Assembly of Dust kicked off their pre-Thanksgiving run with a sold out show in Fairfield, CT at Stage One. Opening this evening was Dave Diamond Band. Assembly of Dust performs Saturday, November 21 at Flour City Station in Rochester and Sunday, November 22 at The Waiting Room in Buffalo.
Set 1: Fountain, Avenue of Giants, Weehawkin Ferry, Paul Henry, Vaulted Sky, Myth of Mine, Bus Driver, Arkansas Traveler, Mama Set 2: Valhalla, Sideways Train, Edges, Lost and Amazed, Second Song, Burned Down, Honest Hour, Stone Choir Encore: Straight, Bootleggers Advice
Progressive supergroup Jane Getter Premonition will head out on a brief tour in support of their new album On. The mid-December tour includes stops in Buffalo, Kingston and New York City.
Joining Jane Getter, who Guitar Player called “the fieriest fretboarding female ever to strap on a Stratocaster,” on tour will be Adam Holzman (Miles Davis, Steven Wilson) on keyboards, Alex Skolnick (Testament) on guitar, Stu Hamm (Joe Satriani, Steve Vai) on bass and John Mader (Steve Miller, Pat Benatar) on drums. The tour will kick off on Dec. 8 in Cleveland, Ohio and end with two shows on Dec. 16 in New York City.
Commenting on the tour, Getter said in a press release, “We will be playing the exciting and hard hitting music from our newly released album, On, on Madfish Music, along with a few older hits from Three and See Jane Run. Get ready for some intense jams!”
From the press release:
Guitarist and composer Jane Getter has played with many jazz and rock greats while garnering increasing recognition as a bandleader, gifted writer and instrumentalist. Early in her career she toured with legendary jazz/blues organist Brother Jack McDuff. Her composing talents received attention when she won the ASCAP Gershwin Award for Music for Dance or Theatre in the mid 90’s. Her debut CD, Jane, in 1998 received worldwide critical acclaim and the 2006 follow up, See Jane Run, was released on Alternity Records (home of Allan Holdsworth). In 2012 she released the progressive jazz/rock album, Three. Getter also received widespread exposure playing in the Saturday Night Live Band.
Assembly of Dust heads out on a four show trek from Connecticut to Western New York shortly before Thanksgiving and have a new live release in the works.
The unique sound of Assembly of Dust draws on influences including Neil Young, The Band, Traffic and other 70s rock acts, forming an acoustic panoply with deep lyrics, catchy hooks with a groove to the sound. USA Today has said Assembly of Dust has what it takes to “dazzle the Alt-Country universe,” but seeing the live performance is what makes AOD stand out among the folk/Americana acts of today.
Featuring Reid Genauer (vocals, guitar), Adam Terrell (lead guitar, vocals), John Leccese (bass, vocals), Jason Crosby (keys, violin, vocals) and Dave Diamond (drums, vocals), the short tour begins on Thursday, November 19 at Fairfield Theatre Company in Fairfield, CT and continues on Friday November 20 at The Westcott Theater in Syracuse, NY, Saturday November 21 at Flour City Station in Rochester, NY and wraps up Sunday November 22 at The Waiting Room in Buffalo, NY. For more info, visit AODust.com.
Assembly of Dust is also in the process of releasing a digital download of their December 12, 2014 Portland, OR show at Mississippi Studios. The show features special guest, Mark Karan of RatDog, adding a great dynamic to the AOD sound.
In January, forces collide when members of Assembly of Dust, Strangefolk and God Street Wine unite for Assembly of Strange Wine at The Capitol Theatre in Portchester, NY on January 15 and on January 16 at The Paradise in Boston. Each show will feature separate sets from each band with a mash up set at the end of the show. Tickets are on sale now.
Better news for fans of Bad Brains. Gary “Dr. Know” Miller, guitarist for the seminal D.C. hardcore band, was admitted to the hospital on November 3 in critical condition and placed on life support. On Tuesday, the band announced through its Facebook page that Miller is no longer considered critical but remains under the watchful eye of doctors. The nature of Miller’s illness has not been disclosed and the family has asked for privacy as he heals.
The Family of Gary (Dr. Know) Miller and the entire Bad Brains family would like to thank everyone for their well…
Good will and PMA (Positive Mental Attitude, a mantra of Bad Brains) are flooding social media for Miller’s continued improvement. Mickey Melchiondo of Ween posted on his Facebook: “Pray for him, or at least smoke a huge spliff and keep him in your thoughts.” And Corey Glover, lead singer of Living Colour and devotee of Bad Brains, wrote, “Sending #PMA healing vibes, and positive energy to #DrKnow of #BadBrains — I urge you to do the same.”
Bad Brains was formed in Washington, D.C. in 1977 and quickly rose to prominence in the hardcore scene. The band incorporated elements of punk, hardcore, jazz and reggae into their sound to create a unique style of music that became hugely influential to not only black musicians looking to break into the hardcore scene, but all punk in general. The band was prominently featured in Dave Grohl’s HBO documentary Sonic Highwaysalongside Fugazi/Minor Threat leader Ian MacKaye.
Ray Paczkowski, the bearded, bespectacled Vermonter behind the keys in Trey Anastasio Band, and is a hard man to track down. Having first played with TAB in the summer of 2001, ‘The Milkman” has been a staple of Stage Left, holding down the organ, clavinet and keys and adding funk to the well-rounded sound of Anastasio’s side-project.
Paczkowski is also one half of the duo Soule Monde, alongside drummer Russ Lawton, whose funk blend infuses jazz elements and Brazilian and World music themes for a full bodied sound.
Currently on Fall Tour with Trey Anastasio Band, Paczkowski and drummer Russ Lawton recently released a new EP, Smashed World. This June at a music festival in the Berkshires, Ray found time to sit down and have a conversation with NYS Music about his music.
Pete Mason: How did you get your name “Milkman?”
Ray Paczkowski: I worked on a dairy farm for 10-12 years when I was first in Vermont, doing gigs and milking cows. Trey always thought that was funny.
PM: When did you first start playing piano?
RP: I took piano lessons as a kid and started playing out in various projects. I always wanted to just play piano but you can’t haul a piano around, and digital pianos I just hated. Then I started hearing Jimmy Smith, (John) Medeski, and those guys and the sounds that they were getting out of that instrument, it was just so cool and I found that the Hammond has the same quality as a piano and everyone is different and every night there’s some kid of sound that pops out and that’s when I started doing it. A guy I worked with had a Hammond and just said take it.
PM: When was this?
RP: Early ’90s
PM: How did you get on Trey’s radar along with the Vermont musicians that have made up Trey Anastasio Band, particularly on your first tour in Summer 2001 with fellow Vermonters Jennifer Hartswick, Dave Grippo and Andy Moroz?
RP: I was in a band for a long time called Viperhouse and the lead singer, Heloise Williams, did some work with Trey, and we were kind of on a similar circuit, Phish had just started taking off, like we would be playing a club and they’d be next door in the arena. We would see them all the time, it’s Burlington, it’s a small musical community. I would play with Vorcza, a jazz trio and Trey would come listen to it and when he decided to put a band together, he asked me to do it.
PM: What was that first meeting like?
RP: We were doing a gig with Viperhouse in Winston-Salem, NC at Ziggy’s and they were playing next door in the arena. We went over to their show, they came over afterwards and he mentioned that he was thinking of putting a band together and said if I was ever interested and I said ‘Yeah’, but never really thought about it after that. A year later he showed up at a gig I was playing and asked me to do it. I thought about it for like five minutes and said ‘yes’ (laughs).
PM: What were those first shows like for you on the Summer 2001 TAB tour?
RP: It was at a whole other level with bigger shows, a full crew, and it was kind of bewildering going from just driving around in a van to a full scale operation. It was really fun with such a big band, and at that time I was playing in a trio and they had a much smaller sound, so fitting into that thing (with TAB) it was interesting, it was really cool. It was more orchestrated, I don’t know what the word would be exactly. I liked everyone and the music was great.
PM: Did you and drummer Russ Lawton know each other before playing together in Trey Anastasio Band?
RP: We had met here and there but I only knew him as a drummer. I didn’t meet him until we were playing together.
PM: So Soule Monde formed directly out of TAB?
RP: Yup.
PM: What were you seeking to create with the side project?
RP: I live in Vermont and Russ and his family had just moved here, and they were in the next town over. He called me up one day and said “I know this place that has a Hammond organ, let’s go there and make some shit up.” So we did, just kind of went from there. That was maybe 2008 or so.
PM: One of your first shows was a late night show in a cabin at StrangeCreek Campout. It was an unknown performance, knowing that two musicians in TAB were performing under the name Soule Monde, making for an intimate performance.
RP: I remember that, that was one of the first shows. We would just play at this place in Vermont and just make shit up.
PM: And now you’ve gotten to the point where you have songs and a wide array of compositions, have released one self-titled album and plan to release a new album this fall (the recently released Smashed World)
RP: Yeah we’re at a ‘one album every three years’ pace these days.
RP: It was just kind of random, we were driving to New York and I thought ‘Let’s call Trey, see if he’s around and wants to come to the show.’ We thought maybe we’d see him and hang out a little bit. He said “Mind if I bring my guitar?” I’m never one to ask, ‘Hey, come sit in with us?’ so he came down and played the whole second set. It was great!
PM: How has Soule Monde been on tour and the audience response over the past few years?
RP: We don’t travel much, do a lot of local stuff, like Disc Jam, that has a close range to Vermont, but the response has been good all around. With the new album, we’re trying to push it up to the next level, whatever that might be. It’s been really good and people are coming out. I think that not many people know the name Soule Monde, who or what it is. It’s really a factor of just hammering on the name even though we’re not on the road a lot, months out of the year.
PM: You and Russ being out of Vermont and knowing the local scene, and even the more rural areas, are there any musicians in Vermont that people should know about?
RP: I know a lot of players that are involved in various things, from folk type stuff to soul. I know a lot of musicians, but not so much the bands they are in. There’s a lot of good shit coming out of Vermont.
PM: Is there any music that you are listening to right now that is catching your ear?
RP: I have a 15 year old daughter and she turns me onto all this electronic type stuff.
PM: There must be an interesting connection between that genre and playing keys.
RP: It’s a cool genre, I don’t know that much about it. As far as listening to music, I’m a radio guy. When I’m traveling around, I’ll scan through things and if you’re in any area with college radio, you’ll get this weird stuff and find some new music.
Well, Disco Biscuit fans, it looks like Camp Bisco will for sure not be returning to Schenectady County anytime soon as the permit saga drags on.
On Oct. 28, state Supreme Court Justice Vincent Reilly Jr. deemed the county’s ruling and safety issues raised as valid reasons for permit denial, as reported by Times Union. The summer event had been planned for a July 15 through 19 revival at Indian Lookout Country Club in Mariaville, where the three-day festival was held for seven consecutive years; however, the application for a mass-gathering permit was rejected by the county with major opposition from its sheriff.
This news continues a chain of events that has plagued Bisco since its 2014 hiatus, regarding safety concerns with transportation, emergency plans and insurance coverage, plus the festival’s failure to create a zero-tolerance drug policy. But the EDM-focused concert did return this summer with a venue change; Bisco 13 went off without a hitch at Montage Mountain in Scranton last July, and NYS Music contributor Jimmy Chambers reported on its success in his glowing review of the festival (revisit Camp Bisco here).
While the Philadelphia-based band has yet to announce plans for Bisco 2016, hang tight and take a look back at Camp Bisco 13 with the recently released aftermovie.
If pop-culture critic Chuck Klosterman taught us anything from his memoir Fargo Rock City, it’s that Midwesterners love their metal. And one Munster, Indiana, company has been making new noise for the hard-fast-and-heavy genre by crafting special-release beers in concert with favorite metal groups.
Three Floyds Brewing Company, whose coveted Citra-forward American Pale Ale Zombie Dust holds a steady Top 20 Beer Advocate rating, started hosting its annual beer-and-metal festival 12 years ago to showcase rising bands and release its “demonic” Russian imperial stout bearing the same moniker as the once-a-year event, Dark Lord Day. And in 2010, the metal-friendly brewery began collaborating with groups like Pelican (The Creeper Doppelbock), Pig Destroyer (Permanent Funeral Pale Ale) and Municipal Waste (Toxic Revolution Stout) to create limited-batch brews; Three Floyds‘ latest victim is Buffalo-spawned death metal vets Cannibal Corpse.
On Oct. 14, the brewing company announced through its Facebook page that Amber Smashed Face—a play on the band’s Hammer Smashed Face (1993) album—would soon be released. The brewery describes the beer as “an aggressively hopped American Amber Ale sure to crush your skull and liquefy your brain.” Sounds like every metalhead and beer nerd’s wet-hopped dream.
For a brewery that aims to cook up “intense” beer labeled with Vince Locke’s gore-obsessed artwork and a band whose graphic lyrics of blood and carnage spill across its 27-year catalog, one can only believe it’s the perfect pairing—plus, it’s fun to fantasize about the grotesque tasting notes if life were to truly imitate art. Think: a malty base of crushed bone and blood broth with juicy notes of worm and maggot pulp that finishes with a heavy mouth feel and the nose smells a bit of dead flesh, like a “Rotting Head,” a “brain turned to soup, ears are dripping goop” for fans—err, zombies—to drink up.
Vince Locke gave fans a sneak peak of the label art on his Instagram account:
Cannibal Corpse is currently on tour in support of A Skeletal Domain—the bands’ lucky-number-13 studio release—with one nearby stop in Pittsburgh on Nov. 3. The 12-track album, produced by Mark Lewis (The Black Dahlia Murder, DevilDriver) at Audio Hammer Studios in Florida, where Cannibal Corpse is now based, debuted at number 32 on Billboard’s Top 200 chart during its first week, and ASD remains as the band’s highest-charting record to date. We’ll raise our skull chalice to that.
The latest from keyboardist Ray Paczkowski and drummer Russ Lawton‘s funk duo Soule Monde is a short, but well worth your time, EP, Smashed World, with five tracks to cover a wide range of funk.
Smashed World features two live tracks. “Allah Uya” breaks from Soule Monde’s usual drum/organ duo featuring Mihali Savoulidis (Twiddle) on guitar. The song starts out with a light, bouncy feel that gradually gets heavier as the three play it out. “Tango,” the other live track, starts out very organ heavy, reminiscent of Garth Hudson’s organ work with The Band. It then moves into a steady groove with an Eastern European feel to it.
The three studio tracks couldn’t be more different from each other. “Influence” is a jazzy number that features some great interplay between Paczkowski and Lawton with both taking the lead at various points. “Must Be Nice” starts out with a slow funk tempo that gradually evolves into a dirty, danceable groove, keeping that slow funk. Finally, their funky cover of ZZ Top’s “La Grange” closes out the EP.
The theme behind Smashed World, as with much of Soule Monde’s work, is funk and more funk. The close relationship between Paczkowski and Lawton is evident throughout. They are masters at listening to each other and then building off the other’s work. Paczkowski’s organ fills out the sound, giving the songs a full band feel, while Lawton’s drumming is not simply there to keep the rhythm. Fans of funk and jazz would enjoy this EP.
Paczkowski and Lawton are currently on tour with the Trey Anastasio Band. Soule Monde will be opening for Twiddle on New Year’s Eve at Higher Ground in South Burlington, Vermont. Tickets are still available.
Thursday night in Burlington, Young the Giant healed some broken hearts by more than making up for their February 12 show cancellation at Higher Ground. Their sold out October 22 show was not only their tour kick-off show, but also their make up date for that cancellation in February. Much to the delight of many, all tickets from the previous date were honored. This was one crowd that were elated to find out that Young the Giant are good for their word.
Wildling opened up the night with a solid set and jubilant tone. Talking to the crowd about their excitement to be on the road with Young the Giant, after only being a band themselves for a year’s time, before launching into a unique cover of Neil Young’s classic, “Heart of Gold.” Their sound is easy to digest but interesting enough to keep you actively listening. “Hummingbird”, an early single, is especially catchy with a powerful tribal beat. Overall, I was reminded of bands like Band of Horses and Kings of Leon, neither of which is a bad thing for a young band to be compared to. Gauging by the audience’s response throughout their set, Wildling was the perfect choice for support on this tour.
The electricity that could be felt in the crowd right before Young the Giant took the stage was palpable. Anticipation gave way to euphoria as the band exploded onto the stage, with fans transfixed on the band from the first note. Never has there been a more welcomed sequined jacket in the lives of concert goers, than the one worn by frontman, Sameer Gadhia. He was a literal light on stage; a bouncing ball of reflective kinetic energy, with a voice that became the heartbeats of hundreds of people. Sameer spoke to the audience between songs more than once, about the bands gratitude and appreciation of their fans, thanking them for their support and reiterating that he really means it, from his soul. He even encouraged fans to stop them and talk to them after the show because, as he put it, “we’re all just people”. Those moments really seem to set the tone for the show, making it feel less like indie rock band royalty and their fans, but more like a community of music lovers, all in it for the same thing.
Over their roughly 90 minute set, Young the Giant covered a wide range of material from both their self titled album, and Mind Over Matter, with their monstrously successful 2011 single, “Cough Syrup”, the clear crowd favorite. During that song, everyone in Higher Ground was singing outloud, and can you blame them? That song launched a brightly defined career for 5 gracious musicians from Irvine, California.
Trace Adkins brought country music back to the Harford Fair in New Milford, PA, after the Fair’s year hiatus of having a national act headline the main stage. Not even the steady downpour of rain could dampen anyone’s excitement at the Fairgrounds.
Fair attendants were on hand giving paper towels to the crowd as they entered the venue so their seats could be a little less soggy. The drab weather had the majority of people decked out in ponchos, rain coats and rain boots instead of the normal cowboy hat and boot attire. But the harder it rained the more excited the crowd seemed to get before Trace took the stage.
With a slight break in the short rain the house lights went out and Adkins took the stage slightly ahead of schedule and came singing his hit “No Thinking Thing”. His presence on stage seemed to make everyone, especially the ladies in the audience forget about how soggy their shoes and socks were from the wet ground beneath them. Some people were worried that Adkins rough past few months would reflect at his show but as soon as he hit the stage you could tell that Adkins was back and happy as ever. Adkins face wore nothing but a bright smile and had a genuinely happy light in his eyes. Once people saw this they knew he wouldn’t disappoint.
Adkins kept going and went straight into the meat of his setlist performing “Songs About Me,” “This Ain’t No Love Song,” “Marry For Money” and “Chrome.” He then slowed it down and took a minute to tell a story about his hit “You’re Going To Miss This.” He explained that he had to buy a new suit because of the song to wear to the Grammy’s and jokingly said unfortunately some ‘Swift girl’ won instead of him. Adkins kept the stories going with his 20 year old song “There’s A Girl In Texas.” He explained that he just had started rotating the song back into shows again and that it was the first writing assignment he ever did with a label.
Before going back into his setlist of hits, Adkins sang a new song called “Between Jesus and Jones” from his upcoming album. This song was fantastic and is hopefully an example of the direction his new album will go in.
Adkins rounded out his setlist with “Every Light In The House,” “Big Time,” “One Hot Momma” and “Ladies Love Country Boys.” Before departing he let his hair down from his ponytail and sang a cover of “Every Time You Go Away” with his backup singer Mary Ann Grace. He then proceeded to end his set with his notorious number one single “Honkey Tonk Badonkadonk.”
Trace Adkins didn’t leave one unsatisfied person in the audience. Everyone from the front row all the way back to the grandstand seemed happy with his performance.
His tour continues through the fall and includes another visit to NEPA on November 13, 2015 at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Wilkes-Barre, PA.
Three Floyds Brewing Company, whose coveted Citra-forward American Pale Ale Zombie Dust holds a steady Top 20 Beer Advocate rating, started hosting its annual beer-and-metal festival 12 years ago to showcase rising bands and release its “demonic” Russian imperial stout bearing the same moniker as the once-a-year event, Dark Lord Day. And in 2010, the metal-friendly brewery began collaborating with groups like Pelican (The Creeper Doppelbock), Pig Destroyer (Permanent Funeral Pale Ale) and Municipal Waste (Toxic Revolution Stout) to create limited-batch brews; 
For a brewery that aims to cook up “intense” beer labeled with Vince Locke’s gore-obsessed artwork and a band whose graphic lyrics of blood and carnage spill across its 27-year catalog, one can only believe it’s the perfect pairing—plus, it’s fun to fantasize about the grotesque tasting notes if life were to truly imitate art. Think: a malty base of crushed bone and blood broth with juicy notes of worm and maggot pulp that finishes with a heavy mouth feel and the nose smells a bit of dead flesh, like a “Rotting Head,” a “brain turned to soup, ears are dripping goop” for fans—err, zombies—to drink up.
The latest from keyboardist 
Wildling
Trace Adkins brought country music back to the Harford Fair in New Milford, PA, after the Fair’s year hiatus of having a national act headline the main stage. Not even the steady downpour of rain could dampen anyone’s excitement at the 