4.52am Issue:054 5th October 2017 - The Breeder Issue
This week we have The Breeders, a great guitar from Duesenberg, the CC, Learn to play songs from AC/DC and the Velvet Underground, then music from Breakfast Muff and so much more...
This week we have The Breeders, a great guitar from Duesenberg, the CC, Learn to play songs from AC/DC and the Velvet Underground, then music from Breakfast Muff and so much more...
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Welcome<br />
Welcome to <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>054</strong><br />
OK, I don’t mind admitting that I was a<br />
little premature in announcing the end of<br />
the current format of <strong>4.52am</strong> last week,<br />
but there we are, it has always been wideeyed<br />
optimism that keeps this ship afloat.<br />
Instead then, we are going to give<br />
ourselves a fortnight and will be back with<br />
the new-stylee magazine on the 18 th of<br />
<strong>October</strong>, of which I hope you will approve.<br />
This week then is a bit of a scamper<br />
through the bluebells of mine mind and we<br />
lead with a wonderful new song from <strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>Breeder</strong>s and then lots of other bobbins.<br />
See you on the 18 th , but until then…enjoy!<br />
All at <strong>4.52am</strong>
We are pleased to announce that <strong>4.52am</strong> is no longer homeless and sleeping on<br />
the sofa over at Guitar Quarterly, and that you can now get your weekly dose of<br />
Vitamin452 at our new home at www.452am.co.uk.<br />
Every week you will still be able to read our mix of the coolest new music and<br />
unusual and boutique guitar bobbins, along with a few new wrinkles just to<br />
keep us all on our toes.<br />
Visit us now HERE
Contents<br />
THE BREEDERS<br />
LEARN TO PLAY: ‘I’M WAITING FOR MY MAN – VELVET UNDERGROUND<br />
LEARN TO PLAY: ‘HIGHWAY TO HELL’ – AC/DC<br />
DUESENBERG CC<br />
TAPED: WORLD PARTY ‘PRIVATE REVOLUTION’<br />
KIT WALKER<br />
BREAKFAST MUFF<br />
LA CONTESSA PRESENTS<br />
- 1960S: UNIT 4+2<br />
- 1970S: PATTI SMITH<br />
- 1980S: PREFAB SPROUT<br />
- 1990S: NEIL YOUNG<br />
- 2000S: STEREOPHONICS<br />
- 2010S: REBECCA FERGUSON
FEATURES
THE BREEDERS<br />
Wait In <strong>The</strong> Car<br />
I’ve raved a few times about just what a<br />
fantastic songwriter Kim Deal of Pixies<br />
and <strong>Breeder</strong>s fame is, and so here in the<br />
452 Shelter I have to say it got a little<br />
over excited when the news that there<br />
was a new single hitting the airwaves and<br />
err, interwebbybobbins.<br />
It is always a little worrying when a band<br />
you love does something new (as let’s<br />
face it a lot of them mess things up), but<br />
no such problem here and I am seriously<br />
looking forward to the new album and<br />
tour that are in the offing.<br />
<strong>The</strong> song, ‘Wait In <strong>The</strong> Car’ has<br />
everything you’d hope for in a <strong>Breeder</strong>s<br />
song, dirty lo-fi guitars, excellent slackercentric<br />
singing and lyrics and a wonderful<br />
sense of melody that is instantly<br />
recognisable.<br />
I’m sure we’ve said it before, but it is only<br />
when you listen to the <strong>Breeder</strong>s that you<br />
realise just what Kim brought to the<br />
Pixies and it is no surprise that luminaries<br />
such as a certain Mr Cobain of Seattle<br />
cited her influence on the band that<br />
inspired him to start Nirvana.<br />
<strong>The</strong> single will also form part of a series<br />
of 7” releases. Single One will be<br />
available at the band’s upcoming tour<br />
dates, starting <strong>October</strong> 15 (pressed on<br />
orange vinyl, featuring a cover of Amon<br />
Düül II’s 1970 track ‘Archangel’s<br />
Thunderbird’, recorded with Steve Albini<br />
in Chicago). Single<br />
Two will be available exclusively at<br />
select independent record stores from<br />
<strong>October</strong> 27 (pressed on red vinyl,<br />
featuring Kim’s dreamy reimagining of<br />
Mike Nesmith’s ‘Joanne’). Details of<br />
Single Three (featuring a cover of<br />
Devo’s ‘Gates of Steel’ and pressed on<br />
yellow vinyl) are to announced later in<br />
the year. Each version is limited to<br />
1,500 copies worldwide.<br />
<strong>The</strong> artwork and visuals for ‘Wait in the<br />
Car’ come from Chris Bigg (formerly of<br />
the v23 team<br />
who worked on the band’s previous<br />
4AD releases) and Martin Andersen,<br />
with the video piecing<br />
together 800 still images.<br />
“It all started with a brick,” the pair say.<br />
“We both liked the idea of using<br />
something iconic yet quite banal. An<br />
old brick has a story and it’s a beautiful<br />
raw object. We started collecting more<br />
and more (some intact, some broken)<br />
and realised how different they all<br />
appear, each one having its own<br />
identity.”<br />
Find out more,<br />
Web Site<br />
Twitter<br />
Instagram Facebook
LEARN TO PLAY<br />
Velvet Underground ‘I’m Waiting For <strong>The</strong> Man’<br />
I’m not sure whether there has ever been<br />
a better song than the Velvet<br />
Underground’s seminal ‘I'm Waiting For<br />
<strong>The</strong> Man’ and to be totally honest, I don’t<br />
care if there has as I am more than happy<br />
to be able to listen to this. And if that is<br />
settling, so what.<br />
Needless to say, it isn’t the hardest to<br />
play but yet is well worth your time and<br />
we thought it was a decent excuse to<br />
include a few of the band’s songs even<br />
if you don’t need the lesson.
LEARN TO PLAY<br />
AC/DC ‘Highway To Hell’<br />
I think this song more than any other was<br />
the reason I wanted to play guitar, and<br />
although it was years after I first heard it<br />
that I finally ordered myself an Epiphone<br />
SG – in cherry with a bolt-on neck – from<br />
my Mom’s catalogue, it arriving is still a<br />
moment I can’t forget. Not least because<br />
I was gutted, I wanted one of those big<br />
SGs Angus played and against my sixfoot<br />
frame, the Epiphone one was<br />
definitely the smaller version.<br />
Regardless of that, I still love the song<br />
and as it is kinda easy think that<br />
everybody should have it available for<br />
when the chance to duck walk or<br />
headbang arrives.
DUESENBERG<br />
CC<br />
I’ve been wanting to treat myself to a<br />
nice semi-acoustic for ages now and have<br />
been constantly dithering between those<br />
that Gretsch have on offer and then the<br />
more Gibson-like offerings from<br />
Epiphone.<br />
I don’t want to spend a shedload of<br />
money as basically I’m always going to<br />
spend more time playing my Jazzmasters,<br />
but it is proving a pain to nail down. In<br />
truth, I love Eddie Cochran’s sound, but I<br />
also want something that is a little more<br />
flexible, and dare I say it, ‘blingy’.<br />
All of which, after months of this inertia,<br />
I decided to try a couple from the left of<br />
the field, with the Duesenberg CC<br />
catching my eye.<br />
For a start, I just love the look of them<br />
and shallow that I am, that does play a<br />
big part in all of this.<br />
I also have used a Duessy tremolo on a<br />
couple of builds and put one on an LTD<br />
Gold Top and they are beautifully<br />
engineered ‘bits of kit’, if we’re getting all<br />
Top Gear about it.<br />
<strong>The</strong> CC then seems to tick a lot of boxes,<br />
I love the looks especially the orange<br />
trans amber whatever the colour is<br />
called, although the black too looks<br />
mighty fine.<br />
Borrowing one from a friend for a few<br />
days, I loved the playability of it right<br />
from the off. Duesenberg have nailed<br />
that old looks/modern playability ratio<br />
and it is a perfect feeling guitar.<br />
Needless to say the equipment –<br />
tremolo, tuners and the rest are as<br />
stable as an old Gretsch isn’t and if I<br />
was doing three hour rockabilly sets<br />
this would definitely be the one for me.<br />
As for the pickups (which being a total<br />
snob I wasn’t expecting much from)<br />
these really are good.<br />
<strong>The</strong> humbucker at the bridge is tasteful<br />
and you could see Ronnie Wood<br />
playing this for the rest of his life with<br />
a smile on his face, but it is the P90 at<br />
the neck that really made me think.<br />
OK a humbuckerish sized pickup would<br />
have to defy physics to really get the<br />
tone 100% right, this is as close as I<br />
have ever heard to that sex-in-yourface<br />
growl of a gorgeous P90. This has<br />
Eddie Cochran on tap, but then<br />
everything from Jazz to Billy Duffy<br />
leads are available as well.<br />
This is a stunning guitar, beautifully<br />
made and hot-rodded as standard.<br />
I think I may have started a Christmas<br />
list.<br />
Find out more Here
TAPED<br />
World Party ‘Private Revolution’<br />
Talking about the Waterboys the other<br />
week, it is easy to forget that one of the<br />
greatest achievements of the band is the<br />
way in which Mike Scott has consistently<br />
managed to work with a procession of<br />
fantastically talented musicians. If the<br />
‘Big Music’ period is something we look<br />
back on as perhaps the most original<br />
period, it was during Karl Wallinger’s<br />
tenure in the group that is probably seen<br />
as the best of the lot. Wallinger left of<br />
course as Scott moved to Ireland and<br />
reshaped his world, but quickly proved<br />
himself to be more than capable of<br />
writing songs that at least equalled those<br />
of Scott, with ‘Private Revolution’ being<br />
his debut album under the ‘World Party’<br />
moniker.<br />
And what an album it was. <strong>The</strong> lead<br />
single was ‘Private Revolution’ itself,<br />
which with its Beatles/folk influences<br />
defined the scope of the album. Truly the<br />
finest song John Lennon never wrote<br />
post-Beatles, it was and is a masterclass<br />
in straight forward song-writing that is<br />
impossibly difficult to do, although when<br />
people like Karl do it, it of course looks<br />
easy.<br />
It was the second single from the album,<br />
‘Ship of Fools’ that really set a new<br />
standard though and even now looking<br />
back I can’t see just how it didn’t reach<br />
the uppermost of the charts or more<br />
importantly, wider critical coverage.<br />
I remember seeing World Party at an<br />
unlikely glitterball of a club in<br />
Birmingham supporting the first album,<br />
and it remains one of the most<br />
impressive gigs of my life for many<br />
reasons. And yes, looking back I<br />
appreciate that World Party will no<br />
doubt be best remembered for writing<br />
‘She’s the One’ which Robbie Williams<br />
murdered, and for giving Guy<br />
Chambers a job in his pre-Lemon Trees<br />
days, ‘Private Revolution’ and ‘Goodbye<br />
Jumbo’ which followed soon afterwards<br />
are probably two of the best kept<br />
secrets album-wise of the last forty<br />
years.<br />
Do the Mind Guerrilla, Baby.
KIT WALKER<br />
Kit Walker Save the World<br />
TIGERCUB<br />
If an ‘80s-tastic mix of the best of Quincy<br />
Jones, Don Henley and Peter Gabriel has<br />
you salivating in your snow-wash jeans<br />
whilst trimming you mullet, the new<br />
single from Kit Walker is absolutely up<br />
your street. This is a complete feel good<br />
and if I wasn’t just the wrong side of<br />
Spandex, I would probably be doing that<br />
Tiffany dance, or something.<br />
Better still, to promote the song, they<br />
have released the first part of a genuine<br />
8-bit computer game, which sees you<br />
defeating “Slime On Cowell” and his<br />
putrid posse: Mylie Virus, Ronald Dump,<br />
Justin Creeper, Jeremy Vile and Kanye<br />
West in order to rid the world of the bad<br />
taste virus!<br />
It is cheesy, but can still steal an hour or<br />
three from you (Play it HERE – more<br />
levels are released with subsequent<br />
songs).<br />
<strong>The</strong> band themselves though, are not<br />
some tribute act, with the single being<br />
recorded next door to Harry Rednapp in<br />
Sandbanks as the band explain,<br />
"Mr Wright was one of the first tracks we<br />
wrote. In order to find Kit Walker's sound<br />
we all took a week out and stayed in the<br />
most incredible house in Sandbanks (next<br />
door to Harry Redknapp). Think MTV<br />
cribs and picture incredible sunsets,<br />
seagulls, yatchs, a mountain of LPs and<br />
a plethora of whiskey.<br />
To get the ball rolling we individually<br />
brought with us a stack of our favourite<br />
albums. Before putting pen to paper we<br />
broke out the record player, sunk a<br />
gallon of beers, smoked cigars and<br />
talked about our favourite artists. We<br />
were essentially wiping the slate clean<br />
as we'd been playing in bands for<br />
years. This was a real screening<br />
process to find what music we all<br />
equally loved and it became clear that<br />
our passion for the 80s was<br />
undeniable. We picked our favourite<br />
artists (e.g., Peter Gabriel, Michael<br />
Jackson, Phil Collins) and got to work.<br />
Mr Wright is a song written to "the next<br />
guy". When you've left someone you<br />
love, this is the advice you pass onto<br />
the next person in order for them to<br />
know her little idiosyncrasies and how<br />
lucky they are to have her. Mr Wright<br />
is essentially a play on Mr Right".<br />
Find out more,<br />
Facebook Instagram Twitter
BREAKFAST MUFF<br />
Eurgh! – Tour Dates<br />
Over the last couple of months, Breakfast<br />
Muff’s super-fine album, ‘Eurgh!’ has<br />
been on constant rotation around here,<br />
with its mix of lo-fi gorgeousness and<br />
surprisingly intimate and fragile<br />
songwriting, generally exploding into my<br />
face just after I have dropped the kids at<br />
school. Yes, it is that Rock ‘n’ Roll here,<br />
telling you.<br />
Needless to say, you need to own this<br />
album. It isn’t just 45 minutes of filler or<br />
even just brilliant, it is without a doubt<br />
one of the best three or four albums<br />
we’ve heard this year. (<strong>The</strong>re may be a<br />
sneaky clue for our end of year awards<br />
there, in case you were planning to put a<br />
couple of quid on U2 again.)<br />
Anyway, buy the album, that is a given,<br />
but luckily you can then see them play it<br />
live and loud at a venue near you as they<br />
are off on their holibobs and touring the<br />
UK.<br />
Seriously, Breakfast Muff should be<br />
winning Mercury Awards but in truth they<br />
probably won’t as they are just too<br />
fucking good.<br />
7 <strong>October</strong> - NL - Leeuwarden, Mokkes<br />
8 <strong>October</strong> - FR - Paris, Le Motel<br />
9 <strong>October</strong> - UK - Bristol, <strong>The</strong> Old<br />
England<br />
15 <strong>October</strong> - UK - Leeds, Temple of<br />
Boom<br />
16 <strong>October</strong> - UK - Brighton, <strong>The</strong><br />
Pipeline<br />
17 <strong>October</strong> - UK - London, DIY Space<br />
18 <strong>October</strong> - UK - Sunderland, Pop<br />
Recs Ltd<br />
7" Babyboomers/R U A Feminist is out<br />
now HERE<br />
Eurgh! is out now HERE<br />
Tour Dates:<br />
4 <strong>October</strong> - UK - Margate, Tom Thumb<br />
<strong>The</strong>atre<br />
5 <strong>October</strong> - BE - Ghent, AFSNIS<br />
6 <strong>October</strong> - NL - Rotterdam, Roodkapje
LA CONTESSA PRESENTS…<br />
Songs of the Amber Lamber<br />
Well, here we go again on the La<br />
Contessa Express. Shooting up the M4<br />
and then across the countryside into<br />
Oxfordshire to deliver a locomotive-load<br />
of joyous tidings along with some of the<br />
toppermost of the poppermost tunes,<br />
direct from the pen of her ladyship<br />
herself.<br />
This week we again take a frolic through<br />
the undergrowth of La Contessa’s musical<br />
past and she chooses some special tunes<br />
which you may or may not know, but we<br />
have no doubt will be annoying the hell<br />
out of you for at least the next week as<br />
they burrow into your brain and take firm<br />
root.<br />
Like bindweed but with a little more<br />
panache, a modicum of Chanel-like style.<br />
Enjoy!<br />
This week’s runners and riders are:<br />
1960s: Unit 4+2<br />
‘Concrete & Clay’<br />
1970s: Patti Smith<br />
‘Because <strong>The</strong> Night’<br />
1980s: Prefab Sprout<br />
‘When Love Breaks Down’<br />
1990s: Neil Young<br />
‘Harvest Moon’<br />
2000s: Stereophonics<br />
‘Maybe Tomorrow’<br />
2010: Rebecca Ferguson<br />
‘Nothing’s Real But Love.’