SCISSOR SISTERS CUT & PASTE POP FOR YOUR LISTENING PLEASURE

By Tom Semioli

This feature appeared in Amplifier Magazine, July 2004

"Someone described our music as a Trojan Horse," laughs Babydaddy from his London hotel room. "It's the idea that we're presenting something in a very wholesome package, but deep down, we're a bit more subversive than everyone realizes."

The "wholesome package" the fashion savvy keyboardist/bassist speaks of probably refers to the Scissor Sisters' campy stage attire, yen for mischief, and fun-loving approach to the serious business of making chart-topping music. The hip shaking, thought provoking grooves rendered by New York City's most valuable new pop export emerge as a lavish amalgamation of 1970s kitsch in the vein of Elton John, the Bee Gees, and David Bowie, combined with an even deeper affection for the shameless excess of 1980s icons George Michael and B- 52s. The Scissor Sisters (FYI- a slang term for lesbianism!) are all the rage in Europe and the hottest underground band in the United States.

While dueling singers Jake Shears and performance artist Ana Matronic use sex as a tongue-in-cheek weapon, Babydaddy, drummer Paddy Boom, and guitarists Del Marquis and Derek G. are masters of the pop idiom; recycling and reinventing the notion that if it's got a melody and you can dance to it, you have a hit, regardless of what genre you happen to exist in. So far, their ticket to ride has been a shimmering, tub-thumping remake of the hallowed Pink Floyd anthem "Comfortably Numb," which was fortified by a sexy, surrealistic video too far out to begin to decipher without a Master's Degree in Psychology (you can see it  for yourself on MTV2).  Babydaddy swears the stroke of misplaced genius was all Shears' responsibility. The flamboyant co-vocalist was alone on his parents’ Virginia farm in the midst of a vintage record listening binge when he arrived at the realization that Floyd's biggest songs were underpinned with disco beats, thereby validating his already revolutionary tendencies.

As with everything the Sisters touch these days, the break-through hit was not without controversy. "People said it was a song about heroin turned into a song about ecstasy," Babydaddy happily recalls. "I can see how that works, though it wasn't conscious for us to do that. It's an update of the song for different times as a rollicking dance track with a dark edge, especially for all of us who live in Manhattan after 9/11. We may be making joyful music, but there's an undercurrent of something that's far more foreboding." Luckily for the Sisters the cut crawled to #9 in the UK, which didn't quite brand them as a novelty act which simply cashed in on Johnny “I Hate Pink Floyd” Lydon/Rotten's dinosaur rock nemesis . "Our original intention was to slip the song on a b-side of a twelve inch for a tiny indie imprint."

With the February 2004 release of the Scissor Sisters' self titled debut achieving  platinum status in the UK, along with a second smash single "Take Your Mama Out," the purposely mismatched fearless five-some were welcomed with open arms on the lucrative European festival circuit, and have shared the bill with few of their heroes, namely Sir Elton and Duran Duran. "We have comrades in the British," Babydaddy  proudly proclaims regarding the political tensions that circle the two continents. "They're our allies in this whole mess. I get the feeling the people of both countries feel equally stupid with what's going on. There's no hostility. They know that when artists blow through that we're the most liberal representatives of the bunch."

Now, as the American market-place beckons with a late summer domestic release of their UK debut and a fall tour, the Sisters are standing strong in the face of record industry pressure. "We've fought like hell just to get this album out here with all the songs in tact. The decision was made by us not to put the album in Wal-Mart, and not to make a clean version. We did have to slap a parental warning sticker on the disc, which is completely absurd. I think a kid listening to Eminem is getting a much more negative message that what we've been putting forward. We've only got one 'shit' and a few 'tits!"

Dedicated to the album format, the Scissor Sisters labored for months over the track order, sonic nuances, and overall length. Inspired by the classic rock albums of thirty years past, the goal was "to create a perfect pop rock album that would pick you up at the beginning, take you on a journey in the middle, and set you right back down in the same place at the end. Every step we took, we looked at history." By making the album as short as possible, the Scissor Sisters put their best feet forward without resorting to the need to include filler or repeating themselves.

With the proliferation of downloading songs now running rampant in Europe as well as the States, Babydaddy has equal faith in the past and the future. "I think we as a culture are going to need entire albums in addition to just 'songs.' I have a great love for the pop song, Lord knows we all have a short attention span at times. Yet there are days when you want to watch a sitcom and other days when you want to see a film. The song and the album are clearly two different circumstances. When I look back on my childhood, my most profound experiences were sitting in my room listening to entire records. That to me is a pensive, personal moment when an artist speaks to me and relates an entire story, not just a little anecdote."

Artists are used to dealing with failure, but success often poses a different set of jet set problems. Babydaddy exudes optimism. "Fortunately, from an artistic standpoint, we have yet to see the money that comes with success. It's a slow process, and it's very expensive to be out on the road like we are. We've all worked day jobs that gave us the time to do what we love, which is music. I'd say we have fairly sturdy heads on our shoulders. But we do discuss 'success' all the time. What's it going to be like when things get easy? Or will things ever get easy? We're not tempted to run off on a vacation just yet."

CHEAP TRICK - BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME TO ROCKFORD

By Tom Semioli

This feature appeared in Amplifier Magazine, May 2006

"The way I learned how to play guitar was by playing along to TV shows such as Have Gun Will Travel.  Da-da-da-da. Diddle-de-dum-de-dum. Gunsmoke and Bonanza too. Dum diddy dum diddy dum dum. Peter Gunn was another good one.   Who needed lessons when you had a TV set and nothing else to do all day?"

In late 1970s four guys from the Midwest rescued the pop music world from Tales of Topographic Oceans, Rumors, and conceptual diatribes of how and why a metaphorical Lamb Lied Down on Broadway. "There was a lot of that wasn't there?" laughs Cheap Trick founder, songwriter, and iconic guitarist Rick Nielsen, safe at home in Rockford, Illinois. "Actually there were other things we wanted to get rid of too. Return to Forever? I think it was them and Dance Fever as well!"

Cheap Trick's hearty embrace of Beatle-esqe British rock, bubble-gum, heavy metal and the almighty power chord seems quaint nowadays. However back then, as nihilistic punk, jazz fusion and politically tinged reggae resounded in the major cities and on college radio, Neilsen, bassist Tom Petersson, drummer Bun E. Carlos, and vocalist Robin Zander effectively stamped out the “me” decade with a healthy dose of irreverent eccentricity and impossibly catchy melodies that everyone could sing. Humor was also an integral part of the Check Trick equation, “rock ‘n’ roll needed to be fun again” Neilson reminds us!

It didn't come easy. In the late 1960s Nielsen and Petterson started out as Fuse in their hometown; their first and only record bombed. After migrating to Philadelphia and rechristening the group as Sick Man of Europe they sought fame and fortune to absolutely no avail. Enter Carlos and former folk-singer Zander. Incessant touring in support of 70s super-groups Kiss, Santana, AC/DC, and Queen, among others afforded the newly named Cheap Trick ample opportunity to hone their song-craft and high-energy stage persona for the masses.

Cheap Trick's self-titled debut and sophomore effort In Color were moderate movers in the USA. However the foursome laid claim to the now tongue-in-cheek term "big in Japan" as Cheap Trick records routinely hit gold status in the land of the Rising Sun where their concerts were instant sell-outs. After 1978's Heaven Tonight which yielded their first domestic hit "Surrender," the band released their magnum opus live collection At Budokan. A certified smash in America, the double album was a chart mainstay for over a year with "I Want You To Want Me" emerging as their first Top Ten entry. From then on the band's back catalog began to move and they rocketed to headliners in their homeland. Expectations were high for Dream Police, the band's fourth studio disc, and it did not disappoint with the title track and "Voices" topping the charts.

By 1980 all was not well within the ranks. Petersson left the band, missing out on the legendary John Lennon / Yoko Ono Double Fantasy sessions which did not see the light of day until the 1990s when ex-Beatle's alleged conflict with Cheap Trick producer Jack Douglas was resolved. Beatles producer George Martin came on board to produce All Shook Up but as the tsunami of new wave and hard rock artists latched on to the Cheap Trick formula (infectious riffs plus well crafted pop) the band's commercial appeal began to wane. One On One (1982), Next Position Please (1983), Standing On The Edge (1985), and The Doctor (1986) were workman-like at best. Petersson returned to the fold in '88 and Lap Of Luxury pushed the band back into the Top 20. However that second taste of success was tempered by the failure of Busted (1990) and gaps in recording.

Their first record for Warner Bros., 1994's Woke Up With A Monster went unnoticed. Epic put out Budokan II culled from the same gigs that gave the band international status. Then the tide began to turn in a most unexpected manner.

Cheap Trick finally received what Rodney Dangerfield had pined for all those years ago: respect! The grunge and alt-rock generation, most notably Kurt Cobain, openly praised a band which had uniformly received backhanded compliments from the rock press throughout their storied career. In 1995 Cheap Trick was a special guest on a Smashing Pumpkins tour and the group was a featured artist on the all important Lollapalooza Tour the following year. Box sets, celebrated tours reviving the band's first four albums in their entirety, live albums, a 25th Anniversary DVD/CD set (Silver) and a few more studio efforts (their second self-titled album and 2003's Special One) all proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Cheap Trick has plenty of gas left in the tank.

So what do you do when you've done it all?

You bring it all back home. Boasts Petersson "it's by far our best work yet…this new record has all the best elements of our entire catalogue.”  Kicking off with the anthemic "Welcome To The World" the band sounds comfortable in their own skin for the first time in ages. Neilsen opines "Whatever we do will always be compared to what we've done in the past, all the big records. I don't feel like we're competing with ourselves anymore. I think of it more as adding to the list of our inventory."

Unlike some of their earlier efforts Rockford was written communally and self-produced.  "We just went in and did it" Neilson says matter-of-factly. We knew we were bound to make a few mistakes. But we have to look at it like we kind of know what we're doing, so we're bound to do something right as well."

However they did enlist a little help from their friends. Legendary knob twiddler Steve Albini came in and mixed Rockford to afford the project a uniform veneer.  "We did this record in Chicago, Rockford, New York, Boston, Miami, Los Angeles, we were all over the place with this thing" recalls Neilson. "Steve made it all stick for us."

For the first single "Perfect Stranger" the band deferred to a fan with a pretty decent track record: Linda Perry, who also co-wrote the track.  "She actually asked us if she could work with the band" notes Neilson. We love her, she's diverse like us. Linda is a fabulous singer.  I don't know if she can dance, but she's an engineer, a musician, a producer, writes songs… she can do it all. If people like Linda like us, we know that's a pretty good indication that we're still viable."

Hooks abound on the syrupy ballad "O Claire." The blues get a work-out on "One More Day." Romantic self-reflection underpins "All Those Years." Fab-Four fueled melodies define "Dream The Night Away" and "Come On Come On Come On." Paranoia peppers "Decaf" (a potential anti-Star Bucks call to arms if there ever was one).  "On every record we've made – probably 95% - we've always gone with the first few takes" explains Neilson as to why this record sounds as if the band is in the room.

Neilson is also proud of the band's newfound elder statesman status though he has strong opinions on modern rockers. "It seems as if everybody thinks they're a star. More people know how to dance than play music."  As for Cheap Trick's legacy “everything we do is a body of work. We never went on a whim of 'I feel like recording today' or 'we have to put a new single out.' If that were the case we'd have one out every month. We make records because that's what's important to us. Our music is diverse enough where one song certainly does not define us. If it did we wouldn't be around today."

Yes, there will be more Cheap Trick albums in the future. "It's still difficult but it's still fun," cackles Nielsen. "Isn't it cool that we picked a hobby that others would classify as our job?"

LADYBUG TRANSISTOR’S GREAT EXPECTATIONS

By Tom Semioli

This feature appeared in Amplifier Magazine, May 2007 

“I still haven’t given it a proper listen from start to finish” reveals Ladybug Transistor mastermind Gary Olson from his Flatbush, New York headquarters with a hearty laugh. “One of these days I’ll get around to hearing it.”

Olson’s exasperation is understandable. From demos to rehearsals to inviting guest musicians to recording sessions to overdubs to the final mix, the singer and chief songwriter was present every step of the way. “By the time we finished, I didn’t know what we had at all. Was it good? Everything became a blur.”

Can’t Wait Another Day is Ladybug Transistor’s seventh release. Along with Olson and the official band: bassist Julia Rydholm, guitarists Jeff Baron and Ben Crum, keyboardist Kyle Forester, and drummer San Fadyl - Ladybug’s roster of friends for this outing includes stellar contributions from various members of Aislers Set, Architecture in Helsinki, The Clientele, Jens Leckman, Kevin Barker (Currituck Co., Vetiver), Heather McIntosh (Circulatory System, Instruments), and Roy Nathanson (Lounge Lizards/Jazz Passengers) among others.

Since their 1995 debut Marlborough Farms – which takes its name from the band’s enchanted Victorian Flatbush hangout and studio, Olson’s collective has refined their idiosyncratic brand of lounge pop to a higher level of sophistication akin to the finer works of The Polyphonic Spree and Of Montreal as influenced by Burt Bacharach and The Left Banke.  However, Can’t Wait… offers a few notable twists and turns.

“I purposely positioned ‘Always On The Telephone’ as the first cut because it’s very different than what we’ve done in the past” quips Olson. “I’m hoping that Roy’s (Nathanson) saxophone solo break might divide some of our old fans!”

Olson credits his work ethos with Forester and co-producer Bill Wells as to why Can’t Wait… displays more of lively feel than the band’s previous releases. “Bill, who is a couple of generations older than I am, taught me everything I know. He was a tech engineer at a radio station where I did a high-school internship. Bill has always been there for me, from setting up microphones to giving me advice and providing a good set of ears.”

Forester is responsible for the seductive string arrangements that afford Can’t Wait… a timeless elegance. “Kyle was very eager and quick when we started work together about a year and a half ago” says Olson. “He helped put the songs together when I just had sketches of ideas. Kyle would blow through the studio for an hour or so and by the end we’d have another song ready to go.”

No Ladybug release would be complete without memorable cover art. Can’t Wait… with its image of Olson and a female companion seated face to face in a elegant 1917 New York City subway car is no exception. “We snuck into the Transit museum” recalls Olson. “It’s located in a station sealed off from the rest of the New York subway system. You’re not allowed to take photographs down there, but I hid a tri-pod in a trumpet case. Everything was shot in about five minutes, we heard footsteps coming just as we were finishing up.”

However one uninvited guest crashed the photo shoot. “That furry thing to my left is a cat. Apparently it lives underground and somehow snuck into the picture. We loved the look.”

Ladybug Transistor’s Can’t Wait Another Day will be released on June 7, 2007 on Merge Records