MuchMore.ca

Brimful of Asha-Cornershop (1997)

UK band Cornershop have a story that can be told in 2 acts: Act 1 is pre- Brimful of Asha and Act 2 is post-Brimful of Asha. I’ve always hated the term “One-Hit Wonder” because it reduces the purpose of making music to having a hit when for most musicians this is not the case, and a song being a hit has so much more to do than with just how good or catchy a song is. Yes, Cornershop are best remembered for that one (and only) big hit, but they are so much more than just 1 song.

Act 1:
Formed in the early 90’s, Cornershop began as a group of musicians who were trying to find a sound which was rooted with a unique mix of British rock and Indian influenced music which is not that strange when you think that the band itself was a mix of musicians with British and South Asian backgrounds. Although they were praised by critics very early on it wasn’t the music that brought them their first taste of notoriety, it was an incident with Morrissey. Their early attention came when NME (The New Musical Express) ran with a story about Cornershop (and their strong views on racism) took on Morrissey’s questionable exploration of themes with skin-head overtones in 1992. Subtle was not what Cornershop was going for when they started burning pictures of Morrissey at their shows, at press conferences and outside of his record company’s offices, and instead of being recognized for this stance they took, it instead turned into a bit of a backlash and they were almost written off as publicity hounds. The band kept their heads down and worked hard on developing their sound.

Act 2:
By 1994 Cornershop were signed to a record label formed by David Byrne (Talking Heads) and started to make some noise again but this time with their music, finding fans in people like Brian Eno. This paved the road for their breakthrough album “When I was Born for the 7th Time” and the song that has brought you and I together in blog: Brimful of Asha. The original version of the song barely made a dent on UK radio but after a remix by Fatboy Slim at the height of his popularity the song went to number one in the UK and top 20 in the US. Finally, 7 years after forming, Cornershop had managed to crack the code and now the musical world was their oyster……so they decided to focus on a side project called Clinton. They have since made some excellent music as Cornershop and released new albums but have not been able to come anywhere near the same mainstream success. Regardless, they had me at “Everybody needs a bosom for a pillow, everybody needs a bosom”.

Your Ghost-Marco Solo (2007)

In the mid 90’s Canadian Rock & Roll was a pretty happening place: Our Lady Peace, I Mother Earth, The Tea Party, The Hip, The Watchmen, The Headstones, and the list goes on. There were also bands just on the brink of gaining that widespread attention like Rusty, The Doughboys, and a band from Ontario called Supergarage who deserved their reputation as one of the hardest working bands in Canada. I have a vague memory of a short tour with them and a challenge that I could eat a full bag of frozen french fries in 5 minutes just as long as I had ketchup…..because the only thing bigger than my love for ketchup is my ego. Those assheads laced my ketchup with Tabasco sauce and the joke was on me, I lost the bet and a little bit of my pride and colon that night (I am still plotting my revenge 8 or 9 years later). The sneaky backstabbing ketchup wasting members of Supergarage have all found success in different sections of the music industry and some of them still make music including lead singer Marco Defelice. He has been a guest voice on a Daniel Victor’s “Neverending White Lights” project and under the name Marco Solo he has been making some beautiful sounds with his voice and a loop pedal which you can check out in the tune “Your Ghost” which also just happens to be married to one of the most beautiful music videos you will ever see. Check out his album ‘The Sun that Somewhat Sets” but if he offers to share his french fries just walk away.

Emily-Lizband (1998)

In 1993 (give or take) The Lizband was formed in St. John’s Newfoundland fronted by Liz Pickard. Over the past 18 years Liz has continued making music and has worked hard at building and cultivating the local music scene and arts community. She is one of the most diverse and honest live performers I have ever seen: I’ve witnessed screaming punk rock moments directly followed by a ballad with one of the sweetest voices you will ever hear. She has made a lot of music over the years and has written a couple of great tunes that have had enormous success on radio in St. John’s and very easily could have had the same type of impact on any other radio station in the world. If we could somehow make a definitive list of music that should have been heard by more people, the Lizband would deserve to be on that list. Check out the 1998 track Emily.

Midnight at the Movies-Justin Townes Earle (2009)

Trying to navigate your way through life as a musician when you are the offspring of a famous musician, I can’t imagine is a very easy thing. Harper Simon (son of Paul), Jacob Dylan (son of Bob) and Jordan Zevon (son of Warren) have all had to struggle with the weight of the larger than life musical shadows their parents have no choice but cast over them. Justin Townes Earle (son of Steve) has fallen into the footstep trap of famous parents outside of just music in that, much like his father Steve Earle, he has struggled with drug addiction for a very large portion of his short 29 years on the planet thus far.

Earle is not the only famous name Justin has been branded with however, his middle name comes from his father’s late friend; Townes Van Zandt. Townes Van Zandt has touched a lot of people with his music but perhaps nobody as much as Steve Earle. The evolution of the relationship between those 2 songwriters began with Steve just being a huge fan which eventually turned into a very close relationship; Townes was Steve’s mentor. After Townes passed away in 1997 Steve has done many things to keep his legacy alive from talking about him in interviews where he describes him as the greatest songwriter who ever lived to releasing a Townes Van Zandt tribute album and of course the living tribute that is carried by his son’s name: Justin Townes Earle. Between the drug issues Justin has made some really great music and seems to be on the verge of a breakthrough moment, he is healthy, sober and now on his 4th album in 4 years. I first found his music when someone slipped me his 2009 album “Midnight at the Movies”.

It Ain’t Over ‘till it’s Over-Lenny Kravitz (1991)

I’m sure there are millions of songs throughout the history of music written about lost love. Some we hear, some we don’t, and the ones we do hear we can just kind of speculate what or who they might be about. Unless of course the writer is Lenny Kravitz and the love he wrote about is Lisa Bonet. Lenny’s 1991 Album “Mama Said” is filled with songs pretty much JUST about his broken heart and broken marriage with Denise Huxtable and “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over” is another example of a musical moment where we get to benefit from the misery of others and in this case that moment is one of the greatest songs of the past 30 years. Thanks Lenny, your heartache is music to our ears, literally.

thanks for listening,
=mw