Archive: Interviews
Six Questions for ... Liam Finn
And you wonder why they filmed "Lord of the Rings" in New Zealand. Quickly: Yes, Liam Finn is the son of rock royalty. (At least other hemisphere rock royalty.) Yes, this undoubtedly gave him a foot up in the music world. No, it doesn't change the fact that his...
By David Malitz | September 4, 2008; 05:05 PM ET | Comments (0)
Six Questions For ... Bo Bice
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Bice. The Southern rocker who came thisclose to being an official American Idol (only to have country prom queen Carrie Underwood take that tiara) is on a rather unlikely tour: "It Was 40 Years Ago Today," a Beatles tribute on which Bice, Todd...
By J. Freedom du Lac | August 21, 2008; 11:28 AM ET | Comments (5)
Virgin **MOBILE** Festival Preview: Andrew Bird
He whistles, plays violin, plays glockenspiel ... and this Bird can sing. (Programming Reminder: Post Rock will be blogging LIVE from Virgin Mobile Festival all weekend. Check in often on Saturday and Sunday for updates.) Andrew Bird is just another one of those world-class whistling, sometimes glockenspieling former child...
By David Malitz | August 7, 2008; 11:12 AM ET | Comments (1)
Virgin Festival Preview: The Silver Beats
The Silver Beats won't let you down. (Programming Reminder: Post Rock will be blogging LIVE from Virgin Mobile Festival all weekend. Check in often on Saturday and Sunday for updates.) The most interesting performance at Virgin Festival promises to be Chuck Berry with the Silver Beats. One of rock-and-roll's...
By David Malitz | August 6, 2008; 04:13 PM ET | Comments (2)
Virgin Festival Preview: The Stooges
The Stooges: They came to play, to play real good. (Programming Reminder: Post Rock will be blogging LIVE from Virgin Mobile Festival all weekend. Check in often on Saturday and Sunday for updates.) Ron Asheton is in the Stooges. They play loud and hard and fast. See for yourself...
By David Malitz | August 5, 2008; 10:37 AM ET | Comments (1)
Six Questions For ... OAR
OAR found success the old fashioned way. Deep down, most people harbor at least faint dreams of showing up at their 10-year high school reunion as the biggest success of the class. But for those of us who graduated from Rockville's Wootton High School in 1997 or 1998, we...
By David Malitz | July 25, 2008; 09:20 AM ET | Comments (0)
Six (More) Questions With ... Thurston Moore
President for life in the daydream nation. Thurston Moore is in full-fledged flogging mode, making the rounds to talk about his new book, "No Wave: Post-Punk. Underground. New York. 1976-1980." He called recently for this story - but after 40 minutes of chatter about no wave's cacophonous, confrontational music...
By J. Freedom du Lac | July 21, 2008; 08:44 AM ET | Comments (1)
Six Questions (And Really, Really Long Answers) With ... Steve Miller
Some people call him Maurice. Ben Franklin said, "In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes." If Big Ben was still alive today he'd surely add "hearing Steve Miller on classic rock radio" to his shortlist. Songs like "The Joker," "Take the Money and Run," "Rock 'N...
By David Malitz | July 17, 2008; 08:42 AM ET | Comments (12)
Six Questions For ... Love as Laughter
Love as Laughter gets "Holy." Love as Laughter is one of those bands that are easy to root for. Over the course of nearly 15 years and six albums the loosely organized crew led by Sam Jayne has played loosely organized indie rock. They know the power of a...
By David Malitz | July 16, 2008; 12:13 PM ET | Comments (2)
(A Couple More Than) Six Questions for ... Half Japanese
Jad Fair of Half Japanese. One of the many great scenes in the Half Japanese documentary "The Band That Would Be King" finds brothers David and Jad Fair talking about playing guitar, and it perfectly captures the essence of the definitive do-it-yourself band. "Some people worry about chords and...
By David Malitz | July 11, 2008; 10:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
Six Questions With ... The Alarm
Rhyl calling! It rained in Washington yesterday. In the summertime. Perfect! Because Mike Peters of the Alarm was calling, and as anybody who knows anything about '80s Welsh rock recalls, the Alarm had a hit 21 years ago - on both sides of the pond - with the anthemic,...
By J. Freedom du Lac | July 10, 2008; 12:14 PM ET | Comments (3)
Post Rock Podcast: David Berman of Silver Jews, Part 3
Good thing he already has a cap, because $12 seems steep. The final installment of the David Berman interview should be especially interesting to devoted fans, as I was able to get his thoughts on each album in his discography. As was the case for the entirety of our...
By David Malitz | June 27, 2008; 04:53 PM ET | Comments (2)
Six Questions With ... Ricky Skaggs
The man and his mandolin. Ricky Skaggs was a bluegrass prodigy, performing with Bill Monroe at the age of 6, sharing the stage with Flatt and Scruggs when he was 7 and joining Ralph Stanley on tour as a teenage mandolin virtuoso. In the 1980s, Skaggs became a Nashville...
By J. Freedom du Lac | June 25, 2008; 08:37 AM ET | Comments (0)
Keeping It Lo-Fi With Times New Viking
Times New Viking: Fuzz and buzz. Times New Viking is a Columbus, Ohio, trio that writes short, punchy, catchy rock songs with wonderful boy/girl ... well, not quite harmonies, but it sounds really great when they sing together. That these songs are slathered in noise, fuzz and tape hiss...
By David Malitz | June 24, 2008; 12:52 PM ET | Comments (4)
Post Rock Podcast: David Berman of Silver Jews, Part 2
When he goes to the Old Stamp Office, he always wears a camelhair suit. The second part of the interview with David Berman (download here, stream below) is like some beautiful dream I've often had - me and Berman, sitting around, dissing Radiohead. And it wasn't even me who...
By David Malitz | June 18, 2008; 01:32 PM ET | Comments (0)
Post Rock Podcast: David Berman of Silver Jews, Part 1
In 1984, he was hospitalized for approaching perfection. Today is an exciting day for music lovers. That's because the greatest band in the world, Silver Jews, releases its new album, "Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea." (The whole thing is streaming on their MySpace page.) The greatest band in the world?...
By David Malitz | June 17, 2008; 02:33 PM ET | Comments (3)
Six Questions (And Then Some) For ... R.E.M.
Mike Mills (right), straight shooter. No real introduction needed here, right? Now down to a trio: Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, Peter Buck. New album, "Accelerate," released in March. Currently on tour, with a show scheduled for Wednesday at Merriweather Post Pavilion. Mills - R.E.M.'s bassist- keyboardist- background singer- "secret...
By J. Freedom du Lac | June 9, 2008; 08:38 AM ET | Comments (0)
Quote Of The Day
"We don't know what the show will be yet. It's just like the beginning of sex. You know what the goal is, but you don't know what the path is to get there." - Morris Day, on The Time's upcoming reunion concerts at the Flamingo Las Vegas. Day, Jesse Johnson,...
By J. Freedom du Lac | June 4, 2008; 02:12 PM ET | Comments (1)
Six Questions For ... Clinic
Who are those (surgically) masked men? "Always the same, always different," was how legendary British DJ John Peel described the Fall, but that tagline could fit just as well for Liverpool's Clinic. There's no mistaking the band's sound, even as it ranges from thrashy, organ-fueled punk to melodica-heavy spaghetti...
By David Malitz | May 28, 2008; 10:54 AM ET | Comments (2)
Al Green: Call Me (And Much Hilarity Will Ensue)
Deep in (possibly crazy) thought. Interviewing Al Green is always an adventure. You just never know where things might go during the course of the conversation with the man. When we did this interview, for instance, he became fixated on my last name. As we discussed producer Ahmir Thompson's...
By J. Freedom du Lac | May 27, 2008; 09:22 AM ET | Comments (1)
Six Questions For ... the Old Haunts
The Old Haunts: Better than Radiohead. To refer to an album as stunningly solid may seem like a backhanded compliment but it works perfectly for "Poisonous Times" by the Old Haunts. On its third full-length album the Olympia, Wash., trio takes a tried-and-true sound - punky garage rock in...
By David Malitz | May 9, 2008; 05:26 PM ET | Comments (2)
Six (And A Half) Questions For ... Seether
Seether: Now with 20 percent less Veruca Salt! South African post-grunge band Seether has scored consecutive No. 1 hits on Billboard's hot modern rock chart, with "Fake It" and, now, "Rise Above This." Saturday, the band performs at DC101's Chili Cook-Off in the downtown D.C. parking lot where the...
By J. Freedom du Lac | May 9, 2008; 08:37 AM ET | Comments (0)
Six Questions For ... Liars
Angus Andrew, right, and his bandmates. That horse plays a mean mellotron. When Liars burst onto the scene in 2001 with a dynamic dance-punk sound it was easy to lump them in with similar New York-based bands like the Rapture, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Interpol. Liars responded to this...
By David Malitz | May 8, 2008; 06:11 PM ET | Comments (0)
Six Questions For ... Wanda Jackson
Let's have a party! All hail the queen of rockabilly! That'd be Wanda Jackson, the tough-voiced trailblazer who in the 1950s helped sire this thing that eventually came to be known as rock and roll. On May 18, a new documentary about Jackson - "The Sweet Lady With the...
By J. Freedom du Lac | May 8, 2008; 07:42 AM ET | Comments (1)
Six Questions For ... The Moaners
Melissa Swingle, left, and Laura King wear sunglasses at night. And during the day, on stage... "If Sleater-Kinney and Mary Timony had a baby named Lightning Johnson." That's how the Moaners are described on a flier for tonight's show at the Black Cat and it was such a good...
By David Malitz | April 30, 2008; 09:47 AM ET | Comments (0)
Six Questions For ... Eric Hutchinson
'All hail the Queen, Perez!' Eric Hutchinson was scuffling on the music scene, flying beneath the radar, when he got an unlikely boost from celebri-blogger Perez Hilton. In a breathless, exclamation point-heavy post last September, Hilton noted that he was "obsessed" with Hutchinson and raved about his "beautifully crafted...
By J. Freedom du Lac | April 18, 2008; 08:23 AM ET | Comments (0)
Six Questions For ... Kathleen Edwards
Kathleen Edwards will probably be asking for Senators/Penguins score updates from the Birchmere stage tonight. The Canadian Invasion isn't limited to indie-rock bands with too many members. Ottawa native Kathleen Edwards has been a fixture on the alt-country scene since she was 24 when her 2003 debut album "Failer"...
By David Malitz | April 14, 2008; 11:24 AM ET | Comments (0)
Six Questions For ... Wye Oak
Andy Stack and Jenn Wasner, normal people in a Baltimore band. A year ago there was no Wye Oak. There was just Monarch, a Baltimore duo consisting of Andy Stack and Jenn Wasner, who self-released an album of shimmering folk-shoegaze called "If Children." As the Charm City was gaining...
By David Malitz | April 11, 2008; 01:32 PM ET | Comments (0)
Getting Crazy with Monotonix
Just a hint of the chaos that is Monotonix. Monotonix (listen) has to be seen to be believed. And once you see them, you'll likely be a believer. The Israeli garage-punk trio is unlike anything you've ever witnessed. Unless, of course, you have seen a band fronted by a...
By David Malitz | April 8, 2008; 11:56 AM ET | Comments (1)
Six Questions For ... Caribou
Every day is "Melody Day" for Dan Snaith. Arcade Fire and Feist got all the attention, but my favorite Canadian import of 2007 was Dan Snaith, the artist-composer-producer formerly known as Manitoba - until singer "Handsome Dick" Manitoba threatened legal action and Snaith switched to the nom-de-studio to Caribou....
By J. Freedom du Lac | March 28, 2008; 11:13 AM ET | Comments (0)
Questioning Keef
Yeah! What? Ehm, can you repeat the question? A Keith Richards interview is an exciting yet terrifying proposition. Richards is one of rock 'n' roll's greatest living* characters; but he's also a notoriously challenging interview subject, given his penchant for indecipherable, fragmentary speech. I love a good challenge, though....
By J. Freedom du Lac | March 27, 2008; 06:30 PM ET | Comments (15)
Her Song: Talking Taylor Swift
An A-plus interview. Why can't they all be like Taylor Swift? The young country super-starlet is a flat-out fantastic interview subject. So open and honest and funny and interesting; so willing to play along - to go here, there or anywhere during the course of an interview. (And I...
By J. Freedom du Lac | February 28, 2008; 05:11 PM ET | Comments (1)
Six Questions For ... Georgie James
More lights! (And cameras, etc.) Georgie James, the darlings of the D.C. indie-pop scene, will soon be As Seen On TV: The band has been invited to perform on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" next Wednesday. John Davis, who fronts the group with Laura Burhenn, says they'll perform "Need...
By J. Freedom du Lac | February 21, 2008; 04:05 PM ET | Comments (0)
'Once' Again
Hansard solo? Nope. (By Jonathan Alcorn/For TWP) Spent some pre-Oscars time with "Once" co-stars Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová in Hollywood, and the resulting story can be found here. As always, much was left on the cutting-room floor. Herewith, some extras. Hansard and Irglová on her role in their...
By J. Freedom du Lac | February 19, 2008; 12:19 PM ET | Comments (2)
Talk Talk: Willie Nelson
Ain't it funny?! Willie Nelson called for a brief interview, and all you got was this lousy 550-word Q&A. (Space considerations and all.) So now, for the rest of the story: The Willie Nelson Q&A (Writer's Cut). Iconoclastic country star Willie Nelson never wants for work. In between rounds...
By J. Freedom du Lac | January 28, 2008; 08:49 AM ET | Comments (5)
Talk Talk: Panda Bear
Panda Bear (aka Noah Lennox), showing his old-school Baltimore pride. It's hard to think of too many people in the music world who had a better 2007 than Panda Bear, aka Noah Lennox. It was the best year yet for Animal Collective, the forward-thinking, avant-garde, indie rock quartet that...
By David Malitz | January 15, 2008; 04:08 PM ET | Comments (0)
Talk Talk: A Conversation With Spoon's Britt Daniel and Jim Eno
Spoon, looking sharp. (By Autumn De Wilde) Here's something leftover from our Virgin Festival coverage. I had a few minutes to chat with Britt Daniel and Jim Eno of Spoon after their (admittedly) lackluster set at Pimlico and was too lazy to transcribe it after the fact. So why...
By David Malitz | December 19, 2007; 08:48 AM ET | Comments (4)
Talk Talk: A Conversation With David Kilgour
It's Legends Week in D.C. Jay-Z was in town on Friday (after a stop in Baltimore), Bruce Springsteen on Sunday and Monday (perhaps you heard?), Neil Young will be here tomorrow and Friday and David Kilgour plays DC9 tonight. Wait, who? David Kilgour?...
By David Malitz | November 14, 2007; 11:10 AM ET | Comments (4)
