Brian Wilson announced last week that he will extending his Pet Sounds: The Final Performances 2017 Tour through 2017, with an addition of 37 new dates starting on March 27th at the Walt Disney Resort in Orlando, FL through May 28th at the Santa Barbara Bowl in Santa Barbara, CA.
The tour is in celebration of the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds 50th Anniversary, in which Wilson and his band perform the album in its entirety, mixed with additions from his solo work and other Beach Boys classics. Traveling with him are special guests fellow former band members, Al Jardine and Blondie Chapin.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Wilson commented on the tour saying, “It reminds me of the harmonies that we did,” Wilson said. “My favorite part of music is harmony. That’s the part of music I like the most. I like the full harmony.”
Wilson and band will be in Albany, NY on April 26 at the Palace Theater.
Brian Wilson Pet Sounds: The Final Performances 2017 Tour Dates
March 27 – Orlando, FL – Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
March 29 – New Orleans, LA – Saenger Theater
March 31 – Durant, OK – Chocktaw Casino
April 1 – Mayetta, KS – Prairie Band Casino
April 2 – Park City, KS – Hartman Arena
April 4 – Fort Collins, CO – Lincoln Center
April 6 – Boise, ID – Morrison Center for the Performing Arts
April 9 – Seattle, WA – Paraount Theatre
April 12 — Edmonton, CA – Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
April 13 — Calgary, CA – Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
April 15 — Winnipeg, CA – Burton Cummings Theatre for the Performing Arts
April 17 – Sioux City, IA – Orpheum Theatre
April 18 – Des Moines, IA – Civic Center
April 19 – Milwaukee, WI – Riverside Theater
April 21 – Columbus, OH – Palace Theatre of Columbus
April 22 – Northfield, OH – Hard Rock Live
April 23 – Indianapolis, IN – Murat Theatre at Old National Centre
April 25 – Hershey, PA – Hershey Theatre April 26 – Albany, NY – Palace Theatre
April 28 – Newark, NJ – New Jersey P.A.C.
April 29 – Boston, MA – Lynn Auditorium
April 30 – Worcester, MA – Hanover Theatre
May 2 – Wilkes-Barre, PA – FM Kirby Center
May 3 – Washington, DC – Lincoln Theatre
May 6 – Knoxville, TN – Tennessee Theatre
May 7 – Chattanooga, TN – Tivoli Theatre
May 9 – Birmingham, AL – BJCC Concert Hall
May 12 – Houston, TX – Revention Music Center
May 13 – Austin, TX – AC Live at the Moody Theater
May 16 – Tulsa, OK – Brady Theatre
May 18 – Albuquerque, NM – Kiva Auditorium
May 19 – Tucson, AZ – Centennial Hall
May 20 – Laughlin, NV – Harrah’s Laughlin
May 22 – Phoenix, AZ – Celebrity Theatre
May 24 – San Diego, CA – San Diego Civic Theatre
May 26 – Los Angeles, CA – Pantages Theatre
May 28 – Santa Barbara, CA – Santa Barbara Bowl
On Thursday, Oct. 20 catch Nothing But Thieves U.S. tour on their stop at Lucky Strike Social in Albany, for a free show presented by WEQX. They will be joined by special guests, The Wrecks.
Nothing But Thieves is a five-piece band from Essex, England consisting of old friends Conor Mason (vocals), Dominic Craik (guitar, keys), Joe Langridge-Brown (guitar), Philip Blake (bass) and James Price (drums).
The group offers an alternative/indie sound that has a ghostly, tender quality that flows well within their eloquent songwriting. They have shared the stage with artists like Awolnation, Arcade Fire, Twin Atlantic, and more.
This is the second tour they’ve done in the U.S. The first tour back in 2012 contributed greatly to their growth as an emerging band with its own original sound, according to the band’s Soundcloud. Their debut studio album through Sony Music Entertainment back in 2015 entered the official U.K. chart at number 7 and topped iTunes chart at number 3.
For a while on Saturday, October 8, the four intrepid members of the Albany based jamband Formula 5, in the middle of their first tour of Western states, thought they’d be trapped in a “The Little Engine That Couldn’t” scenario with their trademark 70’s tour van that may well have driven off the set of the disco-era cop show, Starsky and Hutch. The trouble began about 40 miles south of Boulder as they headed from a tour stop in Taos, New Mexico. The van engine sputtered to stop. From that moment, the engine stopped repeatedly in ever shortening distances. But they chugged and chugged until finally, at the last stoplight, the band was able to safely push their ride into a parking space in front of their intended destination, the aptly named Owsley’s Golden Road, named after the Grateful Dead’s longtime tour manager and longtime acid expert par excellance.
Quickly, Formula 5 became “The Little Band That Could, and Did.” Despite the vehicle trouble, the band wasted no time ripping into a collection of original melodies that spun into robust jams laced with the occasional harmonizing lyrics. Even with extended improvisations, Formula 5 didn’t waste notes as they chewed their way out of a paper bag of vinyl musical traditions including funk, jazz, and psychedelic rock. They weren’t just the little band that could. They were the band that did. And then some.
Annie in the Water, with their combination of reggae, rock, funk and jam, is an Albany-based band that originated as a duo with Mike Lashomb and Brad Hester in 2007. This past spring, the duo added three more members, which you can imagine has had significant impact on both the sound and the overall feel to their music. NYS Music spoke with founding member and lead guitarist Mike Lashomb about that change and what fans can expect going forward.
Erin Clary: Before it was just you and Brad, and now you’ve added two more members to Annie in the Water. What brought on the change and how did this happen?
Michael Lashomb: It’s been an interesting learning experience. Brad and I started back in 2007. Back in 2011 we had a drummer play with us and he kind of just up and left when we were starting to get bigger and booking venues and stuff like that. So Brad and I started this looping, jam kind of style. As time went on, just trying to connect with the jam scene and we felt we were kind of in between all these different scenes and we didn’t really connect the way we were hoping to with our style. So as time went on we understood there was definitely a progression that needed to happen. There needed to be some way that we could branch out and diversify our sound and also our personnel and people. We added our bass player, Lucas, three years ago and then we added piano player in the summer of 2014, Dillon. Having Lucas Singleton on bass really added a big low end kind of contribution with a lot of his style. Then Dillon on keys was this different kind of musician oriented but transient, experimental sound. So it was good to have Lucas who brought in a lot of specific playing and structure and Dillon who was outside of the box with his expression and style. And in that time, Brad would constantly update his looping with the four of those guys, having them on and off for shows. Then this past winter we knew we wanted to get a drummer involved and really up the jams so we could switch around grooves, time changes and cues. Josh West was finishing up with Lucid as they decided to tone down the touring and everything and it was just a natural…we met him at Nectar’s as he was playing with his old band, Tar Iguana, and it was just a natural relationship that blossomed into a really cool band relationship. Kind of different evolutions and progressions brought us to now.
EC: Are there different challenges you find when switching from a duo to a full band?
ML: Definitely a change. Brad has pretty much grown musically and matured with me as his counterpoint. I had played in different fusion bands and different guitar bands since I was in 8th grade so when we added the full band together it was definitely a whole new experience for Brad. It’s something that to this day he is totally changing and morphing in such an awesome, progressive way. So yeah there is definitely more personality which calls for more contribution artistically, personally and emotionally. It’s different. We went from having only a few people on the stage to suddenly having a lot more room being filled up. Not only physical space, but sonic space and musical space. A lot of what we had to do too was rehearse as we played shows because we had all the prior engagements set up with Duo shows but moving out of one house, just a lot of different things off the stage we were dealing with. It has been a really interesting transition but a really positive transition because everyone is really open to communication and evolution for sure.
Dillon Goodfriend, Lucas Singleton, Michael Lashomb, Brad Hester- Annie in the Water
EC: So you’re saying you weren’t latching on to a niche?
ML: Yeah, it’s hard to explain because there was a certain amount of people who are looking at what we’re doing with the Annie in the Water Duo acoustic set, that we still play to this day, but we will have some people who really jive with that and think it’s cool, the amount of sound we are able to produce with two people. It’s fun! There’s a certain element to having an absolute kind of experimental but also structured rhythm section. Having the rhythm section be human rather than having a syncopated beat box being looped for X number of measures for a certain amount of time. So Josh will change things up and everyone has been playing music for a long time and everyone has their own interpretation of when that happens. So we’re always creating a different show. When we were the Duo we were always big on experimenting and never having a setlist. Now that we have a full band it kind of brings in a little bit more people who are down to dance. People with a groove looking for a pulsating kind of sound. That’s kind of where we were in the middle of. We had that groove but we were missing the rhythm section. We would self-consciously catch people that normally would be like “oh these guys are really talented,” and suddenly like “I’m dancing and I’m reacting to it.” Then again we have people who like EDM and DJs who would go crazy for our looping stuff, but that’s not necessarily what we wanted to accomplish. To this day it’s an absolute trial and error to see who is reacting, how they’re reacting and why they’re reacting.
EC: What is the goal of Annie in the Water and what is success to you?
ML: It’s tough to say that there’s a finite point where it is success. I know that you aren’t assuming that either. For us, we’ve already achieved certain levels of success personally and musically that we’re really proud of. By having a certain ability to run as a functional business. So that was kind of our first goal. As that went on we had the goal of being a full live stage and live sound production whenever and wherever we were needed. In a long run, wider scope, our success is to just connect with as many people as possible on a human and spiritual level. I know that sounds heavy and I don’t want to say egotistical, but it’s pretty bold in that we feel that we have a responsibility to help in whatever way we can. If we can provide positive music to people than that’s it. I think one of the biggest sources of success for us is the ability to continue being full time musicians, playing wherever. My personal goal is I’d love to headline and have our own show at Blossom Music Center in Cleveland, OH where I was born and raised. Yeah we’d love to headline a festival, that would definitely be a goal but we’d like to just contribute in the most unique way humanly possible. We want to just make whatever Annie in the Water is, an entity that promotes peace and positivity, and inspires people to do whatever they feel they are naturally good at and love and passionate about. So definitely multiple goals and ideas of success but if we can just keep on helping people and along the way while we’re able to keep this boat floating than that’s as much success as we could imagine and be grateful for.
EC: Are there other collaborations you’d like to put together for the future and can you reflect on favorites that may have happened recently?
ML: We’ve been having Jamie Armstrong from Lucid on the saxophone play with us. It’s been a sit-in that we really enjoyed. He’s been playing extended shows a handful of times. It’s not necessarily a side project, he has kind of given us a “Hey mister, what’s up?” and will be down to play a show. There’s a lot of different ideas we have for side projects. It’s kind of up in the air right now. We have our friend Garrett, this kid that we met at Dyken Pond. It was an absolute, random….he’s not even playing in a band he’s just living in New York City and he added this unbelievable style to what we’re doing and we’re having him play with us in New York City next week. He plays lead guitar. We kind of bounce back and forth. We had Gubb from Twiddle sit in for a show with us in Vermont. We’ve always talked about having a little jam session show in Vermont to keep our good friends there happy and dancing. It’s really cool because we got into the jam scene only as of recently having other bands kind of become our friends which is a difficult thing for the first couple of years, just because we didn’t really know what we were doing either. So now it’s like the doors are kind of open to all these different friendships and creative expressions with other bands. It’s exciting because all these other bands are really reaching out and playing with everyone. All we want to do is play with people and put in the frequency and energy that overall contributes to a beautiful experience. So we are open to whatever.
EC: Describe each band member in one sentence.
ML: OK this is fun…
Bradley Hester (Percussion, guitar, vocals, looping) – Hardest working musician and nicest human I’ve ever met.
Joshua West (Percussion, Drums) – A stoic little child who is so much fun to have behind the kit.
Lucas Singleton (Bass) – The dependable groove supplier and overall goof ball.
Dillon Goodfriend (Keys) – A pure musician and absolute music lover.
EC: And what about you?
ML: I’d like to say I just like to have fun when I play.
EC: Should we expect a new album out now that you’re all together?
ML: Yeah. We’re all looking at the overall picture and new music being recorded is absolutely on the radar and very important. What we’re trying to do right now is make sure that we’re choosing the songs that we have from our past that we’re writing down and we’re looking to write. We’re trying to make sure that we’re choosing what works best for the band. So the music will definitely become recorded but at this point we are getting everyone on the same page to decide how we want to move forward musically, personally and band wise. So the album is definitely in the works right now, we just have to decide the next step to make that happen that works best for everybody.
EC: You’ve made your homebaseAlbany.
ML: Yeah, we’ve been in Albany for four years but we haven’t played in Albany as much because we’ve been pursuing different opportunities in different parts of the Northeast.
Trying to do a lot of different hubs and also play at different mountains because snowboarding is a huge part of our culture. It’s been more or less that we’re in the progression of making that happen so seeing us in Albany is going to be more frequent for sure.
EC: The October 13 show with Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad in Albany at The Hollow should be a homecoming show with lots of friends and family I presume?
ML: That’s going to be a really interesting show because we have a lot of friends from the Rochester area that have always talked up Giant Panda and I think vice versa. So this show is going to be the first time that we’ve actually ever met those guys. It’s cool because whenever you play a show with the band for the first time there’s a lot of learning and vibing of personalities. So when it comes to that night I would say wait for something interesting but until that night happens, that’s when the magic starts.
The Fantastic Negrito will play the Cohoes Music Hall on Thursday, Oct. 13. Albany’s Bryan Thomas will open the show.
Hailing from the Bay Area, the Fantastic Negrito is a blues-oriented musician who has seen a lot of trouble in his life. He considers his current musical endeavor the third incarnation of his life. After getting caught up with some trouble on the streets of Oakland that ended in a near-death encounter with a masked gunman, he moved to Los Angeles where he got his first record deal that turned out to be disastrous. He quit music, and then, in 2000, he was in a near-fatal car accident. Following his recovery and the birth of his son, he turned back to writing music as the Fantastic Negrito. In 2015, he won NPR’s inaugural Tiny Desk Concert Contest and, subsequently, received critical acclaim for his self-titled EP.
Fantastic Negrito will be at the Cohoes Music Hall on Oct. 13 at 8 p.m. Tickets are on sale now for $32 or $26. The show will kick off with Albany-based soul rocker Bryan Thomas.
If you took Mick Jagger, Freddie Mercury and Steven Tyler and threw them in a blender you would get Luke Spiller, lead singer of The Struts, on their Dirty Sexy Summer tour. Spiller along with guitarist Adam Slack, Bassist Jed Elliot and drummer Gethin Davis made their way to the Capital Region for the first time ever on Thursday night and they brought their unique style and throwback rock ‘n’ roll sound with them to the delight of a crowd that sang along to every song over their 90-minute set.
Spiller is a true Rock ‘n’ Roll front man, writhing and dancing around the stage capturing every member of the audience in the palm of his hand. When he told the crowd to sing they sang and when he told them to jump they jumped. The Struts are the definition of a down and dirty rock band.
The band tore through a set that included all but one song off of their debut album “Everybody Wants”. The biggest response came from their single “Kiss This” and their upcoming single “Put Your Money On Me”. While their album is strong and solid, The Struts are a live band. You cannot get the raw and dirty feel off of the album that you do seeing them live.
The show was opened by the band Dorothy. Lead singer Dorothy Martin, drummer Zac Morris, bassist Gregg Cash and guitarist DJ Black got the crowd pumped up with cuts off of their debut album ROCKISDEAD. Dorothy have a heavy bluesy sound and singer Dorothy Martin could be the reincarnation of Janis Joplin. She has a raw sound to her voice that oozes whiskey and sex. Martin had every eye in the place on her as she danced and sang across the stage. One the closing number “BANG BANG BANG” it was like she made love to the entire place.
Dorothy Setlist: Kiss It, Dark Nights, Gun in My Hand, Wicked Ones, After Midnight, Woman, Raise Hell, Bang Bang Bang
The Struts Setlist: I Just Know/Roll Up, These Times Are Changing, Could Have Been Me, The Ol’ Switcheroo, Kiss This, Mary Go Round, Dirty Sexy Money, Let’s Make This Happen Tonight, Young Stars, Put Your Money On Me, Only Just a Call Away
Lake George hosted the Adirondack Independence Music Festival on September 30th, and October 1st. With the lineup this year, you would never guess that this is only the 2nd year for this event. This years festival featured sets from headlining acts; Robert Randolph and the Family band, The Fabulous Thunderbirds and the Spin Doctors, as well as some local favorites Rich Ortiz, and Formula 5. Were excited to see this festival grow in the upcoming years! Check out the full 2016 lineup below, and re-live some photos from Saturday!
Skillet stopped by the Lucky Strike Social Club on Tuesday on a promotional stop for their upcoming album Unleashed that will be released on August 5. The show was put on by Q103 and was an invite only performance and this writer was lucky enough to get an invite.
The acoustic show opened with the band, singer John Cooper rhythm guitarist and Cooper’s wife Korey playing percussion on a wooden box, drummer Jen Ledger also playing percussion on a wooden box and lead guitarist Seth Morrison, taking the stage and performing their hit “Monster”. The show continued with local DJ Candace from Q103 doing an interview with the band and taking a couple of questions from the audience.
The band discussed many topics including their music being used by the WWE and their love of professional wrestling. Another topic of discussion was the band being considered a “Christian Rock” band and if that label has hurt them and their success. Singer John Cooper stated that he was proud of his faith and that the band has many fans that reach beyond religion. There was also discussion of the meaning behind some of their deeper cut recordings.
The band closed their 3 song set with their newest single “Feel Invincible”. The small but rowdy crowd seemed to love the intimate setting that was provided and the up close feel between them and one of their favorite bands.
Upcoming rocker and Queensbury native Frank Palangi, has recently released a video for his new single “Break These Chains.” With this track, Palangi just keeps getting better and better, and “Break These Chains” is one of Palangi’s hottest recordings to date. The multi-talented Palangi hooks you with his husky gritty vocals on the track while showing off some of his guitar skills in the video.
Palangi caught the eye of Daughtry guitarist Brian Craddock, and was invited record the “Break These Chains” single at Craddock’s the Cat Room Recording Studio in Charlottesville, Virginia. When talking about Palangi, Craddock stated that Frank is an amazing young artist, with a very clear and focused direction, he knows who he is. He went on to say that Palangi is a killer singer and guitar player and is an artist to look out for.
The frontman has been making a name for himself opening many shows across the northeast for some pretty recognizable names in rock over the years including Buckcherry, 3 Doors Down, Trapt, Aaron Lewis, Lacey Sturm, Powerman 5000 and Starset to name a few. The singer/songwriter has also appeared on some major music festivals in the capital region including the Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival that featured Alice in Chains and Janes Addiction, and the first ever Rock ‘N Derby, which saw the likes of Shinedown, Ghost, Megadeth, Sevendust and Sixx: A.M.
The vocalist has also appeared on numerous local media outlets on television and print including News Channel 13, Fox 23 News, Albany Times Union, The Chronicle and The Saratoga Spotlight.
Besides himself, Frank Palangi’s band consists of guitarist Jared Curtis and Josh Opitz behind the kit.
Blackberry Smoke tells everyone that they are too country for rock and to rock for country, and that was on full display Saturday night as they tore up the Upstate Concert Hall. Lead vocalist and guitarist Charlie Starr, Bassist Richard Turner, drummer Brit Turner, guitarist Paul Jackson and Brandon Still on keyboards ripped through a set that contained songs from their long 16-year career.
Capping off a weekend of headlining shows after opening up for the legendary Gov’t Mule all summer Blackberry Smoke proved to everyone in attendance that they deserve to be in a headlining spot. They are one of the tightest live bands this writer has seen with everyone on the band playing off of and complimenting each other to the fullest. Blackberry Smoke seamlessly blends Southern Rock, Country, Hard Rock and Jam music into their own style and they did it to near perfection. Starr’s vocals live are just as smooth as they are on a recording.
Mid-way through the show there was a distinct sticky smell in the air near the front of the stage which led to Charlie Starr to make a new impromptu song which he called “Front Row Reefer”, which was basically an ode to the best reefer being in the front of the house and the skunk was in the back. After riffing on the new song he asked the crowd if anyone got that on video. Maybe the cut will make the next album.
Blackberry Smoke play their music their way and have not changed that thinking over their long career, and it now seems people are finally starting to take notice. They have gone from a bar band to a band that is capable of headlining arenas, and this writer for one hopes that more people take the time to listen to them and appreciate one of the truly great modern bands that is keeping the rock and roll spirit alive.
Opening the show was Philadelphia’s Stolen Rhodes whose brand of Southern rock got the packed crowd heated up.
Blackberry Smoke are on tour supporting their upcoming new release “Like an Arrow” which is slated to be released on October 14, 2016.
Erin Clary: Before it was just you and Brad, and now you’ve added two more members to Annie in the Water. What brought on the change and how did this happen?
EC: Are there other collaborations you’d like to put together for the future and can you reflect on favorites that may have happened recently?
Spiller is a true Rock ‘n’ Roll front man, writhing and dancing around the stage capturing every member of the audience in the palm of his hand. When he told the crowd to sing they sang and when he told them to jump they jumped. The Struts are the definition of a down and dirty rock band.
Dorothy Setlist: Kiss It, Dark Nights, Gun in My Hand, Wicked Ones, After Midnight, Woman, Raise Hell, Bang Bang Bang
The acoustic show opened with the band, singer John Cooper rhythm guitarist and Cooper’s wife Korey playing percussion on a wooden box, drummer Jen Ledger also playing percussion on a wooden box and lead guitarist Seth Morrison, taking the stage and performing their hit “Monster”. The show continued with local DJ Candace from 
Capping off a weekend of headlining shows after opening up for the legendary
Blackberry Smoke play their music their way and have not changed that thinking over their long career, and it now seems people are finally starting to take notice. They have gone from a bar band to a band that is capable of headlining arenas, and this writer for one hopes that more people take the time to listen to them and appreciate one of the truly great modern bands that is keeping the rock and roll spirit alive.