God bless friend of the show Boston Matt for reminding me that I had “liked” the Prick Bastards facebook page…. because I had NOT taken the time to fully appreciate the tunes.
Prick Bastards are quality metal from Vancouver BC. A band forged from the remnants of By A Thread, All State Champion, and Means to an End. The style of their sound combines some vintage punk elements with stoner or sludgey metal. Being a fan of By A Thread & All State, I of course pull those sounds out as well. Their self titled ep is a free download… so you know, go do that. LINK >> Prick Bastards
The record was produced by Steve Evetts (The Cure, Sepultura, The Dillinger Escape Plan). Here are a couple cuts.
Good rockers don’t go away, they just change their band name. Daniel Sioui was in the most excellent Vancouver post-punk band All State Champion. That morphed into Carpenter with members of By A Thread, Speaking of Heroes, and Daggermouth.
Some fond Victoria memories are going to see All State and later Carpenter shows. I remember seeing Carpenter at Logan’s a few times… going with my brother CJ, meeting up with Coral (BEFORE WE WERE MARRIED! SWA?) and hanging with Razer.
The other day I blogged about By A Thread playing a show in Chicago, and that night I dug through some old bins of compact discs and pulled out some favourites. This morning, driving my 4-year-old to pre-school she was meowing about wanting to hear songs (she just doesn’t get The Current yet) so I popped in my Carpenter Town and Country ep. My kid, god bless her… knows music only from the radio, vinyl, or youtube so she thought the CDs were pretty bizarre. “Oh cool, you have mini records!” That was a trip.
The brought me to the wormhole of the internet… searching for Carpenter to see if those guys are still operating. and would you look at that, a post YESTERDAY on their Facebook.
Daniel has a new project called Precursor and it definitely scratches that Vancouver post-whatever itch.
Well ain’t this a pip…. from By A Thread‘s principle John Franco’s Facebook….
On January 4 2013, my old band By A Thread will be reuniting and sharing the stage with Gorilla Biscuits and Shelter at The House Of Blues in Chicago . This show is part of the Revelation Records 25th Anniversary shows. We are stoked to say the least. Kelly, Joe, Sean and I. The Last Of The Daydreams line up. That’s the news !
What?
The original By A Thread line-up rides again… to Chicago. God damn…getting to Chicago on January 4th would be so amazing but pretty much impossible. I wonder if I should start like a kick-starter? “Aging hipster Dad too irresponsible broke to pay his own way wants you to pay for his rock & roll holiday.” I can already feel people hitting the “pay now” on Paypal.
Sometimes one show begets more shows… a Vancouver one I’d do my best to sort out…dare to dream, they take the ferry to Victoria for a show.
By A Thread released one amazing record in 1999 (and one before that?). Then one more good one in 2011. And that’s that kids. From the 2011 s/t.
Picking a top 10 list of favourite records is always excruciating fun. I always think it will be easy until I sit down and start going through my records. I enjoy remembering, but then quantifying and sorting those memories can be a challenge.
The radio consultants at the Zone always say that “your heavy rotation songs should be easy to pick.” I agree that my number 1 this year (like previous years) was an easy pick. But then after that… I dunno.
Another challenge is trying to weigh something I listened to heavy in January to something that is bright and new and shiny right now… Generally I figure, if I am not rocking it now, then probably not a top 10 list type of band. But then… Awolnation I used to listen to all the time. But couldn’t find a spot on the list. Also, Destroyer or Fleet Foxes I jammed out for a time…but not on the list.
Lots of bands had songs that I adore, but couldn’t include the record because:
A) I don’t actually have it
B) Not that good, even if I listened to a particular song a trillions time.
Man, I loved songs from Holy Ghost, Atlas Genius, We Are Augustines, Dinosaur Bones, The Strokes, Airborne Toxic Event, Gold Panda, Bell X1… hmmm there are bound to be even more… I jammed out tons of country, metal and electronic this year… but no records that get played heavy.
And then there is The Black Keys. Record comes out on Tuesday. It’ll come out in 2011… but I haven’t heard the whole thing yet so.
11) The Black Keys – El Camino
I have only heard part of this record… and I already know I’ll love it. The band dominated the Zone (and rock radio in North America) this whole year. 4 number 1 singles on the Modern Rock Countdown. My goodness.
I know doing things on margin is what caused the financial crisis but I had to include El Camino on my top 10 list! Even if its Number 11.
Over 10 years I waited for the follow-up to post-whatever band By A Thread’s The Last of the Daydreams. Over 10 years!
I loved this record when it showed up in the mail back in April. I put the record aside for most the summer… but once the weather turned, I dunno, but this record has featured tons on my listening habit. When I walk to the Zone, this record get blasted through the headphones and transports me back to my college radio days. I love this record because it has both a timeless feel to me, while sounding somewhat modern . I say “some what” because sometime I get tricked. maybe you’ll listen to this record and go… “hmmm, sounds like late 90s post-alt rock to me.”
all you need is “Fashion.”
09) Coldplay – “Mylo Xyloto”
Haters gunna hate… but whatever, this is a pretty good record from Coldplay. I enjoy the singles on the radio, I enjoy them when they pop up in mixes, and I enjoy the record which lives in my van for long drives. Just a plain, good old fashioned well produced mega slick, great big record.
Live to be a 40-year-old virgin listening to “Paradise.”
08) Foo Fighters – Wasting Light
Another big, slick mainstream record that is just good. I enjoy all the songs we play off this disc on the radio. The album was so super hyped before its release I was a little concerned I wouldn’t like it. But hitting play on this album is a rewarding experience and is another point on the list of why Dave Grohl is a living legend.
Shower in a truck stop with friends to this song, “Rope.”
07) Arkells – Michigan Left
Arkells are the band that demanded to be on my top 10 list. The story goes… I knew of the Arkells as a band. A Canadian rock band like a billion before them and a billion after them… then I saw them open for Tokyo Police Club and rattle the cage that was my brain. I quickly became a convert and devoured the back catalog. I was primed for the release of Michigan Left and was not disappointed. A fantastic, front-to-back album of rock & roll music. This CD lives in my van and I punch it up often.
If I had a friend named Matty that rocked ‘Women and Songs 2’… well I don’t what I’d think about that. “Book Club”
06) Washed Out – Within and Without
Just look at that album artwork… don’t you wanna make-out?
An album of easy listening. I have a sweet tooth for this type of chill electronic music. I can’t deny it. This record is a staple of my lounge set at Veneto. This record also lives in the Civic and sounded so awesome this summer barrelling up the Pat Bay Highway.
You’ll get to third base if you drop the needle on “You and I”
05) The Naked and Famous – Passive Me, Aggressive You
Tricky… this record was technically released in 2010… but then re-released to a world-wide audience (and on vinyl) in 2011.
A super fun and catchy record that contains a couple of my favourite songs of the year on it. “Young Blood” and “Punching in a Dream.”
Jon Williams was a big champion of this album and randomly showed up at the Zone one day with a vinyl copy tucked under his arm; which he then gifted to me. Nice. This record was the soundtrack to most my summer… and spring… and actually I jam out “Punching in a Dream” during many of my club DJ sets.
its a banger… “Punching in a Dream”
04) The Decemberists – The Kings is Dead
A record that came out in January of 2011… King is Dead is the first Decemberists record that I truly loved…
I went to see the Decemberists in the summer with Simon from the Veneto and his wife. There I met up with Dan and Laura visiting from France and had one of my great summer nights of 2011. I drank a cocktail that night that tasted like a spicy Chicago Dog! (in the best of ways)
“Rise to Me” would also make my list of top 10 songs of the year.
03) Foster the People – Torches
What do I say about Foster the People? Their song “Pumped Up Kicks” went sub-atomic on not only rock radio… but a bonafide top 40 jam. Soccer Moms hum along to a song about Columbining your school.
This record was played all-the-time around my home in the Spring and Summer. Coral and I don’t really jive on the same bands much anymore. So I do find it special when we both have a record we could put on and crank.
I swear, I could take any song off this record and play it on the Zone and it would be a hit. If anything, this record is TOO sugar sweet on the ear drums.
I like the song “I Would Do Anything For You” because I am a romantic (and a dork). Ooh-la-la
02) M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
My top two records both win because they are chill-out records and most my (as in MY) listening… is late at night (what time is now… shit, 1AM). I put on headphones, hit go… and dream. So my Top 10 has a lot of records that reflect that as they are the records that I listen to.
M83 is a record I wish came out anytime prior 2006 when I smoked way too much pot. This is a pot record in the best way. Lots of weird audio wickedness to pet your ear-holes. I’ve blogged lots about M83 and could go on all day on why he’s so awesome. You’ve read it and taken it to heart, or you haven’t… so what Imma gunna do is post “Midnight City” again and hope this time… this time it is the time you go… “riiiiiiiiight.”
M83 could and almost should be my number 1, but it doesn’t win for a few reasons. As much as I love the sonic oddities… sometimes I’m not in the mood. I do find myself occasionally skipping songs which I never do with…
01) Bon Iver – Bon Iver
I said at the top of my list that picking the number 1 should be easy and this year it was… My end of the day go to record when the weight of the world is pushing me down.
Hot dog, its good. A front-to-back masterpiece of modern light rock. I am sure in like 20 years Bon Iver will be the Hall & Oates of this generation… but fuck, whatever. Hall & Oates is cool again, so maybe that says something?
This is another record that both Coral and I listen to… cute attack!
This album is not a rocker or very pop. So if you need growls, distortions, tattoos, testicles… this album won’t be for you. But if you like to strap in and explore time and space in some sort of out-of-body astral projection experience… then you’ve found the soundtrack.
This song is so beautiful, “Holocene”
That’s another list of some of my more memorable albums of 2011. If I can find the energy, I wouldn’t mind trying to lay down a top 10 songs… but now that would be an even greater challenge. Maybe top 20? Top 50? Zoinks.
As with anything, music is subjective so unless we’re already musically compatible, you might scratch your head at some selections… and that’s cool, maybe it’ll inspire you to write your own list? Just be sure to post a link in my comment section so I can read your’s too.
Ugh, I always feel like I am forgetting something…. I am sure that I am.
Fast forward over 10 years, and here it is. The self titled record that picks up from where The Last of the Daydreams left off. It seems without missing a beat.
Principle By A Threader, John Franco, travels back on a historical road trip to find familiar styles and themes of 1999’s first record. When it came to Vancouver post-hardcore or post-punk… By A Thread to me, was the best.
To think back, By A Thread seemed to have a little of the wind at their back when it came to touring and buzz. But for whatever reason… after that first record, the party stopped.
Here I am over a decade later dropping the needle on a marbled grey vinyl platter. The style of this record has that familiar pained howl painted overtop the crashing jangle of the guitar. I wanted to share a couple cuts with you on this blog. It was hard to pick off the disc as many of the songs sound great.
I thought I should start at track one, side one. “Fashion” seems to be the most fun and maybe the closest to a feature track By A thread will get. Its not like they do singles, videos, radio, record promotors and all the trappings of a modern rock band. If there is a song that best encapsulates this record, “Fashion” would be.
I have a few other faves like “Dive In” or “Reign” and “Line Ups.”
It got me thinking about the time I used to write for a music blog back in the day before the word “blog” was invented. It was a site called Indulged.com and was started by Andy out of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. He had a small stable of writers and one of the dudes was a guy named Matt. They were all into By A thread which I thought was cool, because they lived across the continent.
Indulged is long and gone. Andy lives and works in North Carolina now and Matt… Matt what do you do?
I still cyber stalk the boys on Facebook and Matt was telling me that By A Thread was supposed to release a second record. Sure enough, John Franco facebooked me to say that indeed, the record is done and it is up to their record label, Revelation to release.
If/when it happens… I’ll be sure to blog about it.
***
I received an email from a recent Victorian settler named Dave:
Hey Jeremy,
I want to request the song Air Combat by an up and coming band from Kamloops called Sharks! On Fire!
These guys are playing at the German Cultural Center in Nanaimo on Nov. 26th w/ On Call Heroes and The Kick Off’s.
p.s. My wife and daughter and I moved here in July from Kamloops, and just want you to know I haven’t heard radio this good in a long time, and I truly mean it. My turn month was frig’n rad and love all the new and old music you play.
Thanks, the zone rocks!
Cheers
Dave
***
Thank you Dave! Lets have a listen to Kamloop’s Sharks! On Fire!
This morning I awoke to a perfect and cold winter day (and still a scratchy throat). Coral was running a bit behind and I still have the Chevy Cruze, so she asked me to take Mads to Step-Up to Pre-School.
Driving back to The Zone, I was jamming out Pol Plastino and he punched up Gob’s “Ming Tran.”
“Ming Tran” is from Gob’s 2002 ep F.U. EP. I remember this record being big on the radio back when I worked at a Starbucks in Vancouver and we’d sing it all the time.
Back then, I used to listen to Gob all the time and play them on my radio show, The Morning After Show (hence the name of this here ole blog). My favourite, favourite Gob song was “Self-Appointed Leader” off 1998’s How Far Shallow Takes You. Back then, I didn’t really get how radio “works” so I’d call up David Hawkes (best DJ!) on CFOX at night and request the song. He’d tell me it was a great cut and take a minute to talk some Vancouver rock and roll with me and then play “What To Do” or some other Gob-esque type song that might have been getting a little attention. Pop-punk (or ponk) was pretty popular in the late 90s and early 00s.
Gob – “Self-Appointed Leader”
I was pretty new at CiTR in the winter of 1998 and Gob’s record was new (and my show was a new Canadian music show so…..) and I played it quite a bit.
As I grew a bit more sophisticated in my musical taste, taking the bus out to Vancouver at least once a week, turning 19 and going to shows, and starting my own band… I really got into the Vancouver band By A Thread. Their debut album The Last of Daydreams came out in November of 1999 ( I think, no wikipedia for these guys that I could find).
I loved them. I played this record on my radio show all the time and made a point to see them live when I could afford it and had the time.
By A Thread – “Surface”
By A Thread – “The World To Me”
To this day, The Last of the Daydreams remains one of my favourite records from those early mornings on the radio.
Listening now, it does sound a little dated and obviously, DIY. The album cover has graphic design of so many indie bands of the era… so sometimes its hard to separate the nostalgia from the quality. But it doesn’t really matter. By A Thread was a big part of my soundtrack growing up.
Had a lot of fun crafting this weeks local rocker show for TheZone dot F-M. I had to wheel out the record player and even used the old Denon CD cart machine. My mic sounds off, I think someone came into the studio the other day and fiddled with the EQ. BWOAR Stupid gremlins! I didn’t catch it till after we were done, and this is the one take special, so it had to fly.
You can also SUBSCRIBE to Capital Rock City in the iTunes Store and/or RSS feed this puppy. And remember kids, when you RSS or subscribe to the podcast, a baby orca is born.
Let the name dropping begin!
DJ Notes:
01) The Laundronauts – “Hard water”
02) The Laundronauts – “That Kind of Laundry”
03) The Laundronauts – “Outta My Head”
04) The Racoons – “Tangiers”
05) The Racoons – “Secret Song”
06) Saul – “Open Your Eyes“
The Laundronauts are my new fave band strictly because they released their single on white vinyl. How hipster. I had so much fun cracking out the record player and listening to the music.
Matt from the Racoons was back in town visiting his Mom and sister Jane. Jane (and Alix) came over on the weekend and helped Corj and I sort out the bedroom and closet for some spring cleaning. She had in her hot little hand the new racoons EP. I had to have one. So I asked Matt on his way to the 3PM ferry to hop into the Capital Rock City studio.
We talk about nerdy music stuff, The national and how great they are AND it is committed to tape, Matt said he’d perform at Coral and my wedding.
oh, and it turns out I was sharing emails with Dave from Saul. Dave from the band emailed me needing some radio jibber jabber for a song on their upcoming album. Fun. So you’ll hear a wee taste of the Zone Afternoon Show on the new Saul when it comes out.
That’s a podcast. I hope you like it. I want to drag JP Maurice into the studio sometime and I got a Facebook message from Katie Sly the other day. She has a new band and I’d love to invite her down when they have a demo to share. Word on the street is that Jets Overhead have a new record out in the Spring too!
Still hammering By A Thread for an interview and my lead on Chixdiggit ran cold.. sadness. What else? Maybe some more music from Edmonton? Adam Thompson might make a future appearanc on the show with a group called The Faunts and I have been talking to Lindsay in Winnipeg about a contribution from her, so we’ll see.
According to my Last FM page, here is what has been getting the most play at home over the past 7 days.
01) The National
02) Jimmy Eat World
03) Face to Face
04) By A Thread
05) Explosions in The Sky
06) Coheed and Cambria
07) Led Zeppelin
07) Braid
07) Fleet Foxes
10) The Frames
10) Grand Archives
That sounds about right. As you might notice, heavily influenced by the top 20n records thing I wrote the other day, revisiting some albums. And Explosions in the Sky get played all the time. They’d be higher on the list, but their songs are about 8 minutes each, so they get half the spins of say… Face to Face.
In car, its all the new Franz Ferdinand or even some Gaslight Anthem.
***
Madelyn turns one next Tuesday. The big birthday party in on Sunday, fun.
She almost walks, she almost talks… but almost doesn’t pay the bills! do better baby!
***
I was thinking about adding some work to make some more money. Before I even advertised that I was looking for work (kinda, there were some emails and some rejections or no replies…), two companies contacted me looking for my expertise. Neat. No deals closed so no job attained yet. But if it happens then I can’t wait to share some future projects on here.
The work will be welcome.
We decided to up our level of catering for the wedding a few notches (OK a bunch of notches!). Our good friend Alix works for a company called Feys and Hobbs and they do A-list event food. We had a fairly frugal budget but they asked to make a bid anyways. Sure enough, their price was above what we could pay but the quality is way above… so two things happened… we asked our friend Alix to get on her knees (as in begged, nothing sexual you filthies!) to her boss for us to get us a better price (achieved) and Coral’s father stepped up with a contribution for our catering. So Coral and I are basically back to our old financial commitment for the B-level food but we can deliver the A-level experience to our family and friends. Needless to say, Coral and I are very happy and grateful.
Thank you Alix and Rob and Roberta!
This generosity comes on top of money already contributed by my folks which (depending how much people drink) should cover the bar… so the next morning when you’re puking up my Feys and Hobbs in the toilet cuz you’re so hung over, you can cheers, Grandma Mom and Grandpa Jack!
***
It has been a challenging month for me but is now looking up. The Clubhouse had a great crowd on Tuesday which I hope is the start of some momentum heading into Spring. I have some stellar ideas and some contacts to try and make those ideas reality and finally a couple promising leads on some more work so I can pays me bills and save for our wedding. Actually last night I started sketching out a game changer concept for wi-fi radio! whoa, blew my own mind last night. Bad cuz I didn’t get much sleep, good because… well its a good idea.
Next week, an interview with the local author of the book “Becoming Batman,” Dr. Paul Zehr. Capital Rock City has an interview with Carpenter, in town Friday to open for Gob @ Lucky Bar. I am working on interviews with Chixdiggit and John Franco of By A Thread.
The Morning After 