Perfect Sound Forever- June 2022 edition now out

[Jason Gross]

Greetings,

In the latest issue of Perfect Sound Forever <https://www.furious.com/perfect/index0622.html>, you'll find (among other things):

AU PAIRS
Interview- post-punk feminism, interview by Jason Gross
"'I prefer to talk about the future,' singer/guitarist Lesley Woods told me even before I began interviewing her via Skype last spring but she did relent to speak about the storied post-punk band she formed. When Au Pairs began in Birmingham in 1978 (with guitarist Paul Foad, bassist Jane Munro and drummer Peter Hammond), they carved out a striking sound for themselves, combing the anger/fury of punk with feminist ideology and funk. "It's Obvious" became a 1980 dance floor hit, followed by their impressive indie label debut the following year, Playing With A Different Sex. But after one more album, 1982's Sense and Sensuality, they were gone."

THE CIMARONS
Brit reggae legends by Eric Doumerc
"The Cimarons were one of the first homegrown reggae bands to emerge in Britain in the 1970's and first made their name by backing the Jamaican artists who toured the British Isles back then. The band was formed in 1969 at the Tavistock Youth and Community Centre in Harlesden (North London). The band was very much influenced by soul music as several of its members were James Brown and Marvin Gaye fans, and they initially covered a lot of soul hits."

CREATIVE DEAD ENDS
How composers overcome it by J. Vognsen
"Students of creativity face a version of the so-called file-drawer problem: Artists tend to share the works they find successful, not the ones that they consider failed. That's as it should be, of course. But there is probably as much to be learned about creativity from looking at when it fails as when it succeeds. Why does some music end up not in the ears of listeners but in the dustbin, or perhaps never leaving the mind of the creator in the first place? To approach this topic, I reached out to a number of composers and performers to hear if they would share something about parts of their creative process that went nowhere."

BO DIDDLEY
Interview with the rock and roll legend by Bob Gersztyn
"In 2006, Bo Diddley (AKA Ellas Bates McDaniel) performed a show where I live in Salem, Oregon. I attended the show, photographed it and interviewed Bo by telephone a week prior to the show. The story that he told me was fascinating and then, less than two years later he passed away in June 2008. He is a legend and was instrumental in the creation of the then new genre called rock and roll. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. His sound and style influenced everyone after him from Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly to the Rolling Stones as well as musicians in the 21st century."

D.O.A.
Interview- Canada hardcore lives by Peter Crigler
"What more needs to be said about Joey Shithead and D.O.A.? Hardcore legends; Canadian icons and still going strong with an altered line-up all these years later. In 2022, Joey and the band hit the road to celebrate the belated 40th anniversary of their landmark Hardcore '81 album. Joey also managed to squeeze in his political aspirations into his already busy schedule. We at PSF were very lucky to be able to Zoom with him and talk about the band, the album, the state of hardcore and Canadian politics, even his dearly departed bandmates, including original members bassist Randy Rampage and drummer Chuck Biscuits."

OLIVER DOERELL
Electro-acoustic composer does 'fumbletronics' by Michael Freerix
"Oliver Doerell is part of a scene of German 'fumbletronics,' who grew out of Berlin's early '90's squatting scene. He grew up in Brussels, playing guitar in a trio, writing traditional songs. But all that changed when he moved to Berlin. There, he became a musician and he created a career of his own, writing for ballet or radio-plays. Today he says: "I really can't do anything else." But with what he does, he merges together a lot of different streams in today's music, fusing electronics with field recordings and adds different instruments from all kinds of sources to his compositions."

GANG OF FOUR
Interview- still funky, still influential by Robin Cook
"21st-century Texas might appear to be removed from 1970's Leeds where Gang of Four began. Still, their biting, socially charged, funk-inspired post-punk is scarily relevant in a world confronting fascism and a pandemic. The band hit the road in 2022, with original members Jon King (vocals) and Hugo Burnham (drums), bassist Sara Lee (who joined in the early 1980s), and guitarist David Pajo replacing Andy Gill, who died in 2020. PSF joined King and Burnham for an interview on the band’s tour bus before an Austin show."

THE IGUANAS
Interview- Tex-Mex roots bliss by John Wisniewski
"New Orleans fixtures the Iguanas started out at the end of the '80's, infectiously mixing Tex-Mex, soul, salsa and roots rock. Bassist René Coleman was there almost from the very start with the band (who recorded for Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville label) and has had an impressive career backing up outsider oddball rockers like Alex Chilton, Tav Falco and Willie Deville as well as making film appearances and working with his other band the Geraniums. We caught up with Coleman via e-mail to talk about his wide-ranging career."

TOM JOHNSON
How to succeed at 'Failing'? by Daniel Barbiero
"'...I am required to read a long text while playing music written above the text. The text must be read out loud at a more or less normal pace and I must not allow the music to slow me down...' The quote is from "Failing: A Very Difficult Piece for Solo String Bass" by composer Tom Johnson. The title minces no words: it is a difficult piece to perform. The performer must keep up a running narrative while playing increasingly difficult, highly chromatic music on the double bass; the instructions specify that both spoken and instrumental parts must be properly synchronized and accurately played. Failing that, the piece fails. Or does it?"

JOHN LENNON
On the run with the "Cold Turkey" single by Kurt Wildermuth
"You twenty-first-century kids, with your digital files and search engines and Internet savvy, have no idea what it was like to hunt for rare vinyl records without much information to guide you. Nowadays, if you want to hear a particular song, you have it easy. To get a sense of how different things were when all we had was analog, come with me and the late John Lennon down a record-collecting rabbit hole, a hole filled with warrens."

DAVE MCLEAN
Interview- '90's rock promotion antics by Daniel Hess
"Rock promoter Dave McLean has worked with some truly legendary acts over his amazing career, including the likes of Mudhoney, Nirvana, Sonic Youth, and The Smashing Pumpkins, just to name a few. It all started in the late 1970s in Dundee, Scotland. Over a Zoom interview, I had the chance to talk to him about his early days getting into the industry all the way through to where things are now with his career, including his budding filmmaking forays. His new film Schemers looks back at those early days and the origins of what would become a lifetime steeped in endless musical stories to share."

MEAT PUPPETS
Interview- Derrick Bostrom details indie legends by Peter Crigler
"One of the most notable bands to come out of the amazing scene built around the now legendary SST Records, Arizona's Meat Puppets made their name known with dynamic songwriting in the '80's and a musical drive that was unparalleled, even amongst SST bands like Black Flag. Leaving SST amid acrimony, the band entered the major label world and got an immediate boost from Kurt Cobain.Leader Curt Kirkwood picked up the mantle and carried on until, eventually, the original line-up, including his brother Cris on bass and drummer Derrick Bostrom, came back together for good in order to reclaim their title and legacy as one of the defining SST era bands as well as one of the fiercest and strangest bands of the '90's and beyond."

PEZBAND
Interview- Midwest power pop by John Wisniewski
"Mimi Betinis was the singer and guitarist of the legendary late 70's Chicago power pop band Pezband, who released three albums then. In the interview, he talks about what success means form him, why he became a musician, highlights with Pezband (including the later day release of their lost album Women & Politics in 2016), his solo albums and some possible new Pezband material."

VINYL ANACHRONIST
The Great Tube Shortage of 2022 by Marc Phillips
"Russia has stopped exporting vacuum tubes to the parts of the world where they, in turn, have received sanctions against them after invading Ukraine. After all the appropriate things are said, the subject turns dark and serious among audiophiles--how are we going to keep vacuum tubes flowing into the US, tubes that we need for our power amplifiers and preamplifiers and guitar amps and even, in a few rare cases, for our compact disc players (like the one I've owned for the last 12 years)?"


We also have a Spotify playlist with most of the artists above here:
<https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5CkWiVZKXr78Q5ahK27hi6?si=5fda94e313a64d9f>

We're always looking for good writers and/or ideas so let us know if you have anything to share.

See you online,
Jason