Monday, June 23, 2008

Serj Tankian - A Pemberton Preview profile

The lead singer of System of a Down will be performing some of his solo music at the Pemberton Music Festival on Friday, July 25th. This is his story:

GENRE: heavy alternative
FROM: Lebanon/U.S.A.
STATUS: Known best as lead vocalist of System of a Down
BEST KNOWN HIT: "Empty Walls" (single)
  • Tankian's parents and his younger brother moved from Lebanon to Los Angeles when Serj was five years old
  • System of a Down's bassist (Shavo Odadjian) and drummer (John Dolmayan) all share Armenian ancestry with Tankian
  • Studied marketing
  • Formed the band Soil and some the members later went on to form System of a Down
  • Claims to be a social activist and is involved in many political organizations
  • Formed his own record company Serjical Strike to help promote underground band
  • Wrote a poetry book Cool Gardens which as published by MTV Books
  • Formed a non-profit political activist organization "Axis of Justice" with Tom Morello (the god-like guitarist of Audioslave and Rage Against the Machine) in order to help motivate young people to become more involved in politics
  • He is currently pushing Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide of 1915

A long yet interesting quote:


"Neoliberal globalism is failing due to its underlying imperial ambitions and the discoveries of those sinister ulterior motives. So the ambitions have reawakened for "democracy promotion," in the past few years. In real terms, that means promoting democracy if and only if it serves imperial ambitions. How about we create a real democracy right here and now! Let's allow the people to vote for or against a pre-emptive war, universal health care, expansion of social security, the Kyoto Protocol, the International Criminal and World Courts, and the role of the United Nations in interventions and reconstruction of devastated lands. Let's vote for how we want our taxes to be spent, directly. Major referendums discussed and debated thoroughly representing all sides of each issue on television. All empires represent the aristocracy in their imperial ambitions, not the general populace! Also in dire need is a true democracy of nations. The UN Security Council should be dissolved and the General Assembly should rule all international affairs, allowing all nations equal access to the international forum and law. Given the truth, all human beings will collectively choose the direction of this lost, possibly last civilization." - Serj Tankian

Friday, June 20, 2008

Metric - a Pemberton Preview Profile

One of my favourite bands, Metric, is set to play at the Pemberton Music Festival on Friday, July 25th. This is their story:

GENRE: new wave/indie/rock
FROM: New York/Montreal/Toronto
BAND MEMBERS:
Vocalist/synthesizer/songwriter - Emily Haines
Guitarist - James Shaw
Bassist - Josh Winstead
Drummer - Joules Scott-Key
TOGETHER SINCE: 1998
BEST KNOWN HIT: "Combat Baby"
STATUS: Awesome
  • Metric's band members are in a close-knit Canadian musical clique and continually collaborate with the likes of the Stills, Broken Social Scene, the Stars, (all signed on the popular Canadian label Arts & Crafts) and many more

  • Have a side project called Bang Lime and Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton

  • Emily's father was a famous poet and avant-garde jazz musician named Paul Haines. He worked with Carla Bley, Robert Wyatt and Albert Ayler and is best known for his lyrics featured in Carla Bley's 1971 jazz opera Escalator Over the Hill

  • Emily Haines and James Shaw met when Haines was attending a Toronto art college and Shaw was at the Julliard School studying classical trumpet

  • Metric won a Juno award in 2006 for "Best Alternative Album of the Year" Live It Out, and were nominated for a 2006 Polaris Music Prize for "Canadian Album of the Year"

  • Emily Haines and James Shaw met a nightclub and decided to form a band because they both hated the music being played there

  • "Monster Hospital" and "Police and the Private" were featured on Grey's Anatomy

  • Haines was raised in New Delhi, India

  • Shaw and Haines used to live with the future members of The Yeah Yeah Yeah's when they lived in New York

  • Warner Bros. Records were going to sign Metric onto their label but decided against it at the last minute
Emily Haines quote:

"It’s strange to think a lot of new music is modeled on the past already, and
then people are modeling themselves on people who model themselves on the past.
I do think we’re in a recycling era, everything’s so retro. People should
recycle more plastic and less culture.”

If you're not familiar with Metric then I highly recommend you check out some of their music videos...while high:
  1. "Empty"
  2. "Poster of a Girl"
  3. "Dead Disco"

Friday, June 13, 2008

The Flaming Lips - A Pemberton Preview Profile

As a proud British Columbian, I bought my Pemberton Festival ticket within days of hearing about it. It's a musical orgasm.

The Flaming Lips are set to play on Saturday, July 26th. This is their story:

GENRE: "Acid bubble gum"/alternative/eclectic
FROM: Oklahoma City, USA
BAND MEMBERS: Guitarist/singer/songwriter - Wayne Coyne
Bass/keyboards/backing vocals - Michael Ivins
Drums/percussion - Steven Drozd
Drums/percussion (live) - Kliph Scurlock
TOGETHER SINCE: 1983/1984
BEST KNOWN HIT: "Do You Realize?" or "She Don't Like Jelly (Tangerine)" but the annoying "Yeah Yeah Yeah" is on some sort of salad dressing commercial.
STATUS: Cult-like following

  • The Flaming Lips' biography is as wild as their sound. They named their band after either a porn film, drug reference, or a dream in which the Virgin Mary kissed Wayne Coyne with her flaming lips.
  • Frontman Wayne Coyne was in his thirties by the time the Lips made it big.
  • Apparently Coyne stole a bunch of instruments to help form the band, and their debut performance was at a transvestite club.
  • Like Rage Against the Machine, the Lips are insistent on performing and recording with their own music rather than digitally creating their sound. Their music is a blend of different experimental sounds that may not seem appealing to the average rock or pop listener. There is no formula. It's just plain weird.
  • The Lips have very unique song names, like: "A Spoonful Weighs a Ton," "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots," "Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon," "Jesus Shootin' Heroin," "The Train Runs Over the Camel But Is Derailed by the Gnat," "The March of the Rotten Vegetables," and much much more.
  • I found one interesting quote by Coyne about his music online which typifies the Lips' sound:

"My older brothers would take a lot of drugs and we'd sit around and listen to records - the Beatles' White Album, John and Yoko's experimental stuff. We never knew it was freaky or weird; we thought that was music that everyone listened to."

  • One of their albums, Zaireeka, is a box set of four Cd's which are meant to be played at the same time. It's supposed to make the listener feel like they're "not just hearing the music but standing inside it."
  • Apparently during one of their latest tours, Jack White of The White Stripes approached Coyne and gave him a miniature toy Jesus. Coyne later wrote the song "Thank You Jack White (For the Fiber Optic Jesus That You Gave Me) about it. (Click here for the lyrics).
  • In 2002 Q Magazine included the band on their "50 Bands to See Before You Die" list
  • The Lips have had more hit singles in Europe than in their native country.
  • They were nominated for three different Grammys for "Best Alternative Album" (in both 2004 and 2007), "Best Surround Sound Album" (2008), and won three Grammys for "Best Rock Instrumental Performance" (2003 - "Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon"), "Best Rock Instrumental Performance" (2007 - "The Wizard Turns Me On"), and "Best Engineered Album" (2007). They were also nominated for "Best International Act" at the BRIT Awards in 2007.
If I had the legal rights to include pictures on my blog, I would. But I'm an amateur blogger with no purpose at all, so click on the links for coolio pictures.