ENDLESS SUMMER BUMMER

Lovelorn and sunstroke, Miniature Tigers frontman, Charlie Brand (guitar/vocals) fled Phoenix for L.A. where he united with his “musical soul-mate,” Rick Schaier (drums/keys) and a revolving cast of players including, Lou Kummerer (bass) and Darren Robinson (guitar). Within a year the band released two EPs and a full-length album. The unabridged Tell it to the Volcano is quintessential listening for aimless drives on coastal highways. Catchy acoustics and up-tempo drumbeats surf over psychedelic fuzz as Brand sings quirky poetry about relationships, summer, superficiality and Tchaikovsky. His metaphors evoke obscure imagery, “The pain you caused me, you really shut me down, like a butterfly, being stung to death by bees” “Giraffe”. While their indie-pop peers draw from My Bloody Valentine and Yo Lo Tengo, Miniature Tigers relish their west coast roots with nods to The Beach Boys and Weezer. Ironically, Brand reveals, “I don’t even like playing shows in L.A., everyone just stands around with their arms crossed giving that too cool vibe. Some of our best shows have been played in North Carolina.”

SONGS FROM SUBURBAN UNDERDOGS
“In high school we were the kids sitting in the diner drinking bottomless cups of coffee, drawing anarchy signs on our khaki pants, not being cool,” admits Kip Berman of his aptly named indie-noise band, Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Having found salvation listening to Sonic Youth in his mom’s station wagon, Berman and his friends Peggy Wang-East (vocals, keyboards), Alex Naidus (bass) and Kurt Feldman (drums) pay it forward to this generation’s teenage dirt bags with angst-ridden coming-of-age songs, in the vein of the Reality Bites and Empire Records soundtracks. The self-titled debut album is vulnerable, insecure and triumphant as lyrics are sung in quiet harmony over the static of Berman’s fuzz guitar and Feldman’s anthematic drumming. “A lot of the songs are about growing up in the suburbs, just natural stuff,” Berman reveals. “Our ambition was to not have too much ambition. Just to capture the songs that we love.” It’s a minimalist approach that distinguishes Pains from their techno-centric indie peers. Live performances are admittedly loud and offer a cathartic release for underdogs who are too puny to survive a mosh pit. Berman promises to play as many underage venues as possible to ensure teens aren’t confined to all-ages punk shows like he was.

http://www.myspace.com/thepainsofbeingpureatheart

WHISKEY ROCK

 “I don’t think our music could get much louder,” says Keenan Mitchell (vocals/guitar) of his garage blues duo, Bottle Up & Go. Power amps and whiskey induced temper tantrums fuel Mitchell’s frenzied slide guitar and Sajan Fareed’s (drums) fervent pulse. Songs jolt from agony to redemption as the Mitchell and Fareed polish off another bottle. “It’s second semester senior year, so we don’t have too much homework,” Mitchell jokes. Using long weekends and breaks to tour Mitchell acknowledges, “We were writing our songs for wild shows with big ridiculous endings.” It wasn’t until the boys realized they needed an EP to get booked in New York City that they recorded their debut, These Bones. When making the album, the boys steered clear of technologies and recorded all their songs face to face, capturing the restless exuberance of their performances. While the name Bottle Up & Go gives an immediate nod to their biggest influence, blues badass— Leadbelly it’s the grungy raw quality of their sound, not to mention their age, that gives the music a youthful appeal. “I want to be compared to Little Richard and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins,” laughs Mitchell, keenly aware that most of his audience would prefer to compare the duo to The White Stripes. 

http://www.myspace.com/bottleupandgoband

ANARCHY IN THE BK

The So So Glos is a “Brady Bunch” style family band featuring, brothers Alex Levine (vocals/bass) and Ryan Levine (guitar/vocals), stepbrother Zach Staggers (drums), practically-a-brother Matt Elkin (guitar) and studio cameos by stepbrother Matt Greeley (Brazilian drums/percussion). “We have the energy that started with early rock and roll. The Clash had it— it’s a timeless energy,” says Alex. The Brooklyn natives are jumping over turnstiles, getting drunk and breaking bones. They embrace the era when city streets were unsafe to walk alone at night in their sophomore album Tourism/Terrorism. “We did the whole thing in one week,” Alex reveals. “There was no sleep, hardly any eating and we all lost our minds. It’d be 8AM and we’d be dancing to ‘Whatever Gets Me Through The Night’ by John Lennon.” Zach pounds like angry thunder as Ryan’s perpetually horse voice, slurs, screams and croons lyrics about basic elements of humanity. There are moments when the guitar melodies settle into a pulsing staccato and Ryan’s voice steadies, generating momentum for a fist raising, head bopping, sing-a-long. Followed by more pick slashing, symbol crushing restless fits, which the boys pull off without ever sounding sloppy. Ryan affirms, “We respect where rock ‘n’ roll came from and never disregard its future.”