THE BODEANS

THE CHAPIN SISTERS – LAKE BOTTOM (Plain) Folk music in three-part harmony

JIMMY EAT WORLD – BLEED AMERICAN Deluxe Edition (Interscope) Resurrection

ALKALINE TRIO – GODDAMNIT [Remastered] (Asian Man) Punk-goth trio gets the reissue treatment

THE RETURN OF THE BODEANS MUSIC INTERVIEW

OR MORE THAN TWO DECADES NOW, KURT Neumann and Sam Llanas have been shouldering their guitars from town to town, bringing bar rock to the masses and never once being swayed by the sound of the mo ment. Their commitment to straight -head rock, reminiscent of everyone from Springsteen to the Byrds, has brought them some mainstream attention over the years, most notably when their song “ Closer to Free” was picked up as the theme song to the popular TV show Party of Five. But more importantly, their laid-back, nofrills sound has brought the band fans in just about every corner of the world. Though they no longer vie for magazine covers, the Bo Deans continue to release stellar albums. Their latest, Still, is no exception. We recently spoke with Neumann and Llanas about the new record, their long-time relationship with Burnett and staying relevant after more than 20 years together. Congratulations on the new record. It sounds great. Did you work with T-Bone Burnett again on this one? Yes, we did. You guys have a long relationship with him. I assume he’s pretty easy to work with? Absolutely. He brings a real positive energy to everything, so everything just flows. At this point, does it get easier or harder to write a new re cord in comparison with when you were first getting started? I think it’s about the same. It’s really about songwriting. Sometimes you have a lot, and sometimes you don’t. You’ve been together now for 25 years, while most bands can’t keep it together for five. What’s the secret to your longevity? Distance. It sounds funny, but the distance between Sam and I helps us tolerate our differences. Yeah, different states. Have you ever worked on sideprojects without each other, or been tempted to? Sam and I both have released solo projects. You can find them on our website, www.bodeans.com. I read that Bob Griffin officially left the band not too long ago. Who is on bass now? We have been working with different players on bass for the last couple of years. I’m not sure who will be with us on bass for the tour. Is it hard adding in a new personality after working with the same group of individuals for so long? No, Sam and I started the band and have been the core for all these years. You couldn’t have Bo Deans without the two of us. The music business has obviously changed a lot since the band first got together. Do you think that’s for the best or do you think it will be harder for bands just now starting? There will always be a place for good music. If you’re in it just to get rich then that’s the wrong reason. There seems to be less value placed on music now days. I think it will cycle back around though. Music touches the soul. It’s important for our culture. BY JOHN B. MOORE THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A PLACE FOR GOOD MUSIC. IF YOU’RE IN I T JUST TO GET

RICH THEN THAT’S THE

WRONG REASON. F

Along with Still, you also have a new live album coming out soon. This will be your second live record. Can you talk a little about that record? We actually have three live records out: “Joe Dirt Car,” “Homebrewed” and “Live at the Fox Theatre in Boulder, CO.” We are also going to release a live acoustic record later this summer. We love the live records. We feel it’s what we do best. And all the records, live or studio, are available at our website if you can’t find them elsewhere.

Instead of Treated, Indie Hip-Hop Champs EMC and Atmosphere Kept Getting Kicked. With Two Amazing New Albums, the Crews Throw Some Return Punches.

MC’S THE SHOW IS ONE OF RAP’S finest ‘08 entries for a host of reasons, the main one being that its four crafty members (Masta Ace, Wordsworth, Stricklin and Punchline) spit like bored major leaguers in the dugout. (That’s a good thing.) But another good thing about the NYC supergroup’s super CD is that the underlying theme –a workhorse rap group has to deal with a shiesty concert promoter holding out on travel, per diems and all the perks- played out in periodic little skits never really gets old. (That’s a great thing.)

Atmosphere, the esteemed indie collective of rapper Slug and producer Ant, could have easily served as the inspiration for the playful vignettes. Long respected in the underground, the group has had its share of broken industry promises and unful filled dreams. Hell, its new album ain’t called When Life Gives You Lemons for nuthin’. Slug and EMC (especially the battle-tested Masta Ace) will tell you: This music stuff isn’t for the feint of heart. You’ve gotta have talent. You’ve gotta have resilience. And most importantly, you’ve gotta have some quality, un-shiesty people working in your corner. BY DEMARCO WILLIAMS E

EMC What are your thoughts on the term “super group?”

Wordsworth: I like the word because it gives a sense of recognition, integrity that we have with what we’ve been doing musically. The people have been recognizing that we put a lot of effort and energy into the lyrics and into making a creative record and great songs as opposed to just being four lyricists that got together. We’re actually people that got together and have a concern and pride in what we do.

Is it that pride that makes you four work out?

Wordsworth: What it is about us four is that we’re more than just doing music together. We’re not four MCs that met on the road and decided to do an album together. We toured with Ace on the road and actually had to live with each other on the road for a month or so. It becomes more than a rap group; it’s like a brotherhood. As far as getting stuff done, everybody gives you shit and discuss way more than music. We talk about everything from sports to family life. It’s really that brotherhood that keeps us together.

Strick, would you echo those same thoughts?

Strick: I would definitely echo Words. We’ve had so much experience together over the years. The fact that we’re kinda on the same page when it comes to music, the way we live our life, we pretty much view life the same way. It just works. We found that groove, that niche and our personalities really clicked. It made that process that much easier. Are things better or worse for independent artists today compared to a few years back?

Strick: It definitely works to our advantage. I won’t say if it’s better or worse. For smaller type groups such as us and smaller labels like the one Ace started –we won’t call him the label head ‘cuz he don’t really like that- we all pitch in and do our own share to make sure the label functions. As small as we are, the internet is definitely a friend to us. We’re able to reach our fans in Poland, Switzerland, Austria and all over the world because of the internet, so we can’t really turn our backs on it. It does have its downfall, like as soon as we sent the album to our publicist, a day later it was on the net. Those kinds of things are unfortunate but it also kinda proves that the people wanted the music. For us, it was kind of a good thing. It’s bittersweet. We were kinda upset at first. How could somebody do that? But once we got responses from the people, it worked towards our favor. As a whole, for independent groups like ourselves it’s definitely better than worse.

Punchline: To add on to what Strick was saying, as a artist, it doesn’t really affect us—especially coming from the level that I’m at. I can’t say I received a bunch of checks or anything from record companies for record sales or anything like that. More or less, it affects the business side. The downloading helps with our shows and stuff. People get to know the record and come out to shows. It gives you more insight to what’s going on with the project. They get to see Youtube stuff and video footage. It just helps the artist, as far as getting his project out there and cuttin’ through the BS and stuff like that. How frustrating is it as artists seeing menial, surface stuff getting most of the mainstream attention?

Wordsworth: I don’t really see nothing too wrong with it. It’s just not a fair playing field. 106 & Park is more aimed at the young kids in the junior high schools and high schools, so some of those songs are just pertaining to them. The thing that I see that I do think is wrong is that most of the songs deal with telling a woman to dance a certain way. I think it’s too oversaturated with just telling a woman to shake something. Every single deals with telling a woman to do something instead of just being a record more creative than that. It be like five videos in a row on the same subject matter. I think it could be a lil’ more diversity and give people more of a chance.

Punchline: To add on to that, I think it’s wrong that we pick a B ET and a 106 & Park to depict what hip hop is supposed to be. That’s just one avenue. Let’s say The Show had Mariah Carey money behind it. How would you promote it? Masta Ace: Wow, that’s a great question. The marketing would start at a very serious street level to the major cities in the U. S. to really cultivate it from the hood up. The way I see hip hop music as far as its ability to be commercially successful is that the rest of the world kinda comes to you. You promote the record to the people that are your core and ev erything else kinda happens for itself. I would all the major cities in the U.S., hit those hoods, the liquor stores, the barbershops and the hair salons. Just heavy, heavy, heavy promotion, spending marketing dollars there. If we have success there, the rest of it will kinda happen.

Strick: I think it would be ugly if we could put the money behind some incredible videos, maybe attack the video outlets harder than what we’re able to do financially. We’d actually bring the visuals to the music. We did the “What ItStands For” video, which turned out kinda dope. I just think with a lil’ more money behind it, we could make the videos a lot better and a lot more interesting.

Wordsworth: Maybe when we did our shows, we’d have a lot more props, backgrounds and things of that nature. It’s the things that enhance the show on stage overall. ATMOSPHERE What’s been the most fun part with doing this professionally? Ah, man. I really love touring. I really love knowing I’m a part of a thing that’s creating energy with kids. I really appreciate that we got this thing going that makes people happy. I hate disappointing people. I like making people happy. I kinda grew up as an attention whore. I wanted people’s attention. I wanted people to notice me. I get a lot of self-validation out of that. Just on some personal, selfish shit –as if that wasn’t personal and selfish enough- making music [is great]. Hanging out with Ant for 12 hours at a time and coming up with four songs in that 12-hour span makes me crazy. There’s nothing like that. I guess it’s like those rare times when I know I put together a good story. Yeah, especially when you know you’ve nailed it. When you know you nailed it, sometimes you don’t even need other people to like it. Me and Ant have made some shit we know will never play for anybody ‘cuz we know it’s not tight in the aesthetic sense for people to hear it, but we know we nailed what we were trying to nail. I don’t even know how to describe it. IfI could make four babies in one day, that would probably be the closest thing to making four joints in a day that all made me happy, know what I mean? On the flip side of the touring, can’t all of it get really tiring?

I’ve been doing this long enough now that I’ve learned a few tricks, as far as trying to keep it fun. I really feel that if you keep shit fun, you can do anything, man. Back in the day, when I was still just blue-collaring it, going to work would be hard. Getting up and getting your ass out the door to get somewhere by six in the morning so you can lift cinder blocks, you’d come up with ways to kill time while you’re working, whether it be telling stupid jokes, rapping or whatever. You just make it fun. With touring, I keep myself surrounded with a dope family. My unit is the shit. All the guys and all the girls on my team are all on the same page. We’re all good people and we have a good time with each other. On the bus we play poker. We bust out the Scrabble and Mastermind. You just do what you gotta do to keep things kinda fun, so nobody slips in their head and starts missing their home. And I’m guessing once you get to the venue and hear all the fans reciting your words, it makes it all worthwhile.

It is. It’s also intimidating because sometimes you slip in your head and start going, “Man, I’m just a dude from South Minneapolis. How did this happen?” But yeah, it makes it all worthwhile. It’s validating. Plus, I was an ugly kid. I was an ugly child. So, for this to have happened makes up for the fact that girls didn’t like me when I was little. Give me a couple of names of artists you’d pay to see right now.

Rakim. KRS-One. Public Enemy. X-Clan. Brand Nubian. Scarface. All of the people that made an impact on me did it before 1992. After ’92, everybody was just everybody to me. I’ll go peep people just to go study their shit but the biggest impact on me was between the ages of 15 and 19. After that, it was like, “Aiight, I gotta peep what dudes are doing.” There are records that I love, but nobody really made the same impact on me. Those are the dudes I’d pay to go see. Everybody else, I’m trying to scam my way on the guest list. Anybody outside of hip hop?

I’d go see Tom Waits. I’d pay up to $50 to see him. Besides him? Right now, I don’t even know who else I’d throw in the mix. Willie Nelson. I actually paid to see him and Bob Dylan play. I left during Bob Dylan’s set, but it was the shit ‘cuz [ Willie] came out and made everybody smile and he told stories. I stole ideas. I was like, “Okay, I see how you do this. You’re making this crowd smile. I gotta learn that.” In what ways have you had to change your approach in order to make money?

I mean, really, we started getting into this after all of that started its cycle. For me, it’s just been a constant adaptation. Really I don’t think we’ve had to change any of our approaches because our initial approach was already being manipulated by that issue. Making money for me, to be real, is all about merchandising. It never really was about the retail aspect for me. When we first came in, stores weren’t fuckin’ with us. I had to come to your city for you to fuck with me. Nowadays stores fuck with us big time, but there’s not a lot of money comin’ back from retail. I’m still focusing on coming to your city to get you to fuck with me. Touring has always been what paid the bills. The records that get sold in the stores are almost like flyers for the show, ya know? When Life Gives You Lemons is the perfect album for what kind of music lover?

For me, I think people who might be on the same page as me [will like it]. Anybody can relate to this. You don’t have to be a rapper from the Midwest. You’re learning how to make your life better by learning how to make better life decisions for yourself. A lot of us look at the situations we’ve been thrust in and we have our opinions and our complaints and all that. You can do that all day, but it ain’t gonna help you. If you don’t do something to fuckin’ help yourself, you’re gonna be stuck there. I saw this bumper stick once and I’ll never forget it. It said Insanity is repeating the same thing over and over expecting a different result. That’s what’s up. A lot of us got griefs and complaints, but if we ain’t doing nothing to help ourselves, how the fuck we gonna get mad at anybody else for not helpin’ us.