Something For The Rest Of Us is just that, a collection of “oblique” songs (as John Rzeznik describes them) written for the world to interpret in their own unique way.

Rzeznik’s voice is in its best shape since 1998’s Dizzy Up The Girl, with more distinction and emotion than ever,…

“I wanted to really focus on: What are these people feeling? What are they thinking? What’s going on in their lives? How does it make a man or a woman feel when they can no longer support their family, and they’ve sort of lost their way and their purpose all…

MONTCLAIR, NJ—Every artist has his or her own medium with which to paint a picture, whether it be oil, watercolor, pencil, a camera or an instrument. Jeff Beck uses his guitar (specifically an array of Fender Stratocasters) to paint his world, and consequently ours, with sound.

Beck is a true…

It’s nearing one o’clock when relief is finally achieved by ice cold air-conditioning on this July afternoon in New York City, where outside the temperature averages 100 degrees and the humidity is doling out battle scars. Slightly hunched over and wandering along the glass-encased food counter of a 3rd Ave.…

E. RUTHERFORD, NJ—I fall in love with euphony that defies genres, and a charming Grammy Award-winning rapper who was born Shawn Corey Carter on Dec. 4, 1969, holds a very special place in my heart. Finally, on March 6, I was able to watch him in his element at New…

NEWARK, NJ—Daughtry’s performance at Newark’s Prudential Center was both expected and not. I expected the compressed guitars, somewhat the heavier-than-thou approach, but not lead singer and halftime guitarist Chris Daughtry’s demeanor and stage presence.

I spoke on the phone with the North Carolina native a couple of weeks prior for…

Until now, Jeff Beck hadn’t put out an album in seven years, since the Grammy award-winning Jeff. Emotion & Commotion is not just a perfect title for Beck’s new album, but for his music, if you were to create a genre for it. It’s loud, distinctive, melodic and so emotional…

New York City is dreary and drizzling today, somewhat normal for late February on the Northeast. I’m reveling in the fact that myself and my friend Sara, who used to intern in this very building, are finally inside the Island/Def Jam offices and have just landed on the 27th floor,…

Spring is finally approaching, and Chris Daughtry is back home in North Carolina taking advantage of the last few days he has left in town before getting ready to hit the road once again on a headlining tour with friends Lifehouse and Cavo. Today, after asking permission to put me…

I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart shows Georgia-born singer, songwriter, musician, and A-list producer Butch Walker’s innate ability to—much like an early Ray Davies—create an album of storytelling with lyrics that overlap wit with earnestness and exhibit coinciding love and sadness. Examples include the lovesick “Pretty Melody,”…