Dan Epstein

THE BELLRAYSGrand Fury (Vital GestureUppercut) Okay, let‘s see a show of hands: How many of you have, at one time or another, bought a record by some group touted as ”the new MC5,“ only to find that the disc in question was merely a soggy collection of hard-rock cliches hyped......

Photo by Piper Ferguson Time flies when you’re a Hepcat. One minute you’re in the studio; next thing you know, you’re touring Europe and Australia, where you and your ska-purveying compatriots are greeted like conquering heroes. And one day, you look up and realize that three years have suddenly gone......

Photo by Corbis SCREAMIN’ JAY HAWKINS Best of the Bizarre Sessions 1990–1994 (Manifesto) “I don’t wanna be a black Vincent Price,” Screamin’ Jay Hawkins told writer Nick Tosches in 1984. “I wanna do goddamn opera, I wanna sing ‘Figaro,’ I wanna do ‘Ave Maria.’” Blessed with a gigantic voice and......

”There’s only one Tom Selleck,“ says Josh Homme as he polishes off his second vodka cocktail of the evening. ”There‘s everyone else -- and then there’s Tom.“ The guitarist and de facto leader of Queens of the Stone Age, Homme wields a wit that‘s as dry and prickly as a......

photo by Ralph StrathmannROCKER. WRITER. PUBLISHER. ACTOR. SPOKEN-word artist. Record producer. Media icon. In the two decades since he first came to punk-rock prominence as the lead singer for Black Flag, Henry Rollins has given new meaning to the term "work ethic." And yet, despite his many accomplishments, he's probably......

”I‘ve always thought of myself as a ’record man,‘“ says Greg Shaw. ”My role models have always been the guys who started labels like Atlantic Records, Chess Records and Modern Records by going around selling records out of the trunks of their cars. Today, the music industry is run by......

Photo by Pat PopeGORKY'S ZYGOTIC MYNCI Spanish Dance Troupe (Beggar's Banquet) "We don't live together in a big mushroom or anything," insisted Gorky's Zygotic Mynci front man Euros Childs when I interviewed him about 1997's Barafundle, his band's last U.S. release. I'm still not sure I believe him; after all,......

”We have the weirdest band,“ says Ric Menck, drummer for the classic-pop collective known as Velvet Crush. ”We’ve been going for 10 years, and we have a core following all over the world, especially in Japan and Europe, but we‘ve never really had any degree of success.“ Alas, the good......

Photo by Debra DiPaolo"Y'ALL OUGHTA PUT ME ON YOUR COVER," GROWLS Bobby Womack as we sit down to talk at his Sherman Oaks bachelor pad. "I've seen some ugly-ass motherfuckers on the cover of the L.A. Weekly. I'm 55, man, and I'm still lookin' good." On record or in person,......