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Blunt Mechanic Interview: SXSW 2010

For more than a decade, Ben Barnett made music as part of Kind of Like Spitting. During the mid-'90s, Barnett weathered intense personal storms, regrouping as the music director for Seattle's Paul Green School of Rock. With his life back in order, Barnett is rocking once more, under the moniker Blunt Mechanic. Spinner caught up with Barnett on the ...

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Eric Coleman Interview: SXSW 2010

Eric Coleman is a multi-tasking artist. Alongside DJing, the Los Angeles native also works extensively in photography and filmmaking. He's collaborated with everyone from Fergie to MF Doom and, with creative partner Brian Cross (better known as B+), forms half of the production company Mochilla. Coleman is making his SXSW debut this year, but ...

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El Gavachillo y Su Banda Lluvia de Estrellas

Wil-Dog Abers admits he's the last person anyone would expect to run off and start a side project as surprising as El Gavachillo y Su Banda Lluvia de Estrellas (loosely translated as "The Little White Man and His Band of Raining Stars"). The self-described "white, Jewish" musician has another, higher profile day job, as Ozomatli's bassist, but he ...

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Rachael Cantu Interview: SXSW 2010

There's an almost spiritual nature to singer-songwriter Rachael Cantu's folk-tinged pop that makes it easy to see why artists like Tegan and Sara, Ben Lee and blues legend B.B. King have asked her to join them on tour. Cantu's powerful vocals and atmospheric songs pull you in immediately. Her second album "Far and Wide" was released last year and ...

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Dwight Twilley Interview: SXSW 2010

Oklahoma native Dwight Twilley honed his power-pop sound in the shadow of the Beatles and Sun Records. A nearly 40-year veteran of the music biz, the singer-songwriter has amassed a couple of bona-fide hits, notably 1975's 'I'm on Fire' and 1984's 'Girls.' While many of his contemporaries are downshifting toward retirement, Twilley is as active as ...

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Rainbow Arabia Interview: SXSW 2010

Although Danny and Tiffany Preston, who perform as Rainbow Arabia, hail from the sunny L.A. suburb of Echo Park, their musical tastes are far afield from the punk and pop traditionally found on the Left Coast. Equally steeped in the sounds of Africa and '80s new wave staples like Joy Division, Rainbow Arabia's sunny, percussive pop music is a ...

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Andi Smith Interview: SXSW 2010

Comedian Andi Smith, armed with a self-described "dry sense of humor," has been making audiences laugh for the last several years. She flirted with national exposure on NBC's "Last Comic Standing"– the 34-year-old Smith got booted fairly early, twice – but the St. Louis-based jokeslinger has kept at it, releasing her debut album "Home ...

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