Wayne Coyne Looks Back on 20 Years of The Flaming Lips ‘Soft Bulletin’

“The record is saying, ‘You’ve got to love life as much as you can, and if something tears some of that away from you then that’s ‘The Soft Bulletin’”

The Flaming Lips faced a pretty uncertain future at the turn of century. It had been a weird decade. But then, weird is just what they do.

After four arty and wonky psych-rock albums were released independently to much acclaim in the late ’80s, they found themselves signed to Warner Bros Records in 1990, back when cigar-chomping record execs were starting to turn grunge and the ‘Alternative Nation’ into big bucks. Alas, these Oklahoma stoners were anything but a cash cow.

Buoyed by the runaway success of college radio banger ‘She Don’t Use Jelly’, 1993’s ‘Transmissions From The Satellite Heart’ finally threatened to catch a little attention and sold a respectable amount, but beyond that their numbers left them in the limbo that they could be dropped at any given moment. Not that they gave too much of a shit.

“We were never that comfortable with the world paying attention to us – especially being on Warner Bros,” frontman Wayne Coyne tells NME. “There was this world of making music videos and needing to sell records and play big concerts – that just wasn’t something that we thought we were very good at.”

A lot of bands in their shoes would have thrown together a couple of quiet-LOUD-quiet-LOUD blasts of late night MTV fodder to keep the moneymen happy, but that would have been the easy way out. While their alt-rock peers were selling out stadiums, the Lips set up a bunch of guerrilla gigs in car parks with frontman Wayne Coyne yelling through a megaphone while messing around with pre-recorded sounds on cassettes played through boomboxes with the help of 40 volunteers.

Guitar wizard Ronald Jones had quit the band due to his agoraphobia and frustrations around the spiralling heroin habit of bandmate Stephen Drozd. Without their guitarist and bored of the post-grunge landscape that surrounded them, they shunned rock from their sound. Instead, they injected some steroids into their boombox show concept to create 1997 “album” ‘Zaireeka’: an art rock experiment of four discs of music that could be played separately, all at once, or in any combination. It was nuts, and their increasingly dubious record label took quite a bit of convincing to put it out.

The hardest part of ‘Zaireeka for them was recording it,” the band’s manager once said in a documentary. “For me, it was getting Warner Bros to put it out.”

They promised to do “a proper record” after “the crazy record” all on one budget.

image: https://ksassets.timeincuk.net/wp/uploads/sites/55/2019/05/GettyImages-688553398_FLAMING_LIPS_2000-1024×650.jpg

The Flaming Lips, in 1999. Credit: Gie Knaeps/Getty Images

With Warners’ interest waning, the follow-up record to ‘Zaireeka was a bit of ‘do or die’ moment, but they also had pestilence and tragedy to contend with. During early sessions for the record, doctors told Drozd that they might have to amputate his whole hand due to what he said was a freak spider bite from the poisonous “fiddleback” (he later admitted it was more likely an abscess from where he’d injected heroin into his hand). The same few months also saw bassist Michael Ivins have a brush with death in a car crash in Oklahoma City when stray tyre barrelled into his car and forced him off the road. Then, Coyne lost his father to cancer.

Liberated by their indulgences on ‘Zaireeka’ and with newfound view on mortality, they emerged with 1999’s bittersweet ‘The Soft Bulletin’ – a symphony of strings, machines and synthetic sunshine.  The single ‘Waitin’ For A Superman’ is Coyne coming to terms with the fact that a miracle to save his father was not forthcoming, ‘The Spiderbite Song’ is child-like lullaby of love from Coyne to his bandmates in the wake of their recent near-misses, ‘Feeling Yourself Disintegrate’ admits that “life without death is just impossible” but worth it for love all the same, and ‘Race For The Prize’ is the glorious set-opener telling of two scientists willing to sacrifice everything to save the world. At the very least, they’d saved themselves.

The Flaming Lips had set their existential musings to what sounded like a cinematic, sci-fi sequel to The Beach Boys’ ‘Pet Sounds’. It worked. The mad scientists finally cracked the mainstream, the critics gave it top marks, and NME named it as 1999’s Album Of The Year.

To give the album the theatre it deserved, the subsequent live shows shaped The Flaming Lips into the blood-splattered, balloon-loving, laser-fuelled, animal-friendly, festival headlining freakshow inside a giant bubble that you see today. The band who made the soundtrack for Spongebob Squarepants. The band who got together with Miley Cyrus to explore her freakier side. The band who released one album inside a gummy skull and another featuring Nick Cave’s actual blood. The band who can do what the fuck they want, and all thanks to the gift that is ‘The Soft Bulletin’.

To celebrate the album on its 20th anniversary, we caught up with Wayne Coyne to talk over the seismic impact that the record had on his life and thousands of others.

Hello Wayne. Do you feel a weight around the legacy of ‘The Soft Bulletin’?

“Only now. I don’t think we would have liked that in the beginning. I don’t think we could have made the album if we thought that was going to happen. We’re not those young, innocent guys getting ready to make that transition that ‘The Soft Bulletin’ was about.”

But you see it for what it is now?

“Now we do. Maybe 20 years is a long time to have figured it out, but now the music affects us too. We made it so long ago that there are no longer those muscle memory triggers of the struggles and the failures and all that it takes to make music like that. Now I just hear it and I’m like, ‘Who the fuck made this record? This is a good record! This is cool!’”

“We’re not those young, innocent guys getting ready to make that transition that ‘The Soft Bulletin’ was about” – Wayne Coyne

It’s a life-affirming record that a lot of people have a very profound connection to. Is that a headfuck?

“Yeah. We’re great ambassadors to being the ones who get to stand there and sing these songs, but it’s a strange world. ‘The Soft Bulletin’ is catching us in the transition of going from one mode to another. We knew that at the time; that we weren’t the same people who’d started to make this thing. We knew we couldn’t make another record like that. All we could do was make another record of how we felt at the time.”

A lot has been said over the years that this could very well have been your last album.

“I think ‘Zaireeka’ really freed us up. We got signed to Warner Bros in the early ‘90s, wanting them to succeed but not knowing how to do that. We knew there was a limit to that kind of freedom and we pushed that to the absolute limit when we made the ‘Zaireeka’. We were just looking at the future going ‘If we’re gonna make a record like ‘The Soft Bulletin’, why would they keep us?’”

Was there a very real threat of getting dropped?

“We started to make ‘The Soft Bulletin’ while being very realistic that it could be the last one we ever made. We weren’t event pretending to be aware of commercial viability. We thought that if nothing else, it would stand for us. Nobody can control the music industry but we could control making the record we wanted to. If they kick us off the label then that’s that. There wasn’t a fear of failure, we just had to be sure that we wanted to make it. Once we had that, it gave us even more confidence.”

It also seems like true rebirth of the band. From there on, you’re almost unrecognisable as the band who made ‘She Don’t Use Jelly’.

“When ‘The Soft Bulletin’ came out, we really were just completely oblivious to being like a rock band that people were used to. I didn’t know if it was going to go anywhere. We were starting to play shows and that’s where our originality really surfaced for the first time. We weren’t trying to be a normal band. We didn’t even know what a band like us should be like.”

“There wasn’t a fear of failure, we just had to be sure that we wanted to make it.” – Wayne Coyne 

 So the live shows just became more instinctual?

“We were throwing confetti around, I’d pour blood on my head, and we knew that if you’d come see us we could entertain you. I didn’t know if we were gonna look like any other band you’d seen before but we were going to try and entertain you and see how it goes. Who’d have ever thought that would work? There’s no marketing and there’s no plan.”

image: https://ksassets.timeincuk.net/wp/uploads/sites/55/2019/05/GettyImages-688553408_FLAMING_LIPS_2000-1024×650.jpg

The Flaming Lips, live in 1999. Credit: Gie Knaeps/Getty Images

How much would you say that the album owes to ‘Zaireeka’?

“Part of the thing with The Flaming Lips and the strings, the horns, the timpani – there’s a certain authentic drama about it. Though we were using the most modern synthesizers and digital junk that you could get at the time, we were trying to make it sound like it wasn’t a band any more. We wanted it be more of an emotional sound than a band. I think those things we did on ‘Zaireeka’ freed us from being a band.”

Did that just happen or did you have a very ‘anti-band’ attitude?

“We were trying to say we’re not a band that plays drums or has bass players or guitar players. It was just going to be the sound that accompanied my singing. We didn’t want you to envision what you get when you imagine Led Zeppelin with John Bonham and Jimmy Page and whatever. We didn’t want you to envision anything. You just heard it as music. Whatever you envisioned was this other world.”

But the concept didn’t catch the world’s attention?

“I don’t know if ‘Zaireeka’ did that for other people but it allowed us to just make music. It was just such a technical mindfuck. Some of the best songs on ‘The Soft Bulletin’ were rejects from ‘Zaireeka’ because they just didn’t work. ‘Race For The Prize’ was a reject from ‘Zaireeka’. That’s how insane we were.”

Did you realize the potential what you had on your hands?

“That’s the height of being so obsessed and fucked up on these ridiculous ideas. We were no longer hearing it as music. It wasn’t music, it wasn’t lyrics, it wasn’t chord structures.  We came down from that and we realised that we had these insane tracks that were the best songs we’d ever come up with. Just three months earlier, they were the rejects that we didn’t see the use in putting out. That’s the truth of it. You really do have to be completely in love with what you’re doing and see where it gets you. It doesn’t always get you where you want to go, but it definitely gets you somewhere.”

“It speaks to a certain sensitive person. I don’t think it speaks to a Foo Fighters’ kind of audience.” – Wayne Coyne

The band were dealing with a lot of loss and demons at the time. 20 years later, what would you say the resounding message is of ‘The Soft Bulletin’?

“It speaks to a certain sensitive person. I don’t think it speaks to a Foo Fighters’ kind of audience. When Steven, Dave Friddmann [producer] and I we were making it we were grappling in our minds with the idea that the world is a happy and beautiful place. You know; you’re optimistic and all of this is work for you in your young life. The longer you keep going forward into this beautiful place you start to realise that it’s not really a beautiful place. Bits of it are full of unfair and horrible things. It’s a shift of going from this innocent person saying ‘Anything is possible, everything is beautiful – bring it on. I love life so much’, then having to say ‘Well if you love life so much, what if some of it dies? What are you going to do now?’”

And do you feel that the record answers that question?

“The record is saying, ‘You’ve got to love life as much as you can, and if something tears some of that away from you then that’s ‘The Soft Bulletin’. It’s ‘Oh no’.  If you live, you love and you absolutely throw yourself into it then what if it dies? What choice do we have? Do we live half a life because we don’t want to get hurt so much? Do we love half a love because if might lose it?”

So the bad is ultimately worth it for the good?

“That’s a real thing. We used the words ‘soft’ and bullet’ and ‘in’. It’s like part of you is being executed by something that doesn’t hurt you like a real bullet. It’s a soft bullet. ‘The Soft Bulletin’ is giving you this gentle message. That’s why I say it’s for sensitive people. I think for a lot of people it doesn’t matter that much. Your mind can be filled with other things, but if you’re an innocent person and your mind has that deep connection to love, beauty and family, then you have a lot to lose. You may lose yourself. You may be so devastated by your love for it that you don’t want to live.  Somewhere in there ‘The Soft Bulletin’ was just saying, ‘I know, I know what you mean’. That’s enough. There’s a Daniel Johnston song that goes ‘To understand and be understood’. There’s something in there that let’s you go to the next day.”

“If you live, you love and you absolutely throw yourself into it then what if it dies? What choice do we have?” – Wayne Coyne

You can still hear echoes of ‘The Soft Bulletin’ in a lot of today’s big psych bands. Do you often notice your influence in other artists?

“No, not really. I think people will point it out and go, ‘Oh there’s Tame Impala or MGMT’ but really to us it was the other way around. We loved their music before they even knew who we were. If someone compares Tame Impala or MGMT to us then that’s great. I think they make great and original, crazy music. I’m glad that people would put us in that category, but I don’t think that Steven and I would ever think of it in that way.”

Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne

You’ve got these anniversary shows coming up. Do you feel as if you might do this for ‘Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots’ or your other album?

“Yeah, I do. It’s something that I wanted when I was growing up. I never got to see Pink Floyd or The Beatles, but in my dreams I would have loved to have seen The Beatles play ‘The White Album’. Who wouldn’t, you know? I think we’re very capable of that stuff now. The guys in the group with the technology and all of the shit we have available to us now, it really is great to sing these songs with the arrangements and those kind of sounds.

“As it gets closer, I think we probably will. I don’t know if it has the same emotional power as ‘The Soft Bulletin’, but we’ve played ‘Do You Realize??’ and some of those songs every night since they came out so those songs are always with us. Some it is weird stuff that we’ve never played. But I think so. We like it where we’re not doing ‘the big overview’ of The Flaming Lips’ festival set and it feels different from last night.”

For ‘The Soft Bulletin’ shows, will you be reimagining the songs?

“There’s probably a perception of The Flaming Lips that is probably like The Grateful Dead or Phish or a jam band or something. You know, that we take a song that you know that’s 20 minutes’ long and it becomes a 30-minute jam session. But we really don’t do that. I like it when Jimi Hendrix or Miles Davies does that but I don’t like it in particular for us. With a record like ‘The Soft Bulletin’, that’s not what the music is. We’re always very careful to do the music as well and as familiar as it can be. I know just by talking to people in the audience that they have some very powerful connections to these songs. I’m always aware of that with songs from ‘The Soft Bulletin’.”

The band will return to the UK to perform ‘The Soft Bulletin’ anniversary tour in September.

 

‘Father of the Bride’ – Vampire Weekend’s Cool Within the Uncool

Vampire Weekend‘s last album, Modern Vampires of the City, helped vault it to festival headliner status, and topped year-end best-of lists when it was released. But that was six years ago — and a lot has happened in the time since. One of the main creative forces in the band, Rostam Batmanglij, left the group in early 2016. While the remaining members focused on side projects, voices in the music industry were beginning to float the idea that guitar rock might have slipped out of relevance. And then, of course, came the 2016 presidential election.

Vampire Weekend Releases 2 More Songs From 'Father Of The Bride'

This week, the band returns at long last with its fourth LP, Father of the Bride. Lead singer and guitarist Ezra Koenig joined us to discuss how age, experience and time away have changed his approach to songwriting; addressing politics both on record and onstage with Senator Bernie Sanders; and why, for a group like Vampire Weekend, the decline of guitar rock might not be the worst news.

Ezra Koenig: Growing up, I always liked artists like The Smiths and The Cure: They have some very upbeat, cheerful songs, but it’s such a contrast with the lyrics. That always just made a lot of sense to me — especially if you’re trying to kind of create a snapshot of life as you know it, that every song would have a mixture of joy and pain.

It’s interesting that you bring up the word “suffering,” because at some point, I realized that three of the songs had the word “suffering” in the chorus. The first song we put out, “Harmony Hall,” had this part that went,”I thought that I was free from all that suffering.” Almost like a Buddhist way of thinking: You think you’ve finally figured out a way to be free from suffering, but of course, life is a cycle. But then, I actually changed it to “questioning,” which I think is better for the song.

I like that song because it also gets to this idea a lot of people wrestle with — of people and places that have maybe let you down. I don’t know if I’m reading too much into that line, “Anybody with a worried mind could never forgive the sight / Of wicked snakes inside a place you thought was dignified.”

No, I think that’s a fair interpretation. And yeah, also trying to come to terms with the idea that not only can it be painful or disorienting when an institution or a group or something lets you down, but that that’s almost built into the fabric of reality, and you can’t be shocked by it every time that it happens.

But we all have been, right? I mean, I haven’t had a soundtrack for that emotion. But the feeling that there is corruption in this place, or ugliness in this place, and how do I reconcile with that?

Yeah, that’s the funny thing. I always think about high school and college and reading books — from 100, 200, a thousand years ago, 2,000 years ago — where people are more or less saying the same thing about the cyclical nature of government, politics, even just individual pain and suffering. You read all that stuff when you’re a kid and yet you’re still a little bit surprised when you feel it in a personal way or a generational way or a national way. As much as we’ve been prepared for it by the wisdom of the ancients, it still is always shocking.

Vampire Weekend: New Sounds Signal The End Of An Era

[With] “This Life,” that was the inspiration for the opening lines: “Baby, I know pain is as natural as the rain / I just thought it didn’t rain in California.” You know all these things are lurking out there, and you still weep. Maybe we all have this gambler’s nature, that we’re going to be the one who bets big and wins big despite the obvious risks.

This also gets to a question I have about trying to write songs that nod to the political, that engage in the ideas of the moment, and that still feel timeless. Because not everyone’s doing it — just being honest, I’m not turning on the radio and feeling that. I may also be asking because you guys appeared with Bernie Sanders during the 2016 campaign. Taking that extra step to stand shoulder to shoulder with a politician is a significant moment.

Yeah, it’s funny: When I talk about it now, people say, “You really put yourself out there.” I really try to think back to how I felt in 2016 — and for me, growing up on the East Coast, New York, New Jersey, when I look at somebody like Bernie Sanders, this older, crunchy, independent senator from Vermont, he truly seemed to me like the least controversial candidate on Planet Earth. The first time we played with him was in Iowa, so early, early days of the primaries. The idea of really sticking our neck out, it didn’t even occur to us — like, “Who could have an issue with this guy? Maybe he won’t win; maybe he’s a little too left of center. But he just seems like the kind of guy everybody likes.”

Of course, I was deeply wrong about that. In retrospect, I kind of see that, obviously, the divisions in politics, particularly within the Democratic Party, are very intense. But I promise, when we first got up there with Bernie, it just felt like the most laid-back political thing you could possibly do.

I read a quote where you said, “With regards to songwriting, everyone’s identity defines how they think about life.” You were saying you don’t get frustrated when people don’t like the band because of your voice or something in the sound, but when they look at it through that accusation of whiteness or privilege or something like that — rather than who you are in particular.

There were elements that I think we all felt when the band started that we were a little bit blindsided by. I always had a sense of humor about preppiness and the Ivy League; I went to Columbia, but I also had student debt and scholarships to pay for it. But the particular identity of Jewish people, which is my background, is not particularly pleasant for people to talk about — it gets fraught very quickly. In the interview you’re referencing, we were talking about a song that’s called “Jerusalem, New York, Berlin,” so it’s not surprising people might want to look at it through the lens of identity. But my point was kind of just like, if you want to go there, you maybe do have to talk about Jewishness and the relationship of Jewishness and whiteness. But, you know, that creates a real can of worms in the current political climate, I think.

It does. I appreciate you saying that it’s not an easy thing to talk about. I mean, in that song you reference, towards the end there’s is a line about that “genocidal feeling that beats in every heart.”It’s serious language.

Yeah, it’s serious language, and it’s also a song. If I wanted to make a direct, simple statement about what it means to be Jewish — what it means to be white, the relationship of America to Israel, Zionism, anti-Zionism — I could go on Twitter. That’s there. There’s a part of me that feels protective of the world of songwriting — to let it lie for a second, you know? To let it be open.

I’ve always felt so connected to Irish folk songs. There’s one called “The Minstrel Boy” that’s about the boy who plays music along with the army, and there’s this line that says, ” ‘Land of Song!’ said the warrior bard / ‘Tho’ all the world betrays thee.’ ” That always struck me, that “the whole world betrays” the land of song. There’s something so sad about that.

We demand a lot — “we” meaning the audience.

Yeah, and that maybe it’s about letting the land of song live on its own terms. It sounds corny when I say it — but the land of song as being someplace that is a little bit separate from the daily battles that we face.

You had a very funny quote to The Times of London: “Guitar acts in 2019 have an irrelevance I’ve come to enjoy.” Which is a joke, but not wrong, in a way.

[Laughs] Well, yeah. I mean, being gone for six years, you watch a lot come and go. I saw there were these big questions being asked: “Is guitar music dead? Is indie music irrelevant?” And I saw the way that it caused stress and anxiety in many of my peers about their place in the world. Maybe that happens every time a wave crests — people get nervous.

But can I ask a question? The idea of irrelevance is not always about, “Is this sound cool? Is this the sound of now?” Is it also that that music stopped speaking to people about their lives in a way that felt relevant? Like, rock fell down on the job?

Maybe. But even beyond that, things come in and out of fashion. At some point, guitar seems like a funny old instrument, and other times it seems more charming or more exciting. I almost felt happy that as I started working on the record the question had been answered: “It’s not particularly relevant. Good. Stop worrying about it.”

We know that there’s people who write poetry, opera, abstract expressionist painting, whatever — art forms that, by one way of looking at it, had their moments of relevance a very long time ago. And yet, we’re often surprised by somebody who’s dedicated to an art form and pulls out an idea that speaks to us. I think as you get older you realize you just just can’t sweat it. There’s almost something pleasant about just being like, “Yes, it’s irrelevant — now, can we talk about how to get the guitar sounding good?”

People are comparing some of the songs on this album to Phish, with the album art having kind of a hippie vibe.

Which I love.

And which is funny, because you guys were called too ivory tower, not punk enough. And now this album comes, and it’s kind of like you’re embracing your uncool impulses.

Every Vampire Weekend album, going back to the start, starts with something uncool. That’s where the action’s at, in my opinion. It’s not like preppiness was cool. Even the attraction to boat shoes and Oxford commas was not particularly cool. But there’s something attractive, sometimes, about looking for the cool within the uncool.

New Long Format Shows in June!

We can’t believe that it is almost June 2019 already! The Relativity crew has been working hard to create some of the very best new long-format shows to date & you will not be disappointed.

We have shows about video game music & the behemoth of an industry it has become. We have coverage & interviews with the people who run the best new(ish) jazz club in Los Angeles, and the whole scene that is still alive and well.

The show we are most excited about, though is the main event – the skate-punk explosion of the late 90’s / early aughts, the bands that made it all happen, and where they are now. The excitement for this probably gives some indication to the ages of the people who run Relativity, but that was our era & shaped a lot of what we do now. We’ve covered some shows, interviewed some of the main players in that genre, and dug deep into the whole scene. It’s going to be epic!

The Ambitious Players In Reno’s Music Scene

Reno’s music scene boasts some ambitious players.

Some of them spend a lot of their time on the road, playing for international names like Jack Johnson, Eddie Vedder, and Nahko and Medicine For the People. And when they’re not on tour, they’re busy making their own music — sometimes with renowned artists from outside Nevada.

It’s just another facet of an increasingly dynamic music scene, and David Hadel — the afternoon host at NV89, Nevada Public Radio’s music station in Reno — is helping expose it.

 

Adam Topol – “Reno” “Hollow”

“In the past, he’s played drums with acts like Eddie Vedder, Joey Santiago and Ziggy Marley, and he’s currently the touring drummer for Jack Johnson. But he’s played with legends like Jimmy Cliff and David Gilmour, from Pink Floyd, as well.

After having played alongside so many musicians in the past, it [was] hard for him to come up with his own material. This latest record he released a couple of years ago, Regardless of the Dark, took him about three years to write it. But the final result was 10 songs that go from ‘Brazil’ to ‘Reno.’”

Tim Snider – “Hurricane”

“He’s more exclusively a violinist. When he’s playing on stage himself, he likes to use a loop pedal where he loops violin, guitar, cajón, even looping his own vocals and harmonizing with them to create this huge wall of sound. He kind of reminds me a little bit of Andrew Bird, if you’re familiar with his violinist style. He doesn’t do a lot of picking like Andrew Bird does. But he has more of a folky, sort of a Dispatch vibe to him.

Right now, he’s the touring violinist for Nahko and Medicine for the People.”

Moondog Matinee – “Ghost Dime”

“When you see Moondog Matinee perform on stage — and they’ve [played everywhere] from here in Reno down to Vegas for the Life is Beautiful festival — they put on a heck of a live show. The lead singer, Pete Barnato, [has] got this big fedora looking hat with a feather in it. And they’ve got this James Brown kind of flare and they just tear up the entire stage. Even if it’s a small or a big stage, they use all of it when they perform.

They have this Joe Cocker, ’70s rock feel, with a little new-vibe twist as well.”

Dead Winter Carpenters – “Roller Coaster”

“So Dead Winter Carpenters is a five-piece Americana bluegrass band from North Tahoe and just last year they collaborated with Jackie Greene on their song “Rollercoaster” — and he’s not predominately playing lead guitar like he had with The Black Crowes a few years ago. He’s actually playing a Hammond B-3 organ on this particular track.”

Station Breaks: The Best New Songs From NPR Music Stations

It’s the May edition of Station Breaks, our monthly list featuring a diverse selection of new music all hand-picked by NPR’s public radio music stations.

Songs on this list are also available to stream on the NPR Slingshot Spotify playlist and the NPR Slingshot Apple Music playlist at the bottom of the page. Enjoy these new songs from emerging bands you might not know.

The Bishops, “Truffle Trap”

‪This young Austin-based outfit makes the most out of its family’s natural knack for songwriting by offering a sleek, infectious package of R&B and hip-hop. — Jack Anderson, KUTX – Austin, TX‬

Elly Swope, “Idea”

On her impressive solo debut EP, It Feels The Same Everytime, veteran multi-instrumentalist Elly Swope proves that she’s more than capable of carrying a band alone. “Idea” is the best of the bunch: It’s a blistering, twisting rock song that keeps listeners on their toes and wanting more. —Jerad Walker, OPB Music – Portland, OR

Daniel Norgren, “Rolling Rolling Rolling”

This song, about looking out a window and thinking about mowing the lawn, is so laid back, it will have you staring out a window thinking about mowing the lawn. — Justin Barney, Radio Milwaukee – Milwaukee, WI

Darlingside, “Best Of The Best Of Times”

Mountain Stage

This video makes every frame count as the infectiously joyful choreography reflects the bright, intricately arranged, sweeping orchestration of Darlingside’s refreshing “Best of the Best of Times.” — Adam Harris, Mountain Stage – Charleston, WV

Dirty Honey, “When I’m Gone”

Don’t believe anyone if they tell you rock is dead. Dirty Honey rock in the best possible way with a nod towards the most legendary legacy bands. This is tomorrow’s classic rock today. Turn it up. — Bruce Warren, WXPN– Philadelphia, PA

‘Social Cues’ by Cage The Elephant is the Garage Pop Album of the Summer

Grammy award-winning group Cage The Elephant released their latest album, “Social Cues” April 19. “Social Cues” is packed with emotional rock ‘n’ roll and coming-of-age sensations. Frontman Matt Schultz uses his latest album to address the turmoil in his life. After going through an unfortunate divorce and losing two friends to suicide, Schultz decided to be optimistic rather than dwell on situations and circumstances.

After their 2017 Best Rock Album Grammy award, Cage The Elephant takes their time revealing their fifth album. The group is known for its perfectly fused relationship of alternative melodies and psychedelic rock. “Social Cues” gives waves of angst and melodrama. Ballads like “Love is the Only Way” demonstrate these tender emotions. Schultz takes a moment to reflect on his experiences and mistakes made. In contrast, songs like “Skin and Bones” display the glam rock that Cage The Elephant fans fall helplessly in love with. Bluesy hits like “The War is Over” will have you tapping your feet to the steady beat.

Schultz leaves his audience full of emotion in his final song “Goodbye.” The song tugs at heartstrings as Schultz sings about his acceptance on ending relationships. In a Beats 1 interview, Schultz stated, “I actually see it as an uplifting song, but I find it really interesting that sometimes when we’re confronted with such profound truth we interpret it as darkness.” Schultz continued, “I think the most obvious challenge is trying to find something within the music that reignites that excitement, that passion, that excitement for music again.”

All of “Social Cues” is a perfect garage pop mix, but here are a few songs that I’m hooked on:

  • “Broken Boy”: As the first song on the album, this punk hit is sure to catch your attention. The intro demonstrates the classic grunge texture that will have you hooked for the rest of the album.
  • “Social Cues”: Similar to their previous hits, “Social Cues” is bound to be a Cage The Elephant fan favorite. With classic psychedelic melodies and a powerful beat, it’s no wonder the album is titled after the song.
  • “Night Running”: A personal favorite of mine, “Night Running” is a  unique reggae-rock fusion. With lyrical assistance from artist Beck, this song is sure to be your on your poolside playlist for this summer.

To learn more about the album or listen yourself, “Social Cues” can be found on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and on Cage The Elephant’s website.

SABROSO – CRAFT BEER, TACO, & MUSIC FESTIVAL IS COMING TO DANA POINT IN APRIL!

The Sabroso Craft Beer, Taco, & Music Festival is on its way to Dana Point this April, and the music line ups are insane! The show will feature over 150 craft beers with hours of beer tasting over the course of 2 days, along with craft tacos from local restaurants and food trucks on site. That part all sounds amazing and makes us hungry & thirsty, but what we’re really hungry for is the music.

Day 1 – Saturday, April 6th will be headlined by Flogging Molly & include Bad Religion, Good Charlotte, Lagwagon, Strung Out, The Suicide Machines, and D.I.

Day 2 – Sunday, April 7th will be headlined by The Offspring & include Descendents, Black Flag, Face to Face, Plague Vendor, Red City Radio, and Orange Blossom Special.

That is a solid arrangement of some awesome bands covering both days, and the first time that south Orange County has seen a festival of this magnitude. Sabroso will take place at Doheny State Beach, and you can get tickets and more info by visitng https://sabrosotacofest.com/dana-point/

The Sabroso Festival is also taking place in Salt Lake City & Denver on different dates – check the website for details.

Rock Radio’s Alive and Well – You Just Need to Know Where to Look

Year on year, the tedious ‘rock is dead’ statements are wheeled out. Everything we once loved is now, apparently, ‘dead’ – the album, live music and, of course, rock radio. Music fans might as well give up now, right?

Mainstream radio doesn’t play rock music anymore – certainly not metal music, or any of rock’s more challenging, avant garde cousins – and as we reported last year, there’s little chance your band is going to get radio airplay. There’s nothing on the air for real rock fans, or so it seems.

As we pointed out in our article, commercial radio is at the mercy of market research, heads of ‘content’ and advertising cash. Mainstream radio may no longer be a viable tool to access or promote rock music, but discounting radio’s power altogether is a blinkered view that ignores what radio has become in 2019.

Developments in technology have enabled an explosion of niche radio across all genres, worldwide. There’s everything from a female collective promoting the best of women in alternative music to a station based in a record shop in Zurichand an international station exploring underground sounds from all corners of music.

The same is true for rock radio, where independent and internet stations cover everything, catering for the broadest of tastes to the most mind-warpingly niche. Rock radio is alive and well, it’s just on us to discover it. Technology has taken the power from commercial gatekeepers and advertisers and handed it back to fans and those passionate about rock music. Rock radio is in our control and it’s better than it ever has been.

The ease of setting up your own station – anyone with a basic microphone and a laptop can record a show and bang it up on Mixcloud, a platform that covers all artist royalties and pays successful creators –  has seen the breadth of rock shows grow by the day. With titles like ‘Stoner Witch Radio’ and ‘Hour Of The Riff‘ broadcasting regularly, you can rest easy in the knowledge there’s always some serious riffage to delve into on the airwaves.

To get to to the heart of rock radio’s outsider explosion, Louder took a closer look at the current state of radio and found that the reality is actually pretty positive for rock stations. In a world where niches dominate, where commercial radio is dying and streaming has made things cold and impersonal, music curated and presented by a trusted human voice has more value than ever. It’s simple: listeners want to connect with DJs and other like-minded people whose tastes and opinions they trust.

One such station is Gimme Radio. A metal-focused station and subscriber service based in the US (but starting to make serious waves in Europe, too), the station has a freeform, non-playlist approach to music, with shows helmed by passionate, big name hosts including Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine, Lamb Of God‘s Randy Blythe and Johan Hegg of Amon Amarth.

“The idea that radio is a dead format, I don’t believe that,” says Albert Mudrian, Decibel magazine editor and another of Gimme’s roster of DJs. “I think that things that are actually curated by humans and no algorithms are still a worthy, interesting piece of culture. I mean, I can listen to Gimme Radio and those dots that are connected within a show, a two hour show of somebody’s playlist, you really feel like somebody is looking out for your best interests, an actual human being trying to put together a mix for you.”

“There is definitely a different feeling from the curation from a human being and a computer,” he adds. “I don’t know if generations younger than me get that, but I do know it speaks to me in that manner.”

With presenters and listeners completely in control of the music, deep-dives into metal’s less accessible corners – including album tracks and an abundance of new music – are not only possible but, actually, expected.

“We’ve got this really great place to stream music, to get royalties to the bands, interview the bands – bands that people would just not hear, even on satellite radio some of these bands wouldn’t get the time of day,” Dave Mustaine tells us. “We really are thinking about the fan. It’s not about seeing how big this can get, about getting sponsors, selling advertising, selling it out. It’s about the music.”

Around 50% of the music played on Gimme Radio is new stuff from established acts, but you’re likely to hear pretty well anything, right down to the first demos from the deepest underground bands.