CHECK THE DISCIPLINES FEATURETTE ON NORWEGIAN TV
HERE!
CHECK GREAT REVIEW ON LES INROCKS.COM OF KS PARIS SHOW
HERE!
We blazed thru our mixing session, managing to get all 15 songs we recorded done in our three day mixing stint. On Sunday morning we met with Joakim from
1UP, who is doing the graphics for the Norway release (we have also commissioned Blue Screen of Death to do a package, for the release elsewhere—we’ll mix and match to suit!). We received via various FTP avenues a bunch of tracks from the
Super Ratones in Buenos Aires—vocal harmonies, guitar parts, keyboard parts—they contributed things to three of the songs, and quite a few tracks of audio, so importing it was a fairly big project—we had three laptops on the case! Monday, the last day, was typical, in that, in order to get everything done, [is this a sentence or a grocery shopping list—what’s with all the commas?—ed.] Jon Marius and I worked from something like 10 Monday morning, until about 2-2.30 Tuesday morning. But we managed to attend to every song, and the mixes sound incredible—it really became a record in these three days. After the session, Jon Marius and I walked in towards Grunerlokke, and we parted ways, me going to my lodgings. I slept for perhaps an hour. I got up around 4, and ate the rest the food I had in the fridge. My hosts were of course sound asleep. I tried to call a taxi but it was impossible for me to follow the menu in Norwegian, so I grabbed my stuff and headed out into the night—In February, there is no sign that daylight will be coming at 4.45am—I guess it gets light around 8.30. Where I was staying is a residential neighborhood, mostly—except for the massive Freia chocolate factory next door—so I had to walk about 5-10 minutes, rolling my computer bag behind me with my small black bag on top, to the square around which there are bars and cafes, to find a street where taxis were likely to be taxiing, and found one and headed to the train station. I already had a ticket for the airport express, which I was surprised to find was absolutely packed when I boarded at 5.25. In fact, Gardermoen was completely buzzing with passengers this morning. In fact, tho I arrived an hour ahead of my flight, the security line etc. ensured I had just enough time to buy a newspaper, gulp some espresso, and board my flight home—the flight allowing me two more hours of sleep.
PARIS, 2.19
Of course, it’s great to arrive early in the morning, and realize you have the entire day to do things—as tired as I was, I knew I had to be organized. I attended a Pilates class, and as soon as it was done I headed on the metro to soundcheck at La Boule Noire. La Boule Noire is dark wooden box next to La Cigale. It doesn’t look like much. Wooden benches run along the wall, and that’s it as far as seats. There’s a tiny bar at the back. Very tacky wall decorations—like, if Degas had designed a kind nudie wallpaper/50s lampshade with a rock & roll/biker theme. This contrasting this beautiful wooden floor, painted black, that certainly has been trod upon my a century’s worth of patrons.
The event tonight was the record release for
the Delano Orchestra, from Clermont-Ferrand. I played with them when I did my show in C-F a couple of years ago, a great night that was chronicled in this blog. The band is fronted by one Alex, who sings so delicately that it’s a wonder a microphone diaphragm would even wobble in his presence. I had learned two songs on piano from his album, and they learned “The Lovers’ Hymn” and “Fireflies”. We ran thru the stuff, they had done their homework better than I had, I had to admit. But, everything sounded good. It’s true I was so exhausted that while they were line checking the instruments, I fell asleep on one of the long benches, earplugs in, for like 20 minutes. After the check, we had a quick photo session for Les Inrocktibles, and I took the metro home. It was a busy Tuesday in Paris—Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan’s new band was playing in town—my friend Ben who works for their label texted me that Greg was hoping to see me, but it was going to be impossible. My friend Tim, who was in the superb Memphis band Snowglobe, was in town with Oh No Oh My. And my friend Patrick, with whom I’ve had some fantastic nights in Montreal, was in town with a night off with his band Les Breastfeeders. Patrick was able to come to the show, but my other friends were playing at various venues across town—and there were other big shows that night too. So, in the end, the Delano Orch. show was not so crowded. Poor fellas. I felt bad as I was a rather well-paid special guest (but not so bad, it seems, that I didn’t take their label’s check). However, from a musical point of view it was a great evening—I played decently on the two songs of theirs I learned—one having a lengthy piano intro that was my responsibility. That was the end of their set—and the encore was a short set by/with me. Which I’m sure must have been very strange for the crowd! I played “Reveal Love” by myself, then the band came on and we played an excellent version of “Fireflies”, then they stayed in place while I did most of the “Lover’s Hymn”, coming in for a long jam at the end. And that was it—but it was really, really well done.
I urge you to pick up Delano Orchestra's new album "A Little Girl, A Little Boy and All the Snails they have Drawn"...it is most beautiful, ghostly and perfect.
Afterwards, Pat, Dom & I went for a drink at the bar that Pat’s band was playing later on the tour. I was so beat up from my long travel that I had to call it after my one glass of wine, and on to bed.
On Wednesday, I went out to Le Showcase to see Nada Surf, stopping in the backstage to say hello the guys. Had I known Rogue Wave was opening, I would have definitely gone earlier! But it wasn’t well advertised that they were supporting. The show was packed, it’s kind of an awful sounding venue, a long stone box. But a lovely setting, under the Pont Alexandre.
OSLO, 2.21
I eased into By:Larm. Night number one was a solo set at my HQ, Revolver. When I showed up to soundcheck, they were still constructing the stages in each room! Hammers, saws, etc. all going. Paint being applied. I waited for awhile.
I had arrived to Oslo, and took the Flytoget into town, and walked to the By:Larm registration area, in an office building right in the center of town, and lo and behold, the first song I heard as I walked in to get my badge was my version of ‘Never My Love’, playing in the background. Oddly enough, on my next stop, to check in to the hotel, the first song I heard when I walked in the door was “Everybody Hurts”. How odd! I took it as a good sign.
I have played probably too many solo shows in Oslo, its anagram. I haven’t released a record since 2004. My covers EP isn’t out until March (last I heard!). So, I wouldn’t have thought to play * two * solo shows during By:Larm, but…Revolver made me an offer I couldn’t refuse…they asked! No, but it’s true, I was paid for my performance there, which isn’t true for most By:Larm showcases. And I was happy to be there, to play for my HQ and their patrons. But, since I am not exactly a novelty around Oslo these days, my solo sets were not super well attended…I mean, Oslo is always a tricky market. Example: the Posies play a sold-out show on a Saturday, sold out in advance—and then play to 30 people the next night, because it’s Sunday and Norwegians don’t go out on Sundays. Ever! And, with any market, it’s diminishing returns if you come back too many times, no matter how much good will you have in the market, people just save their pennies for other entertainment. So for Soft Commands, I have played now: Betong in 2004; Rockefeller, Gloria Flames, and Café Mono in 2006; The Garage in 2007; and now add two more shows at Revolver and you see that I'm stretching it pretty thin. And during By:Larm, people have to apply their energy and time, being finite, to a realistic selection from amongst hundreds of bands. Now, having said that, it was worth doing for lots of reasons, not just that I got a fee. I guess there were 40-50 people at Thursday’s show, and about 30 at Sunday’s show. 30 being the brick wall of Sunday show attendance in Oslo!
Oh, what is By:Larm, you are asking? It’s essentially Norway’s South by Southwest, where unsigned bands from all over Scandinavia (and beyond) assemble to play live in bars and clubs for one intense weekend of music. Music biz people come and in theory, discover new talent. There are also speakers and seminars and things for musicians to attend if they wish, where they might hear experts give advice on various aspects of navigating the music biz. This kind of thing. If you are a performer, you get a badge & wristband that gives you access to all the shows, with a coupe file, and there’s a central tent, with catering, and you get free food and cheap beverages. The general public can attend, either by going to individual shows like any other time, paying at the door, or they can buy a badge for the whole weekend, or a day pass. But an intense concentration of bands, some of which might come into the picture with some buzz, is playing. Established, successful bands generally don’t need to play this kind of thing, but now, just like SXSW, it’s gone from pure showcase for young hopefuls, to Major Label Marketing Tool. So, for example, for some reason, the Kooks played. Signed to a major, they’re not exactly here for free legal advice from the Norwegian Kultur Ministry. And generally, in the past, a band or two would make a big impression and walk away with a record deal, press, etc—this is what happened to Briskeby a few years ago. Now, the ‘prize’ of the weekend, awarded glibly with 30% of the shows that weekend still yet to happen, went to Ida Maria—she received the equivalent of €100,000 from the state oil co., to help promote her music outside of Norway. Guess what—she’s on a major, so, in theory, she already has plenty of access to financial backing, and in my mind, €10,000 to ten unsigned bands would be much a much more just application of capital. Having said that, generally, the shows at By:Larm are well attended, there’s a couple of free newspapers that are published each day of By:Larm so many bands get mentioned and reviewed, and I think it does give a little lift to quite a few artists. The main goal for the Disciplines for By:Larm was to expose our live set to potential bookers of festivals, etc., and build ye olde buzze, to the general public, media, etc. And on this front I think we succeeded marvelously.
The Thursday show at Revolver, with Kenneth Ishak opening, was one of * two * shows happening inside Revolver, which itself is not that much bigger than my flat, at the same time. So, for many parts of the set, there was a loud band playing furiously in the next room. Granted, there were closed doors and central foyer between us, and the resulting airlock insulated the noise pretty well, but, we’re talking here about a Ken Stringfellow solo show—it’s about as loud as an oyster mating call. And the bands in the next room were ludicrously raucous! So, as I have learned, I faced the situation with humor and adaptability, and didn’t get ruffled. I ended up playing a pretty long show, complete with Long Winters singalongs, mic-less moments, and the like. It went well, people dug it. But even tho I have some new songs, my focus is not on the solo material or presentation. If people didn’t request it, and they often do, I wouldn’t be looking for these shows at all. I am all about focusing myself and the world at large’s attention on the Disciplines. After my set I was completely shocked to find the band playing a kind of Doors-meets-Butthole Surfers kind of psychosludge next door was not only the band of Ole, Revolver’s main dude, but it was fronted my extremely mild mannered and quiet booking agent for Norway (for the Disciplines), Ragnar. Now, I’ve hung out with him, and Ole, many times, and it NEVER came up that he was not just a booking agent, but a singer as well. Fucking hell! I was blown away! It put me in such a good mood, that I ended up staying until 4 at the place—not drinking at the bar, but chatting with fans. I will say that the 40 or so fans that came were hardcore, and loved the show. And all wanted to chat, and that was fine by me. I also made good friends with the sound crew at Revolver (there’s a tiny recording studio in the back of the place, that served as the backstage during the festival, and also the staff there did all the sound stuff for the club).
OSLO, 2.22
Even tho’ I left the club at, say, 4.30 that morning, and I was up at 7.30 in order to meet Jon Marius for a start time in the studio, I was in fine shape as I had been more or less sober the whole evening. OK, I had a glass of wine, yes…I think I can get up and walk away from that N-gauge level of train wreck without much effort. Jon Marius and I met of course at Tim Wendelboe, and walked up to the studio to make some additional adjustments to some of the mixes. I did most of the adjusting—it was vocal tuning and the like that I wanted to get just right. Some of the backing vocals in ‘Oslo’ were quite messy, timing-wise, so I put them in a little better order. I revamped the guitar sound on ‘Falling Knives’ by panning the mics differently, and changing the EQ. That kind of thing. Basically, I had to do all that plus pack up Bjorn’s guitar stuff for the show, as it was all still at the studio from the earlier session that week, by 12.30, as we were supposed to be at a radio station by 1 or so. Jon Marius had to leave at noon. I was frantically bouncing and moving the files around until the absolute last minute…then Claus arrived with the van, we loaded up the guitar rig and drove to a live radio interview, and luckily they were running behind so we had a few minutes to catch our breaths. After the interview, it happened that Tiger of Sweden’s shop was next door, so, I made a few calls—I was owed some expenses for the show we did for ToS the previous weekend, and worked out some stylish new togs in trade for my receipts, which I left at the shop. After that we had an interview on ‘Oslo TV’, which is a chat show filmed from a location right in the middle of Oslo’s train station. I have to say two things---our video looks great on TV; and, the host, who is a prominent Norwegian actress, is not exactly an ace improvisation partner. She asks a question, and then you have the opportunity to riff a bit, but then she asks you just the next question on the list, and she never smiles. But, it’s a popular show, and I guess we looked good!
Various band members were arriving from various locales around Norway, enough that we could do a soundcheck, after which I retired to my hotel room to find inner calm, and develop me focus. I sewed my tie back together, which was a great way to calm your mind on a simple, repetitive (but requiring skill) task.
Back at the show, of course the Revolver Bar was full. It’s so tiny—how could it not be? There was a young woman playing on the small stage I had played the previous night, and it was a fair bit rowdier than during my set (her music was, however, no less delicate than mine, but she seemed to be cool with it). Later, Hiawata! took the stage—I dig their mini album ‘They Could Have Been Bigger than Hiawata!’ that was produced by Kenneth Ishak—in fact, some of their songs live sound like Kenneth could have written them…maybe he did! I guess there was a tense moment when a dancing patron hit the singer’s mic stand, and he went completely nuts—yelling at the guy, making him leave…in these situations, I can’t help thinking about when I saw Black Flag some 22 years ago, and Henry Rollins was at the front of the stage clad in nothing but nylon shorts, and some guy was punching him in the balls…and Henry didn’t flinch! Just kept on singing.
Well. ‘Tis a tiny stage they have erected at Revolver. We went on and the room was full, with a typically dull, skeptical Oslo hipster audience. Who, it should be said, were rocking out full on by the end—save for the one super cross looking guy in the army jacket right in front center, I couldn’t get him to crack a smile so much as. I did * hug * him at one point when I was down in the crowd. Well, long story short—best Disciplines show to date. After the set, an American gent bought a single, and it turns out he’s the editor of Paste magazine; we did a short interview backstage, and I saw he mentioned us already in his blog. I received many a nice compliment about the show, from friends and strangers alike. I felt great! As usual, I tried to have a relaxing glass of wine after the show, but they kept getting knocked over or absconded with—suddenly the bar was closed, and in midst of By:Larm madness, no one was sympathetic to our requests for a lock in. So, we decamped to the flat of Brage, the guy who made our Lydverket special. Typical afterparty style, the drinks ran out in like 5 minutes, and it was time to call it a night. There was a great moment where magically Ragnar and Claus had donned elevator pumps and were dancing together. They looked way too good on Ragnar! I thought he should switch brands permanently.
OSLO, 2.23
Now, I felt just fine this morning. However, I wasn’t so sure about my bandmates. But, I organized a quick rehearsal at 12.30 at Revolver, being that our gear was still set up there. We ran thru a couple of trouble spots; even tho’ I thought the show we played the previous night was fantastic, the band was unsure about a couple of small things. So, then we loaded into Rockefeller (Posies/Maximo Park 2005, Briskeby/KS 2006, Snow Patrol w/KS ln keys 2006) for our soundcheck. Rockefeller is quite large, holding 1200 or so people with a balcony, etc. They have a great staff, and everything there is professional. The wifi works. Etc! The only drawback is, it’s so spacious, that the sound when the venue is empty is quite cavernous and disorientating. And we weren’t on our own backline. But, this didn’t really matter in the end. I would say that this show wasn’t quite as over the top as the Revolver show, but the more I think about it, the more I realize it was excellent. At one point, my mic and my mic cable went in totally different directions, but I grabbed my spare mic, and they were on the case at the sound desk. It was a LOT harder to get in and out of the crowd—tall stage, barricade—my legs are, some 4 days later, still black with bruises. And my voice was a bit tired…I really went for it the night before, but I did lots of warm ups before the show and it worked fine. So, I think we played less wildly, but probably more musically, and I handled the audience just fine—everybody said afterwards that they were pleased that I managed to fill every corner of the venue no problem with my presence—often physically, as I was off the stage a lot, taking my mic as far as my cable would allow. After the show, I sold ALL the singles we had with us, including one to one of the most influential music journalists in Norway, and when I ran out half a dozen people were still in line—and then, Jello Biafra came to buy one! He really enjoyed the show, and we chatted for 10 minutes or so. Somebody took a picture with us on their camera phone, I’d love to see that! He was very friendly, full of enthusiasm for things he had seen at By:Larm—he mentioned some must-see bands like Masterpiece of Cake, etc. Now, The Dead Kennedys were my first punk show, my first stage dive, etc. at the New York Theatre in Vancouver, in 1984. So, it was a great moment for me, to get such positive feedback from someone whose work I’ve admired for so long. It’s been something like 26 years since I started buying DKs singles at Waxtrax in Chicago when I was in town visiting my dad.
OSLO, 2.24
There are certain immutable laws of physics, one of the most tested ones is that Oslowegians NEVER go out on Sunday. No matter what. They just don’t. And making a matinee Sunday show is just asking for trouble. So, when I hauled my carcass down to Revolver at 2 that afternoon, it was with full awareness that this show really shouldn’t matter…I could just as easily go back to bed. But, I was dead wrong. Even tho I played to only 30 or so people, it was a great afternoon, and it definitely meant a lot to the people there. And we raised over $250 for Wateraid. I basically did two sets, with a leg stretch in between. I saw the usual fan suspects, and some friends (Claus and Nanna came for the first set!). Afterwards, some 3 hours after it started, my friend Mathias suggested we have dinner at his restaurant, Arakataka. He’s the sommelier there. Remember, he’s the guy who hosted me for an epic wine tasting during the Dplines sessions. Sounded great to me. I stashed Bjorn’s guitar at the rehearsal place, packed up the mics I had brought from Seattle for the sessions and stashed them at my hotel, and headed to the restautant, which is right next to Rockefeller, actually. We had an epic meal, with delightful vino Toscano, plus dessert wines, an oyster as an amuse bouche, and a mix of starters—scallop, and, uh…well, stop reading here maybe. We had smoked whale.
No need to say I could barely walk from fatigue, show related injuries, food coma, and alcohol related heavy liddedness. I went straight to bed, probably at 10.
The next day I checked out of the hotel, and headed to meet Sarah from Revolver for a café (and to give me some money for some singles I sold to Ole’s store Rubber Soul, which is across the street and down from Revolver, and covers your complete r&r needs—skinny jeans, Chuck T.s, and Disciplines vinyl! The guys from Tim Wendelboe had been at the show at Rockefeller, and gave me a parting gift of some excellent Bazilian café, and to better utilize it, I bought an
AeroPress, which having used it now—I can say, is an ingenious invention—so easy to use, portable, cleans up in 5 seconds, and makes great coffee. It’s a masterpiece of simple technology. Essentially, it’s a giant syringe, that pushes the trapped air, hot water, and coffee thru a filter and directly into your cup. Recommended!
Monday afternoon I had a strategy meeting with my bookers and label, and then flew home. Aden is out of school for the winter break, so she’s in Tours with the grandparents, so it was a bit sad to come home to such a quiet house. Dom was working. I went to see ‘Juno’ at the cinema.
On Tuesday I spent the day either online or at Pilates or giving a guitar lesson etc. etc. but in the evening, Dom & I went to dinner at our favorite place (no way I will tell you—its crowded enough as it is). For some reason, something I ate went horribly wrong and I spent an uncomfortable night, miserable morning, and by the time I crawled on to the train to Montpelier, I was just a bleached husk. I’m starting to come back, slowly. I ate a cookie moments ago, and it seemed OK. Still burnt out and fucked up and feeling shot at and missed/shit at and hit.
I’m backstage at the Secret Place, where I’m playing tonight, which is a venue and rehearsal place…I can hear the band I’m opening for, Radio Moscow, down below, who sound like Blue Cheer, and in one of the rehearsal rooms a full on African drums and marimba band. I’m cool with it. As we drove out here, by habit my host Hugo drove me without meaning to to La Victoire II, which is the venue the Posies played on the night I met Dominique. It was our first show in France, and we met the record co. in the restaurant of the hotel next door—now I know that where we were was the industrial outskirts of Montpelier, but at the time…I only saw the humor, beauty and charm of the woman I would marry ten years later…
Love
KS
St. Jean de Vedas, FRANCE
