The Slackers aren’t a ska band. They aren’t a reggae band, or a punk band, or a garage rock band. According to vocalist/organist Vic Ruggiero, they’re a “Jamaican rock n’ roll” band. In listening to the band’s vast discography, you’ll find bits of The Velvet Underground crossing over with The Upsetters grooves, psychedelia mixing with dub, and Motown taking some heavy hints from Studio One. … read more
I’ve never been a fan of singers who draw heavily upon reverb and delay, but the way Robert George uses them over his Dredg-style guitar work beckons me to give this band the benefit of the doubt. … read more
One night while I was balls deep in a sea of Jim Beam and Budweiser at one of my favorite downtown dives, the Jackalope, I was checking my twitter feed, which was flooded with #OccupyWallStreet crap. Then it struck me—I could single-handedly save basketball. #OccupyNBA was born. It was time to take action. … read more
This March, Tia Martinez and Jared Russell will celebrate five years of their label, Red Light Sound. Through trials and adversity, the couple has pressed on to showcase auditory art in limited-edition, analog pressings to generate a sense of the value of the music they help produce. Their purpose is to reclaim music as “more of an art piece in the actual product itself,” as Russell puts it. … read more
Local musician, Jazzsequence, aka Chris Reynolds, recently released a remix entitled WaspRemix. This CD is a follow up to his Spring 2011 release Wasp: music inspired by the Stieg Larrson novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. … read more
Ghost emerged in 2008, playing live shows clad in cloaks with their faces covered, their frontman adorned in a demonic pope outfit and skull-painted face. Speculation immediately came from fans and cynics: Are Ghost a gimmick, or something more sinister? In an interview with one of Ghost’s Nameless Ghouls, I attempted to unravel the mystery behind the band. … read more
The Growlers, based out of Costa Mesa, play spooky, slowed-down surf pop. It’s an unexpectedly morose sound, considering their proximity to the beach, great surfing and ample sunshine. This spring sees the band touring through Salt Lake City on March 8, playing Austin’s SXSW, the sold out, two-weekend-long Coachella, and releasing their third album, Hung at Heart. … read more
The music of Andrew Jackson Jihad often casts its gaze upon the darkest parts of humanity. The songs on Knife Man, their most recent album, deal with homelessness, selfishness, laziness, murder, hopelessness and more, but vocalist and guitarist Sean Bonnette doesn’t see his band as the ultimate bummer machine they appear to be. “I consider myself and our band to be pretty optimistic,” Bonnette says. … read more
For the past 17 years, Paul Rachman has made the trek to Park City every January to be a part of what he describes as the film festival “circus” that overtakes the small mountain town. Rachman helped found Slamdance Film Festival in the mid-’90s and currently serves as the Festival’s east coast director. “[It’s] important to me because there is a tight community of people helping each other,” he says. … read more
Julian Carr is a man of many masks—pro skier, entrepreneur, college graduate, published writer and world record holder. He is also a man of dedication and commitment, traits that helped him achieve his success both as a professional skier and as owner of Discrete Headwear. Through all this, he’s still humble and unassuming, grounded in his love and passion for skiing. … read more
UMOCA has become a hotbed for these creative collaborations. Formerly the Salt Lake Art Center, UMOCA has been kicking butt and changing names! … read more
Bode Merrill recently told me about his affection for dubstep and raves. That is the moment I knew he was into drugs. Perhaps I’m jumping to conclusions here and underestimating the amount of head trauma he’s sustained from snowboarding. I decided to do some research into this second theory and found that Bode actually has his very own blog dedicated to one of the nastiest of all snowboarding wrecks—the scorpion. … read more
