"When you think about [Pere] Ubu and The Pagans and Rocket From The Tombs and the Electric Eels — if you're listening to punk in America and don't know who these people are, then you're f—— up." 

Here's a short interview I did with Lamont Thomas (Obnox, Bassholes, Puffy Areolas, This Moment In Black History) during the 2014 Hopscotch Music Festival. Cool GIFs and whatnot on NPR Music: http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2014/09/10/346625651/question-dot-gif-what-hometown-artist-inspired-you-to-make-music

Photo: Adam Kissick for NPR

Obnox's Lamont Thomas On Cleveland Punk

Maryland Deathfest Portrait, No. 6: Meet Nathan Carson from Salem, Oregon. He's a booking agent and the drummer for the bands Witch Mountain and Two Ton Boa. He also just finished the Metal Noam Chomsky Project, which is exactly what you think it is. Nathan actually had a lot of thoughtful things to say about metal -- especially German death metal band Morgoth -- but this was too cute not to highlight: "I remember being five years old and listening to 'Godzilla' by Blue Oyster Cult and running around with an X-Wing Fighter."

Witch Mountain's Nathan Carson from Portland: Maryland Deathfest Portrait

Maryland Deathfest Portrait, No. 7: Meet Fred Pessaro from Brooklyn, New York. For Fred, “metal is catharsis.” He’s a freelance concert photographer for several publications and a NY-area concert promoter, but his main gig is with Brooklyn Vegan where he pits hardcore and metal material along side the site’s usual indie fare.  Of the many sets he loved during MDF, Napalm Death left a distinct impression by performing one song from every album of its long and consistent career.

Fred Pessaro from Brooklyn: Maryland Deathfest Portrait

Maryland Deathfest Portrait, No. 8: Meet Tara and William from Belfon, Pennsylvania. Tara is essentially a librarian for stamps (so nerdy, love it) and got into metal through William, but not without reservations: "I came to MDF last year and I was scared out of my mind. This is gonna be the worst four days of my life. And by the end of it, I was just like, 'Wow, that was the best four days of my life. I can't wait to go back next year.'"

Tara and William from Belfon, Pennsylvania: Maryland Deathfest Portrait

Maryland Deathfest Portrait, No. 9: Meet YOB’s Mike Scheidt from Portland, Oregon. The band’s thunderously meditative set at MDF was a personal highlight for me, inspiring ecstatic full-body motion something like a decibel baptism. For Mike, he doesn’t think YOB’s musically spiritual overtones are necessarily new, just more inclusive.

“The heart in [metal] is so sincere,” says Scheidt. “Nobody has any illusion of it being any better than this right now.”

YOB's Mike Scheidt from Eugene, Oregon: Maryland Deathfest Portrait

John Baizley and Pete Adams are some thoughtful dudes. Before Baroness hit the stage on an oddly-billed tour with Meshuggah and Decapitated last May, I met them in one of the Fillmore's swank dressing rooms to talk about the South, forcing themselves to move forward, and how maybe the technical guitar thing got a little out of hand. This was my first time with a new recording device, so I lost half of the interview (we talked for about 40 minutes). But, thankfully, this was the best chunk of the chat. 

Stream Baroness' excellent new double album, 'Yellow and Green,' at NPR Music 

Interview: John Baizley and Pete Adams of Baroness

Eli Keszler works in sound installation and frenetic composition, and over the course of several tapes and LPs, I’ve come to find a kindred musical mind, torn with the idea of sound, specifically recorded sound. This is a lightly edited audio version of my phone interview with New York-based composer. A significantly more edited transcript appeared at NPR Music: http://n.pr/t8TfES

Interview: Eli Keszler

I do a lot of things for NPR Music. I like metal, effusively joyful pop songs, beer and bourbon. 

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