Crossroads KC @ Grinders

Better Than Ezra, Stars Go Dim, John Henry & the Engine

Friday August 6th: Along with such similarly styled outfits as the Goo Goo Dolls, the New Orleans-based trio Better Than Ezra helped open the floodgates for countless alt-pop acts of the late '90s (including Semisonic, Matchbox Twenty, and Third Eye Blind) by merging college rock influences with mainstream aspirations. Originally formed in 1988 as a roots rock outfit with slight elements of country and punk, the group's first incarnation consisted of four college students from Louisiana State University: Kevin Griffin (vocals, guitar), Joel Rundell (guitar), Tom Drummond (bass), and Cary Bonnecaze (drums). The band's early performances were expectedly held at college bars and fraternity houses, and their debut cassette-tape recording, 1990's Surprise, received positive press and comparisons to such alt-punk stalwarts as the Replacements and Dinosaur Jr. Despite these accolades, Better Than Ezra's future was thrust into doubt when Rundell committed suicide on August 8, 1990.

The remaining bandmates initially opted to go their separate ways after Rundell's passing, but they reunited as a trio before the end of the year. Deciding that a change of scenery would be helpful, Better Than Ezra relocated to Los Angeles shortly thereafter, where they laid down tracks at a friend's home studio to create their 1993 independent release, Deluxe. The album continued to raise the band's profile and eventually drew the attention of several major labels. The trio signed with Elektra Records, and Better Than Ezra's new label reissued Deluxe two years after its original release. The album spawned a sizeable radio hit with "Good," which helped push the album to platinum status by the end of 1995. But despite enjoying a hit right off the bat, Bonnecaze opted to leave the group in early 1996 and was replaced by a fellow New Orleans native (who, at the time, was living in San Francisco), Travis McNabb.

Shortly after welcoming their new member into the fold, the revised Better Than Ezra entered the recording studio to record their second major-label release, 1996's Friction, Baby. Although the album was musically similar to its predecessor, it failed to match the commercial success of Deluxe and departed rather quickly from the charts, with the singles "Desperately Wanting" and "King of New Orleans" only achieving modest rotation on modern rock radio. The group proceeded to create their own recording studio in New Orleans (dubbed Fudge Studios), where they recorded 1998's How Does Your Garden Grow? The album failed to reestablish the group as a commercially viable rock act, and Better Than Ezra parted ways with Elektra before issuing a compilation of rare tracks, Artifakt, through their official website.

Undeterred, the trio then signed with the independent Beyond Music label and issued their next release, Closer, in 2001. "Extra Ordinary" fared well on several charts, but Beyond Music declared bankruptcy before the band could issue a second single. Understandably, Better Than Ezra took a break before resurfacing in 2004 with a live album documenting a hometown show at the House of Blues. A greatest-hits collection was issued the following year, but to the delight of the group's devoted fan base (the "Ezralites"), Better Than Ezra were not finished. After signing with the New York-based Artemis Records, the band released Before the Robots in May 2005 and departed for a summer-long tour. Drumer Travis McNabb left the lineup four years later, having been recruited to join the country duo Sugarland instead, and Better than Ezra tapped Michael Jerome as his replacement before unveiling their seventh album, Plays Paper Empire. www.betterthanezra.com

Slightly Stoopid, Cypress Hill, Collie Buddz

Thursday August 12th: Illustrating the perfect underground success story, Slightly Stoopid's dual front-men Miles Doughty (Guitar, Bass, Vocals) and Kyle McDonald (Guitar, Bass, Vocals), created their own label, Stoopid Records, in the early 2000's to avoid signing a record deal and keep their DIY work ethic and freedom. West coast DUB/Rock pioneers later added musicians Ryan 'RyMo' Moran (Drums) and Oguer 'OG' Ocon (Congas, Percussion, Harp, Vocals) from the B Side Players, as well as C-Money (Trumpet, Keyboard) and Dela (Saxophone) from John Browns Body; solidifying their on stage line up. Slightly Stoopid has built a large n' loyal fan base, and has soared to one of the most successful independent artists of this decade. The buzz surrounding the group continues to increase with each successive release; their album catalog sales have topped the 700,000 mark and the group continues to fill the most prestigious concert venues around the world.

The Slightly Stoopid story can be traced to Ocean Beach, California, when childhood chums Miles and Kyle formed the group in 1995, mixing reggae and punk sounds into one smooth stylistic cocktail. Soon after, late/great Sublime frontman Brad Nowell caught wind of the group, and signed them to his Skunk Records label � while the band members were still in high school. A pair of releases soon followed for Skunk - 1996's punk-tinged SLIGHTLY STOOPID (featuring a guest appearance by Nowell on the song "Prophet" � later covered by Sublime and released on their box set, EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN) and 1998's surf-inspired cult classic THE LONGEST BARREL RIDE.

The group self-released 2001's ACOUSTIC ROOTS: LIVE AND DIRECT (a 40-minute acoustic set, captured live at San Diego 's Rock 105.3 radio station) � the first for their own label, Stoopid Records, before issuing 2003's EVERYTHING YOU NEED on Surfdog (a musical departure for the band, that sold more than 130,000 copies). The band's talent for mixing styles was never more apparent than on 2005's CLOSER TO THE SUN (on Stoopid Records / Caliplates / Reincarnate), which featured collaborations with such renowned reggae names as Barrington Levy and Scientist. A year later, Slightly Stoopid issued their first-ever electric live album, WINTER TOUR '05-'06, as well as their first-ever DVD, 'Live in San Diego,' while 2007 saw the release of the group's fifth studio effort, CHRONCHITIS, which debuted at #55 on the Billboard 200, and #2 on the indie charts.

And through it all, Slightly Stoopid has logged some serious road miles � in addition to their incessant criss-crossing of the U.S., which includes appearances at prestigious festivals such as Coachella, Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, and New Orleans Jazz Fest, among others, the group has played sold-out shows in Australia, Japan, Guam, Amsterdam, Portugal and Denmark, the U.K., Germany, Holland, and the Dominican Republic. "Without [the fans], we'd just be playing at the bar," admits Kyle. "They make it worth our while � when we go out and people are having that good of a time, the energy goes back and forth. Just a good time � we rely on each other's energy." And all you have to do is look at the list of artists that Slightly Stoopid has played with, to get a feel for how much of a large and diverse audience they appeal to - the Dave Matthews Band, Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley and the Marley Brothers, Sublime, the Roots, G. Love & Special Sauce, Ozomatli, Toots and the Maytals, and Pennywise, among others, as well as their first-ever sole headlining tour of amphitheatres in 2008, joined by their friends Pepper and Sly & Robbie.

"I think consistently touring is important," explains Miles. "Most people take the route of trying to be successful without even getting out there for people to hear what your band is about. The most important thing is you can be playing in front of zero people or 20,000 people, and you've still got to rock the show. When we were first starting out, literally, we played in front of nobody. We'd show up at the club, and it would be bartenders and security guards, and 'Yo, play your hour set � here you go!' But after you play that show, they tell some of their friends and their friends tell some friends. I think the Internet has helped us a lot too, because people were able to spread the word about the music easier. The most important part is being out there 200 days a year. You're going back to towns twice a year, so people get to come out, and that gave us a real loyal following. Wherever we go, you have these Stoopidheads going crazy. For us, it's pretty much the greatest job in the world."

2008 saw the band issuing their first-ever 'odds and ends' collection, SLIGHTLY NOT STONED ENOUGH TO EAT BREAKFAST YET STOOPID � the group's newest release for their growing label, Stoopid Records (which will also feature releases by other groups, including the label's first signees, Santa Cruz's The Expendables). Included on SLIGHTLY NOT STONED ENOUGH are outtakes from both the CLOSER TO THE SUN (including tracks that were previously issued as a limited edition bonus CD) and CHRONCHITIS sessions, as well as bevy of new material recorded at Miami's famed Circle House Studios, and such cover tunes as UB40's "I Would Do For You" and the traditional "I Know You Rider" (most notably covered by the Grateful Dead). Also making their first appearance on a Slightly Stoopid studio album are newly recorded renditions of such long-time live standards "False Rhythms" and "Sensimilla."

Seemingly always on the move, there appears to be no slowing down in sight for Slightly Stoopid, and according to Miles, that's precisely what fuels the group's creativity. "For us, the most important thing in the future, we just want to stay busy and always playing music � whether creating, touring, or just sitting on your couch and jamming. I think we'll always be recording. And just have fun � without the fun part, it ain't worth it." www.slightlystoopid.com

George Thorogood, Eddie Shaw

Thursday August 19th: A blues-rock guitarist who draws his inspiration from Elmore James, Hound Dog Taylor, and Chuck Berry, George Thorogood never earned much respect from blues purists, but he became a popular favorite in the early '80s through repeated exposure on FM radio and the arena rock circuit. Thorogood's music was always loud, simple, and direct -- his riffs and licks were taken straight out of '50s Chicago blues and rock & roll -- but his formulaic approach helped him gain a rather large audience in the '80s, when his albums regularly went gold.

Originally, Thorogood was a minor-league baseball player but decided to become a musician in 1970 after seeing John Paul Hammond in concert. Three years later, he assembled the Destroyers in his home state of Delaware; in addition to Thorogood, the band featured bassist Michael Lenn, second guitarist Ron Smith, and drummer Jeff Simon. Shortly after the Destroyers were formed, he moved them to Boston, where they became regulars on the blues club circuit. In 1974, they cut a batch of demos that were later released in 1979 as the Better Than the Rest album.

Within a year of recording the demos, the Destroyers were discovered by John Forward, who helped them secure a contract with Rounder Records. Before they made their first album, Lenn was replaced by Billy Blough. Thorogood & the Destroyers' eponymous debut was released in early 1977. The group's second album, Move It on Over, was released in 1978. The title track, a cover of Hank Williams' classic, was pulled as a single and it received heavy FM airplay, helping the album enter the American Top 40 and go gold. Its success led to MCA's release of Better Than the Rest, which the band disdained. In 1980, Ron Smith left the band and the group added a saxophonist, Hank Carter, and released its third album, More George Thorogood and the Destroyers.

Following the release of More George Thorogood, the guitarist signed with EMI Records, releasing his major-label debut, Bad to the Bone, in 1982. The title track of the album became his first major crossover hit, thanks to MTV's saturation airplay of the song's video. The album went gold and spent nearly a full year on the charts. Thorogood's next three albums after Bad to the Bone all went gold. Between Bad to the Bone and Thorogood's next album, 1985's Maverick, the Destroyers added a second guitarist, Steve Chrismar.

By the beginning of the '90s, Thorogood's audience began to decrease. None of the albums he released went gold, even though the title track from 1993's Haircut was a number two album rock hit. Despite his declining record sales, Thorogood continued to tour blues and rock clubs and he usually drew large crowds; subsequent efforts included 1997's Rockin' My Life Away, 1999's Half a Boy/Half a Man, Live in '99, 2003's Ride 'Til I Die, and 2006's The Hard Stuff. www.gthorogood.com/

Big Head Todd and the Monsters, The BoDeans

Friday August 27th: Big Head Todd and The Monsters� ninth studio album Rocksteady � due July 20 on the group�s Big Records imprint, distributed by Warner Music Group�s Independent Label Group � finds the veteran Colorado band returning to their DIY roots and forging into surprising musical territory.

Funky, lilting, and melodic, the new collection features founding members Todd Park Mohr (lead vocals and guitars), Rob Squires (bass), and Brian Nevin (drums), with keyboardist, steel guitarist, and backup vocalist Jeremy Lawton, who joined The Monsters in January 2004. Lawton produced and mixed the album.

Rocksteady cuts across a broad swath of stylistic terrain. �Beautiful,� the set�s first single, offers a sunny Caribbean vibe, as does the band�s cover of the Rolling Stones� �Beast of Burden,� long a concert staple. �Back to the Garden� and the homage �Muhammad Ali� pulse with a roots rock groove, while the set�s title track is based in the like-named, revved-up Jamaican style that preceded reggae�s arrival in the late �60s. �I Hate It When You�re Gone,� dressed with a full horn section, is blazing old-school R&B, while a version of Howlin� Wolf�s �Smokestack Lightning� is burning Chicago blues in a Monsters pocket.

�It�s a soul/Caribbean record that rocks,� Mohr says. �We almost went out of our way to take all the rock out of it, but it really rocks. It�s the very first album we�ve ever done that�s this cohesive and focused. That's what makes it shine and stand out from our other albums."

Rocksteady is the latest chapter in a rock �n� roll career that stretches back nearly 25 years. Founded in 1986 by Mohr, Squires, and Nevin, then University of Colorado students, Big Head Todd and The Monsters became one of the region�s most popular acts through constant touring. After issuing two popular independent releases on their Big imprint, the band hooked up with Irving Azoff�s Giant Records for the platinum album Sister Sweetly (1993). The Monsters issued four chart albums on Giant and Warner Bros.

Their formidable reputation rests on their stage performances; Big Head Todd and The Monsters Live was recorded on the fabled H.O.R.D.E. tour. Over the years, the group has developed a close relationship with their fans: Their last album, All the Love You Need, was released as a free download, and was snapped up by half a million of The Monsters� followers.

Rocksteady can be seen as Act One of a two-act Big Head Todd spectacular, since the band cut enough tracks to fill two CDs. A projected future release will include the sessions� more hard-edged material.

Mohr says, �We went into the studio and recorded over thirty songs. We've always been a versatile group with a wide range of influences and so our albums tend to be an eclectic mix of different genres of music. Somewhere along the line we realized we had a group of songs that fit together really well as a soul/R&B/Carribian kind of thing. So we set aside some of the harder rock stuff in order to focus on a soulful, danceable sound."

Lawton adds, �We were noticing we had these two different directions in songs. Big Head Todd albums are always like a buffet � there�s always a rocker, and then there are a couple of mood songs, and then there are some R&B/soul songs. We said, �Let�s try to concentrate on one of the branches of the tree.� We went towards this fun, happy R&B kind of sound.�

Mohr attributes some of the funk in the Rocksteady sound to the influence of the late Nigerian Afrobeat titan Fela Anikulapo Kuti and his son Femi Kuti, whose work he had been listening to deeply, and to his ongoing fascination with reggae and its intersection with punk rock.

While Big Head Todd and The Monsters have worked with such well-known producers as David Bianco, Jerry Harrison, and David Z, the band found their sound refreshed by working essentially on their own with Lawton at the helm in his home studio, recording on their own schedule.

�Obviously, I have high regard for producers,� Mohr says. �In this case, I didn�t think anybody else was going to put the time into it � into following each strand. And being able to decide in the middle of something that you have two albums instead of one isn�t something you normally can do in a producer scenario. There is just too much pressure and not enough time. For me it�s all about being able to have the time and the resources to do things your way, and the right way. It�s only when you do it yourself that you have that luxury.�

As ever, the hard-touring Monsters will go out to meet the fans this summer. �The quality of the relationship between the band and the fan is the most important aspect of our career,� says Mohr. �We�ve always realized that. That�s why we do cruises with fans, and we sign autographs after shows. We still try to play every request. We listen to our audience and do whatever we can to acknowledge that relationship.� bigheadtodd.com/

Pat Green

Friday September 3rd: Pat Green was born in San Antonio and raised in Waco, Texas, the eighth of nine siblings. His father was a stage actor, and Green fell in love with the musicals his father acted in.

Green began his musical career when he was 18 and
in college at Texas Tech in Lubbock. "I started playing guitar to pick up the chicks," Green laughs. "Before that, I only sang in the shower. I could mimic other people's voices. It took me a long time to find my own voice, but once I did, I became very comfortable with it. It's not real pretty but it's believable."

During those college years, Green started playing clubs and opening shows for other artists. In 1995, he put out his first independent record.

"I don't know exactly where it began, if it was Willie Nelson's picnic or one of Jerry Jeff's shows, but I got asked to play and there was a huge crowd there," Green says. "After that show, we started getting some radio support. All of a sudden, everything started happening at once. We were selling a ton of records. We were able sell out Billy Bob's. In Dallas-Fort Worth, we were selling 4, 5, 6000 seats. In Houston and everywhere else, it started being 1000, 2000 seats. It just started steamrolling. I think it was a combination of the popularity of Robert Earl Keen, Jerry Jeff Walker and Willie Nelson leading the forefront for us little guys. We just all fell in line behind them."

The result of that faith was Green's 2001 major-label debut, Three Days, on Republic/Universal. The album Wave On Wave followed in 2003, and debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard country albums chart, and the title track cracked the Top 5 on the singles chart. He released Lucky Ones in 2004. In 2006, after a move to the RCA imprint BNA, he issued Cannonball.
www.patgreen.com

STS9, Ghostland Observatory

Sunday September 5th: A family member of ours has a shortwave radio that we have all been messing around with. We had been using it for sound effects and noises when one day it was left it on in the studio. Keyboardist David Phipps� daughter Aya was playing around with the dials when all of a sudden it stopped on this voice on the super low frequencies of the spectrum. It was a woman's voice, artificial we later found out, counting off numbers in a very clear and concise way. We became obsessed with what we had heard and for weeks we sat behind the dials trying to find more voices.

There was only one more to be found, the voice we sampled for the beginning of the song �Central�. After a bit of research, we found that these were numbers stations, thought to be coded messages various governments use to send correspondence to spy's overseas. This of course isn�t publicly acknowledged by any government, even though in 2001 the United States tried the Cuban Five for spying using information they supposedly received and decoded by broadcast from a Cuban numbers station.

STS9 has always been fascinated by numbers; finding this transmission captured our imagination so much that we had to see if there was something more to what we had found. Immediately we enlisted the skills of a crypto-hacker friend of ours to see if she could find any relevance to the sequence we had recorded. When she ran the numbers as coordinates corresponding to a map of military bases in California, she came up with an exact location in Big Sur. We immediately went to check it out and sure enough there was a trail about 10 miles back off of Nacimiento Rd. just south of the park that led to this old abandoned bunker type structure. It was crazy. We were all looking at each other in disbelief but there we were. We crawled through a hole at the bottom of the fence and walked inside. There we found a rusted metal box that had a few pictures, documents, patches, passports, and a knife in it. The first picture was of a document from Allen Dulles to J. Edgar Hoover on brainwashing. The second was of two men standing over a map of the Middle East. That image became the cover of our first single �Atlas� off the upcoming release �Ad Explorata�. One of the patches we found was the most intriguing of our finds. It had this physically impossible symbol on it that looked futuristic next to all of the older documents. It�s the symbol we lay over top of every image you will see for the album. In doing some research, we later found an old book of 'black ops' military patches at the Prelinger Library that had a brief description of this patch. It was thought to be for a secret unit that first used satellites to gather SIGINT (signal intelligence) from other countries during the Cold War. The story is that this team actually gathered signals from another civilization in our galaxy. Their motto was 'Ad Explorata, Forward into the Unexplored'.

We�re not ones for conspiracies but sometimes the truth is stranger than anything we could imagine. www.sts9.com

Girl Talk

Friday September 10th:

Avett Brothers

Saturday September 25th: www.theavettbrothers.com/

Drive-By Truckers, The Henry Clay People

Sunday September 26th:

Blue October

Sunday October 3rd: Most people fail to make The Leap in life because they make the same mistakes over and over again and fail to correct them. Justin Furstenfeld made The Leap precisely because he made the same mistakes over and over again and failed to correct them. The jarringly frank �Hate Me,� is one of many reasons that his chameleonic modern rock outfit Blue October is evolving from an intensely beloved cult band to fledgling mainstream radio conquerors. While first three full-lengths The Answers (1998), Consent to Treatment (2000), and History for Sale (2003) resonated deeply with rock fans craving sincerity, eclecticism, and unpredictability, 2006�s Foiled has shattered the glass ceiling, soaring towards platinum sales in just eight months on the strength of �Hate Me� and the luxuriant �Into the Ocean.�

The Texan quintet�rounded out by violinist Ryan Delahoussaye, guitarist C.B. Hudson, bassist Matt Noveskey, and drummer Jeremy Furstenfeld�has been practicing their exhaustingly intense games of emotional give and take since forming in 1996. Frontman and principal songwriter Justin (the younger Furstenfeld by 14 months) naturally assumed the lightning rod position, literally crafting diary entries into shockingly forthcoming tunes about all things abuse and addiction (�Hate Me� being the watershed). Blue October�s rabid admirers responded in kind, roaring confessionals right back at them, a phenomenon gorgeously captured on the band�s 2004 double-live CD/DVD Argue With a Tree, which synchronizes the vocalist�s telling lyrical anecdotes with similarly heartfelt fan testimonials. So what exactly is going on during those infamously cathartic live outpourings? �Frustration and getting it out,� Furstenfeld chuckles. �Or complete mad love. I try to live every song as I can. The ones that I wrote years ago, I can�t take it back to that spot, but I try to sing it for the fans who are actually going through those situations.�

Of course, there are countless bands out there splaying their hearts on their tattoo sleeves; what distinguishes Blue October is the astonishing breadth of their influences. Class act rock guitarist CB Hudson dialed down (and deep) to compose Foiled�s electro-orchestral closing suite �18th Floor Balcony.� Noveskey and Furstenfeld applied their uncanny synergy to �soup up� evocative opener �You Make Me Smile,� originally written largely acoustic six years ago. Industrial junkie/multi-instrumentalist Delahoussaye�s nimble hands are all over the crushing �Drilled a Wire Through My Cheek� (also on the Saw III soundtrack). And big brother Jeremy�s penchant for alt-country restraint constantly tempers not only Blue October�s ADD, but Justin�s unchecked extroversion.
�We wanted to make an album like we�ve always wanted to do,� the frontman claims. �With the eclectic style of it being beat-oriented, it being ballads, it being hard rock. Whenever we do rock, we make sure it�s the heaviest it can possibly be. We want to come out sounding as heavy as Deftones would. And as light as Cowboy Junkies would. And as thought-provoking as Peter Gabriel. Musically and lyrically we try to [extend] our bounds as far as we can.�

Blue October have clearly benefited not only from endless rinse-lather-repeat tour cycles, fortifying relationships with their followers, but a genuine curiosity about the creative approach of predecessors. It�s no accident, for example, that Furstenfeld sounds even more vocally encompassing on this record. �In hip-hop, they double-track the important parts,� he explains. �I noticed how it�s just so clean and precise. It worked out for more of the lyrical �quick-talk� kind of stuff�you know, the real confident, wordy parts. You don�t miss any consonants or any vowels. You get every �s� and every �t.� It�s just really pretty that way, I think.�

Plenty of other people think so too. As incredible as the reaction to Foiled has been so far, after over a decade of hard work and development, Blue October are just getting warmed up. Their Leap is still peaking, and they aren�t leaving anyone behind.
�It�s all walks of life: black, white, Asian, Hispanic,� Furstenfeld notes of the devoted. �And it�s not just one genre. It�s people who like hip-hop, it�s people who like rock�� He pauses and laughs. � I don�t really separate them as categories.� www.blueoctoberfan.com