University of San Diego Radio

Fun Fact: Mike Czech is actually his real name. Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Who likes candy? In case you didn’t get your fill from trick-or-treating on Halloween (or mom threw out all your loot because of an irrational fear that it was poisoned) I’ve got some for you. Don’t worry, I don’t drive an unmarked white van and I don’t have any puppies back at my apartment for you to play with. However, I do have Mike Czech’s new album, “7 Day Weekend”.

Let’s start with the title as it appears on the front of the album. Highlighted in neon and sitting below a sunglassed and stylishly bald 30-something whom we can only assume is Mike Czech, the words 7 DAY WEEKEND make whoever reads them want to hop the next trolley to the Gaslamp and start lining up whiskey shots. Any reservations about the aforementioned plan of action are put to rest with track one and its sample of Corey Worthington aka “Aussie Party Kid” as he’s known on Youtube. The subsequent scratching and spinning segues into a Black Eyed Peas sample which serves as a convenient sorting technique. As the listener, you need simply to answer the following question:

Q) At the 20 second mark of track one of “7 Day Weekend”, my ears began to _____.

a) perk up

b) bleed

c) shrivel-up

d) fall off

If you answered B, C, or D, you either don’t like pop music or like relatively unknown bands and wear flannel. Maybe both. Either way, Mike Czech isn’t your thing. However, if you answered A, “7 Day Weekend” is right up your alley. The album is a nice exhibition of Mike Czech’s skills as a DJ (something he puts on display every Thursday night at Moondoggies and every Saturday night at Air Conditioned). Mike Czech does well incorporating past hits, current hits, and upcoming hits and even throws in audio from a viral video clip or two. Careful listeners can pick out Double Rainbow Guy screaming out on the album. I’ve got candy for whoever finds it first.

Eugene Hütz once rode a drum from Ukraine to Vermont. True story.

If you’ve recently had the inexplicable urge to listen to some hardcore gypsy-rock, look no further than Gogol Bordello’s new album, Trans-Continental Hustle. The April 2010 release will be all you need to satisfy your cravings for clashing tambourines, slamming drums, and grinding accordions. Listening to TCH, it’s easy to hear seven or eight different instruments on a single track, giving the impression that Gogol Bordello is a jolly set of Slavic minstrels travelling the land, playing careening melodies for peasant and royalty alike. In fact, this isn’t far from reality.

Trans-Continental Hustle is Gogol Bordello’s first full studio album since 2007’s “Super Tranta!” and continues their legacy as America’s foremost gypsy rockers. In keeping with this identity, TCH emphasizes issues concerning the Roma (gypsy) people. Lyrics on tracks like “Immigraniada” highlight the mistreatment and hypocrisy suffered by the Roma, of which the group’s frontman, Eugene Hütz, is a proud member. The words fit seamlessly with the instrumental pieces which sound genuine enough to lead me to believe it was a DMB jam session… if DMB hailed from the Ukraine, that is.

While Gogol Bordello can certainly jam, they are also more than capable of pulling back and drawing a heartfelt ballad from their eclectic assortment of instruments. “Sun Is On My Side” eases in as a sonorific acoustic feature before mixing in some rhythmic contributions from the rest of the group. The temporary peace doesn’t last long though as “Rebellious Love” comes in to remind the listener that dozing off is not an option. A blitzkrieg of percussion, electric guitar, tambourine, violin and crusty, accent-laden vocals deliver this message in no unclear terms. This is how most of the album goes.

Hütz’s voice is one of the defining qualities of TCH and Gogol Bordello on the whole. Delivering simple yet effective lyrics in the heaviest Eastern European accent you’ve ever heard, Hütz pulls the listener into the music and sends them on a crazy-ass musical rollercoaster. Skeptics of Hütz’s authenticity can put their worries at ease in knowing that he’s the real McCoy. Born in Ukraine, Hütz travelled a long road to the United States with his family following their displacement after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and an ensuing seven year trek through various nations and refugee camps in Europe. Hütz settled in the US in 1991 and it was in New York in 1999 that Gogol Bordello was formed. Eleven years later, the group released TCH.

- Wonderboy

The new book, “In Fifty Years We’ll All Be Chicks” by Adam Carolla, is now available on Amazon.com! Order it now and get your book jacket signed!

Listen to the the full audio: “Off the Cuff”

Kevin Terrell

USDradio: Hey Adam, how you doing today?

Adam Carolla: (pause) Uh, good! Sorry (laughing) I’m standing in a Taco Bell in Burbank.

USDR: A man after my own heart, I love Taco Bell.

Adam: I love Taco Bell too, but I just, I threw away my receipt and now I’m not sure if I got the right one…yeah I’m ok.

USDR: [Since you were their spokesman] do you get it for free?

Adam: No. But everyone almost gets it for free.

USDR: (laughing) You try that new double X-L Chalupa?

Adam: Man, you’re reading my mind brother.

USDR: I just got that yesterday it’s a lot to handle.

Adam: Yeah, a – (laughs) a double X-L chalupa… that’s why the terrorists hate us. Like, uh, X-L chalupa…not enough! for us. We gotta go double X-L on the chalupa.

USDR: Yeah to match our double X-L pants.

Adam: Yeah, I know, there used to be a little shame in being, being overweight. Like there used to be a fat kid in every class. Now there’s a skinny kid in every class of fat kids. Its scary isn’t it?

USDR: Yeah, absolutely, like Kevin Smith doesn’t have a problem making a big stink over his altercation with Southwest when, the meat of the story is he has to take up two seats.

Adam: Yeah, the meat of the story is his meat. He is a buffalo. And it’s the weirdest thing in the world although, I’m always, uh, I’m secretly envious, you know, like when people return like, you know, like douche or zit cream or something and are like “this has not been effective at all!” It’s like “wow” I mean, Kevin Smith, I know you were shamed, but its called shaming. By the way, for all the pedophiles out there, you would not want to bless a nine-year-old Kevin Smith, he would definitely tell his pops about that.

USDR: Exactly. So, I’ve been a big fan of your podcast, it’s hysterical, you get great guests on there, and I think that format really suits your talents and your style nicely, but has it been fun for you to be free from the constraints of terrestrial radio?

Adam: Yeah. I mean, not the constraints of the paycheck, but the constraints of the FCC and program directors and that kind of thing. Um, yeah, I’m actually heading over there right now to interview Mike Roe from Dangerous Jobs and all that stuff and…he’s just a great guy. And I know that we’re gonna have ample time to really sit down and talk. And really get into the stuff we want to get into and not get sort of hurried along and pushed by the clock and sponsors and that kind of stuff.

USDR: Let’s talk about the book…it’s called “In Fifty Years We’ll All Be Chicks.” For a guy that’s been known to refer to the library as the “book-i-torium,” it seems like an odd move. What was the impetus for it, or I guess who’s idea was it.

Adam: Well, uh, somebody – I guess my agent called me and said somebody wants to know if you want to write a book, and uh, it happened to be Crown and Random House… I never would have thought to myself, ‘I need to write a book,’ but its like, somebody offered me money and said do it, and I wasn’t going to, uh, mail it in. There’s nothing I would do, nothing I would ask people to pay me money for and consume that I would mail in. So even though I’m not a writer, once it was put before me I got into it pretty good.

USDR: How long have you been working on it?

Adam: It took, I mean it took pretty close to a year. I mean, you go around with it a few times, you do a few laps on it, but yeah, I took the better part of a year on it.

USDR: Now, you’ve said that your dad is notoriously disinterested in the things you’re interested in, but he’s also an avid reader. So this book is going to be a catch 22 for him.

Adam: Yeah he’s gonna be screwed on this one except for, I don’t think he’s going to read it, because he is an avid reader, but he would only read things that he would wanna read. But I don’t think this would fall under that heading….But you know, the problem is, you know, there’s not really too many kind words said about him in the book, so I’d just sort of prefer him and my mom don’t pick it up.

Adam, his live show schedule, his book, and his free podcast, can all be found on adamcarolla.com

Courtesy of MCS

Kevin Terrell

Currently pop-punk’s most dominant act, Motion City Soundtrack is on the road again for the third time (at least) this year, brandishing a darker, edgier, more diverse sound coming from their recently released fourth alum My Dinosaur Life. Kicking off their 36-city tour right here in San Diego, Justin Pierre and Josh Cain, founding members of the energetic, yet notoriously self-conscious group from Minneapolis, along with keyboardist Jesse Johnson, talked with USD Radio before their show:

USDRadio.org: You guys have always been tireless when it comes to touring, this is already your third major tour this year. How do you keep up that pace?

Justin: We’ve had a bit of time off, but I don’t know (laughs)…. Just don’t think about it, maybe that’s an answer.

Josh: Yeah, I guess you just do what you gotta do. Although I didn’t go on Warped Tour, so it’s kinda weird on my end. Because I just had a kid, she’s four months old now. It’s super hard to go on tour right now, this is only my fourth day being away from her.

USDR: Oh yeah, congratulations.

Josh: Thank you. But yeah, I don’t know. I mean, you have to stay connected to your fans. Try to be accessible, and try to be available. For us, the live show is such a big part of what we do, we really sell the band with the live show, so we especially feel like we need to tour as much as we can.

USDR: Was any of that creative process on your latest album, My Dinosaur Life, inspired or maybe hindered by being on the new, major record label Columbia instead of [the independent label] Epitaph?

Josh: No, its been fine. The transition was easy, we joined the new label before Even if it Kills Me even came out, so we’ve been on the label technically for years, so we’ve had a lot of time to breed into that culture there. Its not that different, but it is; it’s a big crowd of people, a big system, big talk. There’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen sometimes, but not really. Its just…more, I guess.

Jesse: Yeah totally. Actually they pretty much let us do whatever we wanted to do. We just recorded a bunch of songs and they put them out, so its just like any other indie label really.

USDR: Well My Dinosaur Life has been getting rave reviews, and it has a definite edginess to it that’s kind of new for your band, where did that come from?

Justin: Yeah I was just going to say, we did feel like we had to be a certain way trying to write the third record Even if it Kills Me. From us, not the label. That one was the one where we had a plan, and tried really hard to write catchy songs, because we didn’t know if we could. And I think we ended up writing a whole record of…pretty. Songs that are pretty. So we kinda tried to avoid that.

Josh: Yeah, for sure I think [the new edginess] is like knee-jerk reactions to what we did before. With our last record, [Even If It Kills Me] I think we were really worried about being able to follow up an album like Commit this to Memory, so we ended up writing a bunch of really poppy songs. Which is great, I mean, I love that record [Even if it Kills Me], it just was what it is, and [afterwards] we were like ‘wow we really went one direction on that’ that I didn’t really foresee us going.

Justin: Right. Looking back at the last record we were like ‘oh shoot, we missed that other part of things,’ so we tried to compensate for that on this record. And I don’t know if we over compensated or not, but it’s a little darker, and meaner,and rawer, and sloppier, which I like personally.

USDR: Is that why you picked pretty much the heaviest song, Disappear, as the first single?

Josh: Oh yeah, we definitely wanted people to see that side right off the bat just to show them, you know, what the new album had to offer in that direction.

USDR: Has that newfound anger translated to more energy in your live show?

Justin: I think that energy will come back in a few days. Just speaking for me, I tend to, uh, worry a lot. Most of the time. Like, if you look up at me tonight, you’ll probably see me freaking out, trying to figure out what the hell is going on, being nervous and worried and weird, and that usually goes away in a few days, and then I’m just, I guess, normal nervous as opposed to really nervous…I’ve just been overwhelmed this first few days with trying to remember and relearn and learn new parts. We tend to, like in the last few recordings, we’ll record a bunch of parts and it sounds good in the song, but then we need to decide who’s going to play what parts live.

USDR: Is there a particular song you’re worried about?

Justin: Most of them. Uh, yeah most of the new ones.

USDR: I wouldn’t worry too much, from everything I’ve read your fans are really happy with the new album.

Jesse: Yeah, we were really happy with the magazines and the press and the fans, everyone was really receptive to it. We got some of our best reviews in magazines and stuff.

Justin: I think it’s just a matter of not being afraid to try new things as a band. And its weird because as a fan of music you never want it to change, but as a person who makes music you always want to try new things, so I think as long as you don’t try to do anything specific, but you experiment, I think you can’t really lose. I mean, you can lose, but I think if you’re trying to pander to people, I think people know it, and don’t react to it kindly. Whereas I think as long as we’re happy, the fans will get honest music and people usually respect that.

Las Vegas band “Imagine Dragons” stopped by the Closet today to say hello and talk about their recent show at Casbah, their upcoming tour, forthcoming album, Snook-a-likes and iPods with only one song on them. Click below to listen to the 10 minute interview and check out their other links while you do!

http://www.imaginedragonsmusic.com

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Imagine-Dragons/39643821406

http://twitter.com/imaginedragons

http://www.myspace.com/imaginedragons

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Courtesy Greta Morgan

I’ve been sitting on Gold Motel’s most recent release, Summer House, for the past few days, soaking it up and really trying to put together an accurate review on this one. I’ve now listened to it a few times over and boy did I really soak up its summer sound. The album itself has an almost intricate simplicity; it feels laid back and stripped down, yet multiple layers really come together to make each song sound incredibly complete.

Most tracks consist of just guitar, bass, drums, and vocals yet everything feels diverse. Reverb and tremolo come in and out of play in true beach style 60’s music as best exemplified by the title track. In “Stealing the Moonlight” quick palm mutes and dual vocals create a sound that will be loved by those who spent high school with Rilo Kiley.

When you listen to “We’re on the Run,” the playful strums high up on the fretboard could easily be mistaken for a Vampire Weekend song. Other songs on the album such as “Who Will I Be Tonight” add keys to create more of a soulful and shorter feel to the album, as lead singer Greta Morgan seems to look back at a relationship.

It would be impossible to mention the band without discussing the fact that Morgan first reached fame as the pianist and one of the singers of The Hush Sound. While fans of that project are almost guaranteed to have their ears perk up by Gold Motel, it’s important to note that Gold Motel shouldn’t be written off as The Hush Sound. In many ways, it’s a more grown up sound. There’s more indie twang, less piano, and certainly more of a SoCal vibe.

Much of this beachy vibe likely stems from the fact that when looking for inspiration for the album, Morgan moved to Los Angeles where she became involved in the music scene and would go to five or six concerts per week.

The overall album is a solid release that stands on its own, yet pulls from numerous other successful bands. It’s quick, it’s catchy, and most importantly it proves to be an all around fun album. Simply put, I’ll be actively waiting for album number two.

Fans of the band can check out a live performance this Wednesday as Gold Motel opens up for Kate Nash at The House of Blues. In many ways, these acts prove to be a perfect pairing. Morgan, while still young, will most likely find herself to be in Nash’s spot in the near future and we’ll all be in for a treat.

Myspace

Courtesy hypepromos.net

With more than a decade of making music, Slightly Stoopid has gained a large and loyal fan base that embraces the band’s “fusion of acoustic rock and blues with reggae, hip-hop, and punk”.  It’s no surprise that their chill, elusive sound originated not far from USD in Ocean Beach, California. With their last album two years behind them and huge summer tours coming to an end, we can only wonder what’s in store for the band next. Drummer Ryan “Rymo” Moran recently called in to discuss the band’s extensive past, the new album in the works, and even some politics.

You were signed to Skunk Records in 1995 but later started your own record label, Stoopid Records. How did that independence change the process of recording?

Rymo: Surprisingly not that much, we were working with Bradley Nowell and Michael Happoldt, and we still work with them today. Mikey’s a producer and we’ve been working with since way back then—its been both a friendship and partnership, but now we’re footing our own bills and putting our own stamp on the albums.

How did growing up in San Diego influence your music?

R: Well I’ve been here 16 years now, it’s been huge, and I love the lifestyle down here in San Diego. I moved down to go to San Diego State University and fell in love with the sun and surf and skate. Getting here was a dream come true; I always wanted to live down here. It definitely shaped our music; we all pretty much live the same kind of lifestyle, really relaxed.

What local San Diego venues do you like?

R: I love playing at Cricket, but we’ve played most of the rooms in San Diego, like House of Blues, Winston, Tio Leo’s. I just like going out and seeing my friends play in San Diego. This Sunday I’m going to see some friends at Belly Up.

You once said that constantly touring is an important part of what Slightly Stoopid is all about. What do you want your fans to take away from one of your shows?

R: I mean the vibe we kind of bring is you know, let’s party and hang. We don’t take it super seriously; we like to have fun, have a drink or two before we go on stage. I think people connect with us because we’re pretty honest; the way we are on stage is the same as offstage. It’s about playing good music and keeping it real. So many bands jump on the bandwagon, go with whatever is popular at the moment, but what makes us different is that we’ve been the same throughout the years, who we are and how we are.

Your last album, Slightly Not Stoned Enough to Eat Breakfast Yet Stoopid, was released in 2008. Are any plans for a future album in the works?

R: Definitely, there is a lot of stuff in the works. We released our last stuff in 2008, and everything was back to back, we just made one album after another and we just decided that we wanted to cruise and tour. The focus lately has been doing big summer tours, and a couple guys from the band got married and had kids, which kind of has taken the focus off tour and let us take time off and go into the studio. We’ve had a couple weeks off, so we’re focusing on tightening up these recordings by spring or summer next year. Right now we’re leasing a studio down in the Mission Valley area so we can develop a lot of music and record them ourselves. Afterwards we’re going to go back to a legit studio and record them.

The “Legalize It” tour was both a musical collaboration and a means to raise awareness about your partnerships with NORML, Marijuana Policy Project, and Tax Cannabis. As the California Statewide General Election approaches, what do you have to say about prop 19 and the legalization of marijuana?

R: We’re hoping that prop 19 passes for medicinal purposes. We believe it’s a natural thing; there are so many crazy gnarly chemicals being promoted. I see like, three advertisements for drugs everyday and they’re nuts! They have ridiculous side effects, your stomach might fall out, you could cough up blood, all that. Marijuana is a natural plant that grows in the ground and people have always used in as a way to relax and deal with pain. On another level, the income raise from taxing it can help with deficit in California. There’s definitely a need, and people need to overturn the propaganda and old bias. This isn’t something that’s going to make you crazy. People die way more from drunk driving than driving high. This is something that people can use legitimately and safely. When you smoke a joint you just get hungry and giggle, you know? You aren’t going to go kill people when you’re high. Honestly, we just feel that its time for change.

Bedford Grove has got a lot going for them. The six-member coalition have, according to their official website www.bedfordgrove music.com, opened for Pat Benatar and are scheduled to open for the John Legend and Macy Grey’s upcoming Petco Park concert. They’ve appeared on a movie soundtrack (although I couldn’t find which movie specifically) along with POD and Angels and Airwaves.

Big deal.

As a matter of fact, this is a big deal for two reasons. One, Bedford Grove has only been together for one year. Two, frontman Marc Gould is 20 years old. Knowing this, it’s a lot more impressive that a local San Diego group has enjoyed so much success in such a short time. Add to this the release of their debut album “Welcome to Our Side of Town” in the spring of 2008, you get the sense that Bedford Grove must be doing something right.

The group is made up of Marc Gould (vocals), Lauren Paul (female vocals), Shane Fitzgibbon (drums), Matt Davies (brass), Matt Smith (more brass) and Sean Sobash, who can be heard “slappin’ da bass”. Together, they produce what iTunes calls “R&B/Soul” but what the group describes as “Funky, Sexy, Soul-Pop”. Based on the fun-factor of “Welcome to Our Side of Town”, I’m inclined to lean towards the latter.

What fun-factor you ask? Cop the album and throw on “Whispers in the Rain”. Skip forward a few tracks to “In the Car” and prepare for a serious mood-swing. “Crazy Ride Called Love” shouts-out to the archetypal significant other with a groovy keyboard/brass concoction complimented by old-school melody-harmony vocals from Marc and Lauren. Fast forward to “Teenage Suicide” and steel yourself for a striking emotional ode that will hit-home with any listener. Marc spills the beans on his family’s history on the album’s last track “Chicago” but before Bedford Grove fades from the speakers, Gould reminds the listener that “true love will stand the test of time” and manages to not sound like a trite hippy while doing it. In my book, that’s an accomplishment worth noting on its own.

- Wonderboy

The Fire is Senses Fail's most intense and introspective album to date

“Is it just me or do you wonder if we were put here just to see / how much heartache we can take without hanging from the tallest tree?” Buddy Nielsen poses this question in the album’s first single, “Saint Anthony,” and will spend the rest of the album making a strong argument for this point, as he screams and sings his way through this intense and personal therapy session titled  The Fire. Buddy has always written songs that are close to him personally, and in the past his honesty has turned into some very good songs. On The Fire, the fourth full album from Senses Fail, he continues to stick to personal songs, but has now gone even further, not just venting his emotions, but beginning a new process in which he explores the reasons why he has those feelings. This self-reflective therapy, in which he is working through his issues, has created a new batch of songs that are not only good, but some of the best songs of his career.

A strong focus of the album seems to be the absence of his father in his life, and you can feel his struggle as he tries to sort out the bitter feelings that have grown within him over the years. The album shows a back and forth battle in which he yearns for a father that has failed him, but at the same time is a father that he wants nothing to do with (“New Year’s Eve,” “Coward,” “Hold On”). Although this may seem like dark subject matter, which could in some cases create a downer of an album, Buddy balances his torment and rage beautifully, screaming verses of anger and then plunging into anthemic choruses with his heart on full display.

Other stops on this journey include Buddy taking a close look at himself, pondering the reasons that he still feels let down by this life, and can find no comfort in love (“The Fire,” “Saint Anthony,” “Lifeboats”). These songs can be more relatable on a basic level, for anybody that has ever felt lonely or let down. The best part of Senses Fail’s music has always been that it provides a certain type of comfort, because the listener knows that there is someone out there that knows exactly how they feel, and that they are not alone in their pain.

The rest of the band balances music with these dark lyrics masterfully, complementing Buddy’s voice with ease. Thrashing guitars over a relentless drumbeat help to give force to Buddy’s righteous anger as he screams, while in the choruses the band lets back just enough so as not to be overbearing, but rather supplement the vocals, giving power to the emotions felt by its singer. All in all, it is Senses Fail’s most well put together album yet, and it seems that the band has finally found it’s perfect sound, a combination of the best elements of its previous three albums. One can only hope that if Buddy ever does start to climb that tallest tree, he will put out a few more albums like this one first.