The JUMP Conversation: Eric Slick of Dr. Dog (#fatkidsinamerica).
Read the story about Eric Slick from the winter 2011/2012 issue of JUMP here. Below is the transcript of the initial interview performed by Brandee Nichols:
So, let’s start with the basics. Start from the top. I want to know your whole story.
Is that true? Okay, I was born at Jefferson Hospital on May 15th 1987.
You’ve been playing drums pretty much your whole life, right?
Yeah, I started playing drums when I was 2 years old. But that’s kind of a loose thing, because I started playing percussion when I was about 2, then my parents bought me a kit when I was 5. That was sort of the beginning of the drum set portion of my life.
I read that you would break your cribs.
I did. I would bang on the crib. Often. My parents would play vinyl records in my living room. I’d play on the crib or… I had a set of bongos. I broke the bongos. I broke everything I had. They were like, “Okay, maybe we should get him something a little more durable.” Even to this day I break my drums. I’m cursed. Read more…
Electro Hoop Dreaming.
Text by Cary Carr. Images by Rick Kauffman.
Jennifer Dobrydnia literally glows.
A multicolor LED hoop spins effortlessly around her waist, then around her arms, making its way to her legs, all in one seamless transition. It’s impossible to take your eyes off of her. She has fluorescent blonde hair reminiscent of a fifties pinup girl, her bangs curled across the center of her forehead. In a neon pink bikini, she radiates on stage at the Art of Electronica’s event in Philadelphia’s Starlight Ballroom.
As dubstep and electro music boom all around, she lets the beat do the work for her.
Beautiful and modern, Dobrydnia (right) is the queen hooper of Philadelphia, and she’s making her presence known.
In case you didn’t know, hooping is the term for the emerging art form involving dancing with large, customized hoops. Read more…
What Are You Doing to Make Your Band a Success?
Text by Anthony Caroto. Image of June Divided at The Grape Room by G.W. Miller III.
Performing live is a wonderful and rewarding experience. Any musician will tell you. There’s nothing quite like it. The bigger the crowd, the more invincible you feel. But herein lies the question – how big is your crowd?
There is this perpetual myth that venues are responsible for putting any and all bands in front of a packed club on any given night of the week. As impossible as this sounds, many bands cling to it like organized religion.
So, now what?
Oftentimes the problem is that neither party understands their role in the equation. Many venues expect instant financial results with only a minimal investment.
Sorry Mr. Bar Owner, but a couple of community speakers and an 8-channel mixer does not a music venue make. And July’s calendars don’t really seem to have the same impact in November. It’s great that you have a MySpace page – if only it were still 2008 and you remembered the password. If you (the band) choose to play there – and I’m guessing the booking process is rather, ahem, loose – then keep your expectations low.
A venue’s job is to promote itself and its lineup. They’re looking to build a loyal following of folks who enjoy a few drinks while watching live music. It’s their responsibility to provide the atmosphere. This includes a quality sound system that fits the room, a web presence with regular updates and a staff that genuinely enjoys live music. If the venue doesn’t provide this, then don’t play there.
What a venue is not responsible for is telling the world about how great your band is specifically. That’s your job.
Herein lies what confuses bands the most; promotion. Yes, venues understand that you’re an “artist” and that you’ve spent months writing and rehearsing your material. But a few last-minute Facebook blasts about your show will not generate a satisfactory crowd. You’re gonna have to actually step out from behind the computer and do something. Sure, the age of social networking has allowed us to reach more people in a shorter amount of time but there’s still something to be said about the tangibles like posters, flyers, stickers, etc.
To be in a functioning band goes beyond the ability to string a few chords together. Today, it’s all about branding and marketing. What identifies and separates your band from the others? Will the folks who saw you perform last weekend remember your name on Monday?
That, my dear bands, is completely up to you.
Anthony Caroto founded Origivation, a Philly music magazine, in 2001. He sold off the magazine in 2006 and then bounced around the country before returning to Philadelphia in 2010. He now works at The Grape Room in Manayunk, doing a variety of tasks including promotion and booking. Drop him a line at graperoom@gmail.com.
Social Commentary With an X-Acto Knife.
Text by Maddy Court. Artwork by Joe Boruchow.
South Philly street artist and guitarist Joe Boruchow creates geometric designs and bold, stylized images that take on street art’s noble mission of making crappy places look less crappy.
“I’ll get people asking what it’s for or what it’s advertising,” he says. “I also get people who see it as vandalism. I try not to do too much private property but sometimes it’s unavoidable.”
Joe’s adventures in street art began in 2001 when he started making promotional posters with handmade stencils for his band, The Nite Lights. As his technique with an X-Acto knife improved, his stencils became elaborate enough to stand on their own as paper cutouts.
Whether he’s working on his intricate patterns or his music, Joe’s artistic process remains fundamentally the same.
“I guess everything starts with an idea,” he says. “Then, as you construct the song or the paper cutout, you play with the medium as the idea changes.”
His wheatpaste posters, fraught with political satire and social commentary, can be found around the city on telephone poles, public mailboxes and abandoned buildings.
There’s a definite folksy quality to Joe’s visual art and music that makes both instantly recognizable.
“I generally describe The Nite Lights’ music as handmade rock and roll,” he offers. “Although, some would challenge the term ‘handmade’ now that I use a drum machine so frequently. We like to be spooky and we like to rock from time to time. Our music is most successful when it is evocative, expressive and pretty.”
The Nite Lights are fast at work on a yet-to-be named EP, which is due out by the end of the year.
Joe’s 10th annual solo exhibition hangs at The Bean Café, 615 South St., through December 13.
And if you just want to meet Joe, swing by Tattooed Mom’s, where he’s a bartender.
MACH22 is Ready to Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Text by Kevin Stairiker. Images by G.W. Miller III.
How does one go from playing with the likes of the legendary Roots crew and being a part of Jay-Z’s touring outfit to fronting “the hardest rock band you’ve never heard of?”
Simple. You don’t take the easy way out.
Lamont Caldwell sure hasn’t.
Caldwell talks at great length about nearly everything but all of it is worthwhile and quotable. His belief in the core ideals of rock ‘n’ roll is damn near inspiring, even in the face of the seemingly diminishing popularity of the genre.
“Rock as a genre always has its periods of popularity and decline,” he explains. “When Nirvana came out in the early 90s, everybody thought rock was finished. But it just morphed into grunge. It always comes back.”
Caldwell is bringing that fast-paced, head-banging rock back to Philadelphia with his band MACH22. They deliver exactly what you think they would – hard and heavy, blues-influenced rock ‘n roll.
Though Caldwell has been the only constant member of the band since it was created in 2005, he believes that he’s finally found the right lineup to really make an impact: Ty Asoudegan, a School of Rock instructor, on lead guitar, veteran Frank Day on bass and Athens, Georgia transplant Scott Smith on drums.
Caldwell, a striking figure adorned with tattoos and jewelry, handles lead vocals and plays guitar, though he is also a multi-instrumentalist.
He’s been in and out of Philadelphia as a touring musician since the 90s. He’s backed up Bilaal, the Dave Matthews Band, Amos Lee and the aforementioned Roots. He toured as a saxophone player with Jay-Z, playing huge stadiums around the world.
Coming back and playing bar gigs with MACH22 isn’t that much different , he says.
“I try to treat every single gig I do exactly the same,” Caldwell says. “You have to be nice to everyone everywhere you go, from the sound men to the guys working the lights. You really don’t want to burn bridges.”
Caldwell will keep that in mind as MACH22 puts the finishing touches on the currently untitled follow-up to their last EP, the appropriately titled The EP.
Starting on December 17, the band will have a standing gig at The Legendary Dobbs on South Street, performing every six weeks.
“My sister gave me some really good advice a couple years back that I try to live by,” Caldwell says. “Don’t try and reinvent the wheel. Just put it on your car and drive.”
Shorty Boy Boy Wants You to Party Hard.
Text by Chesney Davis. Images by Grace Dickinson.
Sitting in a window seat at beer haven The Foodery in Northern Liberties, Joshua Pannepacker shares his view of what a profile of his music should be all about.
“Just put all the fun shit in there,” instructs the artists who performs under the name Shorty Boy Boy.
He pushes his dark blond hair back and tucks the tresses behind his left ear. Then he takes a swig of the lager he chose because it hails from his home state of New Jersey.
Fun is somewhat of a mantra for the eight-year Philly resident when concerning his experimental rock-pop. And with a stage name like Shorty Boy Boy – the name of his childhood dog, a yappy, black and white Papillon – the fun seems built in.
“I want to make songs that make me giggle,” says Pannepacker.
But even with his sense of playfulness, Pannepacker is intent on making quality music with elements that surprise.
“I can get deep into topic or thought,” he says, “but I try it keep it a little bit balanced so it’s not too heavy.”
Since its inception, several musicians have contributed to Pannepacker’s venture.
“It’s just a project where everything shifts all the time,” Pannepacker says. “It’s kind of always been that way. So now I just go with it.”
After releasing the 2006 album Kicking Your Ass, Then Smoking Your Grass, Pannepacker’s focus shifted to playing guitar for Philly-based band Saudi Arabia.
The band folded after three years, so Pannepacker started playing shows with Shorty Boy Boy material again in September 2010.
In April, he began working with friend Mattias Nilsson, a recording and mixing veteran. They’ve partnered to develop the Shorty Boy Boy sound while completing songs for an upcoming album.
With Nilsson on board, Pannepacker says he hopes to soon release new songs and eventually perform on the road. That’s where Shorty Boy Boy really shines.
“I like to make a show of it,” he says.
While powering out one of his minimal, lo-fi ditties, it is not out of the norm for Pannepacker to be surrounded by a flock of fuzzy stuffed bears. Nor is it out of character for him to jump up in the middle of a drum solo and do the wave.
Whether playing solo with backing tracks or jamming with a few of his comrades, Shorty Boy Boy always turns out an energetic show.
“I want everyone to party hard,” Pannepacker says.
And party hard they do.
Noah & The Whale @ The TLA.
Text by Kevin Stairiker.
Playing in support of their latest album, “The Last Night On Earth,” British band Noah & The Whale stormed the TLA in what was announced as their first show in Philadelphia.
Playing to a packed crowd mostly made up of girls and their doting boyfriends, Noah & The Whale carefully packed their set with a solid mix of crowd favorites and new tracks. Their show reflected the changes made within the band since it first burst onto the scene with the candy-coated single “5 Years Time” in 2008 (see below). Gone were the xylophones and ukuleles of yore and in was a lean, keyboard and synth sound that harkened back to the early-2000s garage rock boom.
Appearing as an impeccably dressed five-piece (three-piece suits and dress socks!), the band’s focal point for the entirety of its set was lead singer Charlie Fink. Knowing full well the amount of estrogen in the air, Fink went full on with dancing to the music, cuing specific musical gestures with repeated waves of the hand. Although he didn’t say much more than the requisite thank you for the first half of the show, jokes abounded for the second half, with the crowd hanging on every British-accented word.
With three drastically different albums to their name, Noah & The Whale’s set could’ve been a drastically dizzying mix of styles and sounds but thankfully, older songs from “Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down” and “The First Days Of Spring” were updated to the current style of playing. As long as the constantly shouting Philly audience (“Play ‘2 Atoms In A Molecule!” and “It’s Tina’s birthday!”) didn’t scare them off, Noah & The Whale will hopefully come back far more frequently in the future.
Darry Miller & The Veil @ The M Room Thursday.
Darry Miller & The Veil will officially release their new single, “Grip your seat,” on Tuesday (though they’ve apparently played in live a few times – as in the video above). Miller and Co. will bring their “passionate pop” to the M Room on Thursday. Hear the studio version of the new song here:
St. Vincent @ Union Transfer.
Text and images by Kirsten Stamn.
Fans at Union Transfer last night made no secret of their adoration for Annie Clark, the beautiful and multi-talented ingénue who hails from Oklahoma and performs under the name St. Vincent. With her endlessly long legs, high cheekbones and bright pink pout, the songstress had men (and women) screaming, “Marry me, Annie!”
Clark is wrapping up her U.S. tour for her third album, Strange Mercy, and has accrued a devoted and loyal fan base in the process. When staring in what appeared to be joyous bemusement at the throngs of cheering people before her, she discussed the reaction to her tour and said with a grin, “You guys are really bringing it.”
More screaming ensued.
Taking time between songs to share funny anecdotes about a music video and waxing eloquently on what it means to fake cry, Clark showed that she was intelligent and informed. Throughout the show, you could see her motioning to the sound crew to adjust the volumes of the instruments or microphones mid-song, all without missing a beat (she took time to thank each of the crew members by name during her encore).
Clark is a natural performer, dichotomizing her performance by singing soulfully into the microphone while staring doe-eyed into the audience before suddenly throwing her body back to riff on her guitar. When playing, it looks like she’s almost battling the instrument, rocking back and forth and displaying an almost pained face that’s contorted with both concentration and pure emotion.
Before closing her show, Clark made sure to thank opening act Cate le Bon (left) for acting as a backup singer during her set.
And as she wrapped up her last song, Clark walked up to the edge of the stage and allowed her fans to strum her guitar, whipping it back and forth and rocking out even with the strings not in her control. It doesn’t get much better than that.
The Limousines @ Union Transfer.
Text and images by Ashley Hall.
As the indietronica duo The Limousines took the stage, the all-ages crowd at Union Transfer was still.
“Thanks for showing up early enough for the opener bands,” cheered vocalist Eric Victorino.
And with that, it was on.
The pair from San Francisco brought the West Coast to Philly in a big way. The show was foot-tappin’ friendly as Victorino bopped across stage, mic-in-hand, while keyboardist/producer Giovanni Giusti bumped electro beats in the background. They were complemented by a mesmerizing light show, making for an aesthetically pleasing experience.
The pair played hits from their debut album Get Sharp (2010) including: “Internet Killed The Video Star” and “Very Busy People”.
Another favorite was a cover of Paul Simon’s, “You Can Call Me Al.”
“For those of you that don’t know this song,” snickered Victorino, “Your parents do. Some of you may not be around if it wasn’t for this song.”
The band last visited Philadelphia in 2010 with Utah’s Neon Trees, and something tells us, they’ll be back.
“I think we made a lot of new friends here in Philadelphia tonight,” said Victorino as they said their goodbyes.
The Sounds headlined the show while other openers included Natalia Kills and Kids At The Bar.
JUMP: The Philly Music Project 