Warpaint. What comes to your mind when you hear that word? If you can't pin one particular idea down, you're in the same boat as the band Warpaint. Heck, when I first of the group, I thought they'd be a massive-sounding metal band or a intense hardcore punk outift. Wrongo. Here's the band's multi-layered explanation of the name (courtesy of Don't Panic)... Theresa: Yeah, it means all of that to us. Native Americans or indigenous tribes might put on warpaint for dance, for theatre, for battle and women do it today. You can have warpaint on and it's not even actual paint, it's an expression that guards you or expresses something. Stella: Celebratory. Theresa: Yeah. Emily: I think we settled on that name ultimately because it's so open. It has double meanings or triple meanings. Theresa: Yeah, it’s everything from being completely defensive to being completely open and expressing yourself. And we all liked it, we actually all agreed on something. Here's some other things to like about the band: 1) Their debut EP was produced by ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Fruisciante (solid pedigree right out of the gate - nice). 2) They have a theme song (or at least an eponymous song): 3) They have an immeasurable respect for pachyderms (sorta)... 4)... and they wear their DIY/punk-ethos hearts on their sleeves. Sooooo... taking all of this into consideration, Warpaint is a great name for any band, especially for this one. Kudos, ladies.
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Channeling the Eighties while name dropping the Roaring Twenties. Normally a band doing this would need some serious therapy. But Oxford, England's A Silent Film are doing alright, thank you very much. The name came from a song by the same name the band wrote using a piano melody from Charlie Chaplin's The Kid. You'd be thinking they'd have at least one ragtime ditty that someone could evade the coppers with, but no dice. Nope, these affable blokes have been possessed by the spirits of Unforgettable Fire-era U2, Tears For Fears, a-ha and Born to Run-vintage Bruuuce. The driving beats, the hooky synths, the anthemic choruses... this band is anything but silent. The fact that two of their modern-day influences are The Killers and Coldplay are evidence enough of this. It's a bit of a shocker, however, given all of the mashups out there, that there isn't a Chaplin clip spliced with one of the band's tunes. This hit would give Modern Times a driving urgency not considered before. But where are the Buster Keaton-influenced groups? The Chester Conklinesque bands? For shame!!
Siblings and rock n' roll. When combined they can become awesome, destructive, or both (awesomely destructive or destructively awesome - take your pick). With the Lemon Twigs, we're sending out good vibes. In what seems to have been initially a placeholder handle , the Lemon Twigs name quickly became what the two eccentrically brilliant D'Addario brothers would go by in the music world. They're one of those groups that almost defy defining. Or is it that they dare listeners to define them. Okay, Twigs - challenge accepted. The Lemon Twigs sound as though they travelled through time and assembled members of Wings, Big Star, T-Rex and The Beach Boys in their prime, kidnapping and bringing them back to present day to form a rock/pop supergroup. Kinda like what Bill and Ted did with the Wylde Stallions, only with less telephone booths, George Carlin and nary an utterance of of the word 'heinous'. There we have it. My official first music review. Thank you, Lemon Twigs for your inspiration. And Rolling Stone... Pitchfork... I'm waiting for your call (or tweet, or DM, or smoke signal - whatever you'd like).
Just like the Key & Peele sketches about the names of football players, creative spelling can get you anywhere. Take Seattle, Washington experimental noise/drone metal band SUNN O))), for example. Pronounced simply as 'Sun', the band name is a graphical representation of the logo of the famous SUNN amplifiers, which consists of the name SUNN, followed by a circle and three 'sun rays' fanning out to the right. Stephen O'Malley (guitarist, composer and producer) has stated in several interviews that the SUNN O))) also is also related to drone music pioneers Earth. Stephen is also to have joked that the Sun revolves around the Earth. Ha-ha. Another fun fact: SUNN O))) formerly went through life under the name Mars. This, plus their music does not prove that there's life on Mars, but merely that the band members probably indulge in some form of recreational-and-somewhat-herbal drug use. This theory can be solidified by reviewing the names of the SUNN O))) album catalogue: Monoliths & Dimensions, The Iron Soul Of Nothing, Candlewolf Of The Golden Chalice, La Mort Noir dans Esch/Alzett, Flight of the Behemoth, ØØ Void... But they're not all deep and dark all the time! No siree! They have a romantic side too (I would love to find out if any, ANY couple has made this their first dance): |
The officially unofficial blog of Faux Rawk. Everything you read is true, although some of what you read is 100% false. Whoa... trippy, man. Archives
June 2017
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