INTERVIEWS
Beyond the Boys’ Club: Robin Wattie of Big|Brave
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. This month’s piece features an interview with Robin Wattie of Big|Brave. Montreal metal trio Big|Brave tackle the weighty issues of gender, race and feeling like one doesn’t belong on their new album, Vital, out April 23 via Southern Lord. The album’s lead single, “Half Breed,” finds singer-guitarist Robin Wattie sharing the experience of being of mixed race and the confusion and insecurity that can come with it. Wattie checked in with Heavy Consequence for the latest “Beyond the Boys’ Club” column to discuss how she and the members of Big|Brave quarantined together...
Joe Conyers III, Crypto.com’s Head of NFTs, on the “World-Building” Intersection of Digital Art and Music
He’s a music executive of over a decade, a four-time consecutive Billboard Digital Power Player, and now the new head of Crypto.com‘s soon-to-be-launched NFT platform. It may sound like an unlikely transition going from Chief Strategy Officer at Downtown Music Holdings to the Wild West of blockchain technology, but for Joe Conyers III, there’s a discernible through-line: a passion for helping artists share their stories. With new artists entering the space everyday, the rise in NFT popularity has been nothing short of meteoric. While Conyers acknowledges there’s a bit of a “gold rush” right now to tap into the trend, he still sees a long runway for growth for the space. “We have a very interesting art movement happening,” Con...
‘It Needs to Sound Like a Warm Bath’: Saint Maud Composer on Scoring the Year’s Most Unsettling Horror Movie
A year of pandemic has stolen countless experiences from us—and one of them was seeing Saint Maud, the year’s most quietly unsettling horror film, on the big screen. After a planned theatrical rollout was waylaid last spring for obvious reasons, director Rose Glass’s profoundly creepy and compelling portrait of possession, religious fanaticism, and psychosis recently made its way to streaming platforms in the U.S. The film centers around a devout catholic hospice nurse, Maud (Morfydd Clark), whose obsession with saving the soul of a terminally ill patient and ridding her of demons drives her to terrifying lengths. Impressively, the film isn’t just the debut feature from first-time director Glass—it’s also the first film score from Adam Janota Bzowski, a London composer whose groaning...
Evanescence’s Amy Lee on The Bitter Truth, Billie Eilish, and More
Evanescence’s Amy Lee. photo by Nick Fancher Amy Lee is one of the most influential women in rock music, having broken down barriers at the start of the 21st century. As the lead vocalist and chief songwriter for hard rockers Evanescence, Lee emerged at a time when women were scarcely heard on mainstream rock radio. Now, Evanescence are back with The Bitter Truth, the band’s first album of brand-new music in 10 years. Following their orchestral Synthesis release and world tour with a full orchestra, The Bitter Truth finds Evanescence getting back to their hard rock roots with blistering guitars and pounding rhythms. With The Bitter Truth set for release this Friday (March 26th), Evanescence have already released a string of singles from the effort, including the empowering song “Use ...
Paul Stanley on Soul Station, His Favorite Singers, and Whether KISS Will Complete Their Farewell Tour
For several years, KISS singer-guitarist Paul Stanley has been moonlighting as the frontman for Soul Station — a musical collective that focuses on covers of vintage soul and R&B classics of the ‘60s and ‘70s (as well as some originals that sound as if they were cut from the same musical cloth). But it was not until this month that the band finally issued their debut album, Now and Then. And it turns out the wait was certainly worth it — Stanley’s voice is in fine form throughout, especially on covers of the Five Stairsteps’ “O-O-H Child” and Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together”, among others. The singer, who forgoes rhythm guitar when fronting Soul Station, spoke with Consequence of Sound shortly before the arrival of Now and Then, which you can pick up here. Not only did he discuss Soul ...
How Cruz is Bridging the Gap Between Electronic and Latin Pop Music
It’s no secret that Latin pop and electronic music go together like wine and cheese. The two have lived in perfect harmony for years. However, unlike cheese, the ingredients of this unique marriage never spoil. In fact, like cheese’s boozy counterpart, the combination gets better with age. Cruz knows how to ferment the grapes of dance music’s vines to produce the finest wine. With an innovative approach to music production, the Grammy-winning artist has a profound ability to twist Latin pop and electronic music into his own unique blend. The proof is in the pudding: his global 2019 hit “Ya No Soy Asi,” a sultry collaboration with hotly-tipped singer-songwriter Thiago X, went viral on Spotify in 13 countries. Cruz’s latest crossover track, ̶...
Ekiti governor suspends ongoing recruitment of teachers
Gov. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State has suspended the ongoing teachers recruitment exercise over economic crisis posed by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The governor directed immediate refund of money paid by successful candidates in the recruitment exercise conducted by the State Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM). Mr Babatunde Abegunde, Chairman of TESCOM, who made this known in Ado Ekiti on Thursday said the directive was due to the commitment of the governor to the general welfare of the people in the state and the need not to make new entrants into the public service suffer unduly. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that about 100 candidates may have been affected by the directive. Abegunde explained that monies to be refunded covered those paid by the candidates for the p...
The Funk and the Fire
What’s a musician supposed to do during the pandemic when the stages of the world have gone silent? If you’re Judith Hill, you record the album you were born to make. “Funk is the party in the midst of a burning fire,” says Hill, seated in a chair in the backyard of her Los Angeles home. “My music is about finding the funk and soul in the middle of sorrow. You have to find a way to dance in the fire. That’s the type of funk I feel I’m moving into.” <!– // Brid Player Singles. var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ “div”: “Brid_10143537”, “obj”: {“id”:”25115″,”width”:”480″,”height”:”270″,”playlist”:”10315″,”inviewBottomOffset”:”105px”} }...
Emily Wolfe Unveils Epiphone Sheraton Stealth Guitar and “No Man” Performance: Interview + Giveaway
Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Emily Wolfe has been rising up the music ranks over the past few years, and now she has her own signature Epiphone Sheraton Stealth guitar. She puts the instrument on display in a new performance of her song “No Man” at the Gibson Showroom in Austin, Texas, exclusively premiering at Consequence of Sound along with a giveaway contest for the new guitar. As an up-and-coming musician, Wolfe makes history with her own signature Epiphone guitar, which she helped develop. The Sheraton Stealth offers thinline, double-cutaway, semi-hollowbody design similar to the Gibson ES-335. Wolfe’s model comes in a Black Aged Gloss finish, boasting an Indian Laurel fingerboard with 22 medium jumbo frets and mother-of-pearl block inlays with abalone lightning bolts. The headst...
Flogging Molly’s Dave King Just Wants to Bring Some Drunken Joy Back to St. Patrick’s Day
St. Patrick’s Day is this week, and Flogging Molly isn’t about to leave everyone high and dry for a second straight year. Sure, COVID might’ve gotten in the way of their plans last year, but the Celtic punk legends are going above and beyond this year to bring a live-streamed show straight from Ireland just so fans around the world can chant along to “Drunken Lullabies” from the comfort of their own homes. Tickets start at $15 and go up from there, but at least you can rest assured knowing that you’ll get your money’s worth from vocalist Dave King, violinist Bridget Regan, and the rest of the band. Plus, the show is sponsored by Bushmills, which seems like a particularly appropriate partner at a time when everyone’s drinking enough to forget the fact that they haven’t been able to buy an o...
Cocteau Twins’ Milk & Kisses Turns 25
When Cocteau Twins broke up in 1998, it came as a surprise to virtually no one. Five years earlier, guitarist Robin Guthrie and vocalist Liz Fraser ended their 13-year romance, leaving the band to operate on thin ice. “To be honest with you, I’m amazed that we stayed together as long as we did,” admits former bassist Simon Raymonde, who now runs the Bella Union label and records as one-half of Lost Horizons. “I was expecting the band to break up after [Robin and Liz] broke up. A normal band would have done that! But looking back on it now you can see why we did stay together, because the music was really important to all of us.” <!– // Brid Player Singles. var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ “div”: “Brid_10143537”, “obj”: {“id”:”2511...
Weird Al’s Bad Hair Day Turns 25: Mike Mills, Dave Pirner, Chris Ballew, and Portugal. The Man Discuss the Parody Classic
By the time the mid-’90s rolled around, “Weird Al” Yankovic had already recorded “Eat It”, “Like a Surgeon”, “Yoda”, “Fat”, “Spam”, “Smells Like Nirvana”, “Bedrock Anthem”, and dozens of other iconic parodies. He’d been a comedy legend for a decade. And yet somehow the accordion-playing mad genius found a way to reach another echelon with the landmark release of 1996’s Bad Hair Day. On the back of hits like “Amish Paradise” and “Phony Calls”, the record introduced Yankovic to a whole new generation of fans. Moving a record-shattering 1.3 million copies in its first year, it was his highest-charting effort to that point, topping off at No. 14 in the US and cracking the top 10 in Canada. Over the years, its renown only grew, until in 2019 it became one of just eight comedy records to achieve...
