Jason Hall (Western Addiction)
1. What are your top five albums that were released in 2013? (In order 1-5)
- Camera Obscura – Desire Lines
- True Widow - Circumambulation
- Pixies – EP1
- Neko Case – The Worse Things Get…
- Queens of the Stone Age – …Like Clockwork
Honorable mentions: Motorhead – Aftershock, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts – Unvarnished, ToyGuitar – ToyGuitar, Alkaline Trio – My Shame is True, Surfer Blood – Pythons, Swingin’ Utters – Poorly Formed, The Bronx - IV
2. What band did you discover in 2013 (can be a brand new band or an older band) that had an impact on your life? What made them significant?
In terms of bands that are new to me, I think the new True Widow record is excellent. I think it’s rare when a record is good from start to finish. The album is so heavy (but not in a loud way), ominous, beautifully simple and intelligently restrained. It’s like a macabre landscape with a beat. So good! I tend to rediscover bands every year as well. Last year it was Sam Cooke, this year it’s the Pixies. I saw them on Fallon and it reminded me how good and interesting they are. I heard the song “Indie Cindy” and I could tell instantly how good the song is and how powerful the band is. I’ve seen a lot of singers who scream their heads off but no one can howl like Black Francis. It is a band from my youth that I share with my wife and therefore it’s special. So many good songs. I want you to listen to “Indie Cindy” and then try “Cactus” again. I also never stop listening to Camera Obscura. The singer’s voice is truly magic and she can replicate it live. I can honestly say I like almost every song they write. Little pop gems.
3. How will you remember 2013? (In terms of music)
I will remember it as the year our band started playing again but that is a selfish answer and somewhat shameful. I’ve also become re-fascinated with punk in a way as well. I never stop liking it but now that we are playing again, I get exposed to more bands and all the nuances that come with it. It’s the coolest, funniest, truest, contradictory, hypocritical, rule-driven, weirdest, powerful genre. I love metal and people think metal and black metal is heavy, and it is, sonically, but when people ask me the heaviest band of all time, I always say Black Flag. Eating dog food and putting up flyers in the hot sun or drinking black coffee and staring at a wall. Come on! I also went to Sun Records in Memphis this year and that felt special. Johnny Cash is my favorite singer of all time and we share a birthday.
4. What can we look forward to from you in 2014?
Hopefully, more songs. We wrote a duet and we just need to finish the vocals. We found a female singer to sing on the track. That should be weird. We want to go to Europe as well. We’ve been to Japan and that was pretty awesome.
5. What records are you looking forward to most in 2014?
The two that I know are coming out that I’m really looking forward to are the new Against Me! and OFF! records. I’m as excited as their exclamation points. Laura Jane Grace has a gift. Few songwriters and bands, for that matter, do. Stuart from Belle & Sebastian has it. Conor Oberst from Bright Eyes has it. The Beatles have it. It’s the ability to create this special feeling with a vocal melody. It gives you the shivers. I can identify this special moment and I think I “could” hit it from time to time but, sadly, ironically and tragically, I can’t sing and that is one of the requirements. It’s sad when the thing you love most, your body isn’t engineered to do it. I also hope that Morrissey, Black Breath, and Turbonegro make new records. Euroboy from Turbonegro is one of my favorite guitarists of all time. He’s the perfect mix of punk, rock, glam, etc. He’s highly, highly underrated.
6. There is a lot of debate over streaming sites and royalties, namely with Spotify. What is your stance on the economic policies behind the current streaming services? Do you have a preferred one?
I, of course, wish the bands could make more money per spin but I also don’t know the intricacies and economics of keeping a site like that afloat. For example, I keep hearing that Twitter, one of the most popular sites in the world has yet to earn one dime.
I prefer Spotify. I actually love it but it has changed my buying habits. For example, I now only buy records that I consider “good.” In the past I might have purchased a record based on 2-3 songs I heard and in hopes the rest are good. Now, if there are ONLY 2-3 good songs, I won’t buy it. The flip side, though, is that I check out more music and I end up buying records from bands I normally wouldn’t. I also feel like the best records get my dollars so there is some reward in writing a good record. I wish the Spotify interface and search capabilities were a bit more intuitive and I’m upset that they took away the “New” feature where they highlight new releases and replaced it with “Discover” which ends up telling me about bands I already know about. If I’m so heavily into music that I pay for the premium version of Spotify, chances are I don’t need an algorithm telling me that if I like The Clash then I should check out a band called the Sex Pistols. I also think the radio feature is underdeveloped and off. I would love to consult them and I could program it like nobody’s business. I still love the service though and I’m not complaining. So far, Pandora is the only service that does a decent job of guessing my tastes but, then again, they don’t play enough deep tracks. I love Black Sabbath but I’d rather hear “Fairies Wear Boots” once in a while versus four different versions of War Pigs. Ok, that’s more than anybody wants to know. Sorry.
Thanks so much for covering our band. I really appreciate it. Our new 7”, Pines, is out now.
