Features
Special Section: Studio Guide 2011
Picking A Producer They can make you or break you. For every great producer (Butch Vig/Smashing Pumpkins; Phil Chess/ Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon) who’s made the career of a local or national artist or band, there’s a horror story of band and producer conflicts.
Cover Story: Liz Phair
Shifting Sands The woman on the cover of Liz Phair’s new album certainly doesn’t look shy. The shot composing the main Funstyle (Rocket Science) image shows her provocatively clasping a furry boa over her naked torso
Interview: Motorhead
It All Adds Up Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister once said – in describing what the band sounded like – if they moved in next door to you, your lawn would die. Despite a larger-than-life personality and revolving membership
Interview: Slash
Deliverance It was one of those great, possibly apocryphal rock ‘n’ roll tales that are almost too incredible to be true. But for awhile there a few years ago, at least in metal circles, it was certainly making the rounds. And it went something like this:
Interview: Gang Of Four
One Nation Under A Groove Very few bands can ever take credit for redefining a scene or cultivating a movement, but when it comes to late 1970s trailblazers, Gang Of Four is certainly at the top of the post-punk list.
Cover Story: Nachtmystium
One Day It’ll All Make Sense Blake Judd is excited again. It’s nearly Thanksgiving in Chicago and, after a mild start to winter, finally getting holy-balls cold outside. Inside Judd’s darkened Humboldt Park apartment, Teitanblood’s Seven Chalices spins on a turntable and Judd
Interview: Freddie Gibbs
Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere The indie rock scene fuck with me, man, cause I’m grinding like the same way they grind,” explains Gary, Indiana’s premier rhymeslinger, Freddie Gibbs (born Freddie Tipton). “I don’t think that my whole process has been that of a typical rapper.”
Interview : JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound
It’s A Dance Dance Dance Dance Dance World He knows how it looks. JC Brooks can’t factor his age, background, and performance style and think there’s no one out there raising an eyebrow and spitting out a toothpick. He’s not quite the blackfacehedging outrage that Jon Spencer Blues Explosion could be, but this is Chicago.
Profile: Rainbow Foundation Music Inc.
With The Help Of My Friends For the past 20 years, the Rainbow Foundation Music Inc. has staged a series of benefit concerts, rock ‘n’ roll auctions, and toy drives to help Chicago-area children and families in crisis. Along the way, the organization has staged shows with a who’s-who of local and national classic rockers, […]
Cover Story: Umphrey’s McGee
The Taming Of The Stew This year won’t be the first time Umphrey’s McGee end a year playing sold-out shows in Chicago. In fact, it will be the fifth consecutive. The venues differ (Vic, Riviera, Auditorium, Aragon) yet each time that Jam Productions announces the on-sale, it’s a surprise. Like, “These guys are headlining the […]
Interview: The Bad Examples
Put The Kids To Bed This article is an accident. It was spawned by a chance encounter with the FitzGerald’s Web site, where the words “The Bad Examples (Record Release)” were spied on the December schedule. IE’s instinct was to sneer, “Hasn’t anyone in Berwyn ever heard of updating a Web site?” and navigate away.
Interview: The 1900s
The Dawn Of A Century Don’t call The 1900s deserters. The band might have wasted a bundle of positive media buzz and eager fans gained from its promising 2007 debut, Cold & Kind, on two years of near-seclusion (the group did grace a handful of Chicago summer festivals and lent its talents to a benefit […]
Interview: Lee DeWyze
Roughing It Long before he won “American Idol,” Lee DeWyze was slugging it out in Chicago with an eponymous band, having released a pair of albums on WuLi Records, drawing some WXRT airplay, and getting cameos on a sports show called “The Chicago Huddle.” Though that path could’ve maybe/possibly/eventually led the 24-year-old singer/songwriter/guitarist to major-label […]
Interview: Gold Motel
Coming Home Rarely will anything be gained from watching someone struggle with technology. In terms of fulfillment, the experience ranks alongside teaching someone to whistle or trying to tickle yourself. But, as Gold Motel guitarist Eric Hehr repeatedly failed to connect to a conference call with IE and frontwoman Greta Morgan – who was beside […]
Interview: Daniel Lanois’ Black Dub
Take stripped-down organic pop, smoldering soulful vocals, and a decidedly Jamaican bent, all wrapped around the nucleus of multi-instrumentalist/super producer Daniel Lanois, and it’s easy to see why Black Dub‘s self-titled debut is just as alluring as it is ingenious.
Recent Comments