Wednesday, July 16, 2014

In a different groove with Tune-Yards



Dani Markham was there when elementary school teacher Diane Downs found abandoned instruments in a closet in the early ’90s. “She was, like, ‘Look what I found! Let’s do this.’ And we started a group.” The group Downs started is now called the Louisville Leopard Percussionists, and it has become known globally. In the group’s first year, young student Markham was stuck in a classroom next to Downs’. “I was just envious,” Markham says, “Like, ‘How can I get over there? How can I do that? I want to play all those songs.’ So it was so exciting when I went from second to third grade and we got to play.”

Along with Prince drummer Hannah Ford, Markham is part of the first wave of LLP alumni to begin making their own mark on the global stage. Markham now plays percussion with the Oakland-based avant-pop band Tune-Yards, who play this weekend at the Forecastle Festival.

As a Leopard, Markham also enjoyed the support of her parents. Her mom was the roadie, taking the seats out of the family’s van to haul instruments to every show. “She never missed one beat,” Markham says, unintentionally making a drummer joke.

She continued at YPAS, where she focused on symphonic and orchestral percussion, playing with a percussion ensemble and taking private lessons with Todd Parker. In college at Florida’s University of Miami, Markham began learning about different world percussion rhythms and grooves, studying with a Brazilian instructor. After graduation, she stayed for a couple of years, but soon realized she needed even more options. So she moved to New York.

While that’s often where the story begins, it didn’t happen that way for Markham. She decided she should be on the West Coast instead, where her road trip took her to Oakland, a city that had become home to some Miami colleagues. One weekend, she played at a big tribute event, where she encountered hundreds of musicians she had never met. Two of them separately emailed Markham to tell her about an upcoming Tune-Yards audition. “Things were just making sense. When it happened, it was, like, ‘This is weird, but this is awesome.’”

At the audition, she says, “It was just love at first sight for me. So it was the best audition experience I’ve ever had.” She went in relaxed, having arrived in town recently and not expecting something big to happen in Oakland. “It was just fun. It was, like, ‘Cool, I have to learn music.’ It reminded me of being back in school, because (bandleader Merrill Garbus’) music is so intricate. She wanted me to sing and play percussion at the same time, so learning those patterns, I had to put in the time.”

In little time, Markham was touring the world, and she recently made her TV debut on the Jimmy Fallon-hosted “Tonight Show.” She loves traveling and doesn’t expect to settle down soon. But she will always love us, she says. “Once you leave Louisville, you can never really leave.”

Tune-Yards play Sunday at the Forecastle Festival.

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c. 2014 LEO Weekly

‘We’ve had some tragedy’: The blessing and curse of Gwar



When Louisville metal mainstay Jamison Land got the call to join Gwar, a band he had loved since high school, he could not have been happier. But his dream soon turned into something much more tragic than anyone could have expected.

Founded by vocalist Dave Brockie (who played the character Oderus Urungus) in 1984 in Richmond, Va., the satirical, costumed band has long been known for their outrageous live show and mythology. Land met Brockie through a mutual friend and eventually became roommates with Brockie and rhythm guitarist Mike Derks (aka Balsac the Jaws of Death) for a while. When previous bassist Casey Orr — whose character was Beefcake the Mighty — left, Brockie called Land to put on the 70-pound Beefcake costume.

“I grew up on Bardstown Road,” says Land, an Atherton grad who fondly remembers shows at The Machine and Pandemonium. Previously best known for his work with the band The Burial, Land had moved away but came back home to help his family after his father died. He took a job driving a truck between Louisville and Chicago several times a week — a job that paid more than he’d ever made from music. Land had reached the point where he could accept that his music dreams were not going to be more than a hobby when Gwar called.

Land was on his first tour in 2011 when guitarist Cory Smooth (aka Flatus Maximus) suddenly died from complications of coronary artery disease. On March 23 of this year, Brockie, 50, the last original member, suffered an accidental and fatal heroin overdose. “We’ve had some tragedy,” Land says with a noticeable amount of understatement. “But there’s a legacy here. (Brockie) devoted his whole life to doing this, and we have to continue on and do it for him.”

Last month, Land put together a benefit in Louisville for the Dave Brockie Fund, with proceeds benefiting the arts. But Land couldn’t be there. “I’m doing chemotherapy right now. A couple of months ago, I found out I had testicular cancer,” he says. “I found it real early, so they took it out immediately. My tests are all clear. They made me do two sessions of chemotherapy to reduce my rate of reoccurrence from 50 percent to 5 percent. I’ve got a few months of not feeling so great, but then I’ll be healthy again.”

Former bassist Michael Bishop will fill in on vocals when they perform at their fifth annual Gwar-B-Q festival next month in Virginia. “We’ve been practicing with him,” Land says. “It’s great to get back and start doing some music.”

The day before the festivities begin, Brockie’s Gwar family and fans will send him off with a Viking funeral. The band is also working on a barbecue sauce, a beer and a Gwar-themed bar in Richmond. Land even has his own endorsement deal with an electronic cigarette company.

“As much tragedy as we’ve gone through, it’s such a machine — it’s really hard to stop it.”

photo by Liezl Estipona

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c. 2014 LEO Weekly

Morgan Lebus’ Ribbon Music movement



Growing up in Louisville, Morgan Lebus wasn’t necessarily one of the cool kids. When he started discovering underground music in middle school, his first favorites were bands from the Washington, D.C., Dischord scene. But he found them by following other kids to shows at unconventional venues like the Another Place Sandwich Shop on Frankfort Avenue. Now, 20 years later, he works out of the massive CNN building on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, next door to the Amoeba Records store, running an indie label that has helped several hip bands reach an international audience.

Growing up preppy on Mockingbird Hill Road, Lebus felt out of place among crowds that then included some less-than-tolerant skinheads. “It was very Mad Max-y for me,” he laughs. But he soon fell in with kinder, gentler punks like Endpoint. The band Evergreen led him to look into local music’s recent, more artsy history. When members of Pavement and Sebadoh moved to Louisville, Lebus started down his indie rock path.

At the turn of the century, while bored at a job in New York, Lebus was recommended for the job of tour manager for a Scottish indie band, Arab Strab, who were selling out shows nationwide, by mutual friend Dave Pajo, the guitarist and a fellow Louisville native. Lebus hired Louisville musician Paul Oldham to join as their live soundman. “It was a blast. It was transformative. It was the first time I’d ever traveled across the country,” Lebus says. Oldham’s brother Will, of Bonnie “Prince” Billy, soon asked Lebus to manage his tour, and then Pajo did, too. He also briefly managed each artist and made some “mediocre” videos with them and other acts.

Through Pajo and Will Oldham, Lebus met Laurence Bell, whose London-based label Domino released their records in Europe. Lebus began sending Bell demos of unsigned New York bands he liked. After Domino broke through with their band Franz Ferdinand, Bell expanded his American office, hiring Lebus in 2006. Lebus was then able to help bring bands he knew, like Animal Collective and Dirty Projectors, to the company.

Lebus started his label — which also includes publishing services — as a spin-off of the similar but larger Domino after working there for five years. After Lebus suggested signing a few bands that Bell passed on, and then watched those bands become successful with others, Lebus decided to try something fresh. He and Bell began Ribbon Music as a joint venture, with Lebus as the boss making the decisions.

He moved to Los Angeles to give his growing family more space, while staying close to his industry’s power center. Some of Ribbon Music’s acts now include Laura Marling, Django Django and Thao & the Get Down Stay Down, artists who appeal to both Pitchfork readers and public radio listeners.

In describing where his career has taken him lately, Lebus makes an analogy grounded in a Louisville upbringing. “I didn’t want to be an A&R guy forever. The lifespan of that is like a thoroughbred.”

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c. 2014 LEO Weekly