Pujol || United States of Being || Album Review 2012

I stumbled upon this artist completely by accident.  I had been meaning to buy something from Jack White's Third Man Records for quite some time now.  Finally I had a little extra cash come my way and I picked up the new Jack White, a single of his from the movie "It Might Get Loud" and I wanted to pick up a live record from the Live at Third Man series.  I randomly picked Pujol.  What an awesome experience hearing this 6 song live EP that they put out.  I immediately started to research this young artist who was kicking some live ass and taking names.  I noted that he had just released a new full length album.  I went to my local record store to pick up a copy.  I could not find it.  I went to the other local record store and thank the lord all mighty they had one copy of United States of Being.

Upon first listen my impression was that the live tracks had more intensity.  Way more intensity.  But I began to look deeper into the tunes.  Pujol is a poet.  There is no other word to describe what ink flows out of his pen.  The compilation of these songs are ones that come from the heart.  The word play is witty and the furthest thing from boring.  Songs today tend to be trite and redundant and just plain boring.  This description runs the gamut from emo love songs to hardcore punk rock to danceceterra rap music.  The same old thing that is pumped through our systems; hashed and rehashed up like an old sack of potatoes.  The closest thing that one may get to something that is real would be some of the modern folk artists (like Conor Oberst, et al..) or a an underground veteran for the last 25 yrs, like Jeff Tweedy.  Still, I like to rock.  Bright Eyes or Mumford and Sons don't rock.  Wilco may rock 20% of the time.  This new album by Pujol  plain and simply rocks.  It has a certain energy within it that makes me want to go out and see this band live.  I love that.  Now let's get down to dissecting a little bit of this album.  It is not all perfect but a worthy acquisition.


DIY2K- starts off the album.  It is an anthem.  It will get your toes tapping and your hands clapping.  It makes you want to sing a long.  But read along to the album with the lyrics because this songs lets you know what you are about to be in store for.  Mission From God- This song is where Pujol really rips apart his ribcage and shows you the soul buried deep inside.  It is just a brilliant number that has a toe tapping energy that makes me want to smile.  And isn't that what music and art is all about? Expression. Providence- I did not particularly care for this song on the first listen (which happened to be a live solo acoustic version I found on youtube).  But after several listens to the produced version on the album I see it comes to sit in the third position out of the gate.  It is really radio friendly.  A lot of this album (and especially his live recorded performances) has a raw garage rock, punk attitude feel about them. This can get airplay on mainline stations and probably could appeal to a more mainstream audience.  It is growing on me.  Keeper of Atlantis- Ah, an ode to Dad.  That is how this song comes screaming out of the gates at me.  A beautifully written nod to the lessons and stories handed down to one generation to the next.  And either you can relate to it or hate it.  Either way it is true emotion.  Made of Money- Irony.  Not my favorite track on the album, but catchy enough.  Endless Mike- Oh shit!  Now we are getting deep into the good stuff.  This song kicks ass.  The funny thing is that it totally threw me for a loop on the first listen.  See, it is the first cut on the live EP I purchased from Thirdman.  In other words, the live version was my full and uninvited introduction  into Pujol.  It blew my mind.  I'd buy that record all over again for that track alone. -This one is slowed down, more melodically driven and well produced that only adds to the emotion of the song.  As Endless Mike led off the heart of the line next up comes probably my favorite song on the album, Reverse Vampire.  Such a great chanting tune with remarkable musicianship put on by all musicians.  But the what makes this catchy little tune particulary good is the poetry that has been turned into lyrics.  It starts off:

 When I look around

And what I see is not the best

But it's good enough for me

right here right now

I guess

It's sort of boring

I got a million ways

To occupy my mind

And waste my time

Then the toms come in strong and the second verse starts and it is just plain brilliant.  The production of the song has a great building effect.  So good!  The bridge is just the right length and the simplisty make it very approachable by most music fans.  I cannot say enough positive things about this tune on United States of Being....until you hear the acoustic version of just Daniel and his beat up six string playing this to a handful of fans in an office environment (see below).  One thing comes to mind; I think Bob Dylan would approve.  Niceness-This song did not strike a chord with my right away.  Probably due to the fact that it is sandwiched in between two of my favorites on the album.  I gave it several listens in a row to really get a good sense of what it is all about.  First off, it is an ode to positivity.  A chant. An anthemn to keeping a smile on your face.  I like the birds a tweetin' at the beginning however, the stuttered drum entrance into music is not pleasing to the song.  Don't know why.  Maybe it just doesn't agree with me.  This song is probably insanely awesome live due to the powerful nature of the chant associated with strong drums and power chords.  Black Rabbit-This would be considered the "single" on the album.  It was the first studio produced number that I heard due to my youtube search and this official music video came up (great video! Is it directed by the Stewart Copeland?  See below).  This song like so many others on this album just has a wonderful rhythmic pulse to it.  The beginning stabs and opening howl get you going in the right direction, then pure garage pop genius follows.  I can easily listen to this song over and over and over again.  It should be a pre-requisite for all struggling artist on how to right a good song.  Each And Every Day-  Tonally this song begins and Dinosaur Jr. come to mind.  A little "Feel the Pain" but the pain only lasts moments  as the vocals kick in and a newborn man with a highness for life begins to go on a mantra about life.  It is a good tune however I see why it is buried in the back of the album.  Pujol is still a young artist and coming out of the gates with such strong numbers beforehand it is really tough to top it.  This is a filler.  A filler that gets bonus points for the solid clap tracks strategically placed in the tune.  Dark Knight in Shining Armor- Did the kid like DC Comics way back when.  Again another album filler.  Not too bad but it was smart of them to make this and the song before it short.  Psychic Pain-  Not much to say about the last song on the album.  More of a ballad.  I always like big strong endings on Albums, but for marketing purposes this is probably a smart choice.  One of the best parts of this song is the nice Tenessian draw you can hear while Pujol pronounce "pain".  It's cute, but I always like to end on a high note.  Speaking about that, not too sure of the minute dribble at the end.  An album that comes out of the gates soooo strong deserves more.

Either way, Please come west.  I am 100% positive that the live Pujol show will be worth the price of admission and merit this artist a long and successful career.


Black Rabbit Official Music Video directed by Steward Copeland

Reverse Vampire Acoustic Version----> Who is Ben Todd?????

The United States of being is Daniel Pujol's decree to the listening world.  At this time in his life and maybe for all of enternity, it is what he believes in...so much he had the instructions tattooed onto his rib cage and proudly posted it as the album cover for all the world to see.

Archers of Loaf || Return of Original Music || GAMH 9-2-11

I thought that I would never be able to say that I had been to an Archers of Loaf show.  Why?  Because the most original rock band of the last 20 years (before this year) had not played a live show in over 13 years.  I thought it was hopeless.  Sometime back in April of this year I received a text from the east coast gentlemen who introduced me to their sound.  Blue Lang wrote, "Archers of Loaf, September 2nd.  Date Night.  Get a babysitter."  I was pretty stoked to get this message.

They were the biggest influence on my old band, The Booty Chesterfield Trio.  Blue and I started jamming in the spring of 2006.  As a lot of jams go, you start to bring in your influences.  One of the first bands that Blue turned me on to (and that I took and instant liking to) were these guys.  I got what he wanted out of the music and tried to transcribe that thought process into original tunes.  Hence, the reason for being so influential.  More importantly; they rocked.  And all I wanted to do is rock too.  They are smart punk rock.  Their songs are a mixture of built up drama entangled with overwhelmingly powerful hooks.  They have a lot of "eek and awnk" chord structures in alternate tunings that you don't hear every day.


I had heard several live recordings of them but nothing to prepare me for the show.  Unfortunately, due to a family emergency, Blue did not make the show.  He was back home in Florida.  As the day of the show approached, like so many other things in life when you age, I was tired and just wanted to have a weekend to relax.  Driving up to the City on a Friday night didn't sound too appetizing.  But we rallied and made the most of it.

The opening band sucked.  I cannot even remember their name.  And for the most part I thought the evening was going to suck because the dinner service at the Great American Music Hall.  I had always wanted to sit in the "good seats" that got you dinner and a show, but my cheap ass could never pony up to it.  I need never do it again.  My advice, just get the regular tickets.  While the GAMH is one of the best venues to see a small and intimate show in San Francisco, it is not known for the food or the service.  And the following statement shall serve as an exclamation point.  We had the A grade tickets that night; they gave us the C grade waitress.  A terrible management issue by whoever was in charge that night.  I believe that she was probably new to the job, probably took a hit out of the bong before showing up to work and was completely off.  When it took her 15 minutes to get us a drink from a non-packed upstairs bar (about 30 feet from us) that we were in for it.  Then I noticed the only other group there for dinner had completely finished their meal. I walked up to an usher to inquire (our waitress was no where in site).  Turns out that she completely forgot to place our order and we finally ate overly salted and peppered cafeteria food about hour and a half after our arrival sitting in the dark through a shitty band.  That is the mood that was set.  I was ready to go home.  My buddy took it upon himself to make sure at least we had cocktails on the house floating into our veins to cool our heated jets.  Go for the music; don't go for the food.  And never use a cocktail waitress there.  Very unreliable for such a small intimate venue.

Now for some action.  The Archers came out and completely blew the doors off the non capacity crowd.  They played it perfectly, rolling through all the songs that one who was half a fan would want to hear.  Even more important; it felt real.  It felt like they meant it.  They were not here for the money and to sell more Archers CDs, they were here to put on a kick ass live rock and roll show.



A couple of highlights from the show; staring down from the balcony into the crowd with the Archers in full blast off mode I witnessed  this swirling pool of middle-aged balding white dudes, many with glasses and plaid shirts, attempting to re-start up that pit again, just like they did back in 1993.  But this time with a lot less force.  It was cute (for lack of a better term).  I saw myself in there at one point in time too.  Another highlight was when the Archer's entered into the classic "Low" I heard, check that, we all heard someone shout out "Fuck Yeah!  I have been waiting 15 years to hear this song!!!"  I think that is how many people felt that night.  See, Archers were always an East Coast band.  They never had much of an impact on the west coast as let's say, Pavement or someone else from that era.  Probably because they didn't tour a lot on the west coast.  Maybe two or three times.

So why write about this?  I'd like to encourage musicians to understand the real impact that bands make on people.  The music never dies.  It just keeps on growing.  Now, to see it live...that is a whole different story.  After Friday night I feel like I was one of the fortunate ones....

Archers Of Loaf "Audiowhore" from christopher Bettig on Vimeo.

Victor || The Film Dude in San Jose || circa 2007

Inspiration is the reason we breath.  So when one writes a song they can only look as far as the air that they are breathing.  The small, subtle music scene in downtown San Jose back 2007 was part of my muse.  There was one character that always stood out; a guy named Victor.  You could spot him pretty clearly, a man of short stature with no hair on top, glasses and mustache.  He did not try to fit in because he couldn't.  I love Victor for that.  Most important, there was a freshness toward music that he took in.  It was very inspiring.


I met Victor at the Caravan one night back in 2007 and I got as much of his story that he would divulge to a complete stranger on some random night.  He was videotaping some band (usually with a women in it) and I started talking to him.  He told me that he just does it for kicks.  Bands don't pay him.  He doesn't really promote it.  Had barely even heard of Youtube back then and just loved to tape the performances of bands he liked.  I asked him if he'd seen our band and he replied yeah, "I saw you guys at Johnny V's back in January.  There was supposed to be some surf band from Spain you were opening up for but they didn't show.  I thought you guys really rocked.  I was bummed my battery ran out on the first band."  I told him when we were playing next and he showed and caught on tape some classic original "The Booty Cheterfield Trio" footage with Pickle on bass and Blue on drums.  One of our best performances at the time with full comedic routine and one, Joe Izzo, out in the crowd giving away T-Shirts.  Here are some highlights I decide to put up on Youtube:

This one is some recently uploaded old footage that Film Dude recorded for us back in 2008.  Recollecting back, it was a really fun night with a pretty full bar.


This is a portion of the song we wrote for Film Dude Victor.  We wanted to right a straightforward punk rock song that typified his attitude toward live rock and roll.  You can find a version of it on our first album, Sellin' Cookies.


And this last one is my favorite.  At about 10 seconds into the clip, the video pans around and you can see Film Dude Victor sporting a Booty Chesterfield T-shirt and dancing like nobodies business to the tunes.  What else can I say?  Like is about having fun....and FDV is doing just that!

Best Coast & Wavves show last night at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco, CA

This old man made it out to the new young sound movement known as California Noise Pop last night at the Regency Ballroom. I have been to many shows in SF but this was the first one at the Regency. I do have to say that the it is a nice place to see a show. Good sound and intimate enough to feel like you are seeing something meaningful, if the music is good enough.

First off, the late 80s/early 90s are back with a vengeance. Tights with shorts were the standard uniform for the women while the guys stuck to mustaches, top siders and tight pants. All adorned with non-colorful heavy lined tattoos. Also, women wearing my Mom's old big eyeglasses and shoulderpads got an extra two points of coolness. This looks like its the uniforms of the kids today. I guess if you have never worn it, might as well give it a go (and look back and laugh at yourself years later). Now to the music....

Wavves. Okay these guys have been getting a lot of buzz. I do have to say they played a tight set, with several mediocre finishes. I found the set to be entertaining. They can be described, in my opinion, in one simple phrase: Nirvana with Reverb with the Violent Femmes lead singer drumming up the banter. Now that's original, right? I would say over half the set sounded like they were playing the same stooges song. However there were a few standout numbers and they started with "this is a new one". If they can bear the strains of being in a band and being famous, as they mature they should be able to turn out some good music in the future. I'll keep a watch...

Best Coast. I cannot say much, besides they totally skyrocketed past all my expectations. The vocals pumping out of the P/A were astonishing. I have given their latest release many a spin, but I wasn't fully sold on the band until seeing them live. Bob Bruno; I bow to you. That Danelectro baritone guitar you ripped was outstanding. The tones coming out were true originals. I feel that the album is soaked in reverb, Bob's Bass is soaked in reverb, but the lead vox shines through and punched the audience in the face with love. They blew doors on Wavves. I eagerly wait to see them again as well as see what they can pull off in the studio as they mature.

Enjoy!