How does it feel to have the two Sirius channels that you created - Underground Garage (Channel 25) and Outlaw Country (Channel 36) - broadcasting 24/7? I feel like we made history already, you know? It's not easy to create a new format in radio, and I created two.
On Robot Chicken, action figures are stop-motion animated in humorous, wacky, and sometimes violent sketches - and I can't stop watching. Why does the show work? MATT: Our big thing is that we play off of nostalgia.
"We knew this was a bunch of people who love music," said an appreciative Stevie Nicks about the Monstrous crowd at Fleetwood Mac's muscular 75-minute set, which capped Monster's 2014 Retailer Awards at the Paris Ballroom in the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas on January 8. The mighty Mac were the headliners for a night that saw Monster celebrate its 35th anniversary with style and class.
Revisionist history is just as much a part of rock & roll as guitars, cars, and odes to love and lust are. Some albums initially looked upon as noble but failed experiments more often than not semi-mysteriously improve with age and hindsight when viewed through the prism of time, wherein listeners finally catch up to the scope of the artists’ originally over-their-heads intentions.
If there’s one thing to take away from this past Saturday’s RSD, it’s that there’s a strong and rabid group of record buyers willing to wait in line for hours and hours to willingly spend lots and lots of dough on physical product — and that’s incredibly encouraging in light of what many see as an ever-shrinking tactile music marketplace.
Bottom line: Give them a reason, and they will come. And spend.
“I’ve always been a fan of records that tastefully use effects to enhance the listening experience,” says Sam Llanas, former vocalist/guitarist for roots-rock pioneers BoDeans, now ensconced in a full-time solo career. Llanas’ distinct vocal tone — which resides somewhere between gravel and grace — has touched the soul of indelible songs like “Closer to Free,” “Feed the Fire,” and “Rickshaw Riding,” and on The Whole Night Thru (Llanas Music), Llanas opens up his palette on deeply personal tracks like “Deja Vu” and “I’m Still Alive” to achieve an even more honest aural identity. “We did decide early on that we would like to make a record that would be engaging on headphones,” he reports. Here, Llanas, 53, and I discuss the importance of equipment choices and microphone placement, how to make a record that hits “hard and fast,” and his favorite BoDeans album. The man is very much still alive and kicking.