RiffRaf

What Ever Happened to Mazzy Star (An Update)?

   

In the post What Ever Happened to Mazzy Star (7/5/11), we told you that the duo might be working on a new album. Well, it has been confirmed. In October 2011, Mazzy Star released their first new material in fifteen years with the double a-sided single "Common Burn/Lay Myself Down." Later this year, they will release their fourth studio album.

Mazzy Star is best known for the atmospheric song "Fade Into You," their biggest hit, which brought them acclaim in the mid 90s.

However after their third album, Among My Swan (1996), vocalist Hope Sandoval and guitarist David Roback parted ways. Sandoval went on to collaborate with Jesus and Mary Chain, Massive Attack, Bert Jansch and The Chemical Brothers before forming her own band, Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions, while David Roback has worked with Beth Orton and Sacred Miracle Cave and written songs for the film Clean. 

In a July 2009 interview with Rolling Stone, Sandoval claimed that Mazzy Star had been working on its fourth album: "It's true we're still together." 

Hope wasn't just building up our hopes; she was telling the truth. Mazzy Star has been working on new material. Meanwhile, the band is on tour with original band members Suki Ewers and Keith Mitchell.

Discography: 

She Hangs Brightly (1990)

So Tonight That I Might See (1993)

Among My Swan (1996)

New Album (Late 2012)

           

5 Things That Make Adam Yauch Great

   
On May 4, 2012 Adam Yauch, aka MCA, aka Nathanial Hornblower, succumbed to cancer at 47. A great musician, accomplished director, and philanthropist, today we'd like to pay tribute to the late rapper by highlighting five of the many things that make him great.

5. He Wrote an Amazing Letter to the New York Times

In 2004, a New York Times critic wrote a negative review to the Beastie Boys’ music video “Ch-Check It Out." Borrowing the same pseudonym he directs under, Nathanial Hornblower, Yauch responded with a bizarre letter proclaiming his genius and reminding the critic that she owes him a goat after his died en route to deliver his letter from the high cliffs of his remote homeland. It’s definitely worth checking out: (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/20/arts/20MAIL.html).

4. He was a Director

Yauch directed some of the Beastie Boys’ best videos, including “Intergalactic,” “Make Some Noise” and the epic thirty-minute, star-filled "Fight For Your Right (revisited)." Yauch also directed the 2006 Beastie Boys' film “Awesome; I Fucking Shot That” and the 2008 documentary “Gunnin’ For That #1 Spot.”

3. He was a Philanthropist

Yauch was a supporter of the Free Tibet movement. In addition to creating the Milarepa Fund, a non-profit dedicated to Tibetan independence, he organized the Tibetan Freedom Concert in 1996, which drew over a 100,000 people. In the wake of 9/11, Yauch helped organize the benefit concert New Yorkers Against violence along with his Beastie Boys cohorts.

2. He Founded Oscilloscope Laboratories

Started in 2002 as a record label, Yauch’s Oscilloscope Laboratories quickly branched out into film. Adam had a vision for his company, selecting a wide variety of films including the Banksy documentary “Exit Through The Gift Shop” and the school shooting drama “We Need To Talk About Kevin.” Yauch was a big fan of both films: “I’d say the common thread is really just films that I and other people at the company like…You have to feel like the film has some redeeming quality, feel moved by it for some reason.”

1. He Gave Us The Beastie Boys

You love the Beastie Boys. I love the Beastie Boys. We love the Beastie Boys. Who doesn’t? Adam Yauch co-founded the group when he was just seventeen. They started out as a hardcore punk group before embracing hip-hop and becoming the band that gave the world “No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn” and “Sabotage."

             

(Elford Alley has written plays, sketch comedy, and short stories. He currently lives in Dallas with his wife and daughter. Follow Elford on Twitter.)

Lost Gems: "Starry Eyes" by The Records

                                                

Released: 1979

Genre: Power Pop

"The British Big Star." Those four words have already sent some of you racing over to iTunes. The rest of you are asking, "Who's Big Star?" That's unfortunate. Not as unfortunate as some younger folks asking, "What the heck is a record?" But that's my issue, so we'll move on.

To power pop fans, "Big Star," "The Beatles," "Raspberries," and "Badfinger" are the Holy Grail. When a band is compared to them, you pay attention and hope they stick around.

However, the rise and fall of The Records was so swift, the band should have sued everyone in sight for whiplash. But knowing these boys, they would have eventually sued each other. 

After a brief stint together in Kursaal Flyers in 1977, Will Birch asked John Wicks if he wanted to write some songs; he had been impressed with Wicks' sense of pop melody. Wicks, the rhythm guitarist in Kursaal Flyers, would become the singer of The Records; Birch would stick to his drums.

Bass player Phil Brown answered Birch and Wicks' ad in Melody Maker. They placed a second ad, and two hundred guitarists later, they found the left-handed, Huw Gower.

In 1978, Dave Edmunds put music to some lyrics Will Birch had written called "A1 on The Jukebox." Around the same time, a Wicks/Birch song, "Hearts In Her Eyes," was recorded by The Searchers, and still another song was recorded by Rachel Sweet. None of the songs were hits, but it didn't matter.

The Records recorded a new song called "Starry Eyes" and the band rose like a comet. 

The new single was a power pop masterstroke, and the band knew it. The song features ringing guitars, memorable hooks and great harmonies. What's not to like? The record companies noticed and came after them hard.

By 1979, they were signed to Virgin Records, and a young hotshot producer was brought in, Robert "Mutt" Lange, whose credits included the Boomtown Rats and would soon become one of the most successful producers in the history of pop music (Def Leppard, The Cars, Shania Twain). 

Their U.S. debut, The Records, was well received, and the band was taken on a whirlwind promotional tour. Bands they loved, like the dB's opened for them. They met celebrities, went to parties in limos, opened for The Cars in Central Park, they were giving dozens of interviews and Billy Joel even gave them ties. It looked like nothing could stop them.

According to Birch, after the 1979 U.S. tour, the band made "two big mistakes." The first was the firing of Huw Gower. The second mistake was not bringing back Mutt Lange to produce the second record. But as Birch notes, "I'm not sure he would have stuck around." He probably wouldn't have. In the next eighteen months, Lange would produce AC/DC's Back in Black, Def Leppard's High 'n' Dry and Foreigner's 4.

The second album, Crashes, and the 1980 tour wasn't as much fun. There were no limos, they had to ride public transportation, carrying their own instruments. In seven weeks they did not give a single interview and Billy Joel did not show up with any ties.

After a third record, Music on Both Sides (1982), was shelved by Virgin, the boys went their separate ways. Phil Brown passed away earlier this year; Will Birch became a music critic and published a biography of Ian Dury of The Stone Roses in 2010; John Wicks still plays with a version of the band and Huw Gower has recorded for his own label.

Maybe this should serve as a cautionary tale of some kind. Don't take others for granted? Appreciate what you have? Maybe. But I say screw it, put on some headphones, turn up the volume and listen to this great, great single.

Just do it. I don't want to argue. 

          

(Jim Pace can usually be found directing music videos in and around NYC. He will begin production on his first feature film in 2013. He spends his spare time writing songs, screenplays and getting involved in anything that will give him an excuse to listen to more music.)  

Hal Sirowitz: Being Human (Part II)

                                        

                                                             (Photograph by Kim Soles)                                                                                

                                            Pretending 

 We went to Dan Lynch's, & listened

to White musicians pretending that they

were Black. And the people next to us jumped

up & down, pretending that they were rock stars.

And I put my hand on your knee, pretending

that I was your lover. You remained aloof. Why

did you have to be the only one who insisted on being yourself?

“Pretending" is set in Dan Lynch’s, a classic NYC club. Have you ever been there? If so, did you go specifically to see a band? 

I was actually at the music bar, Dan Lynch, on a date. She was a German artist. I put my hand on her leg before the music started. She told me her female roommate was her lover. That was news to me. I took my hand off her leg. She asked me why I didn’t go for men. I told her that men never attracted me. I don’t remember the band much, except for the fact that they were all male and their loud music made it very difficult to continue our conversation, which I was grateful for.

The line “white musicians pretending that they were black” brought several musicians to mind. What white musicians do you think pretend to be black? Why do you think they behave in this manner?

Elvis Presley purposely sounded like a Black man. He sang that way to make money and meet a need. I always liked the film, “Field of Dreams.” There was a line in the movie. “If there’s a need, people will come.” There was a need for the White race to meet the Black race on different terms. Music reflects what goes on in real life.

The Black Panthers were popular while I was going to college. At Washington Square College, New York University, I was in an honors seminar with Ralph Ellison, author of The Invisible Man. He kept saying that society was going to appropriate Black culture. That’s what Elvis did until he took so many pills and got too fat – he had to wear a girdle – to shake. I don’t mean to put down Elvis. I felt sorry for his later life. He had a bad manager who exploited him – put him in too many second-rate movies. 

I was struck by the line “the people next to us jumped 
up & down, pretending that they were rock stars.” They’re the audience not performers and yet they're "pretending to be rock stars." Why do you think some people have such a desire to be on stage? What’s the appeal of being a rock star?

The appeal of being a rock star is fame and more fame. People think it’ll be easier to meet others if you’re already famous. That may be true. But then again did anyone really know Elvis? He was surrounded by his bodyguards. He had very little privacy. When Elvis got married the first thing his wife did was to make a bonfire to burn his books. She was trying to change him. People change slowly.

I’m famous but my fame is only spread among the poetry scene. I have limited fame. That’s the best kind. When I was in Paris – I went there partly to meet a Parisian girlfriend but ended up meeting an American one – I met a young woman who told me she was going to be famous. I said in what area. She said she didn’t know yet, but whatever it was, she was going to achieve fame. I felt sorry for her. She was too driven.

It reminded me of the Phil Ochs' song, “Chords of Fame.” There’s a line that goes, “Whatever you do, don’t play the chords of fame.” This woman was strumming them a little too loud for my taste. It’s like Zen. If you strive for fame, you don’t achieve it. You can only get true fame by not seeking it.

Two of the poem’s central themes are pretense and duplicity. How do you think clubs/bars contribute to a person’s desire to be somebody else or something they’re not?

The music scene is set up for pretending you’re someone else. Look at Janis Joplin – she was a star and yet she still pretended she was popular. If the stars pretend they’re popular, so will the audience. I’ve always liked the Judy Collins’ song, “You make up your memories and think they have found you.” Or like The Kinks wrote, “It’s a mixed-up shook-up world where boys pretend to be girls and girls pretend to be boys.” Bob Dylan wasn’t his real name. Or like the Stones sang, “What can a poor boy do but join a rock & roll band.’ Mick Jagger wasn’t poor. He went to the London School of Economics. In fact, I fantasized about being a rock & roll star along with thousands of other fans.

One of my most memorable moments was when I was told by the owner of an East Side book store that Bruce Springsteen walked in, took my first book from a display, started reading it, then began laughing. Then he bought two copies of my book by check. The owner promised to give me the cancelled check, but he never did. Now the store is closed.

What has been your most memorable live music experience?

When I went to hear Barry Harris play piano at the Jazz Cultural theatre. Harris used to live in the same house in New Jersey with Theolonius Monk and the Countess who took care of them. Monk was a genius pianist and composer who had severe mental problems. Some days he would wake up and not recognize his wife and kids. He acted like they were strangers. Barry would play Monk compositions, like “Around Midnight.”

I empathized with the jazz world, because they were at the lowest end of the music world, like poets being at the lowest end of the writing world. Barry would play Monk’s songs and it felt like they were touching my soul. I felt close to Monk, even though we were entirely different personalities that came from totally different backgrounds.

What are your favorite spots for live music/performance? 

I’ve been to Webster Hall with a date to hear The Smithereens. They didn’t impress me. They sounded like a modern day louder version of The Monkees – canned music.

I went to Madison Square Garden with a friend to hear Ike and Tina Turner open for the Rolling Stones. I fell in love with Tina. One of the first questions I asked a woman who I was interested in dating was who did she like better – the Stones or Beatles. If she said the Stones, then she passed the test. If she said the Beatles, I’d ask her who was her favorite one. If she said John Lennon, I’d still ask her out. If she said Ringo Starr, I wouldn’t even bother getting her phone number.

I went to hear Chubby Checker perform at the Fillmore East. I was impressed by his piano playing.

My biggest regret was not going to Woodstock. The friends I was planning to go with chickened out, because they thought they would be busted for drug use. They got paranoid.

I heard Holly Neat and Sweet Honey and the Rock at Carnegie Hall. I remember Holly liberating the men’s bathrooms, telling the women in the audience that they shouldn’t be afraid to use the male facilities. I agreed with her until I had to use the bathroom and had to wait while liberated women cut ahead of me in line.

On Writer’s Almanac, you mentioned your book Stray Cat Blues. Can you talk a little about the title and why you appropriated The Rolling Stones’ song?

Titles cannot be copyrighted. Therefore, anyone can use them. I have another poem, which I use a poplar song title as my title - "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do."

“We don’t have anything in common,”/ I said. “We’re two completely different people./ It doesn’t make sense to stay together.”/ But then she started to rub my penis/ through my pants, & I suddenly remembered / that we both did like Indian food.

"Stray Cat Blues" is the title of a poem in my new collection. I like stray cats, though I’m allergic to them, which is one of the themes in my work – the mind is sometimes a step ahead of the body. 

                  

Hal Sirowitz: Being Human (Part I)

                                                                  
                                                                                                                   (Photograph by Kim Soles)
In our Writers and Music series, authors either discuss the music that has been included in their novel/poems or the influence music has had on their work overall.

Hal Sirowitz first began to attract attention at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe where he was a frequent competitor in their Friday Night Poetry Slam. He was a member of the 1993 Nuyorican Poetry Slam team and competed in the National Poetry Slam.

Sirowitz has performed his poetry across the country and on television programs such as MTV's Spoken Word: Unplugged and PBS's The United States of Poetry.

He is best known for Mother Said, My Therapist Said and Father Said. Sirowitz is a 1994 recipient of an NEA Fellowship in Poetry and is the former Poet Laureate of Queens, New York. He is the best-selling translated poet in Norway, where Mother Said has been adapted for the stage and turned into a series of animated cartoons. Sirowitz worked as a special education teacher for 23 years.

Our conversation with Hal is in two parts. Below is part one. Check back tomorrow (5/4) for part two.

Gena Anderson at Bookslut called you “a poor man’s Woody Allen.” What do you think she was suggesting?

I thought of adopting a Bob Dylan persona for interviews and attacking the interviewer. But I like being interviewed. It makes you define yourself. I have a love/hate relationship with Woody Allen. “Manhattan” is one of my favorite all time movies. I hated “Interiors.” Just like Bob Dylan, I expected Woody Allen to reflect my life. I consider them brothers in the arts.

I was devastated listening to “Lay Lady Lay” when it was first played on the radio. That song didn’t have the angst of his previous ones. It didn’t teach me anything about relationships, except to look for sex – something I already knew and wasn’t helpful in keeping the relationship solvent. I thought Dylan was selling out. Now I know he was only being human.

The good thing about poetry is there isn’t much money in it. That gives you freedom to do what you want and to become incognito while doing it. I was never under the gun, like Woody Allen and Bob Dylan, to compete against myself. I wrote some bad poems, like “Lay Lady Lay," but they have gone unnoticed. I think I’m smart enough not to put any of my real bad poems in one of my collections.

How has music informed your poetry?

I compose my poems while listening to music. I like Paul Williams, Mikail Gilmore, and others who wrote about music. I like Townes Van Zandt, and was surprised to know that someone who got more depressed than me was able to put his depression into song. You can’t separate music from my work. I started out wanting to be a poetical version of Bob Dylan, only to give up that fantasy to find my own voice.

You've been a “slam” poet. Do you view yourself as a performer? 

I was selected to be on Spoken Word Unplugged with John Hall, leader of the band King Missile and Gil Scott Heron. Performing has always been part of my act. I do a dead-pan performance. Then I developed Parkinson’s Disease, which slurred my speech. I had a brain operation – batteries and electrodes put into my chest and head. I’m the authentic electrical man the poet Walt Whitman wrote about.

Tell me about your relationship with They Might be Giants.

I was the opening act for They Might Be Giants when they were first starting out at a lower East Side club called Darinka. I remember performing four sets in two nights. I was called the “Mother Said” poet, but I never told my mother I was writing about her. I was afraid she might hit me over the head. 

John Flansburg brought me to his studio - his old apartment where he lived before he got married - to record me performing my poetry. In those days they had their own music label and would record friends and bands that they liked. 

On the radio show “Studio 360,” John Linnnel claimed that their song, "Palindrome," was influenced by my "mother" poems. They were great guys. John Flansburg had a lot of energy and while his main band was resting between gigs, he’d put together another band to perform. He had a show at Mercury Lounge and had me as their opening act for old- time sake. It was a standing room only crowd.

I got on stage and said, “I forgot to bring my guitar. I guess I’ll just have to read this stuff.” There was total silence in the room. Then a few people started laughing. I read my golden oldies – old poems guaranteed to get a reaction from the crowd. After my reading a couple of women declared they were fans and gave me rocks as presents.

What song/album/musician/band has directly influenced your writing?

When I was young I got blown away by the song “Purple People Eater” and Buddy Holly’s “It’s So Easy to Fall in Love.” He was right. It’s harder to find someone who falls in love with you. I always liked Leonard Cohen because he was a poet first and became a songwriter later. He’s not as good live as he is recorded. I liked the compilation albums of other singers recording his songs.

I love the blues – Mississippi John Hurt, John Lee Hooker, etc. I like Billie Holiday – she sings depressing songs in an uplifting manner. I like Cleo Laine – she sings Broadway classics with soul. I like J.J. Cale. The list is endless. I even like early Neil Diamond.

             

Ten Things About Jack White

                         

Who said there are no young guitar gods?

Ever since Jack White burst on the scene, fronting The White Stripes, he’s played a sound all his own. Incorporating a wide array of pedals and amps, he seamlessly plays bass, rhythm, and lead, often employing power chord hooks and blues-infused leads.

Here are ten things about one of our favorite guitar heroes:

10. Man of Many Bands

The White Stripes. The Raconteurs. The Dead Weather. All amazing bands, all fronted by Jack White. When a musician leaves a successful group, his next venture more often than not tends to be similar. Mick Jagger. Hello. But with The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather, Jack White and his band mates bring something very different to the table every time. 

9. Produced Loretta Lynn Album

In 2004, Jack White both produced and performed on Loretta Lynn's Van Lear Rose. The album was a major crossover hit and found universal acclaim.

8. He's an Actor

From his uncredited role as an altar boy in 1987’s The Rosary Murders, Jack White has sporadically appeared in various films throughout his career. His first major role was in the 2003 Civil War drama Cold Mountain, of which he also contributed to the soundtrack. He also appeared as Elvis in the 2007 comedy Walk Hard.

7. C0-wrote a "Bond" Song

That’s right. Collaborating with Alicia Keys, Jack White composed the song “Another Way To Die” for the 2008 James Bond movie Quantum of Solace. While the film is less than stellar, the song is fantastic.

6. Owned an Upholstery Business

This should be of no surprise. After all, his first band was called “The Upholsterers.” For years, Jack White was the proprietor of Third Man Upholstery, where he adopted a yellow and black color scheme for his van and uniform, but eventually went out of business due to his habit of transcribing poetry on the inside of furniture and writing bills in crayon.

5. Married Model and Musician Karen Elson

Not much to say about this one except good for you, Jack White. Good for you.

4. Fan of the Blues

He’s regularly covered greats like Son House. He considers Son House’s “Grinnin’ In Your Face” his favorite song, and his appreciation of the Delta Blues has been instrumental in his unique sound.

3. Almost Became a Priest

During an interview with 60 Minutes in 2005, Jack White told Mike Wallace that as a child he had been accepted into a seminary school in Wisconsin, and had planned on becoming a priest. Instead, he opted to go to public school and pursue his interest in music. Thank God, right?

2. Featured in Two Documentaries

That’s right, not one, but two. In 2009, he appeared in The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights which followed him and band mate Meg White as they played a show in every single Canadian province and territory. He was also featured in the 2009 documentary It Might Get Loud, where he traded licks and stories with Jimmy Page and The Edge.

1. Just Released First Solo Album

Yep, the guy who has fronted three amazing bands and played with everyone from Jeff Beck to Bob Dylan has finally got around to releasing a solo album. April 24^th saw the release of his debut solo album, Blunderbuss.

As to why he’s waited so long to release a solo album, he had this to say: "I've put off making records under my own name for a long time but these songs feel like they could only be presented under my name. These songs were written from scratch, had nothing to do with anyone or anything else but my own expression, my own colors on my own canvas."

             

(Elford Alley has written plays, sketch comedy, and short stories. He currently lives in Dallas with his wife and daughter. Follow Elford on Twitter.) 

In the Beginning: Alabama Shakes

   

Four years ago, Alabama Shakes was an unknown, high school band from Athens, Alabama. Now they're playing sold out shows, appearing at SXSW, performing on the David Letterman Show, Conan and Later...With Jools Holland and touring the States in support of their debut album, Boys & Girls, which was released earlier this month.

When singer Brittany Howard first approached bassist Zac Cockrell about starting a band, they had no idea what kind of a band it would be. They experimented with everything from progressive rock to country. As Howard described it: “We started to come across our own sound a little bit, though it's evolved a lot since then."

With the addition of drummer Steve Johnson, a punk and metal aficionado, they embraced a soulful rock sound, one proudly showing its blues roots. Heath Fogg, a well-known local guitarist joined after asking the group to open for his own band; they agreed as long as Fogg played with them. The guitarist obliged, later joining Alabama Shakes as a full-time member, and the line-up was complete.

Alabama Shakes got their start playing dives and empty clubs, rounding out sets with covers as they wrote original material and crafted their sound. The band grooves on stage, employing a raucous blues-rock and soul sound, while playing covers as varied as Otis Redding and AC/DC. Brittany Howard tears it up with her powerful, mournful vocals. In a recent interview with American Songwriter Howard said, “We definitely paid our dues.” 

Their first single “Hold On," a song about staying strong, illustrates their signature mix of blues, rock and soul. The band also conducted a recent web exclusive performance of the song “I Ain’t The Same.”

One of their biggest challenges has been to record an album that showcases their greatest strength - live performance. While Boys & Girls doesn't quite capture the energy of Alabama Shakes' live show, their debut is a damn good rock and roll record and a fine introduction to a band that possesses a bright future.

            

(Elford Alley has written plays, sketch comedy, and short stories. He currently lives in Dallas with his wife and daughter. Follow Elford on Twitter.) 

Lost Gems: "Break it All" by Los Shakers

  

Released: 1965

Genre: Pop/Rock

 

This one goes in the hard to believe box. You remember the British Invasion, right? Did you know there was a Uruguayan Invasion? Neither did I. 

Back in the mid 1960s, at the height of Beatlemania, these four "clean cut" kids from Uruguay, cut their hair into moptops, put on "Beatle" suits and made a Beatle-like splash in South America. 

And when I say Beatle-like, I mean they recorded similar music, wore the same clothes, made the same type of promo films and even took the same photographs! Did you ever see the picture of The Fab Four getting off the plane at JFK? So did Los Shakers.

  
It all started when brothers Hugo and Osvaldo Fattoruso watched A Hard Day's Night and were inspired to write songs and start a group of their own. In 1966, they recorded the album Break It All, which is filled with jangly guitars and some broken English, and was a hit in Uruguay and Argentina.

At first, I thought they were doing a Latin Rutles-style mockumentary. I mean they couldn't be serious, could they? They were.

They recorded three albums. Each record would mimic what The Beatles were doing at that point in time. 

By 1968, they introduced psychedelic elements in their recordings, just as The Beatles did a couple of years earlier. It seems the band had one influence, and one influence only. The Beatles. Not a trace of Dylan, Stones, Elvis or anything.

Though they never made much noise in the States, most of their recordings are still in print, while many of the original Mersey Beat artists have long been relegated to compilation heaven.

If you like those early Beatles' records, chances are you'll like some of these recordings. The songs are catchy, the harmonies are fun and they're solid musicians. They could have called themselves "The Uruguayan Monkees."

They made an attempt to mix in some candombe and tango with the psychedelia on the last album, but the label (EMI) didn't like the new sound and refused to promote it. So much for originality. 

Without label support, by the end of the 1960s, Los Shakers would eventually "break it all" up. In 2005, the original lineup reunited, recorded an album, Bonus Tracks, and toured South America.

          

(Jim Pace can usually be found directing music videos in and around NYC. He will begin production on his first feature film in 2013. He spends his spare time writing songs, screenplays and getting involved in anything that will give him an excuse to listen to more music.) 

Finding His Way: Jacob Slichter from Semisonic (Part II)

Whenever your ego starts to swell, you get these reality checks. Maybe it was after Feeling Strangely Fine, while you’re in London, a girl asks you to take a picture. You think she’s going to take a picture of you, but she wants you to take one of her and her friend.

Most of the action in the book happened between the ages of thirty-two and forty, for me. I wonder if it had been from twenty-two to thirty if I might have had a little bit more the benefit. My ego might have had the benefit of youthful momentum. I don’t know.

Age puts a lot of things into perspective.

I was being told all the time that I looked too old.

Is that why MCA didn’t know how to market Semisonic? Did they think you were too old?

It was one of many problems that they had. They had a tough job. It’s tough to market any band. Mainly the problem was that we didn’t fit easily into the radio formats. Radio formatting is less of an issue today than it was then. Were they an alternative rock band?  Were they a Triple A band? Were they an alternative rock band like the Smashing Pumpkins or Green Day or were they a Triple A band like R.E.M. or Sarah McLachlan or the Counting Crows? Or were they a rock band like Van Halen, Sammy Hagar whatever? They had to figure out where our band belonged.

We actually got played in all those formats, but a little bit here a little bit there and none of them could grab onto us for very long with the exception of “Closing Time” when they all grabbed onto us. We were not loud enough for alternative rock. We were not macho enough for active rock. We were too loud for Triple A. We really didn’t fit nicely into any of those niches out there. MCA had a legitimate problem.

They really wanted us to succeed in alternative rock where most of the records were being bought. We might have had a longer career if they decided that we weren’t as loud as they wanted us to be. Hindsight isn’t even 20-20 in this case. You really don’t know. Really, Semisonic is a success story - an improbable success story. Whether or not it could have been a bigger success story, I don’t know, but I’ll take what we had every time.

You’re a musician, a writer, a Harvard graduate, and yet you got caught up in the whole celebrity of it all.

I’m sure I’m not different from other musicians who got into the business to impress people they had crushes on. I am very much a performer. I look forward to getting up onstage. I look forward to book readings. It’s hard for me to go into a rock club and watch anybody play the drums. I just want to be up there. It’s partly musical, but it’s mainly performance. Part of the thrill is that you’re taking a dive off a tower and you want to look cool in front of all these people. You want to nail it. That’s part of the thrill. There’s a flip side. Massive insecurities. Anxieties.

One of the brilliant things on Dan’s part was that he made the band a democracy.

He made it an economic democracy. Which is great. First of all, it was very generous. With that move he solved two problems that every band faces. Who makes the decisions and who gets the money? He basically said, "let me have my hand on the rudder of the ship, and I’ll split all the royalties" and that made it so much easier for me. When you’re shooting a video and the camera is on the guitar player and bass player, and you just feel like shit because I’m the balding drummer in the back. You don’t want to show me. Then I’d remember that at least Dan and John think of me as their equal. There’s no more concrete way of demonstrating that than splitting your royalties. That was really important.

Have you met anyone that you had been in awe of?

I had a conversation with Lionel Richie, and told him that I played some Commodore stuff in my high school band. We met George Martin in Canada and that was amazing. We met a number of people.

Like Carole King.

Oh, Carole King. My god. She praised my drumming. I could retire right there. Don’t play another note.

That must have been intimidating. To collaborate with Carole King…

It wasn’t intimidating to me because the collaboration happened beforehand with she and Dan. Dan got all the intimidation. So they wrote this song, and we recorded it. And she overdubbed on top of it. She came in for the mix.

She just turned 70 a couple of months ago.

Is she? She’s amazing. I wrote a drumming article once called “The Drum Lesson From Carole King” because I learned a lot about drumming from listening to her play the piano.

What did you learn?

Her feel. Piano and drums are a lot alike. They’re percussion instruments. The influence the piano has over the feel is massive, so playing air piano over Carole King is great training for any drummer.

Do you remember what you talked to George Martin about?

First of all, what I remember is we met in Toronto and George Martin had flown that day from England to Toronto, so he woke up two a.m. Toronto time, got on a plane, flew over to Toronto, and did a day of promotion for his new record, which is exhausting. He was in his seventies. He’s at this dinner where all the people are there for him and he’s having to hold court because everybody is expecting him to be charming. We walk in and he has no idea who we are. He pushes back his chair, stands up and proceeds to talk to us for like fifteen or twenty minutes. Very quickly we got on the subject of making music and The Beatles. He talked about the Beach Boys and how impressed he was with Brian Wilson who not only had to be John and Paul but also George Martin because he had to do all the production. The whole time I was amazed that this guy was standing on his feet. I mean I was exhausted. It was very humbling.

Do you have a favorite Minnesota band?

Probably, The Replacements. I wouldn’t call Prince a band. I’d call him an artist. Then you’d have to include Bob Dylan.

Dylan or Prince?

I wouldn’t want to make that choice. They’re so different that fortunately you don’t really have to. Did you read the Dylan memoir? That’s an amazing memoir.

Yeah, but he skips over the 60s.

It’s interesting how he skipped. He wrote about the build-ups and the pauses in between all of the action. I was very taken by that. There have been so many films about the action. All the documentaries document the action. He filled in the in-between places.

I read somewhere that you’re working on a new project.

That’s right. I’m writing a different memoir that’s not music related. I don’t really discuss it.

Is the new memoir similar to anything else we might have read?

It’s like my first one where it’s a themed memoir. Me finding my way.

                            

Finding His Way: Jacob Slichter from Semisonic (Part I)

Many of us have fantasized about rock stardom: the tours, the sold-out shows, the adrenaline rush on stage, the after-parties, the groupies, the awards, the magazine covers, the fame and glory. But not many of us have had our rock and roll fantasies turn into reality. Jacob Slichter did.

Slichter is the drummer for the Minneapolis-based trio, Semisonic, but before he joined forces with Dan Wilson (guitar/vocals) and John Munson (bass/vocals), he was recording demos in his basement, embracing the idea of being a musician but not really taking the necessary steps to achieve rock and roll immortality. A couple of years later when Semisonic's single “Closing Time" catapulted the band to superstardom, Slichter's fantasies became a reality. But did the reality live up to the fantasy?

Slichter kept a detailed account of the music business - performances, recordings, the tours, record promotions, awards ceremonies and boardrooms - with what he called his "road diaries." In 2004, his memoir, So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star (Broadway Books, 2004), was an extension of the "road diaries" in which he diligently recorded the highs and lows that he and his band mates had experienced.

Our conversation with Jacob is in two parts. Below is part one. Check back tomorrow (4/26) for part two.

I identified with your post-college experience. You weren’t really working. You weren’t really a musician. But there you were, fiddling around with your four-track in your basement.

(Laughs) It’s important for people to claim their identities as writers and musicians and poets even when they’re not making money from it because it takes about ten years, even longer, to actually get to the place where you’re as good as you think it needs to be. Your critical powers are always far out in front of your actual abilities. You write a song and go,” Shit that sucks.” How come my ears are so much better than my ideas? You have to hang in there with it, but it’s lonely. You go to parties and you feel like a loser.

When you met Dan Wilson and John Munson, you weren’t really playing much. Do you consider yourself lucky?

Completely. I’ve had the most charmed life. Especially in my music career. I basically hopped on the Dan and John express. Not to put down my drumming, but I definitely hooked up with two guys who are fantastic. We were on the landscape from the very beginning.

You hitched your wagon to two guys who were ready to take off. You had to catch up a bit in the beginning.

Completely. I had to catch up with the whole routine. I hadn’t really been in bars. I don’t drink. All my music had been in my head and in my basement. A sequestered fantasy. I didn’t really have a plan. I’ll write some songs and then at some point I’ll be a famous musician. Stupidly, like Mr. Magoo it kinda worked out that way. Not because I knew what I was doing.

You come from a funk & r&b background. What was it like to play with two guys who came from different musical backgrounds?

They had to train me to become a rock drummer. They had to teach me how to rock. It’s easier to go from a funk drummer to a rock drummer. With funk and r&b the groove is so undeniably the issue. It really is the issue in rock. People listen to Dave Grohl and think it’s about being loud, but what they miss is that Dave Grohl has an amazing stellar groove. In a rock trio you really have to crash each other into the boards a little more. You’ve got to make some fireworks happen. I was used to laying low behind the backbeat, so they had to teach me to be more aggressive.

Did they want more cymbals? More foot?

No. More ummppphhh (makes strenuous sound). In rock you might give equal emphasis to every eighth note on the high hat (demonstrates by playing air drums) to give that sense of urgency. You’re trying to eliminate the silken contour, the groove you try to achieve in funk.

Think of a quasi r&b song like “Lowdown.” It starts with that Jeff Porcaro fill (plays air drums again). It’s filled with accent and a lot of subtlety. You’d never play that in a rock band. You just want to go full board the whole way through.

I really had to bare my fangs a little bit. That took some work and that happened to dovetail with another issue, which was learning how to hold my stage presence more aggressively. Especially now that I really didn’t have anybody standing in front of me. It’s one guy to each side.

They were both regionally well-known musical personalities because our band followed their previous band Trip Shakespeare, a national act, well-known in the Mid-West. From the very beginning we didn’t have the days of playing for seven people. We started off with two hundred people and went up from there.

From the very beginning, I had major issues with stage presence, stage fright and all of that contributed from having to go from being on defense to going on offense. It took me a couple of years to really get my sea legs.

So there you are in this three-piece band, and you’re immediately playing in front of two hundred people. I can understand the insecurities and doubts.

The other thing is at that point I was in my early thirties and was having panic attacks onstage. And I thought, “Holy shit, I’ve made the wrong choice." All these years I thought it would be as easy as playing in my basement. It’s not that. It’s getting out onstage and blowing people away. I hadn’t realized how frightening that would be. I was not only scared about the performances but also wondering if I had made an insane miscalculation.

It’s a scary thing when you’re faced with your dreams and aspirations.

There’s a song that the three of us wrote. I wrote the chorus. It’s on our EP Wishing Well. The chorus is “I fell in a wishing well. Now the damage is done.” It is literally “be careful of what you wish for.” And it turned out great. I enjoyed touring even more than Dan and John.

In the beginning it sounded as if you were turned off by touring.

It’s lonely and depressing. The shows are amazing, but everything in between is hard.

It’s work. It’s drudgery. For the aspiring musician, I’m sure that passage is an eye-opener.

What’s really grueling is being around people all day. The best way to explain this is think about going to a large Thanksgiving dinner and you see your extended family relations. You kind of have to be on at all times, and you can’t wait for the evening to be over so that you can sit down and zone out. Think about how exhausted you are after a four hour Thanksgiving dinner. Now turn that into eight hours every day where you’re around people being cordial, you have to be on.

One of my favorite places to be at a party is in the kitchen washing dishes. And that’s one of the things you don’t get on the road. You don’t really get much of a refuge. I didn’t really find this out right away.

Our very first food stop we made was at a McDonald’s. When I went into the dining area, I saw my two band mates and our soundman each at his own table. I thought that was weird, so I found my own table and sat there. This is really cold and lonely, but then I realized you have to take advantage of every opportunity of alone time that you can get. For the rest of the day you’re thrown together with other people and not only your close friends in the band but the business people who are trying to help you make your career happen.

But then you wrote a book and there’s nothing lonelier than writing a book. Why do you think you wrote it?

I always wanted to be a songwriter, but I just ended up in a band with a guy who was amazingly prolific and a fantastic songwriter.

And wins Grammys.

And wins Grammys for those songs. I would usually get one and a half, two songs on an album.

Like George Harrison.

Yeah. I didn’t want to shoehorn a song onto an album. I was proud of all the songs that got on our records, but I didn’t write enough of them so I turned to writing road diaries and people started responding to them. That got a little bit of a buzz. I got on NPR and was able to read some. I thought this is the way my voice can get into the world. The book was a natural next step.

Another thing that I was taken by in your book – and I’m sure you heard this before – was your honesty. It’s humorous, and you really put yourself out there.

I didn’t necessarily plan on that when I went into the book. When you pitch a book proposal you sort of hype yourself, and I went around to publishers saying that “I played in a band that has ‘Closing Time.’ You’re going to learn all about the inside world of a rock star.” And then I sat down and started writing and went, “Christ, I’m not really a rock star, am I?”

It became therapy for reconciling the person I had wanted to be with the person I kind of ended up really being. I started out with rock star bluster, and I realized that it just felt wrong. It was kind of dishonest. It wasn’t the whole story. The more I tried bringing in the other side of it the more alive it looked to me on the page. I wasn’t trying to engage in a moral exercise of being honest.

I did realize that the honest book turned out to be the more interesting story. I was thinking about readers and suddenly it occurred to me “maybe they haven’t read a book about someone with stage fright. Maybe they don’t know that you freak out about the Billboard charts and in an uncool way pay attention to things that a cool person wouldn’t." I started looking for ways of bringing the whole story into it.

You portray yourself as the Ringo character.

I was the Ringo character in a way. When we go out and play shows, everybody is still enthralled with Dan and John. A few people want to talk to me. By now I’ve gotten used to it (laughter). When you’re a kid and you’re fantasizing about being a rock star, you don’t fantasize about being the third most appealing guy in a trio (laughter). You want to be Sting not Andy Summers.