YuppiePunk

The 10 Awesomest Sweaters on the Internets

2009-11-21T05:59:49Z

It’s winter, which means it’s probably getting cold where you live. At some point over the next few weeks, odds are good you’re going to dust off your sweater collection in hopes of keeping warm through the cold holiday months. V-necks, turtlenecks, cardigans and crew — oh, the variety! Let’s just hope that your trusty fave is half as cool as the 10 woven wonders below. So without further ado, we present the 10 awesomest sweaters on the Internets.

Motorcycles are awesome. So are helicopters. But together on a sweater they are divine. Top them off with a yellow neck and a pair of thrice striped sleeves and you’re rocking one seriously cool garment, which is kind of what you need when presenting a project called the Code of the Meniscus.

These shots are all part of the Clown Sweater Project, in which a size M sweater, purchased for $3.75 at a San Francisco thrift store, was photographed on as many people as possible, including semi-famous actor/blogger Wil Wheaton (far right), who uses the sweater in his avatar.

Was there ever a more famous sweater purveyor than the Cos? In a career filled with awesome sweaters, this one wins the race.

Chicks dig nerds. Haven’t you seen “The Big Bang Theory?” Wear this conversation starter the next time you go out clubbing with the homies, er H₂0-mies, and see what happens. One upside: Wherever you go you’ll have your own table.

Neil Diamond proves to KISS that there are a still a few unmined areas of merchandising to be explored.

This one’s from Swedish artist Karl Grandin. It’s made up of 180 different animal logos. It’s like, you know, a meditation on big business, ownership of media and it’s personal relationship to each of us. Or something.

High score.

Here are two, count ‘em two, tributes to the comic book reptilians known as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. So nice, they knitted ‘em twice (but we’re only counting them once). How is it possible that these two distinctly different, yet markedly similar sweaters, both managed to exist… and be found… on the Internets. Cowa-fucking-bunga.

Help, a zebra ate my arm off!!!!

Two words: Beach sweater.

A Pair of Shorts

2009-11-19T06:37:18Z

JOHN K. SAMSON – “City Route 85″ (Anti-)
John K. Samson, singer/songwriter/guitar player for punk laureates The Weakerthans, has dabbled with solo recordings previously, but they were low budget under-released affairs with material equal to that of the recording quality. But his latest EP, a 7″ for Anti-, the label he records for with the Weakerthans, is a batch of solo material finally worthy of space alongside his band material.

The three-song EP, rumored to be the first of several 7″s about roads in Samson’s hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, begins with “Heart of the Continent,” a delicate ballad with plucked guitars about an intersection on Portage Avenue, the road that inspired the collection. From there we journey to “Grace General” to grapple with the death of a loved one before closing out the EP with “Cruise Night,” a song about the Sunday night ritual of driving up and down Portage Avenue, which adds a drum machine to the mix alongside Samson’s fragile voice and delicately strummed guitars.

Fans of Samson’s band are likely to be enamored of his this batch of solo work, which, like his other material, is marked by rich lyrics that explore the smaller moments in life. In a way, the EP sounds a bit like the earliest Weakerthans records with their scaled back productions and cohesiveness as a band, which has evolved in the decade since they first began recording.
John K. Samson – “Heart of the Continent”

THE LAWRENCE ARMS – “Buttsweat and Tears” (Fat Wreck Chords)
By now you sort of know what to expect out of this Chicago pop-punk trio: Dueling vocals — one voice gruff, the other less-so — and uptempo four-chord songs, usually about girls, loneliness and/or drinking. And that’s pretty much what you get on the band’s first proper 7″, which bears a name the band came up with 10 years ago but was never able to use.

Thankfully the EP’s four tracks (the digital download includes a fifth) aren’t throwaways. “The Slowest Drink At The Saddest Bar On The Snowiest Day In The Greatest City” has a great chorus that’s up there with any of the band’s best material. “Them Angels Been Talkin’” is a classic tour song. “I’m not gonna stop until the devil falls asleep,” singer/bassist Brendan Kelly sings on its chorus. “Tonight is the march of the meek.” And the EP’s closing song is sung by guitarist/singer Chris McCaughan, who adds a touch of his side project Sundowner to the song’s restrained vibe in its first half.

All this is good news for Lawrence Arms fans, who will at least get a handful of new songs to tide them over until the band’s next full-length is released. And if this isn’t enough, there’s always the band’s various side projects — the aforementioned Sundowner as well as The Falcon, though neither has the power of the Lawrence Arms.
The Lawrence Arms – “Them Angels Been Talking”

Other recent EPs of note:

IRON CHIC – “SHITTY RAMBO” (Dead Broke)
Iron Chic – “The World’s Greatest Detective”

MAE – “(A)FTERNOON EP” (Cell)
Mae – “In Pieces”

RELATED: Coasters | Fivesome

Sylvester J. Pussycat, Sr.

2009-11-07T05:50:20Z

While on the Warner Bros. lot this week, a friend of YuppiePunk World HQ sent us the above image after trying to view the site in between meetings. Alongside an image of Sylvester J. Pussycat, Sr., aka Sylvester the Cat, aka gringo pussy-gato, is written: THE PAGE YOU HAVE REQUESTED HAS BEEN BLOCKED BECAUSE IT MAY CONTAIN CONTENT INAPPROPRIATE FOR THE WORKPLACE. Apparently we’re the Tweety Bird of the Internets. And though we’d like to think we make merrie melodies, apparently they’re too edgy for some places of employ. We are flattered to have been called out by a three-time Academy Award winner, however.

In completely unrelated news: We found a “Lord of the Rings” Figwit card. Figwit stands for Frodo Is Great… Who Is That? Bret McKenzie from Flight of the Conchords actually, though he wasn’t famous then. He appeared in a single scene, uncredited, and without dialogue in “The Fellowship of the Ring,” and after a fan of the film became enamored of him and created a website, the legend of Figwit was born. Figwit eventually appeared again in “TheReturn of the King,” and was even given dialogue by Peter Jackson as a tribute to the trilogy’s fans.

8 Things You Might Like (And 2 You Probably Won’t)

2009-10-23T05:47:33Z

1 GG Allin bobblehead
Covered in feces and urine and wearing his trademarked EAT ME jockstrap, this effigy — effi-GG if you will — boasts a lifelike resemblance to the Scumfuc. But get yours now — the run is limited to 2000 pieces. | Link

2 Chuck Klosterman’s “Eating the Dinosaur”
Klosterman’s second collection of essays is a lot like his first — stream of consciousness rants on a wide berth of pop culture subjects, from Rivers Cuomo to “Mad Men” to ABBA. And in other Klosterman news, his first book, a memoir titled “Fargo Rock City,” is being adapted as a big screen comedy by one of Dave Letterman’s longtime writers and the singer for The Hold Steady — which actually sounds like a promising combination. | Link

3 Joe Berlinger’s “Crude”
Berlinger is one of this generation’s finest filmmakers, having helmed a number of riveting documentaries, like “Paradise Lost,” “Brothers Keeper” and “Some Kind of Monster” (we’ll forgive him for “Blair Witch 2″). And his latest, “Crude,” focuses on the $27 billion class action lawsuit filed by the people of Ecuador against the Chevron corporation, whom they claim have polluted their rainforest. | Link

4 Barry Steifel’s week-long 50 states vacation
In 1998, Steifel visited all 50 states over the course of his one week vacation, an impressive feat. He even hit Alaska and Hawaii. In Montana, he blew past state troopers going 92 MPH thanks to the state’s policy of no daytime speed limits. | Link

5 Highlights from the 1985 World Face-Pulling Championships

6 Mike Litoris, Homeowner
Nothing boosts local evening news cred like a first-hand account from someone with one of those names Bart Simpson would crank call Moe’s with.

7 “Map of My Heart” by John Porcellino
The purveyor of King Cat Comics pens a melancholic graphic novel in a minimal style that makes up for what it lacks in technique with emotion. | Link

8 Alex Queral’s phone book portraits
Finally somebody figured out what to do with all those goddamn phone books that show up on your doorstep. | Link

9 Pilot School
A really nice collection of pilot episode scripts, ranging from classics like “The Sopranos,” “Lost” and “Freaks and Geeks,” to unaired scripts based on movies, like 1997’s “Fargo” adaptation and a 1999 version of “Buckaroo Bonzai.” | Link

10 The Turk
The Turk was a fake chess-playing machine constructed in the late 18th century by Wolfgang von Kempelen, that was billed as an automaton, but eventually revealed to be a hoax. In reality, the machine was operated by a skilled chess player hiding within it. Over the course of its 84-year lifespan, it beat the majority of players that challenged it, including some famous opponents like Napoleon Bonaparte and Benjamin Franklin. It was destroyed by a fire in 1854. | Link

YuppiePunk Art Show

2009-11-21T05:53:35Z

YuppiePunk is a lot like an art gallery. Except we don’t have crisp walls, bright lights, loyal patrons or a well-thought out aesthetic. Also, we don’t sell paintings. But aside from that, we’re almost exactly like an art gallery. Which is why we’ve curated this group show from a collection of contemporary artists who have nothing in common but a whole lot of awesome. So take a looksie and enjoy the complimentary wine and cheese. And if you ask us a question about something you see, we promise to be ultra-pretentious.

These are from Eric White’s LP show at Sloan Fine Art, in which the artist painted some of his favorite album covers, perverted, of course, by his own warped surreal style. Here are his tributes to Harry Belafonte, Frank Zappa and The Knack.

We’ve written about Danny Heller before. Architecture is his muse, and his latest batch focuses on Joseph Eichler, the visionary post-war developer whose modern design style changed the way Californians lived. These are called “Eichler with Vespa,” “Eichler at Sunset” and “Eichler with Porsche” respectively.

The work of Norwegian illustrator Jan Hakon Robson is super-intricate, and the compressed images below don’t do them justice. He’s like a doodler gone mad — drawing basic shapes over and over again, inverted and upside down until the tiny pieces morph into something else — and much larger — entirely.

Korin Faught likes to paint women, most often capturing them in a moment of serene beauty, unaware of the viewer, their likenesses forever captured on canvass at their most vulnerable.

Splitting his time between fine art and movie animation, John Puglisi paints the industrial New Jersey of his youth in browns and grays, like some kind of permanently polluted nostalgia, always observing from a distance. These are titled “Fisher Field,” “Miss February” and “Wake.”

Natalia Fabia ain’t no hooker, but she sure likes to paint them. Inspired by punk rock, tattoos and cheap beer, her paintings live fast and die young.

Jonathan Weiner’s latest series is stunning: Square portraits of women who have at least three things in common — nudity, nose rings and headphones. His work makes us purr, and his latest batch is no exception.

RELATED: Venus Envy | Hot Shots

Q&A: Frank Turner

2009-11-11T06:44:11Z

Frank Turner is a one man army. Like an old school troubadour, the 27-year-old singer-songwriter has been crisscrossing the globe playing his acoustic punk anthems to appreciative audiences everywhere. And his current string of dates with the Gaslight Anthem, the Loved Ones and Murder by Death is no exception. Though he’s first on the bill, he’s far from a warm-up act. Armed solely with his acoustic guitar, booming voice and low-key demeanor, Turner has been wowing crowds one show at a time.

He first gained attention as the singer for the melodic hardcore band Million Dead, but since their breakup in 2005, Turner’s been performing as a solo act, releasing a trio of albums, including the excellent “Love, Ire and Song” in 2008 and his recent Epitaph debut, “Poetry of the Deed.” His sound owes a debt to Billy Bragg (though every folk-punk-singing bloke with a British accent sort of does), but there are other influences at work too: The Weakerthans, The Pogues, ’60s American folk and plenty of that ’90s SoCal skate punk sound. We caught up with Turner when he was in Seattle on his latest tour and we tackled a variety of topics including his transition to pop songwriting, punk rock capitalism and the power of social media.

It seems like the kind of music you’re playing wouldn’t have happened six or seven years ago, but with the success of Against Me! and even Dashboard Confessional it seems like there’s more of an audience for this kind of thing now.

You’ve got a point. As far as the UK goes, one could argue Billy Bragg did it, but there wasn’t much of an audience for it when I started doing it in the UK. When my old band broke up, I spent 18 months on the road and on the train just playing to no one.

Were you busking?

No, not busking, just doing bar shows and whatnot. My old band had gotten reasonably successful in the UK so there were people who wanted to see me play on that basis. In terms of there being any kind of a scene to tap into for a punk guy playing an acoustic, there really wasn’t anything like that in the UK at the time. And it was really shit for a long time actually. I don’t want to come across like I’m moaning about it, because I made the choice to do it, but as far as English music goes, I was an anomaly. I’d certainly say I was influenced by Against Me! and all that — they’re a great band. But something I’m quite proud of — as far as the UK goes — is that I created a space for myself musically. I still don’t really get covered by that many magazines in the UK because of shit bloody-mindedness. Coming over here now it’s kind of nice in a way because I’m not sure I could be arsed to do that same rough thing all over again for a country that is much, much bigger. So it’s kind of nice in a way to have something to tap into in terms of a scene. Like everything that Chuck Ragan’s doing — there’s a scene. But again, I slightly rejoice in being an outsider. I never really liked the idea of being 100% a part of a scene. It always seemed like a rubbish idea to like a band because they fit a certain geographical criteria.

Why’d you want to make the change to playing acoustic music?

Because it seemed like the right thing to do. I didn’t grow up with punk music and country music. I got into it comparatively recently — like six or seven years ago. When I was a kid, nearly every night, me and my older sister and my best friends would sit around with acoustic guitars and just sing songs that we liked. We’d play Weezer and Counting Crows and the Levellers. And we also liked NOFX and Propagandhi and shit like that — and to me that was always the center of what I liked about music, just sitting around singing with my friends. It seemed like what I’m doing now would be a good way to do that for a living, but on a grander scale.

When you were writing songs for your band would you do so on an acoustic guitar? Did the shells of those songs sound anything like your music now?

Not really. With the old band, I’d write riffs and then we’d string them together in order. Then I’d write the vocals and be kind of deliberately obscurest and weird and over the top. Looking back on it now, I don’t feel like there was any overall sense of songwriting as an object itself. I don’t want to knock my old band, as I think we were good for what we were, but my goal now is to write good songs which is not something I would have said then.

How did you figure out how to write pop songs, or to make your songs more circular instead of angular?

It was with quite a lot of relief that I got to the point of going, “I’m going to write songs that have a verse and a chorus and a middle eight and resolve nicely.” I was listening to stuff like Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen and Johnny Cash and Dylan — all of which was stuff I didn’t grow up with. Being the latecomer I was, I was having an eye-opening experience to the craft of songwriting.

Is one medium better than the other at conveying a message — a hardcore band or an acoustic guitar?

I don’t know. In the hardcore band, I felt that in order to appreciate it, you had to speak that language. You had to be wearing a pair of x-ray specs that would let people see what you were trying to say. My mum is a singer and a musician, but because she doesn’t like music with distorted guitars and screaming, there was no way I could talk to her about what it was that we were trying to do in that band. There was no shared knowledge to communicate with. I’m not saying I sat down to play music to make my mum happy, but one of the things that’s nice about what I do now is that I like the idea of my music being a more universal thing. Its not just angry, suburban kids aged between 16 and 21 with star tattoos on their elbows who are going to like what I do.

Isn’t that in a way who you’re playing for though if you’re touring with punk bands?

In this country, maybe to a degree, although with these shows, Gaslight has a much more diverse following than the average punk band.

Weren’t there also shows with the Offspring?

Again, one of the things about the Offspring is that they’re kind of a heritage band these days. They have an interesting selection of people at those shows. It wasn’t like a Vans Warped Tour thing. In the UK, I’ve toured with folk bands and punk bands and metal bands. I don’t want to disavow punk rock as a scene or anything else — it’s my background — but I don’t want to be stuck for the rest of my life only playing to punk kinds.

How did you hook up with Epitaph?

It was the European office that discovered me. They just came to a few shows and said they really liked it. I was talking to a few other labels at the time. In fact I was pretty far down the road with another label at the time, but I wasn’t very happy with how the deal was panning out. Basically Bret [Gurewitz, owner of Epitaph] called me up and said, “I like your music and I’d like to put it out.” And he asked me what I wanted out of a deal and I told him and he said, “Fine.” It was almost too easy.

I’m guessing you were a fan of the label?

Yeah, definitely. Prior to MySpace and the Internet, if you were into punk rock, there was no way of hearing an album before you bought it. So labels were about quality in a way. I can’t count the number of albums I’ve bought just because it had Epitaph written on the back. And part of me is nostalgic for a time when a label was a mark of quality.

Speaking of MySpace and the Internet, how do you harness the power of social media to reach people?

I’m very pro-Internet and Web 2.0. But one of the reasons I’m in favor of it, is that if it’s used well it pulls aside the curtain on the circus that is rock ‘n’ roll, which is something I’m in favor of. I never liked the mythologizing that went on around rock ‘n’ roll. I consider myself an entertainer, but I like the idea of everything being on view for everybody to see. There’s this idea that the magical bus sweeps into town and the aliens get off and play their show and leave again. I never liked that. The Internet is just a cool, fun way to communicate one on one that tries to reduce the barriers between the people who make music and the people who listen to it. That’s one of the things I’ve always liked about punk as a concept — that it said there was no such thing as rock stars. That this idea that people were allowed to act differently because they played guitar for a living is bullshit.

How is it touring just as a solo act? What are the pros and cons of being out by yourself without anybody else to help?

The economics can be easier at times because if I’m doing a solo tour its maybe me or just me and one crew guy. But when I do band shows — the guys who play in my band are good friends of mine — but they are session musicians and the reason I can’t do smaller tours in the USA with them is because I’ve got to pay each one of them each night.

Can one be both a yuppie and a punk?

Yeah, sure, why not. People can be whatever they want. I think underground independent punk rock is a wonderful model of independent capitalists doing their thing in an excellent way. And I’m very pro-capitalism as a system. I’m about as egalitarian as your likely to be in the real world. Something that I take from punk rock is the sort of Henry Rollins self-reliance. Everything that I have, I built on my own. Obviously I have a label working for me, but I reached that point on my own. I’m very proud of my independence as an economic businessman so maybe that makes me a yuppie punk. Yeah, fuck it.

Michelle Obama Loves Cradle of Filth

2009-11-07T05:47:05Z

The Obamas may not be the hippest married couple ever to live in the White House — but they’re not completely out of touch either. And though they had acts like Beyonce, Sheryl Crow and Bruce Springsteen at their inaugural celebration, the first family likes to bang their collective head whenever they can. Need evidence? Look no further.

On the cover of VOGUE, Michelle Obama shows her love for Cradle of Filth on the DL, though the inset photo proves she isn’t always quite so guarded about her love of all things extreme metal.

These images were taken during the Clintons first term in office. When Serj Tankian, singer of Chelsea’s favorite band System of a Down, showed up at a White House press event, both the prez and his first lady shot the singer a metal sign salute as thanks … sort of.

Longtime Washington, D.C. politician Marion Barry is mostly a hip-hop guy, but in the slammer the white power dudes turned him onto Malevolent Creation, and he still listens to their 1993 opus “Stillborn” all the time. Particularly while smoking rock.

Dick Cheney doesn’t love metal, but he does worship the devil. How else to explain the 8 years he spent as Veep?

Nicolas Sarcozy, current President of France, doesn’t much care for the American metal scene, but he sure loves French power metallers Anthropia.

Little known fact: Ahnuld and Maria decided not to hire a traditional wedding band and instead settled on their favorite Euro-metal quartet Entombed.

Televangelist Pat Robertson worships God. And also the early records by Venom. Here we see the preacher entranced by the first side — the “Black” side — of the band’s “Black Metal” album.

And it isn’t just political figures that have been photographed showing their love of all-things metal. Sports figures love to rock too. Like Barry Larkin, former shortstop for the Cincinnati Reds, who had a habit of pumping Voivod in the dugout before heading up to bat.

Here we see two-time World Heavyweight champ George Foreman and his buddy as they gear up for a trip to see Bad Brains in concert. Bad Brains may not be metal exactly, but you try telling George Foreman that.

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Roy Williams and tennis superstar Andy Roddick are both fans of Mudvayne. Perhaps the only two.

Plenty of pop stars are closeted metal maniacs too. Beyonce likes to do her vocal warm-ups to the sounds of Christian metal band Stavesacre.

We know Celine Dion likes metal per her “unique” version of “You Shook Me All Night Long,” but besides AC/DC, Ms. Dion digs Bathory. Her version of “Son of the Damned” has been closing her Vegas show for years.

Madonna doesn’t go for the obscure shit. She likes Metallica and has been known to add some Kirk Hammet-like guitar solos into her live version of “Like a Prayer.”

Mariah has also had success with interpreting hard rock songs, like Def Lep’s “Bringin’ on the Heartbreak.” But few people have heard that record’s B-side, a stirring rendition of “Fairies Wear Boots.”

It was Macaulay Culkin who turned the King of Pop on to Candlemass.

Usher and Kelly Clarkson don’t have much in common beyond their love of Death Angel, but both really relate to the way the Bay Area band blended funk with thrash.

And of course movie and TV stars need to get prepared for the cameras by listening to intense tunes on their iPods. Meryl Streep is old school, pledging her allegiance to industrial metalheads the Revolting Cocks, who helped her get into her role as a nun in “Doubt.”

“Daily Show” host Jon Stewart sticks to his roots by supporting Jewish metal band Anthrax.

Fellow talk show host Bill Maher prefers Otep.

Here’s a shot of Matthew McConaughey throwing up a double viking during Meshuggah’s set at a European metal fest.

Salma Hayek likes to sing along in Spanish to Sepultura’s early records. She became a fan after dating drummer Igor Cavalera.

Pulling one over on TV Guide, Jason Alexander gives a subtle salute to his favorite band at the time, Fear Factory. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

And here we see Megan Fox on her way to see the Crue at the Staples Center. Intent on proving she’s old school, she sports her vintage “Dr. Feelgood” tour shirt from 1989.

Q&A: Rhett Miller of The Old 97’s

2009-10-23T05:12:01Z

Rhett Miller may front one of alt-country’s biggest bands, but that doesn’t mean he’s not down to Earth or unwilling to talk frankly about his life as a musician with a rinky-dink website. We talked to Miller just prior to his gig at Seattle’s annual Bumbershoot festival, which we reported on here, but the conversation was larger than just Seattle and three-day rock fests. The Old 97’s frontman, who in recent years has been carving out his own niche as a solo artist, dished on the band’s song-choosing methods, the economics of being a solo artist and the joys of having a long guitar cable.

You’ve said that part of the reason you have a solo career is because the Old 97’s are a democracy, so does that mean you never sit down to write songs specifically for one or the other?

It’s rare for me to just sit down and say this song is going to be a solo song. It’s happened a couple of times. Like on the new solo record, I was leaving for Dallas, and I woke up the morning and I had the song, “Happy Birthday Don’t Die” just stuck in my head. And I knew it was the missing link on the solo record. It didn’t make any sense as an Old 97’s song. Typically, I’ll bring songs to the Old 97’s and get their opinion on whether they’re interested or not. If it’s a borderline song then we’ll try it. Sometimes they’ll surprise me, but usually I’ve got a good idea of whether they’ll go for it or not. There’s a song on the new solo record called “Another Girlfriend” that I tried to get those guys to learn for years and they just wouldn’t do it. It seemed like such an obvious Old 97’s song, but they just didn’t have any interest in it.

Is the process that you usually run through it once in practice by yourself and then everyone votes or do you work on it as a band before deciding?

I don’t know if this is technically passive-aggressive behavior, but if they don’t say anything about a song it means they don’t like it. And generally if they jump in and say, “Oh, let’s try doing it like this,” then it’s full steam ahead. But I thank god that I get to make the solo records now because before, we’d just keep playing a song and I’d force the issue and say, “Why don’t you like it?” And I’d be stuck with all these songs that I thought were good and they didn’t.

When you play gigs is there ever crossover between the set lists?

With solo bands — like the Instigators, which I put together for “The Instigator” record — we’ve always played a big chunk of Old 97’s material because they’re songs I wrote and it makes sense for me to sing them and I think the fans are into them. But the 97’s have never been willing to play songs off solo records until this summer when they were willing to learn more songs off this new record. They said they really liked it. Ken actually got on the bus the very first day of the tour and goes, “Man, you’re new record is actually good.” Gee, thanks.

Do you prefer playing stadiums at festivals to doing theaters?

With the 97’s, there’s something about our band that does well in a confined space. I hesitate to say we’re a bar band, because I don’t believe that we are. I think we can flourish in a lot of environments, but there is something special about playing in a little, stinky bar. I was going to say smoky, but there’s no more smoking in bars, except in tertiary markets. But I love a big stage. I love to run around. I have a long guitar cable for a reason. It’s fun to try and fill up the whole stage.

It seems like you’re one of the few solo artists to have a band career going at the same time. Usually the solo career comes after the band career or people take extended breaks from their band while doing a solo career, but you seem to be able to wear both hats.

Yeah, it was hard. And around the time of “The Instigator” it was really hard because it coincided with Elektra’s demise, and in a way, the collapse of the recorded music industry, which we had benefited from, even though we weren’t a big a radio band or had hits per se. We had a lot of marketing and a lot of people at Elektra who really loved us and worked hard for us and we really benefited from that. I’d be lying if I said we were just a self-made indie DIY band. We did a get some benefit from the end of the old model. It’s weird to have both, but I’d go crazy if I didn’t.

What about the economic considerations? It seems like having just your name on the marquee or on the records — even as the main contributor to the Old 97’s — would reap greater financial rewards? Or are the 97’s so much bigger that it really isn’t an option?

Well you develop a following with a band, and if you turn your back on that band you don’t get the same rabid fans at the shows. If I go out solo, I don’t have to split the money four ways, but the audience isn’t as big, so it’s a trade off. If it was only an economic decision I don’t know that I would have done the Old 97’s like I did from the beginning because we’ve always split our publishing and shared the money. It’s very much a democracy.

But isn’t it easier to be a democracy when you don’t make any money?

Yeah, to an extent. But Phillip and Ken, when we started the band, both had really good jobs that I convinced them to quit. And now they have wives who work, so when we’re not on tour they’re kind of glad to stay home. And that was sort of one thing that precipitated the solo record was that these guys were more and more wanting to take it easy and not always be on the road all the time. And I was thinking, “Well I don’t want to take it easy. I want to work.” So it kind of works out now because if I go out on the road they get to have their time with their kids and then by the time they get sick of me being out they want to go back on the road. It’s getting smoother and smoother all the time.

Rhett Miller’s self-titled fourth solo album is out now on Shout! Factory.

Coasters

2009-10-13T02:16:44Z

Here’s a look (and listen) to some records that have been cluttering up our desk and inboxes here at YuppiePunk World HQ. Though none of these titles inspired us to write 3000-word soliloquys, we figured we could at least muster 50 and an MP3.

BANNER PILOT – “COLLAPSER”
If Fat Wreck Chords had a well-defined sound throughout the ’90s, the label is rapidly defining its sound for the next generation. The addition of Minneapolis quartet Banner Pilot to the label continues that trend, with a sound inspired by Jawbreaker — or more accurately — Jawbreaker as interpreted via the Lawrence Arms, with gruff vocals and a sound that’s more punk than pop. The kind of punk rock that doesn’t seem to come from the coasts these days, but rather the places in between. Dillinger Four are an obvious influence as well, and all the aforementioned bands have become the torchbearers for the next generation of pop-punks. Most of the songs on “Collapser” are about being young, drinking and girls, but the lyrics are good and mostly abstract so the themes don’t wear out their welcome. It’d be nice to hear some harmonies on some of the choruses, but hey, it’s a minor quibble.
Banner Pilot – “Farewell to Iron Bastards”

FAREWELL – “RUN IT UP THE FLAGPOLE”
Farewell’s 2007 debut, “Isn’t This Supposed to Be Fun?”? was kind of… well, fun — a synthesized pop-punk throwback that was full of energy. But their sophomore outing is kind of limp. It’s overproduced and generic, like a bland mix of Blink-182 and Jack’s Mannequin, but without the elements that make both of those bands appealing. It’s melodic enough, and there are lot of harmonies, but every song goes exactly where you expect it to. 12-year old girls will probably dig it though, and they buy a lot of records, so there’s that at least.
Farewell – “A Collect Call to Arms”

NORTH LINCOLN – “MIDWESTERN BLOOD”
If you’re looking to fill the void in your record collection now that Hot Water Music and Leatherface have stopped making records, these guys might just scratch your itch. Not as essential as either of those bands — not yet anyway — the Grand Rapids, Michigan trio plays no frills mid-tempo punk with subtle textures beneath the dueling vocals of Brian Beckwith and Kevin Nunn, who care more about emotion than singing in key — not necessarily a bad thing given the record’s rough edges. “Blood” was released by Florida’s No Idea label, and fans of that label will no doubt already know what this sounds like and probably already have it.
North Lincoln – “Leveling”

THE LEFTOVERS – “EAGER TO PLEASE”
Part Queers and part Elvis Costello, this Portland, Maine trio just wants to play sunny three-chord guitar rock with happy melodies and sing-songy choruses. Singer/bassist Kurt Baker has a whiny affectation to his voice that takes a little getting used to, but it’s almost expected considering the genre. Reinventing the wheel these guys ain’t, but if three-chord power pop is your thing, this record ought to make you happy.
The Leftovers – “Telephone Operator”

STRIKE ANYWHERE – “IRON FIST” EP
This four-song EP from the Richmond, Virginia quartet is the precursor to the band’s upcoming “Iron Fist” LP, with two songs here appearing on that plus a pair of B-sides. It’s well-produced melodic hardcore with songs on the kind of topics you’d expect from these politicos: corporate bailouts, war politics and religion. The EP’s final tack, “Twilight’s Last Gleaming,” is also its best and most melodic, sounding like later-era Pulley.
Strike Anywhere – “Twilight’s Last Gleaming”

RELATED: Fivesome | Record Roundup-O-Rama

Bumbershoot 2009: Day Three

2009-10-05T04:39:36Z

Right, so you read the coverage of Bumbershoot’s first day on the site and now you’re seeing coverage of its last. “But where is day two,” you’re probably (not) asking yourself right about now? The answer: We don’t work on the sabbath. Okay, so that’s not really true, but it did rain a lot. And we were tired. And our feet did hurt. Also, we’re in our 30s.

But day three of Bumbershoot started out how every day should: With a little disinformation from a dude with a gnarly Afro.

Mirah, from Portland, Oregon, has been making indie folk records for the K label since 1999. Here she waits, arms crossed, to be introduced by the KEXP deejay.

When she was 12, she appeared on the TV series “Double Dare” and won, spending her winnings on The Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament, which should tell you what her politics are.

She thanked the sky for not raining. At least during her set.

Seattle hip-hop trio Champagne Champagne may have rocked the hardest of all the acts we saw on day three — and they didn’t even have a band.

But they did have deep grooves.

There are no guns or ganstas here, just songs like “Molly Ringwald,” about a girl who looks like her.

“She has tattoos, wears Vans-type shoes,” they rap on the aforementioned track. “Hangs out with punk rock dudes, hardcore shows and PBR brews.”

The Devil Makes Three might look like a punk rock band, but they’re way more Old Crow Medicine Show then they are Rancid — even if they have as many tattoos as that band.

Had we known about their bassist Lucia Turino sooner, she’d have definitely made our Babes of Bass list.

This dude indicates to the band how many testicles he has.

The Santa Cruz, Calif. trio’s latest album, “Do Wrong Right” hit number 1 on the Billboard Bluegrass chart.

The singer of Dead Confederate summoned his best Kurt Cobain by donning a cardigan for the Seattle crowd.

Janelle Monae got her start with Outkast before signing to Diddy’s Bad Boy label.

She gets the day’s foxiest lady on an outdoor stage award — even if she kinda looks like Angelo Moore from Fishbone.

Two-thirds of the Cave Singers may have performed sitting down, but the band still managed a rousing set, comprised mostly of tracks from their two Matador Records LPs.

And with that, our annual six-mile pilgrimage to Bumbershoot concluded, but not before watching enjoyable sets from Metric and Modest Mouse — the festival’s final main stage act — and complaining endlessly about how old we are, how tired we’ve become and how much our goddamn feet hurt. But what else is new?

RELATED: Bumbershoot 2009: Day One