be the best for everybody.

Neon: What is your opinion on working with other people as collaboration, as opposed to working independently? Which do you prefer?

PF: I think when you are working with other people you tend to write songs a lot faster, because everyone is working together, you are not writing by yourself. You don’t have to think, Oh what is the drum beat going to be like, because someone else is doing that. Another thing I like about playing in a band is you can play off of each other, you don’t always have to be the person who introduces a part, and somebody else may have an idea or a song.

At the same time when your doing something on your own, you have total control (laughs) not to sound selfish but, I think that is the point of doing a solo project, it is entirely your outlet. I think painted face is about self-expression and it’s untainted because it’s only through my eyes. I do collaborate with my brother on this, and I think because we know each other really well and trust each other, we a different chemistry. He gets where I’m coming from, and I try to bring him in where I feel like I can incorporate his strengths.

I think working by yourself is a little isolating; really what is exciting about music is getting ideas and experimenting. It is kind of hard to do that on your own, when you’re the person who is always judging what you do, its really easy to be like, this is just ok.

Neon: Does he do all of your production work?

PF: It’s funny; people have really different ideas about production, in terms of what a producer is. With this project, I am at least a co-producer. I do everything on the computer in logic. As I am writing the songs, I’m producing them, thinking about the sounds I want to use. My brother adds a lot to the process, he sometimes will write parts, but we definitely work together. He does a lot of the mixing and engineering, so in a sense I start things, he finishes them.

Aside from him being my brother, I chose to do work with him because he spent a lot of years producing drum and bass, he is really tuned in to making club music. I don’t necessarily think my songs are made for the dance floor, but I wanted it to be a little ambiguous. I wanted to make pop music, but also something people can dance too.

Neon: Why did you choose it as the name for your solo project?

PF: It just kind of came about, I had thought about it for a really long time, and I had a list of a couple of names I wanted to use. That one [Painted Face] I came up with a while ago. This is super cheesy, I was looking through this deck of tarot cards, these weird Native American tarot cards, one of the cards had a warrior on the front and it said Painted Face, on the back of the card it said self expression. The name itself lends itself to all kinds of references like warriors, clowns, women, I felt like that would lead to a lot of creative avenues later on.

Neon: Are you going to paint your face tonight?

PF: (laughs) we [her and her keyboardist Karen] actually have face paint with us.

Karen: We don’t want to seem too literal.

Neon: It seems like there is a lot of flexibility around the concept of the name.

PF: I have always really liked fashion, and the intersection between music and fashion. I was telling Karen, it would be cool to play at a fashion show or something. I am not necessarily married to always playing in front of an audience at a venue that is for music. I would prefer to play, house shows, art galleries, whatever form it takes. I would love you have dancers at some point.

Neon: Dancers would be awesome.

PF: Do you guys want to volunteer yourselves?

Neon: We would need some face paint.

PF: I can definitely hook you up with that.

Neon: You recently released the Undreamt EP; I read somewhere that Kate Bush’s The Dreaming influenced it in part. Where there any other major influences that helped shape the album?

PF: For this project I was inspired by people who made sounds using early technologies.

Neon: Bowie, Eno?

PF: For a while Brian Eno, and the way he arranges music was a guiding force behind anything I created. At some point that just turned off, I wanted to make music that was much more structured and intentionally pop. That is when I began listening to a lot of 80’s stuff.

Neon: In your experience, which of your songs does the crowd respond to the best?

PF: “Sum of Me,” is definitely the most upbeat song. It is also the closest thing we have to a dance song.

Karen: “Girls In Love.”

PF: Yeah, “Girls In Love” is the most unique; it reminds me of something I would have written if I were in a band.

Neon: What has been the most important show of your career?

PF:I Don’t think it’s happened yet. I play a lot of shows, and there have been some really fun ones, but I have still had better moments watching shows than playing in them.

Neon: What is the next move for Painted Face?

PF: Well, I am definitely going to write more songs. I am also going to look into selling more copies of the Undreamt EP, by possibly finding a label to put it out.

This Day In Music: November 16

1968: The Jimi Hendrix Experience went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Electric Ladyland’. The double album included ‘Crosstown Traffic,’ ‘Voodoo Chile’ and ‘All Along the Watchtower’ and featured guest appearances by Dave Mason, Steve Winwood and Al Kooper. Barry Ryan was at No.1 on the Disc & Echo UK singles chart with ‘Elosie’.

1974: John Lennon was at No.1 in the US singles chart with ‘Whatever Gets You Through The Night.’ Elton John played on the session and made a deal with Lennon that if the song reached No.1, Lennon would have to appear on stage live with Elton. Lennon kept his side of the deal and appeared live with Elton. They played three songs together: ‘I Saw Her Standing There,’ ‘Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds’ and ‘Whatever Gets You Through the Night.’ Backstage after the concert, Lennon got back with Yoko Ono after a temporary split.

2001: German guitarist, violinist and composer Michale Karoli with German art-rock group Can died of cancer aged 53.

Three Tracks You Have To Hear, Now

“The Rolling Stones” by Cloud Control

Cloud Control is a four piece indie pop band from Australia who met while preforming in The Pirates Of Penzance, a comic opera. The bands song “The Rolling Stones” is, as you would probably assume, a tribute to the legendary rock band of the same name.

“It’s My Party” by Amy Winehouse

It was reported earlier this year that Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson were going to working together on a Qunicy Jones tribute album. “It’s My Party,” originally Jones’s first major hit as a producer was first sang by Leslie Gore.

“On The Spot” by The Twees

The Twees are a four piece indie-rock band from NYC. The band who has been together for just over a year are set to release their These Girls EP this winter. “On The Spot,” is an absolute crowd pleaser with quick guitar jabs, catchy bass lines and upbeat drumming. This is definitely a band you want to keep your eye on.

This Day In Music: November 15

1966: The Doors signed a deal to produce seven records with Elektra Records. They also released “Break On Through” as their first single. Unfortunately the band had to change the lyrics “She gets high/she gets high/she gets high,” to “She gets/she gets/she gets” so radio stations would play the song.

1969: Janis Joplin was arrested during a show in Tampa for using profane language and back-talking a police officer.

1990: Frank Farian, the producer for Milli Vanilli held a press conference acknowledging rumors that band members Rob and Fab didn’t sing on any of their hit records.

1992: Ozzy Osbourne announced his retirement from touring after a gig in California, saying “Who wants to be touring at 46.”

This Day In Music: November 13

1968: Rolling Stone Brian Jones bought ‘Cotchford Farm’ in Sussex. The author AA Milne who wrote Winnie The Pooh had owned the house.

1973: Jerry Lee Lewis Jr was killed in a car accident near Hernando, Mississippi. Lewis had been working as the drummer in his father’s band.

1990: Patricia Boughton filed a lawsuit against Rod Stewart claiming that a football he kicked into the crowd during a concert at Pine Knob Music Theatre had ruptured a tendon in her middle finger. And as a result the injury had made sex between her and her husband difficult.

2000: The Beatles launched their first official website www.thebeatles.com. The site went live on the same day as the release of their retrospective ‘Compilation 1′ album.

2004: Rap artist Ol’ Dirty Bastard, (real name Russell Jones), collapsed and died at a Manhattan recording studio in New York aged 35. A spokesman for his record company, said the rapper, had complained of chest pains, was dead by the time paramedics reached him. ODB was a founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan in the early 1990s.