<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" > <channel> <title>#covers – Pop Press International</title> <atom:link href="https://www.poppressinternational.com/tag/covers/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <link>https://www.poppressinternational.com</link> <description>Music Blog, Music News, Tracks, Reviews, Live Music, Photos & More</description> <lastBuildDate>Fri, 10 Feb 2017 20:55:43 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en-US</language> <sy:updatePeriod> hourly </sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency> 1 </sy:updateFrequency> <generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2</generator> <item> <title>Petty Interpretations: Kyle Schlesinger Interviews Michael Pierce About Tom Petty Covers Project</title> <link>https://www.poppressinternational.com/2017/02/10/petty-interpretations-kyle-schlesinger-interviews-michael-pierce-about-tom-petty-covers-project/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Bryan Parker]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 10 Feb 2017 18:25:12 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[BLOG]]></category> <category><![CDATA[FEATURES]]></category> <category><![CDATA[#covers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[#interview]]></category> <category><![CDATA[casette]]></category> <category><![CDATA[DUMB]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Kyle Schlesinger]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Michael Pierce]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Punk]]></category> <category><![CDATA[tom petty]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.poppressinternational.com/?p=22662</guid> <description><![CDATA[In this interview, Kyle Schlesinger, published poet and proprietor of Cuneiform Press, talks with Michael Pierce, who recently released a solo cassette tape entitled Petty Interpretations, containing six covers of Tom Petty songs. Pierce is also the...]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>In this interview, Kyle Schlesinger, published poet and proprietor of <a href="http://www.cuneiformpress.com">Cuneiform Press</a>, talks with Michael Pierce, who recently released a solo cassette tape entitled</em> <em><strong>Petty Interpretations</strong>,</em><em> containing six covers of Tom Petty songs. Pierce is also the drummer for Austin punk band Dumb. Below, you can stream Pierce’s cover of “Refugee,” which features an important modification, preceding the interview transcription. -BCP</em></p> <p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=133689044/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=1630341126/transparent=true/" width="300" height="150" seamless=""><a href="http://petty.bandcamp.com/album/petty-interpretations">Petty Interpretations by MPetty</a></iframe></p> <p><strong>Kyle Schlesinger: You wrote about the dichotomy of comfort and meaning in Tom Petty’s “Refugee,” likening its lyrics to Paul Simon’s “Have a Good Time,” controverting that “some people <em>do</em> have to live like refugees, such as actual refugees.” The song came out in 1980, the dawn of the Regan administration, a very conservative decade in US politics and culture. As we stand on the verge of <em>the </em>most conservative administration <em>ever, </em>do you see your rendering of the song as a critique of Petty’s tune?</strong></p> <p><strong>Michael Pierce:</strong> Yep.</p> <p><strong>KS: You mentioned that you started recording these songs, in part, because you wanted to create new arrangements without having to write lyrics at the same time, yet you’ve taken some interesting liberties with Petty’s words. Could you walk us through a couple of these modifications?</strong></p> <p><strong>MP:</strong> Yeah, well really I just wanted to record and make something interesting, without having to actually, like, write songs. Full credit to Mark Janchar (DUMB, The Dumpies) for coming up with “<em>you have to live like a refugee.</em>” My process was basically to listen to Tom Petty for a while, pick a song I wanted to learn, and then wait until my mind associated it musically with another genre or another song. I knew I wanted to make one really sad song, and it was probably inevitable that I would try to sound like Natural Child at some point, and I fucking love The Spits.</p> <p><strong>KS: To me, the strangest subculture in rock is the tribute band. Their fidelity to the original version of the tunes they cover is extreme, sometimes even creepy. That approach is almost diametrically opposed to what I think of as a great tribute, that is, thinking of Jasper Johns’ “Take an object. Do something to it. Do something else to it.” <em>Petty Interpretations</em> opens with a rocking rendition of “Don’t Do Me Like That,” which is probably the most straightforward cover on the album—sorry, that’s a roundabout way of asking how you think about the difference between imitation and originality?</strong></p> <p><strong>MP:</strong> Imitation for me is a way of learning and internalizing something you respect. Originality has to come from the heart, but hopefully the ideas you chose to internalize will rearrange themselves into something worthwhile. I just want to have fun making music. “Don’t Do Me Like That” was the first thing I recorded when I bought the Tascam. I did each track in one take. I knew there would be mistakes, it was the first time I’d really sang on a recording in years, and I wanted it to sound as shitty and real as possible so I never did a second take. I have a lot of respect for cover bands. I once saw David Garza extend a three-hour cover set to eight hours (at a wealthy man’s request) without repeating a single song. Talk about talent. Anyway, once you learn a song, the natural next step is to change the style. Great Jasper Johns quote. Exactly. Why not?</p> <p><strong>KS: Honestly, I think Tom Petty is pretty cheesy, and I’ve never liked “Running Down a Dream,” until now. It’s fucking beautiful Pierce! Is there a little raga influence? Why did you do that?</strong></p> <p><strong>MP:</strong> The raga was inspired by my friend David Longoria (Longriver). He actually came by and helped me think through a few different ways to play the song fingerstyle. The original song mostly drones on the pedal tone of D, and a lot of John Fahey songs are in D, and a lot of Indian music happens to be in D. So it was kind of a no-brainer.</p> <p><strong>KS: You’ve worked ridiculously hard on this, and in the sincerest, most admirable way, it’s DIY. I know you work in the music industry, where success is measured by bean counters and bottom lines. Do you see this album as rebuttal against traditional notions of success, that whole larger-than-life rock star thing Petty embodies? How do you define success?</strong></p> <p><strong>MP:</strong> There are a lot of tiers to the music biz. The best part about being in the completely-irrelevant-unknown tier is that you’re pretty much just making a record for your friends. I took a camping trip with some friends last year and it turned out our friend Grant knew a ton of Petty songs. He told me Petty and Lucinda Williams were his favorite songwriters. I’ve met a handful of people who tell me their whole family are diehard Petty fans. There’s something insidious about his songs, I hear them everywhere, mixed in with Taylor Swift and whoever. The songs have managed to remain relevant where even the Beatles and the Stones and Zeppelin aren’t played. His songs are innocuously American, but also amazing.</p> <p><strong>KS: It’s my understanding that you recorded this album on a four-track in your living room all by yourself using whatever instruments were within arm’s reach. Some artists go to great lengths to find the tools they need to actualize the vision in their minds, while others work with the materials that surround them. It seems to me that your approach is closer to the latter—could you talk about how you made <em>Petty Interpretations</em>?</strong></p> <p><strong>MP:</strong> I’m not a rich guy. Let’s start there. I do own one really nice old Gibson acoustic guitar, but I’ve been trying to sell it for a while. I have a hundred-dollar Hohner acoustic that my stepdad gave me in ninth grade that actually has incredible action. I’ve played the same drum kit since my eighth birthday, and it was crappy even back then! My friend Bobby Bergland restores and collects vintage instruments. We were talking about Wurlitzers one day and I told him they are my favorite sound in the world, and that I’d always wanted to own one. A few months later he showed up at my house with this incredible Wurlitzer classroom electric piano from the early 60s, and asks if it would be a burden to store it at my house. That was five years ago! Bobby is a seriously cool dude. Also, I knew I would need some synth and organ sounds, so I found a Casiotone on Craigslist for $40. The electric guitar you hear is a really neglected Japanese no-name POS that Corey Baum traded to my roommate two years ago in exchange for a really nice Martin acoustic. My roommate is a pretty nice guy.</p> <p>I will say, I was deliberate about the recording process. The Tascam 424mkII cassette recorder was at the center of everything, but I was able to cheaply rent a Rupert Neve channel-strip to feed it, and I own an old AKG 414 condenser microphone which has a very musical sound. I wanted everything going into the machine to be as hi-fi as possible. The fidelity of a cassette is surprisingly nice if you run the tape really fast.</p> <p>The whole goal was to design a process of recording that would best support the final product. I’ve recorded on ProTools for years. Having so many choices tends to cripple the creative process, mainly I just don’t like looking at screens in my free time. I wanted to be able, on a whim, to run one XLR cable, put up a mic, hit record and start playing, without having to make any choices or wait for anything to load. The Tascam does that. At one point I plugged a 57 into a Rat distortion pedal and used the pedal as the mic-pre, straight into the Tascam. That’s the vocal on Refugee.</p> <p>Separating the tracking process from the mixing process was really important to me. When you’re only doing one thing at a time, you can concentrate much better on each step, which supports the end result. Once everything was tracked, I unplugged the Tascam and took it to Joel’s Underwear, a studio run by my friend Joel Hume. It’s built in an acoustically tuned room, he’s got great Trident monitors, and the rest of his gear is pretty much a dream. All very high-end analog outboard gear centered around a Rupert Neve 5060. Pultecs, 1176s, more Neve, dual Roland Space Echos, it’s actually pretty ridiculous. All the reverb came from a Lexicon 300. I read a lot of TapeOp. I guess I’m a gear nut. We did all the mixing live (i.e. no edits, live effects throws and faders. At one point we had to enlist Matt McNeil and all three of us were pushing knobs and faders) into an Ampex 1/4″ reel-to-reel just like Petty would have done back in the day. It’s more fun to make a record, live, with your friends. Lastly we recorded the 1/4″ into the computer and that’s what you hear.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Shearwater Shares Video for “I Luv the Valley OH!” (Xiu Xiu Cover)</title> <link>https://www.poppressinternational.com/2013/11/15/shearwater-shares-video-for-i-luv-the-valley-oh-xiu-xiu-cover/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Bryan Parker]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 15 Nov 2013 16:13:31 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[BLOG]]></category> <category><![CDATA[VIDEOS]]></category> <category><![CDATA[#covers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[#shearwater]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Experimental pop]]></category> <category><![CDATA[I Luv the Valley OH!]]></category> <category><![CDATA[videos]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Xiu Xiu]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.poppressinternational.com/?p=11146</guid> <description><![CDATA[I love Shearwater, and Shearwater loves Xiu Xiu. A bizarre love triangle only made more confusing by the fact that that I love Xiu Xiu. The love affair between the bands began with a...]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I love Shearwater, and Shearwater loves Xiu Xiu. A bizarre love triangle only made more confusing by the fact that that <em>I</em> love Xiu Xiu. The love affair between the bands began with a joint tour many years ago now and has continued through more performances together and, now, in this cover. The track will be featured on a new record of covers by Shearwater entitled <em>Fellow Travelers.</em> Full tracklist below. Listen, here’s the honest truth, I’m rocking out to this song so much that I can’t write this post; I keep having to correct letters I’ve left out of words and restarting sentences that make no sense. Just–watch it. Shearwater launches a global tour next year; full dates follow the tracklisting.</p> <div><em><strong>Fellow Travelers</strong></em></div> <div><strong>Track Listing</strong>:</div> <div>1) “Our Only Sun” – a fragment of the song “Deeper Devastation,” by Jesca Hoop</div> <div>2) “I Luv the Valley OH!!” – Xiu Xiu</div> <div>3) “Hurts Like Heaven” – Coldplay</div> <div>4) “Natural One” – Folk Implosion</div> <div>5) “Ambiguity” – David Thomas Broughton</div> <div>6) “Cheerleader” – St. Vincent</div> <div>7) “Tomorrow” – Clinic</div> <div>8) “A Wake for the Minotaur” – Shearwater & Sharon Van Etten</div> <div>9) “Mary is Mary” – Wye Oak</div> <div>10) “Fucked Up Life” – The Baptist Generals</div> <div></div> <div> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Tour Dates<br /> North America:</strong><br /> Feb. 06 – Phoenix, AZ – Rhythm Room<br /> Feb. 07 – Los Angeles, CA – The Echo<br /> Feb. 08 – San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill<br /> Feb. 13 – Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios<br /> Feb. 14 – Vancouver, BC – Media Club<br /> Feb. 15 – Seattle, WA – The Crocodile<br /> Feb. 18 – Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge<br /> Feb. 19 – Denver, CO – Hi Dive<br /> Feb. 22 – Austin, TX – The North Door<br /> Mar. 19 – Atlanta, GA – The Earl<br /> Mar. 21 – Washington, DC – Rock and Roll Hotel<br /> Mar. 22 – Brooklyn, NY – The Bell House<br /> Mar. 25 – Allston, MA – Brighton Music Hall<br /> Mar. 27 – Toronto, ON- Horseshoe Tavern<br /> Mar. 28 – Grand Rapids, MI – Pyramid Scheme<br /> Mar. 29 – Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle</p> <p dir="ltr"><strong>Europe:</strong><br /> Apr. 23 – Vienna, AT – Szene<br /> Apr. 24 – Dresden, DE – Beatpol<br /> Apr. 25 – Berlin, DE – Privatclub<br /> Apr. 26 – Copenhagen, DK – Loppen<br /> Apr. 27 – Hamburg, DE – Indra<br /> Apr. 28 – Amsterdam, NL – Bitterzoet<br /> Apr. 29 – Brussel, BE – Botanique<br /> Apr. 30 – London, UK – XOYO<br /> May 01 – Manchester, UK – Deaf Institute<br /> May 02 – Bristol, UK – The Fleece<br /> May 04 – Gent, BE – Democrazy / Venue TBC<br /> May 07 – Fribourg, CH – Fri-Son<br /> May 08 – Milan, IT – La Salumeria della Musica<br /> May 09 – Zurich, CH – Bogen F</p> </div> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Video: Destroyer – “Bye Bye”</title> <link>https://www.poppressinternational.com/2013/11/07/video-destroyer-bye-bye/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Bryan Parker]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 07 Nov 2013 16:30:19 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[BLOG]]></category> <category><![CDATA[VIDEOS]]></category> <category><![CDATA[#covers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Antonio Luque]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Bye Bye]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Dan Bejar]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Destroyer]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Merge Records]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.poppressinternational.com/?p=10866</guid> <description><![CDATA[We’d like to state officially that we, Pop Press International, believe it an unwise usage of time to attempt to determine what Destroyer’s Dan Bejar will do next. If you guessed that the...]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We’d like to state officially that we, Pop Press International, believe it an unwise usage of time to attempt to determine what Destroyer’s Dan Bejar will do next. If you guessed that the follow-up to the jazzy, electronically tinged <em>Kaputt</em> would be an EP of cover songs by Spanish musician Antonio Luque, then you’d be right. “Bye Bye” is the first song to emerge from that EP, and you can watch the video above. Stick with it through the free-range chickens and grass snakes for something of a surprise ending. Watch above.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Show Preview: New Order Bassist Peter Hook and the Light Perform Tonight at The Belmont</title> <link>https://www.poppressinternational.com/2013/09/17/show-preview-new-order-bassist-peter-hook-and-the-light-perform-tonight-at-the-belmont/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Bryan Parker]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 17 Sep 2013 15:29:43 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[BLOG]]></category> <category><![CDATA[TRACKS]]></category> <category><![CDATA[UPCOMING]]></category> <category><![CDATA[#covers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[#Reptar]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Arcade Fire]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Geographer]]></category> <category><![CDATA[New Order]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Peter Hook and the Light]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Show Preview]]></category> <category><![CDATA[The Belmont]]></category> <category><![CDATA[The Boxing Lesson]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Upcoming]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Yuck]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.poppressinternational.com/?p=10258</guid> <description><![CDATA[Recent touring by both the outfit still retaining the moniker New Order as well as original New Order bassist Peter Hook with his band The Light has sparked some controversy as well as...]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.poppressinternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/peter_hook.jpg"><img decoding="async" class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-10260" alt="peter_hook" src="http://www.poppressinternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/peter_hook-150x150.jpg" width="150" height="150" srcset="https://www.poppressinternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/peter_hook-150x150.jpg 150w, https://www.poppressinternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/peter_hook-120x120.jpg 120w, https://www.poppressinternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/peter_hook-50x50.jpg 50w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /></a>Recent touring by both the outfit still retaining the moniker New Order as well as original New Order bassist Peter Hook with his band The Light has sparked some controversy as well as generally dismissive rhetoric about both artists. Fans hate on New Order because Hook was always an integral part of the arrangements, but spare Hook himself no sympathy; who is he without the other members and the moniker?</p> <p>However, my love for New Order’s songs transcends this petty bickering. Hate all you want. Stay mired in superficial, purist critique if you choose. I, for one, will be watching Peter Hook and the Light perform the classic albums <em>Power, Corruption, and Lies</em> and <em>Movement </em>tonight at the Belmont in Austin, TX. Despite the lack of the remaining members of New Order, this is still the guy who wrote the bass line for “Age of Consent.” And tonight, it will be glorious.</p> <p>To celebrate, we’re giving you five solid covers of “Age of Consent” — six if you count the two different versions by Aracade Fire. Other versions include tracks by Geographer, Austin’s own The Boxing Lesson, Athens indie rock outfit Reptar, and a video just released this month by Yuck. Watch and listen below!</p> <p><iframe src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F10042366" height="166" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no"></iframe></p> <p><iframe loading="lazy" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F46582408" height="166" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no"></iframe></p> <p><iframe loading="lazy" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/7b5QmYxa20g" height="315" width="460" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <p><iframe loading="lazy" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F45936589" height="166" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no"></iframe></p> <p>Arcade Fire – “Age of Consent” (New Order Cover) Version 1</p> <p><!-- Dewplayer Begin--><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="https://www.poppressinternational.com/wp-content/plugins/dewplayer-flash-mp3-player/dewplayer.swf?mp3=http://www.poppressinternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ArcadeFireAgeofConsentslow.mp3&bgcolor=FFFFFF" width="200" height="20"><param name="bgcolor" value="FFFFFF" /><param name="movie" value="https://www.poppressinternational.com/wp-content/plugins/dewplayer-flash-mp3-player/dewplayer.swf?mp3=http://www.poppressinternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ArcadeFireAgeofConsentslow.mp3&bgcolor=FFFFFF" /></object><!-- Dewplayer End--><a href="http://www.poppressinternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ArcadeFireAgeofConsentslow.mp3">http://www.poppressinternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ArcadeFireAgeofConsentslow.mp3</a></p> <p>Arcade Fire – “Age of Consent” (New Order Cover) Version 2</p> <p><!-- Dewplayer Begin--><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="https://www.poppressinternational.com/wp-content/plugins/dewplayer-flash-mp3-player/dewplayer.swf?mp3=http://www.poppressinternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ArcadeFireAgeofConsentfast.mp3&bgcolor=FFFFFF" width="200" height="20"><param name="bgcolor" value="FFFFFF" /><param name="movie" value="https://www.poppressinternational.com/wp-content/plugins/dewplayer-flash-mp3-player/dewplayer.swf?mp3=http://www.poppressinternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ArcadeFireAgeofConsentfast.mp3&bgcolor=FFFFFF" /></object><!-- Dewplayer End--><a href="http://www.poppressinternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ArcadeFireAgeofConsentfast.mp3">http://www.poppressinternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ArcadeFireAgeofConsentfast.mp3</a></p> ]]></content:encoded> <enclosure url="http://www.poppressinternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ArcadeFireAgeofConsentslow.mp3" length="4977575" type="audio/mpeg" /> <enclosure url="http://www.poppressinternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ArcadeFireAgeofConsentfast.mp3" length="6800038" type="audio/mpeg" /> </item> <item> <title>Iron and Wine Cover Little Feat</title> <link>https://www.poppressinternational.com/2012/06/15/iron-and-wine-cover-little-feat/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Bryan Parker]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 15 Jun 2012 12:00:12 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[BLOG]]></category> <category><![CDATA[#covers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[#ironandwine]]></category> <category><![CDATA[#lowellgeorge]]></category> <category><![CDATA[#suicidesqueeze]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.poppressinternational.com/?p=2004</guid> <description><![CDATA[For their new project, a singles club 7″ for Suicide Squeeze called Two Sides of George, Sam Beam and his folk friends have covered a song by Little Feat, whose lead singer was...]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For their new project, a singles club 7″ for Suicide Squeeze called <em>Two Sides of George</em>, Sam Beam and his folk friends have covered a song by Little Feat, whose lead singer was Lowell George. The track is the B-side to previously released “One More Try,” a cover of the song by George Michael. Beam has a long history of covering artists, having re imagined songs by bands ranging from the Postal Service to Joy Division to the Flaming Lips. His covers are always well chosen and interesting listens. This one is streamed below.</p> <p><iframe loading="lazy" src="http://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F49363622&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true&color=0095ab" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="166"></iframe></p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> </channel> </rss>