The combination of Joshua Homme from Queens of the Stone Age, Dave Grohl and Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones brings together three very talented people. Despite the amount of talent shared between the three men, the debut album from Them Crooked Vultures often sounded like Josh plus side band – a very talented side band, granted, but the end results drew too heavily from Homme’s influences. This could be frustrating since Jones began his career as a master arranger (he’s clearly not had a great influence in arranging most of the Vultures’ songs) and Grohl has proven a decent songwriter over the years.
EVIL SCARECROW – Galactic Hunt
Novelty bands are a tricky proposition. If too heavily reliant on quick, easy laughs (as per early 90s oddballs Lawnmower Deth) any novelty is in danger of wearing off extremely fast; if played to deliberately offend (as was often the case with the early Bloodhound Gang recordings), the amusement is equally limited, perhaps even more so. It takes more than a few gags to make things work, too: broad musical talent is absolutely essential – and it’s often something a huge proportion of novelty bands lack. Just look at the Insane Clown Posse: there’s not much musical interest there…and there’s nothing insane about two middle-aged men daubed in clownface, impersonating Cypress Hill extremely badly, all the while throwing soda pop over adolescent males in some bizarre bonding ritual. They can keep their magnets. Indeed, novelty acts are an odd breed and often best avoided…but as always, there are exceptions.
New video from Evil Scarecrow: All hail ‘Crabulon’!
Evil Scarecrow release their third album ‘Galactic Hunt’ on October 13th. Crowd-sourced via a Pledge Music campaign, early rumours suggest it is the band’s finest work to date.
Marshall Crenshaw returning to the UK in November
US singer-songwriter and cult power pop performer Marshall Crenshaw will be performing at the Jazz Cafe in Camden, London on 20th November 2014. The gig marks his first performance in the UK for almost two decades.
The intimate live show ties in with the release of new material, beginning with an EP via Lojinx Records.
Full details – including a pre-order link for the EP and link to obtain tickets – are below.
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North Seasons release new video clip for ‘Silhouettes’
With new material ready and a release just over the horizon, North Seasons have issued a video clip for their track ‘Silhouettes’ which can be watched in full below.