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Underground > Radio & Music >

Artists who are in Bands who are in Bands

07:34 / 25.07.01

These days it's difficult to tie one artist to one specific Band, sometimes they split and go on to other things sometimes they seem to be in several bands all at once.

Do you think all this collaboration and moving around is great?

Do some artists seem to have some golden touch, adding some brilliance to perhaps weak songs etc..

I think it's great.

... take Mark Lanegan for instance Solo Career, Mad Season, Screaming Trees and now Queens of the Stone Age... every single one fantastic...

Tanya Donnelly, Throwing Muses, Breeders, Belly, Solo.... once again all fantastic stuff

Bob Mould: Husker Du, Solo stuff, Sugar
(Not too keen on the Solo stuff at all, and Sugar was just sheer Brilliance)

I'll mention Pearl Jam but I've lost track of all their side projects...

And some just fail to achieve anything of note after their respective bands.... anyone heard anything by Nigel from Dodgy? They've got a new album out soon (apparently their new singer sounds like Rod Stewart!!!)

Fengs for the Memory

13:37 / 25.07.01

I was with you all the way there - well maybe not to sure about tanya donnelly.
Bob Mould solo better than Sugar surely.
And then we get to Dodgy and really that just upset me.ARSE

Regrettable Juvenilia

14:26 / 25.07.01

quote:Originally posted by Opalfruit:
Do you think all this collaboration and moving around is great?

Do some artists seem to have some golden touch, adding some brilliance to perhaps weak songs etc..

I think it's great.

So do I. It happens continously in hip-hop, which in the case of some artists can weaken their overall output if they get just too prolific, but often leads instead to brilliant and surprising collaborations.

As for artists who have lots of different bands: Luke Haines is the UK's finest example, I think. The Auteurs, Baader-Meinhof, Black Box Recorder and now his solo stuff, knocking out album after album of cooly murderous snipes at British culture and society, with hummable choruses.

The Americans have Stephen Merritt: Magentic Fields, Future Bible Heroes, some other stuff...

I think both those guys are just so talented that they come up with a great song every other day, and need these various ways or releasing the music to keep themselves interested.

19:53 / 25.07.01

quote: So do I. It happens continously in hip-hop, which in the case of some artists can weaken their overall output if they get just too prolific, but often leads instead to brilliant and surprising collaborations.

Hip hop is an interesting example of collaboration, because it really throws the pros and cons of the practise into sharp definition. On the one hand, you’ve got works of utter genius (Company Flow’s remix of Mike Ladd’s “Bladerunners;” Ursula Rucker’s amazing contributions to the Roots’ last few albums; Ol’ Dirt and the Neptunes, etc). On the other hand, you’ve got a legacy of albums with no coherence, sounding too much like compilations with every artist having a song on everyone else’s album. My favourite hip hop records usually maintain the same producer for at least ninety percent of the duration.

The problem with a lot of collaborations is that the artists beam in and out of each others lives, working the session into their busy schedules, and often not even meeting in person. It’s not always possible to really connect and find common or complimentary artistic ground in that amount of time. The best stuff comes from artists who are naturally on similar wavelengths, or who have a bit of time to get under each other’s skin.

06:37 / 26.07.01

quote:Originally posted by The Flyboy:
As for artists who have lots of different bands: Luke Haines is the UK's finest example, I think. The Auteurs, Baader-Meinhof, Black Box Recorder and now his solo stuff, knocking out album after album of cooly murderous snipes at British culture and society, with hummable choruses.

I got to see Black Box Recorder last year. Absolutely brilliant. The support band was called 'The Servant' and they were good too, Dan Black, the singer I believe used to be in Minty and I think he's collaborated on a recent single... something Sun.. argh can't remember.

Keep meaning to get the albums. I haven't heard any Baader-Meinhoff yet....

I'm not a huge fan of Hip-Hop, the only rap artists I have are Cypruss Hill, Disposable Heroes, Run DMC, Arrested Development...just mainstream stuff, but I bought last weeks Kerrang! (There was a CD on the cover.. and I fall for that kind of cheap marketing ploy every time) and there was some Hip-Hop metal collaborations going on... can't remember off the top of my head...it's 9.30 am... I haven't had a cup of tea Yet!

Must go embark upon a hot water, Tea, milk and sugar project..... oooh, biscuits..

Actually I was looking for this record called that goes "Mr Bob Dobs, Mr Bob Dobellina" that caught my attention a few years ago, anyone know who it was by....

The Return Of Rothkoid

07:54 / 26.07.01

quote:Originally posted by Opalfruit:
I got to see Black Box Recorder last year. Absolutely brilliant. The support band was called 'The Servant' and they were good too, Dan Black, the singer I believe used to be in Minty and I think he's collaborated on a recent single... something Sun.. argh can't remember.
Was this at the Union Chapel? I was at that gig. I don't know - I'd come from Australia and was pretty fond of the album - something didn't quite make the transition properly, I think. The previous gig of theirs I'd seen - I think it was when they were in support of Smog, with Paradise Motel) was probably more cohesive than that one. But then, I haven't got the last album, and haven't felt like I'm missing much by not having it. As Regurgitator would undoubtedly say, I like their old stuff better than their new stuff.

Also, that "Bob Dobelina" is called "Misterdobalina", and is by Del The Funkee Homosapien (as he was then calling himself.) It's from the album I Wish My Brother George Was Here. Amazon.co.uk have it on import for £13.

I think the quality of the collaboration in a rock sense depends on how it's approached. I tend to prefer it to be listening to an album, and being surprised by a particular artist showing up on it, you know? Like Warren Ellis' work - it's on a range of albums, but tends to add a certain something to it. And it's discernable. Otherwise, I think it can be a "look! we've got X playing on our album!" kind of thing. Which, while it could be brilliant, could also be shit - depending on the magnitude of the star, it could skew attention away from the originators. Case in point: Tin Hat Trio's last album (I think) had a vocal line from Tom Waits on a song. And it became known as another Tom Waits album, not a THT album. Which is kinda chafing, I'd imagine, to the people who actually wrote the songs...

10:04 / 26.07.01

quote:Originally posted by Rothkoid:

Was this at the Union Chapel? I was at that

No, Hop and Grape Manchester.

Also, that "Bob Dobelina" is called "Misterdobalina", and is by Del The Funkee Homosapien (as he was then calling himself.) It's from the album I Wish My Brother George Was Here. Amazon.co.uk have it on import for £13.

Ah, I knew it was a comedy name of sorts, I'll have a look down Vinyl Exchange for that (cheap bastard that I am).

Thanks. It's been something that's buggin me for a while and when I get it into my head I can't get it out...