THEN The Vines’ story is now a well-documented whirlwind of a musical history that saw them go from being four unknown Sydney music fans writing songs and recording them on old cassettes, to being one of the most talked about and listened-to bands of the year. In February 2002, The Vines left Sydney and spent the next 18 months playing clubs, theatres and festivals in front of thousands of fans in the USA, UK, Europe and Australia, appearing on the covers of countless magazines, from Rolling Stone to NME, and selling more than 1.5 million copies of their debut album, Highly Evolved, worldwide. Legendary television appearances like that on The Late Show with David Letterman found a band who genuinely behaved and played exactly as t...
Tim Williams – vocals Matt Baumbach – guitar Mike Kennedy – guitar Mike Fleischmann – bass Brendon Cohen – drums The sound bursts out of the speakers and immediately hits you in the face like a fistful of nails. Raw, uncompromising, walking a knife-edge of intensity that few bands dare to travel, there’s no mistaking – wait a minute. What band are we speaking about here exactly? That’s right. Vision Of Disorder. Same five guys from Long Island. New album. New label. And a new sound that never disrespects the band’s trademark viciousness, yet takes them into darker, heavier, more powerful, and yes, more diverse terrain than ever before. “As far as I can tell, I...
Case History: Seven piece Hamilton band. Sources unclear on group genre: "an eclectic fusion of hip-hop, jazz, groove, and rock". Cell begins recruiting in the summer of 1999. Founding members form a collective governing body in July of 1999 – to mandate the control of group directives, assets, and beer tickets. Group begins loose training regiment in August of 1999; first confirmed attack claims a small audience in October of 1999. Attacks continue in the Hamilton area over 1999-2000 - larger audiences fall victim to the assaults. Allies/Accomplices: February 2002 - CSIS agents confirm: Affiliation being forged in secret with suspected Al'Quaeda recording company G7 Welcoming Committee Records (see CSIS report - G7, 1997). The ...
Beth Waters is a singer/songwriter/pianist from San Francisco, California. Waters is known for her soothing voice, emotional performances and her ability to write a contagious hook. Her music has earned her comparisons to Tori Amos, Sarah McLachlan and Norah Jones. In response to her debut EP "Don't Look Back", MTV Online was quoted as saying, "Come see her before other artists start being compared to her". Waters released her first full-length album, “Over The Tide� on Mermaid Mafia Records in the spring of 2000. Songs from the album became a phenomenon on MP3.com being downloaded over 250,000 times by listeners from all over the world. Two of the tracks reached the top ten on Garageband.com and were featured on their latest ...
Kevin Welch admits to having two favorite gigs -- The Blue Door in Oklahoma City and the annual Song Island Songwriter's Week in Denmark. These venues are as different as night and day, but both go a long way toward describing this acclaimed singer/songwriter's relationship to his art. Kevin, whose family settled in Oklahoma City when he was 7, has deep ties to the nation's heartland, the struggles of Dust Bowl life and the flow of the Great Mother Road, Route 66. The rustic Blue Door exemplifies this connection. "It's one of my very favorite places in the whole world," he explains, "it's a room that you can get maybe 120 people in, crammed. Now there's a little sign but that's brand new, it's always just had a blue door, and the front ...
We all know what happens when rock stars splinter off from their main gigs and record albums with other rockers. Sometimes the music is enjoyable, occasionally it’s flecked with brilliance, but all too often it sounds too similar to the outfits the musicians started out in. Enter Wellwater Conspiracy, whose third album The Scroll and It’s Combinations shatters the supergroup mold. The band features ex-Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron and Monster Magnet founding member John McBain, but its music is anything but angst-inflated, distortion-drenched arena rock. Instead, Wellwater Conspiracy creates evocative, tumbling psychedelia that echoes with spontaneity and innovation, recalling such influential outfits as the 13th Floor E...
ABOUT THE NEW ALBUM: "We didn't know what the hell we were doing," Harney laughs. "We were the least career minded band I've ever come across. Everything was about magic. Like children. We just let it fly, the rest be damned." Formed by two students at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth – Scott Levesque (vocals, guitar) and Brendan Harney (drums), soon afterwards joined by Ricky Brennan (guitars, vocals) – WHEAT was originally conceived as an art project. About the only thing that was known for sure about their 1998 debut MEDEIROS at the time of its release was that it was mixed with Brian Deck (Red Red Meat): the band's official bio was little more than a chron...
- Appeared on "The Late Show With David Letterman," performing "FELL IN LOVE WITH A GIRL" (March). - V2 Records re-released WHITE BLOOD CELLS on Jack White's own label, Third Man Records. - Performed on UK television shows "Top of the Pops" and "Later with Jools Holland." - Performed on the festival main stages of Big Day Out, Reading, Leeds, Fuji, Roskilde and Glastonbury. - Toured the UK and appeared on the cover of MOJO, and on the cover of NME three times. John Peel called them "the most exciting thing since punk or Jimi Hendrix." - Performed at the MTV Movie Awards in Los Angeles (June). - Completed TWO sold out tours of the US, including four consecutive-night stints in NY (April) and LA (June). - Teamed up with T...
The past decade has seen Saul Williams emerge as one of the world's most recognized poets as well as a rising actor and a highly acclaimed musician. In the music world, Saul made noise with some tracks in the mid to late 90's on the Eargasm and Lyricist Lounge compilations, to name a few. The songs he released during this time period were grounded in hip-hop but were a far cry from the traditional rap that was gaining popularity at the time. He released 2001's Amethyst Rockstar, which was co-produced by Rick Rubin and won him critical acclaim all over the world (The Times of London named it best album of the year), leading to him touring with Blackalicious, Cursive and The Mars Volta. On September 21st, The FADER LABEL will release h...
Brian Wilson’s SMiLE debuts this week on Billboard’s Top 200 album chart at number thirteen with more than 65,000 units sold, according to Soundscan. The album has been met with overwhelming critical enthusiasm—it has been called Wilson’s “masterpiece� by Newsweek and received a five-star review from Rolling Stone, among many other accolades. The record is now enjoying commercial success on a scale last seen by Wilson or the Beach Boys almost thirty years ago. SMiLE’s number thirteen position on the Billboard chart is the highest for a new Brian Wilson/Beach Boys’ studio recording (non-compilation) since 15 Big Ones reached number eight in July 1976, 28 years ago. Previous to that, the...
Woven appears as a collective of six carbon-based bi-peds out of Big Glamorous Image City, Southern California. Their first full-length electrobaby, 8 bit monk blends the best aspects of electronic beats and rich analog and digital sounds with creatively implemented "real" instrumentation as seamlessly as a Japanese sock puppet. This beautifully arranged sonic marriage of sound and vision could turn a great white shark feeding frenzy into a bloody, but polite and receptive audience. Seeing Woven live is a real treat for the discerning chocolate bar enthusiast. The instrumentation consists of two drum sets with sample triggers, bass, synthesizers, vocal chords, and guitars. But the preconceived idea of guitarists fits about as much as ca...
The Wu-Tang trademark has become synonymous with gritty, street corner hip-hop. With album sales totaling more than six million, the Staten Island, New York collective has made quite a name for itself in the last decade and shows no sign of slowing down. Wu-Tang mastermind RZA says, "The Killa Beez is everybody in the Wu-Tang family." The Sting, the Killa Beez sophomore effort is due out March 12, 2002 on KOCH/In The Paint and Wu Tang Records. The Sting is the follow-up to the Killa Beez’s 1998 debut record entitled The Swarm, a certified Gold release. It reunites the many branches of the Wu-Tang family tree. RZA continues, "the record features ODB, U-God, Inspectah Deck, Sunz of Man, Royal Fam, Black Knights, North Star, Ameri...
To cut a short story even shorter, Yeah Yeah Yeahs formed in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, two-and-a-half years ago when Karen O (vocals) and Nick Zinner (guitar) stumbled upon one another in a New York bar. They wrote some pretty acoustic folk songs together before the lightening bolt realization struck that they could, conceivably, be the best rock-n-roll, art-punk, disco-sleaze whatever-you-wanna-call-it band in the city. They called Karen’s old Ohio college pal Brian Chase (drums) to bring the thunder and backbone to the party. With Nick playing through two amps, there would be no need for a bass player. In early 2001 Yeah Yeah Yeahs recorded their 5-track, self-titled debut EP (most commonly known as the Bang! EP - see track listin...
This Portland, Oregon band delivers exhilarating, highly melodic pop music that is a little sweet, but not afraid to rock. The Maroons feature a cast of musicians who have been around throughout the 80's and 90's, including front man John Moen who has played with the likes of Elliott Smith, Heatmiser, The Spinanes, The Fastbacks, and Pete Krebs and the Gossamer Wings, to name a few. He can currently be seen playing drums for Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks. Guitarist Jim Talstra has brought bass sounds to the Minus 5, No. 2, and Gossamer Wings. Bassist John Cox has played with Surf-rockers Satan's Pilgrims, drummer Eric Bennes in the Northwest's Underpants Machine, and Mike Clark (keyboards/percussion) also plays in the No-No's and Stephen...
"They say you get as long as you need to make your first album, but the second one you get a year!" jokes Cut Chemist.No sweat, folks -- this scientist is ready: The Los Angeles native recorded hundreds of songs before selecting the final 12 for his Warner Bros. Records debut album, The Audience's Listening (release date: 6/7/06). Consider this: Cut Chemist's songs have been built with the assistance of thousands of rare, crazy, odd, eccentric and quite often unplaceable samples from other records, a truly global library tha...
Lambchop is a band from Nashville, TN. They have been playing together in one form or another for over 20 years now. What started out as Poster Child in 1986 became Lambchop in 1993. Merge Records released their first full length, I Hope You're Sitting Down/Jack's Tulips, in 1994. Over the years Lambchop has remained true to its original form, a group of friends from in and around Nashville who gather on occasion, usually a Sunday afternoon at Kurt's house, to play music and enjoy each other's company. This loose collective can range anywhere from 6 to 20 musicians at any given time. The centerpiece, the defacto ringleader of this circus of sorts is Kurt Wagner. Damaged will be the 9th studio album from Lambchop, to go along with...
Uzeda is a four piece band that hails from Catania, a city in the region of Sicily. Catania is known for its close proximity to Mt. Etna, a volcano so consistently explosive that it makes the most obvious and closest point of comparison for Uzeda’s music. It seems only right to say that Uzeda is the musical equivalent of this smoking mass of rock, because the songs they create together ebb and flow like molten lava. And the red-hot blasts of noise they’ve forged on their latest full-length, Stella, are fiery enough to leave scars and burn marks....
The Walk Ons: Krikor Daglian (guitar/vocals) Phil Wedo (bass/vocals) Alex Still (drums/backing vocals). Formed: Mid-2003, New York City If ET is discovered by the Mars Rover and comes down to earth, let’s hope the first sounds it hears are the edgy and hook-filled, yet melodically compelling musical strains of New York City’s post-punk/post-alt rock trio, The Walk Ons. Because, let’s face it: Even aliens need to rock out once in a while. With only one promising (albeit embryonic) EP released to date, and a handful of impressive local gigs under their collective belt (NYC's CBGB's, Siberia, Rare), these mere babes in the rock n roll woods exhibit a tremendous degree of maturity and grounded vision concerning...
Meet the rhythmic spark that ignites Alexisonfire"Our sound\'s always gonna grow." This statement is one that you would expect most bands to proclaim and standing on their own these five words appear pretty innocuous. However, it is something when the sentence is spoken by Chris Steele, the bearded bassist for the screamo/post-hardcore, Southern Ontario quintet Alexisonfire (AOF), who has already produced three sizzling, progressive albums since their inception in 2001. These outlets for their positive aggression and oblique life analysis, turns ordinary words into a proclamation of force and potential. Chris is flanked by another rhythmic vein in the shuddering, intense body of AOF, Jordan \'Ratbeard\' H...
1) Why " DRUKQS"? It's up to everyone to make their own interpretation. 2) So rumours of your retirement were greatly exaggerated? What made you change your mind? The old mind was getting really slow and dull so I thought I'd get a new one. 3) What have you been doing since Windowlicker was released? Playing around with human embryos that myself and my girlfriend made, before it's illegal. 4) Where/when was the album recorded? All over the place travelling, in some bank vaults and in the bath. 5) Is all the material new? It's the newest music available. actually its a compilation of all the fake aphex tracks found on the world.wide.wank, I didnt write any of them. 6) Will there be any singles? Yes tomorrow, l...
Mike Aylward: How would you define the Aphrodite sound to a newcomer to your music? Aphrodite: Serious Hard Groove with alot of funk and Bass Mike: What types of music and which musicians/groups influenced you growing up? Aphrodite: The Electro Scene - House and Rave Music - Funk Mike: How did growing up in England influence your music? Aphrodite: We had almost every kind of music available and each music had no sort of stigma attahced - for instance it was completely normal for any white kid to be a big rap and electro fan. Mike: Which do you prefer, recording/producing or live performance? Aphrodite: The best buzz for me is to really get a crowd a going and to do it with one of my own records. Mike: Have you ever...
"Two Conversations" is The Appleseed Cast's sixth album and Chris Crisci, the band's lead singer and guitarist says the band took a fresh direction in creating this new album. Crisci explains, ? We came up with the lyrical direction of the songs before we did anything else. We knew the song titles before we started writing the music.? This is a new approach for Crisci who says, ?Normally we'd write the music first and I'd plug the lyrics in later.? The new approach to song writing generated a process that was ?fun and interesting? for the band. Crisci says, ? We knew the direction of the story and we tried to capture the feeling for each song.? The album has a number of different themes that tie it together, says Crisci, " There are two ...
It seems like eons ago that music meant something to its creators. Remember way back when artists cared less about their Billboard 200 status, record companies didn’t sign artists according to marketing reports, and making music was about sharing passion? Looking past genre categories, and platinum record expectations, Ben Jorgensen (vocals), PJ DeCicco (guitar), Anthony Dilonno (bass), and drummer Nash Breen of Armor For Sleep, have a unique mindset in this day and age of rockers and rollers. “Lyrically, musically we don’t write songs thinking, ‘Oh we already have this kind of song on the record,’” Ben says as he cracks open ...
Lurking just below the “artistic” world of one beat party anthems that rule our radio world, down below the ceiling of popularity is Atmosphere . Exploding in such a manner too vivid for words describe. Meet Sean Daley aka Slug , lyricist for the underground hip hop formation known as Atmosphere. Equally as talented are Mr. Dibbs the turntablist, and producer Ant who round out the trio. Rhyme Sayers entertainment, an independent record company is their home away from the road. Over the last few years as the following has built for this genre, all the major record companies have been courting this Minnesota based act. Always sticking true to their independent roots, they have shunned and stunned most with their thanks, but no thanks ...
Paul Stanley is the greatest frontman in rock history. He’s non-stop entertainment and that’s what it’s all about: ENTERTAINMENT AND ENERGY. That’s how I like to think of BEAUTY SCHOOL DROPOUTS, as entertaining. We put on a real show when we’re up there, and we have a great time doing it.� So begins this conversation with Steven Fallon, the entertaining and exhaustingly energetic frontman for New York City’s BEAUTY SCHOOL DROPOUTS, a full-throttle, sexy, modern punk version of classic Ramones melded with the showmanship of KISS and nurtured at the sonic knee of Johnny Thunders and Steve Diggle. Spirited, opinionated and not afraid to let anyone know what’s on his mind, Fallon deta...
For a fortunate number of years in the late 70’s and early 80’s, the world was blessed to be united under one music, one man, one name…Bob Marley. Though we are no longer blessed with his physical presence, we will always feel his spiritual presence. It is possible however that we are in the presence of the second coming. Jay Malinowski (vocalist) doesn’t agree with past media, “The White Bob Marley” labels. “I think its really stupid. Obviously I’m not. We’re just trying to do our own thing. The Police, Bob Marley, The Clash…Yeah, they’re all influences. It's nice to be compared to people like that, but it sounds ridiculous.” The ‘we&...
The music produced by the Arcade Fire-ettes Richard Parry and Sarah Neufield in the guise of their original and intriguing conglomeration of echoing, windy and comforting music; Bell Orchestre produce instrumental, horn fuelled offerings for you to sail away to. Their personalities work concurrently with their music, as I discovered in a Liverpudlian house of food and candles. One minute Richard was chipping away at my walls of ignorance regarding the raison detre for their Montereaux’s quintet; Bell Orchestre; “I find it musically therapeutic; it is different (From Arcade Fire) the way we work together.� Then I found myself caught up in the earnest musos enthusiasm for what he does so early in the interview, I found...
Calling in from his SoHo Grand Hotel room in lower Manhattan – after what was admittedly a night of total inebriation at the hands of record company executives paying the tab (“…with a free bar problems are sure to arise, especially when in Manhattan…�) -- Robin Jones reveals he is no stranger to the ways of this “seductive� city (“I’ve been here many times, in many guises�). And though he chooses not to elaborate, the spacey Scottish popster (raised in a hillside community just 10 miles or so outside of Edinburgh) lets it be known that he and everyone in the Beta Band (John Maclean, Steve Mason, Richard Greentree) is anticipating positive things for 2004, with a full-fledged Eur...
The line where art and industry connect is a delicate tightrope. Teetering between bass lines and business sense, deadlines and dedication, capitalism and credibility, artists often get swallowed up in the swirling semantics of one-hit-wonderhood versus what art truly means to them. The fast deal often appears to be the glamorous choice for the stereotypical starving artist, however more up-and-comers are choosing to maintain control of their craft, their business, and their destiny. Chief Xcel and The Gift of Gab, better known to the masses as Blackalicious, understand what it takes to keep a logical stronghold on their artistic vision. After meeting at Sacramento’s John F. Kennedy High School in 1987, Xcel and Gab joined up wit...
Play the Guitar Like a Percussion Instrument Until Your Fingers Slowly Start To Bleed "What does an amplifier at full volume sound like when it and the jackass playing it gets steamrolled? Hopefully there'd be someone recording." Blackfire Revelation guitarist and singer JR Fields says this in response to my asking which historical riot they would play in if given the opportunity. I asked this with the MC5 in mind. Their performance during the Chicago riots in 1968, while all other scheduled bands save for the Fugs took off running, was one of rock's greatest moments. Somewhere along the line rock became unable or unwilling to be that brave, and I'm not just talking about the pre-punk days when we had Journey and the ill...
