Beyond the Boys’ Club is a monthly column from journalist and radio host Anne Erickson, focusing on women in the heavy music genres, as they offer their perspectives on the music industry and discuss their personal experiences. Erickson is also a music artist herself, recently releasing the song “Eternal Way” with Upon Wings. This month’s piece features an interview with Willow Smith. Many music acts take an entire career to churn out four studio albums, but Willow Smith has already achieved that feat at the age of 20. If you count her collaborative LP (The Anxiety) with Tyler Cole, then it’s five albums, plus a handful of EPs. Willow recently released a rock-inspired new album Lately I Feel Everything, featuring a raw, alternative vibe with heavy guitars, punky rhythms and powerful vocals...
Ron Bushy, the longtime drummer for pioneering hard-rock act Iron Butterfly, has died at age 79. According to the band, he passed away early Sunday morning (August 29th) surrounded by family at UCLA Santa Monica Hospital. TMZ reports that he had been battling cancer. Best known for his epic drum solo on the band’s signature song, the 17-minute “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” Bushy joined the San Diego band in 1966. He had still been considered a member of the group up until his passing, but he had retired from regular performing in recent years due to his health. However, he did make the occasional guest appearance at select concerts. Bushy was the only member of Iron Butterfly to appear on all six of the band’s studio albums, which were all released between the years of 1968 through 1975. The acid-...
The Lowdown: After earning well-deserved buzz with their 2018 sophomore album, Time & Space, Baltimore’s Turnstile continue their sonic evolution on their new genre-defying effort, Glow On. It would be easy to just call Turnstile a hardcore band, but that only scratches the surface of the music that this adventurous quintet creates. The Good: Fans of Turnstile’s hardcore roots are treated to their fair share of heavy tracks on Glow On, but those songs are balanced with melodic alt-rock tunes that shine just as brightly. A handful of the songs on Glow On also appeared on the Turnstile Love Connection EP that preceded the full-length by two months, one of which is the infectious leadoff track “Mystery.” A candidate for best rock song of the year, “Mystery” roars with a Nirvana-like guita...
Turnstile have uncorked their hotly anticipated third album, Glow On. Stream it below via Apple Music and Spotify. Glow On is the follow-up to 2018’s Time & Space, and comes in the wake of the surprise June EP Turnstile Love Connection. The album features a collaboration with Blood Orange, “Alien Love Call,” as well as the singles “Blackout” and “Mystery.” It was co-produced by vocalist Brendan Yates with Mike Elizondo, and finds the Baltimore hardcore band continuing to expand their sound. There’s plenty of heavy thunder to keep the mosh pit roiling, but the band have also borrowed from emo, shoegaze, and alternative palettes to create something stunningly original. In his review for Consequence, our own Spencer Kaufman wrote, “Turnst...
KISS have announced that singer-guitarist Paul Stanley has tested positive for COVID-19. The band has postponed its concert tonight (August 26th) in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania, and it is likely more dates will be affected, as well. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame act revealed the news just moments before the concert at the The Pavilion at Star Lake was set to begin. The statement made it clear that Stanley and his bandmates have been vaccinated: “Tonight’s KISS show at The Pavilion at Star Lake in Burgettstown, PA is unfortunately postponed due to Paul Stanley testing positive for COVID. More information about show dates will be made available ASAP. Everyone on the entire tour, both band and crew, are fully vaccinated. The band and their crew have operated in a bubble independently to saf...
Mark Lanegan and The Icarus Line‘s Joe Cardamone have announced the eponymous debut album for their recording project Dark Mark vs. Skeleton Joe. They’ve also shared the song “No Justice” ahead of the LP’s October 15th release date. The song presents a pulsing electronic sound paired with Lanegan’s imitably deep vocal delivery. Minimal dancefloor beats and synthesizers percolate beneath the grunge veteran’s mix of spoken word and singing. Dark Mark lives up to his moniker during the chorus: “Ain’t no justice here, ain’t no justice there / Nobody sees, nobody cares.” According to the album’s press announcement, the project was born out of Lanegan and Cardamone’s mutual respect for one another as artists. They also needed a creative outlet where they could go outside their typical genres and...