Music Features

Snow Patrol is in the midst of a major worldwide surge in popularity, helped by opening for U2 on tour and having their breakout single, “Chasing Cars,” appear on “Grey’s Anatomy.”   “Twenty-two million people watch ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ drummer Jonny Quinn said. “My girlfriend lives in Austin and that’s how her whole office found out […]

Oklahoma rapper Blake O. ” the O is for Overstreet ” isn’t worried about the “white rapper” label.   “I just pretend I’m not a rapper, no matter that I’ll be rapping everywhere I go,” Blake said. “I’m an artist. You gotta joke for it. But then you gotta make sure to take it seriously.” […]

Ty Kamm is the assistant manager at Joe’s Place Fine Wine & Spirits in Norman, but you might recognize him as the showman fronting longtime local heroes Klipspringer.   “My discount comes in handy for the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle,” Kamm said.   BUSY, BUT EASYFor Kamm, the job has lasted nearly as long as […]

While most bluegrass bands have a sound that is easily identifiable, Colorado’s Yonder Mountain String Band mixes elements of rock, pop, country and bluegrass with vocal harmonies and something that is inexplicably theirs.   “We don’t really have a term for it. It’s just the Yonder Mountain Sound. Elvis didn’t call it rock ‘n’ roll; […]

DJ Switch has spun his way out of the club and onto the radio with Friday afternoon’s “Beats for Lunch” program on KVSP-FM 103.5.   Program director for Perry Broadcasting Terry Monday said Switch’s weekly show is an outlet for local unsigned talent and gives airtime to good mixes.   INSTANT STREET CREDTired of the […]

Henry McMinn of Oklahoma City’s Audyssey Studios said the hardest thing about recording other people’s music is the people themselves.   “Everybody’s got the McDonald’s and Wal-Mart mentality: They want you to do it as fast as you can and have it sound as perfect as you can for the minimal amount of money,” he […]

St. Louis-based experimental jazz quartet Bach to the Future is apt to perform Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” with an Afro-Cuban flow ” and the possibility of a laser zap thrown in for good measure.   “It’s an oddball group,” keyboardist Mike Silverman admitted, albeit one committed to pushing its own musical boundaries through […]

DJ Graham Funke has played parties for Marilyn Manson, Jack Osbourne and porn star Jenna Jameson. But Oklahoma City is no different.   “Honestly I’m gonna give the same level of performance for either party,” he said. “Alcohol has the same effect on everybody else. It goes for whether I am even in Oklahoma or […]

Among the speakers at The Beatles Weekend in Norman in February were author Andy Babiuk and collector Russ Lease.   Babiuk wrote the definitive book on The Beatles’ instruments, “Beatles Gear: All the Fab Four’s Instruments, from Stage to Studio.” Lease is one of the foremost collectors of the band’s memorabilia.   MUSICAL LEGACYWhile researching […]

Of Montreal’s latest album, “Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?,” is among the most seductive and danceable of Kevin Barnes’ career, yet comes from the most painful period in his life.   “I was going through a really difficult time, and I was writing songs as a type of therapy to get through it,” Barnes […]