Thirty-one years, 13 albums and a million miles of road traveled and there seems to be no end in sight for The Meat Puppets. From their humble beginning in Phoenix in 1980 playing parties and punk bars to flirting with commercial success in the early ’90s grunge boom, the “brothers meat” have put together one of the most interesting catalogs in alternative music. We interviewed frontman Curt Kirkwood to find out some more about them. BB: Tell me about the new album, “Lollipop.” CK: Well, it’s the third record since we reunited in 2006. We’ve been on tour pretty much non-sto...
Sonic Youth would not exist without its core – Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore. While others members have come and gone over the last 30 years of the band's existence, the husband and wife duo has always been the key to holding Sonic Youth together. Now word has come through that Moore and Gordon have called its splitsville, which in effect has placed the legendary indie rockers in limbo. Gordon and Moore announced in a statement that they are separating after 27 years of marriage but will continued with a planned Sonic Youth South American tour in November. The press release goes on to stat...
Pittsburgh’s alternative world rock band Rusted Root’s new album Stereo Rodeo brings back the feel-good relaxed vibe that made them a hit in the 90s. If anyone’s looking for a nostalgia trip then look no further than Stereo Rodeo. It has the exotic jam sound they’ve become known for. The combination of an acoustic guitar intertwined with an electric guitar and a smooth wailing saxophone, a massive wall of bongos, drums and tambourines that keep a constant upbeat tempo throughout their songs and the background singers who add in subtle echoes and hold notes to give the lead singer...
How did youth rise above the bad reputations beset on the cities of Akron and Kent in the 70s? Ask anyone still around who was part of the burgeoning punk/new wave scene that found it's way into Akron and Kent more than a quarter of a century ago and the answer will always be - original music and a place to play it. While Kent was still reeling from the Kent State shootings that marred its campus and Akron’s rubber companies were on a one way trip out of town, finding cheaper labor in Mexico, a fledgling music movement began to take hold in these NE Ohio towns which wo...
One-time purveyors of the ‘80s new wave gloom and doom set, Echo and the Bunnymen have always ceased to be just another band content with living in the past. They write about it and perform it with a new verve. Everything old is new again, in a sense. The Liverpool lads who began nearly 33 years ago, have been center stage in the world of alternative music and then have disappeared without a whimper. Whatever the case may be, they are slowly working their way back to the middle. And that middle includes embarking on a 14-city US tour to promote their eleventh studio album Fountain,...
By Charisma Charisma here with the guys from The Motherland United Kingdom, Circle of One. The band is made up of four crazy guys. Two of which share the mic and lead guitar, Julian and Richie, followed up by my new heartthrob SUV on bass and Mikey on drums. Charisma: How’s it going guys? SUV: Fucking shit hot Bute, it’ll be even better when we get our Welsh backsides out to the good old US. Charisma: You are known for your melodious and fierce tunes. Do you consider yourselves a rock and roll band? And who are your influences? Jul: Indeed we do consider ourselves a rock and...
