Zig At The Gig podcast

Veronica Swift’s new eponymously titled album, her third for Mack Avenue Records, is a masterful coming-out story. On her previous albums, Confessions (2019) and This Bitter Earth (2021), she ascended to the upper echelon of early 21st century jazz singers because of her virtuosic brilliance, interpretive ingenuity, bracing songwriting, and keen arrangements. Simply put, Swift is not only one of the most dazzling singers to emerge in her generation, she’s one of the most versatile.

While her first two albums solidified her position in modern jazz, Veronica Swift shows that she’s more than a jazz singer, exploring French and Italian opera, European classical music, bossa nova, blues, industrial rock, funk, and vaudeville. She pulls the feat off without the results sounding callow or pastiche. Swift’s expansive artistic voice remains firmly intact regardless of genre.

Swift describes this personal artistic statement on her new album as “transgenre.” “I grew up immersed in the culture of jazz music, blessed to have had some of the greats as mentors, and I felt a deep familial duty to uphold that” she says, reflecting on her parents - jazz singer and educator, Stephanie Nakasian, and bebop pianist, Hod O’Brien.

“But as rooted in jazz as I’ve been, there’s a uniquely visceral power in rock and soul music that’s always fueled my creative passion, and rather than mask or confine that part of my identity, the people I admire most show themselves unabashedly and that’s the kind of tradition I want to be a part of.

Veronica's Info 

https://www.veronicaswift.com

Beachland SEP 20TH-23 Tickets

https://www.beachlandballroom.com/e/13405078/veronica-swift

Joseph Sieracki was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He is the writer of A LETTER TO JO published by TOP SHELF, THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THE BRAVE CAPTAIN SUAVE from SCOUT COMICS, and GHOSTS OF SCIENCE PAST from HUMANOIDS. Joseph is currently teaching in a suburb of Cleveland, where he resides with his wife and kids.

Joseph's Info

https://www.josephsieracki.com

https://www.instagram.com/sierackij/

Interview with Klaire and Alex of GUJI 咕叽,

EP of GUJI 咕叽, a quirky synth-driven new wave quartet comprised of Chinese nationals Klaire (synths), Alex (bass), Stacy (drum machine) and American guitarist and singer for Shanghai punk band Round Eye Chachy with an interview. The EP will be released in late Summer August 25 by Floridian label Godless America. The EP was produced by frequent Modern Sky Recordings producer Li Wei Yu To say 2020-2022 were bleak years to live in Shanghai would be the understatement of the century. With the implementation of the “0-Covid policy” and the “Shanghai Lockdown”, a fucked attempt by the CCP to curb the transmission rate of the Covid-19 pandemic, the city became still. Businesses shuttered, schools closed, planes landed, shows cancelled and borders closed. For three years, China seemed without pulse as very little traffic ran between it and the outside world. Guizhou native Jiang Zi Xiu (Klaire) and Craig Englund (Chachy) were stuck in their home for months as a makeshift wall of plywood and bamboo rods was raised at the entrance and exits of the alleyway outside their door. Guards in hazmat suits were placed to conduct daily PCR tests and make sure no one came in or out. It was under these conditions that the couple decided to fill their time and their walls with the double lead harmonies, jangling B-52 styled guitar and cheesy drum machine pulse of the sardonic bubblegum-arpeggiated synthpop of GUJI咕叽. Heavily influenced by the aesthetic of 80s DEVO, B-52s, and My Little Pony the duo channels their frustrations and observations into vivid DIY videos channeling the work of Chuck Statler and blast humorously sardonic synthpop jams lined with pastel colored neon lights. With their first self-titled EP, they turn their anger into childish jeering fun in an overwhelmingly hostile political landscape and with songs like “I like to Hang Out in China” and “My Mao Suit” the band waves at the outside world with hammer and sickle and dares those who listen to not strip and dance in the hot pink fire.

Sponge is an American alternative rock band formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1992

by vocalist Vinnie Dombroski, guitarists Mike Cross and Joey Mazzola,

bassist Tim Cross, and drummer Jimmy Paluzzi.

After shopping demos as the newly formed quintet, the song “Neenah Menasha”

caught the ears of A&R person Pablo Mathiason and the band signed with The Work Group

(a Columbia Records subsidiary) in the fall of 1993.  The following year,

Sponge released the now iconic, Platinum-selling debut album, “Rotting Piñata,”

to global, critical and commercial success.

After two top 10 hit singles, several tours and live television performances, including

the John Stewart Show and Late Night with David Letterman, Sponge followed up their

debut with 1996's "Wax Ecstatic.” This sophomore effort garnered a "Song Of The Year" nod

from Rolling Stone Magazine for title track “Wax Ecstatic.” The album also yielded two

additional top 10 hit singles and featured a guest vocal appearance from Richard Butler

of the Psychedelic Furs on the song “I Am Anastasia.”

Since then, Sponge continues to release new music and keeps a near-constant tour

schedule to the pleasure of their legion of loyal followers.

Tickets  for

Sponge, C-Level, Slim Ross, and The Rumble   

SEP 1ST -23 at Winchester Lakewood, OH

https://www.ticketweb.com/event/sponge-at-the-winchester-the-winchester-tickets/13045225?pl=Winchester&REFID=clientsitewp

Sponge Info

https://www.spongetheband.com

Interview with Eddie Shaw bassist of The Monks and Author of the book Black Monk Time. 

The Monks, referred to by the name monks on record sleeves, were an American rock band formed in Gelnhausen, West Germany in 1964. Assembled by five American GIs stationed in the country, the group grew tired of the traditional format of rock, which motivated them to forge a highly experimental style characterized by an emphasis on hypnotic rhythms that minimized the role of melody, augmented by the use of sound manipulation techniques. The band's unconventional blend of shrill vocals confrontational lyrics, feedback, and  guitarist David Day's six-string banjo baffled audiences, but music historians have since identified the Monks as a pioneering force in avant-garde musicThe band's lyrics often voiced objection to the Vietnam War and the dehumanized state of society, while prefiguring the harsh and blunt commentary of the punk rock movement of the 1970s and 1980s. The band's appearance was considered as shocking as its music, as they attempted to mimic the look of Catholic monks by wearing black habits with cinctures symbolically tied around their necks, and hair worn in partially shaved tonsures.

The Monks Info 

https://www.the-monks.com

Berlin-based avant-garde duo hackedepicciotto have returned with Keepsakes, their fifth full length studio album. 

Keepsakes is the duo’s second album released on Mute, and was recorded at one of Europe’s oldest recording spaces, the Neapolitan studio Auditorium Novecento. Inspired by the space, which was home to Caruso and Morricone, the new compositions feature tubular bells and a grand piano within their signature sound of a symphonic drone.

hackedepicciotto are Alexander Hacke and Danielle de Picciotto. Both are legends of their own making: Danielle de Picciotto moved to Berlin in 1987, to become the lead singer of the band „Space Cowboys“, the co-initiator of the Love Parade, a collaborator of the Ocean Club with Gudrun Gut, and Alexander’s partner in crime. Alexander Hacke is founding member and bass player of Einstürzende Neubauten. The artist couple, romantically married in 2006, has creatively interacted with countless international projects for almost 2 decades now besides regularly releasing their own compositions. 

Hackedepicciotto's Info 

https://www.hackedepicciotto.de

https://twitter.com/hackedpicciotto

https://www.instagram.com/hackedepicciotto/

https://www.facebook.com/hackepicciotto/

http://mute.com/

Interview with Tony Cuchetti

Tony Cuchetti came by his skills as a singer, writer, and performer the hard way – from extensive road work from an early age. “My parents decided to start a family act in the late 60s and started playing malls, fairs, conventions, and even Vegas in the era of the Jackson 5 and The Osmonds. We had the bus and the costumes. When I came along, I was born into it and toured for the last ten years of the group. That’s pretty much how I grew up, on the road for ten or eleven months out of the year. I remember it fondly. It was a pretty tight-knit production, and we were self- contained as a family.” Cuchetti continues to be a tireless gigging musician playing north of 200+ shows a year both solo and with his full band. The songs from Freer Street touch base with core values and core questions to reach out to audiences, but in the end, Tony Cuchetti builds songs in the hopes of finding those of like mind. He concludes, “What sounds good and what makes me feel good, that’s how I operate.”

www.tonycuchetti.com 

Facebook/tonycuchettimusic

Instagram - tonycuchetti Youtube - @tonycuchetti7012

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/artist/4ZBfX6BKy28zdtaEEHqTem?si=wuZ-- 0RHTneTOkhkO_Hh0Q

Apple Music - ‎Tony Cuchetti on Apple Music

Lady Bug Av Club ran a pirate radio station for Rooms To Let 2023. I interviewed artist Owen Lowery, Charlie Malta "Guice Mann" (Juice Man), Meryl Engler, Cara Gaetano Kate Snow, Stephanie Stewart, Kyla Decatur, Mary Defer, Brian Schultis, Emily Liptow, Marisa Herman, Jeanetta Ho, Jimmie Woody, Eric Tuck-Macalla, Jacob “Archie” Liptow, Clifford Benjamin 

roomstolet

https://www.instagram.com/ladybug.av.club/

Vocalist/guitarist Brian Krumm formed The Great Crusades more than 20 years ago, following

http://www.briankrumm.com https://www.instagram.com/barflykrumm/https://twitter.com/BarflyKrummwww.facebook.com/briankrummandhisbarflyfriendshttps://www.bandsintown.com/a/15518730-brian-krumm-and-his-barfly-friendshttps://www.songkick.com/artists/10264541-brian-krumm-and-his-barfly-friends/calendarhttps://pravdarecords.bandcamp.com/artists

Interview with Joe Cannon of Resurrectionists

Resurrectionists were originally formed by lyricist, guitarist, and banjo picker Joe Cannon and bassist Jeff Brueggeman from the locally revered trio WORK with drummer Josh Barto and pedal steel player Gavin Hardy. On the group’s 2019 debut album What Comes In -- a collection of everyman trouble tales delivered with dark wit and piquant Midwestern tang -- Gavin’s mournful, swelling steel work helped steer songs into Gothic-country territory. On Now That We Are All Ghosts, Hardy has been replaced by multi-instrumentalist Gian Pogliano. Gian’s penchant for more adventurous, wider-ranging sonic discourse inspires Resurrectionists to branch out into unexpected stylistic experimentation. The material here is informed equally by the meticulous melodic abstractions of pre-punk icons on Television as the Old Weird American sounds of Dock Boggs and Bascom Lamar Lunsford. Now That We Are All Ghosts – SW031: Seismic Wave Entertainment   

Resurrectionists Info https://www.facebook.com/resurrectionistsmke

https://www.instagram.com/resurrectionists_mke/

https://resurrectionistsmke.bandcamp.com/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7iirX41ABvqvjz7YGGylJo?si=dyvZFLKaRxa4EKsM_MCevg

https://www.youtube.com/@resurrectionistsmke4624

 http://seismicwave.net/

https://www.instagram.com/seismicwaveent/

https://twitter.com/seismicwave

https://www.discogs.com/label/905311-Seismic-Wave-Entertainment