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OUR CALENDAR
May
24
Thursday
May
25
Friday
May
25
Friday
May
26
Saturday
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May
27
Sunday
May
29
Tuesday
May
30
Wednesday
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7
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June
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5/24
Spoonfed Tribe
Kangaroo Ali
All Ages | 8 pm
Spoonfed Tribe
Formed in the Fort Worth area in 1999, Spoonfed Tribe is a musical/visual group known for mesmerizing live shows combining hypnotic walls of percussion, psychedelic sonics and mind-expanding visuals. Since their debut, the Tribe has remained on the road, building a sizeable fan base inspired by appearances at music fests including Lollapalooza, Joshua Tree, Voodoo Music Experience and Wakarusa, sharing bills with acts such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Flaming Lips, Nine Inch Nails, Blues Traveler, Galactic and many more.
The band has released six albums, including 2010's Live from DFW and is in the process of recording the follow-up to 2007's Public Service Announcement, due in 2012.
"To describe a Spoonfed Tribe gathering would take too many words, talking too small to measure what is gained by the actual experience of it all. So, to do our best, imagine a show that captures all senses, presents all musical styles, glows with a fluorescent fury, and creates space to be different and unique, all while making you dance like an idiot!"
Josh Hogan - My Denton Music
OUR LINKS
Kangaroo Ali
Kangaroo Ali is a powerhouse 5-piece rock band from Northeast Kansas that is driven by generations worth of influences that are exposed in the roots of their writing. Some of the most notable influences include Led Zeppelin, Chris Cornell, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pink Floyd, and Umphrey's McGee. Specializing in a unique brand of electric rock & soul, Kangaroo Ali is a different kind of animal that hits hard with a sound that is loud and proud.
OUR LINKS
5/25
FREE FRIDAYS
Elton Dan
Doves and Dreams
All Ages | 6 pm
FREE FRIDAYS
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
Elton Dan
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
Doves and Dreams
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
5/25
Annie Up Band
All Ages | 7 pm
Annie Up Band
About
Annie Up is a high energy cover band. They travel all over the Midwest and have appeared in Las Vegas on three occasions.
OUR LINKS
The Melvins
The Melvins return with the new album Pinkus Abortion
Technician (April 20, Ipecac Recordings), featuring both ongoing Melvins’ bass player Steven
McDonald (Redd Kross, OFF!) and Butthole Surfers’, and occasional Melvins’, bottom ender Jeff
Pinkus on bass.
“With our upcoming release, we double your bass player with Steven McDonald AND Jeff
Pinkus holding down the bottom,” explains Dale Crover. It’s an experiment in the low end of the
aural spectrum where we asked ourselves, ‘would it work?’ ‘could it work??’ ‘should it work???’
The answers were yes, yes and YES!”
“We’ve never had two bass players. We’ve had two drummers and two guitar players so it
makes total sense to now have two bass players, adds Buzz Osborne. “We’ll be taking this two-
prong bass attack on the road as well which should prove to be interesting. Pinkus Abortion
Technician is a radically great record and was a stone groove to record. We drank a lot of coffee and enjoyed each other’s company. I like Steven and Jeff a great deal. I admire their bass playing and singing and both of them can grill a mean steak.”
Pinkus Abortion Technician tracklist:
1. Stop Moving To Florida
2. Embrace The Rub
3. Don’t Forget To Breathe
4. Flamboyant Duck
5. Break Bread
6. I Want To Hold Your Hand
7. Prenup Butter
8. Graveyard
“Stop Moving To Florida” is a medley of the James Gang’s “Stop” and Butthole Surfers’ “Moving
To Florida,” the band also covers the Beatles’ “I Want To Hold Your Hand” and Butthole Surfers’
“Graveyard” on the eight-song release. Pre-orders will be announced soon.
The Melvins have also simultaneously announced a 10-week North American tour, kicking off
on April 26 at the Casbah in San Diego. The tour will feature the Melvins as a four-piece with
both Pinkus and McDonald joining Osborne and Crover.
OUR LINKS
- The Melvins Homepage
- On Facebook
- On Youtube
- On Spotify (Will launch Spotify Application)
- On Twitter
- On MySpace
All Souls
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
34
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
Left on Northwood Reunion
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
Crunk Witch
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
Electric Lungs
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
Day Lit Vol.1 w/
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
Donell Jones
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
Case
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
Levell
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
Asa Barnes
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
Froggy Fresh (formerly Krispy Kreme)
Froggy Fresh. Tyler Stephen Cassidy, better known as Froggy Fresh (formerly known as Krispy Kreme), is an American rapper who became known after uploading "The Baddest", a rap music video on YouTube whose original upload earned over 11 million views.
OUR LINKS
Pears
PEARS isn’t a band that half-asses anything. In a scant three years, the band has released two full-length albums—2014’s Go To Prison (re-released by Fat in 2015) and 2016’s Green Star—toured relentlessly, and found ways to make raging hardcore punk that’s both poppy and just a little humorous. So when the idea of doing a split with Milwaukee’s Direct Hit was floated, PEARS wasn’t going to take it lightly.
“A lot of times there are splits that kind of feel like marketing ploys. Or the band just has a bunch of extra songs and they threw them together and made a full release,” says Zach Quinn, PEARS’ singer. So instead of putting together a release full of leftovers from their previous albums, the Louisiana band approached it like it was the next PEARS album. “We tackled writing this as if we were writing half of a full-length,” says Quinn. “I think what we have is cohesive. It’s not two EPs slapped onto a 12-inch.”
On November 3, Fat will release Human Movement, a split album that sees both PEARS and Direct Hit writing five new songs each and turning in a cover of the other band, too. PEARS opts for “The World Is Ending (Sorta)” from Brainless God, which throws in a nod to a former Fat band in the process (No, we’re not gonna spoil it for you). But that kind of writing is part and parcel of PEARS’ ideology, with little easter eggs strewn about PEARS’ entire side of Human Movement. “The easter eggs don’t really have a second function besides being what feels like it needs to go to there, “ says Quinn. “For me, it’s dropping a little bit of a window into my frame of reference of pop-culture.”
Whether it’s a half-second long wink in “Hey There, Begonia,” a song that otherwise attacks gentrifiers and white colonization, or some borrowed lyrics in “Misery Conquers The World,” it shows that PEARSare able to distill a full album’s worth of ideas into one half of a record. But given that this was the first time PEARS tackled such a project, it wasn’t without its challenges. “It was the first time we worked on something that wasn’t a full-length,” says Quinn. “The process was the same, but I felt like I had to fit in so much more in half the time. Every moment was twice as precious lyrically.”
The result of the band’s work is a release that isn’t extraneous, it’s the next step in their creative evolution. “Listening to it I was like, this isn’t some sort of non-canon release,” says Quinn. “This is a legitimate next chapter for both bands.” That next chapter is still being written, which includes touring with Rise Against and working on what will become the band’s new full-length. And where Green Star surprised people with things such as piano interludes, Human Movement is all killer. There’s not a second wasted on this split—even if the band oftens works best when they’re a little wasted.
But it’s that freewheeling nature that makes PEARS’ side of Human Movement so thrilling. This is the band that, even when it sounds like they are flying by the seat of their pants, are deliberate in every move. And on one side of a record they’ve created a work that’s as ravenously inventive as everything that’s come before it. “I wanted it to speak for itself,” says Quinn. And a single listen to Human Movement proves not much more needs to be said.
OUR LINKS
High
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
Red Kate
RED KATE is a no bullshit, class conscious punk rock & roll band from Kansas City, MO. The band’s newest single, an old-school 45 rpm ripper, is the seventh in the Too Much Rock Singles Series. The A-side, Iraqi Girl, is a grinding statement on American foreign policy, while side B follows suit with a cover of TSOL’s American Zone – a frank indictment of how we treat those sent off to impose that policy. It’s as relevant today as it was in 1984. The TMR single follows last year’s split 7” with Lawrence, KS punks, Stiff Middle Fingers and 2016’s critically acclaimed sophomore LP, unamerican activities, both released on the band’s coop label, Black Site.
RED KATE formed in 2007 from the remnants of regional and national acts Truck Stop Love, Wayback Machine, Squadcar, and Goodpuss. A couple of lineup changes over the years brought in former River City Revelators guitarist, Desmond Poirier on lead, and most recently, American Catastrophe front man Shaun Hamontree on rhythm.
The band’s sound tips a cap to the beer soaked barroom floors of the 70s British Pub-Rock scene and the modern post punk noise that has since taken root in Midwest dive bars and basements. Hard working both on and off the stage, the band’s locale has lent its perspective in sound, lyric, and work ethic. Straight off the factory line, RED KATE hearkens back to a time when musicians played hard, stayed up late, and carried a union card.
RED KATE released its first LP, When the Troubles Come, on Replay Records in 2013 and a split 7" on Mills Record Company with fellow Kansas City punks, The Bad Ideas, in 2014.
OUR LINKS
Hipshot Killer
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
6/1
FREE FRIDAYS
Sellout!
DJ Diehard
All Ages | 6 pm
FREE FRIDAYS
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
Sellout!
SELLOUT! is a high energy dance and drink extravaganza, playing tight version of all huge hits that the people want to hear. From the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, 00s, 10s through to today, it's a smargasborg of songs that make you wanna have fun and party. Join SELLOUT! for a couple of "socials" and you just might find yourself having as much fun as they do!
OUR LINKS
DJ Diehard
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
6/1
Gnarly Davidson
Psychic Heat
All Ages | 7 pm
Gnarly Davidson
Come say farewell to this LFK premier band!
OUR LINKS
Psychic Heat
Steve/Evan Herd - Guitar/Vox
Tanner Spreer - Guitar
Sam Boatright - Bass
Joel Coon - Drums/Keyboards/Guitar/BackingVox/Production
OUR LINKS
John Butler Trio
In June this year, John Butler proudly announced the new line up of the ever evolving John Butler Trio. Prominent Melbourne musician Nicky Bomba (drums and percussion) of ‘Bomba’ fame and principal drummer on ‘Sunrise Over Sea’ joined the band and bass player Byron Luiters from Sydney outfit Ray Mann Three completed the new line up. Having spent the past few months bunkered down in his Fremantle studio with his new band mates putting down tracks for their forthcoming fifth studio album entitled ‘APRIL UPRISING’, John Butler is pleased to announce fans will get their long awaited live JBT hit when the band perform throughout the world early in 2010.
The new album title April Uprising came from an incredible journey John undertook for the ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ TV series. He traces the Butler name through generations of hardship to a matriarch who sang for her survival and follows his Bulgarian ancestry to a forebear caught up in a violent revolt called the April Uprising.
The recording process for the new album (the first release from the JBT in 3 years) has been shared with avid JBT followers via a special studio sessions page on the band’s website: www.johnbutlertrio.com John Butler describes the first new track, One Way Road; “One Way Road is the combination of pretty much most of my musical influences; dancehall, roots & rock. Some how we found a way to bring all these feels in a way that sounds natural and not too contrived or cerebral. I’m really happy with how we captured the vibe of his song”.
With sold out performances over the past two years, not only on home turf but also worldwide, on the back of their highly acclaimed and 3 x platinum accredited ‘Grand National’ album, the John Butler Trio have reaffirmed their status as one of Australia’s leading artists. ‘APRIL UPRISING’, scheduled for release early in 2010, will unveil a whole new journey for the band.
John Butler comments on the forthcoming new album, “The whole rehearsal and recording process so far has been a lot of fun and very gratifying. I feel the sounds and general spirit and energy of this album are best summed up in the words – free, melodic, funky, phat and rocking. There’s definitely a certain attitude that comes across on the album. Perhaps there’s a conviction, in a song writing and production sense, that I haven’t tapped into so much on earlier works that seems to be more prevalent on April Uprising. There’s chemistry and language that Nicky, Byron and I have found that really compliments these songs in all their different facets”.
OUR LINKS
Mama Kin Spender
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
6/7
Vintage Pistol
Shoebox Money
All Ages | 8 pm
Vintage Pistol
Imagine if The Allman Brothers Band went on a trippy magic carpet ride with The Black Keys and all of it was being narrated by Van "The Man" Morrison. That is pretty much Vintage Pistol, a 5 Piece rock band out of Fayetteville, AR. Influenced by the sounds of psychedelic, roots, rock music Vintage Pistol is doing just as its name states and is staying vintage and true to the sounds that were laid down by the Giants before them. The band released its 2nd EP "The Second Amendment" in August 2016 and plan to have their first LP out in the Spring of 18’.
Vintage Pistol has played along side the likes of Doyle Bramhall ii, Devon Allman, Andy Frasco and The UN, Consider The Source, Marc Broussard, Ben Miller Band, Eric Lindell, Wild Adriatic, Quaker City Nighthawks, Charlie Crockett, Aaron Kamm & The One Drops, Kalu and The Electric Joint, Big Something, Kris Lager Band, Groovement, Calliope Musicals, and more. The band has played festival scenes including Wakarusa (15’) SXSW Showcases (16’), Homegrown on The River Festival (17’) and more festival lineups to be announced in early 2018.
OUR LINKS
Shoebox Money
Returning from a 9 month hiatus in April of 2017, Shoebox Money found a lineup that really works and discovered their sound with original members Patrick and Ben W. (Bass and lead guitar/harmonica) paired with new members Ben S. and Dylan (vocals/rhythm guitar and drums). Drawing equally from classic rock and blues as well as post garage rock revival and alt punk, these indie rockers produce theory driven music and put on high energy live shows.
OUR LINKS
6/8
Greaser`s Ball
Reverend Horton Heat
Big Sandy
Ben Miller Band
Blackfoot Gypsies
Bottle Rockets
| All Ages | 5 pm
BUY TICKETS!Greaser`s Ball
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
Reverend Horton Heat
It’s true that the Reverend Horton Heat have been called a great many things over the course of their storied career: Perpetual Carriers Of The Rockabilly Flame, Genre-Shattering Problem Children, Filthy Drunks, and The Most Electrifying Live Act In America (150 shows every year can’t be wrong). But whatever you happen to call them, their country-flavored punkabilly and onstage antics have brought the Reverend Horton Heat a strikingly diverse fan base and a devoted cult following. The Rev himself, aka Jim Heath, leads the way with signature guitar riffs, while pounding out the bottom notes (often on top of) his upright bass is Jimbo Wallace, while Scott Churilla keeps time on the drums.
OUR LINKS
Big Sandy
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
Ben Miller Band
Ben Miller – vocals/guitar/banjo
Scott Leeper – one-string washtub bass
Doug Dicharry – drums/trombone/trumpet/mandolin/electric washboard/spoons
"I like the idea of saying something very complicated in a very simple way," says Ben Miller, discussing the trio that bears his name. "That's what we strive for musically, and what I strive for lyrically—to get directly to the point and save the flowery b.s. for the romantic poets. John Sargent, the painter, said 'That which is not necessary is detrimental,' and we try to live by that."
Since its formation in 2004, the Ben Miller Band has staked out a singular niche that's established the Joplin, Missouri threesome as both a potent creative force and a perennial fan favorite. Any Way, Shape or Form, the BMB's New West debut release, showcases the seasoned threesome's fierce creative spirit and infectious performing chemistry, as well as Miller's melodically catchy, lyrically resonant songwriting.
On Any Way, Shape or Form, the Ben Miller Band channels a century's worth of wide-ranging influences into 13 new songs that radiate with energy, smarts and soul. The result is music that's wholly contemporary, while ringing with ages-old echoes of bluegrass, delta blues, Appalachian mountain music and more. A stew they lovingly call “ozark stomp.”
Miller writes roots-rocking barnburners ("The Outsider," "Burning Building"), thoughtful ballads ("I Feel for You," "Prettiest Girl") and left-field departures ("23 Skidoo") with melodic skill and lyrical insight, and the band elucidates them with urgency and eloquence. While those tunes show off Miller's songwriting craftsmanship, a memorable workout on the traditional "The Cuckoo" underlines the band's interpretive abilities.
The hard working threesome has already won a substantial—and still-growing—grassroots fan base through old-fashioned ingenuity and an unstinting work ethic. Their D.I.Y. success helped to win the band its current deal with New West, and led to some high profile touring with ZZ Top, thanks to the enthusiastic patronage of avowed fan Billy Gibbons. Opening for ZZ Top on a 2013 tour of Europe, the humble BMB wowed unfamiliar crowds on stages in large halls and arenas, including a triumphant set at the fabled Montreaux Jazz Festival.
The Ben Miller Band's homespun, self-reliant approach extends to the lo-tech, and largely self-built, instruments that the members play on stage and in the studio, e.g. singer-songwriter Miller's thrift-shop guitars and banjos, bassist Scott Leeper's one-string washtub bass – comprised of a weedeater string attached to a wooden pole – and Doug Dicharry's varied arsenal: trombone, trumpet, mandolin, electric washboard and electric spoons.
The band's use of offbeat instrumentation, however, shouldn't be misunderstood as a gimmick. Instead, the three bandmates have mastered the technical challenges of their unconventional axes to produce a uniquely evocative ensemble sound that offers a compelling frame for Miller's compositions.
"What I really care about is songs, and the rest of it is just a vehicle to get you to that destination," Miller asserts, adding, "Just because we use junk to make music doesn't mean we aren't serious about it."
"Our sound," Dicharry notes, "is something that we never thought much about. It's just something that kept growing without us really trying, and at some point we realized it sounded pretty cool."
"The instruments that we use ," Miller explains, "were originally born out of necessity, because we didn't have any money. People would give us their old gear that didn't work anymore, and we'd wire things together and try things out in different permutations and see where it led us. Through a lot of trial and error, we arrived at the set up that we've got now. Blazing your own trail through the jungle can take a lot of extra time and effort, but it gives you a chance to end up in a place that nobody's been to before."
That sense of musical adventure has long driven Miller and this bandmates from the start. Growing up in rural Curlew, Washington, Miller began playing guitar at 16, turning his back on a promising career as a visual artist to pursue his passion for music. He gained experience busking and performing in open mic nights while roadtripping around America, and during an extended stint in Eastern Europe.
Miller eventually found kindred spirits in bassist Scott Leeper, who'd been playing since the age of seven and had performed with his family's band, in a duo with his brother, as a one-man country act and in a variety of blues combos; and Doug Dicharry, a musical omnivore and multi-instrumentalist, who can play nearly any instrument and has played in a wide array of projects from noise bands to ska and rock.
The three like-minded players joined forces, and soon their diligent touring regimen allowed them to conquer an ever-widening geographical base and win a loyal live audience. In 2012, the Ben Miller Band took its first tentative steps in the recording studio, resulting in the embryonic self-released CD Heavy Load, which attracted a good deal of fan praise and critical acclaim despite its humble origins.
The same maverick spirit that motivated the BMB's early musical adventures came into play in the recording Any Way, Shape or Form, which they cut with seasoned producer Vance Powell, who's renowned for his studio work with the likes of Jack White, Buddy Guy, Wanda Jackson, Willie Nelson and Kings of Leon.
"Our original plan," Leeper notes, "was to scale it down a bit, and have it be even less produced than the first one. It came out sounding like us, which is all we really want."
"It was the first time we'd really had a producer/engineer," Dicharry notes, adding "It felt like we could finally breathe, because Vance was on top of things and got some really cool textures. We had a lot of confidence in him, so we were comfortable just going in and laying it down."
"We wanted to keep it as live as possible," Miller asserts, "so we recorded it live and did lots of takes, on average around thirty takes before we felt we really nailed it down. That was important to us because we’ve been a live band for our whole career and we wanted that to come across in the recordings, that feeling of guys playing in a space together. We worked long days in the studio for about a month, just playing the songs over and over and working to push our performances and maintain the energy of what we do.”
With Any Way, Shape or Form encapsulating the Ben Miller Band's salient qualities, the three intrepid bandmates are eager to hit the road and bring their new songs to live crowds around the nation and around the world.
"Our plan," Leeper says, "is to just get out there and play for as many people as we can. That's pretty much been our plan all along, and it's worked for us so far."
"The title Any Way, Shape or Form is sort of our way of saying that by any means necessary we will make the music that makes sense to us,” Miller explains. “That’s always been our attitude, and that’s how we’ve gotten to where we are and how we will get to where we are going.”
OUR LINKS
Blackfoot Gypsies
Matthew Paige and Zack Murphy ARE the Blackfoot Gypsies. They are the amplifier for your heart and soul, your love and hate, your on and off, your push and pull. With caution being checked at the door, there is no room for thinking... only feeling. Breaking the lines between hipsters, punks, posers, dads, normies, cowboys, rockers, and burnouts; everyone gets stripped to the core on the floor. And
no one leaves the same as they came before.
Scouting the future of the American music that has been progressing since the dawn of time. There's no stunting the Blackfoot and there's no stopping the Gypsies.
The torch has been lit and will be carried with pride, speaking up for a generation unlike any other. It's all happening here, and it's all happening now.
OUR LINKS
Bottle Rockets
In a country where interstates don’t take you to new places, but to the same places, where everywhere you go you’ve already been or you’ve just left, The Bottle Rockets’ new album absolutely nails a sound and a vibe with a palpable sense of place. Lean Forward is suffused with the determination and resilience of their distinctly midwestern roots; theirs is a celebration of pragmatism and tempered optimism, not the delusions and exhortations of glassy eyed zealots—they aren’t going to fall for that. Oh, it’s a flat out, smoking rock record, too.
Lean Forward continues the Rockets’ creative resurgence ignited by 2006’s Zoysia. Reunited with producer Eric “Roscoe” Ambel (who ran the knobs on the Bottle Rockets’ seminal albums The Brooklyn Side and 24 Hours A Day), the Bottle Rockets do what no other band does better — look into the hearts and minds and faces of the dying small towns in America and crafts populist anthems with the sympathetic eye of Woody Guthrie and sonic stomp of Crazy Horse. They are songs that demand the windows be rolled down and the volume turned up. And with the hooks, you’ll wonder how they make such problems sound so good …
Lean Forward is stacked with a sharp lyricism and gritty fatalism that looks off the front porch for inspiration, and has the locked down groove of a band on top of its game. “The Long Way” looks on the bright side of the path not intentionally taken and works into a joyous song-ending jam. Songs like “Done It All Before” and “Get on the Bus” shine with an irresistible buoyancy, as does “Shame on Me” which gets to the meat of the relationship matter that, despite our best intentions, we’re all gonna screw up. “Hard Times” whips up a ZZ Top-inflected boogie with effortless mastery and a dual guitar attack that’ll put some much-needed flare back in your jeans.
On “Kid Next Door,” the lyrics bypass protest in favor of simple commentary on a war coming home, making it a far more powerful song no matter where one stands on the issue. It’s a stone cold classic and handled with the deftness and conviction that speaks to the Rockets’ sober-minded realism. To see that they’ve still got scruffy punk moxie to spare, look no further than “The Way It Used To Be” and the channeling of Bo Diddley via the Stooges on “Nothing but a Driver.”
With their 15th anniversary now in the rear view mirror, the Bottle Rockets show no signs of letting up. Lean Forward is an album that celebrates the forces of erosion not earthquakes, of the marathon not the sprint. Honed in their towns and on their back roads, it is distinctly the Bottle Rockets. Rather than be confining, this identity broadens the appeal and strength of their music far from their backyards into our own. Their specificity speaks universally and the message is a simple one: Lean forward, man, because it beats falling back
OUR LINKS
Anarbor
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
Oceanside Hotels
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
Keys & Corridors
Keys & Corridors is an alternative rock band from Akron, Ohio that has been compared to Flyleaf, Paramore, and Anberlin. With soaring melodies, guitar driven instrumentation, and authentic heartfelt lyrics, the band has released its debut EP, 'Thieves'. It was tracked by Johnny Burke (Envoi, This is a Lifetime, Awake At Last) and mixed by Matt Goldman (Underoath, The Devil Wears Prada, Anberlin).
They have shared the stage with Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, A Skylit Drive, Wolves at the Gate, Gungor, Courage My Love, Mike Mains & the Branches, Come Wind, and the Orphan, the Poet.
OUR LINKS
Airside
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
Dr. Dog
On January 13th DR. DOG will release Live at a Flamingo Hotel, the first ever bottling of the band’s legendary live performance. While studio releases have seen high critical acclaim, it’s the band’s live show that has truly cemented it as one of America’s best and brightest acts, a rock n roll juggernaut that has won its large and ever-growing fan base by exceeding expectations.
“That’s always what we’ve wanted to do,” says bassist/vocalist Toby Leaman. “We’re one thing on a record and a different thing live. Somebody goes to a DR. DOG show and they come back again and they bring more people with them. Our live show is vital to how we view ourselves as a band.”
With Live at a Flamingo Hotel, the band has captured the essence of a DR. DOG show; no matter the venue or town, the medium is the message. That tiny article is important: It’s “A” flamingo hotel, not “The,” which lends itself to that idea of transient perfection, a band that gives its all to each and every audience, every night, all the time. “That’s the point of a DR. DOG show, transporting you in some way,” says Leaman. “Whether it’s a shit basement in Texas or an amphitheater in Philadelphia, it doesn’t matter, this is the place; this is what we do, no matter what.”
OUR LINKS
Alex G
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
6/15
The Lark & the Loon
Julia Peterson & Friends
All Ages | 8 pm
The Lark & the Loon
Biography
The Lark and the Loon are a husband and wife songwriting duo. Roots music by simple definition their writing and song choices traverse the Americana idea in what they call an exploration of the etymology of American music. Sea shanties, Irish dance tunes, Delta and Piedmont blues, jazz, and country all weave together under the calm direction of their showmanship and love of wordplay. Their debut album "Songbirds and Fog" was the highest charted self-released album on the Folk DJ charts the month of its release and has been gaining steady fanfare from the listeners reached by this 74 minute 19 track catalog of an album. Tailored to their environment they deliver performances full of humor, insight, and history. Having several coast-to-coast tours under their belt the two enjoy the road. In 2014 they moved to a semi-remote location in the Ozark mountains to better position themselves for travelling the country. Since then they've played in over 40 states from coast to coast and were named a 2018 NAMM Showcase Artist following their successful Fall tour of Ireland in late 2017. When at home they write, work the rocky soil, and hike the natural beauty of the area soaking in the peace and quiet before their next venture.
OUR LINKS
Julia Peterson & Friends
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
Summerland Tour 2018 Starring
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
Everclear
Art Alexakis – Vocals, Guitar
Dave French – Guitar
Freddy Herrera – Bass
Brian Nolan – Drums
Considering Everclear has written and recorded some truly iconic ’90s alt-rock hits, it would be all too easy these days for the band to be a victim of its past successes, relegated to performing as a glorified jukebox, existing to satisfy the nostalgic cravings of Gen Xers everywhere. But singer-guitarist Art Alexakis isn’t about to start phoning it in now.
Although the band hasn’t released a new studio album since 2015’s triumphant Black Is The New Black, Everclear continues to tour actively, in conjunction with a series of past-release anniversary dates and the annual Summerland Tour, which Alexakis created and has been running since 2012, featuring a rotating cast of ’90s alt rock favorites. And while it’s a virtual surety that no Everclear gig is complete without a rendition of “Santa Monica” and “Father of Mine,” lately the band has found that exploring the full range of past material—especially the “deep cuts”—not only gives fans a rare treat, it also injects new life into the band’s live dynamic.
“By mixing it up and digging into the catalogue, it still makes it fun and relevant for us, and I think for the fans as well,” says Alexakis. “It’s still important to play the hits, but by playing those other songs as well, it makes it all seem more vibrant and real. Even though I recorded some of those songs 20 years ago, I haven’t played them in a long time, so it’s like reinventing the wheel. I’m having more fun now than I have in years. I think all of us are.”
Formed by Alexakis in 1991 in Portland, Oregon, Everclear has enjoyed a lengthy career spanning 11 studio releases, numerous videos, thousands of shows and accolades that include a 1998 Grammy nomination. Like a true survivor, Alexakis has soldiered on through multiple lineup changes over the years: During the “classic” era, the band also included Craig Montoya on Bass and Greg Eklund on drums; the current touring lineup features longtime members Dave French (guitar) and Freddy Herrera (bass), as well as drummer Brian Nolan (also with American Hi-Fi), who has performed with Everclear on multiple past tours.
This incarnation of the band will hit the road for the 2018 Summerland Tour. As in prior years, Everclear will headline the latest installment of the festival, this time supported by Marcy Playground and Local H, and also featuring a special DJ set Alexakis will contribute, which honors the ’90s in a refreshingly old-school way.
“The Summerland Tours are all unique; they all have a different kind of feel to them,” says Alexakis. “I think this year will be really cool, because it’s usually guitar-based, but Marcy Playground is more acoustic-based, yet they still rock in their own way. Local H is just two guys, meanwhile, and they’re great, too. So, it’s just a different look at ’90s alternative this year…different facets of what it’s about. With Everclear, we’re going to play the hits we always play, but we’re also going to mix it up. Every night will be a little different; there’ll be a few surprises every show.”
For Alexakis and Co., it’s a continuation of a hectic couple of years. Everclear spent May and June of 2017 touring in honor of the 20th anniversary of So Much For The Afterglow, the band’s massively successful sophomore major-label release. The 40-date run was an incredibly emotional and personally satisfying experience for Alexakis, who was able to perform obscure cuts from that time period for the first time in many years. Connecting with fans in that setting also reinforced the lasting impression the album has made.
“The tour was phenomenal. It left me and the band stunned at how important that record was to so many people, and to be a part of that, both then and now,” says Alexakis. “The legacy of it is still vibrant for so many people. It was great just watching people react when we were playing not just the hits, but deeper songs on that record. I always liked the deeper songs—they were usually my favorite songs—and when the band would play those, it would be really exciting and important for me. That was fun, seeing that reaction, and just talking to people after the show.”
Prior to that, Everclear experienced a career resurgence thanks to 2015’s Black Is The New Black, which not only proved the band could still rock, but also that Everclear remains creatively relevant, decades after their platinum years. As is common for many artists these days, Black didn’t set records for traditional album sales, but the release did see significant streaming activity and sparked a heightened social media presence, putting the group firmly back in the listening public’s mind. The band continues to ride this latest wave of interest.
“I personally think [Black] is one of the best records Everclear has ever made,” Alexakis says. “It sounds like both old Everclear and new Everclear: It has a contemporary production sound, but it’s just old-school, angry rock songs. It’s kind of dark, very reminiscent of the early stuff. The sales weren’t great on it, but a lot of people streamed it. It got millions and millions of streams, so people were listening to it, and it resonated.”
But when you’ve been a prolific band for more than a quarter-century, it’s all part of the journey. Right now, Alexakis is feeling a reflective pull for the 25th anniversary of World Of Noise, the band’s indie debut, which was recorded for $400 in a friend’s basement in Portland. Although no official commemorative tour dates are confirmed as of this writing, Alexakis says he’s considering playing some smaller, select shows this year as a tribute to the release. Much of the material rarely sees the light of day, but the 1993 album continues to enjoy a special place in Everclear history.
“We’d just had a baby, I was on public assistance and was working part-time jobs, I was very frustrated and very angry and there were a lot of emotions going on,” Alexakis reflects. “I made that record for $400, because that’s all I had. I got this guy who had a basement studio to give me 40 hours’ worth of recording at $10 an hour. We had 10 or 11 songs, so we went in and recorded them in a week and mixed them, and that’s the album.…From there we just hit the ground running. I still haven’t stopped.”
That rough and raw first attempt was just the nexus of the massive body of work Everclear and Alexakis have contributed since that humble beginning. When it comes to recording new material, at the moment Alexakis is focused primarily on writing and recording his first solo album, due out later this year. That precludes a new Everclear release…for now.
“We might make another record in a couple years,” he says. “Maybe later on this year I’ll feel like it. I don’t know yet.”
That said, the band’s live itinerary certainly makes up for its recent studio absence. As the group prepares for another Summerland run, as well as numerous other future dates, Alexakis is excited to revisit songs from fan favorite records like Afterglow, Sparkle and Fade and the double album Songs From The American Movie, but also compositions from more underrated collections, like 2012’s Invisible Stars.
“There are people asking for songs, so we’ll just try and learn songs as we go,” Alexakis says. “If we get a lot of response from people to play a certain song, we’re going to learn it and go on the road and play it. You don’t think, ‘Wow, I can’t sing that high anymore.’ We’re not going to worry about it. We’re going to play some rock n’ roll, and just do it.”
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Marcy Playground
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Local H
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Dirty Heads
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Iration
The islands of Hawaii are not only the biggest influence on Iration’s sound they are home to all of its members. Iration was born from a love of all types of music and a desire to create something new. Elements of Reggae, Rock, and Pop are mixed with keyboard/synth and melodic vocal lines to create something truly unique. Iration is best heard in a live setting where you can truly experience the full spectrum of their range. They have proven to truly have an understanding of modern and traditional performance techniques that keep crowds of fans’, both younger and older, hands in the air and heads bobbing.
In 2007, they recorded and released their first full length album, No Time for Rest, at Castaway 7 Studios in Ventura, Ca, which featured one of the last recorded performances by reggae legend Mikey Dread, who produced accomplished musicians such as The Clash and UB40. Their single “Cookie Jar” reached number one in Hawaii on 93.9 DaBeat and was featured on Fuel TV’s Triple Crown of Surfing recap. Their music was also featured on MTV shows Maui Fever and Living Lahaina.
In the spring of 2008, Iration embarked on a national tour titled “Playboys in Paradise” in support of the band Pepper. They traveled 16,000 miles and played in front of numerous sold out crowds at venues such as famed Stubb’s BBQ in Austin, House of Blues Dallas, Myrtle Beach, and Orlando. On October 3, 2008, Iration officially released their latest collection of recordings on their SAMPLE THIS EP – Sample This, is a four song EP featuring two songs, “I’m With You” and “Electricity,” which were co-written with a fellow local Hawaiian musician, songwriter, and Grammy winning producer Charles Brotman of Hawaiian recoding company Palm Records. The EP also features their smash hit “Falling,” which has been added to several radio stations in California, Hawaii and Guam. The Sample This EP debuted at #3 on iTunes top reggae albums - “Falling” remains in the top 50 reggae songs on iTunes as of September 14, 2010. Iration has been MySpace’s #1 top unsigned reggae artists for almost all of 2009. “Falling” currently has over four and a half million plays on MySpace with a total of over nine and a half million plays.
In 2009, “Falling” was added to Santa Barbara’s modern rock station, KJEE FM, and had begun to receive specialty plays on XTRA FM, San Diego’s alternative rock station 91X (as well as No Time For Rest’s “Cookie Jar”). In the beginning of ‘09, Iration accomplished sell-out shows at San Luis Obispo’s Down Town Brew, West Hollywood’s famed the Roxy Theater several times, and San Diego’s House of Blues with over a thousand in attendance. Iration also performed at KJEE’s Summer Round UP at the Santa Barbara Bowl with radio’s hottest band, Kings of Leon, The Airborne Toxic Event – as well as headlining San Luis Obispo’s annual Beer Fest at Avila Beach (3000+) before heading back to the studio to finish their album Time Bomb. The second half of 2009 was all about touring. Iration kicked of their summer touring in August by supporting the band Rebelution’s national “Bright Side of Life Tour,” spanning from San Diego to New York to Dallas. In the fall they performed at Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip Music Festival, headlined San Diego’s Paddle for Clean Water Festival presented by 91X FM, and supported Pepper’s national “In the Trenches Tour,” leading them from California all the way to back to New York. Iration continued touring through the fall supporting 11 dates with jam band legends Umphrey’s McGee. They will end the year with four very special California headlining dates at House of Blues San Diego, House of Blues Anaheim, San Luis Obispo’s Downtown Brew, and San Francisco’s famed Great American Music Hall.
For Iration, 2010 started off with big bang! By supporting 47 shows in 52 days on The Expendables’ “Winter Black Out Tour,” the Hawaiian bred boys proved they could hang touring even in the harshest of conditions. On March 9 Iration released their highly anticipated album Time Bomb via an iTunes exclusive pre-release, peaking at #40 on iTunes’ overall music chart, and “Falling” was iTunes’ “Discovery Download” of the week. Time Bomb has been as high as #1 on the US iTunes reggae album music chart and their title track “Time Bomb” has been as has high as #12 on the US iTunes reggae single chart. March 16 marked the album’s official domestic digital/physical and international digital release. The title track “Time Bomb” has been added to and spun on several radio stations in HI including Q103 FM, Native FM, Da Beat FM, as well as in KJEE FM (modern rock – Santa Barbara, CA) and landed “Song of the Day” on 91XTRA FM (Alternative - San Diego. CA). Time Bomb debuted at #2 on Billboard’s reggae album chart and #30 on Billboard’s “Heatseekers” album chart.
On August 17, 2010 Iration released their single “Summer Nights” which debuted at #2 on the iTunes reggae singles chart in the US, through their newly formed indie record label: 3 Prong Records. Recently, Iration has been in the studio recording songs for their next EP, yet to be titled, due out late this year. Recent standout shows include an NCAA volleyball tournament show at the San Diego Wavehouse, Pozo Saloon with Steel Pulse, the KJEE annual Summer Round UP with Sublime with Rome at the Santa Barbara Bowl, and the music festival stage at Hurley’s US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, California.
In the upcoming months Iration will play the main stage at Cyprus Hill’s annual Smoke Out Festival alongside Incubus, Manu Chao, MGMT, Slightly Stoopid, Nas & Damian Marly, and more. They will also embark on a national fall/winter headlining tour. These Hawaiian raised naturally talented musicians look forward to spreading their original sound, aloha spirit, and cutting edge (surf) culture as far as possible and will continue to make original music.
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The Movement
Rock, Reggae and Hip Hop: Each is definable, recognizable and at once familiar to people the world over--but never before have those three forms of musical expression been blended into a sound that is as indefinable as it is recognizable and familiar. Enter the Philadelphia quartet known as The Movement.
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Pacific Dub
Meet Pacific Dub: Comprised of vocalist and rhythm guitarist- Colton Place, lead guitarist- Bryce Klemer, bassist- Ryan Naglich, drummer- David Delaney, and audio engineer- Casey Eubanks; Pacific Dub is one of the youngest and newest bands to solidify themselves as professionals within the Reggae-Rock scene.
Coming from Surf City USA, Pacific Dub resides in Huntington Beach which is nestled nicely in southern California’s Orange County. Other bands such as Korn, The Offspring, Avenged Sevenfold, and The Dirty Heads all have members that call this surfer’s paradise home.
Combining catchy chorus’s, heavy rock n’ roll guitar melodies, and smooth hip-hop and reggae rhythms are all significant characteristics that add to Pacific Dub’s coastal vibe, and genuine objective of creating innovative alternative-rock-reggae while sharing a message of love and peace.
Now with 4 Western US Tours, 3 Albums, 1 single, and an ever growing and enthusiastic fan base under their belt, Pacific Dub shows no signs of slowing down now. Following multiple sold out shows supporting bands such as- The Dirty Heads, Iration, & Rebelution on their 2011 Spring Tours, PDub has been hard at work writing new songs, which eventually will turn into the bands next 12-15 song full-length album.
In between writing and recording, the band intends to tour extensively throughout the remainder of 2011- including a Co-Headlining National Summer Tour w/ The Movement.
From the entire Pacific Dub family, we thank you for your continued support, and look forward to releasing new music, and seeing you at a show soon.
- Pacific Dub -
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Devon Allman Project w/ Duane Betts
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Amanda Fish
Amanda Fish began as a singer songwriter in late 2012, refining her original material as a solo act for 2 years before she formed her band in early 2014, a Roots Rock and Soul project featuring Amanda's signature 'from-the-gut' vocals locked into a sturdy groove.
In 2015, she released her first LP, "Down In The Dirt", on VizzTone Label Group, for which she was awarded the 2016 "Sean Costello Rising Star" Blues Blast Music Award. Amanda and her band set Beale Street on fire in the 2017 International Blues Challenge Semi Finals, playing new material slated for her next release.
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The Sea and Cake
The Sea and Cake deliver an album with the freshness and energy of a new band, and the ease and musicianship that can only come with experience. Runner began as the companion piece to 2011's The Moonlight Butterfly, and using that album's sonic experimentations as a starting point for a new process of writing and recording, became something completely new. Songs that began as synthesizer experiments in Sam Prekop's home studio were reimagined by the other members, and eventually recorded and mixed by John McEntire at Chicago’s Soma Studios. The result is an album that feels like a private travelogue. Start listening at one place, and end up some place else. Cherish the unexpected mysteries around every corner.
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LA Takedown
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Bone Thugs -n- Harmony
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TWISTA
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Will Smiff
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Crossroads Beer Fest
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The M80s
The M80s is Kansas City's hottest 80's tribute band that covers all top eighties dance music from pop, rock and new wave. The M80s band delivers a 80s music explosion in a true rewind event in a fun, high-octane show.
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River Whyless
For many bands, and especially those who’ve been together for several years, recognizing
maturation, progress or palpable evolution is a daunting task. Is it continued creative
accomplishment that signals progression? Or perhaps it’s profitable commercial endeavors? The
answer is often quite unclear. Six years, two albums and countless gigs after first forming as a
band, River Whyless, the North Carolina-bred folk-rock outfit has discovered their evolution is a
subtler albeit monumentally important one. Deep in the throes of writing and recording their bold
new album, Kindness, A Rebel , the four musicians reached a necessary and collective
understanding. Namely: this band is their lifeblood, their family and their love. To that end, with
unspoken acceptance, the members of River Whyless, each songwriters in their own right,
collectively put aside their respective egos, coalesced around each other’s creative vision, and
fully embraced the beauty of their enduring partnership.
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Jalen N''''Gonda
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Chromeo
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The Glitch Mob
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Elohim
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Slightly Stoopid
Illustrating the perfect underground success story, Slightly Stoopid's dual front-men Miles Doughty (Guitar, Bass, Vocals) and Kyle McDonald (Guitar, Bass, Vocals), created their own label, Stoopid Records, in the early 2000's to avoid signing a record deal and keep their DIY work ethic and freedom. West coast DUB/Rock pioneers later added musicians Ryan 'RyMo' Moran (Drums) and Oguer 'OG' Ocon (Congas, Percussion, Harp, Vocals) from the B Side Players, as well as C-Money (Trumpet, Keyboard) and Dela (Saxophone) from John Browns Body; solidifying their on stage line up. Slightly Stoopid has built a large n' loyal fan base, and has soared to one of the most successful independent artists of this decade. The buzz surrounding the group continues to increase with each successive release; their album catalog sales have topped the 700,000 mark and the group continues to fill the most prestigious concert venues around the world.
The Slightly Stoopid story can be traced to Ocean Beach, California, when childhood chums Miles and Kyle formed the group in 1995, mixing reggae and punk sounds into one smooth stylistic cocktail. Soon after, late/great Sublime frontman Brad Nowell caught wind of the group, and signed them to his Skunk Records label – while the band members were still in high school. A pair of releases soon followed for Skunk - 1996's punk-tinged SLIGHTLY STOOPID (featuring a guest appearance by Nowell on the song "Prophet" – later covered by Sublime and released on their box set, EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN) and 1998's surf-inspired cult classic THE LONGEST BARREL RIDE.
The group self-released 2001's ACOUSTIC ROOTS: LIVE AND DIRECT (a 40-minute acoustic set, captured live at San Diego 's Rock 105.3 radio station) – the first for their own label, Stoopid Records, before issuing 2003's EVERYTHING YOU NEED on Surfdog (a musical departure for the band, that sold more than 130,000 copies). The band's talent for mixing styles was never more apparent than on 2005's CLOSER TO THE SUN (on Stoopid Records / Caliplates / Reincarnate), which featured collaborations with such renowned reggae names as Barrington Levy and Scientist. A year later, Slightly Stoopid issued their first-ever electric live album, WINTER TOUR '05-'06, as well as their first-ever DVD, 'Live in San Diego,' while 2007 saw the release of the group's fifth studio effort, CHRONCHITIS, which debuted at #55 on the Billboard 200, and #2 on the indie charts.
And through it all, Slightly Stoopid has logged some serious road miles – in addition to their incessant criss-crossing of the U.S., which includes appearances at prestigious festivals such as Coachella, Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, and New Orleans Jazz Fest, among others, the group has played sold-out shows in Australia, Japan, Guam, Amsterdam, Portugal and Denmark, the U.K., Germany, Holland, and the Dominican Republic. "Without [the fans], we'd just be playing at the bar," admits Kyle. "They make it worth our while – when we go out and people are having that good of a time, the energy goes back and forth. Just a good time – we rely on each other's energy." And all you have to do is look at the list of artists that Slightly Stoopid has played with, to get a feel for how much of a large and diverse audience they appeal to - the Dave Matthews Band, Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley and the Marley Brothers, Sublime, the Roots, G. Love & Special Sauce, Ozomatli, Toots and the Maytals, and Pennywise, among others, as well as their first-ever sole headlining tour of amphitheatres in 2008, joined by their friends Pepper and Sly & Robbie.
"I think consistently touring is important," explains Miles. "Most people take the route of trying to be successful without even getting out there for people to hear what your band is about. The most important thing is you can be playing in front of zero people or 20,000 people, and you've still got to rock the show. When we were first starting out, literally, we played in front of nobody. We'd show up at the club, and it would be bartenders and security guards, and 'Yo, play your hour set – here you go!' But after you play that show, they tell some of their friends and their friends tell some friends. I think the Internet has helped us a lot too, because people were able to spread the word about the music easier. The most important part is being out there 200 days a year. You're going back to towns twice a year, so people get to come out, and that gave us a real loyal following. Wherever we go, you have these Stoopidheads going crazy. For us, it's pretty much the greatest job in the world."
2008 saw the band issuing their first-ever 'odds and ends' collection, SLIGHTLY NOT STONED ENOUGH TO EAT BREAKFAST YET STOOPID – the group's newest release for their growing label, Stoopid Records (which will also feature releases by other groups, including the label's first signees, Santa Cruz's The Expendables). Included on SLIGHTLY NOT STONED ENOUGH are outtakes from both the CLOSER TO THE SUN (including tracks that were previously issued as a limited edition bonus CD) and CHRONCHITIS sessions, as well as bevy of new material recorded at Miami's famed Circle House Studios, and such cover tunes as UB40's "I Would Do For You" and the traditional "I Know You Rider" (most notably covered by the Grateful Dead). Also making their first appearance on a Slightly Stoopid studio album are newly recorded renditions of such long-time live standards "False Rhythms" and "Sensimilla."
Seemingly always on the move, there appears to be no slowing down in sight for Slightly Stoopid, and according to Miles, that's precisely what fuels the group's creativity. "For us, the most important thing in the future, we just want to stay busy and always playing music – whether creating, touring, or just sitting on your couch and jamming. I think we'll always be recording. And just have fun – without the fun part, it ain't worth it."
OUR LINKS
Stick Figure
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Pepper
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Alex Guthrie
Alex Guthrie is a singer-songwriter based in Atlanta. With the infusion of different genres such as soul, folk and rock, Guthrie brings audiences together through brilliant lyrics and an expressive voice.
Most recently, Guthrie has been noted as “the guy from the Jennifer Hudson commercial.” The now-infamous American Family Insurance commercial features him playing in Atlanta’s Woodruff Park when the Grammy Award-Winning singer and performer Jennifer Hudson surprises Guthrie and sings along to Bill Wither’s beloved “Lovely Day.” The commercial has played on national television and radio, resulting in new opportunities and heightened awareness for Alex Guthrie, his band and his music.
Guthrie and his band have performed events including Milwaukee’s Summerfest — which was also featured on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Music — as well as the 30A Songwriter’s Festival in Florida, Wire and Wood Songwriter Festival in Alpharetta, GA, Jammin’ Java Listening Room in Vienna, VA, the Elbo Room in Chicago, IL and Eddie’s Attic in Atlanta, GA.
In the early stages of his career, Guthrie released his first album, Lessons Learned, and also scored the Atlanta Braves Band of the Year in 2014. In 2015, Guthrie and his band were awarded the Georgia Americana Artist of the Year — another astounding achievement bringing his music much-deserved attention and recognition. Within a short span of time, Guthrie was opening up for national touring artists including renowned BMLG Records recording Artist Drake White, RCA recording artist Bleachers, and famous Atlantic Records recording Artist Kelly Clarkson.
Singer-songwriter Alex Guthrie continues to impress and defy conventional expectations, making waves as he makes great music. A new album is currently being recorded and is expected to be released in Spring 2018.
More at alexguthriemusic.com.
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STS9 w/ TAUK
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*NIGHT ONE*
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STS9 w/ MARVEL YEARS & KAMINANDA
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*NIGHT TWO*
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States & Capitals
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Forts Like Vana
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St. Paul & the Broken Bones
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Hiss Golden Messenger
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7/13
An Evening of Horror with Alice Sweet Alice
Scrappy''''''''s Attic
Ozark Stomp
The Perfect Pursuit
Amore Et Bellum
All Ages | 8 pm
An Evening of Horror with Alice Sweet Alice
Other Perfomrer:
Anya Neeze
The Last Carnival
T-Rav Nero
OUR LINKS
Scrappy''''''''s Attic
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Ozark Stomp
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The Perfect Pursuit
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Amore Et Bellum
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Amanda Fish
Amanda Fish began as a singer songwriter in late 2012, refining her original material as a solo act for 2 years before she formed her band in early 2014, a Roots Rock and Soul project featuring Amanda's signature 'from-the-gut' vocals locked into a sturdy groove.
In 2015, she released her first LP, "Down In The Dirt", on VizzTone Label Group, for which she was awarded the 2016 "Sean Costello Rising Star" Blues Blast Music Award. Amanda and her band set Beale Street on fire in the 2017 International Blues Challenge Semi Finals, playing new material slated for her next release.
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E100
E100 is a three piece Rock'n Soul band, all twanged out and custom built with pride in Northeastern Kansas.
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The Floozies Present Funk Street
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OPIOU
Opiuo is Oscar Davey-Wraight. Born in the festival paddocks of rural New Zealand, he packed his bags and headed to Australia at the youthful age of 20 to find meaner, greener party pastures. Landing in the grimey, colourful streets of Melbourne, he built a emphatic fan base amongst club and festival goers across the great red land of Australia. Using his positivity as a catalyst for mighty musical enjoyment, he captivated audiences with his extremely unique funkadelic bass heavy creations.
His 2010 debut album Slurp & Giggle spread like wildfire across the global underground music scene, earning him nominations for best album at the Australian Independent Music Awards. His follow up albums, Meraki in 2014 and Omniversal in 2016, were winners and finalists for the New Zealand Music Awards in the “Electronic Album Of The Year” category respectively, and continued by gaining millions of plays and downloads across all the major musical platforms.
Since then Oscar has gone on to be specifically selected to support the most respected names in electronic music, including Bassnectar, Griz, Pretty Lights and more. He’s headlined the greatest venues in the world, including Colorado’s famous Red Rocks Amphitheater with his 5 piece live band juggernaut The Opiuo Band. He has also played every major North American, Australasian and European festival to rave reviews.
His highly sought after remix works span artists far and wide, from Gwen Stefani to Kimbra, Griz to Pretty Lights, Koan Sound to Infected Mushroom, earning him respect as a truly versatile artist, with no specific genre box to restrict his musical endeavours.
2018 will see the release of a ton of new music, as well as playing some of the biggest headline shows of his career. This is down to the beautiful support of his die hard fans throughout the planet, who share in his vision of a positive, fun filled world of love, family, and supporting your friends. It’s not what we got, it’s what we give.
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Sunsquabi
The 3 Piece Electronic Hydro Funk Experience from Boulder, CO known as SunSquabi is poised to break out in 2015. The group has performed at some of the country’s most notable music festivals (Wakarusa, Summer Camp, Euphoria Music Festival, Mcdowell Mtn Music Festival, Sonic Bloom, Snowball, SXSW and more). Since May 2012, the trio has been consistently touring the U.S. and rapidly gaining recognition from the ever-evolving EDM and Livetronica markets. SunSquabi has shared the stage with Big Gigantic, Pretty Lights, GriZ, Murphy of STS9, Up Until Now, Two Fresh, Conspirator, Michal Menert, Boombox, The Floozies, Archnemesis, Break Science, Minnesota, Ghostland Observatory and many more.
Constantly on the studio grind, SunSquabi is always striving to change and mature their sound. They continue to break down and analyze the expectations of what a “Live-Electronic” band should be. Through their own studio recordings and collaborations with other artists such as Griz, SunSquabi is dedicated to their ever evolving craft in the studio and on the live stage.
A recent overhaul on the live set has propelled the group into 2015, with plans to tour all over the U.S. They will be making appearances at several major festivals this summer, with an album release planned for late Summer 2015.
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CloZee
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CBDB
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Stacked Like Pancakes
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SOLARS
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Walk the Moon
Formed in Cincinnati by singer/keyboardist Nicholas Petricca, WALK THE MOON built up a devoted following on the strength of their ecstatic live show and their undeniably infectious single "Anna Sun.” A relentless touring machine with an ever-snowballing family of fans, the band quickly graduated from Ohio club scene favorites to international stars. They hit the late-night TV circuit with performances on Letterman, Fallon, Conan, and Carson, played for massive crowds at Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza, and joined the likes of fun., Pink, Panic! At The Disco, and Fitz and the Tantrums on the road.
WALK THE MOON’s live show is not a spectator sport. Instead, it’s an interactive celebration of life and love, a communal commitment to joy and living in the moment. Onstage, Petricca leads audiences in a mass exorcism of the things that bring them down, casting out the demons of doubt and insecurity with hands raised to the sky.
Earlier this year, after six weeks of marathon writing sessions in Ohio, the band relocated to North Hollywood, where they entered the studio with producer Tim Pagnotta (Neon Trees, Tokyo Police Club). What followed was more than two solid months of recording, the band eager to reach new heights with the album's production.
OUR LINKS
COIN
COIN proudly call themselves a “product of the ’90s”. A borrowed nostalgia for the decade that isn’t uncommon among Nashvillians. COIN hasn’t adopted the detached smugness and angst often associated with ’90s alt acts and contemporary ’90s alt revival acts. They are entirely devoid of ironic, tongue-‐in-‐ cheek rock n’ roll posturing or odes to the joys of slackerdom. Instead, lead singer, keyboardist, and lyricist Chase Lawrence opts for earnest songs about actual human emotions: falling in (and out of) love, worrying about the future, and missing the past. It’s the same brand of wide-‐eyed sincerity found on Pet Sounds—just replace the theremin with a microKORG and the harpsichord with guitarist Joe Memmel’s crisp Telecaster lines. Their songs are hopeful, but behind the spring reverb and airy synths, there’s subtle regret and even morbidity. They’ve recently finished writing and recording their debut album in Nashville with producer Jay Joyce (Cage the Elephant, Sleeper Agent, Eric Church, Emmylou Harris, Little Big Town). The forthcoming album is guitar driven and sonically mature, but still true to their synth-‐pop sensibilities.
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Band of Horses
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Bonny Doon
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8/3
Tearing at the Seams Tour | 2018
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
| All Ages | 7 pm
BUY TICKETS!Tearing at the Seams Tour | 2018
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Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
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Thievery Corporation
In 1996 Thievery Corporation released Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi; an album that defined an entire genre of music and crystallized their distinct “outernational sound” aesthetic. Over the next 14 years the duo would write and record four more critically acclaimed studio albums (The Mirror Conspiracy, The Richest Man in Babylon, The Cosmic Game, and Radio Retaliation), three remix albums (Abductions and Reconstructions, Babylon Rewound, and Versions), and various DJ mixes and film soundtracks (The Outernational Sound, and the recent Babylon Central Film Soundtrack).
Now Rob Garza and Eric Hilton have selected their favorite Thievery Corporation tracks and are set to present It Takes a Thief; their first retrospective album chronicling over a decade of revolutionary outernational sounds. With a rotating cast of instrumentalists and vocalists It Takes a Thief unfolds in a kaleidoscope of sonic color.The album showcases classic Thievery Corporation tracks like “Warning Shots” featuring incendiary reggae toaster Sleepy Wonder, “Vampires” featuring Afrobeat heir Femi Kuti, “Shadows of Ourselves” featuring multi-lingual Persian singer Lou Lou, and of course the hit track “Lebanese Blonde” featuring the late jazz chanteuse Pam Bricker. It Takes a Thief also features an exclusive, never before released track “The Passing Stars” featuring Pam Bricker.
From the beginning, it's been remarkable to witness the growth of Thievery Corporation's fan base as it's steadily grown in such a DIY, organic fashion since the duo's first LP. "We were so inspired by Washington, DC's Dischord and the true do-it-yourself ethos of the DC punk scene that Rob and I both grew up on. A lot of great music reaches fans without the typical hype and fanfare enjoyed by bands on the majors. Music eventually finds its audience through a myriad of alternative routes. And when that connection is made, that bond is strong," says Hilton.
OUR LINKS
CrossroadsKC Food Truck Fest
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PetRocks
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Annie Up
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Delhi 2 Dublin
Delhi 2 Dublin continues to break the mold one album after another, busting genres as they go. It’s as if the band has been sent on a mission to further spread their sound across the planet and out into the galaxy. They describe the 2010-release of Planet Electric “as the buzz of the world that they are plugging into some large socket to electrify the people, to charge up their energy”. To capture that dynamism, all of the tracks on the album were road-tested in front of live audiences before being recorded. Something else the band did differently from the last album was going on a writers’ retreat where they worked on the music day and night for ten days straight. The results are definitely more representative of Delhi 2 Dublin as a band and a noticeable progression. The icing on the cake was being able to get Diamond “DJ Swami” Duggal (Apache Indian/Maxi Priest/Nusrat Fateh Ali) to mix the tracks.
Hour Magazine wrote that “Delhi 2 Dublin is the United Nations of rock ‘n’ roll”. The Vancouver, Canada-based band plays an energetic mash-up of Bhangra, Celtic, Dub, Reggae and Electronica with global rhythms and club beats. Tarun Nayar, Sanjay Seran, Andrew Kim and Ravi Binning, along with guest musicians Jaron Freeman-Fox and Sara Fitzpatrick, are diverse in both their backgrounds and musical influences. The band has been together almost six years and has released four full-length albums plus the latest EP, Delhi 2 Dubland.
Back in 2006, a live collaboration put together as a one-off performance piece for a club-night in Vancouver called “Delhi to Dublin” was so well-received that requests for additional performances led to the official formation of Delhi 2 Dublin. “Not being able to fit into any specific genre allows the band to create whatever we like and not be judged for it. Our audience expects nothing less.” The band finds this advantageous for their live show as it enables them to create a flow to their sets much like a DJ would for the dance floor. “Audiences love to see a band transcending stereotypes and letting the music speak for itself”.
The Delhi 2 Dublin crew are road warriors. They have played major festivals in both Canada and the U.S. including Bumbershoot in Seattle, Earthdance in California, Canada Day on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Stern Grove in San Francisco as well as such diverse events as SXSW in Austin, TX, the Keelung City Ghost Festival in Taiwan, the BaliSpirit Festival in Indonesia and the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The band has an ambitious schedule planned for 2012 kicking off with a handful of dates throughout the westcoast, as well as expanding horizons to include performances in Asia and Europe. In addition, a fresh new album is in the works to be released later this year. Delhi 2 Dublin has become one of Canada’s most buzzed-about bands and 2012 will only see them enhancing that reputation. After all…where else are you going to see a kick-ass fiddle player rocking out with a kilt-wearing Korean flanked by two bouncing Bhangra percussionists and a vocalist who looks like he would be at home in a Bollywood music video?
OUR LINKS
Wyclef Jean
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Blackalicious
"We're older, we're wiser, we're more mature," MC Gift of Gab (nee Timothy Parker) says of Imani, Vol. 1, Blackalicious' first new album in a decade. "It's better now, because we've grown as people and artists."
"Each one of these records is a chapter in our lives, and we put our complete heart and soul into it," agrees Gab's longtime musical partner, CJ/producer Chief Xcel (aka Xavier Mosley). "We live these records."
Imani, Vol. 1 lives up to the beloved California-bred duo's hard-won reputation as one of hip-hop's most progressive, forward-thinking creative forces. Acclaimed for the sublime combination of Gab's verbal dexterity and lyrical eloquence, and X's bracing beats and distinctive soundscapes, Blackalicious has earned widespread respect, both inside and outside of the hip-hop community, for the wildly inventive, personally charged innovations of its first three albums, 1999's Nia, 2002's Blazing Arrow and 2005's The Craft.
Three years in the making, Imani, Vol. 1—the first of a projected trilogy to be released over the course of two years—is perhaps Blackalicious' most ambitious and accomplished effort to date, maintaining the spirituality, introspection and positivity that are the twosome's trademarks, while making it clear that their musical vision and creative drive remain as strong as ever.
Although Imani, Vol. 1 is driven by Gift of Gab's uplifting verbal sophistication and Chief Xcel's expansive sonic sensibility, which are as distinctive as ever on such riveting tracks as "On Fire Tonight," "Escape," The Sun," "We Did It Again" and the epic "Alpha and Omega."
The pair is joined by such guest performers as Afro-pop diva Zap Mama, who's featured on the title track; Amde Hamilton of legendary '60s rap progenitors the Watts Prophets on the album-opener "Faith," eclectic singer-songwriter Imani Coppola on "The Sun," underground hip-hop duo LifeSavas on "That Night," neo-blues auteur Fantastic Negrito on "Love's Gonna Save the Day," Myron of retro-soulsters Myron & E on "On Fire Tonight," and the all-star hip-hop combo of Lateef, Lyrics Born, Monophonics and DJ D Sharp on "Alpha and Omega."
Imani—whose title is the Swahili word for "faith"—is a particularly personal project for Blackalicious, with its title reflecting the personal trials that helped to inspire the words and music.
"Faith has been a big word in both of our lives in the last couple of years," Gift of Gab affirms. "We both dealt with some personal situations that really required faith and forced us to think about a lot of things. Most of our albums are about where we are at that point in our lives, and that's definitely true on this one."
Imani, Vol. 1's birth cycle coincided with Gab's ongoing fight for his health after suffering kidney failure.
"My kidneys failed at the top of 2012, when we were gearing up to do this record," Gift of Gab notes. "I got put on dialysis, so now when I travel or go on tour, I do dialysis wherever I go. When I got the news, there was a moment where it was a little dark, where I was questioning if I'm still gonna be able to do this. But then I had the realization that no one can ever take my creativity away. I realized that this is a circumstance that I'm temporarily gonna be dealing with, and that I have to make some adjustments for it, but that it doesn't stop me from being a creative person. Once I
realized that, I started to feel inspired and just threw myself into writing, and that became a big part of the fuel for this record."
Although it's been a decade since the last Blackalicious release, the pair has remained busy with a variety of musical endeavors. Gift of Gab released three solo albums, 2004's 4th Dimension Rocketships Going Up, 2009's Escape 2 Mars and 2012's The Next Logical Progression. Chief Xcel worked with acclaimed soul singer Ledisi, and formed Burning House with R.V. Salters of General Eletriks, releasing the 2013 album Walking Into A Burning House.
"Blackalicious never stopped," asserts Gift of Gab. "We just wanted to explore other things as individuals, and in 2012 we realized that it was time to return to the mothership. I was a little nervous at first, and thought that it might take some time to rebuild. But when we started doing shows, we were selling out everywhere, and people were telling us that they grew up on our music. It was encouraging to find out that, even after all these years, we're actually important to people.
"It's like traveling," Gab continues. "It's always good to travel and see the world. But then when you come back home, you appreciate it that much more. We stepped right back into it, and it was like 'Oh yeah, I remember this. This is home.'"
"Once we got into the studio," Chief Xcel recalls, "everything flowed very naturally. We just got in there and kind of let the album make itself. When we were in the studio together, it was pretty effortless, because we know each other so well creatively. We wrote about 60 songs for this record, and went with the ones that we felt strongest about. And about 90 per cent of it is live tracks; it's probably the fewest samples I've ever used on a record."
"X gave me the beats, and I just went in and wrote every day," Gift of Gab states. "There was not a lot of thought or planning this time, it was more about action. It was just, as soon as it moves you, you write something. There was not a whole lot of thought put into it. It was more like 'OK, let's create.'"
"We're like two kids who've been playing basketball together since the second grade, and now they're in the NBA so they really know each other and can anticipate each other's next move," Chief Xcel says of his and Gab's enduring partnership. "It's totally instinctive, and we kind of communicate without talking. I know just from his physical reaction, when he hears a beat or a song, if there's a spark or if he feels inspired. And vice versa; he can tell by my immediate reaction if we've hit the mark or not. That just comes from time."
With Imani, Vol. 1 demonstrating that Blackalicious is as potent a creative entity as ever, Gift of Gab and Chief Xcel are embracing their return to the spotlight, and looking forward to reconnecting with their loyal, demographically diverse fan base.
"I think that this album is coming from a very honest place, and I really think that this is the most creative and prolific point of our careers, so we're really excited about it," Chief Xcel says, adding, "The next year or two, it's gonna be a nonstop balance of touring and being in the studio working on Volumes 2 and 3. We're definitely looking forward to seeing how things evolve and change."
"In my opinion, this is one of our best records," Gift of Gab agrees. "It's been a long time, we worked hard on it, and I hope that people enjoy it. People will come up to us and say 'Yo, that record changed my life' or 'That record helped me to get sober' or 'That record started me on a spiritual journey.' People say personal stuff like that, and we take it seriously."
"Our audience seems to be people who see music and art as essential parts of life, and not just disposable accessories," Chief Xcel concludes. "That's who we make music for—people who need music in their life. I'm one of those people. Imani is Swahili for faith, and that's really where we're at at this juncture. We're so rooted in our purpose that we don't have to second-guess, we just know. There's no fear of the unknown, there's just the fire to move forward and get to wherever the journey takes us."
OUR LINKS
8/24
Lou Dog ( Sublime Tribute)
3 Son Green
All Ages | 8 pm
Lou Dog ( Sublime Tribute)
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3 Son Green
Since 2007, 3 Son Green has been interweaving their vast web of sound, sense, and solidarity into the ever‐evolving architect it has become. Their RockJamJazzFunk style breaks genre bylaws, and pulls crowds out of their seats everywhere they play. 3 Son Green’s intricate songwriting combined with their natural improvisation is guaranteed to satisfy every music lover’s palette. Their well fueled, expanding flame has, even now, lapped at the feet of the music world at all manner of festivals across the Midwest. These Kansas City grown virtuosos are vaulting to new heights, and leaving no slack behind.
Jamie Anderson – Guitar/Vocals
Evan Carlson – Guitar/Vocals
Steven Pearson – Drums
Trey Green – Bass/Vocals
OUR LINKS
8/25
Redneck Throwdown feat:
Upchurch
Moonshine Bandits
BIG SMO
Struggle Jennings
Redneck Souljers
| All Ages | 5 pm
BUY TICKETS!Redneck Throwdown feat:
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Upchurch
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Moonshine Bandits
Backwoods bravado, patriot’s pride, country soul, keg-thumping beats — these are the qualities that Moonshine Bandits have championed since they began burning up the California club circuit back in 2003.
Their message spread as they rolled from there through the heartland, the dirty South and beyond on their tour bus. No matter whether color their collar is or even if they wore a collar at all, people heard something of their story in their music — and popped back a cold one to celebrate that connection.
Plenty of their trademark sound and message resonates through Baptized In Bourbon, their new album — reverence for God and country on “Red, White & Blue Collar” (“We answered to the call when Uncle Sam cried/You know we always stand for what is right”), a celebration of backwater saloons and Saturday nights on “Stomp Like Hell” (“Before the bar doors close, I’m a-get to stepping/I’m gonna stomp like Hell just to get to Heaven”), a promise to stand firm for freedom on “Raised Up” (“If you ain’t proud of where you’re from, get the hell out of town”).
But there’s more — a new depth that encourages reflection, even hints of doubt. None of this compromises the defiant pride that’s always threaded through the songs of Bird and Tex, aka Moonshine Bandits. Still, something has changed since they released Blacked Out in 2015.
Tex knows why. “This year has been a whirlwind of touring,” he explains. “We’ll play at a bike rally in Oregon one day and then fly to Alaska. That’s had a lot of input on this album, especially on our songwriting. We’ve always been entertainers first, songwriters second. Now I feel like our songwriting has caught up to the entertainment part of who we are.”
In these past couple of years, he and his fellow bandit Bird have been in transition personally as well as artistically. They’ve gone from bus tours to jetting out for extended weekend jaunts. While playing for their die-hard, “blu-core” fans, vestiges of wilder days do appear, sometimes bringing old ways into conflict with new responsibilities.
Tex lays out the question candidly. “When we’re away from our family, is the way we’re living acceptable to God, with all the partying and crazy shit we do on the road?”
This dilemma was somewhere in whatever dream Tex was having late one night when he woke up suddenly. “Three words came to me: baptized in bourbon,” he remembers. “I texted Bird and my manager and said, ‘Hey, I don’t know what this means but it could be some pretty heavy stuff.’ The whole album started with that title.”
The Bandits and producers, Burn County, withdrew to a cabin/studio deep in a forest in the state of Washington. They talked about things they’d experienced, lessons they’d learn and questions that remained. Conversations evolved into lyrics; feelings took on musical shape; tape rolled. And after two weeks they emerged with Baptized In Bourbon, a project unlike anything they’d ever cut before.
“We didn’t sit down and say, ‘Hey, let’s do a themed album,’” Bird insists. “But the themes we were thinking of seemed to carry over song after song. It was like a circle. It wasn’t all heavy. There’s a lot of fun songs on the album too. But basically, Baptized In Bourbon isn’t just about bonfires and keg parties. There’s a lot more to it than that.”
“The Sermon” starts mournfully, with strings and a quiet acoustic guitar. Then a preacher breaks in, a beat kicks off and from the pulpit we hear the query that underlies all of Baptized In Bourbon: “In light of knowing that God is with us, and in light of knowing that He sees us always, how are we going to respond with our lives?”
The answer appears to be that you celebrate, you rock hard, you love without hesitation and fight without fear when you have to. And, if you’re Moonshine Bandits, you drive this story home with help from a gang of gifted guest artists: Crucifix on the slamming “I’m A Hellrazor,” Bubba Sparxxx on “51Fifty,” The Lacs on “Cards I Was Dealt,” Uncle Kracker on “Baptized In Bourbon,” Colt Ford and Outlaw on “Dad’s Pontoon,” Matt Borden on “Shook Me Up,” Jelly Roll on “Wild Ones” …
… and maybe most memorably, the legendary David Allan Coe. David Allan Coe has done some shows with the Bandits to rowdy audiences. Apparently he liked what he saw when Tex and Bird sent him their arrangement of his classic anthem “Take This Job And Shove It.” He volunteered to join with them in the studio and later on stage. Coe also personally called both Tex and Bird to thank them as well as tell them he enjoyed their energy-filled live show.
“I’ve always said there are three guys I wanted to work with before I quit music,” Tex says. “Two of them are dead; the third is David Allan Coe. We decided to shoot a video together at Shawshank. The night before we met in his hotel room. It was like we were old friends, listening to him talk about songwriting. The next day we went to the prison, where he had done three or four years of his life. We were kind of skeptical about what might happen because there’s a lot of emotion involved. Hell, I threw up after going into some of the cells. But he had a great time. Then that night, when we played a show in Bucyrus, Ohio, he did the song with us so we could have the footage.”
Bird smiles at the memory. “Then when we stopped the show to do it again, he gets on the microphone and starts rocking Kid Rock’s ‘Sitting Here Wasting Time.’ It was incredible to see a 77-year-old guy rap to a slow drum beat. The crowd went bonkers. I’ll never forget that. We were so proud to earn his respect.”
Baptized In Bourbon doesn’t stop there. The guys spin parallel stories on successive tracks, featuring male and female archetypes that their blu-core followers can recognize. “‘Renegade Rides Again’ says that you don’t know when the life we’re living is going to catch up with us. Then you go to ‘Hell On Heels,’ which is about some of the girls we’ve met,” Tex says, with a knowing laugh. “It’s pretty much all a true story. We don’t even embellish it. But that’s what happens when you run in this type of circle.”
This is the music that Moonshine Bandits will take on the road later this year, most likely on a bus tour this time. Maybe it’s a bit of a risk to mix the sacred and profane, the rowdy and the introspective, on record and then onstage. But the payoff here is twofold: Their music demands attention from first note to last. And because they enjoy a strong mutual trust with their fans, honesty is essential to that bond.
“I’m away from my wife and kids,” Tex sums up. “My partner has lost numerous fiancees because of this ride. Yeah, we’re out partying — not too crazy to where we’re out of control. And Bird’s dad is a preacher. So sometimes we do wonder if this lifestyle is acceptable. But this isn’t just about our lives. It’s a universal thing.”
At heart, we’re all blu-core. We all hear some of our truth in what Moonshine Bandits are throwing down. Maybe it’s time for us all to be Baptized In Bourbon.
OUR LINKS
BIG SMO
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Struggle Jennings
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Redneck Souljers
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Dispatch
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Nahko & Medicine for the People
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Steve n Seagulls
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Restless String Band
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Monsters of Mock
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Almost Kiss
One of Six Tribute Bands
Considered talented enough to be placed on the world famous, “Gene Simmons Family Jewels” in front of an international audience, Almost KISS caught the eye of Family Jewels’ Producers and Executives in 2010 and were chose to be included as one of six tributes to be endorsed by Gene Simmons. Since then, this amazing group of four musicians has continued to excite crowds all over the country, growing substantially in popularity.
Complete Kiss Image on Stage
Part of what makes Almost KISS show so enthralling is the way in which they have so meticulously recreated the complete KISS image on stage. The boys feature authentic vintage instruments, makeup, and custom made costumes and boots. Their unmistakable New York accents and KISS antics truly bring out the outlandish, charismatic personas of the original four Gods of Thunder we all adore. In being true to the original characters, Almost KISS derives the majority of their song list from a specific part of the KISS katalog, primarily performing material that KISS played in live concert settings from 1974-1983. This long and wonderful list of songs spans material from the early tunes they played at small, dingy clubs in New York City to huge, international numbers such as “Lick It Up.”
Their touring takes them to festivals, college campuses, corporate events, benefits, nightclubs, and private functions from Missouri to Texas and Wisconsin to the Caribbean. No matter where the band travels, people always enjoy Almost KISS because people, young and not-so, still (and probably always will) love KISS.
International
2011 and 2012 will take Almost KISS internationally to St. Thomas and St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands for a few big shows and rumors of travel abroad to Germany, Mexico, and Canada are constantly swirling.
Hottest Band in the World
Almost KISS are four KISS fans: Devote and true. They choose to pay homage to the hottest band in the world and bring the show closer to you than you’ve ever experienced before. Pucker up…this is the Hottest Tribute band in the world!
OUR LINKS
KC/DC
KC/DC!!! What else really needs to be said?????? The region's ONLY band exclusively playing both the Bon Scott and Brian Johnson eras of AC/DC. No other band in the history of rock 'n' roll has created better music to party your ass off to than AC/DC. We're actually jealous of you if you come to one of our shows...yes JEALOUS!!! We wish we were sitting out front listening to these ass-kicking rock anthems and drinking too much right-along side you...because we ourselves are just big fans of this music and what it represents--HAVING FUN WITH YOUR FRIENDS! (but playing these tunes ain't too bad either, so don't feel sorry for us!). This is HIGH ENERGY stadium rock that will leave you Thunderstuck! There's not a single "Debbie Downer" moment in any of the tunes we play. We do not wish to "inform" anyone of any issues (other than the fact that you need to loosen up and have some damn fun!), no songs to make you "think", no songs to express our "inner-rage", no songs to relate to the "lowest common denominator" of society, no political views. Just good-old blues based boogie-woogie hard rock 'n' roll that you can dance to, drink to, fight to, drive fast to, have sex to, scream-along to, and just plain LIVE to. LET THERE BE ROCK!
OUR LINKS
Samantha Fish
Whether one leans towards the blues, opts for Americana or ignites some special fervor by playing with a garage band, there’s a common bond that suggests a reverence for the roots. Looking back towards an earlier template — no matter what the genre — proves the point that appreciating what came before can be a stepping stone for what comes next.
Samantha Fish knows that all too well, and it’s been evidenced in the music she’s made her entire career. While she’s well known as a purveyor of blues, having been lauded by such legends as Buddy Guy, the Royal Southern Brotherhood and Luther Dickinson, her real love is simply raw, scrappy rock and roll. “I grew up on it,” she insists. “Working with Luther on my last album further instilled that spirit in me. It made me realize just how much that basic, unfettered sound means to me, and how well it ties into soul music, R&B, country and so many other forms of music that are essential even today.”
It’s little wonder then that when it came time to record her new album, Chills & Fever (released March 17, 2017), Fish ventured off in another new direction, one she was exploring for the first time in her career. She traveled to Detroit and joined forces with members of the Detroit Cobras, a band whose insurgent ethic has made them darlings of the Midwest punk/blues scene. The two entities — which included Joe Mazzola on guitar, Steve Nawara on bass, and Kenny Tudrick along with Bob Mervak on keys, and the New Orleans horn section featuring Mark Levron and Travis Blotsky on trumpet and saxophone — bonded over a common love of classic soul and rollicking rhythms, so much so that the results testify to a seemingly timeless template. Covering songs from the ‘60s and ‘70s — indelible melodies from the pens of legends like Jackie DeShannon, Jerry Ragavoy, Bert Berns and Allen Toussaint — and revisiting some earlier demos she cut along with producer Bobby Harlow, Fish and the Cobras created an album that’s best described as a pure slab of rocking rhythm n’ blues.
“I listened to a lot of soul music, and I dug deep into people like Otis Redding and Ray Charles,” Fish recalls. “I was also influenced by people like R.L. Burnside and North Mississippi’s Junior Kimbrough. It’s a lot less restrained style of music than the sound people may be used to hearing from me, but it’s definitely a different facet of my personality. It’s far more straight forward.”
The fact is, Fish has never been bound by any expectations whatsoever. Growing up in Kansas City, she switched from drums to guitar at the tender age of 15. She spent much of her time in local watering holes listening to visiting blues bands. Samantha caught the attention of Ruf Records. The label subsequently released her album, Girls with Guitars, which found her co-billed with Cassie Taylor and Dani Wilde. That led to her forming her own trio and recording three more albums, Runaway (2011), Black Wind Howlin’ (2013) and Wild Heart (2015), as reaping an awards for Best Artist Debut at the 2012 Blues Music Awards in Memphis. Along the way she found herself working with other artists as well — Jimmy Hall, Devon Allman, and Reese Wynans, among them.
Still, nothing she’s done before can prepare her faithful fans and followers to the seminal sounds of Chills & Fever.
I don’t think I ever enjoyed making a record quite as much as I enjoyed making this one,” Fish insists. “I love the sound of the brass and the edgier intensity. One thing’s for sure. Nothing ever felt so authentic.”
OUR LINKS
Car Seat Headrest
Matador Records is thrilled to announce that it has signed Car Seat Headrest and will release Teens of Style on October 30, with Teens of Denial to follow soon after in 2016. This prolific artist (n Will Toledo) comes to Matador having already crafted an 11-album catalog of staggering depth, all self-released on Bandcamp, which has gained him an obsessive following and over 25,000 downloads - all without the muscle of a manager, label, agent, or publicist - until now.
Car Seat Headrest began in 2010 in Will Toledo's hometown of Leesburg, Virginia. Needing a place of solitude (and soundproofing) where he could record vocals undisturbed, a 17-year-old Toledo set up shop in the family car. Toledo's catalogue is sharp, literary, and culturally omnivorous as it touches upon youth and death, love and depression, drunken parties and 2nd century theologians. Ever surprising, his lyrical imagery ranges from playful to sexually frank to sorrowful, often within the same song.
After relocating to the Seattle suburbs in 2014, Toledo assembled a lineup with bassist Ethan Ives and drummer Andrew Katz. Teens of Style is the first Car Seat Headrest album recorded with a full band, and the sound is vibrant and powerful, with a wide stylistic range.
On Teens of Style, Toledo has taken material from the first three years of the band's existence and reworked it to generate some of the most realized arrangements to date. Drawing material from 3 (2010), My Back Is Killing Me Baby (2011), and Monomania (2012), Teens of Style provides a concise overview of the band's many sonic and emotional facets, with the songs ranging from electronic psychedelia to punky anthems to melancholic acoustic numbers.
The longest track on Teens of Style, "Times to Die," is just under seven minutes, applying breakbeat cut-ups and "Low Rider" horns to a groove-driven neo-psych jam with lyrics about Judaism, Hinduism, and the record business. Similarly, "Maud Gone" is a wistful 60s-inspired pop number paying homage to Yeats's unrequited love, while the intricate party track "Los Borrachos" borrows its title from the Diego Velasquez painting.
Car Seat Headrest's conceptual ambition and stunning songwriting has been apparent since its early days of laptop recording, the scale of Toledo's vision going far beyond the constricting "lo-fi" term. Now on his Matador Records debut, Teens of Style, we witness Toledo presenting his intricate ideas with more clarity and refinement than ever, delivering an enthralling collection of songs destined for wide acclaim.
OUR LINKS
Naked Giants
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Eric Schwartz
Eric Schwartz is a comedian, actor, voiceover artist, musician and content creator. In addition to television appearances on Showtime, the Tonight Show, Comics Unleashed, BET and his one-hour special, “Surrender to the Blender,” on Hulu, Eric is know for his popular digital stand-up clips, sketches and parody videos. He has been going viral long before social media existed and continues to deliver hit after hit to his growing and engaged online fanbase.
This multi-dimensional showman’s stand up, sketches, songs and characters have led to content collaborations with Grammy-winner Jason Mraz, Craig Robinson, Anjelah Johnson, Tiffany Haddish, Disney, Yahoo, HLN, Machinima, Maker Studios, MiTu Networks and more.
On stage, Eric is one of the most creative and original comedians working today, earning the description, “everything there is to love about entertainment” (First Order Historians). GQ India names him one of “5 International Comics You Must Catch.” “E! News Daily” host Ryan Seacrest said Schwartz is “rocking the web” with “video that’s got everyone Googling” and Forbes.com applauds him for having “a minor industry in pop music parodies.”
OUR LINKS
Ezra Furman
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Transangleic
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Exodus
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