Zig At The Gig podcast

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.

Vinnie Dombroski of Sponge

Sponge is an American alternative rock band formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1992

by vocalist Vinnie Dombroski, guitarists Mike Cross and Joey Mazzola,

bassist Tim Cross, and drummer Jimmy Paluzzi.

After shopping demos as the newly formed quintet, the song “Neenah Menasha”

caught the ears of A&R person Pablo Mathiason and the band signed with The Work Group

(a Columbia Records subsidiary) in the fall of 1993.  The following year,

Sponge released the now iconic, Platinum-selling debut album, “Rotting Piñata,”

to global, critical and commercial success.

 

After two top 10 hit singles, several tours and live television performances, including

the John Stewart Show and Late Night with David Letterman, Sponge followed up their

debut with 1996's "Wax Ecstatic.” This sophomore effort garnered a "Song Of The Year" nod

from Rolling Stone Magazine for title track “Wax Ecstatic.” The album also yielded two

additional top 10 hit singles and featured a guest vocal appearance from Richard Butler

of the Psychedelic Furs on the song “I Am Anastasia.”

Since then, Sponge continues to release new music and keeps a near-constant tour

schedule to the pleasure of their legion of loyal followers.

 

Tickets  for

Sponge, C-Level, Slim Ross, and The Rumble   

SEP 1ST -23 at Winchester Lakewood, OH

https://www.ticketweb.com/event/sponge-at-the-winchester-the-winchester-tickets/13045225?pl=Winchester&REFID=clientsitewp

 

 

 

Sponge Info

https://www.spongetheband.com

 

 

Eddie Shaw of The Monks

Interview with Eddie Shaw bassist of The Monks and Author of the book Black Monk Time. 

The Monks, referred to by the name monks on record sleeves, were an American rock band formed in Gelnhausen, West Germany in 1964. Assembled by five American GIs stationed in the country, the group grew tired of the traditional format of rock, which motivated them to forge a highly experimental style characterized by an emphasis on hypnotic rhythms that minimized the role of melody, augmented by the use of sound manipulation techniques. The band's unconventional blend of shrill vocals confrontational lyrics, feedback, and  guitarist David Day's six-string banjo baffled audiences, but music historians have since identified the Monks as a pioneering force in avant-garde musicThe band's lyrics often voiced objection to the Vietnam War and the dehumanized state of society, while prefiguring the harsh and blunt commentary of the punk rock movement of the 1970s and 1980s. The band's appearance was considered as shocking as its music, as they attempted to mimic the look of Catholic monks by wearing black habits with cinctures symbolically tied around their necks, and hair worn in partially shaved tonsures.

 

The Monks Info 

https://www.the-monks.com

Hackedepicciotto (Alexander Hacke and Danielle de Picciotto) Part 2

Berlin-based avant-garde duo hackedepicciotto have returned with Keepsakes, their fifth full length studio album. 

Keepsakes is the duo’s second album released on Mute, and was recorded at one of Europe’s oldest recording spaces, the Neapolitan studio Auditorium Novecento. Inspired by the space, which was home to Caruso and Morricone, the new compositions feature tubular bells and a grand piano within their signature sound of a symphonic drone.

 

hackedepicciotto are Alexander Hacke and Danielle de Picciotto. Both are legends of their own making: Danielle de Picciotto moved to Berlin in 1987, to become the lead singer of the band „Space Cowboys“, the co-initiator of the Love Parade, a collaborator of the Ocean Club with Gudrun Gut, and Alexander’s partner in crime. Alexander Hacke is founding member and bass player of Einstürzende Neubauten. The artist couple, romantically married in 2006, has creatively interacted with countless international projects for almost 2 decades now besides regularly releasing their own compositions. 

 

 

Hackedepicciotto's Info 

https://www.hackedepicciotto.de

https://twitter.com/hackedpicciotto

https://www.instagram.com/hackedepicciotto/

https://www.facebook.com/hackepicciotto/

http://mute.com/