Music Interviews
Calling You Out: An Interview with Thrice
Though it may seem to some an identity crisis, Thrice have been widening their musical berth with every new release over the last decade, earning the respect and admiration of true music fans. The West Coast four-piece continue to develop their talents and taste with their latest studio album, Major/Minor. With the same rawness as 2009’s Beggars, but with added weight and conviction, Major/Minor is sure to strike a chord with Thrice fans new and old. … read more
All Out Ballz Out with Cerebral Ballzy
As Cerebral Ballzy eased into the intro of “On the Run” at Urban Lounge last June, you knew that front man Honor Titus was going to do justice to the Dead Boys back patch on his jean jacket. The normal, grooving, garage rock vibe that Urban usually hosts transmogrifies into a pissed, circle-pit hardcore show as Titus screams, “Catch me if you can! Catch me if you can! I don’t think you can! … read more
Destroying Crowds One Bass Drum at a Time: An Interview...
Bass Drum of Death’s debut LP buzzes with lo-fi guitars, heavy drumbeats and a loose garage rock style. The album has such a cohesive sound that it’s hard to believe a relatively new band released it and that it was recorded in such a DIY fashion. The mastermind behind the project, John Barrett, played every instrument, wrote every song and recorded the entire thing solo. … read more
CLC Band: The Mooks
Pop punk has always been a home for young, loud, snotty weirdos who don’t mind their rebel music being filtered through The Beach Boys, bubblegum, comic books and shitty horror movies. The Mooks have been doing their part to keep pop punk alive in Utah since 2008, and at Craft Lake City, they’ll unleash their firestorm of cuteness upon the masses. … read more
CLC Band: it foot, it ears
Emerging within a musical climate increasingly populated by power duos, it foot, it ears is a local duo with a difference. it foot consciously renounces the displays of might offered by local favorites Eagle Twin, a band they still greatly admire. To the contrary, it foot searches for ways to surrender power, to create music structured around states of syncope, stuttering and collapse. … read more
CLC Band: Rifamos
Formerly called Rodentia, Rifamos includes members of SugarTown, Revolver and Blood Poets. They play the kind of western and surf music that could be the soundtrack to the lives of bandits and outlaws who ride through the deserts of Mexico and the American Southwest, revolutionary characters like Pancho Villa or George Hayduke. … read more
CLC Band: No-Nation Orchestra
You’ve likely heard of at least one of the myriad of projects the members of the No-Nation Orchestra have been/are currently in. From Laserfang, to Thunderfist, to SLAJO, to Righteous Audio Werks, to the Night Sweats, to Mammoth and on and on—the No-Nation Orchestra have come together to create some ridiculously catchy, dancey, jammy, falsetto-ridden music that will get stuck in your head like a mnemonic device for at least three days after Craft Lake City. … read more
Liturgy: Transcending Black Metal
Hunter Hunt-Hendrix may be the most hated man in metal at the moment. His essay Transcendental Black Metal has become the subject of much derision. However, Aesthethica, the second album from Hunt-Hendrix’s band Liturgy, has garnered just as many positive reviews from metal outsiders as it has negative reviews from the kvltest of the kvlt. I spoke with Hunt-Hendrix about the new album and how he’s dealing with all of the attention Liturgy has been receiving. … read more
Love in a Lightbulb Factory: Fucked Up Goes to the...
Canadian hardcore stalwarts Fucked Up have just released a landmark album in their ten-year career: a true life rock opera. With a dizzying assortment of hardcore singles, three well received full lengths (one of which is a Polaris Music Prize winner), prominent slots on the indie festival circuit, and a newfound following of eye-rolling, slack-jawed hipsters who’ve just now accepted hardcore, Fucked Up has met incessant praise for their transcendent approach to punk rock. … read more
Wicked Cool Records
As the United States slowly rots into a stinking musical wasteland, Steven Van Zandt is fighting tooth and nail to save rock n’ roll in its purest and most beautiful form. Van Zandt, who is a weird, walking, breathing encyclopedia of cool, has managed to piece together the aptly named New York-based Wicked Cool Records. Since 2006, Wicked Cool has released some of the most important rock n’ roll that you’ve probably never heard of. … read more