British rockers Kasabian play in Houston at Fitzgerald’s on Thursday, March 15th (SXSW week!). Tickets are available now at www.fitzlivemusic.com.

Here’s a taste of the band’s music, for the uninitiated:

“Club Foot”:

“Where Did All The Love Go?”:

The band’s latest album, Velociraptor, is available in stores and online now.

Musician Rachael Yamagata plays in Houston at Fitzgerald’s with Mike Viola this Saturday (12.3.11). Her new album, Chesapeake, is Yamagata’s first self-released album, which was totally financed by her fans via Pledge Music. She was able to reach and exceed her goal within the first three days of her Pledge Music campaign.

More information may be found at www.fitzlivemusic.com and www.rachaelyamagata.com.

Also at Fitz’s on Saturday night: Centro-Matic, which should be a great show as well.

The release party for SugarHill Studio’s Hits From The Hill compilation CD is scheduled for this Sunday (12.4.11), from 2-6pm, at the Continental Club. Allen Oldies’ Band w/Roy Head, Don Sanders, Champion Sisters, Chet Daniels, Tommie Lee Bradley, Kenny Cordray’s Love Street, John Evans, Glenna Bell, Row Zero, and more are scheduled to perform at the show.

The concert is free and and CD sales will benefit the Musicians’ Benevolent Society.

The two-disc set is the accompaniment of the book, House of Hits: The Story of Houston’s Gold Star/SugarHill Recording Studios. The compilation features 41 hit songs recorded at the studio. When available, the original artists were asked to re-cut new versions, including “Treat Her Right” featuring Roy Head, as well as new classics.

The Linus Pauling Quartet plays with Dead Mineral and Defending The Kingdom this Saturday night (12.3.11), and will feature songs from its forthcoming 2012 release, Bag Of Hammers.

Here’s some more info from the band itself:

Simply know this – This Saturday the Linus Pauling Quartet will be performing with Defending the Kingdom and Dead Mineral at Rudyards.  Lo, for a sea of blood shall errupt onto the streets, blood sprung from the wells of awe inspiring solos and heavy riffs. Beer shall flow freely, Hell’s fury shall tremble, and ROCK shall ring with a furore and cry not seen since the ancients.

But take heed, there is yet another event foretold by Nereus and Proteus.  Yea, for this Friday on KPFT’s RadioActive (1pm – 3pm 90.1fm) the vault will be opened.  Two songs from the upcoming album, Bag of Hammers (coming early 2012 on Homeskool Records), shall be unleashed this once.

The 6th annual Via Colori Street Art Festival takes place at Sam Houston Park and the surrounding streets of Allen Parkway and Bagby this weekend (November 19-20, 2011) and features a great line-up of Houston music. Roky Moon and BOLT! headline this year’s event, along with Sideshow Tramps, Spain Colored Orange, The Literary Greats, Zydeco Dots, Two Star Symphony, Ancient Cat Society, Benjamin Wesley, Andrew Karnavas, Ira Perez, Klockwork, DJ Ceeplus Bad Knives, Solero Flamenco, Westbound, The Texas Toast, and Jerk Store. The music starts at 12pm each day.

Via Colori is produced by The Center for Hearing and Speech, which is the only full-service resource in Houston that teaches deaf and hearing impaired children how to speak and read without the use of sign language, regardless of their ability to pay. Via Colori is a free event.

More information about Via Colori, including the daily schedule and The Center for Hearing and Speech, may be found at www.HoustonViaColori.com.

For those under a rock, Houston Press Music Editor Chris Gray suffered a heart attack on Friday morning and has been in a medical-induced coma since. Reports have him slowly being brought out for further evaluation.

More information and well-wishes at Rocks Off.

Local musician/producer Ken Sarmiento (Phuz/Channel K) is a metal fan from way back, and he recently had the opportunity to discuss music and the new album, Worship Music, with Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante. Anthrax will be in Houston this Sunday (10.30.11) for a show at Warehouse Live with Testament and Death Angel.

Ken Sarmiento: Charlie Benante, it’s an honor to have you in this Houston Calling interview. You’re a metal drumming legend in my book.  You’re still down to earth every chance I’ve had to talk with you.  How are things with you and Anthrax going?

Charlie Benante:  Things are going really well. I would say that we are most relieved about having our record come out and entering the charts at #12. What a great feeling it was not having a record out in eight years and then really working hard on this one and to having a such a strong showing, especially in this climate where people don’t sell CDs that much anymore. You know what I mean?

KS:  Congrats on making #12 on the billboard 200 charts. My personal favorites are “The Devil You Know,” “In the End,” “Fight Em,” and “The Constant”.  What a treat for Anthrax fans to have Joey [Belladonna] back in the band and on the new record. You’ve got to be pleased with that success so far.

CB:  Oh yeah, I’m very pleased. Believe me, it’s been a weird road, a long road, and I’m happy that we can all regroup and make such a strong effort to make a strong record. For all of us, we’re extremely happy with everything with who’s in the band and stuff like that. We’re just excited to kinda play these new songs. It’s been a long time and we can’t wait.

KS:  Are there any new songs that didn’t make it on the new album that fans might hear in the future?

CB:  Yeah…there are a few left over.

KS:  Maybe on a B-Side or another album?

CB:  Another album that won’t take eight years to make.

KS: Back in the early days, I was a huge fan of Joey. After Joey left Anthrax, I still remember trying to get used to John [Bush]. I eventually became a huge fan of John. Then having Joey back again, it’s been a weird process of how all that all worked. Can you explain how that all worked out for Anthrax?

CB: For me specifically, this time for us regrouping together felt like the most natural it’s ever been. I think the reunion tour had some great shows, but it wasn’t done for the right reasons. This was done for the right reason. I keep saying the word organic, but that’s true either way it came about. You know we just took it by steps and went out and did some shows. The Big 4 shows. That was awesome and the momentum started to build from there and everyone felt good about things.

KS:  The cool thing is that you have Rob who is an awesome lead guitarist and a producer himself, and you add producer Jay Ruston to the mix and add them together. What a powerhouse of people to work on the album.

CB:  Everybody really did their part in the production side of things. I mean…I was doing stuff here in Chicago like putting the intro to the record and just doing some last minute demo stuff for some of the songs and some guitar stuff for the songs. And then I would then send it through the internet to Jay and he would fly it in into the songs. Rob was in Europe and one of the last guitar solos he did was for the song, “Judas Priest”. And he actually did that on a bus in Belgium. He had to wait until he got to some good internet to send it off. It was pretty funny how this record was made.  It was pretty much made all over the place.

KS: Personally, I think Jay Ruston’s work on Joey’s vocals are great and probably the best I’ve heard on any Anthrax album. Can you elaborate working with both Jay and Joey?

CB:  It was just Jay and Joey in the room together. Joey and Jay had a good relationship and they worked really well together. You can tell just the way the songs sound. Joey was comfortable, nobody was there, it was just Jay and Joey. So there was no jury in the room, saying ‘try this, do that.’  Jay would send us a rough mix on what they did for the day, and all of us would listen to it, and we would have some minor comments. And for the most part, it was pretty much there, and that’s how we worked.

KS:  Charlie the drummer is what everybody knows. You play Tama drums, Vic Firth sticks, etc. But you’ve played a big part on playing guitars on the record, with almost every Anthrax record, correct?

CB:  Yeah. I get to fulfill the guitarist in me. I’m so happy I get to do that because I love to play guitar so much. I hear things in my head when I’m writing some of these songs, like Scott will do the basic meat and potatoes of the songs for guitar. You know, he’ll [Scott] do all the rhythms, and I’ll always throw in these textured things, or even throw in the lead or harmony. And I usually play all the acoustics too on the record. For me, it’s like it’s almost better than playing the drums [laughs].

KS:  Do you have a favorite guitar that you use, a certain rig you practiced with?

CB:  I have a few of them, a few guitars I love to play with.  On this record, I probably used seven or eight.  [Read more →]

Ume‘s new video for “Captive” recently got its premiere on mtvU TV and was the #1 most shared video on MTV.com.

Watch the video here.

Ume’s Daytrotter Live Session recorded in September was recently posted, which you can check out at Daytrotter.com.

The online award ballot for this year’s Houston Press Music Awards is now live, so you can go and vote for your favorite local musicians. Click here to launch the site.

Voting continues through Saturday, 11.12.11, which is also when the Houston Press Music Awards showcase takes place, with around 50 nominees performing at Warehouse Live, Lucky’s Pub, Home Plate Sports Bar, House of Blues, Pete’s Dueling Piano Bar, and downtown/midtown venues.

Showcase wristbands are now on sale for $10 at HPMusicAwards.com.

See all the HPMA nominees after the jump…

[Read more →]