Ice Nine Kills & SiriusXM celebrate 40 Years of ‘Evil Dead’

Spencer Charnas of Ice Nine Kills (INK) and Jose Mangin — the “Metal Ambassador” and always entertaining host of SiriusXM’s Liquid Metal and Octane channels — came together for a food drive on December 10th! The opportunity to meet Spencer and Jose, and to see cool props from INK’s videos… WOW, that was a mouthful […]

Action-packed short film to feature Angelo Moore of Fishbone

Renowned videographer Jeff Pliskin, founder of Raised Fist Propaganda, has just let the world know that he is segueing back into filmmaking with the announcement of Skull Kiss, a crime-ridden, gangster-style action vignette featuring the talents of many music industry titans! Starring Peter Greene (aka Zed), one of New York City’s finest character actors Skam […]

An after-tour talk with Iya Terra frontman, Nathan Feinstein

A while ago, I sat down for a Zoom call, as you do in the age of COVID, to have a conversation with Nathan Feinstein, lead singer and guitar player for one of my favorite reggae bands currently out right now, Iya Terra. The band had just gotten off the road after a successful nine-week […]

WORLD TRACK PREMIERE: 7Descent “Southwest Chief”

Nashville’s rising rock ‘n roll group 7Descent premieres their latest single “Southwest Chief” today on Top Shelf before it hits digital outlets on December 10th! You might want to slow down during the holiday season, but your soundtrack shouldn’t… at least, not according to 7Descent. For fans of heavy metal, you’ll instantly be hooked by […]

WORLD TRACK PREMIERE: Qarreo “The Little Drummer Boy”

Rising Nashville band Qarreo is back with an all-time Christmas classic — an ethereal eclectic take on “The Little Drummer Boy”! Everyone knows the original 1941 version by American classical music composer Katherine Kennicott Davis… you know, when the wisemen happened upon a drummer boy on their path to Bethlehem? He ended up leading the […]

Getting to know art punk band Gustaf

Some bands are exceptionally talented and some bands are just lucky; Brooklyn’s avant-garde art punk icons Gustaf are both. What began as a series of ‘fortunate’ events on the way to SXSW has blossomed into something quite magical for this group of five rock ‘n roll misfits. Not many artists can say that one of their […]

Outside Lands 2021: an extra special Halloween

Halloween in San Francisco was one for the record books this year! After being postponed two years in a row (and then rescheduled for Halloween weekend), the beloved Outside Lands Music Festival returned to Golden Gate Park for its usual three-day event, starting Friday Oct 29th and ending on Halloween night. Headliners included The Strokes on […]

Michigander meets with Top Shelf at Shaky Knees Fest

Jason Singer, the 29-year-old also known as Michigander, has been very productive during the last couple of years. He lost some weight, wrote some new music and got engaged. Instead of succumbing to the negativity that COVID brought to so many people, Jason decided to turn that time into something positive, writing his latest EP, […]

Los Angeles set for Snoop Dogg’s Once Upon A Time 2021

Once Upon A Time in LA 2021 returns from its 2019 debut! The festival was planned to come back in 2020, yet fell victim to the COVID-19 pandemic (as most did). The multigenerational jam-packed lineup for this year gives us a mix of oldies, funk and old and new-school hip hop. Hosted by Snoop Dogg, […]

Experiencing Reggae Rise Up Florida 2021

The seemingly endless live music drought inflicted by COVID-19 has had its impact on fans, musicians, crews, promoters and everyone else associated with the live music industry. There has been a lot of articles and opinion pieces published on this over the last couple years, so this will not be belabored here. What is of […]

A chat with The Collection at Shaky Knees Fest

The Collection is an amazing seven-piece band hailing from Saxapahaw, North Carolina. Their wild live shows and upbeat blend of pop rock have earned them a 2019 NPR Tiny Desk judges pick, as well as a recent opening spot with Larkin Poe. Their latest single, “Get Lost”, was released a few weeks ago and they […]

Reliving the rush of Aftershock 2021

After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Aftershock Festival returned to Sacramento’s Discovery Park for not three, but FOUR days! This year was the fifth installment of the event and brought a lineup that included Metallica, The Original Misfits, Volbeat, Cypress Hill, Body Count, Rancid, Gojira, Social Distortion and many more rock and […]

Billy Idol performs The Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas

A thunder of rock ‘n roll came rolling in as the legendary Billy Idol took Vegas’ Cosmopolitan stage by storm on October 22nd, electrifying the packed theater with a fierce passion to rock out. Thriving in his native space of performing, Idol exuded a natural confidence that comes from over 40 years of commanding the […]

An evening with James Taylor in Anaheim

On October 30th, after over a year-long delay, James Taylor took to the stage at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. After a quick set change, following an incredible set by Jackson Browne, the lights dimmed and a triangle-shaped cloth was dropped from the ceiling to the stage. At the same time, videos of fans […]