The Fat Angel Sings

Nashville punks Be Your Own Pet have returned with another explosive new single entitled “Big Trouble.” The track will be featured on their forthcoming album “Mommy”, out via Third Man Records on August 25th. Said vocalist Jemima Pearl about the track, “I live in a country that has taken away the basic human right to an abortion and then has the audacity to ask ‘why are you so angry?’ ‘Big Trouble’ is about how the daily injustices are all connected to the overarching societal issues of living in a patriarchy.”

Be Your Own Pet returned with new music after nearly 15 years apart. They re-introduced themselves with tracks “Hand Grenade,” “Worship the Whip,” and most recently “Goodtime!”.

The Nashville, Tennessee, garage rock group were signed as teenagers to the prestigious XL in the UK and Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace label in the US, with whom they released two widely acclaimed albums. They went on to tour with the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Sonic Youth, Le Tigre etc and have been cited as influences for groups such as Paramore and Big Joanie.

Now they return with their first album in 15 years on Third Man Records. It explosive, scuzzy and full of fireballs of energetic nuggets. Welcome back!!

The second volume of Trapeze’s official studio and live albums, collected onto five CDs.

Formed from two Midlands bands, Finders Keepers, featuring Mel Galley (guitar/vocals), Dave Holland (drums) and Glenn Hughes (bass/vocals), and the Montanas’ John Jones (vocals/ trumpet) and Terry Rowley (keyboards/guitar/flute), Trapeze were discovered by The Moody Blues, and signed to their own Threshold Records label. After three well received LPs, Glenn Hughes joined Deep Purple in 1973, finding worldwide fame and acclaim.

Mel Galley assumed the role of lead singer and front man, joined on bass by Pete Wright and second guitarist, Rob Kendrick, with Dave Holland on drums. The quartet released ‘Hot Wire’ (CD1) on Warner Bros. in 1974, produced by Neil Slaven. ‘Trapeze’ (also on CD1), their
second self-titled LP, was released by Warner Bros. in 1975. Produced by Steve Smith at Island Studios, the four-piece were also re-joined by Glenn Hughes on the tracks ‘Chances’ and ‘Nothing For Nothing’.

Trapeze’s sixth and final studio album, 1979’s ‘Hold On’ (CD2) was co-produced with famed producer Jimmy Miller. Now with future Uriah Heep singer Pete Goalby, ‘Hold On’ features six songs from Mel Galley and three from Goalby.

‘Live At The Boar Club’ (CD3) was recorded on September 13th, 1975 in Nottingham, UK. Featuring Mel Galley, Rob Kendrick, Pete Wright and Dave Holland, with Terry Rowley on synthesizer.

‘Live At Arlington’ (CD4) saw the return to their classic power trio of Mel Galley, Dave Holland and original singer / bassist Glenn Hughes. Returning to play for some of their most loyal fans with a show at the Texas Hall Auditorium in Arlington, on September 12th, 1976.

By the release of ‘Live in Texas: Dead Armadillos’ (CD5) in 1981, founder member Dave Holland had joined Judas Priest for a run of worldwide hit records. A live album recorded by the ‘Hold On’ line-up of Galley, Goalby and Wright joined by Steve Bray on drums, the album cherry picks the best of their six studio LPs.

Soccer Mommy has shared a cover of Sheryl Crow’s “Soak Up the Sun” ahead of show at NYC’s Forest Hills Stadium. Crow is a formative artist for Soccer Mommy’s Sophie Allison, who was interviewed by The New York Times last year about Crow’s influence.

“She has so many songs that are these massive hits that, at least for someone my age, you can’t have grown up and not heard those songs,” she said. “She has a knack for saying something hard, but making it feel like she’s ready to acknowledge it and be cool with this hard acceptance.”

As a big Sheryl Crow fan, “Soak Up The Sun” is a song I’ve been wanting to cover since we used to practice it in my parents’ basement years ago. I’ve always wanted to work it up again.

The Grateful Dead has announced a 50th-anniversary release of their 1973 album “Wake of the Flood” featuring previously unheard material. As the debut album from their own record label, Grateful Dead Records, “Wake Of The Flood” marked a period of transition, growth, endurance and optimism for the band. While songs like “Eyes Of The World,” “Stella Blue,” and “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo” were largely road-tested for more than half a year beforehand, and have remained staples of live sets by any number of Dead-related bands ever since, the album and record label delivered both a profound artistic statement and proof of concept for the community, ideals and future the band were building.

“Wake of the Flood – 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition” will be released September 29th. The collection, will be available as two-CD or digital sets, will include re-mastered versions of the album’s seven original songs, along with previously unreleased demo recordings of “Eyes of the World” and “Here Comes Sunshine” that were recorded in early 1973.

Originally released on October 1973, “Wake of the Flood” was recorded following the death of Grateful Dead founding member Ron “Pigpen” McKernan. It was the first album released on the band’s record label and represented an evolution in their style. The Dead brought a wide variety of influences to the table on the LP, including country, folk, R&B, jazz and rock.

The second disc is made up of live material recorded on November 1st, 1973, at Northwestern University’s McGaw Memorial Hall. The set opens with “Weather Report Suite” and closes with “Mississippi Half-Step.” In between, it features one of the group’s trademark jams, made up of “Morning Dew,” ”Playing in the Band” (twice) and ”Uncle John’s Band.”

“Here Comes Sunshine 1973”, “Dave’s Picks Vols. 45-48”, and Bob Weir “Ace” They were not only one of the most well-documented live acts in history, but quite active in the studio as well, and that means that Dead Heads can always expect plenty of goodies from their vaults. This year’s bounty included an expanded look at their sixth studio LP, 1973’s “Wake of The Flood; Here Comes Sunshine 1973“, a 17-CD anthology of complete shows from their spring tour of that year; four new volumes in the ongoing “Dave’s Picks” series, all featuring classic ’70s concerts; and finally, a reissue of Bob Weir’s debut solo album, “Ace”, which was actually a thinly disguised Dead album.

Steve Miller Band will commemorate the 50th anniversary of his classic album  “The Joker” with the “J50: The Evolution of The Joker” box set, which arrives on Sept. 15.

“J50” will be available in two-CD, three-LP (plus bonus 7″) and digital formats. Miller is previewing the collection with “The Joker Suite,” which showcases his musical journey to the album’s chart-topping title track and includes the previously unreleased songs “Lidi”  and “Travelin’.”

Miller curated the “J50” box set, which chronologically places the original album alongside 27 previously unreleased recordings, including songwriting tapes made in hotel rooms and at live performances, studio outtakes and rehearsals and audio commentary tracks. It also features exclusive liner notes from Miller and music journalist Anthony DeCurtis.

“The most important rule that every kid out there who wants to make a record should remember is: When you go into the studio, be ready to do the whole performance the first time you do it because that’s going to be the best time you do it,” Miller noted in a press release announcing the set. “The whole thing is to capture the first performance. That’s a lot of what “The Joker’s” about. It was all first takes, and first takes are always better than perfect takes.”

Reflecting on the star-making title track, Miller said, “To make a hit record, I thought it was best to have five hooks. Not one, not two, not three, not four, but five, if you really wanted to deliver a hit. Like if you take ‘The Joker.’ ‘Some people call me the Space Cowboy.’ What the hell was that? Then it continues and it gets your attention again: the slide guitar, the chorus, the harmony, the wolf whistle. It all adds up. All of these things are just elements of writing. You learn those elements, and you’re always playing with them.”

Steve Miller is honouring the 50th anniversary of the chart-topping, RIAA Platinum-certified studio album “‘J50: The Evolution of The Joker’ arrives everywhere September 15th, and available to listen to today is “The Joker Suite,” a collection that shows the development of album’s title track over four songs: “Lidi – Studio,” “Lidi / Travelin’ (Harmonics – Looking for A Chorus For The Joker),” “Travelin’ (Looking for A Chorus For The Joker)” & “The Joker – Album Version.”

“Love of Will” is the only solo studio album by David McComb, released in March 1994. The album was recorded and mixed between June and August 1993, at Platinum Studios with additional mixing at Metropolis and Sing Sing Studios. McComb selected 13 songs out of a pile of 35 and recorded them at Platinum Studios, Melbourne with producer Nick Mainsbridge,

He also said, “I wanted to be certain that every song was right. I’m not obsessed with longevity, but a song has to last a few years. There’s no point doing something that’ll only last a few months. The criterion is for the songs to be as powerful as they can be.”

Triffids drummer Alsy MacDonald said, “I think those songs were specifically designed to be recorded not by the Triffids. And Dave was less worried about atmospherics it’s a rootsier album.” “Evil” Graham Lee added, “the songs that the Triffids could have done, we wouldn’t have played like that. It’s a straightforward band record.

Videos were made for the singles from the album, “Setting You Free” and “Clear Out My Mind”.

In 1994, David McComb, the leading light of Australian band The Triffids, released his only solo album, ‘Love Of Will’. He drew on members of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds and The Blackeyed Susans as well as members of The Triffids for backing support, notably Graham ‘Evil’ Lee. The result is a collection that sounds partly different from the Triffids catalogue, while retaining the unmistakeable McComb touch. Sharing some songwriting with Will Akers lent a gospel flavour to tunes such as ‘Nothing Good’, ‘Leaning’ and the haunting ‘The Lord Burns Every Clue’, and two other songs are collaborations with Graham Lee and Adam Peters. Easily overlooked if you are a fan of The Triffids’ records, but well worth exploring as a complement to those musical gems.

If “Not Giving Up” by Pleasure Pill sounds more refined than most bands’ third songs, there’s a good reason for that. Even if they’re technically “new,” the San Diego quintet has been around the local and regional punk and indie scene for a decade at this point all in different bands.

Lead singer Jonah Paz put the group together after cutting his teeth with DIY bands, bringing in his brother and rhythm guitarist, Ethan Paz, longtime friends Luke Blake (lead guitar) and Ivan Delgado (bass), and Dom Friedly on drums. The outcome was a cleaner, catchier, and more professional group than anything that any of them had ever played on before — and thus with a ceiling that they hadn’t even dreamed of.

“The transition into a band for us was pretty smooth, because we all knew the way things work in a band,” Paz says. “I had a good chunk of the songs ready before we were even a band. I think we all just realized that the songs were of a different caliber than the other stuff that we’d been a part of, so why not give it the attention that it needs?”

“We really put our heart and soul into rehearsing these songs, so I’m super psyched about how they’ve come out,” Blake adds. “I think it’s the moment in our music careers that we’re all most proud of and feel the most confident about, just because we know how good it is. We’ve all been playing music for over 10 years in many bands, but this is definitely the thing we’re most excited about.”

Pleasure Pill is equal parts timeless pop and modern rock, that grew up on ‘90s and 2000s punk and indie, tracks like “Not Giving Up” could be played opening stadiums just as easily as they could fill the air of a sweaty smaller venue packed with crowd surfers.

The Cure drummer Lol Tolhurst, Siouxsie & the Banshees drummer Budgie, and veteran producer Garret “Jacknife” Lee have teamed for “Los Angeles”, their debut album under their own names. Due out November 3rd from Play It Again Sam, the 13-track effort sports guest appearances from U2’s the Edge, Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock, Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie, and IDLES’ Mark Bowen, among many others.

The first single and title track is enlivened with vocals from LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy and is out with a video directed by John Liwag.

Longtime friends from their days in the legendary U.K. post-punk and goth scene and the co-hosts of the Curious Creatures podcast, Tolhurst and Budgie hatched the idea to make music together after a December 2018 meeting in Los Angeles. After two sessions a few months later, including one at the house of Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee, they sought out assistance from Lee, who advised them to start all over. “Lol is very leveling,” Budgie says. “He calls himself a pragmatist, whereas I’m very impetuous, and it was like Garret was bridging the two, in his consultation room.”

What began taking shape as an instrumental record navigated another new twist at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, when Tolhurst reached out to Murphy about potentially adding some vocals. He then put out feelers to other singing friends, resulting in eventual contributions from Gillespie, Brock, and Lonnie Holley, among others.

The trio is hoping to perform some live shows in some fashion in the future, and Tolhurst is also releasing his second book, “GOTH: A History”, in September. The volume is said to explore “creative giants like the Cure, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Bauhaus, Joy Division, and many more great bands that offered a place of refuge for the misfits of the 80s and ever since.”

Rufus Wainwright has celebrated his 50th birthday by performing a cover of Neil Young‘s ‘Harvest Moon’ live, To celebrate his milestone, Wainwright held a party titled “Rufus & Friends 50 isn’t the end” at the Montauk Lighthouse in New York.

“This album is almost like a recorded birthday party and birthday present to myself. I just invited all the singers that I greatly admire and always wanted to sing with,” Wainwright said in a press statement.

During the set, he covered ‘Harvest Moon’ with Chris Stills, a song which he covered on recent covers album ‘Folkocracy’.

Rufus Wainwright & Chris Stills perform Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” together.

‘Folkocracy’ came out last month and features guest contributions from David Byrne, ANOHNI, John Legend and more.

On the debut solo album from Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino, the Los-Angeles based singer / songwriter takes close account of the endless catastrophes and upheavals of modern life, offering a high-minded and open-hearted response that makes room for compassion, imagination, and a radical sense of possibility.

“If you had asked Bethany Cosentino — best known for the last decade and a half as the frontwoman of acclaimed band Best Coast — a few years ago if she was going to make a solo album, the answer would have been a quick “no.” But then everything changed. Literally everything. The list is long and we all know it: A global pandemic; climate change ravaging the world; a diseased patriarchy stomping daily on democracy and basic human rights; countless national tragedies; a never-ending, pervasive sense of doom. It’s against this backdrop that Cosentino was forced to take stock of it all and jump off the merry-go-round of countless album cycles and tours. 

“I don’t think I ever really had the opportunity to look at my life under such a magnifying glass, because I was always preoccupied in some capacity,” she explains. “It allowed me an opportunity to really ask myself: What do you want? What happens if you stop living your life for other people, and you finally subscribe to the idea that you don’t owe anyone anything, but you owe yourself everything?”

The official visualizer for Bethany Cosentino’s “Easy” and “It’s Fine” from her upcoming solo debut album ‘Natural Disaster’, out July 28th.