Hip Hop’s Greaser

Clean-shaven with slicked-back hair and sporting a perfecto leather jacket,  rising hip-hop star G-Eazy could easily be mistaken for a cologne model. With his retro greaser look, G-Eazy (né Gerald Earl Gillum) has cultivated a unique style for his chosen genre, earning him the title of “the James Dean of hip hop.” Caught between flattered and exasperated by this categorization, G-Eazy is trying to stake his own ground.  Continue reading 

Go West, Young Man

West My Friend

“We love playing house concerts because it’s always a listening audience,” says Jeff Poynter, vocalist and accordion player for Victoria, B.C.-based indie-folk outfit West My Friend. “We’re not really a bar band, and so we like audiences that show up to hear music. It’s great as well because you can really connect with the audience — talk to them throughout the show, hang out with them afterwards and learn a little about them.”  Continue reading 

All Together Now

together Pangea

With its Harvest Records 2014 debut Badillac, popular SoCal pop-punk act together PANGEA take a huge sonic leap forward, beyond simple-minded garage-punk into more depth and sincerity. “It might be confusing for people, assuming we’re like this garage-punk band and then hearing this record,” says together PANGEA singer-songwriter and guitarist William Keegan on the band’s website. “But we really don’t want to get trapped at all.” Continue reading 

Music Matters

Festival of Eugene highlights local music talent

Edewaard

With the Eugene Celebration on hiatus, local music freaks are lamenting the loss of one of the southern Willamette Valley’s oldest and biggest music festivals. But Eugeneans are nothing if not resourceful, and upstart Festival of Eugene, Aug. 22-23 at Skinner Butte Park, was quickly born. The free event has a schedule of local music to satisfy even the most desperate music junkie jonesin’ for a live fix. Continue reading 

He luvs this shit

He luvs this shit: New Orleans hip-hop crooner August Alsina is bringing the “Testimony Live” tour to the WOW Hall Aug. 15. The year 2014 has been big for Alsina; in addition to releasing his debut album Testimony in April, he won BET’s Best New Artist award and the Viewer’s Choice Award for the single “I Luv This Shit,” and was placed on the roster for hip-hop magazine XXL’s Top 10 Freshmen list alongside Chance The Rapper and Ty Dolla $ign. Want to schmooze with Alsina? Continue reading 

Music Booked For Trans Action Camp Benefit

Betty and the Boy

Betty and the Boy and four other folk, pop and punk bands will play at a benefit show to raise money for the annual Trans and/or Women’s Action Camp. TWAC was initially born from the idea of creating a safe space for trans and/or women in the social and environmental justice movement, according to Ariel Howland, organizer of and participant in the benefit show and camp. Eventually, that idea came into its own: a weeklong camp that focuses on community building and political activism. Continue reading 

Burn Boats, Not Bridges

Photo by Francisco Macias

In 2009, Shelby Earl quit her job on Amazon’s music team to record her first album. The Seattle singer-songwriter was excited; after three years of promoting other musicians at the internet giant, she was going to be the one promoted — hopefully.  “Then six months in it got really scary. It got really real and the money ran out,” Earl tells EW. “I told my mom I was freaking out.”  Continue reading 

The Power of Pop

Huey Lewis and the News

I was pulling the Sam Spade act (à la The Maltese Falcon) last week, hovering over a slider and fries at the bowling alley up Hwy. 99 and watching some good-looking kids roll the rock. The place was damn near empty; just me, the kids and the gal at the counter spraying high-grade disinfectant into the guts of the smooth communal shoes.  Continue reading 

Bleeding of the Subconscious

Helio Sequence

“This sounds really young, it sounds like early Helio Sequence,” says Brandon Summers, the band’s singer and guitarist, of the new record. “To me, it feels like a 90-degree sunny day in Portland.” The Portland-based alt-rock duo is back on stage for a West Coast summer tour, during which the band is unveiling tracks from the new album, due out in early 2015. EW caught up with Helio Sequence two days after they finished recording.  Continue reading