Veteran Boston-area punk rockers the Queers aren’t just another melodic, Ramones-like speed-punk band looking to scrape up a few new fans; they’ve been a punk institution since the early Eighties. Frontman Joe King has been the sole constant of the group since its inception, and, moshers, beware: He’s never been…
The model of a patient player, Bill Frisell has for decades kept his jazz, country, and fusion guitar work to a minimum. You’ll hear plenty of riffs, swirls, swells, and slides, but nary a moment of noodling. In 1989, Frisell teamed with fellow guitarist Arto Lindsay, drummer Joey Baron, saxophonist…
This Denver quartet performs straight-ahead pop, heavy on the sing-alongs, with plenty of sweeping guitar riffs and intense piano ballads. Its debut, How to Save a Life, went platinum and led to opening gigs for big names like Ben Folds and the Rolling Stones. The Fray has since graduated to…
In 1987 the folk-rock Indigo Girls released their first full-length album, Strange Fire, without major-label assistance. It was a work of stripped-down melodies and raw emotions. The duo’s signature sound was the melding of Emily Saliers’s lullaby voice with Amy Ray’s harder edge; together they composed a honeycomb of sweet…
Juan’s Birthday Bash A perfect storm of birthdays takes place this Friday and Saturday at Laundry Bar. Not only will owner Juan (a.k.a. Burn, a.k.a. the brain behind Basshead Productions) be lying about his age to the babes, but also DJ fixtures Karakter, Burn, and Nicky Dee will face the…
It’s interesting how entire lives are often shaped by coincidence. For tenor sax player David Sanchez, chance brought him to his current station among Latin Grammy winners and jazz pros. At age fifteen, the native of Puerto Rico stumbled upon his sister’s Miles Davis music. Later, at Escuela Libre de…
This past week, Miami’s Peasants with Feathers abruptly announced (all in lowercase on their MySpace page, mind you) their intention to abandon the music business. That’s probably a huge bummer to the folks at Churchill’s, because PWF appears to have been eighty-sixed from Ramhaus Records’ January 19 mini band-a-thon. Fortunately…
The times they are a-changin’ for Irish music enthusiasts — and their feet too. When the Pogues emerged from the early-Eighties postpunk landscape, most of their fans wore Doc Martens. Some two decades later, though, California’s Gaelic Storm dropped its latest album, 2006’s Bring Yer Wellies, offering a spirited mix…
Despite the fact that his latest album, the optimistically dubbed Face the Promise, represents his first new set of songs in nearly a dozen years, Bob Seger is, to borrow the title of one of his most resilient oldies, still the same when it comes to his blue-collar brand of…
The Backstreet Boys, ‘N Sync, and Mandy Moore are undoubtedly Orlando’s leading claims to pop fame. But a newcomer is threatening to add its name to the roster. The rock quartet Big 10-4 makes what might kindly be called bubblegum-flavor crack disguised as music. After getting their start from a…
“I’m sick of being haunted by every cliché that I know,” moans Rock Star Supernova victor Lukas Rossi in “Be Yourself (and 5 Other Clichés).” What a way to sum up this as-seen-on-TV abomination — which couldn’t come up with a less obvious name for its opening track than “It’s…
Punk and metal bands don’t die like they used to. These days they just keep coming back. In the case of seminal SoCal surf/skate trio Agent Orange, they come back again and again and again — like punk-rock zombies. This time around, the band promises to play its 25-year-old songs…
Getting a record label established, up and running, and respected is often a long, arduous process involving a lot of hours, capital, exposure, and perseverance. But Andy Clavijo, guitarist for the Miami reggae-rock fusion band Jacuzzi Fuzz, has put together what could be deemed a little self-promotion for his new…
They’re a group of young men not far from boyhood, but don’t lump this Orlando-based quintet in with the Backstreet Boys, ‘N Sync, or any other processed cheese band to pop up from the world of Disney. Between the Trees, considered an indie band with branches slowly stretching into popdom,…
In 2006 can a child see a musical film and say to herself, That’s what I want to do. I’m going to be a singer, and say it with any conviction? The master manipulators at Disney would surely cite their recent Cheetah Girls series as an affirmative example. But the…
Most music fans think they know the story of the Sex Pistols fairly well, but when you mention Glen Matlock to them, the name often draws blank stares. They might remember he was their original bass player and left just before the media circus took over, but few realize he…
Time once again to round up that favorite European-born friend-with-benefits (and funny teeth) and bop over to Space for whatever pops into Armin van Buuren’s head. Sure, van Buuren is another staple spoiling the fashionatti around town with frequent appearances, but it’s that time of year to count your blessings…
New Jersey hamster-wheel-metallers the Shake Up will headline Churchill’s this Friday, and now this tip for bands: Remember the daydream you had last week about being in bed with ten chicks who dug your show at the Giganto Center last night? It’s not going to come true if your MySpace…
As an antidote to the faux-swing movement of the Nineties (led by the Brian Setzer Orchestra, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, et al.), the John Pizzarelli Quartet is most effective. Who would have thought that the more satisfying interpreters of swing would come from the jazz angle rather than from rock…
As a director, Woody Allen has demonstrated infuriating narcissism and lobotomy-worthy judgment by continuing to cast himself in his own films. While the rest of his actors outdo themselves at their craft in order to fulfill his still-vital ideas, Allen insists on burdening his work with his overworn nonacting, essentially…
No two words go better together than open and bar, which is one of the things you can experience at Space this Saturday. There is a catch, but it’s more than livable: Bring a new unwrapped toy as a donation to Toys for Tots, and you’ll get free admission and…
A true jazz vocalist in the tradition of Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald, Dianne Reeves unquestionably possesses the power, tone, phrasing, vibrato, and soulfulness of the classic million-dollar voice. Which is why producers called on her to supply nearly all the music for last year’s Oscar-nominated period piece Good Night,…
