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NEWS
EXTRAS
EXTRAS
After the cannibal gore-fest
The Green Inferno
, Eli Roth is set to tackle a very
different sort on man-eater in
Meg
.
BEST OF LUCK
Former Exponent Jordan Luck on the debut LP of his new band.
A
fixture on the live scene for years, the
Jordan Luck Band have taken their time
producing their debut album.
Frontman Jordan Luck – formerly with
Kiwi icons The Exponents – acknowledges it’s been a
while coming, but points out that once it was decided
to go ahead with the record, they didn't waste any
time getting it out. According to Luck, back in January
JLB guitarist Joe Walsh informed the band that it was
time for them to release their first album – he even
went as far as to say it should come out on April 29
and be backed by a nation-wide tour to coincide with
New Zealand Music Month.
And that’s exactly what has happened.
Not
Only…But Also
– the title chosen from suggestions
submitted by fans during a pre-sale of the record – is
in stores now, and JLB are on the road promoting it.
“Essentially, it took three months, so it was quick,”
Luck explains.“The album is pretty collaborative.
Most of the chords were by Bryan [Bell, guitarist] and
I would stick the melody lines over the top. Then in
rehearsal we would go through the structure and give
it the full band stuff. And apart from
Only If You’re
Lonely
, which was a single in 2013, all the lyrics were
done in the last three months. I sort of had working
titles and things like songs with choruses but no
verses or verses with no chorus, that kind of thing.”
Although the sound of his old outfit The Exponents
can be detected on a number of tracks – in particular
the Beatle-esque
East Of Suburbia
–
Not Only… But
Also
is for the most part a rockier beast, which Luck
believes reflects the make-up of his current line-up:
Bell was once with the Dead Flowers, while drummer
Beaver and bassist Rich Mixture both previously
played with D4, so it’s not surprising that JBL had a
rawer, heavier feel.
However, Luck says there is an Exponents
connection to one of the songs
Stevie
, which is about
one of the band's founding members who left the
group soon after their first hit
Victoria
and died a few
years later aged just 25.
Luck says it was song he couldn’t have written 20
years ago, but it was always something that had been
at the back of his mind. The inspiration for finishing
the song came at the Tuis last year, where The
Exponents received the Legacy Award.
”Stevie was the instigator of getting me and Brian
Jones [Exponents co-founder] up to Christchurch – he
was a real driving force, an inspirational guy,” Luck
explains. “We flew Mrs Cowan and Stevie’s sister
up for the ceremony and it was glorious. All the
lines came beautifully after I had sat down with Mrs
Cowan for a bit.”
While
Not Only… But Also
is currently only
available on CD, the band hope to bring out a vinyl
edition later in the year. Luck says they deliberately
set out to make an old-school album that would only
run to around 18 minutes per side – regarded by
luminaries such as Quincy Jones as the ideal running
time for vinyl, because of the width of the grooves.
However he also thinks the specially-commissioned
Dick Frizzell-designed cover will look even better on
vinyl. “Even if you don’t like the music, buy it for the
artwork – a beautiful 12-inch you can get somebody
for Christmas!”
John Ferguson
Not Only... But Also
by the Jordan Luck Band is out now.
THE RISE AND FALL
OF A MUSIC GIANT
A
vailable exclusively at JB Hi-Fi,
All Things
Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower
Records
is the directorial debut of actor Colin
Hanks and charts the story of one of the best loved
brands in music.
Founded in 1960 by Russ Solomon, Tower grew to
become one of the world’s best known retailers, with
200 stores in 30 countries across the globe. In 1999 it
made more than $1 billion, yet seven years later the
company filed for bankruptcy.
As well as key Tower personnel,
All Things Must
Pass
features interviews with music legends like Dave
Grohl, Elton John and Bruce Springsteen, who open up
about their memories of the chain and why it meant so
much to so many.
Hanks says Tower was a true haven for music lovers
and left a void in the lives of so many when it closed
down. “There is a great human story here that not a lot
of people know,” he says. “We sort of get to know all
the people who worked there, and get to hear stories
from them about what that made the place special.”
Producer Sean M Stuart adds: “Every person you
bump into says ‘Oh yeah, Tower Records started in my
hometown'; Because it
was so localised, people
didn’t know that it was
a global chain. It wasn’t
a global chain – it was
a chain of mom and pop
stores.”
All Things Must
Pass: The Rise
and Fall of Tower
Records
is out on DVD
on May 11.
AVAILABLE FROM
MAY 25