Bring Me The Horizon brought their headlining tour to Terminal 5 in New York City for an incredible sold out show on October 5 with phenomenal production with even better stage presence. With the help of support band, Issues and opener PVRIS fans were given a night they are sure to remember for many tours to come. Fresh off the release of That’s the Spirit on Columbia Records, Bring Me the Horizon have reached a new level in their career moving on from selling out Best Buy Theater, now Playstation Theater, to selling out Terminal 5 effortlessly.
PVRIS kicked off the evening with “White Noise” the title track off their first full length record released on Rise Records. The group has recently been creating a very strong and dedicated fanbase through their powerful live performances. With the help of Rise Records, PVRIS has worked tirelessly to create that fanbase through a series of opening slots on larger tours including the first leg of Pierce the Veil and Sleeping with Siren’s world tour.. The group actually created such a strong fanbase across the country that they were permanently bumped up to the main stage for the summer on Warped tour, which they absolutely capitalized on building their name even more with each passing day. Frontwoman Lynn Gunn has an incredible voice that sets her apart from so many vocalists; she commands the stage with powerful vocals and passionate lyrics. One song in particular that always showcases her voice perfectly is the second song that they played, “Fire.” The song emphasizes the power in her voice giving her many opportunities to enthrall the crowd. PVRIS went on to play other fan favorites including “Holy” and “Smoke.” They closed out their set with the first two songs released off of White Noise, “My House” and “St. Patrick.” They had the majority of the crowd singing along all throughout their set but it was during these two songs in particular that it seemed as if the entire crowd was involved, singing along and off their feet. PVRIS certainly did a great job of drawing fans out early and getting them engaged from their first song and throughout their entire set.
Next to take the stage was ISSUES. They are the type of band that never fail to get the entire crowd engaged regardless of how familiar fans may be with their music. They kicked things off in a very unusual fashion, prior to playing any of their songs frontmen Tyler Carter and Michael Bohn took the time to introduce the band. They proceeded from there into “Stingray Affliction” and “Life of a Nine” from their 2014 self titled release. As expected they brought such incredible energy and enthusiasm to the stage that it was contagious among the crowd and they didn’t let up at all during their set. Next up was the extremely moving and inspiring, “Never Lose Your Flames”; it is a song that has always resonated extremely well with fans and likely always will which is why it has become a staple song for the group at every show. From there they played a new song, “The Realest” which truly showcased their ability to captivate a crowd through their energy and stage presence because the crowd remained engaged and involved despite not knowing any of the words. The song seemed to be very well received by those in attendance which is not surprising as they too have been doing an incredible job of creating a very dedicated fanbase also through persistent touring including the direct support slot of the Future Hearts Tour last spring. Next up was the emotional, “Disappear (Remember When)” which has also become a staple song for the group along with their closing song and most recent single, “Hooligans.” The intensity reached a new level during “Hooligans” as once again the entire building seemed to be full and singing along to every word emphatically.
After what seemed longer than normal Bring Me the Horizon was ready to take the stage and the first song off of their most recent release, That’s the Spirit, “Doomed” kicked in. The group set the bar fairly high on their last U.S. tour in the fall of 2014 supporting A Day to Remember for production and stage set up, but they absolutely out did themselves this time. The umbrella from their album cover flashed behind them in lights interchangeably with other aspects of their album including the multicolored background from their album booklet and other captivating lighting designs. Along with a captivating background, CO2 cannons accompanied various breakdowns and heavy moments of the set which magnified the intensity. After that they continued on into “Happy Song” which started off with the entire sold out crowd chanting “S-P-I-R-I-T” along to the backtrack.
From there they went into some older favorites off off Sempiternal (2013) including “Go to Hell, for Heaven’s Sake” and “The House of Wolves” and what seems to have become a staple song for the group, “Chelsea Smile” from Suicide Season (2010). Next up was one of the most emotional and raw tracks from Sempiternal, “Can You Feel My Heart” which never fails to get the entire crowd singing along emphatically. When it reached the verse with the repetition of “I’m scared to get close and I hate being alone. I long for that feeling to not feel at all. The higher I get, the lower I’ll sink. I can’t drown my demons they know how to swim.” Frontman Oli Sykes did not say a word, the crowd took over and sang for him. For the last repetition of it Sykes joined the crowd for an emotional sing along. One of the most popular songs from Sempiternal “Shadow Moses,” always elicits a strong reaction from the crowd and this show was no different. Bring Me the Horizon has such a strong stage presence and creates an emotional connection with the crowd through their live performance which makes sets them apart from so many other bands in their genre and makes their shows extremely memorable. From there they carried into “Throne” from That’s the Spirit, “Sleepwalking” and “Antivist” to close out their set.
Bring Me the Horizon returned for an encore starting with “True Friends” from the new record. They always manage to bring the intensity and energy to a new level during their encores despite having an incredibly engaging set the entire night. The next song in their encore was another older favorite, “Blessed With a Curse” from There is a Hell Believe Me I’ve Seen it. There is a Heaven Let’s Keep it a Secret (2010), which really seemed to be a nice surprise to the crowd which consisted of a mix with newer fans and seasoned fans. The final song Bring Me the Horizon played for the evening was their most well known song from the new album, “Drown.” The song has been heard across New York on various rock radio stations, which was a huge break through for the group and has certainly helped the group grow exponentially in the months since its release.
All three groups have unique and charismatic stage presences which when combined create a very memorable night for fans. This tour has one of the strongest lineups of all of the fall tours which makes it a must see for fans.
Although Central New York is not the birthplace of Benny Mardones, to him it will always be home. This is why at least once a year, Benny will come home to play for those that have supported him throughout the ups and downs of his career. He shares his love of music, with those that love him most, his Central New York family.
It was 2010 when I first met Benny Mardones and learned his personal story of struggle and rebirth. Through the trials and tribulations of his life, he remains ever positive and graciously thankful to those that have helped him along the way. In addition, he always gives back to others as a way to pay it forward. Each year that he plays in Central New York, he also works hand in hand with charities that are near and dear to his heart to help them raise money for their cause. This year was no exception. This year he was able to support and help raise over $5,000 for the Clear Path for Veterans, a non profit agency that assists veterans reintegrate into their community.
Diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2000, Benny Mardones has never let the disease define who he is, or what he will accomplish. Fighting the disease side by side with his loving wife, Jane, they make sure that life is liven to the fullest. It is this attitude and his continuous love of his fellow man that makes me proud to call him my friend.
Despite health concerns, Benny lives for music and wants nothing more than to share this love with his Central New York family. To him, it’s the best medicine possible. So when he said to his wife, he needs to come home, that’s all it took. When he approached his long time friend, Eddie Money, and asked if he could join him on this show, Eddie didn’t flinch. He was there in a heartbeat. How can anyone tell Benny no after all he does for others? The stage was set for a night to remember with dear friends filling the sold out Palace Theater.
Opening the show was Syracuse favorites Hard Promises. These talented musicians are crowd favorites all over New York. Opening the show in true rock and roll style singing a multitude of hits from the 80’s, it was their dedication of “Benny And The Jets” to Benny that set the tone for the night and rocked this sold out/standing room only crowd. Hard Promises definitely set the stage at The Palace Theater priming these adoring fans and getting them up on their feet and signing along into the night.
As Benny’s band began to play, Mardones made his way through the masses to take the stage as the cheers from his family resonated throughout the venue. Benny was finally home where he belonged. You could see it in his face. The sheer emotion I witnessed through the entire show moved me beyond words, and brought me to tears. Singing a few new songs from his recently released album, Timeless, a tribute to everything he loves about music. Completely fan funded through a Kickstarter Campaign, and recorded in Syracuse at Subcat Studios with his band, The Hurricanes, as well as a few lucky fans that sang back up, the long awaited project was finally ready to be shared on this night.
Singing fan favorites like “Baby Don’t” and “Way of the World,” Benny also mixed in some new releases as the show began. It was about half way through the show though that Benny relinquished the stage to his life long friend Eddie Money.
This charismatic performer was a joy to watch as he entertained us both musically and comically. Singing favorites “Baby Hold On To Me,” “Walk on Water,” “Take Me Home Tonight,” and “Think I’m in Love,” but it was Benny’s song “The Train Don’t Stop Here Any More,” that touched me the most. As Benny returned to the stage, the two belted out “Two Tickets To Paradise” and Eddie’s son Julian, joined them on drums as they sang, “Shakin.” That brought the crowd to the their feet dancing both on stage and off. As the night wound down, Benny closed with his signatures two songs that fans never let him leave without singing, the famous “Into The Night,” and “Sheila C.”
Although he’s known to his peers as “The Voice, Benny is also a master songwriter. As I listened to the final production of his Timeless album, I’m moved by several of these songs as they are truly written from the heart. As he played the Palace, he shared “Slip Away,” a rock and roll song that showcases his voice to a “t”, and “Me and Johnny Red,” a song about his love and hate relationship with Johnny Walker. But the one song that moves me every time I hear it, is definitely “Heart In My Hand.” He sang…
“I used to be, the kind of man, that had the world in my hand. And all along, I really knew, I loved the crowds, but I lived for you.
Like a fool, I played it wrong, and like the crowds, baby you were gone
And in the end, I used to die, from the same dream, oh every night.
Oh the curtain, starts to fallen, as you fade away aside another man, and I’m standing in the corner, with my heart in my hand.
So many friends, are not around, I need your love, I need it now. Don’t want to loose. Don’t want to be. Just another, another memory.
Oh the curtain, starts to fallen, as you fade away aside another man, and I’m standing in the corner with my heart in my hand.
I’m standing in the corner with my heart…
I used to be, the kind of man, that had the world in my hand “
Benny, from where I’m sitting, you still hold the world in your hands, and you live in the hearts of us all.
At its core, Blitzen Trapper is, and always has been, a rock band. All Across This Land, released last Friday, is first and foremost a rock record, and probably their most focused effort yet. As has been the case for most of their career, the music on this latest album is heavy on the influences, some more apparent than others.
Blitzen Trapper is able to combine these and morph them into something unique. They’re like the Frankenstein’s monster of rock bands. Taking bits and pieces from music’s past and stitching it all together to create a new whole. It is possible to pick it apart and figure out where each piece originated from, but it would be futile, and in the end would ruin the result. It’s best to accept it for what it is, and not try to attack with pitchforks and torches.
Speaking of torches, the album swings open the gates with the bombastic barn burning title track. From there, the music slowly fades from classic rock to classic country over the tight 40-minute set. Over the course of the 10 tracks, each one slowly picks up some twang and loses a little of the rock attitude. Acoustic guitars replaces electrics, pedal steel and banjo appear, the drums mellow and soften until they eventually disappear completely in the album-closing “Across the River.” With autobiographical songs, tales of loss, and rock songs about rock music, the album hits it’s sweet spot in the gooey center. It is here that the rock and folk blend beautifully, and that is where Blitzen Trapper has always shined brightest.
While they capture their sound very well in the studio, Blitzen Trapper is still a band best enjoyed on the stage, where their energy comes unharnessed and pushes the music to greater heights. Currently touring in support of All Across This Land, they’ll make two stops in New York State this weekend. Saturday night they’ll be at the Town Ballroom in Buffalo. Jesse Malin, who was slated to appear at the Waiting Room was just moved to this bill along with the support from that show. So it will be a 4-act evening starting around 8pm, with The Domestics and Matthew Ryan getting things started. Then Sunday night they’ll be appearing at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom with the Domestics opening at 9pm.
Oct 9 Horseshoe Tavern Toronto, ON
Oct 10 Town Ballroom Buffalo, NY
Oct 11 Bowery Ballroom New York, NY
Oct 13 The Sinclair Cambridge, MA
Oct 14 Johnny Brenda’s Philadelphia, PA
Oct 15 Black Cat Washington, DC
Oct 16 Cat’s Cradle Carrboro, NC
Oct 17 The Loft Atlanta, GA
Oct 18 Exit / In Nashville, TN
Oct 19 Saturn Birmingham, AL
Oct 21 The Parish Austin, TX
Oct 22 Club Dada Dallas, TX
Oct 23 The Opolis Norman, OK
Oct 24 Bottleneck Lawrence, KS
Oct 26 The Bluebird Theater Denver, CO
Oct 27 The State Room Salt Lake City, UT
Nov 9 HiFi Music Hall Eugene, OR
Nov 11 SOhO Restaurant and Music Club Santa Barbara, CA
Nov 12 The Observatory San Diego, CA
Nov 13 Teragram Ballroom Los Angeles, CA
Nov 14 Don Quixote’s International Music Felton, CA
Nov 15 The Independent San Francisco, CA
Nov 16 Sweetwater Music Hall Mill Valley, CA
Nov 17 Humboldt Brews Arcata, CA
Nov 19 Neptune Theatre Seattle, WA
Nov 20 The Biltmore Cabaret Vancouver, BC
Nov 28 Revolution Hall Portland, OR
Rather than shaking things off through catchy choruses and lip-gloss beats, Lilly Hiatt heals old wounds with poetic confession and shadowy synths on her second record, Royal Blue, released in March.
Photography by Gregg Roth
Hiatt, as the sole writer on the album, conjures grim daydreams of soured love and self discovery that float through 12 tracks rooted in traditional folk and alt-country, but draw on Hiatt’s favorite 80s and 90s influences (think The Pixies, the Breeders, Dinosaur Jr.). Hiatt’s sweet, soft voice sings of a starry-eyed woman scorned and she slays through the wreckage with clever lyrics, because that’s what any good woman with her musical lineage would do—she’d move on and write a song or two, as she proclaims in the title track.
It’s Wednesday afternoon and Hiatt dials in from East Nashville; she’s down-to-earth and speaks with the same girlish honesty that’s reflected in her songs. At the moment, she and band mates—Beth Finney on lead guitar, Jake Bradley on bass, Luke Schneider on pedal steel guitar, and Jon Radford on drums—are rehearsing for a 10-date tour. Several of her east coast shows, including an October 8 stop at the Bell House in Brooklyn, are in support of Austin musician Bob Schneider who Hiatt has never shared the bill with but admires for his similar sense of songwriting humor. “Although, I’m getting tired of writing about my struggles,” she quips. But capturing a perfect Polaroid of real life just comes natural to the rising singer-songwriter whose father is iconic musician John Hiatt. “The biggest thrill of all is the initial coming up with the words; it’s some sort of relief for me,” she says. Hiatt confesses that she’s actually staring at her acoustic guitar, a hand-me-down Martin from her father that is her songwriting muse and never leaves home. “I’ll pick up my guitar and start strumming, or I’ll think about something I want to write about or think of a line that I want to put somewhere,” she says of her method. “I’ll sing something that I don’t know where it comes from; it’s decided, well, OK this is how you’re starting it clearly because I can’t stop singing that one thing, and then this helps me navigate where the rest of it goes.”
And when it comes to laying down tracks and playing them live, Hiatt doesn’t shy away from giving her band the creative rein to guide her songs to places she never imagined, she says. Case in point: “Far Away” had a more folk element before the band’s influence evolved it into a riff-y power-pop piece. “We’re in this singer-songwriter twang-y world and there’s sometimes an unspoken feeling of things you’re not allowed to do for this kind of music, but the band finally felt the green light from me that said screw that,” she says. As for Royal Blue in particular, a progressive follow-up to 2012’s more loosely country-rooted Let Down, Hiatt says the record’s sound is a result of working with analog studio producer Adam Landry (Deer Tick, Diamond Rugs) and a natural gravitation to exploring the darker more dissonant sounds. “We’re a four-piece band of all rockers and we have a similar mentality, but we’re not rough around edges,” she says. “My drummer now totally grew up on punk rock and my guitar player is into psych-rock. When you get the right people together and let them do their own thing you hear that come out a little and I like to encourage that.”
As for her own favorite band, Hiatt says without hesitation, Pearl Jam (she even recently guest hosted on the band’s Sirius XM radio channel). “They have been a band for so long and have been a part of my life for so long. I just have this immense admiration for them and it awakens something in me that I can’t even, it just feels like home when I hear them,” she says. “They have such a base of hardcore fans, and I know because I text with some of them; we’re giggly texting about Pearl Jam and it’s so funny because I think they’re really good to their fans and they make you feel like you’re part of something.” Hiatt is also influenced by other modern-day front women taking risks in their music like Bully’s Alicia Bognanno and Jenny Lewis. “I really look up to Jenny [Lewis]; she always takes chances and she’s so honest in her writing,” she says. “I just love her, and I freaked out for her album [Voyager]; it just brought out something different, and it was awesome.” And Hiatt plans to continue forging her way and not feeling limited in her work. “Records are records. For me, an album isn’t so much a massive representation of this is me the artist, but more of a snapshot of a period of time of what I’m doing right now because there are so many components of being a creative person. It’s hard to hone in on what you do best no matter what profession, but if you’re genuine about things and you work hard it’s going to pay off, or maybe I’m just naive,” she laughs.
Photography by Gregg Roth
Although she’s only three years into her professional career under Athens, Georgia-based label Normaltown records (and still held her supermarket chain day job until last year), Hiatt says she always had this “weird understanding” that she’d end up in music. “In the back of my head I knew this is what I’m going to do, but I didn’t know how because I’m shy,” she says. “I would write in my room and sing and record, but I never performed until toward the end of college… Some people can shake a tambourine and work it and that just doesn’t come natural to me; I’d literally crawl out of my skin before every show and it was excruciating, but I knew I was going to go through with it and that’s now dissipated into a more OK-let’s-go energy that is fun to channel into the show… I think it’s important to be humble.” After graduating from Denver, Hiatt returned to her Music City roots and admits she is still “building my thing” and searching for ways to tap into her creative rhythm. “Writing, or just growing as a human, is an ever-evolving thing, so the goal is to find a spot where the process is effortless,” she says, noting that she admires writers like John Prine and Guy Clark. “When I’m in vulnerable open thought is when the best stuff happens, but I’m trying to write new stuff right now, and I feel like Royal Blue went in a specific territory, a little self indulgent, which is fine, but I’ve gotten so accustomed to writing about painful things and changes and now I’m not so much in that spot. I used to wait until I’m feeling it, but you have to generate that for yourself sometimes; there’s a discipline involved, and I’m trying to look out a little more and figure out how to find the inspiration from all the positive things.” While Hiatt may ponder about getting things right, it’s clear she’s going to be just fine in this “mean machine, this lonely world,” regardless that she’s somebody’s daughter.
Lilly Hiatt Tour Dates 10/8 The Bell House, Brooklyn, NY* 10/9 Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA* 10/10 Mr. Small’s Theatre, Millvale, PA* 10/11 Culture Center Theater, Charleston, WV 10/17 Hill Country DC, Washington, DC 10/22 Southgate House, Newport, KY** 10/23 Rumba Cafe, Columbus, GA** 10/24 Musica, Akron, OH** 11/11 Old Town School of Music, Chicago, IL*** *Bob Schneider Music **Patrick Sweany ***Del Barber
The Cure‘s first announcement of a single performance at Madison Square Garden sparked such a demand that a second show was added. Now, the demand was such that a third (and final) MSG show with The Cure has been announced for Monday June 20, 2016 (in addition to the 18th and 19th). A presale will happen Thursday Oct. 22 at 9am EST on Ticketmaster with password DISINTEGRATION. Regular on-sale will happen Friday Oct. 22 at 9am EST on the same site.
Original Article:
The Cure will hit North America next year with a 25-show tour. The announcement comes with a tease – only three of those dates have so far been announced while the rest will be released in January.
On June 18, 2016, The Cure will play Madison Square Garden. A special pre-sale will take place Thursday, Oct. 8, starting at 10 a.m. and tickets will be available to the public Friday, Oct. 9, at 10 a.m.
Check out the tour announcement posting on The Cure’s website here for full details on the pre-sale and public on sale.
The other two dates announced so far are May 22 at Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and June 10 at UIC Pavilion in Chicago. While The Cure have played several shows (namely, festivals) in the past handful of years, this will be the band’s first major tour in North America since 2008.
Joining The Cure at these MSG shows in 2016 will be The Twilight Sad, a post-punk outfit from Scotland with four studio albums under their belt.
The fourth annual Peach Festival will forever be a prolific memory for those who attended the 2015 installment of the festival. Some might even say they’ve been “changed” and have no idea how to explain their experience to friends post festival. All they can say is, “I can’t wait till next year. I can’t wait to go back to The Peach.” The festival began as a celebration of The Allman Brother’s Band and The Grateful Dead. Festival attendees were pleased to see that two former drummers of the Allman Brothers Band would be included on the line up. Those two being Butch Trucks and Jaimoe. If that’s not exciting enough former ABB member Warren Haynes was also a brilliant addition to the weekend’s lineup. There were also three surviving members of The Grateful Dead on the bill. Those being Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Bruce Hornsby. Last year was the final year the complete Allman Brothers Band headlined Peach Festival. However, one of this year’s headliners was of course the great Gregg Allman. Others included Willie Nelson and Family and a closing by Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Carlos Santana.
Montage Mountain has been the home of the Peach for the past four years. It boasts a summit of 1,960 feet. The tree line is made up evergreen trees and pines. Remember, this festival is held on a mountain. Packing light and wearing proper foot attire will make for a delightful camping experience. The general admission campgrounds are predominantly on the ski slopes so getting back to camp literally means “hiking” I was constantly telling myself, “Think of how strong your calves will be after the festival!” There are two tractor loops for those who don’t wish to muscle it up the slopes. There are three kinds of camping. General admission camping, family camping, and CID’s “Glamping.” Glamping provides much larger tents with much more amenities and style than a bare bones campsite and are also assembled for guests in advance.
The park in the summer time is permanent home to a water park! It features an array of slides, a wave pool, and a lazy river. There are lockers to store your belongings, and also indoor and outdoor showers. The lodge included a food court, indoor restrooms and CID’s VIP lounge. The VIP lounge had to have been the most cushy place in the park. There were plenty of comfortable couches, a bar, and even a free photo booth!
The festival began Thursday evening on the Peach Stage also known as The Pavilion . To kick off the festival was Grateful Dead tribute band Dark Star Orchestra . Their set showcased tunes from a Grateful Dead show at the capitol theater in Passaic New Jersey in April 1977. The set included staples like “Sugaree,” “Scarlet Begonias,” “Mississippi Half-Step” and Terrapin Station.” I have to say, it was an overwhelmingly beautiful yet haunting experience. Thousands of Dead fans sang along as if they were a giant choir and these were their hymns. The voices reverberated against the pavilion’s high interior and echoed into the distant hills. The lights dazzled the crowd everyone swayed in joyous harmony. After the show ended one thing was apparent. Everyone wants Dark Star Orchestra to be the traditional festival opener.
Later in the evening we were wow’d by our first Deep Banana BlackOut show on the Mushroom stage. I can’t remember the last time I’ve heard more inventive trombone solos. The level of energy and improvisation this band spits out is a force to be reckoned with. Lead vocalist Jen Durkin’s voice is so powerful you need to prepare yourself to be ripped in half! Between the improvisation and funky rhythms, you’re sure to feel like you’ve been transported to New Orleans.
The next day Scranton’s own Cabinet opened the Peach stage. Followed by the Hard Working Americans, Trombone Shorty and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead. Many rushed the Mushroom stage eager to catch Blues Traveler. Perhaps the most memorable experience was watching the people in the wave pool. Which is a few feet away from the Mushroom stage. They cheered and sang along to BT’s hits like “Hook.” John Popper’s harmonica solos are melodic feats that would make any instrumentalist blush. They were also pleased to have a guest appearance by none other than Warren Haynes himself. Which lead to a nice rendition of the “The Mountains Win Again.”
Warren Haynes and Railroad Earth set the tone for Friday night with their soulful yet raw set in the pavilion. It was interesting to see RRE’s lead vocalist Todd Sheaffer step aside for a while and let Warren Haynes take the wheel. The ensemble played selections from their new album Ashes and Dust which was released in July of this year. Tim Carbone’s violin solo’s descended upon the crowd like a feather gently floating to the ground. A perpetual stream of melodic call and response between Carbone and Goessling carried on through the set and added a fine degree of polyphonic texture.
The pinnacle of Friday evening was the iconic Gregg Allman. He opened his set with “Statesboro Blues.” Many were easily impressed on his transition from organ to guitar. The legendary vocals, solos and overall spirit of the Allman Brothers was definitely experienced. The warmness of Allman’s organ is a sound that will never be forgotten. The crowd became downright emotional when Allman played his signature tune, “Melissa.” I looked around to see fans weeping and smiling simultaneously. The set ended with “Midnight Rider,” “Love Like Kerosene,” “Whipping Post.” With no surprise the show encored with “One Way Out.”
The temperature definitely rose on Saturday. Most festival attendees made themselves ready for a dip in the wave pool or a drift down the lazy river. Or for those feeling extra adventurous the ultra fast water slides. Watching Dumpstaphunk while jumping waves in the wave pool was so much fun! The Mushroom stage also featured Rusted Root which performed their hit “Send Me on My Way.” With GD50 in the not so distant past it was a real treat to see Bruce Hornsby and The Noise Makers once again paying tribute. His set was laid back and serene. Back at The Peach stage Old Crow Medicine show kicked the vibe up a notch with their own “Alabama High Test.”
Finally, it was time for the one and only Willie Nelson and family. Nelson’s signature vocals were spot on and everyone was thrilled to see Trigger (his beloved guitar) once again by his side. His sister Bobbie Nelson has been playing piano in his band since the 1970’s. She of course played my favorite piano interlude “Down Yonder.” Towards the end of the set Nelson included selections of “I’ll Fly Away, You were always on my mind” and of course, “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die.” He even paid tribute to the great Hank Williams Sr. with songs like “Hey Good Lookin” and “I saw the Light.”
Billy and the Kids killed it shortly after and were later joined by The Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir. The entire second set featured Weir on lead guitar and vocals, which included takes on “Cassidy,” “Stella Blue” and “Sugar Magnolia.” Weir’s guitar raged through the crowd and the lights penetrated the thousands of loyal fans.
Saturday night was closed out on the Grove Stage by Scranton’s local band Cabinet. We’re sure to see and hear more from this band in the future. The musicianship and camaraderie are the aspects that make this band so solid. With every instrumental break you can feel the virtuosity leaking from their hands to the strings. I learned quickly not to underestimate the Grove Stage. Although smaller than both the Mushroom and Peach Stage and also further away it is never the less the place for a great show.
On Sunday a congregation formed at the Peach Stage for Keller Williams and Grateful Gospel. The band features members of More Than a Little and Further’s guitarist John Kadlecik. The set started off with “Feel Like a Stranger.” The vocal harmonies were absolutely stellar. The positive vibes could surely be felt throughout the entire audience. Other selections were “My Sister and Brothers,” “St Stephen” and “Ripple.” Towards the end Keller excitedly proclaimed, “Hey look everyone! Its Bob Weir!” Weir sat in for “Eyes of the World” and closed with “Samson and Delilah.”
Over at the Grove stage Indianapolis’ Turbo Suit delivered a powerful and funky set with remixes of up beat tunes new and old. One memorable selection was a mashup of Uptown Funk which led to an ensemble of happy dancers.
Santana made for a memorable grand finally. Latin rhythms flooded the amphitheater and not one foot remained still. Santana proudly introduced his son Salvador who is a much accomplished vocalist and a master of the keyboards. The crowd was pleased to shake it to hits like “Evil Ways,” “Black Magic Woman” and “Smooth.” One thing’s for certain, Carlos Santana bleeds positive mantras. The long instrumental jams were definitely used as a platform to inspire and uplift the community with his kind words.
One of the kindest actions I saw all weekend was the attendees voluntarily cleaning up the grounds. Once a few began picking up the garbage a chain reaction ensued. It was really heartwarming to see essential strangers coming together for the betterment of the festival and respect of the mountain. The festival overall had a great sense of community. People genuinely showed love for each other. It was a kind of harmonious bond that is a rare occurrence in humanity. Peach Fest was a sure fire success and we can’t wait for next year.
When you take some of the best hardcore, metal, and hip hop and throw them into Reading, PA over a course of two days? You get The East Coast Tsunami Festival. It was beautiful and chaotic that packs a punch to the mouth and ears that gets stuck in your system for days. That occurred to me when Wu-Tang Clan headlined the Santander Arena on Friday, September 25 and Life Of Agony finished everything off the next night over at The Reverb.
Let me take an opportunity to get the negative out of the way first. And it occurred on day one: sound issues. Never in all my years of attending concerts did I see so many sound issues that kept recurring for EVERY act that played on stage. People paid good, hard earned money to see their idols perform, and for the sound staff over at the Santander Arena should be ashamed of themselves. Countless times, microphones were either turned off or not working, ruining every performance. I give props to all the performers that just continued and not let it get to them. When Body Count was on stage, frontman Ice T was not having it and had to start one of their songs over. It was just obnoxious.
Day 1:
The main headliners were Wu Tang Clan, Mobb Deep, and Body Count. The beautiful thing about day one was the variety of fans of every ethnicity, age, and culture gathered for the same purpose. There was mainly hip hop acts, but there was a few hardcore bands and of course Body Count is a mixture of both. Overall a brilliant bill for that night and the floor / pit area was packed.
Early in the night….the two bands whom I never seen who really stood out to me was Strength For A Reason, because they had the most sound issues than any other band but they handled themselves so well and Wisdom In Chains really made the crowd go bananas. Never seen a band have so much fun on stage yet they kept the atmosphere so brutal. They definitely made a fan out of me that night.I was also really impressed with Gillie The Kid. It was hip hop in it’s finest form. He really knew how to connect with the people on the floor during his performance and his hooks, freestyle, and rhymes were just a blast to behold.
I was absolute ecstatic to finally see Body Count, I felt awful that I missed them during their run last year at Mayhem Festival, so to me, they were the main attraction. I was also fortunate enough to meet lead guitarist Ernie C before the show, who was such a nice person and a pleasure to meet. The thing that’s so fascinating about Body Count is the chemistry and timing they share on stage, now I was not old enough or lucky enough to have seen the original lineup over twenty years ago, but the current lineup of Body Count still give the old songs justice. They kept their setlist faithful by opening with “Necessary Evil” and “Bowels Of The Devil.” Ice T, who isn’t afraid to speak his mind or show his sense of humor really ripped into masculinity and society before going into “Manslaughter.” But the song that stood out the most was the classic and iconic “There Goes The Neighborhood.” Drummer Ill Will was just insane behind the kit. The spirit of Beat Master V lives on through Ill Will because his timing and speed was just off the chain and that song really showcased that. And what better way to end their ten song set with the controversial anthem “Cop Killer.” If Ice T can manage to find more time for Body Count, a headlining tour must happen.
Mobb Deep took the stage after Body Count and delivered a knockout punch to the crowd. Now I am not familiar with Mobb Deep’s catalogue, so I can’t honestly tell you much about their setlist, but I can tell you that it was a stellar performance, and even though it was already past midnight, the crowd was at their peak and Mobb Deep owned the crowd.
Wu-Tang Clan closed out the night and it was one of their better performances that I have seen with them. Each member got their moment on stage, they played a massive set that included not only from the early Wu Tang catalogue like “C.R.E.A.M.” and “Bring The Ruckus” but even some solo material such as Raekwon’s “Criminology”, Ghostface Killah’s “Black Jesus”, and GZA’s “Liquid Swords.” And of course there was plenty of Ol’ Dirty Bastard tributes and highlights during their set. But hands down, the member that stood out the most was Method Man. Meth is clearly a born performer, entertainer, and is one hell of a lyricist. And the crowd was also treated to some freestyles from Masta Killa and GZA. Another big highlight was the group even had a showcase from DJ Mathematics who went bezerk on the turn tables and really wowed the crowd. In conclusion, Wu-Tang clearly is still bringing their A-game and showing no signs of aging. I would expect great things in the near future from the Wu.
Day 2:
The Reverb did an excellent job hosting day two of East Coast Tsunami. It was a really long day and all the bands were clutch, but there was one band that dared to be different. Murphy’s Law totally changed the entire atmosphere of the night. They were bold enough to use humor, go into the crowd, share a few drinks and just be goofy. It was totally refreshing, because all day it was all hardcore bands. Serious hardcore. And as soon as Murphy’s Law hit the stage everything changed. It was also cool to see a saxophonist in a hardcore band. That’s not something you see everyday. Later into the night Doyle hit the stage bringing his spookfest into the club. Also…seeing Doyle made me want to hit the gym. That man is in ridiculous good shape for a man his age. And it was also amusing to see him blowing bubbles from his chewing gum as he is playing his guitar.
After an amazing set from Walls Of Jericho,Madball put on the performance of a lifetime by wiping the floor with everyone. The pits were fierce and the bodies were continuously flying off the stage and into the crowd. Opening with “Demonstrating My Style” they played all the songs you would expect such as “Set It Off” and “Black And Blue.” Freddy Cricien is one hell of a frontman…I honestly don’t know where he gets the energy to perform at such a high level throughout the whole set. As for the band, you can tell they were having fun with each other and with the crowd as well. Madball is living proof that hardcore still lives.
The night closed with a special performance with Life Of Agony, who was the ultimate cherry on the brutal sundae that was East Coast Tsunami Fest. Not disappointing what so ever, most of their set consisted of River Runs Red. Opening with the title track off that album, along with “This Time”, and the always catchy “Method Of Groove.” Mina Caputo proves she’s the ultimate frontwoman for the band, and still sings the songs the way they were meant to be heard. Joey Z was an absolute fiend on the guitar and where ever he and the band went, the crowd responded. This was such a treat to behold to see all four original members tearing it up. It would be crime of the century if don’t play more shows around the east coast. The highlight of the show would have to be “Bad Seed.” Never have I seen so much stage diving going on during a show. I was almost worried for the bands safety, but clearly they loved it. Appropriately, they ended the night with ”Underground.” There is nowhere to go but up for this band. This is why they closed the entire two day festival, Life Of Agony is in a class of their own right now.
To sum this all up, East Coast Tsunami was a wave of brutality that every music lover should experience. What could make it better? Perhaps, a three day festival in the future? Only time will tell.
Jubilee Riots (formerly known as Enter the Haggis) made a return trip to Saranac as part of the brewery’s Saranac Thursday Concert Series on July 23. Hailing from the greater Toronto area, Jubilee Riots have made it a tradition to perform at Saranac the Thursday prior to the Great American Irish Festival in nearby Frankfort. While the band wasn’t performing this year’s Irish Fest, its traditional set on the brewery stage attracted many Enter the Haggis/Jubilee Riots faithful.
Jubilee Riots is a band that is constantly working, constantly thinking, always thinking of its fans. The last three albums recorded have all been funded through crowd sourcing. There aren’t many working bands today that can say they’ve been able to produce three straight albums funded exclusively by their fan base. The band’s most recent release, Penny Black, is the first under its new moniker, Jubilee Riots. The first video from this release is an entertaining gospel-like animated take on the song “Trying Times”.
The band began as Enter the Haggis in Toronto in 1996, playing a mix of Celtic and modern rock music. It toured the Celtic festival circuit extensively, building a sizable and loyal fan base along the way. Over the course of seven studio albums, two live albums, a performance on Regis and Kathie Lee and a live DVD filmed for PBS, the band’s sound transitioned to where the Celtic sound was becoming less prominent. The Celtic core was still there but listening to each successive album revealed an evolution to a more mainstream northern roots rock sound. To get a true feel for this transformation, one must listen to the catalog from its beginning to the present release. Doing so reveals a band that has matured in songwriting style and musicianship while still maintaining the feel good presence of the original Haggis sound.
Eventually, a change in the style of music, prompted the band to consider a name change. This was something that didn’t come easily to a band with an already established and enthusiastic fan base. However, as piper/trumpeter Craig Downie, the only original member of the Enter the Haggis, mentioned in the press release announcing the name change, “We toured and recorded as Enter The Haggis for a long time, but that name no longer represents the music that we’re making.”
On Sept. 8, 2014, it became official. Going forward, Enter the Haggis would now be known as Jubilee Riots. The final show as Enter the Haggis occurred at the Westcott Theatre in Syracuse on Oct. 11, 2014. A show that was billed as Exit the Haggis. To celebrate the one year anniversary of that show, the band is returning to the Westcott Theatre in Syracuse for a show on Oct. 9.
Prior to the recent Saranac show, NYSMusic sat down in the 1888 Tavern with lead singer/violinist/man of many hats, Brian Buchanan, bassist/vocalist Mark Abraham and drummer/percussionist Bruce McCarthy to discuss the band’s direction, crowd funding, technology, the writing process, a little hockey and what thought goes into changing a band’s name midstream. Original member Craig Downie and guitarist Trevor Lewington round out the band’s lineup.
NYSM (to Brian): You’re a Leafs fan, have you seen the news today that they hired Lou Lamoriello as the new GM?
Brian: I hope you’re joking. ARE YOU SERIOUS? WOW! (gives a background on Lamoriello’s background building the New Jersey Devils franchise)
NYSM: He’s got a Utica tie-in as well. He used to be the GM when the Devils had a team here.
Brian: Wow, what a weird combination of people. You’ve got Brendan Shanahan as President, Babcock as coach and Lamoriello as GM. That’s pretty powerful stuff.
NYSM: Speaking of change, how are you guys doing with the name change? You’re not the first established band to do it. The Who did it. They were The Detours and The High Numbers. The Beatles did it. They were once The Quarrymen. So you’re in good company.
Brian: It’s a challenge. We knew it was gonna be a challenge. We didn’t make the decision because we thought it would be the easiest business decision in the world. But, also our fans have really been supportive and have been behind us. I think some people are still really confused, saying “I’ll call myself a Haggis Head til the day I die,” and that’s absolutely fine with us. So in some ways it was kind of an artistic decision more than anything else and it still feels good and it feels like it was the right decision to make…”
[Interrupted by a fan looking for a selfie with the band, handled very deftly by Brian “Good times. Good times.”]
NYSM: Obviously you have a huge loyal fan base. When you started doing crowd funding for your albums, it took you, what, eleven hours to reach your goal?
Brian: The first one, yeah. This last one was just about as good too. And we raised about the same amount of money. It’s incredible. Over three records, we’ve raised over $150,000 from the fans, financing the records, the promotion of the records.
NYSM: So you’re not beholden to a record company…
Brian: No, and there’s not a lot of bands out there that can say that. The crowd funding thing is getting a lot more mainstream and a lot more popular, but you still need the fan base to step up. And I know lots of bands who are objectively bigger names than we are who can’t get crowd funding campaigns off the ground. Because they just don’t have that kind of personal loyalty.
NYSM: Well you guys kinda did that through the ground roots anyway, traveling around, meeting your fans, engaging them…
Brian: True, every fan we have is one we’ve played for and shaken hands with. It’s definitely been one fan at a time.
NYSM: You guys are an easy band to like anyway. You’re so cordial to deal with, taking selfies with fans in the middle of interviews…
Brian: We’re Canadian…(laughter)
Bruce: That’s what we’re constantly telling one another too, “Man, you’re a really easy guy.”
NYSM: You guys are all kinda separated now? As far as where you live?
Brian: I live in Philly now. Three of the guys are still in Ontario. From where Trevor lives to where Craig lives is like four hours and then Bruce is kind of in the middle and Mark’s in Maine. We’re definitely spreading out further and further as time goes on.
NYSM: Of course it’s a lot easier now with technology for you to collaborate, as we were saying, with Dropbox and Skype and Google Docs, your Patreon thing…
[Patreon is a crowd funding platform that Brian uses to release music and blogs that he otherwise wouldn’t do within the context of the band, with the eventual hopes of putting together his own traditional fiddle album, covers album or “bizarre and overwrought theatre-pop.”]
Brian: There are so many avenues to generating interest and as a nice by-product, generating income, but even as a band, even though we’re spread out as far as we are,when we were getting ready to put together the last album, we set up a Dropbox account. Trevor and I or anyone else, could record a demo and stick it in Dropbox and the rest of the guys could open it up and listen to it and add their comments. We did all the lyrics and artwork through Google Docs and people could add their thank yous and change lyrics and do everything through there and keep everything updated. The tools that are available for free now are mind-blowing. You think back twenty years ago, the things that we take for granted now as a band; tools that we use every day that didn’t exist. Things that would have taken a team of people to do. You’d have to lick 20,000 envelopes. Now I can spend 20 minutes writing an email and get the same reach.
Bruce: We have a WiFi hub in the van that we use to broadcast. It broke and we haven’t had it fixed yet so we had to grab one of those tourism books and that was the beginning of us driving around just trying to find a hotel; which is how the band used to do things once upon a time before Priceline and Hotwire and all that. It was a sobering experience.
Brian: The fact that we have internet accessibility in the van, when you’re on the road for twelve hours in the van, it’s not twelve wasted hours. We can actually get a lot of work done. You can be interacting with the fans. We’ll do live streaming conversations with the fans while we’re on the actual road.
NYSM: So when you do record, you said you just kind of drop things into Dropbox. Do you still get together in an actual studio to do the recording or is it mainly all Dropbox then putting it all together?
Brian: Even if we did use that, it would be the roughest of rough demos. Then, for the last couple of records, we got together at Bruce’s house. He’s got a studio in his basement. So we’ll do comprehensive demos there to nail down a playlist and then book a professional studio for a month to finalize everything. It’s a nice luxury to be able to do that. My girlfriend’s band, they’ve been trying to put together an album for over a year, because they all have jobs. They all go to school. So they try to find a weekend here or there where they can get into a studio. We have a nice luxury to be able to do it this way.
NYSM: On to your latest album, Penny Black; it’s kind of fan-based project where you asked fans to submit letters and the best thing about it, again, going back to the technology thing, you kind of reversed things. The submissions had to be hand-written and sent via snail mail in order to be considered.
Brian: Analog!
Mark: It was probably close to 500 letters. I still used technology to scan them in and put them on Google Docs. It was cool because I got to read all of them.
Bruce: It was sort of very convoluted that way we set it up, just to end up scanning the stuff anyway.
Brian: We did a video and sent out emails telling people to write us letters by hand, which they would mail to us so that we could scan them into Google Docs then use them to write the album. (laughter)
NYSM: So, why mail? Why that way?
Brian: We just liked the idea of seeing people’s stories in their own handwriting.
Bruce: Well it’s also the whole Penny Black idea.
Brian: The Penny Black was the first mass-produced postage stamp, so we just liked the old idea of people taking the time and writing a letter and really thinking about writing a letter and not just instant messenger. Writing it out in your own words and sending it to somebody. I’ve talked to a few people who said they wrote multiple drafts before sending them. When you’re doing it by hand, ya know, that’s a commitment.
Bruce: Some of them were like ten pages long, double-sided, small print…
Brian: Some of them were anonymous, some put their names to them.
NYSM: So when you looked at some of them, could you tell right away who it was writing?
Brian: Oh yeah, sure. Definitely.
Bruce: Some pretty intimate stuff too. A lot of people signed their names. That’s a lot of trust. We know who these people are.
Brian: These people are bearing their souls and it was pretty heavy at times. They said they’ve never told their story to anybody so it was kind of therapeutic. Then they’ll come up to us after the show and say, “I was the one who wrote such-and-such letter” and you say to them, “I’ve never met you before but I feel like I know a whole lot about you now.”
NYSM: I think that just speaks volumes about how you feel about your fans. You actually kind of put it back on them. It was an album for them.
Brian: Oh yeah, absolutely. That was the whole idea. We meet so many people from so many different walks of life. The best stories are people stories. Everybody you meet has one story you can write a song about. And if they don’t, you can write a song about that.
NYSM: So you had 500 or so letters, do you have enough for another Penny Black in you?
Brian: We could easily write another album. I don’t know if we will but it’s possible. A lot the songs weren’t inspired by just one letter. There were certain themes that emerged; losing a loved one, meeting the love of your life, some coming-of-age story…
NYSM: The release you guys put out when you announced the name change, I think it was Craig who said, “The name just doesn’t fit what we’re doing now.” Kind of de-categorizing yourself in a way, where you’re not pigeon-holing yourself into being just an Irish-style band. We’re not just doing Irish songs, we’re starting to broaden and become un-categorizable, if that’s a word. Is that an accurate description?
Brian: Yup, definitely. We got to the point where we felt the name Enter the Haggis was a perfectly appropriate and suitable name for about 15-20% of the music that we were playing. And, sort of extension of that was the worry that the name was sort of limiting the audience to about that 15-20% of the people who would like what we do. The name is a great name for a certain style of music but it puts a picture in people’s heads before they even hear a note of what kind of music it’s going to be. And you only have so many opportunities to get people’s attention these days.
Ya know, if I hated metal and I heard the name Cradle of Filth, I would never even put the record on. But maybe years later I’d find out that I was completely wrong about that band and the type of music they were playing. It’s always kind of been in the back of our heads that our name might be limiting our exposure to people who wouldn’t even give us a chance based on the idea that they wouldn’t like it before they even heard it.
You hope that people would be open-minded. We’re competing with so much these days, it’s hard enough to even get people to listen to just thirty seconds of a song and if you’re already having to break through a barrier before you even get to that point, then it’s that much harder.
Bruce: Also, 80 percent of the band is different.
NYSM: Right, Craig’s the only original member of Enter the Haggis left, correct?
Bruce: Right. That original, if you want to call it, that Enter the Haggis sound, we don’t play any of those songs. Not a single one. It just got to the point where we still play plenty of Enter the Haggis songs and they still make up the majority of our set. It just got to the point where that first incarnation of the band, Craig was the only remaining member of that and we don’t play any of those songs. I’ve never even heard most of those songs. So it just got to a point where it kind of didn’t make sense. That duality that didn’t kind of meet anywhere in the middle where it was reconcilable.
Brian: We’ve had the luxury of being able to grow up as a band, learning what kind of band that we want to be and we’ve done it in the public eye. I liken it almost to a child actor who became really popular who became known for a certain thing and as they get older and start getting serious, branching out to different things, it’s difficult for them because if you go on YouTube and search their name, all they see is that sit-com, that catch phrase. It’s really hard for them to break away from that and do different things because everybody likens them to that original thing. That’s kind of what a band name is like.
If you go on YouTube and search “Enter the Haggis,” the way YouTube works, the oldest videos are the ones that have been watched the most times and those are what show up at the top of the search. You’ll find videos of ours that are 9-10 years old and that’s not representative of where we are now. We’re not ashamed of our legacy, but we’re definitely competing against it.
Bruce: You know what’s interesting though? Since changing the name and kind of getting a little distance from it, I think we’ve all gotten more interested in the Celtic stuff. More so than we have been in some time. It’s kind of like when you feel you have to do something, it’s an obligation, whereas if you have a choice to do something. You tend to enjoy it more. It’s two very different things. We’re starting to embrace that Celtic element of the past, even a little bit more than we had in the past five years or so.
Brian: Subconsciously, I think we were feeling the pressure as Enter the Haggis to constantly prove that we weren’t just that type of band. So we were almost pressured to move away from it. Who knows what will come next? Maybe we’ll release a trad album. (laughter)
NYSM: Do you have new venues you’ve been playing that you like, that maybe are attracting new fans?
Mark: There are a lot of people who have discovered us since the name change that didn’t even know of us before. I don’t think it was so much changing venues though.
Brian: We’ve had more radio play from this record than we’ve had before. We hit number nine on the U.S. Billboard Heat Seekers chart when the album was released, which we’ve never done before. We finally got played on the biggest rock radio station in Canada, which has never happened before. It was in a like a next big thing type of contest, which we could only enter because they didn’t know we’ve been around for fifteen years.
Bruce: I think you said it was “like” a next big thing contest. It was literally called “The Next Big Thing.” (laughter)
Following our interview, Jubilee Riots went on to perform before one of the largest Saranac Thursday crowds of the summer to long-time, dedicated fans as well as those who had never heard them before. By the end of its second set, the band had the Utica crowd dancing along. It was a night much like what was discussed in the interview. Many there had never heard the band in their previous incarnation and were won over. Such is the life of this hard-working Canadian band.
Jubilee Riots are kicking off its fall tour at the Westcott Theatre in Syracuse with a recording release show on Oct. 9. The band is releasing the historic “Exit the Haggis” from last fall’s Westcott show that night as well as performing. Julia Weldon is the opening act.
Jubilee Riots fall tour dates:
10/9/15 – The Westcott Theatre – Syracuse, NY
10/10/15 – The Town Crier – Beacon, NY
11/5/15 – Flower City Station – Rochester, NY
11/6/15 – The Putnam Den – Saratoga Springs, NY
11/13/15 – Infinity Hall – Norfolk, CT
11/14/15 – Higher Ground – South Burlington, VT
11/20/15 – The Strand Theatre – Rockland, ME
11/21/15 – Stone Mountain Arts Center – Brownfield, ME
11/27/15 – World Cafe – The Queen – Wilmington, DE
The Capital Region hardcore, metal, and punk scene is currently in a state of distress. Over the past few months attendance at shows has been much lower than normal, thereby contributing to some major losses for the promoters and the decision by many bands to skip the once-hotbed region on their touring routes.
On Sept. 13 Dan Asylum and Mike Valente, the owners of Upstate Black N’ Blue- Albany’s chief booking and promotion agency for hardcore, punk, and metal shows- hosted an open meeting to discuss the state of the scene and to exchange ideas on how to improve attendance. The meeting was held at The Fuze Box on Central Ave. in downtown Albany which has become the primary venue for shows since the closing of the beloved Bogies on Ontario St. last May.
“This year has been really rough,” Asylum said to the crowd of 30-40 people. “It seems that after Bogies closed a lot of people were displaced.”
The 34-year-old has been booking shows in Albany for ten years which has given him insight to the fluctuations of the scene as well as what’s needed to fix it. When he began booking shows the internet wasn’t a feasible option for promoting. Instead, the seemingly abandoned method of “flyering,” the distribution of mass amounts of paper event flyers outside of venues and around the city, is what fueled the strong attendance.
“Social media isn’t the answer to everything. Facebook is letting us down now,” he said. According to Asylum, Facebook is making it increasingly difficult for Upstate Black N’ Blue to promote their events. Facebook now caps the number of people one can “invite” to an “event” at 1000 regardless of how many “friends” said person has. Therefore, Asylum and Valente are only able to invite roughly one-fifth of their potential customer base to their Facebook event pages.
Asylum said that many people come to him after a show has already happened and tell him that he/she wasn’t even aware it was taking place. He and Valente both agree that going back to the old fashioned way of flyering is the solution to this problem.
“If you’re in a band, flyer,” Valente said. “Fuck Facebook. It’s nothing but bullshit.”
Valente, who refuses to reveal his actual age, has been involved with booking and promotion since the 80’s. He’s also a member of the local metallic-hardcore band Brick By Brick. He spoke numerous times at the meeting about the importance of local bands promoting their own shows.
“I’d rather have bands flyering than selling tickets. I think that having bands sell tickets is borderline insulting,” he said, referring to a practice many other promoters utilize in which local bands are forced to sell a certain amount of tickets in order to play the show.
Asylum and Valente embody the true spirit of hardcore and punk music in that neither of them is in this business to make money. Rather, the two of them often lose money on shows. However, this scene is what’s given them, and most of the other frequent attendees, a sense of purpose
“I don’t mind losing. I expect to lose,” Valente said. “I do it ‘cause I love the music. It makes it so I can sleep at night.”
“Booking shows brought me out of my shell,” Asylum said. “I used to be so anti-social that people thought I was mute.”
Nevertheless, neither of them can afford to take $1,500 losses on shows that flop because no one comes out. Last month Valente booked the metalcore band Unearth to play Upstate Concert Hall. However, not nearly enough people showed up to cover the costs.
“I do my research. I was looking at how many kids Unearth was drawing on every other date of the tour and it was averaging between 300-400 each night. I thought I’d be able to get 200 kids easy,” Valente said. “There were barely 100 people in there.”
According to Asylum, metal shows cost roughly double what any hardcore show costs to put on. He said that the average cost for a hardcore show is about $1,000. However, with the recent lack of attendance even the smallest shows can be risky to put on. Therefore, Asylum and Valente have been passing on many offers solely because they don’t think they’ll be able to draw enough kids.
“We can put it together, but it’s up to you guys to decide what you want it to be,” Asylum said, addressing the room of intent listeners. He said that if people don’t come out then there’s going to continue to be less and less shows.
Taylor Blake, a 17-year-old show-goer and a freshman at UAlbany, was encouraging every member of the scene to share events and flyers just as much as Asylum and Valente do.
“It’s not fair to put it all on Dan and Mike. It’s up to us to promote as well,” she said. “We all have thousands and thousands of Facebook friends. We should be sharing all the events that we can in order to reach the people that Dan and Mike can’t.”
By the end of the meeting, the most agreed-upon ideas were that everyone should be flyering and sharing events on social media, trying their hardest to bring new people into the scene and make them feel welcome, and for there to be more shows consisting of only local bands. Valente, Asylum and the rest of the group were all hopeful that if those techniques were employed, the scene would begin to flourish once again.
“Albany always had the reputation for having a great scene. We need to bring that back and live up to that,” Asylum said.
“The scene doesn’t need to be saved,” Valente said. “Just educated.”
Southern flair washed the Westcott Theater in spicy fits of harmonica and blues guitar Sunday, Sept. 13. Carolyn Kelly Blues Band opened, the leading songstress demonstrating her powerful vocals for a mature, introspective crowd. Nearly every audience member was seated, either in the rows of collapsible chairs closer to the stage, or further back on the beer keg stools clustered around small bar tables. They sat quietly, listened thoughtfully and applauded graciously after each song. Kelly was joined by Terry Mulhauser (guitar), Don Sollars (drums), Jerry Neely (keyboard), Jim Pavente (bass), and special guest Skip Murphy on harmonica.
For their final number, Kelly announced, “It is Sunday so we’re gonna’ take it to church on this one,” then reaching deeply into her soul, bellowed a rich opening solo of “Amazing Grace” before the band joined in. The historically statuesque crowd came alive, feeling compelled to clap along to this final number, revved up by the intensity of the band’s performance.
Charlie Musselwhite and his musical crew including June Core (drums) Steve Froberg (bass) and Matt Stubbs (guitar), followed quickly after. Musselwhite attempted to warm up the crowd calling out “It’s so quiet in here. We got some blues in the house tonight,” as if reminding the audience they were permitted to be a little more rowdy. A spunky performance of “River Hip Mama” proved too irresistible for an older woman to the left of the technical booth as she whipped out her shiny iPad to snap a quick video. Musselwhite brandished an impressive set of pipes given his seniority in the blues scene, hitting every note like a pro.
Singing aside, Musselwhite’s harmonica maneuvers are largely what draw crowds. His masterful playing produced a sea of shrill pitches mixed with more mellow hums, delivering that thirst-quenching satisfaction blues harmonica offers fans. Stubbs’ blues-rock persona could have given the allusion both visually and sonically that he was the long-lost third member of the Black Keys. With greased, combed back hair, scruffy beard and sporting dark t-shirt and jeans, his heavier guitar riffs completed the allusion.
Musselwhite played with the crowd a little, prefacing “Stranger in a Strange Land” with the inspiration behind the song, which came from his experience as an eighteen-year-old looking for a factory job. He began, “A couple years ago when I was 18…” and the crowd chuckled. He continued, “Sometimes it still feels like I’m eighteen, though it’s fleeting.” Musselwhite vibed a mix of old wisdom and young charm, effortlessly switching between modest humor and sly sauciness.
“This year has been really rough,” Asylum said to the crowd of 30-40 people. “It seems that after Bogies closed a lot of people were displaced.”
Asylum and Valente embody the true spirit of hardcore and punk music in that neither of them is in this business to make money. Rather, the two of them often lose money on shows. However, this scene is what’s given them, and most of the other frequent attendees, a sense of purpose
