If you didn’t know, I LOVE me some stereotypes. Bad Chinese women drivers, upper middle class whites who try their damnedest not to be racist, Jersey Shore, I love ‘em all. When I was given the opportunity to interview Thomas from Strike Anywhere again, I was pumped. Last time I got stereotypically punk gems such as “cultural baggage” and tirades about corporations. Now, he has points, but when the man in front of you is a dreaded, patch-ridden, pasty punk kid, there are fewer things more exciting for me.
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Alison Sudol, AKA A Fine Frenzy, is known for her piano-driven love songs and powerful voice. She is also the Emperor’s ex. Back around the time that her first album, One Cell In The Sea, came out, I had the chance to talk to her, a chance I didn’t waste. Twelve minutes and thirty-one seconds later, we broke up, and it tore me up inside. We recently had a chance to connect to discuss the changes our breakup had on her latest album, Bomb in a Birdcage, gummies and her pre-fame brush with, er, fame.

The Emperor!: You’ve really seemed to mature since we last parted ways, was that due in part to our breakup?
The Emperor’s Ex GF: Yea, you know, it really made me look at things differently. It was tough, it was a rough experience, but I made it through.

As the 2009 holidays came to a close, I had a little chat with Justin Tranter of glam-garage band Semi Precious Weapons to discuss touring with Gaga, tits, and what it means to be glamorous. (I think you and I can both agree after reading this that he secretly wants me)
Racket Rick: Alrighty, so awhile back we saw the YouTube videos of you being evicted from your apartment. Have you found anywhere else to live since then?
SPW Justin: (Laughing) Oh, well I did find somewhere else to live! But actually, …

Rich Smedley is a riddle wrapped in a puzzle wrapped in an enigma.  The notoriously inaccessible artist has no website of his own, nor does he have a presence on social networking sites such as MySpace or Facebook.  Yet despite his relative anonymity, he has become a fixture among the online community of gun girl fetishists.  His Flickr page has been profiled by Girls with Guns as well as Alex In Wonderland.com (profiled here).   His fan base numbers in the hundreds, perhaps thousands, and his artwork has spawned numerous imitators. …

Not too many white dudes like fried squid because it’s too “weird”, “ethnic”, and it smells funny [Emperor's Note: Like Kateri. BURN!]. However, Casey Crescenzo of Boston rock band The Dear Hunter is one of the few that does. I sat down with Casey at the Uva Bar in Anaheim’s Downtown Disney before his show with Thrice to talk beards, Disneyland, the band’s new album Act III: Life and Death, and munched on calamari (which was quite tasty). The Dear Hunter’s pleasantly young-faced tour manager, Connor also makes a special …

While Canadian singer Fefe Dobson dressed up as a dead Amy Winehouse for Halloween this year, it was not too long ago that Dobson fought off critics about her own image and strived to stay true to herself in the music industry. In this interview, Dobson talks about her upcoming album, Joy, her single, “I Want You,” being featured on VH1 promotional spots for the reality show, “Megan Wants a Millionaire,” and so much more.
Racket Gail: How was your Halloween?
Fefe Dobson: It was amazing, I had such a blast. I …

Crocodiles have been the act that’s been on the lips of almost every blogger for this past year. I sat down for a brief interview with Brandon and Charles to discuss their inclusion of a full band, kissing boys, and tour buddies.
RacketRick: So how are you guys doing?
Crocodiles: Uhhh…good.
RR: So I guess the big news right now is that you guys have a full backing band now. How’d that come about?
CrocCharles: Well, they’re just friends of ours who happened to help us out on prior tours and it just …

Roya Butler: You’re an accomplished artist; what inspires your artwork?
Jeff Tremaine: The artwork I do is mainly paintings.  Inspiration… yeah, I don’t know how to answer that, it’s just something that I’ve always done…that’s a tough question.
RB: What ignited your passion for art?
JT:  Well, at an early age, I could always draw better than my peers, so it’s something that I always pursued.  I took classes, and it was just something that I was always interested in.  In my junior year of high school, I met up with a …

The Ghouls were one of the hardest hitting punk bands to come out of Philadelphia, PA. Releasing their EP It’s Your Time to Die on ADD Records, and a full length Stand Alone on SOS Records, their fan base grew. Touring constantly throughout the entire US, as well as Canada and Mexico, and sharing the stage with Abrasive Wheels, The Exploited, Funeral Dress, Krum Bums, and ICB, they made a lot of friends in the industry and their reputation as a solid street punk band was confirmed.
When the singer of …

The story of Adam Marsland is the story of America.  From humble beginnings as a teenager playing gigs at county fairs, to a successful-yet-tumultuous career in the 1990s, he is Exhibit Number One of how artistry does not necessarily equal laboring in obscurity.  But success has not come without a price- and how staggering it is.  Dropped from two major record labels in the ‘90s and early 2000s, he has endured personal tragedy and professional setbacks on the road to becoming a Horatio Alger story of his own, including a …

The Emperor!: So, from what I hear, you’re quite the manly man in the world of musicians. So, Mr. Mountain Man, what do you feel about Tim “The Toolman” Taylor?
Murder By Death Adam: I watched that show a little, but what I remember about him most is, I grew up in Michigan, and he’s from Detroit, and what I remember is that he would always get arrested for drunkenly driving his Ferrari at like 130 miles per hour. He went to jail like 3 times and kept buying his way …

Ryan Sollee is not the typical American rock star. Born and raised in the cold, moose-populated environs of Alaska, the former punk rocker, marine biologist, and four of his best friends have traveled the long way around on their journey to pop success. Playing in the streets for attention, rooming in each other’s apartments as they balance professional and musical interests in dreary Portland–their hometown)– they have conquered the folk scene, block by excruciating block. Several years later, the quintet called The Builder and the Butchers has …

Again, Racket has one of them fancy moving picture interviews! This one’s conducted by Ryan Greer and filmed/edited by Edd Flynn. Have at it.

Bobby Tamkin, the mastermind behind psych-rock band Xu Xu Fang, talks about their red-hot private concert, along with other sizzling insights about music.
Racket Gail: I was at your show [and] it was really interesting. I’ve never seen a private show like that before. The fact that you had people wearing masks…
Bobby Tamkin: [Laughs].
RG: It lead to be more theatrical then I expected.
Bobby: Well the masks, I didn’t expect either. [Pauses] Our following just seems to keep growing with like really dispersant groups of people. It’s not just …

If there’s one thing that Racket does more than kick ass, it’s stuffing our collective face. Thai food, sushi, Mexican food, Chinese, In N’ Fucking Out, fucking…Funyuns. Put it in our gut. If you mix kicking ass and food, you get Duff Goldman, owner and head bake-master at Charm City Cakes, know around the world (at least the parts of the world with Food Network) as the location of Ace of Cakes.
Baking is a pain in the ass. You have to be all precise with the measuring and can’t …

When I first heard .357 Lover’s debut album Diorama of the Golden Lion, I wanted to do two things- first, figure out who was doing the epic-Freddie-Mercury-style vocals and second, meet him so he could teach me how to belt. Unfortunately, Corn Mo lives in New York, so being in LA, I had to settle for a phone call.
Corn Mo is an endearing singer/songwriter, keyboardist, and accordionist. He graciously talked to me about guns, Ben Folds, German ladies with candy, and trying to get laid…oh, and his album. I got …