Steve Boland

Consider the plight of America's small-town punks. Over the past two decades the punk-rock subculture in cities and media centers has grown from a snot-nosed, nihilistic infant to a bratty but terribly trendy adult. But as recently as a few years ago, high school outcasts from the heartland were still...

When a writer at the New York Times coined the phrase "heroin chic" to describe those underaged bulimia babes who have defined the fashion scene in recent years, he didn't have Augy, the front man for Denver's MK Ultra, in mind. But the term applies. Consider the evidence. In performance,...

Miki Berenyi, the lead singer of England's Lush, would like to light a fire beneath the rather placid audiences she's encountered of late. "A lot of people who've been coming to see us in America are 4AD fans," she says, referring to Lush's label, an imprint known for the ethereal...

Hootie & the Blowfish Fairweather Johnson (Atlantic) Listening to this album put me in mind of a line from an episode of the Seventies sitcom Sanford and Son. In it, Fred, played by Redd Foxx, describes a particularly bland meal. "After dinner," he adds, "I belched and it tasted like...

At a north-downtown practice space, testosterone drips as a competent but sadly predictable bar band runs through covers of tunes by such hormonal outfits as Rancid, the Replacements, Green Day, the Goo Goo Dolls and Pearl Jam. Meanwhile, across the hall, the members of Denver's Hectics are (reluctantly) discussing the...