The Unfinished History of The Stranglers

Finally, there's a relatively fair look back on the Stranglers and their achievements on the newly improved YouTube. It's produced by BBC and though the quality is pretty low, there is some stuff you probably never new of the most underrated of the successful punk bands. The documentary ends before the publication of the Strangler's latest and best in decades album, Suite XVI (see review in the sidebar below).

The Merry Macabre Danse

Here's a peak at the first collaboration between Mike "Morricone" Lawson (Git and Production) and Roman Game (Song, Vid). A raunchier version of "Macabre Danse" can sometimes be heard live, played by the band Room. Though we are never sure if the fourth chord is an F# or an F#m. You tell us.

There's Room At Fat Baby This Thursday!

After the delightful evening we shared at Fat Baby with Anton Sword and the We Ours and Brett's band Too Many Zebras, we were invited back to the nice club on the LES. So ROOM will play there this Thursday, November 12th, downstairs. Fat Baby is at 112 Rivington St. (Between Ludlow & Essex). This time, we will play more than six songs and make it worth your time, promised! And you'll get to sing one, if you want, in our brand new Karaoke part of the set. Come early and see Safe Pair Of Hands at 10PM!

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Machu Picchu, I'm back from Peru! 10 days in a country that is most colorful, friendly, proud of it's history and a place where a lot of people don't worry about money. Who says you are poor if you make less than two bucks a day? Climb a mountain near Cusco and look down on the majestic place of Machu Picchu. See the rain move in and then the clouds part, the sun comes out and you're literally standing somewhere over the rainbow. I'm not really a hippie but this region is mystical. Not much in terms of rock music, though. Here's a picture of the only show I saw - traditional Peruvian and Inca Folk dances. Smitten.

Room, Anton Sword and Too Many Zebras

FAT BABY is at 112 Rivington Street, btw. Essex and Ludlow. Room team up again with Anton Sword and the We Ours as well as Too Many Zebras, Brett Hammond's new exciting vehicle. Expectations? Let's put it in Anton's words: "We feel like you, our audience, is as much a creator of our music as we are. None of it would be possible --well, sort of possible, but not very enjoyable -- without you. So we hope some of you come by so we can play for you and with you. Sappy, eh? Yet true. We are not deluded. Sure, we make the music, but making a night is a team effort between us all." You in?

ROOM 11PM

Eurotrash outfit ROOM have gained a reputation for giving quite riotous shows in the past five years, but with recently added keyboard wizard Quentin Jennings (Melomane, The Dylans, C. Gibbs Review) and saxophone master Dave Spinely (The Snow, Morricone Youth) they have polished their rock and discovered some gems among their songs. Martial Vivot ist not just the best hair stylist in town, he's also known as French Keith Moon. Jean-Cosme Delaloye has a shiny white new bass that rivals his looks. Burnt Finger sets the guitar on fire. Singer Roman Game added a few new pieces to his series of songs about professions. Come hear the story of the Wealth Manager 2008 or the one about the Parachute Tester, packed in Room's tight psychedelic pop punk.

"No testosterone metal crap. I hope these guys go far!" - Captain Sensible, The Damned
"It's a wonder nobody gets hurt!" - Bob, Owner of Bar On A, Manhattan
"I'm glad I'm Room's friend." - Ed Ball of Television Personalities
"Great songs!" - Karl Wallinger, World Party

www.myspace.com/roomtheband

TOO MANY ZEBRAS 10 PM

Too Many Zebras got their name from an audition gone wrong! Brett and Martin hailing from the UK but now NYC transplants made their American debut on tour with the reggae band UB40. At that time they were in the Brit rock band Bigmouth (V2 artist Chris Hicken aka 'Cantinero'). Bigmouth were signed to Stu Fine's Wild Pitch Record label in NYC and worked with 2x Grammy award winning producer Neil Dorfsman (Sting, Paul McCartney) on their self titled release Bigmouth which picked up airplay nationally. Touring the Wild Pitch release they shared the stage with Presidents Of The United States, Spacehog, Tracey Bonham, The Buzzcocks and many more.

Brett and Martin went on to develop their skills with another underground band from NYC called Sunshine Club and ended up touring in the UK in 2007. Steve Williams is a seasoned drummer who has worked and toured with David Byrne (Talking Heads), Keith Richards (Rolling Stones) Sade, Ivan Neville, PM Dawn and De La Soul amongst many more. The trio got together when Brett and Martin felt they needed to re-discover their early UK roots and find a sound that incorporated all the best of post-punk UK bands that influenced them. They reached out to the NYC music community and found Steve who was drawn to the band as he has worked extensively with British music artists and felt an affinity with the sound Brett and Martin were making, so was formed Too Many Zebras. They are currently recording and performing in NYC.

http://www.myspace.com/2manyzebras


ANTON SWORD AND THE WE OURS 9PM

“Interesting, musically subtle, tasteful, original, witty music...infectiously rhythmic and impossibly memorable. “
--neverlearnedtoswim.com

“Dark and scintillating and full of texture...Anton Sword is a storyteller with an artist's ear for music, constructing these vast musical landscapes against which his bard’s tales are told...The musicianship is outstanding. “
--wildysworld.blogspot.com

One day when he was a child in New York City Anton put his ear against a speaker in a dark apartment on the Upper West Side and went into a trance. He had a long dream. When he woke up twenty years later his heart was permanently broken, but in a good way. Trying to make a movie out of the turbulence in his mind, he found himself writing songs at the piano instead, blending Roxy Music's weird romance, John Lennon's plangent sincerity, Radiohead's art-prog, and Elliott Smith’s melancholy with jazzier and more indie-rock influences. Over the past two years the songs have been brought to full pop power by Sword’s amazing band The We Ours, which showcases thrilling drummer Kristin Mueller (also of Lucinda Black Bear), and great group vocals by savory guitarist Kristofer Widholm (Morex Optimo), sweet guitarist Julian Maile (Spray Paint Star, Losers Lounge) and bassist/cellist Jessica Hallman.

www.antonsword.com

Totally Feelies'd!

They might look like dentists and farmers, but rock like mighty gods

So we missed All Tomorrow's Parties in Monticello, but then again, the best band of that line-up - The Feelies - came to town on Sunday and gave an impressive three hour show of hi-speed pop that simply no other band comes close to. These guys are close to their 50s, but itäs the pure energy of fresh straight forward rock music, brain, belly and all. They played three new songs, all the classic stuff, lots off of Crazy Rhythm. And - possibly a New York record - 12 encores, including not only covers of the Doors, the Stones (Paint it Black) and two turbo Beatles songs (Everybody's Got Something to Hide, She said), but also the beautiful Wire song "Outdoor Miner" which totally made my day. Had a chance to talk shortly talk to Bill Million after the set. They have not yet recorded a new album, but Bill said they eventually will. The purpose of the Feelies getting back together, he said, was not to cash in on reunion gigs with the old stuff, but to write new songs. So have patience!

Room, Anton Sword and The Proclivities

The most philosophical tunesmith Anton Fine and his superb We Ours have invited us to play The National Underground this Wednesday.
Opening the festivities at 8pm will be The Proclivities, a charming band from North Carolina who will make you smile with their folk/pop/rock hybrid and their lovely singing, says Anton, who met them on tour.
Up next at 9pm, the We Ours will make us rethink Bowie and the Beach Boys, with just a hint of Queen. The band's recent gigs have shown them in splendid form!
Room's on Fire at 10pm, we promise we'll turn it up to the full energy level this time again. Come help us!

The Sad Little Stars Are Back As We Intersect

And how! Paul Wallfisch and his Small Beast made it possible: After what seems like more than a year of absence from the stage, Rachel and Max of this bloggers favorite New York band The Sad Little Stars performed a splendid set of songs on Monday night as We Intersect. Don Paul - brimming with energy and playful as ever -opened the evening. Later he joined the great Alice Texas and her band through dark, but warm numbers, before Rachel and Max took the stage, him on piano, her on just the right amount of synth. They played not only old faves from the Sad Little Stars Record - yes, Don't Fuck With Love - but also an interesting choice of covers: Ramones, Big Star and the Smiths, among them. Most captivating though were the new songs. At times, I thought I hear a new song by John Lennon that Lennon didn't write, then I heard a new hit by Depeche Mode that they had nothing to do with. But not only the songs are great pieces, the duo's vocal delivery is impeccable, pitch perfect, the harmonies soothing the soul, the mind wandering. This is music at its purest.

Spike Lee's "Passing Strange" with C.Gibbs

This is the trailer for Spike Lee's new movie "Passing Strange". It's a kind of a wild concert film about the musical that was shown last year on Broadway and featured Christian Gibbs. If you couldn't make it to the real thing, now you get a taste of what you missed. The film's opening tomorrow, Friday, Aug 20th at IFC cinema in the West Village. Meet Christian at the 6:15 showing. And yes, they were kind enough to keep the musicians in the movie.

The One Year Band and the The Clean Room

Room and The One Year Band live at Fontana's. Pic by Rozenn Nicolle

Fontana's the Third: Quite an overbooked evening, six or seven bands in one night, not quite the room we hoped for. You do with what you can, so we cut the sets down, which is especially sad in the case of the One Year Band with the fantastic Karen Geyer in the somber spotlight teasing the microphone but not using it. The sound reminding here of Velvet Underground, sonic landscapes, flurries of Pink Floyd and probably a vast universe of jazz and classical stuff, but what do I know about that.
Room came in black for a change, a little introspective yet overloaded, cruising on autu-control through a set of too many slow songs. Living in the fast lane on the wrong track? Nah, just break before the curves. Room will be back with Anton and the We Ours at National Underground on September 9th, and who knows what to expect then.

Room and the One Year Band at Fontana's

Your lovely Euro Wave outfit ROOM is back after a little summer break with new songs, new form, a new guitar for Burnt and a new bass for Jean-Cosme. While Martial is vacationing in France, the great Tim Kuhl is going to be drumming with us his grooves bind the band into a pretty tight, powerful unit. Come on down and hear the story of the Parachute Tester, the Development Aid Worker and the Fish Cutter, among others.

Opening at 10PM is the ONE YEAR BAND, a fantastic project by Swiss-german artist Karen Geyer who arrived in New York about a year ago with the plan to form a band, rehearse for a year, give a hand full of shows and then disband... This is their FIRST GIG EVER and from what we hear from the rehearsal space, it will be grand.

It's 5 bucks at the door, but if you can't afford this, drop me a line and I'll put you on the guest list - we wanna have your ear, not your money. Bring your friends and spread the word! We hope to see you!

Room live at Fontana's on May 7th with veteran Roomie Jan Haux

The Beast and the Flash in the Frying Pan

Quentin, Roman and Daria playing at Eveline and Roger's wedding. Picture by Rita Emch, thanx.

The first of August, Swiss National Day, as you all know by now, brought another nice party on the roof of 230 5th Avenue and then Roger and Eveline's very musical wedding on the Frying Pan at Pier 66. And mark this date: They had a combo of great musicians there and honestly, it was the first time ever that jazz really got me: Warm, compelling, tight and light. We danced. Daria and quentin joined me for a song for the wedding couple. We took in the evening breeze at the reeling of the old lighthouse boat and looked at the lights of the city.

The week had started with the Small Beast at Delancey, where we were on the same bill as Paul Wallfisch from Botanica, the unique Martin Bisi, who once again proved that nobody really knows what's going on inside the heads of genius producers. Excentric barely describes Martin's Music! Then the sweet Cherie Lily was on and played cute bubblegum pop songs with backing tracks, a 20 minute dose of happiness. We took the stage after eleven, Dave Spinely joined on most of the set adding great but subtle power to some hooks. Burnt lit up his new nashville guitar. I felt i had a nice reverb on my voice, and the acoustic was not too much out of tune. Looks like people could follow the lyrics and seemed to like the song about fish cutter and the one abut the parachute tester most. Karen geyer, who showed up to play double bass on two songs by the late troubadour Mani Matter and had never rehearsed with us, ended up playing almost the whole set after a quick look at the song sheets. Amazing - wait till you hear her with her own material, for example on August 13th at Fontana's. More about that show with Room soon. For the finale at the beat, swiss artist Regula Kueffer joined on flute and the extraordinary chef rocker Tobi Joi played his selfmade alphorn called 'alprose', at which point even the bartender noticed there was a live band.

Ne personne ici joue comme Martin Bisi

Martin Bisi and Roman Game Taking On The Beast

For half a year now, the indefatigable Paul Wallfisch has built his Small Beast at the Delancey into a true show of strength of the New York Underground Rock scene - as proven last Monday by Anton Sword and the We Ours' intimate performance, then refortified by the returning beast master Kerry Kennedy and in the end tastefully executed by Blasco. Carrying on the torch next Monday will be the unique New York phenomenon Martin Bisi. Should you be new to this blog or ignorant of Martin's merits, google the man and you will enter truly legendary territory. I'm honored to be on the same bill with the man. Luckily, I'll be getting a little help from the unwavering Quentin Thor Luther Jennings, the eternally Burning Finger, backboned by Dave the Spine... we'll see. Considering the economic crisis, I'll mostly play songs about possible job opportunities - from the Fish Cutter over the Hand Model to the Parachute Tester. Here's one for the Librarian:

Depression Entertainment: Free Park & Bar Shows

The crowd at the Raveonettes show in Coney Island.
Blonde Redhead a couple of weeks ago brought it back - the feeling of good live music on a summer eve in an open air park, and all for free (or three, if you're not too cheap to pay the suggested donation). Since then, I'm taking every opportunity I can: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart at South Street Seaport, the Kronos Quartet at Prospect Park, the Philharmonics with Mahler in Central Park, Built to Spill and the Raveonettes at the Siren festival in Coney Island, the Dirty Projectors at Williamsburg Waterfront Concerts. While there are still not enough opportunities to go for a swim in Brooklyn (watch the video with surprise appearance by KW), you can at least go crowd surfing here pretty easily... Enjoy.

So Who Wants to Live in Florida?

Right...what did i miss: Wilco. Yo La Tengo. Mission of Burma. Nathan Halpern. Heather Wagner. Soccer. Where was I? Miami! Beach! Godammit, what is wrong with this american people. Florida reminds me of Schwarzeneggers classic "Total Recall": People take vacations in a protected environment, air-conditioned and pre-prepared, over-priced and make-believe. It is rumored that the court building i had to go sit in, because the swiss still protect tax offenders, was partially built on money from the Florida mob to acquiesce local justice... Anyway. Glad to be back. My young swiss friends Marco und Niklaus have returned back to Rorschach by the time i get back to NYC. I think they got the idea. The apartment looks immaculate and there is beer in the fridge. If you care to visit, Painhead is my offcial travel agency, ask judge Martin.