Our pal Michael Weiss recently uploaded a set of fantastic videos from a 1996 Ominous Seapods show that we just had to share. The Seapods were longtime friends of God
We’re not sure if everybody is aware, but looming here among us pesky wannabes here at Hidden Track is a true pro. Our very own Randy Ray has conducted over 100 interviews in his established tenure as a music journo, spanning a better majority of just about every established band in the jamband scene (and then some). Randy also contributes regularly to Relix, dreams up the awesomely named Peaches En Randalia column (or perhaps more accurately described; the flowing demiurgic locution of mayhem) at Jambands.com, and best of all, contributes the bi-weekly Hidden Flick column right here at HT.
Conducting this particular edition of the Writer’s Workshop has been an honest pleasure. Randy exhibits a truly unmatched dedication to this craft and this column reflects it (because of him, not me). In other words, read this shit. I think you’ll like it.
Ryan Dembinsky: If you had to take a crack at defining your writing style and approach to differentiating yourself, how would you sum it up?
Randy Ray: Organized Chaos (see above photo), which succeeds if I can plant unique visual imagery in a reader’s mind. When the writing fails, I am trying too hard. Style should be a four-letter word, Ryan! Let me attempt to quantify the intriguing madness that people may like about my work.
Everything returns to a circus theme with my writing, which is why I wrote three books about this somewhat childish yet timeless topic. Sometimes, I want the black and white words on a page to move like one is on a rollercoaster; sometimes, I want imagery to zoom by at random intervals like one is on a carousel; and then, sometimes, I’d like the portrait to resemble shattered pictures within a kaleidoscope. Sometimes, I haven’t a clue.
I like mystique, and I start off from an interesting point of origin, move towards clarity, and then return to that original point of mystery—hopefully, with some unique spin on things. I do my homework, and research my subjects. I also concentrate on the work, because the written word, after all, survives, so I keep that in mind with any project.
READ ON for more from Ryan and Randy about writing…
Ah, the ’80s. How would you caption this photo? [Photo via Bedazzled]
Passing along this information from DiscoBiscuits.com Due to a family emergency, the Disco Biscuits will regretfully be canceling the remaining four shows of their west coast run (Santa Cruz, San
North Carolina based indie-label Merge Records has a big 2009 planned to celebrate their 20th anniversary. The label, which is home to acts like Neutral Milk Hotel, She & Him,
The mythos of Rock and Roll is deep and entangling. A puzzle as sensuous as it is mystifying, the legend seems to grow as each person takes his or her turn trying to unravel what it means to them, to their lives and even further – to people as a whole. The more you dig for answers, the more you want to know, until you come to on a freeway towing a trailer full of used gear to the next gig that doesn’t pay wondering where the last ten years have gone. That’s right, junior…you belong to rock now. There’s no escaping it.
But it’s not enough to want it. It’s not enough to have rich parents. It’s not enough to have connections. It’s not enough to know how to play music.
Sure. No band has ever really made it without at least one of these attributes, but these are all just part of the smokescreen. To truly forge your own voice, to truly get in touch with the spirit of it all, you have to completely disconnect from life as you knew it. You have to put the blinders on. No one can tell you shit. Not your beautiful girlfriend who probably saved your life. Not your parents who raised you and gave you everything, not your teachers, your elders….no one. The only thing that matters is leaving it all out there on that stage every night; nailing the changes and developing the sound. Life becomes those moments and thus imitates art, hopefully often enough to make a living at it.
Enter The Ugly Suit. Together for just four years, hailing from the not-so-happening Oklahoma City scene, these psychedelic warriors bang it out, night after night, forsaking it all for a sound that is anything but ugly. Tube amplified static gives way to thumping bass lines and raging chord progressions. There is a fine line between soothing and blistering and these gentlemen have found the balance. In an age of beaten down indie rock formats they pirouette between grandiose rocking peaks and cricket-like atmosphere that would make Brian Eno blush. The Ugly Suit is your hot, bi- polar, rocker chick girl friend that you just can’t dump because the sex is that good. READ ON for an interview with the guys from The Ugly Suit…
[youtube]3tyVn2ZDJ-Y[/youtube] Talking Heads – I Zimbra
Last week, we were down to the final two contestants for our first annual Cover Wars March Madness tournament in which we pitted 16 previous CW winners against each other.
After years of waiting and suffering through sub par version of their albums on CD, the entire Beatles catalog will finally get remastered. All 12 albums, plus two new Beatles box set collections, will hit stores on September 9 – the same day as The Beatles: Rock Band
(Photo Courtesy Of: © Apple Corps Ltd, 2009)
READ ON for the full details of what’s sure to be a historic day…
Last month, wild-haired guitarist Jack White debuted his latest project The Dead Weather to a small crowd of family, friends and industry folk in Nashville with a short five tune
