Satan are a heavy metal band originating from Newcastle, England in 1979, known as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. ” Though generally obscure throughout their career, the band is considered influential for playing a form of proto-thrash metal that was fairly advanced by the standards of the early 1980s. The group is listed as active, due to their announced reunion with Brian Ross in 2005 Their line-up has undergone a number of personnel changes and even changes in band name; for a time the band was called Blind Fury, putting out one album, 1985’s Out of Reach, under that moniker before reverting back to Satan. In 1988 the group changed its name again to The Kindred and then yet again to Pariah, releasing two albums under that name before folding in the early 90’s. In 1997 Pariah released another album. The band’s shifting lineup has included members of many other heavy metal bands such as Blitzkrieg, Rough Edge, Pariah, Atomkraft, Avenger, Persian Risk, Cronos and Battleaxe. In 1990, Steve Ramsey (guitar) and Graeme English (bass) together with singer Martin Walkyier of UK thrash metal band Sabbat founded folk metal band Skyclad.
Decades before Breaking Bad, Narcos, or Mayans M.C., BRUJERIA put the world of cartels and ritualistic murder on wax with a brutal power equivalent to when Compton arrived in pop culture via NWA.
BRUJERIA emerged, shrouded in mystery and infamy, in 1989. They forcefully introduced phrases like Matando Güeros, La Migra, Marijuana y Brujerizmo into the lexicon of extreme subcultures from hardcore punk to death metal. The brutal death grind band from Mexico came to represent the notoriously violent world of illegal drug trafficking, vicious retaliation, and a sinister syncretism between Afro-Caribbean sorcery like Palo Mayombe and Santeria with outright demonic possession.
They brandish rifles and machetes. Most importantly, they’re armed with an arsenal of brutal riffs. Rumors abound that frontman Juan Brujo ingeniously surrounded himself over the years with members of legendary bands like NAPALM DEATH, CARCASS, and AT THE GATES and performers from beloved TV shows like Orange Is The New Black and Jackass. But nobody knows for certain. That’s because the men and women of BRUJERIA conceal themselves with bandanas, serapes, and balaclavas.
Conjured like a cabal whenever society reaches a new tipping point between order and chaos, Brujeria sacrifices songs to full-length albums and singles, as decidedly apocalyptic as the Mayans, by their own calendar. Records like Raza Odiada(1995) and Brujerizmo (2000) are undeniable classics. Ripping excoriations of daily news like “Amaricon Czar” (2019) and “COVID – 666” (2020) are bitingly topical.
Coco Loco (a metal mascot as iconic to many metalheads as IRON MAIDEN’s Eddie or MEGADETH’s Vic Rattlehead) returns in 2023, emblazoned on a ferocious fifth full-length album dubbed simply Esto Es Brujeria.
BRUJERIA makes the metal version of the corrido, a traditional Mexican song style built on storytelling. The narratives cover everything from history to daily life for outlaws. In Brujeria’s case, the narrator’s tales range from righteous murders of oppressors and rivals to drug deals gone wrong. On Esto Es Brujeria, their blistering new platter, they growl about everything from being Party Boss to a first night in jail.
Brujeria’s 1993 debut, Matando Güeros, was so extreme that record stores and distributors returned copies en masse the moment translators made English versions of the lyrics available. But it was too late to stop BRUJERIA, as word of the devastating riffs and wild tales of drugs, sex, and murder spread. The book Heavy Metal: The Music And Its Culture included it on their 100 Definitive Metal Albums list. One of the songs landed on the soundtrack to Harmony Korine’s controversial drama Gummo.
Two years later, sophomore slab Raza Odiada declared war on then – California governor Pete Wilson (portrayed on the album by DEAD KENNEDYS’ frontman Jello Biafra) and his controversial immigration policies. Drug smuggling and related themes abounded, as well as a song supporting Mexico’s revolutionary Zapatistas. A music video for “La Ley De Plomo” somehow made it (briefly) to MTV.
Melody Maker called 2000’s Brujerizmo “wonderfully demented thrash” and “murderous noise, absolutely bereft of anything approaching accessibility.” CMJ praised Brujo’s “growling political rants,” while NME declared, “They take a hyper-violent idea to its logical, bowel-churning, and comically thrilling end.” The title track remains one of BRUJERIA’s most streamed songs on Spotify.
After a long absence, BRUJERIA returned with Pocho Aztlan in 2016. The band’s first album with Nuclear Blast Records injected fresh blood into the unstoppable crew in the form of new recruits. The songs combined the focused groove of Brujerizmo with the impenetrable death grind of the mid – 90s.
Esto Es Brujeria brings BRUJERIA roaring full circle into the post-pandemic era, with the deep polarization, civil unrest, ongoing brutality, and social upheaval of the day ripe for the band’s notorious critiques. Steeped in dense myth, extreme metal’s most notorious antiheroes materialize anytime, anywhere, to spin their tales of anarchic mayhem and lawless fury . They are eternal banditos, prepared to party.
The Christopher LeMark Xperience is a classic and soulful hip hop ensemble. Lead by a Chicago native Emcee with one compelling story to tell. The group was originally formed back in the winter of November 2014 by Christopher LeMark with the support Willie Nickson a local talented drummer. Our number one goal is to empower the people by sharing the good news of Jesus Christ through the beautiful sound of music. To stand up for those without a voice by presenting authenticity. People need to see strength where there was once weakness in order to believe that change is really possible
Earth Groans is a heavy metal group based in South Dakota. Its founding member, Jeremy Schaeffer, had always been passionate about the hardcore music scene and in 2015 set out to find musicians with the same fervor. Zachariah Mayfield, Kaden Burton, and Brady Mueller became members and the newly established band quickly began recording a debut record. The result was Renovate, a rich and heavy introduction into the metal world that earned them a spot on Solid State Records’ roster.Their sophomore release, Rahab, moves just as feverishly. Rich in metaphor like the first, Rahab juxtaposes worldly fantasies with biblical realities by showcasing the fruitlessness of fear and the power of faith. Earth Groans continues to evolve and tighten as an uncompromising metal band bent on creating music that points to Christ.
Like a poison, or an infectious disease, it enters you without you noticing, sneaking into your bloodstream and spreading upwards to the meninges of your brain. Before long, it finds a home—lodged in the crevices of your brain—and from there, it spreads, growing into a full fledged parasite, gnawing away at your sanity. Before long, you are hollow, a shell of your former self. This is the full, relentless effect of InVoker—an up and coming, unstoppably heavy North Carolinian quintet from some of the same evil minds behind deathcore juggernauts Impale the Betrayer. By combining hard-hitting, filth-laden riffs with slamming, bone-busting brutality and skin-shredding technicality—all topped off with a unique dual-vocal assault—InVoker are leading the charge into new and inventive territory somewhere in the no man’s land between devastating deathcore and technically-savvy, groovy Nu metalcore.
InVoker are just as dedicated to delivering their demoralizing, down-tuned brand of destruction to their fans doorsteps as they are making it. With their first twelve tours completed in 2014 and 2015 covering most North America, along with the release of their incredibly well received and addicting debut album “Death Is Inevitable”, this crushing quintet are relentless in their effort to make themselves known across the nation. “The Manhattan Project,” “Digression” and “10-95” all display different sides of the band’s multifaceted dynamic—a dynamic that was further shown in their newest release “D/EVOLVE”. Further proof the band’s hard work has warranted much-deserved attention. So whether its with an awe-inspiring, life-taking live performance or through their incessant need to write and release more music for their fans to thrive on, InVoker are slowly but surely infecting every set of ears across America—and there is no sign of them slowing or stopping.
Simply put, our goal is to be the best Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Tribute band in the world. We think we are there already but there is more work to do.
Our lineup consists of:
Bill Guilfoil (Tom Petty) Guitar, lead vocals and harmonica
Bill Thorpe (Ron Blair/Howie Epstein) Bass Guitar, vocals, violin, mandolin,cello
Frank Gatto (Mike Campbell) Lead Guitar
Paul Cascino or Bob Kresz(Benmont Tench) Keyboards, vocals
Mike Mottys (Stan Lynch/Steve Ferrone) Drums
We have always tried to get the best available musicians for this project and recreate the experience of going to a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers show. It’s an ongoing process that will continue to evolve and grow. Please come out and see for yourself.
Phobocosm is a death metal band from Montreal that came to life in January 2008 shortly after S.D. (guitars) and J.S.G (drums) left their previous band and decided to form a new one. A few weeks later, E.B. joined the band as vocalist and bassist. R.M. later joined the band as second guitarist.
The founding members agreed on one thing when they formed the band: the band’s sound was going to be a mix between different styles of dark and extreme music, but its roots would have to be firmly planted in the “dark death metal” style with an old-school approach yet incorporating a lot of elements from other dark styles of music such as doom metal, black metal and ambient. Phobocosm’s music is comprised of an even mix of slow, mid-paced and fast parts with a strong focus on writing the darkest riffs possible in the realm of death metal.
Each band member brings his own influences into the mix to make the band’s music as dark, atypical and original as possible. Influences include Immolation, Dead Congregation, Deathspell Omega, The Axis Of Perdition, Arkhon Infaustus, Hate Eternal, Incantation, Evoken, Ulcerate and Neurosis among others.
ZHRINE rose from the fertile extreme metal breeding grounds of Kópavogur, Iceland in 2008, and soon began turning heads and snapping necks in the domestic scene with their brutal death metal style.
Through years of aural refinement of their more brutal tendencies into a crushing, yet ethereal, soundscape of oppressive blackened death, ZHRINE soon outgrew their early moniker of GONE POSTAL, with which they had started infecting eardrums worldwide with multiple performances at the Eistnaflug Festival, Iceland Airwaves Festival, and later, with a hard fought for and very successful appearance at the Wacken Metal Battle in Germany.
With their forthcoming debut album on Season of Mist, ZHRINE aim to introduce previously unheard elements of churning, visceral, atmospheres into the extreme metal palette, and cordially invite you, the listener, to join them on a road less travelled.
The unmistakable sound of ULCERATE finds its emotional apex on 6th album “Stare Into Death and Be Still”, as the band emerge from the claustrophobia and dissonance of their recent past to present a next-level exploration of melody, harmony and power.The band’s signature ultra-atmospheric blend of highest order unorthodox Death Metal with the texture of futurist Black Metal is here pared-down with the consummate hand of experience, giving stunning credence to the riff, the song and the meaning. Embracing production clarity, ULCERATE use these songs to fully showcase their otherworldly musicianship: a vocal performance from Paul Kell and of unadulterated authority, Michael Hoggard’s guitar and Jamie Saint Merat’s percussion working in tandem with startling skill and originality, simultaneously skewed and heart-rending ,often addictively succinct and reveling in strident motifs that hook, haunt and transform the listener with their expressive honesty.Thematically the album explores the concept o f“death reverence” drawing on recent personal experience to confront the truism that death and tragedy aren’t always sudden or violent, that people are often passive observers trapped “in the silent horror of observing death calmly and cleanly”. “Stare Into Death and Be Still” is the deepest, purest and most meticulous form of ULCERATE: a soul-searching conflagration of a typical melodicism, immaculate virtuosic dexterity and sublimated psychological upheaval. A breathtaking new beginning for one of the most uniquely talented bands in extreme music
GOD DEMENTIA was formed by Zack Smolenski after his exit from Dead For Days in 2009. What was originally a studio project had by 2014 morphed into a full time band once Zack enlisted former bandmates Rick Hernandez (Withering Soul, Reign Inferno, Dead for Days), Cody Zupan (Ephinepic, Reign Inferno, Dead For Days), and James Genenz (Jungle Rot, Fleshgrind, Reign Inferno, Avernus, Dead For Days).
GOD DEMENTIA’s debut album “Consuming The Delusional” was released in July 2015 and was received quite well by press and metal fans worldwide! Six months later the band grows again, recently adding guitarist and old friend Johnny Dove (Everdying, Cardiac Arrest) to the fold, expanding the bands potential and launching GOD DEMENTIA to full speed in 2016!
Horror Pain Gore Death Productions welcome northern New Jersey’s Grindcore fiends Organ Dealer to the roster with their punishing debut album “Visceral Infection”. Formed in a damp basement in June of 2013, Organ Dealer are a a flash point of sound, 100% full speed and relentless mayhem! “Visceral Infection” is 20 intense minutes of pain, frustration and relief… the sum of experiences only brought on by living in a place like NJ. This is REAL Grind with a Death Metal backbone and an honest representation of what fast, heavy music is when crammed into one tight space. Prepare yourself to have the back of your head splattered against the wall! For fans of Agents Of Abhorrence, Birdflesh, Burnt By The Sun, Cannibal Corpse, Captain Cleanoff, Carcass, Cryptopsy, Death, The Drip, Exhumed, Fulgora, Gridlink, Hayaino Daisuki, Impaled, Lock Up, Morbid Angel, Murder Construct, Napalm Death, Nasum, Pig Destroyer, P.L.F., Rotten Sound and Soilent Green
Velvet Acid Christ (VAC) is an electro-industrial band based in Denver, Colorado. The band was formed in 1990 by lead vocalist, musician, and producer Bryan Erickson, and later featured various ex-members of Toxic Coma. The project gained limited popularity in Europe’s underground nightclub scene during the mid-1990s with the compilation Church of Acid (1996) before expanding into other markets in the goth and industrial subcultures. The band’s discography includes 13 albums, the latest being Dire Land (2015).
Heisenberg Uncertainty Players (HUP) “are something of a Chicago institution, as well as being a distinct anomaly – a 17-piece big band specialising in original compositions and arrangements by the band members, who have managed to survive and thrive since 2011 playing regular shows around their home town.” (Jazz Views) Formed in 2011 and playing exclusively original compositions and arrangements from founder and director John Dorhauer, HUP has performed at venues like The Jazz Showcase, Wire, Fulton Street Collective, Martyrs’, Fitzgerald’s Night Club, The Logan Center for the Arts, Reggie’s, and WGN-TV, and they were nominated for Best Jazz Band in Chicago Reader’s Best of Chicago 2017 and 2019 Polls.
Recent projects for HUP include performances of original arrangements of The Beatles’ Abbey Road and Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy albums in their entireties; HUP the Third, in which they perform original arrangements of movements from the third symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms, and Mahler; We Tear Down Our Coliseums, which is a nine-movement multimedia suite in which each movement is written as an homage to a baseball stadium that has been destroyed; and a collaboration with hip-hop collective Hitmakuzz Productions.
Beautiful but brutal. Chaotic but calculated. It’s the balance between these seemingly opposing foils that Toronto’s Ascendia so perfectly strikes with their beastly brand of symphonic metal. Their mammoth sound spans the Atlantic, uniting elements of North American metal with a foundation rooted in the symphonic tradition of European metal, and is poised to appeal to even the most discerning genre purists.
The five-piece – currently comprised of vocalist Nick Sakal, guitarist/vocalist John Lov, drummer Billy Lov, bassist John Abanador, and keyboardist Maestro – has been amassing serious attention and accolades from Canada’s heavy music community over the past couple of years. They earned a slot on the bill for the Toronto stop of the 2013 Rockstar Mayhem Festival alongside heavyweight headliners like Mastodon, Amon Amarth, Children of Bodom, and Five Finger Death Punch. They’ve been tapped to support the likes of Into Eternity and Single Bullet Theory, and now, they’re set to capitalize on the buzz with their first studio album, expected later in 2014.
Brothers John and Billy have been performing together since their early teens, inspired by the sludgy sounds of ‘70s and ‘80s metal pioneers like Sabbath, Dio, and Rainbow. Soon after, their tastes shifted to more modern masters of the genre – “stuff like Nightwish, Kamelot, Killswitch Engage, and In Flames,” Billy explains.
One day, the two were walking to the music store with their longtime friend, Nick, singing a song. As John recalls, “All of a sudden, Nick let out a huge guttural scream that stopped us dead in our tracks.” As it turned out, he had quite the voice – swaying from epic, operatic singing and raucous, raging screams with ease. The seeds of Ascendia had been planted, and began to take root as the band performed metal covers of classic pop songs like “Maniac” and “Careless Whisper” for talent shows and battles of the bands.
“At that point, we knew we wanted to get serious, so we had to take a chance and start writing something else,” John explains. Their first composition was actually an acoustic ballad, “Starlit Eyes,” which remains a fan favourite and will be included as the bonus track on the upcoming record. Next, though, came a number of calamitous metal compositions – riotous down-tuned riffs and carefully orchestrated string sections anchored by machine gun rhythmic blasts and crowned by Sakal’s dynamic vocal prowess.
Part way into 2012, Ascendia put their writing on hold to focus on their live shows, leaving everything they had on sweat-soaked dive bar stages and building a following brick-by-brick with their gripping, airtight sets.
In 2013, they decided it was time to finally satisfy their growing fan base and deliver an album. “It’s been a very slow but calculated process,” John says. “We’ve taken baby steps the whole way, and I think that’s helped us develop as musicians and develop our sound.”
That sound, virtually unparalleled in Canada at this point, will be showcased in spades on the band’s first collection, bringing the urgency of their live shows to your speakers. The lyrics are in-depth and metaphorical, cryptically and poetically exploring themes of fate, deceit, and the human condition and culminating in a conceptual four-song series that tells the story of a young man and his spiritual Guardian.
Until the album drops, though, Ascendia will continue their quest to conquer the North American metal map with their innovative concoction of European-inspired symphonic sounds. “We always knew there was something here,” Billy says bluntly, “and now we’re ready to start the takeover.”
Five years after the successful release of the concept album “Isolate”, this time Circus Maximus are back with a strong and mature cd. “A lot happened in our personal lives during the past few years”, explains drummer Truls Haugen. “Three of us had kids, plus we also had a several bumps in the road with the production. So it has not exactly been a joyride, but it feels great to finally be done, and after all this time we are ready to unleash our new monster!”
Circus Maximus spent anyway their time also working hard to further refining their sound. With “Nine” they are poised to take their place alongside the upper echelon of Progressive Metal bands. The band’s musical formula is not easy to accomplish – take jaw dropping musicianship, add a singer like Michael Eriksen with a voice from heaven and toss it together with hooks, anthemic melodies and enough groove and heavy riffing that really gets into your head.
For this new record the band presents the best of both worlds – offering their most melodic and at the same time heaviest moments of their repertoire, with class and maturity which is really from another world. “The majority of the material on the new record was written by Mats Haugen and he has taken the music to a kind of simpler and more accessible approach, yet kept the progressive elements and the “nerve” that is Circus Maximus” says Truls Haugen. “We’re actually more melodic and heavier on this new record than we’ve ever been”.
The re-defining sound, the songwriting and the clever production, highlights the band as one of the leading, original Progressive-Metal band around. “Nine” is an absolute contender for Top Album of the year, transcending the boundaries and subgenres of Hard Rock music!
Futuristic is a Hip-Hop artist originally from Illinois but based out of Arizona who uses his humor, intelligence, and real life experiences to make music that’s like no one else’s. At the age of 21 he has already managed to gain a huge following across the united states and share the stage with some of the games biggest names. His trademark phrase “I had to do it” and his cocky but funny flow makes him distinguished while his depth and story telling makes him relatable to fans. His movement WTF (We’re The Future) is bringing people together and giving them a positive message to relay to others which led to the success of his first major project “Dream Big”.
Dream Big, released in February of 2012 included the 3 hit singles “Fuck you Mean” “I Got Sauce” and “La La La” who’s YouTube views combined for over 400,000 in the first 6 months selling singles and albums in all 50 states. The success of “Dream Big” led Futuristic on a 9 show mini tour through the West-coast and Midwest where his impeccable stage presence and extreme charisma excited fans and earned him new ones. His most recent project “Chasing Down A Dream” dropped 2/19/2013 and quickly moved to #28 on the iTunes Hip-Hop charts and #86 on billboard with the lead single “Don’t Mind If I Do” selling thousands of copies & accumulating over a Million views on YouTube. Futuristic then joined Dizzy Wright on “The Golden Age Tour” & embarked on his own solo run in over 30 cities through the west coast and midwest. His next project “Traveling Local” is set to drop early spring 2014…
Highness is a five piece collective and band based in Chicago. While they all do their thing separate, collectively, they fuse in house production with live instrumentation. RED, Gem Tree, Loona Dae, Schenay Mosley, and Ora first came together in 2011 while they all attended Columbia College. After a few weeks of jamming and jelling, these ladies, then a 9-piece band and going by the name of “SHE”, entered a school wide battle of the bands. From there they earned their first residency at The Shrine, which led them to performing amongst the heavy weights of Chicago music scene. After going through a name change circa 2014, the group reinventing their sound and image as something most would describe as diverse, funky, soulful and even an edge of punk. Highness recently released their second studio EP self-titled “The Highness Collective”.
The eclectic, pop and soul infused sound of singer/ songwriter Justina Valentine has made the New Jersey entertainer a spotlighted artist via the online digital realm and a mainstay in the music world.
True hardcore music is unstoppable. Coldside has destroyed the barriers of the Florida hardcore music scene and embedded themselves into it’s gritty core. Heavily influenced by the NYHC culture, Coldside will take you back to the days of circle pits, parking lot brawls, and bloodstained boots. When the message meant something and hardcore was a lifestyle. Ex-members of Wardogs, Vietnom, and C.B.S/Lita Gray, Coldside is constantly evolving into one of the hardest bands on the East Coast.
Still staying true to the times when hardcore was more then music, when it was a movement. Coldside brings back the tradition, the aggression, and unity that hardcore music has always been about. Heavy riffs, sing-alongs, and lyrics written from years of growing up in the underground music scene pour out in every song. Like going to a show with 10 kids or 500 who may not know each other, but knowing that everyone at the show with a heart is compelled with the same intensity, to never let anyone even think they can stop them. True hardcore at its root’s…COLDSIDE.
Fibonacci Sequence /ˌfēbəˈnäCHē ˈsēkwəns/ – n. 1. a series of numbers in which each number is the sum of the two proceeding numbers (e.g. the series 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,etc.) 2. a progressive rock/fusion quartet based in Milwaukee, WI consisting of : Michael J. Butzen – Guitar, Thomas Ford – Drums, Jeffrey Schuelke – Keyboards, Chad Novell – Bass Guitar
Fibonacci Sequence has exploded onto the Progressive music scene the release of their debut CD Numerology. The album has ascended to the top of the genre, winning high praise with progressive music reviewers. Here are a few samples:
“Fibonacci Sequence has made a hell of an album. For me, it can compete with the Liquid Tension Experiment albums. Numerology has the same intensity and virtuosity-and they add even something LTE lacks; emotion. Most people will think I am crazy putting this fairly unknown band at the top of my list, but hey, something like this deserves to be there. I only can respect these guys for making this great music. Six stars.…”
— Pedro Bekkers, Background Magazine
“Numerology is one of the finest instrumental prog albums released in the past couple of years or so, and their ProgDay appearance will hopefully contribute to putting Fibonacci Sequence on the map for those progressive rock fans who are still unaware of them. Highly recommended.”
— progmistress, Fire of Unknown Origin
Probably one of the most famous bands in Armenia, The Bambir is a music collective spanning 4 decades. With more than fifty musicians having passed through its ranks, the band has now moved into its second generation, with sons of the original members making up a new four-piece ensemble.
They have played in Moscow, Paris, Los Angeles, New York, Istanbul, Beirut, Georgia, Greece and all over Armenia. In January 2012 they made the decision to make a go of breaking into the European market, and moved to Dublin for 6 months. Their incredible musicianship and intense energy on-stage made them stand out immediately, and it wasn’t long before they were booked for festivals like KnockanStockan, No Place Like Dome, Body&Soul and Electric Picnic. They became known for their relentless gigging, sometimes playing 3 shows/night. They appeared on local radios and State (magazine) called them “Ireland’s hairiest and hardest working band,” featuring them as part of their 2012 Electric Picnic coverage.
The Bambir’s notoriety is growing now as they are attracting more international attention. The band is set to release a new EP in June 2014.
Formed in 2014 in Boone, NC, Metaphonia is the Prog-Funk brainchild of bassist/vocalist Alex Golden and keyboardist Mike Runyon. What started as a trio between Golden, Runyon, and drummer Jason Burch, swiftly turned into a head-spinning chamber orchestra of math-dance-madness. With a current lineup also featuring Blake Bostain (trumpet), John Portela (saxophone), Jeremiah Brown (keys), and Erik Brandt (guitar), Metaphonia boasts some of the finest and most diverse talents in the high country. So, if funky, complex, and seldom-apologetic, satirical lyrical content sound up your crooked alley, Metaphonia is just the nonsense for you!
Hello, I’m Mike Keneally, writing things about myself. What’s happening with you? You good?
Here are a few words about my life in music. I appreciate you reading them, if in fact you do:
I started playing keyboard when I was seven, when my parents gave me an electronic organ for Christmas. It was a total box of magic to me. For my eleventh birthday I got a guitar and that was a whole different kind of beast, one that I loved just as much. I played both instruments obsessively while I was growing up.
I loved The Beatles, too, to an unreasonable degree, starting when I was five years old, and over time that love extended to (I’m writing a list now) Frank Zappa, ELP, Alice Cooper, The Rolling Stones, Steely Dan, Todd Rundgren, Stevie Wonder, Yes, The Beach Boys, Henry Cow, Joni Mitchell, Gentle Giant, Sly Stone, The Residents, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Steve Reich, XTC, Radiohead and a million other incredible people. They Might Be Giants too, they’ve done some unbelievable stuff. Beefheart obviously. Thelonious Monk, sheesh. Laurie Anderson is badass too. Crimson! And Tull! Let’s talk Thomas Dolby and Leonard Bernstein for a second! All of those influences and countless others have found their way into my music; music which, I hope, doesn’t really sound like any of it.
I was a weird kid, and I slowly learned to adapt in different circumstances, except when I didn’t. To the extent that I did, this came in handy when I was 25 years old, in late 1987, and got hired to play guitar and keyboard with Frank Zappa, my ultimate musical hero when I was growing up. It was also my first real professional gig as a musician, and it came with a lot of hard and fast learning, or not. It was a mind-blowing experience in every way, literally a dream come true, but also far more than that. I feel the repercussions every day.
(Just a sec. I’m veering off-narrative here, but do you see over there where it says I’m the leading progressive-rock genius etc.? [Bill Meredith wrote that by the way, thank you Bill!] Anyway, is that really true? What do you guys think? Tell you what, I’ll count to three, and then you all yell out what you think about it. One. Two! THREE! Hey, I couldn’t hear anything!)
Back to my life story here. It took me a while to recover after the Zappa tour, and decide on a next step, but as the 90s got underway I eventually got a solo career going (while also working with Frank’s sons in the group Z, and then playing in Steve Vai’s band for six years. Both extremely fun and educational experiences). Some friends of mine (Jeff and Suzanne Forrest, thank you!) in San Diego started a label, and I signed with Immune Records and did eight audio or video projects with them from 1992 to 1998 – this was when I did hat., Boil That Dust Speck and Sluggo! as well as other titles. Then my pal Scott Chatfield and I formed Exowax Recordings in 1999, and starting with the instrumental one-man-band album Nonkertompf we unleashed another twenty or so Keneally releases, including regular albums, EPs, limited editions with DVDs or bonus albums, etc. Exowax merrily continues pumping out delicious audio for you, to this very freakin’ day.
I started playing live with my own bands a lot in the late 90s, playing insanely intricate stuff, improvising a lot and doing a lot of crazy things onstage, but not quite settling into a jam band scene, or a fusion scene, or an alternative scene, or a prog scene, but (I guess?) combining something of all of that, without ever attempting to do anything specific genre-wise at all; I just keep trying to make music that I enjoy hearing. Add in the energy we get from the many varied and wonderful music-lovers we’ve played for around the world, and it’s all been an extraordinary thing for me to be a part of. I’m endlessly grateful to all the musicians who’ve played my music through they years, and to all the people who’ve enjoyed it.
Sometime around 2000 I started occasionally seeing brown triangles, giving me musical instruction according to some arcane outerplanetary notational system. This would happen, sometimes, when I was playing guitar onstage with my eyes closed. After a couple of years, it stopped. I think it helped my playing for good, and I enjoyed it a lot.
In 2006 I started writing songs with Andy Partridge, former leader of XTC and songwriting hero of mine. Six years later, I put out an album called Wing Beat Fantastic: Songs Written By Mike Keneally & Andy Partridge. Working with Andy was another fairly unbelievable dream come true for me, similar to working with Zappa in terms of the impact these gentlemen have had on my life.
This album and other recent albums of mine have been recorded at Scott Chatfield’s studio Chatfield Manor, with ace engineer Mike Harris a constant co-conspirator. Every moment it’s possible for me to be working on music here, I do my best to take it. I love making albums. It’s an addiction.
Recent releases include Scambot 1 (part one of an epic ongoing saga; Scambot 2 is presently in the works); Evidence of Humanity with drummer Marco Minnemann; and a live DVD/CD set of the Mike Keneally Band, called bakin’ @ the potato! Here’s a video from bakin’: youtube.
Largely thanks to the kind patronage of Co de Kloet at NTR Music in the Netherlands, I’ve also written some orchestral pieces (sometimes with myself as guitar soloist); the most notable is the 52-minute suite The Universe Will Provide, recorded with Holland’s Metropole Orkest and released by NPS Music/Favored Nations in 2003. No other musical experience compares to playing live with an orchestra. For an electric guitarist it’s a real challenge to create the proper space as a soloist, without become overwhelming with volume, and finding a dynamic which feels of a piece with the orchestration. I’d love to do more of it and continue refining the process.
My new album on Exowax Recordings is You Must Be This Tall. It’s one of my crazier releases; mostly instrumental, although there are a few key vocal tracks on it. In a way it might be my most focused and ambitious album yet; it’s a 12-song, 44-minute rocket blast of punchy experimentalism with a lot of melodic and harmonic depth to it, if I do freaking say so. I’m not impressed with myself, you understand, but I’m totally happy with this album.
I also work a lot nowadays as a member of Joe Satriani’s band, and that is really hugely fun. And I play death metal, along with Brendon Small, as a guitarist in the live band Dethklok (originated in cartoon form on the [adult swim] TV program Metalocalypse. We, the human band, play the death metal live, while the cartoon Dethklok is in rhythmic sync with us, on a huge LED screen above the stage. People go nuts. It is incredibly fun).
Looking at all of it in one place, it’s a strange career I have, but it’s been more fun than a basket of warm aardvarks in the springtime.
CORIMA is a Zeuhl/Rock in Opposition ensemble, originally from El Paso, TX. CORIMA started as a four-piece ensemble in 2005, composed of drums (Sergio Ravelo), bass (Juan Tarin), and two guitars (Erik Martinez & Jaime Silva). Initially influenced by bands like King Crimson and ELP, their sound gradually evolved when their new synth/keys player joined (Francisco Casanova) and both guitarists left the band. They discovered Zeuhl and Rock in Opposition and CORIMA’s vision and musicality transformed drastically into what it is now.
In 2007, CORIMA released their first album in El Paso, TX and toured the East Coast of the United States, where they played with highly influential bands such as: Child Abuse, The Red Masque, The Great Tyrant, Ahleuchatistas, and Zs. Briefly after the tour, Sergio and Francisco moved to Los Angeles, where Andrea Calderón (violin/vocals), Ryan Kamiyamazaki (bass), and Patrick Shiroishi (saxophone) joined Corima. The current lineup typically plays with close friends and colleagues, Upsilon Acrux, and on one occasion were given the opportunity to open a concert for Yoshida Tatsuya at The Smell in Los Angeles. In 2013, CORIMA toured the West Coast of the United States, and also played Prog Day festival in North Carolina. In 2014 CORIMA will be playing SeaProg Festival in Seattle, WA, as well as FestivAlterNativo in Queretaro, MX. CORIMA has released their latest album QUETZALCOATL through the great Soleil Zeuhl, and are working on a new album to be finished in 2015.
Without question, one of the brightest lights on the American symphonic progressive rock scene, IZZ melds classic and modern prog influences, strong melodies, complex male-female multi-part vocal harmonies, and stirring guitar, synthesizer, bass, and double-drumming work into a familiar yet refreshing musical sound.
Since the release of their first album in 1999, IZZ has been a stalwart of the American
progressive rock music scene. Combining a passion for melody with an adventurous musical spirit, IZZ has produced some of American progressive rock’s most beloved songs of the last 20 years including Coming Like Light, Star Evil Gnoma Su, Late Night Salvation, and 23 Minutes of Tragedy.
IZZ is currently marking the 20th Anniversary of the release of their breakout album, I Move, by releasing a special remastered edition of the album, including bonus tracks, which is available now at izzmusic.bandcamp.com. For their Winter 2023 live shows, IZZ will be performing “I Move” in its entirety.
The name game: it’s easy to play, way harder to win. When Charleston, SC native Jason Brewer adopted the name for his band back in 2005 (from a scene in Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic: “Bill Murray, feeling all depressed, goes into a bar, and ‘Explorers Club’ is written on the wall. I thought, ‘What a cool name for a band!’”), he may not have known just how propitious a choice he’d made.
It won out over all contenders and it perfectly fit the music he wanted to make. Built on the formidable cornerstones of 60s and 70s pop-rock (Brian Wilson, Phil Spector, effervescent Top-40 singles), it would advance a unique contemporary approach that would explore and discover ever more creative ground. Since then, Brewer’s quest has led to three widely acclaimed albums—2008’s Freedom Wind, 2012’s Grand Hotel, 2016’s Together (plus a spate of singles, contributions to tribute albums, et al)—and now the simultaneous release of the new all-originals album The Explorers Club and the cover set To Sing and Be Born Again.
Of the Together album, PopMatters enthused, “The harmonies are tight, the melodies strong and catchy, and the overall mood is jubilant and uplifting, making it the perfect antidote for the toxic politics, violence, personal struggles, and controversies that swirl around all our lives like a constant cloud.” And that was written in 2016. The closing cut on The Explorers Club, “Look to the Horizon,” Brewer explains, “speaks to folks right now. It says, ‘Things aren’t always perfect in the moment, but look forward. That’s when they can get better.’”
Part of Brewer’s voyage of discovery has been acknowledging that ‘If you want to get something done, you have to do it yourself.’ From TEC’s very start, the musical vision was mostly Brewer’s; he’d recruit fellow musicians along the way, both in the studio and onstage, but he was clearly at the helm of the enterprise.
“We put out the Together record in 2016,” he recalls, “and did a few gigs and tours. But then later, when I said, ‘I’ve got a bunch of new music I want to do,’ some of the guys in the band had other commitments. And it was hard to get momentum flowing working around other musicians’ schedules. So, at this point there’s no longer a fully committed group.”
“I really felt like ‘I gotta make this record.’ I had songs and felt strongly about getting them recorded.” He enlisted additional musicians, but The Explorers Club and To Sing and Be Born Again are clearly, from start to finish, the realization of one man’s intent and imagination.
In Nashville (where he now lives), Brewer took his songs into Columbia’s Studio A. “I got studio players and some musician friends, and we did the majority of the tracking in three days,” he says. “There was a lot of history to soak up in that room: vintage Sixties guitars, the microphones Elvis used. It was like a classic Nashville session: one song every two or three hours. I’d given everyone charts and in some cases demos, and I’d tell them, ‘I’m looking for this type of thing here: what would an arranger for, say, Dusty Springfield do here?’”
With basic tracks cut at Columbia and vocals recorded at home or at the house of one of Brewer’s co-writers, both the new originals and the covers album were done at the same time. “There was no separation between the two,” Brewer explains. “I wanted both to sound similar; they had a mutual inspiration going on.” The latter’s track list came from several sources: “At our early shows, we’d always get asked to do covers. Fans were most stoked about the Turtles’ ‘She’d Rather Be with Me.’ I always thought Danny Hutton’s ‘Roses and Rainbows’ was such a cool song. And ‘The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore’: it was my mom’s suggestion. She’s been begging me for 10 years to record that.”
Guest vocalists on To Sing… include former Barenaked Ladies co-founder Steven Page, and Jay Gonzalez of Drive-By Truckers. “I saw Steven play a solo set in 2019 and I knew we had a lot in common,” Brewer remembers. “He’s such a great singer, a super nice guy and he did an amazing job [on Orpheus’ 1968 single “Can’t Find the Time”]. The Explorers Club had done shows with Jay when he did solo sets and I always heard a real Todd Rundgren flair in his singing. I knew he was a big Lovin’ Spoonful fan, so I just gave it a shot: did the track [for “Didn’t Want To Have To Do It”] and sent it to Jay. He sent back a great vocal, then we added harmony and the bridge.”
The Explorers Club album is, as one review said of its predecessor, Together, “a joy of a listen, a summer breeze.” It’s also, as Uncut asserted of the songs and arranging on the band’s debut, a triumph of “recasting [classic pop] sounds for the 21st Century.” It’s more too: super-soulful in the driving chorus of “One Drop of Rain,” tender and caressing on “Dawn” (“Probyn Gregory, from Brian Wilson’s band, came up with the middle ‘whistling piano’ part”) and resolutely hopeful on “Look to the Horizon.”
Brewer admits the current health crisis makes public performing a challenge, but he remains upbeat about taking his new music to audiences, most likely through live-streaming.
So where could TEC’s next expedition be headed? “It might be cool to take a bit of a left turn,” he says, mulling the question. “I get categorized by others as being very Sixties and Seventies oriented. But, within that mode, I’d like to take the basis of what I’m good at and add other things on top, to paint with a new brush.”
In 2021 Jason Completed work on a special fan centric album named Wattage! On this record The fans and followers of the group were enlisted along with many musical friends of the band to create a trip back to the heyday of radio.
New York City-based progressive metal band Infinite Spectrum has garnered rave notices and struck a chord with prog rock fans the world over. Closing a three-year gap since their acclaimed 2013 debut album, Misguided, INFINITE SPECTRUM’s Sensory Records debut, Haunter Of The Dark is a full-length concept recording based on the short story by master of horror, H. P. Lovecraft, with the band bringing the famed short story to life through ambitious compositions featuring an abundance of dynamic, virtuosic playing, and powerful, melodic vocals. Re-teaming with Grammy award-winning engineer Chris Theis to capture their signature sound, with Haunter Of The Dark, INFINITE SPECTRUM has created a remarkable sonic journey for fans of prog both old and new. Combining theatrical elements with the progressive metal genre, the band has crafted their own brand of musical storytelling, which includes elements of radio-style drama for a uniquely cinematic listening experience. The music of INFINITE SPECTRUM is eclectic, innovative, and experimental in nature, with influences such as Dream Theater, Symphony X, Steve Vai, and Neal Morse, as well as classic prog bands like Yes and Rush. Their current line-up features Will Severin (vocals), Alex Raykin (guitar), Alex Repetti (bass), Greg Schwab (drums), and Katie Pachnos (keys).
Eight years ago, a couple of arrangers-for-hire decided, for a change, to hire themselves instead. Refreshingly freed from the constraints of client expectations, but now dauntingly faced with an endless spectrum of possibilities, they whittled it all down and focused on revisiting, as jazz arrangements, some of their favorites from the genre known as “Progressive Rock.” They felt an abiding affinity with the bold, adventurous pioneers of the 60’s and 70’s – musicians who eschewed boundaries and wanted to cut loose and show the world what was possible on their instruments when social dancing was no longer the driving imperative.
As arrangers, this fledgling cabal wanted the same thrill – to express ideas and techniques, accumulated over the years, that they’d rarely had the opportunity to exploit in the course of their work.
They invited some monstrously talented, like-minded friends to share in the creation/performance/recording of said artifacts, and Wave Mechanics Union was born.
Along the way, the nascent collective mutated and grew to embrace a wider palette of sounds, styles, and songs – as much as they loved Prog and Classic rock, there was more stuff out there calling to them and their creative impulses. So the paradigm evolved, as paradigms do. Perhaps it would be best described, now, as “we think these tunes are cool. How ’bout you?”
When you let your mind roam freely, the pigeon-hole genre labels get harder to apply. Is this “jazz?” Well, that depends how you define it, if defining it is even necessary. It’s music, rendered with love. let’s leave it at that.
The men and women of Wave Mechanics Union invite you to peruse and enjoy Volume II, “Further to Fly”, and hope you’ll find the same joy in listening that we felt working with some great music – arranging, playing, singing, and recording as our OWN clients.
The Galactic Cowboy Orchestra has been freakin’ minds for 6 years! Since 2009, the band has stretched their own musical limits with album after album of intensely energetic ART-ROCK. Definition of ART-ROCK: A type of rock music, often with poetic lyrics, characterized by sophisticated harmonic, dynamic and technical complexity based on forms derived from classical (and jazz) music and requiring performers of considerable training and skill. It sounds so serious, but when you combine that type of music with four fun-loving musicians who don’t take themselves too seriously and who have a love of so much music beyond art-rock (which is why the band covers songs from Otis Rush’s All Your Love to Whipping Post to When the Levee Breaks to YYZ), you get a bit of magic in live music form. The band writes and performs music that excites them and has a blast doing it! The GCO appreciates and aspires to superior musicianship while combining their love of a good riff, hummable melody and groovy jam… over a jazz/jazz-rock musical bedrock. It all culminates in an intensely energetic live performance because “we freakin’ love what we do and love that the fans dig it too!! “
BRAND X are recognized as true musical pioneers, as they helped create an entire musical genre and influenced a broad spectrum of musicians and bands, from Phish to Dream Theatre. They are unrivaled in their creativity, originality and approach. Their contemporaries include bands such as Weather Report, Headhunters, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Jaco Pastorious and Chick Corea, all crafting a unique blend of Jazz, Rock, and Ethic influences now widely known by fans worldwide as Fusion.
Many claim it’s BRAND X’s unique combination of masterful chops mixed with their childlike melodies that make so special. Some musicians play from inside their own world, but John Goodsall, Percy Jones, Kenwood Dennard and the guys from BRAND X play from their own universe! REUNION: After years of rumors of a potential reunion, it is finally happening. Three of the four main members came together recently in New York, and according to sources present at the rehearsals, listening to them play was “…like traveling back in time to the legendary ‘Livestock’ album – there was no question this was BRAND X! Their sound was uncannily identical to the BRAND X of ‘Livestock’ – and that in itself speaks volumes”
Cuddle Riot is a band formed in Chicago with rock and punk influences.
Band members consist of Arturo Mar on vocals and guitar, Steve Osterman on drums.
From their album “Around the Square”, they feature 5 great new songs for your audible pleasure.
Don’t forget to listen and vote for Cuddle Riot in Ernie Ball’s Battle of the Bands/Vans Warped Tour ’11 at: http://www.battleofthebands.com/u/CuddleRiot
Native Construct is the product of collaboration between several students that began in 2011 at the storied Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Fueled by a desire to breathe new life into the modern metal genre, Native Construct artfully blends a wide spectrum of compositional influences, ranging from classical all the way to prog metal and musical theatre. The result is a wonderfully unique sonic texture, made up of extended-range guitars, theatrical vocals, and a full complement of symphonic instrumentation. Guitarist and composer Myles Yang’s passion for innovation, coupled with his extensive academic study of arranging and compositional techniques, makes Native Construct a truly distinctive up-and-coming metal act.
In 2014, the band’s music caught the ear of Brian Slagel at Metal Blade Records, and led to a recording contract and a worldwide release of the band’s debut album, Quiet World. The album promises to be a rich, vibrant, and aurally engaging musical experience. While following a musically programmatic approach to its storytelling, the album demonstrates a fascinating unification of numerous musical styles and provides an emotional journey through the vast and imaginative world Native Construct have envisioned.
Quiet World was largely self-produced and written between 2011 and 2013 in between the individual band members’ studies at the Berklee College of Music. What began as jam sessions simply for fun eventually turned into a full-fledged musical endeavor. All tracking and programming was done at the band’s home studios in Boston, MA, with the exception of vocals, which were recorded with Jamie King at The Basement Studios in Winston-Salem, NC. The album was mixed by Rich Mouser at The Mouse House Studio in Los Angeles, CA, and mastered by Jamie King.
A brief listen to Quiet World is enough to make it apparent that there is a concept, here. Though it’s best to let the band explain the album in their own words: “Quiet World is about a guy who loves a girl. The guy is a bit of an odd and eccentric person – an outcast. He’s also a mute, and a little unstable, as it turns out. The girl doesn’t return his feelings, but he can’t bring himself to let go. As his unrequited passion for her devolves into obsession and eventual resentment, his mind begins to slip further and further away. He convinces himself that he can’t be loved because of his condition and abnormalities. So he decides to create for himself a new, fantastic world of which he has complete control – a world where there are no oddballs or outcasts. A world where everyone is surrounded by people who are just like themselves: a much quieter world.
“It’s at this point that the first track of the album, “Mute,” begins. And it turns out that many of the subjects of his new world are not as content living this way as he is. In the second track we see a new character, the Archon, rise up and unite his people in the clouds with the once distant people in the sea. He leads an opposition to “Sinister Silence,” as the people come to call him. The rest of the album unfolds with events within the “Quiet World” and manifestations of the enduring struggle between the Archon and Sinister Silence. The lone exception is track number four, “Your Familiar Face,” which steps out of this world for a moment to give a closer look at the events prior to the first track and the tragedy of Sinister Silence.”
What is impressive about Native Construct is not necessarily an involved concept on a debut record, it’s that they wrote, produced, and recorded the album while balancing school work and on a college student budget. It’s the epitome of “self produced.” And what Native Construct wants fans to know is that “the composition process for this album was intensely meticulous from top to bottom. Each note, each lyric, each twist and each turn were arrived at with the utmost care. As such, we were able to weave rich, often subtle layers of meaning into the music and text. We’re very excited for you all to experience the result of our efforts!”
New soulful, live dimension by producers Rondell Adams (DJ) and KM Nelson (guitars, etc), featuring many great musicians and artists on the front lines…
Conceived during the summer of 2014, Nasty Snacks is a nine-piece funkestra bringing you nothing short of the most groovy and most booty-moving music possible.Formed in 2014, Nasty Snacks is a 9-10 piece “funkestra” consisting of members of thevibrant Chicago music scene. Described by some as “future funk” the genre-bendingband blends elements of funk, R&B, and fusion.Having played at many of the best Chicago venues and supported various nationallytouring acts, the Snacks have proven to showcase a pocket-slamming performanceevery show. Their energetic, horn-driven melodies, and powerful lead vocals give theSnacks their nasty edge. With two guitarists who switch between lead/rhythm, keyboardsounds that fill classic and cosmic space, and a super tight rhythm section, the soniclandscape is endless.In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, the band welcomed a new lead vocalist,Stefanie Mitchell (The Right Now), and began writing new material remotely. Throughout this time, the band has come together to push for social change by donating album sales to charitable organizations, to stay safe by getting vaccinated, and to keep playing shows while continuing to write new, exciting material.The band’s most recent release (March 2021) the Smoke Signals EP was recorded atTransient Sound Studios in Chicago by Steven Gillis and features Mitchell, their newvocalist, on all three tracks. The band hosted several online events to celebrate therelease and the response has been amazing. Smoke Signals EP can be streamed andpurchased everywhere.
Since their formation in 2014, Uada’s rise has been meteoric. Hailing from the Pacific Northwest, the band quietly released their debut album, Devoid of Light in 2016 through and word of mouth quickly built from there: here was BLACK METAL writ large, classic and uncompromising but brimming with power, soul, and artistry, and all without bluster and bathos. Uada’s debut album surely expanded the lexicon of the melodic black metal idiom, and the underground took notice.
Two years later came Cult of a Dying Sun, whereby the band further perfected their craft and compellingly took to the stage, their performances garnering as much acclaim as their recordings. During all this, more than the underground started to take notice; the name Uada was on the tongues of folks usually reticent to black metal.
In 2020, almost effortlessly, Uada fully perfect their craft and delivered Djinn. Simply titled but by no means simple in construction nor execution, Djinn builds upon the increasingly ambitious songwriting of its no-less-considerable predecessor, but pushes their dazzling artistry into nearly Technicolor landscapes of the Beyond.
