Due to a change of venue, the White Stripes gig in Anchorage Alaska now has more seats available. Which means that more tickets have been released. If you already purchased a ticket to the previous venue, it’s fine, they will be honored at the Arena. But, if you don’t have your ticket yet, here’s a fresh chance! Tickets are available through ticketmaster, but I bet you can purchase them at Carr’s or somewhere similar, yeah? For the ticketmaster link, see below in the links area…
There’s a bit more stripey news too - apparently their merchandiser has gone a bit mad over the band’s “aluminum anniversary” and their own “Official Tartan” pattern. ([More →])
Stereogum, has a hilarious report from a reader about the “secret show” that White Stripes fans searched for in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Having heard reports of these surprise performances from every Canadian town that the pair had played in already, St. John locals were ready for a hot pursuit to find theirs. ([More →])
The full album of Icky Thump by the wonderful White Stripes is streaming right now! I know I have seemed a bit of a tease lately with all the Icky Thump news that’s fit to print and none of the actual goods that you, the biggest White Stripes fans in the world, are looking for. Well, that is not the case today.
MTV’s The Leak is streaming the entire Icky Thump album right now! That’s right, you can listen song by song or listen to it all in one go, but you can definitely listen to the whole album. The wait is over. Will they have to take it down when they get an angry phone call from Jack? Who knows? Go listen before its too late!
01 Icky Thump (4:14)
02 You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You’re Told) (3:54)
03 300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues (5:28)
04 Conquest (2:48)
05 Bone Broke (3:14)
06 Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn (3:05)
07 St. Andrew (This Battle Is In The Air) (1:49)
08 Little Cream Soda (3:45)
09 Rag And Bone (3:48)
10 I’m Slowly Turning Into You (4:34)
11 A Martyr For My Love For You (4:19)
12 Catch Hell Blues (4:18)
13 Effect And Cause (3:00)
In other news, the album will be released on cute little Mega and Jack USB sticks:
Each is a 512 MB USB 2.0 flash drive! According to pitchf*#k:
The drives are available separately or as a pair, and all of them will come pre-loaded with Icky Thump in Apple Lossless format. They will ship the week of June 19, which is, not coincidentally, the album’s U.S. release date (June 18 in the UK).
WHITE STRIPES LINKS
MTV The Leak With Icky Thump White Stripes website
NME Magazine recently included a limited edition collectors item with last week’s issue. The magazine came with a red 7″ picture vinyl of “Rag and Bone.”
So, I recently reported (very briefly) that Jack White was pissed to find out that Icky Thump was leaked on a Chicago radio station. Finally, I have a bit more to add to that story.
Watch the official Icky Thump video while you read:
To recap, DJ Electra of Q101 in Chicago received a digital file of the entire album that is set to be released on June 19th. She in turn played the entire album on the air with absolutely no permission from either the White Stripes nor WMG. When Jack got wind of the news within mere hours of the album airing, he took time out of his busy tour schedule and called the station from Spain. He verbally let the people have it over the phone, but the case seems to end there. As yet, no legal action has been taken against the station nor the dj. I will keep my eye out for updates however, because Warner Music Group does not take kindly to piracy and will usually release the dogs (i.e. the RIAA) when they get offended. Someone did record the entire album off the radio and it is available somewhere on the web right now. I’d post a link but it would be useless because it will be shut down by the time you read this and another one will spring up in its place. Check back here for updates on how the story progresses. You can always type White Stripes into the searchbox in the right sidebar, and it will take you directly to all the stories about the band that are published on HearingTest. (There is also a link at the end of this post to all other WS stories).
In the meantime, here are the best/most relevant links available about this story:
The White Stripes will be playing a special show at Madison Square Garden in NYC with Nick Cave’s Grinderman: New York Madison Square Garden (July 24)
For the entire White Stripes tour, head over to the Tour Report on HearingTest The Cold War Kids have been chosen as the supporting band for the entire tour (except the Anchorage AK show).
For those of you within the reach of NME Magazine’s circulation, the this week’s newest issue hit stands today with a surprise release from Meg and Jack.
“Rag And Bone” from the upcoming Icky Thump has been released on 7″ red vinyl picture disk (Um, that’s a small record for those who don’t remember record technology) and it’s included free with this week’s NME Mag from the UK. Well, they call it free, but you still have to purchase that trashy NME periodical to get your record.
If you aren’t able to get your hands on one of these limited editions, don’t fret too much. Many retail record shops will be stocking a similar version - a 7″ white vinyl with unique etching on the B side. If you happen to catch the NME Mag version, it comes in a special gatefold sleeve that can also accommodate the white one. Ben Beardsworth, the managing director of the not-so-indie-label that the White Stripes are currently on, was exuberent about the NME distribution, saying, “There’s something quite magical about getting such a strong track, on such a stunningly presented piece of vinyl, directly in to the hands of such a vast number of people.”
Three songs from the upcoming Icky Thump have been leaked on the internet: “Conquest”, “Torrential Outpoor Blues” and “You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do What You You’re Told)”. Also, Chicago FM station Q101 played the not-released-until-June-19th-album in its entirety this week. More about that from MTV and the blog of the dj who played it, Queen DJ Electra.
As for rescheduling shows on their US tour this summer, this is what the duo have to say on the White Stripes website:
Due to unforeseen scheduling issues, The White Stripes have had to push back some of their early September dates. The only dates affected were those between September 4-13 and all but Albuquerque, New Mexico have already been rescheduled. For a full list of rescheduled dates please visit the “shows” section. A new date for Albuquerque will be announced very soon. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused our fans.
A limited number of pre-sale tickets for the newly rescheduled Salt Lake City, Utah date at The “E” Center on September 29th will be available through the pre-sale link located at the top of the “shows” section of the site starting at 10 am MST tomorrow, June 1st. Tickets for this show officially go on sale to the public on Saturday, June 2nd
The Kiva Auditorium show in Albuquerque, New Mexico has now been rescheduled for October 11th, 2007.
“This was about saying NO, a new freedom, a positive NO. Musically it was like a new beginning; everything was based on one beat, archaic rhythm and feedback. It was for the first time that a band seemed loose and free and oriented towards the future.” Jochen Irmler, Faust
“A banjo with a microphone in it to make it electric, a fuzz bass en ’66, and an amazing singer, not to mention the drummer and organist, both out of this galaxy with what they were doing.
Their melodies were pop destructive and must be played to your younger brother.” The White Stripes
monks Tribute Album Will Be Released In US - June 19 2007
silver monk time - features the following 29 international artists covering Monks songs :
The Fall
Faust
Fehlfarben
Doc Schoko
Gudrun Gut
Die Goldenen Zitronen / Chicks on Speed
PTB 3 (psychic tv)
Noise Conspiracy
The Havletones
Alexander Hacke
Michaela Melian
Barbara Manning and the Go-Luckys.
Floating Di Morel
S.Y.P.H.
Alex Empire/Gary Burger
Silver Apples/Alan Vega
Mouse on Mars
The Raincoats
Jason Forrest
Singapore Sling
27/11
Nista Nije Nista
Mense Reents
The 5.6.7.8’s (the band in Kill Bill 1)
Cycle
The Gossip
Jon Spencer/Solex
Charles Wilp / The Monks
liner notes to silver monk time - 29 international artists take on the legacy of the monks
in 1965 the monks were looking for a new zero point in pop music and created what later turned into the milestone record “black monk time”. “black monk time” accidentally or intentionally pre-dated several genres that were to come: kraut rock, electronic music, heavy metal, punk, industrial and techno.
when the monks in january 1966 launched their “living (pop) art project” at famous reeperbahn top ten club the largest german tabloid “bild-zeitung” wrote “noise, noise and no melody – robot music!”.
in july of the same year the monks presented their black record for the first time live on the teenage tv show “beat-club”. to the surprise of many they started the show with an improvised new song, which wasn’t even on the record. you could call it commercial suicide. the song itself was archaic, one repetitive beat, three monks beating on gigantic tambourines, an organ gone mad, a guitar on the floor that fed back and at one point was shyly touched by four band members. all typical macho rock attitudes were taken out. it was pure and swinging joyfulness and seemed to have more in common with avant garde art than with regular pop music. therefore maybe it was misunderstood. to some degree though it was the end of rock music as we knew it. the monks called the song “monk chant”. rumor has it that “monk chant” was supposed to be the one and only idea for their second long player. one primitive beat spread out on two lp sides. “the rolling stones are baroque, the beatles for old grannies, you, the monks are playing the music of the future, you are supposed to play the audience into ecstasy,” demanded their two german managers. this second (never released) record was to be called “silver monk time”.
play loud! is proud to announce 29 international pop bands who continue the musical journey initiated 40 years ago by the seven monks: gary burger, larry clark, dave day, roger johnston, walther niemann, karl-heinz remy and eddie shaw.
crank it up and enjoy this brand new ecstatic monks record.
excerpted from the original liner notes of BLACK MONK TIME
Gary Burger plays guitar and was born in Minnesota. Roger Johnston, a Texan, gives his drums the works. Chicago boy: That is Larry Clark - crazy-fingers at the organ, for his father was no gangster, but a priest. And Dave Day has more than one banjo and more than one microphone built into each of his banjos. He claims that he was born in Washington. And Eddie Shaw, who hails from California, uses his bass guitar as he sees fit!
The backbone of the Monks’ music is in Roger’s drumming. The thudding of his omnipresent toms is constantly accenting and coloring his sharp snare work and sparse use of cymbals. He is always in control. It sometimes sounds as if he is directing the band, which is a rhythmic experiment in itself, from the rear. Dave, whose banjo is exclusively rhythmic, usually takes his cues from Roger’s snare, often playing at twice the drummer’s speed. The hollow, mad clacking sound of Dave’s banjo is at times evocative of a locomotive that has dropped its cars and cargo in favor of a faster pace. Playing somewhere in between the two is Eddie’s overdriven bass seeking to put everything into some kind of harmonic perspective. Gary and larry play what might be viewed as the “melody” of the song as well as the solos. Gary’s soloing technique is to rip sheets of feedback out of his guitar, which yammers and howls in protest, before slapping it back into the framework of the, er . . . “groove.” Larry usually skitters across the keyboard allowing occasional glimpses of fat cathedral-esque tone. His infrequent chords show the kind of caterwaul his organ would actually be capable of, if he slowed down long enough. The overall effect is maddening. It is without a doubt the most uncompromising stuff ever to call itself rock ‘n’ roll.
How Minnesota musicians revived ’60s rockers the Monks
the monks accomplished a lot during their time in Germany, but it is no small detail that each musician hailed from the USofA before being relocated by the Cold War. check out this article to read about their further adventures in Minnesota, and how the Twin Cities inspired the revival of the monks 40 years after the band had disappeared.
previously unavailable material! CD Will Be Released May 1 2007
these early monks recordings were made seven months before Black Monk Time.
play loud! and Munster Records release them now for the first time in Europe
plus 3 additional tracks by The 5 Torquays and Jason Forrest.
inner sleeve with liner notes and never-before-seen photographs!
the cd will be ready for shipping on may 1st, 2007
the 12″ vinyl can be purchased now from the Play Loud Shop
play loud! productions presents - a documentary film by Dietmar Post & Lucía Palacios
monks – the transatlantic feedback a retrospect into the evolution and devolution of UBERBEAT
the original press release [warning - pdf format] from Play Loud describes the film, monks – the transatlantic feedback :
the film (short synopsis)
The monks were 5 American GIs in cold war Germany who billed themselves as the anti-Beatles; they
were heavy on feedback, nihilism and electrical banjo. They had strange haircuts, dressed in black,
mocked the military and rocked harder than any of their mid-sixties counterparts while managing to
basically invent industrial, heavy metal, punk and techno music.
The genre-overlapping documentary film not only illustrates the pop music phenomenon in its political,
social and cultural-historic contexts, but also reveals the monks project as the first marriage of art and
popular music and this months before Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground.
The five protagonists of the film came to cold war Germany in 1961 as soldiers and left the country in 1967
as avant-garde monks. For more than thirty years they were not able to talk about their strange
experience. In the film the five original band members recount for the first time their adventure.
featuring
Gary Burger (vocals/guitar)
Larry Clark (organ)
Dave Day (banjo/guitar)
Roger Johnston (drums)
Eddie Shaw (bass)
Charles Wilp (fashion photographer, composer, Afri-Cola guru, ARTronaut and collaborator of the monks)
Jimmy Bowien (Polydor record producer of the monks)
Werner Henjes (Polydor sound engineer of the monks)
Wolfgang Gluszczewski (tour manager of the monks)
Joachim Irmler (Faust, 60’s eyewitness, fan, musician)
Jon Spencer (Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, 90’s fan, musician)
Byron Coley (Spin Magazine staff writer)
Genesis P-Orridge (Psychic TV & Throbbing Gristle, 60’s fan, musician)
Peter Zaremba (Fleshtones, 90’s fan, musician)
credit list
production company : play loud! productions
produced and directed by : Dietmar Post & Lucía Palacios
edited by : Dieter Jaufmann
additional editing : Karl-W. Huelsenbeck
camera & sound by : Dietmar Post & Lucía Palacios
additional camera : Renato Falcao
script : Dietmar Post
music by : the monks
special dedication
in memory of monks drummer Roger Johnston (1939 – 2004)
monks collaborator Charles Wilp (1932 – 2005)
format DVCAM – DigiBeta | 4:3 | 100 minutes | USA, Germany, Spain 2006
original language English + German (with English subtitles)
quicktime movie trailer which you can also view on both the monks’ website as well as Play Loud’s site.
German Film Festival Showcases Monks Film In Australian Cities
