Yep, it was August 19th, 1973 at the Indianapolis State Fair. I wasn’t quite 10. If you click on the album cover above, you’ll hear a segment from the album pictured above. That segment was my favorite piece from that record and was the reason I wanted to see them live.
I don’t rememeber much about it except that the first band came on and I didn’t recognize anyone. My Mom and Dad took me to the show, so I asked my Dad, “none of those guys look like Michael”. and he replied, “that’s the warm up band. That’s for the adults.”
my mind was blown!
I still don’t know who that band was, but I hope it was something cool like the Commodores.
When I heard today that Michael Jackson died, this piece started playing in my head. It’s the coolest snippet of psychedelic rock that i can think of that when you play it for people and they ask, “who was that?”. They never believe the answer.
The record is fantastic! Bill Cosby plays a news reporter named Scoop Newsworthy and he sort of looks like Groucho Marx. The live version of their classic songs sound hyper and hardcore. It was some soundtrack to some TV show! It came out in 1971 and it has always popped up from time to time.
Thriller WAS a good record.I really like the way it sounds, but Nirvana knocked MJ off the number one position in the 90’s.
I had to pull the car over when I heard THAT one.
Do you think there will be MJ sightings now just like there are Elvis sightings? The King of Pop and the King of Rock and Roll
There is an interview with the Hoot Hoots in which they describe my influence on their recording techniques. I’m name checked in paragraph six.
6.11.2009
INTERVIEW: The Hoot Hoots
Remember this band name: The Hoot Hoots.
While the phrase gets tossed around a lot, these Beatle-esque psych-rockers out of Seattle are very much on the verge of becoming “the next great indie-rock band”, as their feel-good melodies, complex song arrangements, and positively wild live shows seem to be signaling a very important message to would-be rockers everywhere: get over yourself and have some damn fun. In other words, “Cheer Up Suburban Kid“.
Initially emerging out Illinois, the Hoot Hoots — lead by singer/songwriter Adam Prairie, Animal-like drummer brother Chris, and trumpeter Christina Ellis — have slowly been carving out a niche of optimistic guitar pop that’s classic in structure but modern in attitude, their songs referencing everything from Calvin & Hobbes (“Transmogrified”) to James Joyce (“Australopithecine”) without ever lapsing in the emotional honesty department. With a successful underground EP (Less is More) and a self-produced full-length (The Truth … Relatively Speaking) to their credit, the Hoots have now migrated to the Northwest (along with bassist Geoff Brown and new guitarist Cooper Smith) and are getting ready to conquer the world all over again, starting with this summer’s new Missle Teeth EP and concluding with a full-length by the end of the year. No, they won’t be faulted for lack of ambition …
Speaking with Evcat, Head Hoot Adam Prairie gleefully dishes on how he’s grown as a producer, the electronic-direction the band might be heading in, and his ideas for some delightfully controversial cover art in the semi-near future …
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>>Adam, I remember once you told me you took a course in music production, and how what you learned within the first week made you rethink a lot of the production work you did on The Truth … Relatively Speaking. Listening to Missle Teeth, everything sounds much richer, more fully-bodied, lots more “sonic details” in the mix. Fundamentally, what has changed about the way you produce your records?
Better gear essentially. For our last album, it was me, a Apple G4 ibook, two somewhat shitty mic (one duct taped to a mic stand), and a two input audio interface from Edirol. Everything was one track at a time. I didn’t want to do a low-quality job like that again, so I spent hours on eBay searching for good mics for cheap, and after a few months I had about 10 mics or so that were just infinitely better in terms of sound quality. Instead of Garage Band I’m using Pro Tools M-Powered now, which I sorta hate because of the propriety handicapping bullshit that they do.
But besides the gear, I learned how to mic a drum set and guitar cab much more effectively. I actually put some thought into mic choice and placement before I hit record. Before I would just throw a mic down in front of an amp and just start playing. Plus, the final term of the Audio Production course I took at the University of Washington Extension was with Scott Colburn, who recorded the Animal Collective’s Feels and Strawberry Jam, two albums that I absolutely love. We recorded an EP for this Seattle band called Ghost Lobby during that term, and we recorded the core tracks (drums, bass, guitar, keyboard) with the whole band playing in one room. That’s such a cool way to record. First of all it’s quicker that way, and also the tracks we recorded had a tight, live feel to them. So yeah, both gear and watching Scott Colburn changed how I record… I guess I read Tape Op (which is a completely free, completely amazing recording mag) too, and I try out ideas from that.
>>Of course, this is the second time you guys have recorded one of my personal favorites — “Cheer Up Suburban Kid” — and this is now the third version of “Transmogrified” you guys have laid to tape. The best part about these tracks, though, is how they’re all so sonically different, the original version of “Transmogrified” from the Less is More EP sounding virtually unregonizable in terms of texture to the hyper, colorful version that’s heard here. Will there ever be “definitive versions” of these songs, or is the urge to tinker and perfect just too great for you guys?
We decided to rerecord tunes from the last album for a couple reasons. One, we wanted to craft a pretty up tempo, in-your-face EP that still had some quirkiness to it, and those two songs fit the bill. Plus, I wanted another shot at recording “Cheer Up Suburban Kid” because I did a pretty awful job the first time. I’m somewhat of a perfectionist, and the way I recorded that song the first time kinda makes me cringe. Also, Cooper Smith, our new lead guitarist, is bad ass! He has a tone and a manner of playing that really fills out those songs, and we wanted to feature that on this EP, mostly to give people a chance to hear how we sound right now, especially since our band members have changed a bit. I think I’m done rerecording “Transmogrified. I’m ready to move on to more tunes. We might put one old song on our upcoming full length album, which is in the works now, but for the most part I’m ready to get into new songs, new sounds.
>>In terms of songwriting, the numerous chord changes of “Australopithecine” mark a quantum leap forward for you guys, like condensing prog-structures down into concise pop formats (this track reminds me a lot of Umphrey’s McGee). What has changed in your musical approach between The Truth and Missle Teeth?
We write songs as a band much more now. Before, I would record almost all the tracks, then I would teach the band how to play the song. Now, I record a rough demo so everybody can hear the changes, and then we get to work. As for numerous changes, that’s something I’ve been into for a while ever since I heard The Unicorns and early Of Montreal. I have a pretty short attention span, so I get bored with my own songs if they don’t change a lot chordally or texturally. I think what you’re hearing in “Australopithecine” as well is the addition of more technical flourishes to the music. That’s probably Cooper’s influence. Like I said, he can fucking shred! And I think I have that as a tool in mind now when I write tunes. It is so freaking awesome to be in a band now where I’m comfortable letting the song grow as we practice it together.
>>This isn’t a question: I’m just giving props for the best Finnegan’s Wake reference I’ve heard to date. Thanks. Kind of random, nerdy reference but I couldn’t resist.
>>The ending to “Zoo” might be the single most rocking thing you guys have ever done, almost moving into hard rock territory before being grace-noted by the horns at the end. Given your live reputation, how do you feel these new textures will work in a live context?
Besides some of the extra atmospheric sounds on the EP, we recorded these tracks pretty close to how we play them live. These new textures are a big part of our live sound now, especially the additional chaos elements. I have this pedal called the Fuzz Factory from Zvex that is basically chaos in a can, and Cooper hand made his own version of it which he uses all the time live. Sometimes we wonder if we overdo the noise elements live, because we do not want to be known as a noise rock band at all. But really when it comes down to it, we just say, “Aw fuck it,” and freak out. I don’t think we get noisy enough to make our songs unmelodic or atonal. I just like crazy, whacked-out fuzz and feedback and glitchy noises as a texture.
>>Given how the Hoots are busy working on a full-length as well, this EP seems to be moving away from more of the deliberate minimalism that peppered some of your earlier work (I’m thinking specifically of “Vision Blurred Green” from The Truth). What kind of sounds can we expect from the new album? Ultimately, what’s the next direction that the Hoot Hoots are going to be taking?
I’m really into MGMT, Merriwether Post Pavilion, and M.I.A. these days, so I think we’re going to have some more electronic elements as we progress. Or at least more synth sounds. For now, I’m more interested in creating music with lots of shifting, rich sonic textures, so the minimalism of some of our earlier stuff might be something we drop for a while. I don’t know though. Sometimes I pick up a guitar and write a song and it sounds fine with just voice and acoustic guitar. But more often than not these days, I hear much larger orchestrations when I write. So yeah, I think for our next album I want us to sound like some amalgam of our current sound with some more atmospheric drone and even more lush vocal textures.
>>Finally, so far in your guys’ career thus far, what has been your biggest regret, and — conversely — what’s been your proudest accomplishment?
Couldn’t really think of a regret…. I’m sure there’s something I’d rather not do again…. but I know I am definitely proud of this EP. I think we created something that sound pretty damn good on a pretty low budget, and I worked really hard to try and make these recordings sound as professional as I could given the resources. Also, I think my most fond memory of playing live was at Knox College’s Wallace Lounge when I returned for a week in January of 2007. The Hoot Hoots played a show at the end of that week after having a few feverish practices (we hadn’t played together for a few months). The whole night was amazing, but ending the show with a bunch of friends and drunken pirates on stage surrounding us and singing with us, damn that was great! That’s what we want to create here in Seattle, some fun, energetic shows wth plenty of chaos, tight musical precision, and a healthy dose of, for lack of better phrase, absurd gimmick. I’m totally comitted to establishing this band in Seattle right now. It’s sort of my single driving goal right now. I have a day job right now that’s all right, but it just pays the bills. This is what I want to be doing every day of the week. Oh I thought of a regret. Having our last album manufactured in Taiwan. They fucked up our printing and we didn’t have our CD’s for a show we were billing as a CD release party. So no Taiwan this time around. This next album is 100% American. It’s gonna have fucking eagles and flags and George Bush, Dick Cheney, and John Ashcroft burning the Constitution and pissing on the ashes all over the cover.
I recently received a batch of cassettes in the mail shortly after my Ipod bit it. All I wanted to do was to listen to some music while I was at the laundrymat but the damn thing won’t even turn on. Then I thought it would be a good idea to listen to these cassettes. So I pulled out my WM-1 (circa 1981) and placed the Damion Romero/ 16 Bitch Pile Up – Cross Sections series Bake 1 cassette in and decidedly walked into downtown Ballard to see what would happen.
The WM-1 still sounded great after all these years. I even have the original headphones. While walking around I reminised about being in college and listening to The Psyclones – Cult Leader Gang Raped by Disciples cassette on this same machine.
But fuck your Ipod! this beast weighs a ton, sounds great and holds up to 90 minutes of music (120 minutes can be achieved at a lower bit rate).
My new favorite show is 70’s sci-fi series The Tomorrow People. This was produced concurrently with Dr. Who and included many familiar sounds, cheap video effects and plots. It’s actually way more psychedelic than Dr. Who but he familiar sounds of the BBC Radiophonic workshop rules the soundtrack.
I was turned on to this a couple years ago by coming across the soundtrack on an online blog about sci-fi. Being a fan of the Radiophonic Workshop, I downloaded the theme and loved it, but I felt that it was too obscure of a TV show that I would never see an episode. Recently in a DVD rental shop, I spied a DVD collection of Tomorrow People and I was in heaven. It’s now on my Netflix list and am enjoying every episode.
Turns out that it is being produced again. But I suspect is not nearly as cool as the original given my disappointment with the newly produced Dr. Who’s.
“Another album of acoustic guitar music from Sir Richard Bishop– are you ‘freakin’ nuts? The Freak Of Araby is a new direction for our distinguished gentleman, and just in the nick of time as well. Sir Rick’s had it up to here with solo acoustic guitar records! The Freak Of Araby isn’t even a solo record! And there’s no acoustic guitar on it! So let’s have no more of this kind of talk. Over his years with Sun City Girls, Richard Bishop threw a wide variety of music and sound against the wall — and all of it stuck. Among those who know, he’s reasonably fluent in any number of international music traditions, playing them for (mostly) fun and (sometimes) profit all over the place. The Freak Of Araby is the debut of Sir Richard Bishop and his Freak of Araby Ensemble, a talented quartet of players getting deep into the Middle Eastern mystic with hand drums, percussion, bass, drums, electric guitars and a heavy dose of Moroccan chanters, all of it captured with depth, detail and sympathy for the eternal enigma by engineer Scott Colburn. But a Sir Richard Bishop album with a backing band — how did this happen? After recording a cover of ‘Ka’an Azzaman,’ written by Elias Rahbani, one of Lebanon’s finest songwriters, something dawned on Sir Richard. Half-Lebanese by birth (it didn’t just occur to him later), he found himself suddenly possessed to really dig into Middle Eastern sounds. A pair of original melodies not fully developed at a prior recording session had the Arabic inspiration, so these were reattacked and finished in short order. Soon, Sir Richard’s head was flooded with some of the classic sounds spun for him by his grandfather back in his (way) younger days, like Farid Al-Atrache, Oum Kalthoum and Fairuz, along with other personal favorites, such as the guitarists Omar Khorshid and Mike Hegazi. In addition to the studio improvisation, ‘Taqasim For Omar,’ the whole of The Freak Of Araby is dedicated to these inspiring players. Check ’em out. In addition to his soul-stirring electric guitar playing, Sir Richard grabbed a couple of Moroccan chanters and blew the house down on ‘Blood-Stained Sands,’ providing an epic (not to mention epochal, heh heh) finish to this journey to the center of one-half of the family tree. This is music meant to be played live, and Sir Richard’s Freak Of Araby Ensemble intends to play it everywhere there’s interest in hearing it. So get your Freak on.”
I bought this record nearly 15 years ago and really dug the cover but also the line that says it was recorded on 35mm magnetic film. That would be mag stock used for sound on films. The cover is printed on 10 pt board that makes it thick and heavy like a piece of stone.
The hilarious thing is the liner notes where they talk about the recording. They list all the mics used, Telefunken U-47, RCA-44 BX, Telefunken KM56, Altec 639 B, RCA-77D and special Church microphones. I wondered what a special church microphone is? When I researched it, Stanley Church designed mics for MGM. So now it comes full circle where the film industry and music industry collide.
The liners also mention why they needed multiple mics (because each mic was specific to an instrument or sound) and why mag stock is superior to 1/4″ tape (because it’s 3 times as wide, has no flutter because of the sprockets and is 5 mils thick. It also travels at 18 ips rather than 15ips). I actually agree with what they say as the record sounds fantastic. It was recorded in 1961.
This record was promising because I really love the Kulingtang. Unfortunately, there are only two cuts featuring this instrument. the rest of the cuts sound like waltzes or polkas. The fascinating things was the date of recording (1959) which means that this record is 50 years old and still plays great! My oldest CD is not even 25 years old. It also makes me bum out about all the digital media that has just disappeared because it was digital
Last night I pulled a record from the shelf titled
The Most Fabulous Sound Experience Ever!
The First Percussion Sextet.
The music itself is pretty good. the recording is nice and realistic. The playing is top notch and I do believe there is a hint of humour. But the most fascinating thing to me was the section on the back about the Miracle Surface!
What is 317x? I can’t find any info about it, but I can say that this record is still in pretty good shape, however, I bet it wasn’t played that much to begin with, so who knows?
