Switchblade Comb

From Eardrum available now on Blacksmith Records.

Elliott Smith lost to Celine Dion’s Titanic schlock “My Heart Will Go On”, and Aimee Mann lost to Phil Collins’ Tarzan boilerplate “You’ll Be In My Heart”, but sometimes the good guys do win at the Academy Awards. At this year’s Oscars, Glen Hansard of the Frames and partner Markéta Irglová, aka the Swell Season, aka stars of the indie gem Once, walked off with the Best Original Song statue for their lovely “Falling Slowly”, landing them in the rarified company of past winners Bob Dylan, Irving Berlin, and Three 6 Mafia. We spoke to the pair a few days after their win, and we could practically feel the glow over the phone.

Pitchfork: I won’t be the first to say congratulations.

Glen Hansard: Oh, thanks man!

Pitchfork: Aside from John Travolta handing you an Oscar in front of millions of people, what was the most surreal aspect of that night?

GH: What happened to me…it was the strangest thing. When we played our song, we were pretty nervous, but we felt fairly together. We knew John Travolta was giving out the category, and myself and Mar, we just grabbed each other and gave a little look when he just said “Glen Hansard….” When he first goes “And the Oscar goes to…,” from that point on for about two hours my mind is completely blank. It’s almost like when your electricity trips out. My brain just kind of tripped out! I somehow got through it all. I switched into secondary brain power or something. But I literally forgot two hours of the evening. Now I know why the fucking press wants your reaction straight away! They want you in that state. Somehow in that state you reveal something else of yourself. It’s a very strange thing. The first thing that happens is you get thrown in a press room, and you’re standing on the stage going [babbles]. Like garbling what you’re trying to say.

Pitchfork: It’s wild, coming from an independent music background. Once has made about $14 million at the box office, which in Hollywood is modest at best. But for an independent musician, that’s inconceivable.

GH: It’s insane. We honestly have no idea how this all happened. The original marketing plan for Once was to get one 35mm print made, which was going to cost us like four grand. A lot of money. We were going to drive around Ireland in a car, and [writer/director] John [Carney] was going to introduce the film. We figured there were enough Frames fans in Ireland to fill the cinemas. I was going to play a few songs with Mar at the end, and we were going to sell the DVD on the way out. That was huge. That was our plan to make our money back, and if it worked in Ireland, we were going to take it to the Czech Republic and try it there. In the background, John was sending it to all the festivals. Everybody refused it. The mad irony is that we sent it to Sundance but it didn’t get in! It got refused. You probably know this story, but we showed it in Galway and one guy just happened to be in Galway and saw our film by chance. He said he worked for Sundance and wanted to bring them a copy of the film. We didn’t even tell him that we had been refused! We said yeah, cool, brilliant, take it. And we got in.

Pitchfork: You and Markéta are playing some pretty big places on your tour. In Chicago, it’s the Chicago Theatre [approx. 3,500 seats -Ed.].

GH: A year and a half ago we played the Hideout [approx. 100 seats -Ed.]! [laughs]

Pitchfork: Speaking of changing the cover, am I imagining things, or did they change the Once poster when it got released on DVD? They changed what you’re wearing.

GH: Oh, man. They fuckin’ killed it. You’re right. They have us holding hands, which we never do in the film! Those legs aren’t mine. Those legs are like three times longer than my legs. It’s a completely new body. They literally just used my face. I’m wearing a hat in the original picture, so they Photoshopped my head. If you look at my head, my head looks totally weird, because whoever did the Photoshop job was shit. My head looks really weird, they took my hat off, and they gave me an entirely new body. It’s completely bizarre. And they made Mar much taller than she really is. You can look at the original cover and then what they did to it and spot all the crappy differences. It’s awful. It’s a real shame. But at a certain level you’ve got to let this shit go. I designed the original poster and the cover of the DVD myself. Myself and John like to do things ourselves, and I do a bit of design for the Frames. I designed all the Frames album covers. So I put together the DVD cover and the poster originally. And then they took it and fucking bastardized it. Instead of walking down a street, they stuck us walking down a big guitar.

Pitchfork: Again, it’s a different world. The music industry is sketchy enough as it is, but the movie industry is 100 times that.

GH: Yeah, it’s just blatant. They don’t give a fuck. They want you to look at the DVD cover and get everything from that. It’s the opposite of what someone like Criterion would do. They create wonderful art. With a Criterion DVD, you just want to buy it for the box. They do it right. With the bigger-time DVDs…they could have done such a nicer job. But I’m just complaining from a design point of view.

Pitchfork: Is Markéta around? Could you pass the phone?

GH: Yeah, I’ll go get her. Thanks!

Markéta Irglová: Hello?

Pitchfork: You get a congratulations, too.

MI: Thank you.

Pitchfork: Is it true that Colin Farrell had something to do with getting you back out to make your speech?

MI: I actually don’t know. I don’t know what happened, to be honest. I know that Colin Farrell was a huge supporter. He was so great. He came to rehearsals at 9 a.m. to say hello and say he’d be supporting us there that night. He was so great and friendly, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he did, but I honestly don’t know. I also hear that maybe the director of the show was the one who called it, or maybe it was Jon Stewart who called. All I know is that Jon Stewart came up to me and said “let’s get you back on stage.” But who took the initiative? I don’t know.

Pitchfork: It’s nerve-wracking enough when your name is announced. Is it even more nerve-wracking to have to go back out again?

MI: No. I thought we’d be so nervous performing that song, and that I would be shaking all trough the song. That’s what I expected. It’s a big deal! But I was very surprised by myself. I kept waiting for the nerves to hit, and they didn’t. It was just really enjoyable to be part of that, even when I went on stage. Playing for all those people in the room, looking at all the people with their fingers crossed for us. I was just so happy. When we went on stage after our names were announced, I was just so full of joy and so excited. We had agreed that if we went up there, Glen would be the one to get to say something. That was OK with me. So when they asked me to go back on stage and make my speech, I actually didn’t have anything prepared. It was kind of a mistake, really. I had honestly just leaned forward to say thank you, with this big screen in front of me counting down the time and saying “wrap it up.” So I literally just wanted to say thank you, but the mic was off and the orchestra was playing. That was fine with me. It wasn’t like I had some big speech prepared, but I guess it looked like I was in the middle of saying something when they cut me off. But even though I didn’t expect it, I was delighted to get to go back onstage and say something. I had a ball.

READ THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW HERE

(via Pitchfork)

Drummer Chris Tomson was struck by a car outside a London hotel last night (February 28), according to an NME.com report and confirmed by Vampire Weekend’s publicist.

A Vampire Weekend in-store gig at Rough Trade tonight has been cancelled, but the band’s upcoming North American dates, UK return (including ATP vs. Pitchfork), and fest dates beyond are all still on.”

From The 11th Hour due March 11 on Definitive Jux.

From Devotion out now on Carpark.

(via Stereogum)

The sound is spotty at the start, but it improves slightly by the end. It’s the Hold Steady, I’ll take what I can get.

The Hold Steady showcased the title track from their fourth album in that stream we posted last week. Now we have “Stay Positive” video evidence. Craig looks every bit the part of the hardcore singer with his frequent hand gestures, crowd riling hand claps, and positive youth (of today) exultations. Right, he always looks like that. The show’s from 2/26 — this past Tuesday — the band wigging out at Manchester Academy. Anarchy in the UK, etc.

Rising Down comes out on April 29th via Def Jam.

Featuring Justin Timberlake.

From The Odd Couple, due April 8 via Downtown.

In the footsteps of King of the Hill, this new show will be all about Family Guy character Cleveland Brown.

The project, tentatively titled Cleveland, is being written by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, Mike Henry — who voices Cleveland and serves as writer-producer on the series — and The Simpsons alum Rich Appel, executive producer/showrunner on MacFarlane’s other animated comedy for Fox, American Dad.

Opens April 25 at either the Uptown or Lagoon Theater.

Legendary filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai directs Jude Law and Norah Jones in his first English-language feature film — a romantic road movie detailing the cross-country journey of a woman who sets off across the United States in hopes of mending her broken heart. Elizabeth has just been through a particularly nasty break-up, and now she’s ready to leave her friends and memories behind as she chases her dreams across the country. In order to support herself on her journey, Elizabeth picks up a series of waitress jobs along the way. As Elizabeth crosses paths with a series of lost souls, their emotional turmoil ultimately helps her gain a greater understanding of her own problems.

My Blueberry Nights - Trailer

These guys have great rapport together. Shootin’ the shit about the 2008 presidential race.

“B Movie Legend Bruce Campbell is mistaken for his character Ash from the Evil Dead trilogy and forced to fight a real monster in a small town in Oregon.”

Directed by Bruce Campbell.

No release date yet for the film. Caught in distribution hell at the moment.

CBC Radio Two has posted a full concert stream from Tegan and Sara on their Concerts on Demand page.

“Tegan and Sara Quin were born eight minutes apart, in Calgary. When they were teenagers, they entered the “Garage Warz Battle of the Bands” and won.

Skip ahead to 2007 — they’ve just released their 5th cd, called “the Con” — and they’re touring all over North America and Australia this fall to promote it. CBC Radio 2 recorded Tegan and Sara here in their hometown at the end of September at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium.”

Set list:

* [Applause - Artists Entering]
* Call It Off
* Dark Come Soon
* Monday Monday Monday
* Nineteen
* Speak Slow
* So Jealous
* Divided
* [Applause And Presentation]
* When I Get Up
* Where Does The Good Go
* Hop Plane
* Back In Your Head
* Are You Ten Years Ago
* [Applause And Presentation]
* The Con
* I Was Married
* Take Me Anywhere
* I Know I Know
* Umbrella (Rihanna cover)
* Living Room

Stream: Tegan and Sara live in Calgary

Psych! Just kidding, but they are recording at Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch. According to an L.A. Times piece on the compound:

“Outside the theater I see some guys with tattoos and skater-metal hair. It’s the band Rancid, visiting the ranch scoring stage for a three-week album session. (The place has lot of music clients; the Rolling Stones, Herbie Hancock, Faith Hill, Third Eye Blind and Kronos Quartet have recorded here, some looking for the perfect acoustics, others for a studio with no pubs in sight).

As I pass Rancid, they are discussing the vagaries of punk-rock credibility while sipping tea and coffee drinks. I bite my tongue and keep walking.”

Rancid - “Fall Back Down” (from the fiercely underrated Indestructible LP)