Freak Heat Waves
Welcome to Episode 53 of Doc Rockavoy's Indy Music Garage! I haven't posted show in over a year but I will remedy that in the coming year! My band Red Cities released a second L.P. "Soft Target" last November, and we've been busy with that since summer 2017. It received good reviews in our local paper the Lincoln Journal Star and in Big Takeover Magazine, posting as #60 in its "Best Albums of 2017." We also got some airplay on Little Steven's Underground Garage on Genya Ravan's show, and also on WFMU, WKDU, and some other radio stations. Now that's run its course, I can get back to my podcast and play new and old records I've accumulated since that time.
There's a number of Preoccupations/Vietcong tracks on the show, one of the great, new post-punk bands out touring and recording at the moment. I had the opportunity to see them twice this spring in Philadelphia and Los Angeles when I was on the road doing book acquisitions. They are a phenomenal band, and I had the chance to talk to their guitarist Daniel after their great (but way under-attended) Philadelphia show. We liked the same post-punk bands and also Vox AC30s, and I convinced him to whittle down his pedal rig and let the Vox ring through. When I saw them again in Los Angeles, I ran into him and their drummer Michael, and they noted they'd been getting rid of guitar pedals and letting their amps/Celestion greenbacks ring and chime through their melodic compositions. They had a phenomenal run of sold out shows in Los Angeles at The Echo, just epic performances despite having All of their gear stolen in San Francisco. Their fans gave $30K in two days to get them back on the road. We were paid back two night in row for our support!
Speaking of post-punk, this show is devoted to this splintering off of the original punk scene 1975 to 1979, although of course both musical movements overlap. I put on a song off the 1987 Rites of Spring 7" released on Dischord that was such a milestone of US post-punk. There's some Siouxsie and Banshees, an original post-punk band, and also some great new work by Protomartyr from Detroit; Jawbox, The Swirlies, New Zealand experimental guitarist Roy Montgomery with also Flying Saucer Attack. There's also some tracks from Cheatahs, Swervedriver, Spaceman 3, Dum Dum Girls, and Lincoln's own Universe Contest, Omaha's See Through Dresses, and Kansas City's Dark Satellites. I also put a track off the first Spain album, a masterpiece of ambient guitarwork with my old friend Evan Hartzell on drums.
The show is a whopping 160 minutes! The tracks in order are: Preoccupations, Alvays, Protomartyr, Rites of Spring, Flying Saucer Attack, Jawbox, Rites of Spring, Universe Contest, Siouxsie and the Banshees, See Through Dresses, Roy Montgomery, Veronica Falls, Spain, Come, Vietcong, L.A. Witch, Bardo Pond, Swervedriver, Cheatahs, Come, Dark Satellites, Dum Dum Girls, Red Cities, Opal, Flying Saucer Attack, Preoccupations, Siouxsie and the Banshees, My Blood Valentine, Vietcong, Portishead, Savages, Spaceman 3, and The Swirlies.
Thank for tuning in and enjoy!
Doc Rockavoy
