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Sister Sparrow and The Dirty Birds are a seven-piece “hard-soul” band based out of New York. Sister Sparrow vocalist Arleigh Kincheloe calls her band’s sound “high energy — very much meant to make you get up and dance and have a good time.” The group comes to Eugene supporting its 2015 release The Weather Below, out now on Party Fowl Records. The record has a strutting, take-no-prisoners confidence. Continue reading
Bands come and go, whether it be the dramatic fallout of One Direction or the breakup and subsequent makeup of No Doubt. But there’s one band we can count on to stay with us through it all, (with tough love) guiding generations through horrifying high school years with “High School Never Ends,” a rollercoaster relationship with “The Bitch Song” or a crappy day with “Shut Up and Smile.” Bowling For Soup has put a smile on our faces for 20-plus years, and the band isn’t easing up. Continue reading
Not many band names are as accurate as Session Americana. The six-piece musical collective, made up of some of Boston’s best folk, rock and roots musicians, promises a gathering of down-home music. What the name doesn’t tell you is that Session Americana plays face to face in an Irish-style jam, which you can see up close and personal when the band comes to Tsunami Books promoting their recently released sixth album, Pack Up the Circus, produced by Anais Mitchell. Continue reading
I reach Ryan Kattner, better known as Man Man’s lead howler Honus Honus, at his home in L.A. Kattner is working out some new songs for the experimental rock band’s upcoming tour, a process he’s none too thrilled about. Continue reading
Mad Decent Block Party, the traveling circus of dirty bass selling out shows nationwide and making Rolling Stone’s list (again) of “Summer’s 50 Must-See Music Festivals,” returns to Cuthbert Sept. 12 to ensure you end your summer with a bass drop. (And if last year is any indication, expect neon rave-wear, DayGlo furries, high-waisted shorts and the resulting sea of butt cheeks. Oh yeah, and maybe six attendees over the age of 22.) Continue reading
Once upon a time, they made movies out of musicals. From the 1940s through the ’70s, once a show had proved its worth on Broadway, Hollywood came calling. In the past generation or so, however, as the big-budget blockbuster mentality infested theater, the process reversed. Continue reading
More than four decades into her career, Marcia Ball is a living blues legend as well as a popular fixture on blues-hungry Eugene stages. But last year, Ball missed her chance to promote her latest release, The Tattooed Lady and The Alligator Man, in our valley. “We were scheduled last fall,” Ball tells EW, “and then I had a fall. I had to miss the gig — a rare occurrence,” adding in a thick Southern accent: “I didn’t get to play my songs for you so I’m coming back to do it!” Continue reading
Listing your favorite music genres to include “everything but country” has been in vogue since country went from Hank Williams to Kenny Chesney. But honky-tonk duo The Earnest Lovers are making country cool again with their ’50s and ’60s-style serenades. Continue reading
Bay Area act Ensemble Mik Nawooj fuses classical, jazz and hip-hop lyricism to create a sound with the explosive intensity of orchestral post-rock. Composer and pianist Joowan Kim takes his love for Western European classical composition and — with the help of a six-piece chamber orchestra, funk-rock percussion, a lyric soprano and rappers Do D.A.T. and Sandman — he crafts modern classical the likes of which have never been heard. Continue reading
Familiar things are sometimes best interpreted by strangers. International musician Monk Parker knows this better than anyone. Splitting his time between the states and the U.K., Parker’s music is influenced by his English mother — an avant-garde, minimalist sculptor — and his more traditional American father. Continue reading