Big Takeover #64, Decemberists cover, out on the stands! / Sample Quotes

Once again the big news is that Big Takeover #64 Spring 2009 issue with The Decemberists on the cover (and concluding part twos of our awesome Death Cab for Cutie, Sloan, and Devo interviews) is now on the stands. (A full description of its contents, and a dozen sample quotes, are just below!) Remember, we only come out twice a year, every Spring and Fall, so you don’t want to miss one of our jam-packed 200-page issues! And if your local store doesn’t carry it, and you think they should, please tell them about us!

Now is an excellent time to order it if you would like to receive it , or subscribe if you’ve been meaning to; or renew your subscription if it has run out. And remember, BIG TAKEOVER ISSUES, BACK ISSUES, T-SHIRTS, CDS (including the brand new, limited edition SPRINGHOUSE CD album, From Now to OK), AND SUBSCRIPTIONS ALSO MAKE THE PERFECT GIFT! Especially in this time when we are all trying to economize.

If you want to subscribe or renew or give the gift that keeps on giving this holiday, just go to our secure online Yahoo store (and feel free to indicate which issue you’d like to start with (or have your friends start with), issue 63 (Death Cab For Cutie cover, the new 64 (Decemberists), or this Fall’s issue 65. It’s only $20 for four issues (save 23% off the newstand price including average sales tax), or $32 for overseas. Or, for those in the U.S. you can send us a check made out to “Big Takeover” for $20 to the following address:

The Big Takeover
1713 8th Ave. Rm. 5-2
Brooklyn, NY 11215

Or if you want to order just the upcoming issue 64, you can send us a check for $6 to that address or order online at pre-order

(As ever, there are back issues, T-shirts, and CDs available there as well if you’re interested, for you, or your friends for birthdays or holidays!)

IMPORTANT: If you are a subscriber and you need to update your address, please send updates to me at jrabid@bigtakeover.com

Here, again, is what’s in the issue, with some sample quotes this time:

Interviews (sample quotes)

Decemberists (cover): “That [‘60s British folk] generation was really into discovering the centuries-old songs that had to deal with really dark and violent themes of romantic and sentimental love. Particularly Anne Briggs, Maddy Pryor, June Tabor—an essay could be written about feminism and the British folk revival, and how a lot of the women artists were arranging songs where rape figured pretty prominently—and I don’t know why that is. I think it was an interesting way of highlighting how different the relations between the sexes were in the 16th century, the 17th century, and how violent the culture that people were living in was.”—COLIN MELOY

Darker My Love: [On being Mark E. Smith’s backing band in The Fall:] “The first thing I said to him was: ‘I’m a really big fan.’ It was the worst mistake. He said, ‘Enough with the ***-kissing! Go soundcheck!’ [laughter]—TIM PRESLEY

Death Cab For Cutie Pt. 2: “Maybe this face isn’t made for stardom. Maybe I’m just not meant to be a rock star! A face only a mother could love—and a maybe handful of others. Truth be told, we just look like four nerdy guys! It’s one of the eye-openers for us. That’s exactly how I am, and sometimes the truth stings a little bit. There’s how you think you are, and how you actually are.”—BEN GIBBARD

Of Montreal: “When I was in high school it was great to find R.E.M. and Nirvana, and people like Lou Reed and Iggy Pop who were singing about attitudes that weren’t in line with my parents or teachers; I definitely had more in common with them. That’s the great thing about music and art in general: It goes so much further than just a three-minute pop song. It’s a whole movement that you connect with.”—KEVIN BARNES

Magnetic Morning (Interpol/Swervedriver): “But we just tour obsessively. As if I don’t do it enough with Interpol, then it’s, ‘I have an idea: I’m on break… I’ll tour!’ [laughter] ‘Hey sweetheart, listen. Uh, I was thinking… I have too much time off, I think I’ll go on tour, and uh, leave you for another month.—SAM FOGARINO

Sloan Pt. 2: “When we were about to make this record [Parallel Play], I took all the artwork from all our records, and I made a little image of all our artwork together. And I had one square left with a question mark in it. I wrote this little pep talk, ‘Yeah, OK, we’re gonna do it again, guys!’ This stupid pep talk that I don’t think anyone responded to… [laughter]—CHRIS MURPHY

‘60s greats The Move: [On a famous Roundhouse, London, early 1967 gig:] “I too remember this beautifully painted big American convertible, with two buxom young ladies doing a striptease on top of it, whilst the muscular [singer] Carl [Wayne] set about the car with a huge axe, with explosions and fireworks and dry ice and smoke, whilst the band thundered through “Watch Your Step.” Bizarre and amazing.”—BEV BEVAN

Devo Pt. 2: “All those four years we were in Ohio starting [1973-1977], it was an adversarial situation for us to play onstage. There were all these pissed-off, drug-using, alcohol-swilling, ex-Vietnam-vet hippies that just wanted to go somewhere and hear people do Aerosmith covers. So instead, we’d come out and say ‘Alright here’s another song by Foghat and its called ‘Mongoloid.’‘” [laughter]—MARK MOTHERSBAUGH

The Rutles/*Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band*: “To his credit, [Neil’s friend] George [Harrison] wasn’t fooled by show business. He once said in an interview; ‘It’s all very well, wanting fame and fortune, and good luck to you if you find it. But you still have to find yourself.’ Money can’t buy anyone love, you know.”—NEIL INNES

1977 L.A. punks The Controllers: “The first time I saw Bruce Barf, the Masque [club] MC [1977], he was wrapped head to toe in electrical tape with big pieces of it sticking out, and they were on fire. And he’s just walking around like there’s nothing to it! How about The Screamers behind barbed wire? Or every Skulls gig, there was just chaos! They weren’t really shows as much as they were spectacles. They never got more than seven songs into their set before somebody picked Marc Moreland up and he lost his pants or fell down and broke his guitar. It was really, really exciting.”—KIDD SPIKE

60s legends The Sonics: “Oh, yeah. It is really weird! It’s a déjà vu thing. I’m thinking, ‘Dang, I never thought I’d be doing this again. At this age!’ And everywhere we played, from New York to England and Spain, what blew my mind is that the crowd looked about the same age as when we’d left! I couldn’t believe it.’—JERRY ROSLIE

Other Interviews
Meat Puppets • The Thermals • Bob Mould • Miranda Lee Richards • Airborne Toxic Event • Mark Olson & Gary Louris (Jayhawks) • Vic Chesnutt • Matinée Records, • Wild Swans • Comet Gain • What Records/Illoki/Wondercap’s Chris Ashford

Editorials

Rabid: Autopsy of a Recession: Big Takeover Readers Were Warned! * Ackerman: The New Cinderella (Susan Boyle) and the Love of the Underdog * Sommer: The True Path To The Outside: Sleep, Neu!, Branca, and the Pursuit of Rock ’n’ Roll Rebellion Most Pure

Live Reviews

Darker My Love * The Black Watch * Dickies * For Against * Mission of Burma * My Bloody Valentine * Mike Ness * A.C. Newman * The Pains of Being Pure at Heart/Let’s Wrestle · The Pretenders * Sleepover Disaster * The Sun and the Moon * Thee Sgt. Major III * T.S.O.L.

Hundreds of CD Reviews

Maximo Park * Blitzen Trapper * Isley Brothers * Morrissey * The Monks * Birdwatchers of America * Miles Davis * The Rifles * BB King * Camera Obscura * DJ Bonebrake Trio * The Dimes * Doves * XTC as Dukes of Stratosphere * Dipsomaniacs * Disciplines * Elba * Cheap Trick * Tommy James & the Shondells * Friends * Chip Kinman & PCH * Adam Franklin * The Hotels * Husband and Wife * Great Northern * Miles Hunt (Wonder Stuff) * Charlotte Hatherley * John Doe & the Sadies * Kingsbury Manx * Tommy Keene * Roy Harper * The Moog * John Lee Hooker * Billie Holiday * Wipers * Mott the Hoople * The Nerves * New Radiant Storm King * Penetration * Robert Pollard * Otis Redding * Pavement * School of Seven Bells * The Damned * Los Shakers * Seldon Plan * Smithereens * Snowglobe * Spores * Rhino 39/Black Randy & the Metrosquad * Robyn Hitchcock * Residents * Undertones * Gary Usher * Volcano Suns * Wheat * Neil Young * and more!

Hope you all pre-order it, or buy it when it’s out! And/or hope you subscribe, as that is still by far the best way to support the print magazines you love if you want them to keep going. It means a lot to them!

And hope you can share the gift of reading with your friends!

Cheers!
Jack R