Interviews

Recently our very own Joel Frieders hit the Chicago pavement in an attempt to meet and interview local legend Kenny Dennis. You may know Kenny from his youtube hits Dennehy and Percolators. Once Joel found the elusive Kenny, bribed him with a pair of Blackhawk pre-season tickets for him and his wife Jueles and a case of O'Douls, Kenny agreed to sit with us and answer our questions. This interview is a collaborative effort between Tim Baker, Matt Tracksler and most importantly Joel Frieders. SYFFAL: Tell us a little bit about your background Kenny, how did you get to where you are? Kenny Dennis: Oh boy, it's been great though, what a great time. I still have my Juelies! Still got my buds. I've been in a rap group, thanks to my little brother Tanya it's going to see the light of day. I've...

I first learned about Frank Turner a little over a year ago, since then I there hasn't been a week that goes by that I don't go through my Frank Turner playlist at least 2 or 3 times. Frank Turner is a SYFFAL favorite and writes songs with a passion and beauty that strikes a particular chord with me. When I first learned of Frank I immediately started touting his work to anyone who would listen, making quite a few converts along the way including SYFFAL contributor Joel Frieders,who comes in at the end of my interview with a few questions of his own. SYFFAL: Walk us through your history from bands like kneejerk and million dead, and how did you make the transition from punk/post punk to a more folk punk sound? Frank Turner: I grew up with metal and hardcore, played in a bunch of shitty...

SYFFAL: Give us a bit of background on the band and its history? Kareem Bunton: The Juggs started about four years ago out of boredom. My son was tiny, I was spending too much time at at home, and my ex was severely postpartum so I didn't have much to do in the evenings. It progressed in to a live thing about a year later and has gone through several line up changes until I assembled the current one. SYFFAL: Since all artists are a conglomeration of their influences how would you describe your sound and how those influences affected the sound? Kareem Bunton: Around the time when I first started writing the first batch of songs I was listening to a lot of Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, Queens Of Stone Age, Love, The Animals, and an odd Bo Diddley record called "Black Gladiator". I believe that...

A few weeks back I was introduced to a new collective out of Los Angeles called Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All (OFWGKTA). After a few minutes of watching their videos I had to pick my jaw up off the ground and hunt down whatever music of their's I could. Listening to them, it felt like a changing of the guard. It was the same feeling I had when I first heard Suicidal Tendencies self titled album all those years ago. After listening to BASTARD by VMA Best New Artist, Tyler the Creator, and EARL by Earl Sweatshirt I knew I needed to track these guys down and find out more. Everywhere I went they seemed to be a bit of an enigma. Everyone loved their music but nobody knew anything about them other than that they were excessively skilled at their craft,...