We Recommend
Besides the obvious rock, which jives nicely with the KISW set, Tacoma's VIII Days Clean sells itself on its members' troubled past - vocalist guitarist Ron Walvatne, drummer Jeff Welch, bassist Cody Johnson and guitarist Gary Cooper have all battled drug addiction in their lives, and have built this band
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DB & THE STRUGGLE July 9-10 DB & the Struggle has nothing to do with the months of sketching that no doubt led up to the release of Daniel Blue's 253 sticker. Rather, it's a funky blues jam outfit up from California and dead-set on rousing Tacoma's grooving masses into the boogey-state.
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The safe assumption would be punk and bluegrass don't mix. In fact, one might go as far as to suggest the two genres should avoid each other at all costs - with punk likely to kick bluegrass's ass if the two were to cross paths, or bluegrass
Cup Check
Strike One Let's start this week on a light note. An Amstel Light note. Amstel Light, of course, is what beer drinkers drink right before they admit they've got a little girl trapped inside them - so you can imagine the widespread surprise when a receipt from the Boston Bruins' Stanley Cup parade
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Billed as "twang infused Recession Rock," heavy on the banjo, strum guitar and snare drum (and don't you forget it), Pato Milo (San Francisco's Big Chicken Dinner) and Allan Canumay (Seattle's Jettison) of Dead Cat Hat will drop into The New Frontier in Tacoma on Sunday. Dead Cat Hat isn't
Cup Check
STRIKE ONE As you may have noticed, last week a profile of and interview with Tacoma Rainiers announcer Mike Curto replaced the usual string of off-putting jokes and foul imagery that makes up the Cup Check column. I'm sorry if this curveball disturbed any of Cup Check's half-dozen regular readers. You
Archives
A lot can change in a year. And a lot can stay the same. For Tacoma Hempfest, returning for its second year this Saturday at Wright Park, both statements apply. You may remember - it was only last year that all of this was new for Tacoma. On the last Saturday of June
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What happens when Owen Money throws a birthday bash for himself at Hell's Kitchen? Owen Money, of course, you'll recognize from shock rock Tacoma band the Church of Hate, and years of metal service in this town spent offending as many people as possible, spraying fake blood and laying down
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A couple weeks back I spewed praise for the long-awaited comeback of Tacoma band Argonaut. I've liked Argonaut, led by singer-bassist Matt Sader, since way back in my Tacoma Reporter days, so it wasn't hard to do. Meant every word of it. The problem arose when the band didn't end
Guides
Drinking and music - specifically rock ‘n' roll - just fucking go together. Ask Keith Richards's liver. It'll vouch for that statement. Locally, few places allow for the sanctioned consumption of booze and rock quite as emphatically as Tacoma staple Hell's Kitchen, now celebrating its ninth year of tattooed, pierced and
Hip-Toss
Mike Curto's shoes sit beside his chair. He works with them off. "Always," he tells me. The Voice of the Tacoma Rainiers since 1999, it's not the only thing about the Triple-A radio guy that surprises me during a recent hour-long conversation inside his newly remodeled Cheney Stadium broadcasting booth.
Cup Check
STRIKE ONE Oh, for eff's sake. Must I really devote another column to the booster-funded clusterfuck taking shape at THEE Ohio State University? It seems so. It seems, on the heels of Jim Tressel's disgraceful exit last week, Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor decided to become former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor
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You like bass, sure, but are you ready to go on a motherfucking bass ODYSSEY? An odyssey is nothing to be taken lightly, my friend. ... But of course you're ready. Of course you're ready for an evening of bass mastery on display, the likes of which have rarely been
Cup Check
STRIKE ONE For a while, it looked like the dumbest thing that might happen in the world of athletics this week would be Scottie Pippen's unfortunate proclamation that, while Michael Jordan might be the best scorer in the history of the NBA, LeBron James might be the best all-time player. The
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Has there been a more welcome comeback in recent musical memory than that of longtime Tacoma sludge-metal stalwarts Argonaut? I think not. After a four-year (seems like longer) breakup, Argonaut reunited earlier this year to raised devil horns and frothing PBRs from most within Tacoma's music scene, with singer-bassist Matt
Cup Check
STRIKE ONE Hines Ward has something new to smile about ... just what the toothy, dimpled, horribly irritating Steelers wide receiver needs. In an event you surely TiVo'd, Ward took home this season's Dancing with the Stars title earlier this week, beating out fellow competitors Kirstie Alley and Chelsea Kane. While I
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When the Volcano’s resident Dungeons and Dragons expert, Joe Izenman, says something, I tend to listen. (Especially when he’s talking about beards or mustaches, but that’s beside the point ... or is it?) So, when Izenman said on SPEW a few months back, “I first saw Travis Barker leading blues
Cup Check
STRIKE ONE Sure, I've been known to complain this time of year about the lack of sports excitement - no football, bloated NBA playoffs, Canadians on skates for NHL teams in Nashville and 120 games left of the Major League Baseball season. There's no denying it's slow going out there. Of course,
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Sweet Water has played Hell's Kitchen before. In fact, a simple search of the Weekly Volcano's database reveals a Sweet Water show at Hell's Kitchen almost a year ago, in April of 2010. Not that I was searching the databases trying to find old copy to steal for this week's
We Recommend
Bobble Tiki once said of Seattle's rockabilly phenomenon the Dusty 45s, "Not only has this band perfected the art of rockabilly blues, enough so to make the artists of the '50s and '60s proud, but frontman Billy Joel Huels has a pyrotechnic side that Bobble Tiki can relate to." These
