Q&A With Ryland Blackinton of Cobra Starship

Cobra Starship, a June 26 Westword profile subject, is among the more unlikely passengers on the runaway train known as the 2008 Warped Tour – a band whose members didn’t truly come together until after a song released under its name was already well on its way to becoming a…

Rearview: The Week in Review (6/14/08-6/20/08)

Here’s a wrap-up of all the spectacular coverage you missed this week on Backbeat Online while you were transfixed by Ice T’s calling out Soulja Boy for ruining hip-hop and telling the young star to “eat a dick” …..

Rearview: The Week in Review (6/7/08-6/13/08)

Here’s a wrap-up of all the great stuff you missed this week on Backbeat Online while you were busy speculating what kind of family dust-up could lead Madonna’s younger brother to write an unauthorized, tell-all biography. We’re betting he didn’t get what he asked for last Christmas…..

Q&A with Metalocalypse and Dethklok Creator Brendon Small

Metalocalypse, which is in its second season as part of Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim program slate, chronicles the misadventures of Dethklok, a death-metal band that sprang from the imagination of Brendon Small and cohort Tommy Blacha. However, the group comes to life, sort of, during a Thursday, June 12 gig…

Q&A With Wes Miles of Ra Ra Riot

Ra Ra Riot, one of the national acts joining the local talent at the Westword Music Showcase on Saturday, June 14 (click here for more details), is a band on the upswing. Wes Miles, the outfit’s frontman, traces the road to its rise in the funny and revealing Q&A that…

Q&A With The RZA

The Backbeat section of Westword’s June 12 edition is dominated by updates and details about the annual Westword Music Showcase, as well it should be. But strange as it might seem, there are other notable musical happenings taking place around town during the week, including a Saturday, June 14 performance…

Rearview: The Week In Review (5/31/08 – 6/6/08)

Here’s a wrap up of all the exciting stuff you missed this week while you were goggling in amazement at Metallica’s insistence that a blogger take down his preview of their upcoming album, thus demonstrating the group’s continued lack of anything resembling a clue when it come to these here…

Q&A with Darude

Finnish dance-music producer Ville Virtanen, better known as Darude, scored a giant hit with his first release “Sandstorm,” a track that’s sold close to two million units worldwide since its release. While he’s never managed to replicate the success of that initial monster track, he’s managed to carve out a…

Q&A With Hayes Carll

Hayes Carll’s always been known as an animated performer – but these days, the description can be taken literally. In “Crystal Beach Memories,” a clip accessible at Will Ferrell’s FunnyOrDie.com site, he looks like the image above as he talks about his life and times – topics that dominate a…

Q&A with Bettye LaVette

It’s one thing to record an album that you hope is going to take you places. It’s another thing to have that record shelved and not see the light of day until thirty years later. In this extended Q&A, Bettye LaVette talks about going back to Muscle Shoals and working…

Tip Sheet: Sarah Marcogliese

Who: Sarah Marcogliese Dossier: Former member of Drop the Fear. In Her Words: “Fun… sometimes…. pain sometimes. Forgiveness, hope, love, distruction, reconstruction, connection… music for the feelings you feel that felt sometimes like feely… really.”…

Rearview: The Week In Review (5/24/08 – 5/30/08)

Here’s a wrap up of what you might have missed this week on Backbeat Online while you were transfixed by the dustup between Radiohead and Prince over whether or not Prince has the right to cock block the release of video of his performance of Radiohead’s “Creep” at Coachella…..

Q&A With Erykah Badu

In conversation, singer-songwriter Erykah Badu, the subject of a May 29 Westword profile, sounds regal and all-knowing even when her words seem to defy space, time, logic and just about everything else. It’s a neat (and fascinating) trick, which she demonstrates throughout the Q&A below…

Q&A with Ahmir ?uestlove Thompson of the Roots

The Q&A below starring Roots drummer Ahmir ?uestlove Thompson, whose band opens for Westword profile and Q&A subject Erykah Badu, represented a first for yours truly. Never before had I conducted an interview with an artist who spent the first portion of the conversation on a treadmill. But Thompson is…

Rearview: The Week In Review (5/16/08 – 5/23/08)

Here’s a run down of what you might have missed this week on Backbeat Online while all eyes were on R. Kelley, who was undoubtedly ruing the day that he gave in to his body, which was evidently telling him “yes,” while his mind was telling him “no”…..

Q&A with Rachael Pollard

Rachael Pollard likes roller skates. A lot. She got married with her skates on, played a few gigs with them on and even skated in the pivot position for the Red Riding Hoods roller derby team for about nine months. It might be something to keep in mind when listening…

Q&A with Kelley Deal of the Breeders

Because one feature is never enough when it comes to a band like the Breeders, in addition to this week’s profile by Rob Trucks, we bring you the following extended Q&A with Kelley Deal by Andrew Fersch…

Q&A with Missy Higgins

Musical success in one country is no guarantee of triumph in another – particularly not the United States, which, despite the downturn in the domestic record industry, remains the place that separates regional luminaries from global superstars. Australian singer-songwriter Missy Higgins, who’s profiled in the May 22 Westword, understands that…

Q&A with M.I.A.

The May 15 Westword profile of Maya Arulpragasam, who performs as M.I.A., is built upon the foundation provided by the following Q&A, conducted on April 28, the day after the end of the 2008 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, where her set turned the heads of fans and fellow…

Tip Sheet: The Magic Mice

Who: The Magic Mice Dossier: Formed last year, the Magic Mice feature Aaron Betcher and Chad Peterson, both formerly of O’er the Ramparts. In Their Words: Wisely, these cats opt to let the music speak for itself. Sounds Like: Breathy and languid one moment, on songs like “Body slash Soul,”…

Q&A With Be Your Own Pet’s Jemina Pearl Abegg

Jemina Pearl Abegg may be the lead singer of Be Your Own Pet, a Nashville combo profiled in Westword’s May 8 edition, but she’s hardly rejected her family in favor of punk-rock mayhem. Far from it: The following conversation took place while she was riding in a car piloted by…

Interview with John Reis of the Night Marchers

John Reis, the subject of the following Q&A as well as a May 1 Westword profile, is the leader of a new band called the Night Marchers – but the group is hardly his first. He made his initial ripple as part of Pitchfork back in the ‘80s, after which…