Sunday, February 24, 2013

Amanda Pascali Is A Punk Rocker

I arrived in Naples, Campania today for the first time and fell in love with the look of the coast here. I sat out on the porch of my hotel room with my guitar and began to play "Havana Affair" (Ramones), as played by John Frusciante, of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I love the Ramones' original but it honestly wouldn't sound right if I played it that way acoustically. Anyways, this evening I got back to my hotel room and decided to surf around youtube and look up covers of Ramones tracks. I found a couple that stood out here and there but one that jumped out and bit me was a cover of "Sheena Is Punk Rocker" (Ramones) by Amanda Pascali.

The video starts out with Amanda looking into the camera. Despite how young she looks, her eyes have that "Don't mess with me look.", which is comparable to the grunge "I don't care." look, that I've related to for a long time. My guess is that she'd be very annoyed that someone payed such close attention to the first seconds of the video, so for her sake I'll move on to her cover. It's a punk classic, and her interpretation is so purely emotional, that it is obvious, she understands punk. There are many "punk purists" who would say "She should limit herself to downstrokes." or "Her voice isn't straight enough." But, any person who understands the essence of punk should realize that punk was created for the sake of expression and simplicity, NOT technique, form and rules. I'm certain that any one of the Ramones would applaud Amanda's unique and addictive cover. Check it out!


The way she slides off the low E at the end is perfect. I may be rambling but I personally feel that Amanda's youthful approach to music and ignorance of the rules is great. There's a natural element about the way Amanda sings and plays guitar that is the definition of punk. When I started playing live shows around London, I was identified as a grunge artist, which I didn't mind at all. It only confirmed the fact that I didn't rehearse, didn't care if I was peachy clean and gave me space to experiment with my natural desires. Punk had a great influence on grunge music and the message the two have are essentially the same. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity. It's not all about what you can do with a piece of wood in your hands, it's about making music, and I guess what I'm trying to say with this endless ramble, is that I appreciate Amanda Pascali's natural anarchy. I always say, if you're a real artist, you should be able to get on stage and perform without a set list, rehearsal etc. And I think Amanda Pascali might agree with that (despite her natural anarchy).

The next of her videos that I really enjoyed was a cover of "Fight For Your Right" (Beastie Boys), with her band "The Infusers". Before I go on talking about Amanda I just have to say is that her bassist and drummer match up with her perfectly. When the video started up I looked at the girl with the bass and thought "This is going to be strange." But, following the punk spirit of the band, they proved my initial judgment wrong. The bass holds a steady rhythm and almost sounds funky (reminiscent of Flea's earlier work with punk bands). The drummer is also exquisite and seems connected with Amanda at a very deep level. The guitar and drums lock up just right and I personally got the feeling that the bass was more melodic than the guitar. I think it's a great sound that's made up of individual influences but I really have no idea what they did to get that sweet and rebellious sound. Additionally, it's a personal favourite of mine by the Beastie Boys, who were inducted into the big and yet unimportant Hall of Fame in 2012. It doesn't mean anything. The band was great anyways and so is this cover! Listen to it now!


Great cover. Now, you may have noticed that Amanda's quite young. I think she's fourteen or fifteen but I'm not too sure. If you love Green Day, I advise you to check out her covers of some of their songs and you might want to check out her albums on iTunes. Full of originals, which are great and ooze with influences from the 60's until today. But, as my readers know, I'm so fond of songs that are stripped down to the bare minimum. It shows the capability, creativity and depth of the artist beyond any other measure. Amanda Pascali sounds like she could be in her 20's (at least) in this song and channels a whole lot of artists of the past, as well genres. The song is called "East Bay Angel", and you can buy it on iTunes. The quality of the recording is fantastic and if you like the sound of this, go check that out now. Here's a little version she did on youtube for a contest of some sort. Make sure you subscribe to her channel and check out her band's Facebook (The Infusers). She's one to look out for! Check back tomorrow for another fantastic youtube artist!

Alex Hamel

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