Forming in 2013, four Chicago rock scene veterans teamed up to form Ignition Control. Bass player Mike Durso combined forces with guitarist Jim Wiora and singer/guitarist Lou Parrini. After an amicable parting of ways with original drummer, Carrie Lilligan, Jim’s brother Matt Wiora stepped up to take over duties on …the skins.
All together this foursome has over 30 years of stage experience and is thrilled to bring the party-on good times soundtrack of the open road cruise known as Van Rock to all of you!
We will fill your cruising vessel’s musical tank with a premium grade rocktane . We’ll airbrush the aural mural that’ll make you want to crank that custom sound system, roll down the windows and feel the wind in your bitchin’ sideburns. It’s all hard riffs, swinging rhythms, thunderous beats, soulful melodies, hypnotic jams, catchy hooks and bluesy vocals. So take a roll of the fuzzy dice and come dig the grooves that only Ignition Control is laying down. Ride on.
Milwaukee-based indie-pop rockers, Ivy Spokes, bring a sound they like to call “bio-digital” to the world. Formed in 2011 around the talents of Brandon Arndt, Hans Blanc and Phil Cowan, Ivy Spokes gives their audience a hearty portion of pop with a side of rock n’ roll. After independently releasing their 2011 debut EP, Chaos to Cosmos, which featured WAMI (Wisconsin Area Music Industry) Song of the Year Award Nominated song “In Dreams”, the band has immersed themselves in the Midwest scene, constantly writing and playing shows. Their guys are currently finishing up writing their next album to be released early 2014.
Zachariah N DeVries, a.k.a SpeedFlask, dropped out of school to travel around the US to attend music festivals. After a summer of traveling, he decided to go back to school to learn music theory and is currently pursuing music production at Recording Radio Film Connection.
Brooklyn rockers Walking Shapes have come a long way since their formation in late 2012. The band released their debut LP, Mixtape Vol. 1, on July 30 (via No Shame Records), had a residency at Pianos in NYC, and garnered truckloads of critical support from across the US for their bass-heavy, atmospheric rock aesthetic and frenetic live shows.
The band churns out brash anthemic rockers, steeped in hefty doses of melancholy sentiment and often complex world-weary narratives. But the band isn’t’ afraid to lighten up, and a few of their tracks could even be described as sunny, fuzz-filled rockers. Even these lighter songs, though, have an undercurrent of restlessness and uncertainty to them, as if the music itself wasn’t quite sure where it was heading. But far from feeling as though the band is just wandering aimlessly around the studio, the songs on Mixtape Vol. 1 pulse with a self-described “analog-meets-digital” heartbeat.
Virgin Mobile Meth Lab is a fast paced, highly addictive rock-n-roll band based in the seedy part of the South Bend, Indiana music scene. Featuring former and current members of Urinal Mints, Ass Puppets, Negative Nancy, Knuckle Deep and Orion’s Fury, this band is well diversed when cooking up this highly potent rock. In the vein of the Dwarves, Supersuckers, The Stooges and Turbonegro, you’ll get strung out and pulling tricks to get all the VMML that you can.
Snow tha Product, a native of California, but resident of Texas, is an underground phenomenon and sensation taking the scene by storm in a way that has put male MCs on alert. She’s a beauty and a beast – looks and lyrical skills on the microphone, respectively. Physical stature aside, she stands as tall as any female MC in the game and can wreck a track in fluent Spanish or English with a handful of male MCs trying to match her lyrical level, as she did on Capea El Dough P City Remix.
Let us be forthcoming about 22-year-old, Claudia A. Feliciano. We’d put her up against any female MC in the game, and we’re confident she’d give anyone of them a run for their money… or take their money. She’s a versatile, bilingual lyricist who can fluently chop you up in English or Spanish, so take your pick. She has the swag, attitude, fine-ass looks and in-your-face rhyming abilities to be a hip-hop sensation in the U.S. or Latin America, if only the industry could, as Snow would say it, wake they’re game up.
For now, Feliciano, better known to the streets as Snow Tha Product, is going to have to settle for being an international underground buzz-maker. We’re not exaggerating. You can find her on anything from videos with major-label Spanish-pop sensations like Jaime Kohen, to hit rap videos in Latin America to underground Mic Passes in Texas.
Everything we want in a Latino – excuse us – Latina, hip-hop artist.
“I am versatile and even though I’ve been taught the industry wants you to pick a lane and stay there, I’m too hyperactive for that. I’m going to just swang this Cadillac I call a career.”
Follow Snow Tha Product on MySpace and catch her web shows there every Wednesday at 9 p.m. CST. You can also catch her on Twitter, and download her free mixtape, Run Up or Shut Up here.
Very few Minnesota rock & roll bands, in the days before Prince and Grammy-winning producers Jimmy “Jam” Harris and Terry Lewis made the scene, managed to successfully steal even a slight serving of the nation’s auditory attention. Among such acts were the Trashmen, the Gestures, the Castaways and Crow. Before their precarious perching on the charts, Crow was known as South 40: Dave Wagner (vocals), Dave “Kink” Middlemist (organ), Harry Nehls (drums) and the brothers Dick Wiegand (guitar) and Larry Wiegand (bass), a twin cities bar band known for playing hard edged R & B. The formation of South 40 can be credited to the merging of two of Minneapolis’ favorite mid-sixties rock bands: the Rave-Ons and Jokers Wild. The album, South 40 Live At Someplace Else! (Metrobeat MBS-1000) contained such rock standards as “Fire,” “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” “Get Out Of My Life Woman” and “99 ½” as well as several excellent originals such as “I Want Sunshine,” “If No Love,” “What’s Happenin’?” and “Goin’ Someplace Else.” Even then the group exhibited a very original style, combining the best of soul music, R & B, straight-ahead rock & roll. South 40 never received a lot of local airplay, so to speak, but did garner a bit of recognition in the outlying areas like Fargo, North Dakota and Duluth Minnesota.
The band’s big break came when it took first place in a “contest for rock bands” sponsored by the National Ballroom Operators Association in Des Moines, Iowa on September 29th, 1968. The prize – a recording session with Columbia Records. Three judges presided over N.B.O.A. contest that night, one was Timothy Kehr, former booking agent of the Rave-Ons. It came down to South 40 and the Fabulous Flippers, split even, until Kehr cast the deciding vote.
On January 31st, 1969, Crow entered the Columbia Recording Studio in Chicago for the first time, to begin what would be a bittersweet roller coaster ride that would last the next two-and-a-half years. Several changes had occurred in the four-month interim since winning the N.B.O.A. deal. Most notably was the name change. The guys, as one, decided to make it on a national level, South 40 just wasn’t going to cut it. But why Crow? “Well, a crow is a kind of funky bird,” recalled Kink Middlemist. “It’s a scavenger, a nasty hard-hitting kind of bird and our music is kind of that way. Also, it’s a short name, one that’s easy to remember.” Enough said.
Along with the name change came a personnel one too. Harry Nehls had received a good offer to join the local Minneapolis group T.C. Atlantic, so he left. After searching through the Minneapolis Musician’s Union entourage, Michael Malazgar was settled on. Denny Craswell (of the Castaways) had been the group’s first choice, but he had to finish up a few prior commitments with Blackwood Apology, of which he was a member. He would join the other four in about a month. Mike Malasgar was on the five-song session in Chicago, however. The five songs recorded during that cold January day were: “Time To Make A Turn,” “Busy Day,” “Gonna Leave A Mark,” “White Eyes” and “Evil Woman.” Columbia Records passed on Crow after hearing the demos. “Columbia had specked us the free time,” said Larry, “but they never promised records would come of the deal. I’m sure they had visions of Dave being another Gary Puckett, who was big for them at the time. We were a little bit too funky for them though. I’m sure that’s why they passed.”
Unbeknownst to Crow, Bob Monaco had been at the sessions that day listening and observing. Bob was the A & R man for Dunwich Productions. He liked what he heard in the group and called up Bruce Brantseg and expressed interest. Monaco notified his partners Bill Traut and Jim Golden, who were financial “brains” at Dunwich. The two began shopping Crow around to numerous major labels: Liberty, Elektra, Atlantic and Amaret.
‘Atlantic almost signed us,” said Dave. “They had Atlantic on the line and Amaret on the other. Amaret was decided upon because Traut and Golden felt we’d get buried with the larger Atlantic, who had so many other things going on. Of course we wanted to go with the bigger company of the two but nobody listened to us. In a matter of months, it turned out to be the biggest mistake we ever made. Amaret just couldn’t cover us. There was no way they could possibly follow us up with product in all the towns we traveled to. If the kids couldn’t find the product in their local record stores to buy, they’d forget about us real fast. That’s the bottom line.”
“Amaret got a hold of our songs and decided (on their own) to add horns to get more of a ‘Chicago’ sound like the Buckinghams,” said Dick. They had their own thoughts as to how to make our music sound better. I remember us arguing amongst ourselves about whether we wanted horns in our music or not. The bottom line was; if we didn’t have the horns in it, they weren’t going to put it out. That plucked our strings. The more we listened to the deal, the fatter it sounded. So we thought, ‘Well as long as these guys are pulling the strings as far as money goes – let’s get the record out.’ We figured we could regain control later on. At the time, I don’t think we thought the record would get as big as it did.”
With Denny Craswell finally in their ranks, Crow was brought into the Great Lakes Recording studio in Sparta, Michigan to begin work on what was to be their first album, Crow Music (Amaret ST 5002). “Time To Make A Turn” / “Busy Day” was chosen to begin the vinyl voyage for Crow. “I was dead set against Amaret releasing ‘Time…’ as our debut single from day one,” Dave said. “I knew it wasn’t a hit single. They went ahead and put it out, and it didn’t do much of anything.”
“Finally, they listened to us and released ‘Evil Woman.’ The record broke out in a major market (Seattle) in October and by year’s end, sold upwards of 600,000 copies. Billboard always quotes the song as making it to number 19, but Cashbox had it at number 7. Either way those kinds of sales were a commercial success in anyone’s book!”
With an album and a hit single both selling well, the band changed its base of operations temporarily, moving part and parcel to Chicago in the summer of 1969. There the guys accepted every job they could find. Monaco and Brantseg soon obliged the five by sending them on a major concert circuit to plug their released material. The band headlined the fourth annual Denver Teenage Fair (“Pop Expo ’69”), a major outdoor festival in Olympia, Washington called Sky River, and hit a certain peak for itself by appearing in concert with Janis Joplin in November. Spirits ran high and national fame seemed assured.
Crow continued to soar throughout 1970, a year in which the band grossed in excess of $200,000- a far cry from the $3000 a man it made in its days as South 40. By May 1970, their second album Crow by Crow (Amaret ST 5006) had been released and included superb songs, particularly “Cottage Cheese,” which included some of the old interplay between bass and drums the group had found so successful in the past. “Slow Down,” and “Gone Gone Gone” were also included which were a couple of old tunes penned by Larry Williams and the Everly Brothers, respectively. We were told the second album basically paid for itself, but not much more than that,” said Larry, “Traut and Golden put up all the money for the records, putting themselves on the hook. Once they got that back, they were supposed to give us what was left over. Funny-there never seemed to be anything left over. I don’t know how much money was ever made or lost, to this day. Maybe they didn’t recoup their money. I highly doubt it though, with sales in excess of a million-and-a-half records on both 45s and albums.”
Following the success of “Evil Woman,” two singles were released in 1970: “Cottage Cheese” and “Don’t Try To Lay No Boogie Woogie On The King OF Rock And Roll,” both of which managed to get no higher than the 50s on Billboard’s magic monitor of single hits (#56 and #52 respectively). By the dawn of 1971, things had changed for Crow. The singles were still coming out, but they weren’t making the charts, despite the release of their third album Mosaic (Amaret ST 5009) which included some interesting material. It contained the group’s recent single, “King Of Rock And Roll,” another old rock & roll number as well as “Easy Street,” a jazz flavored song, and “I Need Love” which featured Middlemist and L. Wiegand’s weird vocal harmonies, in a call and response format.
Between late 1969 and early 1971, the list of performers that Crow either opened for, or actually headlined with, read like a who’s who list of rock stars of the day. Crow shared the bill with Blood, Sweat & Tears, Jefferson Airplane, Three Dog Night, Steve Miller Band, Bo Diddley, Steppenwolf, Eric Burdon & War, Janis Joplin (three separate times) and Iron Butterfly to name a few. They also played at some of the most prestigious clubs and concert halls around, including the Whisky A Go Go in Los Angeles, both Fillmore’s East and West, Ungano’s, et al. The group was working more than ever, but seemed to be enjoying it less.
We were becoming more and more disillusioned with Amaret by the day,” said Dave. “We fought with them (particularly Kenny Myers who ran Amaret) over our artistic direction. We had some really good material for what was to be our fourth album all ready. But Kenny turned it all down saying it wasn’t commercial enough, or it wasn’t this or that. I honestly felt it was really good material – probably some of our best, but it never saw the light of day.”
“Dave Aderly of Elektra Records became very interested in our group. In fact they wanted to sign us, but Amaret wouldn’t let us go – They wouldn’t release us from our contract. They fought back and forth for quite some time. Dave wanted to produce us badly, which could’ve been a really big turning point for us. Finally, Amaret said that they’d let us out of our contract, but we couldn’t use the name Crow. Well a lot of sense that would’ve made for us. Crow was what we were known by! Elektra felt the same way. They didn’t want us without the name either.”
Dick- “We were so tangled up in financial bullshit, that I think we lost focus as to why we were really there – for the music. Once again, we gave up control. Instead of being ourselves, and what got us there in the first place, we started listening to the Myers and the Goldens in the business end. They weren’t players, just people trying to figure out what would sell.”
The first signs that crow was floundering for an alternate identity revealed itself in the summer of 1971 at the First Open Air Celebration in Midway Stadium in St. Paul. Crow sported three female singers backing Wagner. Despite the new found vocal versatility and its consequent impact on the group’s show, the Midway Stadium performance was Crow’s last major appearance in the Twin Cities area.
In the closing months of 1971, Dave Wagner, feeling there was absolutely no way out of financial and managerial mess Crow was in, said “To hell with it,” and left the group for good. Larry, Dick, Denny and Kink picked up Mick Stanhope (former drummer and vocalist for White Lightning), female singers; Gwen Matthews and Debbie Oldenwald, and conga player Chico Perez (from the Buttons and several other bands) and tried desperately to make a go of what was fading rapidly.
In February, 1972, we made a small 20-day tour of the Midwest,” Larry said. “We hit colleges throughout Oklahoma, Colorado, Missouri and Illinois. The band sounded the same, but the singing was entirely different. Mick’s voice was very good, but a lot higher than Dave’s was. To be honest, I think most of the people that came to see us had come to hear the hits (and Dave’s vocals) and were let down after listening to us. Our final performance, at the Coffman Memorial Union on the University of Minnesota campus, was a benefit for Rapid City, South Dakota flood victims on June 26th.”
Financially we were in trouble with the government and our management (to the rough tune of about $25,000),” said Dick, “so rather than trying to plow our way through this without Dave, we just decided to put on the brakes and call it a day. We’d gone years trying to get where we were and this is what happened. It left a pretty bad taste (at least for me) for a while. I fully attribute the collapse of Crow to a bunch of kids, not knowing anything about business, putting our names on the bottom line and having it all catch up with us.”
“It was a real education for me,” said Larry, “being in Crow, or even the whole series of groups leading up to Crow, having the success and losing it. If we just would’ve been ourselves more… stuck with what made us start in the beginning. The band musically was never in trouble. The material and business decisions were our downfall. It was a real learning experience. It reached a point where it was almost painful to see everything go into the toilet after working so hard. I honestly learned more in those two years about the ‘big leagues’ than I could’ve ever learned anywhere else. I had a great time, flying around, playing with the biggies. How many other 20 year-olds can say that?”
In 1972, Amaret released a Best Of Crow (Amaret AST 5012) sort of as an epitaph to a band that flashed ever so briefly. Eight or nine months after Dave Wagner had left Crow, Kenny Myers called him up to inform him that Amaret had been sold to MGM records. Myers worked out a deal with MGM whereas Dave could release a solo album. Dave-“He asked me if I’d be interested. I thought well, I hadn’t done much of anything musically for the last couple of months, why not? They’d totally pay for everything, all my expense for the two weeks I’d be out in California.”
“He sent me a list of material to choose from, about 20 songs. One of the songs he insisted I re-record was a Micky Newbury tune we had done as Crow called ‘Mobile Blues.’
I worked with some top-notch musicians while out there, but I think the song sounded like shit compared to the way we used to do it. But Myers was happy the way I did it the second time because it’s been done his way. He’d been with Mercury Records for years and was sure he knew how to pick the hits. Basically, MGM was fulfilling its obligatory contract to get the album (Dave Wagner d/b/a) out. They had no interest in really backing the project.”
From 1983 to the present, Crow now plays predominantly all original crow hits and some new crow originals.
“We’re not ones to shy away from rock and roll cliches, we’re embracing them.” says The Meanwhile lead singer/guitar player Brian McDonnell. “I mean, it’s really all been done, right? When Ozzy bit the head off that dove, that was pretty much the final chapter. From then on, it’s all just been a rehash of the same old shit.”
Apparently, the Chicago based guitar-rock quartet is either too jaded or too lazy to explore new territory on their way to the rock and roll middle. Sounding like the exact sum of their musical influences, The Meanwhile manages to blend rock, pop, alt-country, punk, garage, disco, soul, new-wave, grunge, metal, folk and jazz into the most bleached-white vanilla imaginable. It’s quite incredible that any 4 people with such respectable résumés and diverse influences could homogenize it all into something so.. um… ordinary.
Interestingly, it’s not like the band doesn’t have talent. Take bass player/back-up singer Eric Korte for example. His four-octave voice and three-octave bass drive half of The Meanwhile rhythm section. You might think his ability to hit notes that only a canine can hear (both vocally and on bass) would underpin the foundation of a very special band, but you’d be sadly mistaken.
The same is true for percussionist James DeFrain. With a past that includes a stint as a high-wire drummer for a now-defunct traveling circus (law suits pending), DeFrain’s inventive beats, on paper, should propel this band into the stratosphere. Unfortunately, they do not.
“Why should I play another note when I’m not done with this one?” says The Meanwhile lead guitar player Michael Paeth. The unconventional axe-slinger has been known to two-hand tap on a single note and routinely bends a C# up to… another C#. But even his fret board fury manages to somehow add absolutely nothing to The Meanwhile’s granola musical palate.
With vocal comparisons to the likes of Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen and Paul Westerberg, lead singer Brian McDonnell has a voice that is completely fresh, simultaneously familiar and instantly forgettable. Why his vocals try so hard but add so little to The Meanwhile’s sound is a mystery that the band clearly doesn’t care to solve.
Whether The Meanwhile were clever enough to pick such a middle-of-the-road name on purpose is doubtful, but somehow the name manages to perfectly encompass everything, and nothing, that the band is about. The real question, and the one that begs the audience to further investigate The Meanwhile, is how long they can manage to be riders of the rock and roll coat tails. With this much talent and this many influences maybe The Meanwhile will one day burst their mediocrity bubble and blaze their own musical trail of melodic noise…. or maybe not.
As one of the pioneers of jazz-rock — perhaps the pioneer in the ears of some — Larry Coryell deserves a special place in the history books. He brought what amounted to a nearly alien sensibility to jazz electric guitar playing in the 1960s, a hard-edged, cutting tone, phrasing and note-bending that owed as much to blues, rock and even country as it did to earlier, smoother bop influences. Yet as a true eclectic, armed with a brilliant technique, he is comfortable in almost every style, covering almost every base from the most decibel-heavy, distortion-laden electric work to the most delicate, soothing, intricate lines on acoustic guitar. Unfortunately, a lot of his most crucial electric work from the ’60s and ’70s is missing on CD, tied up by the erratic reissue schemes of Vanguard, RCA and other labels, and by jazz-rock’s myopically low level of status in the CD era (although that mindset is slowly changing).
Born in Galveston, Texas on April 2, 1943 Coryell grew up in the Seattle, Washington area where his mother introduced him to the piano at the tender age of 4. He switched to guitar and played rock music while in his teens. He didn’t consider himself good enough to pursue a music career and studied journalism at The University of Washington while simultaneously taking private guitar lessons. By 1965 he had relocated to New York City and began taking classical guitar lessons which would figure prominently in later stages of his career. Although citing Chet Atkins and Chuck Berry as early influences he also took cues from jazzmen such as John Coltrane and Wes Montgomery. He was also inspired by the popular music of the day by the Beatles, The Byrds and Bob Dylan and worked diligently to meld both rock and jazz stylings into his technique. This was reflected on his debut recording performance on drummer Chico Hamilton’s album ” The Dealer” where he sounded like chuck Berry at times with his almost distorted “fat” tone. Also in 1966 he formed a psychedelic band called The Free Spirits on which he also sang vocals, played the sitar and did most of the composing. Although conceptually the band’s music conformed to the psychedelic formula with titles like “Bad News Cat” and” I’m Gonna Be Free” it foreshadowed jazz rock with more complex soloing by Coryell and Sax/flute player Jim Pepper. However, it wasn’t until three years later after apprenticing on albums by Vibraphonist Gary Burton and flutist Herbie Mann and gigging with the likes of Jack Bruce and others that Coryell established his multifarious musical voice, releasing two solo albums which mixed jazz, classical and rock ingredients. In late 1969 he recorded “Spaces”, the album for which he is most noted. It was a guitar blow-out which also included John McLaughlin who was also sitting on the fence between rock and jazz at the time and the cogitative result formed what many aficionados consider to be the embryo from which the fusion jazz movement of the 1970s emerged. It contained insane tempos and fiery guitar exchanges which were often beyond category not to mention some innovating acoustic bass work by Miroslav Vitous and power drumming by Billy Cobham both of whom were to make contributions to Jazz rock throughout the `70s.
His career, however, began in era of guitar rock, where he was able to rise for a time with legends such as Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, and Eric Clapton. As this era came to a close, his musical expression took him on a diverse journey, and though he did not receive the level of commercial fame the aformentioned musicians had, he was still able to make his mark in music by way of the jazz & fusion world. His music continues to influence musicians and fans internationally and will continue to do so for a very long time.
From the depths of Chicago, the Coma Boys are establishing themselves as a raucous new rock band. Mixing the grit and energy of 60s and 70s punk rock with various genres, from soul to blues, the Boys boast a high energy stage show, catchy songs, and great hooks.
Leading the Coma Boys is singer/songwriter Reverend Trent Stevenson, combining glam rock charm with Detroit Punk Rock madness. Fellow songwriter/guitarist Brandon Reed adds a mix of screaming blues and sneering punk to the mayhem. The thunderous rhythm section propels the band forward with the melodic grooves of bassist Patrick O’Keefe and the precision attack of Mike Szymanski.
The Coma Boys are on a mission to restore rock to its glorious and subversive roots!
“Formed somewhere between yesterday’s hangover and today’s buzz, Dripping Slits is a raucous blend of rock ‘n’ roll method and madness hailing from Middle-of-Nowhere, Illinois that is sure to arouse your senses with an overdose of venomous guitar riffs, thundering percussion, and plenty of gutteral groove and grit.”
“Chicago based Crown Vics have been performing throughout the Midwest and beyond, dedicating themselves to the earliest roots Rock & Roll/Rhythm & Blues. Their musical repertoire is based off of the early 1950’s, “Birth of Rock & Roll”, period of American music. Concentrating on the obscure, less traveled musical gems, the Crown Vics deliver a musical vibe and show reminiscent of an era dominated by electrified guitars, wailing saxes and…the Big Beat!”
Chicago based band plays straight up, traditional rockabilly played with the intensity of a speeding freight train heading right for the edge of the cliff!
Rachel Marie entertains as a singer/songwriter & plays acoustic guitar, ukulele, and keyboard. She is also lead singer for the Rachel Marie Band, along with the very impressive Daniel (DJ) Arrigo on lead guitar and top notch Chris Arrigo on percussion. Rachel regularly sang as a church cantor at age 11. She learned to play clarinet, trumpet, trombone & baritone. She spent 3 yrs. in Mundelein High School’s show choir. She received numerous callbacks for American Idol and The Voice.
In retrospect, perhaps the mullet wasn’t the finest hairstyle every invented. I will also concede that parachute pants may not have been quite as cool as we thought. The eighties weren’t all bad though as New Wave turned ever so slowly into post-modern rock and then transformed itself into alternative music. It gave us 24 hour news, sports, music television, and the films of John Hughes including Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Sixteen Candles and of course The Breakfast Club, which made all of us want to live in a small suburb just outside of Chicago.
Fronted by honey voiced Lyndsay Evans, who controls the stage like the Divas of old ( I’m talking Aretha not X-Tina ) and ably backed by Adam Edar on guitar, Jenna Joanis on drums, Brad Schubert on bass, and Roscoe Evans on keyboards, Sexy Ester is no flash in the pan. They’ve already payed a lot of dues slugging it out in the smaller clubs and dives all over the Midwest. The new CD, “Monomania”, is fast becoming a staple of college radio and the venues are getting bigger and bigger – Sexy Ester is certainly going to have folks talking for a while – or at least until mullets come back into style!
J-Livi & The Party is a Chicago based Brass Band that focusses on playing nothing but funk and hip/hop. Their biggest influence stems from artists to have come from Chicago. Any artist that has become famous from Chicago, J-Livi and his Party People have been influenced by them one way or another. J-Livi & The Party plays music from the 70’s, 80’s 90’s & today. You can think of the band as a Pep Band on steroids. The main of goal of the band is to make every performance a party atmosphere, while maintaining a high level of musicianship. This band can party, and they are the loudest and baddest band in town.
“These master musicians are coming together for the first time in this particular entity. They are working on their online presence for the moment it stands on the individual resume and reputations. Here is a quick bio on the band;
All of their lives fiddler Darol Anger, guitarist Grant Gordy, and mandolinist Joe Walsh have found themselves moving from place to place, inhabiting one city or town and then moving to another, along the way getting to intimately know the varied terrains that make up our vast country. Musically, they’ve kept up the same pattern, each living at times in the worlds of bluegrass, and old-time, blues, and jazz, on their way to mastery of their chosen instruments, and all the while learning to speak the varied musical languages that make up American roots music. In the ever stable and unmoving bass player Karl Doty they’ve found a kindred musical spirit, one who is as open to exploration as he is rock solid. Making a musical home for themselves in the under-explored space around and between the great American roots styles, this quartet draws from all of their varied backgrounds (Grammy-nominated fiddle music, bluegrass, indie/pop grass, new acoustic string band, jazz and classical music) in crafting a sound all their own.”
Dom Flemons is the “American Songster,” pulling from traditions of old-time folk music to create new sounds. Having performed music professionally since 2005, he has played live for over one million people just within the past three years. As part of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, which he co-founded with Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson, he has played at a variety of festivals spanning from the Newport Folk Festival to Bonnaroo, in addition to renowned venues such as the Grand Ole Opry.
Raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Dom’s involvement with music began by playing percussion in his high school band. After picking up the guitar and harmonica as a teenager, he began to play in local coffee houses and became a regular performer on the Arizona folk music scene. Dom wrote his own songs and produced 25 albums of singer-songwriters and slam poets in the Phoenix area, including six albums of his own, during this time. He took a brief break from playing music in order to pursue slam poetry (he majored in English at Northern Arizona University) and performed in two national poetry slams in 2002 and 2003. Aside from exploring slam poetry, he spent his early adulthood listening to records and discovering a love of folk music, blues, jazz, jug band music, country music and ‘50s rock ‘n’ roll. Dom became interested in folk musicians such as Phil Ochs, Dave Van Ronk and Mike Seeger, as well as musicians such as Mississippi John Hurt, Howlin’ Wolf, Hank Williams, Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins. After stepping away from the slam poetry scene, he rekindled his interest in music, this time focusing on the old-time blues music of the pre-WWII era.
A multi-instrumentalist, Dom plays banjo, guitar, harmonica, fife, bones, bass drum, snare drum and quills, in addition to singing. He says that he incorporates his background in percussion to his banjo playing. Dom’s banjo repertoire includes not only clawhammer but also tenor and three-finger styles of playing. He first picked up the instrument when he borrowed a five-string banjo from a friend who had removed the instrument’s fifth string. As a founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, an African-American string band, Dom was able to explore his interest in bringing traditional music to new audiences. The band won a GRAMMY for its 2011 album Genuine Negro Jig and was nominated for its most recent album, Leaving Eden, in 2012.
After recording two solo records with Music Maker Relief Foundation, Dom is set to work on his third solo effort, which is untitled as of yet. He says he would like to use the traditional forms of music he has heard and immersed himself in over the years to create new soundscapes that generate interest in old-time folk music. Focusing very much on creating music that is rooted in history but taking a contemporary approach, Dom hopes to reexamine what traditional music can become.
“Kindred spirits to Reverend Peyton are John Lee Hooker and RL Burnside.” – The Washington Post
2019 BMA Award Nominees The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band are the greatest country-blues band in the world. Led by Reverend Peyton, who most consider to be the premier finger picker playing today. He has earned a reputation as both a singularly compelling performer and a persuasive evangelist for the rootsy, country blues styles that captured his imagination early in life and inspired him and his band to make pilgrimages to Clarksdale, Mississippi to study under such blues masters as T-Model Ford, Robert Belfour and David “Honeyboy” Edwards. Now The Big Damn Band is back with an explosive new record and world tour. Reverend Peyton’s guitar work on the new record Poor Until Payday is phenomenal and howls the blues. Poor Until Payday is a bluesy ode to the blue collar, working class and it delvers in spades!
Movits! is the hip-hop act from Luleå, Sweden, which, with an eclectic mix of rap, beats and horns have succeeded in laying the world at their feet. In just two albums, they have taken their music from the small town in Norrbotten, a place at the same latitude as Fairbanks, Alaska, to world metropolises like New York, Tokyo, Paris and Shanghai. Nothing unusual perhaps for a band from a country that produced more musical success stories per capita than any other in the world. But add to that that Movits! have done it in Swedish and you get a story that stands hard to match. Everything, however, began with a boy’s room in the Luleå suburb of Herstön.
A boy’s room and two brothers. Johan and Anders Rensfeldt started making music together in the early 2000s. Under the name of Planeten Jorden they released the EP “Frihetssånger i retroadidas” in 2004. It had an acoustic sound with influences of Swedish folksinging and reggae, Anders’ stripped down beats spiced with Johan’s melodical rap. The album was well received and the brothers were invited to join Riksteatern on a summer tour. With them they took the friend and saxophonist Joakim Nilsson, who later became a permanent member of the constellation.
Working on their first album, Movits! happened to hear a recording of Benny Goodman’s “Sing sing sing”. That experience came to put a big mark on the development of the band’s music. The energy of the horns and the intensity of the drumming replaced the djembe and melodica and overnight Movits!’ distinctive sound was created. With a new name they released their debut album “Äppelknyckarjazz” in the fall of 2008. An album which gave them good press and a prize at the Swedish Manifest Awards.
Tours in Sweden and Scandinavia followed on the album, but the big breakthrough came with an appearance on the U.S. TV show “the Colbert Report” in the summer of 2009. It was a pure coincidence that the show’s namesake Stephen Colbert had found Movits! video for “Fel del av garden” but a coincidense that resulted in an invitation to participate in the program. What happened next is modern music history.
Sales of “Äppelknyckarjazz”, which then was only available on import via Amazon, went up by 85,000%. When the record was released on US iTunes it instantly reached the first place in the hip hop category, ahead of giants like Kanye West and Eminem. In an instance Movits! went from being an unknown act to becoming a global concern.
After two years of touring in both Europe and the United States Movits! released their sophomore album “Ut ur min skalle/Out of my head.” With a heavier and more solid sound, the gold single “Sammy Davis Jr.” and the platinum single “Na na nah!” the album cemented the band’s status in the world. The album was critically acclaimed and got nominations in both the P3Guld and Grammy Awards in Sweden.
Movits! have continued to broaden their horizon and today the band tours in Scandinavia and Europe, Japan and the USA. Live the trio is often expanded with David Fraenckel on trombone and Petter Olofsson on bass. The band is notorious for always delivering fast paced and energetic live shows, whether they are on a festival stage in front of 10,000 people, or at a club in front of 100.
In the spring of 2013, Movits! once again entered the studio to record a new album. “Huvudet bland molnen/Head among the clouds” is scheduled to be released in the fall of 2013.The singles “Röksignaler/Smoke signals”, “Nitroglycerin” and “Limousin”, shows a development of the sound that has become synonymous with the band. But it still beats, horns and rap. And it is still in Swedish.
“We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to manifest the glory that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Conniption is an American Heavy Metal band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, formed in December 2007. The band is known for tight musicianship and captivating live performances, blending New Wave of British Heavy Metal and American Hard Rock, fitting into the Thrash Metal sub-genre. Conniption emerged with an old school 80’s thrash sound on their debut A METHOD TO MADNESS, prompting critics to compare the band to 1980’s – era Iron Maiden. Their style evolved quickly from there, as AMTM was more of a full-length demo, it was released just six months after the band formed. Influenced by heavy metal, hard rock, and progressive rock, they released KAMIKAZE on May 18, 2013. Conniption went right back to work, recording their third album TIME HAS COME, releasing it on December 13, 2013.
Romantic Rebel started off in 2012 as a project between siblings KT and Alex and quickly became a full time venture in six very short months. The Chicago, IL based duo immediately began writing a catalog of original material siting influences such as Van Halen and Aerosmith. The band tapped former Smashing Pumpkins touring drummer Matt Walker and entered the studio to record a four song demo at world renowned CRC Studios (Chicago, IL) in September of 2012.
Becoming a promotion machine, the group immediately started booking shows, passing out demos, and filmed a video for the lead track “Dirty Love Song”. Front woman KT started using social media tactics to get their music in the hands of many industry people, as well as, many well known hard rock bands. One such person was Tim King, bassist for the heavy Rock band SOiL and Director of A&R at Pavement Entertainment. Tim immediately brought the project to Pavement President Mark Nawara. “I told Mark there was something special in this band and we should develop them” states King. “I knew with some hard work we could have the next successful female fronted rock act on our hands”. Pavement quickly snatched up the band and re-entered CRC Studios to re-work the track “Dirty Love Song”.
“The experience was awesome” says guitarist Alex Vincent. “Dirty Love song came to life in a whole new way”. Vocalist KT chimes in: “The experience of taking our music to new heights was an exciting process and taught us a great deal about the songwriting process”
NONNIE PARRY is a trio once described by a major media outlet as “The laziest band in Chicago” and they hold it close to their heart. They make fuzzy, distorted lo-fi goth pop punk. Their latest single, “Karen Greenlee,” is about the real life Karen Greenlee, who was known as an “unrepentant necrophile” and was arrested and convicted for robbing a hearse and having sexual contact with the dead body.
Mona Feel is the Chicago four piece project comprised of guitarist Travis Thomason, vocalist Matt Stevenson, bassist Justin Fors, and drummer Tim Fahey. Formed in early 2013, the band has cultivated their sound from their respective Indie Rock backgrounds, combining impeccable rhythm and technical structure. The composite of the corresponding forces results in what the band describes as art rock and they play it for humans of all types, because it would be impolite not to.
“Seasick Mama explodes with a rough, unbridled voice as she romps about the stage, shifting between a fragile breathiness to a wild punk scream reminiscent of Gwen Stefani’s early days.” – Sofar Sounds
“…stalked the stage, pouring out violent and sometimes howling emotions in her vocals. She led the charge, even playing a large drum out front, bashing away with drumsticks on the drum head and the outer ring.” – Star News
“We just stumbled upon this very cool cover of Tom Waits’ “Going Out West” by Brooklyn artist Seasick Mama and couldn’t help but blog about it.” – Deli Magazine
“Work hard, play hard” became the focus of our interview.” – Live Fast Magazine
“Maher a 20-something-year-old rock n roll enthusiast with a knack for pressing the boundaries of imagination has been living in a luxurious mid western pad located in the beautiful state of Pennslyvania. The Brooklyn native began the project in September, inviting a plethora of musicians, photographers and aspiring-whatevers to come out and to simply, create. ” — Allied Styles
Hatched in the twilight months of ought nine, these five young men came from all corners of the US looking to do one thing: knock the dust off roots music.
A freewheelin’, trashgrassin’, folk tornado, the Whiskey Shivers take traditional instrumentation, soak it in gasoline and send it into outer space. Breakneck speeds, killer grooves and impeccable musicianship: it’s enough to make Bill Monroe himself do a double-take as he spins in his grave.
With upright bass, fiddle, washboard, banjo, guitar, and reasonably priced merchandise, Whiskey Shivers adds a fine layer of grit on top of the hard-driving rhythms of traditional bluegrass. They’ve been called everything from “trashgrass” to “hardcore roots” to “crazy-assed redneck music” — whatever the words, the meaning is the same: Whiskey Shivers brings the house down.
Please File Under:”Twang”… The Abbeys’ Mike Cohen & Jeff Janulis have wandered through the fields of Americana, mixing their close harmonies with a measure of twang and a few dashes of pop. Joined by long time bassist Carl Lubicz, drummer James Hurley and guitarist Rich Maisel, they also double as “THE WHATEVERLY BROS.”, paying due reverence to Don and Phil and their amazing songbook.
Prichard Harter is a progressive Bluegrass/Americana band based in Chicagoland. Prichard Harter’s inimitable style stems from the song writing team of mandolin player Cheyne Heaton and guitarist Matt Augustine. The duo’s diverse writing styles lend a captivating dynamic to their compositions, which are filled out by bassist Jake Carmany, guitarist Tommy Cantwell, and percussionist Cole Oosthuizen.
YEEEEE-HAAAW! COACH N’ COMMANDO come up with Kids’ll Lose Their Heads. Twangy shit kickin’ country punk duo couldn’t be anymore redneck than ifin’ these boys had married their sisters, likin’ their pappys did, n’ their pappys ‘fore ’em. -NY Waste
I like to think of myself as a warrior, Im just a kid from the south
suburbs of Chicago making my way into the music industry that’s full of
competition and choices. Growing up, I had 2 major influences that lead me
to music. I was inspired by the lyricist that is Eminem and still look up to
him and his work. And I would listen repeatedly to material by Tech N9ne
because of the wordplay he uses. Because of those two guys, I try to be as
intricate as possible and sound unlike anyone else. I write all types of
songs. I do the party songs, but I feel my best material is my up-close and
personal tracks. I switch up the subject and points I’m trying to get across
for every song because I want to have songs that everyone can relate to.
I got a movement that’s called “RidgeReppin”, and its growing day by day.
“RidgeReppin” stands for unity. Teamwork makes the dreamwork and Im just
trying to give back to the people that were there since day 1. I want to be
the person that turns his dream to reality. Im all about connecting with
fans, and I like to make my presence known every time I hit the stage. I
like to bring the energy and to get the crowd going, that’s what I’m all
about. I’m doing everything I possibly can to get this music to where it
needs to be, and in 2014 I’m going to put in the work.
Sometimes a song is more than just a song. Sometimes a song can be a mirror to the world, or to the hidden selves we are or want to be.
Lily Kershaw’s debut album, Midnight In The Garden, explores emotional landscapes and heart clutching melodies that say the unsaid things we struggle to say ourselves. The album takes root in the titans of folk music…those classic songsmiths who weave tapestries of sound with fingerpicking and tales of often unspoken truths.
In song, Kershaw is an old soul, but in person, she’s a kinetic 22 year-old, a “nearly life-long Los Angeleno,” she says. She’s ebullient and lively, quick with a joke and an infectious smile. Raised adjacent to the Hollywood machine, Kershaw offers an antidote to the long-mythologized Los Angeles glitz; she’s authentic, and honest, self-effacing and, above all, she is herself. She may not tell you this, but she’s conduit, a nexus of the experiences of the world around her. She feels the weight of the world, she says, but through song, she wears it as an emblem of who she is. Like the day-glow dreams of Los Angeles noir, she reveals the darkness that coexists with sunshine.
“It’s all about death,” she laughs, while describing her music. “I’d love to say most of my music isn’t about death or heartbreak but, well, it is.”
It comes as no surprise then, that in 2012, her single “As It Seems” provided the backdrop to the long-running CBS drama series, Criminal Minds. Her voice lilts and flows, as the guitar leans gently into minor keys, and she sings:
Well I knew what I didn’t want to know,
and I saw where I didn’t want to go,
So I took the path less travelled on,
And I’ll let my stories be whispered when I’m gone.
The song caught fire, broadcast around the world. “People wrote to me saying, ‘This is the song I want to play at my funeral,’ it was unsettling at first,” she says, “but it felt good to know that my song connects with people.”
Almost a year later, her song “Ashes Like Snow” appeared on the show with similar effect, wrapping audiences up in the meandering piano and her skyward arcing vocals. It was a song born from serendipity, nearly ten years in the making. “One day when I was at my parents house,” she says “I found this poem that I had written right at the time of the September 11 attacks, when I was just a young kid. I took some of those words and added the perspective from where we are today, in the long aftermath of war and struggle, looking back.”
Kershaw is a compulsive creator, she jots down melodies and lyrics as she’s wandering through her days. She sings melodies into her phone while sitting in traffic or secretly hums a tune into a voice recorder while out at shows, capturing any inspiration that she can channel back into her music. Her debut layers lush instrumentation over the stark skeleton of her sketches, sauntering between swaying somberness and playful uplifting anthems. Like the subtle beauty of a black rose, Kershaw’s music shores melancholy with a sense of hope and catharsis. And like she sings, her stories — her songs — are whispers or echoes, messages in bottles, cast out into the world.
Many master guitarists find their homes within a specific genre, perfecting the ins and outs of their chosen musical realm until their names become synonymous with the very art form.
Portland’s Scott Pemberton is not your average guitarist. He’s a musical nomad. His home isn’t in one comfortable bubble, but rather spread across genres. One moment, he’s shredding through the blues. Then next, he’s living in a classic rock world, or drifting melodically through an ethereal psychedelic plane. Maybe he’s leading a dirty funk jam, or experimenting with something heavier, or sitting back on a jazz odyssey.
Regardless of genre, though, Pemberton’s musical journey is marked by two unmistakeable realities: You always know when you’re hearing a Scott Pemberton song. And you’re always going to be captivated.
A Portland native, Pemberton and his guitar have been inseparable since the musician was in his teens, and he quickly established himself as an integral to the city’s musical fabric, sitting in on studio sessions, becoming a fixture at jazz and rock clubs, and taking guitar teaching positions at Lewis & Clark College and Reed College at age 21. So much a part of Portland’s fabric is Pemberton that the city’s famous Voodoo Donutes gifted him a custom guitar-shaped donut for his birthday.
Beyond stages both local and international, his music has found its way into various movies, television programs and advertisements (Nike, Coke, Jaguar, and NASCAR ads have been propelled by his distinctive melodies), and his funky guitar work has led to collaborations with legendary drummers such as Motown’s Mel Brown and Bernard Purdie, AKA “the world’s most recorded drummer.” He’s played prime spots at major festivals across the U.S. and Canada, hit #4 on Billboard’s Tastemakers’ charts and ranked among the top performers on Jambase, peaking at #2 during the High Sierra Music Festival, where he stormed the stage.
Even more remarkable than Pemberton’s quick ascent to a superhero on the axe, though, is his second act. Most musicians are lucky to find their talent in the first place. For Pemberton, his love affair with his guitar received a rebirth following a bike accident that nearly ended his life and caused a traumatic brain injury, a life-changing event that would have grounded most artists. For Pemberton, it only fueled his musical drive. During rehabilitation, the guitarist rediscovered his gift, and emerged with a strong new vision as an artist.
Exploding back into the public consciousness stronger, sharper and more dedicated than ever, Pemberton released his eclectic debut, Sugar Mama, produced by Los Lobos sax player Steve Berlin and featuring a bevy of guest performers including legendary bluesman Curtis Saldago. Amazingly, Sugar Mama manages the difficult task of capturing Pemberton’s wildly ambitious live persona, jackknifing across genres with ease, using the frontman’s intricate musicianship as a glue that holds it all together.
A master showman who draws amazed stares when audiences realize he’s shredding without a guitar strap, Pemberton’s unique musical gifts and infectiously positive attitude come exploding to life, making the axe man and his band’s legendary shows on stages small and large come vibrantly to life. The music is hypnotic in its infectiousness — consistently challenging listeners while grounding it all in a familiar foundation of rock. Music is Pemberton’s domain. The stage is his home. And his door is always open.
Boston, Massachusetts, United States (2003 – present)
Kayo Dot is an avant-rock group originally from Boston, Massachusetts, United States (now based in Brooklyn, New York) that was formed in 2003 by Toby Driver after the disband of maudlin of the Well.
The music of Kayo Dot can not be accurately described by the limiting contemporary genre nomenclatures. Their songs involve complex instrumentation (composed by singer and front-man Driver), generally without refrain. They are substantially longer than typical rock songs, often ranging from 8 to 15 minutes in length.
SonReal is a new school leader. With a 2013 Juno and MMVA nomination, this young artist has independently put all eyes on him through consistently putting out interesting innovative material. Notorious for releasing mixtapes that have an album feel, it is easy to see why SonReal is at the forefront of not only Vancouver’s hip hop scene, but the Canadian music industry as a whole.
With a number of successful releases under his belt, SonReal began 2012 with the release of the final two singles from 2011’s Where’s Waldo?. Both reaching 100,000 views within their first few weeks online, SonReal kept the buzz alive with the release of an 18 track mixtape titled, Words I Said in April 2012. Directed at the promotion of his summer release, Good News, Words I Said spread across the Internet quickly. With support from some of the largest hip hop blogs such as, 2dopeboyz.com, NahRight.com, HipHopDX and more, Words I Said developed an awareness and anticipation for SonReal’s upcoming Good News. Up Up Up was the first single from Good News and the driving force leading into it’s release. A video accompanied the single and was an instant smash once Much Music awarded it “heavy rotation” on their TV network. Good News was released July 25th and has been labeled the largest stepping stone in SonReal’s career.
After turning many heads in the industry, the Vancouver rapper signed a recording deal with the independent label, Black Box Records responsible for emcees, Shad and Classified. His first release via Black Box would be a collaborative project with fellow Canadian rapper/producer, Rich Kidd. The Closers was recorded in seven days in a private Hollywood studio. SonReal and Rich Kidd had united East and West and made an 11 track album the country could stand behind. Fans did exactly that. October 16th, The Closers debuted at #3 on iTunes Canada’s hip hop charts, next to Macklemore and Kanye West. The Closers then went on to be nominated for Rap Recording of the Year at the 2013 Juno Awards. SonReal and Rich Kidd celebrated their newfound success by embarking on a nationwide tour in promotion of the project and shared stages with such artists as, Down With Webster, Mac Miller and more.
With Summer on the horizon, SonReal has began working on new solo material due for a fall release. With plenty of visuals in store and plans to be performing on a stage near you, 2013 looks like it will be the introduction of SonReal to an audience greater than he has ever reached before.
Starting in July of 2000 the founding members of KIST set out to launch a band worthy of the moniker “a tribute to Kiss.”
The time is now and that initial vision has arrived in full force. After years of diligence, including a nation-wide talent search, KIST has attained it’s initial goal and continues to strive for a show that keeps the fans asking for more.
Basing it’s stage show on the unrivaled Kiss shows of the 1970’s, KIST performs in the “Alive II” costumes and derives it’s set-list mostly from the make-up era catalogue.
Visually, the band prides itself on members that physically “fit” the part. Sonically, countless hours of study and rehearsal has helped hone the band’s razor sharp edge. A KIST show brings all the fire and magic one would expect at a Kiss show.
Keeping true to form that this is indeed a tribute to Kiss, KIST defers focus on their personal identities, in favor of stage names. This ensures that the spirit of Kiss is the main priority which helps create the time capsule effect that KIST seeks. In other words, KIST wants the fans to come in, close the door and travel back in time for a recreation of the band that helped form Rock history.
Every flashy money-making rapper brags about it in songs. Every mafioso gets theirs kissed out of respect and honor. Each shines its own shine; bright, unique and magnificent. A flashy pink diamond don of her time has come knocking on the music industry’s door. Armed with intelligence, word ridden rhymes, a sick style and Latina flavor, Pinqy Ring is a veritable five foot force to be reckoned with.
Born and raised in Chicago, Marisol Vélez always had a flair for writing. She first shook hands with the mic at the age of 15 during her Sophomore year at Lane Tech High School, when her love for learning Hip Hop songs turned into a curiosity to try it for herself. By her Senior year she became the first female student to rap at her school’s talent show, and the ovations were standing. She vowed she would allow herself to feel the rush of constructing music and performing her own songs for the rest of her life. A wreck of a car accident in 2004 left Pinqy in a coma with a contusion on her brain, broken teeth and several scars. When she came-to, however, her feet hit the ground to run fast with her rap dream held tightly in hand. The tragedy provided incredible inspiration, and today she remains alive and breathing the air of Hip Hop dreams and aspirations. Her hand has been shaking every opportunity presented ever since, like an ambassador.
Being an Honors graduate from the University of Illinois at Chicago, a poet, a proud Puerto Rican, a journalist, an educator and a philanthropist has put Ms. Ring in her own league of urban song writers. Nothing is deadlier than an educated emcee, and this woman’s quick wit, sense of humor, passion, ambition and Spanglish word-play will knock you out!
Pinqy prides herself in being a crowd-pleasing performer; No hype man, no gimmicks, no nonsense. In a male dominated field, Pinq has proven in pink pumps that she can out run the boys in their own race, effortlessly. Her aspiration is to inspire the youth of Chicago to find who they truly are, and that is a story that must be told. Pinqy Ring isn’t a made man, but she definitely made herself into a woman of musical taste and class. Building an empire based on hard work and real music, Ms. Ring is an inspiration to women who refuse to settle for less.
Her diamond is shining and there’s no denying: This rapper, poet, writer, student, teacher and jack-of-all trades clad in hot-pink shades is next in fame!
True Press is a Los Angeles (SGV) based band determined to bring their progressive reggae sound to new audiences with grooving warmth and positive vibrations. The message is simple: bring people together, rise up, unite and enjoy life! It has seriously been a crazy ride and above all, one they enjoy… What is meant to be, will be and the music will take a hold…it’s just a matter of time! Look forward to some new tracks and plenty more music comin out real soon! The True Press Tribe is mobbin along looking to link up and spread nothing less than positive vibes with all people!!! It’s a whole movement thing, specifically a TRUE PRESS !!! JAH LOVE
I AM HERESY’s sound is an eruption channeling the passionate hardcore/punk fury of early Boysetsfire streaking ferociously down the middle of the metallic-tinged prowess and influences of fellow hardcore giants Integrity and Converge. Imposing. Frenetic. Unrelenting. And certainly unrepentant.
After Nathan Gray (also of Boysetsfire) ended The Casting Out the start of a new era was heralded when he teamed up with this son Simon Gray and a wild bunch of likeminded musicians to form I AM HERESY. They released a self-titled debut album that was followed by the “O Day Star, Son Of Dawn”-EP shortly after in March of 2013. At about the same time they did their first European tour as well as shows on the East Coast of the USA including some with their new label mates of Vattnet Viskar,
Recently the Delaware/New Jersey sextet has inked a worldwide deal with Century Media Records and will release its second full length album THY WILL on March 3, 2014 in Europe/Australia/NZ and March 4, 2014 in USA/Canada.
Nathan Gray (vocals) about THY WILL: “A new ethos is born…Come ye daughters and sons of chaos and mystery! We intend to rebuild and create the archetypes of rebellion and revolution against self induced repression. Reveling in anthemic battle songs of lust, pride and indulgence in order to create a ritual purification from the stagnant impotence of servitude and self denial.”
Formed off an 18 hour jam session and armed with a serious passion for making epic music, the G-Snacks unique sound is sure to please a broad spectrum of listeners. With a wide variety of influences, the G-Snacks have very a unique and original sound that could be described as Electronica/Funk Rock/ Jam with the element of Metal coming through in the necessary moments. Between the nasty, heavy funk that reminds you of early Chilipeppers, or the synthesized groove jams that feel like a late night festival set..you never know what you will here next. No matter what, the G-Snacks instense and energetic music is gaurunteed to get everyone in the building moving! If there’s one thing that is apparent when watching them, its their love for playing live music!
Voted one of the top 100 guitarists of all time in Rolling Stone Magazine Johnny Winter is a guitar hero without equal. Signing with Columbia Records in 1969, he immediately laid out the blueprint for his fresh take on classic blues with a powerful combination of authentic Texas funk and his own high energy interpretation for the legions of fans just discovering the blues via the likes of Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton. Constantly shifting between primal country blues in the vein of Robert Johnson to scorching electric slide guitar, Johnny has always been one of the most respected singers and influential guitar players in rock and the clear link between British blues rock and American Southern rock ala the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Throughout the 70s and 80s he was the unofficial torch bearer for the blues, championing and aiding the careers of his idols like Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker.
The Johnny Winter story is the stuff of legend. Born in Beaumont, Texas, in a rough and tumble oil town he grew up listening to and then playing Blues and Rock ‘n’ Roll at a very early age. His inclusion in a story about Texas music in Rolling Stone in 1968 ignited a bidding war among record labels for his phenomenal talent. Since 1969 and his self-titled debut, Johnny has recorded almost 40 albums of classic rock and blues and was one of the top arena rock acts in the mid-70s. In the late 70s he produced and played on a stunning series of Grammy award winning albums with Muddy Waters, who affectionately referred to Johnny as his “son.” The recordings served as a “comeback” for his idol while also refreshing his own deep and unwavering love of the blues.
Today Johnny Winter is enjoying an unparalleled resurgence performing to sold out shows worldwide even after a long life full of honors and accomplishments such as a triumphant appearance at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Festival with Derek Trucks, Buddy Guy and Clapton that has been immortalized on the Emmy award winning DVD. In a ceremony with Slash presenting in Nashville, Gibson Guitars released the signature Johnny Winter Firebird guitar that has been his beloved trademark for years. His Live through the 70s, 80’s, Rockpalast and Live in Japan concert DVDs are a hit as are his Live Bootleg Series CDs which all entered the Top 10 on the Billboard Blues charts. Two unique instructional DVDs and I-Pad App. have been produced by Cherry Lane/Hal Leonard to the gratitude of players around the world. Always one for special appearances he recently performed with the Allman Brothers at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan on the 40th anniversary of their debut. In addition Winter has been headlining such prestigious events as the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Chicago Blues Festival, Swedish Rock Fest, Warren Haynes X-mas jam and Europe’s Rockpalast viewed by millions just to name a few. Warner Bros. has now released a 40th anniversary DVD of Woodstock: 3 Days of Love and Peace the Director’s cut featuring, for the first time, Johnny playing his smoking classic “Meantown Blues.” His latest highly acclaimed release “Roots” (Megaforce/Sony) and recent performance on The David Letterman Show has only added to his Texas-sized reputation. Joining him on this CD is his scorching road-tested touring band consisting of guitarist Paul Nelson, bassist Scott Spray, and drummer Tommy Curiale. Performing now with a renewed vigor and fire to say that he is “back” would be an understatement. In fact, he never left. He is just better than ever.
I am a 21 year old hip-hop artist from Northbrook IL. I love hip-hop music and i try to make that apparent in every song i make. No matter what the radio plays, hip-hop will always live through my rhymes
-MURDER FM have hit #2 in Dallas,#24 in Nation and #46 Global on REVERB NATION Charts in April 2013!
-REBEL INK MAGAZINE “Featured Artist of the Week” – 9/22/13
-Featured “Showcase Artist” DRIVEN MUSIC CONFERENCE Atlanta,GA – 9/26/13
-First US Band to perform @ “Trashfest” in HELSINKI,FINLAND – 10/5 & 10/6/13
-NOV 2013 US East Coast Headline Tourdates & Ink Life Tourdates w/DROWNING POOL
Toured From US to UK, Seen with HALESTORM, YOUNG GUNGS, KORN,THE USED,BLACK VEIL BRIDES,ORGY,LACUNA COIL,69 EYES THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE,I AM GHOST,THE DEFILED, RED & TRAPT
-Two TOP 10 Requested Videos SCUZZ TV Europe// “As Beautiful As You Are”& “Machine Gun Kisses”
-Won TIME WARNER CABLE’s “Most Watched Indie On Demand Music Video”// “As Beautiful As You Are” – 2009
-“Machine Gun Kisses” Available on ROCK BAND 3 for XBOX 360!
-Vocalist/Guitarist Norman Matthew Remixed HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD Track “Le Deux” & “Shape Of Sound” by CIVIL TWILIGHT
-Worked with Platinum Producer Beau Hill
Hamburg based musician Chris „The Lord“ Harms is not only an extremely versatile singer that can easily manage the entire range between heartfelt clear vocals and aggressive death growls, but also an extremely charismatic character and one of Germany’s most prolific musical talents. Chris has pretty much been a musician all his life, taking up cello lessons at age 5 and singing/playing in rock bands since age 12. With Philiae, The Pleasures, UnterArt and Big Boy, he has been a lot of very prominent bands in the Hamburg scene. With this background, it was only a matter of time until Chris Harms’ unbridled creativity would need its own vehicle of self-expression…
Enter Lord Of The Lost! Formed in 2007 as a solo project, Chris quickly realized that his new baby would have to be a full-blown band when he started working on the first demos for his debut album “Fears”. Hence, he recruited the band’s line up from his extensive circle of musician friends and Lord Of The Lost as we know them were born, the group with its unique and dazzling mix of Gothic and Glam Rock, spiced up with electronic and progressive elements. Demos were sent out and the band landed a recording deal with Out Of Line Music whom Chris had been working with rather successfully in UnterART before. The band self-produced a video clip for “Dry The Rain” and the label organized a promo CD containing both the song and the video to be widely distributed at M’Era Luna Festival 2009. Thus, the foundation stone for one of the most energetic and popular bands from the German Dark Scene was laid down.
The debut album “Fears” was released in February 2010 and received very well by the music press. The band filmed a second video clip, this time for “Last Words” and then started what they themselves are referring to as their “never ending tour” which quickly earned them their reputation as being one of the German scene’s hardest working acts. Lord Of The Lost also played the big festivals (WGT, M’Era Luna, Wacken) to a very good audience reception and went on to producing their second album rather enthused.
As a first glimpse, they released the digital single and video clip for “Sex On Legs” in March 2011. The concept album “Antagony” followed in April and marked a massive progression for the group that built upon the debut successful sound while expanding it with a plethora of different and new elements. Rightfully, Sonic Seducer magazine named the release a “masterpiece” and featured Lord Of The Lost with an extensive cover story. The band then filmed their next clip “Prison” and spent a lot of the year on the road, playing a successful tour with Mono Inc. plus a lot of headlining and festival dates, documented in detail on their video log “TV Of The Lost” on the web. They also secured endorsement deals with Cyan, DV Mark, Mark Bass, Meinl und Tama, thus resulting in an altogether very successful year.
The Hamburg-based lads kick into 2012 with the EP “Beside & Beyond” which contains alternative takes on hits, unreleased gems as well as previously unreleased fan favorites (among them a cover version of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” which is very popular live.) In summer, they followed up with the smashing single “Die Tomorrow” (which was accompanied by an extremely laborious video clip which had each of the band members pushing their personal boundaries) and a third studio album of the same name, on which Lord Of The Lost sported an even more versatile musical approach than on their previous outings. This year had the Hamburg-based lads touring even more extensively than in previous years, supporting Eisbrecher on their tour and absolving an almost completely sold out headlining tour with Unzucht.
The young year 2013 was greeted in January with the digital single “See You Soon” and a fittingly moody video clip. To gain a longer time period for conceiving and recording album number four, Chris Harms and his lads decided to see a long time wish fulfilled: after more and more fan requests for a live album came in, they decided to professionally record the sold-out show at Hamburg’s Knust club for optimal reproduction of the band’s live energy. The result is titled “We Give Our Hearts” and captures the energetic performance in a massive sound. The album is also released as a deluxe edition sporting a bonus mini album with new studio tracks that showcase the myriads of facets of Lord Of The Lost’s music. The band is also very active at the touring front, this year, playing every major festival, with another headlining tour and a tour supporting Subway To Sally on their “Eisheilige Nächte” following in autumn and winter.
Lord Of The Lost combine charisma, inexhaustible energy, a gripping live presence and a golden hand for lasting tunes, thus being one of the dark scene’s most unique acts, these days. Straight to the heart and right in your face… or to quote Mono Inc.’s Martin Engler: “Lord Of The Lost will either be really big… or I don’t know anything about music.”
My personal musical compulsion turned il Tandre Neu into a burgeoning project from 2003 – 2007. In 2010 I dragged my friends back into my next impulsive set of songs, and now it’s a creature that seems to sustain itself off of all our idiosyncrasies. -J
Midnight Mass was formed in the fall of 2000 when Ryan and his father Randy co-founded the project. Original members included Randy McKay on bass and lead vocals; Ryan Cole on guitar and vocals, and a number of exploding percussionists.
In 2003 Randy left the band to concentrate on his full time job and solo projects. Shortly after Ryan was re-introduced to Craig Allen, and old high school who was an accomplished blues guitarist and classically trained musician. The two quickly went into a deep song writing phase spending long nights searching for unique material and co-wrote and produced a number of songs together.
Craig decided to take a break to visit a girl he had met online, leaving their drum machine, Dr. Crank, with Ryan. Tragedy struck and in the early hours of July 15, 2009 Craig Allen was fatally struck by a train. He died as a true blues guitarist at the crossroads.
Afterward, Ryan’s girlfriend April Santos decided to get serious about playing bass. The couple practiced and started recording music together. Ryan’s long time friend Mark Stiburski heard the couple playing and they inspired him to start singing again. With the addition of April on bass and Mark singing and writing lyrics, the band was reformed! Midnight Mass is now back from the dead again.
Mike Gassett is a Chicago based singer songwriter who recently joined up with Ed Novak, Matt Mills, and Dan Mahoney Jr. Mike Gassett’s blend of acoustic, alternative, and folk styles have likened him to artists such as John Mayer, Damien Rice, and Mat Kearney.
“The Suicide Shifters” are a modern day throwback to the days when rockabilly ran wild. Drawing their influence from a blend of the iconic and timeless sounds of psychobilly, surf and rockabilly music. These three cats bring an “Amped, Upright, Rockabilly Ruckus” to the stage. All rock n’ rolled up in the era of vintage motorcycles & classic culture of the 50’s & 60’s. “The Suicide Shifters” bring a new spin & twist to the rockabilly music scene through a live performance that features a number of tracks off of their debut CD “Beat the devil around the stump”. Performing tracks like “Hell Hath No Fury”, “Lil’ Fabri-Kate”, “Secret Lock”, “Bloodhound” and many more…So, grab your fuzzy dice and get on out to the show!
From Hell’s Fringe, located on the edge of Grady County in Oklahoma, Bloody Ol’ Mule was born into Oklahoma’s music scene in 2004 as a one-man-band drenched in traditional honky tonk and hillbilly country, old time mountain music, and hard, gritty blues with just a little drop of madness, grit, and grease.
Bloody Ol’ Mule’s influences are soaked in a greasy bucketful of what he likes to call the “old REAL blues”, preferrably the Hill Country Blues of Northern Mississippi, as well as lots of old pre-1976 country and Honky Tonk, old hillbilly music, and mountain music, the appalachian folk music of Kentucky, and West Virginia and early 1950’s rock’n’roll. The music that drives him, and inspires him ever since he was a boy growing up in the open country side of Grady County and abroad is the music of Hank Williams Sr, Jimmie Rogers, Dock Boggs, Mississippi Fred McDowell, and T-Model Ford.
Bloody Ol’ Mule is a one-man-band and the incarnation of Oklahoma born, and bred Shilo D.L. Brown who started playing music at the early age of 15, and has been playing ever since.
He plays an electric Fender Telecaster guitar, and a variety of acoustic guitars that he thrashes, and beats, and whips his wild rhythms out, making it scream, and jump with that Bloody Ol’ Mule sound that he was honed, and polished to his own liking over the years, as he stomps away on a 3×2 block of wood that he runs direct into a bass amp. His live shows have been known to be anywhere from hypnotic, and dangerous, right on down to tight grooving sounds of greasy juke-joint tempo blues with a sort of possession that seems to take him over as if possessed by some other being, or person, then at the next moment, turning the tables on his listeners with either an old time mountain field holler, or some heart-felt honky tonk country weeper that seems to take hold of the audience, and make them stop somewhere in time, and pull at their heart-strings.
Shilo Brown writes all of his own songs, and prefers to play his original material with all the grit, and horror that one could muster, producing enough original material to play a set all night long with more to come. With a style of his own, Bloody Ol’ Mule’s music is filled with elements of 1950’s rock’n’roll, hill country blues, lonely field hollers, old appalachian folk tunes, as well as anything else that might inspire him to play.
Shilo Brown’s voice at times is gritty, and haunting, and at other times smooth and hypnotic, providing that high lonesome sound that cries out from the roots of rural America, reflecting that utter heartbreak and wanting, as well as pain, and vengeance with a sense of power that takes hold of his audience, pulling them deeper, and deeper into the world of Bloody Ol’ Mule.
Take all of these elements and add a touch of 1950’s rockabilly sunk down into a pool of pure gritty hillbilly blues that is rooted out of the surroundings of Bloody Ol’ Mule’s upbringing in the rural prairie land of Oklahoma, and then you’ll have Bloody Ol’ Mule, the hell-bent honky tonk stomp hillbilly blues one-man-band.
Fancy, fast, raw, rock ‘n roll from the harbingers of the Whiskey Revolution. Formed in 2011 in the loving arms of Albany, NY and spreading… We are waiting to come to your town…
Born on December 17, 1994 in Hoffman Estates, Rapper OnlyJame aka Darnell Barrett was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago. Influenced by various artist such as Usher, Kanye West, and Biggie Smalls, as a young boy he would perform for his family at holiday events. He was inspired to start his young music career by the name of Nellougze his freshman year in high school. Barrrett Graduated and continued on to Columbia College in Chicago. Where he met his roomates who started calling him by his middle name James, he stayed with it. Making him also change his music name to OnlyJame. With the help of his team, Paperboy Music, Jame creates raw music with various styles of hip hop and rap.
Composed of King’s X’s bassist/vocalist dUg Pinnick of the progressive metal band King’s X, southpaw blues-rock guitarist Eric Gales (Lauryn Hill, solo) and ambitious ambidextrous drummer and former Mars Volta member, Thomas Pridgen, PGP unites three versatile artists, who demand, as much as share, the musical spotlight.
On the band’s debut, each member of PGP infuses the material with his own set of musical influences, transforming his individual instrument into a lead instrument. The absolutely slamming musicianship frames the recognizable melodies of these songs and catapults the music into the realms of psychedelic blues, hard rock, and progressive soul/R&B.
“This record is three guys, with music in us, who said, ‘Let’s go for it,’” says Pinnick. “It was built upon raw energy.”
Produced Mike Varney, Pinnick Gales Pridgen’s debut contains all the stinging bite and all-out sonic boom of King’s X, The Mars Volta and The Eric Gales Band. In addition, fans of artists as far ranging as Jimi Hendrix , Cream, Living Colour, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Tool, The Who, Stevie Wonder and Liquid Tension Experiment might find something meaningful in these meaty, extended tracks.
“I think the record has a combination of all of the good things about our playing,” says Pridgen.
“This is just colossal,” Gales concludes. “This is just some slammin’ [stuff]. When you put a project out like this, man, people will want to hear that [material] live. I know I would.”
They have been categorized as post-rock, post-metal, doom metal, sludge metal and hard rock, but have moved toward a darker and heavier metal sound. Rock-A-Rolla magazine’s review of Nations to Flames states: “In upping the aggression, intensity and songwriting ability, they are once again overshadowing what’s gone before and giving new reasons to appreciate a band that are already becoming one of the most crucial heavy acts around.
Junius is an American rock band from Boston, Massachusetts that formed in 2003. The band is composed of lead vocalist and guitarist Joseph E. Martinez, guitarist Michael Repasch-Nieves, bassist Joel Munguia and drummer Dana Filloon. Thus far, they have released three EPs and three full-length albums respectively. The band name is taken after Junius, the pseudonym of a political writer who lived during the late 18th century.
The Harmaleighs is a 3 piece folk band that formed in Nashville, TN. They started when Haley Grant, front woman and songwriter, joined with instrumentalists Kaylee Jasperson and Kevin Buchanan. The three started mixing their musical melting pot in January, 2013.
Each member of The Harmaleighs brought their separate ingredients and cooking supplies to the kitchen in May, 2013 where they spent the month baking their record at Dark Horse Studios in Franklin, TN.
Their first EP ‘People Line Up’ will be released August 6th, 2013. With this Album, The Harmaleighs have concocted a unique recipe filled with sweet rhythms, dark chocolate lyrics, spicy banjo licks, and finished off with rich velvety harmonies.
They are eager for their friends, fans, family, & of course musical foodies to take a bite.
‘Female version of Mumford and Sons’ – Lightning 100
This Obsession is a Pop-Punk trio from Chicago, Illinois. With energetic guitar riffs, punchy bass and fast paced drums paired alongside catchy hooks and thought provoking lyrics, This Obsession is sure to have a little something to please everyone’s musical tastes.
30 Second Theater is an up and coming musical sensation from Chicago formed in the fall of 2007. Since the very beginning, they have been working hard to create their signature sound by fusing together the stylings of The Offspring, Blink 182, Sum 41, and Green Day. Combining the sounds of these great influences, they have created a style of music that is upbeat as well as melodic and engaging.
SOLUTION UNSATISFACTORY
A high-speed Chicago style 3-piece fueled by a passion for in-your-face rock and a disgust for the modern order.
The group, at large, is considered to be armed and dangerous, with catchy punk riffs and unrelenting social and political lyrics, and are described as loud and with a bad attitude. Fronted by Garvey’s satirical commentary and shredding guitar, backed by Jay’s insanely fast melodic bass walks and Pat’s explosive assault on the drums, it’s music you can revolt to.
Vicious Circle began playing together in the mid 1980’s on the NW side of Chicago by brothers Art and Rudy Guzman. With the addition of Chris Tabor on guitar, the core of the group was established. After solidifying their lineup; Vicious Circle paid their dues starting out at clubs like The Iron Rail and Club Stadola to name a few. They then worked their way up to performing and headling many higher profile Chicago venues such as the legendary rock club The Thirsty Whale and Chances R. This also brought on local talent manager Tom Asay, who guided and directed them to appear with many National Acts locally. He also helped them branch their music to other Midwest locations such as Mabel’s in Champaign, TA Vern’s in Wisconsin, Mickey’s in Indiana; Midwestfest in Central Illinois. This expansion brought on legendary bus trips that loaded hundreds of their fans out to many of these events. Vicious Circle were known to have some of the largest parties at their practice spot behind Smiler Coogan’s; so bringing those same fans on a luxury event bus with them was just the right thing to do!! And the stories and memories live on….
As life changes; so do people and music; and in the early 90’s Vicious Circle decided to part ways. They still remained friends and in contact over the years and as they progressed on with other projects and bands; conversations always reverted back to those historical times of being involved in a great movement.
Fast forward to 2009; Tony LaBarbera; the same promoter that booked the Legendary Thirsty Whale in the 80’s and 90’s; produces one of the biggest local rock events; The first Thirsty Whale Reunion show. Vicious Circle saw this a great oppurtunity reunite and they were one of the first bands to reach out to Tony and was immediately booked. Needless to say; it was a historical event for Vicious Circle and many other bands that attended that evening.
Since then Vicious Circle has written new material to add to their catalogue and have recorded a full length CD. This CD was released in early 2011!
Vicious Circle would like to thank you and many others for being a part of our 2nd journey into yet another phase of great times and music!! Get Metal!!!
Spyderbone promises to take the listener on a journey of inner discovery and joyful exuberance….or maybe we just want to bash your skull into a wall of Marshalls…one never knows…..
Sister Kill Cycle has created interest all over the United States, as well as abroad, since merging into the music scene with their intense stage presence and sound since 2000. Their live performance utilizes state of the art lighting and a technically choreographed stage production. Experience has dictated that the visual side of the performance is equally important to the sound. Self-described as Alternative Hard Rock, Sister Kill Cycle has crafted their art of genre bending music that is appealing to audiences of all ages and cultures.
After relocating to Tampa, FL in 2003, the band released their debut EP “Massacre The Guilty” selling over 2,600 copies. The EP was self-produced at the band’s home studio and was mixed by Chris Telkes (Noctourne) and mastered by Sara Lee Lucas (Marilyn Manson) and Trace (NIN) at their Master Lab facility in Orlando, FL. The release captured the attention of both local and international fans as well as critics, resulting in a huge fan base growth creating the highest ratings on Myspace in 2004. Sister Kill Cycle has developed a continuously growing fan base with self-promotion, social networking and endless touring with live performances opening for such acts as BILE, ARCH ENEMY, CRADLE OF FILTH, THE CRUXSHADOWS, KMFDM, THE GENITORTURERS, NOCTOURNE, PRONG, MUSHROOMHEAD, SEVENDUST, FILTER, NONPOINT, THRILL KILL KULT AND CC DEVILLE, to name a few.
Sister Kill Cycle won Best Hard Rock Artist Award at the First Annual Hard Music Awards in Tampa, FL in 2006. Through this achievement, the band was invited to attend and perform at Winter NAMM trade show in Anaheim, CA. At this highly visible industry event, Sister Kill Cycle secured product endorsements with MONSTER PICKS, DDRUM, BC RICH GUITARS, KUSTOM AMPS, FLOYD ROSE, ROLAND, EMG, SAMSON and HOSA CABLES. In May 2010, Sister Kill Cycle released their first full length album titled “Redemption Through Rebellion.” It was immediately followed by the “Crash and Burn Tour” with supporting acts Fractured Fairytales and Team Cybergeist. Sister Kill Cycle has continued developing an ever growing fan base throughout the US and in overseas markets in excess of 60,000 fans. Their music and videos have stimulated the attention of industry professionals from markets around the world.
Sister Kill Cycle is currently in the studio working on their new release. Strategic plans are in development to release at least two music videos in support of the new album. A full tour to support the new album and the new music video releases are currently in the planning stages.
Currently Sister Kill Cycle is receiving rotational internet radio play on Flying V Internet Radio with three songs. “Nowhere,” “Cruel World” and “No Surrender” are reaching an audience of 1.4 million listeners at any given time. Sister Kill Cycle has recently acquired endorsements with Texas Star Whiskey, Sinister Guitar Picks, Mass Destruction Clothing and Scymtek Cymbals.
