The Cocksmiths
by Sarah H. Grant
October 2007
An interview with The Cocksmiths, a band featuring Milwaukee veterans Ryan Daniels, Matty Gonzalez, Joey Carini, Paris Ortiz and Dave Schoepke.

An interview with The Cocksmiths, a band featuring Milwaukee veterans Ryan Daniels, Matty Gonzalez, Joey Carini, Paris Ortiz and Dave Schoepke.
Captured! By Robots, just home momentarily from a National two-month spring tour will be hitting the road again in June 2005 for a long over due tour of Canada with limited dates in the US. The “Greatest Hits” set will feature songs from both “The Ten Commandments and Get Fit with…” along with songs from Captured! Alive. These summer dates will be the only time in the foreseeable future to catch these songs again live.
Captured! By Robots recently recorded the follow up to the DVD/CD release “Captured! Alive.” This new release is a double CD entitled “The Ten Commandments / Get Fit with…” This release was recorded in the studio and contains two bonus 10 minute MPEGs – one clip from each of the past two tours, both filmed at the Green Door in Oklahoma City OK. “The Ten Commandments / Get Fit with…” chronicles the past two themed tours, The Ten Commandments CD was the set performed on the 2003 Fall Tour, and the Get Fit with…. CD is the set from the most recent 2004 Fall tour. Each CD will feature ten of Jbot’s favorite songs from each set. Due to acts of God, ie: manufacturing issues the release due out in April 2005, has not been available on tour or in stores but is now available.
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.
A decade ago, glam bands ruled Los Angeles. As big hair poked the ozone, the Sunset Strip resembled a drag show, and talent was judged by the quality of your groupies, not the integrity of your music.
No one was really surprised when the scene became a parody of itself, but they might be surprised if they took a look at the new breed of bands forging a path through the spoils of outdated leather and spandex. Say hello to Korn, the Deftones, and the latest heavyweights to take up prominence on the downtuned metal scene: Coal Chamber.
Frontman Dez, guitarist Meegs, bassist Rayna, and drummer Mike are a truly motley crew that have spent the better part of the last year on the road with OzzFest, Megadeth and Pantera. Along with fellow newcomers Sevendust
From the first time I heard the song, “A Shogun Named Marcus” in the early 90’s, Clutch has been one of my favorite bands. They have been around for quite a few years and have garnered numerous accolades. This hard rockin’ and hard workin’ outfit from Maryland has produced 10 enthralling full-length releases with the most current being, “From Beale Street To Oblivion.” After all this time and numerous tours both stateside and abroad, I was lucky enough to capture a moment of time with the sardonic, yet nonchalant vocalist for the group, Neil Fallon. The band is completed by guitarist Tim Sult, bassist Dan Maines, drummer Jean-Paul Gaster and organist Mick Schauer.
Jentri Colello could fool anyone. The band has been together for less than two years, this incarnation for less than six months, and the lead singer and initial song writer, Jentri Colello has only been playing slightly longer than the band has been together. Regardless, Colello is as confident on stage with her songs as any pro, having survived a weekly spot at the Local Tavern for some time and backed by a band of two long-time friends who have been playing since birth.
Colello is quick to clarify that this is not a solo singer songwriter operation with a backing band. “I’ll play [what I’ve been working on] probably halfway through and they’ll jump in and do whatever. It’s really relaxed. I prefer not too give them any guidelines because I think the best part about playing with other people is seeing how they hear it and then seeing how they manipulate it.”
Her name, it seems, was simply the best name they could find. “We were originally playing under a band name and the guys said, ‘Your name is kind of a cool name, it kind of sounds like a band name anyway, lets just play under that.’ I could really care less, but at the same time, I was a little bit apprehensive because as soon as people hear just a name think it’s just another singer-songwriter, they’re not going to bother. They [the band] have so much say in how the songs are completed. I really, really hate taking anymore credit than they do.”
American Heavy Rock, it’s the title of southeastern Wisconsin band, Carbellion’s first EP and according to lead singer, Cameron Kellenberger, the most apt description of their music. “Thematically, a lot of the songs are pro-United States, American culture”, he says, “heavy rock is a tag we put that just kinda stuck.”
Formed from the ashes of Milwaukee metal stalwarts, the Carbon Parlor and Whiskey Rebellion, Carbellion is a mash-up of the two former band’s names. But Cameron likes to tell unsuspecting fans that it’s a Spanish ghost-ship, a matador-killing Mexican bull, or a Civil War soldier. Carbellion has already played many of the Midwest’s biggest cities in support of bands like Corrosion of Conformity, Clutch (who the band feels are musical brothers-in-arms), and Alabama Thunderpussy.
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