Have a little music group and can’t decide on a name? Lucky for you, we’ve thought up a bunch of ORIGINAL BAND NAMES just for you. To take one of our fabulous free monikers, just write in the “Comments” and tell us why you deserve it and where you’re from. Want to thank us? Buy a book and listen to Our Podcast. Rock On!

• SteamSpünk
• The Draculovers
• Peru McClanahan
• Death from a Shove
• The Girl Getters
• Michael Ironside Deficiency – taken by Tri-State Area Power Trio
• Creamy Pasta Bonanza
• Mopz
• Hope Springs a Turtle
• First Available Agent
• Game Time Decision – alternative rock band from Springfield, IL.
• Laundromatic
• Blunt Force Drama
• My Dad’s Cover Band
• Mush Buhdaydoe
• The Nazzy Snappers
• The Verified Accountants
• Amsterdarn
• Horse Drawn Carnage – Taken by a band from belleville michigan
• The Low Hanging Fruits
• The Dumbskulls
• Millionaire Friend
• Punchsylvania
• Future Human Slavery Update
• Colonel Blimp
• Horror Bulls
• Focus People, Focus

• Hammock View
• The Swine Flutes
• Noah’s Orc
• The Kitchenettes
• Greaseberries
• Emit The Odder
• Hungarian Forkfight – 4 piece hardcore punk band from redding, california
• Maunsell Army Sea Forts
• Grandpa vs. Prowler
• All The Lonely Peep Holes
• The Knighthoodies
• Non-Explosive Chemistry – taken by punk girl band from Chicago.
• Things Not to Do While Alive
• The farTenders
• Doug is Miserable
• Gee Male
• Companion Peace
• Pale Hail
• 74 Fruit Wagon
• Lost Wiikend - taken by a band from Houston, TX
• The Opposition Leaders
• Pop-Art Pantyhose
• Oh! Bee City
• Fat Ice
• Whoa Horsey Whoa
• Such Creatures Exist – taken by hardcore/nintendocore band from High Point, NC
• Bacon 3.0
• Unibody Construction
• Chimp-Powered Blimp
• Border-Collapse
• Mind Erase Her
• The Hairdo Chairs
• Wild Front Tears
• Lump Sum Payout
• Good Times USA
• Deservedly So
• Human Hair Hammock
• Pomegranate Cleanse
• September Fishfood
• The Whoradors
• Thanks, Alaska – taken by band from Peoria AZ
• Install>Crash>Curse – taken by a screamo girl band from NC
• That Being Said
• wooden leg real foot
• The Worst of It – taken by Punk band from Holland
• The Ideal Situation – taken by a band from South Carolina
• Something Suddenly Came Up
• No Biggie
• Michigan Face
• Up Against It
• Big Fat Toddlers
• Duodenum
• The Dead Knot Seas
• Horror Bulls
• Focus People, Focus
• The Low Hanging Fruits
• Colony Collapse
• Week Need
• Skeptic System
• The Gently Used Gents
• Better Football for Boys and Girls

“Quality Workday Distractions”

• Dreamcrusher Jones – taken by a dance punk band from St Louis, MO
• Beast Infection
• The Button Pushers - taken by indie pop alternative band from UK
• Cement Nose
• Grand Theft Otto
• LungBash
• The Grillables
• Major Incident Response Team
• The Record Lows – taken by pop-punk Band from New York
• Quick Fire Challenge
• Meth Lab for Cutie – Meth Lab for Cutie
• thrust parry thrust
• {AwkwardHug} -  taken by Moose (8-Bit Nu-Rave solo project)
• Growth Spurtz
• Ruling The Earth from Within
• Elf Made Man
• The Neck Wringers
• Shapeshifting for Beginners – taken by Nathan
• Ape Sherman: Private Eye
• The Hardlees
• Bone Crushing the Feet – taken by a band of 5 and in VA
• Do My Chores
• Twit Turds
• The Fey Kits
• The Strum Pets
• The Bluto/Brutus Issue
• Is This All There Is
• The Special Darks
• Sixth Grade Square Dance – taken by a Punk-Emo band from LA
• Body by Botero
• South American Toe Biters
• Mostly Cloudy – taken by alternative rock band from Cheshire, MA
• Pleiad
• Hard-Fought Hugs – taken by Alex from Ohio
• Shorter in Person – Shorter In Person taken by a band in madison indaina
• Dancing with Sitars
• Seaside Pillage
• Come What Mayhem – taken by Pop-rock Band from Westfield, Mass.
• Recalling The Beef
• Les XX
• Fife Hero
• The Dim Bulbs
• World’s Strongest Lamb
• Oh Bombahs!
• Baby Fur
• The Weight and The Warmth
• Mist Calls
• The Rushin’ Goo Logs
• Bar Made
• Gee Gnomes
• Today’s Top Stories – taken by a band in Little Rock, Arkansas
• Not What It Looks Like – taken by Callum
• All Gussied Up
• Wither or Not
• Not The First Time I’ve Been Shot
• Canadian Drug Lords
• 10 Shun – taken by uk acoustic band
• püp
• Tweenage Shriekfest – taken by a screamo band from LA
• Burn The Maps – taken by punk/metal band
• in the well of the great wave
• All Right Hamilton – taken by band from cape town, south africa
• Filo Betto
• Such Great Widths
• Your Top Friends
• Try This at Home – Taken by CurrieKid in the UK
• Terror Tapes – Taken by indie alt band from Maryland
• Photos from The Flume
• Thread Bears
• Win Win Situation – taken by Nathan Singletary, South Carolina
• Gnarly Chaplain – taken by pop-punk band in the southwest UK
• Ponies Never Ran Before
• Philthy – taken by punk/metal band from Seymour TN
• The Soft Tissue
• Mrs. Desi Arnez Jr.
• Jan, You Dingaling
• Mouse Mummy
• Just Oates
• Li’l Gotten Gains
• Laps Around The Lake
• Daughter of A Mounty
• The Thinnest of Margins
• Scott Beowulf
• Phil Got Phat
• Reheated Debate
• The Cleve
• B.J. and The Bare
• Salon des Refusés
• Wedgie Proof
• The Bay Gashers
• Rejection Seat – taken by Kasey, Zeeland Michigan
• All The Pitied Fools
• Hellicity – taken by a rock band from Brisbane.
• Glancing Blows
• Ghost Dad
• Leonard Part I
• überNürd
• Pardon Our Parts
• Dark Sky Parks – Taken by were an alt pop punk band from Devon, UK.
• That Less than Fresh Feeling – taken by Justin from KY.
• Castle Repair Squad
• The Bledbugs
• In Control Mild Fire
• Greedo Was Provoked
• Funambulist Falls
• Extended Tuba Solo
• Bodewash
• Body Harmer
• The Droopingtons
• Small Emergent Sea
• Lustful Gaze
• The Gosh Darns
• Temper Temper – Taken by a band from Harrisburg, PA
• Stately Wayne Manor
• Helmet-Mounted Pistol
• May The Best Man Survive – taken by a rock band from the UK
• mangoose
• The Showcase Showdown
• The Manbugs
• Stallone Rangers
• Husky Tuffskins
• Muscle Mouse – taken by alternative stoner band from Reidsville, Georgia
• Six Solid Reasons to Run – taken by a punk/rock band from California.
• Green Achers – taken by a Bluegrass band from Arkansas.
• Tucked in Bed
• Property of – taken by small punk band in toronto.
• Hearts of Midlothian
• Gaper Delay
• Your Potential Love Match – taken by new punk band from Texas
• Jaganath – taken by a stoner band from KY.
• Pick Up The Slacks
• Bulbous Knows
• Super Silly Us
• Mobile Vulgus

Band Names Archive

Philly six-piece Audible recently released their latest EP “Isolette”, which as of this writing you can still download for free here – but move fast, as I’ve been assured that’s only temporary. In fact, you might want to do that now, and have these great new tunes as a companion for the review. Go ahead. I’ll wait for you.

Congratulations! You’re in for quite a ride. This is the band’s first outing since their fabulous 2009 full-length “In Simple Intervals”, and it serves up the story arc of a rock opera of yore without the two-record length, while packing twice the emotional wallop.

Before we get into the content, if you dig smart pop-rock with guy/girl harmonies and great musicianship with a loose, authentic vibe, you’ll love this for nothing other than the music. There are great memorable choruses in these mostly mid-tempo, introspective tracks – songs that smolder and evolve as they reveal their secrets. Interesting guitar tones, airy vocals, and masterful arrangements are anchored by some seriously tasteful and musical drumming (I just HAVE to call this out here – because drummer Steve Cawley really plays for the song – on several of my many repeated listens, I’ve delighted in just focusing in on what he’s doing). So, you could concentrate solely on the music…but you wouldn’t be able to escape the palpable emotional undercurrent – the air around these pieces is heavy with it.

So that’s where the content comes in – what we’ve got here isn’t trumped up emo-drama equating crushes or feelings of personal isolation to epic struggles (I mean that’s fine too, in it’s own way) but something that is in a whole different league of “real”. The story goes like this: Audible nucleus Mike Kennedy was all set to start touring behind “In Simple Intervals” with the band when his wife (and Audible’s bassist) Kristine went into extremely early labor just 25 weeks into her pregnancy. If you’ve ever been there (and I have), that’s the “holy shit, we’re not playing games here anymore” type stuff that makes pretty much everything else you’ve gotten worked up about recently pale in comparison. And amazingly, Mike went ahead and documented the experience in these songs – they should put this in the Library Of Congress for its sociological value alone.

But let me be clear about something: this collection is anything BUT a “bummer”. Maybe the most amazing thing about it is the way that even in the darkest moments, the optimism is palpable. You actually don’t need to have had a similar experience to hear yourself in these songs – and that, my friends, is true songcraft. If you know the background, it’s fascinating and the metaphors come a little clearer – but if you don’t, it’s still the story of wrestling with major uncertainty and knowing what it feels like to be completely powerless, pushing through it while waiting for the clouds to clear, and the final quiet release of having made it (check out the gorgeous “Fourteen Weeks”).

Yes, like all good rock operas, there’s a happy ending – on the EP and in life too, evidenced in little Alex’s appearance in the video for “The Last Thing I Remember” filmed at the band’s Y-Rock session at WXPN’s studios. Funny I should mention that, since the band will be joining us at that very location this coming Friday (3/19) at the second Used Wigs Live event! You will NOT want to miss this!

Russ Starke

The pride of Omaha is back and Tim Kasher’s voice has never sounded better. Beautiful!

Download: “From The Hips” [MP3]

Website: www.cursivearmy.com

Vally Lodge

Heaping helping of power pop served with a side of awesomeness.

Download: Baby It’s a Shame [MP3]

Website: www.valleylodgemusic.com

Lukestar

Highly-inventive and super catchy indie rock from Oslo, Norway.

Download: White Shade [MP3]

Website: www.lukestar.com

I know you kids rely on your Uncle Jeff for his impeccable taste in music and I am also aware that my opinions may border on snobbery to some, but c’mon, my recommendations rarely disappoint. My crap filter is pretty much flawless, but every so often something sneaks through that many might consider “odd,” “not what I expected,” or “okay, this is so weak!” In the spirit of sharing, here are some chinks in my rarely-battered platemail armor (I got hit points to spare, my friends).

Nik Kershaw – “Wouldn’t It Be Good”

Just me and Ducky sitting around in dumb hats and blazers with rolled up sleeves pining away for Andie Walsh.

Cheap Trick – “Tonight It’s You”

Cheap Trick is a great band, that should never be in doubt. But the words, “All I want is a place in your heart to fall into, all I need is someone to love…” is a bit cheese-filled, but dammit, it gets me every time.

Bourgeois Tagg – “Mutual Surrender”

Can’t defend this one, won’t even try.

Zebra – “Tell Me What You Want”

Videos do not get much worse than this, okay maybe this one, but I do still dig this big blasting chunk of rock from Long Island’s answer to Triumph.

Tin Machine – “Baby Universal”

Honestly can’t tell if this was well received or not by Bowie fans. I know teaming up with Soupy Sales’ sons seemed a bit dubious when this band was announced, but like the majority of Bowie’s stuff, I loved this record.

Duncan Sheik – She Runs Away

I love every single song on this 1996 easy-listening gem.

Glen Campbell – “Wichita Lineman”

Good lord, I’m tearing up as I type this. “And I need you more than want you…” Magnificent.  Just discovered R.E.M. did a nice cover of this.

Seal – “Prayer for the Dying”

I love Seal. There, I said it.

Sting – “Fortress Around Your Heart”

Sting’s last good song. This video is atrocious. Sting’s one direct order request to the director, “Don’t you dare take the camera off me for one effing millisecond! Got it, mate. I’m at my peak of handsomeness!”

Kristen Vigard – “God Give Me Strength” from Grace Of My Heart

I know Elvis Costello wrote it and did a nice version of it, but I like this one better, so there, get off my back.

Okay music geeks, give me your guilty pleasures via comments.

More Unearthed Videos:

• Unearthed Videos: An Odd Mix of Very Early MTV Videos
• Unearthed Videos: Irish Rock
• Complete List of Unearthed Videos

The Notwist – “Good Lies”
CD: The Devil, You + Me
MP3: Download

Fucked Up - “Black Albino Bones”
CD: The Chemistry of Common Life

The Hold Steady – “Constructive Summer”
CD: Stay Positive

Stuyvesant – “Victorian Lawns”
CD: Linden Calling
MP3: Download

The Hush Now – “Traditions”
CD: The Hush Now

The Gaslight Anthem – “Great Expectations”
CD: The ’59 Sound

+/- {plus/minus} - “Subdued”
CD: Xs on Your Eyes

Dungen – “Marleras Finest”
CD: 4

Bob Mould – “Silence Between Us”
CD: District Line

Mogwai - “The Sun Smells Too Loud”
CD: The Hawk Is Howling

Ninja Gun – “Restless Rubes”
CD: Restless Rubes
MP3: Download

Deerhunter - “Nothing Ever Happened”
CD: Microcastle
MP3: Download

Parts & Labor – “Nowheres Neigh”
CD: Receivers

Jealous Sound – “Got Friends”
CD: Got Friends

R.E.M. – “Supernatural Superserious”
CD: Accelerate

Unwed Sailor – “Aurora”
CD: Little Wars

The Stills – “Being Here”
CD: Oceans Will Rise

Johnny Foreigner – “Salt Peppa & Spinderella”
CD: Waited Up Til It Was Light

Nada Surf – “See These Bones”
CD: Lucky

Photo by Brooklyn DIY

Townshend, Mould, Strummer and Schwarzenbach — and not necessarily in that order — are the fellas who rule my little music universe. Blake Schwarzenbach was the main man behind Jets to Brazil and the almighty Jawbreaker, the most influential punk band of the 90s. Blake stopped making music a few years back to concentrate on teaching college English and defending his dissertation on the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.

It seems Blake’s need to rock out has surfaced once again (based on a Facebook video, he’s been playing a lot of Rock Band with his friends, that’ll get the juices flowing). This is most definitely good news for people who like great music.

He has a new band with Aaron Cometbus Elliott (drums) and Daniela Sea (bass) called “The Thorns of Life” (Shelley reference). They’ve been playing some under-the-radar shows in Brooklyn to rave reviews and based on the quality-challenged youtube clip I just heard, they sound very promising (more Jawbreaker, less Jets). This fanboy fanman is insanely excited, gonna go dig up my decade old “Jawbeaker” in Scrabble letters ringer t-shirt in honor of the occasion (look out, snug fit!).

I really can’t express how much I love this band. If you don’t already, check out 24 Hour Revenge Therapy (to start) and you will too.

Here’s a video from one of the latest shows:

Guest: Beer talk with John Ceccatti. Topics: Beer, What’s in Beer?, Cheap Beers vs. Quality Beers, Head Soccer, Czechs LOVE beer, Todd’s Wrong Beer Info, Session Beers, Beer Flights, Philly Breweries and Bars, Jeff’s blackout in Belgium, Eating bags of Barley and Malt. Playlist: The Actual Facts, Parts & Labor, Shugo Tokumaru, Auxes, Passion Pit.

Play Now: http://www.usedwigs.com/pod/podcast54.mp3

Subscribe: iTunes

Featured Beers (imbibed and discussed):

• Tetley’s English Ale
• Boddingtons Pub Ale
• Pilsner Urquell
• Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock
• Belhaven Wee Heavy
• Celis White
• St. Bernardus Wit
• Murphy’s Stout
• Lindemans Kriek Lambic
• Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier
• Uerige Alt
• Aecht Schlenkerla Raucherbier
• Samuel Smith India Ale

Philly Area Beers and Bars:

• Dock Street
• Dogfish Head
• Flying Fish
• Nodding Head
• North 3rd
• Standard Tap
• Monks Cafe
• Earth Bread + Brewery
• The Foodery

Website: www.usedwigsradio.com

Super Bonus Video!

UsedWigs Radio Podcast 54: Beer Talk! from jeff lyons on Vimeo.

Jesse Malin has been a part of the New York alt-rock music scene for just about twenty years, beginning as a teenager with the hardcore band Heart Attack. In the 90′s, he gained widespread notoriety as front man for the glam-punk band D Generation. These days he has a fresh new sound and has just released his third solo album “Glitter in the Gutter” with contributions from Bruce Springsteen, Jakob Dylan, Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), and of course his good friend Ryan Adams.

While supporting the new album, I had the pleasure of chatting with Jesse at Niagara, the East Village bar where he is a part owner. We sat in a cozy corner of the bar and spent an hour and a half discussing everything from the new album to New York City, including what his hopes are for the future and why he was wearing a back and neck brace.

The first question I’m going to ask, and I’m sure you’re sick of answering this question, relates to your collaboration with Bruce Springsteen on your new song “Broken Radio.” How did that come about, and what was it like to work with Bruce?

Well, when I made “The Fine Art of Self Destruction” I met Bruce at the Stone Pony, of all places, and he told me he really liked the cover that I had done of “Hungry Heart”. He hadn’t heard my solo record, but had read good things about it. Then I got a phone call from my manager saying “Bruce is gonna call you up at home, and he loves your record and he wants to talk to you about it”, and I was like “you’re joking!”

So he called, and we talked about the record for about an hour. He asked me to do some shows with him down in Asbury, which was holiday benefit shows for the local children’s community. I asked “what Christmas songs are we gonna play?” and he said “we’re gonna play your songs with my band, and I’m gonna play my songs”, and I was like “WHAT!?”

That went on for about three or four days, and it was just an amazing experience. The guy is so passionate; he learned all these songs of mine. It was pretty wild having him as my sideman…as my Keith Richards! So, we stayed in touch over the years as I made the second record…and I would see him if he played or had rehearsals, and he’d call once in a while or I’d bump into him at his gigs and he always asked “what are you listening to lately?”

Then I went to see him on the Pete Seeger Sessions tour in Massachusetts and he invited me to his rehearsals. I told him that the show was amazing, and that I was finally starting my next record, and he said “if something comes up, I would love to be part of it.” I went out to LA and did the record and I kept thinking about the right song…there was a song that I had written about my mom who had passed away when I was in my teens. She was one of those people who wanted to be a singer, but ended up becoming a waitress and a divorced parent. But if a song came on the radio, she was a hairbrush singer…singing in the house and in her car. I started to think about people, and about how music and radio could provide three or four minutes of liberation. And now it has changed and become this corporate-fucking-robot-jack-me-off kind of…un-radical thing.

I sent Bruce the lyrics in a letter and said “see what you think”…and then I’m in LA having a very LA moment, with the cell phone and the rental car, and he called and said he dug it. I went out to Jersey when I got my first chance to go back to the “right coast”, the east, and I went to the studio at his house. We had a great afternoon, and he’s just very giving and passionate. He’s a real team player and very humble. Suddenly, here is a song I wrote in my little crappy Lower East Side apartment, with the guy who sang “Thunder Road” that my dad used to listen to! Then we made a video…and it’s another song on the record but a very special moment.

You also collaborate with a lot of people on the album besides Bruce, Jakob Dylan being one and Ryan Adams being another. I know you and Ryan Adams are good friends — is this the first time you’ve ever collaborated with him on anything?

Ryan produced the first record, and he’s kinda done something on every record of mine since. You never know what he’s going to show up with. He always brings something different, and it’s always radically different…but it’s always super creative and wonderful. He’s a great guy. He’s a super force and I’m lucky to have that.

With Jakob, I was living in LA and was very lonely there, and I had just recently met him. I was living in a motel, and he invited me over to his house for a cookout on the fourth of July. I always liked his voice and it just kinda came naturally. That’s the freedom of being a solo artist, is that you can have different people show up and not offend the band.

You talk about being out in LA and getting back to the “right coast”. You’re so associated with the New York music scene, how does New York City inspire you?

I think you walk out your door and you get inspiration, because of one, walking places, and two, the mix of different cultures and the energy of all the different kinds of people. Now it has kind of become a city for the rich, and maybe there are less New Yorkers and less neighborhoods…but we’ve still got that thing.

There is an energy and a force of creativity. The sound, the light changing, the smell of the garbage, the look of the women, the people, the book stores, Central Park, Chinatown, the trains rattling along, the bike messengers… there is a pulse and a rhythm. To me, music in general is very cosmopolitan – and New York just has it. I like urban stuff. I’m going away and getting breaks from it more often, but it’s a great place to leave and come back to. I love people’s interpretations of New York on film, like the way Woody Allen does it in his films or in the way that people like the Rolling Stones and the Clash lamented it. Or the Pogues in “Fairy Tale of New York”, or Sinatra… there is so much of it in different time periods. You can watch channel thirteen (NY’s public television channel- ag) and see that, as it goes under the gentrification of it, it’s still New York!

What was your inspiration for this new album?

I had made a lot of records that were “break up” records. My first record was my first solo record, so I was my own shrink and exploring my demons and my childhood and this and that. The second record was written on the road, and it was made at the time when we were going to war with Iraq. I was learning more about being international and seeing how people viewed my country. Feeling like a New Yorker my whole life, I never fully thought I was an American. Then I realized how New York had become like the rest of America. But around the world, people really had this weird heavy attitude towards us because of the war and because of our imperialistic superpower piggish-ness.

I thought of a different look…also, being at an age where you’re away from home and living out of a suitcase and your friends your age are having kids and settling down…I was still feeling like a boy and a man.

I think rock and roll does that to you.

Yeah, well it keeps the youth in you in a lot of ways. So, by the third record I wanted to write something that wasn’t a “crying in your beer, heart on your sleeve” record, though that is always going to be an element of what I do. I wanted a record that was a record of hope and defiance and about surviving – a positive record. I started to think about a lot of the music I listened to growing up like Bob Marley. The Clash, The Ramones and even John Lennon were like “it’s gonna be alright”.

But also after five or six years of the orange alert and global warming, Katrina, gas prices, record stores closing, Iraq and Bush, and I felt that people shouldn’t have mindless disco fun and forget about the world, but try to be present and not fearing. To be able to go out in the present. To me, that is the good thing about rock and roll and going to shows. You can rent it, or you can watch it on YouTube, but to be in there…there is a ritual with strangers, to be in a pit with a lot of people sharing this. I’m not a religious person, but going to shows and sharing that feeling with people – that is my church. And I wanted to make a record that was representative of being in the moment and finding the things you need to get by, and enjoying life like it’s your last moment. Whatever you are, if you’re a carpenter, rock and roller, school teacher, or fucking drug dealer…whatever your passion is, to really be passionate about it and feel that.

I noticed you’re wearing a back and neck brace… please explain that!?

It’s my first interview with this question! (laughs) Ummm…you know, we toured a lot this year, we did…I don’t know, a bazillion gigs. We were just in the UK and Europe in May and when I got home I noticed that I had a little bite mark on the back of my neck. I didn’t know what it was when I scratched it. I take vitamins, I do pushups, I wasn’t worried about it. It wasn’t like I was in Africa, I was in Paris and Germany. I didn’t think much of it, and went out on the road about a week later and I started to have shoulder blade and neck pain. I thought I did something like talked on the cell phone the wrong way. Things went on, and before I knew it after doing TV appearances in California and in the South I started to get bad neck pains, bad shoulder pains, and I took some Advil thinking it was the tour bus. Then it got worse and I went to the emergency room and kept getting misdiagnosed. For about three or four weeks it got worse and worse and I wasn’t sleeping, and the pills they gave me weren’t working. I’ve never taken anything but vitamin C and suddenly I’m on vicodin and percocet and I’m not even sleeping. I had to cancel after Minneapolis. I was doing three weeks on fire because it was nerve endings, and it felt like someone was holding a big lighter to me.

I finally got back to New York and had an MRI and this doctor said “he’s got an abscess on the upper spine and shoulders, and an infection – get him to the emergency room!”

I think I’ve got a lot of malpractice suits to take care of (laughs). I ended up spending eight days in St. Vincent’s Hospital. They found out the name of the infection and I’m on antibiotics to kick it out. Because I was out there so long playing it kinda messed up my neck a bit and I have to lay off playing for a while. I had to cancel a slew of shows that I was excited about, but everything is going to be rescheduled and I’ll be back out in October. I miss it but I’m trying to make lemonade out of this time – I’m writing for another record. But we’re gonna work “Glitter in the Gutter” for a while. I feel like we’re just ramping up with it.

Last question! What is your hope for the future?

Ummm…that we can save the planet before it’s too late, so my grandkids and great grandkids and all of ours can get to enjoy Earth. Continue to make lots of records and be healthy and tour all over the world and make lots of money so I can have the freedom to buy good food and find alternative ways to do stuff. And to live outside of society and still be able to come in to try and subvert things when I can.

For more info such as tour dates and tv appearances and to hear some tracks off of “Glitter in the Gutter” check out:

www.jessemalin.com

And here is the official website of Niagara:

www.niagarabar.com

- Amy Grimm

Stressed? Anxious? Angry? Calm down, Sweetie. Enjoy some hypnotic electronic gold by our favorite protean German band, The Notwist. The new CD “The Devil, You + Me” out now on Domino Records.

Go forth and download:

MP3: “Good Lies” (Enter email and click link to download Zip file).

Video: Here’s a brilliant and touching vid for “Pick Up the Phone” from their last CD, Neon Golden:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUT8JgqK1B0[/youtube]

The best-reviewed band of the past ten years, The Hold Steady, has a new album coming out next week, but you lucky folks can hear the whole thing right now on MySpace. It’s called Stay Positive and it sounds quite fabulous.

Back in 2004, I called the band an “acquired taste,” but their sound has grown richer and the production on this album and their last — the breakthrough Boys and Girls in America — was top-notch, so they’re much more accessible to the common man, especially to those classic rock relics who miss The Who and early Springsteen with the big bold pianos, horns and the colorful storytelling. Craig Finn has the storytelling part down cold, that brother can spin a beer-soaked yarn like no other.

Finn also has a great sense of humor and is completely devoid of the rock star arrogance we’ve grown to expect from many a heraded front man.

I’m on my second listen now and this is easily the best thing I’ve heard all year: insanely rocking tunes mixed with some long-burners that have that epic “Greetings From Asbury Park” vibe. Wow! A while back I heard reports that Ben Nichols from Lucero would be making a guest appearance and If I’m not mistaken I think that’s him blasting out some backing vocals on the my two favorite tracks “Magazines” and “Constructive Summer” (I feel some Husker Du “Celebrated Summer” vibe here, Finn is a huge fan). Nice Ben, now finish your own CD. FYI, Lucero rules.

Every fan will tell you The Hold Steady is best heard in a bar. I think those days are over, these guys will be bigger than ever after this thing drops. So in honor, pop in few bucks in your local bar’s jukebox and play the whole thing. Twice. Then drink a lot of beers, Craig would approve.

Here’s a great video, “Chips’ Ahoy,” from there last offering:

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=OCZB3nSoNbU[/youtube]

And a classic, “The Swish,” that still had some of the punk edge form Finn’s Lifter Puller days:

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=i-0fb-DhYh0[/youtube]