Miami Music Blog

image via amagill's flickr

If you are into dazzling, disjointed hip-hop beats, then you have probably heard of a whiz kid and producer that goes by the name of Prefuse 73. Born in Miami, but raised in Atlanta, Prefuse 73 (born Scott Herren) also records under various monikers like Savath & Savalas and Delarosa & Asora. Still, he's best known and admired around the world for his flawless work as Prefuse 73.

After releasing his debut 2001 album, Vocal Studies + Up Rock Narratives, Herren earned the attention and respect of underground electronic music aficionados. And though his production technique is firmly rooted in hip-hop, Herren's work also delves deeply into the realm of electro and ambient, making Prefuse 73 a difficult artist to pigeonhole.  

So it's very fitting that the eclectic Prefuse, along with Elliot Lip and local hero PG 13, is performing this Sunday at Miami Beach's Heathrow Lounge for the last night of Art Basel. "I got a lot of friends in Miami," says Herren, speaking via phone from his Brooklyn home. "I also started doing a lot of stuff for [Miami-based label] Schematic. I have some close friends down in M.I.A., but I'm not very good at communicating with people when I'm not around, so I'll be cool to be visiting."

The obvious similarities between Secondhand Serenade, hailing from the suburbs of California's Bay Area, and homegrown sensation Dashboard Confessional are impossible to ignore. Like Dashboard Confessional, the name is a framework for a shifting project led by a singular talent; John Vesely is to Secondhand Serenade what Chris Carrabba is to Dashboard. Both projects began as one-man acoustic acts, which blossomed along with their popularity into bands in their own right. And, most strikingly, both groups are helmed by pretty, tattooed men with meticulously greased quaffs, who emote over lots of acoustic guitar on those two classic subjects: love and loss.

But Vesely's work, to thousands of thousands of fans, stands on his own. He's got a knack for singing with a hushed urgency, as if he were letting listeners in on a secret. Even if it's somebody else's secret — the songs on both his debut album, Awake, and his followup, A Twist in My Story, which dropped this past February on the upstart Glassnote Music, were all written specifically for special women. Awwww. Hardened hearts need not apply here.

And meanwhile, the self-made sensation who grew his fan base in the early days through MySpace, breaks further and further into the mainstream. "Fall For You," the lead single off A Twist in My Story, was certified platinum earlier this year; its video continues to receive heavy rotation on outlets like VH1. A deluxe version of A Twist in My Story, featuring an EP's worth of new material, is due out early next year.

After the jump, read a full Q&A with Vesely. -- Arielle Castillo

Secondhand Serenade performs tonight with Cute is What We Aim For, Automatic Loveletter, and A Rocket to the Moon at Revolution, 200 W. Broward Blvd., Ft. Lauderdale. The show starts at 6 p.m., and tickets cost $19. All ages are welcome. Call 954-727-0950, or visit www.jointherevolution.net and www.ticketmaster.com.

Once upon a time – the mid- to late Eighties, to be precise – heavy metal ruled the rock landscape. On the pop side, of course, there were the infamous hair bands. But on another, more underground but no less popular side, were a number of faster genre offshoots, presided over by a pantheon of guitar gods. And near the top of this Olympus was the flamboyant Yngwie Malmsteen, a Swedish-born sensation whose technical skill and bombastic power on the axe were nearly unmatched. Single-handedly, he developed a much-copied symphonic, lightning-fast, arpeggio-laden style of playing that launched him, for a brief period in the late Eighties, into bona fide mainstream success.

Just how revered was Yngwie during this period? Well, for one thing, he was the first ever musician to get his own name-brand guitar model made by Fender, in 1986. And from 1984 to 1988, Malmsteen scored an album a year in the Billboard top 100.

We all know what happened next – grunge became the next mainstream big rock thing, and metal was driven back underground. Still, Malmsteen survived, buoyed by a less visible, but still very, very large global audience of shred enthusiasts.

Last night, Miami’s Hobie Beach – located on Virginia Key, just over the Rickenbacker Causeway -- was filled with tour buses, Maybachs, an orange Lamborghini, a couple of Bentleys, and some limousines. Lil Wayne was in one of the tour buses, as this was to be the video shoot location for his hit song “Mrs. Officer,” a song about making love to a female police officer, with classic lyrics like, “All she wants me to do is fuck the police.”

The film crew set up as a group of real police officers gathered around a police car. The red and blue sirens flashed, and their faces glared at me as I took out my camera. “I do not want to see my picture on the internet,” said one of them, as I put the camera back into my pocket.

The Sword are a hard-hitting, sludgy, but epic quartet from Austin, Texas, who are preoccupied with very metally subjects like Norse mythology and the science fiction writings of George R. R. Martin. And irony be damned, they’re damned serious about it. “It's not a joke at all,” says the colorfully named drummer, Trivett C. Wingo. "You could say, like, how serious was Led Zeppelin when they recorded 'Immigrant Song?' They were pretty damn serious."

Taking the dirt-sifting textures of doom metal but giving them an amphetamine kick, the songs on the band’s second and latest album, Gods of the Earth, seem somehow crushed by the weight of gravity, but also about to break free from its grasp. For various reasons – perhaps its alt-heavy hometown, its relative good looks, its penchant for properly fitting clothing – the band has been, occasionally, tagged as “hipster metal.” Those who would wield that term, however, would be ashamed to use it in front of one of the band’s biggest fans: none other than Lars Ulrich, of Metallica. He’s just taken the Sword on tour with his band in Europe, and will take them through Metallica’s high-profile U.S. tour this fall. Who’s laughing now?

New Times caught up by phone with Wingo recently to discuss the band's latest album, its current tour with Clutch, and its upcoming opening slot for Metallica. The full interview follows after the jump. -- Arielle Castillo

Clutch and the Sword perform with Graveyard and Never Got Caught. Friday, September 26.
Culture Room, 3045 N. Federal Hwy., Ft. Lauderdale. Doors open at 7 p.m.; tickets cost $19.99 in advance. All ages. 954-564-1074; www.cultureroom.net and www.ticketmaster.com

It’s possible that the musicians of Washington, D.C.-area punky, metally, bluesy hard rock quintet Clutch do not know how to take a break. They blasted out of the gate running in 1991 with a seven-inch single, “Passive Restraint,” snagged a deal with EastWest Records, and hit the road. Since then, across 12 albums, they’ve often forgotten to come home, building a near-mythical reputation for explosive live shows, whose bootleg recordings are coveted and traded by the band’s legions of fanatical followers.

Led by the slightly gruff, but doggedly determined Neil Fallon, the band has touched the near-mainstream a few times, most notably in the earlier part of this decade with the albums Pure Rock Fury and Blast Tyrant. However, its unpredictable music evolution, traversing everything from stoner rock to hardcore to blues, as well as Fallon’s uncompromising, obtuse lyrical references, have kept Clutch firmly in cult territory. It’s just fine with the band members, though, who have severed ties with their most recent label, DRT, in favor of distributing their latest live DVD/CD combo, Full Fathom Five, through their own web site.

New Times caught up with Fallon recently by phone to discuss the band's regained autonomy and current tour. The full interview follows after the jump. -- Arielle Castillo

Clutch and the Sword perform with Graveyard and Never Got Caught. Friday, September 26.
Culture Room, 3045 N. Federal Hwy., Ft. Lauderdale. Doors open at 7 p.m.; tickets cost $19.99 in advance. All ages. 954-564-1074; www.cultureroom.net and www.ticketmaster.com

For such a relatively short existence, few bands have excited such extreme reactions in the heavy music world as the Orlando-based quartet Trivium. Formed in the earlier part of this decade while the members were still teenagers, the band’s 2003 full-length debut, Ember to Inferno, messed with the metal heterodoxy in a big way. There were elements that planted the band in the lineage of Florida death metal, but then there was that pesky melody. There was screaming, for the post-hardcore kids who were into that, but then there was all that pesky technical extreme stuff.

And while this Jekyll-and-Hyde business continued on 2004's Ascendancy, fans and critics were again thrown for a loop with The Crusade, in 2006. Gone was the screaming, and in, in a big way, were epic melodies and, gasp, singing. But there were also tempo changes; dirty, nasty, distorted sections; even confusingly clean sections.

Now, the band’s latest album, Shogun, shows yet another about-face. First, the foursome parted business ways with longtime producer Jason Suecof (who – six degrees of metal separation – also produced local guys Black Tide’s Light From Above). Looking for a tabula rasa, they enlisted Grammy winner Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Coheed and Cambria, Shadows Fall, Velvet Revolver, etc.), and further threw caution to the wind. The result, as evidenced by the band’s current digital singles, is the most articulate synthesis yet of Trivium’s everything-but-the-metal-kitchen-sink approach.

First dabbling in hip-hop during his teen years in the late Eighties, Martijn Ten Velden delved into the house music scene in the Nineties, quickly proving himself a force to be reckoned with. The Dutch DJ and producer has racked up a steady string of house hits since, including current the 2006/2007 Ibiza stormer "I Wish You Would," and a current chart-climbing remix of Orbital's "Chime."

He's even garnered several official-type rewards: At the 2007 House Music Awards, he snagged "Best Artist" and "Outstanding Remix." During this year’s Winter Music Conference, at the IDMA awards he was nominated for Best Compilation for the Toolroom Knights Volume 1 mix CD, which he co-piloted with Mark Knight of Ministry of Sound.

Rodrigo y Gabriela's video for "Diablo Rojo"

Can acoustic guitars sound heavy? Five minutes of the Mexican duo Rodrigo y Gabriela will prove that the answer is, definitely. Ex-thrash-metallers turned Dublin street buskers turned global critical darlings, on their breakout 2006 self-titled album they pulled off an astounding feat: They made "world music" seem cool to the rest of us. An arresting blend of rhythms from both sides of the equator, tango skips by flamenco, meets a little classical picking , and then crashes head-on into a weirdly epic riffage courtesy of Anthrax and Slayer.

In homage to the group's metal roots, the album even included covers of "Stairway to Heaven" and Metallica's "Orion." Anchored by the Gabriela's percussive banging on the body of her guitar, it may be the world's first band to claim equal influence from both the music played on Mexico's public buses, and Testament and Slayer.

Rodrigo y Gabriela play tonight at the Fillmore Miami Beach, their first appearance ever in Miami. I caught up with Rodrigo by phone last week, while he was preparing for the opening of the tour in Richmond, Virginia. The full Q&A follows after the jump.

Also, click here to read what the Miami New Times had to say about the group last week.

-- Arielle Castillo

The excellent New York quartet Locksley opens for Rooney tonight (along with the Bridges) at Revolution. Still unsigned, thanks to their catchy Brit-inflected power pop, and a fierce penchant for self-promotion, the band already boasts an enviable string of high-profile television appearances and tours. Here's what I had to say about Locksley in this week's print edition of the Miami New Times:

"Opening act Locksley hails from the opposite coast; the band formed in Madison, Wisconsin, but solidified in New Yorrk. The group mines similar [power pop] turf, though. However, its brand is slightly more Anglo-tinged, with strains of the clean jangle-pop of, say, the Hollies and the Kinks. The sound is hooky and bright enough to have snared the grizzled critics at Billboard, Alternative Press, and the New York Daily News, and eventually won the band rotation on MTVu — the first unsigned act ever to do so. If soaring melodies, handclaps, and shaking tambourines are your thing, Locksley is totally your new favorite crush."

I caught up with frontman Jesse Laz by phone the other day as the band drove southward from Jacksonville. The full Q&A follows after the jump. -- Arielle Castillo

In this week's issue of the Miami New Times, for my Suicide Blonde column I spoke with JWL B and Shunda K of the Tampa-based electro-rap group Yo Majesty. Click here to read my explanation of why they're one of the most punk rock things out there right now.

But of course, the interviews ran longer than there was space for in the newspaper, and there was lots of fascinating stuff left over. Lots. I spoke to JWL and Shunda separately, as JWL had returned home to Tampa to sort out some things, and Shunda is finishing the tour by herself (well, with a DJ, and lots of help from pals Rosetta Stoned).

After the jump, the full Q&A's with both.

Also, check out this video for their song "Club Action," filmed guerrilla-style on the streets of Miami Beach in spring of 2006.

Yo Majesty, with Rosetta Stoned and Mauikai. Friday, May 23. Studio A, 60 NE 11th St., Miami. Show starts at 7 p.m.; tickets cost $12 in advance, $15 at the door. All ages. 305-358-7625; www.studioamiami.com.

There’s no ignoring Ben Taylor's musical lineage: With James Taylor as dad and Carly Simon as
mom, Ben's prowess in songwriting and performance is proving itself to be as impressive as his parents’. Yet his unique style is less hippie and more hip-hop.

Ben's set to open up for mom tonight at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts. What a night to witness both past and future share the same stage, especially considering it’s Simon’s first ever performance in Miami.

New Times had a chance to exchange couple Q&A emails with Ben in advance of the show. We discussed his upcoming album, The Legend of Kung Folk Part 1: the Killing Bite, his stance on downloading music, and his famous parents. Oh -- and not to mention his much talked-about remix of Snoop's "Sexual Seduction.” Now that's rock and roll. -- Esther Park

Ben Taylor performs with Carly Simon Friday, May 16. The Gusman Center, 174 E. Flagler St., Miami. Show starts at 8 p.m.; tickets cost $150 to $5,000 and benefit CHARLEE Homes for Children and GAP: Girls Advocacy Project. 305-374-2444, www.gusmancenter.org

New Times: How old were you when you picked up a guitar? Was it natural instinct that propelled you to play or was it something that you learned to love? Why not the turntable or tuba?

Ben Taylor: I finally started playing the guitar when I was 11 so that I could become a more musical person. I think the reason I chose that instrument was for its versatility and portability. It's no fun trying to lug a piano around...

(photo by Martynka Wawrzyniak)

The Virgins are the latest white-hot (in every respect, meow) NYC quartet you are going to really care about very, very soon, if you're not clued in already. In this week's issue of the Miami New Times, we tell you why in our music section's Live Wire department -- click here to read it. And as always, there was plenty of interview stuff that couldn't fit into the print edition, so scroll below for the full Q&A with the Virgins' founder and frontman, Donald Cumming.

How can you not love a band whose live show is basically a big, fun dance party where everyone is attractive? Check out the video clip below. -- Arielle Castillo

The Virgins perform Wednesday, May 21 as part of the Nylon Summer Music Tour at Revolution, 200 W. Broward Blvd., Ft. Lauderdale. Switches, Be Your Own Pet, and She Wants Revenge also perform. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and tickets are $16. All ages are welcome. Call 954-727-0950, or visit www.jointherevolution.net.

New Times:: So tell me about the concept for the video shoot you did last night. Which song was it for? I heard you had a Victoria’s Secret model dancing for you inside [East Village bar] Lit.

Donald Cumming: The video was for the song “Rich Girls.” The concept was like, it was filmed at Lit on Second Avenue. For the past seven years or so I’ve just been going there all the time, and I’ve met so many people there and gotten to know so many people from going there so much. So it was really cool to film the video there, because it’s actually the first place we ever played the song -- my friend Frankie DJed it for us so we could hear it loud at a club.

In this week's issue of the Miami New Times, we give you the rundown on Duran Duran's latest album, The Red Carpet Massacre, and the group's appearance next Monday at Mizner Park in Boca. Click here to read that story.

But of course, there are plenty of outtakes left from the interview with Nick Rhodes. Below, read the full Q&A. Also, check out this video from A&E's Private Sessions of the band performing one of the album's lead singles, "Falling Down." -- Arielle Castillo

Duran Duran performs Monday, May 19 at Mizner Park Amphiteater, 590 Plaza Real, Boca Raton. Also appearing is Your Vegas. The show starts at 8 p.m., and tickets cost $59.50 to $115. Visit www.ticketmaster.com.

New Times: Where have you been, generally, since this tour started, and how has it been received so far?

Nick Rhodes: I think I can say it's going spectacularly well. We started about a month or so ago in New Zealand and worked our way through Australia up through the Pacific Rim, Korea, and Japan -- we hadn't played there for quite a while, actually.

The show has been very well received. We've been having a lot of fun playing because it's a very different kind of show for us. It's broken up into three separate acts. There's an introduction at the beginning, which encompasses some of the songs from Red Carpet Massacre, and a lot of familiar songs. And then we're playing a 20-minute electro set, which is quite interesting because, I don't know, I've never known a rock band to do it… It's more sort of Kraftwerk style with the four of us lined up along the stage playing synthesizers and electronic drums. We've rearranged some of our older songs in that style, with a couple of surprises in there.

In this week's Miami New Times music section, we gave you the brief rundown on why, this Saturday, you should check Barcelona's quirky world-disco duo, the Pinker Tones. Click here to read it online, if you missed it. The show is presented by the awesome Rhythm Foundation, as part of the ongoing Heineken Transatlantic Music Festival.

Here's the full Q&A with one of the group's cofounders and masterminds, Mr. Furia (the other is the similarly pseudonymous Prof. Manso).

Also, click here to read our review of the Pinker Tones' latest album, Wild Animals, out on Nacional Records. And below, enjoy the video for the first single, "Happy Everywhere." -- Arielle Castillo

The Pinker Tones perform Saturday, May 3 at the North Beach Bandshell, 7275 Collins Ave., Miami Beach. The show starts at 7 p.m.; tickets cost $20 in advance, $25 at door. All ages are welcome; children under 12 are admitted free. Call 305-672-5202, or visit www.rhythmfoundation.com.

Looking at your tour dates, you're playing in Europe, then come over for Miami for just this one date, then you're back across the ocean. Do you often travel so far for one gig?

Not really. But we had such a good relationship with the people from Heineken from last year when they brought us to Miami during the Winter Music Conference… We knew that they were working really hard to promote the show, etc. so we thought, Well, even when we are not properly touring until the summer in the states, let's make a little trip over there, and it's helping the label as well with promoting the album. [Our tour dates in the United States would be] a bit far away from the release date if we didn’t do it.

When you say your summer tour, you're referring to the Warped Tour, right? It seems like kind of a strange match at first. How did you end up on the lineup?

The big issue is not whether the Pinker Tones are on the event or not -- it's a complete turn of the whole Vans Warped Tour conception. We've just been lucky to be in the right place in the right moment when this turn of ideas was taking place.

In this week’s Winter Music Conference guide, we summarized why you should check out the white-hot techno DJ, and now label impresario, Anja Schneider. Click here to read the article. Of course, there were a bunch of interview outtakes, so here’s the full Q&A for the super fans. Scroll to the end of the interview for full details about her appearances during conference.– Arielle Castillo

When and how did you wind up in Berlin?

I'm originally from Cologne, and actually it was for music. I came for one weekend to have a visit at the famous Planet club — this was '93 or '94. After this visit, I decided I had to move there. This was my city, with my music.

How did you end up in radio first?

When I moved to Berlin I had just finished my studies in marketing and communications, and I worked first in an advertising agency for a few months. At home, I had heard always pirate radio -- Kiss FM, it was all DJs.

I was so into this music and I loved it, so I went there and I said, Hello, my name is Anja, I’ve just come to Berlin, do you need help. Because I always had in mind since I was a child that radio was something that I loved.

It was really, really small; it was a pirate station -- it was only four people. So I worked there as a program manager, because I came there from a marketing background. I tried to build things up and always tried to bring more electronic music into the programming.

Check out this clip from a 2006 PBS documentary about the band, in which they perform their song "Hey Eugene."

Pink Martini’s music is the kind of music that makes you want to fall in love. Each album contains all the perfect elements of a relationship -- drama, seduction, sadness, and a melancholy sweetness that makes one just want to sit back with a glass of wine and swoon. The Portland, Oregon-based mini orchestra traverse the globe's vintage melodies, from the sounds of Fifties Hollywood musicals, to Tango, to French chanson, and so much more -- the perfect soundtrack to any 21st-century swinger's soirée.

The four original members founded the group in 1994 to play political fundraisers for progressive causes such as civil rights, the environment, and affordable housing. In the years that followed, Pink Martini has grown to its current cast of 12, and gone on to perform its multilingual repertoire on concert stages and with symphony orchestras throughout Europe, Asia, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Canada and the U.S.

Killswitch Engage are pretty high on my list of bands I'd like to party with. The Massachusetts-based quintet are infamous for drinking lots of cheep bear, causing fun trouble, and reveling in the sort of sarcastic humor that earns their home state's natives the label of "Masshole."

At the initial time I had scheduled for an interview with guitarist Joel Stroetzel, a manager called me asking to reschedule for an hour later. Stroetzel dutifully called at the new time, and while impressively chipper, admitted he was sleepign off a late night of boozing in a city whose name he momentarily forgot. Oh yeah ... it was Washington D.C. Truly, a man after my own heart.

Oh yeah, Killswitch Engage also play serious music. Emerging from a sort of hardcore-ish scene, KSE never neatly fit anywhere. They've got the tough-guy breakdowns, but also thrashy guitar passages and drum assaults. Lead singer Howard Jones doesn't need to yell -- instead he's got a melodic, almost quavering middle register that can quickly slip into a scream. But only where it's needed. Killswitch plays the subtleties as much as the extremes. And for that, the band has earned a healthy mainstream following. "My Curse," the lead single from their latest album, As Daylight Dies (2006, Roadrunner), reached number 21 on Billboard's "Hot Mainstream Rock" chart, and also landed as a secret track on the new Guitar Hero III game.

Killswitch Engage headlines tonight's show at the Fillmore Miami Beach with Dillinger Escape Plan and Every Time I Die. Full Q&A with Stroetzel after the jump. -- Arielle Castillo

Killswitch Engage, Dillinger Escape Plan, and Every Time I Die perform Monday, January 14, at the Fillmore Miami Beach, 1700 Washington Ave, Miami Beach. The show starts at 7:30 p.m., and tickets cost $24. Visit www.ticketmaster.com.

Andy Williams, guitarist for the Buffalo, New York-based quartet Every Time I Die, is an imposing physical presence for sure. With a close-cropped head, arms covered with a patchwork of tattoos, and a bushy beard, he's described by tourmate Greg Puciato of Dillinger Escape Plan as "a beast" "When you look at him, you’re like, wow, this guy probably chops trees for a living," says Puciato, laughing.

But one call to Williams' cell phone proves he doesn't take himself too seriously at all. If he doesn't pick up, you'll be serenaded a few times by the chorus of Devo's "Whip It." Then, suddenly, his voice mail greeting: "HOLY SHIT, IT'S ANDY!!" BEEEEEP! Then there are his not-infrequent blogs on his band's Myspace page, where he defends his peers, connects with his fans, and even, most recently, offers free hugs before each of his shows.

No matter that his band's latest and best record, The Big Dirty is relentless in the best possible way -- contrasts make life interesting. Moving further away from easy genre categories, it's loud and pulverizing, but with serious songcraft and the propulsive, meaty energy of, say, Motorhead.

As with Greg Puciato, I caught up with Williams the day of the tour's first stop. Full Q&A after the jump. -- Arielle Castillo

Dillinger Escape Plan are sort of like a band of vikings, blazing through a town in a maelstrom of chaos that leave the feeble shivering in a puddle of their own secretions. Think noise, destruction, flames -- literally, frontman Greg Puciato has been known to shoot fireballs from the stage between bouts of expelling the demons in his head.

And, well, being in a band this perfectly brutal isn't easy. Originally from Morris Plains, New Jersey, the Dillinger Escape Plan originally formed more than 10 years ago. They've gone through about nine members since, not counting those in the current quintet formation. Original vocalist Dimitri Minakakis threw in the towel thanks to sheer exhaustion after a few years; other members were forced to drop out due to accidents and injury. Most recently, drummer Chris Pennie decamped to join the mystical proggy-core outfit Coheed and Cambria, nearly the polar aesthetic opposite of DEP.

But no matter -- Puciato and the gang soldier on. Their current tour with Killswitch Engage and Every Time I Die brings them to the Fillmore Miami Beach tonight, in support of their latest album, Ire Works, released last November on Relapse Records. I spoke to Puciato last Thursday as the band prepared for the first night of the tour. Read the full Q&A after the jump. -- Arielle Castillo

Killswitch Engage, Dillinger Escape Plan, and Every Time I Die perform Monday, January 14, at the Fillmore Miami Beach, 1700 Washington Ave, Miami Beach. The show starts at 7:30 p.m., and tickets cost $24. Visit www.ticketmaster.com.

Piano Girl
Tori Amos revisits her entire catalog, taking a look back at the women who sang her songs.

Tori Amos is now on tour supporting American Doll Posse, her best CD in years. It’s the piano-playing singer-songwriter’s 10th studio album — if you count the record she made with Y Kant Tori Read, a cringe-inducing hair-rock band she formed in Los Angeles at the end of the '80s.

On American Doll Posse, Amos assumes the roles of a quartet of disparate women: Isabel (an indignant politico photographer), Clyde (a wounded soul-seeker), Pip (a fierce rubber enthusiast), and Santa (a glitzy sensualist). Together, they sing the album’s 23 songs. They also join Amos onstage.

In addition to a solo piano performance and a set with her backing band, Amos’ two-and-a-half-hour show includes appearances by Posse’s protagonists. Amos takes the stage dressed in character as one of the album’s other four girls, but we can’t tell you which one – she doesn’t make up her mind until an hour before the show. But this really isn’t groundbreaking territory for Amos, who, after her autobiographical 1992 debut Little Earthquakes, began channeling different characters to sing her increasingly oblique songs.
Amos talked to New Times about her albums and the women who perform them.

Of the American Doll Posse characters, which is least like you?
“Well, it depends which day you catch me on. The least like me, the way I’ve known me all these years, would be Santa. That one was difficult, just because they’re all patterned after ancient female archetypes. She was patterned after Aphrodite. I use the Greek pantheon, as opposed to another one, because I thought people would be more familiar with it. Having to open myself up for Aphrodite’s myth and story, I had to do a lot of homework. And my impressions were not right: I thought she was a tart. After really immersing myself in her story, I began to see how she would use her sexuality, and how she was really comfortable with her body. She didn’t live a life of guilt where men decided how she felt about her physicality.”

Was The Beekeeper [2005] more a character or concept?
“I didn’t see it as a character. It was more about the structure of the garden, and I like the idea that songs were coming from an expression in nature. And we developed each song coming from a specific garden. And I liked that, especially since our Biblical story starts in a garden. And that’s why the tour was the original Sinsuality tour. And so this was a different take on the whole almost parallel plane from where we’ve come from. As a minister’s daughter, I don’t accept that their read of history is the accurate read. So the Beekeeper was really about another viewpoint of the feminine coming from the garden.”

And Scarlet’s Walk [2002] was more of an overt alter-ego?
“Scarlet was personified thread, the blood of the land. And it was a journey through America, post 9/11, trying to go back and cross the country. But not from a map you would pick up in a local store. But more following it through trying to find ancient sacred sites as a Native American, the spiritual vortexes that they have held secret and sacred. And this was inspired because when I was touring Strange Little Girls: A medicine woman came to see me, and she talked to me about another invasion that had happened that America didn’t want to look at, which is when our forefathers and foremothers came over and took the land of the Native Americans. And so Scarlet is a woman, but she is a thread that is weaving across the country, trying to remember the story of the real keepers of this land, who had been practically erased from our history.”

Tori Amos performs Wednesday, November 21, at the Raymond Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach. The show starts at 8 p.m., and tickets cost $40.50 to $62.50. Call 561-833-0691, or visit www.kravis.org.

Laurent Garnier is one of the world’s most celebrated house and techno DJs, but also one of the most elusive.

French by birth, it was in late-Eighties Manchester, England that Garnier first heard Chicago house. Instantly hooked, he soon became a DJ at the legendary Hacienda club, owned by Factory Records head Tony Wilson, and widely credited as the birthplace of acid house.

Upon returning to Paris, he took to spreading the gospel. To this end he started his own club night, Wake Up, and eventually a record label, F Communications. By the mid-Nineties, he was working on his own productions, tech-house workouts based on the robotic funk and slinky, swinging soul of his beloved early Chicago and Detroit records.

Then earlier this year came Public Outburst, a jazz-techno experiment based around a live band, with an extensive European tour in support of the album. In fact, he plans to hit the road again with the group next year.

In the meantime, Garnier is flying solo in traditional record-spinner style. Rather than doing the weekly grind of the world’s superclubs, Garnier prefers quality over quantity, with highly anticipated gigs at boutique venues. Still, he hasn’t played in the states in at least five years, and in Miami in over ten. This Friday, Shine hosts his much-heralded return. After the jump, read the full interview with Garnier, with whom I caught up by phone as he relaxed before a gig last week at Chicago’s intimate Spybar. – Arielle Castillo

Laurent Garnier performs with Stryke Friday, November 16 at Shine, 1801 Collins Ave, South Beach. Doors open at 10:00 p.m., and tickets are $20. Those 21 and older welcome with ID. Call 305-341-1318, or visit www.shinesouthbeach.com.

Through The Past, Darkly
Currently touring in support of his second solo album, former Soundgarden/Audioslave wailer Chris Cornell spoke with New Times about the environment, the thought process behind choosing which songs to include in a career-spanning setlist, art versus audience perceptions of it, and the consequences of a positive frame of mind when you’re best known for writing gloomy songs. An edited transcript follows after the jump.
By Saby Reyes-Kulkarni

You told Rolling Stone in 1994 that “this is the first generation that can look at the mortality of the human race pretty realistically. It isn’t H.G. Wells anymore. It’s not ‘well, three or four generations from now, we might not have any fish’ --- it’s ‘we don’t have any fish.’” Having recently played one of the Live Earth concerts, what is your impression of how things are now?

I suppose that, in terms of the wider perspective of people that didn’t necessarily pay attention to where the planet was at are more aware of it now, or are at least being exposed to it more in a widespread way. I sort of see it catching up in terms of media and in terms of effort of getting a message out there. In terms of behavior, there are certain parts of the world that are changing it. And you can kind of see that it’s possible, but in the big picture I don’t think anything’s different. Looking at a map of the world and imagining that very realistically it could look very different less than a century from now is pretty scary for people. That still doesn’t necessarily permeate their daily habits. But the good thing is that literally being reminded of it every day can change the decisions you make that day. And that decision and that action can make a difference right then. In terms of broader causes and charitable causes that people pay attention to, this is actually one of the only things where that’s the case. It’s really a strange thing. Habits control people more than people control habits, and it’s sort of a frightening thing when it comes to environmental issues.
Chris Cornell performs at 8 p.m. Saturday, November 3, at Revolution, 200 W. Broward Blvd., Fort Lauderdale. Tickets cost $35. Call 954-727-0950, or visit www.jointherevolution.net

The Hawaii-born trio Pepper is based in Southern California, played this year’s Warped Tour, and mix in Jamaican rhythms with a little punk rock ‘tude. But don’t call ‘em any variation of s-k-a. Rather, they look a little further later in the history of Caribbean beats, mixing in a classic Seventies/Eighties reggae sound influenced by greats like Barrington Levy and Steel Pulse.

Oh, and the band are also big metal fans. Huge. That might not come out in their chilled-out tunes, but the party-time vibe definitely comes through in their signature amped-up live shows.

Grinding it out for over 11 years since they formed in their hometown of Kona, HI, the band’s relentless touring and dogged, nice-guy persistence has won them a major buzz in the last few years. After appearing on a number of Volcom compilations, Pepper snagged tours with everyone from 311 to Snoop Dogg to Slightly Stoopid, as well as landing on this past summer’s edition of Warped. The band’s latest full-length, No Shame, was released last year on Atlantic. The followup is slated to drop early next year on the band’s own imprint, Law Records.

I spoke to drummer Yesod Williams last week while the band made its way through the Midwest. Pepper lands in South Florida November 7 at Club Cinema in Pompano Beach. After the jump, the full Q&A. – Arielle Castillo

Pepper performs with the Expendables, Passafire, and Whitestarr Wednesday, November 7 at Club Cinema, 3251 N Federal Hwy, Pompano Beach. Call 954-785-5524, or visit www.clubcinemaflorida.com.

This week, I wrote about Tommy Lee and DJ Aero’s tag-team DJ/live remixing project in my column, Suicide Blonde. (Click here to read it and get background info). A lot of stuff got cut out necessarily for space, so here’s the full Q&A. -- Arielle Castillo

Details: Tommy Lee and DJ Aero perform Saturday, October 27, at Mansion, 1235 Washington Ave, Miami Beach. Doors open at 11:00 p.m., and tickets cost $25 in advance. Those 21 and older are welcome with ID. Call 305-531-5535, or visit www.theopiumgroup.com/tommylee.

New Times: How did you guys meet?

Aero: I actually sent him a video tape of me scratching trying to get a job with Methods of Mayhem. I sent it in, got a rehearsal call, and we’ve been hanging out ever since.

So how long have the two of you been working on this specific project, and the remixes?

Lee:It’s been since late ’99, and we got serious about it probably earlier this year. When you start DJing and stuff you start to realize that you need your own original music to make some noise out there in that world and. We’ve recently started to – other than doing some remixes – started working on full-blown original stuff.

What are a couple of your favorite remixes that you’ve done so far?

Aero: We’ve done a remix of Young Love, “Find a Way.”

Lee: We’re getting close to finishing a song called “Straight Lines” by Silverchair.

When did you each get into dance music?

Lee: Probably around 2000 when I met Aero and I worked with some other DJs in the studio like Mixmaster Mike, the Beastie Boys, Q-Bert. I’ve always loved dance music, or pretty much anything with beats, being a drummer; but that’s when I started taking interest. I had seen it obviously before, and there were all kinds of possibilities. Then I met Aero and was watching him doing it, and then I got some turntables and started fucking with shit.

Aero: I got into house in 1991 when raves were happening in Los Angeles. I would go every weekend to the raves and stay up until 8:00 in the morning and dance and watch the lasers and trip out.

Lee: You know, I was in London – I guess it was when I was married to Pamela -- and it was New Year’s Eve, right when Josh Wink released “Higher State of Consciousness.” I was at this club called Ministry of Sound. I walk in, and it’s almost midnight, and at midnight, the DJ drops that track. And I was like “What the fuck is this?” I run to the DJ booth and I’m like, “Who is that?” And the guy is like, Josh Wink, so I wrote the track down and immediately started trying to find it.

So are you over rock?

Lee: Nah, I’m not over it. But for the last 3 ½ years I’ve been on tour, 2 ½ with Motley and a year with my new project, Supernova. And when you do something every single day for 3 1/2 years you’re kinda over it for a while. For the soul, you’ve gotta switch it up.

I’m definitely not over rock, I love rock music. I’m just taking a break. This project will never be over. This isn’t like a quick little, ‘I’m gonna play techno music with my buddy Aero for a minute.’ It’s tattooed in. It’s not going away.

Few people in rock need less of an introduction than Slash, the legendary former ax man for Guns N Roses who built that band's epic sound with his deft, but economical and sexy, riffage.

Since 2002 he's been one-fifth of what is now Velvet Revolver, along with former GNR bandmates Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum, as well as Scott Weiland (formerly of Stone Temple Pilots) as frontman. The band's second album, Libertad, was released this past July.

Velvet Revolver's currently on tour with Sparta and Alice in Chains, and the tour rolls through town this Sunday at the Sound Advice Ampitheatre in West Palm Beach. I caught up with Slash last week by phone. After the jump, read the full interview. -- Arielle Castillo

credit: Thierry Arditti

[Editors note: The text below is from an evening our theater critic extraordinaire Brandon K. Thorp spent with music critic extraordinaire Greil Marcus. Marcus was in town for a speaking engagement, and following that event, the two went out for dinner. What follows is a detailed breakdown of Marcus, his contributions to American pop culture, and a fabulous dinner that will make you jealous. It's lengthy but any fans of Greil Marcus should dive in and send comments our way.]

When asked if it was true that nobody had anything interesting to say anymore, if the prophetic voice he chases in his latest book has gone missing from the world, Greil Marcus got upset. Marcus, who was at Books and Books in Coral Gables on September 20th to read from that work, The Shape of Things To Come: Prophecy & The American Voice, said this:
“The prophetic voice has found a home in culture, and it’s absolutely alive in culture. I’m looking at Philip Roth’s novels — from the late 90’s up through 2000, American Pastoral, I Married a Communist and The Human Stain.”
He continued, speaking in perfect paragraphs: “These novels are an attempt to look at the postwar history of the United States and see what’s really happening. They’re written from the perspective of someone who essentially says, ‘I thought I understood all this. I thought I understood the Red Scare, I thought I understood the Civil Rights movement, I thought I understood Vietnam, I thought I understood black and white. And I understood nothing. Not only didn’t I understand it — I didn’t even see anything. This whole drama was taking place before my eyes, and I saw none of it.’
“(The prophetic voice) is there in David Lynch’s movies, particularly in Lost Highway and in the prequel to the Twin Peaks television series, Fire Walk With Me. It’s in the music of David Thomas, who’s led the band Pere Ubu, out of Cleveland, since 1974 or ’75. It’s in the music of a band called Heavens To Betsy, from Olympia, Washington, in the early ‘90s. I wrote this book because I was hearing that voice, I was seeing it everywhere. And this is the voice that seemed to link these people to each other, and to us.”

Greil Marcus was born in 1945 and attended Berkley in the early 1960s. He majored in “American Studies,” just as Berkley’s Free Speech Movement was ratcheting up into its very own American study. Then he did some post-grad work in poli-sci. Lots of people, moved by their exposure to the transforming energies of the FSM, may have done likewise. What lots of people didn’t do was become Rolling Stone’s first reviews editor in 1969, thereby embarking on a career in music criticism so intellectually, emotionally and, yea, spiritually ambitious that by even calling it “music criticism” I’ve already lied twice.
When you dig into a Greil Marcus book, it takes a minute to find your bearings. Teenaged girls screaming in a recording studio, words spoken by a Matewan sheriff almost a hundred years ago, an outtake from Bob Dylan’s Infidels that went unreleased for nine years — he gives all of these things equal space and accords them equal respect. As you read, parts of public life that previously seemed utterly circumscribed come into alignment. Before you know it, they’re chatting with each other, carrying on like crazy.