With just 30 days until Boise’s Treefort Music Fest kicks off — and shortly before the Bad Penny rolls out an exciting interview series surrounding it — here’s a look back in photos (and some words) at 2019’s installment.
(Originally published by Music Connection.)
… And here’s my review of the Touch and Go Records’ three-day anniversary concert from September 2006.
CHICAGO — Touch and Go’s three-day anniversary bash wasn’t just a lesson in the history of the seminal record label. It was a Cliff’s Notes-like recap of the last 25 years of indie rock itself.
Underground granddaddies Big Black, Scratch Acid and Killdozer spit forth a lethal dose of abrasive, confrontational brutality, while !!!, Ted Leo and Enon courted the crowd with dance-rock appeal. And therein lied the clear distinction between the challenging approach taken by yesterday’s bands and the sheer accessibility of their successors.
Continue reading
Now here’s a blast from the past. A blast from the past from the past, actually.
Touch and Go Records 4 eva.
Before Fall Out Boy, before the Academy Is … — hell, even before the Smashing Pumpkins — there was Touch and Go Records. Like those bands, the trailblazing record label’s reach has extended far beyond its Chicago base of operations, but come September, it’ll be enshrining its 25 years of influence with a massive anniversary gala designed to dazzle indie rock’s shrewdest scholars.
Scratch Acid, Big Black, Man … or Astro-man?, Killdozer — while they’re not exactly household names, the underground goons that shattered eardrums and tore punk rock a new one decades ago will be wreaking havoc once again in commemoration of the label that sustained them. Think of it as “A Mighty Wind” for the indie-rock masses.
Continue readingDug up this October 2015 article for Music Connection in which I reviewed Lucy & La Mer playing at — of all places — a vegan beer and food festival in Los Angeles. Click on the photo or title below, and you’ll be directed to Music Connection, which houses the entire review. The group’s most recent release was “Don’t It Feel Good,” a single issued in June.
It’s not clear what Boise did to deserve two heart-pounding performances in one year by Spirit Mother. They are one of the best new psych-rock bands on the West Coast — which is saying a lot, given that it’s currently the favored strain of indie music from Seattle to San Diego.
The Bad Penny had the honor of speaking with frontman Armand Lance before Spirit Mother headlined a gig at Neurolux on June 9. And last night, we had the equally great opportunity to finally watch them do what they do best: cause the jaws of dozens of music fans to collectively drop.
Continue reading
Bewitcher, Portland’s most scintillating speed-metal band since Toxic Holocaust, blew the garage doors off the Shredder in Boise once again on Friday night. It was an exhilarating set played by the band that played the same venue with Nile in mid-April, and with Exhumed and Creeping Death in November 2021.
The 50-or-so attendees danced and rubbed knocked elbows during each song, before and after which Bewitcher’s gracious frontman — who goes by the tough-to-memorize moniker Unholy Weaver of Shadows & Incantations — frequently expressed his appreciation for the crowd.
The phrase “time is of the essence” originated during the construction of the first Transcontinental Railroad that connected rail networks in the eastern U.S. with the western half of the country. Time is also the essence of live performances by Brain Tourniquet, a D.C. band that is powerfully violent to the hardest of cores.
On Friday night, the trio played their first gig in the Pacific Northwest at Boise’s haven for hard and heavy music, the Shredder. In the spirit of Brain Tourniquet’s speedy set — during which they played about 20 songs in 20 minutes — what follows is a rapid-fire attempt to communicate what it’s like seeing them live.
Continue reading
It’s been a decade or three too long since mobs of miscreants banged their heads to metal mavens wearing bangs. That’s aside from Dave Mustaine and Joey Belladonna — who, at 60 and 61 years old, respectively, really should move aside. C’mon, guys, let the young ones get their chance.
But on Sunday night at the Shredder, Boise got some fresh air and fresh hair in the form of throwback ‘80s hard rockers Unto Others, a newish quartet from Portland, Oregon, led by frontman Gabriel Franco. Breathing new life into a cauldron of ‘80s hard rock, his group originally spawned in 2017 as Idle Hands. Shortly thereafter, they changed their name to another Biblically referenced moniker, Unto Others.
Continue reading
Make no mistake about it: Denver’s Wayfarer are dead-set on claiming the throne as kings of black metal in the Western U.S. Cofounded in 2011 by guitarist/vocalist Shane McCarthy, bassist/vocalist James Hansen and drummer Isaac Faulk, the group even haughtily describes itself as follows: “Wayfarer is black metal of the American West.”
Reaching such status will be a very tall order, but the quartet (also featuring guitarist Joe Strong-Truscelli) showed promise with a relentlessly crushing concert at the Shredder in Boise on Thursday night. The gig was the penultimate one on their 11-date “Death Rides West” jaunt.
British-born, Nashville-based singer/songwriter Yola left the Grammy Awards empty-handed last week, losing to Jon Batiste for Best American Roots Song and Los Lobos for Best Americana Album. Still. the outcomes weren’t a huge surprise for an emerging artist whose music is not confined to a single genre.
Indeed, Yola didn’t seem phased whatsoever when she played her unique blend of pop/country/hip-hop/Americana/soul/R&B/you-name-it to the Knitting Factory in Boise. Smiles abounded through the crowd, who were enraptured by Yola’s vocal range and authenticity — and seemed to know the show was so special, they might tell their kids about it someday.
Her covers of Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” Aretha Franklin’s “Day Dreaming” and Anita Baker’s “Sweet Love” iced the cake.
If you aren’t yet familiar with the gift from the music gods that is Yola, check out my recent cover story on the artist for Music Connection. In the feature, she discusses her most recent album, July 2021’s Stand for Myself; growing up practically destitute; the “hot mess” that is U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson; and her lifelong love of Dolly Parton.
The Bad Penny (beta) 