If it’s possible to have a favorite news man mine would be Brian Williams simply because he is a regular guest on The Daily Show and the only guest that is willing and able to return jabs back to Stewart and does so because he is actually that quick and witty. But who knew that buried deep in that fascade is an indie music lover as well. This is about as surprising as finding out that Rachel Ray hosts a SXSW party. So in an attempt to keep up with ABC news which has a Pitchfork writer on air each week reviewing a new release, MSNBC now has BriTunes, where Brian Williams interviews an up-and-coming act that deserve some recognition. In his own words this is how Williams explains the existence of BriTunes:
Okay, so I didn’t name this thing, but I did come up with the idea. I have always loved identifying good music and good groups — discovering them early and following them through their journey. While we’ll interview some established musicians, mostly I’d like this to be a place where people can sample some of the great music being created every day, by talented musicians who wouldn’t dream of doing anything else.
In it’s inaugural episode Williams sits down with the members of Deer Tick, which if you have a fear of ticks and want to find an image of the band be sure to type in “Deer Tick band”, just a helpful hint. In the interview Williams discusses with them the benefits of iTunes, YouTube and what it’s like to get famous. While Williams is obviously over-dressed and one of the members of the band didn’t get the flannel shirt requirement memo the interview is actually not half bad. It’s way too short to really get into anything other then the standard issues of lyrics, the new album release and what not but this is definitely something that I’ll be keeping my ear to the ground about to see who he interviews next.
On a side note, if you haven’t heard the new Deer Tick single “Easy” you really must check it out here, it’s got some great 70′s Americana stuff going on. Their new album Born on Flag Day is due out June 23rd on Partisan Records.
