By Jimmy Lloyd 

Sylvana Joyce is an absolute force of nature. She needs to be seen to be believed... and even then you will not be sure if your eyes are fooling you. Sylvana so effortlessly incorporates the most insanely disparate genres of music in to her act... Hell... in to EACH song... that the passive observer will not even know what just happened. 

By Jimmy Lloyd

It's been a long long time since the outer-boros of New York City have produced an ensemble of talented song-crafters such as the band Barkhouse. Led by the under-stated Will de Zengotita, this threesome is unpretentiously remarkable in their consistent delivery of heart-torn power ballads and Joe Jackson-tinged anthems.

By Jimmy Lloyd

The Tao of Warner Drive

Life ain't fair... it never was... and it never will be. The sooner we learn this lesson in life the better off each of us will be. We are all born with certain gifts, talents, skills and limitations and those of us self aware and honest enough with ourselves to accept these truths are usually set up to succeed in life by playing to our strengths. While we are on the topic of playing to strengths... there is a band from Los Angeles that I recently discovered called Warner Drive who's main strength seems to be their ability to make a crowd of power-chord punk-rock fans go ABSOLUTELY APESHIT !

By Jimmy Lloyd 

Ahhh… The Sheepdogs….where to begin…? In watching these dudes at an outdoor SXSW event last week, I’m not sure what I was struck by first. The sheer height of the 3 non-drummers standing on stage like hippy centurions guarding the portal to another dimension… a dimension where classic Southern Rock reigns supreme and pungent herb wafts endlessly through the arid air. Or perhaps I was in suspended animation and suddenly saw myself leading a band of Outlaw bikers at top speed….helmetless…. down a sunny highway in British Columbia to rendezvous with our mules to pick up 80 pounds of Humboldt County’s finest weed for distribution all over Canada’s mid-west.  A joint in my mouth, a bowie knife in my sheath and my hair blowing in the wind as I ride, one-handed,  holding on to my ape hanger handlebars.

By Jimmy Lloyd

Remember that song “Scotty Doesn’t Know” from the Euro-Trip movie? That good-times, hard-rocking, hooky anthem that rattled around in your head as you exited the theater. Now… imagine that song was an entire band and that vibe was embodied and personified in that band. Well...good news...that band is the LA based quartet Native June. Led by the affable and engaging lead singer and songwriter Gabe Watson, Native June belts out Saturday night party anthems with greater ease than the average American works an all-you-can eat buffet… which is to say… VERY easily. Watson is a very accomplished songwriter who knows his craft well and has a McCartney-esque likability that is unmistakable and contains the essence of the rock-n-roll spirit circa 2012.