While the Detroit area has long been a bastion for music and has produced many a fine rapper, the west side of the state — and Grand Rapids specifically — is getting national recognition for its hip-hop music. Much of this is due to the work of William Jackson, better known as Willie the Kid.
Willie the Kid, who grew up on the southeast side and attended Ottawa Hills High School, is the younger brother of Wu-Tang Clan affiliate LA The Darkman.
Eccentric, off-beat music has never been so accessible as it is when performed by Grand Rapids folk outfit The Northern Skies. With a barrage of fiddles, violins and ethnic percussion blended in with a modern alternative sensibility, the band exemplifies everything new and everything old at the very same time.
As 19-year veterans of the ska scene, Huntington Beach Calif.'s Reel Big Fish can attest to the underground success of today's brand of ska.
Hailing from Chicago, Born of Osiris is headlining The Discovery Tour to celebrate the album of same name, released earlier in March. Veil of Maya (fellow Chicago and Sumerian natives), Carnifex, Structures (Sumerian), Betraying the Martyrs (Sumerian), and GR locals No Sleep for Panama will share the stage.
One of metal's most aggressive female voices will shake Grand Rapids awake in the Monster Energy Outbreak Tour 2011. Preceding the breakdown infused headliner Of Mice & Men, Iwrestledabearonce is on its second tour after releasing Ruining It For Everybody in late July.
A familiar culprit of this grizzly era, it was financial shortcomings of previous years, which brought what Board Chair Byron Mazade called the "agonizing" decision to not move forward with the 2012 Muskegon Summer Celebration.
Spastic, uncontrollable energy has always been a part of the formula for Grand Rapids-based rock band The Skies Revolt.
Even if you spend a lot of time in the Grand Rapids music scene, it's still likely that rock-vets AG Silver are flying below your radar. This isn't by accident — it's because they like it that way.
Kris Hitchcock has many theories about why music-loving people inevitably turn to country. His strongest philosophy reveals that we all sprout from insubordinate teens that eventually need a story to cling.
If you missed the West Michigan Noise! Convention at MXTP in Grand Rapids this summer, or the Dog Days of Summer festival at Old Dog Tavern in Kalamazoo last August, then you also missed out on seeing West Michigan's newest rising star, Wires and Lights.
Arkaik Clothing and Rockstar Energy Drink are planning to level 36 cities in September and October, and they're starting with Grand Rapids. The companies have teamed to host the second Crush ‘Em All Tour, starting Sept. 21 at the Intersection and featuring the vehement death metal of Veil of Maya and the riff-and-thrash technical prowess of After the Burial.
Indie rock is taking over Michigan this fall in the form of four festivals that are similar in genre, but very different in lineups. Reaching its third year, Indie Rock Fest will take place in Grand Haven on Sept. 23 and 24 and will feature several local indie bands from Michigan to play over the course of two nights.
Though the Grand Rapids classic rock/blues/reggae fusion group The Legal Immigrants has been in existence for almost two years now, the band was well-kept secret -- until now. That was when a series of networking victories led exposure with a drastically higher profile.
Earlier this year, ConvoTronics appeared on both the Detroit and Long Island stops of the Vans Warped Tour. They performed on the brand new "Bring It Back" stage — an experimental new platform for rap and hip-hop artists to showcase their music, which member Julius Hayes described as "euphoric."
