The Siegel-Schwall Band

The Siegel-Schwall Band first emerged in 1966 on Vanguard Records in the height of the Summer Of Love blues boomlet. Young Corky & Jim were students of the Chicago Blues and could be found cutting their chops in the Windy City’s clubs with legends like Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon and Hubert Sumlin on an average Thursday evening. Siegel-Schwall released nine studio albums and collaborated with conductor Seiji Ozawa and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra before parting ways in 1974. Their traditional routine of yearly reunion shows since their 1988 Reunion Concert album on Alligator Records has finally been broken, and the group has released Flash Forward, their first studio record in 32 years featuring all originals, and their most polished effort to date. Maximum Ink spoke with Jim Schwall and drummer Sam Lay about what lies ahead for them.

Originally starting out as a duo for small club gigs, Jim would play guitar, Corky would play piano, harp, and percussion, and they both would sing. A rotating rhythm section was added when bookings for larger gigs became standard. When they were signed to Vanguard Records, Siegel-Schwall released four records: The Siegel-Schwall Band, Say Siegel-Schwall, Shake and Siegel-Schwall 70. The group moved to RCA/Wooden Nickel in 1971 and released Sleepy Hollow, 953 West, Last Summer and the aptly titled R.I.P. before breaking up in 1974. Siegel went on to pursue a solo career intertwined with a fusion of classical music and blues and Jim Schwall earned a PhD in Music.

Sevendust 2006

Onstage, Sevendust frontman Lajon Witherspoon is widely acknowledged as one of hard rock’s most gripping performers and electrifying voices. Offstage, he’s seldom heard, mellow as a church mouse, and as mild-mannered as they come.

But something has changed.

Less than a week into his band’s first tour in more than six months, Witherspoon gets notably agitated when asked about the prospects of hitting the road in support of two albums - their first studio effort since joining forces with new label Winedark Records, and the recently issued greatest hits album issued by their former label.

Korn - 2006

In an era where nameless, faceless and meaningless have become standards, Korn have transcended hard rock and heavy metal banality with a sound and vision that defies categorization. They bubbled from the Bakersfield, CA, heavy metal underground more than a decade ago, emerged as a hard rock phenomenon with the breakthrough success of Follow The Leader in 1997, and have exceeded any and every conceivable expectation since then. It may seem premature to consider Korn legends in only their second decade as a band, but not when you acknowledge the facts.

Impressed by numbers? Korn have released seven albums, surpassed the 25 million mark in worldwide sales (more than 15 million of those in America alone), and have had every album since their self-titled debut enter the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart in the Top 10, with all seven of their studio albums achieving Platinum sales (their 2004 Greatest Hits release is certified Gold). The numbers don’t lie, but they don’t even begin to tell the story of Korn, who not only redefined heavy metal with the diabolic, cutting-edge histrionics of their 1994 debut, but turned the industry on end in the years that followed, having a profound influence on today’s heavy music scene and making a marked impact on the way metal has reemerged as a sonic force on the pop-driven musical mainstream.

In one fleeting decade, Korn have single-handedly changed the way America views heavy music. Now, with the release of See You On The Other Side, they’ve opened the doors to even more disarray, taking their trademarked sound to the next level. It’s what they’ve always done, but to even more astonishing depths.

Droids Attack

In an age where music bands are defined by their range of MySpace graphics and anyone that can strum a hackneyed power chord is a rockstar, it is no wonder that originality in local bands today is alarmingly scarce. Droids Attack is, however, the exception.

Droids Attack consists of Madison’s rock triumvirate: lead vocalist and guitarist Brad Van, bassist Nate Bush, and drummer Tony Brungraber. Droids Attack’s premier album, “All Your Chicks Are Belong To Us” garnered much deserved recognition in the punk-metal realm of the Midwest. In 2004, the album won a MAMA (Madison Area Music Award) for Best Punk Album.

Currently, the band is promoting their sophomore album, “Fatal Error,” due to be released in late 2006/2007. Fatal Error maintains the same rhythmic foundation of the first CD, but with tighter riffs and a distinctly sharper sound.

The Gomers

Very few bands can say that they have had the mayor name a day after them (Feb. 1, 2003), and when it comes to Madison area bands, very few (if any) have matched the longevity, durability, or diversity of The Gomers. As guitarist Biff Blumfumgagnge explains, when they formed in 1986, “the band was initially a goofy punk project to entertain bored Emerald Choir members after rehearsal. Well, I had a bunch of silly songs, and so did Gordon. The early shows were theme-heavy (meat and toys, have a nice day) affairs with sometimes just a three-piece of Gordon and I and a rotating drummer that established a base of goofy songs about fish, alien abduction, antennae, big ideas and such. That was Gomers part 1.”

The Gomers Part Two was established as a Comedy Sportz band around 1988, which prompted them to learn a gi-normous amount of cover tunes, as well as beginning their, according to Biff, “bizarre and creative” musical exploration, often being compared to Zappa. The period included shows with national acts like Mojo Nixon and Molly Hatchet, as well as Wisconsin greats like Poopshovel and Couch Flambeau.

Eagles Of Death Metal

Just when it seemed that rock ‘n’ roll was destined to be overrun by mall rats and emo-chic haircuts, Eagles of Death Metal have returned with no pretense and nothing to pretend. From the sexy-as-fuck swagger that swings through the ‘70s-inspired rock ‘n’ roll sound of new release Death By Sexy, to the sexier-than-thou mustache that frontman Jesse Hughes sports as a proud vestige of his manhood, it’s all part of a much bigger picture: “This ain’t no Bible study, it’s rock ‘n’ roll. I came here to shake my dick and have a good time,” boasts Hughes, who started EODM with his best friend, Queens of the Stone Age frontman and EODM drummer Josh Homme. Sitting backstage at the Coachella Valley Music Festival, an annual musical mecca held not far from the frontman’s Palm Springs home in the Southern California desert, Hughes juggles our discussion amongst a seemingly endless sea of friends, fans and family, and amidst the din of the dissident sounds of bands as varied as reggae throwback Damien Marley, hip-hop heavyweight Kanye West, DJs Carl Cox and Daft Punk, and more emotive indie-scenesters Sigur Ros. But even in such cluttered musical confines, the unadulterated power of rock ‘n’ roll lives, and the sexy-machismo of Eagles of Death Metal thrives. It’s all about the rock, baby, and no one rocks harder than Eagles of Death Metal…