Interview: Deerhoof
Opportunity Knocks
by John Davidson

Deerhoof has always been a little bit too weird for most folks, what with the way they flit from pop to jazz to avante garde to punk. The semi-controlled chaos went largely unnoticed despite putting out seven albums on the erstwhile Kill Rock Stars record label, home to luminaries such as Sleater-Kinney. But then along came The Runner’s Four in 2005, which put the decade-old band in the pages of the New York Times and near universal praise. We’ve always thought that Deerhoof was more accessible than their indie-centric fans have given them credit for, and on the eve of the release of their latest and greatest album, Friend Opportunity, guitarist John Dieterich gave us the scoop on what makes this little band so keen. 

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Westbound Train
The Boston Ska Band is Still on Track
by John B. Moore

Westbound Train front man Obi Fernandez bleeds two-tone. For the better part of this decade, the Boston-based band has been consistently churning out their brilliant take on traditional 60’s ska, regardless of what happened to be selling big at the time. Fusing ska with rock is nothing new, but doing it well is. The band released two small independent records before catching the attention of Tim Armstrong (Rancid/The Transplants). He quickly became a fan of the band and signed them to his label. With the release of their first record for Hellcat, the aptly titled Transitions, Fernandez, lead vocalist and trombone player for the Westbound Train, talked recently about his band, Mr. Rancid and rockin’ the stage with reel Big Fish.

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