It’s been three decades since Revue started charting the evolution of West Michigan’s local music scene. Grand Rapids alone has added landmark venues like Van Andel Arena, The Pyramid Scheme, Frederik Meijer Gardens and 20 Monroe Live to keep up with the increasing demand for live music.
How different is today’s scene compared to 1988, when [Music] Revue magazine first started printing?
Local rock artist Shane Tripp is the kind of musician who creates simply because he’s got songs trapped inside his head, eager to escape out into the world.
And he’s been that way for almost as long as he can remember.
Matisyahu has devoted his musical career to delivering highly introspective messages in a style that’s all his own.
His latest record, Undercurrent, is described by Matisyahu as what he imagines Abraham’s walk back down the mountain was like after being instructed by God to kill his own son.
Every year, West Michigan seems to overflow with great releases from homegrown musical talents, and 2017 has been no exception.
This list is just a taste of some of the absolutely fantastic and wildly diverse records that make our home one of the best places for original music.
This time last year, Jake Kiszka had no idea what was about to happen for him or his band, Greta Van Fleet.
Yet, in just the past 12 months, the band went from the relative obscurity of its Michigan hometown of Frankenmuth to one of the hottest acts in the country — selling out two headlining tours in advance and having its debut single, Highway Tune, top both the Billboard Mainstream and Active Rock charts.
In 1981, a newly formed punk band called the Descendents released a frantic, four-and-a-half-minute EP titled Fat. While the pop-music machine of the 1980s was churning out hits like Eye of the Tiger and Hungry Like the Wolf, the Descendents were writing about things real kids could relate to, like grease-ball fast food joints, their jerk of a dad and coffee jitters.
The Descendents were the relatable underdogs, and nearly four decades later, they still are.
Right from the beginning, A Perfect Circle never fit the shape of a conventional rock band. It’s no surprise then that the group has defied regular touring and recording cycles over its nearly 20-year history.
Often described as an art-rock inspired alt-metal supergroup, A Perfect Circle melds the powerful vocals of Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan with the soaring guitar work of Billy Howerdel.
Revue spoke with former Black Crowes singer Chris Robinson ahead of The Chris Robinson Brotherhood's upcoming show at The Intersection.
There’s nothing quite like Kalamashoegazer. The festival feels like a celebration in more ways than one — an honoring of its host city’s diverse yet devoted music scene, and of the beloved cult subgenres of shoegaze, twee and dreampop first popularized by such iconic bands as My Bloody Valentine, Ride and Slowdive in the late ’80s and early ’90s.
Undergoing something of a musical transformation, Bigfoot Buffalo has changed with the cycles of the moon.
Last summer, alt-rock radio mainstay Third Eye Blind made major headlines all across the country following its concert at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, just outside the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. The reason: Frontman Stephan Jenkins and company live-trolled the event — much to the dismay of the many Republican fans in attendance.
The story of the Pixies isn’t new: An enormously influential band instrumental in ushering in a dynamic style of alt-rock that helped shape the very music of the ’80s and ’90s. The group influenced bands from Nirvana to Radiohead, and even gained respect from the likes of U2 and David Bowie.
So it was no surprise that after the band’s brief career and breakup in the early ’90s, the reunion and return to touring in 2004 saw shows that sold out almost immediately, multiple festival appearances and touring across the globe.
Set on the shores of Lake Michigan, the inaugural Great Lakes Music Camp welcomes students and music lovers to learn about and enjoy the many styles and sounds of traditional Americana, roots and folk music.
The three-day acoustic music camp, running Oct. 6-8, includes small, personalized group sessions and two benefit concerts at Camp Blodgett. The instructors are some of the finest acoustic musicians in the country, and the camp is open to all skill levels, ages 12 and up.
A lot of bands like to say that the sky’s the limit for their music, their career, and their dreams, but for Nashville-based alternative band Judah & the Lion, it’s especially hard not to believe.
