The Boss Martians new CD

The Boss Martians is a band who's sound seems to be constantly growing and evolving. Yet, even from their surf rock beginnings, through their garage rock and punk middle period, to their current power pop explosion, the band has always incorporated a mix of elements from each genre.

Boss Martian's guitarist and frontman Evan Foster met the band's keyboard player Nick Contento back when they were still teenagers in the Tacoma rock scene. They formed The Boss Martians with the idea of incorporating their shared taste in garage rock, surf, punk and power pop. While the other band members have changed around a bit, they've been a solid unit with Scott Myrene on bass and Thomas Caviezel on drums for years.

The band recently released their tenth full-length album, for their full discography look here. With a large following around the States and Europe and so many releases under their belt, The Boss Martians always seem on the verge of making it bigger, but never quite make it there. I'm thinking with their latest album, "Pressure in the SODO," it might actually finally happen. In part because it's a major step up in production and features Iggy Pop, in part because it's their most polished and pop release yet.

The song "Mars is for Martians" was co-written by Foster with Iggy Pop. The story goes Iggy Pop liked the band and met Evan and they talked about writing a song together... months later Iggy gave Evan a list of the letters of the alphabet with a word for each one as the song lyrics. Ever creative, he was able to work them into a song that actually turned out great. I like the trade off in vocals between Pop and Foster, with Iggy's deep creepy and Evan's high-octane almost Rick Simm's style. The guitar riff and chorus are super catchy and it's one of the heavier songs on the album.

There's quite a bit of slower poppy songs, probably half the album, that leave me wanting more from the band. They are excellently executed, have great use of keys and play off '80s pop at times, but the music is just a little too clean and nice for me tastes. I really like the punchier stuff on the album, songs like "Power of Doubt," "Don't Wanna See You Again," "You've Taken Everything," "Stiletto," and "Hey Hey Yeah Yeah" - all catchy power pop songs with enough speed and garage rock sounds to keep me happy. I think the band excels the most on the songs that are a bit rougher around the edges and maintain a bit more of the rock'n'roll swagger of their past.

You can preview a few songs off the album and get a lot more information about the band on The Boss Martians Myspace page:
myspace.com/thebossmartians

Useless trivia fact: They used my smoke machine to get the fog in the background in the photo used for the cover.

Briefs News: New bands and they still won't have beards!

From one of Seattle's funnest bands, The Briefs:

We are not broken up but we are doing other things for a little while!

DANIEL J. TRAVANTI is now playing with some of our friends from THE BODIES in a new band called MODERN ACTION! They have a single or two out and you can find them on the place we hate to love and love to hate, myspace.

CHRIS BRIEF is living in Berlin and has a new Band with CLOROX GIRLS front man, JUSTIN MAURER. The Band is Called SUSPECT PARTS. They have a single out and you can also find them on myspace.

STEVE E. NIX has started a band with STEVIE KICKS, and ZACHE ACTUALLY (of THE GIRLS), called THE CUTE LEPERS! They have a few singles, a video and a full length album out.

Guess where you can find them? Chances are you can find them playing in your town in August!!!! Go to their myspace page for tour dates! If youre low on cash you can email Steve direct, he'll send you a stack of posters, you put them up at all your favorite skate spots, bathrooms, and public swimming pools and you and 3 of your friends are in!!!!!!! For info on that you can visit the Cute Lepers myspace page....Help them out they need some posters up in COLORADO SPRINGS, KANSAS CITY MO, INDIANAPOLIS IN, PROVIDENCE RI, PITTSBURGH PA, RICHMOND VA, DALTON GA, PENSICOLA FL, NEW ORLEANS LA, OKLAHOMA CITY, and ALBUQUERQUE NM

As for the Briefs.....well think of us as traveling through space in a deep sleep, only when we finally wake up, we STILL wont have beards!!!!

This weekend in Seattle

The Capitol Hill Block Party is hitting Seatown starting today. I really won't bother to give a preview of it since it's The Stranger's festival and they are thoroughly covering all the bands on their blog Line Out, hop over and check out the action. I'm probably not going this year, the biggest acts I'm not into (Vampire Weekend and the Hold Steady) and while there are some smaller acts I'd like to see, I'm not too willing to brave festival crowds to do so. I really prefer dark booze-filled clubs and night time shows. I think the two acts I'd wanna see most are Jay Reatard, who I've seen a few times in his various bands, and Grand Ole Party, who have a big buzz going on in San Diego, but I haven't heard much of yet.

Along with the Block Party, there is of course, other shit going down. Most notably tonight, is this free show at the Comet with the Valkyries and Girls:



And then Saturday, The Funhouse has a day and night of fun planned starting at noon with a BMX bike exhibition featuring trick bike riding, DJs, beer, bbq and more. After the bike action, they have a doozy of show with 3 Found Dead, Old Man Smithers, noisemakers Bacchus, the return of Olympia's mighty Fitz Of Depression, The Shut-Ins (featuring Ben Shepherd of Soundgarden) and Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth (featuring Tad Doyle of TAD and Eric Akre of Christ on a Crutch).

The Sub Pop 20th Anniversary may be over, but members of some of the mightiest Sub Pop bands are gonna be rocking The Funhouse tonight for a measly $6.

Diner reviews: The Country Cousin

Halfway between Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon lies the town of Centralia. In pioneer times, the town was apparently the halfway stopover point for stagecoaches operating between the Columbia River and Seattle and hence the origins of it's name. My grandpa used to tell me about driving in an early Model T packed full of guys from Portland to Seattle for work and how the drive would take eight hours on dirt roads, so it's not hard to imagine the trip by stagecoach taking two days.

These days, the trip between Portland and Seattle along Interstate 5 generally runs 3 to 4 hours depending on traffic. Which still makes Centralia a convenient halfway point to stop at for gas, food or just a break from the road. But since there are now plenty of pit stops along the I-5 corridor, each one tries to have something unique to lure people to their town to spend money. Centralia's main attraction seems to be antique stores if you venture a few miles from the freeway to the proper downtown, as well as one hell of a crazy art house made out of piles of scrap metal. But closer to the freeway, for the casual stop, it's outlet mall stores, a big Safeway, competing gas stations and fast food.

Nestled in-between a Chevron station, Arby's and Denny's, is a gem of a restaurant that's easy to pass as too gimmicky, but is really worth checking out. The Country Cousin opened in 1973 and has been providing delicious comfort food for weary travelers ever since. The goal, claim the owners, is to be much more than just a restaurant, they want it to be an experience. And that experience is supposed to kinda be like visiting grandma's old farmhouse, complete with chickens outside, a barn-like exterior, and more old farm equipment and antiques then you've ever seen assembled into one place. There's even a rooster sound when you walk in the door.



Kitschy and tacky? Hell yes! And they know it and revel in it. The thing is though, they back it up with killer small town diner and comfort food, stiff drinks, and a fun atmosphere. I used to always stop at the Arby's in Centralia on road trips, while I'm generally not a fan of fast food, their Super sandwich always was a secret delight for me. But one year on Thanksgiving, Arby's was closed, so the girl and I decided to check out the nearby Country Cousin. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and all the fixings and it was great. Then on my way to the bathroom I stuck a buck in a pull tab machine and won $100, paying for our dinner and then some. Ever since I've been coming back, exploring the menu, and amazingly winning $100 or $200 at pull tabs here quite a few times, to the point where I think the place is lucky.



It wasn't until the second or third visit to the Country Cousin where we discovered the lounge, now that's the only place we eat here. It's 21+, dark, has fast drink and food service, never has a line for seating like the main restaurant... and it features an incredible painting of Burt Reynolds naked from an old Cosmopolitan photo shoot in the '80s. Damn, check this shit out:



Generally we stop at the Country Cousin for breakfast. They've got great biscuits and gravy, along with about every diner type of breakfast imaginable, they also make a mean Bloody Mary. But for lunch and dinner they have excellent pot roast, pulled pork, sandwiches of every kind, really quite a full menu. And it all tastes homemade, they don't skimp with prepackaged or fake tasting ingredients, everything tastes rich, heavy, cooked just right... just like grandma would do.

You can find the Country Cousin in Centralia, Washington just off Exit 82 from Interstate 5. Head West off the freeway and take your first right, just past the Chevron. You can't miss it, it's the big red barn just a stone's throw from the offramp. Definitely eat in the lounge, buy a few pull tabs, and take a picture next to Burt, but most importantly, enjoy their killer food.

Portland band The Prids in vanwreck on tour!

Portland rock band The Prids has a pretty bad van wreck in California Sunday night on their way to a show in LA.

"A tire blew, they lost control of the van and it rolled several times. David was airlifted from the scene of the crash, he suffered a broken collar bone, broken ribs and has 6 staples in his head. Chris broke his arm, and they are waiting for MRI results to determine if he's sustained a spinal injury. Maile has a broken vertebra and toe and a severe cut with stitches on her knee. Joey broke ribs, Mistina suffered a concussion, and as far as I know Kristin is in similar shape. As of late tonight, everyone but Chris has been released from the hospital, and they are staying at a hotel in Fresno."

As of this morning Chris was released from the hospital, but David went back during the night because he was vomiting blood. He's on a morphine drip and stable. Friends are picking up the band members and any equipment that survived the wreck. Their van is totaled and they are going to have pretty hefty hospital bills. Fundraisers are being planned and anyone that wants to donate to the band via Paypal is encouraged to do so to: donate@theprids.com.

Profane Existence ends it's record label

From the new Profane Existence newsletter, truly a sign of the times:


PE RECORD LABEL TO STOP!!
Yes the rumors are true and PE will cease to be an active records label once the current batch of new releases are complete. These include the following releases that will be out in July and August.:

IMPERIAL LEATHER "Do You Know Where Your Children Are" LP
IMPERIAL LEATHER "Do You Know Where Your Children Are" 2x7"
MASSMORD / SHADES OF GREY split LP
RESISTANT CULTURE "Welcome to Reality" LP
WARTORN Tainting Tomorrow with the Blood of Yesterday LP/CD
COOTERS / HAPPY BASTARDS split 7"
APPALACHIAN TERROR UNIT Greenwash LP/CD

ALL OTHER SCHEDULED RELEASES WILL BE CONSIDERED CANCELLED and any pre-orders received for other titles will be cancelled and/or refunded. Current subscribers to the CDs of PE subscription are given the choice of having their remaining subscription balances refunded, converted to magazine subscriptions or applied to cooperative memberships membership. The publication of Profane Existence Magazine will not be affected by the
record label shutting down and PE Distribution will continue to operation into the foreseeable future.

Green River secret show videos!

Jim Hucks shot some cool video action at the secret Green River reunion show last week at Ballard's Sunset Tavern. He was cool enough to let me repost them here, so check it out. It gives you a pretty decent feel for the evening.

Unwind:


P.C.C.:


Jim shot a bunch of other cool stuff, including Mudhoney and Green River at the Sub Pop 20th Anniversary show, check all his videos out here.