The mighty Howl have a new album, Full of Hell, coming out Relapse in the spring, and while we haven’t gotten to hear any of it yet, the cover art bodes incredibly well for the music it will contain:
So three cheers for Ryan Begley, who designed this. I want it on a hoodie now, motherfucker.
Howl’s [...]
source: Metal Sucks
By Jay Lustig/The Star-LedgerMarch 06, 2010, 7:43PM
John Munson/The Star-LedgerAcrassicauda (L-R, Firas Abdul Razaq, Tony Yaqoo, Faisal Talal Mustafa and Marwan Hussein) huddle before performing at the Europa nightclub in Brooklyn, Feb. 23
Not long after the United States-led invasion of Iraq, the Baghdad heavy metal band Acrassicauda received a death threat. “You are Americanized, playing Western music,” it read. “You either quit or you will be dead.”
Band members Faisal Talal Mustafa, Marwan Hussein, Firas Abdul Razaq and Tany Yaqoo didn’t quit, but did start scheduling band practices randomly, rather than at regular times.
They didn’t quit when mortar shells battered the area around the hotel where they were presenting a concert: they just turned the volume up. And they didn’t quit when their practice space was turned into rubble by a Scud missile.
It’s hard for a Westerner to comprehend the sacrifices they have made, and how much their music means to them.
“It’s our life,” says bassist Razaq, who now lives in Elizabeth.
In 2008 and 2009, the four bandmates came to the United States, one by one, after spending several years living as refugees in Syria in Turkey. With the help of the International Rescue Committee, an organization devoted to resettling refugees, they were able to obtain legal-refugee status here.
Having achieved a small amount of fame via the 2007 documentary “Heavy Metal in Baghdad,” they have been able to meet some of their musical role models, and hang out backstage with Metallica at Newark’s Prudential Center. Last month, they presented their first American shows, at the Brooklyn nightclubs Europa and Public Assembly. Tuesday, their first album, a four-song EP called “Only the Dead see the End of the War,” will be released.
Their band name (pronounced ah-crass-ih-KOW-dah) is adapted from Androctonus crassicauda, the Latin name for a dangerous scorpion that lives in the Iraqi desert. Their songs are a portrait of a country torn apart by war.
“Is it God’s will, or just a lie?/People live, and others die/Never had a chance and never will/Forever doomed as I wonder why,” sings Mustafa in English — in a fearsome growl, over pounding drums — on the song “Message From Baghdad.”
“‘Entertainment’ doesn’t really apply to what we’re doing,” says drummer Hussein. “It’s more like a mission. We’re here, away from our country, not to entertain you. we want to tell you something.”
In the United States, they have continued to struggle: decent day jobs have been hard to find. but they have scraped by, taking jobs teaching, translating, and waiting on tables. Razaq currently works in food services at Montclair State University.
“We came in a rough time, where the economy is struggling,” he says. “But everything, other than that, is good. at least we got to be who we wanted to be.”
Shock and awe
At the Europa show on Feb. 23 — a rainy Tuesday night — Acrassicauda was sandwiched between two other bands, and played for about 100 people. Selling T-shirts at a merchandise table, and struggling with sound problems, they could have passed for just another up-and-coming thrash-metal band. Mustafa goaded the crowd to make noise, and form a mosh pit. the only exotic element to the music was the Middle Eastern-flavored guitar solo during one song, “Garden of Stones.”
“We love being onstage,” says Hussein. “For once, you get to forget about everything. we worry about bills, and green cards, and our families back in Iraq. we worry about what the next songs will sound like. but onstage, that’s when you take that coat of burdens and problems and issues, and drop it, and go free. Go crazy and be happy, and feel like a human. whatever that means.”
Now in their late 20s and early 30s, they discovered heavy metal as middle-class teenagers, listening to black-market albums by Metallica, Sepultura, Slayer, the Scorpions, and any others they could get their hands on.
“We were like, ‘It sounds crazy, but why don’t we do a band?’,” says Hussein. “For a lot of people back in Iraq, our age or even older, it wasn’t really a comprehensible idea to do a band, ‘cause you think about all the obstacles that the Middle Eastern environment puts you in.”
They weren’t able to present many shows — according to Hussein, they mounted just six in five years. but they did catch the attention of MTV News correspondent Gideon Yago, who filmed a report on them and also wrote an article for Brooklyn-based Vice magazine. Vice co-founder Suroosh Alvi became interested in the story, and co-directed the “Heavy Metal in Baghdad” documentary, which was followed by a 2009 book of the same name.
In one of the movie’s most memorable scenes, Alvi asks, “How did you guys decide to start a band, a metal band?”
“Look around,” Mustafa says. “We are living in a heavy metal world.”
The next shot shows a bomb hitting downtown Baghdad at night. a huge ball of fire lights up the sky.
Keeping the faith
Vice helped arrange for Acrassicauda to relocate to the United States, and is releasing “Only the Dead see the End of the War” on its own record label. the band has a Web site now, MySpace.com/acrassicauda, and has made a music video.
“I’m really happy for them,” said Alvi, before the Europa show. “They are excited, and seem happier than they’ve seemed in a long time. the show is a big deal, but for me, it’s not as big a deal as when I got an advance copy of the record last week. I remember interviewing them in Syria and Marwan said, ‘I just want to make a record. That’s all I really want to do.’”
When they first came to the U.S., Mustafa, Razaq and Hussein all settled in Elizabeth, though Mustafa and Hussein later moved to Brooklyn.
“Jersey is a cool place, but it has the problem of transportation,” says Mustafa. “You need a car to go wherever you like, and the idea of a car is a heavy responsibility on your shoulders, if you’re a refugee.”
Razaq, who has a wife and a young son, stayed.
“We’ve been moving a lot in the last five years or so,” he says. “Basically, I just want to feel settled.”
Hussein was the last to come to America, and just a few days after he arrived, early last year, Vice arranged for the band to see Metallica at the Prudential Center.
They met the metal icons before the show, and moments after walking offstage, Metallica’s James Hetfield presented Mustafa with a guitar that he had just played. Mustafa’s jaw dropped in astonishment, and stayed there as Hetfield signed it.
“Welcome to America,” Hetfield said. “Thanks for keeping the faith.”
They all hugged, exchanged fist bumps, and took photos.
“There are still some good riffs in there,” said Hetfield, referring to the guitar. “Bring ‘em out.”
In the studio
“Only the Dead see the End of the War” was produced by another one of the band’s heroes: Alex Skolnick of the band Testament. After seeing “Heavy Metal in Baghdad,” Skolnick arranged to meet members of the band, then living in Turkey, at Testament’s Istanbul tour stop.
It was essential that someone with a lot of experience produce the EP. the musicians in Acrassicauda had no prior experience in a modern recording studio. They’d have to work quickly, since they could afford to rent space there for just a few days.
“I heard moments of brilliance in their music,” says Skolnick. “Being in Iraq, it was very difficult to rehearse, and they didn’t get to woodshed and gig the way a normal band would. but they had the determination, and the individual talent, and they had a sound. I knew if they had a chance, being in a safe environment and being coached a little bit, they’d do a great job.”
“It was a heavy task to do an EP that’s well-presented, and Alex Skolnick helped us a lot,” says Hussein. “He became a good friend. we hang out and drink, and joke together, and talk about music. He’s been such an influence.”
The bond is obviously strong. Skolnick attended the Europa show, and when the band had problems with one of its amplifiers, he jumped onstage to fix it.
On their own feet
The musicians all have family back in Iraq, and are in touch. “But as far as seeing them … it’s been almost four years now,” says Mustafa. “But we can’t go back yet, because the story won’t make any sense. why did we leave in the first place?”
In other words, they aren’t far enough along as musicians to contemplate going home.
“But what we’re hoping is, someday, we’re going to go back — maybe with a bonus of having a reputation or a name, because of what we’ve accomplished,” says Mustafa.
The group will perform with Cannibal Corpse, Voivoid and other metal bands at the Scion Rock Fest in Columbus, Ohio, on March 13, but no other shows are currently booked. they would love to go out on a big tour, maybe opening for another band, but haven’t received the right offer yet.
During the days when Vice was trying to get the band to America, it set up a PayPal account online so that metal fans throughout the world could make donations. An invaluable $40,000 was raised. but now that the most urgent part of the mission has been accomplished, the account has been closed.
“They’re able to stand on their own two feet,” says Alvi. “They’re a working metal band now, which is exactly what they should be.”
Jay Lustig may be reached at jlustig@starledger.com or (973) 392-5850.
By Robert Kett | MOG Writer
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has five criteria for induction: success, contribution, development, influence and sophistication. In more recent years, it has become painfully obvious that one of these has trumped all others… success. 2010 may serve the purpose of appeasing those who claim that the Hall has overlooked far too many. still, the remedy is a bit half-assed: soon-to-be inductees Genesis, the Hollies, and Jimmy Cliff have each been eligible for at least a decade and a half, but 2010 is the first time they’ve been nominated. ABBA, previously nominated in 2003, is only getting in on their second try. The Stooges, meanwhile, have been continuously nominated and rejected.
As the Hall inducts its twenty-fifth class next week, we think it’s important to take some time to look at those that the Hall of Fame has nominated, but only let in only after shutting them out time and time again. on closer inspection, one can’t help but wonder: what took so long?
ACT ONE: THE STOOGES (TO BE INDUCTED 2010)
Nominated in 1997, 1998, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2009 without success.
It’s fashionable to believe that punk is a New York creation, driven by the dual impetuses of the dinosaur rocker indulging in excess and the progressive rocker taking rock ‘n roll into unfamiliar territory. Without groups like the Stooges, however, who’s to say how (or if) the genre would have developed? Ron Asheton, Scott Asheton, Dave Alexander, and Jim Osterberg (who quickly dubbed himself “Iggy Pop”) formed the Psychedelic Stooges in 1967 with a determination to create an entirely new form of blues music. while early performances featured an avant-garde take on the blues, the group quickly became the first band to fully embrace a punk mentality.
As with the first rock ‘n roll song, the first punk song can be disputed, but the Stooges are surely among the first to have recorded one. Pop was also among the first to stage dive. The biggest obstacle to the group’s induction was obvious: the Stooges never had even the semblance of a chart hit, and their records were only appreciated by the masses after Pop gained fame in the late ’70s. but, based on influence and development, this band deserved induction before the start of the third millennium.
Of course, since their first time up, they’ve lost Ron Asheton, who died in January 2009. At least Ron was there when the Stooges performed in Madonna’s stead in 2008. looking at the list of performers this time around, it looks like Madonna won’t be performing in The Stooges’ place, but who knows?
ACT TWO: PATTI SMITH (INDUCTED 2007)
Nominated in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006 without success.
“Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine.”
When it comes to opening lines on debut albums, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better one than the twenty-eight-year old Patti Smith had on her unorthodox reading of Van Morrison’s “Gloria”. Poet laureate of the punk-rock movement, the one-time performance artist emerged in a blaze of controversy, one that she kept up over her initial four-album run in the late ’70s and has continued since her return to recording.
Punk music is generally thought of as a very basic, primal movement where complexity is eschewed in favor of simplicity. Adding free-form poetry to a punk aesthetics, Smith single-handedly put that assumption into question. that said, it could be that meshing of the simple and complex that kept Smith out time and time again. though Smith’s hits have numbered relatively few, her influence on the development of rock ‘n roll in the ’80s and ’90s simply can’t be understated. Being hailed by acts ranging from R. E. M. and the Smiths to Sonic Youth and U2 should have garnered her an induction years before it actually happened. As it turned out, U2 would beat Patti Smith in by two years and R.E.M. would join her in the class of 2007.
ACT THREE: BLACK SABBATH (INDUCTED 2006)
Nominated in 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004 without success.
After losing the tips of two fingers in an industrial accident, Tony Iommi invested in banjo strings for his guitar and fashioned plastic and leather tips to fit over the nubs. Teaming up with John “Ozzy” Osbourne on vocals, Terry “Geezer” Butler on bass, and Bill Ward on skins, Iommi and Black Sabbath plowed through the ’70s like an advancing Mongol horde. Then, when Iommi and Butler tuned their instruments down between the group’s second and third albums, the real heaviness set in.
With Osbourne writing vocal melodies, Butler as primary lyricist, and Iommi as musical arranger, the group hit pay dirt with their first five albums, all of which were huge successes in spite of limited radio play. The group even recorded the first power ballad, “Changes” on Black Sabbath Vol. 4. Among the most influential of heavy metal acts, the band has inspired generations of aspiring musicians and laid the foundation for any number of metal subgenres.
Whereas others may have been too arty or outsider, it makes no sense that this group would sit out for so long, especially considering the sales. I can understand leaving a sales giant like Neil Diamond out (I’m personally thankful that he’s never been nominated), but Sabbath?
ACT FOUR: LYNYRD SKYNYRD (INDUCTED 2006)
Nominated in 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 without success.
Clad in a Tonight’s The Night-era Neil Young t-shirt, Lynyrd Skynyrd frontman Ronnie Van Zant often sang “a Southern man didn’t need him (Young) around anyhow”. few got the joke. In only five years, Van Zant’s often clever, poignant, and hard-hitting lyrics coupled with an onslaught of southern-fried rock ‘n roll (with nearly every player getting a credit for the music) helped Lynyrd Skynyrd grow from a band playing the worst of dive bars to chartering planes to tour.
With “Sweet Home Alabama”, “Free Bird” and “Saturday Night Special”, the band racked up three back-to-back hit singles in 1974 and 1975 (a fourth, “What’s your name?”, would chart in 1978), and the group’s five studio albums released between 1973 and 1977 were all top thirty albums. If there could be a reason for their belated induction, it would probably be the controversial Confederate imagery that MCA dreamed up to promote mid-70s albums. The fact that the group had retired this imagery by 1977 was unfortunately negated when the reunited group (with Johnny Van Zant in place of his brother) has resumed unfurling the rebel flag night after night.
I get it. They’re from the South. but how many acts are there that previously dragged out Confederate imagery and have given it up? more than a few…
ACT FIVE: SOLOMON BURKE (INDUCTED 2001)
Nominated in 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000 without success.
An archbishop in The House of God For all People, mortician, and gospel radio host, Solomon Burke had one of the stranger curriculum vitae for a Rock Hall inductee. though his sales were good in the ’60s, the self-styled “King of Rock ‘n Soul” plugged away for decades in obscurity thereafter, as at home with country as he was with soul or gospel. He often blurred the lines between the genres, developing his own unique style of music, a one-man template for sweet southern soul. Influencing acts like Otis Redding, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, and Bonnie Raitt, he was a critical favorite lost among the bigger names time and time again.
Others may have had to wait longer (the Hollies, little Anthony and the Imperials, the Dave Clark five, the Ventures), but with nine unsuccessful nominations, Burke has the distinction of being the artist with the most rejections. still, on occasion, good things come to those who wait, and for Burke, his belated induction was the first of many late-period successes. 2002’s Don’t give Up on Me was widely heralded as a comeback to trump all comebacks, and the albums that have followed have all been critical successes that have introduced Burke to an entirely new audience. At 70, he’s still riding high, though he sings perched on his throne. 30 stone worth of weight will do that.
SPECIAL MENTION: BO DIDDLEY (INDUCTED 1987)
Sure, Bo Diddley got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s second class (for whatever reason, he didn’t make the cut for nominees in 1986), but I’ve always felt that Bo was the first real rocker, as opposed to a white man singing with blues inflections or a African-American man singing with country inflections. Bo’s contribution to rock and roll cannot be understated. The “Bo Diddley beat” is among the most copied in the genre.
Bo should have been the first artist in. Then again, it always seemed that he was a day late and a dollar short when it came to recognition.
WHAT IT ALL MEANS
There are numerous problems with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The US-centered institution frequently shunts international acts, often failing to consider them at all. its archaic rules currently dictate that no more than five acts get in as performers. Harp giant little Walter got in as a sideman and rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson as an early influence. Tom Dowd, the father of the multi-track and producer to a who’s who of giants, isn’t in at all. Regardless of how you feel about the four groups and one solo artist to be inducted as performers, the class of 2010 remedies a lot of wrongs of the last ten years worth of nominees. Hey, at the very least, they occasionally get it right.
Everything is bigger in Texas…including the sound. Yppah (electro-acoustic astronaut Joe Corrales, Jr.) uses live instrumentation incorporated with break beat drum samples to create stunning electronic shoe-gaze. Cinematic in both scope and resonance, listening to his compositions is an ethereal experience, where drum rolls and echoes converge with child-like innocence to convey the outlandish expanse of the universe. Preparing to head down to SXSW, here is what Joe had to say about his beginnings, his evolving sound, and having his music make it to the big screen.
Describe your sound in your own words.
I guess I would say I’m going for a rock/shoe-gaze sound with an electronic influence. Kind of electronic with an organic feel. I’m trying to find my place somewhere in that category. Still reaching here and there for influences outside of those genres.
When did you first start playing music?
I was like 11. I picked up a junk guitar and amp. it was so hard to play because it was the worst guitar ever. the setup was horrible and would never stay in tune, but I loved it. After that I just sort of played what I would listen to. I gradually picked up instruments here and there and got in to DJing. I scratched with some buddies of mine for years and we had a cool little collective of scratch DJs. After we started producing some scratch compositions on a crap computer I had at the time, I realized I could just start recording live instruments rather than sampling. That brought back the guitar and all the other instruments followed.
How did you land on your current sound, did it just ‘click’ one day?
As far as my current sound, that took a bit of time. I never really had a direction after I started producing. I was just kind of writing things that sounded like music I listened to, so it was all over the place. A year after my first album, I realized I had a heavy leaning towards early 90s shoe-gaze bands and break oriented music. Then I was like, okay, I think this is where I need to be headed.
What are your musical influences?
Lately it’s been like, Clark, and I like Memory Cassette a lot. I stumbled across some music from this dude that goes by Washed Out recently, that sh*t is super sick. And I heard a track off the new Caribou which is blowing my mind. But aside from that current stuff, I’d say people like Radiohead for sure, and M83. I like Ride and Chapterhouse tons.
How did you come up with the name Yppah?
I’m always kind of embarrassed by this question because it was a total accident. I had a mislabeled mp3 of a Boards of Canada song and it was titled ‘happy’ backwards. I thought it was pretty cool so I was like…I’ll be ‘Yppah’. I then found out later that it wasn’t the actual title of the song. Oh well…I’m stuck with it now!
What’s your biggest vice?
If I’m completely honest, I’d say drinking and staying out late. It’s like working on music or rehearsing kind of go hand in hand with drinking for me. Maybe it’s just the people I hang out with…bad influences. [laughs]
What’s in your festival survival kit?
A decent hotel. Made that mistake too many times. no more sleeping on couches.
What’s your musical guilty pleasure?
Nothing. I’m proud of everything I listen too. okay, I like some really corny dance and house from the mid to late 90s but that’s all. I feel so dirty now.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen or experienced while on tour?
I don’t think I’ve toured enough to answer this. to whom it may concern…book my band.
I saw the movie 21 in the theater and heard one of your songs. What’s it like to watch a blockbuster movie and have one of your songs be featured?
I sat not even paying attention to the movie trying to listen for when it would play. Then it was like only 8 seconds, but well worth the wait! It’s pretty surreal. I mean, that song is so old to me now, it’s almost like I didn’t even make it. it kind of gave me some validation as a musician. like being played next to all the other great artists who were on the soundtrack.
What’s the process for that, one day somebody just calls you and says they want your song to be in this movie?
The licensing folks at Ninja Tune just send out music to music supervisors I guess, and then if someone wants to use your song they make you an offer. I’m always surprised when people ask me to use my music for their projects. It’s a good feeling.
A lot of times when your music pops up on my iPod it’s like I’m in my own personal music video, like you’re music is included on the soundtrack of my day. do you think your music, and even instrumental music in general, tends to be more “personal” for the listener?
Yeah, I think so. I sort of prefer it that way. I like listeners to be able to interpret my songs in their own way, because I know I enjoy that feeling. I just try to set a mood. I love when people’s reactions are like the complete opposite of what I was feeling while I was making a particular song. it makes me feel like I’ve accomplished what I was going for.
Are you a perfectionist? how long does it usually take for you to make a song?
It’s really strange because I feel like I am a perfectionist while I’m working on a song, but after I decide it’s finished and it has been released I’m like, damn, I should’ve done this, or could have added that. like I’ll feel I was lazy or something. with my next album I hope to make myself completely happy with the outcome. no regrets. It’s doubtful that will happen though.
How is your side project, Day of the Woman, coming along?
I’m really super stoked about this project. It’ll be released in August of this year on Exponential Records based out of San Antonio, TX. It’s a buddy of mine’s label, Ernest Gonzales. He’ll be playing at SXSW at the Terrorbird showcase. He makes some amazing music. As far as Day of the Woman goes, we were on a hiatus with recording, but now we’re working on some new material. I really love how Day of the Woman perfectly encompasses the styles of everyone in the band. It’s me and my friends Dave [Stenographer], and Nick [Pollination].
How many different instruments are in your studio?
Just standard band stuff. some guitar amps, basses, guitars, drums, keyboards. Then I got my laptop and some controllers. Turntables. various hand percussion. It’s like my toy chest. I feel like a little kid when I’m at the studio…but like a little kid that can drink and act a fool.
John Haefele is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.
The Black and White Years are no strangers to SXSW – the band were big winners at last year’s Austin Music Awards, taking home Best Rock Band, Best New Band, Song of the Year (“Power to Change”), Bass Player of the Year (John Aldridge) and Producer of the Year (Jerry Harrison) at the annual SXSW kick-off, and this year will mark their fourth consecutive appearance at the festival. they made their first appearance in 2007, performing in front of seven people – one was Talking Heads guitarist/keyboardist Jerry Harrison, who would go on to produce their self-titled 2008 debut. The Austin quartet released their self-produced ‘Nursery Myths’ EP last year, and are currently at work on a sophomore full-length, which they will preview at this year’s SXSW and release in late 2010. Spinner caught up with guitarist/keyboardist Landon Thompson to find out more.You guys are South By Southwest veterans – what advice can you offer? What’s in your survival guide?If you’re a band coming to play that doesn’t have a lot of backing yet and you’re just living out of your van or car, there are a lot of cheap taco shacks around and the weather is usually nice, so if you have to sleep outside, it shouldn’t be so bad! As for advice, let yourself rest! they have parties that go until five in the morning, and the parties start at noon, so you can really run yourself down fast. Pacing yourself is probably the most important thing… Gatorade, lots of Tylenol, for sure – stay hydrated, and eat plenty of food so it can absorb all the Lone Star.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen at the festival?
One of the crazier things I saw was a large vehicle pulling a trailer – all of a sudden the long side of the trailer opens up and there’s a band set up, fully ready to go and playing on the street, on Red River. They’d just stop the thing in front of crowds of people and play a few songs – the truck pulls up, a trailer opens, and there’s this metal band!
Jerry Harrison heard you guys at your first SXSW and produced your debut – are you Talking Heads fans?
They are one of our favorite bands, so we felt really lucky to be able to work with one of them. actually, on the first night that we met Jerry he took us to this really small and private little hotel, and David Byrne was doing a little poolside jam session with Forro In The Dark, a Brazilian-influenced band out of New York. So we’re in a drum circle and I’ve got Jerry Harrison and David Byrne on either side of me – that’s the coolest South By story I’ll ever have!
Did Jerry have a big impact on your first album’s music?
No, the songs were the way they were – the way he impacted us the most was in his production quality, and the way the songs were conveyed on a medium as opposed to the way that they existed when we played them live. He worked with arrangements on a few songs, but we basically had it all worked out before we got there. He heard the music and liked what he heard, he didn’t feel like he had to turn it into anything new.
How would you describe your sound?
Synth rock, upbeat, but more eclectic in the way that new wave was back when it was new — they were kind of known to mix all the styles, and we’ll throw in all kinds of styles.
How’d you guys get together?
The three founding members met in Nashville, where we went to college. two of us were from Texas, and after we graduated we decided we wanted to try and do the music thing as more than just a college band. we knew Austin was good like that, and Nashville really didn’t have a local scene. we felt a lot more at home in Austin.
Were you drawn together by similar tastes, or do you have different influences?
We didn’t form the band as it is now until we had been in Austin for two years. we left Nashville being heavily influenced by what was around there – I worked in an old country studio that recorded everything from Elvis to Roy Orbison back in the late ’50s and ’60s. we had more of a folk-new wave kind of style, then we came here, lost our drummer and replaced him with a drum machine. We’d all been into ’80s kind-of dance music, and that music just happened a lot easier for us. we got a keyboard, started sequencing some tracks, doing that live, and now we have a real drummer with drum pads who can simulate all of that.
Your sound has a similar vibe to groups like Animal Collective and MGMT.
That’s not far off. I think we’re a little more accessible than those guys, just because I get a very artistic vibe off of Animal Collective, but yeah, I can see that.
Beatles or Rolling Stones?
Beatles. Most of us would agree with that.
Do you have any guilty musical pleasures?
I guess a lot of the stuff from the ’80s. some of the straight pop stuff – Berlin… I don’t really feel guilty about Simple Minds… ’80s trash-pop if I had to describe the genre… Missing Persons…
I get a nostalgic feeling from your band name.
Absolutely – when we were deciding on band names, that’s what we liked about it. it referred to the black and white years of television, and the music that was around then was a lot more honest, there was a lot less planning as far as the business goes.
Paul Gargano is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.
I have been looking around but I was wanting some suggestions for actual people 
I would like some good songs to dance to at the reception. I am really trying to stay away from rap because I hate it and so does my future husband. I am into country and he is into rock and we both like old rock music. I am looking for good fast dancing music that will get everyone up and dancing. we already have a lot of slow songs. thank you so much!
Please no Miley Cyrus or the Jonas Fags, I’m talking about real rock and metal.
Mine personally would be Second Heartbeat by Avenged Sevenfold.
Im trying to download new songs for my walkman phone. give me different new songs of todays hits. And what Rock band do u know that is not popular but plays good music…
I have the Beatles: Rock Band game and I bought the Abbey Road album for it. It is now stuck on my SD card. is there anyway I can back the data up because if I lose the SD card, I can say bye to my $20.00. Thank you for any help.
Thanks guys! you gave great answers!
I am a DJ that plays a lot of indie rock, alternative, retro 80’s and modern rock stuff. I know about “DJ Remix services”, but it seems no one does this stuff. Where do I go to find good remixes of stuff in this genre besides bittorrent/limewire?
