Foreword: I was very excited and anxious to meet fascinatingly gloom-obsessed artist, Nick Cave, in ’04. He had been leader of radical post-punk denizens, the Birthday Party, in the ‘80s, receiving further critical acclaim fronting the Bad Seeds thereafter. With his son playing compute games in an adjoining room, Cave and I had a demure conversation. It was a low key and quaintly informative session. After this interview, Cave gained wider audience acceptance under the guise of Grinderman, whose eponymous

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FOREWORD: I should note that Capitol Years brainchild, Shai Halperin, is the brother of semi-famous pop critic and celebrity hound, Shirley Halperin – a good friend of mine who let me write for her ‘90s underground rock zine, Smug Magazine (and whose husband, Thom Monahan, produced Shai’s band). While Shirley went on to co-write informative marijuana chronology, “Pot Culture” with ex-High Times editor, Steve Bloom, brother Shai continued to live the indie rock ‘n roll lifestyle. Despite not having a

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FOREWORD: Environmentally friendly, politically-charged Aussie, John Butler, is a post-hippie jam band freak whose ’04 album, Sunrise Over Sea, enlarged his overseas audience to the point where he headlined small US clubs and opened for O.A.R. at Manhattan’s spacious Hammerstein Theatre. Though he has since cut off his trademark dreadlocks, Butler’s Trio remains active on the grassroots level, releasing ‘08s funkier Grand National to good reviews.

Concocting a tasty stew mingling plaintive Celtic-Gypsy folk, crude backwoods acoustical leanings, rustic Blues,…

FOREWORD: I got to know the Burning Brides pretty well during 2001 to 2003. I had originally interviewed Dimitri for Aquarian Weekly and thereafter met them at a show and invited them to sleepover following a sold out Mercury Lounge gig. I also took Dimitri and his now-wife Melanie out for pizza in their old hometown of Philly with my wife and kids. The following piece never ran in High Times so it’s being posted here in front of the

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Talk about meeting one of your favorite artists and then getting to hang with him before and after a sweat-drenched sold out gig. That’s what happened in 2003 when I visited Chicago to do a brewpub tour and catch Peter Shelley’s lifelong punk-pop outfit, the Buzzcocks, across the street from historic Wrigley Field. One of the friendliest and least conceded artists I’ve encountered, Shelley had just signed with indie icon, Merge Records, and released an enjoyable eponymous Buzzcocks disc he…

FOREWORD: Dual Calexico front men Joey Burns and John Convertino continue to release sundry albums, singles, and EP’s when not backing up other musicians as respectable sidemen. Mixing Spaghetti Western with Mexicali blues in an unfettered way, Calexico have refined their approach and now garner minor mainstream attention. After this ’03 interview, they released ‘06s more straight-ahead Garden Ruin, their most successful chart record. But I prefer ‘08s marvelously campestral Carried To Dust, featuring Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam and

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FOREWORD: There’s been a lot of indie rock guitarists who’ve tried emulating then reconfiguring Neil Young’s wiry electrical tone. One of the best and most efficient is Doug Martsch, head honcho of Built To Spill. Perfect From Now On (done in its entirety during an ’08 tour) became their certified masterpiece and the band has toured relentlessly since then, slowed down only temporarily in ’06 due to drummer Andy Capps untimely death. After a folk-blues-styled ’02 solo debut, Now You

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FOREWORD: Though I spoke to fleet-fingered guitarist Joby Ford in ‘06, the Bronx front man, singer-lyricist Matt Caughthran, seems to call the shots. The L.A.-based unit quickly became one of the best live bands on the circuit, releasing another respectable eponymous album in ’08 and, believe it or not, an ‘09 mariachi long-player, under similar moniker, El Bronx.

Growing up amongst the aging hippies and brawny jocks of Grand Junction, Colorado, athletic guitarist Joby Ford studied Classical piano before attending…

FOREWORD: This piece was written a few years before I actually got to see British Sea Power live at Bowery Ballroom, where they put on one helluva show. Their excellent ’08 disc, Do You Like Rock Music?, found the boys displaying a more straightforward, but no less appealing, rock sound.

From the south coast of England, Brighton’s precocious British Sea Power harbor stormy melodic outbursts weathering colossal crescendo cascades, contrasting coastal climactic countenances against pacific stanzaic streambeds. Lead singer Yan…

Black Crowes/ Beacon Theatre/ February 25, 1999

Rarely have I seen so many rabid, diehard fans so consumed with a band like I did this snowy eve at the Beacon Theatre. But for those about to rock, the Black Crowes certainly salute you. And after seeing them live, I’m convinced they’re undoubtedly one of life’s great bohemian experiences.

Like a reborn Lynyrd Skynyrd sans the Confederate schtick, the Crowes came out offering their pot-toking thirtysomething fans a soulful, voodoo-like “Remedy”…

FOREWORD: It’s a downright shame when fine bands like the Bigger Lovers breakup and go away. But that’s just what happened a year or so after this interview took place. Anyone who experienced them live or on record will recall their greatness and enjoy this trip back.

Alongside Burning Brides, Marah, and Capitol Years, the Bigger Lovers rank as one of Philadelphia’s best contemporary bands. Less rockin’ than Brit-influenced Capitol Years, louder than sleepy-eyed depressives Marah, and less visceral than…

FOREWORD: When you look at the politicians ruining America at the time, it seemed obvious to run quirky mod folkie, Dan Bern, for prez in ’04? Bush turned out to be a dopey joke while Democrat loser, John Kerry, fibbed about his military credentials then couldn’t quash his embarrassing ski stumble. Bern turned out to have informed, witty, and controversial opinions on many national subjects. And he ain’t bad live, either, as his October ’04 Bowery Ballroom show proved. He’s

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