The Ottoman Empire

An interview with Madison shredders The Ottomon Empire‘s Mary Zimmer

The Dropkick Murphys

Coming from a working-class background in Boston, The Dropkick Murphys have not forgotten that life. Having been successful with fans and critics, the band has had one hell of a ride, highlighted in recent years by Martin Scorsese using their song “Shipping Up To Boston” in his film “The Departed” in 2006, and writing the theme song for the Boston Red Sox in 2004.

“The Meanest of Times” delivers the band’s trademark Irish-infused punk, with the central theme of family tying the album together. The album also marks the launch of the band’s label, Born & Bred Records. In the midst of their current tour, vocalist Al Barr took time out to talk to Maximum Ink.

MAXIMUM INK: Most people describe your music as punk music. Do you really think that fits?
AL BARR: Opinions vary. For me, we have the ferocity and the backbone and the ethos of punk.

MAX INK: How did you decide to put the Irish music in with the punk? Are you guys all of Irish descent?
BARR: You’re talking to the one guy in the band who doesn’t have any Irish blood in him! Everyone else in the band has got some Irish blood in them. The first song that the band wrote, “Barroom Hero,” had bagpipes on it. We could have always done it in the studio, but we decided that if we couldn’t recreate that onstage then it was kind of cheesey.

Cealed Kasket

By all accounts, Cealed Kasket puts on one heck of a show.  There are swords, beer, wenches and a self-proclaimed, 553-year-old wizard named Sarsicus, led by the ringleader and vocalist Mortal Death in an effort to entertain the youth of America. The band’s latest album, “Penetration,” was released this past July on Reckless Records. 

The band will appear at Maximum Ink’s Halloween Spooktacular on October 27th, so we thought it fitting to warn…err, inform concert-goers in the Madison area just what they might expect from these medieval metal rockers.  It seems that the traditional sex, drugs and rock and roll is on the menu, and Cealed Kasket knows how to deliver the goods.  After sitting down to chat with Mortal Death, the best warning?  Be afraid…be very afraid.

The Cocksmiths

An interview with The Cocksmiths, a band featuring Milwaukee veterans Ryan Daniels, Matty Gonzalez, Joey Carini, Paris Ortiz and Dave Schoepke.

Umphrey’s McGee

When first hearing the voice of Joel Cummins, the keyboard player from Chicago jam-band Umphrey’s McGee, one might expect a stoned-out, hippie wasteoid, not the articulate, self-deprecating and passionate music theory graduate that helped found the group in the mid-‘90s at Notre Dame University. But the man’s musicianship is no joke.

Teetering on the edge of the mainstream with their third album, “Safety in Numbers,” the band released a double album of tracks from the “Safety” recording sessions called “The Bottom Half” last April, performed on Lollapalooza, and started opening for the Dave Matthews Band on his latest tour (to which Cummins half-jokes, “One of the goals was to play more tunes for the ladies.”)

Blaqk Audio

Sometime around the year 2000, AFI’s Davey Havok and Jade Puget started to discuss the possibility of making their mutual love of electronic music reality in the form of a side project called BLAQK AUDIO.  Though AFI’s success kept both of them so busy that talking was all they could do, seven months ago, the duo managed to steal away some precious time and record CexCells.  The album has done well, far exceeding the expectations of both Puget and Havok and the single, “Stiff Kittens”, placed as high as number 20 on the rock charts.

Fans of AFI’s hard, rock and roll sound were taken aback by the dynamic dance music that filled the speakers after purchasing CexCells, but it seems that most have since accepted the side project and all it has to offer.  The name BLAQK AUDIO was the brainchild of Puget, who thought the name suited their desire to make dark, electronic music.  He claims that the unusual spelling was a simple twist on the obvious, as well as being a nod to the Aphex Twins song “Drukqs”.

Although the tour officially ended September 27th, with a final show in Los Angeles, Puget and Havok plan to continue to make music as BLAQK AUDIO in between their commitment to AFI.  Now that the two are, hopefully, resting before picking back up with AFI, Puget was able to sit down for a chat about the tour, the sexual content of CexCells and his plans for the future.

Maximum Ink:  Are there any questions that you are tired of answering?
Jade Puget:  I guess the obligatory meaning behind CexCells, all the usual stuff.  I actually don’t mind answering that stuff either, if there’s something you really want to know.  A lot of people aren’t that familiar with Blaqk Audio as a side project.  If you want to cover some basic information, that’s fine.