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NOFX Discography Part Four - [Discography]

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 06:12:32 PST

ARTIST: NOFX Discography Part Four - [Discography]
Artists Doing It For Themselves - NOFX Enjoys The Freedom To Work However They Choose, 2004 - 2010
DATE: 08-22-10
WRITER: Bill Adams

Like another SoCal-based bass player (Mike Watt) once said, "You won't know where the wall is until you push off it" and, since moving back to Fat Wreck, that's exactly what NOFX has tried to do. Ironically, the band hasn't found the wall just yet; every endeavor that the band has undertaken has [view more]

NOFX Discography Part Three - [Discography]

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 06:05:46 PST

ARTIST: NOFX Discography Part Three - [Discography]
Regaining Independence (NOFX' Return To Fat Wreck Chords), 2000 - 2003
DATE: 08-22-10
WRITER: Bill Adams
After a certain amount of time, it's important to shake things up a bit in any job, if only to make them interesting again. Realistically, who doesn't want to change it up in their work and discover new possibilities? Most everyone does, and NOFX did too; by the turn of the millennium, the band had been working with Epitaph [view more]

NOFX Discography Part Two - [Discography]

Sat, 21 Aug 2010 11:44:15 PST

ARTIST: NOFX Discography Part Two - [Discography]
The Explosion: 1994 - 1999
DATE: 08-21-10
WRITER: Bill Adams
One of the constants in life is that there are always three points to any growth curve; over-simplified, there is a beginning, a middle and an end. The arc of NOFX' growth is a little more complicated than that though; there is a beginning of course – that's where the band came together, began writing and set the basic [view more]

NOFX Discography Part One - [Discography]

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 20:19:48 PST

ARTIST: NOFX Discography Part One - [Discography]
The Beginning: 1983 - 1992
DATE: 08-20-10
WRITER: Bill Adams

For about twenty years following its' first widespread notice in 1974, punk rock and the bands that made it were viewed by mainstream culture and media (network television, Top 40 radio, Hollywood movies) with equal amounts of disdain and mistrust at least, and flat-out disgust in some circles. The progression of public contempt [view more]

The Flatliners Get Restless

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 12:51:20 PST

ARTIST: The Flatliners Get Restless
Singer Chris Cresswell talks about between-project ennui and why The Flatliners won't have to battle it much longer. With free mp3 downloads for 'Carry The Banner' and 'Monumental.'
DATE: 08-17-10
WRITER: Bill Adams

There's a sort of limbo period for any band at a certain level that can prove to be difficult to take initially, and it is the downtime that comes when a tour recently let out and it isn't yet time to record another album or head back on the road again. For The Flatliners, that time is now; with [view more]

Cobra Skulls Enter An All-New Learning Curve

Sun, 08 Aug 2010 17:55:07 PST

ARTIST: Cobra Skulls Enter An All-New Learning Curve
Singer Devin Peralta talks about his band's new growth that has brought them to both Fat Wreck Chords and Warped Tour.
DATE: 08-08-10
WRITER: Bill Adams
When you've got two weeks to explode, what do you do? If you had two weeks – that's just fourteen days – to try to make an indelible impression and stand out from a crowd rather than simply be a face in it, how could that not be looked at as an imposing task? It couldn't be easy, that's for [view more]

Hot Hot Heat Lets The Going Get Weird - And Likes It

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 05:30:04 PST

ARTIST: Hot Hot Heat Lets The Going Get Weird - And Likes It
Singer Steve Bays explains how, after ten years, Hot Hot Heat forced its' own evolution. With free mp3 download for 'Goddess On The Prairie' from Future Breeds.
DATE: 07-31-10
WRITER: Bill Adams
PHOTO: Darren Ankenman
When a band first breaks into the big time, everyone gets excited – including the band. It's a big deal; breaking out of the underground and scoring a bunch of additional exposure is a validation of a band's efforts to that point because, in effect, they've sold that record label they just signed with on their [view more]

Talking Heads - [Discography]

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 08:34:29 PST

ARTIST: Talking Heads - [Discography]
Talking Heads' recording career from beginning (in 1977) to end (in 1988)
DATE: 07-24-10
WRITER: G. Murray Thomas
I can think of no other band which laid out their musical development from album to album so clearly as Talking Heads. Each Talking Heads album built on what came before, while adding some new element into the mix.

Sure, you can watch the Beatles grow from Help to Abbey Road, but [view more]

Rob Halford Returns With A Vengeance

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 06:31:55 PST

ARTIST: Rob Halford Returns With A Vengeance
with free mp3 download for 'Never Satisfied' from Live In Anaheim by Rob Halford, with additional interview clips!
DATE: 07-19-10
WRITER: Bill Adams
PHOTO: Raymond Ahner

For decades, it was uncommon for a professional musician to take his or her career seriously. Many considered what they were doing to be a leisure industry – the guiding mindset being that they were able to work at a leisurely rate and whatever they were doing could be done when the urge struck them. Since first appearing [view more]

Digital Recording Gets Easy, Affordable And Handheld

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 20:45:48 PST

ARTIST: Digital Recording Gets Easy, Affordable And Handheld
A review of Sanyo's new XACTI ICR-XPS01M
DATE: 07-05-10
WRITER: Bill Adams
Often when new recording hardware is released on the public, the ideas that many of the items represent are great in theory but limited because some key applications just aren't possible yet. Such was certainly the case with handheld digital recorders for years; since first coming on the open market about seven years ago, digital [view more]

Pavement Gets Real And Keeps It Simple

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 21:17:38 PST

ARTIST: Pavement Gets Real And Keeps It Simple
Drummer Bob Nastanovich explains Pavement's return, and what promise that return might hold.
DATE: 06-17-10
WRITER: Bill Adams
It gets said a lot, but does time really heal all wounds? Over the last two years, it seems to be happening more and more often that bands who first found success in the fertile underground music scene of the 1980s and '90s have reconvened; the members of those bands having reconciled whatever differences they may have had or, at least, [view more]

Broken Social Scene United

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:31:15 PST

ARTIST: Broken Social Scene United
Guitarist Charles Spearin explains how, in the end, all Broken Social Scene needed to do to make the record of their careers was come together and let go.
DATE: 06-17-10
WRITER: Bill Adams
PHOTO: Dave Gillespie
It's always exciting to hear that about moment when a band really comes into its' own. For fans, there's a certain validation in it – as if the assembled mass is suddenly able to say, “I knew it all along” under its' breath while everyone previously on the outside begins to [view more]

The Stooges Return From The Brink

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:25:56 PST

ARTIST: The Stooges Return From The Brink
Stooges bassist Mike Watt talks about the band's plan to both pound and wow audiences at North By Northeast this year.
DATE: 06-07-10
WRITER: Bill Adams
If there is anything that could be taken as a given in this life, it is that there are no givens in this life. As smoothly as something might be running or as set as a course might be, the wise man knows that there is always the possibility of events suddenly turning south toward disaster. Such was the case on January 6, 2009 when, out of the [view more]

The Strange Days of Eagles of Death Metal Get Exciting

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 12:46:39 PST

ARTIST: The Strange Days of Eagles of Death Metal Get Exciting
Business picks up for Eagles of Death Metal as the band gets set to crash North By Northeast and talk of two new albums runs rampant.
DATE: 06-07-10
WRITER: Bill Adams
PHOTO: Heather Duke
The last twenty months have been a hectic time for the Eagles of Death Metal. Since the release of Heart On [the band's third album, second released on Downtown Records –ed] on October 21, 2008, the band has shattered all previous expectations of them by establishing themselves as an [view more]

Mike Watt Plays The Gig Of His Dreams.

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 17:13:46 PST

ARTIST: Mike Watt Plays The Gig Of His Dreams.
The legendary bassist realizes a dream as he plays with The Stooges.
DATE: 06-05-10
WRITER: Bill Adams
Anyone that has ever spoken with bassist Mike Watt knows he loves what he does. Since co-founding The Minutemen with guitarist D. Boon and drummer George Hurley in 1980, Watt has seemed to eat, sleep and breathe his instrument and reveled in the fact that he gets to do for a living what some people only dream of and would love to do if only they [view more]

The Gaslight Anthem Leaves Home

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 05:30:26 PST

ARTIST: The Gaslight Anthem Leaves Home
Guitarist Alex Rosamilia talks about the calm before the storm of American Slang. With free mp3 downloads for both ''Boxer'' and the title track from the new album.
DATE: 06-03-10
WRITER: Bill Adams
PHOTO: Nigel Crane
Remember when you were a kid and the last days of August were both the greatest and most terrifying of the year? It was a unique sensation; with the daily drudgery of a new school year looming, the lackadaisical tranquility of summer is shattered by all those things that “need doing” before they get placed indefinitely on the [view more]

Daniel Romano Makes Some New Myths

Mon, 31 May 2010 08:57:12 PST

ARTIST: Daniel Romano Makes Some New Myths
with free mp3 download for 'A Losing Song' from Workin' For The Music Man by Daniel Romano.
DATE: 05-31-10
WRITER: Bill Adams
PHOTO: Leslie Fritz
It has long been contended that some of the best songs ever made tell a story and that is a reasonable assertion, but the truth is that sometimes there's a little more to it than that. Sometimes what really makes a song stick with people is a combination of the images created by the lyrics and the character of the music, with some [view more]

Iggy And The Stooges - [Box Set]

Thu, 20 May 2010 03:01:24 PST

ARTIST: Iggy And The Stooges - [Box Set]
Examining the Raw Power Deluxe Edition (3CD, 7'', DVD) with free mp3 downloads for 'I Got A Right (Outtake Version)' as well as additional audio featuring Jon Langford.
DATE: 05-20-10
WRITER: Bill Adams
Lexicographer Samuel Johnson once wrote that, “He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man” and, truly, Iggy Pop and The Stooges had tested that adage to its' absolute extreme by 1970. Between 1968 and 1970, the pages of those music magazines that would cover the band (there weren't [view more]

Jimi Hendrix - [Discography]

Tue, 18 May 2010 08:16:59 PST

ARTIST: Jimi Hendrix - [Discography]
The full-length albums including Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold As Love, Smash Hits, Electric Ladyland, Band Of Gypsys, First Rays Of The New Rising Sun, Valleys Of Neptune and Experience Hendrix.
DATE: 05-18-10
WRITER: Bill Adams

As often as the term might get thrown around, there are actually very few timeless documents dotting human history. Often, something will get called timeless when it simply represents an ideal; often a modern “timeless” record, account or document is simply one that happens to connect with a moment in recent history [view more]

The Johnstones Are Ready For Their Close-Up.

Mon, 03 May 2010 09:34:57 PST

ARTIST: The Johnstones Are Ready For Their Close-Up.
Johnstones drummer Ryan Long talks about jumping media with the band's debut DVD, Get On Board.
DATE: 05-03-10
WRITER: Bill Adams

Lots of bands say they're committed to working as hard as possible and that they're hungry to break through to a mass audience, but one look at their actual itinerary illustrates that they're still working well inside a leisure industry paradigm; things get accomplished [view more]