Florida emo/screamo-pop quintet Red Jumpsuit Apparatus may be one of the quietest success stories in recent years, having jumped from the pack of Warped Tour forgettables to platinum-selling stars — via 2006’s Don’t You Fake It and the recently released Lonely Road — without a ton of fanfare. Frontman and…
Some people look to holy texts for guidance on how to live their lives. Me, I look to George Thorogood. See, George is from Wilmington, Delaware, and I grew up in nearby suburban Philadelphia. Around those parts, Thorogood was, and is, a god. When I was a little kid in…
One day, perhaps, Oklahoma psych-pop ensemble Starlight Mints will finally escape the long shadow cast by fellow Okie weird-rockers The Flaming Lips. But that day isn’t coming anytime soon. The gratuitous use of the word “jelly” — echoing the Lips’ breakthrough “She Don’t Use Jelly” — in “Zoomba,” one of…
Being in a tribute band is like being a porn star: Once you get famous for doing it, that’s it; sure, you can try to cross over and make original music, but no one will take you seriously and you’ll always be remembered as “that dude who was John Bonham…
Virtually everything that musician/producer Dave Sitek touches — including albums by his own band, TV on the Radio — turns to gold, and the Sitek-helmed Dance Mother from Brooklyn avant-synthpoppers Telepathe is no exception. The previous material that emerged from the duo of Melissa Livaudais and Busy Ganges was compelling,…
Put simply, Loretta Lynn is the “Queen of Country Music.” The just-turned-74 singer occupies rarefied air in the pantheon of country musicians, and deservedly so. She’s enjoyed a slew of chart-topping hits since the early ’60s, including “Don’t Come Home A- Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind),” “One’s on the…
Virtually everything that musician/producer Dave Sitek touches – including albums by his own band, TV on the Radio – turns to gold, and the Sitek-helmed Dance Mother from Brooklyn avant-synthpoppers Telepathe is no exception. The previous material that emerged from the duo of Melissa Livaudais and Busy Ganges was compelling,…
Who’s your favorite two-piece act? The White Stripes? Mates of State? Local H? Donny and Marie? After this show, it might be the Portland duo Helio Sequence — singer/guitarist/harmonica player Brandon Summers and drummer/keyboardist Benjamin Weikel (late of Modest Mouse, where he spent a year subbing on the skins for…
Two things about The Thermals: The Portland, Oregon indie-punk band made its first album, 2003’s More Parts Per Million, for approximately $6 (they recorded it at home on six $1 cassettes) and it was released virtually as-is by Sub Pop; and before forming the group, Thermals principals Hutch Harris and…
After conducting a thorough scientific evaluation (involving an array of test tubes and beakers, a Bunsen burner, and some heavy duty tongs) of Fleetwood Mac’s 17 studio albums, I’ve concluded that the veteran Anglo-American band’s music is 8 percent classic and 92 percent booooring. You may or may not agree,…
After conducting a thorough scientific evaluation (involving an array of test tubes and beakers, a Bunsen burner, and some heavy duty tongs) of Fleetwood Mac’s 17 studio albums, I’ve concluded that the veteran Anglo-American band’s music is 8 percent classic and 92 percent booooring. You may or may not agree,…
Two things about the Thermals: The Portland, Oregon indie-punk band made its first album, 2003’s More Parts Per Million, for approximately six dollars (they recorded it at home on six one-dollar cassettes) and it was released virtually as-is by Sub Pop; and prior to forming the group, Thermals principals Hutch…
A lot of really hideous things can happen to you in the desert. You can be stung by a scorpion. You can get lost without any water, wander around for a couple of days, and then drop dead of dehydration. You can get sucked into quicksand. But probably the worst…
“‘Lucero got their name from a Spanish-English dictionary. They’re sort of like The Replacements, and they’ve been on the road forever.’ I think that stuff is mandatory. You know, you try to be a little informative, maybe get in one funny part or tagline or whatever, and then put where…
A lot of really hideous things can happen to you in the desert. You could get stung by a highly poisonous scorpion. You could get lost without any water, wander around for a couple of days, and then drop dead of dehydration. You could get sucked into quicksand. But probably…
“Hello! Hey, gimme one second, I gotta pee . . .” As I wait for Wayne Coyne, frontman of The Flaming Lips, to take care of business, I remember that when we spoke a year ago, the subject of urine also came up. We were talking about the odd commencement speech he gave…
Reached by phone on a recent afternoon in his native Tucson, where he’s enjoying a bit of downtime before his band Calexico heads back out on the road, singer-guitarist Joey Burns is taking a walk with one of his best friends in the world, one he doesn’t get to hang…
It’s opening night of the 2009 Billy Joel/Elton John “Face to Face” tour. Five minutes before showtime, Billy Joel stands behind the curtains, nervously looking at his Rolex, when Elton John scurries up beside him. Billy [under his breath]: Ah, the bitch is back . . . Elton: William. Billy:…
Grindcore, for the uninitiated, is the extreme genre of metal that prizes blast beats (i.e., drumming that mimics both the speed of a machine gun and the impact of percussion grenades); ultra-heavy, lightning-fast guitars that aim to disembowel you with every riff; and scary, demonic slaughterhouse growls. Basically, the kind…
Grindcore, for the uninitiated, is the extreme genre of metal that prizes blast beats (i.e. drumming that mimics both the speed of a machine gun and the impact of percussion grenades); ultra-heavy, lightning-fast guitars that aim to disembowel you with every riff; and scary, demonic slaughterhouse growls. Basically, the kind…
Co-founded by Phoenix musicians Pandy Raye and Rhonda Hitchcock, the inaugural Chicks with Picks Music Fest — featuring Sedona-bred popster Michelle Branch, singer-songwriter (and Waylon Jennings’ widow) Jessi Colter, country newcomer Sarah Buxton, and 70 other female performers — will take place Saturday, March 21, at Tempe Beach Park. We…
As you probably know, there are two different and well-known songs called “I Kissed a Girl.” One is by upstart 24-year-old pop singer Katy Perry and became a huge hit in the summer of 2008; the other is by veteran singer-songwriter Jill Sobule and was a hit in 1995. Which…
