THE ALT POP RIGHT

To get you ready for the weekend, Green Room put this playlist together for you to download and burn or load into your devices!

Even pop music has alternatives these days and we thought we'd share some pop with you we've enjoyed recently and it's a bizarre blend so take it for what it's worth.  It's quite a ride!

Click this pic of a finger spinner that's only one spine short of looking like a Nazi star and you'll get Green Room's first playlist and a chance to possibly here some new music from new and exciting bands!

Oh and have a great weekend!

IT'S AN ELECTRIC SIX-A-PALOOZA!!!!!!!!!!

Wow!  Well, boys & girls, Electric Six is back on tour and not a minute too soon!  It's like something erupted in their camp!!!  It's an Electric Explosion!!!

This month saw the release of the band's last Kickstarter campaign.  "You're Welcome" arrived in all of it's various assorted packages (depending on what you purchased during the campaign)!  But that's nothing really.  The merchandise is great and fun to have but nothing compares to the absolute coolness of the album itself.

"You're Welcome" is comprised of two discs.  The first is a covers disc and sees Electric Six taking classic tunes from popular artists like Duran Duran & Kim Wilde, more eccentric and obscure artists like Boney M and Warren Zevon, and legendary pop sensations like David Bowie, Don Henley and Iggy Pop and transforming them into pure Electric Six gold.

That's something I really have to give these guys...  They can take a song I absolutely hate or can't stand and make it into something I'm blaring full volume in my truck driving around.  A wonderful example of this would be their cover of 'Last Night I Had A Dream' by Randy Newman.  I've never given this track a second thought in my entire life.  I've heard it before, but it's not a song I'd play over and over or really get into.  The boys in E6 take it and change it from a sleepy ballad into full tilt Rock & Roll.  You just can't go wrong here.

David Bowie is the only artist who gets double dipped on this record.  'Magic Dance' from the "Labyrinth" movie and 'Young Americans' appear.  In so many ways, it's a fitting tribute to the artistry of this amazing talent we so recently lost.  You can tell the guys have a great deal of respect for him and it shows in the effort they put into doing his music justice.

The second disc is a live performance recorded this year.  It features some deep cuts from the band and represents a desire among their fans to hear some more obscure cuts in their live shows.  I think the song I was most excited to hear had to be 'MC Sucka DJ'.  From the band's first "album" and I say that loosely as it was released under the band name The Wildbunch and was only printed in a limited run.  This disc is impossible to find.  Trust me, I'm looking.  But you can find bootleg copies online to download.  And that track is phenomenal.  It's too bad the band don't reissue the disc.

Seriously, if you missed out on this Kickstarter, you've missed out on one of the coolest Electric Six records!  It's really good.

You also missed out on the Electric Six Karaoke disc!  But if you're feeling blue, don't worry!  Cause the boys are still at it!

E6 guitarist, The White Wolf (John Nash), just released an EP as a precursor to his full length solo album.  "Futility" is Nash at his very best!  His voice is clear and the songs are absolutely brilliant!  I've been waiting for him to do more solo work and I'm here to tell ya, I'm not disappointed!  His solo album will be something to look forward to, but in the meantime, you can buy this EP on Bandcamp and encourage him to continue writing and recording!

The band's other guitarist, Dave Malarsh just finished recording a live CD with one of his side projects!  He published this photo of the group on Facebook.  I've heard some of the music he's done on the side with bands like Wolfbait and he's super talented!  He's also co-writing a lot of the newer E6 tracks I'm loving the most.  'When Cowboys File For Divorce' is still one of the best rock numbers out there right now.

Keyboardist, Tait Nucleus has a side project going I'm excited about called Belle Ghoul, but I haven't heard anything from them in awhile.  Hopefully, they'll put an album together soon.  The singles and EPs they've been releasing are fantastic!  This group deserves a full length album.

But fear not, sixers, because Dick Valentine himself is also doing his part to keep you rocking during recent weeks.  He's just released a new solo album called "Robocalls"! 

In addition to your double album, you can enjoy Dick Valentine not singing covers or live, but brand new material he wrote especially for you!  Getting your hands on this disc may be a bit of a stumper as he's only selling physical copies at the band's live shows right now, but every once in awhile if you check his facebook page, he'll do a mass mailing and ship a bunch out.  If you're really desperate, try messaging him and see if he'll do you a solid!

As is usually the case around this time of year, E6 has a new album scheduled for release.  "How Dare You" is on Metropolis Records release schedule for Oct 13, 2017, but the band is already selling copies of the album at their recent live shows.  So if you're smart, you'll find a way to get to one of those events and snag yourself an advance copy of new E6 music!

I haven't heard a great deal about this new record, but I'm excited to hear it.  If anyone on the east coast wants to do me a huge favor...  I'd love to get my hands on a copy.  Consider....

The band have also released another quarterly download for fans who participate in their subscription service.  This time, they included an outtake of a track called, 'Meat Grindin'.  Certainly a tune that could offend people.  Probably the reason it was left off the record.  Nash also included a mix video with some music mixes playing over a video mix of people dancing from a local Detroit dance program.  It's highly entertaining and enjoyable.

Dick Valetine recently put a mix CD together for The Green Room of music he was listening to and some of his favorite songs in that moment of time.  His Electric Mix is both revealing and adds a great deal of insight into his musical mind.  And frankly, that's one of the reasons I like this group so much.  They're a fluid non-conforming sound that goes wherever inspiration takes them.  Even if it sounds Country Western at times or like something from the 80's New Romantic movement.  The music they record is absolutely free.  And the energy and excitement these musicians share with each other is infectious.  We feel it!  

As a special treat and in celebration of the arrival of so much new Electric Six material, here's the mix CD Dick Valentine put together for us!  You can download it and enjoy all of the cool music he's enjoying right now!

Just click on the cover and you'll be able to download a Zip file of the disc.  Here's the tracklist:
01. The B-52's - Private Idaho
02. The Black Opera - No Water
03. Fischerspooner - The 15th
04. Detroit Grand Pubahs - Sandwiches
05. The Dirtbombs - Shari Vari
06. DJ Assault - Yo Relatives
07. Vince Staples - Norf Norf
08. Justice - Valentine
09. Ssion - My Love Grows In The Dark
10. Donnie Iris - Ah Leah
11. Bitchin' Bajas - Apui Koh Mai
12. Ty Segall - Orange Color Queen
13. Unrest - Can't Sit Still
14. Love And Rockets - No New Tale To Tell
15. Tame Impala - Apocalypse Dreams
16. Funkadelic - Hit It And Quit It
17. Van Halen - Hot For Teacher

I've really enjoyed this disc and I hope you do too!  Discover some new music and get your ears prepped for more Electric Six music coming atcha on the horizon!

LAUNCHING THE US LEG OF DEPECHE MODE'S GLOBAL SPIRIT TOUR

It's no secret my love for Depeche Mode has waned greatly over recent years.  And that's saying quite a bit.  Back in the day, I was a hardcore follower.  If they released a disc, I'd buy it.  Even if I already owned all of the music on other releases.  I was a DM completest.

I mean, I was so into them, I used to have re-occurring Rookie dreams...  You know, the ones where you're sitting in the stands at your favorite game supporting your favorite team and right at that pivotal crunch moment, the coach stands up, points to you and pulls you off the bleachers to join the team on the field and lead them to victory!!!  I would dream I'd get pulled aside right before the start of a DM show and they'd ask me to play one of the keyboards for the show!  The rest of the dream would be me on stage playing the songs with the band.  It was usually from a show I'd seen before.  But it was always uplifting and put me in the best moods when I'd wake up.

So where did it all go wrong?  

For a lot of fans, "Songs of Faith and Devotion" was too much of a change.  I think if you asked most die-hard fans when the band jumped the shark, they'll say that record.  

Watching a band who spent most of the 80's on the forefront of electronic music pioneering new forms of sound engineering and design, suddenly trying to catch up to the sound of younger grunge bands seemed like a death knell.  But for those of us who embraced the journey, we witnessed something extremely mind-blowing.  

The first time I saw the Devotional  Tour I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  David Gahan, who up to this point, was actually extremely embarrassing to watch perform (and we're talking cringe worthy like watching The Office cringing), was SEXY!!!  The young kid who's entire dance repertoire centered on spinning around with his mic stand was replaced with a longer haired, calmer, more commanding performer.  It was like someone took him out back and taught his some moves.

I was flabbergasted.

And the show was visually and mentally challenging as well.  They really delivered.  And I was re-hooked.  I saw this tour and the extended Exotica portion a total of 5 times.

The subsequent material was hit and miss with me.  "Ultra", another greatest hits package...  the company coffers were continuing to siphon off my excess income.  I got really excited about "Playing the Angel".  I loved that record and I loved the tour.  I was momentarily reinvigorated.  And that, my friends, is where everything went so 'Wrong'.

I...  actually hated a new Depeche Mode track.  Literally hated it.  And as I listened to other tracks from the disc, the glaring reasons for my waning interest were suddenly right in front of me.  I felt like the song writing was getting too predictable and they weren't putting out any new ideas or doing anything challenging musically.  They were just releasing a new record to tour behind.  

Something inside snapped and I quit.  I stopped.  I haven't bought a single record more.  I just crossed them off my list.

No more dreams.

So...  I got invited to see them for this tour by an old friend I haven't had contact with in some time.  To be honest, my motivation in going was mostly to hang with her and reconnect.  She'd never seen them live before and although none of their subsequent tours have matched the masterpiece of "Devotional" I know a band that can work a crowd and DM does put on a good show.  That's how I ended up at the USANA Amphitheatre to catch the opening show of the US leg of their new Global Spirit Tour.

Of course, there's a new album; which I've never heard nor had any intention of hearing.  But I wasn't going for that.  I was going for the hits.  For the older songs I knew they'd play.

And I was prepared!  And then this happened:

Dave come out on stage in front of a rainbow colored modern art piece that is continually shifting as the visual plays out.  'Going Backward' was the song and the painting indeed went backward until it was a blank canvas with Dave telling us there's "nothing" inside.

Wow

A few more new songs rolled in with some hits and then, BAM!

Nothing prepared me for the musical onslaught of this track.  I was dancing, singing, jumping, laughing, crying and completely caught up in the show.

Martin's impassioned performance of 'A Question Of Lust' and the wonderful under-rated song, 'Home' had me utterly emotional.

Suddenly, I wasn't watching a band I'd given up on years ago, I was with old friends who'd waited patiently for me to come around again.  And when I finally did, they welcomed me back and embraced me back into the fold.

I stopped worrying or thinking about my critical thoughts on their new music and instead, I simply let myself get caught up in the moment and feel it.

Even when they played the dreadful 'Wrong', I didn't lose interest or walk away.  I was part of something so much bigger than myself, my friends, Martin, Dave or Andy Fletcher.  I was "home".

If Depeche Mode are playing near you or you have the chance to see them on this tour, don't hesitate.  You won't be disappointed.

Here are Depeche Mode performing 'Home'.  One of my favorite moments from the show.