It's
a crazy mixed up world out there,
Someone's always got a gun and it's
all about money
You live with loneliness, or you live with somebody who's crazy
It's just a crazy mixed up world ..."
Renewed and revitalized, Soul Asylum founders Dave Pirner and Dan
Murphy return to rock’s front line with THE
SILVER LINING, their first
new studio release since 1998’s Candy
From a
Stranger. That album
inadvertently kicked off a seven-year
sabbatical for the group, which telescoped into the death of bassist
Karl Mueller in June 2005, the other founding member of the triumvirate
that has steered Soul Asylum through rock’s white water for
the
past two decades plus.
The re-emergence of the group on THE
SILVER LINING is as much a
reaffirmation of Soul Asylum’s
commitment to the music as it is a dedication to Karl, who worked and
played on the album right up until the end. They were joined in the
studio by not-so-new heavyweight Minneapolis drummer Michael Bland (who
has played with everyone from Paul Westerberg to Prince). The band is
now complemented by Tommy Stinson on bass, a member of fellow Twin
Cities band the Replacements since age 13, and a pal of Dan’s
since he was in high school and Tommy in junior high. Tommy was the
only friend that Karl could endorse to replace himself in the band.
This hard-driving lineup was introduced for the first time in October
2005, when they played sold-out showcase dates at First Avenue in
Minneapolis and the Bowery Ballroom in New York – within
three
days.
THE
SILVER LINING, Soul
Asylum’s ninth full-length album
(there were several EPs and cassette-only releases back in the indie
’80s) is every bit as quirky and off-centered cut-to-the-bone
rock as their hardcore fans have come to expect, an indication that the
Minneapolis -bred band has lost none of its edge. And why should they?
“We weren’t Mouseketeers,” Dave says,
“we never
had any sort of showbiz advice that was useful to us. Everything that
we’ve done has been relatively homespun and
we’ve had
to do it all by ourselves and we never got a lot of fake support or
showbiz chops or anything like that.”
Soul Asylum’s paradigm – as the prime number
opposite of
whatever a showbiz rock band is in the ’00s – is
unavoidable throughout THE
SILVER LINING, as Dave
Pirner’s lyrics ruminate on the
absurdity of stardom in “Success Is Not So Sweet”
and rip
into the precarious nature of sanity in an insane world in
“Oxygen.”
But Soul Asylum is a band of story-tellers in the Midwestern tradition,
and the new album also digs deep into interpersonal relationships
(“Crazy Mixed Up World,”
“Lately”), the fabric
of peaceful co-existence (“Good For You”), and even
a
couple of songs that are redolent of New Orleans, Dave’s
second
home-away-from-home for the past few years (“Standing
Water,” “Bus Named Desire”). The downtown
punk rock
vibe crashes through on several cuts (“All Is
Well,”
“Whatcha Need”). The new album was recorded at
Flyte Time
and the Terrarium Studios in Minneapolis, co-produced by Soul Asylum
with Grammy Award-winning engineer-turned-producer Steve Hodge (on
various tracks), and with John Field (on various tracks). Read More
Crazy
On You
'Heart
tribute band'
Hailing
from the northeast, "Crazy On You" will take you on a musical journey
as seen through the eyes of Heart. From the 70's rock songs,
"Barracuda" and "Magic Man"' through the 80's and 90's with power
ballads such as "Alone" and "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You",
"Crazy On You" does it with style and class, and will satisfy even the
most die hard Heart fans. A true tribute to a truly remarkable act, an
act that tore down walls and did what they believed in, and still
believe in today.
To
visit their site
directly use this link -- Crazy
On You
The
Bernadettes
Those
who have seen the band perform live in their latest incarnation might
be surprised to know that the Bernadettes started out in the early
1990s as a traditional-style blues band, covering songs by the likes of
John Lee Hooker, Howlin Wolf, as well as later bluesmen like Stevie Ray
Vaughn, Buddy Guy and Eric Clapton. But the band soon began
experimenting with their own unique versions of R&B classics
from
James Brown, Otis Redding, Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye and their
contemporaries. This evolved further with the addition of classic
Motown hits, contemporary funk, soul, and R&B flavored rock
songs
to their large and varied, dance-oriented song list. The resulting mix
has become the staple of the band's offering to live
audiences.
Continuous
appearances at a variety of venues have established the
Bernadettes as one of the area's premier live acts. They were voted the
best rhythm and blues band in the New Haven Advocate "Sounds of New
Haven" 1996 readers poll, and also chosen by that paper as New Haven's
#1 bar band. A constantly growing songlist, matched with the band's
frenetic brand of soul, make for a memorable evening for anyone who
wants to move their feet and dance to the beat.
To
visit their
site directly use this link -- The
Bernadettes
To
visit their
site directly use this link -- Mike Falzone
