Author: Matt Quina
I grew up with five older siblings. My oldest brother was into The Rolling Stones, Three Dog Night and Creedence Clearwater Revival. This was the soundtrack of my younger days. When I was 14 Van Halen's debut had just come out. I had never heard anything like it. Later that summer, I was helping my neighbor with some yardwork and the neighbor on the other side was blasting KLOS on their car radio while cleaning the car. Kashmir by Led-Zeppelin came on and that was really unlike anything I had ever heard. I was hooked on rock n' roll from that point forward. Here we are in 2020 and I have been working for Screamer Magazine for just over four years and I have not lost my love for rock music and count myself fortunate to be working in this field and have had the almost inconceivable opportunity to cover and speak with artists, who if you had told me five years ago, I would have been photographing or speaking with, I would have told you you were nuts! I have a motto I repeatedly utter: "I can't believe they let me do this!"
CLASSLESS ACT – Welcome To The Show
Welcome to the show! A very fitting statement as well as the title of the debut full-length record from the sort-of Los Angeles based Classless Act. Although their band logo has Los Angeles, CA in it, this quintet hails not only from Southern California, but also Texas and Argentina. It’s a fitting statement for the… Read more »
CLASSLESS ACT – An Unlikely Story
There was a time in the Los Angeles music scene when the formula was simple. First, you would find three or four other guys who could play. You would most likely start by playing some covers, perhaps in local bars or backyard parties. If you became good enough to garner a bit of a following,… Read more »
THE NEW BARDOTS – Just Another Dance
Social media polarization, fake news, causes celebre, political distraction, Russian disinformation, pandemics, Hollywood award show scandals, leaked Supreme Court rulings, incriminating laptops, inflation, Ukrainian war and election integrity, just a sample listing of the zeitgeist that is the 2020’s. As not only Americans, but as citizens of the world, there is something we all have… Read more »
CLASSLESS ACT – Live! – Playing Above Their Class
The last several years have seen an increase of players in the oft-mentioned rock resurgence. Groups like Greta Van Fleet, Dirty Honey and Mammoth WVH come to mind when thinking of this movement. There is another rookie band out there who have been getting their playtime increased during what might be called their preseason. Having… Read more »
FIFTY YEARS IN EXILE – On Display In Glendale, CA – Feat. Norman Seeff
The Rolling Stones’ 1972 double album Exile On Main St. is one of the most iconic rock records ever released. At the time, the band were living in a villa in France, in tax exile from the U.K. Mick Jagger had wanted the artwork to reflect The Stones as runaway outlaws. For the inner packaging… Read more »
CRASHING WAYWARD – Live! at The Viper Room
Back in the beginning of the year 2020, a bygone time that seems so far in the past, guitarist Stacey Blades who is formerly of L.A. Guns, brought his then current project to The Viper Room in Hollywood. That band was called Electric Radio Kings. They had an album produced and were plying their wares… Read more »
(watch here) BLACK CROWES – Live! Record Release Party At The Whisky
No strangers to musical time travel, The Black Crowes have made several forays into the past for inspiration in addition to their bread and butter. From their collaboration with Jimmy Page, playing the Zeppelin classics, to their 30th anniversary tour celebrating their debut record, The Crowes sometimes seem like men out of their own time. … Read more »
ALICE COOPER – Live! Greek Theater
It’s been 50 years since the name Alice Cooper became part of the American lexicon. Although its utterance was probably preceded by expletives from fathers across the country, the arrival of the teenage anthem School’s Out, made the king of theatrical rock’s moniker a household name. That wasn’t the beginning of Alice Cooper, but it… Read more »
JUDAS PRIEST – LIVE! Metal Gods Inhabit The Shrine
The Shrine Auditorium is a Los Angeles landmark. Sitting on the outskirts of the campus of The University of Southern California, these hallowed halls have played host to numerous spectacles of the glitterati. The Academy Awards, The Grammy Awards, People’s Choice Awards and Primetime Emmy Awards shows have all been held within the Moorish Revival… Read more »
Young Guns Tour – LIVE! – The Duel At Wilshire and Western
If you are of a certain age, (hint, one similar to the writer of this article), the term “Young Guns” elicits memories of a group of twenty-somethings, loosely portraying historical outlaws in a very 1980’s rendition of a western film. Unlike what one might see in a cowboy movie, The Young Guns Tour trades horses… Read more »
SMITH/KOTZEN – LIVE! – in Ventura
The last week of January 2022 was a banner week for the city of Ventura, at least as far as musical performances go. To start the week off, The Struts graced the stage of The Majestic Ventura Theater. A mere five days later, on Friday, January 28th, the quaint downtown venue was privileged to host… Read more »
THE STRUTS – LIVE! – Are Strange Days Over?
To quote the John Lennon song Nobody Told Me, without a doubt, just about every human being on this particular planet has come to the revelation that these are “strange days indeed.” Britain’s pop-rock darlings The Struts, somehow found their way to Ventura, CA for the next to last date of their Strange Days Are Over tour. … Read more »