Mark your calendars for moe.down 14! Snow Ridge once again hosts the 14th annual moe.down music festival, in Turin, NY. The festival, traditionally on Labor Day weekend, has again been scheduled for August 9, 10 and 11, artists yet to be announced.
New this year, VIP tickets! Early bird tickets go on sale December 10th at noon here.
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
After a truly raging Halloween show a month ago at The Westcott in Syracuse, I knew that I couldn’t miss Jimkata, along with The Manhattan Project, when they came to Utica.
Both bands have been touring extensively for months, Jimkata specifically supporting their new album, Die Digital. Off to a late start, and with some time to kill before they went on, I chatted briefly with bassist Dave Rossi. After being on the road, he was glad to be back closer to home, although none too glad to be back in the chilly Upstate NY weather. We discussed the venue (really unique and the bathrooms are nice too!), the Upstate music scene (awesome!) as well as upcoming New Year’s plans. They’ll be at The Haunt in Ithaca for NYE, but I was excited to learn of their Phish aftershow on 12/28 @ Club 39!
Manhattan Project took the stage as the room started to fill. Many that I spoke with were excited to see what they’d bring to the table tonight. This Rochester duo has been touring extensively, with several festival appearances, including at Camp Bisco, and have been building their fan base at every stop. Having seen them several times in the past, I knew I was guaranteed a good time. It consistently amazes me that this energetic and texturally complex sound comes from just two guys, Shawn Drogan and Charlie Linder.
Their infectious mix of dub, house and techno, combined with a visually stimulating light show made their show highly danceable from start to finish. Their remixes and steady progression of songs kept the crowd engaged. “Knight Rider” remix was a true standout and had many folks in the audience looking around in awe, “Is this really happening? This is awesome!” As they closed their set, the crowd was certainly primed and ready for Jimkata.
Their set started off strong cruising easily through much of the new album, Die Digital. The new album, while still lyrically thoughtful, adds the right punches whether it be electronic beats, synth or a heavy bass line and intertwines everything so perfectly. Energy was high and the room turned quickly into a full on dance party, a crowd locked in and grooving to the sound. Their “5th member” if you will, a wall of lights in sync with the show provided an additional layer of intrigue to Jimkata’s already complex and captivating show.
Standouts of the night included “Electronic Stone”, a crowd pleaser with an extremely catchy chorus, as well as one of my personal favorites “American Cars”. Having followed Jimkata for several years, I love their growth as musicians, and their evolution of sound. Their lyrics, combined with a new found electronic edge makes for an unforgettable experience.
This was a thoroughly satisfying show, and I cannot wait to see them again at the end of the month. GO SEE JIMKATA, and MANHATTAN PROJECT! You won’t regret it.
As Syracuse greeted its familiar friend, snow, back for a season of lake-effect whiteouts and heavy winter coats, The Westcott Theater hosted the return of two performing acts, veterans of Snow City U.S.A., with nearly as much experience in Upstate New York as harsh winter weather, Sophistafunk and The Heavy Pets.
Sophistafunk, a three-piece electric funk group opened the evening to a crowd of dancing and hula-hooping Westcott attendees. Making sure everyone in attendance left the venue considering their money well spent, the trio performed for over an hour, often lengthening their songs as instrumental groves involving solos from multi-instrumentalist Adam Gold and drummer Emanuel Washington. During the prolonged jams, lyricist/vocalist Jack Brown would bust some moves not unlike those demonstrated by audience members making the most of their Friday night. The frontman encouraged the party-like atmosphere, occasionally calling out specific concertgoers on their dancing skills and involving the crowd in mid-song shouts.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GilV6JGtBfA&w=420&h=315]
Although the entirety of The Heavy Pets’ lineup doesn’t call Upstate New York home, the region was well represented Friday night by the band’s guitarist/singer Jeff Lloyd and keyboardist Jim Wuest. Meeting at Syracuse University over a decade ago, Lloyd and Wuest are veterans of the Upstate music scene, and the band’s reception by Westcott occupants made the Upstate appreciation for The Heavy Pets loud and clear.
Read Johnny Goff’s interview with Jeff Lloyd
Continuing the trend of hula hoopin’ and shoe-shufflin’ from Sophistafunk’s previous set, the crowd found themselves movin’ to The Heavy Pets’ whaling keys and funky guitar riffs. Sharing vocal responsibilities, Lloyd, Wuest and guitarist Mike Garulli, each provided leads and harmonies throughout the show, diversifying the set and demonstrating each member’s musicianship. At one point, Sophistafunk frontman, Jack Brown joined the Heavy Pets, delivering his own style of vocal accompaniment to the Pets’ jams.
The good-time atmosphere associated with bringing friends up on stage stayed prevalent throughout the entire headlining set. As if they were back at school in Syracuse, the band took beers from friends in the crowd between songs and jammed to a venue full of dancing music lovers.
After a band experiences the type of success The Heavy Pets have had throughout their career, a show back where it all started is something special for not only the musicians, but also the fans in attendance. Bands like The Heavy Pets and Sophistafunk represent Upstate New York as they travel all over the country and its nice to get a taste of what they’ve been up to whenever they’re back in town.
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.
The 2013 SAMMY Awards have dropped their info for this year’s event. The SAMMY’s have proven time and again to be the Syracuse music scene’s premier annual event, this year looks to be bigger and better than ever. I love the change of venue to The Palace Theater in Eastwood, it’s more intimate and elegant, putting the crowd in closer contact with the performers and honorees. Read on for submission details and get your music in to be considered.
The two day event is slated for March 7-8, 2013, with SAMMY Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Upstairs at the Dinosaur BBQ on Thursday, March 7 and the SAMMY Award Ceremony and performances taking place on Friday, March 8 at The Palace Theater on James Street in Syracuse, NY. The Awards show has been moved to spring to better recognize the calendar year of recordings. Nowak reports that the last SAMMY Awards Show in 2011 was “SOLD OUT” with over 850 musicians and supporters of local music in attendance.
Musicians, Bands and Artists are encouraged to submit their recordings for consideration. Submissions will begin December 1, 2012. Official submission forms and instructions will be available for download here. All 2012 recordings and those released between Oct. 2011-Dec. 2012 are eligible with the deadline for submitting is January 4, 2013. The very popular People’s Choice nomination/submission and voting will begin on January 1.
Everyone is encouraged to nominate/submit their favorite local band and venue to see live music online from January 1st-14th, 2013 using this submission form. Online Voting will start January 15. Tickets to the event will go on sale in February 2013.
The SAMMYS is proud to recognize the support of The Syracuse New Times, 105.9 The Rebel, 93Q, Syracuse.com, 95X, 2nd Nature Studios, The Post Standard and SubCat. If you’d like to make suggestions about the award show, or share news that you’d like us to post on our site, email them at info at syracuseareamusic.com
We’re pleased to do our little part to support this event here at Music Guide. Helping to support a viable scene in Syracuse is something we’re proud to do and we do it statewide! Don’t let us down now, you heard it here and have all the info you need to get involved! We’ll be following the SAMMY’s through the event, so stay tuned to .com and .net for more info.
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
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.
Dark Star Orchestra pulled into Buffalo to kick off the “US” portion of their Fall Tour, after kicking the tour off the night before in Toronto, amazingly their first gig in Canada after 2,100 or so shows. I was excited to see the band chose Buffalo at Town Ballroom to sort of kick the tour off, especially with two nights. It was not surprising as Buffalo always seems to support this traveling recreation we affectionately know as “DSO” and these Sold Out shows were no exception.
Town Ballroom was a favorite venue of mine when it was converted into a full time concert venue in 2005, but not long after it turned into one of my least favorite places to record shows as we are always porched way back behind the board in an already muddy sounding room it often made for average tapes at best regardless of the gear or Jedi tactics to pull a good recording. Thankfully a couple weeks before the show, one of our friendly local community Deadheads, Pay Logan, got in touch with a VIP ticket for me. This proved for me to be the game changer in getting a great recording as opposed to the mud I have become accustomed to in the “official” tapers section. I would be remiss if I didn’t give a shout out to Artie Kwitchoff, owner of the Town Ballroom and decorated Buffalo area concert promoter who installed a new house PA system that really flourished on this evening, and does with this type of Rock music. The low end was as good as I’ve heard it, and my location coupled with this new PA made for easily my finest recording of several at the Ballroom. Thanks Artie for the new PA, and outstanding VIP access!
The boys took the stage around 9:15 to a raucous crowd that was ready to dance. It was easy to guess an original setlist with two drum stage setup, Lisa Mackey walking out to open the show and bassist Kevin Rosen tuning up the vintage Gibson style four-string bass. Although I am a big fan of the six-string Modulus, I was thrilled to see this instrument choice and from the sound of the tuning, I knew it would bring a raw edgy early 70’s Phil Lesh sound to the show. This was a bittersweet show for me knowing all the folks were on the other side of the state in the midst of a 10-show Phil Lesh run between three NYC area venues. I often kid some of my old school jaded Deadhead friends who often will snub DSO or any cover band. While there’s no replacement for seeing the real band members even when they’re past their prime, there is something for me about seeing DSO and how that make me feel at each show.
I see DSO because they recreate the music how I like to hear it and they do it so incredibly well. The show kicked off with a punch of “Half Step”, with a really nice extended “Rio Grande” finale. The tune surpassed 11 minutes and was a the perfect choice to get this amped crowd dancing and singing (the latter not good for recordings!). “Stranger” kept the pace and gave the show a real ’89 feel although we knew we could be in for anything with the original setlist setup, no warm up was necessary. The first two tunes proved the band was sharp right out of the gate. The first feel good surprise was next with “Unbroken Chain”, and even more a surprise seeing Rob take the vocals. Not sure when Kevin turned Phil vocal duties over to Rob or if this was a one off. A solid run through and always bittersweet as I was denied mail order for the 3/19/95 Spectrum bust out of “Unbroken Chain”. First set Jerry Band tunes are always a welcome addition to any DSO original setlist show and “Run For The Roses” did not disappoint. This playful tune took us into a cowboy Rolling Stones like version of “It’s All Over Now”. The “Candyman” that followed featured some incredible work by Rob Eaton. He is example number one of why I go see Dark Star Orchestra: the structuring of the song by Eaton is pure Weir form is nothing short of stunning. Every lick and shape shaped the song perfectly and was played with great passion and sheer brilliance; it made for such an enjoyable watch and listen.
“BIODTL” followed, then the next surprise of the night came with Lisa Mackey setting up her lyric stand for Bob Dylan’s “Chimes of Freedom”. Baracco had us wondering as he asked the audience if they like Bob Dylan songs before the tune, which would lead one to think of any number of tunes. “Visions of Johanna” came to mind, but alas it was not to be. “Chimes of Freedom” was a fine choice and it was a pleasure seeing Lisa get to take a lead. This took us to the number two reason I go see Dark Star Orchestera: the element of surprise, much to do with them being able to write our dream setlists on any given night and execute them with brilliance. This “Bird Song>Let it Grow>Bird Song” was easily one of several highlights of the show. No one saw it coming, but it transitioned beautifully. Mattson was in fine singing and playing form on “Bird Song”, and “Let it Grow” emerged strong out of the spacey improvisation of “Bird Song”, then a sweet reprise to wrap up the set.
While I was hoping for a “Scarlet>Fire” to open set two, “China>Rider” was greeted by the audience with a warm welcome eruption. The third reason I go see Dark Star Orchestra is “the useless smile”, tough to find in those moments when seeing members of the Grateful Dead in their current forms. We chased those moments for so long, those peaks, those musical moments of pure bliss where you were transported to that place that had you on such a level, nothing could replicate it. This is what I am after. When Jeff Mattson hit the “Northbound Train” line in “I Know You Rider”, a chill went through my body from my cheeks down to my toes. What a great moment. The show trudged on with the Buffalo staple “Truckin” which led into an highly charged “Terrapin Station”. The “Drums” portion of the show seemed extended but was very interesting, and the remainder of set two kept pace with a full rendition of “Hey Jude” into “Uncle John’s Band”, “Standing on the Moon”, and the set closer and second JGB track of the night, “Tangled Up In Blue”.
Great high energy Mattson/Eaton finish to the show with playful teases by Eaton of “China Cat” and Mattson with a brief “St. Stephen” tease. The show finished with another Baracco lead tune, “Box of Rain”, the perfect cap to another wonderful evening with Dark Star Orchestra.
Check out Lenny’s website and download Lenny’s recording of the show.