KS interview from 22 July

Ken Stringfellow just doesn’t get it. The singer-songwriter simply doesn’t have an accurate appreciation for some of his distinct talents. And while his modesty is charming, his perceptions bear little resemblance to reality. Stringfellow, a veteran of the critically acclaimed, cult-favorite power-pop band the Posies, and, these days, a solo artist (among other things), has a knack for writing near-perfect guitar- and piano-driven pop songs. He also, as it turns out, has the ability to create one of those songs, start to finish, within a matter of hours. Not always. But sometimes.

Full interview: Part one | Part two

SOFT COMMANDS EXPANDS, coming soon – KS.com update

I have been doing a lot of press for the int’l version of Soft Commands (with two more tracks than the US version), to be released by Rykodisc Oct. 11…all over Europe, plus S. Africa, and more to come. In between REM tours I will be hitting as many places as possible…stay tuned for those details. In the meantime, I have been here in Europe with REM making various radio and TV appearances, so far in Italy and the UK but Sweden and Germany will be visited this week as well. Check remhq.com for details on that….or check local listings! I will be reunited with my computer when I get back to the US at the end of this week, so I will update the tour dates, etc.–with REM, Posies and KS solo all performing soon there are a lot of them!!

Love

KS

Milan IT

Splendid.com feature: Ken Stringfellow

Ken Stringfellow: Ambigious Pop

by Jennifer Kelly

Ken Stringfellow has one of the best resumes in pop music. As a founding member of the Posies, with Jon Auer, he resurrected the sweet-sour hooks and joyous energy of power pop. Then, in the early 1990s, he began a long-term partnership with the band that many people credit with inventing power pop, appearing on the live Big Star reunion album and touring with the band sporadically ever since. He’s also worked with REM on Reveal and their upcoming album, and has contributed to the work of a long list of lesser known artists, most recently Michael Cerveris, Jill Sobule and the Senegalese band WaFlash. And, perhaps best of all, he has written, performed and produced three excellent solo albums, each with the kind of eccentric, intelligent and many-sided songs whose impact deepens on repeat listens.

I talked to Ken recently as he was driving from one venue to another on his one-man tour in support of Soft Commands. Like his songs, our conversation was filled with sudden topical leaps, interesting sidelights and the occasional acerbic pause — but it was always interesting. Here’s what Ken had to say about AAA radio, self-pitying singer songwriters, Senegalese Mbalax music and his amazing new album.

Splendid: I love this album. It’s really beautiful — but what does Soft Commands mean?

Ken Stringfellow: It arose out of a kind of joke, really. I was trying to figure out what to name my record, and at some point, we were talking about … we were trying to put the artwork together for it. I was making an observation about my potential for being adult contemporary…which I’m really not, actually. I’ve discovered that I’m far too eccentric for that category.

(read more…)

KS.com update

I had the pleasure to mix two songs for Cheap Star in Paris this week…did quite a bit of press for Soft Commands’ approaching European release date (Oct. 11, in fact, one week after REM’s Around the Sun is released). I will be posting some tour dates for Europe soon. REM has announced European tour dates for January and February 05, see remhq.com for details…I will have all of that posted on the site soon.

And yes…as someone wrote in and pointed out to me…there is a familiar musical theme within Frank Zappa’s Invocation and Ritual Dance of the Young Pumpkin, from the 1967 LP Absolutely Free…that those familiar with Any Love on Soft Commands would recognize…bizarre minds thinking alike???

Also, the Posies will be playing two shows in the Seattle area the week of Thanksgiving…stay tooned for details.

Love

KS

Paris

REM to visit Europe for promotion with KS

(Mirrored from KS.com)

from remhq.com: “Plans are to go pretty much anywhere that will have us, including a special, small show in London promoted by Radio 2, Festival Bar in Italy, Live with Luuk in Stockholm, the Comet Awards Show on VIVA in Germany, Top of the Pops…”

there have been some rumors based on some info that was posted on this site about other shows, and these were based on pure speculation on my part. I hear a lot of things regarding possibilities in REM’s schedule, and occasionally wires get crossed and something that isn’t happening gets listed as happening. I try to be extremely scrupulous about accuracy in all respects of my life, but especially about what I present to the public. I offer my most sincere apologies to anyone who may have been misled by the content of this page. Trust that REM’s statement above, taken from their official website, is the last word on their upcoming activities that I will be participating in.

on a lighter note…check the latest issue of MOJO magazine with the cover article about the Beatles summer 1964 US tour…the issue comes with one of two free CDs of American artists covering Beatles songs…Vol. 1 Leads off with the Posies version of “I’m Looking through You” recorded for the Royal Tennenbaums but ultimately not incl. in the film, plus killer covers of the Fabs by everyone from Billy Preston to…well…just check it out.

REM Gig Details Leaked

REM’s hush-hush plan to play next week’s Make Trade Fair Live show in London has been leaked.

Keyboard player Ken Stringfellow blew the gaff on the internet fansite www.murmurs.com

Details of the concert, which is due to be held at the Hammersmith Apollo a week tomorrow, had been a closely-guarded secet.

According to an industry source, the identity of the headline act was to have been revealed only when they walked onstage.

(Read more…)

‘He Gets Around…’

The Posies’ Ken Stringfellow shares a full life with you via his music

by Adam McKibbin

Ken Stringfellow gets around. When he’s not touring and playing as a sometime-member of R.E.M. or Big Star or the Minus 5, and when he’s not resurrecting the Posies with fellow founding member Jon Auer, Stringfellow also has made time for a vibrant solo career. More recently, he’s also made time to become a husband, then a father. And, oh yes, in his spare time, he likes to travel.

Fittingly, the liner notes for Stringfellow’s new album, Soft Commands, include not just where each track was recorded, but where each track was written. We get visions, then, of the singer holed up in the Roosevelt Hotel here in Hollywood (“Known Diamond”) and inspired in Athens, in Senegal, and at his dual homes (Seattle and Paris).

“I wanted to give a little bit of glimpse as to how much movement there has been in my life,” Stringfellow says. “I think that gives me the ability to look at my life and other people’s lives from a number of different perspectives.”

“Being in Africa was really enlightening,” he continues. “We’re the same but different, different but the same. Especially among musicians, there’s so much common ground that the cultural differences between the States and Senegal didn’t really matter. They had a lot of the same reasons for writing and a lot of the same dreams about music and dreams about what they wanted to accomplish as people as I did.”

(Read more…)

I’LL BE AROUND…AND AROUND – KS.com update

REM is leaving soon to do promotion for their upcoming album, ‘Around the Sun’–on which I play keyboards on a few tracks–the album comes out next month on Warner Bros. We’ll be appearing on radio and TV all over Europe–incl. Top of the Pops in the UK/Germany, the Viva Comet Awards in Germany (Sept. 24th on VIVA), Parkinson’s show in the BBC UK (Sept. 16th), Festivalbar Finale in Italy (Sept. 18) and Quelli Che il Calcio TV in Italy (Sept. 19), Live with Luuk in Sweden (Sept. 22), and the Oxfam Wateraid show in London Sept. 14. There’s also a couple of other bits for UK radio and TV, etc.

The songs and brief interview I recorded for WUGA in Athens GA will air on WUGA September 11th at 4pm.

You can listen live to WUGA at: http://www.wuga.org

During the REM promo tour and my brief time home my laptop is going in the shop! So I may post a little less between now and my return to the states on the 25th.

We posted a few choice shots from the tour in the photos section…if anybody has one you think the site can’t live without, send it along! We will put it up if we feel the same way!

Love

KS

Athens GA

PATIENCE PLEASE – KS.com update

Due to circumstances beyond our control, the international version of Soft Commands has had its release date pushed back to Oct. 11. This version has the two bonus tracks (Never My Love and Down to the Wire, cover versions of the Association hit and Neil Young) and will be released by Rykodisc in Europe, Australia/NZ, Asia, S. America, etc. etc. Rykodisc is also releasing the new recordings by Big Star and the Posies that will be released next year.

During the Soft Commands tour this summer, I stopped by the XM Satellite radio studios and recorded a few performances plus an interview for ‘the Loft’ program. It will air on XM at noon eastern time on Sept 13, and be replayed that night at 9pm ET, 9/16 at 3pm and 9pm ET, and 9/18 at 6pm ET.

I also visited WUGA in Athens this week and taped a few songs for broadcast at a future date…

Love

KS

Athens GA