By Greta Pistaceci
I first came across Ergo Phizmiz a few years ago, though I am not exactly sure where—the British artist’s cover of the entirety of the Velvet Underground’s White Light/White Heat was available as a free download somewhere or other online (I have a feeling this was probably the WFMU blog, or one that might have linked to his personal website).
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By Matt Demers
In the last issue of Popshifter, I had a chance to review London, Ontario rapper Shad’s third album, TSOL. Being a big fan of his, I jumped at the chance to talk to him at St. Catharine’s S.C.E.N.Efest, a primarily indie-and-metal music festival that takes over the town once a year in June. Though the rain loomed over our heads, Shad and I had a great conversation.
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By Less Lee Moore
Recently we’ve been treated to new music from the venerable White Flag, an excellent EP called Keepers Of The Purple Twilight. Released on Target Earth in March of this year, all five songs are fantastic, featuring the White Flag hallmarks of clever, witty lyrics, which are often belied by hooky, but rocking tuneage.
One intriguing factor is that lyrically, the tunes are pretty introspective, perhaps pondering where a band like White Flag, who has been consistently making music but continually underrated over the years, fits into this weird world of American Idols and Justin Biebers.
If you haven’t been paying attention to White Flag, we’re here to help fill in those gaps for you. What follows is a conversation with singer, guitarist, songwriter, and main Flag-waver Pat Fear about the history of the band, including just a few of the “28 years of stories” he’s accumulated about punk rock, playing Greenland, The Shaggs, Os Mutantes, Gasatanka Records, and being the most connected band in the universe.
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Interview by Emily C.
In this continuation of Popshifter’s interview with singer/musician Peter Godwin from our January/February 2010 issue, Peter discusses his memorable music videos, musical production, his new album with his project Nuevo, and plans for future projects.
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Interviewed by Kaye Telle
“Back in 2005, when I was 21 years old, I got my hands on a nice video camera and decided to make a documentary about William S. Burroughs. When I started making a documentary about William S. Burroughs, I had no idea it would turn into THE documentary about him.”
—Filmmaker Yony Leyser
Interview and introduction by Emily C.
Years ago (it’s been so long, I’ve forgotten what year it was exactly), I was watching one of those late night “alternative” music shows on MTV, looking for videos by my then-favorites, Joy Division and New Order (I regularly bored friends to tears in school gushing about these two bands). I thought it was slightly insulting that the very best musical artists around were only seen on a Sunday night at 12:00 a.m. and later.
I had a crappy circa-1983 VHS recorder I would tape these videos on. . . I remember these tapes were filled with old-wave hits. Pete Shelley’s “Homosapien,” the Psychedelic Furs “Love My Way,” and the Human League’s “Love Action (I Believe in Love)” were just a few of the videos I remember seeing over and over again on extremely grainy videotape.
. . . But I digress. This one particular night a video by a guy called Peter Godwin flickered to life on the Magnavox TV screen. It was called “Images of Heaven” and it straddled the line between being ridiculously 1980s and strangely intriguing. The plot of the video included a man living in a rather sophisticated townhouse (with a spiral staircase!) being tormented by a sexy woman who existed in his television, and in his mind. His apartment was filled with fur, leopard-skin rugs, and silver couch cushions. (I’ll bet it smelled like Opium by Yves Saint Laurent.)
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Interviewed by J Howell
To read this article as a single page, please click this link.
Once, longer ago than I care to admit, I was a kid who’d just picked up his first electric guitar. Around that time, Guitar Player seemed to always have this ad in the back, featuring a hilariously startled-looking cat, for a band called “Jim Campilongo and the Ten Gallon Cats.” That very silly image stuck with me. A few years later, Jim was finally featured in the magazine, and though I still hadn’t heard his music, the descriptions of “ghostly wails emanating from a Vibrolux Reverb” also stuck with me.
Fast forward a few more years and, thanks to the miracle of the Internet, I was finally able to hear Jim, and damned if Heaven Is Creepy wasn’t all I’d hoped it would be and then some. Jim’s newest record, Orange, is out in February on his own Blue Hen Records. Campy just may be the best guitarist working today, and he recently took some time out of his very busy schedule to chat with me.
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By Danny R. Phillips
Prior to August 4th, it had been eleven years since I had last joined the tattooed masses as an attendee of The Vans’ Warped Tour. I was younger then in both body and mind. Standing on the boiling pavement this year watching the crowd pass me like a pierced, dyed, rainbow bedazzled tsunami, I saw two distinct classes, scratch that, generations, go by.
One was an older, punk-appreciating culture with fading tattoos and greying hair that grew up on Bad Religion, The Descendents, Fugazi, Bad Brains, The Zero Boys, and the Circle Jerks (I, obviously fall into group A) and the other was the day glo “skittle core kids” who worship The Devil Wears Prada and Attack! Attack! like they were the Dead Milkmen or The Ramones.
Dragging myself between five stages and countless bands, it dawned on me (and my trusty photographer) that at 15, the Vans’ Warped Tour was experiencing a midlife crisis of sorts and was, in fact, no longer the festival of years gone by. It is clear that I am a dinosaur stuck in a tar pit named Hot Topic. Like Danny Glover in the Lethal Weapon flicks, “I am too old for this shit!”
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Interviewed by Megashaun
I first heard of The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets at last year’s Penny Arcade Expo. The band was there and had a booth set up because they were playing at one of the concerts during the convention. Around this time, their song, “Shhh…” was introduced as downloadable content for the video game Rock Band. Although initially drawn to them by the visual aesthetic of their album designs and the scruffy yet handsome appearance of the band’s members, I was pleased to find out upon listening to their album Cthulhu Strikes Back that the band has a great deal of musical talent and that their music has a lot more going for it than catchy hooks and bellowing vocals.
When I later listened to The Shadow Out of Tim, I was even more impressed. The album’s dark undertones are a perfect complement to its catchy, even poppy, foundation. It’s also just a little bit scary, but more importantly it kicks a lot of ass.
The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets are known for their energetic live shows. While I’ve sadly never had the opportunity to see them play live, I can tell just from looking at photos that the shows must be a great deal of fun. That, and Toren Atkinson, lead singer of the band, tells a good story about the origins of their live shtick.
Photo from thickets.net
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