{"id":20754,"date":"2020-03-10T07:21:45","date_gmt":"2020-03-10T11:21:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/?p=20754"},"modified":"2020-03-10T07:21:47","modified_gmt":"2020-03-10T11:21:47","slug":"on-stage-wire-still-showing-spark-after-all-these-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/?p=20754","title":{"rendered":"On Stage: Wire still showing spark after all these years"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff<\/strong>, Entertainment Editor, The Times<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Wire<\/p><\/div>\n

Those who work with electricity know that when dealing with wire, it\u2019s better to assume it might be live even if it appears to be dead.<\/p>\n

The same can be said for music fans when dealing with the British band Wire, which is headlining a show on March 10 at Underground Arts (1200 Callowhill Street, Philadelphia, http:\/\/undergroundarts.org<\/a>)<\/p>\n

There have been times when it appeared as if Wire was totally dead but, more often than not, the band has come to life and shown that it is still carrying a full charge.<\/p>\n

Since coming together as a band in London in 1976, the members of Wire have maintained and advanced a musical project which treats the creative potential of a rock band as a flowing, shapeless medium. Wire has always striven to question every aspect of song writing, recording and performance.<\/p>\n

In terms of working together as Wire, the group\u2019s members disbanded in 1980, reformed in 1985, disbanded in 1992 and reformed for the second time in 2000. The group initially reworked much of its back catalogue for a performance at Royal Festival Hall in 2000. Wire’s reception during a short tour in early May of the US, and a number of UK gigs, convinced the band to continue.<\/p>\n

Two EPs and an album \u2013 \u201cSend\u201d (2003) \u2013 followed. A full-length album of new material entitled \u201cObject 47\u201d was released in 2008. In 2011, the band released \u2018Red Barked Tree.\u201d Two years later, Wire released \u201cChange Becomes Us\u201d followed by \u201cWire,\u201d was released in 2015 and \u201cNocturnal Koreans\u201d in 2016.<\/p>\n

In 2017, the year of the band\u2019s 40th anniversary, Wire — Colin Newman, Graham Lewis, Robert Grey, Matthew Simms — released it 15th studio album, \u201cSilver\/Lead,\u201d a set of songs that encompassed the menacing widescreen grandeur of \u2018Playing Harp For The Fishes\u2019 and the breakneck-paced guitar pop of \u2018Short Elevated Period\u2019. Yet despite the anniversary, the album had nothing to do with the past and everything to do with the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were really pleased with the success of \u2018Silver\/Lead\u2019,\u201d said Newman, during a phone interview last week as the band was travelling from Chicago to a gig in Nashville.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s happened over the last 10 years \u2013 pretty much everything has been well-received. People have realized that we\u2019ve been making really solid music for a long time. It has taken them a while to wake up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The band\u2019s 17th \u2013 and latest \u2013 album \u201cMind\/Hive\u201d was just released on January 24 on Wire\u2019s own Pinkflag label. The band also kicked off the new decade with a U.K. tour of sold-out shows. Meanwhile, Record Store Day 2020 marks the release of \u201c10:20,\u201d which sees Wire collecting together a mix of unreleased songs and new interpretations of older pieces to create an album as essential as any in its catalogue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started making the album in September 2018,\u201d said Newman, who has been living in the British seaside town Brighton for the last five years.<\/p>\n

\u201cTypically, I\u2019ll come to the session with some songs and then we\u2019ll work on them together. It\u2019s my tunes and Grant\u2019s lyrics. Then, I take the tracks to Brighton and work on them in my studio. After that, I\u2019ll add the vocals.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause the album is on a label which I run, the process starts with a release date and works backwards. The production process isn\u2019t necessarily quick \u2013 and it shouldn\u2019t be. It takes time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMind Hive\u201d received rave reviews and career best sales. Wire\u2019s back catalogue is studded with influential epoch defining works. Last year saw the reissue of their ground-breaking first three albums: \u201cPink Flag,\u201d \u201cChairs Missing\u201d and \u201c154.\u201d These were voted amongst the top reissues of the year (Rolling Stone at no.10, Uncut at no.12 and Select at no.3).<\/p>\n

Now, \u201cMind Hive\u201d arrives at a time when Wire is being cited as an influence by yet another generation of bands. The veteran rockers are also the subjects of a career spanning feature documentary called \u201cPeople in a Film,\u201d which is set for release late 2020.<\/p>\n

Wire has been described as a punk band, a post-punk group and art-punk band. Newman scoffs at all the labels attached to the band.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve never been a punk and I don\u2019t know what post-punk is,\u201d said Newman. \u201cAs far as we were concerned, we never considered ourselves punk.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Wire is \u2013 without question \u2013 is a band with amazing longevity. Wire\u2019s first album, \u201cPink Flag,\u201d was released in November 1977 by Harvest Records.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no concept of longevity with this kind of music in the 1970s,\u201d said Newman. \u201cIt was completely unpredictable. We weren\u2019t mates when we started. We were five very dissimilar characters. It\u2019s been an artictic expression. That\u2019s what we were interested in.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked the key to Wire\u2019s longevity, Newman, replied, \u201cI don\u2019t know. Like any set of people, we have our moments. The situation we\u2019re in \u2013 with pout own label, we have a lot of control. We have a lot of options other bands don\u2019t have. It gives us some kind of power.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe own our catalogue from the 70s. Actually, we won the most important eras \u2013 the 70s and from 2000 on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Video link for Wire — https:\/\/youtu.be\/iZbFZ6e0cw4<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On March 10, Underground Arts will host Wire\u2019s 2020 tour which features Wire along with a different member of Wire DJing each night. The show will start at 9 p.m. Tickets are $25.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Dales<\/p><\/div>\n

At MilkBoy Philly (1100 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, 215- 925-6455, www.milkboyphilly.com<\/a>), a different music vibe from the 1970s will be featured\u00a0 — the California country rock\/Americana\/Topanga Canyon music performed by the L.A.-based band The Dales.<\/p>\n

The Dales — Drew Lawrence, Kyle Vanes, Preston Pope, Blake Paulson, Jackie Tozzi \u2013 are touring in support of their new album \u201cEasy Times,\u201d which is the follow-up to their acclaimed 2018 debut album, \u201cMarie.\u201d The new LP features a sense of optimism and exuberance which offers an antidote for troubled times.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe album dropped on January 10,\u201d said Lawrence, during a recent phone interview from his home in Los Angeles. \u201cWe did it in L.A. and produced it ourselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried to do an EP with a producer earlier and it didn\u2019t work out. It was too heavy. The instrumentation was fighting with the vocals. We were mixing and the mixing just wasn\u2019t right. It was a heavier sound \u2013 more electric.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a home studio and so does Preston. We\u2019re both engineers and produces in addition to being in the band. So, we decided to do it ourselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started from scratch. It had been a year-and-a-half since our last album came out. The first few songs we released from \u2018Easy Times\u2019 were well-received. The new album is clearly Americana.\u201d<\/p>\n

With \u201cEasy Times,\u201d The Dales had better vibes \u2013 and a better line-up.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the recording of the shelved album, there was some tension in the line-up with the band,\u201d said Lawrence. \u201cTwo members left, and we got a new member \u2013 Jackie Tozzi.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt brought a lot of new excitement into the group. That\u2019s why the concept was \u2018easy times.\u2019 With the old line-up, the band was in a tense period and it showed in the music.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and Preston have been playing together for 12 years and our drummer Blake has been in it since Day One. We went to college together at Berklee School of Music in Boston.\u201d<\/p>\n

Produced by The Dales, \u201cEasy Times\u201d is, as Lawrence describes it, all about affirmation and encouragement, a soundtrack that urges the listener to get on with the business of life and not get bogged down in disappointment and hard times.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Americana and the genre is open for us,\u201d said Lawrence. \u201cIt\u2019s grassroots \u2013 just us playing for folks. It has longevity.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur first album was recorded in Washington State. The tome was about loss and heartbreak. With \u2018Easy Times,\u2019 we wanted to focus on good times.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe already have another body of work ready. We\u2019re going to go to Topanga canyon to make the record. We\u2019re already playing a bunch of these songs live.\u201d<\/p>\n

Video link for The Dales — https:\/\/youtu.be\/TMQdJil522E<\/a>,<\/p>\n

The show at MilkBoy Philly, which has Camille Peruto as the opening act, will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ben Cooper<\/p><\/div>\n

Ben Cooper started making recordings just after the turn of the century, took a few years to get really into it and now has been going strong for almost two decades.<\/p>\n

Recording and performing under the name Radical Face, Copper has released close to 20 albums and EPs, more than a dozen videos and a slew of singles.<\/p>\n

On March 11, Cooper will visit the area to headline a Radical face show at the World Caf\u00e9 Live (3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, 215-222-1400, www.worldcafelive.com<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\u201cMusic was\u00a0 one of those things that was always there when I was growing up \u2013 going back all the way to grade school, to second grade,\u201d said Cooper, during a recent phone interview as he travelled between gigs in Cleveland and Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy favorite tape back then was the Doors. Then in the early 90s, I got into indie rock \u2013 bands like the Pixies. I found out they were recording on four-tracks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was in high school, I came out when I was 14 \u2013 and got kicked out of the house. I was taking care of myself. I was playing in five bands \u2013 sometimes on instruments I didn\u2019t know how to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coming out as an early teen didn\u2019t make for easy times for Cooper as his hometown of Jacksonville was a little bit of Dixie in Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I needed to move,\u201d said Cooper, who eventually relocated to Los Angeles. \u201cA lot of bad things happened over a few years. When it was done, I knew I had to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying music was something I wanted to do. Then, I realized bands weren\u2019t good arrangements \u2013 like being married without getting laid. I wrote two books, but my hard drive crashed, and I hadn\u2019t backed them up. So, I lost them \u2013 one-and-a-half years of work.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, it was back to \u201cPlan A\u201d for Cooper.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got back into recording,\u201d said Cooper. \u201cI just wanted to make songs. Eventually, that worked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cooper’s first album to be recorded under the Radical Face pseudonym was \u201cThe Junkyard Chandelier.\u201d The album was never formally released but has since been available as a free download online.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first record was \u2018Junkyard Chandelier\u2019 in 2002,\u201d said Cooper. \u201cIt was only ever up on a website. I never sold it. I\u2019d just mail it to the fans who asked for it. \u2018Ghost\u2019 was the first record that was on a label.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGhost\u201d was the first official studio album, released by Radical Face in March 2007. Cooper is now touring in support of the \u201cAnniversary Deluxe Reissue of Ghost\u201d which was released last year via Bear Machine Records. For the anniversary re-release of\u00a0\u201cGhost,\u201d Cooper has included reinterpretations of original tracks for the album as well as a completely remastered the original version of the album by the legendary Greg Calby.<\/p>\n

Radical\u00a0Face\u2019s cult classic \u201cGhost\u201d has been streamed more than 150 Million times on Spotify alone, has been featured on numerous TV shows and movies such as \u201cWeeds,\u201d \u201cBlacklist,\u201d \u201cSkins\u201d and \u201cHumboldt County.\u201d The song \u201cWelcome Home, Son\u201d was the theme song for Nikon globally for eight years.<\/p>\n

In January, Cooper followed up the album with the release of a single titled \u201cReveries.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe song \u2018Reveries\u2019 just fell out of the mixing on an album,\u201d said Cooper. \u201cIt didn\u2019t fit.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Cooper, \u201cWhenever I am working on a record, I always stumble onto songs that I like as individuals but don’t work for the larger concept. Something about the mood, the lyrics, or the production makes it an odd fit. In the past, I would stop working on those songs once I recognized this, or I’d finish the recording and just shelve it. I’ve decided to go about it differently this time and just release them as singles along the way.<\/p>\n

‘Reveries’ is the first of these. There are already others. And as for the track itself, it covers a similar theme, I guess. It’s about people that don’t quite fit together anymore, but there’s no anger or resentment in it. It’s a drifting apart, not a breakup. And while you still care about each other in your ways, it’s time to move on, and neither party owes the other anything.”<\/p>\n

Radical Face fans who want a special edition of the \u201cGhost\u201d re-issue need to get to the merch table at the show early.<\/p>\n

Cooper issued the following statement, \u201cAs far as the vinyl release of this goes, I am not going through standard distribution channels. It will only be available on my website in a limited quantity, and then I will have 20 per show on this tour. And that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am keeping these releases a bit smaller, because I am back to fronting all the production costs myself, and storing them for tour and such, so I have to be pretty reasonable. But I wanted to give anyone who might want one a heads up, because I know finding out after the fact can be kinda frustrating if you like to collect records. I’ve been bit by that one myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Video link for Radical Face \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/boxswWcFdP4<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The show at World Caf\u00e9 Live, which has Axel Fl\u00f3vent as the opening act, will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times Those who work with electricity know that when dealing with wire, it\u2019s better to assume it might be live even if it appears to be dead. The same can be said for music fans when dealing with the British band Wire, which is headlining a show on March […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4357],"tags":[8702,3162,7229,3065],"class_list":["post-20754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-d-arts-entertainment","tag-ben-cooper","tag-featured","tag-the-dales","tag-wire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20754"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20755,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20754\/revisions\/20755"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}