The Tell-Tale Signs are a '60s-style garage rock band that will perform Aug. 28 in Brandon Park as part of this year's Absorb Williamsport Music Festival.
The group includes Andy Kohler, Jon King, Ted Schvosky and Brad Barnes, who recently sat down for a chat with the Sun-Gazette.
JACKIE SZYMANSKI: If you had to sum up the band's sound in three words, what would they be?
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The Tell-Tale Signs will perform Aug. 28 at Absorb Williamsport Music Festival in the Bandshell at Brandon Park.
BRAD BARNES: Psycho - trash - beat - pop - whoops, that's four! We're not very good at counting; it makes starting songs difficult at times.
JS: What are some of the things that inspire your songs?
BB: Booze, boredom, bad politics, everyday drudgery, being forced to contemplate our own mortality, monkeys, hot rods, love or the lack thereof, palindromes, the enigma of modern life ... so on and so forth.
JS: If you could perform anywhere, what location or venue would you choose?
BB: The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, Dec. 11, 1968. Now that would be all right!
JS: What are your thoughts on today's rock music?
BB: What rock music? Ha ha, I think it's safe to say our daily playlists don't contain much modern music. Most of that stuff comes off as being faux junk, like too many hacks making garbage under the guise of rock and roll, complicating things, polishing their recordings ad nauseum, practicing their jump-kicks, etc. We try not to pay attention to it. If you are willing to dig a bit and aren't afraid to get a little dirty, there are a select few really great artists down in the trenches carrying the torch and making real music - King Khan and the Shrines, the Black Lips - Wanda Jackson's new album is unreal.
JS: What's the atmosphere like at a Tell-Tale Signs show?
BB: It usually depends on our level of awareness, sobriety and to some extent, whether or not you can smoke in the venue. It's loud, sweaty, sometimes sloppy, sometimes tight, always good - for us anyhow.
JS: What's your new album like?
BB: It's our long-awaited first effort, a four-song, 7-inch vinyl record. [It's] a smattering of our favorites from our garage-basement four-track recording sessions. If you don't have a record player, go buy one, you're gonna need it!
