Each year, the record store Caroline Music (yes, it still exists in Brussels and it has recently expended) publishes its ranking of the year. You can grab a copy for free at the store counter but it’s also available on their blog.

That’s how I found out about the rock band from Nashville, All Them Witches and their splendid Live on the Internet. We really love their psychedelia-blues rock style, it has become one of our most played EP.

Also really cool: The band’s name is taken from a book of witchcraft, All of Them Witches, featured in the 1968 film Rosemary’s baby. (Wikipedia)

In 1993, I was ending my first year at university. Let me tell you, it didn’t go well. The first year of law had syllabi totaling thousands of pages, and I wasn’t used to studying such quantities. I failed the first wave of exams in June and spent most of my summer studying to give it another go in September (which also resulted in utter failure).

However, as I was waiting my turn for an exam in the hallway of the university, I met a dude who had the same family name as I do. He was super friendly and told me about a bar close to where I lived. The bar was more like a club where we could drink beer for almost nothing, and it was filled with very cool folks who were playing in bands. I brought my friends there, and we enjoyed it so much that we went twice a week for many years. It was the beginning of my grunge years, and I don’t think that it will ever end, since it’s still my music of choice nowadays.

The first of many band posters to be pinned on the walls of my bedroom was The Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream. I loved the song Today and the poster was great. Also, I was drunk very often, so it may have helped me pick the one with the cutest colors…

Many years later, I met Soforah, who had a very similar music story. She also was into grunge music, she also was used to going to a pub with cheap beer and cool folks. We share a common love for pretty much all the same bands, and we regularly play them during our Friday evening beer times.

However, Soforah was much more into The Pumpkins than I was, and that’s how I discovered more songs of Billy Corgan’s band. She also told me that Billy has Belgian roots. Well, no surprise there; he seems like a cool guy.

A few months ago, in a TV show that I can’t remember, I heard “Mayonaise” and wanted to Shazam it, but Soforah already knew the song. I had the poster in my bedroom, and I’m still discovering songs from that album 30 years later. Life, sometimes…

As for why The Smashing Pumpkins misspelled “mayonnaise,” here is the reason: The band visited Japan in 1992 while touring Gish and noticed that the record company had mistranslated a lyric from Gish into a fan booklet as “mayonnaise seas.” The band thought this was funny and used “Mayonaise” [sic] as a temporary song title when recording Siamese Dream, but it eventually stuck. (Wikipedia).

That song is so dreamy…

I woke up this morning with a song in my head, but I couldn’t remember what it was, except that it sounded like an old Rolling Stones song, and it had the lyrics “Now that I’ve been there and back.”

I heard it first on TV; I can’t remember the show or the movie, but I found it back in my Shazam history, and I’m so glad I did because this song is awesome!

At some point, the lyrics go like this: “And yes, I am in pretty bad health – That don’t bother me.” Man, it gets me every time—goosebumps! I can tell you that this song is going to play 100 times over the week-end…

The art is also super fantastic, and I wish I could find the vinyl. I’ve posted it here, so you can admire it while listening to the song. Enjoy!