Rock and Roll Report Band of the Week: Tropidelic
Cleveland, Ohio is home to something kind of unusual: The Cleveland area has a very large Reggae community. When some areas of the country have just a few bands playing reggae music, Greater Cleveland and the surrounding areas have a thriving scene that include many bands and musicians that have come together to write and perform the style of music made popular by legend Bob Marley.
Rock and Roll Report Band of the Week: Starewell
August 11, 2008 by Mark · Leave a Comment
I love the way Starewell introduces themselves in their press release: Starewell is a hard rock, rock ‘n’ roll, pop-rock or metal band, depending on your age/gender and how you relate to ‘what they do” as musicians. When you listen to their latest CD Broke and Out of Money you realize how true this statement is. Initially my impression was of a heavy hard rock band after listening to the title track and Down On Me (both of which have been played on Rock and Roll Report Radio and the podcast) but that was tempered by listening to their pop-rock leanings on tracks like Your Angels and 28.
Rock and Roll Report Blitz! Save Pluto
August 3, 2008 by Mark · Comments Off
I have said it before that good power pop makes me smile and Save Pluto make me smile, a lot. With their debut album Age of Lowered Expectations, this New York foursome have managed to put together a hook-filled power pop masterpiece that combine lyrics about growing up with guitar riffs reminiscent of Cheap Trick.
Three Miles Out
July 28, 2008 by Matheson · Leave a Comment
Before 2008, the Cleveland, OH-based band Three Miles Out had previously released two albums: TMO in October of 2000, and That’s Life in November of 2001. With the release of the two albums, the band had started growing it’s fan base and started playing larger venues. In fact, Three Miles Out has the distinction of being the only unsigned Cleveland band to have played all of the major venues in the city. This includes Cleveland Browns Stadium, The House of Blues, The Hard Rock Café, and Peabody’s Downunder.
Introducing The Sophmore Jakes
July 21, 2008 by Mark · Leave a Comment
I was going to start off this feature on Fort McLeod, Alberta’s Sophmore Jakes by saying how that area of Alberta is not exactly a hotbed of rock and roll, yadda, yadda, yadda, you know the typical line when writing about a band from a small town but I don’t think you can readily say that anymore. These days music can filter into any town with a net connection regardless of whether you live on the prairies or up near the Arctic Circle so when the band cites the Clash, the Police, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Blink 182 as influences it’s pretty clear that the spirit of rock and roll infiltrates pretty much anywhere it can thank God.
Rock and Roll Report Focus on Vary Lumar
Vary Lumar is a quartet of musicians from Boston, Massachusetts. As the band has said, the most important thing to know about the music is that the band has various influences that show up in their songs, which helps create the varying styles that show up in the band’s rock music.
Matheson Celebrates 20 Years of Poi Dog Pondering
July 9, 2008 by Matheson · Leave a Comment
Celebrating 20 years together as a band is something that rarely happens in the music industry. Most bands that last that many years usually are a band only part of the time. When the band is not either writing, recording or touring, the members go their own directions and live their lives alone, keeping their musical lives and personal lives separate.
The secret behind the longevity of the band Poi Dog Pondering is somewhat different: During its history, the band has always had a rotating cast of musicians, with each album being made by a different line-up than the last. With this way of existing, Poi dog pondering has lasted 20 years and has created 7 albums that feature completely different sounds and styles that are unique to that album and its recording sessions.
Rock and Roll Report Blitz! Airbourne
June 20, 2008 by Mark · Leave a Comment
I feel like I have to make a caveat before this blitz to avoid anybody pointing fingers and yelling sellout at me. Airbourne is on Roadrunner Records which is one of the preeminent hard rock/heavy metal independent record labels in the world. The thing is, they are not technically independent as they are now owned by the Warners Music Group. Now I have always said that I don’t discriminate based on mode of distribution and I still put all my time and focus on unsigned and smaller indie labels but this band is too good to ignore. And on top of that I don’t hear these guys on commercial rock radio anyways! That being said…..
Matheson Checks Out the Groove Rock of Stealing Jane
June 16, 2008 by Matheson · Leave a Comment
The music industry has always been known for pushing the latest thing. But it also has a tendency to take a sure thing and run it into the ground. There are always hundreds of bands out there that are trying to get noticed at any given point. And if you follow the latest trend in the music scene, you seem to have a better chance of being signed.
However, this also creates a situation where everyone starts to sound the same. Every band starts to sound like every other band; which creates a style or trend in the industry, but also starts to make the music played on the radio sound monotonous and boring.
Rock and Roll Report Blitz! Swig
June 13, 2008 by Mark · Leave a Comment
It always seems that my favourite rock and roll has (in my mind at least) a connection, however tenuous to Mick Taylor-era Rolling Stones. It’s one of those things that you can’t explain other than to forcefully gesture at your throbbing speakers as they furiously try to cope with the sonic onslaught currently playing that sounds like an outtake from Exile on Main Street.
Swig give me that raunchy, swampy feeling that I like. Let’s put it this way, they are another perfect example of a band that inspires “volume knob creep.” This stuff has character, it has feeling and it only sounds good when you hit the maximum volume threshold in your car, something that you never realized actually existed before. Swig hit all the right notes for me. Raunchy singer, slightly sloppy and loud guitars, call and response vocals and did I mention they should be played loud? Check out this week’s podcast where I play True Grit and check out their video below for Simple Truth. Good stuff. Did I say they should be played loud?
Later.
Mark
