B-Sides

With over 20,000 miles on my Junkies odometer, this is not the first time I’ve followed a tour. Eight shows in eight days is the most ambitious plan yet, although there is a seed of doubt about the sanity of the entire trip. I felt it rooting in my gut during the slow descent into California. Hours later, the opening notes of “Follower2” will rake through my gut and turn the soil. Where doubt once rooted, there is only the emotional release of each tightly wound song of love and loss. As soon as each song ends, a craving for the next release immediately floods the bloodstream. I’m addicted.    

The upcoming Twisted Conspiracy Tour, coming to Boulder, Denver, San Francisco, and Los Angeles in May, represents the fusing of two eclectic underground dance music scenes from Europe and America.

Some artists communicate either through slashing guitar riffs, confessional lyrics, hydraulic drumming, catchy two part harmonies or long winded jamming.  L.A. based Dengue Fever chooses to communicate by taking a psychedelic ride on the Cambodian pop sounds of the 60’s. 

The Whigs’ 2005 debut Give ‘Em All A Big Fat Lip was an album any young band would ache to call their own. The self released/self financed debut allowed the Athens, Georgia trio to be dubbed “the best un-signed band in America” by Rolling Stone Magazine.

P.B.S. (Porter, Batiste, Stoltz) is finally getting the opportunity to cool their heels a bit after an extended West coast tour that took them to cities large and small. Along the way in Portland Oregon, Glide had the opportunity to sit down with George Porter Jr., Russell Batiste Jr., and Brian Stoltz to talk about the rigors and realities of life on the road, the inspirational process of creating music together, and George Porter Jr.’s obsession with the internet.

This winter we were all witness to the first writer's strike in 20 years. While we all took sides (the writers'…) it made for a very interesting Television season and had many people watching closely. Through all the turmoil, a few new shows debuted and made it through the other side (nearly) unscathed.

March 10th will see the evening that Leonard Cohen, the Dave Clark Five, Madonna,John Mellencamp, the Ventures, Little Walter and Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff get inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of fame. Who you might ask? Yes, Little Walter, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. Each year there are a few Burt Blylevens […]

It’s February and you know what that means…..Awards season. So instead of just a “Who Will Win” list, which, besides its highly opinionated nature (much like the Oscars themselves) we’re going to take our chances at guessing this year's winners.

n today’s modern digital downloading/streaming age of MySpace, iTunes, and Amazon providing listeners snippets and downloads of single songs, the concept of an "album," for many, has lost its plot. Believe it or not, there are still a few artists who are present their art through the musical translation medium of an "album." Philadelphia’s Trolleyvox is one of those few

By the time you’re finished reading this, Warn Defever of His Name will have probably recorded a new album. The experimental rock band from Michigan have been around since 1990, landed on a handful of different labels (Silver Mountain Media, 4AD, Ryko, Sony, High Two, Kill Rock Stars, Warner Bros) and have released ten albums, including two in 2007 – Xmmer and High Two; the later is the band's tribute to free jazz saxophonist Marion Brown.

Pete Townshend is revered as one of rock’s greatest guitarists, songwriters, and showmen, noted for his signature windmill-style guitar strumming and smashing his instrument on stage. But however celebrated Pete and his band have become over the years, Mr. Townshend is responsible for writing and recording one of the most trite and overexposed songs in the history of pop music: “Let My Love Open the Door.”

So it finally happened. The next most bewildering reunion aside from the ghosts of John and George jamming with Paul and Ringo, Led Zeppelin reunited and played a full two-hour show Monday night at the O2 Arena in London.

With year end best of lists being cluttered with The National, Spoon and Bruce Springsteen, there is a band out of Birmingham, Alabama, Through the Sparks, whose Lazarus Beach certainly deserves some attention. Through the Sparks is a collaboration of long time friends that involve James Brangle and Jody Nelson, who began writing and recording with longtime friends and collaborators Nikolaus and Thomas Mimikakis and Greg Slamen in early 2004.

The Radishes are a San Francisco/Los Angeles based band with an attacking sound that has been described as Nirvana meets Motorhead. Although musical comparisons are easy to come by, cocalist/guitiarst Paul Stinson likens it as White Stripes meets the Stooges meets NIN. Not too shabby. Toss in the Radishes fiery vocals and their ominous song-writing with loads of pop, punk and metal, and you have an act that could be headlining the big festival stages if they weren’t doing it the small “Do It Yourself” route, in part due to Stinson's self admitted "laziness."

The book on this year’s Vegoose Festival, aside from the typical late night debauchery, is a curveball lineup card that has more in common with Coachella than its jam-friendly past. And with Ghostface Killah, Public Enemy, Cypress Hill, Lupe Fiasco, Atmosphere and M.I.A.on the bill, you can count on a bit of sampling. Add the recently reunited Rage Against the Machine with Daft Punk – possibly playing their last ever U.S. show – and the Stooges featuring Iggy Pop performing Fun House in its entirety, Vegoose proper may be hotter than Rehab Sundays by the pool at the Hard Rock

For No Place Like Soul, Soulive not only changed record companies, but the band’s approach to creating music went under complete renovation.

After working hard on recording and then touring behind his first album, Page McConnell is ready to unwind a bit this fall. While McConnell doesn’t have any tour dates booked, he will be making his Carnegie Hall debut during an Elton John and Bernie Taupin tribute on October 10th. Page was kind enough to speak with us about the Elton/Bernie tribute, personal highlights of this past year, and what’s next for the Chairman of the Boards.

Setting sail January 4-9, 2008, Jam Cruise 6 features Warren Haynes, Michael Franti & Spearhead, the Funky Meters, Galactic, Soulive, Yonder Mountain String Band, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, and the Everyone Orchestra feat. Steve Kimock, Jon Fishman and Jeff Coffin. As we look forward to setting sail, Ann keeps us afloat and educated on her efforts to keep the cruise close to 100% green and sustainable.

Stars of Track and Field is a three-piece indie pop band from Portland, Oregon. Paying reference to their elders of indie genre, their name is in reference to the Belle and Sebastian song of the same name found on their 1998 album – If You're Feeling Sinister. Glide recently met up with the Stars of Track and Field after their Seattle date and had the chance to talk with frontman Kevin Calaba. The conversation spanned songwriting, life on the road, and politics.

Willy Wonka, be damned, the artist opened his PollockPrints Studio to the public recently, and our poster-geek friend Phil could find himself nowhere else in the world than that Chicago abode.