Injuring his hand might have been just what Richie James Follin's band needed.

The Willowz lead singer and guitarist hurt his mitt in a car accident in Paris last year. Doctors told him he'd never play another lick. "I just thought they were full of shit," Follin says when asked about his reaction to the potentially career-ending news. "Sometimes I think doctors say those things to get people motivated."

Follin spent hours re-teaching his hand how to play. His chops still aren't quite up to where they were before the accident, and that's OK with Follin. "I can't think of a guitar player I like that's actually a good guitar player," Follin posits. "After you've been playing for so long, it's important to go backwards. Hurting my hand kind of forced me to do that."

Arriving for the sound check before her first appearance at the Women’s Voices Concerts a few weeks back, vocalist Susan Abod wasn’t sure what to expect. She’d never played with the band for her set, led by pianist John Rangel.

Every member of the Alibi's editorial staff receives about a hundred e-mails a day. Most of them are interoffice communications about coffee filters or a kitchen spill that needs mopping up.

The Woolly Bandits from Portland, Ore., make it right on Friday, July 10, at Atomic Cantina. The Dirty Novels and Violenta make it a sandwich. 21+, free. (Laura Marrich)

Yowza, the title track of this grammatically wrong three-song EP is solid, Spoony goodness. Atmospherically post-punk and laden with buzzy guitars, this gloomy song is, in my opinion, superior to every track on the band’s last full-length, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. I can't really say the same for song two, "Tweakers," which is some fuzzed-out, lyric-less electronic business. The final track, "Stroke Their Brains," adopts a scary, garage-psych sound. Equally as cool as numero uno. My recommendation: Ditch "Tweakers" and keep the rest. (JCC)