Sue DaBaco & Wise Fools

An Illinois native whose star is on the rise in the Milwaukee blues scene, lead guitarist and frontwoman, Sue DaBaco came to southeastern Wisconsin a decade ago after playing in Chicago’s Buzz Kilman And The All Bubba Blues Band for years. She solidified the lineup of her band, WISE FOOLS, four years ago with Scott Walters on bass and Darrel Douglas on drums. A power trio that started off as primarily blues but has “morphed into a progressive rock-blues thing”, according to DaBaco.

Raised on the still-ubiquitous 70’s rock sound of bands like Fleetwood Mac, Rush, and Heart, DaBaco says Jimi Hendrix is still her favorite, but she also incorporates influences like Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Sonny Landreth. WISE FOOLS has been performing regularly throughout Wisconsin, being an annual Summerfest favorite, and even opening up for big classic rock names like Peter Frampton, Eddie Money, and Jefferson Starship, along with more straight-up blues musicians like Koko Taylor, Lonnie Brooks, and The Fabulous Thunderbirds.

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Damageplan

What do you do when your world-famous band suddenly breaks up? How do you respond to the fan with a question mark in his head and a “Pantera” tattoo across his chest? If you’re Vinnie Paul or Dimebag Darrell you forge a “Damageplan,” the new band featuring the x-Pantera brothers.

“We were blown away by it as much as anybody,” admits drummer Vinnie Paul about the break up. “Pantera was our family…that’s the only thing we ever cared about and the only thing we ever put our efforts on.”

Phil Anselmo, the other key element from Pantera, left to pursue solo projects and is on tour with his new band “Superjoint Ritual.” Phil also has another project, “Down,” that also features x-Pantera bassist Rex Brown. The split down the middle of the band played itself out in the media; it wasn’t pretty.

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Danko Jones

Danko Jones is a power rock trio who have been relentlessly touring throughout the world for a very long time. I had a chance to catch up with Danko Jones on opening night of the 2010 Guns & Roses Tour in Winnipeg, Canada where they played to a nearly sold out MTS Centre.

MAXIMUM INK: Tell me a bit about your latest album.
DANKO JONES: It’s a little confusing. Our newest album was released in March of 2008. Its called Never Too Loud. We toured for that for about a year, then we put out a B-Sides record and toured for that in Europe last year. And we just finished the new follow-up album this last December, so only a month ago. That’s gonna be out this year - hopefully around May. So, Never To Loud just got released in America, B Sides is our latest record in Europe, and in Canada Never Too Loud got released almost two years ago.

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Days Of The New

They produce one of the purest sounds in music, they’ve spawned the most influential songs in the history of rock `n roll, and they’re the favorite for songwriters the industry over, but in the eyes of hard rock fans, acoustic guitars are still fighting for respect - on radio they’re equated with power ballads, in live shows they result in a sea of lighters, and unplugged sets have become nothing more than trendy sidebars during performances.

Enter Days of the New frontman Travis Meeks, whose acoustic guitar has meant a great deal more. It’s helped him earn a platinum album, one of the most coveted billings of the summer, and an opportunity to disprove the fallacy that unplugged bands can’t rock as heavy as their amped-up peers. An impressive list of accomplishments for a 19-year-old from Kentucky whose artistic vision projects far beyond his breakthrough commercial success.

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Dead Sara

Los Angeles based Dead Sara is made up of Emily Armstrong (Vocals, Guitar), Siouxsie Medley (Guitar, Vocals), Chris Null (Bass), and Sean Friday (Drums). The band offers rock done right: uncompromising, heavy, and soulful. Their self titled debut album, produced by Noah Shain is due out this summer. Maximum Ink recently caught up with them to talk about the latest happenings with band.

Maximum Ink: Since there isn’t that much out there about you yet, can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?
Emily Armstrong: Sioux and I met through a mutual friend when we were about 16 and with passion for music primarily in common, it didn’t take too long for us to start a band. We just loved hanging out, listening to music, and writing together. It wasn’t up until about a couple years ago that we decided to really do this the right way. Thus, we got our current drummer and bass player on board. It has been really solid and very fun.

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Death On Two Wheels

Atlanta based rock band, Death On Two Wheels features Trae Vedder (lead vocals and guitar), Andrew Knox (organ and piano), Paul Doss (lead guitar), David Fountain (bass), and Greg Neel (drums). Their new EP is set for release on Feb. 16. A new album is expected to be released by mid-year.

They are premiering two songs in the movie “The Violent Kind” at Sundance 2010. The two songs, Two Dollar Bills and Calling Us All Back Home also appear on their current release Separation of Church and Fate on Ghost Umbrella Records.

The film is brought to you by the award winning The Butchers Brothers; Mitchell Altieri and Phil Flores. It is produced by Michael Ferris Gibson, Jeffrey Allard (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Andy Gould and Malek Akkad (Halloween), Jeremy Platt, and executive producer K’Dee Miller.

In celebration of the release of “The Violent Kind”, they are now offering both songs for free download at: www.deathontwowheels.bandcamp.com

Maximum Ink: When was Death On Two Wheels formed?
Trae Vedder: Formed in late 2006, played our first show in late 2007, released our debut album in late 2008.

MI:  What are some of your influences?
TV: We draw heavily from 70’s rock bands, Steppenwolf to The Band, and everything in between. Personally, I draw from blues and soul classics like Lee Dorsey and R.L. Burnside. Modern bands we enjoy include Wilco, Foo Fighters, My Morning Jacket, The Whigs, and the Dewey Cox soundtrack.

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Decapitado

Most bands worry about making music to appease and please the masses. Not so with Decapitado. This Milwaukee trio is focusing on originality in an effort to maintain their sanity and produce high quality art. These guys are not newcomers to the music scene by any stretch. Each is currently in at least one other band outside Decapitado and each has been in several others before this as well. Bands like Fuck Face, Custom Grand, Boy Dirt Car, and Die Kruezen to mention a few.

Dan Kubinski (vocals/bass), Andy Keels (guitar) and Charles A. Mayer (drums) are Decapitado. Starting at the top, Andy fills us in about the band name. “The word decapitado appears in a newspaper clipping in the movie “Curdled.” I thought it was such a cool word. My wife said it would be a great band name. I was in three bands at that time, and this one fit the name best. The name symbolizes the world today; a lurching, twitching body, lumbering forward, unable to hear or think or see. It stands for the way too many of us live our lives.”

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