If you could have any three guitars...

  You make art with a guitar in a way that is rather unique; it's not unlike the way you make art with a classic car, if such a thing were possible (in my book, it is). In and of themselves, guitars are art. Playing a song with a guitar is kinda like carving David with the Venus di Milo. Anyway, it's almost Northside weekend here in Brooklyn, I'm about to see a million bands, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't silently judging the guitar choices of each and every last one. Don't think I'm a snob though, I don't give two shits about how much an instrument costs. That being said, there's a legitimate reason to judge bands by their instruments.

  I'm a Fender guy, and every guitar I've ever owned has been a Fender or Fender-knockoff (except for my acoustic, but that was a gift). This is because as a teenager, I was obsessed with Sonic Youth. Gibsons, to me, stood for dick-head frat boy jock metal/grunge crap. Bands show their influences by the guitars they choose, almost as much as notes they play. I hate to divide the world into two camps based on gear, because it's more complicated than that... but if you can find me a decent band that includes a guy playing a Les Paul through a digital multi-effects processor into a Mesa Boogie full stack, I'll buy you a beer. Hell, I'll buy you a case.

I only had time to grab one pic for this article and this is it. Scrawny punk, Mustang, Hendrix hands. Deal.

  There are clubs/DIY spots in this city where the sound is so bad, it actually makes more sense to judge a band buy it's gear. At least you'll know where they came from.

  I asked a bunch of local guitarists what they're playing, and what their three dream guitars would be. I'll start it off:

Stephen from The Planes

  Current Guitar: White Fender Mustang, Japanese made from 1997. Bridge pickup switched out for a 90's stock American standard Strat pickup. Pickup switching rigged up like a Les Paul.

  Dream Guitars:
    #1. Jazzmaster with a stock neck pickup and a super high output humbucker in the bridge.
    #2. Squire Strat from the 80's with the giant headstock (surf green or sonic blue).
    #3. Mustang with Jmaster style tremolo; an actual Fender version of this.


Micah from The Teen Age

  Current Guitar: Sunburst and cherry red Mexican Telecasters.

  Dream Guitars:
      #1. Gretsch G5810  (note. that's the rectangular Bo Diddley guitar)
      #2. Music Man Albert Lee HH
      #3. Fender Pawn Shop Jaguarillo

Hearts Bleed Radio's Official Northside Showcase Previews!

  The 2014 Northside Festival is right around the corner. We're looking forward to four days of music, whiskey, food, and musicians being treated like they deserve to be treated all the time. The best thing about Northside is it's walkability; it never feels like you're more than a five minute walk from the next venue. If I'm not playing a show, I'll be bumming around North Brooklyn in an endless loop of whiskey, tacos, and rock 'n roll. That being said, most likely, I will be playing/hosting a show. This year, Hearts Bleed Radio is proud to bring you two and a half showcases. We'll cross paths with you at some point. It was meant to be.

The Teen Age, probably trying to find the entrance to Pet Rescue

SHOWCASE #1 

Friday, June 13th
Pet Rescue

The Teen Age are one of those bands that effortlessly brings a vibe that, I guess in my head I refer to as "beer drinker's energy." I wouldn't want to call them a "high energy" band, because I don't want you think they're punks or anything like that. They have good energy; it's the kind of energy that comes from beer calories. They are a fucking blast. They are kicking off our weekend.

My Teenage Stride is the long time project of the multi-talented singer/guitarist/producer/king of Facebook; Jed Smith. Jed is one of the best songwriters I know, and I know a lot of songwriters. MTS is a songwriting clinic in action. Enjoy their music, and learn something too. Funny story, I realized last year that I saw Jed's old band open for Superdrag at Pearl Street in Northampton, MA like, in '99 or '00. Brooklyn feels like a weird "LOST" island more and more every day.

The Planes get good gas milage and fit into the tiniest parking spaces, but still have enough horsepower to pass a semi on one of those scary ass dotted yellow line highways. They are kinda the HBR house band. You know them by now, right?

Shark? Yes, dammit, SHARK?! Is it a shark? We tried to book these guys a couple times in the past, but nothing ever materialized... until now. This band is too good to be contained in a small place like Pet Rescue. I don't know what exactly is going on in this video, but I promise you there will be no weird predator aliens at the show.

A Boy's Irrational Bedtime Fear: Let's Be Loveless Talk Recording and Nightmares

It feels like it's been forever since we've done a good old fashioned chat interview here on Hearts Bleed Radio. In my defense, I've been doing a shit ton of booking (May has 5 friggin' Fridays!). This week we have a showcase on Friday at Matchless and Saturday at Pet Rescue. You should probably come to both of them, because, whoever you are, I don't seen you enough and we need to hang out more. So... Friday's lineup is great. Opening up is me, Stephen Otto Perry, playing solo, like I never do. Second we have White Like Fire, all the way from Pittsburgh, PA (they are awesome!) and Shelter Dogs (Brian LaRue's other other band, which he fronts). Next is Let's Be Loveless, and closing out the night is The Black Black. I can't say enough about this lineup, it's diverse but it works. Anyway, we had some chat action with Abby and Eric from Let's Be Loveless. Here's the transcript:

Hearts Bleed Radio: You guys have been busy in the studio. You have a single and a B-side dropping this week and an EP on the way?

Eric: Well, we just mixed/mastered 2 songs out of about 7 tunes we've been painstakingly writing/recording. It's been a year process. We get a little obsessive when recording. We are hoping to drop one of them this week, and maybe another in May to keep people interested.

Abby: We are super excited to release these songs.

HBR: Which one is dropping this week?

Eric: Well, not sure. Which one do you think works. Stephen, You are like the 3rd person to hear them. Ha.

Abby: We'll get back to you on which single we're releasing, but it will either be "Hostages" or "A Boy's Irrational Bedtime Fear" or "Death to the Moon."

HBR: Do you enjoy recording?

Abby: Recording is actually my favorite part of the process. Liquor helps a lot when doing vocals.

HBR: Really? Haha, it's my least favorite.

Eric: Yeah, I'm a fan of writing/recording. It's when I feel like I'm actually creating something.

Abby: Yes, it's like giving birth.

Abby and Eric, I'm not even going to describe this picture, it's too perfect.

HBR: I think "A Boy's Irrational Bedtime Fear" is the first single.

Eric: I think so too. It's a rocker, and has awesome Smiths'y title.

Crazy Update! Crazy Pills Kickstarter Action!

First of all, thanks everyone for an awesome Northside Festival showcase. The bands were incredible, and so were all the wonderful people who made it out. Hopefully we put on a show deserving of your valuable time and hard earned money.

We thought Crazy Pills were excellent the other night! Here's a picture of them rocking Matchless, courtesy of Chad Turner's Instagram...

So here's the real news...  Crazy Pills have a Kickstarter campaign to fund their debut album, "Restless". Check it out and drop them a couple of bucks if you can!

We can't wait to see you at Fort Useless for Hearts Bleed Radio Showcase #5! Hopefully we'll be fully recovered from the festival by then.

Juan from The Beets talks NYC streets.

Northside Festival 2013 begins today! We're so excited, we can't contain ourselves. Seriously, I can't wait to get out of work, pick up my wristband, and hit the shows! We have THE BEETS going on at about 10 o'clock on Friday night, and I was super lucky to get a chance to talk to front-person, Juan Wauters. We chatted about neighborhoods, music, New York, and abandoned schools. Here's the transcript:

Hearts Bleed Radio: I've seen it written a couple of places that you don't make music from Queens, you make Queens music. You seem like a big Queens guy, so tell me, what is it about Queens that you love so much?

Juan: I was actually born in a different country, but coming here, it's a really good place to move to. Y'know its very welcoming and I've made a big nucleus of friends. It's just something to identify with, and creates a sense of unity among ourselves, and my family, and all that. It's not so hard to take pride in that for me, y'know?

HBR: It's gotta be the most diverse place in the city.

Juan: Probably, yeah. So all that, and you know, it's the kinda forgotten borough, but where more "real" people live. We all share the same kind of society among ourselves. We all hustle for the same purpose. And a lot of us are building up a future there.

The band in nature.  awwww

Practice makes OK: The Planes, HBR, and Beatalic Cats.

Greetings dear readers! For this interview, we're talking to Stephen Perry from The Planes. "Wait!" you might say, "isn't that your band?" Well, it is... I tried interviewing myself, but it was coming off more like a cross between Mao's little red book and the Unabomber manifesto, so I decided it would be best to get a hand from Marisha, formerly of the band Corita. I must apologize for the goddamn novels I wrote for some of the answers, but I've been tapping into the writing part of my brain lately, and it's a well that is not easily capped. Marisha was a good sport though, here's the transcript:

Hearts Bleed Radio (Marisha): So, you have a fantastic showcase coming up on Friday. Tell me about the Northside Festival showcase for HBR.

Stephen: Well, it's mostly a bunch of friends bands that I wanted to get together on the same bill. Mostly catchy indie bands, all of whom are excellent performers. The Planes played a super fun showcase with Crazy Pills last year, so I wanted to get them again. Quiet Loudly is a blast to see live, really dynamically good set, poppy, but you can also get a chance to zone out with them. Mount Sharp has a kinda songwriter plus loud dissonant guitar thing, that a sonic youth like myself really digs. pow wow! might be one of the best bands in the city when they really nail it, like, any fan of rock would like them. And lastly, we were fortunate to get Queens natives, The Beets, to round out the bill. They haven't been playing to much recently, and they are kinda getting back into things, so we're super excited.

HBR: Crazy Pills are amazing! It's a really strong line up you've got on a Friday night. You guys are creating a supportive community of bands that tend to curate a lot of interesting shows in Brooklyn on a pretty regular basis. What are some of your favorite venues to play?

Stephen: Venue wise, there are three who have been very friendly to HBR and The Planes... For starters, Matchless, where we're throwing the show. Nice, tight, small room, bar in the band room (key), good food, outdoor area, good location. Cake Shop, has been very kind also, probably the last spot in Manhattan that small bands love to play (not to diss Bowery Electric, but I've never played there). And lastly Grand Vic, where we're doing a showcase on 8/1. Jeremy is a super nice guy and I recommend everyone stops by on a slow night and has a beer with him. Also, we haven't played Fort Useless yet, but we will on 7/13, and we're pumped, 'cause we've been going to shows there forever and what they do is so true to the DIY spirit and the community spirit of indie.

HBR: Fort Useless, Matchless and Grand Victory are great places for live music in an intimate space. I am a major fan of Cake Shop for all of Andy Bodes's ideals, high standards and good taste, all around a great place.

Stephen: I'd take a full room over a big room any day, haha. Legion has been good to us too, and they are super tiny.

I lost those aviators after this shoot. If anyone finds a pair on Meserole Street, hit me up.

holy cow! pow wow!

Hey you awesome people out there, reading this, probably getting stoked for Northside next weekend... We'd love to see you at our showcase, AND we know you'd love to see pow wow!, one of the most fun live shows this side of anywhere. pow wow! is a local five-piece, consisting of Eddie (guitar/vox), Jeff (keys/vox), John-Paul (bass/vox), Amanda (guitar/vox, from Crazy Pills), and Sal (drums, from Quiet Loudly). Between you and me, they are the band I'm looking most forward to seeing. I sat down via Gchat with Eddie the other day. Here's what he had to say:


Hearts Bleed Radio: So how did pow wow! get started?

Eddie: pow wow! got started way back in the fall of 2005 between myself and long time friends from high school Blake Zarsky & Chris Connell. We had been jamming together as several bedroom type bands post high-school and pow wow! was the first project where we actually focused and aimed to released material and play shows. The problem was, we needed a full band to really be able to play out, as our formula of two guitars and a drummer, wasn't exactly working out for our live set. After a few jams, Jeff was invited to join the band to play keys in 2006 when he turned 17, along with our first bass player, Corey Mcnaught who I had met during my short stay at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. I forgot to add it was formed in New Jersey (IMPORTANT!)

HBR: Totally important. How do you feel about Maxwell's closing?

Eddie: Maxwell's closing is truly a bummer, especially for us Jersey blooded folks. Before really hanging out in New York, the early 2000's was spent in Hoboken. We saw a bunch of shows at Maxwell's and were lucky enough to even play one back in 2009. They were such a hospitable establishment. I can't think of another venue that fed us an entire meal on the house before we played! Maxwell's has and always will hold a soft spot in my heart. Between the cigarettes we smoked in that front lounge, to all the times I stood in front of their jukebox trying to decide which Replacements song my friends would most enjoy a drunken sing-a-long to... their closing is truly quite a loss for Jersey and the Northeast in general. It will be missed immensely.

HBR: It's silly how we live in NYC, and we know NOT to be sentimental, because things change so constantly... but there are always changes that come as shocks.

Yup, this is exactly what they look like.

Eddie: It's true, but it's unavoidable. New Yorkers are just as sentimental as anyone else, especially when it comes to any long standing local haunts...

HBR: Let's talk about "Don't Stop to Look". It's a really strong recording, polished enough, and catchy enough songs, to be accessible to the average fan, but it retains some lo-fi grit that gives it a mountain of character. What was the recording process like?

Quiet Loudly Rocks It Proudly

Quiet Loudly is one of the most sonically deep indie acts in NYC right now. They have an ability to work up an aural tsunami, and then corral it into a tightly written pop song. To hear what I mean, check out "Go Into The Light Smiling" on Bandcamp.  We are extremely lucky to have them performing at the Hearts Bleed Radio Northside Showcase. I sat down lead singer/guitarist Max Goransson, and picked his mind about the band, the album, and the future. Enjoy!

Hearts Bleed Radio: You recorded "Go Into The Light Smiling" with Tony, Sal, and John. But you're going to have a fill in at the 6/14 show. I assume for John?

Max: Yes. Well, John's still going to be away on tour with his other band Naam (who are great). BUT, that's not the only change to our lineup. We will be playing our first show as a five-piece for your showcase. We've made a pretty big change-- Tony has moved over to guitar for all our songs and we've brought in Jonathan Pilkington Kahnt to play bass for us permanently. And he is amazing. And as far as keyboard goes, our good friend Kurt Schneider is going to be filling in for John. And from now on, whenever John is in town and can play with us, he will continue to do so. But, whenever there's a show we want to play and he is on the road, we're going to try to have someone filling in whenever possible. We've been rearranging all our songs to accommodate the change. So, if we ever have to play without keys, we can, and we can still have a nice, full sound. It just might be a little more guitar-centric.

HBR: Looking back on that album, I guess almost a year after it came out... AND going through those changes, like, how has your perception of the album changed? Do you like certain songs better than you used to? Some less?

Max: Well, to be honest, I have a really hard time listening to my own work. I go through phases throughout the process of making an album, as I'm sure most musicians do. There's that first phase when you've just laid down all the tracks and you are super, super pumped and you're convinced it's the best thing you've ever done. Then, you reach a boiling point during mixing the album where you've heard every single detail under a sonic magnifying glass and anything that's not perfect is totally jarring and infuriating. Then, once the album is done being mixed, there's usually a lull when you can take a break from it and you get it mastered. Then, once it's mastered it feels like gold again and you're obsessed with it for a week. And then you go back to nit-picking and finding it intolerable and you need distance. That's how it is for me, anyway. So, I haven't actually listened to the album for a long, long time. But, if I wait for another year before I do, I'll probably love it again. There were definitely a couple songs that weren't my favorites before recording, that became favorites AFTER recording, like Your Wedding/My Funeral.
    

If you don't wear glasses, you have wear a hat. If you don't wear a jacket, you have to wear suspenders.

Crazy Pills: Cats, Gear, Gigs, and Alternate Reality Country Music Super-stardom

Hey there dear readers... The Northside Festival is just around the corner, and here at HBR we are so excited about our showcase that we can't even sleep or eat, or really do anything other that drink beer and count down the days. Last year, one of my bands, The Planes, shared a bill with Crazy Pills, at The Whatever Blog showcase (and it was incredible), and we're lucky to have them on the Hearts Bleed Radio Showcase this year. Crazy Pills (Amanda on Guitar/Vox, Eddie on Bass, and Jim on drums) are a high energy three-piece, and kinda sounds like that point where rockabilly, garage rock, punk, and pop, all intersect. I sat down with Amanda and discussed her two main passions; music and cats.

Hearts Bleed Radio: I have to start with the most important question first. How are your cats getting along?

Amanda: They are not! Ha. Apparently, they're trying to ascertain which is "alpha". I think they'll settle down. Apparently the small sassy female is going for the win. You know how that's gonna go. I'm pretty proud of Binky - he's being very tentative and careful around Snuggles. She's being alternately too cute for words and hissy... KITTENS.

HBR: I heard that it can take a while for them to kinda smell the same, and that's when they finally accept each other. Snuggles? I thought it was Miyu.

Clockwise from top left: Amanda's cats, Miyu /"Snuggles", Binky, my cat Baron, and my roommates cat, Storm
NOW YOU KNOW

Amanda: IT IS SNUGGLES. Eddie was like, "She's a little girl, she needs a pretty dignified name" or some nonsense like that. Since Binky's full name is Bibingka, which is this purple yam based, Filipino sweet, he thought it should be a girl's name in Japanese or whatever. So I went with Miyu, which is a girls' name in Japan which means "pretty [something, I forget]". But she is Snuggles to me... I LOVE CATS. Please, let it be known. 

HBR: Yeah, Baron is either "Bear," "Bearcat," or "Bearmuffin" to me. He's only called "Baron" when he's in trouble. So aside from cats... You also play guitar and sing in Crazy Pills. I would describe your sound as "garage rock 2.0". A lot of influence from 60's garage, but like, you obviously lived through the last couple of decades and take inspiration from that. Where are you coming from musically? What are you main influences?

 
Amanda: Hmm - good question! I guess that as with our tunes being thematically disparate from song to song - one song is inspired by cults, one is inspired by moving out of NYC, one is a good ol' "he done me wrong, mama" - so are our influences! Obviously, each player brings his respective influence to the table so...I can only speak for myself. I love the Stones. I draw a lot of that rock and roll swagger from my childhood dream of being the next, I dunno, Elvis? Who knows. I love the rockabilly from the 50s and 60s (and country, of course - I grew up in an Indiana town with...wait that's a Tom Petty song - I grew up in a blue collar town with tons of country music radio stations, I can sing along to any Trisha Yearwood or Dwight Yoakam song, dude), obviously, the garage and pop from the 60s through the 70s, post-punk or whatever you call it from the 80s... man... 

  Of course there's 90s college rock that I think gave me the guts to go electric - thank god for The Breeders, BELLY, all those rad female fronted bands for having freaky amazing songwriters fronting rock bands. I could go on and on... Also - my guitar playing is influenced by separate factors beyond the songwriters and bands I'm influenced by so it's... not quite a conflict but it does take the tunes different directions than they start out heading.

Meet Mount Sharp! Mainers on a mission... to Mars... with tacos.

It's a rainy Friday afternoon here in NYC, but lucky for me, I got to spend a chunk of it chatting away with Sarah Wood (Swood) and Bryan Bruchman.  Bryan (guitar/drums) and Swood (guitar/vox), along with Maia Macdonald (guitar/drums) and Ryan Zumsen (bass), make up the Brooklyn indie rock band, Mount Sharp.  We are super happy to have them kicking off our official Northside showcase on 6/14!  Here's a little primer on the band, and their love of tacos... 

Hearts Bleed Radio: So you guys met in Maine, and then ended up in a band together in Brooklyn. How did that happen?

Bryan: We were both living in Portland, Maine, where I was playing in a band (Marie Stella), working at a venue (SPACE Gallery), and running a music blog (HillyTown.com). Sarah had a band called Mango Floss that a few friends with good taste in music saw and started raving about, so I checked them out and loved what I heard. I booked Mango Floss to play a couple shows I was putting on in Maine, so that's where Sarah and I met. Then, we bonded over a long, drawn-out Foursquare battle for the mayorship of a Korean taco restaurant.

Swood: It's how all great friendships begin, really... Tacos.

Bryan: And beer!

HBR: So, how long ago was that? Did you guys come to the city together? Was there kidnapping or bribery involved?

Bryan: Hah!  When was that, Swood?

Swood: That is such a good question. About two years.

Bryan: 2011 was when we met.

Swood: Yeah, and then Bryan moved.

Bryan: I booked Mango Floss to play my Belfast Free Range Festival after-party as well as Hot August Night, On A Boat, AKA Party Barge that year. Then I moved back Brooklyn in 2012. A short while after that I had a breakup and found myself in need of a roommate.

HBR: I wish more places offered Free Range Musicians...

Bryan: Hah!

HBR: And Swood swooped in...

Bryan: Yup. I was up in Maine to work on some videos - and I think for Free Range Festival again - when Sarah and I had tacos at a less-than-awesome place which will remain unnamed, and offered to move to NY, be my roommate, and start a band!

Swood: I decided I needed to get out of Maine, and that coincided with Bryan needing a roommate. Meant to be.

Assuming they are facing Northeast, what time is it?