NYS Music 20​15

Category: Regions

  • Wild Adriatic to Play Bonnaroo

    It’s not everyday that an Upstate New York band has a chance to play Bonnaroo, but Wild Adriatic are getting just that opportunity.

    Over the past few weeks the band has been apart of a “March Madness” style tournament through Sonic Bids to get the most votes for the opportunity to play the festival. Winning in the first four rounds against bands throughout the country by 74%, 65%, 66%, and 64% respectively they were onto the final round of voting to decide which bands would be playing Bonnaroo. Winning with 55% of the vote in the semi-finals, Mateo, Travis, and Rich pulled out the victory and were officially awarded a slot at the prestigious festival. Happening from June 11 to 14, Bonnaroo will include Billy Joel, Mumford and Sons, Kendrick Lamar, Robert Plant, and many others. Wild Adriatic is psyched to be able to play the festival and represent Upstate New York. Their next area show will be taking place at Vapor in Saratoga Springs on April 18 celebrating their new EP Never Enough.

    [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_R6VZny1kE]

    Update:

    In the final round of voting to see who would be crowned number 1 overall, Wild Adriatic took it with 69% of the votes to win the entire tournament. Congratulations are sent out to Mateo, Rich, and Travis on a job well done!

  • Pigeons Playing Ping Pong at Brooklyn Bowl: The Birds Are April Fools

    “Thanks so much” was the only words the Pigeons Playing Ping Pong uttered as the took the stage at Brooklyn Bowl before turning back and walking off. The band is Greg Ormont (vocals, rhythm guitar), Jeremy Schon (guitar, vocals), Ben Carrey (bass, vocals), and Alex Petropulos (drums). Known for their funk sound, tight jams, and goofy on-stage antics, certainly had something up their sleeves for this April Fools Day show. They returned back on stage to open the set with what played out to be the encore, “G Chord Explosion” rocked right out of the gate and played through with the intensity any show closer should, finishing off with Petropulos pounding his drum kit and another “Thanks Boston” from Carrey before the band walked off stage one more time to resounding boos from the NYC crowd. After the gag was over PPPP returned to bring us the type of show you would expect given the bands rising popularity, the upbeat “Time To Ride” highlighted Ormont’s unique vocals before breaking into “Burning Up My Time>Tubthumping>Burning Up My Time” while the 1997 Chumbawamba cover incited equal parts dance moves and chuckles from the crowd, it was reminiscent of Tom Marshall on vocals when Phish covered the tune at the Hampton Coliseum 11/21/98, and to bring things full circle Schon was sporting his best 1998 Mike Gordon shaggy haircut.

    PPPP kept the upbeat jams going with “Live It Up” before being joined on stage by local 24-year-old amazing talent Kyla Moscovich (trumpet, PitchBlk Brass Band) for “Whoopie”, Moscovich laid down brassy solos intertwined with Ormont and Schon battling it out with guitar riffs. “Penguins>Funkijam>Upfunk” was punctuated by a lengthy drum solo by Petropulos, and for “Whirled” Matty Carl (sax, Schwizz) joined in on the fun. PPPP followed by playing “Walk Outside” sandwiched around Carl Douglas’s “Kung Fu Fighting”. The second set was brought to a close with “Julia” a break from the bands usual funky beats to provide more of a Calypso sound. For an encore PPPP returned back to their funk-jam roots for the show closing “Cliffs”. You can catch the Pigeons Playing Ping Pong for three nights at their own music festival, DomeFest, May 28-30 at Trip’s Farm in Terra Alta, WV. Tickets can be purchased here.

    4/01/2015 @ Brooklyn Bowl (Brooklyn, NY)

    Set 1: G chord explosion#, Time To Ride> Burning Up My Time>Tubthumping>Burning Up My Time, Live It Up, Whoopie^, Penguins>Funkijam>Upfunk%, Whirled*, Walk Outside>Kung Fu Fighting>Walk Outside, Julia

    Encore: Cliffs+

    Notes:

    # Chord explosion followed by a “Thank You” and ending hits, walked off stage as if end of the show

    ^ w/Kyla Moscovich on trumpet

    % w/drum solo

    * w/Matty Carl (ShwizZ) on sax

    + w/April Fools day lyrics

    [FinalTilesGallery id=’142′]

  • Shana Falana Start Their Tour on Fire

    Shana Falana who are releasing a fantastic album next week started their tour in support of it at Albany’s The Low Beat.

    Starting off the evening was local duo Moon Magick. With hauntingly beautiful vocals from Laura as well as some keyboard work and endlessly looping guitar work from Phil, the duo set the stage for the evening. Their set up was minimal and the music relaxed everyone into the long evening. Next up was Eternal Crimes who woke up the crowd with their version of English Punk via outer space. The band had a great light show to go along with their distorted vocals that pushed them towards psychedelia as the set continued on. Then despite some early sound issues, a packed house got the chance to witness Shana Falana’s new songs out in the open for the first time. Looping vocals underneath Shana’s beautiful voice merged with her ferocious guitar playing and were pushed along by Mike Amari’s drumming. Video in the background was a great way to make the evening feel like an art show with music at times, which suits the band perfectly. Catch them out on tour throughout the United States this spring.

  • UPDATED: Darien Lake Concert Series 2015

    As the weather begins to heat up, so does the line up at the upcoming 2015 Summer Concert Series at Darien Lake. With still more announcements to come, some of todays hottest rock, pop, and country bands will join legends as they make their way through Central New York. Stay tune as NYS Music brings to you the latest on announcements as they are made.

    All Darien shows include free parking. Concert goers can also opt for an upgraded ticket that includes all day admission to the amusement park.

    Concerts In-Park (Free with park admission)

    May 23 – Debby Ryan & The Never Ending
    June 13 – Jake Miller
    June 27 – Shawn Mendes

    Darien Lake Performing Arts Center 2015 concert series

    July 11 – Toby Keith
    July 12 – Def Leppard
    July 15 – Warped Tour
    July 21 – Kelly Clarkson
    July 29 – Slipknot
    July 30 – Tim McGraw
    Aug. 4 – Kid Rock
    Aug. 6 – Zac Brown Band
    Aug. 7 – Nickelback
    Aug. 8 – Florida Georgia Line
    Aug. 13 – Jason Aldean
    Aug. 21 – Darius Rucker
    Aug. 25 – Van Halen – Just Added
    Aug. 29 – Rascall Flatts
    Sep. 3-4 – Luke Bryan

  • Sprocket at Fontana’s Bar: The NYC Jam Scene’s Best Kept Secret

    On a Saturday night in New York City your music choices seem to be endless. Do I go see Galactic at Best Buy? Budos Band at Brooklyn Bowl? Or do you go see Sprocket? One of NYC’s fasted rising jam bands, Sprocket is a classic four piece featuring Thomas Thompkins (guitar), Dan Haller (bass), Nate Rosler (drums), and Angelo Milliano (keyboards). Sprocket came out jamming on the melodic original tune “What You Heard,” before tearing into “Headway” off their 2014 debut album Tropical Bushwick. The title track off of their album “Tropical Bushwick” begins as a classically composed song before breaking out into funky upbeat jam.

    sprocketSprocket jumped into a full blown jam segueing from originals “Shroud > POW” before breaking out their first cover of the night Phish’s “Wombat” which lived in a space between a tease and a jam before completing the unfinished “Shroud.” Haller and Milliano took the lead on Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright” before Rosler drove the set to a close with “Womp” another Sprocket penned track. For an encore the band pulled one more selection off of Tropical Bushwick the hard rocking “Trucks” brought the night to a close and left the crowd wanting more. You can see Sprocket next at Brooklyn Bowl April 21 or in Chicago on July 4 at the Hard Rock.

    Tickets available for both shows, 4/21 Brooklyn Bowl here and for 7/4 Hard Rock Chicago here.

    Setlist:  What You Heard, Headway, Tropical Bushwick, Shroud > POW > Wombat >Shroud, Don’t Think Twice > Womp

    Encore: Trucks

  • Seplophile: Breathing New Life Into Death Metal

    At some point over the last few decades, the foundation of death metal began to crack, and through these cracks came a flood of sub-genres, such as, ‘deathcore‘, ‘melodic death’, ‘progressive/tech death’, etc. This made a lot of traditional death metal fans feel as though their beloved genre was turning into a faraway thing. With a slew of  bands manifesting themselves under these new and now prevalent classifications, it’s no wonder that a solid band of talented guys, dedicated to going back to death metal’s roots would gain some serious attention. The band is called Seplophile and they’ve spent the last few years making waves in the name of death metal.

    Their debut album Mesonoxian is a true testament to what the band stands for and any death metal veteran would have to agree. It was released in February of 2013 on Butchered Records and is still regarded by most scene supporters as one of the best heavy metal albums to come from a Buffalo local in years. The band is comprised of Shawn Gomez (From This Day) on bass, Matt Backlas on guitar, Greg DiPasquale (Sons of Azrael, Herod) on guitar, Allen Malkiewicz (From This Day) on drums, and Colin Winkelman on vocals.

    SEP1

    While still playing the occasional show, they are currently in the process of writing their greatly anticipated second album. They’ll also be playing with New York death metal legends Incantation at Broadway Joe’s on Sunday, April 26. Also gracing the stage that night will be Rochester’s Order of the Dead and Buffalo thrash legends Hellcannon.

    So, if you haven’t checked out Seplophile yet, and you’ve been yearning for a heavy dose of death, the likes of which would appease Chuck Schuldiner (Death, Control Denied), take a listen to the track below and watch them perform with Incantation in just a few weeks!

  • This Is Hardcore Festival Lineup Officially Announced

    This week the official lineup for This Is Hardcore Festival in Philadelphia, PA was announced.  Once again it will be held at the Union Transfer on July 23 and at the Electric Factory on July 24-26.

    Tickets go on sale Friday April 3 at 12PM EST and can be purchased here.

    tihc2015_lineup1

    This Lineup in alphabetical order is as follows:

    Absolute Suffering, All Out War, American Nightmare, Bane (last TIHC appearance), Biohazard, Blistered, BreakAway, Chokehold (Reunion), Code Orange, CroMags, Cruel Hand, Defeater, Disengage, Eternal Sleep, The Exploited, Foreseen (Finland), Foundation, Fuck You Pay Me, The Geeks (Korea), H2O (20th Anniversary show), Homewrecker, Killing Time, Lifeless, Malice At the Palace, Mindset, the Misfits (playing Earth AD in its entirety), Morning Again, Nails, Negative Approach, Power Trip, Reach the Sky, Rival Mob, Sand (Japan), Slapshot, Snapcase, Suburban Scum, The Suicide File, Time Bomb, True Love, Turnstile, Twitching Tongues, Wisdom In Chains, and Xibalba

    This should be a VERY exciting and dangerous show.  Again if you are coming from anywhere in New York, do not wear any New York sports gear. You’ve been warned. But have fun and be careful!

    What do you think of this years lineup?  Sound off in the comment section below.

  • FESTY NEWS: MAYFest to Debut in NY Memorial Day Weekend

    The organizers of the ever popular Catskill Chill festival and the folks at Skybaby Yoga & Pilates have announced a brand new festival to take place May 22-24 at Surprise Lake Camp in Cold Spring NY. MAYfest – whose acronym refers to Music Arts and Yoga – will be family friendly and offer a variety of choices among the three themes.  The days of the fest will be focused on art and yoga workshops with much of the music happening in the afternoon well into the late night. Kids will have a ton of fun options including arts, crafts, a basketball court, board games and a chaperoned late night movie slumber party – allowing parents to have some alone time grooving to the tunes.

    Consider The Source 4

    Full weekend early bird passes are available now for $175 and include free camping and parking. Meal plans and on-site cabin rentals are also available for an additional cost. If you’re not the camping sort – single day passes are also for sale.

    Check the full eclectic and outstanding lineup below.

    MUSICAL PERFORMANCES BY:

    MC YOGI
    Nahko & Medicine for the People
    DJ Drez and Marti Nikko
    DJ Hyfi
    Red Baraat
    Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds
    Ryan Montbleau
    Consider the Source
    The Primate Fiasco
    Natalie Cressman
    The Funky Dawgz Brass Band
    The Brummy Brothers
    The Breakneck Boys
    Tall County
    Natalie Forteza

    CLASSES BY:

    Amanda Giacomini
    Ashika Gogna
    Bettina Utz
    Dani Locastro
    DJ Drez
    John Smrtic
    Julian Paik
    Justin Wolfer
    Kate Perna
    Kelly Kamm
    Linda Winnick
    Marti Nikko
    Martina Enschede
    Mary Mashburn
    Melia Marzollo
    MC YOGI
    Nadiya Nottingham
    Olgu Merandy
    Sadie Nardini
    Sondra Loring
    Vanessa Alfano

    ART WORKSHOPS BY:

    Robert Sturman – The Garrison Art Center

    ALSO FEATURING:

    Adrienne Goss
    Bradford Teasdale
    Jesse Merandy
    Jonathan Kruk
    Kelley Amadei of Sparkshift
    Maeve Eng-Wong
    SkyBaby Restorative Rhythms Ensemble
    Suzi Tortora

  • Jam Jar at Brooklyn Bowl with Formula 5 and Friends

    Never miss a Sunday Show. Especially when Sunflower and the Seeds is opening at Brooklyn Bowl’s Jam Jar. It appears this seven-piece rock band from New Jersey gets tighter each time they play together and on this particular Sunday, the lucky seven’s seemed to be rolling. The band is comprised of Kyra “Sunflower” Schenck (vocals/acoustic guitar), Brittany Beckett (vocals), Victor Cornette (guitar), Karlee Bloom (keyboards), Joe Harris (bass), and Joe “Big Daddy” Huster (drums).

    They kicked things off with “Sweet E” and “Trippin” that really showcased Schenk’s great pipes and Cornette’s fast paced guitar play. Beckett accompanied Schenk on the lead for an ensemble rendition of The Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Natalie Cressman (trombone, TAB) joined on stage for S&TS’s “Back Home” which was highlighted by a length and pungent solo. The band never lost a step and charged through “Harvest” > “Texar” with the same high octane spirit they had carried so far before being joined once again on stage by Cressman for a cover of The Who’s “Eminence Front” before the band rounded out the set with one more original tune “Moving.”

    Jam JarTweed brought their high energy, livetronica sound from Philadelphia for a set of multi-layered, psychedelic dance music. AJ DiBiase (guitar/vocals), Joe Vela (drums), Jon Tomczak (synth/ vocals) and Dan McDonald (bass,/vocals) combined create a fresh genre they call jamchronica. Their heavy synth effects hypnotize as the progressive rock melody thrashes you on the dance floor. Tweed’s precision is key as the mood switches from interstellar swirl to dirty funk with continuous vocal harmonies.

    Formula 5, a four piece jam band from Albany made up of James Woods (bass), Greg Marek (drums), Mike McDonald (keys) and Joe Davis (guitar) closed it out. Musically they are very talented and kept true to form in the “Phish” landscape of heady jams, space jams, and bliss jams. This set was highlighted by Elise Testone (vocals) and Natalie Cressman (trombone) sitting in on “Trampled Underfooot” with Elise’s crushing vocals and Natalie’s triumphant trombone solo. Then the band kept the crowd moving and the pace up with originals “Excalibur” and “Pedro” before seguing into crowd favorite Men At Work’s “The Safety Dance” which was highlighted by Mike McDonald. The band closed out the night with a stretched out jam that kept the set closing “Nu-Gen” going late into the night.

  • Twiddle talks to NYSMusic about the Dirty Dozen Tour

    The twelve night ‘Dirty Dozen’ co-headlining run with Twiddle and Kung Fu kicked off last night in Buffalo at Iron Works, and continues tonight in Syracuse at the Westcott Theater.  Along with the Buffalo and Syracuse dates, there is a stop at Albany’s Upstate Concert Hall, teaming up with local favorites Mister F. The tour is full of surprises, with no set times being announced, which is exactly the kind of antics fans anticipate with two powerhouse bands such as these two artists. The two bands teamed up for a sold out show in December to benefit Toys for Tots and have both been touring extensively since then.

    Bryan-Lasky-Kung-Fu-11

    NYSmusic sent some interview questions to the Twiddle guys, and they all chimed in with their answers below. Be sure to catch them while you can!

    Jen Foster: First off, how excited are you for a no-holds-barred tour with Kung Fu?

    Twiddle: We’re always extra amped for any gig with Kung Fu.  They are role models for us in the scene, and have been amazing mentors/frends for Twiddle as we continue to grow.

    Jen Foster: When you imagine this kind of tour, what do you hope for more than anything?

    Twiddle: We don’t have any expectations. We are leaving the set times and schedule very open ended so anything can happen. We hope to do some really fun collaborative stuff with Kung Fu that everyone digs. The idea is to have as much fun as possible.

    Jen Foster: What will happen when Ryan Dempsey and Todd Stoops create the ultimate keyboard spaceship?

    Twiddle: It’s gonna get weird, in a really good way.  Expect that dirty alien funk.

    Jen Foster: The term Kungwiddle has been flying around like wildfire. Do you foresee this one of many co-billed shows and band crossovers?

    Twiddle: Yes. We especially love our annual Toys for Tots show with them in CT. It always feels good to play with incredible musicians, and help kids at the same time.

    Jen Foster: Twiddle just finished the “Donde Esta Norb?” tour, and now you’re headed to Costa Rica for Jungle Jam. It has already been a very successful start to the year. Are you at all surprised with the amount of success in the past year?

    Twiddle: We’re always blown away by our fans. They are building an amazing community that is turning into a family. As far as success is concerned, Madison House is doing a great job of getting us on some amazing show/festival bills. Especially Red Rocks with S.C.I.

    Jen Foster: Fans of both Twiddle and Kung Fu are over the moon about this upcoming tour. What kind of hijinks can we look forward to?

    Twiddle: The idea of not announcing set times is to send a message for fans to get there early and stay late. Anything is possible. We have a few filthy tricks up our sleeves but where would the fun be in telling anyone?

    Jen Foster: NYSMusic’s readers are very excited for the upcoming Upstate shows in Buffalo, Syracuse and Albany. Once the Spring tour is behind you, what summer music festivals are you most looking forward to playing?

    Twiddle: The upstate NY markets are slowly becoming marquis/anchor cities for us. Castleton, where we met, is literally on the NY border with Vermont. We love New York. As for the summer, we are making repeat appearances at big fests like Summer Camp, Wakarusa, The Peach and Gathering of the Vibes.  It is always humbling to see our name next to big time artists.  However, the smaller fests like Disc Jam and the Frendly Gathering allow us to see all of our New England frends and family. The Frendly Gathering is in Vermont and we spend the whole weekend there. It is home.

    Dirty Dozen Tour Dates:
    4/1 – Buffalo, NY | Iron Works
    4/2 – Syracuse, NY | Westcott Theater
    4/3 – New York, NY | Irving Plaza
    4/4 – Clifton Park, NY | Upstate Concert Hall
    4/8 – State College, PA | Levels
    4/9 – Pittsburgh, PA | The Rex Theatre
    4/10 – Philadelphia, PA | TLA
    4/11 – Baltimore, MD | Rams Head Live
    4/12 – Richmond, VA | The Broadberry
    4/14 – Greensboro, NC | Blind Tiger
    4/15 – Charlotte, NC | The Chop House
    4/16 – Atlanta, GA | Terminal West