Neil Nathan taps Detroit scene to make debut album

There's just something about the Detroit music scene that strikes a chord with Neil Nathan.

It's not just one genre or era, either: Nathan, a New York-based singer/guitarist, digs Detroit rock, pop, R&B and soul from various decades. And his list of favorite acts includes legends (The Stooges, Alice Cooper) and contemporary names (Brendan Benson, The Go), plus artists who might not immediately come to mind when thinking about the Motor City’s music scene (such as Glenn Frey and Marshall Crenshaw).

Looking for a little "Midwest working-class grit and purity of soul without pretense," Nathan recorded nearly all of The Distance Calls, his debut album (which follows a series of EPs), at Tempermill in Ferndale, Mich. Joining Nathan at the studio, which is about 12 miles from Detroit, was a cast of Motor City-area musicians recruited by producer Bobby Harlow of The Go.

Continue reading "MOTOR CITY ADMIRER" »

Posted by Medleyville at 04:59 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Iggy and the Stooges
House of Blues — Atlantic City, N.J.
Aug. 27, 2010

"We're the f---ing Stooges," Iggy Pop (above) announced after this evening's first two songs, and his choice of words was noteworthy. No, not due to the gratuitous F-bomb, but because technically this was a performance not by "The Stooges" — the name under which Pop's group released two grimy slabs of proto-punk (1969's self-titled debut and 1970's Fun House) — but instead a concert by "Iggy and the Stooges," as the reshuffled band was billed later.

Continue reading "PACKED WITH POWER" »

Posted by Medleyville at 08:22 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Joe Firstman talks Treehouse and more

Singer/songwriter Joe Firstman has done a lot in his almost 10-year career in music. He's had a much buzzed about major label debut album, 2003's The War of Women. He’s been the opening act for such heavyweight headliners as Willie Nelson and Sheryl Crow, and he even had a stint as a late night bandleader for Last Call With Carson Daly.

With a new live-in-the-studio album, Live at the Treehouse, out now and a solo acoustic tour in progress, what does the California-based tunesmith have to say about these and other topics? Firstman checked in from a tour stop in Oxford, Miss., to provide the lowdown.

Continue reading "SPEAKING HIS MIND" »

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A FILM ABOUT THE DOORS … FINALLY!

Unlike the band's own series of understandably self-serving concert videos over the years or, on entirely the other hand, Oliver Stone's utterly cataclysmic 1991 biopic The Doors, Tom DiCillo's When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors (freshly available on DVD and Blu-ray from Eagle Rock Entertainment) perhaps comes closest to finally presenting, as no less an authority as Ray Manzarek has long promised, "the true story of The Doors."

Continue reading "THE GARY PIG GOLD REPORT, Vol. 29" »

Posted by Medleyville at 04:41 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Richard Patrick revisits Filter's past for new album

Turning 40 has not mellowed Richard Patrick. The Filter leader comes out swinging on the band's latest album, The Trouble With Angels, which he's proud to say echoes elements of Short Bus, Title of Record and Amalgamut.

Patrick recently checked in to discuss Angels, which is due Aug. 17 on Rocket Science Ventures.

Continue reading "A ROARING RELAPSE" »

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Great Big Sea takes advantage of technology to make new album

Recording music is all about capturing ideas, feelings and moments. And these days, there’s really no need to panic if inspiration strikes outside of the studio.

The members of Great Big Sea, like other artists, have regularly used laptops for demo purposes. But the Canadian roots-rock band recently took things one step further, recording straight to singer/guitarist Alan Doyle's laptop and including those tracks on Great Big Sea's latest album, Safe Upon the Shore.

Continue reading "LAPTOP OF LUXURY" »

Posted by Medleyville at 08:32 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)