BackStory: Hot Day at the Zoo's "(My Sweet Baby) Boom Boom Boom"
In this episode of BackStory, Michael Dion of New England Zoograssers Hot Day at the Zoo tells us the story behind their song "(My Sweet Baby) Boom Boom Boom." (Thanks to BreakThruRadio.com for the video!)
BackStory: Vayden Cover Track Supports Libya
In this unusual episode of BackStory, Los Angeles rockers Vayden tell us the story behind the cover of "H.A.M." they've done to support the revolution in Libya. Says singer Curtis Casey: "If this song helps ONE more person, pick up ONE more rock, sit down ONE more minute, stand up, or march in sync as ONE with millions ONE more time. Then it was worth every system corrupt or outdated that had to break down in order for us to communicate our empathy so quickly." Check out the rest of Curtis' comments on the song and an original number from Vayden after the jump...
BackStory: The Black Swans' "Don't Blame the Stars"
In this episode of BackStory, Jerry DeCicca of The Black Swans tells us the story behind their song "Don't Blame the Stars." The story, the video, and the song's lyrics are below the jump.
BackStory: He's My Brother, She's My Sister's "Tales that I Tell"
In this episode of BackStory, He's My Brother, She's My Sister tell us the story behind their song "Takes that I Tell." They're doing a residency at the Satellite in LA in May, and they're worth checking out! The story, the video for the song, and the lyrics are below the jump...
BackStory: The Alumni's "Detroit"
In this episode of BackStory, Canada's The Alumni tell us the story behind their track "Detroit," and offer you a FREE DOWNLOAD of the track! The story & download are after the jump...
BackStory: Princess Pangolin's "Heatwave"
In this installment of BackStory, Princess Pangolin's Julie Carpenter tells us the story behind her song "Heatwave." If Mark Frauenfelder of BoingBoing says it's good, you know it is. You can catch Princess Pangolin at LA's Echoplex on April 1.
This song started with the pizzicato violin riff...I started playing that and humming the melody. It was one of those things that just falls complete out of the aether, without a lot of "What next?" Sometimes the chords tell you exactly what to do. I also knew immediately that it needed sparkly Omnichord strums.
At first the opening verses were surreal dream imagery, chosen for the sound of the words themselves. I had just been out to Joshua Tree, and the mountains and the July heat were very much on my mind. As it progressed, a more complex theme of survival under harsh conditions emerged. I tried to play with the ideas of failure and success, and what those categories mean to humans and to animals. Survival is of course everyone's immediate goal, but we all need so much more than that. But when our survival is threatened, suddenly the values go all askew again. I think that's interesting.
BackStory: The Fervor's "Bent Around A Dying Dream"
In this week’s BackStory installment, Ben Felker of The Fervor shares the story behind the band’s song, “Bent Around A Dying Dream.”
I started writing this song on a day when one of my cats died. It began with me just looking for something ugly and desperate sounding to play on the guitar. Something that would suit my mood. From that I found the little instrumental refrain that we do. I came away that night with that riff and and the chorus. None of it is really about my cat, though I must say I wasn't really on top of the world that night.
The verses of this song were written almost entirely by Natalie. Though I can't speak for her, I can say that we were both feeling the crunch of trying to make it in rock and roll. This was about two years ago, and we'd both recently been laid off from our day jobs. We'd been doing a lot to make the band really work and this essentially had cut off our financing. Trying to tour and pay the bills had been tough as it was and this kind of gave us that sense that we were getting right up to the edge of something. In general the song is about that. Trying to reconcile yourself to the path you love in the face of reality.
Many of the lyrics in the verses are taken right from what was going on around us in Louisville at the time. Ice storms had knocked out much of the power grid for upwards of a week. Around the neighborhood a suspicious amount of buildings really had burned to the ground. Was it time to cash it all in for the insurance money? This song is just us in that in between moment. That moment when you would get out if your heart would let you.
Akron/Family and Delicate Steve Bring Experimental Beauty to Brooklyn
Last night, Delicate Steve and Akron/Family took to the stage of a sold-out Knitting Factory in Brooklyn, NY. The room was an eclectic mix of hipsters, music aficionados and indie-rock fans (sometimes as the same person). Delicate Steve, or the 23-year-old virtuoso also known as Steve Marion, recently burst onto the scene with the impressive (mostly) instrumental debut: Wondervisions, and Akron/Family have just released a highly energetic roller-coaster of a record (a title of which you should just look up. Trust me.)
Steve released the LP in February and has garnered all kinds of praise for it: from SPIN and NPR to the New York Times. He recently discussed the motivation for his song, “Butterfly” in our BackStory feature, which you can read HERE.
BackStory: Delicate Steve's "Butterfly"
In this episode of BackStory, New Jersey's "Delicate Steve" Marion tells us the story behind his song "Butterfly."
Here is how Butterfly happened. I sat down one day in the place where I make music and took out this small drum machine I bought at a salvation army and turned the speed of it all the way up. The chugging sound it made gave me an inspiration...what I can remember thinking about at the time was an image of being on a train traveling through India....not necessarily me doing that, but I had that image in my mind.
And so I went with that image and added a sitar-sounding drone in the background, then a riff on my friend Christian's 12-string acoustic guitar. On top of those tracks I made the main guitar line. I wanted to make the sound of it very thin and stringy, but have the melody be lyrical and bouncy. Then I decided on adding chords the second time the melody comes in; the chord sequence I chose happened to be the first take that was recorded while demoing ideas.
I didn't know what to do for the bridge, but I knew that I wanted the end of the song to return to the melody, but this time be heavier. While trying out a few different things, I had an idea to reprise the main guitar melody from "The Ballad of Speck and Pebble" for the bridge. After that I added a few more tracks to fill out the recording. Originally I tried to get my friends and I to stomp and clap the percussion part that comes in on top of the drum machine at the end of the song, but it didn't work just right so I recorded it on my friend Mike's tom drums.
When it came time to name the song, originally I had an idea for a longer title, but I knew that it would make it harder for the song to become memorable and I thought that was important. I forget exactly how "Butterfly" became the name, but I know that it came about by joking around singing lyrics and imagining what the guitar part would be saying.
BackStory: Wild International's Mayoridad
In this episode of BackStory, Ryan Camenzuli of Wild International tells us the story behind their song "Mayoridad."
Without getting into too much detail, this song is really about coming to terms with your mistakes and realizing you can only grow from them and hope for the best in the end. Before I wrote this song, I was going through a very difficult part of my life. I had pushed someone very important to me away through my immature actions, and without realizing it gave up the best thing I ever had. It was a struggle, but in the end I realized my flaws and was able to learn from my actions. I think that’s the best way of describing the song besides giving the obvious answer that “the song is about a girl.”
When choosing a name, I decided to take the line “coming of age” from the song and translate it into Spanish, making the title “Mayoridad.” I felt this particular line really summed up the meaning of the song, as long as this particular period in my own life.
WILD INTERNATIONAL | "Mayoridad" from Dave Fitz on Vimeo.