Brian Varney – Page 28 – Lollipop Magazine

Tom Waits – Blood Money – Review

August 16, 2002

Imagine a drunk, homeless guy with a voicebox shouting about dwarfs and roosters being accompanied by other drunk homeless guys banging on street signs.

The Bellrays – In the Light of the Sun – Review

August 16, 2002

In place of the gloriously raucous lo-fi soul-punk of Let it Blast and/or Grand Fury, In the Light of the Sun is a mannered, almost mellow classic R&B sound.

Tom Waits – Alice – Review

August 16, 2002

Alice is actually a bit of a throwback, a re-visitation of the more overtly sentimental work of his heavily orchestrated, faux-beatnik early period.

Strapping Fieldhands – The Third Kingdom – Review

August 16, 2002

Psych guitars and sensitive folk vox are slammed into one another with disconcerting time signatures and fucked-up time changes galore.

Earthride – Taming of the Demon – Review

August 16, 2002

Earthride are an altogether more bludgeoning, less diverse beast than might be expected from a band fronted by a Spirit Caravan alumnus.

Halfway to Gone – Second Season – Review

July 12, 2002

Southern by way of New Jersey (and by the grace of God), Halfway To Gone are ‘roid-driven power-trio crossing of Led Zeppelin and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

The Rubes- Hokum – Review

July 12, 2002

I gave Hokum a few more spins and I found myself really enjoying it. The vocals didn’t bother me so much; in fact, I began to genuinely enjoy them.

Wooly Mammoth – Ten Ton Baby – Review

July 5, 2002

Loud, brutally tight and focused (even though these four tracks last 23 minutes or so), this is the kind of band that could gore you on a good night.

The Hellacopters – High Visibility – Interview

June 28, 2002

An interview with frontman Nicke Andersson

Ironboss – Guns Don’t Kill People… Ironboss Does!! – Review

June 28, 2002

Black Label Society play metal with a bit of Southern rock thrown in, Ironboss play Southern rock with a little bit of metal. A poorly-recorded live disc.