HOLLYWOOD BABYLON

Everyone likes a good scandal and Kenneth Anger picked the purple dawn of old Hollywood Land as his subject matter for, Hollywood Babylon.

I found this book some years ago collecting dust in a charity shop. It's egdes are now quite tattered and dog eared as I’ve read it over and over again.

Nothing screams glamour scandal better than a starlet in a fur stole gunned down in a mafia-style killing, venom bitch rumours of casting couch crabs and nymphos ahoy in Charlie Chaplin land. Gods and Goddesses were created and destroyed with one fell swoop of the studio king’s hand as the world lapped up stories of hedonistic orgies. The most notable example, Eric Von Strohiem’s secret studio lock ins where 24 hours of debauchery were caught on celluloid. Exotic actors and actresses with bellies full of caviar and champagne could be seen the next day emerging out of the studio gates looking as though consumed by the vice of the Hollywood dream. Opium induced deaths filled the column inches as well as romantic and not so romantic suicides. Lupe Velez’s, dreams of a ‘Sleeping Beauty’ headline to mark her early death were flushed literally down the toilet pan- apparently sleeping pills and a Mexican dinner do not mix well. Lupe was found the next morning by her maid, head in toilet bowl. Verdict: Death by drowning.

Everyone wanted to be a star. Some left home with nothing but a few dollars, fewer friends and big dreams of the silver screen only to be seen in their final act of dramatics, jumping off the Hollywood sign. One hopeful starlet in particular only grabbed headlines after her suspcious death, most claimed by an amorous Fatty Arbuckle and his weapon of choice? A coke bottle.

Everyone loves a trashy read but what strikes me the most about this anthology of decadent scandal is the vulnerability of those who made up this new breed, the stars. Swept up in the studio system they were merely pawns under the studio mogul’s thumb. Today with the studio system scrapped to give actors more freedom, the Hollywood celebrity reigns supreme where consequently super egos have given birth to…Tom cruise.

And these final words belong to Gloria Swanson, as Norma Desmond in 'Sunset Boulevard', a film which truly evokes the death of the Golden Age of Hollywood, "I'm ready for my close-up Mr DeMille".

X-Bird

Favourite Album Artwork

Our friend David W. did the artwork and design for These Sins, which we are really happy with. A few favourite album/EP covers are below.

Nirvana's Incesticide EP contains artwork by Kurt Cobain which is quite disturbing and powerful for those that haven't seen it.



New Order's second album, Power, Corruption and Lies is wonderful piece of artwork as Peter Saville mixes both the romantic, classical image of "A Basket of Roses" by French artist Henri Fantin-Latour with Factory's cutting edge design of a floppy disc cut into the back inlay.



Tubeway Army's Replicas album is pretty astounding - Numan looks like a creepy, bizarre human/alien hybrid dressed up to the nines. You can't help but stare at it for a very long time.



Grace Jones' Nightclubbing album is perhaps one of the most strongest, iconic images of her and demonstrates the androgynous strength and power of her music by just one initial glance.



I haven't come across that much new band artwork that I've taken an exceptional shine to however one that immediately springs to mind is the cover for Kasms' Taxidermy single.



A really original idea that no one I can think of has done. Good work!
D-Bird

Currently listening to...

Elastica
I almost had a fit when I thought I'd lost my Elastica vinyl but silly me had plonked it on a shelf and put loads of other records in front of it. Panic over. Stutter remains one of my most favourite songs of theirs - you can't really beat 2 minute sharp, short, pop songs.


Smashing Pumpkins
People either loathe or love Billy Corgan. Siamese Dream remains one of my most favourite albums and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness deserves a lot more credit than it ever received - a mix of harsh rock and fragile ballads - it is pretty astounding. I love this acoustic version of Cherub Rock although I'm not too sure about Corgan's choice of clothing in the clip.... I'm thinking of doing a Decasia Unplugged early next year. It'd be great to see current bands strip down and do some acoustic stuff.


The Big Pink
We are playing with them tonight at 171 Glyn Road in Lower Clapton, E5 at Don't Mention The War. I've been listening to their stuff all week and really like it. I particularly like Too Young To Love and A Brief History of Love. I can't wait to see them live. Reminds me a bit of A Place To Bury Strangers and The Warlocks in some places.


D-Bird

The Quietus Interview

We did an interview with The Quietus on Wednesday evening and lo and behold, it has already been written up and posted on their website. Now THAT is speedy journalism. We really enjoyed the interview and like the article a lot - it really is a great, well-written new website.

You can check it out here:
http://thequietus.com/articles/00758-an-experiment-on-a-bird-in-the-air-pump-talk-gloom-winging-it

D-Bird

Beat Happening - Favourite Drummers

Now I make no habit of hiding the main influence behind me taking up drumming - the man in question is Mr Dave Grohl.

Growing up listening and watching Nirvana, I was mesmerised by Grohl's drumming. Despite having one of the most enigmatic, tortured, genius frontmen of all-time, watching Dave Grohl drumming struck a deep chord with me and drove me to take up drum lessons aged 13.

You may think I bang on about Nirvana endlessly, but this band mean everything to me. Lyrically, musically...everything they stood for and did. They epitomised all the power a 3 piece could achieve...no other bands at the time had such a basic line-up that was so incredibly powerful. This really gives me a quiet confidence with the approach of The Birds. We don't need to do anything conventional if we don't want to. There's nothing wrong with 2 basses in a band or instrument swapping because that's what comes out of us when we write and perform. The instrumentation we use is the most precise way of us expressing ourselves. If we sat down and procrastinated over everything and swapped for the sake of swapping then we would be the most contrived band out there. We do what we do because it is organic and just happened this way.

Here is a wonderful clip of Nirvana at Live N' Loud - I love the drumming to Scentless Apprentice and the lyrics are so beautiful. The inspiration behind the song was Patrick Suskind's novel, Perfume. Some of you may have seen the film that was made of it last year - the first half an hour was amazing and the rest of it was Hollywood rubbish. I'd love to do a soundtrack for a lo-fi, gripping indie version so if there are any budding filmmakers out there - get in touch!



There are also a few female drummers who I found inspiring when I first started playing. The obvious choice being Moe Tucker from The Velvet Underground. She is an amazing woman and a great drummer. I also like Patty Schemel from Hole, a very understated powerful drummer. This is Drown Soda, which I actually played drums along to during my Music GCSE. No one was that impressed unfortunately and other students were a bit scared of Courtney Love's voice. Ah well.


I also love the drummer from DAF. It's quite unusual having a drum kit in an electronic band but I think it works so well for them. A few people know this, but I actually played drums for Eve Black/Eve White once in a rehearsal - however the dynamics were slightly off with the use of a drum machine as well. It was an interesting rehearsal though and if it worked then maybe there would be no Birds...


Another hugely influential and understated drummer is Stephen Morris from Joy Division/New Order. He's absolutely amazing and his use of both electronic kit with acoustic kit influenced many drummers. This is one of my most favourite songs ever by one of my most favourite bands.


I'm not really a fan of standard 'indie' music drumming mainly because there's too much hi hat and cymbals involved (I'm not really a fan of either) however classic indie drumming can certainly serve its purpose. I love the drumming for Vapour Trail - it's a beautiful song and could have got lost in a quiet sea if it wasn't for the drumming. I love the honesty at the beginning of the clip!

D-Bird

BBC 6 Music Interview

We were interviewed by Nemone today on BBC 6 Music.

You can listen to it here - we are on about 2 hours and 15 minutes into the show.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00fjbyf

It was our first ever radio interview..AND we didn't swear!

Little victories...
D-Bird

Covers

As some of you may know, we've done a cover of Sonic Youth's 100% which is a B-Side on These Sins. Fortunately, the response we've had has been really positive. Being a huge Sonic Youth fan and knowing how many other fans are out there, I was slightly apprehensive when we first unveiled the song. It's not always good to mess with the best...Although Sonic Youth themselves have done this with their cover of the amazing song, Superstar by The Carpenters. I grew up listening to The Carpenters as my father's a huge fan. Sonic Youth's cover kept all the sad, haunting qualities of the original but with their trademark noise still surfacing albeit in a more controlled way.



I love covers especially ones that depart quite extensively from the original. It is very easy to rip something off but very difficult to make something your own.

Dinosaur Jr's cover of The Cure's Just Like Heaven is a good example of this. At first the song sounds quite similar to the original but their version develops in a typical Dinosaur Jr way:


Another favourite cover is Hole's version of He Hit Me (But It Felt Like A Kiss) by The Crystals. Hole originally performed this on MTV Unplugged and also on Jools Holland:




I also love Nirvana's cover choices - everything from Blues hero Leadbelly (Where Did You Sleep Last Night?), Devo (Turnaround) and The Meat Puppets. Lake of Fire which Nirvana performed alongside The Meat Puppets on MTV's Unplugged is a great version. The original song is below for those who haven't heard it:


Another great cover is So Sad About Us originally by The Who and covered by The Breeders on their Safari EP. The Breeders also did a great cover of The Beatles' Happiness Is A Warm Gun on their Pod album.


Of course there are also lots of terrible cover versions out there too. Despite the general consensus, I dislike Nouvelle Vague with a passion and I also dislike Glasvegas' dreadful cover of Be My Baby by The Ronettes. I find this tremendously painful to listen to. I think what both these bands do is just so easy and unchallenging. I just don't get it. They need to get off the middle of the road as it's a boring place to be despite the lure of commercial success. That's not what you should be creating music for.
D-Bird