Posts by Jeremy Lukens

Norwegian rock was the flavor of the night in Orlando as Leprous played The Plaza Live. The doors opened an hour late but didn’t hinder the moderate crowd’s excitement for the night’s eclectic rock mix. Norwegian metal band Fight the Fight kicked things off with a 30-minute set of high-octane songs that would be the […]

On Shine Away, the third album by Seattle rockers Naked Giants, the band gets introspective and showcases a more mature sound. The trio built its name on the unbridled energy of its concerts and the raw, garage-meets-alternative sound of its first two releases, 2018’s SLUFF and 2020’s The Shadow. Don’t worry; the songs still rock, […]

The Ashes of Leviathan Tour brought nostalgic metal mayhem to the Orlando Amphitheater on a sweltering night in Central Florida on July 24th. The tour celebrates the twentieth anniversary of two landmark metal albums—both released on August 31, 2004—Lamb of God’s Ashes of the Wake and Mastodon’s Leviathan. Malevolence and Kerry King opened for the […]

DIIV brought its eclectic tour to the House of Blues in Lake Buena Vista, Florida on July 20th. The show started with two subdued acts and ended with a surprisingly rocking set. Long Beach sextet Dutch Interior opened with a 30-minute set of soothing Americana. Most songs were played in a whisper, with sparse instrumentation […]

Severe thunderstorms delayed the second step of Sammy Hagar’s Best of All Worlds tour. Lightning and a torrential downpour delayed the opening of the gates to the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre by 90 minutes, and Loverboy’s opening set was canceled as a result. The soggy fans that stuck it out, though, were treated to a […]

Beth Gibbons takes her time with her art. With Portishead, she released only three albums in fourteen years. During one of Portishead’s hiatuses in 2002, she released Out of Season, a collaboration with Rustin Man. Eleven years after the last Portishead album, she released Henryk Górecki: Symphony No. 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs), a collaboration […]

In 2019, Cage the Elephant released its safest and softest album, Social Cues. Though the album has some great songs, it’s pop rock that is easy to digest, stripped of the aggressive, primal nature of the band’s early work.  The band’s latest offering, Neon Pill, follows that trend. The Kentucky rockers have a knack for […]

On Saturday night May 4th, Waxahatchee brought twangy Americana to The Beacham in downtown Orlando, Florida. Australian band Good Morning opened the show with a 45-minute set featuring melodic midtempo roots rock. Multiinstrumentalists Liam Parsons and Stefan Blair stood at opposite ends of the stage, facing each other and rarely looking at the crowd. Flanked […]

Every so often, a new Melvins album shows up in the wild, sometimes without anyone knowing it was coming. After more than 30 albums, one could expect diminishing returns from such a prolific catalog, but the Washington rockers have mostly avoided missteps. As pioneers of the grunge and sludge metal movements, the Melvins have crafted […]

Sheryl Crow originally intended the 2019 collaborative album Threads to be her last, but just four years later, a Peter Gabriel song inspired her to return to the studio. Gabriel’s song “Digging in the Dirt” and its themes of self-examination resonated with Crow, who brought a demo cover of it to producer Mike Elizondo. That […]

Influential Scottish indie band The Jesus and Mary Chain sticks to its roots while bringing a modern touch to Glasgow Eyes, its second album since reuniting in 2007 and eighth album overall. Contemporary production and mixing and the blending of electronic elements into the band’s guitar-based sound make Glasgow Eyes sound fresh. Still, there’s a […]

Though rock radio in the 1980s was dominated by awful, corporate hair metal bands, it was also the birth of several great movements, such as the alternative scene in the Pacific Northwest and the thrash metal scene. Then there were bands like Extreme and Living Colour, who have finally joined forces for a tour this […]

On Friday, February 2, Grace Potter’s Mother Road Tour stopped at The House of Blues in Orlando for a celebration of creativity and artistry. Newcomer Brittney Spencer opened the concert with a 45-minute set showcasing songs from her debut album My Stupid Life, released two weeks prior.  In “Bigger Than the Song,” Spencer sang that […]

Less than five months after the release of Darkfighter, Rival Sons returns with its second album of the year, Lightbringer. Both albums were recorded during the same sessions in 2021, but when there was too much good material for one release, the band decided to drop two separate albums. Unsurprisingly, both albums have a similar […]

Mitski has long drawn from folk, rock, and pop influences in her music, but The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We reaches beyond that for a more classical sound. Mitski’s seventh full-length album features an orchestra arranged and conducted by Drew Erickson and a 17-person choir arranged by Mitski. Those two classical elements add […]

Stone, the new Baroness album, is the first by the Savannah band without a color in its title, but it still has everything expected in a Baroness record. The band has gone through multiple lineup changes since forming in 2003, with frontman John Baizley the only constant. The shifting personnel has brought different flavors to […]

Over the last eight years, Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett has released three solid full-length albums that showcase her gifts as a musician and lyricist. Whether soft and introspective or fast and aggressive, one common element in Barnett’s songs has always been her witty lyrics, often featuring irony, rambling storytelling, and clever wordplay. None of that […]

After thirty years, Seattle alt-rock band Candlebox is saying farewell with one last album and tour. Frontman Kevin Martin is the only band member remaining from the original lineup that broke through with the multi-platinum eponymous debut in 1993. In the thirty years since, Martin has seen the band win over fans with singles that […]

The World Is a Vampire tour brought three generations of great rock to rain-soaked Tampa on Sunday night. Rival Sons kicked off the show at the MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre with a dynamic set covering 14 years of material. They opened the set with the twangy power ballad “Feral Roots,” featuring singer Jay Buchanan on […]

Like a lot of people, the guys in Rival Sons had a lot of extra time on their hands during the lockdowns of 2020. For a band that had been touring extensively since releasing Feral Roots in January 2019, the pandemic offered a chance to recharge and of course, ample time to write new songs. […]