God’s Outlaw

God’s Outlaw is Timeless, Old Fashioned Country

The first time I talked to Brian Smith, aka God’s Outlaw, I interrupted a pleasant afternoon he was having grilling out on his porch, having a couple beers with his friends and family. The next time I talked to him, after we’d exchanged a round of e-mails, you’ll never guess what he was up to - back at the grill with some steak and more beer. As far as grassroots country-living and playing goes, God’s Outlaw is as real as it gets.

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Good Time Camper

We didn’t discuss it specifically, but the more and more I talked to Good Time Camper about their menagerie of sounds it became clear that the foursome is a condensed version of a group not unlike Scooby, Shaggy and the Gang, except that in the case of GTC, instead of solving mysteries, their sound is the mystery.

Patrick Sweeney, the easy Freddy of the group, brings the songs. Then the pieces are created layer by layer with the aid of the other three. Rounding out the parallel, bassist Sean Ellis runs the Shaggy route being aloof but always in the middle of the action, drummer Jamie Zander, the Scooby, brings the smile and the comic relief which leaves (sorry, dude) guitarist Adam Ginsberg to be Velma, with the fantastic guitar science into the chemistry.

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Guido’s Racecar

Somewhat on-again off-again band, Guido’s Racecar has been on-again since 2007. Made up of Roni Allwaise on vocals, Mike Hoffman on guitar, Johnny Washday on bass and fellow Max Ink writer, Lane Klozier on drums, this relatively low-key “kinda glam & kinda punk [band]” as Allwaise calls it, had its start back in 1998. I had the opportunity to speak with Roni Allwaise.

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G. Love & Special Sauce

Deconstructing preconceptions, Philadelphia’s G. LOVE set 1993 on fire as a “white boy” daring to integrate the blues into hip-hop. Seventeen years later he’s still tearing up the joint, jamming and jiving. Appearing March 5th at Milwaukee’s Turner Hall and March 6th at Madison’s Barrymore, G. was kind enough to sit down with MAXIMUM INK and answer a few questions.

Maximum Ink: According to Muddy Waters the blues had a child and called it rock and roll. Where does funk and hip-hop come in?
G. Love: I think funk was basically blues on the one. John Lee Hooker would do his blues on the one and then James Brown and that generation flipped the backbeat and it was a whole new sound. Hip Hop is basically musically simplified funk with the voice of the youth on top. Hip Hop became the voice of the next generation (for the past 3 generations).

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Gabriel and the Apocalypse

“Longevity comes from doing something different and having artistic integrity.” These words, spoken by Lindy Gabriel, lead vocalist of Minneapolis’ own Gabriel and the Apocalypse Lindy Gabriel explain her life surrounded by music and doing what it takes to make it in a music industry oversaturated with bands. Her voice and sound transcend a lifetime of musical, personal and intellectual experiences, accompanied by guitar drum and bass work that flows like brush onto easel painting a hard rock masterpiece. There are so many bands out there today, sometimes it’s hard to find your way through all the clutter, but Gabriel and the Apocalypse are definitely a diamond in the rough. Maximum Ink’s Aaron Manogue sat down with the band’s talented vocalist Lindy Gabriel to discuss their music, her upbringing and their experience so far in the crazy music industry.

Maximum Ink: Tell me about when you first started singing. Where and how did you get your start? Did you always know you wanted to sing rock and metal?
Lindy Gabriel: I started singing when I was six years old. I always knew I wanted to sing and be a performer. I grew up with it. My parents have been playing in rock bands for many, many years, even before I was born. I started playing bass and guitar at the age of ten and started my first real band at eleven, playing gigs and all. This is what I have always done.

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Jessie Galante

Jessie Galante had been working in rock since the 80’s when she was in the band Actor in Buffalo, NY. Her first solo album was later released under the name Gesua, her Sicilian name. She also lived for a time in Holland.

Jessie’s newest album “Spitfire” was co-produced by Larry Swist (who worked with Lou Gramm, Ike and Tina Turner, Sly and the Family Stone) and Grammy award winner Mick Guzauski (who mixed Eric Clapton, Michael Jackson, Anastacia, KISS, Madonna, Celine Dion, and Earth, Wind, and Fire. The album also features covers of Sass Jordan’s “High Road Easy’”, and Gladys Knight and the Pips’ “I’ve Got To Use My Imagination”. 

There is an impressive lineup of artists from America and from Europe on the album as well. From the US is bassist Jack Daley (Lenny Kravitz, Joss Stone, Janet Jackson, Everlast), guitarist Rob Bailey (Billy Joel, Jive Jones, Mandy Moore, Anastacia), drummer Frank Ferrer (Guns N’ Roses, Tommy Stintson, Psychedelic Furs), and From Hungary she has Janos Szuccs and Peter Raso on guitar, Tibor Ferenczi on bass, and Jano Takacs on drums who joins her band for her seasonal European work.

Maximum Ink: What was it like to grow up in a Sicilian household? What is your fondest early memory from those days?
Jessie Galante: Our home was a lot of fun. I have four brothers and we are very close thanks to our parents who believed in doing everything as a family. Music was a big part of our lives as my father used to listen to traditional Italian/Sicilian music and play clarinet and my mother had an amazing singing voice. All five of us played an instrument until I eventually turned to singing. As it turns out four out of the five of us now have careers in music. The fondest memory I have from those days is sitting around the kitchen table at dinner time yelling, laughing, screaming at each other….chaotic! I miss those days. However to this day, when the five of us get to get together, which is rare because we are spread out all over the country, we turn into kids again and act the same way.

MI: How old were you when you first knew you wanted to be a singer?
JG: I was a late bloomer when I decided I wanted to make music my career. When my father passed away it was a wake up call for me. At that time, I was married, had a house and a great job, but with my father passing away, I looked at my life….it was boring!  So I left my job, left my husband, sold the house and ended up singing in a very popular band six nights a week!

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Gates of Babylon

Gates of Babylon is an all-female metal band comprised of Suzie Reagen on guitar and vocals, Jessi Carrick on lead vocals, Kristen Woutersz on guitar, Nikki Collins on drums, and Sarah Stonebraker on bass. They currently claim Cleveland, Ohio and Detroit, MI as home.

The band, though unsigned, has developed quite a following from Ohio to Michigan. They will be featured in the upcoming November issue of Revolver Magazine - Hottest Chicks in Metal Special Edition. With so little known about them it was an honor to have the chance to bring our readers up to speed.

Maximum Ink: When you where growing up did you ever see yourself as part of an all-female metal band?
Kristen: No, but I always imagined myself playing guitar in a band and being in the music industry. I would dream about performing on stage when I was a kid.
Jessi: Never! I have always loved music and being a part of bands, but was never looking to be part of an all girl band. Originally, I started out in a completely different genre of music. I was playing indie/folk music on acoustic guitar and singing. I had also been in a rock band for a year or two. I knew very little about metal until I met these girls. I love our music though, and am having so much fun playing with all girls in the metal genre.
Sarah: I would fantasize about it sometimes especially growing up seeing groups such as Spice Girls, Josie & The Pussycats, Kittie, Jack Off Jill, etc. (LOL, hey at least I’m being honest here). I ended up actually being in an all male band before joining GOB.
Suzie: Not when I was growing up. I played classical guitar when I was a kid and I hated it. lol. But I also know that if I wouldn’t have had that at an early age chances are I wouldn’t be playing now. (thanks mom) When I was about 11, I hit an age of curiosity. I started to discover music. I started listening to Marilyn Manson and a lot of the grunge stuff. I was just in awe. All I ever wanted to do was listen to music. It was like food to my brain! I didn’t care about anything else!  When my mother would make me go to church, it was so boring I would sit in the last row and draw pictures of me playing instruments and being in a band. I think in a sense i have always wanted this from an early age, I would fantasize about being in a band. I used to play guitar for the church, but I hated it. lol.

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