Zig At The Gig podcast

Louis Michot of Lost Bayou Ramblers

Interview with Louis Michot, fiddler, songwriter, and lead vocalist for Grammy winners Lost Bayou Ramblers on his debut solo album Rêve du Troubadour. Rêve du Troubadour came from long months during the first years of the pandemic of Michot documenting musical ideas in his backyard a dry-docked houseboat named “Sister Ray, given to Louis by Korey Richey of LCD Soundsystem. Sometimes, waking up at 4AM, he’d have his parts nailed down before daylight. While recording, MIchot kept a pair of stereo mics live outside Sister Ray to capture the sounds of birds and insects; as the bird and bug population would change throughout the days and seasons, each song wound up with a unique environmental seasoning. More tracks were then added at Nina Highway Studios, a short walk from Michot’s house, by Louis, his rhythm section and various guest musicians. The final track sequence is highly diverse. There are songs that incorporate poetic rapping to hand-laid beats, updates of vintage Acadiana, environment soundscapes, acoustic guitar driven ballads, and even Michot’s interpretation of a seminal work by 19th-century Creole composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk. But they’re all tied together beautifully by Louisiana French language and Louis’ vivid storytelling throughout.

Louis's Info

Hyperius Blake

Robin Hyperius Blake of Hyperius Blake and The Sound Experiment 

Talk about Creation 4.5 

 

 

Event description 

Creation 4.5 is coming to YOU on November 11th, 2023! We’ve been teasing and previewing for long enough! Get your pre sales via Cashapp/Venmo! We also accept cash at the door. The anticipation is REAL!

Creation is a festival about celebrating the beauty of life, desegregating the creative “scenes”, and providing a safe space for marginalized individuals to gather and express themselves. No racism, homophobia, transphobia, body shaming, or hatefulness of any kind will be tolerated.

We seek to foster a sense of community between not only artists, but art enthusiasts and appreciators alike.

We stand for the prioritization and empowerment of under-served communities, accessibility to art regardless of socioeconomic status, and seek to bring justice and equity to the field of the arts.  

Facebook link https://www.facebook.com/events/177455942001448/?ref=newsfeed

 

Tim Lee & Susan Bauer Lee of Bark

Interview with Tim Lee & Susan Bauer Lee of Bark Bark is a drum set, a Fender 6-string bass, two voices and more hooks than Bill Dance keeps in his tackle box. Loud is their new album. Bark comprises the collaborative duo of Susan Bauer Lee (drums and vocals) and Tim Lee (Fender VI bass and vocals) based in Water Valley, Mississippi. Susan has played and toured with Tim the past two decades with Bark and Tim Lee 3. Tim got his start in Missisippi’s The Windbreakers before going on to tour as part of Mitch Easter' Let’s Active and seminal college rock band Swimming Pool Q’s. Loud is being releasedby Dial Back Sound / Cool Dog Sound on 12” LP vinyl, CD, digital download and stream September 5. “If you can fill the unforgiving three and a half minutes with two hundred and ten seconds of Rock n Roll, yours is the earth and everything that is in it.” I think Rudyard Kipling said that. What do you do when you don’t know what to do? In the face of commercial failure, heartbreaking loss, environmental collapse, grief, one too many beers. You make a record . . . and you make it loud. It starts with “Love Minus Action,” and the lyrics “I’m a loser not a fighter.” Lennon couldn’t have said it better. But the real story here is that you can’t lose if you don’t play the game. But what do you do if you don’t play the game? You carry on without the baggage of giving a shit about the game. You dance on the graves of the forgotten winners and you play for the regulars. There’s a field in North Mississippi. Several years from now. After the screens have all gone dark. The lush green glows in the dull light of a cloudy afternoon. In the middle of the field there is a drum set and two amplifiers. An old generator rattles in the silence. A woman sits at the drum stool and fixes the mic to reach her lips. A man tunes his Bass VI guitar and twists the volume knob all the way up. A ragged crowd gathers from out of the woods. A rumble of distant thunder rolls through the sky. Then the snare cracks and the band plays on. It’s Bark, and they’re playing us out just before the rain. They’re playing Loud; it’s the distillation of Rock n Roll—the beat, the riff, the words and the voice. The things that have always been there from “Psychotic Reaction” to “Satisfaction.”

Bandcamp: dialbacksound.bandcamp.com bark-bark-loud.bandcamp.com

Website: bark-loud.com

Facebook: @Bark.Bark.Loud

Instagram: @bark.timlee3

Ted Bowne Of Passafire

Interview with Ted Bowne Of Passafire

Passafire was founded in 2003 by Savannah, Georgia natives Ted Bowne on vocals/guitar and Nick Kubley on drums who at the time were students attending Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).[2] Adding Tom Heet on bass and Adam Willis on keyboard, Passafire became a quartet. Their debut self-produced, self-titled album Passafire was released on August 29, 2006. Ted's Info

http://passafire.com

Tickets for Passafire at Grog Shop Cleveland OH OCT-19-23

https://grogshop.gs/event-details/13470438/passafire

 

Paul Claro Of CINEMA CINEMA

CINEMA CINEMA was established in 2008 by Brooklyn-born cousins, vocalist/guitarist Ev
Gold and drummer Paul Claro. They’ve been described as “experi-metal punks” by the Village
Voice, a “jolt of adrenaline” by BrooklynVegan, and “feral and unrelenting” by Big Takeover. 
 
Touring extensively through the past 15 years, CINEMA CINEMA has performed over 475
shows across 11 countries. Multiple treks alongside SST Records founder Greg Ginn, including a
45-date North American tour opening for Black Flag in 2014, select dates supporting Black Flag
in 2013, and shared dates in 2010, 2011, and 2012 with Ginn’s other outfits: The Royal We and
The Taylor Texas Corrugators. In addition, the band has half a dozen European tours to their
credit, including a 2013 stint in support of Martin

 

CINEMA CINEMA returns, this time with polymath percussionist Thor Harris (Swans, Angels
of Light, Shearwater) in tow, to release their seventh full length, “Mjolnir”. Recorded at historic
BC Studio in Brooklyn, NY with legendary noise producer Martin Bisi (Sonic Youth, John Zorn,
Boredoms). The album will be released July 28 as a red 12” vinyl LP, digital download and via
streaming platforms by Nefarious Industries.
 
Inviting multi-instrumentalist Harris into the fold inspires new direction for the ensemble.
Exploring his creative repertoire, Thor makes use of BC’s synth collection along with an
assortment of drums and arcane percussion pieces to leave his fingerprints on the proceedings.
The trio submerge themselves in the strange beauty of chaotic sound, captured inside BC’s
cavernous recording space. Tracked just before the pandemic, Bisi spent time cultivating the
sessions in the months that followed, helping shape one of the band’s most expressive records to
date. This marking the third time that CINEMA CINEMA and Martin have worked together
(2014’s A Night at The Fights and 2017’s Man Bites Dog), the familiarity breeds wild results.

 

 

 

CINEMA CINEMA's info

https://www.cinemacinemaband.com

Stephen Hodges

Interview with drummer composer Stephen Hodges on his new album with mssv

mssv is releasing their second studio album Human Reaction in their typical style: with a 58-show tour in the U.S. and parts of Canada (dates below). The band, composed of guitarist Mike Baggetta, Stephen Hodges (Tom Waits, David Lynch) on drums and avant-punk icon mike watton bass, creates music that is a heretofore unimagined hybrid of a punk power-trio and a dreamy experimental rock band, though they prefer the term “post-genre.” Human Reaction is being released by BIG EGO Records as a digital download, 12” LP vinyl, and via streaming platformson September 1. Recorded mostly on May Day immediately following that last tour, Human Reaction traverses a deeply broad sonic landscape, as expected from this nearly unclassifiable group, though with even deeper twists and turns. With inventively churning drum textures from Hodges (an instantly identifiable sound honed in his days with Tom Waits and David Lynch) and the full-steam-ahead all-in attitude from watt, (as he’s displayed throughout his storied career with MINUTEMEN, fIREHOSE, and Iggy & The Stooges), there is still the impression of “pressure, combustion,power, and hissing clouds of sonic poetry,” as Premier Guitar said. Also evident is the more fearless exploring that comes from a band that has spent a lot of time together crafting their vision, as well as making room for guests like J Mascis, Petra Haden and Nels Cline on some of their previous releases. Stephen Hodges is an American percussionist and composer. He is best known for his work with Mavis Staples Tom Waits,Mike Watt, T Bone Burnett Rick Holmstrom, and film director David Lynch

https://mainsteamstopvalve.com

Tickets to OCT 7th mssv at Beachland Tavern Cleveland OH https://www.beachlandballroom.com/e/13205278/mssv-c-level/

 

Mike Baggetta Part 2

Interview with guitarist Mike Baggetta on his new album with mssv

mssv is releasing their second studio album Human Reaction in their typical style: with a 58-show tour in the U.S. and parts of Canada (dates below). The band, composed of guitarist Mike Baggetta, Stephen Hodges (Tom Waits, David Lynch) on drums and avant-punk icon mike watton bass, creates music that is a heretofore unimagined hybrid of a punk power-trio and a dreamy experimental rock band, though they prefer the term “post-genre.” Human Reaction is being released by BIG EGO Records as a digital download, 12” LP vinyl, and via streaming platformson September 1. Recorded mostly on May Day immediately following that last tour, Human Reaction traverses a deeply broad sonic landscape, as expected from this nearly unclassifiable group, though with even deeper twists and turns. With inventively churning drum textures from Hodges (an instantly identifiable sound honed in his days with Tom Waits and David Lynch) and the full-steam-ahead all-in attitude from watt, (as he’s displayed throughout his storied career with MINUTEMEN, fIREHOSE, and Iggy & The Stooges), there is still the impression of “pressure, combustion,power, and hissing clouds of sonic poetry,” as Premier Guitar said. Also evident is the more fearless exploring that comes from a band that has spent a lot of time together crafting their vision, as well as making room for guests like J Mascis, Petra Haden and Nels Cline on some of their previous releases. Baggetta has had the pleasure of working all over the world with a wide range of visionary musicians across many generations, including David Torn, Jim Keltner, Nels Cline, Psychic Temple, Jeff Coffin, Henry Kaiser, Petra Haden, Rev. Fred Lane, Donny McCaslin, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Joseph C. Philips’ Numinous, Imani Uzuri, Viktor Krauss, David Wax Museum, Julian Lage, Jon Irabagon, Jerome Harris, Tom Harrell, Eivind Opsvik, Jeremy Udden,and Ruth Brown among many others.

mikebaggetta.com

https://mainsteamstopvalve.com

Tickets to OCT 7th mssv at Beachland Tavern Cleveland OH https://www.beachlandballroom.com/e/13205278/mssv-c-level/

 

Veronica Swift

Veronica Swift’s new eponymously titled album, her third for Mack Avenue Records, is a masterful coming-out story. On her previous albums, Confessions (2019) and This Bitter Earth (2021), she ascended to the upper echelon of early 21st century jazz singers because of her virtuosic brilliance, interpretive ingenuity, bracing songwriting, and keen arrangements. Simply put, Swift is not only one of the most dazzling singers to emerge in her generation, she’s one of the most versatile.

While her first two albums solidified her position in modern jazz, Veronica Swift shows that she’s more than a jazz singer, exploring French and Italian opera, European classical music, bossa nova, blues, industrial rock, funk, and vaudeville. She pulls the feat off without the results sounding callow or pastiche. Swift’s expansive artistic voice remains firmly intact regardless of genre.

Swift describes this personal artistic statement on her new album as “transgenre.” “I grew up immersed in the culture of jazz music, blessed to have had some of the greats as mentors, and I felt a deep familial duty to uphold that” she says, reflecting on her parents - jazz singer and educator, Stephanie Nakasian, and bebop pianist, Hod O’Brien.

“But as rooted in jazz as I’ve been, there’s a uniquely visceral power in rock and soul music that’s always fueled my creative passion, and rather than mask or confine that part of my identity, the people I admire most show themselves unabashedly and that’s the kind of tradition I want to be a part of.

 

 

Veronica's Info 

https://www.veronicaswift.com

 

Beachland SEP 20TH-23 Tickets

https://www.beachlandballroom.com/e/13405078/veronica-swift

 

 

Joseph Sieracki

Joseph Sieracki was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He is the writer of A LETTER TO JO published by TOP SHELF, THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THE BRAVE CAPTAIN SUAVE from SCOUT COMICS, and GHOSTS OF SCIENCE PAST from HUMANOIDS. Joseph is currently teaching in a suburb of Cleveland, where he resides with his wife and kids.

Joseph's Info

https://www.josephsieracki.com

https://www.instagram.com/sierackij/

 

 

GUJI 咕叽,

Interview with Klaire and Alex of GUJI 咕叽,

EP of GUJI 咕叽, a quirky synth-driven new wave quartet comprised of Chinese nationals Klaire (synths), Alex (bass), Stacy (drum machine) and American guitarist and singer for Shanghai punk band Round Eye Chachy with an interview. The EP will be released in late Summer August 25 by Floridian label Godless America. The EP was produced by frequent Modern Sky Recordings producer Li Wei Yu To say 2020-2022 were bleak years to live in Shanghai would be the understatement of the century. With the implementation of the “0-Covid policy” and the “Shanghai Lockdown”, a fucked attempt by the CCP to curb the transmission rate of the Covid-19 pandemic, the city became still. Businesses shuttered, schools closed, planes landed, shows cancelled and borders closed. For three years, China seemed without pulse as very little traffic ran between it and the outside world. Guizhou native Jiang Zi Xiu (Klaire) and Craig Englund (Chachy) were stuck in their home for months as a makeshift wall of plywood and bamboo rods was raised at the entrance and exits of the alleyway outside their door. Guards in hazmat suits were placed to conduct daily PCR tests and make sure no one came in or out. It was under these conditions that the couple decided to fill their time and their walls with the double lead harmonies, jangling B-52 styled guitar and cheesy drum machine pulse of the sardonic bubblegum-arpeggiated synthpop of GUJI咕叽. Heavily influenced by the aesthetic of 80s DEVO, B-52s, and My Little Pony the duo channels their frustrations and observations into vivid DIY videos channeling the work of Chuck Statler and blast humorously sardonic synthpop jams lined with pastel colored neon lights. With their first self-titled EP, they turn their anger into childish jeering fun in an overwhelmingly hostile political landscape and with songs like “I like to Hang Out in China” and “My Mao Suit” the band waves at the outside world with hammer and sickle and dares those who listen to not strip and dance in the hot pink fire.