Interviews

Tom “TC” Constanten did what everyone did in the ‘60s: went straight from military service to playing keys with The Grateful Dead. Constanten, 80, is now on a farewell tour with Live Dead and Brothers—an outfit with a helpfully accurate name. The Northeast-focused tour will take place over two weeks in October. We spoke to […]

Blitz Vega are releasing their album, Northern Gentleman, on September 27th. The Blitz Vega project was born in 2016 as a new venture between The Smiths’ bassist Andy Rourke, and guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist Kav Sandhu, aka Kav Blaggers. It expanded to include Asa Brown (keyboards/backing vocals), Thom Arizmendi (guitar), Greg Gent (guitar/backing vocals), and Craig Eriksson (drums) for studio recordings. There […]

Whether you realize it or not, you’ve heard New York City-bred Dave Guy play his trumpet. The veteran studio musician has worked with some of the biggest artists throughout multiple decades, from Amy Winehouse to Bruno Mars. His catalog ranges from soul greats like Lee Fields to being a full-time member of The Roots, not […]

Joshua Mohr came of age playing music in the East Bay Punk scene and has subsequently been an author and screenwriter for a number of years, publishing both fiction and his own memoir, Model Citizen. Now, he’s embarking on an ambitious project where a trilogy of books will be released over the course of a […]

On September 13th, Experimental Folk duo Foreign Fields released their fourth full-length album, What It Cost, and for this collection, have expanded to a full-band sound. This marks a departure from their previous two-person efforts, but it not an about-face in an ongoing new direction. Rather, it captures a particular experiment in a particular period […]

Adrian Belew has been looking backwards down his path of late, something we all like to do on occasion. And when you’ve had a career like Belew’s, there’s plenty to reflect on. The guitarist/vocalist has solo records, of course, but his more well-known work came via stints with King Crimson, David Bowie, The Bears and […]

The Pulsars are an innovative multi-genre Rock duo consisting of brothers Dave and Harry Trumfio who grew up in suburban Chicago and came to prominence in the mid to late-90s with a wide swath of live performances and two very solid albums. Having been signed to Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss’s post-A&M label, Almo Sounds, […]

The Universal Fire is Jeffrey Foucault’s first album of original material since 2018’s Blood Brothers. The Western Massachusetts-based singer-songwriter describes the album as a working wake to his longtime drummer and best friend Billy Conway, who passed away in December 2021. Before he teamed up with Foucault, Conway had made his mark in the music […]

Jerry Douglas is laughing, of course. The dobro virtuoso rarely encounters a situation where it doesn’t cause him to start laughing. On the occasion of our recent interview, he was bravely eating some Junior Mints that had mysteriously melted together while holding onto his phone with his other hand. Still, he soon broke out into […]

The dB’s will be embarking on a rare tour in September, and this coincides with the June reissue of their debut album, Stands for deciBels, its first time on vinyl in the US, and the October reissue of their second album, Repercussion. Both albums arrive courtesy of Propeller Sound Recordings, who previously released some dB’s […]

Living Legend is a moniker usually bestowed upon someone who has stood the test of time, has done stellar work in their chosen profession, and is well-respected to the point of idolization. Singer-songwriter Jimmie Dale Gilmore meets all those stipulations with gusto. An Americana troubadour, the Texas native has been writing, recording, reinterpreting, and performing […]

In early August, The Damnwells released Bad at Beautiful, their first studio album since their 2015 self-titled release. Having no specific plans to release an album, initially, releasing a single track produced such a big reaction on social media that they used Kickstarter to crowdfund an entire album, making for a very organic process. Significantly, […]

The best music takes listeners on a journey. And as musicians develop, they can bring audiences along on their journeys. Youthful influences sometimes give way to more mature sounds. Such is the case with post/math/experimental rockers Valerian Swing, based in Germany and Italy. In the case of Valerian Swing, this meant transitioning from a nu-metal-oriented […]

Utah-based quartet The National Parks will be releasing their album Wild Spirit on August 23rd, a quick follow-up to 2023’s 8th Wonder. It will arrive while they are underway on their first tour of the UK and Ireland, and has already been heralded by several singles that hint at the themes and sounds for this […]

There are decisions, and there are decisions. And singer/guitarist Eva Hendricks—of indie power poppers Charly Bliss—has a decision to make. “I’m getting married in a couple of months, and I don’t know if I can go down the aisle with blue hair,” she says on a Zoom call from down under. Even though “the blue […]

Americana, bluesy rock, electrified folk, Texas snake oil swing, and hopped-up rockabilly have never sounded so good as when they’re blended together by Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore. The heart and soul of a sound that lingers in your stratosphere long after it’s stopped spinning around the turntable, these two road dogs are still […]

Casey Neill’s album time zero land, arrived at the end of July, following the Fall 2023 release of Casey Neill and The Norway Rats’ album Sending Up Flares. The juxtaposition was interesting, with one very outward and forward-looking collection released first, and a more private, at times backward-looking and reflective album released afterwards. However, the […]

Smoker Dad is a Seattle-based indie band that describes their sound as “deep-fried Southern Rock,” and it’s hard to argue with that. The attitude and slightly humorous feel of that description are also part of their identity. Consisting of Trevor Conway on vocals and guitar, Teagen Conway on lead guitar, Chris King on vocals and keys, […]

The multi-faceted artist Mike Frazier has had one hell of a year. Firstly, his sixth studio album, Secrets of Atlantis, was released on April 26, 2024. The eight-track outing saw Frazier swapping his usual twangy sound for an onslaught of searing psychedelia that flips into moving balladry in the blink of an eye. The daring […]

Once-and-future Slayer guitarist Kerry King has never been one to shy away from expressing his opinion. And he’s been vocal in his opinion that the band ended years too soon. Thrash metal icon King has spent the time since the Big Four heavy hitters called it a day getting his solo album ready. He pushed through […]