independent thoughts on alternative music
It was TRUETT’s first time playing a show in Nashville, and he was opening for powerhouse songsmith Ron Pope at a sold out show at Mercy Lounge. Not a bad gig. “I met Ron when I was about 12 years old; I started playing guitar very intensely, got really serious about it, and got my … Read more SXSW SPOTLIGHT: TRUETT
This year, Nashville-based alt-rock duo Bassh makes its first appearance at Austin mega-music festival SXSW; “I’m excited for the chaos,” says CJ Hardee. “It’s high stress going from show to show, loading in and loading out, doing interviews in between, it’s nonstop. It’s fun to do once a year though!” While it’s the band’s first … Read more SXSW SPOTLIGHT: BASSH
In Los Angeles, the land of a million genres, sub-genres, and sub-sub genres, there’s a band that plays straight up rock n’ roll. I mean really good, gritty, garage-tastic rock n’ roll. That band is called The Dead Ships. These days, folks say that rock n’ roll is dead, but this band is proving those … Read more SXSW SPOTLIGHT: THE DEAD SHIPS
Canadian alt-pop outfit The Zolas were in Germany, and frontman Zach Gray had just finished a delicious lunch of spaetzle and mushroom sauce. “I love Germany so much. Germany has been very good to us, I have nothing but gratitude right now,” he declares. “I’m feeling very #blessed at the moment.” And yes, that should … Read more SXSW SPOTLIGHT: THE ZOLAS
Marcus King comes by his immense talent honestly— “My whole family played music—my dad, grandfather, and uncles. It’s always been a family affair. My dad listened to the blues, but he also listened to Hendrix, The Beatles, The Allman Brothers, and Skynyrd,” he says. “On the other end of the spectrum, I was listening to … Read more SXSW SPOTLIGHT: THE MARCUS KING BAND
I met with Nashville-based rockers The Gills at their practice space in a local warehouse district, a cozy room packed with copious amounts of gear and wall-to-wall personality. Inspiration for the band, who is about to release a self-titled album (their second full-length project), began in Pensacola, Florida during frontman Jesse Wheeler’s teenage battle with … Read more SXSW SPOTLIGHT: THE GILLS
With a name like Jeremy Fury, how could your life’s ambition be anything other than fronting a rock band? For Fury, though, it took a while to find an adventurous group to make the kind of music he wanted to make. Two and a half years ago, he found himself with a catalog of songs … Read more SXSW SPOTLIGHT: JEREMY & THE HARLEQUINS
Escondido’s Jessica Maros and Tyler James were in Los Angeles on February 5th, the day their new album, Walking With A Stranger, was released. I had spoken with Jess a while back after she had relocated from Nashville to Los Angeles to pursue her solo project, KUZIN…and now Tyler was there, and I felt I … Read more SXSW SPOTLIGHT: ESCONDIDO
“I’ve been putting out records since I was 15; I had this moment in my life where I decided I needed to do something different, that if I was going to do this for the rest of my life, I needed to make timeless music, music that I wouldn’t feel funny playing when I’m an … Read more SXSW SPOTLIGHT: THE ROOMSOUNDS
“My mom’s a pianist and my first foray into music was in musical theater. She would take me to rehearsals; I was never really good at pretending, which is big part of musical theater,” laughs Lucy Dacus. “I kept the music part and got rid of the theater part, so it worked out.” The Richmond-based … Read more SXSW SPOTLIGHT: LUCY DACUS