Katy Perry
Teenage Dream
Capitol Records
3/10

While I do not listen to it on the regular, I understand the place pop music has in society. People don’t want sad music that reminds them that they are single, unemployed, or ghastly over/underweight. Here comes Katy Perry, taking her place alongside the power-players of female pop-stars, providing jams that speak to the booty, not the heart. Teenage Dream is complete with vocal effects, drum loops and excessive production techniques. Oh, and was that a fucking sax solo I heard?

While I will say Perry’s follow-up to her debut album sounds akin to Cher and Madonna, I will ensure that it is known that I mean mid-90’s Madonna and Cher. Like “Believe” or “Ray Of Light,” the shit that sounds like a dance remix before any DJs have laid hands on it. Only Katy Perry has abandoned her upper register of her fairly talented voice and taken to sounding like a manatee.

The Fergie-esque raunchiness of “Peacock” is booty shaking, but “ET” kind of creeps me out, as I am pretty sure she’s moaning “infect me with your love, fill me with your poison, ready for abduction, take me, want to be a victim, ready for abduction.” I don’t know about you, but it sounds like a rape fantasy if I’ve ever heard one. This chick’s got some problems.

-Jonathan “The Emperor” Yost

Fake Problems

Fake Problems upcoming 3^rd album, Real Ghosts Caught on Tape is perhaps their best release to date. Ghosts is able to take the best attributes from each of their previous releases and put them together in such a way that this album has already made my top 10 list for year despite there being a solid 3 months left of releases to look forward to. It has the musical simplicity of Spurs and Spokes/ Bull >Matador, the energy of It’s Great to Be Alive and the lyrical prowess of How Far Our Bodies Go. However, before I go any further I want to state that the lyrics on Alive are pretty amazing. I just happen to prefer Bodies as far as lyrics go.

Ghosts, from start to finish, has such a level of energy that it grabs the listener by the balls and won’t let go.  The album itself starts out with perhaps one of the strongest tracks it has to offer, “ADT”, which I feel is a solid move. It lets the listener know what to expect from the rest of the album by the setting the bar high right off the bat. The song is so catchy you might end up pressing repeat a few times before you actually make your way through the whole album.

The overall sound the band has crafted on Ghosts is much different than that of their previous efforts. Gone are the strings and horns that could be found throughout the two previous releases. Stripped down to the basics Fake Problems has to rely solely on their own musicianship and quite frankly, they don’t disappoint. The band really lets go and rocks out, especially on tracks such as “Grand Finale” and “RSVP”.

My only serious complaint is vocalist Chris Farren’s use of falsetto vocals, which can be found on the track “5678”. I had the same problem with the band’s previous release and the track “Diamond Rings”. This is not to say that I hate falsetto vocals in general, just whenever they’re used on a Fake Problems record. However, fans of falsetto vocals everywhere will be impressed at Chris’ ability to use them.

Despite that one small setback the album is guaranteed to please and is a record that should be picked up the day it comes out if you haven’t already pre-ordered it.

-Armando Olivas

The Menzingers
Chamberlain Waits
Red Scare Records
8/10

Having previously enjoyed A Lesson in the abuse of Information Technology, I switched on The Menzingers’ new record with that mixed sense of excitement and trepidation you get when you like a band and don’t want to be let down by a dubious second album. With Chamberlain Waits you certainly aren’t disappointed. The raw and passionate sounds that are so evident in the first album are honed to brilliance, giving us track after track that is not only easy on the ears, but that makes your stomach flip.
For a moment I paused and doubted my positive appreciation in what I judged could be a similar sound between tracks. Somehow I feel that these guys have more to offer us, the thumping drumbeats and strong vocals abound in “Deep Sleeps” and “Chamberlain Waits” do contrast with the charms of “I was Born” but there is no doubt that the guys kicking out the tunes are a talented bunch. After a second listen I knew that my doubt was unfounded, and the vocals that conclude “Home Outgrown” stamped this track as a particular favorite among all those on the album.

If The Menzingers keep popping them out like this they will be a solid feature in my permanent playlist.

-Lisa Thompson

-The Emperor

Weezer
Hurley
Epitaph Records

The first track off this record is without a doubt one of the strongest starting tracks of a record I have heard. “Memories” leads Hurley into a succession of solid songs. It has that classic Weezer sound that we know and love, yet this one goes beyond that. There is another layer that is more melodic and before I knew it I was singing along, even before I was one hundred percent sure of the words.

I’m not gonna say this record is perfect, cuz it’s not. It has its weaknesses heading into “Where’s My Sex?” & “Run Away,” the fifth and sixth tracks . I worried they had shot their load too soon but I was wrong. “Hang On” kicked in and I knew that they had definitely done it right.

It mixes cheeky humour with poetic lyrics which helps make this record the best Weezer has made to date. It is the kind of record that will knock sceptical Weezer fans off their fence.

It sure as hell blew my pants off.

-Lisa Thompson

Secondhand Serenade
Here Me Now
2/10

When I hit play on the album’s opener “Distance” and listened to the first 5 seconds, I must admit I had an excited moment because it reminded me of how a Dashboard Confessional album would start; guitar strumming with light piano. But then John Vesely starts singing his awful lyrics about driving down a dark highway alone. Umm…haven’t we heard this line about 157 times in the past year? He even sings about “driving alone” in “Only Hope” again. Yeah, we get it. Musically, it’s like they’re trying to be epic, but the string section, guitar effects, and attempt to make the drums sound big is bring it all down. What happen to the simplicity heard in A Twist In My Story? It was effective and worked. Maybe this will work for the high school girls. 2 out of 10 for the hope I still have in this band.

- Kelia Iha

You know what, I might have had a bad time at the Drinking Made Easy Tour, but I will most definitely support Zane Lamprey in his future endeavors, such as the new Drinking Made Easy show on HDNet. I still can’t bear to delete any of the Three Sheets I have on the DVR, even though I’ve seen ‘em each like 6 times. This interview was right before the tour, but with the new show popping up soon, I think now is the time to unleash this upon the world.

I read some other interviews with you trying to avoid asking questions you have already answered.

Good Luck!

Yeah.  Have you ever thought about getting an apprentice for your show?

Well this guy, and I don’t know if I am pronouncing his name correctly, Jonathan Yost, I’ve been after him for a long time, to sort of take over my job. Do you know him?

I do and I’m actually trying right now, this is me having beer for breakfast.

What are you drinking for breakfast?

Well I already had a Guinness and now I am having a Miller High Life.

You are visiting both sides of the spectrum my friend. You are doing a very excellent job.

Its like a black and off white versus like a black and tan.

Black and yellow.  Is that what people think of me? That I am like, I wake up with a beer in my hand?

NO.

And that I go through my day carrying around a beer?

No. That is just what I hope. If I think about it I realize that its probably not actually accurate but I just really hope and dream that that is a job out there.

I don’t want to crush your hopes and dreams, so yes, I am in fact sitting in my office right now I have in the middle of my desk a keg tap that pours fresh beer, cold, all day long. I pretty much just kind of keep the stream running. You know?

I just like that there is hope out there that  one day I can get a job where I just go to places and drink. I think you bring a lot of men hope.

Yeah, yeah, that certainly is a goal for a lot of us. I have somehow found a way to capitalize on that. I don’t ever ask why me, you know? I just sort of go along with it. I just hope that no one calls me on the fact that I have just been faking it for four years. I’m not actually this knowledgeable and I’m just a goofball, you know?

I was actually going to ask you if you ever had any formal education in booze?

Well not prior to “Three Sheets.” I was sort of interested, well not even that, I was interested, but you know, as an aspiring host back then, and an actor, you have a tendency to want to spread yourself thin so that you don’t sort of pigeon hole yourself and then end up corn-holing yourself into a specific position, you know.  So it could have been cars, it could have been home improvement, it could have been gardening, I think I would have been able to really embrace anything that I got into. Back then I tried to be more of a renaissance man and be able to do a lot of things equally unwell.  But I guess when I was blessed or lucky enough to be thrown into a job where I travel around and get to, its not even necessarily the drinking, of course the drinking is great, its just the fact that my job is a leisure time activity. Anytime I’m doing a job, even when I’m doing this right now, an interview, I mean this is fun to me.  So any of the stuff, doing stand-up on stage, going off and doing interviews, even editing and all the other stuff; you know the writing that goes along with it, I mean I’m having a blast.

Yeah, before I started doing Racket, I was also interested in anything that would pay me. Luckily now, you know, this job is fun too because I don’t have to wear pants and I can just drink whenever I feel like it while working.
ZL: Yeah, its like, you know, I at one point hosted a “Girls Gone Wild” infomercial, so I could have become an expert on pornography.

Oh…Yeah…Me too…I’m not already…

But I moved on and here I am today: drinking my way into the hearts of people across the country.

Right. You asked if people think of you as just waking up with a beer IV, I was wondering if people have come up to you while you were filming and try to like out-drink you or like out do you.

I get offered that a lot. I put my email out there for the world and I address each one, sometimes it takes me a while to get there but I do get to them, its zanelamprey@gmail.com. I get a lot of invitations to A) Come to a wedding; its open bar, you can drink as much as you want. The other is, and I have gotten this several times: come to our wedding; my wife thinks she can out-drink you. Really? Is that something you want to do at your wedding? Try to out-drink me? I am not here to out-drink anybody. Its not like that scene from Indiana Jones where they are sitting there doing shots for shot to see who passes out first. No. Of course, that is a pretty good picture of what it was like with me in college, but not me anymore.

What did you go to college for?

I have no idea. I don’t know why I went to college, that’s a good question. No, I actually majored in oil painting.

Really?

It sounds like I was just trying to take the easiest course, but I actually had won some awards and stuff and I went there on an art scholarship.

Nice, we actually have a couple of artists for Racket. One is on the English women’s national soccer team (Karen Bardsley, @KLBardsley!), and another, we have these MP3 compilations you can download, they are all these album art parodies, like the new one is a Def Leopard “Hysteria” parody.  Christine ( ChristineCurry.com) paints them all by hand and its insane how good she is.

Its one of those things, I don’t understand the wiring of it. Why it is the way that it is, but, um, sorry I am in a parking spot, did that guy just hit my car? Anyway, that wasn’t a weird reference or anything, I am actually in a parking spot, someone was pulling out, I thought they hit my car. Anyway, its weird, the wiring of being able to do that kind of stuff and being able to do all my art and graphics and stuff. It was oil painting but now I don’t have the time so it just turns into Photoshop and Illustrator.  All the T-shirts in my online store and all my posters and all that kind of stuff is all me. I still get to have my fun with it.

That’s rad. The publicist said that this is a local show for you, are you in LA or Anaheim, or where you at?

Currently I am on Palm and San Fernando in Burbank. This is where I live and I am currently having someone run and get me coffee.  So I am sitting in my car, waiting for my wake-up.  Now of course when it does come here, yes, I will add whiskey to it.

Do you favorite pub-grub?

Man, I love pub-grub, and it is just so bad for you. What do I like? I like chicken wings. I prefer stuff that is not terribly filling like pizza and stuff.  Man if I just drank pizza and beer I would be like a circle. Tough to say. Burgers! How bout that, I love a good burger and fries, yeah that’s the answer. That wins.

They have this thing at my favorite bar called “Irish Nachos.” Its basically nachos with French fries instead of chips. It’s all covered with cheese and salsa, and sour cream and bacon.

AHH yeah, that sounds pretty awesome. OK that’s my new favorite.

All right. I’ll let the Royal Falconer know.  On the show, I mean its all I really have to go on, I don’t really know, I have never drank with you, but you seem to be a very happy drunk. And I know I’m a happy drunk, but why do you think people become angry drunks?

Yeah, I am generally a happy person and when I drink I am a pretty jolly, fun person to be around. It’s crazy because my buddy Steve McKenna is also a really fun person, a fun guy but when he drinks he becomes…let’s just say, he drinks, we run. That sums it up.

Is it particularly cool, I mean have you sat back and though, man I’m going on this comedy tour and bringing my best friend with me, cause I read an interview where you said that he is not very good.

NO, he’s horrible.

So is it fun to put your best friend up there like a monkey on stage?

Yeah dude. Well, hey, I’ll tell you what, don’t think that Pleepleus wont make an appearance by the way.

Oh, I had no doubt.

Yeah, he, Pleepleus will probably be better at stand-up than Steve and Pleepleus, as we know, is a monkey. Well my buddy Mark Ryan one of my other best friends comes on right before me and this guy will just blow you away. I mean this guy is just hilarious. He’s amazing. He is one of those guys that you will see him and go: “Oh yeah, I’ve seen him before” or you’ll say “I’m going to see him in something big soon.” He is incredible. And then I come on and you know, I’m pretty much waiting back stage that whole time drinking so by the time I go out I’m pretty drunk and that’s pretty fun.

Now I hope you don’t have to pay for drinks at The House of Blues cause that place is effing expensive.

Is it?

Its nine dollars for a tallboy of PBR.

Drinks are…wait really? For a PBR?

Yeah, nine dollars for a tallboy.

You know what, no, when you tour you have something called a “rider” which is someone that has everything that you expect waiting for you back in the greenroom. But I have my own beer. I have my Pleepleus Beer that I drink. So that’s what we’ll be drinking on stage.

Do you brew your own beer?

Um, yes. Right now it’s a lager and we are in the process of finalizing the processes and all that kind of stuff. It’ll be an original. I’m starting off with a lager because I know people get all mad, the beer connoisseurs, “why aren’t you drinking an ale” and “why aren’t you making something super flavorful with all the crazy stuff going on, like an IPA?” But I like a lager, I drink so many things, and I love a nice flavorful beer but give me a lager and I’m happy.

Well, I’m drinking the Champaign of Beers right now so I’m not going to fault you for that.

No, that’s what it is. I mean, I had an interview and they kind of gave me some crap for it. I was like, no! They were like “Oh, you drink that?” And I’m like yeah, I’ll drink a lager or something or whatever, you know, something light and refreshing on a hot day. They were just like “NO, so many people are going to get so mad at you.” I don’t think so; I don’t think that’s the case. I think a lot of people even home brewers don’t mind a nice lager every now and then.

My best friend was a beer brewer for a year of so.

He was a home brewer or a beer brewer?

Beer Brewer, like a real brewer.

Ah, ok. So he’s not a nerd.

No, no. We’ve done some home-brewing but I use him as my guide for different beers and everything which is awesome because he does have a home-brewing set-up and he just makes the same beers he made at work.

Oh, so he is able to replicate those on a small scale and have them taste very similar?

YES.

AH, that’s impressive.

How many bottles of booze have you brought back from your travels?

I guess a few hundred. You are limited to five when you bring them on a plane. The problem is that sometimes I go to four countries, I’ve never been stopped but sometimes I’ll bring, well I’ve brought 12 before.

On the show what percentage of the drinks that you consume do you actually pay for?

OH, I haven’t paid for a drink in four years.

God, your job rules.

Except for coffee. Yeah, you know, you just go out there and there is always someone that it seems it would make them happy to be able to buy me a beer so I let them.

That rules so much.

-Jonathan “The Emperor” Yost

The Constellations
Southern Gothic – CD Review
Virgin Records
6/10

When I first picked up the record and read–The Constellations, I knew it would be my next Racket victim. The band’s name sounds like a Motown group, but the eight-piece group from Atlanta does not use enough tambourines for that. There are definitely plenty of handclaps though! Scanning my eyes downward, I read the title of their debut album, Southern Gothic, and my mind instantly went to Faulker. However, what ensued was not grotesque southern literature but rather, a clusterfuck of awkward sounding party rock and gritty grooves.

Some of us like awkward, but let’s be honest here. The way the album was put together sounded confused to me. There was evidence that Southern Gothic is a journey of the potentially seedy Atlanta nightlife, but my ear did not follow the flow. Still, there were some good jams like “Felicia”, “Love Is a Murder”, and “Step Right Up” (A Tribute To Tom Waits). “We’re Here To Save The Day” had an excellent groove too, especially with front man, who I thought for a moment was Elvis Costello (his real name is Elijah Jones) and Asher Roth’s verse. Cee-Lo is on the record too! With a Goodie Mobber and Asher Roth on the record, you know it’s going to be somewhat decent.

Southern Gothic is available now on their official site: http://theconstellationsmusic.com.
- Kateri Lirio

First, before we get this thing started, I have a question for you. Do you suggest an IPA or a hefeweizen at 12:30 in the afternoon?
Hefeweizen.

All right. I’ll trust you on this one. So honestly, the only thing that I know about your band is that I’ve listened to your last album and I read the Wikipedia page.
OK.

Now the first question I have is based on the Wikipedia page, which several times alluded to an anxiety in song writing. I was wondering if that was true or if there is something that you would like to clear up.
No it’s true. I mean, I think I’ve put a lot of self-imposed pressure on myself over the years in terms of songwriting. I just have some trouble with it. I mean, every time we put out a record I seem to go through this two-month period where I really freak out and I want to quit playing because I feel like I’m not writing up to par with what I know I naturally can.

Ok. Now what are some of the concerns that you put on yourself? What are some of the ideas running through your head that causes some of the pressure?
I don’t know. It has to do with the fact that you’re writing songs on a deadline and you feel like you have to do something that makes your artistically happy but at the end of the day your record label whether they like something or they don’t like something. When you feel that kind of pressure you tend to over think everything and end up writing things that aren’t as good as they would be when you’re just writing for fun.

Got it. You said writing for fun- is that what your normally make music for?
No, I think, not necessarily for fun, but when you’re writing music without any extra pressure. You know, when your writing music because you want to be writing music. You know, writing without thinking that you have to write a certain amount of songs by this day and then you’re going to go into a studio and show the songs to your record label to tell you if they like them and to give you their opinions and all that bullshit. You know, that kind of stuff.  And even like, I mean, at the end of the day we get to make the kind of record that we want to make, but that stuff still weighs on me. You do have an ego and you do want people to be happy with what you are creating.

When you write songs, especially lyrics, do you make sure that the spelling is all correct of do you have any issues with spelling?
I don’t really care about that kind of stuff.

All right, fair enough. Have you had any weird experiences with fans as of yet?
With fans? Oh yeah. Tons of weird experiences with fans. I hate to talk about them because you know you have fans reading articles and stuff. But we have run into some really strange people and have had some really creepy and scary encounters with people where they just cross the line of doing really weird stuff that is either offensive or just creepy.

Are there any guidelines you would like to offer fans? You know- “Don’t do these things.”
I think the people that are doing the things in their hearts know when they are doing something that is weird. You know, there is a natural balance to things, and people know when they are doing something off. Some people just don’t give a shit.

Speaking of weird, are you concerned at all with the paranormal? You know ghosts or anything like that?
Nope. Not at all.

The song named “Case of Rapture” -seeing the title I was really hoping it was kind of a mockery of the bumper sticker that I see that says “In case of rapture, the car is yours.”
Oh yeah, or “In case of rapture this car will be abandoned.”

But kind of listening to the song and checking out the lyrics it seems that there was a distaste with Christianity. Is there or with organized religion?
You know, there is a certain sort of distaste with it, not as a whole. It’s not towards people who are Christians or of a certain religions but mainly towards the religions themselves.  A lot of times when you meet people, I mean like the song more so deals with Christianity than other things, but you meet a lot of great amazing-hearted individuals, you know. But I think that sometimes when religion gets involved and when people start taking the Bible too seriously and using it to judge other people that’s where things go a little sketchy. The song is more about that than actually saying that “we don’t like Christian people” or “we don’t like this” or “we don’t approve of that.” There is a fine line that it draws and I think that people will sometimes misinterpret the song for being a knock on religion as a whole or a knock on people who are of a certain religion where that’s actually not the case.  It’s more towards specific people who use religion to throw their stones.

Right. Do you have any opinions on the recent Catholic and Vatican sex abuse scandals?
To be honest, I haven’t been up on too much of that news. I kind of try to stay away from that; it all seems irrelevant for someone like me to talk about. It’s stilly stuff. You know there are a lot of creepy people out there and some of them end up becoming priests. Just because you’re a priest doesn’t mean you’re a saint.

What’s a better feeling: finding $5 in your pocket that you didn’t know you had or getting a piece of food out of your teeth that you have been trying to all afternoon?
Probably getting the piece of food out of my teeth.

I agree with that. I’ve been loving me some dental floss recently. When we started I asked you IPA or hefeweizen. What’s your favorite beer?
I don’t drink beer actually. I don’t really like beer. It makes me feel bloated.

Do you have an alcoholic drink of choice and/or a nonalcoholic drink of choice?
I would have to say that water is definitely my favorite drink. And if I drink alcohol it is either one of two things: vodka or whiskey.

The whiskey is a good choice. I’m a big fan of whiskey. What hobbies do you have? What are you doing when you’re not doing things with As Tall As Lions?
The last few times I have had any time off from the band I’ve traveled. I really enjoy traveling. I have seen quite a few spots around the world and I plan on seeing quite a few more. So whenever I get some time off from doing music I like to explore.

What’s next on the agenda?
I think I am going to go to either South America or go to some countries in Europe that I haven’t done. So it’s still up for debate, I’m still pricing it out and seeing what’s more realistic for me.

I’m someone who has never left the country, what would you suggest for the first country to visit outside of America?
That’s impossible to say. I don’t know your personality or what you like to do. It’s relative to the person.

You remind me of the limo driver from “Joe versus the Volcano.” Have you seen that movie?
I saw it when I was about six years old.  I don’t really remember it.

In it Tom Hank’s character is basically given a whole bunch of credit cards and rents a limo and tells the limo driver he wants to go shopping for clothes, doesn’t know exactly where and the limo driver goes “I can’t tell you where you need to go because clothes make the man and I can’t tell you who you are.” It was very philosophical. That’s it for me, anything else?
Nope.

All right, have a good day and go enjoy some water.

- Jonathan “The Emperor!” Yost