Well I made it back to LA in one piece, so here is a recap of the Unisex show in roids. The band killed it and thanks again to them for their hospitality. They signed my insert during lunch on my last day in the big city, down the street from the cafe where Jonny and Ant first met. I have more Unisex cd’s so if you are in the business and would like a copy, please let me know: caro@hihicaro.com. Stick to the Unisex sites for upcoming show info.
From left to right: 1. Worried faces backstage during soundcheck. 2. Todd Schrock. 3. Roy getting a pre show massage. 4. Kenyon Phillips writing the setlist. 5. Brian Gumbel live on the keys. 6. Roy live on the bass. 7. Jonny taking the drums apart. 8. Kenyon and friends at Don Hill’s. 9-10. Crazy afterparty characters.
An overdue post… For the newcomers, Unisex Salon is the fabulous Kenyon Phillips, Jonny Cragg, Royston Langdon, Stephen Phillips, and Brian Gumbel. Their first release is out October 18th, 2008 celebrated by a release show at Mercury Lounge, NY on the same date. Both Kenyon and Jonny were in the studio during the hog’s stay in LA working hard on new tracks… which turned out to be a very happy coincidence for me because I was spoiled rotten having them here. Go buy the record and see them live!
In other news, I am hosting Sweet Streets which is an LA art expo and afterparty sponsored by Hi-Fructose Magazine and other lucky people, dj’d by We.R.D.2 and friends. It’s our excuse to party, I ain’t gonna lie. Add Sweet Streets on Myspace to stay informed at www.myspace.com/sweetstreetsla.
I am so proud of these boys, so hopefully they won’t mind the leak. Jonny and Legs renamed the DJ Arckid wing, now going by We.R.D.2, and have been quite busy. They have finished a remix for the B-52’s single “Juliet of the Spirits”, which is next in line after the “Funplex” EP. B-52’s, in case you haven’t heard, released their new record “Funplex” in March (more info at: http://www.astralwerks.com/b-52s). If you would like to keep up to date on Chris, Jonny, Roy, or Ant and what events they are attending/djing/etc around NY, you can visit their Fame Game profiles. Here are the links for Jonny and Chris.
Last year, Jonny Cragg and Royston Langdon contributed to Biggles’ latest album, “Oh My God It’s Full Of Stars”. The first single from the forthcoming album is “Cotton Coma”, and it’s brilliant. A behind the scenes video featuring Jonny and Royston can be found at : http://www.biggles.ch/m4v/biggles_ny_ny.m4v
Jonny Cragg’s remix of the Spacehog tune, Lucy’s Shoe.
Song notes, as provided by Jonny Cragg himself:
“I (of course) was keen to get the remix an official release as i spent a lot of time and effort doing it. The idea started when i asked our then manager David Sonenburg if another one of his artists; Wyclef Jean (of the Fugees) would do a single remix. David dragged his heels and eventually said that he was not prepared to approach his artist about it. Enraged i had it out with him on the beach in Amagansett L.I. and vowed to do the bloody thing myself.
I flew to England and did all the preproduction work with the original Bryce Goggin stems along with my long time partner in crime Mr Simon Speight in his house in London. We then decamped to Axis studios in Sheffield to do a final pass;the mix engineer was non other than Mr Ken Nelson of Coldplay fame. I must also credit Simon with some additional guitar work on that version, which was necessary to glue together our new arrangement.
Jonny xx”
New York musicianChris Hicken (a.k.a. Cantinero), who was a vocal contributor on Spacehog, The Chinese Album’s ‘Captain Freeman’ track has been working on an album recently with contributions from none other than Spacehog’s Jonny Cragg. This, it would seem, is only the tip of the iceberg. His previous album featured Spacehog’s Richard Steel and Jonny Cragg… who used to be his roommate while he was tending bar in the East Village. This was all news to me, and hopefully, it’s new and interesting news for you too.
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