Space and the City
Posts tagged No Talk
IN THE STUDIO: BORN LIARS
Feb 4th
Chris Ryan works the controls (seated) while the Born Liars chill in the Dead City Sound control room. Photo by Rosa Guerrero.
In this episode of In The Studio, we check in with the Born Liars, who haven’t skipped a beat in getting as much of their output recorded as they can. We swapped some emails with Liar Bill Fool and he gave us the skinny on what they’d been up to – with a minimum of prompting too.
TSN: You were just in the studio. Where were you recording (and with who) and what were you working on?
Yeah we were at Dead City [Sound] on January 10th recording with Chris Ryan (who the fuck else) and did seven songs in around two hours. We did “Find Me In Church”, Poverty Check”, Don’t Let It Go To Your Head” (yes another fuckin’ don’t song), the Bob Seger classic “Get Out Of Denver”, “Ain’t Livin’ Today”, “Let Her Go” and “Move Right In”.
Even though we have 2 7″s out plus a brand new LP we can’t just sit and wait for the next big opening for another release (Heavy Leather [Records] is about to release 2 songs from the Ragged Island sessions that were not on the record) so we just went in and kicked ‘em out. And even though Scott has quit the band for the big paychecks of The Sideshow Tramps he was nice enough to end his time with us by recording some kick ass leads. I think Beau [Beasley (No Talk, The Homopolice)] will be adding a little more guitars since he’s in the band now. These songs already have releases set up for them. “Poverty Check” will be out on a free 7″ comp with No Talk, Secret Prostitutes plus one more I’m not sure of. This will be a free 7″ with a zine by our buddy CJ. and these will go fast so get them as soon as they come out. The rest will either be on an EP and 7″ or just one long 12″ EP.
If you want to know how crazy the recording day went I have no problem lettin’ the cat out on the whole day. Rosa [Gurrero (Ditchwater Records)] was there, took pictures and helped consume the mass amount of beer and Rumple Minze. We started drinking heavy at 11:00am and after the recording we made our way to a bar (can’t name the bar for legal issues) where we stole a case of tallboys (can’t name the brand again for legal issues) then made our way to an art show. Took a piss in the middle of a yuppie townhome parking lot as a few of them were coming home then went in. Jimmy loves cheese so he was happy they had a spread. I was happy about the free wine and nude photos. The chick who took the photos was interested in what we thought, I thought they were ok and wanted to know more about why one of the naked chicks was scared. Right then that particular chick walked in.
So after her telling us about her sex stories I/we decided the place needed to be rearranged. First I took some nice flowers out and started beating Rosa with them. Well Rosa wanted revenge so the rest of the flowers went. Well Jimmy was protecting the cheese and I felt no fucking way so then cheese became the art (the best I saw that night). I do feel Jimmy is still upset about the cheese. We got fucking kicked out. Off to Lolas we go.
TSN: Do your songs tend to evolve while you’re recording, or do you enter the process with a pretty definitive handle on what you want to do?
The only thing that evolves during the recording are the lyrics and backup vocals. The rest are whipped in to shape at the practice space. When I say whip I mean it. Our leader, Jimmy “Thunders/Westerberg” Sanchez, has a bull whip he uses to make sure we play his songs in the proper non-hipster fashion. Why the hipsters like us I will never know.
Two songs were created the night before we went into the studio. It’s funny cause they are both from the slow and faggotty (s. a. f.) trilogy “How It Gets At Night” s.a.f.II off our new LP and “Ain’t Livin’ Today” s.a.f.III. Just so you know, slow and faggotty I is “Quiet Lives”, but you should know that already as we let everyone know at every fuckin’ show we’ve played the last 2 years. The cover songs are already thought out by the person who wrote them in 60′s and 70′s so you will need to ask them about how they think we should handle their songs. Though that doesn’t matter as Jimmy will tell them to “Go Get Fucked”.
Catch the Born Liars playing an in-store at Sound Exchange February 19th, which is billed as a record release, though you can alrady get their LP in said establishment. And you should. See more of Rosa’s photos online at the Ditchwater site.
ATTN THIS WEEKEND:
Dec 26th
HOWDY! How was your Christmas/Haunakah? Sorry if you aren’t a celebrator of either of these fine holidays. Allow us to offer you a cup of joe from the fine new Skyline Network Office Coffee Maker as a consolation prize. Oh man, this thing rules. It works like a soda dispenser: No Carafe. The Future Is Now. But as the slow warm glow of opening and enjoying gifts wears off, there are other presents to unwrap, those of a musical nature. Lets pick em up and shake:
FRIDAY
Golden Axe, No Talk, Bald Eagle Burger and Burn The Boats @ Walter’s on Washington
As we previously mentioned, this is the first of two No Talk shows this week/end that will feature master of shredermonies Warren Hatfield (Golden Axe, Valiant Thor) on guest guitar. Bald Eagle Burger, if the tracks they have posted online is any indication, is a sort of weirdo political funk act. For some reason it makes us think of Sprawl. We can’t quite put our finger on the connection. That reminds us, did you know that a retrospective Sprawl live record came out this year? We kinda dropped the ball on that one. Nautically themed metal with a good wind in their sails Burn the Boats opens. Why is there no Sea Shantie Metal?
Finnegan, Jim and the Toms, The Plague, Sara Van Buskirk, City of Compton, Brandon Elam, Dave Rask @ Avant Garden
Like we said before, we can’t speak for anyone else on the bill, not being familiar with them yet, we’ve heard some great tracks from Finnegan, a sort of ‘when folks are in town’ project that features, among others, Noted DESTROY ALL SNARES drummer Matt Tantillo (Paris Falls, Defend the Ghetto). This sounds, NOTHING like anything Matt’s been kickin it for before, and has a pastoral almost folky (though not folksy) vibe to it. Looking forward to checking it out in person.
SATURDAY
Benefit for Airon Paul Dugas @ Walters on Washington
Airon Paul Dugas is a local musician who’s stock was most assuredly rising fast in our portfolio. On December 14th, he was struck by a motorist while riding his scooter, and sustained a rather nasty list of injuries (ATTN CAGERS: PLEASE BE MORE CAREFUL AND KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN FOR US). To help with the inevitable stack-up in bills (to say nothing of lost work time), some of his friends (also some of our favorites) are throwing a show to kick into the kitty as much as they can. $10 gets you in the door and gets you the warm fuzzies as you enjoy the non-catastrophic sounds of Paris Falls, Dannzig (a Danzig cover act featuring members of The Jonbenet, Monocles and others), Guitars, Teenage Kicks, Wild Moccasins, Friendship and others (we are told). They’ll be free Amy’s Ice Cream on hand, as well as a free Keg (hopefully not both at the same time though, gross), as well as a distro setting up shop with proceeds benefited to Airon. Oh, and raffles for cool stuff like free time with a tattoo artist, etc. Universally, Airon is said to be a good dude. Help a brother out.
ALSO
Saturday Secret Show @ The Shady Tavern
Born Liars, No Talk, The Wrong Ones @ Rudyard’s
Fat Tony, B L A C K I E, Female Demand, Caddywhompus, The Tontons @ Commerce Street Warehouse (2220 Commerce)
Toadies, House of Moist, Boom Boom Box @ Warehouse Live
Asylum Street Spankers @ McGonigel’s Mucky Duck
This Year’s Tiger, BetterLuck @ F.B.I. Rock Club
SUNDAY
Winter Wonderglam featuring Dead Roses, Backalley Sluts, ST-37, A Thousand Cranes, Future Blondes, Skullcaster, //TENSE//, Snow Cone, DJ Black Slacks @ River Oaks Theater
OK, now, aside from this being kind of a cluster of a bill (especially considering it doesn’t start until 11), it should be stated that shows at River Oaks have universally been hailed as a good time. A good bag of boundary pushers in the noise bin ensures that you’ll have an evening that is anything but predictable, and decidedly in the earplug category. $5.
Robert Earl Keen, Eric Church @ House of Blues
JP of the Big Star Bar has promised that one day, he will get Robert Earl Keen to go have a beer there. KGBeasley has stated that he would like to fight him. Sounds like this could be the evening when a honkey tonk throw down heaven could take place.
ALSO
The Old 97′s, The Drams, Jeff Boortz Band @ Warehouse Live
ATTN THE NEXT FEW DAYS: YOUR STOCKINGS ARE RATHER STUFFED
Dec 23rd
Hey, you know those people that are like “guuuh, I hate hearing Christmas music all the time, when will this be over guuuh.” Well you know what, we respectfully disagree. For serious, we’d rather listen to Bing Crosby and Hall and Oates and Brenda Lee and Elvis and the Beach Boys and Louie Armstrong kick out the holiday parade of hits ANY DAY rather than hear Staind or whatever new jam Cher is trying to convince you is next level. But you know, not all the music during this season of mistletoe (ah snap, we gotta go get some of that) and murr is of the Christmassy kind. There’s still the season of shows alongside the season of giving, and because we don’t expect to do much writing over the next few, we though we’d give you a bit of a heads up (but real talk, check in again soon for a look at the weekend and next week. and oh snap new years!).
TONIGHT
Nothing says HELLO HOLIDAYS like an old guy (who is presumably famous, just not in the famous book of world records we keep in our back pocket) all bloody on a flyer. This is the 7″ release for Gay Marriage, and a rare reunion performance at that. As previously noted, the 7″ is being put out by Ditchwater and expect it to sell out quicker than Danica Patrick. Also on the bill and rare like steak is Black Congress and the recently popping up act, the Assholes, who we have no idea about. Rumors abound that the latest Nerd Argument side project, Beer & Sebastian, might be a secret opener.
TOMORROW
CHRISTMAS EVE, DUMMIES. STAY IN FOR SANTA.
CHRISTMAS
30footFALL, Middlefinger, Avitia, Alshire @ Fitzgerald’s
Admit it. You’re tempted. You’ve always wanted to goto a show dressed like Santa and a bag full of candy canes and slowly build up the Elves to just start flinging them at people out of love and joy and spirit of the season.
B L A C K I E, Nosaprise, Dunny Osmond @ Notsuoh
Our scrappy and burgeoning hip hop underground takes over the scrappy and future bourgeois stage on Main downtown. We always loved the camp of Christmas in Harlem. Can we get a jam of our own called Christmas in the Third Ward? Free show, all ages.
God Bless James Brown, featuring DJ Melodic, DJ Sun, & Brett Koshkin @ Boondocks
SOOOOOUL MUSIC! Brett is responsible for Dirty Honey, one of our favorite record nights in town, nothing but classic soul the first Saturday of every month at Boondocks. DJ Sun and DJ Melodic need no introduction for those that have made Soular Grooves part of their regularly scheduled programming. Good to see Melodic back at it.
FRIDAY
Golden Axe, No Talk, Bald Eagle Burger and Burn The Boats @ Walter’s on Washington
This is the first of two No Talk shows this week/end that will feature master of shredermonies Warren Hatfield (Golden Axe, Valiant Thor) on guest guitar. Slay Bells.
Finnegan, Jim and the Toms, The Plague, Sara Van Buskirk, City of Compton, Brandon Elam, Dave Rask @ Avant Garden
We can’t speak for anyone else on the bill, not being familiar with them yet, we’ve heard some great tracks from Finnegan, a sort of ‘when folks are in town’ project that features, among others, Noted DESTROY ALL SNARES drummer Matt Tantillo (Paris Falls, Defend the Ghetto). This sounds, NOTHING like anything Matt’s been kickin it for before, and has a pastoral almost folky (though not folksy) vibe to it. Looking forward to checking it out in person. Klatu.
THAT IT! Be sure to check back Friday for our skinny on the rest of the weekend, which is going to be whips, allow us to assure you, with more No Talk, Pot Luck Benefits, Hooten, Hollerin, and Jibby Jibby.
The 2008 SKYLINE 50 – PART TWO
Dec 16th
The second installment in our look at the 50 songs that, to us, were Houston this year.
Dawn Dipple – Two Star Symphony
Love and Other Demons (Self Released)
Most of Demons is a superb specter, a chamber quartet of violins, cello and viola that covers the sounds of monsters stealing into the rooms of children afright under their covers. “Dawn Dipple” especially is pure fear. Horror of an old man’s memories, on a park bench alone in his garden, collar turned up to the cold spending too many moments trying to remember if the leaves on his crepe myrtles turned so decayed a pallet of peach and pink last December. Losing his key, locked out of his home, scaling a fence he cannot survive a fall from. Teetering flat footed on the presipice, a thin sail of might-have been at the mercy of winds and the pull of Issac’s apple. Horror.
Don’t Tell Me, I Know – Born Liars
Don’t Tell Me, I Know 7″ (Ditchwater Records)
We know it’s only rock and roll – but we like it. We love rock and roll, so put another dime in the jukebox, baby. We wanna rock and roll all night, and party every day. Everybody’s talking bout that new sound, funny – it’s still rock and roll to us. We wanna rock. ROCK OF AGES. Even if there are a million rock-related chicklets that pulse-pound a horse to death with a stomp of the kick pedal, we’ll still never get tired of straight-up straight-on straight-through rock anthems.
Fear the CIA – No Talk
Invade Iran 7″ (Rescued from Life/Psychowolf/AG82 Records)
When we were kids, we used to watch hella episodes of the Cosby Show, and had a distinct memory of Cliff’s character having a nickname from his days as a track and field athlete: Combustable Huxtable. We imagined his lanky form rushing so quickly around the track that his feet literally burst into flames. It gave us an enduring chuckle, and was a visual image that carried us through much the poor decision making later in his career. Dear lord, is Leonard really using special meats acquired from a gypsy to fight an evil vegetarian overlord? Feet on fire. Another pudding commercial? Feet on fire. Do kids really say the darnedest things, or are they just kinda annoying? Feet on fire. Recently, a whiskeyed night fever caused us to dream out a supposed Leonard VII in which, finally, his feet did indeed catch on fire. There he was, dancing around a castle made of legos and occasionally high-kicking a mischievous intelligence goon while “Fear the CIA” played in the background. Go Leonard, Go!
Feed the Ghost – The Wiggins
Feed the Ghost 7″ (Dull Knife Records)
There’s a distance to The Wiggins. Be it the ubiquity of Jonny Reeves’ darkened spectacles, the fact that he enjoys the company of no others in his retinue of rock, the sheer performance volume that necessitates a spectator’s distance, or even the affectation of his voice – there is always something that is keeping you apart from the man, the music and the performance. “Feed the Ghost” sounds of another time (maybe past, maybe future), but certainly not the one you’re experiencing it in. And yet, it feels completely of this place. A town that relishes in the bizarre; that birthed to the world the world its Jandek and Daniel Johnson and Rusted Shut and Pain Teens and Indian Jewelry and Jana Hunter and Richard Ramirez and Insect Warfare and DJ Screw. What’s surprising is only that The Wiggins sometimes seem like a smaller fish in this pond than they should be. Feed the Ghost may seem otherworldly and distant to others, but it sounds like the very heart of home to us.
Follow the Sun – Papermoons
New Tales (Team Science Records)
There aren’t enough good songs about giving in to love anymore. Thank blog for the Papermoons and this slow tempest of a temptress that has us roaring west towards mountains and the purples and pinks and reds of a dusty sunset with the windows down shouting GIVE INTO LOVE in blissful unknowingly ironic aping of a behavior we’re probably too chicken shit to even attempt again but fuck the torpedoes we’re no Hesseian steppenwolf and are living in this moment like it’s the last and dear God please put a stalled semi into our path so we can die with this smile on our face and these perfectly interwoven gentle three guitar parts and midas drums in our ears. We give in. To Love. This song is so beautiful that it shifts our whole aesthetic and makes us feel like whores with hotels for hearts.
Genocide – Teenage Kicks
Aesthetic vs Substance (Self Released)
This is a teenage anthem, though best we we can tell it isn’t about Darfur or the Eastern Congo or north Niger or any other people or place in the hells of Africa specifically (just the teenage nation. Teenajistan?). It’s not that we think Teenage Kicks can’t or shouldn’t follow in the footsteps of punks who melded social consciousness into catchy riffs. But frankly, it’s just as well in this case because we would totally feel Simpson guilty if we were all “Yeah Yeah Rock Rock Dance Dance” and this song was about the use of rape as a military tactic or something horrific like that.
GG249 – Alkari
Kubli Khan (Self Released)
This one time we flew across the rockies to San Francisco (hiss) to hang out with a friend and check out this band that was playing one of their first US shows after having developed a small but growing following in their native London. Their CD had come out stateside and in the time between when we booked the ticket and arrived at the box office, the show had sold out and their first single was catching on like wildfire. It was catchy, popy modern rock that reminded us why we were never so terribly turned off by even the weakest parts of the U2 catalog. So yeah, we were there for Coldplay’s second stateside performance cause we’ve always had a soft spot for music that was done for its own sake and who gives a damn if it sounds too conventional to most people and like we care if it accidentally becomes popular. Oh, btw, this sounds nothing like Coldplay.
Holy Cow – Papermoons
New Tales (Team Science Records)
You know, in spite of the fact that the bulk of the Papermoons catalog (especially our favorites) have a distinct gleam of melancholy, we really don’t get bummed out when we listen to them. In fact, though songs like this couldn’t find a major chord with a tone tube and James Love’s presumably perfect pitch, we’re decidedly Guy Smiley the whole time these notes ring out and glisten like dew on the leaf pile. Even when that sad as dead ducks harmonica cuts a roman candle across the pond moments after hearing “All we are now is past tense”, we still can’t help but smile a knowing smile. Someone has taken a great universality, distilled it down to a paste, made a candle out of it, and put it there for us to enjoy its flickering. How can you not love that?
Hornless Unicorn Anthem – The Mathletes
#$@% You and Your Cool (Asaurus Records)
It’s certainly not possible to label any one Mathletes song as typical, regardless of whether you are talking about music in general or their catalog in particular. Channeling the best of Elvis Costello on this outing (which means, by default, the fantastic Radio Radio keyboard vibe as well), we’re taken along at a hard gallop for the tale of, surprise, a hornless Unicorn. Full of earnest goof that charms the wizard cloak right off of you, we’re just way too into this song to throw it in the pigeon coop of poor man’s indie rock ‘Dick in the Box.’ Yeah, it’s funny as hell and quite possibly the only thing that could make it better might be a video featuring Justin Timberlake as the Unicorn, but this is more than gimmickry. It’s wickedcry.
I Heard You’re Having a Baby – Jenny Westbury
Jenny French and the Pelican Wrench (All Star Power Up Records)
Most of Pelican Wrench is Jenny along with a guitar, miniature or otherwise. For this ditty, her own coos, chants and ba ba dahs providing the instrument track, more choir than barbershop. Actually, not barbershop at all. Its lovely, haunting, celebratory, endearing and evocative of the more layered approach she is taking with the new recordings that have been showing up on her MySpace since her recent move to the great Northeast. Perhaps people move away to do their best work in places new and strange, but it’s good to hear the root of it play out with simple, fragile grace in bedrooms and quiet spaces here at home.
REVIEW: NO TALK – INVADE IRAN 7″
Oct 23rd
Over the years, we’ve fondly enjoyed the evolution of one Mr. Beau Beasley – whose No Talk nom de rock is KGBeasley – and indeed we were a late comer to his catalog, which no doubt extends backwards further than an F-350 pickup. From the blinding grind of Insect Warfare to the to the light-hearted shredertainment of Torches of Fury to the humidity eviscerating massiveness of Unholy Mountain, very few leatherettes warm our heart like this big smile of a man whose mantra is “do stuff. put out records. repeat.” Already, in the month or so since this 7″ was released, he’s coaxed the entire No Talk cabal along with Chris Ryan (Black Congress) into a fantasia extension of his liner-note credited role: “KGBeasley: Guitar/Vocal/Leather.” The result has been the Homopolice, a noise punk act blindfolded and gagged in the iconography of a violent leather-clad homoeroticism.
Now, we don’t listen to much punk that hasn’t been sugar-coated for our protection, but we do know enough to draw the message parallels between the political songwriting of the (anti-)Reagan era with ATTN NEOCONS: EAT IT flavor of patriotic liberty biscuits that No Talk embodies.
A-Side “Invade Iran” cuts a playful jingoism, fighting wars we don’t know the reason for and leaving blood on foreign sands “till the oil is in our hands.” No Talk is right that America can’t really get enough petroleum, and we’re not just talking about our own Hummerzine. The entire lifestyle of all of us is built on hydrocarbons right down to the plastic polybag and black vinyl of the record itself. And, in mocking agreement with the same notion that somehow Drill Baby Drill is the answer to securing America’s future prosperity, the song gets all imperative form of the verb on the need to invade Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Iran. (Note to any neocon think tankers who will still have enough of a paycheck in two weeks to afford looking at the internet, these are all terrible countries to invade for their oil. There are much lower hanging fruit that we could get with a better cost/payout ratio and indeed most of them we wouldn’t even have to invade – we could use the CIA.)
Speaking of which, there’s not much guesswork in what’s going on in B-side “Fear the CIA.” Now, we think we it’s pretty fair to be wary of any three-letter combination that is responsible for bringing the phrase “Extraordinary Rendition” into our collective lexicon. However, we’ve always had a soft spot in our heart for the way, in the 50s and 60s, our spooks used to send Dizzie Gillispie and The State Department Band to foreign capitals as a distraction to orchestrate coups. International intrigue just isn’t that classy anymore. Nowadays, they’d prolly try and hoodwink the President of Yemen with Kid Rock and Toby Keith.
No Talk’s lyrics are blunt, more machete than scalpel, and the music matches. It has that signature Chris Ryan/Dead City Sound (er) sound – guttural and dark; heavy and fast, dragging the fullness of the production along at a clip that most punks don’t really have the chops or the inclination to attempt (the ridiculous greased lightning guitar solo in CIA, for example). There’s something else pretty unique about this record too, atleast in our experience: it’s actually political. Granted, you could write this whole thing off as manufactured tongue-in-cheek role-playing, but this is some of the only local music worth its placard that we’ve come across in years that makes so overt a criticism of the direction our country is headed, especially pure pith poem towards the government itself. There are exceptions of course, like Lennie Briscoe’s “I am An American” and Hollywood Black’s Crooked Shepherd EP, but given the general direction of our nation and the fairly ubiquitous liberalism (or atleast anti-Bushism) of the local scene as a whole, it is sort of startling/dissapointing that the Baby Boomers of all people (you know, the folks whose parents went to the Moon and won World War Two, while they on the other-hand invented the SUV and pills to make your dick hard) continue to show us up when it comes to political consciousness and music. Sucks doesn’t it? Kind of the opposite of No Talk. Recommended.
Fortunately, No Talk isn’t just a one night stand in the dark corner of Mary’s or a presidential pre-emption Doctrine that sputtered out after a single invasion. Though this 7″ in particular is already sold out, this week’s Grey Ghost is a generous allotment of recordings by the band (as always, Grey Ghost recordings are a measly $2 and are available for a single week only at Domy Books). There is also alleged to be a second 7″ in their near future. Don’t wait for us to review it when it comes out – go buy it.
UPDATE: The next No Talk 7″ is available NOW. There are only ten copies, all at Sound Exchange. GO. NOW.
