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Ep. #125: John Reis of Drive Like Jehu

John Reis is a fantastic guitarist and songwriter based in San Diego California. Over the past 25 years he has played in remarkable and influential bands like Pitchfork, Rocket From the Crypt, Hot Snakes, Sultans, and the Night Marchers among others, and he also started a cool label called Swami Records. One of his most significant bands was Drive Like Jehu who stopped playing together shortly after releasing their second album, Yank Crime, in 1994. Earlier this week the band, including singer/guitarist Rick Froberg, bassist Mike Kennedy, and drummer Mark Trombino, announced they would be playing a single, free show at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in San Diego’s Balboa Park on August 31, accompanied by civic organist Dr. Carol Williams. Here, John and I talk about making pancakes, the comings and goings of the sun, why Drive Like Jehu is getting back together to play a single show, collaborating with the Spreckels Pipe Organ, how his friend Dang is on the board of directors for the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, sonic energy and jamming with Godzilla, how organs fit into the music of Drive Like Jehu, trash cans, how this reunion show has nothing to do with any historical landmarks beyond this organ, how Drive Like Jehu never ever broke up, the circumstantial reasons why Drive Like Jehu stopped playing together, why John thinks of himself mostly as a guitar player, how people seemed more stoked about the band after they went away, how Drive Like Jehu started after Pitchfork stopped playing together, Mike Kennedy and Mark Trombino’s band Night Soil Man, getting Rick to play with John, Mike, and Mark, having a small fanbase, the forthcoming Drive Like Jehu/Megadeth Megatour, playing with the organ, when Drive Like Jehu will actually practice together for the first time in 20 years, five songs in 30 minutes, no one knows what’s going to happen at this show, “Louie Louie,” never say never, turning people on with an organ, documenting this one Drive Like Jehu show, what’s up with new Hot Snakes songs and shows, when Rocket From the Crypt played Riot Fest in Toronto, the Rick Froberg Hot Snakes challenge, the John Reis Hot Snakes challenge, a Drive Like Jehu medley, the songs “Bullet Train to Vegas,” “Luau,” “Do You Compute,” and “Caress,” and then it was time to turn it off.

Related links: drive-like-jehu.com swamirecords.com vishkhanna.com

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Ep. #124: Claire Cameron

Claire Cameron is an acclaimed writer from Toronto whose first novel, The Line Painter, won the Northern Lit Award from the Ontario Library Service and was nominated for an Arthur Ellis Crime Writing Award for ‘best first novel.’ Her latest book is a harrowingly devastating one called The Bear, which is told from the perspective of a six year-old girl named Anna who must take care of her younger brother in the wilds of Algonquin Park after a horrible, incomprehensible tragedy strikes her family’s camping trip. The Bear is available now via Random House of Canada and Cameron is a participating author at the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival, where she’ll read on Sunday September 14. Here Claire and I discuss Toronto the cold and the hot and people in the city who complain, what inspired The Bear, how no one knows why bears attack, making other parents cry and laugh, reading and writing a six year-old’s perspective, how kids can stay in the moment, researching what kids say and think, how we understand death, how Stick might be comic relief, when Anna was a boy, coping with grief, Claire’s role in the story of The Bear, seeing things from her late father’s perspective, bears in society, demystifying bear attacks, Jaws and The Bear, the inspirational and tragic attack at Algonquin Park and basically living with black bears in Hearst, Ontario, Steven Herrero’s research on patterns and prevention of bear attacks, mothers with cubs might not be as dangerous lone, hungry males, collecting bear stories, don’t be a chicken turn musician, trying to teach one’s self to make hard-edged electronic music, how The Line Painter was inspired by a song Cameron wrote, loving Neil Young’s quiet/loud dynamic and seeing him in London, England, the Greendale tour, how Claire is working on at least three ‘dead books’ and at least one ‘live one,’ how people weirdly classify Claire’s writing in crime and horror categories, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, reading at the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival, and that’s all we could bear.

Related links: claire-cameron.com edenmillswritersfestival.ca vishkhanna.com

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Ep. #123: Bahamas

Afie Jurvanen is a gifted musician and songwriter who works under the tropical moniker Bahamas. Jurvanen has been an in-demand guitarist who has worked with Feist, the Weather Station, and Zeus among others. He has released three records of his signature folk-tinged rock over the past five years, earning a broad fanbase and award nominations and critical acclaim along the way. His latest album is called Bahamas is Afie, which is out now via Universal Music Canada, and it’s prompted him to tour across the U.S. and Canada over the coming months including a stop at Riverfest Elora on Friday August 22. Here, Afie and I discuss wearing shorts on stage (S.O.S.), Thrush Hermit rules and Joel Plaskett’s legs, the assertively explanatory title of his new album, the lush production of Bahamas is Afie, Don Kerr and the Rooster, distinctive musical chameleons like Bob Dylan, David Bowie, and Beck, that moment where you think of an idea, hope in sad songs, Willie Nelson, wanting to name your hypothetical unborn child Owen, choosing music over sports, social hobbies, going your own way when pushed by your parents, moving to Toronto from Barrie and making friends in a music community, grade 13/OAC, the Miami Heat, Chris Bosh, Fantastic Pop festival in Windsor, Afie’s early band Paso Mino with members of Zeus, Jason Collett, competition and ambition in music, contemporary cultural consumption and metrics, how artists are adapting to the new face of the music business, we are the product, Peter Elkas is under-appreciated, the Aretha Franklin chugging Diet Coke in a golf cart before kicking ass at the Grammys story, playing in a rainstorm at a festival in PEI, the pros and cons of making and promoting music, opening up a laundromat, how to do your laundry, Michael P. Clive’s cooking show and Afie’s unreleased instrumental music for it, making the Weather Station’s new album in France, being added to Riverfest Elora at the last minute, Jason Tait of the Weakerthans, the song “Waves,” and then the heat is off.

Related links: bahamasmusic.net riverfestelora.com vishkhanna.com

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