Chillin' With Chuck

Good news ladies and gents... I survived my birthday weekend. I have enough booze left over to last me till 2015, and 1/4 of a working liver with which to process it. That 1/4 of "old brown bag" that's still in action is going to have a busy fucking weekend, because goddammit, it's Valentines Day on Friday. We're having our annual V-day showcase showdown this Friday at Matchless in Greenpoint, and we'd love for you to come share the misery with us. Opening up the night is Chuck Burns; a local bluesman/folk anti-hero. We sat down for a little back and forth on Gchat. Here's the transcript:


Hearts Bleed Radio: We usually book indie rockers for HBR shows, but it felt right to go in a really bluesy direction to open up our Valentine's Day show. How do you feel about V-Day? For it or against it?

Chuck: Well, in general, I would say I am against the holiday itself, mainly because it is a big money making venture for the Hallmark Company. But we're really looking forward to the show. we're gonna make the theme of our set a cynics Valentines Day, one for the broken hearted. We'll be raking up an ancient song of mine called, "Fuck You, I Love You," which I'll be singing as a duet with Sophie from Madam West

HBR: Awesome! I think I agree with you on Valentine's Day, on the other hand it's hard to really be upset at a holiday so pointless...

Chuck: Well said. I think its a perfect irony for us to be playing on V-Day, because so many of my songs come from this place of heart break.

Chuck, looking the part.

HBR: Who are your biggest influences? Are they passionate or cynical in their delivery?

Chuck: I guess my biggest influences, at least lyrically are the underground traveling singer-songwriters, people like Paleo and Jeffrey Lewis. That said, I get a lot more aggressive in my singing, which I suppose I owe to Tom Waits, and old school growlers like Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters ets.

HBR: How does it feel to growl like that? I think my voice would break. Does it come from the back of your throat? Is this a stupid question?

Slothrust CMJ Interview Action Spectacular

  Hello everyone. I hope you had a nice pre-CMJ week. Honestly, I never really know what to expect from festivals. There's always something disappointing that seemed like a lock. There's also something unexpected that turns out to be epic. Concerning the job of a promoter/booking agent/whatever the hell I am, a wise man once told me, "Whenever everything's going right, something's still going wrong." Anyway, despite the randomness and uncertainty of the business, there are some bands you can really go all in on, and Slothrust (Sloth-Rust. Once they get incredibly famous, we'll start Slow Thrust: Brooklyn's premiere Slothrust shoegaze cover band) is one of them. We're super pumped to have them for HBR CMJ Showcase #2 on 10/19 at Matchless. I had a little Gchat with Leah and Kyle (guit/vox and bass, respectively). Here is the transcript:


Hearts Bleed Radio: So, are you guys all from Boston?

Leah: No. Will and I are but Kyle is from New Jersey. We all met at school in Yonkers.

HBR: How did you guys find your sound? Was it like, something you were aiming for? Or did it just kinda come together?

Leah: I think it just came together.

Kyle: They had this band going before I joined, and we still play a few songs from that period, however we did change them up.

Leah: We all played in blues bands in college so that was a big influence, but I feel like recently when people come see us play live, the blues isn't the first thing that comes to mind.

HBR: Yeah, but as soon as you mention blues, you can really hear it, I think.

Leah: :)

Kyle: I agree that our sound came together on its own. We sort of developed it while working on new songs that Leah had written, and eventually we sort of figured out what our sound is, and went with it.

Leah and Kyle rock the fuck out.

HBR: Did you grow up playing the blues first and foremost?

Leah: I think we try to run with the blues mentality in terms of letting there be room for improv and leaving it all on the stage.

Kyle: I grew up playing a lot of metal and jazz. Blues came more into my life in college.