When's the last time a pop-punk band came along and, with just a few bars of one song, made you know you were a fan, dear reader? If it has been a while, the next purchase you should make is Downtown Struts' third album, Victoria! – you won't be disappointed. Here (for what seems like the first time in years), this little Chicago quartet doesn't bother to add any pretty frills to their mix of punk and Americana (think Gaslight...
As easy as it would be for a film company to lob out an “Adv-itorial” documentary capturing the excitement, history, high points and successes that The Vans Warped Tour has enjoyed over the festival's seventeen-year existence, fans would rightly balk at such a presentation because every fan knows there's more to the show than just the spectacle. Warped Tour is unlike any other traveling road show on Earth in that, since its foundation in 1995, the show has gone on...
Fourteen years ago, Eve 6 had the world on a platter for a New York minute. That moment in 1998 was incredible; “Inside Out” propelled Eve 6 to the top of the Billboard chart where they spent thirteen weeks swinging between numbers one and two, and it reached #21 on the Hot 100 Airplay. The reception of "Inside Out" was the push which convinced Katie Holmes to appear in the video for “Tongue Tied,” the album's third single. It was...
Hang ten Junky! I see a great big wave o' totally kick-ass SWAG comin' yer way, ya reprobates, an' there's some right righteous stuff loaded in it. No bullshit, yer gonna wanna check di week's Report out, cuz I sure did right by ya. Dis week, I gotcha a multi-national bag o' goodies, and there's some sweet stuff inna mix. Like I nabbed a new tune from Mission Of Burma before ther new reckid (i's called Unsound, i's da firs'one'ey...
Ice Choir – "Teletrips"https://groundcontrolmag.com/music/SWAG105Ice_Choir-Teletrips.mp3 illdotlogic – "Gumballs"https://groundcontrolmag.com/music/SWAG105illdotlogic-gumballs.mp3 Lipona – Pigeonholed EPhttps://groundcontrolmag.com/music/SWAG105Lipona-Pigeonholed.zip Matisyahu – "Sunshine"https://groundcontrolmag.com/music/SWAG105Matisyahu-Sunshine.mp3 Mission Of Burma – "Dust Devil"https://groundcontrolmag.com/music/SWAG105mission_of_burma-dust_devil.mp3 Noah and the...
I was at a high school party, and a friend of a friend demonstrated that he could play the guitar solo from "Freebird" note for note. Technically impressive, especially for a beginning guitarist but, even at sixteen, I knew the great guitarist was the one who played the guitar solo from "Freebird" the first time. That is the lesson everyone should learn first when they pick up guitar: no matter how many solos you can learn, you demonstrate real talent...
It sounds like it might be an outsized myth or wonderful exaggeration, but sometimes a perfect, timeless sound can only be made in one particular moment under a very specific set of circumstances. There really can be magic in a moment and it really could only happen once in a lifetime (because happening more than once may also result in a body count). The proof of that fact lies in the spaces between the thirteen songs which populate Night &...
The Real McKenzies had to have known they'd have the cards stacked against them when they agreed to hit the stage with The Brains and Reverend Horton Heat. The band had to have known that, slotted as the mid-card band between two rockabilly acts – one of whom is celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary on this tour, no less – it was unlikely that they'd be walking into any room full of people who would be there to see them first,...
While the question of whether or not Camden Town's favorite sons, Madness, will record and release a new album in 2012 Madness kept a current in the pot when they announced a new series of North American dates. Ground Control's Raymond Ahner was there with camera in hand to catch the band when they performed at the Warfield Theater in San Fransisco,...