{"id":571,"date":"2001-11-15T01:45:00","date_gmt":"2001-11-15T01:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/?p=571"},"modified":"2024-03-26T01:47:07","modified_gmt":"2024-03-26T01:47:07","slug":"low-fi-underachievers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/?p=571","title":{"rendered":"Low-fi underachievers?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

No, San Diego trio Pinback probably won\u2019t be future VH1 fodder<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Pinback\u2019s
Pinback\u2019s Armistead Burwell \u201cZach\u201d Smith IV and Rob Crow: \u201cAt least now we won\u2019t have to contribute to that Wipers tribute album.\u201d (Not pictured: Tom Zinsor.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Live! 8 p.m. Thursday, November 15, at Capitol Garage, 1427 l St., with Hella and Boilermaker. All ages; admission is $7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over half the overexposed trash that commercial <\/strong>radio shoves down our throats comes via bands that never paid their dues. Whether it\u2019s a result of someone copulating with an A&R rep, laying out payola for record spins, foisting a band on the VH1 show Bands on the Run<\/em> or onto tours sponsored by Nescaf\u00e9 or Honey Nut Cheerios, it would seem that the music has taken the back seat to a quickie paycheck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of VH1, Pinback, a San Diego-based trio that plays Capitol Garage on Thursday, is a veritable Behind the Music<\/em> episode waiting to happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a safe bet that Pinback\u2019s three members have become disenchanted with the music industry by now. The trio was signed to the Portland-based Tim Kerr label, an Astroturf indie that had the Wipers, Pere Ubu and Dandy Warhols on its roster. But Pinback\u2019s contract with Tim Kerr had some major pitfalls, which precipitated a six-month legal battle that eventually landed them on Ace-Fu Records, home to Tight Bros From Way Back When, the Champs, Heartworms (ex-Velocity Girl), and Sucka MC\u2019s. Blue Screen Life<\/em> is the trio\u2019s second full-length platter\u2014although the band has released a self-produced, low-fi live effort titled Live in Donnie\u2019s Garage<\/em>, along with a 7-inch single and a hard-to-find EP called Some Voices<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bassist\/vocalist Armistead Burwell Smith IV, better known as the monosyllabic Zach, and drummer Tom Zinsor both had a short-lived run in 3-Mile Pilot. But that band suffered from the same lousy distribution, via the San Diego-based Cargo Music label, that effectively marginalized such local heroes as Forever Goldrush and the now-defunct Drop Acid, the latter featuring Kevin Seconds and Heckler magazine\u2019s Sonny Mayugba. Pinback also features vocalist\/guitarist Rob Crow, whose CV includes such luminary combos as Optiginally Yours, Heavy Vegetable and Thingy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crow has a few opinions on why certain releases come to fruition, particularly the band\u2019s live CD-R, which is available only at Pinback\u2019s live shows. \u201cIt\u2019s mostly just kind of killing two birds with one stone,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s cool to have something different to sell to people that want to see you, [so they] have something to take home. We don\u2019t purposely make it so people can\u2019t have something.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for paying dues, Crow has worked at his share of shit jobs\u2014McDonald\u2019s, Jack in the Box, Carl\u2019s Jr., apartment manager\/slumlord. Whether or not he finds \u201csuccess\u201d with his current bandmates has yet to be determined. Fortunately, the daunting task of going on tour pales when compared to flipping burgers. What\u2019s most important for Crow is that, these days, he seems focused on just making good music. \u201cAll I want to do is write music and try to make something with integrity,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone looking for sonic dissonance and overt song structures can find solace in Pinback. From Brian Eno to the Jam and the Beatles, Crow and Smith aren\u2019t afraid to post influences on their sleeves, whether they originated from their previous bands or came from current music. The result is Blue Screen Music<\/em>, an album overflowing with melodic, introspective rock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps on this November\u2019s tour, one of whose stops is Capitol Garage, Sacramento\u2019s last bastion for true indie rock, the band will bring along another CD-R to satiate the appetites of its acolytes and newfound fans. If Pinback\u2019s live show is anywhere near as good as performances by its members\u2019 former bands have been, you should be in for a real treat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why should you bother to leave home to see Pinback? Why not? It certainly beats waiting 10 years to see a rehash on VH1\u2019s\u00a0Behind the Music<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(SN&R)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No, San Diego trio Pinback probably won\u2019t be future VH1 fodder Live! 8 p.m. Thursday, November 15, at Capitol Garage, 1427 l St., with Hella and Boilermaker. All ages; admission is $7. Over half the overexposed trash that commercial radio shoves down our throats comes via bands that never paid their dues. Whether it\u2019s a result […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=571"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":572,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571\/revisions\/572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}