EXCLUSIVE! Moneypenny INTV!

Very sassy, very sexy and very fun. Chicago beauties DJ Chess Hubbard aka Mother Hubbard and DJ A-Cup make up the Windy Cities favorite house DJ's Moneypenny. The duo, who made their live debut at Lollapalooza this past summer in Perry's DJ tent, engaged a large crowd of festival performers in an all out dance party in the middle of the day. From opening to the likes of The Bravery, Robyn, and Chromeo are poised to take the club scene by storm, one spin at a time. Take a look my interview with these very cool ladies, as I spoke to Mother Hubbard and DJ A-Cup about coming together, Chicago and where they want to go and who they dream of playing with.

What was it like making your debut at Lollapalooza?

Chess Hubbard- It was a bit daunting, but extremely exhilarating too. I have gone to Lolla the past few years since it moved to Chicago, but I also went to Lolla as a wee lass several years ago when it was a touring show so there was definitely some nostalgia wrapped into the excitement as well.

DJ-A Cup Luckily, making our debut at Lolla wasn't as intimidating as it could have been. It's in our hometown of Chicago, so even though we aren't well known on the national scene, we knew there would be at least a handful of friends and fans rooting us on

Was it extra special to not only debut at Lollapalooza, but also in your own backyard of Chicago?

CH- Of course. I think any show we play in Chicago is special since this is where we met and Moneypenny began!

DJA-Cup - Chicago has such an incredible music history, and its role in the beginnings of electronic music is really special as well. So for us to perform on Perry's stage, with such an emphasis on the type of music and artists we're inspired by, in our own home town, was quite an honor.

One thing we did to make our Lollapalooza performance really special was to keep our new original material and show under wraps. We've been recording new songs for a while but didn't really let anyone know besides our closest friends. It was great to be able to unveil them (we did do a couple of smaller preview shows the week before to warm up) to a hometown crowd and show them another side of our project.

Was there any pressure to make your set memorable since you were introducing Moneypenny to the world?

CH- We wanted to make it as special as we could and with the budget we had. Having a choreographer and dancers really added a lot to the set. We planned the outfits and make-up as well, but the dancers were the main additive that made it special.

DJ A-Cup- We put a lot of pressure on ourselves for the show knowing it was our festival and live debut. Instead of doing a traditional two turntable set (or no turntables, as many DJs did - some even pre-recorded their sets and just played that to make sure it was perfect), we opted for a crazy three turntable set where we dropped over 30 songs in the first 25 minutes alone. As far as the live portion goes... I used to design costumes and sets so originally I wanted an insane landscape and ridiculous costumes and dancers, but within the constraints of the stage (we weren't even allowed to hang a banner with our name on it), we toned it down to include dancing, choreography, and a little robot makeup.

How has Chicago influenced your style and sound?

DJ A-Cup – I don't think there's any Chicago DJs who can say house music hasn't influenced them a little bit - Chicago is its home. There is a nice underground and super stylish hip hop scene, and we often find ourselves playing up and coming Chicago artists like Hollywood Holt and Mic Terror, layering them over disco or odd finds from the 80's. There's also a really nice Nu Disco scene here - DJ SR-71 has been pushing it for a while, and I've noticed a lot of DJs taking notice.

CH- Hmmm. I think Chicago has a pretty diverse musical environment, but I think the most noticeable element that has effected our style and sound would be Chicago's rich house music scene.

You started off as DJ’s under the banner Rocktapussy, now you are Moneypenny. Why the change in name?

CH- We loved the name Rocktapussy, but it is more limiting in some ways. As far as radio play goes and of course the fact that some people hear "Rocktapussy" and think it is a joke name. We didn't want our name limiting us in any way. Having the name Moneypenny allows us to still reference James Bond and it is a name our parents even like!

DJ A-Cup- We started Rocktapussy as sort of a jokey moniker to attach to our DJ project at the very beginning. Once it started to take off and we began writing and recording original music, we decided to change it before it became a problem. For example, we just sold a Moneypenny song to ABC Family - and I would bet a thousand dollars they wouldn't have touched the music with the name Rocktapussy in front of it.

Separately you both were well known in the Chicago nightlife scene, why did you choose to team up?

CH- We met through Matt, my business partner and Jessica's boyfriend, and hit it off. We have similar tastes in music, even when it comes to weird goth and industrial artists, and I think we both have very tomboy personalities, so we got along outside of work too. Also, we complement each other very well. Jessica brings the charisma, style, and glamor while I bring the nerdtastic graphic design and computer programming abilities. It's natural working together and it's refreshing to collaborate with someone that appreciates music from all different genres as well.

DJ A-Cup- There's only so much you can do as a solo DJ - you can get into remixing and doing your own music, but it's so much nicer to have another ear to bounce ideas off. I think our mixes we do together are more interesting than what we'd come up with on our own. We share a love of off-center music, old industrial, goth, weird disco and 80's, terrible mainstream guilty pleasures, etc - and it's fun to take disparate ideas and blend them together. The shared love is key.

Who are some of the songwriting and production teams you have been working with?

DJ A-Cup - We work with friends of ours here in Chicago, Blake Smith and Mike Willison from the bands The Prairie Cartel and Caviar. They've been doing this a lot longer than we have and I frankly don't think we'd have even got our first song done without their help. Another fantastic songwriter we've gotten to work with is Simon Perry from NYC. Between all of us, we've been able to craft songs that span the spectrum of pop, rock, and electronic music - much like our mixtapes.

CH- Simon Perry, Prairie Cartel, and Hey Champ so far with a lot of others in the brainstorming phase.

You have shared the stage with some great acts like Robyn, The Bravery, and Chromeo to name a few. What were those experiences like? What did you pick up from those like acts?

CH- Opening for Robyn was our very first show ever. We had never DJed out in public before that and it was one of those moments where we could have choked in front of a 1000+ people and made a fool out of ourselves easily. But we didn't let the fact that is was our first show get to us. It was an intimidating experience, but after that show I knew we had something special because we pulled our set off and the crowd and staff loved it.

The Bravery show allowed us to play at Metro in front of a big audience and I just love Metro's stage and sound.

Chromeo at Hard Rock Hotel was exciting since we are really big fans of Chromeo's music and it was a Lolla after party and people were in full on party mode.

DJ A-Cup - Robyn is an INCREDIBLE performer. She's so tiny and just commands the stage when she takes it. I think she's inspired me to get a cape as well. The Bravery and Chromeo are so slick and professional, they have their stage show down to a science. It will be nice to hone that on tour one of these days...

Where does Moneypenny want to go with their music?

CH- Go? Like style wise or career wise? Style wise, we are constantly evolving. We don't want to stick to one genre and we want to continue to work with songwriters we respect and whose music we like in addition to writing more and more music ourselves as well. Career wise the sky is the limit! Hopefully people like what they hear!

DJ A-Cup- We want to make as much music as possible for now, and worry about editing it later. We're a little schizophrenic in our vision - it's radio pop, dark synth, goth rock, disco, electro... there will be lots of surprises for our listeners.

If there was anyone you would want to play with who would it be?

DJ A-Cup – PRINCE.

CH- Björk. She is my idol. Although I might be too scared to play with someone that talented and amazing. I have never really gotten starstruck, but with Björk I might faint if I meet her.




Special thanks to Moneypenny and Matt Dufour for the interview!

Live Review - Thursday / Far @ Bowery Ballroom

There has been a ton of things going on in New York City this past week, from CMJ to New York sports to films being shot. However, none got me more excited than this concert, Thursday performing Full Collapse in its entirety and in their first East Coast concert in nearly 11 years, the newly reunited Far! It was a sold out house at Bowery Ballroom and as fans young and old crammed into the tiny space, no one showed their age when it came to the bands playing. Veteran punks and former emo kids now in their mid-twenties (cough, cough) mixed with a new generation of Hot Topic shoppers and hit the deck for a full on musical assault.
Thursday came on and erupted the floor from the first hit of the snare drum on "Understanding in a Car Crash," and all of Bowery Ballroom exploded like an atom bomb with bodies being tossed everywhere. The New Jersey band is doing what many bands on the road have been doing these days, playing their biggest records in their entirety as main sets. I am indifferent about the idea, and still trying to understand why Thursday would do that when they just released a great record, Common Existence, earlier this year. Common Existence sounds like it needs to be heard live, but why mess with a good thing? Sticking to the classics's works too. It is interesting to see Thursday after all these years still doing what they love, they have gotten older, greyer (guitarist Steve Padulla has a salt and pepper beard now), I saw them playing with their kids outside their bus before the show. Yet, as time may have aged the band just a bit, it has not slowed them down, the focus is still there and that is the music.
As exciting it was to see Thursday, it was the band going on before was the real reason I was at this concert. Sacramento, California's reunited Far! The band led by one of my favorite singer's and songwriters, Jonah Matranga were essential to West Coast rock in the late 90's. Far influenced everyone from Deftones to Incubus to Linkin Park. After their split in 1998, the band got back together last year and are currently working on a new album slated for a spring release. This was the very first East Coast appearance of this band in over a decade and it is so good to have them back. It is interesting to see Jonah run and scream on stage, when I am so used to his solo work where it is just him and an acoustic guitar. I have never seen Jonah plugged in before and with a full band, so this was a new experience for me and he was all smiles. Playing a majority of songs off Water and Solutions, and diving in deep to the band's catalogue, including my favorite track "Love, American Style," from Tin Cans with Strings to You. The highlight of their set was when Thursday singer Geoff Rickly came on stage and sang "Mother Mary," with Far. Geoff and Jonah were hugging and kissing by the end of the song and showing the bond and brotherhood between the two front men. Having Far back is a real treat, I got into them in 2004 and have been waiting for this ever since. Jonah even mentioned during their set, "We were a band that sold no records, no one came to our shows and to be here tonight with most knowing who we are and singing with us, its beautiful." My ears are still ringing from their set and I walked about with my manic excitement very high. I am thrilled this band is here making music again.
Opening the show was Brooklyn's Midnight Masses. A band who is on this tour at the personal request of Geoff Rickly. Their music did not fit the mold of the evening, however, they were on fire. A rock-n-soul outfit reminiscent of Ben Harper's new band Relentless 7. It took the crowd a few songs to really get into what they were doing because no one expected something like that on this bill. The Brooklyn six piece were beautiful to listen to and a pleasure to have. Rickly made another guest appearance on stage with this band and I hope to see and hear more of them.

Live Review - Portugal the Man @ Apple SoHo

I might as well have moved into the Apple store in SoHo these past two days. Two free early concerts from two of the most talked about bands on the scene. After Thursday's calming performance by The xx, Friday was followed by Alaska via Portland band, Portugal the Man. Portugal the Man is a band I have gotten to know pretty well these past few months. After seeing them at Lollapalooza and interviewing singer John Baldwin Gourley, I had to catch their set. Currently on a sold out tour with Hockey, Portugal the Man performed an unreal semi-acoustic set at Apple Store.
Back in my comfortable chair, the band was right in front, even with a set of non fully electric instruments, they still managed to blow the crowd's mind. More people crammed into the store for Portugal the Man, than for The xx, and the band was super humble and grateful for everyone coming. This was a taping for iTunes, but could have easily been broadcast on MTV's now defunct Unplugged series. Playing a 45 minutes set and a majority of tunes from their latest, The Satanic Satanist, Portugal the Man did what they do best, perform great music. Backed by a violinist, the band declared she had not rehearsed with them and was winging the set. Performing in front of screen playing home video's of the band playing like children in the Alaskan snow, Portugal the Man stuck to their guns and still showed that visuals are an important part of who they are as much as the music that defines them. It amazes me this band is not bigger than they already are.

Listen to my interview with John Baldwin Gourley HERE.

Them Crooked Vultures Cover & Tracklisting

The mysterious band, Them Crooked Vultures featuring Dave Grohl, Led Zepplin's John Paul Jones and Queens of the Stone Age Josh Homme, have announced details about their debut record. The super trio will release their self titled record next month, the cover is above and take a look at the track listing below.
1 No One Loves Me & Neither Do I
2 Mind Eraser, No Chaser
3 New Fang
4 Dead End Friends
5 Elephants
6 Scumbag Blues
7 Bandoliers
8 Reptiles
9 Interlude With Ludes
10 Warsaw or the First Breath You Take After You Give Up
11 Caligulove
12 Gunman
13 Spinning in Daffodils

Live Pix - U2 @ Giants Stadium

I know, you are probably saying to yourself, "Sal, that U2 Concert from Giants Stadium was a month ago, why are you posting pictures now." Well, simple answer, I was finally able to get a hold of some photos of the event and since the U2 - Youtube webcast is this Sunday, this was the perfect time to post them. If you have not seen them on this tour, or you have, here is a way to get excited for the webcast and realizing how amazing they really are in concert. The stage is more than a place for them to play, it takes over as the unofficial fifth member of the band. Take a look at the pictures below from Giants Stadium 9/25/09 concert with Muse supporting, the photos were taken by my close friend and photographer Jennifer Corley. To read my review of the concert click HERE.

Muse

Quick News

He is a brilliant songwriter and story teller, and now Hold Steady front man Craig Finn will try his chops at screenwriting. That is right, we will be getting a film written by CRAIG FINN! Finn along with Late Show with David Letterman writer, Tom Ruprecht, will be adapting Chuck Klosterman's 2001 memoir Fargo Rock City. The story is about a heavy metal fan coming of age during his high school years in the 80's in North Dakota. Klosterman is set to produce.

Noel Gallagher has spoken to UK's Daily Mail about his solo project. This is the first time since August Noel has spoken to the press since the fall of Oasis at the end of August."I'm looking forward to doing my own thing, bringing out my own music," he said. "I'm glad that's what people want to hear. I am not thinking about much else, Oasis or Liam, I'm just having a good time." Noel had already started working on his solo project after the band's 2005 release Don't Believe the Truth and was going to wait till the end of the band's current Dig Out Your Soul Tour to begin working on this. Since the tour was cut short due to the break up, Noel is off to the studio to work on this record. Very excited he is still making music.

Defunct Seattle art-rockers Blood Brothers are set to reissue their back catalogue on CD and digital formats in the coming weeks. The CD versions will have B-sides, live cuts, and outtakes. I am hoping for vinyl reissues, but no word on that yet.

One in a while I need to pat myself on the back, and here is one of those occasions. One of the best music sites on the net has referenced and quoted my review of The xx at Apple Store, Brooklyn Vegan featured my review in on of their posts this past week. Take a look at it HERE. Thanks to the Vegan!

Hot Chip's Joe Goddard is set to release his first solo record. Goddard who is one of the key components in the electro British band, has been producing for Little Boots and is now ready to make his solo debut. The album, entitled Harvest Festival will be out next month via the band's Greco-Roman label. Take a look at the track listing below.
'Apple Bobbing'
'Tinned Apricot'
'Pear-Shaped'
'Strawberry Jam'
'Go Bananas'
'Half-Time Oranges'
'Lemon & Lime (Home Time)'
'Tropical Punch'
'Sour Grapes'
'Pineapple Chunk'
'Mango Chutney'
'Coconut Shy'

Live Review - The xx @ Apple SoHo

It is blitzkrieg bop in New York City this week with the CMJ Music Marathon in town. Hundreds of bands from around the world falling into the cities venues to promote the hell out of themselves and get noticed. It is exhausting for everyone involved; from organizers, artists, spectators and journalists alike going from gig to gig, party to party and blurry night after blurry night. With most nights ending till the whee hours of the morning, it was nice to catch an early show from one of the most talked about bands leading up to the week, the UK's The xx.
The xx played an intimate free gig at Apple Store in SoHo tonight, just last night they had an overwhelming turn out to their show at Mercury Lounge with fans waiting for hours to get in and many more being rejected at the door. With that, this small free show seemed like a good catch. Arriving early was key and grabbing a seat right in third row center, I was shocked to get a full 50 minute set, when I was just anticipating 3-4 songs. The xx walked on stage as if they just shopped down the block at Topshop / Topman and seemed a bit scared to play to us few hundred in attendance. The xx, whose sound is a cross between Glasvegas meets Mono, are an interesting band to witness and listen to. They are not the type of band you want to be standing when you see them, they can certainly make you relax and unwind, but in no way is their music dull and boring. In fact it is the opposite, its very intricate and involved. With two singers, a programmer and a backing guitarist / synth op set a nice mood in a non traditional venue. The Apple store's sound was very good and the show was being recorded for iTunes. I didn't mind sitting from the comfort of a chair for this band, after all, it has been a long week and nice to take a load off, I only wish I had a glass of Red.....

The Sounds on Kimmel

The Sounds hit up the Pontiac Garage in LA to perform on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night. The Swedish band did not one, but two songs for the audience. Take a look as they perform "Beatbox" off their latest Crossing the Rubicon and their big hit "Painted by Numbers" off Dying to Say This to You.

Quick News

Say it ain't so! It seems that the hiatus that Bloc Party was to go on after their month of "Bloctober" shows in the UK will be more indefinite than originally thought. It looks like drummer Matt Tong may leave the band and "'wouldn't mind trying something else for a while'' as he told NME. Very unfortunate.

As Tall As Lions front man Dan Nigro was forced to back out of a few shows on the bands current trek with Mutemath. Nigro had to fly back to his home on Long Island after noticing bumps on the back of his throat and was fearing vocal chord damage. He is at home resting and being treated while the rest of his mates are showcasing instrumental As Tall As Lions shows.

Portishead are working on the follow up to last years brilliant ambient epic, Third. Portishead member Geoff Barrow told NME that "We are publishing-free and label-free at the moment, so we're kind of… well, we're free!" Barrow also went on to say that they are taking a different angle in approaching the new album and unsure of how they will release it.

Epic concert from epic band needs epic broadcast. U2 are set to take over Youtube on Sunday as they broadcast their concert from Pasadena's Rose Bowl. The showtime is 8:30 Pacific time and would not be surprised if Youtube crashes. Take a look at the promo trailer below..

Hockey on Fallon

Portland band Hockey hit up Jimmy Fallon last week and rocked out in support of their debut, Mind Chaos. Take a look as the band does the track "Too Fake," also stay tuned as I have something special brewing with Hockey in the next few weeks on the site!