Features
Cold War Kids interview
Cold War Kids Peristroika Countless acts accumulate an overwhelming buzz on debut albums, only to never be heard from again. Defiantly, Cold War Kids plan to ripen beyond mere flavor-of-the-month status on the new Loyalty To Loyalty (Downtown). Appearing: October 11th at Vic Theatre in Chicago.
Rachael Yamagata interview
Rachael Yamagata The Elephant In The Room Rachael Yamagata’s sophomore, double-disc effort, Elephants/Teeth Sinking Into Heart (Warner Bros.), should come with a warning sticker. Instead of the cold medicine declaration of Do not operate heavy machinery while using this product, the songstress’ brutal compositions should warrant an equally emboldened, unavoidable tag suggesting those with wounded […]
The Moon-Rays Sell You Lloyd?
Attack Of The Moon-Rays They may be Hollywood horror legends but, quite frankly, Frankenstein, Dracula, and the Wolfman don’t get the musical credit they deserve. Sure, they’ve inspired a song or two through the years and, thanks to films like Young Frankenstein and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, even a couple of dance routines. Still, […]
Cover Story: Eagles
Eagles Packin’ Em In It’s hard to think of a band whose members have had more time to themselves than the Eagles. A 14-year breakup from 1980 to 1994 allowed them to recharge their nerves, and even then they didn’t have to really do anything but tour and make appearances. Last fall, 13 years after […]
Million Dollar Show
The Million Dollar Quartet Lives Move over Jersey Boys. There’s a new sweet-sounding gang of four rolling into town — this time from the South. Million Dollar Quartet brings to life the extraordinary afternoon on December 4th, 1956 when Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins all converged on the birthplace of […]
Steve Cropper interview
Steve Cropper Staxing The Deck Once a music journalist has been around the block a couple times, it’s inevitable that certain patterns emerge. For example, it’s a sure bet at some point a baby band will sound uncannily like “Nuke” LaLoosh in Bull Durham: “Well, we’re just going to tour really hard and hope our […]
David Vandervelde interview
David Vandervelde Back To Front In a storybook world, David Vandervelde’s Chicago-to-Brooklyn-to-Nashville wanderlust would make him the ideal Dylanite troubadour. Sprung from the clutches of Holland, Michigan, he would crush our feeble intellects with a slapdash, rustic urbanity and cut a straight path through the hyper-media mire, grooming himself for a biopic to premiere in […]
Record Spree!
Passing Out Needles, Or: How To Stop Worrying And Love Your Vinyl Again Record Collectors: Start Your Engines Undoubtedly, you’ve heard vinyl is back. Maybe, to you, it never went away. There were rumors, however, that the traditional LP was a relic, abandoned for much shinier and more-portable storage units called compact discs. Fifteen to […]
Cover Story: Judas Priest
Judas Priest Nostradamus: Priest’s Prophetic Project Who could have predicted a band who’ve been around since the beginning of time (more precisely, since the inception of heavy metal) would produce such an audaciously ambitious project? Judas Priest’s Nostradamus is a 23-track, double-CD concept album. Unlike the central figures in other such releases like Pink Floyd’s […]
Trouble interview
Trouble Unlucky Number Seven By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work — Genesis 2:2 It’s a story that should be familiar to readers of hard rock and heavy metal news: Eighties legends kick off their big reunion twice […]
Lair Of The Minotaur interview
Lair Of The Minotaur Reign In Blood At 11 p.m. July 5th, while rowdy teenagers shot off their remaining fireworks, Lair Of The Minotaur frontman/guitarist Steve Rathbone sat indoors with family. The violent flashes they sought were to be found in the premiere of his band’s video for “War Metal Battle Master,” the title track […]
Metal Roundtable
The Coast Is Here: Chicago Metal’s Rising Tide When Illinois Entertainer decided to put together a Chicago heavy metal roundtable, we had no illusions it would be easy. Getting five people (four of them important, busy musicians; one of them a lowly, lazy writer) to agree on a time and location to talk about our […]
A Metalsummers’ Night Dream
The Best Of The Fests To tell you the truth, we didn’t pick this month for our second Metal Issue. It picked us. August just happens to host three major heavy metal festivals that will appeal to three different groups of metalheads. Fanatics of more traditional, underground metal will surely find $20 a fair price […]
Cover story: Alkaline Trio
Alkaline Trio No Place Like L.A. Season Three, Episode 27: “No Place Like Home.” It’s a sunny morning in Los Angeles, and the stars of the most-watched TV show among 12- to 34-year-olds are in front of the cameras as usual. Heidi is at the office, accepting an offer for an out-of-town job that could […]
Amy Ray interview
Amy Ray Together Apart Anyone who has followed Amy Ray’s solo career since it sprouted from the Indigo Girls in 2001 can vouch that it bears little resemblance to the group’s cozy, folk rock stylings. From her Stag debut to 2005’s Prom and now Didn’t It Feel Kinder (all on her own Daemon Records), she […]
Recent Comments