photos by Greg Cristman

Q: Even though "Raw Power" was a great album, the Stooges never got to tour behind it properly because your management company quit you and your record label didn't seem to care either. So is it a case of getting back to unfinished business with this album?

A: Absolutely. I'm finishing a job here. It had its re-release. I did my remix too, which I knew at the time in the '90s there was a muscle-bound rock-metal thing going around, and I knew that people couldn't hear the record as it was originally mixed and mastered in that environment. So I thought if I make it unbearably loud, it would sell, and it did! (laughs) Now it's been re-released, and James has been able to tell his stories about it, and get his credit as due, gotten to say his piece. I'm in the midst of fulfilling my leadership obligations to the group on this record. And I've done really well with it.

Q: What do you think of Bowie's original mix?

A: It's a good mix of a particular taste. It was very similar to the way David had his own records mixed around that era. It's peculiarly English. What I didn't know at the time was that it was disastrously mastered (after Bowie mixed it). By that time we had no communication with management who had decided to let us go. I didn't know why you had to turn your stereo to "10" to hear it at all. One of the archivists at Sony later postulated that because of the non-management the group was under, the record had no advocate at the label, and it was assigned to a guy who didn't know the Stooges, and he was applying the standards of a Mitch Miller record to it (in the mastering stage). They were rightfully listening to it as a load of noise, and their concern was how can we reduce it? So if you reduce the noise on "Raw Power," you will reduce the record...-[from a Chicago Tribune interview w/ Iggy Pop]

Iggy & The Stooges played House of Blues in Atlantic City on Friday (8/27), one of four shows scheduled for this week culminating in an appearance at ATP NY where the band will perform all of Raw Power.

Iggy Pop @ House of Blues

The band played a loud and killer set for 1.5 hours to the NJ crowd who may have learned about the show from the giant billboard on the highway, or the 'Atlantic City Weekly' cover story on Iggy. Iggy dove into the crowd multiple times including one backwards free fall. Unfortunately, the room was only half-full, but that didn't stop it from being a great show. Full setlist below. On Sunday, the band played the Riviera (4746 N. Racine) in Chicago after the show was moved from Aragon late on Friday night. On Tuesday, 8/31, you can catch the band at the Bank of America Pavillion House of Blues (it was moved too) in Boston.

In other Iggy news, Jim Jarmusch will direct an upcoming documentary on the legendary rocker upon the request of Iggy himself. Jim Jarmusch will also be in attendance at ATP New York Next weekend, curating the entirety of Sunday's bill (with sunn/Boris, Fucked Up, many many others).

More pictures, and the setlist, from the Atlantic City show, continue below...

Continue reading "Iggy & the Stooges played House of Blues in Atlantic City - (pics, setlist)"

photos by Tim Griffin

"I can't help but say the word CUTE when it comes to seeing these guys live. They're super smiley and with Richard Butler's jumping and hip shaking and swirls, you can't go wrong. The saxophone player, Mars Williams, was AMAZING. They didn't have him play when I saw them back in 2005(i think?). This guy may be a little short, but he has a lot of energy to belt out the solos that he did. I was a little upset not to see guitarist John Ashton, but the new guitar player was great. The keyboardist wasn't really needed on most songs in my opinion, I'm sure she's awesome and really sweet! Tim Butler will always be cool with his shades and bass lines. It was also cool to see the drummer from Love Spit Love, Frank Ferrer, too." [WHATTITW]

The Psychedelic Furs concluded a short east coast tour at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair, NJ on Saturday night (6/13). They played House of Blues in Atlantic City one night earlier. More pictures from Wellmont and some videos from both NJ shows, below...

Continue reading "The Psychedelic Furs @ Wellmont Theater in NJ - pics, video"

Photos by Zach Dilgard

"The surprise of the night was when Peter Murphy from Bauhaus added some extra spookiness to "Reptile". It reminded me of how disappointed I am that Bauhaus broke up again. The lighthearted moment of the evening was when Trent Reznor (Vocals/Guitars) lamented how he had apparently messed up the lyrics in the breakdown of "Closer". Luckily, a fan helped Trent out by repeating the correct lyrics when he was tossed the microphone. Trent would later incorporate the lyrics into "Discipline" to the delight of the audience." [Amateur Chemist]

More pictures and the setlist below...

Continue reading "NIN (w/ special guest Peter Murphy) @ House of Blues, Atlantic City, NJ - pics & setlist"

photos by Zach Dilgard

Before firing up their decks at the McCarren Park Pool in Brooklyn on Thursday night, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist cleared the stage for an instructional film, projected onto two backdrop screens. Beginning with a brief history of the 45-r.p.m. record, the film moved on to the logistics at hand. "All audio is being delivered via vinyl on eight turntables into four mixers," a voice declared, in the plummy tone of a 1950s studio announcer. That may not sound like an applause line, but at this show it drew exuberant cheers.
[NY Times]

Not an easy show to get into (a hard sell?) if you like to dance, cool (in a geeky way) nonetheless. Zach saw the Brooklyn show. I made the trip to Atlantic City for the show the next day. We both agreed on the dancey part (especially compared to Cut Chemist and DJ Shadow doing shows on their own in the past.)

The Atlantic City show at House of Blues was weird. The low-ceiling room was on the 2nd floor of a casino off the boardwalk, above slot machines. There was no stage. There were no chairs. There was a little bar in the back. There was some art on the walls. Everyone had to stand in a semi-circle around the two deejays as they mixed songs on a table and projected stuff on to screens behind them. The screens were also basically at floor level. Two big stacks of speakers were placed in each corner of the tables on the floor. The sound was not very good. If the show was more packed (it wasn't that packed), it would have been impossible to see anything for most people there, especially short people. It must have been weird for Shadow & Chemist to go from headlining the huge McCarren Pool with a big stage and giant video screens one day, to that AC show one day later. It was the first time I went to House of Blues in Atlantic City, but as far as I could tell they have multiple rooms for shows. I don't think that's the same room Al Green is playing in. More pics from McCarren below....

Continue reading "DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist (Hard Sell) played McCarren Pool (pics) & House of Blues in AC"