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 It’s so hard to say goodbye to 2006. We’ll never forget raging with the Killers in their Vegas studio, our harrowing single-prop ride to Bonnaroo with the Kings of Leon, minigolfing with kristina Aguilera, witnessing Kid Rock receive the ministrations of an orally talented groupie, pounding with Rod Stewart at a British pub and burning down the house with Justin Timberlake in Amsterdam. To cross the threshold into ‘07, the Smoking Section ventured upstate to Woodstock to Levon Helm’s roadhouse barn. The B.Y.O.B. affair — known as the Midnight Ramble — featured smokin’ renditions of Band classics like “Chest Fever,” “Ophelia” and “Rag Mama Rag,” as well as a lowdown set of New Orleans funk that was elevated by extra-special guest Allen Toussaint. More outing dates are booked in ‘07, and you never know who’ll show, so get up there ASap.
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No band has cold-cocked the world recently the way Britain’s Arctic Monkeys did with their debut, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. And though the band is currently hibernating in a London studio, they let only the Smoking Section into their basement lair, where they’re happily slapping out new cuts like “D Is for Dangerous” and “Fluorescent Adolescent.” (As far as an album title goes, drummer Matt Helder reports that, sadly, they’ve lost faith in calling it Lesbian Wednesdays.) Some claim the studio is haunted. “It’s said that a young girl, ‘Elsie,’ haunts the chamber, and unexplained faint whispers have appeared on recordings in the past,” says Alex Turner, who recorded many of his vocals in there. So when the record drops in April, listen for phantom voices and expect more brilliant, kick-ass rock. “There’s also a bit of organ on there,” says Turner, “but nothing to worry about.”
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Anthony Kiedis let the Smoking Section in on the hottest young band in Los Angeles. “They’re a band of twelve-year-olds called the Jack Bambis,” the Chili revealed to us. “They became my favorite musical experience of 2006. They’re phenomenal — whenever they’d play I’d find a way to get to the show.” The Bambis are three Zeppelin-worshipping boys — Cash on drums, Indio on axe, Jasper on bass — and gal Lia on vocals. Combined, their ages add up to forty-nine. The S.S. infiltrated their first rehearsal of the year, and were dazzled by their supernatural jamability. A la Jeff Beck, Indio plays the electric blues sans pick. (”I’ve been listening to Blow by Blow a lot,” he says.) Jasper is the next John Entwistle, Lia channels Patti Smith, and Cash, who honed his chops at Flea’s L.A. conservatory, is a heartbreaker in the making. “The girls liked me way before I was in a band,” says the mohawked ten-year-old. Adds Kiedis, “They’re speaking frm their spirits. It reminds me of our glory days in the early Eighties.” Check jackbambis.net for gig news.
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