Songwriting and Production
“We Never Die.” No “legendary” rock band of the 1960s has proven more legendary than the Velvet Underground. The name alone (before it was abbreviated by fans into “the Velvets”) carried a special resonance, evoking Genet decadence, whip-and-leather s&m, Warhol chic, and European ennui. And even though other urban bands (the Lovin’ Spoonful, the Rascals)…
4. Toronto, Canada I recently hung out with one of Toronto’s heads of Government arts funding. Let’s just say she had an annual arts budget comparable to the salary of an NBA superstar. All of that money went to Ontario-based indie artists to release their own albums. Toronto also has perhaps the highest talent per…
Read More “The top 10 cities for full-time songwriters | DIY Musician Blog” »
3. The Beatles U.S. tour, 1965 The Beatles made their second major tour of the States in the summer of 1965, and I was lucky enough to win tickets to one of the shows. It’s the only thing I’ve ever won. I was 14, living in Portland, Oregon, and the concert was at the Memorial…
Rancho de la Luna, part of a sprawling compound of outbuildings at the end of a dirt road, is a place you’ll find only if you’re looking for it. On the property, studio owner (and Desert Sessions vet) Dave Catching has established an enchanted zone of digressive, maximalist entropy: cacti and bleached cinder blocks, Christmas…
Read More “Josh Homme’s Desert Sessions Are the Coolest Ongoing Experiment in Rock & Roll | GQ” »