Tag Archives: Cobra Verde

Flashlite #528

Sara RomweberToday’s show kicks off with the new single for John Petkovic (Cobra Verde) and Pat Carney (Black Keys), together as Sad Planets. We also introduce the new releases from Motorpsycho and Specials who reunited after many years. We introduce Low Life from Sydney Australia and Katla from Iceland. Shagg is a new quartet from Cleveland and we also hear one of their songs recorded live. Sara Romweber, drummer of Let’s Active, Snatches of Pink and Dex Romweber Duo passed away at the age of 55 on March 4th, and today’s show is dedicated to her memory.

Nikki Hill – Take The Ride (It Don’t Matter);
Sad Planets – Not of This World;
Specials – Breaking Point;
Specials – Ghost Town;
Sunwatchers – New Dad Blues;
Motorpsycho – Psychotzar;
Katla – I Will Hunt You.;
Outrageous Cherry – Last Nice Guy In Detroit;
Coldcock – I Wanna Be Rich;
Low Life – Lust Forevermore;
Shagg – Switchblade Baby;
Shagg (Live in CLE);
Dex Romweber Duo – Jungle Drums;
Snatches of Pink – Thing of the Past;
Let’s Active – Ring True;
The Lemonheads – Magnet;
NRBQ – Magnet.

Flashlite #447

Glen CampbellToday we have the new music from Ben Vaughn, who covered an old Randy Crowell song, When Losers Rule The World. Honeymoon Disease from Sweden are back with the new record, and so are The Forty Nineteens, out of San Francisco. We also introduce the new band from Tim Parnin (also in Cobra Verde and Sweet Apple), called Falling Stars. Their new recordings are produced by Mitch Easter. Sprinters come from Manchester in England and David Nance comes from Omaha, NE. Today’s show is dedicated to Glen Campbell who we lost on August 8 this year.

Glen Campbell – Galveston;
Sweet Apple – World I’m Gonna Leave You;
Falling Stars – Losing Without You;
Sprinters – Good Years;
The Cicadas – When Losers Rule the World;
The Ben Vaughn Quintet – When Losers Rule The World;
David Nance – Honey Don’t;
The Beatles – Helter Skelter;
Irma Thomas – Time Is On My Side;
The Forty Nineteens – 08 Time Is On My Side (Good Fortune);
Honeymoon Disease – Night By Night;
Honeymoon Disease – Stargazer;
Delaney And Bonnie (with Eric Clapton) – Comin’ Home;
The Magpie Salute – Comin’ Home;
Mark Sultan – It’s Suicide;
Lemonheads – Galveston;
Monkees – Mary, Mary;
Glen Campbell – Wichita Lineman.

Flashlite #442

Rad ColumnsToday we introduce a few new names in this show. Freak Genes, two guys from Manchester, Male Gaze from San Francisco, and we introduce Rod Bryan from Arkansas. Rat Columns from Perth are back with the new record and so is Benjamin Booker. My Buddy Moose from Rijeka are finally out with the new record which was nearly two years in making. Supergroup Sweet Apple is also back with the new rocking record (with members from Cobra Verde, Witch and Dinosaur JR). Danny And The Champions of the world, an Americana band from the British isle, is also back. Today’s show is dedicated to Aleksandar D. Kostić Kosta, legendary journalist from Belgrade who influenced me a lot. He passed away this week at a young age of 55.

Elvis Costello – Lovable;
Freak Genes – Exposed;
Male Gaze – Wha Do Wha Do;
Male Gaze – Stupid Heart;
Stutter Steps – Encino;
Rat Columns – Death Is Leaving Me;
Rat Columns – She Loves the Rain;
Benjamin Booker – Truth is Heavy;
Mega City Four – Who Cares;
The Safeties Live in CLE;
Rod Bryan and Megan Michelle – Former Lover;
My Buddy Moose – Second Best;
Blue Things – High Life;
Captain Beyond – Armworth;
Hot Stuff – Jay Time;
Danny and The Champions of the World – Waiting for the Right Time;
Sweet Apple – You Don’t Belong To Me;
Van Morrison – Street Choir;
The Replacements – Here Comes A Regular.

Flashlite #347

BanditosToday we have some international highlights. Les Grys Grys come from France and Souls Surfers from Russia. Banditos come from Birmingham AL. Also, some new blasts from the familiar faces: Dave and Phil Alvin are back with the new record as well as John Mayall. Joe Ely is also back and doing very well on the country top 40 albums charts with his new record Panhandle Rambler. Cobra Verde played a live show recently and included their brand new song in the playlist… and the tape was rolling! Big shout-out to our long time listener Tom Haun!

The Gods – Maria;
Tough Age – Flotsam;
Les Grys Grys -It’s Mighty Crazy;
Nomads – The Way (You Touch My Hand);
Cobra Verde – New Song (Live in CLE);
Pat And Lolly Vegas – Satisfaction;
Beatles – Tell Me Why;
Terry And Louie – Can Ya Tell Me (How Life Goes On);
Dirty Fuse – Mdnight Heat Wave;
The Soul Surfers – Raw;
John Mayall – War We Wage;
Jimi Hendrix Experience – Gypsy Eyes (Blues Alphabet);
Dave and Phil Alvin – Sit Down Baby;
Banditos – Golden Grease;
Joe Ely – Honky Tonk Masquerade;
Joe Ely – Southern Eyes;
Leaving Trains – Always Between Wars.

Sweet Apple – The Golden Age of Glitter (Tee Pee), Doug Gillard – Parade On (Nine Mile) and Death of Samantha – If Memory Serves Us Well (St. Valentine)

Sweet Apple and Doug Gillard reviewWhen Mick Jagger was in his late forties he recorded Primitive Cool and Steel Wheels. Certainly not the highest point of his career. But, it seems that the generation of musicians who are in their late forties these days are growing up a bit slower, putting better and better records as the time goes by. Examples are many – Nick Saloman from Bevis Frond, Matthew Smith from Outrageous Cherry, Rich Hopkins… The heroes of this story, Doug Gillard and John Petkovic are in that group.

Gillard and Petkovic started back in the eighties in a band called Death of Samantha. After several underground records and an extensive touring schedule across the USA in a van, the band morphed into Cobra Verde. Then, in the nineties, Robert Pollard hired the entire band to be the new line up of Guided By Voices. Gillard then stayed with Pollard and Petkovic split with a new line-up of Cobra Verde.

Petkovic’s latest project is Sweet Apple. The first album in 2010, Love and Desparation was a rocking record, but the latest one Golden Age of Glitter shines even brighter. There are no fillers on this one. The record also features a multiple help from some super talented musicians J Mascis, Mark Lanegan, Rachel Haden and Pollard who reunited with Petkovic on several tunes (pun intended – one tune he helped with is actually called Reunion). As one author wrote about the record, it plays like an exercise in enlightened revisionism, describing Petkovic’s desire to revisit some of the long lost musical genres of the seventies. But a really disarming thing about this record is the song writing talent and enthusiasm that Petkovic clearly put into the album. You can trust me on that one – I had a rare opportunity to see the album being built up from the first set of vague guitar riffs, recording and struggle to find an appropriate cover – to the first vinyl press testing.

Gillard also had a record recently. It’s called Parade On. He is well known as one of the finest guitarists in alternative rock (whatever it is), mainly from his tenure in Guided By Voices. But even the big fans of GBV can’t name too many of the songs Gillard has written, other than one of their biggest hits I Am A Tree. On Parade On, his song writing talent absolutely shines. In a private conversation with Gillard, he confessed that he attempted to make an easy listening record. And indeed, Parade On can stand next to any Paddy McAloon’s work, but with a bit harder edge, especially instrumentally.

There are two things in common to the new records of Gillard and Petkovic. One – they are probably the greatest and the most consistent albums they’ve ever written. The two songwriters defy their age with enthusiasm for rocking and rolling, sounding more youthful than ever. Two – the records also came out while their original band Death of Samantha reunited and rerecorded their early tunes on a really cool live record called If Memory Serves Us Well. Certainly, Gillard and Petkovic are at the very peak of their careers as songwriters and performers. Perhaps one way to achieve an even greater artistic peak would be to start writing new music together. You read it here first!

Flashlite #206

Clara EngelCrowdfunding is a cool new way to help musicians make their albums ahead of time, get some special releases in return and maybe even influence the content in some ways. I mean, without your help, the stuff wouldn’t even be out. Today we introduce two artist that took the road of crowdfunding. Clara Engel is from Toronto and she’s a singer songwriter. She previously published in UK and Italy, but not in North America. She started a website on kapipal where you can help her put together her record. Our old friend from The Windbreakers and Gone Fishin’, Tim Lee with his new band Tim Lee 3 is also crowfunding the upcoming album Devil’s Rope. He has an account on indiegogo. Also, he organized a tribute album to his old pal from the Windbreakers Bobby Sutliff and called it Skrang!. We check out one song that he prepared for this occasion today. Sutliff had a bad car accident and needs help to cover the health care costs. We also introduce two new bands, Velociraptor from Australia and The Strypes from Ireland. Strypes are very young and people talked a lot about them last year. Cleveland bands Pere Ubu and Scarcity of Tanks have new albums and Cobra Verde is in our segment live from CLE. Also, we pay a small tribute to Wilko Johnson from Dr. Feelgood who has been diagnosed with the terminal pancreatic cancer.

Damien Youth – Dandelion Girl;
Velociraptor – I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night);
Velociraptor – Sleeping With The Fishes;
The Rolling Stones – Route 66;
The Strypes – Route 66;
Nat King Cole – Route 66;
The Windbreakers – Black & White;
Tim Lee 3 – I Thought You Knew;
Clara Engel – Song to the Sea Witch (Disembody My Voice);
Patti Smith – Dancing Barefoot;
Pere Ubu – Waiting for Mary;
Pere Ubu – Free White;
Scarcity of Tanks – Quigley Dictum;
Cobra Verde – Temptation (Live in CLE);
Moloch – I Can Think The Same of You;
Don Nix – Olena;
Harlan T. Bobo – Crazy With Loneliness;
Dr. Feelgood – One Weekend;
Digger And The Pussycats – Nice to Your Body.

1. Sweet Apple – Love And Desperation

Sweet Apple - Love And DesperationSweet Apple is a side band for John Petkovic of Cobra Verde, J Mascis of Dinosaur JR and Dave Sweetapple of Witch. It happened in a bitter moment when the trio of these rock’n’roll greats desperately needed a break not only from the music that they worked on in their original bands, but also a break from the situations in life that at the time seemed to choke them. Sometimes the best cure is to run away which a pack of friends, experience something new and return as a richer person. This is exactly what this pack did. A weaker person would cut his wrists, but these three people poored their hearts into a rocker that bursts with energy and desire for life. Casual atmosphere in the record creation allowed J to switch over to drums, totaling only three solos on the entire record. Still, there’s plenty of brilliant guitar work on the record courtesy of Tim Parnin of Cobra Verde and John on his purple Gretch (which he used in the songwriting process). Nothing is forced here, songs are charged with energy, crispy riffs are everywhere only to slow down on Dead Moon which stands out as a dark reminder that a man needs light to live, even if that light comes from a stage light show.

Flashlite #65

John Paul KeithToday we showcase several new names at The Little Lighthouse: John Paul Keith, Eichmann Family, Sweet Apple,  The Hex Dispensers, Smith Westerns and D. Charles Speer. John Paul Keith comes from Memphis and has a band called The One Four Fives. About a year ago he put out the record called Spills And Thrills and it’s such a beautiful record, I can’t believe I missed until now. John Paul Keith’s band opened for Jack Oblivian in Cleveland and even more than that – they played the role of the Tearjerkers that night. John Paul Keith was also one of the Snake Eyes – the last band for Jim Dickinson before he passed away. Eichmann Family is another garage rock band from Zagreb – there are several very good ones over there. Sweet Apple is the new band for John Petkovic and Tim Parnin from Cobra Verde and J. Mascis and David Sweetapple form The Witch. Supergroup for the new millenium, isn’t it? Hex Dispenser are garage magicians from Austin Texas. Smith Westerns is a new band from Chicago and D Charles Speer and his Helix are from New York City – two new names that come from big cities, but sound much more provincial (which is a good thing at The Lighthouse!). And the last, but not the least, our favorites from a few years ago, Bassholes have a new LP, and it’s untitled again.

The Hex Dispensers – I’ve Got My Doppelganger On;
Eichmann Family – Daddy Doesn’t Love Me;
My Buddy Moose – When I Say;
Cobra Verde – Haunted Heavens;
Sweet Apple – Do You Remember;
Bassholes – Swannanoa River;
Bassholes – Caravan Man;
Steve Wynn – Outlaw Blues;
Rickie Lee Jones – Subterranean Homesick Blues;
Rickie Lee Jones – The Blue Ghazel;
James Luther Dickinson – Eloise;
Irma Thomas – It’s Raining;
The Detroit Cobras – It’s Raining;
John Paul Keith and The One Four Fives – Let’s Get Gone;
Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs – Dreaming;
Blondie – Dreaming;
Smith Westerns – Be My Girl;
D. Charles Speer & The Helix – Helical.

Flashlite #35. The Best of 2008.

Cobra VerdeSo here we are. 2009 has started and we’re back on line every Thursday. The first show this year is dedicated to the greatest music in 2008. This is an entirely personal list and it’s most likely totally different than yours. But I still hope that you might find it interesting. My personal favorite in 2008 is Cobra Verde’s album Haven’t Slept All Year. It’s been in making since 2006 really and the band put a lot of effort into it. It’s their most diverse album yet, as good as legendary Nightlife. But because of my strong emotional attachment to this record, I’m leaving it out of competition. This makes Paul Westerberg’s experiment in novel forms 49:00 the greatest record in 2008 at the Little Lighthouse. Look below for the full list. My favorite unreleased album in 2008 is another one of my personal favorites. It’s Kamo Sutra’s new record, expertly recorded and exciting, one hundred percent fun. In today’s show, we go through the best albums of 2008:

00 Cobra Verde - Haven't Slept All Year
01 Paul Westerberg - 49:00 ... of Your Time Life
02 Alejando Escovedo - Real Animal
03 Endless Boogie - Focus Level
04 Gentleman Jesse And His Men
05 Dirtmusic
06 Brimstone Howl - We Came In Peace
07 Tim Lee - Good2B3
08 Drones - Havilah
09 Thee Oh Sees - The Master's Bedroom is Worth Spending a Night In
10 All The Saints - Fire on Corridor X
11 Service Industry - Limited Coverage
12 Fleshtones - Take A Good Look
13 Evangelista - Hello Voyager
14 Lucinda Williams - Little Honey
15 Willie DeVille - Pistola
16 Pierced Arrows - Straight To The Heart
17 Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Primary Colours
18 Mojomatics - Don't Pretend That You Know Me
19 Electric Six - Flashy
20 You Am I - Dilettantes

And the playlist is:

You Am I – Frightfully Moderne;
Electric Six – Face Cuts;
The Mojomatics – Losin’ Time;
Eddy Current Suppression Ring – We’ll Be Turned On;
Pierced Arrows – Mr. Soul;
Willy Deville – When I Get Home;
Lucinda Williams – Real Love;
Evangelista – Smooth Jazz;
The Fleshtones – ;
The Service Industry – Job of Quality;
All The Saints – Fire on Corridor x;
Kamo Sutra – Nemam Para;
Thee Oh Sees – Ghost in the Trees;
The Drones – Oh My;
Tim Lee – (untitled);
Brimstone Howl – USMC;
Dirtmusic – Panther Hunting;
Gentleman Jesse and His Men – Butterfingers;
Endless Boogie – Gimme The Awesome;
Alejandro Escovedo – Real As An Animal;
Paul Westerberg – Who You Gonna Marry;
Cobra Verde – Free Ride.

Flashlite #25

Ray Mason Today’s episode is filled with new music. Hard working musician from Massachusetts, Ray Mason, sent us the new Lonesome Brothers CD called The Last CD along with two of his older releases that we have missed. We check all that out in this show. The Heretics from Oslo in Norway also send us their new ep – five furious garage rock tracks. Cobra Verde form Cleveland also have a brand new album out. It was recorded nearly two years ago, but it’s finally out. It’s called Haven’t Slept All Year and it’s a candidate for the hottest release this year. New Jersey rockers The Successful Failures are here at the Little Lighthouse for the first time and we showcase them with their title song and one other song from their latest album called Ripe For Burning. Philadelphia band Love City also debuts at the show with an upcoming 7″ called Regretting. From Boise Idaho, we get to hear a new band called The Very Most and their Beach Boys influenced pop. We close the show with the spankin’ brand new album for the Georgia Satellites singer Dan Baird who has a new band called the Homemade Sin. And woah – that’s was a pretty long list for one show, huh?

The Reigning Sound – Uptight Tonight;
Cobra Verde – Riot in the Foodcourt;
The Heretics – Dipper Boy;
The Successful Failures – Successful Failures;
The Succesful Failures – All I Can Take;
Love City – Regretting;
Gun Club – Carry Home;
Pierced Arrows – Frankenstein;
Paul Revere and the Raiders – Free;
The Very Most – Good Fight Fighting;
Endless Boogie – Coming Down The Stairs;
Paul Westerberg – Knockin On Mine;
Lonesome Brothers – Fins On A Cadillac;
Ray Mason Band – I’m Not That Kind Of Guy;
Ray Mason – I’m Not That Kind of Guy;
The Woods – Battleship Chains;
Georgia Satellites – Battleship Chains;
Dan Baird & Homemade Sin – Damn Thing To Be Done;
Steely Dan – Reelin’ In The Years;
Stitches – Tip The Wink.