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Last Man Standing

''London's Best Unsigned Band'' - the Guardian

About Me


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Where did it all go so wrong for Max Vanderwolf? When did he lose his faith in love and goodwill? Why did he give it away so callously or casually ? And what did he trade it in for? Some songs? Some words? Some memories of a vaguely good time that will haunt him for his remaining years?
Considering the reaction to the debut album by his band Last Man Standing, 'False Starts and Broken Promises', it may have been a fair trade. The songs are memorable, the lyrics powerful, and it sounds like he's stumbled down a colourful if crooked path.
"I thought, if I let these themes takeover the songs, maybe they would get out of my life. I thought that by their very materialization as a song that somehow I would be redeemed. I thought that I could give these problems to you or you or you... Then I could report it all at a safe distance like someone commentating from the sidelines of hell. But it didn't happen that way."
Vanderwolf felt this darkness grow inside of him. And after several attempts at recording a new record, the New York-based songwriter gave up and slipped in and out of various forms of self-abuse. Various demo tapes circulated through the music community and they became well-known amongst the community of underground song-writers.
Robyn Hitchcock recalls, ‘’He was taking all the wrong stuff. Bagels with too many capers, cream-cheese with lox from the wrong side of Delancey. One morning I found him clutching his guitar on Broome St, staring vacantly into an empty cup of chicken noodle soup:
"What's up, Max?" I enquired
"Up? Up..." muttered Max as if he'd never encountered the word up before, and had decided to take it for a walk. "Up? Up is down and back again"
He thrust his Telecaster towards me, then thinking better of it, slung it over his shoulder and padded down into the subway. He grimaced and was gone. I realized I hadn't offered him one of my antacids.
Poor Max - that finely tuned stomach would be the death of him. Yet his new album was already advertised in Bleeker Bobs. Jon Fox had been playing the shit out of on WNYU, and hopes were high.
But nothing more would come of it. Vanderwolf turned his back on music production he left his hometown of New York City and moved to London in 2000 vowing to keep his head out of the trappings of imagination but it wouldn't last long.
"Its a cycle. I'm a workingman. You could say I work in a factory. I work long hours and have responsibilities beyond my capabilities but I somehow hold it together. And then, I start to feel desperate and crazy and I think: this can't be it. There’s got to be something more. And the only healthy way to escape is to follow the dream, follow the music. Just write a little, just play a little, just record a little. Soon I'm 9-men strong ensemble. Personal standards must be met and the demands on ones purse and personal sacrifice must be justified with a plan for success- no matter how preposterous the plan is: Yes folks we're bringing back big band values and raw decadence and composerly electric sounds in 2007 single-handedly because I say so…. Then I go mad until I crash and have to straighten myself out again with a dose of reality."
Thrusting himself back into a world of despair and obsessed with artistic endeavour Vanderwolf finds himself in rehab. In an attempt to maintain normalcy, he joins a rehab book club where he is immediately discovered by guitarist and former-pill popper, Chris Cordoba who has himself experienced the verisimilitudes of the music business: "His demo tapes were widely known to the few in-the-know that knew. They were the stuff of legend – well, sub-legend--or probably sub-sub legend. After a discussion on that weeks’ reading--Evelyn Waugh, I think it was, I asked him point blank: can I produce your next recording? He agreed immediately without knowing a thing about me. We dropped out of rehab that week and started on the record."
Soon the band was playing gigs to enthusiastic audiences. A regular fixture at burlesque parties in London, the band was invited to perform at the Paradiso in Holland for the ‘’London Calling Festival’’, support slots with the Polyphonic Spree, Violent Femmes, a tour with Bobby Conn, a slot with the White Stripes Festival in Hyde Park, a weekly residency at Madame Jojo's and festivals including Glastonbury, Lovebox Weekender, Secret Garden Party and Electric Picnic Festival in Dublin.
Now I'm in deep again," says Vanderwolf. " And I'm losing my mind… everything must go. Sacrifice it all. Damn the torpedoes. March, soldier. I can almost taste victory. Or is that nerve gas?
From an article in the Londonist
http://www.londonist.com/archives/2006/02/my_coach_traine.ph p
Where does the name come from?

A lot of stumbling about along the human highway
Who's in the band? An assortment of downtrodden & bedraggled misfits most of them named Andre, Artemis, or Quint. The guitarist is Cordoba. It is said he once killed a man with his guitar. My name is Max Vanderwolf.
What do you do in the real world? I like funny movies, reciting sonnets, holding hands, long walks on the beach, a drink at the colony room, and imagining myself as cultural dictator. It can be very time-consuming. I dont have time for much else.
Describe your sound to us: Soundtrack to someone's downfall. Its full-tilt rockin and veers recklessly into the fragile, its all delicately laced with 10 different flavours of bitterness.
How did you all get together? AA drop-outs.
Who are your influences? Max Biallystock, Cab Calloway, Leon Russell, Tex Avery, Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant, Devo, Robyn Hitchcock, Morricone, John Barry, Brecht-Weill, Lewis Carroll, Emmit Kelly Jr., Mott The Hoople, James Booker, Egon Schiele, The Kinks, Ian Dury and the 5 or 6 contemporary bands that are willing to stand up against the rising tide of corporate indie-rock conformity. George Harrison occasionally visits me from the beyond to help out when I'm writing a song.
Is it true you're friends with Tim DeLaughter of the Polyphonic Spree. If that's the case, what's it like being on the road with those guys. Weird hippy dippy cult, or loveable loons in robes? They abducted my sister. Several of my friends have succumbed to their ways. They're dangerous people. Dont let those angelic faces and bold anthems of self-realization fool you. Those people will take over this world faster than the Chinese. Make sure you look good in a robe. They cant be stopped.
What's the greatest lyric you've ever written?
Someone from Holland, thats been very supportive of the band told me they live by: I dont know where I'm going and there's no place that I'd rather be.
What's the state of play with the band at the moment?
R2R (ready to rock)

What's the big game plan for the band?
Self-sustenance has to be the main objective for any artist. We're starving. We need to hit the road hard and show the world what a full-on rock show is all about. Once thats established I call launch my secret plan for making everyone wear mauve.
Who would you most like to support? We'd go down well with fans of Calexico, Nick & The Bad Seeds, Kings of Leon, Macy Gray, Rufus Wainwright, Zutons, White Stripes, Lambchop,..Otis Redding still gigging?
What's your ultimate label to be on? Gods'he's almightynever a change of upper management. He's got the ultimate rolodex. Can pull lots of favors and get you on the best tours, tv, etc.
What's the best gig you've ever been to?
The Who...Patti Smith...The Boredoms...Vic Chesnut...too many..dont get me started..
Have you ever thrown a TV out of a hotel window?
No but I threw my back out trying
Would you like to?
Once I'm through with my physical therapyI'm trainingI lift a small TV everyday in preparation for the real thing. My coach trained Keith Moon.
Any great stories from the road? Nah just the same wacky nonsense you've heard from every other band.
Recommend one album to our readers you don't think they will have discovered:
Not sure how deeply informed your readership is so: Cardinal for the deeply informed..they recorded one record in 1994 its gorgeous. Rockbottom by Robert Wyatt for those a bit wet behind the ears.
Why should Londonist readers go and see you? Its a partyyou get to suffer with me and laugh at how miserable we all are. Doesnt that sound like fun?
What's your favourite...
...venue to play In London?

Koko was pretty rockin wasnt it?
...venue to go to in London?
Any place you can get more than a Carling or a Grolsch at the bar-- and wherever they invest their booze money in a good sound system.
...record store?
Everyone probably says Rough Trade so i'll say Mole's Jazz..they still going?
What advice would you give Nicky Gavron until Ken's back?
Stop lying to us about why the tubes cant run all night. Stop selling out London culture and London lives to globalism.
What London place or thing would you declare a landmark?
All of Camden Lock, Camden Stalls, Camden Electric Ballroom. Keep Camden rock n roll!
The world is ending in 24 hours. How would you spend your last day in London?
Getting out probably.
Have you ever been sick on the Tube?
No but I'm sick of the Tube.
If you could lose one part of London, which part would it be...
The perpetual scam of it all.
Greatest thing ever to come out of London?
ROCK MUSIC- Jah bless the UK, Jah bless London

If you wrote a song about London what would it be called and what kind of song would it be?
I think I might call for some kind of consumer revolution. Londoners pay so much for so little and come back for more blind and dazzled by media-hype and Big Brother. The mark-up on goods, the parking violations conspiracy, the selling out of small businesses to large chains, all short-sighted. I wont be writing about my auntie serving me tea in the living room lightleave that to Ray Davies. He's the best. I'm hopelessly yankee.
And finally...
Sum up London in just one word: Marc Bolan said it best: its a RIP-OFF

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 8/14/2006
Band Website: last-man-standing.co.uk
Band Members: Andre 'Peppermint' Shapps; Chris ''I-was-made-for-loving-you'' Cordoba; Herbacious Keys, Wylsie of Camberwell; Max Vanderwolf: Professional Charlatan; Lionel Hoops the sad-eyed elephant boy; No-More-Nora (whore to the stars); the binky twins, philip seemore hoffman and his dancing hard-to-describe thing, alpa chino, The Legendary Mr. Art Terry; the toungue
CLICK TO SEE VIDEO FOOTAGE OF OUR SICK LITLE CREW
Influences: Max Bialystock, Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant, Mott the Hoople, Cab Calloway, Tex Avery, Nick Cave, Count Chocula, The Rutles, Gong, Barry Adamson, They Came From the Stars I Saw Them, Neil Young, Serge Gainsbourg, Skeleton Key, Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weil, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Buzzcocks, Neil Young, Ennio Morricone, Antonin Artaud, Patti Smith, Dmitry Shoshtakovich, Ernie Kovacs, Quay Brothers, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of invention, Fats Waller, Lord Buckley, Moondog, Rasputin, various assasins of the 1960's, George Clinton and Funkadelic, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Alice Cooper, the Chicago Eight, Ojays, Spinners, Philly Soul, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Egon Schiele, Lee Scratch Perry, T-Rex, Hank Williams, Duke Ellington, Bob Marley, Charles Mingus, Outkast, Soundtrack to Hair, Sammy David Jr., the Grateful Fuckin Dead, Wm S. Burroughs, Pete Townshend, The Specials, Sufijan Stevens, Spititualized, Mercury Rev, Joana Newsom, Can, Kraftwerk, George and Ira Gershwin, the Pixies, Cardinal, Super Furry Animals, Public Enemy, Igor Stravinsky, Biz Markie, Violent Femmes, Public Image Ltd., Tom Waits, the Banana Splits, The Byrds, Muddy Waters, John Zorn, Henry Mancini, Cat Power, Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, Howie Pyro, Danny and the Juniors, the Cramps, Charles Kaufmann's Films, Supergrass, Spike Jones, The Monkees, Black Sabbath, Carl Stalling, The Soft Machine, Robert Wyatt, Brian Eno, Air, Aphex Twin, The Arcade Fire, Badfinger, Barry White, the Beach Boys, Black Grape, Jan Svankmeyer films, The Pink Floyd, Divine Comedy, Dr. John, Flamin Lips, Little Feat, Gnarls Barkley, Incredible String Band, The Pretty Things, Thelonius Monk, Monty Python, Jacques Brel, Jimi Hendrix, Jimi Tenor, Joe Strummer, Velvet Underground, the Beat, Link Wray, Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Richman, Julian Cope, Yes, 13th Floor Elevators, Nina Hagen, Regina Spektor, Nico, Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, (girls in general arepretty spectacular lets face it), John Cale, David Bowie, Lambchop, Lemon Jelly, Haskell Wexler, Dennis Hopper, Mr. Bungle, Black Mountain, Leon Russell, The Polyphonic Spree, Gogol Bordello, Randy Newman, Rasputina, Rashaan Roland Kirk, the Residents, Richard Hell, Sparks, Robyn Hitchcock, Screamin Jay Hawkins, Scott Walker, Coen Brothers, Shangri-Las, Sigur Ros, Bob Dylan Beatles and the Stones.
Sounds Like: Four Stars- MOJO Magazine January Issue: When did our capital’s rock scene last throw up a nonet? When, come to that, did it produce anything much besides Libertines wannabes and ‘’postpunk’? On both counts last man Standing are quite extraordinary. Their name derives from the embattled romantic life of their frontman, Max Vanderwolf. As signposted by the album title, his lyrical world is one of dissapointment and regret and unutterable sleaze, from which he emerges, song by song, bleary yet unbeaten. ‘’I’m so damnede depressed,” he yowls on the stomping Queen Kong, ‘’I just gotta rock’’. And rock his eight cohorts do, with a bredth of vision which encompasses the more ambitious end of glam (Aladin Sane, Bolans Zinc Alloy) and the cabaret splendour of Alex Harvey, even Tom Waits at his most theatrical. This blast of low-life pungency feels like a righteous breath of fresh air. - Andrew PerryThree Stars - UNCUT December issue Max Vanderwolf’s band have a colorful ingenuity of Bowie’s 70’s floorshows and the wild spirit of Tom Waits- which means the are essentially rock theatre, but with attitude. Stylisitically they cram alot- sometimes too much- in, but the policy usually works. This collection of bedragled songs duly incorporates the cabaret angst of ‘70s Lou Reed, dustbowl Mariachi, and Steely Dan cynicism. Their vision of wild-hearted losers, misfits and a world in collapse somehow holds everything together. -Gavin Martin
Type of Label: None

My Blog

MOJO Magazine gives Last Man Standing debut album, Four Stars!

Well, whadaya know? The road to hell is paved with good reviews: Four Stars- MOJO Magazine January Issue: When did our capital's rock scene last throw up a nonet? When, come to that, did it produc...
Posted by Last Man Standing on Wed, 09 Jan 2008 05:50:00 PST

FAVELA 90-94 Great Eastern Street London: FINAL SHOW OF THE LMS SPRING TOUR

OK THIS IS IT THEN....10th and final show....come a'rockin and we'll tell you strange tales of life on the road...the loneliness the terror the high times....bring out your freaks. x MAX
Posted by Last Man Standing on Sat, 05 May 2007 07:46:00 PST

LMS wrap shooting on feature-film, "'Queen Kong in the Jungle of Eden''

Under the direction of world cinema giant, Harribo Leckstein, Last ManStanding have wrapped shooting on the feature-film "Queen Kong" based on theirsong "queen kong in the jungle of eden". The film w...
Posted by Last Man Standing on Sat, 24 Feb 2007 02:56:00 PST

LAST MAN STANDING to support Bobby Conn on UK tour, go broke and die

Hey did you hear the good news?.....Last Man Standing is coming to your town...poor and wretched, horny hungry and cold...but playing that good time music and preaching that ol' time religion like...
Posted by Last Man Standing on Sat, 24 Feb 2007 02:49:00 PST

The Guardian calls Last Man Standing 'Best Unsigned band in London'' -then disses us

Ah the funny world of rock journalism...sure its great to feel superior to to those who are actually spilling their guts and who have devoted their every last resource to creating something that m...
Posted by Last Man Standing on Wed, 21 Feb 2007 04:40:00 PST

multiple choice quiz: LMS is not getting myspace email because:

a) myspace sucks and theyve somehow not sending my mail...(conspiracy? can radioactive posioning be far behind? )b) myspace sucks and theyre somehow not got my mailbox set up to receive. (conspiracy? ...
Posted by Last Man Standing on Mon, 04 Dec 2006 04:36:00 PST

[email protected]

because myspace sucks the big one
Posted by Last Man Standing on Wed, 06 Dec 2006 04:08:00 PST

MY MYSPACE MAIL DOES NOT WORK - so comment if you want to reach me

what the fuck? technology will be the death of us all!
Posted by Last Man Standing on Wed, 06 Dec 2006 04:07:00 PST

Homecoming Queen hits NYC, rocks the town, returns to the UK in delerium and very poor

''New York's a go-go and everything tastes nice'' - D Bowie, Jean GenieWell maybe he said it best...Returning to NYC with my band wasnt exactly like a great lost king returning to Constantinople but i...
Posted by Last Man Standing on Tue, 07 Nov 2006 05:05:00 PST

My name is Max Vanderwolf and I suffer from....

So lately I've finally begun telling people about a very personal problem.. A chronic problem and a problem that I can not help. Currently there is no known therapy for my problem and I've had to ...
Posted by Last Man Standing on Fri, 20 Oct 2006 06:00:00 PST