Baby Robot Media

Baby Robot Media

by

Excellent feature at Vinyl Mag today on Saint Pé, the new solo project from former The Black Lips guitarist Ian Saint Pé

Saint Pe Black lips street lights ian st. pe diamond rugs concord america zoners turf war john restivo jr. ian mcdonald matt mccalvin paul wierdak dead confederate Vinyl magazine cmj music marathon 2015

“The wheel ain’t broken.  You don’t need to fix it, just trying to put some new rims on it.” – Saint Pé

At CMJ this year, the first band on my must-interview list was Saint Pé, the newest project formed by Black Lips alum and current Diamond Rugs guitarist/vocalist Ian Saint Pé. 

Backstory

As a not-born-but-bred Georgian, I’ve been a Black Lips fan since I switched Jack Rogers for Converse and mini skirts for skinny jeans back in the 9th grade.  And then came college and post-college life in Athens, Georgia, where I was introduced to part-local supergroup Diamond Rugs.  Dudes.  This band is my joint, and I have been helplessly addicted since the release of their latest album Cosmetics back in February.  Yes, that is nine full months that I have had D.Rugs in my constant rotation, and I’m nowhere near over it.

That being said, if Ian Saint Pé is involved with a band, I’m an instant convert.  So when word reached my ears that he was forming a new band under his name, I was all kinds of psyched.  And when I found out that the band was coming to CMJ, I snagged myself an interview with them so I could let my fan flag fly.

The Interview

We all sat down on the rooftop of Our Wicked Lady in Brooklyn before the band’s last of three shows at the fest, and as soon as the mic was on, Ian dove in, intro’ing us with our new slogan: “Vinyl Mag CMJ 2015.  Pro gear, pro attitudes.”  This turned out to be the first of countless ad-libbed one-liners throughout the interview, which he attributed to having a “lot of time in a van to think about things.” READ MORE…

by

Flavorwire interviews 8 Inch Betsy’s Eli Burke about what it means to put out this album in the wake of friend and bandmate Meghan Galbraith’s death.

8 inch betsy the mean days meghan galbraith eli burke Melissa Thomas 307 Knox Records chicago

The finality of death often spurs a reevaluation of life. For 8-Inch Betsy’s Eli Burke, the loss of bandmate Meghan Galbraith to illness was both shocking and devastating, but the record they made together, The Mean Days, proved to be a vehicle for the catharsis of grief.

8-Inch Betsy has been scraping by in the underground for more than a decade. The erstwhile Chicago queercore band toured with the likes of Gossip, Marnie Stern, and Jucifer, but never really had quite the impact outside of Chicago that they did at home. By the time Galbraith became ill last fall, The Mean Days was already recorded — the process had started in 2010 — and the band had even re-tracked the drums after their drummer quit for a second time.

But it was during a hospital visit from Burke, in which Galbraith gave the go-ahead to make the final push to release The Mean Days, that the album came together in earnest. When Galbraith’s condition didn’t improve and she passed in January of this year, the release took on new significance for the people she left behind. “At that point, it was like, ‘It has to happen now, I need to do this,’” Burke says. “Then grief kicked in, and it was really hard for me to let go of it. I knew I had to release it, and I wanted to. It was really important for me and her family and Steve Albertson, who’s one of her best friends, to get it out there. But I was having this sort of… once I get it out there, it’s over. And I don’t have that.” READ MORE…

by

The Chicago Reader has written a massive feature on 8 Inch Betsy and deceased front-woman Meghan Galbraith

8 inch betsy the mean days meghan galbraith eli burke Melissa Thomas 307 Knox Records chicago the reader

Huge heart, 8 Inch Betsy: Remembering Meghan Galbraith

Ten months after her death, the community she left behind honors her positivity by welcoming her queercore band’s final album into the world.

Eli Burke came to Chicago from Tucson in summer 2003 to study at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, but a friend from Arizona who’d already moved here had other plans. Burke (then going by Liz) had played bass in Tucson with drummer Stephanie Levi in a punk band called 8 Inch Betsy, and once they both lived in Chicago, Levi spent months trying to get Burke to come practice with her. “I eventually caved,” Burke says. “And I’m glad I did, ’cause it was good.”

Levi had recruited a singer and guitarist named Meghan Galbraith, and in summer 2004 the three of them began playing together in a Chicago incarnation of 8 Inch Betsy. They clicked immediately, developing what Burke describes as an alchemical connection at their first practice—they’d turned two of Galbraith’s solo songs into full-band numbers by the end of the night.

The band kept playing regularly till 2012, when Burke moved back to Tucson. On January 22, 2015, Galbraith died at age 35 after a long illness, and since then it’s become especially clear that she played a big role as a catalyst and inspiration in lots of places besides 8 Inch Betsy. Everyone I interviewed for this story talked about how unfailingly supportive she was. Galbraith was quick to offer an ear or lend a hand, emotionally or professionally, and pushed friends new and old to follow their dreams. She helped people get jobs or find apartments, and she always encouraged anyone who wanted to make music, sometimes helping them with songwriting or showing them the ropes of touring or running a band. Beginning in 2008, she volunteered as a band coach and counselor at Girls Rock! Chicago, which has established a Meghan Galbraith Scholarship to honor what it calls her “infectious positivity and incredible generosity of spirit.” In the scholarship’s first year, an outpouring of donations from those who’d loved Galbraith allowed the camp to waive tuition for five girls. READ MORE…

by

PopMatters premiere’s F.Y.I.’s track “Hueman” off of new EP Age / Sex / Location

f.Y.I PSALMs one thang los angeles Foreshadow those chosen rap hip hop

Los Angeles rapper F.Y.I. releases his new EP Age / Sex / Location today, and you can hear the track “Hueman” below. Combining clever wordplay with a strong message to listeners that there’s a lot more to individuals than mere black and white. Couple that with a strong, boisterous backing arrangement, and you’ve got yourself a potent track.

“‘Hueman’ sounds like revolution,” he tells PopMatters “It’s raw. It’s rap meets rock, but not in a corny or forced way. Live guitar was fitting on a track like this. It’s an anthem for people that want to express themselves without being boxed in. It’s part of my message over mayhem mantra. All the people that follow my music and like what I represent, I call them “Huemans.” By combining the words ‘hue’ and ‘man’ I’m saying people are colorful, not one dimensional as sometimes presented in in this very black and white world we live in. I ultimately want a rap crew called Huemans which consists of me and like minded rappers and producers. I felt it was appropriate to make a statement song about the idea behind the name and that’s how the concept and song was created. ‘Hueman’ is edgy and energetic, so I’m super charged to see how people will react to it.” LISTEN HERE…