The Buggs

A Milwaukee original, THE BUGGS have been punking up classic pop and rock songs since 1999. As lead singer and guitarist, Lane Klozier, describes, “We were all from original bands and we were just tired of playing shows for eight people in the audience. We got a couple sets together of music anywhere from The Beatles to Badfinger, played out and it went very, very well.” Similar in vein to Punk rock super cover group, Me First and The Gimme Gimmes, Lane describes THE BUGGS as Milwaukee’s only “original cover band” taking classic songs and makes them their own with a hard rock/punk sensibility.

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The Cervical Rock 2011

New Cervical cancer diagnoses occur in the United States over twelve thousand times a year and almost four thousand women die from the disease. Yet, it’s one of the most preventable cancers and death rates are declining due to ladies getting earlier and more regular testing. On Wednesday, August 3rd, the High Noon in Madison will host The Cervical Rock 2011, a benefit to make a difference someone personally affected by this disease. Featuring an all-star lineup of Madison hard rock, metal, punk, and indie bands, we talked to the benefit’s creator, Elicia Rocker of Extremely Rockin’ Photography about why she was inspired to get this thing going.

MI:What about your friends’ situation made you decide that you needed to help?

A: We have known each other our whole lives and she is one of the sweetest people I know and if it were me who ended up in this situation she would do the same thing. She is only 25 and works at a retail store where she does have insurance but it hasn’t covered much of her bills. She is very far in debt and scrapping by. When she came to me and told me about the bills in collections and needed some extra money to help get her car repaired, I decided enough is enough, you can’t heal when you are stressed about money or stressed at all. So I did what anyone in my position would do, I started putting together a benefit show.

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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.

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Launchpad

“Some of the best original music today comes from high school garage bands.” –Les Paul

The Wisconsin School Music Association (WSMA) is about to kick off the seventh year of the one of a kind music competition called Launchpad, using the same idea that the late great Les Paul personified in his quote. Launchpad is a statewide alternative music competition for high school students in bands formed outside of the traditional music classroom. Maximum Ink caught up with director and creator of the competition, Dennis Graham to talk about how the competition got started and where he sees it heading in the coming years.

Maximum Ink: Tell us about how Launchpad got started.

Dennis Graham: I was approached by the WSMA, which presents this program, seven years ago to talk about raising awareness on raising funds for them. As a result of my discussions with Michael George, the current Executive Director of the WSMA, and I brought up a couple ideas and the first was to present a Lifetime Achievement Award to recognize people who had a successful music career and were also impacted by a music teacher. The first ever Lifetime Achievement Award in Wisconsin was given to Les Paul. I hand delivered a letter that I wrote, which was signed by Governor Doyle, to Les inviting him back to Wisconsin (He hadn’t been back in twenty years.) October 27th, 2004 was Les Paul Day in the State of Wisconsin and it was just a marvelous day of honoring him. Steve Miller (Steve Miller Band), Les’ godson, came out and was part of it as well.

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Heavy Trash

What started as a side project for Matt Verta-Ray’s SPEEDBALL BABY and Jon Spencer from the JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION has evolved into a full-fledged rockabilly outfit with the release of HEAVY TRASH’s third album, Midnight Soul Serenade. Greasing back their hair and letting their collars go wide and open, Matt and Jon embody the fashion and music of the classic American rock n’ roll sound.

A sound that Matt explains he was influenced by from a young age. “My mom had a lot of cool 50’s records, some Sun, soul, and blues.”, he says. “When I got a guitar, I got a hold of a tape of Eddie Cochran and that knocked me out. Guys like Buddy Holly and Leadbelly, but I was also influenced by some of the more out-there stuff like Hasil Adkins and novelty records. It’s kind of what I’ve always played, Jon had a similar trajectory and was into groups like the Gibson Brothers.”

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The Horrids

Straight up Chicago-style punk rock with a penchant for horror movies and gruesome imagery, THE HORRIDS, come racing out of the cemetery out of Lombard, IL with all the ferocity of fast and ugly bands like THE MISFITS and AFI. While they’ve been together for seven years (a veritable eternity in punk years), forming the band in their early teens, they’ve already amassed an impressive resume, opening for the likes of major bands like GWAR, THE MISFITS, and THE DWARVES.Their first album, “Graveyard Anthems: Music Of The Dead” is nineteen lightning-paced songs that would fit perfectly in any horror fans coffin-shaped CD rack.

Their lead guitarist, Pat “Fink” Goray, describes a little about what The Horrids are about. “We were three friends that started out, played together and made music together,” he says, “I’ve always wanted to play rock music, my favorite band is AC/DC. Our drummer’s dad is THE LOVIN’ SPOONFUL’s drummer. He wanted to play because there were always musical instruments around when he was growing up.”

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Hum Machine

Going for broke in the Midwest during the mid-90’s alternative rock scene, HUM MACHINE was started in Madison in 1995 by four people with influences from late 80’s and 90’s indie and punk bands like Pavement and Mike Watt. Releasing their debut album, Speed Kills The Dying Beat, in 1996, HUM MACHINE spent the next decade writing songs, recording albums, playing shows for record labels, and generally chasing the rock and roll dream. In 2003, they even attempted to set a Guinness Book of World Records record for consecutive shows by performing 65 dates in a row throughout the United States. While that tour and world record was derailed by the vicious Hurricane Isabel of that fall, the band still went on to release one more album, Songs Before The Blackout, in 2005 before taking an extended hiatus. While the members of the band have continued to stay busy with the group, Shazy Hade (featuring former New Recruits blusterer, Shinky) and avant-garde jazz project, Voltress, they haven’t performed in their home state for three years. Deciding that it is high time to get the band back together, HUM MACHINE has something a little ridiculous in store for their next move.

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