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Continued from page 24
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these( Adamstown) places affordable for people. But to write a song about something so negative and turn it into a positive?” He chuckles at his own chutzpah.“ That was something I just loved.”
With“ Crushed,” the singer says, he wanted to remind everyone in America that at some point in our family trees, we were all immigrants.“ Reptiles” was written before Trump came into power(“ Or should I say‘ Abuse of power,’” he counters), and taps into the protest marches he witnessed as a lad in Ireland, proof positive that people getting together behind particularly strong causes can truly unite a population and turn the cultural tide. The Catholic imagery in“ Guns of Jericho” he culled from his seven years spent in church as an altar boy,“ Where I was brought up thinking there was an angel on your shoulder, always there watching your every move – I’ ll never forget that,” he says. There are no visible signs that allow you to gauge the honesty of a stranger, he adds, not afraid to sound like Moliere’ s skeptical The Misanthrope.“ But like we were talking about before, at least if you see somebody walking around with a dog, you sort of know what kind of person they are.”
King will sorely miss his daily walks with Django – he’ s steeling himself against the heartrending loss. But he has no other exercise or diet plans in place, he swears.“ I think running around onstage like a chicken with its head cut off each night keeps me fit,” he says.“ So there’ s no gym routine or health food involved – I basically do whatever I want. Because life’ s too short, you know?” He still likes his Guinness, and the legendary Irish brewery even attempted to tie itself in with Flogging Molly at one time, he reports.“ They were going to pay for our tour buses and things like that, but they only wanted to promote the shows as 18 and over, and we were like,‘ no way!’ On this last tour that we did, there were kids at every show – kids with their parents at every concert. And they were singing along with all of our songs – it was unbelievable.”
As King and Regan prepare to pull up stakes for a grueling world juggernaut that won’ t see them back in Detroit until September, there’ s only one question that’ s – ahem – dogging them: When, exactly, to pick out a new Irish wolfhound puppy to hopefully take Django’ s place.“ We will not do it until we’ re completely done, because it’ s just unfair to the dog,” King has decided.“ It’ s getting into our busy time, so we’ re just going to focus on our careers right now. Then we can wind down and try to have a normal life with a dog. And a cat. Or dogs and cats. And who knows? Possibly some goats …”
Appearing 6 / 2 at Aragon Ballroom, Chicago.
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Continued from page 28 anthology A Very British Synthesizer Group is a fine overview of the savvy, synthetic pop group, whom David Bowie once called“ the future of pop music.” The vinyl version of the set includes 30 tracks on three platters, lovingly mastered at Abbey Road Studios. 1981’ s essential androgynous-pop album Dare including British # 3 hit“ Love Action( I Believe in Love)” followed two albums and the departure of founding members Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh. Singer Philip Oakey initially regarded“ Don’ t You Want Me” as filler, and was unhappy that it was to be released as the album’ s fourth single. The song became The Human League’ s international breakthrough and first US # 1, featuring Oakey’ s character as an icily vain but jilted Svengali and then-teenaged Susan Ann Sulley as the faithless ladderclimber. By all reports, Oakley’ s position has changed to one of pride. The group again found success with 1983’ s dancefriendly EP Fascination! The propulsive“( Keep Feeling) Fascination” and Motown ode“ Mirror Man” were fixtures at radio in 1983. Oakley revealed that the latter song was written about‘ 80s contemporary Adam Ant. The Minneapolis-based production team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis finished work on Janet Jackson’ s Control and transitioned to Human League’ s 1985 album Crash. Their lush“ Human” and its story of infidelity and regret gave the group its second US charttopper. A William Orbit remix of“ Heart Like a Wheel” represents the band’ s final Virgin Records album Romantic? The wistful and pining“ Tell Me When” from 1995’ s Octopus was the band’ s final US Top 40 single.
The set continues all the way through to the robotic pop of 2011’ s Credo, featuring singles“ Never Let Me Go” and throbbing clubbing anthem“ Night People.”
– Jeff Elbel
7
SATAN TAKES A
HOLIDAY ALIENS
( Despotz)
The 11 tunes that grace Satan Takes A Holiday’ s fourth full-length album, Aliens, are as eclectic as its band name. With a mix of’ 60s garage rock,’ 70s groove / punk rock and’ 90s alt-rock, the Swedish power trio oozes charisma. Opener“ Good Cop Bad Cop” is a slinky retro-rock combination of Rival Sons meets Foxy Shazam meets Foo Fighters. However, it doesn’ t really represent the band’ s overall sound and the following tracks are even better. The punky, doo-wop vibes of the " The Beat," the warped Hawaiian-esque guitar melodies of“ Get You Girl”, the hard-driving The Cramps-esque grimy rockabilly and
“ Queen Mother“’ s thick as mud riffs will keep the listener thoroughly engaged. In addition, the band’ s Beatles cover“ Why Don’ t We Do it in the Road?” is given an added boost of furious power and grooves. Every tune is short and sweet, never exceeding the 3:11 mark, which makes the listening experience less than 30 minutes. Imagine walking down the hallway at work and random choruses just fly out of your mouth— to the amusement of fellow co-workers. That’ s how infectious Aliens is, and it will have you hitting the repeat button again and again.
– Kelley Simms
9
MASTODON Empire Of Sand
( Warner Bros.)
Mastodon has released concept albums about the deep sea( Leviathan), the mountains( Blood Mountain), time travel( Crack The Skye, space travel( Once More‘ Round The Sun), among others. Apparently it was time for a desert-themed album, and it may be the band’ s best to date. These Atlanta-based progressive metal rockers keep evolving while proving to be the most creative and delightful outfit in heavy metal. The album’ s story concept loosely involves a character pondering mortality while wandering a desert ecosystem. The richly arranged tracks once again truly show a band that is the sum of its individual parts, with three of the four members contributing vocals to songs( often multiple singers on the same track).“ Steambreather,” with drummer Brann Dailor on primary vocals, features a catchy mid-tempo, arena-rock guitar riff that would make Soundgarden proud, mixed with a trumpet-like synth chord for an off-kilter touch.“ Show Yourself” may be the most accessible Mastodon song ever recorded. Instantly singable with an upbeat pop rock arrangement, it will win over mainstream fans who may otherwise be turned away by Mastodon’ s earlier harder metal sound, one they have gradually evolved away from during seven studio album releases. The last two and a half minutes of“ Roots Remain” comprise one of the most memorable movements on the album. Poignant
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