Zig At The Gig podcast

Mark Stewart

This is a re-upload of my conversation with the late great Mark Stewart Rest In Power!

 

 

 

 

For those who don't know 

Mark Stewart is an artist, vocalist, producer and songwriter from Bristol. As a founding member of The Pop Group and as a soloist, Stewart has remained an anarchic and pioneering figure since the punk era, a constant source of discordance amongst the frontiers of post-punk, dub, industrial and electronic music. In a body of work driven by an explosive form of lyricism and inspired by radical politics, protest movements, theory, philosophy, technology, art and poetry, Stewart has fearlessly cultivated a revelatory collision of ideas, ideals and influences throughout an indisputably ground-breaking and seditious career. Empowered by the DIY incentives of punk Stewart initiated The Pop Group in 1977, subsequently producing some of the most original and combative music of both the post-punk and contemporary era. From 1977 until 1980 Stewart led the charge in a group that completely eschewed punk’s formalism for something far greater. Producing epiphanic, irrepressible anthems, including She’s Beyond Good & Evil and We Are All Prostitutes, both in 1979, as well as masterful, seminal albums including Y in 1979 and For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder? in 1980, The Pop Group ignited the revolutionary aesthetic potential of post-punk. The impact of this first incarnation left an immensely significant legacy ultimately leading to the group’s reformation in 2010. With 2015’s refined return Citizen Zombie and 2016’s audacious left-turn Honeymoon On Mars, the group emphatically renewed their relevance, proving as incendiary as ever. Stewart continues to operate as a crucial impetus in the bands ongoing mission. In 1980 Stewart embarked on his solo career inspired by the sounds he had heard during a visit to New York the same year. The virtuosic scratching and early hip hop propagated by Kiss FM’s Kool DJ Red Alert, coupled with the impact of a pile driver at a construction site Stewart happened to encounter there, was enough to encourage his visionary next step. In 1982 Stewart consolidated these encounters into coherent possibilities, forming a group called The Maffia and linking up with producer Adrian Sherwood and his cutting edge label On-U Sound. Alongside a rotating cast of session players, initially comprised of members of African Head Charge, Creation Rebel & Dub Syndicate, and later made up of Doug Wimbish, Keith LeBlanc and Skip McDonald (the erstwhile rhythm section of The Sugarhill Gang) Stewart & The Maffia fashioned an abrasive confection of dub reggae, early hip hop and industrial noise that was shattering, seismic and completely ahead of its time. Headed by an iconic version of William Blake’s eponymous ancient poem, Stewart & The Maffia unveiled the Jerusalem EP in 1982, swiftly followed by their cult 1983 LP Learning To Cope With Cowardice. Stewart later moved to Mute Records in 1985 for the ferocious proto-industrial militancy of As The Veneer of Democracy Starts to Fade and successive appearances on the label continued to break untold new ground, from 1987’s Mark Stewart to 1990’s Metatron and 1995’s Control Data. Stewart has continued to plot an utterly uncompromising and individual course into the 2000s, with a streak of solo material that has included Edit, The Politics of Envy, The Exorcism of Envy and Experiments. Preserving his vociferous energy and defiant stance whilst advancing, as always, into unfamiliar territories, this work bears all the traces of Stewart’s enduring severity and modernism, an exploratory power reinforced by a host of legendary collaborators and artistic descendants including the likes of Primal Scream, Keith Levene (Public Image Ltd / The Clash), Richard Hell, Kenneth Anger, Daddy G (Massive Attack), Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, The Bug, Kahn (Kahn & Neek, Young Echo) and Factory Floor. Stewart continues to exert an inestimable impact on a disparate range of ensuing artists and scenes. His work has been acknowledged and celebrated as a vital inspiration by the likes of Nick Cave, Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails), James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem), Tricky, Massive Attack, St Vincent and countless others, while his eye for unorthodox extremity has instigated myriad new evolutions, blueprinting industrial, trip-hop, noise-hop, dance-punk and many other subsequent conceptions. Through a staunch, unrelenting desire to confront, deconstruct and make anew, Stewart has become of the most influential and forward-looking luminaries of post-punk, or indeed, any other form of music. An artist often imitated but never bettered. Mark's Info https://www.markstewartmusic.com/ https://www.facebook.com/markstewartm...

Charming Disaster Part 2

Brooklyn-based goth-folk duo Charming Disaster’s upcoming fifth album Super Natural History is a musical cabinet of curiosities featuring songs inspired by both the natural world and the metaphysical realm; the cover art itself is composed of curios and oddities collected on their travels or gifted to them by fans. The album was produced by band members Ellia Bisker and Jeff Morris, half the tracks recorded at Figure 8 in Brooklyn, NY, the rest at Tonal Park in Takoma Park, MD, with the last song being a home recording. Super Natural History will be released on CD, as a 12-inch colored vinyl LP and on all digital platforms on March 3, 2023. The duo’s latest release unites the worlds of magic and science with ten songs that explore subjects like witchcraft, monsters, and the underworld alongside bats, plants, poisons, and parasites. Super Natural History is an alchemical experiment of sorts—magic and science may seem like contradictory concepts, but for Charming The Disaster they are opposite sides of the same coin: alternate ways to see the world and consider its mysteries.

 

April 29th, 2023 Wiz Bang Cleveland OH Tickets https://checkout.square.site/buy/V2DMOUQROCY4QZUUDY3VFYUA

Charming Disaster's

Info preorder link: https://charmingdisaster.com/supernaturalhistory

Website: www.charmingdisaster.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/charmingdisaster

Instagram: http://instagram.com/charmingdisasterband

YouTube: http://youtube.com/charmingdisasterband

Bandcamp: http://charmingdisaster.bandcamp.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1RjkfhamohczSXjFy5WcZh

 

Steve ”Hamie” Hayman

 

 

MIIRRORS

Motion And Picture is a cinematic soundscape of honest lyrical introspection and reactive
abrasion, a personal timespan of disillusionment, resolve, and return of hope. Waves of cascading textures blur the sonic lines between synthesizers and guitars a la My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive as Shawn Rios's atypical rhythms anchor the songs while Brian McSweeney
ascends beyond Andre Miller, Patrick Riley, and Dmitri Rakhubas's expanding colors.
What began as a chance encounter on an airplane between McSweeney and Rios 22 years ago
grew into a decades-long friendship which ignited the inevitable musical partnership that formed
Chicago's MIIRRORS. They reverse-engineered the usual process of becoming a band by
prioritizing album creation over live performance while at their own pace, morphing the duo into
a cohesive quintet of seasoned multi-instrumentalists along the way­ veterans Rakhuba, Miller,
and Riley completed the lineup, and they evolved the collective sound quickly, momentarily
trading the stage for the tracking room.
While recording, the group began self-releasing singles just two months before the pandemic
took its toll on the music community, but not before the public took notice of their imagined
version of Jeff Buckley's rare 1997 four-track demo 

 

 

 

MIIRROR'S Info 

https://miirrors.bandcamp.com/

www.pravdamusic.com

https://miirrors.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/miirrorsmusic/

https://www.instagram.com/miirrors_music/?hl=en

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1XT5uhpV0ujNCA-_66_2yw

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2SwDo6SQHqyEiiZv0M0K9K

 

 

Cellophane Jane

Cellophane Jane is a Glam Rock Power trio founded by Cleveland, Ohio native Lex Moda in 2017. What started as a week-long meditative project to record, mix, and master a collection of ten songs as a mini-LP roared into a full-throttle, non-stop rock n’ roll parade.

 

The Marauders Last Show

https://fb.me/e/L8oi5JOg

Cellophane Jane's Info

https://www.cellophanejane.com

Cellophane Jane & C-Level

https://open.spotify.com/track/16tCMNF2IAT1oJplctVykz?si=8d26f66878424a66

 

David Heatley Part 2

IF...
Second full length solo record by David Heatley
Available on all streaming and digital platforms March 24, 2023 from Dream Puppy Records.
Genre: Indie Pop
All songs were written, performed, and produced by David Heatley in 2023. They were recorded
at Piety Street Arnaudville Studio. Additional recording took place at Restoration Sound with
engineer Lorenzo Wolff. String, horn and woodwind arrangements were done by Jimbo Walsh.
The assistant engineer was Kirkland Middleton. The album was mastered by Dave Glasser of
Airshow.
Featuring members of Lost Bayou Ramblers and Givers, plus Julie Odell, Sarah Quintana, Lilli
Lewis and Tony Award-winner Michael Cerveris.
Heatley describes “If...” as a portrait of someone in the throes of “impossible love,” with all the
attendant euphoria and longing pulsing beneath each track. “I’ve always had an issue with
crushes and falling in love. I fell in love with all three guest singers on my last record.” The bulk
of the songs came to him while recording down in Louisiana for the first time in the summer of
2021, surrounded by an inspiring and passionate array of New Orleans musician-heartthrobs.
What he couldn’t have known was that by the time this new record was released, his personal
life would be entirely rearranged and would line up in an uncanny way with many of the
themes of the songs he had written. “It’s honestly eerie how prescient some of these songs
turned out to be. I’ve often gotten song ideas in my dreams and I write them out and record
them only to see how they perfectly fit some situation I’m living through years later. It’s enough
to make you believe in Carl Jung’s theory of the archetypal field.”

 

 

David's Info

https://www.davidheatley.com

Scott Crow Of Lesson Seven, & Founder of eMERGENCY heARTS

Scott crow is an international speaker,  author, and story teller who is proudly from a working-class background. He has engaged his varied life as a coop business co-owner, political organizer, educator and strategist, activist, filmmaker, dad, and musician. For over two decades, he has focused on diverse socio-political issues and the explorations of creating and exercising counter-power to capitalism, Power, and unsustainable civilization. 

 

eMERGENCY heARTS is an anarchist-run indie collaborative media hub in Austin, TX that spotlights post-punk, outsider and non-genre specific music, in addition to industrial music, goth, new wave, electronica,
dark wave, political music, ambient, psychedelic sounds, and visual arts that float our fancy from the past until today.

Founded by author, musician and art dealer Scott Crow (Lesson Seven,E), the vision is for music and other media to build an umbrella entity that supports artists, outside the mainstream where they can collaborate and experiment across artistic disciplines in a society that often devalues culture makers outside of the mainstream.

 

Scott's info 

www.scottcrow.org

https://www.emergencyhearts.com

 

John Leon Of The Royal Arctic Institute Part 2

From Coma To Catharsis is the second full exploratory mission in the current five-piece
incarnation of NYC/NJ-based instrumental ensemble, The Royal Arctic Institute. It’s the sequel
to last year's From Catnap To Coma, and like its predecessor, the new mini-album was recorded
and produced by James McNew (Yo La Tengo) in the historic Neumann Leather Factory in
Hoboken, New Jersey. From Coma To Catharsis is being released February 4th, 2023 by
Already Dead Tapes and Records and will be available on cassette (duh!), as a paid download,
and on streaming platforms. Later in the year, the band hopes to release both titles on vinyl.
At present, The Royal Arctic Institute comprises five musicians who have played extensively
with other groups and/or as backing/session musicians:  drummer Lyle Hysen (Das Damen,
Arthur Lee, The Misguided), guitarists John Leon (Roky Erickson, Summer Wardrobe, Abra
Moore) and Lynn Wright (And The Wiremen, Bee And Flower, Shilpa Ray), bassist David
Motamed (Das Damen, Two Dollar Guitar, Arthur Lee, Townes Van Zandt), and keyboardist
Carl Baggaley (Headbrain, Gramercy Arms). 
What are the first things you would feel coming out of a coma? Would it be cathartic, a full
release of all your emotions? What would that sound like? From Coma To Catharsis tries to
capture that auditory experience replacing the steadfast emotions expressed on From Catnap to
Coma with the sounds of dreaming, then awakenings.
All the pieces were created communally, deconstructing then reconstructing material mainly
composed by guitarist John Leon with a couple written by other band members. McNew
recorded the band in a live setting with no digital magic and minimal overdubs except for pedal
steel work by John. 
This record also highlights the band's musical development after a further year of playing
together. This includes songwriting contributions by Dave (“Angleman’s Lament”), and Lynn
(“The Elated World”) as well as more input from Carl. “This is the third record I've played on,”
explains Baggaley, “and on this one we really broke the songs down to the bones. I was able to
bring in new influences like King Crimson-style mellotron and electric piano inspired by the late
Billy Preston performances during the recording of the Beatles’ Let It Be album.” Besotted by
2021’s Beatles documentary series stemming from those sessions, Lyle draped his drums in tea-
towels ala Ringo for the song “Passover Bucket.”
Regarding that same title, John says, “During the COVID lockdown, everyone’s kids were home
and parents were scrambling and grasping at straws to entertain them. A Jewish friend of mine
decided to celebrate Easter with her children to give them something to do. They were fascinated
by the concept of Easter baskets. The following year, instead of Easter baskets, the children were
given Passover Buckets to keep them quiet.” 
From Coma To Catharsis is, sadly, guitarist Lynn Wright’s last work with the band as a full
member as he’s recently relocated to Berlin to further his career in music and fine dining. The
band will continue to play shows and record with Lynn when possible, but perhaps as the past
two years have shown us, who knows if everything will be cathartic, or just a return to a coma.

 

 

 

 

John's Info

https://www.theroyalarctic.com/new-page-2

 

Ivan Julian

 

Ivan Julian has been one of music's most celebrated players and most in-demand collaborators for more than four decades.  

Indeed, Ivan Julian has spent his life soaking up a wealth of experiences, musical and otherwise. The son of a Navy officer, he grew up in such exotic locales as Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, nurturing a sensitive, creative streak that quickly manifested itself musically. At the age of 13, while living in Washington, D.C., he became the singer in a Led Zeppelin  cover band; the following year, he began playing guitar. Having already studied bassoon and saxophone, Julian spent his high school years studying music theory as  a part-time student in a college program. At 19, his wanderlust led him to London, where he joined U.K. R&B hitmakers The Foundations, (Build Me Up Buttercup) with whom he toured throughout Great Britain and Europe. It was during one of these tours that he decided to stay on in Macedonia to absorb and study the musical scales and rhythms that would have a major influence on his playing.    

Then Julian returned to the U.S. and settled in New York, just in time to become part of the emerging punk rock movement. A founding member of the seminal Richard Hell and the Voidoids, he was now playing alongside trend-setting punk poet Hell, fabled guitarist Robert Quine and drummer Marc Bell (a.k.a. Marky  Ramone). Julian’s instrumental and songwriting contributions to the band’s classic  album Blank Generation established him as one of the scene’s most acclaimed and influential axemen. 

After the Voidoids disbanded, Julian stepped out to form the Outsets as a vehicle for his own vocal and songwriting efforts. Combining rock, funk and  African rhythms, the Outsets became a beloved fixture on New York’s burgeoning  club scene, winning considerable critical acclaim for such releases as the debut single  “I’m Searchin’ for You”/”Fever,” a self-titled EP produced by Garland Jeffreys and  the posthumously released The Punk/Funk Voodoo Collection. Teaming up with Bush  Tetras singer Cynthia Sley Julian’s next band, the Lovelies, won substantial  attention with the release of the Mad Orphan LP. Also, during this time he regrouped with former bandmate Richard Hell to do an extensive tour of Japan. 

By this point, Julian’s abilities as a collaborator had become sought after by a wide array of acts. He plays on “The Call Up” and “Ivan Meets GI Joe” with The Clash (on their Sandinista album), collaborated with Afrika Bambaataa and Bernie  Worrell of Parliament/Funkadelic. He also joined England’s Shriekback for two  tours of North America and Europe. Julian spent much of the 1990s touring and recording with Matthew Sweet.  

In recent years, Ivan has concentrated mainly on studio work, producing and/or recording artist such as Sean Lennon and producing three albums by The  Fleshtones. He’s also developed his recording studio, SuperGiraffeSound into one of New York’s hottest new recording facilities, working with numerous local, national and international bands. 

His solo LP, The Naked Flame was named one of the best records of the year by several trade magazines in Europe and the states including Trouser Press. Soon after came The Fauntleroys EP, Below the Pink Pony, a collaboration with Alejandro Escovedo, Nick Tremulis and Linda Pittman.    

His newest album ‘Swing Your Lanterns’ is available on PRAVDA Records. The songs encompass his experiences of the past five years and more; Some of which, we have all lived through. 

Ivan's Info

Web site

home

Spotify 

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Timo Kaarkoski Of Armored Dawn (Brazilian Power Metal Band)

Armored Dawn is, without a doubt, one of the revelations of Brazilian Power Metal. Formed in 2014 in Sao Paulo, today, they have three albums released worldwide. Over these few years, Armored Dawn has been gaining fans wherever they go

Timo Kaarkoski

Born in Finland many, many years ago, Timo started his musical adventures at the age of 7 playing the violin. When he was 14, he gave up the violin and decided to play a much louder six-string instrument…

Influenced by the names like Ritchie Blackmore, Frank Marino, David Gilmour, and Gary Moore, Timo surrendered to his passion for rock n’ roll and the guitar. Around 2000, Timo decided to change his life, left his frozen country in search of some sun and moved to Brazil. A few years later, he joined the band União, with whom he released only one album in 2003, and toured South America. Then, he joined another band, called Temple of Sin, which released an album and toured Brazil.

Today, Timo is a great Gibson collector, has a house full of guitars and cats, in addition to being part of one of the biggest metal bands in Brazil on the rise, Armored Dawn. He has been part of the band since its beginning in 2014. With Armored Dawn, he has recorded three albums “Power of Warrior”, “Barbarians in Black” and “Viking Zombie”. He also accumulates film productions of video clips and several presentations throughout Brazil and Europe. He shared the stages with big names like Fates Warning, Saxon and Megadeth, in addition to having played on “Motörhead’s Motörboat”, the Motörhead Cruise.

 

 

Armored Dawn's Info 

http://armoreddawn.com/2018