Guitarist/vocalist Michael Pace, bassist/vocalist Adam Rizer and drummer Dan Fetherston, known collectively as Oxford Collapse, don’t sound like every other buzz band that’s emerged from Brooklyn over the past several years. Instead, they recall far-flung buzz bands from days gone by on Remember the Night Parties, their debut for the…
The shtickiness of Porsches on the Autobahn (joined at Bender’s by Mr. Pacman) argues against taking the alleged “facts” about this musical vehicle as gospel. For instance, the group’s members supposedly hail from Germany — a background that, if it were true, might lend a certain legitimacy to their cheeky…
A dog can only gnaw on the same bone for so long before it finally dawns on the old boy that he needs something substantive in his belly. Likewise, when the alt-country outfit Slobberbone called it quits in 2004, Brent Best realized he needed something a bit more significant to…
Buckcherry does a more convincing Guns N’ Roses these days than Guns itself. Rising up from the same sleazy Sunset Strip gutters that spawned Axl Rose and company, Buckcherry debuted in 1999 with a decadent single titled “Lit Up,” which contained the memorable refrain “I love the cocaine, I love…
Greeley Estates hails from Phoenix, Arizona, rather than the Weld County town known more for its smells than its sounds — but that hasn’t stopped Coloradans from embracing the act. The quintet has only been around since 2002, but it’s already made a splash in punk-metal circles, with stints on…
Team Awesome! knows what fun is all about. Like grownups attempting to recapture their youthful exuberance, the Awesome! ones approach their celebratory indie pop like an adolescent-minded PBS program. The group’s jaunty, lighthearted songs are all about love, crushes, rocket ships, dogs, board games, robots — the sorts of things…
The Heyday is still wet behind the ears. Nine. That’s the number of shows that the Heyday has actually played. In this week’s Beatdown, I speculated that number was fewer than fifty. And before the ink was even dry on that column, I received an e-mail from Heyday bassist Pete…
Oh you broke my heart, but you saved my life that day that you walked right out the door. So just stay away ’cause I just can’t take the thought of you coming back for more. The saline-drenched mewlings of a jilted ex-lover, or a lament to unrequited love torn…
Shhh. Don’t say the C-word. In the secular world, it’s like a scarlet letter. Just ask Alice Cooper. The venerable shock rocker was once quoted as saying, “Drinking beer is easy. Trashing your hotel room is easy. But being a Christian, that’s a tough call. That’s rebellion.” Indeed. Christianity truly…
Joe Bonamassa is caught between the blues and a hard place. A nouveau bluesman, he favors a hybrid blues-rock sound that employs simple song structures and puts the emphasis on powerful fretwork. Such an approach was fresh back in the ’60s, when British players such as John Mayall, Jeff Beck…
In March, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will see the induction of Patti Smith, R.E.M., Van Halen, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, and the Ronettes. These blessed few will be inducted in an extravagant ceremony full of hirsute paunches, stale pot smoke and enough Ben-Gay to choke…
January 9 was a day of contrasts for singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith. Mere hours before an evening-ending show at a small club in Hoboken, New Jersey, he co-starred on an episode of Conan O’Brien’s NBC chat program with pompadoured troglodyte Donald Trump. “I didn’t get to meet him,” the ultra-polite Canuck…
Alice Cooper would be wealthy beyond his wildest dreams if every corpse-painted, absurdly theatrical band that has walked the earth since 1969 paid him royalties. Even at his most shocking, though, Cooper couldn’t hold a candle to guys like Varg Vikernes, who upped the lurid-extreme ante by murdering Euronymous, the…
For decades, mild-mannered Bill Stevenson has been twiddling the knobs for punk-n-ska acts like Less Than Jake and Lagwagon at his Fort Collins compound, his “Drum Ogre” alter ego held secret by his bandmates in Black Flag, the Descendants and All. Recently, Converge guitarist Aaron Dalbec and singer Russ Rankin…
Aging vampires with dunlops spilling out over their PVC stretch pants: The prospect is nauseating, and helps explain the high turnover rate in the world of technogoth. The balding Sisters of Mercy, for instance, are touring on gamey material produced before the Crüxshadows ever plugged in a cord. Trent Reznor,…
Singer-songwriter/visual artist Piers Faccini, who’ll share the stage with Nanci Griffith during a Boulder Theater e-town taping prior to headlining at the Walnut Room several days later, is frequently likened to Jack Johnson and Ben Harper, which makes sense; JP Plunier, who produced Faccini’s latest disc, Tearing Sky, has worked…
In the past fifteen years or so, increasing numbers of people have tried their hand at re-creating the sounds of traditional American music, to mostly mixed results. So when someone as talented and proficient as Charlie Parr does Americana so convincingly, you can’t help but stand up and take note…
Willie Waldman came alive on Death Row. Upon moving to L.A. in 1994, he was introduced to Snoop Dogg, who enlisted the trumpeter to join him in the studio. Waldman’s work with the D-O-double-G led to subsequent sessions with Tha Dogg Pound and 2Pac. A few years later, he met…
New England’s Unearth stands out from the new wave of generic modern metal. Renowned for its live show, the neo-thrash quintet swirls shoulder-length mop tops, burning more calories than your average emo kid consumes in a year. In 2005, the act supported Slipknot and gave the nine-man metal machine a…
Kettle Black may have recently changed its name to Hello Kavita, but its sound remains firmly intact. The band’s earthy vignettes continue to draw from a broad, familiar palette that offers plenty of variety without losing cohesion. Listen closely, and you’ll hear swelling slide guitar lines that recall Mazzy Star…
Drunk dialing. C’mon, everyone’s done it at least once. And those who say they haven’t… well, those people are either full of fiction or hardline teetotalers who view abstinence as a virtue. Even if you do happen to fall into the latter category, chances are better than good that you’ve…
Sterling Andrews Props to Hot IQs for being featured on Spin.com’s home page. The link, which has now moved below the fold after being front-and-center earlier this afternoon, features a photo of the band along with a short blurb urging visitors to download “Duck and Cover,” from the act’s latest…
