Back in 2007, at a going away party that my oldest brother threw for me, my brother M came up to me with all of the seriousness of confronting someone with a drug problem and said something like, “Hey, you’ve got to stop writing about music. That stuff that you write about is crap.” He went on and on to make sure I understood how serious it was and how wrong what I was doing was. I stood there silenced by a mix of anger and disbelief. How can my hobby, which no one has to see unless they specifically go there, be this harmful to me? It was probably one of the most hurtful things anyone has ever said to me and obviously I haven’t forgotten it. As I spent the day yesterday walking around London, just me and my iPod, I’ve decided to take Cliff Poncier’s (Matt Dillon’s character in the movie Singles) stance on my brother’s criticism. “This negativity just makes me stronger”. Watch the clip if you can.
So what crap band am I going to talk about first in 2008? I’m as surprised as anyone to see myself typing The Hives. They released a new record called The Black and White Album at the end of 2007. When I heard that Ole Miss cheerleaders did backing vocals on one of the songs and they spent time in the American South recording it, I had to have a listen. Even though they do a lot to make themselves a visual band with the matchy matchy outfits, I prefer to hear them, not to see them. I think I’ll be hearing a lot of the first half of this record.
We all know that January can be a bummer of a month. I have no live shows lined up so I’m looking for anything to put a positive spin on things. If you are looking for fast, catchy, songs that will get you moving in the winter months, check them out. --J
No comments:
Post a Comment