Speaking with Elvis Mitchell to promote his new book Cinema Speculation, Quentin Tarantino revealed that his 10th and final film will be completely original. According to IndieWire, Tarantino considered adapting Elmore Leonard’s novel Stick — maybe the novelist’s most famous noir, which was previously adapted as a no-frills thriller by auteur director Burt Reynolds in 1985 — but has instead dismissed doing an adaptation or sequel as his final send-off. For those keeping score at home, that also rules out a new Kill Bill entry (as well as any other Tarantino continuations on your fantasy draft).
However, Tarantino has found a small loophole.
During the conversation he intimated that the rapidly closing theatrical window created an existential crisis for defining “cinema,” and questioned whether creating something for streaming (and not for the big screen) would technically count as a feature film at all. Or at least a final one.
Even without employing the loophole, Tarantino isn’t exactly retiring. He also revealed that he’s directing an 8-episode series for a streaming service due out in 2023. That might be his western Bounty Law, unless all of his talk of making Bounty Law has been an elaborate in-Tarantinoverse joke. He also has another book contract with HarperCollins following Cinema Speculation, a play in the works, as many series as he wants to do, and he can always say he was joking about 10 before coming back for the lucky 11th. The big question for his “final” film is how he’s going to stuff every one of his recurring actors into it.
The YSL trial is set to take place in January, with Young Thug, Gunna, and 26 others as defendants. Thug, Gunna, and several others on Thug’s Young Stoner Life label were arrested back in May on racketeering, armed robbery and murder charges.
Today, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting that “around 300 witnesses” will be called to testify in the upcoming trial.
“I know from historical trials of this nature, it’s going to take a while,” said Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville.
Authorities have alleged that Thug and Gunna are leaders of a criminal street gang responsible for much of Atlanta’s crime. Prosecutors had previously filed a motion to push the trial back to March of 2023, however, said motion was denied by Glanville.
“Most of these people have no bonds, that is something that weighs heavily on the court in terms of a start date for this trial,” he said. “They deserve to have a right to go to trial.”
Maren Morris, no stranger to giving some shade to problematic celebrities, weighed in today on Candace Cameron-Bure making recent homophobic comments. The Full House star had announced she’d be contributing to the Great American Family channel. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Cameron-Bure shared that the programming would “keep traditional marriage at the core,” sparking serious controversy.
“Make DJ gay again,” Morris joked in a comment on Instagram. The viral post, complete with a photo of Cameron-Bure, reads, “you went decades without ever having to see an LGBTQ character on screen. now, we’re in 1 out of 5 movies. sorry if this disturbs you. sending thoughts and prayers.”
“I had also expressed in my interview, which was not included, that people of all ethnicities and identities have and will continue to contribute to the network in great ways both in front of and behind the camera,” Cameron-Bure offered as a rebuttal to the WSJ backlash. However, she also left the Hallmark Channel after a commercial featuring a same-sex couple aired, which… We will let the actions speak for themselves.
In addition to Morris jumping in, other celebrities have too. One Tree Hill star Hilarie Burton tweeted her reaction to Cameron-Bure’s comments. “Make your money, honey,” she posted. “You ride that prejudice wave all the way to the bank.” Selling Sunset‘s Chrishell Stause also gave some clapping hands emojis under the same viral post as Morris.
Bigot. I don’t remember Jesus liking hypocrites like Candy. But sure. Make your money, honey. You ride that prejudice wave all the way to the bank. https://t.co/X70aO4WIcB
Pixar‘s offering for 2023 looks like a gorgeous, inventive successor to its personified emotions in Inside Out. The teaser trailer for Elementalfollows the fiery Ember Lumen (voiced by Leah Lewis) as she dons her hoodie and headphones to ride the metro into Element City, passing by all the weird and wonderful denizens made of earth and air and water. It’s a great showcase of gags capped by a meet cute when her hand sizzles against Wade Ripple’s (voiced by Mamoudou Athie). She’s tough and sarcastic. He goes with the flow. And they’ll create an unlikely friendship in a world where different personalities all get to ride public transport together.
“My parents emigrated from Korea in the early 1970s and built a bustling grocery store in the Bronx,” Sohn said. “We were among many families who ventured to a new land with hopes and dreams—all of us mixing into one big salad bowl of cultures, languages and beautiful little neighborhoods. That’s what led me to Elemental.”
So far Pixar hasn’t explained what the movie is about, which is par for the course for a company that usually lets the animation and vibes of the world sell us on going. Speaking of which, we’ll have to physically go somewhere to see it because Elemental will be only in theaters June 16th. If you run into an attractive stranger on the metro on your way there, try not to drip on them.
Sliding into Steve McQueen’s shoes is never easy, but Bradley Cooper is going to give it the old college try. According to IndieWire, the 9-time Oscar nominee is dipping his toe back into the action world as Frank Bullitt, the character made famous by McQueen in the 1968 Peter Yates film that revolutionized the thriller genre. Granted, it’s being written by Josh Singer (Spotlight) and directed by Steven Spielberg (voice of the Amity Point Lifestation Worker in Jaws), so it’s completely possible that this foray into the underworld is another attempt at Oscar glory.
The funny thing is that, as daunting as it might be for any actor to take on a role owned by McQueen, a ton of pressure might face Spielberg, who will attempt to add another cinematic chapter to an iconic film that changed the game. Everyone will name Bullitt‘s car chase as one of the best in cinema history (we see you, Ronin), but its airport shootout and the rest of its action sequences were also top notch and creatively ambitious. It will be interesting to see if Spielberg uses the opportunity to go back to the car chase roots laid down by Bullitt in an era marked by jump cuts, blink-fast edits, CGI beef ups, and other nonsensical trickery.
Regardless, it’s an exciting jump back into genre with a hefty dose of prestige involved.
In Inside, Willem Dafoe plays an art thief who learns very quickly why you don’t trip the alarm system in a penthouse filled with non-edible art. Trapped inside with rising temperatures, nothing to eat, and a fish that looks like Dafoe’s character in Finding Nemo, he has a totally normal one besides scrawling nonsense on the walls and imploring an uninterested pigeon to help him out.
The drama from Greek director Vasilis Katsoupis hits theaters in March, when fans will try to spot if there are any other Finding Nemo nods (Dafoe’s character is, in fact, named Nemo). Dafoe was also in Inside Man, so there are a lot of opportunities for callbacks here. For what it’s worth, only three other actors are currently credited as working on the project. One of them is on the other end of Nemo’s comms, one of them is a cleaner, and one of them is listed as “Owner.” It’s highly likely that this movie is 99% comprised of Dafoe going slowly mad.
Just as perhaps all movies should be.
It’s a wild premise with the ideal actor for the part, and the trailer looks phenomenal in terms of dangerously high levels of blood pressure, claustrophobia, and forced refrigerator licking. Dafoe losing his mind should be the ideal thing to watch with a gigantic tub of popcorn.
If you use social media in one form or another, there’s a high chance you’ve seen hordes of Taylor Swift fans scrambling to get tickets to the 2023 US leg of her upcoming The Eras Tour. What you might not know, is that the Swiftie chaos was just for the presale alone. Today, Ticketmaster canceled the general on-sale — that is commonplace for most, if not all musicians (except for BTS’ Permission To Dance shows, which also had general cancelled). And this has only added fuel to the online fire.
Originally, Swifties were able to sign up for Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program until November 9, which allowed them to rank their preferred show dates. If chosen for the presale, fans were sent an exclusive code that would’ve allowed them to purchase up to six tickets. However, as fans on the East Coast found out Tuesday morning, this was not the case.
Between long queue lines, fans with merch boosts not getting in, repeated false charges, technical issues with the site, and much more, by the time fans made it into the ticket purchase area, there were none left. This prompted the West Coast presale to get postponed. Capital One offered another presale for cardholders yesterday, which saw similar results.
In the wake of disastrous ticket sales for large-scale acts like Swift, Blink-182, Olivia Rodrigo, and more, even politicians are calling Ticketmaster’s policies into question. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Tennessee’s Attorney General, Jonathan Skrmetti, have pointed out the potential of Ticketmaster breaking consumer laws and antitrust violations for their Live Nation merger.
Daily reminder that Ticketmaster is a monopoly, it’s merger with LiveNation should never have been approved, and they need to be reigned in.
“The site was supposed to be opened up for 1.5 million verified Taylor Swift fans,” Greg Maffei, Live Nation’s CEO, said on a CNBC appearance today. “We had 14 million people hit the site, including bots — another story — which are not supposed to be there. And despite all the challenges and breakdowns, we did we sell over two million tickets that day. We could’ve filled 900 stadiums.”
And, while they might’ve sold two million tickets, the majority of those haven’t appeared to land in the hands of fans. Most are currently on sites like Stubhub and other ticket resale companies, going for as high as $27,000 for certain seats. One fan even pointed out that people are selling non-tickets, merely for listening access outside of Swift’s Massachusetts show.
wow i’m so glad i can pay $250 and listen from a mile away!!! prices are getting so cheap pic.twitter.com/srtmsys4GV
On the heels of their latest album, The Family and their final album, TM, Brockhampton has announced their final show. Their swan song will take place at The Fonda on Los Angeles this Saturday (November 19).
The band announced their final show today via social media, and informed fans that they could purchase tickets. As the tickets are expected to sell out quickly, and the fact that non-LA fans may not be able to attend, the band has also shared that the show will be available to stream on Twitch.
Last year, the group spoke about their final era to GQ, noting that while they are not ending on bad terms, they are looking forward to experiencing life outside of the group.
“…at a certain point, people deserve to give their lives to themselves,” said Romil Hemnani, a producer and DJ for the band. “So it feels like it’s time to let everyone just spread their wings and do the things that they want to do. Being in a group, I love it so much, but there’s also compromise. And I think everyone kind of deserves the shot to do what they want—no compromises.”
The Family is out now via Question Everything and RCA Records. Stream it here. TM arrives 11/18 via Question Everything and RCA Records.
It’s always a good time to grab a really good bottle of single malt Scotch whisky. Yes, it’s more expensive and a little more elusive than just grabbing a bottle of bourbon here in the good ol’ U.S.A., but that’s not the point. Single malt scotch is a whole different beast with a unique and vibrant flavor profile that takes you to completely different places than corn-fueled bourbon whiskey. It’s apples and oranges, as the saying goes.
Today, to help you find a truly great single malt from Scotland, I’m conducting a blind taste test with some of the best unpeated Scottish malts I have on my shelves right now. For the tasting, I cast a wide net to battle it out between the new and old, the classic and the soon-to-be classic, the old guard and the new blood. The most affordable bottle on this list is around $55. The price only goes up from there. Still, I kept this in the “reasonable” price range. There are no unicorns in the thousands of dollars here.
This is a test of good and accessible whisky that you should be able to find in a quality liquor store. When it comes to the ranking, I’m basing that solely on taste. The price is beside the point. I’m looking for whiskies that stand out, bring a great nose and flavor profile, and have some serious nuance and balance. Still, in the end, the taste is all that really matters.
Today’s lineup is as follows:
The Balvenie French Oak Finished in Pineau Casks Aged 16 Years (New)
Cardhu Aged 16 Years 2022 Special Release (New)
Benromach Contrasts Organic (New)
Glenfiddich Grand Cru Aged 23 Years (Classic)
The Glenrothes 18 Years Old (Classic)
The Glenlivet Aged 21 Years (Classic)
Aberfeldy 18 Finished in Tuscan Red Wine Casks (New)
The GlenDronach Allardice Aged 18 Years (Classic)
Let’s dive in and find a great single malt worth spending a little cash on this season.
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Scotch Whisky Posts of The Last Six Months
The nose opens with a soft floral note next to fresh honey, green grass, pear skins, cinnamon rolls with vanilla posting, and a hint of orchard woods. The palate has a lemon meringue pie aura with subtle hints of honey-soaked gingerbread, shortbread biscuits, rum-raisin, and orange zest with a hint of salted dark chocolate lurking in the background. The end has a light mix of ginger candies and cinnamon-laced dark chocolate creaminess with a whisper of apple/pear tobacco.
This is great.
Taste 2
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
This opens with a nose full of barrel char and grilled tropical fruit all dusted with powdery winter spices and just kissed with taco seasoning, old leathery dates, a little bit of mango lassi, and a flutter of fresh laundry. The palate opens with a sweet and rummy burnt toffee nest to banana bread brimming with walnuts, brown butter, nutmeg, and soft sugar next to almond syrup and orange mixed with brandy and old oak. The end has a moment of black pepper spiciness that ends on a lightly fizzy apple cider and some soft caramel malts cut with a hint of woody spice.
Well, that’s another great pour of whisky. Seriously, this was astoundingly good.
Taste 3
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
This opens with a fascinating mix of bran muffins cut with rich vanilla and lemon oils next to dry ramen packs, softly stewed brown beans, and apple-cider-infused malts with a hint of cumin, cardamon, and cinnamon that’s almost garam masala. The palate leans into the spiced malts with an undercurrent of rich toffee, gingerbread, vanilla cream, and salted banana chips with a light flutter of sage and thyme. The end has a soft espresso cream vibe next to black licorice and dry chocolate crumbles.
This is so interesting on the nose and sort of classic on the palate. It’s a nice mix.
Taste 4
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
This is straight-up classic malt on the nose with stewed apples and pears with a slight tartness and floral impression over a buttery brioche with a hint of maple woodiness. The palate is lush and supple with a vanilla foundation and layers of pear candy, old toffees, creamed honey, and orchard wood with a sweet side. The end has a pear and apple skin ambiance that leads to barks, cores, and stems with soft floral honey and a tiny bit of proofing water.
This is really good and classic but a little watery at the very end.
Taste 5
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Butterscotch, leather, and passion fruit draw you in on the nose with pear candies and winter spices next to a hint of menthol. The palate stays butterscotch sweet with a spiced maltiness next to cinnamon-kissed crème brûlée, savory fruits, and a touch of vanilla cake. The end has a woody cinnamon vibe with figs, prunes, and some apple rock candy sweetness rounded out with musty old oak staves.
This was fine. The butterscotch was a little… tinny at first. I don’t know. I’m not over the moon on this one.
Taste 6
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Leather and winter spices lead the way on the nose with a hint of saffron-stewed pears, ripe peaches, and lush eggnog next to boiled beans with a bay leaf. The palate leans into the peaches and pears but puts them in a pie with plenty of cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg next to apricot jam and rum-raisin. The mid-palate hits a pine resin note before descending toward brandied cherries and dark chocolate with fresh ginger sharpens and a dash of cinnamon candy.
This is pretty nice overall. It’s not my favorite but it’s not bad by any stretch of the imagination.
Taste 7
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
There’s a cumin and chili powder essence on the nose with vanilla cream, cherry cake, and spiced caramel malts, and maybe a fleeting hint of flour tortillas with a hint of lard. The palate Leans into the spiced and sweet malts with a dash of sharp green pepper next to lime leaves before moist marzipan and vanilla cake counterpoint the spice with sweetness. The end has a soft oakiness that leads to a hint of soda bread with a mild pepperiness to the malt.
This was interesting. It’s warmer for sure but still has a nice balance of flavors vying for your palate’s attention.
Taste 8
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Wicker and root beer candied (you know, the little barrel-shaped ones) vibe on the nose with dates, blackberry jam, and plenty of old worn leather. The palate has a jammy plum quality that moves toward almond cake dusted with powdered sugar and dark chocolate next to a touch of cherry and apple bark. The end has a dark berry feel that circles around salted yet creamy dark chocolate cut with marzipan and vanilla cream that’s nearly a Black Forest cake.
This is a thick and dark pour of whiskey that tastes really goddamn good.
This Speyside whisky is often crowned the “Best Speyside” whisky at spirits competitions. The whisky is made from a high portion of first-fill sherry casks, all of which spent 18 long years mellowing in The Glenrothes warehouses. Those barrels are then vatted and proofed down with local water before bottling without any coloring added.
Bottom Line:
That butterscotch nose and flavor just didn’t sit well with me this time around. This was a fine whisky overall otherwise. But at nearly $200, you don’t want something that doesn’t part the clouds for you from the nose to the finish.
It’s all in the name of this yearly special release from Glenfiddich. The whisky matures for over 23 years in both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks before it’s vatted and then filled into French Cuvée casks that held Champagne. That whisky is then cut down to proof and bottled just in time for the holiday season.
Bottom Line:
This was fine and a very classic unpeated malt. The only place it flattens for me is on the finish, which exposes all that proofing water.
This redesigned The Glenlivet is still a classic whisky. The hot juice is aged in a triple combination of first-fill Oloroso sherry, Troncais oak Cognac casks, and vintage Colheita Port casks. After 21 long years (at least), the barrels are vatted and proofed down before bottling.
Bottom Line:
This is where we get into the no-fault section of this ranking. From here on out, I’m only going by what grabbed my attention most and what I want to actually drink in real life. This is probably the best-tasting whisky on the list that grabbed my attention the least. It’s great but not my favorite.
5. Aberfeldy 18 Finished in Tuscan Red Wine Casks — Taste 7
This year’s limited edition Aberfeldy 18 was finished in special red wine casks. Aberfeldy’s Stephanie Macleod hand-selected Tuscan red wine casks from Bolgheri, Italy to finish this whisky. Once those barrels hit the right spot, they were vatted, proofed, and bottled.
Bottom Line:
This is a really nice whisky that had a good balance of spicy and sweet. This feels like a good sipper if you’re looking for a challenge for your palate.
This is the first Soil Association-certified organic single malt from Scotland. The mash is made from organic Scottish barley. That juice was then filled into new American oak barrels for a long rest. When those barrels hit the right mark, they were batched, proofed, and bottled without chill filtration.
Bottom Line:
This was funky and fun. That makes it a very easy sipper that’d also work really well in a sweet and acidic cocktail.
3. The GlenDronach Allardice Aged 18 Years — Taste 8
This Highland whisky is a local tradition of sorts, dating back to the brand’s origins in the 1820s. The whisky in the bottles is hewn from barrels of at least 18-year-old whiskies. The maturation is done exclusively in hand-picked Olorosso sherry casks from Spain.
Bottom Line:
This was deep and dark. It had a little woody edge which is why it’s slightly lower in the ranking. Otherwise, this is a killer bottle of whiskey that feels like the ideal cold-weather sipper.
2. The Balvenie French Oak Finished in Pineau Casks Aged 16 Years — Taste 1
The juice here is a masterful blend from whisky legend David Stewart. After around 15 years of aging, the whisky is transferred to Pineau des Charentes casks (a French fortified wine) for a final maturation, which is The Balvenie’s first foray into French oak finishing. The whisky is then bottled with a touch of water but as-is otherwise.
Bottom Line:
This is just a great pour of whisky. Take your time with it and really dig into the nose and palate to find some great flavor notes.
1. Cardhu Aged 16 Years 2022 Special Release — Taste 2
This Speyside unpeated malt was aged in refill and re-charred American oak bourbon barrels for 16 years. That whisky was then refilled into Jamaican pot still rum-seasoned casks for a final rest before vatting and bottling as-is.
Bottom Line:
This really popped on the panel. It’s dark and fresh, unique and deep, fun and enticing. I really wanted to go back for more of this one.
Part 3: Final Thoughts
Zach Johnston
Well, the most expensive whisky certainly didn’t win the day. Hell, the most expensive whisky damn near landed in last place in this blind tasting and ranking.
As for the battle between new and classic bottles of Scotch single malt, the newbies stole the show. With the exception of that delectable The GlenDronach 18, the top bottles were all the new ones. What does it all mean? Not much? Everything? Something in between? Look, we’re still talking about expressions from amazingly iconic brands here. So it’s not that big of a surprise that classic brands can still kill it when they try something new.
Overall, you cannot go wrong with that Cardhu 16. It’s so vibrant and fun to sip. If you want something a little more attuned to a bourbon palate, I’d go with The GlenDronach 18. It’s dark and sweet with plenty of spice like an old bourbon. No matter what you chose from this list, you’ll be in good hands. So go back through those tasting notes and find the bottle that speaks to you.
After spending the past four years fully immersed in the Neil Young catalog, it’s only right that Jeff Rosenstock and Laura Stevenson have begun to emulate his views on technology. “Get rid of the internet, we didn’t earn it,” Rosenstock shouts, with Stevenson providing a more even-keeled harmony — “we didn’t use it properly.” In fairness, both artists have long had to balance their drive to democratize the music industry with pragmatism — even the most idealistic DIY artist will almost certainly have to use the internet as a means of distribution in 2022, putting them at the mercy of some tech mogul. But less than 24 hours after releasing Younger Still, their second Neil Young covers EP, they have more reason than usual to be inflamed.
Elon Musk’s $44-billion takeover of Twitter has just taken effect and the duo have settled on a kind of nihilistic optimism, that this might be the extinction level event that frees them from decades of spiritual bondage. “Kill Twitter for me so I don’t look at it anymore,” Rosenstock jokes, having yet to fully surrender like Stevenson, who has outsourced all social media management to her husband. Seeing as how three years separate the conception of this 4-song EP to execution, it’s worth pointing out how the project could have been far more prolific had they, like so many other their peers, embraced the possibilities of remote collaboration during the pandemic. Yet that approach would contradict the entire point of Younger Still and its predecessor — “let’s find a reason to hang out.”
Throughout most of their friendship, they rarely needed much of a reason or predetermination to collaborate. Rosenstock sees both EPs as a sort of throwback, “in the spirit of the periods when both of us were playing in six bands at the same time.” Occasionally, those projects would intersect, such as the 2009 split between Stevenson and Bomb the Music Industry!, the massively influential punk rock collective that Rosenstock fronted prior to forming the Death Rosenstock band. But as the two toyed with the possibility of recording a batch of Neil Young covers in 2019, the demands of adulthood and their individual successes would soon create an impassable distance. Though Rosenstock’s songwriting (and IRL) voice makes him innately suited to play the role of the neurotic New Yorker, his contributions to the Cartoon Network sitcom Craig Of The Creek helped make the long-considered move to Los Angeles a reality. Meanwhile, Stevenson was in her first trimester of pregnancy and desperately trying to avoid throwing up during the drives from upstate to recording sessions at Rosenstock’s home in Brooklyn. “I was just so nauseous the whole time, shoving saltines in my face,” she recalls.
Even with their technophobic leanings, we’re still canvassing the entirety of the United States via Zoom — Stevenson is in her Saugerties home, backed by a gigantic bookcase, whereas Rosenstock is flanked in the blindingly bright, 55-degree weather that Los Angeles passes off for “autumn.” Though separated by thousands of miles, the two finish each other’s sentences and swap stories about Jones Beach and MTV like they’re still hanging out in Long Island. Rosenstock and Stevenson see their impending 10-date, cross-country run as something of a paid vacation, albeit one where they’re still packing at the last minute. “It’s hard to describe it without making us sound unprepared,” Rosenstock laughs, as the two try to suss out the setlist in real time. But much like Younger Still, the tour exists to reconnect with the artistic and personal philosophy they’ve shared since their teens — “we should do this, life is short. I miss you. Let’s get in a car.”
Do you see recording cover songs as a break from writing original material or does it happen alongside it?
Jeff Rosenstock: I don’t look at it as taking a break from anything. At least for me, it’s an excuse to make stuff with Laura so we could have fun doing something and not really feel any pressure to write a good song. Because someone already did that! We just have to barely play.
Neil Young has written a lot of good songs and a lot of bad ones too, though.
Rosenstock: We haven’t covered any of the bad ones — Laura, are you upset about that? That we haven’t done “Motorcycle Mama”?
Laura Stevenson: Yeah, I really like “Piece Of Crap.” That’s always been my favorite “bad Neil Young song.” When I was young, I thought it was the funniest song I’d ever heard in my life.
Rosenstock: Maybe this tour will just be us playing a long “Piece Of Crap.”
Stevenson: If we do that and deconstruct a bad Neil Young song, we might find out that it’s actually fucking genius.
Rosenstock: That’s likely, I’d say.
I’m no expert on Neil Young, but I’ve definitely heard “Piece Of Crap” and know there are people who’ll vouch for it, especially since it came at a time when he was reestablishing himself for a new generation as the “godfather of grunge.” But what about the “bad songs” from when he was actively trying to break his record deal?
Rosenstock: Like if we did “Kinda Fonda Wanda?” But yo…I watched the video for “Kinda Fonda Wanda” off Everybody’s Rockin’, it’s kind of a good song! It’s stupid, but it’s still kind of a good song.
Stevenson: It’s rockin’!
After you released Still Young, were there any fans saying that this EP introduced them to Neil Young?
Stevenson: I feel like anyone who knows me has listened to Neil Young. He’s huge and I’m really obscure so how could you know me and not know who Neil Young is?
Rosenstock: You’ve probably gone through the A-list…
Stevenson: Before you get to that G-list.
Rosenstock: We didn’t do good enough to inspire anybody to say, “hey, that’s nice.”
Stevenson: Hey, my dad likes it.
Rosenstock: Laura’s dad likes it, John [DeDomenici, Death Rosenstock bassist]’s dad likes it. A lot of dads out there are happy about it.
You can do worse than breaking the “dad rock” demographic.
Rosenstock: Yeah, why isn’t there anything for older men, huh?
Maybe in 20 years, “dad rock” cover albums will be of Green Day or something like that. But as people who came up in Long Island’s punk scene, I’m curious about how the two of you first got introduced to Neil Young. When I was listening to Green Day and coming of age in the mid-90s, I mostly knew Neil Young as “that classic rock guy who Pearl Jam really likes.”
Rosenstock: I knew Neil Young as “Rockin’ In The Free World” and that he made a record with Pearl Jam that I didn’t really care about. Also, Neil Young on MTV Unplugged. When I was young, I don’t think I wanted to listen to anything that wasn’t just either really bouncy or in-your-face. Like pop or punk or metal or rap. I always knew Neil Young was good, but I listened to Harvest and was like, “I don’t care about this.” Because, “A Man Needs a Maid” — terrible song! “Old Man,” kind of a terrible song! There’s a lot of terrible songs on Harvest, this is my axe to grind with the world of Neil Young fans. But then I texted you and Mike, your husband — like, “hey, where do I get started,” because I feel like I want to like Neil Young and I don’t like this [Harvest]. You recommended After The Gold Rush and Comes A Time and I liked them both. In particular, I was listening to After The Gold Rush on a tour for a long time and did a deep dive when I was older, late 20s, I guess. It’s not that old, but older than when I was like, “is it Biohazard? Because if it’s not Biohazard, I’m not listening to it.”
Stevenson: My dad is the biggest Neil Young fan in the world. That’s the reason he has a computer, he just lives in the message boards for Neil bootlegs and is very deep in the world of nerd Neil fans. There was a stretch of time that, whenever I was at his house in the morning, he would put on Comes A Time, and that was the music I woke up to in the living room. That record really resonated with me and I love it. It’s those songs from your childhood that are just the soundtrack of your life, you’re not really diving in, it’s kinda fed to you. So later in my 20s, I would go deeper, the same thing with Grateful Dead. The Grateful Dead was always on, I was going to their concerts and Jerry Garcia Band concerts, like…“oh, there’s that chorus that I like and there’s a lot of jamming that I don’t like.” But when I saw Neil, I liked the jamming because it was very interesting and rough and super distorted. I liked Green Day and punk bands in the early-to-mid-’90s, so I liked distorted guitars and Neil was doing that. Like, oh, you can be a band that my dad likes but also be rockin’, in a way that I like.
Rosenstock: You saw Neil Young a bunch when you were a kid?
Stevenson: Yup!
Rosenstock: Jones Beach?
Stevenson: Jones Beach, Madison Square Garden…my dad would take me to shows all the time and my mom was mad. Whenever it was my dad’s weekend, he’d take us to shows. I had to make an invention for a class assignment in fourth grade, and I was always so embarrassed that I was wearing wax earplugs and they were always getting stuck in my hair and it looked so disgusting. So my invention was just a headband, but you can wear it over your wax earplugs and no one has to know you’re a loser.
Do you remember what grade you got?
Stevenson: Probably not a good grade. All I had to do was put a headband over my ears, I didn’t have to do anything.
Rosenstock: It could pass as an invention in second grade…you didn’t put any glitter glue on it?
Jeff, were your parents taking you to any shows as a kid?
Rosenstock: No! Maybe later, but I didn’t go to concerts with my parents all that much. We saw KC And The Sunshine Band play for free in New York one time and then my parents drove me to Warped Tour.
Stevenson: They were really different experiences, but I didn’t have MTV, so I was completely disconnected. I didn’t have an older sibling who showed me cool stuff. I was just trying to find stuff on the radio so I was just being fed everything.
Rosenstock: We did have good radio in Long Island, 92.7, WDRE…
What was it about After The Gold Rush that resonated with you where Harvest didn’t?
Rosenstock: The songs that sounded like a Defiance, Ohio record. That song “After The Gold Rush” sounds like a normal person just singin’ his heart out — minimal arrangements, good ass songs!
Stevenson:After The Gold Rush is the one I suggested to Jeff as a songwriter. Comes A Time has a lot of good hooks, but After The Gold Rush had more of a…romantic composer [feel], very emotional. There’s a beautiful color to it that I thought would interest Jeff as a writer who’s interested in the individual voice.
Rosenstock: There’s a lot of heart in how he’s singing. On Younger Still, you brought TWO songs from American Stars & Bars into the pile, which is a record that I have almost never thought about. It’s a good record.
Stevenson: I like those songs especially, and as a younger person, I was just drawn to the cover.
Rosenstock: The cover is awesome, it’s punk.
Stevenson: It’s so sick, I really wish we had found a way to make [our cover] a drunk dog and a drunk dog stripper…
Rosenstock: To whoever’s reading this, we need to find out whether it’s painted or a collage. I feel like it’s painted.
Stevenson: I feel like it’s a collage.
Rosenstock: Didn’t Harry Dean Stanton’s son make it? It looks like an oversaturated collage, it looks like a Thermals album cover. You guys are laughing at me! F*ck you, Laura! F*ck you, Ian! It’s 2022, if there’s an idea that people disagree with, I have to double down.
With that attitude, I can’t believe you’re not gonna miss Twitter when it’s gone! In the meantime, were there any songs that you tried out that didn’t make the cut?
Rosenstock: “Borrowed Tune,” “On The Beach,” “Like A Hurricane”…was there another one that didn’t make it?
Stevenson: I had an idea for “Hey Babe” — “we need to make this into an Antarctigo Vespucci song, super poppy and full-band.” And it didn’t end up that way, but it ended up way better than I would’ve imagined it. The songs that really resonated with us were the ones that melodically could work in any format.
Rosenstock: The way that we record, there was no way to make [a full-band “Hey Babe”] sound good — it’s two of us in a room, picking up things and playing it at the same time. It’s not a big, “two guitars, drums and bass” thing happening. Out of the pile, “Like A Hurricane” was gonna be such a rocker. But like, what are we gonna do for eight minutes? That’s not a great place to start if you’re making a record in four days. It was stuff we were fucking around with, like oh, “‘Razor Love’ sounds kinda good? Does this kinda work with you playing guitar and me playing drums and signing these parts?” Were we talking about doing “Walk On”? “Looking For A Love,” “Barstool Blues,” “Don’t Cry No Tears”…the Cyndi Lauper version [ed note: he might be referring to “Don’t Cry No More,” which is a completely different song]. Great, it’s gone, who needs it!
What are the plans for the setlist on the upcoming tour?
Stevenson: We’re still discussing it, we’ll figure it out.
Rosenstock: We’ll play some of our own songs, our hope is that it works. It’ll be a nice, intimate…intimate is the wrong word. Real casual. And hopefully, we don’t take “casual” too far.
Stevenson: We will be taking no requests. [laughs]
Will anyone else be joining the two of you on stage?
Rosenstock: It seems like it’s just the two of us for now, we’re figuring out how to arrange these things. Go see the shows!
Stevenson: We like the way that each other drives. Jeff’s my favorite driver on tour, and I’d like to think I’m your favorite driver on tour.
Rosenstock: You are and you’re my favorite shotgun.
Stevenson: And you’re my favorite shotgun!
Rosenstock: Really?
Stevenson: You’re way better than Matt was.
Rosenstock: I’m way better than Matt [Keegan] from Bomb The Music Industry! who turned off Laura’s music while he was asleep in shotgun.
Stevenson: The worst shotgun of all time.
What makes for a good driver on tour?
Stevenson: Safety, space.
Rosenstock: And if you could do it with safety and space…speed. I’ll say it!
Stevenson: Gentle speed.
Rosenstock: The three S’s: safety, space, and speed. And sobriety.
Stevenson: There’s four.
Rosenstock: And staying awake.
Stevenson: Sensitivity. Sense of humor.
Rosenstock: Converssssation.
Are the two of you locked into future Neil Young cover EPs or are you considering pivoting to a different classic rock artist?
Rosenstock: Nah… I don’t know what happened. I thought about covering some shit that’s on that first f*cking thing [Still Young] and I was, like, “Laura you wanna do this?” It wasn’t like, “what’s our angle to break into this thing as two friends chopping it up together” or anything like that.
Stevenson: It would have to only be other Neils — Neil Diamond, Neil Sedaka…
Rosenstock: This is why we work well together, I’ll do both of those. Neil Hamburger…
Vince Neil?
Rosenstock: He’s a murderer. We don’t cover known murderers.
He certainly doesn’t abide by the Five S’s of Good Tour Driving.
Rosenstock: He’s got speed. At some point in 2023, we’ll record more songs and put those together with the ones we finished in Brooklyn but didn’t put out. It’ll be a 12” vinyl like, “here’s all the stuff we did together for a couple of years.” Let’s assume the tour goes well, like, we don’t cancel on day two because, hey we’re bad.
Stevenson: We don’t have COVID…
Rosenstock: We don’t have COVID, ticket sales were good, it’s just you don’t want to see this! Assuming that doesn’t happen, it’s just cool we have a nice document of the time we hung out together as we were both growing up in our lives and taking on new weird shit and communicating together through music and this weird anchor. It’s cool that we have these moments in time captured that have nothing to do with us writing it out — we just made this stuff together.
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