This week I played some hard rock stuff, some poppy stuff, some acoustic stuff and well what I did was play some rock and roll!

As usual you have a wide range of styles from a wider range of bands and artists who are either unsigned or are signed to independent record labels. If you like what you hear please consider supporting these bands in a tangible way by buying their music, going to their shows and buying their merch.

If you want to subscribe to the podcast, just click either of the links below:

Subscribe to The Rock and Roll Report Podcast

And if you want to get a hold of me or anybody at the Rock and Roll Report just email us at rockandrollreport@gmail.com . You can also add us as a friend on MySpace at www.myspace.com/rockandrollreport our check out our Facebook Group.

If you are in a band or with a record label you can submit your music by checking out our listing on SonicBids.

This is what I played this week:

1. Rock and Roll Report Podcast Intro by Featured on Fridays
2. So Awesome by The Shazam
3. The Blues by Vinyl Hero
4. Shine Your Light by Skin
5. I Don’t Need No Doctor by Eldorado
6. Boo My God by the In and Outs
7. Dead Man by The Janks
8. She Said by Nushu
9. Supermodel by The Death Of Me
10. Stupidity by Mondo Topless
11. Don’t Throw It All Away by Lick and a Promise
12. Rock and Roll Report Podcast Outro by Featured on Fridays

The Rock and Roll Report Podcast is a proud member of:

Association of Music Podcasting
Thanks so much for listening. See you next week!

Batusis features Sylvain’s salacious, piano-spiced workout ‘What You Lack in Brains’. Cheetah’s ferocious, righteously dark ‘Bury You Alive’ and the barreling instrumental ‘Big Cat Stomp’ and also a cover of ‘Blues Theme’, originally performed by Davie Allan and the Arrows for Roger Corman’s 1966 biker flick The Wild Angels, starring Peter Fonda (whose character, Heavenly Blues, lends the song its main title).

It was during playback of the latter track that the band found its name. The band toyed with a great many different names until they were listening back to ‘Blues’ Theme’ and Sylvain started doing this dance where he drew his fingers across his eyes. Cheetah asked him ‘what is that?’ and Sylvain said, ‘It’s the dance Batman does!’ The next thing you know, Cheetah gets his laptop out and starts to Google it and then tells me the dance is called the Batusi. Need I say more!

Batusis 4-Track EP
Track Listing:

1. Big Cat Stomp
2. What You Lack In Brains
3. Bury You Alive
4. Blues’ Theme

Batusis makes their highly anticipated live debut concert performance at America’s premier music gathering

SXSW, in Austin, Texas on March 18.

Batusis SXSW Premiere
http://my.sxsw.com/events/event/5678

* Thur., 3/18 – Prague, 10:00 p.m. – Austin, TX
* Fri., 3/19 – Cheapo Music, 5:00 pm – Austin, TX
* Includes Miss Derringer and the BellRays

The SXSW performance will be followed by a nationwide UK tour during the first two weeks in May, all of which will coincide with the vinyl and digital download of the 4-track EP on May 4th (see UK tour details below).

The self-titled 4-song EP will be released in the US and UK on May 4, 2010. The debut recordings will be released on collectible multi-coloured vinyl, with eco-friendly recycled content jacket and full colour two-sided insert, and also on digital download.

Cheetah Chrome has known Sylvain since 1975 and was strongly influenced by The New York Dolls. They are both mad keen about rock’n’roll and knew that they just had to come up with something, and I am rather pleased about this, they sure rock!

Producer Ken Coomer, who has worked with Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Tim Finn, and was a former drummer for Wilco and Uncle Tupelo, oversaw the recording of the 4-song EP over a five-day period during November 2009 at Nashville’s top studios—Westwood Sound, 16 Ton and Creative Workshop.

Cheetah & Sylvain - Picture courtesy of Anna O’Conner

Cheetah asked Ken for a sound which would ‘peel paint and piss people off’. They may have got partway there but the sound which was created pleases me very much.

Engineer Charlie Brocco (George Harrison, Fleetwood Mac), whom Sylvain raves about as “wonderful,” also contributed another experienced hand to the recording.

Batusis UK 2010 Tour Dates

Monday May 3: Glasgow O2 ABC2
Ticket Price: £10.00
Box Office: 0844 477 2000
Book online: www.ticketweb.co.uk
Venue website: www.o2abcglasgow.co.uk
300 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JA

Tuesday May 4: Sheffield O2 Academy2
Ticket Price: £12.50
Box Office: 0844 477 2000
Book online: www.ticketweb.co.uk

Wednesday May 5: Liverpool O2 Academy2
Ticket Price: £12.50
Box Office: 0844 477 2000
Book online: www.ticketweb.co.uk

Friday May 7: London Islington O2 Academy
Ticket Price: £13.50
Box Office: 0844 477 2000
Book online: www.ticketweb.co.uk

Saturday May 8: Hatfield Forum, University of Hertfordshire (The Attic Room)
Ticket Price: £12.50
Box Office: 0844 477 2000
Book online: www.ticketweb.co.uk
Venue website: www.forumhertfordshire.co.uk/../../
University of Hertfordshire, College Lane,
Hatfield, Herts, AL10 9AB

Monday May 10: Oxford O2 Academy2
Ticket Price: £12.50
Box Office: 0844 477 2000
Book online: www.ticketweb.co.uk
Venue website: www.o2academyoxford.co.uk
190 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1UE

Tuesday May 11: Southampton, The Joiners
Ticket Price: £10.00
Box Office: 02380 632 601
Book online: www.seetickets.com
Venue email: info@joinerslive.co.uk
141 St Mary St, Southampton, SO14 1NS

Wednesday May 12: Bristol O2 Academy2
Ticket Price: £12.50
Box Office: 0844 477 2000
Book online: www.ticketweb.co.uk
Venue website: www.o2academybristol.co.uk
Frogmore Street, Bristol, BS1 5NA

Thursday May 13: Birmingham O2 Academy2
Ticket Price: £12.50
Box Office: 0844 477 2000
Book online: www.ticketweb.co.uk
Venue website: www.o2academybirmingham.co.uk
16 – 18 Horsefair, Bristol Street, Birmingham, B1 1DB

Here is my interview with Cheetah Chrome

Nick – You have a great musical background creating and shaping styles over many decades, which are your favourite era’s during this progression?

Cheetah Crome - photo by Anna O'Connor

C.C. – I have to say the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. There was so much creativity then that you haven’t seen since. I hated the ‘80’s for the most part, especially hardcore, and the ‘90’s were even worse. I rarely listen to anything made after 1975, really, and if I do it’s usually by an artist from that time! Luckily I spend more time playing music than listening to it ! About the only time I have to listen is when I’m driving.

Nick – Do you have any further projects up your sleeve or is Batusis a long term project?

C.C. – Rocket From the Tombs is still a living organism, if a bit dormant. I expect something will happen with that. I do consider the Batusis a long term project as well; it’s best to keep busy!

I am involved with a couple of other things on a lesser scale. I play guitar on a track by the Butcher Boys, and still do solo shows.

Nick – You were/are a great Batman fan, how would you feel if you were given the opportunity to provide soundtrack material for a modern Batman movie?

C.C. – Are you kidding? Where do I sign?! I love all of the new Batman flicks with Christian Bale; Michael Caine has always been one of my favorite actors. Plus, that would give me unlimited street cred with my 5 year old son and his friends!

Nick – I like what I have heard on www.myspace.com/batusis, are you a fan of the modern media set up?

C.C. – I’m sure I will be when I figure out what it is! No, I’ve embraced the new technology wholeheartedly, and think it’s a very healthy thing, or will be once the novelty wears off. Right now I think it takes up too much of people’s lives, distracting them from important realities like who is running their countries; but the instant access to new things is wonderful, and the DIY possibilities keep getting better..

Nick – Also leading from the previous question is there an album in the pipeline?

C.C. – Oh yea – we have a hell of a lot more than three songs in us!

Nick – Who are your favourite UK punk acts/bands and why?

C.C. – I’ve always loved the Damned and the Stranglers, mainly because no two things they do sound the same, and they kept evolving. And the Pistols, of course, because everything they did sound the same and they never evolved at all! I do like to sit down sometimes and go through a stack of old UK punk singles – there were so many good ones!

Nick – In your view how do the U.S. and UK punk scenes compare?

C.C. – Well, I’m fairly out of touch with any sort of trends these days. Since I’ve been raising my son and writing my book, I haven’t had time for much else. The US scene, last I saw, was pretty much Green Day, who aren’t a bad little band. I hate seeing them get slagged for being commercial when they were one of the only bands to openly criticize the Bush administration and really have stayed true to the punk spirit. So what if they sell records – the message is getting out! Hopefully I’ll have more time now to catch up on new music, I never have the headphones off when were traveling!

Thanks to Cheetah for his time

And also

To Anna O’Conner for the photographs

Hop on in and make sure you turn the stereo up nice and loud for Kendra!

We are back with another healthy dose of great rock and roll for those of you hungry for more after our record 25 song podcast last week. This week is part 2 of our look back at 2009 as we prime ourselves for another year of amazing rock and roll here at the Rock and Roll Report Podcast. Next week I settle down and revert to my usual 10 song, 45 minute length but for this week, here is another extended shot of rock and roll fun.
As usual you have a wide range of styles from a wider range of bands and artists who are either unsigned or are signed to independent record labels. If you like what you hear please consider supporting these bands in a tangible way by buying their music, going to their shows and buying their merch.

If you want to subscribe to the podcast, just click either of the links below:

Subscribe to The Rock and Roll Report Podcast

And if you want to get a hold of me or anybody at the Rock and Roll Report just email us at rockandrollreport@gmail.com . You can also add us as a friend on MySpace at www.myspace.com/rockandrollreport our check out our Facebook Group.

If you are in a band or with a record label you can submit your music by checking out our listing on SonicBids.

This is what I played this week:

1. Rock and Roll Report Podcast Intro by Featured On Fridays
2. Executioners Day by Heavens Basement
3. Free by Broken Man
4. My So Called Friend by Kris Bell
5. Demon In The Sack by Devi
6. Mix It Up by My Machine
7. The Truth Lies Here by Fourthwall
8. Tell No One by Fixer
9. So Scared by The Smears
10. Black and White by Keating
11. Rock N Roll Queen by Mary Rose Obsession
12. One Way Ticket by Surefire Machine
13. Brotherhood by 27 Miles
14. Boogie Up by Paperback Freud
15. Love You Like An Animal by Top Johnny!
16. Fear by Silent Treatment
17. Rolling Stones by Vanity Ink
18. What You’re Doing To Me by Shotgun Revolution
19. Mudslide by Dirt Road Logic
20. Sticky Situations by Poison Arrows
21. Burn By Mad Temple
22. Pressure by Special Ops
23. Super Palindromes by Sultan Pepper
24. Fortune Teller by Baby Woodrose
25. Oh No, No, No by The Morning Stars
26. Rain by 21 Reasons
27. Rock and Roll Report Podcast Outro by Featured On Fridays

The Rock and Roll Report Podcast is a proud member of:

Association of Music Podcasting
Thanks so much for listening. See you next week!

Didium and The Black Bonnie Picture started out in Denmark, back in 2006, as a seven piece act with a set-up resembling Dexys Midnight Runners and their characteristic blend of violin and saxophone. Members of the band have come and gone throughout the years, but the set up remains unchanged and gives the band a special style of pop music. Twenty-four year old Didium’s dark baritone tells stories of loss, loneliness, lust and love with an undercurrent twist of irony, giving the stories a life and soul of their own.

The band’s first album was released in the beginning of 2009 in Denmark and the Benelux countries. This year, their follow-up, A Valley, will come out worldwide and will be the first release on Schroeder’s own indie record label, Sureleaf. Before the actual release Didium and The Black Bonnie Picture released a four track EP, with songs from the upcoming album (free streaming here). See what Didium had to say in this exclusive R&RR interview.

Q: How did your Black Bonnie Picture get together?

A: Back in 2006 I’d finished high school and saved up some money waiting tables in a Norwegian mountain hotel. My old band fell apart as we graduated and when I came back to Denmark I spent most of the money I’d earned on going in the studio with a handful of my favourite musicians from previous projects and bands. After recording four tracks, we all soon agreed that the result was too good not to be followed by live performances. After playing a few gigs the whole thing started to feel pretty fucking good – pardon my French – and that’s how the Picture came together.

Q: Could you tell us a little about the progression between Whimsical Beauty and A Valley, and their influences?

A: When I was in the midst of writing Whimsical Beauty, I was madly in love with both Ryan Adams and Rufus Wainwright at the same time. I think if you listen closely to that record you can hear them fighting each other to win my heart [laughs]. My intentions with A Valley, from page one, was to rewrite our history and make a true rock album with booming choruses and ecstatic guitar riffs.

As a band, on this second album, we were all a lot more focused on arranging the songs in the rehearsal before going in the studio, and in general we spent loads of time just getting it right. As a result of this, these new songs all of a sudden demanded for us to make some changes, orchestration wise. To broaden our perspectives a little, I hired an arranger to help us rethink the girls’ violin and sax arrangements, which added a classical grandiose feel to it that suited us really well.

Q: Any highs and lows that you wish to share?

A: This past year has been a bit hard on all of us, now that you should bring this up. In 2008 we had an awesome year in Denmark, going from being a completely unknown act to being an award-winning upcoming act. We won loads of cash, toured the country up and down several times, and all because of our second EP, Bonnie Turned Black. However, in 2009, as our debut album was finally released and we had the financial support to promote it right, we experienced some rather surprising difficulties. Hardly any magazines, webzines or whatever wanted to review the record or write about us all of a sudden. The Danish radio stations hardly gave us any airplay and when they finally did it was mostly at night when nobody was listening. All this together undeniably makes you wonder about, or should I say dread, what the reaction is going to be like this time. Our main focus however, with this album, is not Denmark as much as the UK, Sweden or Germany.

Q: Has your connection with Paul Schroeder changed or shaped your style in any way?

A: I was quite surprised with the work he ended up doing on this album. Paul was in with us at most of the rehearsals last summer and didn’t interfere as much as I’d imagined he would do it. He basically let us work most of the arrangements out ourselves and only stepped in when we were completely unsure of directions. On the other hand, he told me to rewrite one particular song like three times and was not satisfied until I got it exactly right and made it rock 110%. In that way Paul is really all about making the right compromises and finding out what makes one particular song do the trick. He’s absolutely great at reading people’s reactions and understanding exactly what makes you a great musician. What amazes me the most about him though, is his ability to make you come in his direction without even saying anything.

Q:  What are your hopes and dreams/aspirations for BBP and how do you hope to achieve them?

A: We’ve got a worldwide album release coming up soon and my ultimate hope is that the record is recognized in as many countries as possible, for the brilliant peace of work it is.  My biggest dream of all is someday to have fans who are as dedicated to music as I am myself. Fans who follow you on the web, buy your records, look through the booklet – relating to your lyrics and talking to friends about them. If that one day should happen then my favourite dream of all will have come true. At this point, my manager and our label have got a lot of work to do in order to actually make this one float. Fingers crossed!

Q: Your other musical project, Le Cul, is also at a busy stage; does this clash with D & BBP much, or are they both in creative harmony?

A: Until now we haven’t experienced any difficulties whatsoever. Of course we sometimes have to reschedule and think ahead before planning tours and recordings and so on, but my heart is in both bands and there never really was a question as to whether we could work it out. Over the past few years, Le Cul has become deadly necessary to me. I guess I’ve got a Jekyll and Hyde complex going on that it’s too late to stop as it seems now [laughs]. Can’t wait to finish off the new Le Cul album now; we just recorded strings and piano on four tracks and it’s just amazing how friggin huge it’s become!

Q: Who would you be your favourite band to share a stage with and where?

A: My two ultimate favourite artists to go on tour with this year would by all means be The Veils and/or Patrick Wolf. Both of these bands truly are amazing and mind blowingly overlooked; just like us!

Q: Are you members of any professional music organisations?

I am a member of KODA here in Denmark, which is an organization that helps musicians receiving the right payments when we get played on the radio or do live shows. Asides from that I’m free as a bird!

More at: www.myspace.com/didiumnet

After all, Mojo Nixon was right:  Elvis Is Everywhere.

But retrospective credit is definitely due director John Carpenter and Dick Clark Productions for getting there fastest, and first:  even before the autopsy was cold, they were readying their “Elvis” for his home screen resurrection during prime time, February of 1979.

The vehicle? An ambitious, yet quite reverent (especially in view of subsequent bio-pics) made-for-TV motion picture starring Kurt Russell in that title role of a lifetime. And to watch this particular Elvis again today, newly available March 2 from the fine folk over at Shout! Factory, is to be reminded just how larger-than-life The King had already become as the Seventies ended and the deification was only about to begin.

Indeed, the original, uncut Elvis tele-film, freshly packaged alongside some revelatory bonus footage (including a real gem from the Dick Clark vaults: a Summer of ’64 Beatle-battling tribute to the King from American Bandstand) makes for a surprisingly entertaining, and sometimes even thought-provoking two hours of music, mayhem and, as is often hinted, pure madness. Yes, it’s the pure Rock and Roll Report of a simple man blessed with unusual talents and drive who, armed only with his wits and a twelve-dollar guitar, aspired to little more than moving his beloved parents out of the Memphis projects and into a comparatively better life.

Of course, what transpired over the next ten years Elvis in even his wildest adolescent dreams could hardly have imagined.

Under Carpenter’s direction, this still-improbable tale is told with an unusual eye for detail and a true sense of middle-1950s America, with its music and its morals struggling to break free. More remarkable still, Elvis succeeds in conveying just how one most unlikely young man came to embody this entire socio-musical upheaval, and how it eventually swallowed and, yes, broke him (although the film’s narrative ends with Elvis’ return to the concert stage in 1969, it often foreshadows the dispiriting tragedy that was the man’s final five years. No small feat for a medium-budget production undertaken without access to the decades of Presley study and research that was yet to be undertaken).

Pedigree is present as well – perhaps that is why its subject matter is treated with such accuracy and respect throughout – as the cast of Elvis features two actual Memphis Mafia, Larry Geller and Charlie Hodge. Much screen time as well is devoted to the Elvis of Sun Records, where during the years 1954/1955 he and his raw-diamond accompanists Scotty Moore and Bill Black just so happened to change the course of musical history under the ever-watchful ears of producer Sam Phillips. This is a key era of Presley’s development which is much too often ignored for flashier and/or seemlier events in most retrospective recreations of the man, cinematic and otherwise.

Keen observers will also spot in the role of Elvis’ first drummer D.J. Fontana no less than original Spinal Tap sticksman Ed Begley Jr. And while we’re trivially speaking, lest we forget that Kurt Russell’s very first-ever motion picture appearance was at the tender age of eleven, attacking the real Elvis’ shins in 1963’s It Happened At The World’s Fair. So there!

Interesting as well to see the role of Elvis’ long-suffering daddy Vernon played by Kurt’s real-life father Bing (!), and to realize within weeks of the ABC-TV premier of Elvis Kurt up and married Season Hubley, who portrayed his on-screen wife Priscilla! And keeping things as familialy dysfunctional as possible, the great Shelley Winters is brilliantly cast as Elvis’ closer-than-close mother Gladys, a role she plays throughout Elvis with all her usual devotion and gusto entirely intact.

But it is truly the 27-year-old Kurt who excels throughout, more than ably filling gigantic shoes and faltering only occasionally during some of the key musical numbers. Not that he should be blamed, however: Russell makes as good a hillbilly cat as can really be expected from a former Disney child actor who looks as if he spent his formative years listening to far too many Fabian records. Yet purely dramatically speaking, he portrays the King with a respect and, believe it or not, sly subtlety which has been sorrowfully lacking in most every subsequent way-over-the-top Presley portrayal.

To be truthful, I was personally surprised at just how well Elvis stands up, musically, historically, and purely cinematically, amidst the three decades – and insurmountable flood of Presley “tributes” – which have followed. So then I do suggest you watch it today, and watch it often (followed, if you dare, with Allan Arkush’s Elvis Meets Nixon, to pick the story up where Carpenter and Russel leave off).

Then, of course, pull out all the old RCA and especially Sun tracks that you can, and marvel anew at the real thing as well, don’t forget.

http://www.elvispresleynews.com/KurtRussell.html

www.GaryPigGold.com

Way back in 1988/89, Doris joined a group called Telefunken U47, which was, at that time, entirely instrumental. I have a strong recollection of being introduced to this band through a free CD from a British music magazine. I can say that it was a great piece of experimental progressive rock that made its mark on me at a stage in my life when I was regularly blowing amps and speakers with my passion for loud rock music.

Telefunken U47 then changed their drummer, removed the saxophonist and added Doz on vocals to become The Violet Hour. The band recorded five demos and got signed to Sony in 1990 and released “The Fire Sermon,” produced by Pete Brown, in ‘91. Now,The Violet Hour are regaining a lot of well-deserved interest and the album is scheduled to be reissued in March 2010.

Doz is now working on her latest album, “The Last Adventure,” which is sure to once again spotlight her immensely rich and husky vocal style and endless innovation and creativity. The Rock and Roll Report recently spoke with Doz.

Q: Could you tell us a little about the progression between your various projects and name any influences that you my wish to mention?

A: I am one of these odd musicians who value silence as much as music. It allows me time to think and makes me feel less inclined to copy someone else’s style when song writing. Consequently, my influences – and it’s impossible not to be influenced – are exceedingly varied and have inevitably been added to over time.

Having been brought up with classical music initially, it was the discovery of The Beatles which first ignited my enthusiasm for ‘alternative’ music. My consequent eclectic tastes have always been reflected in my compositions. At school I enthused about Pink Floyd and Led Zep and generally shunned mainstream trends.

The Violet Hour was unique for me in the sense that I wasn’t the only songwriter. Mark Waite became very accomplished and brought his own influences to the music. At that time I was still writing far more traditional rock music and the progressive elements must be attributed to the rest of the band rather then myself. This is fairly clearly reflected in my following recordings “If” and the “Acoustic Album”: the songs are generally traditional in structure and hold many influences and genres. The onus has been very much on melody and vocal arrangements.

“Holy Cow,” on the other hand, stands out from the rest. Russ Conway from Polygram approached me to form a rock band and had a great deal of fun writing guitar riffs. “DB,” which was recorded several years later, lacked any pressure or direction, making it more multi-genre than ever and became a vehicle for some experimentation. “Jack in the box,” for example, was me having a go at writing a girly pop song. Though it did also produce some of the best songs I’d written to date.

“The Last Adventure,” which is the forthcoming album, has built on that even further. The songs are far more cohesive than ever and for the first time I feel that every song on the album has substance. The style is varied as usual, covering rock, progressive rock, pop, funk and Celtic influences, often in the same song. The lyrics are similarly varied, covering some very contentious subjects down to the tongue in cheek ridiculous. Though much of the album has a retro feel about it, notably with hints of The Beatles, Cranberries and even The Violet Hour, more modern influences are evident too, such as Muse and Radiohead, who to me are two of the most innovative bands on the circuit.

Q: Have you got any highs and lows that you wish to share?

A: Too many to mention really. Signing to Sony with The Violet Hour was definitely a high. Not getting on with the band on tour was a low. Generally speaking, any long-term musical career has inevitable ups and downs; good and bad gigs; good and bad reviews and so on.

Q: You have a vast amount of experience in live gigging, do you have any advice for aspiring bands and artists?

A: Oooh! Endless advice! I should run a seminar. I’ve gigged everything – original bands, solo, cover bands, show bands, dance PAs – from huge venues to small pubs; different advice for different projects.

Best quote I’ve read this year: “Music is sound and silence, the rest is marketing.” Very true when it comes to most bands. To stand out amongst the morass of available music is not an easy task. First, you need a very good product. Then, you need very good presentation and marketing in order to step from amateur to professional. Unless you’re Dream Theatre you have to assume that most of your audience are not musicians, or even particularly musical, so being self-indulgent with big solos and long intros is rarely a good idea. An audience wants to be entertained, so give them something to look at, or sing along to, or jump up and down to, or laugh at. It doesn’t matter how it’s done, as long as it works. A band of non-communicating shoe gazers with big gaps between songs will likely remain on the local pub circuit.

Q: What are your hopes and dreams and how do you hope to achieve them?

A: Having been in this industry for many years, I don’t dream about being a big “star” or have any unrealistic expectations. I’m already extremely lucky to have made a living out of music. Of course I hope that the new album will be well received, that it will get a share of good reviews and that there will be enough interest from the public to finance a European tour. CD sales are very poor across the board right now, but hopefully I’ll sell enough to pay the musicians who played on it!

Some additional financial backing would be welcomed too, but it will either materialize or it won’t. Regardless, we’re in the process of putting together a launch video and have a rather splendid album cover courtesy of Greg Bartley, thank you Greg!, and Sky-Rocket who have worked their socks off on the marketing side.

Q: Are you members of any professional music organizations?

A: Most of them: PRS, MCPS, PPL, MU, International Guild of Songwriters and have my eye on at least one more.

Q: Who would you be your favorite band to share a stage with and where?

A: That’s easy, Radiohead. Anywhere.

More on Doris: http://dorisbrendel.com/ and http://www.myspace.com/dbdriving

Q: Wow! Tell us about the inspiration behind choosing to release 12 albums this year.

A: I came up with this concept of releasing a song a week. Basically, I’ve been playing music for a long time and officially, what happens is, in the past I would record an album. I have three “Chronicles” – Cretin Chronicles volumes 1, 2 and 3 – those were what I did in my college days and they’re Brit-poppy psychedelic garage rock. Remember the “Pebbles” series that came out?

Q: Sure, I remember that and the “Nuggets” collections of garage pop music.

A: Exactly. I was really, really into that and I still love it a lot. So, anyway, I did a whole bunch of stuff back when I was in college and then I moved to New York City and my whole music [style] basically changed. I did another album called “NYC” and [...] got together with a guy, we were going to form a band, and he talked me out of releasing that album and doing an album with him [instead] [...] It turned out like crap and I’m like “Shit, now I have to start over again,” so then I did another solo album and found another band and the same thing happened there so I’m left with these two albums that I though were really good, but nothing ever got done with them.

[...] So I felt this concept of doing 53 songs and I felt I could draw from these other songs I have laying around. I started adding up albums and thought, “I could release these albums, an album a month…” and all I’ll have to do is record three or four more to round it off to an album a month for the year. I was thinking that would be a really cool thing [and] that’s where the concept came from.

Q: That’s incredible.

A: Yeah, a lot of the stuff has never been officially released. And also what spurred it was I went home to my mom’s house and grabbed these eight-track half inch reel to reels that I had recorded when I was in college and I brought them back here, bought and eight-track machine and transferred the tapes into ProTools. I started listening to them and thought, “Wow, this stuff is really cool.”  I always had in the back of my mind I would re-do these songs, but there is no way I could re-do this – it has too much vibe. So I chose to remix it and did some doctoring of it [but] not too much. I tried to leave it as close to the way it was. So, Cretin Chronicles Vol.1 is the first in the series [and] I actually finished mixing Cretin Chronicles Vol.2 last night.

Q: Your first two albums have this great Beatle-esque quality and with the third, “Santiago’s Vest,” it morphed into a psyche-pop garage sound. What led to the change?

A: Basically what happens is I like a lot of different types of music so with Jack Endino it’s more a power-pop album. It has loud guitars and when I approached Jack to do that record I said “I wanna make something that kids can crank up in their cars” like a Weezer record or something. “Santiago’s Vest” was more of a band effort than “Instant Happiness” and my friend Don [the band’s guitar player] had a huge influence on that album. I tend to be one of these guys where if you show me a cliff, I’ll jump off it. So I get an idea in my head and gotta go for it, for better or worse [laughs]. I pursue and idea to the end and I’ll be like, “That totally worked” or “That didn’t work, let’s try something else.”

Q: So you spend a lot of time going through your own material, looking for the best stuff that turns you on?

A: Yeah, well, with “The Cretin Chronicles” there was twenty-nine tapes of stuff to sift through. Tons and tons of songs. Like eighty songs on there and I just basically cut the vast majority of those recordings and pulled out the ones that had something special to them, you know? And work on those in a way that make sense as an album. It tended to go by era actually, but there were a couple of exceptions [...] but for the vast majority it went chronologically.

This new album, “Yellow,” is released this month and it’s a bit darker, but it’s got a Beatle influence. It’s also garage-y.

Q: The band has changed through the years; is the way the band is set up now the most comfortable to you?

A: It’s definitely more comfortable now ‘cause it’s basically a solo project. I have my live musicians and my studio musicians, but it’s mostly a solo project where I’m producing it and playing the instruments. Although there are songs we do as a “live” band in the studio.

Q: Any tours to support this series of albums?

A: We don’t have anything set up yet; I’ve been in the studio for a year working pretty intensely. Since “Santiago’s Vest” I’ve finished one record and almost finished with the second record. The live stuff I’m doing is unlike anything I’ve done. We have a brass section and a string section I’m playing with, so it’s another departure of mine. I’ve always wanted to do a cover of “I Am the Walrus” with brass and strings live.

Q: Let’s step back into the past. What was the music that first caught your ear and made you say, “Hey, I want to do this”?

A: I started playing violin when I was five years old and then in the third or fourth grade I played saxophone. The whole school band thing until fifth grade when I discovered the guitar and dropped out of band. I went headlong into playing the guitar and I had an older brother, ten years older than me, and when he went away to college he left a lot of albums around [...] I discovered Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper and all these classic records. It blew me away [...] I was like, “I like this guy. Jimi Hendrix.” Then I found out what Hendrix listened to, like Muddy Waters. Then I discovered Patsy Cline and all these other artists; the roots of where rock and roll came from. When I discovered The Beatles the first thing I did was ask “What are they listening to? Were did they get their influence?” I highly respected the way they wrote songs. They listened to The Everly Brothers so I [was] going to listen to them [and] learn to write like them too!

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Santiago’s Vest

Instant Happiness

Extended Play

Nevertheless (or should I say Nevermind)…..

Number One: Mark Johnson – 12 in a room (1992)
Powerful pop most firmly rooted within the Brill Building anteroom.

Two: Cowsills - Global (1998)
America’s once-and-forever First Family of Song leave no Partridge unspurned.

Three: Brian Wilson – Sweet Insanity (1991)
Just to make sure the Nineties weren’t ALL Pet Sounds re-issues.

Four: Dave Rave Group – Valentino’s Pirates (1992)
Wherein the former Soviet Union signs its first Western act, then promptly dissolves.

Five: Johnny Cash – American Recordings (1994)
Rick Rubin produces a Johnny we thought only Sam Phillips could.

Six: Tiny Tim – Rock (1993)
Includes possibly definitive readings of “Eve of Destruction” and “Rebel Yell,” I kid you not.

Seven: Puffy - Jet CD (1998)
Oh-so-effortlessly crosses ABBA, Sabbath, and Who’s Next …and all by way of Jellyfish.

Eight: Monkees - Justus (1996)
Those Prefabs go out on a very high note (which, I’ll have you know, they played all by themselves).

Nine: Shane Faubert – San Blass (1993)
Former head Cheapskate most definitely goes for baroque.

Ten: NRBQ - You Gotta Be Loose (1998)
Proof very positive: The greatest live r-n-r band In The World.

Eleven: Evaporators - I Gotta Rash (1998)
Before Ali G, Baba Booey, and most definitely Tenacious D.

Twelve: Neil Young - Arc (1991)
Truly too cool – not to mention loud – for (many) words.

Thirteen: Go-Nuts - The World’s Greatest Super Hero Snak Rock And Gorilla Entertainment Revue (1997)
For once, the title says it all.

Fourteen: High Llamas – Gideon Gaye (1994)
More than filling that cavernous sonic gap between SMiLE and the XTC reunion.

Fifteen: Blue Shadows – Lucky To Me (1995)
Hank Williams visits The Cavern by way of Big Pink.

Sixteen: Mojo Nixon - Gadzooks!!! (1997)
Includes “Bring Me The Head of David Geffen” …and THEN some.

Seventeen: James Richard Oliver – The Mud, The Blood and The Beer (1998)
alt. Country with a capital “Oh!”

Eighteen: Chesterfield Kings – Surfin’ Rampage (1997)
Upstate New York’s finest give their Stones cloning a rest whilst hanging all ten.

Nineteen: Jandek - Twelfth Apostle (1993)
So many Jandek albums; so little space.

There!
Now that wasn’t so bad.

Was it ??

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