December 2016 | Music Junkie Press

Day 26 on our NAMM Countdown: Throwback to conversation with Doña Oxford, Queen of Boogie-woogie and Goddess of Soul.

December 22, 2016

Dona Oxford was excited. Oxford is known for being excited about her music, but this time she was excited because she had just introduced me to Ray Kurzweil at the NAMM 2016 Kurzweil electric keyboard booth where, the day before, Stevie Wonder had shown up, sat down at the keyboard Oxford had just vacated and started to play for the assembled crowd. But she was even more excited about the fact that later in evening she would be playing for Wonder at the Kurzweil Private party. “He touched my sweat on the keys! Stevie Wonder touched my sweat on the keys,’ she exclaimed, “and now I will be playing for him”. But that is a common story for Oxford, known to her legions of fans as the Queen of Boogie-woogie and the Princess of Soul. Many, many greats have asked her to play for them on stage, in the recording studio and on tour. Her keyboard chops (she also plays drums), her energy, her voice and her songwriting have been recognized over and over [Read More]

Musician couple Sally Jaye and Brian Wright form the new co-op record label “Café Rooster Records” from the shed floor up…

December 22, 2016

By the Artists, For the Artists… Musician couple Sally Jaye and Brian Wright form the new co-op record label “Café Rooster Records” from the shed floor up… By Jerry Horstmeyer I recently got the chance to interview Sally Jaye and Brian Wright in Nashville. They have been working hard on the development of a new record label named “Café Rooster Records”. With the eagerness of their local community, their passion for all things music, and the interest of fellow musicians, they are forging a new path in the growth and support of artists. On how Café Rooster Records started: Sally: So we became friends with Darrin (Bradbury), and he was coming over here a lot, and writing in the shed over there, and recording, and hangin’, and other people were coming over and collaborating, and it just was this little hang. And, music was being made and one day Darrin says “You know, we should put out my record on Café Rooster Records” and Brian is like “We don’t…we are not a record [Read More]

Day 27 on our NAMM Countdown: Tommy Bolan performs at ideaBench at NAMM

December 21, 2016

For Day 27, we invite you to the ideaBench Booth on Saturday for a performance by Tommy Bolan! Tommy Bolan will be playing on Friday, Jan. 20 and Saturday, Jan. 21 at 1:00 pm. Stop by their booth, Hall E #1695, and watch him melt your face off. Location & Hours Anaheim Convention Center 800 West Katella Avenue Anaheim, CA 92802 Thursday, January 19 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Friday, January 20 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Saturday, January 21 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Sunday, January 22 10 a.m.–5 p.m. *Hall E and Levels 2 & 3 open at 9:30 a.m. NOTE: NAMM is an industry only event, see if you qualify for NAMM membership at https://www.namm.org/membership To see if you qualify or to register, you can head over here: https://www.namm.org/thenammshow/2017/badges The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) is a not-for-profit association with a mission to strengthen the $17 billion music products industry and promote the pleasures and benefits of making music. NAMM’s activities and programs are designed to promote music making to people of all ages. NAMM is comprised of approximately10,300 Member [Read More]

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Concert review: Avatar with The Last Band in Munich. By Alex Bock

December 20, 2016

Munich, Backstage Halle, Dec. 9th, 2016 Another night at my favorite venue, another packed room full of excited people. Two Swedish bands were playing that night. The first band was actually called ‘The Last Band’. Take a raspy voice, some dirty guitar riffs and rhythm and you get an idea what the band sounds like. Reminds me of a slightly heavier version of an US band called Junkyard. The Last Bands’ latest record ‘The Fall’ has been released in November 2016. During the tour the band ran out of CD’S, so it’s safe to say they’re having a good run. For friends of theatrics, Avatar is probably THE band. The whole set is a real show, not just the instruments and the music, also the way front man Johannes Eckström acts and talks. Speeches starting with ‘Meine Damen und Herren, Brüder und Schwestern, liebe Kinder….’ (Ladies and gentleman, brothers and sister, dear kids…) in his raspy dark voice, plus the make-up … this could be the beginning of something really dark, but in this [Read More]

Day 28 on our NAMM Countdown: DPA Microphones Makes Music at the 2017 NAMM Show

December 20, 2016

For Day 289, we bring you DPA Microphones and how they are set to Make Music at NAMM 2017! Check out their latest new release: —DPA Microphones will showcase its sought-after range of modular microphones and accessories at the 2017 NAMM Show (Hall A, Booth 6013). Also at DPA’s booth will be Trout Steak Revival, a Colorado bluegrass band who will demonstrate DPA mics during their performance throughout the show. “ We are excited to return to NAMM this year,” says Anne Berggrein, Vice President of Marketing, DPA Microphones. “ The NAMM show gives us the opportunity to highlight our microphones for musicians and their instruments, including our popular d:vote™ and d:facto™series of microphones. DPA is also thrilled to bring another live musical performance to its booth, while having the chance to chat with our customers and potential users in person. The feedback we receive from this show allows us to bring new designs, upgrades and solutions to our musical customer base.” An exciting addition to DPA’s booth this year is Colorado bluegrass band, [Read More]

EXMORTUS vocalist/guitarist CONAN delivers shredtastic covers of Nutcracker Suite with his solo project

December 19, 2016

EXMORTUS have had quite a busy year as they have done some extensive touring in support of their new release, Ride Forth. On December 22nd, they have their final headlining show in El Paso, Texas before heading home for the holidays. Meanwhile, EXMORTUS guitarist/vocalist CONAN started his own solo project, CONAN’S CONQUEST which features his take on popular classical songs. As we settle in for the holidays, you can enjoy his solo album, Nutcracker Suite which he recorded his take on the famous Russian composer Tchaikovsky’s eight track ensemble, “The Nutcracker Suite” with Allen Falcon at Birdcage Studios. CONAN takes the classical songs to a new shredtastic level! CONAN stated, “I’ve been wanting to record this masterpiece for quite some time now and it’s finally complete and I’m very proud of the work! Enjoy this rendition of your favorite tunes this Christmas/Yule or any other time of the year!” Check out an excerpt of Conan performing a section of “March” in the below video clip: You can pick up the full suite as it is available [Read More]

Concert review: The Amity Affliction with Northlane, Stray From The Path and Wage War by Alex Bock

December 19, 2016

Munich, Backstage Werk, Dec. 16th, 2016 This show closed my concert year 2016 and I have to say, it ended with a blast. A few days before, the show was sold out and the place was really packed, from the beginning. The crowd was obviously into all the bands, although all three opening bands had some sound problems in the beginning. Nevertheless the audience seemingly loved their performances, considering all the crowd-surfers, mosh-pits and circle-pits that happened during their sets. Wage War Stray From the Path Northlane The Amity Affliction were loudly welcomed by the crowd. The audience sang along to every song, knew all the lyrics by heart. Almost constantly the security guys had to catch crowd-surfers and see to it, that they got out of the pit quickly, so no one gets hurt. The songs they played were mainly taken from their last two records ‘This Could Be Heartbreak’ and ‘Let The Ocean Take Me’. Wise choice probably, because those records really let the band grow over the last years. Set-list: I [Read More]