RECENT ARTICLES

Seattle’s Adra Boo is supremely lovable. Just ask anyone who’s spent time with her in any creative capacity. She’s buoyant. She’s thoughtful. She’s honest. And she’s integral to the Emerald City music community, whether she’s fronting a project like Fly Moon Royalty, emceeing a festival like Timber! or giving advice on the side in the green room. We caught up with the musical dynamo to preview the gig and to ask her who she’s listening to these days, how her identity as a queer woman informs her art, and when she started singing.

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Just over 50 years ago, the song, “Angel of the Morning,” hit the national airwaves and turned Seattle’s Merrilee Rush into a household name.

The song, composed in 1966 and released in 1968, rocketed up the charts and has since been recorded by dozens (read: countless) of other artists. Rush, who came up in the Emerald City, singing popular teenage dances in local venues, lends her giant, golden voice to the track, which has since been placed in television and movie soundtracks like 1978’s Fingers, starring Harvey Keitel. We caught up with Rush, who recently turned 75, to talk about her origins as an artist in the Northwest, how she came to sing the iconic track and what she learned throughout her career. 

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Ian Astbury speaks slowly, methodically. The front man for the historic British rock band The Cult, which plays Monday at The Moore Theatre, is thoughtful when he recounts his early introduction to music. For the Liverpool-born artist, the Beatles played a big role in his beginnings as a songwriter, but then his horizons expanded as a result of his exposure to David Bowie, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed. The Cult, which has significant collaborative connections with bands like Metallica, The Clash, Guns ‘N’ Roses and the Beastie Boys, has also been an influence to so many bands following their lead.

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New Jersey-based songwriter, Patrick Stickles, has led a life oversaturated with substances. From the age of five, he’s been on drugs in some form or another. The verbal, eloquent musician, who fronts the band, Titus Andronicus, however, is candid about his experiences. He’s an open book, nervous but unashamed to speak on his experiences both as an artist and as a user and consumer of drugs, both elicit and prescribed. We caught up with Stickles to talk with him about his decades as a drug user and to ask him how making music helps him cope with his addictions and his neurodiversity. 

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Rainn Wilson, best known for his role as Dwight Schrute on the acclaimed American TV show The Office, is a Northwest treasure. The writer, actor, and comedian, who grew up outside Seattle, is bright, eloquent and goofy. He is compelling and odd. And, this month, Wilson will host an eclectic night of entertainment May 30th at the Paramount Theatre to support Mona Foundation, an organization that works to fund education and educational programs in impoverished, underserved areas. Wilson, who has worked with the foundation for years, says that education is a fundamental reason for his own success and, as a result, he wants to pass that gift on to others. To preview the May 30th event, we caught up with Wilson to ask him about his love of music, when he first heard The Clash, and what he’s exploring these days, creatively. 

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It’s hard to imagine that someone with such a powerful voice can be so understated, but that’s exactly how the great Neko Case comports herself in conversation. If you ask her about her range, the startlingly beautiful-voiced songwriter will say her voice isn’t that powerful, differing to others she adores. If you ask her about her intricate songwriting, she’ll compare it to a card table with puzzle pieces strewn all over. And if you ask her about her dog — who recently saved her life (more on that below) — she’ll coo and call him a good boy! This is what it’s like to talk to the stunning musician, who we caught up with to preview her upcoming show on June 1st at The Gorge Amphitheater with Brandi Carlile and Emmylou Harris. 

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Baltimore, Maryland-based dream pop band, Beach House, will play Seattle’s Moore Theatre on May 8th and 9th. That means for two evenings, the city will be vastly enriched by the group’s fantastical sounds, which are part-Goth waltz and part-glittering sonic castles. Beach House, which formed in 2004, released its latest LP, 7, a year ago. The album features an array of songs that offer the mind a cloud-hammock to lay in and explore existence in a more pleasant state. To preview the upcoming shows, we caught up with Beach House’s front woman, singer and keyboardist, Victoria Legrand, to talk with her about her origins in singing, how Beach House has stayed together now for 15 years, and what she remembers most from conversations with her fans.

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Seattle electronic music producer, Chong the Nomad, creates layered sounds that resemble both a single butterfly landing on a blade of grass and the cacophonous thunder in the big sky that shakes the creature from its perch. She is also one of the fastest rising songwriters in the city. The musician, whose given name is Alda Agustiano, has a new series of singles she’s set to release monthly for the next four months, leading up to what will likely be a slammed summer of shows for the DJ-performer. And KEXP is proud to release exclusively the first song in the set, “Two Colors,” a track about a new, important romantic relationship. To celebrate the release, we caught up with Agustiano to ask about how she started in music, what it’s like grappling with writer's block and how she feels about the idea of "story."

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Seattle native and Guns N’ Roses bassist, Duff McKagan, oozes rock ‘n’ roll. The man has seen it all. He’s toured the world, lived great highs, and great lows. He is the author of a New York Times best-selling book and has played to hundreds of thousands of people around the globe. Most recently, McKagan found himself on tour with his Hall of Fame band. And during the course of those two-and-a-half years on the road, he noticed a few things. He began talking to people. In an age when there seems to be so much social division, the musician found that people aren’t so different after all. On tour, he thought he’d write a book about his experiences. Instead, though, he wrote a new solo record, Tenderness, slated for release May 31. To get a sense of what went into the recording, we caught up with McKagan and asked him about it. 

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For years, the Northwest-based indie rock band, Built To Spill, has inspired and entertained music lovers of all kinds with the group’s signature circusy melodies and curious, endearing lyricism. Fronted, of course, by the sonic wizard, Doug Martsch, Built To Spill will play two consecutive sold-out shows March 26th and 27th at the Columbia City Theater. To preview the back-to-back events, we reached out to the songwriter to ask him about being one of the region’s most beloved rockers, what he’s learned about the business of music after achieving so much success, how he fell in love with the game of basketball, and what he finds freeing about song composition.

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Tacocat has a new record out! Well, almost out. The highly anticipated album, This Mess is a Place, will be released May 3rd on Sub Pop Records. Produced by local legend, Erik Blood, the 10-track album features the band’s signature high-energy music and quirky-thoughtful-introspective songwriting. To whet the proverbial whistles of their fans, Tacocat recently released the album’s first single (and accompanying music video) for “Grains of Salt,” which you can watch below. To celebrate the release, we caught up with the band’s frontwoman, Emily Nokes, to talk about the genesis of the album, how the group prepares for an extended tour, and what it’s been like to grow older and wiser over the years.

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Infinite Sound & Color is the new artistic, collaborative project from Pearl Jam guitarist, Mike McCready, and bi-coastal visual artist, Kate Neckel. Their work features unbridled enthusiasm and a sense of organic freedom that comes from like-minded creativity and vulnerability. The duo, who began working together about four months ago, will showcase their work during two nights on March 22nd and 23rd at Seattle’s Winston Wächter Fine Art Gallery. (Both performances are sold out, but the work will be on display through May 18, 2019.) To preview the event, we caught up with both McCready and Neckel to ask them how they met and began working together as well as to get a sense of their creative relationship and what they hope to discover through their work together.

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Seattle-based producer Jake One (aka Jacob Dutton), is a legend in the hip-hop community. Drake, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, De La Soul, Brother Ali, 50 Cent, and Macklemore are just some of the names featured on his extensive music catalog. Jake, who has been in the scene for nearly two decades, has also worked with other up-and-coming local artists like Parisalexa and Travis Thompson. His output is often comprised of epic-yet-soulful compositions born from his own instrumentation and samples found on records from around the world. Talk to anyone in Seattle who loves hip-hop and Jake is at the top of their collaborative wish list. Ten years ago, he released his acclaimed solo album, White Van Music, and to celebrate the anniversary of the release, we caught up with the producer to talk about his love of music, how his career began, and why he continues to work with many new artists.

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Josiah Johnson, co-founder of the Seattle Americana group The Head and the Heart, has dealt with a lot of change in his life. From discovering a type of musical magic with the band’s co-founder, Jonathan Russell, ten years ago to playing on stage to thousands of people to leaving the group to get sober to working through new songs and a new solo career path, Johnson has had to adapt many times over. But now, feeling more confident in his own skin, Johnson is setting out to play shows – including one tonight at Ballard’s Hotel Albatross – and release a new solo record in 2019. We caught up with Johnson to preview the upcoming gig and talk about the new record and much more.

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George Clinton has mastered the musical ecosystem. He knows how to adapt. He knows how to push the right buttons to send the right message. And he’s a legend as a result. For the man who helped invent funk music, leading a band is as much about delegating as it is standing in front of the mic and moving a crowd. As a result, he’s helped many careers blossom and blossom again. Clinton, who will perform in Seattle Tuesday and Wednesday at the Neptune Theater, took the time to talk with KEXP about his history as a musician and what he remembers most about being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, being a barber in New Jersey, and how he’s ended up portrayed in so many famous cartoons.

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