Photo by Alexander Thompson

How often do you have a legendary guitarist wanting to work with you on a project? Not often, but Minneapolis rockabilly band Reckless Ones found themselves in that fortunate situation when Brian Setzer offered up a song he wrote and arranged to the band to record. The band has been touring extensively, but set some time to record their third album; the self-titled record is not the band reinventing the rockabilly sound, but rather adding their own flavor to the genre. It commences with nostalgia and ends with a flurry of sweet, rich noise. In between, over the course of six songs, plate after plate of delicacies are placed candidly on the feasting table.

Set for their album release, Gimme Noise spoke with lead singer Kevin O'Leary before their show at Lee's Liquor Lounge on Friday on his interactions with Setzer and what the rockabilly world is like outside of his hometown.

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"It's odd that my name is in the band name. We are very much a band and a collaborative effort, so it's misleading to have my name in front," Joey Ryan of Joey Ryan & the Inks humbly admits. The lead singer and the rest of the Inks, Tim Dickson, Ryan Mach, and brothers Chris and Matt Mitchell, are crammed into a booth in the back of a very noisy Depot next door to First Ave. on a Friday night, yet they don't seem to mind the close proximity.

The band is very comfortable with one another, and that comfort is conveyed on their new EP, Pause, set to release at the Cedar Cultural Center on Saturday.

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Photo by Jon Wise

As many artists before that have set out to reinvent themselves, Chris Bartels, too, has turned his music aesthetic inside out for his new project, Bora York. The new band has Bartels including his wife, Rebekah, and a few other artists collaborating on a new sound that has built on Chris' former musical life -- that of a folk musician. Bora York's new album, Dreaming Free, has the band claiming the taste of synth pop, while pulling in the gentle and zen feel of ambient rock.

Gimme Noise spoke with Chris before the band's album release at the Triple Rock on Friday about his evolution in sound. 

See also:
Chris Bartels talks Morning's Gold and DIY recording
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Photo by Jim McFarlane

Indie-rock with traces of country is a tough genre to innovate in, and even tougher to simply retread the same ground. Minneapolis band American Revival doesn't reinvent the indie-rock wheel, but it does add something immensely enjoyable to the genre, which is more than good enough. Their new EP, Thank Ya Kindly, is sweetened and prepped with pockets of catchy guitar and melodies. It's not complicated, but it does capture the emergence of the present and the love of a genre at one time.

Gimme Noise caught up with the band before their EP release on Friday evening to find out what the band has been up to and learn the reasoning behind the release of an all-too-short album.

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Photo by Claire Anderson

Talking with Jake Dilley of the Color Pharmacy is a bit like having five different conversations at once. The lead singer is animated and excited, answering questions about the band's new self-titled album tangentially. Although not the first official record, The Color Pharmacy is the band's first studio album. The Color Pharmacy is an album you may think you know, and yet have never heard before. It houses a portfolio of songs with silvery choruses written with beautiful surgical precision.

Apologizing for pontificating, Dilley spoke with Gimme Noise about how he's grown up since the inception of the band and what went into making the new album.

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Photo by Shari Simonsen

Art and music come closer than ever with Minneapolis band Bollywood. Respectively, Bollywood was comprised of two musicians, Justin Sehorn and Preston Saari, but they found their band come to fruition with the addition of graffiti pop artist Mark Vomit. The band is set to release their new album OK Animal, a set of songs deemed as experimental, but skims the expectations set by the band, fully aware of its own sounds and moving inwards to an introspectiveness that lands in the right spot. 

Gimme Noise spoke with Justin on how he met Preston and Mark and how the project came together before the band's album release at Cause on Saturday evening.

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Photo courtesy of West of Aldine

Where exactly is West of Aldine? Well, it's not really a location, more of a destination. The Minneapolis band has been working hard playing around town and their landing place is their sophomore album, Undivided. It's a journey into deep, delicious pop loops.

Before their album release at the Fine Line Music Cafe, Gimme Noise spoke with the band on their DIY approach and how they are giving back to the music community.

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Things get better with time, and so has Minneapolis band Street Hassle. The group has been together for ten-plus years, but are just now releasing their debut album. How do they describe their sound? Rock, indie, garage? No need to categorize the band, but their new album Feeling Machine creates a sense of freedom. Their stripped-back sound that punctuates the album, along with  the band's razor-edged flavor that resonates of bands from decades past.

Gimme Noise spoke with lead singer James Ho and guitarist Tony Nelson, whose photos often grace Gimme Noise and City Pages, about the long road that went into making their first album.

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Photo by Anna Kostochko

The name Mother Banjo conjures up an image of a woman passing along wisdom and stories via her music, mainly her banjo, and Minneapolis artist Ellen Stanley does just that. Along with her band, Stanley has created a new album prime for listening. The Devil Hasn't Won owns its string-led riffs that entwine themselves throughout the album that is creative, stripped-back, and shuffled together.

Gimme Noise spoke with Stanley on her love of the banjo and what went into the new music before her album release at the Dakota Jazz Club on Friday evening.

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Photo by Darin Back

In early summer of 2012, Minneapolis band Greycoats released a five song EP Helicline that was a teaser to their full-length album, World of Tomorrow. The new album is four years in the making, four years when the band took to grow into a new, more-complete sound. What grew was a heart-stoppingly captivating album. World of Tomorrow is bold in content and glorious in composition, an arrangement woven with touches of intimacy and beauty.

Gimme Noise spoke with Jon Reine of Greycoats before their album release about the album and the exciting concept behind the album release show, which includes interpretations of each song in art form.

See Also:
Greycoats stay theatrical but get catchy on new EP Helicline
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