“I’m ready to move on to the next thing,” Bartees Strange tells SPIN. It’s a logical impulse, especially since his debut LP, 2020’s Live Forever, restlessly shuffles through genres — indie-rock, folk, emo, hip-hop, soul — like playing cards. October also wasn’t the most optimal time for a life-changing career move: With COVID-19 grinding live […]
Pat Flynn knows the nightmare of being in a full-time band. He’s lived on the road and in studios. He’s depended on album sales to pay his bills. And he’s watched as the need for commercial viability and stable income helped to tear apart his 2000s hardcore band Have Heart after they’d finally risen out […]
Playing blisteringly tight, searingly good, and crowd-drenching sweat-filled live sets were giving Dublin’s Inhaler an old-fashioned breakout-in-the-making buzz, that is until the pandemic put a halt to just about everything. They were on the eve of their biggest tour yet in America, set to play sold-out venues, extra added dates, and had landed a sweet […]
It’s taken generations for Juneteenth to become the kind of holiday that Black Americans feel comfortable getting loud about. For pedal steel guitar prophet Robert Randolph, it wasn’t until his mid-30s that he learned the history behind the holiday commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States on June 19, 1865. But his passion […]
In the world of reggae-rock, Rebelution remains one of the staples that have held together the scene for the last decade-and-a-half. Along with peers like Pepper and Iration, the four UC Santa Barbara alumni have churned out one album after another of reggae Billboard chart-topping hits. Ever since bursting into the scene with 2007’s self-produced […]
When you’re a member of Foxing, it often feels as if you’re throwing pearls before swine. Here you are, Foxing guitarist Eric Hudson. It’s Spring 2018, and you’re opening for Circa Survive, trying to spread the word about your band’s wildly ambitious, upcoming third album Nearer My God. You’ve just ripped into the lightning-fast, hilariously […]
Laura Stevenson is sitting in her cluttered bedroom, struggling to think of the right word to describe her songwriting process. It’s on the tip of her tongue. “I don’t have, I don’t have…” she says over Zoom as she mentally rifles through her vocabulary. Her eyes scan the baby bottles and children’s toys scattered around […]
Pop-punk has always been for the kids, but for the kids? As in toddlers? Well, that’s an entirely different story. However, The First Rock Band on Mars is aiming to make music that rocks the little ‘uns. The group includes Kellin Quinn (Sleeping With Sirens), Ryan Key (Yellowcard), Howi Spangler (Maryland Beach Rock), and musician […]
It’s hard to form a band that’s going to stand the test of time. Having a big hit is one thing, but launching an act that’s going to remain influential and draw crowds of devoted fans for decades is generally a once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience. Unless that lifetime belongs to Jim Ward. Ward (the revered […]
Wire is your favorite band’s favorite band. Guided By Voices’ Robert Pollard professes reverence. My Bloody Valentine covered a song on a Wire tribute record. Henry Rollins characteristically enthuses about them. And Robert Smith has pointed to them as a direct inspiration. If you haven’t heard of them, they’ve lived up to their cult status […]