I’ve had the best album of 2001 in my hands for about a month now, and every day since then, it’s been in whatever CD player I happen to be near, and spinning in my head if I can’t find one. Even after all of those listens, I still haven’t…

When we first heard rumors of the Toadies’ demise, the idea seemed impossible. It was, we figured, like making it through Vietnam and choking on a pretzel on the flight home. Obviously we were wrong–hey, there’s a first!–but you do still have a few chances to say goodbye. Believe they…

If you remember, a year or so ago, we told you about John Freeman and a few other local types doing voices for the wildly popular Dragonball Z anime cartoon show for Cartoon Network. Now, it seems that even more area musicians are making appearances on Dragonball, the precursor to…

We’ve never met Jim Heath, whom many of you know as the Reverend Horton Heat. Or the Rev, maybe, if you’re tight with him. Heath has called us a few times to express his, um, extreme disappointment with our treatment of his and his band’s recent efforts, but no, we’ve…

In March, the four members of the Toadies–Todd Lewis, Lisa Umbarger, Clark Vogeler and Mark Reznicek–sat around a table at a Lakewood Italian restaurant to celebrate the impending release of the band’s second album. They were giddy with anticipation, a welcome relief after so many months–years, actually–of not knowing whether…

The more Todd Deatherage flew to New York to play shows with his buddy Rhett Miller, the more it was obvious that he’d eventually stop flying back. And when he came back after his most recent NYC jaunt, a trip that included sharing a bill with the bicoastal Miller at…

Eleven Hundred Springs doesn’t look like your average country band. Obviously. Clearly. They’ve all spent plenty of time in tattoo parlors, and not just for the pleasant conversation. A couple of them have long hair. In a rock club, they’d blend in; they’d be camouflaged. But they’re five sore thumbs…

The rumors have been floating around since late July, but now they can be confirmed: The Toadies have broken up. Singer-guitarist Todd Lewis called the Dallas Observer late Wednesday afternoon to deliver the official word, saying the decision was made on the bands last tour, when bassist Lisa Umbarger told…

Question: Why do we have to pick on a band from around here that’s actually doing good things? Answer: Because, obviously, it doesn’t matter what we say. Not in Drowning Pool’s case anyway. (The question, by the way, was posed by a publicist for the band’s label, Wind-Up Records.) The…

As we mentioned last week, Flickerstick has signed with Epic Records, capitalizing on its Bands on the Run notoriety in the manner everyone thought it would. Initial plans call for Epic to re-release F-Stick’s debut, Welcoming Home the Astronauts, in October, with a pair of songs–“Smile” and “Execution by X-mas…

Poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning once wrote, “Earth’s crammed with heaven,” and if you believe Will Johnson, most of it is crammed into Mississippi. To him, you can see heaven driving north on Highway 61, on the way to Clarksdale, or when you’re sitting on the banks of the Yazoo River,…

It starts with a phone call and one question: “Have you heard about the Toadies breaking up?” A week or so later, we’ve heard that same question over and over in phone calls and e-mails, and we’ve even asked it a few times ourselves, but we still don’t know the…

Citing exhaustion, Aden Holt has decided to take a hiatus from One Ton Records, a break that began July 9 and will continue until, he jokes, “I win the lottery.” Meaning: One Ton is pretty much gone for good, ending the local label’s five-year run as the best record label…

Chomsky will unveil Onward Quirky Soldiers, its follow-up to 1999’s A Few Possible Selections for the Soundtrack of Your Life, on August 18, with a shindig at Trees that will also include performances by The Deathray Davies and Legendary Crystal Chandelier. But if you want an advance listen to one…

The man known as The Legendary Fritz sits on a concrete slab next to the makeshift parking lot beneath the Dallas Observer office on Commerce Street, explaining what happened between a week ago and today. To kick-start the story he’s about to tell, he laughs a little, sighs a little…

A year ago, all Bryce Avary wanted was a record contract. He had just released a five-song EP, under the name The Rocket Summer, and he used it as a calling card, sending it to every label he’d heard of and a few that he hadn’t. Avary was just finishing…

Practice isn’t supposed to begin for a few more minutes, so [DARYL] bassist Jeff Parker sits on one of the two couches outside of the room the band rents at Universal Rehearsal, smoking a Winston and ashing into an empty Dr Pepper can he found in the hallway. Leaning into…

Joe Pernice says he hates his life, sings about suicide and flaming plane wrecks and sees more broken hearts than a bag of crushed Valentine’s Day candy, and the funny thing is, you might not notice at first. Almost every one of his songs makes Morrissey’s entire back catalog sound…

Last week, we received a bit of good news for all street-level pharmaceutical suppliers in the greater Austin area, and maybe a few around here. Seems that after five years and one completed and abandoned album, Mr. Peppermint’s son, Gibby Haynes, and his band, the Butthole Surfers, will finally have…

At this rate, the only thing Epic Records hasn’t released bearing Stevie Ray Vaughan’s name on the spine is a double-disc collection of his entire funeral–with a limited edition third disc featuring the sound of the grave diggers pitching dirt atop his casket. After all, you would have thought that…

The cop said he’d been following the van for five miles, maybe more. About five or 10 minutes, he said. The cop was exaggerating. Probably. No, the cop was definitely exaggerating. He wouldn’t wait 10 minutes for the van to pull over. He wouldn’t wait five miles. No cop would…