Search Results for: JOHN

LITTLE STEVEN TAKES THE UNDERGROUND ABOVE THE SURFACE

Interviews

FOREWORD: I spent over an hour on the phone in ’05 with Steve Van Zandt (a.k.a. Little Steven), whose long tenure in Springsteen’s E-Street Band doesn’t overshadow his role as pouty Sopranos mobster Sylvio Dante.

One of the nicest guys you’d ever wanna meet, he spends oodles of time exposing subterranean garage rockers via his satellite radio show.

After this interview in support of his Underground Garage Festival at Randall’s Island, I saw Van Zandt at various club shows ‘round

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LIBERTINES ON THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION

Interviews

FOREWORD: In 2002, England’s Libertines had a chance to be the biggest band since ‘90s pop stars, Oasis, gaining further exposure opening for press darlings, the Strokes. But singer-guitarist Peter Doherty’s drugging, drinking, and debauchery put an end to that after only their second album in ‘04.

Never one to let scandalous press clippings get in the way of boozing and cocaine, the unstable punk got arrested for robbing co-front man Carl Barat’s house, dating skinny fashion model, Kate Moss,

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TED LEO’S GOT WOODEN ‘HEARTS OF OAK’

Interviews

FOREWORD: Ted Leo is one of the most exciting performers in inide rock. His fast-fingered axe work, advanced literary sense, political defiance, and friendly demeanor make him way too multifaceted to be labeled a ‘punk.’ Born in South Bend, Indiana, he’d move to Jersey, then return to his native Indiana birthplace to attend prestigious Notre Dame University.

After playing in Chisel and other early bands, he went solo, then added the Pharmacists. A highly dependable and well-respected artist, I caught

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BEN KWELLER HAPPY TO BE ‘ON MY WAY’

Interviews

FOREWORD: Gracious pop-rooted singer-songwriter Ben Kweller was taught to play guitar by his father, a Greenville, Texas-based doctor whose school buddy, veteran rock guitarist, Nils Lofgren, got the talented thirteen-year-old a record contract. But when Kweller’s over-hyped teen combo, Radish, couldn’t get decent mainstream exposure for ’93 debut, Restraining Bolt, he resourcefully moved on to a successful solo career.

I got to do a phoner with Kweller in ’04, when he was promoting commendable live-in-the-studio album, On My Way. In

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MARK KOZELEK’S SUN KIL MOON MAKES ‘GHOSTS’ APPEAR

Interviews,

FOREWORD: Melancholy San Francisco-based singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek achieved a modicum of underground fame fronting the illuminating Red House Painters from ’92 to ’01. His revelatory autobiographical anecdotes also endeared a few solo projects as well as ‘03s Ghosts Of The Great Highway, a highly ambitious boxing saga credited to Sun Kil Moon (an appellation taken from a Korean bantamweight fighter). Kozelek has made appearances in a few films, including Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous, and Steve Martin comedy, Shopgirl. His ’08

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ILLUMINATING ‘POT CULTURE’ GUIDE HITS STREETS 4-20

Journalist, , ,

I first met Pot Culture author/ CelebStoner host Steve Bloom at, ironically enough, a 1st anniversary party for co-author Shirley Halperin’s now-defunct indie rag, Smug (one of my early writing gigs). It was a fortuitous night down in the Bowery at CB Gallery (an extension of illustrious dive, CBGB’s), since Bloom then hooked me up with High Times, the leading counterculture marijuana publication, a freelance job I’d only dreamt of. I took Bloom out for a bowl within …

JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION BITE BACK WITH ‘PLASTIC FANG’

Interviews, ,

FOREWORD: The first time I saw Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, they played a brilliant two-hour set at CBGB’s. I had to piss halfway through but waited ‘til conclusion because I was pressed up against the right-hand speaker and could barely move. But that’s the kind of crazed adventure it is to watch these venerable Blues-punk denizens. I spoke to Spencer, second guitarist Judah Bauer, and drummer Russell Simins at Matador’s downtown New York office. Spencer was there first, so I

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JAYHAWKS LEAVE FANS WITH A ‘SMILE’

Interviews,
FOREWORD: At Maxwells in Hoboken (while my wife, Karen, ate hummus), I got to chat with Jayhawks main man, Gary Louris, prior to an enthusiastic set promoting ‘00’s demure Smile. One of the leading lights of the ‘90s alt-Country scene, Louris returned to the stripped down approach of earlier Jayhawks albums on ‘03s Rainy Day Music. Though his duo project with former Jayhawks partner, Marc Olson, Ready For The Flood, was subpar, Louris’ becalmed solo chestnut, Vagabonds, also released in …

MARKY RAMONE’S INTRUDERS ANSWER ALL PROBLEMS

Interviews,

Marc Bell gained attention as drummer on Richard Hell & the Voidoids underground ’77 punk classic, Blank Generation. Shortly thereafter, he was invited to join the Ramones, the most influential rock band of the late ‘70s. In ’83, he was kicked out for alcoholism, but rejoined  in ’87. In ’96, when the Ramones finally parted, he kept the stage name, Marky Ramones, and formed fast and furious trio, the Intruders, with lead guitarist Ben Trokan and bassist Johnny Pisano.

While …

IMPERIAL TEEN ARE DEFINITELY ‘ON’

Interviews,

FOREWORD: Given adulation by avid indie heads, but never properly recognized by aboveground mainstream pop drips, Imperial Teen was at the top of their game when I interviewed Roddy Buttom and Jone Stebbins to promote ‘02s tantalizing On. But they took a protracted five-year sabbatical before the less interesting, introspectively mature The Hair The TV The Baby And The Band finally arrived. During that time, Roddy composed film and t.v. music. Jone became a hairstylist. Lynn Perko got married and

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ICARUS LINE GOT A RIOT GOIN’ ON

Interviews

Image result for icarus line

FOREWORD: Boisterous punk-fueled L.A. group, Icarus Line, enjoys partying as hard as anyone. And you’ll see in the following piece, they’re not averse to fighting. I had these fuckers laughing their asses off at some insidiously rancid comments made about sexual positions prior to dinner in their tour van. Heavy metal fans should definitely check out ‘04s rambunctious Penance Soiree.

Icarus Line’s obnoxiously loud and totally exuberant 9:00 set at Point Pleasant ocean club, Jenk’s, scared the shit out of

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JOLIE HOLLAND MAKES GOOD IN ‘ESCONDIDA’

Interviews

FOREWORD: Roots-y Country-Blues devotee, Jolie Holland, utilizes primal Jazz, rock, neo-Classical, and vaudevillian sources to get across her unconventional musings. Treasured beatnik crooner, Tom Waits, became a fan when he heard Catalpa, a scrappy homemade recording. I got to speak to Holland prior to a Maxwells gig in ’04. She was supporting her first proper studio album, Escondida. Thereafter, she only got better, as ‘06s Springtime Can Kill You and ‘08s The Living And The Dead attest. This article originally

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