(Photo by Leah O'Connor) 

Some things never change. The sun will always rise in the east. The roadrunner will always outsmart the coyote. Clowns will always scare the crap out of at least 85% of the general population. Parents will truly just never understand. And someone, somewhere, will always be rocking the handful of familiar power chords that constitute “power pop.” Fortunately for Kansas City, Deco Auto currently occupies that role. Its brand of hook-laden, hard-hitting pop rock does justice to this often unjustly ridiculed genre. Recently, I got a chance to catch up with this swell trio of musicians. Here’s their take on music stuff, as well as a preview of their upcoming performance at Apocalypse Meow.

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(Photo by Emily Hunt)

Our Artists on Trial series will be featuring bands that will be playing Apocalypse Meow, Midwest Music Foundation's big annual benefit for musician health care. We will be featuring more on Apocalypse Meow in the weeks before the show, which is November 3 at The Beaumont Club. The Empty Spaces will be one of the bands playing the event.

The Deli: Gun to your head, 1 sentence to describe your music. What is it?

The Empty Spaces: Missouri River serf rock.

The Deli: Let’s talk about what you have coming up or have released lately. What can we expect?

TES: Our music video for "Holidays Are Nice And Warm" just came out and has gotten a lot of positive attention. We will be playing Apocalypse Meow at The Beaumont Club on Nov 3. We are also opening up for Broncho on Nov 30 at Czar. At the same time we are getting new songs put together and will be starting to record our third studio album at the start of 2013.

The Deli: What does "supporting local music" mean to you?

TES: Our favorite way to support local music is by making local music. We are also very proud to be a part of Golden Sound Records. It also helps to go out to local shows and sometimes even pay to get into them!

The Deli: Who are your favorite "local" musicians right now?

TES: Mat: Shy Boys.
Ross: The ACB's.
Will: The Architects.

The Deli: What bands are you most excited to see at Meow?

TES: We are very excited to see the great crowd supporting MMF. They are an amazing organization for Kansas City. We're also very excited to be playing with bands like Deco Auto and The Architects.

The Deli: Who are your favorite not-so-local musicians right now?

TES: Mat: Ty Segall.
Ross: Django Django.
Will: The new Murder By Death album kicks ass.

The Deli: What is your ultimate fantasy concert bill to play on?

TES: Roger Miller opens up. Followed by The Ventures. Then us, of course. Fela Kuti closes the night.

The Deli: Would you rather spend the rest of your life on stage or in the recording studio?

TES: Mat: Studio.
Ross: I don't know, man.
Will: Stage.

The Deli: A music-themed Mount Rushmore. What four faces are you putting up there and why?

TES: Joe Strummer, Neil Young because he's Canadian, Harry Nilsson, and let's keep George Washington up there so they don't have to do so much renovation.

The Deli: All right, give us the rundown. Where all on this big crazy web can you be found?

TES: theemptyspaces.com
http://facebook.com/TheEmptySpaces
Twitter: @tesband
Instagram!: TheEmptySpaces

The Deli: Always go out on a high note. Any last words of wisdom for the Deli audience?

TES: Party! And don't drink the cheap stuff.

The Empty Spaces are:
Mat Shoare: guitar, lead vox
William Brent Wright: bass
Ross Brown: drums

The Empty Spaces seem to keep themselves pretty busy. As mentioned, they will be playing Apocalypse Meow on Saturday, November 3 at Beaumont, taking the stage around 9 pm. Don't miss them!

--Michelle Bacon

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Though The Lucky is a relatively new Kansas City band, the group is already working hard to play on larger local bills and begin recording. We sit down with the duo, Jason McKee and Camilla Camille, to find out more about who they are and what they have going.

The Deli: Gun to your head, 1 sentence to describe your music. What is it?

The Lucky: Indie-garage-punk-pop-riot revival with a beat you can dance to.

The Deli: Let’s talk about what you have coming up. What can we expect?

The Lucky: Jason McKee: We’re playing with The Sexy Accident at the recordBar this Friday and with Drew Black and Dirty Electric at Coda on Saturday. We’ve added some new songs to our set.

Camilla Camille: We have a Kickstarter campaign starting this Friday and we are going to record a CD with Pat Tomek. And we have a show with Schwervon! on September 28 at The Riot Room; it’s their record release party. They just moved here from New York. And you can expect lots of fun music, laughter, theatrics, maybe some stage drama, some choreography, perhaps, some hoofing, and an all-around good time.

The Deli: What does "supporting local music" mean to you?

The Lucky: Camilla Camille: It means going out to shows and buying local bands’ CDs and t-shirts. Generally banging your head in the audience, screaming "yay!" and "woohoo!" while they’re playing. And talking to them afterwards telling them what you liked about their show.

Jason: Going to shows is important, and a worthwhile investment if you’re a music lover, but I also think if a band puts on a good show, it’s important to tell them afterward that I liked it and what I liked about it. And when I see a band I really like, I try to tell other people about it so they can experience it, too.

The Deli: Who are your favorite "local" musicians right now?

The Lucky: Jason: Jonathan Thatch, our Friday night drummer. Brian Jewell, our Saturday night drummer. Pat Tomek, who’s sitting in on drums for the September 28 show at The Riot Room. I love the show The Beautiful Bodies always put on. Cherokee Rock Rifle. Deco Auto. Drew Black and Dirty Electric. The Cave Girls. The Bad Ideas. Schwervon!.

Camilla Camille: You, Michelle Bacon. And The Cave Girls. Robin Powell Campbell. And The Bad Ideas. And The Beautiful Bodies. And Deco Auto. And Drew Black and Dirty Electric. And The Quivers.

The Deli: Who are your favorite not-so-local musicians right now?

The Lucky: Camilla Camille: Right now I have been listening to Devo, Bad Religion, Spank Rock, The Black Keys, The Cramps, and The Dollyrots.

Jason: I listen to a lot of The Libertines and Babyshambles. The Black Keys, Jack White’s various projects. Lately, I’ve been getting into The Germs. I listen to The Clash a lot, too.

The Deli: What is your ultimate fantasy concert bill to play on?

The Lucky: Jason: Us with Cream, The Sex Pistols, the Libertines. Or, since this is fantasy, maybe letting Mozart, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones open for us.

Camilla Camille: Well that would require that we time travel because I would really like to open up for The Cramps, but since Lux is dead, that’s impossible. Otherwise, The Lucky could open up for the Black Keys or go on tour with Jack White, either The Raconteurs or The Dead Weather, or his solo project, or a reunion with Meg White for a White Stripes tour. But it would be kind of cool to time travel.

The Deli: Would you rather spend the rest of your life on stage or in the recording studio?

The Lucky: Camilla Camille: I would say I would like to spend the rest of my life on stage. However, it would be really neat to sleep in a recording studio, like if my bedroom was a recording studio. I would have a bed in there, a dresser, and a desk, but it would also have a stage area. I could combine both of them and have a stage in the recording studio and just live in there. That would be great. And of course there would be videos of the stage performances in the recording studio, which would be my bedroom.

Jason: It would definitely be on stage because performing for people and interacting with them gives me a rush I don’t get anywhere else. Plus, I have little patience for hearing playback of myself over and over.

The Deli: A music-themed Mount Rushmore. What four faces are you putting up there and why?

The Lucky: Jason: John Lennon because he’s John Lennon.
Eric Clapton: "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs" made me want to be a guitar player.
Lou Reed for having his own vocal and lyrical style and breaking away from what everyone else was doing.
Kurt Cobain for bringing soul and meaning back to rock music after it had been overtaken by cheesy hair bands.

The Deli: All right, give us the rundown. Where all on this big crazy web can you be found?

The Lucky: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Lucky/301095373319237?ref=hl
Reverbnation: http://www.reverbnation.com/CamillaCamille
Bandcamp: http://thelucky.bandcamp.com/

The Deli: Always go out on a high note. Any last words of wisdom for the Deli audience?

The Lucky: Camilla Camille: Face your fears, stand up for yourself, look at the colors, embrace nature, write poetry, eat your vegetables, be grateful what you have, and tell your boyfriend how much you love him.

Jason: As the Butthole Surfers said, "It’s better to regret something you have done than to regret something that you haven’t done." And tell your girlfriend how much you love her.

You'll have plenty of opportunities to catch The Lucky in the next two weeks. Tonight, the band will be at recordBar with The Sexy Accident, Crush, and John Harrison and The Harrisonics (FB event page). Tomorrow, it's Coda with Drew Black and Dirty Electric (FB event page). Next Friday, The Lucky will be at The Riot Room for Schwervon!'s record release party with them, Folkicide, and The Conquerors (FB event page). Now you have no excuse but to make it to a show.

--Michelle Bacon

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Looking for dark disco with a tinge of sexuality and a double dose of David Byrne? Look no further than the three-piece Kansas City group Molly Picture Club. This week we sit down with all 3 members to find out their views on gun control, Nickelback and disco balls.

The Deli: Gun to your head, 1 sentence to describe your music. What is it?

Molly Picture Club: Matt: Gun in your ass and I’d tell ya.

Mike: Why the fuck do you need a gun, dude?

Aniko: Giant exploding disco balls from the future are cooler than guns any day.

The Deli: Tell us about your latest release or upcoming shows. What can we expect?

MPC: Mike: We’ve been writing pretty consistently since May, so I think you should expect new songs to be coming up either at shows or somewhere on the Information Superhighway. We want to keep evolving into the next version of ourselves and I think the songs we have in the cooker show that natural progression of us becoming more aware of what we’re doing.

Aniko: We've been in the sandbox, just playing with whatever toys we find. We want to open our insides to experiment with cool sounds, conceptual ideas, sweet-ass dance grooves, and basically just shake off any preconceptions we may have made about ourselves. Wow, that sounds super pretentious! I just mean that we're trying to stay free in what we do, have fun, and hopefully people will like it, like we like it. In September, look for new songs, new ideas, and a surprise or two here and there.

Matt: New song, fall shows, blah blah blah.

The Deli: What does "supporting local music" mean to you?

MPC: Matt: It seems pretty simple; If you want to be supported, then you better support me and we will all be happy with lots of people at everyone’s shows. It’s a community thing. You grow the tomatoes, I’ll grow the peppers, she will grow the onion and he can make the salsa. It works together.

Mike: Every band in the world was a “local” band at one point, with the exception of Nickelback, who came straight from Satan’s asshole.

Aniko: Well, Satan's asshole is sort of a "locality"... but I digress. I think supporting local music means getting away from the egos—in other words, give it your all and don't be trying to always compete for local darling status. Look at what cool stuff people are doing, and let yourself be inspired. Clap for the other team if they just pulled off something crazy, even if that made your shit look just a little less shiny. Then, go and put on the kind of show you'd want to go to. Every time you play, whether it's to a big crowd or just your band mates and the bartender dude. KC represent!

The Deli: Who are your favorite "local" musicians right now?

MPC: Aniko: I can always trust Cherokee Rock Rifle to rattle me to my core, and Actors and Actresses to soothe my savage soul afterwards.

Mike: I really dig what Parts of Speech has going on, always interested in what Amy Farrand is doing, The B’Dinas, Ghosty, and I’m intrigued at what Soft Reeds could pull off on their next album.

Matt: I like the Snuff Jazz crew, Go-Go Ray's projects, London Transit, Hearts of Darkness, Sons of Brazil, and Miles Bonny.

The Deli: Who are your favorite not-so-local musicians right now?

MPC: Mike: Metronomy, Handsome Furs, Turnpike Troubadours, Louis Armstrong.

Aniko: Lately, I've been digging on Metronomy, RJD2, Hard-Fi, St. Vincent, Gogol Bordello, and on and on it goes.

Matt: Donald Byrd, Afrolicious, Antibalas, Freddie Hubbard, Jorge Ben, Gil Scott Heron, Cedric Im Brooks.

The Deli: What is your ultimate fantasy bill to play on?

MPC: Aniko: Hmm. There are lots of musicians on my fantasy list. With this band, I would melt over a bill with Metric, David Byrne, Daft Punk, LCD Soundsystem, and the Gorillaz. It'd be a super duper dance party!

Mike: David Byrne, Brian Eno, Polyphonic Spree, Wolf Parade, and Tiny Tim.

Matt: David Byrne would do for sure. David Bowie, David Gilmore, Fernando David.

The Deli: Would you rather spend the rest of your life on stage or in the recording studio?

MPC: Matt: Love recording and will definitely do that forever, but playing live is a special experience as well.

Mike: I don’t think I’ll ever not be on stage. I’ll be 60 and playing Talking Heads covers in a diaper. I've already got the Facebook invite up.

Aniko: 60 seems early for a diaper. I hope to still be just discreetly peeing my pants while playing at that age. But seriously, both please! I am in love with being in the studio and I absolutely love playing shows. That's like trying to choose between your two babies. I guess who you love just a little bit more depends on the day.

The Deli: A music-themed Mount Rushmore. What four faces are you putting up there and why?

MPC: Mike: Wow. That’s the most awesome question I’ve ever been asked. Charlie Parker for revolutionizing jazz, Bob Wills for bringing country swing, jazz, and pop together, Michael Jackson because he was fucking Michael Jackson, and Ringo Starr as long as he has a moustache.

Matt: Easy. James Brown (USA), Bob Marley (Jamaica), Fela Kuti (Africa), Jorge Ben (Brazil) of course.

Aniko: Joan Jett for being a bad ass chick, one of the guys from Kraftwerk, and let's be honest, no one can really tell them apart, for being pioneers in electronic music and also from another planet, ditto for mutha-f'ing Michael Jackson, and Mozart because inside of me lives a giant nerd who played violin since she was little tiny nerd.

The Deli: All right, give us the rundown. Where all on this big crazy web can you be found?

MPC: Just Google “Molly Picture Club." We’ve got that market cornered on the web. We're all over the web, in your face, and behind your neighbor's bushes.

The Deli: Always go out on a high note. Any last words of wisdom for The Deli audience?

MPC: Mike: Don’t fart in an elevator.

Aniko: Make sure you have a box of disco balls with you, wherever you go.

Matt: "I am the Walrus."

Molly Picture Club is (L to R above):
Aniko Adany
Matthew Hayden
Michael Tipton

This Saturday, September 22, Molly Picture Club will be throwing a big dance party along with London Transit and La Resistance at the recordBar. The show will be interactive, with an overhead projector allowing the audience to draw on the band while it plays (Facebook event page here). Don't miss it! The group also recently formed Talking Heads' tribute Found A Job, and they'll be performing with other special guests at the recordBar on Tuesday, October 30 (Facebook event page here).

--Zach Hodson

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Victor & Penny is the charming, self-proclaimed "Antique Pop" duo of Erin McGrane and Jeff Freling. The two have spent their summer touring the country extensively, and look forward to recording another album this fall. Their unique brand of ukelele and guitar music brings a modern flair to early 20th century songs and a clever, intimate approach to original songs.

The Deli: Gun to your head, 1 sentence to describe your music. What is it?

Victor & Penny: Antique Pop is the popular music from the time when jazz was young, sassy and all the rage—the Top 40 before there was Top 40.

The Deli: Tell us about your latest release or upcoming shows. What can we expect?

V&P: We just returned from an extended summer tour that went really well. We've played over 100 shows so far this year (most of them on the road), traveled 30,000 miles and we're still going strong. We've been touring on and off since last summer and we've learned a lot about the road and ourselves—it's been a fantastic experience. But now, we're home in KC for most of the fall and winter and we're glad to be back in the thick of all the great happenings here. The news is that we're going to record our next album in October here in KC and we're writing songs that will appear on the album alongside more antique pop. The album will appeal to kids of all ages.

The Deli: What does "supporting local music" mean to you?

V&P: First and foremost: going out and seeing live music performance. There's nothing else like the thrilling give-and-take between performer and audience. Secondly, please purchase local music when it's for sale. Many independent artists (especially those on the road) live on the income from merchandise sales. People might not know that the bar doesn't always pay the bands, nor do bands always get the door money. These days, often it's the audience buying merch and tipping the band that is the payment for live music. I'm not saying that's the best system, but it's often the way it is.

The Deli: Who are your favorite "local" musicians right now?

V&P: KC is exploding with talented artists of all kinds right now—it's hard to choose. But we've been very impressed with the dedication and character of some of the young stars like Enrique Chi (Making Movies) and Hermon Mehari (Diverse).

The Deli: Who are your favorite not-so-local musicians right now?

V&P: We love to listen to other independent artists we've met on the road like Tina & Her Pony, Danielle Ate the Sandwich, Brian DeMarco and Lucas Young & The Wilderness. Besides that, the new Fiona Apple album is really interesting.

The Deli: What is your ultimate fantasy bill to play on?

V&P: It's a triple bill: Us, Radiohead and Duke Ellington.

The Deli: Would you rather spend the rest of your life on stage or in the recording studio?

V&P: We'd split that 50/50—Erin enjoys the stage most and Jeff enjoys the recording studio.

The Deli: A music-themed Mount Rushmore. What four faces are you putting up there and why?

V&P: Erin: Aretha Franklin, Julie Andrews, Ella Fitzgerald and Joy Williams. Why: These are women singers I admire (all for different reasons).

Jeff: Django Reinhardt, Johnny Marr, Les Paul, Marc Ribot. Why: These guitarists influenced me the most

The Deli: All right, give us the rundown. Where all on this big crazy web can you be found?

V&P: http://victorandpenny.com
http://www.facebook.com/victorandpenny
http://www.twitter.com/victorandpenny
http://www.reverbnation.com/victorpenny

The Deli: Always go out on a high note. Any last words of wisdom for The Deli audience?

V&P: We're glad to be back—we've missed everyone!  Come out, come out and play...

You can hear the delightful sounds of Victor & Penny this Saturday, September 15. They'll be at La Esquina for the Manifest Destiny Art Installation at 2:00 pm, then at Davey's Uptown with Howard Iceberg & The Titanics and Miss Tess and the Talkbacks at 9:00 pm.  

--Michelle Bacon

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