It’s a special moment in one’s life when a band “changes the game” for a listener. By “changing the game,” of course, I mean opening their ears to a new genre. Drag The River did this for me and country music approximately eight years ago when I first heard them. Being a stubborn punk at that age, I refused to listen to anything but punk rock. It took a band of Drag The River’s pedigree (since they contain members flavored...

It has been said several times over that the best way to interview Mike Watt is ostensibly introduce yourself, ask your first question and let the tape run. The bassist doesn't so much 'interview' as 'spiel' everything one could possibly need to know about any given subject out and thereby giving the interviewer plenty to work with – but there's a catch. Watt's a nice guy and will tell you anything you want to know, but interviewers need to know...

It has been said just often enough at this point that it could be taken as gospel: “Necessity is the mother of invention” but no one truly revels in that sentiment more than Mike Watt. First as the bass player for The Minutemen and then as the bassist in fIREHOSE, Watt helped to usher in a new approach to his instrument both in the context of punk rock and rock n’ roll in general. While other players of the same...

Jim Morrison once said that some of the best songs (and many of those that The Doors wrote) focused on the themes of love, death and travel – or a combination of the three. When one stops to think about it, there is a grain of truth in the notion; love and death can be inspiring sensations because they represent promises of loss or gain (or both – depending on your view) on a personal level, but travel represents something...

As much as common wisdom might dictate that the best way for a pop star to rejuvenate his or her career is by re-inventing or recasting themselves in a different light or with a different focus, such traditions still don't explain David Bowie. Since first appearing in 1967, the list of characters that the singer has developed for the stage and struck gold with is both lengthy and celebrated (Ziggy Stardust, The Man Who Fell To Earth and The Thin...

It's been thirty-one years since the band broke into the mainstream and thirty four years since Debbie Harry walked out of Max's Kansas City  and onto the stage at CBGBs and in that time enough static mythology and reductive history has been written that what Blondie did right so long ago to secure an enduring place in pop has been well and truly obscured. The band has weathered every pop music trend to come along since their foundation from rap/hip...

It's been a pretty incredible year for Patrick Watson. Just eight months ago, the singer exploded onto the international radar with the beautifully abstract and orchestral Wooden Arms and when it hit, the rollercoaster ride started. Kudos flew fast and furiously, cash award prize nominations have been made (Canada's Polaris Prize – had he won, it would have been the second time since 2006), his name has been dropped by anyone with even a passing association and the level of...

It was apparent to anyone listening that, as they balanced some stock smart-assed songs with some more singer/songwriter-ly and personal fare on Coaster, a change was in the air for NoFX. No longer content to just play court jesters in the punk arena, “Fat” Mike Burkett, Eric Melvin, El Jefe and Erik Sandin were making a vested effort to grow up in songs like “My Orphan Year” and “I AM An Alcoholic.” They didn't go all the way or totally...

Does anyone else see the hilarity in the idea of first-wave punk bands reforming and performing greatest hits sets? On one hand, yes, it's a testament to the longevity of the music and proof positive that, as much as youth culture may have changed in the last thirty-five years, themes of discontent, ennui and frustration at a world that seems to keep many people that are different on the outside looking in (usually because of social or economic standing) still...

It sounds silly to say it but, when Between The Buried And Me released their covers album, The Anatomy Of, three years ago, it had a profound effect on the band and its sound. While BTBAM had always boasted a certain noticeable dosage of prog in their metal, The Anatomy Of inadvertently betrayed a love of pop (in a metal context of course, best exemplified by the covers of Smashing Pumpkins, Motley Crue and Queen) that had gone here-to-fore unseen...