Friday 22 October 2010
Thursday 21 October 2010
Tuesday 19 October 2010
Monday 18 October 2010
Friday 15 October 2010
Thursday 14 October 2010
Tuesday 12 October 2010
Wednesday 6 October 2010
WOWOWOW
Ted Leo Vs Fucked Up at the Matador 21 Festival. They were both on stage at the same time and played only covers. Can we steal this idea??
hope there's some better videos of this soon.
from - http://www.eyeweekly.com/music/interview/article/103286
"a 2am performance with Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, each outfit taking turns on the same stage in a ballroom, one-upping each other with covers and cameos. Fucked Up had WFMU's Tom Scharpling join them for Superchunk's "Precision Auto," while Leo brought in Scharpling's comedic cohort (and Superchunk drummer) Jon Wurster for the Misfits' "We Bite." Black Flag ("Rise Above"), Nirvana ("Breed"), Liz Phair ("Fuck and Run"), Billy Bragg ("Between the Wars"), the Sex Pistols ("Bodies"), Death Wish ("Tailgate") and Mission of Burma ("That's When I Reach For My Revolver") were also represented.
After that show, I caught up with Abraham, who surely is the rock 'n' roll equivalent of a hockey goon — i.e., as good-natured off the job as he is imposing on it.
You were originally supposed to play a late-night VIP show with Superchunk in the Hardwood Suite. I gathered that didn't appeal to your sense of democracy?
It's actually kind of weird — I don't have as big a problem with festivals having VIP things as I do with what's sort of become a recent trend, which is bands, and specifically punk bands, doing VIP shows at a club, where you pay X amount of dollars extra and you get to meet the band. To me, that's always been the antithesis of what I wanted to be in a band. I want to be in a band and anyone can meet me, because I'm walking around. You shouldn't have to pay to meet someone. That's like this sort of fake punk-rock star edifice. So, I took a real hard stand about that stuff.
So then when we found out we were playing the show here we were like, "Oh, awesome — an after party, first come first serve, or [for] whoever shows up." And then we heard it was a VIP party and I was just like, "I can't be so hard-line against VIPs on one level and then be kind of into it on another level." No dis on anyone that got a VIP ticket — if I was coming to this festival and the VIP option was there and I had the money, I would definitely pay for the VIP ticket myself. But y'know, just as a band, I just felt weird condoning it.
So, I tweeted [my displeasure with it] and pissed off everyone in my band, and everyone at Matador, and everyone doing the festival. [Laughs.] But I've learned that if you don't get these things as soon as they kinda come out, you're gonna have to deal with it forever, so I just wanted to make it clear that we aren't gonna play this type of thing. Unfortunately, everyone was a little mad at me about it, but I think it worked out for the best with the Ted Leo thing. I had a great time. Not that I wouldn't have loved playing with Superchunk, but it seemed kind of weird that we were gonna be playing a show, and then another show exactly the same way right afterwards. This, I thought, worked a lot better.
And the Hardwood Suite: it would have been fun to play on the basketball court, but we grew up as a hardcore band — we've played on basketball courts before! That's where we do shows normally, just because there's a youth centre that will let you use it. The JCC used to let us do shows there for a long time until Haymaker played there and everything got destroyed.
I think [Matador] were pissed off that I didn't go to them and say, "We're not gonna play this" first, and then let them handle it. But I thought, rather than having to send seven or eight separate e-mails, why not just tweet it?
Surely it's not the first time that you've gotten yourself in trouble that way.
No. I'm the idiot who shouldn't have a Twitter. I was so anti-Twitter too. And then I did this thing for the Stop Community Food Centre, which was like this food-bank thing where I had to live off a food bank for as long as I could, and they were like, "it would really help if you got a Twitter, just to keep people updated on what was going on," and then I got totally addicted.
Well, the idiot who shouldn't have a Twitter is usually the person who is most fun to read on Twitter.
Exactly. Kanye West. 50 Cent. Those are the reasons they invented this Twitter web site.
So, I walk into the Hardwood Suite on Friday, I see you with no clothes on and the remnants of bubble bath. Can I assume that you were in it?
I'm the host of the Pitchfork coverage of this event, and they were like, "what do you want to do," and I said, "it's really loud in here, I don't think it will be very good for interviews, and then I saw the hot tub." My friend RJ [Bentler], who works at Pitchfork said, "I got an idea," and went and got hand soap and just filled the thing with hand soap, and then with water. Unfortunately, hand soap is very perfumey and very abrasive on the eyes, I found out. Apart from that, it was kind of fun. Gerard [Cosloy] from Matador got a little upset because all the bubbles were going on his records as he was DJing. But that's the high cost of what I'm doing for them – I'm promoting the label, and the record, y'know?
You went in in your boxers?
Believe me, I was in my boxers. They were soaking, and I didn't change 'em, so I've been uncomfortable for the whole trip ever since. All my dabblings with nudity have ended horribly for Fucked Up. One time in England, I got our show shut down because I mooned the crowd, and they were gonna charge me as a sex offender. The other time, at Sled Island in Calgary, I was in my boxer shorts, and they were really ripped, and so I just ripped them right off and tried to cover myself. But how do you climb back on the stage while maintaining full coverage? And I'm a grower not a show-er, so I wasn't in any position to be walking around there willy-nilly — excuse the pun.
So how did you and Ted Leo come up with the dual set?
They were like, "would you guys want to play with Ted," and I love Ted Leo, as a musician, and I love the Ted Leo and the Pharmacists records. But I also think he is one of the most positive, well-meaning people in music, and it's so refreshing, because sometimes I think people tend to get very serious, and mistake that seriousness for being intelligent, and I think Ted is funny, and really intelligent, and still kind of serious at the same time. He finds the balance. So It worked out really well. It was definitely by the seat of our pants. There was no real discussion other than five minutes before we went on: "So, I guess we'll do a coin flip? We'll do two songs and you do two songs?" That was all the discussion that went into it.
Were Scharpling and Wurster improvised as well?
Tom had sent Ted and I an e-mail — and I'm a gigantic fan of the Best Show, that is what gets me through tours. That's what I listen to all tours. So I'm a huge fan, and Tom Scharpling sent an e-mail saying, "I am offering my services, whatever you want me to do on stage." And Jon Wurster and him are partners — how can we not get him to do "Precision Auto?" Because we were gonna cover "Precision Auto" anyway, because it's such a great song. So it just kind of all came together — we never practiced with Tom. And we've had some bad luck where guest vocalists come on and you're like, "do you know this song," and they're like, "yup," and then you get on stage and they don't know it. So Tom was true to his word. He was a frontman's frontman out there. The only problem was when he tried to suplex me. Or, he tried to lift me up and ended up suplexing me. If you see him, his wrist is so swollen and bruised from coming down on the drum set. I put him in the torture rack, and, y'know, he is much more svelte than myself. So, he wanted to return the favor, and severely injured both of us.
The thing that was cool about the set is, even though Matador started in 1989 and are thought of as "post-punk" or "indie," you guys really honored its punk and hardcore heritage.
Exactly. The first record [Matador general manager] Patrick [Amory] and [founder] Chris [Lombardi] released together was the Death Wish single, so that's why we covered Death Wish. They released that, it was supposed to come out in like '84; it came out 'in 87. Amazing Boston hardcore. Super heavy, totally way heavier than Fucked Up is now. So we knew we had to cover that. When we signed to Matador, one of the stipulations worked into the contract, verbally, was that they were gonna give me a copy of that seven-inch, and they did. They were true to their words!
What did it mean for you to sign with Matador?
It was almost like a validation for our band. There were definitely people taking us seriously beforehand, but to a certain segment of music fans and music media, it wasn't really until Matador that it was like, "it's OK" — people could look past the name, look past the vocals… which is such a weird thing to say, because I love screaming vocals, but I understand they're not everyone's thing. So it was a huge deal for us. Also I was a huge fan of Gerard's old 'zine Conflict, and I loved the stuff he did at Homestead [Records]. I was the kid who got into punk [through] Sonic Youth and Pavement. That was my era. One of the first concerts, I think it was the fifth concert I went to, was the Lollapalooza with them [in 1995]. So being part of that was so appealing. And also Unsane, and some of the more obscure stuff [the label released] — even the rap stuff. Like, I've been joking about it all weekend, but I loved Non Phixion [which released one seven-inch on Matador in 2000]. Going deep cuts with the Matador thing.
So this was like the ultimate sort of fantasy-baseball-type show for us. We didn't earn an opening slot for Sonic Youth or Pavement, but we got it. The fact that I can say, "next up, you've got Pavement and Sonic Youth," it's like, holy jeez! And also Chavez, and even Jeff Jensen doing the introductions, which I know some people did not like. But my favorite record on Matador, if I was gonna be completely honest and not go with Slanted and Enchanted or some obscure one, is Just Farr a Laugh by Andy Earles and Jeff Jensen: the prank phone- call record. I listen to that all the time. All the time! So it was such a fun show, the whole way through.
You and Ted obviously have the Misfits in common.
Ted's like a New Jersey hardcore kid. He's got some deep knowledge on the stuff. He and I were having a conversation about the Absolution t-shirt he was wearing yesterday, and about their stuff. Ted's one of the few people in the world that you can have a really deep involved conversation about HP Zinker and then two minutes later have a really deep involved conversation about Absolution, both of which I did with him this weekend.
Well, we've all had that conversation about HP Zinker this weekend, at least. So what are you guys doing next?
We go home. And we work on our record. We may or may not be going to England. We were supposed to be opening for Against Me! and they've cancelled their tour. So then we're going back to Toronto to work more on the record and then we go back to Europe to open for Arcade Fire. Which is gonna be... even if those venues are half full, they'll be some of the biggest shows we've ever played. It's like 20,000, 30,000 people. I mean, I'm sure it will be full for the Arcade Fire, but if it's half full when we're playing, it will be the biggest show we ever play.
I wonder how their fans feel about dissimilar opening bands.
I'm cautiously optimistic. We've definitely opened for bands where it hasn't worked. We opened for Public Enemy this summer, which was not nearly as enjoyable as saying you opened for Public Enemy. And we opened for The Gossip one time and it was terrible. I think, worst-case scenario, it's gonna be an experience. They seem like really nice people. I've met, I guess, three of them, which is a small percentage.
Hey, you guys are pretty big for a punk band.
That's true. I'm in no position to cast aspersions on a large band. We would add more members too, if we weren't so frugal in the way we tour. We still won't rent a trailer."
hope there's some better videos of this soon.
from - http://www.eyeweekly.com/music/interview/article/103286
"a 2am performance with Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, each outfit taking turns on the same stage in a ballroom, one-upping each other with covers and cameos. Fucked Up had WFMU's Tom Scharpling join them for Superchunk's "Precision Auto," while Leo brought in Scharpling's comedic cohort (and Superchunk drummer) Jon Wurster for the Misfits' "We Bite." Black Flag ("Rise Above"), Nirvana ("Breed"), Liz Phair ("Fuck and Run"), Billy Bragg ("Between the Wars"), the Sex Pistols ("Bodies"), Death Wish ("Tailgate") and Mission of Burma ("That's When I Reach For My Revolver") were also represented.
After that show, I caught up with Abraham, who surely is the rock 'n' roll equivalent of a hockey goon — i.e., as good-natured off the job as he is imposing on it.
You were originally supposed to play a late-night VIP show with Superchunk in the Hardwood Suite. I gathered that didn't appeal to your sense of democracy?
It's actually kind of weird — I don't have as big a problem with festivals having VIP things as I do with what's sort of become a recent trend, which is bands, and specifically punk bands, doing VIP shows at a club, where you pay X amount of dollars extra and you get to meet the band. To me, that's always been the antithesis of what I wanted to be in a band. I want to be in a band and anyone can meet me, because I'm walking around. You shouldn't have to pay to meet someone. That's like this sort of fake punk-rock star edifice. So, I took a real hard stand about that stuff.
So then when we found out we were playing the show here we were like, "Oh, awesome — an after party, first come first serve, or [for] whoever shows up." And then we heard it was a VIP party and I was just like, "I can't be so hard-line against VIPs on one level and then be kind of into it on another level." No dis on anyone that got a VIP ticket — if I was coming to this festival and the VIP option was there and I had the money, I would definitely pay for the VIP ticket myself. But y'know, just as a band, I just felt weird condoning it.
So, I tweeted [my displeasure with it] and pissed off everyone in my band, and everyone at Matador, and everyone doing the festival. [Laughs.] But I've learned that if you don't get these things as soon as they kinda come out, you're gonna have to deal with it forever, so I just wanted to make it clear that we aren't gonna play this type of thing. Unfortunately, everyone was a little mad at me about it, but I think it worked out for the best with the Ted Leo thing. I had a great time. Not that I wouldn't have loved playing with Superchunk, but it seemed kind of weird that we were gonna be playing a show, and then another show exactly the same way right afterwards. This, I thought, worked a lot better.
And the Hardwood Suite: it would have been fun to play on the basketball court, but we grew up as a hardcore band — we've played on basketball courts before! That's where we do shows normally, just because there's a youth centre that will let you use it. The JCC used to let us do shows there for a long time until Haymaker played there and everything got destroyed.
I think [Matador] were pissed off that I didn't go to them and say, "We're not gonna play this" first, and then let them handle it. But I thought, rather than having to send seven or eight separate e-mails, why not just tweet it?
Surely it's not the first time that you've gotten yourself in trouble that way.
No. I'm the idiot who shouldn't have a Twitter. I was so anti-Twitter too. And then I did this thing for the Stop Community Food Centre, which was like this food-bank thing where I had to live off a food bank for as long as I could, and they were like, "it would really help if you got a Twitter, just to keep people updated on what was going on," and then I got totally addicted.
Well, the idiot who shouldn't have a Twitter is usually the person who is most fun to read on Twitter.
Exactly. Kanye West. 50 Cent. Those are the reasons they invented this Twitter web site.
So, I walk into the Hardwood Suite on Friday, I see you with no clothes on and the remnants of bubble bath. Can I assume that you were in it?
I'm the host of the Pitchfork coverage of this event, and they were like, "what do you want to do," and I said, "it's really loud in here, I don't think it will be very good for interviews, and then I saw the hot tub." My friend RJ [Bentler], who works at Pitchfork said, "I got an idea," and went and got hand soap and just filled the thing with hand soap, and then with water. Unfortunately, hand soap is very perfumey and very abrasive on the eyes, I found out. Apart from that, it was kind of fun. Gerard [Cosloy] from Matador got a little upset because all the bubbles were going on his records as he was DJing. But that's the high cost of what I'm doing for them – I'm promoting the label, and the record, y'know?
You went in in your boxers?
Believe me, I was in my boxers. They were soaking, and I didn't change 'em, so I've been uncomfortable for the whole trip ever since. All my dabblings with nudity have ended horribly for Fucked Up. One time in England, I got our show shut down because I mooned the crowd, and they were gonna charge me as a sex offender. The other time, at Sled Island in Calgary, I was in my boxer shorts, and they were really ripped, and so I just ripped them right off and tried to cover myself. But how do you climb back on the stage while maintaining full coverage? And I'm a grower not a show-er, so I wasn't in any position to be walking around there willy-nilly — excuse the pun.
So how did you and Ted Leo come up with the dual set?
They were like, "would you guys want to play with Ted," and I love Ted Leo, as a musician, and I love the Ted Leo and the Pharmacists records. But I also think he is one of the most positive, well-meaning people in music, and it's so refreshing, because sometimes I think people tend to get very serious, and mistake that seriousness for being intelligent, and I think Ted is funny, and really intelligent, and still kind of serious at the same time. He finds the balance. So It worked out really well. It was definitely by the seat of our pants. There was no real discussion other than five minutes before we went on: "So, I guess we'll do a coin flip? We'll do two songs and you do two songs?" That was all the discussion that went into it.
Were Scharpling and Wurster improvised as well?
Tom had sent Ted and I an e-mail — and I'm a gigantic fan of the Best Show, that is what gets me through tours. That's what I listen to all tours. So I'm a huge fan, and Tom Scharpling sent an e-mail saying, "I am offering my services, whatever you want me to do on stage." And Jon Wurster and him are partners — how can we not get him to do "Precision Auto?" Because we were gonna cover "Precision Auto" anyway, because it's such a great song. So it just kind of all came together — we never practiced with Tom. And we've had some bad luck where guest vocalists come on and you're like, "do you know this song," and they're like, "yup," and then you get on stage and they don't know it. So Tom was true to his word. He was a frontman's frontman out there. The only problem was when he tried to suplex me. Or, he tried to lift me up and ended up suplexing me. If you see him, his wrist is so swollen and bruised from coming down on the drum set. I put him in the torture rack, and, y'know, he is much more svelte than myself. So, he wanted to return the favor, and severely injured both of us.
The thing that was cool about the set is, even though Matador started in 1989 and are thought of as "post-punk" or "indie," you guys really honored its punk and hardcore heritage.
Exactly. The first record [Matador general manager] Patrick [Amory] and [founder] Chris [Lombardi] released together was the Death Wish single, so that's why we covered Death Wish. They released that, it was supposed to come out in like '84; it came out 'in 87. Amazing Boston hardcore. Super heavy, totally way heavier than Fucked Up is now. So we knew we had to cover that. When we signed to Matador, one of the stipulations worked into the contract, verbally, was that they were gonna give me a copy of that seven-inch, and they did. They were true to their words!
What did it mean for you to sign with Matador?
It was almost like a validation for our band. There were definitely people taking us seriously beforehand, but to a certain segment of music fans and music media, it wasn't really until Matador that it was like, "it's OK" — people could look past the name, look past the vocals… which is such a weird thing to say, because I love screaming vocals, but I understand they're not everyone's thing. So it was a huge deal for us. Also I was a huge fan of Gerard's old 'zine Conflict, and I loved the stuff he did at Homestead [Records]. I was the kid who got into punk [through] Sonic Youth and Pavement. That was my era. One of the first concerts, I think it was the fifth concert I went to, was the Lollapalooza with them [in 1995]. So being part of that was so appealing. And also Unsane, and some of the more obscure stuff [the label released] — even the rap stuff. Like, I've been joking about it all weekend, but I loved Non Phixion [which released one seven-inch on Matador in 2000]. Going deep cuts with the Matador thing.
So this was like the ultimate sort of fantasy-baseball-type show for us. We didn't earn an opening slot for Sonic Youth or Pavement, but we got it. The fact that I can say, "next up, you've got Pavement and Sonic Youth," it's like, holy jeez! And also Chavez, and even Jeff Jensen doing the introductions, which I know some people did not like. But my favorite record on Matador, if I was gonna be completely honest and not go with Slanted and Enchanted or some obscure one, is Just Farr a Laugh by Andy Earles and Jeff Jensen: the prank phone- call record. I listen to that all the time. All the time! So it was such a fun show, the whole way through.
You and Ted obviously have the Misfits in common.
Ted's like a New Jersey hardcore kid. He's got some deep knowledge on the stuff. He and I were having a conversation about the Absolution t-shirt he was wearing yesterday, and about their stuff. Ted's one of the few people in the world that you can have a really deep involved conversation about HP Zinker and then two minutes later have a really deep involved conversation about Absolution, both of which I did with him this weekend.
Well, we've all had that conversation about HP Zinker this weekend, at least. So what are you guys doing next?
We go home. And we work on our record. We may or may not be going to England. We were supposed to be opening for Against Me! and they've cancelled their tour. So then we're going back to Toronto to work more on the record and then we go back to Europe to open for Arcade Fire. Which is gonna be... even if those venues are half full, they'll be some of the biggest shows we've ever played. It's like 20,000, 30,000 people. I mean, I'm sure it will be full for the Arcade Fire, but if it's half full when we're playing, it will be the biggest show we ever play.
I wonder how their fans feel about dissimilar opening bands.
I'm cautiously optimistic. We've definitely opened for bands where it hasn't worked. We opened for Public Enemy this summer, which was not nearly as enjoyable as saying you opened for Public Enemy. And we opened for The Gossip one time and it was terrible. I think, worst-case scenario, it's gonna be an experience. They seem like really nice people. I've met, I guess, three of them, which is a small percentage.
Hey, you guys are pretty big for a punk band.
That's true. I'm in no position to cast aspersions on a large band. We would add more members too, if we weren't so frugal in the way we tour. We still won't rent a trailer."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)