Mike Palm stories, Page 10

For the uninitiated, a Gwar concert could be considered an otherworldly experience, appropriate for the shock rock band whose mythology includes intergalactic warriors. With band members named Sawborg Destructo, Grodius Maximus and Bonesnapper, just to name a few, Gwar features over-the-top costumes, geysers of (fake) blood and mock executions accompanied...

When Rodney Justo, the original lead singer of Atlanta Rhythm Section, left the music business in the 1980s, he did more than retire. He “over-quit.” “I didn’t sing a note, I didn’t listen to music,” Justo said in a recent call from his home in Tampa, Fla. “For a guy...

Every night could be Halloween on the Freaks on Parade tour, co-headlined by Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper. Zombie, who also writes and directs horror movies besides his musical career, and Cooper, the godfather of shock rock, brought their unique but complementary versions of horror business Tuesday night to the...

Charles Esten came oh so close to having a perfect weekend in his hometown. Esten, who starred in ABC’s “Nashville” and Netflix’s “Outer Banks,” is also a musician, with a show on Sept. 7 at City Winery Pittsburgh. And his beloved Pittsburgh Steelers open the season on Sept. 8 —...

Jack White blasted through a 90-minute set of raw blues/punk Thursday night at Mr. Smalls Theatre in Millvale. Just announced on Tuesday, the show sold out in minutes on Wednesday afternoon, leading to a long, winding line at the ticket gate, with fans who struck out offering anywhere from $250...

Jack White is coming to Pittsburgh for an intimate show … on Thursday. Known for his work in the White Stripes, the Raconteurs and his solo projects, the veteran Detroit rocker announced on social media Tuesday that he’ll playing a trio of new shows. The first of the three shows...

Pop-punk singer Taylor Acorn is originally from Wellsboro in north-central Pennsylvania and is currently living in Nashville. But she feels like she’s going to wind up in Pittsburgh someday, since her partner of five years grew up in Johnstown and his family now lives in Cranberry. “So every Christmas, birthday,...

When Melissa Etheridge started making a name for herself in the music business in the late 1980s and early 1990s, she came in with a wave of other women, citing Tracy Chapman, Jewel, Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow and Indigo Girls. “We all kind of showed up around the same four-,...

Australian singer/songwriter Angie McMahon has discovered joy in the little things of being on the road in the United States, whether it’s the novelty of the different snacks available at gas stations, good Mexican food or even experiencing snow here earlier this year. “It’s pretty special. And it’s just so...

The indie folk/rock band Fantastic Cat definitely doesn’t take itself too seriously. From their truth-stretching band bio to the cheeky slogan on their top-selling T-shirt to the giant cat heads appearing on their album covers, the self-dubbed “supergroup” started as a fun little project and has grown into something more....

If all goes right, Pittsburgh musician Merce Lemon may be making a splash nationally when her new album, “Watch Me Drive Them Dogs Wild,” drops in September. Lemon made a different kind of splash recently when she dropped her phone into the Allegheny River near Aspinwall, where she was working...

When guitarist Pat Simmons stops to ponder his 50-plus years with The Doobie Brothers, it can get a little surreal to him. The band celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2020 (with a tour pushed back to 2021-22 because of the covid pandemic), and Simmons still isn’t quite sure how to...

The music industry has been turned on its head since James McMurtry released his first album, “Too Long in the Wasteland,” back in 1989. “The business model at that time was you would tour to support record sales in the hopes that you would sell enough records to live off...

When bands launch album anniversary tours, they generally play that album and sprinkle in the rest of their hits throughout the set or save them for the encore. Not so for Slipknot, who brought their Here Comes the Pain 25th anniversary tour to the Pavilion at Star Lake in Burgettstown...

Creed, one of the biggest bands in modern rock, is no stranger to struggles. Despite selling millions and millions of records, the post-grunge band could never seem to win over music critics. Singer Scott Stapp faced mental health issues and battled alcoholism and addiction. The band broke up in 2004,...

An army of black shirt-clad heavy metal fans gathered for the 20th anniversaries of a pair of groundbreaking albums, soaking up the nostalgia. And by the end of the night Tuesday at Stage AE in Pittsburgh, they were quite literally soaked. The Ashes of Leviathan tour brought together Lamb of...

With Sleater-Kinney guitarist Carrie Brownstein starting to lose her voice Monday night, the band made a few alterations so the show could go off without a hitch, as the seminal punk band visited Mr. Smalls Theater in Millvale on their Little Rope tour. A pair of songs where Brownstein does...

In the course of 30 years touring the world with Sleater-Kinney, singer/guitarist Corin Tucker has learned that things don’t always go smoothly. Take, for instance, Thursday night, when the band’s bus lost power and air conditioning on the drive from Nashville to Michigan, requiring a late-night vehicle exchange. “They really...