Free Tickets! Video Premiere! Interviews!
Detroit's Sponge and English rock act Spacehog will headline a show next Thursday, December 12th, at the Magic Stick in Detroit. The show will also include the groove-heavy rock group, Lionize, and Orchestral rock band, The Red Paintings. We had the chance to ask The Red Paintings singer/creator, Trash McSweeney, and Spacehog frontman, Royston Langdon, some questions about the tour and their new projects. The interviews and giveaway info are below.......
About the Red Paintings: Known for
their visionary stage shows incorporating live art, human canvases,
and theatrics, The Red Paintings are a multi-faceted, genre-spanning act
incorporating everything rock, from alternative to punk to industrial.
Ever since suffering a near-fatal seizure eight years ago, Trash
McSweeney, the musical architect of The Red Paintings, sees color in
sound, a condition known as synesthesia. His musical project has set
out to share with the world a lifetime's worth of ideas about what he
has seen and felt. Often receiving comparisons to acts such as Radiohead, Muse, Smashing Pumpkins, and The Arcade Fire. We had the opportunity to ask him some questions about the group.
MCB: Explain the name The Red Paintings and where it came from?
TM: I wanted to create a musical act that mixed all different types of
unusual mediums into one performance. Live painters, human canvases,
opera men, strings alongside the normal rock lineup. I felt under ‘The
Red Paintings’ name it was a great label for what I was presenting to an
audience.
MCB: How did this tour with Sponge and Spacehog come about?
TM: As far as I know they liked our music and asked us to join the road
with them. It worked into our touring schedule so we thought why not, it
sounds fun!
MCB: Those two bands will be playing with their staple instruments,
guitar, bass, & drums. From everything I've read the Red Paintings
bring a heck of a lot more than that. What kind of instruments, visual
displays, etc can the crowd expect to see at this show?
TM: Paint brushes to naked bodies to geisha girls playing strings the wild list goes on and on…
MCB: Are there any unique instruments that you want to add to the live show that you have not yet had the chance to?
TM: An Icelandic orchestra would be nice, or some more traditional Chinese
instruments which we are looking into for a special upcoming tour.
MCB: You've toured many many spots around the world so far. Where have
you been most accepted and where would you like to grow the most?
TM: Honestly, there’s been nowhere we have not been accepted positively by
people, but playing France and London and Las Vegas is always super
special to me.
MCB: To a fan coming to the show that has never heard of you guys, what
would you tell them to make sure they are there early to see you?
TM: I'd tell them to come early to witness a musical artistic delirium like
no other. Don't forget to bring your art smock. Our shows can get
colourful!
Spacehog: The English rockers are back in the U.S. after a long hiatus. The band will perform
their #1 hit, “In The Meantime”, other classic Spacehog tunes, music
from the recently released album "As It Is On Earth" as well as the brand new track, “You Can’t Go Home Again”. We had the chance to ask frontman, Royston Langdon, some questions below.
MCB: Here in Detroit, Sponge is one of our biggest bands ever. How did these tour dates with them come about?
RL: We're just lucky really I guess? I believe our agent, Phil Battiato at the agency group locked it in for us.
MCB: How are the American crowds compared to the European and overseas crowds?
RL: Pretty much the same, they merely have different accents, completions and queuing styles!
MCB: Tell
me how the duet with Liv "You Can’t Go Home Again" came about along
with working with the David Lynch Foundation First Responders Initiative
RL: Since Liv and I have both been practicing
transcendental meditation for a while, and have been given so much by the
David Lynch foundation as a result this concert was really the
perfect storm for us to do something to give back together, along with
Sean Lennon. It was Liv's first live vocal debut believe it or not and
it was a cathartic and joyful experience. I'm very proud of her courage
and heart.
MCB: I listen to the album a few times, I'm
continually drawn to the track “Oh, Dinosaur". It's very catch and I
get a vibe of reliving some old memories. Please tell me the
story/meaning of this song.
RL: I didn't write song, hahaha! I'm glad you like as
do I. It started out as an idea Richard brought. It was something he'd
been playing around with during our ten year holiday. It was a welcome
guest while working on new material. As an idea lyrically it wasn't
fully developed until Johnny penned the words (and the lyrics). Rich had
always had the 'oh dinosaur' bit but Johnny defined it toward the end of
the time with Bryce in Brooklyn. I remember it was Bryce who was telling
us a story about taking his kid to school and her not wanting to be
seen with her father and so he had to 'walk a block behind'. I kind of
brought it all together with the bridge but I didn't get a credit. It's a marvelous universal message dressed up in a spacehogian
frock. This record is quite dark and I felt it was important to bring
some relief and 'oh dinosaur' is just the ticket.
MCB: What songs off the new record are you receiving the best live response too?
RL: I
notice people naturally respond to 'love is a curious thing'. I'm
working on a remix of that with my friend Larry presently. I feel it
comes to life live and I want to rework it with that in mind.
MCB: Using the Pledge Music Campaign, funding for the new
record was mostly secured through fans if I'm correct? Tell me how this
came about/ why the decision to fund a record this way?
RL: The missing ingredient within the music industry these days is do$h. It's a necessary tool that has brought great success on many an
artist like the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, MGMT, Britney Spears, you name it. However, music is now free
essentially and so we had to, like many others 'be creative' which is an
oxymoron really as it takes one away from being creative musically. We
funded the recordings of 'as it is on earth' under our own steam. We
licensed 'in the meantime' to guitar hero and rockband video games
around '08/'09. The money we made from Pledge Music was for promo of the
album. I think we raised only a little really, somewhere south of 10K
which is infinitely small in relation to what Elektra say spent on
promoting 'In the Meantime' upon it's release. Pledge heralded it as a
huge triumph because we raised all the dough we were after in a day. We
shot a bit low I suppose but we aren't university material in business
acumen (musician historically aren't). Today, for instance with the
likes of urban music's particular penchant for success of one's art or
rather brand represented by the amount reddies in one hand spacehog are I
guess languishing in the 'where are they now file' somewhat to mass
media because there's no do$h for advertising etc...
MCB: Having reached the funding goal so quickly did it give you
a burst of energy going into making the new record? Maybe a new respect
for fans for fronting so much money for a record before they have even
heard a minute of a song?
RL: Our true fans are the greatest and know what's what and we love them, so there........hahahaha
MCB: What is next for Spacehog? Where do you see the band in another 10 years?
RL: I
like to keep it in the moment today. i think our past is clearly
audible through our work over almost 20 years. What we do accumulates, our future is a result of what Spacehog does right now. Through the
grace of you know who, the sky is no limit.
Please
Follow the band on Facebook and check out Spacehog.com for updates on new music,
videos, philanthropic projects and collaborations. Hang on, the ride is just beginning….
Sponge: Detroit's own has just debuted a new video for their single, "Come In From the Rain", off their new record titled "Stop The Bleeding". "The concept is what if Marilyn Monroe did not die of the drug overdose
but miraculously survived,” Sponge singer Vinnie Dombroski says about the video, which was directed by Steve Greene. “She
sheds everything about the old life/lifestyle and leaves it all behind.
It’s a pretty ambitious concept to nail down in a video, however, we
thought the concept was something to pursue in a broader sense using a
Marilyn Monroe type character who eventually sheds the facade walking
away from the trappings of a destructive lifestyle.”
Check out Sponge at
http://www.spongetheband.com/ and on facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/Spongerocks
Send
an email to motorcityblog@earthlink.net for your chance to win a pair
of tickets to the show!
The tickets are courtesy of Black Iris Booking, Majestic Theatre/Magic Stick and Aural Pleasure Music. Please submit email by 8pm this Sunday, December 9th.
Show info: Thursday December 12th @ The Magic Stick in Detroit
Doors 6:30 PM | All Ages | Tickets:
$17 Adv./ $20 Day of
Buy tickets HERE
