Blog Post

03 Jun

A Green Day At The Qwest Center

Sean McCarthyFeature
Midway through opening act My Chemical Romance's set, lead singer Gerard Way asked the audience to scream or raise their hands if this show was their first concert. A large number of kids screamed, my 14-year-old nephew among them. Way asked all first-time concertgoers to thank their uncles, fathers, mothers, big brothers and big sisters for being such cool (expletive withheld). I didn't consider myself to be that cool -- I just wanted my nephew to experience the performance of one of his favorite albums live, and loud. For first-time concertgoers, Green Day rolled out almost every tired concert cliché…
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21 May

King’s X’s Ty Tabor Gets Manic in the Moonlight

Duke EgbertFeature
King's X is a band who are constantly named to "best of" lists compiled by musicians, but their commercial success has been limited. Fighting off every label that could be assigned to them, the band - bassist/vocalist Doug Pinnick, guitarist/vocalist Ty Tabor and drummer/vocalist Jerry Gaskill - has continually thrilled and challenged their fans with mixtures of funk and psychedelia, often in the course of the same song. The band's latest CD, Manic Moonlight, is their third effort for Metal Blade Records - not including any of a selection of side projects the band has been involved in. Tabor recently chatted…
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21 May

Lief Sorbye: Keeping Tempest In Balance

Duke EgbertFeature
Author's note: This interview was done on May 3 of this year. DV readers, Tempest fans, and most of all Lief Sorbye (who was a gracious and informative interview) have my apologies for its lateness. I moved somewhere in there, and relocating a family of seven has its own challenges. Better late than never.* * *DUKE EGBERT: Tell me about the recording of your new CD Balance. Did you do anythingnew, anything different, any moments you remember as being really really cool?LIEF SORBYE: Well, yeah. We recorded it at the tail end of last year and we had beenwoodshedding material…
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08 May

Jesse Valenzuela: The Daily Vault Interview

dvadminFeature
(Image courtesy of www.ginblossoms.net)If you think you've never heard a Jesse Valenzuela song, you're probably wrong.Between his role as guitarist/harmony vocalist/songwriter and now co-producer for 90s power-pop icons the Gin Blossoms, his songwriting work for the likes of Stevie Nicks and the Rembrandts, steady TV and production work, occasional gigs with old friends the Zubia Brothers, and a raft of other projects including his 2002 solo disc Tunes Young People Will Enjoy, Jesse Valenzuela has got to be one of the busiest guys in the music business. Based in Los Angeles, Valenzuela regularly travels to the Blossoms' Tempe, Arizona home…
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07 Feb

Collective Soul’s Will Turpin: The Daily Vault Interview

Vish IyerFeature
Collective Soul is prepping the release of their new live DVD Home: A Live Concert Recording With The Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra. The live DVD -- to be released on the band's own El Music Group record label -- is scheduled to hit major retailers on February 7 and will also be available as a two-CD set. Recorded in April 2005, the concerts were filmed in the band's hometown of Atlanta during two special performances featuring the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra. The 20-song collection spans ninety minutes and encompasses hits from throughout Collective Soul's seven studio albums, including their latest…
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16 Jan

Jean-Paul Vest of Last Charge Of The Light Horse: The Daily Vault Interview

dvadminFeature
 Last Charge Of The Light Horse is the brainchild of singer/songwriter/guitarist Jean-Paul Vest, and their debut disc Getaway Car is the album I just named my favorite independent release of 2005. Jean-Paul was kind enough to spend some time over the holidays conducting the following interview. In the course of a series of e-mails we covered ground ranging from the inspiration for the new album, to the transition from JP's previous group Blue Sandcastle, the validity of rock as an art form, and the perils of navigating the New York grid in a car with Last Charge's father-and-son rhythm section,…
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31 Dec

Looking Sideways at 2005

dvadminBest Of
Musically, Jeff describes 2005 as "not bad," and it's hard to argue with such ambivalent praise. Personally, my favorite musical experiences this year generally involved discovering neglected nuggets from years past, or picking through my mailbox to find the diamonds hidden in the indie rough. There were some excellent albums made by name artists, to be sure (Death Cab For Cutie, Ben Folds, Bright Eyes), and some big names returned to the headlines (the Stones, McCartney, Pink Floyd) this year, but nothing in the mainstream absolutely knocked me out. That said, here goes my annual cavalcade of entirely arbitrary awards… Most…
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25 Dec

Top Ten Favortie Albums of 2005

Melanie LoveBest Of
Welcome to the year that brought me out of my classic rock funk and moved me towards debuts from new bands and follow-ups from old favorites...10. Franz Ferdinand -- You Could Have It So Much BetterTheir first self-titled album stormed the airwaves for ages, and the Glasgow rockers are back and better than ever, perfecting the art of uplifting and impossibly catchy lyrics. You Could Have It So Much Better will have you shamelessly singing along by the second track.9. The Darkness -- One Way Ticket To Hell And BackMouthful of a title aside, The Darkness' follow up to the…
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25 Dec

2005: Not Bad!

Jeff ClutterbuckBest Of
Last year was the first year I was given the opportunity to compile a best-of list, and it was a good one. As a result, my expectations were tempered going into this year. I doubted that this year's list would be as good as last year's, and it turns out I was right. There were some good efforts to be found, but nothing on the scale of 2004. Here goes my take on music in 2005:Sound Of The YearIf you put a gun to my head and asked what the music of '05 sounded like, I would say stripped-down. The…
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07 Oct

September Ends On A Green Day

dvadminFeature
A funny thing happened to me last Friday night; I went to a Jimmy Eat World concert and came home a Green Day fan. Y'see, I've listened to Billie Joe Armstrong and company quite a bit over the past two years by default thanks to my teenaged kids, but I was always more of an admiring bystander than an actual fan. It was the presence on the bill of GD's current opening act, Jimmy Eat World, that motivated me to buy tickets to the recent show at Arco Arena and make it an evening with the kids.It's a good thing…
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