SUN CITY GIRLS FOR THE UNINITIATED
June 22, 2009
by MATTHEW CARON
Soft Focus Season 3
The Sun City Girls are not for everybody and that’s on purpose. Because of the slippery and obscure nature of the group, comparisons to other musical concerns are shaky at best and the only reliable way to describe them would be to state the known facts. The Girls coalesced in Phoenix, Arizona in 1982. Alan and Richard Bishop adopted percussionist Charles Gocher as a percussionist and third brother after a particularly raucous Open Mic Night at a local pizzeria. Gigs were then booked with fellow Phoenicians JFA under the pretense of being an all-girl hardcore band. This ruse lead to great amusement and consternation among audiences and established the trio’s reputation as highly suspect, and consistently disinterested in being liked.
YOU GET TO SEE THE GORIES
June 15, 2009
by VBS Staff
Soft Focus Season 3
This Saturday, for the first time in 17 years, Mick Collins is playing with the Gories who are playing with their Memphisean equivalents the Oblivians, who’ve also been taking it easy since the Middle Grunge Period. We mention this not because Mick is this week’s guest on Soft Focus (although he is), but because it’ll probably be one of the funnest and sweatiest shows of the current century. At least until the Mummies get in on the reunion circuit. Check the Gories’ myspace for the rest of the tour dates. Tickets are pretty iffy for the American shows, but if you live somewhere unfortunate like Belgium or something, it looks like fortune may be smiling on you for once in your miserable life.
THE PREMINUTEMEN
June 11, 2009
by LEROY GUMPTION
Soft Focus Season 3
Take a peep at these handsome young men. Anybody look familiar? That’s Martin Tamburovich from New Alliance Records on the left there. And those other three guys are Martin’s high school buds Mike Watt, George Hurley, and Dennes Boon, aka D. Boon, aka they’re the Minutemen you dummy! This is their first band the Reactionaries. Mike Watt sent the demos they recorded in George’s family’s shed to a fansite a few years ago, but we just found it through Jeff Johnson’s blog and it’s like getting to hop in a time machine and hear a brand-new Minutemen album we haven’t already listened to a million times. A couple of the mp3s have gone dead since they first went up, so you should get in there quick and grab them while the gettin’s still good. Also, if you dig around, there’s a half-funny, half-pretty-awesome bootleg of Watt covering Sleater-Kinney. Oh and if you haven’t already, please set aside some time to watch Mike Watt on Soft Focus. It’s what D would have wanted.
THIS GUY ALSO THINKS THAT PLANTS CAN MAKE MUSIC (AS WELL AS HIS DOG, BACON)
June 04, 2009
by VBS Staff
Soft Focus Season 3
This week’s guest on Soft Focus is probably one of our top 15 all-time favorite Chicagoans, but certainly one of our two all-time favorite Missoulans (the other being David Lynch). Steve Albini is responsible for fronting the most caustic and, depending on whether or not you have a sense of humor, either hilarious or upsetting bands of the mid- to late-80s (Big Black), that weird sort of late-80s to 90s spur period (Rapeman), and the 90s proper (Shellac), as well as producing more albums by more bands than we’re sure even he can keep track of. He’s also the only music writer who doesn’t make us want to drive a woodawl under the fingernails on each of our hands. If you haven’t read his notorious breakdown of exactly how major labels (and a lot of so-called indies) rip off their artists, Some of Your Friends Are Probably Already This Fucked, click that link and prepare to have your mind bummed.
OK, now that we’re done fellating all the skin off of Steve’s penis, go watch the episode for Pete’s sake. When you’re done, you can come back here and check out the below links for further satisfaction.
DEAD MOON ARE THE WORLD'S #1 GRANDPARENTS
May 28, 2009
by VBS Staff
Soft Focus Season 3
Seriously. While we are legally obliged to consider our own Me-Maws and Grim-Groms “tops,” truth be told, if we were given the opportunity to adopt ourselves to Fred and Toody Cole, we’d ditch those geezers so fast the wheels of their upturned Rascals would be spinning for days. In one guise or another, they’ve been playing music together since Iggy Pop was a drummer and doing it wholly on their own terms years before DIY applied to anything other than home repair. If you haven’t seen Unknown Passage, the 2004 documentary about them, you should add it to your Netflix and start praying that your life turns out anywhere near as productive and awesome as theirs.
Technically, Dead Moon finished its trip two and a half years ago, but from its ashes the Coles have rerisen as Pierced Arrows. Here’s an interview we did with them the last time they were in town…
PUNK'S SECRET HISTORY OF SQUARENESS
May 21, 2009
by JESSE KNIGHT
Soft Focus Season 3
On Tuesday’s edition of Soft Focus, Ian sits down with the Dead Kennedys’ frontman and political-comedy circuit staple Jello Biafra and, within scant minutes, blindsides him with one of the juiciest pieces of punk dirt we’ve heard since HR stole the Big Boys’ weed.
WE'RE ROYAL TRUX AND FOR SOME REASON YOU'RE WATCHING PEEKABOO
May 13, 2009
by VBS Staff
Soft Focus Season 3
While Ian combs Jennifer Herrema’s brain, we thought you might enjoy this reel of Royal Trux in all their smacked-out, early-90s glory doing station IDs for a bunch of Illinoisan public access programs. Not sure why, but we could watch this for hours. Maybe it’s the rush of nostalgia we feel for a pre-blogging era, when the only way to get dirt on bands was through proud local institutions like “Alternavision,” “Over the Edge,” and “Alternative Edge.” Or maybe it’s because Jennifer is like some sort of hypnotic Skeksi Queen.
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- 8 DISHIN' WITH HEIMO'S CUZ
- 9 GRAND OLD BRITISH CONFLICTS
- 8 WOMAN BLOCKS LHC
- 8 DRUG BUSTS
- 7 LAWS OF THE INTERNET
