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The Von Bondies
Or, How I learned to stop worrying and love divorce
By Martin Caballero
del.ico.us
reddit!
Success; love; happiness; complacency. When a rock star sees these four horsemen come charging in, it's time to start running the other way.
"The exact point when we would have started making money, I sort of retired at 26 and got married," says Jason Stollsteimer, lead singer/guitarist/songwriter of the Von Bondies, via phone from Indianapolis, already one flat tire deep into the Detroit band's 17-city tour. "I wrote songs about exact things that happened to me in life. And I was so happy with being married, I had nothing to complain or heartache about. I had no reason to keep working."
The re-emergence of the Von Bondies on tour this month should tell the rest of the tale: the band is back cranking out their energetic brand of big-sounding rock as fast as Stollsteimer's now ringless fingers can write. Three years have passed since the Michigan-based crew parlayed their hit single "C'mon, C'mon" (the theme song for FX's Rescue Me) into critical acclaim and performances across the world, only to be temporarily suspended for love. Now, like the bemused children of guilt-ridden divorced parents, Von Bondies' fans are eager for Stollsteimer and company to make up for lost time. Can anyone say, "two Christmases"?
"In the last two years, I recorded like two albums worth of songs," says Stollsteimer. Some of them will be featured on two new EPs that will serve as the precursor to the band's next album coming later this year. "When I was going through the divorce. So of course, I had really good things to talk about."
Besides Stollsteimer's personal matters, the Bondies have plenty of other lush songwriting topics; from backlash in Detroit's rock community to label Sire Records ("We have no intentions of putting out this record on Sire, by our say") to Stollsteimer's infamous black eye courtesy of Jack White ("we call him 'Shithead'"). The growing pains extend to the band's refocused approach -- adding a fifth member, stepping up their already electric live performances and balancing their touring schedule with more frequent recording.
"As a songwriter, I want to put a record out every six months. But as a musician, I didn't want to come home and just record a record. I believe when you put out a record you have to tour," says Stollsteimer. "If we put out another record after [this year's], I want it to come out in 2009. It will be more frequent.
"I'm not stupid. I'm not gonna get married again."
The Von Bondies w/ SSM & Freer
Tues. 1.22.08
Great Scott, 1222 Comm. Ave., Allston
617.566.9014
8pm doors/9pm show/18+/$12 ($14 door)