When Marc featured the title track off The Hustler album by Jeff Klein on Episode 17 of the show, I think I asked him to re-play the song three times. After patiently listening to The Hustler on repeat for 15 minutes, he said “Oh! And you have to watch this video! I think he should be a comedian.” We watched it, and for the first time in history, I agreed with Marc.

This is the video he showed me:

So, when I interviewed Jeff, you can bet your britches that I needed an explanation for the significance behind “the monkey tapping on the window.”

“Videos are what happens when you have too much time in a tour-bus or hotel room. There’s always your trusty MacBook to help you out. It’s kind of funny, considering how serious my music can be, how much of a smartass I am. I think it’s just nature balancing things out. I’m as equally obsessed with Andy Kaufman and Woody Allen as I am with Nick Drake and Thurston Moore. “Monkey Tapping On The Window” is the first in a series of children’s songs I’ve guested on that my friend Ed Harcourt has recorded in our hotel room, but it’s more a frame of mind than just a song. Also, it’s more for mentally disturbed adults than children, I suppose, but I don’t think that’ll help us when it comes down to marketing the thing. Parents have disposable money; asylum patients don’t,” Jeff told me.

If you pay great attention to detail, you probably noticed that Jeff was smoking a cigarette in that video. However, don’t assume this means that Jeff wants to take a smoke break with you at a show. He has recently decided to quit! “Quitting smoking is the worst idea I’ve ever had. Well, one of the worst. I keep daydreaming about cigarettes like they were Tootsie Rolls in that old animated commercial. I’ve been a two-pack-a-day smoker for most of my life. Added to the fact that I’m a super neurotic, addictive person. I spend half of my day sweating and pacing. I used to spend the other half smoking but now I spend it sucking on this nicotine inhaler. It’s been a week now, and everyone keeps asking me ‘but doesn’t your body feel better already?’ The sad truth is my body feels like its best friend just died and is trying to figure out how to fill the void and move on. It’s quite the emotional and physical struggle. But I’m hanging in,” he said.

Speaking of Jeff being neurotic and addictive, when I asked him if he had any weird habits or obsessions he replied, “I don’t have enough time to answer this question. Everything I do is a form of weird habit. I never wear a pair of socks more than once. I wear them then throw them away, making way for a fresh pair. I’m also obsessed with smells. I secretly smell random things. Like pieces of paper, pens, my fingers, furniture, you name it and I’ll secretly try to smell it when nobody is watching. I’m also obsessed with thrift shops. My friend Shayla and I frequent about four thrift shops a day buying random junk when I’m not on the road. I’m a pack rat.”

Jeff has been writing and performing his own stuff in clubs since he was 15, and he was in musicals when he was 5 or 6 years old. When I asked if anyone in his family had a musical background he replied “Not one bit. Though my brother Eric is a huge music fan. He just doesn’t play. No, wait, my little niece Lara started playing the piano. She’s like 6 and has a Steinway baby grand piano that she plays ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ on. I play piano for a living and don’t even own one, ha. Maybe someday she’ll give up on it and I’ll inherit it. Lara, if you’re reading this (can 6-year-olds read yet?) Uncle Jeffrey needs a piano; why not switch over to ballet or something!”

Jeff has been lucky enough to meet a lot of his heroes but said that if he could sit down for five minutes to pick Tom Waits’ brain, he would be in heaven. “Genius doesn’t even begin to describe him. I feel like he would have the greatest insight and stories out of any other artist,” he said.

Jeff just finished up a tour with Gutter Twins. “Touring with the Gutter Twins has been fun. Everyone involved are some of my best friends. Not to mention the drummer Cully is also the drummer for my solo stuff. I helped co-write some stuff for the GT album and play guitar all over it, so it just seemed natural for me to be involved in the live representation. I also got to travel to Turkey, which was pretty amazing. Although after 93 days with no break, my brain was kind of fried.”

Jeff was also one of the musicians who played at Jupiter Records’ “25 Bands in 25 Hours” event. “I honestly don’t even remember it. I may have been the 25th act in the 25th hour. Jupiter records was a cool little shop that I was truly bummed to see disappear. The two brothers who owned that store were pure music junkies and really had a vision to help raise awareness of local music. It’s sad how record stores are disappearing. The fact that my grandchildren will only know what record stores are through seeing them in old movies like High Fidelity is sad,” he explained.

Jeff’s future plans include doing more shows with Gutter Twins, and possibly headlining a tour with Ed Harcourt this summer. He also has an 18-track album coming out in January of 2009. “Its my favorite thing I’ve ever created so I’m very excited. It will be followed up with a bunch of touring I assume,” said Jeff.

Two fun facts:

1. Jeff’s favorite breakfast is bacon, egg and cheese breakfast tacos. “Anything involving bacon. Anybody that doesn’t appreciate bacon is suspect. I would wear bacon cologne if they made it,” he revealed.

2. Ani Difranco does the female vocals on The Hustler.

Here is a clip of Marc featuring a cut The Hustler

“I wrote the song at about 3 a.m. while walking through the French Quarter of New Orleans. It’s basically about my beautifully twisted love affair with this city. I’ve made my last few records in New Orleans and sorta live there half the year. In fact that’s where I am right now.”

Jeff performing “California” from Everybody Loves a Winner.

You will love Jeff Klein if you love: Clem Snide, Ryan Adams, and Josh Ritter.

Jeff Klein at Myspace.

The Merry Andrews Show at Myspace.

Drew Danburry prefers his family’s brownie recipe over cookies, plays pranks on his friends while they are pooping, disagrees with capitalism, favors ankle socks to tube socks, and could not care less about what is going on in the lives of Britney Spears or Brangelina.

Drew has toured with Someone Still Loves you Boris Yeltsin, Lydia, The Robot Ate Me, Aubrey Debauchery, Harry and the Potters, TaughtMe, and many others. Additionally, he just recently wrapped up a solo acoustic tour. I spoke with Drew about this tour, the downside of being a “nice guy,” his engagement to his long-term girlfriend, Lynette, signing to Emergency Umbrella Records, and his future plans.

“This tour was insane. Like every tour, but for some reason this one was just beyond anything I’ve ever dealt with. There was just an insane amount of drama in my opinion,” he told me.

“There was one day where we played in South Dakota and then woke up in a blizzard and needed to be in Minneapolis to play that night for a show at a college where they were paying us $500, which is a HUGE amount of money for me and it was like the ONE show that was going to save me financially. Right? So, we were driving through a blizzard for like five hours on roads that were covered in snow and didn’t have rails on the sides of them. We were driving on stretches where there was nothing but water on both sides and we couldn’t see five feet in front of the car,” he said.

“We kept passing by all of these horrendous accidents and I was still gung ho about it. I was sitting there saying stuff like, ‘Lynette, God loves us a whole lot, right? He’s not gonna let anything happen to us! We’ll be fine!’ So as we were driving through these back roads trying to get to a main highway we came up on an abrupt stop sign with two cars stopped and we slid off the road missing the cars, a sign post, and the guard

rail ALL by like, inches. We wound up in the ditch on the side of the road and had to call a tow truck that came unusually fast. I called my friend in Minnesota and told him ‘we’re in a ditch but we’re gonna get pulled out and we are ON OUR WAY. DO NOT cancel the show.’ We finally got to the show just as the band before us finished playing. I played the set right on time and it was an amazing show. It was literally probably the most BEAUTIFUL show I have ever played where EVERY single audience member was singing along in harmony and some following melodies and generally just creating this amazing chorus. The audience and performer essentially became one. And, unlike every other show, I didn’t even need to tell them to, or guide them, it was like they just followed naturally and we were all on the same page. It was the awesome-est show ever. And, then I found out that because I hadn’t arrived at the scheduled time for the show to start that the university pulled the payment from the show. We also made no money during the show because they don’t allow selling of merchandise if they are paying you — but they pulled the payment!

“So my dear friend Jon Schill took Lynette and I back to his place and a bunch of our friends and the people from the show had a potluck. It was like the most insane messed up amazing MOST extremely bittersweet experience ever,” Drew said. “When I started playing music I thought that people would understand me and like me but it’s the opposite. You become objectified and more misunderstood. We have been brainwashed since we were kids that we need to most awesome new thing of convenience and 600 channels of TV, and to be able to get on the Internet and have all of the information you could ever want at your fingertips. But, what good do people use it for? This has left us with a lot of time wondering what we’re missing. It’s the great existential vacuum,” he explained.

The reality is that Drew is a really nice guy. However, there were some events that occurred during this tour that made Drew realize that because of how nice he is — people will take advantage of him.

Apparently, Drew was scheduled to play an afternoon college show, and then do a house show that night. When Drew realized that the promoter wasn’t doing her job with getting the college show finalized, he figured it would be fine because he would expect $5 donations at the door of the house party. “I confirmed with her like five times why it was important and why we needed it. I saw her the afternoon before the show and everything was great and but then I got to the show and saw all these flyers that said ‘free house show’ and I walked into a noisy full house having a party where, well … it was a party. I’ve been dealing with emails from angry fans since this happened because I just wasn’t excited about the show. I could barely hear myself, I couldn’t concentrate because people were talking so loud through the entire show and I was upset because I had been lied to and taken advantage of as a person and a performer. You know, I was in church and the pastor said ‘Most Mormon’s are perceived as nice.’ It made me think about how much I hate being called ‘nice.’ I am nice, kind, and humane. I want to treat each individual well but at the same time I don’t want to get pigeon holed as the nice guy so that any asshole can take advantage of me,” he explained.

Personally, I can’t imagine anyone expecting an independent musician to put on a show for free. Sometimes I think people are under the impression that these musicians do gigs because they have nothing better to do and forget that it is their JOB! Come on, people! Pay the whopping $5 and then break it down on the dance floor! Also, if one of your favorite musicians seems to be having an “off” night, ask them about it instead of sending them hate mail! Where’s the love? Just give it up. It makes the world go ‘round and ‘round.

Anyway, between bittersweet performances, and some not so fun house parties, something really incredible happened on this tour: Drew proposed to his girlfriend. According to Lynette, they were in the car traveling from one city to the other and this is how the conversation went:

Drew: Hey Lynette, when do you want to get married?
Lynette: Soon.
Drew: Hey Lynette, will you marry me?
Lynette: Yes.
Drew: Can I kiss you?
Lynette: Yes.

Drew took his eyes off the road for just a second to give her a big wet one and the two of them are now thrilled to be engaged. “We’ve been friends for a really long time and I just asked her to move to California where I was living because I wanted to date her and I couldn’t date her in another state. I wanted to court her proper. So I asked her to move to California and I would court her proper. She did, amazingly enough, and this is a dream come true,” Drew told me.

Drew has a new album coming out on Emergency Umbrella Records this summer. “I’m super excited to have it done because it’s the best thing ever.” He is also thrilled about having signed with Emergency Umbrella. “I never wanted to sign to a label that would cut my resources in half. I have friends that have signed to labels and the labels spend a lot of money and don’t really help them but Emergency Umbrella is full of really amazing people.”

Drew’s future plans include putting out the new album, getting married, preparing for a fall tour, and then seeing what he and his wife Lynette feel like doing with themselves.

Here’s a clip of me featuring Know Your History Before You Become Part of the Repetition on Episode 11 of the show.  When I asked Drew about the inspiration for this song he said, “That song is old. I don’t remember any history to that song. It’s just a song I wrote about how I was feeling at a certain time. I forget. Maybe I’ll become part of the repetition?””

Video One: Lynette, I Love You

Video Two: Memorial Day

Video Three: This is a video of provopodcast.com welcoming Drew to their studio. I am posting this strictly because I think that Drew’s hot pink fanny pack is off the chain.

You will love Drew Danburry if you love: Bishop Allen, The Mountain Goats, and Ben Kweller.

Purchase Drew’s newest album, This Could Mean Trouble, You Don’t Speak for the Club right here.

Drew Danburry on Myspace

Michael Lee (I trust that we don’t need any pronunciation help with this one…) is one cool Californian cat. He grew up in cow-infested Visalia, Ca., and now lives in badass-infested Chico, Ca. He likes to fall asleep watching movies on his couch, drink Jameson, eat at Pluto’s, all while wearing his Two Ton Boa t-shirt.

I featured “The Jealous Type” in January on Episode 8 of The Merry Andrews Show and now Michael Lee is back with a vengeance and a new album that rocks off my britches in a very … elegant and romantic way.

Many artists aren’t into discussing what inspires their songs because they like the songs to have different meaning for everyone or something lame like that. I respect the secrecy, but I’m a nosey little devil and I always ask. I get a major rush out of hearing a song and saying “Oh! This is about blah blah blah…” Michael was a dream and gave me all the gory details about the songs on his new album Yesterday and Every Day After. Are you ready for this jelly?

First and foremost, Michael said that Yesterday and Every Day After was a lot of fun to record and even more fun to see completed. Aubrey Debauchery (this name should look familiar) contributed to this album by singing on the tracks “Hide” and “I Won’t Keep You Long” and Erin Lizardo sang on “Standard.” According to Michael, “the inspiration for Yesterday and Every Day After comes from life experiences, love, friends, family, heartbreak … the standard stuff. It’s funny; a friend of mine went to one of my shows for the first time recently and afterward she said, ‘Wow, I never realized you were so sad.’” He went on to say, “I guess, yeah, a lot of my songs are sad. I have a bad habit of writing about the struggles in my life. When I’m happy, I go outside and play. When I’m sad, I write songs.” Now, to the really juicy stuff…”‘Healthy and Happy’ [my personal favorite at the moment], ‘Hide’ and ‘Dream in Black and White‘ are all about the same idea. They’re all a sort of an optimistic and satirical look at my romantic ideals … I guess,” said Michael. He continued, “‘I Won’t Keep You Long’ is about Erin and ‘A Sad Song‘ is about me wanting the sad, miserable side of myself to go away.”

Michael also told me that there has always been friction between him and his father, and that I will never meet two people who are so alike but so completely different. “I’ve always thought that deep down we want to love, appreciate and accept each other but we just can’t seem to ever be on the same page. I guess ‘Break the Mold‘ is my attempt to tell my dad how I feel about him,” he said. He finished up my favorite part of the interview by revealing “‘English’ is about a girl who I fell in love with but couldn’t break her bad habit of always playing it safe. ‘The Lights the Sound’ is about, well the first verse is about how I should really appreciate what’s right in front of my face and the second verse is about how other people should really appreciate what’s right in front of their faces. And, ‘Standard’ is about a lot of things.”

As far as Michael’s future plans go, he told me, “I’m going to play and record more music. I’ve been writing a lot on the piano so that’ll be a nice addition for the next album. In the mean time… come to my shows!”

Here is a short clip of me featuring “The Jealous Type,” a song about Michael not wanting to be the jealous type, finding someone real, being vulnerable, and not holding anything back. Also, the lovely Aubrey Debauchery sings on this track so I would press “play” if I were you.

Michael Lee on Myspace.

Kate Earl … you may or may not have heard of her, but she is putting out an EP June 9 on Universal Republic/Casablanca Music. She is a very thoughtful and hardworking LA-by-way-of-Alaska artist. Some have compared her to Lily Allen, but her sound leans more towards artists such as Cat Power, and Feist. You can hear her entire EP at KateEarl.com.

She also has loads of video blogs that she titles “Life Of Kate“, where you can get to know more about the adorable Filipino Alaskan.

Also check out this live, stripped down video of her single “Melody.”

Melody (live acoustic) from Kate Earl on Vimeo.

*special thanks to joanna at for the win media.

Magic & Fur is a London-based sextet made up of Chris Wilde, Gary Legend, Gavin Ellis, Julian Simon, Artur Dyjecinski, and Dom Ryan. This week, the band launched their debut single, “Christine,” and in the midst of the celebration madness, Chris found some time to talk with me about who in the heck Christine is, what’s in store for the band in the future, Leonard Cohen and, of course, prescription drugs.

Who is Christine? And how did you decide that “Christine“ was going to be the first single?

Christine is the big red car from the Stephen King book. It’s also the name of the little girl who drowns at the start of the film Don’t Look Now. The song is about an old ex-girlfriend who was more than just a little bit confused. I didn’t want to use her real name, so I used a name with a few omens attached to it. (I don’t think there’s any Christine’s in The Omen, though right? Hmmmm…) It’s got a lot of energy, so it seemed like the obvious choice for a debut single.

So now that you’ve released the single, will you be releasing a full-length or an EP anytime soon?

We currently have all the songs to make an album but are constantly writing to try and better what we’ve got. It’s early days. All of us have been in bands before and know how important it is to keep pushing onward creatively while the vibe is good and we’re not clawing each others eyes out.

As far as forthcoming releases go, next up is a free download, sometime very soon. We’re currently clawing each others eyes out as to what that’s going to be.

How would you describe your sound?

Our main themes are love, lust and prescription drugs. We want it to sound like a soundtrack to all three.

What do you want people to get out of listening to your music?

Your main aim is to give people gooseflesh, right? Cheesy as it sounds. I don’t really get any band who doesn’t set out to do that in some way. I’m not saying we achieve it every time but its always what Gary and me aspire to when we begin writing a song. It’s a pretty solid starting point.

Who/what are your biggest influences?

It varies across the board. Scott Walker’s a big hero of mine, as is Lou Reed and P.J. Harvey. Gary’s pretty obsessed with Wire. I could bore the arse off you now with a massive list of obscurities, both living and dead, but it would probably lull the pair of us into a coma. We both like Leonard Cohen.

As if launching their single wasn’t exciting enough, Chris told me his friends at Duckeye just made a video for “Christine.” He describes this generous gift from his film buddies as the band’s best moment so far and says “I think it’s totally mind blowing. Psychedelic whirly weirdness, man!”

Magic & Fur – Christine from Magic & Fur on Vimeo.

The Silent Years are releasing a new EP, Let Go, on July 14 and it’s a must have.

Check out the first single from Let Go, “Madame Shocking” here.

Click here to read the Merry Andrews review of the album.

To purchase Let Go from iTunes, click here.

To purchase it from Amazon, click here.

*Special thanks to SideCho Media for the “Madame Shocking” mp3.

One of the best things about being one of the hosts of The Merry Andrews Show is having the opportunity to introduce listeners to new music — but being introduced to new music by my fellow co-hosts is the real treat. For the hour that we record the show, we get to not only play the role of “host” but also the role of “listener” as we all surprise each other with our music choices.

On Episode 8, Ashley featured the song “Mystical” by Philadelphia based goddess, Birdie Busch, and I was hooked. She is the perfect combination of Ingrid Michaelson, Feist, and Jaymay mixed with some sprinkles and home made whipped cream.

Ashley recently asked Birdie about her influences and she explained, “I guess it would be best to say that ‘the time’ I spent with my grandmother was a huge influence. When I began to hang with her on a more regular basis, only then did I start to realize and open myself to the art of true chillin’.” She went on to add, “Not necessarily the chillin’ you think with a beer and a beach, but more like sitting by the kitchen window so you could look at the leaves outside. Since my grandmother was quite old and immobile when we came to develop this friendship, we would spend a lot of time in seats and I started to have to think of life as something I wasn’t going towards but something that was right there with me. She’d show me old photos, or we’d organize her handkerchief drawer, which was pretty impressive.” Birdie continued, “I cherished the importance of bringing joy and peace to someone who very simply adored the friendship. There was a moment where I realized she could very well spend her last years alone on a couch watching TV and I wasn’t going to allow that to happen to her. I really believe the best songs come from just letting life in at all sides and then the thoughts, stories, and songs come along like gifts.” (MUSIC AFTER THE JUMP)

Coming up on Episode 18 Ashley will feature Huff Singers, but only listen if: you are not lame, you enjoy dancing, and you are a sucker for clapping.

Click play to listen to “Mystical.”

Birdie Busch on MySpace.

Lawrence Bonk has begun a year long journey and music project called Another Day On Earth. This project requires Lawrence to write, record, and post one song each day for an entire year. He says, “Some may be good. Some may be bad. Whatever. I guess I’m trying to teach myself to let go and be happy with things as they are. Here are the rules I have come up with: They have to be written and recorded that day. However, once a week I am allowed to post something I had laying around to give myself a break. That’s it, pretty much. There are no rules regarding length or epic-ness of content. We’ll see how I’m feeling that day.” As if recording a song a day isn’t enough of a challenge, Lawrence’s recording set-up doesn’t make it any easier. His equipment includes an old laptop and a karaoke microphone that was made for a Nintendo Wii game. (Full interview after the jump.)

01/24/09

Aly Carr: You live in Brooklyn now, but didn’t you used to live in Florida?
Lawrence Bonk: Born and raised, yeah. Ft lauderdale/Miami area for most of my life and then Tallahassee for college.
AC: wow. FSU?
LB: Yeah!
AC: Go Seminoles! So, why did you leave us!?
LB: That’s actually a long story. I don’t know if I can tell it all. I moved up here to record at this fancy pants studio for free, but suffice to say, it got majorly cluster fucked.
AC: So, now that you’re there, do you plan on staying for a while?
LB: I don’t know. I’ve been here a few years now. It really stresses me out. I don’t know how long I’ll stay. Probably at least the year because moving and still doing this will be hard. I’ve actually thought of that. What am I gonna do? Write a song in the moving van? I guess I could.
AC: So, did you ever end up getting to record in the fancy pants studio?
LB: A couple of times. I ended up burning the reels
AC: Seriously?
LB: I worked on an album for…2-3 years? Yeah. It got so clusterfucked that I burned em. I went kinda nuts. So this is the exact opposite of that. Instead of …3 years given to like 12 songs. This is…one day given to one song.
AC: I can’t imagine what it must have felt like to burn 3 years of your hard work. Would you say it was like a death? or was it empowering?
LB: I’m not sure. I think it was just something I needed to do. It was definitely more empowering than a death because I think the death feeling was what led me to want to burn them in the first place. I actually found one recently that escaped but I don’t have the tape player to play it anymore. I don’t know what’s on it.
AC: That might be an interesting tape to play and revisit that time, now that you’re in such a different place.
LB: Yeah but I’m also the type of person who hates every song he does 20 minutes after he does it. Which isn’t exactly healthy but it also keeps me going.
AC: Speaking of that, on your website you say “I am going to write, record and post a song each and every day for the next year. Some may be good. Some may be bad. Whatever. I guess I’m trying to teach myself to let go and be happy with things as they are.” How much headway have you made in learning to let go and be happy with things as they are?
LB: I’m not sure yet. Not as much as I’d like. Now that people actually listen it kind of puts a slightly different spin on that.
AC: Mind you, its only day 23.
LB: That’s true.
AC: How does it put a different spin on it?
LB: Well I’m not sure. It kind of activates perfectionist tendencies. But at the same time, my set up is really so limited and small that I can’t go too nuts over any song. Not all that many options.
AC: So its a double whammy of pressure that is facing you. You started this to be okay with things as they are and just let them go. But now you’ve got a pretty big audience that makes it seem like its nearly impossible.
LB: Yeah kind of. Exactly. But at the same time, I’m sure I’ll get into a groove where I can, I dunno, stress out over maybe 2 songs a week. Do like two 12 hour days. And the other five just knock out quicker stuff. Plus, I want to work with other people! If anybody in Brooklyn reads this..
AC: Also on your website you say at the very bottom “P.S. I’m scared.” Are you just trying to be funny or are you actually scared?
LB: Both. It’s kind of a tall order to be inside yourself in such a drastic way for so long. I’m a bit scared of that.
AC: Naturally.
LB: I already barely see friends! I miss em.
AC: So you post these songs, once a day, with a picture and generally at least one line of text. On one day you said something in one of your posts, “I guess I sort of want some semblance of a normal life, eventually.” What is your idea of a normal life?
LB: I’m not sure. Some kind of romantic notion of having a basil garden mixed with sleeping regular hours. Maybe having a dog. Spending quality time with people where I’m not thinking of ways to sneak away so I can work on a song. Swimming. I have very specific ideas of what a normal life is and swimming is always included.
AC: hahahaha. What is it about swimming that is normal? I love it, but to me it feels like an un-natural activity. I mean, you can DROWN.
LB: Yeah. It’s true. There is a danger element. But I don’t know. I think I like it a lot because it’s the only physical activity I can do and shut my brain off. Almost get into a trance state. I think I like swimming for the same reason I like making music. 4 hours will go by and you won’t even know how. But all you know is you were just intently doing something.
AC: Yeah, that’s a really good feeling. On another day you posted the song I Was Alone and said in your blurb “Sundays are depressing.” What is depressing about Sundays? Beside of course, the fact that god is watching you….
LB: hah they aren’t really. I don’t know. Yeah, that feisty god. I just think I was trying to divert from the fact that it was a sappy love song and I didn’t want anyone to think it could be about them. I get kinda conscious of that stuff. And of course it was about someone. It always is.
AC: What would be the worst case scenario if the person who it was about actually knew that it was about them?
LB: Well, I just think that people who don’t write songs don’t know what writing a song is. I get paranoid they’d think I was hung up or something. When in actuality…who knows where songs come from? Or anything like that? They just kinda…pop out. Sometimes they mean something. Sometimes they don’t.
AC: I can see how the possibility of misinterpretation would provoke anxiety. So, if you were an outsider and you heard about a guy doing what you are doing, what would your initial impression of that guy be?
LB: That he was pretty nuts and cool. I guess it would depend on if I liked the songs. But I’m always attracted to bombastic displays of nonsense. Once I met these people who make these adventure computer games. They spend, sometimes years on them. Years and years. And then when they are done they just get posted to this message board and the 9 other people on the board play it and that is that. No real…reason. Just this huge display and huge effort for the fuck of it. I like that.
AC: That kind of passion is extremely inspiring. What you are doing is really time consuming. Do you have a day job?
LB: Sorta. I haven’t exactly figured out how to juggle both yet. I’m a freelance writer and I just don’t feel like doing it lately. So yeah, homelessness is one of the only things that can stop me from completing this. Homelessness. Serious illness. Uh, getting kidnapped by music hating aliens might do it.
AC: hahaha. What do you write about?
LB: Nonsense mostly. Celebrity junk. Gadgets. Reality television. Stuff I don’t pay attention to.
AC: What a funny parallel. On one hand you are doing something that means so much to you, I mean, this project that you’re doing… this song writing and creating… it IS you. And then you also spend time writing about things that mean nothing to you. It’s an interesting dynamic. I would imagine that it has to give you some sort of sense of balance..
LB: Yeah, eventually. I mean, it’s not bad work. I’m able to be funny most of the time. And it’s super easy and I do it from home or a coffee shop. I am definitely in the market for balance though. Ideally doing like, 3 songs a week would give me balance but…that lacks the romantic awesomeness of every single day. And I love romantic awesomeness.
AC: Who doesn’t?
LB: Some scumbags.
AC: Well, Lawrence, we love what you are doing and I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me.
LB: Thank you! I love what you are doing too. It’s refreshing to see a music site that was obviously put together with such passion and its also devoid of snark. I live in Brooklyn. There’s so much fucking snark here it’s deafening.
AC: I think we get the same feeling from what you’re doing. ?

Drum rolls please, ladies and gentlemen. It is my honor to introduce you to the one … the only … TADHG COOKE! You all know how much I love telling you how to pronounce artists names, but this one really gets me riled up. Tadhg’s name is pronounced like “tiger” but without the “er.”

Tadhg said “A nurse from Northern Ireland pleaded with my parents not to name me Tadhg, because at the time, the Troubles in Northern Ireland were pretty bad, and the word ‘taig’ (which is how they would pronounce Tadhg up North) was used by the Loyalists as a derogatory term for all Nationalists. The Loyalists would scrawl on Catholic/Nationalist houses slogans like “K.A.T” (”Kill All Taigs”) and “Taig’s Out” (well, that’s more self-explanatory). Luckily for me, the peace process was reaping rewards by the time I was hopping across the border to appear on the BBC in Belfast and Derry. The wounds are still fresh, though, and you always see nice people wincing in anticipation when they attempt to pronounce my name in some unnatural way in order to avoid making it sound like ‘taig’.” Tadhg went on to say “There’s some kid on Nickelodeon according to a MySpace fan of mine who is called Tadhg. He’s only a kid, but I’m hoping that he will be tremendously successful thus negating the need for translators, and decreasing the chances that DJs will have a heart attack when they see my name.” My psychic intuition leads me to believe that Tadhg Cooke, who plays with David Geraghty of BellX1 in his spare time, will become a household name first, thus making life easier for the Nickelodeon kid — not the other way around.

As much as I would like to continue discussing the origin of Tadhg’s name, I believe I am duty-bound to talk about music or something. So, now that you know how to pronounce who I am talking about — let’s get down and dirty.

The first song that I became addicted to and featured on Episode One of The Merry Andrews Show by Tadhg is called “Know You Hate Me.” According to Tadhg, he had the guitar riff for the song for a while, but the lyrics just would not come.

“So I was playing it over and over for days. One day I was playing it in the kitchen for someone and just started singing what became the first verse, ‘I know you hate me, but I don’t mind, ’cause I stole your money, yeah I robbed you blind,’ in a jokey country voice … and suddenly I realized that was it. That was the starting point — as soon as I dropped the cod accent. I scrambled to write it down, and the whole song fell out like that. It’s weird the way songs arrive like that. Writers often talk about the craft of songwriting, and we all have our own methods of chipping away at the rock, but when a song falls out like that, almost in one, you start to wonder how much control you have over these things!”

It seems as though Tadhg is pretty lax about his writing process but do not be mistaken — he treats it like an art form that you have practice in order to flourish. “I love emails and treat them with the same respect that our parents or grandparents would have treated letters. The best way to get out of a writer’s block is just to write. That sounds obvious, but it really is that simple. You have to write. The catch is that you have to write without censoring yourself. You must let the words flow and ignore how cringeworthy, embarrassing, bare, honest or stilted they are. Often if you write a few pages worth of material, you can cross off the first few paragraphs – it’s only when you get into the flow that you really start getting interesting and maybe even honest. Everyone has their own little methods for greasing the wheels. But writers know that you have to keep writing as often as you can. It’s like a muscle. Use it or lose it.”

Even I often compare Tadhg to Damien Rice, and you might too, but when I asked him how he felt about this comparison he told me jokingly, “It makes me want to scratch my eyes out.” He went on to add “No, not really. Damien’s meeting movie stars, kissing beauty queens, making platinum selling albums and has reached the top of his game, so comparisons with him are flattering in one sense. We’re both Irish, speak a bit of French, own Lowden guitars, and come from roughly the same part of the suburbs west of Dublin City … but that’s where the comparison ends. I’m taller than him, and write in an entirely different style. I suppose people see the guitar and singer and assume that’s all there is to it.”

His inquiring mind continued to ponder, ”I wonder, is this the start of a trend? For years, any half-decent Irish band was touted as the “new U2″ … Are we going to be touted as “the new Damien Rice” from now on? Now there’s a kiss of death. You’ve just got to keep writing and following the muse, and try to ignore all the sensationalist stuff people come up with.”

Tadhg explained that his favorite slice of the musician pie is touring — when he doesn’t have a gig the following day, of course. “I really love getting out there and playing live. I’ve just come back from a short trip to Germany where I was supporting BellX1 (who, ironically used to play with Damien Rice) in Munich and Cologne, and I had some solo gigs in between. To be able to play live is a real thrill. You come back from these shows feeling really invigorated. Everything is crystal clear in your head. Suddenly you know what’s right in a song, or what’s wrong…”

Tadhg will succumb to his love of touring the moment his new album is finished. “As soon as that’s done and dusted, we’ll be hitting the road as much as humanly possible. It’s high time I got over to the States and played a few shows. I’ve never played outside of New York, so I’m excited about that prospect. I would like to play in Japan. I released Wax & Seal over there at the end of 2006, so it would be lovely to get over and do some shows. Maybe I could meet Bill Murray and have some Santori time, or perhaps even meet Scarlett. Although now that she’s released an album we’re competitors and potential nemeses. So perhaps dinner is out of the question,” said Tadhg.

As thrilling as dinner with Scarlett and her nice rack would be, I’m way more anxious about hearing Tadhg’s newest single. The name of the song is Out Of Reach, and it will be on that album that is keeping Tadhg from coming to a city near you. He pulled his inspiration for this song from sitting on the front step, slowly baking in the sun, and watching little specks of dust move slowly through the air as if they were the sun’s rays themselves. He said, “Something had been filtering through my writing for a long time – no matter where I was or what I was doing. It was a constant. There are some feelings, states and emotions that you can never lose or shake-off, and it took me a while to realize that that can be wonderful – and that it was something that I did not want to lose. For me, it’s a really intense song, and one I get lost in – it always feels fresh… so I’m excited to be releasing it as a single. But I also realize that it’s a slow tempo tune, so I don’t know if the radio stations will pick up on it. I hope they do. My stuff is slow-burning in a way, which doesn’t suit today’s trend for instant hits, and instant burn-outs.”

Despite all of the exciting happenings in Tadhg’s career right now, like all musicians, Tadhg has had his fair share of performances going awry. He said, “We had an incident recently, while on one of Ireland’s biggest morning radio shows. It would make musicians weep. We arrived at the radio station an hour and a half early – as instructed. We sound checked, and struggled trying to get the sound engineer to mic us up properly. Anyway, the sound check was fine, so we relaxed and went off for an hour before being called back for our slot on the show. When we eventually started playing, all was going well – when suddenly it sounded like Dave’s voice was coming from a cathedral. The engineer had turned on the reverb mid-song. This is wrong on so many levels. I frantically gestured to the engineer to cut the reverb… which he did after another few seconds… and then as I joined in with Dave, the idiot faded the effect back in again! It was awful. I was so glad to get out of there that day!”

Keep up to date with this one pumpkins, he’s going to put on a demonstration of musical wizardry that I know you will not want to miss. As a token of appreciation for his tunes you should all bring him one of those frozen “Dr Oetker” pizzas, they’re his favorite!
FOOD FIGHT!

You will love Tadhg Cooke if you love: Colin Hay, Bob Dylan, and Snow Patrol.

Video One: Know You Hate Me

Video Two: Out of Reach

Video Three: Rid of Her

Tadhg Cooke on Myspace.

I was just introduced to Jacksonville-based singer/songwriter Shawn Lightfoot, and I am thrilled that he is coming to our neck of the woods in a couple of weeks. He describes his sound as “indie/ acoustic/ glam” and I would say that’s pretty accurate. I’m on this kick right now where I only like to listen to music I can cook to, and these are some good cooking tunes, my friends. In fact, as a result of discovering Shawn, I’ve been cooking a little too much lately. Let’s all go make him feel welcome at The Bunker on April 10th.

Take a listen to Shawn’s tunes here. I recommend the song Get Sexy With Me because I’m sort of a pervert like that.