The Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project – ‘The Task Has Overwhelmed Us’ (Glitterhouse Records)

The Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project – ‘The Task Has Overwhelmed Us’ (Glitterhouse Records)

Featuring Dave Gahan, Nick Cave, Debbie Harry, Mark Lanegan, Warren Ellis, Mick Harvey, Lydia Lunch, Mark Stewart, Jim Jones, Jim Jarmusch, Peter Hayes, The Coathangers, Suzie Stapleton, Duke Garwood & more. If that list doesn’t set your musical taste buds tingling then I don’t know what will. Quite simply I got excited way back when I first heard there was going to be a volume four of Jeffrey Lees sessions. I loved Gun Club from the very first time I heard their music and everything thereafter moving through the posthumous releases I couldn’t get enough so when these releases came out and seeing the list of contributors I was delighted and this is no exception.

Ten years in the making by the late Gun Club titan’s guitarist Cypress Grove, the Project has always
aimed to highlight Pierce as one of America’s most fascinatingly influential singer-songwriters of
the last century while propelling his outpourings into modern times by placing it in the hands of
former collaborators, friends and fans. Following 2009’s We Are Only Riders, 2012’s The Journey Is Long, and 2014’s Axels and Sockets, The Task Has Overwhelmed Us presents stellar interpretations of tracks from Pierce’s Gun Club and solo canons along with fresh works constructed from rehearsal skeletons its simply exquisite. Described as a wild ride doesn’t do it justice from these skeletons and Frankenstein songs have been fleshed out into lean mean rockin machines from Depeche modes Dave Gahan’s opening haunted piano ballad take on ‘Mother of Earth’ through, Mark Lanegan singing ‘Go Tell The Mountain’ backed by Ellis and Cave (who back Jeffrey himself on ‘Yellow Eyes’) is simply haunting and the warmth in the vocal is spine-tingling. Cave duetting beautifully with Debbie Harry again on ‘On the Other Side’. The blitzkrieg bop of ‘Debbie By The Christmas Tree’ is only matched by a thumping Jim Jones ‘Going Down The Red River’.

If it’s beautiful balladeering then Suzie Stapleton doing ‘Secret Fires’ will give you the chills. But the Debbie Harry and Nick Cave duet is simply wonderful no need for superlatives it walks the walk and talks the talk. there are eighteen tracks on offer and I could recount them all and their majestic beauty but I’ll trust you to buy this and revel in the genius and beauty of the music and these interpretations. Jeffrey Lee Pierce went too soon, way too soon he had so much more to offer on top of what he did leave us. Just buy it! it’s worth every second of your time.

Buy Here

Author:Dom Daley

The Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Suzie Stapleton ‘Angel Speak’ video

Suzie Stapleton ‘Angel Speak’ video

from album  ‘WE ARE THE PLAGUE’
Negative Prophet Records/Cargo Records
VOTED TOP 20 ALBUMS OF 2020 
“A dazzling debut album of guitar rock, fused with the primal spirit of blues and gospel… Blending the spirit of Patti Smith and PJ Harvey with the soul of Nick Cave and Mark Lanegan.

The album, which Stapleton self-produced, was recorded with her band which shares members with The Stranglers and Jim Jones Revue. However, ‘Angel Speak’ is a stripped back affair with Stapleton making a switch to acoustic guitar and her delicate vocal taking centre stage.

Stapleton filmed and edited the video herself, collecting footage through the changing seasons over the past year around her home town of Brighton. “A year,” she says, “when great beauty has shone from small things often taken for granted and passed by in the rush of life.” Full press release below.

Stapleton will be playing her first shows in 20 months supporting Humanist in the UK in October. She is also working on a follow up album with funding from Arts Council UK.

Suzie Stapleton
Tour Dates October 2021
Supporting Humanist 

Saturday 23rd – Academy 3, MANCHESTER
Monday 25th – The Prince Albert, BRIGHTON
Tuesday 26th – The Lexington, LONDON (Sold Out)

Jesse Malin – New Video Rescheduled tour dates, livestream

Jesse Malin – New Video Rescheduled tour dates, livestream

SINGLE: ‘SHANE’ OUT NOW
PRODUCED BY LUCINDA WILLIAMS & TOM OVERBY

 

THE FINE ART OF SELF DISTANCING
SATURDAY’S 9PM UK TIME Here

TOUR DATES SUPPORTING BRIAN FALLON RESCHEDULED
JANUARY- FEBRUARY 2021

Jesse wrote ‘Shane’ after celebrating his hero Shane MaGowan’s 60th birthday at the Dublin National Concert Hall (alongside Ireland’s president Michael D. Higgins, Bono, Nick Cave, Sinead O’Connor…). “I thanked him for everything; the songs, the stories, the inspiration. I told him that he better not to go anywhere, that we still need him.”
‘Shane’ is taken off the album ‘Sunset Kids’– which marks Malin’s first new LP since 2015’s OUTSIDERS – further includes the remarkable Malin/Williams duet, “Dead On,” along with guest appearances from Joseph Arthur on three tracks and newly arranged versions of songs from his classic 2010 LP with the St. Marks Social, LOVE IT TO LIFE. Additional highlights include “Strangers and Thieves” cowritten by and featuring vocals from Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong.


The album was produced by GRAMMY® Award-winner Lucinda Williams and engineered by the late David Bianco (Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, AC/DC) and Geoff Sanoff (Little Steven and The Disciples of Soul, Fountains of Wayne)
In the recent climate of the coronavirus pandemic, Jesse has decided to do a Saturday Livestream series called The Fine Art of Self Distancing where he will be playing songs, telling stories and doing bits and motivational backflips.
“It’s free, but with an option for donations that will help band, the road crew and I get through this crazy
time of tour cancellations and postponements. Look at what the Italians are doing. Sing from your window, your fire escape, your balcony, or your roof. Even from afar, the power of love is stronger than you think. Use this time to reflect on what really matters most. A slower tempo can help you feel the real deal inside. Be brave, open, and stay smart. Keep a positive mental attitude and we will back together before you know it.

The tour dates with Jesse supporting The Gaslight Anthem’s frontman Brian Fallon have now been rescheduled for

January/February 2021.
29 Jan Manchester, 02 Academy
30 Jan Birmingham , 02 Institute
31 Jan Glasgow SWG3
1 Feb Leeds 02 Academy
3 Feb Bristol 02 Academy
5 Feb Nottingham Rock City
6 Feb London Shepard Bush Empire
7 Feb Norwich Waterfront

The Lemonheads – Varshons 2 (Fire Records)

The Lemonheads – Varshons 2 (Fire Records)

So the brand new Lemonheads album is another covers affair but this time they’ve gone bananas, no literally they have.  It’s pressed on Banana yellow scratch and sniff vinyl.  I’ve still got my Damned Strawberries scratch and sniff but it no longer smells of Strawberries though. Anyway, The Lemonheads and Mr Dando what have they got for us?

Thirteen tracks that entered the head of Dando and from his influences it was always going to be an eclectic wide-ranging affair with all aspects of their back catalogue ranging from the country honk of Parsons to the fury of Minor Threat and just about everything in between I guess the only thing to expect is the unexpected.

So clear your mind sit back relax and float downstream as they say. Yo La Tengo are up first and Lemonheads take on ‘Can’t Forget’ then I realise its been almost a decade since the last album of covers and flitting from GG Allin to Gram Parsons you won’t find a more diverse set of tunes yet Dando managed to own the lot of them and on this Varshons he’s managed exactly the same.  Why do covers and not write yourself? Who knows only Evan Dando can answer that one but its once again an inspired collection

I love the quote that Lemonheads’ mainman Evan Dando has this strange ability – he could sing his order for a takeaway over the phone and make it into an achy three-minute epic fit for any bar. Indeed, many moons ago when Bush was dallying with the big red button over a Middle East catastrophe, he delivered an impromptu ‘Eve Of Destruction’ losing his sunglasses due to added angst. is a spot on assessment.

Jayhawks, Westerberg, Nick Cave and The Eagles all make it onto this album and they all fit right into that Evan Dando Lemonheads pocket once again. There’s maudlin beauty in the likes of ‘Settled Down Like Rain’ from The Jayhawks and he’s clearly heavily influenced by the likes of Lucinda Williams and Paul Westerberg.

Dando always liked telling stories and his lyrics like ‘Shame About Ray’ helped carve and style his career so heading out into a Nick Cave tune is something that sits really well and you can tell who wrote it but like previously mentioned Dando takes ownership as well not an easy task.

‘TAQN’ sounds like a hoot as they turn the amps up whilst ‘Unfamiliar’ – a tune Dando penned with former Smudge man Tom Morgan, a kind of skank like Keith Richards number that might have been written whilst under the influence of some substances with its Reggae undercurrent.

They (The Lemonheads) never shied away from covering other peoples songs seeing as in the early days ‘Luka’ helped get airplay in the UK for sure whilst ‘Mrs Robinson’ was a big deal and his version of ‘Hey Thats No Way To Say Goodbye’ was only surpassed by Michael Monroe when he did it. On ‘Varshons 2’ they take the covers idea and really go to town on the concept. Dando crooning on Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds ‘Straight To You’ is fitting even if it’s not the most obvious or indeed popular Cave song he could have borrowed but it works and I like it. Calling time on this album Dando takes a run at the Eagles ‘Take It Easy’ and I’m sat here with a mental picture of a contented Evan Dando taking his cans off saying its a wrap and grinning out the door having just delivered a full stop that was easy peazy playing a bunch of tunes you love and live and getting to take em home with you and shove em on your very own Lemonheads mixtape Evan Dando style – I like it always have liked his work and with records like this there’s no reason to stop just yet.  great work and a lot of fun!

Buy Varshons 2 Here

Author: Dom Daley