Review: Fenix TX – Lechuza

Adam Grundy May 24, 2021

Of all the bands that got attention during the boom of the pop-punk and Drive-Thru Records era, I always thought that Fenix TX didn’t get enough love. Their self-titled debut (after their official name change) launched their first legitimate hit in “All My Fault” and had several other tracks on the album that could’ve been just as successful with the right commercial push. Lechuza brought some added pressure since they were expected to outsell their MCA/Drive-Thru Records debut and take their sound to new and exciting directions. They officially kicked off this era of the band with the single, “Threesome” that received moderate MTV2 video airplay and some success with the Warped Tour crowd. With great guitar work, solid pop hooks, and a fresh sound to go into this album cycle, why did Lechuza not get the same amount of attention as their colleagues on the same label?

Craig Manning May 21, 2021

Why weren’t The Wallflowers a bigger deal?

In the years since the band’s 1996 breakthrough, Bringing Down the Horse (which turns 25 today), I have pondered this question a lot. By all accounts, this particular band seemed primed for superstardom. Here are just a few of the things they had going in their favor:

Adam Grundy May 19, 2021

Recently I was able to connect with lead vocalist of Trade Wind, Jesse Barnett, before his band’s release of their new album called The Day We Got What We Deserved. The album comes out this Friday via Other People Records and we discussed everything that went into the new record. I asked Jesse about Trade Wind’s strengths, what they draw on for inspiration, and what stood out most looking back on these writing sessions.

Adam Grundy May 17, 2021

On the debut full-length album from Never Loved, the band is able to channel their rich plethora of influences directly back into an ear-pleasing effort. The studio album entitled Over It, was produced by veteran hit-maker Matt Squire (All Time Low, Taking Back Sunday) and Squire is able to get the best out of the three-piece South Florida band. The band is comprised of vocalist/guitarist Cameron Knopp, bassist Jay Gayoso, and guitarist Shane O’Brien, all of whom are able to pull on each of their strengths as musicians to create a worthy debut focused on the mess that gets thrown our way and still finding a clear path forward to get through it all.

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Review: R.E.M. – Reveal

Mary Varvaris May 14, 2021

It’s no secret that I wholeheartedly love R.E.M. I talk about them regularly on Twitter; I call myself a R.E.M. enthusiast on Instagram. By the time they released Reveal, 20 years ago this weekend, the band was already significant to my five-year-old self. I could take one look at the opening scene of the “Losing My Religion” music video and know the song was starting. The water drips from an open window; Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Bill Berry run across the dark room while Michael Stipe stays seated; Tarsem Singh’s “melodramatic and very dreamlike” direction still captivates me. I loved that song while not understanding why I connected with it at such a young age. Maybe I loved it because my parents did, too.

My parents didn’t follow R.E.M. in the 80s. Sure, they would have heard “It’s The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” – which dad hates – and “The One I Love” (which dad loves), but besides those two tracks, R.E.M. wasn’t breaking through in Australia. They didn’t hear “Fall on Me” on the radio, which is a travesty if you ask me. Life’s Rich Pageant – my favorite R.E.M. album, depending on the day – spent seven weeks on the Australian chart. A year later, in 1987, Document enjoyed nine weeks on the chart. Out of Time sat pretty for a whopping 33 weeks on the ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) Chart. Automatic for the People spent 52 weeks on the ARIA chart. By 1992, the band was rightfully inescapable in my home country.

Despite the wild success R.E.M. celebrated in their “peak” periods – for some, the peak is their run on IRS Records; for others, it’s the four-album run of Document, Green, Out of Time, and Automatic for the People – the band’s later output is criminally overlooked. If you look at pure sales and chart positions, they are among the most successful groups of all time. They are the college rock band that could. If you’re a Radiohead, Nirvana, or Pavement follower, you know the influence R.E.M. has had on them. Some people proclaim any album up to Automatic to be their last great album. If you’re one of those individuals, I have a couple of questions for you: Have you heard New Adventures in Hi-Fi? How about Up? Most importantly, have you sat and listened to Reveal?

Adam Grundy May 14, 2021

A little known fact about Ours is that Distorted Lullabies is not actually their debut album. The band, led by multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Jimmy Gnecco, released their debut way back in 1994 called Sour, and disbanded for several years. Once Gnecco decided to get things up and running again in 1997, he would put the framework together for signing a major label record deal with Dreamworks Records and pair the band with veteran producer Steve Lillywhite (U2, Chris Cornell) to create the songs that would become Distorted Lullabies. I had the opportunity a few years back to check out Gnecco’s solo acoustic shows as he tried to get Ours back up and running full time and it was evident that he clearly still has the musical chops to take his music to the next level. During that particular performance, he told several stories of the early stages of Ours and how the label thought of them as “the next possible U2-caliber band to break out into the mainstream.” While the band did not experience the commercial success of the label’s lofty expectations, this record remains one of my favorites to come out during this time period, and I vividly remember discovering the band through their music video for “Sometimes,” that received semi-frequent airplay on MTV2. While the brooding, and darker-themed elements of their music may be remembered most during this era of the band, I’ll most remember that feeling of discovering my next favorite “underappreciated” artist.

Adam Grundy May 10, 2021

After several years of working on each of their respective solo projects, Fried Monk (Lucas Kozinski) and Beautiful-Fortune (Jameel Farruk) join forces on the experimental EP called Here As One. With a sound in the same vein as Broken Bells, Gorillaz and MGMT, this new collaborative project makes for a quick but enjoyable listen. The EP is built around the strength of the lead single, “Planet B,” that drives most of the lasting impact of the record. In a recent interview Farruk described the track by stating, “I’m overly curious about the sun. I’m borderline obsessed with it. As a solo artist, I can’t help myself from having referred to the sun over and over throughout my catalogue of songs.” Based primarily on the aftermath of a difficult breakup, Farruk describes the song as “a declaration of my acceptance of a life without her.” With so much packed into these three songs, it’s hard to not take notice over the two artists’ chemistry.

Adam Grundy May 10, 2021

There is no denying the power that music can have in bringing us all together, especially in times of tragedy. Shortly after the death of David Jones, lead vocalist of Enemy You, tributes came pouring in from all over the globe of bands who appreciated his band’s music in ways they couldn’t even begin to describe. Enemy You ruled the 90’s melodic punk scene, and left a remarkable footprint for other bands to follow in wake of this tragedy. The Lillingtons have lovingly re-imagined several songs from Jones’s catalog for the Red Scare Industries covers EP called Can Anybody Hear Me? In these six songs that comprise this record, you can hear the magic of David Jones’s legacy all over these carefully crafted covers. In a recent interview for the publication, Brooklyn Vegan, The Lillingtons’ vocalist/guitarist Kody Templeman (Teenage Bottlerocket) added, “We were fans of David Jones’s music before Enemy You, but he was at his peak as a songwriter during that time. Those albums have always been special to us. David will always be special to us. We’re proud and honored to be releasing these songs along with Ken and Chris.” The record has been pressed to vinyl with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

Adam Grundy May 7, 2021

Recently I was able to schedule a Zoom interview with BMG’s newly signed pop rock band from New York City, called January Jane. The band is comprised of vocalist Pat Via, guitarist Mitch Mitchell, and keyboardist Peter Scialla. This great new band was discovered by music scene legend, Matt Pinfield, and in this interview I learned how January Jane got started and the crazy circumstances that led to Pinfield working closely with the band. I asked January Jane about their strengths as artists, their songwriting process, and how they would describe their live show. The band released a new music video today for their single ”Versions of You” off of their upcoming EP Your Drug, that will be released everywhere music is sold this summer. Read our full conversation where I describe January Jane as being one hit song away from being at the tip of everyone’s tongue.

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Interview: Tanner Merritt

Mary Varvaris May 6, 2021

A lot has changed since I caught up with O’Brother last year. For one, touring again is a possibility for the band – over 105 million Americans have been fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus, which brings the country closer to post-pandemic normal. For vocalist Tanner Merritt, he has written a ton of new solo material due to monumental personal loss. Last year, O’Brother was riding high: They had released their long-awaited fourth album, You and I, to unanimous praise and incredible sales for a newly independent band.

The album relished space and classical guitars while intentionally leaving vague lyrics to listeners’ imaginations. As beautiful as You and I is, there was a dark undercurrent beneath the track “What We’ve Lost.” A kind of follow-up to Endless Light’s “Black Hole,” Merritt needed an outlet to write about his father, Cyrus’s decade-long fight with Alzheimer’s disease. Then COVID hit, and Merritt spent most of the year in total isolation alongside his mother, watching his father’s condition worsen until he passed away on November 4, 2020, two days after his 63rd birthday.

Adam Grundy May 3, 2021

The latest single from the Charleston, West Virginia pop rock band A Story Told is taken from their upcoming album, American Made (out everywhere on July 16th), and has a great bounce to it in the same vein of bands like Twenty One Pilots, Smallpools, and the electronica-tinged brilliance of AWOLNATION. “I Don’t Mind (To Get A Little Hurt Sometimes)” is a great re-introduction to a band who are trying new and interesting elements in their sound to keep themselves on the cutting edge. The band is comprised of vocalist Alex Chaney, guitarists Josh Allen and Jason Lieser, bassist Zach Holley, drummer Casey Hardman, and their new sound feels ready to explode into the mainstream sooner rather than later.

Mary Varvaris Apr 30, 2021

If you had only heard the initial two singles from The Million Masks of God – “Bed Head” and “Keel Timing,” the sixth album from Manchester Orchestra, you could argue that the Atlanta group has learned how to groove. I’m not talking about groove-metal, Pantera style, although their take on “Walk” would be sick. They have always had that heavy edge, after all. Their songs have always been catchy; look at the youthful energy of “Wolves at Night,” the brilliant key change on “I’ve Got Friends,” the blues-inspired “April Fool,” or the undeniable “Choose You.” The list could go on and on. On their fifth album, A Black Mile to the Surface, the band combined their talent for unforgettable melody with ambitious, sprawling storytelling. In that sense alone, The Million Masks of God is the natural successor, a sister album to their 2017 instant classic.

The Million Masks of God is co-produced by vocalist Andy Hull and lead guitarist Robert McDowell, alongside Black Mile producer Catherine Marks (The Killers, Alanis Morissette) and newcomer Ethan Gruska (Phoebe Bridgers, Fiona Apple). With these two powerhouses on board, Manchester Orchestra turns the concept album dial up to 11. While the theme was abstract at the beginning of writing, it became far more straightforward following the loss of McDowell’s father to cancer. “If Black Mile was this idea of ‘from birth to death,’ this album would really be more about ‘from birth to beyond, focusing on the highs and lows of life and exploring what could possibly come next,’” Hull explained. The question here is, how well do they tell the story? Does the music itself match the quality of the concept? To me, it’s complicated.

Adam Grundy Apr 27, 2021

There’s a lot to like about Lilith Czar. She does her best to fight misogynistic behavior in an industry filled with so much of it, adds another voice to the female empowerment movement, and still cranks out well thought out anthems worthy of the early praise garnered. Lilith Czar (formerly Juliet Simms) “killed” off her old identity in the track “All American,” in an attempt to distance herself from a person she no longer identified with as an artist. On Created From Filth and Dust, Lilith Czar channels her inner rock queen to deliver an album filled with dark tones, heavy synth-laden beats, and with just enough silver linings to ensure that the material doesn’t get too heavy. With so much new momentum going in her favor, it’s hard to not buy in to the controlled chaos she presents on this record.

Adam Grundy Apr 23, 2021

The Northern Irish band Ash doesn’t seem to get a lot of love here in the states, but I’m hoping by revisiting certain album landmarks such as the 20th anniversary of Free All Angels more will come to appreciate their music. This third studio album from Tim Wheeler (vocals/guitar), Mark Hamilton (bass), Rick McMurray (drums), and Charlotte Hatherley (guitar, backing vocals) is the one record I make sure to have on steady rotation when spring turns to summer. I started this tradition unconsciously back in the days of organizing my CD collection (in those big Case Logic binders) by making sure Free All Angels would be the first record I’d see in the front when school finally broke for summer vacation. From the opening lyrics of “Walking Barefoot” where Wheeler sings, “Your beauty took my breath away / In awe all day / Your company was so relaxing / Easy going ways / We saw the first signs of summer and springtime change / Walking barefoot along the sand / I hadn’t planned to stay / Yeah, we’ve been walking barefoot all summer / It’ll be sad my friend / To see it come to an end / Why can’t we just quit,” it marked a laid back transition in my mind of turning the page of the care-free days of what summer means in our youth.

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Review: The Offspring – Let the Bad Times Roll

Brett Bodner Apr 23, 2021

For years now, it seems like a new The Offspring album has been promised like a new Avatar movie. There were rumblings of a new record being recorded as early as 2013, but nothing came to fruition despite the band hyping up their progress. In this time, they left the record label they’ve been a part of since 1996, Columbia Records, and also parted ways with long-time bass player Greg K. After the delays, band drama, national chaos and a global pandemic, the band finally dropped their first new album after nine years, the appropriately titled Let the Bad Times Roll.

Review: Fenix TX – Lechuza

Review: The Wallflowers – Bringing Down the Horse

Interview: Jesse Barnett of Trade Wind

Review: Never Loved – Over It

Review: R.E.M. – Reveal

Review: Ours – Distorted Lullabies

Review: Fried Monk and Beautiful-Fortune – Here As One

Review: The Lillingtons – Can Anybody Hear Me? (A Tribute to Enemy You)

Interview: January Jane and Matt Pinfield

Interview: Tanner Merritt

Review: A Story Told – I Don’t Mind (To Get A Little Hurt Sometimes)

Review: Manchester Orchestra – The Million Masks of God

Review: Lilith Czar – Created From Filth And Dust

Review: Ash – Free All Angels

Review: The Offspring – Let the Bad Times Roll