Steve Westfield and the Slow Band – USA/A
Steve Westfield Slow Band’s first tour of Europe was in support of Sebadoh, also from Western Massachusetts. The band included Stootsie von Salzburg (bass) and Gunter Binder (drums). Four more tours, and four albums happened after the band signed with Germany’s Glitterhouse Records.
The Slow Band stopped while Steve raised a family. 30 years later, they tour again on the anniversary of their best-selling, Rolling Stone top ten Indie album of 1994- Reject Me…First.
Steve has played hundreds of shows over thirty years with Dinosaur Jr., Buffalo Tom, the Pixies, The Ramones, Sonic Youth, Butthole Surfers, Los Lobos, etc…
“Massachusetts singer/songwriter Steve Westfield debuted with a collection of sly and frantic songs on Mangled. „Missing“ starts off the disc, ranging from gentle guitar-picking to a rousing guitar solo by the Pixies‘ Joey Santiago. The frantic bassline and the crazy wah-wah guitar at the beginning of „Crummy Little Town“ makes it clear to the listener that this album is not the work of a traditional musician. Westfield seeks to break the rules every chance he can get, pushing hard to make the music complementary to his dry and direct lyrics. The mood of the album grows increasingly somber with Buffalo Tom’s Chris Colburn
and Sebadoh’s Lou Barlow adding to one of the most howling ballads of this period of indie rock, „Alone at Last.“ That song is followed by „Clappy Birthday,“ consisting entirely of handclaps. The mood soon becomes murky again, as Westfield sings over slide guitar, clarinet, recorder, and bongo. A heartfelt and optimistic epic”. **** Stephen Cramer, Allmusic.com
“For a Steve Westfield fan this is a must have for the ears. I enjoy all of Steve’s contributions to the music world and enjoy his peaceful musical orchestrations. Neil Young comparisons aside, there is beauty in this album right from the get-go to the closer.” Spizzletrunk
https://stevewestfield.bandcamp.com
Brainmanagerz – A/USA/CH
Singer songwriter noise for band.
*2005 – now. Songs conceived, songs relayed. Some of them 90’s, at a time
when working a job meant playing in a band with co-workers the very same night. It was a way to do it.. Not Brainmanagerz then, but some other band was playing the exact same thing. Generation later, there is a rainy outdoor street being walked down. Text appears on devise. It’s one of the 90’s co-workers and he wants to do some shows again.
Less old songs, some from the record, anyhow being part of the search, reminding of the spark, plugged in guitars, some mics, horns and some material….turn it up.
(This time it’s)
Stephen Mathewson V/Gui
Wolfram Leitner Dr
Nicholas Hoffman Gui
Eloui B/V
Thomas Weber Sx