NYS Music 20​15

Category: Albany

  • Finale at The Palace Theatre: Umphrey’s McGee Closes Out Winter Tour in Albany

    As they closes out their Winter Tour, Umphrey’s McGee wrapped things up at The Palace Theatre on February 21 alongside TAUK, a great pairing of bands both rising and established. For the first time, Umphrey’s was brought to the Palace and out of the doldrums of Upstate Concert Hall, and finally, Jefferson Waful’s lights could properly shine and the band could show they could fill a theatre in Albany-proper.

    umphreys mcgee winter closercOpening up was the instrumental funk of TAUK, who only a year ago were playing Parish Public House to 100 or so fans. The growth of this band over the past year was remarkable and now a tour with Umphrey’s has only solidified their ascendance among the jam world. To cap the set, TAUKwas joined by Joel Cummins, Ryan Stasik and Andy Farag during “Mindshift”. TAUKis incredibly talented and worth seeing in any capacity.

    Umphrey’s dove in deep for their tour closer and resurfaced only briefly for air in what was an entire rocker of a show. After an introductory “Dump City” the relatively light “Piranhas” and heavier “Educated Guess” off Similar Skin mixed the set up early, as well a shredding “Atmosfarag”. A 14 minute “Plunger” was a clear highlight of the first set, dropping into an exploratory jam that segued into “Andy’s Last Beer”. The fluidity exhibited by Umphrey’s is one of their musical trademarks amid what some may perceive as musical chaos and overly complicated compositions; what they are missing is the core of this prog-rock jam band and soaring peaks and valleys of songs and jams that few bands can come close to replicating.

    “Wappy Sprayberry” with TAUK’s Alric Carter (keys) and Isaac Teel (drums) sitting in was a chance for these incredibly talented musicians to shine under a brighter spotlight. A clean segue into “Pay the Snucka” with a shredding ending capped a superior first set.

    An abbreviated “All in Time” opened up the second set, seguing into the lyrically and musically powerful “Hajimashite” which launched into a great expanse of a jam, one not seen too often in “Haji”. The jam that ensued worked off of Pink Floyd’s “Breathe” and dipped into the funk of “Day Nurse” accented by Joel Cummins’ airy synth framework.

    “Phil’s Farm” took some huge swings and had a great pay off, with a bonus of the drummer from local band moe., Vinny Amico, sitting in on drums. Working back into August and into the closing of “All in Time” made for a filling second set sandwich and capped off a monster set from start to finish. A big “Bad Friday” encore was the icing on Umphrey’s first ever performance at the historic Palace Theatre, a perfect venue for them for the foreseeable future.

    Set 1: Dump City, Piranhas, Educated Guess, Atmosfarag > Plunger > Andy’s Last Beer, The Weight Around, Wappy Sprayberry* > Pay the Snucka

    Set 2: All in Time > Hajimashite > Day Nurse, Ringo, Phil’s Farm^, August > All in Time

    Encore: Bad Friday

    * with Isaac Teel and Alric Carter of TAUK

    ^ with Vinny Amico of moe.

    Download the show on Archive.org or at UMLive.

    After the show was over, fans flooded Pearl Street looking for their late night fix and a sold out crowd found just that at The Hollow. With Mister F performing, friends stopped by for a few songs, including Joel Cummins’ sitting in next to Scott Hannay on “Answer the Dog”, and an extended “Vocoder” jam featuring Alric Carter and Isaac Teel of TAUK as well as Justin Henricks of Beau Sasser’s Escape Plan.

    Joel Cummins sitting in with Mister F @thehollowalbany #postumphreys #umphlove

    A video posted by pete mason (@phanart) on

  • JJ Grey and Mofro at The Egg

    The soul of the south warmed up Albany at The Egg on February 19 with JJ Grey and Mofro performing a riveting and inspired set of classic songs and new tracks from their new album Ol’ Glory, due out this month.

    Opening was The London Souls, now a duo, but still with a heavy sound that resembles a trio, even though the band didn’t seem to be as loud as they could have been. With a London rock sound and smooth blues base, they were augmented with the influence of The Beatles, The Guess Who, and especially Cream and The James Gang, particularly on the open-ended “Under Control” that closed their set.

    JJ Grey The EggJJ “50 shades of” Grey, with a slight twang in his voice from his Northern Florida home, where the accent fades a little, brought southern soul along with Mofro, a band that has been on the march for nearly 15 years and a perfect combination of forces. The stage was setup as an intimate room, inside another intimate room, The Hart Theater in The Egg Performing Arts Center. The lighting resembled a chandelier, a tapestry was the backdrop and floor and table lamps made it feel like JJ Grey and Mofro were performing in your own backyard. The band opened with “Hide & Seek” which had a hint of “Hush” by Deep Purple, followed a few songs later by the debut of “The Island,” a mellow and personal song off the upcoming release Ol’ Glory.

    “Brighter Days” displayed a building energy throughout which carried over in the back-to-back high power combo of “Orange Blossoms” and “Everything Good is Bad” to which the crowd roared with approval. The understated organ player Anthony Farrell shone on “Ho Cake” and “A Night to Remember,” the latter of which had hints of Bachmann Turner Overdrive.

    The encore was an expected “Lochloosa” starting with a dark stage and soul-filled organ and the band slowly assembling, and as Grey sang the opening line, the audience sang the second verse, knowing this heart and soul tune from 1100 miles away from its origin.

    JJ Grey and Mofro, The Egg – February 19, 2015

    Setlist: Hide & Seek, Every Minute, 99 Shades, The Island, Your Lady, Light a Candle, Brighter Days, Everything is a Song, Orange Blossoms > Everything Good is Bad, Slow Hot Sweaty, Ho Cake, Night to Remember

    Encore: Lochloosa, Ol’ Glory

    [FinalTilesGallery id=’86’]

  • Hard Soul to Celebrate Successful Kickstarter Campaign at The Hollow on Feb. 20

    Upstate New York rock band, Hard Soul, have successfully completed their Kickstarter campaign in raising over $12,000 to fund their latest EP, Fairer Shores and touring needs. The local Albany band had over 150 backer’s support them on this mission proving the dream of Rock n Roll is far from dead. Kickstarter is a crowd based, fund-raising site for creative projects that helped Hard Soul and millions of others reach goals from the help of friends and supporters.

    hardsoulfairershores

    “The outpouring of support from all the fans has been absolutely incredible and very humbling,” said Hard Soulfront-man Johnny Salka. “We’re beyond excited for the opportunity to hit the road and share our music in front of new faces and cities later this month.”

    Hard Soul consists of guitarists Johnny Salka, Steve Thompson and Nick Kossor, bassist Ryan Klaeysen, drummer Mark Podbielski, all contributing to vocals of original heartfelt lyrics. The band’s LP Heart of Plaster from 2014 grabbed regional attention as the Albany Times Union placed them on the “Best Records of the Year” list. The first single off their latest EP “The Sweetest Heart” was released on January 20th with a laid back music video. Fairer Shores drops on February 24th on CD and digital formats with limited-edition vinyls later this year.

    Hard Soul - press photo
    Eager to share their new music with loving fans, Hard Soul is kicking things off at The Hollow in Albany on Friday Feb. 20 where they will be opening for Frank Iero (formally of My Chemical Romance) to start their Winter Tour of Upstate NY and beyond. The show starts at 8pm with $15 in advance and $18 at the door. Get there early to support local music from Hard Soul as they bring their modern-day rock with vintage soul to Pearl St.

    [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA5ii70od30]

  • Photo Gallery: Moon Hooch and Ampevene at The Hollow

    Moon Hooch is an interesting concept – two saxophones (Mike Wilbur and Wenzi McGowen) and one drummer (James Muschler) combine energies to create a fusion of jazz and EDM with intensely high energy. Focused and committed to their craft, Moon Hooch are dialed in when they perform, driven by Muschler’s powerful drumming and phenomenal interplay between Wilbur and McGowan, leading to gyrating crowds pumping fists to the beat. “Number 9”, the first track off their eponymous debut album garnered an intense response from the audience, along with many other choice compositions.

    It will be interesting to see how their live performance translates at music festivals this summer. In the meantime, go see Moon Hooch on tour this winter. Opening the night was Ampevene, a new local act from Albany who are slowly gaining ground with their progressive rock with a hint of open ended jamming. The young band are not to be missed and will be back at The Hollow next month.

  • Southern Soul Arrives at The Egg with JJ Grey and Mofro on February 19

    JJ Grey & Mofro will perform at The Egg on Thursday, February 19 at 7:30 PM as part of the American Roots & Branches concert series. JJ Grey & Mofro’s blend of front porch soul, funk, R&B, blues, southern rock and down-home storytelling has made them a popular fixture on the American roots music scene for the past decade. The NYC-based band The London Souls, who draw inspiration from British bands such as Cream, The Beatles and The Hollies, will open the night.

    Tickets are $28 and are available at The Egg Box Office at the Empire State Plaza, by telephone 518-473-1845 or online at Theegg.org

  • Umphrey’s McGee to Play Syracuse, Albany This Week

    Umphrey’s McGee, the midwestern-based progressive jam rock band, will be playing shows in Syracuse and Albany on their current North American tour. The dates follow recent appearances at The Beacon Theater in New York City and The Paramount in Huntington, where reported on two consecutive nights of fantastic performances.

    The sextet’s first Upstate stop will be the Landmark Theatre in Syracuse on February 20. Tickets are on sale now, priced through Ticketmaster at $39.90. Umphrey’s will be supported by Long Island act, TAUK.

    The tour will make its way to Albany’s Palace Theatre the following evening. Tickets for the show can be purchased for $36.55. An official aftershow at the Hollow will feature local band, Mister F.

    While Umphrey’s McGee is known for its tight, high-energy live sets, the band’s latest studio release, Similar Skin, offers a genuine, accurate presentation of their signature sound. Getting to know the album is a helpful preface to seeing Umphrey’s live show; it can be streamed on Spotify or purchased on iTunes. Additionally, Umphrey’s surprised fans with a release of The London Session, recorded at the famed Abbey Road Studios in 12 hours time.

    Follow for upcoming coverage on both the Syracuse and Albany concerts on Twitter and Instagram.

  • Photo Gallery: Normal Instruments and Solaris at The Hollow, January 23

    Normal Instruments, a supergroup consisting of Jeff Bujak, Michael Carter from The Indobox, Jules Jenssen of Higher Organix, and Matt Beckett from Cosmic Dust Bunnies, are currently touring the Northeast on their fourth ever tour and pulled into Albany’s The Hollow Bar this past Friday night.

    A great two set show had a good crowd dancing all evening. Ithaca’s Solaris opened the show with an hour long set of instrumental electric fusion for their first area appearance in a long time. The whole evening gave Albany about three and a half hours to forget about the work week and start the weekend off right.

  • Looking at 25: An Interview with moe.’s Chuck Garvey on the Band’s Early Years

    moe. turns 25 this winter and continue to be one of the biggest acts to come out of Upstate New York and have a strong legacy and influence on bands following in their footsteps a generation later. Chuck Garvey, guitarist for moe., took some time to reminisce on the formative years of moe. in Buffalo and Albany, discuss relationships with 90s jam bands and the struggles the band had early on, something bands getting their start today can identify with.

    chuck garvey
    Photo by Tom Sgroi

    Pete Mason: Take us back to the first show you played as ‘Five Guys Named Moe’. What memories linger 25 years later?

    Chuck Garvey: For the first proper bar gig, we opened for a Buffalo band called Monkey Wrench at the dive-y bar called Broadway Joe’s that all the SUNY Buffalo area bands played. The guys in ‘Wrench are awesome dudes and even though we were different styles, neither of us cared. It was a bunch of their friends and a couple of ours in the “audience”, drinking cheep beer and soaking up the ambiance. We played a mix of covers and a couple of our own fledgling compositions and it was a lot of fun. After that, we just wanted to do more.

    PM: What did you enjoy the most from your time as a band in Buffalo? The least?

    CG: The good: Cheap beer, live music, unhealthy but yummy fried food with blue cheese, art, social fun and the summers.
    The bad: Lake effect snow and high wind without the possibility anything closing, crime, rodents, shifty landlords and their crappy properties.

    Photo by Tom Sgroi

    PM: How did playing the I-90 circuit as you were starting out contribute to the growth of the fan base and lead to larger gigs?

    CG: There are many small and large college towns that a band can play, helping to spread the word while honing a live set of music that people might actually like. We also traded gigs with other bands, slept on friend’s and stranger’s floors, generally making connections and trying to convert fans, one set at a time. Playing shows with bands like Monkey Wrench and Scary Chicken in Buffalo, as well as FreeBeerAndChicken and The Ominous Seapods from Albany was fun and we shared growing fan bases.

    PM: Why move to Albany after Buffalo? Why not look west or go right to New York City or Boston?

    CG: We planned on moving to the Greater New York Area, but only made it as far as Western Avenue in Albany. We knew people there and it was far less expensive, so we stayed for a while! This was also a time when we were beginning to tour all over the damn country, relentlessly, ruthlessly, so paying rent in NYC while living in a van and truck stops would have been a waste. Maybe that’s one thing we did correctly!

    chuck garvey
    Photo by Tom Sgroi

    PM: What were some of the biggest struggles and obstacles the band faced in the early years?

    CG: Poverty, cleanliness, good health, booking, keeping gas in the van, trying to not get ripped off – all the stuff that touring bands struggle with if they are paying dues.

    PM: How important was promoter Greg Bell when you came to Albany?

    CG: He was one of those guys that loved the music, loved to promote and hang out – a true music fan who helped us by being as interested as we were in the whole thing. He still does it for the right reasons. That kind of involvement is always the best. When you are a true fan and not just a businessman, people will listen a little more intently. That goes a long way whether you’re blogging, promoting, chatting with friends. Unsolicited advertising from a source that is trustworthy goes very far. Greg is like any good music fan: he wants to tell you about what he likes and get you into his new band, the new find, etc.

    chuck garvey
    Photo by Tom Sgroi

    S21PM: What did you enjoy the most from your time in Albany? The least?

    CG: Personally, I enjoyed it because I was near family. We had friends in town when we were not touring and we wrote & rehearsed a lot of music there. We were broke, but everything was simple and we were working really hard, so it felt good, regardless. The only thing I didn’t totally love was our house that the band, FOH engineer and Manager lived in. Parts of it were charming, then there was the waterfall of mold that came into the living room over a built in bookcase in the corner. It was so dark and weird that no one got into the house, even when we left the front door wide open for weeks while on the road.

    PM: How has the relationship you formed with Conehead Buddha in the 90s stayed strong over 20 years?

    CG: CB was a band that we knew – along with Yolk, Lynch and others – and kept contact with through Jim and Vinnie. Jim has played in bands with different assemblages of musicians, sometimes playing drums or bass, as he did with Lynch. Shannon and Terry have played with us for years. Greg Bell is also instrumental in keeping all of us musicians in touch by putting together great shows, as well as having laid the groundwork for our scene in the Albany area.

    PM: Was there any time early on that you wanted to call it quits?

    CG: Only when all our guitars were stolen in Columbus, Ohio. And when our van died on the way to a show at the Wetlands. And when we ran out of money trying to get home, stranded on the Thruway. And when some drunk whacko came into Broadway Joe’s with a gun. And when we almost wrecked and died in our camper trying to get to Chicago in the snow.

    Oh, wait. None of those things made me want to quit! Never!

    PM: Is there a chance we could see Ha Ha the Moose perform at Bellstock?

    CG: Is that an invitation? If they do come, they won’t leave till the cops come and the liquor’s gone.

    Chuck has previously written about the early history of moe., including lineup changes and events in the first decade of the band’s existence. Read more here and check out the rest of ‘s coverage on moe.’s 25th anniversary including reviews of Town Ballroom shows and Tropical Throe.down.

    Special thanks to Schultzy, AFF and Kyle for contributions to this interview.

    https://youtu.be/YIwLkvOZ-qA

  • 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

  • Interpol Announce 2015 Tour

    Interpol have announced a 2015 tour behind their latest album El Pintor. The album has garnered rave reviews from the music community and the band hit markets throughout the country as well as overseas in the fall of 2014.

    These dates also include make up dates for Boston and Montreal from the incredible snow storm that took place last November. Interpol will be hitting Prospect Park Bandshell in Brooklyn on  July 21 and then coming to Upstate Concert Hall in Clifton Park on July 29 to close out the tour. Tickets are on a pre-sale now through the band and go on public sale 10AM on Friday. All tour dates can be seen below.

    Interpol — 2015 Tour Dates

    Wed/Apr-8 – Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theatre

    Thu/Apr-9 – San Diego, CA – Humphreys

    Fri/Apr-10 – Indio, CA – Coachella

    Wed/Apr-15 – Las Vegas, NV – The Cosmopolitan

    Fri/Apr-17 – Indio, CA – Coachella

    Mon/Apr-20 – Reno, NV – Knitting Factory

    Tue/Apr-21 – San Francisco, CA – Warfield Theatre

    Thu/May-7 – Richmond, VA – The National

    Fri/May-8 – Raleigh,NC – The Ritz

    Sat/May-9 – Atlanta, GA – Shaky Knees Festival

    Mon/May-11 – St. Louis, MO – The Pageant

    Tue/May-12 – Indianapolis, IN – Egyptian Room

    Wed/May-13 – Detroit, MI – The Fillmore

    Fri/May-15 – Cincinnati, OH – Bogarts

    Sat/May-16 – Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE

    Mon/Jul-20 – Portland, ME – State Theatre

    Tue/Jul-21 – Brooklyn, NY – Prospect Park Bandshell

    Thu/Jul-23 – Boston, MA – House of Blues

    Fri/Jul-24 – Boston, MA – House of Blues

    Sat/Jul-25 – Philadelphia, PA – Festival Pier @ Penn’s Landing

    Mon/Jul-27 – Norfolk, VA – The NorVa

    Tue/Jul-28 – Washington, DC – Echostage

    Wed/Jul-29 – Albany, NY – Upstate Concert Hall

    Fri/Jul-31 – Montreal, QB – Metropolis