Right now, the most talked-about band on the rise among the nation’s critical taste-makers is Vampire Weekend. But in Westword’s March 20 profile of the New York-based group, and in the following Q&A, lead singer/guitarist Ezra Koenig talks for himself. Koenig begins by sketching in details about his background, including…
These days, performers often prefer to conduct interviews via e-mail instead of taking part in a telephone chat. There are plenty of good reasons for this switch from their perspective, even if we assume that the individual in question is actually the one sitting at the keyboard (as opposed to…
Although crunk is no longer the trendiest form of hip-hop, Jonathan Smith – better known as Lil Jon, the self-proclaimed king of crunk – continues to flourish anyway. As a producer, he’s still churning out radio-dominating hits such as Baby Bash’s ubiquitous “Cyclone” while expanding his empire beyond the music…
Say Hi has undergone some changes of late. Eric Elbogen, who for all intents and purposes is Say Hi, shortened the name of the project, which was previously known as Say Hi to Your Mom, and has taken what he considers to be a more serious approach to the music,…
The Whigs, a buzz band that gets the profile treatment in the March 6 Westword, plays music of the sort typically identified as indie rock – yet drummer Julian Dorio continues to receive the sort of love from percussion aficionados that’s all but unheard of in the genre. Dorio takes…
Here’s another highlight from the Westword Q&A archives: a wonderful conversation with country singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell that preceded a June 17, 2004 profile. At the time, Crowell was no longer scoring hits as he did throughout the ‘80s, when he and his former wife, Rosanne Cash, were country royalty, but…
In the States, the music of Bullet For My Valentine – the subject of a profile in the February 28 Westword – is typically lumped into the modern rock, hard rock or screamo categories. But as lead singer/guitarist Matt Tuck makes clear in the following Q&A, he considers his band…
Having a conversation with the members of Redline Defiance is like trying to keep a bucket of puppies from spilling: They’re young, enthusiastic-like rockets. And they’re hyper-stoked about their upcoming CD-release party. The act has performed on the Warp Tour, had its music snapped up by FSN and ABC is…
The Hives are a Swedish import with staying power, and the band’s lead singer, Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist, knows it, as he makes clear in the following Q&A – a conversation conducted in advance of the outfit’s impending visit to Denver (see the appropriate Now Hear This item for the particulars)…
If David Johansen had earned a dollar for each time a music journalist mentioned him or his band, the New York Dolls, he’d be richer than Croesus by now. Instead, he’s still a working musician, albeit one who has a good perspective on his past, his present and his future,…
It’s time once again for a trip to the past – the recent past, when every boy, man and elderly dude doddering toward the grave was singing about Kelis Rogers’ breasts. In the following Q&A, conducted for a March 4, 2004 profile, Kelis proved to be bright and blunt. She…
George Porter is the bassist for Porter Batiste Stoltz, a three-piece whose mammoth grooves have made the players favorites among jam-band aficionados – but he’s also a whole lot more. As a founding member of the Meters, a classic New Orleans combo, he helped establish a Big Easy sound that’s…
And now, turn back the clock almost four years and dig into a conversation with Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone from TV on the Radio. The chat, which served as the basis for an April 14, 2004 profile, took place around the time of the outfit’s debut long-player, Desperate Youth,…
The profile of the Jonas Brothers in Westword’s February 7 issue was culled, sort of, from that most irritating of modern publicity techniques: the teleconference. But in this case, the following Q&A with Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas, the oh-so-adorable co-stars of the Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of…
Prior to the creation of the Backbeat Online blog, Westword conducted plenty of Q&As with plenty of rock stars, schlock stars, rising stars and fading stars — and oftentimes only a small percentage of the conversations made it into the finished articles. So in the coming weeks and months, we…
In the following Q&A, conducted for a February 7 Westword profile, Gallows guitarist Laurent Barnard gets visceral in his descriptions of the U.K. punk act’s life and times. Barnard, who joins Frank Carter, Steph Carter, Stuart Gili-Ross and Lee Barratt in the band, kicks off with a preview of an…
At one point during the following interview, conducted for a profile of the Mars Volta that appears in the January 24 Westword, Cedric Bixler-Zavala, the band’s vocalist, lyricist and frontman, casually mentions his “old habits” with “drug use.” After perusing the entire Q&A, readers will understand precisely what he means,…
The January 17 Westword profile of Lupe Fiasco was based on a wide-ranging conversation – and the following Q&A preserves every word. The man born Wasalu Muhammad Jaco begins by discussing the three characters he created for his latest CD, The Cool, noting along the way that they represent pieces…
Over the holidays, when Jon Solomon spoke with Ingrid Michaelson, she said she was looking forward to finally getting some rest. The singer has been caught up in whirlwind of activity ever since her song “Breakable” was used on an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. Three more of her songs were…
Alex Church of Sea Wolf, who’s profiled in the January 10 Westword, is a critic’s favorite for a couple of very good reasons: His music is consistently intelligent, and so are his conversations, as he demonstrates in the following Q&A. Church chats about the time he spent at the acclaimed…
Oklahoma-based Cross Canadian Ragweed, which stops by the Grizzly Rose on Friday, January 4 (see the appropriate Now Hear This item for more details), is an anomaly: a big-selling country band that can’t get played on country radio because its music supposedly isn’t country enough. CCR’s frontman, Cody Canada, takes…
Although Vincent Gallo has a reputation of being a bit of a hot head at times, during a recent chat with Westword, he was more than gracious as he discussed his current tour, clarified how he and the other three members of RRIICCEE don’t necessarily improvise so much as they…
