interview Archive
03 Aug 2016
James McMurtry: Put Good Lines in the Verses
“The room is the instrument,” says Austin singer-songwriter James McMurtry. Considering that he began playing his original songs live onstage more than 30 years ago, he should know. The son […]
03 Aug 2016
James McMurtry: It’s Complicated
Many of the songs on James McMurtry‘s albums feel like vignettes from larger stories. The listener can feel that he or she is coming in on the middle of the […]
28 Jul 2016
KISS’ Paul Stanley: “Vomiting out songs is not for me.”
I recently interviewed KISS’ frontman and guitarist Paul Stanley for a short print feature that appeared in the Colorado Springs Independent. The whole interview was interesting, so here’s the full […]
27 Jul 2016
Mamadou Kelly: “We Are Musicians. We Play Music.”
“The American blues form is foreign to us,” says Malian master guitarist Mamadou Kelly. That may come as a surprise to American audiences who hear in Kelly’s music a connection […]
26 Jul 2016
Ron Gallo: Heart Over Head
The primitive side of rock ‘n’ roll informs Ron Gallo‘s music as showcased on RG3 – EP, a three-song preview of his upcoming album Heavy Meta, due out in August. […]
25 Jul 2016
The Sheepdogs Get Back to Where They Once Belonged
The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based Sheepdogs started out as an indie band, briefly flirted with the majors, and then returned to their indie roots. But they’ve held onto the popularity they gained along […]
22 Jul 2016
David Bazan: Just Like the Record, Almost
“We wanted to make a record.” That may sound like the most obvious of statements for a recording artist to make, but David Bazan is trying to convey a deeper […]
21 Jul 2016
The English Beat: Life is Difficult, but Life is Good
The English Beat (known in the UK simply as The Beat, and in Australia as The British Beat) were at the forefront of the late 1970s and early ’80s musical […]
18 Jul 2016
Black Mountain: Canadian Krautrock?
Conventional wisdom holds that Vancouver-based Black Mountain is somehow retro in its approach to making music. A more careful listen, however, suggests that the band’s music features new sounds that […]
15 Jul 2016
Guided by Voices: A Study in Well-prepared Spontaneity
“When we go to sound check, he goes to record stores.” That’s how guitarist Bobby Bare Jr. begins his description of the preparations Guided by Voices leader Bob Pollard makes […]