Explanation from Crystal Castles management regarding the cancelation last night (reposted from Gorilla vs Bear)
"a) Vegas (sic) were not kicked off for "petty bullshit", if Vegas want to try to create an internet meme out of this that's fine, whatever.
b) CC obviously did not want to leave 1000+ people hanging outside. The people at Granada pulled the plug on CC during CC's soundcheck, claiming they feared CC would "blow the soundsystem." The people at Granada tried to rent (at the last minute) proper speakers that would not "blow" for the show but it just couldn't happen on short notice. At one point they thought they had found professional speakers but 2 hours later this fell through and the decision was made that the show could not happen. Also of note, a DJ had blown their speakers a few weeks ago and they did not want this to happen again. They said they couldn't afford to repair the speakers again. It would be nice if you knew the truth and were fair to the band since this wasn't their fault. The blame goes to whoever booked this band at this ill-equipped venue."
and finally:
"Vega stole an FX-Pedal from CC. If this is not a good reason to get kicked off a bill and (possibly) get blacklisted by a promoter I don't know what is. Worst part is CC liked the guys and tried to convince us to forgive them."
Of course, we talked with Alan Palomo last night, and he claims that Crystal Castles actually borrowed one of HIS guitars, and that one of their effects pedals ended up bieng placed in the guitar case when Crystal Castles returned it to him. Crystal Castles doesn't deny that they borrowed one of Vega's guitars.
Finally, response from the Granada via press release:
Let me start with a definition: Prima donna: Prima donnas cannot help the way they are because their parents spoiled them and they are still developing their personalities. All a prima donna has to do is whine and their parents give them what they want.
Here's how our day went at the Granada on Tue: Vega (Alan from Ghosthustler) opened for CC in Austin Monday night. At 5pm (3 hrs before doors) we received a call from CC that Vega could not be on the bill. Vega had been approved by CC in advance for the bill. Early on Tue CC hired a light tech from Austin that is also a DJ to replace Vega. CC could have communicated with Vega early in the day before they left Austin. Vega was at the Granada waiting to soundcheck. CC would not enter the building until Vega was gone from the premise. Alan was super cool. No prima donna. We've never seen this request. The other co-promoter out of Austin has never seen this kind of request. CC whining... CC soundchecked at 6pm instead of at 4pm. CC didn't "like the sound of their kickdrum". CC insists that "more woofers be brought in". Rental places close at 6pm. It is now 7pm. Granada has 16 - 18" sub-woofers and 12 - 15" sub-woofers. Also 32 - 8" midranges. Lots of firepower. Sound check was great. CC says they would rather cancel the show than possibly not have enough kick drum. Granada begs that the show goes on. Granada even offers to dismantle sub woofer stacks and place them in different places in the room. Granada was willing to do anything to have the show go on. CC waits until after 10pm to give final cancellation.
The show must go on. Life is all perception. One person sees the day as beautiful, another sees the day as crap. Why would any band crap on their fans like this? Insecurity is a cancer. Love yourself. Love your sound guy and the system at the club you are playing. Play the show. Then listen to your fans. If you don't like the sound at a club never go back to the club. We've had every big band imaginable in every genre imaginable and had amazing shows. Nobody has complained about our sound. This is totally out of left field. The sound at Granada is amazing...and would have been if CC would have just got on stage and played.
Today Granada is refunding ticket cost and entire service charge to each patron. No one cares for live music more than we do. We've put together an amazing room, staff and sound system. We'll see you soon fellow music fans.
Mike Schoder and all the Staff at Granada.
And thats about as close to the full story as we'll probably get, so we're done here.
Crystal Castles | Vega (The Granada) Where to begin with Crystal Castles? It's increasingly impossible and even pointless to measure things in terms of album sales at this point, so we'll have to come up with something else. Their Myspace page has over 11 Million hits; you hear their music piped out of every hip clothing botique; you hear their music piped out of every lame-ass, dark wood, dude-bro bar or should I say "pub." Their music is everywhere cool and everywhere lame, so it's just plain everywhere, let's face it. This of course, makes them the stars of this decade's 8-bit revolution, a genre they must resent on some level, specifically after they stopped 8-bit sampling rather early in their career and created the sounds on their own. They symbiotically rose to prominence largely in part to the remix job they did on HEALTH's "Crimewave," which, as much as it helped that group, will probably always annoy them when fans ask why they "didn't play the Crystal Castles version?"Because it's a remix. That's why.
Crystal Castles can however "play a remix" and I'd be surprised if they didn't tonight. They also feature live drums and a wildly interactive live show, which may or may not be partly inspired by the group's metal and noise-punk origins. The excellent Vega opens the show, and I would encourage you to check out the track, "Other End" on his page, for a more subdued Eno-like side to the group if you thought all they did was party.
UPDATE: Vega, aka Alan Palomo, posted via Twitter that he was somehow booted off the Crystal Castles bill tonight, apparently because CC's manager "hates him." Vega is planning to play at Disqo Disco tonight at Fallout Lounge around midnight instead. We'll let you know when we hear more about this. UPDATE #2: Just got off the phone with Alan Palomo, and he tells us that Crystal Castles asked that they be taken off the bill, but that they officially don't know why this happened and are "awaiting further information." Anyway, they WILL be going ahead with the midnight set at Fallout Lounge for those who would like to see them.
UPDATE #3: Just spoke with some people at the Granada, and apparently Crystal Castles found a new supporting act, Rebel Leaders, Crystal Castles is scheduled to take the stage at 10.
UPDATE #4: So as most people already know, Crystal Castles canceled the show last night, and we were told that the Granada, at least at this point, has plans to refund everyone's money, although their official plans won't be announced until a press release comes out some time in the next few minutes, so wait and see on that. Representatives from the Granada couldn't tell us why the band canceled last night, but we have heard claims that the band did not feel that the Granada's sound system was adequate for their purposes, although we did not speak to the band or any of their representatives regarding those claims. Furthermore, representatives from the Granada seem to feel that the group never had any intention of playing the show at any point during the day, hence the problems with Vega. etc., although they say that they have no official confirmation as to Crystal Castles' reasons for the cancelation. We'll give you more details when we receive the forthcoming press release, but in the meantime, here is an explanation from the band's perspective, and representatives from the Granada defended their sound system quite emphatically to us, stating that no one has ever complained about their sound in the past.
Disqo Disco (Fallout Lounge) It had been some time since I had been to this weekly event, and I was impressed by how packed it was last week. They certainly have come a long way in the past year.
I'll be damned if I can find much more information about this album than what is listed on the insert, which is included with the download. Accidental Music is the second release by the LA based group, whose revolving line-up has resulted in them being termed a "collective." This is a term that seems to get thrown around quite a bit these days if more than five people play in a band, so I don't really read much into that. Their debut, 1978's Ich bin ein Spiegelei, piqued the interest of Steven Stapleton, who included them on his now infamous list. Much like the aforementioned list, this record is all over the fucking place. Influences like Stockhausen, Can, Lard Free, and Tangerine Dream are smashed together and beaten into some strange, dark progressive (I use this term loosely) mess that at times recalls several things, but as a whole reminds me of nothing.
Brian Jonestown Massacre | The Flavor Crystals (The Granada) By pretty much all accounts, Anton Newcombe, founder of Brian Jonestown Massacre, is a fairly ridiculous and troubled individual who is prone to violence, drug addiction and a variety of other irresponsible behaviors. Anyone who attended BJM's last local show at Trees can attest to this-- within literally one minute of being onstage, obviously drunk and intoxicated by any number of other substances, Newcombe got into a shouting match with an audience member, asked that the guy be kicked out by security, and then proceeded to tell the audience that he had "lost his voice" and would be unable to sing that evening. Instead, he lead a pointless 20 minute instrumental "jam" by the band before inviting audience members on to the stage to sing BJM classics to the mostly disappointed fraction of the audience that actually decided to stay through the show. And this was an extremely tame and unenventful night by his standards.
So yes, Newcombe has proven himself to be a hit-or-miss live performer, to put it kindly, and although he might not have come across as quite as much of a douche as the members of the Dandy Warhols in Dig!, the infamous documentary about the two bands, he still seemed like a caricature of a rock n roll cliche, and a pretty poor one at that. Still, the guy can be given a few props-- for starters, his behavior in Dig was highly entertaining, for the most part, and for better or worse, it can probably be said that Newcombe's influence as a songwriter in the American underground has increased quite a bit over the past few years, perhaps because of Dig, or maybe in spite of it. His embrace of 60's psychedelic pop and groups like Spacemen 3, Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine was certainly never as revolutionary as many around him seemed to think it was, but the group had a string of great records in the mid and late 90's, perhaps culminating in their underappreciated foray into shoegaze and british psychedelic pop, Bravery, Repitition and Noise, released in 2001. The best of BJM's work is perfectly executed guitar pop that touches on everything from They Byrds to Slowride to Suicide, and you can probably expect to hear a lot of this material this evening. I admittedly don't know much about Newcombe's more recent work (although the little I've heard has been fairly terrible), but if you are willing to roll the dice concerning what kind of mood Newcombe will be in tonight, you could very well see a pretty fantastic show.
Themselves | Yeahdef | Lil Foot (Hailey's) Anticon's Themselves have been around for more than a decade now, and like you might expect from a group on the aforementioned label, they've worked with people like Busdriver, Aesop Rock and Mr. Dibbs... as well as some that you might not expect, such as the Notwist.
Our friends at the Granada have hooked us up with two pairs of tickets for Crystal Castles' performance tomorrow night with Vega, and we're going to give them away to you... if you want them, email weshotjrtix@yahoo.com any time between now and 5PM today with the "Crystal Castles" as the title and you full name in the body. Good luck! And by the way, tickets are apparently going very fast and getting close to a sell out, FYI.
As most of you know, we typically don't post things on weekends, but we were fortunate enough to get a brief email interview with Vivian Girls, and since they just responded to it a couple hours ago, we figured it would be a good idea to post it before their show this evening with Ariel Pink and Fight Bite at Hailey's.
As we noted in the Weekender yesterday, Vivian Girls have certainly received a lot of critical acclaim and a tremendous amount of hip buzz over the past year, but unlike a lot of similarly positioned groups, their work truly stands out and lives up to the hype as much as any group can be expected to these days. We wanted a chance to talk with them about their newfound success, their musical influences, and a variety of other things. Here is our brief discussion:
Can you start off by telling our readers who you are and where you're from and something interesting about each of you personally?
We are Cassie, Katy, and Ali. Katy and I are from Ridgewood, NJ, and Ali is from Toms River, NJ, but we call Brooklyn our home base now. Katy used to steal forks from every diner she ate at. Ali is fluent in German and lived in Germany for 6 months. I chip my front tooth all the time.
When you first got together and started rehearsing as Vivian Girls, what kind of music did you start making, and how did it evolve into what you currently sound like? Were you aware that you all had decent singing voices that sounded good together? Did you intend to use this asset or was it discovered by happy accident?
Our first songs were "All The Time," "No" and "Never See Me Again." We wanted to make music in that vein - short, fast, melodic punk songs. It still sounds kind of like that but I think our songwriting is a little more diverse now, that was a natural evolution. We intended to have harmonies from the beginning. We could all "sing" and thought it would be a waste to be in a band with three girl singers and not utilize that.
People obviously talk a lot about 60s girl group pop and C86 and stuff like that when they talk about your influences, but I always read you guys citing the Wipers and Nirvana and various garage influences and stuff like that. What do you find yourselves listening to as individuals, and what were some of the important bands you guys shared in common starting out?
When we started playing music we were inspired by riot grrrl, unsurprisingly. When we started playing music in Vivian Girls we were mainly inspired by the Wipers, also by Dead Moon and 80's hardcore. However, as individuals, we have pretty wack tastes in music. I really like soft rock from the 70's and 80's. Katy only listens to modern Top 40 radio. Ali is really into pop punk and emo.
So obviously you guys have gone through some pretty big changes as a band since the band started in early 2007... what are some of the best things about your success, and what are some of the worst?
The best things are meeting rad people and getting to travel everywhere. The worst part is seeing sexism in action. I don't think we thought much about it until we started reading things like "One of them is hot, the other two are ugly" and "Why do girls think that just because they're pretty they can pick up instruments and be in a band?"
Do you still get to play house shows and DIY venues much anymore? Is that something you enjoy? I remember last time you came through town you played at Exploding House in Ft. Worth, and now of course you're playing at one of the larger "indie" venues in North Texas. It's not Carnegie Hall, but its certainly a change in scenery for you.
We like playing shows in all different kinds of venues. House shows are some of the funnest shows we play and we still play them every so often, and I think we will continue doing that no matter what.
I was doing some research and I caught the series of "uncensored interviews" you guys did last year. Obviously you caused some online blog comment controversy over your statements regarding "normal people" hanging out at TGI Friday's and stuff. People responded with a lot of hate and this kind of uniquely American "populist" rhetoric about how snobby you were, etc. Why do you think this made people so angry, and why did you feel the need to apologize for contrasting a particular subculture with mainstream culture? And whats up with all these self identified "normal" people getting pissed off? I bet people didn't get mad at Mike Judge for making basically the same critique in Office Space.
I think that with that interview, instead of thinking "They're making a joke that we can laugh at together" (which is what we actually were doing) people thought "They're attacking me." The way the blogs made it seem was that we hate anyone with a job, which is not the way we feel at all.
Tell us about some of the things you guys are interested in outside of the band and music.
Katy's into Hulu-ing, video games, and the internet. I like doing art when I'm not busy with music or the band, I also like cooking and collecting junk. Ali's interested in comedy and hanging out with her parents.
I know you live in Brooklyn. How long have you lived there? Does it still seem to have the vibrant underground culture it once did? As an occasional visitor over the years, I have seen Williamsburg change quite a bit, and there seem to be a lot more idiots walking the streets than there used to be. Is Brooklyn's "counter culture epicenter" status annoying? Is it taking something away from the place itself? I asked Japanther this question once and I think they got mad at me.
That's because Japanther are huge jerks. But to answer the question, I have lived in Brooklyn for almost 5 years. There have been a lot of changes, but the scene is so strong right now that it doesn't really matter. The culture is just as vibrant, now it's just in different zip codes and not as close to the main strip. Which is fine.
How has your tour with Ariel Pink been so far? Do you think his music was an important catalyst for this kind of revived "lo fi" aesthetic that has become so popular over the past year or two?
I'm sure it was. I've been a huge Ariel Pink fan for years, so this tour is basically a dream come true. It's a lot like summer camp. We get along with the guys in Haunted Graffiti really well and it's gonna be really sad when the time comes that we don't hang out every night.
Do you find it strange that the kind of music you make has come to be so in vogue lately, basically replacing blog house and nu rave and music that has nothing to do with what you do as the "next big thing" or whatever you want to call it amongst culture and music media types? Seems like the music press has really done a 180 in that respect.
Yeah, I do find it strange. Then again, popular music always goes in waves (pardon the pun) between being super-produced and not-as-produced. Maybe 2008 was just one of those years that people tired of slick production.
Any good tour stories?
In New Orleans we all went to a strip club with Haunted Graffiti and one member of the party was really, really into getting lap dances!
How was SXSW for you this year? Do you generally enjoy playing in Texas? You can say no if you want to.
We love Austin, but SXSW was a little too much this year. We played 18 shows, which was something like 10 shows too many. Some of the shows were great though, we played a house party for my birthday party and people were crowd surfing and I chipped my tooth on the mic!
Finally, what are your plans for releasing a second full length? Do you guys have anything else exciting coming up in the next few months either with Vivian Girls or another project?
We recorded our second album, Everything Goes Wrong, last month. It's gonna come out in September and we're all really excited about it. I think we're gonna have a few 7"s come out in the next few months too.
Check our show calendar for more shows, and read this (written by SR and DL)
FRIDAY
Morrissey | Courteeners (Palladium) I was lucky enough to get a free wrist band at SXSW a couple of years ago, and everyone tried to talk me out of seeing Morrissey. As a lowly wristband-holder, I was told that it wasn't even worth trying to get in. I walked from one side of downtown to the other, stood in line for awhile, and eventually walked in, right up front with a crowd that was shall we say...enthused. When the opening chords of late-period classic "First Of The Gang To Die" came crashing over us, all the congestion and commotion of the festival seemed to evaporate. After watching so many unkempt and scraggly-themed affairs, this was truly a show, and one of the best arguments you'll ever witness for good old fashioned, show business: A guy that knows how to actually perform, sing, and dress. And undress. And dress again. I think he changes his shirt twelve times or something, but the best part was the crowd fighting over the designer apparel he had carelessly tossed into the audience, for a full fifteen minutes, until it was torn to shreds. I've made this comparison for years, but Morrissey really is the closest thing to a British Sinatra. Even as he ages, releasing album after album of sometimes highly questionable material, his personality is so overwhelmingly captivating that he saves even the blandest of songs. One thing he will never lose is the crown for song titles. From the newer, "Something Is Squeezing My Skull," and "Because Of My Poor Education," to my all-time favorite, "There's A Place In Hell For Me And My Friends." There are none better.
Klever & Craze | The Party (the Loft) Klever and Craze are back in Dallas again for what will likely end up functioning as a Morrissey after party since admission to this is free with a Morrissey ticket stub. This show will actually be taking place at a room inside Gilley's, which is next door to the Loft and the Palladium, due to problems with the Loft's floor that many of you might have originally noticed at that girl talk show in 2007 where the floors were shaking and pulsating up and down. Will probably be a pretty crazy party.
Radio UTD Prom Party with Boogie Boarder | Bark Bark Bark | Snakes Say Hiss (Galaxy Rooms @ UTD) Radio UTD put this line up of out of town bands together for students and non students alike-- free with a student ID and $5 or the rest of ya. Boogie Boarder play that kind of spastic, odd tempo, high energy post-punk influence stuff that the kids love to dance to, while Snakes Say Hiss are kind of a pop punk and hip hop influenced synth dominated group that sounds a lot like some of the more popular chiptune groups and will appeal to fans of bands like the Death Set, although I think they are actually a bit more interesting than that group in some respects.
SAS with Select and Schwa (Zubar) Spinning lots of old school house, hip hop, funk and disco. It's free and its in the back room.
Ariel Pink | Vivian Girls | Fight Bite (Hailey's) We've talked several times on here about the roll of the dice you take when you see Ariel Pink play live-- he's either really brilliant or mainly there to fuck around, depending on the kind of night you catch him on. For many people, however, the real "buzz" of this show will be Vivian Girls, the Brooklyn based "noise pop" group that actually lives up to their billing-- with influences ranging from the Wipers to The Vaselines to the Byrds to 60's girl groups to surf rock, last year's self titled debut was one of the few absolute gems that was completely worthy of pretty much all they hype it received in the "indie" music press and blogosphere-- single "Where do you Run" is honestly about as perfect as they come. Like you didn't already know, this show is highly recommended.
Giggle Party | Top Secret Robot Alliance | Yeah Def | Five Easy Pieces | Big J | Short Attention Span Theater (Handsome Kitten, 824 Exposition Ave. ste. 8) The first event at this DIY space in Dallas' Exposition Park kind of makes me wonder why there aren't several more spots like this in this comparatively inexpensive neighborhood full of lofts and gallery spaces. Excited to see what kinds of events this place hosts in the future, but they're getting off to a pretty solid start.
Nervebreakers | Spector 45 (Club Dada) The Nervebreakers reunion show is understandably a big deal to anyone that's interested in local music history, and they are one of the few bright spots in the "few and far between" list of great Dallas bands. It makes sense that their beginnings are rooted in the 60's garage and 70's proto-punk era, as they are extremely early in the Dallas punk time-line. Their recordings are definitely on the quirkier, pre-hardcore side of punk rock, and they are worth investigating, especially if you consider that there are thousands of bands trying to sound like this right now. Reunion shows are a risky endeavor, but I wouldn't mind checking out one of the only bands that played a key role in making Dallas music a less embarrassing conversation that it might have been without them.
