I guess it is possible. Journey after all did supply the first soundtrack to the sci-fi cult flick Tron. Then again Journey are not French robots….or are they???
I was/am a Tron fan so the news that a sequel to Tron is coming out got me all sorts of excited. I still have one of my Tron toys from the 80’s made by Tomy somewhere in my mess of a computer room. I loved that movie as a kid and recently was able to see it again in HD and loved it even more. I am very curious to see how TR2N follows the original and more importantly see how Daft Punk does with the score.
If you forgot or do not know, I am a huge Daft Punk fan. I think it would be awesome if Daft Punk made a cameo in the movie, after all they are not human.
Looks like I get the best of both worlds with this movie slated to release in 2011.
It kills me now to see this video of what Journey thought music from the 1990’s would sound like:
This interview is actually over a year old. It posted on 02/07/2008 on Blogcritics.org. Rather than archive it I decided to share it with you today:
Steve Smith
It wasn’t so long ago that a British house rock/pop trio took the world by storm. The band was called Dirty Vegas and released their debut album including a track named “Days Go By”. This track soon made its way into the clubs and onto airwaves gaining lots of attention. The band consisted of three gentlemen who formed the group in 2001 thanks to a little love song that vocalist Steve Smith wrote for someone special. The song, originally an acoustic track, took a twist and was transformed into a dance club hit. The song even earned the trio a Grammy in 2003.
The band earned gross amounts of fame but due to low sales on Dirty Vegas’ sophomore album the hype simmered down and soon two of the trio called it quits. Steve Smith however did not have any intentions of quitting the music scene and recorded his own music. He actually had been recording music all of his life and now found it the right time after a break to release it. This Town was recently released as a solo project by Steve Smith who relocated from the UK to Boston with his wife. The CD is more of a personal project to Steve Smith, his best work yet.
I recently had the opportunity to talk with Steve Smith. In between changing guitar strings and baby diapers (he and his wife just had a newborn) Steve Smith took some time to answer some questions about the past, present, and future of his musical career.
Why such the long hiatus?
Well, when Ben and Paul left in 2005, I decided to have some time away from music to really get my head around what I wanted to do. I moved to the US in early 2006 and began to feel really inspired. I started to write a lot of music and spent the year collecting songs for my solo album. I also began my dream of writing music for film by scoring the brilliant movie, Boys and Girls Guide to Getting Down and for the FOX show Standoff.
Why did the band disband? I know everyone was growing mature and going their own ways but were there any other reasons?
Well, we we’re in a bad situation with our record company and Ben and Paul felt that we had taken the band as far as we could, but I truly felt there was more to come.
The band Dirty Vegas took the world by storm. You wrote a song “Days Go By” that was transformed from an acoustic track to a techno hit. What were your original thoughts on manipulating your original cut?
I have always loved the idea of taking a song where you wouldn’t necessarily expect it to go!
Steve Smith
So who was “Days Go By” exactly written about?
My then girlfriend Charlotte, who is now my wife (songs always win a girls heart!)
Any plans ever of maybe creating another Dirty Vegas release in the future?
Who knows!
Once the band split up you got back together with your long time girlfriend (now wife) and moved to Boston. Why Boston? I know it is an amazing city but I am just curious.
I have always felt that Boston has a very European feel to it. It has a great music scene and I have discovered a lot of creative people live/work here.
How was the transition from London to Boston for you?
Very smooth! The people of Massachusetts have been great to us.
How long before you decided it was time to release a self-titled album?
It kind of happened when I started to play friends some of the songs. The more I played them, the more people said I must get this stuff out there!
Is there a possibility you may tour in support of this release?
Absolutely! I cannot wait to get out there and perform the songs in front of people.
Can we expect a follow up to This Town sooner than later?
Anything is possible.
Who would you say are your musical influences?
I would say that growing up it was everything from Pink Floyd to Marvin Gaye. I was always listening to the Top 40 and raiding my brothers and sisters record collection. So I got to hear Joan Armatrading and Neil Young [because of them]. When I heard Neil Young’s After the Goldrush album it blew my mind.
I am still amazed that the actor John Savage from the Deer Hunter agreed to perform a spoken word on the first track of your CD. How did he get involved? He is the last person I would ever expect to speak on an album, yet it seemed so perfect once I heard it.
Every guest on the record was someone that naturally came along. My manager was in a furniture store and spotted John. She told him about the song and he agreed to come along and we just spoke about his life experiences and the message of the song. That was one of many incidents that happened with the recording of the album.
Speaking of incidences, you were also able to recruit a violinist for the track “Smile” who in turn wrote a piece that was the favorite of your father. Do you think that was pure coincidence or a calling?
That was another one of those natural moments with the record. I still cannot believe that the actual guy that performed the solo parts of my late father’s favorite pieces of music, came and performed on a song about him! A calling I’d say. And my old man is looking down laughing.
Can you tell me a little about your father? Was he a music lover as well?
My dad was never a professional musician but my mother told me he had a beautiful voice as a young man, and people would often ask him to sing in pubs and parties.
You are definitely a multi-talented individual with the ability to play acoustic guitar as well as spin house sets. Which do you prefer over the other?
I am a very lucky person that gets to experience the buzz of a dance floor move to a pumping bass line as well as sing with an acoustic guitar in a small folk club. Both have amazing energies that I find complete polar opposites but have the same rewards!
When did you learn to play guitar? Was it before or after you learned percussion?
I learned to play the guitar quite late, I was around 21. I had been playing percussion, but needed to learn a melodic instrument to craft the songwriting.
In your spare time you continue to guest DJ. What is different these days about the club scene as opposed to yesteryear? Are there things you miss about the overseas club scene?
I think with the way the internet is now, you can hear a brand new track played in Ibiza (Spain) and [in] Kansas on the same night! Gone are those days of the kid in the middle of nowhere ordering a track from a record store 6 months after it was first heard in NYC.
Do you still communicate with any of the DJs from the past you once toured with such as Sasha or Paul Oakenfield?
Sometimes you see DJ’s/Musicians that you have worked with over the years, I have been going to Ibiza for many years and there is always a familiar face there.
Do you think the DJ / techno genre will make a comeback in the states?
I think all genres of music will have exciting times ahead, just look at the festival line-ups now, Rock Bands, DJ’s… there all there. The song “Late Nights and Street Fights” was the main theme for Fox’s now defunct Standoff. How were you able to land that?
The music supervisor for that show had used Dirty Vegas music before and heard I was recording my solo album, and asked if I had a rock song that could suit. I played them “Late Night” and they loved it.
You won a Grammy while in Dirty Vegas for the song “Days Go By”. I am just curious if you display it in your home or use it as a paperweight?
It’s on the mantle-piece
Any plans for the future?
Well, I want to head out and play live shows to support the solo album, and then I am looking at scoring a musical with the director of Boys and Girls Guide and of course Dirty Vegas.
Why should people check out This Town?
Because it is the best piece of work I have ever done.
Steve Smith’s This Town is available on G.A.S. Records. For a sneak peak at his self titled release and to see if he’ll be touring in your area you can visit his website or his MySpace page. Word is Steve Smith and Dirty Vegas are working on new material. More to come about that…
Until then, here are some videos to keep you entertained:
The song that started it all… Still love this video too:
(EDIT: – My personal blogging analyst Matt just informed me via comment that this is Amazon’s Deal Of The Day. If you have not heard of this deal of the day you should.)
Bring back the 90’s techno rock with Prodigy. From what I have gathered this CD sounds just like Music For The Gilted Generation mixed with The Fat Of The Land.
If you Twitter add twitter.com/amazonmp3 to your followings… You never know what you are going to find.
God bless you Matt and Al Gore for creating the internet.
I have to say that Bonnaroo 2009 is looking pretty good this year. Tickets go on sale this Friday and I already envision a sellout with Bruce Springsteen & The E Street band performing as well as Phish (2 shows mean major hippie joy). I am more excited to see Coheed & Cambria, the Beastie Boys, NIN, Andrew Bird, Wilco, Elvis Costello, Down (seriously???), and Jenny Lewis.
Here’s the current line up taken from Bonnaroo.com:
More Artists to Be Announced! (Line Up Subject To Change)
Tickets go on sale this Friday. They will run you about $224.50 at first and then will escalate to $249.50 after the early tickets sellout. Pricey, indeed, but this year Bonnaroo is making it easier for you to go as they have introduced a payment plan. Call it a rock layaway of sorts… Here is some info on that:
GA PAYMENT PLAN
General admission tickets will also be available for (5) payments of $50.00 plus applicable fees through our payment plan.
Payment plan ticket fees are $28.90 per ticket, which includes a $6.00 facility fee, $3.00 contribution to Coffee County, $1.00 charity donation, and $5.00 payment plan fee ($1.00 per payment), and service fees.
There is a limit of (10) general admission payment plan tickets per order.
GA Payment Plan Schedule*
Payment 1 $90.90 including all fees DATE OF PURCHASE
Payment 2 $50.00 Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Payment 3 $50.00 Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Payment 4 $50.00 Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Payment 5 $50.00 Tuesday, May 19, 2009
*For each GA ticket purchased starting on Saturday, February 7, 2009.
That is a great idea if you ask me. Everyone these days are hard on cash so this payment plan will pull in those folk who may now have been able to dish out all the loot at once. Keep in mind though that if you do the payment plan and miss just one payment, Bonnaroo will keep the ticket, keep your money, and still bill you for the balance. I knew there was a catch to this. Always make sure you read the fine print or in this case the part that says “IMPORTANT“:
IMPORTANT: If, for any reason, any of your payments are declined, in whole or in part, then all of the following will apply: (i) your order and your tickets will be canceled (ii) any payment received as of that date will be kept by Bonnaroo as partial offset for your default, (iii) you will still owe the balance of the full amount due for each ticket and you authorize Musictoday and Bonnaroo to charge your credit card for any balance due, (iv) Musictoday and Bonnaroo will be entitled to pursue all of their legal and equitable remedies to recover the full payment from you, and (v) you agree to pay all costs of collection incurred by Musictoday or Bonnaroo, including legal fees, that they may incur in collecting the balance of each ticket price. Payment plan tickets are subject to all of the other terms of the ticketing agreement.
I can only afford one festival this year. That is my limit. So far Bonnaroo is winning me over. One thing about Bonnroo that deters me though is the camping. I don’t camp anymore. I especially do not camp with 80,000 other people with camps set up as far as 3 miles from the venue.
I went to Bonnaroo in 2006. We stated in a dump hotel but it the the best thing we could do. We could come and go when we wanted to as we were not jammed into to the camping area like sardines. Trust me, once you park your car and set up camp you are done. There was hardly any traffic movement during the whole weekend as if you camped you were stuck.
No showers, no air conditioning, no running water… yeah I am too old for that these days… I can rock it at an all day long summer festival no problem, but at the end of the day I need a bed with some A/C cranking after a shower.
Just look at the picture below. The lower half of the picture is the festival grounds. The top half is the camping community. There is also an equal portion of the camping community behind the festival grounds too. Honesty it is an incredible site…
Aerial shot by Taylor Crothers
With tickets on sale at the end of the week I am really wishing the Virgin Festival line up would release so I can figure out which way I am headed this summer… I lean towards the Virgin Festival mostly because I have been to all of them so far so why ruin a tradition? This Bonnaroo line up though has me very interested…
While killing some time I found a couple of videos related to Daft Punk I had to share. It was interesting to see some of the stuff I found. Many of you may not know this, but Daft Punk is one of my top 10 bands of all time. I just don’t talk about them too much.
I love robots and still love me a little electronic music. Daft Punk is the perfect combination and I can not wait until they come out with new material.
Anyways… Here is a clip I found explaining the history of where some of their samples came from:
Here is a follow up to that video:
Did you know that Daft Punk had a movie? It was called Electroma and I need a copy. Here is a teaser of the movie:
Of course someone out there decided to be clever and make a fast forward remix of the movie (SPOILER ALERT):
So you made it this far huh? Well I suppose you want to help me get a Daft Punk robot helmet. How thoughtful of you. They retail for anywhere between $14000 and $60000 according to various websites…
I agree, that’s a lot of money. Now I know you may not be able to spring that for me this holiday season and I forgive you.
Luckily I have located a couple of sites that sell the helmets and others that tell you how to make them.
These helmets were commissioned by the punk band Daft Punk for a music video. Over the years, LED Effects has received many inquiries from people who wanted to purchase their own helmet. Unfortunately, these helmets are custom designed stage props and cost over $14,000. While the helmets are reasonably simple in design, the cost of labor and materials make it impractical to mass produce and market them. In addition, Daft Punk owns the copyright and concept rights to the helmets, so there may be additional licensing fees to pay. In short, yes, we can build you a helmet, but it will cost you thousands of dollars and take a year to produce. Here is how the helmets were made:
1. A model shop cast the face of the musician. This was used to create a bust which was
used as a template for the design.
2. The next step was to modify a motorcycle helmet. The body was cut away to allow for
cables and electronics. Two pin holes were provided so the wearer could see out.
3. Clay models were created for all the unique parts. This included a back pack and an arm
band controller.
4. Electronic displays were designed using prototype PC board materials.
5. The LED display panels were assembled by placing each LED one-by-one into a plastic
sheet and glued into place. Each LED required three feet of wiring to connect it to power
and control circuitry. The finished panel was bolted to the helmet frame.
6. The LED cabling was routed around the “ears” of the helmet and out the back. The
helmet cables led down to the backpack where the main controller board was located.
7. The system was originally powered by batteries, but this was later switched over to a
power cord system.
8. The control keypad on the armband was a custom manufactured PC board.
9. Exterior plastic molding and finishing materials were custom manufactured by a special
effects studio to complete the helmet. Once these pieces were added, the helmet details
were touched up with paint.
See? That’s an easy homemade gift. So hop to it! I know you can do it. I’ll be waiting.
