New York, NY (www.baghdaddios.com) - Long a fixture on New York City's Lower East Side indie scene, New York's native sons, The Baghdaddios, have been invited by the North By Northeast
Music Festival to play this year's edition of Canada's biggest and best-known showcase for up and coming popular music (https://www.nxne.com/).
Often mentioned as the Great North's answer to the much-heralded South By Southwest Music Festival (otherwise knows as SXSW), out of Austin, TX, North By Northeast (known similarly as NXNE) spans 3 nights of performances, with close to 400 bands showcasing at over 25 live music venues in downtown Toronto. Past Festival alumni have gone on to land record and distribution deals, counting among their own such MTV darlings as Barenaked Ladies and have featured break out performances from industry notables DKT/MC5, Sam Roberts, Sarah Harmer, Ambulance Ltd, K-OS, Gord Downie and many, many more. This year, legendary alternative music pioneers Television are the Festival's guests of honor.
The conference also features panels, roundtables, workshops and seminars with several legendary names in the biz serving as guest speakers, including Patti Smith, Danny Goldberg, Steve Earle, Andrew Loog Oldham, John Lydon of The Sex Pistols, and Wayne Kramer of The MC5, among others. The Baghdaddios' selection to the Festival's ranks culminates an intense 2-week period which has seen the band cited for their recent charitable efforts via an eye-opening feature in this past month's New York Daily News (https://www.nydailynews.com/07-15-2002/city_life/big_town/story/404036p-342198c.html), overtures from several high-profile music venues and producers, the possibility of corporate sponsorship and increased public recognition of the group as witnessed by the more than quadrupling of the group's MySpace.com site friends membership list (www.myspace.com/thebaghdaddios).
In a related development, the band announced that, once again, they would be postponing the release of their long-awaited sophomore effort 'Autopsy-Turvy' from April 15 until May 1. 'With their recent selection to the NXNE lineup we felt that we needed to push back the album's release - at least until we could redirect our efforts and get the group more focused on the Festival,' explains group manager Mary Beth Seacott, who promises that this will be the last such delay. 'We know that people are anxious to hear the new disc - but with us working on getting the group ready for an all-out blitz on the Canadian market we didn't want the initial push on American radio to suffer as a result. If it comes down to taking a few more weeks and giving this album the attention that it truly deserves then I'm willing to hold it up. Believe me, everyone will be the better for it in the end.'
Baghdaddios front man, Kenn Rowell, agrees - albeit grudgingly: 'When I first heard that we were pushing it off (the CD's release date) I was like, 'Alright already! Let's just get it out there and over with.' We've put a lot of hard work into this album and I'm dying to catch everyone's reaction to it. But I know that with 'Northeast' coming up that we had to push it back, so I was like, 'OK, but NO more delays!' Honestly, we're all chomping at the bit.'
Often plagued with production, mixing and mastering delays The Baghdaddios' much-anticipated follow-up to their college-radio, cult-favorite debut disc 'Willie Horton Hears A Who' has gradually evolved from a mere collection of 'dark and minor key tunes' to an epic production, noted for its frequent switching of studios and producers in addition to mega-talented, major-label pedigreed artists like former Bongos front man Richard Barone and Patti Rothberg (EMI) contributing on the performance end.
Fresh off organizing and MC-ing the critically-lauded Blank-Fest IX Benefit Concert for NYC's homeless (www.blankfest.com) this past December, The Baghdaddios had looked forward to quietly beginning the new year, scheduling only one show: their March 10 appearance at the annual International Emergenza Festival at Arlene Grocery in New York. Exhausted from a packed schedule which included completing the production on their latest CD, shows in Texas, Nashville, Cincinnati and Connecticut and - of course - the organization and promotion of Blank-Fest, the ubiquitous Rowell had also been pegged to substitute MC for close friend, NY promoter Frank Wood's weekly Thursday and Saturday night showcases at the recently closed Grand Central Bar in nearby Williamsburg, NY, late last year (https://www.mrfwood.com/news/ASceneGrowsInBrooklyn.html). 'I probably bit off a little more than I should have,' Rowell now admits. 'Toward the end of the year I was always feeling like I just wanted to go to sleep. I told our manager that, come year-end we were going to concentrate on the new CD and nothing else.'
That, however, was not to be. A favorite of the aforementioned Mr. Wood, the group found itself included on many a bill - mostly at Otto's Shrunken Head, a favorite hangout and 'best-kept-secret' among most of NY's underground and aspiring musicians. Film director-turned rock impresario Lee Sobel sandwiched the group on an already talent-laden roster for a jam-packed Rolling Stones tribute earlier this year in the heart of the City's Financial District and, a few weeks later, the group wowed an impressive array of State and national government officials as well as international luminaries from the UK and several African countries at the black-tie Remember Africa fundraiser, held at New York's Hilton Hotel.
'Easiest gig we've ever done, yet,' enthused Baghdaddios drummer Neil Richter. 'We did, what, four tunes? And after some of the dives we've played, to be doing that at the Hilton for people paying $175.00 per plate - that's just mind-blowing!' 'Yeah,' chips in bassist Phil McAughk, 'all that and the best catered food in Manhattan. You can't get much better treatment than that!' No less than Oxford University Music Professor, Dr. Ian Hall made it a point to request a CD from the group, proclaiming the 4-piece ensemble 'charming' and 'quite the entertainers.'
But all of this was only a prelude to a series of developments in the following months that would dwarf nearly everything that had happened so far, this year, by comparison.
March 30th saw the full-page 'Big City - Big Heart' feature by New York Daily News writer Caren Lissner, which focused on one of several nights where The Baghdaddios' Rowell and Richter rode around Manhattan, dispensing the remainder of the blankets that had been collected at this past year's Blank-Fest show, to the City's less fortunate on a particularly bone-chilling night in early March. Accompanied with pictures, website and email address information and available online as well as in the tabloid's print edition, its affects were immediate and wide-reaching.
'I must have gotten at least 400 emails, most of which came within the 1st few days after the article came out,' said an amazed Rowell. 'I heard from a promoter I hadn't heard from in 7 years; a producer I had been pitching our tunes to called to say that he'd seen the article and wanted to work with us. Someone I know who works in film and television asked for a CD to see if any of our tunes could be placed in future upcoming productions. Even someone I went to high school with saw the article - online in North Carolina, where he lives with his wife and kids!'
Within days, The Baghdaddios and their charitable efforts were the buzz around town. 'Bands that didn't even return our emails before were now approaching me to volunteer to play at this year's upcoming Blank-Fest,' said Seacott, who also serves as the Benefit's Chairperson. 'Right now, between the returning acts and all the recent volunteers we have WAY more than enough - I'm telling you, this Daily News article was a Godsend!'
Two weeks to the day the article came out The Baghdaddios received word of their invitation to play NXNE. 'We're still pinching ourselves because we've tried for over 10 years to get into this,' explains Richter. 'Now, finally, it seems like it's a matter of karma coming around.' 'Bands from the UK and the West Coast have contacted us on MySpace, asking about trading shows,' adds McAughk. 'We're all pretty knocked out by all the attention!'
With all that there's been talk of corporate sponsorship; reportedly there is a very high-profile firm that's been in contact with the group - but everyone involved has been pretty tight-lipped so far. 'We really don't want to jinx anything - we've been this close before,' cautions Ms. Seacott, 'so we're not commenting until it's confirmed. Right now we have two major goals to attend to: getting ready for NXNE and getting 'Autopsy-Turvy' out to the general public.'
In addition to the elation of their selection to appear in Canada, they also have another reason to feel encouraged by a performance at this year's event: the Festival's headlining act, Television. 'We're all New Yorkers and we know Television's place in history,' explains Richter, 'I practically grew up at C.B.G.B.s when Television was helping The Ramones and Blondie reinvent rock 'n roll. You simply can't escape their impact!' Rowell agrees, similarly noting in a classic example of six-degrees-of-separation that Television's drummer, Billy Fica is good friends with Frank Wood and a member in good standing of another Wood favorite, local indie standout Black Flamingo.
'It's ironic that I've never really met Billy despite the fact that I've heard SO much about him, we've been on the same bill a few times and I've seen him play a bunch, too. I say 'ironic' because it looks like the first time I'm actually going to say 'hello' to the guy it'll be far, far away from home - at a major music festival. Normally I would just be able to walk up, say 'hi' and have a beer with him, like I've done with (Patti Smith guitarist and another Wood friend) Lenny Kaye. But with a crowd of admirers always around I never really had the chance. It's kind of funny, actually. I can hardly wait!'
With nothing but pleasant surprises teeming in the first three months of this year it will be interesting to see what the rest of 2006 holds for NY's very own The Baghdaddios - a band of seasoned, indie vets who were once dubbed 'the band that wouldn't die,' in homage to their dogged tenacity - perhaps fulfilling their long-awaited promise of carrying on their hometown's legacy of indie-alternative excellence, amid a backdrop of hard work, a no-nonsense approach, stripped-down, visceral, raw talent and some long-overdue, well-deserved good fortune. When asked to sum up his feelings regarding the whole course of recent events, Rowell just shrugged and spit out the following seven words:
'The saga continues. See you in Toronto!'
