Songwriting and Music Production
The recurring question that I ask myself when the haters speak up is: “Why?”Why is there so much contempt for cover musicians?Why do some players feel that you’re not a real musician unless you write your own songs?Why is it so much better to be an original artist…especially in today’s music climate?I try to answer it with…
They never entirely saw eye to eye. It’s hard to ignore, too. Before their meeting, The Beatles’ lyrics were never the forefront of their songs with the melody always being the most essential factor, the group were happy to include “nonsense” lyrics if they sounded correct. The art of storytelling was never their forte until…
Read More “The song Bob Dylan wrote to insult John Lennon” »
What a great read! On your radio show, some of the guests included Denny Doherty of the Mamas and the Papas (who you’ve said was one of your best interviews), Meatloaf, Alice Cooper and George Harrison’s ex, Pattie Boyd. You also met Bruce Springsteen at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1977, and talked with him about…
Although he’s best known for his tenure in Slipknot, Jordison was a prolific musician who played in a bevy of other projects throughout his fruitful career. In 2001, he co-founded the horror-punk band the Murderdolls, which was technically a revival of a local band he played in years before dubbed The Rejects. Jordison put down…
Read More “Joey Jordison, Former Slipknot Drummer, Dead at 46 | Revolver” »
There’s a song on Hardware called Spanish Fly. The title refers to a hot rod – inevitable, given Gibbons’s love of fast and loud cars. “One of my buddies down the street has got a 1946 Ford two-door sedan, which he named Spanish Fly,” he says admiringly. “It’s quite dazzling, this piece of machinery. He…
Since 1997’s Time Out of Mind, an atmospheric return-to-form after a long period of wandering, death has been Dylan’s chief concern, to the extent that some have read it as a personal obsession. Which, of course, has only aggravated him. Yes, his recent songs deal with mortality. “But I didn’t see any one critic say:…
Read More “Bob Dylan: Rough and Rowdy Ways Album Review | Pitchfork” »
IN a minute they will dazzle. Any second they could blow your mind. The wealth of archival photography and footage of news and cultural events that shaped the era is extraordinary. Haynes’ use not just of clips from the work of Warhol, Mekas and Smith, but also Stan Brakhage, Kenneth Anger, Maya Deren, Marie Menken,…
Read More “‘The Velvet Underground’: Film Review | Cannes 2021 – The Hollywood Reporter” »
One of my all time favourite albums and certainly favourite songwriters. Having split the Velvet Underground, John Cale might easily have packed up his viola and avant garde bona fides and disappeared forever into the obscure realm of experimental music. Instead he’s had it both ways, interspersing LPs like 1997’s Eat/Kiss: Music for the Films…
Read More “Graded on a Curve: John Cale, Vintage Violence – The Vinyl District” »
The Rolling Stones live club gig at The Horseshoe Tavern Toronto, Canada Thursday Sept. 4, 1997 Source: The Horseshoe Tavern