St. Louis Music Blog

Two locally produced documentaries about St. Louis music are premiering tonight as part of SLIFF. The Pride of St. Louis chronicles the rise and fall of Mama's Pride, in the words of brothers Danny and Pat Liston, while Old Dog, New Trick throws the spotlight on Steve Scorfina, a founding member of REO Speedwagon and member of Pavlov's Dog. The 7 p.m. Tivoli screening will be followed at 9:30 p.m. by a show at the Duck Room with Danny Liston and the Scorfina band. Tickets are $10 to the movies, $10 to the concert, or $18 for both, available at the Tivoli's box office. Christian Schaeffer reviewed both movies this week in the RFT; view a trailer for Old Dog, New Trick below.

OLD DOG NEW TRICK trailer from Mike Steinberg on Vimeo.

Now, this one isn't quite as good as the Fear KSHE ad, but it is ridiculous enough to work.This is in honor of Lemmy as well.

Here's a cool/random video find: At the St. Louis stop of U2's ZOO TV tour, a guy named Mark Finney from They Came in Droves -- a Springfield, Illinois, group that's actually reuniting in late November -- ended up onstage singing one of his own band's songs. (On that MySpace page there, Keith Voegele is listed as a bassist -- is that the BoRox own?) Talk about a dream come true. 

October 11, 1995, according to YouTube. Where was this audio culled from? *swoon* Incidentally, a rare spider -- which is apparently yellow, huge and very hairy -- has been named Heteropoda davidbowie, after the pop star. Awesome. Also awesome: Download this entire show, which is the infamous NIN/Bowie 1995 tour, here.

One word: Wow. Here's video of Via Dove killing the Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar" and "Bitch" -- the latter featuring Jimmy Griffin on guitar -- on Friday night's version of An Under Cover Weekend at the Firebird. Who else slayed this weekend?

Last night, Slobberbone's reunion tour stopped at Off Broadway (interview here), with Glossary. A review should be coming once our writer's hangover lifts. Until then, video!

Jumbling Towers is roaring back to activity in fine form in the months leading up to its September 11 St. Louis return. The Catbirdseat just posted "Gilberta," which is the b-side to forthcoming single "Kanetown City Rips," and the band very quietly just posted a cover of Kanye West's "Heartless" on YouTube. The delivery of the song itself cracks me up, because it highlights the drama in Kanye's lyrics. Oh, and the desperation. 

YouTube is known for its live video footage, but the website features a whole ton of vintage radio broadcasts too. Courtesy of Doug Quick (who's now a weather anchor in Champaign), here are some revealing snapshots of what St. Louis radio was like in yesteryear.

Ok, this is totally rad: Splitface's video for the song ""He's Such A Cool Robot," ft. Cuts by Helias. Trippy robots + cool scratching = a fantastic tune. Check it out!

Slayer, Marilyn Manson, Killswitch Engage and a ton of other bands are at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater today as part of the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival. In last week's paper, Phil Freeman spoke with Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo, in part discussing the band's forthcoming album, World Painted Blood. We'll have photos tomorrow, but meanwhile, check this vintage video of Slayer from 1994. Where was this?

Dropped by the Vintage Vinyl Michael Jackson tribute spin last Thursday. A good-sized crowd milled around in the aisles, many of them dancing and grooving to the hits being thrown down by DJ Needles and crew. What stood out is the music -- you don't really realize how many hits (scratch that: killer hits) Jackson had, until hearing them mixed together. The video I shot below isn't the greatest, but it does capture the atmosphere of the store quite well.

Over the years Matthew Sweet has proven that all he really needs is a "room to rock in," which is what he laments in the second song ("Room to Rock") on his latest album, Sunshine Lies. On Friday night, St. Louis fans of the veteran songsmith and power-pop genius were lucky enough to see him and some of his long-time cohorts at one of best St. Louis rooms to rock in, period: Blueberry Hill's Duck Room. Sweet was joined by a stellar lineup that was the latest incarnation of fellow power-pop group Velvet Crush (Paul Chastain on bass, Peter Phillips on lead guitar and long-time collaborator Ric Menck on drums). As Sweet and band took the stage in front of the sold-out crowd, they wasted no time with pleasantries, launching directly into crowd favorite "Divine Intervention," from 1991's seminal album, Girlfriend. The band was spot-on from the first downbeat: Phillips' blistering Fender Bassman classic-guitar crunch complimented Menck's drums, which sounded full and resonant.

Roy snapped some video of the Felice Brothers last night at the Firebird. How were they? I hear fantastic.

Green Jelly (can't make the umlaut here, sorry!) is playing the Firebird on Sunday night. I can almost guarantee it's going to be E-P-I-C. Perhaps just as epic as this series of videos that just surfaced on YouTube, which were filmed at the American Theater in 1993 by Rosemarie Mattrey.

"Super Elastic"

What I'm assuming is band member Eric Netherland uploaded this video of his '80s local cover band Sceptre, taking Yes' "Owner of a Lonely Heart" to the next level with an ARSENAL OF SYNTHESIZERS. The other video he posted is a Fixx cover, so we're going to stick with the Yes video below, recorded on New Year's Eve 1984 at Bogart's. Bitching keytar!

Here's the Minneapolis band Soul Asylum at Mississippi Nights in 1987, tearing through some songs like the scorching punk band it once was. Fun fact: Guess who opened for 'em? Why, the Flaming Lips!

"Whoa/Passing Sad Daydream"

Back in 1983, a young St. Louisian named Amy Hardin needed a liver transplant. Friends, family and even President Reagan expressed support for the child -- although perhaps the biggest donor to the cause was KISS, who apparently gave money from a 1983 Kiel Auditorium show to Amy's cause. Here's a video about the situation, posted by an eBay user called EliteWorks who's selling off vintage KISS memorabilia. Incidentally -- anyone know what happened to Amy? [Edit: An anonymous commenter left a link to a newspaper article that reports that Amy died in 1988.]

Here's a YouTube clip of Alejandro Escovedo headlining Twangfest last week at the Pageant. Escovedo prefaces the song "Sensitive Boys" with a recollection of a wild night (or two) he spent playing the old Cicero's club back when he was with the band The True Believers.

Courtesy of Roy.
Bunnygrunt:

Thanks to the talented Roy Kasten (who I imagine must be far less hungover than I am today to have been so fast at uploading these clips), here are bunches of videos from yesterday's music showcase. Up first are clips from the Sham, Rough Shop and Leadville. Check back throughout the day for more clips!

The Sham

Sorry, this should read: The Decemberists destroy Heart's "Crazy on You" at the Pageant on May 31, 2009. Thanks, user xdipndotx, for taking this amazing high-quality video. Review here.

Dedicated to Jay Bennett, with a nice preface. That's Kevin Buckley on the left, by the way.

Can't believe I forgot to post this last week: The Breeders' St. Louis-shot video for "Fate to Fatal" is now online. View it below. Take a look at my chat with Kelley Deal here, and another fantastic one from RFT freelancer/Breeders expert Jaime Lees right here.

Oops, been sitting on this one: Yes, the rumors are true -- beloved local rockers the Phonocaptors are doing a reunion show on Friday, June 5, at Deluxe, with the Sex Robots. The band pre-dates my tenure in St. Louis, but judging by this clip below, I see why everyone is excited. Ran into head 'Captor Jason Hutto last weekend and once he sends me an email (COUGH), I'll provide more details.

Here's a video shot by Bill Streeter:

Got word last week from our friends at Big Muddy Records that there's a documentary on long-time local musician Bob Reuter in the works. A trailer (naturally, in black-and-white) is viewable here.

For as much flak as native sons the Living Things receive from St. Louis for perceived criticisms - and the crap they take from everyone else for doing things like burning money onstage - the reality of the band is far less controversial. In fact, Lillian Berlin (née Jason Rothman) was (gasp) a nice, affable interviewee when I spoke to him last fall.

Mic Becker

Living Things!

He spent much of 2008 - eight months, to be exact - at Hansa Tonstudios in Berlin, Germany, with the rest of the band working on their latest album, Habeas Corpus. (This explains why he hadn't had much time to visit the Lou, even though his mom still lives in the St. Charles area.) Corpus achieves what Black Rebel Motorcycle Club has always aspired to be: It's a moody, stormy record with flashes of synthpunk ("Oxygen") and distortion-laden fuzz explosions ("Let It Rain").

And contrary to what many people claim, Berlin doesn't hate his hometown at all: During our conversation, he waxes ecstatic about Vintage Vinyl, The Point (105.7 FM) and laughs that he has a soft spot for food from The Pasta House. He also revealed that Chuck Berry's late keyboardist, Johnnie Johnson - who lived two blocks away from his mom - was set to contribute to Living Things' last album, Ahead of the Lions.

"Right before he died, I think it was three years ago now, we were set up in a house in St. Louis recording part of our last record," Berlin recalls via phone. "And we were going to have him come by and play piano. He was all booked - and then he died. It would have been his last performance on tape, it would have been great to have had."

Catch the band at Vintage Vinyl this afternoon at 4 p.m., and again later tonight at Off Broadway. The latter show starts at 9 p.m.; Nothing Still opens. After the jump, more chatting with Berlin and a bonus MP3 from his Chicago-era Y2K band, Atrixo.

As we wrote about here, the East St. Louis duo Scripts 'N Screwz is gearing up to release a whole slew of media in support of The New Noise. (Which we reviewed here -- whoa -- a year ago today.) New is a video for "The Brick," which you can view below. And SERIOUSLY -- watch the clip, which could be loosely based on the Biblical tale of Jonah being swallowed by a whale, if this story took place in the Mississippi River in the shadow of a (cartoon) Arch.

Scripts N Screwz-Brick Video from Scripts 'N Screwz on Vimeo.

As before, snag the Sound Cinema mixtape here, and take a look at the trailer (and grab an MP3 of "Brick") below.

More YouTube fun: Left Arm at the Kemper Art Museum last Friday, playing "Rock N Roll Stereo" and "Black and Bluetooth." I love posting these local live videos I see on YouTube, so if you played a gig and filmed some -- or discovered a few random ones via searches -- send 'em my way!

Well, here's something you don't see every day: an artist covering Marietta, Georgia, '80s jangle-twang popsters Guadalcanal Diary. Thanks to Roy for capturing Jason Ringenberg (backed by locals Rough Shop) covering GC's fabulous tune "Trail of Tears." (Click on the link for a more detailed show review featuring words on the Linemen and Rough Shop, too.) Self-indulgent GC geek-out after the jump. Bizarrely enough, I gave GC's album Flip-Flop a spin a few weeks ago, and it had some great stuff on there. Wonder if any of our fine record stores have any more used GC handy...

In this week's paper, Kristen Hinman wrote a story called Holy Hip-Hop: "Soul Force" strikes the Loop every other Sunday for a one-of-a-kind worship service. The article details the city's only Sunday morning hip-hop worship service, "Soul Force," which takes place once every month at the Regional Arts Commission. Check out a video about the service and its participants below, filmed exclusively for the RFT by Laurent Torno.