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May 14, 2012
Paper and Plastick interviews JR. Juggernaut
Paper + Plastick Interviews JR. Juggernaut.
1. First and foremost, the JR. Juggernaut sound seems to borrow a lot from alt-rock and alt-country bands of the 1990s, with bits of music similar to the sound of Foo Fighters, The Wallflowers and Uncle Tupelo. This style seems to be making a bit of a comeback, with bands like you guys and Cheap Girls releasing new music. Can you talk a bit about what makes this style of rock timeless and how it has influenced you?
My favorite eras of rock songwriting are the late 60s and early 90s. That's when it seemed music was truly connecting with youth culture, rather than just selling to youth culture. Those two eras also produced, in my opinion, some of the edgiest popular rock music we've heard.
I spent my teenage years in the 90s playing in bands and, though my songwriting has obviously progressed, I don't necessarily think the sonics of how I play really have. I still enjoy melodic open chord strumming through a loud, distorted Marshall to create a full wall of sound. If it sounds like the 90s, that's just because almost anyone creates as an adult the kind of art that affected them as a kid. It's not a conscious effort to hearken back; it's just who I am.
2. The lyrics and music on the album seem to carry a general feel of nostalgia to them. Can you talk a bit about what influenced the writing of this record?
I do tend to be nostalgic. Especially with the art that appeals to me. But at some point I decided it wasn't just nostalgia... I really believe popular culture is at one of the lowest points artistically that it ever has been. That's what a song like THE REVOLUTION on our new record is about. "The revolution never felt so far behind." I remember Wal, our drummer, hearing the lyrics for the first time when we laid it down and said, "is that song about you hating current music?" I had a laugh, but it totally is.
As far as overall themes on the record, though it wasn't intentional, I subconsciously made a good portion of the lyrics about mortality; losing a loved one. That, in itself, forces nostalgia, because it's the only way we can deal with that kind of loss. To think positively on the past.
3. The Paper + Plastick homepage has slowly been hinting at who the band behind the cryptic photos and music is, and while any fans of the band’s Facebook would easily be able to figure it out, it’s been a bit of a puzzler and a game for others who have only heard the music from the website’s updates and posts on news sites. How has the band felt about the feedback of the “trick”?
The band was thrilled with the feedback. Overall, the response was very positive to the music which is nice because people are listening to it with no preconceived notions. They didn't know who it was. They were forming an opinion solely on how they reacted to the song. I thought it was a cool way to tease the record.
4. One trend in the songs on “Wake” is the prevalence of solos from track to track, which is something that is sorely missing from a lot of alt-rock these days. What is it about solos that the band feels is so important?
To me, a stringed instrument is designed to solo. Guitar, violin, banjo, whatever. That's its voice.
As a listener, I find it a profound experience when a band shuts up lyrically and lets the music convey the message. And as a performer, I find the most profound experience I have on stage is during a solo. Intellectually, the brain shuts off and the instincts take over. It becomes primal.
5. The album has a heavy workingman theme to it, which is something also missing from music these days. Can you kind of talk about how/why this ethos is important driving force for your music?
If there is a workingman theme to the record, it's not something I consciously decided on. It probably has more to do with my style of writing lyrics which generally introspective. If you hear a workingman theme on the record, it's just because I am honestly confronting my own issues of staying afloat.
6. On the topic of working, Mike also works as a director for the Spike TV show 1000 Ways To Die. Can you talk about the experience of balancing both work in the world of television and playing in a band?
Jr Juggernaut is made up of three guys who all have careers. Mario and I are both filmmakers, and Wal is a college professor and freelance writer. The juggling act is not that hard because none of us see Jr Juggernaut as a career. We are all passionate musicians and devoted to the band, but there is no desire whatsoever to endlessly tour for $100 a night split between 3 guys, a motel and a van. For all of us, it's just another extension of ourselves creatively. We write, we record, we play shows.
And with 1000 WAYS TO DIE, it was a happy marriage because I actually stuck some Jr Juggernaut music in a couple of the segments I directed!
7. If you guys could have a dream tour of your band and any other three, what would that tour be?
I have to cheat and name 4 bands here. Dream tour for me would be to play with Dinosaur Jr, Blue Cheer, Neil Young & Crazy Horse and Nirvana. I added Nirvana to the list just because I want to see them live and if we're dreaming here...
8. At Paper + Plastick, we are big fans of coffee and donuts. What is your favorite type of each?
I am Sour Cream "Old Fashioned" donuts all the way. Not really a coffee drinker, so I'll just say one of those Frappucinos that's more like a milkshake than coffee. I have a sweet tooth.
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May 10, 2012
CONGRATS To Juliet Simms on her awesome performance on The Voice!!
Congratulations to Juliet Simms of Automatic Loveletter for her fantastic finish on NBC's The Voice, finishing in second place!! Fantastic job! We wish you the best!!
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May 8, 2012
Red City Radio Tour Diary #3
ENTRY 3
Familiar Faces....Again
Munich
Our trip to Munich is marked by things, one good and one bad. The bad thing is we still haven't been able to open the back of our van. Which means we're going to have to borrow Anti-Flag's drums since we'd been sharing with Hostage Calm. In fact that means we'll have to borrow ALL of Anti-Flag's gear. They're nice guys and at this point we'd considered them friends but at the same time it felt presumptuous and wrong to assume they'd bail us out of this jam. On the plus side Munich is where I'd meet up with my wife Glenna, who had been vacationing in Paris. She was going to accompany us for a couple of dates then explore Germany before hooking back up with us in Berlin, Stuttgart and Groezrock for our three festivals dates. This impending rendezvous was the only thing keeeping my spirits up as the whammies were piling up too fast for me.
We get to Munich and immediately Tomas, Anti-Flag's tour manager/sound guy/driver/Austrian Adonis/and as it turns out mechanical genius, gets to work fixing our van. We are able to load our gear in after dismantling the interior, taking the seats out and basically taking the hardest path possible. While Tomas turns the wrenchs, Glenna shows up and a tearful reunion with soaring string sections, a panning 360 degree steady cam shot with rose pedals falling from the sky, in slow motion, as everyone applauds and a Joe Cocker song plays on the PA ensues. Kiss, kiss, hug, hug, eat some catering and let's sit around for 3 hours for the doors to open, baby.
Show played. Fun, had. Everyone got a hotel room that night. Glenna and I got our own but before we crashed we hung out in Munich's red light district until four in the morning as strip bars were the only ones selling alcohol at that point. I won't go into too much detail, as I'm sure your active imaginations can fill in the blanks, but let me just say it was a disgusting, eye opening, expensive, hilarious and ultimately amazing experience. Just saying.
Zurich (Twitter addition)
Zurich=blast but we lost 200 Euro to customs because when we left the country we accidentally smuggled ourselves out via back roads. Whammy. #1stepforward2stepsback
Osnabruck
Jesus this drive sucked. First all of all, when we came into Zurich we had to put a sales tax deposit down on what we sold in Zurich. Well, when we left the tunnel out of Zurich was closed so GPS routed us around into standstill traffic for over an hour (whammy). Keep in mind that we had a 7 and 1/2 hour drive to Osnabruck already so time was of the essence. After a while our highway goes from 4 lanes to 2 lanes. And then one lane. And then an even smaller lane. And then a bike path. And we noticed we're in the middle of a gigantic forest that is dark and scary and probably is home to rabid werebears with a taste for dude penis and body odor. We are fucked. But then....out of the blue....the trees clear and bam...we're back on a normal highway. And it turns out we're in fucking Germany. We've somehow smuggled ourselves across the Swiss border, past customs and our 200 Euro (whammy). At this point there is no turning back. Oh well, onward and upward. So we're on the road again when we hit traffic. Again. Except this time it was at a standstill for another hour, and then they diverted us off the highway where it took us another hour and a half to move 7 kilometers. All told we were stuck in traffic again for 3 and 1/2 hours. We had to call the promoter and tell her we may not make it to the show. She told us to hurry and she'd slow down the start time. So I, being the driver for the majority of this disaster drove, through the rain (did I mention that during this comical adventure it was also pouring, because it was, you can't make this shit up) at 150 km/hour. That's about 100 mph to you Americans out there. We show up 15 minutes into Hostage Calm's set, load in, and literally get our gear ready to put on stage the moment they get finished. So after an 11 hour drive day fraught with tribulations, we summon the strength to get through our set we which we slay. Silver lining to say the least.
Paul Pendley
Manchester, England
May, 2nd 2012
End of ENTRY 3
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May 7, 2012
FLATFOOT 56 ALBUM INFO
We'll be releasing Flatfoot 56's "Toil" on July 24! Check out all the info here:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151653228860361&set=a.10150193476015361.429528.216827145360 -
May 6, 2012
Limited Cassette Release
LIMITED CASSETTE RELEASE
Paper + Plastick Records has launched a pre-order for Foreign Tongues' self-titled EP on cassette tape. The five-song EP is being offered in two different cassette variants and is limited to 200 units.
Listen now: Foreign Tongues - Self-titled EP on Bandcamp
The entire EP can be streamed on the group's Bandcamp. Foreign Tongues is recommended for fans of the loud-quiet-really loud brand of indie-rock, taking after bands like Nirvana, Balance & Composure, Dinosaur Jr. and Pavement.
Paper + Plastick owner Vinnie Fiorello praises the band's ability to create a different atmosphere in each song on the EP. "It's very dynamic and takes you on a ride," Fiorello says. "The songs are heavy and light and have hooks and is still angry all at the same time."
Preorders for the cassette begin today and the street date is May 21. Cassettes will ship on or around that date.
More about Foreign Tongues:
Writing a bio for Foreign Tongues is kind of like trying to describe an episode of Boy Meets World, but don't run away yet just because I said that. An episode of Boy Meets World is a complex organism. For every funny or cute moment, there is a life lesson to be learned. And the life lesson can be learned both by the pre-teen middle-school viewer and his parent. In short, Boy Meets World never really becomes irrelevant.
A Foreign Tongues release is a similarly complex experience. You can hear traces of Dinosaur Jr. There is some Sunny Day Real Estate and Pavement here. There is a lot of Nirvana here. And the New Hampshire/Massachusetts natives' five-track self-titled EP was produced by Jay Maas of Defeater, so there is a certain distinguishable hardcore sound present.
The convergence of these influences produces a five-song EP where no song sounds like another, a result of going into the studio without a specific "sound" in mind. There is a common undertone that connects the songs to each other, something that fans of Balance and Composure, Tigers Jaw and Nirvana will appreciate. -
May 2, 2012
Red City Radio Tour Diary #2
Red City Radio Tour Diary.
Entry 2: Claustrophobia And You
Part 1: Familiar Faces
Cologne
We arrive in the beautiful city of Cologne Germany with renewed purpose. Our previous days had been fraught with some degree of frustration as our replacement van was nowhere near adequate to our purposes. It's too damn small. We brought an enormous amount of merch to sell at the Anti Flag dates as well as the festivals we were playing. This van couldn't hold all of our merch, luggage and gear. In fact it was to small to even hold all of the gear we had rented in its cargo area. Consequently that meant stowing, in the most cubic space efficient way, many of our items in the cabin of our van. So space was in short supply. No stretching out on the bench seat. No lazy drives lounging against a window. No comfort really. And you had to have an ever watchful eye that when turning left something didn't fall on your head.
But we had gotten beyond that. This van was temporary after all. We had to return it by the 27th anyway. While there was a degree stress involved in having to obtain yet another replacement van it was tempered by the fact thast this one would be bigger. So there you go... a silver lining.
Oh yeah, so we played a cool show at a venue called the Luxor. It was packed. The kids were cool. we ended up hitting a bar after the show and the bartender let us keep it open until 5 AM. Not great idea in retrospect but this day did mark our rendevous with our great friends Georgia and Stick. They decided to hit up Groezrock, travel Europe for a few weeks and see some of our shows. Let me tell you, when you see one of your best friends halfway around the world you're actually upset you couldn't hang out later than 5 in the morning.
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is fairly picturesque city located not far from Frankfurt ( I think). This show was significant because literally across the street from our show our friends Nothington were also playing. To top it off one of our oldest punk rock brothers Tim from Elway was playing drums for them. So in addition to friends from home we had friends from different US cities AND our new friends in Anti Flag and Hostage CaLm. That is a lot of friends. Too many friends now that I think about it (I now resolve that I will not use the word "friends", except for just just then, for the rest of this diary/recap. Expect euphemisms). Luckily the venue's backstage area was enormous so it was able to accomodate all of us in relative comfort. We play the show,it goes well (Can I just go ahead and say that up until the writing of this, at this very moment, EVERY show has gone well. There's been a great crowd. We've sold lots of records. Everything great. So now I don't have to type that out for everyday. It's a given now. Remember that) and afterwards we head across the street to watch Nothington's set. Good times. They were also kind enough to let us crash in the rooms above the venue so a reasonable amount of slumber was achieved.
Part 2: A Day Off.....Or Are They?
For reasons not really detrimental to good storytelling we had an off day scheduled on a friday night. Any band will tell you this is a no-no. A whammy even. Needless to say we were not stoked on the prospect. It just so happens that a man we came to know as "German Dave", not to be confused with "Regular Dave" (we get to him in a moment), told us he knew the promoter of Fridays' show in Wiesbaden which happen to feature UK's League Apart, our future tour mates when we hit the UK in a couple of weeks, and a great German band called All Aboard. We'd play for free and maybe sell some merch. No matter what we had a place to stay, free beer, free food. It was a no lose proposition. So yeah, that happened. Show...great. Fun....had.
Oh yeah we also met a few Americans from the Army base nearby. One of them knew all of our songs which was cool. Another helped me score some good all American Day Quil for Jo Jo who was feeling under the weather. Nice guys. If you guys ever read this, thank you so much.
Bausendorf
Here we headlined a small festival at the Rok Bar. Hung out with Cobra Skulls. Caught on some emails. Ate and drank way too much. Van situation still up in the air at this point but we were having too much fun to fret about it. That is until the back door of our van became stuck (whammy). As in it would not unlock and therefore we could not access our gear. On top of that in Dally's frustration to open the door he snapped the key off in the lock (whammy). We had pulled our guitars out earlier so all we had to borrow was everything else. No big deal, Leagues Apart are playing the festival and we're sharing gear in the UK so we might as well get used to it now. Anyway the show went off without a(ny addtitional) hitch and we got a good 4 1/2 hours of sleep before we had to get up and head to Bavaria.
Paul Pendley
ON a train from Berlin, Germany to Stuttgart, Germany
April, 28th 2012
END OF ENTRY 2
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May 1, 2012
Paper and Plastick interviews Foreign Tongues
This is an interview with Foreign Tongues. Paper and Plastick will be releasing there self title EP to vinyl and cassette.
1. Your debut self-titled EP was mixed and mastered by Jay Maas, who is pretty well known for playing guitar in Defeater and producing pretty decent sized bands like American Nightmare and No Trigger. Can you talk a bit about how you were able to get someone with a fairly impressive resume to help you out with your first release?
Jay is a great friend of mine/ours. I've known him for years through prior bands an whatnot. I hit Jay up personally when James and I decided to peruse this band. We knew recording with him would give us a real defined sound and also we knew wede have a killer time recording. We did a lot of dicking around but even more crushing through all the amounts of drums guitars and vocals.
2. It seems that the last couple of years have had a lot of newer bands (Balance & Composure; Sainthood Reps) come out with releases highly influenced by ‘90s noise-rock bands like Nirvana, Pavement and The Jesus Lizard. Can you talk about the influence the band has received from that style and why you think it is making a resurgence lately?
I grew up listening to Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Dinosaur Jr. ect as well with a lot of others my age. I feel the recent clique that is emerging is honestly the music scenes replenishing itself. More simplistic bands that sing are clinging to 90's rock band as influence because its in your face intense music but also at times rather simplistic. We've been getting really great responses from the public. Every time we play a show I feel like someone compares us to another band I wouldn't of expected, and that's rad!
3. The New England area is fairly well-known for a few generations of extremely strong and tight-knit hardcore communities. What is it about that region that it seems to be this breeding ground for hardcore bands?
It's always been that way around here. We all were in hardcore bands at one point, and I can honestly say its a great community. Amazing hardcore bands have emerged from the east coast and I know will continue too. I'll always love and support the hardcore music scene.
4. Can you talk about some of the lyrical influence in the EP and some of the themes that it touches on? There seems to be a bit of a trend of monotony in some of the songs; would you feel this is accurate?
There are plenty of touchy subjects lyrically that I wanted to scrape the surface of, but while I was writing I realized I held back from keeping things vague and wrote lines a lot more straight forward.
Envy - discusses mostly how human instinct always has the need to want more. It discusses mostly how I've felt in the past trying to please people, trying to obtain acceptance from a larger crowed. As the song goes on its more of a awakening that I won't live like that anymore. I am who I am and will never be apart of something I don't truly stand for.
Maps Of The Sky - is about the inflation of the price of living in America. It's me giving my heart out to all the family's out there who work 2 jobs and can barley afford to put a roof over their head. Man/women who work for corporations for 25 years, give their life to the companies only to loose their jobs to budget cuts.
Jealous Children - has a lot to do with self doubt. How I time and time again second guess almost everyone of my actions. Not really too much more to say for that one it's pretty straight forward.
You - is about the love hate relationship I have with a certain girl. How we can always bing out the best and the worst in each other. Near the end of the song it becomes apparent that I realize my sometimes hard to cope with personality but that this girl truly makes me happy and would be a little lost with out her.
Theres A Hole In My Head - is another really personal song. It touches on how I always feel "stuck" never gaining or loosing anything. A constant struggle within my own mind.
5. The artwork for the EP is pretty unique and out there (and awesome) to say the least. Can you talk about coming up with the design of it and what influenced it?
Well we originally just had the little boy playing raquett ball and were very happy with it. It was supposed to represent being young but working towards something. Around the time the art was being finalized my Cat had passed away. He was very close with me and all my friends. We sort of last minuet ask my friend Daniel Wagner to somehow work it in.. And boom. It turned out like that Haa!
6. If you guys could have a dream tour of your band and any other three, what would that tour be?
Wow setting genres aside I'd have to say: (in no specific order)
Pearl Jam
Radiohead
Counting Crows
7. The only other material on the band’s bandcamp (other than a single from the EP), is a two-song cover EP, with “Incinerate” by Sonic Youth and “Feel the Pain” by Dinosaur Jr. What went into choosing to cover these songs for your first multiple-song release?
We didn't have complete songs at the time of recording the album, but wanted to give people a general idea of our band. Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. are some of my all time favorite artists. Feel The Pain was picked because it's the most popular song to do for Dino Jr and figured people would enjoy it. But Incinerate was more of our choice and just wanted to jam that song compared to most of their other hits like Kool Thing or Dirty Boots.
8. At Paper + Plastick, we are big fans of coffee and donuts. What is your favorite type of each?
I enjoy this because we are ALL coffee fiends. We all order differently but I enjoy a nice Coffee 1 cream 1 sugar. And am a huge fan of butternut donuts. Thank god for Dunkin Donuts -
April 26, 2012
Red City Radio Tour Diary #1
Red City Radio is going to be filling us in regularly on their current tour in Europe. Check out the first entry below.
It's not really a tour diary, technically, because here I am in Bremen, Germany, 10 days into our tour and here I am perched dangerously on a window ledge banging this out, hopefully, before our sound check in a hour and a half. You see? Because a diary is supposed to be more of a day to day thing. Or at least an entry on a semi regular basis. In this case however, it has become more of a recap, if you will, with potential for a more diary like regimen later on. We will see. If you're masochistic enough to be reading this, and obviously you are, get ready for tour whammies out the ass, tales of woe and redemption, a few laughs, some hometown cameos and maybe a few tears....
Thank you for your patience in advance.
Entry 1
Part 1: Where do I start?
Seldom do tours go perfect. Or maybe they do for other bands but when it comes to us it always seems there is a magnetic attraction between shit and fan. Some of the time it's our fault I will admit but most of the time it's just dumb luck. We have a saying for these times. Actually we have two. The first one comes from a particular west coast tour where we had horrible weather for three straight weeks and almost perished in a snowy mountain crash. It is "The Sun Never Shines On Red City Radio". I can say safely with this tour we have seen the sun twice so I guess that doesn't apply. The other is called a "Tour Whammy", it comes from Press Your Luck ( look it up), and we have had so many the thought of actually counting all of them scares the shit out of me.
The first happened before we had even left the States (did I mention we're on tour with Anti-Flag and Hostage Calm in Europe...uh, cause we are). The van we were renting broke down in France and we were essentially without a van or a way to pick up gear upon our arrival. In true punk fashion we said fuck it, put our faith in Tom Taaffe of TAG and Gunnar of Gunner Records to secure us a replacement (much love), and flew blind to Europe hoping everything would work out. Fortunately it did as we discovered during our layover in DC. Our flight did not though. It was in a word, fuckingterriblyshitty. Cramped. Bumpy. Old plane. Bad seats. Some of us medicated, like Snow Cobra. Some us drank stupid amounts of overpriced airline booze, like Jo Jo and I. None of us slept. None. We get to Zurich for a quick one hour layover, connect to Luxembourg, and then have to wait four hours for Gunnar to show up with our replacement van. That's two whammies right there (look at me counting, fuck. Not what I wanted to do. I promise things get better. I swear. Like right now). But this did give us a chance to sleep for a little bit in the airport. So we used all of our gear to make some weird merch and instrument fort around some bench seats and crashed for a few hours. Good stuff.
Part 2: We actually play shows too.
Luxembourg
Gunnar shows up and we proceed to the venue in Luxembourg where we are greeted with open arms by the very nice gentlemen in Anti-Flag and Hostage Calm. Really cool venue with great sound. We ate some yummy food, drank some beer, and played a killer set even though all of us were jet lagged beyond all repair.
Oberhausen
While not technically a whammy, but certainly a failure of planning on my part, I forgot or rather DIDN'T bring a hoodie to Europe. I thought "Hey it's spring, it's super warm in OKC, surely I won't need one". Well I did. It was really, really cold. And rainy. And cold. So when we arrived in Oberhausen we took the opportunity to find the nearest hoodie emporium for myself and a pillow market for Dally because he too suffers from the forget vital stuff disease. Pillow and hoodie achieved we returned to the venue for some dinner and refreshments. There we played another great show to an enthused crowd, sold some merch and said goodbye to everyone for a day because the next day was our first, and only as it turns out, off day.
-Paul Pendley
Bremen, Germany
April, 25th 2012
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April 16, 2012
Win A Break Anchor Test Press
The votes are in and We are going to be giving away Break Anchor's Test press. The Person with the best caption to this Mikey Erg picture will win. Post this picture and caption to our facebook wall. (Facebook.com/Paperandplastickrecords)
The Winner will be announced friday.
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April 10, 2012
Foreign Tongues self-titled EP coming to cassette and vinyl!
We are stoked to announce that we will be releasing Foreign Tongues' self-titled 5-song EP on cassette and 7" vinyl!
Check out their new P+P artist profile here: http://paperandplastick.com/artistdetail.php?id=77
And check out the press release here: http://exit384media.tumblr.com/post/20847950765/foreign-tongues-to-release-self-titled-cassette-and-7
