The Rock 'n' Roll Archives, Volume Four: Cult Rockers

By Rev. Keith A. Gordon

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Archives is a series collecting vintage artist interviews and record reviews from the archives of award-winning rock critic and music historian Rev. Keith A. Gordon.

Volume Four of The Rock ‘n’ Roll Archives features interviews with thirteen "cult rockers" who have made great music that failed to find a mainstream audience, talents like Billy Bragg, Eugene Chadbourne, Mojo Nixon, Kirsty MacColl, Band of Susans, Barrence Whitfield, and They Might Be Giants, among others.

The “Reverend of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” Rev. Keith A. Gordon has been writing about music for 45+ years. A former contributor to the All Music Guide books and website, and the former Blues Expert for About.com, Rev. Gordon has written or edited eighteen previous music-related books, including Blues Deluxe: The Joe Bonamassa Buying Guide, The Other Side of Nashville, and Scorched Earth: A Jason & the Scorchers Scrapbook.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rev. Keith A. Gordon
• Release date: Sep 15, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463189856

Rev. Keith A. Gordon

The "Reverend of Rock 'n' Roll," Rev. Keith A. Gordon has almost 50 years in the pop culture trenches. Gordon's work has appeared in over 100 publications worldwide, as well as in several All Music Guide books and on the AMG website, as well as Blurt magazine and the Rock and Roll Globe. Rev. Gordon is the author of nearly two-dozen music-related books including The Other Side of Nashville, a history of the city's rock 'n' roll underground; Blues Deluxe: A Joe Bonamassa Buying Guide; and The Rock 'n' Roll Archives series.

Book preview

THE ROCK ‘N’ ROLL ARCHIVES

Volume Four: Cult Rockers

Artist interviews & album reviews from the archives

of Rev. Keith A. Gordon

Smashwords Edition • Copyright 2018 • All Rights Reserved

Smashwords Edition, License Notes:

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Artist Interviews

• Band of Susans

• Billy Bragg

• Eugene Chadbourne

• Kirsty MacColl

• Mercury Rev

• Bob Neuwirth

• Mojo Nixon

• Kevin Salem

• Screamin’ Sirens

• Stealin Horses

• They Might Be Giants

• Holly Beth Vincent

• Barrence Whitfield

Album Reviews

• Billy Bragg – Worker’s Playtime

• Eugene Chadbourne – The President, He Is Insane

• Eugene Chadbourne – Kill Eugene & Camper Van Chadbourne – Camper Van Chadbourne

• Holly & the Italians – The Right To Be Italian

• Kirsty MacColl – Titanic Days

• The Oblivious – America

• Kevin Salem – Soma City

• Stealin Horses – Stealin Horses

Introduction: Livin’ On The Edge

The music business is a funny old bird…an artist can create an excellent album with enchanting melodies and well-crafted lyrics and still be unable to find an audience, even if they convince a record label to release it in the first place. They may be tagged as a cult artist, which is often the kiss of death for a musician’s career, even if the status does convey a certain loyal fandom.

The Reverend has always championed these cult rockers, interviewing those underdog artists that few had yet to discover. Of course, writing about relatively unknown musicians in an effort to help them develop a wider audience isn’t necessarily a smart career move, either, when every publication wants to talk with Taylor Swift or some other flavor of the month.

Back in the early 1990s it was a different scene, however…for a brief, fleeting few years it was like the ‘60s all over again, where the record labels had no idea what would move product in a post-grunge world where former cult rockers like Nirvana were tallying up huge sales. Heck, even the Butthole Surfers got a major label deal! Your humble rock critic and music journalist continued to live on the edge, however, publishing interviews with decidedly uncommercial voices like Eugene Chadbourne, Mojo Nixon, Band of Susans, and Bob Neuwirth, among others that are offered in The Rock ‘n’ Roll Archives, Volume Four: Cult Rockers.

This is book number four of The Rock ‘n’ Roll Archives series – if you enjoy this one, you might check out volumes one (Southern Rockers), two (Punk Rock) and/or three (Heavy Metal), all of which feature artist interviews and album reviews from the Reverend’s personal archives and are available in both print and eBook formats. Volume five, the final book in the series, will arrive sometime in early 2019 so, until that time, keep on rockin’!

Rev. Keith A. Gordon

September 2018

Somewhere in the hinterlands outside of Buffalo NY

BAND OF SUSANS

Avant-garde noisemakers Band of Susans were part of a late ‘80s alternative music scene in New York City that was heavily influenced by artists like composer Rhys Chatham and guitarist Glenn Branca. For nearly a decade, Band of Susans walked a lonely path as one of the indie world’s most interesting and challenging bands. Although many albums in the band’s catalog are long out-of-print, they’re well worth looking for if you want to hear something completely different than the usual modern rock FM radio fodder. This interview with Robert Poss was originally published in 1995 in my music zine R.A.D! Review and Discussion of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Band of Susans are a modern-day enigma. They’re a completely independent band in an era of major label influence. They’ve been around for almost a decade, following the beat of their own distinctively different drummer. They’ve created a musical style all their own that defies any sort of categorization, steadfastly refusing to fit into an alternative mold even while appealing to that fan base.

With the Here Comes Success album, recently released by Restless Records and named after one of their favorite Iggy Pop songs, Band of Susans further strengthens their position as one of the most daring experimental acts working in rock music today. Of the many artists that the term rock ‘n’ roll encompasses, I can only think of a handful – the late Frank Zappa, Robert Fripp, and perhaps Adrian Belew – who push the use of rock guitar to its absolute limits, creating a hypnotizing wash of sound and texture upon which to imprint lyrics, thoughts, and emotions.

Guitarists Robert Poss and Susan Stenger are the creative core of the band, its artistic yin and yang, collaborating on all vocals, songwriting, and ideas. For the creation of Here Comes Success, the New York-based Band of Susans used the same line-up as its previous couple of releases: original B.O.S. drummer Ron Spitzer is joined by guitarists Mark Lonergan and Anne Husick. The quintet mix well, their chemistry blending together in creating the perfect backdrop for the band’s rather cerebral and poetic lyrics.

R.A.D! had the opportunity to speak briefly with Robert Poss just previous to the February release of Here Comes Success. Of the hundreds of interviews that this writer has done, Poss was found to be one of the most polite, intelligent, and well-spoken artists we’ve ever spoken with. His complete lack of pretension is almost disquieting, a reflection of the quiet genius that he brings to his music. Poss is an artist of incredible depth and talent, who has surrounded himself with musicians of immense skill who share his and Stenger’s incredible musical vision. The result is some of the most interesting and unique music that you’ll ever hear...

Describe the music of Band of Susans...

Wall-to-wall guitars. A deep shag rug of guitars.

How did the band come together?

It was actually started by me in 1986. It was sort of a fluke. It was a time when I played with some other rock bands and had become very disenchanted with the whole thing. I started writing some material