Are You Sitting Down?

During his 13 months editing Fahrenheit magazine (published from May 2003 until July 2004), Portland, Oregon, transplant Adam Gnade formed a lot of opinions about local performers. Today he says, "Right now, most San Diego bands that are doing well are on a mainstream pop level. Jason Mraz, Switchfoot, Louis the whatever teenth, fuckin' P.O.D....just atrocious, vague lyrics, hokey singing. I feel like the Dixie Chicks when they said the president made them ashamed of being from Texas. Hearing retarded garbage like Switchfoot on the radio makes me wanna set myself on fire. The real music in San Diego is played at places like the Voltaire space and house parties. Why would somebody wanna hear Jeff Spicoli from Switchfoot sing unoriginal, middle-of-the-road guitar-rock bullshit when they could lose their mind to something like Business Lady or Dmonstrations?"

Gnade records prose albums.

"Music writers sometimes call it 'spoken word,' but I hate spoken word. I'm just into nontraditional vocals." His newest, Run Hide Retreat Surrender, released October 25, is reviewed at neufutur.com, which says the record sounds "similar to someone sitting in front of a computer microphone and talking. Forty-five minutes go by of this same monotone speech, someone rambling while the most Spartan of arrangements keep listeners at least somewhat interested."

Adam Gnade appears tomorrow, November 11, at the Casbah; on Saturday he'll be at the Kensington Music Trader.