Along with having a killer set of pipes, the best frontman can simultaneously stand at his pulpit on stage, engage with the crowds, rage and conduct the flow of the show. Decisive, commanding and blunt, these men are the alpha males of alpha males, the kings of kingpins and, like…
Melvins have been an influence on some of the most sonically forward-thinking rock bands and other musical experimentalists of the last three decades. Impossible to consistently pigeonhole as simply punk, or metal, or even rock, Melvins have set a high bar for integrity, both as a live band and as…
Peter Murphy co-founded the influential post-punk band Bauhaus in 1978 with Daniel Ash, David J and Kevin Haskins. Over the course of four full-length albums, Murphy and company creating an experience of heightened reality with its music that broke from convention, not just sonically but with lyrics informed by the…
In metal, stage flair is pulled from every corner and then piled high on stage, or in this case brushed, rolled, picked and gelled to such great heights. Most metal musicians are so busy perfecting their metal madness through instruments, they don’t have time to be bothered with such trivial…
Keeping track of metal and all its subgenres can often be confusing and frustrating. Classic and thrash metal are at the center of the metal universe, while various other styles are major and minor constellations radiating manic energy. Sorting through the subgenres can be a tedious task. This is why…
Daniel Ash was the influential and iconic guitarist for Bauhaus, Tones on Tail and Love and Rockets, and he’s also released a number of noteworthy albums under his own name over the years. His ability to mix melody, raw emotive sound and moving atmospheres into his guitar style has meant…
In metal, a genre teeming with testosterone and addled by adrenaline, women have made leaps and bounds over the years. Defying dainty stereotypes, these beauties have butted heads with the best of them. More salty than sweet, these ladies are tougher than leather. Keep reading for the ten most ferocious…
Some of the songs on Jackleg Devotional to the Heart date back to 2005, but Baptist Generals frontman Chris Flemmons didn’t like the way the album was going, and so it was essentially shelved. Flemmons then spent two and a half years getting involved in development politics in the band’s…
By Jason Roche Led Zeppelin lead singer Robert Plant returns to town this week with his newest backing band, the Sensational Space Shifters. The lineup features members of his early-’00s band the Strange Sensation and has Plant revisiting both blues-rock and world-music influences; this after exploring Americana the last few…
Five Finger Death Punch formed in 2005, when Zoltan Bathory and Jeremy Spencer started putting together their next band. Ivan Moody, a singer who’d moved out to L.A. without knowing a soul and had been sleeping in his rehearsal space, heard the nascent project’s demos and ended up joining the…
Composer and conductor Steve Hackman isn’t limited by time or culture when it comes to his musical taste. As a part of the Colorado Music Festival this weekend, Hackman has been invited to bring his mash-up of the Radiohead classic OK Computer and Johannes Brahms’s first symphony to Boulder, linking…
You only get one chance to make a first impression, as they say, and these bands sure made the most of their opportunity. Some of these inaugural releases launched new subgenres, while others have yet to be matched in more than two decades. Keep reading for a rundown of the…
A Color Map of the Sun, the new Pretty Lights album due out this Tuesday, took Derek Vincent Smith on an adventure through musical eras. We recently spoke with the homegrown Pretty Lights mastermind about the trust he has placed in his fan base, his own self doubts about taking…
In a scene oversaturated with bands mining the 1960s, Shannon and the Clams manage to stand out in stark contrast to their peers. That’s partly because their songwriting is simple and strong, but mostly because of Shannon Shaw’s powerful, soulfully melodic and emotionally gripping voice. Shaw sounds like she took…
Nu metal is the non-alcoholic beer of metal. Why waste your time? Altering, developing and tweaking metal is fine (see sludge or progressive metal), but nu metal strips away everything that is good about metal and somehow makes it sound tepid and miserable, with generic words describing the collective dejection…
John Dadzie, the orbital center of Los Angeles’ dubstep galaxy known as SMOG, is the mastermind behind 12th Planet. Transitioning from drum and bass to dubstep seems to be a natural course for producers in the past few years, and Dadzie has been at the forefront of that movement’s progression…
These are the phantoms of the metal opera. They are the faceless. Human? Alien? Robot? Beast? Pinky and the Brain? Luke Skywalker’s father? Nobody knows for sure. The only way we could ever find out is if we go back in time to the ’50s to collect a bunch of…
Queensryche was formed in 1982 in Bellevue, Washington, by friends who played in various metal bands from the region. Since the band’s debut EP in 1983, Queensryche has consistently set itself apart by incorporating progressive elements into its music with a vivid, almost dystopian, reflection of society in a way…
So if you can’t tell by our wall-to-wall coverage, we’re pretty damn geeked about the Westword Music Showcase this weekend — and for good reason. It’s our absolute favorite time of year, the time when we get to put the spotlight on our beloved scene and — more important –…
Chuck Morris, percussionist for the jam-tronic band Lotus, has started a new project with Anthony Fugate called Nunchuck. Since rejoining Lotus, Morris wanted to find new outlets to experiment with sounds, rhythms and beats, which prompted him to get back behind the drum kit. In advance of Nunchuck’s set at…
So if you can’t tell by our wall-to-wall coverage, we’re pretty damn geeked about the Westword Music Showcase this weekend — and for good reason. It’s our absolute favorite time of year, the time when we get to put the spotlight on our beloved scene and — more important –…
Trampled By Turtles, due at this weekend’s Westword Music Showcase, was started in 2003 by a group friends from Duluth, Minnesota, who knew each other from playing in various bands. Liberated by the freedom and mobility of playing acoustic instruments, the players honed a sound that happened to benefit from…
