Categories
Bountiful Hearts

Westzeit Review

Wonderful print review of Keep It Wild from Westzeit. Read the translation below and watch the video for the song here

“Keep It Wild” is an EP, but also a ‘Best of Album’. Not a ‘best of’ album, mind you, but a selection of songs from a record that should have been released in 2009. Nathaniel Fregoso, frontman of The Blood Arm, had so much on his plate with his band that the half-finished album disappeared into producer David Newton‘s drawer. In the lockdown of 2020, Berlin-based Fregoso rediscovered the songs and decided to compile some of them into an EP. In view of the original time of its creation, the result logically exudes the charm of the noughties: the title track sounds like a rough version of Franz Ferdinand, “Belarus” has the pop appeal of the Kaiser Chiefs, while “Out Of Key” is more in the The Strokes notch. Also included, at least on the promo: A beautiful cover of “Cuando calienta el sol”, originally published in 1961.

Categories
Family

My Father and I

I love this photo of my father and I. It was taken after The Blood Arm opened for Franz Ferdinand at The Hollywood Palladium in 2009. It’s been missing for a few years now, but thanks to my friend Bekki Newton, we were able to track the photo down and I’m really pleased to have it. I can’t wait to explain the whole thing to my kids.

Thanks goes to photographer Timothy Norris for capturing a moment.

Categories
Music

Franz Ferdinand After Party

Here you have Ali Bell and I in the dark of the after partáy. Photo by Bob Hardy of Franz Ferdinand. Congrats goes to the band on their greatest-hits-album Hits to the Head. The two new singles are fantastic – as are the rest of the songs.

This photo was taken after the last Franz Ferdinand show in Berlin. My band Mexican Radio opened. I’m so appreciative of their continued support for The Blood Arm and our various musical projects over the years. They are a great band – so go buy that album!