The Selfish Gene

Taking their name from famous evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkin’s 1976 book, Madison’s THE SELFISH GENE has been one of the city’s most ambitious bands since their inception in 2004. Now a three-piece rock/indie-pop unit consisting of Matt Allen on guitar and vocals, Eric Andraska on bass, and Rob Young on drums, their 2007 release, “The Grand Masquerade” garnered them national press attention as well as opening slots for bands as acclaimed and diverse as The Von Bondies and Bon Iver to Blue Oyster Cult and The Kings of Leon. In June, they released a new EP that moves their style into an acoustic direction called “What It Sees, Where It Sleeps”.

Read More...

Ari Herstand

A Madison native that’s now based in Minneapolis, musician and songwriter, ARI HERSTAND, has been making his musical name touring on a remarkable solo live show that mixes the classic singer-songwriter elements of guitar and voice, that is infused with trumpets, live looping, and orchestration. His latest project is not only performing, but also conducting seminars in high schools where he discusses musical careers with students. To him, music education in school was key in creating his artistic identity and he wants to get that message across to the next generation.

He picked up the guitar for the same reason most guys do. “I’ve been playing the piano for as long as I can remember and I picked up the trumpet in the 5th grade for band class.”, Ari says. “The summer before my freshman year of college I was sitting around a living room with a few friends and my friend Danny came into the room with his guitar and played the room a song. When he finished, he set the guitar down and left the room. Two girls looked at each other - one of them my girlfriend at the time - and they said ‘guys who play guitar are so hot.’ And here we are.”

Read More...

The Shtetlblasters

A shtetl is defined as a small town with a large Jewish population, “You know, like Fiddler on the Roof”, Sam Harmet laughs, while describing the name of his band, THE SHTETLBLASTERS. A play on the term, “ghettoblasters” because of their introduction of funk into Klezmer, the traditional European Jewish dance songs (like the kind you’d hear in the aforementioned Fiddler musical.) So, West Coast meets Eastern Europe in THE SHTETLBLASTERS.

Read More...

Michael Schenker

On tour now to celebrate the thirtieth(!) anniversary of his self-named group, German guitar wizard Michael Schenker has been shredding since first joining his older brother, Rudolf’s band, The Scorpions, in 1970. In the middle of that decade, British band UFO snapped him up and they went on to record a new wave of British Heavy Metal classics like “Lights Out” and “Too Hot To Handle”. With his signature Flying V guitar, Teutonic presence, and unique playing style, he took the band to the next level of popularity around the world despite the language gap between him and his English-speaking bandmates. After leaving the band, he struck out on his own to form MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP (better known as MSG and Schenker is known for being no stranger to “preservatives” himself) in 1980 and released hard rock anthems like “Armed and Ready” and “Gimme Your Love”. Throughout the 90’s and Aughts, Schenker reunited with UFO and continued MSG in various forms, revolving the door to bring musicians in. Currently, this tour brings him back together with original MSG vocalist Gary Barden as well as the guy who literally wrote the book on rock drumming (1972’s Realistic Rock Drum Method), Carmen Appice, who’s played with everyone from Ozzy to Rod Stewart, Vanilla Fudge to Jeff Beck.

Read More...

The Mifflin Street Block Party

The University of Wisconsin has traditionally held two giant student parties every year. One is Halloween (where out of town revelers caused so many problems, it evolved into Freak Fest, still a good party but one that turns State Street into a demilitarized zone each year) and the other is the Mifflin Street Block Party. Started in 1969 as a reaction to the Vietnam War (the event that seems to loom over every student activity or university story from that decade), the party has been an annual tradition some times at odds with the city and some times with the city’s blessing. After a long time of relative peace, in 1996, drunken and foolish partygoers decided to attack a fire truck that came to put out a bonfire started in the middle of the street. Next thing you know, there’s riot gear, people are screaming bloody murder, and lots and lots of arrests are made. Needless to say, the 1997 party was kind of a drag. But the fest has continued in the ensuing years, and now local music promoters DCNY PRO, Madison natives and longtime Mifflin Street attendees, David Coleman and Ny Bass, have taken the bull by the horns. They spearheaded the party in 2009 to one of its most successful years. On the fortieth anniversary of the festival and even with over fifteen-thousand people in attendance, arrests were down from the year before and in 2010, they’re bringing more changes to make it a friendlier and safer place.

Read More...