For half a century, Sly & Robbie reached into every corner of popular music. They were reggae icons and an in-demand rhythm section and production team, working alongside Bob Marley and Peter Tosh early on, but later appearing on records by a staggering variety of artists, from Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones to Madonna […]
Molly Tuttle is a dedicated student of awesome musical traditions. She grew up on bluegrass, and has been rewarded with acclaim and Grammy awards for two consecutive albums that showcased her high lonesome songs of deep feeling and true mastery on guitar. But for the last five years, Tuttle also quietly plotted a different path, […]
No one enjoys Crispian Mills’ sense of humor more than the Kula Shaker frontman himself. His conversation is punctuated by chuckles and laced with a sly wit that I don’t recall from our previous interviews for Kula Shaker’s first two albums, K (1996) and Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts (1999). At the time, the group was […]
It began, like so many memorable music stories do, with a British icon and the younger upstart who loved his style. The icon was one Robert Palmer—brilliant, eclectic, a cosmopolitan gentleman of the world but criminally underrated. The upstart was a young troublemaker named Nigel John Taylor, the future bassist with Duran Duran. “I got […]
It wasn’t that long ago that Kenzie and Laila Crowe lived through a tornado. As the sky turned a putrid shade and sirens went off, the sisters quickly grabbed their cats, Poe (named for Edgar Allan) and Cherry (likely named for their love of all things retro) and headed into the basement of the family […]
From left: Bono, Sting, Bryan Adams, Peter Gabriel (holding a video recorder), Lou Reed, and Amnesty International USA’s Executive Director Jack Healey during a press conference for Amnesty International’s ‘A Conspiracy of Hope’ concert, East Rutherford, New Jersey, June 14, 1986. They were promoting the final concert of a six-date benefit tour which took place […]
“Brian wasn’t like everybody else.” The Damned’s guitarist Captain Sensible remembers first meeting his late bandmate and founding member Brian James toward the end of 1975. At the time, the then 19-year-old (whose real name is Raymond Ian Burns) was working as a janitor at a theater in Croydon, South London, before getting recruited by […]
Sleaford Mods’ Jason Williamson strides back and forth on a bare stage: no backdrop, no instruments, no visuals. He’s wearing his “at home” clothes, his hands planted on his hips or behind his back in his version of a runway pose. He shouts into the microphone like he’s possessed, like he’s struggling with severe mental […]
“Anybody could be ‘Ballgame,’ says Tyler Ballgame. “You could be ‘Charles Ballgame.’” The singer-songwriter is referring to baseball great Ted Williams, who earned the nickname “Teddy Ballgame” for his unparalleled talent and unrelenting passion for the sport; a figure Ballgame admires and ultimately took inspiration from. Ballgame is in Brooklyn for a show at the […]
Name Poppy Best known for Smiling at the internet while it whispers its secrets to me. Current city Brisbane, AUS. Really want to be in Tokyo. Or inside a dream I can’t wake from. Excited about My new album Empty Hands (Jan 23rd). My current music collection has a lot of Instrumental music. And a little bit of Ambient. Preferred format Vinyl: decoration, ritual, […]