I'm takin' ya home, turn off the phone, we'll listen to radio -- We Are Augustines

You know those bands who people recommend, people who as of yet haven't steered you wrong with their recommended bands, that you really want to love, but you just don't? I have to be honest, but Brooklyn based We Are Augustines is one of those bands. Don't get me wrong, I like them, but for whatever reason it's taken me a lot of listening to get that. I'm not sure what exactly it is about them; the songwriting is good, the instrumentation well above par, the songs themselves are good. I really can't pin it down. They just aren't a band that I immediately clicked with, like I have with so many of these other bands I've discovered in the last 7 months. This doesn't at all mean that you shouldn't check them out, you should. It's just that I'm not 100% sold with them, yet. 

For all I know they may be one of those bands that you like even more once you've seen them live. I've talked to people who have said that they didn't become a full-blown Springsteen fan until they had seen him live (this unfortunately didn't work with my sister, she's still not really a fan after seeing him live.) So, as I will be seeing them as part of the Outlaw Roadshow August 10**, maybe my opinion will change. Until then, I'll keep on listening to Rise Ye Sunken Ships.

Guitarist Billy McCarthy, bassist Eric Sanderson and drummer Rob Allen are We Are Augustines. This band has played for live audiences here in the States and also "across the pond" including such festivals as Coachella and T In the Park. They have also done the late night TV circuit, appearing on Last Call with Carson Daily, The Late Show with David Letterman and Leno (what ever his show is called these days)  Their debut album Rise Ye Sunken Ships is available on iTunes, Amazon (as of writing this, it's only $3.99 from Amazon.) It's a solid album. It is good, I'm not saying I don't like it, I do, but I'm just not head-over-heels with it (I can't love everything, can I?) 

The album is pure rock and roll, I may or may not have used the word "Springsteen-y" to describe them to a friend at work (I won't lie, I did.) Some songs have that epic, almost anthem-y feel to them, such as New Drink for The Old Drunk, Philadelphia (City Of Brotherly Love) or Book Of James, a song for singer/songwriter Billy McCarthy's brother who passed away. The tracks Barrel of Leaves and East Los Angeles are about as ballad-y as you're gonna get from this record, and then I don't know if that's even the right word for them. Of the two, I prefer East Los Angeles. My favorite tracks on the album (yes, I have a few favorite tracks) are Juarez, Strange Days and New Drink for the Old Drunk. 

I will admit that the more I listen to this album, this band, the more it/they grow on me. I'm not going to give up on this band. Go buy their record, listen to it, then say to me "Jennifer, you're crazy, these guys are RAD"
(Since originalally posting this, I have continued to listen to Rise Ye Sunken Ships and it really is growing on me, I find myself liking it more and more, liking this band more and more.)


** Due to injury, as of 7/31/12 We Are Augustines have dropped out of the last leg of the tour. Sad times all around, but we want the band to be well. I'm bummed that I won't be seeing them as part of the Outlaw Roadshow, but I'll survive. Hopefully I'll get to see them someday. Get well soon, Billy!)

Round Here, we're cool as kittens, out there the dogs, they cry -- The Himalayans

Have you ever wondered what that band your favorite singer was in before he was the band he's in now sounded like? Well Counting Crows fans, wonder no more. Today we're gonna hop into our trusty DeLorean and go back in time to 1990/91, somewhere in the San Francisco/Berkeley, California area. These were magical times. So much amazing music was seeping from this city. We find ourselves entranced by a five piece band, featuring Dave Janusko on rhythm guitar/bass, Dan Jewett on lead guitar, Marty ("Mr. Jones") Jones on bass, Chris Roldan on drums and on vocals, young, pre-dread-locked, lyricist Adam Duritz. This band? The Himalayans. 


The Himalayans were primarily Dan Jewett and Chris Roldan's band. After placing a classified ad in a local newspaper for a lead singer and lyricist, they were joined by Adam Duritz. I love The Himalayans' sound. Although this is a pre- Counting Crows band, this band is NOT Counting Crows, they have a different sound. The noises their guitars produce is almost raw, sharp, tight. I think it's some of my favorite guitar work ever, and than's saying a lot. The bass lines are very pronounced, very 90s rock. Duritz's lyrics, though early in his songwriting career, are no less amazing than Crows lyrics. The songs are just as personal as future writing. We get some of our first glimpses of the legendary "Maria" in a couple of these songs. 




The Himalayans were big in the San Francisco music scene in 1990/1991. They were known for their live shows, to which they brought they own sound guy, so they sounded as if they were playing in a studio every time. Before the band amicably split in 1991, so Duritz could focus on Counting Crows, who had just been signed to Geffen, the Himalayans recorded their 17 song catalogue at Russian Hill Studios using a direct-to-DAT live recording process (three of the songs, Round Here, Diamonds and Babies and Cars and She Likes the Weather were recorded at Dancing Dog Studios and produced by Dave Bryson) The Record was finally released to the masses in 2007 on Adam Duritz's record label Tyrannosaurus Records. Since it's purchase, She Likes The Weather has quickly become a favorite.

The record opens with Jaded. The guitars in this song are pure Himalayans; they are singing to each other. Their raw twang, not country twang, but rock and roll twang, is everything to this song. This song, like many on the record, doesn't fit the traditional songwriting style of verse-chorus-verse-bridge-verse-chorus, they have read more like poetry. Does it make the songs less awesome? Hardly; it makes them better. River Shannon is one of the highlights (to me) on the record. I presume it's a story of Adam Duritz's time in Ireland when he was back-packing around Europe, I could be wrong, but either way it's a great song. Lyrically I think it's my favorite on the record. It is another track where the guitars are outstanding, the solo from Dan in the middle of the song is stellar.


The title track, She Likes the Weather is another favorite. The amazing guitar work continues to this song. I really love the bridge in the song: the bass line, the guitars, the vocals, the lyrics:
"oh my darling, oh oh oh my darling girl
oh my starving, oh oh oh my starving world
life is bitter life is cheap
she rises from the circus seat
leaves her flowers all alone now everything is overgrown"
Awesome. It's a great song to rock out to in the car, or wherever really. (The whole album has become a road trip staple for me. Whenever I have to drive the four and a half hours across Washington, this record is usually the first thing I turn on)

Diamonds and Babies and Cars is another favorite. I love the story it tells. Though I can't even begin to guess the real meaning of the lyrics, to me they tell of a fight, a break-up, a divorce maybe, of a couple, and the arguing that ensues. "Diamonds and babies and cars, don't add up to anything, at all"

I am a Counting Crows fan to the core, but I will admit that I love the Himalayans' Round Here more than the Counting Crow's version. The angst of the song, the slightly different lyrics, the fact that the song is more bass driven than guitar driven (I'm a sucker for amazing bass lines), the different bridge:
"There, on the violent tide of sleep
She's fast asleep and dreaming
Here on the lightning side of me
She comes awake"
There is just something about this version, this original version of this amazing song that hits me more than the Crows' version. Everyone has songs like that, right?

Ordinary Superman, Angels In America (more amazing guitar work,) Someone Else's Chapstick and Wishing Well are other songs that I highly recommend (really, I recommend the whole record, but if you're only gonna listen to a few songs, make it these ones.) My other top favorite on the record is Sailor Song. There isn't anything about this song that I don't like. The guitar clear and brilliant, the vocals waltzy, the song as a whole is magic. The lyrics, well the lyrics are pure Duritz:

Walk out Amanda, our fortunes are clear
These are the last of our days
Left San Francisco with time on my hands
And I got back with you on my brain
So bring me a second or bring me an hour
Bring me the world in a tear
Bring me a little of anything Amanda
And I'll keep it close to me here
Press it among the best years of my heart and my tears
And I want, and I want, and I want, and I want
Throw me up on the shore tonight and I'll count the last light
And I want, and I want, and I want, and I want...
Come on Amanda, you know what I mean
You won't be happy 'round here
Got on the wagon the tenth of December
I fell off the first of the year
And I know you wish I was better then that
I know you wish I was dry
God knows I wish I was somebody else
Right now I wish I could die
Press it among the best years of my heart and my tears
And I want, and I want, and I want, and I want
Maybe among the earphones of my heart and my soul
And I want, and I want, and I want, and I want everything
And I want to be a raider, I want anything
And I want to be a man
What's the matter?
Didn't you think we were trying?
Hey, what's the matter?
Didn't you think I was somebody else who
could lie in the wake of you smile?

Spent twenty-six stiffening years down the drain
Women who will spit in your eye
And a drunkard like me gets the worst of your love
Good riddance, good luck and good bye
Press it among the best years of my heart and my tears
And I want, and I want, and I want, and I want
Maybe among the hill folds of my heart and my soul
And I want, and I want, and I want, and I want
Singing 'till the sky turns and lungs burst and throat burns
And I want, and I want, and I want, and I want
Screaming 'till the sun houses my here and my now
And I want, and I want, and I want, and I want everything
And I want to be a sailor, I want anything
And I wanna be a man
I want everything
And I wanna be a sailor, I want anything
And I wanna be a man

See what I mean? The man is a lyrical genius. This whole record is worth buying. Guitar fans will enjoy and appreciate the abilities of this band. You can order it from the Tyrannosaurus Records website here: http://www.indiemerchstore.com/tyrannosaurus. Seriously, it's well worth it. Maybe someday the boys will all get together for a Himalayans reunion show, how rad would that be? Or maybe we could all get together and convince Adam Duritz to add a couple Himalayans covers to the Crow's live shows, specifically the one on August 10, in Sandpoint, ID.

Rawr -- Daniel and The Lion

To get this awesome ear candy, go here.

(What no clever play on lyrics title for this one? Nope. You try being clever when it's 9 million degrees outside. Anyway, "Rawr" means "I love you" in dinosaur, isn't that good enough?)

There really must be something in the water in Wisconsin. Earlier this year we were gifted the amazing Foreign Fields, have had a taste of the brilliant Field Report, and now Daniel and the Lion. Bringing their sound to you from Baraboo/Madison, Wisconsin, Daniel Pingrey (Piano, Marimba, Accordion, Drums) and 
Jimmie Linville (Vocals, Guitar, Banjo, Uke) are Daniel and the Lion. The band is folk/rock/pop, or as I like to call it, beautiful sounds that my ears love.

Last week, one of my most reliable new music sources, Adam Duritz of Counting Crows posted on Facebook/Twitter that he had been given Daniel and the Lion's record Death Head, and that he loved it. So, of course, being the sheep that I am, I followed the link he provided and downloaded Death Head (Side A) and also Sweet Teeth, their full length album from 2011. So far, I am thoroughly enjoying everything I am hearing from this band. Daniel and the Lion reminds me of something I've heard before, but at the same time it's completely new. The music is light and refreshing, the vocals smooth, full of feeling and soul, the lyrics perfect. 

Sweet Teeth is a beautiful record. From start to finish, all ten tracks are worth listening to over and over again, something I have been doing for the last couple days (I call it "research") A few of my favorite tracks on the record are Hollywood, this song gives me images of driving down an empty highway on a sunny afternoon, why? Don't know, just does. Horses is another track that I love. I love the vocals in this song, I love the lyrics. Hand in Hand is a beautifully crafted song. It's simple beginning with a naked acoustic guitar and piano flows into an almost haunting duet, between guest vocalist Kelly Steward and Jimmie Linville, almost a lament of sorts of lost love. Another shining track, Baraboo, a beautiful homage about the Wisconsin town from which they came. And to round out the record, I think my favorite, Seeds. It's upbeat, almost bouncy tempo is great. I love the guitar work in the song, and I love the vocals, especially in the chorus. All in all, this record is fantastic. It's one that like me, you'll want to listen to a lot. For reals.

Now onto Death Head, Daniel and the Lion's newest release. We, for now, just get "Side A" of this record. That's good, but not good enough; I want the rest! Side A is five tracks of musical goodness. Out of those five tracks, Need You, Forever, and Flash Flood are my top picks. Wait, that's over half the record! What about the other two songs? Oh, they're great too, I've just listened to those three more I guess. Need You has a yearning to it, the vocals hit your soul in just the right place. Forever gets you with an opening drum line that's like, "hey there, listen to this song, it's super" then the guitar reiterates that fact. Flash Flood is the track which Adam Duritz was just raving about on Facebook. When the lead songwriter of one of your favorite bands, who has written heaps of amazing songs himself, recommends a song based on it's lyrics, you listen to said song, coz the man knows what he's talking about. Listen to all of these songs, they are all amazing. But the record, it's only $5. Heck, you can get Sweet Teeth for free! What's stopping you? 


***Later that night --- the more I listen to Death Head (Side A) the more I love it. Seriously, get on this record. NOW.


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