Deep Purple

A Night on the Sunset Strip With Matt Sorum, of Guns N' Roses

[Editor's note: Soon-to-be-award-winning gonzo music journalist Danielle Bacher prowls the late late night scene for West Coast Sound. For this installment, she hit the town with drummer Matt Sorum of Guns N' Roses, the Cult, Velvet Revolver and Camp Freddy.] 10:10 p.m.: Sugar Ray singer Mark McGra ... More >>

Henry Rollins' KCRW Show Moves to Sunday Nights

See also: Henry Rollins: Dead Children in Afghanistan KCRW BROADCAST #212 04-21-13 Fanatics! Our show has moved, or that is to say, has been moved by forces much, much greater than The Big Three and now we find ourselves on Sunday nights from 8 to 10 pm. The wisdom or lack thereof shall make itsel ... More >>

The Five Most Iconic Key Club Shows in Its History

We broke some sad news last week: the Key Club will close its doors this Friday. Since opening in 1967 as Gazzarri's, it has been a staple of the Sunset Strip for decades, under various names and ownership. The venue has seen many popular styles of music come and go, but has, Zelig-like, been at the ... More >>

The Best Concerts in L.A. This Weekend

Friday, February 15 Foxygen ECHOPLEX If you add up the ages of Foxygen's 20-something Sam France and Jonathan Rado, then subtract it from the current year, you will verge on the era from which the duo's album, We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic, takes its cues. There isn't a '60s ... More >>

Music Picks: Foxygen, Tomahawk and Nick Cave

The Best L.A. Metal Concerts To See In February

Sat, Feb 2 Testament House of Blues Hollywood Many metal fans think that the Bay Area's Testament belong next to metal's "Big Four" (Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax). Indeed, classic albums like The Legacy and newer output like 2012's Dark Roots of Earth provide strong evidence for this arg ... More >>

Top 5 Blues Rock Bands That Don't Totally Suck

The 20 Worst Hipster Bands Top 20 Musicians of All Time, in Any Genre Top 20 Sexiest Female Musicians of All Time Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time One common theme recurred again and again about our 20 Worst Hipster Bands list: People are amazed that we don't like the B ... More >>

Angela's Sashes

Henry Rollins: The Column! The Time a Religious 
Swiss Guy Beat Me Up

[Look for your weekly fix from the one and only Henry Rollins right here on West Coast Sound every Thursday, and come back tomorrow for the awesomely annotated playlist for his Saturday KCRW broadcast.] In Switzerland at the moment. Ah, the memories! This is from a journal entry from this day, 2 ... More >>

Fanatics! Henry Rollins' KCRW Show Tomorrow Night: A British Invasion

KCRW Broadcast #149 for Saturday, January 21, 2012 See also: Henry Rollins: The Column! Are You Collector Scum? Fanatics! Sitting on the tour bus here in raining Wolverhampton UK. I am well into the Long March Tour and things are going well. I am sorry to put you Fanatics through a pre-taped show ... More >>

New Year's Eve: Ten Mystical Songs For Making Out With Your Hippie Boyfriend

From the film Zabriskie Point​See also: What To Do This New Year's Eve With a galactic alignment and Mayan prophecy fulfillment on the horizon -- not to mention the Aquarian dawning -- 2012 is poised to be a pretty cosmic year. So as you embrace your turquoised-out, biker hippie wizard love ... More >>

The Top 20 Hair Metal Albums Of All Time: #20-16

See also: *The Top 20 Hair Metal Albums Of All Time: #15-11 *The Top 20 Hair Metal Albums Of All Time: #10-6 *The Top 20 Hair Metal Albums Of All Time: #5-1 *Chuck Klosterman's Favorite Hair Metal Albums One day I was sitting around thinking I want to write a song about ménage a trois...and the l ... More >>

Five Bands Bringing Rock Back To Metal

Swedish occult-rockers Ghost​Trademarks such as death-growl vocals and vicious blast beat drumming have caused the term "heavy metal" to be associated in 2011 with the most guttural sounds that can be produced by mankind. It's very easy to forget that prior to the mid-1980s emergence of subgen ... More >>

EXCLUSIVE: Metallica's Lars Ulrich On Surviving the Big 4 and the Roots of Thrash

Warner Bros.Metallica's Lars Ulrich​Months of anticipation came to an explosive finish in the California desert on Saturday night, as Metallica closed their "Big 4" thrash-fest with a thundering "Seek & Destroy" for 50,000 weary headbangers spread across Empire Polo Field in Indio. By acknowle ... More >>

William Shatner Reveals Song Lineup for His Upcoming "Metal Album"

​Back in February, we broke the news that William Shatner was working on a star-studded new album with some of LA's most prominent metal session musicians (Read "William Shatner Is Recording Star-Studded Metal Album in L.A.: We Got the Details"). Well, now WilliamShatner.com (of course there' ... More >>

William Shatner Is Recording Star-Studded Metal Album in L.A.: We Got the Details

William Shatner is back in the studio working on yet another great big pile of Shat-mazing, Incredibly Strange music.  It's been over a week since Shatner first formally proclaimed Zakk Wylde's mad skills via Twitter( http://twitter.com/WilliamShatner/status/30113065924034560 "Best, Bill"), but o ... More >>

City Declares May 30 'Ronnie James Dio Day'

Dio and the devil horns.​The Los Angeles City Council has officially declared May 30 Ronnie James Dio Day. The announcement was made at Sunday's public memorial service for the recently deceased, eternally awesome metal singer. Event MC Eddie Trunk, the host of VH1 Classic's That Metal Show, ... More >>

Ronnie James Dio, Dead at 67

RJD, RIP​ Breaking: Heavy-metal icon Ronnie James Dio died today. He was 67 years old. After rumors started leaking last night of bad news concerning Dio's latest struggle with stomach (some sources say throat) cancer, his wife and manager Wendy released the following statement today: Today ... More >>

Camp Freddy's Billy Morrison Highlights His 10 Most Important Cultural Events of the 1970s

Billy Morrison​Editor's Note: For Angelenos, guitarist Billy Morrison is perhaps best known for his work with all-star cover band Camp Freddy, which also features core members Dave Navarro (guitar), Matt Sorum (drums), Donovan Leitch, Jr. (vocals), Chris Chaney (bass). Indie 103.1 fans no doub ... More >>

Rhino to Release 'Digital 45s,' with A-sides, B-sides and Original (PDF) Sleeves

In ongoing effort to bring weird little songs from Rhino's catalog to the top of the digital avalanche, the legendary LA reissue label is launching a new series of so-called 'digital 45s.' This morning the label announced the program: Rhino will spotlight songs originally issued on 45 by offering t ... More >>

Dark Psychedelic Rock from The Sixth Chamber Tonight at the Good Hurt

Ignacio SegoviaThe Sixth Chamber in the burnt forests of Chatsworth, CA Local psychedelic outfit The Sixth Chamber creates one of the biggest sounds you will ever hear inside a small club. Rahne Pistor's massive blues riffs merge with Sevan Kand's outrageously soulful wail and a propulsive rhythm se ... More >>

Who the Hell Is Holy Grail?

An L.A. metal band with songs about “chicks, Vikings, ex-chicks, being tough, macho/machismo, FEMA, Fabio, Conan, rad dinosaurs, UFOs and Bilderberg Group,” that’s who

Rock Picks: DJ Quik, Alejandro Escovedo, Ratatat

Also, the Bad Plus, Amos Lee, Built to Spill, and more

Record Reviews: Whitesnake, Pyramids, Greeley Estates

Also, Santogold, Sumatran Folk Cinema

Record Reviews: The Mars Volta, Radar Brothers

Also: Vampire Weekend, Crystal Antlers

"Air Guitar Nation" Rocks L.A.

"Air Guitar Nation," a brand-new documentary about the real art of air guitar, winner of the audience award at SXSW this year, is premiering at the NuArt Cinema in Santa Monica this Friday. Later that night, air guitar virtuoso and "Air Guitar Nation" poster boy Bjorn Turoque (pictured above) will ... More >>

The Way We Wore

Our unofficial guide to vintage rock T-shirts

Cross Rock

A historical celebration of pop crucifixions, from Morrison to Manson to Madonna

Over the Hills and Far Away

The Mars Volta’s burden of dreams

Medeski Martin & Wood to Steam the Fonda

Music Picks

For the week of September 1-7

Jazz Odyssey

(no puppet show)

Apocalypse Purple

Hard and Harder, Abstract and Abstracter

2005 in metal and jazz

Whitesnake, Ricky Warwick

The Sign of Z

Roy Z, metal studio wizard

Lute Conduct

Songs of Survival

Hermit in the Spotlight

Steuart Liebig’s comprovisation unlimited

An Anthem Reclaimed

Penetration

Today’s Iron Maiden sticks it to ya

Revenge against the ’70s (and other hostile decades)

Art and Struggle . . .

. . . but mainly nutso debauch with David Lee Roth

Super Gyration

Sea of Dirt

A stone by any other name

The Wedding Singer

Heroes

Dio, AC/DC: Sagas, cycles and shit-goddamn

Thieves Like Us

Stalking classic rock with the Charlatans UK

The Six-Strings Mystique

Better living through metal

How To Snort an Airplane

The raunch and roll of rock autobiography