Sigh’s Smell of Farewell, the Cocteau Twins tribute night at the Smell, was also a night of interesting musical collaborations, as every single performance was an amalgamation of musicians. First up was Life Group, a project featuring co-organizer Scott Cornish, and former member of Veer Right Young Pastor, members of Soft-Boiled Eggies, and current members of Devon Williams’ band. They remained faithful to the original tracks instrumentally, but featured all-male vocals that lent a punkish bent to the tracks. Next was the premiere of QUeUe, a new project with members of VoicesVoices, howardAmb, and dubBUMBA, with guest vocals by Leila Adu of New Zealand. With an array of drum pads, synthesizers and a q-chord, they took immediate ownership of the songs with a very original set. ParallaxTwins, an offshoot of former BlackBlack member Luis Naranjo’s solo project, ParallaxScroll, working alongside former Hello Astronaut Goodby Television bandmate Danielle Elowe was heavy on the industrial end, with a bass heavy performance built around synthesized beats. Magic Johnson returned to LA from Portland for the show, employing their signature male/female counterbalanced vocals. They played a tight and hard-hitting set with the addition of their original bassist, as well as a guest appearance from his current VietNambla bandmate on drums for Wax & Wane off of the Cocteau’s debut album. Upsilon Acrux performed with Tes Elations’ vocalist Barrie Rose. Backed by two drummers, their set was dynamic, powerful, and loud enough to drown out even a semblance of thought, yet Barrie’s vocals remained elevated above everything else, and she best captured the glossolalia effect employed by Elizabeth Fraser. While there were many great performances this evening, their closeout cover of Donimo may have been my favorite. The idea of an Abe Vigoda/Dunes super group on it’s own is tantalizing enough for most people, and given the comparison to Cocteau Twins that Dunes has already drawn, I was looking forward to their interpretations quite a bit. They delivered a high energy, albeit chaotic set which culminated in a dance party led by Kate Hall of Dunes to Iceblink Luck. Much like the Crass tribute at The Smell several months prior, the night was a beautiful way for a community of musicians to celebrate their mutual love of a common influence.

—Walt! Gorecki

[View with PicLens]

—Devon Williams

Download: Devon Williams “Sufferer”

(from the “Sufferer” 7″ out Sept. 22 on Slumberland)

An extension of last year’s Carefree LP, the “Sufferer” EP contains two songs—the bouncy title track and a slow-builder B-side called “Who Cares About Forever?” Williams plays a brand of pop music that is hard to categorize—his melodies are the crux of the songs, but the subtle augmented instrumentation and the soaring guitars are what sets him apart from contemporaries. The pop comparisons to Nilsson and Clifford Ward can definitely be heard in Williams’ songwriting and it excites me that Los Angeles has someone that is playing a modern twist on these kinds of tunes on a regular basis. On “Sufferer,” Williams turns up the intensity on his tremolo and plays along to a chugging drum pattern. This is my preference of the two and would have fit right in on the Carefree full length—one of my favorite LPs of 2008. The breakdown/chorus that Williams often employs is perfect to showcase the vocals and melody on this gem. “Who Cares About Forever?” contains another carefully plotted melody with sparse instrumental flourishes. The song has a timeless, familiar feel—like it could have been released in any of the last three or four decades. And actually, that’s a good way to sum up Devon himself.

—James Cartwright

—Devon Williams

(from the “Teardrops On My Telephone” 7″ out now on Shattered)

Hunx is Seff (of Gravy Train!!! and trash-glam-punk-pop going all the way back to an Appleby’s in Tucson, Arizona) and Hunx and His Punx are Seff leading wide-eyed rocker babies through songs equal parts dirty Undertones and dirty underwear. They finish a wild visit to L.A. with an appearance at tonight’s vital Burger Basher! next door to the Smell. This interview by Daniel Clodfelter.

How are you doing?
I got strep throat the other night. A few nights ago in Seattle, I played a show and made out with everyone in the front row. Then the next night I decided to have a kissing contest and made out with a bunch more people. Last night I was really sick.
I saw somewhere that you had a Michael Jackson cover band in the early 2000s—what was your reaction when you found out?
Oh, my! I was so horrified—I literally cried for an hour straight. I was on the phone with stupid AT&T—on hold—and when the guy finally answered my call about this bill for $300, I was sobbing. They reduced my bill by so much! Because I think he thought I was upset about the phone bill but I was upset about Michael Jackson. I didn’t believe it at first. I guess I found out about it before it was confirmed so no one was really confirming that he was dead. It was kind of horrible—I don’t know why it hit me so hard. I remember when Tammy Faye died—when Joey Ramone and Anna Nicole Smith died, too. I cried really hard when they all died.
What kind of tombstone do you think he should have?
A giant sequined glove, I think, would be the best.
If you could pick your own tombstone, what would you choose?
Probably a dirty pair of underwear!
There is a certain catchiness to your songs that’s really addictive—I heard Justin from Nobunny contributed to some of the Hunx and His Punx songs.
There is really no ‘Justin from Nobunny.’ But Nobunny did write a couple of the early songs because we used to date for a long time—years ago. So I inspired him to write some songs. I guess his gay gene came out after dating me! Then he wrote some songs and I recorded them—actually we recorded them together. Some songs now are on my own and some have other songwriters. It’s kind of weird because all these people are asking to write songs for me now because I think they think I can’t write my own. But it’s actually cool because I feel like I’m a girl group.
There’s definitely a ‘60s girl group vibe.
I actually want it to be even more so.
One of my favorite Hunx and His Punx songs is ‘You Don’t Like Rock’N’Roll.’ What would you say to someone who doesn’t like rock’n’roll, other than what you already did in the song?
As long as they like punk or pop music, I’ll let them slide. And as long as they’re hot!
What’s your favorite rock’n’roll song?
I don’t know if it’s really rock’n’roll, but I really like the song ‘Rag Doll’ by the Four Seasons. And also ‘Rag Doll’ by Aerosmith.
You’ve released a number of 7” singles on various labels—are you going to keep it singles only or can we expect a Hunx and His Punx LP some time soon?
There’s going to be a compilation of all the singles because they’re all so expensive now. They are! One of them just sold for $60 on eBay—I was like, ‘What!? I still have a bunch of those in my closet!’ So there’s going to be a compilation of the singles. Then I want to make some disco 12’s next. I’m really into doing singles, I don’t know why. Well, more cover art and more photo shoots! But I would like to do albums, too.
You also co-own the Oakland hair salon Down at Lulu’s with Tina from the Bobbyteens, the Trashwomen, etc. Do you see yourself more as a musician or a business owner, shopkeeper or hair stylist or—
I see myself more as an entertainer actually! I don’t know if if it’s necessarily just musician—I recently just taped a reality show, but it’s secret. I do love owning a store but I’m definitely not a businessman. My dream is to just be an entertainer full time.

THE BURGER BASHER! WITH HUNX AND HIS PUNX, NOBUNNY, HARLEM, THEE MAKEOUT PARTY!, DEVON WILLIAMS AND WHITE NIGHT ON SAT., JULY 18, AT THE FIVE STAR BAR, 267 S. MAIN ST., DOWNTOWN. $10 / 8 PM / ALL AGES. MYSPACE.COM/BURGERRECORDS. HUNX AND HIS PUNX’S “DON’T CHA WANT ME BACK” IS OUT NOW ON TRUE PANTHER SOUNDS. VISIT HUNX AND HIS PUNX AT MYSPACE.COM/HUNXSOLO.

Hunx & His Punx “You Don’t Like Rock ‘n’ Roll”
Harlem “South of France”
White Night “Settle This”
Nobunny “Monster Kiss”
Thee Makeout Party! “Kids”
Hunx & His Punx “I Won’t Get Under You”
Devon Williams “Forthcoming”
Thee Makeout Party! “Change”
Harlem “Caroline”
Nobunny “Apple Tree”

Anaheim’s Burger Records picks up bands that could have been on Bomp! (or Kama Sutra!) and puts them out on records (and tapes!) that add up to an OCDIY response to locals like Recess and PPM. They’ll be hosting their first-ever Burger Basher! this Saturday at downtown’s Five Star Bar and Burger co-owner (and thee Makeout Party! guitarist) Sean Bohrman takes a break from looking at pictures of boats to make us the above mix and talk about breakfast. This interview by Chris Ziegler.

What’s a Burger board meeting like?
Sean Bohrman (co-owner): I don’t wanna say we get stoned all the time—we listen to records and come up with crazy ideas and fantasize about what it could be. We use the Secret at the board meetings! It’s a book they sell at Kinko’s and if you think positively—I flipped through it, and Lee watched the video—if you think positively, things will start to happen for you!
What’s the craziest idea still demanding actualization?
Starting a used record store—the craziest thing we have so far.
You should start a restaurant.
We wanna sell burgers! But being in that kind of business seems extra hard.
Because you could kill people if you’re not careful?
You can kill ‘em with records, too.
How?
Throw them really hard. Or play them really loud.
Doesn’t the Army do that for interrogations?
Yes—musical warfare.
What do the kids in Anaheim do when they hear the Burgermobile coming down the street?
There’s no Burgermobile yet—but we wanna buy a taco truck and turn it into a record store! So we can drive up to shows and sell out of the truck—that’s one of our crazy ideas!
And it could run on veggie oil.
We really wanna do that! That’s something we’ve been talking about for a long time. We were driving behind one guy and it smelled just like French fries—that’s perfect!
Who is the best new unsigned band that Burger has its eye on?
We use the Secret, so bands come to us! But the best band I’ve heard lately is Davila 666—I think they just released an album on In The Red and we’re probably gonna do a tape with them. We’re playing with them at Alex’s on August 29. They’re from Puerto Rico and they’ve got really awesome songs. Some are like the Zeros and some are psychedelic—it’s just really catchy good stuff. And Pipsqueak is out—he’s from just down the street. He’s 18 and just graduated high school and we’re making him grow up a lot faster than he should.
A true son of Burger?
Yeah—we recorded everything in our garage. Dan’s been recording people we dubbed all the tapes. I have a tape-dubbing machine and whenever someone orders one, I just dub a tape! This is the first thing we’ve done ourselves completely.
What are the ingredients of a good Burger band?
I don’t know what they all have in common. We become obsessed with something—‘We have to put this out!’ Like King Tuff—we heard it and for a week I was walking around like, ‘I wanna put that out!’ And it turns out Devon Williams’ best friend Alan was best friends with King Tuff when they were kids. Within two weeks of first hearing it, we got the tape out.
What label is Burger’s biggest role model?
Recess because it’s local and he started the same way we did—loving music and wanting to be part of music on all sorts of levels. And he’s still doing it and making a living off of it—that’s the dream! Just doing it for yourself and making a living and putting out good music and having people appreciate it—it’s cool! Tapes are so cheap and we can make lots of ‘em, and we’ve been putting out tapes from all sorts of different friends we know from all over the country and the world. And it’s cool that through Burger they can hear each other’s band—it’s a family! The Burger family!
Why the affection for cassettes?
They’re cheap to do. They’re like little business cards and people buy them—you wouldn’t think they would but they’re coming back just like everything else! As long as you put out stuff people wanna hear, they’ll buy it. And there’s a whole group of people with tape decks in their cars.
Who are those people?
They’re not the cleanest people. But they really enjoy music!
French fries on the floor mats?
That guy whose car smelled like French fries—he probably had a tape deck in there.
Where does Burger eat breakfast?
At Willy’s—right down the street. A Greek restaurant. It’s an old man and an old woman and they run it and they’re married and they love each other and they’ll show you their wedding pictures! And the guy is a ping-pong champion and there are trophies everywhere, and it’s really good food and extremely cheap and we love to go there! It’s in Anaheim, California—State College and Ball!

THE BURGER BASHER! WITH HUNX AND HIS PUNX, NOBUNNY, HARLEM, THEE MAKEOUT PARTY!, DEVON WILLIAMS AND WHITE NIGHT ON SAT., JULY 18, AT THE FIVE STAR BAR, 267 S. MAIN ST., DOWNTOWN. $10 / 8 PM / 21+. MYSPACE.COM/BURGERRECORDS.

We’re throwing a party at a gallery called synchronicity friday night.
It’s free. And some “djs”…

bands : Non Plus, Audacity, Devon Williams, and Thee Makeout Party
If weather permits, bands will be playing in the deluxe patio.

starts around 9pm ish…

BYO

Friday. Feb. 27th
Synchronicity Gallery
4306 Melrose Ave.
90029
(just west of Vermont)

Download: Devon Williams “A Truce”

(from “A Truce” 45 on L.A. RECORD)

Devon Williams is playing a show with us on Sat., Oct. 25, at the Prospector in Long Beach with fellow cover alums thee Makeout Party and Greater California. He did an interview for the Long Beach paper that you can read here:

What drives you to continue to make music every day? I know you said something once about cheesy questions, and that’s kind of a cheeseball question, but I mean it sincerely.
I don’t really have a drive to make music, it’s just this thing that comes naturally. It naturally grew into an outlet. Whereas certain kids might play football and get out their aggressions or angst, or some people might put their head in a pillow and scream, I was fascinated with guitars—not guitar gear, but the idea of being someone that plays guitar in the band. I acquired a guitar and it really just grew naturally and became this outlet. It’s kind of been really understated in my life, just having a guitar and playing it—I never questioned it, wondered what was it for. My mom always said it was really therapeutic for me and I was like, ‘Ah mom, what are you talking about?’ But in a way she’s right: Sometimes if I don’t play guitar for a week, it’s like, ‘Oh man I haven’t played guitar in a week!’ And I get really frustrated, and I get angry, and I drink . . . these crazy things. And then I just realize I have rail a lot. I have to do it or I’ll turn into a raging asshole. It’s not really a drive, rather than just like—
A preventative measure?
Yeah, it’s like, ‘Do you want me to be a crazy jerk? Or do you want me to just be normal?’

Read the rest at this link and see you Saturday!