Singer, songwriter, film actor, and big band leader (or, to trade on the name of one of his more steadfast ensembles, “Large Band” leader) Lyle Lovett found his ill-fated marriage to actress Julia Roberts and a piled-high pompadour earning him more tabloid time than any amount of accolades accorded his…
Watch out, Alanis Morissette; up-and-coming Boynton Beach triple-threat singer-songwriter-guitarist Alex Bach is coming up behind you with a jagged little pill of her own. Bach’s raw lyrics, rocking guitar riffs, and powerful voice bring a feminist touch to the often male-dominated world of modern rock. Case in point: “Blame God…
How ’bout them ’90s? How ’bout that angst, that grunge, that flannel? How ’bout Better Than Ezra, the New Orleans trio that snagged platinum in 1993 with its pop rock ditty “Good” and opened the door for chart-toppers like Third Eye Blind and Matchbox Twenty? The trio that turned grunge…
After suffering the breakdown of their seminal hardcore band, Indecision, in early 2000, Justin Brannan and Rachel Rosen retreated to New York City and re-formed as Most Precious Blood. Following the relentless attitude of their do-it-yourself roots, MPB is a return-to-basics hardcore/metal outfit, stripped of the over-the-top metallic tendencies that…
You’ve probably heard Mike Clark’s drumming without even knowing it. Clark originally broke out in the 1970s, when he joined forces with Herbie Hancock to form the Headhunters, the top-selling jazz group of all time. Still not familiar? Well, you may have heard Clark’s samples in your favorite hip-hop and…
Despite a name that sounds like some kinda tree-hugging, spoken-word collective, Green Poet Experiment is actually one lone guy from Jupiter playing pensive, acoustic folk music. Todd Colucci does a lot of standard acoustic strumming, but check his self-produced Flags and Dreams, set for release this summer, and you’ll also…
Born in South Carolina in 1942, electric guitarist James Blood Ulmer cut his teeth in funk bands and jazz organ combos, leaning toward jazz. In 1973, Ulmer hooked up with avant-jazz icon Ornette Coleman, who has a singular notion of harmony and melody — known as harmolodics. After playing in…
One of rock’s original superstar divas can draw a crowd by just standing there, but to her credit, Stevie Nicks still performs with all her energy. I’d put my money down that Fleetwood Mac’s enduring appeal relates to Nicks’ charisma as a performer and her heartfelt facial contortions during delivery…
Don’t be afraid to say it: You thought that ska was dead and that its bastard brethren had gone out to sea too. But here we are, a long time after ’96’s Everything Sucks, and ska-punkers Reel Big Fish are on the road again, supporting a new album. Maybe it’s…
It’s been a long time coming, but Fort Lauderdale rapper Mike West is finally set to drop his full-length debut, A Westside Story Chapter 1. Hungry fans — and there are many — will have to wait till August to get a hard copy in their hands, but if you’re…
Just when you thought fondue, meat loaf, and on-tap appletinis were the most superdelectable fun the funky folks at Dada could provide, they add Palm Beach’s answer to David Bowie, the Ubiquitous Timb. Bringing a full sheath of bondage, love, interstate, and genre-bending tunes (as well as a full band…
Known primarily for his role as bassist in Béla Fleck’s Grammy-winning New Grass Revival band the Flecktones, Victor Wooten is a phenomenal composer and bandleader in his own right. Widely respected by fellow musicians and acclaimed by the bass cognoscenti (he’s the only three-time winner of Bass Player magazine’s Bass…
Following in the glorious, hook-heavy wake of epic rockers like Cheap Trick and the Replacements, Watershed plays exactly the kind of brash and heartfelt music Fort Lauderdale fiends for. Thing is, the up-and-coming fourpiece is from Columbus, Ohio, and it’s blazing across the country in a terminally unhealthy van. Its…
Yeah, it’s another battle of the bands. And yeah, it’s at the snuggest lil’ venue in Broward, Alligator Alley. But rather than fight for cut-rate studio time, a chrome-plated trophy, or dubious bragging rights (because who judges these things, anyway?), the winner of this particular sonic imbroglio will ascend the…
Ladies and gents, cats and kittens, saints and sinners — get ready for the full custom gospel sounds of the Reverend Horton Heat! For more than 20 years, the good reverend (known as James Heath outside the clergy) has been holding Mass for the masses, shepherding a faithful flock with…
Betcha holiday time at the Burbridge home is a helluva party. Older brother Kofi is the virtuoso flautist and keyboardist for the Derek Trucks Band, and the younger Oteil plays bass with that legendary rock ‘n’ roll fraternity known as the Allman Brothers Band. I imagine copious whiskey, lots of…
It’s been a couple of months since the IPO of Only Human, the latest album from Fort Lauderdale rockers Crease, so momentum has built to a fever pitch for this week’s official release party. Human is the band’s best effort to date, a swing-for-the-fences, Rock-with-a-capital-R affair. Producer Charles Dye simultaneously…
Don’t be misled by the moniker Hobex — it is not the nom de musique of some laptop-techno-30,000-bpm DJ/electronica type. Rather, Hobex the band both sings and plays instruments to make live music, which, in the dark years before house music, people actually danced to. Formed from the ashes of…
Don’t confuse Austin’s Asylum Street Spankers with that into-the-dustbin-of-history, neo-/retro-swing/lounge trend that thrived in hep urban environs in the 1990s. A great deal of that stuff was shallow and ain’t-we-hip jizz by people who’d never even seen a Count Basie album. These Asylum Streeters are just plain folks — bastard…
I know we’re all still suffering a sugar hangover from the sensory overload of pop puppets and the hairless corpulent Svengalis manipulating the strings in honor of a dollar. However, New Edition has more in common with the Jackson 5 than with faceless Disney money wranglers. The fact is, when…
“Hey, folks, we just flew in from Libya, and, boy, are our arms tired!” Not that San Francisco rockers the Heavenly States are corny enough to start a show that way, but they certainly could if they wanted. In an unprecedented example of rock ‘n’ roll good will, the four-piece…
Remember the Pheromones, the Bus, dot Fash or Voodoo Death Gods? If you do, chances are you know the Numb Ones. The hometown alt-rockers have been performing for the past six years under a slew of other names before settling on their current moniker two years ago. They’ve also finally…
