“We wanted to show that drummers could become front men.”
– Adam Alt, Street Drum Corps
There are drummers, and then there are street drummers, the guys who truly aren’t afraid to get down and dirty with their craft. The musicians in Street Drum Corps are both, having played traditional drums in rock bands for years before lending their sticks to something decidedly more free-form and experimental.
Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman once dubbed Street Drum Corps the punk-rock Stomp, and the name stuck. The band is an apocalyptic, voodoo-rock revolution born from smog stained, litter strewn Los Angeles sidewalks and has grown into a full-force, stage production that now brings its battery of sound to the masses.
Since SDCs start in 2004, drummers Bobby Alt, Adam Alt and Frank Zummo have used found objects to create their elaborate beats and have toured the worldleaving a trail of broken drumsticks, battered trash cans and busted tail pipes in their wake. They’ve gone from drumming in downtown junkyards (which they still do), to recording an album with DJ Lethal for Warcon Records, to performing on Late Night with Conan O’Brien to, last fall, having their gear inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of a Warped Tour display.
SuicideGirls met up with the guys before a recent gig at Hollywood’s famed Goth club, Bar Sinister.
“It’s kind of juvenile and innocent. Like a kindergarten orgy.”
– Cole Alexander
Black Lips are a four-piece from Atlanta, Georgia who play a psych-garage style they call ‘flower-punk.’ Heretofore as well known for their unpredictable live shows as their self-produced records, the Lips have seemingly been aiming for more artistic respect since their breakout, 2007’s Good Bad Not Evil. And not without justification. That record and its followup, 2009’s 200 Million Thousand, showed that they were as serious about their craft as they were about good times.
With their new record, Arabia Mountain, the Black Lips’ connoisseur’s ear for the best bits of rock history and hard-won chops have found an unlikely but sympathetic enabler in super-producer Mark Ronson. Ronson, famous for his work with artists like Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, and Robbie Williams, might have seemed a risky choice, but he’s left the Lips’ scruffy lo-fi charm intact while bringing a wider palate of sound and honing their songs to razor sharpness.
SuicideGirls spoke recently with the band’s singer/guitarist Cole Alexander about the new record, heavy metal, and economics.
[Above: Tommy Lee’s spectacularly silly ‘abusement ride’ drum solo aboard his custom 360 drum coaster during Mötley Crüe’s show.]
Following their triumphant June 14 Hollywood Bowl gig, Mötley Crüe have been confirmed as the headliners for the fourth annual Sunset Strip Music Festival. The three-day event will kick off on Thursday Aug 18 with a Mötley Crüe tribute concert at the House of Blues, which promises a star-studded lineup and one of a kind performances. The band will also be on hand to accept the Elmer Valentine Award for their contributions to The Sunset Strip’s history.
With so much good new music from bands that incorporate a variety of styles into their sounds, sometimes I forget about a tried and true genre that for too long has been saturated with bands that seem to put style over substance – punk. Thankfully, The Taxpayers still embody the important D.I.Y. and iconoclastic spirit from which punk originated.
“I have to put the brakes on in my mind.”
– Perry Farrell
Since Perry Farrell broke into the music scene in the early ’80s few people have had such an impact on modern music. In fact, his co-creation, Lollapalooza changed the face of American music festivals forever. But it is really the impact of bands like Jane’s Addiction and Porno for Pyros which has cemented Farrell into the world’s musical consciousness. His new collaboration, Satellite Party, is set to expand that world view.
Satellite Party unites Farrell with cohorts such as producer/guitarist Nuno Bettencourt and collaborators like Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fergie, Thievery Corporation and even a spoken word appearance by the still dead Jim Morrison. I got a chance to talk with Farrell about this exciting new work on the phone while he was in Hong Kong.
This Sunday (June 19th) our very special in-studio guests will be DTLA’s ultimate good time band, The Weekend Pilots, who’ll be performing tracks from their new album ahead of their record release party at The Viper Room on June 24th.
Warning: The extreme silliness of this show could seriously split your sides.
SG Radio’s “Nude Music” Acoustic Sessions – Because songs are better naked.
Listen to SG Radio live Sunday night from 10 PM til Midnight on Indie1031.com
Got questions? Then dial our studio hotline digits this Sunday between 10 PM and midnight PST: 877-900-1031
“I get so nervous about working with people that I like.”
– Mark Ronson
Producer, DJ, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mark Ronson has been responsible for some of the freshest sounds of the last few years. Despite his impressive résumé, which includes Amy Winehouse’s seminal album Back to Black, and tracks for Lily Allen (“Littlest Things”) and Adele (“Cold Shoulder”), he’s also a rather humble and an eminently likeable chap, which, along with the aforementioned, explains why so many marquee artists are keen to work with him today.
Ronson came to prominence with work that showcased his own highly stylized aesthetic, which combines a ’60s Motown sound with cool danceable grooves and hipster chic, as evidenced on Back To Black, which was released in 2006, and his second solo full length, Version, which came out the following year. However, he’s not a man to be pigeonholed.
