WOMEN IN ROCK By Ellen Thompson, Photos by Brook Reynolds
Chances are if you scan the Billboard Top 40 Rock Chart this week you’ll spot at least one female artist up there. But there is an even better chance that not a single female artist made it into the Top 10, let alone Top 20.... ~Read more
RISE AGAINST- Appeal to Reason By Jason Gardner, Photo By Adam Diaz
Let’s just cut to the chase here – Rise Against’s fifth full-length album Appeal to Reason is an ambitiously written concoction of the band’s usual punk rock fare and interesting textures and timbres that while a solid album tends to fall short in terms of staying power and overall... ~Read more
“It’s kind of funny how some things come full circle. Take A Wilhelm Scream for example. Back in the formative years of the band, the earliest recordings were done in a small studio built by the father of AWS guitarist Trevor Reilly located in the house Reilly grew up in. Three full-lengths later and an expired contract with Nitro Records, Reilly says the band decided it was time for an EP and a return to their roots. They decided to take a crack at recording on their own." ~Read more
“Above all, it's iconic: bright glowing colors, sweeping lines. The face of Aung San Suu Kyi stares warmly out at you in the latest image by urban artist Shepard Fairey. It's possessed of the same inspiring character and visual catchiness as much of the artist’s work, including the Obama poster, which still can be seen on t-shirts and walls more than a year after the election. Also like its predecessor, Fairey hopes this image will live not just on the paper it was printed on, but also in the hearts and minds of the audience he hopes to inspire with it. " ~Read more
And we’re all we need to be, need to be: Jawbox By Alex Murphy
“It’s easier to keep a cool head at 40 than at 23 or 24,” a very relaxed Zach Barocas, former drummer of Jawbox says on Tuesday’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon performance...It was 15 years ago that the band released their major label debut and arguably their biggest album of their eight years of activity, For Your Own Special Sweetheart..." ~Read more
"It’s hours until doors at the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia and already fans swarm outside . Many have arrived ticket-less and desperate to find a scalper, since tickets sold out within minutes of going on sale." ~Read more
Working-Class Heroes: The Blue Collar Struggle to Be a Modern Musician By Dane Erbach Photos by Gene Smirnov
For Brian Fallon, making a career out of music seems more and more like a reality each day—so much that it hasn’t quite occurred to him that he might have already “made it.” ~Read more
Kings of Leon:
Arena Rock for the iPod Generation By Jack Firneno Photos by Dean Chalkley
The idea of a rock star today may as well exist behind glass in a museum. Long gone are the heady early-to-mid ‘70s, where the music filling 50,000-seat venues was often ground- breaking and usually off-script. Today, most bands at the top get there playing by the book, offering pre-packaged gonzo spectacles and choreographed, staged moves. A rock star used to be the pinnacle of musical and social freedom....~Read more
