Better Than Ezra Friction, Baby (Elektra) Dear friends, this CD represents everything that’s wrong with alternative music in 1996. Not that it’s obviously abysmal. Far from it: The songs here are tuneful and hooky, and the players (guitarist/vocalist Kevin Griffin, bassist Tom Drummond and drummer Travis Aaron McNabb) deliver them…
“Being a musician at our level is pretty much like indentured servitude,” reveals Cake singer/guitarist John McCrea. “You’re in debt to the Man pretty much, so it’s not this glorious, independent lifestyle that people think about when they think about music.” That may change soon. Now that Fashion Nugget, the…
“We like to see how little we can get away with,” says Zak Sally, bassist for Duluth, Minnesota’s Low. “If there’s too much in a song, we try to pare away as much as is completely possible. We like to keep it as minimal as we can.” And minimal it…
The New York-based sextet called the Klezmatics is known for playing “in the tradition.” But Klezmatics trumpeter/keyboardist/arranger Frank London denies that this reputation means the band is unadventurous. “We make informed choices,” he says. “We try to make our artistic choices based on a deep knowledge of our tradition and…
On the surface, it seemed to be a fairly benign, straightforward press release. Dated September 17 and sent from the offices of Fey Concerts, the announcement (headlined “The Cranberries Forced to Cancel Remaining Dates of Their 1996 U.S. Tour”) stated that shows in St. Louis, Kansas City, Nashville, Park City…
“We’re a very high-maintenance band,” confesses Christina Ortega, singer and guitarist for the Front Range’s Velveeta Sisters. “When we get gigs, we tell them, ‘We really need a big dressing room with electrical outlets, okay? Trust me–when you see us, you’ll understand.'” “It takes us a long time to get…
In early June, on the cusp of the summer concert season, I received an e-mail message from a reader, Bryan Matheny, who had a terrifying anecdote to relate. “I usually have my radio dialed in to the benign KVOD when I wake up in the morning,” he wrote. “But apparently…
“I’m in Boston, in bed with a fucked knee, drinking cold coffee,” laments Warren Ellis, violinist extraordinaire for Australia’s Dirty Three. But in describing how he earned his wound, a hint of pride seeps through the cloud-cover of his exasperation: “Last night we played a show and I did a…
The Westword Music Awards Showcase–an on-site report. At 6 p.m. Sunday evening, September 22, I strolled into a room adjacent to McCormick’s Fish House & Bar and found Johnny Long peeling off blues licks from his trusty guitar while a drummer whose excellent posture would have been an inspiration to…
Stay Positive is more than just the title of reggae star Pato Banton’s new album. It’s become something of a life philosophy for the Birmingham, England, native–and that, he believes, has everything to do with his success as a performer. “For me, personally, it means more than anything,” he says…
During his interview with Westword, New Bomb Turks vocalist Eric Davidson interrupts his frenetic monologues only long enough to take quick slurps from what must be his twentieth cup of joe that day. But caffeine isn’t the only explanation for the frantic pace of Davidson’s music. He and his cohorts…
Keeping track of who plays what in the Minders is comparable to following the trysts in a typical episode of Melrose Place. In other words, everyone plays everything. The music made by this Denver-based band results from instrument-swapping and idea-feeding, while the group itself is a product of local-scene inbreeding…
At a time when most music-industry powers view artistic ambition with suspicion, Me’Shell Ndegeocello is among the most mistrusted performers in show business. Her new album, Peace Beyond Passion, is a musically persuasive, lyrically devastating look at love, religion and prejudice that’s guaranteed to offend as many people as it…
R.E.M. New Adventures in Hi-Fi (Warner Bros.) Pearl Jam No Code (Epic) By most standards, these albums have been as highly anticipated as any released this season, and why not? After all, they come from two of the most critically acclaimed, commercially successful acts operating under the rock-and-roll umbrella. But…
Last October, the first annual Westword Music Awards Showcase treated listeners to the most successful local-music festival in recent memory. Over thirty Colorado bands, specializing in music ranging from rockabilly and jazz to country and funk, entertained thousands of people at handful of LoDo venues. The only way to follow…
Dancehall reggae champion Yellowman was first motivated to make music by a couple of admittedly unlikely heroes. “From my growing up, I loved Elvis,” he reveals. “I grew up listening to him and Neil Diamond on the radio from when I was twelve years old, and with those artists, most…
Many folks outside the music scene were startled last week when Al Laughlin, longtime keyboard player for the Samples, was arrested in connection with the burglary of a Boulder apartment building. But fans who closely follow the combo weren’t surprised. It’s been a dirty little secret among Samples aficionados–a secret…
Somewhere in the heartland of this great nation of ours, Coco the Electronic Monkey Wizard, one of the masterminds behind the intergalactic surf-rock foursome called Man or Astro-man?, is doing what he does every night–plotting to take over the world. “We’re aliens,” declares the band’s bassist. “And–as I’m sure you’ve…
“I play keyboards, guitar, harmonica and bass,” mentions Jeffrey Marshall from the balcony of his downtown Denver apartment. This in itself is impressive but hardly unparalleled; many musicians can lay claim to multi-instrumental talents. But it’s unlikely that anyone else is able to duplicate Marshall’s unusual performing approach. After all,…
Early this decade, feminism birthed the riot grrrl, a bastard child whose foster home was the punk-rock stage. This new generation of women fought not only to reintegrate sugar-and-spice girlishness into music, but to give expression to the dirty side of being female, as well–the shrill, pissed-off, bawdy side. These…
Soul Coughing Irresistible Bliss (Slash/Warner Bros.) On Ruby Vroom, Soul Coughing’s bow, bandleader M. Doughty and his compatriots (complemented immeasurably by genius producer Tchad Blake) seemed absolutely fearless, slamming together jazz, hip-hop and beat poetry with an abandon that was utterly refreshing. So the sight of producer David Kahne’s name…
“Recently,” says singer Cosy Sheridan, “I’ve attempted to look at songwriting sort of as a public service.” This comment doesn’t mean that Sheridan’s recordings lack an individual perspective; in fact, she’s one of music’s more distinctive tunesmiths. However, she feels that many of her earliest compositions were little more than…
