Andy Cohen and Tim Midyett of Silkworm and Steve Albini discuss their work together on Silkworm’s 1994 album In the West and its 25th anniversary reissue on Comedy Minus One Records! Supported by Pizza Trokadero, the Bookshelf, Planet Bean Coffee, and Grandad’s Donuts. Please take this listener survey.
Ian MacKaye was once in bands like Minor Threat and Embrace and is currently in the bands Fugazi and the Evens. He also co-founded and continues to oversee the excellent label Dischord Records, which is based in his hometown of Washington D.C. Steve Albini has been in bands like Big Black and Rapeman and is currently in the vital and wondrous rock trio, Shellac of North America. He’s a very well-respected recording engineer who owns and operates the Electrical Audio facility in the city of Chicago, Illinois, where he has lived for a good long time. In this first of a two-part moderated conversation between Ian and Steve, we discuss how they first met via either the late John Loder or Corey Rusk, Steve’s harshly written published review of the Rites of Spring record, Big Black playing D.C., machines and heartbeats, the formalization of punk, the influence of Minor Threat, punk violence, the Butthole Surfers, one-upmanship, explaining Pailhead and how Ian came to work with Al Jourgensen, the significance of John Loder, his company Southern Records, and its role in distributing underground music, Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Wax Trax! Records, Strike Under, punk to electronic music, Paul “Ion” Barker, the Blackouts, Bill Rieflin, drumming, Chicago’s drug scene, Minor Threat’s ferocity and execution, the time Pailhead employed an Ian MacKaye impersonator at shows, Adrian Sherwood almost working with Big Black, the story behind the In on the Kill Taker sessions, staying in London and missing John Loder, why Fugazi recorded in Chicago, how the greatest session ever yielded the saddest demo tapes, Fugazi let its guard down, Steve’s magical rapport with bands, Fugazi goes hard, how Steve bonded with Fugazi during their session together, stifling your fandom as an engineer, treating people you record with respect and trusting their vision, Ian teaches Steve how to double vocals, Ian’s phrasing, single vocals are just fine, trumpets, Ian as a prolific producer, the first Teen Idles recording session with a mean engineer, how Terrie from the Ex obtained his first guitar, Skip Groff and Don Zientara, Inner Ear Studio, Round Raoul Records, resisting technological trends when running a studio, how the In on the Kill Taker sessions with Steve ended up circulating publicly, Fugazi tried to bury it, how records leak, the song “Great Cop,” and that was the end of part one.
Related links: dischord.com electricalaudio.com vishkhanna.com
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The Jesus Lizard Week celebrating the release of Akashic Books’ BOOK concludes with the band’s ace bassist and principal archivist David Wm. Sims. Here, David and I discuss how BOOK was Johnny Temple of Akashic Books’ idea, how the two Davids in the band spent the most time among members making this book with Henry Owings, Sims’ compulsive penchant for archiving things, being an anti-hoarder, how much he learned about his bandmates via the process of writing this book, Mac McNeilly’s obsession with pranks as a kid, how he and guitarist Duane Denison love hearing technical details from musicians about their work and tried returning the favour in BOOK, his emphasis that he just wanted the book to be cool but has some regrets about stuff that didn’t make the final cut, how he has no idea what the band’s legacy is, how their major label situation had less to do with the band’s demise than another thing, band chemistry, the coincidental nature of dramatic shifts in the band’s history, his relationship with Steve Albini and Steve’s piece in BOOK, Rapeman, David Yow being silly, his doubts about BOOK being the final chapter in the history of the Jesus Lizard, whether or not he misses the band, future releases by the Jesus Lizard, his current musical and vocational interests, and then The Jesus Lizard Week becomes the week that was.
Related links: akashicbooks.com/catalog/the-jesus-lizard-book/ vishkhanna.com
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