Billy Corgan Interviews at SXSW

Billy Corgan's interviews were a hot topic around SXSW. Some agreed with what he said and some (surprisingly) did not. Here are both interviews: the first one with with Google Play and the second summary video with Brian Solis.

What do you think about Corgan's views? Agree or disagree? State your claim as a fan or artist!

In this interview with Google Play, Billy brings up some very relevant points about regressions in music as an art form and its influence on culture and society. He also discusses the many struggles that bands face in today's music business. He stresses how a band's focus on just creating singles is very record company centric and that it hinders artists from building any kind of integrity. Overall, he seems very concerned by the lack of "great bands" since the 1970s. To him, they are few and far between and people are more likely to name Led Zeppelin as a great band instead of naming a more contemporary musical act.

More importantly, he mentions how it is a social crime that music as an art form has become an accessory or a good. He also states that due to the mass commercialization of music, its cultural impact is no longer there since people cannot emotionally connect to something inauthentic. To him, the proof of this phenomenon can be seen in the lack of record sales across the board.

In terms of the music industry, he calls it "one of the biggest business failures in the history of mankind". He also attributes the lack of progress in music and its forms of distribution (especially compared to movies) to the constricting and protective nature of record labels.

On current trends, he calls for a change in the way people support their favorite bands. To him, it is equally important to financially support artists for the music that they create and for fans to be proud of doing so...that it is not a "dirty" thing to do.

Hot One of the Week: Wild Darling

Let’s get real; most people can appreciate artists like Kaki King, Iron & Wine, and, most notably, Andy McKee. The harmonic and rhythmic experimentation and exploitation that can be accomplished with a simple acoustic guitar is what these guys preach. They find ways to turn this one instrument and their two hands into a full band, capable of seducing seasoned musicians and the average citizen alike. Wild Darling takes influence from these artists and many more, even providing an acoustic soul akin to Jack Johnson. Take note of the instrumental prowess expressed in the videos below and go to the links below to hear more lyrical tracks.

Listen to Wild Darling on BandSoup

Below is an interview with Peter Motzenbecker, owner and operator of Forestry Records, home of Wild Darling.

Pete, you own and operate Forestry Records, the label with which Wild Darling is signed, how did you come upon Wild Darling? 

I first met him (Josh/Wild Darling) in some 8 am class during the Spring semester of our sophomore year, around 2009. We didn't really talk all that much mostly because it was an 8 am class and no one really likes 8 am classes, but I could tell he was a cool guy. Fast forward to next Spring and we have a class together again. By this time, I had already started working on developing Forestry. I hadn't really put it out there to many people, but the first website was up and so were our first two releases. So one day before this class, I was working on the website waiting for people to come in and class to start, and Josh was asked me what it was and I explained, and he was like I'm in. Later I heard a demo he had recorded with our other friend and I was like wow, I have to record him, see what I can with this.

What caused you to work with them and even do most of the producing, recording, mixing, and mastering for the releases of the self-titled and the new single, "Ghost"?

So, Josh and I started to become really good friends, we hung out a lot and we started looking for an apartment off-campus with our friend Gary to move into for our senior year. Fast forward to senior year, we were all pumped to have this apartment and we were all pumped to start recording things because we were all audio production majors. During the fall, Josh started to write a good amount of songs, most of which appear on the album, and in the spring, we started recording the self-titled release. We all the guitars and vocals in my bedroom and constructed some sort of mixing space in there as well. We loved it, working whenever we wanted was extremely beneficial for both of us. We ended up finishing it that summer (2011). We first got it mastered by this guy Mark Fitzgerald at this place in Syracuse, but I didn't really like how it came out so we ended up doing it ourselves. Still don't really know how much I like it though!

For 'Ghost', Josh had been working on it for a few months, but didn't really have any other songs and I thought it was probably one of his most marketable songs and really wanted to do it right. So this past December, we went up to Pyramid Sound Studios in Ithaca, NY after failing to really capture a good sound in my bedroom at home. So we spent a day in there with Phil Abbot, who recorded, mixed, and mastered it, and it turned out pretty well.

Check out Forestry Records and more of Wild Darling here.

“Like” Wild Darling on Facebook.

-Doug Foley

Hot One of the Week & Interview: The Soviet

As I contemplated my blog this week, I wanted to do something different and give readers (and listeners) a chance to meet the artist rather than just read what I wrote about them. A perfect act for me to cover this week is The Soviet, a quartet from northwestern New Jersey who just released their debute EP. So without further hesitation I give you my interview:

Listen to The Soviet on BandSoup

First, before we get started, would you please introduce yourself and tell us your previous experience with music and your largest influences?

My name is Joshua Perna. I'm a multi-instrumentalist; I started playing jazz drums in my pre-teens, eventually moving on to study bass. I eventually taught myself how to play guitar, and, for this project, how to sing. I've done session work with all of these instruments, and been an actual member of only a couple of bands up until this point. Since I play different instruments I'm influenced from all over the place, but as of right now I'd say my biggest are Thom Yorke, Guthrie Govan, and Darren King.

Tell us the story behind The Soviet: a. why the name, b. who else is in the band, and c. goals you have for this project.

We originally got the name from mewithoutYou's song of the same title, but chose to keep it since it's just an interesting ad authoritative word (it translates to something along the lines of "the council", I think.) I have the blessing of working with a few really talented guys. I started the band with a long-time friend of mine, Aaron Brown, who plays lead guitar. We later found Alex Long, a jazz guitarist who picked up bass for the project, and Kevin, our drummer. Our goals are pretty simple and sincere: we just want to perform the music we're creating and get it out to as many people as we can. I feel as if many people get too wrapped up in fantasies of fame and lose sight of the fact that a band should be about a love of music, and we're really trying to hold onto that.

Your first EP is on its way out soon. How long as this been in progress and what was involved?

Wherewithal EP was written in a matter of months. We only really started as a band in Summer of 2011, and just recorded the record in January. Writing it, though, had a lot to do with finding our sound. We had all come into this project from different places, musically (primarily from a progressive/metal music scene.) So a large part of writing this was the trial and error of really agreeing what sort of sound we wanted to orient ourselves around, since this genre was entirely new to us.

Take us through the content of Wherewithal. What makes this record special, both musically and lyrically?

The EP is basically a walk through different situations and junctions in a person's life and how they choose to cope with them. Having the wherewithal (which means capability, for those who don't know) to do something is a daily struggle, and lyrically that's the emotion that the EP is centered on.
Musically, the EP is varied. We write under the pretense that no two songs should sound the same (while keeping a cohesive sound, of course.) So even though it's only a 5-track record, it covers a lot of musical ground in terms of dynamic and energy.

Do you have any closing remarks regarding the release of Wherewithal, the future of The Soviet, and your fans out there?

Just to get a copy of our music, by legal means or otherwise, and keep an eye on what we're doing. I hope our music is something everyone can get excited about, because I can honestly say this is one of the most meaningful projects I've ever been a part of, and I'm very excited about the future. Thanks!

Check out “Wherewithal” here and go like The Soviet on Facebook.

-Doug Foley

Walter Cabal Studio Interview 2 (Video)

Riverside, California based singer-songwriter Walter Cabal is preparing his new album, Between Lines, with producer/engineer Matt Mendoza. In the above video, the two talk about the recording process and what it's like to collaborate on an album coming from two different mind states.

Listen to Walter Cabal on BandSoup

Between Lines' available 02.28.12
Pre-Order at http://cabal.bandcamp.com
$9. 1st Pressing physical copies limited to 100.

Tall Heights- The Making of Rafters EP (Video)

Tall Heights is a Boston based folk duo driven by infectious vocal harmonies and a folk-inspired accompaniment of cello and acoustic guitar. Their latest release, Rafters EP, released in the fall of last year, is now available for $1 and features the wonderful song they shared with us on BandSoup, "To Be Young".

Listen to Tall Heights on BandSoup

Watch the above video to see the interesting methods Tim Harrington and Paul Wright used to put the EP together.

Walter Cabal Studio Interview (Video)

Riverside, California based singer-songwriter Walter Cabal is preparing his new album, Between Lines, with producer/engineer Matt Mendoza. In the above video, the two talk about the recording process and what it's like to collaborate on an album coming from two different mind states.

Listen to Walter Cabal on BandSoup