Recordings from The Black Eyed Snakes, Retribution Gospel Choir, Los Besos, The Chairkickers and more.

March 11th, 2011 The Black Eyed Snakes performed at a longtime hot bed of Duluth music, R.T. Quinlan’s. Youtube user duluthiscool was there with video camera in his hand and his eye on style.

Duluth’s immensely popular Homegrown Music Festival recently went off with a week of good music, good people, and good times – - or so I hear from the buzz of the Internet. I lived in Duluth for about two years and enjoyed Homegrown as a bit of a Duluth n00b. Those who have been in attendance since its inception however tend to wax poetic and get misty-eyed over times gone by. The heart and soul of any good music festival – no matter how long you’ve been attending – is the power and raw emotion of a bitchin’ rock and roll show.

Former Duluthian and blogger, Laurie attended a “Secret Show” with The Black Eyed Snakes on a return visit to Duluth she took with her family. Current Duluthian and amateur scene-documenter Ryan Dahlberg was also there taking photos. Ryan e-mailed me to point out the link to Laurie’s blog and his photos from the show. Since I wasn’t there I won’t even bother paraphrasing so check out the links and get in the moment.

• Black Eyed Snakes – Flickr photo set
• I <3 Dirty Rocker Boys – This is Babble On blog post

I recently traveled to Salt Lake City to attend the Retribution Gospel Choir’s performance at Kilby Court, April 16th, 2010. Two opening acts performed followed by a set timing in just under an hour by RGC. Attendance was around fifty people, many of whom were obviously fans judging by their reactions to each song and by the informal chat sessions with the band following the show.

I recorded the fifty-three minute, twenty-four second set and have shared the audio on archive.org. To listen, use the embedded streaming functionality below, or download the set in it’s entirety from the archive.org set page.

Set page at archive.org:
Retribution Gospel Choir Live at Kilby Court on 2010-04-16

Photos from Flickr:
Retribution Gospel Choir Live at Kilby Court with last.fm event tag

Setlist:
01 Breaker (2:21)
02 Workin’ Hard (4:15)
03 White Wolf (4:42)
04 Poor Man’s Daughter (7:25)
05 They Knew You Well (2:55)
06 Take Your Time (3:56)
07 banter (2:16)
08 Hide It Away (3:07)
09 Your Bird (3:13)
10 Something’s Going to Break (2:49)
11 Electric Guitar (9:27)
12 banter (1:33)
13 Then She Turned Into (2:23)
14 ’68 Comeback (3:10)

Streaming Audio (53:56):

I fear this could be one of the most controversial posts to ever appear on this blog.

From the Onion’s A/V Club. If you’re feeling up for hating on or defending this video, hit up the comments page over there as well. Pretty “vigorous” discussion already underway.

Erik Thompson at The Line of Best Fit has posted an interview with Alan Sparhawk, primarily about his work with Retribution Gospel Choir. Highlights:

Low is physically exhausting in it’s own way, but with Retribution it can be life-threatening…

…songwriting is humiliating, making records is confusing, and the industry is a joke…

…For sure the long cold season indoors has bearing, but then I think the underdog factor is also a big part of the artistic attitude in Duluth (or any other smaller town that’s sort of isolated.) Also, I think the lake is a strange factor – it disappears on the horizon, but it also freezes…

Read the whole thing »

The third and fourth tracks off Retribution Gospel Choir’s album 2 have been released by Sub Pop Records. The track “Workin’ Hard” is preceded on the album by a short number called “’68 Comeback” which is also featured in the video in an interesting use of concert footage. The two tracks have significantly different feels and the videographer has captured this nicely.

Alan Sparhawk, Retribution Gospel Choir (photo by Jon Behm)

In the City Pages, Erik Thompson provides an appropriately concise but complete review of Retribution Gospel Choir’s recent show in Minneapolis.

The three-piece were locked in all evening long, hardly giving themselves (or the crowd) time to catch their breath before it was on to the next song, which only served to add to the intensity and frenzy of the songs themselves. The spotlight was clearly on Sparhawk’s guitar work during the entire set, tearing it up on “Your Bird” and an extended, fierce version of — appropriately enough — “Electric Guitar.” Sparhawk joked recently about how he’s done things in reverse and gotten louder as he’s grown older, and this was by far the loudest show I’ve ever seen him play.

Retribution Gospel Choir get intense at the Triple Rock

To kick off the show, Alan Sparhawk stood on the stage and yelled, “We bring you greetings from Lake Superior.” Somewhere in the middle of one of the greatest jams in rock and roll history on “Poor Man’s Daughter,” I almost had a euphoric coronary.

Meanwhile, over at the website Reviler, photographer Jon Behm has posted several images from the concert that pretty well captured the energy.

Here’s an intimate location that would be fun to catch RGC. Check out Retribution Gospel Choir during Duluth’s Homegrown Music Festival in 2009. The band gives a lively, afternoon performance of Take Your Time to a small crowd of excited Duluthians.

The house in the video is the same one RGC gave a recent private show, a report of which can be read at: Retribution Gospel Choir – Private East Hillside Performance.

Minnesota Public Radio’s The Current radio station recently featured an interview and in-studio performance with Retribution Gospel Choir, and the station’s weekly music talk show featured a discussion of “2.”

Interview, awkwardly facilitated by Mary Lucia:

Video of the band doing “Working Hard”:

And here is the Musicheads episode in which DJs Bill DeVille, Steve Seel and Jade discuss the album (segment starts at 16:45):

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The Current, Minnesota Public Radio’s indie music station, has chosen “2″ as its CD of the Week. The weekly pick is given to new members when they donate to the station and also receives a review from one of the station’s DJs. Morning show co-host Steve Seel offered a largely positive review of the album:

…2‘s in-your-face, anthemic classic-rock wallop hits you immediately on the record’s first track and lead single, “Hide It Away,” which may be the most fist-pumping hunk of melodic guitar pop Sparhawk has ever offered up.  You will bow down to its awesome rock awesomeness, and it’s [sic] gorgeous, mile-wide hook will guarantee that you’ll be quite happy all the while you’re doing it.

I have to disagree with at least one of Seel’s points, though: in that, when contrasting Alan Sparhawk’s powerful vocals on “2″ with his previous work with Low, Seel says:

“It’s actually rather funny to be talking about Alan Sparhawk in terms of vocal muscle and assuredness, since part of the appeal in his early performances with Low was precisely his nonchalant lack of those things.”

I don’t doubt Seel knows Low’s music well–he closes the review by stating that “2″ doesn’t live up to early Low records like “Secret Name” or “Long Division,” which I also would disagree with as an unfair comparison–but to characterize Sparhawk’s work with Low as a “nonchalant lack of [vocal muscle and assuredness]” just misses the point entirely.

There is a vast difference between the restrained power of Low and anything akin to “nonchalance.” One of Low’s chief appeals has always been the intensity lurking below the surface of its quiet sound and the tremendous meaning and feeling delivered in each song, primarily through the subtle, but confident, talents of Sparhawk on guitar and microphone.

Nonetheless, if you haven’t purchased “2″ yet and want to, The Current is a great radio station and supporting it and getting a copy of the album is a pretty good bargain.

RGC is currently on a world tour promoting their newest album, “2″ and the commentary from fans in attendance thusfar has been quite positive. People are commenting on Sparhawk’s intensity and are noting that bandmembers Pollard and Garrington have taken to displaying a vigor not previously seen. Having seen them play in December I too saw and felt this new dynamic and think the band is really coming together as a performing act.

At their recent appearance at Casa del Popolo in Quebec, Montreal, Canada Retribution Gospel Choir’s live set was recorded by an obviously skilled bootlegger. The recording was submitted to the Internet via a Bittorrent and then subsequently uploaded and shared via archive.org. The recording quality is superb, the setlist quality. Use the embedded streaming functionality below, or download the set in it’s entirety from archive.org on the Retribution Gospel Choir Live at Casa del Popolo on 2010-01-26 page.

Setlist:
01. Breaker (3:40)
02. For Her Blood (2:06)
03. Working Hard (2:08)
04. Hide It Away (3:19)
05. Poor Man’s Daughter (8:10)
06. White Wolf (2:27)
07. They Knew You Well (3:30)
08. Your Bird (4:26)
09. What She Turned Into (2:23)
10. Electric Guitar (8:45)
11. Take Your Time (7:36)
12. Kids (5:31)

Streaming Audio (53:56):

Dammit Wikipedians! The Retribution Gospel Choir page is a mess. It actually only references the self-titled debut album, but does not acknowledge the existence of the band nor of the follow-up album.

What needs to happen is:

1. A disambiguation page that includes links to
   1. Retribution Gospel Choir (Band)
   2. Retribution Gospel Choir (Album)
2. Creation of said Retribution Gospel Choir (Band) page
3. Migration of existing content to Retribution Gospel Choir (Album) page

I know… big, important work. Who’s up for it?

January 16th, 2009
Undisclosed Location
Duluth, Minnesota
by Ryan Dahlberg

“After receiving a message from fellow Post-Duluthian [and proprietor of this blog] Sam Haraldson, I had a feeling that this was [a] show not to miss.”

Soon to be embarking on a world tour, Duluth’s own Retribution Gospel Choir was scheduled to appear for a private performance somewhere in the East Hillside. Upon my walk through downtown to get to the show, I had the chance to make a few quick words with Aaron Molina, whom if you don’t know by now is credited with the artwork for RGC’s new album “2″.

After arriving shortly after 9pm and being greeted by open arms, not to mention the bonfire, and the kegs of Surly, the early attendees and I waited for the band to arrive while listening to my advance copy of the new album. As more people arrive the band appears. It quickly becomes 10pm as we watch the traffic from the front window.

It’s now 10:30pm, I have my camera in hand, and my Surly is on the mantle: it’s show time.

The band starts the show with their classic rock anthem “Breaker”. As the band plays on through to Midnight with a collection of songs from the new album, the band seems larger than life. Steve and Eric’s stage presence have now grown equal to, being previously shadowed [by] that of Sparhawk. Towards the end of their set, each member continues to be focused and still being able to feed the group empowerment.

This was truly a performance to remember. For more photos of the show visit Ryan’s Flickr Gallery

This has been a guest post by Ryan Dahlberg, maintainer of theduluthscene.org, hosting a broad array of aural and visual content relating to Duluth music and culture.

1.) Low’s “Quiet Please” theater-in-the-round concert at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis tomorrow night has been canceled due to illness. Too bad, but oh well. I was boycotting the show because the Varsity can suck it.

2.) In case you missed it, Retribution Gospel Choir has a pretty big tour scheduled for the next few months around the U.S. and Europe. They play the Triple Rock in Minneapolis in February. I will be out-of-town, which is unfortunate because the Triple Rock, unlike the Varsity, is a great place to see a show.

3.) Is that the shores of Lake Superior where Retribution Gospel Choir is burying their treasure in the video for “Hide It Away,” the first single off the upcoming album “2″? (Album is released Jan. 20)

4.) The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis will present a ballet based on the music of Low in March. I will be in town for this, and we already have tickets, because, well… because.

“Heaven explores the various manifestations of ecstasy—emotional, physical, and communal—present both in religious practices and in the ritualistic nature of dance in performance. Low’s Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker will perform the music and vocal orchestration they wrote for the work.”

Very high recording quality of an excellent Low show from 1999, when they were still very much a band that played extremely quiet, slow music and their song titles were just one word.

Track listing:

1. I Remember
2. Starfire
3. Don’t Understand
4. Weight Of Water
5. Violence
6. Shame
7. Fear
8. Lust
9. Immune
10. Lion/Lamb
11. Soon
12. Home
13. No Need
14. Cut
15. Missouri

Go to the show’s page on archive.org to download mp3s, etc.

On December 19th, 2009 Retribution Gospel Choir played a live show at the 501 Club in Minneapolis, MN.  Sam Haraldson was present and wrote the following review on Last.fm.

The show at the 501 was full of people who were definitely fans as I could see the emotion in their eyes and the mouthing of song lyrics around the room. Alan Sparhawk, Steve Garrington, and Eric Pollard played a set that was (in my opinion) far too short, leaving out a couple of tracks from the new album 2 which is to be released January 20th, 2010.

The set was similar to the live shows of the past six months that have bootleg recordings available, focusing on the same tracks. It was obvious the band had been in the studio as the numbers were very tight. RGC’s typical poppy, melodic verse-chorus-verse was dead on. But the real proof the band is tight came during their famous dubby, noisy, freeform interludes. There was emotion on their faces that poured out through their instruments and right into the minds and bodies of the audience.

A short encore closed the set and when asked to play more, Sparkhawk declined stating a long drive back to Duluth that evening as reason. The show was well worth listening to as will their upcoming sets and soon-to-be-released album.

View photos at Retribution Gospel Choir – 501 Club, Minneapolis Flickr page.

You can listen to “Hide It Away” from the Choir’s upcoming record ’2′ to be released on Sub-Pop on Jan. 26, 2010 by downloading this mp3 file:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Retribution Gospel Choir – Hide It Away

(h/t Stereogum)

Retribution Gospel Choir’s new album “2″ is slated to be released January 26th, 2010

Label: Sub Pop

Tracklist:
01 Hide It Away
02 Your Bird
03 ’68 Comeback
04 Workin ‘ Hard
05 Poor Man’s Daughter
06 White Wolf
07 The Last of the Blue Dream
09 Something’s Going to Break
10 Electric Guitar
11 Bless Us All

Notes: Second album from this Minnesota band, led by Low’s Alan Sparhawk, recently signed to Sub Pop

Media: Hear “dub” versions of “Electric Guitar” and “White Wolf” at http://www.myspace.com/retributiongospelchoir

This is a re-post from the Perfect Duluth Day blog, Zen Identity – Superior, WI 1991 – Part 7, By Dan E. on Apr 13, 2009.

Zen Identity @ The Cove, Superior, WI – Spring 1991.

This is a re-post from the Perfect Duluth Day blog, Zen Identity – Superior, WI 1991 – Part 6, By Dan E. on Apr 13, 2009.

Zen Identity @ The Cove, Superior, WI – Spring 1991.

This is a re-post from the Perfect Duluth Day blog, Zen Identity – Superior, WI 1991 – Part 5, By Dan E. on Apr 13, 2009.

Zen Identity @ The Cove, Superior, WI – Spring 1991. Band members include Alan Sparhawk-Guitar, Bill Walton-Vocals, Rob Berry-Drums, David Daydodge-Bass.

This is a re-post from the Perfect Duluth Day blog, Zen Identity – Superior, WI 1991 – Part 4, By Dan E. on Apr 13, 2009.

Zen Identity @ The Cove, Superior, WI – Spring 1991. Band members include Alan Sparhawk-Guitar, Bill Walton-Vocals, Rob Berry-Drums, David Daydodge-Bass.

This is a re-post from the Perfect Duluth Day blog, Zen Identity – Superior, WI 1991 – Part 3, By Dan E. on Apr 11, 2009.

Zen Identity @ The Cove, Superior, WI – Spring 1991. Band members include Alan Sparhawk-Guitar, Bill Walton-Vocals, Rob Berry-Drums, David Daydodge-Bass.

This is a re-post from the Perfect Duluth Day blog, Zen Identity – Superior, WI 1991 – Song #2, By Dan E. on Apr 10, 2009.

Zen Identity @ The Cove, Superior, WI. Spring of 1991. A few notes on this… ZI was opening for a band called “HEAT”…which was actually Quiet Riot. This was a multi-camera shoot (3 to be exact) all recording simultanisly to their respective VTR’s. This clip is taken from the Camera 2 position, which is center stage. The other angles are far left (Cam 1) and far right (Cam 3). The sound is a direct feed from the soundboard. ZI’s total set ran about an hour. This is the second song into the set…the first song had some audio issues for about a minute…I will try and repair that at later date. I plan on posting these in the original set order. I would ask Mr.Sparhawk to please comment on the title of each song as they are posted. Also Alan, if you could provide me with the band member’s names and the instrument they played, that would be most appreciated. At some point, I will edit all three cameras together so as to have a complete record of Zen Identity’s show of that night…but then again, I’ve been saying that for 18 years now. Enjoy!

The blog, thedailystrife.com is proving itself as a great resource for video footage of Alan Sparkhawk’s projects.  The videos below were filmed at The Brewhouse in Duluth, MN and are of Los Besos, a project between Sparhawk and Brad Ness.

Los Besos (Part 1 of 3) from The Daily Strife on Vimeo.

Los Besos (Part 2 of 3) from The Daily Strife on Vimeo.

Los Besos (Part 3 of 3) from The Daily Strife on Vimeo.

The blog, thedailystrife.com has posted video footage of various Alan Sparkhawk projects, the latest of which was filmed at the Retribution Gospel Choir show at Pizza Luce in Duluth, MN on March 7th, 2009.

Retribution Gospel Choir from The Daily Strife on Vimeo.

Retribution Gospel Choir from The Daily Strife on Vimeo.

Retribution Gospel Choir from The Daily Strife on Vimeo.

Retribution Gospel Choir from The Daily Strife on Vimeo.

The blog, thedailystrife.com has posted video footage of various Alan Sparkhawk projects, the latest of which was filmed at the Retribution Gospel Choir show at Pizza Luce in Duluth, MN on March 7th, 2009.

Retribution Gospel Choir from The Daily Strife on Vimeo.

Retribution Gospel Choir from The Daily Strife on Vimeo.

Retribution Gospel Choir from The Daily Strife on Vimeo.

From the Low e-mail newsletter:

“…Alan’s side project, Retribution Gospel Choir, just finished tracking new material with Steve Albini in Chicago for an upcoming release — more to come on that soon.  Best wishes for 2009 for you all.”

=Low HQ

“Back in 1996, I was working as a producer, director, cameraman and lighting designer for Knit Media, creating live online content for the web. When one of my favorite bands Low booked an appearance, I jumped at the chance to produce and direct a live multicamera video of their performance.”

Lust:

Below & Above:

Cut:

(Amazingly, a vintage YouTube video that seems to have been posted by its original creator.)

“It’s about being so loud and so relatively ferocious that nothing hurts anymore.”

I don’t quite understand what a “Daytrotter session” is, but it recently featured some free songs by Retribution Gospel Choir and a strange and somewhat insightful essay on Alan Sparhawk. Cheers.

Retribution Gospel Choir Daytrotter Session

During an April 2008 European tour archive.org contributor, _tunic_ recorded three of Retribution Gospel Choirs’ shows at Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands on April 22nd, STUK in Leuven, Belgium on April 23rd and ZAKK in Düsseldorf, Germany on April 24th. The recording quality varies and the set lists are similar although these shows are worth a listen by fans of RGC live. Below are links to audio and photos from the three performances.

Classic RGC:

Alan Sparhawk played a few songs and talked about Low, music, song-writing, gear and lots more October 10, 2007 at the Whole Music Club’s “Making Music” series.

Click here for a list of video and audio recordings from the event.

To officially release their new self-titled album to their hometown of Duluth, MN, Retribution Gospel Choir fired up a forty minute, eleven song set at Pizza Luce on Saturday, March 8th, 2008. The first ten songs of the set was a nearly verbatim performance of the band’s new album which they followed up with an encore of Poor Man’s Daughter.

Either use the built in player below or download the file directly from archive.org 70.3 mb VBR .zip

There was tiredness for myself and myself this evening so I set out the recorder to capture the set while we were having dinner. My apologies for the jackasses at the next table getting drunk and ruining a perfectly good show.

Download the first part of the set (00:26:17 ).

The Chairkickers were but two this evening featuring only Alan and Brad.

Download the entire set (01:17:16 ).

Los Besos’ Alan Sparhawk and Brad Nelson teamed up with Taconite’s Jamie Ness for an all-cover set at The Brewhouse. Audio for nearly the entire evening as well as two videos were recorded.

Either use the built in player below or download the file directly from archive.org 87 mb VBR .zip

Nineteen audio tracks:

From cometstarmoon:

Alan Sparhawk’s Black-Eyed Snakes performed a rare one of show in Madison on January 5, 2008 for Furthermore Beer’s Brew-Ha-Ha Two-Ha-Ha. Watch the 05:11 minute video of Cornbread.

Download set one (??:??:??)

Download set one (??:??:??)
Download set two (??:??:??)

Download set one (??:??:??)
Download set 002 (??:??:??)
Watch the 4:33 video of Rise Up

Local Duluth cross country skiier and filmaker, Hansi Johnson set out in 2005 to create a film crossing two genres not often mingled. An amalgamation of professional skiing from the likes of Bill Koch and Brand Nelson with the somewhat amateur antics of the other members of The Black Eyed Snakes as well as tour and concert footage of the Snakes makes for a rockin’ good movie. If touring with the Banff Mountain Film Festival is any sign of a films quality then chock up a victory for Hansi as the film went on tour with the Festival during the winter of 2007/2008. Download the 01:43 minute video at YouTube.

Download set one (??:??:??).

The Black Eyed Snakes performed at Pizza Luce in Duluth, MN. Download the entire set in .mp3 format.

Watch the 2:11 video of She Said

From velvet2step

A sideproject of Low’s Alan Sparhawk along with sometime member, Red House Painters’ Mark Kozelek, Retribution Gospel Choir “Hatchet” Drums And Guns, slated for release March 20th, 2007 on Sub Pop records.

Watch the 02:20 minute video of Hatchet.

From velvet2step

A sideproject of Low’s Alan Sparhawk along with sometime member, Red House Painters’ Mark Kozelek, Retribution Gospel Choir perform the song “Breaker” at the Detroit Bar, Costa Mesa, CA, September 8th, 2005. Breaker will be on Low’s forthcoming record, Drums And Guns, slated for release March 20th, 2007 on Sub Pop records.

Watch the 03:00 minute video of Breaker.

Retribution Gospel Choir recorded September 6, 2005 at Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco, CA by Chris Bellew (atomjack@gmail.com).

Either use the built in player below or download the file directly from archive.org 134 mb VBR .zip

From velvet2step

A sideproject of Low’s Alan Sparhawk along with sometime member, Red House Painters’ Mark Kozelek, Retribution Gospel Choir perform the song “Pretty People” at the Detroit Bar, Costa Mesa, CA, September 8th, 2005. Pretty People will be on Low’s forthcoming record, Drums And Guns, slated for release March 20th, 2007on Sub Pop records.

Watch the 2:11 minute video of Pretty People.

A YouTube video of The Black Eyed Snakes performing at Bayfront Park in Duluth, MN on July, 16th, 2005. Watch the 6:15 video of Lordy.