Chris Parker

TV on the Radio is one of the most critically adored acts in the underground, since it burst on the scene with its 2004 full-length debut, “Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes,” and the group appears on the verge of joining acts like R.E.M., Sonic Youth and The Flaming Lips in crossing over to a mainstream […]

The members sport their own rebellious fashion, pen pop culture-biting songs with hot-blooded punk rhythms, and “horror” is right in the name, but please don’t deem the Danish act HorrorPops as psychobilly. “I understand the confusion. We have an upright bass, so people therefore assume we’re psychobilly,” singer/bassist Patricia Day said. “It’s funny, because we […]

Sometimes it takes a while to figure out what you want to become. Fortunately for The Willowz, rock ‘n’ roll is a profession that allows for on-the-job training. It’s taken four albums for singer/guitarist Richie James Follin and his compadres to discover their path, but with their forthcoming disc, “Everyone,” the quartet seems to have […]

“If I had a daughter,” singer/songwriter Terri Hendrix offers on the song of the same name, “I’d tell her it’s better to be out there on the field of life taking hits and making touchdowns, than bitching about the game in the bleachers.” The lyrics are emblematic of Hendrix’s broadminded Americana style, which, if sometimes […]

He’s an über-creative, humor-spouting, rap phenom who drops more references than Wikipedia, and maintains a closer relationship with his fans than most have with their girlfriends. Chris Ward IV, aka MC Chris, took a roundabout way into the music business, but now that he’s here, he’s hell-bent for success. Almost literally. MC Chris with Whole […]

A decade and four albums into their career, the Riverboat Gamblers hit a wall upon returning from a tour supporting 2006’s “To the Confusion of Our Enemies.” Founding bassist Pat Lillard called it quits, having suffered enough at frontman Mike Wiebe’s hands, between having his teeth knocked in by an errant microphone swing, and losing […]

Jim Findley, aka Joe Buck, is a pretty uncompromising fellow, which is about what you’d expect of someone who names a band Joe Buck Yourself. Of course, the band is just him, pounding the drum and wielding the guitar like a bayonet with which he intends to carve his impression on you. His songs ” […]

The French Kicks are a good band to know. In addition to making supple, engaging indie rock, the quartet seems to have great taste in opening bands. “Opening for us is a great career move,” frontman Nick Stumpf said. “There’s a long list of bands that opened for us that have gone on to sell […]

Punk ain’t what it used to be. Once a threat aimed largely at middle-class suburban American culture, with its self-satisfaction and alienating conformity, punk’s diminishing relevance is a testament to capitalism’s ability to co-op dissent and turn rebellion into a marketing angle; stores like Hot Topic now rule the malls punks once threatened to burn […]

The shadow of his father, Steve Earle, shades Justin Townes Earle. Like Dad, he’s a singer/songwriter who draws on old country/roots music who has battled drug addiction, some of that time as a teenage member of father’s band. HERITAGE OF HIS BIRTH NAME AWAY FROM HOME As the younger Earle notes on the pedal steel […]