To fully appreciate the dynamics that control the ebb and flow of Denver’s music scene is to know the collective breath-holding that local artists, fans and interested business parties have been doing lately. You see, milestones of various size and significance have dotted the last 15 years of Denver’s musical history, with each subsequent mark […]
The Living Blue is a four-piece from Champaign, IL that assembles poppy, stripped down rock covering all the bases of southern-style, blues-driven garage, delivered through a relentlessly scaling, Richard Hell/Johnny Thunders-reminiscent whine of strings and served up with an infectious, piercingly melodic vocal track that bears a range and power invoking Dramarama’s finer moments. Kaffeine […]
I don’t often refer to a television show’s season finale when discussing a band’s sound, but in the case of the song “Chasing Cars” off Snow Patrol’s new album, Eyes Open, I’m making an exception. For Greys Anatomy fans, I don’t need to remind you how heartbreaking the closing scene was. For those who have […]
A few weeks back on a Friday night, the beer was pouring out of the bottle and onto the chest of lead singer Ben Tegel of The Vacation, as he bent backwards on the stage of The Knitting Factory in Los Angeles. The girls were screaming and sharing their cold, hop flavored beverage with the […]
Jonathan Bates seemed to know he would get to this point at some point. He just had to keep his personal ethics in tact, stay true to himself and keep moving forward. As the lead singer/songwriter/guitarist for his group Mellowdrone, in 2003 Bates released two EPs in a very DIY fashion, including A Demonstration of […]
photo credit: kim owensSXSW 2006 It all starts with a fairly simple plan. Get your mates together, write some songs, put them on a CD and head out of town. Nice in theory, but the success of such plans does not come so easy. For the Editors, it was no cake walk, but success they’ve […]
photo credit: jim narcy, taken at SXSW ’06 In the sea of bands that infiltrated Austin the week of SXSW, The Dresden Dolls commanded everyone’s attention when they performed at Stubbs under the nighttime sky. Introducing songs from their spanking new sophomore release, Yes, Virgina, lead singer/pianist Amanda Palmer and drummer/guitarist Brian Viglione mesmerized and […]
One thing every adult dreads are the childhood pictures and videos so proudly taken by parents, images of who we once were that come back to embarrass us or reflect beginnings that led us to where we are now. For Gann Matthews, singer, songwriter and urban troubadour, these images take him back to the results […]
Electric Six’s second album, Fire Senor Smoke, was released in early 2005 in the U.K. Here it is a year and a half later and we in the U.S. get to finally rub our filthy paws all over it and listen to it to our hearts’ content. The band has successfully avoided the sophomore slump […]
Packing light is a rock and roll approach to traveling. Not making hotel arrangements, flying stand-by and spending vacation time couch-surfing is the standard protocol. This isn’t quite what Sweden’s The Hellacopters had in mind when they arrived Stateside March 5th without gear or luggage. In fact, it’s been quite a pain in the ass. […]
