A St. Louis label called BDR put out a collection of Raymilland recordings a few years ago and the record is sitting ten feet away from me right now.
Fantastic! Let's see... that was in the third issue of my zine. There's a quick little one page interview. I thought they were really good. They were championed by Wax Trax Records in Chicago at that time. In 1980 Wax Trax was kind of the center of the Midwest -- that was the hub. Again, there was no Internet, so if you're a music fan and you were in the Midwest, you'd drive to Chicago and go to Wax Trax records, because that's where all the records were and all the zines. And then with the zines you could do some research and figure stuff out.
There was a publication in Chicago called Praxis which was very high end, kind of an art magazine, that focused on fashion and art and music and was part of the punk culture. And they included a flexi disc of Raymilland in one of their issues -- that's how I found out about them. You know, just a little history there.
That's so crazy!
Raymilland was definitely seen as very progressive. A very interesting band. They sounded a little more European [laughs] which is why I think Wax Trax was so excited about them. But I think they're really good.
I actually saw them play a reunion show in Athens, Georgia, a few years ago.
Really? Oh my god!
Yeah, they played in St. Louis and at Popfest in Athens and it was one of the best things I've ever seen. I love the record but it was amazing live.
Cool! That's great; I never got a chance to see them.
If you want a copy of the record I can send you one.
Great, that would be really awesome.
So how do you currently find new bands that you're interested in?
Well, uh, yeah, through word of mouth. I'm actually hanging out at SoundCloud a bit. I like going to SoundCloud and typing stuff in. Having lived on the west coast here for a while I've been more tapped into the west coast festival circuit. There are a lot of underground festivals here; music tends to be a little more DJ-oriented and a lot of that music is available on SoundCloud. So I don't spend a lot of time in urban clubs -- just a little bit. So again, word of mouth and doing research through SoundCloud and, you know, Bandcamp as well.
Could I ask you really quickly before I let you go -- what's your opinion on the latest media assertions about Dave Grohl being overexposed?
Oh, interesting. I haven't seen that but I just saw Dave Grohl a few days ago. He was in Seattle. I think Dave Grohl... Do I think he's overexposed? No, no I don't. I think he's done an incredibly great job with Sonic Highways -- it's a really good series. I think it was a brilliant marketing move, too, to have like an eight hour infomercial supporting your album.
No doubt.
It was actually over-the-top marketing genius. But, you know, he played it well because he went into these cities and was incredibly respectful of the legacies of these cities. He kind of knocked it out of the park with that. I'm very impressed. He's pretty much the ambassador of rock these days. And I think that he has really good things to say. And that if anybody is going to go out there and you know, network with the president of the U.S. and talk music that it should be Dave. So I'm a big supporter of Dave Grohl. Personally, I liked him maybe a little more as a drummer in Nirvana than as a singer in the Foo Fighters, but aside from that, I think he has a remarkable gift for bringing people together and that's a good thing.
Yeah, he's the ultimate networker.
Yeah, I think so. You don't need the Internet, just talk to Dave Grohl.
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