Category: Capital Region

Eli-Fest at The Bayou in Albany, November 30th

Eli-Fest, a benefit concert was held at The Bayou in Albany on Friday November 30^thwas held for Eli Ramos, who was injured in an accident on July 1^st. To celebrate Eli’s strength and courage, bandmates, friends and fans gathered for a night full of groovy jams. With first walking into the front of Bayou, you wouldn’t even know that there was a huge show going on. Heading through the various sections of the venue, the smoky atmosphere hits you and so does the music.

There was constant music being pumped out of the speakers all night. When the bands were not on stage, there was a mixing table set up to the right with DJs, responsible for keeping the party mode at a constant level. Insidious started the night off to a small, eager crowd, ready for the night to begin. His beats were enough to catch everyone’s attention and head to the dance floor. Inverspace was up second with a set that was light and upbeat. It was an easy groove to get into after Solaris. The last DJ for the night was General Korn whose big hit of the evening was a remixed Talking Head’s song, “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody).”

Solaris, the three man instrumental band from Ithaca took the stage and quickly warped the crowd. With a slow easy start, they hit hard into jams such as with great fluidity from song to song. The boys debuted a new song, “Deacon”, which had a fast tempo, enthusiastic start and a high build up jam. The trio has been logging in more practice time and it certainly shows on stage where they each have such control of their instruments. They are clean- cut and fresher than ever with their electro-fusion melodies and beats. Their authenticity brings the music to the next level and it’s been a thrill to watch them grow as a band. Their set is available for free download.

Solaris Setlist: Complete, Chapman, Deacon, Infrared, Cosmo

It was my first time seeing digiMUN, which is a collaboration between members of jamtronica bands Digital Dharma, Wiley of MUN and Dan Gerken of Timbre Coup. With the huge crowd and high energy, it was a delicious recipe for a chaotic dance floor. Their entire set was improv, showcasing the vast talent that had come to pay tribute to Eli. Each jam had a funky rhythm, plenty of electronic beats and surprises around every trance infused melody. The encore was a Digital Dharma original entitled “Cloud 9” which featured Eli himself on the iPad. Their set is also available for a free download.

One of Albany’s finest, Timbre Coup, was last to take the stage that night to the packed out venue with the snow falling outside. Early in the set, the progressive rock band dedicated the song “December” to their dedicated fans in November, an upbeat groove with hypnotizing melody. They covered Rick James’ “Give it to me Baby” as well as The New Deal’s “Deep Sun” both instant crowd pleasers and fed more energy to the band. Timbre Coup looks like they are having as much fun as the crowd and it’s a treat to watch them dance on stage and even switch instruments.

Timbre Coup Setlist: June, Jam->December. Give it to me Baby, 55->Jam&->Don’t Fly a Key on a Kitestring, September, July, Something About Radio->Jam->Mother Nature’s Baby Daddy, Verbal Kint->Jam&->55 end, Deep Sun, I Didn’t Know She Had a Moustache

Throughout the night, all anyone had to say was how lucky we all were to share in the great music and help out a more than worthy cause. The event raised over $1200 and if people would like to still donate they can contact Steve Mink or Aaron Zarabi.

December 6, 2012
Woe Is Me at Upstate Concert Hall, December 2nd

It was an early Sunday show for Upstate Concert Hall (formally Northern Lights). The first of five opening bands started at 6PM with headliner, “Woe, Is Me”, took the stage shortly after 9. There were two crowds at the show. The first group was obvious: young energetic kids in skinny jeans, crude t-shirts and blackened Justin Bieber haircuts. They were found bouncin’ around the room and thrashing away in the rather tame mosh pit. The second group were parents standing on the outskirts, watching their kids get their freak on and supporting the scene. Kudos to them for supporting live shows and buying an extra ticket so their under-aged concertgoer can enjoy one of their favorite bands!

As for the show, it was energetic. There were five opening acts including crowd favorite Secrets who will be back at UCH on February 23rd when they open for Silverstein. The last opening band was Chunk, No Captain Chunk from France. Who knew Paris Hard Core was a real thing? After seeing them, I’m still not entirely convinced. They came out playing “Gangnam Style” that led into a more metalcore performance that got the kids moving.

Headliner Woe, Is Me got their start in Atlanta back in 2009 and have had modest success on in the post-hardcore scene. They have two vocalists (one clean, one unclean) and a solid line-up surrounding them, especially drummer, Austin Thornton. Of the six bands on stage, there was no doubt who had the best stage presence, crowd control and energy. The stage at Upstate Concert Hall was left wide open for the band to move freely and get the audience excited. Crowd surfing started immediately, but with a mostly underage crowd and little-to-no alcohol involved the Step Up Presents security team handled it like the pros they are. The music was loud and some serious talent was blaring through the speakers. Bass lines were rich, guitars were shredded and the back-and-forth vocals were done as well as I’ve seen. I’m going to keep an eye out for the band and see where their Twilight induced fan base can take them and I hope that they can stand the test of time to produce more solid work like their new album, Genesi[s].

December 5, 2012
Trey Anastasio Band to play Syracuse and Albany in January

Trey Anastasio Band embarks on an early 2013 Winter Tour this January, with stops in Upstate NY at The Landmark in Syracuse on Saturday, January 19th and a week later at The Palace Theatre in Albany on January 26th. Trey also hits off The Capitol Theater in Port Washington in between, on January 23 and 24, with the first night a rescheduled date from October, allowing ticket-holders to attend the 23rd with the original ticket. Having played a well-received Fall Tour that featured songs off his new album Traveler, these shows are sure to be incredible.

The last time Trey played in Syracuse was February 22, 2001, an incredible show that proved to be a difficult ticket at the height of hiatus, as so many Upstate fans needed their Phish fix from Trey. Mostly new songs off past studio work as well as the then-unreleased self-titled album from Trey were performed, peppered with some memorable covers (Rainy Day Woman #12 & 35, It Makes no Difference, Will it go Round in Circles?) and an acoustic “Guyute” at the end of set one. A recording of this show can be heard here, courtesy of Resident Taper Lenny Stubbe. Trey even sat in after his show with Strangefolk at Armory High (aka Styleens and Club Orange, among other names) for Neighbor > Norwegian Wood > Neighbor and that can be downloaded from the Live Music Archive.

Trey is no stranger to Albany, having played here six times previously with the different lineups of Trey Anastasio Band, starting out on May 15th, 1999 at The Palace and playing June 13th, 2002, November 18th, 2005, December 29th, 2006, October 18th, 2008 and most recently on February 19th, 2011 (he seems to enjoy the cold months here). That show was incredible and featured the debut of Gorillaz “Clint Eastwood”, found on Traveler. You can download Set One of Albany 2011 here and Set Two here

Tickets for all shows will be available through a real time presale beginning this Friday, December 7th at 10am EST at http://treytickets.rlc.net. For complete ticketing information or public on sale dates, please visit www.trey.com.

Update 12/5/12: The Times Union has posted a retrospective of Trey over the years in the Capital District

December 5, 2012
Ten Year Vamp Changes Directions

Albany band Ten Year Vamp has been together for a decade now, and with the end of these ten years comes a change of direction. Moving into their second decade, the club favorites around the Capital District and points north and south will be moving in a new direction, putting their cover songs behind them and focusing exclusively on original music. Debbie Gabrione, lead singer of Ten Year Vamp, talked to about this change by the band and what the future holds for them.

Pete Mason: What recent developments with the band led to the decision, after 10 years, to shift away from covers and focus exclusively on your original music?

Debbie Gabrione: After ten years of non stop gigging, we just reached a point where we’ve attained a decent level of success as an unsigned original band and realized we don’t need the cover band thing anymore to continue moving forward. The cover music was just a way for us to have an income so that we could invest that income into the original band; making CDs, merch, gas/hotel money, etc… Due largely to the income of the cover band, we’ve released six CD’s, with the last two getting us a significant amount of publicity, licensing and publishing opportunities. With those opportunities, we’ve been able to get an income as an original band (as opposed to the cover band income which we previously had to rely on). With the new found income, we don’t need the cover band. Don’t get me wrong, it wouldn’t suck to have the two incomes and we talked about keeping the cover shows going, even on a part time level, but after playing more then 800 shows, not having a weekend free to spend with friends/family for the past 10 years, playing the same cover songs over and over with excitement and energy, and being burnt out and sore and tired all the time, it’ll be nice to get a small break.

PM: How do you plan to spend the new found time?

DG: We plan to make good use of our break by writing tons of new originals. We’ve made connections in the industry and we now know how things work, so we feel as though it’s in our best interest to focus 100% on just putting out as much original music as possible. Because we all have full time jobs AND gig on the weekend AND practice one night a week, it’s been nearly impossible to find time to write, let alone feel inspired. We just really want to free ourselves up as much as possible to just write. Once we have some new material and possibly a new product to shop (a CD), we’ll resume playing shows.

PM: What were the conflicts surrounding the decision?

DG: There really weren’t many conflicts and it was pretty much an obvious decision. The fact is that we’re not the band we want to be. We want to be an original band, but we haven’t had the time to write a song in two years because we’ve been so busy.

PM: How did the band measure the pros and cons of the change?

DG: We could keep going as we are, but we’re not moving in the direction we want to go. It sucks and it’s sad to say goodbye to something we’ve been doing for 10 years with each other, but if what we want is more success as an original band, then this is the most ideal solution.

PM: Ten Year Vamp has always mixed in originals into their sets, so will there be more songwriting and song debuts in the future?

DG: The plan is to take a few months off and dive head first into writing, then hit up the studio and get everything recorded. When we have a bunch of new songs, we plan to resume gigging and pursue more licensing and publishing opportunities.

PM: Is this another Ten Year Vamp, and can we expect another change in 10 years?

DG: We don’t expect our hiatus to be longer then a few months to a year and we plan to come back bigger and better then ever. With new songs in tow, hopefully a bunch more licensing successes and having taken a year off, we expect our return to draw even crowds and attention.

Stay tuned to Ten Year Vamp’s Facebook page for upcoming shows in 2012.

December 4, 2012
A guide to New Years Eve shows across Upstate NY

The end of 2012 is approaching and New Years Eve looms. Here’s a list of shows across Upstate New York with links to the venue page where you can buy tickets. Thanks to Lindsay Jones for the help in compiling the list If you have any updates to the list, post in the comments below and we’ll add them to the list.

Capital District:

Consider the Source with Timbre Coup at Red Square

Ten Year Vamp at Graney’s Stout

Funk Evolution with Skeeter Creek at Proctors

Sirsy at Putnam Den

Saranac Lake Lucid at The Waterhole – tickets via Ticketfly

Oneonta Driftwood, Horseshoe Lounge Playboys at B-Side Ballroom

Ithaca Jimkata at The Haunt

Oswego House on a Spring w/ The Blackened Blues at Old City Hall

Rochester Winter Boogie with Rubblebucket, Marco Benevento and Driftwood at Water St. Music Hall (December 29th)

The Buddhahood & Subsoil at Lovin’ Cup

Buffalo Aqueous, Funktional Flow, Universe Shark and Slip Madigan at Nietzsches

Average White Band at The Tralf

Burlington Rubblebucket with Marco Benevento, Higher Ground

December 3, 2012
Black Friday Special: Lucid at The Bayou Cafe, November 23rd

The day after Thanksgiving brought out a North Colonie crowd to see North Country favorites Lucid and Albany’s fast risers Formula 5 on Black Friday. The crowd poured in throughout the night and writer Jenni Wilson checked out the night’s music.

Lucid

It could have been the fact that everyone was home for Thanksgiving break, or perhaps the high energy both Lucid and Formula 5 exude, but the Bayou Café was packed wall to wall throughout the entire night. Lucid played an energy driven set opening with “Can’t Get Me High,” and kept the crowd dancing throughout. This was only the second time I was able to see Lucid and I was once again very impressed. Lowell Wurster, in charge of percussion and vocals, laid down bluesy choruses with his raspy voice giving each song its own authenticity in the jamband community. This band has a professionalism that you do not often see in a younger band. They are fully accompanied by guitar, sax, keyboards, and various percussion instruments including bongos. The highlight of the night was definitely “Spliff Blues” and “Highest Vibration” which had the energy high throughout the bar. After the band packed up and left they made a trip out to Lake George to play a surprise show with Twiddle and Capital Zen, just further proving their dedication and love for the music they play in Upstate.

Formula 5

After missing them for the past few months, I finally got a chance to see Formula 5 after numerous friends telling me to GO SEE THIS BAND! and I picked the perfect night. Packed into the Bayou (a pleasant feeling once again), the four-piece band (interviewed by Jenni Wilson last week) opened up with a good starter in “Hot Box” followed by “Catch Me,” with guitarist Joe Davis very guitar happy and sounding a solid bit like Trey. “King Harvest,” with a slight twist, was a unique call and showed that this group is a true jamband, playing originals and covering the rarer songs, not “”The Weight” or “Brown Eyed Girl”. The more ambitious or rare the cover, the higher praise and respect you’ll gain from an audience. Speaking of that, I was blown away by Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer,” a solid cover with a nice jam in the middle. “Coming Home” featured Mike McDonald on keys, followed by “Mister Elixer” that was intensely extrapolated. Tuning up “The Music Never Stopped,” a cover debuted at Autumation in Lake George, had a little something extra in it and generated the crowd to dance, with many likely unknowing of the song’s Grateful Dead roots; it was a young crowd. “Goin’ Down,” a Freddie King song better known as the theme to Eastbound and Down preceded “3 Ring Circus,” a song off Formula 5’s upcoming debut album, slated for release in January of 2013. An encore of “Weekapaug Groove” and original “Movin’ On” capped off more than two hours of music that satiated the crowd after a full Thanksgiving night of family and food.

December 3, 2012
The Big Up Music and Arts Festival Will Return in 2013

After a one-year journey, The Big Up Music and Arts Festival returns for the summer of 2013. Shireworks Productions has shared a transmission received from The Big Up Mothership, who reported it had been traveling in outer space since the end of the 2011 fest, when it got sucked into a wormhole and then spit out into a previously undiscovered frontier. See the full transmission of the message below.

Entering its third year, The Big Up presents a new paradigm in the independent festival scene by maintaining a boutique ethos. Showcasing three nights of live music, arts and culture, programmed with a premier festival experience in mind.

Festival goers listen to seamlessly flowing, yet rarely overlapping music schedules that play like the best summer mixtape, while geocaching, attending a workshop, or simply soaking in the sun. For the 2013 festival, fans can expect to experience a unique synthesis of live national and groundbreaking musical entertainment, interactive art, sustainable initiatives, high-end production quality and an intimate vibe, all at a tremendous value.

Hosted by the livetronic power-trio, Higher Organix, past Big Up festivities have featured 72 hours of music with performances by EOTO, Tipper, Big Gigantic, Gramatik, Digital Tape Machine, RAQ, OTT, Marco Benevento and many more. The Festival weaves a dynamic festival landscape of space-themed arts, magical woods, a wide array of food, crafts, and participatory activities.

The Mothership has advised to stay tuned to Festival website and on Facebook.

November 29, 2012
Jams for Tots – Give Back and Get Down

With the Holiday Season under way, there is no better time to help those who are less fortunate. For the past few years, Luke Weiler, aka Positive Mental Trip, has been spreading holiday cheer as well as musical jams around NY. Going on its 7^th year, Jams for Tots teams up with the Marine Corps Toys for Tots to raise money and donate toys at shows. “Every kid should feel that someone cares enough about them to get them a present. That’s the reason we do this” Luke Weiler, Jam for Tots Coordinator. Each event hosts different musical acts and talents that play for free to support the cause.

Concert goers are asked to bring a new, unwrapped toy worth $5 or more retail value and they will get into the show for free. Those who don’t bring a toy will pay a cover fee, with all funds getting donated to purchasing toys for children this holiday season. All toys and cash donations go towards the Marine Corps Toys for Tots except for the Athens Jams for Tots where the donations go specifically towards the children in Greene County.

The following are the 5 Jam for Tots scheduled events:

December 1 at O’Tooles– 1814 Central Ave Albany, NY: Live Music from 6PM – 2AM Bands include Positive Mental Trip, Catalyst, Of the Mountains and many more.

December 7 at Trexx Nightclub- 323 N. Clinton Street, Syracuse, NY Bands include Positive Mental Trip, Mikey Parkay, True Risen, The Blockheads and many more.

December 8 at Upper Deck– 1 West Street, Gloversville, NY Bands include Positive Mental Trip, Weather Machine, Of the Mountains, Catalyst and many more.

December 14 at Crossroads Brewing 10 2nd Street, Athens, NY Bands include Positive Mental Trip, Phil Massaro Symphony, John Pinder Band and Billy Lester.

December 15 at The Finger Bullet 1692 Bennett Street, Utica, NY Bands include Positive Mental Trip, Sassafrass Jenkins, Joe Sweet, Catalyst and many more.

November 29, 2012
Matt’s Music Together – Music Education for Children in the Capital District

A musical education is the foundation of early learning for infants and young children, and children are proven to learn best by exploring their environments and playing and watching their peers and role models. Matt’s Music Together, a program that offers music classes for families and their children age newborn to age 4, brings together research-based groups of children of a variety of ages that fosters a natural, family-style learning environment. Music Together is an international program with centers in most metro areas, so even outside of the Capital District of New York, visit www.musictogether.com to find classes near you.

Classes with Matt’s Music Together are completely non-structured class, with very few rules and where children are playing along side other kiddos. Here, there is not a focus on learning theory, how to play instruments or anything too structured but rather a chance for children to learn a broad foundation of musical understanding, exposing children to a huge amount of language, culturally diverse music and a bunch of music that is rhythmically different and in a different key than most other children’s music.

By playing around and observing people, children begin to learn the ABCs of music, how to sing in tune and play in rhythm. Director Matt Yaeger notes “I can say pretty much without fail that a child who stays in the program for a few years will be able to do these three things. Not to mention, every 10 weeks we use a collection of music that has about 25 new songs. Each year, that is approximately 75-100 songs being added to your child’s musical cannon that most others do not have.”

Meeting once a week for 45 minute classes, the groups incorporate songs, rhythmic rhymes, movement and instrument play. These activities are presented as informal, non-performance-oriented musical experiences that are developmentally appropriate for children and easy for parents and caregivers, regardless of their own musical ability. Sessions are held in the Fall, Winter and Spring for 10 weeks long, with a Summer session that is six weeks long and an upcoming early-Winter session in early-December that is three weeks long.

The early-Winter session starts on December 7th and costs $65 for the first child, and an additional $25 for the first sibling over eight months and additional siblings over eight months only $15 while additional children under 8 months are FREE. Each sessions comes with Music Together’s “Family Favorites” CD, a $15 retail value. Classes are held at St. Timothy’s Lutheran Church in North Greenbush, NY and are held twice Friday from 9:30-10:15 am and 10:30-11:15 am.

To register for Matt’s Music Together, go to mattsmusictogether.com and for more information on Music Together, check out Musictogether.com

“Learning the basics of music is like riding a bike. Once you’ve learned how to sing in key and play in rhythm you never forget… Except you don’t need training wheels.” – Matt Yaeger

November 28, 2012
Dark Star Orchestra Due at The Egg in Albany on December 5th

Dark Star Orchestra has been heavily jamming all across the country on their fall tour this year and will be making a stop to play at The Egg in Albany, New York on Wednesday December 5th. DSO uses entire shows from the Grateful Dead‘s era to recreate song for song performances from historic set lists. At the end of each performance, the band announces the date and venue where the original show just covered took place, making the night a fun guessing game for fans. With each show, DSO performs with extreme precision to creating a sensational experience that new and old Grateful Dead fans can both appreciate.

This Dark Star Orchestra show at The Egg in Albany is sure to be extra special, besides the fact that it’s one of the last four nights of their tour, but also to the fact that Jeff Chimenti of Furthur will be sitting in as keyboardist.

The show is scheduled to start at 7:30 and is open to all ages. Concert goers can buy tickets at the eggs website and can get more information on the bands website

November 27, 2012