Category: Artists

The onetime backing group for R. Kelly, Chicago’s Public Announcement made their solo debut in 1998 with All Work, No Play, scoring a Top Ten hit with the single “Body Bumpin’ Yippie-Yi-Yo”. Kelly moved on to contemporary R&B stardom, while the group remained in semi-retirement until late 2000 when they released theirsophomore album Don’t Hold…

Public Enemy rewrote the rules of hip-hop, becoming the most influential and controversial rap group of the late ’80s and, for many, the definitive rap group of all time. Building from Run-D.M.C.’s street-oriented beats and Boogie Down Productions’ proto-gangsta rhyming, Public Enemy pioneered a variation of hardcore rap that was musically and politically revolutionary. With…

Wesley Scantlin (vocals/guitar) Paul Phillips (guitar) Douglas Ardito (bass) Greg Upchurch (drums) Any listener to rock radio is familiar with the name Puddle Of Mudd by now, but many don’t appreciate the sheer scale of success the band’s debut album, 2001’s Come Clean, achieved: over 5 million copies sold and spawning no less than 4…

Chris Ballew—vocals, 2-string basitar Dave Dederer—guitar Jason Finn—drums Yeeeaaaggghhh!!! In the midst of an unpredictable election year, what better band to resurface than the once and, if they have their way, future leaders of buoyant, absurdist rock, the Presidents of the United States of America? The newly-reunited PUSA has been in the studio cooking up…

“Before you can convince others that you are capable of accomplishing your goals and realizing your dreams, you have to totally believe in yourself and in those taking the journey with you. If you do that, you will ultimately ‘Prove Yourself True.” — PYT, 2001 Periodically the urban/pop landscape unearths that rare, youthful female vocal…

The Paper Chase’s Beatville debut is an adventurous rethinking of rock’s conventions. Earnest and harrowing, Young Bodies Heal Quickly, You Know is the sound of relationships – romantic and musical – falling apart. Reaching back to avant-jazz, Drive Like Jehu and King Crimson, The Paper Chase is, at its heart, a radical demolition of rock…

PIXIES INFORMATION: “DEATH TO THE PIXIES” PART 1 Three kids in rock tee shirts are drinking colas at the outdoor cafe table beside mine as I try to pull these notes together. They don’t look a bit out of place in their alterna-rock duds even though they’re a hundred miles from any radio station worth…

From the first time they set foot on American soil, The Police were hailed as a “must-see” band — a group that alchemized an already impressive studio sound into something utterly otherworldly when they hit the stage. Masters of controlled energy and insidiously evocative melodies, Stewart Copeland, Sting and Andy Summers played with the improvisational…

CHRISSIE HYNDE – Lead vocals, Guitar ADAM SEYMOUR – Lead Guitar, Backing vocals MARTIN CHAMBERS – Drums ANDY HOBSON – Bass The Pretenders’ 8th studio album, Loose Screw, isn’t a return to form. It’s better than that. It’s a successful attempt at being modern while maintaining the essence of what has made them a great…

With The Polyphonic Spree, simple things have a way of turning grand. Take the happenstance that was the piano on which frontman Tim DeLaughter composed the backbone of the group’s new disc, Together We’re Heavy. “A friend of ours was living in New York, and didn’t have a place for a piano she left back…