Category: show reviews

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Nick13 / Brett Detar, The Bell House, 9/24/2011

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When I last wrote about Brett Detar (formerly of The Juliana Theory) I had just listened to his new solo record and loved it. Last Saturday night I got to see him sing some of those songs live, and it was fantastic.

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It was just him and his guitar (and later banjo), so the songs – with the exception of Cocaine Whiskey and Heroin – were at times little slower and more subdued than on the record, but they were no less lovely for being stripped down. He has a big powerful voice and it was a pleasure just to listen to him sing.

Anyway, here’s one more of him, this time with the banjo:

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Next up was Nick13, formerly of Tiger Army, who I had never heard before in either of his incarnations – Tiger Army happened while I was in cultural exile – and thus had no idea what to expect.

I realize this has become something of a trend with me. I promise I do go to concerts where I am familiar with the work of all of the acts ahead of time! It’s just sometimes (okay, often) I’m perfectly content to go on a voyage of discovery.

And as for Nick13, I am once again happy to report that I was pleasantly surprised.

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For those of you who have heard of Tiger Army and are wondering how the new sound compares, I have since corrected my deficiencies and can tell you that what he is playing now is really, really different. The psychobilly has left the building.

The new sound is – well, it’s kind of old, in the sense that it harkens back to what country sounded like in the middle of the 20th century. My reactions were basically We play both kinds, country and western, though referencing the score of Greater Tuna, not Blues Brothers, and also He’s like Gene Autry with neck tattoos.

Though I do also have to say that he’s less tinny and schmaltzy than Gene Autry, or at least, Gene Autry as presented by Spotify. There’s definitely some punk and/or rock sensibility swirling through everything as well, but it’s subtle – just enough to give the rhythm a little bit of kick.

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Mostly I thought the music was sweet, and kind of gentle, but most certainly not dull. I put his CD in my iPod, and while it’s only been in rotation for a couple of days, I can tell it’s the kind of thing I will be returning to at the end of long days and when exams are making me crazy. It’s also music I will play for my parents, as I think they might enjoy it.

If you would like to check both Nick13 and Brett Detar out for yourself, the tour is still on the march, and will be making stops across the Mid- and South-West through early October.  If they’re coming to your town and you have the evening free, go down and visit with them. I promise it will be a good time.


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Wayne Hancock at the Beachland Tavern, Cleveland, OH, 9.14.11

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“My name is Wayne Hancock. I’m opening for myself.”

Sometimes it feels like the musicians who work the hardest and contribute the most time to honing their craft to be the best it can be are the least known. Thus how Wayne Hancock, who has been recording for 16 years and writing and playing music for even longer, comes to play a three-hour set to a half-full bar in Cleveland on a Wednesday night. Granted, it was a respectable crowd for a mid-week night in the CLE, but to fairly equate Hancock’s energy and caliber as a music maker, he should have been playing to a capacity crowd in the Ballroom.

While the man also known as “The Train” and his boys – Jerry Cochran on Fender Telecaster, Wyatt Maxwell on a Gretsch Falcon and Joe Deuce on doghouse bass – lurched a little as they launched their set, it only took a few songs before the wheels were properly greased, and they were ready to fly.

 

 

Pulling from his own healthy catalogue, as well as throwing in some classic covers, Hancock kept the crowd – many of whom were clearly Hancock stalwarts – happy with songs like “Johnny Law”, “Viper of Melody”, “Wedding Bells”, “Miller, Jack and Mad Dog”, “Take Me Back to Tulsa”, “Highway 54”, “That’s What Daddy Wants”, “Milk Cow Blues” and on and on, playing much of the show by request.

 

 

Hancock and band played a rockabilly and western swing-heavy set, but if you could stop dancing long enough to pay attention, watching the scene onstage was much like watching a jazz quartet. Hancock surrounds himself with top-notch players, and there is a dialogue that goes on between them spoken in music. Hancock, Cochran, Maxwell and Deuce could often be seen making each other laugh with musical jokes that non-musicians and novice musicians like myself just don’t get, but added to the enjoyment of the show just the same. There’s nothing that makes a show better than seeing great musicians enjoy what they’re doing.

Wayne Hancock’s road has had some major bumps in it and reviews haven’t always been the best, but like his nickname, he keeps rolling forward, and when he’s on, he’s a grade A entertainer not to be missed.

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Daytrotter Barnstormer 5, Akron, OH, 8.31.11

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“We’re in a barn. Shit.” – Dean Povinsky, Wildlife

Having grown up in the country (not too far from the site where the Daytrotter Barnstormer 5 tour set down in Akron), I’m not unfamiliar with hearing live music in barns – though in my childhood experiences, the bands were usually a sidenote to a pig roasting on a spit or people getting drunk at a company picnic. Don’t get me wrong: there were people getting drunk at the beautiful Conrad Botzum Farmstead Barn Wednesday night, but the main event was clearly the music.

The show started promptly at 6:30 PM, the sun still out, shining in through the open barn door and windows. A group of photogenic young men dressed all in black with matching teal armbands (“We chose black for our uniforms,” keyboard player Tim Daugulis commented later. “What a great idea.” “Oh yeah: daylight,” singer/guitarist Dean Povinsky added) drew people into the barn from the deck and surrounding grounds with their energetic set. This was Wildlife. Belting out passionate vocals and rocking hard, half the band’s black uniforms were sweat-soaked by the third song. I liked Wildlife immediately and even got goosebumps during an a cappella break toward the end of the last song of their set.

Next up was Princeton, an L.A. band led by twin brothers Matt and Jesse Kivel. Their synth-heavy mellow dance music was not my thing, but they had a friendly presence, and the woman in striped jeans to my right danced ecstatically through most of the set.

Doug Paisley was probably the artist on the bill who most fit people’s idea of music you might usually hear emanating from a barn. Looking like the lovechild of Thurston Moore and John Doe, Paisley is a sweet guitarist with a comfortable, weathered voice. In his songs, he is a storyteller, but he joked about trying to keep quiet between songs because stage banter didn’t seem to work for him. “I don’t like telling the same jokes every night,” he said. “I think you should keep things fresh. That may be my problem.” Either way, he had a barnful of people quietly transfixed by the end of his set.

(In a slightly mistimed moment of serendipity, a bat flew high over Paisley’s head a couple of songs after he played “Bat Song”.)

For the seventh inning stretch, White Rabbits brought their spirited Brit-style pop-rock to make the barn bounce. They brought out a crop of new songs that still managed to engage the crowd, though it was with their last couple of songs, more familiar tunes, that really brought punch to their set.

I have gushed about Hacienda on this blog before, and this is going to be more of the same. I tell everyone that they are one of my favorite live bands for a very good reason. These guys always serve up a loose soul groove while still being a very tight unit, and there aren’t many bands who make me dance more at shows. The Villanueva brothers and cousin Dante brought out a bunch of new songs from their third album, recently recorded at Dan Auerbach’s relocated Easy Eye Studio in Nashville, my favorite being “You Just Don’t Know” with its superior soul groove. And while the new songs were great, it was in the more familiar tunes where they really laid it down. They ended their set with a spectacular version of their Everly Brothers cover “You’re My Girl” that featured an extended groove-jam intro and left the crowd hollering for more. They proceeded to top themselves with an encore of “Mama’s Cookin'” that could have set the barn aflame had it gotten any hotter.

All in all, a great evening in a great setting. I’d like to extend my personal thanks to Sean Moeller and the Daytrotter crew for bringing this great tour to Ohio this time around.

 

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Austin Lucas at Blue Moon Café, Shepherdstown, WV, 8.26.11

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Happy to have another guest post from the lovely and talented Michelle Evans (Dear Ben Nichols, The Vinyl District: Washington, D.C.), this time a live review of Austin Lucas and the Bold Party.

 

 

I discovered Austin Lucas a couple years ago, but I had yet to see him live. When I heard he was going to be at the intimately set Blue Moon Café in Shepherdstown, WV, with his brilliantly talented back-up band The Bold Party and opening acts Matt Kline (of The Fox Hunt) and Marcellus Hall (from Brooklyn), I packed up my ’89 Honda Accord (with pop-up headlights!) for a road-trip north to see some awesome music (oh, and my sister too).

I am very much a voice and lyrics person. I often say that if I can’t understand what someone is singing, I’m not likely to be very interested in what the singer has to say (although there are, of course, exceptions). While initially drawn by the overall tone and sorrowful beauty of Lucas’ voice, I came to find bluegrass, country (the real kind), mountain, and Old Time influences in his music – some of my favorite genres. But that’s not all I found. On his new full-length album, A New Home in the Old World, Lucas has employed the use of electric guitar, as can be heard on one of my new favorite songs by him, “Thunder Rail.” Some of my other favorite songs he performed that night included “Somebody Loves You,” “Go West” (below), and “Wash My Sins Away” (also below), all of which can be found on both Somebody Loves You and Live from the White Water Tavern.

Austin Lucas is by and large one of the alt-country genre’s unsung heroes. He not only has a beautiful, soulful voice that propels along a story, but a knack for constructing and writing songs that are both emotive and smart.

Recently coming off a tour with Willie Nelson’s Country Throwdown, Austin Lucas is currently headlining a tour with The Bold Party as well as touring as support for the Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band. If Lucas is performing within a few hours radius of where you live, see him (and definitely see him with The Bold Party, if you can). It won’t be long before he’ll move from intimate saloon settings to theaters, and you’ll regret not seeing him when.

 

Austin Lucas - Go West @ The BlueMoon Saloone 08/26/11

 

Austin Lucas - Wash My Sins Away @ The BlueMoon Saloone 08/26/11

 

Austin Lucas - Wild Boar @ The BlueMoon Saloone 08/26/11

 

Austin Lucas Official Website

Austin Lucas @ Reverb Nation

Austin Lucas @ Facebook

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Postcards from the Pit: Woods

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The evening I saw them, Woods was the last band of a four-band show at the Bowery Ballroom. They shared the bill with Widowspeak (ethereal on top, solid and dark on the bottom, very good); White Fence (high quality surf punk, even better when I wasn’t being moshed into a wall); and Ducktails (he has a new record out). I had gone out mainly to see White Fence;  by the time Woods came on it was late, it was also Saturday, so I resolved to hang out at least for a little while – two or three songs, maybe – and see if I liked them.

Readers, I loved them. Woods are delightful, and I stayed for their whole set. Many of their tunes were sweet, delicate indie-pop confections, but woven carefully between the hand-clapping sing-along songs were darker, more psychedelic instrumental numbers that functioned as the aural equivalent of a palate cleanser.

I enjoyed every minute of their time of the stage, and I strongly encourage you to get a-hold of their new record, Sun and Shade. I have had it on my iPod more or less since the show, and their songs never fail to lighten my mood when they float up on shuffle. And given that in the time since the show major events in my life have included a water/gas main break in my neighborhood, an earthquake, a hurricane, and part of my bathroom ceiling falling down, my mood has most assuredly needed lightening on a fairly regular basis.

Sample tune:

WOODS- Pushing Onlys by WOODSIST

In conclusion, here are a few pictures I took at the show I went to:

Widowspeak:

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White Fence:

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Ducktails:

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Woods:

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Diamond Doves, Brooklyn Bowl, 8.19.11: “We Always Want People To Dance”

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NTSIB friend and cohort Joy Wagner kindly offered this sweet little interview/show review to us and the good dudes at Citizen Dick. Check out Diamond Doves’ music at their MySpace (and then entreat them to get off of MySpace).

 

 

The odds are good that, if you’re a regular follower of this blog, you’ve already heard of the Diamond Doves. They’ve backed up and opened for several popular acts: A.A. Bondy, The Felice Brothers, Elvis Perkins. In fact, they were Dearland, as in “Elvis Perkins In.”

These days, they’ve struck out on their own, but they’re not trying to ride any coattails. The Doves are doing this all themselves.

“With our band, we’re trying to break every rule we set for ourselves [in the previous band],” says Wyndham Garnett (guitar, trombone, vocals).

Brigham Brough (bass, vocals, saxophone) agrees. “Our past material taught us what we’re capable of and what we wanted to do. But we’re trying less to build off of that platform than to create anew.”

Which isn’t to say that they’re arrogant — just that they’ve learned from experience. Nick Kinsey (drums, clarinet, vocals) maintains “We’ve hit the ground running.”

And indeed, in the space of a few months, they seem to have picked a direction and headed for it full bore. In April, when I last saw them, they were playing upbeat, catchy, and well-orchestrated but fairly mild tunes: solidly enjoyable opening-band material. Between then and August, however, they’ve shifted into floor-shaking, guitar-driven indie rock that can convince even a notoriously apathetic Williamsburg hipster crowd to dance.

Garnett attributes this to the album they’ve been recording. “We’ve been working our ass off to make the new record and we want everyone to hear it.”

“We always want people to dance,” says Brough. “We want to write good songs and make good music. [Within the band] we want to inspire and challenge each other.”

Which seems to be working out pretty well. Their songwriting method is democratic, with each band member contributing his part and allowing the others to fill in theirs. Each takes his turn at singing, while Brough and Garnett often trade instruments onstage. Each has his own distinctive sound, and there is no clear frontman in the typical sense of the word.

Brough acknowledges that this approach is both “our biggest strength and our biggest weakness,” and that it keeps them on their toes.

Garnett asserts that with his contributions, “I want to impress my homeboys and give them something good to play.”

“Our energy ties it together,” says Kinsey, adding that the trio’s longtime friendship has given them a significant nonverbal connection. And indeed, their democratic interactions carry over off the stage. When I caught up with them after their set, they were affable, personable, visiting with friends and chatting over a shared plate of chicken wings. They have a habit of contributing to and even finishing one another’s sentences. The Diamond Doves are just three friends who are also in a band, making music they want everyone to check out.

“We speak music to each other,” Garnett explains, and I readily believe that.

After the chicken wings had vanished, the trio went outside to watch the other bands on the bill and catch up with Elvis Perkins, who’d offered a supportive presence; I sat in the lobby organizing my notes. A young man sharing the sofa explained that he’d journeyed all the way from Pennsylvania to hear the headlining act, and asking what I had come for. When I told him, he frowned in thought for a moment.

“The Diamond Doves, were they the first act?” He paused, then grinned. “They were fucken awesome.”

Between that and the dancing hipsters, I think this is a good sign.

 


Diamond Doves opening for the Felice Brothers, Club Helsinki, Hudson, NY, 3.26.11

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An Evening At: The Grand Ole Echo, The Echo, Los Angeles, with Welldiggers Banquet, Grant Langston and the Ruby Friedman Orchestra

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On my very last night in Los Angeles I ventured out to Echo Park to check out the Grand Ole Echo, a weekly Americana/country/roots music event held at The Echo. Once again I had no idea what to expect, this time because I was mainly going to check out the event as a concept.

It turned out to be an excellent evening, the kind of thing that I decided if I lived in town I would totally go over every Sunday. (In fact I really wish there was something like it in New York.) If you’re in the Los Angeles area, drop in on them sometime – it’s free, all ages, 5-9 PM on Sundays, April through September. Plus there’s BBQ and more music on the porch!

Confession: I did not manage to sample either the BBQ or the bluegrass band that was playing on the evening that I went. I spent all of my time indoors, absorbing the musical stylings of the following bands:

1. Welldiggers Banquet

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My post-set notes on this band were “country with rockabilly swing, great stuff.” They have been a band since 2004, and their self-titled CD was released in 2007, though evidently a new record is expected shortly. I’ve been carrying their tunes around with me since I got back, and enjoying pretty much the entire record, though I do have a special fondness for Frio, White River and Charms of the City. If you enjoy a foot-stomping good time as well as the occasional ballad, check them out.

2. Grant Langston and the Supermodels

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Mr. Langston and his merry crew are more rock than rockabilly, but still have a strong country core. And some seriously entertaining song titles, such as Burt Reynolds Movie Brawl which is “get me OUT of here” account of an oncoming barfight. If you enjoy the Bakersfield sound, you will enjoy them.

3. Ruby Friedman Orchestra

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This band was perhaps more bluesy soul with hard rock underpinnings than Americana or country, but that didn’t bother me a bit, as they were absolutely amazing. Seriously, y’all, if they roll through your town, get out and see them. They sound like a force of nature given a voice, sometimes howling, sometimes crooning, but always bigger than life. Recommended tracks: Montmartre and It Makes Me Want To Hold Your Hand (A Little Tighter).

 

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An Evening At: The Smell, Los Angeles, with Crazy Band, The Audacity, and White Fence

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A couple of weeks ago I went to Los Angeles on vacation. On my last Saturday night in town, I went out to The Smell  in downtown LA, to hear Crazy Band, The Audacity, and White Fence. Ty Segall was also playing, but as you will see I didn’t stay for their whole set, so the most I can tell you about them was that my note-to-self was “Interesting, investigate further at another time.”

But let us start at the beginning, with Crazy Band:

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They are a punk band, and they are mostly girls. The lone exception is their drummer, who sadly didn’t make it into any of my pictures. I didn’t know anything about them when I arrived, so I had no idea what to expect. Here is what I got: music that was definitely all punk and no pop, in which I detected echoes of the X-Ray Specs (here’s 39 second example) and a set that was carefully controlled chaos, as band members passed the mic between songs and the kids around me moshed amid flying pieces of crumpled magazine pages tossed out over the crowd like gigantic pieces of confetti.

This is the pit, in the middle of a song:

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This is the place afterwards:

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It was amazing. Should you find yourself in LA, you should see them. Also, check out saxophonist Jenna Thornhill’s website, which is also full of good stuff.

The Audacity was next. They are from Fullerton, CA, and their sound, while a little bit bigger and bouncier than Crazy Band, was also punk rock. The moshing continued apace, with people joining hands to spin in gleeful circles and, later, rolling around on the floor.

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They are out on tour at the moment, and as of right now they have upcoming shows in Seattle, Portland, and Oakland before they drop back down to Los Angeles. Go and hang out with them, Pacific Northwest and Northern California, you’ll have a good time.

The last band I saw was White Fence (also at Facebook), one of the many projects of Tim Presley of Darker My Love and The Strange Boys.

White Fence just put out a new record Is Growing Faith, through Woodsist Records, and are also on tour right now, with Woods, making a slow progression across the Southwest and up the East Coast. Recorded, they’re sort of groovy and psychedelic with the occasional burst of surf/garage rock; live, they’re surf rock at high punk speed. Either way, I like it a whole lot, and I look forward to seeing them again when they stop in New York in a week or so.

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This is more or less where the crowd really went nuts. Someone else got video of the craziness, but, after I wriggled my way out of the pit and flattened myself against a wall to observe the chaos from afar, I got this picture as the pit surged forward:

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Afterwards I felt a bit sweaty and squashed, and so decamped to the couches in the front of the venue for a little while – long enough to hear two Ty Segall songs – before I decided to call it an evening and head out. I will leave you with some shots of the view from the couches:

 

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Deep Blues Festival 2011, Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, OH, 7.16.11

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Thinking about this post and trying to find a way to encapsulate some nine hours of great music and great people leaves me wanting to write “You should have been there” and leave it at that. But that isn’t fair to anyone, especially not the amazing performers who fueled the night.

Each artist who took the stage Saturday brought something special with them, from the endearing charm of Boom Chick (and drummer Moselle Spiller’s brilliant scream) to the explosive energy of Molly Gene to the hypnotic skill of Mississippi Gabe Carter to the dirty magic that occurs when Left Lane Cruiser sits in with Mark Porkchop Holder. Every act was worth keeping an eye on.

Confession: I didn’t keep an eye on every act. In fact, it seems I missed two of the best sets of the night: Ten Foot Polecats and Left Lane Cruiser. Instead, I was carousing in the bar like some sort of scenester. But with an event like DBF, part of the package is meeting and hanging out with great people – the kind of people who don’t roll their eyes or just quietly humor you when you go on and on about blues music (or music in general). The kind of people who love music so much they’ll travel thousands of miles to play it. Or even just to listen to it.

Boom Chick led the way with a big helping of ’50s rock ‘n’ roll mixed in with their blues, most notably on their original tunes like “Sweaty, Sweaty Dress”, “The Ghost of Bo Diddley” (the barnstormer of a tune that closed their set) and a Link Wray/surf music-inspired instrumental. They also pulled up a couple of covers, like Diddley’s “White Horse” and Robert Johnson’s “Me and the Devil”, which was given a fascinating new dimension by Spiller’s drums.

 


video by Chris Bishop

 

Next up was Old Gray Mule featuring C.W. Ayon who played a sweet little set full of great covers and bad jokes. C.R. Humphrey’s great guitar-playing led the way while Ayon supplied great vocals and drumming on songs by Robert Belfour, T-Model Ford, R.L. Burnside and originals like “Ass Whoopin'” and “Back in the Day”, a song about T-Model Ford.

Now here’s where my notes end as I really began to enjoy myself. Mississippi Gabe Carter played a beautiful set of slow blues, belting out gripping vocals while accompanying himself masterfully on his National Map guitar. Songs included “Black Woman”, “Skinny Woman”… and other titles that don’t have the word “woman” in them. (I mentioned that I stopped taking notes, right?)

Cashman brought some dirty into the mix, along with one of the smilingest drummers I’ve ever seen. Ray Cashman is one of the most intimidating-looking blues musicians since Howlin’ Wolf, but like Wolf, Cashman flashed a ready smile.

For me, the musical highlight of the night was Molly Gene One Whoaman Band. Armed with a guitar, a fantastic foot drum and occasional harmonica, Molly Gene is pure fury, stomping the ever-lovin’ shit out of the beat while howling with a voice so gravel-ridden that your throat starts to feel raw just listening to her. If you took the individual talents of men like John Wesley Myers, Scott H. Biram and Bob Log III, you’d still need to throw in a few mule kicks to match the ferocity of Molly Gene. She played awesome originals like “Bumble Bee” and “I Need Me a Man” and tied the bow in the ribbon of winning my heart forever by cover the Coasters’ “Down in Mexico”.

 


video by Chris Bishop

 

I was in and out for the Misery Jackals, but the locals had an excited fan base hooting in the audience and boasted the lone bass player of the night.

Then I completely missed the Ten Foot Polecats set, which was a mistake because this happened:

 


video by bloodybill

 

Long and lanky Ted Drozdowski led the Scissormen through an energetic set which saw Drozdowski come down from the stage, climb onto chairs, set his guitar on tables to play it and, at one point, set the guitar in my hands to play it, eventually weaving his way into the back bar for some stool-climbing before coming back to the stage. There’s a reason Drozdowski also played M.C. for the night.

Being a Black Diamond Heavies fan, I was not about to miss Mark Porkchop Holder, who was in the original lineup of the band. Holder did not disappoint, playing smooth slide steel as he sang about folks like Deliah and Stagger Lee. And, as mentioned before, Brenn Beck and Joe Evans of Left Lane Cruiser joined Holder toward the end to put some grit behind the slide.

And then I proceeded to miss Left Lane Cruiser. I know, I know. I was busy having adventures. I will see those guys play eventually, I swear.

Sadly, the Staving Chain and Javier & the Innocent Sons weren’t able to play the show.

As praiseworthy as all the performances were, equally deserving of praise was the stellar job Ted Drozdowski and Jim Chilson did of organizing and running the event. It was great to see original DBF organizer Chris Johnson in the audience, enjoying the show, as the concept he started found a new life in capable hands.

Can’t wait for next year.

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The Dead Exs, Bowery Electric, 7/10/11

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Last month, NTSIB friend @popa2unes reported on The Dead Exs record release party, and now I’m here to heartily second his ringing endorsement of the band. I got to see them this weekend, when they were back at the Bowery Electric for an early show. One of the highlights of the evening was that I was not the only one dancing this time.

The Dead Exs are David Pattillo (dp) on vocals and guitars and Wylie Wirth on drums, and their sound is a delicious blues-funk stew lightly seasoned with garage-rock flair.  If you get a chance to see them live, do it; their show is a raucus good time, messy and loud in all of the best ways, if sometimes unintentionally so. And by that I mean dp’s finger-slide made a break for freedom half-way through the evening, but it was swiftly recaptured and they went right back to rocking out.

As an example, here is Shut Up and Love Me, from their Bandcamp:
 

 

Here are a few more pictures from the evening:

 

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David Pattillo (dp)

IMG_9603Wylie Wirth