WHATEVER BLOG PARTY
Glasslands Gallery
289 Kent Ave., Williamsburg
Thursday, July 29, $8, 8:00
http://wwwwhatever-amy.blogspot.com
www.glasslands.blogspot.com
You know you’re at the right show if indie music princess Amy Grimm is there. Three years ago Grimm started Whatever . . ., what she calls “ a simple and honest blog . . . bringing you an intellectual and rebellious musical point of view.” Grimm focuses on up-and-coming new bands, writing from a very personal first-person perspective, championing lesser-known groups while cutting through the hype. An avid tweeter whose pieces can be found on the Huffington Post, Grimm also holds monthly showcases at the Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn, featuring indie groups that you might not have heard of yet but you’re likely to soon. Grimm is passionate about her love of music and will do whatever it takes to share that love, even if it means having musicians sleep on the floor of her apartment in order to make sure they can play her showcase. She’ll be back at Glasslands this Thursday, July 29, with a lineup that includes Pretty Good Dance Moves, Rumanian Buck, Bambara, and Ego Puppets. Shortly after meeting the charming, exuberant Grimm at the recent Northside Festival in Williamsburg, we conducted an e-mail interview in which she discusses her favorite bands, the reaction to her blog, and, of all things, Woodstock.
twi-ny: Next month will mark your third year of blogging on Whatever. What has the experience been like overall? Do you have a favorite post/interview?
Amy Grimm: The whole Whatever blog experience has been a really great one. I’ve gotten lots of positive response from people in regards to the blog, so that makes me feel really good, that people are reading my words and taking what I have to say about the state of indie music into account. In terms of my favorite interviews that I have done, I have to say I have three and they were with Bottle Up and Go, Jesse Malin, and Ethan Gold. I just love love Bottle Up and Go’s music, and Keenan and Fareed are two such cool, unpredictable guys and their answers to my questions were the best part of the interview. And Jesse is just such a New York legend and he was so gracious and interesting and such a gentleman during that interview, it was a fantastic experience. Ethan Gold was the producer of Elvis Perkins’s debut album, ASH WEDNESDAY, and has some really awesome music of his own that he’s done and he is just an all-around fascinating guy who made my mundane typical e-mail interview questions jump off the page with his responses. And as for my favorite post it was something that wasn’t written by me; it was written by my dad and it was his memories of being at Woodstock for the fortieth anniversary last August. Growing up, my siblings and I would always ask him what it was like to be at Woodstock and he would always respond with “It was muddy,” so it was brilliant beyond belief to read a detailed account of his memories of Woodstock.
twi-ny: What does it take for a band to get invited to a Whatever showcase? What do you look for most in a band?
AG: A band gets invited to play a Whatever blog party one of two ways: 1) By word of mouth doing these parties for almost a year now, I’ve cultivated a nice little group of musician friends who play my parties on a regular basis (i.e., the Art of Shooting & Schocholautte), and those guys will let me know about a band or an artist that they think I should be booking for a party or be writing about in my blog. And also people like Rami [Haykai] from PopGun Booking will send me band and artist recommendations as well. All these guys have such stellar musical tastes, so I trust their recommendations completely! Without the recommendations of the Art of Shooting, Schocholautte and PopGun Booking, Savoir Adore, Drink Up Buttercup, Rumanian Buck, and J.A.C.K. would never have played any of the Whatever blog parties. 2) The second way is just basically me getting out there and going to shows and finding what I like. What I look for is how good the band is musically and what their buzz factor is, i.e., will they draw well on Wednesday or Thursday night.
twi-ny: Who are some of your favorites that have performed at one of your shows in the past? Who are you looking forward to booking in the future?
AG: Oooh, so many! But if I had to choose for a CD or a DVD (investors and indie labels . . . hint hint!), I would say Schocholautte, the Art of Shooting, Right on Dynamite, Rumanian Buck, Freshkills, Wizardry, North Highlands, deVries, Drink Up Buttercup, J.A.C.K. . . . that CD or DVD would be a double CD or DVD ’cause there have been so many good performances at the Whatever blog parties over the last year. Well, right now I’m totally obsessed with These United States and their new album, WHAT LASTS, and I’m also really obsessed with Elvis Perkins and AA Bondy at the moment. It would be a total dream for me to get Elvis, AA, and These United States to play a blog party. Besides indie folk country rock, I’m also quite into Shark? [who were originally scheduled for the July 29 show but had to postpone for personal reasons], the Darlings, and the Sundelles, and those bands may be playing a Whatever blog party really soon.