the jam, the river, dam
How did I get this far in life without realizing how pivotal The Jam were? Billy Bragg, The Buzzcocks, Gang of Four, Elvis Costello, The Ramones, The Clash, and the list goes on all the way to the Libertines - they all owe a massive debt to The Jam.
I did not know this until yesterday, when a friend convinced me to come see From The Jam, which is two-thirds of The Jam but missing guitarist/singer/principal songwriter Paul Weller. It wasn't an easy sell, but I'm glad I decided to go. Not just because it introduced me to the rich discography of The Jam, which I'll be listening to a lot in the foreseeable future, but also because it was a surprisingly vital enterprise, despite the easy cynical response one might have to a band touring without their lead member. For those unconvinced, check out this video of From The Jam playing "Eton Rifles", and contrast to this vintage video of The Jam.
(Incidentally, people who disable embedding of YouTube videos annoy me greatly.)
The other touring show I saw this week was Okkervil River. I almost didn't go, as I haven't fallen in love with their recorded output, but after last minute cajoling and stumbling upon the guest list I wound up there, and was very grateful. Okkervil River is a band whose live show vastly improves upon their recorded output, and I wound up pogoing up a storm to their surprisingly energetic performance. Well recommended if you get a chance.
Mostly, though, I've started my latest editing job, which is a music/travel show that I may have described before - in each episode, the host takes songs by NZ artists to a different country and has local musicians interpret them. One of the countries I'm working on right now is Israel, and one of the prominently featured bands is a Palestinian hip-hop group living in Israel called Dam. The ubiquity of hip-hop worldwide never fails to amaze me, although it shouldn't - it requires much less startup cost than other musical endeavors, it appeals to any group that feels disenfranchised. And boy, do these guys feel disenfranchised. I can't show you their re-interpretation of a NZ hip-hop track yet, or anything else I'm working on for the show, for that matter - but I can show you the video for Dam's big single, "Born Here".
I hope to have the podcast up tomorrow night. I came up with what I thought was a brilliant concept but it's been a horrible pain to implement. You'll see soon enough.
Next week: show reports from The Dirtbombs/Bellrays/Datsuns, Beirut, and possibly Jakob or Iron and Wine.
I did not know this until yesterday, when a friend convinced me to come see From The Jam, which is two-thirds of The Jam but missing guitarist/singer/principal songwriter Paul Weller. It wasn't an easy sell, but I'm glad I decided to go. Not just because it introduced me to the rich discography of The Jam, which I'll be listening to a lot in the foreseeable future, but also because it was a surprisingly vital enterprise, despite the easy cynical response one might have to a band touring without their lead member. For those unconvinced, check out this video of From The Jam playing "Eton Rifles", and contrast to this vintage video of The Jam.
(Incidentally, people who disable embedding of YouTube videos annoy me greatly.)
The other touring show I saw this week was Okkervil River. I almost didn't go, as I haven't fallen in love with their recorded output, but after last minute cajoling and stumbling upon the guest list I wound up there, and was very grateful. Okkervil River is a band whose live show vastly improves upon their recorded output, and I wound up pogoing up a storm to their surprisingly energetic performance. Well recommended if you get a chance.
Mostly, though, I've started my latest editing job, which is a music/travel show that I may have described before - in each episode, the host takes songs by NZ artists to a different country and has local musicians interpret them. One of the countries I'm working on right now is Israel, and one of the prominently featured bands is a Palestinian hip-hop group living in Israel called Dam. The ubiquity of hip-hop worldwide never fails to amaze me, although it shouldn't - it requires much less startup cost than other musical endeavors, it appeals to any group that feels disenfranchised. And boy, do these guys feel disenfranchised. I can't show you their re-interpretation of a NZ hip-hop track yet, or anything else I'm working on for the show, for that matter - but I can show you the video for Dam's big single, "Born Here".
I hope to have the podcast up tomorrow night. I came up with what I thought was a brilliant concept but it's been a horrible pain to implement. You'll see soon enough.
Next week: show reports from The Dirtbombs/Bellrays/Datsuns, Beirut, and possibly Jakob or Iron and Wine.
11 Comments:
Okay, those rappers from Israel are good stuff. I'd buy an album of that, if it came with the subtitles.
I've long thought Arabic the perfect language for rap. Real interested to hear what sort of NZ song, y'all gave Dam.
Been a Paul Weller fan a long time and I'm always surprised when I hear folks influenced by his stuff that don't know him. I know some Jam-sounding bands down in Houston can only relate their influences back to Guided By Voices.
But I can't be one to tease. I was given a hard time in High School because I didn't know the Jam and I was supposed to be a well rounded punkster. You got to start somewhere. I like his Style Council stuff too.
Anyway the Jam owes a lot to the Who so it just goes on and on.
Of course, I didn't read that carefully the first time, and thought that the embedded video WAS an adaptation of a New Zealand song. Which made me totally stoked, thinking "Damn, I have got to get me some kiwi hip-hop tracks about land rights -- they are fierce."
Anyway the Jam owes a lot to the Who so it just goes on and on.
Maybe for the mod stylings, but not so much for the music.
You really should catch Iron and Wine, and if you do, say hi to Sam Beam. That guy is a real sweetheart. I met him at my work, once, and he promptly put me on his guest list at a sold out show here at Rudz. Too bad the harpy at the door wouldn't let me in due to the place being already full. Guess she was just doing her job.
I remember seeing Paul Weller on the VH1 Classic show, Crown Jewels. I hate to say it but he he sucked. And this is coming from a Jam fan. Never took the time to get into Style Council though.
Lotta great shows out there, DD.
It looks like I'll be going to neither Jakob (who I'm confident you would like a lot, John) or Iron & Wine, as a last minute free ticket to WOMAD has fallen into my lap.
Sara, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a Maori hip-hop group that discusses land rights, given that they're an issue here; however, most NZ hip-hop I'm aware of is more desperate to emulate American concerns about bling et al. I will continue to investigate.
The Jam played a Who cover (or at least a song I didn't recognize that they introduced as such), and when I was searching YouTube The Who did a cover of "Eton Rifles". I don't think the two are that close in general, but can see some family tree-ness. But The Jam reminds me more of the bands that came after than the bands that came before.
Also, my friend had told me they were from 1973, which was mind-blowing; the Wikipedia chronology puts them hitting in 1977, which sounds much more plausible and makes them slightly less influential than I'd perceived.
Oh, I know a bit about Maori land rights because they intersect with my research -- I'm just always excited by evidence of the global impact of confused thinking about land rights. Palestine is clearly related to British partition policies in India/ Pakistan, Ireland/ Northern Ireland -- something that emerges in popular representations in all three areas of the world. I'd be stoked if there was also a popular construction of connections between indigenous land rights in NZ / Australia and Palestine. I'll keep looking.
hey, uh, I liked the podcast.
Maori hip-hop located here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InCQ_YI6Lq8
(As an ardent fan of BROKEN ENGLISH, I'm sure you'll be pleased to note the prominent use of the whakapapa tree.)
Whoa, it's early, but actually I just realized the new Vincent Ward film documents a group of Maori who considered themselves to be either the spiritual or literal successors to the Israelites (it wasn't clear), banished from the Promised Land, forced to wander, and eventually establishing a colony called Zion. This would be circa early 20th century. More info here.
I left the upload for the podcast running overnight; glad it worked and glad you enjoyed it.
BTW, I should clarify that Dam took the beat from an NZ hip-hop song and put their own rhymes over it, for the most part.
"Billy Bragg, The Buzzcocks, Gang of Four, Elvis Costello, The Ramones, The Clash, and the list goes on all the way to the Libertines - they all owe a massive debt to The Jam. "
Not sure how much debt they owe to The Jam, since the first 6 were contemporaries - and I doubt the Ramones were even aware of who the Jam were back in '77.
yeah, as mentioned above in the comments, a friend told me originally that they dated from 1973, which is WAY off. (Since he spent two months working on the DVD, I figured he had to be right, even though that sounded awfully early to me.)
I suppose I should edit the post, but it can remain a testament to my inability to research properly before posting.
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