All Entries in the "Features" Category
Cover Story: The Beach Boys
Many casual rock fans get stuck on this poser: name the band who were greatly influenced by both Bob Dylan and The Beatles, and in turn had major influence on Bob Dylan and The Beatles. The answer is The Byrds. Similarly, another ’60s-born Southern California-based outfit led several lives
Interview: Brian Wilson
IE: Are there any that you’re more excited to approach than others?
Brian Wilson: Not really. Well, “California Girls” I look forward to, and “Good Vibrations.” I look forward to those.
Interview: Mayer Hawthorne
Superman had his Fortress Of Solitude; Mayer Hawthorne has his records and the stores scattered around the globe devoted to housing rare and overlooked vinyl.
Interview: Eric Church
Even if he was preemptively playing along with what he assumes to be a skeptical urban magazine, Eric Church raises some salient points about country music. His career, after all, could be one of its songs.
Cover Story: Creed
The idea of an artist staging an entire tour around a successful album is a trend that doesn’t seem to be slowing, and in the case of Creed’s upcoming outing, fans actually get a double-decker front-to-back rendering.
Interview: Band Of Skulls
Ladies, if you ever receive a text from a potential mate that reads, “You’re not pretty, but you’ve got it going on,” there’s two possible scenarios to consider. Either the gentleman caller is utterly clueless as to how to woo a fair maiden, or he’s really digging the new Band Of Skulls album. Taking a [...]
Interview: Thomas Dolby
While we’d never met and probably have no friends other than perhaps Facebook’s in common, having “come of age” in lockstep with Thomas Dolby and his music/performances across the ’80s brought a first-ever phone call with him the sense that one was calling a long-lost friend.
Cover Story: The Cranberries
She’s not sure exactly when it happened. But there was a time when flutter-throated Celtic thrush Dolores O’Riordan really lost her way, spiritually. And it had everything to do with the skyrocketing popularity of her band, The Cranberries, and its early international hits like “Dreams,” “Linger,” and “Zombie”
Interview: Nada Surf
One of the feel-good stories of the ’90s alternative-rock boom and its subsequent bust, Nada Surf recently caught wind of a new danger on the horizon.
Interview: Miles Nielsen
For the past 13 years, Miles Nielsen made a name for himself throughout the Midwest and beyond thanks to several different band incarnations, but none seemed to hit the spot as much as his latest collaboration The Rusted Hearts.
Studioguide 2012: Uptown Recording
Uptown is one of Chicago’s oldest communities, one that brims with a rich heritage from the Gilded Age to Prohibition. Fast-forward to its current incarnation as an urban melting pot that hosts music of all genres, Catherine and Matt Denny began Uptown Recording in 2001 in the shadow of Broadway & Lawrence
Cover Story: The Doors
The British take a lot of pride in their rock ‘n’ roll, boasting that they studied its roots better than its host country; rescued the form after the crooners rushed in to fill Elvis’ void; and, if you canvas the ’60s titans, only the Queen’s subjects showed any real longevity.
Interview: Martha Berner
Just because Martha Berner’s finally closed a six-year gap between full-length studio outings, it doesn’t mean the singer/songwriter was inactive. In fact, she’s used the half decade and change to practically start from scratch, reinventing her already alluring folk
Interview: Rockie Fresh
Chicago hip-hop artists who make and perform music full-time are too few and far between – that is, artists who actually still reside in the area. But while it becomes even tougher for local rappers to ditch their day jobs, 20-year-old Chicagoan Rockie Fresh is among a select few who are already on their way [...]
Cover Story: What’s That Sound?
As a number of enthusiasts have pointed out, there are currently more pop-music genres than there are artists to occupy them. Whether such a sneering jab is true, the slotting of acts into ready-made categories has always been a vice of critics and fans.
