“There’s still a stigma attached to the South,” says Chet “the Cheetah” Weise, one-fifth of the Alabama-based guitar army known as the Quadrajets. “We’re doing what we can to wake people up to that and convince them that this stigma isn’t necessarily true. I mean, there’s a lot more going…
Listen carefully to Flu Shot, the latest offering by Tucson’s Weird Lovemakers, and you’ll discover that bandmembers Greg Petix, Hector Jaime, Jason Willis and Gerard Schumacher have included a “super secret” bonus track that in the liner notes is attributed to an obscure new-wave outfit known as the Clone Rays…
Hookers vocalist Adam Neal is a changed man. When he and his mates (guitarist Noel Reucroft, bassist Pat Smith and drummer Paul Bishop, recently replaced by Chris Hamilton) first picked up their instruments in 1995, he was a middling punk-rocker who washed regularly, did his homework and listened to the…
“There aren’t any other women out there besides us who play hard and play fast and play proper but still possess a sexy, feminine quality,” proclaims Corey Parks, bassist for the Georgia-based rock outfit Nashville Pussy. “Most girls who can really rock out are dykes. They get all decked out…
Zeke Kicked in the Teeth (Epitaph) You know rock and roll is in sad shape when Smashing Pumpkins takes home a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Album. After all, the hardest thing about that pack of whiners is Billy Corgan’s bald, pointy noggin. But fear not, heathens: Seattle’s Zeke is…
It’s Saturday morning in the Bay Area, and most good little punk rockers are tucked away safe and sound in their beds. But not the Peechees’ Chris Applegren: He’s wide awake as he discusses the intricacies of his latest passion–Final Fantasy VII, an epic game made for the Sony Playstation…
It’s a story as old and tired as Liam Gallagher’s liver. A group releases an album on an independent label. Shortly thereafter, said combo is dubbed an “indie” band and in turn receives undying praise from the rock-and-roll press and indie-rock devotees who admire its staunch “DIY sensibilities.” But unfortunately,…
When artists associated with secular music decide to record a gospel album, it usually means one of two things: Either they are in deep trouble with the IRS, or they have seen the evil of their showbiz ways and want to repent. So when Memphis’s audacious soul-sludge kings, the Oblivians,…
Hans Buenning is best known as one fourth of Acrobat Down, an ultra-catchy Denver-based combo. But Buenning is more than just an accomplished musician; he’s also a dance-floor superfreak who recently invented his own trademark step. “It’s called the ‘Prairie Dog,’ and it’s the perfect dance for big, empty concert…
“I guess you could call us a garage-punk band,” says Mike Maker, vocalist and spokesman for Spokane, Washington’s Makers. “I could see why some people would think that, because of the way we look and the way we sound. But I hate to call ourselves that, because I hate most…
“What we do could be interpreted as R&B in spirit,” explains Gregg Foreman, guitarist and vocalist for the Delta 72. “But it’s definitely not R&B in its purest form. I don’t think anybody is going to confuse us with Sam and Dave or Babyface.” Amen to that. Even though The…
Triumphs may be the current motorcycle of choice among members of the posh Hollywood set, but mention the “T” word to Zeke frontman Blind Marky Felchtone and you’re likely to get clobbered. “I just can’t get behind anything that pisses oil and was designed on the back of a cigarette…
“I think it’s okay to be angry,” says Jesse Malin, the loquacious vocalist and frontman for the New York-based punk band D Generation. “We live in this fairy-tale culture where everything is supposed to have a happy ending. People tell you to buy these clothes, marry this girl, send your…
Joshua Redman Freedom in the Groove (Warner Bros.) Somehow it doesn’t seem fair that previous generations of jazz buffs got an opportunity to experience the inventions of Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Ornette Coleman when these artists were in their primes, while today’s jazz lovers are left with…
Rock musicians who are sensitive to criticism would do well to take a lesson or two from Archers of Loaf’s Eric Bachmann. After half a decade in the music business, the guitarist/vocalist not only has learned to cope with the negative feedback that goes along with being in a band;…
Nirvana From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah (DGC) In this disc’s liner notes, bassist Krist Novoselic writes, “Let all the analysis fall away like yellow, aged newsprint. Crank this record up and realize the bliss, power…and passion…TOTAL NIRVANA!” Novoselic’s tone, which recalls the prose style favored by teens who…
“We like to see how little we can get away with,” says Zak Sally, bassist for Duluth, Minnesota’s Low. “If there’s too much in a song, we try to pare away as much as is completely possible. We like to keep it as minimal as we can.” And minimal it…
Somewhere in the heartland of this great nation of ours, Coco the Electronic Monkey Wizard, one of the masterminds behind the intergalactic surf-rock foursome called Man or Astro-man?, is doing what he does every night–plotting to take over the world. “We’re aliens,” declares the band’s bassist. “And–as I’m sure you’ve…
Nearly God Nearly God (Durban Poison/Island) Obviously, Tricky isn’t lacking in confidence; conceding that he’s “nearly” God, as opposed to “better than” God, for instance, doesn’t exactly constitute a gusher of modesty. However, Tricky earns his egotism; while Nearly God can’t top his solo debut, Maxinquaye (which is among the…
“We’re thinking of changing our name to ‘Juhl: J-U-H-L,'” says Mike Behrenhausen, drummer for Boulder’s Juhl. “Because anymore, that’s how we have to introduce ourselves: ‘Hi, we’re in a band called Juhl: J-U-H-L.'” “Yeah,” adds guitarist/vocalist/frontman Ben Wolaniuk. “When we’re booking shows, people ask us, ‘What’s the name of your…
Drummer Dan Haugh and bassist Mike Kunka, collectively known as godheadSilo, would like to join Motsrhead and the Who on a roster of the loudest acts in the history of rock and roll. But one thing stands in their way: space. “We’d like to take twice as much equipment on…
Splayed across the floor of Fort Collins’s Blasting Room studio, Jon Snodgrass–guitarist/vocalist for the punk band Armchair Martian–is fervently expounding on the virtues of one of his favorite musicians. But while Snodgrass is a modern rocker through and through, the object of his affection isn’t Kurt Cobain or Dexter Holland…
