When Alf greets me at the rear entrance of the Deathstar and leads me up to KTCL’s studio, where he hosts Locals Only, he looks different than I remember. The last time I saw him, he was considerably hairier, yucking it up with Terry Bradshaw on TV in that dude-I-swear-I’m-just-doing-this-because-they’re-paying-me…

When we first started playing,” Ben Gun remembers, “we started getting labeled ‘stoner rock,’ and we were all kind of like, ‘We don’t want to be labeled stoner rock. We’re not really stoner rock.'” Stoner rock is a contemptible term created to describe a no-frills, anachronistic sound that emerged in…

“It’s like I’m looking at this spaceship sitting on this tarmac, and we’re all tied together, connected to this cable, and we can hear the countdown. And we’re like, ‘Oh, my God, this thing’s going to pull away and our lives are going to disappear.'” Isaac Slade is reading a…

The Bravery was recently provoked into a well-publicized feud by the leader of its fellow new-wave-cannibalizing nemesis, the Killers. Apparently, Brandon Flowers asserted that the Gotham quartet wouldn’t have a record deal if it wasn’t for his synth-driven Sin City-based combo. Meanwhile, the Bravery’s manicured mouthpiece, Sam Endicott, fired back…

Back in 1983, Blackie Lawless claimed to be an animal who fucked like a beast. But today, it seems that the W.A.S.P. frontman is really just an asshole who fucks people over. In one night, this relic from the Revlon era managed to enrage any enthusiasts he might have had…

DJ Vajra is surprisingly stoic when I inform him that he has no talent. “I’m not really insulted by that,” the DJ responds. “I try not to get insulted by much of anything that people say.” Vajra, aka Chris Karns, is even less ruffled when I point out that he’s…

When everything’s going well, people often say they’re fat and happy. I’m convinced, however, that this is categorically impossible. Those who are fat are rarely happy, and vice versa. Take me, for example: I’ve had the fat part down since the Carter administration, and although I generally seem content –…

A few weeks ago, a radio host likened the Westword Music Showcase, which took place this past Saturday in the Golden Triangle, to a ” mini-South by Southwest.” And aside from the binge drinking, BBQ, industry glad-handing and how damn hard I have to work on the Showcase, he’s right…

In a tiny, cramped bedroom studio in east Denver, producer/MC Solpowa scrolls through beats on his computer while his cohort, MC Fist of Fury, aka Shunfist, alternately scribbles on a notepad and quietly recites the lines of verse he’s just penned. The warm smell of colitas hangs in the air,…

Perhaps the only thing more self-indulgent than issuing a double album is planning a surprise party for yourself and then feigning astonishment when your guests emerge. Many such releases have been ostentatious excursions of masturbatory significance, while others (Bitches Brew, London Calling, Sign of the Times, Life After Death) have…

“People pay me well to work them out, and then they avoid me,” Christophe Cranberri says with a laugh. “You can tell me your goal is to lose fifty pounds — you’ll lose seventy just trying to get away from me.” It’s 2 p.m. on a sweltering Wednesday afternoon, a…

Before noon on most days, I’m dead. Dead, but still breathing. And as long as I keep offering up “fresh meat” to Maris the Great, the growling, blood-splattering commander of the Freak Brigade, I’ll continue to inhale and exhale on a regular basis. Besides, Maris, who’s been murdering bands for…

“We started out as a rhythm-and-blues/blues cover band,” recalls Todd Park Mohr. “It was basically a hobby. It was fun. We were too realistic to think that we’d end up doing it for the rest of our lives, for sure.” That’s because when Big Head Todd and the Monsters formed…

Looking at John Huntington, you’d never guess that he’s one of the hottest nightclub promoters in the country. Clad in a plain white T-shirt, a crisp pair of navy Dickies and motorcycle boots, his hair slicked back, he seems more like an extra from The Outsiders than an infamous entertainment…

“What the hell you writing down there, my friend? You’re not one of those freaks writing down everything I do, are you?” Guilty as charged, Boss. As I scribbled furiously in my notebook last Saturday night at the Colorado Convention Center, it felt like Bruce Springsteen was boring a hole…

Over the years, the thing that’s kept the Deftones from being cast as an also-ran in the nu-metal franchise has been Chino Moreno’s subversive sensibilities. The vocalist’s affinity for all things Smiths (Robert, and the outfit led by Morrissey), which is unmistakable in his breathy delivery, has helped the band…

John Doe had better watch his back. He’s become public enemy number two, second only to Osama. Last week, the Recording Industry Association of America further clogged the already overburdened justice system by filing another 725 lawsuits against J-to-the-Dizzo, that nefarious and elusive digital gangsta. By God, if the RIAA…

“I don’t want people to think that I’m throwing in the towel,” says Kenton Schawe, aka DJ Nutmeg. “I’m just not going to do it for a living anymore.” Schawe, long a cornerstone of the local house scene, is pulling up stakes and moving to Kona, Hawaii. Faced with losing…

As a singular cohesive document, the Life Crew’s inaugural release falls short. It sounds like the disjointed effort of more than a dozen artists. Fortunately, that’s what its creators intended. Meant more as a sampler, the disc deftly showcases the individual talents of this hip-hop collective’s fourteen members. While each…

Ladies and gentlemen, meet this year’s Killers. Although the two acts bear very little sonic kinship — aside from the fact that they’re both drawing upon influences that predate them by at least two decades — like its Vegas-bred counterparts in 2004, Bloc Party is riding the crest of one…

“I’ve become what I said I’d never become,” says Trevor Pryce, laughing into the phone. “Yeah, a hipster. I have a Mohawk.” The VH1 exec on the other end wants a photo of 33Hz, the flagship act of Pryce’s Outlook Music Co. label; the network is slated to feature the…

Z-Trip has always been on some next-level shit. Mention mash-ups, and his name will invariably come up. While it’s debatable whether he was the first DJ to mate tracks from unlikely sources, he is definitely the best. Uneasy Listening Volume I, the widely bootlegged mix CD he did with DJ…