2009 – How was it for you? Part 6
Posted: December 25th, 2009 | Author: Matt | Filed under: Interviews | Tags: Andrew Foster, Joe Black, The B Of The Bang | No Comments »So, here we are at the end of our 2009 roundups, we thought we’d end close to home with three of our favourite acts, all of whom have local roots.
Andrew Foster
www.myspace.com/andrewfostermusic
So, 2009 is pretty much up, how was it for you?
A bit like falling out of the tallest tree and landing in a soft pile of Lavender.
I found a lot out about myself…
Internal fights are impossible to win when you don’t know what you’re fighting against.
Musically I think I’ve achieved more than I give myself credit for with some very big supports for my level, good radio play and a piece of work I’m proud of that will be released next year.
I haven’t been around as much this year as previous; I think everyone took a step back from the local scene a bit due to personal or financial reasons. I hid for a bit, but I made an album from this time.
Other than your own tunes, what have you been listening to this year?
Oh there’s been so much good music this year if you care to look out the box. Here’s a few of the most influential albums and the ones I’ve played to death this year.
Noah & the Whale: First days of Spring
Mumford & Sons: Sigh No More
Muse: The Resistance
Crooked Vultures: Crooked Vultures
The B Of The Bang: Beginning Middle End
Prodigy: Invaders Must Die
Doves: Kingdom Of Rust
Smoke Fairies: Frozen Heart
Pete Molinari: A Virtual Landslide
The Low Album: Oh My God Charlie Darwin
The Decemberists: The Hazards Of Love
Thomas Dybdahl: Thomas Dybdahl
Crooked Still: Still Crooked
And music not from this year
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals: Cardinology
Led Zeppelin 3
CSNY: Déjà vu
The Black Keys: Magic Potion
Band Of Horses:
Wintersleep
Neil Young: Sugar Mountain LIVE
Fleetwood Mac: Rumors
The Beatles: take your pick!
Oasis: Dig Out Your Soul
BRMC: Howl
Amplifier: Amplifier
Bob Dylan: Dylan
Coldplay: viva la vida
David Bowie: take your pick!
Death Cab For Cutie: Narrow Stairs
What one thing would you have changed about the last twelve months?
My mindset over certain things, and not making the most of opportunities.
The medias ever-increasing grip on the way people live their lives, including myself.
This is the year that Peter and Jordon became more interesting than Scientists trying to create the conditions of a black hole on earth.
Liking trashy mags whilst on the toilet is one thing, aspiring to be these people is ludicrous.
What are you looking forward to in 2010?
Releasing my new album “The Garden” and learning to embrace musical opportunities more than I do now. I think next year will bring many changes for me….I feel it in my waters! Keep writing and focus more on my obsession, doing different styles and feeding my suppressed rock notions of having a Marshall ripping behind me. Im gonna let that out next year a little more maybe with a different project.
Im very proud of this years work on the craft of “The Garden” and I’m looking forward to gigging it, playing the songs to people and moving on musically.
Next year I think Im gonna work harder on my own aspirations and be ruthless with my own musical targets. Hopefully a bit of Neil Young spirit will rub off on me…hopefully not alienating everyone in the process though!
Do you have a message for our readers?
If you’re a musician, the Industry is very strange at the moment… never stop writing. People of the Arts unite!
I want this year to be the year individual expression becomes free again.
Lets have some colour…everything’s grey at the moment, go see live gigs again, see art galleries, go see plays and nature.
Tell people how you feel.
The B Of The Bang (Wit – vocals, guitars)
www.myspace.com/thebofthebang
So, 2009 is pretty much up, how was it for you?
It was spiffing ta. Ruddy busy but ruddy rewarding too…our album did pretty well in a few end of year lists so it’s been a good’un…we’ve undergone a few changes and have demoed a load of new stuff already. It’s sounding very different and i’m most excited as to where we find ourselves bowling into blindly next….
Other than your own tunes, what have you been listening to this year?
Everything under the sun, old stuff, new stuff, good stuff, bad stuff. Fave albums of the year would include Grizzly Bear, Wild Beasts, The Antlers. Anything with a wildlife theme it seems….
What one thing would you have changed about the last twelve months?
I would have asked our Rhodesy (newest TBOTB member) to have not spilt coffee in his motor just before a tour. Sour milk is a pretty difficult look to pull off…
What are you looking forward to in 2010?
The new Dawn Chorus album, the new Strange Death album. Getting into the studio again as soon as possible and having a tour-vehicle that doesn’t smell of moose.
Do you have a message for our readers?
Yes. But they’ll have to come see us live to find out what it is.
Joe Black
www.myspace.com/misterjoeblack
So, 2009 is pretty much up, how was it for you?
wonderful, definitely an enlightening experience. I realised how much things can change in a year, both good and bad. Though – mostly good.
Other than your own tunes, what have you been listening to this year?
I’ve been listening to a lot of tori amos this year, always something i can relate too. no matter what is going on
What one thing would you have changed about the last twelve months?
nothing. everything happens for a reason
What are you looking forward to in 2010?
To be kind of like 2009. but better. Though i’m particularly looking forward to supporting the tiger lillies, and getting to germany again.
Do you have a message for our readers?
one of my favourite quotes, actually….
‘Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.’ – Marilyn Monroe
I don’t think you’ll ever read a press release that doesn’t proclaim the music you’re about to listen to as unique or find a band who don’t believe they have a fresh viewpoint on things, but occasionally an artist comes along who doesn’t crow from the rooftops and they tend to be the most interesting of all. With ‘Showtunes For The Recently Deceased’ Joe Black really has created something with a unique flavour. I can only imagine Joe was conceived on a stormy night, perhaps in a room lit only by the lighting flashing through the night sky, as Tom Waist and Kurt Weill made frantic, musically discordant man love… there can be no other explanation for him. The experience starts off with some unique presentation, my album arrived in a lunchbox that had been spray painted black and filled with feathers, flowers and pieces of paper bearing doodles and messages. It was an intriguing way to start, but nothing compared to how the disc sounded when I popped it into the CD player. Across the tracks here Black howls, yells, moans, thrashes his piano and accordian and, occasionally, even sings, but each note seems to be forced into place, the piece as a whole plays out like the soundtrack to Tim Burton’s inner monologue. With the likes of the snarling ‘Happy Birthday Mr Black’ or the titular track, all brooding keys and Waits-esque spoken word vocals, Black confounds the listener as much as he entertains. But the music hall pastiche of ‘The “I Don’t Like You Very Much” Song’ is the cornerstone of this album, showing Joe’s tongue wedged firmly in cheek, one can only suppose he recorded it with a glint in his eye as he seems to be loving every second. Black is really an artist who thrives in the live environment, but with this disc he gives the listener a good starting point for the trek into his own twisted world.
The New Theatre Royal in Portsmouth is not known as a live music venue, not unless you count occasional opera performances and musical theatre anyway, but after tonight’s gig, part of the theatre’s ‘Sprout’ season, that may be about to change. With a headline slot from The Strange Death of Liberal England (ably assisted by the Richard P Horn Wind Orchestra) the support act had to be something a bit special, so step up to the plate Mr Joe Black. Melding an approach to song that can only be described as Tom Waits and Danny Elfman performing lost songs from the Kurt Weill catalogue, Black is a mesmeric performer, and assisted by Burlesque performer Dolly Divine he put on a true show here, theatrical, funny and never afraid to cross the boundaries of good taste his set was full of pace and energy and loosened up the crowd perfectly. TSDOLE, who had been seen lurking stage-side throughout the first set took to the stage after a short interval and played a blistering set of artful rock that sent shivers down the spine, especially when their backing orchestra hit their mark. It was a brave decision to mount such a performance, but it paid off as the band were lifted by the arrangements and soared through their set delivering multiple spine tingling moments, none more so than when front man Adam Woolway stepped away from his microphone to deliver sections of the beautiful ‘September Swallows’ straight to the audience! For everyone who was in the packed out theatre tonight, this was a very special gig that will stick in the mind for years to come!
