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The Electorate
by Adriel Fantastique!

Ernie Guerra is everywhere. Or so it seems. It’s almost impossible to avoid him, as he regularly plays around town, with at least two regular residencies in Metro-Detroit. His love of music and DJing inspire him to share his favorite tracks with as many people as possible. His recognizable DJ name, Erno the Inferno, is rumored to have been given to him by high-school friends because he’s so hot. On the turntables. He doesn’t mind, however, to be referred to by the one-name moniker Erno. Like Prince or Madonna.

Erno’s tastes in music are derived from funk, soul and disco. His father, who was in a disco band during Erno’s formative years, introduced him to the music. His DJ adventure began when he was tapped to play at the Elbow Room in Ypsilanti, spinning alternative dance records. From there he began to secure gigs around the Detroit area. As a DJ, Erno bridges the gap between disco and techno. The melding of the two genres creates a blended bliss of dance floor delights. Armed with deep classic cuts and quality tracks of today, the Inferno burns through a musical landscape that few can match.
By dance music standards, Erno is still considered a new kid. Playing alongside heavyweights and veterans doesn't seem to faze him, however. The skills he's already developed put him up there with the best. Erno plays this and every Thursday at the Majestic Café and you can catch him at his group Tour Detroit's event this weekend with Worst Friends. For more info visit myspace.com/tourdetroit.  | RDW

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The Zone
by Origix

Detroit and Kansas City, MO, have more in common than you may think. Both are Midwest towns with a strong work ethic and an upcoming music scene. Strange Music’s Tech N9ne makes music that his fans in The D can relate to as KC’s king pushes hip-hop boundaries to the extreme, touring every year and completing albums between tour dates. Tech N9ne explains his latest album, Sickology 101, which he is touring for now: “Sickology means the study of being sick lyrically. Every Tech N9ne album changes from year to year. Such as life.” Do a YouTube search for the video for the album’s single, the haunting, hypnotic “Red Nose” and check the features by lyrical heavyweights, Chino XL, Crooked I and Krayzie Bone.

Expect nothing less than an entertaining stage show. “Depending on the venue, you will actually feel like you are sitting in class because of the design of the set.” Tech adds. Before he jumps on the Rock the Bells Tour, see him with Murs Friday, June 5, at Harpo’s. For more info visit therealtechn9ne.com.  | RDW

The Zone Radio with Origix & DC streams online at whfr.fm Saturdays from 8 p.m. through 12 a.m. on 89.3 fm. Visit myspace.com/thezoneradio or 2Raw4fm.com for more info.

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Motor City’s Burning
by Max McKenna

The Pansy Division is invading Small’s Bar in Hamtramck! No, not the Nazi Panzer tank company, Pansy Division, the first openly all gay punk band and originators of the punk genre known as “queercore.” Their goal: to disprove that gays only sing show-tunes and that the rock and punk genres are strictly hetero-territory. They keep the punk mantra of defying convention alive in their own way.

Not surprisingly, the group originated in San Francisco in 1991 and began touring nationally with the likes of Rancid, Supergrass, Jimmy Eat World, The Vandals and even Green Day on the Dookie tour. They earned some mainstream recognition with the release of their second album, Deflowered, and have been prolifically writing a mixture of semi-pornographic tunes that would make any hetero man squirm in his chair, and songs with more universal themes like rejection and loneliness.

Despite some band member changes and problems with their original label, Pansy Division released their first studio album in six years, That’s So Gay, in March. The group has now embarked on their strongest touring in some time in its support. They will be at Small’s Bar on June 19 playing all of their beloved tracks like “Bill and Ted’s Homosexual Adventure,” “Smells Like Queer Spirit,” “20 Years of Cock,” “Pat Me on the Ass” and their smash hit, “He Whipped My Ass in Tennis, Then I Fucked His Ass in Bed.” It will be a gay old time.  | RDW

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Deep Cutz
by Jeff Milo

Blitz-poppers Blasé Splee (pictured) are unveiling the fruits of their basement-bound, winter and spring-long labor as their new record, Et Cetera, gets its own shindig show, Saturday at Small's in Hamtramck. “It’s feels like we finally have a written record of what we do; I’ve never been so pleased with the outcome of a recording," said Michael Frelick, who started the band with Carl Larson in '06 (with Jonathan Berz, David Wisbiski, Thomas Tesnow). Larson added, "[Et Cetera] is easily the most amazing thing I've ever been a part of." The sound is the happy, hurried middle ground of jangly sunny '60s pop, sweaty party pounders, circusy romps and greasy Americana, complete with raspy vocals with way more charm than those Hold Steady-types, buzzsaw guitars that fit in with any indie-brit-pop revivalists and golden sonorous pianos that warm the soul. The Et Cetera release show is rounded out by Sh! The Octopus and Macrame Tiger, with DJ Bearclizzyawaw. First 100 people at the door get a free CD. More info: myspace.com/blasesplee. Meanwhile, minimalist indie-underground-pop duo Rogue Satellites will play Vernor's Subterranean Lounge on June 5 next to the Crofoot. RS have a 12" in the works and play City Fest in July. Myspace.com/theroguesatellites.  | RDW

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