As Nevada Hill paints a large mural on the eastern wall of Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios, a giant heart in the middle whose many arteries extend all around it and each connect to its own building, he is coated in sunscreen and flecks of paint, and he is wearing a…
Who the hell is Danko Jones? “We’re just a hard rock band from Toronto,” he says. Yet, something in his radio friendly voice hints at a deeper meaning behind a man who shares a name with Danko Reproductions, a custom body shop; Emile Danko, a fictional Homeland security agent; and…
Twenty years ago, The Backstreet Boys were unleashed on an unsuspecting American public and the “boy band” phenomenon was officially under way. Inspired partly by the great doo-wop groups of the ’50s and partly by the R&B of the ’90s, Nick Carter and the rest of the boys were quickly…
Gorilla Vs. Bear and Polaroids have gone hand-in-hand since the early days of the blog, so it only seemed appropriate to snap a few instant film shots at the festival on Friday night. Sadly, I didn’t plan ahead, and all I had was a few shots of some expired film…
Here’s a few of the folks who bend over backwards, often for peanuts, to produce live local music. A disclaimer: This is not a complete list — there are plenty of great sound engineers in Dallas, and these are just a few of our favorites. Note also that this doesn’t…
This Friday, Dallas-based music blog Gorilla Vs. Bear hosted their third annual festival at Granada Theater. Local music fans flocked to the historic venue to watch Booty Fade, Empress Of, HAERTS, Blue Hawaii, and Danny Brown share the stage. We talked to the crowd to see how the night’s festivities…
Blazing through guitar riffs on stages across Texas isn’t something an average 15-year-old does. But Tyler Tallant of Keller/Fort Worth area isn’t your average teenager. He’s someone whose passion for music causes him to spend most of his waking hours mastering the craft of guitar playing. And his constant practicing…
Imagine a time in Dallas when Led Zeppelin, Tom Petty, the Cars and Elvis Costello could all be found without sneaking past a team of security guards or purchasing a $200 VIP pass. It’s a time when every major record label in Dallas not only pushed records like drug dealers,…
Lance Lopez is a blues talent unlike any other working today. He spent much of his childhood here in Dallas before moving to New Orleans, where he launched a career that includes mentorship from Billy Gibbons. You can read more about Lopez in this week’s music feature, but we didn’t…
Dallas’s own locally-run ticketing company, Prekindle, is movin’ on up to the Deep Ellum side. The four-year-old company has officially opened their new headquarters at 2528 Elm St., in arts-and-venue-packed Deep Ellum. Since Prekindle’s founding by co-owners and former band mates Dave Howard and Pete Swulius, the company has started…
Legendary Americana songwriter Patty Griffin is going on tour this fall, and the October 26 date at the Kessler Theater is already almost sold out, less than a day after it went on sale. As of right now, only suites and standing room spots remain. So get going now…
No other family of music artists like the forebears of this legendary name – Hank Williams – have captured the heart of what it means to be a country outlaw, a Southern rebel, a despicable bastard in the eyes of our more uppity brothers and sisters. Three generations of this…
This is your official warning Dallas, It’s going to be a rough Monday. This weekend is packed to the brim with great live music and there’s nothing you can do about it. Honestly, you’ll be lucky if you make it to brunch at all (gasp). Friday night will be especially…
Lopez commands the stage when he steps behind the microphone. His dark sunglasses, black cowboy hat and PRS guitar resting next to his hip make him look more like an outlaw than a Texas bluesman. He can feel the blues as his hands slide across his guitar’s neck. He’s been…
Every week more and more shows are added to the Dallas Observer live music calendar — here’s how to make sure your show is included. Below are the this month’s best new additions, to date. The most recent announcements are in bold…
Earlier this week, Janelle Monae stopped by Luminous Sound in Richardson to preview her upcoming album, The Electric Lady. Monae is famously fashionable (one of her most prominent commercial relationships is with CoverGirl), so it stands to reason that the attendees of the listening party would dig up some of…
It wasn’t long ago that live music shots were, while certainly appreciated by the bands, just a nice nuance for local musicians to get. With online socializing skyrocketing, photography as well as video have become crucial tools for a band at any level. We’re lucky to have a pretty good…
Trying to find legitimate record labels in the Dallas/Fort Worth area turned into a quest that crossed the thin barrier of insanity on more than one occasion, as more and more record labels fell off our list. Fifty-four or so for the Dallas area alone were the number of record…
Austin City Limits is just a couple flips on the calendar away. This year’s inaugural two-weekend run on October 4 to 6 and 11 to 13 also features a series of late-night shows in Austin. And a run of bands from somewhere on the lineup in other Texas cities, including…
There are no shoes allowed in Wondaland. There is grass, however, and candlelight and there were free drinks and candy in Wondaland’s lobby, so no one seems to mind. Plus, Janelle Monae is here, standing barefoot in the grass. Wondaland, for now, is inside Luminous Sound in Richardson, where everyone…
The Best of Dallas is a month away — the issue hits newsstands on September 26. We’re finalizing our own picks via witchcraft and shoe leather, but we need your help on the reader’s poll, dear reader. Open nominations are over, and we have five finalists in several categories –…
Kurt Vile | Sonny & the Sunsets Trees August 19, 2013 Sound issues can ruin a good show. The band keeps stopping to fix things, the crowd grumbles because of all the stops, and no one has a good time. So it’s to Kurt Vile, and his copious crowd of…
