Hurry released the best record of 2016 according to The Power Pop Show. Sweet Sweet Music talked to Matt Scottoline about the need to be mildly psychotic, sensing a strong melody and Teenage Fanclub.

Sweet Sweet Music discovered Guided Meditation this week. (Blown away by it). It has been out for quite some time now. There even is a new ep. Is that the way the music industry works nowadays? How do you look at the music business? 

I don’t know if it’s specifically how the industry works now, but I do think there’s a feeling of urgency if you’re a musician sometimes, where you want to share the music as quickly as you can. Unless that’s just me. The band is named Hurry after all. The music business is very strange. It isn’t really designed for a naturalistic approach these days. If you want to make it happen, you have to be mildly psychotic, or very lucky. That’s pretty much the only way. I try and ignore it as best I can. But it can be difficult. 

Nothing to Say is such a beautiful song. How did it come together? Do you recognize early on during the writing process that you are on to something?

Thank you. I think whenever I’m writing a song, and can immediately sense if the melody is strong, and I knew that song had a strong melody. I know if I go back to listen to a demo multiple times, there’s probably something there. I remember that song specifically, I kept telling my band mates how I felt like it was going to be very good — and kind of had to make the case. Admittedly, the demo sounded terrible. But the song was there. I once heard an interview with Nick Lowe where he said he knows a song he’s writing is good if it sounds like something that already existed but he’d never heard before. Something like that. I felt that with Nothing To Say.

LISTEN/BUY

She tells you she will decide on a 5-song-mix tape if there is going to be a second date. Which 5 would you put on? 

1) Teenage Fanclub – “What You Do To Me”

2) David Kilgour – “Fall Away”

3) The Explorer’s Club – “Forever”

4) Matthew Sweet – “Sick Of Myself”

5) Paul Westerberg – “As Far As I Know”

If you could tour the world with two other bands, which two would you chose?

Teenage Fanclub

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

How will 2017 look like?

We are going to record and hopefully release a new record. And play more. It should be a good year.

 

Sweet Sweet Music talked to Mike Adams about Casino Drone, the favorite song of his 3 year old son, tension in a catchy tune, Glen Campbell and trying to remain super cool.

Casino Drone is a power/indie pop gem. GEM!

Diem Be seems to be everybody’s favorite track. Is that a surprise to you or did you know you had something special right from the start?

It’s a bit of a surprise. We actually recorded a version of that song for a split 7″ with our pals Sleeping Bag a few years before Casino Drone came out. I wasn’t really planning on including it on the album, since it’d already been released, in a way.

But, when I was trying to decide what songs to put on the record I was listening to the recordings a lot in my car, and my son (who was 3 at the time) would often request “Diem Be” by name. It was his favorite one.

That’s when I started to think that maybe that song had a little more to it than I initially realized. If a kid likes it, it has to be kind of good, right? 

Sounds like that track  grew up in the studio. Or doesn’t that make any sense?

No, you totally got me. That song started out with that opening riff, I was just playing it over and over again in my studio at home until the rest of it started to unlock for me. It felt like a real Frankenstein for a while in the demo stages until we started playing it live and got comfortable with the transitions. It came a long way before we got to Casino Drone.

The Razorcake review says: “Diem Be” sounds like it might’ve been taken from a hardcore song. But that’s the feeling I have with more of the songs. The “it can explode now any minute”-feeling. That kind of tension, is that what you are looking for in a song?

I love tension in a catchy tune. It’s a comfortable and effective contrast for me. I grew up attending loads of hardcore shows in my hometown, so even though it’s mostly subconscious, it’s no surprise to me that that stuff leaks out once in a while.

I think Kurt (who wrote the review for Razorcake) and I come from a very similar background, so it’s cool that he recognizes that stuff in what I’m doing now.

Another side to that is that my entire life is about trying to remain super cool in the face of unspeakable tension and anxiety, ha! So, I’m happy that the music I’m making can effectively communicate that.   

There was a day when a review like the AllMusic one would be bring stardom. The music industry changed, didn’t it?

I suppose it has, though I’m admittedly fairly ignorant of the industry. I’ve been making music in my various bedrooms with no money since I was a teenager. I loved doing it then, and I love doing it now. I take a certain amount of pride in what I’ve been able to accomplish just from curiosity and amassing years of experience and making mistakes.

I’d love to be a big fat rich guy with no worries, chowing on a turkey leg with my foot propped up on a gout stool someday thanks to my record-breaking album sales, but I also tend to think of music as this really primitive human thing that’s going to go on existing whether there’s an industry or not.

I’m baffled and content just to exist in some strange space between those two extremes. 

 

She tells you she will decide on a 5-song-mix tape if there is going to be a second date. Which 5 would you put on?

“All Done Wrong” – Starflyer 59
“Like A Diamond” – Glass Ghost
“Tender When I Want To Be” – Mary Chapin Carpenter
“Wishing Now” – Glen Campbell
“Under Your Spell” – The Range of Light Wilderness
…this question is entirely too hard.

If you could tour the world with two other bands, which two would you chose?

Electric Light Orchestra, and Sound of Ceres

What will 2017 look like? How will you promote Casino Drone?

We’re doing some touring and playing a lot of shows around the midwest and the east coast of the USA this spring. I’d like to start recording again by the summer.

Although, we’ve yet to play abroad, so if anyone reading this wants to make that happen, I’m all ears!

BUY/LISTEN

Mike Adams at His Honest Weight @ Daytrotter

Caper Clowns are from Denmark. They just released their debut record, The Buca Bus, a pure pop delight. Sweet Sweet Music talked to Rick Kingo about hygge, songwriting, Oasis, The Divine Comedy and about too many ballads on a mix-tape.

 There is a “Hygge” hype going on over here in the Netherlands. Does that in any way relate to your music? Or is that a stupid question?

You could argue that there is some “hygge” to our brand new single All We Ever Do Is Run (out Monday 9^th of January), but that’s pretty much it. It wasn’t actually written that way either, but as soon as we added the banjo, “hygge” just sort of magically appeared.

Does that pure pop sound come naturally to you? Who are your musical influences?

It does. Not always though, and we do sometimes make rockier tunes, but quite a lot of the stuff we write is just pure pop, which is great, ‘cause we love it.

As far as musical influences go there’s of course The Beatles, The Beach Boys and other 60’s bands, but there’s also bands like Oasis, XTC, The Kooks, Panic! at the Disco and many many more.

Lyrics or melodies, what comes first?

Of the 12 tracks on The Buca Bus words only came first once, and that was on Dressed In Flaws, which started out as a poem by our bass player Christian. On the other 11 tracks the music came first, and the words for Dressed In Flaws were actually even heavily re-written after we wrote the music. So usually it’s music first, though we do consider the words equally important.

A Tale of Romance & Magnetic Trains is my favourite song (for now). How did that one came together?

Thank you. That’s one of mine (we are four different songwriters on the album, so it’s always nice when someone picks one of mine as a favourite).
It was actually written very quickly. I just picked up the guitar, started playing and singing and 30 minutes later I had the chords and melody down, and maybe another 30 minutes later the words were done too. Took a few days in the rehearsing room and studio with the band to get the arrangement quite right, but it was definitely one of the fastest to make.

She tells you she will decide on a 5-song-mix tape if there is going to be a second date. Which 5 would you put on?

That’s a tough one. So tough.

I think I’m going to have to pick Don’t Look Back In Anger by Oasis, ‘cause that’s the song that got me into playing the guitar in the first place.

I’d probably have to pick a Beatles song as well, ‘cause they were just pure genius, and I think I’m gonna go with In My Life.

To The Rescue by The Divine Comedy would be on the tape as well, ‘cause it happens to be my favourite song at the moment. I first heard it on Alan Haber’s Pure Pop Radio about a month ago, and I just haven’t stopped listening to it since.

That’s three semi-ballads so maybe I would need to pick something more upbeat like Chelsea Dagger by The Fratellis, ‘cause that one is just a lot of fun.

Finally I’d probably pick one of our own tunes, ‘cause rumour has it chicks dig guys who play guitar. Probably an upbeat one, ‘cause there’s definitely too many ballads on my mix-tape already.

If you could tour the world with two other bands, which two would you chose?

If I could pick anyone that ever existed I’d pick The Beatles and Oasis, both because they’re great and because I think it would be all kinds of fun.

Sadly none of those bands exist anymore, which means I’d pick The Kooks, because they have some quality tunes, are a great live band and I think their fans would really like what we do as well.

I’d also pick Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, ‘cause I go to a lot of their shows all over Europe anyway, so it would save me A LOT of money not to have to pay to get in!

What will 2017 look like? How will you promote The Buca Bus?

We’re going to play a lot of concerts and festivals. At the moment, we only have shows planned in Denmark, but we would of course love to travel and play all across Europe (and the world, but we’ll settle for Europe this time around).

In addition to that we’re going to release a few more singles over the next 6-7 months, which means we will hopefully continue to be on the radio a lot, like we have been with our lead single Pockets.

And we will of course continue to write and record new music, and it actually just so happens that we’re headed back in the studio on Saturday to start working on our next album, which we hope to be able to release some time in 2018.

Listen here  and buy  here

Baroque, Bubblegum and Bittersweet.

Sweet Sweet Music talked to Butch Young. About Mercury Man, “crypto-religious” references, a poppy melody with life-and-death-related imagery , The Trashcan Sinatras and keeping “both feet in”.

Read, Watch & Listen!

 

“The album’s occasionally crypto-religious lyrics may leave you wondering what Young is on about,” writes MusoScribe’s Bill Kopp. How does religion influence your music?

While religion in no way influences my music (the melodic/instrumental aspects), such matters have indeed infiltrated my song lyrics. I did (quite subconsciously) sprinkle-in some “crypto-religious” references.

While I am mindful/curious about “spiritual” matters (for lack of a better word: Big Questions/Theories about the origin/nature/meaning of Life/Love/Death), I’m not at all “religious.” I don’t subscribe to any religious dogma. I interpret religious books and ideas poetically/symbolically – as opposed to literally.

I have a powerful faith in Love/Mercy/Kindness/Karma but not much else. I studied Comparative Religions and Alan Watts along with Bowie’s “Quicksand” lyrics and (post- Beatles) Lennon and Harrison. These songwriters cryptically remarked upon “God/Krishna/Karma” and “the great salvation of bullshit faith.” Some of their lyrics left me scratching my head (till it opened a crack and some light shone in).

My own such allusions tend to employ more of a wink-and-smile than those of the aforementioned late-greats. I figure “tongue-in-cheek” is a more advisable tone to strike within the context of my sugary, four-minute pop shuffles.

 

 

Your songs really require the listener’s attention. Only if you listen carefully will the full beauty will be “shown.” Does that make sense?

I think I understand what you mean. There’s a variety of instrumentation, vocal layers, counterpoint, etc. I suppose it does get somewhat busy and baroque in places — which is why I chose certain other places to drop almost everything out for a few bars — to cleanse the listener’s palette with at least a moment or two of sparseness.

I’m fully aware that (depending upon the listener) this polyphonous approach may be considered a plus or a minus. There’s something to be said for “Easy Listening” (not intended here as a pejorative). Headphones (good ones, anyway) never hurt!

 One Foot In is my favorite song, featuring soft melodies and strong lyrics. Can you tell me more about it?

It’s certainly (lyrically) non-linear. Juxtaposing a fun, poppy melody with life-and-death-related imagery. A series of phonetically-suitable and pointedly provocative non sequiturs. It’s vaguely about the perils of indecision, procrastination, tentativeness.

One foot active and the other inactive. One foot in life; the other in the grave. Death is inevitable and we’re all doomed/helpless – so hopefully that realization may serve to heighten our appreciation of the here-and-now and the beauty that surrounds us.

There’s a bit of God/Death-baiting in there as well: “Well come on, let’s have it” and: “Let’s get down to it” and: “That’s right, God damn it!”

You would need quite a band to perform “Mercury Man” live. Possible?

True, I would – though it’s absolutely possible. To perform it with all the parts represented on the album would require one very populated stage. What a delight that would be! I’ve performed some of these songs live – but on each occasion, it was a more scaled-down arrangement of instruments/musicians.

If you could tour the world with two other bands, which two would you choose?

I’m going to assume you mean living and extant bands (?) Otherwise this fantasy could get really far fetched! Let’s see… I’ll go with: Teenage Fanclub + The Trashcan Sinatras.

What will 2017 look like?

It will include lots more writing and recording (getting the next album shaped-up) + collaborating with different musicians (“calling all string quartets and horn sections!”) + more live performances + another music video + broadening the scope of my contacts & relationships + keeping “both feet in.”

BUY/LISTEN HERE