Category: chickfactor poll question

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chickfactor poll: stage fright, part two

do you have any advice / rituals / pharmaceuticals to recommend for coping with stage fright?

stephin the magnetic fields: courvoisier.

corin tucker: deep belly breaths, and really warming up before going on stage.

stephen the real tuesday weld: you have to look at yourself in the mirror in the dressing room and say: “pull it together you pathetic piece of shit. what the F*** IS THE MATTER WITH YOU? get out there right NOW” very, very loudly.

james dump/yo la tengo: seek another line of work?

bridget st john: 1. breathe. 2. don’t have company backstage before you go on stage – it’s a distraction. 3. no pharmaceuticals! but if you have a sore throat singer’s saving grace herbal concoction works very well for singers.

daniel handler: I have a great self-hypnosis program in which I say to myself, “nobody cares one whit. not one flying fuck.”

fran cannane: francesca recommended vodka and grapefruit juice. just for the voice you understand…. It seems to work.

allen clapp: used xanax for a few years, but absolutely HATED it. yoga 2-3 times a week is way more helpful. also, talking to people before playing and not being a hermit is helpful, just to get out of my own head for a while. also, ruby port.

hannah grass widow: we actually made a very spontaneous shrine in our dressing room at that celebrate brooklyn show. it was very therapeutic. we just took a bunch of comfort objects and music supplies and made a really epic and weird shrine in front of our mirror. but unfortunately we usually just drink before we play to take the edge off and warm up the vocals.

matt lorelei: I used to drink heavily and then take max alerts (over-the-counter trucker speed) to focus. it did or did not work depending on your perspective. I would not recommend it. my heart rate became an issue. now I’m just less nervous because I don’t worry about reproducing the recording live. live is a separate thing and the tracks can take on a different life.

joe pines / foxgloves: the night before you play, go on stage with ld beghtol and accompany him by playing one note on an electric stylophone for four minutes.

erin a girl called eddy: there really is nothing that makes it easier for me personally. a very large guinness after though always helps.

gordon the fan modine: a slight buzz is usually nice. and, always eat after the show unless you are playing pretty late.

 

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chickfactor poll question: do you suffer from stage fright?

kim baxter: only when I’m playing acoustically for a small audience. my band mate tasha and I recently played at a small bookstore here in portland. we were opening up for our author friends joe meno and nathan larson. we were so nervous! I forgot to breathe the whole time and couldn’t look up. it felt like I had never played a show before. we laughed the whole ride home about how ridiculous it was that a small bookstore crowd totally intimidated us.

james dump/yo la tengo: I do not.

mark teenbeat/unrest: definitely. especially and most certainly if I’m up on stage all by myself. at the chickfactor show I played I got up there and my mind went blank. suddenly I was lyric-less. If I’m playing with other folks on stage it’s usually not a problem.

stephin the magnetic fields: just the reverse: I suffer from stage ennui.

fran cannane: once I had to get off stage and be sick in the middle of a set in chicago at an outdoor festival but that was not caused by stage fright.

corin tucker: I do get nervous, especially in front of large crowds, particularly if I’m singing for someone else’s crowd.

matt lorelei: yes and yes. lorelei was invited to play a gig in princeton, new jersey, in ’91 that ended up being in a living room. those assembled were within arms length of me. I had luckily brought a flask but I had one swig before we started and shook like a leaf the entire time. it was not fun for me.

hannah grass widow: I used to get really nervous, but it’s been a while. I definitely still get an adrenaline rush that infuses the set. there was this one time we were opening for sonic youth at prospect park for celebrate brooklyn. we hadn’t played very many big shows at the time and I can say in retrospect that we were not ready to play for 15,000 people. I got this weird freak allergy attack and my hearing got all weird. It was probably psychosomatic. then we played and it sounded really weird and I realized I was so nervous I forgot to turn on my amp and I was just playing direct. I wish we could play that show again now.

joe pines / foxgloves: it is usually very scary preparing to play, especially as I have no idea how amplifiers, tuners or microphone stands work.

erin a girl called eddy: yes. no specific incidences, but it always amounts to a feeling of sick, hollow dread right before the show. and that’s just the audience.

daniel handler: I watched a friend break down during her bat mitzvah in 1983.  everything about that is a horror story.

bridget st john: most of my stage fright comes in the days leading up to the performance – doubting that I should have agreed to play etc. by the time I am ready to go on stage I am usually quite focused and in a zone. any horror stories have been in recurring dreams of being unprepared and sloppy and starting a song and changing my mind when I can’t get through a song – but then I always wake myself up before it gets any worse!

jennifer o’connor: no, not usually.

gordon the fan modine: if I’m not nervous before a show, I might as well not play it. I think it is a gauge of energy.

gail cf: yes. I only sang onstage with the cover girls in 2002 and it was awful. I was all liquored up and had a cold and seeing the footage of it ensured that I will never do it again.

ian musical chairs: I get quite nervous at first but it wears off pretty quickly.

allen clapp: opening for the ocean blue at the troubadour in 2001, we went to dinner before the show and leisurely walked back to the club. when the stage door opened, the stage manager started screaming at us for being late, and said they had a sold out room and that we were supposed to go on in 1 minute. massive panic attack ensues. I look out, and sure enough, there is a sold-out crowd standing there waiting! the whole set I thought I was going to pass out. In between songs, I kept looking for a secret exit and couldn’t think about anything except running away. argh!

 

 

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cf poll: it is the end of the world as we know it so we are choosing the soundtrack.


of course it’s nonsense, but if the mayan’s end of world prediction comes true today, what should the theme song be?

darren hanlon: “calendar girl” by neil sedaka.

john the magnetic fields: thus spoke zarathustra! haha, just kidding. it would be “swinging on a star.”

james dump/yo la tengo: “barracuda.” it’s a kick-ass song.

andrew eggs/talk it: “what a wonderful world.”

hannah grass widow: “return to innocence.”

gaylord cf/wfmu: “is that all there is?” by peggy lee.

stephen the real tuesday weld: tommy dorsey’s “I’m getting sentimental over you.”

gordon the fan modine: “perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.”

corin tucker: “it’s the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine).”

daniel handler: miley cyrus, “party in the usa.”

pete paphides: tindersticks: “can we start again?”

shaun brilldream: “goodbye” by the sundays.

dawn cf: misfits “astro zombies.”

erin a girl called eddy: “alone again, naturally.”

michael white: the romantic aesthete in me says “is that all there is?” the realist says “flight of the bumblebee.”

clarissa cf: the final riff of the beatles’ version of “twist and shout.” I prefer, however, the idea that the end of the-world-as-experienced-as-present will only be clear in retrospect: cf. virginia woolf’s “on or about december 1910, human character changed.”

fran cannane: as I see the end of the world is due on 21 december I expect it would be some dreary christmas song.

stephin the magnetic fields: the monkees: “do I have to do this all over again?”

jennifer o’connor: prince “1999”?

legendary jim ruiz: another easy one, “edge of seventeen” (just like the white winged dove) by stevie nicks.

gail cf: “waiting for superman.”

allen clapp: doves: “pounding” (from the last broadcast)

tim dagger: versus “insomnia.”

bridget st john: “you’ll never walk alone.”

joe pines / foxgloves: I am not familiar with this prediction, but I agree with stephin merritt about skeeter davis.

ian musical chairs: the verlaines, “we’re all gonna die.”

 

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chickfactor poll: digital vs. physical product

do you make more money from digital or non-digital sales?

bridget st john: physical product and publishing.

hannah grass widow: we make money from both.

stephen the real tuesday weld: digital.

daniel handler: as a musician, I make the most money from symphony orchestras performing something I co-wrote. thank god I have another gig.

fran cannane: we don’t make money.

corin tucker: non-digital, I think. it might be a toss up at this point.

andrew eggs/talk it: N/A

stephin the magnetic fields: physical, still. digital music listening is still largely unpaid.

erin a girl called eddy: neither I’m afraid. the occasional ASCAP royalty check I receive just about covers my entenmanns habit.

gordon the fan modine: it’s been about equal.

jennifer o’connor: about the same on each I’d say. but mainly, I make money from licensing my songs to tv and film.

matt lorelei: in the short term physical product as that is easier to sell at gigs (folks can hold it in their hand). but over the long term digital eventually catches up and may even surpass physical sales.

james dump/yo la tengo: donuts are a physical product, right?

joe pines / foxgloves: I heard a gratifying rumor about royalties from matinee records, but otherwise the closest I have ever come to making any money out of music is because gail o’hara pays proper money to acts she has asked to perform. I have appreciated this.

 

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the crush list 2012.

sharon van etten: I’d say nick cave, thurston moore, pj harvey, and patti smith. I met thurston moore under the most embarrassing circumstances. mike watt asked me to sing for his book release this year. it was for iggy pop. they were doing stooges stuff. and I was going to do “dirt.” and it was like, j mascis, mike watt, pete shelley. it was freaking me out. I was like, “yeah, I’ll do that. so I’m emailing back and forth with j. because I met him through jagjaguwar and he played on a song live one day with us. so he gives me this time for soundcheck and when to show up to sing with everybody. and I guess I had it wrong, or misinterpreted his email. I thought it started at this time and it was ending at that time. I’m walking down the stairs to lpr [le poisson rouge] and thurston moore is just sitting there on a bench and he’s like, “are you sharon? you missed soundcheck.” and I was like, “oh no, this is how I’m meeting thurston moore? this is the worst.” then he was like, “it’s fine, I don’t think anyone cares about any of this.” it was great. no one took themselves too seriously.

stephin the magnetic fields: drew daniel (matmos).

stephen the real tuesday weld: cate blanchett.

andrew eggs/talk it: sleep.

corin tucker: tommy lee jones.

frankie rose: ooh, I can’t say that!

pete paphides: all of butcher boy.

gail cf: john fahey, mark duplass, tim cohen, michael tomasky, wyatt cenac.

fran cannane: um today….brian cox, most musicians over 80, professor mary beard, hilary mantel, the apollo astronauts, michael mori.

hannah grass widow: grimes, just like everyone else.

gaylord cf/wfmu: I’ll adopt ernie k-doe’s sage tactic, as laid out in the song “a certain girl,” and affect coy reticence.

lillian grass widow: gary oldman really does it for me.

allen clapp: mike crabtree (husband of the legendary jim ruiz group’s bass player and vocalist charlotte crabtree and singer-guitarist for the carpetbaggers). the guy built a guitar with a bottle opener installed next to the volume controls. genius.

rachel blumberg: jeffrey underhill.

(legendary) jim ruiz: dandy livingston, june miles-kingston, and (secret) mick talbot.

matt lorelei: those handsome boys of weekend. too cool. sanae of moon duo (who are the closest I’ll get to seeing something as good as snapper).

erin a girl called eddy: jack donaghy, dr. eric kandel.

daniel handler: julia stiles, stick insect, this girl at four barrels coffee who wears a jumpsuit.

dawn cf: who isn’t…

tim dagger: sarah cracknell (we share the same birthday).

janice cf: archer prewitt, always.

shaun brilldream: amelia fletcher, fountains, joanna gruesome.

jennifer o’connor: amy bez.

james dump/yo la tengo: doona bae, shiina ringo, jennifer o’connor, annette peacock.

michael white: I can’t say, for they are almost certainly reading this.

clarissa cf: the coilhousers, mustard gas, lisa fewer reasons to get out of bed than ever.

joe pines / foxgloves: I am still available to write all scarlett johansson’s campaign speeches. or if this question is about 1992, then harriet wheeler’s.

 

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chickfactor poll: phones and camera phones

how has the proliferation of phone cameras changed your approach to live performance?

gordon the fan modine: hasn’t really. but I do feel a sense that scotty is available more-so now.

corin tucker: I’m much more conscious of the fact that everything is being recorded. no unrecorded original material can just be messed around with onstage, which I really really miss.

stephin the magnetic fields: they’re just another aspect of the unpleasantness of playing live.

hannah grass widow: it’s definitely a big deal. there’s the show itself and then there’s the mediated show—the photos and tweets and blogs and facebook response etc. it really bothers me when people are on their phones while we’re playing even if they are tweeting or texting something positive. I would love for people to be present with us and for us all to share an experience. when phones are out at our show, it kind of sends me a message that this moment isn’t worth that person being completely there for. They’ll re-hash it later when they post to their flickr or tumblr or twitter or whatever. I like it when I feel like everyone is in the moment and really enjoying it without feeling the need to broadcast with their avatar.

bridget st john: I haven’t thought much about it – they have no bearing on how I prepare for a gig.

daniel handler: remember when there were signs up saying they’d eject you if you took a picture? that seems fainting-couch quaint.

michael white: I’d rather deal with them than the cigarette smoke that was part and parcel of going to a gig in 1992.

stephen the real tuesday weld: never leave a dressing room without a jacket.

jennifer o’connor: they haven’t. it is sometimes annoying, but what can you do?

matt lorelei: our performances are usually too loud to capture on camera phones. also, I try to ensure that laundry day and gig day do not align.

james dump/yo la tengo: your style’s gotta be tight all the time in 2012.

tim dagger: I loved bringing my throwaway cameras to gigs in the ’90s and getting the photos developed…phone cameras just aren’t the same.

joe pines / foxgloves: I am glad that people have filmed one or two of the pines’ performances for posterity. the other half of the pines may not agree.

shaun brilldream: if you want to watch a gig through the lens of a camera phone, you are an idiot.

allen clapp: made me want to lose 10 pounds! enrolled in bikram yoga classes. done.

fran cannane: it is dreadful but one has to ignore it. even when I am at a concert there is a temptation to film/photograph instead of just enjoying.

andrew eggs/talk it: I’m definitely thinking harder about my stage attire. no more shorts.

pete paphides: I don’t use them, but it doesn’t bother me if other people do.

gail cf: it makes me want to knock people’s phones out of their hands. also: if you are looking after a child/animal, look at the child/animal every once in a while instead of your stupid phone.

 

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chickfactor poll about chickfactor.

cover14

how is chickfactor different from mainstream media?

jennifer o’connor: it digs DEEP. it has HEART.  it is MORE FUN.

matt lorelei: in every way possible. would the mainstream media ever run a review as brilliant as: “S*H*I*T S*A*N*D*W*I*C*H”? I think not.

gaylord cf/wfmu: chickfactor wouldn’t know how to be market-driven if it tried. and it doesn’t.

michael white: it doesn’t make me want to abandon all hope in humanity. also, to my knowledge, mainstream media has never acknowledged the existence of—much less interviewed—the cannanes.

daniel handler: CF decides, you report.

shaun brilldream: it’s more open to express ideas rather than sell product.

stephen the real tuesday weld: it’s not owned by rupert murdoch?

clarissa cf: the only points of similarity are cosmetic.

corin tucker: better photos.

fran cannane: on the whole a lot better.

andrew eggs/talk it: I’d like to hear from your mom on this one, gail.

janice cf: it’s copy-edited!!! <3

stephin the magnetic fields: I don’t know, all I read is BUTT.

dawn cf: more intimate, engaging.

the legendary jim ruiz: it’s honest, it looks better and I read it cover to cover.

ian musical chairs: it’s more passionate and less snobby.

james dump/yo la tengo: CF has more photos of the would-be-goods.

tim dagger: you guys write about bands I like/love.

joe pines / foxgloves: it is a fanzine, and it sometimes prints words that I have written.

 

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chickfactor poll: music-related apps

do you use any music-related apps? which ones?

stephin the magnetic fields: just voice memos. it’s simple and convenient.

james dump/yo la tengo: funkbox, filtatron, and animoog. all are useful, and fun.

hannah grass widow: garageband.

stephen the real tuesday weld: tune in radio. fire field recorder.

corin tucker: not really…

kim baxter: I have the bandcamp app on my facebook page. on my phone I have a guitar tuner and a metronome.

matt lorelei: songkick to keep track of shows coming to town. starting to play around with introducing some elements from an ios device. I quite like playing around with tonepad to generate ideas.

fran cannane: oh lots—instruments and the like.

andrew eggs/talk it: I like spotify, amplitube and rebirth.

erin a girl called eddy: I use a great app on my laptop called tapedeck for songwriting. It has the look and feel of an old cassette recorder, but without the vulnerability of tape. there is no romance in trying to scotch tape together old cassettes anymore.

pete paphides: I have an app which tells me where the nearest record store is.

bridget st john: no.

joe pines / foxgloves: I don’t really know what ‘apps’ are.

allen clapp: I use an iPad app for mellotron sounds live. it beats carrying a 200 lb. instrument to shows, but it’s still not as cool as a real mellotron!

ian musical chairs: I use spotify at work and iTunes.

jennifer o’connor: I use spotify.

gordon the fan modine: I write and demo on the iphone using voice memo and fourtrack. I also use the guitar toolkit—which is great; and a protools remote.

 

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chickfactor poll: reunions, part two

what bands pulled off a successful reunion? which ones did not?

janice cf: successful: the aislers set! black tambourine! the softies! unsuccessful: pavement at matador 21.

ed shelflife: good: aislers set, black tambourine, pipas, small factory, devo. bad: peter hook / joy division, omd, gang of four.

james dump/yo la tengo: mission of burma; no one else.

michael white: the stone roses were successful because they had nothing to live up to: they were awful then and are awful now. alternately, prefab sprout’s reunion was unsuccessful because it never happened.

daniel handler: the soft boys did it really well, but nobody noticed, nextdoorland is one of my favorite pop records of the last decade. the go-betweens made their best albums post-breakup, there, I said it, rachel worth and oceans apart are even better than before hollywood.

gaylord cf/wfmu: I was not only pleasantly surprised but also genuinely pleased with the recent beach boys reunion and album. the primitives’ reunion show and album were also pleasurable. I’m holding out hope for the upcoming mike-present/davy-free monkees concert.

gordon the fan modine: really enjoyed the feelies at ATP. any reunion is successful. good on those who can muster and make it happen, I say.

stephen the real tuesday weld: did: blur. did not: paul mccartney.

corin tucker: I saw the go-gos, which was great. pavement was fantastic, the portland show was great.

the legendary jim ruiz: I finally got to see honeybunch in brooklyn, loved it!

hannah grass widow: I’ve seen the raincoats and the vaselines in the past few years and they were amazing! we played a show with zounds and I was really excited but those guys were kinda weird. they got our name wrong when they thanked us for playing and it was an overall disappointing experience especially because “demystification” is one of my favorite songs. oh well.

stephin the magnetic fields: throbbing gristle. the spice girls.

dawn cf: successful: black tambourine, lois, small factory, codeine. not successful: pavement @ matador 21.

shaun brilldream: the only band I’ve seen pull it off are the pixies.

matt lorelei: I was skeptical of going to see gang of four years ago at the warfield but it was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. they delivered. also, the aislers at bell house were as tight as a band could hope to be at any time. ridiculous.

clarissa cf: successful: mission of burma: great because they never claimed to be kids, & got better at listening to each other; unrest: great because all they have to do is show up and do what they do, and time freezes. not successful: any band that once prided itself on having new material all the time and no longer bothers to come up with any.

fran cannane: the buzzcocks were pretty good. I am looking forward to even as we speak playing in november in sydney.

joe pines / foxgloves: the commotions 2004 and black tambourine 2012 both seemed to know when to leave people wanting more. I would like to note for posterity that archie moore introduced “dream baby dream” by telling a brooklyn crowd: “hey, new jersey, here’s a bruce springsteen song for y’all!”

tim dagger: good: mission of burma, scratch acid, dino jr.

bridget st john: successful: the aislers set.

pete paphides: pentangle. that was pretty unbelievable. their london lyceum show was one of the best shows I’ve seen by anyone.

ian musical chairs: did: soft boys, go-betweens. did not (sadly): VU, television.

andrew eggs/talk it: in the last couple years I’ve seen the vaselines, the dismemberment plan, and pavement. all shows were pretty good!

gail cf: did: black tambourine! small factory! did not: the pavement boys got me down. if you really hate each other, don’t do it.

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chickfactor poll: reunions

are there any bands you would pay top dollar to see reunite?

john the magnetic fields: talking heads.

pete paphides: mellow candle; the astronauts line-up of the lilac time; abba, even though I admire them for not doing so.

stephen the real tuesday weld: walker brothers.

gaylord cf/wfmu: I’ll limit my answer to bands in which all or most original members are alive and available, so I’ll say dolly mixture. I’d also break the bank for a kinks reunion as well as one with the diana-mary-cindy supremes.

michael white: everything but the girl—but only if they played eden in its entirety and in the venue of my choosing, such as my living room.

corin tucker: it’s not really about money, but bikini kill would make me happy.

daniel handler: I’m not good at these reunite questions. I just keep picturing the reanimated corpse of shostakovich or mary hansen or something.

erin a girl called eddy: the smiths.

fran cannane: the particles. smokey robinson and the miracles.

stephin the magnetic fields: felt.

hannah grass widow: the raincoats. and I feel so lucky to have seen them play several times!

matt lorelei: I doubt it is possible but, josef k and/or snapper. oh and loop, the sheer mention of which will no doubt send my lovely wife into spasms of laughter as she has seen loop and I have not.

sam the magnetic fields: the magnetic fields.

james dump/yo la tengo: yura yura teikoku.

dawn cf: not sure I would pay top dollar to see anyone reunite. the question is would I go? it’s mostly bands I loved that I never got  a chance to see: replacements?

ian musical chairs: sneaky feelings, orange juice.

bridget st john: no!

mark teenbeat/unrest: queen (with freddie mercury). the smiths (of course, like probably everyone else here).

tim dagger: no…ok, maybe the smiths.

janice cf: velocity girl.

gordon the fan modine: yep. gotta be the smiths. never say never.

ed shelflife: the housemartins.

jennifer o’connor: maybe the sundays, never got to see them, really loved them back in the day.

darren hanlon: jake thackray.

clarissa cf: if masada got back together 20 years from now, I’d probably fly across the country to see them.

andrew eggs/talk it: no.

the legendary jim ruiz: heavenly, the jazz butcher, the housemartins, the style council, any old mersey beat bands like the merseybeats, the searchers or the escorts, to name a few.

gail cf: dolly mixture. marine girls. tiger trap.

shaun brilldream: I would give my right arm for the smiths not to reform.

joe pines / foxgloves: honeymoon diary. the world could use a little more jennifer robbins. I would also pay my favorite just to come over and play ‘homeless club kids’ with me.