Dan Cochran Celebrates the Release of Hilltop Lager by Playing Bass

Four String Brewing Company founder Dan Cochran is no poser. His beer isn't some brand whipped up in an ad agency conference room in Zurich. It was whipped up in his head while playing bass for bands such as Big Back 40, The Lonely Bones and Why Isn't Cheap Trick in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Put simply, the dude brews killer beer. And he also plays bass. On Friday May 12th, Dan will be introducing his latest creation - Hilltop Lager - with an International Can release party at both of his Columbus Four String locations. (click here for more details)

As the party winds down at the taprooms, Dan will be lugging his rig over to Woodland's Tavern to play bass with the semi-legendary bar band League Bowlers. Seems like a very long day for the father of two with another on the horizon. Dan would have it no other way. "Hilltop Lager is a beer for the working man and The League Bowlers are a working man's band. It's a perfect fit. I'm excited to share this new beer with the world and then play some lager fueled rock n roll. I'd have it no other way. Hope everybody can join us at one venue or both."

The Four String Taprooms will be open 4pm until late. The League Bowlers will be onstage at Woodland's Tavern 9:30-11 pm. Admission is FREE to all events

Related reading: English Pub Rock and The League Bowlers.  Dan Cochran Talks about playing in Why Isn't Cheap Trick in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? . The Real Story Behind Four String Brew. .

 

 

Season Two TV Party Tonight! Virtual SXSW 2017 - by Anne Marie

I’ve been on a ticket-buying binge lately. Many of the shows I have lined up the next few months - Tom Petty, Hall & Oates, Guster and Elvis Costello - are known commodities I have followed for decades. For some, I own every album. (I even named one of my dogs after one.)  

But as much as I love some summer retro fun, I also love that moment of “discovering” a new act live.  I don’t get to do that all too often from Columbus.  (Although I did first see Walk the Moon and Fitz & The Tantrums as openers for other acts I saw at the Newport.  Subsequently, they've both had national radio play and I’m seeing Fitz headline at Riverbend this summer: so it does happen.).  But where I understand it happens at an insane level and where the entire festival is set up to allow you to dabble and catch as many new acts as you can pack into each day & night is the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas.

I’ve never been to SXSW.  Yeah, I know it’s been going on for like 25 years but back when it started, at first it was too small for me to even hear about in Ohio and by the time it became a “thing,” I bought into all the stories about it being a big frenzy of corporate branding, selling out, traffic and overcrowding.  Lately, I’ve heard really good music coming out of it and now I really want to go but the best I’ve been able to do so far is live vicariously through some of the coverage.  This year SXSW was March 10-19th, which overlapped my daughter’s Spring Break and gave me some hours to do some online exploration of the giant list of the more than 2,000 participating artists. 

I was just randomly cruising through the A-Z artist listings and selecting acts to listen to on Youtube, when I noticed that Overcoats had a link to a song “Hold Me Close” right on the SXSW website.  I clicked and that was it.  I listened and re-listened.  I wanted more and went to Youtube and found the story of two college friends from New York who, after five years of friendship, discovered last year that they could write and make music together. Here’s “The Fog” and “Smaller Than My Mother.”  I love their amazing harmonies and the little dance parties in the middle of the songs.  So, of course, if I was at TV Party Tonight! Virtual SXSW, I would definitely go catch Overcoats.

OVERCOATS performs the song "THE FOG" for BalconyTV. Subscribe to us right now at http://bit.ly/15yj4oc 'Like' us on Facebook - http://Facebook.com/balconytv Follow us on Twitter - http://Twitter.com/balconytv PRESENTED BY NINA CREESE Overcoats is New York-based female duo Hana Elion and JJ Mitchell.

In Studio Live is an exclusive series featuring musical artists who bring a distinct presence to the world of art and entertainment. Each episode is recorded at Beyond Studios and produced by Beyond Production House with support from Chuck Levin's, Washington Music Center - chucklevins.com. More episodes at www.instudio.live

I would also catch the New Pornographers to hear new stuff from their seventh album, Whiteout Conditions, including the completely catchy title track “High Ticket Attractions” and the incomparable Neko Case (who I’ve seen solo at Nelsonville) singling lead on "Play Money".  New Pornographers never fail to deliver songs with a satisfying hook that I instantly love.

Pre-order the new album 'Whiteout Conditions' & receive both "This Is The World Of The Theater" & "High Ticket Attractions" instantly.

The New Pornographers perform songs from their latest LP, Whiteout Conditions. SUBSCRIBE for new CBC MUSIC videos: http://bit.ly/cbcmusicYT Check out CBC Music: http://www.cbcmusic.ca Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CBCMusic Twitter: https://twitter.com/cbcmusic

Next up is Real Estate.  I’d catch this act in the afternoon performing poolside and just chill for a while to  “Darling” and “Stained Glass” from 2017’s In Mind.

"Darling" from Real Estate's album, In Mind, out now on Domino.

To rev up back up for a full night of acts, I’d head to see Minneapolis band The 4onthefloor rock their way in 4/4 time (while each play a bass drum) through “Lionhearted,” “Workin’ Man Zombie” and “Fancy.”

This is the music video for the song "Lionhearted" by the 4onthefloor.

This a video for the song Workin' Man Zombie (WMZ) from the album 4x4 from the Minneapolis band, the 4onthefloor ( http://www.4otf.com ) . The song can be purchased on iTunes, Amazon, or on their EP 4 songs at a show near you.

Provided to YouTube by TuneCore Fancy · The 4onthefloor All In ℗ 2015 Double Asterisk Group Released on: 2015-05-26 Auto-generated by YouTube.

Even though I have tickets to see them at the Newport in May, I’d have to catch Austin’s own Spoon for the release of their latest album, Hot Thoughts.

Setlist sans question marks as Britt intended (seriously, the dude hates question marks).


Then off to see indie rocker Hello Nico from Taiwan who is so good it does not matter that I don’t understand a single word.

〈面向自己 (feat.

〈看不見？〉（the melting sweet land） 導演：陳奕亘 製片：劉玠佑 製片助理：小易 攝影：龐龐 攝助：Jungle 造型妝髮：邱紫瑄 演員：黃浩銘／彭毓 剪接／TC：陳奕亘 監製：奧利佛 作曲：詹宇庭／李詠恩 作詞：詹宇庭 編曲：Hello Nico 製作人：Hello Nico 錄音工程師：黃文萱／李詠恩／單為明 錄音助理：蔡周翰 錄音室：荒原錄音室／Lights Up Studio 混音工程師：黃文萱@Wooji Studio 母帶後期工程師：Metropolis Mastering 活動聯絡：bmmptw@gmail.com 官方網站：https://www.facebook.com/HelloNico.tw 歌詞： 這裡破了一個無底的洞 就著你身邊依然陷落 你還是看不見嗎? 是否輕浮減輕了沈重 面對以後的 太遙遠太不切實際了 還輪不到我 然後又繼續低著頭 面對生命無常的 平平安安或是淪落 沒有差別了 每個都守住自己的窩 堆積什麼我有你沒有 你還是不明白嗎?

And, just for kicks and out of pure curiosity, I’d have to check out at least one of the international sensations like Red Velvet, here performing their chart-topping single “Russian Roulette.”

South Korean act Red Velvet performs their chart-topping single "Russian Roulette" at the K-Pop Night Out showcase at SXSW 2017. This 360 video was created with our production partner 900lbs of Creative. YouTube is 900lbsofcreative.

 

Now it’s the early morning hours of my virtual SXSW experience. NPR’s All Songs Considered team always asks selected artists to close out the night in a quiet space with a “South X Lullaby.”

Last year, my favorite South X Lullaby was 16 year-old Deckan McKenna’s Brazil.  One year later, it’s like this song has been around forever, but I had never heard it then and it betwitched me and I could not stop playing it over and over and over….  Not only did I love the song, but I loved the kid, from his first “Cool” to his last “Was it good…Is that a wrap or…?”  

Click NPR All Songs Considered "South X Lullaby"

To close out this TV Party Tonight! Virtual SXSW, I’d have to choose a South X Lullaby 2017: but I’m torn between the densely beautiful lyrics of Phoebe Bridgers’ “Smoke Signals” and the bizarre but completely mesmerizing “Deep Six Textbook” by Let’s Eat Grandma.  Maybe you have a different favorite because all nine lullabies are included.

Click here to check it out.    

 

Anne Marie hopes to attend SXSW one day. Until then it will be a yearly TV Party event. 

Getting Crafty on Pencilstorm - by JCE

I am not really a crafty person (but I do like craft beers, if that counts). I’m not an artist by any means.  Even if I was, I have a high stress job, a beautiful family and I love rock n roll, sports, skateboards, and - did I mention - beer?  Who has time for arts & crafts?  Apparently, I do.
One day while delivering my trash to our local solid waste transfer station, otherwise known as the dump, I hurled a bag into the dumpster and noticed two well-used but perfectly good skateboards amongst all that trash.  I pulled them out and tossed in them in my Jeep for no particular reason, other than I like skateboards.  A few months later I ended up making some shelves out of them for a room in my basement where I keep my collection of about 100 vintage skateboards. I mentioned this skateboard shelf project to the guy that operates the solid waste transfer station and he agreed to ask his staff to start saving all of the discarded skateboards that end up there.  So now, I had achieved a supply line of skateboards to recycle.  I came up with the idea of combining two things I love - skateboards and beer - in order to start making….Birdhouses.  Yep, you read that right.  I’m making birdhouses out of old skateboards and craft beer bottle caps.  The supply line of skateboards is hit  miss, but the beer caps I have completely covered, no problem.  I build these in my basement with music blasting, so I’m really working with three things I love.

I built the first one in a pretty plain style, I left it really rustic with the old skateboard graphics and then shingled the roof with beer caps.  It turned out like this:
 

THE ORIGINAL

The second one was supposed to look less like a house and more like a shed.  During the construction process I took a beer break and discovered a brand new, fully-sealed beer bottle in my six pack that was totally empty!  It was a terrible tragedy, but I took it as a sign and decided to incorporate it into my birdhouse as a smokestack.  The front entrance got some spray paint as well.  Here’s birdhouse number two:
 

THE SMOKESTACK


My third birdhouse was inspired by the idea of a beach shack, or a tiki hut.  It turned out like this:

THE BEACH SHACK
  

Given that I now had three different models, I built two more as gifts, one as a Christmas present for my father-in-law (the man has everything, but he didn’t have a handmade recycled skateboard-beer cap birdhouse!) and another one as a birthday present for my brother-in-law’s girlfriend.  I’m thinking these are getting a little better as I go…  and there’s more and more spray paint involved.

FATHER-IN-LAW CHRISTMAS

BIRTHDAY PRESENT

So at this point, I think I’m developing a hobby.  I don’t think I’m doing too badly for a guy who has a 1970’s era jigsaw, some sand paper, a rechargeable drill, a hammer, a screwdriver and not much else to work with.  I don’t have a table saw or anything to cut any fancy angles.  The latest effort was made especially for my daughter at her request.  She’s a rocker, so I tried to give it some heavy metal flare with a flaming roof design.  It looks like this:

HEAVY METAL

Thanks for reading my Arts and Crafts Edition of Pencilstorm.  If you like these things, let me know, but don’t ask me for one, because it takes me so long just to pound out one of these, I’d have to charge at least $100 each just to earn a few bucks an hour.  -  JCE
 

Juliana Hatfield and Paul Westerberg are The I Don't Cares - by Colin Gawel

Juliana Hatfield is playing Ace of Cups Columbus, OH Sunday April Sunday April 30th at 6:30 pm. 

I don't know much about Juliana Hatfield except this:

1) Every woman I have ever dated (4) cranks up the song "My Sister" at some point after too many drinks. 

2) Everybody references how she was once the lead singer in the Blake Babies and that is very cool. 

3) Nobody has seen the Blake Babies or heard any of their music. 

Yet still, for no solid reason I've always had Hatfield filed under: Cool beyond reproach. Though if you cornered me in a bar, I couldn't defend that position. I would likely just put a finger in your chest and scream "What's that one song... uh.... you know the one.. SPIN THE BOTTLE? People love that. and..uh....WHAT ABOUT THE BLAKE BABIES? What is ya, ignorant? HUH? HUH?" 

It took until the year 2016 for my head to catch up with my heart. That was the year Juliana and Paul Westerberg formed the I Don't Cares and released the amazing garage rock opus Wild Stab.  Not many things hipper than teaming up with Paul Westerberg for a super underground, double secret probation, so cool we hope nobody ever hears it slab of semi low fi rock. The promotion of this record makes Guided By Voices look like Michael Jackson History.  At least GBV keeps the same name. Wild Stab is basically a side project of the Westerberg side project grandpaboy. Yes, a side project twice removed.

Except it's not that far removed. It's basically a grandpaboy record where Paulie gives about 50% more a shit than usual and that makes it pretty damn amazing. I can only assume the presence of Juliana Hatfield helped push him over the finish line. Bottom line, two major talents joining forces for a common cause. Rock n roll.  Dig this!

Minneapolis, Feb 2016.

Now I know five things about Juliana Hatfield:

4) She is a member of The I Don't Cares and I love that band.

5) I need to quit being such a lazy bastard and spend some quality time checking out her new record Pussycat and back catalog. Maybe even the Blake Babies. 

Colin Gawel plays in the band Watershed and you can read about him in the book Hitless Wonder. He was rushing to finish this story before Juliana's show at Ace of Cups. Just pretend Guided By Voices wrote the story. The flaws and laziness make it awesome. He also needs to wrap it up and finish mopping Colin's Coffee. 

"Dale" Westerberg gives a lesson on songwriting. ------ SUBSCRIBE to Pitchfork.tv: http://bit.ly/yK2Fbp ------ FOLLOW Pitchfork.tv on Twitter: http://bit.ly/KJ2PhP ------ For more videos from Pitchfork TV: http://bit.ly/M1lvs8 Like Pitchfork on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pitchforkmedia Check out Pitchfork on Tumblr: http://pitchfork.tumblr.com/ The I Don't Cares - "Whole Lotta Nothin'" (Official Music Video)