Great news for those of us unable to make it to Colorado for this weekend’s Phish shows – the band will webcast all three shows through LivePhish.com. You can purchase
When Van Ghost releases their forthcoming studio effort The Domino Effect, it will serve as a fitting allegory. The band is at the tipping point, the sweet spot where the grind becomes success. They have checked all the boxes: the catalog, the festivals, the press, the fanbase and the team. Now, it’s time to let the pieces fall into place and reach a broader audience.
Of all the exciting things on the docket, the development that has perhaps aided the success more than any other is the establishment of the permanent lineup. In the past, the band functioned as a bit more of a collective, but now the five-piece led by Michael Harrison Berg and Jennifer Hartswick is as Michael puts it, “the band.” This adds a challenge to the scheduling given the various members’ other projects, but it’s done wonders for cementing the sound and taking things to new heights musically.
We caught up with Michael Harrison Berg to catch up on the new music, the recent “Pick the Single” partnership with Grooveshark, the story of that curious guitar and a little fantasy football.
Hidden Track: To start, I’m dying to know the story of your electric guitar. I’ve been noticing it in a lot of pictures and it looks an awful lot like a Doug Irwin guitar. Could it be?
Michael Harrison Berg: A ton of people ask me that. It is actually called a Phiga from a custom shop luthier in Texas named Phil Gawen. It is an identical replica/tribute to Jerr’s Bolt guitar. Even though we don’t play Dead songs or sound like the Dead, it’s a cool way for me to represent for that community. Anyone who knows freaks and usually even the people who have no idea think it’s cool. It’s really buttery and stays in tune so well. I love it and have almost switched over to exclusively doing that even though I always write on my acoustics.
READ ON for more of our chat with Michael Harrison Berg…
Over the weekend, Medeski, Martin and Wood finished their month-long residency at The Whitney in New York during which they explored a number of facets of the MMW sound as
Back in 1996, DJ Shadow dropped his groundbreaking, and critically acclaimed debut Endtroducing…. The album, made up entirely of samples, featured snippets of everything from A Tribe Called Quest to Nirvana
While their hometown was in the midst of Irene-mania this past weekend, The Strokes were overseas, where they served as one of the headliners at the Reading Festival in England.
Pavement honcho Stephen Malkmus released Mirror Traffic with his band The Jicks on August 23. On Tuesday, the group visits Jimmy Fallon and on September 20 in Detroit will kick off
Oftentimes hype way exceeds the result, but in the case of the Avett Brothers, it really is a act you have to see and experience for yourself, because you sincerely won’t regret it. Here’s to next year’s West Coast tour!
Nashville’s Caitlin Rose first appeared on the radar of music critics this year with the release of her debut full-length album Own Side Now, out September 27th on ATO Records.
Dancing Barefoot recalls many events that may already be familiar to fans of Smith’s career and readers of NYC music history. But the author does bring a deeper insight to the artist’s motivations and a great deal of much-needed perspective on the era in which she blossomed.
“There are the things that haunt my mind: The blurred relationship of good vs. evil, ghosts, and the lessons and stories of history….. I’d like to think that this isn’t an exhaustive list,” says Montreal based artist Chris Velan on the vast inspiration of lyrical themes found in his songs. His latest recording Fables For Fighters (NewSong Recordings/Fontana North) is influenced by a range of influences spanning David Byrne, Randy Newman, Neil Young, West African music and reggae that can be summed up best as “smart pop/folk song-smithing.”
