Episode 21 – “I never question how fair is the price on a pair of sunglasses I’m wearing at night”

Welcome to Songs That Don’t Suck, with your host, Mark Bradbourne.

Welcome to Episode 21 of Songs That Don’t Suck. My name is Mark, I’m your host, and as always, I appreciate you checking out the episode.

The big news this week that I’ve got to talk about is Foo Fighters. They had a free livestream on May 21st, it was called Preparing Music for Concerts, and as a fan it was everything I wanted it to be. The big news is that they revealed Josh Freeze as their new drummer. If you’ve never heard of Josh Freese, he is well renowned as one of the top session drummers in the business. He’s played with Devo, he’s played with Perfect Circle, he’s played with Guns N’ Roses. The list kind of goes on and on, and it’s fantastic because he’s not really tied to a band, so having him take the seat I think is a fantastic move. The funny thing was, before Josh got announced, was they teased a few other drummers in this livestream. The first person to knock on the door was Chad Smith from Red Hot Chili Peppers. He was blocked in by somebody’s white Mercedes, so they had to let him out. The next thing you know, Tommy Lee knocks on the door and he’s got PF Changs. And then the last person to roll in was Danny Carey from Tool, and he had groomed the band’s poodles, which was hysterical. And honestly, it’s kind of what I expect from Fuse. They have a fantastic sense of humor. If you’ve seen some of their early videos and stuff, it’s fantastic. Once the stream got going, they played a few classics and they sprinkled in a few new ones, including they did Rescued and a new one that debuted on the stream called Nothing at All. And they did another one that I’m going to talk about a little bit later in the episode. But if you missed it, go try and track it down. I think it’s only going to be up on the site for a couple of days. So if you missed it, I apologize, but it was fantastic. And when they tour, go and see them because they sound amazing in the practice room.

Alright, let’s talk brain bending cover. This week I’ve got Mike Ness of Social Distortion, and he’s doing a cover of Bob Dylan’s Don’t Think Twice. I’ve heard a few versions of this song with one of my favorites being by a band called Eddie from Ohio, but they all stay pretty close to the original. Mike Ness basically did it as you would want social distortion to do it, and it’s fantastic. It’s got a fantastic rockabilly feel, and it works really, really well. It’s one of those things that’s like, you wouldn’t really think it if you listened to the original, but once you heard it, you’re like, oh yeah, that makes total sense. This song comes from his 1999 album called Cheating at Solitaire. So if you’re a Mike Ness fan and you didn’t know that album exists, go check it out.

Alright, new music time. Each week I dig into a ton of music on Spotify. More playlists now than I can probably keep track of, but I listen to about 30 seconds per song. Most of them suck. Some of them don’t. The ones that don’t end up right here on the show for you to add to your playlist, hopefully.

The first song this week comes from Loser, and it’s called Starting Over. Loser appears to be a duo from Australia, and this track comes from their new EP Stadium Dreams on a Bedroom Budget, which I just absolutely love that title. And this is just a great straight ahead rock song. It’s got a nice, gravelly vocals, great guitar work, and I started to check out the rest of the EP, and it all kind of fits a very similar mold, which is really good. So if you dig this track, definitely check out the rest of the EP. I don’t think you’re going to be disappointed.

The second song this week comes from Portugal the Man, with Black Thought and Natalia Loforca, I think I’m pronouncing that right, and this song is called Thunderdome. I have an on-again-off-again relationship with Portugal the Man. There are some songs of theirs that I really love, and then I’ve got others that I could just not care about at all. This one, I really love the feel of it. I really like Natalia’s vocal here, and I’ve not heard of her before, so I definitely want to go try and find where she’s come from. And Black Thought is of the Roots. If you’re not familiar with the roots, definitely go check the roots out. Black Thought is probably one of the better rappers in the game, and some argue that he is the best. Now, personally, I’m staying out of that debate, but I can see the argument, and honestly, of the things that I hear and just his longevity, I’m probably going to lean that way, because I think his flow is top-notch. So there you go.

The third song this week comes from Bully, and it’s called Change Your Mind. Bully is originally from Minnesota, but she has relocated and is based in Chicago now. In listening to this, there are a lot of influences. indie rock, there’s definitely some grunge influence here, but there’s definitely a thread of pop in kind of the hooks and the ways the songs are structured. It’s a really cool mix, to be sure. She has been at it for a while. Since 2014, her first music came out, and there’s a ton of music that sits out on Spotify for you to check out. So if you like this, definitely go check out some of the older stuff. The earlier stuff, like I listened to the first track from the 2014 release, and it’s really got a punk vibe to it, like very raw. So you can kind of see how she’s matured over the years, but definitely worth a listen if you want to check out some of the older stuff.

All right, housekeeping. This is your weekly reminder. Talk to people about the podcast. You can like, you can share, you can review the podcast, but I found nothing to be as effective as having a one-on-one conversation with somebody about the podcast. So if you know somebody who is passionate about music, definitely point them my way. Mondays is the full version that has the music embedded in it. Wednesdays, you get the Cliff Notes version. Website is songsthatdontsuck. net. You can send me recommendations of cover songs. You can find show transcripts. You can find links to all the things, including where I am on social media. Twitter is my mainstay, but I do exist on Facebook and Instagram as well. If you want to support the show at a deeper level, I do have some merch on the website. T-shirts and stickers are currently available.

All right, the fourth song this week comes from Isabel Duma, and it’s called Quarter Life Crisis. When I started to research Isabel, the first thing I see is that she is only 19 years old. She’s from the San Francisco Bay Area, and she’s basically been working on music since she was a tween. She basically says she started working on her sound at the age of 12. To date, she’s only released three songs, and having listened to all three of them, she definitely lives in the pop realm of music, which is not normally where I will go listen to music, but I liked her. There’s points where she actually reminds me of Leona Firestone, who I’m actually going to go see in concert this summer, which will be interesting. She’s rolling through Cleveland, but I digress. But Isabel definitely has her own thing going on, so this is by far the rockiest track of the three. There’s definitely some heavy pop stuff for the earlier two releases, so this one’s definitely my favorite of the ones that I listened to.

The fifth and featured track this week should come as no surprise to you. It is from Foo Fighters, and it is the second single from their upcoming album. It’s called Under You. This was the other song that they played during that live stream, which came out this week, and it’s fantastic. As much as I try to avoid huge artists on the podcast, I can’t help myself right now. The first time I heard this song, I was waiting for my youngest daughter to come out of her dance class, and I just sat there and I realized that this entire album, if it is like this, is going to emotionally wreck me. I have talked about in the past how music affects my emotions and how I can hear a song and I’ll be in tears to the point where if I hear the first chord or something, sometimes I have to turn it off. Hearing this song for the first time, it took me back 23 years, and it reminded me of when I lost a dear friend named Charles. He was murdered outside of a convenience store in Oakland back in 2000, and as you could imagine, it was devastating. Lyrically, Dave Grohl and the band have captured exactly how I still feel to this day. I regularly have thoughts of Charles, and I wish he was around to see things that were happening in our friend group. All the marriages, the kids being born, and now that they’re graduating high school and getting ready to go to college, it’s heartbreaking to me that he is not here, and there is no getting over it. Again, this album, when it comes out, is just going to wreck me, and I just know it in my heart. And I’m not ashamed of it, I’m going to feel it, and it’s going to be fantastic.

So with that, I feel emotionally wrecked just kind of talking about that, so this is where I will leave you.

Thanks for listening, and until next week, keep searching for and listening to songs that don’t suck.