CD: Young Spillers
ARTIST: J Marinelli

There’s something to be said about our own excitement about hearing J Marinelli slightly revamp and re-rock songs he’s already released. Heck, some of our favorite records from the past four or five years are his Stone Age Kicks cover series.

But for fans of the Morgantown native/icon and now Lexington resident’s angry one-man band, even 2010’s Pre-Emptive Skankery Sessions, Marinelli’s most recent 14-song full-length, with some previously released songs remade in salty, surly, or even somber fashion, maybe it’s not so much bittersweet, as it is just not surprising, and just not long enough!

We still love each and every song Marinelli, a veteran of Morgantown bands like The D’arbys, Braille Drivers and Swiss Army Tractor, now playing in Lexington’s Arcane Rifles, has ever released, though.

Marinelli returns in 2012 with his limited (now sold out) three-song, vinyl Young Spillers EP, (Stencil Trash) a release that, at barely five minutes worth of maximum-stomp-and-swing running time, with songs that Marinelli fans young and old will recognize, half serves as a tease, but just as much, reminds you why you love this distinctly Appalachian folk/punk rock rebel.

“Doves and Vultures” and “You Are Dismissed,” both off what we consider to be the definitive and most awesome Marinelli release, 2007’s Keep It Fake, revisit and remind listeners of Marinelli’s righteous indignation at two-faced scenesters and his own determination to “keep Morgantown weird,” even now in his absence, serving as the punk rock consciousness of a scene that he isn’t a part of anymore, one that he embodies with his own DIY ethos and by example.

One of the neat things about following Marinelli since his 2006 debut EP Pity The Party is, not only his own affections for re-recording his songs, but it’s noticing an increasing (?) trend for Marinelli stripping down his own angry one-man band persona and sound. Maybe this was first heard on Stone Age Kicks 2, as Marinelli picked up a banjo and delivered soft, touching renditions of “Head On” and “Wave of Mutilation.” The standout acoustic/harmonica version of “Pomade Years” on PSS is maybe another example of this.

We say all this because when you hear “20 Class A Cigarette Burns,” on the Young Spillers EP, if it sounds exactly like some old acoustic demo might, it’s because this just might be an original demo for the Braille Drivers’ 2001 release White Dwarfs and Red Giants. Great to see Marinelli pulling from that catalog.

Not surprising: that we’d go on for so long about a three-song release.

Also no surprise: we get so much from a dude sitting behind a very minimalist drum kit (kick/snare/hi-hat) with his caveman guitar, banjo, kazoo or harmonica, takin’ it to the shit talkers and solo schlock rockers, keeping his own distinct version of Appalachian folk and punk rock very much dangerous, and anything but fake.

— Young Spillers is available for free download at the J Marinelli bandcamp page

<p><p><p><p><p><a href=”http://jmarinelli.bandcamp.com/album/young-spillers-ep”>Young Spillers EP by J. Marinelli</a></p></p></p></p></p>

Originally from our friends at WV Rock Scene – wvrockscene.blogspot.com

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Seems like a year has gone by since we were introduced to Sundown. Turns out it’s only been like eight months or so since Kanawha Valley native and Sundown guitarist Dustin Travis White reached out to us from their home in Columbus, and turned us onto their debut EP “Mansion Burning,” and ever since, we’ve become huge fans of what TK Webb and crew are doing. Even snagged a Sundown flyer from Budget Tapes to hang here in the WVRockscene home office.

So it was with much excitement we noticed that Sundown recently debuted their video for “Sleepy Song,” off “Mansion Burning.” Done in complete VHS fashion and edited by White, we thought it would be cool to catch up with White (again, we talked for the Gazette late last year) to get more on the making of the video…

WVRockscene: Where/when was the footage for “Sleepy Song” taken?
Dustin White: In the middle of last November we went to Shepherdstown, Philly, and then two shows in Brooklyn with The Demon Beat. We collected it mostly in Brooklyn at Public Assembly and some at Union pool and obviously the road to and from.

—–
rockscene: Was that you filming the TV? that was a neat look…
White: I shot the footage on this JVC video camera from 1982 (image here). It’s a separate camera and VCR unit. Then I played it back on my trusty 1980 JC Penny’s TV and shot that with a digital camera. I originally bought the camera to document two months on the road in Europe with Times New Viking, BUT the battery that came with it wouldn’t hold a charge and I couldn’t track down a battery before we left. I found the camera and VCR on Craigslist and had to drive into the middle of nowhere Ohio to purchase it. I finally found a replacement battery and got it shipped to The Demon Beat guys’ place. I now have a second camera I picked up at a thrift store.

—–
rockscene: What kind of camera were you using? how did you get that VHS look?
White: I got that VHS look by using trust old VHS-C. I’m not a fan of faking things or emulating things if i don’t have to. I’m sure there are ways to make it look that in post-production, etc., but that makes no sense to me when the real way exists and is cheap and fun. The camera traces light in really weird ways that make it really fun to experiment with. if you Google ‘Saticon’ or look up videos made with a ‘Saticon’ camera on YouTube you will see all the weird imperfections the camera causes. I just thought this visual aesthetic would work very well with what we are doing musically — especially for that song in specific, the slow moving and hazy nature of the song.

—–
rockscene: It’s definitely a tough lifestyle going out on tour for extended periods, does putting this video together feed back into the dedication and energy you guys have for the band? regardless this does document you guys being out on the road…
White: My point was more to show how simultaneously romantic and completely un-romantic being on tour is. The open road is beautiful, but you don’t get to enjoy it. It just passes by your window. Then your moving a bunch of half working antiquated electronic devices out of your van and into an empty dark room and praying people show up. I love being on tour. It’s why I have done this fairly constantly since I was about 18, but there is so much down time. So much waiting. So much just sitting. That’s the part people forget about. I kind of wanted to show that and thought that was the perfect song to do it with.

—–
rockscene: What is it about tour videos that have forever seemed to be so cool? Maybe the thought that you get to be on the road with your favorite band…
White: I’m presently living in VHS only 2012 and have been picking up a lot of older tour/concert VHS tapes but there is some weird mystique to them. If you have never seen it there is this Pantera video — i think from the Vulgar Display of Power tour — that is maybe the most amazing video like that ever. It’s basically Pantera doing “Jackass” before there was Jackass. Betting their friends to do stupid shit and just generally fucking around. It’s mind blowing. We used to watch it all the time. Seriously this video should be given the criterion treatment. The Cure ‘In Orange’ is one we have been watching lately a lot, but that’s just a concert film and no real road footage. There just is this mystique in popular culture of ‘the road’ as this intangible object. This concept, people latch onto it. It’s very much part of America. So when you combine that with the tradition of the troubadour it takes on even more mystique. It’s this never ending snowball of cultural currency.

—–
rockscene: anything big or something you guys might be looking forward to in 2012? shows, fests, recording?
White: Recording. We are about to start recording our first proper full-length at the end of next month. We have most of the songs for it already but are spending this month writing and working on getting everything together so that we can make this record. I think it’s a major step forward to us. I mean ‘Mansion Burning’ was just intended to be a demo, but obviously it took off in a way we didn’t expect at all. Lyrically the record has this Afghan Whigs by way of Rumours vibe and then musically we are really trying some different things. There are some songs that are more direct and some that are even more gazey and covered in syrup. No idea who is going to put out the record yet, but we are going to record it with Adam at CDR here in Columbus just like we did the last one.

— Sundown is tentatively scheduled to return to West Virginia May 16 for a show at the Glass, and in June for a show in Huntington at the V Club

Related: Five questions with Dustin White of Sundown (Charleston Gazette Sept. 2011)

<p><p><p><a href=”http://thisissundown.bandcamp.com/album/mansion-burning”>MANSION BURNING! by sundown</a></p></p></p>

Originally from our friends at WV Rock Scene – wvrockscene.blogspot.com

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