‘Weapon’ of Mass Destruction

I had a very strange dream last night… I was having tea with Rodney Bingenheimer at a café in London while the band Let’s Go Sailing was playing their single, “Sideways.” I’m not sure what it means. Anyway, it’s nice to have The Black Rebel boys back together and doing it up on the charts in style. Their first single, “Weapon of Choice” off of Baby 81 will be out on RCA in the states on 5-01-07 and on-line and in stores (UK & Europe) on April 30th. The entire album is currently being streamed on BRMC’s myspace page. I can’t say I’ve ever been a big fan of Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, but what do I know (I’m currently listening to Feist while writing this newsletter)? Regardless, commercial specialty tastemakers are going wild for single, “Bomb.Repeat.Bomb” off of Living With The Living (Touch & Go). Crazy wild. Don’t believe me? Verified Mediaguide airplay from: Joe Clayton’s Resurrection Sunday (KQRA Springfield, MO), Tom “Butt Boy” Butler’s “Independent Playground (WWCD Columbus, OH) & Elliott Garstin (WNNX Atlanta, GA) to name a few… Meanwhile, the Kaiser Chiefs return to #1 on The Albums chart with massive support off of Yours Truly, Angry Mob. It was just a few years back that Los Angeles radio was killing “I Predict A Riot… KROQ, KCRW (Morning Becomes Eclectic), KDLD, on and on and then, silence. So, I must say it’s a pleasure to have the boys back on the charts and receiving massive amounts of airplay stateside. They’ve been at it for sometime and really deserve all the attention in the world (in my arrogant opinion). Wrapping things up… New debuts from: Snow Patrol & Blackfield.

Record of The Week: Blackfield

Brian Oake

hhA!: Your life story please…

Brian: “I've been a Minnesota Boy all my life. I got started at KQAL, the college station at Winona State University. My Program Director was Paul Marszelak, who went on to become Vice-President of Programming for VH1. I remember approaching him at a radio convention a couple of years ago to talk about the 'good old days' and he looked at me like someone asking for spare change. From there it was up to the University of Minnesota and it's FM Cable only signal, WMMR. In 1993, WMMR took over the U of M's AM frequency and 770 Radio K was born. Jim Musil encouraged me to try for the Morning Show and I got it. It was a 'Student Job'. I was actually getting paid to do radio! [Our radio readers can appreciate that!] Nine months into this gig, I received a call from Kevin Cole (who is currently afternoons at KEXP). At the time Kevin was about the coolest guy in Minneapolis. Kevin was a fixture in the Twin Cities music scene for many years; DJ at First Avenue, worked at the coolest record store in Minneapolis history (Northern Lights) and was now going to be programming one of the first Commercial Alternative statons in the country. He asked me to join him, and for the next three years I hosted Mornings on REV 105, Revolution Radio. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. [editor’s note: Brian still doesn’t.] Three years in, the station got sold. From there I went to 93.7, The Edge, REV's much larger Alternative competitor. I was instantly branded a 'sell-out'. Whatever. Shortly there after, back to the 105 signal under it's new moniker: ZONE 105. I hosted mornings there for almost 4 years (late 97 to mid 01). Format flip. Several panicky months of unemployment. Then I found my current home. For nearly six years I have hosted Afternoons on Cities97(KTCZ). Despite the public's perception of Clear Channel, my little corner of it is heaven. I have truly never been happier anywhere. Also, I have not checked my voicemail in over a year, no lie. Send me an email.”

hhA!: Would you please tell us the history of the infamous new music show Freedom Rock?

Brian: “First off, I know it's a stupid name for a show. Back when the show started, there was a classic rock compilation of the same name being sold on TV. I loved the name. Plus Frank Black has a song called Freedom Rock. Being the Pixies freak I am, that sealed it. Freedom Rock will turn 10 years old this September. I started FR in September '97 with the Launch of Zone 105 and insisted that I keep doing the show when I came to Cities97. Not that I have any real power, just a very accommodating boss. Cities97 is very-artist friendly and I enjoy much of the music, but the music I feature on Freedom Rock is where my heart is really at.”

hhA!: What are your other air-shifts/duties at the station besides programming/hosting Freedom Rock?

Brian: “In addition to Freedom Rock, I am also Afternoon Guy (M-F, 2-7p) at Cities97. As such, I handle the vast majority of our Studio C performances. One of Cities 97's distinguising features is the sheer number of artists we have in to play live. In the past week we had Patty Griffin, Low, The Feeling and James Morrison. Every year we take the very best of these and release a charity CD, The Cities97 Sampler. Last year, 35,000 copies of the sampler sold out in less than an hour and raised over $600,000.”

hhA!: What are some of your favorite releases currently at radio?

Brian: “Feist's 'My Moon My Man' is brilliant. Andrew Bird, !!!, Fujiya & Miyagi, The Young Knives, Kate Havnevik, LCD Soundsystem, Klaxons, Great Lake Swimmers, Lodger, Idlewild, The Bird and the Bee and many others. Ted Leo might be the most vital thing happening in music today.

I almost fainted when Sat Bisla (KDLD Los Angeles’ “Passport Approved”) played a cover of The Smith’s “Stop Me” (Allido/Columbia UK) for me in his car last month. Thanks “mate!” It’s a cover by producer/artist/label owner Mark Ronson (Christina Aguilera, Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen) featuring Australia’s Daniel Merriweather on vocals. A little side note about Mark -- Thanks to Wikipedia: His stepfather is Mick Jones from Foreigner and is also the older brother of singer and DJ Samantha Ronson and clothing designer Charlotte Ronson. He is also one of the faces for DKNY Men's Spring 2006 campaign. Anyway, “I crashed down on the crossbar and the pain was enough to make a shy, bald Buddhist reflect and plan a mass murder.” Yes. Please click here.

All we do all day at hushhush ATTACK is talk to our friends at radio and blogs, obsess over new music and drink lots of tea. We actually have stock in coffee bean and tea leaf. In fact, I’m hurrying through the video section this week to grab an English breakfast tea with our CFO Sir Bob from Wolverhampton. Anyway, here is a video for the aforementioned “Stop Me” from Producer Mark Ronson’s forthcoming release, Version out April 6th. Press here.

Road Warriors – Hedrons down-time

The Hedrons take a well deserved break from their tour with The Scanners and chat with MTV Australia at SXSW (2007)… You go girls!

I apologize in advance for all of you unfortunate fools who don’t live in Los Angeles, because this week’s blog-in will probably not strike a chord with you.  However, as everyone and their Mother will visit Los Angeles at least twice before they die, I thought it was quite topical indeed.  With a city of well over [insert large number] millions of people, there are literally [insert fairly large number] different things to do each night.  It becomes quite difficult to keep “in-the-know” about what’s poppin, which cool band is playing where or which museum has an opening.  Alas, we here at hushhush ATTACK! have resolved all of your needs, well, its actually not us – it’s LosAnjealous.com, we are just their pimps, don’t be jealous… get it? Yes my friends, it is here you will find fun things to do every single night of the week for as long as you last in this crazy city of Angels.  So give it a whirl and see what’s happening tonight, or if you’re going to be visiting, send them an email and they will (perhaps) help you with your plan of attack.  You should most definitely subscribe to their newsletter as well; it gives you a weekly update of all of the events and great live music that Los Angeles has to offer.

Ethel XM, Channel 47
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w/ Walter Flakus
Tuesdays nights 8p EST