Man… Or Astro-Man?

Give Alf an electric guitar and a few Dick Dale records, lock him in the attic for a night, and the results might just rival Man or Astro-man? and their musical barrage of space-age surfscapes. The members of Man or Astro-man? aren’t quite as furry as television’s Alien Life Form, but they’re also trapped on earth until they can fix their interplanetary wheels.

“Originally we came from a place, not a planet,” began founding drummer Birdstuff, backstage after a recent show in Providence, R.I. “Planets are very archaic devices, we actually came from a grid sector, grid sector 23-V61. Star Crunch and I took the intergalactic starship-your guys’ station wagon-out on a joyride, and somewhere we mis-vectored.”

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Down Lo

Funky, melodic, and heartfelt, DOWN LO from The Twin Cities is combining traditional (and not so traditional) jam band music with hip-hop and traveling all around the country with their latest record, In Our World. Guitarist and vocalist, Mark Grundhoefer, describes it as “a blend of a number of different genres. Passion’s the name of the game. Bluegrass to reggae, jazz, funk, we try to throw a little bit of everything that influences us in there. Plus, we do a lot of improvisation with jams where each musician steps up to take his role, so we try to keep it interesting that way.”

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Kicksville

The Presidential candidates have shared a motto during this election season: change. On Saturday, Nov. 15, America will have selected its leader, and a new era will be underway. Depending on your belief in what kind of change is needed, you may be looking to celebrate and/or protest. A perfect opportunity to do both awaits you at the Overture Center where a band called Kicksville is scheduled to perform. 

Kicksville can’t be constrained by the general conception of what is commonly referred to as a “band.” Kicksville is an entity. Their “Director of Propaganda” describes Kicksville as a political movement, a virtual community, and a musical collective. Madisonians and anyone else hell-bent on a free-thinking mind ought to be licking their chops.

Conrad St. Clair, the “Commissioner” of Kicksville, resists shackling attempts at categorization. “Politically we’re not Marxists, liberals, democrats or any of that.” Kicksville’s music also thwarts categorization. Constantly taking on new forms, collaborating with new artists (who gain “citizen” status), and utilizing new technology, Kicksville is an ever evolving creation that incorporates more than just sound. It assimilates ideas. St. Clair elaborates: “We’re teaming up with Amnesty International’s Small Places Tour 2008 to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948. It’s an honor. It’s something we feel strongly about.”

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311 (Three Eleven)

“Stay positive and love your life.” These words, spoken at the end of each concert by lead singer/guitarist Nick Hexum, exemplify what the band 311 is all about. For the past 21 years, their music has not belonged to any one genre or type. It’s merely been what it was always intended to be: 311 music. With 8.5 million units sold in the U.S., six albums reaching the Top 10 on Billboard’s Top 200 Sales Chart and eight singles reaching the Top 10 on Billboard’s U.S. Alternative Chart, it seems fans have received their message loud and clear. Maximum Ink’s Aaron Manogue sat down with lead singer/guitarist Nick Hexum to talk about their upcoming Summerfest appearance, what Summerfest has been like for them over the years, and the upcoming twelfth studio album Universal Pulse.

Maximum Ink: 311 has been touring for the better part of 20 years now and gone around the world. What is it that makes Summerfest in Milwaukee, WI such a great place to perform?
Nick Hexum: There is a special vibe at Summerfest. I like the way it caters to all kinds of different tastes in music and culture. There is such a wide mix of ages and types of people partying together. It’s a pretty unique happening.

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Chaos Revolution Theory

Being from a town like Madison, Wisconsin, it’s hard to stick out from the crowd, considering Madison just so happens to be one of the best cities in the nation for local, undiscovered music. The city is so diverse in the type of music that comes out is all over the map, and you’re bound to find mixtures of music blended into one. So when I came across the band Chaos Revolution Theory, I thought to myself, “This is definitely Madison music!” Chaos Revolution Theory is the perfect mix of groove, funk and progressive rock all concocted together to make music that seems like it could fit on the iPod playlist or record shelf of anyone who simply enjoys music. Maximum Ink’s Aaron Manogue sat down with the Madison natives to talk about their music and where it all started.

Maximum Ink: How long have you guys been a band and how did you guys come about being a band?
Nick “Shaggy” Stanecki (Vocalist and Guitar): Two years on September 9th. Ryan and I met through our respective bands that played with each other in the Madison scene here a few years ago. When our bands ended around the same time, we joined forces, intent on starting a new sound all together. Ryan and I truly started from the bottom. Acoustic radio performances were some of our first shows because we had no songs and couldn’t even consider playing a full set at a club. We pretty much hid out in the studio, and did a lot of experimentation. We really wanted to make a unique, but very real -to us- sound. We had been using reggae and ska type parts for years, mashed with surfy west coast riffing.

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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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M.A.X.-mas Volume II

We’ve all heard the lousy Christmas songs that get beaten into our head over and over every single year since our conception. The one’s that make you go just a tad bit crazy and one more step closer to that breaking point. If you’re from the U.S., you know all about the corporate sponsored shopping spree we as Americans partake in, despite whether or not we have money. Now, I’m no Scrooge. But if I’m going to have to suffer through another year of thousands of meaningless dollars spent and seeing family half of us don’t like as it is, I want some kick ass music to dull the pain.

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