Jesse Lacey / Kevin Devine / Grace Read @ Hoboken 7/29

Maxwell’s in Hoboken, NJ, is an amazing venue. Primarily a bar/restaurant during most hours, it also hosts shows in a small little room (maximum capacity about two-hundred standing). The performances are always intimate, and this stop on the Jesse/Kevin tour was no exception.

Grace Read opened the evening with four of her own songs performed solo with only a piano as accompaniment. The sister of Kevin Devine, she shares his ability to craft solid songs, and her voice is absolutely incredible. She spent most of the time talking (her own admission, “I don’t have many songs so I spend time telling jokes”), but when she played it was delightful. Particularly notable was her final song about a battle between a fire-breathing dragon and soldiers who had to fight it. She is certainly a singer/songwriter I will be on the lookout for.

Kevin Devine arrived on stage a few minutes later, and kicked off the evening with a handful of new songs, including a beautiful song about a boy and his dog. Jesse Lacey walked through the crowd and hopped on stage and joined Kevin for “Cotton Crush”, and so the evening began with two best friends singing and playing guitar, enjoying every moment of it.

Kevin performed very few older selections, using the time mostly to try out new material (which is definitely better than his older material). Jesse played a lot of Brand New songs:

Soco Amaretto Lime
Tautou (performed by Kevin Devine after “Ballgame”)
The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot
Me Vs. Mardona Vs. Elvis
Play Crack The Sky (”I need to stop writing songs in G”, said Jesse)
Jesus (a country-infused remix that wasn’t the best way to interpret the song)
Degausser (with “goodbye to drugs” verse)
Luca
Coca-Cola
“I Wrote Your Named And Burned It”

The duo were on stage for more than two hours, and the night was also filled with quite a few covers, including songs by Leonard Cohen and Archers Of Loaf, among others (though the pair skipped out on any Neutral Milk Hotel songs they had been recently performing live).

Kevin performed “No Time Flat”, a self-proclaimed “clumsy” song about the draft and war in the Middle East. Openly political, I think the point Kevin was trying to get across in explaining the song was that he hopes the the draft is re-enacted so that the American public actually begin to care about the conflicts the government is involved in, as opposed to not caring since they’re not the ones fighting. An interesting take on the situation that definitely got Kevin very heated.

It wasn’t a political evening, however, and most entertaining throughout the night were Jesse and Kevin’s hilarious stories and banter with the crowd and each other–the two of them were high, having done peyote with Grace before the show began.

Kevin recounted a (apparently one of many) “Woody Allen story” that involved him being exceedingly high and thinking a wooden door in his apartment was Woody Allen, apparently due to the way his brain verbalizes things on drugs. The pair also shared stories about a game of charades played on drugs, and neither could keep a straight-face telling the story. Though when Kevin asked Jesse why he was laughing on stage, Jesse replied in immediate Billy Murray Steve Zissou style, “I have a rep to keep up…I read that I’m miserable”, at which point he actually started laughing.

When the floor was opened to questions, the questions began as softballs but soon turned quite edgy. Topics covered include:

The lyric sheets — Jesse responded that he was still working on them, and that he wanted them to be absolutely perfect since Interscope didn’t give them room to do it with the record

Major labels — in hindsight, Jesse noted that it was probably a poor decision to join a major label, though it was easiest and most financially secure decision (though he claims to “never have seen a cent” from Interscope)

Stealing music — Jesse openly encouraged everyone to burn Brand New albums, and to also steal music as much as possible; this lead into the comment that he wished people stole “everything” and that being a pirate was “cool” since the big corporations didn’t need your money

AbsolutePunk.net and Jason Tate — while loving the freedom of speech it allows, Jesse commented that its funny so many people post completely ignorant and incorrect statements all the time

Bamboozle — Jesse said the band played at noon “because [they] wanted too”, and that they played Degausser twice for that very same reason, saying that the band “does pretty much whatever [they] want”

Being ready for success — a more serious moment, Jesse thanked the crowd for all the support they have shown him and Brand New, and that he was never ready (and still isn’t) for anyone to listen to listen to the songs he wrote, and that the success the band achieved is still uncomfortable

Pre-show activity — Jesse said that before shows, the band could be anywhere doing anything, and could be playing video games that need to be “put on pause” before just walking on stage

Practicing — apparently, the band doesn’t practice in the same way a typical band does; before playing “Jesus” on late night TV shows, for example, the band played the song once–discussed the mistakes they made–and then played the song live on TV hoping they had all fixed their mistakes

The smaller crowd allowed Jesse to become more personal, and it allowed him to speak to the fans without coming across as arrogant or “miserable”. Many other topics were covered, so hopefully if the tour arrives in your area you’ll get to hear his own words yourself. After concluding the wonderful evening with “Chelesea Hotel #2″, Jesse announced that he would return with his band in October, presumably with Thrice and meWithoutYou.

Post-Note: A lot of the comments about drugs were made in jest by Jesse, Kevin, and Grace; I am just reporting what I heard said.. I regret if this offended any of the performers or their families; the “jokes” were not so clear live.

Thrice - The Artist In The Ambulance (Alternative Mix)

In early 2004, Island Records issued a promotional CD for The Artist In The Ambulance; it was supposed to include some b-sides (”Eclipse”, “Motion Isn’t Meaning”, “Stare At The Sun” (acoustic) and two live tracks; however, at least one pressing that was shipped out contained the wrong tracks.  The first three tracks were correct, but instead of live acoustic versions of “Cold Cash and Colder Hearts” and “The Artist In The Ambulance”, the album version of “Cold Cash and Colder Hearts” and an alternative mix of “The Artist In The Ambulance” were pressed as tracks four and five, respectively. This promotional disc formed the basis for If We Could Only See Us Now.

Thrice fans should enjoy this slightly alternative mix, which, as far as I can tell, isn’t discussed anywhere else.  You can download the song right here; if you’re wondering why I’m posting this now, it might be to get ready for the new album, which Thrice may be making an announcement about sooner than you think!

Motion City Soundtrack / Sherwood / The Higher / The Forecast @ Philadelphia 7/23

On a surprisingly cool summer night in Philadelphia, I arrived at the TLA in time to catch the first band, The Forecast. I thought Sherwood was the first opener, but it seems they moved up in the world and were now direct support. In any case, The Forecast were stunning; I had never heard of the band prior to this show, so I didn’t know what to expect at all. Bassist Shannon Burns seemed to split vocal duties with guitarist Dustin Addis, and the pair harmonized well and effectively used the female/male combination of vocals to its full potential. Songs ranged from mid-tempo to all-out punk blasts, each song sounding unique and certainly enjoyable. This band is not a typical Victory Records band, I’ll definitely be checking out more of their material.

The Higher followed and didn’t live up to The Forecast by any means. Their music is very synth-driven, but it was all just sampled into the PA–a huge turnoff to live shows, in my opinion (now-famous Panic! At The Disco used to do this on their early tours, and it just turned me off immediately). Although very The Academy Is…-influenced ( unfortunately without the lyrical wit, catchy hooks, or musicianship), the band struggles live. It all comes off very stale, and very boring. Little girls definitely eat it up, though; a group of girls in front of me from what had to be middle school were attempting to dance to this the entire show. Mix in a mash-up cover of Akon and R. Kelly, and you have the perfect recipe for the type of band I’m absolutely sick of.

AbsolutePunk.net’s oft-plugged Sherwood took the stage next. To be completely honest, I didn’t buy into the AP-hype, and never really listened to these guys. That was a mistake. Sherwood came out swinging, with live synth, pummeling punk-pop guitars, and a “Grounded For Life”-era Donal Logue lookalike frontman with an amazing set of pipes and demanding stage presence. Sherwood was performing the new wave of punk-pop flawlessly, and I was along for the ride. I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a band I didn’t know ANY words to as much as I did Sherwood in quite some time. I hope they’re as energetic and sound as good on CD, because I’ll definitely be picking up their material.

Minneapolis, Minnesota based Motion City Soundtrack finally took the stage, coming out to a party beat of heavy bass and dance-styled music playing over the PA (quite a change from a band who just one year ago came out to the first track from Refused’s The Shape Of Punk To Come). I’ve seen this band more times than I have fingers (and perhaps toes, as well), and the setlist has been basically the same for the six years, so I was excited to see how they would perform the new songs live.

For those keeping score at home, the band played:

Throwdown
The Future Freaks Me Out
My Favorite Accident
Perfect Teeth
Modern Chemistry
Capital H
Mary Without Sound
Attractive Today
Everything Is Alright
Make Out Kids
Time Turned Fragile
LG Fuad
Better Open The Door
Hold Me Down
Fell in Love Without You
This Is For Real
Broken Heart
You Wouldn’t Like Me (Tegan and Sara Cover)

Those seventeen songs should be correct (but are obviously out of order). The new material sounded great. Frontman Justin Pierre was as quirky as ever, this time giving out his cell phone number (or actually, “Tom’s cell phone number”), through a sign flip-book that also contained other sayings, including “YES”, “NO”, “LET’S CHAT”, and other random things. If you get to this tour, you’ll understand what I mean. He may be off the drugs, but his elevator still doesn’t go to the top floor.

The band sounded exceptionally tight (as always); drummer Tony Thaxton is a core part of their live shows, and very under-rated in the world of punk-pop. He kept perfect timing through the band’s chaotic frenzy of dual guitars and Moog, and it’s really amazing how consistently well the band performs live.

Motion City Soundtrack channeled an energy into the crowd that feeds off their own performance; they’re genuinely loving and enjoying every second of the performance, and the crowd feels it. I remember sitting with the band on their tour bus the first time they saw themselves on MTV, and their emotional reaction was very similar to The Wonders’s hysteria when they learn “That Thing You Do!” is on the radio.

Definitely pick up Even If It Kills Me come September, and if this tour rolls through your town, don’t miss it.

How To Transfer Music From Your iPod To Your Computer

Your dilemma: You have an iPod filled with songs you want to transfer to a computer. You’re afraid that connecting it to the computer will erase all of the songs on either the iPod or the computer, so you don’t want to. You want to know how to get the iPod’s songs onto your computer, stress and worry free.

If you’re in this situation, then follow this illustrated, step-by-step simple guide to transfer all the music from your iPod to your computer without any hassle or worry. This guide can easily be followed by someone inexperienced with computer operations.

There are many programs that you can download to automate this process, but this guide is designed to save you the trouble of these programs. Many programs found online are expensive and some contain spyware and viruses. This guide will solve your problems for FREE and without spyware.

Step 1: Plug your iPod into your computer, as normal. However, do not open iTunes.

Step 2: Open “My Computer”. Click “Tools” -> “Folder Options…”. This will open a new window. Choose the “View” tab and then click “Show hidden files and folders”. Press “OK” to exit the window.

Step 3: Open your “C Drive”; you want to create the folder, “mp3_ipod_restore” in your “C:\” directory. The path should be “C:\mp3_ipod_restore”; leave this window open, and then open My Computer once again in a new window.

Step 4: You should see your iPod listed next to your hard drive, CD drive, and other devices listed in “My Computer”. Open your iPod as you would any other folder.

Step 5: Navigate through your folders. Click “iPod_Control” and then “Music”; you should see a list of folders named “F01″, “F02″, etc. These cryptic folders hold all your songs.

Step 6: Open “F01″ or any of the folders, and you’ll notice your songs are there. However, their filenames are going to be cryptic: for example, a file named “GXHR.mp3″ could actually be The Blues Brothers - “Gimme Some Lovin’” (as it is in the illustrated example). Don’t worry if you don’t see your artist or song title; we’ll get to that in a moment.

Step 7: Navigate backwards, to the “iPod_Control” folder. You’ll see the “Music” folder sitting there. Drag “Music” into the “mp3_ipod_restore” folder you created earlier.

Step 8: Depending on how music you’re copying to your hard drive, this could take some time. When it finishes, you’ll now have a folder called “Music” sitting at “C:\mp3_ipod_restore\Music”. Congratulations, your music is now backed up and safe!

Step 9: Now, you’ll want to be able to LISTEN to that music in iTunes. (I’ll describe the basic solution, but there are many ways to accomplish this step, depending on your solution.) Open iTunes. Your music library is blank, so you need to add those copied songs. Choose “File” -> “Add Folder To Library…” and then choose the “C:\mp3_ipod_restore\Music” folder.

Step 10: Sit back and watch iTunes add all of your music back to iTunes, complete with correct song titles, artists, and any other information you had on your songs. Again, depending on how much music is being added to the library, the process could take some time. Enjoy.

If you need additional help, please post a comment below and I will respond as soon as possible.

Rocky Votolato / Langhorne Slim / Hoots and Hellmouth @ Philadelphia 6/29

R5 Productions, run by Sean Agnew, is my absolute favorite show promotions agency.  In an era (and area) dominated by corporations (Clear Channel, for example), R5 steps up to the plate for indie artists in both the local Philadelphia area and the entire country. I don’t usually like to promote services, but I firmly support R5 Productions entirely; here’s their mission statement–and it’s absolutely true:

“R5 Productions is a Do It Yourself show promotions agency owned and operated by Sean Agnew whose main goal is to provide the Philadelphia area with cheap, friendly, all ages shows, in a honest intimate setting. Philadelphia suffers from a lack of a medium sized all ages venue, creating a situation in which band often play other major east coast cities such as New York or D.C. , but skip over Philadelphia.

“Shows are done in various small to medium sized club locations, halls, warehouses, basements, colleges and universities. Door prices generally remain between $5-$8. And we make sure not to implement over-the edge club policies. There are no over-aggressive bouncers, no security preventing you to go outside, no one charging you $3 for a bottle of water, no one keeping you smushed behind a giant barrier with your favorite band 25 feet away. This type of sterile environment usually creates for a less fulfilling live music experience. As they said in the old days…For The Kids, By The Kids. “

Rocky Votolato and the opening acts played this particular show at First Unitarian Church, a small basement in the City of Brotherly Love. It’s an intimate venue I’ve always loved, as it seems to embody the music and musical culture I grew up with: DIY, zines, and emotional music. But I digress, onto the show review.

Hoots and Hellmouth opened the evening; I had never heard of them, so I wasn’t too sure what to expect. They blew me away. Their music is hard to describe, but it’s some eclectic mix of Gospel, soul, indie, blues, folk, country, and rock and roll.  The two lead singers harmonize incredibly, and the music encourages toe-tapping, hand-clapping, country-styled dancing, and jamboree styled sing-alongs.  Their set seemed to fly by, as they seamlessly blended many different genres into one exciting sound. From Philadelphia, the band had a decent audience, but I imagine they are very unknown to the rest of the world.  Do yourself a favor and see them live, it’s a great time.

Langhorne Slim followed, and though I had never heard any of their music, he seemed to have a large audience. I believe he is co-headling this tour, and is somewhat known throughout the rest of the country.  He has talent, but to follow Hoots and Hellmouth was unfortunate–he simply could not match their energy or performance. Not a bad act by any means, he certainly writes strong songs. It seemed that a large majority of the audience was there for Langhorne Slim, actually.

Finally, Seattle’s Rocky Votolato took the stage.  Though unknown to the mainstream, Rocky has been released more than a dozen records in the last decade.  His live show (backed by a solid band of friends) was extremely solid.  Rocky’s style of folk/indie is strikingly mature for a songwriter that looks much younger in person than you’d expect: his style, lyrics, and songs deal with a culture and issues that seem absent to many modern songwriters.

With so much material of his own, and his previous band (Waxwing) to draw from, his set was varied and never stale. I’m most familiar with his most recent works (2006’s Makers was one of my favorite albums last year), and he played a large amount of material from the newer albums.  Slower, stripped-down songs like “She Was Only In It For The Rain” received full electric treatment, and the results were impressive.

Aside from “Uppers Aren’t Necessary”, Rocky played every song I had wanted to hear, and then a large chunk of songs I had never heard (time to start buying his older works, it seems!). Rocky closed the evening with “Makers”, the title track from the 2006 album. A great show at one of my favorite venues.

Also, I’d like to plug Wonkavision Magazine, a local Philadelphia publication that handed out free copies of their work–I read it inbetween sets, and I’m a big fan.  I’d recommend it to anyone who dislikes weak mainstream magazines like Rolling Stone, Alternative Press, or similar magazines.  It’s a great magazine centered around the DIY culture, check them out.