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| From | "Jennifer Leduc" <jenleduc@hotmail.com> |
| Subject | Pop Culture Press showcase at SXSW with The Shazam, 20/20, and more |
| Date | Sat, 08 Mar 2003 13:00:01 -0600 |
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POP CULTURE PRESS PRESENTS
SXSW SHOWCASE
MARCH 13, 2003, THURSDAY
AT AUSSIE'S, 305 Barton Springs Road
The Lineup:
8pm TBA
9pm The Golden Apples (Austin)
10pm The Shazam (Nashville)
11pm Bill Lloyd (Nashville)
12am 20/20 (Austin/Nashville/Tulsa)
1am Dwight Twilley (Tulsa)
Pop Culture Press is proud to present its first ever showcase at SXSW 2003.
It's one of the finest line-ups of pure pop music for now people in SXSW
history.
Pop Culture Press
was founded by publisher/editor Luann Williams in Memphis, Tennessee in
1985. Soon thereafter, the magazine moved to Austin, Texas, where it has
been based ever since. Originally a newspaper/tabloid format fanzine, the
magazine made a reputation for itself with strong opinionated writing, and
by giving away free flexi-discs from 1993-1996. In 1995, the magazine was
upgraded to a color magazine format. In 1996, PCP began giving away free CD
samplers of current music on both indie and major labels with each issue. We
are now on our 18th CD sampler.
Pop Culture Press covers all types of music. It's done features on The
Mekons, Cibo Matto, Cotton Mather, Shonen Knife, They Might Be Giants, Frank
Black, Diamanda Galas, Supergrass, Fastball, Flaming Lips, Paul Weller, XTC,
The Soft Boys, Kasey Chambers, and many many more. The last issue, with Paul
Westerberg, Beth Orton, and The Hives on the cover, and stories on The
Church, Soundtrack of Our Lives, The The, Polyphonic Spree, Ed Harcourt, and
the Sunshine Fix, along with more than 180 record reviews, sold out
nationally. The new issue, due out the week before SXSW, features The Coral,
John Doe, and Black Heart Procession on the cover and features on Jim
Dickinson, Radney Foster, Apples in stereo, of Montreal, Yes, Velvet Crush,
Rosie Thomas, and Peter Case, along with over 150 record reviews.
Pop Culture Press is distributed nationally (and internationally) through
Tower Records, Virgin, Books a Million, and Borders, as well as in
locally-owned stores like Waterloo Records, 33 Degrees, and Cheapo Records
in Austin and Cactus Records in Houston. PCP may be the only Texas-based
music magazine distributed both nationally and in London.
For more information, go to our website at www.popculturepress.com, where
you'll find more exclusive features, the 2002 top tens, and over 150 more
new record reviews. Luann Williams can be contacted at
popcult@austin.rr.com. (512) 419-7230. Features Editor Kent Benjamin (former
Austin Chronicle contributing editor and co-founder of the Austin Music
Network) can be reached at Kent.Benjamin@tlc.state.tx.us and Reviews Editor
Luke Torn (former Austin Chronicle contributing editor and current country
music columnist for The Wall Street Journal) can be reached at
pcprev@texas.net.
DWIGHT TWILLEY
Dwight Twilley and his one-time partner, the late Phil Seymour, were signed
by Shelter Records in 1974. The Tulsa natives had a national top twenty hit
with "I'm On Fire," the first song they ever recorded professionally,
scoring an appearance on American Bandstand with only one single under their
belts. Their debut album Sincerely (1976) remains among the most beloved of
all '70s pop records, a near-ideal blend of Elvis Presley with the Beatles.
Unfortunately, the label went bankrupt just as the album was released,
seriously hindering their career. After releasing a half-dozen brilliant
singles and a followup album, Twilley Don't Mind (1977), the band dissolved
when drummer/bassist/singer Phil Seymour left for a solo career.
Singer/songwriter/guitarist/pianist Twilley kept the record contract and
scored some success in 1979 and 1982 with "Somebody To Love," and a hit
album with Scuba Divers (EMI, 1982). In 1984, "Girls" became one of MTV's
most-played songs, and another major national hit, as was the album Jungle
(EMI, 1984). Another single, "Why You Wanna Break My Heart" later paved
Twilley's driveway when it was featured on the soundtrack to Wayne's World,
which at the time was one of (the?) biggest selling soundtrack albums of all
time. Entanglement with a shady promo man, who was the subject of the record
company/Mafia expose book Hit Men, led to Twilley's being effectively
black-listed by the major labels. Several unreleased albums were tied up in
legal wranglings. Late in the decade, Twilley unexpectedly became a
best-selling author with a distance-parenting book called Questions From
Dad, and relocated to Tulsa where he did several gallery showings of his
original artwork. In the '90s, most of Twilley's albums were reissued on CD,
along with several compilations and collections of excellent
previously-unissued music.
In 1999, he released Tulsa (Copper Records), arguably the finest album of
his career, with longtime lead guitarist Bill Pitcock IV back in the fold
after an absence of over a decade (Pitcock was Twilley's lead guitarist from
the beginning, and on all his hits). A second terrific album The Luck was
released in 2001 on Twilley's own Big Oak Recording Group, along with a fine
collection of rarities, Between The Cracks (Not Lame). In 2003, both Scuba
Divers and Jungle will be made available on CD for the first time, licensed
through EMI.
For SXSW this year, Twilley will be performing with the great Bill Pitcock
IV on lead guitar (after nearly over a dozen year absence from Twilley's
touring band) and Tulsan Jerry Naifeh on drums, who played 2nd drums with
the Dwight Twilley Band and on Twilley's early solo tours -- like Pitcock,
his history with Twilley goes back their high school days. On bass and
backing vocals is Ron Flynt of 20/20.
For more info: www.dwighttwilley.com or twillex@aol.com
20/20
Tulsa's 20/20 began when Ron Flynt and Steve Allen met playing baseball in
the 6th grade and each learned to play the guitar. Allen took lessons from
the legendary Eldon Chamblin of Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys, and Flynt
tagged along. In the mid-'70s, they followed fellow Tulsans Dwight Twilley
and Phil Seymour to Los Angeles, and using Seymour as their drummer,
released their first single together -- "Giving It All" (found on Rhino's
DIY Shake It Up! American Power Pop 2 compilation) on Bomp! Records in 1978.
1979 saw the release of their first album, 20/20 on Portrait Records in
1979. The album produced a number of regional radio faves like "Yellow
Pills" (so popular it had a fanzine named after it, and also appeared on the
Rhino DIY series), "Remember The Lightning," "O Cheri," and "She's An
Obsession." The group appeared on American Bandstand. The 1981 follow-up
album Look Out! produced more radio action with "Nuclear Boy" and "Strange
Side of Love" and landed the band on the national TV show Live At The
Improv. For several years, 20/20 were one of the most popular club acts in
the Los Angeles area in the height of the New Wave era. A new, big record
deal fell through, however, and in 1982, they released their 3rd album Sex
Trap on their own Mainway Records. It was picked up by Enigma the following
year, and a new single "Jack's Got A Problem" became one of the earliest
rock videos, starring the guy from the Police Academy movie series. Then for
a while, 20/20 disbanded, with Flynt returning to Tulsa and Allen taking a
job with Warner Brothers.
In 1994, the band reformed, with Flynt's college bandmate Bill Belknap added
as a permanent drummer. Belknap is the co-owner of Long Branch Studios in
Tulsa, and had shared a Grammy for Stuart Copeland's Rumblefish soundtrack
as an engineer. With Flynt relocated to Austin, Texas, and Allen in
Nashville, this made 20/20 a real heartland band. The newly reformed group
released 4 Day Tornado in 1995 and Interstate 20/20 in 1998 to significant
critical acclaim on Oglio Records. Flynt released his debut solo album Ron
Flynt and the Bluehearts: Big Blue Heart on Ya Ya Records in 2000. The
record featured contributions from Allen and Belknap, along with Flynt's
Austin band The Bluehearts (Scrappy Jud Newcomb, Dana Myzer, Paul Leddy, Jon
Notarthomas) and guest appearances from Dwight Twilley, Bill Lloyd, and Ian
McLagan of the Faces. In 2001, Allen released his solo debut, In & Out of
the Light with Flynt and Lloyd also in evidence. Both Flynt and Allen have
busy home studios, producing, playing, and engineering for dozens of bands
in Austin and Nashville, and Belknap still has Long Branch Studio.
This year 20/20 are reconvening to start a new album, and make their first
full-band appearance (with added 2nd guitartist Kevin Carroll and some
special guest stars) in several years. Flynt's 2nd solo album is scheduled
to be released late this year on Zip Records. It's 20/20's 2nd band
appearance at SXSW, although Flynt has performed many times and last year
Allen made his solo debut here at SXSW, too.
For more information, contact Ron Flynt at rflynt@austin.rr.com, (512)
257-7165.
BILL LLOYD
Native Kentuckian Bill Lloyd moved to Nashville and began his pop career
with some solo recordings and some with his band The December Boys (named
after Big Star's "September Gurls") with recordings between 1984 and 1986
that were released in 1987 on the critically acclaimed indie vinyl album
Feeling The Elephant (Throbbing Lobster Records). His day job as a
songwriter for hire led him to a fruitful partnership with Radney Foster,
and the duo were signed to RCA in 1987 as Foster & Lloyd. Their first
single, "Crazy Over You," became the first debut country single ever to
reach #1 in the charts, and the group had a string of hit albums and hit
singles together with their Beatles meet Bakersfield sound from 1987 until
the early '90s, when they decided to go their own ways, Foster moving into a
more straight country sound and Lloyd returning to his beloved pop roots. In
1994 he released the critically acclaimed Set To Pop on ESD (Eastside
Digital), and in 1999 he released Standing on the Shoulders of Giants on
Koch Records. He also contributed an exclusive track to Pop Culture Press
called "Baby's Breath." Last year, he self-released a compilation of rare
tracks called All In One Place on his own Def Heffer (also the name of his
studio) imprint.
Over the last ten years, Lloyd has been primarily known as a songwriter and
guitarist for hire. He's co-written tunes with an amazing number of people
and scored several more hit records. Among his collaborators are Beth
Nielsen Chapman, Guy Clark, Paul Cotton, Steve Allen, Peter Case, Marshall
Crenshaw, Swag, Jamie Hoover, Robert Reynolds, Amy Rigby, Don Henry, Greg
Trooper, Cindy Bullens, Big Al Anderson, The Forester Sisters, Tommy Womack,
Dwight Twilley, Brad Jones, and T. Graham Brown. He and Steve Allen and some
of their friends host an annual December benefit called "Imagine No
Handguns" on the anniversary of John Lennon's death each year in Nashville,
playing songs by Lennon and the Beatles.
His excellent new solo album Back To Even has just been completed, and he's
shopping it around now. This will be his 4th appearance at SXSW (including
one as Foster and Lloyd, and one backed by Marshall Crenshaw and Peter
Holsapple), and you should expect some special guests in his set as always.
For more information, www.billlloydmusic.com bill@billloydmusic.com
THE SHAZAM
Nashville's The Shazam were discovered and signed by indie label Copper
Records out of Houston, Texas, and released their Brad Jones produced debut
album The Shazam in 1997 (reissued with bonus tracks by Not Lame in 2001
after the demise of Copper). By the release of 1999's Godspeed The Shazam!
on Not Lame, the band had become critical darlings, especially in England,
where the press raved, the shows were packed, and Paul Weller jammed with
them at Abbey Road studios. The trio, Hans Rotenberry
(singer/songwriter/guitarist), Scott Ballew (drums/vocals), and Mick Wilson
(bass/vocals) have become justifiably famed for their highly energetic stage
act, reminiscent of The Jam in their heyday. Musically, they're most often
compared to Cheap Trick and The Move (Cheap Trick's main inspiration).
Indeed, their name is derived both from the bonecrushing heavy Move album of
the same name, with equal nods to Gomer Pyle's favorite expression and the
DC comics character. In 2000, the group released an acclaimed EP called Rev.
9 on Rainbow Quartz, and in 2002, released Tomorrow The World on Not Lame,
which just may be their best record to date. The group tours constantly, and
are making a return visit to SXSW. Live, they're usually augmented by a 2nd
guitar player.
For more information, contact theshazam@mediatones.com or Bruce Brodeen at
Not Lame at popmusic@notlame.com.
THE GOLDEN APPLES
After a year of hunkering down in the studio with Ron Flynt, producer
extraordinaire and mainman of 20/20, Austin's Golden Apples are primed to
turn guitar pop on its ear. With their clean, effervescent melodies, tight
harmonies, and infectious stage show, the band is a treat for your ears in
these run-of-the-mill indie rock, sadcore, hip-hopified times. For the
Apples, whose line-up includes former members of Jet Jaguar, the Texas
Instruments,
and Tyrant Swing, the emphasis is on "songs," sparkling, driving, uptempo
songs built upon the template laid down too many years ago by the likes of
the Small Faces, the Move, Badfinger, and played with fire and commitment.
The sessions with Flynt have yielded a dozen absurdly catchy tracks for an
album tentatively titled "Everything In Between,", with the merry-go-round
pop of "Feel Again" slated to be the first single. Last year they
contributed a track to a Pop Culture Press sampler CD.
For more information,
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