Juliette Lewis

Actress and musician, JULIETTE LEWIS, knew she wanted to be an actress from the time she was six and she was nominated for an Academy Award before she was twenty years old. Known for roles in films like Cape Fear, Natural Born Killers, and The Other Sister, when she took the leap from acting to fronting a band, known as JULIETTE AND THE LICKS, in 2003 it might have been dismissed as a Jennifer Love-Hewitt or J. Lo-type vanity project. However, instead of sugary pop, she opted for a straight-up rock n’ roll and punk style and has since collaborated with the impressive likes of Dave Grohl from The Foo Fighters and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez from The Mars Volta. Earlier this year, Lewis let go of The Licks and has released her first completely solo album, Terra Incognita.

“We toured the world three and four times over with the Licks.”, Lewis says, talking about her old group. “Around the same time, I had a breakup with my band and a breakup with my love and I was contemplating my existence and the future… I figured if I wanted to evolve, then I should make music now as my own name. It was the first time I really created a record by discovering who I was musically and all the contrast .There’s so many kinds of songs and so much flavor.”

Heavy Trash

What started as a side project for Matt Verta-Ray’s SPEEDBALL BABY and Jon Spencer from the JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION has evolved into a full-fledged rockabilly outfit with the release of HEAVY TRASH’s third album, Midnight Soul Serenade. Greasing back their hair and letting their collars go wide and open, Matt and Jon embody the fashion and music of the classic American rock n’ roll sound.

A sound that Matt explains he was influenced by from a young age. “My mom had a lot of cool 50’s records, some Sun, soul, and blues.”, he says. “When I got a guitar, I got a hold of a tape of Eddie Cochran and that knocked me out. Guys like Buddy Holly and Leadbelly, but I was also influenced by some of the more out-there stuff like Hasil Adkins and novelty records. It’s kind of what I’ve always played, Jon had a similar trajectory and was into groups like the Gibson Brothers.”

Hum Machine

Going for broke in the Midwest during the mid-90’s alternative rock scene, HUM MACHINE was started in Madison in 1995 by four people with influences from late 80’s and 90’s indie and punk bands like Pavement and Mike Watt. Releasing their debut album, Speed Kills The Dying Beat, in 1996, HUM MACHINE spent the next decade writing songs, recording albums, playing shows for record labels, and generally chasing the rock and roll dream. In 2003, they even attempted to set a Guinness Book of World Records record for consecutive shows by performing 65 dates in a row throughout the United States. While that tour and world record was derailed by the vicious Hurricane Isabel of that fall, the band still went on to release one more album, Songs Before The Blackout, in 2005 before taking an extended hiatus. While the members of the band have continued to stay busy with the group, Shazy Hade (featuring former New Recruits blusterer, Shinky) and avant-garde jazz project, Voltress, they haven’t performed in their home state for three years. Deciding that it is high time to get the band back together, HUM MACHINE has something a little ridiculous in store for their next move.

Chad Smith’s Bombastic Meatbats

Red Hot Chili Peppers’ drummer, Chad Smith, doesn’t take vacations, he makes records. With the funk-rockers on hiatus, Smith has not only recorded and released a record with supergroup, Chickenfoot (with Montrose vocalist, Sammy Hagar, Van Halen’s Michael Anthony and guitar maestro Joe Satriani) but is releasing an instrumental record this month with CHAD SMITH’S BOMBASTIC MEATBATS called appropriately Meet The Meatbats. While in Boston on tour with Chickenfoot, Chad took a few minutes to talk about the new release and their upcoming Japanese tour.

First of all, part of the reason Smith used his name as the title of the band wasn’t his idea. “It’s not in any way my band”, he laughs, “that’s in name only. We were doing a tour of Japan and only the promoter thought it would help sell tickets. I said I was okay with it if it helps out. If you’re a Chili Peppers fan or a Chickenfoot fan, I hope you like it.” The band started when Smith, Ed Roth and Jeff Kolman were playing as the backing musicians for Glenn Hughes, former vocalist of Deep Purple. Smith says, “We would just jam if Glenn was late for practice. One day I thought we should record some of the tracks and have fun.” That was in January of 2008 and they were joined by Kevin Chown on bass in the recording studio. The sessions went well, as Smith recalls, “We made this record and were really proud of it and we’ve already finished recording another record!”

Steez

Combining elements of jam rock with electronica and improvisation, Madison band, STEEZ, has been slowly shaking their way through the Midwest since 2003 after forming as classmates at the University of Wisconsin bonding over luminaries of the genre like Phish and The Grateful Dead. Their first album, entitled Creepfunk Crusade, was just released in August on the Mason Jar records and STEEZ just finished an east coast tour to celebrate the new CD.

First of all, what’s the name all about? Guitarist and founding member, Steve Neary explains, “We used to be called Super Nintendo Entertainment System back in 2003. We were just sitting around night looking at a Super Nintendo and thought it would be a cool name. But then were worried about a year later that we’d be sued if we ever decided to take the band seriously“, he laughs. ”We couldn’t get our keyboard player to agree on anything that didn’t involve Star Wars or (keyboardist) Bob James, so we eventually settled on STEEZ, which is slang for style, so we thought it fit our M.O. a little bit.“

Steve Vai

Just as the guitarist in bands like Frank Zappa and David Lee Roth to his sideman work with bands like Whitesnake and Ozzy Osbourne, STEVE VAI has been the guitar hero’s guitar hero for three decades. He’s been leading his own band since the early 1990’s, creating one of that generation’s most influential instrumental guitar records, the epic Passion and Warfare. He’s releasing a new DVD in September called Where The Wild Things Are documenting a show on his last tour in Minneapolis. He’s just finished getting it ready and he took a few minutes to talk about the DVD with us.

MI: What compelled you to make the new DVD set?

SV: It’s what I do. Traveling musician, composer, and rock guitar player. It’s always nice to capture little moments in time. I put this band together, that’s sort of a unique band. My music is 80% instrumental, very compositional rock music. It’s a very different kind of a show. When I do a show together, I put together something I’d like to see when I go to a show. I want to see great musicianship, I wanna feel emotional dynamics, and see people that have an investment in what you’re doing.