INTERVIEWS
Beyond the Boys’ Club: Maria Brink of In This Moment
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 Maria Brink of In This Moment. In This Moment reinvent themselves from album to album, so it’s no surprise that the band’s latest record, Mother, has a fresh style and feel. Their previous LP, 2017’s Ritual, was a concept album of sorts, centering around the Salem Witch Trials. Mother is a deeply personal and serious album lyrically, with solid rock riffing, experimental electronics, and singer Maria Brink’s soulful vocals. Mother was released in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the band choosing not to postpone ...
Cherie Currie on Blvds of Splendor, Working with Billy Corgan, and the Elusive Runaways Reunion
Cherie Currie is a rock ‘n’ roll pioneer, having fronted the groundbreaking band The Runaways in the ’70s. Over the past 40-plus years, she has had a fascinating career that has run the gamut from musician to actor to author to professional chainsaw-carving sculptor. In April, Currie released her latest solo album, Blvds of Splendor, for the first time digitally, following a limited vinyl run last year. The album, which in large part is a collaboration with former Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum, features guest appearances by such rock luminaries as Slash, Duff McKagan, and Billy Corgan. The expanded digital LP also sees Currie offering a new take on The Runaways’ “Queens of Noise” with The Distillers’ Brody Dalle, Juliette Lewis, and The Veronicas. We recently caught up with Cherie by ph...
SVDDEN DEATH Spills On His Infernal Alter Ego and First-Ever VOYD Music Video [INTERVIEW]
After his mind-blowing and malevolent VOYD-branded performance at the EDC Las Vegas Virtual Rave-A-Thon last night, SVDDEN DEATH has officially released the fan-favorite ID “Confusion Spell” along with an accompanying music video. The twisted horror flick marks the first-ever music video dedicated to his VOYD alias. Prior to his latest release, we were fortunate enough to speak with the man behind the mask, and learn more about the new video and what’s next from his soul-weaving alter ego. The tale of unholy corruption was filmed in the woods near Seattle, Washington by filmmakers Schaffer Brady and Holly Singh (aka Zeuzse). With the title “Confusion Spell” alongside footage of witchcraft and sword fighting, his emphasis on fantasy elements in b...
Remembering Ronnie James Dio 10 Years After His Passing: Interview with Wendy Dio
It’s been 10 years since the world lost one of the greatest voices of heavy metal and hard rock, the iconic Ronnie James Dio. The singer had a legendary career, ranging from doo-wop bands in the late ’50s to a reunion with his onetime Black Sabbath bandmates as Heaven & Hell in the 21st century. Born Ronald James Padavona on July 10, 1942 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Dio was raised in Cortland, New York, and became a trumpet player at an early age. Eventually, his vocal talents led him to singing in a variety of doo-wop and rock ‘n’ roll bands (including Ronnie Dio and the Redcaps). By the time he became the singer in Elf (earlier going by the name the Electric Elves), he began to find the style of music that best suited his voice – hard rock, and later, heavy metal. Elf opened shows ...
Q&A: Randy Blythe on Lamb of God’s New LP, Punk, Politics and CBGB’s Legendary ‘Throne’
Like a lot of Americans, Lamb of God frontman Randy Blythe is none too impressed with the job our Twitterer-in-Chief’s been doing. Unfortunately, as a prominent musician who actually expresses that discontent, both through his lyricism and in interviews, he’s largely in the minority, begging the question: Why aren’t more rockers critical of the political machine? “Because they’re fucking pussies,” Blythe blithely told SPIN during a pre-lockdown visit to New York City in late February. “I think it’s almost like we’re at this critical mass of fucked-up-ness, and everything is just going to go to complete shit.” Of course, Blythe isn’t all doom and gloom on Lamb of God’s forthcoming self-titled 10th LP. He said to SPIN he is hopeful things can change — a sentiment he expresses on Lamb o...
Chris Jericho Forms ’80s KISS Cover Band Kuarantine
Chris Jericho was sitting at home in quarantine on April 11th like everyone else. He couldn’t wrestle (he’s one of AEW’s biggest attractions), and his band Fozzy wasn’t touring either. Then his pal Kent Slucher — Luke Bryan’s drummer — sent him a text with a drum part, and from there, things came together really quickly. “I said it sounds like KISS’ ‘No No No,’” Jericho told SPIN over the phone. “I asked him what he was doing and he said, ‘I’m just laying down some fun tracks with a friend of mine and we’re going to do a cover of the song.’ I asked him if they needed a singer and he said, ‘Absolutely.’ And that’s how it started. Calling themselves Kuarantine (get it?), Jericho and Slucher enlisted guitarist Joe McGinness and PJ Farley from hard rock band Trixter to fill out...
Q&A: Serj Tankian Talks His New Electronic Project and How ‘Normal’ Is ‘Extinction’
Serj Tankian, 52, is across the world during the pandemic, currently residing in New Zealand. But he is very conscious of all going on in the States, having lost an 86-year-old uncle in New York to COVID-19 and having his parents grounded in the States still while he is so far away. The multi-hyphenate singer/composer/painter/activist has a lot to say about the U.S. pandemic response, as well as his always-prolific artistic output, including a new collaboration, Fuktronic, with his friend, Jimmy Urine of Mindless Self Indulgence. A significant departure for both frontmen, the collection melds electronic beats with dialogue “from a made-up British gangster film.” SPIN jumped on a phone call with Tankian to discuss his forthcoming rock EP and the state of the world in quarantine. Why do you ...
How Built to Spill Became the World’s Best Daniel Johnston Cover Band
Sometimes your favorite band gets sick of being themselves. “We started doing a ton of covers when we switched rhythm sections a few years back – maybe 2015,” Built to Spill frontman Doug Martsch explained over the phone from the comforts of quarantine at his home in Boise. “Brett Nelson and Scott Plouf had played in the band for 15 years or more and both quit at the same time. So we got a new rhythm section and together we learned a ton of Built to Spill songs, but also a bunch of covers – part of it was to try to make the whole thing more fun. Jim Roth, Brett Netson, and I were kinda tired of playing Built to Spill songs, so… [Laughs.] Learning a bunch of covers was really fun and kind of informed this whole thing.” And by that, Martsch means the shows Built to Spill played with the late...
Shallou Talks Debut Album Release and Spreading Hope Through Music in Times of Crisis [Interview]
Music has the potential to inspire hope even in the darkest of days. Since first emerging into the electronic landscape in 2015, talented producer Shallou has garnered more than 350 million streams, making him one of the scene’s fastest-rising stars. Performing at Outside Lands and Coachella and collaborating with Bob Moses in 2019, Shallou recently dropped his highly anticipated debut full-length album titled Magical Thinking, out now on Island Records. With the record, Shallou takes us on a mystical journey replete with euphoria and wonder. Carrying an ambient and otherworldly vibe, Magical Thinking powerfully reveals the range and beauty of Shallou’s production while powerfully maintaining his signature ambient, emotive, and atmospheric sound. Featu...
Q&A: Incubus Talk New EP, Conspiracy Theories and This Year’s Darwin Awards
“Have you guys gone down the rabbit hole on any of these conspiracy theories?” His trademark long hair tied up in a bun, Incubus lead singer Brandon Boyd poses a question to the rest of his bandmates on our Zoom call. The rest of the guys — guitarist Mike Einziger, drummer Jose Pasillas, bassist Ben Kenney, and DJ Chris Kilmore — murmur some variation of “yes” or “no.” Pasillas shakes his head, laughing, “I don’t got time for that shit.” “There’s incredible mental gymnastics happening,” Boyd muses at length. “From a psychological perspective, there is some rationale for people pulling disparate elements into one place to come to some form of like a theory, and the fact that we have no centralized response and we don’t know who we’re supposed to trust, and everything’s just so up in the air...
‘We Were a Disaster’: Jason Isbell Discusses the Making of Reunions
There will come a time, probably not too long from now, when someone will turn to Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit’s album Reunions, see that it was released in 2020 and come to the reasonable conclusion that it was a response to the breakdowns, devastation and (hopefully) eventual reawakening from a global pandemic. To that person, Isbell’s latest release, out on May 15 on his own Southeastern Records — after dropping exclusively at independent record stores a week earlier, an idea Isbell conceived to help keep those precious operations afloat — seems to be saying: “Where have you been?” Isbell (who, of course, wrote and recorded the album long before the world broke) acknowledges the prescience that comes through on so many songs from Reunions, but notes that he just pointed his pen at the ...
Peter Hook on 40 Years Without Ian Curtis, Working with Gorillaz, and Keeping the Party Going
“The best thing you can do in life is stick on that smile and get out there and enjoy as much as you possibly can,” Peter Hook says over our lunch on Skype. “Because as we’ve seen from the way that you’ve suffered in America — the way that we’ve suffered here in the UK — time can be very short. You don’t know what’s around the corner do you?” With the utmost tragic timing, an alert flashes on my iPhone screen, informing me of the death of Kraftwerk legend Florian Schneider, who I learn has passed away from his battle with cancer. Absolutely destroyed, I tell Hook, who reflects, “There you go Phillip. A prime example isn’t it? Life can be very short. Too short … and not filled with harmony…” Hook knows a thing or two about harmony, both off stage and on it. The veteran musician, who laid do...
