On February 23rd at 9pm, Bearbuck Productions is bringing to The Parting Glass three great bands from Upstate New York. Included on this night are The Lucky Jukebox Brigade, a local mainstay from Albany; Camper, a new group out of Skidmore College with a pop sound, and HAP, another group of Skidmore music students, featuring members of Bailiwick, creating an imaginative indie folk sound that winds through the golden age rock & roll.
Adam ‘Shmeeans’ Smirnoff has played with Lettuce since their inception nearly 20 years ago in Boston, and has since branched out with The Expanded Consciousness, which includes Craig “Butter” Glanville on drums, bassist Chris Loftlin and Blind Boys of Alabama keyboardist Pete Levin. In advance of the shows, Adam sat down for an interview, where we talked Lettuce, the Boston music scene and a solid amount about the Knicks and the NBA’s undervaluing of franchises.
Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff
Pete Mason: You started out at Berkelee, like alot of the Royal Family Musicians, as well as members of The Slip, among others. What is it about the school that makes it such a hotbed for musicians like yourself and a launching pad for innovative jazz and improv groups?
Adam “Schmeeans” Smirnoff: Obviously Boston in general is a young college town and so you have an influx of all these people from around the entire world who are interested in improving their craft, whatever their craft may be. In Boston with Berklee, The New England Conservatory, all these other schools you have a lot of people with a lot of similar interests and the idea of growth. For me personally, I felt like I was coming from a high school in New York where I didn’t have that many people to play with and I was searching for people who had similar ideas and had similar direction, and I think that’s what Berklee School of Music in Boston gives you.
PM: What was your first interaction with Eric Krasno and the other members of Lettuce? Can you recall your first gig with the band?
AS: I can, I can recall all those events. My first interaction with Krasno was when we were 13-14 years old at the National Guitar Summer Workshop. I didn’t know that many people and Kras would sit outside with his friends and bust everyone’s balls, just like he does today (of course I’m saying that with love.) My first gig with Lettuce, there are two ways of looking at it: one, the ‘Caf show’ during the five-week program when we were 16, that might be considered the first Lettuce show, but not really. The first real show was in 1994 at Tufts University at the Wilson House set up by Noah Smith, another Hastings High School alumni, who was going to Tufts at the time.
PM: The Expanded Consciousness is one of the relatively new Royal Family acts to head out on the road. What sets the sound apart for your group and what can fans expect?
AS: Obviously, this is a much smaller group, as a trio or quartet. I think this is a much more open project and we’re currently still trying to figure it out. It really hasn’t developed into what it can become, but come check it out and be part of the growing process. The sound is more jammy and more funky, leaning towards longer jams and more improvisation, trying to really find the spiritual element as we play together as a unit.
PM: You have since played with Lady Gaga and Robert Randolph. How did each of those gigs come about and how long did you play with each group?
AS: Robert Randolph and the Family Band was my longest tenure, six years, and that came about from Tobacco Road. Robert Randolph opened for Lettuce at The Wetlands, they jammed and Krasno reminded Robert that I was around and took me out on the road with him. He introduced me to the whole world of sacred steel and I’ve been able to play with some of the most incredible sacred steel players in the world Aubrey Ghent, Roosevelt Collier, Chuck Campbell, Robert Randolph and Calvin Cook. I don’t know if you can get any higher playing on the plateau that sacred steel is on, and it has permanently affected me in my life and I really enjoyed that experience.
Lady Gaga was through Jeff Basker, the original keyboard player of Lettuce who played on the Outta Here album, and who just recently won a Grammy for Song of the Year (as a producer) for ‘We are Young’ by Fun. I did Saturday Night Live with her and her first Monster Ball Tour. I truly enjoy musically, our world, the jam world, a lot more than I enjoy the pop world. It was a fun, short lived experience, I’m glad I got the opportunity to do it, although I’m not sure I would do the pop world again, but it was an amazing experience to play with Elton John at the Grammys.
PM: How good is it to be a Knicks fan lately?
AS: (Laughs) It’s been a fun year, we’re in the final stretch here and we gotta turn it up a notch, there’s a lot of great teams in the NBA right now. Win or lose, I’ll be the Knicks #1 fan. Look out Spike Lee, I’m coming for ya!
PM: Having played festivals and shows around Upstate NY, what are your favorite spots to hit off when traveling through the state, whether they be venues, towns, restaurants, etc…
AS: I’m a huge fan of Woodstock. I used to have a friend who lived out there for no reason other than living out there in the trees and woods. I love all the little organic stores out there, feeling that not everything is commercialized and there are mom and pop places, which I really enjoy. There is nothing worse for a musician than traveling and seeing the same thing, the same stores, chain stores in every city.
PM: It breaks up the monotony traveling in Upstate?
Willy Moon graced the small stage at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in Troy this past Friday night, a free show courtesy of WEQX, for a short 45 minute set that had ladies dancing on the stage, Willy dripping in sweat and the crowd shaking to each song he performed.
With the crowd packed up and close to the lip of the stage, playback coupled with an intense drummer and guitarist held their own while Willy glided across the stage as though he were on a Hoverboard. With a voice like Elvis, moves like Jagger (which came from Elvis) and the looks and style of Joseph Gordon Levitt, Willy sang James Brown, soul numbers off his soon to be released debut album, as well as his popular hits “Yeah Yeah” and “I Wanna Be Your Man”. At one point, Willy looked a little winded, saying “I’ve been eating too many of these ribs and I’m all fucked up”, which got him cheers of applause from a crowd who could relate.
Check out the interview with Willy Moon. This kid will be big one day
With Wilco and a Comedy lineup already announced, Solid Sound Festival announced the rest of their lineup for 2013 in alphabetical order, leading to a lineup of more than 30 bands spread out over June 21-23 in North Adams, Mass
The Solid Sound Fest lineup, from A-Z (with a few gaps filled in for good measure)
After what felt like eternity, Start Making Sense: A Talking Heads Tribute made their return to the Capital Region on Thursday, February 7th. The Bayou Café in Albany welcomed the musicians with open arms and fully packed the dance floor. Start Making Sense recreates the music of Talking Heads known for their funky and punk New Wave 80’s dance parties.
The night opened up with “Thank You for Sending Me An Angel”, lots of whoops and hollers as the drums start to rally the crowd. One of the many things I love about the Talking Heads music is the constant roller coaster volume of the lyrics. Start Making Sense is always a loud show, with every word being screamed at the top of everyone’s lungs such as “Pulled Up” and “Slippery People.” At one moment, you are yelling and stomping, giving way to your rebellious urges. The next you are gently grooving to “And She Was” and being swayed by “Air.”
Start Making Sense performs the vast music styling’s of the Talking Heads with skilled ease and pure appreciation. Lead man Jon Braun recreating David Byrne is spot on, including his clothes, crazy facial expressions and legendary vocals. Braun and the band have great flow with their dance moves, always a crowd pleaser. Before set break, Braun announced how “Thankful and happy the band was to be back in Upstate New York” and listed a few of their upcoming shows.
The crowd does its best to keep up with Start Making Sense’s nonstop fireball energy being hurled throughout the second set. It’s a treat to watch the musicians laughing to each other and having just as much fun as we are. I personally enjoyed the second set better because I knew more of the songs. “Nothing but Flowers” followed by “Cities” was the best way to resume the dance party. “Burning Down the House” was electrifying. The show ended with wild keyboard ranges from “Girlfriend Is Better” into a mellow yet enthusiastic “Crosseyed and Painless.” Start Making Sense will lightly tour around the east coast, making stops in Maine, Vermont and Delaware, before returning to their home state of Pennsylvania. As the lights came on and the band started to pack up, my friends and I already were planning our next show to see them.
Setlist:
Set 1: Thank You For Sending Me an Angel, Pulled Up, Slippery People, And She Was, Air, Uh Oh Love Comes to Town, Psycho Killer, Drugs, Born Under Punches, Animals, Found A Job, Mind, What A Day That Was, Naïve Melody
Set 2: Nothing But Flowers, Cities, Life During Wartime, Not In Love, Stay Hungry, Big Business/I Zimbra, Once In A Lifetime, Making Flippy Floppy, Burning Down the House, Girlfriend Is Better, Crosseyed and Painless
When Sevendust comes to upstate it is guaranteed to be a great time. Combine their powerful sound with the Italian Gothic metal sensation Lacuna Coil and Swedish-based melodic death metal band Avatar doing their first U.S. tour – be prepared to have your face melted.
When Avatar came onto the stage, the audience didn’t know what to think of this five piece ensemble. Upstate Metal ran into the founder and drummer, John Alfredsson, an hour or so before the show at Pizza Hut of all places and got the lowdown on the set. The plan was for 30-40 minutes of in your face metal, a little theatrics, and hopefully to impress the American crowd. Well, I think they undersold the “little” theatrics, but they definitely impressed the American crowd. When John founded the band in 2001 with singer, Christian Rimmi, it took the duo 2 years to get settled in and find the rest of the permanent members. So, with almost 10 years of touring Europe under their belt it was time for them to break into the states. Being on a Sevendust & Lacuna Coil tour guaranteed Avatar a lot of metal heads will see their music for the first time. Were they ready? Absolutely.
Christian’s theatrics proved to entice and excite the crowd at Upstate Concert Hall. Guitars shredded and drums pounded but all eyes were on the frontman to see what the hell was he going to do next. Coming out in a black executioner style mask for the first song, he then headed backstage to change it up a bit. When Christian reappeared for the second song, a friend of mine and Upstate Metal editing master, Chris Fleischmann accurately described him as the result of Alice Cooper and Freddy Kruger having a love child. A demented love child that fronted a band of Swedish misfits. In a good way. The set played out and Avatar won themselves some fans. They hung out at the merchandise table for most of the night and was even seen at the bar a time or two. I’d say run out and buy their new album, Black Waltz, but who am I kidding. Go over to iTunes and give it a listen.
The first time I saw Big Gigantic, I was floored by the amount of energy exuding from the stage to the crowd. They have all the aspects of any amazing electronic show: the mind blowing light show, the high energy and the improv jams, but also the jazz stylings that you would only find in a classically trained saxophonist. Dominic Lalli (sax and production) and Jeremy Salken (drums) have pioneered their own genre of music fusing together electronic, bass-centered music with smooth jazz and acoustic drums. Their sound is truly one of a kind and they have made their presence well known in the electronic scene. I had the pleasure of chatting on the phone with Jeremy just days before their show in Clifton Park at Upstate Concert Hall.
Jenni Wilson: Alright, we’ll start off with a little history behind Big G. When and how did you two meet?
Jeremy Salken: We met through the Boulder, Colorado music scene. We both were playing in funk and jazz bands, any gig we could get and we kind of met through that and ended up moving in together. Dom found a computer and started making some beats and it all kind of progressed from there.
JW: Who would you say are some of your biggest influences?
JS: Everything. Herbie Hancock, John Coltrane, all jazz music. Radiohead, a bunch of new stuff like Skrillex and Bassnectar. We get influences from everywhere. We are always looking to push ourselves. Dom’s always trying to push the way we make music and the angles its coming from.
JW: You have clearly forged your own path in the electronic music scene, but being that what you play is still so different from other acts, how would you go about defining your music to someone who has no connection to the electronic music scene?
JS: It’s really hard to explain, honestly. It’s one of those things were still kind of trying to figure out. Its really not jazz and electronic. We call it electronic dance music or live electronic music. We take so many different styles from drum and bass, hip hop, dubstep, sometimes moombahton.
JW: What exactly inspired you to blend live sax and live drums with electronic?
JS: Dom has been playing sax for a while he has his masters in jazz performance. I’ve been playing drums since I was a little kid, self-taught. Naturally we wanted to bring different instruments together and we wanted to find a way to fuse electronic beats. We wanted to be able to throw a party and keep everyone dancing but still get to play our instruments and improvise and build and drop.
JW: Your tour schedule looks jam packed. Is this busiest you guys have ever been?
JS: It’s pretty normal, we’ve stay relatively busy since we started so it feels very natural. We have more time coming up than we ever have. Things are kind of chillin out. We have a nine-week tour in the fall, so this five-week tour is a short one compared to that.
JW: The last time I saw you guys was main stage at Camp Bisco and I know you guys ended up playing some of the top U.S. festivals last year. What festivals do you think you’ll be leaning towards this summer?
JS: We’re on Summercamp and Snowball in March, but we played so many last year this year will be more mellow and we try not to repeat festivals. A lot of festivals don’t like to repeat. We’re working on our new album and doing a big tour in the fall. We’re also working on a Red Rocks gig. There are also a couple of other festivals that I can’t really announce yet.
JW: What is your favorite part about playing a festival, and how does that compare to playing a headlining tour?
JS: It’s definitely different. We love playing festivals because Dom and I have been going to festivals before we were in this band. We’re huge fans of the festival vibe. It’s awesome playing in front of so many people with a huge crowd and massive energy. But we also love getting indoors and containing all of that energy and playing with a more intimate crowd.
JW: You guys have put out an album almost every year since 2009, is there any new material planned for 2013?
JS: We’re working on an album for the fall now hopefully before our tour. And hopefully we’ll have that and ya know, that’s been kind of the main focus.
JW: Will your show at the Upstate Concert Hall be your first trip to the Albany area, aside from Camp Bisco? What can we expect from you guys at this show?
JS: No we’ve been to Albany a bunch, probably our third show. We played The Big Up Festival, and we’ve also played in Rochester. We played a sports bar (Jillian’s) about a year and a half ago in Albany. We try and hit that area (Buffalo, Rochester, Albany) because we love coming to the Northeast. It’s gonna be a party. I wouldn’t miss it if I were you guys. We have a new light rig that we dropped on New Years and we’re bringing that out. We’re playing a bunch of new music, Dom’s been working on some new stuff so it’s gonna be a non-stop party.
JW: Alright last question. There have been rumors floating around that you and Jennie Garth recently started dating. Is this true?
JS: True. I haven’t been asked that on an interview but I’ve been asked it more and more since Jam Cruise. Our story broke in the National Enquirer with a bunch of false information. It said I was 41, which I wouldn’t mind if it was true but it’s not. It was funny being in the National Enquirer because obviously they don’t have reputable news. They called every member of my family and Dom trying to get all of this information and obviously nobody gave them anything so they ended up making everything up. They said we met at Coachella and have been dating for a really long time. That isn’t true. We didn’t meet at Coachella, we met in October so it’s impossible. It’s pretty nuts what kind of information they’ll print. Even with no information they will print whatever they want.
You can catch Big Gigantic at Upstate Concert Hall in Clifton Park on February 12th and at Water Street Music Hall in Rochester on February 17th.
Formula 5, one of the fastest up and coming acts in the Capital District are about to release their debut, self-titled album, and has your first listen to these tracks. If you don’t know about Formula 5, here’s a primer from an interview with the band last fall.
As soon as The Garcia Project took the stage at the Putnam Den on February 1st, you knew it was going to be a mystical evening. The crowd was a mix of old hippies and new hipsters, from dreadlocks to backward hats, from women in long skirts twirling as they danced to men in jeans and suspenders, it was an eclectic mix. There were bikers, office workers, students and retirees. It didn’t matter who was enjoying the groove – they were smiling and taking in the good vibes. And who could blame them, the music of Jerry Garcia is timeless, and The Garcia Project has taken the time, energy, and their talents to master that sound.
From the first notes of the night, “Sugaree”, the dance floor was full and people were singing along. The set went on and songs went off to spectacular jams, only to be pulled back into the pleasing duo of Mik Brody and Kat Walkerson on vocals. In math, there is a theory that the sum of two parts can not be greater than the whole. Thankfully in music, that logic is thrown out – because while Mik and Kat are great singers on their own, they are better together.
When you looked to the stage and you weren’t noticing Mik intently staring down at his guitar, much like Jerry used to do, or Kat’s exaggerated facial expressions as she sang her heart out, you noticed the light show. The Garcia Project brought along a Macbook, a projector, and a light guy (Dutch Masterson)- a perfect combination to set the mood. The psychedelic scenery covered the large stage and then some. Intricate designs and other visual effects graced the backdrop as the band played on.
The Garcia Project is obviously a tribute band to Jerry Garcia Band. A tribute band is quite different than a cover band because they don’t merely mimic the songs, but rather the whole sound and feel of the band. That can mean using the same brand of instruments, similar amps and modifiers, and even looking like the original band. As a fan of the original band, you go and enjoy the show knowing that this is the closest you are going to get to the real thing. It transports you into the past and into an atmosphere that is reminiscent of an historic vibe. Luckily that vibe is still alive in those like minded individuals around you at a show like this one at the Putnam Den. In order for a tribute band to be successful, fans need to look at them as the authority on the artist they are emulating. The Garcia Project pulls it off effortlessly. Don’t believe it? Go see them live and then go check out old YouTube footage of The Jerry Garcia Band. Listen to how Jerry plays off Gloria Jones and Jackie LaBranch and compare that to Mik Brody and Kat Walkerson. Listen to the jazz influenced bass of the legendary John Kahn and feel the similarities of The Garcia Project’s own Dan Crea.
The Garcia Project is the whole package starting with the incredibly talented Scott Guberman on the Hammond B3 organ and Leslie speaker. Aaron Martin sets the pace on drums. The masterful guitar work of Mik Brody, himself, fills the role of Jerry on guitars and vocals. The night was song after song of a delightful mix of Garcia classics and a few covers – some made famous by the Grateful Dead, and some lesser known but carrying that same Garcia vibe. The dance floor stayed packed all night, especially during the livelier tunes and the long jams that took you to another time.
The Putnam Den pulled out another great night of music and Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia fans, both young and old, had a great experience that took them into the night.
Setlist: Set 1: Sugaree, Tore Up, They Love Each Other, He Ain’t Give You None, Tough Mama, Evangeline, Strugglin’ Man, Second That Emotion Set 2: Lonesome and a Long Way From Home, Mission In the Rain, Breadbox, Positively 4th Street, Don’t Let Go, Midnight Moonlight, Sisters and Brothers, Tangled Up in Blue, Deal Encore/Grateful Dead Set: Half Step, Shakedown Street, Eyes of the World, Cumberland Blues
After a one-year hiatus, Grammy Award-winning Chicago-based rockers Wilco return to North Adams, Massachusetts, this summer to host their Solid Sound Music and Arts Festival at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass Moca) over June 21-23, 2013.
Now in its third year, Solid Sound is a three-day celebration of music, comedy, and art located on the MASS MoCA campus. Although the musical lineup and interactive exhibits have not yet been announced, but we’re guaranteed a couple nights of Wilco and a handful of Wilco-related side projects of individual members.
Always entertaining, the comedy stage will make a return and will be curated by John Hodgman (The Daily Show and celebrated podcasts are among his funny exploits.) The stage will feature Jen Kirkman (Chelsea Lately, Funny or Die), Reggie Watts (Conan, Fallon, College Humor) and Al Madrigal (The Daily Show).
Previous years have included multiple nights of Wilco, along with The Levon Helm Band, Thurston Moore, Mavis Staples, and Avi Buffalo. Also performing were Wilco-related side projects The Autumn Defense, Pronto, On Fillmore and The Nels Cline Singers.
The $99 Early Worm tickets have already sold out, but a limited number of $124 Early Bird passes are still available, after which a three-day pass will set you back $149. Ticket prices include access to the exhibits at MASS MoCA, so if you haven’t yet made the trip, this is an excellent opportunity to catch what is arguably the most eclectic collection of modern art in the Northeast. And, it’s only a 90-minute scenic drive from Albany!
Below are scenes from the first-annual Solid Sound Festival in 2010.
With the crowd p
The Solid Sound Fest lineup, from A-Z (with a few gaps filled in for good measure)
As for the tracks, take a listen below. We’ll have a full review later this month, so take a listen to a solid debut album from Formula 5, and catch them for their CD Release show on