Django Bates, Spring Is Here Shall We Dance

If the title invitation proffered by Mister Bates is taken up, it can only be tackled by dancers with either a.) an extreme degree of pedal dexterity, or b.) an extreme degree of inhibition-eroding imbibing. Yes, Django returns, with his usual level of dilute-to-taste density. He's finally completing his long-running seasonal sequence of albums with this slightly delayed Spring.

Jazz On 3 presenter Jez Nelson forewarned his listeners that this album (as expected) will not be to all tastes. The Bates contents can often be divisive, his style so individualist and extreme that he often plants folks firmly in love or hate camps. Overloaded with activity, these pieces are simultaneously hook-filled and defiantly uncompromising, with regular singing collaborator Josefine Lindstrand doing much to welcome uncertain ears. Bates digs compression of everything, rarely allowing a soloist to simply solo, but always stringing such self-expression through a maze of hyperactive themes, constantly in motion.

Lately residing in Copenhagen, Bates has formed Stormchaser, a large young band that rehearses weekly, and has a residency in the city's Jazz House. Hence their intimate grasp of these inner Django workings. They maintain slickness at the same time as keeping hold of a slippery sense of anarchy. The legacy of Brazilian tinkerer/composer Hermeto Pascoal looms large, but whose are these many souls, flying past at a kaleidoscopic rate? There whooshes Frank Zappa, and here land a sweetly scatting Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, with slap-happy bongos spilling out of old Edmundo Ros sleeves. Was that Keith Tippett's Centipede, in all its massed choral majesty? Could that be the kitchen/garage clatter of Spike Jones & His City Slickers? And meet The Residents, standing right next to The Smurfs. Bates is funky and tuneful, with piled-up vocal choruses repeating compulsive (or annoying) lines, and most certainly, the essence of the spring season has been bottled in all of its barely containable vigour.


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Billy Bob Thornton's album hits stores

Boxmasters' dual CD has originals, covers





CHICAGO -- He is an acclaimed actor and Oscar winner for writing the movie "Sling Blade," but most of the time Billy Bob Thornton would rather be pursuing his first love: music.
Thornton's band, the Boxmasters, released its first album Tuesday, a dual CD with one disc of original songs written by Thornton and second with covers of the likes of Mott the Hoople, the Louvin Brothers, the Who and Chad and Jeremy.
Thornton, credited as W.R. "Bud" Thornton partly to distinguish from his movie star status, released four solo albums between 2001 and '07, but it is this latest incarnation -- as drummer, singer and songwriter for the Boxmasters -- that he thinks brings him closest to his true calling.
"I've always been committed to music first," Thornton said. "It just so happened that I accidentally became a movie star. So it's really more like I use the movies to keep me from going broke between records."
The 52-year-old native of Hot Springs, Ark., has been playing drums since he was 9 and as a young man he kicked around the fringes of the music industry, including a stint as a roadie for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in the mid-1970s.
He remembers when his mother gave him his first album of his very own -- the soundtrack to Elvis Presley's 1958 movie "King Creole." His favorite record of all time is the Allman Brothers' 1971 "At Fillmore East." Among his unfulfilled ambitions are to write a song someday with two of his idols, Kris Kristofferson and John Prine.
His Boxmasters bandmates include J.D. Andrew, who co-wrote several songs, and Mike Butler, whose blazing guitar licks pepper the album. Thornton describes the band's music as "Hillbilly British Invasion" and they plan to hit the road and tour the U.S. in the summer, Thornton said.
"If you take the Beatles and the Stones and the Kinks and the Dirt Band and Mike Nesmith and the Monkees, mix them up with Buck Owens, Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash and Webb Pierce and Del Reeves, that's what the Boxmasters are," he said.
Thornton writes many songs about lower middle-class people who are down on their luck and he admits they are similar to many of the characters he has portrayed on film, such as Willie in "Bad Santa," a con man posing as Santa Claus to rob stores.
He also disagrees with perceptions that actors who make records are talentless musical hacks.
"If I were doing this as a lark. ... I would try to craft a pop song that was gonna make a hit," he said. "And we (the Boxmasters) don't really do that. We're kind of an earthy bunch. I'm not out there trying to be on MTV and stuff."
Thornton said he grew up playing in bands and he likes being close to music. He said he would even return to his roots as a roadie and work for Jack White, singer-songwriter for rock bands the White Stripes and the Raconteurs.
"I've grown quite fond of Jack White, mainly because he respects the history of music," Thornton said. "He's a kid who knows what came before him and that's what's important."
But working on a touring crew is not great pay and Thornton still has to earn a living. He is currently shooting the film comedy "Manure" about a manure salesman in the 1960s.
Still, Thornton said is happiest talking about music or tinkering in his home's recording studio.
"My personality is not made for vacationing. I prefer to be constantly working," he said. "If I can make a movie a year and a record a year and do a tour a year, I'd be pretty happy."

Pete Doherty - Pete Doherty Misses Out On Charity Football Win

Pete Doherty and his charity football team were unable to retain their Samaritans Celebrity Soccer Six at a tournament in south London yesterday.

The troubled musician's side had claimed the Soccer Six title last year but were defeated 3-1 in this year's final by a team composed of members of the dance band Faithless.

However, despite losing out in the final, the former Libertine - who was recently released from prison after being punished for failing to meet the terms of his probation order - reiterated his support for the charity.

"Samaritans provide a service called 'the listeners' where they train inmates so if you're struggling any time during the night you've got someone you can spill your heart out to," he said.

Claire Duncan, a Samaritans spokesperson, explained that the football tournament allowed the charity to raise awareness of the support available to troubled people across the UK.

"In light of the recent suicides in Bridgend in Wales it is vital that we reach out to young people out to young people at an earlier stage before problems seem much more difficult to manage," she added.

"Samaritans is here to listen, not to judge or make assumptions but to give people the time and space to work through how they are feeling. If you need emotional support then get in touch."

Other celebrity teams included members of the Wombats and the Twang, former Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins, Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, Jade Goody, Dave Gorman, and contestants from Big Brother, X Factor, The Apprentice and Shipwrecked.


19/05/2008 14:59:11

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