Music

New Direction Fest 7

February 21st, 2018

TND - photograph by Kaytlin Dargin The New Direction had no shows booked in January 2012 so one of our co-founders, Charley Wang, decided to put together the First New Direction Fest out of complete necessity. He reached out to 18 local bands to play our little basement over three nights. It went well enough for us to be able to pay our bills that month.

By the next year, Charley was a new dad, so he didn’t have the time to put together the next fest. I took it over and moved it to the end of February, to coincide with…

Wild Hands: ‘Growing Like a Weed’: a feast for the ears, eyes and soul

February 21st, 2018

“There is one all-around theme to the record, but each record has its own individual idea, mostly that going back and forth of finding out where home is.” said Max Patzner, guitarist, artist and lead vocals of the Minot-based indie folk band Wild Hands. He went on to say, “We wrote these songs over the span of two years while we were traveling, so there's a lot of highway references.”

Wild Hands bassist Joe Andrus added, “We recorded it together as a three piece--then added…

HPR speaks with rock n’ roll royalty

January 31st, 2018

Publicity photograph of Wanda Jackson age 17 Whoever said rock n’roll ain’t pretty must have never had the opportunity to speak with Wanda Jackson, often referred to as “the queen of rockabilly” and even the “first lady of rock n’ roll.” The Oklahoma native just turned 80 this year and has just released her autobiography, “Every Night Is Saturday Night: A Country Girl's Journey to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” co-authored by Scott B. Bomer.

The High Plains Reader had the opportunity to speak with her in 2015,…

An Anomic explosion at the Aquarium

January 26th, 2018

Anomic, a two-person band, Jay Stevenson, guitarist and vocals, and drummer Rick Tullar, I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Anomic at Atomic Coffee (they insisted I put that wordplay in the article). Anomic are a two-person band comprised of two pretty swell guys named Jay Stevenson, who provides vocals and guitar, and Rick Tullar, who plays the drums.

Even though there are only two of them, Jay and Rick make Anomic’s sound big enough that you would think there were at least three or four people onstage. They were more than happy to tell me about their…

Warming up to the symphony at ‘Frostival Finale’

January 17th, 2018

No one who has lived in Fargo for any length of time has to be told how bitterly cold it can get here during the winter. As much as we might complain about the cold temperatures, the biting winds, or the copious amounts of snow, we can’t really bring ourselves to hate the winter season.

Perhaps that’s why the City of Fargo began its Frostival, encouraging people to get out and enjoy themselves despite the cold. And of course, the coldest season of the year has had no small influence…

Cultivating EDM: Sub:Culture

January 17th, 2018

Photograph by Logan Macrae From bass grumblings in the Pickled Parrot, Sub:Culture was birthed. The weekly EDM showcase originated by Eric Johanson(EJ) and Chris Patano(Butter), entitled Thirsty Thursday, gave way to something new and refreshing for the F-M area and the whole state. Now on episode 84, Sub:Culture has been bringing the beats to the Aquarium for over a year.

It wasn’t an easy transition, though. For a bit, Brian Noce (DJ Econ) tried it on his own, producing a show called Hump Day. It just didn’t…

Swing Revival Revival

January 8th, 2018

The Squirrel Nut Zippers I missed much of the 90’s, especially the late part. It’s a cultural blank space for me thanks to my undue sense of superiority. I dismissed all things popular. Nothing had cultural merit unless I knew about if before you did and I would’ve loved to have discussed it with you in exhausting detail.

The “swing revival” was one of those things. I’d see scores of weekend-only high school kids at punk shows wearing hats incorrectly thought to be fedoras, atop ill-fitting suits…

Having a Chuckle in Fargo

December 27th, 2017

Chuckle - photograph courtesy of Travis Gilbertson The San Haven Chuckle have been a long-time fixture in the Fargo music scene. I remember seeing them shortly after I first moved to Fargo, a little over seven years ago. As a matter of fact, the band has been around for twelve years. Despite the fact that I’ve had the honor of calling them friends for some time, surprisingly it is only now that I find myself writing an article about them. Recently I had the opportunity to sit down for an interview with a couple of members of the…

The making of ‘Midwest MixTape’

December 13th, 2017

“The DIY scene welcomed me in at the age of 15 and I never left. The DIY scene has allowed me to travel to 49 of the 50 US states. I have made friends all over this country that I will have for the rest of my life. People involved in DIY music care.” says Mike Hansen, the man behind the See You Never label.

He continued, “We really care about the music. It’s not about money, it’s a community that helps each other out and supports each others projects. Everything my bands have…

From the basement: Best of 2017

December 13th, 2017

Heavy music in 2017 was a bit of a disappointment in my eyes, as some of the genres I love have become greatly oversaturated, and as a result stale and boring to my ears (Stoner Rock, Doom, and Sludge).

Black Metal also, which started as a breath of fresh air, has devolved into hundreds of copycat artists that do not look at attempting anything outside of the tried and true formula.

In some ways Vinyl collection has seemed to jump start the music industry while on the other hand it has…

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