How do you get a Seattle crowd to adore you even more than they already do? Point out, as Rivers Cuomo did on Saturday night that, "Without Seattle there would be no Weezer."

Weezer acknowledges this as well in Heart Songs with a reference to Nirvana's Nevermind: Back in 1991/ I wasn't havin' any fun/'Till my roommate said/"Come on and put a brand new record on"/ Had a baby on it/ He was naked on it/ Then I heard the chords that broke the chains and no matter how you feel about Nirvana and whether you'd enjoy Weezer's cover of Sliver as I did - I am guessing you like them if you're reading this - you have to admit that Weezer, beholden or not to those before it, is its own lovely beast and has been for very long time. May they continue so.

I have also never seen a rock band feature a trampoline on stage. This was novel and entertaining.

For a full gallery of my photos click here: Weezer @ Key Arena


Rivers Cuomo


Rivers Cuomo on the trampoline


Rivers Cuomo


Brian Bell


Rivers Cuomo


Weezer


Scott Shriner


Patrick Wilson

I first heard Travis when I came across their song Why Does It Always Rain on Me? – it was in an episode of East Enders and Ian Beale was in a car, processing the discovery of his wife’s affair. It was raining. Perhaps it’s a strange way to discover a band but I have found EastEnders features many bands I have come to love. The Man Who, which came out in 1999 was actually Travis’ second album and it was obviously glorious. As good as Why Does It Always Rain on Me? is the album also featured The Fear and one of the most beautiful songs I suspect I will ever hear, Luv. Travis’ first album, Good Feeling, included All I Want to Do is Rock – still a great anthem – and Tied to the 90s. Tied to the 90s they aren’t, they’re more tied to being Travis and thank the heavens they’ve maintained their strengths through the new millennium. The Invisible Band and 12 Memories are brilliant albums as well – though perhaps 12 Memories had its detractors it’s my favorite Travis album in totality. Peace the Fuck Out indeed. 2007 saw the release of The Boy With No Name, a superbly charming panache with Closer and the stomper Selfish Jean. Now Travis has released Ode to J. Smith and struck out on their own with Red Telephone Box Records. It’s out now in the UK and will be released in the States on November 4th. You can hear several songs off it on their myspace page. They have succeeded again.

I talked with Fran Healy and Dougie Payne before their show at the Moore in 2007. It was before Healy moved to Berlin and Payne and wife, actress Kelly Macdonald became parents to Freddie Peter Payne. I wanted to find out what they thought about their home Glasgow, their new Prime Minister Gordon Brown . . . and how exactly these guys all found each other.

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Q: You were a scout when you were a kid?

Dougie Payne: Yes, I was! What on earth brought that up? Have you been looking at Wikipedia?

Q: So you learned how to do all the survival things?

DP: Yes I did. It’s funny, I was talking about this to my nephew the other day – he’s a scout now. I was asking him, what kind of stuff do you do? It seemed like it was hardcore when I was a scout compared to now – now it’s all trips abroad and going to Prague. When I was in it, it was sitting in the wet in the West Coast of Scotland and skinning rabbits. And sticking sticks up their asses to roast them over the fire. It was all pretty hardcore – maybe that was just growing up in the 80s - none of this nanny state that goes on now.

Q: They wanted to toughen you up right away.

DP: Exactly. It didn’t work.

Q: I just thought it was cute, they sent you out there to learn to survive on your own.

DP: As an eleven-year-old. They left us on an island once, a tiny little rock in the middle of the North Sea. They left us for two days to fend for ourselves, just the six of us. I remember that, that was good fun.

Q: That’s scary.

DP: It was good. Perfect training for going on tour.


Dougie Payne - Seattle 2007 - photo by Dagmar

[Fran Healy joins us.]

Q: I was just grilling Dougie on how he used to be a scout.

Fran Healy: He was. People love that - people love the scouts.

DP: Until quite late . . . until I was about 15.

FH: That’s quite impressive.

Q: You two met in school?

DP: Just after school . . . just before art school. So we were 17.

FH: Dougie knew Neil [Primrose], our drummer. He worked with Neil in a shoe shop.

DP: A scout shoe shop.

FH: Neil worked in a bar in Glasgow called the Horseshoe Bar and I used to go in there after school. I knew Dougie independently of Neil and Neil knew Dougie independently of me. Neil didn’t know you knew me and you didn’t know Neil knew me.

DP: Fran and I met just before you went for the audition for Glass Onion [Travis’ former name] –

FH: No, I went for that the day we matriculated in the art school. I met you way before that, like a year before that.

DP: That’s right, because Neil was working in the shoe shop and he said, we’ve got a singer coming in to audition. He was going on about this band, Glass Onion all the time. He was always playing with things that looked like drumsticks in the storeroom. He was always going on about Glass Onion, how we’re going to audition this singer who’s really good. And then I slowly put two and two together – it’s the same guy.

FH: The first week of art school Dougie and Andy got matey.

DP: They were giving away pound a pint Guinness and me and Andy got drunk and talking about the Monkees. We kind of all met each other very independently.

FH: I was in this band [with] Andy, myself and two brothers, eventually – five years later we got rid of the two brothers and Dougie came in. As soon as Dougie came in it became – it wasn’t a band that had advertised for anyone. It was just suddenly four mates. That was the keystone of the band, four friends. The weirder thing is that Dougie and Andy’s fathers go back twenty years – without them realizing.

DP: Me and Andy didn’t notice but they were both bank managers in different banks. Before they were bank managers they were clerks in different banks on the same street. Andy’s dad and my dad used to go for lunch together back in the 60s, when they were about our age when we met.

Q: How tough a city is Glasgow?

FH: Now I don’t think it’s any tougher than any other city. Every city’s got its –

DP: Glasgow is a bit fucking crazy though. Honestly I am not putting any bad adverts out but you and I both know people who have been punched or slashed out on the street. I haven’t heard of that anywhere –

FH: In London.

DP: I don’t know anyone in London that I personally know that’s been – maybe it’s because London is a bigger city.

FH: It’s got a reputation that stems from the 60s. Places like Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, Sheffield . . .they’re all places that are traditionally working class and not particularly wealthy. They’re based on heavy industry, like Sheffield and steelworks. When the heavy industry leaves there seems to be a build up of testosterone. Maybe it comes out in ways that it shouldn’t. There are aspects of it [Glasgow] that are tough but it’s a great city.

DP: It’s a brilliant city.

FH: I think it’s definitely becoming more civilized.

Q: I was impressed when you had those terrorists drive into the airport and people started beating them up.

FH: That’s Glasgow. That’s quite Glasgow. There’s a website dedicated to one of those guys called johnsmeaton.com. Only in Glasgow would people actually run towards . . .

DP: Try to get a boot in. You come to Glasgow and you’re not going to get away with that. I like that attitude towards terrorism.


Fran Healy - Seattle 2007 - photo by Dagmar

Q: Fran, I read you’re planning to move to Germany.

FH: Yeah, to Berlin. My wife is German and I want to change the backdrop. We thought Berlin would be a good place. New York was a place we were going to go to but before we go there we’re going to Berlin. It’s closer to our mothers and the boy’s grandmothers. New York’s just too far away.

Q: How’s being a dad changed you?

FH: It makes me want to work harder. I enjoy my job more. I feel more mature – but that might have nothing to do with being a father. It might just be to do with being 34-years-old and having been doing this job for 10 years. All I know that as a father, as a parent, it’s great. It’s a pleasure watching someone grow up and to be there for them and not judge them. Let them become who they’re going to become. Obviously they’re going to pick up traits of you and other people. It’s such a nice thing to see.

Q: Dougie do you know if you’re having a boy or a girl?

DP: No, Kel was quite keen to know. She wanted to know if she was having a boy – she said she wanted to know if she’s got wee balls. But then a friend of mine said, don’t find out - it’s the only time in your life that you get to meet somebody with absolutely no preconceptions whatsoever. I told Kel that and she was like, that’s quite good.


Q: I read you like to test music on kids?

FH: I was kind of worried at first because I would play Clay music and he would just sit, motionless. He wouldn’t move a muscle when he listened to music – for a year. For over a year he had no reaction to music. If he had a reaction it was to sit really still – almost in a trance. Now he’s started to dance and I think he’s started to sing. Anything melodic on the radio that comes on he goes, Paba. I’m Paba.

DP: Like Robbie Williams.

FH: Robbie Williams came on the radio and I was like, son – no! I was thinking last night actually about how when I grew up I didn’t have any musical instruments around me and I gravitated towards them. To do music as a career it’s a whole different ball game but just playing an instrument . . . if you’ve always got them around you, you will gravitate towards them. When I was first gravitating towards them it was always this thing you couldn’t get. There was always this guitar and it was always in a window or in a catalog.

Q: How is Gordon Brown doing?

DP: We don’t really know at the moment because we’ve been away for months. In general I think he’s great. I really like him. I met him once at a premiere of one of my wife’s films and I thought he was fantastic. I thought he was the exact opposite of the way he’s portrayed in the British media. He’s portrayed as very dour and very serious and not particularly charming. He is incredibly charismatic, very intelligent, really charming and a really nice guy. He’s got a lovely way about him. During the Blair years – which were full of optimism and playing with the media and all that I feel like there’s a grown up in charge again rather than a celebrity. I don’t want a celebrity running the country, I want a decent politician. He seems like a pretty decent guy.

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For more photos of their show at the Moore, click here.

Team Gina's Gina Bling & Gina Genius (with mathematix) perform U.N.I.T Why Not? - singing:

I'm not a bitch
I'm not a ho
I'm not a slut
You didn't know?

These ladies are Seattle's musical sweethearts as far as I am concerned.
From their sassy dance moves to their charming vocals to their coordinated outfits, they move me.

Want to see more pix of Team Gina? Click here:

Team Gina at the Sunset

On Saturday night I saw the band See Me River at the Tractor. I am ashamed to admit this was the first time I had ever been to the Tractor, a cozy venue indeed.


Kerry Zettel of See Me River

Their song, Wake Up Are You Wasted has been stuck in my head all weekend. I like the contrast between Zettel's evil voice and the tiny xylophone sounds.

For more photos of the show go here: See Me River @ the Tractor

The Royal Bear's debut ep is ideal. It's got four songs on it filled with a juicy wallop of flickering guitar work and New Romantic rhythm – add to this synths and pensive vocals, then shake it up and let it have its way.


The Royal Bear - design by Russ Smith

At its heart it's dance music. Pins in My Heart pops open the ep, complete with cowbell, rapid drumming and lines like In class we would share glances/keep secret our romances – I always like things that rhyme and it's cleverly done. Last Leg is a perfectly dramatic heartbreak piece with groovy guitars: I can stay out way out later than you every night till I don't know you anymore. Better Off Lonely has some really cool bass work in it, another thing I think that is important in music – as are the lyrics that fit so well: This conversation's making me lose my sentimentality . . . Save your tears/I'm sure someone will be impressed. The final song of the ep, Dance Alone, gathers all strength and explodes: Your fishnets make me sweat . . . Don't make me beg or dance alone.

Though the band's sound is nearly an anomaly in Seattle, they remind me a bit of Classic Nouveaux, Visage and Ultravox – singer Rain's vocals are quite similar to Midge Ure's yet different enough that they are not derivative.

I talked with 2/3rds of Israel’s Monotonix before their sold out show in Seattle. Ami Shalev, singer and Yonatan Gat, guitarist and I sat down in front of the Comet Tavern on Saturday night. Passersby chatted them up. We gained a fellow-interviewer. A hotdog vendor did brisk business and a fire truck raced by.

The hard-rocking, hard-touring trio Monotonix, including new drummer Haggai Fershtman, are probably coming to a city very near you if you live in the States or the UK. Their music and shows are genuinely awesome and you have every reason to check them out. Plus these guys have a wry sense of humor - quite a few of their responses to my questions were tongue in cheek, although I would believe these foxy guys are fighting off chicks and maybe I believe that the drummer is a good businessman.

Q: Do you ever get injured during your shows?

Yonatan Gat: I got this three weeks ago in Portland. [He points out a cut above his right eyebrow].

Q: Did you get stitches?

YG: No, we had to fly to New York so we didn’t have time.

Q: So you just toughed it out.

YG: I guess.

Ami Shalev: Nothing really serious – except I broke a shoulder.

Q: That’s pretty serious.

AS: Nah, I was in the Army.

Q: I wanted to ask you about that – I read you were a tank commander? What did that involve?

AS: Hard training, discipline, girls, mud, dust –

YG: Gourmet food. Grease. Women.

Q: That sounds pretty good.

AS: It’s a glamour job.

Q: What’s the craziest thing a fan has done?

YG: A woman?

Q: It could be a woman. Are they just crazy all the time?

AS: Yes, the girls are crazy about us. They get crazy only when they see us.

YG: Even before we were in the band, like just walking down the street.

Q: That would be awesome.

YG: I have to push them away – I walk around with a bat.

Q: A bat?

YG: A baseball bat, to scare the women away.

Q: That would work, but some of them might like that.

YG: That’s the problem.

Q: Does the audience ever get angry about anything you do while playing live?

AS: Only when we play too short. That’s the reason most of the people get angry.

Q: I can understand that.

Q: I was impressed how you calmed the crowd at Bumbershoot when the show got shut down early.

AS: Like Dan Deacon says, safety is first.


Shalev drums on the crowd - photo by Dagmar

Q: Yonatan, I came across something about you having to give up your cat?

YG: I had to give away my cat because we tour so much.

Q: Did he find a home?

YG: He’s staying with a friend of my ex-girlfriend. She likes him a lot. Did you see the picture of the cat?

Q: I did, he’s beautiful.

YG: Pretty cute. He’s very beautiful, but he’s very mean too.

[In case you're wondering, in the notice for the cat the Hebrew means inoculated and fixed.]

Q: Is it hard to find places to stay in all the cities since you tour so much?

YG: On our first tour we used to ask people after the show, hey can we crash at your house? This is the first tour we can actually afford hotels.

Q: Now you can spend your money on other things.

AS: Wait, what do you mean by that?

YG: Like for hotdogs.

AS: We’re saving the money for bad times. For the children.

[At this point a guy to see the show sits next to us. He talks about Dan Deacon to Shalev and Gat.]

Q: Do you ever lose each other?

YG: Sometimes I have no idea what our drummer is talking about.

AS: I always have no idea what he’s talking about.

[Now the guy next to us asks me to find out if they’re going to get naked for the show.]

Q: He wants to know if you’re going to get naked tonight.

AS: Yes.

YG: If you pay us. Maybe I’ll get naked if somebody pays me. How much are you willing to pay?

Q: We’d have to negotiate – I’ve only got so much money . . . Were you very musical in school?

YG: One day they had to choose people to sing for graduation, they kicked me out. Out of 60 people they chose 50 and I was one of the 10 they kicked out.

Q: That’s sad.

YG: Now I am playing a sold-out show in Seattle and I am showing them that they were wrong.

AS: I was always out of tune. Right now I’m still out of tune but . . .

[Now a fire truck races by.]

AS: Fire Marshall.

Q: They got here early. [Monotonix has actually set fires as part of their shows – so you never know.]


Gat and Fershtman seize the center of the Comet - photo by Dagmar (on stage taking this picture)

Q: Have you been able to do any sightseeing in Seattle?

YG: We went to Lake Washington.

AS: We saw Jimi Hendrix’s gave and Kurt Cobain’s house.

Q: Yonatan, do you ever get worried about what Ami is going to do next live?

YG: Only that he’s going to put a trash can on my head.

Q: I saw him do that to the drummer.

AS: He’s the victim – he’s the ultimate victim.

Q: Have you started the next cd?

YG: We’ve written a couple of songs – we’re going to record it in the spring, in San Francisco.

Q: Ami, I read an interview with David Berman where he mentions your Dad escaped the Nazis?

AS: He was in the Holocaust. He had to run away from the Nazis when he was 9 years old. He ran away from Europe. His brother was five and his sister was seven. The funny thing is that they ran away with a group of Jewish people to Iran. From Iran they came to Israel.

Q: What is it about Monotonix that’s making you so popular in the US?

AS: Our English is perfect, especially mine. I don’t know why.

YG: Our drummer is a very good businessman. This is kind of like an oxymoron – the drummer is a good businessman. It can’t be.

Q: How do you stay in shape for all this touring?

AS: We eat a lot of Little Debbie Snacks.

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For more photos of their show click here.
You can also see in some of the photos how Shalev was again able to command the audience and get them to sit down on the floor of the Comet.


Gat, Me!, Shalev - September 27, 2008

I have said it before and I will say it again, Alison Goldfrapp is a goddess. For the Seattle show she was a goddess in the most adorable and sexy little harlequin outfit. She wore a dress or perhaps it was a long top with a black and white diamond pattern on it, complete with fuzzy little pompoms down the front. Her blonde hair was wild as it should have been and her feet were bare to go with the naturalistic feel of the stage set and new album, Seventh Tree. The stage had stuffed birds on it, including ravens and owls. The drum kit featured a stag's antlers across the front and what I thought may have been just a prop harp, turned out to be an actual harp and was a beautiful part of the show.

Seventh Tree's songs recall, to me, the music from Goldfrapp's Felt Mountain. It made complete aesthetic sense to have Utopia and Paper Bag on the set list – both smooth and sensual live as they are recorded. Utopia's eerie lyrics Fascist Baby/Utopia, Utopia and their high notes got perfectly matched with the beautiful Little Bird, Some People and Caravan Girl. My favorites off Seventh Tree are Monster Love and Happiness – gorgeous and positive songs.

Ooh La La off Supernature and Black Cherry's Train and Strict Machine brought the disco and dirty synth back – Goldfrapp balances the soft and the hard so well that every moment is something to savor.

Click here to check out my photos from the show!


Alison Goldfrapp, photo by Dagmar

I think this was the fifth time I have seen Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and they really were better than they’ve ever been. Few bands are this consistent in putting out great cds - I am going to come right out and say that I love this band.

There’s an equality between Peter Hayes and Robert Levon Been. It shows in their splitting songs and it’s cool to see artists share a stage in this way. Been and Hayes each had their solo moments, including Been doing a cover of Bob Dylan’s Visions of Johanna. They each have these amazing voices that you’d be lucky just to have one in a band. I was also struck by Been’s unique way of playing a bass by part of the time holding the instrument without a guitar strap – and struck by the forceful sounds.


BRMC - Photo by Dagmar

The set list was especially heavy on songs from their most recent release, Baby 81, including the beautiful Killing the Light and cracking American X and Berlin. They also did the downright racy Six Barrel Shotgun and Spread Your Love from Take Them, On Your Own and B.R.M.C., respectively. A few songs from Howl made an appearance – I particularly liked the bluesy Shuffle Your Feet and Ain’t No Easy Way.

Drummer Nick Jago has left the band, but they’ve now got Leah Shapiro from Denmark – she’s toured recently with the Raveonettes and is an explosive presence. The Showbox was a perfect venue for their deviant rock. It’s got a sultry vibe to it that fits the way BRMC combines their acoustic and electric songs. The show ended with an encore including the always exquisite Whatever Happened to My Rock 'n' Roll (Punk Song) from B.R.M.C.

To see more photos from the show click here: BRMC at the Showbox, 2008.

-This interview appeared originally on Little Radio.-

The Presets are an electronic/pop duo from Sydney, Australia. They just released Apocalypso, their follow-up to 2006’s Beams – both cds are excellent - and are set to tour the States in September and October with fellow Australians, Cut Copy.
I talked to the Presets’ drummer and co-writer, Kim Moyes from London. Moyes has a fantastic sense of humor and even answered some of my stranger questions about Cane Toads and masks.

Q: So you’re in London? I noticed you have a lot of shows there.

Kim Moyes: We just did a festival yesterday called Get Loaded and then we did another one called Creamfields. We’re kind of in London all the time and jet-setting around, doing festivals in Europe.

Q: You travel a lot. Do you have any pets at home?

K.M.: No. A girlfriend – a very patient girlfriend. I’m not that cruel to get pets. I suppose she could look after them but I don’t know how well she’d do.

Q: Were both of you (in the Presets) fans of Pet Shop Boys?

K.M.: Yeah, we still are. We weren’t sort of obsessive fans. I think we like what they do in terms of pop music. They’re really quite camp – and there’s one guy, you don’t really know what he does. They’ve always kind struck of as kind of weird and they’ve always had crazy video clips and flamboyant shows.

Q: How come you two weren’t wrestling in the milk in the video for This Boy’s in Love?

K.M.: We were meant to be standing in purgatory or something seeing these two people fighting. I don’t know why weren’t in it – that’s just the way the treatment came through.

Q: It’s a great video. Did it take a long time to get rid of all that dust you had flying all over you?

K.M.: It did actually – at least three showers and a couple of antihistamines.

Q: How did you find the director, Caspar Balslev?

K.M. He was great – like all directors they come in to the shoot and they’re really excited and then they get into this crazy detail about what’s going to happen and it gets a bit lost on you when you’re not a filmmaker or whatever. They’re all very passionate about what they’re doing and love to tell you about it. It’s all going over your head but you’re like, that sounds pretty cool.

Q: I don’t know how often you still use them in shows, but they’re have been a few pix of you guys in masks. Are there ones you seek out or is it a coincidence?

K.M.: The mask thing just kind of happened when we were waiting to pick up our girlfriends in Byron Bay and they were coming in on a plane about an hour later than us. So we went into this shop – it was like a fancy dress store – and they had these masks. They were just these plastic, clear masks with features on them – but if you put them on it kind of looks like you, but like a weird, older version. That was the first time we ever used them. The guy who does all of our artwork, Jonathan Zawada kind of saw that and ran with it. He’s really into skulls and masks and really exotic, weird and wonderful looking stuff. He got some masks for our first album cover and then it sort of developed into the second album cover, where a piece of bark became a mask and I was dressed up like a pumpkin. I’ve got some friends who go to parties dressed up and they really go out of their way to do really strange things when they go out. I guess people like Lee Bowery – those people from the 80s – you know, like Party Monster with Macaulay Culkin? It’s based on this whole New York dance scene and there was this really famous guy called Lee Bowery and he had this costume that would zip up over his face. He’d make these masks that were kind of like gimp masks but really elaborate, really colorful. We’ve got friends who are really into that kind of stuff. We’re always getting inspired by them.

Q: I like that. That’s cool . . . so Byron Bay, you did the second album there?

K.M.: A friend of ours has a farm. We’d been doing so much touring so we went up there to get away from all the distractions and make a start on the new record. We kind of had a mini-holiday and switched on the creative brain after all that touring. It gets damaged after playing the same music every night for three years. We got to go swimming every day. There were cows.

Q: It was a cattle farm - for food?

K.M.: No, it’s more a hobby farm. There were about 15-30 cattle.

Q: So they’re kind of like pets.

K.M.: Kind of.

Q: That’s good . . . this is kind of a weird question but do you ever see Cane Toads?

K.M.: Yes, they’re in Queensland. They were introduced in Queensland to get rid of these sugar cane bugs that were eating all the sugar cane. The bugs in the cane were like crickets, or something like that – they were damaging all the plants so they brought these Cane Toads in to eat the bugs. And of course Cane Toads don’t have any natural predators in Australia. A dog knows not to eat a Cane Toad because it will die. It has poison on the back of it – no animal can eat a Cane Toad. There’s an epidemic of a plague of them now and no one knows how to get rid of them. They’re really stupid and have no natural predator so they have no guard. You can just walk up to one and kick it. There are a lot of mean people. But in some areas if you walk out into your backyard the [toads] are everywhere, like in a horror film. And some people try to smoke their skin as well because apparently it’s hallucinogenic. I don’t know anyone who’s actually done it – I wouldn’t recommend it.

Q: Do you two ever argue, like on tour?

K.M.: There are moments when we get on each other’s nerves. You’ve got six dudes in a tour bus, every day. It’s a great life but there is a lot of boring, getting to the airports on time . . . stress for an hour of music a day. When you see situations arise you step back. We had a funny situation on one of our first tours. We were away from home for four months’ straight and we were on tour with the Rapture. The whole four months we didn’t have a crew, we did all the lugging, all the setting up, all the breaking down – everything. For four months we didn’t have one argument - except when we were packing up after the very last show. It was about whether or not I could put this new guitar pedal that I’d bought into the case or in my suitcase - if I put it in with the gear it would put it over the baggage allowance weight (we were going to Japan). We were yelling at each other in the middle of a car park in front of everybody about the stupidest thing. Sometimes it’s healthy to blow off some steam.

Q: The Presets have quite a large gay following – is it to do with the dance scene?

K.M.: Definitely. I mean in Australia we were first embraced by the gay community. The dance scene in Australia is very homocentric. We have massive clubs and we have the big gay and lesbian Mardi Gras once a year.
A lot of it is quite commercial but there’s a cool underground dance scene as well. It comes back to things like Pet Shop Boys, Bronski Beat and Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Those are the people who like to party the most, have a good time the most and show the least inhibition. It’s always been a real attractive thing for us – that freedom. I don’t mean to sound patronizing, it’s just a good fucking time. No matter what city we’re in we’ve had a gay following – and I guess it helps with the homo, like “fauxmo” thing that we do – playing up to it. We always said when we started out we wanted to milk the pink dollar.

Q: Did you learn to play drums when you were very small?

K.M.: Yeah, I started when I was about eight. I could barely reach the pedals. My sister started having lessons – and it was group lesson – and I really wanted to go. She went twice, and I just continued.

Q: Are your fans different, like in the U.S. compared to Australia?

K.M.: I think everywhere you go people are pretty much the same – obviously little bits of differences. I’m just talking as someone who stands up on the stage and looks out at the crowd. In Australia it’s a lot more advanced for us – the crowds are bigger. The reach has gotten more suburban whereas before it used to be more inner city and I guess hipster orientated. Those people like that are every where in the world . . . Istanbul. There’s almost the same kind of night club every where – kind of indie-disco. Now that we’re getting a bit bigger in some of the major cities people are starting to react more like they would back home. When we first started playing back home no one knew quite what to do and then they developed this kind of way getting into it. I’ve always felt it’s warmer for us in the States than anywhere else. People are kind of up for it. I think people in the States dance better than anywhere else. They really know how to dance. In Australia people don’t really dance together, they do this kind of weird robot dance. The States are just groovier, I can’t explain it. You guys should pat yourselves on the back.

Q: Before you worked as a musician you were teaching – what other types of jobs did you have?

K.M.: When I finished Uni I was teaching part time, one or two days a week, at various Catholic Girls schools. They never turned up – some were cool. I picked up a part time job for six months at a corporate recruitment company and I was the receptionist. That was bad. I was so bad at that. I was really grumpy. I was trying to be nice . . . we have this thing called the dole, I guess it’s like benefits – don’t know what you call it there. I went on unemployment benefits for four years and started the Presets. I worked every day and vowed never to have to do anything unrelated to music again. I saw it as kind of like an arts loan. You have to have meetings with these people at the dole office and explain to them what you do. It wasn’t like I was sitting at home smoking weed and watching television. I was working hard and learning about electronic music. I worked in a library for three years when I was at Uni. I worked in supermarkets – I worked at McDonald’s, that was my first job.

Q: What’s your favorite drink (alcohol-drink)?

K.M.: I’m really into vodka apple at the moment and we were in Munich the other day and this guy was telling us about the Russian way to have vodka. So you have a shot of vodka and then you have a pickle and then you have a beer. It’s so delicious. It really gives you a nice buzz.

Q: The tour with Cut Copy starts in mid- September?

K.M.: It officially starts on my birthday, the 15th of September, in Kansas City Missouri. We’ll be in Seattle on the 8th of October at the Showbox.

Q: Are you going to do any dj-ing?

K.M.: Possibly. We’re in a tour bus with Cut Copy so we’ll probably have to split after the shows to get to the next city. I think along the way I think there will be a couple little soirees.

Q: You guys are going to be on the same bus?

K.M.: Yeah, don’t rub it in. Twelve dudes. Normally when we tour there are twelve beds and six guys. Now we’ve get twelve stinking men on the bus. I think this tour will end the relationship I have with Cut Copy. We’ll all crack the States but we’ll all hate each other in the end. It will be worth it.

Brent Amaker and the Rodeo live in Seattle but by some mystery I did not know about them until last month. They are cowboys dressed in black and they are entirely welcome in the Seattle music scene.

I can say a lot about their attractive image - again, they're cowboys dressed all in black - and surreal live show but first this is a music review. Some music I love right away and some I have to hear over and over again to decide on it. This music hit me in the gut immediately and I love it. The songs' structures are so perfect that I don't care if you like country music you will like this country music.

Their first cd is the self-titled 2005 Brent Amaker and the Rodeo. The longest song, Bring Me the Whiskey, clocks in at 3:14 - it's the cd's epic. You're No Good opens things up, complete with perfectly placed horns and a nice twang guitar. The lyrics throughout the cd are clever - still about lost or tortured love and bar fights you want in country music - but I think the music has a sense of humor about itself at the same time. I've Got a Little Hillbilly in Me has handclaps and one contagious refrain. My favorite song off here might be Sissy New Age Cowboy: I hope you won't mind if we mess up your pretty face, someone's got to put you in your place. I don't know, you just want to hang around with whoever does these songs. Especially when Amaker asks Is the Rodeo in Town? in Get the Hell Out, you want them around - it all sounds like a party. You can criticize and say the songs are in the same key but this is fine with me. The vocals are durable and deep - entirely able to carry off the drinking pieces and the more romantic Babe: I Figure Satan had Something to Do With the Creation of You - and he's got something to do with the creation of B.A.R.

Their new cd Howdy Do! begins with Welcome to the Rodeo. I like that this cd has a welcome and an Outro (and rattling bottles in the background) as in old country albums. This one is bold enough to tell you No Refunds in the welcome, and why would you want one? I'm the Man Who Writes the Country Hits is a great classic and They Make Cowboys in Montana reminds you in Texas They Make Men and to Keep Your Loved Ones Close - Kill the Rest. These songs build cool scenarios with galloping rhythms and Amaker's voice has an entrancing quality. I get the impression he could be singing about anything and it would sound sexy. The title track is sweet indeed and Walking in My Sleep is haunting. This is the Gun, where Amaker sings Die I Will But Not Before I Break Your Heart is as warped as it is gorgeous. . . okay you can break my heart.