Music
Avi Buffalo: What’s In It for Avi?
Rock n’ roll and youth go together better than poofy pants, glow sticks and shitty electronic music. When you’re young, your liver can deal with the large amounts of alcohol you push through it, and you’re still pretty attractive even if you’re ugly, especially when you can play an instrument. The kids in Avi Buffalo certainly still have their youth, and after touring with Japandroids, Rogue Wave and Modest Mouse this year, it seems they have the rock n’ roll part down as well. … read more
Polar Bear Club: No Glitz, No Glam
Polar Bear Club has made a career out of not fitting in. Polar Bear Club is also one of the hardest touring bands in any scene of the greater punk rock spectrum, and their willingness to take chances on tour packages and musical style has garnered them a stronger and stronger following since they began touring full-time in late 2008. During a rare period of Polar Bear Club downtime, SLUG had a chance to chat with vocalist Jimmy Stadt. … read more
Envy: No Borders
Japanese post-hardcore giants Envy create brutally dense soundscapes that skirt the edge between hardcore and post-rock, and cut across language barriers. Their fifth album solidifies their full musical evolution into a peerless band incorporating the speed, intensity and emotional contact of hardcore and the expansiveness of post-rock. I spoke to lead singer Tetsuya Fukagawa about the how to express hope in heavy music and how to convey emotion without language being a factor. … read more
Nickel & Dime: Bass. Drums. Vibes.
Nickel & Dime are Salt Lake’s up-and-coming hard electro DJs, playing massive sets in bars and parties all over the city, satisfying the craving in the party scene for nasty, hard-as-shit electronic dance music. What stands out about this DJ group is their ability to diversify, and their complete determination to be the best DJs possible, constantly finding fresh and unique material to use in their live shows and recorded mixes. … read more
Bang the Drum Loudly: An Interview with The Melvins’ Dale...
For almost thirty years—and roughly as many bassists—The Melvins have been disgusting mainstream music listeners and blowing the faces off of their fanbase, combining the best elements of punk rock, doom/heavy metal and noise into one sonic haymaker. Drummer Dale Crover, with the band since 1984, handled a telephone call from yours truly in anticipation of the band’s Oct. 4 show in Salt Lake City. … read more
Doomtree: Family Over Fame
The Doomtree collective is different than many of today’s modern hip hop groups. They’re not in it for fame, bitches, cars, bling, or money—even though it would be nice to someday get paid for following their musical passion. Doomtree simply exist to produce music. Doomtree define themselves as not only as a record label and a group of solo artists working together as a music group but also above all else, as a family. … read more
Napalm Flesh: Valdur – Vicious Existence
This week’s blog features an interview with Northern California’s Valdur, who released their second full-length album, Raven God Amongst Us, this week. The new album is eight tracks of tumultuous black metal, or, as Sxuperion sees the band, extreme metal—he doesn’t want to be lumped into the corpse-painted, spike-clad black metal scene. Also included are blog-exclusive and blog-related CD reviews. … read more
Homenaje a Los Antiguas: A Mayan and Mesoamerican Black Metal...
Yaotl Mictlan has a primal edge with their feet planted in black metal, yet dispel the notion that all black metal bands sound the same. They prove that the genre is a vessel to portray artistic visions and themes and can ideally transfix and transport listeners to experience emotions and feelings they might not have known they even had. Yaotl Mictlan embrace their Mayan and Mesoamerican heritage, using their music as an exploration into ancient realms that are still not fully explained by historians. … read more
Mad Max & The Wild Ones
Mad Max and the Wild Ones is a rockabilly, family band composed of the Maxwell sons: 9-year-old Duke, who sings and plays rhythm guitar; 14-year-old Cole who plays drums;18-year-old Wyatt who plays lead guitar and writes their songs, and their father Max, who plays the upright bass. … read more
Joshua Payne Orchestra
The Joshua Payne Orchestra has been a part of Salt Lake City’s musical landscape for 10 years now, in one form or another. Over the last two years, they have really come into their own, garnering several consistent weekly gigs and a busy schedule. I asked him if it is alll a bit overwhelming, but he just laughed as if I had asked him something stupid like if he thinks guitar is cool, and he replies, “We’re lucky to have so much work.” But he certainly has paid his dues to get to this point. … read more