At first, chuckles Charlie Reid, he and his twin brother, Craig, thought it was a prank. But the phone call the Scottish duo — also known as folk rockers The Proclaimers — received in 2002 from playwright Stephen Greenhorn was on the level.
The writer told them he had a concept for a musical using The Proclaimers’ songs, including the enduring hit “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles).”
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Members hail from Sweden, dress in hooded cloaks, are led by a skeleton-masked frontman named Papa Emeritus II and, on their new sophomore CD, “Infestissumam,” they offer goth-metal dirges such as “Idolatrime,” “Monstrance Clocks” and “Body in Blood.” What’s not to love about the theatrical juggernaut called Ghost B.C.? Bandmates are not atheists, insists one of the perpetually anonymous members known as Nameless Ghoul. “But aesthetically, the younger me wants there to be a physical devil because he’s cool!” he says.
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San Francisco musician, DJ and producer Dub Gabriel celebrates the release of his fourth solo album, “Raggabass Resistance,” with a party at the Elbo Room on Sunday.
Fusing electronic experimentalism and groovy reggae, “Raggabass Resistance” is the sound of a three-year global odyssey, with diverse guests such as Major Lazer and Snoop Dogg producer Blakkamoore and David J from Bauhaus and Love & Rockets.
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Labeling a band an institution — implying it is past its prime — is a dangerous game. But if any group is capable of wearing the tag without insult, it’s Built to Spill, playing a two-night stint at Slim’s this weekend.
Led by chief songwriter Doug Martsch, the Boise, Idaho, group’s devotion to all things guitar — from fuzzy, distorted riffs to angular and precise compositions — has created the template for indie rockers of the past two decades and is embraced by new groups such as California X and Cymbals Eat Guitars.
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From the outside, George Watsky looks like any other American kid. His boyish face shows 19 of his 26 years. But when the Los Angeles-based rapper opens his mouth, he spits a verse out faster than you can do a double take.
Watsky is headlining The Fillmore on Thursday, a monumental show for the San Francisco native.
“When I was first discovering music and my passion for rapping and performing, the Fillmore is where I went to see shows,” he says in online posts.
Despite his young age, Watsky has been fighting an uphill battle for years to get him where he is today.
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When London teens Chilli Jesson and Sam Fryer met by chance at Britain’s Reading Festival a few years ago, neither had a clue how to write a song.
So they chose a quirkier path into showbiz: They formed their own talent agency, Thursday’s Children, named for the day they got paid at their straight jobs.
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Oakland-based Ensemble Mik Nawooj is known for breaking traditional musical boundaries and taking audiences beyond labels such as jazz, classical and even hip-hop.
The concept comes to the fore in “Death, Love & Life: A Chamber Hip-Hop Orchestra,” which debuts Saturday at Brick & Mortar in The City.
Unraveling along a lush musical landscape of a seven-piece chamber orchestra, two rappers and an opera singer, the work delves into emotional and psychological waters as it chronicles joy, suffering — and the possibility of transcending beyond the mundane.
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The City’s infinite microclimates can make it hard to experience seasons, but a Bay Area gem near Suisun Bay offers the perfect springtime ticket.
Running through April 28 — and possibly later, depending on Mother Nature — are the Western Railway Museum’s 12th annual Spring Wildflower Train Rides.
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As a kid, Julie Edwards constantly had her grammar corrected by her talk-show-host father Steve Edwards, who now anchors “Good Day L.A.”
“I couldn’t say, ‘Everyone has their own thing.’ It had to be, ‘Everyone has his — or her — own thing,’” says the drummer, who rebelled by dubbing her new duo, with guitarist-vocalist Lindsey Troy, Deap Vally.
“But one day, someone told me the theory that every form of communication works,” she adds. “It doesn’t have to be proper. So spelling and grammar are for elitists — the world belongs to the common people!”
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U.K. jungle music legend Roni Size returns to San Francisco on Saturday for a stripped-down, hyperkinetic drum and bass set with MC Dynamite.
The 44-year-old Bristol resident’s first visit to The City in two years will precede his Sunday set at the gargantuan Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio.
Don’t worry about him saving something in the gas tank for his sweltering desert date.
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