Zigman Bird

New Zigman Bird Covers ep

Hey kids, we’re pretty pumped here at ZB Magazine!! Zigman Bird have
recorded a few cover tunes to toss out at their gigs!! ZB play their
personal classic rock favorites. Aerosmith, STP, Bowie…Come see them
live and get this CD. Recorded at Fish on Fire Studios by Tony Kroposky
it contains 5 songs that Zigman do currently in their live sets. Here is a taste off the ep.

Hang On to Yourself

Best Band of 80′s?

Time for the 80′s best band vote! Woopee! This is the second of our “Best Band by Decade” series. The 80′s was sure an interesting time in music, right? Many people seem to make fun of it and hate on it. This may have something to do with all the metal poser hair bands at the time. I happen to enjoy a few of them. But the eighties appeared to be the decade with the most varied forms of rock/popular music. You had everything from the SST punk/experimental side of Sonic Youth and Husker Du to Sub Pop’s Nirvana and Soundgarden grunge to the ethereal 4AD stable with Cocteau Twins and the Pixes to the diverse IRS with REM and Wall of Voodoo i.e. Not to mention all the hits on the radio. You had acts as diverse as Culture Club, Men at Work, Gary Numan, the Knack, the Pretenders et. Those are far more original acts than that of today at least. Nowadays, popular radio doesn’t hold a candle to the 80′s.

Best Band of 70′s

This is the first of our “Best Band by Decade” series. We’ll start with the 70′s. I don’t want to go any older and besides it’s a fact the best band of the 60′s was the Beatles. Hehe.

Malcom McLaren, Seminal Legend, Dead

You may have already heard that Malcom McLaren from Sex Pistols fame has died of cancer at age 64, since it’s been on top news for sites such as CNN and the NY Times. Many feel if it were not for McLaren, the Pistols would not have gained such notoriety. I’m sure John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, does not feel that way, judging from interviews and John’s excellent autobiography “No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs”. He spent the last few decades feuding with McLaren over copyright and royalties. But turns out they recently mended and Johnny said some nice things about Malcom after he passed: “Above all, he was an entertainer”. While the vision for the Pistols came from both these men, McLaren planted the seed of originality, anti-establishment. He cared little about how they played musically. When Lydon first tried out for the Pistols, he sang a horrifying cover of Alice Cooper’s “Eighteen”. But McLaren thought there was something unique in John that was not so much musical, but more style and approach. McLaren used the Pistols as a vehicle to carry out his artistic vision, tired of the rock dinosaurs of the day. He joined together four local musicians through his boutique clothing store, Sex, where the band frequented. He was also instrumental in the creation of the Sid Vicious persona, aka John Richie. The more outrageous, the better, seemed to be Malcom’s approach. He had a flair for the intangibles of a music act and his influence is far reaching, even today.

Remembering Suicide

Suicide has always been one of my favorites. They’re sort of a cult phenomena from the late 70′s. Just two guys, a keyboard or two, a drum machine, and some drug induced ramblings from a guy that seems possessed. I want what he’s on, lol! But its not just great for the above per se. It’s great because it’s bones bare minimalist approach and looping early industrial sounding keyboards keep you mesmerized. It’s great because singer Alan Vega conveys a person on the absolute edge of mad emotion and strange energy through his wild screams. This is stuff best played loud. Here is their classic “Ghost Rider”.

History about this classic synthpunk: Suicide Wikipedia page

Tags: Suicide, Synthpunk