Sons Of Zöku - Sun Shines On Everyone

There is an ethereal mist surrounding Sons Of Zöku that completely sets them apart from their peers in psych pop/rock today. Could it be their Australian roots? The remoteness and the otherworldliness also found in bands like King Gizzard and Tame Impala? Who knows, and also who cares really; the important thing is that they are here, and that we can dive into their wonderful tranquil pool of soothing multi vocals, reverb, and fuzz.
Like other contemporary psychedelic indie colleagues Upupayama, Vampire Weekend or Wolf People, Sons Of Zöku have found a natural way to merge ancient folk vibes from all over the world into their mellow psych songs. From the pastoral flutes of the Irish fields to the Tuareg blues of the African desert, or the sitar song of India, Sons Of Zöku respectfully borrows, forges new connections, and morphs it into their own sound.
Another strong vibe that radiates from Endless is that it is more than just a piece of music, it presents itself as a portal or a shrine through which we might find more than just music. When they chant “meet me on the other side if you will” you feel the willingness to take their hands and transcend to a lighter state of being, leaving troubles behind, clearing the mind of clutter. Mindfulness in indie rock form, just the thing we needed in this hurried bustling world. Sounds vague? Nah, you just need to spin this album a few more times…it will come to you.

I reached out to the band and found Portuguese born Ricardo Da Silva (vocals/guitar) at the helm, willing to provide the answers to my questions. An image unfolds of a strong collective with a unified vision that will very probably take them across many seas and hopefully even to Europe. But let’s meet them first and get to know Sons Of Zöku:

Hi guys, how is Sons Of Zöku doing these days? What is the last thing you did that gave you an energy boost?

Pretty exciting to see our second album Endless getting ready to be released, looking at all the amazing art work on vinyls and things like that, it’s pretty exciting. Also getting invited to play gigs like supporting Minami Deutsch in Perth and in our hometown, things like that always give us an extra boost.

Can you introduce the band to the Weirdo Shrine?

Of course, Ric (me) on vocals, guitar and electric sitar, Ica on flute, keys, vocals and everything percussion, Jordan Buck on Bass and so much more behind the scenes, Hannah Yates on vocals, bongos, congas, electric guitar and keys, Oscar Ellery on electric guitar and sitar and Eddie Hannemann on drums.

What are your musical backgrounds?

I started playing guitar and singing with my friends in Portugal, they had a band and I used to come around and watch them play and thought was the greatest thing ever. Eventually they told me if you can learn a song then I would be in the band, I took it literally and started practicing, I still sucked but eventually they let me join because we were all best friends. When I moved to Australia that was always the idea, to create a musical family. With time and watching each other’s bands and projects the band started taking shape, first me and Ica, then Jordan, then Hannah, Oscar and Eddie. A few different members in between but I won’t bore you with that.     

Where are you based, what is the scene like, and how has it influenced your sound?

We are based in South Australia, Adelaide. The music scene is really diverse, lots of different styles and sounds. It’s a great place to live, has a bit of everything, ocean, hills, countryside, a bit of desert. 

What can you tell me about the new album and its path to enlightenment? How should we listen to it in regard to its message?

To us, Endless represents our path to enlightenment individually and as a band. We are all in our own journeys to find purpose which brings us closer to happiness I guess. This album sings a lot about that, songs like Earth Chant sing lines like ”air is all I got, my god is air” or “when here and now we eternally bound” talk about to truly live is to simple breathe and in the moment so cliché yet so hard to achieve, or a song like Hunters, “we strong enough never to drown at sea, just weak enough never to make it to shore” or “we walked and sailed for days at once to a place where all the clouds were gone, to find nothing we found everything still we try and try and try, but words got in our way” and “ many years gone by but we still try searching for something we can’t be sure”, the struggles of becoming a successful band, to find our shore. Yumi, “here we are all form enlightened, here we are the void in spite of” or simply “the arrow is your guru”, what you aim to do in life is your purpose, guides you. Kuhnoo, ”will we ever bloom to bear our own weight”, Nu Poéme, “say what you feel say what you want for once”… so many examples I could give you but at the end of the day we would like to believe that music transcends all that, and that the listener will find their own meaning out of it.

Endless is your second album, what difference in approach did you guys take when creating it?

Sun was more of a collection of songs over the years as a band, Endless is more a representation of the band at a specific moment in time, a time where we are ever-changing in our personal lives and musically. It was a more calculated effort to say what we feel and less stream of consciousness type of writing.

What can you tell me about the non-music influences that inspired you to make the album?

We truly believe art is life and living, getting ideas in terms of music and sound from other artists is a big part of music, but to turn it into art and something meaningful to us, life and how we feel is the most important thing to us. We have lived, and we are living, that is the biggest catalyst in our songwriting.

Who are some artists that you really hold dear at the moment?

Mdou Moctar, Les Filles de Illighadad, The Perks of being a wallflower soundtrack, North Americans “Going Steady” album, Air, Vashti Bunyan, also I swear I have on repeat Raly Barrionuevo “De Alberdi” song and Nicholas Britell “Little’s Theme” from Moonlight motion picture soundtrack.

What does the future look like for Sons Of Zöku? And when can we expect a European tour?

Right now the plan is to release Endless into the world and then to see how our European fans receive it, but we definitely have them in our sights and we can’t wait to meet them all soon.

What should the Weirdo Shrine reader do immediately after reading this interview?

Follow Sons of Zöku on Spotify then put your headphones, ear pods or whatever, press play on any of our songs and go do something, bike ride, the dishes, cooking, jog, lay down, meditate, whatever, just let us be the soundtrack to whatever is happening in your life. If you like it, privately share it with a friend or loved one, that’s what’s all about.

From: https://weirdoshrine.wordpress.com/2024/01/25/review-qa-sons-of-zoku-endless-2023-copperfeast-records/

Jefferson Airplane - Two Heads

Want two heads on your body
And you've got two mirrors in your hand
Priests are made of brick with gold crosses on a stick
And your nose is too small for this land
Inside your head is your town
Inside your room your jail
Inside your mouth the elephant's trunk and booze
The only key to your bail

Two heads can be put together
And you can fill both your feet with sand
No one will know you've gutted your mind
But what will you do with your bloody hands?
Your lions are fighting with chairs
Your arms are incredibly fat
Your women are tired of dying alive
If you've had any women at that

Wearing your comb like an ax in your head
And listening for signs of life
Children are sucking on stone and lead
And chasing their hoops with a knife
New breasts and jewels for the girl
Keep them polished and shining
Put a lock on her belly at night, sweet life
For no child of mine
Want two heads on your body
And you've got two mirrors in your hand

Jefferson Airplane finally finished their third LP Halloween week after two months of off-and-on recording in Los Angeles. It’s called After Bathing at Baxter’s, has a fold-out cover designed by cartoonist Ron Cobb, and, says lead singer Marty Balin, is "a whole new and different thing for the group." Recorded while the San Franscisco band lived in luxury at a Beverly Hills mansion that the Beatles rented on one American tour, the album’s very tentative release date is November 15.
As of November 1st, seven tracks, besides ‘Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil’ and ‘Two Heads’ previously released as a single, were finished. Three are Paul Kantner compositions: ‘Watch Her Ride,’ ‘Martha,’ and ‘Wild Time.’ The other members, except for Jack Casady, have contributed one track each. Grace Slick’s song is ‘Rejoyce,’ originally called ‘Ulysses,’ whose lyric is snatches of James Joyce’s novel. An oboe plays behind her voice. "It’s too powerful for Top 40," says Balin, "it has the line, ‘I’d rather my country died for me,’ and there’s a character in it named ‘Blazes Crotch’." Spence Dryden did his cut, ‘A Package of Value,’ all by himself, putting three drum tracks, a marimba track, and one on harpsichord into a ‘song sandwich’ that is the joke of the album. Jorma Kaukonen’s number, ‘Last Wall of the Castle,’ is ‘a mind-blower,’ according to the Airplane’s personal manager, Bill Thompson. ‘Young Girl Sunday Blues,’ Balin’s contribution, is over five minutes long, the album’s longest cut.
Answering criticism that the album is way behind schedule, Balin said the group had never set a date for the album’s completion. "We’ve just done it when we could." As the Airplane left the Fillmore a week ago Sunday for their last planned session in RCA’s Los Angeles studios (the same ones used by the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead), they had no idea of what songs would complete After Bathing. "We have a few more done," Balin said, "but we don’t like them. There’ll probably be two more and they’ll be things we come up with right at the last minute. We always do that. "Man, we’re the worst people ever in a recording studio. We create our music in the ballrooms. Compared to them a recording studio is so sterile, like a hospital, that it takes us three weeks just to get used to walking through the door." This time, with complete artistic control and without the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia as ‘spiritual and musical advisor,’ the Airplane has been on its own. "No one helps us," said Balin, "I think everyone there is afraid of us. We try crazy things and no one tells us they can’t be done. Our producer is like a school teacher with a real creative class, letting the kids do what they want and just making sure they don’t smash all the erasers."
Bill Thompson says the album cover is as strange as the sounds inside. Cobb’s cartoon is a monster airplane which carries, in tiny detail, symbols of plastic American culture; beer cans, billboards, ticky-tack houses and buildings, some of which are recognizable San Francisco landmarks. The plane trails a banner inscribed with the album’s title, a name suggested by an "underground-underground group called the Night Owls," says Balin. It refers to no known place or event. Inside the fold are six pictures of the Airplane taken by photographer Allan Frappe. Thompson says they are indescribably far out, with strange color and form distortions. Balin is so impressed that he would like to do a whole book with Frappe’s photographs. If hard times in the studio have held up the works, la dolce vita back at the mansion hasn’t helped any either. The mansion, with a giant pool, sauna bath, rifle range, electronically-controlled gate, and a Japanese houseboy (all for $5,000 a month), has been "a giant toy," says Balin for the group who haven’t always had it so good. "Every night something was happening," Balin said with a fond smile. "There were parties, strange parties, and then weird parties. We just sat there and watched the world go by right inside that house."  From: https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/jefferson-airplane-after-bathing-at-baxters

Ritual - Sadly Unspoken

Ritual is a relatively new Swedish band with a very unique sound, using acoustic instruments like violin, mandolina, bouzouki, etc.. Melodic complex rhythms reminds of early Yes but with a personal and innovative touch. An excellent folk-prog production with skilled musicians.

Finally the new Ritual album has arrived. Ritual released their debut album, simply called "Ritual", in 1995. Looking back it's quite clear that their debut album was one of the best debut albums in the 90's, so it was with great excitement I started listening to their follow-up "Superb Birth". Although their music has changed a bit since the debut you can still hear the typical Ritual sound and compositions with great musicianship. Their music is a mixture between Anekdoten, The Flower Kings, Folk music, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin and Rush. The tracks are the opening "Dinosaur Spaceship", the folky acoustic "Golden Angel", "Coming Home", "Really Something", "Lobby", the oriental "6/8" with cello, violin and viola, "Into The Heat", the Led Zeppelinish "Sadly Unspoken", the single "Did I Go Wrong", the Led Zeppelinish "Mothersong", "A Voice Of Divinity" with only a grand piano and great vocals from Patrik Lundström and the closing "Do You Want To See The Sun". Ritual have managed to record an album that almost equals their debut album, and they have had a great impact on the progressive rock of the 90's. I certainly hope that they will take their music into the new millennium so that we can have many Ritual albums in the future. Highly recommended and a superb album!

From: https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=1174

Nuha Ruby Ra - Rise

A certain degree of gracious humility might be de rigueur for a rising artist talking about their increasing successes, but when Nuha Ruby Ra says that the last twelve months have exceeded her wildest expectations, you can tell she’s not just playing for compliments. Influenced by Nick Cave’s discordant first band The Birthday Party and German experimentalists Einstürzende Neubauten, the London artist makes hypnotic, uncomfortable, hyper-sensory music that’s about as far away from an easily-quantifiable Spotify playlist category as you can get; on stage, she prowls the space performing to a live-recorded backing track, dressed in leather with a painted N slashed where a third eye might sit. An obvious choice for a mainstream audience, Nuha most certainly is not, and yet in recent months, she’s found herself on a steady stream of high-profile tours, handpicked to support the likes of Yard Act, Viagra Boys, Warmduscher and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. This month, she’ll step it up another notch, joining Self Esteem on her sold-out victory lap.
“I really would not have expected in my wildest dreams that people would connect with the music I’m doing on the current scale of things. It’s already exceeded all expectations. I thought if I was lucky I’d be some niche small, small thing, but it’s given me some genuine hope and belief in people seeing things outside of the norm,” she begins, sat next to a rail of outfit choices that include a vast array of red and black cowboy boots and coats, alongside a black bunny mask procured from a Hamburg sex shop. “Something I get from people at shows is, ‘I’ve never seen, heard or experienced anything like this before but it’s inspired me’. I think it’s a new thing for a lot of people but they seem to be into it. I think what helps is that I’m really not putting anything on. I’m very honest when I’m performing and maybe that travels through somehow. It never comes from a place of antagonism.”
Though, on a surface level, the music Nuha makes exists in an uneasy space that refutes ideas of what should be palatable - both musically and lyrically - she baulks at the notion that any part of what she does would be seen as playing a character. Instead, music is a space to let all the shadow parts come to the light, leaning into the angry, sad, sexual sides of herself and pushing them to the fore. “I’ve found a place where I can let out these parts of me and these ways of being. It’s not a persona, it’s kind of the most real me there is,” she says. “When I was younger I was exposed to pop music and bands where everything was quite ‘correct’ in terms of song structures, and people singing ‘well’ in inverted commas. Then when I came across bands [like Neubaten] I just felt like it was giving across a feeling that wasn’t about perfection, and feeling over perfection remains the most important thing to me.
“I’m lucky enough to be able to write songs and go out and perform them, and that helps shed a lot of trapped emotions,” she continues. “I scream on stage in some of the songs and those screams are a fucking godsend. There are so many times when you need to be a bit primal in life but you can’t go and scream in the street or people think you’re crazy. Recently in ‘Run Run’ I’ve started saying to the audience, ‘This is your space to scream if you want to scream’ and some of the shows people have really let rip! It’s like a little help group.”
This month, the group will receive a new text in the form of ‘Machine Like Me’ - six strangely mesmerising, sometimes jarring yet consistently playful tracks unlike anything else around, that push Nuha’s self-sufficient polymath ethos even further. Having pivoted from her punk band roots to perform with nothing on stage aside from a backing track and herself (“I found myself performing in a really different way because the connection is just between me and the people at the gig”), and having directed her own recent videos on top of designing and making her own DIY merch, now Nuha is playing almost every instrument on the record herself too.
“It’s just this massively narcissistic thing where I do everything myself!” she cackles. “No, but with every record it’s just what I feel like doing at the time. On the first EP I wanted to have the role of the singer because I’d never had that before, and then with the new one I wanted to be like, could I basically create what sounds like there’s a good band here but I’m playing everything? It’s all just play to be honest, and seeing what might be fun. So for the one after that, I really don’t know. I just tend to see what I want to do at the time and where that takes me.”  From: https://diymag.com/interview/nuha-ruby-ra-march-2023-interview

Fairport Convention - Sloth

Full House marked the consolidation of Fairport’s transition from West Coast-styled, hallucinogenics-influenced outfit - a British Jefferson Airplane, perhaps – to purveyors of rocked-up, electrified British traditional folk; a courageous move tentatively started with the inclusion of A Sailor’s Life on Unhalfbricking and triumphantly completed on Liege And Lief, perhaps the most influential and important UK rock album to appear since Sergeant Pepper. But Fairport had then lost arguably its two most important contributors, founder and direction-setter Ashley Hutchings and crystal-voiced frontwoman Sandy Denny. New bassist Dave Pegg proved a valuable acquisition with his rocky style, but the other members had to close ranks and take on the vocal chores themselves. They did so, with an initial naivete that retrospectively evinces considerable charm, Richard Thompson and Dave Swarbrick proving to have distinctively different rural vocal deliveries and Simon Nicol reluctantly airing a melodious tenor that would eventually see him become the band’s leading voice.
The other element that newly marks Full House out is the humour and looseness which its illustrious predecessor lacked. With talented but earnest female vocalist Denny no longer having to be accommodated and adulated, the boys were free to have some fun, and it comes across in these grooves, notwithstanding the doomy themes of some of the lyrics: songs about sexual exploitation, sin and death can be funky, as Doctor Of Physick, Sloth and Sir Patrick Spens show. I recall seeing this line-up play the Bath Festival Of Blues And Progressive Music at Shepton Mallet in 1970, and the high jinks on stage would not have been on display a year earlier.
Walk Awhile is a wonderfully swinging opener, with all three lead vocalists taking turns at the verses and fine, fiery harmony and octave work between Thompson’s guitar and Swarbrick’s violin. Sloth is an ominous, downbeat death march that builds to an almost unbearable tension in the lengthy instrumental break as Thompson’s edgy Strat and Swarb’s compressed, wailing fiddle duke it out in opposite stereo channels: perhaps the best instrumental work the band ever produced. The two cheerful jig medleys offer a variety of familiar and little-known traditional tunes, forefronting Swarb’s and Peggy’s dueling mandolins on Flatback Caper and all four string players on Dirty Linen. Spens is a gloriously disrespectful, steady-rollin’ take on that revered Scottish traditional ditty, while Nicol’s amplified dulcimer provides the backbone for that country’s mournful anthem for the dead, Flowers Of The Forest. The Island CD re-release offers a number of bonus tracks, including the unnecessarily lugubrious Poor Will & The Jolly Hangman that had been removed (probably wisely) from the original pressing at the last moment at the insistence of its writer, Thompson, and the brief but excellent non-album single Now Be Thankful, one of the band’s evergreens.
Full House is arguably Fairport’s last really great album, its release being followed by the departure of Thompson for a solo career and his replacement by Jerry Donohue, whose elegant Nashville style prefaced a gentle slide in the direction of country rock. Henceforth Swarbrick would take over the band’s direction as the quality gradually declined until his own departure, when Nicol as the last-standing original member would take the reins. After countless further line-up changes and albums the band remains extant and much-loved to this day, with its annual outdoor reunion at Cropredy in Oxfordshire attracting swarms of the faithful.  From: https://therisingstorm.net/fairport-convention-full-house/

The Dresden Dolls - Live at The Roundhouse, London 2006

The Dresden Dolls - Live at The Roundhouse, London  2006 - Part 1

The Dresden Dolls - Live at The Roundhouse, London  2006 - Part 2

The Dresden Dolls - Live at The Roundhouse, London  2006 - Part 3

The Roundhouse in London was one of the most happening places to be in the 60’s & 70’s as they hosted many well known acts such as the Who, the Stones, Bowie, Hendrix, Pink Floyd, the Doors, Kraftwerk, & the Ramones as well as all forms of nude performance art & avant theater. The Roundhouse closed its doors in the 80’s but reopened in 2006.On November 3rd & 4th of 2006 the Dresden Dolls brought their “Punk Cabaret” show to the Roundhouse & recorded both nights for this DVD release.
The DVD is theatrical, amazing, and intense from the introduction by comedian Margaret Cho all the way through the closing song “Delilah” which lead singer/keyboardist Amanda Palmer sings an amazing & strange duet with new wave icon Lene Lovich. The Dresden Dolls are a duo featuring Amanda Palmer & one of the hardest hitting drummers I’ve ever seen, Brian Viglione. The opening number “Sex Changes” grabs the viewer immediately as Palmer(wearing whiteface, a faded old black “Who” t-shirt, a garter belt with black & white striped stockings & combat boots has the fans singing along shouting ”They always said that sex would change you! ”.The duo launches into “Gravity” from their s/t album and 3 girls appear on the stage. One girl is dressed in black & white stripes, climbs a curtain hanging from the center of the stage & performs some upside down acrobatics while the 2 other girls who are dressed in garters and stockings dance to the demonic rhythm of the song. I could probably write a 4 page review on the performance because there is so much going on during the show but I’ll just stick to the highlights which includes an incredible performance of “Backstabber” from their ‘Yes,Virginia’ CD. ”Coin Operated Boy” has the whole audience singing along with Palmer as she sings about her plastic fantasy. ”Mandy Goes to Med School” features 2 females dressed as pregnant schoolgirls skipping out to the front of the stage and hitting each other in the stomach with hammers. The 2 girls then hold hands and kneel in front of the duo and watch Palmer & Viglione present an intense musical exchange of drums and keyboards. The Dolls launch right into a fast paced punk tune titled “Lonesome Organist Rapes Page Turner”. The tempo is brought down as they perform “Slide” which features a few music box dancers in the center of the crowd. The stage filled with all the performers dressed in various styles and costumes as well as a few girls dressed in bondage while tied to chairs as the band performed “The Jeep Song”. The crowd all waved Sparklers in the air as the group performed their 2006 single “Sing” before leaving the stage for the first time. For the encore Brian came out with his acoustic guitar as Amanda danced around and sang “Mein Herr” from the musical ‘Cabaret’ & ended the song by crowd surfing. Australian under ground band, the Red Paintings’ singer Trash McSweeny performed a duet of “Mad World” and the set ends with the Dresden Dolls revved up psychotic single “Girl Anachronism”.
Bonus features documentary & 2 extra songs: The first is “Missed Me” which probably could’ve fit in nicely on Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’. ”Missed Me” is another duet with Palmer singing with Edward Ka Spel (lead singer of the Pink Dots) which is followed by “Delilah” featuring Lene Lovich. Overall this is an entertaining and intense performance with something going on all the time. Palmer says in the liner notes that for every performer you see on the DVD there are a dozen more that don’t make it onto the camera.  From: https://www.classicrockforums.com/threads/dresden-dolls-live-at-the-roundhouse.6663/

The Grip Weeds - The Inner Light (Beatles/George Harrison cover)

The Grip Weeds are a powerhouse pop-psyche band extraordinaire who write insanely gripping melodic nuggets- a gorgeous alchemy of the 60’s and 70’s brought into the 21st century, with ripping guitars, powerful drumming, and golden harmonies. The Powerpopaholic interviewed both lead guitar Kristin Pinell and band leader, Kurt Reil.

Kristin – What made you first want to pick up a guitar and start playing? How did you end up hooking up with Michael Mazzarella and The Rooks prior to joining the Grip Weeds?


KP: I was a music fan since I can remember (about three years old). I had older brothers and sisters who were always playing music. I would sneak into their rooms after school and play their Beatles, Monkees and Byrds records over and over for hours. At twelve, I picked up a friend’s guitar and started to figure out how to play stuff, pulling parts off records and going to shows.  I really got into Jimmy Page- He had a great sense of melody mixed in with this power and raw energy- It made an impression on me as a shy teenager. Years later I met Michael from the Rooks when we both were gigging around Hartford, CT. We would do shows together and hang out. He turned me on to a lot of cool music back then.  I loved the songs he was writing and figured we should form a band. At some point later on we both found ourselves living in NYC and I think originally he had asked some of The Grip Weeds to back him up on a few recordings. I wasn’t in The Grip Weeds yet…but it was all one big scene back then and one thing led to another.

Kurt – Did you play in any other bands prior to The Grip Weeds? How 
did it all begin for you and Rick in Jersey?


KR: Any bands we were in before The Grip Weeds really don’t matter, because none of them  were any good or worth writing about! My Brother Rick and I started playing together as kids, once Rick put the drums down and picked up the guitar, as we were both drummers up to that point. The Grip Weeds formed gradually from there as we searched for our sound. When Rick and I started the group, we were at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, and just wanted to play cool obscure sixties covers from The Who and The Hollies. Eventually, we started writing our own songs and slipped them one by one into our live shows, hoping they would work alongside these great old songs. Our songwriting improved to the point where we wound up with a totally original live set, which we then recorded- that eventually started a whole other career of music production! 

Kurt – How did the relationship with Kristin get started and how 
has it grown over the years?


KR:  We met through playing in the New York City Pop Scene of the nineties- actually, it was at a Smithereens show! I was a young drummer and she was a beautiful guitarist who I thought was way out of my league! But we hit it off in the best way and eventually she joined The Grip Weeds and we got married. We have a dual musical and real-life relationship; sometimes, we’ll be fighting in the studio and go upstairs for dinner and be getting along great! To me, it’s important to maintain that division so that we can have our personal life outside the band and studio, which tends to take over everything.

Kristin – Have you experienced any big challenges in being a female 
lead guitarist for the band?


KP: I wish I had more female role models. I didn’t realize I was such a misfit. I always tried to find other female musicians to form a band with but it was difficult to find the level of dedication and musicianship there.  I did have an all female group for several years when I lived in Boston. We were very driven and I really got my chops playing with them.The biggest challenge is that it’s very physically demanding playing shows and touring. It’s a constant struggle to keep myself healthy and balanced. It ain’t easy. Most women at my age are doing other very important things like raising children and keeping families running.  I have very few female musician friends who go through what I go through.

Kurt – Now that the re-issue of House of Vibes is done, Any plans 
for new material?


KR: We started a new album last year, and were originally going to work on both, but the reissue was difficult to put together and took a lot of time and effort, so we had to stop work on the new one. If we didn’t, House of Vibes Revisited wouldn’t have come out for another year! Also, we’re recording additional tracks for an upcoming "best of" compilation on Little Steven’s label Wicked Cool, and we recently recorded and videotaped a "live in the studio" performance, which will see the light soon as well. Once all this is done, and we’ve adequately promoted HOVRE, we’ll get back to our new stuff. Rick and I are still writing new songs all the time- I have written several this year that we’ll want to record. For once, we have much more material than we can release! But I am very excited- I think this next one will be our best album ever.

Both of you – Is touring in support of House of Vibes still fun? Or 
is it a pain in the butt and you can’t wait to get in the studio?


KP: This summer we played some festivals but right now we are focusing on building the band through our web presence, press and radio. We always love playing live shows but we definitely have a great recording situation right in our house.  Recently Little Steven and his label have taken us under their wing and that may open up the doors to more live work.  Our goal is to get our music out to the most people we can and doing a lot of shows without the right promotion and support doesn’t help us.  Most of our last shows were put on with the help of our record label, Rainbow Quartz.

KR: I love to play and miss it terribly when we’re not, and even though touring is hard I enjoy it. But that said I’m very into getting back into the studio to continue working on our next album, which was started last year and interrupted. We’ll probably do some local shows and then get back to work in the studio this Winter.

Kurt – Any regrets not being on a major label? Or do you feel that 
the smaller labels work harder for you as band?


KR: No- The reality is that major labels don’t nurture artists anymore. If you don’t produce sales right away, you’re out. And now major labels are seen as dinosaurs, as they haven’t yet figured out how to survive in the modern world of digital downloadable music, which is threatening to destroy them. We are in a good place as we’re able to make the music we want to when we want to. Still, it takes a lot of money and effort to promote music, and we’ve been very lucky to have had Rainbow Quartz getting our name and music out there.

From: https://www.powerpopaholic.com/artist-interviews/the-grip-weeds