The Black Belles: New single & album

[CanIGetBehindYouMeg]

Is it safe to say the show was recorded for future release?

[texascyclone]

Yes that is what one of the higher ups said when asked...You will see this somewhere down the road

[arewhyehen]

Sooo, anyone with an extra, let me know and I will pay good cash for it..
Thanks to all. I know there were a few out there trying to get me a copy.
Please pm if you have one for sale.

[mangry]

It was being recorded. Vance and co used an iPad timer to help keep the Belles on track. They had to cut a song off and start over because Olivia Jean got nervous and counted the band off before the tape was set. It was kinda cute.

How nerve-wracking would it be to know ahead of time that your show was being recorded for the express purpose of releasing it nearly uncut on record? For vets like JW, that is no biggy, but for relative newcomers...yikes.

[Stl_ben]

I need more Black Faces now.

[grumblestiltskin]

That inner sleeve had better come with the standard edition.

[rsimms3]

[arewhyehen]

Damn that's "gross"

[Kali Durga]

They showed the Honky Tonk Horror video on the projector before Black Faces came on.

Any thoughts on the video?

[drummintodabeat]

I need more Black Faces now.

I'll second that!!!

[alteridiom]

Huge thanks to JoseyWales for getting me in the show. Had a blast. The Black Faces were pretty fantastic. I missed the first few songs but really enjoyed what I saw. They rock. The Black Belles were fantastic as well. They definitely need to work on stage presence though. They seemed incredibly nervous and looked out of sorts at times.

[JoseyWales]

Huge thanks to JoseyWales for getting me in the show. Had a blast. The Black Faces were pretty fantastic. I missed the first few songs but really enjoyed what I saw. They rock. The Black Belles were fantastic as well. They definitely need to work on stage presence though. They seemed incredibly nervous and looked out of sorts at times.

Nice meeting you and glad the ticket didn't go to waste!
Would like some more black faces as well.
Was nice to see a bunch of y'all.

[ellisintransit]

Re: the Honky Tonk Horror video. It's good taken even as a little film. I believe David Swanson directed it in addition to shooting the album covers. I thought about making notes, but tired of that thought quickly so I could just enjoy the film. Ha. Jack features pretty heavily early on, and he looks dapper as hell. There's one point where he gets all up on Olivia Jean, like lips-and-tongue-to-face close. (I've seen the conjecture about his relationship status, so don't read anything into that. It's just a film.) He's clean shaven in the video and STILL looks like Johnny Depp. What a lucky bastard. Ha. Someone else probably remembers this better than I do, but as I recall, the Black Belles are sort of kidnapping Jack throughout the first part of the video. I recall separate scenes, where someone is spitting blood into a sink, a part where all four girls are holding out wooden slotted spoons waiting to receive something or other, someone sitting on a toilet with their dress hanging down, and then a scene where they open a door and take the blindfold off a scared as hell Jack White. You could tell they had a lot of fun making that video. The most gruesome part I suppose is what most people thought, from the cover of the Honky Tonk Horror single where all 4 girls are hung (in silhouette) and subsequently, babies hung from their umbilical cords pop down from their dresses. That was quite a scene. I love that kind of stuff in movies and videos. Let's just be as offensive and gross as we can, "BECAUSE IT'S FICTION AND THAT'S OKAY." I don't want to see a woman hung followed by her baby falling out and being choked on an umbilical cord in real life, but it's funny as hell when taken in a fictional context. I'm not 100% on this, but I feel like the burning body on the cover of the Absinthe record is JW in the video. I recall Olivia Jean having a big ass kitchen carving knife, and then they have a little procession down a cemetery road where they burn him on a pyre. I think it ended there too, but I'm sure someone else may have a better memory of this than I. I got there at about 8:15 and I saw the video at least twice, so I'm not sure how many times they showed it, but it was quite the treat knowing they are going to lock it away for a while. You should be impressed when you finally get a chance to see it though. Especially Jack lovers. I love seeing him acting, he's good.

The Black Faces really were badass. It sounded to me like they never turned the house music all the way down while they played. Actually, it sounded like it was coming from the stage only. Did anyone else hear that? I thought it was pretty funny because they were listed as "not-so-special-guest" and what a way to treat someone "not-so-special" than to leave the house music up while they play. It didn't matter though because they were LOUD. Vocals were pretty much split between the guitar player and Jemina Pearl from Be Your Own Pet. Her voice and stage presence is really something else. Swank is fun to watch on the drums too. You could tell they were working on the drum mic levels while he was playing to get ready for the Black Belles. I thought there was no way little Shelby Lynne would be beating that floor tom as hard as Swank, but I was happily mistaken. When they came out, she was wailing. Her big black hat fell off within about 20 seconds and the whole kick drum was moving. Her long sleeve got caught over her right drum stick and she played almost the whole first song with it like that, as there was no break to remove it. I was most thoroughly impressed with her and couldn't take my eyes off of her for most of the show, which I told her at the meet and greet as well. She said she was kind of panicked when it happened, but you couldn't tell from where I was. She looked like a pro. I'm sure her sleeve was shredded from hitting the cymbal.

Olivia Jean is a star. She has the voice and the guitar chops. She reminds me of Jack in that she was clearly the ringleader. Lots of eye contact with each member when it was time for a change during the songs. Plus with singing lead vocals and playing all the guitars that takes a lot, and she knows her shit. It was fun to watch. I noticed the etching in the run out groove of the record says "You're Welcome" and after the encore before they took a bow she came to the mic and said, "I just want to say...you're welcome." Cracked me up. Her voice is 100% southern belle, which is HOT. Just saying something like, "thank y'all sooo much for coming" in that drawl...definitely does it for me. Hahahaha.

There was a lot of eye contact between Olivia Jean and each of the other members. You could tell she and Ruby are pretty close,and Ruby was solid on the bass. The keyboard player was Tina No Good. I couldn't hear the keys as well as everything else, but it all seemed good to me. There were very few miscues, but the reel change was pretty funny. Olivia said something along the lines of "now is the time when Tina tells a joke" and Tina subsequently took an invisible elevator behind her keyboard to obscure herself. After an awkward silence Olivia was like, "well let's just play a song" and when she started you could see Vance in the booth talking back to the stage like,"NO! NOT YET JUST A SECOND!" He got Ruby's attention as she was closest to the booth, and she had to stop everyone. Olivia said something along the lines of, "we're not used to this, we just like to play" or something like that. I thought that was rather humorous too, since we've seen her in the Third Man House band recording with Wanda Jackson and lord knows what other shows, so she definitely knows how it works. It only took another few seconds to get the reel ready though and they were back on their way. I can't remember if it was then or not, but at some point Olivia said "it's an awkward night." Hahaha. From where I was it wasn't awkward at all. You can tell they are still a young band, but I was impressed by the whole show. They were much better than I expected, with my only time seeing them being the teaser set we got on Devil's Night last year. Also like I mentioned earlier, Olivia Jean said she's been getting into Harry Nilsson (I LOVE me some Nilsson) and they played a cover of his "Cuddly Toy".

As far as the blue room goes, this was my first time being in since they hung the elephant head on the red wall by the bar. That damn thing is amazing. I spent half my time between shows just looking at that beautiful thing. They also had one of those black retractable velvet rope-type markers like you see at the airport at the entrance to the room right where the wall starts to curve up, so there was a clear path to get into the crowd. The difference between seeing a show there now vs. the 5, 6, 7, 8s and Wanda shows is big time. You don't have to be ass to crotch to anyone there anymore. Makes it a bit harder to get tickets, but it is so nice knowing you can get there after everyone else and still get a good spot and not be stuck on that curve of the wall.

Perturbing to me, and no offense to anyone reading this who may have done this, but when Olivia said "this is our last song", literally half the joint emptied out to get in line for their record and then back in line for the meet and greet. I saw this happen at the 5, 6, 7, 8s show too. Half the crowd emptied out before the encore, just to get in line at the storefront, and then Jack came out and played with them (don't read that wrong, he DID NOT play with the Belles.) Anyway, I just thought it was weird that you would go see a band's record release show, and then skip the show portion to get the record. That's not even a quibble though. I got my record and got it signed, and I got to see the whole show so it's no skin off my teeth. Just a report. But remember this next time you come to an awesome show at TMR. You never know what's going to happen there.

I would love to see some more of what Olivia Jean was signing on people's records if anyone else wants to chime in. I have to say too, I always love the people who don't come to many shows at Third Man and then freak out every time Jack walks by. I guess I've gotten used to seeing him milling about the Blue Room that it doesn't even register with me anymore. On the way out from the meet and greet, Jack was leaving and said goodbye to the Belles, and this guy was at the door of the blue room like freaking out saying, "oh my god,you just missed Jack White, he was right there." I just like different people's reactions. It must be really interesting meeting different types of fans for JW. All I can say to those folks is, if J Dub walks by you at TMR don't be afraid to shake his hand and say hello. He's a gracious dude.

This was another in a long line of terrific events put on at TMR. And shout out to all the people who drove from far away to come here. I'm sure they can attest to everyone else reading here, but it is so worth it to come to a show at Third Man. Such a cool joint and good music. Couldn't ask for more. I guess that about covers my view on things. Ta.

[orangeshoeskid]

I loved the show last night. Black Faces were absolutely amazing and I made sure to tell Swank how much I loved him. He said it was Jemina's first time on stage in a while and that they wrote most of the songs on Monday.

Managed to get the album afterward, but because we didn't clear out after they said "last song" and stayed for the encore, we were near the end of the line, maybe 10 back. Once we got our album we hurried back to get it signed and the band was just walking in back and leaving. Was kinda pissed about that, luckily Shelby was awesome enough to stick around and sign a couple more. We went back out front and waited for another hour or so, hoping to catch them on their way out for a signature but they never came. Well the keyboardist came but she just got in her car and left.

Overall it was an awesome night, just kinda pissed about having two albums with only one signature... I'd almost have rather had no signatures on it. Oh well, maybe I'll bring it around to some more shows and try to get the others.

[shaneoftheroad]

Here's what the poster looks like signed.



And some more pics of the vinyl: