MURS
A true rap icon from the sun-drenched streets of Los Angeles, brings a raw and unfiltered voice to the culture of hip hop. With roots in the vibrant indie scene of the late 90’s and early aughts MURS stands as a testament to authenticity and lyrical brilliance. He began carving his path with compelling narratives and a distinctive sound with the Living Legends collective. He solidified his own legendary status in 2004 with the release of his album Murs 3:16 produced by 9th Wonder on jewel runner El-P’s label Def Jux. From there he was picked up by Warner Bros. where he released Murs For President. Inspired by the legends like Tupac and his contemporaries, MURS’s music is a fusion of introspective narratives and socially conscious themes, drawing inspiration from the golden era of hip-hop and beyond. He, in-turn, influenced the next generation of hip-hop having shared the stage with and collaborated on songs with leaders of the new school such as Kendrick Lamar, Mac Miller and Rapsody. He’s respected by OG’s in the game as well having rocked songs and shows with rap veterans like E-40, Snoop Dogg and Warren G. Over his illustrious career, MURS has released numerous critically acclaimed albums, rocked on numerous tours and festivals , gaining a dedicated following. Along the way he co founded his own festival Paid Dues in conjunction with Guerilla Union. 2016 saw him make hip hop history by setting a Guinness World Record by “Rapping for 24 Hours Non-Stop” during a Twitch.tv livestream. In late 2023 he began releasing his weekly Best Rapper In LA podcast which receives nearly 3k downloads weekly. This December he celebrated the BRILA one year anniversary with a sold-out live recording of the pod in his hometown. Currently he is making rounds on his last nationwide headlining tour, promoting his final album “Love and Rockets 3:16.” After almost 30 years of touring and releasing music, the husband and father of 4, is switching his focus to family.
Be Mine Bash
with support from: Psydeffect, J Picket, Louphoria, Dei Moreno & CityyBoi Don, Jordanna Marie
Bob Mould Band
When he calls, Bob Mould is finishing work on his 15th solo album, Here We Go Crazy. A distillation of the unfailing melodic skill, the emotional lucidity and dynamic fluency he’s developed over more than four decades, it’s also a typically bold realignment of his sonic paradigm. Its turbulent vignettes are scored by Mould’s familiar bruised tunefulness, but the sound is pared back to its fundaments, 11 songs blistering past in just over 30 minutes. “I’ve stripped things back to what excited me as a young guitarist,” he explains. “The energy, the electricity.” Part of the inspiration for this more primal aesthetic is the heavy itinerary of touring he’s lately undertaken, several years spent circling the globe, either in the company of bandmates Jon Wurster (drums) and Jason Narducy (bass) or just by himself. After shows, Mould would hang out signing merch and talking to fans. “Sometimes people bring a lot of their lifetime emotional content to me,” he says, “like they’ve compressed all this coal into a tiny little diamond. Sometimes I’m surprised at the weight of it, the heaviness. I’m like, ‘I’m here for you. I’m listening.’ I’m shocked and grateful they share so readily with me. I don’t know what I did to earn that trust.” Mould has earned that trust with every record he’s made, channelling his own “lifetime emotional content” for songs of wisdom, honesty and volcanic intensity. His first band, Hüsker Dü, bared his angst over furious noise and turbulent melody, an indelible influence on generations that followed. But by the time Nirvana infiltrated the mainstream, Bob Mould had already moved on, having sequestered himself in a farmhouse to lick his wounds and learn new ways to sing his songs. His solo debut, 1989’s folk-rock masterpiece Workbook, was a record of depth and sophistication. Then he pulled another sharp turn, his power-trio Sugar alloying his most melodic songs with his fiercest noise, yielding his most commercially successful work yet. Here We Go Crazy, meanwhile, arrives at a moment of uncertainty, a time of disruption and fear. Mould sees the songs unfolding like the three acts of a play, each act exploring distinct but related themes. The first handful of songs concern “control versus chaos”, Mould explains. The opening title track contrasts images of nature – deserts, mountains, fault-lines – with the tumult of human life. Inspired by a riff that Mould says “sounded like a fistfight”, ‘Neanderthal’ is “a snapshot from inside my head as a young kid: growing up in a violent household, everything being unsettled, feeling that fight-or-flight response at all times,” while ‘Breathing Room’ is “about feeling isolated, cramped-up, and literally needing that breathing space”. Mould knows Here We Go Crazy is an album freighted with darkness; “There’s soothing melodies, and there’s lyrical discomfort,” he deadpans. “It’s manic, frantic, complex.” But no one ever came to Bob Mould for good news, for the easy answers. Pop music runs through his veins, as surely as the electricity that drives his chiming hooks into the realms of distortion, but he’s here to give you the truth, his truth. To give you songs that ring true when howled against a tornado of guitar, that compress all that “lifetime emotional content” into some kind of sonic diamond. There’s eleven of those precious gems here, sculpted to make the heaviness easier to bear, somehow. Treasure them.
Tommy Castro and the Painkillers
Multiple award-winning, California-based blues and rock sensation Tommy Castro is the guitar slinging, soul-singing leader of the telepathically tight and wildly raucous Tommy Castro & The Painkillers. He’s released 17 previous albums over the course of his four-decade career. Each release features its own individual sound and style, ranging from horn-fueled R&B to piping hot blues and soul to fiery, stripped-down rock ‘n’ roll. With his new album, Closer To The Bone, Castro has returned to his roots, delivering what he calls “a real blues record, the way they would have made them back in the day.” Closer To The Bone is the most unvarnished, straight-ahead blues release of Castro’s career, one that bristles with every ounce of his dynamic energy and raw emotion. On Closer To The Bone (Castro’s 8th Alligator release), Castro and his Painkillers—bassist Randy McDonald, keyboardist Mike Emerson and drummer Bowen Brown—mix new Castro originals (Ain’t Worth The Heartache, Can’t Catch A Break, Crazy Woman Blues) with songs originally performed by many of Castro’s friends and heroes. Artists and their songs include Johnny Nitro (One More Night, on which Castro plays his treasured 1966 black Fender Stratocaster, a guitar once owned by Nitro himself), Magic Slim (Hole In The Wall), Ron Thompson (Freight Train), Mike Duke (Keep Your Dog Inside) and Chris Cain (Woke Up And Smelled The Coffee). Castro additionally chose obscure songs by Wynonie Harris (Bloodshot Eyes), Eddie Taylor (Stroll Out West), Jimmy Nolen (The Way You Do) and Johnny “Guitar” Watson (She Moves Me). According to Castro, “These are not the obvious artists people generally cover, and that was most definitely on purpose.” Born in San Jose, California in 1955, Tommy Castro first picked up a guitar at age 10. He fell under the spell of six-string stars like Elvin Bishop, Taj Mahal and Mike Bloomfield. Almost every major rock and soul act, from Ike and Tina Turner to Janis Joplin to Tower Of Power, toured through the area, and Castro was at every show. He saw John Lee Hooker, Albert King, and Buddy Guy and Junior Wells at a local club, JJ’s Blues Bar. Castro often jammed at JJ’s, dreaming of busting out and making a name for himself. He created his own personal sound and style by mixing the blues, R&B and funk music he loved into his own, instantly recognizable brand of uplifting, soul-healing music. As his reputation spread, Tommy played in several Bay Area bands, quickly making a name for himself as a hotter-than-hot live artist bursting at the seams with talent. In 1985, he became lead singer and guitarist for the regionally popular blues band NiteCry before joined popular Warner Brothers’ artists The Dynatones, gigging all over the country. He formed the first Tommy Castro Band in 1992 and has not stopped touring since. Castro received his fourth prestigious and coveted Blues Music Award for B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year in 2023. He’s taken home a total of 10 Blues Music Awards and is among the genre’s most decorated artists. Castro’s relentless road-dog approach—gig after gig, 150 nights a year—continues to earn him loyal, lifelong fans everywhere he plays. The Washington Post says Castro is “phenomenal and funky” with “soulful vocals and inspired blues guitar.” Famed guitarist Joe Bonamassa says, “Tommy has always been top of the heap among blues guitar players. He always puts on a great show.”
Emo Nite
GOOD LUCK CLUB
Come dance the night away to music from Chappell Roan, boygenius, Reneé Rapp, Billie Eilish, MUNA, Madonna, Phoebe Bridgers, Lorde, Sabrina Carpenter, & more! 🤭 Sounds by @thatcrazycreative 💐 Xoxo @thedanceparties 💋
Pecos and the Rooftops
Pecos & The Rooftops have been perfecting a signature heavy blend of lowdown country and classic rock since their inception in a big five-bedroom house in Lubbock, Texas. Formed in 2019 by a tight-knit squad of college friends, the band outfits their soulful Americana with muscular guitar grit, yet remains tuneful and melodic. They’ve carved out a singular niche for themselves in the rich songwriting tradition of their home state, as evidenced by their debut Warner Records single “5AM.” Anchored by the heart-baring songwriting and booming voice of former Marine Pecos Hurley, the band is rounded out by top-tier players and songwriters Brandon Jones (rhythm guitar), Zack Foster (lead guitar), Kalen Davis (bass), Garrett Peltier (drums) and Hunter Cassell (guitars & keys). Big things have small beginnings. Pecos & The Rooftops chose their name—a nod to the part of the house they’d hang out, drink beers, and jam on—just before self-releasing their debut single, 2019’s slow-burning “This Damn Song.” It was a runaway success, earning an RIAA Platinum certification and going on to rack up more than 250 million streams globally. Deciding to ride the wave for as long as they could, the band hit the road directly after and haven’t stopped since, touring relentlessly on the club circuit and opening for the likes of rising country star Zach Bryan. They released the Red Eye EP in 2020, expanding on their already solid sound with more guitar heroics and more complex arrangements, hinting at jazz and psychedelic influences. Hurley has a gift for exploring the shadowy sides of life through his songwriting, offering a clear-eyed and unflinching look at heartbreak, disconnection, self-medication, and wrestling with dark times. On “5AM,” he’s stuck in a self-destructive pattern, trying to live up to the idea of being the man he wants to be, but thwarted on all sides by his own bad decisions. “Wish I could say that I saw it coming—problem is I never do,” Hurley sings over a gloomy guitar line. “It’s too late to let myself feel something, so I’ll just keep running from you.” “It’s about having a habit of going to the bar and getting drunk and staying up all night,” Hurley says from his home outside Dallas. “You kind of know that when you go to bed it’s probably not going to end well—because you fucked up again and you can’t get out of the cycle. It’s about being by yourself in the early hours of the morning. It’s just one of those ‘You fucked up’ songs.” Pecos & The Rooftops have earned a devoted fan base who’ve come out to support them both online and on the road, with the band garnering over 350 million global streams and more than 101 million video views. They’re currently on a nationwide headline tour with more dates to be announced soon. “5AM” is a telling preview of what’s to come, as Pecos & The Rooftops ready their major label debut LP—a bigger, bolder collection of songs set for release later this year. “At the end of the day, I just want to help people with our music, honestly,” Hurley says. Between the band’s wild road shows and their highly-anticipated upcoming full-length, Pecos & the Rooftops are set to do that and much, much more.
Southern Culture on the Skids
Southern Culture On The Skids has been consistently recording and touring around the world since 1983. The band (Rick Miller – guitar and vocals, Mary Huff – bass and vocals, Dave Hartman – drums) has been playing together for over 30 years. Their musical journey has taken them from all-night North Carolina house parties to late night TV talk shows (Conan O’Brien, The Tonight Show), from performing at the base of Mt. Fuji in Japan to rockin’ out for the inmates at North Carolina correctional facilities. They’ve shared a stage with many musical luminaries including Link Wray, Loretta Lynn, Hasil Adkins and Patti Smith. Their music has been featured in movies and TV, parodied by Weird Al, and used to sell everything from diamonds to pork sausage. In 2014 the band was honored by the Southern Folklife Collection at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill with an exhibition featuring their music and cultural contributions. Their legendary live shows are a testament to the therapeutic powers of foot-stomping, butt-shaking rock and roll and what Rolling Stone dubbed “a hell raising rock and roll party.” At Home with Southern Culture on the Skids is the latest full length album from the band and was released in March of 2021. It was recorded during the stay at home period of the pandemic when the band was at home and not touring. The album consists of 11 tracks recorded and mixed in Rick Miller’s living room with some additional tracks recorded at his studio, The Kudzu Ranch. The other songs on the album are a combination of the band’s unique mix of musical genres: rock and roll, surf, folk and country—all a bit off-center, what Rick proudly calls “our wobbly Americana”. Rick goes on, “We put a few more acoustic guitars on this one, as you would expect if you recorded in your living room, but it still rocks like SCOTS. So put your headphones on, get in your favorite chair/sofa/recliner, put on “At Home With” and let’s hang out for a while.”
LOUD 2025: Midwest Vibes!
Featuring: Jay InfluentialDread & $trange No Name Sensei TjunioR Boa Jay LivelyWorldWide ChaosSupa ChronicApex Tha OfficialStooky UPSET Hosted by DION COBBSand DJ Surreal the MC on the 1s and 2s!
Elijah Canick
