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Archive for July, 2012

Jul

* Benefit Show for Amanda!!! Emerald Coast Murders, Roman Gabriel Todd’s…, Mon Cul @ Sluggo’s Vegetarian Restaurant + INTERVIEWS W/ AMANDA MCCABE & BOB CROSS. 05/19/12

Categories: Interview, Show Pics and Show Write-Ups
Tags: amanda mccabe, emerald coast murders, florida, pensacola, sluggo's vegetarian restaurant, thorazine

“Now that I think about it… My favorite show is really any show I get to see a good friend of mine really rock the f*ck out. Hands down those are all my favorite ” – Amanda McCabe

As another Saturday night fell into summer, I ran into Bob Cross for the first time in years. One of the most intense musicians I’ve ever watched on stage, Cross was two weeks away from getting married, receiving his doctorate and moving into a new place. His life was moving fast, but it was what he told me about Amanda McCabe that moved me even more.

Under the amber lights of Sir Richards Lounge, between bursts of laughter and karaoke songs, the soon-to-be Dr. Cross detailed the upcoming benefit concert for Amanda at Sluggo’s. Even as we were surrounded by the noise and distractions of the bar, the Bob Cross intensity was still there. Sitting down without a bass (Hell, even without a stage) that power hadn’t faded over time.

With only a few days left before deadline, Bob and Amanda agreed to be interviewed for my music column in the Pensacola News Journal. Here is a link to the article on the Benefit Concert for Amanda and the full interviews with Amanda and Bob follow below.

*** Bob Cross Interview ***

MS: Tell me more about the benefit show for Amanda McCabe?

BC: There was an announcement by, I’m not sure if it was Val (Valerie George) or Amanda who put it online about her situation. And I’m getting ready to move to Galveston for a job I have lined up, so I have a couple of shows for a couple of my bands that were going to be set up in the same time frame. So, it was kind of one of those things like “let’s kill two birds with one stone.” We’re going to be doing some shows and push any of the proceeds we get from the show to that cause. More like one of the main reasons that I push for it, I don’t normally step out like that because she has, in the past, has helped promote some of my bands. I don’t really actually know her really, really well. She kind of came up in the same time frame that I did in terms of going to shows and being into the same kind of bands and that was kind of a pretty cool thing. But then I also found out she got pretty heavily involved in supporting other Pensacola acts through various means, I think that she was involved in doing some cover artwork for one of (David) Dondero’s albums and I know that she was really big into doing promotion when she was in San Francisco and to me, that’s somebody who is really a big supporter of the independent musician and all of their efforts to try to get out there and get their stuff up. There are not a whole lot of people like that. There’s a whole lot of bands out there and people who want to be in bands, but the people who are in effect promoters and even not so much promoters, advocates for independent music, is kind of a rarity. So when you find those people and their quality, you want to be able to support them. When I found out about her getting sick, I was like well, “If we can do anything to get her back in the ring, that would be the most ideal setting.” And it’s pretty minimal; I mean it’s a punk show. I don’t know how much that’s really going to be able to pay for her bills because I think she has health insurance issues. I don’t know if we’ll really be able to get to that kind of end goal. So I contacted her, Val online and said, “Hey, I’m getting ready to do some shows and I would really love to be able to put what money we make towards the cause and I’ll do whatever we can do to promote it. And she seemed pretty into the idea and we talked to some of the bands we usually play with, Roman Gabriel Todd from Mobile, I don’t know which…

MS: What about the flier?

BC: There’s kind of a story behind that I guess. So the idea was…She’s got pretty severe scoliosis and it’s got to the point where…the way I understand it at least and I may be extrapolating a bit, but I think that here scoliosis has gotten so severe that its caused excessive calcium deposition and those are pinching off into nerves and causing all kinds of problems. The idea was that she’d gotten this nickname from some old friend of Valerie George and Amy McDowell. Her name is Amanda, kind of rhymes with Panda so the idea was, we would…well, I have to find something that has to do with bent spines and surgeries and Pandas, so I did the cursory internet search and found a panda getting back surgery. How much more perfect is that and it’s a hardcore show, so it’s going to be a lot of heavy music and you kind of got to put something gruesome on the cover. It’s really to the point. We’re trying to help this woman pay for surgery.

*** Amanda McCabe Interview ***

MS: What kind of music do you listen to?

AM: (laughs) Well, I listen to most everything. I generally think to be a true music junkie, you have to appreciate it all. I can’t really say that I listen to anything in particular. I listen to “good music” is usually how I answer that question.

MS: Any favorite local bands?

AM: I’ve been out of the seen here in Pensacola for a long time and I’m not entirely familiar with a lot of the bands that are playing these days since I’ve been back. I don’t really get to go out because of my injuries and stuff. I’m sure that they are. My best friend Valerie (George) has been very plugged into the scene and has told me about some bands that are doing some really cool things. I’m hopeful to get to hear them.

MS: I have to ask you, when did you discover that you had scoliosis?

AM: I have had it most of my life, but it’s never caused me any problems until recently and I’m not entirely sure that that is what is causing all of the pain. But I’ve been to nine doctors over the past two and a half years since the pain started to get so bad that it started affecting my work. But now, I guess it’s a combination of factors causing the situation I’m in right now, but the scoliosis is contributing to repetitive injury which basically caused this damage and a bone spur. And now there is a lot of nerve issues going on because of all that.

MS: I read your blog and I was just like, “Oh my God”, you’re pretty much in constant pain?

AM: Yeah, pretty much. It’s kind of a baseline of pain and then it fluctuates up and occasionally down a little bit, but it’s pretty much constant. I’m kind of just right now managing it now with medication and massage therapy.

MS: You mentioned your friends and I’ve got to say, when I saw Bob (Cross), he told me about you and the show they wanted to do, how did the benefit and this concert get started?

AM: It’s funny. I know that Bob has been my friend on a social network for a long time and is still in contact with my friend Valerie. Essentially I had been treated under a workman’s comp kind of situation because the pain that I’m experiencing, for the most part, started at work. My friend Valerie and a couple of other friends who I have reconnected with since I’ve been back, kind of all banded together. These amazing women, just decided to put together a fundraising committee and try and start getting people involved and that has kind of been amazing. A lot of people have started to donate stuff so that we can have some more fundraising events and Bob just kind of jumped in an amazing way and organized this whole thing and has kind of run with it and kind of just dropped me an email with a flier and told me about it. And it has been awesome.

MS: Awesome. Why the Panda bear? Is there a story behind the Panda bear?

AM:(laughs) Yes. I’ve had many nicknames over the years. One originally my dad gave to me when I was young. So it’s picked it up as Amanda Panda and he remembered that from so many years ago and decided to go with it. It was really cute. I love the flier! I think it’s amazing.

MS: That’s a pretty bad ass flier. What would you like anybody reading this article to know about you, the concert, the benefit, the people involved? Is there anything you would like them to know especially?

AM: Well. I’m really so overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity that people have shown me. I’ve been living in a place where you have to fight the good fight every day. And it’s hard to find good people. I’m just overwhelmed.

MS: It’s amazing when I talked to Bob, he was full of enthusiasm and was just, “Wow! We got to make this happen.”

AM: Right now, I’m looking into meeting with a specialist who will hopefully have some good news for me and eventually will be willing to do some pretty serious surgery. If the surgery happens, it could be another eight months before I’m really back to normal. But considering what I’ve been through it’s a chance I’m willing to take.

MS: What is the best advice you’ve ever been given?

AM: (pause…laughs) I guess, a long time ago, when I was first getting into the music business, or I wanted to, but I wasn’t really in it yet. I had all of these skills and I really didn’t’ know what to do and really know how to make them work for me and a friend of mine basically just said, “If you start doing something, eventually you’ll be the person that does it.” And so, “just go do it.” It doesn’t really matter that you don’t know what you’re doing because, eventually you’ll figure it out. And that’s kind of been the one thing that I’ve always lived by.

MS: What advice would you give to someone who is going through what you are right now?

AM: I guess it kind of seems like…at least in my case, because it’s kind of been such a strange road and a long road that I fought for a long time by myself in California. I had friends, but I didn’t really have anyone to take care of me. Really, you just have to find a place in your head where it gets quiet even though it’s impossible to find and stay there as much as you can even if it’s only for a minute at a time. And the pain won’t kill you. You just have to remember that. Pain itself can’t kill you. If you’re not going to die then really the fear of it comes along, but it’s just fear. You know, just keep going.

MS: Favorite concert of all time in Pensacola?

AM: I would have to say, wow…I want to say maybe Seven Year Bitch playing at the Nite Owl a million years ago.

MS: I saw my first show at the Nite Owl.

AM: Really?

MS: I saw the Vomit Spots and they had a bunch of Mobile skinheads. First time I ever saw skinheads was at the Nite Owl. An older friend took me there.

AM: Yeah. The Nite Owl. It was really fun. I’m surprised. From my perspective, so many things were happening there that all the time, now that I’ve gotten older, I can’t believe it was allowed to stay open. (laughs)

MS: Underage kids hanging out with strippers getting off work. So, why was that concert your favorite?

AM: I just remember being really blown away by the energy. Women up on stage just going for it and it just really the first empowering show I think I saw.

MS: This is the last question I have for you Amanda, it’s a crazy one.

AM: Uh oh.

MS: Do you like Crunchy or Creamy Peanut Butter?

AM: I’m a crunchy girl all the way; the crunchier the better.

MS: Why so?

AM: I don’t know. It’s more exciting.

MS: What is your favorite song now?

AM: I think there’ a favorite song for every mood in every moment and favorite album. As somebody who’s been in the music business for long enough, I’ve been asked a top record a thousand times, it always a really hard question to answer and I have to say one of the songs that always hits me and has been covered a million times and been done a thousand different ways…

The next day, I got this text from Amanda…

“Now that I think about it… My favorite show is really any show I get to see a good friend of mine really rock the fuck out..Hands down those are all my favorite ”

- Save The Amanda Blog
- Pensacola News Journal article on the Benefit Show for Amanda

- Michael L. Smith

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Jul

* White Tie Rock Ensemble perform Pink Floyd’s “Darkside of the Moon” @ Pensacola Little Theatre + INTERVIEW W/ JONATHAN CLARK. 05/12/12

By Take Cover and Shoot! 2 Comments

Categories: Interview, Show Pics and Show Write-Ups
Tags: florida, jerry dawson, jonathan clark, mark ellis, pensacola, pensacola little theatre, white tie rock ensemble

At the age of 33, William Clark helped lead the Corps of Discovery through an uncharted North America. At the age of 34 Jonathan Clark, with help from some of the area’s top musicians, led a group of talented high school students through the experience of a lifetime.

One week before the White Tie Rock Ensemble’s ambitious debut performance of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon”, Clark detailed the journey leading to the performance for my music column in the Pensacola News Journal.

Here is a link to the Pensacola News Journal article and the full interview follows below.

*** Jonathan Clark Interview ***

JC: It all started with guitar player Jerry Dawson. He’s one of the best guitar players we have in Pensacola. He and I play at Gulf Breeze United Methodist Church. Since about 05’ we’ve been playing together and we kind of talk and shoot ideas back and forth. I was in the Pensacola Symphony for 17 years. I played violin in the Pensacola Symphony and it kind of struck me that the symphony overall was just a cover band that kept the classics alive.

Without the symphonies around, Beethoven’s “The 5th” would go by the wayside, or all of the great Stravinsky, big, symphonic works. And those were sort of the “albums” of their era. Of the classical world, those are what we’d consider the “Dark Side of the Moon” or “Revolver” or “Thriller” even. I thought, well the Pensacola Symphony keeps all of this fantastic music alive, why don’t we do the same type thing, but with rock music?

We’ve all been in bar bands and cover bands. I have an 80’s band; we do wedding receptions with my father’s band “Clark & Company”. We’ve all done that. I had this original band called WAVE that was real successful. So we looked at how can we do a thing like the symphony, in the theatre? Add the orchestral part to it, since I played violin all my life. We, the Clarks are involved with the Escambia County Schools strings program. Four of the seven orchestra teachers in the county are Clarks. My father, my wife and my sister all teach, plus myself in the strings.

We teach so many of these young kids and nowadays it’s all iTunes driven. They don’t buy CD’s even. They don’t look at the CD, even if I told you they don’t look at the CD artwork. People used to look at album artwork. It was such an integral part of the experience; holding the record, taking it out, putting the needle down. Nowadays, they just type up something on their phone, a single comes down, they listen to it over and over again, and that’s the experience.

So we thought when we do this on the stage somewhere, at the Pensacola Little Theatre or something like that and then we can invite even young fans. Don’t have to go to bars, they don’t have to worry about the alcohol and the age limits and that kind of stuff and we’d be able to perform these classics just like the Pensacola Symphony would, but we would be doing classic rock albums.

MS: That’s an awesome idea. When Mark (Ellis) told me, I said, “Wow.”

JC: What happened was, Jerry had a friend named Joel, who’s playing keyboards and Joel lived in Birmingham and so it was talked about Joel moving down here and Joel actually just got a job with Mark at All Pro (Sound) and all those guys. So, when he looked like he was going to move down here, Joel sort of did this thing up in Birmingham with another group and so he said, “Hey, if you come and let’s go ahead and start rolling.”

This is our first one and so what we created this kind of, I mean not a fictitious, but a fictitious society the Album Preservation Society which is funny itself, it’s APS sort of like the death-knell. I teach almost 300 kids every week and I’ll say, “Do you guys know who Pink Floyd is?” and they look at me and they go “What? I think my parents used to listen to them.” But you think, “You know who Britney Spears is and they all do. “You know who Drake is.” Even in the rap world, all of these kids are so into rap music, they don’t know Dr. Dre even. Even the classics from the 90’s, Pearl Jam. They don’t know who these bands are anymore. And so that was one of the things, maybe we can keep this art form alive, just like the symphony. If the symphony wasn’t playing Beethoven’s 5th. I mean, how many of these kids would hear it ever? Maybe in a commercial.

I was talking to Joel on the phone and he said “We need to add something to it. We need to not just go out there and do the CD. What can we add to it? And I said, “Man, I have like a hundred high school orchestra kids. I could put an orchestra together from them.” He said “Perfect! That’s it.” And that’s where it all came from.

MS: You mentioned orchestras. What other students and schools do they represent?

JC: I just started a new organization called the Emerald Coast Honors Orchestra. ECHO. It is a private entity for strings players outside of the public schools program to get extra instruction. It’s along the lines of the Pensacola Children’s Chorus. We’ll never be as big; assembling a choir is one thing, an orchestra I something else. We have about 47 kids in my private program now and about 20 of those are coming to the show to play.

We’ll have plenty of high schools mainly representing Escambia High, a couple Washington High, West Tech and Pine Forest. It’s a pretty good mixture of all the high schools here in town. It’s a blast for them. They’ll get to now experience this live. And when we’re rehearsing, I keep telling them, “Guys, it’s going to be loud.” They’re not used to that type of atmosphere. But they’re going to have a lot of fun and once they’re up there, I have to make sure it doesn’t distract them.

MS: Why did you choose such an ambitious album?

JC: It’s just, when you think of a classic album, “Darkside of the Moon” was on the Billboard charts for some just unfathomable number of weeks. It was on the Billboard charts…I’ll Wikipedia it while we’re talking here, but when you think of classic albums, there’s really about five or six that you can come up with. “Darkside of the Moon” is one, the Beatles, you’ve got the “White Album”, you’ve “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, you’ve got Led Zeppelin IV, Led Zeppelin II, maybe a Who album in there. There is a list of classic albums that you might go about ten deep on and when we started looking at that.

It actually came down to a Police album or “Darkside of the Moon.” The next one we’re going to do is going to be a Police tribute. On the docket right now, we have The Police, Led Zeppelin IV and we’re going to do a Beatles album and we’re not quite sure which Beatles album we’re going to do yet. We’re all big Pink Floyd fans and when I thought about adding the orchestra, that was one of the main things when you do The Police album with the orchestra. I haven’t seen The Police done like that at all. You can find some things of “Darkside of the Moon” where they’re strings playing or something like that, but with The Police it’s so angular and you’ll have all that dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.

But “Darkside of the Moon”, in terms of this rich, big chord fill-in, that was the easiest kind to orchestrate and I thought that would be the best for the kid’s palates that I’m working with. I didn’t want to throw them into the fire. (Clark finds the Billboard chart information on “Darkside of the Moon”)I looked it up here, it was on the charts for 741 weeks. From 1973 to 1988. Longer than any other album in history. 15 years it was on the Billboard charts.

And now, these kids that I’m having play, were born after 1988. Think about things like, I’m not sure how old you are, but Michael Jackson was huge when I was growing up and now that he’s died, 10 years from now, kids aren’t going to know Michael Jackson was.

When you think about it, in the 90’s Pink Floyd was back out touring. I remember people making trips to New Orleans to go see “Pulse” in 94’. So we had one last hit of Pink Floyd coming out. But after 94, they’re done. But even Roger Waters right now is touring “The Wall”. This time next year, what I think we’re going to try and do is do four or five a year. And say in May ends up being when we do Pink Floyd stuff, next year we’re going to try and do “The Wall”. But it’s been a whole lot of fun, this working it up, man. It is a lot of work though. I’ll tell you. I’m working on it right now when you called me.

What we’re doing is a “Best of” first half. A lot of “The Wall”, “Wish You Were Here” of course and then the second half will be all “Darkside of the Moon”. I made the programs up. The programs are like little CD’s inserts. There small little squares. They’ve got the whole set that we’re playing on the back just like a CD case would. We’re trying to be as clever as possible in bringing those art forms. I think it’s hilarious that we talk about CD’s as if that’s like my parents talking about albums. Now we talk about CD’s and cassettes. We’re just trying to bring that to the younger generation.

- Michael L. Smith

Jul

* Steve Earle & The Dukes With Special Guests: The Mastersons @ Vinyl Music Hall. 05/04/12

By Take Cover and Shoot! Leave a Comment

Categories: Show Pics and Show Write-Ups
Tags: florida, Jerusalem, pensacola, Steve Earle, vinyl music hall

With a fist in the air and feedback all around, Steve Earle left the stage with nearly two hours of music behind him. “Copperhead Road” was a given, but I was floored by the unexpected and rising confession of addiction, redemption and faith that simmered its way into the introduction of his song “Jerusalem”.

Such were the gifts that Earle gave to the crowd of Vinyl Music Hall. Like a gospel choir, like a bullet, Earle can hit you soft and leave you stumbling or hit you hard and knock you out.

“In case you’re wondering, this is called a bouzouki…unless you’re in an airport.” joked Earle as he introduced the Irish string instrument he had played for a few songs. One syllable off from sounding like the military rocket launcher (the bazooka), Earle has also done his damage, but he’s picking up the pieces of himself/the world and putting it all together, helping us all to heal.

- Michael L. Smith

Jul

* Mickey Avalon, Andre Legacy @ Vinyl Music Hall. 04/30/2012

By Take Cover and Shoot! Leave a Comment

Categories: Show Pics and Show Write-Ups
Tags: andre legacy, florida, mickey avalon, pensacola, vinyl music hall

Mickey Avalon. Is he for real? Is it an act? Who knows, but Avalon looked every bit the role of a sloppy/wasted rocker in complete command of the audience at Vinyl Music Hall.

Making his entrance with a strut and a German officer’s cap that gave him the look of Marilyn Manson/Mickey Manson, the Hollywood rapper gave a set that got the ladies licking lips and gyrating hips. As wasted as he seemed, Magic Mickey put on a show. Even as he was dragged back to earth following a failed wall climbing attempt, Avalon didn’t disappoint his fans.

Instead of gingerly patting the ass, Avalon firmly spanked and squeezed every bit of energy he could from his people. Hugging the ladies and spraying champagne everywhere, the show still wasn’t complete until lifetime friend Andre Legacy joined the Hollywood rapper for their hit “What Do You Say?” which was featured in the 2009 film “The Hangover”.

- Michael L. Smith

Jul

* Weight of the World, Vices, Cold Hearted @ Sluggo’s Vegetarian Restaurant. 04/29/12

By Take Cover and Shoot! Leave a Comment

Categories: Show Pics and Show Write-Ups
Tags: cold hearted, florida, hardcore, pensacola, SLUGGOS, vices, weight of the world

A dislocated knee and a smashed wall, all before the headliners hit the stage. It’s was a hardcore kind of night, brothers and sisters.

The kid with the dislocated knee popped it back in and the dude who smashed the wall caught serious (and justified) hell as Weight of the World, Vices, and Cold Hearted ended my Sunday night at Sluggo’s with a BANG.

Cheers!

Michael L. Smith

Jul

* Lit @ Vinyl Music Hall + INTERVIEW W/ A. JAY POPOFF 04/28/2012

By Take Cover and Shoot! Leave a Comment

Categories: Interview, Show Pics and Show Write-Ups
Tags: A. Jay Popoff, florida, Lit, pensacola, vinyl music hall

No matter how many albums you sell, you cannot buy immortality. Hit singles won’t save the ones you love or spare you from the pain of loss. Success is only an affirmation that you did it once and might be able to do it again. And even that is a longshot.

Nearly two months before their album “The View from the Bottom” was released, Lit performed at Vinyl Music Hall. A return to music has marked a comeback for the band and their first album in eight years. Eight years that saw the band suffer several tragedies, including the death of the Popoff brother’s stepfather in a motorcyle accident and the loss of their drummer Allen Shellenberger to cancer in 2009

In our interview-a week prior to the show at Vinyl-Lit frontman A. Jay Popoff discussed his love of metal, concerts and life for my music column in the Pensacola News Journal.

Here is a link to the column (Lit’s spark came from it’s Iron Maiden fandom) and the full interview follows below.

*** A. Jay Popoff Interview ***

MS: What can fans expect from the new album and this tour?

AJ: As far as the new album goes, it’s been awhile since we put out a record. For a lot of reasons, we went through a lot of shit as a band. I’ll just give you the short version. There was such a dark cloud following us everywhere we went, that we just kept on hiatus during that time and sort of waited until not only it felt right, but until the time was right, and we were inspired to write good music again. Not to bring a dark angle to it, but losing our brother and our drummer was such a devastating blow that it just knocked us on our ass. We weren’t ready to make a record until we healed a little bit from that. It lit a whole new fire under our ass and inspired us again in a bigger way, like never before. Consequently, the songs that were coming out-the ones that are on this record-are probably our best songs ever.

MS: What did you listen to growing up?

AJ: Man, my brother and I are from such a musical family. We grew up listening to everything. Our grandfather was a jazz musician, so we were exposed to a lot of jazz. Our dad was in top 40 radio. A DJ at one of the bigger pop radio stations at that time in a L.A. My brother and I, when we were old enough to buy our own records, we were huge metal heads. We were listening to bands like Iron Maiden, Metallica and all that heavy stuff. That’s why when you listen to a Lit record, people don’t really know what genre we fall in. Some people in the beginning were like, “Oh, Lit is a pop-punk band.” People that kind of dug deep into the band realized that these guys are a straight rock band. We’re all over the board on our records. You’ll hear stuff that’s maybe a little more pop than most rock bands and then you’ll hear a heavy side, especially live. A lot of our music translates a lot heavier live too, because we have that influence. We used to go to heavy metal concerts. Those were the kind of shows that made us want to be onstage. When you see us up there, it’s not like watching Blink 182, it’s probably a little more like watching Iron Maiden. Although we don’t look anything like those guys.

MS: What’s the best concert you saw as a kid?

AJ: I’d probably have to go with Iron Maiden. We went to almost every tour that those guys came through with. “Powerslave”, “Live after Death”. That tour, that was actually a live record that they put out. I was at that show as a kid. My first concert ever when I was eight years old was Iron Maiden “Killers” and that was before Bruce Dickinson started singing. I got to see Iron Maiden with the original singer. Yeah. Shit, I’ve seen a lot of great shows. Another one that stood out was Jane’s Addiction at the second Lollapalooza, just a phenomenal show. Muse. I think Muse put on one of the best shows I’ve ever seen, just an insane live band.

MS: With the touring, performing, recording, what part gets you off the most about the whole Lit experience?

AJ: That’s a no-brainer, man. It’s the live thing for sure; being out onstage and playing. I love writing music. I love the writing process. Not a huge fan of recording studios. To me it’s all the energy and all the passion happens when you hit the stage. That’s another thing that I can say, that I dislike television performances because you’ve got nothing but cameras in front of you and lights. It doesn’t feel natural at all. Definitely, without a doubt, being onstage is the kicker.

MS: I know that Lit shows get wild. Inhibitions fly, but what is the craziest thing you’ve ever done or you’ve ever seen at one of your shows?

AJ: I’m sure I’ll forget about some of the crazier shit, but definitely one of the things that stands out-just the only time it ever happened on tour-was the time I got arrested. Actually, I pretty much got arrested right after I set foot off the stage for taking my clothes off. Normally, I wouldn’t have done anything like that. Well actually, we were in Charlotte, N.C. and probably one of the worst places to pull a move like that when you’re playing a show in the Bible belt. I remember the security was real tense and ruining everybody’s time; making people sit down and I just remember, I was so annoyed. I just started pounding Jagermeister and I took myself to a point where I didn’t give a shit anymore. That was memorable. You just never know with us, what’s going to happen. That’s what’s so cool about being on tour. You’re in a different city every night. You never know what the next night is going to bring and that’s part of the excitement. Every city gets their own little treat of some sort. You’ll see something that no one else is going to see because it’s captured in that two hour period. It’s history, man.

MS: I know you’ve been asked this a lot, what was the inspiration for the writing for “My Own Worst Enemy”?

AJ: Oh man. It speaks for itself. (laughs) The inspiration is all in that. We wrote that song-that was probably one of the painless songs we’ve ever written. Not that the other songs were painful, but that song really wrote itself. We showed up to our rehearsal space that we had been in for many, many years and throwing parties and what have you. We were on sort of a writing binge and showed up to practice with a case of beer and just had a good time. And that riff, my brother started playing the riff, the band just joined in, I had a concept already and the melody. Seriously, that song was done in a couple of hours.

MS: Would you consider yourself a bad boy or a nice guy?

AJ: I’d say that most people know me as being a little too nice. I guess it depends on where you draw the line or how you define “bad boy.” I’m a nice bad boy, I guess. I mean, I get into trouble, but I don’t really piss a lot of people off. I don’t piss the wrong people off, I should say. I piss the people off that I want to piss off.

MS: You always stand up for yourself. That’s what I’ve learned.

AJ: Yeah. We’ve definitely paved a road of destruction, but we’re sympathetic (laughs).

MS: With everything you’ve been through, what’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

AJ: Shit, I don’t know. I think advice is…yeah, you can take good advice, but for me I feel like learning through the school of hard knocks and just going out there, living it and learning things the hard way. Personally, that’s taught me the most. Definitely, I’ve talked to some people who are pretty insightful and I probably learned a lot from it, but I can’t fucking remember (laughs).

MS: What words of wisdom would you give to up and coming artists who want to be where you are?

AJ: I would say, spend more time playing music with your band. And less time on Facebook. Social media is really important. I feel, sort of bands nowadays, not really building strong grass roots out there on the street and not marketing their band as a band. It seems like a lot of bands spend time in separate rooms on their computers than hitting the streets together as a team; talking to fans, getting out there and actually connecting with people on a real level. I think that’s important, man. This virtual world is starting to kill the scene a little bit.

MS: People do, but people rarely even put up fliers anymore. I remember when you flier’d every place in your city.

AJ: The cool thing is, you have the internet now and it helps reach a lot more people. Once you’re out there and you’re doing it. I really think that people have got to get back to old school marketing. There’s no reason why you can’t be doing both. The main thing is connecting with people, man. And helping people connect with the music and you as a band, and not so much, not only the brand.

MS: Creamy or Crunchy Peanut Butter?

AJ: (laughs) Man, is this a trick question? This is going to mean that I’m a certain kind of person if I choose one or the other.

MS: I’ve heard some crazy answers.

AJ: I’m allergic to nuts.

MS: Stephen Perkins from Jane’s Addiction said he likes “Crunchy, but…..

AJ: I’m going to stick with my answer to stay safe.

MS: Is there anything you want the diehard Lit fans to know?

AJ: Oh shit. I think you’re going to see Lit with full guns blazing. In better form than we’ve ever been. We’ve got a great band right now. We brought on a fifth member, who adds a whole new layer to the band that we haven’t had out on tour yet. Yeah, man, we’re going to play all of the classics that everyone wants to come out and see and I promise that you won’t be disappointed with the new shit live.

- Michael L. Smith

Link to an additional photo gallery of the event by the PNJ crew.

Jul

* Peelander-Z, One-Eyed Doll, Earl’s Killer Squirrel @ Vinyl Music Hall. 04/22/12

By Take Cover and Shoot! 1 Comment

Categories: Show Pics and Show Write-Ups
Tags: earl's killer squirrel, florida, one eyed doll, peelander z, pensacola, vinyl music hall

If you aren’t pulled onstage during a Peelander-Z show, the stage will eventually come to you. Crazier than the craziest Crayola box, The colorful group from New York (by way of Japan) returned to Pensacola, Florida for another round of party punk madness.

Earl’s Killer Squirrel opened the show at Vinyl Music Hall. Having recently celebrated the band’s 18th anniversary, Earl Lyon led the current lineup of Mike Lyon (guitar), Dave Kober (bass) and Jeff Rahn (drums) through a set of old-school punk and stage banter.

Following EKS were the Austin, Texas group One-Eyed Doll. Imagine a Living Dead Doll (with a killer sense of sisterhood and humor) leading a heavy-metal vaudeville gang of two. Kimberly Freeman (armed with guitar) Junior (drums) got the audience participation ball rolling by assembling the most willing participants to join them onstage.

Finally, the crew of Peelander-Z clocked in. Did they have a new CD coming out? I don’t know. Was there a new DVD or book to promote? I really couldn’t tell you. Do they always bring a party? Hell yes!
Be it a huge festival or the smallest bar, the crew of Peelander Z are about having a good time.

It’s Comic-Con gone wild as Peelander Yellow (vocals/guitar) directed the insanity of bandmates Peelander Red (bass), Peelander Pink (spotlight/props-a-plenty), Peelander Green (drums) and Peelander Black (guitar/sunglasses/1950′s cool). So many moments, so little time as the party ended with their cover of Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”.

Come back soon, I need some more Bang, Bang Boom.

- Michael L. Smith