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While it was warm in 2008, I traveled the United States with a crew of friends directing promotional videos for Rock Band 2, a rhythm and timing-based video game that came with guitars, drum kits and vocal mics. We traveled with modified Xboxes and prototypes of the instruments.
The appeal of these sorts of campaigns was that we could dash across the United States, conjuring surreal adventures. Swimming in the Ozarks with catfish grabblers. Hanging off murdered out choppers from Sturgis to the Devil’s Tower. Squishing our way through red clay of a riverside land trust that members of the Elephant 6 Collective had moved into outside of Athens, Georgia.
Johnny Knoxville had a batch of ideas to shoot back home in Tennessee, so we drove deep into the profoundly corrupt Cocke County, Tennessee. We crept past cement infrastructure inexplicably built in the undeveloped woods. Highway exit ramps that weren’t connected to any highways. Contractors being paid to build sections of bridges over no actual gap. Money being siphoned and kicked back as we tried to find Parrotsville, TN.
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Sep 23, 2024
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Hard to pick just one song from MJ Lenderman's Manning Fireworks (which Lance Bangs wrote about for Perfectly Imperfect) but Joker Lips is definitely a favorite. It's packed with some of the best Lendermanisms of the whole record
Kahlúa shooter, DUI scooter
With a rolling start on the hill
This morning's tryin' to kill me
This morning wants to kill me
It also came with a perfect music video from uncle_hesh which elevated the experience for sure.
Dec 30, 2024
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i love a little alternative country moment! i really like the tounge-in-cheek, referential lyrics and the kind of dirty guitar tone. lenderman is a great lyricist and musician, and yes, i‘ve got my houseboat docked at the himbo dome. super excited to see him live in january!!
Nov 22, 2024
I finally got “MJ Lenderman: Manning Fireworks” after a three (3) month wait from the public library. This album was so frequently rec’d when I joined PI.FYI in January that I knew it would be good. His music reminds me of seeing Ben Kweller play in tiny raucous venues as a teenager. Every single song is a no-skip. Was pumped to add it to my iPod knowing this record is gonna be in heavy rotation this spring.
Apr 7, 2025
Top Recs from @lancebangs
I get the most out of “Wristwatch,” with its descending riffs giving way to Xandy’s pedal steel on top of the guitar lead. The lyrics open with “So you say I’ve got a funny face/It makes me money” which conjures up a character misquoting Quiet Riot’s 1983 cover of Slade’s “Cum on Feel the Noize.” Lenderman excels at characters that come across as guys not getting it right, low-key committed to not quite understanding. A denseness, a hapless but easily seen wrongheadedness. Doubling down on not wising up.
Dec 30, 2024