Paul Collins

Paul Collins founded the Nerves in 1975 with Jack Lee and Peter Case in San Francisco. The group struggled to gain momentum, but the track "Hangin' on the Telephone," from their sole 1976 EP, was propelled into fame by Blondie's faithful cover on the 1978 breakthrough LP Parallel Lines. Following the Nerves, Jack Lee became a solo artist; Peter Case found success in L.A with The Plimsouls, and continues to perform; and Collins founded the Beat.

The Beat's 1979 debut is a high-mark of late-'70s power pop, a softened and polished variety of guitar-centric new wave successfully introduced to a market eager for rock 'n' roll in the wake of punk. While many of the Beat's contemporaries in the power-pop proliferation that followed the wild success of The Knack's "My Sharona" are forgotten, Collins' spirited delivery and indelible harmonies endure. He steadily records and performs to this day, even issuing a career highlight in 2010 entitled King of Power Pop. His late-career triumph affirms Collins as a journeyman honing the limitless potential of melody and the propulsive tempos of the rock band format. Ahead of Collins performance at Thee Parkside tonight (Friday, May 10), we discussed his history with the city and the recent redemption of the once-negative term "power-pop."

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Happy Birthday, Robyn Hitchcock.

Robyn Hitchcock, former frontman of British psych-pop band the Soft Boys and purveyor of his own rich, brilliant, and deeply weird universe of solo songs, turned 60 this March 3. And while Hitchcock was celebrated in London, his friend Colin Meloy, leader of the Decemberists, thought American audiences should get a chance to fete the man as well. So Meloy put together ¡Viva Hitchcock!, a birthday concert tomorrow, Thursday, May 2, at the Fillmore, featuring Rhett Miller (of Old 97's), Amanda Palmer, Lemony Snicket, Meloy, and, of course, Hitchcock himself. Prior to the show, we spoke with Meloy about how Hitchcock influenced Meloy's music, why they chose to do the Hitchcock show in San Francisco, and what to expect at the Fillmore Thursday night.

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Michelle Ford

White Lung

Mish Way is the lead vocalist of Vancouver, B.C.'s White Lung, whose sophomore full-length Sorry from 2012 is a relentless gust of uptempo, melodic punk. Notable as much for its instrumental ferocity as critical lyrical intelligence, Way draws from her experiences as a formal student of gender studies, a professional writer for such publications as Vice and Noisey, and a self-professed Courtney Love acolyte to inject her lyrics and public persona with iconoclasm and urgency. Way wears many hats, so we discussed her travels, her vulnerability, and the intrinsic connection between feminism and punk. White Lung opens for fellow Canadians Metz today, Tuesday, April 30, at Bottom of the Hill.

You've been on tour in the US with White Lung for nearly two months now. In one of your advice columns, you mention the impeccable complexion of Canadians. How would you respond to a question from a Canadian about how to resist the skin-damaging grease and grime of American lifestyle when traveling stateside?
I try to eat healthy when I am on tour, or else my insides start to fade. Plus, I'm drinking and indulging on a daily basis which is extremely unhealthy, but that's the life I chose. I'm not an athlete or an accountant. My office is the bar. I'm in a world that relies on recreational substance abuse and entertainment. I mean, how are people straight edge and on tour? I do not get it. At home, my diet is very strict and I trail-run and hike four times a week. My body is always confused on tour.

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Reid Anderson, Ethan Iverson, and Dave King (L-R) are the Bad Plus

The Bad Plus visits the Bay Area on a regular basis, and we are grateful for this. As drummer Dave King told us in a recent conversation, that feeling is mutual. "San Francisco is one of the cities we've felt huge support from over the years," he says.

As one third of the Bad Plus, King anchors many of this hard-driving experimental jazz trio's tunes with a ferocity and physicality that's heard plainly on the group's recordings, but is even more evident live. It is largely because of King's contribution that the Bad Plus is often characterized as a jazz trio with a rock edge; the group also boasts the lyrical, harmonically complex piano work of Ethan Iverson and graceful, inspired bass of Reid Anderson. The trio operates in a truly co-equal fashion, with each member sharing in composition duties. Live, the communication of the unit is palpable as it establishes three things in parallel: restless innovation, musical sophistication, and an enormous sense of fun. King recently spoke with us by phone prior to the Bad Plus' performances at Yoshi's Oakland, today (Tuesday, April 30) through Thursday, May 2.

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By EMILY WILSON

For guitarist and composer Karl Evangelista, getting involved with Asian Improv aRts, which support artists making work representing the Asian American experience, profoundly influenced him. While in college at University of California, Berkeley, he met saxophonist Francis Wong, the organization's co-founder. Evangelista wanted to explore dialogues between different types of music such as contemporary, jazz, and Filipino folk melody, and Wong and others at Asian Improv aRts encouraged him to do just that.

Evangelista performs his piece Taglish, exploring Filipino-American culture, at the Red Poppy Art House on Friday, along with Wong and some other jazz stalwarts. He spoke with us about the improvisational element in Filipino music, how his political family supported him in an artistic career, listening to Ornette Coleman when he was young, and his ethical responsibility to be a musician.

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Donna Grantis

To a musician, getting asked to join Prince's band is like winning the lottery. Like Miles Davis, James Brown, or Frank Zappa before him, having been in Prince's band takes a musician to the next level. They are rigorously trained by the absolute best in the business. So how did the young Toronto-born guitarist Donna Grantis get chosen by the Purple One for the high honor of playing along side him in his new all-female band 3rdEyeGirl? We spoke with her about how not to fake the funk when the king himself presents the daunting task of joining his royal guard.

Tell me about getting the call to join the band.
It was shocking. Towards the end of November Prince gave Hannah Ford, our drummer, the task of finding a female guitarist. Somehow she found my Youtube videos, and based upon my performance on those she sent me an email asking if I would be interested in jamming with Prince. Within a week I was at Paisley Park. It was -- really -- crazy.

See also: Prince Delights Himself (And a Small Crowd) at DNA Lounge, 4/23/13

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No need to remind anyone who Molly Ringwald is -- teenagers (and the rest of us) are still watching those movies, and it's fair to assume they will for another generation or two, at a minimum. But it might come as a surprise to some who adore her 1980s work with John Hughes that she has been a lifelong singer as well as an actress. The daughter of a professional jazz musician, Ringwald has now come full-circle, returning to her first experiences in the creative arts with the release of Except Sometimes from Concord Records, a lush, polished album of standards. She will appear at Yoshi's SF on Tuesday, performing as part of a CD release party. Ahead of the show, Ringwald spoke to us by phone about her early experiences with music and the evolution of her multifaceted career.

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Johnny Marr

It's been more than 25 years since the Smiths broke up. Why did it take guitarist Johnny Marr so long to finally come out with a solo album, this year's The Messenger ? Well, he's been a bit busy. Not content with simply creating the blueprint that most British indie bands followed ever since, Marr has worked with artists like folksy pop singer Kirsty McColl, Talking Heads, and Modest Mouse, a choice that's earned him plenty of criticism from former Smiths fans who would have preferred to see him forge a solo career more like former bandmate Morrissey. Why did things work out that way? We spoke with Marr during a brief stop back home in Manchester and asked. Marr performs at the Fillmore tonight, April 13, at 9 p.m.

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Lord Blasto

Biafra with the Guantanamo School of Medicine.

Bay Area punk-rock pioneer Jello Biafra has embarked in numerous high-profile collaborations in the decades since the mid-1980s dissolution of the legendary Dead Kennedys. While he has teamed with the likes of Ministry's Al Jourgensen in the industrial-punk project Lard and tracked classic albums with Canadian contemporaries NoMeansNo and D.O.A. -- in addition to recording and touring with grunge iconoclasts Melvins -- it wasn't until Biafra fronted the then-named Axis of Merry Evildoers at his 50th birthday concerts in 2008 that he once again was at the helm of a full-time band.

In the five years since that illustrious debut, the re-christened Guantanamo School of Medicine has established itself as a ferocious outfit. Anchored by the twin-ax attack of Victims Family guitarist Ralph Spight and onetime Carneyball/Mol Triffid six-stringer Kimo Ball, the group has helped propel Biafra into a punk-rock renaissance similar to the one Black Flag/Circle Jerks singer Keith Morris has enjoyed with his quartet OFF!. Biafra spoke with All Shook Down last week about his new Alternative Tentacles album with the Guantanamo School of Medicine, White People and the Damage Done, and the band's upcoming performances at Coachella. Jello and the band also play a homecoming show at the Great American Music Hall this Sunday, April 14, with the aforementioned Victims Family and a reunited Harold Ray Live in Concert.

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Sparks

Sparks began in early '70s Los Angeles, but found a more receptive audience for their early identity as a highly idiosyncratic and bombastic rock group on the fringe of glam rock in Europe. Led by the Mael Brothers, Russell and Ron, who lead respective personae as the flamboyant frontman and stoic keyboardist, Sparks now boast 22 studio albums spanning an eclectic career of more than 40 years.

The Mael Brothers premiered their most recent conceptual tour, lasciviously entitled Two Hands One Mouth, in Europe late last year. We caught up with Russell Mael after a rehearsal for its American debut, and the band's two shows at the Chapel this week (April 9 and 10). The show presents the group in a distilled form, literally thrusting Ron and Russell center stage to represent their typically highly-produced songs without a band or prerecorded material. We spoke with Mael about how this format exposes the duo, its sexual overtones, and the Ron Mael impersonators peppering Sparks audiences around the world.

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