6/26 Ramshackle Glory, Lincoln County War, Son Drop, and Tim Tapper and the Terribles @ Milhouse

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Has the sizzle-snap hiss of insects dying a humid death in blue-bleakness of a bug zapper have you hankering for a humble hootenanny DIT readers, listeners, watchers, (whatever)? Tomorrow night, at Milhouse, Ramshackle Glory, Lincoln County War, Son Drop, along with Tim Tapper and the Terribles, are planting a raging blue liberty spike atop the cowboy hat of country music.

Ramshackle Glory is a seven-piece punk band out of Tuscon, AZ, formed by Pat the bunny of DIY note. However somewhere along the way to the Midwest, an irate Southern Illinois farmer mugged the group, took their electric guitars, and left them with just enough money for some aging instruments at the local pawnshop. Equipped with  trumpet, banjo, accordion, and piano, Ramshackle Glory’s sound could be cousin to that of Streetlight Manifesto if one were to replace the dramatized ska for working class twang.  Songs such as “More about alcoholism,” lyrics like “Carl Marx in my bedroom alone,” and just plain poetic verses like “lick my dirty balls,” impress a swaggering tone that burns like the end of a bottle of Jim Beam and leaves you just as blearily satisfied.

Lincoln County War, a duo comprised of Benjamin Myers on guitar and Sofia peters on violin, are folks playing folk all about killing folks. Driven, loud, and surprisingly violent, the two have a fiery approach to twiddling fiddling. Tearing up while screaming along to their battered, bumpy, country road of a set will be appropriate.

If the sweating and swearing of the other groups gets listeners grabbing for their heart medication, then Son Drop (sans founder and lead-man James Duke) will lull listeners in with a porch-rocking, foot tapping tone. With slurred up renditions of “Sunshine” and a sound like pickled surf-rock played as heard through a soup can, Son Drop will have listeners staring at the ceiling reminiscing of basements past. While Duke won’t be there, this is the first time these boys have played in over a year, so it will be interesting to see what they pull out of their hats.

Tim Tapper and the Terribles are a three piece group formed around Kalamazoo singer-songerwriter Tim Tapper, with the ever-loving Jarad “Saxsquatch” Selner on drums and poster-extraordinaire Rory Svekric, of the Almanac Shouters, on bass. This three-piece will be something to check out, Tapper promising a more “upbeat, charged up” performance differing from the solo stuff he usually produces.

Show starts at 8 p.m. Don’t trash the house. Bring donations, although the music is free. Hooligans.

6/23 Glowfriends & Cardboard Highway….(at Biggby?)

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Hark! A Wee Poster!

Resonating with the ambient hum of youth and glitter, Glowfriends has prepared a show this Saturday for thine listening enjoyment. What’s that? Haven’t seen them and whilst in the proper–upbeat–happy-go-lucky state of euphoria necessary to allow their loafer-gazing sound to wash over sparkling electrified eyeballs? Fear not, for this show is at BIGGBY (on Stadium Drive). If coffee doesn’t cut it, well, we here at DIT do not recommend substance abuse. Eyes may taped open and smiles may be pried open with fingers. Expect forceably upraised eyebrows.

Caffeinate those cavernous craws and enjoy the free show (yes, free) and the Kalamazoo premiere of Cardboard Highway, which, according to lead vocalist April Zimont of Glowfriends, is a “special surprise.” It is an all ages show, so get the heads out of the gutter, and mind the cussin’.

Show starts at 7 p.m., caffeine starts always.

And now for a music video to rally the summer mood.

6/20 – Everything’s Louder in Texas (or the Globe Theater, depending)

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Tonight, the rock is coming up, and all the way up, from the land of classic westerns and the Delorean Automobile. How can you argue with that?

Short answer? You can’t. Here’s why.

CHOIRS is loud, fast, energetic, with a little bit of chaos and noise thrown in for measure. Their screamo, like Bruce Lee’s kung fu, is superior.

MOTHS could be ambient, but they’re too busy being melodically hardcore instead. Cool, clean guitars. Serious vocals. Lots of power. Danger, Will Robinson.

GEORGE COSTANZA does whatever he wants. Including playing music. Presumably, that’s what’s going on tonight.

Show starts at 9pm and DOESN’T COST A DANGED DIME. It’s occuring below Shakespeare’s Pub in the Globe Theater. It will be good times, man, so come on out and have you one.

Singing Songs off The Shoulder of Orion: An Interview with Sam Cook-Parrott

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If Sam Cook-Parrott is anything, it’s prolific. With a catalogue of one album, three EPs, and a bunch of other ‘albumettes’ floating about under the name Radiator Hospital, his primary band–and that’s not including other bands he associates with like Photographers and Strawberry Heritage–Cook-Parrott’s bubblegum punk projects are leaking out of Grand Rapids and into music scenes across the Midwest.

With music on websites such as bandcamp and cllct.com, and with a recent release, Welcome To The Jungle, under local cassette/digital distributor extraordinaire Already Dead Tapes, Cook-Parrott has implanted his sound here in Kalamazoo.

My first contact with the artist was when I was cobbling together a film project, and his song “Michael & Barbara” caught my ear. I had discovered Cook-Parrott after local Strutt Booking Manager Andy Catlin shared the song on his site disclaiming “Dude writes wicked songs!” Well, how can one resist “wicked songs?” The bounding guitar and pleading vocals of “Michael & Barbara” seem reminiscent of a lonely kid on his couch trying to shake away some depressive doldrums with his only two friends: a guitar and his television—something that fit the mood of the solitary record store I was trying to portray. I got a hold of Cook-Parrott and he gave the go-ahead for using “Michael & Barbara” in my film.

Later, I would wrangled a few words from him in a subsequent interview, intrigued by the at-home, cassette-like hiss, and sci-fi femme fatal fascination  that has been a consistent theme for all of his records.

While working on multiple projects such as Winter Break and Strawberry Heritage the (latter formed with Frontier Ruckus member John Hanson) CP explained that Radiator Hospital is his main project and subsequently how it began. Like so many others, the project had its origins in another band. “I had a band (Cookie Bumsted), in high school, that was like me and a bunch of friends. That sort of died out–not everyone was interested anymore,” he said.

The Sam Cook-Parrot in his natural habitat.

Sam Cook-Parrot, for those that are not familiar.

Afterwards, Cook-Parrott wanted to revitalize the songs Cookie Bumsted had played.  “I thought it would fun to record all these songs we had and record in a different way, playing the instruments myself. Prince did it all himself. The Toms, a band from from the 70’s and 80’s, did it all themselves–that is the stuff that influenced me. Except it sound nothing like that; it ended sounding like typical lo-fi.”

This inspired Cook-Parrott to write on his own, eventually forming Radiator Hospital as a solo project with that same bedroom, lo-fi sound. “I ended up making a band that was bed-room rock and then sort of a punk band playing all these songs.”

As a result, Welcome To The Jungle, I Want To Believe, Can You Feel My Heart Beating?, and Nothing In My Eyes, amongst a flurry of random collections of singles and compilations, were produced under the Radiator Hospital sigil. Most of the earlier work was written by CP on his own, but eventually he just “wanted to play the songs live,” and formed a band around the music.

Radiator Hospital gathers much of its inspiration from the femmes of fiction. From the likes of Agent Scully (X-Files) to Rachael Tyrell (Blade Runner), female characters from film and television emblazon his album covers in a style reminiscent of The Smiths trademark: an old picture with a band-name. Cook-Parrott says he “likes the imagery of it, the idea of it. I am into cool sci-fi stuff, for the covers of the records [the women] are really strong image of this really beautiful girl looking at you.”

All of this is an “homage,” explains CP, “about how these people are a part of my life–even though they aren’t because I don’t know them.”

“There have been periods of time where I have spent days or weeks just watching X-files and writing songs.”

There is a fascination with fiction in CP’s writing, a desire for a world that only exists in the static glow of a television, and which he attempts to convey with the hiss-hum of his lo-fi pop. “I love the melodrama—stuff like ‘this moment is the most important moment of all time’ or ‘if this kiss doesn’t happen we’ll all die,’ and of course that isn’t how it is, but sometimes you do live those moments, as silly as that may be.”

For those interested in checking out Radiator Hospital, Strawberry Heritage, or any other of Sam Cook-Parrott’s work, just visit radiatorhospital.bandcamp.com or strawberryheritage.bandcamp.com, or see him play June 25th at the Old Dog Tavern with Strawberry Heritage.

Drop By This Saturday To Cool Off with Some Jams

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-Tut Tut Looks Like Rain-
WE ARE POSTPONING THE POOL PARTY UNTIL EARLY NEXT WEEK
WE DON’T WANT TO RUST
FURTHER BULLETINS AS EVENTS WARRANT
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO LET US BORROW THINGS AND USE THE SPACE

The volume goes up as the sun goes down , come celebrate!  Another one of us kids transforms into a adult butterfly, no more X’s on hands at shows!  Hosted by Paula Koskinen at the corner of Cedar and Pearl; kiddie pools, shade, popsicles and fat beatz provided, Come Say Hi or Take a Dip.  We might have friends performing stunts with fire and a projector going in the nighttime.  See Ya there!

ANML FCS/BNDR/Reptilian/Jowls @Anthill 6/9

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I feel privileged to live in a city that hosts awesome shows on any given day during the week all throughout the year.  Case in point: on Saturday, June 9th, Anthill will be hosting what promises to be one hell of a good show.

Toronto based 3 piece ANML FCS will be bringing Kalamazoo some insane jams in the post-hardcore vein of bands such as Caravels or Beau Navire. Check out their bandcamp and watch this video:

Joining ANML FCS on their tour are fellow Toronto-based group BNDR, who have 3 excellent releases that have had me smashing the repeat button. If you were one of those people who fell apart when Cloud Mouth broke up, you’re not going to want to miss these guys play.

Grand Rapids buds Jowls are heading down to join the party and will be bringing some heavy hitting tunes that’ll make the hairs on your toes stand on end. They just put out a sick album called Cursed earlier in mid-May. Go check it out on their bandcamp! I even linked it for you.

And of course, no amazing show (at least in my eyes) is ever complete without The Reptilian. Embrace your surroundings!

Show starts at 9. As always, please bring cash for the touring bands. If you don’t, look through your couch for change. No excuses. Check out the event page on facebook for more information: https://www.facebook.com/events/184779081645621/

6/7/12 – LOST IN TRANSLATION / SAXSQUATCH / ROTTEN APPLES

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Victory Houze is gettin down this Thursday!

Easily the most active DIY space in Kalamazoo right now. These dudes are keepin it REAL. Here’s the deets:

ROTTEN APPLES –

Touring band all the way from Boston, MA. Weirdo rock n rollers of the highest caliber. Frank Zappa inspired basement trippers. Ready to take you higher.

 

LOST IN TRANSLATION –

Kalamazoo’s grooviest rockers. Making their sophomore appearance at the V.

 

SAXSQUATCH – That giant ‘Hell Yeah’ dude. Loudest man in Kalamazoo.

Music starts at 9pm. Bring some money for the touring band. Make em feel welcome. Let em know Kalamazoo is the best damn city in Pure Michigan.

RESPECT THE HOUSE. RESPECT THE BANDS. RESPECT YRSELF.
LET’S HANG!

Living&Wrestling/Life in Vacuum/Rise into Ruin/17 Again @ Milhouse 6/10

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This Sunday, Milwaukee screamo revivalists Living & Wrestling return to Kalamazoo at the Milhouse for an aural assault on us all. The last time they played here at the Anthill was a real treat. Go listen to their bandcamp or check out this vid for their tunes:

Joining Living & Wrestling are prog punkers Life in Vacuum. I’ve never seen these guys play, but their recordings are killer. They’ve got a similar feel to the Hives but with more of math-y vibe, so it’ll be a good time.

Representing Grand Rapids are metalhead punx Rise into Ruin . Fans of dual guy/girl vocals and Headnoise are going to like these guys and girl. Side note: Milhouse member Jose recently joined the band to play guitar so you won’t want to miss this since they don’t play very often.

For our local, some of the dudes from Forget the Times, The Reptilian, and Ackley Kid came together to form a band that takes a bit of inspiration from Botch. Don’t miss it.

As always, bring a little cash for the touring bands. Show starts at 9. Seeyathere.

6/2 Swands of Zapan, Forget The Times, Coma Nova, Edgar Cayce @ Victory House

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Victory House has one of the most diverse show spaces in town, and this show continues to bolster that reputation.

Swands of Zapan are a long-time running noise psych-punk group based out of Saginaw. Their music is comparable to Chrome or Old Time Relijun, intense, strange, and hard hitting.

This show will also feature FORGET THE TIMES, hometown saviors of soul, COMA NOVA, your neighborhood grunge rock revival, and EDGAR CAYCE, who I can find literally no information on, so you may as well just go see for yourself.