Mighty Shady — vocalist Eric McCoy, guitarists Chris Freier and Jared Murphy, bassist Joel Schwichtenberg and drummer Keenen McBroom — has always carried around the label of “jam band.” To be sure, its sound is certainly reggae-tinged, which nowadays is almost synonymous with jam, but the guys have always felt
Read More →The biggest factor that makes The High Crest great — and make no mistake, the duo of Kat Darling and Aaron Earl Short is great — is their ability to be unflinchingly, and at times uncomfortably, honest. There’s a simplicity to the pair’s writing style that can make it easy
Read More →Even if you don’t know Seth Anderson personally, you’ve probably witnessed the fruits of some of his efforts. Originally born in Nebraska, Anderson’s trekked around the country, with stops in Kansas and Chicago most notably before settling down here in Des Moines. Now Anderson busies himself with a litany of
Read More →It doesn’t matter what profession you’re talking about, whether it’s sports or roofing or writing or sales, every successful person can be broken down into two categories: those who became successful because they flat-out worked harder then everyone around, and those who seem to pick things up naturally — the
Read More →Paige Harpin’s story begins like many girls’ humble beginnings. “I’ve sang since I was a child,” the now-30-year-old said. “I used to be obsessed with Whitney Houston. Then, as I got older, I started getting interested in jazz.” Being blessed from the get-go with the kind of voice that turns
Read More →H.D. Harmsen is a lot of things. He’s a genuinely nice guy. A handsome devil. A snappy dresser. He’s also quite possibly the best local entertainer you haven’t seen. Harmsen’s a musician who’s cut from the Chris Ford/Nate Logsdon/Maximum Ames bolt of cloth, but, in some ways, he’s a more
Read More →It’s been a busy year already for Superchief. For starters, the band nearly lost its drummer, when Ryan Marcum was offered the chance to be the touring drummer for Collective Soul. (He turned them down.) Meanwhile, the band has been putting the finishing touches on a new record deal with
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Posted July 02, 2014in Sound Circuit
It’s a big, busy year for Brother Trucker. The band is a mainstay in the Des Moines landscape, and its members — front man Andrew Fleming, guitarist Mike Fitzpatrick, bassist Lyle Hogue, keyboardist Matt Jesson and drummer Jim Viner — are some of the most respected musicians in town. But
Read More →Dead Horse Trauma is not a band to rest on its laurels. Even among people who aren’t fans of the band’s sound, DHT is generally regarded as one of the hardest working bands in the state. Even as they released last year’s excellent “ViOps” album, they were already working on
Read More →She doesn’t want to call it vindication, but Bonne Finken is starting to see the payoff of trusting in herself. After years of doing things her own way — often to what others perceived as her detriment—Bonne’s newest album, “Fairytails/LoveAffairs” is taking her to the ever elusive next step. “I
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