Skysaw @Blackcat Review

Here

...the heavy songs really soared. They had as many as three guitars going at times, but two of them alternated to keyboards (singer Mike Reina spending more time there). I heard a lot of heavy King Crimson when they were rocking. I was thinking third album "Lizard" since the vocals reminded me of Gordon Haskell (one of the early of the revolving door vocalist/bassists). The synthesizer on top of the Yamaha even sounded a bit like a mellotron in one song. The very dense intriguing interplay between these solid musicians really stood out during the finer songs. When they really rocked, I even imagined Radio Birdman trying to cover Golden Earring's "Radar Love" sheet music after only hearing Golden Earring's "Twilight Zone".

And now, James Iha...

Just thought I'd link this little interview here - as it seems to me to echo a bit what Jimmy has been saying of late, aside from the band leading stuff, of course.

The Swerve - Skysaw Live Review

Skysaw at Hard Rock Cafe - June 28, 2011

Moar...

...The highlight of the show was "Cathedral." Chamberlin and Anthony Pirog traded riffs throughout until Chamblerlin let loose with a solo that brought the audience to their feet with wild cheers encouraged by Mike Reina. Chamberlin is a musician first, and his skill allows him to forsake the theatrics of other drummers. The ease with which he plays most songs allows the audience to underestimate him until he lets loose with a solo of this caliber.

While it would be great to see Skysaw play Pittsburgh again, hopefully they will land a venue more appropriate for their talent and sound.

Videos from Jimmy Chamberlin's Skysaw Live

From the 28th June @ the Hard Rock Cafe 2011. Thanks to VastOceanCommuter

'Another' [...Be Specific] Interview with Jimmy Chamberlin

Over at the Washington Post thus;

...You're just going out on short tour. Are you thinking about a full tour later?
...There's lots of ways to put a band over these days. Doing it 200 people at a time doesn't make a lot of sense to me economically, spiritually and energetically. It doesn't add up to what it used to. You used to go out and play to a thousand people and look at [sales figures] the next day and see that 800 of those people went out and bought the record ….For me the idea of going out for two, three years to build a band in sweaty nightclubs, having done that for most of my life and being in my 40s now [is untenable]. It's not that I don't enjoy playing, but I think three good ideas are better than 50 shows ….Part of the reason I left my old band is because it was all encompassing, and I didn't have time for my family. It's just a different set of values.
When you say your old band, do you mean the Pumpkins or Zwan?
No — I was talking about the Pumpkins. Part of the reason that I left the Pumpkins is because it was becoming all-consuming. Being the only member of that band who had two kids and a wife, it was a hard decision, but ultimately it was a decision I'm comfortable with.

Was it hard to decompress from being a Pumpkin? There must have been a level of post-traumatic stress involved.
There was no post-traumatic stress, but there was a level of decompression. It took a while to be like, okay, I do have a family, I do have two kids and a wife. From the start of [Pumpkins album] “Zeitgeist” to the time I left, we had been full tilt for three years. When you have a four year-old son, that's 75% of his life...