A Band Reconsidered: Squirrel Nut Zippers (Trees And Things)

Tom Maxwell: Re: Guitars And Vocals

Sun, 3 Jun 2007 11:01:38 EST

"Zipperizing" was almost a sacred term for me, as it involved very little discussion but an almost telepathic communication. I usually came in with changes, melody, lyric and a head/out riff, but was always thrilled with what came out the other end o

uncarved block: Guitars And Vocals

Sat, 2 Jun 2007 20:31:16 EST

OK, so I misheard something in the music. Sometimes a mix in sound comes from compromise, and sometimes from agreement; given the tension apparent in Perennial, I couldn't be sure, not having access to any previous takes or outtakes for

Tom Maxwell: Re: Howdy, Tom

Sat, 2 Jun 2007 11:16:36 EST

It's me, swear to god.

Believe it or not, Katharine was never suppressed or minimized. I wrote "Lid" for her, even taking the piss a little with that line about "grab your drinks and clear a space"--the idea that she would tear shit up was

uncarved block: Howdy, Tom

Sat, 2 Jun 2007 09:58:55 EST

Well, if I'm getting pranked, it's better to be fooled once in a while than be so suspicious that you never have fun. C'mon, it's the Net; we have a couple jokers here, and there's not exactly any way to verify-- so I'll just trust.

Tom Maxwell: Re: A Band Reconsidered: Squirrel Nut Zippers

Fri, 1 Jun 2007 12:34:22 EST

Hey y'all.

It's me, that Tom Maxwell. Found this after some surfing, and appreciate the thoughtfulness in the writing. I'm happy to answer any questions. (After which, uncarved block, you're welcome to label me "asshol

uncarved block: Points Taken

Mon, 28 May 2007 11:46:59 EST

There's a fine line between praise and being a fanboy, and I probably cut out the part about thinking this wasn't the greatest band of all time. (One of the charming things about going through interviews for the research was hearing how many t

thefadd: Re: Thinking About Talent

Sat, 26 May 2007 18:20:21 EST

I don't know why I confused that. Maybe the pantheses confused me when I was googling specific names of examples. Substitute It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It) or (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction.

MC Nally: Re: Thinking About Talent

Sat, 26 May 2007 00:55:55 EST

But can you really say Wild Horses and Dude (Looks Like A Lady) have the same sound?

I'd say one sounds like the Rolling Stones and the other sounds like Aerosmith. Was it some sort of trick question?

thefadd: Re: Thinking About Talent

Sat, 26 May 2007 00:01:26 EST

Too much is made in the industry aspect of the music industry of "having a sound." You could level the "too much from too many different backgrounds" at the Rolling Stones except that, well, you can't really level any legitimate criticism at the Rolling St

uncarved block: Thinking About Talent

Fri, 25 May 2007 23:33:21 EST

Great. I finally get my act together to do a story, and I pick a three day weekend to get it posted ;)
In one of his books, Jung talks about the most difficult personality conflicts he'd seen being not between a virtue and a

uncarved block: On A Totally Unconnected Point

Fri, 25 May 2007 22:41:35 EST

For some strange reason, it occurred to me that the original Terminator movie would have been a lot different in the days of MySpace-- instead of just going through the phone book the Terminator could have found several images on-line,

uncarved block: The Funny Thing Is

Fri, 25 May 2007 22:18:23 EST

I can see why the group was hesitant about the whole "swing" label anyway; even besides Mathus' talk about "hot jazz", there weren't many songs on any of the albums, much less the first one, that one could really dance to. "Danny Diamon

thefadd: Re: The first internet stars

Fri, 25 May 2007 21:12:29 EST

They were the high end of a niche craze. You couldn't keep 23 year olds at swing dance clubs forever.

3fingerspointback: The first internet stars

Fri, 25 May 2007 17:41:07 EST

If SNZ formed today, they would be a blip among all the other quirky bands that are reviving swing, folk, roots, bluegrass, whatever. I don't think that's because all these groups were inspired by the Zippers, but because our Long Tail Society

thefadd: What Were Squirrel Nut Zippers?

Fri, 25 May 2007 14:25:21 EST

These were squirrel nut zippers.

Seriously, though, the band was pretty groovy back in the day. A college girlfriend new somebody who knew somebody who was in the band before they mad