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One of the greatest American rock and roll bands has called it a day – in terms of hitting the road at least. Less than two months before their "Peace Out: The Farwell Tour" was scheduled to resume in Pittsburgh, and 11 months to the day from when it originally kicked off at the Wells... Continue Reading →
I've never been the biggest Green Day fan. I'm also not big on Rancid - too ska punk for me. But when the two of them were announced to be coming to Fenway Park, I knew it would be worth it because of The Linda Lindas and Smashing Pumpkins being on the bill. Green Day... Continue Reading →
It's never, ever boring interviewing George Thorogood. Back when I was a budding journalist and would interview the bluesman from Delaware, I could never keep up. He was too quick; like his mind was able to hold the current train of thought while at the same time it barrelled down the track six towns ahead.... Continue Reading →
This was a pretty unique one. Queens of the Stone Age, who are currently on the road playing a bunch of festival dates this summer, have announced a mini-tour to close out the long-running "The End Is Nero..." trek. To announce the dates, QOTSA keyboardist/guitarist Dean Fertita gave me the scoop over at Vanyaland as... Continue Reading →
Johnny Dynamite first came onto my radar with his 2021 instant earworm masterpiece "Bats in the Woods," which we were pretty stoked about over at Vanyaland too. Ahead of multiple shows hitting the New England area, I got the man himself to take part in a proper 617 Q&A where we talked about his new... Continue Reading →
Present me with a gothic rock band any day of the week and I'm in. Helsinki's The 69 Eyes are one of the best out there, embracing the ethos of the subculture and living the life like few others. I sat down with frontman Jyrki 69 recently to discuss how the band made the change... Continue Reading →
When I started putting this list together, the intent was to check off my 23 Top Songs of 2023. I ended up with a playlist over eight hours long and decided to do the 123 Top Songs of 2023. Then I realized how insane that was and somehow whittled it down to the original idea... Continue Reading →
Jeff Lynne is saying goodbye to the road with his brand of the Electric Light Orchestra, only a decade after relaunching and just a handful of years after returning to the States. Jeff Lynne’s ELO will begin a trek dubbed “Over and Out” in late August, with more than a dozen shows across America. Known... Continue Reading →
The last time I saw Billy Bragg was in 2017 when he played Iceland Airwaves at a small church right on a lake in Reykjavík. Now I was sitting down over Zoom to talk with the brilliant and outspoken UK folk punk singer, songwriter and guitarist to talk about his late friend Gary Smith, who... Continue Reading →
What's been going on behind the scenes with pop punkers Alkaline Trio in recent years I've found fascinating on a couple of levels. First, founder, guitarist and co-lead singer Matt Skiba decides to join Blink-182 in the same exact role back in 2015, taking the place of Tom DeLonge. Meanwhile, fellow Alkaline vocalist/bassist Dan Andriano... Continue Reading →
The Chronicles of Michael Christopher 