It used to be so easy — so blessedly easy — to tell the difference between secular and Christian rock bands. The shrill U2 wanna-bes? Christian. The guys with the tattoos and dilated pupils? Secular. But that was yesterday. Somewhere along the line, these once-useful distinctions collapsed into each other…
Now in its third season, this smorgasbord of all things death metal proudly bills itself as “the most extreme tour of the year.” Hey, we ain’t arguing. When you put together a lineup that includes Dying Fetus, Decrepit Birth, Winds of Plague, Cattle Decapitation, and bunch of other bands that…
Where can you find a fix of pure, unadulterated sensual pleasure for the insanely low, low price of $6? You know, without habit-forming side effects or the use of needles? Try the Trunk Space, where some of the region’s top up-and-coming ska and surf-rock acts will convene for a night…
Lead singer Aaron Weiss wants to set the record straight: MewithoutYou are not a Christian rock band. Unless you want them to be. “It’s not like I’m offended if someone calls us a Christian band,” Weiss told journalist Matt Fink back in 2007. “I just don’t think it’s true. I…
Norwegian pop-punk damsel Ida Maria is making a serious run at American stardom, and that’s awesome. We love, love, love Scandinavian pop stars, with their plump cheeks, slick sounds, and oh-so-slightly fractured English. We like the way they dress, too — stylish, but dated by at least five years, like…
Where can you find a fix of pure, unadulterated sensual pleasure for the insanely low, low price of $6? You know, without habit-forming side-effects or the use of needles? Try the Trunk Space in Central Phoenix, where some of the region’s top up-and-coming ska and surf-rock acts will convene for…
Lead singer Aaron Weiss wants to set the record straight: MewithoutYou is NOT Christian rock band. Unless you want it to be. “It’s not like I’m offended if someone calls us a Christian band,” Weiss told journalist Matt Fink back in 2007. “I just don’t think it’s true. I don’t…
The jury is still out on this Fairfax, Virginia-based foursome: Legitimate heirs to Jimmy Eat World and other power-pop chart-toppers, or just another reason to hate the Internet? Because, yes, it was on iTunes that The Friday Night Boys first found appreciative teeny-bopper ears, leading to a one-off gig on…
In the self-descriptive sense, Youth Brigade is no longer a credible name for an iconic punk band that formed in 1980 and toured with Social Distortion during the early Reagan era. Then again, Middle Age Brigade seems a little neurotic, no? So what to do? Claim philosophical privilege, that’s what…
America hasn’t been particularly good to ska. Indeed, reggae’s dancier, spazzier cousin may have met its Waterloo here back in the late ’90s, when No Doubt started channeling Miami Sound Machine and fellow domestic acts like Reel Big Fish proved incapable of sustaining modern ska as a relevant alt-music lifeform…
America hasn’t been particularly good to ska. Indeed, raggae’s dancier, spazzier cousin may have met its Waterloo here back in the late 90s, when No Doubt started channeling Miami Sound Machine and fellow domestic acts like Reel Big Fish proved incapable of sustaining modern ska as a relevant alt-music lifeform…
The jury is still out on this Fairfax, Virginia-based foursome: Legitimate heirs to Jimmy Eat World and other power-pop chart-toppers, or just another reason to hate the Internet? Because, yes, it was on iTunes that The Friday Night Boys first found appreciative teeny-bopper ears, leading to a one-off gig on…
In the self-descriptive sense, Youth Brigade is no longer a credible name for an iconic punk band that formed in 1980 and toured with Social Distortion during the early Reagan era. Then again, Middle-Age Brigade seems a little neurotic, no? So what to do? Claim philosophical privilege, that’s what. If…
One could write a Roots-style epic about Wu-Tang Clan and its countless affiliates, familiars, confederates, and collaborators. If memory serves, didn’t Ashley Judd drop a few bars for the Wu in the early ’90s, right before Ruby in Paradise? The point is, it’s hard to keep track of them all…
Does Pennywise represent punk rock’s “second wave,” as described in the promoter’s official literature, or pop-punk’s first wave, as described by most critics? Or is it neo-gospel-rock’s fourth wave? Or who gives a shit? Whatever wave we’re talking about, all three of the band’s Jägermeister Music Tour tour-mates have surfed…
If you attend only one talent-swollen, multi-stage music festival this summer, make it . . . Well, that’s the perennial question, isn’t it? We live in a veritable golden age of Lollapaloozas, Bonnaroos, and otherwise funny-sounding alt-music orgies. How to pick the one that’s right for you? First, you may…
One could write a Roots-style genealogy epic about Wu-Tang Clan and its countless affiliates, familiars, confederates and collaborators. If memory serves, didn’t Ashley Judd drop a few bars for the Wu in the early 90s, right before she shot Ruby in Paradise? The point is, it’s really hard to keep…
Does Pennywise represent punk rock’s “second wave,” as described in the promoter’s official literature, or pop-punk’s first wave, as described by most critics? Or is it neo-gospel-rock’s fourth wave? Or who gives a shit? Whatever wave we’re talking about, all three of the band’s Jagermeister Music Tour tour-mates have surfed…
Are you “down with the clown?” Which is to say, are you the slightest bit interested in watching five sugar-crazed Midwesterners don face paint and rap about ax murder? If so, there’s a really strong chance that this Insane Clown Posse-fronted horrorcore supergroup is already figuring prominently in your weekend…
So lovely. So talented. So appallingly young. Can there be any doubt that Taylor Swift was sent to Earth to make the planet’s collective over-20 population feel like a bunch of aging fuck-ups? Though more than a year shy of her first legal white-wine spritzer, the ethereal pop goddess has…
Garage-rock gal pals Rachel Nagy and Mary Ramirez have gone through a lot of men in their day. Drummers. Guitarists. Bassists. All kinds. When an interviewer makes light of the fact, Ramirez playfully props her legs open, as if to receive yet another session-musician servicing. Nagy, her fellow creative principal…
So lovely. So talented. So appallingly young. Can there be any doubt that Taylor Swift was sent to Earth to make the planet’s collective over-20 population feel like a bunch of aging fuck-ups? Though more than a year shy of her first legal white-wine spritzer, the ethereal pop goddess has…
