The Music Court

I will have to give Say It Ain’t So the title of Song of the Day since I played with a few people today and the best sounding song was this 1994 Weezer single off of their debut album Weezer (Blue Album).  This song was written with the verse “Say it ain’t so” and the music all written.  Rivers Cuomo needed verses and recalled an incident when he was in high school and and he came home to find a beer bottle in the fridge left by his step-father.  He immediately felt betrayed since he was under the impression that his biological father split up with his mom due to alcoholism.  The feeling that his step-father was soon going the way as his biological father brings upon the phrase, say it ain’t so.  The song is a very fun song to play since the parts are pretty simple but all merge very well together while the singer belts out a great chorus.  The drums are a simple 4/4 beet between the high-hat, ride and alternating a crash symbol during the chorus, the rhythm guitar chords are easy to pick up so that the lead can go off during some parts into solo.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyfyhKga-6Y

Bob Bogle

            Let us dig a little deeper today to honor the memory of the late Bob Bogle, lead guitarist for The Ventures, who passed away this past sunday at the ripe age of 75. It is a shame that we must continue to say goodbye to fantastic, trend-setting, musicians of the past. Bogle, along with Don Wilson, and the rest of his Ventures (who were elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008) from Tacoma, Washington became one of the first surf bands ever to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 with a hit. This hit was, “Walk Don’t Run.”

                   “Walk Don’t Run,” like many hits that debuted during 1950’s and 60’s, was a cover. In this case it was a cover of a rock and roll composition by Johnny Smith, a mainstream Jazz guitarist. Yet, the version by The Ventures clearly shot this composition to hit status, mainly because The Ventures made the song a shorter and more catchy rendition. The song is an instrumental and displays the talent of Bob Bogle and his band quite well. Bogle can be heard experimenting with the tremolo arm (whammy bar) and his work with this arm has become famous. Guitarists like Joe Walsh and Stevie Ray Vaughan have sited Bogle as a large influence on their guitar playing.

                  Rest in peace Bob Bogle and in order to honor his memory I suggest that everyone takes a look at this link from a 1960 performance of “Walk Don’t Run.” 

                 Check it Out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ11y7pYl-8

I was looking through my iTunes library the other day, kind of for no reason, when I stumbled across the A’s and along with that, the band Atreyu.  I started listening to them and came upon the track “The Theft” which reminded me of the reason why I started listening to post-hardcore/screemo music.  The song is the second single off of the bands  third studio album “A Death Grip On Yesterday”, which was released in 2006, and is about the bands lead singer and lyricists stolen life and freedom during his bout with alcoholism.

The song starts off with a very epic intro on the drums and guitar by drummer/backup vocalist Brandon Saller and guitarists Dan Jacobs and Travis Miguel after a few seconds of feedback leading in.  Then the first verse begins, sung by lead singer/lyricist Alex Varkatzasit’s accomapanied by a very soft instrumental background. The chorus then bursts in and backup Brandon Saller starts singing the melody while Alex Varkatzasit switches to screaming back every few lines that Brandon Saller sings which makes for an interesting vocal interplay that works well for this genre of music.

The lyrics are accompanied by the haunting video painting a picture of a boy going through his life and losing his innocence.  He is portrayed as just going along with what his parents wish of him, such as taking a corporate job until he is too old and frail and life has passed ending with the band performing in the winter version of his favorite childhood memory of flying a kite.  

Link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxkoA7RFeQo

P.S: If you like this song also check out Falling Down by Atreyu which off of their fourth studio albums “Lead Sails Paper Anchors” (released in 2007) and it shows the bands talents at a little more fast pace beat.

                A very happy 66th birthday to Lee Dorman who over 41 years ago played bass on the iconic track, “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” with his significant band Iron Butterfly. Don’t know the song? Well, I bet you the know the famous minor-key riff. The guitar and bass ostinato (musical phrase that repeats over the same musical voice). The haunting and endless basis for the guitar and organ solos that extend the song to an incredible 17 minutes and 5 seconds. The song that occupies the entire second side of their 1968 album, “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” which was released on June 14th, 1968 (41 years and one day ago).

          The song has been featured in numerous television programs like the Simpsons, in commercials like a Castrol commercial that debuted during the Superbowl and in movies like High Fidelity. It has also been covered by bands from The Incredible Bongo Band in 1973 to Slayer in 1987 (That is one interesting match-up. I pride myself in possibly being the only one ever to mention both of those bands in the same sentence). So what is the cause for the hype around this one song. Well, for one, it is an insanely catchy and relatively easy riff that can fit well into television, commercial, or movie scenes. Secondly, the story behind the name has simply made the song more iconic.

                There are a few different versions of the story but this one came from the liner notes of the newer 1995 version of the album. According to the notes, singer Doug Ingle was drunk when he first told the drummer Ron Bushy the title of the song. The title which originally was, “In the Garden of Eden.” Bushy wrote down what he heard and this created the mondegreen(a misheard phrase commonly found in a song). After Ingle sobered up Bushy showed him what he wrote down and the drunken slurred title stuck. Just like that a classic was made. The title just gives the deep riff an even more heavy metal feel. One must understand, this was 1968. Heavy Metal was in its infant stages and bands like Blue Cheer, Steppenwolf and Iron Butterfly were experimenting with taking psychedelic music and producing it with more of a heavy metal touch.

              Fun Fact. The song was crowned as the 24th greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1

This New York City based Indie rock band got critics attentions with their 2004 album Antics.  The secondary single from this album is the song, “Evil” which like most of Interpol songs has very cryptic lyrics with a strong rhythm section and is primarily fueled by lead singer Paul Banks’ almost robotic, yet, still very human voice.  The lyrics alongside the music video (that features a slightly creepy puppet dubbed Norman by video director Charlie White) seem to show that the song is about one thinking about life on their death bed.

The video shows Norman moments after a car crash mouthing to Paul Banks vocals while the paramedics take him away to the hospital and immediately to the operating room.  The ominous instrumentals go along with his voice to make the song as unique as all Interpol songs and the marionette focused video also helps show that Interpol is not just another Indie band that cannot get a major label. They are, in my opinion, the essence of Indie music.  They are not mainstream in the sense that their music isn’t marketable to the general population, but their songs are still memorable. Hell, I’ve been listening to them for a few years myself and probably will eagerly continue.  I highly recommend that you give this band a listen. Don’t only check out “Evil,” but the entire remainder of the album “Antics” and also their most recent album “Our Love to Admire”.  

Check it Out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNtGYdm2rOY

-JB