from Feb 2015
Thursday, March 26, 2015
THUNDER AND LIGHTNING Luis Mariani and The Hitchhiker Wanna Get You Into It
Luis Mariani and The Hitchhiker Wanna Get You Into It
WIDOWSPEAK Widowers' Rock and Roll Outlaw Matt Sigur lays it down.
from Feb 2015
WIDOWSPEAK
Widowers' Rock and Roll Outlaw Matt Sigur lays it down.
by Sam Terito
The Widowers' new record Mint Grizz looks to be the bands'biggest yet. BRR satdown with frontman/songwriter Matt Sigur and asked him a bunch of questions about stuff. Here's what came out of it.
BRR:
When you started the Widowers, was it sort intended to be a solo project, or more evolving thing. We've talked about my buddy Neil and Elsah, and how it had its origins in St. Louis, and he just basically reloaded it and started here in Baton Rouge when he moved here. Is that kind of how this project for you has sorta morphed?
Matthew Duke Sigur:
I had been writing stuff since I was 16... maybe earlier. I was in some high school bands that were influenced by everything from Trail of Dead's Source Tags and Codes to System Of A Down. I did the college thing, and during then I would just record relentlessly. Sometimes, I would do three or four songs a day. I met Will (Burdette) from The Tomatoes and gave him a CD... A very fucking rough CD, haha... Like stuff not in tune then he and I started collaborating and recording songs in tune. It was never supposed to be just me, but at the same time I've always been super hyper and self conscious, so it took a couple of years for me to just talk to people and ask if they were interested. Since then, the band has grown into something that's less about me, but more ABOUT these really cool people I know, It's kind of become, "Hey, can you play? Cool. If you can't, that's cool too." The main thing is I would just have experiences and needed to write something about it. Just to get it out, not release it, but just for my sake. I hoard songs. I guess. I just keep fucking writing because it keeps me sane. I literally didn't release all those albums from college because I knew this is rough. I probably should have but it's better because now I can treat them properly or say, "god this is a dumb song."
BRR:
There's something interesting about your stage presence. It reels you in. I remember talking to somebody who didn't know you at one of your shows, while you were playing, and they said "I like this guy." Listening to your records, that style kind of projects across all the instruments. It's interesting, but I haven't
heard something come across like that.
Matthew Duke Sigur:
I guess I'm a drummer and I'm not really trained in guitar. I saw guitar as math really, then got into Sonic Youth, hahaha...
BRR:
What's your favorite song on Mint Grizz?
Matthew Duke Sigur:
My favorite song is "Tanker" probably. Or "You're With Me". They're the most honest and recent things I wrote. And my buddy Jacques plays the fuck out of that guitar solo.
BRR:
Yeah man, that's a good one.
Matthew Duke Sigur:
Thanks dude.
BRR:
Your video for "Giant" was killer. How'd you get that idea? Who made it, and why don't other bands do more things like that?
Matthew Duke Sigur:
Haha that was all Chris Craine. He and I had been batting around ideas but I just didn't have the money to do what we wanted to do, which was some really creepy shit for "Tanker". So Chris and his brother went and shot this and he was like I had to do it man, and I want to use "Giant". I wasn't gonna tell him no. He's like me in that creating and art are therapy, and what he creates is top notch. Seriously... it's all him.
BRR:
It was good. You used it as a jump off for the single before you put out the record, and I thought it was a great idea. More bands should use other mediums, rather than just put a song on bandcamp and say "Why doesn't more people come to my shows?"
Matthew Duke Sigur
I can't speak for other bands but making a music video requires a lot of people. Really, anything requires a lot of people on the same page and giving a shit about something. In music and film, I think it's easy to give in to the difficulty level and it's much harder to just calm the nerves and create something. It's weird, man. Negative thoughts are so easy to think, that but it's like I said when we did that show at Spanish Moon. I'd rather play to 75 people who give a fuck than 200 people who are drunk and talking about who they fucked last night.
BRR:
When's the next show?
Matthew Duke Sigur:
February. And I'm probably gonna release a Krautrock EP in January, because fuck it.
BRR:
That's what I'm talking about man. I'm gonna give you a call when it's time to start that black metal doom band.
Widower's Mint Grizz is available on bandcamp HERE and you should visit them on Facebook when you get a chance.
THOU HITS NUMBER ONE BR's Own Tops Pitchfork's Greatest Albums List
from Feb 2015
THOU HITS NUMBER ONE
BR's Own Tops Pitchfork's Greatest Albums List
By Jerry Richardson
One of the first times I ever heard Thou, they were recording an album upstairs at North Gate Tavern with my buddies Brennan Moss and Michael Talley. It was quite some time ago, but if I'm not mistaken, most of their recording was done during the day
before the bar was open. But every now and again, they'd do some punch ins and
dubs during the evening, not long before we were about to open. It sounded like
the devil was up there and for all I knew, he was guesting on a riff or two. I remember a few years later, I was in my in-law's house in Atlanta and I was looking through top metal tracks on itunes. There I saw Thou sitting at number 1. I was like "Oh wow, this is
awesome..." and I ran in the room where everyone was so I could tell them the news. They didn't find the music entertaining, which in truth, was probably best for everyone. They're 60. But they did find their number one status impressive nonetheless.
Flash forward to today, and 2014's Heathen tops Pitchfork's list of greatest metal albums of the year. That might not be Better Than Ezra-sized news for the majority of Baton Rougeans (who for the record, couldn't find a local music venue if it bit them in the ass). But for anybody out there following what's going on around here, it's a tremendous accomplishment. Check out the article HERE and when you see them in a bar somewhere, buy those dudes a beer. They're pretty incredible, just saying...
Listen to their record on their bandcamp page, and let it sink in that you'll never be as hardcore as these dudes.
Monday, January 12, 2015
Events 1.5.15-1.11.15
Just archiving the site, in case we forget what we saw (or could have seen) this week...
WED 1.7.
WED 1.7.
ROYAL CYCLOPS PRESENTS THE WHITE TIE AFFAIRW/ THE JAZZ SOULS.@ CHELSEAS (SIDEBAR)
THU 1.8.
EMILY MILLER+PALMYRA+SHIP OF FOOLS
@ SPANISH MOON
THU 1.8.
KEITON SMITH+THE WIDOWERS+GARDENS+CAMP LIFE
@ CHELSEAS
FRI 1.9.
JASON MARTIN
@ SPANISH MOON
FRI 1.9.
ADAM DALE+STARTISAN
@ CHELSEAS
FRI 1.9.
BRASS MIMOSA+SHIP OF FOOLS+HOUSE OF SPASM
@ LIBRARY AT NORTHGATE
FRI 1.9.
WHAT LIES BEYOND THE UNIVERSE
W/ DJ RAVEN MEGANMENTZER+SHIP OF FOOLS+MORE
@ ELEVATOR PROJECTS
SAT 1.10.
PONG+EDHALL@ RED STAR
SAT 1.10.
PECKERNUT+BARGHEST+ELECTRIC AGE
@ SPANISH MOON
SAT 1.10.
MOONLIGHT TOWERS
@ CHELSEAS
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