NYS Music 20​15

Author: NYS Music Staff

  • NYS Music March Madness 2016 – Round 1

    ROUND one is complete! Congrats to all the winners and thanks to all bands for participating. ROUND two is now live, go vote for your favorites here. All the round one results can still be reviewed below. 

    Welcome to NYS Music’s March Madness 2016! This tournament-style competition includes 64 bands and artists who call Upstate New York their home.

    This year’s 4 regions are based on genres of music – Funk/Jam/Reggae, Metal/Rock, Bluegrass/Folk/Americana and Indie/EDM. Each region has 16 Upstate New York bands in their respective region, battling it out to reach the Final Four and claim this year’s title. Bands were chosen based upon their origins in Upstate and popularity in their respective genres.

    Voting begins March 16 at Noon and ends at midnight on Thursday March 19. Round two begins March 20, with additional rounds announced on the NYS Music Facebook page.

  • Meet Your NYS Music Staff: Kevin McCallum

    Kevin McCallum, a Music History and Art History major and Writing minor at Syracuse University, began writing for UpstateLIVE last year as a sophomore, and he has since joined with NYS Music staff to continue covering live music. He was first introduced to music through the painstaking finger exercises his piano teacher made him do as an inattentive nine-year-old but developed a different understanding of all that music could be through the albums his older sisters shared with him as a kid. In high school Kevin played saxophone in the Jazz band and bass in bands with friends in their free time outside of school. During his senior year, he and a friend completed a senior project that consisted of writing and recording an album using their own equipment at their homes.

    kevin mccallumNow Kevin is a Junior at Syracuse University, spending his spring semester studying abroad in London. At SU, Kevin has a radio show on the college station, WERW Real College Radio. He’s also involved with the local music scene by booking bands for shows and playing guitar in a rock n roll Rocket Power style band on the weekends, called Conroy Blanc. Back home in the Boston area Kevin plays in a band called Midriffs. Over the past 2014 summer, they recorded their first album Subtle Luxuries in their steamy hot third floor Boston apartment. The experience is something that shaped Kevin’s appreciation and outlook on a new level of the intense work that goes into DIY music.

    Kevin’s musical bucketlist, both alive and deceased, would consist of Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Bob Marley, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Tame Impala, Ty Segall, and Fidlar.

  • Upstate’s Joe Bonamassa Gives Albany the Blues

    Joe Bonamassa may have been born in Central New York, but his guitar prowess has taken him around the world many times over. In the blues community, Bonamassa built up a name for himself before it was legal for him to have a beer.

    On January 19th, Joe Bonamassa brought the blues to the gorgeous Palace Theatre in Albany. The two-set show was comprised of an acoustic first set, and an electrifying second set. Playing his hits, the crowd starting tapping their feet and bobbing their heads as soon as the first notes of “Dust Bowl” flowed until the end of the three song encore “Hey Baby”, “Oh Beautiful” and “So, What Would I Do”.

    Joe Bonamassa wasn’t the only living legend playing the blues on stage in Albany either. Reese Wynans (keys), who will be entering the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame this year with Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, Carmine Rojas (bass, David Bowie, Rod Stewart, Stevie Wonder), Lenny Castro (percussion, Toto, Adele, Steely Dan), Tal Bergman (drums, Billy Idol, LL Cool J), Derek Sherinian (keys, Buddy Miles, Kiss, Dream Theater), Mats Wester (strings), Gerry O’Connor (strings) and an incredible horn section.

    Acoustic Set: Dust Bowl, Trouble Town, Still Water, Stones in My Passway, Slow Train, Different Shades of Blue, Black Lung Heartache, Happier Times, Athens to Athens

    Electric Set: Never Give All Your Heart, Hidden Charms, Living On the Moon, Can’t Be Satisfied, Double Trouble, Love Ain’t a Love Song, Gave Up Everything for You, One Less Cross to Bear, Sloe Gin, Ballad of John Henry

    Encore: Hey Baby, Oh Beautiful, So What Would I Do

  • Meet Your NYS Music Staff: Photographer Thomas Sgroi

    Thomas Sgroi or Big Tom as most of his friends refer to him is an upcoming name in the music photography world. Tom grew up all over the Northeast and New York State, including living in Albany, Utica and most notably Buffalo. Tom graduated from Alfred State College and earned a football scholarship to Division 2 Gannon University where he finished out his playing days. He then relocated to Buffalo where he attended the University at Buffalo and cemented his roots in the Buffalo area to present day.

    thomas sgroiTom has been involved with photography for a little over a year when a friend in the business peaked his interest while shooting Mountain Jam in 2013. Since starting his shooting experience wherever he could, he learned the craft on his own and has photographed some of the biggest names in the music scene. He prides himself for having quite an open palette for musical tastes as he loves it all. As Tom says, “If it’s live it’s great but if it’s local it’s even better.”

    While Tom isn’t going to musical events he is an avid sports fan. He is a Buffalo Bills season ticket holder and when he isn’t rooting for the Bills his eyes are on everything to do with the Buffalo Sabres. Some of Tom’s other passions involve cooking, traveling and sampling whatever local beers he can find. While Tom would like nothing better to do then travel and photograph musical acts, he has been involved in the auto industry and has a vast experience in sales and management.

    Tom has photographed quite a bit of his musical heroes yet there is still a few he wishes to cover, including Phish, Widespread Panic, Umphrey’s McGee, Neil Young, Tom Petty and Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Metallica and The Disco Biscuits