NYS Music 20​13

Category: Regions

  • IN FLAMES To Make a Fiery Appearance at ROTR

    All the way from Gothenburg, this killer Swedish metal band is set to play this Friday at Rock on the Range. This will be In Flames’ first time playing the event.

    634369012902690000In Flames was formed by Jesper Strömblad in 1990 originally as a side project from his band at the time, Ceremonial Oath, which he left in 1993 to focus on working on In Flames’ music. During that year, he recruited the band’s then-guitarist, Glenn Ljungström  and then-bassist, Johan Larsson. That same year, they self-produced their debut studio record, Lunar Strain, and since there was no vocalist in the band, Jesper asked Dark Tranquility’s Mikael Stanne to provide the vocals. The next year, the record was dropped. 1995 was a busy year for the band; In Flames gained a full time drummer, Björn Gelotte, and an official vocalist, Anders Friden, then later that year, they released their sophomore album, The Jester Race. In 1997, the band released their third record, Whoracle and added two more members, Niclas Englin as the guitarist, and Peter Iwers as the bassist. At the end of their tour in 1998, Englin quit the band and In Flames switched Gelotte from drums to guitars and hired a new drummer, Daniel Svensson. The next two years had the band on their feet and they released two records in that time frame, Colony and Clayman.

    From 2002 till 2008, In Flames continuously released records every year, Reroute to Remain, Soundtrack to Your Escape, Come Clarity, and A Sense of Purpose. Niclas returned briefly in 2006 then left again, coming back to tour with the band in 2009. In 2010, the band released their tenth album, Sounds of a Playground Fading and in 2011, the band signed with Century Media, and that same year, In Flames gained Englin as their current guitarist.

    All in all, through the many fiery years, In Flames is ready to show everybody what they’ve got up their sleeves and blow them all away. Rangers, get ready for Sweden’s very own In Flames.

  • Blind Owl Band | Kickstarter Project

    The Blind Owl Band has set out to raise funds with Kickstarter to promote their new album and 2nd recorded effort. The band returned to Granary Studio in Morrisonville, NY in March and April 2013 and recorded 13 unreleased original tracks with Larry Dolan returning as producer.

    blind owl band

    The album features songs that were born within the walls of the Granary recording studio during the recording of “Rabble Rousing” in the fall of 2011 such as “Jazzy Magee”, “Christians Head”, “Cherry Tree” and new songs that have yet to be played live, such as “Rain On”.

    Now as The Blind Owl Band gets ready for summer, they are looking for support to independently release this album. The recording is done, a release date of July 10th has been set.  The band now needs the help of their fans to fund the mastering, printing and advertising of this album.The Kickstarter project has a goal of $5000 and we think these guys deserve the help!

    The band is touring in support of their Kickstarter Project from May 16 to May 26, you can also Follow the release of the album via their Facebook page or at TheBlindOwlBand.com.

    The Blind Owl Band

    Arthur Buezo (Guitar, Vocals)

    Christian Cardiello (Bass)

    James Ford (Banjo, Vocals)

    Eric Munley (Mandolin, Vocals)

    Tour Dates:

    May 16 – Atwoods Tavern, Cambridge, MA
    May 17 – Pizza Stone, Chester, VT
    May 18 – Strawberry Jam, Northville, NY
    May 18 – Olive Ridley’s, Plattsburgh, NY with Lucid
    May 19 – The Wherehouse, Newburgh, NY
    May 20 – The Living Room, NYC, NY
    May 21 – Free Range Busking Day
    May 22 – Underground Arts, Philly, PA with The Brummy Brothers
    May 23 – The River St. Jazz Cafe, Wilkes-Barre, PA
    May 24 – Touch Fest 2013!! South ADK’s
    May 25 – The Dutch Treat, Franconia, NH
    May 26 – Rosa Flamingo’s, Bethlehem, NH
    May 26 – Red Square, Burlington, VT

  • Former Members of ‘The Band’ to Play The Egg: Jim Weider and Garth Hudson in Project Percolator May 18th

    Woodstock native Jim Weider heads up the Thruway to present Project Percolator featuring Garth Hudson at The Egg on Saturday, May 18th. Jim Weider talked with about his project, growing up in Woodstock and fondly recalls his time spent as a member of The Band.  His resume is long, his music is well crafted and he aptly presents something that is uniquely him.

    JW

    Tabitha (TC): Let’s start off by talking about Project Percolator.  Describe what people can expect from a live show.

    Jim (JW):  It’s all groove instrumental with my Telecaster Guitar. It’s rock style and blues over the top.  We have several albums out and it is structured songs. I like to write instrumentals that are structured just like vocal tunes.  There will be verses, bridges and everything.  Then we have sections in the songs where we stretch it out. We play them differently each time. We might go into a Led Zeppelin line so it’s as exciting for the audience as it is for the band.  All the musicians are so great behind me; depending who takes off, we follow the other.  We try and jam out on certain songs.  We’ll do “The Weight” by The Band, with a reggae feel and then in the middle we’ll jam it out then go into double time. If Garth Hudson (The Band) takes off on the keyboard, we’ll all follow him.  So we do everything differently each night.  It’s kind of exciting for both of us – the audience and us.  I always have a blast playing with these guys.  Rodney Holmes is just an amazing drummer to be seen. Avi Bortnick (John Scofield Band) is on guitar and he plays much different than me. Of course having Garth is a true dream. We’ve been together for many, many years. Garth comes up with amazing sounds. You’ll hear Garth Hudson like nobody’s ever heard him before because the way this band opens it up and lets us play. Everybody has a blast.

    TC: How did you determine with whom you would work with for Project Percolator?

    JW: It started about seven years ago with Percolator. I wanted to branch out from my blues – rock records into something different. I just felt like I was cornering myself. I wanted to get into groove music. I started writing and came up with drum loops. I was lucky enough to get Rodney Holmes. He played with Santana and Brecker Brothers. He freed up and joined me. Once I got Rodney, we toured Europe and United States. Rodney’s been with me the whole time. The bass player, Steve Lucas (Bruce Cockburn) joined up on the Pulse record. We’ve been together for quite a while now. We’re going to play some new tunes, and we’ll bring in some Dylan stuff and some Band tunes also, which we do our own versions.

    TC:  You have worked with Garth Hudson for a number of years, most notably with The Band.  How is working with Garth similar or different in Project Percolator than prior commitments?

    JW:  Garth does some shows with us.  He just fits in because Garth always made all the great atmospheric sounds for The Band.  He was always into effects and sounds so putting him in the midst of Project Percolator works out perfect.  He goes with the flow.  He uses his ears and comes up with some great stuff and then we’ll break it down, then it’ll just be Garth by himself.  He just fits right in with this kind of music because it’s wide open and flowing.  It’s like a glove and very entertaining.  I get a kick out of it and so does the band.  I think the audience will too.

    GH

    TC:  What sparked the idea for Project Percolator?

    JW:  I had done a couple of blues-rock records.  There were a million blues bands and I had done the roots rock thing with The Band.  I just wanted to stretch out more.  Get more down to the R & B feel where it’s about the groove.  So I started with loops. I started recording by myself.   On the first record the drums were over-dubbed.  We’ll do some songs with some loops still.  I just wanted to get out of that corner write something totally unique that’s not your standard blues shuffle.  I really felt like I needed to come up with something fresh and I just stayed with it.  Of course I still played with Levon up until his time of passing.

    TC:  We just past the one-year anniversary of Levon Helm’s passing.  Having worked closely with him for many years, how has his passing impacted you both professionally and personally?

    JW:  Well, you can’t put a finger on when you lose someone you’ve been with that long of a time.  We played a lot of shows.  It’s deep rooted and it’s a huge loss – as a friend and a musician.  About four years ago, Jimmy Vivino went back to Conan on the left coast.  When he did, I joined up.  I still kept Percolator going but it was great to be back playing with Levon.  We did a lot of shows.  I never saw him happier.  He was on top of his game.  He was just very happy and it was great to be with him.  He really inspired me.  He had my back and looked over my shoulder since we started to work together.

    TC:  Do you have a favorite pastime or memory of Levon?

    JW:  Laughing across the country in the back of the bus at three or four in the morning.  That’s what keeps coming up.

    TC:  How has being born and raised in Woodstock contributed becoming a musician?

    JW:  Everybody was playing music.  One after another a new group would come out. Then The Band, from our hometown, came out and that was a huge inspiration.  It was just one thing at a time that led to the fire burning to be a musician.  All these great players were playing around town.  I never went too far.  I went down and saw Paul Butterfield playing at the local café.  All these great musicians playing live and then I saw Sound Outs (impromptu concerts) before there was the Woodstock Festival.  It was a big inspiration living around this area.  It was a fantastic time to be alive for music.  All the sounds were inspirational.

    TC:  When did you first begin to play for an audience?

    JW:  Early on we would play high school dances.  We practiced in my grandmother’s garage.  We had cookies and coffee and just practiced for a high school dance or a hippy party in some older person’s backyard barn until I was old enough to play in bars.

    TC:  What was your first band?

    JW:  It’s hard to remember.  I think I came up with a brilliant idea smoking something other than cigarettes looking up at a bunch of trees laying in the woods going, “hey, I got a great idea for the band, Leaves of Green!”

    TC:  Your resume of musical endeavors is jam packed with various projects.  You’ve done everything from session work, to production, touring, and even large telecast concerts.  Is there and event or a project that stands out for you?

    JW:  Well I guess playing at Dylan’s 60th Anniversary at Madison Square Garden.  We were doing all Dylan tunes with The Band.  Playing the Berlin Wall with Roger Waters when that went down.  Just being able to play Carnegie Hall was fantastic.

    TC:  What was your most surprising, yet satisfying collaboration?

    JW:  Being able to produce tracks on a Mavis Staples disc and playing with her was fantastic.  I also recorded with Scotty Moore, so that was full circle.  I also got to lead The Band at South-by-Southwest in Austin.

    TC:  Is there a collaboration you have yet to do that you would like?

    JW:  I’m not quite sure.  I have to think about that.  People ask me that a lot.  I am starting to write a new album and I have a new live CD that I’ll have at the show.  I had Blues great, James Montgomery play with us.

    TC:  What do you believe was a defining moment in your career?

    JW:  I’d say when I joined The Band in 1985 changed everything.  Levon getting me in the band was pretty amazing.

    TC:  Besides music, do you have another passion, hobby or activity that you enjoy?

    JW:  Yes!  I like to be outside.  I like to go fishing and talk a walk in the woods in stuff.  There is a reservoir not far from me, which is where I like to relax.

    TC:  What is your secret to longevity in the music business?

    JW:  Keep listening, keep the glass half full and just stay at it, don’t give up.  It’s harder now than it’s ever been, but you just have to keep an open mind.  Play for the love of music because if you do it for any other reason, you should get out.

    Preview the sounds in this video:

    Squirrels in Paris

  • Halestorm taking the stage at Rock on the Range

    halestorm

    Hailing from Red Lion, Pennsylvania, Grammy winning band Halestorm is always ready to hit the stage with their mind-blowing performance, giving all of their 110%. Started by the Hale siblings, Lzzy (vocals/guitar) and Arejay (drums/vocals) have been actively writing since then, taking music lessons at a very early age. In their teens, they released their first EP, Don’t Mess With the Time Man in 1999. Current members, Joe Hottinger (guitar) and Josh Smith (bass), joined the band between 2003-2004.

    halestorm2

    By 2005, the band signed with Atlantic Records and released their first official live EP, One and Done, featuring an early live version of their hit single, “It’s Not You”. April 28, 2009, the band released their self-titled debut record, the leading single, “I Get Off” and the second single being “It’s Not You”, which was released as a single in November 2009. “Familiar Taste of Poison” and “Love/Hate Heartbreak” were 2010’s singles, both accompanied by music videos. Halestorm released an EP, ReAnimate, featuring covers of “Out Ta Get Me”, “Bad Romance”, and “Slave to the Grind”.

    By January 2012, Halestorm released their second EP, Hello, It’s Mz. Hyde, supporting the release of their second record, The Strange Case Of…, which was released on April 10, 2012. Because of their single, “Love Bites (So Do I)”, Halestorm became the first female fronted band to top the active rock charts. In 2013, the band won their first Grammy in the Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Category for their single “Love Bites (So Do I)”.

    halestorm1Halestorm has been known to tour with bands such as Shinedown, Papa Roach, Chevelle, Trapt, and Three Days. In the summer of 2012, they were part of the Carnival of Madness Tour, co-headlined by Chevelle and Evanescence. Lzzy’s powerful pipes can be heard in songs such as Shinedown’s “Breaking Inside”, and their unreleased version of “Shed Some Light”, Adrenaline Mob’s cover of “Come Undone”, and recently, a duet with David Draiman, “Close My Eyes Forever.”

    Halestorm will be making their mark at Rock on the Range this year for the fourth time. This is a definite must-see performance.

  • The Slide Brothers, presented by Robert Randolph, slide into The Putnam Den this Friday, May 17th

    The Putnam Den is fortunate to have a quartet of legendary pedal steel musicians coming to town on Friday, as Robert Randolph Presents The Slide Brothers, four of the greatest living musicians who embody the Sacred Steel Tradition – Calvin Cooke, Chuck Campbell, Darick Campbell and Aubrey Ghent. The joyous music these legendary artists create extends far beyond scared steel to encompass blues, rock and soul all celebrated with a sound that is uniquely their own. Opening the show is a great Delta blues guitarist in her own right, Danielle Miraglia from Boston.

    the slide brothersThe pedal steel guitar was introduced to church services by Willie Eason in the 1930’s. His single-string passages, which imitated the African-American singing and shouting voices, remain the signature sound of the Keith Dominion steel guitar style. Robert Randolph rose to fame a decade or more ago playing Sacred Steel with his band at The Wetlands, Bonnaroo and venues throughout the Northeast and has become the most successful artist to emerge from the Sacred Steel tradition.

    The Slide Brothers include one man who has been dubbed the “B.B. King of gospel steel guitar”, Calvin Cooke. Calvin was hails from Cleveland and performed the pedal steel at Church of the Living God in Jewell Dominion, known for it’s strong steel guitar tradition. He continues to use the same instrument on stage today as he had in 1955, as well as a ten string pedal steel instrument which he plays in a unique tuning that came to him in a vision.

    Aubrey Ghent, a nephew of Willie Eason, has also become a celebrated steel guitarist, preserving the sacred steel tradition and instrumental in bringing it to a wider audience. Unlike Robert Randolph and the Family Band who have crossed over to doing more secular music, Aubrey Ghent has stayed closer to the gospel roots of tradition, as have many of the steel guitarists of the Jewell Dominion. In recent years, Ghent has performed and recorded with several top recording stars including Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks.

    Chuck Campbell began playing the lap steel guitar at the age of eleven. At fifteen he became one of the first players to utilize the Pedal Steel guitar in the House of God Church, Keith Dominion. Chuck is renowned for his innovative approach to the instrument both technically and musically. His use of effects such as distortion, tone control pedals like the Wah-Wah and his picking techniques enable him to emulate the human voice in an uncanny fashion.

    Darick Campbell first made his mark in music as a drummer. For several years Darick was the premier drummer of the General Assembly, the National Convocation of the House Of God Church in Nashville, Tennessee. His choice of the Lap Steel is a reflection of the influences he has blended to become the most emotional player of The Campbell Brothers musical tour d’ force. His renditions of “End of My Journey” have caused audiences throughout the world to weep in heartfelt response to his playing.

    “My goal is to open the door for people in the same way that musical doors have been opened for me,” explains Randolph. “I want to take this musical history and make it relevant to give people a better idea of who we are and where this tradition came from. I think even though I’m a young guy who was born into the era of hip-hop and contemporary gospel, I can help bridge the cultural gap between people who are seventy-five years old and kids who are fifteen years old by reaching back into this history of music.”

    Find out for yourself how deep this musical history sounds with The Slide Brothers on Friday night at The Putnam Den. Doors are at 8, show is at 9:30. Tickets are $10 at the door and $8 in advance.

  • Albany’s Alive at Five schedule released, featuring George Clinton and P-Funk, The Original Wailers, The Refrigerators and more

    Albany’s Alive at Five, featuring free music shows at the Corning Preserve overlooking the Hudson River, has announced their 2013 schedule and it looks to be the best one in recent memory. Featuring funk, blues, reggae, country, classic rock and a great deal of local bands, Albany is in for a treat starting June 6th!

    alive at five refrigerators2013 Alive at Five Schedule

    June 6th: The Fabulous Thunderbirds with Super 400

    June 13th: JT Taylor with The Ill Funk Ensemble

    June 20th: The Refrigerators with Molly Durnin

    June 27th: George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic with Funk Evolution

    July 11th:  Satisfaction: The International Rolling Stones Show with Chris Dukes Band

    July 18th: Starship featuring Mickey Thomas with Wild Adriatic

    July 25th: Local Blues Night: The Tom Healey Band and Blues Sanctuary

    August 1st: The Original Wailers with MIRK

    August 8th: Country Night! Skeeter Creek with Whiskey City

    Remember, no coolers, alcohol or drinks allowed in. They’ll be plenty of vendors there to take care of you.

  • moe.down 14 Announces Final Lineup for August Festival in Turin

    moe.down 14 has announced their final lineup for their 3 day music festival in Turin, NY for August 9th– 11th, at Snow Ridge Ski Resort, located in Upstate New York’s beautiful north country.  Joining moe this year will be Dr. Dog, Del McCoury Band, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, RAQ, Eastbound Jesus, Wolf! and The Stepkids. Earlier band announcements included Steve Kimock Band, Mike Dillon Band, Conehead Buddha, Pennyshine, Conspirator, Stanley Jordan Trio, Savoy and Floodwood.

    moedowngraphic_for_the_org

    Early bird tickets are still available for only $110 and for the first time, moe.down will be offering VIP tickets for $310. Guests can also purchase single day tickets for Sunday only. The festival offers camping, RV camping and a separate family-tenting area.

  • Dan Johnson and The Expert Sidemen Announce Kickstarter for Second Album, ‘Bound for Abiquiu’

    Dan Johnson, an Albany native now living in Vermont, has launched a Kickstarter for his second album, Bound for Abiquiu, alongside his Expert Sidemen.

    dan johnson expert sidemenAlready halfway to the their $1000 goal, the album refers to a location in Northern New Mexico, where Dan has “Spent quite a bit of time up that way, and it’s a special and a spiritual place. The title song is about kind of laying down an old life and settling down, going within, returning, letting go, moving past and the process of transformation and how great forces kind of help us with our changes”

    Support Dan’s Kickstarter and see him at the album release party on May 23rd at Valentine’s, with Driftwood and The Grassroots Rebels, feat. members of Jerkwater Ruckus.

  • Mickey Hart, Approaching 70, Keeping the Spirit Alive with Evolving Group

    When Hurricane Sandy devastated the east coast last year, drummer Mickey Hart sat around watching the news, saddened but inspired by the resiliency shown.

    “It was heart-wrenching,” Hart, one of the four living members of the Grateful Dead, said in a recent phone interview. “I saw Bon Jovi on NBC News and all of a sudden the song just popped into my head.”

    The song he is referring to is titled “JerseyShore,” and is available for free download at mickeyhart.net. Hart said he wanted to give back to the people affected by asking for donations from those who download the song. You can download it for free, but the site encourages you to donate whatever amount you can. Hart is giving 100 percent of the proceeds to the Sandy Relief Fund.

    mickey hartHart said that he and his group, the Mickey Hart Band, collaborated to come up with the song. He gave credit to bassist DaveSchools, also of Widespread Panic, in helping the song develop.

    “It was my idea for the song, but the entire band contributed,” Hart said. “It just popped out, but everyone in the band lent a voice to it. … To me, music is many things, and one of those is that it helps to heal, to sing about what hurts and to illuminate pain. It’s like medicine and it boosts confidence.”

    Hart’s band has been going strong for three years now, with an ever-changing cast of musicians. For a guy who is about to hit his 70th birthday, Hart said he is as inspired as ever to write new music – he disclosed that a new album should be released by the end of the summer – while keeping the Grateful Dead spirit alive by putting a new take on old classics. The album does not have a title yet, but Hart said that he and long-time Dead lyricist Robert Hunter have collaborated on it, and that Hunter is rejuvenated.

    “Hunter is writing at the top of his game,” Mickey Hart said. “He’s still chock-full of ideas for great songs, and we’re gonna play those songs on this tour.”

    Hart joined the Grateful Dead in 1967, right around the time Hunter moved into the famed house at 710 Ashbury St. in San Francisco. Hart said his relationship with Hunter is just as strong as it was 46 years ago.

    “There’s no one like him,” Hart said. “He has an egoless style.”

    The band recently wrapped up the first leg of the Worlds Within Tour and announced a second leg, which focuses mainly on the northeast. The tour starts May 8 in Charlotte, N.C., and concludes May 24 at the Dark Star Jubilee in Ohio. In between are stops in Virginia, New York City, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Delaware, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Boston and Burlington, Vt.

    On May 22, Hart brings his band, which comprises vocalist Crystal Monee Hall, keyboardist Joe Bagale, guitarist Gawain Matthews, percussionist Sikiru Adepoju, with whom Hart won a Grammy in their Planet Drum project in the 1990s, drummer Greg Schutte and multi-instrumentalist Jonah Sharp to the Westcott Theater in Syracuse. The following night, the band will perform at the WaterStreetMusic Hall in Rochester.

    Schools will not be involved with this tour, as he has previous commitments. Schools said he is prepping for Widespread Panic’s upcoming summer tour. Schools joined the band in late 2011, and has toured with band ever since.

    “He’s got a day job, man,” Mickey Hart said. “But I can say that ‘BassMountain’ is still a big part of the band. He and I have a great dynamic in working together.”

    Filling in for Schools on the Worlds Within Tour is Adam Theis, who will also play trombone, according to Hart.

    On Jan. 6, 2012, the band performed at the Westcott, throwing down some amazingly brilliant and completely different takes on the Dead’s repertoire. Hall’s voice adds a layer of depth the Dead didn’t have vocally. Prior to joining Hart’s team, Hall was a part of the Tony Award-winning musical RENT.

    Before that show, Hart talked about his plans for taking light waves captured from outer space by scientists from Lawrence Berkeley Labs in California and turning them into sound bytes. From there, Hart used those sounds as either inspiration, or built a song or rhythm around them.

    To Dead fans, this may bring up the “Drums>Space” segment that happened at almost every show, but Hart cautioned otherwise, saying: “This is not space like (the Dead) used to do; we’re not interpreting what space is. This is us using the source material, the sounds of space, to play with our sound. This band can do that.”

    The conversation then turned toward the obvious: Will the living members of the Dead ever tour again? Was 2009’s tour the last?

    “I can’t answer that,” Hart said. “I look forward to any reunion of any kind, but it has to feel good.”

    Hart concluded the conversation by connecting the fans and the band.

    “These shows are gonna throb,” he said. “Fans will experience it with us. We need the audience, and they need us. Each night will be three hours of powerful music, and I consider it a privilege that I continue to do this. I might not be able to do some of the things I was capable of in my 20s, but I can say I am focused. I’m almost 70 and I don’t see myself retiring.”

    For more information on the tour, please visit mickeyhart.net for shows and ticketing information.

  • Mister F and Fikus Electrified Red Square on May 4th

    The boys of Timbre Coup always bring a large crowd whenever they play Albany venues, and building off that following has led to a great reception for Mister F, the new project/collaboration of Ben Pickering, Andrew Chamberlaine and Matt Pickering of Timbre Coup and Scott Hannay of Capital Zen. They brought Fikus to Albany on May 4 at Red Square.

    It was a pleasant surprise to see that a band as collaborative in nature took on a new life outside of both respective bands. All members brought such a high level of talent and energy that it would be seriously difficult to go wrong with this mash up. Although there certainly exist hints of both Timbre Coup and Capital Zen, it was a completely different show and a completely different experience. This is clearly not just a side project for any of the boys, but instead an opportunity to try something outside of what we are all so accustomed to in Albany.

    Scott Hannay on the keys brought an electro feel to the organics of the bass and guitar. It is a perfect mix of organic and synthetic, man and machine. One of the highlights of the night was when Matt abruptly yelled into his microphone “Well, obviously we have a rapist in Lincoln Park,” in which the band responded which a hilarious rendition of Antoin Dobson’s “Hide Ya Kids, Hide Ya Wife.” I was truly unaware that you could actually turn such a ridiculous YouTube sensation into a well composed song. As always, Matt did not cease to impress on the drums with his fast paced beats; the rest of the band followed in step to create phenomenal jams.

    Although some of their past work has been faster paced with ripping guitar solos, it seemed they all shared the stage in an equilibrium within each jam. The experience was absolutely different than any band on the scene. There is certainly no single genre that Mister F would fall under, as they clearly have made it an art of incorporating all talents and reaches of music to compose hardwired songs that will keep you dancing from start to end. Each individual is so passionate about the music they create that each song reaches new highs and lows in every measure. You can catch Mister F at Upstate Spring Revival May 10-11, Strawberry Jam May 19th, Disc Jam June 14th, and The Big Up Music festival August 8-10th.

    Setlist: Deal Breaker, 11, Everything You Say, Bed Intruder> Vocoder, Busters Revenge, Hedgehog> J> Hedgehog, Canned Heat, Jump the Shark . Download the show from Archive.org

    Fikus, a Bergen County, New Jersey based band headlined the night, and although they were named after an obscure Phish song, their show rivaled Mister F’s set. For a nonstop 90 minutes, Fikus played a tremendous selection of songs, ranging across the prog-rock and electronic spectrum. The quintet produced incredible dance numbers, such as “Latin” that had a  distinct Latin-flair to it, before getting spacey in a Brian Eno-style of ambient jamming, before returning into a Moog-heavy shred fest, grinding through the jam and coming out the other side with an audience ecstatic at this distinct sound emanating from the confines of Red Square.

    Jams were stretched out from a prog-rock base that grew and developed into even deeper cuts, ala “Jim Jones”, as Fikus’ own plane of progressive jamming melded into “Nightwalker”. The audience were headbanging as the band cranked out fully synced rock that, bringing them into a wholly new section of improve with a distinct 80’s flair. “Cool Refrigerator” turned the tempo down as Pete Kozak sang acapella as Jon Schmarak provided a piano interlude, before the full band joined in for yet another slamming number that swayed the dancefloor, populated with a solid crowd of late-night revelers intent on bringing Cinco de Mayo in with cheers for mas y mas.  The swinging encore “Tempest” elevated the crowd past 2 a.m., building the anticipation for another return to Upstate New York later this summer, if not sooner.

    Tequila shots were requested and enjoyed during the night, making this twin-bill of fantastic improv-heavy bands a perfect highlight for the warm nights ahead this summer.

    Setlist: Somethin’ Stanky > Latin, Jim Jones > Nightwalker > Dingo , Cool Refrigerator

    Encore: Tempest in a Teapot