J Roddy Walston and the Business

[Ruckus]

Alright guys...here it is.  Awesome little vid of them and I spy myself rockin' and singing Panama!   ;D ;D ;D :embarassed: :embarassed: :embarassed:

J Roddy EPK

[jones]

My wife is always afraid that he is going to hit his head on the piano.  I won't show her that first clip...

Damn Ruckus! It looks like you were in the zone. "SECURITY!!!!!!"

[el_chode]

Alright guys...here it is.  Awesome little vid of them and I spy myself rockin' and singing Panama!   ;D ;D ;D :embarassed: :embarassed: :embarassed:

J Roddy EPK

You sir, are IMMORTAL

[BH]

Gold I tell ya!  Gold!

[Ruckus]

That EPK is sweet!

Flyguy, I'd like to think I'm always in the zone.  That was following a full day of tailgating for the Man City/Inter Milan match.

See Choder.  If you had just forgotten about the MPRE and being a good husband to be for a weekend, you would have been up there with me.

For the record, he pulled me onstage.  I didn't jump up there and grab the mic. ;D

[el_chode]

I had another opportunity to see them on Friday with DBT at 9:30 club.

Once I"m done with all this BS, I have a lot of partying to make up

[Ruckus]

I didn't want the NYE article to be lost in the Sun archives so here it is.  It kinda talks about the recording process hinted at in the EPK and damn it, that's what I love about it.  S/T sounds so good, it's like a well polished live recording..but better.

Baltimore Sun Article

When it was time to record their second album, J. Roddy Walston and the Business flew west.

The four rock 'n' rollers left the Baltimore basement where they had cut their first album on a $600 home digital recorder and went to Sound City Studios in Los Angeles.

Walston said the upgraded digs were meant to polish their homespun sound for what was to be their record label debut. But in explaining the band's choice to record there, he also noted it was where Nirvana and Weezer had recorded their seminal "Nevermind" and "Pinkerton" albums. If he was hoping the studio would extend its magic touch to his album too, he succeeded.

After six years together, the Business has had a remarkable 2010. While it took the group nearly three years to sell 6,000 copies of its first album, the self-released "Hail Mega Boys," they've sold more than 4,000 copies of their new one since its release in February, according to Nielsen Soundscan.

The group has always toured extensively, but the success of the new album took them to more than 180 venues this year. Many were much larger than the small clubs where the band got its start, like Baltimore's Talking Head.

On Friday, the band will headline Rams Head Live's New Year's Eve party, where local rapper Mickey Free will also perform.

In the past, Walston would have had to balance touring with a day job. But in a small measure of success, that's not the case anymore. There isn't even time for a side gig.

"I've been gone with the band for the past year," he said. "You go out, and then you come back for a week or so. I haven't stopped in Baltimore enough to get a job."

Born in Walston's native Cleveland, Tenn., and refashioned in Baltimore in 2004 with regional musicians — Billy Gordon on guitar, Steve Colmus on drums and (later) Logan Davis on bass — the band's DNA has always been the same: old-fashioned rock 'n' roll.

Critics, sounding more like movie producers, routinely refer to the group's sound as a mixture of rock standard-bearers: Jerry Lee Lewis meets AC/DC, AC/DC meets Lynyrd Skynyrd, and so on.

Listen to "Don't Break the Needle," a song off the album that the group typically starts shows with, and you'll see why the comparisons exist. Walston kicks it off with a snappy boogie piano before breaking into the kind of wails Lewis was famous for.

The band makes no apologies for sounding like these guys, and in fact it invites the comparisons. It still travels by van, in a Ford Econoline that might be from 1997 but smells decades older. Walston, with his long, unruly hair and beard, looks like a Lynyrd Skynyrd groupie.

And, bucking the norm, the band recorded the new album on tape rather than digitally.

Though recording on tape is more expensive — it had to record this album in nine days for financial reasons — Walston credits it with the album's success. He said music fans like himself have gotten tired of all the wizardry used now to mask shlocky singing.

"New records sound lifeless," he said. "Everyone corrects defects. It's like magazine airbrushing."

Recording on tape is something of a badge of honor, a way to distinguish the band from all the others that sound too processed, too digitized, too neat.

"We decided to do a record that sounded like a group of guys in a room playing their instruments," blemishes and all, Walston said. For him, this authenticity has resonated with buyers.

Though the band says the album's sparse feel previews its live show, it's unlikely it'll even come close. That's for a couple of reasons. For one, the members like to play off the cuff — they never have a set list.

"We like to read the crowd," Walston said. "Instead of saying, 'You're getting what we want, no matter what,' it's more of an interaction."

But it's also because the Business has become well known for high-energy dance shows.

"We like to get the blood flowing," Walston said.

Sounds tailor-made for an end-of-the-decade party.

[el_chode]

As per my connected friend, RE: Commercial:

hhahaha, it's not even a real commercial, it's a spec commercial some 18 yr old kid made in the hopes of getting tridents attention...this is happening more and more and more agencies are encouraging it off record...this happend to me also over the summer with this "walk the usa" vid that was intended for levis, it features edward sharpe's home

I asked him if Roddy got paid in gum for that

[Ruckus]

As per my connected friend, RE: Commercial:

hhahaha, it's not even a real commercial, it's a spec commercial some 18 yr old kid made in the hopes of getting tridents attention...this is happening more and more and more agencies are encouraging it off record...this happend to me also over the summer with this "walk the usa" vid that was intended for levis, it features edward sharpe's home

I asked him if Roddy got paid in gum for that

Ahh, that make sense.  It seemed a little rough around the edges but I thought it was a good use of the song.

I love being able to just post these vimeo urls easily now.

If you guys haven't seen these yet, I highly recommend them in the sequence they are posted.  I had seen this Don't Break the Needle video before but not the making of bit.  It's a pretty damn good laugh. ;D ;D  Shenanigans

The Making of Don't Break the Needle  ;D - The write up below the vid is a trip
J Roddy Walston and The Business - The Making-of "Don't Break The Needle"

The Final Video
J-Roddy Walston and the Business - "Don't Break The Needle"

[jones]

I think that I will be able to make the Newport, KY show next month!  My wife will get to worry about whether or not he is going to hit his head on the piano for 2 whole hours... 

Should be fun!

[EasyRyder]

"Is this going to diminish our credibility?"  ;D

[Ruckus]

"Is this going to diminish our credibility?"  ;D

;D A good bit of that video has me squirming uncomfortably and cracking up at the same time

[Ruckus]

Saw them open for DBT last night at the 930 Club.  It was the 2nd of b2b nights there with DBT and I didn't go to the Friday one so I have no idea what they played.  That said, we got an interesting setlist on Saturday for an opening set probably because it was the 2nd of the b2b.  We got Full Growing Man, Brave Man's Death, Uh Oh Rock & Roll, Caroline, I Used to Did but also Little Richard's Lucille and The Times are a Staying! 

They sounded good as well.

[EasyRyder]

Saw them open for DBT last night at the 930 Club.  It was the 2nd of b2b nights there with DBT and I didn't go to the Friday one so I have no idea what they played.  That said, we got an interesting setlist on Saturday for an opening set probably because it was the 2nd of the b2b.  We got Full Growing Man, Brave Man's Death, Uh Oh Rock & Roll, Caroline, I Used to Did but also Little Richard's Lucille and The Times are a Staying! 

They sounded good as well.

Lucille and The Times They are a Staying!! Sweeeet, Ruckus. I'm glad/mortally jealous that you got to attend such awesomeness  :(

How long was their set? How'd it compare to other times you saw them? I'm thinking about making a trip to Hotlanta to see 'em in March despite the devastating repercussions that will threaten my GPA...

[Ruckus]

Saw them open for DBT last night at the 930 Club.  It was the 2nd of b2b nights there with DBT and I didn't go to the Friday one so I have no idea what they played.  That said, we got an interesting setlist on Saturday for an opening set probably because it was the 2nd of the b2b.  We got Full Growing Man, Brave Man's Death, Uh Oh Rock & Roll, Caroline, I Used to Did but also Little Richard's Lucille and The Times are a Staying! 

They sounded good as well.

Lucille and The Times They are a Staying!! Sweeeet, Ruckus. I'm glad/mortally jealous that you got to attend such awesomeness  :(

How long was their set? How'd it compare to other times you saw them? I'm thinking about making a trip to Hotlanta to see 'em in March despite the devastating repercussions that will threaten my GPA...

They played for around 45 minutes I guess.  My memory is very hazy from last night.  I've always felt that they don't make for a great opening act in the sense that they are  energy overload before the main act.  It's tough to compare a short opening set with say their CD release show at Ottobar or New Years because those were rock n' roll monsters.  The only other time that I saw them open was last year for Shooter Jennings.  That was fantastic because it was at my favorite venue ever, the 8x10 club.  Either way, I'm happy for them for the success they are now enjoying and being able to play in front of back to back sold out crowds at the 930 club.

As for Lucille, it's a regular of theirs but I was just surprised to hear it on an opening setlist I guess.

If you're young enough to be in school, you're young enough to go see 'em in Hotlanta!  It's pretty rock n' roll to drive overnight after a show to bomb a midterm hungover.

[jones]

J Roddy Walston and The Business - Times Are Staying [Live]

[subinai]

i love these guys. biased that they are from MD but still. awesome albums and even monster live show. and William Elliott Whitmore covers them


William Elliott Whitmore - Sally Bangs

[jones]

The diaper:

Automobiles: Band in the Van - nytimes.com/video

[subinai]

they're doing a residency at brooklyn bowl in may. every monday.

[Honest Man]

they're doing a residency at brooklyn bowl in may. every monday.

NICE!