Author Archives: Chip Midnight

A conversation with Noelle Scaggs of Fitz and The Tantrums

Columbus has fallen in love with Fitz and The Tantrums. The band – led by Michael “Fitz” Fitzpatrick has been a mainstay on the Columbus concert circuit in the two years since their debut album – Pickin’ Up the Pieces – was released. In 2011, Fitz and The Tantrums performed at The Basement, The Newport and the LC (indoors). On Friday night, they make their LC (outdoors) debut, headlining a show with ZZ Ward and Royal Teeth opening.

Enough music writers have been asking the same old tired questions (“How did you get together?”, “Where did you find Noelle?”, “What influenced your ’60s soul-pop sound?”) that I decided, when given the opportunity to speak with singer Noelle Scaggs last week, I’d rather have a conversation than interview her. If you want to read background about the band, just Google “Noelle Scaggs interview”. If you want to get to know Noelle a little more personally, read on.

It’s a Friday night when you’re not on tour or doing anything band related. What are you doing?

Going out with friends that I don’t get to see that often, spending time in the Venice Beach area with my best friend because he just recently moved there. I do the normal things that people in their early 30s do – they go to bars, they go to dinner, they hang out. It’s quite interesting being a person who is on the road as constantly as we are to have those moments where we can just hang out and be normal.
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Listen to Watershed’s “Brick & Mortar”

Columbus rock vets Watershed release their first new full length CD in 6 years (!!!) today (I haven’t found a link to a place to actually order it however – when I find that link, I’ll post it). In the meantime, give it a preview below where you’ll find the familiar Midwest rock sounds (think Cheap Trick meets the Goo Goo Dolls meets The Replacements) from one of Columbus’s longest standing bands.

A couple of upcoming Watershed-related events to add to your calendar:

Video: Sebastian Bach – “I’m Alive”

Here’s the 3rd video from Sebastian Bach’s 2011 Kicking & Screaming release.

The former Skid Row singer will be opening for Cinderella at the LC (outdoors) as part of the Brew Blast on July 26. Tickets are $20 and on sale now.

Things getting interesting in the Queensryche camp

The second artist I ever interviewed was Queensryche guitarist Michael Wilton back when the band was touring in support of Empire (which featured the huge hit “Silent Lucidity”). If nothing else, Queensryche has been pretty consistent with releasing new material, 2011’s Dedicated to Chaos was the band’s 12th full-length album since 1984’s The Warning. But even the most dedicated Queensryche fans will admit that the band’s material has been inconsistent since guitarist Chris DeGarmo left the band in ’97.

In mid-May, singer Geoff Tate reportedly threatened his bandmates with a knife before a show in Brazil. And now, following the band’s performance at Rocklahoma last week where Tate told the audience they sucked (“I’m serious”), it sounds like Queensryche is ready to move on with a new singer and using a different name since Tate probably owns the rights.

On June 8 and June 9, Rising West – featuring Queensryche members Michael Wilton, Eddie Jackson, Scott Rockenfield, and Parker Lundgren – will performing Queensryche classics from the first five albums with singer Todd La Torre (Crimson Glory) at the Hard Rock Cafe in Seattle. Based on his YouTube demo reel, sounds like La Torre will do just find handling Tate’s vocals.

Supposedly Rising West will hit the studio later this year to record an album’s worth of material. Stay tuned to the drama, it should get interesting once Tate has something to say about the whole thing.

New video from Ugly Kid Joe, “Devil’s Paradise”

Previewing the 6 tracks that make up Ugly Kid Joe’s new EP, Stairway to Hell, it sounds like, with the exception of “Another Beer”, the band – who hasn’t released any new music in 15 years – is straying away from the jokey stuff (“(I Hate) Everything About You”) and the lighter stuff (“Cat’s in the Cradle”). Of course, UGJ always was a hard rock band that just happened to release singles that mainstream radio played, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that the new material has a hard and heavy sound as evidenced by the first single, “Devil’s Paradise”.

The EP is available digitally on iTunes and Amazon right now and will be available in CD format on July 9.

New track from the Woosley Band, “I Always Push the Button, Yes”

Ready for some new music from the Woosley Band? Here’s the first track from the band’s forthcoming full-length, Schizodestiny.

Self-described as “Guided By Wilco”, I think that’s pretty spot on. Here’s some evidence to support the claim.

Video: LA Guns – “You Better Not Love Me”

On the same day that Great White premiered their new video for “(I’ve Got) Something for You”, fellow ’80s hair metal rockers LA Guns show up with “You Better Not Love Me”.

The track is featured on LA Guns forthcoming release, Hollywood Forever, coming on June 5 from Cleopatra Records. There are those that bitch and moan that founding member Tracii Guns is no longer in the band but he’s tried to tour with his own version of LA Guns in recent years and nothing beats Phil Lewis on vocals.

LA Guns has a couple of Ohio dates coming up to promote the release:

* June 23 – Portsmouth, Ohio at the Columbia Music Hall with Skid Row
* June 24 – Akron, Ohio at Ripper Owen’s Tap House

Comfest 2012 to get new location, new spin on traditional music lineup?

Found this on Ticketmaster.com this morning.

Does this mean Comfest is moving to the Alrosa Villa? Does this mean the theme this year is centered around Juggalos?

Nah.

New Soul Asylum song – “Gravity”

Duffy and I are done waiting for a new Soul Asylum album and, thankfully, we’ll get a new one in July. A radio station in Minnesota premiered the first single, “Gravity”, yesterday.

Interview: We Are Serenades

In my professional career, I don’t have the type of job that requires much travel. However, when I do have the chance to visit a city other than Columbus while on a trip, I try to find the cool club in town and catch a show. I’ve been lucky … in the past I’ve seen Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer in Orlando, Florida, Youth Group in Los Angeles, Kill Hannah in New York City, 500 Miles to Memphis and Warbringer in two separate trips to Des Moines, Iowa.

This week I’m heading to Philadelphia for a conference so I checked out Songkick.com to see who was playing. I came across a name that sounded familiar but that I didn’t (at the time), know anything about – We Are Serenades, a project featuring Shout Out Louds singer Adam Olenius and Laasko singer Markus Krunegård. The duo’s debut album, Criminal Heaven, came out just a few weeks ago.

Before checking them out at Johnny Brenda’s on Tuesday night, I sent Adam send questions via email. (If you’re a Donewaiting reader from Philly and are going to the show, let me know in the comments section).

I looked at the club listings in Philadelphia to see who was performing when I’ll be there. At first, I thought maybe it was a misprint and that We Are Scientists were performing. And then, there is also a new group called We Are Augustines. Have you encountered any confusion based on the name and were you aware of these two other bands with similar names?

We were first called just Serenades but we had to change it and added the “We Are” because it works well on stage. I was familiar with We Are Scientists but never thought about it in that way. It is strange with such an uncommon name like that.

It sounds like this collaboration was a long time in the making. Was there a certain point in time where the two of you said, “We really need to set some deadlines and get this done because if we don’t, it’ll be something that we talk about doing the rest of our lives but never complete”?

Exactly. We found some time in between touring and just set a deadline. SOL was having some time off so we just booked a small studio in Stockholm and started working. We found a swedish label that we liked but we never thought we would release it outside of Sweden. It’s like a big bonus.
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