Self-described “redneck woman” Gretchen Wilson rose from poverty in western Illinois to become a country music superstar, winning critical and popular acclaim for her 2004 debut CD, Here for the Party, and for her sophomore effort, All Jacked Up, released last year. A firebrand singer and crafty balladeer, she writes…
Let’s get it out of the way up front: KMFDM stands for “Kein Mitleid Für Die Mehrheit,” a German phrase that translates literally to “no pity for the majority.” But KMFDM founder Sascha Konietzko is perfectly okay with the popular theory that his industrial dance band’s name stands for “Kill…
Just a few Fridays ago, in the broad lobby of U.S. Airways Center, I, along with another hundred or so other people, got to witness the latest fusion of turntablism and classical instrumentation envisioned by DJ Radar and his longtime composer and collaborator, Raul Yañez. This time, unlike the Concerto…
If, as he suggests with the title of his new CD And Now That I’m in Your Shadow, Damien Jurado stands behind his whisper-voiced folk brethren like Sufjan Stevens and Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam, he undoubtedly moves front and center when it comes to delivering the somber smackdown. Jurado’s…
In the opening track of What the Toll Tells, Adam Stephens of San Francisco’s Two Gallants plays the role of a murderer facing the gallows, yowling like a tortured young Black Francis over country-punk guitars while keeping counsel with the dead. He’s shot his wife and dumped her body in…
Alfred Weisberg-Roberts, a.k.a. Daedelus, looks like a man from another time. He adheres to a style he calls “Victorian dandyism,” and sometimes he wears clothes that make him look like an 19th-century British gentleman. He grows his sideburns thick and long to accentuate his appearance. He calls himself a romantic…
“Wicked!” Richard Winn exclaims as he stands on Seattle Center’s Broad Street Lawn during Bumbershoot, expressing appreciation for the French band Nouvelle Vague. “That’s weird — I got goose bumps on that one.” He pulls up the sleeve of his blue sweat jacket to prove it. The bubbly 42-year-old British…
Woe betide the child who springs singing from the loins of a rock star. Sure, it might be nice to have Drew Barrymore and R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe for godparents, like Frances Bean Cobain. Or to have received your first guitar from KISS’ Gene Simmons, like Cher and Gregg Allman’s son…
Should a plumber receive a royalty check every time a toilet he’s installed is flushed? It’s an interesting question, posed by Led Zeppelin biographer Alan Clayson as he mounts a defense of what others have characterized as outright theft in the Led Zeppelin: The Origin of the Species DVD (released…
“This ain’t no history lesson,” snarls the opening line to the liner notes of Rockin’ Bones: 1950s Punk & Rockabilly (Rhino/Wea), an excellent four-CD boxed set. “It’s about attitude! This is where punk rock began!” To me, the first and last of those bold declarations are exactly wrong. Rockin’ Bones…
Spend one of your Sunday nights, as I did recently, at the Yucca Tap Room in Tempe, and you’re likely to see what will at first seem like an anomaly — a pretty, diminutive, 30-year-old woman named Dana Armstrong sitting behind two turntables playing classic country songs from the ’60s…
Karen O, the focal point of any Yeah Yeah Yeahs show, works the stage like Iggy Pop in fishnets, a force of unnatural nature overdoing every gesture, every post-“Rock Lobster” vocal tic, until you’d have to be a fool to turn away. She’s part train wreck as performance art, part…
Shane MacGowan’s continued existence on the planet is nothing short of a miracle that would test the resolve of even the most determined atheist. I’ve personally witnessed the notorious Pogues front man — who’ll turn 49 on Christmas Day — ingest an incomprehensible amount of booze and illicit substances, then…
Six years ago, Jonny Lang faced a crossroads in his music career and personal life. Too much underage drinking, cigarette smoking and drugs, plus an obsession with witchcraft, threatened to ruin his career and create havoc in his personal life. A revelation gave rise to his current sobriety and new…
Back in the ’90s, when I was a young adult, I desperately wanted to start a small record label. It was the age of awesome and inspirational labels like Kill Rock Stars, the heyday of indie stalwarts like Dischord and Lookout, and a time when you could watch a small…
Author Chuck Bukowski probably never imagined Hot Water Music, the title of a collection of his short stories, would become synonymous with the post-hardcore scene. But so it is, thanks to Hot Water Music, the Gainesville, Florida, proto-punk quartet that took its name from Buk’s tome and spent the past…
When it comes to rock ‘n’ roll theatrics, Rob Zombie may not have drawn up the blueprint, but he’s definitely remodeled his own house of horrors, from directing instant cult classic horror movies like House of 1000 Corpses to his catalogue of ghoulish industrial metal albums (the latest being this…
Hippies, though admirable and well-intentioned, often compensate for their excellent politics with profoundly lousy art. Which is a real bummer, as our current political situation is profoundly lousy — as you might have heard, we’re living through one epic backlash against the ’60s and liberal democracy and yadda yadda. Meanwhile,…
Skin shows aren’t usually on my agenda for quiet Thursday nights, so I’m a bit startled to find myself watching a band with the drummer banging away wearing only a pair of peach-colored jockey shorts from American Apparel on a recent Thursday. Needless to say, my dollars are staying in…
Christina Aguilera’s new double disc, Back to Basics (RCA), is a sonic nod to the music of the ’20s, ’30s and ’40s. But a closer look reveals how the album also draws inspiration from classic double albums of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. Blonde on Blonde (1966) On Back to…
You’ll find no hit singles as big as “Psychotic Reaction” or “96 Tears” in The Knights of Fuzz: The Garage & Psychedelic Music Explosion, 1980 to Now DVD (Dionysus), historian Timothy Gassen’s fanboy’s-eye view of the post-Nuggets wave of garage bands Little Steven’s always going on about. But it’s certainly…
How many boxed sets are really worth $65? A Life Less Lived: The Gothic Box (to be released Tuesday, September 19, by Rhino Records) is — this package is like the Nuggets of the goth rock world. There are three CDs, a DVD containing a dozen videos, and a book…
