AFG Must Rock! (AFGMR!) is based in Los Angeles and, though our first love is punk rock, our overall mission is simple: promote indie music, write some decent reviews (with the occasional nod to Lester Bangs) and build a greater sense of community with musicians, artists and their fans. Connect with AFG Must Rock on Facebook.
Club AFGMR! sponsors a monthly showcase and since The Swagger Sticks frequently play, along with our good friends King Cheetah, it only makes sense to keep everyone up to date with our latest foibles, like the release of our CD in August ’09 & our first video in June ’10. Connect with The Swagger Sticks on Facebook.
I’ve always been a closet Beach Boys fan, even before I worked very closely with their one-time producer and manager, Jack Rieley, several years ago. I’ve always thought that “Good Vibrations” was the best rock song ever written, though I doubt few will agree with me. All I know is that it’s a rainy day in Los Angeles, the week before Christmas, and “Good Vibrations” is just tonic needed to remind us that summer will be back before we know it. Here’s some live footage of the Beach Boys performing “Good Vibrations” during their 1976 tour and of Brian Wilson’s 34th birthday party that same year. And yes, that’s a very young looking Paul McCartney sitting next to him.
Here’s The Swagger Sticks performing as a duo live at the Mr. T’s Bowl holiday show a couple of weeks ago. This is a little gritty…there’s actually two songs here: the newly arranged “Kick It In Reverse” and our new song “Radioactive Kidz.”
We’re working on releasing a 7″ single/digital download of these two songs, probably sometime in February. Thanks Art Villanueva for the footage.
You know when bands release “b-sides” or “alternative takes” or “lost tracks”? That’s just a nice way of them saying they need money and, since they’ve got some shitty demos lying around, they’re going to try to sell them to you, the loyal super fan.
Well, The Swagger Sticks are doing the same think except in our case, it’s very unlikely that anyone is going to wait in line to buy our $300 box set of rarities and B-sides. Due to these unfortunate circumstances, we are going direct, to you the consumer, and letting you listen to our newest studio recording right here for FREE!!
“Kick It In Reverse” - The Swagger Sticks [Demo]
“Kick It In Reverse” is the first song on our yet-to-be-titled second album. You can also see The Swagger Sticks live this weekend at The War On XMAS Holiday Ball this Saturday, December 4th at Mr. T’s Bowl in Highland Park, CA.
Fragile Gang is sharpening their knives ahead of the War On XMAS show this Saturday, December 4th at Mr. T’s Bowl. They’ve got an incredible rhytm section backing up Arlo Klahr and Aisling Cormack, including Sandy Yang, who’s played drums (and sang) with Mike Watt axeman Tom Watson in a couple of his projects, including the legendary art-punk outfit Red Crayola. On bass Fragile Gang will have the incredibly talented Aaron Olson. {Editors note: Tom Watson is one of our favorite guitarists so that means I love Fragile Gang even MORE].
AFGMR: What is it that makes a “Fragile Gang” most fragile? Do you think most gangs in LA are afraid of showing their fragile i.e. emotional/artistic sides?
Arlo: A good friend of mine had some thoughts about our name. i just talked to him like a week ago: he had come to the conclusion that a gang, by it’s very nature, is a fragile thing. you think of them as strong and tough. but he said you get in a gang because you need the strength of your friends, for support, protection, strength, to keep you safe, to keep you sane, all those reasons and more. so if each member of the gang has some reason for being in it, for needing each other, then the gang itself is a strong but fragile thing. it can be both.
i think some of what he’s saying is true. think of bands as the same. your friend’s are in the band, you all help each other have a bigger, better, stronger sound than you can have yourself. where you might feel super vulnerable and naked if you were to go out on stage alone with a guitar (or a flute), if you go out with your buddies you can blast the hell out of everything and have support and strength and have a mighty sound. you can be tough and vulnerable at the same time – because you have a big good sound and you’re bandmates, yet you’re also expressing something – your emotional/artistic side like you said in the question.
“It’s Christmas Time!” - Fragile Gang
See Fragile Gang Sat, 12/4 @ Mr. T's Bowl
for the second part of the question, about the la gangs, i don’t know. but i think yes, lots of people are afraid to express stuff, artistic/emotional sides, because it might leave you open…but i also think that almost everyone finds some way to show what they really think and feel, we just might not recognize it when they do….and what comes across as being tough might actually show a lot of vulnerability, feelings of powerlessness, need, fragility, etc..
AFGMR: What is your all-time favorite holiday song and why?
Arlo: i like a lot of christmas songs because maybe because i grew up not celebrating xmas so they weren’t poisoned for me. but weirdly enough i’ve kind of started doing a holiday or xmas song, try to do it every year and that’s the mp3 i’ve sent you because it’s one of my favorite xmas songs. it’s called “it’s christmas time”. put it on the blog! me and my friend ryan (of the band whqles) did it two christmases ago. we were home alone for christmas and we came up with it in about half and hour but i think it has the spirit.
AFGMR: what are you doing RIGHT now and why? And don’t lie!
Arlo: right now i’m about to eat dinner, it’s 8pm. we’re going to watch a movie. i’m doing it because i like to.
AFGMR! And I’m looking forward to sharing the bill with Fragile Gang THIS Saturday 12/4 at Mr. T’s Bowl. Check out Club AFGMR for more details.
Sad news people. Yes, it’s true. Aaron Steinberg of Captain Danger, the most funkified band in Los Angeles, is entering the Promises Treatment Center in Malibu following the band’s performance at The War On XMAS Holiday Ball this Saturday, December 4th at Mr. T’s Bowl. It turns out that Steinberg, the hunky lead singer and smoldering guitarist, best know for his smash hit “Hollywood Douchebag“ has lost the battle to his long-standing addiction to all things Mr. T’s. As of late he has taken to only hanging posters of Mr. T in his bedroom and he has refused to perform anywhere other than Mr. T’s Bowl in Highland Park, CA.
Laurence Tureaud, better know by his stage name, Mr. T, was quoted as saying. “I pity the fool who suffers from this obstractionary obsession with me and with Mr. T’s Bowl. Aaron, get well soon. In the meantime, I’m going to send you DVDs of all the A-Team episodes so you won’t have to be so lonely in the hole with all those damn crack heads!!”
Aaron, we here at AFG Must Rock wish you a speedy recovery following your show this Saturday. Addiction is a heavy burden for any man to carry so, if forget the address to the venue, just click here at Club AFGMR for all the details.
In the meantime, check out Steinberg as he performs his hit ”Hollywood Douchebag” on The Green Room with Paul Provenza (and Andy Dick)!
We are very, VERY excited to have College Battle Of The Bands impressario, Flula Borg, hosting Club AFGMR’s War On XMAS Holiday Ball this Saturday, 12/4 at Mr. T’s Bowl with Fragile Gang, The Swagger Sticks, Captain Danger, King Cheetah and Thorcraft Cobra.
Flula is beloved by millions (or at least thousands, which is still pretty good if you ask me). He even performed at CMJ in New York. (CMJ stands for College Music Journal for all you non-obsessed music freaks).
Check out this Flula video at CMJ with some “Very dope bands” then imagine that those bands don’t exist. Imagine the only bands in the world that really matter are Fragile Gang, The Swagger Sticks, Captain Danger, King Cheetah and Thorcraft Cobra!
Triple Bordego knows more than you about rocking The Office Bar & Grill in Burbank. They cranked out two hardcore-inspired 45-minute sets last night. It was good to old bandmate Sim as well as CG of ‘Triple B’. I also got to chat with bass player Tyson about the efficacy of Ampeg bass rigs. Super Fan Faye and Guff even showed up. Good stuff.
I made my way out to El Cid last night to check out The Rob Z Program with Adam Marsland’s Chaos Band, Silver Needle and Non Ultra Joy (I couldn’t stay for NUJ due to an early work week schedule).
Rob Z’s only got one show left and then he’s hanging up his promoter spurs after ten years to focus on performing live with his various projects, including Z/Schnee and The Bleeding Livers. Rob Z - we hardly knew ya! Oh, and I just found out Rob has a show on Intraffik Radio. Check out the New, New WRTZ Show!
Unfortunately I didn’t get to post his last week. Between preparing for the AFG Must Rock Showcase this past Saturday, and a last-minute trip to NYC, I was deprived of precious web-surfing/blog time.
I did, however, spend lots of time listening toThorcraft Cobra, whose EP just came out a couple of weeks ago, and emailing Billy Zimmer all kinds of annoying questions! The band is off to a good start and recently got some spins on Rodney Bingenheimer’s show on KROQ.
Their latest single, “Party’s Clock,” is an infectious dance-pop track reminiscent of early Talking Heads with all the clever songcraft usually reserved for the likes of Flight Of The Conchords.
Listen to “Party Clock” – Thorcraft Cobra
The duo consists of the aforementioned guitarist Billy Zimmer and drummer Tammy Glover. Zimmer first made a name for himself playing with the Canadian quartet Brown Eyed Susans. Like so many bands before, a visit to a Los Angles recording studio turned into a permanant relocation from, in this case, the cold Calgary winters back in 1999. By the way, if you’re a power pop aficionado you might remember Brown Eyed Susans from the first International Pop Overthrow festival in Los Angeles and compilation of the same name back in 1998.
Tammy Glover was a former labelmate and drummer for the legendary L.A. art-pop outfit Sparks. Glover’s first show with Sparks was back in 1998 when they played a festival in France front of crowd of nearly 50,000.
It Gets Better
You’ve probably seen lots of YouTube videos of bands trying to be funny for the sake of cross-promoting their music, which is cool, but Zimmer and Glover genuinely ARE funny and their latest video is a pitch-perfect commentary of recent events in the gay community. Here’s what Zimmer had to say about their recent YouTube post “It Gets Better.”
Tammy and I are both in entertainment. So – we work with a lot of super cool gay people whose lives probably sucked when they were in high school. And – they may have not seen a light at the end of the tunnel then, but now they have amazing and rewarding lives. Kids can be total dicks. And, you’re never going to eradicate bullying entirely. Kids will continue to be dicks, because the human species is terribly flawed. With the obvious exception of Natalie Portman. But – I just hope kids who may be the victims of bullying can look past it, live through it, and come out the other side happy.
Aron F. Gibson
AFG Must Rock! (AFGMR!) is based in Los Angeles and, though our first love is punk rock, our overall mission is simple: promote indie music, write some decent reviews (with the occasional nod to Lester Bangs) and build a greater sense of community with musicians, artists and their fans. Connect with AFG Must Rock on Facebook.
