Slender is the night...

Down and dirty rock and roll. How else can Slender be described? Listen and you'll hear the influence of the Clash, the Cramps and Early Social Distortion. Hard driving with a touch of rockabilly and halloween thrown in there.

Slender - Zarathelma



I was lucky enough to meet Rod Damnit (vocals) through work, a chance thing. They even agreed to one of my formulaic interviews.

Rod Damnit - Vocals
Clint Grubb - Guitar
Kent Carter- Bass
Joe - Drums

1) What is your first musical memory?
Clint - Elvis dying. I was like 3 or something.
Rod- The Batman Theme
Kent - Watching Sound of Music on the TV.

2) What was the first album/CD/tape that you remember purchasing? The last?
Clint - Disco Duck. Bitchin record, still break it out from time to time.
Rod - First: Devo, Are We Not Men & Elvis Costello, Armed Forces from the local head
shop/record store Last: Paul Anka, Rock Swings
Kent - Ozzy Osbourne, "Diary of a Madman." I had to actually buy it twice because
my parents through it out because it was so "evil."

And they know how to cover a song, making it their own:

Slender - Bye, Bye Love

3) Has there been anything lately in your life that unexpectedly struck you as beautiful?
Clint - I see beautiful things everyday.
Rod - panini machines, and they way my lady looks at me - that‚s right
Kent - Lands End here in SF on a nice day.

4) Of all of the things that you own, what is the one material thing you couldn't do without?
Clint - My truck
Rod - pants that fit loosely in the crotch. But not too loose.
Kent - My 1978 Fender Jazz Bass Guitar.



5) If you could go back and change one decision that you made in the past, what would it be and why?
Clint - There's too many for me to pick just one.
Rod - drinking that Brain Hemorrhage Clint made me recently (why? One word: hawaiianpizzabarfinthebathroomsinkat3am) Bitchin.
Kent - Play Rock and Roll sooner. I would have been able to take more advantage of my youthful good looks.

6) What's your favorite part of the music making process?
Clint - Playing live, and recording.
Rod - writing new stuff and playing with my brethren for a rabid crowd. Not real rabies - but you know what I mean.
Kent - Rocking out with my buddies.

7) What's your best musical memory?
Clint - Again, there's so many. Any good show with any one of the bands that I've ever played in. Even some of the crappier shows we've played all have good memories attached to them.
Rod - Seeing Johnny Cash at the Alameda County Fair two years in a row when I was in high school. I guess that's actually two memories. Sorry.
Kent - Performing to a packed house in the old CW Saloon on Stinky's Peepshow night.



8) What's the most frightening thing that's ever happened to you?
Clint - Getting mugged at gunpoint. No fun at all.
Rod - The time the Denver SWAT Team stormed the friend's house two of us were staying in after a show there (about 7:00am)∑ they weren‚t after us, they were after the roomate, and I was actually sleeping in the RV out front, so I slept through it all - Clint and our old drummer Joe were pretty scared though.
Kent - Watching my house burn down, along with our band's master tapes for our new record.

9) What's your favorite television show, film or book?
Clint - Anything on discovery channel.
Rod - Lately, any news outlet that isn‚t controlled by the White House in some fashion. George, you're an asshole.
Kent - The new Battlestar Galactica pretty much rocks.

10) How old is your oldest piece of clothing?
Clint - About 30 yrs. old.
Rod - 74 years. I think.
Kent - My Eagle Scout uniform. I think it's about 20 years old.



11) What instrument strikes you as being capable of producing the most beautiful sound?
Clint - Skin flute.
Rod - Steel Drums, hands-down.
Kent - French Horn

And speaking of covers, here's my favorite track off their new album:

Slender - Train in Vain REMOVED

Lots of other tracks available at their site, so run over there and check it out. You can buy their latest album for only 9.95, what a steal. Check it out at Interpunk.

They've also recently finished a music video, which you can dig right over here.

TechTag: Music

Me and Whose Army?

"Panzah Zandahz has released a full album with Radiohead remixes. The album, “Me & This Army’” is the follow-up of the Radiohead breaks & beats 12″. Panzah pays tribute to his favorite band & some of his favorite emcees with this 40 min collage of original remixes, mash ups, & covers."

Follow the link to the article and link to the torrent:

Radiohead - Me And This Army

Dean Gray Tuesday

Quoted from their site:

"Only 10 days after its release, the mash-up album American Edit, which pays tribute to the acclaimed Green Day album American Idiot through some of the best mash-up productions of 2005, was shut down reportedly after received a cease & desist order from Green Day's label, Warner records, despite the fact that it was released as an internet only release with no commercial gain for the team of mash-up artists involved. In fact, the only possible profit to be made from the release was a plea from the creators of the album (known only by the shared alias Dean Gray) for fans who enjoyed the creation to donate to one of three possible charities that Green Day have been known to support. Furthermore, the mash-up versions were such fantastic productions that they were truly a departure from the standard Green Day performances and would not compete for consumptive dollars.

We hope to mobilize the online Mash-Up community by organizing a simple one-day organized event. Participants would be asked to post the American Edit album online for 24 hours only starting on Tuesday, December 13, at 12:00AM. Doing so is not intended to be a mass organization of music piracy but, rather, one single display of the consumptive power of the mash-up and home remix community in the hopes of encouraging the labels, publishers and artists who are curious about the mash-up community to consider giving the high quality productions of "illegitimate" music a legitimate consideration as a promotional avenue for all music."

Check it out.

Rumble Strips Ahead

Screenhead led me to this nice music video by the Rumble Strips.

Very eighties feel to the music - but not like everyone else is doing right now. Quite like the track. Apparently this, their first single, comes out in January on Transgressive Records.

Rumble Strips - Motorcycle
Rumble Strips - No Soul

A bit of Microdisney there, I'd say...with a cup of ska and blue-eyed soul thrown in for good measure....and dare I say Dexy's Midnight Runners?

A couple of more tracks on their site, as well as a profile over at GoJangle.

:: Edwyn Collins :: UPDATE

I've been so lax as of late...but here's the latest on Edwynn

:: Edwyn Collins ::: "News of Edwyn: 4 October 2005-09-23

As most of you know, Edwyn suffered a brain haemorrhage in February of this
year. Following neurosurgery and a long stay in hospital, he came in August,
where he continues his daily fight for recovery.

This fight is on many fronts, but his progress is such that today finds him
back at work in his studio for the first time. He is continuing to mix his
new album with the wonderful assistance of Sebastian Lewsley, his right hand
man and sparring partner for the last 12 years. They take up today where
they left off in February.

A day to remember.

Our Flash site is about to have a makeover, courtesy of Chris from
Fruity Interactive, another of our key men! The bulletin board will get a
much needed facelift. We will, of course, keep the old one available to
view. Your messages over these past months are very precious. Thank you to
all for the wishes thoughts and prayers either via the board or by e-mail
and card. We hope to be able to give you a bit in return in terms of content
and information when we have the new site up and running. Meanwhile our
continued love and thanks for your steadfastness.

If you wish, you can send cards to him at:
West Heath Studios,
West Heath Yard,
174 Mill Lane,
London, NW6 1TB."

And then, on November 8th, Grace wrote:

"Edwyn is doing fine...and dandy. Better all the time. He and Seb have finished rough mixes of all his album tracks and he's taking time for a listen and to familiarise himself with them again. It's a very good record, in my humble opinion. It's hard to explain this, but Edwyn feels quite cut off from his former self . Hence why he doesn't come on here in person. That and also the fact of his communication problems which include learning to speak and read again, use a computer, etc. He is very focused and making gains all the time but mostly this is a very difficult and lonely journey. Hard to know how he copes as well as he does. There is a lot about aphasia on the web which will give you some idea of what he's dealing with. I have to admit to total ignorance before all this, which seems ridiculous when you realise how many people are affected. But be of good cheer. This is an extraordinary man. Thank you for keeping him in your thoughts and for giving me a laugh with your nuttier threads."

It looks like it will be a hard struggle, but it's all up hill from here on out.

Oh yeah, are you there?

Dig this video by the Presets:
Presets-Are You There (quicktime)

Bunch of streaming audio at their site as well. No downloads though.

Sounds Like

Crown Dozen Pointed me to Thao Nguyen. Check her out:

Thao Nguyen - Hills

Thao Nguyen - We

Is it Edie Brickel that she reminds me of...maybe...or Beth Orton.

S.O.S.

Send for Help have a sweet new site up and a couple of tracks from their first and NEW e.p. for your listening pleasure. Check 'em out.

Also, some great write-ups here and here

Honest I Am

Just saw this video by Koufax which led me to further investigate their site. The track is pretty good, check out the other tracks available as well here:

Doghouse Records

Koufax - Isabelle
Koufax - Why Bother At All

Honorary title are also on this label, I've mentioned them before:

The Honorary Title - Bridge and Tunnel
The Honorary Title - Everything I Once Had

Does this mean I'm back? I don't know. We'll see. The mp3blog thing is really feeling like radio to me. Who do I still pay attention to?

That's easy: Just for a Day and the Entroporium. Oh, and I must admit, Stereogum.