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.”

Ha Ha Tonka

A keen move on their part, the once Amsterband from Missouri is now known as Ha Ha Tonka. The band is made up of Brian Roberts on lead vocals and guitar, Lucas Long on bass and vocals, Brett Anderson on keyboard, guitar, and vocals and Lennon Bone on drums and vocals. This indie rock band combines religious undertones, life, love, hometown pride and rockin guitar riffs. I had the opportunity to talk with Brian Roberts about their past, present, and future projects.

Madison World Music Festival 2008

Spread over two consecutive weekends in mid-September, Madison’s global gathering touches every point on the compass across Madison in every creative fashion imaginable. Syrian singer GAIDA, Indian guitarist PRASANNA and the psychedelic dub of Turkey’s BABA ZULA perform, dance, lead workshops and colorfully flavor UW’s campus, the Annex and the Willy Street Fair.

Droids Attack

Once fronted by a robot, Droids Attack is now focusing more on their music and getting their name further into the music world. Brad Van on guitar and vocals, Nate Bush on bass, and Tony Brungraber on drums, align this trio of hard stoner rock. With a CD release, vinyl, and radio campaign in the works, this band certainly has been busy since the story we did on them back in 2006. I had the opportunity to speak with Brad Van who told me a little bit about their past and the many, many projects that the band has for their future.

Imperial Battlesnake

Firmly seizing upon the bombastic hammer of thundering metal, comes Imperial Battlesnake. This Chicago-land experience consists of King James and his aggressive drum beating, Doom Wop Costanza hopping up the explosive bass playing with intestinal fortitude, Greazy Dave Reece augmenting the relentless guitar killing with powerful staring and tongue tornados, Ronnie James Theo exemplifying skin-scaring guitar riffing with quicksilver solos, and Wes Nile spewing forth a mouth-warping vocal rampage while sporting a Napoleon Complex. 

With so many colorful characters to choose from, one can hardly go wrong! Recently I touched base with the Imperial Battlesnake troupe for a quick e-interview.

Spiritualized

As spokesman and songwriter for Spiritualized, Jason Pierce a.k.a. J. Spaceman, has no answers – which makes for a difficult subject to interview but a great artist to follow. Hard to pin down but happy to chat, a half hour on the phone with him brings a renewed enthusiasm for music’s power. He said, “You need to drag the music you love kicking and screaming into your life.” Believing simple is best and talent may well get in the way of good music, Pierce also claims there is no bag of tricks or formula to what he does. Relying on what he calls, “the meter in my head,” Pierce likes to see where things go in his attempts to write music that, “his band can’t hide behind.”