INTERVIEWS
How an All-Pro NFL Punter Is Following His Electronic Music Dreams
When former NFL All-Pro punter Marquette King would blast one of his signature booming kicks, one question came to mind for the millions of fans watching at home: “What is he going to do next?” It’s not a question that punters hear often. Punting has never been a sexy position in football. Punters appear only a handful of times per game and when they do, they are largely absent from the breakneck plays and ferocious hits that make the NFL so popular. Once the pigskin leaves the foot, the camera pans as it follows the ball’s flight through the air, leaving its launcher to fade into the rearview. But King forced it to refocus with his signature celebratory post-punt dances, which made punting exciting. During his six years with the Oakland Raiders from 2012 ...
Robert Randolph’s Unityfest Amps Up the Party and Importance of Juneteenth
It’s taken generations for Juneteenth to become the kind of holiday that Black Americans feel comfortable getting loud about. For pedal steel guitar prophet Robert Randolph, it wasn’t until his mid-30s that he learned the history behind the holiday commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States on June 19, 1865. But his passion to amplify the celebration in the wake of an explosive year of Black protests, pride and unity couldn’t have come at a better time. This Saturday, The Robert Randolph Foundation launches the inaugural Juneteenth Unityfest, a multi-city livestreamed event featuring a swath of iconic and influential Black artists, activists and guest speakers of all backgrounds to celebrate the historic holiday in style. “What drove me to put together Juneteenth Unityf...
Composer Dan Romer on How a ’90s Weezer Song Inspired His Emotional Score For Pixar’s Luca
At its heart, Pixar’s latest, Luca, is a film about adventure: the fear and thrill of stepping outside of your comfort zone, throwing caution to the wind, and experiencing the world outside your door. In the case of the film’s titular sea creature (voiced by Jacob Tremblay) that adventure comes from an unforgettable summer spent with a rambunctious fellow sea monster named Alberto (voiced by Jack Dylan Grazer) in the sleepy Italian seaside town of Portorosso. Together, the two trade their fins for legs, learn to fit in with the rest of the island’s colorful characters, and dream of freedom and possibility — and owning a Vespa. Fitting, then, that director Enrico Cosarosa would tap one of contemporary film music’s most adventurous composers, Dan Romer, to provide the score for Luc...
Heavy Culture: Palaceburn Singer Meredith Bell and Hyro the Hero on Juneteenth and Being Black in America
Heavy Culture is a monthly column from journalist Liz Ramanand, focusing on artists of different cultural backgrounds in heavy music, as they offer their perspectives on race, society, and more as it intersects with and affects their craft. The latest installment of this column features Palaceburn singer Meredith Bell and Hyro the Hero and focuses on Juneteenth and other topics. Juneteenth has just been declared a federal holiday in the United States by the Biden administration. The day, marked on June 19th, commemorates the end of slavery as the date the last remaining slaves in Texas learned of their freedom in 1865, two years after Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was signed. Philadelphia-based Palaceburn began their music journey with their EPs The Awakening in 2013 and Curs...
After 17 Years, Rebelution Continue to Make Poppy Reggae-Rock That They Want to Hear
In the world of reggae-rock, Rebelution remains one of the staples that have held together the scene for the last decade-and-a-half. Along with peers like Pepper and Iration, the four UC Santa Barbara alumni have churned out one album after another of reggae Billboard chart-topping hits. Ever since bursting into the scene with 2007’s self-produced Courage to Grow, frontman Eric Rachmany and his band have drawn crowds all over the world — performing on the biggest of stages and even earning a long-overdue Grammy nomination for 2016’s Falling Into Place. Now, Rebelution is back with their seventh full-length album, In The Moment, this Friday (June 18 via Easy Star Records). But for those expecting nothing but classic reggae jams, this isn’t quite Bright Side of Life part two. In The Moment g...
Foxing Haven’t HIt Their Ceiling Yet
When you’re a member of Foxing, it often feels as if you’re throwing pearls before swine. Here you are, Foxing guitarist Eric Hudson. It’s Spring 2018, and you’re opening for Circa Survive, trying to spread the word about your band’s wildly ambitious, upcoming third album Nearer My God. You’ve just ripped into the lightning-fast, hilariously bizarre guitar solo on “Lich Prince,” a stunning moment that finally answers the long-pondered question of what it would have sounded like if Eddie Van Halen had a Mars Volta phase. And what do you get for trying your damndest to just fucking go for it in an underground rock scene wherein just fucking going for it just isn’t really the vibe anymore? Non-stop disrespect. “There was a super fan of that band in the front row, and I remember looking down r...
How Laura Stevenson Made Peace With Her Rage
Laura Stevenson is sitting in her cluttered bedroom, struggling to think of the right word to describe her songwriting process. It’s on the tip of her tongue. “I don’t have, I don’t have…” she says over Zoom as she mentally rifles through her vocabulary. Her eyes scan the baby bottles and children’s toys scattered around the room. “See, this is what happens to your brain when you don’t sleep for an entire year,” she laughs. Finally, the word she was looking for strikes her. “Discipline! I don’t have discipline.” Stevenson is at home in the Hudson Valley in New York, and has a rare hour to herself. Her in-laws have taken her one-year-old daughter off her hands for the afternoon, and Mike Campbell, her husband and bandmate, is in the Florida Keys on “a fuckabout,” as she puts it, relaxing an...
The Relentless “Magic” and Optimism of TOMORROW X TOGETHER
Just two years into their career as TOMORROW X TOGETHER, Soobin, Yeonjun, Beomgyu, Taehyun, and Hueningkai have stacked up an impressive collective resume. A small sampling of the highlights: They were named Rookies of the Year at the 2019 Melon Music Awards and Asian Artist Awards; they were the first K-pop group to cover Teen Vogue; and as of press time, they’re enjoying life in the No. 5 spot on the Billboard 200 albums chart. When asked what they would tell their debut selves if they could, Taehyun smiles. “Just enjoy,” he tells Consequence softly over Zoom. The quintet released their second full-length Korean album, The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE, on May 31st, following the euphoric quarantine-themed 2020 Blue Hour EP. TOMORROW X TOGETHER (often shortened to TXT) have steadily begun to ear...
Kids Just Wanna Have Fun
Pop-punk has always been for the kids, but for the kids? As in toddlers? Well, that’s an entirely different story. However, The First Rock Band on Mars is aiming to make music that rocks the little ‘uns. The group includes Kellin Quinn (Sleeping With Sirens), Ryan Key (Yellowcard), Howi Spangler (Maryland Beach Rock), and musician and author James DiNanno, most of whom, you guessed it, have young kids. And what better way to introduce their offspring to the music their folks play than by performing it in a way that resonates for kids. Makes sense, right? Since they’ve taken the path of making kids’ music — releasing a self-titled EP on June 11 — we asked the members of The First Rock Band on Mars to pick their favorite children’s songs and albums. Fellow parents, maybe you’ll get som...
“I Was Living Under a Veil My Entire Life”: How Worthy’s Coming Out Reawakened Her Passion for Music
Amidst the dozens of glimmering discoballs that hovered above the dancefloor, a radiant energy pierced through what was already a jovial crowd. Her exuberance soaring with each thump of a kickdrum, she elevated the spirits of those in attendance. It’s a passion that she, herself, recently reconnected with. The adoration for her craft was losing steam, a train to nowhere slowly stalling in its tracks. However, as she came to terms with her own identity, she inadvertently reignited her love for the art of DJing. In December of 2020, as the world coped with the ramifications of the pandemic, Worthy was dealing with major repercussions of her own after announcing that she is transgender. Worthy performing at Dirtybird CampInn in May 2021. Dirtybird Worthy, who cofounded the famed d...
“Be Unique and Be Relentless”: Destructo On Growing as a Music Producer, New Song With TroyBoi
Since first stepping foot into the world of dance music in the early 90s, renowned producer and entrepreneur Destructo has done it all. From DJing at the world’s largest music festivals to helming the fabled All My Friends brand to founding the fabled HARD series, Destructo changes the game with each venture. His latest musical release finds him dropping a collaborative single with fellow electronic music superstar TroyBoi. Their new song “You’re The One For Me” is a feel-good, summertime bop reminiscent of Destructo’s childhood in New Orleans. With a disco-influenced rhythm and melody, the track perfectly fuses funk and house into a unique blend. The single also arrived alongside an official music video directed by...
Iconic Singer INNA on Her Love of Dance Music, the EDM Scene in Romania and Her Sultry “Maza Jaja” Video
INNA is an international EDM phenomenon from Romania. Her house-influenced dance records have made clubs, speakers, airwaves, and concert-goers around the world come alive for years. For the European icon, it all started with a hit 2009 record called “Hot.” In 2012, INNA became the first European woman to reach 1 billion YouTube views. She currently has over 3.5 billion views on YouTube—that’s more than Madeon (311 million), Flume (981 million), Kylie Minogue (820 million), and Diplo (960 million) combined. Not bad for a singer from a small seaside town in Romania. Stats and facts aside, INNA just wants to make people happy through her music. Although the nature of dance music is predicated upon making people feel and express emotion, INNA’s songs send a special kind of dopamine to the bra...
