St. Louis Music Blog

NWS, back in the day, circa 1997

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On January 16, New World Spirits -- one of many St. Louis bands which earned a record deal in the '90s -- will be doing a reunion show at the Pageant. Tickets go on sale this Friday and are $20.

Judging from comments at this reunion post, the return of NWS is a welcome one. The warm feelings make sense, though: Back in the day, the band fit in easily with the feel-good roots-rockers of the '90s, and its music aligned well with Rusted Root, Black Crowes and the Tragically Hip. (One of the Amazon reviewers of the band's major label debut, Fortune Cookie, is not a fan, however: He describes them as "sort of a poor man's Dave Matthews Band minus the chops." Ouch.) Cookie, incidentally, can be had for a mere penny at Amazon.com, although the price for 1997's Spark is a bit higher: $88.45 new?!

As the quartet begins practicing again for the show, two of its members took time to answer some email questions about the reunion.

1. Who are you, and what is your role in NWS?
Mike Kociela, bass
J. Chambers, singer and rhythm guitar.

2. Why is 2010 the right time for a NWS reunion?
Kociela: No real reason. It just finally made sense for all of us and our fans kept up the pressure for the last ten years. I just can't wait to see everyone again and to feel the sense of community we used to share.
Chambers: I don't really know that there is a right time. Or that this is it, for that matter. We haven't approached it like that at all. The opportunity to do this came about very spontaneously, and the decision to play was made within minutes. There was very little thinking involved.

Things have been quiet in the Scat Records camp since the release of last year's Prisonshake album. But now comes word from label head Robert Griffin that a reissue of Bill Fox's Shelter from the Smoke is now available on CD and double LP.

In the '80s, the songwriter fronted dreamy Cleveland garage-poppers the Mice, a trio that would have sent the hearts of Elephant 6 fans aflutter had they been around a decade later. (Superchunk fans would also be wise to listen to 'em.) But Fox's stripped-back Smoke, which was originally released on now-defunct NYC label spinART Records, is described by Scat thusly:

Definitive reissue of Bill Fox's 1997 debut album. Comprised of home recordings from the previous several years, most of the songs are acoustically based and rife with personal atmosphere, and survey a complete spectrum between folk and pop. The songs are anchored by Bill's versatile voice, often in harmony with himself, as well as his high-level songcraft and deft though spare arrangements. There are also four dynamite electric tracks with Bill's short-lived early 90s group, The Radio Flyers. 23 songs in all - this edition compiles both previous releases of the album, which had varying tracklists, along with the beautiful 1995 Scat 45, "Bird of the World" b/w "I May Never Know." The CD jacket is a miniature tip-on gatefold with a matte finish, and was printed as a true duotone. The first-ever double vinyl pressing ($14) has a standard single-pocket design and matte finish, pressing at RTI, mastering by Golden, and includes a free mp3 download of the album. Design in both cases is spare and true to the original. No liner notes or glorification, the music speaks well enough for itself.

Grab it -- as well as a compilation album from the Mice -- right here.

Khan & BBQ via the KC Pitch

​We've been waiting since last Friday to hear King Khan & BBQ Show's version of what led to their arrest in Kentucky and subsequent missed shows.

Now the band has issued an official statement and, unfortunately, it doesn't shed much light on the incident.

Via an email from Trevor de Brauw, the band's Chicago-based publicist, received late Monday afternoon:

"On November 16, 2009 Kristin Klein entered a guilty plea to 2nd degree possession of a controlled substance in Christian County, Kentucky. Ms Klein was driving a rental vehicle that was randomly stopped at a safety checkpoint. Officers located a controlled substance in the cab of the vehicle. Ms Klein was unaware of the contraband and the validity of her license was indeterminable at time of arrest. Under KY law a driver of a vehicle is responsible for its contents. Therefore, Ms Klein entered a guilty plea and is scheduled to appear on April 2, 2010 to provide proof of her valid license.

King Khan & BBQ Show are driving through the night to make their Los Angeles show at Troubador tomorrow. Tonight's show in Phoenix is cancelled, but all further west coast dates and will to be honored. Kristin Klein is safe with the band and continuing her tenure as tour manager."

Asked whether Khan was also arrested for possession of magic mushrooms, as one report from a Kentucky newspaper indicated, de Brauw was cagey...

Season to Risk is one of those bands that's become more influential and beloved the less it plays live. The Kansas City post-rock act's alumnae are impressive: One-time drummer Tim Dow went on to be in post-Failure outfit Year of the Rabbit, while Joshua Newton has played with Every Time I Die, Reggie and the Full Effect and From Autumn to Ashes, and Paul Malinowski has become a well-respected producer. (St. Louis show-goers also know Steve Tulipana and BIlly Smith, as the pair frequently comes to St. Louis as part of the space-rock act Roman Numerals.)

In honor of its twenty-year anniversary, however, Season to Risk is regrouping for a short Midwest tour. The jaunt stops at the Firebird on Saturday, November 28. The Unmutuals and Gold Tooth open. Tickets are $8. The band also plans on working on new music after the trek.

Egan O'Keefe

London Calling's last Saturday night at the Halo Bar. More photos here.

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You need a scorecard to keep up with the location of popular dance night London Calling. The event got its start at the cozy confines of the Upstairs Lounge, then spent a spell at the Stable and finally landed at the Halo Bar. As of November 28, the night is vacating the Loop area and moving elsewhere. Writes founder Doug Curtis:

We're subrenting a 2nd floor loft at Shock City Studios (2200 Gravois) in the Benton Park neighborhood. Our first official night there is Sat Nov 28, but our launch party there will be Saturday December 12. On the launch we will be having Designer Drugs (NYC) guest DJing with us!

Designer Drugs, btw, remixes things such as this cut by neo-electro act IAMX.

King Khan performing last year in Brooklyn. Image Via.

​UPDATE 5:55 p.m.: The band has issued an official statement. Read about it here.

That would be the Kentucky New Era, whose tagline, "News that hits home," seems especially fitting in this instance.

Late Friday evening, the paper published a story with the awesomely un-ironic headline "Musician Arrested, Rock Band Stuck In Christian County," which sheds a little more light on why King Khan & BBQ Show missed their nearly sold-out show last Thursday at Off Broadway.

Apparently Khan was caught with a little of the ol' psilocybin in Oak Grove Kentucky and didn't make bail until 3 a.m. Friday morning.

Here's the pertinent excerpt from the brief New Era report:

Police arrested Arish Khan, better known as King Khan, or Blacksnake, and his tour manager, Kristin Klein, at 2:20 p.m. Thursday. They charged both suspects with possession of a controlled substance, and Klein on a charge of driving with a suspended license, a spokesman at the Christian County Jail said.

Hunt said he knows little about the band's situation. "They're really hard to reach because only one of them has a cell phone, and it's like almost out of batteries," Hunt said. "The charger is in the car that got taken."

Khan was released after 3 a.m. Friday, a jail spokesman said. Klein was still being held on a $3,000 cash bond Friday afternoon. Hunt said the band members spent part of Friday meeting with a lawyer, "just trying to get their situation straight."

Tour manager Kristin Klein--charged with driving with a suspended license and possession of a controlled substance-- is now finally reported to be out of jail too

Of course, details in this case are still hard to come by and a sergeant at the Christian County Jail told us last Friday she had no record of either Khan or bandmate Mark "BBQ" Sultan ever being incarcerated there.

We're still waiting to hear back from Khan's publicist with the band's side of the story. (Keep in mind, it's not hard to imagine a scenario where cops in a tiny Kentucky town unfairly hassle a crazy looking Indian man wearing a huge shark-tooth necklace.)

As for the rest of KK&BBQ Tour...

​About three months ago, I quit So Many Dynamos. My spot was filled by my dear friend Nathan Bernaix, best known as the frontman for Target Market. Dynamos recently returned from its first tour with Nathan and are playing its first local show with the new lineup tonight at Off Broadway with Cold Bear Scout and The Lake. Nathan and I sat down to discuss his new life as a Dynamo.

Ryan Wasoba: Are you excited about your first local show in So Many Dynamos?
Nathan Bernaix: Yeah, definitely. And I'm glad we took the route we did. I'm glad that we've been playing all these out of town shows first. There are much higher expectations for the band here. People know what to listen for and they would know what's not there. It gave me a chance to groom a little bit.

What was your reaction when you got the call?
Well, I was surprised that you left the band. Everyone has always been really committed. It took me a while to warm up to the idea that I'd be in the band instead of you, that it wasn't going to just be a temporary thing.

King Khan & BBQ.

Update Monday, November 16: The band has issued an official statement and will continue their tour starting Tuesday in L.A.

Update 2:11 p.m.: Turns out Khan and Co. were actually picked up in Oak Grove, Kentucky. Details are available by clicking here.

Update 12:40 p.m.: Sgt. Karen Coker of the Christian County Kentucky Jail (in Hopkinsville, about an hour and a half outside of Nashville) confirms that tour manager Kristin Klein is in custody, charged with driving with a suspended license and possession of a controlled substance. Her bond is $3,000.

Coker did not, however, have any record of Arish Khan or Mark Sultan ever being incarcerated in Christian County Kentucky.

More details to come when/if we're able to obtain a police report.

Update 12:11 p.m.: Booking agent Sam Hunt confirms The Pitch report. "One of the members of the party [tour manager Kristin Klein] is still in jail. We're working with a lawyer trying to resolve it. Everyone is safe and ok."

Hunt did not know the specific charges the group was/is facing.

Klein, apparently, is a former tour manager of The Black Lips so this type of chaos is probably nothing new for her.

UPDATE 11:30 a.m.: The Pitch Our sister paper in Kansas City, reports on the situation: "The booking agent confirmed that the band was arrested yesterday in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The tour manager remains in jail, but everyone else is out on bail. No word of the charges yet, but the band will not be performing tonight."

Police in Hopkinsville would not confirm or deny that the members of the band were detained in there last night. We are awaiting a call back from a sergeant in the Hopkinsville Police Department who might be able to offer more information.

We also have a call into the booking agent, hoping to get more details there. Judging from our earlier update, though, he and the publicist are still unsure what state (both literally and figuratively) the band is in.

UPDATE 11:18 a.m.: This just in from Khan's publicist: "There is indeed some sort of hold up in TN, but still coming up short on details. I'll let you know when I find anything else out."

UPDATE 9:22 a.m.: Just spoke to King Khan & BBQ's publicist in Chicago. He was unaware that the band had missed the gig last night and was, needless to say, shocked when he heard about the rumored arrest. He said he'll call back when he has more information, which we'll pass on in updates here.

The rumor started spreading as early as 7 p.m. that Arish "King" Khan and Mark Sultan weren't going to show up for their nearly sold-out show Thursday night at Off Broadway in St. Louis. 

The duo that comprises the King Khan & BBQ Show missed its early evening soundcheck and were M.I.A. and incommunicado throughout the night. Even as the eager crowd filed into the packed venue and witnessed a pair of impressive (though clearly stalling) opening acts, the chatter was that the headliners hadn't been heard from since they left Nashville--their previous tour date-- around 11 a.m. Thursday morning.

See a slideshow from last night's Off Broadway show.

At approximately 11 p.m., local concert promoter Joey O'Farrell grabbed the mic and sheepishly delivered the news: The King Khan and BBQ would not be performing. No, he didn't know where they were or what had happened. Yes, Off Broadway was offering a full refund to anyone who wanted it. 

Then Deer Tick singer John McCauley took the stage and delivered an impromptu set of classic rock and roll covers.

Wait, what?

Back in July, A to Z brought you word that a bar called the Crack Fox was going to open in the spot once occupied by 2 Cents Plain (1114 Olive Street). After a few delays, a Facebook friend tipped off that the venue is set to open tomorrow night. We'll have updated club hours and other such info as it becomes available.

Watchers of LA Ink either loathe the guy or champion him, but Corey Miller -- who plays second fiddle to camera-magnet Kat Von D on the reality show -- describes himself as an old-school carny and folk artist, instead of a dramatic lightning rod. He also has an old-school surf-punk band (naturally) with skateboarding legend Steve Alba.

Miller will be in St. Louis this weekend for the Old School Tattoo Expo and talked about tattooing, punk and being a reality TV star. This interview was conducted while Miller was waiting in line for a ride at Knott's Berrry Farm amusement park outside LA, where he was celebrating his daughter's birthday. Guy is a trooper.

Photo: Tim Sutton

"TV is going to end, this shit is going to end eventually. I took the ride. The circus was in town and you do that," says Miller about his time on LA Ink.

​What do you look for at these tattoo conventions?
I come not necessarily to look for work, but for me to see what's going on, what artists are doing, who's doing radical new stuff, that's what inspires me. I love going out and seeing guys getting creative and doing neat things. Especially for the fact that it's an old-school convention. I know Lyle (Tuttle), he's a great guy, to be invited by those guys it means a lot to me too. I've been around along time, but now I'm in the big limelight of the whole tattoo industry, and for those guys to appreciate me coming around, it's a good feeling.

www.myspace.com/caldwellbobby

Bobby Caldwell

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Bobby Caldwell, guitarist extraordinaire and Missouri Country Music Hall of Fame member, passed away on the morning of November 8, 2009, after a long struggle with cancer.

Caldwell is remembered as an icon of country music and one of the most influential guitar players in St. Louis. Over a career that started in the '50s, Caldwell played with a host of legends, including Ray Price, Carl Smith, Sammi Smith, Johnny Bush and Barbara Mandrell, just for starters, and his impeccable tone and Chet Atkins-style guitar can be heard on recordings by country singer Barbara Fairchild. He also appeared with Ike Turner, Little Milton and Chuck Berry, and for years had been the go-to guitarist for the International Steel Guitar Convention, held in St. Louis each September.

A wake for Caldwell will be held at the Kutis Funeral Home at 10151 Gravois today from 3 to 9 p.m. and a funeral service will be held at the same location on Thursday, November 12 at 11 a.m.

Jennifer Silverberg

​Tomorrow night at the Gramophone, come on out and bid a fond farewell to mover and shaker DJ Trackstar, who is heading west with his fiancee. The show is free, and will feature DJ Spec and special guest DJs to be announced. A to Z shot the busy man an email with some questions about his future -- and he took the time to answer them below.

Where are you going?
San Diego, CA

What will you be doing? Will you continue doing music?
C'mon! Of course! I'll be on the same hustles, just warmer and near a beach.

Congratulations goes out to Euclid Records, which received a feature in music-industry bible Goldmine. The article has a nice photo of the Webster Groves store's marquee and owner, Joe Schwab. Read on below for an embedded copy of the piece.

Goldmine

On a side note: If you haven't picked up Eleven lately -- the most recent issue has the Raveonettes on the cover -- definitely do so. Although the monthly publication was affiliated with Wash U. in the past, it's now independently run, and the magazine's editors have done a great job amping up the quality and depth of the content. In particular, the interactive map of venues (complete with accompanying show calendar) is an amazing resource for local college students, and the in-depth feature articles on national acts and local bands are a welcome addition to the music-coverage community in town. Kudos to them!

Earthworms just unearthed (get it?) a new single, "Circles," which was produced by Ben Bounce and features Raashan Ahmad. The song is a taste from the band's forthcoming album, Midnight at the Capricorn. You can download the single and pre-order the album at earthwormshiphop.com.

Also, grrl-punks the Midtown Thieves disbanded earlier this year, just after finishing a seven-song album with Peter Dycus at Shine Studios. The band uploaded it to MySpace, however, along with some snazzy album art. Check it out!
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In yesterday's election, St. Louis County voters overwhelmingly passed a smoking ban. What this means:

Lately, it's felt like every old-school St. Louis band is playing shows again. The Unconscious is performing at the Pageant on Monday, December 28. Pale Divine just announced its second reunion show on Tuesday, December 29. And New World Spirits' reunion show is set for January 16, 2010. But an email from Mark Heinz confirms that another beloved STL act, Fragile Porcelain Mice, are no more. Says the email, which is taken from the band's official website:

First, because of various circumstances, we will not be performing our annual Thanksgiving show this year. This news is a great disappointment to us--not just because we won't be performing, but because we look forward to meeting up and chatting with all of our loyal fans who have celebrated the holiday of turkey and rock with us over the years.

Head on over to Daytrotter today, where the featured spotlight artist is Pokey LaFarge & the South City Three. LaFarge dropped by the Rock Island studios and performed *four* unreleased songs. Congrats! His latest album, Riverboat Soul, is also available -- but for now, only if you buy one at a LaFarge concert. (It'll be in stores and on iTunes in January.) Check out three new studio songs here.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Xmas_tree.svg

​Well, at least the 24-7 Christmas music didn't start in St. Louis this year until November 1. (Last year, if you remember, it started on October 10, after Movin' 101.1 prepared to flip to sports talk from upbeat music.) But yes, after hip-hop stalwart The Beat (100.3 FM) announced on Friday that it was switching formats, the constant holiday music began in earnest yesterday. Heck, the Halloween candy is still on sale, and we already can't escape good cheer and holiday schmaltz. Sure, nothing compares to hearing the Pogues' "Fairytale of New York," Wham!'s "Last Christmas" and Waitresses' "Christmas Wrapping" for the first time in a season -- but will they grow stale by December 22 when the holiday season really kicks into high gear?

Rhino Records

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Rhino Records just sent over a press release with the tracklisting and cover art for the soundtrack of the St. Louis-shot Up In the Air . Due December 1, the collection contains cuts from Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Elliott Smith and CSNY, among others. And as we reported recently, local Kevin Renick is also included with his song "Up in the Air," which the email describes like this:

UP IN THE AIR includes two previously unreleased tracks with unique personal connections to Reitman. The first is "Help Yourself" by Chicago-based singer-songwriter Sad Brad Smith. Reitman discovered Smith through his brother-in-law, who became a fan after seeing a performance by Smith at a Chicago coffee shop. The second track, "Up In The Air" by Kevin Renick, was personally handed to Reitman on a cassette during a speaking engagement in St. Louis. A recently laid off Renick had heard Reitman was working on a film adaptation to the popular book and had written this song with the story in mind. The track, complete with Renick's spoken word introduction included on the original cassette, now plays over the end credits.

Full tracklisting after the jump.

Kurt Cobain

Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic

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Ready to feel old? Nirvana's landmark debut, Bleach, turns twenty years old this year. (I'm pretty sure I have a few T-shirts as old as this. Really.) Before Nevermind made Nirvana a mainstream sensation, the lower-than-lo-fi buzzsawing of Bleach captivated the few who caught the band on tour or heard the LP. Sub Pop is reissuing a two-CD version of the album on Tuesday, which features a live Nirvana show from 1990. And our sister paper the Seattle Weekly published some illuminating stories about the players and circumstances involved with the album, including:

*Bassist Krist Novoselic interviewing Bleach drummers Chad Channing and Dale Crover.

*An interview with Jack Endino, who recorded demos for the Bleach sessions.

*Gillian G. Gaar puts Bleach in historical context -- what it meant then and what it means now

In late 2008, St. Louis native Nick Conceller left the electropop band Men, Women & Children, a band formed by ex-Glassjaw guitarist Todd Weinstock. Recently, Weinstock and Conceller formed the band Cubic Zirconia, which carries on MW&C's dance bent -- albeit with a darker, trip-hop/hip-hop vibe. Here's an interview with Conceller and vocalist Tiombe Lockhart.

Scion Radio 17: Cubic Zirconia Interview from Scion A/V on Vimeo.

The St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF) announced its schedule a few weeks ago -- and as always, the fest has plenty of offerings for music-doc buffs and local music fans. SLIFF runs from November 12 to 22; all ticket info and locations of the films can be found at this link.

Among the documentaries:
*Chops, which follows a Florida high school jazz band as it prepares for and performs at NYC's Essentially Ellington Festival.

*Icons Among Us: Jazz in the Present Tense, a survey of the modern jazz scene. Interviews, live performances and club scenes include Ravi Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Medeski Martin & Wood and Bill Frisell.

*Old Dog, New Trick and The Pride of St. Louis. Two separate shorts, the latter focusing on local classic-rock heroes Mama's Pride and the former documenting the life of Steve Scorfina, of Pavlov's Dog. A concert with Danny Liston and Steve Scorfina is taking place later after the November 20 screening at Blueberry Hill's Duck Room.

*The Rink. Keegan Hamilton wrote about this movie over the summer; it's an homage to the roller-skating whizzes in St. Louis' African-American communities.

Ian wisely pointed out that last week U2 announced some 2010 U.S. tour dates -- and St. Louis is not on the list. I did some checking around and confirmed that nope, the dates originally rumored turned out to be false. Ah well! The band's in Chicago again on July 6, 2010. And who knows what might happen with a third leg of the tour? 

Chad Garrison over at the Daily RFT has the news that St. Louis passed a smoking ban today in most bars and restaurants. The exceptions?

The amended bill excludes casinos and bars smaller than 2,000 square feet in size.

Okay, so, help me out here: How big is 2000 square feet? Approximately to what does that compare, in terms of local clubs and venues? Anyone know?

Edit, 4:45 p.m.: Commenter Scott beat me to the punch in posting this. Garrison has another blogpost that explains what went down at the meeting today, and talking about when it might go into effect. This is part of it:

As it stands now, the city ordinance would become law on January 1, 2011, but only if voters in St. Louis County approve a smoking ban at the ballots on November 3.

Anyone have any insights on this?

Congrats goes out to photographer Scott Spychalski, whose photo of Tom Waits graces the back cover of the forthcoming live album, Glitter and Doom. The best part about this? Spychalski shot the photo right here in St. Louis at the Fabulous Fox last June. Here's our review, and a whole slideshow of his photos from the concert. Check out the chosen photo below! (H/T to Jason Harper for sending me the link)

The May Day Orchestra dropped me a line a few weeks ago to report that it's penned another "folk opera" and plans to debut it on Friday, October 30, at the Black Bear Bakery. Details!

The first May Day Orchestra project concerned Lucy Parsons and the anarchist labor leaders of Chicago in the 1880s. A recording of this material is available as a vinyl album and will be available as a digital download in November.

This next May Day Orchestra project has a different theme and a different sound. The subject is Ota Benga, a pygmy who was taken from the Belgian colony in the Congo in the early 1900s and brought to the World's Fair in Saint Louis. The songs tell the story of the Congo and follow Ota Benga's journey to a strange new home in the United States. The May Day Orchestra, this time calling itself "The Ota Benga Family Band," will perform this new piece of music in the style of the first "folk opera." The band includes Tim Rakel (Bad Folk, The Union Electric), Kevin Buckley (Grace Basement) and three members of the band Tenement Ruth: Melissa Anderson, Dave Anderson and Mary Williams.

*Lou Barlow had some nice things to say about St. Louis and his KDHX session on a tour blog on Paste Magazine's website. Check it out! (H/T to 5 Score Pachyderm) He opened for Dinosaur Jr.

*The blog Turntabling.net went on a pilgrimage to record stores around the country in recent weeks. They stopped at Vintage Vinyl and the Record Exchange (and tried to stop at Euclid, but they were closed). However, nice things were said!

So, Tom Petty's Twitter account has been leaking the tracklisting to the forthcoming Petty live boxed set, The Live Anthology. And it looks like the Lou's 2006 show is being represented by the inclusion of "Square One." This thing is a monster, by the way, judging from a press release Petty's label sent around last week:

The collection brings together material from 1978-2007 culled from hundreds of hours of live concert recordings covering every era of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' tours and represents the best tracks as chosen by producers Tom Petty, Mike Campbell and Ryan Ulyate.

The Live Anthology will come in multiple configurations including a 5CD collector's deluxe box set available only at Best Buy that will include a first-of-its-kind audio-only Blu-ray disc. The collector's deluxe package will be in Best Buy stores on November 22nd. All other configurations will be in stores and available online on November 24th.

In case you haven't perused the paper yet this week, don't miss out on the fact that Not Waving But Drowning is doing a reunion show this Friday Saturday night at Fubar. They were before my time, but Ryan Wasoba says: 

 ...the tragedy of Not Waving But Drowning has more to do with timing than geography: By its early-'00s breakup, NWBD was too sentimental for hardcore purists and too spastic for the burgeoning emo crowd. The group's proto-screamo would have been groundbreaking had it existed a few years earlier - and yet many bands have since turned similar juxtapositions of Sabbath riffs and Bane breakdowns into profitable careers.