Pop Loser: RIP ZZ Top Drummer Frank Beard, Sub Pop Expands Retail Empire, a Troubling Exposé of Ex-Maktub Frontman Reggie Watts

Welcome back to Pop Loser. I’m filling in for Audrey Vann again. In this week’s column, we mourn the sad passing of ZZ Top’s drummer since 1969, Frank Beard, note the expansion of Sub Pop Records’ retail empire, discuss King Youngblood leader Cameron Lavi-Jones’s newly launched youth voter outreach program, and recoil in horror at a recent Rolling Stone article that reveals some disturbing aspects of former Seattle musician/comedian Reggie Watts.

Bumbershoot is happening September 5-6 at Seattle Center, and as always, The Stranger has prepared a guide to the multifaceted arts festival to make sure you don’t miss its most interesting artists and activities. Rest up, hydrate, open your mind, and get out of your comfort zone.

Get in, loser—we’re going shopping at Sub Pop’s new retail shop, Sub Pop Waterfront. Located in the Maritime Building at 908 Alaskan Way (Suite A), SPW offers records, CDs, cassettes (maybe), hats, hoodies, T-shirts, and all sorts of company logo-emblazoned merch. (That logo has been the best of any record label over the last 38 years, although Kranky’s gives it a run for its money.) As some readers may know, Sub Pop also owns another shop located in KEXP’s Gathering Space; the business just relocated about 25 feet south (within the same room) and is managed by former Stranger freelancer and super-knowledgeable music head Travis Ritter.

King Youngblood leader Cameron Lavi-Jones is launching a youth voter outreach program. Ahead of November’s midterm elections, the Seattle musician will be hitting 25 states in the US in October, along with the Indivisible organization and other activist groups, to galvanize young people to vote under the Make Your Voice Heard Loud & Vote banner. “America’s youth have often become complacent about the very issues that deeply affect their long-term future,” Lavi-Jones said in a press release. “This is not about left or right, this is about rich or poor, this is about whether oligarchy rules us or do we use our voice and embrace social justice for all.” Lavi-Jones is also co-founder of the Black & Loud Fest, which happens Aug. 29 at Neumos. Performers include New Orleans funk legend Cyrille Neville, Iniko, Toxic Tears, and King Youngblood.

Last week, Rolling Stone published an extensive article detailing how Reggie Watts’s evangelical advocacy for ketamine and other drugs may have led to the suicide of his ex, Katherine McCollough, in March. Written by Cheyenne Roundtree, the piece portrays former Seattle musician/comedian Watts as a prodigious drug-user who, according to sources quoted in the story, recklessly pushed his favorite substances on his romantic partners and engaged in other psychologically abusive behavior. People quoted allege that Watts would defend his drug intake by claiming they expanded his mind, enhanced his creativity, dissolved his ego, etc. A friend of McCollough’s told Roundtree, “He really has this idea that most people moving through the world are holding themselves back, and taking this ‘medicine’ all day, every day, opens you up and detaches you from your ego.… He thought Katherine had all these flaws, and he acted as if he were her teacher … [and through this] medicine, ‘I’m going to guide you through these experiences and towards being a more conscious, open-hearted person.’” Another friend quoted in the article said, “[Watts] cultivated a dynamic and a relationship where she felt like she could only truly access intimacy, closeness, and empathy from him if they were both using [drugs] together.”

Watts declined to answer any of Rolling Stone’s questions regarding the matter. However, Watts’s lawyer, Andrew Brettler, said it is “dangerously false” and a “preconceived narrative” to imply that Watts was responsible for McCollough’s death.

In the ’90s and ’00s, Watts was frontman of the Seattle band Maktub, but after moving to NYC in 2004, he began to fuse comedy with music and embarked on a standup career. In 2010 he issued the Why S*** So Crazy? album that combined music and comedy with a hip-hop-inflected, Dadaistic flair. Watts also landed gigs composing for comedy specials and the Key & Peele show, starred in the TV talk show Comedy Bang! Bang! and in 2015 became bandleader for The Late Late Show With James Corden until its conclusion in 2023.

The fallout from the Rolling Stone exposé has been swift and damaging to Watts. Comedy Bang! Bang! removed the theme song that Watts composed from its podcast and the Shambala and Greenbelt music festivals in England have cut him from their lineups. Watts’s gigs last weekend with the electronic group CAPYAC were cancelled, as well.

Music Events Worth Your Hard-Earned Money This Week:

Bill Callahan, Lonnie Holley Aug 26, Neptune Theatre, 8 pm, all ages

Black Marble, the Serfs Aug 28, Crocodile, 6 pm, 21+

IROIRO EP Release Party w/ Tilson XOXO Aug 28, Hometeam Gallery, 6 pm, all ages, free

The Strokes – Reality Awaits North America Aug 28, Climate Pledge Arena, 7 pm, all ages

Twisted Teens Aug 30, Baba Yaga, 7pm, 21+

My New Band Believe, Ryley Walker Sept 1, Barboza, 7pm, all ages

Nitzer Ebb Sept 1, Neumos, 7pm, 21+

Tame Impala – The Deadbeat Tour Sept 1, Climate Pledge Arena, 7pm, all ages

The Songs That Keep Me Up at Night:

“Crypto” by Mike D 5D

Beastie Boys’ drummer/MC Mike D is releasing Thank You on August 28, his first new album since 2011’s Hot Sauce Committee Part 2. If you’ve followed Beastie Boys’ long career, Mr. Diamond’s record won’t be too surprising. He’s singing more than he’s rapping, and on the mic Mike comes across like an indigent individual’s Ian Svenonius, with one Prince-like deviation. The album’s heavy on funky electronic music, and it rocks in places. On the single “Crypto,” Mike D and his crack 5D band—who include Mike’s sons Skyler and Davis, plus Medicine bassist Eddie Ruscha—forge a bruising electro-funk rager that slams the shady financial platform—and greed, in general. Mike D 5D perform September 28 at Showbox.

“My Friend’s an Entomologist” by Sweeping Promises

Straight out of Kansas, Sweeping Promises are one of Sub Pop’s best recent signings. Led by bassist/vocalist Lira Mondal and guitarist/producer Caufield Schnug, they released You Say I Romanticize on August 14, and glowing reviews have ensued. The jagged, bass-heavy tracks smack of first-wave post-punk groups with strong female leads (Delta 5, Au Pairs, Suburban Lawns) and maybe the Pretenders at their toughest. Schnug’s guitar is the wildcard here, sending sparks curlicuing around Mondal’s propulsive, chugging, and melodious bass lines. You Say I Romanticize is one of those super-rare albums where I like every song equally well. We’re talking remarkable consistency, every track punching above its weight. “My Friend’s an Entomologist” gets the nod for its strange, needling guitar solo and oddly anthemic structure—and for having “entomologist” in the title. Sweeping Promises perform September 23 at Baba Yaga.

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