I go way back with the guys in Fastball. When I was booking the Back Room with Jim Ramsey, I got Miles Zuniga’s earlier band Big Car a gig opening for the then-little-known Goo Goo Dolls (I also got him a weekly residency years later when I was booking talent for Stonehouse Brewery (that building is now Opal Divine’s on West 6th). Later, when we started Austin first alt-rock station KNNC, I was a big supporter of the first version of Fastball, called Magneto USA, and put their version of Jenny (867-5309) on my covers-only compilation Deja Phooey. When hard times hit and I sold (almost) all my gold and platinum record awards, I saved only two: Sublime (who came on my 101X Next Big Thing precursor Radio Free Austin, when they were in Austin recording the record with Paul Leary…and Fastball. When I made my way to Tulsa, Fastball headlined our Not Necessarily Acoustic Christmas Concert in 1997. The only time I’ve been to a party at the Playboy Mansion, I spent most of the night hanging out with drummer Joey Shuffield. More recently, Tony Scalzo was actually the first live guest on Chillville. We’ll get into some of this and a bunch more in the interview (includes two live acoustic performances) below.
1.
I was interviewing Au Revoir Simone during their visit here at SXSW. At the end of the interview I asked to get a station ID (ex…”Hi, this is Au Revoir Simone, and you are listening to Chillville on 101X), and the funniest thing happened. On of the lovely ladies had a bug jump on her leg, and bite her right when it was her time to talk. She obviously freaked out, but the funiest thing is that her friends basically just laughed at her. You can listen to the whole thing on the audio clip below. Pretty funny.
Here is a recap of the free stuff I was talking about on the radio this morning…
Threadgill’s is giving away free dinner all week long. North location only.
My filmmaker buddies have to shoot a wedding for class assignment, so if you are getting married and want to get a free video of your wedding, email me and I’ll pass your information along to them. ray at chillville dotttt com.
With a tip of the hat to Bill Hicks, I haven’t read the whole bible, but I’m pretty sure the words chocolate and bunny aren’t in there anywhere. Just sayin’.
Fastball joined us in the studio this morning. Click here to listen to all of the audio clips from the interview.
Fever Ray – When I Grow Up
Folk Implosion – Insinuation (Dust Brothers Remix)
Saint Etienne – Winter Melody
Beck – Volcano
Animal Collective – My Girls
We Fell to Earth – Lights Out
(9:30) Nine Inch Nails – The Great Destroyer (Modwheelmood Remix)
Circlesquare – Hey you Guys (The Juan MacLean Remix)
Massive Attack – Risingson
Air – Playground Love
Depeche Mode – Jezebel
The Black Ghosts – Repetition Kills You (Diplo Remix)
We came across the short film that just debuted for the Water, a track from Feist’s 2007 album The Reminder. Head to Stereogum to watch both the 15-minute film – featuring Cillian Murphy, who you may recognize as the Scarecrow from Batman Begins – and an interesting making-of video.
We were recently linked to Denmark-based Chimes&Bells by Simon Raymonde (of Cocteau Twins), and are completely diggin’ it. A new band who labels themselves via MySpace within the enormously vague ’melodramatic popular song’ category, their actual sound is dreamy, lovely, and occasionally very eerie. The music sounds like the end of a long night, when you’re tired and ready for sleep. Think Sigur Ros, maybe, or occasionally Grizzly Bear, and definitely give them a listen.
Their new EP is going to see wider release very soon soonish, and we have a feeling they are about to get some major online love for it, so check them out now if you want to say ‘I heard them when’. Sadly, I doubt they’ll be touring around here any time soon, but we can always hope for SXSW next year.
