THE BACKSTAGE RIDER

The Heavy – UK Funksoulbrothers. Check it Out Now. Etc.
Must resist urge to make forced play on the phrase “He ain’t Heavy, he’s my brother”. England’s latest media darlings have brought the funk. And it’s heavy, man. Introducing a band you should probably know about.
June 30, 2010
GALLERY/VIDEO: CocoRosie Live in Vancouver, June 24
Avant-freaky sister-act CocoRosie came through Vancouver to the Vogue Theatre on June 24 and brought with them some fabulous tie-dyed body suits, flowy dresses, blue wigs and NYPD baseball caps, plus a harp, a beatboxer, a French pianist, a squeeze box, toys, metallic balloons and a snake-charmer flute. Yep, CocoRosie’s wooshy folkhiphopera is certainly…unique.
June 25, 2010
A Day With Dinosaur Jr/Sebadoh’s Lou Barlow in Seattle
Seven hours with with the King of Lo-Fi. What to do? Start with soundcheck, detour to a homemade dinner and the kindness of strangers, end up backstage with a scaredy cat poster, drink beer, rock out, then laugh a lot. Here’s a photo gallery of the first day of summer, BackstageRider-style. There’s even rockhands.
June 23, 2010
REWIND: Interview with Duran Duran’s John Taylor, 1995
Duran Duran’s bassist, John Taylor, turns 50 years old today. When I imagined this day, I also imagined I’d be flying around with jetpacks. Here’s a REWIND to 1995, a revealing cassette-taped interview with John Taylor in which JT discusses getting fucked up, being pissed off, lacking in humility, how the band have changed and the disaster covers album “Thank You.”
June 19, 2010
DIARY: Hanging Out With the Afghan Whigs, 1994
FROM THE VAULTS: Another random diary entry from the BSR, in which our heroine finds herself hanging out with one of her fave bands from Cincinnati, Afghan Whigs, while they watched porn and chuffed up lines. “Now, THIS is the rock n’ roll life,” she thought. “Holy crap, it’s pretty sad.”
June 18, 2010
The Backstage Rider NXNE 2010 Reader
NXNE has grown like Galactus over the years, and might soon be ready to eat a small planet or two. And in our so-far short lifetime, Backstage Rider has been all about bringing you the rock (and punk and alt-folk and dance and stuff). Here we combine bands we’ve covered, with bands that are playing this week at NXNE. See what we did there? Clever, no?
June 14, 2010
Smile Smile – Good Texas (Alt)Folk, y’all!
HEY YOU! You could WIN A COPY OF SMILE SMILE’S LATEST CD “TRUTH ON TAPE”. Also: read on about this Texas twosome and find out why The Swell Season aren’t the only folkies who can date and break up and still make good music. Make with the click-through action.
June 10, 2010
Bonnaroo Playlist – Magically Transport Yourself to Manchester, Tennessee
MUSIC IS POWER! And we’ve got a nice little Bonnaroo playlist to help you get through the fact that this weekend you’re probably doing laundry. We’ve got music from Kings of Leon, Phoenix, Temper Trap, The Dead Weather, Crystal Method, Nas and Damian Marley, and, as they say, “more.”
June 10, 2010
Rock Hands of the Month – THE PACK a.d.
Few two-pieces make as much wonderful noise as Becky Black and Maya Miller from The Pack a.d. Bask in their rocktacular glow with a gallery from June 4, with ADDED ROCKHANDS.
June 6, 2010