TCB
TCB enters the political arena with Neil Young's new album, Trail of Dead behind the Iron Curtain, and a hipster pop quiz
By Christopher Gray, Fri., May 5, 2006
GIGLOCK
On an otherwise innocent Monday night, it's a music geek's worst nightmare: the Subways at the Parish, Art Brut at Emo's, and She Wants Revenge at Stubb's – not to mention Aussie SXSW stars Wolfmother at the Parish the night before. Since that $100 gasoline rebate check from Uncle Sam won't show up for a while, this handy TCB quiz will help you figure out at which show you belong.1 How did you hear about the show?
a) Saw tour dates on Pitchfork.com
b) Won tickets from 101X
c) Noticed poster at last week's End of an Ear in-store
d) Heard album playing at drug dealer's apartment
2 Getting dressed for the show, you wear:
a) Strokes T-shirt, ripped jeans, black low-top Converse
b) Black mock turtleneck, black eyeliner, black low-top Converse
c) Secondhand suit jacket, little league T-shirt, black low-top Converse
d) What you woke up in, black low-top Converse
3 You managed to get on the guest list plus one. Who do you ask?
a) The girl you've been exchanging flirtatious glances with at Jester's Veronica Mars watching parties
b) The temp at your office with red-streaked hair, nose ring, and lower-back Virgin Mary tattoo
c) The sarcastic discussion leader in your History of Film seminar
d) The guy who just hooked you up with that quarter of KB
4 How are you getting there?
a) Capital Metro: students ride free!
b) Carpooling with your friend who promised you a ride to Nine Inch Nails next month
c) The 2006 Toyota Prius your parents got you for graduation
d) The airbrushed 1978 Econoline van you inherited from "Uncle Dave"
5 You stop off for a drink before the show. Where?
a) Mugshots
b) Elysium
c) Casino el Camino
d) Nowhere, that's why you stashed the sixer of PBR under the passenger seat
6 Standing in line to get in, what's on your iPod?
a) Arctic Monkeys, Everything They Say I Am, That's What I Am Not; Kaiser Chiefs, Employment; the Vines, Vision Valley
b) Interpol, Turn on the Bright Lights; Depeche Mode, Black Celebration; the Cure, Disintegration
c) Wire, Pink Flag; White Stripes, De Stijl; Bloc Party, Banquet
d) Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II; Ozzy Osbourne, Blizzard of Ozz; the Darkness, Permission to Land
If you answered...
mostly a) The Subways: Enjoy, because you'll probably have forgotten all about them in six months.
mostly b) She Wants Revenge: A crowd of people with similar self-esteem issues could mean an end to your months-long scoring drought. Don't count on it.
mostly c) Art Brut: At no point during the evening should you crack a smile or otherwise indicate enjoyment.
mostly d) Wolfmother: Rock and fucking roll, dude!
TO RUSSIA MY HOMELAND
Coinciding with the Russian release of 2005's Worlds Apart, Austin noisemongers ...Trail of Dead spent Easter weekend as ambassadors to Moscow, where they stayed in a hotel built by German POWs and encountered a warmer than expected reception. "I guess they don't have many bands coming over there," figures singer/guitarist Conrad Keely, who laughs that ELO's original lineup played the same club a few days later. Their experience ran contrary to what Buzz Osborne of the Melvins and Fantomas told them earlier that week in Vienna. "We all went over there expecting the absolute worst," Keely says. "We thought it was going to be totally dangerous and seedy, and nothing happened." Even the famously forbidding Russian weather was less than frigid. "I brought scarves and a coat, and I was frankly overdressed," chuckles Keely. The band toured the Kremlin, but Red Square was closed for Easter, so they couldn't view Joseph Stalin's remains. "You can see his corpse, and his hand is connected to a little motor, so it kind of salutes you," shivers Keely. Once back in the States, Trail of Dead immediately resumed putting in long hours in their Mob House studio finishing up their next album. "It's coming out pretty wacky," Keely says.
LET'S ROLL
It's been three bloody years since George W. Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq, and speaking out against the president and/or the war is suddenly pop's hottest trend. Pearl Jam's new "World Wide Suicide" dominates rock radio, Bruce Springsteen blasted "President Bystander" at Jazzfest last weekend and, apropos of ... something, Madonna chimed in at Coachella with, "Just go to Texas and suck George Bush's dick." Even the Dixie Chicks are back with the petulant "Not Ready to Make Nice," but no one has garnered more media attention than Neil Young, who posted his new album Living With War on his Web site last week. (It's in stores May 9.) Young wrote and recorded the album over two weeks last month, not long after SXSW Managing Director Roland Swenson said, "Neil, we need a new song [like 'Ohio']" in his introduction to Young's keynote speech. "I haven't heard that mentioned [as a reason] yet, so that's probably something I shouldn't speculate on," says former Austin Sun writer Bill Bentley, who recently left his vice-president position at Warner Bros. after 20 years to handle publicity for Young. ("I'm sure it wasn't any one thing," agrees Swenson.) Whatever its origin, Living With War "feels like the record of its time," offers Bentley. "We sent out just a few advances a week ago, and the response has been overwhelming." With songs like "Let's Impeach the President," "Flags of Freedom," and an "America the Beautiful" performed a cappella by Young and a 100-member choir, it's guaranteed to stir up debate. "Regardless of which side you're on, I think this kind of album opens a discussion in a way that's been a little lacking," Bentley says. Young, whose Heart of Gold concert film is due on DVD soon, joins his Crosby, Stills, and Nash cohorts on this summer's Freedom of Speech tour, but no Texas dates have been announced.
