Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Men at Work Ordered to Pay Up Over 'Down Under' Copyright Infringement
According to AP, the band will have to fork over 5 percent of the royalties from its hit 'Down Under' after Australia's High Court ruled the songwriters copied the flute riff from the nursery rhyme 'Kookaburra.'
Written by teacher Marion Sinclair in 1934, 'Kookaburra' -- alternately known by its first line, "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree" -- has become a favorite of children around the world. Though Sinclair died in 1988, publisher Larrikin Music currently owns the rights to the song and sued Men at Work in 2009.
After several appeals, the High Court upheld an earlier ruling saying that Men at Work's Colin Hay and Ron Strykert will have to pay 5 percent of any earnings on the song from 2002 on. The song was originally released in 1981 and became a No. 1 hit in Australia, the U.S. and England, but because of a statute of limitations, Larrikin couldn't recoup any money from before 2002.
Below, we have a video of schoolchildren singing 'Kookaburra' followed by Men at Work's 'Down Under.' Did the courts make the right call?
'Kookaburra''Down Under'
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Peter Hook Vows to 'F--- Over' New Order After 'Disgusting' Reunion
Before the Light's recent show in Toronto -- during which they played Joy Division's album 'Unknown Pleasures' convincingly, with intensity and power -- the burly bassist stood up at the back of his dressing room, ushered his bandmates out, and made a spirited case for his defense. His craggy features often lighting up with a mischievous gleam, Hooky spoke to Spinner about how Joy Division's legacy is his legacy, too, and offered some choice words about the New Order reunion, his corrosive relationship with his ex-bandmates, and his feelings about a makeup after the break-up.
I understand you started playing Joy Division albums live because Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie never thought that his band's album 'Screamadelica' got the recognition it deserved?
He was saying there were songs on 'Screamadelica' that they didn't play a lot, and he felt now that that was a mistake. That struck a chord with me: there were songs on 'Unknown Pleasures' which we hardly ever played. Once I got out of New Order and was able to look in, I thought, "Why did we never play those songs that three-quarters of us had written?"
I think the main problem was that Bernard didn't like Joy Division -- he preferred New Order, which is fair enough, 'cause it has a completely different sensibility. But for me, who was happy to play both, it just felt quite odd. So at my own club in Manchester [The Factory], I got a group together and played Joy Division's music.
You said at the time there were a lot of "keyboard terrorists" on the web who weren't happy with the idea of that performance. Do you spend time reading what people say about you on message boards and forums?
You do it to gauge reaction, and it's like picking a sore, isn't it? You always want to do it. I have a different attitude towards it now, because it actually scared off a lot of the people I wanted to work with, which made me all the more determined. It's the same thing with New Order deciding to tour without me -- [it] makes me all the more determined to f--- New Order over in any possible way I can. If they think I'm just going to scuttle off to a cabin in the woods, they've got another thing coming. They're dickheads. People go and hide, but I don't. I'm a fighter. I'm going to come out fighting.
Watch Peter Hook and the Light's Video for 'Pictures in My Mind'You were the one who announced the break-up -- was that because you'd decided you were the one who wouldn't hide from the issues facing the band?
What happened was that I didn't enjoy working with Bernard anymore. I felt that our ambitions for the group and for the music were too far apart to ever come together again. It was a pain in the arse doing the last album [2005's 'Waiting for the Siren's Call'], and the fact that it took three years was f---ing ridiculous. I'll never get that time back again. Everybody towed the line: "Don't upset Bernard." F---ing stupid. Everyone gets hypnotized into doing it.
That said, you managed to accommodate each other for years before...
You have to bear in mind that when we came back, we only did two records. Bernard and I were very, very together when we did [the 2001 reunion album] 'Get Ready.' Steve and Gillian hardly did anything on 'Get Ready'; Gillian left anyway. When we started doing 'Waiting for the Siren's Call,' he started acting the same way as he did on [1993's] 'Republic.'
An album which didn't have very much of you in it.
Well it did, actually, 'cause [producer] Stephen Hague went out of his way to put me in it, but it didn't sound like me. It just doesn't sound like New Order. Also there are songs on 'Republic,' which to my eternal annoyance, I found out later they used my bass for the vocal line, and wiped the bass. The last New Order song was 'Regret.' The rest of them, to me, were electronic songs with bass on them. They had a different feel. And unfortunately I felt we were getting that feel again, and getting into that rut on 'Waiting for the Siren's Call.' It was divisive. [Bernard] was going one way, and I was going the other.
Was it after 'Siren's Call,' then, that things really came to a head?
Once I got sober, I realized what a crock of s--- he was. [laughs] I couldn't live with it.
That was why I split the band... I was suffering really badly from alcoholism at the time, and the unhappiness was making me drink more. When your life's out of control, it's a terrible feeling, and I didn't get my life back in control until I stopped drinking. Once I [did], I thought, "Ooh. It's like a bad relationship." All of a sudden, you go, "Oh my God!" And your mates have been telling it you for years! "She's a cow -- get rid of her!" Being in a group is the same. And when it goes, it's like a death. Well, this one's still f---ing dying!
Watch New Order Perform 'Waiting for the Siren's Call'But at the same time the band produced some great music.
Musicians are renowned for focusing on stupid, petty arguments. The things that Bernard and I are arguing about are absolutely f---ing pathetic, and I'm hoping that some grownup will come into the schoolyard and stop it.
Would there be a chance for all of you to get over it, to say the music you've made together is more important than these disagreements?
I'm not too sure because of the fact that they've decided to do New Order without me. It would have been the same if [The Light] were called "Joy Division." That's not New Order -- they're just f---ing trying it on. It would be like me going out with Stephen and Gillian and saying it's New Order: "Where's Barney?!" They're going to be haunted by it, aren't they? [In] every interview they'll be dying to ask you what it's like without Hooky. It's going to be a hard thing for them to pull off, but they're doing it for financial reasons mainly.
They're supposed to be charity gigs...
Yeah. It's all bollocks. They're already hawking for an American tour; me mate told me yesterday. They're hiding behind the charity gig.
Who owns the trademark "New Order"?
I used to, but they pulled a cunning limited company hostile takeover and managed to take over the trademark from me.
Did you try and fight this?
I'm fighting it now at the moment.
Do you want to stop them from touring as New Order?
No, no. What they've done to me, to tour as New Order, is frankly disgusting. I don't mind them touring as New Order, if they'd come to me and said that -- but there's more of them than there is of me, so I get outvoted, don't I? A judge would go, "Well, there's more of them, Hooky, than you. How can you stop them?"
But at the same time, you're an integral part of the band.
Yeah, but I'm not that bothered -- I'm not against it. I think that people are intelligent enough to know that it's not [the same]. New Order Mark 1 was with Gillian; New Order Mark 2 was without Gillian, and now you've got New Order Mark 3, which is without me. They're different New Orders.
If the others were to call you up tomorrow and say, "We're sorry, we should have included you," would you...
[Hook laughs loudly, and smiles.] Yeah.
You'd be on board?
Oh, 100 percent yeah. I'd get a picnic and go around their house as well, so we could spend the day together.
Watch New Order Perform 'Ceremony,' 1981You say they're doing it for money reasons, but wouldn't they do better financially with you in the band?
Yeah, but supposedly they've been annoyed by the fact that I've played Joy Division and the fact that I'm going to play New Order next year, starting with [debut album] 'Movement,' so I think that they thought, "F---, we'd better grab it back before he gets it!" [laughs]
Are you going to be playing New Order songs, then, partially to be adversarial?
No. Once I'd played 'Unknown Pleasures,' I thought it would be fantastic to play every song I'd ever written before I retired, or before I died. So I've actually got the bit between me teeth now. I've played 'Unknown Pleasures'; I've played 'Closer'; I've played all the tracks in-between, and it's fantastic to get them back.
I play music, and it's my life, and it's how I earn my living. What am I supposed to do? Sit at home in the garden, pruning the roses? I can't work with them, so I have to work with people that I get on with and have the same ambitions and ideals -- but what do you play? I went through [the group] Freebass [with Mani from Primal Scream and Andy Rourke from the Smiths], did a new LP; we toured; that didn't work, so I got the opportunity to play Joy Division, which I'd ignored wholeheartedly for 31 years.
I'm a musician. As corny as it sounds, you are a wandering minstrel, aren't you? So why shouldn't I be able to play me own f---ing songs? Bernard and Stephen did it before me: they played Joy Division and New Order in Bad Lieutenant, and they never asked me. And yet now because I'm doing Joy Division, I'm a c--- because I'd never asked them. It doesn't run right, does it, really? But I'm not pretending to be Joy Division. I'm afraid to say that they're going to pretend to be New Order. And the happiest moment in Bernard's life, as I recall, musically, was when Gillian left. So he must actually hate me more than he f---ing hates Gillian, because there's the biggest contradiction in terms I've ever seen in me f---ing life!
Did Bernard and Gillian differ about musical direction?
She's not a very good musician, I'm afraid, and she didn't add that much to the band. It was a problem with both of us. We were very happy when she left. And personally I thought New Order Mark 2 were far superior to New Order Mark 1, but that's life, isn't it? Everyone's entitled to their opinion, aren't they?
Your band is called Peter Hook and the Light, though people have the idea that Joy Division is all darkness and brooding.
Yeah, the cliché was that it was very gloomy music, but it never felt gloomy to me -- always felt f---ing great. It used to make me very, very happy.
The band is called the Light because I'd seen the light. I knew what I was going to do. I don't like the "Peter Hook" bit, personally -- I'd rather be a group, but the promoters always put, "Peter Hook and the Light," and you can't stop them doing it.
Do people have a specific impression of Joy Division that you're trying to counteract?
What makes me really happy about playing Joy Division's music is that people seem to enjoy the fact of you playing it. They love it on record, and then they come and see you play live and like that as well. And I'm like, "Wow, what a compliment!" It's a great compliment to Bernard, Stephen, and Ian, 'cause it's their songs that people are enjoying. I'm sure it's just as much a compliment to Bernard and Stephen when they play it in Bad Order, or New Lieutenant, or whatever they're f---ing called.
Watch Joy Division Perform 'She's Lost Control'Are the seven unreleased New Order songs from the 'Waiting for the Siren's Call' sessions going to surface?
Well, supposedly they're doing this [tour] to coincide with the release of those songs. They're not stupid. It's not by chance, is it?
And it's nothing you have a say in?
I don't have any say in it whatsoever, and they've actually pulled some really dirty business shenanigans to get their own way, which they're not going to get away with. They can play together as much as they want. Good luck to them. I spent most of my life trying to get New Order to play, and I'm not going to stop them now. It was like banging your head against a brick wall. Unbelievable. I'm actually happy that they're going to play.
You'll be watching?
No, I'll be washing me hair that night. And the other night.
Follow @Spinner on Twitter | Like Us on Facebook | Sign Up for Our NewsletterMutemath Brave Discomfort, Drum-Stick Pelting for 'Blood Pressure' Video
Mutemath's newest video 'Blood Pressure' is a spazoid, stop-motion trip directed by the band's own Darren King. Spinner caught up with the drummer to talk about the video and how the put together such a complex project.
Where did the idea for this video come from?
I had done a couple of videos already that were very heavily edited and had little ideas from each of those. We didn't plan out the video until the hour prior to shooting. We were in L.A. doing a show and then press at Warner Brothers and realized we wouldn't have another chance to be all together until the tour so we just decided to throw caution to the wind. A lot of the ideas were improvised with the hope that they would work once edited together.
How long did you shoot for? Were there any injuries?
We filmed it in one night. Initially we were bummed when the sun started coming up but that turned out to be one of the cool things about the video. It was the editing that took a lot of time.
Can Paul Meany actually walk on his hands or was that just another stunt?
No. Paul had to do about 13 consecutive handstands to achieve that effect. I felt guilty for making him do that but we all had to do something equally discomforting.
Watch 'Blood Pressure'So you got to direct the video for 'Blood Pressure.' How did the rest of the band respond to you throwing drumsticks at them?
My bandmates were OK with me throwing sticks at them but with each take I got a little more confident and threw the sticks harder. They politely asked me to cool it a little.
Do you direct anything outside of the band?
No, we direct our own videos out of necessity. I should also point out that the whole band collaborated on the project and our friend Claire Vogel co-directed. There aren't too many people I could call and ask "Hey, could you put together a nice video shoot for us in ... oh ... a couple hours?" Editing everything was quite a task -- I worked on it a little every day for about two weeks.
http://twitter.com/spinner | Like Us on Facebook | Sign Up for Our NewsletterFriendly Fires Frontman Discusses His Bandmate's Death + His Own 'Breakdown'
"We were all really deeply shocked," lead singer Ed Macfarlane tells Spinner as they begin a one-month North American tour.
We'd just been playing with Richard in Istanbul. And ironically enough, the last time I saw him was when he was swimming in the hotel pool. He was a really athletic guy. We were all just deeply shocked because we'd travelled around the world with him for years. And then Pukkelpop was another totally surreal moment. It wasn't a very pleasant place to be."
Despite the devastating setbacks, the shows must go on, and the Mercury Prize-nominated band continued to play around Europe through August and September, motivated not only by the allure of keeping busy but also by the inspiration from their latest record, 'Pala,' named after the island in Aldous Huxley's novel 'Island.'
"We don't really have time to sit and think about what happened," Macfarlane reflects. "We're just constantly on the go and that's the way we want to do it. The whole theme of this new record is about making the most of what you have while it lasts, so it just makes sense for us to do everything that we can while we still have the opportunity."
While they've already toured almost non-stop since 'Pala' dropped in May, they're continuing straight through 'til Christmas. This month they're in North America, then they head back to the Europe, on to Japan and back to Europe again before the year is out. The live show is meant to complement the record, which is intended to be a more samba-inspired affair -- something the band felt lent itself to a wilder live show (and if Macfarlane's famed dance moves are any indication, the live show is pretty damn wild).
Friendly Fires' 'Skeleton Boy' VideoRolling out this complex new material didn't happen seamlessly, however, and the band was forced to cancel their Toronto show early on in the tour in May, due to exhaustion. It was reported that drummer Jack Savidge was hospitalized as a result, but Macfarlane says he was affected, too.
"I just had a semi-nervous breakdown on the road after Montreal on the way to Toronto," he explains. "I suppose it was the pressure of having a whole new set. It's way longer and a lot of the songs are really challenging for my voice and we were touring in a bus -- it was the s----iest bus ever -- and I was just not sleeping at all. I was in that frame of mind, like, 'I have to sleep. If I don't sleep then I'm not going to be able to sing the songs tomorrow.' When you start thinking like that, you never get to sleep. It all came to a head in Toronto."
They're making that show up on October 23, and while the original cancellation upset the guys in the band as much as their fans, perhaps the do-over is a blessing in disguise now that the kinks and the challenges of the live show have since been worked out.
"Now it feels like we don't even need to think about playing the songs. We just go on stage and lose ourselves. To me, my best shows are when I can't actually remember them, because I've been in some sort of trance. It feels like every show we do now, we're at that level."
Follow @Spinner on Twitter | Like Spinner on FacebookFuture Islands, 'Balance' -- Video of the Day
Video: 'Balance'
Highlight: "Jay [Buim, director] has been a friend of ours for a few years now," vocalist Samuel T. Herring tells Spinner. "He has an eye for beauty that shows in his work, and we completely trust his vision. There are so many different paths you can take when realizing music for film, and it's a difficult task to elevate or bring something more than what is already there. Telling his own story, Jay has given a new life to the song, creating his own timeline and producing a wonderful work of art. We are proud to be a part of that."
Monday, October 10, 2011
Blondie -- A Day in the Life
Well, we assume all six are there. Our eyes shoot straight to frontwoman Deborah Harry, whose platinum locks are so bright they make us squint. She's rocking gray slacks, a matching tank top, a pink over-shirt and enormous black sunglasses, and even at 66 years old, she looks like a character out of an old movie, or maybe Andy Warhol's Factory. Blondie have agreed to let Spinner tag along for the afternoon and evening, and we're trying to keep cool. This is Fashion Week -- can't let 'em see you sweat.
AmazonListen to Blondie's Full 'Panic of Girls' Album Free
The pioneering New Wave group is back home in New York, where it formed in 1974, to play two sold-out shows at the Highline Ballroom and mark the release of 'Panic of Girls,' its ninth studio album and first since 2003. To celebrate the occasion, as well as to raise a few bucks for the environmental charity Riverkeeper, the Marc Jacobs store on the corner of Bleecker and Perry has been transformed into a Blondie pop-up shop. The racks are filled with colorful T-shirts emblazoned with Harry's face, and the walls are covered with photos of the group in its late-'70s heyday. When Harry and the gang roll up, poised to sign some autographs, diehard fans have already been staking out the shop for hours, jockeying for position.
Obviously used to such attention, Harry poses for a few photos and heads inside, where she joins guitarist Chris Stein and drummer Clem Burke -- Blondie's other two original members -- on a couch visible through the shop's front window. Behind them sit newcomers Leigh Foxx (bass), Matt Katz-Bohen (keyboard) and Tommy Kessler (guitar). The atmosphere quickly becomes hot and noisy, as 'Panic of Girls' blasts on the sound system and fans queue up for signatures.
Watch A Day in the Life With BlondieVideography by Elizabeth Bruneau and Reid Rolls / Production by Elizabeth Bruneau
As befits Blondie -- a band that started out playing punk at CBGBs but has since dabbled in everything from hip-hop and disco to reggae and French cabaret -- the line holds a motley assortment of individuals. There are gushing 20-something girls, punk dudes in CBGBs T-shirts and one guy with blue eyeliner, red Chuck Taylors and a pitchfork tattooed on his neck. When two women -- seemingly friends of Katz-Bohen -- show up with a Chihuahua, Harry doesn't miss a beat.
"Am I going to sign your dog?" she asks.
Why not? Some other guy brought a red stiletto shoe, and plenty of folks come clutching old LPs and other Blondie memorabilia. A 30-year-old fan from Australia has brought along one of Harry's post-Blondie solo singles, and when his turn comes, he chats up Burke, who he's met before. It turns out the Aussie doesn't have a ticket for tonight's show -- the second of the Highline gigs -- and Burke tells him to come by the club around showtime. He'll take care of it. Later, when a French friend of Harry's comes through the line, the singer listens to make sure 'Le Blue,' from the new album, isn't playing.
"I'm so glad you weren't here for the French song," Harry says, dissing her own French pronunciation.
Fortunately, Harry is pleased with the album on the whole, and later on, during a quiet 10-minute chat in the back of the shop, she dishes about keeps her legendary band going.
"We love our fans, and we want to respect them," she says. "We want to have a continuity with our past albums and our past identity. But mostly, when we start out, I think the germ of inspiration has to really be that: You have to be satisfied with what you're doing. We're really fortunate. We've created a sound that's identifiable. We've kind of stuck to our guns. We haven't had a complete meltdown. Only partial meltdowns."
Reid Rolls for AOL Some of the meltdowns she alludes to presumably contributed to Blondie's breakup in 1982. They reformed in 1997 and have since released three albums. 'Panic' is the first in the band's history not to feature founding keyboardist Jimmy Destri, and despite the presence of new members, some of whom contributed songs for the latest collection, Harry says today's group functions like the old one did.
"Blondie has always been sort of an ensemble situation, and that's how we consider it," she says. "If something good comes along, something we like, that seems appropriate, it feels like a lucky break."
Other interesting tidbits that come out of our conversation: Harry has been "hopping around" to LMFAO's 'Party Rockers Anthem,' one of her favorite songs of the year, and she thinks the only hope for humanity might be a kind of forced unity brought about by the total depletion of Earth's natural resources.
The conversation is less heady 20 minutes later, as we ride with Burke and Stein back to their hotel, the Millennium Broadway Hotel. The drive takes us uptown, through once-seedy, now-Disney Times Square -- a prime example of how New York City has changed since the mid-'70s, when Blondie were making their name on the Bowery.
"The energy is still here," Stein assures us. "Even the darkness is still here, a little bit -- a lot of the stuff I loved about it."
As talk turns to Blondie's eclectic sound -- their greatest hits include the disco tune 'Heart of Glass,' early hip-hop crossover 'Rapture' and bouncy reggae cut 'The Tide Is High' -- Burke says the band is a product of its surroundings.
"As so-called artists, we're really lucky to be placed in this city," he says. "The genesis of this band was in this city, and we emerged from this city, and all the stimulus this city allows really makes us sound the way we sound."
In recent years, Blondie have covered songs by former CBGBs pals the Ramones, and on this latest tour, they've been doing 'You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory,' by the late New York Dolls guitarist Johnny Thunders. They're also blending 'Rapture' with the Beastie Boys' '(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (to Party!).'
"We're able to do a disco song; we're able to do a hip-hop song," Burke says. "It's all in this big stew -- that's really what we are."
Reid Rolls for AOL Other interesting tidbits that come out of our car ride: Blondie already have much of its 10th album recorded, and Stein thinks Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream' is an "awesome piece of work." He doesn't care that people know all about Blondie's personal travails or his previous love affair with Harry (they broke up in the '90s), since everyone's information is out in the open these days, and in the future, they'll be no more politicians, "because everyone is going to have a picture [online] of them with their c---s hanging out or something."
"What's wrong with that?" Burke asks.
A little more than two hours later, Burke and Stein pull up in front of the Highline. Harry is either already inside or en route, and the band is due on stage in just over an hour. Burke looks around, spies the Australian fellow he spoke to earlier, and pulls him into the group of people that shuffles past the bouncer guarding the club's side entrance. That's one way to save money on concert tickets.
When Blondie hit the stage at 10 PM, Harry is wearing different clothes than she was in the West Village. Gone are the pants and loose shirt, replaced with a tight black Oriental-style dress. The group opens with a trio of old favorites -- 'Union City Blues, 'Dreaming' and 'Atomic' -- and as Harry readies for a new one, 'D-Day,' a bright, buzzy synth-pop they could have recorded in 1981, she looks out at a crowd that comprises young and old, gay and straight, chic and schlubby, punk and square. Maybe there's even a Chihuahua running around somewhere.
"It's good to be home," she says.
Follow @Spinner on Twitter | Like Us on Facebook | Sign Up for Our NewsletterPAPA's Darren Weiss Battles Exhaustion While Pulling Double Duty With Girls
His voice has a hint of nostalgia; though Los Angeles natives, the band formed in New York. They are happy to be back although two of the members, Darren and Evan Weiss, are run ragged from doing double duty with their tourmates Girls.
"Look at me. I look like s--," singer and drummer Darren says. "I feel like s--. But I'm doing what I love."
AmazonListen to PAPA's Full 'A Good Woman Is Hard to Find' for Free
On this tour, Darren must reprise his singing and drumming role for Girls' headlining set. "Girls is fortunate enough to have these three beautiful backup singers," he explains to Spinner through strained vocal chords. "They're just spectacular but they're only with us in some of the major cities across the United States. So most nights after singing through full sound checks and a full PAPA set, I have to sing backups through an hour-and-a-half Girls set. The combination of that and not sleeping very much at all has just been wearing on me."
The various aspects of Darren's touring schedule have conspired to wipe out his voice for the bands' two Bowery Ballroom shows, arguably the biggest shows of their North American tour. Despite his vocal exhaustion, PAPA are on the upswing. "I've had a lot of years in my life to just be selfish and have personal time and have fun," he states calmly, no complaints. "Now is the time to work -- that's just the bottom line. And I love the work I'm doing. I'm just f---ing tired."
Between their tour with the indie darlings of the moment and a recent mention on Pitchfork, the band is settling into a sure-footed groove, one that is reflected in performances of songs like 'I Am the Lion King.' There's a lothario balladry that runs through the length of PAPA's debut EP 'A Good Woman Is Hard to Find,' that lends the release a rolling swagger: The stuff of boozy nights on dirty streets.
PAPA's tour hasn't been all nose to the grindstone, though. Presant's levity contrasts well with the Weiss brothers' lighthearted weariness: "Our rides consist of me asking Fischel, 'Yo, so are you ready yet?" he quips about riding with absent fourth member Alex Fischel in the keyboardist's Honda Element and separately from Girls' touring van. "I've asked him probably seven times on this trip. I say, 'At the end of the tour lets just put a hose in there and sit in there' -- literally have a real carpool."
PAPA Perform 'I Am the Lion King'PAPA is Darren's brainchild. He formed an early manifestation of the band upon settling in New York on the heels of several years of on and off touring with Wires on Fire and Simon Dawes (now Dawes). After having been through multiple incarnations over the course of the last several years and on both coasts of the United States, PAPA seem to have coalesced. Though every member of PAPA is actively involved in other projects, none of them see that activity as impinging in any way on their commitment to the band.
"In all other genres it's less of a big deal: Country, hip hop, jazz, everyone f---s with everyone," guitarist Evan Weiss explains. "For some reason in rock music there's this weird exclusivity. I understand that gang mentality and I always wanted that sort of a band where it's us versus the world, but it's never really worked out for me."
PAPA's brand of rock takes the lighter pop numbers that brought Girls into the spotlight and lays it at the crossroads of punk and post-punk circumscribed by the Clash and the Talking Heads. There's a keen sense of Americana that weaves itself into the fabric PAPA's songs, a Springsteen or Petty-esque of travel-tested wisdom, which at the Bowery shows are underlined by Weiss' scratchy delivery -- his voice sounds like it has trawled the great American expanse.
"Danny and I have really different styles of writing," Darren tells Spinner. "I still write with an acoustic guitar and my demos usually sound like some kind of weird f---ed-up folk thing with lead lines and writing harmonies. I demo it all myself. Danny's style of writing is that he makes just really awesome beats that sound like hip hop smash singles and then we f--- it up enough to make it sound like Papa."
PAPA plans to record a full-length in December, but until then you can sate yourself with their EP 'A Good Woman Is Hard to Find,' which is available now via Psychedelic Judaism/Hit City U.S.A.
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