Andy Dexterity delivers an epic performance to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody at TEDxSydney 2017. Andy is a Green Room Award-nominated performance maker primarily recognised for his unique brand of movement, fusing dance, physical theatre and signed languages. He is fascinated by the way we communicate and interact as a species and creates work with the intention to connect and empower.
This Guy Can Really Loop Music
I love watching artists like Marc Rebillet create a solo track, packed with instruments and sounds, all based around loops.
Amazing Footage Of The Sex Pistols Performing on the ‘Queen Elizabeth’ Riverboat During Her Silver Jubilee, 1977
It was June 7th 1977, and the Queen was getting ready to celebrate the silver jubilee like most people tjere. Virgin Records had signed The Sex Pistols, who were busy causing chaos in the streets and in the media. Newly signed to Virgin Records, the label and group and manager Malcolm McLaren were prepared to gate-crash the royal celebrations with an instant punk classic – God Save The Queen.
The band would sail a boat along the Thames from Westminster to Tower Bridge, stopping under each bridge to“play a cassette of National Anthem and followed by the band performing live. The total budget was £1500 (£750 from Virgin), the boat cost £500 and 175 people would attend. They expected to have a fun ride down the river, create a few headlines and enjoy the music – but things escalated fast.
How the Clave Rhythm Pattern of Afro-Cuban Music Took Over Modern Music
It’s easy to forget how important rhythms can be, but they’re the foundation on top of which music is built, and it doesn’t get much more foundational than the Clave. Born in Africa, brought to the Americas by slaves, and eventually showing up in musical styles all over the world, the Clave is one of the defining rhythms of modern music across cultures. It’s complex but approachable, jagged but smooth, and odds are pretty good that even if you didn’t notice, you’ve heard it somewhere in the past week or so.
Photo Gallery: Don Felder in Niagara Falls’ Fallsview Casino
All photos by Mini’s Memories. You can contact her at minismemories@hotmail.com
When People Talk About Bruce Springsteen’s Majestic Shows, They’re Talking About This
When Bruce Springsteen took the stage at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey 40 years ago, he was just 28, and more than a few critics thought he was never destined for greatness. With 3,200 fans in attendance, this wasn’t just another show, but to fans of the man behind songs of hustlers and dysfunctional lost souls, the single-best performance of his career, one captured for posterity on a WNEW-FM simulcast broadcast throughout the East Coast and recorded with then state-of-the-art video technology at the venue itself.
https://youtu.be/hf61K6ZKu_4
Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna on working with Joan Jett
What was your experience like when you actually got to spend more time in the studio?
Kathleen Hanna: When we recorded [Singles] that was the last version of ‘Rebel Girl’ we recorded and it ended up being on the Singles album. That was an amazing experience. It made me want to go back and record all of our songs again. I feel like a lot of the things I was thinking [before] were kind of naïve. It’s like a guitar player being like, ‘I’m not going to experiment with pedals because that’s not my thing. I want my guitar to sound raw!’
There are so many different things that you can do with your voice, and just because a little bit of reverb can really make my voice shine a lot better and sound fuller, I don’t think it’s a cop-out. I think I was really young and I had these ideas, but the way that they actually translated to the record wasn’t as successful as I would have always liked.
I never listened to our records; we just kept moving and doing new things. But I have listened back now because we’ve re-mastered things and I love the energy of a lot of it and it’s really exciting and I’m really proud all of our records. But definitely taking the time with ‘Rebel Girl’ and other singles with Joan Jett — she had me go through songs and individual lines… It felt like I was in a luxury spa to be perfectly honest. As a singer, I was being taken so seriously and being given so much space and latitude to experiment. I loved it. I really loved having someone outside of me tell me what they heard and then give me notes.
I wasn’t mad about it or whatever. I was like, ‘This is the best experience of my life, because Joan Jett is teaching me essentially how to do vocals in the studio.’ No one had ever done that. That basically laid the framework for the rest of my career. Because I realized how much more I could do. I just had a lot more colors to paint with. I didn’t have to go in and sing and feel as much as possible. It’s about translating that feeling onto the vinyl.
Tell me a little bit more about working with Joan Jett. She’s such a legend and you guys are such a cool pairing.
People made a really big stink about it back then. They were like, ‘You’re not punk rock, you’re working with someone on a major label.’ I was just like, ‘Fuck you. If you get asked to go in the studio and work with Joan Jett, you’re going to say no?! It’s JOAN FUCKING JETT.’ She’s as important to my thing in my head as any punk band that I fucking care about is. It’s just ridiculous.
I immediately had a family feeling with her. I felt like we were family immediately. And to get to work with her and go to her studio sessions and see how she recorded… I learned so much about the board and non-linear editing. She lent a lot of validation to us at a time when we felt pretty aimless.
I thought we were going to get a way better reception than we got from the punk scene and it definitely wasn’t as generous or kind as what I would have expected —aside from Ian MacKaye, who was very generous and took us into the studio. That was our first time recording and we were so freaked out because the studio… we thought it was like a space ship. We thought we would touch something and break it. We were just totally nervous. But I’m really happy that we had that experience.
But when you feel like everyone is coming after you and telling you that you’re not the right kind of feminist or you’re feeling like you’re starting to be rejected in the scene because you’re getting too much attention… and also there’s all these male voices telling you that you’re a fake band, you’re a novelty and you can’t sing…Your songs are stupid. To have someone like Joan Jett say, ‘You matter. You fucking matter. I’m going to champion you.’ She championed so many women behind the scenes over the years, you don’t even know. At people’s worst moments, she’s there. It meant everything to me. She was totally willing to show me everything she knew about recording.
Bill Burr: 50 Is Not The New 40
Bill Burr has no desire to extend his youth with botox or hair plugs — and he doesn’t think anyone else should either.
AC/DC’s Thunderstruck: Flute Edition
The musician Miquelmar makes no attempt to go the straight ahead route when choosing his cover songs. Here, he takes on one of the towering rock songs of the era, AC/DC’s Thuderstuck, on a…flute to create one of the best versions I’ve ever heard.
Unreleased Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Thrill Kill Kult Coming with the Return of WAX TRAX! Doc + Soundtrack Out April 16
Throughout the 70s, 80s, and 90s, Wax Trax! founders Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher led a tribe of outsiders on a ride through the 80s underground, accidentally changing music along the way. Their story, as well as origins for some of the most influential projects in music, are finally seeing light with the release of Industrial Accident: The Story of Wax Trax! Records. The documentary directed by Julia Nash, daughter of co-founder Jim Nash, explores the life and legacy that pioneered an emerging underground scene – industrial dance music. The film features interviews with the likes of Trent Reznor, Dave Grohl, Ian MacKaye, Jello Biafra, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Al Jourgensen, Franke Nardiello, Chris Connelly, and so many more.
A wide release for the documentary is set for April 16 on DVD and Blu Ray with VOD to follow. As a companion piece, Wax Trax! has compiled 10 tracks of unreleased, out of print and classic songs from essential Wax Trax! artists including Front 242, Ministry, KMFDM and more. In typical Wax Trax! fashion, collectors will be able to get their hands on special editions with additional exclusive unreleased material including answering messages from the label, photos and mystery bonus tracks. As a special collaboration, Wax Trax! has partnered with Record Store Day for an exclusive RSD edition available early on April 13. More info on editions can be found below.
As a special fan preview, Wax Trax! is thrilled to cue up an unreleased song from the upcoming soundtrack. Listen to label mainstays Revolting Cocks (side project of Al Jourgensen, Luc van Acker, and Richard 23 of Front 242) and the throbbing “Animal Nation” when you join the party at 1-833-WAX-TRAX – eyeliner and leather sold separately.
At the center of Wax Trax! Records are two music-obsessed men and their taboo love affair. Jim and Dannie’s unconventional approach to subculture had a profound effect on music fans and collectors from around the world. After releasing their first recording in 1980, the label immediately became synonymous with a new genre known as “industrial.” Throughout the documentary, key artists from pioneering bands including Bauhaus, Nine Inch Nails, Front 242, Ministry, Foo Fighters, and Throbbing Gristle describe getting their start or their influence with Wax Trax!. The independent label’s success throughout the 1980s and 1990s started to pique the interest of major record companies, initiating the heartbreaking downward spiral that almost buries the origin of US electronic music forever.
In 1972, Topeka, KS native Jim Nash met Dannie Flesher in local Gage Park, a notorious spot for gay cruising. Soon after, Jim would leave his wife and two children for Dannie and start a complex 25-year climb that would redefine the art and music underground of the 80s and 90s.
Escaping from the tightening Bible Belt in 1974, Jim and Dannie initially touched down in Denver, Colorado. Obsessed with music, the two opened a tiny record store that focused on UK glam and early punk, as well as obscure and experimental music. Born out of Jim and Dannie’s wicked sense of humor and creativity, Wax Trax! Records soon began to overlap Denver’s fringe gay and punk culture into a tight community of outcasts.
Four years later, Jim and Dannie landed at 2449 N. Lincoln Avenue in Chicago. Wax Trax! Records quickly became the center of a budding Chicago art and music underground during the fertile early 80s. The independent record store became an important place for devout music fans and became legendary to collectors and artists throughout the US. Building a counter-culture, Jim and Dannie became parents to a family of ever-growing group of nonconformists.
In 1981, Wax Trax! Records used the store’s success as fuel to begin producing small pressings of records for their own small retail outlet. The label’s momentum grew quickly and throughout the 80s and 90s, and for the first time, artists began to overlap unrelated genres of dance, punk, metal, and gay culture under the Wax Trax! imprint. Jim and Dannie went on to produce and mentor a family of electronic and experimental pioneers who would end up accidentally carving out a new music genre. The label was known around the world for pushing music to a much more aggressive and darker place in club culture. Although there wasn’t a master plan, the Wax Trax! contribution and influence to what has now become known as “industrial dance music” cannot be overstated.
In the early 90s, at the peak of the Wax Trax! commercial success, unusual circumstances combined with Jim and Dannie’s “fast and loose” approach to business led the label to crumble from within. The painful sequence that followed left Jim and Dannie without many of their key artists, forcing them to sell Wax Trax!. During this move, the literal last nail in the coffin was the discovery that they were both HIV positive. Jim passed away in 1995 of AIDS and Dannie was fired by the new Wax Trax! Owners in 1999. The label was discarded, abandoned, and largely forgotten.
In 2010 after the passing of Dannie, Jim’s daughter Julia Nash recused the forgotten Wax Trax! archives and the entire visual history of the store and label from a rural barn in Arkansas.
This film not only details the bizarre path and timeline of two men pushing music, art, and counter culture forward, but also an intimate peek behind the curtain of dysfunction and chaos that fueled a brilliant rise to the indie top as well as reasons behind the tragic demise of the Wax Trax! store and label.
INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT: THE STORY OF WAX TRAX! RECORDS
SOUNDTRACK TRACKLIST:
1. My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult – “A Daisy Chain 4 Satan” (Acid and Flowers Mix)
2. Revolting Cocks – “Animal Nation”
3. The Young Gods – “Envoyé”
4. Pankow – “Me and My Ding-Dong”
5. KMFDM – “Vogue (Apart Version)”
6. Ministry – “Tonight We Murder (Original Version)”
7. FRONT 242 – “Headhunter (Live in NYC)”
8. Mussolini Headkick – “Your God is Dead”
9. Laibach – “Leben-Tod”