Mike Palm stories

For M.E.L.T.’s release show celebrating their “Innervate/Obliterate” record earlier this month, guitarist/vocalist Joey Troupe came up with an apt description of the night. “I was teasing somebody after the show that it felt like what I assumed people feel like after they get married, that they plan this thing for...

Abi Carter’s No Amount of Dark tour got off to a great start last week — other than some faulty air conditioning in Texas. “In a 15-seater van where only the front AC works and nobody gets any airflow in the back, it’s quite miserable,” Carter said Wednesday. “We’ve already...

After 13 years as a band, Pittsburgh’s The Redlines are going on their first proper tour this week, with shows in Ohio, Michigan, Tennessee and West Virginia after kicking it off Thursday in Millvale. “We’re expecting to eat a lot of unhealthy gas station food,” bassist Tony Vinski said. “And...

It’s been a whirlwind year for emerging pop singer Ana Sky. The California native has worked with noted producer AC Burrell (Beyoncé and Lady Gaga), released four singles and was honored with the Emerging Artist Award at Daily Front Row’s Fashion Media Awards last fall. “I was freaking out when...

Patty Griffin and Rickie Lee Jones may have only met for the first time earlier this year, but that hasn’t stopped the emotive, Grammy-winning singer-songwriters from forging a quick bond. Griffin, the soulful folk/Americana artist, and Jones, who burst onto the scene with “Chuck E’s in Love” in 1980, are...

Comprised of five students at the University of Pittsburgh, the band Straight Decline is playing their EP release show, appropriately, this week at Oakland’s Haven venue. The “Mid-Semester Crisis” EP, which comes out Friday, opens with “There Are No Mathematical Jokes, Only Mathematical Punchlines (Calculus Song),” written by guitarist Nathan...

Atlanta punk band Upchuck will be playing its first show in Pittsburgh next week, and being embraced by an audience helps to preserve the band’s sanity in trying times. Upchuck’s new album “I’m Nice Now,” which came out Oct. 3 on Domino Records, defiantly tackles systemic oppression and the divisive...

In recent Black Satellite music videos, singer Larissa Vale of the New York industrial metal band handles a tarantula (“Kill For You”), gets turned into a zombie (“Downfall”) and is bound and gagged (“Broken.”) With all those extremes in mind, however, there are a few ideas she would nix for...

Singer David Archuleta released a deluxe version of his “Earthly Delights” EP in September, and now he’s on the road for his first big tour in five years in support of it. “It’s been good. Tour takes a lot out of you, and that’s what I forgot because I haven’t...

Country singer Cody Johnson has canceled the remaining dates on this year’s Leather Deluxe tour, including a sold-out Pittsburgh show. Johnson cited a burst ear drum for the cancellation in a message posted Tuesday to social media. The “‘Til You Can’t” and “Travelin’ Soldier” singer was scheduled to perform an...

Earlier this summer, pop singer Daya got away from it all in a weeklong trip with her family to Glacier National Park in Montana. “It felt amazing. It’s so nice. My dad loves those trips. He loves doing a backpacking trip every year,” she said in a recent Zoom chat....

Back in April 2020, Pittsburgh’s Working Breed had planned to celebrate the 25th anniversary of No Doubt’s “Tragic Kingdom” album with a show, but the covid-19 pandemic wound up scuttling those plans. “The pandemic took its toll, and in the middle of it all our original venue, the Rex Theater...

Hardcore legends Biohazard may have had to abbreviate their Divided We Fall tour, but it kicked off in energetic fashion Friday night. The Brooklyn veterans reunited their classic lineup a few years back, and they’re releasing “Divided We Fall” — their first album in 13 years — on Oct. 17....

Pop rocker G Flip may have been born in the 1990s, but that hasn’t stopped the Australian from embracing the previous decade on their latest album. G Flip, who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, dropped “Dream Ride” on Sept. 5, and the album is awash with vibes from the...

The eclectic pop duo Tune-Yards — comprised of the married couple Merrill Garbus and Nate Brenner — have played the majority of their Pittsburgh shows at Mr. Smalls Theatre in Millvale. They’ll add another one to the tally with an Oct. 8 show there in support of a pair of...

A pair of bands with more than 100 years combined experience showed no signs of slowing down Wednesday night. In a double bill at the Pavilion at Star Lake in Burgettstown, shock rocker Alice Cooper and heavy metal pioneers Judas Priest put on a full display of entertaining rock in...

Veteran Chicago blues guitarist Toronzo Cannon got married this summer and moved to Minnesota about four months ago. “I’m like a cat in a new house,” he said with a laugh. Although he may have relocated to a new state, the southpaw guitarist still plans on repping his hometown. “I...

Country singer-songwriter Brent Cobb played a pop-up show last September at the Sheetz in McKees Rocks. And yet it wasn’t his first taste of playing an unconventional venue, and not even the first parking lot he’s played. “You know what? No,” he said with a laugh. “Growing up where I’m...

The newest video from The Garment District for “Cooling Station” could be considered “a love letter, postcard or elegy to” the old-school casino Circus Circus in Las Vegas, according to Jennifer Baron, who has documented the site in previous trips out west. “I was drawn to documenting the built environment...

As Judas Priest continues its tour in support of last year’s “Invincible Shield” record and marks the 35th anniversary of 1990’s “Painkiller” album, guitarist Richie Faulkner is hoping that the new material will eventually stand beside “classic” Judas Priest material. “Well, obviously, it hasn’t had the luxury of time yet....

Before Morrissey started his first Pittsburgh show in a dozen years, the famed Smiths singer acknowledged the absence, and it quickly seemed like no time had passed. “I’ve returned to continue a conversation that you and I were having 12 years ago,” Morrissey said, “and off we go.” With that,...

The classic lineup of the pioneering hardcore band Biohazard reunited a few years back after not performing together for more than a decade, but festival shows around the world have guitarist Billy Graziadei feeling like he did back in the band’s 1990s heyday. “I used to be a little crazier....