Juliana, for the The Talkhouse:
In late 1990, my band the Blake Babies set out on tour. We were young. I kept a diary. We were doing shows with Firehose, Mike Watt’s band at the time. These pages describe the scene one night, from my point of view, after we’d finished our opening set in Northampton, Massachusetts — plus what it was like to talk to Watt.
Ryan Bray, for Consequence of Sound:
Boston in the mid-to-late ’80s was a fertile, if underrated, hotbed of musical talent. The city boasted scores of bands that were poised for big things just a few years around the bend, among them the Pixies, The Lemonheads, Buffalo Tom, Juliana Hatfield, Morphine, Belly, and Throwing Muses. The talent was flowing over the proverbial brim, but it needed a hub, an outlet through which the various sounds coursing through the city’s veins could be heard.Fort Apache Studios filled that void. When Sean Slade, Jim Fitting, Paul Kolderie, and Joe Harvard officially opened Fort Apache in the spring of 1986, it was a no-frills operation run out of an industrial space in Roxbury — hardly the stuff of legends. But what started as an effort to document the local scene quickly grew into an enterprise that would produce some of the biggest guitar rock records and acts of the ’90s. The Fort Apache story is one steeped in the DIY ethos that defined the American rock underground and helped pave the way for grunge and alternative to explode into the mainstream. More than the story of a studio, this is the story of a largely unsung underground movement that helped define a musical era.
It's a lengthy 'oral history' style article, well worth your time with quotes from Fort Apache staff and musicians such as Lou Barlow, Kim Deal and Bill Janovitz.
The artwork for the soon to be released Earwig Demos as revealed in the latest Blake Babies PledgeMusic Update. Design by Jeremy Fetzer.
A photo posted by Jeremy Fetzer (@jeremyfetzer) on
The Blake Babies Earwig Demos project has reached the 100% goal over at PledgeMusic.
There's still a couple of months to get involved:
Drew Fortune, interviewing Paul Westerberg for Spin:
My next question follows naturally. “Do you wish you were more popular?” Paul pauses in consideration. “No,” he says definitively. “I say that and I’m still a human being. The I Don’t Cares record charted at No. 150 and the next day it dropped. I’m trying to be cool and think it doesn’t matter. Then I spend the day kicking s//t. Any time I put something out I’m afraid and I want people to like it. This record was not meant to sell.”
The interview (which was originally planned to include Juliana and drummer Josh Freese) confirms what has been hinted at in Instagram posts and Westerberg's site - The I Don't Cares are working on new music beyond the recent Wild Stab album.
For those of us interested in the work of Paul Westerberg through Juliana's current collaboration and long term fandom, today sees the publication of a new book on The Replacements by Bob Mehr.
Da Capo Press:
Based on all-new interviews and including 72 rare photos, Trouble Boys: The True Story of The Replacements is the definitive biography of one of the last great rock 'n' roll bands of the twentieth century. Written with the participation of the group's key members, including reclusive singer-songwriter Paul Westerberg, bassist Tommy Stinson, and the family of late guitarist Bob Stinson, Trouble Boys is a deeply intimate and nuanced portrait, exposing the primal factors and forces—addiction, abuse, fear—that would shape one of the most brilliant and notoriously self-destructive groups of all time.
Based on a decade of research and reporting, hundreds of interviews (with family, friends, managers, producers, and musical colleagues), as well as full access to the Replacements' archives at Twin/Tone and Warner Bros. Records, author Bob Mehr has fashioned something far more compelling than a conventional band bio.
You can read an excerpt at Rolling Stone.
For ordering info and other background to the book, there's an official site:
Blake Babies have launched their PledgeMusic project today!
John, Freda & Juliana:
In early March of 1988, we entered Fort Apache Studios in Cambridge, MA to capture our live set in a studio setting. We recorded 12 demos of songs for what would become our debut full length on Mammoth, Earwig. The master tapes from those sessions have been sitting on a few basement shelves since then and pretty much were forgotten about.
In 2015, we rescued the recordings and had the tapes remixed and remastered. And to our surprise, the demos turned out sounding better than anyone remembered.
They sounded so good that we had to do something special with them for you, the fans! We’re happy to announce that the Earwig Demos will finally be heard as intended, on vinyl ONLY here on PledgeMusic. While in our archives, we found some other unique and rare items to add to the pre-order. We hope you find something you will like.
There are vinyl, FLAC and MP3 ordering options plus other PledgeMusic exclusives.
3 private reunion shows are planned in the US - 2 in Boston, MA (on the same day) and 1 in Evanston, IL. Tickets for these limited shows are available (via PledgeMusic). Other than the possiblity of up to 3 extra acoustic house concerts available for $20,000 (!) each, the band "do not have any touring plans".
Exciting!
By Helen Frank of Sheffield, UK, this stop motion film is the 2nd fan made video to pass the I Don't Cares approval process.
@_HelenMF (Twitter)
Update - March 1:
The original post in February embedded a 1 minute clip. This has now been replaced by the full length video.
The I Don't Cares:
Are you an aspiring film maker? Clever or artistic? Too much time on your hands? Need to make a few bucks to cover rent this month?
Then what are you waiting for?
Paul and Juliana are inviting submissions for fan-made videos for any song on Wild Stab.
If they like them, they'll pay $1 per second.
Full details at paulwesterberg.com.
Whatever, My Love - the 2nd (or sophomore as those funny Americans like call it) album by The Juliana Hatfield Three from 2015 is being reissued on vinyl via a 2nd (sophomore) pressing.
Availability is estimated for August, 2016.
Fans of the long player who missed out first time round can now pre-order at American Laundromat, or via Cargo Records in the UK.
New album day!
Wild Stab is out now for download and streaming in most territories. There's a CD version available for order in the usual places too.
This is the debut album by The I Don't Cares - Juliana's collaboration with Paul Westerberg of the Replacements.
The Current has a brief review including this passage:
A lot of that contentedness seems to be the result of his new partnership with Juliana Hatfield, who makes up the other half of his new project the I Don’t Cares. Many of the songs on their new album, Wild Stab, could be classified as love songs, with titles like “Kissing Break,” Hands Together,” and “Love Out Loud.” And try as they might to prove to the listener that they didn’t put much thought into this project — the vibe is muddy and slapdash, and much of it sounds like it was pieced together from ramshackle of basement recordings — it’s pretty clear that Westerberg and Hatfield do care about this project, perhaps more than they’ve cared about any of their endeavors in quite some time.
More article and review links to follow when and if they appear.
There's been almost no promotion for this release, which is a little odd given Paul's cult status in indieland.
His fans on the Men Without Ties forum are approving on first listen. No surprise there, as it feels like there's more Westerberg on here than Hatfield, certainly on the vocal mix and guitar themes.
If you're hoping for a sharing of styles in the manner of the Dando / Hatfield shows or the Minor Alps project you might want to readjust your expectations!
There's still a lot to enjoy about this record.
— Freda Love Smith (@fredalovesmith) January 9, 2016
A photo of Freda, Juliana and Peter Wolf taken at last Friday's promotion event for Freda's book, via Twitter.
There's another photo at The Boston Globe.
From last week in Chicago, Freda & Robbie Fulks playing a Blake Babies track. There's more from the show at hmc1410's YouTube page.
Also, from earlier this month here's a brief WCIU-TV interview with Freda as part of her book promotion:
thanks to Carlos for the info here
Juliana is selling "small number of customized (ink-embellished) Polaroid self portraits onto canvas" via her website.
There are 12 designs to choose from, available for $100 USD each including postage.
Check them out at Juliana's official site.
Brad Walsh:
My strongest songwriting influences have always been female, and I was lucky enough to be able to work on this EP with some of the artists I idolized growing up. To be able to guide a rock legend like Juliana Hatfield into the realm of dance music, to have her hear what was done and respond with marvel, was a dream come true for me.
The PopCrush post also has a quote from Juliana about 'Easy'.
There's a new band in town.
They're called The I Don't Cares.
Juliana Hatfield is in it.
Paul Westerberg is in it.
There's a single.
It's called 1/2 2 P.
You can buy it at Nimbit Music.
You can buy it at iTunes or stream on Apple Music in the US & UK and no doubt elsewhere.
It's on Spotify.
It's on Rdio.
It's from an album called Wild Stab.
Wild Stab is "coming soon".
There you go.
For those of us who missed the shows or didn't pick up merch at the time, Juliana's official site is selling T-shirts from the JH3 US shows earlier this year.
There are two designs to choose from and the sale is 'for a limited time'.
here's a link to my latest ebay art experiments: http://t.co/kCjrDGqOYk
— Juliana Hatfield (@julianahatfield) August 18, 2015
