Category: videos

Smashing Pumpkins setlists

The new album isn’t so bad but I was a bit hesitant to drop $50 for a ticket to see the Smashing Pumpkins in Columbus on October 11 because I didn’t want the setlist to be heavy with new material with the “hits” being saved for the encore.

Now, normally I’m all for bands with a deep back catalog of hits and a new album to promote playing the new stuff. In fact, I wonder what the point is for bands like The Scorpions or Journey or Superchunk or whoever to keep recording new music when the fact of the matter is that live, fans only want to hear the classics. Think it’s rough for those bands to be truly excited about ALL the songs on their new albums knowing that there are probably 6 or 7 of those tracks that will never be played live … ever?

I digress. If you want to see what the Smashing Pumpkins have been playing on their new tour, check this site out – there are setlists from pretty much every Pumpkins show EVER including the new tour. It looks like it’s a Greatest Hits tour with just a few new songs making it into the set each night.

Here’s a fan-filmed “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” from the September 19 show in San Diego.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=_2ZVjCvquwk[/youtube]

Track 3 – “Japanese Girlfriend” by Earwig

Lizard McGee has finally struck pay dirt in not only his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, but national as well with the release of Earwig’s third full-length, Center of the Earth. It only took him 15 years to do so. Now, let’s be fair to the songwriter and his band – Earwig has always been a perennial favorite in the local scene dating back to the days when the original lineup was playing house shows near the Ohio State campus. A few lineup changes later, a few years off to concentrate on things like life, employment, family, and McGee has hit a solid stride where everything he releases smells like a hit. If you’re into well written, good old meat and potatoes rock fueled by a Midwest lifestyle and a passing interest in the North Carolina indie pop-rock scene circa ’92, Center of the Earth belongs in your collection.

The ever-enigmatic front man with one of the greatest names in rock history, Lizard McGee, recently took on the challenge to discuss the third track on Center of the Earth, “Japanese Girlfriend”. (And, hey, was anybody else waiting for McGee to sing “You’re too stoned / Ninetendo” in the chorus or am I the only one that hears the similarities?)

MP3: Japanese Girlfriend

Is track 3 representative of the whole CD?
The track “Japanese Girlfriend” has a lot of the sounds and elements that are common to the rest of the Center Of The Earth. But it’s also more of a no frills, pumped-up rocker than some of the mellower songs in the middle and end of the CD. It’s indicative of us in that it’s got the fuzz, crunch and power that are all part of the “Earwig sound”. It’s all loud guitars and drums with heart-on-yr-sleeve lyrics and vocals.

What’s the story behind the song – from the lyrical content to the way it was written and recorded?
It’s a song about a secret love affair. Love that exists only between two people and never goes any farther than that. No one else knows that they feel this way. Circumstances preclude them from actually getting to be together in any way other than sharing the secret. But they are still in love. And it’s about the special things that they do to signify how they feel, things that only they would understand or recognize. I wrote the song very quickly while I was living in California. I had been reading a lot of traditional Japanese poetry and the song even has a lyric that’s in Japanese. Like a lot of songs on this record, it wasn’t one that we really knew what to do with. We had not rehearsed “Japanese Girlfriend” or played it at all on tour. But after we got back from the tour, we spent three days recording in Chicago and came out with a great take of the song and it ended up being one of the best tracks on the record.

Was there a particular reason you placed this song in the #3 spot on the tracklisting?
Because 3 is a Magic Number.

Buy Center of the Earth by Earwig.

An added bonus. Here’s some live footage of the band performing “Japanese Girlfriend” in April.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=fF7auh3vMCU[/youtube]

Travis / Maximo Park West Coast tour dates

Good news if you live on the West Coast or Canada, bad news is you live anywhere else.

11/13 – Calgary, AB — MacEwan Hall
11/14 – Edmonton, AB — Event Center
11/16 – Vancouver, BC — PA Center
11/17 – Seattle, WA — Moore
11/18 – Portland, OR — Crystal Ballroom
11/20 – San Francisco, CA — Warfield
11/21 – Los Angeles, CA — Wiltern
11/23 – Las Vegas, NV — Joint
11/24 – Anaheim, CA — House of Blues
11/25 – Phoenix, AZ — Celebrity Theatre
11/26 – San Diego, CA – House of Blues

Poor, poor Travis. Just a few years ahead of Coldplay and Snow Patrol, they had a moderate amount of success in the States but during their downtime all these other mopey, anthemic Brit bands came along and ate up the charts. The band’s released a new record, The Boy With No Name (did you even know?), that is actually among their best work. That being said, it’s also nothing different than the rest of their stuff.

Here’s Travis performing their latest single, “Selfish Jean”, on The Parkinson Show.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=DGmdR5G7DtY[/youtube]

Maximo Park did a little touring in the U.S. this past summer but for such a heavily-hyped band, they fell short if they are hoping to make it big over here with their new CD, Our Earthly Pleasures. That’s too bad because the first track on the CD, “Girls Who Play Guitar”, is one of the best songs released this year. MORE TOURING IN THE U.S., PLEASE!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NztJu7fLvEY[/youtube]

Rehearsal footage of Van Halen

I have no doubts this tour is going to kick all sorts of 1984 ass, but now there is video proof that things are going well in the Van Halen camp. Would it be nice to see Michael Anthony performing and the complete original lineup together on the same stage? Hell yeah, but Wolfie seems to make a decent substitute on bass even though he looks a tad bit like a fish out of water. Oh well, who cares? I’ve got my tickets for the Cleveland show on October 10 and the countdown clock hanging on my wall.

Rehearsal footage of “Beautiful Girls”

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=FGapAkq89-I[/youtube]

Rehearsal footage of “Panama”

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=2YaIC7pX1ho[/youtube]

Rehearsal footage of “Unchained”

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=9qU7dzXNYzs[/youtube]

Ha ha! David Lee Roth kicking Zakk Wylde off the stage.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=m9WNI5zXhO8[/youtube]