Tag: Sonic Youth

Ep. #276: Katie Monks of Dilly Dally

Post author By vish
Post date August 17, 2016

Katie Monks and Liz Ball are members of an explosive Toronto-based rock band called Dilly Dally. High school friends, Monks and Ball grew up loving Nirvana, Pixies, Sonic Youth, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs among others, eventually honing their own chops as guitarists and songwriters and forming Dilly Dally. In the fall of 2015, the band released its critically-acclaimed album Sore, via the Toronto label Buzz Records, and have been touring steadily ever since with forthcoming dates at Arboretum Festival in Ottawa on August 17 and many European and American shows, beginning at the end of August and leading into September and October . Here, Katie and I discuss the fact that Liz is probably sleeping, setting the record straight about info in the ‘official’ Dilly Dally bio, things from the past get soupy, why her and friends gravitated towards sad, junkie, self-destructive artist boys like Kurt Cobain, Christopher Owens, and Pete Doherty, kill yr idols, maternal instincts, getting it together, bowing down to nobody and respecting life, compassion, owing your fans, Toronto hype, the mythology around tortured artists and success, the music industry, Kurt Cobain was likely smart, a switch, being a woman and helping other women, growing up in Newmarket, living the dream, seeking chaos, the Toronto real estate-related arts exodus, 2013 Toronto, construction in the city, Drake, Rob Ford, Fucked Up, the Blue Jays, and the Raptors and Toronto getting more worldwide attention, the Dilly Dally song “Purple Rage” and the Prince song “Purple Rain,” loving problematic Prince and Purple Rain, her brother Dave who plays in Tokyo Police Club and what their musical upbringing was like, a Beatles chord book, older sibling shop talk, safe European flights, a Dublin family reunion, touring the U.S. during the actual presidential election this fall, the unmediated truth, the future of Dilly Dally and the song “The Touch,” a postcard of a dead cat, and that was that.

Related links: dillydallyband.com buzzrecords.ca vishkhanna.com

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News Podcast

Ep. #255: Shehzaad Jiwani of Greys

Post author By vish
Post date May 11, 2016

Shehzaad Jiwani is the lead singer and lyricist in the Toronto punk rock band Greys. Formed in 2011, they’ve released a handful of singles and two LPs, including 2016’s acclaimed Outer Heaven, which is out now via both Buzz Records and Carpark Records ahead of tour dates throughout Canada and U.S. this summer. Back in April, Shehzaad and I went on an adventurous walk around his neighbouhood in Toronto with the new Rotate This location, as our prime destination. On our trek, we discussed the heart of Toronto downtown city, Scarborough and North York, running into Christina and Alanna, a grade 12 trip to Montreal, Mr. Flamingo, Shehzad’s blonde hair in grade four, his memorable face, a mean thing, being single again, singers never know how to use microphones on my show, it’s all downhill or uphill from here, border guard trouble, picking up copies of the physical album, ex-girlfriend stuff, Julian Swift and the Red Light whiskey bar, the Cola Heads, the Balconies, Get Well and North of Brooklyn Pizza, the age of outrage, the Telegramme silkscreen print shop and Matt who works there, Rotate This as neighbours, Buzz Records, Rotate This is closed early, the chorus of “Complaint Rock,” the Sonic Youth song “Swimsuit Issue” from their album Dirty and its influence on “Complaint Rock,” people who opine just to opine on the internet, Greys’ trajectory over the past five years, the FACTOR debate, writing from a socially political standpoint, Vish is sad, weed stores, getting into music as a kid, the song “Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones, the album title Voodoo Lounge, Bridges to Babylon and k.d. lang, Rick Froberg and Mick Jagger and being yowl-y, the songs “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “This Mystic Decade,” playing music, a supportive dad, playing drums first, the song “1979” by the Smashing Pumpkins, where Greys came from, a more timid Toronto, CBC Radio 3, how Greys serve and reflect their community in Toronto, glibness, looking for Lisgar, a deeper delving into Outer Heaven and its dynamic musical arrangements, a stray dog, my friend Mick Brambilla and the party at his house, touring, playing punk rock, Justin Small, googling your band name, the song “If it’s All the Same to You,” and then the ramble is over.

Related links: greysband.com buzzrecords.ca carparkrecords.com vishkhanna.com

Listen, subscribe, rate/review on iTunes.

Tags Buzz Records, Carpark Records, Greys, Mick Brambilla, Outer Heaven, Rotate This, Sonic Youth, The Rolling Stones

News Podcast

Ep. #197: Nels Cline

Post author By vish
Post date July 7, 2015

Nels Cline is an American multi-instrumentalist and one of the world’s most renowned and inventive guitar players. Best known these days as a member of the popular Chicago band Wilco, Cline has collaborated with hundreds of musicians, most often within the realm of jazz or improvised music, but also touching upon almost every music genre human beings currently comprehend. Near the beginning of this century, Cline started a new free jazz ensemble called the Nels Cline Singers, featuring drummer Scott Amendola, bassist Trevor Dunn, and percussionist Cyro Baptista, and to date, they’ve released six albums, including 2014’s Macroscope. The Nels Cline Singers are playing at Guelph, Ontario’s Hillside Festival during the weekend of July 24 and here, Nels and I discuss being back in New York City after playing Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival, MassMoCA and the state of Massachusetts, Chicago music festivals, 318 Canadian music festivals, catching up to Europe, music and social skills and community building, punishment, curating Solid Sound, Jeff Tweedy and Tony Margherita, the new Solid Sound documentary Every Other Summer, when the Nels Cline Singers get together to play, the expanded NCS, Marc Ribot’s open letter to Steve Albini about copyrighting art, the vague notion of making the latest NCS album Macroscope, the 1970s and high school, the Weather Report, Herbie Hancock, MIles Davis, Yuka Honda and Cibo Matto’s new record Hotel Valentine, playing in Cibo Matto, being a dad and not knowing or being able to do anything, proteck ya neck, a terrible nerve pinch, being there when ‘there’ is in Wilco, more people are coming out to see Nels play outside of Wilco these days, the Grand Canyon Suite by Ferde Grofé, hearing classical Indian music in grade 10, hearing Jimi, an entire side of Ravi Shankar goes a long way, visiting India, touring modern, his guitar style or lack thereof, classical Indian sitar elements within his playing, various influences, drones, rising music stars and great younger guitarists, buying new CDs, Julian Lage, the forthcoming double-album of orchestrated ballads called Lovers that Nels has been working on for two decades, at least one of these ballads is by Sonic Youth, it should be out by January, working with John Zorn, new Singers stuff, scoring a new documentary about veteran suicide with Yuka, trying to guess how many records Nels has appeared on, new Wilco recordings and their state of completion, the Mack Avenue record label, the song “Respira,” and so the raga is over.

Related links: nelscline.com vishkhanna.com