Elegant Trash was formed in 2003 by Lee Austin Hoffman on Vocals and Rhythm Guitar, Trez Howell on Lead Guitar, and Mike Perez on Drums while living in Atlanta, Georgia. For the first 8 years, they performed live and recorded 23 EPs together. In 2011, Lee moved to Berkeley, California where he played with many different band members and recorded an additional 16 albums while keeping the same band name. Elegant Trash’s musical style is eclectic and evolves with each new band member’s influence. The current line up consists of Lee Austin Hoffman on Lead Vocals, Nathalie Hoffman on Back Up Vocals and Accordion, Jesse C. Dienner on Guitar and Vocals, Craig Campbell on Bass, and Mark Pena on Drums and vocals. Before the pandemic, Elegant Trash played at over 40 venues throughout the SF Bay Area, and was the resident band at the Stork Club in Oakland, California where they headlined shows every first and third Friday of the month. Now Elegant Trash hosts at The Ivy Room every first Wednesday of Every Month and also hosts outdoor shows the first and third Saturday of every month along with other bands as part of Bang the Bay’s Solar Van Saturdays live music series. And Their music is available online on reverbnation, bandcamp, applemusic, spotify, pandora, soundcloud, and youtube. “Rocking Faces” is not just the name of one of their albums, it’s a way of life.
Zum 25th Anniversary at Thee Stork Club
On Saturday, December 2nd, KALX and Talent Moat are pleased to present the 25th anniversary party of the record label Zum at Thee Stork Club in Oakland. Started as a fanzine in the mid-’90s by siblings George (of Common Eider, King Eider, KIT) and Yvonne Chen (of Xiu Xiu), Zum became a label in 1998 and released a long list of underground and established indie rock artists.
Appearing on the 2nd will be Growing, My Heart an Inverted Flame, Marshall Trammell & Paul Costuros Duo, Somnambulists, and visuals by Melanie Marie.
To mark this anniversary, the latest Zum Audio Vol. 5 compilation was released in a double-CD format as well as on digital. It sets out to survey present-day experimental electronics, drone, hardcore, and mutant pop.
Thee Stork Club is at 2330 Telegraph Avenue in Oakland.
21+ and wheelchair accessible.
Doors: 5pm
Show: 6pm
Interview with Tommy Stinson
Jack The Stripper recently ventured outside the walls of KALX to catch none other than Tommy Stinson for a chat before he played a free concert in Downtown Berkeley. Tune in on Monday, November 20th @ 7pm to hear the interview.
In plain words, Tommy Stinson is a great American musician. You can needle-drop at any juncture of the Minneapolis native’s four-decade-plus career and find a moment of great significance. Stinson was a founding and lifetime member of The Replacements. He was a key second-generation ingredient in Guns N’ Roses and served a seven-year tenure with Soul Asylum. He also led two essential bands of his own — the aptly named Bash & Pop and Perfect — appeared on recordings by the Old 97’s, MOTH and BT and played bass on the Rock Remix of Puff Daddy’s “It’s All About the Benjamins.”
Stinson’s latest venture is called Cowboys in the Campfire — a duo with good pal Chip Roberts — and its debut album, WRONGER, is perhaps the most American album the singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer has ever made. For the live shows, they’re joined on upright bass by the amazing Chops LaConte and the trio have been on the road these past few months, continuing through this year.
The goal now is for Stinson, Roberts and LaConte to keep Cowboys in the Campfire on the road and playing as much as possible. Stinson still has other endeavors in mind, but the duo is undeniably an active concern and one he’s confident we’ll be hearing from on a regular basis.
“Chip and I are going to make a real run for it with this record,” Stinson says. “And I’m feeling like I’m probably about to head back to the studio. I’ve got some ideas; they’re just in my head at the moment and in my fingers. I don’t know what they’ll be yet, but I’m in a place now where I can do that and make music on my own terms. It’s a nice place to be.”
Interview with Ratboys
Chicago based indie-rock band, Ratboys, recently played Cafe du Nord in SF and Gloop was there to get the scoop on the group’s latest album and current U.S. // European tour. Tune in on Monday, November 27th @ 8:30pm to hear their conversation.
Ratboys have been recording and releasing music for over a decade, but their newest album, The Window (Topshelf Records), marks a number of firsts for the band. For starters, it was the first time they’d ever traveled outside their home base of Chicago to record an album, journeying to Seattle to work with producer Chris Walla for three weeks. It was also the first time they’d ever written an album collaboratively from start to finish, having added full-time members Sean Neumann on bass and Marcus Nuccio on drums in recent years. The new approaches to writing and recording are immediately apparent on The Window, which showcases the fullest, most expansive version of Ratboys’ sound.
After more than ten years and four studio albums together, The Window finally captures Ratboys as they were always meant to be heard—expansive while still intimate, audacious while still tender. But most importantly, The Window is the sound of friends operating as a single, cohesive unit. “My dream ever since I started writing songs was to be in a band—a proper band with a consistent lineup,” says frontwoman Julia Steiner. “To finally have the chance to play with dear friends who are fully committed, it was all I could ever ask for.”
Interview with Mary Lattimore
On Tuesday, November 28th @ 8:30pm, Vernal Pools airs a recent interview with L.A. based harpist and composer, Mary Lattimore.
Through evocative, emotionally resonant music, Goodbye, Hotel Arkada, the new LP from Mary Lattimore, speaks not just for its beloved namesake — a hotel in Croatia facing renovation — but for a universal loss that is shared.
Six sprawling pieces shaped by change; nothing will ever be the same, and here, the artist, evolving in synthesis, celebrates and mourns the tragedy and beauty of the ephemeral, all that is lived and lost to time. Documented and edited in uncharacteristically measured sessions over the course of two years, the material remains rooted in improvisation while glistening as the most refined and robust in Lattimore’s decade-long catalog.
The new album finds her communing with friends, contemporaries, and longtime influences, in full stride yet slowing down to nurture songs in new ways. The cast includes Lol Tolhurst (The Cure), Meg Baird, Rachel Goswell (Slowdive), Roy Montgomery, Samara Lubelski, and Walt McClements.
Interview with James Spooner and Chris L. Terry
Tune in on Friday 11/17 from 1:30-3pm as Tiger Lily chats with James Spooner and Chris L. Terry, the co-editors of Black Punk Now, an anthology of contemporary nonfiction, fiction, illustrations, and comics that collectively describe punk today and give punks—especially the Black ones—a wider frame of reference. Spooner and Terry will also share some songs that made an impact on their lives.
James Spooner is an award-winning graphic novelist, filmmaker, and tattoo artist. His debut graphic novel, The High Desert, was named “Best of 2022” by Publishers Weekly, the Washington Post, and the New York Public Library. Spooner directed the seminal documentary Afro-Punk and co-founded the AfroPunk Festival, which currently boasts audiences in the hundreds of thousands around the world. He is also a regular contributor to Razorcake magazine.
Chris L. Terry is the author of the novels Black Card and Zero Fade. Terry was born in 1979 to a Black father and white mother, spent his teens and early twenties touring in punk bands, and now teaches creative writing in Los Angeles.
