Listening In: Mindy Kaling
"I'd rather have someone read my diary than look at my iPod," says The Office star. Read our Q&A.
By Phoebe Reilly 05.20.09 9:07 AM
What was the last concert you went to?
I saw the Arcade Fire and LCD Soundsystem at the Hollywood Bowl last summer. I don't mean to be the douche bag that says, "The Arcade Fire were transporting!" But they were transporting. And I was only there because I have a big crush on [LCD's] James Murphy, but I was like, "I can get behind this 116-member-band thing."
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Erykah Badu's Festival Memories: Family, Friends, Collaborations
The R&B star writes about her favorite festival memories -- and how they spawned partnerships with bands like TV on the Radio.
By as told to SPIN; Erykah Badu 04.23.09 2:56 PM
[Editor's note: For our May issue's summer festival section, SPIN spoke with a number of artists on the festival circuit, from Gaslight Anthem and Metric to Doves and Jane's Addiction. Among them is neo-soul songstress Erykah Badu. Here, she tells us about her favorite moments backstage and waxes on music's power to bring people together.
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Mastodon: Bang Your Head
How Mastodon endured multiple traumas to create the album of their lives.
By David Peisner 04.22.09 9:51 AM
"Has anyone seen Brent?" It's 1:30 on a cold, rainy Friday afternoon in late February. The members of Mastodon had planned on meeting a half-hour ago at El Myr, a colorful, run-down Mexican cantina that serves as unofficial HQ for the band here in their hometown of Atlanta.
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No Doubt: Back in the Saddle
As they embark on their first tour in five years, Gwen Stefani and Co. face the biggest challenge of their career: uncertainty.
By David Marchese 04.22.09 9:32 AM
"We need this sooo badly," says Gwen Stefani in the perpetually questioning accent of a native Cali girl. "We've been in a drought for, like, years." She's talking about the rain currently pelting the greater Los Angeles area. Presumably.
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The Inquisition: Tough Questions for Duff McKagan
As musical third bananas go, Duff McKagan ranks right up there with Ronnie Wood and Krist Novoselic. The lanky bassist has been a driving force behind two of the most dysfunctional rock bands of the past 25 years: Guns N' Roses, in which McKagan played until getting fed up with Axl Rose in 1998, and Velvet Revolver. In between, McKagan, 45, drank so much his pancreas exploded, found sobriety, and formed Loaded, a punk side project in which he -- finally -- gets to be the frontman. On the eve of releasing their second album, Sick, we caught up with the father of two at a posh New York hotel.
By John Sellers 04.21.09 12:29 PM
You famously met Slash for the first time in 1984 at Canter's Deli in Los Angeles. What did you order?
You would think that somebody would have asked me that over all these years, but no one ever has. Sadly, I don't remember.
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Hot New Band: Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears
Texans serve up R-rated garage soul with a little help from Spoon.
By Kerry Miller 04.21.09 11:03 AM
For the past eight hours, Black Joe Lewis has been driving a van around Austin, Texas, delivering fish for $9 an hour -- and he could really use a beer. Seafood delivery is better than most of the crap jobs he's had, beginning with a stint at the pawnshop where he picked up his first guitar. "If I didn't have this band," Lewis says, "I'd probably be in jail."
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