Categories
Music

"I Ain’t ‘Fraid of No Goth!"

The only bad thing about mash-ups is that they could very well undo the

mythos that has built up over the years on the streets of Accordion City:

that the Accordion Guy can play anything. That’s simply not true. All

I’m doing is exploiting one of the not-so-secret secrets of rock and

roll: that most songs are based on one of about a half-dozen patterns,

or as we musicians call them, chord progressions. These are tried-and-true

arrangements of chords that are pleasing to the ear.

Take the classic I-IV-V chord progression. Played over 12 bars in 4/4

time, it’s the basis of every blues song. It’s La Bamba, Hang on Sloopy, Twist and Shout, Wild Thing and the muscial

proof for the existence of God, Louie Louie.

The I-VII-IV progression gives us The Smashing Pumpkins’ Cherub Rock, Bachman-Turner

Overdrive’s Takin’ Care of

Business and the “Bow down before the one you serve” part

of Nine Inch Nails’ Head Like a

Hole.

(Want to know about I-IV-V and I-VII-IV? Check out this

article on guitarnoise.com.)


That mention of Nine Inch Nails — one of my musical guilty pleasures

— is the perfect segue for this

mash-up on nathanchase.com that I stumbled across thanks to

one “Miss Fipi Lele” who in turn found it via a blog named largehearted boy.

Imagine Ray Parker Jr.’s Ghostbusters as the bed track for Nine Inch

Nails’ current single, The Hand

That Feeds. Then repeat to yourself over and over: “I

ain’t ‘fraid of no goth!”

You

can download the track from its creator, Nathan

Chase

or

Click

here to download the track from this site [6.2MB

MP3]

Photo: Cover for the mash-up 'The Ghost That Feeds'.

Categories
Music

Seda’ Club (or: "Hey Shabot, It’s Your Pesach…")

Hip-hop and Passover meet in the latest edition of the webcomic Shabot 6000 when 50 Cent (or at least his doppelganger) drops by for seder in a hilarious Flash animation!

Screen capture: 'Seda Club', starring 50 Cent and Shabot 6000.

Be sure to check out:

Categories
Music

So Bad It’s Great: Video of Tommy Seebach’s "Apache"

Photo: Still from Tommy Seebach's video for 'Apache'.

“Who knew that Steve Buscemi played keyboard in the seventies?”

After showing the video of Tommy Seebach’s cover of The Shadows’

surf-guitar-twang classic Apache to my friend, he looked at me and

said “I will never feel like a loser again.” How many videos can claim

to have such self-esteem boosting power? Watch it now!

You can either watch it on the web:

or download it to your computer:

If the tune sounds familiar, it’s probably because you’re familiar with the version done by Michael Vines’ Incredible Bongo Band. It’s used as the music for the title sequence of the movie Snatch and as the first track of Fatboy Slim’s excellent DJ mix album On the Floor at the Boutique.

Photo: Still from Tommy Seebach's video for 'Apache'.

Oooooh yeah.

Categories
It Happened to Me Music

The Pink Wig Gig

I thought I’d post some more “crazy hair from my past” photos.


Before I was an accordion player, I played synths. I owned a number of synths and samplers through my years at Crazy Go Nuts University.

During my time there — September 1987 through December 1994, guitar

players were worshipped and synth guys were viewed with some suspicion.

It was a time bookended by the jingle-jangle of U2 and R.E.M. at the

beginning and grunge at the end. Being a small college town like

Athens, Georgia or Olympia, Washington, the guitar was also king in

Kingston, Ontario. Those damned plank-spankers, as I used to refer to

guitarists, got all the attention, love and respect, leaving we few

keyboard players — namely myself, my buddy Karl Mohr and

“Craigertronic” — in our own quiet musical backwater. My friend Sarah

English once wrote in a music review in the Queen’s Journal that she could never trust a band with a keyboard player in it.

This ghettoization made us synth players a closely-knit bunch, and we

often gigged together, even after graduation. For the April 1999 launch

party of his mother Merilyn Simond’s book, The Lion in the Room Next

Door, Karl invited me and another Kingston-based synth guy, Steve

Skratt, to be the entertainment. Along with our friend Chantal from a

gazillion Kingston bands as well as Rachel Smith and Krista “Lederhosen

Lucil” Muir, we formed the improv synth trip-hop band Lion.

On a lark, we decided that we’d all wear wigs for the gig. I went for

the “anime hair” look, but since Rachel had already claimed the blue

one, I had to take the pink. It didn’t look too bad…

Photo: Joey deVilla in pink wig.

The wig. Attention Mom, Dad and parents-in-law: I promise not to wear this at the wedding…much.

Photo: Keyboard section of the band 'Lion', featuring Karl Mohr, Steve Skratt and Joey deVilla.

Kraftwerk ain’t got nuthin’ on us!

From left to right: Karl Mohr (who’s switched from wig to fez), Steve

Skratt, me and Rachel Smith. I’m playing my Ensoniq EPS Sampler and

Roland MC-303 GrooveBox.

Photo: Keyboard section of the band 'Lion', featuring Karl Mohr, Steve Skratt and Joey deVilla.

Not all the instruments were synthetic…but our hair was!

Photo: Keyboard section of the band 'Lion', featuring Karl Mohr, Steve Skratt and Joey deVilla.

In the background: Rachel, Chantal and Krista, who also

played violin at the gig. Krista is now the Montreal indie pop darling

known to the world as Lederhosen Lucil.

Photo: Keyboard section of the band 'Lion', featuring Karl Mohr, Steve Skratt and Joey deVilla.

“More major sevenths! MORE MAJOR SEVENTHS!”

Categories
Music

Owner of a Lovely Butt

Graphic: 'Lionel Vinyl' logo.

Here’s a lovely mash-up by Lionel Vinyl for your enjoyment: Yes’ Owner of a Lonely Heart as the bed track and Sir Mix-a-Lot’s Baby Got Back as the vocal track — Owner of a Lovely Butt! [3.9MB MP3, enclosure]

Categories
Accordion, Instrument of the Gods In the News Music

Canada’s Coolest Band Plays the World’s Coolest Instrument

Proof: This photo from Exclaim! magazine’s article on The Arcade Fire:

Photo: Regine Chassagne from The Arcade Fire playing accordion.

Categories
It Happened to Me Music

Happy Easter!

Photo: 'Buddy Christ' from 'Dogma'.

He’s back from the dead and ready to par-tay!

Happy Easter, everybody!

Among other things, Easter in my family also means brunch at the

Boulevard Club, which includes among its attractions someone in a

Easter Bunny suit to hand out candy to the kids. Here are reviews of

the Easter Bunny by my two nephews, Aidan and Nicholas:

  • Aidan (age 3 1/2): The Easter Bunny is my fwiend! He has chocolate eggs! Can I have a chocolate egg, please, Mr. Easter Bunny!
  • Nico (age 2 years less 1 month): Eight foot tall rodent — coming straight for me! Mommy! WAAAAAH!

To

celebrate Easter, I’m sharing the most rockin’-yet-apropos song in my

iTunes Library: AC/DC’s classic, Back in Black. Better yet, three

versions of the song:

Enjoy, and rock on!