Even as Radio Moscow‘s current European tour gets underway, the news emerges that the single for “Rancho Tehama Airport’ b/w “Sweet Little Thing” will be released to the public as part of Volcom Entertainment‘s limited Vinyl Club subscription package. Past installments have included the likes of Wino, the Melvins and High on Fire, so Radio Moscow are in good company with the tracks, which represent their first new material since 2011′s The Great Escape of Leslie Magnafuzz.
The band previously posted both songs for advance checking out via YouTube (link above), but here’s “Rancho Tehama Airport” as a refresher, courtesy of Volcom, and info about the 2013 subscription package for the Vinyl Club. Enjoy:
Volcom Announces Volcom Entertainment Vinyl Club’s 2013 Subscription
We are excited to announce the launch of the VEVC 2013 subscription, our 6th year running a limited edition 7″ singles club. For those unfamiliar with the Volcom Ent Vinyl Club (VEVC for short), a 1-year subscription to the Volcom Ent Vinyl Club, includes:
• Shipment of six 7″s throughout the year: VEVC0031, VEVC0032, VEVC0033, VEVC0034, VEVC0035, VEVC0036. • Subscriber-only colored vinyl on some releases. • Subscriptions are limited to 300. • Subscribers get a 20% discount on the purchase of any other vinyl releases made in our subscriber store.
The first release, VEVC 0031, is a face melting two-sided slab of new material from psychedelic blues rockers Radio Moscow. This record is already in production and we hope to ship these by early March. VEVC 0032 is also in the pipeline and you can trust us when we say that it will be a rowdy split shared by two of Los Angeles’ grittiest bands, The Shrine and Zig Zags, each contributing new tunes. You will want to turn this one up!
We’re really excited about the rest of the 2013 roster that is coming together and for those of you who’ve subscribed before, hope that you can trust us when we say we have some cool releases up our sleeves!!
Also as a special gift to 2013 subscribers who act fast, we’ll be including a free copy of the Volcom x Yo Gabba Gabba 7” to the first 150 subscribers with the shipment of VEVC 0031. This record is super limited to 500 red vinyl and 500 green vinyl and the 150 copies that we can offer are the last remaining ones. In case you didn’t see this one fly by last year, the record features a collaboration between hip-hop legend Biz Markie and Wayne Coyne of Flaming Lips on one side and on the other side “He’s a Chef”, the first new Rocket From the Crypt recording in, like, 5 years… no big deal.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 12th, 2013 by H.P. Taskmaster
Last time we heard from them, Midwestern classic rockers Radio Moscow were welcoming back drummer Paul Marrone for an impressive run of European tour dates and working on putting together a new 7″ that would include the tracks “Rancho Tehama Airport” and “Sweet Little Thing.” Well, time marches on. The tour continues to firm up, and in the meantime, the band has posted both cuts off the new single online for checking into. Would you be surprised if I told you bluesy baddassery abounds? You probably shouldn’t be.
Here’s the latest and the tunes:
Europe tour Jan/Feb/March 2013! Here’s the most up to date list. Some venues and dates have changed, take a look and see if we are coming to your town.
28/01/13 France Bordeaux Rocher de Palmer + The Datsuns 30/01/13 Portugal Porto Hard Club 31/01/13 Spain Madrid La boite 01/02/13 Spain Bilbao Azkena 02/02/13 Spain Barcelona Apolo 2 03/02/13 Spain TBA 04/02/13 Spain TBA 06/02/13 France Nantes Le Stakhanov 07/02/13 France Lorient Le Galion 08/02/13 France Angouleme La Nef 09/02/13 France Saint-Brieuc La Citrouille 10/02/13 France Le Havre Mc Daid’s 12/02/13 Belgium Arlon L’Entrepote 13/02/13 Netherlands Nijmegen Merleijn 14/02/13 Belgium Charleroi Le Vecteur 15/02/13 Netherlands Leeuwarden Podium Asteriks 16/02/13 Netherlands Deventer Burgerweeshuis 17/02/13 France Watrellos La Boite à Musique 18/02/13 TBA 19/02/13 France Paris Nouveau Casino 20/02/13 France Montpellier Secret Place 21/02/13 Switzerland Geneve L’Usine 22/02/13 Germany Siegen Le Vortex 23/02/13 Belgium Antwerpen Trix 26/02/13 Austria Hohenems Ensigen Club 27/02/13 Italy Genova La Claque 28/02/13 Italy Roma Init 01/03/13 Italy Bologna Covo Club 02/03/13 Italy Pisa TBA 04/03/13 Turkey Ankara Eski Yeni 05/03/13 Turkey Istanbul TBA 06/03/13 Turkey Eskisehir TBA 07/03/13 Turkey Bursa TBA 08/03/13 Greece Thessaloniki Gaia 09/03/13 Greece Athens Six Dogs 10/03/13 Greece Patra Politeia Live Bar
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 10th, 2012 by H.P. Taskmaster
Classic rocking troublemakers Radio Moscow are headed back to Europe at the end of January. For the month-plus run, the trio led by guitarist/vocalist Parker Griggs will once more be given psychedelic visual accompaniment by Mad Alchemy and the tour also marks the return of drummer Paul Marrone alongside Griggs and bassist Billy Ellsworth.
Radio Moscow also have a new 7″ single past the mixing stage that’s set to feature the songs “Rancho Tehama Airport” and “Sweet Little Thing,” which they’ll also reportedly be bringing with them on the road. Here’s the latest and the dates so far from their Thee Facebooks:
European 2013 winter tour dates so far! Gonna be an awesome tour with our buddy Paul Marrone back on drums, the brand new “Rancho Tehama Airport” single ready just in time and an awesome liquid light show from Mad Alchemy!
28/01/13 Bordeaux, France @ Rocher De Palmer w/The Datsuns 30/01/13 Porto, Portugal @ the Hard Club 31/01/13 Madrid, Spain @ La Boite 01/02/13 Bilbao, Spain @ kafe antzokia 02/02/13 Barcelona, Spain @ Apolo 2 03/02/13 TBA 04/02/13 TBA 05/02/13 TBA 07/02/13 Montpellier, France @ TAF/Secret Place 08/02/13 Angouleme, France @ La Nef 09/02/13 Sainte-Brieuc, France @ La Citrouille 10/02/13 Le Havre, France @ Mac Daid’s 11/02/13 TBA 12/02/13 Arlon, Belgium @ L’Entrpot 13/02/13 Nijmegen, Netherlands @ Merejin 14/02/13 Charleroi, Belgium @ Le Vecteur 15/02/13 Leeuwarden, Netherlands @ Podium Asteriks 16/02/13 Deventer, Netherlands @ Burgerweeshuis 17/02/13 Lille, France @ La Boite a Musique 19/02/13 Paris, France @ Nouveau Casino 20/02/13 Lyon, France TBA 21/02/13 Geneve, Switzerland @ L’Usine 22/02/13 Lucerne, Switzerland @ Freibhum 23/02/13 Antwerpen, Belgium @ Trix 24/02/13 TBA 25/02/13 TBA 26/02/13 TBA 27/02/13 Savona, Italy @ Reins Club 28/02/13 Rome, Italy @ INIT 01/03/13 Bologna, Italy @ Covo Club 02/03/13 TBA 04/03/13 TBA Turkey 05/03/13 TBA Turkey 06/03/13 TBA Turkey 07/03/13 TBA Turkey 08/03/13 TBA Greece 09/03/13 TBA Greece
Posted in Reviews on July 18th, 2012 by H.P. Taskmaster
Generally speaking, there are two kinds of shows at Long Branch’s Brighton Bar: Late shows and really late shows. The club has for a long time now famously supported its local scene, and that’s great, but that means loaded bills and late nights almost without exception. If you’re going to the Brighton — once the home of New Jersey’s stoner rock scene and a place where acts like Monster Magnet, Core, The Atomic Bitchwax, Godspeed, Solace, Solarized and many others cut their teeth — you can safely bet you’re in for a long evening.
So it was on Monday when I headed down the Parkway to get there at around 9PM and found that only one of the five bands to play had been on. Radio Moscow were headlining, so they’d be on last, and Nashville upstarts The Dirty Streets would play before them, but locals were frontloaded as ever. I missed Buzzard Wagon — who I actually would’ve been interested in seeing — but got there as Iron Front were just getting started and watched their set along with The Loose Roosters, who followed in neo-grunge fashion and were a guitar/drum duo joined by two guest bassists. They sounded like Nirvana more than a little and weren’t who I was there to see, but it could’ve been worse.
One thing about the Brighton, though, is that it’s hot. And Jersey has not been exempted from the “definitely not climate-change-driven” surge in temperatures that has the rest of the country sweating off its collective balls. I knew that going into the show, though, and by the time The Dirty Streets went on, things were somewhat less dire. I’ll admit it’s been a bit since I listened to their 2011 album, Movements (review here), but as they played, the songs came right back, the catchy hooks and Blue Cheer vibing of “Cloud of Strange” from guitarist/vocalist Justin Toland serving as an instant refresher of their own infectiousness.
Along for the tour apparently and adding a striking visual element, Mad Alchemy‘s Lance Gordon stood on stage and spilled oils and projected swirls onto a white sheet behind both touring acts. Gordon (who was with Radio Moscow earlier this year as well when they toured with Graveyard) worked on one projector for The Dirty Streets and two for Radio Moscow, and underscored the psych elements in both bands with oranges, reds, greens, purples and so on. As The Dirty Streets‘ set progressed, I was taking pictures as local artist Megan Mosher, whom I’ve never actually met, handed me a small piece of paper with a Sharpie portrait on it, of me, that you can see above.
Flattering as the ego boost of even the momentary fascination of a young lady is for an oaf such as me, I bowed to thank Ms. Mosher for her work and went back to watching and shooting the band, who seemed to have a couple new songs in their set in addition to the material from Movements. Nonetheless, it was tracks like “Fight You,” “It’s About Time” and “Broke as a Man Can Be” that especially gave me a new appreciation for bassist Thomas Storz, who, though he barely faced front at all — to do so would’ve required turning away from his locked-in position in the rhythm section with drummer Andrew Denham — offered warmth of tone and complexity of play in kind. Relistening to Movements afterward, I was reminded of how much I enjoyed his performance on the record in the first place.
They closed out with their most memorable chorus to date in “What Do You Know,” which had me singing along — rare these days — by the end, and seemed overall like they’re still developing as a live act, but were already in a position where any number of American purveyors (i.e. labels) would be lucky to have them. Similar to Radio Moscow, The Dirty Streets could also be one of those heavy rock bands that crosses over into indie appeal, and doubtless tours like this one would be just how they did it. Most of all, it’ll be exciting to hear how their next record builds on the strengths they so naturally conveyed from the stage at the Brighton Bar.
Was it really 11:30PM when Radio Moscow went on? It felt later, but that’s the magic of a Monday show, or part of it, anyhow. Just three days after being Mr. Ultra Responsible and skipping out on a Friday night show before seeing a band I wanted to see (in this case, The Giraffes on their home turf in Brooklyn) because I had to work the next day, I decided to do the exact opposite and take my dose of rock and roll exhaustion with a smile. As soon as they started, I knew there was no way I wasn’t going to be watching Radio Moscow‘s set the whole way through.
Much was made earlier this year of the unceremonious and violent manner in which Radio Moscow‘s previous lineup imploded (the former members of the Iowa trio have since reemerged in Blues Pills), but guitarist/vocalist Parker Griggs has assembled a rhythm section around him now that’s second to none I’ve ever seen in a power trio format — and yes, I mean that. I don’t know if it was the fact that Radio Moscow was already decently known when they fell apart or what, but it’s no wonder Griggs is grinning so wide in the band’s press shot: bassist Billy Ellsworth and drummer Lonnie Blanton answered back every bit of his frenetic musicality, resulting in classic fire-under-the-ass whiteboy blues jams that if you could divorce the speed/death metal connotations from the word, you’d almost have to call “extreme.”
Apparently someone broke into their van outside Webster Hall in NYC the night before — so if you see them on this tour, which is ongoing, bring them some pants — but neither that nor the fact that they went on later than they otherwise might have seemed to dampen their spirits. The room took on the sharp smell of Gordon‘s various oils as Radio Moscow tore into their catalog with ferocity gloriously inappropriate for a Monday night, Blanton running circles around a stripped-down kit and hitting ghost notes on the snare while somehow also making each one of them count and Ellsworth bolstering Griggs‘ own fleetness of finger with no shortage of his own. Two inebriated bona fide classic rockers up front were much pleased, as was everyone else in the room with a soul.
I don’t know if you can really say Radio Moscow is still out supporting 2011′s The Great Escape of Leslie Magnafuzz(the CD of which continues to elude me; I’ll grab it one of these days but didn’t have the cash at the show) since it’s a totally different band now and their latest release is actually the previously-unissued 3 & 3 Quarterswhich was recorded in 2003 and has Griggs alone on it, but cuts therefrom like “Speed Freak” and the late-arriving “Densaflorativa,” on which Ellsworth joined Blanton‘s percussion by hitting a bongo with maracas, were notably potent. Finishing with the John Lee Hooker-esque 12-bar “Deep Blue Sea” from their 2007′s self-titled debut, Griggs — situated closest to the Brighton‘s stage right wind machine and so absorbing the brunt of it for the duration — leading an extended jam that proved the prior hour of raging had not at all diminished his capacity for blinding lead work.
What it might take to do that, I don’t know, but when they were finished, Griggs looked ready for a second set. The band started to load their gear off the stage, Ellsworth as collected in his presence as he had been the whole time on stage apart from that maraca jam as he and Blanton signed vinyl albums they didn’t play on. To that end, let me say I hope current Radio Moscow gets to put out an album in this form. Griggs, who’s handled drums on every release to this point and is clearly in his right as leader of the band to make decisions in this regard, has a tough choice ahead of him for their next collection as regards whether to do it himself or have Blanton take on the role in the studio. I guess that’s a while out, but it’ll be interesting to see what happens there.
Ultimately, that’s why I went to this show. I could very easily have gone to Sunday night at Webster Hall instead and had both an earlier evening and probably a shorter drive, but when it came down to it — aside from wanting to support even the basic idea of a decent show happening in my beloved Garden State — I was there for the music. I wanted to see the bands, to really watch what they were doing, how they interacted and how it sounded in a smaller space than even the downstairs room at the New York venue would’ve provided. When Radio Moscow were done, I was one of maybe 25 people in the place. I don’t care what gig you were at, that’s a special memory for me even if the bands hadn’t been so killer.
So while it wasn’t the most practical start to this week, which has thus far taken the hit of my irresponsibility and will no doubt continue to do so until Saturday when I can, barring disaster, catch up on sleep before returning to the Brighton to see Halfway to Gone, I have no regrets. I got back to my humble river valley at around 2:15AM and was asleep a little after three, the grumpy Tuesday that followed a small price to pay for the night preceding.
Posted in Reviews on January 13th, 2012 by H.P. Taskmaster
Pompous as it sounds, I consider myself pretty affected by the atmosphere in whatever given space I’m occupying, and last night the Bowery Ballroom was all douche. There were hipster douches, douchey douches, ladydouches — an entire Baskin Robbins 30-howevermany flavors of douche served as dessert for a sold-out beardo flannel fashion show, and though the place wasn’t full when formerYear Long Disaster frontman Daniel Davies took the stage opening for Radio Moscow and Graveyard, it wasn’t long before the whole room was springtime fresh and I was fucking miserable.
Davies earned his stoner rock cred through a multi-album collaboration on vocals with Karma to Burn that, like most things that band touches, seems to have fallen apart. Sorry, and nothing against them, but Karma to Burn has the shittiest luck I’ve ever seen. Anyway, Davies reportedly got Brad Davis from Fu Manchu to play on his new solo record, Hidden Faces, and though I’d hoped Mr. Davis would join him on stage as well, no dice. Instead, it was Davies (who is the son of Dave Davies of The Kinks) joined by drummer Jess Margera and bassist Matt Janaitis, both of CKY. Small world sometimes, and it only occasionally makes sense.
The music was heavily indebted to ’90s-style alt rock, and not bad for what it was — Davies is a more than capable songwriter — but without even the vague notions of heaviness that Year Long Disaster hinted at in their chic way or the involvement of Davis‘ unfuckwithable tone, my attentions wandered elsewhere, and mostly in the direction of beer. I bided my time waiting for Radio Moscow to hit the stage and watched as the room gradually got fuller and fuller of people I was embarrassed to have anything in common with, especially music.
It’s been a hell of a week for Parker Griggs. The Iowan guitarist/vocalist of Radio Moscow was going to replace his rhythm section after this tour anyway, but on the seventh, he took part in an ugly on-stage meltdown that turned violent with drummer Cory Berry, who, after Griggs threw his guitar into his drum set, launched it back at Griggs‘ head, splitting it open and requiring a reported 14 stitches. The resulting video was a big hit Monday and Tuesday. I got two separate press releases about it, and though it doesn’t really make either Griggs or Berry look like they’re in the right, that’s rock and roll, so whatever.
But backed by new bassist Billy Ellsworth and new drummer Lonnie Blanton, neither of whom threw anything nor had anything thrown at them, the stitched up Griggs sounded dead on as he tore through a set of swampy whiteboy blues. I’d never seen Radio Moscow before, but they’ve been one of those names that there’s been no avoiding for a couple years now, and they served as a decent lead-in for Graveyard, with a clear affection for and (to an extent) emulation of ’70s rock. Listening to them jam out on material from their latest offering, The Great Escape of Leslie Magnafuzz, you’d never know they’d only been a band for five days.
The Bowery Ballroom was full by the time they finished. I stood in the back by the door for most of their set and would remain there for the duration, on either side of the open doorway to watch Graveyard (once I was done taking pictures), who, in the interest of understatement, I’ll say were well received. They started out subdued with “Blue Soul” from the self-titled, but the momentum soon picked up with “Buying Truth (Tack och Förlåt)” from last year’s excellent Hisingen Blues, with which the crowd seemed more familiar and more ready to groove on.
Whatever you can say about their fanbase (and given the paragraphs I cut out of the beginning of this review, I could say plenty), Graveyard were killer. Guitarist/vocalist Joakim Nilsson seems to still be in the process of coming into his own as a frontman, but the band was charismatic and the songs sounded excellent. Rawer than on record, particularly the Hisingen Blues material, but “Ungrateful are the Dead” might have been the high point of the night. I know it was for me, and although for many bands, there’s no way in hell I’d have put up with staying in a place that packed, Graveyard kept me there the whole time. I even tried to leave once and couldn’t bring myself to do it.
And I’m not interested in holding being popular against them — hell, that’s how a band like Graveyard gets to afford to come do a North American stint in the first place — but god damn. This tour’s in Philly tomorrow (Saturday, 01/14), and I just know that the demographic down that way would be totally different if I decided to get in my car and truck it south. I’d probably hit less traffic too. Rest assured, lesson not learned.
They finished after midnight, which was a surprise given Manhattan‘s curfewed norms, and sent the crowd out into the cold. By the time I got back to meiner bescheidenen flußtal, the rain that had been falling for the better part of the last 48 hours was thinking about turning to snow. I took out the garbage, ate some leftovers and crashed out with “Ain’t Fit to Live Here” stuck in my head, where it remains still.
