The Drive-By Truckers are rock ‘n’ roll. Lead Trucker Patterson Hood dredges up tales of love, life on the road and life in the South—it’s pure, gritty and, of course, it ain’t always pretty. It’s been a long road for the Athens sextet, perhaps evidenced by the fact that there are more fo

Last year The Mother Hips quietly released Pacific Dust, a record that continues the band’s knack for seamlessly blending country, ’60s pop and pure rock ‘n’ roll. Goddamn right it made the TDoL Best Of Twenty-Oh-Nine list. The Hips are on tour and recently made a stop at Daytrotter to record some ra

I was never very keen on Danger Mouse’s The Grey Album. A couple of listens and I was done. I give credit to the process of creating it, and there were some interesting parts—but overall it sounded pretty ham-fisted, and ultimately received more attention (lots from Entertainment Weekly … ’nuff said)

Black Tambourine is about the furthest thing from metal you can get. But they get the nod for Black Friday today … because I don’t feel like writing about the latest Haemorrhage record. Slumberland Records has been churning out precious indie pop records for two decades now. What can I say? I’ve become qui

Talk about a hiatus. TDoL—the blog that never sleeps (except Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3 a.m. to 6:15 a.m.)—has been away for a couple of weeks, traveling, learning to put chains on tires, and being just plain naughty. But mostly I’ve spent the time away recharging the batteries and contemplat

Talk about a hiatus. TDoL—the blog that never sleeps (except Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3 a.m. to 6:15 a.m.)—has been away for a couple of weeks, traveling, learning to put chains on tires, and being just plain naughty. But mostly I’ve spent the time away recharging the batteries and contemplat

Denmark’s The Kissaway Trail hasn’t released any new material since their 2007 debut. I don’t know about you, but two years seems like an eternity. The band melted my ears with a ridiculously awesome-titled song called “Smother + Evil = Hurt” and then disappeared … mathematically it would

I’m often drawn to bands based on their names … which is why I am a big fan of Italy’s Necrodeath—not to mention they sure can play some good jams. Surfer Blood is another band I had to check out because of their handle. Quick word association: Surfer Blood, Great White shark, Jaws, Steven Spielberg,

Fleetwood Mac released Tusk at a strange time. For the band, they faced the daunting task of following up 1977’s do-no-wrong, mega-quadrillion selling Rumours. But 1979 was also just a weird time in music. Disco was still popular—although it had just suffered the equivalent of a Nazi book burning at Comiskey Par

Seems like it was only yesterday that I was cobbling together the TDoL best of 2008. Yes, time flies when you’re old and surly. And, yes, I know year-end lists are everywhere, cliché, overdone and a dime a dozen—but I do love them so. These lists are difficult to make, too. I mean who has time [...]

So Jann Wenner and his rock ‘n’ roll boys club have again slammed the door on KISS, denying the band entrance into the Rock and Roll Hall of Lame this year after they received their first nomination. Well, at least John Cougar is in there. KISS should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. [...]

Remember alt-country? The Uncle Tupelos, The Jayhawks, the Whiskeytowns and Old 97’s that were going to take over the world the way grunge bands did only a few years before? While the genre never quite took off the way record labels had probably hoped, some of the bands did all right for themselves … or at [...]

… and this just felt appropriate. And what can I say—sometimes I feel like posting random Ramones videos. Tied with Lindsey Buckingham’s “Holiday Road” for best song on the National Lampoon’s Vacation soundtrack. addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fthedaysoflore.com%2Fits-friday%2F'; add

At a recent Portland performance Liam Finn was a man possessed, bouncing between guitar and drums while his own looped beats and guitars blasted alongside him. Musical partner Eliza-Jane Barnes provided sort of a calming elegance with her sweet harmonies and delicate percussion. That chemistry and energy is difficult to cat

I had to go a little further than the refrigerator to find these Sandwitches … OK, that’s ridiculous. But I’m not deleting it. San Francisco’s The Sandwitches play sweet, sweet, sweet pop tunes that traverse the long and lonely stretch of road between early country western and folk and Girl Groups an

Neo-psychedelic garage rock has been done to death. It’s sorta lost its oomph, lost its lovin’ feeling … lost in translation, lost in space. Portland’s Bodhi—which I’m hoping is named after Patrick Swayze’s character in Point Break—is an exception. Sure, all the elements are t

Today’s the day. It was one year ago that Black Friday kicked off at The Days of Lore. Of course, the name was taken from that day people treat Best Buys and Wal-Marts like the front row of a Who concert just so they can snag a copy of Rock Band: The Beatles for three [...]

I’m about to embark on a journey—one like never before. This is my fist year in charge of cooking the Thanksgiving turkey, and I’m staring at a 12-pound bird, wondering what exactly I’m going to do with it. Guess I’ll start here with the giblets. I’m actually more nervous about the gravy.

You’ve got to ease out of something like KISS WEEK. I can’t just drop some Canadian twee-pop duo on you … I’ve got to keep the guitar rock going. Much like Mission of Burma, Polvo returned after a long hiatus—10 years to be exact—and have done so without missing a step. Still loud. Still

KISS has been covered by hundreds of artists in different languages from all over the world on dozens of tribute albums. The short list: The Smelly Tongues, Garth Brooks, Freddie Frehley, The Melvins, Metallkvartetten, Anthrax, The Hard-Ons, Lenny Kravitz, Motörhead, Aced Out, The Lemonheads, Scooter, Pansy Division, Nashv

Live: KISS and Buckcherry at the Rose Garden, 11.17.09 It’s interesting to think about the pre-show rituals for a KISS concert in 2009. There’s less beer swilling and doobie smoking in the parking lot, and a lot more face-painting with the fam before packing into the mini-van to head down to the arena. I was st

It was the best of times … … it was the worst of times. addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fthedaysoflore.com%2Fkiss-week-best-of-worst-of%2F'; addthis_title = 'KISS+WEEK%21+Best+of+%26%238230%3B+worst+of'; addthis_pub = '';

[Editor's Note: This post was originally published on April 17. It only seems fitting to run it again as part of KISS WEEK. Besides, before I tell you about last night's KISS show at the Rose Garden, you know about KISS before KISS was KISS. Right?] KISS fans are a peculiar bunch—willing to shell out [...]

It’s as if Geraldo Rivera taped this show 20 years ago specifically with my adult self in mind. The unlikely lineup of Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley—who look like pasty Barbie dolls—and Willie Nelson took the stage together as Geraldo lasciviously probed them on who pulls in more tail on the road. Just kid

Anyone who knows me knows that I’ve pretty much lived, breathed and slept KISS since I was about 5 … which is, no doubt, both impressive and extremely sad. While my devotion to the band has waned over the past decade, I think it’s safe to say that once you join the KISS Army, there’s [...]

How can the members of Slayer—now in their mid-40s—still manage to scare the shit out of me? I don’t know, but let’s look at the rest of the Big Four, shall we? Metallica: Harmless. Megadeth: Whiny. Anthrax: Bush-less. Yes, Slayer still brings it—and in the almost 30 (!) years they’ve bee

Monday, Nov. 16 will kick off KISS WEEK at TDoL—five days dedicated to that one band what wears makeup and parties every day and stomps puppies before concerts. Fret not. Even if you’re like me, and hate KISS and everything they stand for, I promise it will be as fun as drinking Two Buck Chuck [...]

Green Noise was one of the first record stores I found when I moved to Portland about a year ago. Loads of garage and punk albums; not to mention owner Ken Cheppaikode is a helluva nice gent with an affinity for Reigning Sound, and an almost robotic ability for relaying the who? what? when? where? [...]

Green Noise was one of the first record stores I found when I moved to Portland about a year ago. Loads of garage and punk albums; not to mention owner Ken Cheppaikode is a helluva nice gent with an affinity for Reigning Sound, and an almost robotic ability for relaying the who? what? when? where? [...]

About a month and a half ago, I biked (and walked) up to the top of Mount Tabor—nearly giving myself a heart attack in the process —with the intent of possibly participating in a video shoot for The Flaming Lips‘ “Watching the Planets.” The good news is I didn’t have a heart attack. The e