It’s been an exhausting last couple of weeks, but nothing’s going to slow down The Rising Tide! As you can see on the sidebar of our blog, we’ve got a slew of wonderful performances to look forward to in the month of May! Interviews with Pangolin, The Ian Fays, The Beggar and The Coal, and more, so keep an eye out on the blog for more information about our upcoming guests.

Speaking of which, it’s my pleasure to introduce you to this week’s guests on The Rising Tide, a band by the name of The Best Friends.

A 5-piece consisting of UCSC students who all met in the Stevenson dorms in their freshmen year, The Best Friends bring together the best of roots rock, r&b and funk in a way that echoes artists such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers and George Clinton. The group’s cooperative ethic is best seen in a live setting, where the band members share the front stage by taking turns at the microphone. It is here that the group really thrives, whether it be powering through their own original material or laying down an authentic cover song or two, for The Best Friends are the closest thing Santa Cruz has to a legit party-all-night band.

The group is coming onto The Rising Tide tonight to talk about their upcoming shows (including their May 11th show at the Crepe Place with Good People and The Jolly Llamas), possible future recordings, and whatever else 2011 has in store for the group.

This and more on The Rising Tide tonight at 7pm sharp! Listen live at 88.1fm or http://www.kzsc.org/

The Best Friends on The Rising Tide is a post from: KZSC Santa Cruz

You can check out The Rising Tide on Twitter right here! By following us, you’ll be the first to hear announcements about our upcoming interviews, the first to see photos of recent performances we’ve put up on our Picasa page, and the first to hear about all upcoming news and things concerning your favorite local music radio show!

That being said, let me introduce you to our first of two guests for tonight’s program, The SHE’S.

Hailing from San Francisco, The SHE’S are proof positive that making great music has no arbitrary age requirement. Much has been made of the group members’ relative youth (they’re in high school), but one need not delve too far into their music to find out that the band’s ability to craft melodies with quality pop sensibilities reaches far beyond what one would expect for a group of musicians their age. Their sound can be described as indebted to the likes of the Shangri-Las, Herman’s Hermits and the Beach Boys as far as structure goes, but The SHE’S bring that 50s-60s surf pop style of music into the modern era, having caught the attention of groups like AB & The Sea, Best Coast and Christopher Owens of Girls (who subsequently put the group on the map by having them open their Fillmore show last October).

The SHE’S will be stopping by our studio this friday night to talk about their ascension into bay area indie stardom, the pressures of being in a touted band at their age, and to perform a special acoustic set highlighting some of the songs from their self-titled EP.

After that, we’ll be treated to a very special visit to the station by Hod Hulphers, better known to the people of Santa Cruz as …And Hod.

A solo artist in his own right, Hod has been active in the music community of Santa Cruz for many years, as you can often spot him playing at the Crepe Place where his take on folk and music has found a home. That being said, the reason for Hod’s appearance on the show this week is that he’s in the midst of promoting a very special event taking place this weekend.

On Saturday night, Hod and a whole host of other musicians (including Little Wings, Sugar Shack (featuring Keith Thompson from The Groggs) and the Snow Buddies) will be performing at the Crepe Place to help fund raise for the Santa Cruz’s Bachelor Buddies Production Company’s upcoming production of the film Johnny and the Golden Bouzouki. A parody of 70s action/adventure films, Johnny is Hod’s most recent foray into the art of musicals. Hod will also be bringing the film’s star (Johnny Diamonds) up to the station tomorrow night with him to talk about the film, his own experiences in music, and what the future holds for Hod.

These and more when you tune into The Rising Tide tonight at 8:30pm! Listen online at http://www.kzsc.org/ or tune into 88.1fm.

The SHE’S and Hod on The Rising Tide tonight! is a post from: KZSC Santa Cruz

Recalling the likes of Dawn Landes, Alela Diane and Feist, this bay area quartet’s multi-harmony take on indie-folk has caught on like wildifre ever since the band began performing together last year. The group’s profile has seen itself rise as they have opened for the likes of David Gray, Jackie Green, and Ray LaMontagne among others. The group released 2010′s After The Flood EP to a rapturous welcoming at the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur, and have more to come in 2011.

Tune in tonight to hear Honeymoon talk about their meteoric rise in the folk music world, preview some brand new unreleased music and talk about their upcoming tour with the Truth & Salvage Co. which will be kicked off with a performance at the Fernwood Lodge in Big Sur this Saturday night.

Also on the show this evening, Birdhouse.

Birdhouse make no bones about their sound: They are devoted acolytes of The Grateful Dead. In fact, the group began as a Dead tribute band back in 2009. However, along the way, the group began writing their own songs and building a grassroots fan base that has followed them loyally as they’ve gone on to perform at various venues around the city of Santa Cruz, most recently a star-making performance out at the Brookdale Lodge.

Tune in tonight to hear from Birdhouse as they perform a special acoustic set in our studio, answer our questions about what 2011 holds, and tell us about their upcoming performance opening up for Ploughman in the Catalyst Atrium on saturday night.

These and more if you tune in to The Rising Tide tonight at 8:30pm on KZSC Santa Cruz. 88.1fm or listen online at www.kzsc.org!

Honeymoon & Birdhouse on The Rising Tide tonight! is a post from: KZSC Santa Cruz

March is here! And as a special treat for all of you, we’ve lined up an incredible series of guests and live performances that reach across the genre spectrum for The Rising Tide! Check out our list of upcoming performers for more details, but let’s get back to what’s happening on tonight’s show!

Our first interview comes courtesy of a group that sold out The Crepe Place last weekend, The Growlers.

This multifaceted psychedelic surf rock act rocketed out of Costa Mesa, California in 2006, and haven’t looked back since. The band’s music shares the same musical shelf space as garage rock luminaries like Ty Segall, JEFF The Brotherhood and The Fresh & Only’s but also recall the psychedelic strain of The Entrance Band and The Mantles.

Propelled by the success of 2010′s Hot Tropics, The Growlers have been tearing it up all over the country and even around the world. Performances at the FYF Fest in LA (which we covered back in September) and this year’s Noise Pop festival in SF indicate that the group is on the rise.

Tune in on Friday night to hear our interview with the group, what it’s like to be an up and coming indie rock act, and what expectations they have of themselves for 2011 and beyond.

After that, we’ll be playing host to one of Santa Cruz’s most promising acts, Tater Famine.

A folk-punk trio from right here in Santa Cruz, Tater Famine have emerged as one of the perennial folk punk bands of our local scene, joining the ranks of similarly thrashy folk such as Blackbird Raum and Matador. The group has steadily climbed the ranks of the music scene in town, having played all over the city, and are quickly becoming a fixture in the city of Santa Cruz. Not content to perform only within the confines of our town, Tater Famine have taken their act on the road to promote 2009′s An Untimely Fashion, and have performed all over the coast and even in Europe.

The Tater Famine boys will be bringing their eclectic sound to our studio up in the forest tonight around 8:30 to play a few songs, talk about their upcoming show at The Crepe Place on March 17th, and tell us a few stories about being a band out on the road.

After that, make sure to stay tuned for our third guest of the night, Mylo Jenkins.

Mylo Jenkins is a seven-piece folk and americana act from Santa Cruz. Lead by Dan Kocher and featuring a roster of Santa Cruz musicians (some of whom perform in the local folk group Tether Horse), they band was on hiatus for a few years, but recently came to play a series of shows at The Crepe Place. We’ll be welcoming a number of the Mylo Jenkins crew to talk about their upcoming show supporting Jared Mees and the Grown Children at the Crepe Place this sunday, as well as what 2011 holds for the group.

These and more when you tune into The Rising Tide tonight at 8:30pm! Listen in at 88.1fm or http://www.kzsc.org/.

The Growlers, Tater Famine & Mylo Jenkins on The Rising Tide tonight! is a post from: KZSC Santa Cruz

These Santa Cruz musicians have been kicking it since way back in 2009. Though individually schooled in different forms of music, the group takes on indie rock, Afro-beat, math rock and dance rock with equal parts fervor and ambition. The group draws on influence as far flung as Fela Kuti, Discovery, Ryland Bouchard and Tera Melos.

Good People have pulled off a couple coups in Santa Cruz. They opened for local folk punk heavyweights Blackbird Raum and shared a Crepe Place bill with Hermit Convention however after that the band stayed largely inactive. Since summer Good People have rarely performed in public, venturing forth only for a couple of shows. The reason? The  group’s been working on their debut full-length (which has ten official titles, reflecting the band’s quirky nature….for simplicity’s sake we’ll call it Good People) which is coming out soon.

Good People will be in our studios to talk about their band, what it’s like to balance the pressures of being students at UCSC while also trying to make a band work and what’s ahead for them in 2011  this Friday night during The Rising Tide program, starting at 8:30 on KZSC.

Good People on The Rising Tide Friday Night is a post from: KZSC Santa Cruz

Tonight’s show is going to feature two very special local guests that are sure to delight those of you who tune in:

Jeremy Lyon is an emerging singer-songwriter originally from San Francisco who moved to Santa Cruz to attend UC Santa Cruz.

Jeremy’s songwriting prowess reveals the influence from classic rock staples like Tom Petty and Elvis Costello, though he takes the foundation laid down by such legends and brings it up to date (and funks it up) resulting in a modern rock sound that places his sound closer to artists such as My Morning Jacket and Kings of Leon.

His most recent work, January’s Take It Back EP, clearly shows an artist who is growing both musically and thematically without losing one ounce of the ambition that makes him an artist to watch for in the near future.

Jeremy, a KZSC DJ in his own right who programs the show Devil’s Music every Sunday night at 7:30pm with DJ Bobo Z, will be heading up to our tree cabin in the woods tonight to talk about his recent releases and his upcoming solo acoustic performance at the Santa Cruz Roasting Company this Saturday night where he’ll be performing with Thema Tillman.

After that, we’ll be joined by one of Santa Cruz’s most promising new bands, BIRDHAND.

Formerly known as Brown Irish, BIRDHAND consists entirely of Santa Cruz musicians who have found success in other local bands, and the pooled experience is evident in the way that the band has played things cool and calm, opening for bands like Mt. St. Helen’s Vietnam Band and even the legendary Bad Brains like it’s no big thing.

As a live band, BIRDHAND draws on the blunt force derived from one of their chief influences, Queens of the Stone Age, but as music from their forthcoming-yet-untitled EP leaks out, the band is evidently taking a more adventurous, nuanced path with their music.

BIRDHAND will be joining us on Friday night to talk about their forthcoming EP and what 2011 holds for the group.

These and more on The Rising Tide, tonight starting at 8:30pm! Tune in to 88.1fm or www.kzsc.org!

BIRDHAND and Jeremy Lyon on The Rising Tide TONIGHT is a post from: KZSC Santa Cruz

It’s the second week of February, and we here on The Rising Tide are going to heat things up with a trio of performers that are sure to match the warmth of this indian winter we’re having up here in sunny Santa Cruz.

First off, we’ll be hearing from one of San Francisco’s most prolific artists, John Vanderslice.

With a career spanning nearly two decade, John has recorded with the likes of The Mountain Goats, Death Cab for Cutie, Beulah, Spoon and Mates of State, and also fronted the band MK Ultra. Aside from that, he has steadily put out solo records since 2000′s Mass Suicide Occult Figurines, most recently releasing his collaboration with the Magik*Magik Orchestra titled White Wilderness (you can listen to a preview of the record here).

John is also a major musical force in the city, not only constructing one of the city’s most treasured recording locales, Tiny Telephone studios, but serving on the board of advisers for The Bay Bridged and teaching songwriting classes for grade school children at a local non-profit organization.

We’ll be talking with John before he takes the stage tonight at The Crepe Place (with Hod opening) about White Wilderness, how he views his role as a stalwart of San Francisco’s independent music scene, and what the future holds for him and his music.

After that, we’ll welcome our first of two live local acts, Skeletal System.

This two piece from San Francisco have been quickly making a name for themselves, exhibiting their own take on murky darkwave shoegaze very much in the vein of artists like School of Seven Bells, Memoryhouse and Tan Dollar, while having shared the stage with artists such as Sunbeam Rd., Woodsman and Maus Haus.

Skeletal System released a 5 song EP and single for Small Talk / Static Eyes last year that you can listen to here on their bandcamp page. Make sure to tune in and hear the group perform some of their songs and talk about what 2011 holds for Skeletal System.

To round out the show, we’ll be welcoming in Santa Cruz’s own Audiafauna into the studio.

This local six-piece has taken it’s indie folk-meets-electronic music sound all over the country, and is just coming off of a successful Kickstarter campaign to finance their debut full-length record that will be out sometime in the new year! Kelly Koval’s vocals recall Cat Power‘s Chan Marshall, and the band’s fusion of traditional folk instrumentation and electronic beat-making technology set them far apart from the rest of the field. You can listen to their three song EP, The Leaflet, on bandcamp by clicking that link.

Audiafauna will enter our studio on friday night to talk about their band’s whirlwind-like rise to the top of the local scene, and what 2011 has in store for the group.

This and much, MUCH more on The Rising Tide on KZSC, this friday night at 8:30pm. Tune in to 88.1fm or log in to www.kzsc.org to listen.

John Vanderslice, Skeletal System & Audiafauna on The Rising Tide is a post from: KZSC Santa Cruz

Allow me to introduce the first of Friday night’s guests: Blackbird Blackbird.

Blackbird Blackbird is the moniker of Mikey S., a San Francisco-based electronic artist whose work has attracted the attention of the press (The Bay Bridged, The Hype Machine and The Fader, among others) in recent months. Though firmly in the hypnotic and hazy world of chillwave at surface level, Blackbird Blackbird forgoes the vocally-focused approach of the genre for a more glitch-and-dream pop sound that fits nicely between Gold Panda and Baths. Remixes and covers of the likes of Beach House and Modest Mouse demonstrate that Blackbird Blackbird is an artist who refuses to rest on his laurels and not challenge himself.

Tune in tonight to hear Blackbird Blackbird talk about the upcoming CD release of his debut record, Summer Heart, his forthcoming performance at the SF Weekly’s All Shook Down event, and what ever else he has in store for us this year!

Blackbird Blackbird will be joined on air by the local group who will be backing him up at the SF Weekly event mentioned above, Old Arc.

This local two-piece has been burning up lately, amping up their psychedelic synth pop sound with a live show that’s equal parts MGMT-inspired tribalism and utter youthful exuberance. Similarly ambitious in scope as Blackbird Blackbird, Old Arc have remixed the likes of Toro Y Moi and Local Natives, and their collection of demo recordings, EPs and remixes have been on rotation on The Rising Tide for the last few weeks.

Old Arc will come into the studio tonight to talk about their live collaboration with Blackbird Blackbird, their forthcoming recordings, and what they have planned for the year as well.

And to wrap things up, we’ll be joined live in the studio by our third guests that evening: The Mystery Lights.

Hailing from Salinas, CA, The Mystery Lights relentless garage rock assault has terrorized this part of the state for several years. Sounding like something of a fever dream straight out of a 60s psych festival, The Mystery Lights are poised to deliver the goods in 2011, including the follow up to 2009′s Teenage Catgirls and The Mystery Lightshow. The band has been laying low for the past few months, but they are returning to help support the one-night-only reunion of The Spurts at the Crepe Place on Thursday, February 3rd (also playing are Sugar Shack).

Tune in tonight to hear from these artists and more, starting at 8:30pm on KZSC Santa Cruz!

- DJ PassiveTheory

Blackbird Blackbird, Old Arc & The Mystery Lights on The Rising Tide tonight! is a post from: KZSC Santa Cruz

First, we’ll be having the band by the name of Worker Bee come into KZSC for a chat.

Worker Bee

Hailing from just over the hill in San Jose, Worker Bee have steadily built a dedicated following over the last 4 years. The band’s unique take on post-rock, noise and americana has culminated in releases such as 2009′s excellent record, Tangler. Worker Bee’s music would find itself comfortably placed in anyone’s record collection between Tortoise and Nick Cave, among others.

The band will be coming into our studio this friday night to talk about their upcoming show at Cafe du Nord on January 20th and maybe spill the beans concerning their follow-up record to Tangler due out sometime this year.

Then we’ll be treated to a visit and live performance from Man/Miracle.

Man/Miracle

Tune in for these and more this Friday night at 8:30pm on The Rising Tide!

Man/Miracle and Worker Bee on The Rising Tide is a post from: KZSC Santa Cruz

Wooster

Tonight, on The Rising Tide, our primary musical entertainment is the local band Wooster.

What can be said about Wooster that hasn’t already been said? They are a highly acclaimed soulful rock act that has graced local institutions like The Catalyst while also taking their talents both up and down the coast numerous times over the past few years. And while the year 2010 may be winding down, the band is planning to end the year with a bang, performing a special New Year’s Eve show at Moe’s Alley. But before that, the band will appear tonight on The Rising Tide to talk about their experiences of being in a band, and what it’s like to be one of Santa Cruz’s most talked-about bands!

Also gracing the studio with his presence is my friend and fellow blogger, Nick Bane of Bane Shows.

Nick has been putting on events at the 418 Project in downtown Santa Cruz, as well as The Mill Gallery (R.I.P.) and now 150 Pioneer St. He’s a testament to one man ability to bring artists including Maps & Atlases, Baths, Memoryhouse, members of Vivian Girls, Blackbird Blackbird and the like. He’ll be coming on the show to talk about the shows he’s got coming up, and to discuss what it’s like to be a DIY promoter in a town like Santa Cruz.

Tune in to KZSC at 8:30 to hear from these and many more on tonight’s Rising Tide!

Wooster and Nick Bane live on The Rising Tide is a post from: KZSC Santa Cruz