Dying’s Easy Living’s Hard

After building a legacy of theatrics, the Misfits have had enough of the drama. Published June 10, 2010 by Kyle Mullin for Edmonton’s SEE Magazine, June 10 2010.

There was a time when Jerry Only felt like a misfit even amongst the most infamous punks in the world.

A few short years after co-founding the Misfits, the most iconic horror rock troupe in history, Only found himself celebrating with his punk forefathers at a party dedicated to Sid Vicious, who had just made bail after an arrest on assault charges (the very least of his problems in 1979). But the gathering was soon soured for Only because of all the guests’ syringe bingeing.

“Sid could’ve been the next Elvis if he’d had his shit together,” Only says of the Sex Pistols’ boisterous bassist, who suffered a fatal overdose that night. “Everyone at that party was more into drugs than having a great career. I’m through with rebelling, I’d rather work at expressing myself than dig my own grave.”

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http://www.seemagazine.com/article/music/music-feature/misfits-0610/

Forged In The Fiery Furnace

Shad aims to inspire and guide his listeners on their personal journey for self-discovery
Published June 3, 2010  by Kyle Mullin in Music Feature for SEE Magzine

It was the fiery furnace that sparked some of Shad’s best rhymes.

The Biblical tale of a few men strong enough to not surrender their values in favour of false idols, to stay faithful enough to walk through the flames they were condemned to, compelled the young rapper’s parents to name their boy Shadrach, after one of those Old Testament icons. And as their son grew into a man, he hoped his own hip-hop parables could hold the power to provide the same kind of inspiration.

“It always seemed like a deliberate choice that my parents made. I thought a lot about that intention, what they were hoping for me,” says Shad, who will detail that story with his new song  “A Good Name,” along with several other cuts from his latest album TSOL, at the Brixx on Monday. “I don’t think they were trying to hold me accountable or apply any pressure by naming me Shadrach. It was more inspirational than anything.”

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http://www.seemagazine.com/article/music/music-feature/shad-0603/

The Full Range Rage of Henry Rollins

By Kyle Mullin. Published  May 25 for the Sacramento Press.

An interview with Henry Rollins may seem like an intimidating one — not only because the punk rocker, actor and spoken word artist’s hulking frame, myriad of tattoos, steely brush cut and bristling stare leave him looking like a discharged drill sergeant. His demeanor seems to hold an even deeper intensity, especially during his impassioned spoken word rants about current affairs that he’ll bring to the Crest Theatre June 3.

That intensity was also showcased in the questions he posed to his guests on “The Henry Rollins Show.” He would sit on the edge of his seat, posture rigid, each query rapidly fired as he pounced on subjects with a rigorous vigor that could leave any reporter worried he might answer questions with equal aggression.

“Angry? I wouldn’t classify myself as such,” Rollins said of the flimsy, leftist labels the media tries to pin on him. “I get onstage and tell it like I see it, which takes a lot of vigor, because I’m genuinely into what I do.”

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http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/27943/The_full_range_rage_of_Henry_Rollins

From Heroin To Harmonies

Edward Sharpe frontman Alex Ebert takes lessons learned and applies them to musical therapy
Published May 27, 2010  by Kyle Mullin in Music Feature for SEE Magazine

The crowd bobbed like a stormy sea, more than eager to swallow anyone onstage whole. The L.A. bred hippie-indie troupe Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros had never played Coachella before this spring, or any other gig remotely as big, and front man Alex Ebert’s usual zealous zen was quickly fading in favour of pure panic. So he tried to stave off that stage fright by striking a faux rock star pose, tossing his mic into the crowd — only to accidently knock its stand into the camera pit, where it struck a reporter in the forehead, cutting him deeply.

But there was more than blood stashed away in that gash. What gushed forth was really an opportunity. Ebert peeled off his shirt and wrapped it around the stranger’s battered head as if all his clothes were tailored to be a big bandage, before the band gingerly launched into the holistically healing feel good harmonies of tunes such as “Home.”

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http://www.seemagazine.com/article/music/music-feature/sharpe-0527/

Swimming with Calculated Caribou

Mathematician turned musician finds the right equation for textured electronica                                                                                        Published May 27, 2010  by Kyle Mullin in Music Feature for SEE Magazine

It’s a mere matter of calculated creativity. Before he became known by the stage alias Caribou, Dan Snaith received a doctorate in mathematics from Imperial College London in 2005 ­— and that chance to work on the most elaborate of equations spilled over into his musical theory, helping him tabulate some of the most textured electronica in existence.

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http://www.seemagazine.com/article/music/music-feature/caribou-0527/