RECENT ARTICLES

For those, like me, reading this who grew up in the 1990s, the names Adam Duritz and Counting Crows are as ubiquitous as any other monikers in our memory banks. We remember when we heard “Mr. Jones” on the radio the first time—if you were like me growing up in central New Jersey, you heard it almost hourly on 97.5 WPST Trenton and Philadelphia!

Duritz and Counting Crows rose from their humble Bay Area beginnings in 1991 to become one of the most popular bands on the planet, with hits that also included, “A Long December,” “Round Here,” “Omaha,” and “Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby.” Duritz also became notorious for his floppy hair and his dating habits, having reportedly canoodled with both Courtney Cox and Jennifer Aniston at the height of their Friends fame.

But Duritz, more than any of these salacious tidbits, is a sensitive soul. He’s suffered from a severe mental illness. He’s traveled the globe and seen the affects, both positive and negative, of supreme fame. Durtiz and his band also have a new EP out in the world: Butter Miracle Suite One, which was released in May. We caught up with the now-shorn frontman to talk his early days as an aspiring artist, the genesis of the new EP, and what he loves most about his craft.

Songwriter and actor, Victoria Blade, has probably been on your television screen during the pandemic. For those millions of WandaVision fans, she was the neatly attired “Commercial Woman” who appeared in all of the fake commercials embedded within the Marvel series that traveled through the American sitcom decades, from the 1950s through today.

On the chance you didn’t see the show, here’s a handy YouTube link to familiarize yourself with Blade’s work for WandaVision. Go ahead, take the three-plus minutes to check it out.

But Blade is also more than an actor. She is a songwriter and performer. She is also something of an amateur videographer. And we’re happy to premiere Blade’s latest single and music video, “Road Trip.” We caught up with Blade to talk to her about the Marvel phenomenon, how she found music, and how she found out about her role as Commercial Woman while on the vacation she shot this very video!

The famed, prolific composer, and multi-instrumentalist, Danny Elfman, is a walking, talking opus. While some artists make a career of performance art, Elfman’s career is often seemingly performance art, embodied or personified. The artist, who just about everyone knows from is work as the composer for Batman, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Men in Black, Spider-Man, and many more globally-famous movies, got his start in the theater, performing avant-garde works. He’d later achieve some fame with his band, Oingo Boingo.

Elfman, who found himself involved in music later in his life than most professionals, has an affinity for pushing boundaries and buttons. Creatively, he’s always wanted to enter spaces where he wasn’t initially allowed. As such, he’s lived many careers, from composer to performer to rock musician. In that vein, Elfman is set to release his latest solo album (and his first in 37 years), The Big Mess, today via ANTI- and Epitaph. We caught up with the artist to ask him about his life, career, and what went into this new provocative work.

Often, when listening to the dense, lush, lively music of Australian band, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, the idea of people dancing mesmerized around a fire comes to mind. The group has a vast, at times cultish following that is borne from the band’s at times labyrinth-like songs. If a record was a menu, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s music would offer a cornucopia feast.

The group’s latest album, Butterfly 3000, which is out today, exhibits this signature baroque quality. But, unlike past records, the LP smiles more, instead of sneering or smirking. It’s more hopeful, made in a time when despair wasn’t hard to come by. We caught up with King Gizzard’s frontman and principle songwriter, Stu Mackenzie, to ask him about this tonal shift, how he first found music, and much more.

Shirley Manson, who is the frontperson for the platinum-selling rock band, Garbage, has both learned and done quite a bit in the 25 years she’s been in the public eye. Garbage, which rocketed to fame with its self-titled album in 1995, was all over the radio and MTV airwaves with hit songs like “Only Happy When It Rains” and “Stupid Girl” in the mid-’90s. In the years between, the band have released a number of successful records and now the band is poised to release its latest, No God No Masters, this Friday.

No Gods No Masters was produced by Garbage alongside long-time collaborator Billy Bush. The album will also be available in a deluxe CD/digital version, which will feature covers of songs by David Bowie, Patti Smith, and Bruce Springsteen, as well as guest appearances by Screaming Females and Brody Dalle, among others.

Manson, who is Scottish, joined the band’s other three members—Duke Erikson, Steve Marker, and famed musician and engineer, Butch Vig—after an audition in Wisconsin in 1993. At first, the audition went disastrously. But nevertheless, fate intervened and Manson joined the band and the rest is history. We caught up with Manson to ask her when she first fell in love with music, how Garbage’s new record came to be and what she loves so much about Patti Smith.