independent thoughts on indie rock, alternative, and indie pop music
“I started playing guitar at 12, it took me a couple of years to make my own bands and then decided that I wanted to play music seriously from that point on,” says Canadian alt-rocker Michael Rault, who grew up in a musical family in Edmonton, Alberta. “I’ve never changed my mind.” The now-Montreal-based Rault... Continue Reading →
“I love the trumpet; I only played during junior high in the school band,” says singer/songwriter Matt Costa when asked if he was a fellow lifelong band nerd. “You'd go to school and carry your trumpet case around, and I really liked that. When I stopped playing the trumpet, I started skateboarding and then started... Continue Reading →
Iconic alt-rock powerhouse Everclear was a major part of my adolescent musical experience; in fact, with their signature catchy guitar riffs that inspired young folks to learn guitar and raw, lyrical honesty that cuts right to the quick, Everlcear has been a major part of countless others' immersion into music. “I'm blessed, man. I've had a... Continue Reading →
”I am literally folding t-shirts,” says Ryan Harkrider, frontman of 10-piece Austin-based alt-soul outfit The Nightowls. The band was gearing up to begin touring in support of the release of their latest album, We Are The Nightowls, out on April 27th.“We travel in this big RV. I picked it up this morning and drove it... Continue Reading →
Sitting by the water as she drinks coffee in the brilliant California sun, Maddi Hawkes, who makes her gut-punching brand of pop rock music under the moniker Mad Hawkes, the self-proclaimed beach kid who always has a suit in her car, is contemplating a swim. Los Angeles native Hawkes will release Undone, her new... Continue Reading →
For Samantha Gongol and Jeremy Lloyd, lifelong friends who met in a middle school production of “The Music Man,” it all began with whisky. Or rather, “Whisky.” “Jeremy came home on a break from college and showed me the beat that would become 'Whisky,'” Gongol explains of Marian Hill’s seminal song which appears on their... Continue Reading →
“There's just a naivety when you're younger, you really believe you can be anything. I just allowed that idea to run unfettered. I really have only ever done music,” says Afie Jurvanen who makes music under the moniker Bahamas. “I was a horrible student. I really did not do well in school at all, I... Continue Reading →
The last time we spoke with Los Angeles-based folk-pop powerhouse Magic Giant, they had just recorded new album In The Wind—in a solar-powered mobile recording studio that allowed them to make music in some unorthodox places—like in a redwood tree in Avenue of the Giants and in a reverb-y tunnel in Snoqualmie Pass, Washington. Now,... Continue Reading →
Attending SXSW in Austin is quite the experience, one that will test the boundaries of your lack-of-sleep threshold, challenge your patience for traffic issues, and stretch the imagination as far as music-making goes. At a venue at 11:30pm waiting for a show that was set to begin at midnight, my inner old person was fighting... Continue Reading →
If you happen to have a free 19 minutes, head over to your favorite streaming service and check out Far From Home, the recently-released EP from Brooklyn-based folk-rock outfit Animal Years. It’s a rollicking good time, one that will make you stomp your feet and clap your hands—it’s evident that the band behind the music... Continue Reading →
