Tag Archives: Features

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Interview with Rock and Roll Poet Thax Douglas

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Thax DouglasIf you have been to more than one rock show at a club in Chicago, you have probably seen him. You may have wondered, “Who is that weird old guy up there and what the hell is he talking about?” He’s Thax Douglas and he’s Chicago’s rock and roll poet laureate, best known for reading spontaneously written poems as introductions for indie rock bands at shows across the city. He’s been praised by Chicago icons from Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy to This American Life‘s Ira Glass, who said of Douglas’ Tragic Faggot Syndrome, “It’s shocking that such disturbing dark poems come out of such a calm decent-seeming man. I read with great interest, worrying about Thax.”

Glorious Noise had the pleasure to conduct an interview with Thax earlier this year.

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Interview with the Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle

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TallahasseeI only recently discovered the Mountain Goats, but they’ve already made a big impression on me. The emotion that John Darnielle can get out of his acoustic guitar and legendary Panasonic boombox is nothing short of remarkable. Literary wordplay and intense emotionality tend to be mutually exclusive in the world of rock and roll, but the Mountain Goats pull it off.

On the Mountain Goats’ latest release, Tallahassee, John Darnielle left his trusty boombox in Iowa and headed to a real studio in upstate New York with producer, Tony Doogan, and a handful of other accompanying musicians. Glorious Noise had a chance ask Darnielle a few questions during a short break in the middle of the Mountain Goats’ world tour (see schedule).
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Please, For the Love of God, Let it Be

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Paul and Yoko duke it out once more, but for what?

So what’s the big stink? Paul wants to switch the order of names on the songs he mainly wrote. Who cares? Apperently, Yoko. Though I tend to see it as a lot of hot air, most media outlets have reported that Yoko Ono is investigating her legal options to force McCartney to switch back the names on later releases of his Back in the U.S. Live 2002 album. Is there any legal ground?

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That Burning, Yearning Feeling

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We are pleased to introduce a new feature from guest contributor, Kenan Hebert, who first caught our attention with his essay about the Wilco movie. This one’s even better. – ed.

1964. Martha Reeves’ voice bubbles up through unmentionable cracks, oozing with an indescribable, almost indecent sound. It’s soul, but it’s something else, too – soul with the gospel taken out. It’s pure sex, the most temporal of sounds, the sound not of a maven or a diva, but of a hot-blooded American girl, too high-pitched and raw for a Christian choir, but too powerful to be left in a shower. And while she did not write the songs that gave her voice form, neither would the songs have had it without her. Let’s listen.

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Emo Game: I’m All Smart Like That

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A Glorious Noise interview with the creator of the Emo Game.

By Derek Phillips

Sure, they got a rep for nerd glasses, perfectly messed hair and being sensitive and in touch with their feelings, but Emo kids have a darker side. Graphic designer, Jason Oda, created the Emo Game for those twisted bastards to live out their more violent tendencies and save their Emo heroes. Why? Because he hates Steven Tyler, of course. Glorious Noise caught up with Oda to discuss the Emo Game, crying, and selling out.

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Pac-Man Fever?

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Inspired by the discussion on the GLONO bulletin boards, we asked frequent poster Joshua Rogers to take a deeper look at music in video games in this GLONO Feature article. – ed.

The inspiration for Glorious Noise is how rock and roll can change your life. I’ve been given an opportunity to describe how rock and roll has changed video games, and thusly the lives of those of us who partake of them regularly (read: chronically).

In the world of video games, music was once little more than a series of notes to add a little style to the title. Aside from the chunky tones of a rumbling engine or the classic sine-wave sound of a laser blast, the processors didn’t have the capacity to produce remotely moving music. Well, the technology has changed as much as the cultures that use it, and gamers are finally treated to playing with music that is truly part of an immersive gaming experience.

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Interview with the Pee Wee Fist

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The Pee Wee Fist was allegedly named after a martial arts movie about a very short ninja. The existence of this film cannot be confirmed at press time, but there is no denying that the band’s album, Flying, released last year on Kimchee Records is an exciting and adventurous debut. While some of the songs are not immediately accessible, most of them are worth putting a little effort into. They get under your skin once you get to know them.

The band is the baby of Pete Fitzpatrick, who might be better known as the guitar player and multi-instrumentalist in Clem Snide. Pete was nice enough to answer a few of our questions before he headed out on tour. They’re playing Chicago’s Beat Kitchen on Saturday, September 21, so catch them if you can.

They’ve made a couple songs available on their own website (Flying, Chinese Star in Metal Shop), and Epitonic has another one (Beauty and the Beats), so you can see for yourself.

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Back to the Future

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The Recording Industry Association of America catches the 80s retro vibe with an attack on its arch nemesis: technology. And just like last time, it’s not only a losing fight but also a misguided philosophy. While the RIAA claims that P2P file sharing is to blame for shitty CD sales (not the fact that the 12 year old girls who two years ago bought N*Sync et al are now 14 year old teenagers desperately trying to shake a kiddy image), other reports show just the opposite. Looking for a villain in all of this, downloading has the RIAA’s dander up like Alf in a cat show.

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