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Anybody like free music?

Most of the time I post links to individual MP3s that bands or labels have made available to download. But here are a few links to EPs and full lengths that will cost you a grand total of $0.

Former Warner Bros. band The Sun are offering their swan song, Don’t Let Your Baby Have All the Fun, over on RockProper.com (direct link to download here)

Live EP from Pixies to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Doolittle. You have to plug in your e-mail address to receive the link)

Live Swell Season concert from Milwaukee’s Pabst Theater (recorded Nov.1) courtesy of RadioMilwaukee.podbean.com. All one MP3 file so you’ll either need to listen to it in one sitting or figure out a way to break it up into individual tracks.

A nine-track live CD – Live at Eddie’s Attic – from the indie-folk boy/girl duo The Civil Wars (RIYL: Over the Rhine, Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan, The Swell Season)

Signing up on the mailing list will get you Bamboo You, six new tracks from Vulture Whale (featuring Les Nuby, ex-Verbana).

Athens, Georgia based noisemakers Twin Tigers (friends of Dead Confederate, fans of Sonic Youth) digital debut EP to give you a preview of what to expect from the band as they tour with Minus the Bear and The Antlers during the month of November.  It’ll cost you the price of giving the band your name and e-mail address.

Jimmy Kimmel welcomes …

Whoever the talent booker is for the Jimmy Kimmel show has done a pretty decent job lining up bands to appear on the show this month. Think I might even set the DVR to record a few of these:

November 3 – White Rabbits
November 4 – Ghostface Killah featuring Raheem DeVaughn
November 5 – Florence + The Machine
November 6 – Chickenfoot
November 10 – Amerie
November 11 – Los Lonely Boys
November 12 – Switchfoot
November 13 – Huey Lewis and the News
November 17 – One Republic
November 18 – 50 Cent
November 19 – Carrie Underwood
November 20 – Death Cab for Cutie
November 23 – Weezer

Free music from Placebo/Silversun Pickups

Silversun Pickups, Expatriate, The Horrors, and United are joining Placebo on a tour of the UK and Europe starting this week (see Placebo’s tour page for who is opening where). As a way to get fans excited about the tour, Placebo is offering a free download bundle – including a PDF booklet – featuring live tracks by all the bands that will be taking part in this tour.

Here’s the tracklist:

1 – Placebo – Breathe Underwater (Live At Pukkelpop Festival 2009)
2 – Expatriate – Get Out, Give In
3 – Silversun Pickups – Panic Switch (Recorded Live For KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic)
4 – The Horrors – Sea Within A Sea
5 – United – For What I Feel (Live At Debaser )

Download the EP here. (You have to provide your email address and they’ll send you a link to download)

20 Q’s with singer Ray West (ex-Spread Eagle)

Ray West/Spread Eagle @ The Akron Agora, 1990
Ray West/Spread Eagle @ The Akron Agora, 1990

Though they never met with success the way other like-minded sleaze metal bands did (Skid Row being a prime example), Spread Eagle created a minor splash with tracks like “Switchblade Serenade” and “Scratch Like a Cat” from their self-titled MCA debut in 1990. Both videos received limited airplay on MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball and the video for “Scratch Like a Cat” was shown on an episode of “Life Goes On” (it might have been in the episode entitled “Corky Rebels”).

After a (saleswise) disappointing second release, Open to the Public, in 1993, Spread Eagle called it quits. Singer Ray West joined a band called Girls of Porn but then disappeared for a number of years. Rumors around the internet were that Ray had AIDs and had moved back to Florida (where he got his start) to live with his mom. As you’ll soon read, those rumors were completely unfounded and Ray knows who started them.

In 2006, Ray resurfaced with a MySpace page, posted some solo tracks he was working on as well as Hostel, Inc. tracks he had recorded, and also hooked back up with Spread Eagle bassist Rob DeLuca for a short run of reunion tour dates.

Just a few weeks ago, Ray released his first solo CD (under the name All Pointz West) and while it’s definitely NOT an ’80s hair metal rehash (think more like modern metal bands Avenged Sevenfold, Seether, Killswitch Engage), Spread Eagle fans should recognize Ray’s vocals pretty easily on many of the tracks.



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I’m a huge fan of Spread Eagle AND the Metal Sludge website so I figured I’d copy that site’s 20 Questions format and send questions to Ray in hopes that maybe Metal Sludge would be interested in running it on their site (offer is still there, Stevie!).

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