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Home , Aquarium Drunkard, Black Lips, Burger Records, Cypress Grove (musician), Digital Leather, Goner Records

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Scion Project Manager: Jeri Yoshizu, Sciontist Editor: Eric Ducker Creative Direction: Scion Art Director: malbon Production Director: Anton Schlesinger Contributing Editor: David Bevan Assistant Editor: Maud Deitch Graphic Designers: Nicholas Acemoglu, Cameron Charles, Kate Merritt, Gabriella Spartos Sheriff: Stephen Gisondi CONTRIBUTORS

Writer: Jeremy CARGILL Photographers: Derek Beals, William Hacker, Jeremy M. Lang, Bryan Sheffield, REBECCA SMEYNE CONTACT

For additional information on Scion, email, write or call. Scion Customer Experience 19001 S. Western Avenue Company references, advertisements and/ Mail Stop WC12 or websites listed in this publication are Torrance, CA 90501 not affiliated with Scion, unless otherwise Phone: 866.70.SCION noted through disclosure. Scion does not Fax: 310.381.5932 warrant these companies and is not liable for Email: Email us through the contact page their performances or the content on their located on scion.com advertisements and/or websites. Hours: M-F, 6am-5pm PST Online Chat: M-F, 6am-6pm PST © 2011 Scion, a marque of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Inc. All rights reserved. Scion GARAGE zine is published by malbon Scion and the Scion logo are trademarks of For more information about MALBON, contact Toyota Motor Corporation. [email protected] 00430-ZIN03-GR SCION A/V SCHEDULE JUNE Scion Garage 7”: Cola Freaks/ (June 7) Scion Presents: North American Tour The Casbah in San Diego, CA (June 9) Velvet Jones in Santa Barbara, CA (June 10) Great American Hall in , CA (June 11) Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, CA (June 12) Wonder Ballroom in Portland, OR (June 14) Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver, BC (June 15) Neumos in Seattle, WA (June 16) Knitting Factory Concert House in Boise, ID (June 17) Urban Lounge in Salt Lake City, UT (June 18) Bluebird Theater in Denver, CO (June 19) Plush in Tuscon, AZ (June 21) Rhythm Room in Phoenix, AZ (June 22) The Bar in Costa Mesa, CA (June 23) The Music Box in Los Angeles, CA (June 24) The Glass House in Pomona, CA (June 25) Scion Art Tour: Installation 7: Video CO Exhibitions in Minneapolis, MN (June 4-June 25) Scion Presents: The Big Idea, curated by Monsieur L’Agent, at Installation LA (June 25) JULY Scion Garage 7”: /Last Year’s Men (July 5) Scion Art Tour: Installation 7: Video Pump Project in Austin, TX (July 9-July 30)

Locations, cities and dates subject to change CURRENTLY AVAILABLE

Scion Garage 7”: /Hex Dispensers MUSIC VIDEOS

Davila 666 Tyvek Hussle Club “Esa Nena Nunca Regreso” “4 312” “Quaranteenagers” ASK SCION Garage bands often put out music through many different independent record labels rather just sticking with one. What do you that says about the community? Many bands and enthusiasts in the community hold the practices of the past dear. Prior to the mid-1960s, music in general was a singles market, which helped instill an insistent quality to what hit wax. The ability to have something tangible of your creation, even if it only lasts five minutes, is a monumental concept. In modern times labels are run by enthusiasts, no matter how limited a budget, and I believe that truly proves how supportive of a community we have. —Jeremy Cargill, writer for Ugly Things and Galactic Zoo Dossier If you have a question, email us through the Contact page on scionav.com original videos & performances BY

plUs eXclUsive & free mUsic doWnloads, event info, streaming mUsic on scion radio 17 & mUch more scionav.com Photography: Rebecca Smeyne

Bad Bad Sports

Growing up in Texas, there was no shortage of garage rock heroes for the three members of Bad Sports to worship. And though their sonic DNA can be traced back to sources far outside the borders of the Lone Star State, the Denton/Austin trio’s hooky assault has undeniably deep local roots. Guitarist Daniel Fried runs through a list of his four favorite Texas bands and , some of whom we expected and some we’re psyched he told us about.

Roky Erickson & The 13th Floor Elevators The 13th Floor Elevators were always on commercials here in Texas. You’d hear them here and there, but the first time I heard one of their full I was like, “What the hell is this?! There’s a guy playing electric jug right now. I don’t know what this is, but it’s awesome.” Pretty recently, I’ve gotten reeeally into Roky’s solo stuff as well, mostly through that documentary You’re Gonna Miss Me. Actually, there was this time we were on our way to and we were on the same flight as Roky. He was really nice. Bobby Soxx I’m actually working on a documentary about Bobby Soxx’s life and music. He was a guy who always had a sense of humor about his and wrote really offensive stuff at the same time, too. Between he was constantly saying funny things, but then they would play and it was just this barrage of really, really heavy riffs and droning drums. He also had this really great Stick Men With Ray Guns.

OBN III Probably the best band in Texas right now, outside of anything I’m involved in, is OBN III. It’s our bassist Orville’s other band. They played on a patio at SXSW this year and it was the best show of the fest. They absolutely killed it. They’re actually named after Orville’s initials: Orville Bateman Neeley III. It’s a weird solo band sort of thing and they’ve put out two seven-inches so far and they’re going to put out more, I think. But during that [SXSW] show, Orville was climbing on top of ATM machines and jumping over the fences and he cut his hand sometime during the second of the set. It was spurting blood all over the crowd. It was really cool. They really took the ball and ran with it.

The Marked Men Our drummer Greg and I both went to the University of North Texas in Denton, but neither of us was good enough for the there. I think Greg was a Behavioral Analysis major and I was an English major. There’s only one person I know who’s gone to that school and is in a band and does anything at all musically: Jeff Burke of the Marked Men. He studied guitar there for two years and realized that he hated it, so he quit. It’s such an intensive program that it sort of saps all the fun out of playing music. You’re practicing all day every day, going to school with people who are into Dream Theater. But his band, the Marked Men, they’re like our “Denton Dads,” I guess you could say. They’re the ones who came before and paved the way for us. They’re a great band that built up a following over the years, and when we started out they booked us on shows and helped us out. In fact, our next is coming out on Dirtnap, who did all of the Marked Men records as well. They blend punk and and garage all at the same time. And we do that, too.

As told to David Bevan myspace.com/badsportsband

Watch an interview and live performances from Bad Sports at Scion Garage Fest at scionav.com/garagefest. Hear “Would You Wait For Me Too,” their contribution to the Scion Garage 7” series, at scionav.com/garage DAVILA 666 ESA NENA NUNCA REGRESO

WATCH THIS VIDEO, PLUS OTHERS FROM TYVEK, THE SPITS, AND MORE

SCION A/V MUSIC VIDEO SERIES SCIONAV.COM/MUSIC/SCIONAVVIDEO Story: Jeremy Cargill

Rock & roll fanzine culture bubbled up from the musical underground in the late 1960s and exploded over the next two decades, but tech-obsessed inter-nerds have nearly steamrolled independent printing. Some fanzines still survive via the few rabid practitioners putting their money where their minds are, fringe-sitting to create a tangible artifact. Here, light is shed on a couple.

Bananas Magazine Galactic Zoo Dossier Headed up by visual artists/enthusiasts Charles Gaskins Published roughly every two years since 1995, Galactic and Christophe Lopez-Huici, Bananas Magazine is one Zoo Dossier is the outgrowth of psychedelic renaissance of the most active, informative and well-written zines man Steve Krakow (aka ) and a host around, with a third issue just hitting the stands. This of contributors, including stalwart Byron Coley. young and deadly zine revives grimy New York City’s Galactic Zoo Dossier brings together Krakow’s love corpse and presses its bones into ink for posterity. of , garage, , folk, noise But Bananas’ breadth is what makes it shine: lengthy damage and the seedier side of 1960s and1970s comics interviews with -past champs like J.D. Martignon in a fully hand-drawn package that evokes the prime of Midnight Records, an overview of Russia’s garage late-’60s rock zines. It also includes trading cards and revival scene, the ongoing state of NYC rock & roll and CD comps. When not occupied with GZD, Krakow its champions, a report on Portugal’s Barreiro Rocks runs Drag City’s reissue imprint (Galactic Zoo Disk), garage fest and Swamp Rats guitar tabs. And all of this writes the Reader’s “Secret History of Chicago is delivered with a wry sense of humor that makes it Music” column and fronts his own psychedelic-space- impossible to put down. Available for free in New York punk band, Plastic Crimewave Sound. Packages don’t City, or just pay shipping for your own sterling copy! come more complete than Sir Krakow. bananasmag.com plasticcrimewave.com Mongrel Zine Rounding the corner at issue #9, Mongrel’s got the good word on what’s happenin’ Northward. Seemingly all rocks are over-turned by our Canadian neighbors, from garage, trash and pop to more -drenched and blown- out varieties. Janelle Hollyrock, Bob Scott and the whole cast of characters are true fanatics, with enthusiasm and passion that’s brilliantly transparent. Mongrel Zine’s an entertaining read throughout, with interviews masquerading as comic strips, a LENGTHY reviews section (watch for the highly opinionated and humorous Steve Ferreira) and the ongoing saga of roots-punks Demon’s Claws in their various forms (Jeff Clarke’s interview in #9 is pricelessly hilarious). None shall pass without the Mongrel clan laying their piece down, and it’s a worthy and informed piece indeed. mongrelzine.ca Humanbeing Lawnmower At a rate of one issue every other year, Humanbeing Lawnmower has thus far cranked out two issues of digest-sized depravity, with the next one scheduled for sometime this year. But these well-constructed tomes are fully worth the wait. Avi Spivak (cartoonist/editor/ partisan) is the ringleader of this rock & roll circus filled with Mad-style comic irreverence and articles covering overlooked stars of the , past and present. Humanbeing Lawnmower covers everything from modern power pop and garage bands to features like William Penoyar’s diatribe “My Revolution: The Thug Rock Story.” avispivak.blogspot.com

Ugly Things Broadcasting “the wild sounds of past dimensions” since 1983, Ugly Things may stand as the longest- running rock & roll fanzine. Mike Stax and a cavalcade of fanatics worldwide (including this writer) prove time and again that people want what’s timeless and that the music of the ’60s (and the ’50s and ’70s) will forever be brimming with untold tales. Begun in the glue- and-scissors format before evolving into the current biannual bible/encyclopedia, Ugly Things continues to ripen. Stax also leads a rock-solid garage-psych combo, the Loons, and contributes liner notes to ’60s reissues. ugly-things.com

Story: David Bevan Photography: Derek Beals Digital Leather Digital Leather’s synth-punk was first born in a label that released his Warm Brother in 2009, and bedroom. Actually it was a dorm room. Mastermind close friend, former manager and recently deceased Shawn Foree had just enrolled at the University of Memphis garage rock hero . “We wrote Arizona, Tucson and to help “cure“ his boredowm, songs for one another,” Foree says of Reatard, who he took to recording hallucinogenic guitar sounds on he toured with during the writing and recording of a four-track recorder. Addictively. As he progressed Reatard’s synth-driven Lost Sounds project. “It was through school, Foree amassed a mighty collection a lot like a competition, where we would show each of his own cassette-bound recordings, the Casio- other stuff after it was written. But we played off spiked contents of which grabbed the ear of a friend one another here and there. Our songwriting was so aggressively that said friend sent a hand-picked very call-and-response. Like an argument.” collection of songs to King of the Monsters, a tiny hardcore label in San Diego. It’s a manic influence that you can hear right away in Foree’s energy, both on stage and on tape. Digital That was in 2004, the year Digital Leather’s self- Leather’s gut-punch sensibility translates to just titled debut arrived. “I never really thought about about any sonic palette he chooses to apply it to— putting out records, to tell you the truth,” Foree be it a simple acoustic pop song or keyboard-driven says. “I didn’t really have anything to do with that kablooms, a dormitory bunk bed or a stained rock club. record coming out. But after that I thought I might as well put out another. And after that second one Watch an interview and live performances from Digital came out, I was hooked.” Leather at Scion Garage Fest at scionav.com/garagefest. Hear Digital Leather’s contribution to the Scion Garage 7” In the years that followed, Foree recorded and toured series at scionav.com/garage at a feverish pace, attracting the attention of both Fat Possum, the increasingly influential Mississippi Searching

for Kicks Story: Jeremy Cargill

These days you can buy a thrill, and searching for kicks isn’t so hard. Online shopping carts are battered by a devoted few who sift through the muck for rough diamonds to present to vinyl hounds and vintage gear junkies in the physical realm. Visit these spots when on their block.

Burger Records Burger began with fellas from Thee Makeout Party! itchy to release their own vinyl and that of local teen punks Audacity. After being denied a vacation for touring, Sean Bohrman left cubicle monotony behind and went all in, opening a storefront in Fullerton, with Brian Flores (ex-Third Eye Records) and Lee Noise. Home to today’s finest craves and past fave- on cassette, with occasional forays into CDs and LPs, they’ve crunched out 90 releases, with more to come soon. And for past finds, the boys rise at 5AM every weekend to scour swap meets for the treats collectors need. When in SoCal, make passion for all things classic and vintage, OMNIBUS time for Burger. specializes in affordable clothing by small designers, 645 S. State College Boulevard, Fullerton, California 92831 vintage goods (clothes, records, etc.) and short-run burgerrecords.com releases by touring bands. Inspired by late-1970s Brit record stalls and vintage suppliers, and with aims to mutate into a record label, collectors can The venerable Goner Records, founded by Eric save time at OMNIBUS by browsing sub-categories Friedl, is a garage rock institution, going from geared towards obsessives (e.g. “Stonesy stuff”). a humble Memphis start to current worldwide 203 SE Grand Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97214 adulation. Springing up in 1993 as an outlet for Guitar eastendpdx.com Wolf’s U.S. invasion and material from Eric’s own band, , they’ve since amassed more than Vinyl Richie’s Wiggly World of Records 40 releases. Then in 2004 Friedl united with friend After becoming the mail-order center for record Zac Ives to bring the Goner mission to a storefront. label Florida’s Dying six years ago, Rich Evans’ But Goner’s done more than release rekkids. They’re home eventually became overgrown with records approaching year seven of Gonerfest, a showcase for and Wiggly World was born. Walls bedecked with worldwide garage punk bands. Add regular in-store whacked art, mostly courtesy of Ben Lyon, share performances and an Elvis impersonator shrine on space with a spate of releases by every modern premises and you’ve got a Memphis must-stop. label making worthwhile noise in the garage scene. 2152 Young Avenue, Memphis, 38104 But that ain’t all. Evans digs back to keep the racks goner-records.com packed with punk reissues, space rock and other toxic sounds. Its secluded location also makes the OMNIBUS space ideal for shows in the parking lot. In one year OMNIBUS has made a name for itself 2436 E. Robinson Street, Orlando, Florida 32803 as an extension of bar/live music venue East End. floridaisdying.com Housed in the bottom floor and run by friends with a Searching

for Kicks Story: Jeremy Cargill

...debut LP coming soon.

OUT NOW...

Kid Congo... Thee Oh Sees TV Ghost Dirtbombs Davila 666 Gorilla Rose Castlemania Mass Dream Party Store Tan Bajo LP/CD LP/CD LP/CD LP/CD LP/CD www.intheredrecords.com Story: Maud Deitch Photography: William Hacker Ask musicians who know their stuff what they think of Gino Washington and you’ll hear a sweetness come to their voice and see stars appear in eyes. An R&B and rock & roll singer who made his name in Detroit in the early 1960s, Washington’s recorded output is brief but masterful. , a beloved soul-tinged garage rock figure in his own right, speaks of Washington in a tone that is a mixture of a son-to-father respect and all-out fandom.

At Scion’s Garage Fest in Lawrence, Kansas last year, King Khan & the Shrines had the rare opportunity to back Washington in one of the festival’s closing performances. The collaboration was orchestrated after a few phone calls and one pre-show meeting in Kansas. “I felt really shy to meet him, but he was joking around with the band, doing his Johnny Mathis impersonation,” says Khan. “I didn’t know Story: Maud Deitch if we were going to get a tyrant or what.” Instead Photography: William Hacker Washington was nothing but a gentleman, with, as Khan puts it, “none of the ego you might expect” and all of the punctuality you wouldn’t.

At the festival, Khan & the Shrines commanded the sweaty Bottleneck, one of the four venues, with gyrating dancers, flying tambourines and horns playing in all directions. “I could see Gino on the side of the stage and I could tell from the look on his face that he was really excited,” says Khan. “We warmed up the room to the right temperature, and then when he did go on, I just stepped back and thought, ‘My band is backing up Gino Washington.’” Months later, Khan still laughs giddily when recalling this moment.

“Jared [Swilley] from the Black Lips, you know he’s my little bro, and he was right there and we were hugging watching it and freaking out,” Khan continues. The crowd had the same reaction, whipping itself into an even greater frenzy. And onstage Washington stood calmly and smiled, holding the mic like an extension of his body and pulling the audience through fifty years of soul history.

myspace.com/ginowashington

myspace.com/kingkhantheshrines

Watch an interview with Gino Washington and live performances of him with the Shrines at Scion Garage Fest at scionav.com/garagefest CROOKS & CASTLES NEW YORK scionav.com/partners

Become a member of Scion Partners and get in-store and online discounts. Exclusive boutiques, restaurants, galleries and more.

These are just a few participants in the Scion Partners Program. Find the complete listing at scionav.com/partners

twitter.com/scionpartners facebook.com/scionpartners Interview: David Bevan Photography: William Hacker tyvek Tyvek take their name from a fibrous, industrial grade, Nothing Fits was definitely your cleanest record to date, water-resistant brand of insulation so insanely dense but it was still pretty noisy. With so many bands who that it’s used to protect the insides of homes and cars. could also be considered lo-fi shifting toward way tidier The Detrort band’s wall-of-fuzz garage rock is the perfect sounds, do you plan on continuing down that path? I think analog to their namesake. We caught up with frontman Nothing Fits turned out a lot cleaner because we Kevin Boyer over the phone just a few hours after the band were in a real studio for the first time and got to returned home from a five-week trip through the rock clubs do it right. So it just came out that way naturally. of Europe. I definitely want to go back to a studio—if not the same studio we recorded that album in—but I try to You guys just got back from Europe. Forty shows in 40 days think from record to record. I don’t know what the is a haul. Yeah, I think it was actually like 37 shows in next Tyvek album will sound like. It might seem like 39 days, but close. We were driving ourselves, too, so a continuation or it might seem like a left turn. We’ll we didn’t really have much downtime. You just have have to wait until we actually start recording it and to try to eat really good, you know? Europeans really then see what happens. take the feeding bands thing to a higher level. We got good meals and good spots to sleep everywhere Where did your idea for naming Tyvek’s sound “crocodile we went. In the US, you kind of have to find your rock” come from then? Crocodile rock, more than own way. anything else, is a commentary on the idea of or groupings. It’s just a joke! Do you think there’s a European equivalent to Detroit? Probably Helsinki. It felt like it had a similar vibe. Watch an interview and live performances from Tyvek We played in the Basque country in Spain, too. That at Scion Garage Fest at scionav.com/garagefest had a really Midwestern feel to it. But in Helsinki, it seemed like everyone was trying to alleviate the boredom and depression of the super long winter there. They cut loose. Detroit’s a weird place, it’s not really like anywhere else, that’s for sure. The music scene is really good but there aren’t that many places to play. Everybody just heads to the same three or four bars. Interview: David Bevan

reigningsound

Greg Cartwright has been forming influential, true blue garage rock bands for nearly two decades, including Oblivians. Most recently, the Memphis native has written and recorded with Reigning Sound, a band that’s gained cultish renown for bringing their road-worn sensibility and all-inclusive songwriting to stages big, small and grimy. Just minutes after he put his daughter to bed at 7:30PM sharp, Cartwright filled us in on what he’s been up to and what he’s been thinking about.

You were just at a record convention in Allentown, What kind of 45s did you set out looking for? Did you Pennsylvania, right? have a wish list? Yeah. It’s this 45s-only record show that happens I don’t have a wish list, but I know what I like. There twice a year. The funny thing is that the show is on a are things out there that I’d love to own copies of, but Saturday, but everyone shows up the Tuesday before I’m also just looking for local releases from different and we all stay at the same hotel. So everybody cities that have an interesting, homemade-looking is just walking from room to room, listening to label. Or a band you’ve never heard of with a cool records, hanging out. People have their records laid sounding song. Everybody’s got a portable record out all over their rooms, on their beds and dressers player that they carry with them and you can go so everyone can look. And for four days, before through people’s boxes and dig out five or six things anything even happens, people are hanging out and you want to listen to. The end all/be all is to find a trading. By Saturday I’m already gone. I’ve already song that is awesome that you’ve never heard before. got everything I want and everything I needed to see. That’s what you really want. The known records that are really pricey and rare are great because you can flip them or keep them or do whatever you want with them, but when you find that real jewel in the pile that nobody’s ever really heard before, well, that’s exciting. “To me, it’s all about mixing Did you find anything like that this time around? it up. I do like the old I did. I found at least three that were really, really great. Sammy Johns & the DeVilles’ “Words Won’t traditions, the old ways Come My Way” has a sound I like: 1960s teen garage with a really Southern vocal. You can hear that the of writing songs and the guy is about 17 years old and maybe from Mississippi or Arkansas. Being from Memphis and being really classic song structures. I’m into local ’60s records from Memphis, that sound really resonates for me. I also picked up a couple into preserving what I feel things, some R&B records, some garage stuff. I DJ a couple nights a week. What’s at the fore rock & roll is all about.” in my mind when I’m looking at a box of records is, “Is this something I can play on a Saturday night and people will dance to it?” That’s why I’m always looking for a good R&B 45. How do you think the idea of garage rock specifically has shifted? You grew up listening to oldies radio, didn’t you? Does In the late ’70s and early ’80s, all these bands were your feel for DJing have a lot to do with that? being influenced by underground ’60s records, local I did, and when I was a kid listening to oldies radio records and edgy rock & roll records by bands like stations in Memphis you would hear Pop 100 things, the Seeds. But people were turning onto that sound but you would also hear local hits, like the Hombres’ and trying to find a way to work that into what they “It’s A Gas” or the Guillotines’ “I Don’t Believe.” were doing, like Television and the . Those kinds of songs were really cool and really And they did, they found a way to integrate that local. But the way charts worked back then was so sound. That’s when “garage rock” first started being different. Local radio really could be local. Things tossed around to define that kind of music. It’s really were different back then. I remember when I had changed since then. It’s come to encompass bands my very first car, I was driving to high school and I that look like they’re from the ’60s, bands that are turned on the oldies station I would listen to every totally aggressive punk bands or surf bands. Even morning and they said, “Oldies 98! No more boring singer-songwriters are being identified with the doo-wop. Now, hits of the ’70s and early ’80s!” Just garage movement. I think that’s because “garage” has like a switch, they turned it off. I’m sure it was sad come to be what describes rock & roll at its most for people who were nostalgic for the music of their basic level. Start a band, learn some chords, play era, but it me out as well. some gigs, have some fun. That’s it. “Garage” seems to personify people who play for their own pleasure, It’s interesting how the definition of what’s “classic” when you’re playing in your garage or your living tends to evolve. To me, your work in Reigning Sound room or your carport or whatever. You’re not playing veers that way, towards rock & roll traditionalism in a stadium. Chances are you never will, though you rather than purism. might make it to a bar. But you’re playing for your I think so. When I think of somebody as a purist, I friends. That’s what garage means and that’s true to think of someone who walks around in Beatle boots Reigning Sound. I’ve basically been playing the same and perfectly coifed hair and everything about their circuit of bars for the past 15 years. lifestyle must be, look, seem and sound like it came from 1966, or whatever era they’re trying to evoke facebook.com/reigningsound purely. To me, it’s all about mixing it up. I do like the old traditions, the old ways of writing songs and Watch an interview and live performances from the classic song structures. I’m into preserving what Reigning Sound at the Scion Garage Show series at I feel rock & roll is all about. scionav.com/garage

LAST YEAR’S Story: David Bevan MENPhotography: Jeremy M. Lang

Last Year’s Men are in a van somewhere also filled out their first few practices by around Rochester, New York, about 18 hours dusting off Sam Cooke covers. “We were since their first set in New York City. Strangely, originally going for that kind of sound, but it wasn’t a typically frosty New York audience then we transitioned somehow to garage-y that irked the Chapel Hill-based upstarts, but the power pop,” says Carr. “I think the residual other bands that they shared the bill with. “Not a effects from whatever punk bands we were in kept ton of people came out, but that wasn’t our scene at lingering and just came out naturally.” all, man,” says 19 year-old frontman Ben Carr with a laugh. “It was all indie , like It seems like they’ve found a healthy medium, one meets . So weird.” that their neighbors seem to totally appreciate when Last Year’s Men practice (LOUDLY) in While you can hear Last Year’s Men’s drummer Ian Rose’s basement most nights of the in both the verve of their pop noise and the week. “It’s in a suburban neighborhood so we teenage thrashing of Carr’s lyrics, their age hasn’t figured a couple of cops would have been called,” kept them from sharing hometown stages with Carr says. “But, nope! No complaints to date!” incoming guests like King Khan & The BBQ Show and Reigning Sound, the long-running outfit that Watch an interview and live performances from actually inspired Carr to start writing songs on his Last Year’s Men at the Scion Garage Show series own. In fact, you might say Last Year’s Men are at scionav.com/garage more old souls than young punks. They not only took their name from a Leonard Cohen lyric, but SCION RADIO 17 FEATURES NEW MUSIC, EXCLUSIVE MIXES AND INTERVIEWS ON 17 DIFFERENT CHANNELS

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SCIONAV.COM/MUSIC/RADIO17 STREAMING FREE EVERY MONTH

Photography: Bryan Sheffield

As they get older and release more music, Black Lips It completely changed the once somebody have become more recognized for the craftsmanship in realized you could take pre-recorded elements and make their ratty than for their on- and off-stage music out of them. That’s the art of sampling. Schaeffer shenanigans. And they continue to expand outwards, as would slow it down and loop it so it would keep going evidenced by Cole Alexander’s growing interest in on forever. They would do all kinds of stuff. Then in the work. Here, the band’s guitarist/vocalist explains which old 1950s, people started to get into more of what we know as and new sounds have influenced how he tackles a remix. : computers making drumbeats.

My approach to remixing is to try and make things more I have a much more avant-garde sensibility when it comes psychedelic and ethereal, more ambient. I’m still learning, to remixing. It’s not so much about getting people to dance but I’m getting into it and I think even a good remixer is at the club. It’s a way to deconstruct music. That’s what always learning. I really like about DJ Screw: slowing stuff down, taking sounds apart and manipulating them. I do like dancing, I’ve learned the basis of what I’m doing now from recording but my approach is more about giving people a myself. I have a sampler with Black Lips, and I run soundscape. pre-recorded pieces through effects all the time when we’re recording or playing live. We work with analog a lot, I’m actually working on a remix right now for a song on so I’m trying to figure out computer programs that can our new record called “You Keep On Running.” I’m trying help me do stuff digitally. All the stuff I used to do was to get Tyler from Odd Future on there and Waka Flocka with tape cassettes. For my own pleasure I would take Flame, but I guess I need to send them the song and see if spikes in songs and run them through effects and back onto they like it. was actually encouraging me to cassette. The first time I did that was when I was 13. We make a for the new record as a promotional tool. would record little blips and scratches from tapes and mix He made a lot of alternate remixes in the studio, like live them. analog remixes while we were working. I really liked those. He’d make our mix and then make another one real quick. I’m really into musique concrète. It’s a form of a music He’d honestly deconstruct everything, take it all out except they came up with it in France in the early 1900s, the first for bass and drums and then ride up the volume from other electronic manipulation of music. Everybody made classical tracks really minimally. I learned that from him, riding a music, but by the 1900s they figured out how to record mixer. It’s turntables as a style of remixing. I like all the music, so they started recording symphonies. There was early forms of remixing, before computers. this guy, Pierre Schaeffer, from France in the 1920s. He was the first guy who took the playback of the recorded As told to David Bevan music and manipulated that. He called it musique concrète, and he would take concrete sounds like, say, something in Hear Black Lips’ remix of Win Win from Scion A/V Remix: nature or train sounds, and then he would manipulate it. Win Win — Victim f. Blaqstarr at scionav.com/winwin

detriot Scene

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PJ’s Lager House A venue that I definitely like a lot is the Lager House. It’s run by this guy PJ who actually used to run a record shop in Ann Arbor that I used to go to when I was young. They book everything—Detroit has a rich garage rock history and there are a lot of garage rock bands now, but there are a lot of other kinds of music. And there are national acts that play there. It’s probably a 150 to 200 capacity venue, so it’s pretty small. So if you play there on a Tuesday night and 50 people show up, you still feel good about yourself.

High Bias Recordings High Bias Recordings is run by my friend Chris Koltay. Chris Koltay is one of those people who’s definitely a character. He’d be so mad at me for saying this, but you either like him or you don’t like him. But when you record there, he takes really good care of you. He’ll cook you dinner and cook you breakfast, so you kind of feel like you’re at home. He has a room with bunk beds set up, so if you’re not from Detroit and you come to Photography: Bryan Sheffield record, you can stay with him at his place. He also has a good selection of reading materials for when you have Ko Melina, member of the Dirtbombs downtime, like when somebody’s doing an overdub and and all around Motor City woman- you have nothing to do. He’s mostly analog, but he does about-town, says that Detroit’s the have digital capabilities. kind of city where “you definitely need a tour guide,” so we figured we’d Johnny Ill Band ask her to be ours. Melina came back There’s tons and tons of good new Detroit bands. with some awesome recommendations There’s this guy who has a band called the Johnny Ill Band that I like a lot. For lack of a better description, it’s of places to go and people to meet. kind of adolescent punk. It’s humorous to me. Like, he’s got a song about winter and how winter sucks because Peoples Records it’s cold. There’s a certain charm he’s got about him that I’m sort of biased because I just started working at I enjoy. a record store in Detroit. The best place is Peoples Records. It’s all secondhand, so if you’re going to buy a thedirtbombs.net brand new record it’s not going to be there, but it’s got a great selection of everything’s that’s basically Detroit’s Watch an interview and live performances from the history. There’s one owner, his name is Brad, and he’s Dirtbombs at Scion Garage Fest at scionav.com/garagefest. actually the bass player for Human Eye. Detroit’s like a Hear “Secret Code,” their contribution to the Scion Garage big little town, so everybody knows everybody. 7” series, at scionav.com/garage

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gonerblog.blogspot.com The Gonerblog is the online presence of iconic Memphis label Goner Records. The folks at Goner have made it their mission to keep you up to date with the latest news and tunes from garage acts from Memphis and beyond. They don’t miss a beat.

Radio 17 ToP Picks are heroes of mine. They’ve been doing this for CHRIS MORRIS 30-some years, and there still isn’t a better garage band working out there. This package gives people who weren’t around for the early part of their Chris Morris, journalist and host of Scion career a chance to go back and see where they Radio 17’s Watusi Rodeo, is basically an came from. encyclopedia of garage rock. We caught up with him to tell us some of the choicest The Sessions P roject, cuts he’s been listening to off the air. We Are Only Riders (101 Distribution) This is a record Kid Congo told me about back Black Lips, Arabia Mountain (Vice) when we did the Scion Garage Fest in Portland in The new Black Lips record was recorded with 2009, and I finally got my hands on a copy of it. It’s Mark Ronson, who also recorded . a tribute record called We Are Only Riders and it’s They haven’t lost anything in trying to make a more by the Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project. Jeffrey “professional sounding” record. The tracks are as Lee Pierce was the frontman and songwriter for tough and uncompromising and funny as anything , the great LA garage punk band. A they’ve done in the past, and there are a bunch cassette was found of a bunch of uncompleted of standout tracks on the record. For a band in songs Jeffrey Lee was working on when he died, the garage vein, you can say this is a very mature and an all-star cast has come to the record. to work on some of them. You’ve got people like , , , Dave The People’s Temple, Sons of Stone Alvin, Johnny Dowd, you’ve got , (HoZac) who actually recorded with Jeffrey Lee back in the The People’s Temple are two sets of brothers from day. It’s an incredible group of people interpreting Lansing, : Spencer and William Young, the legacy of Jeffrey Lee Pierce. Jeffrey Lee was and Alex and George Szegedy. It’s a straight-up a guy who never got a lot of credit when he was garage rock thing, very traditional, very Nuggets-y, alive, but he was one of the first guys to bring but with a kind of Rolling Stones influence. And at together and blues and garage rock and least on this album they throw on the psychedelia mix them up and turn them into something new. really heavy. They’re thrilling live, really up in So this is a really unique opportunity to see what your face. It’s not just working from the old the next stage in Jeffrey Lee’s musical evolution template, they bring something new and unique to might have become. And obviously the people on everything they do. But really, the proof is in the the album are incredible. It’s worth hunting for. pudding—the record is straight out of the garage and it’s not manicured, it isn’t real pretty. There’s Listen to Watusi Rodeo, Chris Morris’ monthly Scion Radio always something interesting going on. They’re all 17 show at scionav.com/radio/channel12 kids, but they know their stuff and come firing on all cylinders.

The Fleshtones, Roman Gods/Up-Front EP…Plus (Raven Records) are still standing on tables, diving into the crowd, jumping around and creating havoc everywhere they go. They’re one of the great garage bands from New York City. The Australian label Raven has put out a collection of some of their early material on I.R.S. from when they were doing what they called “super rock” back in the 1980s. They’ve reissued a package of one of their early albums, Roman Gods, material from their Up-Front EP, as well as [songs] from one of their live albums, Speed Connection II. The Fleshtones HEX DISPENSERS at scion garage show in chicago, IL.

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The police at installation 7: video at installation la. Scion’s commitment to artistic expression provides a platform for passionate artists to focus on developing their art and exploring the endless possibilities. To learn about current and past projects from Scion Audio/Visual (SA/V), please visit scionav.com.