Tommy Keene has been playing guitar hero for more than a quarter-century, both on his power-pop solo albums (his latest is In The Late Bright,
out this week) and as a sideman for Robert Pollard and Paul Westerberg.
Keene, apparently weary of all the critical acclaim, agreed to dole out
some of his own praise. He’s guest editing magnetmagazine. com this
week and compiled a mix tape for us with a free mp3.
Keene: As I was bumming around SXSW in 2008, I was reintroduced to
Sally Crewe,
whom I’d met a couple of times over the years, as she was married to a
friend of mine. Sally and I and a bunch of others ended up one night at
a karaoke place on the outskirts of Austin; there was a party going on,
complete with people drunkenly singing along to Iron Maiden songs.
Sally invited us to hear her group, the Sudden Moves, play the next
afternoon at a party away from the maddening throng of festival-goers.
What immediately struck me about her was that she was cute and feminine
but looked great holding a guitar, and she could really rock. I’m a bit
of a closet rock misogynist—sometimes girls with guitars just look like
they’re uncomfortable—but Sally reminded me of great female rockers
like Chrissie Hynde and Polly Harvey. After the show, she was saying
how they had a European tour coming up in the fall opening for the
Wedding Present and their present bass player refused to travel. I
blurted out, “I’ll do it,” and Sally said, “OK, you’re on!” So began my
career as a bass player, although I’ve been playing bass a lot lately,
especially on my last couple of records. We did three shows in Scotland
and four in England and had a blast, but we suffered a little bit from
Opening Act Syndrome; the Wedding Present’s punters liked to show up
quite late.
Sally’s songs are melodic, punchy and sometimes quite short. I’m
very envious of that, as it’s really difficult sometimes to get
everything in that you want in under two minutes. But she delivers.
And, most importantly, they rock. Pick up her new record,
Your Nearest Exit May Be Behind You, and tell ‘em Tommy sent you.
“Sleepyhead” from Your Nearest Exit May Be Behind You:
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MORE AIRPLAY!
WTJU Rock 91.1FM, Charlottesville, VA: 'Nowhere Near' radio show chose Kiss Me Like You Mean It (making it the 8th of 12 songs on the new record to get airplay!) for a spin.
http://www.cvilleblogs.com/2009/02/18/nowhere-near-playlist-21809/
WRVU 91.1FM, Nashville, TN: 'Antennas to Heaven' radio show featured Sleepyhead for airplay.
http://129.59.202.44/playlistarchive/playlist_detail.php?pop=display_show&sid=663895
WFMU 91.1 FM Jersey City, NJ: 'Three Chord Monte' with Joe Belock -- has now played 5 songs off the newest record, adding How Can People Wear That Stuff? to his playlist. We really want to go play Joe's radio show again this year if possible.
http://www.wfmu.org/search.php