BETH RETTIG, the imposing frontwoman of former British synth force Blindness started her solo project WHERE WE SLEEP last summer with the release of three stirring ambient tracks (Veins, Crawl and The First One). And just last week her 5-track debut EP, titled ‘EXPERIMENTS IN THE DARK‘ featuring members of The Fall, Echobelly and Curve hit the streets. Five mesmerizing electro grooves, five spellbinding expressions, five mood swings. All family emotionally, yet all different sentiments. Put your headphones on, dim the lights, sit down, close your eyes and absorb these five fascinating and emotive experiments…
1. WHAT I DESERVE
A slo-mo Siouxsie like introspection dominated
by burning guitars that do your head in…
Today 30 years ago, on 5 June 1989 flamboyant and outspoken Swedish artist NENEH CHERRY released her flourishing and successful debut LP RAW LIKE SUSHI. It peaked at #3 on the UK Albums Chart and scored very well all over Europe.
ALL MUSIC wrote: “An unorthodox and brilliantly daring blend of R&B, rap, pop, and dance music, Sushi enjoyed little exposure on America’s conservative urban contemporary radio formats, but was a definite underground hit. Full of personality, the singer/rapper is as thought-provoking as she is witty and humorous when addressing relationships and taking aim at less-than-kosher behavior of males and females alike…” Score: 4.5/5
Of course top-notch hit single BUFFALO STANCE is without a doubt
the best known and by far the coolest track on the longplayer…
Out of New-Zealand here’s new flaming sensation MISS JUNE. A frantic Auckland engine led by charismatic fury Annabel Liddel. They will release a new double A-side featuring two hammers called ‘BEST GIRL‘ and ‘TWITCH‘ on 10th June. More info here.
As this incandescent bolide just launched a video clip for ‘BEST GIRL’ we’ll focus on that particular outburst. It’s “an anthem for anyone who has been misled from birth, into battle
for a spot that doesn’t exist” explains Lidell. I guess countless youngsters will feel that way
today, betrayed from day one leading to frustration and anger when growing up and finally discovering the nasty trap.
That’s how Best Girl exactly sounds. Like an exploding bombshell, like a middle finger
in the liars’ faces, like a hungry teenage Courtney Love kicking ass and having big time fun while doing it. Miss June are on the brink of heating up your summer. Oh yeah, they hit bullseye with this rambunctious ripper! Start the electric energy eruption right here…
Mega stars THE POLICE started a 4-week run at the top of the UK Singles Chart 36 years ago today, on 4 June 1983 with EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE, probably
their best single next to that debut cracker ‘Roxanne‘. But here was a band (mostly Sting) who knew all the tricks by then to write MASSIVE HIT singles.
It also topped the charts in America for eight straight weeks. Unquestionable their
biggest score ever. It got tons of prizes, awards and worldwide accolades of praise.
It appeared on their fifth and final studio LP ‘Synchronicity‘. Here’s that rather
brilliant obsessive love song (again – 655.182.681 views on YT)…
THE BANKROBBER is a twinkling Italian synth pop act that formed already a while back but released its gleaming debut album MISSING only last year. An ardent record with melodious pop symphonies and meditative musings showing the group’s high-quality songwriting skills. A quartet without sonic frontiers. Two weeks ago the four musicians returned from their first full Euro Tour, playing a total of 24 shows. Turn Up The Volume saw them glisten twice in his home country Belgium and was curious to know more about their European adventure. So, after a well-earned post-tour sleep, please welcome now singer/songwriter and guitarist Giacomo Oberti who will tell us some small and big stories from the past few months, after this musical intro for those who are not familiar with this South-European squad…
1. Last February when you started the Euro Tour your debut album MISSING
turned 1 year. How did you look back at the record one year later and did you
had a birthday party to celebrate?
“Honestly we didn’t celebrate the first year of our album, because time is running so fast. We made a lot of things during the past year, but there was no time to release anything. The two months previous to the tour we were always in the rehearsal room to practice. Anyway, we don’t celebrate the past, we prefer to be focused on the future and look forward to new experiences. Missing has been a starting point after the release of our
first EP The Land Of Tales. We’re still happy with what we achieved. Of course we could have recorded some parts in different ways or with different sounds but what really matters are the songs and we still cherish them.”
The ‘Missing’ album…
2. How was the overall public reaction on this first Euro Tour?
“The audience’s reaction was always great, each in its own way. We played in different countries and different kind of venues, so we noticed some differences but overall we met a heterogeneous audience. German people are definitely the ones who focus the most on the show, but we had the pleasure to meet so many wonderful people everywhere.”
3. The best thing you experienced during this first European journey?
“Good and bad experiences were usually common. We had a really funny experience in Delft (note = small Dutch town) the day after our concert in Rotterdam. We had lost the keys of the van (and we didn’t have a spare set), so after an hour of desperate searching we were sitting on a bench in front of the van in the parking lot, when Maddalena (our synth player/singer) abruptly jumped up at one point as she was surprised by seeing the van’s signal lights going on, all of a sudden. At first, we didn’t believe her. But a bit further down the road, there just in front of us was the main key. Fortunately, a passing car rode exactly on and over it and activated the key that way! The joy of seeing this was like winning the World Cup final.”
Maddalena after the key experience…
4. The worst thing that happened during the trip?
“Maddalena has broken her left hand’s finger a week before the end of the tour, but fortunately it was a tiny fracture and she was able to play on. And yes, we had a couple of bad experiences, like when we found out after the show in Passau (Germany) that the van’s battery was dead. But the worst thing happened in Marseille (France) when arriving at the venue we discovered that it had been closed for months.”
5. Going on tour is so hard for smaller bands. What is it that motivated you to ride
so many miles, getting not enough sleep and waiting daily for hours for all sort of things to happen before going on stage to play at night?
“We just love what we do and we believe in our music. I think touring is one of the best ways to make a name for yourself. Sometimes as you say it’s hard, but we made it and
at the end of those three months of traveling around Europe and playing our music we ended up with a good feeling because for a band like us, going on the road is a very important thing to do. It’s not easy to book concerts, it’s not easy to get paid enough to cover all the expenses and it’s not easy to share everything, every single moment, with
the very same four people for a long time but this is what we want to do. Passion is the foundation of our profession. Without that, it would be better to look for another job.
This was our first real European tour and we’re really proud of it and we want to thank
all the venues and all the people that helped us to make this possible.”
Driven by passion…
7. The most beautiful place you visited?
“It’s really hard to say because we visited a lot of beautiful places, we played in European capitals like Amsterdam, London, Prague and several other big cities, but also in small towns we really loved like Marburg (Germany). Maybe overall our favorite cities were Rotterdam and Amsterdam because of the architecture and its people.”
8. The top 5 songs/artists that were played on the van’s stereo?
“Sometimes we had fights over the music, but as we had an average of 6/7 hours in
the van every day there was enough time to listen to almost all the music ever released
on this planet, even though we had to take e break from internet now and then, in favor
of the navigator. Anyway, there were also a lot of moments without music too, when we needed to relax. Usually, we played playlists from Spotify with tons of various artists. But
I guess overall our top 5 featured Coldplay, Air, Gorillaz, White Lies and The Neighborhood.”
9. Who felt homesick and how soon?
“After the first two months we had a break of two weeks, we went back to Italy and honestly, I didn’t want to leave again. I felt very comfortable at home again and I also wanted to start working on the new album.”
11. Some bands try to connect with an audience by inserting a couple of famous covers into their set. You didn’t do that. Suppose you had to pick one to cover
which one would it be?
“We used to play ‘Lullaby‘ by The Cure. We thought about doing one this tour, but the reason we didn’t include a cover in our set eventually was simple. Because we actually couldn’t make a choice.”
Once upon a time…
12. What would you do differently when going on another tour in the future?
“We had 24 shows spread over a period of three months. Next time we will try to play as much as possible but in a much shorter period of time and, of course, we would love to play in front of thousands of people in the future.”
13. Which famous artist/band would you like to join you for your next tour?
“It would be great to play with, among others, Biffy Clyro, The Neighborhood, Placebo
or Queens of The Stone Age.”
14. The next step for THE BANKROBBER?
“We are going to drop the new video for ‘My Revolution‘ very soon
and we’re already working on the new album.”
Thank you Giacomo for this interview,
may the road rise with THE BANKROBBER!
Today 50 years ago, on 4 June 1969, the late fabulous JOHNNY CASH, one of the most intriguing and first-class singer-songwriters/wordsmiths of all time released his notorious prison album ‘AT SAN QUENTIN‘. A longplayer recorded live at San Quentin State Prison on 24th February of that same year. The prison was located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated town of San Quentin in Marin County, California.
It was his 31st overall album. It went triple platinum in the US over the years. He played and recorded in 3 other prisons afterward. The iconic photo on the front sleeve is by Jim Marshall. The most famous and masterly track (actually written by humorist and poet Shel Silverstein) on the album is without a shadow of a doubt ‘A BOY NAMED SUE‘. That very live version became his greatest hit single ever. Here’s that marvelous story of a boy…
Boston‘s noise rockers PIXIES will release a new album, entitled BENEATH THE EYRIE
on 13th September. More info here. And here’s the creepy titled single ‘ON GRAVEYARD HILL’ where all the scary stuff seems to happen in the witching hour. Expect a firm dose
of bouncy riffs, a fervent flow and a steamy chorus you can put your teeth in. Hallelujah! Catch the cemetery action right here…
Although Justin Vernon and his band BON IVER are busy traveling from one country
to another to play (mainly) at festivals they found time for some new music. Two fresh songs actually. Two characteristic sepia colored Bon Iver moments. Two heartfelt and tender reveries. Here’s HEY, MA and U (MAN LIKE)…
