MOVE — ISSUE 27

MOVE 04.20 .12 VOLU ME 10 ISSUE 27

THE KEY TO YOUR ENTERTAINMENT

ON THE RECORD TAKING COLUMBIA'S VINYL SCENE FOR A SPIN RECORD STORE DAY 2012

+ THE MUSIC ISSUE POTTER MORE

Grace Potter & the Nocturnals aren't too cool for anyone.

SWITCH IT UP

Switchfoot loves surfing and Jesus and not necessarily in that order.

FOLLOW THE SCRIPT

Cursive newest concept album takes a theatrical twist.

CiRClEs

miles dobis music columnist

Sweet and not-so-short ‘90s alt-rock icon Justin Pierce returns with powerful new LP. “Space rock” is something of a misnomer for all kinds of music; the word itself suggests chilliness and sleekness.

Unfortunately, it’s a term all too often tacked on to the work of Jason Pierce, a remarkably consistent and imaginative alternative rocker for more than two and a half decades. Formerly of Spacemen 3, Pierce has always been able to inject melody and enough guitar shagginess to imbue his compositions with a certain form of approachability at odds with track lengths and album structures. His work in Spacemen 3 really used the minimalism of ‘70s space rock as a skeleton to hang all sorts of seemingly dysfunctional elements: Stooge-style garage protopunk, free jazz and the pop ambition of ‘60s writers like Brian Wilson. Combined with a hazy recording approach but a sharp instrumental one, the short-lived group managed to influence a whole generation of bands. Spiritualized, Pierce’s solo outlet since the early ‘90s, is an extension of this sound, energized with the confidence of solo performance and the freshness a revolvingdoor approach allows (Pierce is the only consistent element of the band).

More than ever in his recent work, Pierce’s approach has seen a more song-based output, and his latest release Sweet Heart Sweet Light is a wonderful introduction to his talents, with all of the negatives and positives it implies. However, there is more of the latter; Sweet Heart Sweet Light is some of the loosest material Pierce has ever released, with structure and ideas less important than simple melody and a sense that Pierce was truly enjoying himself in the three years of studio time it took to record. Granted, this is mixed with Sonic Youth-style drone and track length, but it never sounds indulgent or overlong.

This is a testament to his melodies, un-showy but always engaging. “So Long You Pretty Thing” is wonderful example: The track starts off with hymn-like organ and syrupy strings, but they work because of Pierce’s surprising sweetness on both vocals and guitar. This could have been an excellent tune by itself, but wellexecuted ambition takes over, and for more than seven minutes, Pierce layers on orchestral flourishes and layers of guitars until the track becomes something else entirely. It’s almost reminiscent of Oasis but with less blurry power and more sonic additives to balance out the guitar. Elsewhere this gift for stretching out tracks with drone and layering without redundancy is shown magnificently. “Hey Jane” smartly divides its eight-minute running time in half, first introducing its bouncy, playful garage rock nugget and then probing around tempos and sounds to flesh out the piece. And “Mary” takes its time to show off another key Pierce asset — his guitar skills — as he mixes it up with some guttural sax lines and a funky beat to make the track’s grinding pace very pleasurable indeed.

Pierce embraces brevity as well, more often than in his previous releases, and his songwriting proves essential for these briefer excursions. “Little Girl” takes its potentially sickly strings and instead lets them help the melody into a mode of later Flaming Lips work. Likewise, “Life Is a Problem” has a vulnerable vocal performance and sensitive guitar work to make its inherent sweetness sound just right.

If Spiritualized has ever had an issue on its releases, it is length: Masterpieces like Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space could always have used a little trimming, and Sweet Heart Sweet Light is no different. At nearly an hour, it’s pretty unwieldy, and perhaps contains one long track too many (“Headin’ For the Top Now” being the weakest) and a few too many droning guitar sections. But editing and accessibility have never been the strength of this group, and these aspects more than anything reveal a talent with almost too many interesting ideas.

But if it’s a solid introduction you want, Sweet Heart Sweet Light is as solid a candidate as any. While it may not match its ‘90s predecessors in terms of sheer scope and ambition, it shows a musician with talent and legacy willing to tinker with his material and songwriting approach. That is very sweet indeed.

FEAtURE Streetside Records is thriving with the resurgance of vinyl, and Slackers (right) will be celebrating Record Store Day on Saturday with live acts and special sales.

Columbia, put your records on

NICK EHRHARD | PHOTO EDITOR

Your fingers flip through the collection, pausing here and there as a familiar album or an intriguing cover catches your eyes. You’re a homesick college student surrounded by old friends, the soundtrack to days when you weren’t broke and you didn’t have to listen to Justin Bieber blaring from the rooms of various girls in the dorms. The Black Keys, Johnny Cash, Steve Miller Band, The White Stripes — they’re here with you, but it’s a bit different than usual. You’re not scrolling through your iTunes collection on your phone. You’re in a bona fide record store.

Slackers, that store that you were in (don’t you remember?), is one of two record stores in Columbia and the only official participant in Record Store Day on Saturday.

Record Store Day, celebrated in more than 700 stores across the country, as well as a few hundred outside of the United States, was founded in 2007 to bring together independently owned record stores and their customers and artists.

Although the holiday is generally celebrated by independent stores, Slackers, which has stores located throughout Missouri and Illinois, will be participating with a lineup of live bands for the day. Live talent includes local bands Rip Rap, Jimmy Angelov and The Spit as well as Omahabased band Cursive. Slackers will also be hosting sales throughout the day.

A big factor in the significance of Record

Store Day this year is the apparent surge in the popularity of vinyl. Slackers assistant manager Ted Sharp says records are definitely coming back into style.

“Oh yeah,” Sharp says. “Big time.”

Streetside Records manager Nick Soha is excited about the comeback of vinyl as well.

“It’s the in thing right now,” Soha says. “It’s really catching on to where people you wouldn’t think would buy vinyl are buying vinyl.”

To further explain what he means, he says a 60-year-old woman was recently in the store purchasing an Eazy-E album. He theorizes that she may have been purchasing the album for a grandson or something of that nature. (We prefer to think she needed some jams.)

Hip-hop listening elderly aside, Soha is serious about his passion for vinyl. It’s more relaxing to sit there and listen to the entire record rather than simply switching tracks on a CD, he says. He also says the sound produced from a record is better.

“It sounds better, warmer,” he says.” There’s a better analog sound.”

He attributes this improved sound quality to the lack of compression of the sound waves on a record. On a digital file, he says, the file is compressed and compressed, losing a little bit of quality each time.

Soha says he has noticed record sales increasing rapidly in his store. Four or five years go, there were only 20 records in the entire

megan lewis | staff writer

PREViEW

True Shred Guitar: Sleigh Bells makes it Reign

spiRiTUAlizeD - SwEET HEART SwEET LIGHT 4 sTARs OUT OF 5

The band will play two more shows before touring with the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

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concert

sleigh bells FeATURiNg:

ELITE GYMNASTICS VeNUe: THE BLUE NOTE lOCATiON: 17 N. NINTH ST.

DATe: MONDAY, APRIL 23 TiMe: 9 P.M. TiCkeTs: $20

Since releasing their debut album in 2010, Derek Miller and Alexis Krauss have seen their band Sleigh Bells rise to the height of modern rock acclaim. With two albums and various television appearances behind them, the indie rock duo will come to Columbia on Monday, April 23 for their concert at The Blue Note.

Formed in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 2008, Miller and Krauss have gone from waiting tables at local restaurants to playing the annual Pitchfork Music Festival, as well as appearing as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live.

Their debut album, Treats, won acclaim from publications ranging from Entertainment Weekly to Paste to Pitchfork. Two years later, the duo returned with Reign of Terror. Miller produced both albums, as well as working as a songwriter and guitarist, while Krauss serves as the duo’s vocalist.

At the Sleigh Bells show at the Blue Note, Elite Gymnastics will open for the duo. Miller and Krauss will wind down their spring tour in May by opening nationally for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. hunter woodall | associate editor

MOVE highlights (AlbUM ReleAse)

JACk WhiTe — BLUNDERBUSS

It’s been two Dead Weather records and a Raconteurs release since The White Stripes last released a studio album. The Stripes are done for, but old school White fans can rejoice at the newest White output, Blunderbuss, his solo debut. It’s currently streaming on iTunes for a week, which is pretty cool and entirely free of cost.

2 MOVE • 04.20.12

store. Now, Streetside boasts a collection of approximately 4,000. Soha has no intentions of stopping there, though.

“Someday I envision this section to get to 8,000,” he says. “But it just kind of depends how the trend goes.”

Soha says there used to be a specific crowd, comprised mainly of college students, that frequented the store. But two Christmases ago, he noticed a change. People of all types began to come in, and more than 10 percent of the stores’ sales are attributed to vinyl.

“For now, we’re just kind of taking advantage of it,” Soha says. “I think it’s here to stay.”

While Slackers and Streetside are working hard to meet Columbia’s demand for records, Soha says he doesn’t understand why the town doesn’t have its own independent record store.

“It just doesn’t make sense that a college town like this doesn’t have something,” he says, noting that St. Louis, Kansas City, Jefferson City and even Lawrence, Kan., are all beating Columbia in this department.

If things in the vinyl business continue as they are, this may be a possibility for the not-so-distant future. As Slackers and Streetside indicate, vinyl is coming back.

As Soha says, “It’s hot.”

(AlbUM ReleAse)

The RAVeONeTTes — INTO THE NIGHT

You might know these guys from their awesome and aptly titled Christmas song, “The Christmas Song” (“Christmas with the Kranks,” anyone?), but they make music for the other 11 months, too. The band’s fuzzy sound draws comparisons to The Jesus and Mary Chain, which we think is another sign the Danish duo really loves Christmas.

PHOTO COURTESY CARINA CONTRERAS

(AlbUM ReleAse)

eVe 6 — SPEAK IN CODE

In the latest installment of Wait, These Guys Are Really Still Around?, we take a look at this So-Cal group who found blips of ‘90s fame with “Here’s to the Night” and “Inside Out.” They’re back together for their first release since 2003.

Verdict: Yes, These Guys Are Really Still Around, I Mean, They Stopped For A While, But Yeah.

INTERVIEWS

WRITING SONGS IN CURSIVE

TOTAL FASHION MOVE kayla elam

fashion columnist

Who Knows Who Cares what you wear?

“You gave him no name, so, he gave himself a name” concludes vocalist Tim Kasher on Cursive’s latest release I Am Gemini. Cursive is a band that has certainly learned to give itself a name.

Gemini is a concept album — something far from new for the band, though there is something different about this album in comparison to some of its other concept records.

“For this one, it’s the first time that we decided to do it like linear storytelling,” Cursive bass player Matt Maginn says. “Rather than the other concept records that have been collections of songs with similar themes.”

Despite the album being in the form of a play, it isn’t restricted to simply that. The songs each hold their own individually, in addition to telling an overall story. They each hold meaning and the ability to be related to, even outside of the acts.

“Our lyrics aren’t usually written until we record,” he says. “I did not get to see the playbill until after, so for me it was kind of a third party experience because I was able to see the playbill

and read along and be like ‘Oh, that’s what going on.’”

Maginn’s experience is much like that of the listeners’, and fans will have ample opportunity to revel in the recently released new music for a little while, as new music production isn’t yet in Cursive’s sights, seeing as Gemini was just released at the end of February.

“Right now we just have plans for touring” he says. “We haven’t really thought anything beyond that. We’ll probably tour until about this time next year, on and off.”

The band is set to stop by Mojo’s on Saturday evening, which proves to be a reunion of sorts for Maginn. The Omaha native was once a resident of Columbia and is an enthusiast of what it has to offer.

“I lived over by Stephens Lake,” he said.

Maginn lived here while his significant other worked on getting her Ph.D. When asked what his favorite spots were in Columbia, he didn’t have anything unusual to say.

“To be honest I actually didn’t go out a whole lot,” he says. “I went to Ragtag and Booches,

PHOTO COURTESY DANIEL MULLER

and I really like Mojo’s. I kind of spent a lot of time there.”

He says he was really impressed with Columbia.

“For the size of the town, it really has a pretty large amount of cool places to eat and hang out and see movies and music — it’s kind of amazing actually,” Maginn says. “It’s really cool to have so much available to you in one place. I would always tell my musician friends how lucky the city was to have two good venues that have been there forever.”

The bass player is looking forward to being at Mojo’s again. Besides the venue, he also loves a particular pizza place — it just might not be the one readers would suspect.

“I have a bizarre affection for Wise Guys Pizza, which is embarrassing to admit,” he says.

“I just really enjoy it.”

Cursive plays at Mojo’s at 9 p.m. Saturday with opening acts Cymbals Eats Guitars and Conduits. Cursive will also be performing Saturday at Slackers on Broadway for Record Store Day. christine cauthen | staff writer

The Nocturnals spend the night in CoMo If you can’t be in Paris, then you should at least be at The Blue Note. On Wednesday, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals will take the stage.

After coming off successful shows at Coachella, MOVE caught up with guitarist Scott Tournet to talk about college towns, the upcoming album and the band’s surprising summer stadium tour with country stars Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney.

MOVE: We have to know, how was playing Coachella?

SCOTT TOURNET: Playing Coachella was great, it was epic. It was really beautiful. It actually wasn’t really that hot, so we didn’t have to wear shorts and sandals on stage. We got to see a lot of shows like Radiohead, Bon Iver and Florence and the Machine.

M: Is there anything you especially like about playing in a college town?

TOURNET: The kids. The crowd. I love college. I went to college three times. I love the atmosphere of college. It’s so open-minded.

Even today, I think there is a carryover of ‘60s mentality in college towns. Usually they are at the forefront of civil rights and progressive kind of thinking. They are the first to accept something new and something different.

M: What is a typical day on tour like?

TOURNET: Well first off, there is nothing typical about it. If you are on tour for an extended amount of time, you have somewhat of a routine. You wake up around noon and cruise the town for vintage shops or more locally owed shops that you wouldn’t find everywhere else. After that, we go to sound check, play a few songs. Then we go eat some dinner and chill.

Then usually we play some acoustic guitars and work things out or watch whoever’s opening.

After the show we used to drink a lot of whiskey

I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but let me clue you in on a little secret: concerts and festivals are not just about the music. Surprise. I mean while you are there to immerse yourself in the glory that is Local Natives/Frank Ocean/Kanye West/ One Direction (yeah, I went there), there is a lot more to seeing a band live than the music. As Coachella is wrapping up, all the fashion blogs can talk about are the weird, wacky and ultra cool looks that graced the fest. Fur boots and shredded vests?

Check. Hearing from celebrities who were thought to be living in Toledo long ago? Check. (What up, Mischa Barton?)

Concert dressing is about being an individual while fitting into this crazy environment, which sounds about as complicated as it actually is. You want to look presentable for the inevitable flood of pictures that will be Instagrammed the hell out of (Camera Talk), but potentially you are going to be hot, sweaty and drenched in whatever liquid was in the guy’s cup when he ran into you trying to catch Justin Vernon’s towel.

What this means: do not spend a lot. Bloggers interested in the style of concerts and festivals love looks that appear effortless.

That is something you can’t really create with cash, so please, please for the love of Freddie Mercury do not spend hella bank on clothes that will more than likely be identifiable by their stains. That being said, it is possible to be fashionable.

WARNING SIGNS:

Where are you headed, a concert downtown at The Blue Note or a festival like Lolla or Bonnaroo? Being outside, standing in the rain for three hours (or days) is way different than being stuffed into a crowded arena inside. Obviously being at a festival is a marathon, so comfort is absolutely essential here, even more so than being at The Blue Note or Beaumont for two hours. Either way, that last statement should be your guidepost for the rest of this column: comfort. A lot of clothes are cute, but pulling at something or worrying about shoe straps is not what you want to remember.

STICKY THREAD:

A lot of times, shoes are evaluated last as an afterthought, but since a lot of standing is in your future, shoes should be your main concern. I recommend wearing shoes you don’t care about because it will be nothing but a sea of mud or dried alcohol on the ground (or worse), so stick to cheap sandals like ones from Forever 21. If you want to go for shoes with a little more substance, check out inexpensive flats I found from Lulu’s. And do I even have to say it? No heels or wedges. Ever.

You aren’t Victoria Beckham.

SHAPE SHIFTER: PHOTO COURTESY LAUREN DUKOFF

and go crazy, but these days we’ve mellowed out.

M: Tell us about your new album that comes out June 12.

TOURNET: Yeah I’m really excited about our album, like for real. I think it’s our most mature album. We really believe in it. It comes across really well conceptually, and also I think the fans will be excited that it is really fun to play live. Some of the songs were written for a big stage to play live. So that’s always cool when music is really exciting and really lends itself to a live performance. By the time we get to The Blue Note, we’ll be a couple weeks into the tour, so expect to hear about half of the new album.

We’re ready to play again. We took an almost six month break for touring, so we’re all gung-ho to just let it rip again.

M: How did your tour with Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney come about?

TOURNET: Kenny Chesney discov-

MOVE HIGHLIGHTS (ALBUM RELEASE)

THE WANTED — THE WANTED

Okay, so yeah yeah yeah, boy bands are back. We get it. But that doesn’t mean we like it. Four of these guys are over 21. Sure, maybe they’re similar to the ages the first-gen boy bands were when they hit it big and we’re just being grumpy because we’re not ready to admit we’re getting this old… BUT WE DON’T THINK SO.

ered us and just fell in love with Grace’s song “Apologies,” which has a singer/songwriter feel.

So he had this song called “You and Tequila,” which has been out and been nominated for a Grammy and stuff, and he asked her to sing on it. At first when we heard the request, we were like, “Well that’s kind of out of left field; that’s not what we really expect or are used to.” She decided to say, “What the fuck,” so she did it.

That was kind of like the first area that we broke down in a way as to like who we are. A few years ago, we were very “We’re this kind of a thing, or we’re this genre.” But nowadays, it’s kind of cool to let go of those things and not stress if you are country or hip-hop or rock, just kind of like float to the wind. We’re just getting a kick out of the extreme from playing Coachella to a massive country tour in the Dallas Cowboys Stadium. But why not? We don’t want to be too cool for anybody. caitlyn gallip | staff writer

(ALBUM RELEASE)

THE DANDY WARHOLS — THIS MACHINE

Their sound has been occasionally compared to that of the Velvet Underground, and given their name and the banana peel album cover of 2003’s Welcome to the Monkey House, that must be what they’re going for. Oh, and speaking of the name, we’re hoping the band’s quality lives up to it, since that’s all we’re going off of.

Loose clothes in light colors are going to be your best friends. It could be raining, it could be 110 degrees or it could be both. The headliner of your outfit should not make you look like a giant bag of Navajo prints or a John Wayne extra (memo to like 40 percent of girls trying to bring out their inner banjos). I recommend some colorful cropped shorts from Swank Boutique and a loose top. It is the right mix of cool and independent style. If you are more of a dress girl, go for a lightweight flowing one or a romper – Alloy has cute options.

CARDS AND QUARTERS:

To finish the look, invest in a crossbody bag that is big enough to hold umbrellas, IDs and whatever else we girls carry.

Check out Delia’s bags that can carry everything but are not so big it won’t be slung across you comfortably and be safe from being dropped and trampled by rabid fans with wide eyes.

From here on out is your chance to do your own thing with accessories and show your personal style. Just know this: less than rising from the dead and closing the festival while being a hologram, it’s going to take a lot to make the world news, so if you’re going to “go for it” stylewise, commit. Now, all that’s left is to throw those hands up toward the sun.

(ALBUM RELEASE)

TORO Y MOI — JUNE 2009

Chaz Bundick has made a name for himself (and with that one, how couldn’t he?) last year as a staple of the nascent chillwave genre. His newest release actually consists of material from, you guessed it, June 2009, with a lo-fi sound clearly distinct from his current gooey pop but also clearly indicative of his skill with melody.

04.20.12 • MOVE

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KISSLESS IN COLUMBIA

emma woodhouse romance columnist

INTERVIEWS

Switchfoot surfs through Columbia

The final test Emma’s finally on the brink of her very first kiss.

I’ve got this on lock.

Instead of whispering through the vents, Romeo comes down to my room to talk to me. We have the occasional rendezvous in the basement. He sends me four-page text messages. If we keep this up, I’m forecasting the loss of my kiss-ginity in the next week or so. Things are heating up (ho-ho, weather pun). I think I might have snagged the boy.

But is he the right boy? Romeo’s pretty far from my typical hipster-boy crush. He’s in a fraternity. He loves sports. He listens to, like, rock music and stuff. But he’s a nice guy. Does that make up for having different interests?

I don’t watch a ton of trashy television, but I’m a romance columnist, so I have to watch “The Bachelor.” It’s basically in the job description. In case you wisely choose not to put yourself through the weekly two-hour saga, here’s a quick synopsis of the end of almost every season ever.

Before the unrealistically handsome and suspiciously single man decides who he will marry, he takes his top two choices back home. Then he allows his parents to interrogate them incessantly, gets his parents’ opinions on his potential fiancées and ultimately avoids their advice altogether, “listening to his heart.”

Six months later, he breaks up with his “dream girl” and gets a job on “Dancing with the Stars” or hosts a TV series or something. Ka-ching.

I’m about a week away from deciding whether I’ll get my first kiss. I think it’s time to consult my parents. If I brought Romeo home “Bachelor”-style, this is what would probably go down.

Questions from Mom: Q: If you were both on a canoe trip in the mountains and one of his friends accidentally dropped his camera in the water and broke it, would he get really mad, or would he be cool about it?

A: Mom! I don’t know! Maybe we should go canoeing in the mountains just to check?

Q: I’m just saying! That’s how I knew I wanted to marry your father. We were camping on…

A: Mom. We’re not getting married.

Q: Well, does he like you?

A: Yeah.

A: Then I trust his judgment.

I’ve got a hypothetical yes from my mom! Super. Next up: Dad. Questions from Dad: Q: … Yeah, I’m not doing this. This is weird.

A: Fair. I’m taking that as a yes.

Check Dad off the list.

Questions from my older brother: Q: Are you kidding me? You haven’t kissed anyone yet? That is so seriously embarrassing.

A: Sweet, thanks, brother.

Q: Want to go mountain biking? I packed all our stuff in the car.

Another affirmative.

Questions from friends: Q: Is he hot?

A: I mean, yeah. Kind of.

Q: Why are you even asking me all these questions, then? I’m kidding. As long as he’s a nice guy and he’s taller than you and he doesn’t listen to country music, I think you’re good.

I think we’ve come to a consensus: all of my hypothetical sources hypothetically agree that I should go for it. Seems legit.

It’s time for me to go get kissed!

Now that I can feel a kiss coming on, I’m getting a little nervous. I mean, what if I’m bad at it? People always say not to worry —— you just go with your gut. You’ll know what to do when it happens. But, all you people with so much faith in me, as Rob says in “High Fidelity,” “I’ve been listening to my gut since I was 14 years old, and frankly speaking, I’ve come to the conclusion that my guts have shit for brains.”

Hopefully all will go well, though, and I’ll get myself some kissing practice in the next few weeks. You guys had better pray/ wish upon a star that everything works out, because who wants to read 16 more of these columns? Definitely not me, and not my editor, I’m sure. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go meet Romeo in the elevator.

Check out our preview of *Thursday’s Rocket Summer Concert at

move.themaneater.com.

And after this weekend, catch our photo coverage of Coachella 2012.

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MOVE • 04.20.12

Avid surfers, the Christian rock band Switchfoot got its name from a surfing technique: “Switchfoot” is when you change your feet on the board and place your left foot forward instead of your right. But instead of hanging 10, the San Diego, Calif. band hangs five with Jon and Tim Foreman, Chad Butler, Jerome Fontamillas and Drew Shirley. Only two of them are actual brothers, but in Drew’s eyes, they all are.

“It’s a band that’s kind of rare,” Shirley says. “(It) started with brothers, but we really do kind of have this feel of kind of being brothers in a band. It’s kind of like a family band in a way because we all feel like brothers.”

Switchfoot is in the process of filming a documentary, and people will get to see behind the scenes of the band’s tours and even a few surfing tips from the California natives. While on tour, the five members will be writing the music to go along with it, and it will be released as their next CD, the soundtrack to the movie.

“We’re visiting a whole bunch of surf destinations around the world,” Shirley says.

PHOTO COURTESY BIG HASSLE

“It’s kind of a dream come true to make a surf film. It’s going to be a documentary, as well about the history of the band, what it’s like on tour, behind the scenes, how we write music, how we record music and all that.”

Switchfoot brings more than just music to a stage. They also bring a message.

“Our faith is a part of who we are,” Shirley says. “It affects the way we see the world, of course, because it’s who we are. When we play shows, we’re musicians and we’re expressing songs about what we think. So, what we hope comes across is honesty.”

Shirley feels that as a band, honesty is what grabs the audience the most and is the key ingredient to a great song.

“The best songs are the most honest songs, I believe,” Shirley says. “The way Jon writes songs connected to what he believes is very unique and very transparent. And so, we hope that people just catch a glimpse of the vision of the song and the honesty in the song and whatever it’s talking about.”

“Dark Horses” is one Shirley’s favorite

songs to perform for audiences. Written about the homeless youth of San Diego, Shirley connects with this song because he sometimes feels like a dark horse himself in that he may not be as good as those around him. He feels that the song is easily relatable for many in the world.

“It’s a song about the underdog,” Shirley says. “When we’re playing that song, we’re helping the audiences feeling hope. We’re bringing hope to the hopeless.”

Switchfoot is impacting people throughout the world. Recently, the band met a soldier about to deploy to Afghanistan, and they decided to sit and talk and play some songs for the young soldier as a sendoff and thank you.

“We were walking to our bus and he asked to play us an acoustic song,” Shirley says. “So, we all just sat there and heard his story, and then Jon played a couple of acoustic songs out on the street right in front of our bus for him as a sort of sendoff.”

Switchfoot plays at The Blue Note with The Rocket Summer opening at 8 p.m. Thursday.

Tickets are $22. megan suddarth | senior staff writer

has opened for acts like Lionel Richie, Spoon and, oh yeah, Barack Obama (assumedly not a music act…). Yet Lewis claims his coolest experience was at a concert in San Sebastian, Spain.

“It was on the beach, and there were a bunch of topless women laying down in front of the stage, checking us out,” he says. “That was cool. We had a huge show, and right as we were done, we had to leave — that was the shitty thing about it. People were like chanting our name and shaking the van.”

The road to van-shaking status began with Lewis performing so he could stop working at places like the pawn shop where he bought his first guitar.

“I had a lot of friends that were in bands, and I was always working my day jobs, and all that shit,” he says. “I’ve done every kind of day job you possibly can, pulling minimum wage, and this is definitely the best one, you know?”

A show at Mojo’s on Thursday has Lewis and the gang returning to Columbia, a city with a special place in their hearts.

“Last time we were there, my ex-guitar player flew out of a golf cart, he was so drunk,” Lewis says. “He was trying to be funny, and he was standing up in the golf cart. The guy driving

swerved a little bit, and he flew out and fucked himself up real bad.”

When not attending to golf cart-related business, the band also found time to play at the Roots ‘N’ Blues ‘N’ BBQ festival in 2009.

“We’ve been (to Columbia) a few times,” he says. “We’ve always had a good time.”

Lewis’ Show-Me State ties can also be seen in his oft-sported Royals cap.

“My mom’s side of the family is from there, and I still got a lot of family in KCMO,” he says.

“I gotta rep KC a little bit.”

Lewis has a bit of a Kansas City past himself; he lived there for a year with his grandmother.

As for his future, Lewis’ plan is simple.

“We’re just trying to keep it rocking, man,” he says. “We’re in the process of, you know, getting some material together, and hopefully we’ll be putting out a record pretty soon.”

And as far as the present goes, Lewis knows how to get Columbia residents to come out to Thursday’s show.

“All the cool people are gonna be there,” he says.

Black Joe Lewis is playing with openers The Preservation at 9 p.m. Thursday. Tickets are $13 in advance, $15 the day of the show.

Black Joe Lewis makes a name for himself The Austin blues rocker reflects on drunken go-cart escapades, topless audiences and life as a pawn shop worker.

PHOTO COURTESY TYLER CHILDS

Previews for Black Joe Lewis concerts are bound to be filled with comparisons to James Brown or Otis Redding. And, to be fair, songs like “Sugarfoot” make it damn hard not to make those associations — in a positive light, of course. But it seems Lewis and company aren’t concerned with being the second coming of The Godfather or Soul.

“The biggest challenge is that people are always gonna try to categorize you,” Lewis says.

“We try to do our own thing. I think that as long as you try to do your own thing, you’ll be all right, you know?

The aforementioned “and company” is generally referred to as The Honeybears — “Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears” is the title flaunted by their website, Wikipedia page and most recent album (although, sure enough, MySpace gets it right). But Lewis says the sixman ensemble isn’t using that name anymore for a very simple reason.

“I think it’s kind of lame, you know?” Lewis says with a laugh.

While the band’s name might be in flux, it seems like it’s got its genre on lockdown.

“My bass player calls it ‘psycho sledgehammer blues,’” Lewis says.

Whatever you want to call it, Lewis’ band

brandon foster | MOVE editor