Post by nowwesayitoutloud on Apr 1, 2007 6:33:05 GMT -5
From the MPLS StarTribune:
Westerberg: Time to play the Pied Piper
Fresh off his work on the soundtrack for Sony Pictures' animated feature "Open Season," Paul Westerberg has inked a deal with Brooklyn-based Festival Five Records, the childrens music home of former Del Fuegos frontman Dan Zanes and Friends. The three-record deal will mark the studio recording debut of Westerberg's most recent touring band, Paul Westerberg and His Only Friends.
Despite some frustration with his two-year experience laboring on Sony's G-rated soundtrack, Westerberg said he's ready to tailor his sometimes raucous output to the under-10 market. "Writing rock for kids was not the problem," he said. "Hollywood was the problem."
At least some of the attraction for Westerberg is the chance to revisit the folk-based childrens music of his youth. He has already trod in Burl Ives territory with the traditional "Mr. Rabbit," and ransacked Pete Seeger's catalog to perform "If I Had a Hammer" with His Only Friends on a 2005 tour. Westerberg said he has worked up a version of "The Garden Song (Inch by Inch)" that uses some of the song's alternative, anti-gardening lyrics that have been passed around on playgrounds for years.
"Most people don't realize that [Replacements song] 'Nowhere Is My Home' came right out of 'Inch by Inch,'" Westerberg said. "Same chords mostly, almost the same words—'A heave and a ho,' 'A rake and a hoe.' 'Course, most people never heard 'Nowhere Is My Home,' so we'll use that to our advantage."
Sucker-sucking drummer Michael Bland will take a break from his Soul Asylum duties to rejoin the His Only Friends band for the Festival Five sessions as well as an anticipated tour. "With my teeth and his lollipops, we're gunning for a big sponsorship from the dentists' association," Westerberg said with a snaggle-toothed grin.
The new album, tenatively titled "Sugarcane Gratifaction," is due out early next year.
Westerberg: Time to play the Pied Piper
Fresh off his work on the soundtrack for Sony Pictures' animated feature "Open Season," Paul Westerberg has inked a deal with Brooklyn-based Festival Five Records, the childrens music home of former Del Fuegos frontman Dan Zanes and Friends. The three-record deal will mark the studio recording debut of Westerberg's most recent touring band, Paul Westerberg and His Only Friends.
Despite some frustration with his two-year experience laboring on Sony's G-rated soundtrack, Westerberg said he's ready to tailor his sometimes raucous output to the under-10 market. "Writing rock for kids was not the problem," he said. "Hollywood was the problem."
At least some of the attraction for Westerberg is the chance to revisit the folk-based childrens music of his youth. He has already trod in Burl Ives territory with the traditional "Mr. Rabbit," and ransacked Pete Seeger's catalog to perform "If I Had a Hammer" with His Only Friends on a 2005 tour. Westerberg said he has worked up a version of "The Garden Song (Inch by Inch)" that uses some of the song's alternative, anti-gardening lyrics that have been passed around on playgrounds for years.
"Most people don't realize that [Replacements song] 'Nowhere Is My Home' came right out of 'Inch by Inch,'" Westerberg said. "Same chords mostly, almost the same words—'A heave and a ho,' 'A rake and a hoe.' 'Course, most people never heard 'Nowhere Is My Home,' so we'll use that to our advantage."
Sucker-sucking drummer Michael Bland will take a break from his Soul Asylum duties to rejoin the His Only Friends band for the Festival Five sessions as well as an anticipated tour. "With my teeth and his lollipops, we're gunning for a big sponsorship from the dentists' association," Westerberg said with a snaggle-toothed grin.
The new album, tenatively titled "Sugarcane Gratifaction," is due out early next year.
