Behind the Scenes of '99 Percent: The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film'

99% - The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film

Audrey Ewell and Aaron Aites, the team behind 99 Percent: The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film, initially attempted to adopt a filmmaking model as decentralized as the Occupy movement itself. However, the pair soon discovered that the consensus decision process is as complicated for directing films as it is for orienting political movements.

"It just didn't work. We couldn't get anything done," Ewell tells Rolling Stone. "At least with the Occupiers, [they] were in one physical space together. We didn't even have that; we had an email list with hundreds of emails."

Photos: Occupy Wall Street

99 Percent, which premiered this week at the Sundance Film Festival, began to form after Ewell and Aites grew interested in the movement after the October arrests on the Brooklyn Bridge. "I was watching the live stream when they started to cattle them and started arresting them. I turned on the TV, and there was nothing," recalls Ewell. "There are like a thousand people being arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City in broad daylight and that's not news."

So the filmmakers, who previously made Until the Light Takes Us – a 2009 documentary on black metal – went to lower Manhattan and began shooting. ??"We had three rules when we started the film," Ewell says. "The first rule was that anybody was welcome and that meant any perspective, any skill level, any format. But we couldn't get anything done."

To move the process forward, the pair created an outline to add structure and adopted leadership positions. Many Occupiers were reportedly frustrated with this shift and left the project as a result, but Ewell explains that the decision felt necessary. "It was actually possible to make a movie this way, still having the collaborative process and many people's voices, but we had to do a 180 from where we started on consensus." The result was a national filmmaking network with four directors, five co-directors and more than 100 contributors divided regionally who regularly uploaded footage to a daisy-chain of hard-drives crisscrossing the country.

The documentary chronicles the movement with on-the-ground footage, protestor interviews and perspectives from commentators including Naomi Wolf and Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi. ??"We'd set up these maps basically of where people were and how much they'd shot at that point because we couldn't wait until the end to collect, so we were constantly swapping out hard drives," Ewell explains. Eventually, each director prepared a segment of the film and Ewell and Aites went back over their pre-edit.

"It felt very much like this parallel experiment really was paralleling the movement," Ewell says in retrospect. ??"[Occupy] was so intent on having their voices heard, but they took it to such an extreme. What we found was that you didn't have to give up, you didn't have to abandon hierarchy and structure. You could still have that and, in fact, that would facilitate more voices being heard because the structure would be there to create space for those voices."

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Vampire Weekend and Dirty Projectors Raise Funds for Occupy Sandy

The Walkmen raise funds for Occupy Sandy.

There has been no shortage lately of concerts in the name of hurricane relief – benefits have been held practically daily since the day after Hurricane Sandy pummeled New York and New Jersey. However, the show held yesterday to benefit Occupy Sandy – the grassroots relief organization fueled by the Occupy Wall Street community’s infrastructure – was especially good and perhaps the highest-profile show held specifically for Occupy. The stacked bill included Vampire Weekend, Dirty Projectors, the Walkmen, Devendra Banhart, Real Estate and Cass McCombs – a tremendous, solid assembly of indie rockers. 

The show was held at St. Ann & The Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Brooklyn Heights, a beautiful neighborhood built on high ground and lined with stately brownstones. The attentive audience sat respectfully in wooden pews, and the hulking, Gothic revival church felt more like a sanctuary than a concert venue, illuminated by surreal, autumnal light beaming through stained glass windows. Largely unaffected by Sandy, Brooklyn Heights seemed an entire world away from the decimated neighborhoods in the Rockaways. This scene also stood in stark contrast to those swarmed churches that serve as "hubs" for the Occupy Sandy movement in Brooklyn, at 520 Clinton in Clinton Hill and St. Jacobi’s Church in Sunset Park. There, the laterally organized movement dispatches truckloads of supplies and thousands of volunteers. Hurricane Sandy exposed the severe disparities among the citizens of New York City, and the social media-driven Occupy Sandy worked quickly on the ground to meet need where government agencies couldn’t.

Real Estate opens up the day of music and fundraising with a beautiful first set.

This show’s purpose was primarily to raise money for Occupy Sandy’s operations, but like the movement, it came together swiftly and organically, thanks to two brothers who had volunteered last weekend and a staff of Occupy volunteers. Jesse Lebus is an Episcopalian Franciscan brother who serves in the North Brooklyn area and also acted as the show’s MC. His brother, Morgan, works for Domino Records and Ribbon Music and knew most of the performers through professional connections. The pair’s initial vision was a completely acoustic show to be held in solidarity with those still without power, but the end result was a slightly more practical event. All of the bands’ sets were brief and stripped down – the performers had to share a Spartan stage with only a couple of tiny amps and the church’s grand piano angled on the side. The exposed setting encouraged some refreshing diversions from the bands’ regular stage shows.

Real Estate came on just after noon. St. Ann’s vaulted ceilings and echo-y stone interior elevated the North Jersey crew’s trademark shimmer, and tempos were slightly laid back. When strummed into the vastness, breezy singles like "Easy" sounded more melancholic, nostalgic for things lost, not past.

The audience during Vampire Weekend's performance.

Vampire Weekend focused their set on fan favorites like "Oxford Comma" and "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa," but the highlight came in an inventive 4-hands piano arrangement of "White Sky" that featured Rostam Batmanglij and Chris Baio sharing the bench. The band also trotted out their newest cut, "Unbelievers," this time without the opulent orchestration from when the group debuted the song on Halloween. Frontman Ezra Koenig cherished the concert as an opportunity to experiment: "when we play a normal show, we’re always changing our songs a bit because we can never fully recreate them live, but this morning we all just got in here really early with some coffee and sat around the piano. It was really fun."

Devendra Banhart played the shortest (12 minutes!) but most delightful set. The folkie wild man came dressed for church, sporting a neat haircut and a shave in lieu of his typical long hair and beard. He appeared sans guitar, accompanied only by an upright bassist. He sang with a beatnik whimsy, wiggling around the stage in a heated musical conversation with the bass player, occasionally wagging the mic in his face. The duo achieved remarkable dynamics, and the combo sounded chilling and beautiful when Banhart sang in a low whisper. When he whistled or chirped in a girlish falsetto, he was warm and funny – the crowd laughed.

Banhart’s act was spontaneous, unpretentious and intimate. He later admitted to Rolling Stone that the arrangement was "completely thrown together," since he thought there wasn’t going to be any amplification. "I haven’t played acoustic guitar in like, 6 years . . . I don’t own one," said Banhart, "So I called my buddy Jason (Ajemian) who’s got a stand up bass and said, 'let’s do this.'" But despite his light-hearted performance, Banhart somberly reflected upon finding the body of a dead woman in the darkened streets of Manhattan, minutes after she had been struck dead by falling scaffolding. "It certainly brought neighbors closer together," he added. "When did I realize how bad it was? It was when actually we got the power."

The Walkmen delivered the most majestic set of the bunch. The band was down two members, but four trumpet players augmented their sound. The sharp, brassy chorale bolstered Hamilton Leithauser's dark, soulful pipes, combining into an epically rich texture. Considering the cold, snowy nights after the storm for those without power, the lyrics from "Stranded" assumed a special significance: "Why does the rain fall cold/ when I’m stranded and starry-eyed."

Cass McCombs was the one performer who isn’t based in New York, and his shadowy, subdued finger-picking served as a solemn meditation in preparation for Dave Longstreth, Amber Coffman, and Haley Dekle of the Dirty Projectors. Without the rhythm section, the group’s meticulous vocal work was overwhelming. The songs seemed less tightly wound, voices filling up the tall room in a wash, punctuated only by the peculiar, skewed twang of Longstreth’s guitar playing. The band skipped hits "Stillness Is the Move" and "Gun Has No Trigger." Instead, Swing Lo Magellan cuts like "See What She Seeing" and "Impregnable Question" stood out thanks to slower, more delicate interpretations. For the band’s last song, Longstreth revived the title track from his 2007 Black Flag covers project, Rise Above. The song’s opening lyrics evoked the spirit of the Occupy movement: "Jealous cowards try to control/ They distort what we say/ Try and stop what we do/ When they can’t do it themselves."

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Vampire Weekend and Dirty Projectors Raise Funds for Occupy Sandy

The Walkmen raise funds for Occupy Sandy.

There has been no shortage lately of concerts in the name of hurricane relief – benefits have been held practically daily since the day after Hurricane Sandy pummeled New York and New Jersey. However, the show held yesterday to benefit Occupy Sandy – the grassroots relief organization fueled by the Occupy Wall Street community’s infrastructure – was especially good and perhaps the highest-profile show held specifically for Occupy. The stacked bill included Vampire Weekend, Dirty Projectors, the Walkmen, Devendra Banhart, Real Estate and Cass McCombs – a tremendous, solid assembly of indie rockers. 

The show was held at St. Ann & The Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Brooklyn Heights, a beautiful neighborhood built on high ground and lined with stately brownstones. The attentive audience sat respectfully in wooden pews, and the hulking, Gothic revival church felt more like a sanctuary than a concert venue, illuminated by surreal, autumnal light beaming through stained glass windows. Largely unaffected by Sandy, Brooklyn Heights seemed an entire world away from the decimated neighborhoods in the Rockaways. This scene also stood in stark contrast to those swarmed churches that serve as "hubs" for the Occupy Sandy movement in Brooklyn, at 520 Clinton in Clinton Hill and St. Jacobi’s Church in Sunset Park. There, the laterally organized movement dispatches truckloads of supplies and thousands of volunteers. Hurricane Sandy exposed the severe disparities among the citizens of New York City, and the social media-driven Occupy Sandy worked quickly on the ground to meet need where government agencies couldn’t.

Real Estate opens up the day of music and fundraising with a beautiful first set.

This show’s purpose was primarily to raise money for Occupy Sandy’s operations, but like the movement, it came together swiftly and organically, thanks to two brothers who had volunteered last weekend and a staff of Occupy volunteers. Jesse Lebus is an Episcopalian Franciscan brother who serves in the North Brooklyn area and also acted as the show’s MC. His brother, Morgan, works for Domino Records and Ribbon Music and knew most of the performers through professional connections. The pair’s initial vision was a completely acoustic show to be held in solidarity with those still without power, but the end result was a slightly more practical event. All of the bands’ sets were brief and stripped down – the performers had to share a Spartan stage with only a couple of tiny amps and the church’s grand piano angled on the side. The exposed setting encouraged some refreshing diversions from the bands’ regular stage shows.

Real Estate came on just after noon. St. Ann’s vaulted ceilings and echo-y stone interior elevated the North Jersey crew’s trademark shimmer, and tempos were slightly laid back. When strummed into the vastness, breezy singles like "Easy" sounded more melancholic, nostalgic for things lost, not past.

The audience during Vampire Weekend's performance.

Vampire Weekend focused their set on fan favorites like "Oxford Comma" and "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa," but the highlight came in an inventive 4-hands piano arrangement of "White Sky" that featured Rostam Batmanglij and Chris Baio sharing the bench. The band also trotted out their newest cut, "Unbelievers," this time without the opulent orchestration from when the group debuted the song on Halloween. Frontman Ezra Koenig cherished the concert as an opportunity to experiment: "when we play a normal show, we’re always changing our songs a bit because we can never fully recreate them live, but this morning we all just got in here really early with some coffee and sat around the piano. It was really fun."

Devendra Banhart played the shortest (12 minutes!) but most delightful set. The folkie wild man came dressed for church, sporting a neat haircut and a shave in lieu of his typical long hair and beard. He appeared sans guitar, accompanied only by an upright bassist. He sang with a beatnik whimsy, wiggling around the stage in a heated musical conversation with the bass player, occasionally wagging the mic in his face. The duo achieved remarkable dynamics, and the combo sounded chilling and beautiful when Banhart sang in a low whisper. When he whistled or chirped in a girlish falsetto, he was warm and funny – the crowd laughed.

Banhart’s act was spontaneous, unpretentious and intimate. He later admitted to Rolling Stone that the arrangement was "completely thrown together," since he thought there wasn’t going to be any amplification. "I haven’t played acoustic guitar in like, 6 years . . . I don’t own one," said Banhart, "So I called my buddy Jason (Ajemian) who’s got a stand up bass and said, 'let’s do this.'" But despite his light-hearted performance, Banhart somberly reflected upon finding the body of a dead woman in the darkened streets of Manhattan, minutes after she had been struck dead by falling scaffolding. "It certainly brought neighbors closer together," he added. "When did I realize how bad it was? It was when actually we got the power."

The Walkmen delivered the most majestic set of the bunch. The band was down two members, but four trumpet players augmented their sound. The sharp, brassy chorale bolstered Hamilton Leithauser's dark, soulful pipes, combining into an epically rich texture. Considering the cold, snowy nights after the storm for those without power, the lyrics from "Stranded" assumed a special significance: "Why does the rain fall cold/ when I’m stranded and starry-eyed."

Cass McCombs was the one performer who isn’t based in New York, and his shadowy, subdued finger-picking served as a solemn meditation in preparation for Dave Longstreth, Amber Coffman, and Haley Dekle of the Dirty Projectors. Without the rhythm section, the group’s meticulous vocal work was overwhelming. The songs seemed less tightly wound, voices filling up the tall room in a wash, punctuated only by the peculiar, skewed twang of Longstreth’s guitar playing. The band skipped hits "Stillness Is the Move" and "Gun Has No Trigger." Instead, Swing Lo Magellan cuts like "See What She Seeing" and "Impregnable Question" stood out thanks to slower, more delicate interpretations. For the band’s last song, Longstreth revived the title track from his 2007 Black Flag covers project, Rise Above. The song’s opening lyrics evoked the spirit of the Occupy movement: "Jealous cowards try to control/ They distort what we say/ Try and stop what we do/ When they can’t do it themselves."

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Jeff Mangum Plans Occupy Wall Street Fundraiser

Lee Ranaldo performs in Washington, DC.Josh Sisk/For The Washington Post via Getty Images

After making a surprise appearance at Zuccotti Park last year to support the Occupy Wall Street movement, former Neutral Milk Hotel frontman Jeff Mangum will be a part of the self-described telethon "The People's Bailout" November 15th at New York's Le Poisson Rouge. He'll be joined by Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Guy Picciotto of Fugazi, Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio, comedian Janeane Garofalo, The Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead and more.

"The People's Bailout" seeks to raise $50,000 for Strike Debt, an organization affiliated with the Occupy movement. Rolling Jubilee will host the telethon's webcast, and tickets go on sale November 2nd at 10 a.m. EST. For more information, visit the event's page.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Jeff Mangum Plans Occupy Wall Street Fundraiser

Lee Ranaldo performs in Washington, DC.Josh Sisk/For The Washington Post via Getty Images

After making a surprise appearance at Zuccotti Park last year to support the Occupy Wall Street movement, former Neutral Milk Hotel frontman Jeff Mangum will be a part of the self-described telethon "The People's Bailout" November 15th at New York's Le Poisson Rouge. He'll be joined by Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Guy Picciotto of Fugazi, Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio, comedian Janeane Garofalo, The Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead and more.

"The People's Bailout" seeks to raise $50,000 for Strike Debt, an organization affiliated with the Occupy movement. Rolling Jubilee will host the telethon's webcast, and tickets go on sale November 2nd at 10 a.m. EST. For more information, visit the event's page.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Tom Morello's Occupy SXSW Shut Down by Cops

When Tom Morello took the stage at the Swan Dive in Austin on Friday night, he chose to convert what otherwise would've been just another SXSW-only showcase into a true Occupy gathering – an event which he described as "Occupy SXSW," and which he organized in conjunction with Occupy Austin. Morello informed the crowd – which primarily consisted of SXSW badge holders – that, just outside the bar, a "people's stage" had been erected to broadcast the show on the street for Occupy protestors and the general public at large. 

Inside the Swan Dive, Morello initially performed by himself, armed with his acoustic guitar. "I'm the Nightwatchman and this is a one man revolution!" he said, performing solo before inviting his new band, the Freedom Fighter Orchestra, to join him for a set of heavy burners and protest songs. 

He played "Save the Hammer for the Man," "The Garden of Gethsemane," and "Union Town" from the Nightwatchman's catalog, eliciting cheers from crowds both inside and outside the tiny venue. "I'm going to dedicate this next one to a friend of mine who some of my anarchist friends describe as the only boss worth listening to," Morello said, launching into a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "The Ghost of Tom Joad" – which he had performed with Springsteen as a special guest the previous night. Morello then brought up a guest of his own, guitarist and MC5 co-founder Wayne Kramer, for a cover of the MC5's "Kick Out the Jams."

As last call came around, Morello instructed the audience as to what would happen next: "I'm the pied piper of folk rock," he said. "I'm going to walk outside ... follow my guitar." Sure enough, a large crowd was already gathered outside, many members of which were Occupy Austin protestors who had been watching the show on a screen above the venue's marquee, along with others who had been shut out of the Swan Dive because they didn’t have SXSW credentials. "Now we're all one!" Morello proclaimed. He then honored what would've been Woody Guthrie's 100th birthday by performing a cover of "This Land is Your Land" with Kramer and random delegates from the general assembly. He implored the crowd to sing along, as loudly as they could.

"I've heard the police are going to pull the plug any minute," he said. "That doesn't matter to me." When the police did, in fact, shut down the PA system, Morello stood in the center of the crowd and addressed them using the Occupy "mic check" method, having the people in the front repeat his message to those in the back. Teaching the crowd the chorus to his "World Wide Rebel Songs," Morello performed acoustic without a mic, but with a mic check instead.

"Frankly, I play a lot of shows like that, that are very unscripted," Morello told Rolling Stone after the cops shut down the gathering. "Whether it's with the Occupy movement or with different activist-oriented events. There's very little planning, there's often no PA, and the cops often pull the plug. It was a very inspiring night."

On his way out of the venue after load-out, he said that even though it's been a crazy week for him with lots of SXSW activities – and with a daytime set planned at Rolling Stone's Rock Room on Saturday – he still wasn't heading home for the night just yet. Instead, he had an Irish Car Bomb (the drink) in his immediate future, as he planned to celebrate the start of St. Patrick's Day. Excusing himself to kick off the festivities, he said, "It's my favorite holiday."

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Read more »

Tom Morello's Occupy SXSW Shut Down by Cops

When Tom Morello took the stage at the Swan Dive in Austin on Friday night, he chose to convert what otherwise would've been just another SXSW-only showcase into a true Occupy gathering – an event which he described as "Occupy SXSW," and which he organized in conjunction with Occupy Austin. Morello informed the crowd – which primarily consisted of SXSW badge holders – that, just outside the bar, a "people's stage" had been erected to broadcast the show on the street for Occupy protestors and the general public at large. 

Inside the Swan Dive, Morello initially performed by himself, armed with his acoustic guitar. "I'm the Nightwatchman and this is a one man revolution!" he said, performing solo before inviting his new band, the Freedom Fighter Orchestra, to join him for a set of heavy burners and protest songs. 

He played "Save the Hammer for the Man," "The Garden of Gethsemane," and "Union Town" from the Nightwatchman's catalog, eliciting cheers from crowds both inside and outside the tiny venue. "I'm going to dedicate this next one to a friend of mine who some of my anarchist friends describe as the only boss worth listening to," Morello said, launching into a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "The Ghost of Tom Joad" – which he had performed with Springsteen as a special guest the previous night. Morello then brought up a guest of his own, guitarist and MC5 co-founder Wayne Kramer, for a cover of the MC5's "Kick Out the Jams."

As last call came around, Morello instructed the audience as to what would happen next: "I'm the pied piper of folk rock," he said. "I'm going to walk outside ... follow my guitar." Sure enough, a large crowd was already gathered outside, many members of which were Occupy Austin protestors who had been watching the show on a screen above the venue's marquee, along with others who had been shut out of the Swan Dive because they didn’t have SXSW credentials. "Now we're all one!" Morello proclaimed. He then honored what would've been Woody Guthrie's 100th birthday by performing a cover of "This Land is Your Land" with Kramer and random delegates from the general assembly. He implored the crowd to sing along, as loudly as they could.

"I've heard the police are going to pull the plug any minute," he said. "That doesn't matter to me." When the police did, in fact, shut down the PA system, Morello stood in the center of the crowd and addressed them using the Occupy "mic check" method, having the people in the front repeat his message to those in the back. Teaching the crowd the chorus to his "World Wide Rebel Songs," Morello performed acoustic without a mic, but with a mic check instead.

"Frankly, I play a lot of shows like that, that are very unscripted," Morello told Rolling Stone after the cops shut down the gathering. "Whether it's with the Occupy movement or with different activist-oriented events. There's very little planning, there's often no PA, and the cops often pull the plug. It was a very inspiring night."

On his way out of the venue after load-out, he said that even though it's been a crazy week for him with lots of SXSW activities – and with a daytime set planned at Rolling Stone's Rock Room on Saturday – he still wasn't heading home for the night just yet. Instead, he had an Irish Car Bomb (the drink) in his immediate future, as he planned to celebrate the start of St. Patrick's Day. Excusing himself to kick off the festivities, he said, "It's my favorite holiday."

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Read more »

Tom Morello Plans 'Flash Mob Dance Party' For Occupy SXSW

Tom Morello performs during Occupy Wall Street in New York.Griffin Lotz for RollingStone.com

Tom Morello is teaming up with the Occupy Austin movement for a special SXSW showcase this Friday night at the Swan Dive in Austin, Texas. "SXSW has a lot of specialty shows – record companies, vodka companies, promoters and things like that," Morello tells Rolling Stone. "I thought it was important that at a music gathering of that size, to have a place where the rebels, revolutionaries, rockers, rappers and the 99 percent could gather and have a mighty SXSW throw down."

Occupy SXSW came about when Morello reached out to the Occupy Austin people about doing a show during the festival. "With all things Occupy, it is a democratic process," says Morello. "I basically said 'What do y'all want to do, how can I best serve?' and so they made a wish list of things and I was able to say yes to, ironically, about 99 percent of them."

"Their intention is to have this flash mob dance party that's going to arrive at the venue," Morello explains. "Due to the fact that it's an official SXSW show, a lot of the space inside is reserved for badge holders, but there will certainly be a healthy Occupy presence in the venue, and also a contingent outside the venue. I promise you, they will all be served musically."

Morello will perform with his band, the Freedom Fighter Orchestra, for the main set, and Wayne Kramer and friends will play a show in support of Jail Guitar Doors, a nonprofit organization that works to bring instruments into prisons for rehabilitation purposes, earlier on the bill.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon MP3 Download Center

Read more »

Tom Morello Plans 'Flash Mob Dance Party' For Occupy SXSW

Tom Morello performs during Occupy Wall Street in New York.Griffin Lotz for RollingStone.com

Tom Morello is teaming up with the Occupy Austin movement for a special SXSW showcase this Friday night at the Swan Dive in Austin, Texas. "SXSW has a lot of specialty shows – record companies, vodka companies, promoters and things like that," Morello tells Rolling Stone. "I thought it was important that at a music gathering of that size, to have a place where the rebels, revolutionaries, rockers, rappers and the 99 percent could gather and have a mighty SXSW throw down."

Occupy SXSW came about when Morello reached out to the Occupy Austin people about doing a show during the festival. "With all things Occupy, it is a democratic process," says Morello. "I basically said 'What do y'all want to do, how can I best serve?' and so they made a wish list of things and I was able to say yes to, ironically, about 99 percent of them."

"Their intention is to have this flash mob dance party that's going to arrive at the venue," Morello explains. "Due to the fact that it's an official SXSW show, a lot of the space inside is reserved for badge holders, but there will certainly be a healthy Occupy presence in the venue, and also a contingent outside the venue. I promise you, they will all be served musically."

Morello will perform with his band, the Freedom Fighter Orchestra, for the main set, and Wayne Kramer and friends will play a show in support of Jail Guitar Doors, a nonprofit organization that works to bring instruments into prisons for rehabilitation purposes, earlier on the bill.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »

Bonnie Raitt Tackles Occupy Wall Street, Personal Tragedy on New Album

Bonnie Raitt performs during the MUSE Benefit Concert for Japan Relief at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California.

By the time Bonnie Raitt entered producer Joe Henry's studio in late 2010, she'd been through what she calls "a heavy time." Her parents had passed away in quick succession, and she took a long break from music to help care for her brother Steve, who died of brain cancer in April 2009. "I hadn't had time to process it all," she says. "I wanted to get off that treadmill."

To ease her way back into music, she took up Henry's offer to record at his basement studio in South Pasadena, California. Working with top-tier players such as guitarist Bill Frisell, they quickly cut four of the tunes – including killer, bluesy takes on Bob Dylan's "Million Miles" and "Standing in the Doorway" – for Slipstream, Raitt's first album since 2005 (due April 10th). "The sessions were so inspiring that I fell back in love with music and got my appetite for it back again," she says. "It was healing."

"Her voice has lost none of its power," Henry adds. "But it has extra smoke and nuance and life experience in there."

Raitt recorded the other eight songs on Slipstream with her longtime touring band, including a reggae-tinged cover of Gerry Rafferty's "Right Down the Line" and a funked-up spin on Randall Bramblett's "Used to Rule the World." "To me, that song is about the Occupy movement," Raitt says of the latter. "It's about the kind of hubris America has had, as if there are no consequences."

Raitt, who parted ways with Capitol in 2006, will release the album on her newly formed Redwing Records. "I've been wanting to do my own label for a long time," she says. One key benefit of recording without a major label? More of Raitt's trademark slide guitar. "We let the guitar jams go," she says. "That's something I haven't really done in the past. We left in the solos we would have normally cut out for singles. We just went for it."

Related
• Bonnie Raitt Readies First Album in Seven Years
• The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time: Bonnie Raitt
• The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time: Bonnie Raitt

This story is from the February 2nd, 2012 issue of Rolling Stone.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Read more »

Bonnie Raitt Tackles Occupy Wall Street, Personal Tragedy on New Album

Bonnie Raitt performs during the MUSE Benefit Concert for Japan Relief at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California.

By the time Bonnie Raitt entered producer Joe Henry's studio in late 2010, she'd been through what she calls "a heavy time." Her parents had passed away in quick succession, and she took a long break from music to help care for her brother Steve, who died of brain cancer in April 2009. "I hadn't had time to process it all," she says. "I wanted to get off that treadmill."

To ease her way back into music, she took up Henry's offer to record at his basement studio in South Pasadena, California. Working with top-tier players such as guitarist Bill Frisell, they quickly cut four of the tunes – including killer, bluesy takes on Bob Dylan's "Million Miles" and "Standing in the Doorway" – for Slipstream, Raitt's first album since 2005 (due April 10th). "The sessions were so inspiring that I fell back in love with music and got my appetite for it back again," she says. "It was healing."

"Her voice has lost none of its power," Henry adds. "But it has extra smoke and nuance and life experience in there."

Raitt recorded the other eight songs on Slipstream with her longtime touring band, including a reggae-tinged cover of Gerry Rafferty's "Right Down the Line" and a funked-up spin on Randall Bramblett's "Used to Rule the World." "To me, that song is about the Occupy movement," Raitt says of the latter. "It's about the kind of hubris America has had, as if there are no consequences."

Raitt, who parted ways with Capitol in 2006, will release the album on her newly formed Redwing Records. "I've been wanting to do my own label for a long time," she says. One key benefit of recording without a major label? More of Raitt's trademark slide guitar. "We let the guitar jams go," she says. "That's something I haven't really done in the past. We left in the solos we would have normally cut out for singles. We just went for it."

Related
• Bonnie Raitt Readies First Album in Seven Years
• The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time: Bonnie Raitt
• The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time: Bonnie Raitt

This story is from the February 2nd, 2012 issue of Rolling Stone.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »