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The Big Takeover Issue #93

James Broscheid

James Broscheid first appeared in The Big Takeover as a contributor to issue 66 with a feature on one of his favorite bands, For Against. He is known to travel obscene distances to see bands play live if they do not come to him. Relishing in the people he has met and the places he has seen, music has been a passion to him since memory started. He currently resides on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado with his wife Alice Broscheid, son Elliott, named after Elliott Smith, and daughter Abigail, named after her mother’s favorite Beatles record, Abbey Road.

Mo(re) Dotti Please! An Interview With Mo Dotti's Gina Negrini

28 March 2024

“We hope we can create music that is not necessarily afraid to hide who we are inspired by but also be our own thing. I’d hate to be perceived as a carbon copy, but at the same time I want to make music I would want to listen to.” – Gina Negrini

Product Review: HumminGuru Ultrasonic Record Cleaner

18 December 2023

With its compact size and cleaning capabilities, the HumminGuru turned this skeptic into a believer. 

Who Are The Laughing Chimes? An Interview With Evan Seurkamp

17 December 2023

“Having our family support our musical endeavors is very, very important to us and we try not to take it for granted because I know a lot of times parents can view music as a waste of time. Especially when music takes up as much time as it does for us. They love a lot of the same music that we do though so maybe that has something to do with it!” – Evan Seurkamp

Let There Be Lemon Lights: An Interview With Seablite

24 October 2023

“Individual personalities are what make our band what it is. Everyone has a slightly different aesthetic that works so well together, while essentially drawing the inspiration from the same source.” – Galine Tumasyan

“I got a lot of stripe-y mock necks and a great suede jacket, but I’m on the hunt for a black leather blazer a la C86 era Primal Scream. About size 34 if anyone’s got one, lemme know!” – Andy Pastalaniec

“I love that we all come from different backgrounds and have our own personal styles that all blend together as a whole. I think that’s what makes Seablite distinctive and keeps things interesting!” – Jen Mundy

“This was the biggest project to date that I’ve engineered, recording guitars in our practice space and then vocals and other layers in my apartment. I think the hardest part about recording like this, is to know when to put a bow on it.” – Lauren Matsui

Bard Of The Bay: An Interview With Tony Jay

16 October 2023

“We don’t live in a perfect world. In fact, when it comes to love and or romance, things hardly ever live up to unrealistic expectations. But in one’s head and heart, there are infinite possibilities, each containing an equal possibility for devastation.” – Michael Ramos

Will Johnson - No Ordinary Crown (Keeled Scales)

9 October 2023

Johnson’s acuity in song craft and his use of dynamics over bluster make it one of his most important and memorable solo outings to date.

The Garment District - Flowers Telegraphed to All Parts of the World (Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records)

5 October 2023

With a record so inspired, The Garment District will restore your faith in indie pop.

Photo courtesy of Healees

Guitar Pedals and New Wave: An Interview With Healees

21 December 2022

“Paris is not an easy place to be a band, if only because of the extreme population density – it’s tough to get around with gear, there’s limited space to make loud noise, etc.  Still, there are great things happening thanks to the hard work of some very dedicated people.” – Bryan Quinn

“When I discovered French punk I had to start listening with headphones under my blanket because they were saying bad words…. standard stuff for a middle class kid.” – Renaud Chauré

Photo by Allison Kromer

Slow Glows: Queen City Shoegazers

9 December 2022

“The music being made in our area has typically been “weird” and often served along with an eagerness to both honor our roots and get out of town.” – Meriel Westermeyer

“We feel we’ve definitely pushed ourselves to become better musicians and songwriters overall over the years in writing these songs…” – Kelli Redding

“I will admit that when I started the band my main concern was choosing inclusive members for the band and mostly sought out female or female identifying folks.” – Rachel Thode

Photo by Christian Kim

MILLY: An Interview With Brendan Dyer

29 September 2022

“We’ve had a weird year of trying to figure out what we want. Sometimes a consistent band sounds great but other times I think we want all the control. Right now though, we’re going on 4 months of being a 3 piece. It’s been cool because I never thought that could work but it’s proven to be really fun. I like the space.” – Brendan Dyer

Idi Et Amin by Landon Hale

Mesmerizing Mire: An Interview With Cat and Rocky of Idi Et Amin

24 September 2022

“… the freedom to really convey the visual aspects that reflect the sort of chaotic melange of technique and eclectic influence whose collage results in the sparkling squalor and mesmerizing mire of our chaotic glamour steeped in swooning sentimentality is my childhood dream realized.” – Catalina Gallegos

“There are so many genres and labels people give themselves. I think when the word “shoegaze” is used, people automatically get this mind picture of what they’re about to hear… the usual dreamy, reverb-y, washy sounds which are all of the sounds we typically try to avoid.” – Rocky Maldonado

Photo courtesy of Grandstand Media

It's All Happening: An Interview With John Cudlip of LAUNDER

29 August 2022

“I was writing it across multiple years and going through a lot of different influences which I think it’s easy for that to bleed through a bit. I feel like it was mostly just my emotional state. I was going through some sad stuff in my life for a bit, there’s not a lot of happy songs on the record for that reason” – John Cudlip

Photo courtesy of Mute Swan

Song Premiere: "Phantasms of the Living (feat. Sonoda)” by Mute Swan

19 August 2022

The Big Takeover is excited to premiere the new single by Tucson shoegazers Mute Swan.

Photo by Sarah Piantadosi

Spiritualized - Club Congress (Tucson) - April 17, 2022

21 April 2022

Spiritualized live performance in Tucson, AZ

Photo by Jacob Ball

Seeking An Oasis: A Conversation with Matthew Doty of Deserta

7 April 2022

“I think figuring out better ways to record and sing was another reason I wanted to work with more people on this album rather than doing it myself again and just keep doing the same thing. I mean, even the first project there was not anything that I didn’t like about the way it turned out but I wanted to try something new and see if there was something I could be doing better.” – Matthew Doty

Photo by Chris Frisina

A Tradition Of Evolution: An Interview With Rosali

3 April 2022

“I realized that removing myself from my daily life and all the other other things going on that make it so hard to focus, was really helpful. That time definitely made me see that if I had this concerted effort to which I can dedicate time to writing songs, helped really sort out a lot of things that I was thinking and feeling instead it feeling like it’s all a jumbled mess …” – Rosali

Witch by James Broscheid

Witch - Club Congress - Tucson, AZ - March 13, 2022

18 March 2022

The band took to the Club Congress stage with Mwondela donning one of the band’s iconic chitenge cloth hats (initially designed to curb stage fright in the 1970s). Jagari (nicknamed after the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger), now 70, was in fine form both vocally and physically, dancing around the stage, high-fiving the crowd, and handing out a cowbell for people to contribute rhythm.

Image courtesy of Blankenberge FB page

Blankenberge: Shoegaze Is Everything

7 February 2022

“I believe that all these atmospheric genres like shoegaze and post-rock are like classical music in the world of rock music. When we are listening to it the music brings us some philosophical mood and we are more open to see the beauty of nature and think of some things that are somewhere above our daily life.” – Yana Guselnikova

“I am inspired by Wes Anderson’s films and modern architecture. I like simple forms and bright color combinations.” Daniil Levshin on Blankenberge’s cover art

Photo courtesy of Michael Farren

Panoramic Soundscapes: An Interview With Michael Farren of Submotile

25 September 2021

“The eureka moment for me came when I was 15 in 1991. I was watching MTV 120 Minutes and Slowdive’s Morningrise came on and I was instantly floored. I’d never heard anything as beautiful before. I couldn’t understand what I was listening to. Are those guitars … or synths?” – Michael Farren

Force Field PR promo photo

Lunchbox: Thermos Full of Pop

2 March 2021

“If you think about names of famous bands, after awhile it becomes a signifier for the band, it’s drained of content. Is The Beatles a good name? It’s a stupid name right? But The Beatles are THE BEATLES!” – Tim Brown

“At least, the silver lining is that when we can play again, people will care about live music and it will be special again.” – Donna McKean

Fleeting Joys album art

Fleeting Joys Announce Despondent Transponder Reissue

26 October 2020

The first release from Fleeting Joys is now available again on vinyl! Released on CD at the start of 2006 followed by the vinyl version in 2011 with both versions long sold out since, Despondent Transponder is now the subject of a limited edition re-release.

Photo by Joseph Najera

Fleeting Joys: An Interview with John and Rorika Loring

21 September 2020

“Our approach to music has always been DIY. My first job was at a big label and I saw them spending artists’ money on ridiculous dinners, payola, etc. Their exploitation of the artists was disgusting. It seemed more pure to integrate recording and releasing into our daily lives so that we could do things exactly as we wanted them.” – Rorika Loring

“The ability to experiment endlessly is both the best and worst part of technology. Like everyone, we benefit, and suffer from it. We hated getting off of tape, but our writing process requires maximum flexibility to rearrange songs. Aside from multiple reverbs and a whammy, what’s really important is the instrumentation.” – John Loring

Photo by Yannick Pereira Bajard

Mundy's Bay: Remedy For These Times

3 May 2020

“People are going to re-evaluate what their time means to them and see how valuable it is to have time to focus on yourself and the things you want to do.” – Esther Mulders

“The fact that we have always been associated with hardcore a little bit makes us a bit more free of barriers in some ways because we’re not trying to please a “indie” crowd or not trying to please a “hardcore” crowd or any crowd for that matter.” – Victor Beaudoin

Photo by Anthony Tran

Tennis System: An Interview with Matty Taylor

19 February 2020

“Do you think Kevin Shields, Jim Reid or Kurt Cobain ever said they were a specific genre? We aren’t necessarily looking to fall into a genre, we’re just looking to make rad art that will move people, the same way the art that influences us has moved us.” – Matty Taylor

Photo by Kevin Condon

Bambara: In Conversation

10 February 2020

“The theme of death just kind of bubbled to the surface as the characters’ narratives started to take shape and intertwine. After I wrote “Heat Lightning”, I realized that death would have to be present in all the songs in some form or another. It was unavoidable.” – Reid Bateh

Image courtesy of Saint Marie Records

On Their Own: An Interview with L.A.'s The Meeting Places

27 December 2019

“Having good ideas or hearing good ideas from the band is motivating, and also getting great feedback from fans helps reinforce what you instinctively want to do.” – Scott McDonald

Photo by Naomi Lee Beveridge

Whoosh! - An Interview with The Stroppies' Gus Lord

23 November 2019

“I feel like it’s much easier to project your truth onto someone or something else rather than looking inside and trying to articulate it using your own voice. Through the imagined lens of someone else, feelings and ideas are a little more malleable and there is a lot more room for play. It certainly frees one up a fair bit!” – Gus Lord

Photo by Jason Hendardy

Neutrals: An Interview With Allan McNaughton

5 November 2019

“The character in the songs basically needs to put a lot of distance between himself and Glasgow because of things he’s done but, with me I chose to come to the States in search of a bit of adventure.” – Allan McNaughton

Photo courtesy of Grandstand Media

In Hot Motion: An Interview With James Bagshaw of Temples

14 October 2019

“The themes of the record aren’t necessarily dark so I think it’s the intensity of some of the decisions on instruments and it’s a more guitar-driven record but, they’re not “safe” guitar sounds. It’s sort of wobbly like an old gramophone or something.” – James Bagshaw

Photo by Pia Hannah

EXEK: An Interview with Albert Wolski

8 September 2019

“I enjoy reading scientific publications. Magazines like New Scientist, and then when something really interests me I look deeper and find the journal article it cites. We are living in a dystopia. Its amazing! How exciting. Better write another song about it!” – Albert Wolski

Pic by Benoit Drouet

C'est magnifique ! - An Interview with Marble Arch's Yann Le Razavet

3 September 2019

“The title of this album and in particular the track reflects a statement on our society between dream and despair, on an available and disposable youth, in the instantaneity and the ephemeral.” – Yann Le Razavet

Stand In Line: An Interview with Lunch Lady

25 August 2019

“My lyrical goals were similar; the songs on Angel are about your classic tropes of love and loss but, specifically loving and losing things that are fictional and that you never had.” – Rachel Birke

“I think that this record is really special to me because I was given total freedom to do whatever I wanted with my guitar playing (for better or for worse!).” – Juan Velasquez

Chris Cohen pic by Ebru Yildiz

Sublime Introspection: An Interview With Chris Cohen

23 June 2019

“I take time between releases because that’s how long it takes me to write and record – about 3 or 4 months per song. Also, there is so much music out there, I don’t think we need a new release from me every year!” – Chris Cohen

Photo by Michael Aguilar

Seablite: Record Release Day Interview

7 June 2019

“There have been several waves of people moving away to LA, etc. because they get evicted or simply can’t afford to stay anymore. We love San Francisco so much and even though it’s changing every year, we don’t want to give up on it as it still has a scene of very talented artists and musicians. We are just waiting for this bubble to burst, at least a little bit but, sadly this is happening everywhere right now in different ways, so all we can do is adapt and keep doing what we do.” – Galine Tumasyan

Cold Showers pic by Shannon Cornett

Cold Showers: An Interview With Chris King

2 June 2019

“Anybody that spends a few hours a day playing an instrument for a few years can shred, but to really convey emotion with a simple part that gets stuck in your head, that takes a great ear and instinct.” – Chris King

Photo courtesy of Seablite

Song Premiere: "French Disko" (cover) by Seablite

31 May 2019

“It feels extremely relevant considering the political climate we’re in right now,” states Lauren Matsui on choosing to cover “French Disko” by Stereolab.

reptaliens by James Broscheid

Invasion of the Reptaliens

23 May 2019

“There’s sadness in everything but there is also hope everywhere you look. It’s similar to how we connect the dark aspects of life with the beauty of art and music. I’m not sure if you can even really have one without the other.” – Cole Browning

CW pic by Alastair Thain

Catherine Wheel revisited - an interview with Dave Hawes

18 November 2018

“My first true punk concert was the UK Subs who came to Lowestoft in 1980. Then I saw The Damned a bunch of times from 1980 to ’82. It was just a magical time and I am so glad I grew up when I did. I don’t think kids today get that feeling from music but I hope I’m wrong.” – Dave Hawes

Pic by Anastasia Metluka

An interview with Just Mustard

7 October 2018

“We definitely don’t see ourselves as a shoegaze or a grunge band, I find those tags to be fairly meaningless, especially as those specific genres were more scenes from a time and place rather than a sonically defined music style, but we understand why we can be labelled as that.” – David Noonan