Widespread Panic will open its summer tour in Lewiston before a short Northeast run heads south and west. The Georgia-based bluesy jammers are set to play at Artpark Amphitheater in Lewiston — near Niagara Falls — on Tuesday, June 16.
That’s the band’s only New York stop, but they’ll be nearby when they play Blue Hills Bank Pavilion in Boston on June 17, Jay Peak in Vermont June 19, and Pittsburgh June 21. As an added rage rested treat – special guest Umphrey’s McGee will open the Jay Peak and Philly shows. After that, they head south and west to a variety of locations, with longer runs in Texas and Colorado.
Panic is also on the Lockn’ Music Festival bill in September. The band is about to embark on a spring tour that winds throughout the U.S. and includes a two–day Brooklyn run in April.
Tickets for Widespread Panic in Lewiston will go on sale March 28 online or by phone at 888-223-6000. The other Northeast summer tour dates go on sale March 13 and 14.
Northeast Jammers Dopapod put on quite the show both sight and sound on Thursday, February 26 at The Tralf Music Hall in a blistering cold Buffalo, NY. The evening started off with three-piece Moon Hooch, who certainly got the crowd ramped up for the main event.
Dopapod who hadn’t played the room before would certainly be asked to return as they filled the space with a very packed crowd. The group is so well versed and tight at this point in their early career and with one of the best lighting rigs of its size, Dopapod will just continue to grow as a northeast powerhouse, look for them to return to Western New York as they announced a slot in the much-anticipated Buffalove Music Festival which will take place at Cole Farm June 18-20 in Panama, NY.
A few months back the band nicknamed as Ocupanther reverted to their full name Ocular Panther and started touring as a three piece with multi-instrumentalist Collin Jones handling guitar and keys. The all instrumental electro-prog-space-funk band has been gathering larger and larger crowds regionally and writing tons of new material. NYSMusic is elated to offer fans the first look at “Obtuse Snoot” from Ocu’s 2014 release Data Stretching. Ocupanther is the aforementioned Jones, Jason Gilly on Bass, and Mikey Pantano on guitar.
Ocu fans will also be psyched to know the band has expanded their lineup to include the mega-talented Jimmy Grillo on the skins. Grillo played for years on the NY scene in the now defunct Roots Collider and will debut as drummer March 26 at Flour City Station in Rochester with NYC’s hottest also-instrumental trio – Consider the Source. Grillo is also currently in The Younger Gang. Obtuse Snoot.
By now, anyone who frequents local metal shows in Buffalo has heard of I’m From the Government and I’m Here to Help. Having seen these guys live many times myself, I wanted to give the dedicated metal show goers of our town a behind-the-scenes look at this particular band, and why I think they’re worth a listen to anyone who isn’t familiar with them. Personally, I’d recommend these guys to any fan of any kind of metal, because I think they have something for everyone in the metal world. Their performances are energetic, their songs are incredibly catchy, and they stay just as brutally heavy as they do honest and melody driven, for the duration of their tunes.
Recently, I had an opportunity to catch up with Tom Bieler (vocals), Robby Warren (guitar) and Steve Keicher (drums), and ask them a few important questions about their project. Here’s what they had to say.
Mike Marlinski: Where does the name I’m From the Government and I’m Here to Help come from and how would you describe your music to new listeners?
Robby Warren: The name comes from the famous words said by President Reagan during a speech as “the 9 most terrifying words in the English language”. He couldn’t have been more right and those words still hold value today.
Tom Bieler: I almost wanted to name the band, I’m a Firefighter and I’m Here to Help You, but the government quote was a lot better. I would describe our sound to new listeners as metal. Too many people focus on sub-genres nowadays and it isn’t helping local scene unity at all.
Steve Keicher: For new listeners, I would describe our sound as being heavy with some underlying melody, whether it be vocals or guitars, with influences ranging from hard rock, heavy metal and hardcore. Modern American Heavy!
MM: What kind of music were you raised on? Who are your musical influences?
RW: I was raised on a lot of classic rock, ‘80s hair metal and country from being raised by my mom. Once I found Megadeth at 10 or 11, it was all metal there on out. My guitar influences range from Dimebag Darrell to Ted Nugent to Marty Friedman.
TB: I was raised on mostly rock in the same vein as Bob Seger, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Tom Petty, Billy Joel and stuff like that. Once I hit high school, it was all Wu-tang and skate punk music like Millencolin and Bad Religion.
SK: I was raised on a wide variety of things. My parents listened to everything from The Doors and The Beatles to Alabama and Charlie Daniels. I grew up with some older cousins who were always jamming the heavy stuff so Sepultura, Suicidal Tendencies, Slayer and Metallica invaded my ears when I was in like 4th grade.
Everyone was always skating and blasting thrash! MTV was huge while I was growing up too. Pop music was everywhere, then I saw that first Nirvana video. Pantera wasn’t far behind either. I’m constantly trying to discover new bands and things to listen to. Lately it’s been old psyche rock bands from the ‘60s and ‘70s, bands like Blue Cheer, The Nice, Joshua and a ton more.
MM: Who do you typically listen to on the way to a performance?
RW: On my way to a show, I’m usually listening to something very heavy to get me psyched up. As I Lay Dying is a regular to get me pumped.
TB: Just whatever’s in the CD player. Lately it’s been Seplophile and Makhai, both Buffalo locals.
SK: Since a show night tends to be filled with a lot of loud and heavy music, I tend to listen to hip hop to get pumped or old classic rock to just chill out and focus.
MM: Do you have future touring plans? Where are you hoping to tour?
RW: I hope we are able to tour in the near future, but who knows how realistic that is. These days it’s tough to do it with bills and such at home, while making next to nothing being on the road. It is a dream of mine though and I hope to at least tour the east coast.
TB: If the demand for a tour comes and we’re able to do it then that would be really rad. The truth is we’re all hardworking American men and have jobs and we can’t just leave our responsibilities at a moment’s notice.
SK: I would love to travel with this band. I’d love to see the west coast, and from there, possibly some European cities. I’ve always loved to travel, so any place outside of the norm would be fine with me.
MM: Do the five of you have a common major musical influence? Who would you collectively love to open for one day?
RW: We all have our own style we bring to the band to create what you hear. I can’t say we all have a common musical influence, but that makes for something truly special having that many different influences coming together. We would love to open for any major band out there in the metal world. It is always very exciting to share the stage with a band you listen to. I personally would be able to die a happy man if we got to open for Megadeth.
TB: Collectively, we have a really wide range of influences, so I don’t know if we would agree on one band between us. I would love to open for a classic metal band like Iron Maiden or Megadeth.
SK: I can’t say if we all collectively have a common influence. The age range (23?-33?) in this band is funny, but I feel that’s what brings all sorts of different influences to the table. We all want to write heavy, memorable songs that connect with the listener on some level. Musical, lyrical, emotional, spiritual, whatever.
MM: Can you recall a specific news story or personal experience that first motivated you to take the band’s lyrics in a political direction?
RW: Tom, that’s all you. (laughs)
TB: I think it’s important to have meaningful song lyrics. We sing songs about things that matter to everyday Americans like you and me. We worry about drones, we worry about politics and religion and we worry about getting through the day and taking care of our business.
MM: Does the band have an overall message you all wish to convey to your audience with each performance and studio release? If so, what is that message?
RW: The overall message we try to give our audience, whether it’s live or in the studio, is that we must unite and stand for what we believe in, whether it’s against a shaky government or uniting with our brothers and sisters in the metal scene.
TB: Musically speaking, I think the one thing we try to convey in everything that we put out is the importance of riffs. We’re lucky to have some tremendous guitarists. At the end of the day metal is all about the riffs!
MM: What can we expect from the next EP?
SK: New songs. (smiles)
RW: The next EP is going to have lots of exciting guitar work, pummeling drums, sick bass ripping, and of course lots of hard truth.
TB: The next EP is going to be a step up. I think we set a pretty high standard with “Hard Truth/Forced Unity” and now we have to meet and exceed that standard. It’s a challenge but I think we have the right songs to do it.
Below is a full stream of their debut EP, “Hard Truth/Forced Unity”:
Thursday March 5, St. Vincent takes the stage at a sold out show at Water Street Music Hall in Rochester, NY. This is one out of only two stops in upstate New York during this tour. St. Vincent just won the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album. Congratulations to her for the award on the self titled album.
St. Vincent is multi talented singer songwriter with an established reputation. Her distinctive electric sound intrigued David Byrne, of the Talking Heads, leading to a great collaborative album back in 2012. It is nice to see and hard to believe that tickets were originally on sale for 25 dollars. Even though Water Street is sold out try to pick up some tickets. Do not miss out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY-WAu_SqWs
Doors at 7pm show starts at 8pm.
St. Vincent’s next stop in New York state is Clifton Park on March 7.
Aqueous – a four-piece out of Buffalo – has been making waves recently in the ever crowded and continually diversifying jam band circuit. Those waves hit my ears finally on a frigid night at the Flour City Station in Rochester.
Flying out of the gates with a beautifully soaring slide guitar, and some heavy driving beats on Don’t Do It, Aqueous grabbed hold of the waiting audience and buckled them in for rocking ride late into the night. The rock assault was fairly relentless, each song flowed seamlessly together with hardly a let-up. But even for the uninitiated like myself, the switches were well-marked and never left you lost or disoriented. This speaks both to the quality of the songwriting, and the pointed-ness of the jamming. It didn’t veer off into aimless noodling, chugging always ahead.
My internal running commentary was devoid of the usual thoughts on the talents of the individual musicians – not that there wasn’t plenty of it to notice. It was also devoid of the usual they-sound-like-this-band comparisons. Aqueous is that rare band that blends it’s myriad influences into a wholly unique sound, while also blending its individual components into a singular force.
They seem to be caught squarely at a juncture of heavy groove and heavy rock. Perhaps best exemplified in their exploratory vehicle Origami, which lulls you with a quasi-reggae groove, before blasting you away with a heavy rocking assault, and back and forth it went from there. And the heaviness kept rearing its head throughout the set, culminating in a climactic set closing cover of Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” that had the band and crowd alike banging heads and saluting the altar of rock with devil’s fingers. Impressive through and through.
Pigeons Playing Ping Pong – another band quickly on the rise – was also on the evening’s jam-heavy bill. On the surface, a pretty standard funk outfit, they cracked open each song to reveal a glowing improvisational interior featuring the phenomenal guitar work of Jeremy Schon. I never knew that’s what funk looked like from the inside! While mostly funky and jammy, songs later in their set like Horizon and Julia showcased a poppier side, with instantly likeable hooks and melodies. As their name might imply, this is a band that brings a playful energy to the stage that can’t be contained, seeping generously into the crowd.
Ocular Panther, a two guitar and bass trio out of Rochester, got the evening started with some long instrumental prog rock explorations. They recently found themselves without a drummer and made effective use of electronic beats managed by one of the guitarists. Though with the complex improvisational nature of their music, a live drummer almost seems a necessity to bring their incredible visions fully to fruition.
Setlists
Aqueous:
Don’t Do It > What’s the Connection, Complex > Fame* > Origami, Underlyer > Dave’s Song > Master of Puppets**
ENCORE: Mosquito Valley Pt 1 > Gordon’s Mule
* David Bowie
** Metallica
Pigeons Playing Ping Pong:
Upfunk, Time To Ride, Whoopie, Pop Off, Horizon, Burning Up My Time> The Liquid, Julia>Rugrats>Julia
Ocular Panther:
Marking Houses, Compartmentalizations, III E III, Protactinium, Insistences, I Feel Love * , Stairs
Rochester music loving denizens know that the ultimate week in town is the annual Xerox Rochester International Jazz Fest. With hundreds of musicians expected every year playing street, theater and outdoor shows ranging from free to black tie affairs – the fest typically attracts in the 100’s of thousands over the course of 9 days. While the 2015 full schedule for Rochester’s Jazz Fest has yet to be announced – including the street held free concert series – some of the Kodak Hall headliner schedule has been announced.
Canadian jazz legend Diana Krall will be performing a matinee 4PM show June 19. Multiple Grammy winning trumpet player Herb Alpert will toot your socks off on Jun 20. Herb will be joined by the brilliant and well known singer Lani Hall.
Hendrix scribe Gary Clarke Jr. will bring his screaming blues licks into town on Jun 23 with vocalist Beth Hart. Another Grammy winner – also well known as the winner of American Idol season three – Jennifer Hudson is up June 24. The Trucks/Tedeschi band along with Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings will be a part of this years festival on June 25.
Finishing things off June 27 is the return of the Steep Canyon Rangers. The ever popular bluegrass band will be on their own this year – last year they performed alongside legendary comedian and banjo player Steve Martin.
Select tickets have already gone on sale and it’s likely that all of these shows will sell out, if you want in – visit the website now for purchase. The ever popular nine day club passes are also available now for $194 – no club shows have been announced thus far.
Stay tuned for all things Jazz Fest as more is announced!
The band played through a number of songs stretching through their growing catalog. The band seemed to hit on all strides providing some great jams and hearty Americana rock. The New Jersey band continues to give New York state some love as they make it out this way whenever they can and will be continuing their tour with a stop in New York City with three dates this weekend at Brooklyn Bowl.
Snapcase’s fierce driving riffs and aggressive vocals defined them as one of the premier genre bands for the ’90s hardcore music scene.
Originally conceived in a basement in West Seneca NY in 1989 – the five piece built quite the frenetic fan base over the course of the next 16 years before mostly disbanding in 2005. Since then they have played occasional shows – usually in Buffalo – but none since a finale show with the closing of Mohawk Place in 2013.
That all may be changing soon as the band indicated on their website today that they are practicing.
With their next and only 2015 tour date scheduled for Montebello, Canada’s Amnesia Rockfest way off in mid June fans will no doubt be wondering if more tour dates are in the works – or perhaps (hold your breath) some new music? Stay tuned!
Going against the grain on what most metal bands are doing as far as touring these days, Machine Head is currently taking the bold approach and doing an “Evening With” headlining with no openers whatsoever, in support of their latest album Bloodstone & Diamonds, arguably one of their best to date, and easily the best metal album of 2014. Rob Flynn and the boys stopped at the Town Ballroom in Buffalo last Thursday night for the second time in three years, setting for what was an unforgettable night.
The bodies piled into the venue long before Machine Head hit the stage. By showtime, the crowd kept chanting “Machine Fucking Head! Machine Fucking Head” was nonstop during the whole show, The band stormed the stage opening with “Imperium.” Machine Head, although are getting up there in age, were performing like if they were in their prime – hungry and vicious. Their stage presence and energy have NEVER been better. They are giving their fans their money’s worth and putting other bands on notice.
Machine Head has gone through a slight lineup change since they appeared at the Town Ballroom back in February 2012. New bassist Jared MacEachern replaced Adam Duce this past year, so the big question is, does MacEachern fill the void? Adam Duce was a monster on the bass, but also had remarkable backing vocals to go with Flynn’s vocals. So when Duce was fired, I was saddened, and wondered how MacEachern could pull this gig off. And I will say I was blown away by MacEachern’s stage presence, skill, backing vocals were amazing! He has much more range than Duce had (although Duce does sound a lot like Flynn) but he pulled off vocal harmonies, grunts, growls, and sings VERY well, so he adds such a new and killer dynamic to Machine Head’s live show that they never had before. Dave McClain was a fiend behind the kit, and playing all those songs in a long set is no easy task. And lead guitarist Phil Demmel rifts and solos are unmatched. And his flying v Randy Rhoades black polka-dot guitar was gorgeous to look at. But vocalist guitarist Rob Flynn is the unquestionable all-star and leader of the band and no one anchors the band better, or gets the crowd psyched like no other. The most fascinating thing to watch on stage is watching Flynn and Demmel exchange guitar solos, as well as their harmonizing guitar solos…. it is such a spectacle to behold on stage.
As far as their set, they gave the fans what they deserved with a two-hour and fifteen minute set – with no intermission. We heard new songs like “Now We Die” and “Sail Into The Black” and were also treated to classics like ”Old” and “Ten Ton Hammer.” But really gave me a pleasant shock, early into their set, Machine Head played their nu-metal anthem “From This Day” for the first time in 13 years and the crowd went absolutely bananas. They managed to play at least one song from every album from their 20 year catalog. Closing with the unforgettable song “Halo” afterwards, not one person left this show disappointed. Machine Head told the crowd they will come back and said that they will do “evening with” again. It’s safe to say that Machine Head gave the fans their money’s worth and are truly a force to be reckoned with.
St. Vincent is multi talented singer songwriter with an established reputation. Her distinctive electric sound intrigued David Byrne, of the 
