punk rock food music lifestyle culture is taking over (take that Starbucks!) by Dylan Brock

When I first started to tour it was 1997. This was the beginning of the loss of Main Street and the opening up of corporate super stores or as I like to call it “The WalMarting of America.” I remember going into small towns and seeing local shops closing down with signs that said “Going out of business.” Often you would also see on the outskirts of town a packed WalMart and next to it would ALWAYS be a Barnes and Noble. As a broke touring indie van band we would sit in those Barnes and Nobles killing time, reading magazines or books waiting for load in.  By 1999/2000 I was pretty burned out on touring, sleeping in our van, begging to do in-stores and sleeping on peoples floors and couches.

I didn’t go out on tour again until 2006. By then everyone had cell phones, GPS, and the band I was out with had some radio success so we actually had hotel rooms, did radio, and signed autographs. It was a lot of fun. I toured with them off and on for about 5 or so years.  

            This leads me up to the Felsen tour that I’m currently on.  The highways haven’t changed much but so far I’m seeing a really interesting trend happening in the towns that we played. Local businesses are opening up again.  People are selling medical marijuana left and right.  Tattoo parlors have a wait list for up to 6 months  and locally owned drip coffee shops are EVERYWHERE (take that Starbucks).  There are still plenty of ApplebeeDennyChilisTGIF’s around but I’m also seeing great restaurants that sell free-range meat, organic fruit and veggies and taking chances with their cuisine like Barbeque Beef Egg Benedict. Over breakfast you can see the new nuclear family: tattooed, pierced couples with a new infant sharing Egg Pot Pie for breakfast.  Bands are even selling vinyl at shows again and record stores are actually opening up! It’s like a punk rock food music lifestyle culture is taking over. Maybe this is the beginning of the revolution that we’ve been waiting for…

 

Love,

 

Dylan Brock

 

http://dylanbrockmusic.com/

shut my mouth!

i feel like i've been adrift.  feeling really old, irrelevant, out-dated.  loosing my mojo--maybe i never had much in the first place.  am i past my expiration date like christmas cake and it's the 26th.  i've put myself out in front of a band.  i'm the one the audience interfaces with initially.  i gotta get the party started--that's my job.  i have doubts.  it's easier for beautiful people.  it's a cruel reality of nature.  magnetism.   in my normal offstage day to day life i'm mainly invisible (which i kinda like).  i irritain people.  I bug them, pester them into having fun.  that's my shtick i guess. At least that's the character i've created. However, today i'm feeling ready to create a new character: Ziggy Starbucks and the Slippers from Macys.

i kinda blew my voice out on night 1 of the 17 day tour.  brilliant.  night 2 in SLC was kinda ruff for me vocally.  I felt bad for my bandmates having to hear that shit.  The day after they intervened with hot tea.  They told me to hydrate, rest and keep my mouth shut.  i think this is an elaborate ruse to get the front guy to just shut up in the van. "Save your voice kid".  I've been a sideman for about 30 years.  W'e're always talking about what a pain in the ass the front guy is. i'm really aware of this division of labor.  you feel it.  it's them and me.  i'm a necessary cog in the wheel. The wheel keeps on spinning around and somehow we stay precariously on a path.  not sure if it's the right path though.  not sure what the fuck i'm doing out here traveling across the wheat fields, windfarms and religious and/or triple X superstore billboards of kansas.  

I can be a pro at keeping my mouth shut.  By way of example, my dad taught me well.  If I were a superhero, my super power would be keeping my mouth shut. In fact, I wrote a whole song about this special gift I have been given.

In an exponential way

I get more expert every day that I'm alive, that I'm alive

when all I gotta do 

is keep it chambered up inside

and shut my mouth

for a little while

and learn to smile

https://soundcloud.com/felsenmusic/all-you-gotta-do-is-smile

enjoy.

take me back mill valley.

I played a duo gig a few weeks ago with Dylan (Felsen guitarist).  This was the first time he and I have performed in this way.  We played at a shop in Mill Valley called 7 on Locust (that’s also their address) on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.  The shop owner, Nadine approached my friend, and #1 Felsen fan, Don Zimmer about bringing in live music to her shop. This was the second time Don has put together a show for us.  Both shows were really fun and unique.   Don is a fine musician and he’s just an all around supporter of local music; a truly one-of-a-kind type of guy.  Along with his friend, Mitchell Danielson, they've even started their own boutique record label, Floating Records, just because they wanted to help as many of their musician friends as possible get their music out into the universe. Wow. Sincerely altruistic record label guys! Thank you Don and Mitchell.  We need many more people like you.  

The small size of the performance space dictated that we perform low volume--real low volume.  We don’t get to do this type of show all that often.  I always say you gotta be able to adapt to whatever environment you’re performing.  Lousy bands have just one way of performing. (Note to young rockers:  Marshall half stack--not necessarily the best amp choice for the Hotel Utah.) I like shaking things up and I’m always up for something new and challenging.  We kinda eased into things, playing it cool, not coming on too strong.  Keeping our collective ego in check, knowing that it’s NOT ALWAYS ABOUT US!  People were milling around (like they do in Mill Valley), catching up with old friends and drinking a bit.  By the end of the first set, people were definitely into it and buying our CDs & T shirts (thank you--you know who you are).  For a small place, there was a decent crowd.  It felt good to be there.  The second set was even better and by the tail end of that set, this little shop in Mill Valley was ready to be transformed into a concert event.  We asked people to come in, huddle up, lend us your ears (like Ringo said) and they obliged us. We asked them to really listen for just a few moments.  Turn off cell phones, hold off on conversation.  I think people want this.  People want to be entertained. They want to be a part of something unique, human, artistic.  They want to participate in culture with other human beings. This predates us by thousands of years.  We did two last numbers totally unplugged with the whole room full of people huddled around us.  Dylan played banjo, I played acoustic guitar and sang. We played an oldie, really old in fact. Take Me Back.  I wrote it 13 years ago after my wife and I had hit a real rough patch in our marriage.  Try begging for forgiveness--sometimes it’ll work!  People love this tune.  Who hasn’t been there?  And then we finished off with a new tune, Gimme Shelter for the Devil, from our soon-to-be-released album.   Twice now this has happened at a Floating Records show: audience and band communion.  It’s like we all got on a plane and went somewhere--to that other place. Thanks Don and Mitchell for getting us there.

NEXT FELSEN SHOW: Saturday Aug 31, 2013. Starry Plough, Berkeley, CA Facebook invite

gig wrap up: Goldenhearts/Tiny Television at GAMH.

I played on Saturday night at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco.  This was probably about the 10th time I’ve had the pleasure of performing there. It’s always a thrill. Luxurious and ornate, It’s a bay area treasure.  

I was playing drums with a great SF band, the Goldenhearts.  This is a really special group that I’m honored to get to perform with.  It’s guitar, bass, drums and a string quartet! Imagine if the Beatles had kept going in the baroque psychedelic chamber pop of Sgt. Peppers and you’ll get a glimpse of the Goldenhearts.  

I was really knocked out by the headliner Tiny Television, whom I’ve heard about, but never seen.  I heard their soundcheck and knew that I wanted to stay late and enjoy their whole set--and it was so worth it.  At GAMH all the band green rooms are downstairs, very communal--always fun.  I heard the sounds of Big Star coming out of their room.  I've been in a very Big Star kinda mood lately after seeing the new incredible documentary about them.  The Tiny Tele guys bring their own portable turntable and vinyl collection on the road--that's how they roll.  How cool is that?

Tiny Television Is a bigger band:  drums, bass, 2 lead vocalists/guitarists and a guitar/pedal steel player.  They reminded me at first of the country era Wilco, especially the Being There album.  I got the feeling that this was a band that was about to blow up onto a much larger stage.  Tiny Television, like the current incarnation of Wilco, has 2 virtuoso level musicians:  the drummer Dan Luehring and guitar/pedal steel man Dave Zirbel--again like Wilco’s Glenn Kotche and Nels Cline.  Dan’s groove and dynamics were at a whole other level of deep than I’m used to seeing in local bands.  Chops too.  It was like Levon Helm on steroids.  He played with a ton of soul and feel and you just sensed that he lived inside those songs.  He owned the arrangements and found lots of room to really dig deep and pull out some incredible drum-istic stuff.  Dave Zirbel.  Where did this guy come from?  I’ve never heard anyone mention him.  Shame on all of us!  One of the best around. Totally tasteful playing. He knows how to hang back and not take up a lot of space.  He’s a songwriter’s dream sideman most of the time, but when they cut him loose he digs deep, never repeats himself, and solos beautifully. There’s a lot of country and soul, chuck berry and jerry garcia in there, but in a real original way.  The band played really well together.  Great ensemble.  At times they would meander into a jam section that was really deep.  These sections reminded me of some of the great, really deep instrumental sections of White Album era Beatles:  think tunes like Happiness is a Warm Gun, Yer Blues, Dear Prudence.  (How’s that for a reference?)  Gritty, not pretty, deep groove, kinda spooky and dark, not typical jam band territory--no bouncing beach balls and flip flop wearing frat boys abusing the word Dude!  This was the sound of the last judgement, heaven and hell, life and death, a showdown at the crossroads. I was sold.  I wanna hear the songs again and really listen to the lyrics as I was a bit overly preoccupied with the playing of the band.  There are worse dilemmas for newly converted fans to have. Listen to these guys.   I’m thrilled I got the chance.  

album done...

We finished recording and mixing our album last week.  I'm tired.  Real tired.  Hopefully it'll be mastered today or tomorrow.  I miss playing gigs and rehearsing with my band.  We've been too busy to do any of that.  I see my friends bands playing gigs and I'm jealous.  Our touring cycle will start again relatively soon though and I'm ready to shift gears from studio nerd to travelling salesman--at least that's what it feels like when were touring.  I play for 60 minutes and spend the rest of the evening selling CDs and T shirts (or at least trying) to unsuspecting bar patrons in places like Wichita, Reno, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Eugene, Seattle, Sacramento...the list is long.  We're planning our 2nd national tour for this September.  This will be the largest tour we've done.  16 shows in 17 days, probably about 7000 miles of driving.  Gotta raise a bunch of money to pay for it.  Thinking about it makes me tired and nervous.  God willing, it'll all come together.

ghosts of home stereo systems past

I’m ashamed to admit this, but I don’t currently own a proper CD player, turntable or cassette player.  I never thought it would come to this.  I basically commandeered my family’s hi-fi stereo system when I was 6 years old so that I could listen to my small collection of Beatles, Yardbirds, Jeff Beck, ELP and Alan Parsons albums.  I was probably eight years old when my brother-in-law gave me his old portable turntable with detachable speakers (perfect for a late 1960’s dorm room).  He’d moved on from Rock and Roll, whereas I was hooked--in a bad way.  My favorite activity was listening to Beatles albums LOUD with the bass cranked, treble all the way down.  I’m not sure why this was so intoxicating for me.  I guess I just really love bass.  When I got a drumset at age 13, I practiced along with records.  What other way is there to learn?  When I went to College at 18 I took a boombox and a milk crate full of tapes.  My Sophomore year I took my parents old turntable and plugged into my roomie’s receiver.  We listened to music non stop: Echo and the Bunnymen, U2, the Cult, Guns and Roses, the Smiths, Midnight Oil, Pink Floyd, Santana, Naked Raygun, Joy Division, New Order, The Clash, REM, Guadalcanal Diary, Love and Rockets, the Cromags, Murphy’s Law, Camper Van Beethoven, The Jam, Bob Mould, The Replacements, Trip Shakespeare, (room mate was a Minnesotan) Grateful Dead,  Bob Dylan, and of course the Beatles.  Albums gave way to tapes and they gave way to CDs (my first CD purchase was Cream Live at the Royal Albert Hall) and CDs started the slow digital unfurling which lead to Mp3s and that leads me to where I am today:  Sitting at a computer (along with everyone else in America).  AND I have my Honda.  And those are the places where I listen.  The Honda sounds better and is a more pleasant way to listen to music except you have to drive.  Sometime I just go out to my parked car and listen.  No one bugs me.  

I’m making an album now--the 3rd full length for my band.  I spend a lot of time listening to ruff mixes etc.. so much so that by the time the album is finished, I rarely listen to it again.  But that’s my job:  I make ‘em, you listen to ‘em (hopefully).  I made a video from the inside of my car, driving north on 101 crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, looking out through the cracked windshield on a foggy Friday afternoon on my way to a drum gig with Shana Morrison.  Take a ride in my Honda (that sounds creepy) and meditate on the ghosts of home stereo systems past.

What is Life Guitar Part...

A few months ago I found a used copy of George Harrison’s 1970 masterpiece album “All Things Must Pass”.  Where do we begin discussing that album?  I have been deeply under it’s magic spell since.  I’m working on a new album with the band and I’ve been doing some research: learning songs from the masters, doing lots of listening to all manner of different stuff and searching my soul too wondering if we can pull it off again, also wondering how in hell we’re gonna pay for it.  I sat down with ATMP a few nights ago and learned all the chord progressions.  What a lesson! It’s pure genius that I plan on covertly stealing asap.   Didn’t Picasso say something about good artists copy, great ones steal.  Pablo, I will do my very best to steal, you can judge the merits of my musical larceny when the dust settles on the new Felsen album.  

There was one guitar part that really intrigued me and I wanted to try and learn.  It’s the lead line that you hear right at the top of “What is Life”.  I’m not much of a guitarist--I’m more of a guitar owner/songwriter and singer only by default. This guitar part didn’t sound particularly hard to play, I could figure out most of it.  The problem was that once producer’s Phil Spector’s reverb-drenched Wall of Sound kicks in the part kinda gets hard to hear in the verse sections.  I did what us modern musicians do:  troll about the internet looking for tab (couldn’t find any), but I did come across a great youtube clip where the part is isolated and it really made me start thinking about how brilliant the guy was.  You can hear swagger in there and maybe some kind of an R&B/funk influence too.  You can also hear the confidence and intelligence in this part.  Confidence? Just to put it in perspective, in the two years or so leading up to the recording of ATMP, George recorded the first Beatle solo effort (the soundtrack to the movie Wonderwall, much of which was recorded in Bombay with Indian musicians), recorded all 4 sides of the White Album and the Hey Jude single, recorded more music for Yellow Submarine, co-wrote tunes with and produced sessions for Bob Dylan and the Band, acted as Apple Records A&R man signing both James Taylor and Badfinger (produced some of their stuff too), recorded both the Let It Be and Abbey Road albums, produced a Billy Preston album, co-wrote the hit Cream tune “Badge”, toured as a sideman with Delaney and Bonnie and co-wrote with and produced Ringo’s solo music.  Big couple of years for George--more than most of us musicians will ever achieve in several lifetimes.  Dude had skills for days!  Oh yeah, he studied sitar with the Maestro, Ravi Shankar.  How could I forget that?  And that’s just the 2 years leading up to the making of ATMP!  Dont’ forget his 10,000 hours in the clubs of Hamburg as a teen, the 12 string electric guitar, the Revolver album...

The fact that he was under Lennon & McCartney’s thumb, playing second fiddle for many years is pretty much common knowledge for all of Beatlefreaks.  He had a lot to prove with ATMP.  Phil Spector said that he was beyond a perfectionist.  I think you can hear it in this part.  The part pretty much is the bass line to the song too.  What came first?  Probably George’s part.  So perfect was it, that bassist Carl Radle jumped on it.  The ex-Beatles knew a thing or two about bass lines being in the Mac’s band.  Session bassist extraordinaire Tony Levin said that John Lennon was the artist who completely knew exactly what they wanted from the bass.  I’m sure George was probably the same.  George’s guitar line sits in that sweet spot of really dialed-in while at the same time being nice and loose.  Pure rock and roll gold.