If the original members of Quicksand can perform together for the first time in 13 years, then I figure it’s not too much to ask to publish my first blog post in nearly a week.
I’m not that into the recent surge of reunions – I hate the idea of selling out my cherished memories for one last go-round that likely will leave me disappointed anyway – but this re-emergence of Quicksand, well, I’ll make an exception for that. The band’s 1993 full-length debut, Slip, is an airtight classic that is just begging for some sort of deluxe reissue treatment – and what better time than its 20th anniversary (!) next year? (The band’s second, and last, album, Manic Compression is also not to be overlooked.)
Any thought of a full-blown reunion appears to be just speculation at this point, but Walter Schreifels and Co. were the surprise guests at the Revelation Records 25th anniversary show on June 10 at the Glass House in Pomona, Calif. They played five songs – four from Slip and a Smiths cover of “How Soon Is Now?” that they released as a B-side in ’93. Someone recorded the set from what appears to be the side of the stage, a great angle that really lets you see people freaking out over this (and protecting themselves from stage divers).
Quicksand is scheduled to perform at the FYF Fest in Los Angeles in September – reason enough to start planning a road trip. Before the final song at the Glass House, Schreifels seems to leave open the possibility that these aren’t just one-off shows: “I don’t know where this is all gonna lead … ”
Here’s hoping for more dates. In the meantime, I’ll have to see if I still have my ticket stub from that Quicksand/Rage Against the Machine show from back in the day.
Setlist from the Pomona reunion show:
1. Omission
2. Unfulfilled
3. Fazer
4. Dine Alone
5. How Soon Is Now? (Smiths cover)
The sixth installment of 110 Percent, a series in which I talk to musicians about sports, features Van Pierszalowski, the former frontman of Port O’Brien who launched his new project, WATERS, with a great debut, Out in the Light, last September on TBD Records.
Pierszalowski loves the Dodgers more than anything (even Lil Wayne) and admits to knowing nothing about any other professional sport.
So how did you become such a Dodgers fan? Are you from L.A.? Here’s the deal. I’m from a town called Cambria, which is on the coast, basically to the mile between San Francisco and L.A. But my dad grew up in L.A. and was a Dodgers fan and my grandpa was a Dodgers fan. In Cambria, we got KCAL 9, and we didn’t get any of the San Francisco TV channels. So I got sucked into the L.A. baseball world. My whole entire childhood, I was not a casual fan at all – I was absolutely obsessed. My happiness would hinge on whether or not they won.
How far is Cambria from L.A.?
It’s like 3 1/2 hours.
So you probably didn’t go to a lot of games as a kid?
I went to quite a few. Not all the time. In a season, I would go to like five or six. Then once in awhile I would go to Candlestick when they were playing Giants.
Do you have a memory that stands out from following them as a kid? One of most vivid memories I have is when I was … I can’t remember how old I was. I was in fifth grade or something, and my dad woke me up really early on a school morning. He woke me up at like 6 or 7 o’clock. He’s like, ‘Come on, Van. You’re not going to school today.’ I’m like, ‘What the hell? Am I dreaming?’ He put me in the Vanagon and we started driving up to Candlestick. It was Hideo Nomo’s debut game. It was the most exciting day of my life. He pitched all right. He pitched five innings, I remember. But the game was tied in the ninth and actually ended up going 15 innings. We stayed the entire time. In the top of 15th, the Dodgers scored a run or two – so I was like the happiest boy on the planet — and in the bottom of 15th, the Giants had a walk-off home run, or a walk-off hit anyway. I was sobbing so hard, I was crying so hard. My dad had to carry me back to the Vanagon. As he finally got me in there, there was this Giants fan who saw me wearing my Dodgers jacket and had this huge sign on cardboard the size of a refrigerator that said, “Dodger fans: Go to hell.†I was sobbing and crying. It was best day ever turned into an absolute nightmare.
How much of an influence was your dad’s fandom on you or did you pick it up yourself? He wasn’t as into it as I was. He introduced me to game, and I was really serious about playing. I was really into it my whole life. But he wasn’t as into it as I was, and then as I got more into he got more into it.
I was going to ask if you played. I played all through Little League as early as I could and through high school. I was actually pretty good. I was MVP of our team my junior year. I was a starting pitcher and shortstop as well. I was a pretty good hitter. I played varsity as a sophomore.
But then senior year, I got too cool. I got really into punk and Fugazi and into my band. I was just too cool to play, which sucked. Maybe my one regret of high school is I wish I could have played that last year.
Did the coach try to sway you? Oh, there was heavy recruitment going on. I remember a one-on-one meeting we had during lunch. He pulled me into his office and was like, ‘What can we do to get you out there?’ I was like, ‘Listen, man, I just wanna focus on my music.’ (Laughs). He hated me so much. Other guys were kind of jocks. So I was like the freak of team. I tried to barter with him. I was like, ‘I just don’t wanna practice every day. How about I just practice twice a week and play the games?’ But yeah, he didn’t go for that.
Getting back to the Dodgers. So with the change of ownership, I’m guessing you’re pretty happy about that? I’m incredibly happy about that. It’s a huge deal. I was really nervous when all the bidding was going on. But I think we ended up with a pretty good team. It’s nice to have a local hero be the face of it, as well as some big money behind it. I’m looking a lot more forward to the trading deadline than I have been in last three years. I think it’s going to be exciting, especially if we keep playing as well as we do.
That being said, I’m really not a fan of Ned Colletti, our GM. I would hope some front-office stuff like that gets changed. He tends to favor veterans. … His obsession with old guys is weird.
A friend who covers the Diamondbacks and I have joked that the Dodgers might be a team of destiny this year, like the D-backs of last year. They seem to be getting clutch hits from unlikely guys. Are you buying into that? Yeah, it’s been weird, especially with Matt Kemp on the DL for the second time already. We started off so great and Matt Kemp was the main reason really and now with him gone, we’re doing even better. … We have like these really old guys and now these really young guys. And then in middle we have Andre Ethier and the frustrating mess of James Loney.
But here’s the important question: Should A.J. Ellis be in the All-Star Game? Oh, my god. It’s just so obvious that he should be. I will get so fired up if we start talking about A.J. Ellis, and Don Mattingly’s refusal to bat him above the No. 6 position is just so insane.
Where would you hit him? He’s a leadoff hitter. I know he doesn’t fit the standard fast, middle infielder, bunting kind of guy. But that whole motif, I feel like, is so outdated. If you have guy who is in the top five in the National League in on-base percentage and you have a hitter like Matt Kemp hitting third, who is the best hitter in the National League, you want people to get on base. That’s the main concern. So why would you keep hitting Dee Gordon, whose on-base percentage isn’t even .300, when you have one of the best people at walking in the entire game batting eighth? It’s so insane.
You’re pretty active on Twitter. Do you get your baseball fix there? Yeah, a good chunk of my Twitter feed is baseball related. I’m a huge fan of this one blogger: Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness. I read his blog every day, every post and I have for the past few years. He’s really the leading voice, I think, for this common-sense thinking that hopefully is going to spread to the more mainstream fandom about how to win games. But he’s just an amazing writer, and every time he posts I look forward to reading. It’s the best baseball blog I’ve been able to find and I’m glad it’s about my team.
You said you’re an MLB.TV subscriber, and you’re going on the road this summer with Nada Surf. Will you definitely try to keep up while you’re on the road? Oh, yeah. The only problem is a lot of times we’re busy around the time they’re playing. … It is harder when you’re on the road. When they play day games, I can watch on my phone.
But I was living in Europe … well, living in Oslo for a couple years, and that was really hard with the time differences. I was never able to watch a game.
So who’s your favorite Dodger of all-time? I have conflicted feelings about him, but Mike Piazza was my hero when I was a kid. When he was traded, it was really the worst day of my life. Up until that point, it was the worst day of my life. I think I’d probably still have to say him.
But on the team now … I don’t want to pick Matt Kemp because it’s so obvious, but he is just amazing. I wanna say A.J. Ellis (laughs).
Do you still make it to a lot of games? See, this is the thing. I’m living in San Francisco, which makes it really intense to be a Dodgers fan. And I do wanna go on the record as saying: I don’t talk about the Dodgers that much because I do live here and I respect that rivalry a lot. Also, I really, really do not hate the Giants. I was rooting for them when they were in the World Series. I don’t really get the rivalry. It’s cool, it’s fun, but I’m absolutely not a Giants hater at all, even after that scarring moment when I was in fifth grade.
When the Dodgers play the Giants, it’s blacked out here on MLB.TV. So I go to this bar behind my house and watch the games, and when I’m there by myself and there’s like a huge crowd of Giants fans, I don’t wear anything blue, I don’t even cheer. I make it kind of secret that I’m rooting for the Dodgers just because it gets a little scary.
I do wanna talk about the “Mickey Mantle†song. It’s about aging or facing aging. Is that fair to say? Yeah, somewhat. It’s about the fear of failure.
So where did you get the inspiration for the “Mickey Mantle†title? I was living in New York when I wrote that song. I started reading a lot about him and I never really knew the rest of his story after he retired and it’s pretty tragic and sad. He just turned into this hopeless alcoholic. There’s this interview on YouTube with him and David Letterman where he’s being asked about it. It’s just so sad — he can’t even admit it. Anyway, the song’s not really about him obviously. It’s the feeling that this guy with so much hope, so much promise and had everything and he ended up being a miserable alcoholic and a total failure. So It’s that fear you have of turning into something like that, the failing in general.
In my never-ending attempts at trying to recruit blog help with the promise of unsolicited promo emails and zero pay – hasn’t worked for almost seven years – the newest contributor boldly offered to tackle one of the more seemingly complex characters in indie rock for his first post. It can only get easier from here.
Hi, I’m Eric. Frequent Phoenix concert-goer, beard-haver, depressing sports team attention-payer. For some reason, Kevin has graciously allowed me to occasionally pollute his musical blog space, perhaps out of empathy for a fellow suffering Cubs fan or just because he’s an extremely busy man. In any case, I’m not about to say no.
For my first try at this, I figured I’d start off with something I know – a show in Phoenix. I’ve been through the lean years of Modified, Trunk Space, the now-closed Clubhouse (ewww, full-body shiver), as well as our current prosperity with the fantastic and game-changing Crescent Ballroom. Thursday night, chameleonic Vancouver indie band Destroyer came to town.
Destroyer, it seems, is a hard band to put one’s genre-finger on. Right off the bat, their name is Destroyer. For me, at least, this conjures up images of, well … not these guys. I think there’s a little wink at the fact that you’re probably expecting a Slayer sound-alike.This is not out of the question for a band with esoteric lyrics like “I wrote a song for America … Who knew” and “I sent a message in a bottle to the press … It said ‘don’t be ashamed or disgusted with yourself”” and song titles like “Suicide Demo For Kara Walker.” Keeping everyone guessing seems to be pretty much their thang.
Kaputt is Destroyer’s ninth full-length album. Having been around in one form or another for 15 years, with lead singer Dan Bejar serving as the brains of the operation and the band’s only constant member, it’s taken a lot of twists and turns style – and lineup-wise before settling down in their current residence of Mellowtown, USA. I think every time I’ve talked with someone about the band, I’ve heard a different comparison, from Bowie to Chuck Mangione to Joy Division. The thing is, I’m almost sure they’re all correct in some way. I’ll be perfectly honest and admit that I’m nowhere near the Bob Slydell zone in celebrating Destroyer’s entire catalog, but with 2011’s brilliant Kaputt, they’ve solidified themselves among the upper tier of bands on the current indie circuit.
I’ve loved the album ever since a friend played it for me last September with a simple introduction: “Have you heard of Destroyer?†This was probably the smartest way to go about it, I think – no band comparisons, no hyping – just pressing play and letting me draw my own conclusions. It would have been pretty pointless and fleeting to try otherwise. My initial thoughts were “When is this from?†“Is this a soundtrack to something?†“Is this guy serious?†“That is a LOT of horns.†Almost a year later of listening to the album, I’m probably not a whole lot closer to understanding what Destroyer is “going for†than back then, except for the fact that they’re trying to be, well, Destroyer.
It’s true enough that the album’s sound easily draws comparisons of the 70s or the 80s. Trumpets and saxophones provide the backbone of many a track. An easy, smooth, groovy “Yacht Rockâ€-type vibe is present in a large percentage of songs as well. Post-punk and new-wave stop in from time to time. In the “I don’t see why not” category, my friend at the show imagined some could be the closing credits to an old Guiding Light episode.
I don’t get the sense that these choices are to garner kitsch/retro value or to pay tribute to or mimic this artist or that one; it just made kind of “works†for them, and I don’t even question it anymore. This is a band that’s going to do it their way (whatever way that may be), no matter what. This all made a bit more sense when you put the band’s sound in the context of their lead singer, who maybe sums it up best on “Blue Eyes,†when he proclaims “I make poetry for myself.”
Take the voice of Al Stewart, the face/hair/beard combo of Rafi from The League and the wardrobe choices of Sting on vacation, and you’ve got a rough start of the interesting collage of a man that is Dan Bejar. One thing that struck me about his stage presence right away is that although he stands somewhat awkwardly hunched over the microphone, he seems totally relaxed and nonchalant at the same time. A good catch-all term might be “disheveled,” but he definitely wears it well.
In “A Savage Night at the Opera,” Bejar sings, “You’ll never guess where I’ve been … A life abandoned midstream…†This been-there-done-that vibe was fun to watch, as if I was watching the Most Interesting Man in The World’s scruffy nephew tell me about his travels through life, one Destroyer tune at a time. No matter the subject matter of his lyrics, dark or upbeat, he plays the whole thing very straight – deadpan and with the cadence of an aloof beat poet. He comes off as cool, in a very uniquely Dan Bejar kind of way. I can’t tell if he’s actually too nervous to show his emotions onstage or too cool to care, but I tend to think the latter. As he sang, casually unfazed, on “Bay of Pigs:, “I’ve seen it all…â€
The band mixed it up thoroughly enough between the recent territory of Kaputt and the breadth of their other eight albums to please both the undoubted majority of relative newbies like m’self and hardcore veteran Destroyettes alike. They’ve had something of a cult following for more than a decade, but due to the band’s positive spin by outlets like Pitchfork, a Polaris Music Prize nomination in 2011 for Kaputt, and crossover attention for Bejar’s intermittent involvement with fellow Great White Northers the New Pornographers, a good many at the Crescent seemed to know “Chinatown,” “Blue Eyes” and the title track by heart, and almost no one except the (verrrrry drunk) superfan dudes next to me, and a few scattered others, seemed to know much else. Still, there was nary an un-bobbed head or un-tapped toe to be seen across the landscape.
Despite Bejar being unquestionably the band’s face and mascot, I’m sure I’m not going to be able to give the rest of the band adequate attention or praise for their outstanding work that night. Despite all of Bejar’s eccentricities and playfulness, it bears mentioning that Destroyer is full of pretty serious musicians (including New Porns bassist John Collins), with all of the chops you could ask for. This is an extremely tight and professional band that plays beautifully together, with each piece complementing the other. Someone may correct me on this, but I counted seven members playing at least nine instruments (if you count a trumpet filtered through knobs and doohickies that transformed into some sort of combo drum machine/synthesizer/didgeridoo as one instrument).
Despite the fact that Crescent Ballroom has one of the best sound systems of any venue, big or small, that I’ve ever heard, I’m not sure I’ve heard a band before Destroyer hit that difficult sweet spot of “That sounded just like the album, except they added a little something extra.†There were solos to end songs, sure, but not in a showy, ego-trip type of way. Rather, this seemed like an extension of the song itself, like an unfortunately deleted scene that you really wish had been part of the original film.
This was one of the better shows of the dozens I’ve seen in Crescent’s brief history. Destroyer solidified their spot in my personal book as one of the better live acts around right now. They did their name proud.
Sometimes, I really want Japandroids to play live with a bassist. Or another guitarist. Or another two guitarists. Or a bassist and another two guitarists.
And then sometimes I realize it doesn’t matter all that much. The punk aesthetic of the two-man band is alive, and all that matters is how they’ve tapped into my utter weakness of nostalgia and passing youth. Friends are moving on, moving up. Memories endure, but despite our best efforts, we grow old and we grow apart. Technology makes it impossible to lose touch (right?), but no text message could possibly replace this: “Remember saying things like ‘we’ll sleep when we’re dead’ / And thinking this feeling was never going to end.”
Hopefully you’ve already heard the band’s 2009 album Post-Nothing. Last week they released Celebration Rock, a 35-minute collection of songs that make me want to air drum and hug all my friends at the same time.
The band “Fire’s Highway” on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last week:
The fifth installment of 110 percent, a series in which I talk to musicians about sports, features Daniel Presant, bassist for PAPA, one of my favorite recent discoveries who put out a fantastic EP, A Good Woman is Hard to Find, in October. Presant is a co-founding member, along with Darren Weiss (Girls), of the Los Angeles-based group, which is scheduled to record new material in June.
Presant replied to an email request for an interview, eager to share his love of the Lakers.
So where did the Lakers fandom come from? Were you born in L.A.? I was born in New York, lived in New Jersey for two years and moved to L.A. when I was four. Darren was born and raised in L.A. and we’re both both die-hard Lakers fans.
What’s your earliest memory of the Lakers? Probably when I went to the Forum as kid with my pops. I remember the vibe. I don’t remember the game, though I’m sure I was in awe. It was when they had A.C. Green. That’s my dream — to play at the Forum.
Your dream is to play music or basketball at the Forum? Music. Considering I’m only 5-9, I don’t think basketball is gonna happen.
Do you play basketball though? Oh yeah. I’m in L.A. and when friends come out from New York, we get some good pickup games going.
So the Lakers’ season ended in the second round against the Thunder. What’s your takeaway from this season? Do they need to blow this team up? Yes. Blow it up. They need change. They need to get rid of (coach) Mike Brown. Maybe they didn’t give him enough time to implement his style, but I don’t like him as a coach. I think he’s too positive. I don’t think that’s what the Lakers need. We need a Gregg Popovich type.
Andrew Bynum is getting a lot of criticism? Should they get rid of him? If we can get, like, Dwight Howard, then we should get rid of Bynum. But I don’t see it happening. I say keep him, but I would keep (Pau) Gasol over Bynum.
What were your expectations of the season? Did they get as far as you thought they would? I’m a romantic. I’m always gonna look and hope for the best. But with that, I also understand that that sometimes the best isn’t necessarily a championship or anything like that. Going into the playoffs I had really high hopes. But after first round (seven-game series vs. the Nuggets), it was done.
Who’s your favorite Laker, past or present? Magic Johnson because of his versatility and flash. I will say that Kobe’s work ethic is the thing I look up to most of any player.
Do you follow the Dodgers? I’m not much of a baseball guy. I used to love the Dodgers when I was a little kid – Eric Karros and Brett Butler and all of them. I’m actually looking at this autograph I have from Mike Piazza now.
Even if you’re not a huge baseball guy, it’s great that Magic is part of the new Dodgers’ ownership group. He’s such a big figure in L.A. He brings a winning, carefree vibe. Now look at them — they’re killing it. Obviously it’s not Magic who’s doing that. But it feels like a different aura right now.
And let me just say: Go Kings.
L.A. seems like the center of the sports universe recently.
Yeah, sorry about that (ahem, cheap shot at Phoenix).
You told me at your recent show in Phoenix that you were a Buffalo Bills fan. Yeah, when (quarterback) Doug Flutie was on the team. I’ve always loved the bills — I never felt anything for the Giants or Jets.
There’s usually talk about L.A. getting a football team again. Would that interest you? I went to my first football game a few months ago — Chargers-Ravens. I drove to San Diego. In terms of general vibe, nothing beats a Lakers game, but a football game is so much more epic.
One last thing, going back to the Lakers. Are the Clippers a threat to the Lakers’ recent run of success and popularity in Los Angeles?
I don’t know what’s going to happen this summer, but the Clippers have them for next season in terms of youth and talent. We don’t have a shooter on our team. That’s the big issue.
Stream PAPA’s EP A Good Woman is Hard to Find below (I’m especially fond of “Collector”):
Magic Johnson because of his versatility and flash. I will say that Kobe’s work ethic is the thing I look up to most of any player.