Psycho Depot Issue 420 July 14, 2005 Current # of subscribers: 187 (daily and digest) Subjects in this issue: Adrian Belew City Beat article....... Rob Fetters/The Record that Changed My Life Rob Fetters/Maurice Mattei article..... Depot Archive updated Reminders, Bucket, etc......... C. Post Belew/Fetters mentions.... C. Post Tickled Pink mention.... ++ psychodots ++ Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2005 13:57:00 -0400 From: Mary Bosken Subject: Adrian Belew City Beat article....... City Beat July 13, 2005 http://www.citybeat.com/current/music.shtml Many 'Sides' of Belew Interview by Brian Baker Amid numerous other projects, Adrian Belew assembles a new power trio and hits the road "King Crimson is taking a two year hiatus," Adrian Belew says at one point from his home in Nashville. "We're getting back together to write in September of 2007. That sounds weird, doesn't it? 'How does that day work for you?' 'Ooh, I don't know ... I was going to take the kids to the zoo that day.' But that's the way we have to do things." Anyone who is the least bit familiar with Belew's superhuman multi-tasking will hardly be surprised with his two year day-planning. In the late '70s, Belew, a native of Northern Kentucky and well known in the Cincinnati music community, was one of the most in-demand session and touring guitarists on the planet (including famous stints with Frank Zappa and Talking Heads), a situation that was complicated by his solo success in the '80s. Belew had also joined Prog legend Robert Fripp in a stripped-down version of the aforementioned King Crimson, a move that revived interest in the band, and renewed contacts with friends Rob Fetters, Chris Arduser and Bob Nyswonger (Belew had produced the first Raisins album in 1983) to form their Beatlesque Pop/Rock quartet, The Bears. Over the past two decades, Belew has gone to great lengths to simultaneously accommodate as many of his creative outlets as he can manage. He still maintains a healthy session schedule (he recently recorded with contemporary Prog Rock band Porcupine Tree) and he continues to field calls for his unique production abilities (he just finished an album for a Southern Prog band called Man on Fire). And in between his work with King Crimson and his sporadic stints with The Bears, Belew has amassed one of the most experimental and voluminous solo catalogs in Rock. Belew's most recent work is his most exciting and adventurous. Signing this year with Sanctuary Records, Belew has already released a pair of distinctly different albums, Side One and Side Two, within months of each other with plans for a third -- Side Three, naturally -- by late this year or early 2006. The first album, Side One, is a return to Belew's idea of a power trio, a concept he is clearly excited about. Side Two is more cerebral, an exercise in adapting his unique guitar styling into an Electronic/DJ atmosphere. When Side Three is eventually unveiled, Belew says it will reflect the eclectic totality of his solo catalog -- Pop song structure laced with blazing guitar experiments, goofy humor and his standard Rock weirdness. Although they are distinct, Belew wants them to be considered as three pieces of a whole ... sort of. "When you get all three of them, you'll get the whole picture," says Belew. "It's not like a trilogy in the true sense, where there's supposed to be some answer at the end. You can kind of tell, getting Side Two now, that it doesn't intermingle terribly well with the power trio stuff on Side One. If you do that, it lessens the effect of each thing." Belew's immediate concern is his new tour. His current set list features "the most complicated" trio material from Side One, plus a healthy dose of songs from Op Zop Too Wah, his 1996 solo album that he never toured, as well as an assortment of things from his long list of solo records. For the tour, he's put together what he considers the strongest power trio he's ever played with during his career -- former Jazz guitarist Mike Gallaher on bass and Belew's high school buddy Mike Hodges on drums. He's so enamored of the chemistry between himself and his rhythm section that he's considering doing his first proper live album with this configuration and calling it Side Four. "The way we're attacking my material is unique, in the sense that the songs stretch out a little bit, there's more guitar playing than there ever has been before. Anyone who wants to hear me play guitar more than usual should probably come out to the show," says Belew. Belew continues to be insanely busy. He describes The Bears' next album, slated for release in spring 2006, as "the most rocking album we've ever done," he's committed to solo touring through early next year, and he's currently overseeing the production of the first signature guitar to bear his name. The revolutionary Parker Fly is loaded with electronic gadgetry that will simulate the sound of a dobro, 12-string, mandolin, banjo and a couple dozen other instruments and Belew is excited about its imminent release. All of it -- the power trio, the solo work, the band work, the guitar, the production -- is indicative of Belew's restless creative nature. No matter the endeavor, he relishes the challenges, and he will continue to seek them out in every aspect of his career. "I've been developing a lot of new guitar things, I've learned a lot about looping and new sounds," says Belew. "I've got a lot of new stuff on the burner that I haven't even shown people yet. The reason I've been asked to be a part of a lot of different things is that I really am flexible and able to cross into a lot of categories. If someone brings me a piece of music, I will probably have five very different ideas of what I could enhance it with. And that's because I've never stayed in any one particular style. I like experimenting and finding new sounds. "People don't know this, but I can fingerpick like Chet Atkins, and I can emulate my favorite guitarists like Jeff Beck or Jimi Hendrix, but it's not what I wanted for myself because they've already done that. How do you find your own voice? You get rid of the things you've learned and develop something else. What I like is making sounds and stretching the boundaries of the instrument. Modern guitar is endless in its abilities, especially with guitar synthesizers and the pedals and the technologies and the sounds. I don't get drowned in it because it comes down to playing from the heart. But the thing that inspires me is the sound." ADRIAN BELEW plays Bogart's on Friday. ++ psychodots ++ Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2005 14:00:12 -0400 From: Mary Bosken Subject: Rob Fetters/Maurice Mattei article..... City Beat July 13, 2005 http://www.citybeat.com/current/musicspillit.shtml Spill It by Mike Breen Local singer/songwriters Maurice Mattei and Rob Fetters join forces for the first time on Thursday for a free show at the Northside Tavern. Mattei plans to perform mostly new material from his upcoming CD (tentative title: Dead Rails), which is due by summer's end. Fetters (see Under the Influence, page 40) will also make an acoustic appearance on Friday at Bogart's, opening for his guitar-playing partner in The Bears, Adrian Belew (see interview, page 31). Bears drummer (and esteemed singer/songwriter in his own right) Chris Arduser will also perform prior to Belew's set Friday. ++ psychodots ++ Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2005 14:03:51 -0400 From: Mary Bosken Subject: Rob Fetters/The Record that Changed My Life City Beat July 13, 2005 http://www.citybeat.com/current/under.shtml Under The Influence Rob Fetters - The Record That Changed My Life The Who, "I Can See For Miles" When I was 12, my oldest sister left home for college and I gained access to her large bedroom to make room for my first band to practice in. My friend Steve Alberti played an ugly old set of Ludwig drums, and I had a Fender Musicmaster guitar. Nobody our age owned a bass. Because we only knew two songs -- "Light My Fire" and "Gloria" -- Steve's attention span would drift after an hour or so and practice would descend into a depressing scenario of him challenging me to a wrestling match, which he would invariably win. And then he'd go home, leaving me to entertain myself with two collections my sister left behind that I found irresistible -- past issues of Seventeen and Vogue containing artful photos of the most beautiful women in the world in various stages of undress, and a record collection containing gems like Smiley Smile and Sgt. Pepper. She left behind a fairly loud record player as well. First things first: I'd lock the door and focus on Vogue underwear ads for a few minutes, and then start spinning discs for hours. One afternoon I discovered a 45 of "I Can See for Miles" by The Who. It was the heaviest song I had ever heard. I played it over and over for an hour straight. I played it slowed down to 33 1/3 rpm, then back up to real speed. I memorized the menacing lyrics. I tried to play drums along with Keith Moon and settled on an eighth-note tom-tom groove that sounded like I was on the warpath, because there was no discernable snare backbeat on the recording. Everything about the record fascinated me. Keith's double-tracked drums. John Entwistle hammering one note through all the chord changes. Roger Daltrey not screaming -- he was killer calm as he melodiously threatened his cheating girlfriend. Pete Townshend! The epitome of loud, but there's an acoustic guitar in the mix. The huge electric guitar sound was barely distorted. The exquisite knock-out punch of an obviously facile guitarist opting for a blistering one note staccato solo that derails at the end like a hubcap falling off a spinning wheel. Holy shit! I knew he had to be an even bigger wise-ass than John Lennon, and he could do it without speaking a word. I had dreamt of becoming a rock star, but my goal now was to become the second best guitar player in the world. Pete would always be No. 1. I picked up my guitar and taught myself the two-string chorus bends. I learned how the nifty key change at the second bridge worked. I played along on the root notes and moved the static hand positions to match Pete. I managed to squeeze a little feedback out of my Silvertone Twin Twelve amp. I played until my fingertips were excruciatingly tender and my virginal white guitar had blood smears marring it. By the end of my second day of playing along as an unofficial junior member of The Who, my Mom knocked on the door and told me one of the sweetest lies I've ever heard, "Robby, you sound just like that guitar player on the record!" A few months later I talked my dad into taking me to see Jimi Hendrix, and I was ruined for all other service to mankind. ROB FETTERS performs Thursday at Northside Tavern with Maurice Mattei and Friday at Bogart's with Adrian Belew. ++ psychodots ++ Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2005 16:19:13 -0400 From: "David Ash" Subject: Depot Archive updated Yo Depot, After a long period of neglect, the Psycho Depot Archive web site at http://p-dots.home.insightbb.com/ that I've maintained since the Depot's birth in the olden days of yore (i.e. the mid-90s) is now refurbished and up to date, with a search function that once again, well, functions. I wasn't exactly flooded with complaints about the Archive site being out of date, but judging from number of hits it does get a small but steady level of usage. When testing the reworked search function, I browsed through a number of old posts that I'd forgotten about that were a kick to re-read. There's a ton of interesting articles, interviews, show transcripts, personal ruminations, etc. that are pretty nourishing for anyone who shares the peculiar fascination with a certain bunch of underappreciated musicians. Yours in Cripe, Dave p.s. Despite the demands around the arrival of our 2-week-old third child, I have a 90% chance of making the Belew show with the Fetters - Arduser opening act at Bogarts on Friday; hope to see some of you there. p.p.s. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Fetters' Musician album is about the best new music I've heard in a decade. Why not more buzz about it on the Depot? And in case anyone is paying attention, my review of the CD in Depot issue 413 included a comment on the Raisins-y guitar solo in I Like Girls. Well, there is no guitar solo in that song; I was thinking of the solo in Slave, which harkens back to the glorious bluster of Rob's early 80s style, with a touch of refined sophistication around the edges. Choice. ++ psychodots ++ Date: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 10:06:30 -0400 From: Mary Bosken Subject: Reminders, Bucket, etc......... Looks to be a very busy week/weekend for Depot fans! Reminder, Rob opens for Maurice Mattei: Thurs., July 14th Northside Tavern 10 p.m. Rob Fetters 11:30 p.m. Maurice Mattei Reminder, Tickled Pink performs: Fri., July 15th Newport on the Levee 6:30-10:30 after the hydroplane races Reminder, Rob and Chris open for Adrian Belew: Fri., July 15th Bogart's 8:30, Doors 7:30 and.......... Forward from Lee Rolfes.... Bucket! Sat., July 16th @ Stanley's (Cinti., Oh, 513-871-6249) Check out Ohmybucket.com for upcoming dates!! ++ psychodots ++ Date: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 10:37:00 -0400 From: Mary Bosken Subject: C. Post Belew/Fetters mentions.... Cincinnati Post July 14, 2005 http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050714/LIFE01/ 507140325/1006/LIFE The Word, by Rick Bird New solo tour for Belew, with first stop at Bogart's Adrian Belew is back in his home town to kick off one of his most extensive solo tours in years, as the Northern Kentucky native plays Bogart's at 9 p.m. Friday Belew is best known for his art rock guitar work with King Crimson and his pop rock stylings with the Bears (formed with Cincinnati psychodot members Rob Fetters, Bob Nyswonger and Chris Arduser). He just released "Side Two," the second of a CD trilogy that he will complete this year. "Side One" was Belew's experimentation with a return to a power pop trio. "Side Two" is Belew and his guitar and all the electronica digital equipment he could gather in his Nashville home studio, exploring what his guitar can do in the experimental DJ format. Belew has described the third CD as sort of a conglomeration of the first two. Belew's tour, scheduled to last through fall, will feature a power trio that includes his old friend from Boone County High School, Mike Hodges, who has been the drummer for Blue Lou and the Accusations among other area bands. Belew is expected to play tunes from his "Side One" project and his extensive solo material of the past 15 years. Opening for Belew is Fetters and Arduser, although Fetters said it's not expected the two will play with Belew. Best Bets: From a blues birthday party to female folk rockers, here are some best bets for the weekend: Guitar hero Walter Trout comes back to the Southgate House tonight ($15) for the third year in a row in a tradition promoted by Moles Record owner Dean Newman. "Walter plays like it's the last night on earth. I have just loved Walter over the years and want to promote his music," Newman said about his association with Trout. The guitarist has a dozen of his own records and has become a guitarist's guitar player, even finishing sixth once in a BBC poll of the 20 best guitarists of all time, as he remains somewhat unknown in his homeland. Seventeen years is a long time, especially in the club business, so that's reason for a party. Mansion Hill Tavern, 502 Washington St., Newport, celebrates its anniversary with a "17 Years of the Blues" bash, 4 p.m. Sunday. An all-star band lineup includes Blue Lou, Them Bones, Blue Ravens and Voodoo Blues. No cover with owners throwing an "on-the-house grill-out" as a way of thanking patrons. Singer-songwriters Kim Taylor and Katie Reider team up for what promises to be an elegant evening, beginning 9 p.m. Friday at the Southgate House, Newport ($7). Meanwhile, two of the area's finest male singer-songwriters -Rob Fetters and Maurice Mattei -share a double bill for the first time tonight at the Northside Tavern. Fetters takes the stage at 10 p.m., then Mattei will perform songs from his upcoming CD. Fetters recently released his second solo album, "Musician." Alt-pop artist Pete Yorn comes to the Madison Theater Friday ($22.50). He's a great songwriter who first came to fame scoring movies in Hollywood, then moved on to his own recording career. Vocalist Kelly Thomas convenes another edition of her monthly local music showcase billed as the River City Music Club, this time at Alchemize, Walnut near 12th, Over-the-Rhine, with proceeds going to the Red MacCormack Memorial Recording Grant Fund. Performing will be Kelly Thomas & The Fabulous Pick-Ups, Forest Fire, The Minni-thins, Kohai, Terravada and The Junior Revolution ($6). ++ psychodots + Date: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 10:39:11 -0400 From: Mary Bosken Subject: C. Post Tickled Pink mention.... Scroll down for Tickled Pink's mention..... Cincinnati Post July 14, 2005 http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050714/LIFE01/ 507140334/1006/LIFE Music moves outside By Jan Perry Post contributor There's plenty of entertainment in Northern Kentucky this week, down on the river and up on the hills that overlook it. The Levee Summer Concert Series continues with live music by Forever Diamond. The free concert is from 6-9:30 tonight on the plaza by Newport Aquarium. Other acts set for the Thursday evening shows are Soul Pocket, July 21; the Paul Otten Band, July 28; and Strip the Image, Aug. 4. Also to perform at the Levee: acoustic pop/rock trio, tickled PINK, 6-10 p.m. Friday; five-piece pop/rock band M42, 6-10 p.m. Saturday; Caribbean steel drum band Sol Caribe, 1-5 p.m. Sunday. Or head to the Funny Bone for comedy on a stick with Jeff Dunham and characters Peanut, Jose Jalapeno, Sweet Daddy Dee (his newest) and the crusty curmudgeon, Walter. Tickets are $20. Show times are Thursday, 7:30 p.m.; Friday, 8 and 10:30 p.m.; Saturday, 7:30 and 10:15 p.m.; and Sunday, 7 p.m ++ psychodots ++ End of Psycho Depot 420 July 14, 2005 Comments, suggestions, postings, and administrative or the switch between digest and daily versions of the Depot (or be on both!): Mike Brown depot @ psychodots.com To order psychodot merchandise: contact Stan Hertzman of Umbrella Artists and Strugglebaby Records shertzman@cinci.rr.com 513 871-1500 Voice 513 871-1510 Fax and Hal Bernard Enterprises, Inc., 2612 Erie Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45208 For back issues (2 ways): Email: Tony Nowikowski tony@nowikowski.com or Web Site: http://p-dots.home.insightbb.com/ Check out the psychodot Home Page at: http://www.psychodots.com Check out the graveblankets Home Page at: http://graveblankets.com Check out the Bears Home Page at: http://www.thebearsmusic.com Check out the Ricky Nye Home Page at: http://www.rickynye.com