Billy Idol

What can you say about Billy Idol?  That the mold was broken after he arrived on the music scene with his pioneer punk band Generation X in 1976?  That he was music video pioneer?  That he lived the life of a rock star while retaining his punk rock beliefs?  After a serious motorcycle accident and some substance abuse problems, Billy Idol took a well-deserved twelve-year break from the music business.  His latest album, Devil’s Playground [Sanctuary Records] is pure unadulterated Billy Idol.  I interviewed Billy Idol via email while he was between tours in August 2005. 

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Blue Man Group

The official Blue Man Group website, Blueman.com, states, “Blue Man Group is a creative organization dedicated to creating exciting and innovative work in a wide variety of media.”

Sometimes musicians are creative. Other times they are original. Occasionally they smash thru the basic trapping of genre rules and create category defying experiences unlike any other. The critically acclaimed Blue Man Group is just such a performance experience.

Perhaps you first saw BMG on those unique Intel Pentium television commercials, or maybe you have seen them on one of their numerous “Tonight Show” appearances, (13 to date, see www.bluemanlibrary.com). Or maybe you were one of the lucky ones to see their crowd pleasing set on “Moby’s” AREA 2 tour in 2002. Perhaps you have visited one of their permanent locations and witnessed their great theatrical performance. Where ever you may know them from, their trademark cobalt grease paint faces, funky yet technical performances and PVC drums leave an indelible impression.

The founding three members of BMG, Chris Wink, Matt Goldman and Phil Stanton started creating their own unique brand of multisensory experiences as early as 1988 on the streets of New York. Then, after a breakout run at LaMama (New York’s most prestigious experimental theatre) in 1990, they landed in the Astor Place Theatre in 1991 and have been there ever since. With this flagship venue in place, BMG kept expanding into more major market areas. To date BMG has permanent locations in New York, Boston, Chicago, and Las Vegas, with plans for a new Berlin troupe set to open in 2004. The organization has grown into a franchise comprised of over 500 employees including nearly 100 performers and musicians.

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The Buzzhorn

“We just wanted to kinda get back to rock.” The phrase may be a bit of a cliché, but is the perfect description of what The Buzzhorn is all about.

Recently signing with Atlantic Records, the Milwaukee-based band is taking its first steps into the national limelight, with high hopes and realistic expectations. “As far as the national level and everything, you can keep your fingers crossed and hope that it all goes well. We just want to keep playing, and that’s really it,” reflects vocalist Ryan Mueller.

The Buzzhorn are one of Milwaukee’s hottest bands, but were relatively unheard of outside of the city until recently. Advertising extensively and barely getting by financially, The Buzzhorn developed a strong, energetic fan base in the Milwaukee area. Ultimately, this, in combination with the band’s musical talent, caught the eyes and ears of Atlantic Records, offering The Buzzhorn the opportunity every band dreams of. On August 6 of this year, “Disconnected” hits stores, with the first single, “Ordinary” currently being added to radio play lists nationwide.

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Cibo Matto

Very few bands have had such an incredible debut album like Cibo Matto’s Viva L.A. Woman. Like an inexpensive sushi bar, Viva L.A. Woman was a Smorgasbord of contradictions.  Light, but heavy, simple yet complicated, joyful with a hint of homesickness in an electronic mix that never sounds the same way twice.

Yuka Honda and Miho Hatori, expatriates from Japan have fused Trip-Hop, rap, rock, jazz, Asian and Brazilian music into a sound of their own that has been described by music journalists as fun, precious, teasing, joyful, cheerful, good-natured, quirky, silly, carefree, ironic and wry.  Multi-instrumentalist Honda is a longtime member of the Manhattan art scene and was once in the Brooklyn Funk Essentials.  Hatori, a former member of the Tokyo rap unit Kimidori and a former club DJ, came to the States in 1993. After meeting in 1994, they started the short-lived band, Leitoh Lychee.  Honda and Hatori formed Cibo Matto, (Italian for “food madness”) shortly afterwards.

Cibo Matto take their time in the studio, their latest release Stereo Type A appeared in the stores in 1999.  Although less edgy than Viva L.A. Woman, Stereo Type A shows signs of maturity and the affects of love and all the good and bad things that go with it.  I had a chance to interview Miho Hatori.

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The Goo Goo Dolls

From their days as an indie-rock band with punk roots on an upstart Metal Blade Records in the late-‘80s, to their present status as one of the premier Top 40 rock bands in America, the Goo Goo Dolls have been defined by a single constant: Damn-near perfect songs. With the May release of Let Love In, the band’s eighth studio album and tenth release overall, frontman John Rzeznik and bassist Robby Takac have returned with eleven tracks ripe for radio and primed to conquer mainstream America. Days after completing a six-week club tour that debuted the new material, Maximum Ink caught up with the bassist to discuss the evolution of the Goo Goo Dolls, and life as a pop culture staple.

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Magic 7

What’s so magical about Magic 7? It depends who you ask. For fans of Last Crack it’s the first time writing duo of Paul Schluter and Buddo have worked together in more that five years. For the former member’s of Madison’s best known hardrock outfit, it’s an opportunity to put the past behind and focus on the present.

“This wasn’t pieced together just to get all of the members of Last Crack, except for the drummer, together in another band,” said guitarist and principal songwriter Paul Schluter in a recent interview. “We’ve all worked together before, we’re in each other’s heads and it’s a great starting point, but I think the thing that makes this band special is that we’re relying on mostly new music. Last Crack was fun for us, but it was in the past. What makes this band worth being around is that it’s a whole new style of music for us, a lot mellower at times, a lot more melodic, a lot more mature, and at times completely different sounding.”

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Man… Or Astro-Man?

Give Alf an electric guitar and a few Dick Dale records, lock him in the attic for a night, and the results might just rival Man or Astro-man? and their musical barrage of space-age surfscapes. The members of Man or Astro-man? aren’t quite as furry as television’s Alien Life Form, but they’re also trapped on earth until they can fix their interplanetary wheels.

“Originally we came from a place, not a planet,” began founding drummer Birdstuff, backstage after a recent show in Providence, R.I. “Planets are very archaic devices, we actually came from a grid sector, grid sector 23-V61. Star Crunch and I took the intergalactic starship-your guys’ station wagon-out on a joyride, and somewhere we mis-vectored.”

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