Archive: 2011

Steve Earle is set to release I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive on April 26th via New West Records.  The album is the anticipated follow up to the Grammy Award winning 2009 release Townes.  The 11-track set was produced by T Bone Burnett and is Earle’s first collection of original material since his […]

2010 was a year of making noise and news for the Band of Heathens. With 200-plus show dates, a fifth anniversary celebration, appearances at Lollapalooza and other top national festivals and a taping of Austin City Limits with Elvis Costello, it is remarkable that the Heathens even found time to write and record a new […]

Not nearly so memorable as his Higher Ground show of 2006 nor anywhere near as spectacular as recent shows with his Allman Brothers, Gregg Allman’s performance in the Green Mountains nevertheless suggested he brought a definite sense of self-renewal with him from his home in the Deep South.

For a nine-piece, groove-based band with no vocals, the Budos Band can sure pack a house. The anticipation for this Daptoe Records-flavored ensemble was certainly at a fever pitch, as the sold-out crowd at the Independent could attest to on Friday night.  There is no question these guys have built a reputation as a no-holds-barred, funk-blast of a band, and this sweaty night was no exception.  With a gritty Staten Island-flavored street swagger, Budos dug deep into their catalog of minor-key grooves and exercised their craft of selfless ensemble playing.

Van Halen have started work on their first album with original frontman David Lee Roth in 26 years. News that the band were set to work with producer John Shanks, who has most recently worked with Bon Jovi and Take That, broke last year, and Shanks has suggested that he’s now gone into the studio […]

The Strokes announce the release date for their highly anticipated fourth album, Angles, on March 22nd via RCA records in the US, and March 21st via Rough Trade Records in the UK. A new single titled "Under Cover of Darkness," will be heard on radio starting in February. The complete track-listing for the album can […]

On April 23, 2011 Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax will be appear in Indio, CA at the Empire Polo Club, where the Coachella Festival takes place the weekend before.  After successful international shows, this is the only scheduled stop in America this go around for the Big Four.  Tickets go on sale this Friday, January […]

Today marks the 50th Anniversary of one of the most important moments of Bob Dylan’s life. On January 24, 1961, Zimmy arrived in New York City after a 24-hour car ride from Minnesota and immediately headed down to Cafe Wha? in Greenwich Village. The rest – as they say – is history. Our friends at […]

When last week’s announcement that Rhino would be putting out a $450 limited edition release featuring all of the Grateful Dead’s legendary Europe ’72 tour came down, there was a question as to whether all 7,200 box sets would sell out. Well, not only was every single Europe ’72: The Complete Recordings box set snatched up […]

Beyond the obvious associations of flux capacitors, 1.21 gigawatts & lightning, there’s a new distinction we need to make regarding the DeLorean. Doc & Marty have inspired a pair of great bands to name themselves after their stylish time machine: the one spelled “Delorean” is the Spanish dance-rock band, and the other, the focus of today’s interview, spelled Dolorean, is a fantastic Americana-folk group led by Al James out of Portland.

[Photo by Sarah Jurado]

After releasing three albums in just five years prior to 2007’s You Can’t Win, Dolorean took the last four years as a reprieve, having come to the realization that they needed to slow it down. The constant studio output and subsequent touring grew exhausting, so they decided to put the music on their own time-line, and in doing so, put forth one of the first great records of 2011 called The Unfazed.

The Unfazed works as a quasi-concept album about acknowledging life’s anxieties without getting too bent out of shape; rolling with the punches. It’s entirely apropos in that the album’s mantra serves as a direct parallel to both the band’s hiatus and the album itself, as a living embodiment of being “unfazed.” By accepting the stresses, regaining control of the process and doing it at their own speed, Dolorean gave the music time to grow around the easy feelings and in essence, created a perpetual spiral, whereby this idea of The Unfazed flowed through into the music and the music in turn now embodies the idea of being Unfazed.

Hidden Track: So, let’s begin with this idea of “The Unfazed” that permeates the new album. I gather that this is saying something to the effect of “The Unfazed” are people who can sort of deal with bullshit and go about their lives without being too affected by the annoying burdens?

Al James: In some ways it’s about not dealing with the bullshit, but the flip side of that. It is accepting it, embracing it and not being surprised by it. It’s about not being caught off guard when things go completely off the rails (because the usually will) and just maintaining perspective. Living unfazed is a position of empathy and understanding.

HT: It’s probably not a great example, but that idea made me think of Bernie Madoff for some reason. The guy never showed an ounce of emotion in the face of blunder that probably caused more stress than any human could normally endure. So, who are some other people that come to mind when you think of The Unfazed?

READ ON for more of Ryan’s chat with Al James…