Here is some of what’s going on in Houston this week:

Sunday, June 13
The John Sparrow w/ Good Looks @ Rudyard’s
Tesla @ Verizon Wireless Theater
Acid Mother’s Temple with Psychic Paramount @ Fat Cat’s
Figure Four with Scars of Tomorrow/Love Is Red/Sanguine/Join Or Die @ Walter’s on Washington
The Legendary Pink Dots with Three Fantastic @ The Engine Room
Mungo Jerry with Allen Oldies Band @ The Continental Club
Zydeco Dots @ The Big Easy
Highwater Waltz Benefit @ Rhythm Room
Luther & The Healers @ Traders Village

Monday, June 14
The Contingency @ Fitzdown
The Standard with Sail On Silvergirl @ Rudyard’s
The Syndicate @ Super Happy Fun Land

Tuesday, June 15
Machine Gun Romantics with SSE and Daggermouth @ Fat Cat’s

Wednesday, June 16
Commune Music, featuring The 8Track Charade, The John Sparrow, & Modulator @ The Proletariat
Patti Smith & Her Band @ The Meridian
Rodney Crowell @ McGonigel’s Mucky Duck
Drop/Greg Wood @ The Continental Club
The Unknown Locals @ The Engine Room
<>, featuring Bizz, Sean Carnahan, Danseparc, Wonji, dj DZ, Cee Plus, Roy/Austin, Joshuah Dupont, Inspector 901 @ Numbers

Thursday, June 17
Fleetwood Mac @ The Woodlands
The Bled/Beloved/Classic Case/Our Cure The Rocketship @ Fat Cat’s
The Underworld, featuring DJ Dana Dark, Danny Stygion, DJ Chris Anderson, & DJ Mina @ Numbers
Jack In The Pulpit/The Methods/The Pilots @ Rhythm Room
The Elizabeth McQueen Band/Beetle @ The Continental Club

Friday, June 18
Jon Dee Graham/Steve Wedemeyer/Scratch Daly/Molly & The Ringwalds @ The Continental Club
Drop Trio with Rosta Jazz Avengers @ Super Happy Fun Land
Die Young/On Our Own/Down to Nothing/Kids Like Us @ Walter’s on Washington
Missing Pilots/Scattered Pages/Chris Neri/Dan Solomon @ Fat Cat’s
Adult Rodeo/The Slurpees/Dead Roses @ Rudyard’s
The Guilla-Teens/Too Toos/Kemo For Emo/Muldoon @ Fitzgerald’s
Velvet Revolver @ Verizon Wireless Theater
Blendt/Gnappy/Vibe Committee @ Rhythm Room
The Chemistry Set/14er/The Wheel Works/Miller Avenue @ Fitzdown

Saturday, June 19
Proletariat Picnic, featuring Dinkum, Ghost Shark, Kairos, Sail On Silvergirl, Rad Rich, & Max G. Arnold @ The Proletariat (4-10PM; $1)
Street Brats/Cadillac Voodoo Choir/The Quinns/Ese/Last Ride In @ Fitzdown
Un Plato Mas Premiere, featuring Supervoid, Ese, The Living Dolls, & Revolt of the Sun @ Walter’s on Washington
Seth Walker Band/Sean Reefer @ The Continental Club
GoGirlsRock!, featuring Amy Jo, Rebecca Torrellas, Stage Dive, & Underground Nation @ Rhythm Room
Flesh Fest, featuring Bozo Porno Circus, Nocturne, Flesh Assembly, DJ Mina, & DJ Johnny Slugg @ Numbers
Joe’s Roadhouse, featuring Angie Kay & Matt Leddy & The Meatcutters @ Rhythm Room (2-6PM)
A Tiger Named Lovesick/Pack Of Lies/Locust Tree @ Fat Cat’s
Fallen Line (CD release)/Burnt Face Jack/Four/Stalemind @ The Engine Room
Muzak & Friends, featuring Habib, Kairos, Goat, Organ Failure & more @ Super Happy Fun Land
Pimpadelic/Meanpeace/Hybrid Soul/Sevrin @ Fitzgerald’s
Rite of Strings, featuring Al DiMeola, Jean-Luc Ponty, & Stanley Clarke @ Verizon Wireless Theater
Fondue Monks @ Rudyard’s
Moses Guest (CD release) @ Last Concert Cafe
Darrin Love @ Traders Village
Hollister Fracus/Facevalue/Oneshot/The August/Rhenium/My Last Dying Breath @ Java Jazz Coffeehouse (Spring)

Now Playing in My iPod: Mansion — Feet Per Second

Duvall, featuring former members of Smoking Popes, is playing at Fat Cat’s on Saturday, June 12th, with The Catheters, Panic in Detroit, and The Connotations.

Smoking Popes had a radio hit in the mid-nineties with “Need You Around” and were indie/emo favorites for a lot of music fans in Chicago and around the globe. Their album Destination Failure is one of my favorites of all time. Morrissey went so far as to call The Popes the greatest band in America.

In 1998, lead Pope Josh Caterer became a Christian and decided to quit the band. There was a final studio album of cover songs–aptly titled The Party’s Over–and also a Popes tribute album, both of which can be purchased at Double Zero Records.

But Caterer didn’t stay gone from rock for long. In 2001, he formed Duvall (named for actor Robert Duvall because of his performance as a preacher in The Apostle), which also features ex-Pope Eli Caterer and Rob Kellenberger (from Slapstick, Tuesday, and Colossal). The music is much the same as the Popes–raw, guitar-driven pop songs with heartfelt, thoughtful lyrics.

Duvall released the Standing at the Door EP in 2001, and opened for the likes of Weezer and Dashboard Confessional. They even contributed a track to the Popes tribute album.

I recently contacted Duvall frontman Josh Caterer, who was gracious enough to answer a few questions for Houston Calling. Enjoy.

Ten Questions for Duvall

HC: I know after Smoking Popes dissolved you took a bit of time off from music. How did Duvall get started? Why the return to rock?

Josh: After I quit the Smoking Popes, I only played music in church for a couple years, but I put out an EP of acoustic gospel songs which I sold through mail order. So, alot of the Popes fans who ordered the EP would include a letter that said something like, “I’m so glad to hear about your decision for Christ. I’ve always been a Christian, and I love your music, and I’ve got alot of unsaved friends who are Popes fans too, and I know they’d be open to hearing what you have to say.” And after awhile, I just started to realize that I had an opportunity to share the gospel with people who wouldn’t normally go to church to hear about it. So, I felt it was time to rock again.

HC: What do consider to be your primary musical influences?

Josh: All the stuff I was listening to when I was a kid really shaped my style. From my Dad I got classic rock, like the Beatles and Zeppelin, and from my Mom I got the country influence, like Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. Then when I got old enough to start buying my own records, I was into AC/DC and Kiss, and from there I sort of progressed into punk, especially the Ramones and the Buzzcocks.

HC: Many of the Popes songs seemed to be mainly about failed relationships and love gone bad. Your return to the rock scene was titled Standing At The Door, and I get the reference. I read an interview where you said, “They all seem to be happy with the quality of the music, but the message is a little more controversial. Some people are excited to hear songs about God, but others aren?t so comfortable with it. They might choose to like our band in spite of that, or they might not. Christ tends to divide people.” How does your faith play into your songwriting? Do you find it difficult to balance your music and your faith?

Josh: My faith in Christ is really the foundation of all my songwriting now, just as romantic love used to be my foundation because on some level I believed that falling in love would give meaning to my life. And for me, songwriting is a process of grasping at some deeper meaning and bringing it out into the open through a song. But I never knew that the true love I was looking for was really found in Jesus Christ. Once I realized that, it was only natural to start using music to express it.

HC: What is your songwriting process like these days? Does the band get together and bounce ideas around or how does it happen?

Josh: I usually write the basic chord structure and lyrics on my own, then I bring it to the band and we work out the arrangements together.

HC: How does Duvall differ from Smoking Popes? Your voice is so distinctive–for me, it’s hard to tell one band from the other. Not that it’s a bad thing, of course. I just want to know your thoughts on the bands. You could have monopolized on the band’s name recognition, yet you chose to do it differently–what was the reasoning behind that?

Josh: If we had taken the old name, we would have been expected to play the old songs. It would have been just a continuation of the old thing, but I wanted to show that because of what God has done, it’s really a new thing. Even if we sound similar, we’re really not the same band. We’re coming from an entirely different place.

HC: You spent some time on a major label during your tenure with Smoking Popes. What was the best and worst things about major label life? Are you for or against the MP3 “revolution”? What’s your take on the state of the music industry?

Josh: Yeah, the Popes were on Capitol for awhile, which was a pretty overwhelming experience for me because I was pretty young and I was going through a lot of emotional stuff at the time. So I didn’t get a very objective view of the music industry because I was looking at it through a cloudy lens, so to speak. And with Duvall, we’ve been doing our thing pretty much outside the mainstream industry, so I guess I wouldn’t be a good person to ask.

HC: On the latest record, Volume and Density, you cover “True” by Spandau Ballet. If you could have any band cover one of your songs (ignoring the Popes’ tribute album, of course), what song would it be and what band?

Josh: I’d like to hear Morrissey cover “Jesus Never Leaves Me.”

HC: What is the one description that you hate to hear about your music?

Josh: I’m just glad to hear people describing it at all, so I’m not too picky about what they say.

HC: What’s next for Duvall?

Josh: We’re working on a Christmas album. Hopefully, if we finish it time, it will come out this year.

HC: What is in your CD player right now?

Josh: “Soul Journey” by Gillian Welch.

Thanks for Josh for answering these questions. Be sure to come outto Fat Cat’s this Saturday night to see a great night of rock. Duvall plays with Panic in Detroit, The Catheters, and The Connotations. Cover is only $5 so be sure to tell your friends and make a night of it.

Duvall’s latest album, Volume and Density, was released on Asianman Records, and can be purchased for only $8 here.

Now Playing in My iPOD: Longwave — Life of the Party EP

On the way to work the other day, I glanced in the rearview mirror and swear that Dave Mustaine from the band Megadeth was on a motorcycle behind me. But then I remembered that he lives somewhere in Arizona and probably wouldn’t have any reason to drive a motorcycle down a major thoroughfare in suburban Houston at 7:30 on a Tuesday morning. Or any other time, for that matter. I also recalled that I heard he somehow hurt his hand a couple of years back and that he had to have surgery and relearn the guitar. So that made me think he might not even be able to control a large motorcycle. But it got me thinking about Megadeth’s music. The mind works in mysterious ways.

I first heard of Megadeth after seeing an album at a record store in the mid-80’s. I would never have thought to buy a Megadeth album–I was too close-minded at the time to consider such a thing–but I always thought they had interesting album titles. Killing Is My Business…And Business Is Good, Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying, Rust In Peace, etc.

They seemed to me to be a poor man’s Metallica, further reinforced when I heard that Mustaine was one of the original members of Metallica yet was given the boot due to problems with alcohol. Not that he drank any more than the other members, I’m sure, he just couldn’t control it as well.

Mustaine and Megadeth released albums thoughout the eighties, and had quite a following among the speed metal set. But the band always seemed to live in the shadow of Mustaine’s former band. I had heard Megadeth’s rendition of the Sex Pistols’ “Anarchy For The U.K.” and caught their video for “Hangar 18” on Headbanger’s Ball once, but it wasn’t until 1992’s Countdown To Extinction that the band caught my attention enough for me to buy one of their albums.

Metal reigned on MTV at the time and I was in college and was into all types of music. The Dead. Pink Floyd. Indie rock. Early 90’s Brit rock. Guns’n’Roses. Metallica. I saw the video for “Sweating Bullets” and thought it was great. Mustaine was smug, angry, and cocky–everything a rock musician should be. He didn’t wear makeup or spandex. He was drunk, he was angry, and he was loud. And so was his music. Mustaine sang of paranoia, loss of self, and the sad state of the political system. “Symphony of Destruction” was incredible. The drums were amazing, the guitars ear-crunching. Countdown to Extinction is probably my all-time favorite Megadeth album.

I came across another guy in college who liked them and was able to listen to their older stuff–the albums I had laughed at and ignored in high school. We’d turn on some Megadeth at parties and freak people out for the thirty seconds we had before someone came over and started using the CD as a coaster.

In 1994, Megadeth released Youthanasia and I bought it soon after it came out. “A Tout Le Monde” was an excellent (and beautiful) song. Mustaine sung part of it in French and it was quite possibly the closest thing Megadeth ever recorded to a ballad. The first half of Youthanasia was good enough to overshadow the banality of the rest of the album. The label foolishly released only two singles from Youthanasia–“Train Of Consequences” and “A Tout Le Monde,” the latter of which whose video was banned by MTV because of the suicidal overtones of the lyrics.

I found 1997’s Cryptic Writings to be about the same as Youthanasia–half great, half half-assed. But the good songs always more than made up for the bad ones, and Cryptic Writings still ranks near the top of my favorite Megadeth albums. This is where the ex-Metallica fans ran to after Load was released and James and Lars cut their hair. Songs like “Use the Man” and “The Disintegrators” were slamming diatribes on drug abuse and Mustaine’s usual fare, and songs like “Trust,” “A Secret Place,” and “Almost Honest” offered rare personal glimpses into Mustaine’s life. True, this album was more of a departure from their thrash-metal days of the eighties, but Megadeth still retained enough of its roots to appeal to the masses and long-time fans alike. The success of this album cemented Mustaine’s place in metal history.

Then in 1999, I was near the beach buying some sunscreen and saw that Megadeth had a new album out. By now, I was enough of a fan that I bought whatever the band puts out. The fact they were selling it at Target should have been my first indication, however–Risk was awful. Boring in every sense, and far too experimental for a metal band, it seemed like Mustaine’s steam had run out. Take my word for it–I have tried to like it and there’s no point.

But he rebounded in 2001 with the release of The World Needs A Hero, an album I expected to put Megadeth back in the ring. I think Mustaine had finally realized he wasn’t going to be able to compete with Metallica, that there ultimately was no point, and that he might as well stick to the old tried and true. This album was Megadeth’s return to the days of old–a true rocker. But then, tragedy struck.

In April of 2002, Mustaine released this press release:

During the first week of January, 2002, while Megadeth was on hiatus, in Texas, I suffered an injury which caused severe nerve damage to my left arm and hand. It was diagnosed as Radial Neuropathy–specifically, a “compressed radial nerve.” My doctors tell me it will take about a year to make as complete a recovery as I can, and even then, we don’t know how complete that is going to be. I am working hard with a great team of doctors and physical therapists daily, and God willing, someday I hope to play guitar again. In the meantime, while I work on rebuilding my arm, I will take this opportunity to reappraise my career and my future. For the time being I have decided to exit Megadeth, and explore other areas of the music business where I might make a contribution without being able to play my instrument. I have had a terrific time singing and playing for you while I was in Megadeth. I am truly grateful for all of the numerous Gold, Platinum, and Multi-Platinum Records I have been awarded, as well as the many International Record Awards. And I can never thank you, our fans past and present, enough for your loyalty and affection over the years. My immediate goals now are to do what I can to make something good come out of this terrible situation. First and foremost, I want to use this opportunity to devote more time, energy and attention to my wife Pam and my two children, Justis and Electra. Pam has done a wonderful job carrying the load while I was a long-distance husband and father in the studio or criss-crossing the world on tour, but in terms of being a Gold or Platinum parent, I have a long way to go, and I’m eager to get started. In closing I would like to depart with the beautiful French words I wrote on the record ‘Youthanasia’: “A tout le monde, a tous mes amis, Je vous aime, Je dois partir.” (To all the world, to all my friends. I love you, I have to leave).–Dave Mustaine, April 3rd, 2002

I recently read online that Mustaine has regained the use of his arm, can play his guitar again, and reformed Megadeth, which plans to release a new album this summer.

I’ll get it the day it comes out.

Now Playing in My iPOD: Velvet Revolver — Contraband

As usual, there are plenty of great shows to check out this weekend.

On Friday night, Scattered Pages, Arthur Yoria, and Tody Castillo are playing at the Rhythm Room on Friday. This will be a great show so be sure to come out and support these great local musicians.

Also on Friday, Heist at Hand is playing a free show for the Youth Advocates. Be sure to check out their website for more information.

On Saturday night, duneTX and Casino play at Rudz. The show starts around 10 or so. Also, a duneTX song was featured in a video for houstonmotocross.com. You download the video here.

Arthur Yoria also plays at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday at The Flying Saucer (705
Main Street. Yoria will be featuring some new songs, so be sure to check this out before heading over to Rudz.

Other shows include:

Friday
Aerosmith & Cheap Trick @ The Woodlands
Will to Live/Dead to Fall/A Life Once Lost/Ten Crowns/Incisor/The Kidnap Soundtrack/Five Families/JonBenet @ Fitzgerald’s (up & down)
Joe Lombardo/Richard Ramirez/In the Land of Archers/Concrete Violin/Astrogenic Hallucinauting/Are the Volcanoes Still Active? @ Super Happy Fun Land
Bob Schneider/Glenn Eliot @ The Engine Room

Saturday
Subdudes @ Fitzgerald’s
Weapons of Mic Destruction, featuring M.O.P., Pharaoh Monche, DJ Scratch, & VG Skillz @ The Engine Room
Moses Guest @ The Continental Club
Unified Feel Theory @ Super Happy Fun Land

Sunday
Silverstein/Alexisonfire/Emery/Hawthorne Heights/Emanuel @ Walter’s on Washington

Also, The Methods (you need to check out this band!) have an acoustic/visualizer show coming up on Thursday, June 10th, at Brasil. The show starts at 10:30 p.m.

Remember that Tortoise is June 9th at Engine Room & Duvall is playing at Fat Cat’s on June 12th. An interview with Josh Caterer from Duvall will be posted soon. Be sure to check back.

Volatil is playing at Buffalo Fred’s Icehouse (2708 N. Shepherd @ 610 N.) at 10 p.m. on Friday, June 11th. Be sure to check out this great Spanish rock act.

One last thing, Gun Crazy is going on tour soon and is looking for a dependable someone to help out the band for about two weeks–driving, taking photos, selling CDs and T-shirts, etc. The band is playing 13 shows along the west coast, including Seattle and Portland (even Missoula, MT). More info on Gun Crazy, including their contact info, can be found here.

Now Playing in My iPod: Velvet Revolver — Contraband

Long weekend. A lot of shows. Here’s what’s going on this weekend around Houston.

Friday
Drop Trio (Funk Jazz Friday) @ Brasil
The Deathray Davies @ Rudyard’s
Arthur Yoria, Pale, Libra 3, and The Cameron Dezen Band @ Fitzgerald’s
Supagroup, Poor Dumb Bastards, and Ghost Shark @ The Axiom
Avendale, South 59, Black Box Originals, Barely Blind, and Sadbert @ Fat Cat’s
Marco V, Randall Jones, Kelly Hertz, and Sean Carnahan @ Clark’s
Element Eighty, Straightbent, and Sevrin @ The Engine Room
Todd Rundgren @ Club V (Verizon Wireless)
Honky Tonk Heroes @ Walter’s on Washington
The StoneKings @ Froggie’s Saloon (13845 Cypress North Houston)

Saturday
Quintron + Miss Pussycat, Animals of the Bible, The Entertainment System, and Danseparc @ Fat Cat’s
Robb’s Metalworks Houston Showcase, featuring Tri-Seven-Kru, Yuna, Paegan, Full Circle, Shallow Grave, and Six Past Hell @ Cryolab
Satin Hooks, The Drunks @ The Axiom
A Perfect Circle and Burning Brides @ The Woodlands
Noise Ratchet, Squad Five-0, goneblind, and Firekills @ The Engine Room
One Umbrella, Chim Charoo, and Vertigo Blue @ Super Happy Fun Land
A Wilhelm Scream, Near Miss, and Latham @ Walter’s on Washington
Greg Wood @ Rudyard’s
Pilot Radio @ The SideCar Pub
The StoneKings @ Al’s Sports Bar

Sunday
Scattered Pages @ The Ginger Man (in Rice Village)
Bonfire Madigan, Annie Lin & Henna Chou @ Aurora Picture Show (800 Aurora)
Nikki Texas-NTX, Dead Roses, and Organ Failure @ Super Happy Fun Land
Nimbus, Awake, Arizenme, Dark Flame, Outbreak, Makeshift, and Idleminds @ The Engine Room
Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Brightblack, and Black Nasty @ The Orange Show (2402 Munger)

Monday
Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Brightblack, and Black Nasty @ The Orange Show
Memorial Day Fest, featuring The Black Halos, Haste, Drunken Thunder, Calico System, and 1208 @ The Axiom

I watched a great show about the music industry on PBS last night. The Way The Music Died is an interesting look at how media conglomerates and big business have destroyed the integrity of the business and how it’s tougher than ever for artists to “break out.”

Basically, like everything else these days, it’s all about money. If you’re in a band on a major label, you have to bring in profits for the company or you’re out. It’s sad. It blamed a large part of it on the rise of CDs in the eighties. People started replacing their worn-out vinyl, which gave large companies and investors the impression the music business was booming. So companies invested, bought out the labels (many of which were started by people who actually loved and were into music). All of sudden, sales start declining (for various reasons) and the companies that own the labels now–in business to make money, not music–start looking for ways to get big sales.

The deregulation of radio, which gave Clear Channel the ability to become what it has, was also discussed. There was a time when you had a DJ somewhere would/could play new music by bands no one had ever heard of and the artists could sells records solely based on the results of one city. Now, DJs are told what to play and there is essentially no way a smaller, less-known artist can make it without the hype and major label machine of publicists, marketing, A&R, etc.

Musician David Crosby, who has nothing to lose at this stage in his career, had some interesting things to say. He said, among other things, that MTV ruined music by putting the focus on looks rather than talent.

“That was a terrible blow to music,” he said, “because now you’ve got all these people who look great and can’t write, sing, or play.

As her latest video clip was played, Crosby said, “It doesn’t matter that Britney Spears has nothing to say, and is about as deep as a birdbath.” It really drove his point home. It was classic.

I also found it fascinating that a guy from RCA said that in 2004, they have three records that they count as their big albums of the year. Three? Out of the hundreds of bands they probably have on their roster, they only consider three to be worth calling “big”? Pathetic.

One was Velvet Revolver, which is a “supergroup” consisting of former members of Guns’N’Roses and Stone Temple Pilots. Sad thing is, the record company doesn’t really care that these guys have sold millions in the past. That was then, this is now. RCA is gambling that this “project” (and yes, the rep called it a project) works for them. He called it the “most important” project of the first seven months of 2004 for the label. So if it bombs, I doubt they’ll get another chance.

Part of me wants to not buy the album just so the label won’t get any of the money. It’s a catch-22, really. Unfortunately, I respect the musicians (well, Duff McKagan at least) enough to contribute my $12 or whatever. I have enjoyed the music of both groups (especially GNR) over the years and am glad they are getting the chance to put out more music. I hope it pays off for them, although I wish they would have done it on their own. Maybe next time.

Here is a great interview with Duff and drummer Matt Sorum. There is a lot of great information on the music industry at this website. Very informative.

Also, tonight is the official opening of The Speakeasy, which is located at 110 Main Street. Enjoy.

Now Playing in My iPOD: The Pleased — Don’t Make Things

Curiosa, one of this summer’s best rock festivals, is coming to Houston on August 15. Featuring The Cure, Interpol, Mogwai, and The Rapture on the main stage, the show will most likely be at The Woodlands. Yes, in Houston in August. Anyway, it is sure to be a great show and one that fans of alternative music will not want to miss.

A second stage will feature bands such as The Cooper Temple Clause, Muse, Auf Der Maur, Cursive, Head Automatica, and Thursday. More bands will undoubtedly sign on before the tour kicks off in July.

For fans of great instrumental underground rock, it would be difficult to ignore Scotland’s Mogwai. Their trademark sound of loud guitars and soft lulls had spawned a lot of bands trying to duplicate the sound. A good thing, yes (when it’s like Kinski, Explosions in the Sky, or Godspeed…), but none do it quite like Mogwai.

According to the band’s website, Stuart Braithwaite (guitarist and sometime vocalist) and Dominic Aitchison (bassist) met at a Ned’s Atomic Dustbin show in Glasgow sometime in the nineties when they were 15. Four years later, Mogwai officially formed when Martin Bulloch joined as the drummer. They played a gig or two before John Cummings (guitarist/pianist/computers) was added to the ranks. Before recording Young Team, Brendan O’Hare (ex-Teenage Fanclub, Macrocosmica) joined for the duration of the album before parting ways. It wasn’t until the recording of Come On Die Young that Barry Burns (pianist/guitarist/computers) joined as a permanent member. The band has had the same lineup since 1998.

The members of Mogwai own Rock Action Records, an independent label that put out Mogwai’s first single and is now run by the band members and their manager, Craig Hargrave. The label has released records by Part Chimp, James Orr Complex, Kling Klang, Random Number, and The Zephyrs, plus has licensed Envy from Japan, Cex, and Papa M.

I recently contacted Barry Burns from Mogwai, who agreed to answer a few questions for Houston Calling.

Enjoy. Let me know what you think of the interview here.

Ten (or so) Questions for Mogwai

HC: How did Mogwai get started?

Barry: From a need to play music that had nothing to do with the BritPop nightmare that was happening at the time, I believe.

HC: What do consider to be your primary musical influences?

Barry: I really don’t know because there are far too many bands, songwriters and composers that we all listen to that it’s hard to pinpoint even a few. We have vastly different tastes in music within the group so they all come together and get confused. Which also describes our rehearsals.

HC: 3. How did you guys get hooked up in the summer tour with The Cure, Interpol, and The Rapture (among others)? I once read that Mogwai are big fans of The Cure–did this play any part in the decision to play these shows?

Barry: There is a majority of Cure fans in our band and when we were asked to do the shows, we immediately said yes. I think Robert Smith wanted us to play on the tour because he likes our music too so it’s mutual. We also get the chance to get boo-ed off every night in a stadium, which is the most important thing.

HC: What’s your take on the state of the music industry? Are you for or against the MP3 “revolution”? The Mogwai website seems to have a lot of information–how involved is the band in the website? Do you consider it to be a good way to promote the band?

Barry: I have an iPod and plenty o’ MP3s in my iTunes so I’m definitely an advocate. It’s hard to tell the harm it does, if any, as a musician. I’m sure the record companies must notice but I feel like it hasn’t directly affected me. My head is firmly in the sand.

The band are fairly involved in the website and its content but it’s fast becoming too much like hard work these days so we’re winding that down a smidgen. It’s a good way to see what kind of people listen to our tunes and is quite a good laugh at times and it definitely serves to promote the band too.

HC: A friend and I were discussing which songs we like best by your band. He is a fan of “Punk Rock,” while I had a hard time choosing between “Ratts of the Capital” and “2 Rights Make 1 Wrong.” What is your favorite Mogwai song to play live?

Barry: Oh, they’re ALL favourites…………………..Heh.

HC: Mogwai’s music is always an interesting listen–the ups and downs, crashing guitars, and walls of sound. When I listen to any album, I wonder how you guys do it. How do you guys approach the songwriting process?

Barry: With great panic and a need to justify our existence by making a different album to the last. I don’t think I enjoy making records as much as I enjoy seeing them finished on a table or, even better, in a record store.

One person in the band will have the main body of the tune (or a “bit”) and we’ll all just play it over and over. Lately we’ve been using our computers to demo tunes in the rehearsal studio so we can take it home and add bits. Quite handy how portable a studio is these days.

HC: What is the one description that you hate to hear about your music?

Barry: That it’s “post-rock” or “depressing.” That’s two. Sorry.

HC: If you could have any band cover one of Mogwai’s songs, what song would it be and what band?

Barry: Guns ‘n’ Roses covering “C.O.D.Y.” That would be the funniest thing for days.

HC: Why would anyone eat haggis? Just kidding. Happy Songs For Happy People was great–it came out last year while I was on vacation in the desert. Very appropriate listening, in my opinion. Any plans for a new album any time soon?

Barry: I recently tried Haggis and it’s actually really really tasty. The vegetarian one is even nicer, to be honest.

We’re currently making up tunes and I have to leave the house in exactly three hours to go and practise today.

HC: What is in your CD player right now?

Barry: My iPod holds far too much stuff to go into, but a few things would be Pelican, Envy, Enon, Cat Power, Colleens, The Birthday Party.

HC: Last one: Explain the “Blur are shite” slogan to me. Have you ever had run-ins with the band as a result?

Barry: Well. It was said as a joke by our then sound engineer and we laughed a wee bit too much, then made the shirts as a result. It’s meant to be funny and it certainly is. People get very upset by it but you can’t mess with facts. They asked us for one when we had them made but we told them to get to fuck. They can pay like everyone else. Fuck them.

Mogwai will play Houston at the Curiosa festival. Many thanks to Barry for taking the time to answer these questions. Be sure to check this site often for updates on Curiosa–as soon as I find out when tickets go on sale, you’ll know.

And please be sure to support Mogwai by buying their music. Just pick an album. Seriously–every one of them is a great listen.

Now Playing in My iPod: Mix 36

I recently saw a commercial for a movie called You Got Served. A definite sign of the coming apocalypse.

Seriously–what is this crap? I swear if I see another ad for a movie in which wannabe gangsters and Eminem clones are acting tough by dancing, I am going to shoot myself.

Yeah yeah, you’re real tough in that dance-off, you pathetic moron. Do us a favor and dance off into some rush hour traffic.

My two cents. I know I’m right. Bill Hicks backs me up.

It’s so very sad.

Now Playing in My iPOD: The Pleased — Don’t Make Things

Casino will play this Saturday (5.22.04) at Walter’s on Washington with The John Sparrow, Luxurata, and Loveless. This will undoubtedly be a great show so be sure to come out and show your support of these great bands.

I recently contacted Casino to see if they’d be interested in answering some questions for Houston Calling. Damon was gracious enough to take some to respond.

Here goes.

Ten Questions for Casino

HC: How did Casino get started?

Damon: I had split up my band Libertine (which also included Ron Rushing and Geoff Bay of Mansion). I’ve always wanted a writing partner–I wanted a “Lennon/McCartney,” “Jagger/Richards,” “Lieber/Stoller”-type thing, but I felt that the music that I was so influenced by, no one else really liked. I went some time, a year maybe, just noodling at home and getting nothing done. There was a wonderful girl, Leslie Ramos, who I’d meet up with every once in awhile. One day, after moaning about my current musical situation, she said that she knew a guy who’d just moved from San Antonio. She said that I’d get along great with him…we liked a lot of the same bands.

So, I did meet up with him. We talked, we played, and we kept on playing.

HC: What do consider to be your musical influences?

Damon: Obviously, the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Beatles, etc. Then there’s the Bowie, Queen, Slade and those guys. But it’s not limited to “the classics.” There’s also a lot of modern bands like the Doves, Arnold, The Black Crowes, and The Flaming Lips. It really changes all the time. I could be on a huge George Jones kick and that will obviously spill over into the music at the time… there’s really such a huge variance there I can’t say just one style.

HC: Your music reminds me of mid-to-late 70’s NYC bands fused with a straight-ahead rock feel. How would you best describe Casino’s sound?

Damon: Just like that! Straight-ahead rock dressed with pop.

HC: What’s your take on the Houston music scene?

Damon: For the most part, I find it depressing and boring. Granted, I don’t venture out to live shows much, but from what I see, it’s pathetic. There’s a whole “scene” out there that could be…I think most people are really concerned with what their friends think about their music, there overly-obsessed about ‘original’ and unique. Add to that the fact that their influences are crap, thus you have alot of crappy bands! Then, we live in a city with a handful of musicians and music-lovers and the rest are old frat-boys and sorority sisters–what kind of audience is that? If you don’t play a watered down blues, or something dull, then the vast population will never know you. How does that encourage bands?

You need media that’s interested (and interesting), you need audiences (not just friends), and you need competition. There are spurts of these things here, but they rarely happen at the same time. It all feeds off of one another, y’know?

There are bands out there that I think are good, and some possibly great. However, Houston is a strange place, it can smother any talent that appears.

HC: If you could have any band cover one of your songs, what song would it be and what band?

Damon: I couldn’t decide that.

HC: Are you for or against the MP3 “revolution”? How are you using the internet as a tool to market yourself? What’s your take on the state of the music industry?

Damon: I’m for it as long as people are consumers as well. If you download it, and like it, the go out and buy it. Repeat.

I think the “industry” is upset because the big-wigs stand to lose alot of cash. Well, I say let the people have their music and let the big guys suffer a bit. I mean, who are these execs anyway? They are NOT music-lovers! Those industry types are money chasers, and that’s what they care about.

The majority of royalties an artists are from things like airplay, etc. and make the bulk of their profits from merchandise and touring….so, when they tell you that you are taking food out of your favorite artist’s mouth because of downloading, that’s a lie.

Secondly, take a good look at the “artists” who complain: Madonna, Metallica, etc. They have enough! If their record companies aren’t strong-arming them to say something, the their greed is. If that’s the case, I’d love to take food out of the mouths of those overblown idols.

HC: What is the one description that you hate to hear about your music?

Damon: Ambivalence.

HC: I recently saw you play at the Dreamfest benefit and you guys seemed to be having a good time on stage. How do you approach your live shows–is it something you’re totally serious about or do you want to put on a good show and have a good time doing it?

Damon: We’re deadly serious about live shows. But life can happen, things are always different. Rooms, sounds, people, response, lighting, etc. We just try to enjoy all the angles and not get too straightfaced about it. We like a good laugh.

HC: What’s next for Casino?

Damon: We’ll be recording soon and playing live more frequently.

HC: What is in your CD player right now?

Damon: Brian Eno/Robert Fripp — “No Pussyfooting”
The Zutons — “Who Killed The Zutons?”

Thanks to Damon for taking the time to answer these questions. Be sure to come out to Walter’s on Washington this Saturday night, May 22nd, to catch Casino live with The John Sparrow, Loveless, and Luxurata.

This is sure to be a great show. Walter’s is a great venue in which to see bands.

Now Playing in My iPOD: The Pleased — Don’t Make Things

Chomsky’s new album, Let’s Get To Second, was released on Aezra Records on May 18th. The Dallas band will play in Houston on Thursday night at Fitzgerald’s. For more information on Chomsky, visit their website or the label’s website.

Tonight, local artist Lynne McCabe will showcase her new exhibit from 7 to 9 p.m. at 2608 Dunlavy (formerly home to the Axis hair salon beside Brasil). Hope to see you there.

Other shows this week:

Wednesday
The Roots/Jean Grae/Skills @ Numbers
Hella/Need New Body/Make Believe @ The Proletariat
Oddzar/Erase the Virus/Carmaci @ The Engine Room
Immortal Lee County Killers/Babydriver @ Rudyard’s
Badd Karma/LDV/The Living Dolls/Vatos Locos @ Fat Cat’s
Biskit Jones/Ozzmadiar/Mezcla @ Rhythm Room
Killswitch Engage/In Flames/As I Lay Dying @ The Meridian
A.N.S./Unit 21/Wrath of Beowulf @ Super Happy Fun Land

Thursday
Trans Am/Les Georges Leningrad/Freedom Sold @ Fat Cat’s
Rockin’ for Rise Benefit, featuring Naked Content, Deep Ella, Hybrid Soul, Camino, Four Men Walking, & The Mandy Smith Group @ The HardRock Cafe
The Dead End Guys/Gotham Road/The Phantom Pains @ The Axiom
Schlitzfest 2004, featuring Eric Fiegal & The Fumigators @ Rhythm Room
Saliva/Mighty Sideshow/Paris Green @ The Engine Room
Those Legendary Shack Shakers/Three Bad Jacks @ Rudyard’s
Intergalactic Faerie Funk @ Super Happy Fun Land

Friday
Beulah/Dios @ Fat Cat’s
Ian Moore @ Fitzgerald’s
Stretch Armstrong/Terror/Between the Buried and Me/Day of Contempt @ Walter’s on Washington
Bone Simple/James Rider and the 420 Turnaround @ Dan Electro’s Guitar Bar
The Invincible Czars/Two Star Symphony/The Neptones @ Super Happy Fun Land
Ex-Girl/Ume @ Rudyard’s
The Psychodillos/Friends of Gravity/3 Fantastic @ Rhythm Room
Reckless Kelly/John Evans Band @ The Engine Room
Johnny Cat @ The Blue Lagoon

Saturday
The John Sparrow/Casino/Loveless/Luxurata @ Walter’s on Washington
Little Compass/Grant Olney and the Brokedown Gospel (CD release)/Civillain/By the End of Tonight @ Fat Cat’s
Big Brown Truck/The Jonx/Tody & the Falcon/Torches of Fury @ The Proletariat
999/Mad Parade/Arm In Arm/Southern Riot/Drastic Actions @ Fitzgerald’s
Last Soul Descendents/Jeremiah David/Studemont Project @ Super Happy Fun Land
JW Americana @ Rudyard’s
Jack Ingram and the Beat Up Ford Band/Matt Davis Band @ The Engine Room
Azrael’s Bane (CD release) @ Forgettaboutit

Sunday
Rock Show at the Roller Rink Pt. 2, featuring A Still Second, The Kidnap Soundtrack, Jennifer’s Promise, This Sacred Tragedy, JonBenet, Daggermouth, & The Phantom Pains @ The Mason Skate Center (7PM)
Voices Breaking Boundaries Benefit, featuring Quantum 5 & Mock Run @ The Artery (5401 Jackson)
Battle of the Bands, featuring Likeminds, Cellcyst, Door Number 2, Styll Standing, Final Farewell, Under the Green, & Tranquil Torment @ The Engine Room

Fitzgerald’s, that great bastion of all things punk, plays host to a ton of local bands this weekend. For more information on Broken Note Records 10th Anniversary, read this article from Houston Press.

Friday’s shows feature Simpleton, Dinosaur Salad, Taste of Garlic, and I-45 upstairs at Fitz’s. The downstairs will feature Ex-Pornstars, Que, and Farm FC.

Saturday’s shows feature 30footFALL, Bickley, Non-Stop Bombers, and Middlefinger upstairs, and C’mon C’mon, The Molly Maguires, and The Put-Downs downstairs.

This is sure to be a rare treat. Enjoy two nights of great rock. Visit the Fitzgerald’s website for more information.

Now Playing: the the — Infected