Katy Pfaffl

Light grooves and soaring melodies circle and dive with Latin jazz accents, soul throaty climaxes and soft, sophisticated pop. Fluid flowers of pan-global sensitivity blossom into polysyllabic rivers that dance among the keyboards, guitar, hand percussion and bass. Sounds conjuring wide-open spaces find strange bedfellows in Manhattan - a crowded city of subways and skyscrapers, but that is exactly where Katy Pfaffl found her muse - New York, by way of Amsterdam, Cincinnati and Milwaukee.

Born and raised in Milwaukee, Katy was a Sukuzi violin student, competing as a classical pianist before she entered high school. While she feels lucky to have grown up in Milwaukee, she found the city’s arts scene limited and more concerned with stability than change. “I’ve always had many interests and was always told I had to choose only one and commit to it,” she explains, “I believe that if you have a lot of talents and interests then use them all, explore them all so you can keep growing and expanding.”

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Joel Pingitore and the Playground of Sound

Joel Pingitore isn’t wasting any time. He has been performing with his most recent group, The Playground of Sound, for only six months and they’re already booked and/or played 150+ shows. Besides a weekly show at The Dam Bar in Belleville, WI and a once-a-month visit to Stella’s Speakeasy in Stoughton, WI the band is fresh of a stint of gigs at Bike Week in Daytona Beach. In an e-mail interview Pingitore admitted he wouldn’t mind a show every day.

“Naturally,” He also conceded, “it’d be fantastic to be ‘The Next Big Thing.’” With an energetic six month old band that’s already working on an album and playing outside the state, however fantastic the dream, they seem to be aiming for it. On a more realistic, and partially realized note, Pingitore also said “I’d like to see [the band] as a nationally touring act.”

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Plain White T’s

Plain White T’s started in the Chicago area in 1997 when vocalist and guitarist Tom Higgenson, who had been a drummer previously in local high school bands, decided to get out from behind the drum set and take the foreground as a front man and songwriter. After spending years developing their following in the underground scene, they exploded with their 2007 Grammy-nominated Number One single, “Hey There, Delilah.” This winter, they released their latest record, Wonders of the Younger, and have been touring on it since. They’re headlining a free music festival, The Journeys Backyard Barbecue, in Minneapolis over Memorial Day Weekend. We talked to Higgenson about the new record and the tour.

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Poc

With her debut apptly titled Rise Above the mexican rocker Poc proves to the world that she can do just that. As a teen when her budding career as a professinal ballet dancer was cut short by an accident she focused in on the music that she had loved from the young age of 5.Her singing and songwriting skills showcased around Mexico City led to her opening for the iconic rock band Guns N Roses and to being discovered by their guitarist, Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal. Thal was so impressed with her unique talent and drive that he brought her to the U.S. to record the album. Finding herself far from home for the first time in her life the talented songstress set out to show the world what she is made of.

Dealing with a language barrier, acts of nature, Ron’s rehabilitation from an accident of his own, and even threats of murder and extortion the pair proved with enough determination, grit, and pure talent a truly solid rock album is inevitable. Joined by Guns N’ Roses drummer Frank Ferrer, the album is influened heavily by rock legends such as Janis Joplin, Aerosmith, and Led Zepplin. Featuring a mix of tracks heavily in Spanish as well as in English this debut has a global appeal that is hard to deny. The first single off the album, Rock N Roll Baby gave fans a chance to participate in the recording by submitting their own backing vocals via Skype.

Maximum Ink: What were you like as a child growing up? How do you think your earliest days have influenced you to be who you are now?
Poc: Well, I have always been walking trouble, I think the most difficult age for my mom to control me was between 15 to 18. I was completely out of control, I like taking things to the limit, and I never give up which can be something good or something really bad. I think the person who really made who I am today is certainly my mom, she taught me everything and she has been there for me everytime I needed her, in good and bad times.

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Pop Evil

Michigan has a prestigious reputation for producing some the greatest musicians of modern time. From Alice Cooper to Eminem and even the twisted act Insane Clown Posse, the state has a wide variety of famous musicians who have hugely impacted music, whether good or bad. The trend continues with Pop Evil, the latest band to shake up Michigan’s music scene. War of Angels, the recent release from the Michigan-bred rockers, has once again infected the rock n’ roll world with their catchy riffs and memorable stage presence. Maximum Ink’s Aaron Manogue talked with lead singer Leigh Kakaty about their Michigan roots, new album and touring with 3 Doors Down and Theory of a Deadman.

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Willy Porter

Wisconsin folk artist WILLY PORTER has been touring around North America for the past two decades, seeing national success that began with the release of his 1995 album, Dog Eared Dream, which led to opening spots for Tori Amos, Jeff Beck, Toad The Wet Sprocket, and The Cranberries and catapulted his style of folk rock meets Dylan-esque wordplay to the top echelon of modern singer-songwriters.

His new album, How To Rob A Bank, just came out in June of this year and he produced it himself, a process that he says was more difficult in some ways and easier in others. “I think that it’s harder in some ways”, he says, “especially when you’re singing to know if you have the right inflection or you’re capturing the feel of what you want to convey. But I’m a big believer in the things that are a mistake today are the things that you love tomorrow. If the musicians played something and the musicians think that it’s cool and if you respect them and trust them, then it’s good. I tried not to use technology to edit or fix things into a state of unrealistic perfection and that was very liberating. I’ve worked with some people who let the machines get in the way and I’m not feeling that at all lately.”

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Powerglove

Powerglove is easily in a class all it’s own as a video game metal band. With shows that proclaim, “We are Powerglove and we are here to fuck with your childhood”,  the shows appeal to metal fans and gamers alike! It is a mix you don’t find often. The band out of Boston, MA consists of Alex Berkson, Bassil Silver-Hajo, Chris Marchiel, and Nick Avila. Their new album Saturday Morning Apocalypse is due out September 28, 2010 on e1metal.

Maximum Ink: Can you tell us a little about what led you to form Powerglove?
Chris Marchiel: Originally, it was boredom and love of nostalgic theme songs from our youth. We all played video games and watched cartoons on a pretty much full time basis while growing up, so these songs were basically our cultural heritage as well as our childhood memories. We really love and revere these songs as major parts of our lives and as we grew into metalheads and shredders combining metal with video games and cartoons was just the most natural thing we could do. Powerglove began as a side project of our former Melodic Death Metal band Revengeance (yeah we love silly names!) and later evolved into a full touring band a year or two later. We were very encouraged by the online feedback we got from our first few demo covers and eventually put a press and label demo together that went nowhere at the time, so we persisted on our own and self released our first album Metal Kombat for the Mortal Man which did well with sales and reviews and inspired us to truly focus full time on Powerglove and become a serious touring band in 2008.

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