Voting Liberal (contra Murray Acton), plus Zappostrophe' and echidna penises

(as close to the stage as I got, sorry!)

The Dayglo Abortions have always been edgy, but Murray Acton actually managed to offend me last night, by encouraging voter apathy and disenfranchisement at a juncture in Canadian history at what seems the most crucial election that I've participated n. 

It escalated quickly: Murray's first comments was that all politicians are corporate shills, all liars, and you shouldn't trust any of them. Which I guess has some truth to it, but a few songs later, he pushed it a bit further: "Don't vote Conservative just because you hate the Liberals! Vote for yourself!" (before "I Am My Own God"). 

First off, uhh, actually, I never even remotely considered voting Conservative, thanks, but (secondly) had YOU in fact considered voting Conservative, Murray? 

How, uh, piquant. (Maybe there are levels of irony at work here that I'm missing?).

But more disturbingly than seeming soft on the Cons, the overall vibe of his comments was anti-voting. Which kind of surprised me. So I just want to say, contra-Cretin, that I think I'm actually going to vote Liberal, this time, myself (probably in about half an hour: I just have to put my socks on); in fact, with Trump flexing his muscles to our south in such volatile, hostile, and destablizing ways, it seems like it's kind of too important an election to do anything but.

Which also means it's too important of an election to encourage people who might otherwise vote Green or NDP to not vote at all, which kinda is what Murray seemed to be doing. You might as well just shill for the Cons there openly, man, because they're the only people you are helping with that kind of talk. With the hot, greasy breath of new American fascism on the backs of our necks... the stakes are simply too high to fuck around. Though on that note, why vote for people (the NDP and the Greens) who have no hope of winning? Who don't even seem to have ambitions more serious beyond maintaining their own positions as career politicians?

By the by, I've voted twice for Jagmeet Singh now, but I have to fess up, here, about the only thing he's done that I was truly impressed by was his taking off his turban on teevee so people could see his hair and how the turban worked and such. I thought that was a genuinely bridge-building, bold, cool move. But mostly he's reduced himself to background noise -- to junk mail pamphlets and predictable social media posturing which has become, so to speak, part of the noise to me. 

We need more than that. And so far I've been impressed by the bearing of Mark Carney (he has some fun with Nardwuar, here, if you've missed that). But then, I never actually, unlike Murray, hated the Liberals. I disliked Justin Trudeau, or at least disliked a fair bit of what he did -- the worst of which will probably be seen, in history, to be a botched immigration policy which let in far more people than the country could support, followed by the Libs slamming the door in a way that may well yet leave me jobless, seeking a new gig in ESL with hundreds of other suddenly unemployed teachers and tutors, with the added disadvantage of my being speaking-impaired. Thanks for putting THAT possibility on my horizon, Mr. Trudeau (and Mr. Miller). Hadn't actually seen that one coming. 

But that wasn't what pissed me off the most. With apologies to friends (talking about you, here, John) who qualified for CERB, received CERB, and then had the Libs about-face and demand repayment (which you must admit is pretty fucked up, and which has contributed to furthering the delay of what is going to be the greatest fucking rock album Canada has seen since, I dunno, Sexual Roulette?), what pissed me off was Trudeau granting himself emergency powers (just like his Daddy had!) to deal with the fucking trucker's convoy. Despite rulings that ultimately he had no right to do that, we are now seeing the fruit of that action in provincial governments granting themselves emergency powers to deal with a trade war, and which surely will come back again the next time there are serious protests in Canada. It's going to become a go-to move, thanks to Mr. Trudeau -- our equivalent of "executive orders" whenever things get remotely difficult. I mean, seriously, should the Canadian government be able to grant itself the right to access the bank accounts of protestors? No, not any more than the Americans should have the right to detain people without even a pretext of due process and ship them off to El Salvador for indefinite incarceration. There may in fact be times when the government granting itself  emergency powers are appropriate -- like the FLQ crisis, for instance, or other life-or-death cases -- but the fucking trucker's convoy? Not so much. Not a precedent Trudeau should have set. We'll be seeing more of that sort of bullshit, guaranteed. 

Mind you, Trudeau was short-sighted and arrogant in other ways, putting forth a draconian hate speech bill, ruffling diplomatic feathers around the world, and doing a very ballsy bait-and-switch when it came to scrapping the first-past-the-post system, which platform he abandoned as soon as he took office (thanks to my father-in-law for reminding me of that oldie-but-goodie over breakfast!). But I also think the Liberals did some good things, more or less pulling us through the pandemic (at least more successfully than our neighbours down south, though the Yanks set a low bar indeed) and finally legalizing marijuana (thanks! Had a government gummy earlier tonight, in fact). There's probably more that I could dig up, both good and bad, but suffice it to say that (even with having voted for him once!), I don't like Justin Trudeau. 

But Carney strikes me as a much more seasoned, mature, responsible and resourceful person than ol' Blackface JT. I've liked Carney's response to the Trump tariffs so far. I think he has actual business acumen which will serve Canada well. And I do believe that it's important to keep Poilievre out of office, since whatever else he may say, he's ideologically the person closest to Trump, and the person most likely to embrace Trump's influence. We need a strongly nationalistic, forward-thinking government to raise Canada up where it belongs as our, uh, titanic neighbours down south rapidly sink... I admit that I'm mildly surprised to find that I'm planning to vote Liberal again (for the second time ever), but there it is. And I wanted to THANK MURRAY ACTON for giving me the opportunity to put that opinion out into the world. I didn't have an angle to write about the election, and he provided me one. Much obliged! 

The Dayglo Abortions, by the way, played a furious set, and the pit was kind of unhinged, with the most aggressive mosher being, amusingly, a 20-something year old girl in a thin silky skirt, who just would not stop (there was a bigger, drunker bald guy in a Municipal Waste hoodie who was a bit more problematic early on but he eventually wore himself down; she just kept going, and going... y'all know Body Count's "Bitch in the Pit?" She was quite a delight to behold -- from a distance).  

Filmed "White People" and "Kill Kill Kill," which had some odd electrical mishaps. I've noticed problems with the sound at the Waldorf before -- tonight was the first time I've seen them have problems with the lights! Even Murray finally said something smartassed, asking them if they were trying to save on electricity or something, then saying to keep the fucking lights on on the stage, so he didn't fall off. Weirdly, that resolved matters -- almost like the darkness had been deliberate!  

It was all very fun, but the truth is, I wasn't really in the  mood. It's been a very long day, and there's been a lot going on in my life -- people I care about have been sick, in hospital, etc. Plus I had just seen a splendid set by Zappostrophe' at the VIFF Centre, and was much more on that page, musically.

 Zappostrophe' only played for about an hour, but I sure am looking forward to their May 29th FOX gig, where they'll do a more fullsome set. They were even better than I had remembered, drawing almost exclusively from the window between 1969 and 1974 that I myself favour, Zappawise; I had remembered them being amazing, mind you, but I haven't been listening to Zappa that much this year, so tonight was also about remembering how amazing Zappa's music can be, too. They truly do it justice.

They'll be filming a video at that gig, by the by. And doing a bunch of stuff off Apostrophe ('), and probably repeating "Inca Roads" (which was marvelous) and much more... "Black Napkins," did they say? With newly-minted lyrics? And they'll be breaking out the rubber chicken, they promise (it got cut from the set tonight, though its part was briefly demonstrated in the Q&A, albeit decontextualized; it's a sound effect meant to accompany certain actions performed with the aid of dog-doo snow-cones, if you see what I mean.) 

Oh, and speaking of the Q&A, I got, briefly, to inform the audience about echidna penises, apropos of a Zappa tune they played that I suspect some of you have guessed the title of. Echidna penises, considering how remarkable they are, don't come up in public nearly as often as they should. 

There was a lot of weird shit today, truth be known -- these are stressful times all round -- but the set by Zappostrophe' was amazing, so thanks.

*by the New Modernettes, but you knew that, right? But note: I'm not weighing it against Hate Speech, here. It's in a different category altogether. Hate Speech is great. 

Frank Zappa, Zappostrophe', 200 Motels, and... the Dayglo Abortions?

Murray Acton by Allan MacInnis, live at the Rickshaw, 2022

True fact: Murray Acton of the Dayglo Abortions is into Frank Zappa, at least musically. He got turned onto Zappa when he was a kid, he told me in a past interview (some of you will have read this before but it's still a fun story):

The first one I heard was We’re Only In It For the Money/ Phase II of Lumpy Gravy, with “The Idiot Bastard Son” on it. Before I even put it on, I’m like, “’The Idiot Bastard Son?’ What, he wrote a song about me, for Chrissake!” And I’m listening to this shit, and it threw me off at first, because I had heard about Frank Zappa, and that’s kind of a doo-woppy album, not weird heavy shit. But then I noticed that the lyrics had this major league sarcasm going on. That’s one of my biggest inspirations, really, the sarcasm. He wasn’t a big fan of punk rock or anything like that, but he had a way of looking at the world. In many ways he was not a particularly nice person, he had some issues, but he was fucking smart. He saw through everything: he was, like, “If you guys don’t smarten the fuck up, you’re going to end up in a world like…” Like we have now! He didn’t miss a fuckin’ beat, either. Amazing guy.

 

I remarked that the snideness of some of Zappa's lyrics put me off at first, and Murray ran with that ball to a very interesting place, talking about an encounter with a notable Zappa bandmate: Ike Willis told him that Zappa piss-tested his band! (I actually tried to contact Ike in this regard, but he was not responsive to my request...). For those who don't know, Zappa was outspokenly anti-drug -- there's footage of him (in the concert film Baby Snakes, if I recall) even calling out members of the audience that he could see smoking joints: "That stuff you are smoking is very bad for you." Which is strange, given how well Zappa's music tends to go with drugs (particularly those early 70's records... I spent tons of time on Zappa when recovering from my major cancer surgery a couple of years ago, and the window between 1969 and 1974, say, include some of the most enjoyable musical experiences I've ever had, especially when I was self-medicating). But the anti-drug stance never actually bothered me about Zappa; it's a weird contradiction, but so what? No, the thing that bothers me is songs like, say, "Suicide Chump," which mocks people who try to kill themselves as a bid for attention. There are whole albums of Zappa's that have NONE of that kind of noise on them, but there are a few songs, on a few albums, that just kinda hit you WRONG, that veer into misogyny, homophobia, or just general snarky insensitivity. It's offputting!

Acton agreed:

The one that really bugged me was “He’s So Gay.” I thought it was funny at first when I was younger, until I got enough of a world view to start thinking things through really clearly, and realized, “That’s just fuckin’ mean, is what it is, really.” It’s sort of funny, and if you look at the cliché’d thing in the gay community in San Francisco, It was out of hand, it was very gay, eh, but you don’t have to be mean about it! And… one of his old bandmates, that old doo-wop guy that was his favourite fuckin’ guitar player and shit [I am thinking Murray here means Johnny Guitar Watson], this old black dude, I saw an interview with him, and he goes, “I was Frank Zappa’s friend. Well, actually I was Frank Zappa’s only friend, because Frank was not a real nice person. He had a lot of shit to say, and he said a lot of shit about a lot of people.” He sorta summed it up. But when I first started listening to him was in the ‘70’s, when I was a kid, I was just an innocent child in the 70’s, doing way too many high-end drugs and having a good time: LSD, woo!

But Zappa’s badass and had some amazing musicians who played with him. I ran into the guitar player who played with him, the big black dude who sang “Why Does It Hurt When I Pee” [Ike Willis] at a coffee shop in town, after seeing them play. I had seen them in the arena, when Joe’s Garage came out, in the old Coliseum there. And just the next day, we ran into the guitar player; we were smoking a joint and he came out of this coffee shop: “Hey, you’re the guitar player from Frank Zappa’s band, wow, awesome show last night!” [Murray no doubt gestured the universal gesture signifying do-you-want-a-hit-off-this-joint” at this point, but the recorder didn’t pick it up]. And he goes, “Frank piss tests us randomly throughout the trips. Fail it for anything and you never work with Frank again.” And I’m like, “Ohh, I am so not working with Frank!” Scratch that one off the old list, there.

And I’ve heard of other people who approached him for autographs, and he’s like, “Pfft, out of my way, waif, you’re not here to suck my dick, are you? Begone!” There was a real nasty side of him. But a genius at the same time. 

Whatever he might think of Zappa as a person, there is definitely some of Zappa both in Murray's irreverent humour and his guitar solos, which can actually be very, very funny: check out the solo for "White People," for example -- it becomes much richer when you realize that, apropos of making the song as "white" as possible, Murray is riffing on "Free Bird." Ha!

 
But re: drugs. fans of the Dayglos who have not visited Murray's bandcamp in awhile, and who are familiar with Hank Snow's "I've Been Everywhere," need to check out the first track off one of two solo side-projects of Murray's, Hearts of Stone. There is an even newer album, since, Moments of Clarity. Some pretty dark stuff on these albums; and since we've touched on the topic, there is a song about suicide on that second release, as well, which apparently drew the ire of Youtube's censors. Take a minute on Murray's "liner notes" [are they still called liner notes when they're online?]).

As a fan of both the Dayglos and Frank Zappa, I faced an unusual conflict this Saturday. The Dayglos are playing their first local show of 2025 at the Waldorf, and Zappostrophe', a whip-smart, extraordinarily accomplished Zappa cover band, previously interviewed by me here, will be doing a set at the VIFF Centre prior to a screening of Frank Zappa's film 200 Motels. I have wanted to see Zappostrophe' again for some time, but I figured that I would miss them again, since I already had a Dayglo's ticket... when I realized: I could skip 200 Motels, see the whole Zappostrophe' set, and make it to the Waldorf long before the Dayglo Abortions hit the stage. I might even get to see The Devil's Punchbowl, the opening act, from PEI. And hell, I could just watch 200 Motels at home, if I was so inclined!

This is now the plan. But I also wanted to check in with Zappostrophe' leader Blair Fisher about 200 Motels, piss tests, and drugs -- among other things. He assented to an email interview, and provided a photo of the band at the Fox in 2022. I am not sure he realized you can see my bald head at the bottom?

 Commence Q&A with Zappostrophe' bandleader Blair Fisher! 

AM: What do you make of 200 Motels? I found it "challenging" the one time I tried it, to put it mildly. I'll try it again, but... do you have favourite bits in the film? Advice for people who are scared of it?

BF: I do own a copy of 200 Motels - I agree it is ‘challenging’. It was produced on a budget and really has no cohesive plot - I think it needs to be seen as a series of vignettes, and musical interludes that gives some insight into Zappa’s mind and the reality of life on the road. Don’t expect Gone With the Wind… Much of the ‘acting’ is done by the musicians [Ringo Starr, Keith Moon], so definitely not polished performances. However, many people feel that the music is exceptional, some interesting special effects and some ‘in-jokes” for Zappa fans. Some people love it, some hate it…but it’s definitely worth a look if you are into Zappa.

A few interesting items:

There is a scene where the band talks about Zappa: “He listens to everything, he records us and puts it in his music, etc.” This is apparently very true - many of Zappa’s songs, secret words, stage patter etc. are derived from actual events that happened to band members.

“Where’s the beer and when do we get paid” is stressed a lot during the show - typical musician concerns, and I think probably Zappa included this as a a bit of mockery of the attitude of sidemen everywhere.

The Jeff Simmons angle is worth considering. Jeff left the band just before the movie started filming. Zappa hired a replacement to play Jeff’s part who also quit. Zappa then stated he would hire the next person to walk into the room - which turned out to be Ringo’s chauffeur. So he got the part. Although Zappa dd work with Jeff later on some projects, I think Zappa really skewered him in the movie. including some long animated segments.

AM: Do you or the band have other favourite Zappa-related films? (The World's Greatest Sinner? I actually haven't seen that one, either!). Have you ever played before a Zappa film before? 

BF: We have never played before a Zappa film and are really looking forward to the experience. We really like Roxy: the Movie, which is a concert performance with the 1973 band. If fact, I know VIFF was considering showing that film for this event, but there were difficulties with licensing.

AM: Will you be curating a special set for the 200 Motels pairing? Are there new Zappa tunes you're taking on special to the event?

BF: Yes, we have some ’new’ material for this show. Actually, changing from Roxy: the Movie to 200 Motels changed out decisions on the setlist quite a bit. We didn’t plan to play anything that would be shown on the Roxy concert footage, so we had planned to eliminate a lot of our favourite Zappa tunes.

 

Since the 200 Motels soundtrack is much more eclectic and experimental, we are now able to present a representative sampling of some of Zappa’s best. Some that we have added recently include "Inca Roads," "Watermelon in Easter Hay," and "Andy." So, people who attend can hear some of Zappa’s best before the movie and then move on to more experimental/orchestral music in the film. I think it will be a good combination.

AM: Murray Acton once told me a story about running into a member of Zappa's band after a concert in Vancouver, offering him weed, and being told that Zappa would piss-test the band. I have always wondered at that, since piss testing was NOT common when this happened. You ever hear a story about that? (BTW, does the band ever try playing Zappa's music stoned? Do drugs help or hinder playing it? They certainly seem to help LISTENING to it -- weed, anyhow).

BF: Well, I know some members of the band do like to participate in some ’trendy chemical amusement aid’ from time to time. Personally, the music is much too difficult to not have 100% concentration throughout the entire show - so for me it would be a hindrance for sure. For listening - well, that’s another matter.

Zappa did discourage drug use (probably for the same reason) but I have not heard about doing any actual testing…maybe. I have also heard stories that the band members were pretty adept at hiding any drug use.

AM: The thing that's weirdest about 200 Motels is there are DEFINITELY scenes that seem designed with drug users in mind. How do you reconcile that with Zappa's hostility to drugs? 

I think a lot of Zappa’s graphics - especially the claymation stuff - have a kind of psychedelic quality. I think that even though Zappa didn’t use drugs himself, he definitely had a ‘bizarre’ aesthetic. So, anything out of the normal attracted him, and was part of his ‘brand’.

UPCOMING ZAPPOSTROPHE' SHOWS: 

Z' at the VIFF Centre, April 19, 8:00PM: https://viff.org/whats-on/zappostrophe-live/

See above!

Z’ at the Robert’s Creek Legion (Sunshine Coast), Saturday June 7, Music 6-9pm

We are excited to be playing at the Roberts Creek Legion for the first time and hope to share our fresh take on Zappa’s incredible repertoire with Zappa fans on the Sunshine Coast.

Tickets:Members $25 / Guests $30 | Members $30 / Guests $35 at the door.
Ticket link: https://robertscreeklegion.com/zappostrophe-june-7

Z’ at the Fox - be in our video!
Thursday May 29, Doors 7:00pm / Show 8:00pm

We are making a video and want you to join us! Fun and games! Prizes! Secret Words! We chose a Thursday to have more time to get it right…and to hang out with our fellow Zappa freaks after the show.  Come and join the fun…

Tickets: 28 advance / $30 door
Ticket link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/zappostrophe-at-the-fox-frank-zappas-music-re-imagined-tickets-1255151896109

Hindu Love Gods RSD release of the year? Well, for me, anyway.

I mean, I guess if you're a Sun Ra guy, or a Mingus one, or, like, a big Jesus Lizard fan, or an obsessive Doc Pomus completist, like, probably this LP is NOT your RSD pick, this year, but DAMN the Hindu Love Gods album is fun (or maybe I'm just the right age for it. When last I heard this, Warren Zevon was still alive, eh? I've clearly grown as an appreciator of music since -- or else this ages very well). Anyhow, just a tip, here were still copies at Neptoon at end of day yesterday (none at Red Cat). Warren Zevon replaces Michael Stipe to do blues covers... they are doing "Junco Partner" right now on the stereo, and it's delightful... If you didn't get this, it's a limited run of 5000 and, y'know, there may be a day when you can't anymore, at least not at this price. Oh, and, uh, Peter Buck is coming to town, right? Do you  have your tickets for this? 

I should try to interview Scot McCaughey, eh?

(Oh, what's this?)

Oh, the Hindu Love Gods did a cover of "Narrator," which people may know from REM bootlegs... that must be the previous singer, it's not Warren Zevon... and it's not on the album with Zevon. I cannot make all the lyrics out, but sure hope it's about having a (sexual?) starcrush fixation on Jacques Cousteau? Or, uh.... something like that? That's what it sounds like. 

Is the history of all this out there? I think I need to do some reading. Uh, Mr. Buck?

Art Bergmann Live at LanaLou's!

Just some pictures and a link to my video of one of the very strongest songs of the night. Thanks to Erik Iversen (and his absent friend) for the ticket! (I hadn't thought I would get in, but I did). Hellos to Bruce, Sharon, Jay, and anyone else in the pictures, and thanks to Chris Crud for pouring me a couple waters -- I was kinda cornered at the bar, and he had access to pass them down. Tonight was the most intimate set I've seen Art do, with only one doofus in the crowd requesting "Hawaii." (When will it end?). Setlist suggests more songs than were actually played -- it ended with a splendid "Faithlessly Yours."

After the show Art signed a few things for people... The cover for What Fresh Hell Is This? is very glossy and doesn't take Sharpie ink well, so mostly he signed the inserts.

Besides Erik, photographers in the room included R.d. Cane (who didn't shoot that I saw, but maybe I missed something), Sharon Steele (who has taken the best photo of Art in the 21st century, which I'm sure you've seen -- it's the youngest and happiest-looking Art you can imagine, but it was just a couple of years ago. And that's Alex Waterhouse Hayward at the table just past Sharon...

Aidan (whom Art also called by another, additional name, but I didn't take note) is a great backup vocalist for Art and has a very compelling stage presence. And Don Binns was happy about my new Ani Kyd Wolf interview in Montecristo (he gets namechecked). I don't think I've seen him play live before! 

 

Very enjoyable night, some very potent moments (also including "Free the Sky," which Ani shot a video for, and which Art dedicated to the children of Gaza). If you missed out on the show note that Neptoon, Red Cat, and doubtlessly other stores (Audiopile, Zulu, etc) had plenty of copies of the album! ("Contract" is not only one of the best songs of the set -- it's one of the best songs on the album!). 

Martha Wainwright in Burnaby: a brief review with photos

Very warm and engaging performance last night from Martha Wainwright at the Shadbolt Centre. Second time I've seen her -- the last was at the ill-fated venue The Imperial about ten years ago; comparing shows, she was chattier last night, warmer, introducing songs in some detail, talking about how she inherited the house she used to live in with Kate on the main floor and Rufus on the third, talking about her children (there's a new song that deals with them about waking up in make up that I will likely buy the album it comes out on, but it doesn't seem to be released yet). 

Her band last night also had more personality, made more of an impression, compared to the Imperial band, with a compelling, quietly beautiful opening set by guitarist Brad Barr of the Barr Brothers and a drummer -- I didn't get his name and can't find it now -- who seemed to be in a transcendent state when playing. He might not have been high on psychedelics -- nothing else in his behaviour suggested it -- but the music itself seemed to put him in an altered state of consciousness... he did some very subtle work... 

...and surprisingly, psychedelics actually arose as a topic at one point, when Martha commented on psychedelic aspects of that first album, which she then free associated with popping sativa gummies. The biggest laughs of the night surfaced when, having mentioned sativa, she then reached in the wrong mental filing cabinet to namecheck arnica, instead of indica. She laughed at her mistake and quipped that these days it is more arnica than indica... and HMT Cream; she mimed rubbing some on her wrist. 

She also still does the thing with her left leg, kicking it out to the side while she performs, like she's loosening up something in her lower back. In fact, she's a very physical performer, with the music getting into her body, making her move, her pelvis rocking in a way that you wouldn't necessarily expect from female musicians with at least a foot in folk music... she was quite fascinating to watch. And I loved her jacket; I think she had been dressier at the Imperial, vaguely recall some sort of little black dress, but I preferred the more comfortable attire of last night. 

We heard all the first album, though not in order -- the closers were "Factory" and "BMFA." There was also a segue into some Rufus Wainwright and a handful of songs from other points in her career. I'll leave some surprises for people. But heads up to people seeing her in Sidney tonight: there are still copies of the first-ever, 20th anniversary vinyl release of her first album available -- a clear vinyl pressing that I assume will be for the tour only -- and lots of shirt and sweater variations, as well as copies of her memoir, Stories I Might Regret Telling You, but none of the cassettes of Ground Floor have made it this far, and there are no CDs of that (I think also I read about deluxe CD editions of the debut LP being prepared, with bonus tracks and such, but they aren't ready yet). 

The only other item on her merch table was a t-shirt designed by Brad Barr's wife, for her husband to sell -- an artful and interesting shirt, which my own wife would have bought one of, except all the remaining shirts were small! I do believe he said that there's a new Barr Brothers album due this fall...

The good news, however, is that Martha was more than happy to hang out and sign records and memoirs and even the odd shirt. Only about 30 or so of the 200 attendees stuck around for that, which surprised me a bit, but she was very personable. I hope she makes it to Alexander's in Sidney for a white chocolate raspberry scone today (Erika's recommendation); she seemed to appreciate that I'd brought my Wainwright Sisters album for her to sign, as well, and I commented on how marvelous it is. Then I asked her if she'd heard about the Vancouver record dealer who found the rare Beatles Decca demos ("it made the New York Times") and got her to sign something for Rob, as well, since he has a birthday soon. She hadn't. I hope she'll look up the story; it might amuse her that she's now tangentially connected to it. 

Great night; I hope people in Sidney enjoy it (there still seem to be tickets available!). 

Heads up, ALL fans: the Chad Price Peace Coalition to play LanaLoü's (plus news re: SLIP~ons, Doughboys, and Büddies Fest)

Only ever saw ALL once, and I think the lineup that I caught, at the Cruel Elephant in the early 1990s, was likely with Scott Reynolds on vocals, circa Allroy Saves; I remember being excited to hear "Educated Idiot," which was their newest tune and the one that spoke the most to me. The subsequent (and current) vocalist -- the one on Breaking Things, Pummel, Mass Nerder and Problematic -- is the one relevant to this article; his name is Chad Price, and he's got a new band, the Chad Price Peace Coalition, who are playing LanaLou's this Wednesday, with some very cool openers, including, yes, the SLIP~ons; Brock Pytel of that band -- and former drummer/ vocalist for the Doughboys -- designed the banner you see above, and has some history with ALL, he explains: "When my era of Doughboys toured with ALL, Dave Smalley was the singer. I met Chad later, possibly in Boston after I’d left the band. I remember telling him I was a big fan and loved the way he sang, to which he replied, he’d been inspired to sing that way by me. That’s the kind of gentleman he has always been." 

For his part, Brock's favourite Chad Price/ ALL song is "Shreen" ("though Chad would probably roll his eyes at that," he notes). 

This Wednesday's show at LanaLou's is just a teaser for a more significant coming-together of related bands, Brock explains, that will be taking place in mid-July, back east, where two of Price's other bands (Drag the River and the Chad Price Peace Coalition) will be playing alongside ALL at Büddies Fest in Tillsonburg, Ontario, with Scott Reynolds doing a separate set of his own. Brock also hints that "Greg Norton is doing Hüsker songs with Jon Snodgrass and David Jarnstrom" and that Brock may or may not have been "asked to sing a Grant song," though that gets away from all things ALL- and Chad Price-related. 

In anticipation of this Wednesday's show,  I did a brief email interview with Chad Price to talk about ALL, his new album (A Perfect Pearl) and various projects in-between, which run the gamut from American roots (Drag the River) to prog metal (A Vulture Wake). 

AM: Were you making music before you joined ALL? How old were you, and what were the circumstances of connecting with them? 

CP:   I’m from Kansas City, Missouri. Back when ALL was planning their move to Missouri from California I met Bill through a friend who had booked the band. We remained friends and my band at the time hung out with the guys and played barn parties together and shit like that. When Scott decided to quit, Bill hit me up and asked if I was interested. Of course I was, because ALL was my favorite band on the planet. He sent me some demos to check out and I drove out to Brookfield and recorded a couple songs. He then flew to L.A. to try others out. I got the job.

AM:  Curious about working with Bill! As I was telling Brock, my one interaction with him (gushing fanboy stuff after an ALL show here) was cut very short -- he had to get to the washroom and just didn't much seem to be into hearing me blurt how much I loved his songs -- it was like, "uh, thanks... I gotta pee," an indifferent mumble... Brock tells me he does warm up!

 
CP: Hahaha that sounds correct. Yes he does warm up but he’s not one for small talk. I’m not either so we often sit in silence together. Seriously though he’s a trip and a blast to talk to when you get to know each other.

AM:  Tell me about bringing songs to ALL? That must have been somewhat intimidating, if you were already a fan! What songs did you write with them? What was the first? Did they support and encourage it, or suggest changes, or...? 

 
CP: I was barely a guitar player but I tried to emulate the ALL sound anyway. The only pre -ALL song I had written that remained was "Original Me." The guitar riff is basically exactly what I wrote but when the three of them play the song it turns into an ALL song. And yes every time I ever showed a song to them it was intimidating. I was just a kid only beginning to write.

AM: Curious if you have a Milo story? (He also seems like a weird dude to me, based on seeing him with the Descendents a few years ago: he had what I was told, some sort of hydration unit strapped to his back, under his shirt, which made him look like he had a really square hunched back. I've never seen anyone perform in a getup like that and I think if I were going to wear a backpack live I would go with the "outside the shirt" look, rather than the "what's wrong with his back" look! https://www.reddit.com/r/Descendents/comments/6bbvtm/why_does_milo_wear_a_backpack_when_singing_live/

CP: He’s your basic nerd hahaha. He’s very kind and fairly normal. I met him when he did back up vocals on Breaking Things.

AM: What was your greatest moment with ALL?

CP: I got to do some very cool things for sure that I’ve taken for granted. I mean I played a song on Conan O’Brien and got put up in a fancy New York hotel room and rode in a limo and shit like that. Crazy stuff I never expected to happen. One great moment was when we had a sold out show at City Gardens in Jersey and I had zero voice. Bill called Milo to come sing instead of cancelling so I got to stand in the crowd and see Descendents for the first time.

AM: I gather there's some crossover between ALL and [Chad's subsequent band] Drag the River -- that a song you wrote on Mass Nerder, "Until I Say So," was originally written as a Drag the River song, and eventually recorded as one? How did that happen? Do you do other ALL songs (whether you wrote them originally or not) in your sets with the Chad Price Peace Coalition? Do you do any A Vulture Wake songs [Chad's prog-metal project]?

CP: Any song I would write I would run by everyone. I would write everything on acoustic so even if it was meant for ALL it sounded more acoustic based. If anyone liked a song we would figure out how to make it an ALL song no matter how simple the tune. These days I focus on my solo songs live but we’ll work in some fun surprises in the future.

AM: A Vulture Wake's song "The Fool Must Be Killed." I have some suspicions who the fool there must be, but...?

CP: You know exactly who the fool is and the song is more relevant than ever now.

AM: Aha. Indeed. Explain the band name A Vulture Wake to me? I'm curious if you named the band after the practice of Sky Burials. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_burial

CP: A vulture wake is a group of vultures feeding. I thought it was an appropriate name and very cool sounding as well. 

AM: For a band with prog roots, titling a song "Red" seems ballsy indeed! Somehow I think it's commenting on American politics again, but I can't pick out the lyrics... a dying clown? I don't hear a connection musically with King Crimson's "Red," so... not criticizing, just curious -- what about the song motivated that title? 

CP: No King Crimson connection there. You are correct in your American politics assessment. It was the fuel for the whole record. Drowning in red seas.

AM: If I can ask -- are you, as an American, doing okay? The mood up here is not good re: America right now. I was going to post the Exploited's "USA" on Facebook apropos of the tariffs but then I thought, "Wait, I have LOTS OF AMERICAN FRIENDS..." Then a local punk band started covering it...

 
CP: It’s so fucked up and I’m still shocked at how many were/are so easily duped by an obvious conman. Just so fucking despicable. I know the majority of Americans are not with this orange clown but the rightwing is so loud and dumb that it sure seems like they outnumber us.

AM: What is One Week Record? It is not actually a Peace Coalition record? It seems very roots-oriented. Was it made separately from -- at a different time from -- A Perfect Pearl? Do you do songs from it in your current set?

 
CP: A few years ago I put out a record on Joey Cape’s (Lagwagon) label One Week Records. It’s named this because artists spend a week at Joey’s house recording a record. It’s usually a stripped down acoustic record and the label model was a subscription that you bought to listen to the catalog. They wanted to release my full band record even though I didn’t record with Joey and I asked that vinyl was made, which they had never done. When it got a physical release it somehow became titled One Week Record which is idiotic hahahaha. It’s a Chad Price record but Chad Price Peace Coalition is just Chad Price with a full band. Our live set focuses on this record and the new record A Perfect Pearl.

AM: Aha. Okay, tell me about the title A Perfect Pearl? Again, there's some chutzpah in that title -- I think somehow of Big Thief calling their first album Masterpiece, though they undercut that quite a bit with an image of kids playing on the cover... 

CP: The title is a tribute to my little girl dog Pearl who we had to let go after I got home from recording.

AM: Oh, man, sorry to hear. Okay, a final question: given that you went from ALL to country music to prog metal, with a few stops in between, I wonder if the band name the Chad Price Peace Coalition is meant as an in-joke, that you're uniting all these genres in harmony -- a coalition of your musical influences?

CP: I didn’t think of it in that way but that’s exactly where I’m heading. I don’t want to be confined to a genre because I like a lot of different things.

Thanks to Chad Price for answering my questions! Check out the lead single from A Perfect Pearl, "A.M." (no relation to my initials, ha) here and the newest video, for "Rose," here. And note that the Tillsonberg weekend pass is a mere $174 CDN, which is actually almost affordable... if you want an excuse to fly to Ontario!

Meanwhile, speaking of the Doughboys, the last time I caught them, they had 7" of a session from 1987 on their merch table, named after the studio where it was recorded; you can hear it here. It's a three-song demo that first came out in 2003, though I believe the vinyl is new. 

Brock's history with that band and with the SLIP~ons is covered here; I don't know if there are still copies to be had at the merch table, but if so, it's a must-get, if you care about Canadian punk, with the songs likened to the poppier moments of Hüsker Dü on PunkNews. I don't have any other Doughboys material that Brock is on, personally, so I'm super glad to have added this to my collection!

For tickets to this week's Chad Price Peace Coalition shows, see his website! For Büddies Fest tickets, see here. 

Cousin Harley Plays the Blues: a live show note

 THIS JUST IN: if you can't get a ticket for tonight, take heart! A show has been added for next month at St. James! Yay! 

Selfie with Art Perry: I don't usually do these, but we had been gabbing for near an hour. Someone should interview this guy! Y'know that Ray Condo was his student? Jim Cummins, too. But there's so much more...

Anyhoo, as you see, I went out last night. It was an expensive way to reward myself for having survived the month of March, which involved both friends and family having surgery, a pre-tax-refund stretch of bein' broke, a death-march of transcription (which I have returned to) and some lower back pain from being sedentary too much, not to mention being capped off with two weeks of illness. I truly spoiled myself: Dinner at Frankie's + a taboo beer + a soggy tiramisu cost $65 with the tip (not bad but I coulda just stayed home and eaten what was already in the fridge! On the plus side, it was nice to have an alternative to my own cookin' -- there's a Larry Norman lyric about being stuck with your own cooking, maybe in his most playful song, and there really is a point where that becomes purgatorial, y'know?). More importantly, I snagged two Paul Pigat slabs o'vinyl ($60), his Ray Condo tribute and the one I just interviewed him about, which he was debuting; it was fun getting the whole band's signatures. Derry, the trumpet player, was the hardest one to track down, since I didn't see where he went: so I lurked outside the toilet for awhile, then went and checked out the front of the venue, where a couple players (let's leave them some privacy) were, I suspect, smoking something (but probably just tobacco; no vipers here, not even Stephen Nikleva). Then I went back to lurk by the toilets again, feeling kinda self-conscious, like -- "Look, Martha, there's that pathetic nerd with the Sharpie and the record again."

Fuck y'all, this is cool to own: 

But I'm still run down, and have a doctor's appointment at 9am -- the semi-annual "has your cancer come back" check up, which is kinda in my experience akin to a warranty (because my cancer didn't come back last time until after the warranty had run out -- err, after my doctor told me I was in the clear and could stop coming in; six months later, what's that sore on my tongue?). So I made my apologies, having got my rekkids signed during the mid-set break, and ducked out. I see from the setlist that in so doing I missed out on a trio-format "High and Wild" off the Ray Condo tribute, but c'est la vie (really, I coulda probably caught that and then ducked out, but I didn't actually read the setlist until after I got home: d'oh!). 

It was my first trip to Frankie's. Everything was decent, though David Matychuk had advised me to try the tortellini, which I could not see on the menu at all. But the guy beside me was having chicken linguine, and it looked great, so I went with that. It was definitely decent! My enthusiasm for any pasta meal often runs out before the pasta itself, but it was tasty and well-presented and came with focaccia slices with a balsamic/ oil dip. Honestly, the three best things about Frankie's weren't the food, but a) the sight lines, which are good from almost any seat, even the bar where Art and I were sitting; the sound, which was terrific; and the civilized audience, who -- even though Cory Weeds had joked about how the no-noise policy wasn't going to matter much, so fullsome was the band's sound, and told people, by way of alerting them to the policy, that they could pretty much ignore it -- did not make a single sound that *I* could hear over the music. Often restaurant gigs suck, because bands are hired as "background", but not at Frankie's, apparently. I'd go there again! 

My photos aren't very good, mind you, but who cares, Art Perry was there, go bug him! I did decide midway through the first set to lift my camera and shoot vid, and was surprised and delighted that Paul proceeded to namecheck me in introducing the next song, "Down in Mexico," which rearranges the Coasters original quite a bit. I get namechecked infrequently by musicians, and never when I've got vid rollin'. Great song, great arrangement. I imagined Melody Mangler suddenly manifesting from the wings (she was present the last time I saw Paul, at the Rickshaw, doing a solo set opening for Los Furios). Or did I see him one time after that, with Mike van Eyes? (Nope, that was the week before). 

 Art joked as we walked to the Skytrain that he was going to get himself a red bandanna: I guess he dug "Down in Mexico" too.

The thing about last night that people should bear in mind: this is not what Paul usually does. This band is so tight, so skilled, and the music such a joy to listen to that it really does put an imperative on you: if you like bluesy jazz, as led by a rockabilly virtuoso, you really really should see if there are tickets to Frankie's tonight, because there might not be another chance. There hadn't been, earlier -- the words "sold out" were on the page, as they are now, but then it turned out when I clicked there was one seat at the bar that opened up. It's not optimum, being at a 90 degree angle to the band, seated on a bar seat that has no room for re-positioning, but if you twist your ass around and get your left foreleg up on the seat, you can actually get a pretty good view. My leg didn't even fall asleep, and I only kicked Art a little. 

He forgave me!