Category: show reviews

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You Won’t, Sycamore, 7/2/11

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This past Saturday night I ventured out to Sycamore, in Brooklyn, which in the finest New York City multi-tasking tradition is a flower shop by day and a bar / live music venue by night. They have shows in the basement, which is tiny, but on the plus side, it is air-conditioned. (It is not, however, very well lit, as you will see.)

I was there to see You Won’t, and they were well worth the trip. You Won’t are Josh Arnoudse (guitar, vocals) and Raky Sastri (drums / keyboards) and they divide their time between Massachusetts and New York. Their sound alternates between delicate piano-supported indie pop and slow-stompy fuzzy-thrummy guitars and surging drums.

Their new record is called Skeptic Goodbye and you can listen to the entire thing at Bandcamp. (If there are any Drivin’n’Cryin’ fans lurking in the audience: click that link, you’ll be glad you did.) Here, as an example, is my favorite song from it, which is called “Dance Moves”, and is a relatively new addition to their live repertoire, and which they very graciously wedged into their set for me at literally the absolute last minute:

They are playing a bunch more shows in both Boston and Brooklyn in the next couple of months, so check out their calendar if you like what you hear. Also, please, y’all, get up front and dance for them. It is dancing music! There should be swaying! The “got your dance moves down” is the perfect lyrical cue to lazily spin your partner while taking a gulp of a beverage!

Meanwhile, to give you an idea of how dark it was, I took these pictures with the flash on:

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Nicole Atkins/Booker T. Jones/The Black Keys, White River State Park, Indianapolis, IN, June 10, 2011

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I am envious of everyone who was able to attend this show – Booker T. Jones and the Black Keys!? Are you freaking kidding me!? – but we are fortunate enough to have this great review and fantastic photos from Jessi Smith. Thanks so much, Jessi.

 

 

 

As I type this The Black Keys are in the midst of their tour of Canada, where they seem to get a lot more recognition than around here. They get invited to perform at Canadian awards shows, unlike here where they have to accept their Grammy’s during the pre-show. America is coming around though. Less frequently am I met with blank stares and well meaning corrections of, “Do you mean the Black Eyed Peas?” when I mention their name. However, with shows like the one I went to in Indianapolis on June 10th under their belts, they’re going to be household names before you can say “That’s not how you say Auerbach”. Then all the hipsters can hate them for selling out, which I won’t mind because the fewer faux fan douchebags that like them the better.

 

 

A $5 skip the line pass and a GA ticket. That’s all it took to set in motion what would be the best concert I’d ever attended. The competition for that title isn’t light either, not only had I seen The Black Keys in 2010 but, Bob Dylan and B.B. King had also given me shows to remember. The weather was perfect, a nice breeze blew and I was pressed against the barrier directly in front of center stage, nothing between me and the band but a one foot patch of grass. The show opened up with Nicole Atkins and the Black Sea, who played a set that was lovely and was enjoyed. Next up legendary Booker T. Jones who charmed me and made me feel more than a little ashamed that I’d initially been a bit disappointed that Cage the Elephant wouldn’t be opening for this show. I was an ungrateful and uneducated fan who won’t ever make that mistake again.

 

 

With the backbeat of GZA’s “Liquid Swords” playing, Dan and Pat calmly walked out and took their places. After the customary “We are The Black Keys from Akron, Ohio” they proceeded to do what they do. “Thickfreakness” came first as the opener as expected. I hope that never changes. It’s a constant in the Black Keys shows that makes me feel like a ground floor fan. They did the “Stack Shot Billy” / “Busted” back-to-back that was beyond words. The energy they put into “Busted” exploded after well built tension and extended riffs.

 

 

We also got a special treat. About midway through the show Dan announced that they were going to do something a little different. With an almost giddy smile he told us that they’d be having Booker T. join them for a couple songs. As they played “Ten Cent Pistol” with Booker, the boys had us hanging onto every note. The smooth line, “…the couple screamed but it was far too late, a jealous heart did retaliate.” was followed by the sudden blackout of every light and complete silence from the band for what seemed like forever. The anticipation boiled over and at just the right moment they burst back and blew minds. Another little treat came during “Everlasting Light” when a giant disco ball rose from the stage and made the place positively twinkle. This isn’t a band where you expect that kind of thing and I’m not gonna lie, my fangirl came out and I loved it. It wouldn’t be the first appearance of my fangirl, what with my front and center position and Dan’s frequent trips to the edge of the stage (where I’m certain we made eye contact… just throwing that out there) All together they played nearly 20 songs and still I didn’t want it to end. They encored with “Sinister Kid” and “Your Touch”, then bade us goodnight.

 

 

And here I am, still talking about it.

 

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The Wild Joys of Living: Emily Zuzik

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IMG_9432Emily Zuzik

Emily Zuzik is a veteran of the New York City music scene, but you might also recognize her voice from Moby’s latest record – she collaborated on a track called The Low Hum – or from television and movies: her songs have appeared in Smallville, Ticking Clock, and Fifth Form.

 

IMG_9436L to R: Wes Hutchinson, Ryan Vaughn, Emily Zuzik and Brian Killeen.

 

She has just released her seventh record, The Wild Joys of Living, and I had the pleasure of attending her show at The Living Room – a venue as tiny and cozy as the name would suggest – this past Saturday night, where she played the record in its entirety. Ladies and gentlemen, it is delicious. The songs run the gamut from sweet pop morsels to fuzzier, more aggressive rock and roll. I was especially fond of Motels, which is about naughty things people do in motels, and also You’re The One, which is sweet but not treacle-y love song.

As a taste, I give you a video of her singing Want to Go Out Tonight?, which is the first single off of the new record:

 

Emily Zuzik Band_You Wanna Go Out Tonight?_R2

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Scott H. Biram at the Grog Shop, Cleveland, OH, 6.24.11

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One of these days, I will master the art of showing up to the Grog Shop at Just The Right Time – not too early, not too late. This past Friday was not that day. I missed all of Heelsplitter and caught one and half songs from the Not So Good Ol’ Boys. I can tell you that the audience was into NSGOB. And it was good to see that much long hair on dudes on a rock stage in Cleveland without any spandex in the vicinity.
 

 

 

Witnessing a Scott H. Biram show might lead you to believe the phrase “Texas tornado” was invented for him. Biram even comes with his own siren, by way of the megaphone he keeps in his instrument arsenal. Offstage, Biram appears calm, unassuming… sweet, even. But once he sits down in the midst of the aforementioned instrument arsenal – which includes a few vintage hollow-body electric guitars, one angular solid-body electric, harmonicas, guitar pedals, stompbox and a pair of tambourines set on the edge of an equipment case to pick up the beat of the stompbox – and straps himself in, it’s as if something snaps inside him, and he is a whirlwind of energy, fury and conviction until he steps off stage.

The audience loves Biram. He will show his appreciation, for sure, but he won’t back down from telling someone to fuck off or shut up, as when someone requested that he “play something good”.

“I just played three good ones,” Biram rightfully pointed out.

Attitude is undoubtedly a big draw with a Scott H. Biram show. “This is a love song, so spread your legs” was his introduction to “Wildside”. Biram has just the right balance of sweet and ornery to pull off something like that (so don’t try this at home, kids).

But attitude is just air without the chops to back it up, and you don’t get a reputation as solid as Scott H. Biram’s by being just okay. From the bluegrass-style picking of Doc Watson’s version of “Freight Train Boogie” to the folk strumming of Woody Guthrie’s “Pastures of Plenty” to the heavy metal slide of “We Come to Party”, Biram is the kind of guitar player that makes it all look easy. And his harmonica playing is pretty much perfect.

 

 

While it can be overshadowed by all the amped up guitar and sweet-ass harp, Biram’s voice is also a beautiful instrument worthy of its own spotlight. Biram’s rendering of “Go Down Ol’ Hanna” is gorgeous and might have made Leadbelly a little envious if he was around to hear it.

 

 

But Biram’s forte is whipping a crowd into a stomping, hollering frenzy, throwing his whole self into a song, a one-man audio mosh pit – and all while seated. You won’t get any video examples of this from me, though, because all you would see would be a shaking blur due to all the actual stomping (and hollering) I was doing.

In addition to the previously-mentioned songs, Biram brought out “Time Flies”, “Long Fingernail”, Muddy Waters’ “I Can’t Be Satisfied”, a Mance Lipscomb tune dedicated to roadie/guru extraordinaire U.S. Justin, an unapologetic cover of Johnny Lee’s “Lookin’ for Love”, a handful of songs from the album he just finished recording before this tour started (slated to be released in October, and it’s going to be gooooood) and more songs that I didn’t write down. The man just goes, and good luck keeping up with him.

There was no encore, per se, Friday night. Biram announced that he had a couple of more songs, but those couple more songs turned into five or six more songs as he just played until he couldn’t anymore. He doesn’t go out with a bang because the whole damn show is one huge bang.

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Postcards from the Pit: Empires / The Constant / Follower, 6/17/2011

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Empires, still the scrappy little band of my heart, won’t be on the cover of Rolling Stone this year. They are, however, on tour right now and may very well be coming to a tiny club near you sometime soon. And if you can make it out to see them, you should. I had the pleasure of catching up with them and also some promising local bands last Friday night.

The first opener was Follower, who are so new that this show was actually their second show ever. If the two songs I was able to hear were a reasonable representative sample, they play like a much more experienced band – tight, focused and powerful. Here is one of the three decent pictures I managed to take of them:

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Next was The Constant, who are poppier than Follower and Empires, but yet are still definitely rock and roll, and also significantly grittier live than they are online:

IMG_9180The Constant

 

And then it was time for Empires. They started with The Night is Young, a song created during the whole Rolling Stone contest, and then powered through a set that included another song written for the RS contest (Hell’s Heroes) but was mostly a solid mix of  Bang and Howl and included I Want Blood, Damn Things Over, Hello Lover, Spit the Dark, I Know You Know, Voodooized and Bang.

It’s been a year or so since I saw Empires last, and I was once again entranced by the depth and richness of their sound, especially the blues at the core. To me they sound like the essence of certain aspects of Chicago: the stockyards, the sexy menace of mobsters in heavy coats and molls in sleek furs, speakeasies, the rumble of the El, and the snap in the air as snow falls on the mighty river.

These are the two best pictures from the evening:

 

IMG_9221Tom Conrad, intent on his chords

IMG_9218Sean Van Vleet

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We Believe in the Spirit of Rock and Roll: Cowboy Mouth / Jon Batiste Band / Sharon Little, High Line Ballroom, 6/9/11

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Among the many things happening in New York this month is the 30th Anniversary Blue Note Jazz Festival. While I have something of an allergy to jazz – the result of a traumatic smooth jazz experience early in life – but when I saw Cowboy Mouth among the show listings I couldn’t resist.

But first let me talk about the openers for a minute. Sharon Little, who is a tiny person with a big beautiful voice, was first up:

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Followed by the Jon Batiste Band:

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This is only a small fraction of the band; they actually took up almost the entire stage. And they were incredible. Highlights of their set include a jazz-funk rendition of These Are A Few of My Favorite Things, the piano melody shining like a bright beacon amid the horns and drums; a stomp-along funk-heavy Iko Iko; and a sweet sad St. James Infirmary gliding into a tight, focused Hi Di Ho,  Batiste conducting them so gracefully that it was almost invisible.

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And  then it was time for the main event. The one, the only, the joyful ruckus, Cowboy Mouth.

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If you have not seen them before, you should know that there are some things that are not optional at Cowboy Mouth shows, including: putting your hands in the air and waving and/or clapping, screaming, jumping up and down, and otherwise rocking the hell out. Also, they open and close every show by asking each member of the audience to hug the person next to them, whether it is a friend or a stranger. They are totally committed to raucous positivity, and their set was basically a 90 minute celebration of the joys (and sorrows, but mostly joys) of being alive. Their motto is, essentially, Life is too short, let’s rock and roll.

I am terrible with setlists but I know they played Belly, Voodoo Shop, It’s So Sad About Me, Tell the Girl, Everybody Loves Jill (complete with a hail of red plastic spoons), Take Me Back to New Orleans, they closed down with a mash-up of I Believe and Jenny Says, and the encore was The Avenue. There was also a new song, which may have been called Enough Drama. Other highlights included the band leading the crowd in  an Amen chorus for This Little Light of Mine; a spontaneous between-songs burst of Who Dat?, the New Orleans Saints fight song from somewhere in the center of the crowd; and a punk-rock version of Iko Iko.

It was truly an epic evening. Their next tour starts tomorrow, June 16th, in Greensboro, SC, and after that they will be spending several weeks wending their way through the South and portions of the Midwest. If they come near you, go and see them. It will be a good time.

A few more pictures:

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Fred LeBlanc, gleefully drumming.

IMG_9145John Thomas Griffith (piano) and Cassandra Faulconer (bass)

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Cassandra Faulconer (bass) and Matt Jones (guitar)

 

IMG_9150And one more of Fred LeBlanc and the fleur-de-lis

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The Dead Exs at the Bowery Electric, New York City, NY, 6.8.11

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We’re very pleased to have a guest review from our good friend @Popa2unes.

 

 

The Dead Exs release their CD – Resurrection, and it’s a party!

By @Popa2unes and DJ Knucklehead

Photos courtesy Kristin Viens

 

We wandered into the Bowery Electric and walked down the steep steps to the basement with water pouring down the pealing brick walls from the torrential downpour taking place outside. Large chrome lights dangled from the high black ceilings; it was dark, dank and perfect for what was about to take place: raw, fuzzy roots rock and blues. “The Dead Exs CD release Party.” We found a seat on one of the large Group W benches that surrounded the stage, and planted ourselves. There was a nice size, enthusiastic crowd Hipnik’s, Hipsters, Rockers, Hobohemians and an abundance of beautiful women. I love NYC.

Bang Bang Boogaloo recording artists, The Dead Exs are David Pattillo (henceforth DP) on electric slide guitar and vocals with Wylie Wirth on the skins.

 

 

The Dead Exs bring a multitude of influences to their music from Albert King to ZZ Top. Every song seems to have a bluesy familiarity to it, but is original in its writing, delivery and style; it’s just good ole Rock n Blues and I love it. Their live performance is like being invited into their home for a night of hanging around with friends.

They started the show with “Whole Lot of Nothing” with DP alone on the stage with his axe, working slow and steady building up to a powerful crescendo that brought everyone to full attention and the ladies out onto the dance floor. Then BAM! Out of nowhere Wylie crept into his seat to join in with a thunderous beat.

 

 

 

They played “All Over You”, “La Grange/Come Down Easy” and “Gone” with Mark Grandfield on harp. At the end of “Come Down Easy” they released the Kracken in an electric, sonic-guitar-harp- blob of fuzzion that nearly blew the roof off the place.

 

 

 

They were joined by Shane Bozza on vocals and Jimmy Caps on bass from The Dirty Glamor for three Rock scorchers: “No Way To Go But Up”, “Shut Up and Love Me” and “Till It’s Gone” – delighting the crowd even more. When Shane sang “Shut Up and Love Me” I found myself nodding my head yes, yes, yes! …and I lost my heart for the umpteenth time that night.

 

 

 

At times DP seemed to transform into Ganesh playing four guitars at once, wrenching more from the instrument than seems humanly possible. He snarls, growls, wails, and screams his way through every song in a way that can provoke the savage soul in any human.

 

 

Like a ghost blending into the background with the kaleidoscope images projecting on his spirit, Wylie sat at his kit and was a powerhouse of drum beats. He is a solid drummer with an effortless style, laying down hypnotic drumbeats, and then suddenly he’ll crash those skins like Jacob Marley shaking his chains in the middle of the night, shooting you out of your skin.

 

 

The Dead Exs show, that yes you can still play the Blues today and still be new and exciting. There are no rules; their sound is modern yet classic, ruff and primal. They are a Rock N’ Roll band that seem to take ques from all facets of music from Blues, to Soul, to Jazz, and tie it together in a dirty, nasty, raw mass of sonic nuts and bolts meant for only one thing: to knock you off your feet.

The Dead Exs – Resurrection can be purchased from iTunes or here.

 

The Dead Exs on Reverbnation

The Dead Exs on Facebook

 

Also on the bill were Only Living Boy, The Fieros and Golden Animals from the Bang Bang Boogaloo NY Rock and Roll Compilation 1, which you can download for free here, which I highly recommend you do.

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Shouting Thomas Torment/T-Model Ford & GravelRoad at the Beachland Tavern, Cleveland, OH, 6.4.11

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Shouting Thomas Torment

 

 

Sometimes you go to a show just hoping the opening act won’t be unbearable. Then sometimes you get something like Shouting Thomas Torment.

While sometimes situated in a group, Shouting Thomas and the Torments, Shouting Thomas was doing it one-man band style at the Beachland Tavern Saturday night. He immediately lived up to his name by shouting, showman style, from the moment he stepped on stage to the moment he stepped off. In between, he thumped the bass drum, drove the hi-hat and took the guitar from fuzzed-out punk blues to rockabilly twang, shook it all together and broke it all down. The set kicked off with “Struggle (Scratch That Itch)”, hit on a number of highlights like “Slave for My Cave”, “All Grown Up Wrong”, “Trouble Doll” and “Swamp Witch”, and closed out with “Shakey Shake #1”. There was also a Bo Diddley beat and a very respectable imitation of a chicken on the guitar.

(Shouting Thomas also made sure to mention a couple of 45s he had for sale: “Slave for My Cave” on a split with Wolfboy Slim and “Black Cat Bone” b/w “Trouble Doll”.)

I went in not knowing a single thing about Shouting Thomas Torment and came out an enthusiastic fan.

 

T-Model Ford & GravelRoad

 

 

One of my regrets from the Great Mississippi Sojourn I took last summer with co-blogger Jennifer and our friend Cam Rogers is that I didn’t spend an evening or two in a juke joint. Well, now I feel a little better because James “T-Model” Ford brought the juke to the Beachland. Aside from being about the right size and aesthetic for a Mississippi juke, the tavern also had about the right heat and humidity Saturday night. But it took T-Model to fill it with the right vibe and sound.

GravelRoad – this night being comprised of just guitarist Stefan Zillioux and drummer Martin Reinsel as bass player Jon “Kirby” Newman was under house arrest for undisclosed reasons – took the lead, playing a couple of their own numbers, showing why they make a great complement to Ford with their low, rough, electric blues-drag sound. Then Ford, who drew a crowd that covered a wide variety of ages and classes, took the stage, strapped on Black Mattie (his trusty Peavey guitar) and got hips to rolling in short order.

Best estimates place Ford’s age at 90, he has a pacemaker and has survived a stroke in recent years, but you’d hardly think it from watching him play. While a couple of his songs this night lasted less than 3 minutes, most of them ran well beyond the usual 5-minute mark, playing on the classic blues tradition of not letting a good groove go once you’ve got a hold of it. And groove is what it’s all about. Just fast enough to get your ass to swaying, but not too fast to keep your partner from holding on tight. This is why they call him the Tail/Tale Dragger. (And this is also probably part of why he calls himself the Ladies Man, because you can bet he was taking in as much of the body-grooving females in the audience as he could.)

While Ford was undeniably the star of the show, the support of GravelRoad should not be underestimated. Zillioux stayed tight in Ford’s wake through tunes like “I Love You, Baby”, “Hip Shakin’ Woman”, “Chickenhead Man” and “Train I Ride”, while Reinsel pummeled a tide of heavy beats that were more than a little responsible for the shaking of hips through the night. Not to mention, Reinsel looked like he was having the time of his life.

 


Video courtesy of Chris Bishop.

 

Now if there had just been some fried pickles and sweet tea…

 

 

For some absolutely beautiful shots of T-Model Ford’s recent show in St. Louis, Missouri, check out our friend Nate Burrell’s Flickr set.

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Postcards from the Balcony: Panic! at the Disco / fun. / Foxy Shazam, Terminal 5, 5/24/11

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I was up on the balcony for this one largely in the interest of self-preservation; I don’t do well in large crowds I can’t get out of, and Terminal 5 was almost literally packed to the rafters.

The first band was Foxy Shazam:

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I’ve seen this band four times now, twice on their headlining tour last summer (I went for one of their opening acts and developed an affection for them along the way), once when they opened for Courtney Love (!), and then at this show. Eric Nally whirled around the stage as he always does, but somehow they seemed a little bit subdued. And by “subdued” I mean Eric Nally did a headstand in the middle of a song –

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– but didn’t do the bit where he eats lit cigarettes (which I can’t actually bear to watch). Though I suspect that bit of business was sacrificed due to them being confined to a truncated opening act set. In any case, I was pleased to visit with them again.

The next band was fun., which is Nate Ruess (vocals; The Format), Andrew Dost (piano, keyboard, fluegelhorn, and glockenspiel; Anathello), Jack Antonoff (guitar; also currently with Steel Train) at the core and also currently has Will Noon (drums; Straylight Run), Nate Harold (bass) and Emily Moore (keys/guitar) as traveling with them, and to my surprise they were actually fun. I was surprised because when Aim & Ignite came out I tried to get into their tunes and it just didn’t work. Their live show is strong, however,  and I am still humming bit of the chorus to All The Pretty Girls almost a week later.

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And then it was time for Panic! at the Disco. The last time I wrote about them here was in February, when they played a special show in New York to introduce some of their newer tunes and promote their (unreleased at that time) third record, Vices & Virtues. Up until that point, the Panic!-focused internet (including me) had been collectively hovering over them like a hen with one chick, waiting anxiously for new tunes, and to see if the band had survived the departure of two of its members, including the chief lyricist. The songs I heard that show were promising; the record finally appeared in late March, and I loved it.  As of right now I can tell you: they have caught the thermals and are soaring.

As I noted after the show: now that was a rock concert. They started with Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My Mind) and proceeded to power through a high-energy mix of old and new songs. I was especially pleased to finally hear Hurricane live, and also Memories; and as much as I love Always, I was a little bit sad that Northern Downpour didn’t make it into the set-list this time around.

It was also a visual spectacle. They have new steam-punk stage furniture – Spencer Smith’s kit was perched atop a raised platform that looked like it would be at home in 2000 Leagues Under the Sea, with matching old-fashioned pipe organs on either side -  and Brendon Urie threw himself all over the stage, incorporating some of the dance moves from their recent video for Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My Mind). The rest of the band wasn’t standing still either, and the audience was definitely into it too.

Watching the pit sway and heave, I was both filled with joy to see people pogoing hard and grateful I had claimed a spot in safer territory. And, for those of you who may be keeping track of their tour covers, they did Careless Whisper (instrumental) by George Michael, Panic by The Smiths and Carry On My Wayward Son, by Kansas.

I don’t have that many pictures of them this time around, partially because I was on the balcony, and partially because I was busy trying to dance and not flail all over my neighbors. The following are a few of my favorites from the evening. The first one is from when Brendon Urie came up to the balcony to sing Always:

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And this one is probably the best picture of drummers in general and Spencer Smith in particular that I have yet managed to take, thanks to the spotlight rolling over him at just the right moment:

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And then, finally, a wider-screen shot of the view from the balcony, taken while Ian Crawford (guitar, left), Spencer Smith and Dallon Weekes (bass, right) were waiting for Brendon to return from his balcony visit, and which I like mainly for the atmospheric look of everything, including  the pinpoints of light visible in the pit:

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Postcards from the Pit: Whitesnake

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I saw Whitesnake at Irving Plaza last week – now there is a sentence I never expected to write – and about two songs into their set, it occurred to me: these are the kind of rock stars I fell in love with the first time. Not these specific rockstars, maybe, what with Whitesnake having been reconstituted several times since they started, but certainly of this general type: the shredding, hair-flying-everywhere, flowing-shirts-and-leather-trousers flavor of musician.

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Though I certainly do have a massive soft spot for Whitesnake in particular, and this incarnation of the band is a solid one. David Coverdale sounds great, and he’s got some heavy metal all-stars behind him, with Doug Aldrich (Dio) and Reb Beach (Winger) on guitars, Brian Tichy (Foreigner) on drums, Michael Devin (Lynch Mob) on bass and Brian Ruedy (Bret Michaels, Brian “Head” Welch, of KORN) on keys.

The set was a mixture of old and new songs – Whitesnake has a new record out! – and from what I could tell they were really enjoying themselves. This is one of my favorite pictures from the evening, taken during the “epic battling guitar solo” portion of the evening, and I love it mainly because Reb Beach and Doug Aldrich are grinning at each other like they have just invented a new holiday and it involves electric guitars:

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In short, it was a fantastic evening. Here are a few more pictures:

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Reb Beach (“former singing waiter of this parish”- David Coverdale) mugging as he shreds

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Doug Aldrich

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Brian Tichy, mid-solo

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L to R: David Coverdale, Michael Devin, Brian Ruedy

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David Coverdale, listening to the crowd sing to him.