Join CAMPUS CIRCLE www.campuscircle.com MUSICREPORT
FREQUENCY by brien overly
Rocco Bizzarri
Prima Donna
Benny Benassi wants you to join his Musical Ride Through California.
by kevin wierzbicki Biking With Benny Benny Benassi is consistently rated one of the top DJs in the world, but he could have been famous for spinning bicycle wheels instead of tunes. While he was a teenager, Benassi raced for several teams in his native Italy and his passion for the sport nearly caused him to become a cycling pro. Music won out in the end, but Benassi still loves to hop on his bike whenever he gets a chance while he’s out on tour. This September, Benny launches the Benny Benassi Bike Tour: A Musical Ride Through California … Without Breaks, a unique tour that’ll have the DJ pedaling his way to five gigs along the West Coast from San Francisco to San Diego. Fans, musicians and fellow bicycling enthusiasts are urged to join Benassi on the road or just follow his progress on the Net. The bike tour starts at the Golden Gate Bridge on the morning of Sept. 11; it’ll be Sept. 18 before Benassi rolls into Los Angeles for a show at the Music Box. Each performance showcases music from Spaceship, the new Ultra Records release Benassi drops later this year. bennybenassibiketour.com.
Sex, Drugs and Bon Jovi Rich Bozzett, the tour manager for Bon Jovi in their early days, has written a tell-all book entitled Sex, Drugs and Bon Jovi. The book tells the story of how the band went from being an unknown act to bona fide superstars in a mere six years and dishes the dirt on some of the seedier things that came along with fame. Bozzett tells about the drug use of various band members and hook-ups with groupies, band financial problems and how the group’s management was raking in money from cocaine and marijuana trafficking. Bozzett is also honest about why he split with the group, and that partially has to do with his not being paid what he was promised by management, but it also has to do with his handling of a situation dealing with some soft porn pictures involving models and Jon Bon Jovi. Yes, some of the pictures are included in the book. sexdrugsbonjovi.com.
OohLaLa Festival Returns Did you get a chance to go to the OohLaLa Festival last year? The French music showcase returns to various venues around the city this fall and brings some of the hottest French acts. Sebastien Tellier headlines opening night at the El Rey Theatre Sept. 30 where Acid Washed, Turzi and DJ Kavinsky also appear. The action moves to Spaceland Oct. 1 for a show featuring Revolver and the psychedelic/folk collective the Bewitched Hands on the Top of Our Heads. The festival closes out at Club Nokia Oct. 2 with a lineup including Gotan Project, General Elektriks and El Hijo de la Cumbia. The 10th anniversary of French record label Record Makers will also be celebrated during the festival. oohlalafestival.com.
Fear Factory Escape Bus Fire An overheated tire and wheel caused a fire that engulfed Fear Factory’s tour bus while they were motoring to a show in London. The bus and its contents were a total loss, but according to guitarist Dino Cazares, the band and crew got out with only minor injuries. “At about 3:30 a.m., the bus driver noticed smoke coming from the back right wheel,” says Cazares. “He stopped and jumped out and noticed a flame underneath the wheel well and tried to extinguish it but the flames were just too much. Everyone on the bus was awakened by the crew yelling and everyone grabbed their bags and got off the bus. Then someone noticed our merchandise guy was still asleep on the bus, but he got out just minutes before the bus was completely in flames. Our eyes were burning and we were coughing from the smoke. Some of us lost wallets, money and computers, but that’s not important compared to our lives.” The band’s gear was in a trailer and was not damaged, and after regrouping Fear Factory continued their European tour behind their latest album, Mechanize. The band’s next hometown show is Oct. 15 at the Key Club.
Aug. 19 @ The Troubadour Everyone could use a little more glam-punk styled classic rock in their lives. Having just by chance seen these guys play in some of the dingiest and diviest bars the rest of the country has to offer, I can say with the utmost confidence that their brand of dirty rock ’n’ roll was meant for legit stages right here in their hometown. Showmen of the highest caliber, the fivesome also have the musical skills to back up their bravado, hearkening back to a time when rock was simple and epic above all else.
Ha Ha Tonka
John Mayer dazzles on the guitar Aug. 22 at Aug. 20 @ Spaceland the Hollywood Bowl. I first discovered this band when they were opening for Murder by Death a few months back, so already, before even hearing what their music sounded like, the odds of them completely winning me over were in their favor. As should be expected from a band that has earned the compliments of the Murder clan, I was most definitely not disappointed by the set I bore witness to that night. When so much acoustic indie-folk falls into the deathly pit of monotony and taking itself way too seriously, the Ha Ha Tonka foursome manage to bring a little Southern soul to their music. Anthemic and dynamic despite low-fi production, infectious and memorable while still feeling raw and spontaneous, these guys do it all without sounding the least bit pretentious.
The Maine Aug. 22 @ House of Blues Anaheim Aug. 24 @ House of Blues Sunset Strip I was planning on starting this article by saying something pretentious, to the effect of “I remember seeing the Maine back in 2007 on Warped when no one knew or cared who they were. And I had to walk in the snow to get to their stage, despite it being the middle of August and the tour being in Miami or Phoenix that day.” Or something. Then I thought to myself, “Wait, I did see them while they and I were on the tour, didn’t I?” And while trying to quickly research this to verify my claim, it seems their existence on the ’07 Warped Tour has been completely erased from the Internet’s collective memory. But it definitely happened. I definitely saw the Maine play in some godforsaken dirt field in the boondocks of like, Idaho or somesuch. But … the point of this is to say that they’ve come a long way in those three years, and I give a lot of credit to bands that have paid their dues, as opposed to the prepackaged media stars that seem to populate this scene right now. Even more credit is to be given for the fact that their brand of emo-pop is actually palatable on top of all that and doesn’t fall into the some of the more common clichés. Also along to open up these shows are This Century, who I’ve grown to like quite a bit in the few short hours between starting this week’s column and getting to this point in writing. Much in the same musical vein as the Maine, the Tempe-bred foursome write sing-along pop jams that are girlfriend-friendly, but still feel like you’re listening to a grownup band.
John Mayer Aug. 22 @ Hollywood Bowl Aug. 24 Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Not infrequently, I’ll say it’s impossible to not like an artist I’ve chosen for a show pick that particular week, and usually I’m pretty right on with those assertions. This time is a little different, though. John Mayer is admittedly very easily unlikable. I’d even go so far as to say he’s very easily dislikable … as a person, though. Not as a musician. No matter how much of a d-bag he comes off as in interviews and via his Twitter, moms and girlfriends still inexplicably love him. Apparently none of them have Internet connections, but that’s a different story. Point being, you’ll earn some major points for scoring tickets to this show and, at the very least, the dude is really, really good on his guitar, despite the personality behind the hands.
Campus Circle 8.18.10 - 8.24.10
19