Filter

Richard Patrick and Filter ripped the bottom out of the rock charts with 1995’s “Hey Man, Nice Shot”. The driving, crunchy guitar line propelled the ode to Budd Dwyer’s suicide on live TV, and also introduced the record buying public to the multi-faceted genius of Richard Patrick. That first single set the table for Filter’s first record, “Short Bus”. The heavy, industrial music was suddenly in vogue, with other noted artists like Marilyn Manson and Patrick’s first band, Nine Inch Nails also enjoying massive success.

Filter struck again with 1999’s “Take a...

By larry may

The biggest issue that has music consumers crying foul is that a lot of the albums being offered by bands and labels aren’t strong from start to finish. If an album boasts one strong track, three okay singles and the rest is spackled together from a stew of half -baked filler and absolute crap, why should the album cost full price? Foisting easily identifiable slop to fans of your first single doesn’t only smack of greed and laziness, it also encourages apathy and disdain from the faithful that still buy music. This...

By

Larry May

The woefully overlooked release “American Hearts”, by AA Bondy is a stellar piece of work, resting on a foundation of superior storytelling, sparse instrumentation, and lines that force the listener to close his eyes and be swept into a world that isn’t pretty, or most times even happy, but full of despair, pain and unreturned love.  This record deserves repeated plays, as more of the story is revealed each time. Each song never rises above a whisper, yet still manages to engulf the listener in their own memories of...

Edwin McCain

By Larry May

Edwin McCain’s career got a boost from good friends and fellow South Carolinians Hootie & The Blowfish.  Edwin had been playing in Greenville for a while and doing all right for himself. I first saw him as an opener for Hootie in 1995.  I remember a lone figure, longhaired and earnest, with a gospel-tinged voice that blew through the crowd noise like a siren.   Months later, when his first hit single “Solitude” began to chart, I couldn’t forget how impressed I was with his live performance.  

Edwin McCain’s new CD, “Nobody’s...

Eddie Money

By Larry and Tenza May

Most of the people we interview in this rag are on tour in the Southeast or have new albums coming out. At times, we wonder what an artist not currently in the news might be up to.  One of those guys we wondered about was Eddie Money. He seemed like an affable character, so we wangled an 8 minute exchange one morning before Eddie hit the links, and before we woke up Andrew and ate breakfast.

What are you concentrating on now? 

I’m really interested in helping my daughter launch a...