Hibernation blues

There'll be stuff coming soon. These 9 months in Korea have brought about a slew of new tunes.

Young Men Blues: Jonny T-Bird and The MPs in Waukesha, WI

The audience may have been sparse, but no matter: it didn't stop them from delivering a tight, rocking 3-part set. Jonny T-Bird and the MPs plowed through their Waukesha debut at Magellan's last night, and though I've said this before, I'm continually amazed at the depth and breadth of their material. Every time I see them they've learned 2 or 300 new songs. Young blues fans, take note: listen to these guys and expand your mind. B.B. King may be the perennial image of the blues, but the genre runs deeper than that. Last night they grooved through numbers by Lonnie Mack, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and my favorite, Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers. Jonny and co. brought two of their songs to life. Hound Dog's ragged, slide-driven style doesn't easily lend itself to covers, but the MP's did it well. Drummer Isaac Berg and bassist Brian Morrison held down the beat and smoothed out some of the rough edges in the shuffling “She's Gone.” Similarly, they recreated the down-and-out-at-3am-blues of “It Hurts Me Too” with that moaning slide guitar and that bruised vocal. Isaac's drums were a close study of the original, all syncopated, and jittery. But, they're more than just a blues cover band: the MP's set included classic rockers like “Come Together” and “Born On The Bayou,” as well as Jonny's original blues songs. His “Blues For Asperger's” could stand as the international anthem for those, like Jonny, who have that condition. His guitarwork drips with emotion—he puts everything he has into his guitar playing and it shows in his meticulous playing. He is more than just a student of the blues, he's a purveyor of it. The same goes for his bandmates. Don't let their ages fool you: Isaac, Brian, and Jonny know their stuff.

Check out their Facebook page for upcoming gig info.

Full disclosure time: Like many of the Milwaukee bands I write (or will write) about here, these guys are my friends and I'm writing about them because I want to spread the word about their music. I introduced Jonny to Hound Dog Taylor through a mix CD I made for him. I've helped him write songs. Like he said at Magellan's, I co-wrote the tongue-in-cheek “Ice Your Cake” with him. But I must say this: Jonny did most of the writing though—I helped with writing the 12-bar G shuffle, a few lyrics, and made suggestions for revising the song. I do feel honored at the co-credit and thank him for giving me the shout-out onstage.

Playlist: February and March 2011 in Review

The New Stuff

February

• Joan Jett
  • Desire, I Myself For Loving You, I Still Dream About You, Tulane (Chuck Berry) [Up Your Alley, 1988]
• Lou Reed
  • How Do You Think It Feels?, Caroline Says I, Heroin [Rock 'n' Roll Animal, 1974]
• Modern Machines
  • Cheap Rent, Cheap Food, Cheap Beer, You're Getting Married [Take It, Somebody!, 2006]
• Muddy Waters
  • Stuff You Gotta Watch, Got My Mojo Workin', Rock Me, I'm Ready, and many others from The Chess Box.
• Drive By Truckers
  • The Weakest Man, Go-Go Boots, Everybody Needs Love (Eddie Hinton), Mercy Buckets, Used to be a Cop [Go-Go Boots, 2011]
  • Buttholeville/State Trooper (live) [Sometimes Late at Night EP, 2011]
• Ramma Lamma
  • Tiger Don't Change Its Stripes, Truthin' [Tiger Don't Change Its Stripes 7”, 2011]
• The Wanton Looks
• Electromagnetic Force, Worst Side of Me, Demons [Wanton Looks, 2009]

March

• John Williams/Star Wars
  • Main Title, Throne Room/End Credits [A New Hope, 1977]
• Patti Smith
  • So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star, Citizen Ship [Wave, 1979]
• Lou Reed
  • Sad Song, Oh, Jim, I'm Waiting for the Man [Lou Reed Live, 1975]
• Sleater-Kinney
  • Entertain, Modern Girl, Let's Call it Love [The Woods, 2005]
• Black Keys
  • Everlasting Light, Tighten Up, Ten Cent Pistol [Brothers, 2010]
• Plumtree
  • Scott Pilgrim [Predicts the Future]
• Mika
  • Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) [Life in Cartoon Motion, 2007]

The Old Favorites

• The Pretenders
  • Everything on Extended Play: Message of Love, Talk of the Town, Porcelain, Cuban Slide, Precious (live) [1981]
  • Back on the Chain Gang, Middle of the Road, My City was Gone [Learning to Crawl, 1984]
• Joan Jett
  • I Love Rock 'n' Roll, Cherry Bomb, Fake Friends, Light of Day [Fit to be Tied]
  • Star Star, Nitetime [Album, 1983]
  • Frustrated, Talkin' 'Bout My Baby [Glorious Results of a Misspent Youth]
• Velvet Underground
  • Velvet Underground
  • Ocean, Sweet Bonnie Brown, Heroin, What Goes On, and others [Live 1969]
• ZZ Top
  • PCH, Cherry Red [Antenna]
  • Greatest Hits
• Drive-By Truckers
• Rolling Stones – anything they recorded between 1968 and 1972

Top 10 Albums (draft)

The exact order of these changes all the time, but the following accounts for my all time favorite albums:

• The Kinks - Arthur, Or The Decline and Fall of the British Empire
• Tegan and Sara - The Con
• Motorhead - Ace of Spades
• Ramones - Leave Home
• Chuck Berry - The Great 28
• The Who - Live at Leeds, Quadrophenia
• Radio Birdman - Radios Appear
• Stooges - Fun House
• Rolling Stones - Exile on Main St.

Suicidal Tendencies - How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today

Favorite tracks: Trip at the Brain, How Will I Laugh Tomorrow, If I Don't Wake Up, Sorry?!, The Feeling's Back  

My kind of metal. It just might be the punk/metal hybrid. This is what Join the Army should’ve sounded like—live, loud, and alive, to quote Loudness. The vocals sound more confident, the guitars grind, and the drums pound. Mike Muir’s introspective lyrics cry out in desperation, yet maintain a positive undercurrent. In the chorus of the closing track, he exclaims, “I’m gonna fight, I’m gonna live!” as if his life depends on it. Maybe it did. The rest of the band rocks out like their lives depend on it, deluging the record with some of the best riffs Metallica never wrote.

Hell, before I heard this album, I held up Ride the Lightning as the metal album for riffs, but not anymore. How Will I Laugh narrowly beats it not only because of the consistently exemplary riffing, but because of the overall songwriting. While I’ve always enjoyed Metallica, I relate more to ST’s lyrics than I ever did to Metallica because Muir writes songs about insecurity, alienation, and angry. And though Metallica delivered the anger in spades, Muir’s brand of anger’s inner-directed. Unlike many other metal singers/writers, Muir isn’t afraid to expose his vulnerabilities. His literal lyrics read more like sentences ripped from his journal than “proper” stanzas, but this works in his favor because when combined with the manic energy of the music, it gives the songs a desperate quality. I’ve never been one for grandiosity or pomposity—the more down to earth, the better—and Muir/ST don’t put on any airs with their music here.

I don’t think I can say much more without stepping on what Mark Prindle already noted in his review of this album. I’d like to second what he said about the album’s mix: Muir’s vocals and Rocky George’s lead guitar are mixed alongside the backing/rhythm tracks instead of being mixed on top of them. I like how this aspect of the mix allows the solos/vocals to be heard without overshadowing the other instruments. I know of few other albums with this sound. Blue Oyster Cult’s first LP had it. That’s the only album I can think of. But above all, I dig this album. 9/10.

The Monitors - S/T

(Revised from 16 Jan 2011's original draft)

The Monitors – S/T (2003? 2005?)

A1. Electric Knife

A2. Fungus Boy

B1. Missing Hand

B2. Bubble Drome

Yeah! This was the first Milwaukee punk band I saw, back in April or May of 2006 at the now defunct Riverwest Commons. I was 19. The Monitors blew me away—what a sight they were. Wendy (keyboards/vocals) wore a plastic toy motorcycle cop helmet, Ryan (bass) looked slutty in drag, and Mechadrum beat the crap out of his drum kit. No guitar. Jokey horror themes. Fast, funny songs. I got loaded on mixed drinks because like all other new drinkers, I drank too hard too quickly.

Ryan and Wendy have since been in Plexi-3 and have now formed Ramma Lamma with Jered from the Reckless Hearts. When I saw Ramma Lamma opening for White Mystery (see below),they had a box of 7”s at the merch table to flip through. I found the Monitors 7” in there and I jumped. Here was a piece of my history, an out of print record and a concrete link to a ½ remembered, but nonetheless fun time.

As I played it again, the memories came back. The drums sound tighter than I remember, probably because of the studio production. A sweet little record, one of three the band made. 4 songs worth of keyboard driven punk.

A tentative timetable/Action plan

When I started this page, I envisioned it as an outgrowth of my handwritten journals. I like to do multiple drafts of whatever I write, so I think of these journals as drafts or notes for future posts. Not much of what I've written in my three journals has made it up here yet. Here's an iternary for stuff I want to rewrite and post soon:


Joan Jett
Lou Reed
Drive-By Truckers
The Gossip
Various Mix Tapes
The Monitors, or Milwaukee/Riverwest bands
Suicidal Tendencies
Guided By Voices
Urge Overkill
Green Day
L7
Chrome