Troubador | ChinaShop

Gallery Music An Intimate Event: The Weepies at the Troubadour

August 23, 2011 - 11:28 am

The Weepies don’t play live often. They used to but then they had kids, they got busy, life happened. When they do play, however, you better buy your ticket early, especially if it’s an intimate acoustic show because they sell out fast!

The husband and wife duo of Steve Tannen and Deb Talan recently packed up the family and decided to take their show on the road. Before leaving town, they made several jokes on the band’s official Facebook page about being the masters of packing and visiting exotic destinations on tour.

“We fit a family of four into only 84 bags, a 65 foot bus, and a 14 foot trailer. Preparing for tour feels like leaving on a ship bound for distant lands, even though the most exotic place we’re going is Minneapolis.”

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Gallery Music Trouncing The Troubadour: Alkaline Trio

by Nicole Pajer and Sidney Bensimon

July 26, 2011 - 11:32 am

Without spelling out the fact that Los Angeles concert audiences can be smug, which I might have just accidentally done, I’ll admit that we can be a tough crowd. In our defense, we’re spoiled; there is just so much good music around that it can be tricky to impress us enough to uncross our arms and let loose at a show.

Every now and then, a band will roll through town, however, that makes us throw all inhibitions out the window and rock out; that makes us show off our best dance moves, throw out energetic fist pumps, and convinces us that we will lose face if we go home without participating in the mosh pit or attempting to crowd surf. For many, this band is Alkaline Trio.

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Music Parenthood, Burglars, and Adventures in Insomnia: The Weepies

by Nicole Pajer

July 15, 2011 - 11:20 am

The Weepies are about to embark on a 2011 summer tour and fans are ready. It’s not often that the Billboard chart topping indie duo get out on the road these days, as simultaneously raising a toddler and a baby has kept Steve Tannen and wife Deb Talan understandably busy.

ChinaShop caught up with Tannen to find out more about the band’s upcoming intimate acoustic dates. Tannen apologized for Talan’s absence during the interview and explained that her matronly duties had beckoned and she was off dealing with what he playfully referred to as a baby meltdown. Tannen talked about his appreciation for the recording process behind “Be My Thrill” and shared adventures with insomnia. He also discussed how his father was proud of him for placing a song in a Obama presidential campaign ad and told a crazy story about a not so clever burglar that attempted to break into the family home last month.

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Gallery Music Tuning Into The Radio Dept.

by Nicole Pajer and Dustin Downing

June 7, 2011 - 10:30 am

There seems to be no end in sight to the amount of rising stars coming from Sweden’s music scene. While you’ve most certainly heard of bands like
Peter Bjorn and John, Shout Out Louds, The Sounds, The Hives, Mike Snow, Kent, Robyn, etc., the country is also home to phenomenal music projects which have managed to stay more under the radar, such as the dream pop trio, The Radio Dept.

The indie pop sensation consisting of Johan Duncanson, Martin Larsson, and Daniel Tjäder, has been making music under the current line up since 2001 while performing show around the world and collecting an ever-growing line up of underground fans. Prior to their recent set at Los Angeles’s Troubadour, the guys sat down with ChinaShop to discuss avoiding the limelight, the lengthy recording process on album “Clinging To a Scheme,” as well as Johan’s goofy hobby of snapping pictures of the television screen.

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Music Lucky for us, The World is Ready for K’naan

by Jacob Cottingham and jamienewman

March 24, 2009 - 12:40 pm

It’s pretty rare to come across an act the caliber of Somali-Canadian-Earthling K’naan. I can safely say he’s the only artist at SXSW whose last gig before jumping a jet to ATX was playing at the UN General Assembly. That probably makes him the only person to have rapped for Nas and Desmond Tutu. Lucky badge-holders are already lining up to catch K’naan’s next set at one of the festival’s most interesting evenings of music showcases, Afro-Punk, which will be hitting Austin Music Hall Thursday night. The collection of artists are all leading the charge away from over-commercialized rap and into uncharted territories. Big Boi will be playing with a punk band along with Janelle Moreau, K’naan and Dallas Austin.

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