UFO - The Visitor

Anyone who has ever loved the sound of a crushing electric riff, a perfect melody, a rousing chorus, rough-hewn, soulful vocals, or a guitar solo so freaking fast and dynamic that it makes your eyeballs water, needs no introduction to UFO. After 40 years in the business, these crazy brits have earned their place in the honored halls of rock and roll, both for their music and their mad antics. So let's cut to the chase shall we.

The Visitor is, without a doubt, the best UFO album since the band reformed with Vinnie Moore for You Are Here, which was the best UFO album since the short-lived Schenker reunion Walk On Water, which in turn was the best UFO album since the vastly under-rated Paul "Tonka" Chapman days. You want it shorter than that? The Visitor is one great rock and roll record, and it deserves to climb right up there near the top of UFO's vast cannon of great albums. No matter how you cut it, this is the comeback, classic rock album of year.

Yep, that's saying something.

I've read in a few sites about the staggering return of "Black Sabbath," with the new Heaven and Hell album, sounding old and tired, berefit of ideas or enough muscle to power the chops they did muster. There's none of that here. Reinvigorated since the joining of Moore, UFO sound positively re-energized here, like they've somehow unlocked the code and opened the fricking rock-and-roll fountain of youth. Bustling with energy, punch, and verve. Ready to rock the shit outta you or kick your face in. You choose which.

The jump in adrenaline is evident from the very first track. "Saving Me," kicks off with some beautifully played, loose-strung swampy blues acoustic guitar, mining the same bluesy rock vibe that UFO have explored so successfully in the past on songs like "Train Train," or more recently on both of the Mogg/Way albums. Think of this song following in the same vein, and from there I promise you, I will make no more references to UFO songs of the past. It's the easiest thing to do, refer back to some song on Lights Out or Obsession for reference, but the truth is, this album is so strong it should be the point of reference for future albums. Mogg's voice layers on top of the guitar at around the 30 second mark, sounding more textured, more soulful, more plaintive than in recent memory, and when the band kicks in about one minute in. . . there's hell to pay. This is full-on charging UFO, crushing riffs held together tightly by an instantly catchy melody, all leading up to that chorus that will just lift you right outta your chair and in this case, thank God for salvation.

Moore's guitar work is dead on, instantly making you forget old "what's-his-name" who used to supply the guitar chops. Moore is a shredder in the best sense of the word, and most importantly, fully adept at melody. When he wants to bust out, he can wail into a jaw dropping solo, notes flying faster than spit flying from an auction barker's mouth. Then he can drop into a perfect acoustic passage, shoot off some harmonics or crush your cerebellum with the strength of his riffs. Moore's tone isn't so much reminiscent of Schenker as it is more indicative of the classic UFO sound, and yes, the band has been around long enough to declare that they have a sound all their own. God bless em.

UFO without Schenker was always a dicey affair (except for the previously mentioned Chapman years) because Mogg needs that guitar energy to set his songs ablaze. At the same time, Schenker showed us with his solo career that he needed Mogg's sense of craft and melody to create a memorable tune. It was that combative chemistry that always fueled the band's best work, and with Moore in place, Mogg seems once and for all to have found that perfect foil. Power and melody. Sizzling chops and structure. Perfect. Absolutely fucking perfect.

"On the Waterfront," cruises out with a mid-tempo modified blues riff with a mid-section and chorus of shear perfection. Easily on par with the best of their melodic material. Then, lest you think the boys are getting soft in their later years, "Hell Driver," tears out as fierce and mean as they've been in years. Play this one live and it woulda fit comfortably on their classic Strangers in the Night. Mogg sounds great, reminding us once and for all that he's always been one of rock's most unheralded vocalists. Moore's tone is dead-on, and I'll tell you, the return of "no neck" Andy Parker on the drums seems to be the final ingredient necessary to drive these chaps over the top. The only ingredient missing was the presence of legendary bass player, Pete Way, who had to miss the recording as he's battling liver disease. Pete, our prayers are with you, brother!

"Stop Breaking Down," follows next, absolutely classic UFO. Big chords start it off amongst the pounding of Parker's drums, slight technical flourishes embellishing the end, then the whole thing explodes into a melodic guitar solo intro that could make a grown man cry. Paul Raymond's work, always the glue that held the band together, fills in here, leading the track into perfect hard rock territory. Melodic rock for the ages, by one of the bands to first create the genre. Power and beauty all wrapped up into one track. A future classic UFO song, one that our children will one day ask us if we remember it when it first came out. "Rock Ready," jumps right back into the Mississippi swamp, while "Living Proof," nails a down-and-dirty mutated, menacing blues number. Another standout track, Mogg sounds positively charged here.

And the album continues from there all the way to "Stranger in Town," a terrorizer of a closer, sounding mean and pissed and ready to knock your teeth in. Moore comes up with a closed-fist attack of a riff, the band is tight as the glue holding Donald Trumps toupee in place, and Mogg proves once and for all that he's lost none of his fight or passion. Another brand new, fresh burst of classic UFO. Building upon their past, not revisiting it.

For all those naysayers out there who claim that UFO haven't unleashed a great album since Walk On Water, open your ears. There's some serious rock and roll happening on the UFO mothership, and fortunately for us, the boys are bringing it right on down to this planet.

Misty green and blue forever.

--Racer

Buy here: The Visitor


More good new. UFO are going to tour supporting the new album, and I'll be there. Just check out the dates below. If you want to find me, I'll be the one pressed up against the stage at the Independent in San Francisco, begging for a chance to go back and interview the band for a Ripple feature. If you are a fan of the classic UFO, or just a fan of dynamite hard rock, you won't want to miss this one either. I'll see you there.

UFO Tour Dates:

10/02/2009 Jaxx - Springfield, VA
10/03/2009 Tangiers - Akron, OH
10/07/2009 The Rex - Pittsburgh, PA
10/08/2009 The Chance - Poughkeepsie, NY
10/09/2009 Starland Ballroom - Sayreville, NJ
10/10/2009 BB Kings - New York, NY
10/15/2009 Ameristar Casino - St. Charles, MO
10/16/2009 House Of Blues - Chicago, IL
10/17/2009 Medina Ballroom - Hamel, MN
10/21/2009 The Catalyst - Santa Cruz, CA
10/22/2009 The Brixton - Redondo Beach, CA
10/23/2009 The Coach House - San Juan Capistrano, CA
10/24/2009 Boulder Station Casino - Las Vegas, NV

10/25/2009 Majestic Ventura Theater - Ventura, CA
10/27/2009 Key Club - West Hollywood, CA
10/28/2009 The Fat Cat - Modesto, CA
10/29/2009 Aladdin Theatre - Portland, OR
10/30/2009 Neumos - Seattle, WA

11/01/2009 The Independent - San Francisco, CA

four o’clock balloon - S/T

I was seven years old in 1964.  The British Invasion had just begun and so had my interest in rock music.  Beatles, Rolling Stones, Who and Kinks filled the new stereo FM and monaural AM radio airwaves with UK bands playing blues and rock ‘n roll “all day and all of the night.” The shows were interspersed with reports of draft lottery number call ups and troop casualty totals from the Vietnam war.  The country was grieving the loss of a President.   The up-tempo, hard-edged but harmonious, pop song with a British accent was soothing and exuded optimism at a time of great pain, sorrow, injustice and oppression.  However, as the ‘60’s wore on the mood, and the music, grew darker.  The British Invasion only lasted for three or four years before the times, music and musicians moved on.

Carlos Santana band mate Tommy Anthony (Guitar/Vocals), and John Allen (Guitars),  Michael Quinn (Bass), and Omar Hernandez (Drums)  mine the sound of The British Invasion on four o’clock balloon’s first and only self-titled album.  This is a new, yet nostalgic, project.  For those of us that cut our teeth on 1960’s British rock and blues the music sounds like an old friend.

The album starts with “I Need You,” a song worthy to be vintage Kinks.  The driving bass is reminiscent of the original bass player for the Kinks, the late Pete Quaife, who appeared on most of the Kinks’ hits between 1962 to 1969.  The song is Kinks music that could easily have been written by Ray Davies in his prime.  This effort is followed by “Means To An End”  a song crafted with a sound Pete Townsend would have admired during the Who’s “Magic Bus” era.

In 1966, Left Banke, an American baroque pop band, had a hit with the song “Walk Away Rene.”  At about the same time the Beatles released “Revolver.”  Amazingly four o’clock balloon is able to perform a Vulcan mind meld between the sounds of these two styles on their track “Stood In The Rain.”  If it were 1966, “Stood In The Rain” could have been a bigger hit than “Walk Away Rene.”

On “Tell Me Why” the band’s sound floats more toward the mid-1970’s.  It is as if George Benson and George Harrison during his “Crackerbox Palace” period had formed a band and recorded together. The song “How Long,” is a beauty of a jazz pop tune and is followed by “So Wrong” and “Real, ” songs which would be right at home on the Beatles “Rubber Soul” album.

four o’clock balloon is also able to mash mid-1960’s Kinks’ with Beatles’ pop melodies on “More or Less.”  Then, what follows is bizarre fun - a song called “Ripley,” an interesting jingle jangle of a ballad about, of all things, a rhinoceros. 

George Harrison’s sitar-based musical sound from the Beatles’ song “Tomorrow Never Knows” provides the backdrop for the next track, “Less Than Nowhere.”  Following this flurry of fab four fun comes the heavier “Why Me, Why You?”  The tone of this track is closer to that of mid-60’s garage bands like the Troggs. 

The album ends with the song “The Joker Laughs at You.”   It is another Beatles-like mid -60’s foray. four o’clock balloon explores the sound of  the experimental Beatles heard in 1967’s “I Am The Walrus” and mixes it with a touch of “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.” 

Some will say that the sound is nostalgic - that music has long ago moved on from the British Invasion and even from the Beatles.  Most musicians pay tribute to this type of music as the foundation of modern rock and all that has come after it.  Bands occasionally attempt to modernize an old mid-1960’s song or two, but, few write new music in the style. This album proves that that is unfortunate.  There is power in the music of that era that transcends its place in time.

Of course, it never hurts to be favorably compared to the Beatles.

- Old School

A Sunday Conversation with Modern Day Moonshine

Modern Day Moonshine was one of the bands that made us put our money where our mouths are.  After hearing their self-titled EP, Modern Day Moonshine, we were so impressed with their laid back, yet passionate take on an Allman Brothers mixed with Crosby, Stills, Nash, meets Neil Young, crossed with The Meters vibe, that we just had to go ahead and make them one of the first acts signed to the nascent Ripple Music Label.  With a dynamite new album coming later this year, we couldn't miss out on the chance to have the gents, Todd (guitar/vocals), Brendan (bass) and David (drums) pop on over to the Ripple Office and share their thoughts.

When I was a kid, growing up in a house with Cat Stevens, Neil Diamond and Simon and Garfunkel, the first time I ever heard Kiss's "Detroit Rock City," it was a moment of musical epiphany. It was just so vicious aggressive and mean. It changed the way I listened to music. I've had a few minor epiphany's since then, when you come across a band that just brings something new and revolutionary to your ears.

What have been your musical epiphany moments?

T:  Hendrix mix tape that I got when I was 19.  Pink Floyd mix tape too. "Flamenco Sketches" by Miles Davis soon after that.

D:  G n' R Appetite at 10.  Hendrix Band of Gypsys at 23.  Neil Young live at Massey Hall '71 when I was 27.

B:  "Stand by Me" soundtrack at 8.  Zeppelin II at 12.  Spinal Tap at 25.

Talk to us about the song-writing process for you. What comes first, the idea? A riff? The lyrics? How does it all fall into place?

T:  Its a crapshoot. Most of the time its the chord progression first. Maybe a third of the time its built around the lyrics.

Where do you look for continuing inspiration? New ideas, new motivation?

T:  Purity of nature and the flaws of society.


Genre's are so misleading and such a way to pigeonhole bands. Without resorting to labels, how would you describe your music?


B:  An organized freak out of songs with soul.  A drunken pontoon boat tour of the 60's and 70's.


What is your musical intention? What are you trying to express or get
> your audience to feel?

T:  Social and self awareness.


In songwriting, how do you bring the song together? What do you look for in terms of complexity? Simplicity? Time changes?

T:  Its all organic.  Shouldn't be contrived.  Its just gotta hit your core somehow.

D:  I've been in bands where we would pine over this kind of thing.  This band?  Not so much.  Its about the feel and whatever the tune calls for.

The business of music is a brutal place. Changes in technology have made it easier than ever for bands to get their music out, but harder than ever to make a living? What are your plans to move the band forward? How do you stay motivated in this brutal business?

D:  We stay motivated by doing the same thing we've always done:  Playing tunes.  Gigging has always been our MO, and I think tha'ts what the business is reverting back to again.


Come on, share with us a couple of your great, Spinal Tap, rock and roll moments?

D:  Getting lost on on the way back to San Diego after a gig in Mexico. Watching a 45 minute trip turn into a 4 1/2 hour trek through the finer points of the Baja Peninsula while being hungover in the cab of a pickup
truck.  We turned around when we passed the donkey pulling the produce cart.

T:  Playing a gig in Palm Springs and then heading to Joshua Tree afterwards with a bottle of whiskey.  Staying up til 5 am.  Then waking up at 8 am to 100 degree heat with no water.  Then driving 3 hours back to
San Diego to play 2 gigs that same night with super glue holding my fingers together after a late night hiking "incident."

B:  Having the guitarist from Tesla come up to me at a gig and say "Don't let this happen to you."  Apparently he was homeless or something.


What makes a great song?

B:  It doesn't suck.

T:  You tell me.

D:  Its 30+ years old.

Tell us about the first song you ever wrote?


T:  (loooooong pause):  200 songs later, I honestly don't remember. (Longer pause)  I do remember writing a Ricky Nelson style song when I was eight.  My dad showed me my first guitar chords.  And happened to be a fan.  Incidentally, the first song he ever taught me was "House of the Rising Sun."


What piece of your music are particularly proud of?

T:  All of them.  Always most proud of the newest one.

D:  Any of them.  And any off-the-cuff improv jams that we have come up with.

B:  "Robots Marching."


Who today, writes great songs? Why?


MDM: Wilco, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Radiohead.  All of them are and always have been original.  That and they all continue to evolve.

Vinyl, CD, or digital? What's your format of choice?


D:  Each one has its place.  Love the sound of vinyl.  Love being able to download on iTunes (and have it effortlessly charge a soon to be maxed out credit card).  CD's for driving.  Still waiting for cassettes to make a
long overdue comeback.


We, at the Ripple Effect, are constantly looking for new music.  When we come to your town, what's the best record store to lose ourselves in?

T:  I only go to the woods.

D & B:  Amoeba (SF or Berkeley) has just about everything.  Good vinyl selection too.


Any final comments or thoughts you'd like to share with our readers, the waveriders?

B:  "Don't change.  Have a great summer"

T:  "Clock's tickin'.  Do somethin'!"

D:  "Look up "Creed Shreds 3" on YouTube"

AMEN.

Buy here: www.ripple-music.com

A Sunday Conversation with PJ Bond

One listen.  That's all it took to infect me with the alt-grungy singer songwriter treat that was PJ Bond's last album, You Didn't Know I was Alphabetical. Riding the crest of some amazing singer-songwriters that we've reviewed here at the Ripple recently like Matt Pond and Cory Case, PJ Bond crafted an album that literally defined the singer/songwriter genre.  At times sassy and poppy, at others melancholic and sparse, You Didn't Know I was Alphabetical never failed to captivate.

When I was a kid, growing up in a house with Cat Stevens, Neil Diamond, and Simon and Garfunkel, the first time I ever heard Kiss's "Detroit Rock City," it was a moment of musical epiphany. It was just so vicious, aggressive and mean. It changed the way I listened to music. I've had a few minor epiphany's since then, when you come across a band that just brings something new and revolutionary to your ears.


What have been your musical epiphany moments?

Beautiful thoughts. Ok, this is a good one. As a young kid Id lay face down in my bedroom drawing comic book characters stopping only to flip cassettes in my little red boombox, soaking in the Beach Boys, Bangels and Bon Jovi. By fifth grade I was fully steeped in Guns n Roses and Metallica but it wasn't until I finally understood Nirvana that I felt musically at home. Music took on a new meaning, moving from obsession to an extension of who I was and how I was made up. Years of absurd amounts of Nirvana led to a love for Smashing Pumpkins, Blind Melon and Janes Addiction. Throughout it all though I couldn't shake this one tape I'd picked up in eighth grade. A local band called the Autopilots who eventually became a band called Penfold. These guys had a sound that seemed to resonate even more deeply than the angst of nirvana. I'd found something darker and sadder but with more hope. This made sense to me.

Penfold gave way to Sunny Day Real Estate, Mineral, and a slew of what we called "emo" bands and I finally felt found. So, Nirvana when I was 13, Sunny Day and Penfold when I was 16 and eventually Elliott Smith a bit after I finished college. These three movements, along with realizing the genius that is my brother, well a path showed shape and music bloomed and still does.


Talk to us about the song-writing process for you. What comes first, the idea? A riff? The lyrics? How does it all fall into place?

Lately it's been a lot of sitting with a few chords and feeling through them until they start to make sense. A melody slowly shapes in my head and words start to form around those melodies and rhythms. I then hone, reshape, edit, all the while thinking about what the song wants to be about. I sift through the dusty corners of my brain and the scrawlings in journals. I then attempt to write all the lyrics in one sitting and then play it a few times. The next few days find me singing without the aid of the notes and this helps me filter through what works and what doesn't. Hopefully in the end it's something good.

Where do you look for continuing inspiration? New ideas, new motivation?

I don't really need to look when I'm walking around or just living. So many people and things interest me and make me want to write. The hard part is when I'm sitting with a guitar and notebook and trying to figure out how I can possibly create songs anywhere as good as previous ones because it's so easy to forget those ones were hard at first too. So I pull from stories in my life or in the ones of people I love or have met during my travels. Being excited or inspired is not hard. Capturing those feelings, well that's a different story altogether.



Genre's are so misleading and such a way to pigeonhole bands. Without resorting to labels, how would you describe your music?

This is always a fun question, especially when asked by strangers in a truck stop or by someones parents. Also, I've heard everything from folk punk to alt country to emo. Everyone listens with filtered ears and has their own vocabulary so I can't blame them but it's always interesting. Anyway, I sometimes like to describe my music as folk with teeth. it's personal and thoughtful and follows a line, but has some aggressive aspects, darker tones and an ability to be biting. ultimately though, people will hear what they want to hear.


What is you musical intention? What are you trying to express or get your audience to feel?

My musical intention is to create love and capture emotion. It's a pretty simple concept that I think a lot of people miss, at least in the true senses of the words. I want people to feel. it's that simple. I want people to care and experience emotion, to look deeply into their hearts and heads and it the hearts and heads of others. find the tough stuff and work on it. Life will become as beautiful as it already is, but in our eyes as well.


In songwriting, how do you bring the song together? What do you look for in terms of complexity? Simplicity? Time changes?

After I get the basic skeleton together, i will often play the song as many times as I can over the course of a few weeks, and usually it becomes pretty obvious how the song needs to flow. Sometimes I'll change huge sections, other times it'll stay pretty close to the original version. As far as complexity vs. simplicity, I think that depends a great deal on where I am in my life. In the past I preferred complex songs and in the last year or so have been leaning much more towards simple, traditional structures. However, my newest songs are a mix of both, so I guess I just work with what feels right at the time.

The business of music is a brutal place. Changes in technology have made it easier than ever for bands to get their music out, but harder than ever to make a living? What are your plans to move the band forward? How do you stay motivated in this brutal business?

It's probably a bit dangerous, but I pretty much don't consider any of that stuff. I just do what feels right. my hope is to make smart decisions based on being good to the people I love while working really hard. I don't want success based on screwing people over so I'd rather have none than play those games. And some stuff in this business just doesn't make any sense to me. So I try to work in the areas that seem positive and ignore or change the ones that seem negative. If you stick to those paths I think staying motivated is mostly pretty easy. And when it's tough, well, I go have a beer with my brothers and friends. They always help me see the light.


Come on, share with us a couple of your great, Spinal Tap, rock and roll moments?

Spinal tap moments? Man, I don't have any of those. Any time I've played Cleveland it's been a house or someplace small, so I never had any trouble finding the stage or floor or whatever. I do have a lot of "R" rated stories that will hopefully be making their way into the book I'm writing, but I'm sure I can think of something for here. I think a better story to tell is one that is less crazy or weird and more just positive. 24 hours before I was supposed to fly out for my first UK tour I got an email from the artist there who was to tour with and drive me. He decided that for certain reasons he did not want to do the tour anymore and pulled out. Here I was, with a flight and shows booked and now no local support/draw, no ride and no tour mate. After some thinking and talking to friends and family I decided to go anyway. So off I flew to the UK with little but hope to get me by. In the end I played every show we had booked, picked up 3 more shows while over there, made amazing friends and had a blast, all while riding trains and buses and bumming rides. I traveled the UK with a backpack and a guitar and even when it sucked I loved every ridiculous moment of it.


What makes a great song?

Wow. I think a great song is one that makes you feel something, anything, intensely. if it burns in some way, it's great.


Tell us about the first song you ever wrote?

I'm not exactly sure which you would consider my first real song. I wrote a ton of lyrics in middle school and I remember a really particularly bad one called "Turtles in the tTub," that was an attempt to write early Nirvana style lyrics but with zero success. The first full song I remember finishing was with my high school alt-rock band. the tune was called "Grandpa," and was a simple four chord rock/punk song in the verse but had a modulated/chromatic type chorus that probably came from Nirvana as well. The lyrics were completely stupid and I forget most of them, though I do remember the nonsensical chorus, "What's it like in England now? I want to go but I don't know how." Rough style.


What piece of your music are particularly proud of?

I have a song that has yet to be recorded but is on the "pink couch sessions" on ifyoumakeit.com. The song is about my brother and about wanting to be there for someone you love but feeling like you're unable to. I think it's a well written tune and it's stacked with hope and emotion. I'm proud to have written it and to have loved ones in my life that inspire me so much.


Who today, writes great songs? Why?

That's easy, my brother Brian and his band Communipaw. The songs are absolutely beautiful, powerful, incredibly smart, evocative, dark and warm all at the same time. He is my current favorite songwriter and I'm sure will be for some time. Also doing amazing things is Brian Carley of the Waltz. BC is responsible for me hearing amazing music from the time of my youth and has not stopped producing great stuff.


Vinyl, CD, or digital? What's your format of choice?

Currently I am a digital guy, purely because I live out of my car. someday, if I can afford a house of my own, I can't wait to build a huge vinyl collection. I have some choice pieces now to start with, but it's definitely a big goal of mine to someday have the center part of my house be around a record player.


We, at the Ripple Effect, are constantly looking for new music. When we come to your town, what's the best record store to lose ourselves in? 


Since I don't have a town I'd send you to either Princeton Record Exchange in Princeton, NJ or Vintage Vinyl in Fords, NJ. Two amazing stores that keep our record shelves stocked and my friends digging through for gems. have fun, but please don't take all the good stuff.

Any final comments or thoughts you'd like to share with our readers, the waveriders?

I hugely appreciate the support and kindness. please know that while I feel incredibly lucky to be traveling around playing songs and having fun, that it is not because I make loads of money. I am able to do what I do both because I have amazing friends and because I got rid of as much of the bullshit in my life as I could. Anyone can reduce what they have and make their lives better. Give up, let go, open up and have fun. Feel love. Take care of each other. I'll see you out there

A Sunday Conversation with Award-Winning Songwriter, Kevin Beadles

Sometimes you hear a song that just hits that right note in your soul.  Moves you to a place that you've been afraid to go to, or reluctant to remember.  That's the power of a songwriter.  The ability to make you feel, remember, experience something from deep inside.  Little wonder then that when we learned that award-winning songwriter, Kevin Beadles was releasing a new album of beautiful, affecting rootsy americana, we jumped at the chance to have him come join us on the red leather interview couch and lend his thoughts on to what makes a song tick.


When I was a kid, growing up in a house with Cat Stevens, Neil Diamond, and Simon and Garfunkel, the first time I ever heard Kiss's "Detroit Rock City," it was a moment of musical epiphany. It was just so vicious, aggressive and mean. It changed the way I listened to music. I've had a few minor epiphanies since then, when you come across a band that just brings something new and revolutionary to your ears. What have been your musical epiphany moments?

About ten years ago, a recording engineer loaned me a copy of Lucinda Williams' Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.  He had noticed that I sang and wrote in an affected style (much in keeping with the artists I grew up listening to such as David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, David Byrne).  He thought Lucinda might shake me out of it and she did.  What a marvel of singing and songwriting.  Poetically stark, unflinching lyrics sung with a defiant vulnerability. There was a deceptive brilliance in the simplicity of the writing.  She could twist a vowel in her mouth and run through two or three shades of emotion before the word was finished.  Hearing her inspired me to seek greater honesty in my singing and songwriting.

Talk to us about the song-writing process for you. What comes first, the idea? A riff? The lyrics? How does it all fall into place?

All the above.  Starting a song is usually the easy part, it's finishing where the work comes in.  Sometimes I sit down to write a letter (full song) and find that all I have is just a postcard (maybe a verse or chorus).  For me, writer's block isn't a lack of ideas, it's not knowing what to do with an idea.  So if I'm stuck on one song, I just pick up another and see where it wants to go.  And I keep doing that until it all falls in place.  Sometimes it happens in one sitting and sometimes it takes years.

Where do you look for continuing inspiration? New ideas, new motivation?

Songwriting is just something I do. I don't worry about finding ideas; they seem to find me.  In fact, I'm often distracted by whatever embryonic song is tumbling around in my head.  Perhaps that's my way of processing life.  But re-writing is where the real craft of songwriting comes in and that's where I need motivation to keep plugging away at a song, trying to realize its full potential, especially when it's stopped being fun.  Here, my greatest resources are the West Coast Songwriters and my songwriting circle called Club Shred.  Both are chock full of terrific tunesmiths who take vicious delight in tearing apart each other's babies.  Their feedback is invaluable to me and hearing their new songs is a constant source of inspiration.




Genres are so misleading and such a way to pigeonhole bands. Without resorting to labels, how would you describe your music?

My music unites classic rock with the back porch drawl of gospel, blues and alt. country.  It's roots music with plenty of branches.  Picture Elvis Costello and Lucinda Williams getting in a faded blue '65 Ford pickup and driving across America writing songs about the strange thoughts and characters they meet along the way.



What is you musical intention? What are you trying to express or get your audience to feel?

I'm drawn to moments of transformation--that interval when a decision is made, an emotion discovered, or a life upended.  There might be only a dozen decisions or events which make any significant difference to the overall arc of a person's experience.  The rest is filler (the subject of "slice of life" songs) and the opportunity to reflect on decisions made or to be made.

In songwriting, how do you bring the song together? What do you look for in terms of complexity? Simplicity? Time changes?

I strive for simplicity but my default writing mode tends to be a little complex.  My band consists of terrific jazz players who were looking for a rock project so that tells me I'm still relying on way too many chords, extensions, and key changes.  If you listen to a song like "A Love Sublime," it just sounds like zany fun but it goes through three key changes, several shifts in feel, and a couple of chords I've never used before.  Someday I hope to master 3-chord rock, which is by no means a pejorative term to my mind.


The business of music is a brutal place. Changes in technology have made it easier than ever for bands to get their music out, but harder than ever to make a living.  What are your plans to move the band forward? How do you stay motivated in this brutal business?

Woody Allen was famously quoted as saying that 90% of success is showing up and I find that's absolutely true.  You never know when or where you're going to make a fan or get a break.  I entered a couple of rough mixes in two big songwriting competitions last year and ended up coming in second place in the rock category with each song.  I get invited to play on a local NPR radio program and the next thing I know, Ripple Music is asking if I'd like to release a CD with them.  I don't have a great overarching plan to conquer the world but I'm trying to write the perfect song and willing to share it with anyone who'll listen, and I'm finding there's an audience for my music.  Any time I'm playing music, I'm doing something I love.  To me, that's success on my own terms and I don't worry about the rest.

Come on, share with us a couple of your great, Spinal Tap, rock and roll moments?

In the late 80's/early 90's, I was singer-frontman for a band called mr. id.  We got booked to play a Harvest Festival or something of the ilk that was broadcast on cable access TV in Antioch, CA.  The stage was the flatbed trailer of a semi truck, for unfathomable reasons, I'm wearing bicycle shorts, and in the middle of our set, some guy pulls up in a little service vehicle and starts loading bales of hay on to the stage as we're playing.  That was a painful video to watch.

Later, that same band got asked to open for Chris Isaak and we had to pass on the gig because our lead guitarist wasn't willing to cancel the fishing trip he had planned.  That's when you know your band has just about reached its full potential.



What makes a great song?

COURAGE--no wait... that's what makes the muskrat guard his musk.  A great song is one you can listen to a hundred times and still want to hear again.  It's got to be unique (otherwise why listen to that particular song) but can't be gimmicky (even clever BS gets tiresome after a while).  More importantly, it has to tap into an emotion you want to experience over and over.  It speaks and you involuntarily answer "YES!"


Tell us about the first song you ever wrote?

Way too embarrassing...suffice to say, I was about eight years old, the title was "I'm a Fighter Pilot" and the melody bore a suspicious resemblance to "Jeremiah was a Bullfrog..."


What piece of your music are particularly proud of?

I entered five songs from the new CD in international songwriting competitions this past year and four of them won prizes.  So, naturally, it's the one I like best that came up short. "You Can't Argue with Water" absolutely nails something I've wanted to express for a long time... the ephemeral nature of love.  And I think that message is what makes the song problematic for some people.  They want to hear that love is eternal and undeniable, which it certainly can be.  But all too often, love is something beyond our control, it comes and goes, and no amount of whining will change that fact.  Plus the song has one of my favorite lyric couplets, "She blew in out of nowhere and left without a trace/How could a summer thunderstorm leave lipstick on my face?"



Who today, writes great songs? Why?

Ryan Adams, Lucinda Williams, Lynn Smith, Steve Seskin, Bonnie Hayes and a thousand others.  They each have a unique style and ability to get to the heart of an emotion.  There are so many talented songwriters and most of them never get widely heard.


Vinyl, CD, or digital? What's your format of choice?

Ever since I bought an iPhone, I've been surprised how digital has taken over my listening.  It's always with me... at the gym, on a bike, odd moments in the day.  And it's great to have my entire catalog of unfinished musical bits and riffs on hand anytime I get inspired to work on something.



We, at the Ripple Effect, are constantly looking for new music.  When we come to your town, what's the best record store to lose ourselves in?

I live in a college town (Berkeley) so there are a ton of used record stores nearby.  Just walk a few blocks on Telegraph Ave and you're bound to find one you like.



Any final comments or thoughts you'd like to share with our readers, the waveriders?

I used to think that being in Liverpool put the Beatles at a major disadvantage compared to bands in London.  Then I read how Liverpool was the major shipping port for the entire U.K. which meant that every kid in town, including the Beatles, knew someone who worked on a freighter and had cheap access to the latest records coming out of the U.S.  At a time when rock music was only played a few hours a week on the BBC, this was quite an advantage.

I think it's great that music is so readily available today.  In fact, it's so readily available that fantastic music can easily be overlooked or forgotten--that's why I love the concept behind Ripple and the waveriders.  So thanks for sharing part of your Sunday with me, I hope you check out my music as well, and please feel free to contact me if anything moves you.

Punk Me? Punk You! -- Featuring The Second Academy, Leatherface, and Pistol Whip

The Second Academy – The Grave From Out of Which We Briefly Wander

I already professed my love of Eric Balaban and his amalgam of garage punk, The Beautiful Mothers, but you know what, the cat is so talented that one band wasn’t enough for him.  Enter The Second Acadey and their spinning translucent green vinyl ode to lo-fi experi-punk, The Grave From Out of Which We Briefly Wander.  Intentionally not as realized as The Beautiful Mothers, The Second Academy attack each composition as if it’s a moment in the now.  Songs seem to start off as sketches, ideas, and we bare witness to the band filling out those concepts as the inspiration hits them. 

Think a slightly more aggressive Violent Femmes or a stripped down Replacements, and you’ll begin to get the vibe.  Songs like “Aftergrass,” bridle with pent up tension, pulsating in the throb of the bass, the whine of the guitar, the sparseness of the composition.  One of the stand out tracks here, “Aftergrass,” percolates like an early Gang of Four outtake, riding that bass.  So simple but so effective.

Tracks like “The King and Queen of Filth,” explore more experimental realms of dissonance of feedback, but Eric always brings it back to down to earth with mini-masterpieces like the post-punk throb and roll of “The Wasp” or the very raw Replacements-esque acoustic agit-folk/punk of “Little Sister” and “ Pretty One.” Eric even manages to lock onto a post-sixties, summery psychedelic pop vibe (filtered through the Violent Femmes) for “Adventure Tuesday.”

As always, Tsurumi Records does things right with a limited-edition green vinyl pressing of 1000 platters, complete with enclosed full CD of the album and color liner insert.  It’s clear we got a label here doing what they do out of love, and a band living up to that adoration.  Check it.

buy here: tsurumirecords.com

Leatherface – The Stormy Petrel

It’s hard to believe that Leatherface have been going at it for nigh-on twenty years already, rampaging through one punk rave-up after another.  It’s been 6 years since their last album, so certainly, these aging punks have slowed and mellowed since then, right?

Hell no!  The Stormy Peterel finds Leatherface as reinvigorated, charging, and  . . . . melodic as ever.  Beginning with the almost Police-ish tones of “God is Dead,” the new album is one treat of roughened melodic punk after another.  And by roughened, I refer more to that voice than the music.  In truth, Leatherface are a lot more melodic and easy to listen to than their name might suggest.  Dismiss any images you have of chainsaw wielding madmen and severed body parts.  Leatherface bring on a Husku Du-ish brand of gritty punk that never loses sight of the song, the chorus and the hook. On this, their ninth album, they remind me of a cross between New Model Army and the Subhumans.  Moderately under-produced, guitar-oriented and ready to tell a tale.  In many ways, the album is so catchy, it’s almost pop.  Stepped-on-in-the-gutter pop, but pop nonetheless

“My World End,” brings on a more straight ahead dissonant punk attack, while “Never Say Goodbye,” could fit comfortably on just about any of your favorite New Model Army albums.  Guitars in full-frontal placement. 

One thing that will forever set Leatherface apart from the many out there is the charismatic vocals of Frankie Stubbs, part Lemmy, part Tom Waits, all throat and bile. His rasp brings an immediate personality to each song.  “Nutcase,” uses that voice perfectly through a truly catchy guitar punch to a bop-in-your-car-singing chorus.   Surely one of the standout tracks here . . . but there’s lots to choose from.

After 20 years Leatherface come raging back to remind us why punk mattered so much in the first place.  And they do it with grace and style, spit and ire.  And that voice.  They do it with that voice.

buy here: Stormy Petrel


Pistol Whip – Terminal

Coming from Eerie, PA, and brandishing a career that lasted all of 2-plus years, it’s no surprise that Pistol Whip may be a band forgotten by history.  I certainly had never heard of them before this deluxe CD/DVD set made a surprise appearance at the Ripple office.  And truth be told, not every random 34 year-old Pennsylvania band is worthy of being resurrected and forced kicking and screaming into the modern day.

But Pistol Whip is.  Not that the brilliance here is readily apparent.  Terminal starts off with their inauspicious, only-released-record, a 7” slice of banal glam rock.  Sounding like a poor man’s Starz or a Kiss-butt band, the Pistol Whip story seemed destined to end right there.  But between the release of that single in 1977 and their journey to Chicago to record a 10 song demo, something freakish happened.  If you’d predicted they would have followed the Kiss path down staid corporate, MOR rock, you couldn’t be more wrong.  Instead the band that entered that studio in Chicago was a maniacal, piss-infused punk band on the order of the Dictators, with touches of the Ramones and the Stranglers thrown in.  Don’t know how it happened.  Erie, PA, is a far cry away from NYC or the Chelsea district in London, but there it is.

Chronicled here by a faded mono-cassette, the only proof that these recordings ever happened, the last 10-songs of Terminal are a must have for any fan of nascent punk.  These songs are like the missing link of rock.  The evolutionary bridge between horrid glam rock and inspired spittle rock and roll.  “Whatchamacallit,” is a fiery, snot-nosed blast of rough-throated punk, as good as anything else that came from that era.  Dig the wild “surf” organ, bringing in that hard-edged early Stranglers sound.  The guitars crush with venom and authority.  There is no hint of the glam disaster that was.  This is now.   Don’t know where the hell it came from, but damn is it good.  In fact, I may go so far as to declare it the best punk song you've never heard.

“Losing My Grip,” doesn’t let up.  Rough-hewed, confident in their anarchic disunity, this is raw, primal punk.   “Iron Curtain,” is even better with that nasty guitar tone and return of the organ wash.  Trashed up, punked up garage rock the likes of which weren’t being heard every day in 1978. 

An archival treasure chest of primitive punk.  A musical archaeologist’s wet dream.  

buy here: Terminal

-- Racer

A Sunday Conversation with Ufomammut

Do Italians do it better? When it comes to psychedelic/experimental metal, the answer is a loud “Si!” Ufomammut recently released their 5^th album entitled Eve and it’s a mind bending mix of Pink Floyd at Pompeii trippiness and Black Sabbath heaviosity. Bassist/vocalist Urlo and guitarist Poia were nice enough to answer some questions for us here at the Ripple Effect. Even though their music is deadly serious, these guys have a great sense of humor. Pour yourself a nice glass of grappa and read on. Ciao!

Eve is your fifth album and contains 1 song divided into 5 parts. Talk a little about the songwriting process and how it was different from your previous albums.

Urlo: It's been a different approach to the song structure, working on a single long track has been quite different from what we've done in the past. We started with the idea of realizing an album structured like “Meddle” of Pink Floyd but we did the mistake to start from the long song.

Poia: We focused more on transitions and dynamic between parts: from whisper to scream.

Is Eve a “concept album” (like Tommy or The Wall) or more of a musical suite (like Tales of Topographic Oceans or Love Supreme)?

Urlo: Don't know, it's just what came to our minds.

Poia: I think it's more a very long single song.

Where did you record Eve and how long did it take?

Urlo: We recorded Eve in Roma, at Locomotore studio with our Soundlord Lorenzo Stecconi.

We had it done in 10 days.

For someone who’s never heard Ufomammut before, how would you describe it to them?

Urlo: Well, it's a nice album, just give it a listen.

Poia: It's a mixture of easy listening and complicated listening. So you'll need several listenings for appreciate the listening.

What was the first music that really excited you? And how long after that did you pick up an instrument?

Urlo: Sex Pistols. Then I started in play bass accidentally cause our previous bass player left the band and we had a gig coming in a week. I was only a singer...ahahaah

Poia: It was an Italian musician called Franco Battiato, in 1980. Then, I began with the guitar when I was seventeen, trying to play Led Zeppelin songs...

Who are some of your biggest musical inspirations? Favorite albums?

Urlo: Meddle of Pink Floyd, Malval of Shora, Lysol of Melvins, Lucifer Rising of Bobby Beausoleil and many more.

Poia: Beatles, Pink Floyd, Sabbath, Zep, Purple, King Crimson, Spirit, Captain Beefheart, Creedence, Ten Years After, Area, Sleep, Kyuss of Blues for the Red Sun, The God Machine, 35007, the early Motorpsycho and Monster Magnet, Entombed, Sons of Otis...

What current bands do you find inspiring?

Urlo: Shora, Shining and everything starting with SH.

Poia: Shora for me too, and Circle.

How do you feel about people posting your music for free on blogs?

Urlo: It's good. The more people listening to us the more we'll be happy.

Poia: It's an important thing. This way the music is flowing around the world. Then, if you like it you can always buy the physical object containing the music.

Your records have tons of cool layers. Do you try and recreate the sound of your records when you play live or do you prefer a rawer approach?

Urlo: We try to reproduce the record live the best as possible. Working on Eve has been difficult, there are a lot of layers!

Poia: Anyway live is different thing, and thanks to our live soundmaster Ciccio, we are both layered and totally raw :-)

Ever had any good Spinal Tap moments on stage?

Urlo: Mmmhh... guess not.

Poia: I must confess, never saw the movie. But I'll watch it very soon, and I'll tell you.

Vinyl, CD, or digital? What's your format of choice?

Urlo: I start with the digital and if I like it I buy CD (cause I listen to it easily). I love vinyls.

Poia: I think CD, but I prefer the big size of vinyl, for appreciating artworks too.

What’s the crowd like at your shows?

Urlo: Bearded men screaming. We're searching for girls, possibly not bearded...

Poia: It depends on the country we play.

How’s your hearing these days?

Urlo: You mean my ears? A little deaf, but still good. If you mean what I'm listening to... a lot of different stuff.

Poia. My right ear is frizzling.

Bands like Genesis, Van der Graaf Generator and Gentle Giant found an audience in Italy before the rest of the world. Why do you think Italians love prog rock so much?

Urlo: Because in Italy people is more interested in the good technique first. That's why nobody like Ufomammut here...

Poia: You have said all...

Were hardcore bands like Raw Power and Negazione an inspiration?

Urlo: Not for me. Never listened to them too much.

Poia: I'm sorry, I know them only by name.

Who’s the biggest mammone (mamma’s boy) in the band?

Urlo: Poia? Or me? Or Vita maybe? We're all mammoni!

Poia: Ufomammone.

Is it frustrating to go on tour and have to endure inferior food?

Urlo: Sure. We need spaghetti to survive, like vampires we need to refill our bodies with pasta. And coffee.

Poia: Of course. As Italians we are very proud of our food and wine. We know, we are boring about food, but it's probably the ONLY thing in which “Italians do it better” ;-)

Why do northern Italians look down upon their countrymen below Rome?

Urlo: Because we're idiots.

Poia: Since the fall of the Roman Empire, Italy has always been divided. It is a quite young nation, formed by several regions, each with its own dialect/language, food, wine (again!) and, amongst all, habits.  This is peculiar of Italy, but could be a problem for someone. Even in 5 km things slightly change. For many people difference between us is an excuse for divisions, instead a matter of enrichment. We can apply the same consideration on what it's happening today with the problem of foreign immigration. It's a natural and unstoppable process, the chance of mixing dna and cultures. But it's seen as a real danger, especially from the “most blind” part of our country, including our government.

What’s next Ufomammut?

Urlo: Ufomammut again. And hopefully a little of Farwest Zombee...

Poia: Dont know, we'll see in future.

Preferisci pasta e ceci o pasta e fagioli?

Urlo: Pasta e Ceci forever!!!

Poia: Pasta, aglio,olio e peperoncino.