You, Me and This Fuckin’ Guy / Garden Variety Fuckers
Los Angeles art-rock duo LoveyDove teams up with NYC’s legendary King Missile wordsmith/crooner John S. Hall to form their new project You, Me and this Fuckin’ Guy. Their debut album Garden Variety Fuckers (out now) is a synth and profanity-laced journey through the looking glass of Hall’s misanthropic mind. This LP is a not-so-ordinary ride through the mundanity of daily life that’ll keep you uplifted and laughing this summer. It takes a magnifying glass to micro-moments of New York City living or more general musings about nature. Although Hall made a name for himself in the early ’80s New York City poetry scene, his projects have recently been covered in Vice, Pitchfork, SPIN, Exclaim! and more.
Hall cut his teeth in historic venues like Speakeasy and ABC No Rio. In ’85, Hall began presenting his work at various open mics. In ’86, feeling that “20 minutes of me reading poetry would be totally boring,” he augmented his performances with original music, and King Missile (Dog Fly Religion) was born. The band released three albums on indie label Shimmy Disc. On the strength of the single “Jesus Was Way Cool,” the album hit #1 on the college radio charts. Hall joked “Jesus got me signed to Atlantic Records.” King Missile recorded three albums for Atlantic and Happy Hour spawned a notable hit with “Detachable Penis” which reached #25 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks. Hall has released two books on Soft Skull Press: 1997’s Jesus was Way Cool, a collection of 40 poems, and Daily Negations. Hall continues to perform in NYC in various musical incarnations (Unusual Squirrel, The Hat Cousins, The Lincoln Memorial, Sensation Play, Silk Cut, solo ukulele performances) as well as with his spoken words.
Azalia Snail, the Queen of Lo-Fi, is an avant-garde songwriter who played a prominent role in the ’90s lo-fi music scene. Snail has released thirteen solo albums and Hall can be heard on “Baby Brother,” a song that describes their relationship, and the b-side of her debut single “Another Slave Labour Day.” Hall also contributes spoken word to her third album Fumarole Rising on the song “Having an Experience.”
Snail has scored several indie features and short films and has toured the world for decades. In 2000, she won the Los Angeles Weekly Award for Best New-Genre/Uncategorizable Artist. SiriusXM debuted Azalia Snail’s cover of Tom Petty’s classic track “The Wild One, Forever” and it remains in heavy rotation on Tom Petty Radio.
Dan West, also known as d’Animal, is an American rock and jazz musician, songwriter and producer, and one half of the duo LoveyDove. West has also released three solo albums: Hot Corners, Does It Suit You? and d’Animal l’Ogic. West has performed with such notable artists as Sky Saxon of The Seeds, Maynard Ferguson, Rosemary Clooney, and Love, and scored the music for the documentary Mr. Movie Poster which follows the life of artist Paul Crifo.
As LoveyDove, Snail and West have released two albums with a third one on the way. Their second album Showstopper was released in New Zealand by Powertool Records and in the US by Records Ad Nauseam, and received rave reviews. LoveyDove has performed all over the world and can be heard in the Sony film Space Station 76.
Together, Hall, Snail and West recorded Garden Variety Fuckers to transform Hall’s curmudgeonly character observations into a hilarious, melodious musical excursion. You, Me, and This Fuckin’ Guy have collaborated with renowned music video director, Steve Hanft (Beck, The Cure, Phoenix) who directed a video for their song “FBI” and is in pre-production for their song “Owls.”
“Both endearing and crude, “Detachable Penis” was exemplary of Hall’s literary gifts and sneering wit. An absurdist rocker turned corporate analyst: Hall seems to have traced the fitful arcs of his verses…. he is casually prolific-his work includes four band incarnations, eleven albums, and hundreds of poems.” – The New Yorker
“John S. Hall writes hilarious lyrics.” – LA Times
“John S. Hall works as an Intellectual Property Analyst, whatever the fuck that is. He didn’t always, though. He’s been a major recording artist, a published author, and a highly respected poet. Now he’s an Intellectual Property Analyst, whatever the fuck that is.” – Vice
“The band could become known for skewed, screwball humor along the lines of They Might Be Giants or Mojo Nixon, King Missile’s roots are more traceable to Pere Ubu, Jonathan Richman, Patti Smith and Lou Reed. With his waffling between irony and despair, logic and absurdity, Hall’s stream-of-self-consciousness seems to work as poetry, underscored by his speaking-singing delivery.” – The Washington Post
“Hall is completely word-dependent… But it isn’t just the consistency of the sarcasm that distinguishes this one. It’s the way he’s putting his hard-rock comedy, shaggy dog fables, and sophistical shit across.” – Robert Christgau, Dean of American Rock Critics (on The Way to Salvation)
“[Azalia Snail] beams with joyousness and youthful vigour.” – Exclaim! (on Azalia Snail’s Neon Resistance)
“Wherever Azalia Snail’s genre dial happens to be pointed at any given moment—hazy pop rock, windswept folk, sidles into the no-fi inchoate—the Los Angeles-based artist evinces a palpable sense of joy, if not complete abandon. Her voice itself is a smile sans guile—a beatific chirp that’s the hippie equivalent of Lady Miss Kier’s cosmopolitan, empathic raver coo and a kindred spirit to the B-52s’ awe-struck Kate Pierson/Cindy Wilson axis.” – Raymond Cummings
“Harmonious psych-pop confections, the duo have outdone themselves. Sweet, savory, gorgeously rendered and painstakingly arranged, every track is a masterly example of their complex bubble-gum simplicity – a cunning, stunning contradiction that reliably engages the brain as it reaches deep into the soul. It’s an approach the pair has long since perfected, but on Showstopper, it’s displayed in even fuller, richer form than ever before.” – LA Weekly (on LoveyDove)