Radio Not Found

"As a lifelong HIM fan, I can easily recall their album cycles. I remember the fervor surrounding Dark Light, the premiere of “Wings of a Butterfly,” and Ville Valo’s new haircut (fangirls wept). Listening to Venus Doom brings back memories of dissecting the album on the fan message boards, debating which song was the best. Yet, HIM’s final era feels like a blur. I don’t remember much about the release of Tears on Tape. No memorable performances or interviews come to mind. I remember struggling to buy the Metal Hammer fan pack edition of the record at work and being anxious about interviewing Ville Valo for the first time. He called me “Darling.” I still swoon thinking about it. When I finally got the album, I played it for weeks, waiting for the moment when it clicked with me. It never did. I didn’t think it was bad, just decent. Then I forgot about it and moved on, already looking forward to HIM’s next record. What I didn’t know was that Tears on Tape would be their final album."

Want to learn more about Chicago's new single-day festival, Space Echo? Check out my featured article in the April Edition of Illinois Entertainer.

Wednesday 13 on performing Murderdolls songs on tour:

"When I first started doing it, there were nights that were tougher than others, because for a lot of people, it was the first time they ever got to hear those songs. It was also the first time anyone had done something publicly and talked about Joey. It wasn’t easy, but then I got to play these songs, talk about them, and carry on with the show. It was fun, but it was also kind of tough. I guess it got a little easier the longer I did it. I took it all over the world. We played everywhere from Australia to Turkey. And I realized how many people loved and appreciated that band and how many new fans have come along since then who want to know about it and who missed out on it.

Murderdolls put me on the map. It’s the reason people know who I am. It’s a big deal for a lot of people. It’s still a big deal to me. Next year is the 25th anniversary of that first album [Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls]. It’s been a long trip, but it’s been fun. I’ve been really lucky to have fans stand by this long. It’s a lot of new people, too. There are a lot of new people discovering the band. A lot of old fans are still there. A lot of people came and went. But it’s always good when I do a tour, and I look in the front row and see younger kids. That’s a good sign."

My last show of 2025 was Pixel Grip's sold-out show at the Metro in Chicago. They fucking killed it. If you don't know Pixel Grip, you're seriously missing out.

This year-end list was difficult to finish. I was eager to dive into the music that moved me in 2025. But while I was working on it, my mom unexpectedly died. Suddenly, none of it mattered. My biggest supporter was gone, and everything felt awful. Who cares about my music thoughts? But as the days passed, the incomplete article started to bug me. I wanted to talk about music in 2025. It’s something that brings me joy, which I desperately needed. I also wanted to finish it for my mom because she loved music so much. So, I wiped my tears and found the strength to continue.

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The Absence, debut book from Siouxsie and the Banshees drummer Budgie, isn’t your typical rock n roll memoir. While there are tales of out-of-control parties, wrecked hotel rooms, and drunken adventures, the book offers a raw, unfiltered glimpse at Peter Clarke, the man behind the drumkit, warts and all. Budgie is surprisingly confessional. It’s as if you’re reading his private diary. As he discusses his journey with the Banshees, he acknowledges his flaws, addresses his insecurities, and reflects on his inner struggles along the way to come to terms with the past.

At its core, the book is about codependency, grief, addiction, and identity. Stories about struggling to cope with his mother’s death, drug-fueled binges, and difficulty forming relationships, it feels as if Budgie is working through things he didn’t have the capacity to deal with in the past. The way he reflects on his misadventures, trying to figure out the motivation behind his bad behavior, gives you a rare glimpse into how his mind works. He talks a lot about identity, how Peter Clarke and Budgie may be the same person, yet they are totally different. It reached a point where he couldn’t figure out where Peter began and where Budgie ended."

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With the city skyline looming behind them, TURNSTILE walked out to the warm, opening sounds of “NEVER ENOUGH.” It was the calm before the storm as soon as Pat McCory struck the opening chords and Daniel Fang started pummeling the drums, bodies began to move and didn’t stop for the rest of the night. They transformed the amphitheater into a huge mosh pit with frontman Brendan Yates leading the charge. Fan eagerly followed his lead as he hopped, skipped, jumped, and twirled across the stage.

The show wasn’t just a celebration of the band’s latest album, NEVER ENOUGH; it was also a celebration of their fans. LED screens highlighted people in the pit dancing, singing, and headbanging throughout the night. Some of the sweetest moments showed TURNSTILE’s young fans having a ball. While it would’ve been nice if the screens showed more of the band’s performance, especially Yates’ fantastic dance moves, it captured what matters most: the community. You couldn’t help but smile as you saw people waving to the screen, hugging their partners, or screaming their hearts out. TURNSTILE may have exploded in mainstream popularity, but they still love and care about their fans."

Local H's Scott Lucas on his complicated feelings about Ham Fisted:

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we were at the studio mixing the record and sleeping above the studio at night. So, our A&R guy got me an advanced cassette of Shudder to Think’s Pony Express record. I remember just sitting up there listening to that going, ‘Ah shit, we should have done this.” Or we should have tried harder. Or we should have tried to swing more for the fences. But at that time, we didn’t want to swing for the fences. We didn’t want the producer to produce us. We just said no a lot. He’d want to turn up the vocals, we’re like no. We want to change the sound of the snare. No, everything’s dry and flat. We wanted to present the band in this unvarnished light so people could see where we started. But by that point everybody, even us, was past that. So, we weren’t quite going for it.

We were being given this opportunity, and we were making most of it. We were looking at it like, this is starting point A. The next record will be better. It was that kind of fucked up, weird thinking. We might have had some guilt being on a major label. It’s just a record that doesn’t have as many twists and surprises as it should. So, going in with these songs I wanted to take them apart and sort of change them. I would look at each song individually and think, what’s going to make this more fun to listen to? What’s going to make this more exciting? And I would do those things. I mean, it’s just a chance to go back and redo things. It’s a very Peggy Sue Got Married type of situation with this record."

Read my full interview with Scott Lucas in this month's Illinois Entertainer.

Aaron Bruno on the freedom of Barbarians of California:

"I’ve always felt completely free with AWOL to do exactly what I wanted to do. It’s been a combination of all genres I like, from heavy music to pop to psychedelic rock to the 90s hip hop I grew up loving. That’s all the music I like. With Barbarians, this is specifically the heaviest, most brutal stuff I like, which was one of my first loves. I’ve always liked it all, but I would say maybe it’s inverted. Having this heavy outlet now makes me freer when I go back to AWOL songs, if and when I go back, which I will eventually, I think. But right now, I’m just having so much fun with this."

Jonathan Rach on Trent Reznor destruction during the Self Destruct tour:

"The destruction of instruments never felt like it was for the sake of sensationalism. It was to accent the emotion of that moment. The destruction felt like an extension of the expression. I remember sitting in a cafe with Trent and [producer] Flood, and he was like, I don’t know if I like the idea of destroying instruments on stage. I just said, Oh, I disagree (laughs). I’m out in the crowd with the camera, and when [Trent] does that, the crowd roars. He took that crowd where they wanted to go. That was pretty special about that tour. I think that’s why Trent’s a true artist and resonates with people as he goes through every phase of his expression, because it’s real. It’s something he’s dealing with and going through. There’s a truth in it that resonates."

Read my full interview with the legendary photographer Joanthan Rach on GENRE IS DEAD! Link in source.

I'm still shocked that I made it to Nine Inch Nails' Peel It Back tour. In short, it was amazing. Every time they come through they sound better and better.

Push Puppets' Erich Specht on his creative process:

“My favorite way to write stuff is when I’m away from an instrument, like in a car or something like that, and just get a melody – ideally a melody with a lyric already tied to it. I find that the natural melody of those words finds its voice. I think it feels natural the way you hear those words when you’re not putting an emphasis where the emphasis wouldn’t be spoken, that sort of thing. So, if an idea comes that way, I’ll have my voice memos going and just keep singing. Once I have a snippet of a melody or a lyric idea, I’ll keep playing it in my head over and over.”

"Metal titans Trivium and Bullet For My Valentine delivered a night of chaos, nostalgia, and good fucking music to a sold-out Aragon Ballroom on Saturday night (April 26). Their co-headlining “The Poisoned Ascendancy Tour” celebrates two landmark albums, Trivium’s Ascendancy and Bullet For My Valentine’s The Poison, that ushered in a new era of metal. Both albums left their mark on the genre, and as the celebratory night proved, that impact can still be felt two decades later."

Ten Things We Learned From ‘Lollapalooza: The Uncensored Story of Alternative Rock’s Wildest Festival’

Perry Farrell didn’t want Green Day to play Lollapalooza 1994

Green Day’s 1994 album Dookie gave the band a huge mainstream push, so it was a no-brainer to get them on the 1994 lineup. Everyone was on board except Perry Farrell. He considered the California punks as a boy band and said “I don’t want to book a boy band.” Singer Billie Joe Armstrong recalls, “all of sudden, [Perry] comes back in and he’s like ‘I don’t want them on the bill.’ He thought that we were a band that was put together by Mo Ostin at Warner Bros.”

Organizers finally convinced Perry on one condition: Green Day performed half of the tour while the Boredoms played the other half. “For us, it was really disappointing because Perry was someone that we really respected,” continues Armstrong. “I think that made us want to play it even more, actually, because we wanted to prove that he had his head very far up his own ass.” They have since headlined the festival two more times in 2010 and 2022.

Read my new featured article at Genre is Dead!

Josh Caterer on Green Day:

“We were one of those bands Green Day was talking about, which is what brought attention to us. So, we really have to thank Green Day for getting the ball rolling and giving our career a boost at the time. They were a crucial part of that. Playing that show with them was awesome. I mean, they’re just a great live band. I remember them being wonderful, friendly guys. Just really nice and personable and approachable. I have nothing but love for Green Day.”

Read my new cover story on Smoking Popes for Illinois Entertainer. In print and online.