Featured IPO CD Artists: Popdudes, Emperor Penguin, Wolf Circus, Kimberley Rew & Lee Cave-Berry
Featured IPO CD Artist: Popdudes
IPO Vol 22 CD Song: “Dance With Me Tonight”
1) What was the reason you chose the song you did for the IPO CD?
We thought it was a good representation of Popdudes’ sound (whatever that is).
2) If you could spend the day with any artist who is no longer living, who would it be, and why?
Easy question: John Lennon. Why? The Beatles.
3) Same as question 2, but for any contemporary/living artist.
Easy question: Paul McCartney. Why? The Beatles.
4) What has been the most inspirational moment of your musical career thus far? (can be from either the perspective of performing yourself or of seeing someone else perform)
Every time I play onstage or hear a song released that I’ve written or played on, it’s the best feeling in the world. Music is life. Cliché? Maybe. Truth? Definitely.
5) What do you most enjoy about being associated with The IPO Festival/CD?
The friendships I’ve made over the years.
6) Where can people who love your song on the IPO CD go to get more of your music and/or find out when and where you’re playing?
Popdudes’ Facebook page. Go!
Featured IPO CD Artist: Emperor Penguin
IPO Vol 22 CD Song: “Brand New Yesterday”
1) What was the reason you chose the song you did for the IPO CD?
We’d been working on songs for our next album, Soak Up The Gravy (out soon, music lovers!) and we wanted to include one of the new ones. “Brand New Yesterday” is a toe-tapping tale of regret, reparation and time travel that we thought would fit nicely on IPO 22. The bass playing on it is also very good. Apparently.
2) If you could spend the day with any artist who is no longer living, who would it be, and why?
Emperor Penguin would like to hang out at Graceland with Elvis. It is a rainy Tuesday in early 1958. When we enter the jungle room, Elvis is watching TV, playing a Fender Precision bass. We spend the day eating burgers, drinking beers, checking out Elvis’s guitars and discussing the works of Jean-Paul Sartre. Why? Because, Elvis.
If for scheduling reasons this proved difficult, we would choose to spend a day in the studio with Spike Milligan recording a cover of ‘Nagasaki’ based on the 1949 Doris Day version.
3) Same as question 2, but for any contemporary/living artist.
We’d be happy to get together with Paul and Ringo to run through a few songs from their back catalogue. Because, Beatles.
That, or a day with Tracey Emin, in a tent.
4) What has been the most inspirational moment of your musical career thus far? (can be from either the perspective of performing yourself or of seeing someone else perform)
It’ll be hard to top that day we spent playing Beatles songs with Paul and Ringo. Except for JT, whose career highlight was when a reviewer mentioned how good the bass playing is on “Brand New Yesterday”. Life goals achieved.
5) What do you most enjoy about being associated with The IPO Festival/CD?
The adulation of the kids. And it’s cool to play at The Cavern.
6) Where can people who love your song on the IPO CD go to get more of your music and/or find out when and where you’re playing?
It’d be nice to think that there is indeed someone out there who loves our song. If there is, they are welcome to visit Emperor Penguin’s Fortress of Solitude at https://emperorpenguintheband.com/
You can find our music at https://emperorpenguin.bandcamp.com/
And you can be our friend at https://www.facebook.com/epenguinsrock
Bonus question: What is the Emperor Penguin manifesto?
Youth, to the tractors.
Smite lazy workers.
Onwards to victory.
Soak up the gravy!
Featured IPO CD Artist: Wolf Circus
IPO Vol 22 CD Song: “I Will Answer”
1) What was the reason you chose the song you did for the IPO CD?
International Pop Overthrow seemed to me to be a celebration of power pop, and so I basically looked through my backlogs to find what I considered to be my finest power pop song. By doing so I re-discovered “I Will Answer”, which I had originally released as a B-side in 2018. The original track has no drums on it, and I actually intended to record a drum track for the IPO version of it. Funny thing is, the drum track actually ended up corrupting right before I could even mix them in, so I had no choice but to just send the original version in. That said, I think it was for the better, ’cause I realized the song actually hits harder without the drum track, weirdly enough.
2) If you could spend the day with any artist who is no longer living, who would it be, and why?
I’d love to be able to sit down and write some songs with Curt Boettcher. He has such a fascinating career, and I feel despite being behind the scenes for so many famous ’60s productions he never quite got his due. He basically self-taught himself everything he knew about production and arranging music, which I think is super neat. Also we’re both gay, so that would be a natural talking point!
3) Same as question 2, but for any contemporary/living artist.
Kero Kero Bonito are my favorite current band. They’re such fantastic songwriters and producers, and every album is wildly different from the last. I’ve listened to pretty much everything they’ve put to tape. Alright, maybe more like 90%. If I got the opportunity to work on a track with them, I don’t even know how I’d react honestly. It’s kind of embarrassing but I’ve even written some tracks in the past with the notion of Sarah potentially singing them.
4) What has been the most inspirational moment of your musical career thus far? (can be from either the perspective of performing yourself or of seeing someone else perform)
I think the most inspirational moment in my career thus far came when I realized that there were people all around the world discussing and listening to my music. That may sound kind of funny, but when I first started recording and writing music, it was really mostly something my friends and I did for ourselves. Maybe like 10 people actually heard any of that stuff at the time. But as soon as I started the Wolf Circus project it seemed like it immediately started spreading on a somewhat wider scale. I just remember hopping into a discussion forum and seeing people discuss my album and which tracks they thought were the best. I’m so used to being the music nerd that it was incredibly surreal to see others nerding out about my music!
5) What do you most enjoy about being associated with The IPO Festival/CD?
Well, being a part of IPO has definitely helped get my name out there, for sure. But mainly I just think it’s so cool to be part of a festival that has been around even longer than I’ve been born, and has hosted such a fascinating lineage of artists over the years. It’s such a huge honor. Also if it weren’t for the festival there are so many cool artists and people I probably wouldn’t have ever met, so that’s probably the thing I appreciate the most.
6) Where can people who love your song on the IPO CD go to get more of your music and/or find out when and where you’re playing?
First of all, if you listened to the compilation and liked my song in particular, then holy cow, that really does mean a lot! You can hear everything we’ve ever released on our Bandcamp page (a quick Google of “wolf circus bandcamp” should get you there in no time). We try to release stuff on a monthly basis (give or take a break here and there) so we’ve already amassed quite a hefty catalog of songs, as you might imagine! Also if you really like our stuff (like, really really), you can buy physical copies of our albums on either CD or cassette!
Featured IPO CD Artist: Kimberley Rew & Lee Cave-Berry
IPO Vol 22 CD Song: “Flat Cat”
1) What was the reason you chose the song you did for the IPO CD?
Kim: the song “Flat Cat” is the most blatant piece of fun on the current Kim and Lee album Enjoy the Rest of your Day. It describes the habits of Boots the cat (who hated me but loved Lee), who would nap on any available surface, in use or unused, any time. Sadly Boots has now left the planet, so the song has acquired a poignant twist as a memorial.
Lee: It’s upbeat and memorable.
2) If you could spend the day with any artist who is no longer living, who would it be, and why?
Lee: Elvis .. I loved his voice and his spiritual enthusiasm for music..
Kim: I’m spoilt for choice here as I’m so old, so many of those I looked up to have expired. My favourite song writer is Chuck Berry, tho I’m not sure he’d have profound insights to dispense to a whippersnapper manifesting himself from the other side of the veil; I get the impression he just got on with his composing to get ahead in life, as he did with life generally.
3) Same as question 2, but for any contemporary/living artist.
Kim: my second favourite writers are Lieber and Stoller, and Stoller is still alive, tho it’s kind of a bizarre concept, my turning up at the door of an 86 year old complete stranger, announcing that I’m spending the day with him, and demanding a series of gems of insight into how to do his former day job.
Lee: I consider myself to be extremely lucky to spend most days with Kimberley Rew. I wouldn’t mind spending a little time with Sting but I certainly wouldn’t swap.
4) What has been the most inspirational moment of your musical career thus far? (can be from either the perspective of performing yourself or of seeing someone else perform)
Lee: can I have two?.. firstly, that moment when listening to “Halo of Flies” by Alice Cooper when I realised that bass was the instrument for me. Second, when standing in last minute for Matthew Seligman with The Soft Boys in Paris supporting Badly Drawn Boy..THOSE songs with THOSE people… I was incandescent!
Kim: meeting wife and music partner Lee Cave-Berry (tho admittedly at the time I didn’t know that between 22 and 42 years later (the present) we would co operate in a life changing onslaught of gigs and recordings).
5) What do you most enjoy about being associated with The IPO Festival/CD?
Kim: people who otherwise took little notice of you would say ‘wow, I hear you played at the Cavern’ (in Liverpool). (I’d have to explain that it’s not actually the original building, they had to reconstruct it after pop music became a religion some time in the 1980s, I think). There was a certain fortuitous magic in having to hump your gear thru the streets of Liverpool in the night to the now pedestrianised Matthew Street. Everybody’s having a great time, shopping around from venue to venue, and you think ‘hey, this is the North!’ They know how to have ‘a good time’. We southerners are more morose.
Lee: Reaching an audience we would probably never get to ordinarily.
6) Where can people who love your song on the IPO CD go to get more of your music and/or find out when and where you’re playing?
Cdbaby carries most of our stuff (iTunes and Amazon too). Gigs go up on www.lemonrock.com/kimandlee
And usually https://www.facebook.com/kimandleemusic/ too.