Few things can be more terrifying than an out-of-control mob at a rock concert — especially when that mob hasn’t had a nap. Chris Wiser of kiddie-rock duo the Sugar Free Allstars nearly shudders at the memory of one such show, when he and his fellow Allstar, Rob Martin, faced a crowd of unruly children […]
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Sample size
It’s hard to imagine that Gregg Gillis — best known as Girl Talk — spent several years playing for handfuls of people, being that he now regularly plays for 10,000 or more a night. No matter the number, he infused the same manic energy into his mad mash-ups. “I’d yell and jump on them, anything […]
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Honey, I quit the band
Divorces can be messy, but married couple Natalie and Ryan Houck’s split from Green Corn Revival to form altcountry act Honeylark was as amicable as possible, with both sides citing the ol’ “irreconcilable differences.” “Ryan and I had been writing our own stuff for a long time,” Natalie Houck said. “You know how artists are: […]
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Chad Sullins and the Last Call Coalition — Incommunicado
With clear-cut single “Thank God for Jack Daniels,” Sullins positions himself somewhere between Stoney LaRue and Eric Church, executing the whiskey tribute with all the subtlety — and admitted fun — of a Michael Bay film after a charming, vintage-Western introduction. He leads into that some good-ol’-boy politicking in the blistering, if familiar “Straight to […]
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Color me busy
Jordan Herrera loves music so much, he hardly can step away from it, even for a moment. Always listening, of course, but always playing, too. Months ago at Norman Music Festival, Herrera played with four different bands (Chrome Pony, The Gentle Art of Floating, Good Morning Grizzly and The Nghiems) in three days, and that […]
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Last chance
Deer Creek isn’t known as a birthplace of rock music … yet. At Long Last, a band of four Deer Creek High School students, is on the rise, having opened for the likes of Forever the Sickest Kids, Go Radio and Greyson Chance. Singer-songwriter Jordan Lindley and drummer Carson Hawkins started playing together at their […]
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Bros before woes
Photo: Moses Namkung Some bands rue the day where they play in massive arenas and amphitheaters instead of midsized concert halls. Folk rock’s The Avett Brothers, however, relish it. “We have more tools at our disposal than we ever have. There’s been a gradual progression, watching the size of the rooms we were playing in […]
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Bastards!
Ohio garage rockers Heartless Bastards were a little road-weary after two years touring with Wilco and Wolfmother, and on their own, both here and abroad. They finally wound down to record what would later become Arrow when their producer, Spoon drummer Jim Eno, suggested the band head right back out there. “He recommended we go […]
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News ease
America has embraced many bands and musicians over the years, but only a few dozen have wrapped themselves into the fabric of the country’s pop culture like Huey Lewis and the News. A massive presence in the formative days of MTV, the blues-influenced pop rockers unleashed a string of feel-good, smash-hit singles, including “The Heart […]