At a recent Red Hot Chili Peppers show in Oklahoma, support act Mickey Avalon was BOOED. Shocking. This led to the following message from John Frusciante to the world, and the also following response to it from, er, Mickey’s mom.

Is it fair to complain like this? Or is it diva stardom behaviour gone wild?

—

From: John
Sent: Mar 13, 2007 5:43 PM

To the Oklahoma audience,
I feel love for everyone who supports my band and our music. I play music to spread light around the world and those who are open to the light we spread are as much a part of our music as we are.

To the few of you who booed my friend Mickey Avalon, I must say that I agree with Flea that you were also booing my band and yourselves. Because in booing another man, in the first place, you show no regard for humanity. And you show that you have no concept of the amount of courage it takes to open up in front of anybody, much less 10,000 people. Because anyone who knows what it feels like to open up to even one person would never attempt to abuse a person who was doing so in front of a crowd. I happen to feel that Mickey is a great rapper, a great performer, and a natural born star. Though all my friends agree with me on this, it is obviously a matter of opinion, as with any artist, and I certainly don’t expect every member of my bands audience to agree with me, especially with such limited exposure to him. But imagine if you were 10 years old and you spent a year putting a play together, and charged 50 cents and you and your friends really decked the place out and worked hard to make it fun to come to, and you knew a five year old dancer who was great and asked her to dance before the play.If some people came and booed her, would you want to perform for them? Would that kind of abuse be what you had in mind when you were working so hard to create an environment where people could have fun, party and be entertained? Anybody who has the guts to get on stage and bear themselves deserves to be respected for having courage. Anyone watching is free to leave or go to the lobby. But by staying, though you don’t like it,and preferring to boo rather than leave, you are showing that you derive pleasure from attempting to hurt others, and that is always the result of dissatisfaction with yourself. Anyone who tries to make others feel bad, in an attempt to feel good themselves, will never feel true happiness as long as they do so. Not to mention, in the case of a great man such as Mickey Avalon, you only make him stronger, because he has actual self-belief, something which cannot be faked. And you who booed gave him the chance to demonstrate that he has that admirable quality. By the way, the Chili Peppers got booed opening for people in the early days, as have many of the all-time greats. Standing up to that shit is part of getting stronger when someone knows they are good, and it is just taking the world longer to catch on. In this sense I thank you for booing because you have served as a steppingstone for a strong performer to get even stronger.

And I also realize that those of you who booed have probably been spoken down to consistently by your parents, your teachers, your bosses, your older siblings, older kids, etc.I know that shit is frustrating and it probably feels good to take it out on someone who has confidence you wish you had. But the truth is we are all here together. One of us is here because all of us are here. If you don’t respect other peoples feelings you can’t expect to ever have others respect your feelings. As long as you attempt to humiliate someone who is opening up to you, you will never have the courage to truly open up to others.

I knew there was a chance that Mickey would get booed by those of you who resent what isn’t familiar, and I also knew that he is of strong enough character to stand up to it, and perform as great as he does in a club in L.A. where people absolutely love and adore him. There is very little I admire more than that ability, which last night he clearly showed he has. A strong sense of self is what we all want, and so we should respect those who have it. Whether we like what they are doing is beside the point. If I see a performer who I think is terrible, my heart bleeds for them. The thought of trying to humiliate them is unthinkable.

I am very grateful to be able to share the music that comes through me and my band with each and every person who attends our shows. It means a great deal to me. But when I see that some members of my audience enjoy hurting others, I must speak up and say what I feel is right. If you are using the arena we all rented together to attempt to hurt a mans feelings, I must use the microphone to get across that that is not why we are gathered there.

Thank you to all of you, including you who booed, and I honestly hope you got something out of the experience. I hope you who booed someday have the beginnings of true confidence, whereby you derive no pleasure from humiliating others, and can then have the courage to open up to the world and be yourself unashamedly.

What we share with music is a celebration of the infinite possibilites the universe has to offer. I love all who share in this celebration with us. I recommend that you use the experience to inspire you to be yourself, and to let it all hang out. What the fuck do you think is so cool about Flea and Anthony in the first place? Or Jimi Hendrix or David Bowie? Or Little Richard? They waved their freak flag high! We should all follow their lead! Have respect for those who do this(whether they’re famous or not)and you will develop the courage to do this yourself. Everyone of you is a star. Its just hiding inside of some of you. That part of you will come out if you treat others as you would like to be treated, and when you can’t find it in yourself to do so,if you just leave others alone.

All of you who we play to have given me so much and I write this in hopes that I can give help to some of you(who were clearly the minority) where you clearly showed yourself to be in need of help. If people try to push you down, don’t conform to their bullshit. Stand up to it, with courage. Make ’em threaten you with death before you even consider backing down. Be how you want to be. Fuck’em. Then you will develop inner character whereby you would always support those who have the guts to be themselves openly, for you would know that you and they are on the same team. We are actually all on the same team but some of us seem to know that and others do not. Thanks especially to the majority of you, who opened up to MA.I know he’s different. It always takes a second for us to comprehend things that are unfamiliar.

Lots of love to all of you. That’s what this is all about.

Love,
John Frusciante

PS. I know I don’t know you personally and couldn’t possibly know if you only buy and listen to what your force fed. I was so mad last night, when Fleas mention of MA received some boos, that my words were led by my emotions, and I am not used to verbally speaking to large crowds. I wrote this letter to make my position clear. Thank you for hearing me out.

A Letter of gratitude from Mickey Avalon’s mom

Dear John, Flea, and the rest of the Chilli Peppers

I want to thank you all for showing us a great time in Oklahoma City. Mickey had warned us that he would probably be booed, but the opportunity to open for your band was such a rush that it didn’t matter. Six of us met in Oklahoma for a family re-union. Before the show, John took aside Mickey’s daughter and gave her a private guitar lesson. Joy knows no bounds and the pictures from that experience are priceless.

Mickey gives his all whether it is 2 people or thousands. Oklahoma City is a long way from Hollywood and we were prepared for any negative reactions. We still loved Oklahoma , and his little girl had the best time of her life. She was rocking out to the Chilli Peppers with such unbridled joy that few in a lifetime have an opportunity to witness. You have won a fan for life.

The letter you wrote to your fans was beautiful. The booing we expected. Most of the people never even heard of Mickey Avalon, and he opened with a number that some might not find entertaining. Mickey would, of course much rather have you booing than acting bored. That would be much more painful. He is gifted with being able to focus on the fans that were cheering and for them he was going to give his all. I did however feel bad for the girls dancing. I thought some of those guys booing would at least give it up for them.

I’m glad you wrote about how everyone matters. We are all on the same team. If everyone could understand that, the world would change. And it is true, the people who have been treated disrespectfully, will treat others the same. If every one of your fans would spread that kind of love and start treating themselves more respectfully, they couldn’t help but treat others better.

I know you do a lot to better the condition of mankind. Flea has a conservatory in Echo Park . Every child who has a desire to learn music is given an opportunity. What a gift. I’ll be contributing to that cause in memory of Mickey’s sister, Tanya who lost the war on drugs 5 years ago and died from a heroin overdose. Having a place like the conservatory could inspire children and give them something more interesting to do than get high.

Thanks for everything. We have no bad feelings for Oklahoma . Sometimes people do stupid things because they just don’t know better. They just need to learn. I’m glad you are such a good teacher.

Much love and blessings

Mickey’s Mom

So what’s everybody up to this weekend?

There are two exciting gigs in Oxford on Sunday night: one is Damo Suzuki with Youthmovies as sound carriers, with Fuck Buttons in support. The other is Cove. Which should I go to?

New York female trio Au Revoir Simone come from broadly the same musical world as artists like Stereolab and Broadcast – a world of analogue synths, programmed drumbeats and Krautrock-inflected pop music. On The Bird of Music, their second album, they do nothing to distance themselves from this world, with eleven tracks of sweet-natured electronic harmony, rich synthesised melody and impassive, slightly detached vocals.

The relaxed opening track ‘The Lucky One’ sets the tone well. “A dream of togetherness / Turned into a brighter mess” are fine opening lines, speaking of confused romance and hopeful dreams. The music takes its time, with a simple muted beat plodding underneath a sparse keyboard line. It dissolves into the repeated line “So let the sun shine” before fading away. As the album continues, it skips between a couple of styles: firstly, Broadcast-like repetitive and layered sounds behind angelic, sweet vocals, and secondly more upbeat ‘dinky-donk’ tunes that are as much electronic indie-pop as they are brooding introspection.

A couple of times the synthetic backing is limiting. Moments like the cutesy videogame keyboard line on ‘Sad Song’, the mid-90s indie-pop demo drumbeat of ‘Dark Halls’, and the line “You make me want to measure stars in the backyard, with a calculator and a ruler, baby” on ‘Stars’ are almost unbearably twee, and are in danger of disappearing into fluffy nothingness. But such moments are separated by songs like ‘Lark’ and ‘Don’t See The Sorrow’, which really benefit from this warm, electronic style of music in their chilly simplicity and heartfelt closeness. The standout track is the short, intimate ‘I Couldn’t Sleep’, with ever-so-hurt vocals dreaming over layered arpeggios of keyboards and delicate beats, the total effect recalling very early Human League or the darker moments of the aforementioned Broadcast.

This album is very pleasant listening. My worry is that Au Revoir Simone get too happy, and let their slightly bland perkiness overtake the rich seams of emotion and poise that they often seem to hit upon. It’s sometimes difficult for a band with purely electronic instrumentation not to fall into such a quirky or bland trap: let’s hope that this band doesn’t.

Au Revoir Simone
Moshi Moshi Records

Over the seven or eight years that have passed since Explosions In The Sky released their first album, the notion of post-rock as a genre has been developed, twisted and extended into new areas. On All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone, the band’s sixth long player, it’d be hard to argue that they’re dramatically changing or reinventing themselves here; rather meditating on and refining their style.

So on the first couple of listens, this album is pretty much as you’d expect. Instrumental, guitar-based, lengthy songs grow from quiet arpeggios of twinkling sound into dense, layered noise. A mid-tempo pace rarely lets up as songs fall into caverns of repetition and looped ideas. As the tunes seem to be becoming so light of touch that they might fade away, all of a sudden a rich blast of sound shakes things up with a dramatic change of tone.

Opening track ‘The Birth And Death Of The Day’ is a microcosm of Explosions In The Sky’s recorded output so far, dramatically exploding into the album with a head-filling texture, before settling down into a glittering, subtle interplay of guitar lines over a quietly insistent rhythm. It swells and subsides before boldly turning a corner with a swooping riff that leads into the powering heart of the song, before dying slowly away towards the final seventh minute of the tune.

Following this, subsequent tracks more or less revisit this pattern, albeit with different notes and structural orders. It’s hard not to feel at times that the band is endlessly searching for their perfect single song; the mood rarely sways from dark and introspective, and the pace and sound rarely deviate from a lush, we’ll-get-there-in-our-own-time sense of confidence and seriousness. I’ve listened to this album many times so far, however, and it’s yet to get boring: a good indicator that as much as they may not be setting music on fire with exciting new developments, Explosions In The Sky still have a knack for burrowing into my heart and making me feel warm and sleepy.

Bands like Mogwai, Youthmovie Soundtrack Strategies, Godspeed! You Black Emperor and Souvaris have all taken a similar post-rock template to Explosions In The Sky, and gone their on way with it. Post-rock is no longer what it was in 2000, but EITS are sticking to their guns. I have a feeling that they might be right to do so, if they can continue to do it this well.

Explosions In The Sky
Bella Union

Lovely sell-’em-cheap-and-drain-your-wallet superstore network Fopp have a new wave of free instore shows in the near future, by a selection of bands that you may or may not be interested in:

19 March
Ghosts, Glasgow, 5 pm
The Ripps, Leamington, 4 pm

21 March
Ghosts, Nottingham, 6 pm

22 March
Ghosts, Bath Westgate, 6 pm
The Rumble Strips, Bristol Park Street, 5 pm
New Young Pony Club, London Camden, 6 pm

23 March
Ghosts, London Tottenham Court Road, 6 pm

I’ve only heard The Rumble Strips out of that lot, and to me they sounded like B-list Dexy’s knockoffs, but free gigs whilst buying cheap CDs can’t be sniffed at.

On We All Belong, the third album from Philadelphia’s Dr. Dog, and the first of theirs I’ve heard, spirits of joyousness and positivity emanate from the speakers throughout. Not in any kind of lame-ass lightweight hippy pop way, but in a dark-edged way: the band are piano-led and certainly possessed of a jauntiness and high-scale-reaching tenderness; but they counteract one-dimensionality with strange stabs of guitar, lingering background noises and lysergic weirdness that are as much Country Joe And The Fish as they are Polyphonic Spree.

The clearest reference point here seems to be Flaming Lips around the time of Clouds Taste Metallic and Transmissions From The Satellite Heart: essentially simple songs, drenched in lush arrangements and strident changes of pace and tone. So, ‘Don’t Pretend’ and ‘Alaska’ share vocal similarities with Wayne Coyne’s slightly-broken singing style; and ‘The Girl’ is driven by a hefty four-note riff which frequently breaks down into a wailing vocal bridge.

At times Dr. Dog seem to be too reverential and obvious followers of the Flaming Lips; but they manage to just about strike out with their own individuality and unique touch. ‘Worst Trip’ opens like a ’60s Motown number, then morphs into a Divine Comedy-esque operatic pop tune, before exploding into a fantastic, uplifting guitar break. ‘We All Belong’ references John Lennon’s solo, mid-paced work, before crossing over into a Beach Boys-style chanted ode to joy.

I get the impression from this album that Dr. Dog are more a product of similar influences to Flaming Lips, than simple followers of that band. We All Belong takes in aspects of the aforementioned bands, along with Crosby, Stills & Nash, The Band, David Bowie and The Beatles’ ‘I Am The Walrus’. It’s downright bizarre, but endlessly enjoyable, entertaining and life-affirming. Cynics among the world won’t find much to maintain their pessimism here, but at this time of year, as the winter fades away, this is perfect listening.

Dr. Dog
Park The Van

Spraydog are a band that would’ve fared much better if they’d have been operating in the American underground scene of the early-to-mid nineties. Their fuzzy, simple, sweet-natured songs, with dual male/female vocals struggling for space amongst warmly overdriven guitar lines, remind me of the output of labels like Simple Machines and Slumberland. They share a sense of hopefulness and melody with bands of yore like Velocity Girl, Lilys and Tsunami – stretching the parameters of indie rock with odd touches of dissonance and faltering lo-fi production, but never forgetting to keep the tunes in the foreground.

Over Karate Summer Camp‘s fourteen tracks, the mood is mainly one of forward-looking resolution; of making the best of unfortunate situations. There are nods towards the influence of a variety of bands – the Sonic Youth ‘Mote’-style opening of ‘Prizefighters’, the dreamy My Bloody Valentine vocal style of previous single ‘Allison Blaire’, the Codeine/Low slowcore pondering of ‘Bring All Your Sorrows’, for example – but in the main Spraydog’s sound, whilst not devastatingly original, is slowly becoming something all their own.

I’ve listened to this album over and over recently, and it doesn’t seem to do anything but repay such repeated listening. There is the odd touch that isn’t entirely in character for the band, like the aggressive yelped vocals of ‘One Big So-So’, which don’t quite work, but in spite of a very few faults this is still a solid, successful album, that marks out Spraydog as a band with a big heart and an uncanny knack with melody.

More on diskant:
Review of 2006’s ‘Allison Blaire’ single
Interview with Ferric Mordant Records

Spraydog
Ferric Mordant

Home of expensive booking fees Aloud.com are currently offering a pair of Glastonbury tickets to a “lucky” “winner” who enters their draw before the end of 5 March: see here.

Never been to Glastonbury myself but I imagine the experience can be recreated by sitting in an expensive real ale pub which is over-filled with braying middle-class white kids having mad drug experiences, whilst the jukebox volume is jammed on extra-loud and broadcasting nothing but the most pedestrian chart-friendly indie music available.

From a recent mailout to the Wolf Eyes/Hanson Records mailing list…

Hey everyone,

On the morning of Feb 24th my brother Peter Young was in a fire. He
was injured with 2nd and 3rd degree burns on 30-44% of his body.
Neighbors reported seeing him coming out of his apartment unharmed
only to see him run back in to save his dog Little John. The smoke and
heat over took Pete as soon as he reentered the apartment. Pete was
found unconscious and burning by Brighton Police and Fire Department
who rushed him over to the U of M hospital. His apartment was
completely destroyed and Little John did not make it. Pete has no
medical insurance or insurance on his apartment which he owns. He is
undergoing surgery for skin grafts and has not been conscious yet. He
will be in the hospital for at least 2-3 months.

I am asking for donations to help my family with some of the medical
bills and the rebuilding of his apartment. I have set up a paypal
account in Pete’s name.
There are over 1000 members on this board, if everyone donates at
least $1 that will be a big help.

Please paypal donations to Peter.B.Young (at) gmail (dot) com
Please try to pay the paypal fee if paying from a credit or debit card.

Pete first introduced me to punk, psychedelic rock and noise – the
music that inspired me the most as a kid. He also painted the cover
for the first Wolf Eyes album released on Bulb. Without him Wolf Eyes
may not have ever existed. I hope you’ll help me give him something
back.

With much thanks,
Nate Young

This, from a recent e-mail I received from a press agency:

—

Hi Simon,

How are you?

I am working with Danish model/singer/presenter Anine Bing who is soon to be launching a new webiste featuring some of her best shots and her tracks form her forthcoming album. It will also feature a forum area where fans can chat directly to Anine.

Anine is best known in this country for the Ellesse ad that featured her cavorting in the rain on a tennis court with a male model. The picture was banned on billboards due to a large amount of crashes due to distracted drivers, and helped propel Anine into the FHM 100 sexiest women list!

Outside of the UK Anine is a huge star. Working in Los Angeles as the presenter of a top celebrity entertainment show, she has been linked to the likes of Jim Carrey, Tobey Maguire and Anders Svensson.

I wanted to know if you would consider running a news piece on the launch of the site. I thought it would be suitable for your readers as they will be able to chat directly to Anine and the site will have some great pics (examples attached).

If you could let me know your thoughts I would really appreciate it!

—

So readers, I consider this a news piece. Is it suitable for you?