Portland OR's Adrian H and the Wound releases their debut on Projekt Records

Nick Cave once released Murder Ballads, an album that serves as the premise for a musical genre that effectively describes the work of Portland, Oregon's Adrian H And The Wounds. 

Our narrator Adrian H sings grim stories of broken characters of flesh and blood, human tragedies that chase shivers down the listener's spine. His narrative style, spoken and sung in a hoarse, sonorous voice rides atop The Wounds' solid accompaniment which exudes an almost tangible sinister atmosphere. Sultry, passionate and intense through and through, the compositions provide the perfect drive and spark that Adrian's narrative story-telling requires. Adrian's ever-present piano forms the basis for the arrangements which rock with a cabaret post-punk mood à la Bauhaus and Love And Rockets.     

The songs as stories are presented in a dark, brooding film noir style, as if told in a smoky joint in a backwater southern town populated by characters at the edge of society; they're broken and yet more whole than its shining citizens. These men and women are not presented as sinners but as rounded human beings condemned to life as it is without the need for redemption. They are 'real' if you like, observed by Adrian H as a modern day and more mature Bukowski who has chucked the excess and honed his stories to a razor-sharp point. It's all quite literate, dark and brooding, yet fused with speakeasy black humor.

Throughout, Adrian H's feverish vocals create a rapport with the listener. You’re not just eavesdropping on his songs, you’re transported to a malevolent side of town, just a step away from a knife blade and the deep, black abyss. 

Featured on the album are Adrian's re-possession of three well-known tracks.  First off is Tom Waits, 'Hoist That Rag' where Adrian leads The Wounds with a blistering organ through a bloody battle of saxophone, piano and percussive textures to claim victory at its end with a call to arms chorus and a tip of the hat to old Tom. Later, the band is on the vaudeville stage for "Chim Chim Cher-ee" with a dark cabaret atmosphere and three-quarter time; the harmless children's song suddenly turned into an angry nightmare. A haunting version of Bain Wolfkind's "Border Patrol" finishes the album with its sexy saxophone and crime-ridden streets; "a man lays dead in the snow," Adrian H intones, knowing all too well it could be a stranger just as easily as it could be himself.

Each song is a world all its own, sometimes introspective, sometimes vaudeville, sometimes driving post-punk, often very catchy and always very emotional.

Adrian's murder'n crime tales would work as a Tim Burton soundtrack: pitch-black moments, blackhearted and gloomy, yet sizzling and captivating. Adrian's virulent and venemous vocals deliver grim stories with musical echoes of Nick Cave and Tom Waits. 

Simply Six: The Shining Skulls

1. For many artists, they cite a defining moment for themselves when they knew they wanted to be a singer.  For many it was the appearance of Elvis on the Ed Sullivan show, to another generation it was the Beatles’ appearance on Sullivan half a decade later.  Is there such

 a defining moment for you?

       It was the first time I heard "Appetite for Destruction" by Guns n Roses. At that time Top 40 was all derivative pop-metal and neon colored R&B. I was in 4th or 5th grade and my mom bought me the album. I put on my huge listening cans and there were the initial delayed guitar stabs of "Welcome to the Jungle", echoing in a dirty urban world I never knew. In a way the title was completely appropriate. It took me to a place in my imagination that I had never been.  I never really came back. I have wanted to play music ever since.  

Though none of their later work measured up in my ears, Appetite for Destruction stands out to me as one of the finest rock albums of the last 2 generations. If you do not own it, I suggest you get  copy. Put on some really nice head phones and turn it up.

2. When you’re not creating music what are you listening to?  Who are some of your favorites?
I have been listening to a lot of Tom Waits lately, Nick Drake, Nick Cave, the Black Keys. Cave SIngers. I'm sort of in a phase as a listener that I want to hear incredibly screwed up characters tell vividly screwed-up stories. As I have gotten older, I don't really buy teenage angst so much. I get it, I'm just not buying anymore. I prefer an older voice...musicians that can tell stories and can funnel all that neurosis into something less self-absorbed and more entertaining.  Oh yeah, and I have been digging on Trentmoeller a lot lately as well.

3. What would you say is your greatest moment so far as an artist, either on record or live?

I think finishing our album was the greatest moment for sure. We took it upon ourselves to produce the album having never really done so before. I worked on demos and our first EP, but I really had no idea how to pull off a full-scale production, especially considering the expectations we had. Instead of going into a studio, I outfitted a small but high quality recording rig and we recorded the entire thing in the basement of a house where Andrew and I lived. I was learning everything from mic placement to mixing while on the job so it took some time for me to get my confidence up. It was a massive amount if work and sometimes I just wanted to quit...b/c what I heard was not as good as I what I wanted. But we pressed on and after about 8 months of tracking, re-tracking, re-writing, second and third guessing, we finally finished the album. When I sent it off to mastering, I had the most amazing exhale of my life.

4.  Do you believe music can change the world or is just something to listen to?   How much can music influence current events?

Absolutely. I think art changes the world everyday. It's rarely so obvious as Jimi Hendrix playing the National Anthem at Woodstock. Most of the changes are small and passing and almost all of them occur within the brain of the person experiencing the art. The truth is that "the world" is both a universal thing and a starkly personal frame of reference...and the world is both of these things at the same time all the time. The right song or photograph at the right time of day can turn that day around. Turning a day around is the first step in turning a life around. In that way, I think all art contributes to a butterfly effect. It creates small changes in the experience of a person and the world as we know it the world of people. So yeah, I know for certain that music changes the world, but it is a subtle thing.

5. How has technology affected the music industry?  How has technology affected your career as a musician?

Now this is a loaded question. Digital technology has turned the music world upside down. Huge studios and massive retail distribution deals have given way to DIY philosophies and the tangled data-jungle of the internet. For bands willing to learn and do the work, music can be recorded and made available to every person on the planet with little more than a computer in some cases. 

I like that I can make music and not have to shell out tens of thousands of dollars in studio costs. The internet allows us to expand our reach to an international level. A lot of artists are doing this which has created it's own downside. The downside is that the internet culture is becoming a market of entitlement and short attention spans. Everybody wants everything for free and they want it now. For artists, the internet is both a blessing and a curse. The curse is that almost any piece of art available on the internet has less perceived value to a listener. It's simple psychology. We always value more what we have to work for or pay for with our own hard earned money.  Something given away for free has less value to the person consuming it. But if you charge for it there is a good chance most will never give it a try. The blessing is that it puts the onus on the artists to make the best art possible. My philosophy is that the only way to break through the static is to create music that will stand the test of time and keep putting it in front of as many people as you can. At the end of the day it's a numbers game. You increase your odds of success if you make sure that your art pleases you first....b/c only then will you muster the energy to try to share it with the rest of us.

6.  Now for my Barbara Walters question:  If you were a pair of shoes what type of shoes would you be?

Toe Sox I think. The Shining Skulls are Toe Sox. We have a snug little home for each of our toes....and by toes I mean fans.

Simply Six: Kafka

1. For many artists, they cite a defining moment for themselves when they knew they wanted to be a singer.  For many it was the appearance of Elvis on the Ed Sullivan show, to another generation it was the Beatles’ appearance on Sullivan half a decade later.  Is there such a defining moment for you?

I don’t think there was ever a moment when I knew would to be a singer as such. For as long as I can remember I knew that I was going to write my own songs. Before I could play any instrument and before I had any musical ability what so ever I knew that I would be a songwriter. Writing my own songs was just something I was always going to do, there was never a plan so to speak which I would follow in order to become a song-writer, I just always had a sense that I would just become a songwriter, I never envisioned it being hard or any kind of struggle, I would be a song-writer and that would be that. I finally saved up to buy my first guitar when I was thirteen, within the first few months I wrote countless songs and my prophecy came true. Just write, forget everything and throw yourself into to it, what has anyone got to lose? That’s my philosophy. I’m totally engrossed with the song writing process, the adrenaline and the satisfaction you get from is like nothing else I’ve ever experienced, if the drugs don’t work then you’re taking the wrong drugs and song-writing is my drug of choice and it always hits the stop.

2. When you’re not creating music what are you listening to?  Who are some of your favourites?

There is always a constant flurry of CD’s going in and out of the CD player (yes I still listen to CD’s and when the chance comes up vinyl). Some of the regulars are Lou Reed, Neil Young, Elvis Costello, Bob Dylan, PJ Harvey, The Only Ones, The Clash, Pixies, Pavement, Nick Cave, Sonic Youth, Bright Eyes, The Smiths, Joy Division, Jesus and Mary Chain, The Talking Heads, The Buzzcocks…. to name a few.

3. What would you say is your greatest moment so far as an artist, either on record or live?

The greatest moment for me was getting the album ‘Mysterious Skin’ finished. It took far longer than I could of possibly imagined and was a very frustrating time, life really caught up with me and at times it felt like it would never see the light of the day. The process was long and drawn out to say the least but thankfully it was all worth it, I ultimately wanted an album that I could be proud of forever. No matter what comes in the future this album will always remain a significant one, that’s for sure, it’s the one where all future successes will be built upon.

4.  Do you believe music can change the world or is just something to listen to?   How much can music influence current events?

I suppose the first thing to do would be to answer the question ‘how apathetic do you believe today’s society to be?’  You only have to consider global warming, it’s here and it’s happening right now and what are people doing about it? Nothing, the majority of people just don’t care and it’s a sad state of affairs. We had the event Live Earth not long back to address the issue, it was everywhere, and what’s it’s legacy?  No one even remembers it let alone it having any lasting legacy. People are just too comfortable, sat in their houses with their big TV’s and eating too much food, most of today’s issues just don’t enter the equation.

Of course music certainly give’s people a voice. Music is fundamentally a tool for bringing people together, it’s only in the last hundred years that people have had the ability to listening to music as a sole activity, prior to that people had to come together in order to experience any kind of music, and despite technological advances the majority of people’s listening experiences are still shared. It is a way of connecting and relating with other people like no other. I’m sure there’s not a soul on the planet that you couldn’t talk to and find some common ground in relation to music, it’s what we all have in common.

So no I don’t think music on can change the world, people need to want to see change first and as already mentioned I think today’s masses are dangerously apathetic but if the time comes when the people do want to change then I think music, as in the past become as great facilitator in the process.

On a personal level I certainly think it can transform people lives. At the end of the day music just makes you feel better.

5. How has technology affected the music industry?  How has technology affected your career as a musician?

I suppose it’s screwed the industry. One of the things that annoy me is all the constant doom you see in the media, things like ‘the industry is falling apart’ ect... we’ve seen it for the last few years now and we keep getting told it’s getting worse. I can’t help but think so what? Should we really be expected to feel sympathy for all these fat cats who aren’t getting all the cream anymore? The music industry is practically built on theft, right from the moment someone worked out how to record sound the artist has been getting screwed. Today’s technology has empowered the artist, never has there been a better time than today to be an independent recording artist.

The cost of recording has now completely bottomed out, previously when you paid for a recording session you were paying mainly for the equipment, now it’s mainly the expertise. However if you are willing to learn the craft of recording you can do the whole thing on a couple of hundred pounds, depending on you requirements but you’d need along with good songs a genuine talent at engineering and producing yourself.  In terms of making my own record I don’t think it would have been possible to make this album with the budget I had without digital technology. I was also extremely lucky to have worked with such a talented engineer, Mark Jones, who has worked alongside people like Pater Gabriel.

So overall I think it’s turned the industry on its head, for independent artist’s its opened doors like never before. Recording, distribution and marketing with all the social networking platforms that are now available, to all independent artist it’s a dream come true. It’s kind of like the ultimate punk rock dream, DIY for everyone, of course to make it all work you’re going to have to work damn hard, and of course having a little talent and something interesting to say won’t go amiss.

6.  Now for my Barbara Walters question:  If you were a pair of shoes what type of shoes would you be?

I’d be the most smelliest, dirtiest, ugliest pair of boots, the kind that gets left outside the house, the ones you would not be seen dead wearing but when the time comes and a job needs doing, and troubles about and your needed back in the trench, then a good pair of boots that can with stand any punishment are essentially. I’m those boots; you’re most valuable asset always ready for anything.

Simply Six: The On Fires

The On Fires are from Australia.

1. For many artists, they cite a defining moment for themselves when they knew they wanted to be a singer.  For many it was the appearance of Elvis on the Ed Sullivan show, to another generation it was the Beatles’ appearance on Sullivan half a decade later.  Is there such a defining moment for you?

 [Context: This is written by Max, the girl in the band] Yep, I was sitting on a terrace of the ancient Inca site of Macchu Picchu high up in the Andes mountains ofPeru. I'd had a gruelling 6 day trek to get there, during which I thought I was going to die. But I reached that incredible place - now silent & serene with the vista of the world at its feet, & I had an epiphany: I have to leave my husband & I have to sing. So I did.

2. When you’re not creating music what are you listening to?  Who are some of your favorites?

Nick Cave, Polyphonic Spree, The Living End, Wolfmother, Blondie, Kaiserchiefs, & Martha Wainwright's song that has "you motherfucking asshole" in it. I love high energy (most of the time), fun & theatrics. I also love intelligent lyrics & storytelling (a la Nick Cave).  

3. What would you say is your greatest moment so far as an artist, either on record or live?

The first time we played to a punk audience. It happened to be in Ukraine (former USSR) with one of that country's punk legends (a guy called Sasha Pipa) in 2007. We'd never experienced slam dancing, crowd surfing & young men ripping their shirts off before! It changed us irreversibly. The burst of adrenalin we received lasted days & had us climbing speaker stacks, leaping off the stage & throwing ourselves around in a way that had never occurred to us before. It put some punk into our rock & we haven't looked back!

 

4.  Do you believe music can change the world or is just something to listen to?   How much can music influence current events?

This question makes me think of that Scorpions song 'Wind of Change' & the impact that song had during the downfall of the Berlin Wall. It galvanised people & highlighted an incredible historic event. And of course Nirvana changed the world - sweeping the homo-erotic big-hair bands off the face of the planet (well, almost). Not that I have anything against big-haired rock!

And need I mention Bob Marley & even Green Day having the balls to desecrate the US flag & sing 'American Idiot'? Yes, I do believe music can change the world.Midnight Oil (the lead singer of which is now an Australian politician) played an enormous role in exposing social justice issues to the kids of Australia. Music is very very powerful!

5. How has technology affected the music industry?  How has technology affected your career as a musician?

Technology has made it possible for us to tour internationally for extended periods of time. I have visions of AC/DC sending off cassette tapes & having expensive international phone calls. Instead we can send our music all over the world at the click of a button & we have Skype! We can organise gigs, hotel rooms & musicians from anywhere in the world - with information at our fingertips. And of course, social networking allows us to have a direct relationship with our fans. That's the best bit - I love talking to people on our Facebook fanpage!

 

6.  Now for my Barbara Walters question:  If you were a pair of shoes what type of shoes would you be?

Doc Marten boots. Tough, practical, a tad unconventional for a 'nice girl' from Melbourne, they travel well & will go anywhere. 

SIMPLY SIX: New Town Drunks

This is Roberto Cofresi from the New Town Drunks answering the questions. The band is Diane Koistinen & Roberto Cofresi, among assorted other musicians.

1. For many artists, they cite a defining moment for themselves when they knew they wanted to be a singer. For many it was the appearance of Elvis on the Ed Sullivan show, to another generation it was the Beatles’ appearance on Sullivan half a decade later. Is there such a defining moment for you?

The question of being or not being a singer or a guitar player or a songwriter never really occurred to me. My uncle played music and when I was a little kid, he handed me down one of his guitars; I learned a song on one string and have been playing ever since. Already when I played that first song, I felt like some kind of guitar player and all I’ve ever needed to feel like a guitar player is a guitar in my hands. Certainly there have been times when I’ve wished I was as good of a songwriter as Nick Cave, or as good of a guitar player as Gabriela Quintero, or as rich and high as Keith Richards, but those moments pass and in the end I am the guitar player that I am and the rest is just dust in the eyes.

2. When you’re not creating music what are you listening to? Who are some of your favorites?

I listen mostly to Spanish, Latin and Brazilian music - rock en Español, classic salsa, flamenco, bossa nova, nueva trova, samba... I did go see Tom Waits on this last tour after being a fan for many many years. It was awesome and an incredible inspiration, and the concert will go right up there with the best concert experiences I’ve had, and probably the only one in a larger venue. He really made that 2400 seat auditorium seem like a little bar.

I also listen to some countryish/folkish american music, stuff like the Avett Brothers and the everybodyfields. And there is of course all the local live music I see in our little towns of Carrboro/Chapel Hill, most of which is mindbendingly good, people like Dexter Romweber, the Squirrel Nut Zippers (who just played a show last night at a small club in town), Southern Culture on the Skids, the Moaners, the Dirty Little Heaters, Twilighter, John Howie Jr, The Spider Bags, Pinche Gringo, and many many more. I am lucky to live in a very musical region.

3. What would you say is your greatest moment so far as an artist, either on record or live?

This is I hard question, I don't really know the answer, my guess though would be, any time we play a great show? I forget the details of the best shows and I forget what made those great shows so great. It's more than just the musicians all playing perfectly, more than having an involved and appreciative audience. There is something that happens sometimes when everything is right and then there is that something extra that takes it over the top. When it's happening I can almost tell what it is, but as soon as it's over, then I don't know anymore. If you told me it had to do with the moon or the stars, I wouldn't be able to say that it didn't cause I don't really know, it is indeed a little magical.

4. Do you believe music can change the world or is just something to listen to? How much can music influence current events?

Music can and has changed the world, but writing music to try to change the world doesn’t seem to work often and it doesn’t feel right. Trying to make music to change the world seems like parents who try to force their kids to go into a particular career. Music will do what it will, I just write it and play it.

5. How has technology affected the music industry? How has technology affected your career as a musician?

It bores me to talk about technology. Yes it's there, yes I use it. Yes technology continues to improve the ease with which we record and play and listen to music. But ultimately music is still created in some fairly basic ways, blowing, striking, plucking, and now with sound generators.

6. Now for my Barbara Walters question: If you were a pair of shoes what type of shoes would you be?

The beat up, worn out shoes of someone who’s walked around the world.