BOB MOULD (Hüsker Dü, Sugar) and SWERVEDRIVER
 ADDED TO ATP NIGHTMARE BEFORE XMAS LINE-UP

The curators for ATP: Nightmare Before Christmas, 2009 will be: MY BLOODY VALENTINE. The event will take place at Butlins Holiday Resort in ....Minehead.., ..England.... from ..December 4^th - 6^th, 2009...

A very small amount of chalets are left for this event; only limited supplies of Four Berth Room Only or Self Catered chalets remain. Today we announce that the latest exciting additions made by My Bloody Valentine to their bill are:

BOB MOULD

SWERVEDRIVER

Which means the line-up so far looks like this:

Adam Franklin and Bolts of Melody

Date/Time:Mon., July 13, 9:00pm

Price: $8

Adam Franklin at Firebird

Shae Moseley

Considering our culture’s hyper-speed pace, it’s hard to imagine that even the most popular musical acts of the day will retain much of a lasting legacy -- much less relatively obscure artists like Adam Franklin, who is still best known in most circles for his shoegaze-guitar-wielding with Swervedriver. But Franklin, who has actually entered the most prolific and creatively effervescent period of his career during the last decade, probably deserves just such a legacy. His other projects – the experimental space-folk outfit Toshack Highway and Magnetic Morning, his project with Interpol drummer Sam Fogarino – are stylistically varied, but are always built on the strength of Franklin’s signature guitar-scapes and raspy, melancholy vocal refrains. But on his latest solo album Spent Bullets, he navigates farther away from Swervedriver’s rock bombast and the dense, echo-laden sound-collages of Magnetic Morning. Bullets is full of plaintive love songs built on a foundation of yearning ‘60s soul and mixed with his trademark abstract psychedelic sound painting and slow-building dynamics, which lend just the right amount of weight to these free-floating introspections.

"Big Sur"
There are a few songs called "Big Sur" I've discovered. The Beach Boys have one as well, but I've always loved the Jack Kerouac book. That song actually is kind of a reworking of an old Swervedriver chorus, from a song called "It's All Happening Now." It's the same kind of melody, but it has all these little harmonies — it has kind of a Motown-y thing. But it also has this Krautrock-y thing with the rhythm.

"Champs:
It originally sounded like a Serge Gainsbourg tune before it got rocked up. The reason it was called "Champs" is because the working title was just something French — "Champs-Elysees" — and then it got cut down to "Champs." It's kind of a nonsensical title.

"End Credits"
For years that had a working title of "Cavey," because I thought it sounded like a ....Nick.. ..Cave.... song. That's the oldest song of the lot. That was actually knocking around since "Ejector Seat Ejection," Swervedriver's third album. I remember muttering through the chords with Steve the bass player, but obviously that kind of rhythm wouldn't have suited Swervedriver. And in the past couple of years I've gotten into Scott Walker quite a bit, and then, ironically, I supposed it does have a bit of the Scott Walkery-y rock-pop tune. ....Nick.. ..Cave.... is a big fan of Scott Walker.

"Two Dollar Dress
I was hanging out with a friend of mine in ....Australia...., and she was talking about the dress she was wearing and I thought it was quite cool she was wearing one piece of clothing that cost $2. That song already had the lyric, "You fell down the hill and tore your dress," so "$2 Dress" seemed like the logical name for that one.

» State Theatre,

» RELATED: "At the Wheel Again: Swervedriver" feature [Express, June 2008]
» RELATED: "Sonic Superduo: Magnetic Morning" feature [Express, Oct. 2008]
» RELATED: To read an interview with The Church, which is Adam Franklin's touring partner, click here.

Photo by Johnny Moto

Posted By Christopher Porter at 5:00 PM on June 24, 2009 Tagged in Annapolis , Arts & Events , East Falls Church , Maryland , Music , Sound Bets , Virginia , Weekend Pass

The Skinny:

http://www.theskinny.co.uk/article/46027-what-a-mess-what-a-band-swervedrivers-adam-franklin-on-dinosaur-jr

 
What a Mess, What a Band: Swervedriver's Adam Franklin on Dinosaur Jr

I remember J Mascis being asked in an interview what his inspiration was when it came to making records and he said something like "I just wanna make records that I would wanna listen to".

The first Dinosaur Jr record I ever heard was You're Living All Over Me in 1987 and it was a revelation. I'm not sure who first got a hold of it but it became a staple round ours that summer. Sonic Youth had just released Sister which was their most rocking album to date and these bands became the two that really mattered.

The album seemed to free up many contrasting aspects of rock in the 1980s - it had big, noisy, melodic guitar solos for starters, but also neat melodies and arrangements. It had a kind of post-punk Cure-ish quality but it rocked like a metal record. It was vaguely Neil Young-esque in the little bursts of country-ish guitars and the disembodied, quietly sung vocal style that contrasted with the obvious volume of the amps at the time of recording. Sections of sheer noise loiter under and over parts of some of the songs. There's mental institution howling going on in the background! I thought it sounded very much like Hüsker Dü at first but then it started to sound crazier, more unhinged.

Before Dinosaur, it had always seemed like a case of never-the-twain-shall-meet. If you were a noisy, punky band you couldn't be melodic because that would be too weedy, or if you were a melodic, jangly band you couldn't have heavy guitars because that would be too rock. And punk bands weren't allowed to play solos! (even though Black Flag had kind of gone jazz). Dinosaur arrived and blew all four of the barn walls down and that whole melodic-but-heavy thing became the sound to search out - somebody would come back with a record by Das Damen or The Lemonheads; Band of Susans or Dumptruck. Nothing quite like Dinosaur though.

Freak Scene came next and just might have been the last great seven inch single. It came out in 1988 with CDs just around the corner but when people were still buying vinyl and it preceded the next album Bug. Freak Scene is a definitive guitar recording, much like Jimi Hendrix's All Along The Watchtower. The Hendrix recording moves through acoustic guitars, electric lead, wah wah, slide. Freak Scene kicks off with clanging electric rhythm chords and effortlessly switches to the hardcore chug chords, back out through acoustic jazzy chords and into that distinctive fucked-up, melodic lead guitar mangling.

Lyrically, things don't so much jump out but seep into yr head. There's "rubble to sift through", tarpits, raisans, sludgefeasts, fossils. It's all very prehistoric. But then there's just messed up relationship stuff - "It's only everything standing in front of me"; "She's my post to lean on / And I just cut her down"; "The wind that blows between us / Anyone can tell to see us"; "Hey babe / Can't do it / Can't put you there again"; "Trying to picture me with you / Hope we can feel enough for two"; "Sometimes I don't thrill you / Sometimes I think I'll kill you / Just don't let me fuck up will you? / Cuz when I need a friend it's still you".

We went up to ....London.... to the old Mean Fiddler in Harlesden and it was Sonic Youth headlining and Dinosaur Jr on first. We leant over the balcony looking down at the stage, checking out the amps and guitars and then they came on and were the loudest thing EVER. And they had a great swing too that has defined indie rock - the way the bass and drums interlock and the guitar strums. My Bloody Valentine's sound changed in the wake of Dinosaur.

And God bless whoever The Dinosaurs were because Dinosaur Jr, a name forced on them, somehow sums them up, kind of goofy but damn heavy. You've also gotta love how, after all those years, their comeback record - superbly recorded by the lovely gent that is John Agnello - was titled Almost Ready.

What a mess, what a band.

Mezcal Head reissue reviewed in Prefix Magazine:

http://www.prefixmag.com/reviews/swervedriver/mezcal-head-reissue/29485/
 
Swervedriver
Mezcal Head reissue
Release Date: ..January 20, 2009..
Label: Second Motion

Review
By Lee Fullington

Prefix Rating     8.0
Average Rating     8.0
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Time loves the Swervies. Fifteen years on from the initial release of Swervedriver's sophomore offering, Mezcal Head, and the record is still as relentless as ever. Picking up where Raise left off, Adam Franklin and Jimmy Hartridge expanded the band's sound with studio trickery and extra tracks (jumping from 24 to 48 equals holy shit wow!). Opener "For Seeking Heat" still starts off like a match igniting a fuse with a slow burn and then exploding into the first riff, hard and heavy, giving way to the middle riff that punches and pulverizes its way off into the horizon. "Duel" is vintage SWD, all chunky bass line and fuzzy riff and a seesawing between the two. "MM Abduction" is a little bit of a product of its time, with a Cobain-like lilt reminiscent of Nirvana's "Drain You." "Last Train to Satansville" is a surf bass line gone creepy, but the song is totally fun and actually kind of poppy and infectious.

Most of the songs on the album are recognizably Swervedriver, relentless and driving beats with melodic bass lines that beg to be hummed more so than the vocal lines. The songs rush by with elbows sticking out, knocking you to the ground in their frenzy. If you like one, you'll like them all. But then comes "Duress," probably the most remarkable and striking song they've written. The opening is eerie and cold, like needles of rain spiking onto a window, and it builds slowly and contemplatively, the bass asking questions that don't necessarily need answers. ....Franklin.... doesn't start singing until the track is about halfway over, the bass providing the voice and the guitars providing the waves it rides on. This song is where their shoegaze reputation stems from, even though most of their songs are relentless guitar attacks.

In the liner notes to this reissue, Hartridge says that "Never Lose That Feeling" is like a bridge between Raise and Mezcal Head because it was written during the Raise era and gestated while they toured the record. Indeed it is, as the song combines the relentlessness of the first record with the expanse of the second. However, "Planes Over the Skyline" and "The Hitcher" also combine these elements and tie the two records together like a ribbon on a package. As much as these three songs are products of both records, "Car Crash in ....Paris....," with its dreamy and lazy bass line and meandering guitars, hints at the lush gorgeousness that was to come on Adam Franklin's work with the Bolts of Melody Band. ....Franklin.... has always had an ear for melody, though it was often channeled through the bass. This song lets the guitar ring out and sing instead, a beautiful and striking swerve away from the fuzz.- ..June 25, 2009..

The Stranger preview of Adam Franklin and The Church:

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/up-and-coming/Content?oid=1670530


Monday 6/15

The Church, Adam Franklin

(Triple Door) The Church and Adam Franklin (of Swervedriver fame and also kicking it with Interpol drummer Sam Fogarino in Magnetic Morning) prove that rockers can "mature" with dignity while not blanding the fuck out. Australia's the Church have been honing their lustrous psych pop for 29 years, scoring a couple of hits, but during this long span, like a more palatable Legendary Pink Dots, just unassumingly churning out moody, baroque, artful songs for a diehard cult following. In Swervedriver, ....Franklin.... wrote a slew of classic power-shoegaze anthems; his solo work hasn't attained those heights, but recent albums like Spent Bullets and Bolts of Melody tap into a more subdued, equally beautiful strain of epic rock. His somewhat complicated tunesmithery paradoxically connects with a disarming emotional directness (see particularly the gradually swelling ballad "It Hurts to See You Go"). DAVE SEGAL

Blogcritics review of Adam and The Church Seattle show:

http://blogcritics.org/music/article/concert-review-the-church-the-triple/

Concert Review: The Church, The Triple Door, ....Seattle.., ..WA.... ..6/15/09..

The Church's tour behind their latest record Untitled #23 made it's fourth stop last night in ....Seattle...., and from my perspective, they were firing on all cylinders. They played at one of the city's premier venues, The Triple Door. Upscale as the venue was, nothing could get between the band and their rabid fans.

The opening song, "Tantalized" set the tone for the evening. After an extended introduction, they locked in, and the crowd went nuts. For two solid hours The Church played "hits," near hits, and tracks from Untitled # 23 to a sold out house filled with rapturous fans.

The Church have been incredibly prolific over the past 30 years, and have a huge amount of catalog to choose from. Which is why the set list at this show was so impressive. Pulling out obscurities from Priest = Aura and Gold Afternoon Fix made fans like myself very happy indeed.

I have always been a huge Steve Kilbey fan. His solo album The Slow Crack remains one of my all time favorites. But Marty Willson-Piper's guitar work absolutely stole the show last night. Usually a person's attention is riveted to the vocalist, but I could not take my eyes off of Piper.

He found an opportunity on literally every song to show off his amazing guitar skills. It was never about showboating though. The sounds emanating from his guitar were simply riveting.

And I have to mention the fact that Piper hung out at the merch table for a couple of hours before the concert, happily meeting and greeting fans. I saw a lot of cell phone pix taken, and it was pretty damned cool.

Adam Franklin opened, and did a great job. While I really enjoy his latest Spent Bullets album, somehow things seemed a little slow live. Until he pulled out an amazing cover of Roxy Music's "Pyjamarama," that is. His band absolutely turned my head with their version of this classic song.

The evening ended with the one two punch of "Under The Milky Way" and "Reptile." The guy next to me had mentioned that he had proposed to his wife during "Under The Milky Way" some 20 years ago. I watched him pull out a new ring to reaffirm their vows during the song, and saw her say "Yes."

It summed up the entire evening for me. A band who are 30 years into their career releasing one of the best records they have ever recorded, touring in a van, back where they started.

And loving every minute of it.

The Church live are as as powerful live as they have ever been. Maybe better even than when I first saw them on the Starfish tour, oh those many years ago.

http://www.westword.com/2009-06-18/music/the-church/

The Church
Thursday, June 18, Gothic Theatre, ....Englewood...., 303-788-0984.

By Jason Heller
Published on June 16, 2009 at 12:03pm


When the Church formed in Australia in 1980, its ringing, soaring post-punk should've made it as big as, say, Echo & the Bunnymen. Of course, the Church did reach that level of success in its home country on the back of early hits like "The Unguarded Moment," which also happens to be one of the great lost classics of '80s new wave. But it was with the release of the group's 1988 swirling, sumptuous Starfish that ....America.... perked up its ears (including the producers of Miami Vice, who featured the album's lead single, "Under the Milky Way," in the show). Since then, the Church has maintained a steady output of darkly psychedelic full-lengths, including the imminent Untitled #23 as well as the recent soundtrack to fantasy author Jeff VanderMeer's novel Shriek: An Afterword - a book as lush and steeped in atmosphere as the Church's oeuvre itself. (Be sure to visit blogs.westword.com/backbeat for full Q&As with the Church's Marty Wilson-Piper and Adam Franklin, who shares the bill on this ....Denver.... date.)


Westword Preview and interview with Adam:

http://blogs.westword.com/backbeat/2009/06/qa_with_adam_franklin_of_swerv.php#more

Adam Franklin is well known for his role as the singer and guitarist in Swervedriver. His work in post-Swervedriver projects such as ..

San Francisco Decider interview with Adam:

http://sanfrancisco.decider.com/articles/adam-franklin,29037/

by Noel Murray ..June 12, 2009..

As the co-leader of the seminal dream-pop/shoegaze band Swervedriver, Adam Franklin mastered the sound of revving guitars, hammering rhythms, and tuneful mumble. Swervedriver performed a lot of songs about cars-and crashes-at a pace that practically demanded that drivers listening to them press down hard on their own accelerators. As a solo artist, ....Franklin.... has gone for a more modulated version of the Swervedriver style, with less eyeball-popping guitar distortion and endless rapid-fire drum rolls but every bit as much molten guitar and sleepy monotone vocals. ....Franklin....'s two solo albums-Bolts Of Melody and this year's Spent Bullets-are appealingly trippy, but they're just as impressive for their songcraft. Currently on tour with The Church and hitting Slim's tomorrow, ....Franklin.... spoke with Decider about receiving his due, getting raucous onstage, and having his dreams infiltrated by Sonic Youth.

Decider: After the very Swervedriver-ish Bolts Of Melody, the new album feels like a stylistic departure. Was this a conscious choice, or is this softer, trippier sound just where your head is at right now?

Adam Franklin: You know, I really have no idea. I was thinking it was a natural development from Bolts Of Melody rather than a departure, but what do I know? It's certainly kind of trippy, and I don't think of it as being softer. But I think it's a balancing act between the music and the lyrics, and the words on Bullets carry a heavier weight than on Bolts. I think we're actually going to be quite heavy and more raucous on this upcoming tour.

D: How much do you try to replicate the sound on your records when you play live?

AF: Sheer volume! The same with Swervedriver. You hit them over the head with the third guitar line, and they don't even notice that guitar line No. 1 has disappeared from the mix. We shall also be bringing Steve The Juggler on the road to provide further distractions stage left. No, I actually think that live and studio versions of songs don't have to be the same. And anyway, every song has a very simple, solid structure, so we're not gonna need an orchestra or anything. Some of the songs may well stretch out into infinity.

D: Do you think Swervedriver is finally getting its due from critics and music fans, even if it comes a decade or so too late?

AF: I suppose you could say that. Possibly. I mean, people liked us back in the day, and although the decision to break up was made in the middle of some miserable ....UK.... shows, we then went to the ....U.S..... and ....Australia.... afterwards and had some storming shows. I think we split at the right time and then people started to miss us.

D: How enduring are your influences? Do you find you still listen to a lot of the same music that first drove you to pick up a guitar, or are there things you used to love that you can't abide so well anymore?

AF: I was digitizing some vinyl recently, and a bunch of records from my youth still sound as good as ever. A Hard Day's Night. T. Rex. Armed Forces by Elvis Costello. The '80s were possibly more tricky. You might buy stuff that you thought you liked, only to discover you didn't really like it after all. Although the Death Cult EP [by The Cult's early incarnation, Death Cult] still has a certain something.

D: What are you into right now, musically?

AF: I love "I Love You Too" by Dead Meadow and Eux Autre's cover of Bruce Springsteen's "My Love Will Not Let You Down." I played Sonic Youth's new album last night but dozed off to it, and then it was on repeat all night for some reason so it was infiltrating my dreams throughout. As I was semi-dormant I can't really tell what was going on. I may have imagined half of it. I certainly had strange dreams. There was a blackbird buzzing around the room like a bee and I had to put him outside. I shall have to give it a more lucid listen today.

http://chicago.timeout.com/search/events/recommended=ON&date=SATURDAY§ion=307

http://chicago.timeout.com/events/music/290228/the-church-adam-franklin

    *
      Music
      The Church + Adam Franklin
          o
      House of Blues


      Australia's atmospheric Church has long since settled into its role as a cult act, but its under-the-radar status hasn't dampened its ambitions. Indeed, this year's already seen solo albums from songwriters Steve Kilbey and Marty Willson-Piper, in addition to a proper Church album, the remarkably strong Untitled #23. Opening is shoegaze stalwart Adam Franklin, of Swervedriver fame.

http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/music/48550632.html?page=2&c=y
Ah, the Church. "Under the Milky Way" was the stargazing anthem for music fans who grew up on "120 Minutes," and the Australian quintet produced quite a few albums' worth of similarly swooning and ethereal gems. The group's core trio -- Steve Kilbey, Marty Willson-Piper and Peter Koppes --have taken time out for solo albums but never stopped making albums together. Their latest, "Untitled #23" (yep, their 23rd!), is squarely ho-hum, but the songs will fit in OK around old favorites. They're on tour with another old alt-rock vet, Adam Franklin, who fronted the mighty guitar-swirly British band Swervedriver. (..8 p.m... Sun., Varsity Theater. $23-$26.) (C.R.)

http://chicago.decider.com/events/church-adam-franklin,98028/

The members of The Church were already alt-rock vets by the time they had a hit with "Under The Milky Way" in 1988, which makes their continued existence 21 years later that much more impressive. The three main guys--Steve Kilbey, Marty Willson-Piper, and Peter Koppes--are present and accounted for, and while they've never been able to match the creative or commercial heights of 1988's Starfish, they continue to make melodically moody records that their fans highly anticipate, including last month's Untitled #23. The Australian psych-pop outfit is touring with Second Motion Records labelmate Adam Franklin, another alt-rock survivor best known for his work with English shoegaze outfit Swervedriver.

....Fog.. ..City.... Journal:

http://www.fogcityjournal.com/wordpress/2009/06/19/adam-franklin-returns-to-san-francisco/

..Franklin and Bolts of Melody perform “Theme from LSD.”

Washington Post on Adam Franklin’s Spent Bullets:

http://www.expressnightout.com/content/2009/06/adam_franklin.php

Liner Notes: Adam Franklin, 'Spent Bullets'

............................................................................

ADAM FRANKLIN HAS always sounded reserved, even when his previous band, Swervedriver, was crushing psychedelic riffs that sounded like The Stooges and Hawkwind engaged in a cosmic joy ride.

But with his new solo record, "Spent Bullets" (Second Motion), he's finally nailed his laconic post-Swervedriver voice.

Perhaps it was because Swervedriver's 2008 reunion tour went so well, or that his Magnetic Morning project with Interpol drummer Sam Fogarino was so well received, but ....Franklin....'s songwriting on "Spent Bullets" is as confident as it is consistent, presenting 10 mostly midtempo songs that capture his folky, dreamy melodies and quietly soulful voice.

"Various people have said — and I agree — that it's good that the whole album has a consistent sound," ....Franklin.... said. "But the songs are from various periods — some of the songs are quite old — but somehow it all kind of all falls into place thematically. ... But you never know quite how it's going to turn out: You start recording and there's one song you think might be the main song, then it falls by the wayside. Then another song that you think is a complete throwaway comes up at the last minute."

When Swervedriver was on hiatus, ....Franklin.... started recording and touring under the name Toshack Highway — mostly because he felt odd about being a solo artist.

"When you go out under your own name — it feels a bit strange," ....Franklin.... said. "That's partly why I went for ..

So, you named your backing band based on the fear and loathing you'd receive from truck-stop waitresses?

"I suppose so," ....Franklin.... laughed.

Express did manage to get the reserved ....Franklin.... to open up a bit with a track-by-track tour of "Bolts of Melody."

........