Four years in, the Audiotree Music Festival still knows nothing but growth. Founded in 2013 by Kalamazoo natives Michael Johnston and Adam Thursion, the one-day event has already showcased an impressively diverse range of artists in its short history. This year, it’s taking over the city’s landmark Arcadia Creek Festival Place for the first time ever.
Doom legend Dylan Carlson of Earth chats with Revue.
When REVUE got a hold of Grand Rapids rapper Razz Na$-T earlier this summer, he was gearing up for a life-altering trip to Las Vegas.
However, his destination wasn’t just the alluring glitz of the Vegas strip — it was the natural splendor of Lake Tahoe, the site of his latest music video.
“Just know that it involves motorcycles, a devil and a demon, the desert, clear water, blue skies, and of course California evergreens,” said Razz, aka Riley Dean. “The rest is a surprise.”
Lollapalooza celebrated its 25th Anniversary this weekend with four full days of live music that featured more than 170 acts on eight stages. It has exploded in size and scope since its beginning in 1991, swelling to a capacity crowd of 100,000 every year, while also developing an internationally-recognized reputation that reaches well beyond Chicago — or even the U.S. — with Lolla having spawned spinoffs in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and Germany over the past decade. Here’s a quick list of our biggest takeaways from Lolla’s landmark year.
True to their name, Wild Child refuses to run with the pack or worry much about the traditional business side of music. It doesn’t jive with the Austin-based indie-pop band’s artistic process – so they go their own way.
“When it comes to that side of the music industry, we all just kind of freeze up,” said Kelsey Wilson, lead vocalist and violinist of the seven-piece outfit. “We can write a song a day and play a show a day for the rest of our lives, but the other side of things is just so foreign.”
With a youthful and punk-fueled exuberance, picking and vocal capabilities that seem well beyond his years, and a heart steeped in traditional music, a live performance by William Apostol (aka Billy Strings) is truly an experience. High energy meets raw talent in an electrifying, twangy and sometimes dizzying way.
Apostol has made quite a name for himself in the bluegrass scene as a gifted guitarist out of Traverse City. He’s spent the last couple of years touring heavily with mandolinist Don Julin and playing the music he was brought up on as a kid. In late 2015, however, Apostol announced he was parting ways with Julin and moving to Nashville to embark on his solo career.
Josh Epstein’s phone is blowin’ up thanks to his band’s summery slice of infectious indie-pop, “Gone.”
The Detroit duo JR JR’s (formerly known as Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.) hit single has gone viral since its 2015 release, racking up over 15 million plays on Spotify and landing everywhere from alt-rock radio to the trailer for the upcoming comedy Sausage Party.
Andrew McMahon’s path to stardom hasn’t exactly been paint-by-numbers.
Fans of the singer/songwriter already know much of his story: He started out as the teenage frontman for the piano-pop/punk band Something Corporate in the early 2000s. Then there was his side-project Jack’s Mannequin, which chronicled his recovery from leukemia during his 20s. His latest solo project was inspired largely by his life as a new father.
Depending on who you talk to, the late Phife Dawg is either a complete unknown or a groundbreaking hip-hop icon. As a member of Tribe Called Quest, he and his mates helped pave the way for generations of forthcoming alternative hip-hop heads – from Kanye West and Common, to legions of underground rappers.
After going homeless for nearly three years, The Division Avenue Arts Collective finally found a new home earlier this spring thanks in part to Habitat for Humanity of Kent County and SiTE:LAB.
Photos and a recap of The Monkees show at Frederick Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park on June 8.
For Grand Rapids-based indie outfit The Soil & The Sun, the end of 2015 and the start of this year has been about deconstruction and rebuilding.
Surrounding the release of their last LP, 2014’s Meridian, the then seven-piece ensemble hit the road harder than ever before. They played all across the country, hitting such festivals as SXSW in Austin and the CMJ Music Showcase in New York, while bonding together like family in their converted tour bus.
When The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, teens across the country raced to local music shops, picked out guitars and hastily learned chords as their crewcuts grew into mop tops. High-school garage bands popped up across the map — all looking to recreate the energy of the burgeoning British Invasion.
West Michigan was no exception. While the scene’s genesis, life and demise is quite similar to other cities, one distinguishing characteristic is where these local bands recorded: Great Lakes Studios in Sparta — home of Fenton Records, the now iconic garage-rock vanity label.
