94 stories by "Tom Lanham"
Australian singer Sam Bentley reluctantly admits he still lives at home with his folks in Melbourne, even though his ethereal folk-rock outfit The Paper Kites has released two critically-acc…
Ryn Weaver broke out with the 2014 viral hit "OctaHate." It's been a long, serpentine trip for San Diego-bred singer Ryn Weaver, who issued her charming debut "The Fool" this »
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Actor Jeff Daniels has won an Emmy for his shrewd performance as news anchor Will McAvoy in HBO's Aaron-Sorkin-scripted "The Newsroom," and throughout his four-decade-long film and Broadway …
In his parallel life as an actor, operatic-timbred vocalist Josh Groban never shies away from zany roles. He played Miss Piggy's love interest on a recent episode of TV's reboot »
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Sometimes musicians need a little outside affirmation to convince them that they have a band. Producer-multi-instrumentalist Mike Del Rio, employed by Alex Da Kid, was sculpting pop songs fo…
With his family band The Jonas Brothers, Joe Jonas had a Disney Channel series and sold over 17 million albums. So he found it frustrating and confusing when his 2011 »
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Singer-songwriter Nils Lofgren enjoys keeping up with his old pals. A few years ago, driving through his new hometown in Arizona, his cellular rang. It was his former employer Neil »
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Roches-rustic outfit Girlpool " guitarist-vocalist Cleo Tucker and bassist-vocalist Harmony Tividad " didn't set out to track their debut "Before the World Was Big" as a drum-less duo. They …
In America, British singer Florence Welch has become well-known not just for her elegiac music, but for her chic-designer-empowered fashion sense that has landed her in magazines in both "be…
In 2012, an artistic collaboration was the last thing on Iowa-based folksinger Iris DeMent's mind. She was busily recording, then touring behind, "Sing the Delta," her first album of origina…
On tour with her rock quartet Bully, bandleader Alicia Bognanno follows a code that's her own spin on the Golden Rule: "Always be nice to other people and treat them »
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There is probably no greater venue to see Icelandic ensemble Of Monsters and Men than Berkeley's Greek Theatre. The band's whimsical, traditional-lore-steeped folk rock — on its 2011 d…
Don't get Lauren Mayberry started on the best-laid plans of mice and men. The Scottish lass had huge career aspirations in college, aiming for a degree in law. But she »
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Britain's Drenge, a duo of brothers, created a brutal wall-of-sound racket on its self-titled 2013 debut in tracks such as "Dogmeat," "Face Like a Skull" and "I Want to Break »
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British electronic outfit AlunaGeorge will be premiering at least two thumping new songs " "Heartbreak Horizon" and "In My Head" — from its upcoming, as-yet-untitled sophomore album wh…
Garbage chanteuse Shirley Manson downplays it as "just a little treat for the fans to support a foundation that I really care about." But it was quite the event when »
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Percussionist-lyricist Louie Perez still remembers that fateful night in the early 1980s, when his then-more-Mexican-folkloric band Los Lobos was thrown, last minute, onto an Olympic Auditor…
Scottish singer-songwriter Greg Holden was seeking transformational wisdom two years ago when he trekked high into the Indian Himalayas to meet the Dalai Lama in his temporary hometown. Yet …
Mention the term "renaissance" to Duran Duran frontfop Simon Le Bon " referring to "Paper Gods," the band's new comeback for Warner Bros. — and his English wit kicks in. »
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Reality-TV fans might remember Ty Taylor as the spunky, mohawk-sporting contestant on the 2005 show "Rock Star: INXS," in which the Australian outfit sought a replacement vocalist for late f…
Ever since Soundgarden/Audioslave shriekmeister Chris Cornell moved from Paris " where he owns and operates a bistro, Black Calavados " to Miami, where he purchased a studio, friends keep as…
Some songwriters couch their personal travails or beliefs in metaphors, never giving listeners a glimpse of anything personal. Then there's Best Coast anchor Bethany Cosentino, who can't hel…
Circa Waves frontman Kieran Shudall admits that the secret to his Liverpool outfit's chart-topping overseas success isn't arcane or complicated. It's simply failure. "I think you have to fai…
With a starring role as Cinna in the dystopian-future film series "The Hunger Games" and the 2014 record "Strut" issued on his own Roxie Records, Lenny Kravitz has been experiencing »
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Nathan Williams, a San Diego punk-popper who used to subscribe to the DIY mindset as virtual one-man band Wavves, has expanded his horizons for his latest fifth album, "V." He »
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