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recommended boston area events

thursday, july 2nd

the church

adam franklin (swervedriver)

@ showcase live, foxborough


sunday, july 5th

city breathing

deep sea diver

adam rich

steve pardo & lindley cameron

@ the middle east upstairs


saturday, july 11th

the luxury

the click five

midatlantic

aloud

@ the paradise


sunday, july 12th

the dead weather

screaming females

@ the house of blues


saturday, july 18th

butterflies

travels

@ pa's lounge


sunday, july 19th

grand duchy (w/frank black)

the bunnies

van elk (w/valerie mistle thrush)

@ the middle east downstairs


sunday, july 19th

lymbyc systym

coralcola

the cush

the pandas

@ the middle east upstairs


monday, july 20th

you can be a wesley (cd release!)

casper & the cookies

everything, now!

magic magic

@ the middle east upstairs


monday, july 20th

green day

the bravery

@ the garden


tuesday, july 21st

mark eitzel & marc capelle

performing american music club songs

@ the lizard lounge


friday, july 24th

varsity drag (cd release!)

the grownup noise

winterpills

brendan boogie & the best intentions

@ the middle east upstairs


sunday, july 26th

pete yorn

@ the house of blues


tuesday, july 28th

cass mccombs

jennifer o'connor & band

mike bones

@ tt the bears


wednesday, july 29th

foreign born

the veils

faces on film

@ tt the bears


thursday, july 30th

justin ripley & his band

@ pa's lounge


friday, july 31st

destroyer (dan bejar)

iran

wooden wand

@ the paradise


friday, july 31st

depeche mode

peter bjorn & john

@ great woods


saturday, august 1st

alasdair roberts

@ lorem ipsum books, inman square


saturday, august 1st

wheat (cd release show!)

the xyz affair

@ great scott


sunday, august 2nd

soft power (featuring mary timony)

gramercy arms (featuring dave derby)

@ tt the bears


monday, august 3rd

billy bragg

@ the berklee performance center


monday, august 3rd

tinted windows

(james iha, adam schlesinger,

taylor hanson, & bun e. carlos)

@ the paradise


monday, august 3rd

coldplay

elbow

kitty daisy & lewis

@ the comcast center


wednesday, august 5th

the rural alberta advantage

joshua english (ex-six going on seven)

with lisa molinaro

baby teeth

@ the middle east upstairs


wednesday, august 5th

arctic monkeys

modey lemon

@ the paradise


wednesday, august 5th

joe pernice (solo show & book tour)

@ the brattle theatre (2 shows)


wednesday and thursday

august 5th and 6th

paul mccartney

@ fenway park


friday, august 7th

the electric prunes

love

sky saxon (of the seeds)

@ the middle east downstairs


saturday, august 8th

blondie

pat benatar

@ the b.o.a. pavilion


wednesday, august 12th

the warlocks

@ great scott


wednesday, august 12th

the pretenders

cat power

juliette lewis

@ the bank of american pavilion


thursday, august 13th

bat for lashes

@ the paradise


friday, august 14th

six finger satellite

@ tt the bears


sunday, august 16th

the decemberists

heartless bastards

@ mountain park, holyoke


sunday, august 16th

trashcan sinatras

@ tt the bears


monday, august 17th

the breeders

@ the paradise


friday, august 21st

choo choo la rouge (cd release!)

the big disappointments

impossible hair

the operators

@ pa's lounge


saturday & sunday

august 22nd & 23rd

bruce springsteen & the e street band

@ the comcast center / great woods


saturday, august 29th

caspain

actors & actresses

irepress

arms & sleepers

@ tt the bears


sunday, august 30th

the flaming lips

explosions in the sky

stardeath and white dwarfs

@ the boa pavilion


thursday, september 3rd

kay hanley (letters to cleo)

antisocialites

ingenue

@ tt the bears


saturday, september 5th

the pains of being pure at heart

cymbals eat guitars

depreciation guild

@ the middle east downstairs


saturday, september 5th

pet shop boys

@ the house of blues


thursday, september 10th

autolux

sleepy sun

@ the paradise


thursday, september 10th

dirty three

@ the i.c.a. boston


friday, september 11th

kings of leon

glasvegas

@ the comcast center / great woods


saturday, september 12th

the cult

performing 'love' in its entirety

@ the house of blues


sunday, september 13th

down

melvins

@ the house of blues


tuesday, september 15th

the horrors

@ the paradise


saturday & sunday

september 19th & 20th

boston lebowski fest

with movie screening & bowling

@ the house of blues & kings


sunday, september 20th

u2

snow patrol

@ gillette stadium


tuesday, september 22nd

son volt

@ the paradise


friday, september 25th

township

the lights out (cd release!)

reverse

gravehaven

@ tt the bears


friday, september 25th

charlatans uk

hatcham social

@ the paradise


saturday, september 26th

kmfdm

@ the house of blues


sunday, september 20th

maximo park

@ the paradise


monday, september 28th

sunny day real estate

@ the house of blues


wednesday, september 30th

mono

maserati

@ the middle east downstairs


sunday, october 4th

the "loud & rich" tour

richard thompson &

loudon wainwright iii

performing solo & together

@ the sanders theatre, harvard


wednesday, october 7th

bob mould

@ the paradise


saturday, october 10th

the psychedelic furs

happy monday

@ the house of blues


wednesday, october 14th

loney dear

asobi seksu

@ great scott


wednesday, october 21st

mum

@ the somerville theatre


saturday, october 31st

pinback

@ the paradise


friday, november 13th

janeane garofalo

rob riggle

two shows @ the wilbur theatre


visit tourfilter for more shows



Monday, June 09, 2008

Interview + Giveaway: Mission of Burma

The men from Mission of Burma are halfway through a hectic couple of weeks, as they've just returned from a short European tour with Shellac to treat Boston and New York fans to some very special performances. Over two nights in each city, the seminal Boston band will perform the entirety of their 1981 debut EP, "Signals, Calls, and Marches", along with their 1982 full-lengther, "vs.". Each set will be fleshed out with some rarities, and guitarist Roger Miller provides more details on that in the interview responses below, which he and bassist Clint Conley were kind enough to provide during a long drive through Spain a few days back.

Thanks to Fenway Recordings, I've got a pair of tickets for each Boston show (Thursday and Friday at the Paradise) to give away. Details after the interview...
Q: So how did the idea of running through each album over two nights come about? Obviously the recent Matador reissues played a part, but were you all into the idea initially, or was anyone resistant?

Clint Conley: The idea first arose when we were asked to do "vs" at the Pitchfork Fest. That seemed quite an honor, and an idea totally worth stealing and repeating. Seemed to me we were of like-mind on the matter.

Roger Miller: I can't recall exactly, but I think (MoB manager and Fenway Recordings head honcho) Mark Kates suggested it. It's that "Don't Look Back" idea that the ATP festival started, where bands perform their classic albums. It just kind of made sense given the reissues. We certainly would not have done this except that the reissues are coming out. Last fall we hardly performed any of the old stuff, because we were focusing on the new ideas.

Q: If you've had time to run through the seldom-played songs already, are there any that have surprised you (either in a 'Why weren't we playing this one all along?' sort of way, or a 'Uh oh, we're in trouble with this one' kind of way, or anywhere in between)?

CC: There were several songs that required some skullwork to reconstruct, and there are still some transitions, and odd corners, that I am not totally convinced we've got "right." Overall, the recall of songs from almost 30 years ago (!) has been eerily easy. And yes, some of the songs we haven't been playing seem pretty decent, if I say so myself.

RM: Mostly they fell into place pretty quickly. Some were surprising to find how they were structured - they were pretty much all fun to revisit. The most surprising one for me was "Train of Thought", which didn't do much for me "back in the day" but I find quite bracing now. We've run through twelve "resuscitates" (songs we haven't played since 1983), and we're hoping we'll have them together by the time of the shows! We're in Spain right now, and we go over them in soundchecks and incorporate a couple in every show, so we should be OK by the Paradise shows. We just listened to these songs in the van, and found that there were quite a number of little sections we didn't realize were there.

Q: With the albums being relatively short compared to the usual length of your live sets (and one actually being an EP), how are you planning to fill out the rest of each night? And do you plan on sticking to the original "Signals..." track order, or the remastered sequence with the two additional songs? (no worries if you're hoping to keep any of that a surprise, of course).

CC: We are still working out the details of how to present the records/shows. Suffice to say we will be expanding beyond , say, the 6 song "Signals," doing other songs from that period that may or may not have shown up on other releases, such on Taang or Horrible Truth. Same with 'vs'.

RM (from notes he wrote earlier): For the 'Signals...' show, we will play some songs from early on that are not on 'Signals...', but were of that era. We will then play the 4 songs from the Acad/Max session (including the 2 that were just released), then play 'Signals...' start to finish, then play encores, and make sure everyone is happy.

For the 'vs.' Show: We will play the 4 "bonus tracks", 'vs.' start to finish, then play encores, and make sure everyone is happy.

Q: You guys have been playing some new stuff recently, so what does the future hold for MoB? Back to the studio for a follow-up to "The Obliterati"? Any other special plans ahead?

CC: We almost never know what we are going to do. If there is a plan, no one's told me.

RM: We're not so good at planning. We do have new material, and once this reissues thing has passed, I'm sure we'll work on more new songs. The only truth to be told is that so far, whenever we've had enough new songs to make an album, we've made one. That may or may not hold true in the future.

Q: I believe you're answering these questions while driving around Europe on a short tour. So what exactly is helping pass the time while on the road? (what music, books, games, etc.?)

CC: We are at this moment following the luxurious Shellac tour van across the high, dry plains of Spain, on our way north to Gijon, a beach town on the Gulf of Vizcaya (Atlantic Ocean). Spain is beautiful to the point of flabbergasm. I was reading Oliver Sacks' "Musicophilia" until it got stolen yesterday along with my laptop in Madrid.

RM: Gazing at the scenery is quite nice. I was in Barcelona with Alloy Orchestra some years ago, but otherwise, this trip is all new stuff to me. Babbling to each other, occasionally listening to music. Listening to Public Enemy (who MoB will play with at P4K in July - ed) coming into Madrid was kind of interesting. I have my laptop with me and writing the Tour Blog for the Burma MySpace site is my little "side project" on this trip. It's hard to say what we do to keep amused - it just happens.
One thing's for sure: Roger's road blogging kept me amused (especially the Burma vs. Shellac scores). Damn shame about Clint's laptop, huh? Add MoB to the long list of victimized touring bands, but hey, at least it wasn't their instruments. Much thanks to Roger and Clint for taking the time to answer those questions.

As I said, I'm glad to be able to give away a pair of tickets to each show, so if you're game, send me an email at giveaways -at- bradleysalmanac -dot- com titled "MoB Thursday" or "MoB Friday", depending on which one you want to try for (no double-dippin'). Make sure I get it before 10AM on Wednesday, and I'll randomly pick one winner for each show who will end up on the guest list with a +1 spot for a friend.

And to get yourself in the mood, I should mention that I uploaded my January recording of MoB's amazing appearance at Great Scott to the Live Music Archive. Have at it.

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