Music

Of Rome, and Everything Else

Dead Western John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis Aug. 29, 2009 Words by Vincent Girimonte Last Saturday, the ever-embracing arms of Davis’ John Natsoulas Gallery welcomed some pysch-folkers, notably Sacramento’s Dead Western Trio, who played in support of Ben Chasny’s decade-long, discretely prodigious endeavor, Six Organs of Admittance. However, it was the…

Change is Good

Sacramento band The Nickel Slots finds the rhythm once again “When you’re in a band, you never ever finish paying your dues. If you ever think that you’re done paying your dues, that’s when nobody shows up to your next show. I promise you. Or your show gets canceled. You…

The Day the Hammer Came Down

For some of you, it was a typical Thursday in Sacramento: dry, with that hot wind that is neither welcome nor refreshing. And while it was that, for some of us, it was something to remember. For some of us, that Thursday was different. That Thursday, Submerge hooked it up…

Guitar Feng Shui

Ross Hammond and the Tao of Improvisation At this year’s SXSW, Ross Hammond, performing with Teakayo Mission, put his rockist touch on the traditional hymn, “Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord,” leading a 14-minute tour of the heavenly kingdom. The live recording sounds as though he and…

Irresistible Force

Dragonforce Begins the Final Leg of Its Ultra Beatdown tour in Sacramento The name Dragonforce conjures imagery that’s both epic and impossible. Luckily for the British power metal outfit, their music lives up to that fantastic billing. Though many people became familiar with the group thanks to the inclusion of…

Picking, Grinning and Rocking

The Honey Brothers’ Blend of New Wave, Rock and Folk is Sure to Leave You Smiling New wave occupies an area of the music spectrum that’s probably as far off from folk music as any other genre (accept for maybe grindcore). However, in the hands of The Honey Brothers—a New…

Real Talk : Unlikely Renaissance Man, Henry Rollin

Unlikely Renaissance Man, Henry Rollins It might be easier to list the things Henry Rollins hasn’t done. Let’s see: he hasn’t won the Super Bowl, hasn’t received a Nobel Prize (yet), hasn’t, and apparently never will, run for president. Other than that, Rollins has, over the course of the last…

One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer

Aroarah Returns from the Road with a Big Package The party girls of Aroarah are home and back to their day jobs after a July tour, but in their minds their real jobs are on hiatus. These four ladies from Orangevale could teach a class on touring, proving they can…

More Is More

Sister Crayon to Release Its First Album as a Full Band When Submerge spoke to Sister Crayon’s Terra Lopez, she and the band were mired in Southern California traffic. Currently on the road on the Broke Bitches tour along with fellow Sacramentans Agent Ribbons, Sister Crayon weren’t holed up “in…

Punk Rock Plagues Davis Airwaves

Ratas del Vaticano @ KDVS Radio Studio Davis, Calif. Aug. 3, 2009 Words & Photos Karla Hernandez With snarly vocals and a fast audacious punk sound, Mexico’s Ratas del Vaticano sparked a fire capable of spreading as rapid as the plague Monday night at Davis’ KDVS radio. As part of…