INTERVIEWS
Gone Is Gone Is No Mere ‘Supergroup’ on If Everything Happens For A Reason… Then Nothing Really Matters At All
Gone Is Gone may be billed as a “supergroup” of sorts, but the Los Angeles-based quartet sure doesn’t want the negative connotations that go along with the title. For bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders (Mastodon), drummer Tony Hajjar (At the Drive-In), guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen (Queens of the Stone Age) and multi-instrumentalist Mike Zarin (composer and founder of Sencit Music), the almost-cinematic rock group is just another project they get to work on when their dayjobs don’t monopolize their time. After announcing themselves with a self-titled EP in July 2016 and a debut full-length not too long after, it would’ve been understandable if the group decided their schedules would never allow for a second album. But four years later, they reunited for If Everything Happens For A Reason… Then Not...
![Charly Black on His Hit Single With Sak Noel: “I Wrote the Song for Dancing, for People to Be Happy” [Q&A]](https://www.wazupnaija.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/charly-black-on-his-hit-single-with-sak-noel-i-wrote-the-song-for-dancing-for-people-to-be-happy-qa-1050x600.jpg)
![Charly Black on His Hit Single With Sak Noel: “I Wrote the Song for Dancing, for People to Be Happy” [Q&A]](https://www.wazupnaija.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/charly-black-on-his-hit-single-with-sak-noel-i-wrote-the-song-for-dancing-for-people-to-be-happy-qa-80x80.jpg)
Charly Black on His Hit Single With Sak Noel: “I Wrote the Song for Dancing, for People to Be Happy” [Q&A]
EDM.com: Congratulations on your current single, “Diggy Dee” with Sak Noel. We’re really diggin’ the warm, bouncy vibe of this song! What was the story behind the making of this track? How did you and Sak Noel come together for it? Charly Black: I wrote this song long before I collaborated on it with Sak Noel. I actually wrote it a few years ago. I recorded for a producer before but he lost the file, then I recorded for another producer, Jazzy T. My manager sent it to Sak Noel, he heard it, loved it and put his twist on it and this is the result. It’s like a five-year-old song just coming to life! EDM.com: Where was “Diggy Dee” recorded? What was the vibe like in the recording studio? Were you and Sak Noel together in the same room, or did you bounce WAV...
Beyond the Boys’ Club: Brittney Slayes of Unleash the Archers
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 Brittney Slayes of Unleash the Archers. Canadian power-metal band Unleash the Archers present a hard-charging sound coupled with creative songwriting and storytelling. Early in their career, the band was often lumped into the symphonic metal genre, simply because they have a female vocalist, but they’re really straight-ahead power metal act, with vocalist Brittney Slayes roaring from song to song. Unleash the Archers recently released a new album, Abyss, featuring stunning guitars and Slayes’ powerful vocals. Slayes chec...
The Curious Case of Marc Rebillet: How “Loop Daddy” is Making Absurdity Cool Again
While Rebillet’s art may seem crude on the surface, at its bedrock is individualism—one of the most important values not only of musicians, but also humans. Marc Rebillet wasn’t always like this. As a kid, Rebillet was reserved, messing around with music in his room with no intention of ever taking it beyond its four walls. With a personality like his, however, it was only a matter of time before his broiling charisma bubbled to the surface. Rebillet is like a soda can—too much action on the inside, and it’ll explode. With his madcap brand of absurdist music, the one they call “Loop Daddy” is America’s smuttiest sweetheart. More teddy bear than he is mad scientist, the magnetic Rebillet croons about life’s dirty fantasies with a comp...
Slash on His Love of Pinball, Making New Music While at Home
“The idea behind the whole thing was basically to recreate a full Not In This Lifetime concert experience,” Slash tells SPIN, then laughs. “You know, I sound like a fucking salesman now…” Perhaps so. But at least the product the guitarist is promoting is a pretty killer one — the new Guns N’ Roses Not In This Lifetime pinball machine. Make no mistake: While plenty of artists — everyone from ‘70s rockers KISS and Ted Nugent to more recent subjects like Metallica, Iron Maiden and AC/DC — have lent their names and likenesses to pinball machines over the years (Guns N’ Roses did it in 1994 as well), none of them jumped into it with as much enthusiasm and know-how as Slash and company have. A collaboration with industry leader Jersey Jack Pinball, the Not in This Lifetime table is a ridiculousl...
‘What I Do Is What I Do:’ Aesop Rock and Coro in Conversation
Editor’s note: Aesop Rock recently released Spirit World Field Guide, his first solo album in five years. Outside of a few videos, the 44-year-old rapper maintained a low profile in the build-up to the album. He didn’t do any interviews and hardly said anything about it outside his social media channels. He did, however, have a lengthy conversation with Coro, a digital artist who he collaborated on Spirit World Field Guide’s art direction. Below is a conversation the two had [that has been edited for length and clarity] where they talk about art, travel and the importance of honesty in your work. You can listen to the full conversation below. rhymesayers · Aesop Rock x Coro: the Spirit World interview Coro: All right, here we go. How close did this album end up? Compared ...
Alex Winter on His New Frank Zappa Doc, Why He Still Hasn’t ‘Cracked’ the Composer
In 2016, Alex Winter launched the grueling quest of his latest documentary with one clear question: “Who the fuck is Frank Zappa?” After four years, a record-breaking Kickstarter campaign, numerous interviews and a mind-boggling “deep dive” into the late musician’s archives, he’s still no closer to an answer. And he’s satisfied with that result. “I’m gratified that I’ve gone through this insane [endeavor] but feel like I haven’t cracked Zappa,” he tells SPIN. “Because he elicits such a strong reaction from fans and detractors, I’ve met so many people who feel like they’ve got his number. I don’t have judgment against them — I just don’t feel like I’m one of those people.” If an...
Dark Tranquillity’s Mikael Stanne Talks New Album Moment and Recording During the Pandemic
Dark Tranquillity have experienced a different 2020 than most bands. The Swedish melodic death metal pioneers spent most of the year recording their 12th album, Moment (out today), as they watched the world cope with the devastation of COVID-19 from the confines of their recording studio. The band’s homeland of… Please click the link below to read the full article. Dark Tranquillity’s Mikael Stanne Talks New Album Moment and Recording During the Pandemic Jon Hadusek You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help give users back their fair share o...
Wolfgang Van Halen on Having a Hit Song, Lessons From His Father and a Prank From Van Halen’s Final Show
For the better part of the decade, when he wasn’t battling aging trolls about his lineage online, Wolfgang Van Halen was carefully crafting his own material outside the band that bore his famous last name. Going deeper into the family business, he decided to use the moniker Mammoth WVH — combining his own initials with a nod to the pre-Van Halen band of his uncle and late father, Eddie Van Halen. This week, Mammoth WVH issued his first song, “Distance,” along with its tearjerking video — featuring home footage of Wolfgang and his father enjoying candid moments, concluding with an intimate voicemail message from the guitar virtuoso. A funny thing happened following the release: The trolls went away, and the song shot to No. 1 on the iTunes music charts, staying there for a...
Delta Heavy Celebrates 10th Anniversary of RAM Records Debut: “In Many Ways It Feels Like We’re Only Just Getting Started”
“‘Space Time’ and ‘Take The Stairs’ will always hold a special place in our hearts as two of the records we are most proud of.” Ten years ago, a drum & bass powerhouse was born in London when Ben Hall and Simon James joined forces to form Delta Heavy. They quickly signed with Andy C‘s RAM Records imprint and the duo have dominated the bass music scene ever since. Ten years after their first RAM release, “Space Time / Take The Stairs,” Delta Heavy have now reimagined the two classic tracks for 2020 in celebration of the momentous anniversary. It’s their first release since the pair teamed up with MUZZ for “Higher Ground” after their Only In Dreams Remixes album. “‘Space Time...
Dazed and Confused Book Author Melissa Maerz on the Film’s Enduring Mythology
Over the phone, his voice still sounds like Mitch Kramer. It’s 2020, though, and Wiley Wiggins long ago left behind his signature role from 1993’s Dazed and Confused, the shaggy, beloved comedy film. Life’s worked out better than OK for Wiggins: Now 44, he’s working on a career in video game design and resides in Los Angeles with his wife. Wiggins is at peace being forever associated with his role as Kramer, the semi-cool incoming freshman, and with Dazed, widely considered the most accurate onscreen portrayal of high school life. More than a few cinephiles, including Quentin Tarantino, consider Dazed one of the best films ever. Still, Wiggins tells SPIN that he was “completely ready to never talk about Dazed and Confused ever again” until journalist Melissa Maerz came along. He’s amon...
Monotone Samurai: Chester Watson on A Japanese Horror Film
Prodigious talent can be an albatross. The pressure to realize the promise of your youthful work might weigh you down for an album or a career. 23-year-old Chester Watson spent the last three years crafting his debut album, October’s A Japanese Horror Film that is out on POW Recordings. Though Watson released the 10-track Project 0 and an instrumental album (as well as a few singles) between 2017 and 2020, he felt the pressure of every blog post and article that forecasted swift success. Florida-raised and now Georgia-based, Watson is a skateboarding ballet dancer turned lyrical savant. He started rapping at 13 and racked up hundreds of thousands of YouTube views just two years later with “Phantom.” On mixtapes like 2014’s Tin Wookie, Watson synthesized his few influences (e.g., Earl Sweat...
