Zander Schloss In-Store on Sunday! (plus Circle Jerks)

Well this is fun: Zander Schloss of the Circle Jerks is going to do an acoustic in-store at Neptoon Records prior to the Circle Jerks show at the Commodore this coming Sunday. It's not a punk rock set, but acoustic folk, and considering Zander's 40+ year career in music and film, it's really pretty easy to be completely caught up on what to expect, in case you haven't been following; and you might really enjoy the experience, if you're a Circle Jerks fan, or a fan of movies like Repo Man, Straight to Hell, or even Walker (especially the soundtrack, which makes superb use of Zander's skill with Latin stringed instruments and marks the first album-length collaboration with Joe Strummer, tho' Joe did co-write "Salsa Y Ketchup" before that)... It's free, and Zander will have copies of his solo album, which isn't in any of the record stores up here yet. You can also bring your Repo Man or Straight to Hell memorabilia or, say, your copy of Joe Strummer's Earthquake Weather (or Joe Strummer 001) for Zander to sign. It's a pretty rare opportunity, really...!

...but you might want to check out some of his music, first. Zander Schloss' first solo album, Song About Songs, is out now on Blind Owl Records; it's also on bandcamp. Part one of my interview with him is here; I am holding off on part two until we have fresh photos from Vancouver. But Zander's done something very smart - not unlike what Paul Leary did for his recent solo album: he's put out some terrific rock videos to promote the album. Probably the best one to start with is "I Have Loved the Story of My Life," which is done with marionettes, representing different iterations of Zander in film and music, from Kevin the nerd in Repo Man to Karl the Wiener Boy in Straight to Hell to his tenure in the Latino Rockabilly War with Joe Strummer to  the "punk rock Zander" of the Weirdos and Circle Jerks. The song is quite moving and reflective, expressing gratitude for the experiences that have brought him where he is. 

That's a fun video - the marionette use is brilliant - but I actually kind of prefer the mini-biker movie that he's made out of "Dead Friend Letter," a toe-tapping tune that reminds me a bit of Mississippi John Hurt, whose upbeat qualities mask a darker theme: the letter is a suicide note. Zander plays the suicide, and the film seems to be a bit of a cautionary tale. It fits in nicely with a somewhat jazzier song called "My Dear Blue," in which Zander addresses depression itself. 

There's also "The Road" and "Song About Songs," which is literally a song about songs, with a melody a bit similar to the old folk song "Long Black Veil." There's another version of that song on one of Zander's albums with Sean Wheeler, but most of the vocals on those records are by Wheeler, I believe. Zander and I didn't talk about those albums much, since there seemed to be some trouble around the way that duo fell out and not much bearing on what Zander will be doing on Sunday (tho' there are some great songs, like "Good Pussy," say). 

Y'all might want to check out "Straight to Hell," too - Zander's cover of the Clash song; or check out Zander with Joe Strummer, doing this superb version of the song with the Latino Rockabilly War. 

See, that's not so bad - you're all caught up! (Tho' you might also be amused to see how the Circle Jerks have edited Zander into their video for "Wild in the Streets.") Wait, there are still tickets available for the Circle Jerks? Really? (See my previous post about the Circle Jerks and openers 7 Seconds here).