Photos by Craig HlavatyAftermath always wondered what it was like to not be known to the public by your birth name, but by the name of your band. In the beginning, some club owners thought that David Lee Roth's name was Van Halen. I'm sure somewhere along the line Ian Anderson was called Jethro Tull to his face. Those, if you aren't in Jethro Tull, could be fighting words.
"His name is Hootie, dammit!" screamed a gaggle of fans sitting two rows behind Aftermath Monday night, as Darius Ruc
Not many acts on MySpace list as their influences Merle Haggard and Fleetwood Mac. Or George Jones and Sheryl Crow. But Dallas outfit Blacktop Gypsy does, and it doesn't take many listens to their music to get the connections. Certainly the template is country but with three women in the mix there's lots of room to paint outside the lines of traditional country. And while there's no testosterone, that doesn't mean there's no muscle.
www.uriah-heep.com
Who 'Dat?
The English-bred Uriah Heep sprung from the axis of Mick Box (guitar) and David Byron (vocals). The pair had worked together in both the Stalkers and Spice before hooking up with manager/molder Gerry Bron. A big Vanilla Fudge fan, Box wanted the band to have a prominent keyboard sound, so in came Ken Hensley, who would also serve as the band's main songwriter. Paul Newton was recruited on bass.
It was Bron who suggested in 1970 that the band change its name to Uriah
Held each year between 1968 and 1970, England's Isle of Wight Festival was the premier outdoor rock party for the British counterculture. The last edition (before its recent revival) proved the largest-attended (600,000!) and best, with a lineup that included Jimi Hendrix in his last major performance, the Doors, the Who, Jethro Tull, Chicago, Sly & The Family Stone and the Moody Blues.
The Moodies were coming off a string of successes with albums like In Search of the Lost Chord, On the Thr
Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group "Artist of the Week," bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn't awful? Email their particulars to introducingliston@gmail.com.Courtesy 10th Grade CutieSmoke Gets In Your Eyes: Rex and Blaine in Super Happy Fun Land's parking lot
We started listening to Friendswood punk rockers 10th Grade Cutie on a semi-regular basis about four weeks ago after someone
Photo by Mark C. AustinIf there's one band Rocks Off didn't envy during Saturday's ACL downpour - seriously, Zilker Park smells like a stable today, moreso because the staff just finished seeding the mud-splattered grounds with hay - it was the Decemberists. The Portland collective closed out Saturday on the Dell stage clad in full-on church attire - three-piece suits for the men; long, flowing gowns of both black and white for the women. Just the kind of attire you want to be caught in at a
Mark C. AustinSeems like we recognize this guy from somewhere...
More and more, Aftermath uses ACL more than SXSW to see which recent buzz bands are worth their salt, and of course to check on how some old favorites are doing. This year, tops on our new-to-us list were Blitzen Trapper, who managed to condense most of the late '60s and early '70s - Dylan, the Dead, CSNY and a lot more besides - into their hour-long set Friday, and MuteMath, neighbors from New Orleans whose echoing guitar, prop
