Music – Page 5 – Ted Mills

Rock against injustice: The Last Internationale marks a return to political rock

September 5, 2014September 6, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

The Last Internationale, from left, guitarist Edgey Pires, lead vocalist Delila Paz and drumer Brad Wilk (also of Rage Against the Machine) BB Gun Press — The Last Internationale, from left, guitarist Edgey Pires, lead vocalist Delila Paz and drumer Brad Wilk (also of Rage Against the Machine)
BB Gun Press

Race riots in the summer. Natural disasters. An endless war that keeps sucking us in. Political turmoil. While the state of the world has a late ’60s/early ’70s vibe to it, what’s missing in this comparison is the music. Where’s the rock and pop to match the times? Where’s our Sly Stone or our Marvin Gaye? Is it just about being “Happy” like Pharrell Williams says?

That is what makes The Last Internationale stand out in a field of abstract or commodity-based lyrics, and they are set to rock Velvet Jones this Tuesday. That title — the name of the French left-wing anthem — should give away their political stance and when they took the stage last month at “Late Night with David Letterman” they brought tasty licks from guitarist Edgey Pires, solid beats from Brad Wilk (Rage Against the Machine), and the growling, authoritative vocals of Delila Paz. The song was “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Indian Blood” the lead song of their debut album “We Will Reign.”

Best friends forever: Rebelution’s opening act Iration have known each other since college days

August 15, 2014September 14, 2014 tedmills Leave a comment

Iration has strong ties to the band Rebelution Photo courtesy Mitch Schneider Organization — Iration has strong ties to the band Rebelution

Photo courtesy Mitch Schneider Organization

The venues get bigger but the friendship between Iration and Rebelution remains just as strong as ever. The two bands go back to their days playing keggers on Isla Vista’s Del Playa, and now Iration is opening for Rebelution’s return to the Bowl. It’s the bands’ third tour together.

Like Rebelution, Iration plays sunshine reggae, positive vibe music. With three albums and three EPs under their belt, they haven’t risen to the same heights as their friends, but the two bands have a symbiotic relationship.

Constant touring fuels Rebelution’s growing status as festival favorite

August 15, 2014September 20, 2014 tedmills Leave a comment

From left, Marley D. Williams, Rory Carey, Eric Rachmany and Wesley Finley started the band Rebelution in Isla Vista

They may call Rebelution’s genre “sunshine reggae” and it may appear that the band is as laid back as a beach barbecue, but there’s very little rest time for these guys. The band averages 120 shows a year, not including travel dates, according to Marley D. Williams, their bass player, with tonight’s Santa Barbara Bowl concert just one of those dates.

“We’re really hustling right now, trying to take advantage of every opportunity we’ve got,” he says. “We have to have a personal life too. The thing that we got from UCSB, apart from our degree, you learn to consolidate things. Two birds with one stone. That’s how our recording process came down to Miami and Burbank.”

Love and death in Santa Barbara: A perfect ‘Carmen’ for Fiesta time

August 8, 2014September 14, 2014 tedmills Leave a comment

Brianna Hunter as Carmen and Brett Payne as Don Jose star in the Music Academy of the West's production of "Carmen" — Brianna Hunter as Carmen and Brett Payne as Don Jose star in the
Music Academy of the West’s production of “Carmen”

It was an idea that was strangely overdue, this production of “Carmen” in the middle of Fiesta. It only took the Music Academy of the West and Old Spanish Days to agree to work together and suddenly it seemed an obvious thing. Set one of the world’s most popular operas in Santa Barbara during the year the opera was premiered (well, give or take a year), and end the performance with a re-creation of an authentic fiesta: you can’t really miss, not when some in the audience are dressed similarly to people onstage.

Friday night’s performance was one of only two (the other being Sunday), making this “Carmen” a must-see in the arts community.

IN CONCERT: Burning Down the House: Arcade Fire delivers a rousing non-stop party at the Bowl

August 8, 2014September 14, 2014 tedmills Leave a comment

Montreal's Arcade Fire lived up to their live concert performance renown at the SB Bowl last Monday — Montreal’s Arcade Fire lived up to their live concert performance renown at the SB Bowl last Monday

Last year, when Flaming Lips brought their outre show to the Santa Barbara Bowl, it was a strange combo that didn’t work: confetti cannons, amazing light show, gigantic balloons shooting out over the audience on one hand; morose and dark music underneath, the opposite of the fun the party favors promised.

However, that promise was fulfilled last Monday night, when another band of live concert renown, Montreal’s Arcade Fire, made their first Bowl appearance. They too brought confetti cannon and streamers, both a light show of mirrors, disco ball suits, and video projection. But most of all they brought their exciting catalog, from the stirring anthems of 2004’s “Funeral” to their 2013 delve-into-dance-music “Reflektor.” When lead signer Win Butler told us at the beginning to all stand up — “you can sit down at the end of the show” — he was not kidding. The audience followed suit, and the band made sure there was no reason to rest.

Quality Control: JURASSIC 5 REUNITE, STORM THE SANTA BARBARA BOWL

July 11, 2014September 24, 2014 tedmills Leave a comment

Jurassic 5 performs a headline show in March in Perth, Austrailia

One of the highlights of last year’s Coachella music festival was the reunion of Jurassic 5, the well loved (and six-member) hip hop outfit that was totally West Coast in all the best ways: laid back yet totally tight and in control of their craft, individually as well as a team. They had cited artistic differences when they quit in 2007, but none of that was apparent when they got back together last year. Now they’re heading to the Santa Barbara Bowl this Sunday and they recently dropped an ace new single, “The Way We Do It,” which chops up the White Stripes’ “My Doorbell” to devastating effect.

But here’s the thing: they weren’t broken up that long, only by hip-hop standards. And the new single is really from 2006, part of a set of as-yet unreleased songs produced by Heavy D just before his death.

“I remember Heavy D saying, ‘Now I wanna make a hit for you guys,'” says Marc7, one of J5’s four vocalists, along with baritone Chali2na, Akil and Zaakir. “That’s the main thing he kept saying. That particular song was one of the last sessions we did. We had already recorded four or five songs with Heavy D. And on the last day of recording, he had that beat waiting for us. And we just wrote it right then and there … It was one of those songs that was just sitting in the vault.”

Lightning Strikes … again and again: FROM HUMBLE ORIGINS TO MAJOR FESTIVAL PLAYERS, LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE IS BACK

May 23, 2014February 3, 2021 tedmills Leave a comment

Just look at the top three headlining bands playing at this Memorial Day Weekend’s Lightning in a Bottle and you can get some sense of how this once-tiny festival has matured. There’s electronic duo Phantogram, Swedish popstars Little Dragon, and one of the godfathers of EDM (that’s electronic Dance Music to the uninitiated) Moby. From a tiny birthday celebration in the forests of Los Angeles, to up above Santa Barbara County in our own hills, to the mountains of Santa Ana, this verdant, pocket-sized Burning Man-like festival has been a victim of its success, moving on to another location as attendance threatened to spill over the boundaries.

Though it started as a private party in 2000, it was really the 2006 move to Live Oak Campground off of the 154 freeway that got the three Flemming brothers, who go by the event name of DoLab, imagining the Festival as bigger than its humble beginnings.

The Dragon that Roared: WITH FOUR ACCLAIMED ALBUMS, SWEDEN’S LITTLE DRAGON IS ONE OF HIGHLIGHTS

May 23, 2014September 28, 2014 tedmills Leave a comment

Little Dragon will headline the Lightning main stage Saturday night

Little Dragon is exactly the kind of group to play at Lightning in a Bottle during its transition period. They are not DJs and they are not laptop electronic noodlers. But this Swedish band uses the sounds of Electronic Dance Music, or EDM, as one color among many on their palette, and they incorporate just as much hip hop as they do jazz, R&B, glitch, rock, and ’80s textures. With singer Yukimi Nagano’s soulful voice the common thread through all of Little Dragon’s discography, the band has constantly evolved over its four albums, culminating in the dark tones of this year’s “Nabuma Rubberband.”

Got your number: 311 headline an unsurprising Summer Roundup at the Bowl

May 21, 2014September 28, 2014 tedmills Leave a comment

Young the Giant rode the success of their second album "Mind Over Matter" to an appreciative Bowl crowd on Thursday. Guitarist Jacob Tilley, left, and vocalist Sameer Gadhia, right, lead this five-piece alternative rock group out of Irvine. — Young the Giant rode the success of their second album “Mind Over Matter” to an appreciative Bowl crowd on Thursday. Guitarist Jacob Tilley, left, and vocalist Sameer Gadhia, right, lead this five-piece alternative rock group out of Irvine.

Hand it to rock-rap group 311. They’ve been at it for 25 years and have maintained the same line-up ever since, and while they’ve dabbled with changing their sound on albums like “Evolver” and “Universal Pulse,” they still deliver a polished mix of feel-good faux-reggae lyrics, uplifting rap, chugga-chugga metal riffing, and funk bass and drums. On one hand, you can say they have a formula and churn it out; on the other, you can say they’re the most reliable of the ’90s bands that are left.

311 were in town as headliners for KJEE’s Summer Roundup at the Santa Barbara Bowl on Thursday. It had been a beastly day for the heat, way up in 90s, possibly in the 100s, with four different weather services claiming four different temperatures. So the idea of sitting at the Bowl watching three other bands open for 311 may not have been ideal for a lot of folks. Even by the end of the evening, large chunks of seats went unfilled.

Star, interrupted: Joe Lambert’s talent shows reconfigure name, dates

May 10, 2014September 28, 2014 tedmills Leave a comment

Joe Lambert, promoter of Rising Star, is preparing for a renamed adult singing competition.DWIGHT MCCANN/CHUMASH CASINO RESORT — Joe Lambert, promoter of Rising Star, is preparing for a renamed adult singing competition.

DWIGHT MCCANN/CHUMASH CASINO RESORT

What’s in a name? Well, for Joe Lambert of Teen Star and Rising Star fame, he’s finding out yet again.

Last August, Mr. Lambert capitalized on the success of his Teen Star talent show by creating a similar show for adults, called “Rising Star.”