Interviews

The Dejas may be fall into the dream pop/ indie-pop/rock duo category, but these two kindred spirits are far from pretentious.   Following their sold out Speeding Softly CD release show in late February at the House of Blues Foundation Room in Boston, Callie Lipton and Aaron Katz, who make up The Dejas, proved to be more than grateful to the packed room

He’s wry and restless and funny as hell.  He’s Eef Barzeley, front man for the alt-indie band Clem Snide and on February 23rd 429 Records will release The Meat of Life — 12 powerful tracks that showcase the silent sufferings and comedic moments that run through Barzelay’s head.

The Allman Brothers Band returns to…well, not the Beacon this March for the first time in many a moon, having been forced from their usual haunt by Cirque de Soleil.  Thirteen dates are on the books — and according to Butch Trucks, selling briskly — at the United Palace, 100 blocks uptown from the Beacon. The return of the residency will also bring the return of Moogis, the live music video streaming service Butch Trucks unveiled for last year's 40th Anniversary run of Beacon shows. Glide/ Hidden Track caught up with the drummer earlier this month to talk Moogis, the United Palace, and plenty of other subjects both comfortable and uncomfortable. Say this for the man — and we said it last year, too — he doesn't hold back.

Having such a foundation as New Orleans has given Galactic access to so many great musical resources over the years.  The band, set to release its 6th studio album titled, Ya-Ka-May, brought in a wide range of fantastic artists to collaborate with and has built a record that depicts a new sound coming from “The Big Easy.” 

Scott Kannberg isn’t known for baring his soul.  As a co-founder of Pavement, Kannberg – better known as Spiral Stairs – was a major part of the whole tongue-in-cheek, ironic aura that surrounded the band.  With songs like “Date with Ikea” and “Passat Dream,” Kannberg’s music with Pavement was anything but introspective.  And, after Pavement split in 1999, Kannberg started Preston School of Industry, which was a break from his past in some ways, but still relatively light on soul searching.

Plagued by poor management and bad record labels throughout their career, Anvil has had a long journey, but the best is only starting to unravel.  In 2008, Sasha Gervasi, an ex-road crew member released an award winning documentary about the band and its revival called, Anvil!  The Story of Anvil.  With the huge success of the film over the past few years, Anvil has launched itself right up to the summit, even earning them a spot to open for AC/DC.  Dedication to the dream of becoming a rock star that was instilled at a young age has never withered in the mind of Lips.  This past Tuesday, on the first night of the tour, Glide got a chance to catch up with Lips before the show.      

Charlie Hunter has certainly proved he's his own man during the course of a career that's found him working as parts of solos, duos, quartets, quintets and larger ensembles both as frontman/bandleader and collaborative participant. He is comfortable with himself to the extent his self-description as a 'boutique' artist sounds both pragmatic and proud.

Ahmir Thompson is a busy man.  It’s not enough that Thompson – better known as ?uestlove – has a nightly gig with the Roots as house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. He is also a road warrior, filling practically every free moment from “Late Night” with a quick tour or all-night jam session with the Roots.  So, when Thompson recently agreed to write the score for an upcoming Soul Train documentary, it seemed like the amply afro-ed drummer was going to need a few more hours in the day to fit it all in.

Of course, the 48-year-old singer of the Flaming Lips doesn’t feel very comfortable discussing art.  In fact, every time he uses the word, he makes sure you know that he knows that it’s all just a bunch of bullshit.  But, the fact remains:  Coyne and the Lips are responsible for elevating pop music to the status of art – whether it be an album that requires the listener to play four discs on four stereos at the same time (Zaireeka), or one of the greatest musical creations of the 20th century (The Soft Bulletin).

Emilie’s shows are quite the spectacle:  a sexually charged mix of Victorian and Gothic, Burlesque and Vaudeville, Metal and Electronica, backed by all-female backup singers “The Bloody Crumpets.”  Autumn also runs her own clothing, accessory and perfume lines via the company that she co-owns with “Lee Queen of Tarts,” Lee Ann Helmer, WillowTech House.  The absolutely riveting Emilie was awesome enough to spare Glide a few moments backstage at her recent Williamsburg, Brooklyn Music Hall performance.  The show did not disappoint.

Well, we did it again.  Despite a loud constituency of music fans out there who abhor these end of the year lists for their arrogance, their subjectivity, their self-indulgent ways, we came up with a short list of our favorites from the year.  And we have to make one thing clear: these best-of-the-year lists should be more accurately called “the-best-of-what-we-know” lists.

After scrambling through the past decade in music, our staff at Glide narrowed our picks for the 50 best albums of the 00’s Not that our favorite albums are any more important than your favorite, but since we are a music magazine – isn’t that what they do at the end of each decade. Enough said, here they are..

The Village happens to be Greenwich, the time was 1960-something and the cast is John Oates with twelve other veteran musicians (including Lucinda Williams, Bruce Hornsby, Los Lobos, Rickie Lee Jones and Amos Lee) putting their spin on classic folk songs. The result is The Village: A Celebration Of The Music Of Greenwich Village – 429 Records’s folk compilation that pays homage to the music that shook the world from the corners of McDougal and Bleeker Street.

The Used have been on Warped Tour four times and both Taste of Chaos and Reading and Leeds twice, yet they still manage to maintain that “new car smell” every show, every time.

All roads lead north for the band after the holiday, as Steve Kimock prepares for two New York performances in conjunction with Phish’s December run at Madison Square Garden.  Kimock has a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving besides his underlining passion of continuously being able to make music with his eldest son.  Crazy Engine, which he set loose on the rails back in January 2009, is steaming ahead with a new found burst of creative chemistry and a new lineup alongside NOLA native ivory wrangler Melvin Seals.

So, maybe some people just assume that, with an iffy track record, Nick  Thorburn must be your classic front man head case.  But the truth is, he’s just a nice guy – almost a kid, really, at 27 years old – who often feels the victim of “shy/asshole confusion,” a concept originated by Seinfeld co-creator, Larry David.  This is something he talks about at length in most interviews.

Garage a Trois is a band which at first could be thought of as an all-star band of heavy hitters, but that would be a severe understatement. The band, which started as a trio consisting of saxophonist Skerik, guitar virtuoso Charlie Hunter, and drummer Stanton Moore, later adding vibraphonist Mike Dillon, has grown into a tightly structured, well oiled funk beast. Hunter is no longer part of the group, in that slot is one of the most in demand keyboard players around, Marco Benevento, who permanently joined the group in 2007.

 As the drummer for New Jersey’s grit-punkers The Gaslight Anthem, you might suspect that Benny Horowitz might have developed a bit of an ego, considering that The ’59 Sound, the Gaslight Anthem’s second LP has been making the rounds on every critic’s “Best of…” lists. It’s chugging, relentless, fist-in-the-air anthems even garnered the attention of Bruce Springsteen. The ’59 Sound has garnered heaps of comparisons to The Boss’s immortal sound, and he even graced them with his presence during their encore at Glastonbury this year.

One of the scene's most visible bands has a certain void, now that word's out that John Kadlecik will exit Dark Star Orchestra early next month.But in an exclusive interview with Glide, DSO drummer Rob Koritz reminds us not to worry — Jeff Mattson's aboard (at least for now) and Dark Star has big things ahead in 2010.

It takes more than a few hard knocks to keep Art Alexakis down.  Riveting frontman and driving force behind the multi-platinum powerhouse Everclear, Alexakis has built up a devoted following based on songs culled from his own thorny past.  Issues of abandonment, early demons with drugs, sobriety and divorce are all chronicled through 17 years and eight albums.