ALONG COMES MARY

Back in June when my friend, Holly, was visiting from England, we had a fabulous night out at The Viper Room in Hollywood. It just so happened my friend, Eva, gave me the heads up a great musician was playing that night, Davis Fetter. Davis has a wide range of musical influences & it certainly shows in his music; from low-tempo, melancholy songs like his current single, Death of the Lullaby, to one of my favorites, Baby, What You Waiting For?, which brings to mind a throwback to 60’s pop sounds. I decided to nab Davis for an interview, before Rolling Stone & Spin get ahold of him!;) to ask him about some of his favorite albums, & here’s what he had to tell me:

The Smiths, The Queen is Dead: I grew up going to punk rock shows when I was 12 or so and I would always see people with Smiths shirts on, or Smiths patches. Of course it wasn’t until high school when a girl I had a crush on told me I need to just go buy The Queen is Dead. So I did and the album had the biggest impact on me ever. It got me out of punk rock and opened the door to so much music. It was a gateway to all the other Smiths records and so many other bands like Joy Division, Jesus and Mary Chain, etc. The Queen Is Dead is a perfect pop record from start to finish: the lyrics are undeniably brilliant, both hilarious and monumentally deep at the same time…Shakespearean really; and the guitar playing features the best melodies ever put to pop music. As a guitar player, hearing Johnny Marr’s style really affected my playing, and it turned me on to Buddy Holly, and Chet Atkins, and so many American guitar legends who inspired Johnny! And obviously Morrissey’s Morrissey right???!!!

The Libertines, Up The Bracket: Pure. Visceral. Brilliant. Honest. Rock N Roll. Genuine. You can’t ask for a better British rock ‘n roll record really. The lyrics remind me of Lord Byron, but written in a way that anyone can grasp. Like John Lennon. The guitar parts are genius! I love this record not only because the songs are amazing pop songs, but when you listen to it you feel like at any moment the songs could fall to pieces and if they did you would feel like you missed out on a moment in music history! It makes you want to keep listening over and over so you don’t feel left out!

The Strokes, Is This It: Hands down the best American Rock ‘n Roll full length album of all time. I will listen to this over Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors any day! Obviously Elvis and Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly wrote some of the best songs of all time, but they were at their peak before full length albums were released! Is This It contains no filler! There is not one bad song on it! There isn’t one song that sounds half-ass. The melodies are unbelievable! The lyrics are exactly what you want in Rock n Roll. The guitar players do not give a fuck in the absolute best way possible. And the drumming is simple – which ALWAYS makes Rock n Roll sound better. Julian Casablancas’ voice is so good! It’s like Iggy Pop & Lou Reed but better! This album carries the torch of Rock N Roll.

(Me, Davis & Holly after his set at The Viper Room)

I am also stoked to mention Davis recently reached the #1 spot on The World Famous KROQ’s Close to Home hour, woot! He & his band will be performing this year at the Lobster Festival in San Pedro on September 15th, along with loads of other great bands during three days from September 14th through the 16th of Music, Fun, Food & Lobster! I have FIVE pairs of 1 day admission tickets to giveaway to go to the festival (Lobster meal NOT included); to enter, leave me a comment telling me one of YOUR favorite albums;) For additional entries, here’s what else you can do, just leave a comment for each action you complete:

*LIKE facebook.com/davisfetter
*FOLLOW me on Twitter (Just click the button to your right)
*LIKE Along Comes Mary on Facebook (Link also to your right, so easy, right?!)

Enter by September 9th & I will choose five (5) winners via Random.org on September 10th, then contact you. Your tickets will be mailed to you wherever you tell me to send them. Please read my ‘Sweepstakes’ tab for additional information & void where prohibited. Good luck!!!:)

*Disclosure: I am being provided with complimentary admits from The Lobster Festival of San Pedro.