Ryan Dembinsky

McLovin? What kind of a stupid name is that, Fogell? What, are you trying to be an Irish R&B singer?

Well, they’re not exactly Irish R&B crooners, but this trio of young musicians from the Hartford, CT area, Jake (Drumlovin), Jason (Basslovin) and Jeff (Axlovin), have certainly gained a lot of attention in a hurry with their raw talent, impressive chemistry and wise-way-beyond-their-years musical tastes.

In a genre of music that normally requires a good three years of 100+ shows and slow burn word of mouth publicity, the McLovins appear to be the first band in the jam scene to actually blow up. We see it almost every day in the realms of indie rock and pop music, but it sure is fun to see the internets buzzing with fury over the threesome of musical whiz kids because they tackle Phish covers like YEM and Harry Hood as well as plain old virtuoso material like Eric Johnson’s Cliffs of Dover, songs that most players stumble over for months (or years) just to get through a few sections.

Having already made big waves by gracing Rolling Stone’s Smoking Section, igniting the blogosphere, appearing on the local news and making a new friend in Phantasy Tour, we thought it’d be great to get to know a little more about the three J’s: Jake, Jason, and Jeff. The boys were kind enough to collaborate and shed some light on their friendship, the new found internet fame and their plans for a first album. Hopefully, this will help tide you over until we get to see the McLovins live in action.

Hidden Track: Let’s start with a little background on the McLovins; how did you guys all get to know each other and come to realize you shared a common interest in heady stuff like Phish, Eric Johnson, and Weather Report?

McLovins: We met last summer. (Jake and Jason met at Jazz Camp and Jake and Jeff met at Rock Camp). We started playing together in the basement, sharing the songs we already knew and learning new songs we’d heard that we were interested in. We started sitting in together for a few songs every Wednesday night at a restaurant in Collinsville. People started to come to hear us play, even though it is a small place and we could get pretty loud.

READ ON for more of the first print interview with The McLovins…

Listening to longtime HT favorite Marco Benevento’s latest studio effort, Me Not Me – a collection of unique sonic rearrangements of a wide variety of cover tunes – it quickly

This is a new idea around HT, where we’re gonna try to work with some of our favorite up-and-coming bands in a you scratch our back, we’ll scratch yours format where we’ll aim to exclusively release pro-quality, mixed recordings of some stellar shows that might fly under the radar.

Steve Neary, Andrzej Benkowitz, Chris Sell of Steez

By “exclusive,” we certainly don’t aim to prevent the show from making it’s way to the archive or anything like that, but rather just to let it out here first for a little publicity. Basically, it just makes us feel cool. Anyway, this is an experiment in progress, so any thoughts are welcome.

Band: Steez
Date: December 12, 2008
Location: High Noon Saloon, Madison, WI
Download: Click Here

READ ON for more details on this fantastic Steez recording…

As we pop our collective cork on a new (read: better) era, we want to take this opportunity to pound the table a little on behalf of Joe Pug. Make no mistake; Joe has received no shortage of fawning via the media, such as this career grenade from Jason Killingsworth of Paste: “If you want to read the actual endorsement, touch the Braille stretching up my arms. Twenty years from now, lazy journalists will compare every halfway decent songwriter to Joe Pug. Mark my words.”

Still, Joe Pug really emanates the fitting spirit of cautious optimism for the new administration, so we invited Joe for a chat about his incredibly well-received debut EP writing music and the future. Before we dive into the interview, be sure to check out Joe Pug’s new video released in celebration of Inauguration Day directed by Peter James, the winner of Pug’s fan-submitted video contest…

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FoOK3NfgFQ

Ryan Dembinsky: I read somewhere that the seven songs on the Nation of Heat EP were derived from a play you were writing while at the University of North Carolina. Could you give us a little synopsis of what you envisioned for the play? In other words, who would you have cast given the option to choose absolutely anybody and what would the sets look like?

Joe Pug: The play took place in rural North Carolina on the jobsite of an unfinished house. It only had three characters… a surly carpenter, an affluent journalist, and an 18 year-old girl. I never had any actors in mind. To be frank, it really wasn’t a good play. The resulting album is much better. Maybe that’s why the play never saw the light of day.

READ ON for more of Ryan Dembinsky’s interview with Joe Pug…

“Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory” – Albert Schweitzer This week’s mix tape features just some straight forward feel good music. This time of year

Just yesterday I was having a conversation with someone about how long into January it’s acceptable to continue saying “Happy New Year.” Well, inasmuch as it is time to bed the phrase conversationally, in the musical landscape, the New Years shows are still ruling the digital turf.

It’s taken a little time to weed though the myriad of shows and select the true gems amidst the widespread bomb dropping that occurred just a couple short weeks ago, but it’s time to finally highlight the most spectacular celebrations to ring in 2009 — a year that will undoubtedly prove to be one of the most historically significant in all of our lives.

Umphrey’s McGee, Auditorium Theater, Chicago, IL, 12/31/2008 – Amazing Grace -> Glory -> Amazing Grace -> Glory

The hyperbole surrounding Umphrey’s McGee on New Years Eve is grand indeed; “best show ever by any band ever.” While you hear people throw these terms around lightly these days, there is no argument that this show is at least one of the best shows in the band’s long career and certainly a New Year’s show that can be measured with the best of them.

READ ON for more spectacular New Year’s Eve Bust Outs from the likes of Gov’t Mule, Lotus, the Disco Biscuits and My Morning Jacket…

In case you are still unsure of your goals for the New Year and still talking ’bout the man in the mirror and thinking about making that change, then this is your guide for a resolution. If there has ever been a musician with a soundtrack for righting life’s ship, it’s the late great Warren Zevon with his uplifting, half-full outlook on life. Well, maybe not exactly, but Warren always had a way of infusing his perpetual internal guilt in his songs and despite the mordant, melancholic lyrics, somehow they often leave an optimistic feeling.

Hence, today we’re taking some Zevon classics (many of which are from his last studio album, the foreboding magnum opus and severely underrated, The Wind) to devise a guide for some New Years Resolutions…

Cleaning Up Your Act – Dirty Life and Times (from The Wind)

Whether your vice is dirty needles, dirty sluts or dirty butts, misery loves company and in this case company plays a mean guitar (Ry Cooder). When you hit the fork in the road and do not know just which way to turn, the secret is to get those demons out on the table and talk to someone. As Warren will tell you, it ain’t easy admitting to having a problem, but admitting the problem exists is the first step to recovery.

“One day I came to a fork in the road. Folks, I just couldn’t go where I was told. Now they’ll hunt me down and hang me for my crimes. If I tell about my dirty life and times.”

READ ON for more Warren Zevon-fueled resolutions for ’09…