rawk Archive
22 May 2018
Chuck Lichtenberger’s Real Feel
The last few years have seen a lot of changes for Asheville, N.C.-based songwriter and keyboardist Chuck Lichtenberger. His marriage and band ended, and he faced some serious mental health issues; all of this played out in a very public manner. This is What Happens When…, his latest solo album, addresses – in unyielding and
18 May 2018
Ozomatli: Building Bridges to Younger Fans
Genre-blurring band Ozomatli has long been recognized for its socially and politically conscious music. Combining rock, Latin music and hip-hop with positive messages, the Los Angeles-based collective has earned both commercial success and critical plaudits. And an important part of the group’s work continues to be its outreach to young listeners. In many cities on
17 May 2018
Alejandro Escovedo is Still Burning Brightly
Guitarist, singer and songwriter Alejandro Escovedo released his 14th album, Burn Something Beautful, in late 2016. Reaction to the album—in many ways a return to the rocking end of Escovedo’s musical spectrum—has been so positive that he’s still on the road in support of it. The album distills his interests and influences into a cohesive
15 May 2018
Michael Schenker Takes it to the Next Level
Michael Schenker is quite likely the most famous and acclaimed German-born guitarist in the history of rock. Picking up the guitar early, by his teens Schenker joined older brother Rudolf in Scorpions, playing on that band’s debut album. His long and winding career subsequently found him handling lead guitar duties for UFO, and then as
14 May 2018
Michael Schenker Fest: Four Singers, Full Potential
Guitarist Michael Schenker rose to fame in the 1970s as the lead guitarist in his older brother’s band, Scorpions. German-born Schenker soon set off on a path of his own, making a string of popular hard rock albums with UFO, and later with his own Michael Schenker Group. His bands would be characterized as much
11 May 2018
Liza Anne’s Turn for the Rockier (Part Two)
Continued from Part One… When you finish a recording session, do you feel like you’re able to say that it’s done, or are you the sort of person who wants to go back and tinker with it? “It’s definitely a process. It’s different every time. Zach Dyke produces my stuff, and when we finished the
10 May 2018
Liza Anne’s Turn for the Rockier (Part One)
Liza Anne is the stage name of St. Simons Island-born Elizabeth Anne Odachowski. Nominally a folk musician, on her debut album — 2014’s The Colder Months — she crafted a gentle, heartfelt sound with soothing vocal harmonies and alluring melodies. On her 2015 album Two, the acoustic Americana flavor of her songs was layered with
04 May 2018
Album Review: The Rising Storm — Calm Before…
A bunch of prep school boys put together a rock band in 1965. Big deal, right? American teens (mostly but not exclusively males) did that all over the USA in the mid sixties. The influences of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds was widespread, and American affluence (for some, at least) meant that
03 May 2018
Album Review: The Remains — Live 1969
The Remains were one of the coolest and most promising r&b-flavored American rock bands of the 1960s. The Boston-based group scored the supreme honor of opening for the Beatles on their final U.S. Tour. And the Remains would be immortalized by inclusion on Lenny Kaye’s incalculably influential garage rock compilation, Nuggets. What the Remains never
02 May 2018
Album Review: Jonathan Wilson — Rare Birds
Jonathan Wilson is a son of Western North Carolina. Born in Forest City and raised in the tiny town of Spindale, Wilson came from a musical family. By the late 1990s he was in a band called Muscadine, and signed to Sire Records; the group released three albums before disbanding. Settled in California’s Laurel Canyon,