Can you feel it yet, people? There are just 10 days and counting till the Sonics’ first Puget Sound performance since the early ‘70s!

On Halloween at the Paramount Theatre, lead howler and keyboard player Jerry Roslie, guitarist Larry Parypa and sax player Rob Lind from the band’s most well-known lineup will be joined by Ricky Lynn Johnson and Don Wilhelm, in place of rhythm section, Bob Bennett and Andy Parypa. Manager Buck Ormsby, of Wailers fame, tells me there are still tickets left, shockingly enough.

And less than an hour ago, I caught up with Roslie, who has had so much fun since the band’s comeback shows in New York last November that he wonders why he took four decades off. “I feel kind of like I wasted 40 years of my life doing other things," he said. Click the link below to hear more of what he had to say about getting back in the saddle and touring Europe.

Clip 1: “We should have never quit.”

I guess the Sonics are proof that it’s never too late to get the band back together. And the most exciting part of my Roslie interview was the revelation that the Sonics are apparently working on new material that could see the light of day early next year!

Clip 2: Could new Sonics songs be on the way?

Stay tuned. I'll post more from Roslie and company in the days to come, and we've got a big cover story planned for GO on the day of the show. Meanwhile, you can always go back and check out my interviews with Jerry and Larry last fall.

I plucked this from a recent e-newsletter sent out by the Supersuckers' Eddie Spaghetti.

Take me out to the ball game...take me out to the crowd! You ever wonder how they decide on who gets to sing "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" at the seventh inning stretch at Major League Baseball games? Well, me too! I still can't figure it out even after being asked to do exactly that at an upcoming Minnesota Twins game this August 13th. That's right, the good people in the Twins operation have deemed it appropriate that we, The Supersuckers, will get to partake in this time honored tradition when they take on the Darth Vader of baseball, the New York Yankees, in a day game this Wednesday, August 13th.

The first pitch will be at 12:10 pm Central Time and we'll be doing a little show before then somewhere in the stadium at 10:45. If you'd like to come to this glorious event we will be hooking a few people up with tickets but it's first come first served so get your email requests into chris@supersuckers.com right away for your chance to see The Greatest invade the American Pastime in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Wednesday, August 13th, 2008. We will be rooting firmly for the Twins to kick the living crap outta those Damn Yankees so come on out and join us. It'll be lots of fun for sure!

I caught up with "Metalocalypse" co-creator Brendon Small a while back to talk about the show's second season on Cartoon Network. But I held a clip back from my post last month in which Small describes what to expect at tonight’s live Dethklok show at Showbox SoDo. Enjoy!

Death Cab for Cutie back in 2005, when they were the official house band of “The O.C.” Hear them play the new tunes Sunday at Sasquatch.
AP

If you’re reading this blog, chances are you know who the big bands playing the main stage at Sasquatch this weekend are. R.E.M., the Cure, Modest Mouse, M.I.A., blah blah blah. And also among those big shots is Death Cab for Cutie, the band I caught up with for my festival preview for this coming Friday’s GO section.

Or rather, I called guitarist, keyboard player and producer Chris Walla, who his band mates – singer-guitarist Ben Gibbard, bassist Nick Harmer and drummer Jason McGerr – on the big stage on Sunday night, right before the Cure. And here are a few more clips from that interview; clips that actually deal with Death Cab’s new album “Narrow Stairs” and not shallow, tabloid-worthy topics, like which band member can out-bench Dave Matthews. Chyuh! What kind of jackass would ask vacuous questions like that?)

Clip 1: How recording live and in analog shaped the new album’s aesthetic

Clip 2: The new direction vs. old school Death Cab

Clip 3: Uh, “Pity and Fear” wasn’t supposed to end like that

Clip 4: Unplugged talk inspires a funny radio rant

And it's about time, if you ask me. Read more here. Or skip the back story (which ain't all that fascinatin', really) and go to the footage here.

Death Cab for Cutie's solid new album "Narrow Stairs" hit stores today. "Pity and Fear" is my favorite track, for the record. And I was debating whether I should post clips from my latest interview with Chris Walla this week or closer to Sasquatch festival, where the band will appear on the main stage later this month, or this week. So don't be surprised if a few clips about the process of making "Narrow Stairs" pop up in the next couple of days. Or you can just click here to hear what he told me a few months ago as the album was being mixed.

Meanwhile, I thought the band would be an excellent Useless Trivia Tuesday topic. So let's see how big a fan you are.

1. Which band member hails from Puyallup?

A. Ben Gibbard
B. Chris Walla
C. Nick Harmer
D. Jason McGerr

2. Most see this as Death Cab’s breakthrough album, featuring the band’s first MTV hit “The Sound of Settling” and such set staples as “Title and Registration,” “Expo ‘86” and the title track.

A. “Plans”
B. “Transatlanticism”
C. “Something About Airplanes”
D. “We Have the Facts, and We’re Voting Yes”

3. This guy recently released a solo album called “Field Manual.”

A. Ben Gibbard
B. Chris Walla
C. Nick Harmer
D. Jason McGerr

4. Ben Gibbard’s side project the Postal Service recorded a reverent remake of this ‘80s hit …

A. Gary Numan’s “Cars”
B. Phil Collins’ “Against All Odds”
C. Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus”
D. The Police’s “Message in a Bottle”

5. Gibbard collaborated with this heavyweight producer on the soundtrack for Kurt Cobain biopic “About a Son.”

A. Rick Rubin
B. Steve Fisk
C. Butch Vig
D. Nigel Godrich

6. Gibbard’s literary muse for “Bixby Canyon Bridge,” the lead track from the new “Narrow Stairs” album, is …

A. Charles Bukowski
B. Cormac McCarthy
C. William S. Burroughs
D. Jack Kerouac

7. What is the Seattle indie label that released the band’s first few albums?

A. The Control Group
B. Sub Pop
C. Light in the Attic
D. Barsuk

8. The band’s name is a reference to a song performed in what rock film?

A. “Magical Mystery Tour”
B. “This is Spinal Tap”
C. “Singles”
D. “Tommy”

9. Band members met at what Washington institution of higher learning?

A. University of Washington
B. Washington State
C. University of Puget Sound
D. Western Washington University

10. Jason McGerr is the newest band member. Who played drums before him?

A. Michael Schorr
B. Matt Cameron
C. Brann Dailor
D. Jeremiah Green

Recently, I read this in the latest e-newsletter from Supersuckers singer Eddie Spaghetti (bold emphasis mine):

I'm sure you're all wondering, "where the hell is that new 'suckers record?", well rest assured it IS coming. It's just taking a little longer than we expected to get done. Our current snag is that the producer of the new record wants to make some last minute tweaks and, well, he can't right now. He's been detained by a little Australian band called, uh, AC/DC. That's right our man Billy Bowers, who did such a stellar job on our "Paid" E.P., is an engineer for Brendan O'Brian who is producing the new AC/DC record and so he's been taken away from our project temporarily. But he assures us that, as soon as he can, he will have the mixes done and that they will rock mightily so we have to just be content with that for now. In the meantime, we will be keeping busy rocking the free world and you can come and get your fix of the new material at one of our many rock shows coming up in the near future at a location near you, I'm sure.

Then last night I ran into Supersuckers' guitarist Rontrose Heathman at the Parkway Tavern, which as many of you know is just a few blocks from his new biz, Satellite Coffee. He tells me the whole AC/DC mention has stirred up a bit of trouble since the fact that the veteran Aussie rockers were recording a new album was supposed to be a secret. Oops! And Mr. H also clarified that the new ‘Suckers disc would likely be out this summer.

If you hadn't noticed, it's Sir Mix-A-Lot week on the ol' Bring the Noise blog (the occasion being his appearance with Outtasite tomorrow night at Jazzbones.) And as promised, here are a few clips from my latest interview with the always fun and engaging Mix.

Clip 1: South Sound references in "My Hooptie"

Clip 2: Support acts Tomeka Williams and Farchild

Clip 3: His new (and possibly last) album

Sir Mix-A-Lot hasn't cleared out his voicemail in something like seven years. No kidding. So it's sometimes hit or miss catching up with the guy for a story. But I've persevered, my faithful Bring the Noise readers, and he actually picked up his cell this afternoon. And while we mostly talked about the Outtasite show he'll appear at on Friday at Jazzbones, he did also share this story about "My Hooptie," a track that's basically about kickin' it in the South Sound.

“That car (in the video) looked exactly like the one I owned. I had a six-nine Buick, deuce and a quarter. I was just like pretty much any teenager when they first start out. I’d wash the s--- out of that car. It was, you know, s--- green with a big dent. And I’d wax the dent. I’d clean everything. And it literally had two Vogue’s on the left and two Uniroyal tires on the right. We came up with the term way back in the early ‘80s. … Me, Maharaji, Attitude Adjuster and all of us would get in the car and literally go down to Seward Park and basically believe with a dookie-green ’69 Buick that we could pull girls. [He laughs.] Of course, as the day went on our standards dropped. By the end of the day we were with a 240-pound girl.

“I don’t like lyin’ in records. So many rappers say things on records, and then when you meet ‘em it’s like, ‘OK, where’s that Lamborghini you were talkin’ about?’The hooptie, it was an old ’69 bucket my dad bought me for 300 bucks. Every morning you had to put a gallon of water, a gallon of antifreeze in it, you know; park it over a sewer drain. I had that car in [thinks] 1982? About ’81, ’82, somewhere in there.””

Check in later this week and I'll have some clips from my interviews with both Mix and Outtasite.

For a while I’ve been chasing down rumors about Sub Pop’s 20th anniversary gala. And after months of keeping things mum, Seattle’s influential indie record label just released details for SP20, the music and comedy festival it has planned for July 11 at Seattle's Moore Theatre and July 12 and 13 at Redmond’s Marymoor Park.

The July 11 show at the Moore is a comedy showcase that will feature Eugene Mirman, Patton Oswalt, Todd Barry and special guests.

The musical will take place at Marymoor Park. And acts will include seminal grunge band Green River which, as most of you should know, included guys who went on to form Mudhoney and Pearl Jam. Of course Mudhoney will play, too. And also on the bill (in alphabetical order) are Beachwood Sparks, Comets on Fire, Fleet Foxes, Flight of the Conchords, The Fluid, Foals, Grand Archives, The Helio Sequence, Iron & Wine, Kinski, Low, No Age, Pissed Jeans, Red Red Meat, The Ruby Suns, Seaweed and Wolf Parade, with more announcements on the way.

But, hey! Seaweed should do a good job of representin' for Tacoma. But where's Girl Trouble, the group that recorded the label's first full-length album, "Hit It Or Quit It"? What's up with that? And I wonder if the label's money makers du jour, the Shins, or comedian David Cross could be among the yet to be announced surprise guests. Not that I've heard anything.

Anyway, tickets will go on sale at noon on April 26 and be available through SubPop.com and Ticketmaster outlets. Tickets will go for $30 per day, $50 for both days through May 10, and then for $35 and $65 after that.

Tacoma's Seaweed is playing Sub Pop's 20th anniversary festival. And perhaps we'll hear some of those new songs that guitarist Wade Neal (foreground) and drummer Jesse Fox (next to him) are listening to with Mike Corvin in this pic.
LIU KIT WONG

Hey, you know how everyone and their grandma has been singing Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” at karaoke for the past year? You know, a lot more than they did five years ago? And remember how the song served as bombastic background music during that last @#%@%#@ scene of “The Sopranos,” thus prompting debates on how awesome and/or cheesy it is? (It is a officially both awesome and cheesy, for the record.) Well, looks like those Journey boys are looking to parlay after the boost in interest. They're on the comeback trail with a just announced headlining amphitheater tour that will bring them to White River Amphitheatre on Sept. 19.

Opening for Journey will be Seattle’s own badass rock mamas, Heart, and confectionary pop-rockers Cheap Trick.

And if I'm guessing correctly, this is now running through your head like some sort of irresistible power ballads mantra:

Just a small town girl, livin' in a looonely woooorld
She took the midnight train goin anywheeeeeeeeere

A British fan of our very own Sonics, a guy who goes by the You Tube handle PGregoire, alerted me of some footage he posted of a recent gig at London's Forum. Now if only we can get the Sonics to play on their home turf. Hmmmm.