INTERVIEWS
Martin Johnson Left Emo Pop Stardom for a DIY Career
Martin Johnson has seen some shit within the music industry. Before founding the synth-fueled project known as the Night Game a handful of years ago, he was the frontman of emo pop-rock act Boys Like Girls and wrote songs for everyone from Ariana Grande and Elle King to Gavin DeGraw and Avril Lavigne. He’s been signed and dropped by labels enough times that he eventually decided to just create his own, and he’s almost certainly written some of your favorite and least favorite songs. He also delved fully into the rockstar lifestyle and the substance abuse issues that come with it. <!– // Brid Player Singles. var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ “div”: “Brid_10143537”, “obj”: {“id”:”25115″,”width”:”480″,...
Reba Russell Rocks the Blues
Anyone who knows anything about the delta blues knows about the King Biscuit Blues Festival, and anyone who knows anything about the King Biscuit Blues Festival knows that it’s not complete until Heaven Came to Helena is performed. Enter Reba Russell: blue eyes dancing with mischief, she flashes an irresistible pirate smile, clutches the microphone, and launches into a set that assures her audience, in no uncertain terms, that this is a woman born to sing the blues. “October came and so did the rain…” The crowd is on its feet. “Came down with the blues on the Arkansas plain.” Some people sing along, some people sway, and some raise their hands like they’re in church. Bubba Sullivan, one of the festival’s founders, observes, “When that Reba’s on stage, she makes things happen.” <!–...
Jasmine Harrison, Youngest Woman to Row Solo Across Any Ocean, on How Music Powered Her Boat
Jasmine Harrison is not a musician. She has never picked up a microphone or downloaded music production software. She’s only danced to one song in her entire life, albeit an embarrassing one. But after making history as the youngest woman to row solo across any ocean, she is living proof that music can propel anyone to do extraordinary things. Accompanied by nothing but a playlist and the mesmeric, repetitive splosh of her oar slicing the ocean’s surface, Harrison, 21, traversed the Atlantic Ocean in 70 days, 3 hours and 48 minutes. However, with a bubbly naiveté rarely found in a barnstorming, record-breaking heroine, you wouldn’t know it when speaking to her. And after the enormity of her accomplishment finally sunk in, even she can’t believe it was her....
Bad Reputation: An Oral History of the Freaks and Geeks Soundtrack
Revisiting Freaks and Geeks is akin to revisiting an old high school friend. As you watch the characters wander the halls of the fictional McKinley High School in Michigan, you can’t help but feel as if this was your own high school experience. It’s all very relatable. And nearing 22 years since the first day of school on September 25th, 1999, the show manages to defy the impossible. Despite only having lasted for 18 episodes (12 of which only ever aired during its initial run on NBC), the show has left an indelible mark on pop culture. In the years that have passed, a massive cult following has built up, only furthered by the fact that every single person has gone on to do bigger things in Hollywood. But no matter how high they have soared and no matter how many years have stacked behind ...
Palm Tree Records’ Petey Martin on Post-Pandemic Plans, Collaborating With Kygo and Vin Diesel
Kygo’s go-to collaborator Petey Martin is no stranger to success in recorded music. As a part of his growing discography, Martin has been a collaborator with everyone from Vin Diesel (yes, the actor) to Ke$ha. Outside of his impressive production accolades, Martin has broadened his brand from an EDM superproducer to an artist that is commanding attention by breaking through across the Billboard and Spotify charts. His latest single, “Come Back Home,” which features the vocal talents of two-time Grammy Award winner Lauren Daigle, landed atop the Billboard Dance and Electronic charts for the week of January 23rd and has already broken in various Spotify viral playlists, showing impressive momentum for a debut single. Martin has proven himself not only a successful producer, but also an artis...
Regional Justice Center Break Down New Album Crime and Punishment Track by Track: Stream
In our Track by Track feature, artists guide listeners through each track on their latest release. Here, Regional Justice Center singer Ian Shelton pulls back the curtain on the band’s new album Crime and Punishment. Hardcore act Regional Justice Center have unleashed their new album, Crime and Punishment, out now via Closed Casket Activities. The LP clocks in at a blistering 13 minutes but leaves an impression that lasts far longer. The album shares its name with the legendary novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky and tackles similarly weighty themes of postmodern existence. As RJC vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Ian Shelton explains in the remarks below, many real-life events inspired the passionate outbursts of anger and disillusionment heard throughout Crime and Punishment. Shelton previously ...
Kadebostany on Hit Single “Take Me To The Moon,” the Future of His Brand, and More
Kadebostany is making a serious name for himself in the dance music industry, delivering genre-defining sonic journeys to the tenth degree. He’s garnered over one billion streams and has dominated the dance charts in 30 countries. Taking a modern approach to pop music, he has also developed an interesting concept under his “Republic of Kadebostany” brand. His latest single, “Take Me To The Moon” with mesmeric Valeria Stoica, has proven to be one of his best yet. It’s a haunting track that combines a cinematic production style with the stunning and delicate vocals of Stoica. The lush guitar work paired with an undeniably smooth beat will have you forgetting how melancholic the lyrics truly are. The accompanying video was shot by Turkish directo...
Gene Simmons on His New G² Gibson Collection, Restarting KISS’ Final Tour, and More
KISS singer-bassist Gene Simmons is not only a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame musician, but a merchandizing master. His band set the template for rock branding, and now he’s combining his knowledge of music and merch with a new line of Gibson guitars and basses, dubbed G² (pronounced “G-squared”). The G² collection sees Simmons partnering with Gibson on a new line of right-handed and left-handed guitars and basses, spanning across the company’s owned and operated brands Gibson, Epiphone, and Kramer. The partnership will launch with the G² Thunderbird bass, which Simmons debuted during KISS’ massive New Year’s Eve livestream show in Dubai. Also on tap are Flying V basses and guitars, among other instruments. We had the opportunity to speak with Simmons about the collection, the genesis of the...
The Spill Canvas Are Back With Their First Album in Nearly a Decade
When the Spill Canvas released Gestalt in 2012, it was the seventh full-length album for frontman Nick Thomas since he’d adopted the moniker a decade earlier. Nine years later, Thomas and the band — featuring two new members — are finally ready to release the follow-up with Conduit, an album title that had been rumored for their 2007 release before they settled on No Really, I’m Fine and rode the success of hits like “All Over You” on to the Billboard 200 for the first time. But the version of Thomas who wrote Conduit is a far cry from the angry kid who first appeared on the scene in 2001. Although it might be hard to keep that teenage angst at the age of 36, Thomas now has nearly a decade’s worth of new stories to tell and the maturity to process the emotions from the personal battles he’...
How to tackle students’ abduction – NUT, NAPTAN
Nigeria Union of Teachers The Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, and the National Parents Teacher Association of Nigeria, NAPTAN, have proffered solutions to the incessant abduction of students by bandits in some parts of the country. Speaking in separate interviews with our correspodent, the two groups called on the federal and state governments to entrench the Safe Schools Initiative and deploy military personnel in schools across the country. National Secretary of the NUT, Dr. Mike Ene, said apart from the steps expected to be taken by the government to stem the ugly trend, every citizen should develop psychic eyes to help them be security-conscious at all times. He said: “These abductions here and there are deliberate steps to discourage education and encourage school drop out. It is unfo...
Pete Yorn on New Covers LP: ‘I Wanted to Do the Unexpected’
Pete Yorn had big plans this time last year — before the pandemic shut down life as we know it. Like many musicians, the singer-songwriter was ready to work on new material, his first batch of originals since 2019’s Caretakers. But he put those plans on hold, and they’ve been there ever since. But rather than sitting around bored in his Los Angeles-enclave, Yorn got to work in other ways. In addition to playing a series of livestreams, he dug into his lengthy archives from over the years. Once he mined through those, he unearthed several projects that have been sitting dormant, including some live albums, a concert film and his new covers album. Yorn fans know that he’s not afraid to bust out a Springsteen or Smiths tune at his live shows — those two happen to be his biggest...
Purple Disco Machine on His Upcoming Album and the Resurgence of Disco: “It’s an Evolution”
The color purple is said to represent meanings of creativity, grandeur, ambition, wisdom, and magic. German dance music production mastermind Purple Disco Machine embodies all of these qualities and more. For over a decade, he has consistently provided feel-good disco house music for fans across the globe. With his effortlessly cool mustache, tropical shirts, and convivial demeanor, he’s exactly the kind of artist you’d expect behind the lively, breezy songs. The house music aficionado has been instrumental in disco’s reintroduction into the mainstream in recent years, with a succession of momentous remixes for Lady GaGa, Dua Lipa, Mark Ronson, Calvin Harris, Gorillaz, and Fatboy Slim, among others. On a mission to spread the joys of house music, the barnsto...
