NYS Music 20​14

Category: Beyond NYS

  • Festy News: The Ville Music Festival Announces Initial Lineup For Memorial Day Weekend

    The Ville music festival announced an initial lineup for their Memorial Day 2015 lineup featuring a diverse range of sounds. Continuing a 20+ year tradition of music on Memorial Day weekend, The Ville will be held May 21-24, 2015 at Clay’s Park in North Lawrence, Ohio. The spacious, family-friendly venue is complete with wooded and field camping, a grass covered dance area and a water park suitable for adults and children of all ages.

    The Ville is a truly grassroots event featuring music throughout the weekend on two different stages. A limited amount of Early-Bird tickets are available now at www.thevillefestival.com where a 3-day pass is $80, 4-day pass including Pre-Party Thursday with Papadosio is $100. Children 12 and under are free with parents holding festival tickets.

    The initial lineup includes:

    Joe Russo’s Almost Dead
    Papadosio
    Lettuce
    Chris Robinson Brotherhood
    EOTO
    Trigger Hippy (featuring Joan Osborne, Jackie Greene, Steve Gorman, Tom Bukovac and Nick Gorvrik)
    ekoostik hookah
    Rumpke Mountain Boys
    The McLovins
    Blue Moon Soup
    Broccoli Samurai

  • Legendary New York City Hardcore Outfit Agnostic Front To Record 11th Album This Month

    One of the godfathers of New York City Hardcore, Agnostic Front, will enter their studio at Buzzbomb Sound Labs in Orange, CA this month to record their 11th album entitled “The American Dream Died.” Expected release will be early 2015 via Nuclear Blast.

    The band has tapped producer Paul Miner to engineer, mix, and master the album.Agnostic Front

    Vocalist Roger Miret commented via Blabbermouth.net: “We are excited to be working Paul Miner at Buzzbomb Sound Labs on our new record which we are calling ‘The American Dream Died’, this recording promises to be mean, fast, and furious; with elements of our classic styles, adding chaotic blasts of real old-school hardcore!”

    In other news, Agnostic Front will be embarking on a small east coast tour this month. Dates are as follows:

    December 18     Church                                Boston, MA

    December 19     Stanhope House                Stanhope, NJ

    December 20     Revolution                          Amityville, NY

    December 21     The Brighton Bar               Long Branch, NJ

  • The Barr Brothers tour the Northeast and Visit the Late Night Show

    The Barr Brothers are currently on tour in the Northeast, as well as making their second guest appearance on the David Letterman Show.  They had to cancel a show in Philadelphia on Nov. 20 in order to play Letterman due to a last-minute invitation, but the band was able to play to a much larger crowd at the Bowery Ballroom, last Friday, Nov.21, and at The Sinclair in Cambridge, MA last Saturday, Nov. 22.   They will play Canada next on Dec. 5 (Vancouver, BC), Dec. 7 in Oregon, then Dec. 10 – 12 in San Francisco, Santa Cruz and Los Angeles  and then back to NYC at the Highline on January 8, before shipping off to Europe for a UK tour Jan. 24-30 [tour info]. The Barr Brothers have also recently added Mishka Stein on bass, from Montreal to their line-up.

    Here is the official video from the Late Show with David Letterman – “Even the Darkness Has Arms” ]  Letterman jokingly asked Brad, “You still live in Montreal?” Brad replied, “yes” Dave then said, “Paul and I will come up…we would like to manage the band. … I don’t know what arrangements you have now, but we’ll kill that, Paul and I will take over” Paul jokingly stated, “…and Joy Philbin will also co-manage”.

    Check out a full photo gallery by Phrazz – at the Historic Synagogue at Sixth and I, Washington, DC.  [Barr Brothers – PhrazzPix – HD Gallery 11/18/2014]

  • Pink Talking Fish: Triple Bill from a Single Band

    Tribute bands tend to fall into one of two extremes. They are either really impressive and give you an experience reminiscent of the band they’re covering or they fall flat and just play a bunch of songs by the band to which they’re supposed to be paying tribute. Pink Talking Fish is neither of those. Playing the music of three of music’s powerhouses – Pink Floyd, Talking Heads and Phish – is no easy task. Doing so in a manner that both pays a strong tribute to the original musicians while also creating a completely new experience is an even more daunting. Yet Pink Talking Fish does just this, with ease.
    Jim Rizzo PTF 4

    Playing to their name, Pink Talking Fish opened their first of two long sets at The Spot Underground in Providence, RI with Pink Floyd’s “Nobody Home.” They followed this up with an epic segue sandwich starting off with the Talking Heads’ “Slippery People” smoothly moving into Phish’s “Sand.” This flowed nicely into “Another Brick in the Wall” and then back to “Sand” and topping it off with a return to “Slippery People.” This pumped up the crowd who was locked and loaded for the next three hours of nearly non-stop music. The first set continued for about another hour with a nearly equal mix of music from the three bands, with highlights being “Burning Down the House,” “Carini,” and the awesome “Crosseyed and Painless” played during the pause in the middle of “Divided Sky” which closed out the set.

    After a short set-break, they came back with fire. Opening the second set with “2001” followed by “Life During Wartime” – not one soul in the room was standing still. Displaying their love for these bands and knowledge of the music, Pink Talking Fish covered a song that Phish has only played once – at their recent Halloween show in Las Vegas. “The Dogs” was easily a crowd favorite of the show, surprising everyone in the house when it started up with the sounds of howling dogs. This was followed up with a dual performance of “Cities,” a Talking Heads song covered often by Phish. Initially playing it in the slow funk style of Phish, they ended it with the first verse played in the uptempo style of the Talking Heads. The set ended right at the curfew of 2:30 AM with a simply superb “Mike’s Groove,” with “Psycho Killer” in the middle, that segued into the perfect cap to a great night found in “Eclipse.” But that wasn’t the end of the show. They came back with a double encore of “Memories Can’t Wait” and “First Tube” to bring the night to a serendipitous ending.

    Pink Talking Fish took what could have been a standard tribute band show and turned it into a very unique experience. They don’t simply cover the songs of these three legendary bands. They make a show out of it. They kept the audience on their toes both with the set list and with the teases of other songs throughout the improvisation. Everyone was glowing as they exited the venue.

  • Pink Talking Fish Announce 2015 Winter Tour Dates

    Pink Floyd – Talking Heads – Phish: they’re all great bands as we already know. How about a band that weaves the sounds of all three in an out of their setlist, creating a sound well beyond a typical cover band? Pink Talking Fish does just that, and the hybrid tribute fusion band has today announced winter tour dates spanning December through March. They have plenty of chances to escape the Northeast winter in 2015 with a handful of dates in Florida before returning to the Northeast with shows in Saratoga Springs, NY, New York City, Stowe, VT and more.Pink Talking Fish Tour

    Buffalo’s Aqueous will be appearing with Pink Talking Fish for a performance of ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ in Philadelphia on February 6. Their other two ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ performances will feature The Recovery Act performing the music of Stevie Wonder (Boulder, CO) and The Z3 featuring Ed Mann – Funky Takes on Frank Zappa (Boston, MA).

    Pink Talking Fish will also be adding an event, PHUNK THE WINTER! during their NYC performance at the Gramercy Theatre on February 7. Joining the band will be special guest ShwiKus Plays P-Funk, adding some Parliament Funkadelic into the mix.

    For more information please check out the official band website and Facebook Page.

    Pink Talking Fish Tour Dates:

    2014:

    December 10th – Live From AURA Studios in Boca Raton, FL (Free Video Webcast)*
    December 11th – Guanabanas Island Restaurant and Bar in Jupiter, FL*
    December 12th – The Funky Biscuit in Boca Raton, FL*
    December 13th – Dunedin Brewery in Dunedin, FL*

    2015:

    January 3rd – The Rusty Nail in Stowe, VT
    January 16th – The Fox Theatre in Boulder, CO (Dark Side Of The Moon Performance)**
    January 17th & 18th – Quixotes True Blue in Denver, CO (The Music Never Stops Making Sense – Intertwining sets with very special guest act TBA)
    February 6th – The Ardmore Theatre in Philadelphia, PA (Dark Side Of The Moon Performance)$
    February 7th – The Gramercy Theatre in New York, NY (PHUNK THE WINTER! w/ special guests ShwiKus Plays P-Funk)
    February 20th – Putnam Den in Saratoga Springs, NY
    February 21st – The Spot Underground in Providence, RI
    March 28th – The Middle East in Boston, MA (Dark Side Of The Moon Performance)$$

    * w/ Members of The Heavy Pets
    ** w/ The Recovery Act performing The Music of Stevie Wonder
    $ w/ Aqueous
    $$ w/ The Z3 performing Funky Takes on The Music of Frank Zappa

  • Tanglewood 2015 Summer Season Peaks With Odd Pairing

    TWDlogostacked356Taking a short drive down 90 into Massachusetts to Tanglewood Performing Arts Center in Stockbridge to see a show has become a popular ritual for many in Eastern NY. That tradition will continue next year with a 2015 early summer program filled with a variety of interesting opportunities.

    Canadian Jazz pianist/vocalist Diana Krall will kick things off June 21. Diana – touring to support her 2014 Wallflowers release – has sold more then 15 million albums world wide establishing her as one of the top drawing genre acts of all time.

    If a fireplace chat is more your thing – ubiquitous Prairie Home Companion host Garrison Keillor brings his traveling live show into town June 27. Featuring a constantly changing itinerary of up and coming musicians and seasoned vets the show will also be broadcast live for those that can’t make the in person experience.

    For those in the market for a new drug, Huey Lewis and the News hit the stage June 27. Closing in on their 35th year together it’s rumored Huey and crew may have a new release out in time for the summer touring schedule. The band’s most recent tour celebrated the 30th anniversary of their Sports album. Who knows, maybe Umphrey’s will come sit in?

    Some things make you scratch your head, and while the oddball pairing of crooner extraordinaire Tony Bennett and shock pop queen Lady Gaga looks relatively terrifying on paper – it works splendidly. The daunting duo will be performing cuts from their recent album of standards – Cheek to Cheek.  Tickets for all aforementioned shows go on sale January 25 at 10AM.

    http://youtu.be/mvXGUzUR-xU

  • Across The Pond: Spoon Plays London’s Shepard’s Bush Empire with Hamilton Leithauser

    Spoon is a band from Austin, Texas and on Friday night, the five-piece found themselves playing in London, England for the last date of their European fall tour.

    spoon hamilton leithauserThe geographic details of the concert, at first glance, have nothing to do with and its connection to Northern New York. But this Upstate staff writer, currently spending some time across the pond, wanted to share with his compatriots back home the excellence that Britt Daniel and his band brought to one of London’s most historic venues.

    With the August release of their eighth studio album, They Want My Soul, Spoon have been kickin’ for nearly two decades. And although the band’s lineup has shifted over the years, frontman Britt Daniel and drummer Jim Eno have been around since Telephono debuted in 1996 on Matador Records.

    In much the same way that They Want My Soul takes Spoon’s experience and uses it to exhibit an invigorating fresh sound, the band’s live performance gives no indication of just how long Daniel and Eno have been performing.

    Aside from the level of energy that Daniel put into each song – falling to his knees during incredibly calculated guitar solos and jumping from Eno’s drum platform to highlight instrumental breakdowns – the most obvious proof of Spoon’s long-lasting youth was their genuine enjoyment for playing together.

    Young gun Alex Fischel joined the band just before going into the studio for They Want My Soul, and his presence behind the keyboard on Friday seemed to bring out a boyish enthusiasm in his senior band mates. Fischel’s contributions on guitar often came in the form of background texture – controlled cacophony that he physically represented by gyrating in place, as if shaken by the instrument’s power. His fluttering style drew amused looks from Daniel and Eno, occasionally encouraging Daniel to raise his own emotional output.

    The only indication of Spoon’s age was their setlist, which featured songs like “The Way We Get By,” dating all the way back to 2002. While their most recent tour dates have come in support of They Want My Soul, Britt and the gang played a balanced combination of greatest hits and new material over the course of their 1.5-hour set.

    It was a night of frontmen giving fantastic performances at Shepard’s Bush Empire. Before Spoon took the stage, Hamilton Leithauser – of the indefinitely disbanded Walkmen – played an opening set of songs from his debut solo album, Black Hours. With only a guitarist backing him, Leithauser’s stripped-down versions of Black Hours material let him showcase his beautifully crooned-out vocals.

    Between Leithauser and Spoon, the Empire put on a night of music any fan could appreciate, regardless of its distance from Upstate New York. To see a band play at what is quite possibly the peak of their 18-year career is a special experience, no matter where it is.

  • Suwannee Hulaween 2014: The Spell has been Cast

    This recent Halloween weekend things went bump in the night. They also went womp womp, untz untz untz, and twanggggg. Hosted by The Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park and The String Cheese Incident, Hulaween 2014 was an event, curated by Silver Wrapper & Purple Hat Productions, that took the opportunity to up the game. Festivals will never be the same.  The eclectic line up was laid out in expert fashion with little to no overlap or serious conflicting set times, making it easy to catch as much of the 52 bands and artists as one desired. The 8,000+ attendees took full advantage of this, making sure of course to allot enough time to get costumed and painted, with feathers, fishnet, and furry accessories galore. Many embraced their inner flow and hula hooped, juggled, and spun poi throughout the weekend.

    With a large percentage of the crowd arriving Thursday, they were treated to pre-party sets by Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band, Particle and Electron – which is comprised of members of Lotus, Brothers Past and The Disco Buscuits; Electron brought the heat and whipped the eager crowd into a pulsing frenzy.

    Friday brought a very danceable DJ day set by Rob Garza of Thievery Corporation at the Spirit Lake Stage. Emancipator took the amphitheater stage as the sunset was imminent, setting the tone for Friday night with their luscious ambient beats. The shades of sky serenaded the crowd through the streamers and Spanish moss hanging from the Oak and Cyprus trees. Shortly after, the first of seven String Cheese Incident sets was followed by the Psy-Trance peculiarity of Shpongle, priming the costumed crowd for SCI’s Halloween set.  In costumes themselves and playing all covers, String Cheese’s second of three sets was a banger, highlighted by The Ghosbusters Theme, Live and Let Die, Don’t Fear The Reaper, and closed with Thriller. Following a short set break they played originals during their final set of the night, then treated the crowd to Superstition by Stevie Wonder as an Encore. Rounding out the Halloween evening festivities with their upbeat reggae vibe, Thievery Corporation performed with a full live band.

    EOTO, one of the side projects of String Cheese percussionists Jason Hann and Michael Travis, closed out the Main stage Sunday evening. Embattled with a few technical difficulties, their unique mix of electronic and live instrumentation was a perfect send off.

    Throughout the weekend the Amphitheater Stage hosted an incredible amount of talented musicians.  Shpongle, Beats Antique, Nahko & medicine for the People, Conspirator, The New Deal, and Future Rock all had inspired performances. Joe Russo’s Almost Dead proved to be one of the premier Grateful Dead cover acts as they brought the festival to an end Sunday Night. Many resorted to hanging in the multitude of hammocks interspersed throughout the trees at the amphitheater stage, helping to harness the energy created there during each show.

    Spirit Lake saw the Lake at Suwannee turned into a surreal Burning Man inspired artistically themed play land. With the JellyJump dome there were many swings and bungees to bounce around on. A haptic Forest had “haptic trees” that would react to motion near them and create various spooky sounds while revelers filtered through waving their extremities. Art installations, sculptures, metalwork, lights and laser projections could be found in every nook to exhilarate the senses, including Baby Bhudda, a twenty-foot tall metal Statue with flames shooting from its hat and ears. Special late night fire spinning performances were a treat for those fortunate enough to pace themselves.

    Words often fall short in accurately describing the vibrations that are found at Spirit of the Suwannee music Park, with “magical” frequently bandied as the go to word. And it IS magical, with a multitude of festivals each year, Hulaween is certainly poised to be the flagship festival for Suwannee. Bringing a gorgeous mix of creativity, beauty, sound, and nature together, Brotherly Love Productions (who managed the media presence), Purple Hatters Productions and Silver Wrapper has set the bar very high.

  • Murder By Death to Crowdfund Upcoming Album

    Murder by Death, featuring Americana rock from Kentucky, launched the Kickstarter for their upcoming album, Big Dark Love on November 5. The band, fronted by singer and guitarist Adam Turla, uploaded a full description of their latest project, asking for $150,000 to cover production, recording, art, touring, and other costs.mbd

    After 24 hours, the new album has seen nearly $120,000 in donations. They posted on their Facebook page, “we had such an incredible experience pre-selling our last album through Kickstarter that we felt this was the best way to do it.” Their last album, Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon, saw the same treatment on Kickstarter. Additionally, the band have offered several levels of reward tiers, from digital download of the album, handmade album art by the band’s cellist, Sarah Balliet, time to spend with the band, and much more. Tiers went between $1 and $10,000.

    Anyone wishing to donate to the making of Big Dark Love can do so via the Kickstarter page.

    The album will drop in February 2015.

  • World’s Loudest Month Announces Dates

    Metal heads and hard rockers have been waiting patiently for the dates of the World’s Loudest Month, while they know it’s May, it’s not quite definite what order they are in.  This year AEG Live, Danny Wimmer, and RockHouse are including a new stop  called Northern Invasion festival in the Twin Cities (Minnesota).

    The World’s Loudest Month brings together the biggest names in rock music.

    The 2015 World’s Loudest Month festival dates and locations are as follows:

    Monster Energy Fort Rock: April 25 in Fort Myers, FL
    Monster Energy Welcome To Rockville: April 25 & 26 in Jacksonville, FL
    Monster Energy Carolina Rebellion: May 2 & 3 in Concord, NC
    Northern Invasion: May 9 in Somerset, WI
    Rock On The Range: May 15, 16 & 17 in Columbus, OH
    Rocklahoma: May 22, 23 & 24 in Pryor, OK
    River City Rockfest: May 24 in San Antonio, TX
    RockFest: May 30 in Kansas City, MO

    “With each passing year we continue to work hard to bring something special to the rock fans around the country and to make it easy and convenient for them to attend our events,” comments Joe Litvag, co-executive producer of the WLM series for AEG Live.  “That was the reason behind starting Northern Invasion in the upper Midwest.  There is such a tremendous community of rock fans in places like Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, North and South Dakota, and nothing was all that convenient for them.  So, we thought, ‘Why not bring them a rock festival that they can call their own?’”

    “After selling over 360,000 tickets last year for World’s Loudest Month we are constantly looking for great cities and strong markets to add to the family of festivals associated with WLM.  Minneapolis has an incredible rock radio station and it’s only fitting that we bring Northern Invasion to the region as our newest destination to the World’s Loudest Month,” says  Danny Wimmer, co-executive producer of the WLM series for DWP.

    Not sure which one to go to? Here are some links to more info on the various stops of the WLM tour.

    Monster Energy Welcome To Rockville (April 25 & 26, Jacksonville, FL)

    www.WelcomeToRockvilleFestival.com

    After selling out in 2014, Monster Energy Welcome To Rockville kicks off the World’s Loudest Month and celebrates its 5th year anniversary, returning to Jacksonville, Florida April 25 and 26th. Florida’s biggest rock festival lineup will be revealed Monday, December 8, with tickets going on sale Friday, December 12.

    Monster Energy Fort Rock (April 25, Fort Myers, FL)

    www.FortRockFestival.com

    The World’s Loudest weekend includes South Florida’s Biggest Rock Festival, Monster Energy Fort Rock, Saturday, April 25 at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers, Florida–the spring training home of the Boston Red Sox–for its 3rd consecutive year after selling out last year. The full festival lineup will be released Monday, December 8, with tickets going on sale Friday, December 12.

    Monster Energy Carolina Rebellion (May 2 & 3, Concord, NC)

    www.CarolinaRebellion.com

    Rock City Campgrounds at Charlotte Motor Speedway will host the fifth annual Monster Energy CarolinaRebellion. In 2014, the mid-Atlantic’s biggest rock festival sold out of camping and VIP packages, and over 60,000 fans were treated to two and a half days of picture perfect weather. For the 2015 festival, layaway packages will be offered for the first time beginning Cyber Monday (December 1, 2014). Further details regarding layaway (ticket prices, camping and hotel packages) will be announced in the coming weeks, with the concert lineup to follow in early 2015.

    Northern Invasion (May 9, Somerset, WI)

    www.NorthernInvasion.com

    Look for details soon about this new rock and camping festival that will take place during the World’s Loudest Month.  Lineup, ticket information, and camping information will be announced in December.

    Rock On The Range (May 15-17, Columbus, OH)

    www.RockOnTheRange.com

    ROTR sold out in advance for the second year in a row in 2014, with 120,000 concert-goers on-hand at Columbus Crew Stadium to experience blistering performances from 60 of the world’s hardest rocking bands on three stages over three days. In 2015, ROTR will welcome live music’s top cable channel, AXS TV, to film the weekend as part of their live festival coverage.  Weekend Field GA and Stadium GA layaway tickets are on sale now at www.rockontherange.com. Also new to Rock On The Range in 2015 will be the Jack Daniel’s Old No 7 VIP Lounge which features amenities such as dedicated Wi-Fi, charging stations, private restrooms, premium food options and more. This upgrade will be available on all ticket purchases.  Returning packages like the ROTR VIP Packages, Hotel and Ticket Bundles and Camping packages will go on sale Monday, November 10 at 10:00 AM ET. Detailsand prices for VIP, Hotel, and Camping Packages are available at www.rockontherange.com.  Regular tickets will go on sale once the band lineup has been announced in early December.

    Rocklahoma (May 22-24, Pryor, OK)

    www.Rocklahoma.com

    In May 2014, a record crowd of over 60,000 fans turned out for the eighth year of America’s Biggest Memorial Day Weekend Party featuring the best current active rock artists and classic bands at “Catch the Fever” Festival Grounds. Rocklahoma’s seat renewal process will begin on Monday, November 17, 2014 and runs through Wednesday, January 7, 2015. The renewal option is available to those who purchased a Weekend Reserved or VIP Package ticket in 2014. To renew seats for 2015, please call 866-310-2288 or email info@rocklahoma.com and a team member will contact you as soon as possible.  Rocklahoma’s 2015 lineup will be announced in January.

    River City RockFest (May 24, San Antonio, TX)

    www.rivercityrockfest.com

    River City RockFest returns to the AT&T Center in San Antonio for its third year. Look for concert lineup details to be announced soon. In 2014, nearly 20,000 were in attendance at San Antonio’s premier rock festival, with 25 top rock bands performing on four stages.

    Rockfest (May 30, Kansas City, MO)

    www.RockfestKC.com

    Rockfest returns to Penn Valley Park in downtown Kansas City for its 23rd year. In 2014, Rockfestclosed out the World’s Loudest Month festival series with over 50,000 in attendance for the seventh consecutive year of America’s largest one-day music festival.

    The World’s Loudest Month mobile app is available to download via iTunes and Android.

    Website: www.WorldsLoudestMonth.com
    Facebook: www.facebook.com/WorldsLoudestMonth