Cover Story
Cover Story: Elle King
If you’re craving some homespun wisdom in these complicated, hi-tech times, you need look no further than old episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies, a popular CBS TV series that ran from 1962 to 1971 (and 1993 film) and applied old-saw simplicity to complicated modern society. For any Gen X-, Y- or Z-er who might have […]
Cover Story: Smashing Pumpkins: Never Mind the Gatekeepers
It’s not often that an artist is afforded the privilege of seeing the importance of their career painstakingly delineated in its relative historical importance. You usually have to wait until your screen has faded to afterworld black for that kind of cumulative honor. But at 55, after nearly four decades spent helming Smashing […]
Cover Story: Lamb of God • Revitalize The Soil
It’s never a good battle strategy to telegraph your punches, swears Lamb of God growler L. Randall Blythe. Several years ago, he foresaw a possible post-EMP, Road Warrior atavistic future when banks have all failed and suggested, matter-of-factly, that when the grid went down, it would just be “me and my guns.” Did the Virginian have […]
Cover Story: The Interrupters • Write Your Own Story
Looks, they say, can be deceiving. Hearing energetic vocalist Aimee Interrupter ricochet through In the Wild — the bracing new fourth album from The Interrupters, the SoCal ska-punk outfit she formed 11 years ago with dub-schooled guitarist Kevin Bivona, now her husband — it’s difficult to picture anything but unbridled joy and optimism fueling it. From […]
Cover Story: Tears For Fears • “Heritage This!”
After many years of touring with a bevy of classic pop hits from their ‘80s heyday, including “Change,” “Pale Shelter,” “Shout,” and “Sowing the Seeds of Love,” British band Tears for Fears have returned to the road with a powerful new album. With The Tipping Point, co-leaders Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith revisit the heady […]
Cover Story: Halestorm: “Never Give In”
It’s a question without an answer, a paradox rooted in an ancient Chinese fable about a vendor selling both a spear that was impervious to attack and a corresponding shield that could never be pierced. What happened when you employed them against each other? No mere mortal could ever conjecture, leading to the latter-day rephrasing […]
Cover Story: Midnight Oil • “The Last Dance”
As combustible as ever, Midnight Oil is again doing what they’ve done better than anyone else. At home and abroad, the band is rocking with furious post-punk energy and pop-savvy while agitating for change on social, political, and environmental issues. Like its biggest hit, “Beds are Burning,” the Oils’ 2020 release The Makarrata Project advocated […]
Cover Story: Urge Overkill • “Oui, Oui”
Time flies – especially if you mark time by 11s and years and releases from your favorite rock band – at least if that band is Urge Overkill. Some may feel it’s been a long time since their last release, Rock & Roll Submarine; others may say it feels like yesterday. It may undoubtedly sound […]
Stage Buzz: Livestream Buzz February 2- February 5 • Joss Stone, New Order, Patti Smith, Underoath, Sammy Hagar
Patti Smith is holding an exclusive streaming event for her Substack subscribers on Wednesday, February 2nd at 7 PM. Smith will perform with her longtime collaborators Lenny Kaye and Tony Shanahan as well as read from her books during the event. Want access? Be sure to sign up here. New Order fans can catch a […]
Cover Story: Sarah Shook an the Disarmers • ” The Four Agreements”
Collectively, it’s relatively easy to look at the last couple of soul-trying pandemic years — wherein one entire political party in America continues to deny not only the science of climate change but the enactment of any constructive legislation that could thwart it or at least slow it down — and say that we, humanity, […]
Cover Story: Sophie and the Giants
This is the way the Universe works if you’re open to the experience. Ever since we collectively lurched into these dark, foreboding waters of the coronavirus, you might have found yourself getting swallowed up by its inky blackness, losing sight of any easily-identifiable landmarks on shore, artistic or pop-cultural harbors where you could safely drop […]
IE Rewind: Cheap Trick • Best of 2021
At a seasoned 72, Rick Nielsen is the Frank Buck of the rock and roll world. By his own admission — and he’s not bragging, just stating the facts — the Cheap Trick axeman and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has bagged and brought home over 2,000 guitars in his lifetime. His trophy room […]
Cover Story: Local H • “Navigating The Maze”
Local H are lifers. That much should be evident to even those with only a casual knowledge of the band’s career over their 30-plus year history. The band consists of singer/songwriter/guitarist Scott Lucas and drummer Ryan Harding, who released their debut record Ham Fisted back in 1995, followed by As Good As Dead a […]
Cover Story: Ministry • “My House is My Art”
Any other modern bandleader would be a tad nervous, if not downright filled with floor pacing anxiety. But not calm, cool, and collected Svengali Al Jourgensen. Sure, his notorious, pioneering industrial outfit Ministry is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year by — gulp! — heading out on post-lockdown, but mid-Delta-variant tour, which hits Chicago […]
Cover Story + Podcast : Rise Against • “Mission Statement”
For the members of Rise Against, the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the live event industry in 2020 provided something wholly unfamiliar for the band: downtime. “It’s kinda madness, when you look back on it all and think about what we did, and then managed to create this band and all the albums we […]
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