On July 5th, as the first night of Phish at Saratoga Performing Arts Center came to a close, the town streets came alive as those attending the three-night run fanned out to find after-parties to keep the vibe grooving. At the legendary Putnam Den in downtown Saratoga, those looking to keep their booties shaking found a pleasant surprise in the tucked away venue as Dead Sessions started off the night with a boisterous “Franklin’s Tower”.
One of my personal favorite aspects of Putnam Den is when they put on a show, they never overcrowd the venue, so as the sound echoed into the street and more ticket holders entered the premises, we all had the perfect amount of room to get down.
For those who have never seen Dead Sessions, this band is the embodiment of the timelessness of The Grateful Dead’s music. Although the band calls Vermont home, the band is composed of rotating members who are from various locations around the country. While they performed a plethora of old favorites including “Bertha”, “Peggy-O” and “He’s Gone”, they also added their own improvisational jams and gave each song a piece of their own musical personalities.
During “Scarlet Begonias”, their first set closer, they went into an impressive improv streak that combined new age jam with old age style and an intertwining of spacey jams that tied it all together. Keyboardist Adam King’s playful melody danced around the crowd as guitar players Seth Yacavone and Adam Terrell (Assembly of Dusct / Ghosts of Jupiter/ Percy Hill), who was filling in for Tobe Kniffin dueled harmoniously with one another and the full sounded band, which included drummers Kevin Shapiro and Steve Hadeka (Seth Yacovone Band), supporting their beat every step of the way.
Dead Sessions was a great way to end the night for any Phish-Dead lover. Before we knew any better, it was 4am and with our hip joints thoroughly greased up from a full night of music, the crowd dissipated with a buzz of anticipation for two more amazing nights of music.
Also worth noting is that the show also doubled as a WaterWheel benefit and raised over $1,100 for the WaterWheel Foundation – which in turn donated it to the Saratoga Hospital Foundation which is working to build a community health center in Saratoga.
Setlist
Set 1: Feel Like a Stranger>Franklin’s Tower, Jack Straw, West L.A. Fadeaway, Bertha, Brown Eyed Women, Peggy-0, Alligator> He’s Gone> Scarlet Begonias
Set 2: Playin’ in the Band> Visions of Johanna> Playin’ in the Band, Blow Away, China Cat Sunflower> At a Siding> I Know You Rider, Easy Wind
Nothing goes better together than Fourth of July weekend and a three night run at Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) with legendary band Phish.
The four piece jam band returned once again to the historic city of Saratoga Springs who welcomed the band as well as the thousands of dedicated fans from all over the country. Guitarist Trey Anastasio, Bassist Mike Gordon, Keyboardist Page McConnell and Drummer Jon Fishman started their summer tour on July 3rd at Darling’s Waterfront Pavilion in Bangor, Maine, with Saratoga Springs two days later. One of the best features of SPAC is the beautiful State Park with cool shaded springs for fans to escape the humidity before the show and even catch soundcheck echoing off the valleys.
The venue itself has a beautiful indoor seating area with incredible sound and fantastic views from any seat. The lawn has gotten a bad reputation for being overcrowded with poor sound and visuals, but the fans make the best of it by partying and dancing that much harder. Knowing that my Phish filled weekend had finally arrived, I was just thankful to be there.
The parking lots were filled with hundreds of cars, covered in trendy bumper stickers plus more VW vans than you’ll ever see in one place. Thousands of people could be seen walking the aisles searching for the latest merchandise or reuniting with dear friends from past shows. The weather was a disgusting humid Friday evening, with the air so thick you couldn’t tell if it was the heat or all the smoke. With some relief of a brief but heavy rainstorm, fans headed through the gates with plenty of electricity and excitement left over from the storm.
Phish started the weekend with “Kill Devil Falls”, leading to the crowd instantly rejoicing and singing the lyrics that pretty much sum up Phish tour: “Who knew a day would turn into a week, but I learned my lesson, and I can still remember the last one, but this time will be different, until I do it again”, with a great high build up at the end. It gives one chills to hear the familiar breath from the thousands of fans as the groove of “The Moma Dance” starts. At a phish show, you can actually hear the crowd hold their breath in anticipation before each and every song. The slightest bass drop from Mike Gordon during “Moma” resulted in massive cheers as longtime fans are glued in to every single note. “Sample in a Jar” and Ween’s “Roses are Free” brought easy going melodies, giving fans a chance to take a deep breath, wait in the obnoxious beer lines and find friends. Page took a moment after a solid “Birds of a Feather” to thank the fans for joining them at one of their favorite venues being SPAC and recognized a close friend, Ian McLean, from Ian’s Farm shows in 1987 in Hebron, NY. One of the big surprises of the night was the debut of the band’s newest song, “Yarmouth Road”. The song was light-hearted with Mike leading on vocals and Trey Anastasio holding short riffs.
The thrilling beginning of the infamous riffs and oddball notes of “Bathtub Gin” brought back great memories of past shows, especially those at SPAC with the crowd always erupting to the classic line, “We’re all in this together and WE LOVE TO TAKE A BATH!” Once the catchy and bizarre vocals are over, the band carried the jam for over 10 minutes in glorious leaps and bounds. The set tooks a turn as we glided into the bluegrass vibe of “Nellie Kane” and the rocking ballad “Army of One” with Page serenading the audience amid light, airy finger playing. Suddenly we go straight into the ticking time bomb of “My Friend, My Friend”, with its comforting start but breaking down into a frightful free for all. The energy is kept at a high peak by playing right into the cover of “Cities” by Talking Heads, a predictable song for the weekend yet slightly unexpected for the first night. The set concluded with a 12 minute “David Bowie”, with fans in the fully packed lawn, throwing glowsticks up in the air, trying to keep in rhythm with the melody. It makes for great entertainment as long as you aren’t getting hit in the head and a special reminder to NOT throw glow sticks at the band.
The second set started with another surprise as the boys debuted “Energy” by The Apples in Stereo, with delicate harmonies and an upbeat temp, nonstop cymbals and steady cowbell from Fishman. Hearing an unrecognizable song temporarily threw off almost everyone’s groove, leaving the great sense of mystery that Phish fans have a love hate relationship with. Thankfully we were all reassured to hear the start of “Light”, a song that has the reputation for being a serious jam session with tonight at SPAC being no different, lasting just over 15 minutes. “The Mango Song” was kept playful as always with childish lyrics and Trey teasing the crowd with “Light” riffs. You could see the band members having a great time throughout the night as each wore their wide and familiar smiles. The song that stood out this night was “46 days”, which had the most intense surge of energy as the crowd screamed the lyrics and Trey shredded his guitar nearly to pieces. The funky jam gave the band more than enough space to jam right into “Steam”, a still newer song with a steady beat, spooky lyrics and deeps notes from Mike. The party mood got picked up right away as we stepped into a cover of The Who’s “Drowned” with Page reaching for those high notes and Trey teasing “Divided Sky” just like the “Hood” encore at Bangor. The show ended with the classic “Character Zero”, a high energy song with heavy loops of the strong organ and frenzied guitar grooves.
As security wasted no time pushing concert goers towards the nearest exit, many were still in shock that the first night had come and went. Despite being soaked from the rain and sweat, phans still had the biggest smiles on their faces and were eager to experience the rest of a Phish filled weekend.
Setlist
Set 1: Kill Devil Falls, The Moma Dance> Sample in a Jar, Roses are Free, Birds of a Feather, Yarmouth Road (1), Bathtub Gin, Nellie Kane, Army of One> My Friend, My Friend(2)> Cities> David Bowie
Set 2: Energy (3)> Light> The Mango Song (4)> 46 Days> Steam> Drowned (5) > Slave to the Traffic Light
Encore: Character Zero
1 Debut
2. No “Myfe” ending
3. Phish Debut
4. Light teases from Trey
5. Divided Sky tease from Trey.
6. Jean Pierre tease from Trey.
After Birds of a Feather, Page pointed out Ian in the crowd from “Ian’s Farm” fame and waxed nostalgic about playing there while also noting that SPAC was one of the band’s favorite venues. Yarmouth Road made its debut at this show.
This week, Halestorm hits the stage for the first time with Daughtry and 3 Doors Down on several select dates, including Big Flats, NY on July 13th and Canandaigua, NY on July 16th.
Halestorm:
From Red Lion, PA, Halestorm has not stopped rocking the stage since 2006, opening for bands like Chevelle, Shinedown, Evanescence, Stone Sour, Three Days Grace and many more. Band members consist of the Hale siblings, Lzzy (vocals/guitar) and Arejay (drums), Joe Hottinger (guitar), and Josh Smith (bass). Halestorm has released two full-length albums, their self-titled (2009) and The Strange Case Of…(2012). Through their hard work, the band won a Grammy for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance for the song “Love Bites (So Do I)”. For sure, Lzzy Hale is ready to knock everybody out of the ballpark with her powerful pipes.
Daughtry:
Fronted by American Idol’s season 5 finalist, Chris Daughtry, this five-pieced band from McLeansville, NC hits the stage for a third tour leg with co-headliner 3 Doors Down. Band members consist of Chris Daughtry, Josh Steely (guitar), Brian Craddock (guitar), Josh Paul (bass), and Robin Diaz (drums). The band has released three albums, Daughtry (2006), Leave This Town (2009), and Break The Spell (2011), with a total of over 6.7 million records sold in the United States. Hit singles include “Over You”, “Home”, “It’s Not Over”, “No Surprise”, and many more. Daughtry is more than ready to show everyone what they have in store for this tour.
3 Doors Down:
Hailing from Escatawpa, Mississippi, this five-pieced band, consisting of Brad Arnold (vocals), Chet Roberts (guitar), Chris Henderson (guitar), Todd Harrell (bass), and Greg Upchurch (drums), hits the stage with Daughtry for a third time since the start of their co-headlining tour in December 2012. 3 Doors Down has released a total of five albums, The Better Life (2000), Away From the Sun (2002), Seventeen Days (2005), 3 Doors Down (2008), and Time of My Life (2011) with a total of 23 singles including “Kryptonite”, “Here Without You”, “When I’m Gone”, “Citizen/Soldier”, “It’s Not My Time”, “When You’re Young” and “Every Time You Go”. 3 Doors Down knows how to put on a hell of a show and they are ready to do so this summer.
Be sure to check each of the band’s Facebook page for tour dates. This is a show you will not want to miss!
“That guy, you see that guy? He gets it. He knows how to support live music”, said Filter front man Richard Patrick as he was pointing right at me. “And wearing a Tool shirt, that band is awesome!”. People are slapping me on the back and handing out high fives. I give him the double metal sign back and the band blasts into another song.
Much of Filter’s June 18th show at Rochester’s Montage Music Hall went like this. As a more than 20 year vet on the national touring scene, Mr. Patrick certainly knows how to successfully work an audience. The band delivered an exceptional set full of energy, including classics like “Take a Picture”, “Do You (Trip Like I Do)”, and “Zero”, each of which were mixed in with enough deep cuts to make even the most jaded Filter vet (if such a thing could exist) ecstatic. Towards the end of their set the band delivered an angst-filled take on The Turtles classic “Happy Together”. After the song, front man Richard Patrick exclaimed they had never played that before and that we had all ‘made history together.’ This was a fantastic performance by adept performers that have managed against all odds to stay fully on top of their game. Syracuse’s Without Regret and Rochester’s Ghostfeeder opened the show with high energy performances of their own.
Filter is touring in support of their new album The Sun Comes Out Tonight. Released June 4th, the disc blazes through 12 songs in under 50 minutes. The disc opens with the headbanging track “We Hate it When You Get What You Wanted”, an obvious and excellent nod to those with envy issues. The rock keeps flowing through the following track and lead single “What Do You Say”. The lighter side of Filter is apparent with the family oriented “Surprise” and drug-haze-aftermath ode “Watch the Sun Come Out Tonight”. The entire album does an excellent job at merging the tapestry of Filter’s 20 year career of playing with different genres into one cohesive unit. Present are the full steam ahead headbangers, the introspective dark-edged softer tracks and forays into electronica influenced rock. The album ends with a twosome of songs, “It’s My Time” and “It’s Just You”, both of which invoke a non-copycat similarity to mega-hit “Take a Picture”. An excellent offering by seasoned veterans. Twenty years later, Filter has still got it. Check them out on the Summerland Tour throughout July.
Key Tracks: What Do You Say, Come Watch The Sun Come Out Tonight, Take That Knife Out of My Back
Walking into MASS MoCA on a hot and humid Saturday afternoon were people of all ages and types. From teenagers and twenty-somethings to baby boomers and adults in their 30s and 40s with little kids, they all came in droves. The Wilco produced Solid Sound Festival is unlike any other festival in the country. MASS MoCA almost every other weekend of the year is just a place to go check out gigantic art installations and see special screenings of movies. For Solid Sound, you get this plus a concert curated by one of the best bands of the last 20 years.
Walking around to see all of the art was great, as there are massive installations throughout the site. One of the installations was Xu Bing’s “Phoenix,” two gigantic birds built out of scrap metal. Pop-up performances took place underneath them by some of the acts and every attendee at the festival had the same awe-struck reaction to the birds when first seeing them. There was also a record shop on site with artist signings and many albums on sale for those who felt the need to not only see music, but purchase some as well. Another great hidden gem inside of MASS MoCA was the interactive kid area for parents that wanted to see their kids create art at the festival as well as see art. All of this added to the uniqueness of the festival.
Xu Bing: Phoenix
Mark Mulcahy started the day of music off with some smooth rock and roll incorporating a small horn section beautifully. However, many people were getting ready inside the buildings for John Hodgman’s Comedy Cabaret. Jen Kirkman and Hodgman started the cabaret off by riffing back and forth on various news topics and then Jen took over for a 40 minute set that went every which way and had the audience rolling in the aisles. Later on, Reggie Watts took the stage to a standing room only crowd that saw him mix music and comedy to perfection like only he can. At the end of his 45 minute set ,Reggie drew one of the biggest ovations of the day and well deserved at that.
Reggie Watts
Lucius took to the Courtyard D stage where a large crowd saw the group destroy their 45 minute set in the midday heat. Dressed as though they were twins, Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig blended their voices beautifully into soaring harmonies while being accompanied by a great band behind them. The audience wanted more as the band ended their set, but would have to wait until later in the day for what I was told was a great pop-up performance underneath the two phoenixes.
Lucius
Near the entrance of the festival, Gold Town from Manchester, VT, was playing an acoustic set of rocking bluegrass music to a tiny crowd. As people came and left the area, they were constantly stopping for a bit to see where this great music was coming from. The four piece band was clearly enjoying themselves and even taking requests from the crowd. Yo La Tengo hit Courtyard D next with the biggest crowd of the day to that point. Having performed for quite some time, it was great to see how easily all of the music came to them. Constantly switching instruments, all three members showed that they are in-tune with one another. “Ohm” and “Deeper Into Movies” were two of the better songs, but they really killed their entire hour long set.
Yo La Tengo
What came next was the most exciting set of the day: Foxygen took to Courtyard C and drew a crowd that was much bigger than that area of MASS MoCA could handle, and the band delivered. What you notice right away from Foxygen is the amount of energy every member of the band has. Lead singer Sam France had so much energy that he climbed part of the scaffolding of the stage, much to the dismay of the Solid Sound staff. Their mixture of rock and psychedelia was impressive. This is definitely a band that likes to have fun on stage and makes sure their audience is having just as much fun. Do not miss them if they come to Upstate New York in the near future.
Foxygen
Low took the stage next and was the exact opposite of Foxygen. Their hour long set seemed to drag a bit, but that is just because their style of rock is much slower. Although the music was great, especially “Dinosaur Act” and “Last Snowstorm of the Year,” it was a bit of a letdown after the raucous set Foxygen had just thrown down. Neko Case, who was the first performer to grace Joe’s Field on Saturday, was next and played a beautiful set of music mixing bluegrass, country, and rock. She also was very talkative to the crowd between each song, telling jokes and stories about each song. “That Teenage Feeling,” “I’m An Animal,” and “Train From Kansas City” stood out among her set.
Neko Case
The curators of the festival, Wilco, took to the stage next and played an amazing 28-song set. The previous night they had played an all request covers set and people I spoke with throughout the day remarked how amazing that set was. This set saw Wilco play a full set of original music and showed why they are so good at what they do. “I Got You At the End of the Century” kicked the set off in a rocking fashion and it seemed they never stopped from there. Jeff Tweedy joked with the crowd throughout the set and even brought a fan on stage to request a song, although the band really told her which song to pick, which turned into a small comedy routine on stage, before they jumped into a great version of “Candyfloss.” Kids could be seen on parent’s shoulders with headphones on enjoying the set, while the adults in their 20s and 30s were twirling and dancing around. With a four song encore that had Jeff continually saying how happy they were to be back at MASS MoCA after taking a year off, they capped the night with a triple shot of “California Stars,” “Just a Kid,” and “Dreamer in My Dreams.”
Wilco
Setlist: I Got You (At the End of the Century), Dawned on Me, Box Full of Letters, At My Window Sad and Lonely, Forget the Flowers, She’s a Jar, You Are My Face, One Sunday Morning (Song for Jane Smiley’s Boyfriend), Art of Almost, I Might, Summer Teeth, Candyfloss, I’m Always in Love, Sunken Treasure, Far Far Away, Via Chicago, Impossible Germany, Born Alone, Laminated Cat, Passenger Side, Whole Love, Can’t Stand It, Heavy Metal Drummer, I’m the Man Who Loves You
Encore: A Shot in the Arm, California Stars, Just a Kid, Dreamer in My Dreams
Solid Sound is one of the best festivals on this side of the country. Being only 45 minutes east of Albany in North Adams, MA, this is a festival you should be attending every year. The art that could be seen is worth the price of admission alone. There is camping in North Adams, MA, with bus services to and from the festival daily. There is also a great beer and food selection throughout the complex. The Solid Sound Festival is not to be missed for music lovers in the Capitol Region next year.
East Coast Pearl Jam fans got some exciting news today – the band has announced their Fall 2013 tour dates and Buffalo, NY is on the list! The tour will travel through the North East for the first leg, starting in Pittsburgh on October 11th and then onto Buffalo October 12th at the First Niagara Center. With stops in major cities all over the country, the band’s hometown of Seattle will get their dose of Pearl Jam on December 6th for the final stop on the tour. Follow the latest news and updates with #PearlJam2013.
Pearl Jam will play the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, NY on October 12th, the show starts at 7:30PM. Tickets go on sale Saturday, July 27th at 10AM (EST) and can be purchased online at Tickets.com or by calling 888-223-6000. A special ticket pre-sale drawing for current Pearl Jam Ten Club members is being offered – for more information and com[plete details please sign into your account.
Pearl Jam’s North American tour dates are in addition to the band’s previously announced sold out concerts in London, Ontario and Chicago, IL as well as the band’s headlining performance at Voodoo Music + Arts Experience in New Orleans (November 1-3) A full list of dates is available at www.pearljam.com/tour.
In this day and age where music festivals are popping up like a game of Whack-A-Mole, it’s nice to know there’s an oasis of musical and arts gatherings right in our own backyard, one that is celebrating its 23rd consecutive year. That festival is Grassroots and that backyard is Trumansburg, NY.
“The uniqueness of Grassroots really lies in the feeling where everyone who goes to Grassroots feels like a real part of the festival. You’re not being subject to an event, rather you’re part of it and creating your experience with everyone else, so everyone who comes to it is truly, a real part of it.” – Jeb Puryear, Donna the Buffalo
Spawned from the brainchild of Donna The Buffalo members in 1990, the Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance has evolved in many ways, uniquely, by not evolving. The festival has always stayed true to its roots (no pun intended) by offering the widest array of genres, cultures, instruments, ethnicities, flavors, beats and personalities of any festival in Upstate, which, in many ways, defies the current model of genre-specific festivals that have become so recently prevalent. This year’s lineup remains on par with that informal mission: attract the total diversity of people Upstate NY has to offer by offering the most diverse lineup to new and veteran festival goers July 18-21.
“You know it’s really easy for a music festival to slide into that stereotypical niche of being hippie or whatever but I mean, yeah, sure I’m a hippie, but it’s a tough distinction to make. We get farmers and republicans to everyone. That’s one of our goals really is to make the masses of people, everyone from everywhere, to realize Grassroots can be a great event for everyone,” said Donna the Buffalo frontman Jeb Puryear in a recent interview. “The uniqueness of Grassroots really lies in the feeling where everyone who goes to Grassroots feels like a real part of the festival. You’re not being subject to an event, rather you’re part of it and creating your experience with everyone else, so everyone who comes to it is a truly, a real part of it.”
Fresh off their latest album release, Tonight, Tomorrow and Yesterday, roots/zydeco/jam icons Donna the Buffalo returns home to the Finger Lakes to highlight this year’s extensive lineup. In addition, other area acts include Sim Redmond Band, Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad, John Brown’s Body, Driftwood, Milkweed, Gunpoets, Thousands of One and Sophistifunk, among countless others. As always, some of the regulars will be making another appearance with Keith Frank and the Soileau Zydeco Band, and Preston Frank and His Family Zydeco Band keeping people kickin’ up their heels to ungodly hours each night in the infamous Grassroots Zydeco Tent. Other great acts include Rubblebucket, Rusted Root, Jim Lauderdale, The Town Pants and Chatham County Line but perhaps the largest draw of the festival (‘The Herd’ would contest) is expected to be for Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell. Perhaps, however, most of Grassroots charm arrives from hearing music or artists you have never heard of or maybe never have consciously self-introduced: Genres spanning afrobeat to Cuban, bluegrass to soul or reggae to…dare I even say it, country music.
One of those said “acts”, if you can call their ensemble that, is called Festival Au Desert – a Caravan of Peace. Hailing from Mali, a nation currently torn in turmoil among recent throngs of Al Qaeda influence, the Festival Au Desert refers to themselves, comprised of several different Malian musical groups, as a ‘Festival in Exile’ and they will bring that mobile caravan of global rhythms to Trumansburg July 18-21. “The Festival of the Desert thing is gonna be pretty cool. It’s a product of when the forces of global politics invade something as pure as music,” said Puryear. “Al Qaeda is in the northern part of Mali, and getting unruly and next thing they did was start going into the villages and started outlawing music and outlawing something like music in Mali is a pretty heinous thing, so they have this festival in the desert every summer and they didn’t feel like they could hold it safely over there, so they decided to take their festival on the road and we were lucky enough to get ‘em.”
In addition to the non-stop music July 18-21 at the Trumansburg Fair Grounds, Grassroots also boasts eclectic mixes of art, dance, food and activities. Since 1990, the festival has appeared to really grow with some of its original attendees. In addition to growing up as a festival, Grassroots has also expanded to now include Grassroots Festivals in North Carolina and Florida. “First, in the beginning of it all, with some proceeds, we wanted to bring awareness to AIDS. We started as a musical event and we decided to make it to go towards helping some causes. We branched out to arts and education and essentially, by branching out to helping education and the arts, we are essentially furthering our original mission, which is music,” said Puryear.
Essentially, the Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance promotes arts and education, provides family-friendly entertainment, on-site camping and food, a relaxed, friendly vibe, a diverse lineup of never-ending music and great Finger Lakes Scenery. Yet, despite all of this, Puryear said he knows there are music lovers in Upstate New York who still have not yet made it to one of the past 22 installments. “Everyone in this area is good people. People who come and finally get there after hearing about it for years just end up having an unbelievable time. I can even begin to recommend anything more assuredly than telling people to go to Grassroots festival. It really is special.”
‘s recommendations for this year’s lineup: Donna the Buffalo, The Horse Flies, Driftwood, Chatham County Line, The SPAM Allstars, The Speckers, Aurelio Martinez, The Campbell Brothers, Rubblebucket, Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell. For a complete listing of Grassroots artists: please visit www.grassrootsfest.org
It has been almost 200 days since my last Phish show, which thankfully will be cured soon with their summer tour starting this week. However, to fill this void throughout the year, I go see The Heavy Pets as often as I can so on June 27, I got a double dose of jam music when both bands performed at the Putnam Den in Saratoga Springs.
One of the best feelings, and the start to a great night, is walking into the venue just as the first band takes the stage, in this case, it was the sound of Formula 5. Their first song had teases from Jimi Hendrix’s “All Along the Watchtower” quickly grabbing the audience’s attention. They hit the crowd with a new single that had no name but didn’t need one, and ended up being called “No Name”, featuring a strong guitar presence thanks to Joe Davis, with lots of cymbals ringing from Greg Marek, creating a very spacey melody.
One of the best parts about watching Formula 5 perform is bassist Bill Shattuck. His feet barely touch the ground as he dances and tiptoes ever so carefully around the thick bass notes he leaves everywhere. The boys were on point that night with no slow build ups and blasting from one song to the next. Mike McDonald plays just about every note on his keyboard with great speed and simplicity. A great surprise was when Jeff Lloyd from the Heavy Pets joined the band for the song “Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town” by The Talking Heads, terrific energy and guitar shredding. Formula 5 will be hosting a Phish SPAC After Party on July 5th at The MINE nightclub on Broadway. The guys will also be making stops at this year’s Backwoods Pondfest and The Big UP music festivals.
The Heavy Pets hail from Florida but are no strangers to playing to a dedicated fan base in Upstate New York, particularly due to their early roots in Syracuse, where Jeff Lloyd calls himself an alumnus. Their sound is like a space station on a tropical vacation – you get the electronic mixes with a heavy dose of reggae that always catches you by surprise. “Spin Round”, a pop/electronic tune featured charming vocals and upbeat piano chords from Jim Wuest. “Chevrolet” was a harder rock song with reggae vibes radiating with sharp string playing from a combined Jeff Lloyd, Mike Garulli and Tony D’Amato.
Halfway through their set, the band announced the winner of the raffle contest with the prize being Phish SPAC pit tickets that were given to each attendee at the door. I don’t think I’ve ever seen people with so many raffle tickets before. Focusing back on The Heavy Pets, Jamie Newitt got the crowd amped up with a quick tempo start of “STYM” and laid down the rhythm strong all night. Putnam Den was filled with the echo of their simple yet powerful lyrics, “We are one. So thank you music.” The set ended with “Jackie Bones”, a steady beat with raising harmonies that made you wish the show wasn’t over yet.
“The Art of Dying comes from a longer sentence: ‘the art of dying is my life to live’,” explains Jonny Hetherington, frontman of Canadian rock band, Art of Dying, to Upstate Metal’s Kate Drexel, over their lengthy Skype interview. “And it was a real late night, kind of drunken conversation that kind of came to that exact sentence, ‘The art of dying is my life to live.’ But it kind of became just, between the members of the band, just became our motto, our theme of how we live, recognizing that life is precious and your time here is kind of limited or unpredictable at least so that’s it, that’s the band name.”
Media Credit – Travis Shinn
Formed in the streets of Vancouver, BC by Jonny and the band’s guitarist, Greg Bradley, over the years this band has grown in many ways since the beginning in 2004, making band member changes along the way. Originally, the band started with Jonny, Greg, Chris Witoski (guitarist from 2005 till 2008), Matt Rhode (bassist from 2005 till 2008), and Flavio Cirillo (drummer from 2005 till 2008). In 2008, Hetherington and Bradley met their current drummer, Jeff Brown, then the rest of the current members made their way into the band, Tavis Stanley (guitar), and Cale Gontier (bass). When asked about how the band met, Hetherington recounted the details of the formation. “Greg and I met in Vancouver, I actually just moved out here and I pretty much sucked at playing guitar and singing at the same time. So I decided the best thing to do was to play on the street a lot so I would go down to Gramble Street or a couple of little spots that I had in town and I would just sit there and play my heart out all day long and all night long sometimes. One night, some dudes were walking by and they were starting a band and heard my voice and kind of…I guess they followed my voice for a couple of blocks because I was singing pretty loud. And next thing you know, that was Greg, and the next thing you know, we never parted ways since, it was like we decided to start a band right away. After a few years, we met Jeffy, who’s also in Vancouver, a drummer here, who was in a different band just a couple of doors down from us, in our jam space, and when the time was right, we just knew that after having Jeffy out once, we knew he was our guy. Then he had ties to Cale and Tavis who were living in Toronto, which is like…I don’t know…2,000 miles away. But he’s from Ontario, so he knew Cale and Tavis and we were heading out there for Canadian Music Week, which is a festival they have every year. And the timing was just perfect, we all hooked up, the five of us literally had a couple of beers together and we got along like we had been friends our whole lives, and the timing was right in our band to have them come in and the timing was right in the band they were playing with, to step away, so it was just perfect, that was about five years ago now.” He then chuckled and added, “I always joke that it was love at first beer, I guess.”
Since 2007, the band has released a total of three albums; their self-titled debut, Vices and Virtues (2011), and an acoustic compilation Let the Fire Burn (2012), featuring songs from their sophomore album, “Completely” and “Get Thru This”. The band definitely has a unique sound, as some fans put it, “a mix of Breaking Benjamin and Three Days Grace”, particularly because of Hetherington’s voice. Of course, according to Jonny, various artists, going as far back as Led Zeppelin, broadly influence the band. “I know Tavis and Greg both hold the highest regard for those guys, I’m learning the Zeppelin catalog myself now a little bit, so I’m just kind of…I have saved that for this part of my life, which is kind of cool to be going through that,” explained Jonny. “But the thing that changed music for me the most was really the grunge years. Just when I heard Pearl Jam and Nirvana and Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots and Alice in Chains for the first time and Tool for the first time. A Perfect Circle, all that kind of stuff in the 90s just really resonated with me and the passion they were singing with and how good the bands were, the instrumentation, everyone seemed really great with what they did, it was a very real time in music… It was such a real movement, the closest thing our generation has to the 60s movement or whatever. So I feel really fortunate to be a part of that era and just to have grown up a little bit with those bands as an influence, because we try to follow the same rules in our music and if it’s not real, then we move on from it. So we try to be as real as we can in our recordings and as real as we can on stage, and what you see is what you get in an Art of Dying show. It’s really important to us to wave that flag of ‘we’re real people, making real music’.” Well, their fan base has grown greatly over the years, and these dedicated fans call themselves, Die Hards. On Facebook, Jonny created a group for the fan club called The Die Hards (Official Fan Club for Art of Dying), where the fellow fans post pictures of themselves with the band and/or pictures with videos from live shows, as well as their favorite lyrics, personal stories of discovering the band, and questions. This is a very successful way for the Die Hards to connect with each other and possibly meet each other at nearby shows. Since the creation of the group, the members of the club have become very close with one another.
As for touring, the band is very tour hungry. They have featured in various hard rock and heavy metal festivals throughout the country including the 1st and 2nd annual Avalanche Tours in 2011 and 2012, both tours headlined by Stone Sour and Shinedown. They were also a part of the 2011 tour of Rockstar’s Uproar Festival, headlined by Avenged Sevenfold. As for other festivals, they performed at Rock on the Range, Carolina Rebellion and the 48 Hours Fest, all in 2011. Art of Dying has been known to tour with Disturbed and Three Days Grace. Currently, they are on the road with Saving Abel, part of a beneficial acoustic tour called Rock4Revival. When asked about the band’s favorite part about touring, the enthusiasm in Jonny’s voice was evident. “Touring, you know, I always feel like it’s our home. We all have our homes, obviously at home, but it just feels like for us the road is…as soon as we get home, we want to get back out again, so fun. It’s a little sad because a lot of the bands we’ve toured with don’t feel the same way. A lot of the bands are dying to get home and…I guess the more bands I meet, the more I realize that true friendships within bands are pretty rare, and I think a lot of people on Facebook and Twitter ask me stuff like, ‘I’m starting a band, what should I do? Give me some advice!’ My first advice is always to make sure you’re doing it with people you really like and people you really love and hopefully it’s with your friends because it’s truly how you’re going to make it or get by or survive, the support of true friendship. If it’s just a common, ‘We want to start a band, but we barely know each other…’ I don’t know! It could last too but at the same time, I just think the friendship part is very important so to me. Being on the road is just about embracing that time as a musician, as a performer and as a friend, and just really…whether it’s writing a song unexpectedly at 9 in the morning on the tour bus or whether it’s that perfect moment on stage, that night, it’s all a real good time for us.”
Out of the three albums, the band has a total of six singles with catchy yet powerful lyrics and tones. These singles include “Get Through This” from their debut record, yet another version was released in 2011 from Vices and Virtues, “Get Thru This” along with “Die Trying”, the very first song from that album. In 2012, from the same album, “Sorry” and “Raining”, and this year, “I Will Be There”. These profound songs manage to touch the Die Hards’ hearts and those songs remain to play a big part in their lives. After Drexel asked about song ideas and their evolution, Jonny recalled how he had coincidentally wrote a song that morning. “So this is actually typical in some ways for me, I woke up this morning, and I was dreaming. In my dream, I was writing a song, which is kind of weird, but this actually happens to me all the time now. I’ll either be on stage in the dream or I’ll be writing in my dream or I’ll just be humming a melody in my dream or something and that’ll wake me up, and when I wake up, I try to force myself to get up and go work on the song. Because if you’re lazy and just sometimes like, ‘Fuck! I just want to go back to sleep!’ then you totally miss your chance because it’s gone. So like this morning, it was way too early to get up but I just forced myself to get up. I pressed ‘record’ on my voice recorder, and hummed the melody from the dream and then grabbed my guitar and started working on the melody for about an hour. Then I kind of made some coffee and set the guitar down for a bit, and I like to let the musical ideas kind of mix up a little bit in my head for a bit and then I sat down with my guitar again and kind of found…I don’t know what the word is but it just all of the sudden clicks. The ‘Oh yeah, there is where it has to go!’ and it feels good and it feels right so you just follow that and then about three hours later, I got some lyrics now and I’ve got what I really think is a strong chorus and the whole thing, just…I got the verse, pre-chorus, and the chorus, and I know the bridges, I’m going to finish that as soon as this interview is done,” said Jonny, both he and Drexel shared a hearty laugh. “It’s just like that are really, really fun ‘cause the song kind of comes really easily. I know this one is coming that way. Sometimes there’s a song that sits around for three years and it’s hard to finish it because it’s not an easy one, but yeah, that’s generally how it works, and if I don’t write lyrics, or if I get busy and if I don’t have time to finish the words, I’ll usually do that later…I love Cuban cigars, so I’ll just light up a two or three hour cigar and just finish all the words to a song or two. Actually, recently too, there’s this really awesome friend of mine in Vancouver that lent me his store at night. He owns an amazing coffee shop, but it closes at night so he lent me that place to go finish songs, so I’ve been doing that a lot recently, and it’s just great to be in this dark, closed coffee shop, alone with my ideas and I’ve been able to write lyrics for two songs a night when I do that, so yeah, it’s pretty cool.”
While talking about their songs, Drexel was eager to find out the story behind “Raining”, one of her favorite Art of Dying singles, featuring the former frontman of Three Days Grace, Adam Gontier. “That one’s weird, the lyrics for that one found me, and I think it’s all about fears and coming to terms with the fact that we’re all a little bit crazy, and we’re all a little bit messed up inside at times. Sometimes I feel like I have the best life on the planet, I’m in a rock band, I’m having fun, I have people in my life that are brilliant, and I love them, and so I often think, ‘Wow, I’m the luckiest guy in the world’. But then there are days when I feel like complete shit and just things inside are not right, and I hate those days, but I think I wrote ‘Raining’ to kind of say to myself that we’re all that way, and it’s ok and we’re all kind of…you know, it’s raining inside for all of us at different times and it’s ok. So it’s kind of like that comfort in numbers or something, just realizing that it’s a normal part of life.” Kate admitted that on rough days, she finds herself having the song on repeat at times, to help her get through them. “That’s actually how Adam Gontier wound up singing on it with us, he’s Cale’s cousin, and so we always bounced ideas off of him and stuff, just as a friend, and he always came back saying that song was his favorite in our group of songs that we were going to make the record with, so we just asked him if he wanted to sing on it, and he said yes, so I think that song runs deep for people, including Adam.”
Through all the madness of touring and recording, Hetherington admitted to not having a lot of downtime, trying to manage the band with various documents and preparations for upcoming tours, from work visas to union dues being paid. “I’m always trying to get through these crazy to-do lists of stuff. I don’t just play music in the band; I do a lot of the business in the band as well so I’m always just whittling away at different things on the list of what to get done…It gets a little crazy when you care about your band, you want everything to work all the time and I don’t know whether I’m a bit of a control freak or whether it’s just I care so much that I want things to work, just always busy with either music or band stuff or trying to cook some food.” However, there is one downtime activity that Jonny is very passionate about, cooking. On Facebook, Pintrest and Twitter, he tends to post recipes for fantastic looking dishes. “When I cook, I really love it. I put a lot of passion to that too because it is one of the things I enjoy, really good food and having a beer or wine or cocktail that goes with that food. I love the whole experience of mixology and dining and eating and cooking and I think that’s probably…it’s a necessity in life, you might as well enjoy it and make it a really fun moment every day.” A little chuckle escaped from him as he added, “Although this morning, I just had a fried egg sandwich and a pickle, so I guess that’s not much of a moment.”
As of mid-May, Art of Dying is on the Rock4Revival acoustic tour with Saving Abel, originally created by Kayla Riley, one of the DJs from Sirius XM Octane. It all started with a small benefit acoustic show, Rock 4 Recovery, in downtown New York at the Gramercy Theatre in January of this year. Bands included Smile Empty Soul, Hurt, Art of Dying, Adam Gontier, and Before the Curtain. Because of the show’s huge success, Riley wanted to continue this as a benefit tour. “They took the bands from that evening and split it up into two tours and Adam from Three Days Grace couldn’t do it, so they got Saving Abel to do it. So basically it’s just Saving Abel and a couple other bands, I know Hurt and Smile Empty Soul are doing one leg of the tour, we’re doing the other leg and it’s all acoustic, and we’ve only announced a few shows right now, but it’s going to be almost two months of touring, so it’s going to be really cool. So we’re going to be all over the place with our acoustic set and it’s a lot of fun for us to have those intimate, really lower volume but still really fun shows. So on our Facebook and our Twitter and our website, we will be announcing the shows over the next few days, so if you wanna know if it’s coming near your city, just find us online and we’ll be announcing stuff daily.”
Be sure to follow the band on their Twitter (@ArtofDying) and be on the look out for updates on their tour on Facebook. This is a band you will not want to miss out on!
Spotlight on this small metal band from Central California who gives off a certain indescribable vibe to their music. Ladies and gents, I give you Half8n! “It is a play on the phrase Half Eaten. The spelling is reflective of the age of technology. Shortened words and slang so to speak. Quietly, in the dark, the other half has been eaten, consumed by the world and by what has been created for us and by us. Reflecting the behaviors of the people within the world with our music. Half of me/us has already been eaten away, the other half that’s left here in this shell is the half that I/we keep for ourselves,” explained the band via email to Upstate Metal’s Kate Drexel. The band consists of Dalton Whitman (lead vocals, guitar), Eric Avila (guitar, backing vocals), James Ruiz (bass), and Justin Casselman (drums).
Bands such as System of a Down, Alice in Chains, Tool, Pantera, Metallica, Rage Against the Machine, and Primus influence Half8n. “These are just some of the bands that influence our sound. What influences the topics, or subjects we touch on vary from: life, current events, love, sadness, the list goes on. There are so many emotions, and feelings, and things happening in the world, that we have influences coming from every direction. Having four separate band members, with their own lives, trials, and tribulations, gives us that much more to go off of.” When asked if the band had the opportunity to collaborate with another band, who would it be, they answered that it was a hard question to answer, but they ended up choosing Tool. “Every band has their own heros, but if we have to pick one, we agree it would be Tool. Tool – because the underground scene is still so original and pure. Fans are still about the music not the look or amount of money spent on advertising and costumes. All that aside, we believe that Tool could teach us a lot. Not just from a musical point of view, but a spiritual point of view as well.”
The topic then turned to their music, about the evolving of their song ideas. “Dalton usually comes to practice with a general idea for a song, it’s usually a catchy hook, or a basic melody. Then as the four of us come together, and put our own mark on it, the catchy hook or basic melody evolves into an entire song,” they explained. “And it doesn’t always stop evolving when we’ve recorded, mixed and mastered it. Some completed song will be shelved even after mastering is complete simply because we feel like the song has not finished evolving. Some of our current songs are actually excerpts from a handful of our unpublished songs. Proving that we are not in control of the evolution of any one song, and we do not decide when it is complete. The pen is doing all the writing and we are simply holding onto the pen.” The band then individually answered Drexel’s favorite question; what does music mean to you? To Dalton, “Music is a chance to create”; Eric: “Music is a voice, a voice to be heard by everyone”; Justin: “Music to me, is perfection”; and James: “Music is our battle cry.”
Be sure to follow the band on Twitter (@half8n), and check their music out on reverbnation.
For those who have never seen Dead Sessions, this band is the embodiment of the timelessness of The Grateful Dead’s music. Although the band calls Vermont home, the band is composed of rotating members who are from various locations around the country. While they performed a plethora of old favorites including “Bertha”, “Peggy-O” and “He’s Gone”, they also added their own improvisational jams and gave each song a piece of their own musical personalities.
