Smoking Section by Austin Scaggs

July 2009 Archives

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Kid Rock's Talks Stadium Spectaculars, Confirms Gayness of Twitter

July 31, 2009 9:50 AM

We caught up with Kid Rock yesterday, who told us that wherever he goes, people are screaming "Twitter is gay"!!!

If you have no idea what we're talking about, here's the story: In the last issue of Rolling Stone -- with MJ on the cover --- we did a Q+A with Kid, in which we discussed his huge summer tour, and his two humongous gigs at Detroit's Comerica Park. 

We were (and still are) highly annoyed by the Twittering phenomenon. We think Twittering is retarded.

When we asked Kid Rock about it, he summed it up perfectly. "Twitter's fucking gay," he said. We're so glad to hear that the word is spreading, and random folks are screaming that at him.

Moving on... 

Yesterday, Rock told us about his gigs at Comerica, during which he pulled out all the stops to celebrate his hometown. "There was a classic car show," he says. "And I'd peek out the wiindow in my bus and see motorcycle jumpin' off ramps. For the weekend it looked like Detroit was a thriving city. People were downtown, there was all sorts of horseshit going on. It was great! It felt bigger than me, and I really believe it was.

Rock killed the crowds with a hit parade, and threw in a few special numbers. Near the top of the set was a cover of the Stone's "Tumblin' Dice." "I'd never done it before," he says. "I just wanted wanted to learn those crazy fuckin' lyrics."

Closing the show was "Born In the U.S.A." "The chorus of that song and the situation down in Detroit... it took on another meeting," he says. "As tough as times are, we're still very fortunate to live in the greatest country on earth. I thought it gave everyone a sense of hope. And, you know, we did a much heavier version, and turned it up to fifteen. We had fireworks going off. But it's all about the song."

But the show-stopper was the debut of Kid's new tune, "In Times Like These." The hard-hitting social commentary is an ode to Detroit, and as images flashed behind the stage of the highs and lows of Motor City, many in the crowd got choked up. "It was really emotional," he says. "My son was out by the soundboard, and he told me that people were crying."

The events also marked the first time Kid Rock's new Badass Beer was consumed by the public. "All the reactions have been good. People say it doesn't have any aftertaste and it's refreshing. The whole Budweiser thing is 'Drinkability,' but my whole thing is 'Slamability.'"

Rock adds, "Twitter's still gay."

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Sara Watkins Enters the S.S.

July 27, 2009 11:39 AM

We were extremely psyched that Sara Watkins -- the gorgeous voice and killer fiddle that makes Nickel Creek -- stopped by the Smoking Section to perform a few tunes from her solo debut album.

But we almost lost it when we spotted Sara's keyboard player... the Heartbreakers' Benmont Tench!!!!!!! Holy shitballs! Tench sits in with Watkins on many of her performances at Largo, in L.A. They're buddies.

Rounding out the trio is fellow Creeker Sean Watkins (Sara's bro) on guitar.

Sara's self-titled album was produced by some guy named John Paul Jones. In addition to the great Tench, the guests on the disc include Gillian Welch, David Rawlings and drummer Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello). 

Sara wrote a majority of the tracks, like "My Friend" and "All This Time," which you can check out live renditions of below. On her album she also covers Tom Waits, Jon Brion and Jimmie Rodgers. "Long Hot Summer Days," was written by John Hartford.

Check 'em out!

 Sara Watkins - "Long Hot Summer Days"  [Video:Eric Helton/Pete Maiden; Editing by Eric Helton]

Sara Watkins -"My Friend"  [Video:Eric Helton/Pete Maiden; Editing by Eric Helton]


Sara Watkins - "All This Time" [Video:Eric Helton/Pete Maiden; Editing by Eric Helton]

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More: S.S. Live Performance

Behind "Man In the Mirror" with Glen Ballard

July 24, 2009 11:00 AM

Rolling Stone put together an amazing retrospective on the life and music of Michael Jackson. But one thing that didn't make it into our special issue was our interview with Glen Ballard, who co-wrote with Siedah Garrett one of MJ's most stunning tracks, "Man In the Mirror," from Bad.

(Look back at photos from Michael Jackson's remarkable career.)


While MJ and Quincy Jones were working on Thriller, Ballard -- who'd worked with Jones before -- presented them a song called "Nightline." "I thought it would be great for Michael," Ballard remembers. "So Quincy played this scratchy little demo for Michael, and he liked it." Ballard and MJ then went to L.A.'s Westlake Audio, and in one afternoon they recorded a more polished demo. "Michael and I just styled the vocal and he did one take," says Ballard. "We were going to develop it, but the very next week Michael brought in 'Billie Jean' and 'Beat It.'" Hanging around the studio, Ballard witnessed the birth of "Billie Jean". "I got to see [songwriter] Rod Temperton and Quincy bring 'Billie Jean' to life," Ballard remembers. "It was a magical thing. In the end, I was disappointed not to get my song on Thriller, but I never thought once that 'Nightline' deserved to be on there in place of 'Billie Jean' or 'Beat It.' It's like playing basketball against Kobe Bryant -- you know he's going to win." The Pointer Sisters ended up recording "Nightline" and had a hit. "On the next album, Siedah and I wrote a song called 'Man In the Mirror,'" he says. "It was a much better song than 'Nightline.'"

SS: Did you write "Man In the Mirror" for Michael?

GB: Absolutely. Siedah and I wrote it for him directly. It was near the end of the recording for Bad -- it was the last weekend before they wrapped up Bad -- and think I had written something for the album but it didn't get accepted. Quincy called me and said, "Don't you have anything else for us?" He thought we were idiots not to try again, and Siedah had an idea, and we got together on a Saturday night, met at my house in Encino, and we just wrote it on the spot. It was really simple, we just wrote it on a Fender Rhodes, and did a quick demo with Siedah singing. It felt really good, but you never know. And we didn't have time to dress it up, so I didn't feel like it had a chance.

SS: When did Quincy hear it?

GB: The next day, Sunday, Siedah drove over and played it for Quincy, and he loved it. Michael heard it on Monday, and he said, "Make a track." So we started building this track, and it was magic. There were all these strange intervals in the vocal harmonies we'd written, and Michael totally got it, and he was able to sing it exactly the way I heard it. It was easy for him.

SS: When you worked side by side with Michael, did it feel like you were in the presence of greatness?

GB: Sort of. I just felt like I was with somebody who got it. He felt music at it's core. He was always dancing when we were in the studio. He danced for a couple of hours ever day, relentlessly. He was like a Fred Astaire perfectionist. It was wonderful to see him working the moves out. And one thing that I think is overlooked about this guy, but you can hear it from when he was five years old, is that not only is he nailing the vocals, but he sings with so much understanding. He was so soulful and rhythmically sophisticated. He never had any angst about the vocal. Most singers, all their neuroses come through the vocal cords, but he was not that guy. He knew how to sing flawlessly.

SS: In the last two minutes of "Man In the Mirror," the choir comes in and Michael starts scatting the lyrics. It may have been your song, but Michael owned it in the end.

GB: There's no question. He just started doing some sort of incantation. We didn't write any of that stuff, he went there on his own. He took it way beyond with the with the "Shamons" and "Yeahs." He was stretching the limits. All I can say is that when you get one of those big fish in the boat, hopefully you can make it to shore and have something to show for it. And we got one, I knew we got that one.

SS: It's bigger than a song.

GB: Michael was not in it to go halfway. He was always thinking about his legacy, about great music that would last forever. In those years with Quincy, it was so amazing, you can't hear anything wrong with it. It's this indelible portrait. And it's unbelievable to be a part of it. He's gone, but the music is still amazing. All that other stuff that people associate with Michael, the music will shout it all down. I knew the man for a long time, in the studio, and he was a sweetheart. He was so nice to everybody, he didn't have an unkind bone in his body. I'm glad people are listening to the music now and going, "Oh my God, that's right, he was so fucking great."

(Click here for all of Rolling Stone's essential MIchael Jackson coverage.)

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McCartney and the Script

July 20, 2009 12:53 PM

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"D'arcy Pumpkin Ex" Resurfaces

July 15, 2009 10:25 AM



Smashing Pumpkins debut, Gish, is an awesome album. When we were thirteen years old, we played it constantly. We even liked some of the songs on Siamese Dream. Then they sucked.

Our favorite part about the Pumpkins, though, was D'arcy. It wasn't like we were obsessed or anything, we just found her extremely sexy. She plays bass, she's a hottie, and she was so mysterious -- she sang on "Daydream," but she never really said a word. 

Then in the late Nineties she disappeared. Billy Corgan confirmed our suspicions when he later said that D'arcy had begun "a slow descent into insanity and/or drugs -- take your pick."

Well, D'arcy shed a little bit of light on where she's been when she phoned into the request line of Chicago radio station, Q101.

Apparently, she had heard a segment on Davy Jones of the Monkees, who was in the studio singing songs and taking questions. Because Jones is such a shrimp, he used to race horses. That must've tugged D'arcy's heartstrings because, as she says, "I live in Michigan on a horse farm."

D'arcy identified herself as "D'arcy Pumpkin Ex," and while she didn't sound totally batshit crazy, she came pretty friggin' close.

During the ten-minute chat with on-air personality Ryan Manno, she said:

-- On where she's been: "I hardly ever get off the farm... a lot of horse poop."
-- On the demands of being in a band: "It's like, the show must go on. The show must go on. Kurt [presumably Kurt Cobain] playing in his wheelchair... I just get sick too much. Twice a year I get laryngitis and lose my voice completely."
-- On Corgan's voice: "I really wish he'd pay attention to his pitch."
-- She tells a story about how Marilyn Manson's father had four rats, named Billy, D'arcy, James and Jimmy. "He named them after the Pumpkins!"
-- On her current state: "I'm a sociophobe."

Listen to the rambling interview here.

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S.S. Exclusive: Julian Casablancas Releases Phrazes For the Young!!!

July 14, 2009 10:02 AM

Photo by: Williams + Hirakawa

The Smoking Section has the pleasure of telling the world that Julian Casablancas will release his debut solo album, Phrazes for the Young, this fall!


The Strokes singer and chief songwriter wrote and recorded Phrazes over the last year -- the eight songs on the disc include "River of Brake Lights," "Glass" and "Ludlow St." The album was produced by Jason Lader, who has previous worked with Jay-Z, Coldplay, Gwen Stefani and Justin Timberlake. Additional production came from Mike Mogis, the studio wizard in Bright Eyes.

In the past few years, while the Strokes have been on hiatus, guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr. released two solo records. Bassist Nikolai Fraiture -- as his alter ego, Nickel Eye -- went solo with last year's album, The Time of the Assassins. And drummer Fabrizio Moretti made an inceredible disc with his buddies in Little Joy. For the past few months, as we've told you, the Strokes have been cracking away, writing tunes together for their fourth album, and getting along better than ever.

Soon, Julian will announce some special U.S. dates to present Phrazes for the Young, and promises a solo tour for later this year.

And now go to check out the video on Julian's brand new website, launched today!

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In Brooklyn Tonight

July 12, 2009 10:38 AM

If anyone out there is in Brooklyn tonight, or near Brooklyn, or within driving distance to Brooklyn, we implore you to check out the following two FREE shows.

At the East River State Park tonight is Baltimore's best band, Ponytail, opening for the legendary Mission of Burma!

Then cruise over to Williamsburg Music Hall to see three killer local bands: Violent Bullshit, the Nasties, and Love As Laughter.

In '08 Love as Laughter released Holy, one of the greatest albums of the decade! 

Get out there!!!

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The Latest from the Black Keys: Drummer

July 8, 2009 3:06 PM

The dudes in the Black Keys -- Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney -- are two of the hardest working mofos in the biz. They love writing, recording, performing and collaborating more than anyone we've ever met!

So when BK guitarist Auerbach released his AMAZING debut solo album earlier this year, Keep It Hid, we wrote an email to drummer Carney asking him when his solo project would be hitting the shelves. He fired us back an email with an MP3 attached from his brand new project, Drummer.

It's not exactly a solo project, but Drummer features five Ohio-based drummers, who mostly adopt new instruments on their debut, Feel Good Together, due in September on Carney's label, Audio Eagle. Carney plays bass, Jamie Stillman from Teeth of the Hydra is on guitar, Stephen Clements of Houseguest sings and plays keys, Greg Boyd from Ghostman and Sandman gets to play drums, and John Finley from Beaten Awake plays bass.

The guys started playing together in February, and within two months had collected all the songs for their debut. "We decided that our time would be better spent making music rather than making snowmen," says Carney.

Check out Feel Good Together's title track, below. Click the jump for October tour dates!


Drummer -- "Feel Good Together"


Oh, and buy the way, a few weeks ago we went down to the Lower East Side to hang with the Black Keys while the recorded a few new songs for their next project.

For the time being, we've been sworn to secrecy about the two artists they collaborated with in the studio that night.

Let us tell you right now that in your wildest dreams you'd never guess who, but believe us when we tell you that the shit will blow your balls off.

(more...)

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