You might think it funny for a band that got its start amid the seaside kitsch of Myrtle Beach to have a name like Alabama. But sort of like calling your Brooklyn-born baby Brooklyn, these guys were actually appropriately named after their native state. In 1969, cousins Randy Owen and…
Slate recently reported Miami has the worst drivers in the country, and kinky party stalwart Fetish Factory cares too much about its faithful merrymakers to put them at the frontlines of such highway hell. After a last-minute location change last week from Fort Lauderdale’s Exit 66 to Grand Central in…
Mad Decent Block Party With Major Lazer, Zeds Dead, Riff Raff, Robb Bank$, and others. Revolution Live, Fort Lauderdale August 3, 2013 As two o’clock approached this past Saturday, a black sky pressed down on downtown Fort Lauderdale. Hundreds of half-naked youths swarmed the downtown area, readying themselves for the…
Toronto’s Zeds Dead are Dylan Mamid and Zach Rapp-Rovan, two friends who came together ten years ago over a shared interest in making beats and cultivating an unpretentious bass scene in their hometown. Since their weekly party Bassmentality blew up back in 2010, the duo, who go by DC and…
There is nothing quite like the magic of Disney, unless of course you’re talking about the magic of the Jonas Brothers. These sonically gifted siblings are currently making their way around the globe to promote their latest album, V. Kevin, Joe, and Nick have been preparing for their eighth worldwide…
Better than: Seeing a legacy group perform with backing tracks Last night, the reunited, and mostly original, Black Sabbath triumphantly returned to South Florida. It was a balmy summer night, and Palm Beach’s Cruzan Amphiteatre was dense with darkly-clothed denizens of metal, all of whom had answered the call to…
Music vet and New Times scribe Lee Zimmerman offers his insights, opinions, and observations about the local scene. This week: UM grad Will Lee went Late Night and big time. It’s noon on a Tuesday, and Will Lee is still struggling to fully awaken. Then again, he was playing into…
The fact that the Howlin’ Brothers chose to release their latest album on Brendan Benson’s Readymade Records label might seem to some rather ironic. Their sound is pretty much the polar opposite of the punchy pop motif that Benson himself is known for, both on his own and as Jack…
While every subgenre in the vast, factionally divided world of heavy metal has earned its own legion of devout followers, authentic thrash is seeing a serious revival. Of the bands currently carrying the reignited torch of thrash metal, Denver, Colorado’s Havok is without a doubt one of the most exciting…
Black Sabbath is undeniably one of the most influential bands of all time. And while many legendary acts often sully their legacy by reuniting and culling an album from the dregs of should-have-been B-sides, Sabbath was spared this fate. The Rick Rubin-produced 13, an album that finally earned Sabbath its…
If there were a festival and place most suited for the rain, it would be the Vans Warped Tour Music Festival at Cruzan Amphitheatre. Florida summertime thunderstorms are refreshing, and while these kids are dressed to impress, that doesn’t meet they’re wearing lasers, electronic gloves, or spiky stilettos. These pop-punkers…
Better than: Dancing in your room to “Love My Way.” For bands whose songs induce nostalgia, past major successes can also limit contemporary relevance. Saturday night’s bill at the Culture Room featured a pairing of bands that maintain beloved legacies, but approach life after hits in two very different ways…
Seu Jorge Hollywood ArtsPark, Hollywood July 27 You can’t knock the intentions of the good people of the Rhythm Foundation. Their free series at Hollywood ArtsPark provides the community with an evening of music and culture from distant lands. Last time out, they had 7,500 people present to celebrate the…
It’s time for yer regular Jacuzzi Boys update! The sun might be setting on this summer, but our swampy garage guys are still at it. After a monthlong U.S. tour back in June, the Jacuzzis have conjured up a new weekly party in Little Haiti to wind down the rest…
Of all the unique artists spawned from the now nostalgic, post-Nirvana ’90s, Spacehog may well be the most criminally underrated. A complete oddity in its unabashed referencing of ’70s British glam-rock in an era characterized by the decidedly antiglam climate of grunge, Spacehog enjoyed a massive hit in 1995 with…
Few inanimate objects draw a crowd. The Mona Lisa brings a few people out to Paris, and summers at Sequoia National Park attract onlookers to see the General Sherman Tree, but paintings and trees don’t bring the wide smiles a trophy can. Wednesday night at Whiskey Tango in Hollywood, the…
While fans and pundits debate back and forth about South Florida’s contributions to the national — and, dare we say, international — musical mainstream, there’s little doubt we can take some credit for the ever-burgeoning popularity of Latin fusion. Hialeah-bred combo Electric Piquete is one of the area acts that…
Pop-punk is alive and well. Canadian genre torchbearers Billy Talent are still reppin’ their experimental, melodic-angst punk from the early ’90s (the band started as Pezz and later changed their moniker due to legal issues). Frontman Benjamin Kowalewicz’s pungent shrill, Ian D’Sa’s towering riffs, Jonathan Gallant’s valiant bass-backup vocal combo,…
“It finally feels like summer,” says a sandal-clad girl to her friend this past weekend at Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago’s Union Park. The friend nods in agreement and sips from his dewy 312 beer, a local favorite. As a scorching heat wave blanketed most of the country, festival-goers descended…
Seeing a line-up of 311, Sublime With Rome, Cypress Hill, G. Love & Special Sauce, and Pennywise on a Sunday in July in 2013 would be like going to a concert in 1993 headlined by War, Grand Funk Railroad, and Three Dog Night. The 311 Unity Tour is a nineties-centric…
It’s 1995. The inaugural Warped Tour pulls into The Edge in Fort Lauderdale. And even after the band’s van (along with its electric guitars, and other gear) gets jacked, Bradley Nowell and Eric Wilson of Sublime still decide to play an entirely acoustic set for a packed house. Meanwhile, a…
If the late, great Patsy Cline had an opium problem and joined a psychedelic folk band, she might have sounded like Mazzy Star. Mazzy Star, with the otherworldly voice of Hope Sandoval and the morose guitar playing of Dave Roback, are back. Their dreamy sound found a charmed audience in…
