Although they have been around since 2005, Florida’s punk/metal act Centuries have just recently released their full-length debut Taedium Vitae. Featuring a bruising style and vocalist Eric Verporter’s unyielding singing style; Centuries have an intense style seemingly all to themselves. Speaking from a tour stop in Florida and in anticipation…
The Eli Young Band is, by now, a household name, at least in households across North Texas, where three of its four members still reside, and in other households whose speakers blare with country. With each single released by the four-piece, formed in Denton in 2000 and led by lead…
This year’s Girls Rock Dallas’ annual Spring Fling festival will be held on Sunday at Sue Ellen’s bar in Oak Lawn. Although recently listed as one of the “Douchiest Bars in Dallas” by some local blog, this venue offers the perfect environment to channel a metal feel with a less…
Hailing from New Orleans, Goatwhore are one of the most anti-religious metal bands going. But despite the darkness of their overarching message, the music is tight, white-hot, stop-on-a-dime hardcore metal. Hanging together for nearly two decades, Goatwhore have released six full-lengths, but 2012’s Blood for the Master and the soon-to-be-released…
This year marks the 10th anniversary of Ride for Dime, a charity event that raises funds for Little Kids Rock Foundation and pays homage to “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott. Every year co-founder Rob Elchelberger gathers bands from all across the country to play two nights of mind-blowing metal in honor of…
For over a decade, Arizona’s Calabrese has been doing the horror rock/punk thing with wit and wisdom to spare. Carrying on the horror movie meets Elvis tradition of the legendary Misfits, the three Calabrese brothers have released six fun-filled albums concerning zombies, vampires and other dark subject matter. Interestingly, the…
Saxophonist Dave Hillyard followed a girl to New York City back in 1992 and ended up joining an up and coming ska band called The Slackers. Some two decades later, Hillyard remains in the band as it crisscrosses the country several times a year playing a potent blend of rocksteady,…
Bands like the Avett Brothers and Colorado’s Yonder Mountain String Band have somehow managed to make progressive bluegrass cool. YMSB have done this by straying as far as possible from the stereotypes and songwriting norms associated with traditional bluegrass. By incorporating some rock spirit into their well-played picking and grinning,…
Last night around 6pm, Dallas rap duo A.Dd+ dropped a brand new music video on their YouTube channel, for their fan favorite single, “Can’t Come Down”. Slim Gravy’s art-of-storytelling weed saga produced by X The Misfit first hit Soundcloud almost two and a half years ago, but the new Jeff…
In recent years, the Top 40 Country Music charts have been littered with an increasing amount of songs that now fit easily into an even more specific, sickening realm of modern country music – “Bro-Country.” With frat-boy bravado and an even greater emphasis on sophmoric, ignorant cliches than usual, the…
Last year, Dallas-based filmmaker Shaun Colón had a vision of creating a documentary on one of his favorite record labels, San Francisco-based Fat Wreck Chords. Originally planned to be a short film, it soon become much longer and expansive. On Tuesday, an Indiegogo campaign launched, hoping to cover the costs…
This weekend marks the end of an era in Dallas nightlife. Come Monday, Henderson Avenue staple, The Slip Inn, will close its doors after fifteen years at the 1806 McMillan Avenue location. But fret not, the local favorite does plan to reopen at a new location within the next three…
Although raised in Arizona, Charlie Brand, leader of the indie pop band, Miniature Tigers, is a wondering spirit. Brand moved the band to Brooklyn, got tired of that scene and moved to Fort Worth. Last month, Brand ended up in Austin to be close to his girlfriend. Brand’s music reflects…
After falling in and out of various New York City punk bands, Kassia Conway started expanding her musical horizons. The first thing was a move to Los Angeles and the next was a revitalization of her songwriting process. Bringing to fore her love of hip hop and electronica, Conway formed…
Like all niche stores, record shops are keeling over left and right. Only one or two record stores among each hundred have survived the evolution of the music industry. In turn, a priceless cultural gathering place has been all but lost. A cornerstone that ignores occupational, national, and social boundaries,…
In the DFW metalplex we’ve seen legendary guitarists meet an untimely end to their careers. Ten years ago, Dimebag Darrell Abbott of Pantera and Damage Plan was murdered by a deranged killer while playing a show in Ohio, and recently, Mike Scaccia of Ministry and Rigor Mortis died of heart…
In a surprising turn, JB Patterson, lead-singer for Tyler-based country band JB and the Moonshine Band, is wide awake and ready to chat when the phone rings at 9:30 a.m. on a recent weekday morning. Such early hours aren’t usually kept by rising music stars. But as with so many…
For a band that formed way back in 1985, England’s Carcass still pack a punch that should put newer metal bands in awe. The band’s 2013 effort, Surgical Steel, was one of the best albums of last year, metal or otherwise. Filled with monstrous riffs and intricate lyrics, songs like…
Love him or hate him, Scott Stapp has one of those over-the-top personas that seem part and parcel of being a rock star. Best known as the leader of Creed, Stapp’s deep, bellowing vocals helped that band reach massive popular heights in the late ’90s and early 2000s. During that…
Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden are coming our way this summer. Make no mistake, this is big news, and not a mere nostalgia trip for for those of us who were in high school or entering college 20 years ago. The announcement of a tour featuring a co-headlining double bill…
Ronnie Sterling isn’t your typical high school assistant principal. He’s also a guitarist in Protest, a local band known for its “unrelenting, no bullshit metal onslaught on stage.” It often comes as shock to students when they find out he plays in a metal band. “Wow, there’s no way,” they…
From February 26 to March 8, your 2013 Dallas Observer Music Award winners for Best Folk Act hit the road touring across the Midwest. In two weeks and eleven shows, The Fox and The Bird shared the experience of a lifetime together. From driving through the polar vortex to make…
