So here we are with another 6 Degrees of Kevin Shields - and this time our starting point is the King of U.S. lo-fi indie - Robert Pollard.
Not content with banging out several dozen albums over 30 years, under his most recognisable banner, Guided By Voices, Pollard also has over twenty solo albums and a host of other side projects out there in the musical ether! In fact, he is reported to have almost 3,000 songs registered with BMI (Broadcast Music Inc. - a music rights organisation), which surely ranks as about the most prolific songwriter of the last few decades.
We are going to start this journey with one of Pollard's side projects, released through his own Fading Captain Series. In 2006, he got together with respected power-pop songwriter Tommy Keene, to form the Keene Brothers and make an album. Called Blues & Boogie Shoes, the Denver Post said that it showed, "Keene's mastery of power pop and thick, creamy riffs."
Like Pollard, Keene had been around the block a few times by this point and worked with a number of other musicians. In fact, in 1998 he had played guitar on the track Broadway, from the Goo Goo Dolls big selling album Dizzy Up The Girl (Broadway would end up being the last single from that album, not released until early 2000, it made #24 on the US Billboard chart).
The bass player with Goo Goo Dolls is Robby Takac, who in 2003, created his own record label, Good Charamel Records. This label mostly specialises in giving U.S. releases to female-fronted J-Rock bands like Shonen Knife.
Shonen Knife were formed in Osaka, in 1981, around the core of sisters Naoko and Atsuko Yamano. They are a pop-punk band who sing in both Japanese and English and took their influences from a wide ranging pool of inspiration, from the Ramones to the Beach Boys and 60s girl groups. Their debt to the Ramones was paid back, when in 2011 they released Osaka Ramones, an album of Ramones covers, that also helped Shonen Knife celebrate thirty years in music. As a double link here - the album was also produced by Takac.
In 1977, The Ramones released two albums - Leave Home and the legendary Rocket To Russia. Both albums were produced by Tommy Ramone and one Tony Bongiovi, cousin of New Jersey's second most famous musician, Jon Bon Jovi.
It turns out that Bongiovi is a bit of a musical legend himself, and that same year, he and partner Bob Walters, turned a bankrupt building in Manhatten into The Power Station recording studio. This is now an iconic part of the New York City musical landscape, playing host over the years to the likes of Dylan, Bowie, Dire Straits, Springsteen, Neil Young, Aerosmith and Billy Joel. But in 1980, it was a place that The Clash ended up recording part of what would become their triple-album Sandanista!
One of the musicians that played in the sessions for Sandanista! was Norman Watt-Roy, who ended up appearing on nine of the thirty six tracks, including The Magnificent Seven and Hittsville UK. Watt-Roy has made his name as the bass player with The Blockheads (Ian Dury's famous backing band) - and co-incidentally, Micky Gallagher from The Blockheads, also played keyboards on Sandanista! Watt-Roy went on to work with Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Roger Daltrey, before becoming an integral part of Nick Cave's solo band (when he was without the Bad Seeds).
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds ninth studio album, Murder Ballads, came out in 1996 and as the name suggests, offered up new songs and re-workings of traditional murder ballad songs. It featured several duets between Cave and guest vocalists - one being the (perhaps surprise) hit Where The Wild Roses Grow with Kylie Minogue - the other was Henry Lee, which featured PJ Harvey.
PJ (Polly Jean) Harvey is an iconic part of the UK indie scene and is the only person to have won the prestigious Mercury Music Prize twice; for 2000's Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea and 2011's Let England Shake. But we will stray from the purely musical here for a moment and consider Harvey's fashion choices - specifically footwear.
Eileen Shields is a celebrated footwear designer and her Eileen Shields Label has been seen in the likes of Harvey Nichols. But beyond that, she has also designed custom shoes for a wide range of celebrities, including Bono, Courtney Cox and Halle Berry. But the list also includes..... PJ Harvey.
And yes, you've guessed it! Eileen is the younger sister of one KEVIN SHIELDS.
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