Megan the Water Moccasin and I thought we were finished with running around in the summer heat to cover these festival things. We were wrong. This time, though, we weren't covering the festival on our own, which made our experience a bit less hectic. And so, yesterday, a bunch of us associated with The Rockit headed down to Santa Monica to cover Summer Strummer, which was this daylong festival of primarily local artists, most of whom rehearse or record at Swinghouse.
We showed up at around noon, went over to The Rockit booth and saw the new issue. It's not online yet, but it is in stores, so seek it out. This issue is the best yet. In addition to Street Scene footage, we have interviews with Wolfmother, Nine Black Alps, Ned's Atomic Dustbin (while I don't know for sure, I believe this is the first U.S. press since they released "Hibernation"), The Bronx, Sierra Swan, Moaning Lisa and Clear Static. There are also live reviews of The Subways, Dirty Pretty Things, Death Cab for Cutie, CSS and Cash Casia plus Robert's piece on Last.fm and tons of other reviews. Oh, and the latest installment of Animal Sounds, our cartoon, is the funniest yet. And, as a final bonus, for all you Southern California punk types, there is a poster of Mike Ness inside. Go get it at your local (and by local I mean L.A.) record store, coffeehouse and nightclub. Plus, if you go to a local record store coffeehouse and/or nightclub and don't see it, but think you should see it, let us know.
So, the first act we really caught was Stefy. As you might recall, a few weeks ago, I got reamed for stating my disdain for "Chelsea." Note that I had only dissed the song, not the band. Anyhow, since I'm a fair-minded sort, I checked out the live performance. At first, I thought it was well-played but a little dry. The singer was doing some Gwen Stefani warbles with her voice, which was odd considering that her voice is far superior to Stefani. After a few songs, I really started to feel the set. They had a song called "Orange Crush" that I liked. I still don't like "Chelsea," but Stefy is alright.
We spent most of the day running around from stage to stage to VIP section, trying to pin down people for interviews. I think I startled the 13-year-old singer from Drive A when I popped in front of him like Dr. Bombay and said, "Hey, my name is Liz. I'm from The Rockit. Can I interview you?" Robert cornered someone from Agent Orange as he emerged from a port-a-potty. Balthazar Monsoon was royally dissed by a member of The Donnas heretoforth referred to as Mean Donna. He said, though, that Josie Cotton were "really sweet." I heard some really funny stories backstage courtesy of The Spores and The Tender Box. Unfortunately, I didn't see Susanna Hoffs anywhere, which might actually be a good thing because I would have embarrassed myself by saying, "Oh my God, when I was in elementary school, I used to sing in front of the mirror to every Bangles song, even 'Going Down to Liverpool' and 'Hero Takes a Fall.'" I might have also mentioned that I became really good at casting my eyes to the side, so good that I still manage to unintentionally do it in pictures.
A few weeks ago, my friend John in New York told me that I had to check out Under the Influence of Giants. I had my chance yesterday and I freakin' love, love, love this band. I tried to find them after the set, but couldn't. I wanted to ask if they are really into "Fly Like an Eagle." Listen to the band's music and you will understand why.
I guess that's really only part of what happened, but I must depart and you will read the entire story next month in The Rockit.