http://virb.com/talive Virb 2.0 (@talive) en http://virb.com/talive/posts/text/262205 Tue, 09 Oct 2007 08:35:46 -0700 http://virb.com/talive/posts/text/262205 http://virb.com/talive/posts/text/161458 Read the full interview at www.talive.com This is a big year for Louisville's VHS or BETA. After nearly a year and a half off the stage, they are returning on tour with a brand new album under their belts. "Bring on the Comets," due out on Astralwerks this August, offers a massive, lush soundscape of swirling guitars and soaring melodies. The sound is a slight departure from their dance roots, with acoustic drums outweighing electronic for first perhaps the first time in their 12-year career. This release, and the tour dates to come, also mark the band's first without former guitarist Zeke. It's always nerve-wracking to present a new lineup and a new record to old fans, but bassist Mark Palgy sounded upbeat and optimistic when we talked with him on the road. It's clear how proud the band is of "Bring on the Comets" and they are both anxious and eager to get the record out! TALive: Hey Mark, how are you? I know you are on the road now, where to next? Mark Palgy: Nashville, we are almost there. TALive: Great, how's it been going so far? Have you been touring much yet, I know you have quite a few dates scheduled for this fall. MP: Well, we actually just did our first show last night--first show in about a year and a half. TALive: Wow! MP: Yeah, in Murfreesboro. It was a lot of fun. TALive: Have you played already with the revised lineup, since Zeke's left? MP: No! Last night was the first night of our new formation. TALive: Was there a lot that needed to be changed in order to perform some of the older tracks? MP: You know, we had to rehearse a whole bunch. There was a lot of singing that he had to learn and guitar stuff. It just took a lot of rehearsing, as I guess any band has to do. Judging by the crowd's response I think they really dug it. I was really pleased with out how it went last night. TALive: Well, I got an advance copy of "Bring on the Comets" this week which I am really excited about. It sounds huge; really love it. What is it like for you as a band to have this record, be excited about it, but you have this lag time before everybody gets the record in their hands. MP: Yeah, it kind of sucks! I mean, it just takes so long for a record to get out and we have to sort of wait it out. We're really anxious for everyone to hear the new material! We're out on the road just sort of practicing it every night. Yeah, we're playing a lot of stuff people haven't heard yet and they are responding to it pretty nicely. TALive: Is there still some anxiety there about what the reaction will be? I know you've gone in a new direction as a band... MP: Yeah, you know there's always a little bit of anxiety about that, but we are just so pleased with how everything came out. I think once people actually have the record in their possession for a while and then come see us it will really be a lot better. TALive: The initial reactions I've seen suggest that it's more rock than dance than the older material. Was that a conscientious effort? I mean, it seems like you guys have always been a little ahead of your time and now the market is saturated with bands that sound like you did two records ago. Was there a conscious effort to move away from that sound now, or was it more of a natural progression? MP: Um, it wasn't really conscious. We just felt like Le Funk came out a little too early and Night On Fire came out a little too late. And this time around it was just "let's just make good song," that's the bottom line. People can sing along with them, still have a good time, it still sounds like us even if it's more rock. TALive: What was your connection with My Morning Jacket? I know they helped out a good bit with this record. MP: They're just really good buddies of ours. They're from Louisville and we're from Louisville so I mean... we've been seeing those guys out and about for years and years and years. And over the years, we've become a lot closer to them just as buddies, you know? Having a band that we can sort of relate to as far as being gone for long stretches of time, playing shows, and all that stuff...they just know what's going on. And in all honesty, we don't really even talk about music that much with them they're just more buddies than anything. When we were in North Carolina, we wanted to get Bo [Koster] in to do some piano work, because he is just so, so, so, so great. And Jim [James] happened to be in the area so we got both of them! TALive: And Jim lends vocals to the record, right? MP: Yeah, he did some backing, some oohs and ahhs. TALive: Did you meet producer Brandon Mason through them, is that right? MP: No! We did a tour with the Secret Machine, and we got their album "Ten Silver Drops" and we're like "Wow! This record sounds really good, who did it?" and Brandon Mason did it. So, we got in touch with him and Brandon expressed so much interest and passion in wanting to work with us, and we were just flattered by him. He's a spectacular person. We had a really, really, really great time with him! TALive: Do you think that his input made this album more distinctive? MP: Umm, to an extent. I mean, he just knows what he's doing. He's a wizard in the studio. He wants to talk about a sound you want to make. Ultimately he leaves it up to the band to say how we want to sound, and he achieves it. He puts the ball in the band's court, you know? He's not trying to put his stamp on anything, really. He's a really hard worker, and he's really gifted at what he does. TALive: How long have you been with Astralwerks? I was excited when I heard about that--seems like such a perfect match, they've got Radio 4.. MP: Yeah! I think we signed with them in '03, so it's been a few years. TALive: And they've helped you quite a bit. I've seen some amazing tour slots from Reading Festival to opening for Duran Duran. What have been some of the highlights for you on tour? MP: One time we played Bogotá, Columbia and it was spectacular. It was a three day festival they have in the park, and the government puts it on so its free. There was a curtain on stage, and it opens up and we are playing in front of like 80,000 people in Columbia. It was really awesome, we felt like Queen or something. TALive: Wow, who were the headlining acts for that festival? MP: A bunch of people you haven't heard of. A bunch of South American acts. I hadn't really heard of a many groups that were playing, but they were huge down there. TALive: And they responded well to your music? MP: Yeah! It was really overwhelming. We still get e-mails from Columbian fans like, "when are you coming back?!" TALive: I have noticed that South American fans tend to be extremely enthusiastic about any band they are fans of. MP: Yeah. I mean it's getting better for them, but I think in the States we have bands coming in and out of every city every night of the week. There, I don't think it's as common. So when they get to see a band come in from London, or New York, or...Kentucky.. they get pretty excited about it! TALive: Do you know who is going to be joining you on tour this fall? MP: Yeah, we are taking a band called Walter Meego. I think they're from Chicago, I'm not exactly sure. It's kind of a poppy electronic thing, they're cool. TALive: I also read about a 12inch you are going to be releasing with a few remixes from the record? I guess later this year? MP: Yeah, we're gonna do a teaser, like a white label 12 inch of "Burn It All Down" with some remixes by some folks. And that is going to be like a teaser single, and shortly after we are going to release "Can't Believe a Word" as a proper single...like, the main single. TALive: Do you know who is going to be on board to do those remixes or is that a surprise? MP: Yeah, for "Burn it All Down " we got this Surkin from France. And we got the Midnight Juggernauts from Australia who are really cool. And we got a guy named Fred Faulk whose French also. TALive: Very nice, is that harking back to your earlier days of French house music? MP: Yeah, definitely. We still love that stuff. I think "Burn it all Down" is a single that fans who enjoyed "Night on Fire" can still dig it. Even if the record is going in a little bit of a different direction, they can still know we aren't totally abandoning anybody. TALive: Great, well we are definitely looking forward to having you back in Atlanta. MP: Yeah! We can't wait! We love The EARL, it's going to be fun! Featured shows: Rock and Roll Hotel Washington, D.C. Sat September 1, 2007 Find Tickets! The EARL Atlanta, GA Mon September 24, 2007 Find tickets! ]]> Fri, 03 Aug 2007 11:32:34 -0700 http://virb.com/talive/posts/text/161458 http://virb.com/talive/posts/text/147384 http://www.ticketalternative.com/content/ticketalternative-atom.xml ]]> Tue, 24 Jul 2007 21:21:47 -0700 http://virb.com/talive/posts/text/147384 http://virb.com/talive/posts/text/93964 Mon, 18 Jun 2007 08:44:09 -0700 http://virb.com/talive/posts/text/93964 http://virb.com/talive/posts/text/93963 Mon, 18 Jun 2007 08:42:39 -0700 http://virb.com/talive/posts/text/93963 http://virb.com/talive/posts/text/93960 Mon, 18 Jun 2007 08:41:21 -0700 http://virb.com/talive/posts/text/93960 http://virb.com/talive/posts/text/93959 Mon, 18 Jun 2007 08:40:24 -0700 http://virb.com/talive/posts/text/93959 http://virb.com/talive/posts/text/93957 Mon, 18 Jun 2007 08:39:22 -0700 http://virb.com/talive/posts/text/93957 http://virb.com/talive/posts/text/52609 Find Tickets The Hourly Radio's debut LP, "History Will Never Hold Me" (Kirtland Records) has received accolades from a number of prestitgious indie publications including The Big Takeover who went out on a limb by saying, "Amazing. No doubt they'll be the next big thing," and Nylon who quipped, "It seems as though the Hourly Radio may be destined to join the ranks of indie bands that make heartbreak profitable." You can catch these rising stars on tour NOW with electro-synth popstars Shiny Toy Guns! Don't miss your chance to say "you saw them when..." before this bands really takes off. TALive:First off, on your myspace page I saw my hero Jarvis Cocker in your top friends. what is your Jarvis connection? Are you just fans or have you had the chance to perform with him? We have never had the chance to play with Jarvis, however we've snuck a cover of "Common People" into our set a few time in the past, but yeah just fans. I think I message his myspace account, but never heard back. TALive:We'll be selling tickets for a couple of your upcoming tour dates in Atlanta and Little Rock-tell us how the tour with Shiny Toy Guns came about. We are really looking forward to tickets in both Atlanta and Little Rock. The Atlanta date got cancelled on our last tour so were really looking to make that up to our fans there. I believe Shiny Toy Guns management saw us play down in Austin at SXSW. TALive:You've been with Kirtland for about a year and half now-what drew you to that record label? We signed with Kirtland knowing that we would have a lot of day to day involvement in everything we did and we are kind of control freaks so we would of been a bit hesitant to completely hand the reigns over that early on. TALive:With major labels slowly crumbling and the digital age making it easier for independent labels to find new venues for distribution and publicity, do you feel that it is still advantageous to work towards a deal with a major label? Or can a band thrive with indie support? I think both the indie and major label working together is the best thing for a band. Indies have the attention of a smaller staff to really focus what that band needs without excepting massive sales right out of the gate, allowing a band to develop naturally. However I think it's important for the major to swoop in when the time is right and really push things over the top. And if things don't work out to major label standards (or they decide to fire their whole staff) the indie is still there as nice saftey net for the band to fall back into and continue their career. TALive:Having been off in the UK with Stellastarr*, what, if any were the challenges you faced as an American band on a UK tour (besides of course the occasional "speedy" Glasgow hotel check-in)? The biggest challenge for us was trying to grasp what was happening... we all couldn't sleep on the whole flight overseas and when we landed it was morning (night to us) and a driver picked us up at the airport and drove us 3 hours straight to the venue where we had about 30 minutes to soundcheck and then we were on... We were in a bit of a daze for the first couple days. Was there a lot of red tape in terms of visas etc, or what that taken care of by the label? UK bands often complain that American audiences are not as receptive or as enthusiastic UK audiences.what was your experience? Our UK agent took care of all the red tape so that was pretty easy... It's definitely true that Uk audiences are more receptive, especially to new music. For the most part in the US it seems that if someone hasn't heard of you before then you must not be any good. In the UK it seems everyone wants to be the first to discover a new band If you read any UK music press you'll realize while they are they first to say a band is the next big thing they are also the first to say that a band out and so last week.) TALive:Tell me a little about the concept behind the video for "Deaf Ears" and how it might relate to the theme of the song. The video is based off the 1971 cult classic film Harold & Maude (a must see if you've never seen it). In the film Harold is basically bored with his wealth and ignored by his mother so he continuously fakes his own death to try and gain her attention, but she just continues to ignore him. While the meaning of the song isn't about trying to gain attention or faking your own death it does tie in nicely with the theme of one's prayers falling on deaf ears, and we felt the mood of the film fit perfectly with the mood of the song. TALive:This is a basic question, but since you are still a fairly new band we need to cover the basics. So.. what IS an "hourly radio"? Where did the name come from? The name is from the Huxley novel Brave New World. "The Hourly Radio" it is basically the name of all encompassing media in their future society. I was interested in the view of the media being completely emotionally withdrawn from the events they were covering as portrayed in the novel and just being a camera in someone's face doing anything they can to get the story. It's just something that really stuck me. TALive:Are there any cities you are particularly excited about visiting during the upcoming tour? We are excited about visiting Canada for the first time, so Toronto and Montreal. TALive:Finally, if you could select any band to tour with, what would be your dream opening slot? I think opening for Oasis would be amazing and then of course the Depeche Mode / Primal Scream tour where both bands and crew had to check into rehab after the tour... that would of been a nice one. official site: www.hourlyradio.com -Michelle Gilzenrat ]]> Thu, 24 May 2007 19:23:27 -0700 http://virb.com/talive/posts/text/52609