Photo by Sam Cotter
1. Vincent Gallo | I Wrote This Song For The Girl Paris Hilton
This is my favourite album of all time. I've had this album for almost 10 years now, and I still listen to it. During long night drives, this is a hit amongst everyone I've traveled with as it sends them off to dreamland, while I chain smoke all night through until destination point.
2. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds | The Singer
This is a cover of Johnny Cash, but this version grabbed me like a weird premonition, sending shivers all over me. I couldn't stop listening to it.
3. Ike Gordon | Don't Let The Devil Ride
They say that evil comes in all forms, and I sincerely believe that. Although it is important to have fun on the road to keep the group morale up, this song is a testament that shit can drag you down faster than you think in a blink of an eye; best to stay away from all that trouble that will make your life a living hell. Take in what you can, and stay blazin' on the road. Don't let the devil take you by the hand.
4. Elvis Presley | First In Line
This is one of my favourite Elvis songs. Music that accompanies you on those endless night drives to God knows where.
5. Lightnin' Hopkins | Lonesome Road
Whenever the tour starts heading south, I like to put on this song. The landscape of the south and this song evokes my imagination of a period before our time, where men travel the distance, leaving their fate to the cards they are dealt with.
6. Speculator | Driving In My Car
...And Jeans Wilder - Sparkler... I met Nick and Andrew in LA, they are 2 of the most sweetest, and talented artists I've met on the road. They're music have a certain quality to it that resonates with me beyond words. Perhaps it's because we're from the same generation; born in 1980's, sampling, hip hop mixtape production values, etc. These 2 songs makes me think of 10 years ago of all the drive home alone after a long night of partying, or the occasional chance of going home with the girl of your dreams.
7. Lantern | Untitled
This is my favourite new band, Lantern. We met when we were living in Montreal, they are now located in Philadelphia. This instrumental song is so good and bad-ass that I wish I had written it myself. As explosive as it is heartbreaking all at the same time. It stands up to anything Link Wray had put out. That is a bold statement to make, which I'm willing to stand behind for my man Zach who wrote this brilliant track. Jacqueline Lachance and I made a music video for this song. It is up on Vimeo. Please look for it on the vast internet sphere.
8. The Cramps | New Kind Of Kick
For some reason, I get really excited when this song comes on when I'm shit faced. I do not understand why, but I embrace it every time it happens.
9. Brenda Lee | I Want To Be Wanted
This song was used in Willem Dafoe's first role in The Loveless during a diner scene, where he was drinking a cup of coffee in the middle of nowhere, waiting for his friends to show up midst their motorcycle road trip. Random tour gas/peepee/food/doodoo stops reminds me of this song whenever I'm at some weird gas stop in the middle of nowhere.
10. Ted Curson | Tears For Dolphy
In 2005 I was on a train from Shanghai to Beijing with a few travellers I met thru MySpace (when it was like Facebook), and I listened to this track on a mix a friend had made for me. I snuck to the midsection of the train and smoked a lot while listening to this. Strange feeling to be thinking of another landscape while traveling through another.
