Political punks Against Me! have been making noise since the late '90s with their unapologetic power-punk. Picking up where Avail left off, the band -- who've been cited as influences for artists including Ben Lee (who covered Against Me! tunes throughout his 2007 tour) to Tegan and Sara -- hit their stride with their latest album, 'New Wave.'

Against Me! stopped by our Los Angeles studio, leaving most of their gear behind for an acoustic performance.

But let's revisit Ben Lee. It may seem an unlikely cover choice for the singer-songwriter, though flattering for Against Me! nonetheless. However, the band said they had no idea Lee was doing such a thing. "We just got a call one day like, 'Hey, did you know Ben Lee covered your whole record?'" Tom Gabel told Spinner. "We found out at the same time as everyone else did. The whole thing is just completely flattering."

Gabel also informed us of how he'd 'Reinvent Axl Rose' if given the opportunity, and what it's like trying to keep up with the Foo Fighters on an arena tour.

Download the full performance and interview after the jump.

"I don't give a f---." Coming from an Arkansas-born woman whose regular stage attire includes Spandex body suits, who shuns deodorant and general body hair maintenance, who once admitted to eating squirrels and who's posed nude for two magazines -- one, a lesbian-erotica periodical called On Our Backs and the other, for the cover of NME -- despite her size (or, perhaps, because of it), Beth Ditto's declaration isn't a surprising one. But it's a lie.

It's the first taste of spring in New York City and Ditto, along with her Gossip bandmates -- Nathan Howdeswell (aka Brace Paine) and Hannah Blilie -- are in a meeting on the 25th floor of their new label home, Columbia Records. The band have just released a live CD/DVD, titled 'Gossip: Live in Liverpool,' and, at the moment, is in the throes of promotion for the effort. It's been a successful weeklong stay in the city -- if not frenzied -- for the band, who capped the previous day with an appearance on 'David Letterman.' "I want to rent a van and drive across country with you guys," the gap-toothed host said to Ditto, following the band's performance of the anthemic 'Standing in the Way of Control.' This, too, isn't a surprise.

"After we played 'David Letterman,' my whole family ... the text messages and the phone calls just rolled in," Ditto, dressed in a knee-length, multicolored sheer frock, tells Spinner in her girlish Southern drawl. "I don't think they really knew what was going on until ['Letterman']. I don't think things were clear for them."

By "things," Ditto -- an uncensored, openly gay rabble-rouser who takes her cues from the riot grrrls before her -- is, of course, referring to her band's ascent from the dirt-poor Bible Belt to, well, magazine covers, sold-out tours, major-label record deals and coveted late-night TV appearances. But those successes, while laudable, are mere sidebars to Ditto's mission: social consciousness by any means necessary. Whether she's combating sexism, size-ism, homophobia or any other number of social injustices, including Paris Hilton's inexplicable fame, one thing is certain: Beth Ditto does give a f---.

The live album is your first for a major label, and one headed by Rick Rubin, no less. How did you find that experience?

I've had the idea of doing a live album since we've been a band because everyone always says great things here and there, like, "I can't stand the Gossip on record but I would love to go see them." We weren't ready to put out another record. So, writing -- it wasn't time. Rick Rubin really caught on to the [live album] idea and held onto it. Before we knew it, we were in Liverpool and there were trucks. But we never saw [Rick] during the process. We met him and he was really sweet and very nice. He's an amazing person. He talked about obscure piano players and gave me some prayer beads. He told us about not being vegan anymore because in order to be healthy, you need to eat fish. [Laughs] As far as the record, went we didn't work closely with him at all. But we trusted him.

One of the songs, 'Standing in the Way of Control' is in response to the U.S. government's opposition to gay marriage. What about gay marriage is so threatening?

That's a really good question. I think there are a lot of religions that are really threatened by it. The powers that be ... if you start to recognize it as a real thing, you legitimize it and validate it. It kind of debunks Christianity. But that's such a good question. It's gonna take a long time for it to unfold in my brain.

Should it be legalized, would you ever get married?

I don't think so. Wearing the dress sounds really nice, but I don't think so. I've been with the same person for a really long time. [Marriage] is just a lot to live up to. And leaving something open -- not an open relationship but not having a label for it -- sounds really nice.

Scar Jo isn't the only actor showing off her music skills. While in L.A. last week for the premiere of 'Iron Man,' Terrence Howard -- best known for his Oscar-nominated work in 'Hustle & Flow' as well as the Best Picture-winning 'Crash' -- held a listening party for his upcoming debut album, 'Shine Through It,' which is scheduled for release in late September.

Howard played the role of gracious host for the intimate gathering of nearly 25 guests at the Sony/BMG offices in Santa Monica, even at one point refilling guests' plastic cups with wine while they enjoyed the music. Before playing the album, Howard, who played air instruments and sang along to the 11 songs, recalled how he grew up listening to Cat Stevens, Carly Simon and Karen Carpenter, and the impact of hearing Louis Armstrong's classic 'It's a Wonderful World.' "I tried to take it back to that in my music," he said.

The album opens with 'Love Makes you Beautiful,' which carries a dramatic '70s feel alongside a folk-tinge, while other selections feature a decidedly pop sound. But 'Shine Through It' goes well beyond that, with the jazz instrumental 'It's all Game,' a song Howard said was done in one take, and 'Mr. Jones' Lawn,' a track that marries Outkast and Cat Stevens, if you can imagine.

Ben Harper returned to school in triumph last Saturday, as he and friends Jackson Browne and Taj Mahal headlined the Claremont Folk Festival at Harper's childhood alma mater, Claremont Elementary School.

Browne, who Harper called a "friend and a hero," opened with a stunning version of 'The Barricades of Heaven,' and continued with an acoustic set that mixed old classics such as 'For Everyman' and 'These Days,' with the rare 'Drums of War.' Browne also performed a new song, which he introduced as having written for his girlfriend. "It doesn't have a title and it might could use another verse," he told the crowd. He then dedicated the final song, an achingly beautiful rendition of 'Something Fine' to Alma, a little girl seated on the bales of hay that provided the makeshift barricade to the stage.

The backdrop brought up nostalgia for Harper as the festival, now in its 28th year, was started by his grandparents, Dorothy and Charles Chase. Before his opening 'Pleasure and Pain,' he spoke of getting his grandmother's approval. "This is the first song I wrote where my grandmother Dot said, 'You might be able to make something of this.'" Grandma and grandpa would've been more than proud that day.

Spiritualized's Jason Pierce nearly died while making 'Songs In A&E,' his band's first studio album in five years. But despite being hospitalized with a lengthy and serious bout with pneumonia, the man that also operates under the nom de rock "J. Spaceman," says the experience didn't really have a profound effect on his life or his music.

"I'd be lying if I said it made me want to get out of bed earlier," Pierce tells Spinner. "I haven't really been able to write about it yet. Which is almost disappointing." Ironically, the new album, which is focuses on themes of death and loss, was written and largely recorded before his hospitalization.

"The most harrowing thing for me is to have to listen to this thing again after what I went through," Pierce admits. "The songs were written more from a point of pride, like you have to face these things. It's almost like life isn't worth living unless death is around, and unless you brush up against it and have these kinds of encounters."

M.I.A. accepted that it would be hard to top her 2005 Coachella debut, just before taking the stage at this year's festival. "It still is my landmark show in my career," she tells Spinner. "The day I performed at Coachella 2005, my life changed overnight. Missy Elliott called me the next day and Jimmy Iovine flew in on his jet and signed me. I could have anything I wanted. It was all so insane and it all happened at Coachella. The tent was really full, and they had me come out for an encore. I was like, 'My album hasn't come out. Who the f--- knows my songs?'"

Whether she topped her 2005 set in 2008 depends on the criteria. If sparking a near-riot amongst the crowd is part of that criteria, then color M.I.A. successful. But that achievement doesn't come without a price. "The cops tried to shut [my show] down," she says. "They were on the backside of the stage and they were trying to shut me down, and I was singing, 'Cops don't work, they just make it worse.' I was really thinking about the situation in New York."

The situation M.I.A. refers to is that of Sean Bell, the 23-year-old who was gunned down in a 50-shot round outside a Queens strip club on November 25, 2006. The officers involved in the shooting were acquitted of criminal charges the day before M.I.A.'s Coachella set. The reference wasn't out of character for the Sri-Lankan born artist, whose politically potent lyrics and artwork have gotten her subsequently banned from MTV. She believes that it's now when she and her fans have the most power for change. "Playing that right now in America, during the election times, I feel more and more connected with my fans," she says. "They cheer when s--- happens or boo when they don't agree. It's amazing getting people to be interactive."

The Feelies, an influential '80s post-punk band, are reuniting after a 17-year hiatus. Known for their distinct dual guitar sound and percussion, the Jersey-based group is marking the occasion by performing two sold-out shows at Maxwell's in Hoboken, N.J. on July 1 and 2, before opening for Sonic Youth in New York's Battery Park on July 4.

The Feelies' lineup will feature singers-guitarists Glenn Mercer and Bill Million, percussionist Dave Weckerman, bassist Brenda Sauter and drummer Stanley Demeski. According to Mercer, he had his conversations with Million, who was living in Florida and reportedly became a locksmith, about reforming the band since five years ago.

"[Bill] always expressed the desire to do it," he tells Spinner, "but it was the timing. He had a lot of things he had to deal with, and, being a bit further away, it's not as easy as grabbing your guitar. The fact that it was over the summer [made it] a little bit easier to arrange. So Bill just said, 'Yeah, let's do it.'"

Mercer says the band had already rehearsed 30 songs, and describes the vibe as great. Playing together again didn't feel unusual to Mercer because, with the exception of Million, he had other members of the Feelies appear on his debut solo album from last year, titled 'Wheels in Motion.' "I think for Bill it would probably the hardest or weirdest," he says. "It felt good, natural and easy."

Manchester's emotive rock five piece Elbow kicked off a U.S. tour in support of their fourth album, 'The Seldom Seen Kid,' last week, but getting all the way over here, has had its price.

"There's no way we'll make money on it," frontman Guy Garvey tells Spinner of the tour. "It won't even come close to breaking even."

The U.S. dollar's dropping exchange rate against the British pound is one of the reasons, bands like Elbow and Razorlight, who paid out of their own pockets for their jaunt last fall, aren't being seen as often in the U.S. "It's a changing time," Garvey says. "What will probably have to happen in order to get British bands [in the U.S.] is a British bands festival, where you charter a plane, get the NME involved or get somebody involved stateside, and fly them all across to save money on the record label doing it."

In the meantime, there's always those fun merchandise opportunities, beyond T-shirt sales.

"You could get an Elbow mug," Garvey laughs. "There's a hip flask -- an Elbow hip flask with 'Deep, warm drunk' written across the front. [Merchandise ideas] -- it's a really fun thing. I'm quite good at them. The 'Asleep In the Back' travel pillow has yet to hit the shelves."

Singer-songwriter Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons was in Vancouver this past weekend to attend and perform at a three-day academic conference designed to gather together leaders in the world of transgender and intersex research. While Hegarty's been hard at work in the studio, he told Spinner that he came "out of a cave to get to this event. We flew out for this. Other than that, I'm in a kind of sequestered phase."

Performing a half-hour musical set for the enthusiastic audience, the songs chosen were primarily culled from his 2005 album, 'I Am a Bird Now,' and included 'For Today I Am a Boy' -- a track documenting conflicting gender emotions -- and 'Hope There's Someone,' a moving ballad about isolation that had many conference members in tears. Hegarty -- a longtime gender bender and trans advocate -- contributed his time to participate in the event and explained that he was delighted to be in attendance. "Everyone here is donating their time to come here and to learn," he said. "That's why I'm here -- to hear the myriad of experiences and to hear the voices of the transgender experience."

Taking a moment in between conference panels, Hegarty offered up a few pieces of information about his next CD, which he has named 'The Crying Light.' "A crying light is the idea of a kind of sanctuary -- a safe place where you can let go and open into the present without guard, where you can experience your life passing in a vivid, very awake way," he said. "The crying light is about a safe place."

Alice Glass and Ethan Kath -- a duo from Toronto better known as Crystal Castles -- are multi-instrumentalists cooking up a unique take on electronic music combining bouncy beats with live instruments. Elements of Aphex Twin shine through their tweaked video-game rhythms mixed with riot grrrl influences have stirred up quite a buzz on the pair's self-titled album. And what's more, the couple have been tapped to open for Nine Inch Nails on select dates of Trent Reznor and Co's summer trek.

Having formed in 2005, Crystal Castles made noise with timely remixes of artists ranging from the Klaxons to Bloc Party. But they won't take on whatever comes their way. "Sometimes, there's a fraction of a sound I will use to create a new melody with," Kath tells Spinner. "I actually have not accepted a remix request in over a year."

The newly indie-fied Robyn recently stopped by our studio for a Sessions performance, featuring a revamped version of her '90s hit 'Show Me Love' and a cover of the Teddybear's Cobrastyle. Not bad, eh? Now, she's supplied us with a visually entrancing video for the one-minute rarity, 'Eclipse.' Check it out below.

Kaki King has been labeled a number of things -- pint-sized, virtuosic, Guitar God (thank you, Rolling Stone) -- and many of them all at once. (See: a pint-sized virtuosic Guitar God.) We digress.

There is, however, one thing King confesses she is not: a gold-starred elementary art scholar.

"In my 5th grade art class, we'd have to carve things into clay," King told Spinner when she stopped by the Interface. "Those little pots that everyone made perfectly ... I couldn't do anything. I was useless. I remember my proudest project was when I did a clay carving of the front of my house. I thought it looked amazing ... for me. I brought it home and I wanted my parents to frame it or put it in a prominent place. They kind of hid it somewhere. It looked awful. Visual arts are not in the cards for me."

Botched childhood art projects aside, King's currently touring behind her new album, 'Dreaming of Revenge,' with the Foo Fighters in Australia and New Zealand, after having guested on 'Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners' -- a track on the Foo's most recent album, 'Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace.'

"[Dave Grohl] had been sending me these really outrageous texts and emails for months, saying, like, 'We're gonna be in a band!' and 'We're gonna call ourselves the Star Spangled Ass Shredders!'" King recalls. "I was like, 'Who is this guy?' But I went to the mixing session for [the album] and he said, 'I have a song I want to play for you.' I said, 'OK. Do you have a CD player?' He said, 'No, actually, I have to play it for you.' So he brought out a guitar and started playing it. It was a little bluegrass-y song that he had written for these miners in Australia that were trapped in a mine. I picked up a guitar and started playing along with him, and he goes, 'You know, we should really record this.' It took about an hour and I had no idea it would be on the record."

Download the full performance and interview, in which King discusses her new album, Guitar Hero and Aussie Rules Football, after the jump.

Sharon Jones and her funk-soul brothers take to the WDAP studios in Brooklyn with a gritty, lo-fi look for the hook-laden 'Tell Me.' "Daptone wanted to create an old school with actual antique video cameras, while maintaining similar accuracy of authenticity with everything else both in front and behind the lens," director Adam Elias Buncher tells Spinner. Have an exclusive look.

Toronto-based Metric have been exploring separate terrain in recent years, with front woman Emily Haines releasing an acclaimed solo album and the rest of the quartet working in various projects. But the foursome are set to end a three-year drought between studio albums this fall. They told Spinner at Coachella, where they tested out new material, that the band is close to finishing the album. "We're gonna go home and get back in the studio," guitarist Jimmy Shaw said. "We should be done in four weeks or so, and then we'll be mixing."

Among the songs the band is excited to play live is 'Satellite Mind,' which is very personal to Haines. "I told Jimmy that I needed this certain vibe and he created for me this music," she explains. "I had to take a very depressing trip to Los Angeles for a funeral. While I was there, I became totally inspired to write this song. I wrote it in my hotel room at five in the morning, and then on the airplane. Then, as soon as I got off the plane, came straight to the studio and laid down the song. That's a favorite one for me."

The group is working with producer Gavin Brown, who, as Shaw explains, brought out a different vibe in Metric. "I had a feeling he was going to allow us to translate in a way I don't think we have," Shaw says. "If anything, the record is a little more dance-y and a little more airy than the last one. The last one had a bit more of a guitar/bass edge to it. Having found him made us not go more in that direction."

Sharon Jones is her own woman, but that doesn't mean she doesn't want folks to join her in her soulful conquests. Enter her ritual of pulling audience members up on stage to dance with her. At this past weekend's Coachella festival, Jones found a partner backstage, but she told Spinner that environment isn't always the most fertile ground for willing participants. "Sometimes, when I call, they all run," she said. "I don't usually call people backstage cause they're either the next musician that's gonna come on, or somebody's family or friends."

Nevertheless, Jones said her Coachella experience was a blast. "Look at this, I got my shoes off! This is grass. I have a room where there's a bathroom," she said. " loved it here. The audience was great; they was hearing me and I was feeling them. I hope to be on the main stage next time."