NYS Music 20​16

Category: Buffalo

  • Best of NYS Music 2016: Best Music Town, Bands on the Rise

    New York is a great state for live music. With a variety of venues throughout the state in both small towns and big cities, music fans can find something happening any night of the week from all genres of music. We asked the NYS Music staff of writers and photographers, all of whom see a variety of music, along with our readers, for their opinions on the best towns and cities for music in the state.

    The venues are not the only reason why New York is such a great place for music. With the amount of national, regional and local acts touring through the state, we get the chance see bands and artists rise from their infancy playing bars and small clubs to playing larger theaters and arenas. In addition to the best music towns, we also asked our staff and readers for what they think are the acts to which we should pay the most attention.

    Best Music Town

    The NYS Music staff represents every region of the state, and while they see the most music in their hometowns, they are not afraid to travel a bit to see quality music. When asked about the best music town in the state, there was a wide variety of responses. One would expect New York City, being, by far, the largest city in the state, to come out on top. However, that was not the case. The two cities with the most votes from the staff were Buffalo and Syracuse. Our readers, on the other hand, did choose New York City, which tied with Albany. Buffalo came in a very close third for the readers.

    Buffalo, being the second largest city in the state and one of the largest in that region of the country, sees a lot of music come through its various venues, ranging from small clubs and bars to the large New Era Field. The Buffalove Music Festival takes place in the Buffalo area and feature a large number of Buffalo-based acts. Many popular music acts got their start in Buffalo including the Goo Goo Dolls, Spyro Gyra and one of the current popular bands, Aqueous, whose latest EP, Best in Show, was our staff pick for album of the year.

    Syracuse, the fifth largest city in the state and home to Syracuse University, features a number of popular music venues such as Funk ‘N Waffles, the Westcott Theatre and the F Shed. The K-Rockathon, a music festival held by three related radio stations, has been held in the city for the past several years at the New York State Fairgrounds, though there was not one held this past summer. The Syracuse Jazz Festival boasts itself as the “Northeast’s largest free jazz festival” and has featured such artists as Aretha Franklin, Trombone Shorty, Wynton Marsalis and B.B. King. The Syracuse Area Music Awards, or the SAMMY’s, take place every year honoring musicians from Syracuse. Jon Fishman, the drummer from Phish who grew up in Syracuse, was awarded a SAMMY for lifetime achievement in 2015.

    Albany, and the Capital District in general, received a number of votes from both our staff and our readers. The area is home to many musical happenings throughout the year, including the Alive at Five free summer concert series and the national and regional performances at various venues around the city sponsored by WEQX. The city is home to two venues with some of the best acoustics in the country, the Egg and the Picotte Recital Hall at the Massry Center for the Arts. The Times Union Center, originally the Knickerbocker Arena, has played host to numerous music greats. The Grateful Dead’s Dozin’ at the Knick features live recordings from their three night stand there in March 1990.

    New York City, which took best music town last year, is one of the best cities in the world for music. A number of well-known artists and bands have called the city their home. New York City is also home to several world-class venues, including Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. It’s no surprise that the Big Apple was voted one of the best music towns in the state for the second consecutive year.

    Bands on the Rise

    Along with great places where music happens, New York is known for the musicians themselves. As many would expect of a state like this, some of the artists and bands become fairly well known on a regional or national level. While there were many bands chosen in the Bands on the Rise category, there were two standouts each from our staff and our readers. One commonality between the four bands highlighted here is that they are all from New York, even though the category is not limited to the state. Two of the bands represent a couple of the best music towns.

    Staff Pick: Space Carnival
    From: Ithaca

    Space Carnival has been on the scene since 2013, but has been making waves in the scene. Their debut album, Drawn in By the Sun, was released in July.They release two professionally shot and edited videos of their song “Moon Boots” off the album, one from a show in April and one from October. They are currently wrapping up some fall tour dates, with the last scheduled show this Saturday, Dec. 17 at Stella Blues in New Haven, Connecticut with Chromatropic. Music fans can expect more from Space Carnival in 2017.

    Reader Pick: Aqueous
    From: Buffalo

    Aqueous had a very busy 2016, and it won’t end for them until after their opening slot for Twiddle on New Year’s Eve. The year saw them touring nearly non-stop. They hit most of the local festivals, such as Disc Jam and Buffalove, including a headlining slot at the Great Outdoors Jam. They also hit the national stage at Electric Forest. They had two musical releases this year, the recording of their 2015 Halloween show Dark Side of Oz and their EP Best in Show. The summer saw them introduce Rob Houk as their new drummer. As one of the hardest-working bands in the state, Aqueous is certainly one to watch in years to come.

    Reader Pick: The Other Brothers
    From: New Paltz

    The Other Brothers, recently interviewed by our own Karina Verlan, is a “neo-soul” band that formed in 2012 while students at SUNY New Paltz. The band grew to its current six-piece formation this past year when they added percussionist Jared Nelson and keyboardist Gabe Marquez. While they have no shows lined up for the remainder of the year, they are in and out of the studio working on their debut album.

  • The Second String at The Waiting Room

    On a night where Buffalo got its first real snowfall of the season, The Waiting Room performance venue was plenty heated by its main stage. An up and coming pop-punk band, The Second String, celebrated the release of their EP, Six Ways to Sunday, with a show that served more as a celebration for themselves and a sign of things to come.

    The Second String, made up of lead singer Tom Frisicaro, guitarists Roger Pleasant and Ryan Gelder, bassist Marc Del Priore and drummer Robby Marshall, make very traditional pop-punk – a weird statement to make, taking into account how long the genre has been around and how it’s been relegated from most. Their songs are short, sweet and to the point, each one lasting between 2 to 3 minutes. The lyrics were typical.

    The fast nature of their music allowed for plenty of erratic movement on the stage, including some panels that occasionally lit up when one of the members stepped on them. Frisicaro sings very much like the singers of bands like Blink-182, Jimmy Eat World and Bowling for Soup. He has the same “trying to sound clean nasally” whine those bands have and if he was trying to directly emulate them, he was doing a good job.

    After performing 5 original songs, including material from the just-released EP, Frisicaro played an initially acoustic All-Time Low cover, with the first two verses and chorus by himself before the rest of the band joined to finish out the song. The following song was a Paramore cover where a girl, Maddie Radwan, sang in place of Frisicaro, to the enjoyment of her friends in attendance.

    At various points in the night, Frisicaro made constant mention of the band’s merch table along with sharing that his girlfriend was expecting. He also announced that the band was taking a break from performing live to focus on recording more material for a full-length album. Hopefully, with that bit of time on their side, The Second String can create something to get us excited about.

  • Debt to Nature EP Release Show at Mohawk Place

    On Saturday, December 3, the Mohawk Place in downtown Buffalo hosted an EP release show for an up-and-coming local, modern post-hardcore band called Debt to Nature. And much like the city they come from, you can instantly tell the amount of work put into their songs to make them work.

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    Debt to Nature, on the outset, seems like any other modern post-hardcore rock band. Their releases, such as their first EP From the Start, back this theory up, with angsty lyrics and guitar riffs not out of place from a Pac Sun store or a Warped Tour stage.

    But to me, at least, what set this apart was the presentation. You can hear loud, fast music in any number of establishments and get the point. But hearing it live is something different. Singer Michael O’Connor may look like a lumberjack, but delivers the lyrics with alternating power and levity that it’s amazing he can still speak at the end of the set. Bassist Josh O’Connor was confident enough in his abilities that he would engage in reverse fretting, attempt to balance his bass in one hand, and walk out into the crowd to his friends. Not to mention the hard work guitarist Brian Macijewski and drummer Nate White had to put in to keep the whole act moving at a furious pace.

    The real ace up the sleeve for this band is how easily they establish control over the crowd. I assume the crowd present goes to these kind of post-hardcore shows all the time, given the amount of head banging, people moshing by themselves, and hand gestures, but even one as uninitiated as myself could get sucked into the methods after a few songs. During the few solo guitar breaks, the audience started clapping over their heads on their own, with the singer encouraging more once it got going.

    Some of the most fun moments of the night involved just how much control the band had over the crowd. Members of one of the opening acts, The Otherme, were invited onstage to sing The Darkness’ song “I Believe in a Thing Called Love.” The audience tried to sing the famous falsetto chorus line, to various results. While the band’s music may not be for everyone, this was one particular moment the entire crowd was getting into.

    Another moment didn’t involve anything the band played, but during a song break, either the lead singer or someone in the crowd shouted out “somebody” like the first word from Smash Mouth’s “All-Star,” and the entire crowd managed to sing the first verse all the way up to chorus. At that point, the singer demanded they stop as they played more.

    Either I don’t get out to see enough shows like this or this was a special occasion, because the crowd actually demanded an encore successfully. Debt to Nature were happy to oblige, feeling like they conquered the evening. Probably on their way to conquer more as well.

  • Bumpin Uglies Jam out at Nietzsche’s

    Buffalo’s Nietzsche’s got a healthy dose of reggae on December 3, thanks to the smell of weed in the air and a band from Annapolis, Maryland called Bumpin Uglies, with Buffalo their latest stop on a tour promoting their new album, Keep It Together.”
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    Bumpin Uglies, made up of Brandon Hardesty on lead vocals and guitar, Dave Wolf on bass and backing vocals, and TJ Haslett on drums, have quite the resume for a modern reggae band. Since forming in 2008, the Uglies have recorded 3 LP’s, 2 EP’s, a live album, and constant touring in the form of eight national tours and many more regional tours, including performances at Warped Tour and California Roots. On their tours, they’ve stopped in Buffalo seven times.

    The tone of the show was set even before the band took the stage. During one of the opening acts, a Buffalo reggae band named Reggie Childs got the crowd grooving thanks to the help of the main band’s fan group, the Uglies Nation, whose members danced near the stage and kept a drumbeat going on wooden boxes by the merchandise stand. This continued well into the main show, which briefly had beach balls pulled down from the space’s chandelier.

    It’s hard to call the Uglies style traditional reggae. It’s more a combination of that, plus some occasional fast ska tempos, dub vocal and guitar effects, and some good ol’ alt-rock. A good example is one of their new songs, “Place Your Bets.” The verses and chorus come off as your usual reggae with a bit of dub thrown in, but the instrumental breaks play off like a 311 song. Add a few reverb-laden guitar solos and you’ll have a good idea what these guys sound like.

    Given there were a sizable amount of Uglies fans present, the band had great crowd interaction. Hardesty would ask for shots, get a reaction out of saying he saved his drinking just for tonight, and share stories regarding songs like “Bad Decisions” and “Officer O’Hurley.” A fair amount of the show was spent on their new album, with songs like “Load in Load Out” and “Sorry I’m Not Sorry” getting a fair share of audience participation. The odd thing about the set was that on their albums, a horn section will occasionally be present, adding more reggae cred to their songs. There was no horn section present for the show, which didn’t take away that much, but could’ve added a bit more.

    Still, it was a fun evening for those in attendance, even for those who appear to have been at several of the band’s shows already. We’ll definitely be hearing from these guys again soon if the topic of modern American reggae music ever comes up, and how it can effortlessly co-opt other styles into it’s own.

  • Nestling in at The Egg: An Interview with Mike Gordon

    Mike Gordon has returned to the road, with a Fall Tour stretching from the Midwest to the east coast. Having just wrapped up Phish’s Fall Tour in Las Vegas with a performance of David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, NYS Music talked to Mike about his favorite moment from the instant classic set, the goals of improvisation, and what he loves about The Egg so much.

    mike gordon interviewMike Gordon will be in Pittsburgh on Tuesday November 22 at Stage AE, Town Ballroom in Buffalo on Wednesday November 23, Higher Ground in Burlington on Friday November 25 and The Egg in Albany on Saturday, November 26.

    Pete Mason: This is your third show at The Egg in Albany. Your show from 2011 was even released as a live show. What is the appeal of the venue to you?

    Mike Gordon: The acoustics are pretty incredible, I don’t know what it is about eggs, part of how they built it I guess. I had been in the past to see Jerry Douglas. I remember liking the weird shape and it sounds good. The first time, you could hear a pin drop, and when it got loud it was a good kind of loud. And it’s nice how it’s just nestled there in Albany. I love that word. Nestling.

    PM: Is there a moment you hope to reach in improvisation? A certain goal in mind?

    MG: Not so specifically as a specific goal. There are different kinds of goals in there, set personally or with bandmates, different feelings. I’ve had different unique experiences, some are high energy, some are about a lot of sweat. All moments have to be unique, not just rehashing to feel special. There are kinda high energy ones, some more dreamy – in that department, what I used to say, is that my goal in music is to bridge the gap between being awake and asleep – there really is, in the middle of a jam that feels like it’s playing itself, this kind of opening in my soul or somewhere in my mind that accesses a neural network or feelings that I can usually only sort of traverse in night dreams. That’s why I’ll remember certain night dreams, the feeling, the location, the people, some aspect of it. That’s the biggest goal.

    Being 100% in the moment is the true catharsis of what people have or are overcoming problems. In an experience it doesn’t mean you can’t keep track. When it’s not happening and it’s sort of a road trip to another song, then I forget how deep these experiences can be. Then I’m reminded, and I don’t need to be anywhere else in the world and I can be in a cozy living room or somewhere else.

    I’ve been in a philosophical mode – my answers are veering this way for interviews lately. There are so many other feelings and metaphors. A complicated answer and definitely something I think about a lot.

    PM: Why do you feel that is?

    MG: Switching projects, my album, my daughter – so much going on at once. That allows for some cross referencing and applying one inspiration to another to go back and forth to blend all the experiences together and have it come out either way.

    mike gordon interviewPM: What compels you to have improvisation as such a large aspect of your music?

    MG: I have one band that jams a lot, maybe not enough for fans who want every song jammed out. But enough that St. Vincent made fun of it (the jamming). I think I have that (with Phish), so (with Mike Gordon Band) I can rock and work with catchy hooks in fun ways, or ask “How can we experiment with new sounds?,” but what happens for me, even if it’s not what I’ve been writing about in my journals compared to 30 years ago, these little peak experiences remind me that there is a deeper well to be tapped into than what the surface level of what music can provide. There is something that if you believe in it and allow it to go deep into your soul, it’s deeper than one can remember. Anything they try to read and watch later isn’t going to be the same, when the experience becomes irreplaceable. For me, I just keep getting reminded of total spontaneity and what you can plan for, but there is some planning that is necessary and good. Sometimes I think about how my favorite Radiohead show was really deep and dreamy and all the songs were 3 minutes long. If something feels really good, I don’t want it to end, I want to bask in it. Like when you get a new video game, you want to keep playing it.  I don’t want things to end at 3 minutes, but if it does that’s OK.

    With Phish and my experience being in bands with long jams, in the middle of that long jam, something may come up that has nothing to do with the song. Melodies, chord progressions, not as often lyrics, but sometimes lyrics. Made up stuff comes together, almost as a new song, even with its little emotions, flashbacks, dreams, chords, melodies, a whole new little song. So cool to be able to get to that. But wait a minute, this little new song that came out of the jam, taken on its own, could just be a song on the radio – pop, old blues – that isn’t filled with all this cosmic stuff and it’s not a dream song. Maybe there is another route to get there. Maybe there is a different way to get there, by writing songs, that don’t have improv to be enjoyed.

    PM: “Let’s Go”, which was left off Big Boat, was performed by your band this summer at Catskill Chill, and twice this year by Phish. Will the catchy tune have a home in both band’s repertoires?

    MG: I think so, yeah. Scott and I have been doing a lot of writing over the last couple years and I don’t think I’ve said this before, but it came out of a jam my band was doing, some sort of outro, and I just started singing that chant and saved it, and I loved that chant. My friend Fonzworth Bently (From G’s to Gents) was at my band’s L.A. show, and he loved the show a lot and offered some feedback, “I wish you could address the crowd more, say some stuff,” which is interesting since I’m from a world where we don’t talk to the crowd. I wondered “What would I say?” and my friend replied “What about ‘Let’s go?’” When we played House of Blues Boston, we were Googling this medley as a joke of all the songs that have ‘Let’s Go’ (The Cars, Richie Valens) so we went into a writing session, liking the chant, and working off a list of songwriting ideas, this demo we made had a hip hop groove, it sounded sort of fresh, a fresh style for me, mixing synth guitar and drum machine with live percussion. Trey said he kinda lit up when he heard it – we don’t have a chant, aside from “Fuego.” Big Boat was so open ended where I bring songs that are open ended and have more room to build. Trey put it back on the list in the studio, mid-recording, and Bob Ezrin suggested we try it with only drums, all singing, with no other instruments, all after one take. We added in some toy synth sounds and went through an evolution that didn’t sound right.

    mike gordon interviewPM: Were there any lessons from Big Boat that you have applied to your own band?

    MG: There are always lessons. In terms of Big Boat, there were a wide variety of songs on there, which stemmed from the lesson with Bob about being more heartfelt and direct about some songs. When Trey first brought “Miss You,” he played his demo for us, just him strumming and singing and it was authentic, he did miss someone. The chord voicing thing, it sounded unique, like Trey. I appreciated the directness. Bob sat us down and talked about taking the cleverness away and keeping emotion, which he’s done with Pink Floyd and U2. When someone challenges you, I like to look at both ends of spectrum. We want to try that out a bit more. I take it as a grain of salt when I realize I don’t know what my songs are about, and that is intentional. Like “Come Together,” where Lennon admitted it was filled in with gibberish, but it sounds so good. Sometimes directness doesn’t work for me, especially if it feels too plain and other times it does. That’s one thing to think about from that experience. Maybe the way the themes were tied together, there were certain nudgings in certain directions. I liked those directions and discussions, and liked to directly go to YouTube and bring up some influences as old as they might be, and learn some grooves from legendary artists and not be afraid. I really like Page’s song ‘I Always Wanted it This Way’ – he spent over 10 years on it. I’ve been really getting into “Petrichor,” being so long and having 22 sections, it is really fun to digest. There’s a collection of little things.

    PM: What was your personal highlight from the Ziggy Stardust Halloween set?

    MG: I liked it all. Maybe it was highlight of rehearsal for “It Ain’t Easy” and Trey got to sing while I played one note. At the show I think it was different, really all of it together, just a feeling of how comfortable I was doing it. As we always do getting into the mind of another artist, I really like being in that world but feeling like myself, but I liked singing “Starman” because it was the first song everyone knew that was a hit. Having everyone singing along felt amazing.

    PM: What books, movies and music have you been enjoying this year?

    MG: It’s actually a book Phil Lesh lent me – I have to get this back to him – “In Perfect Timing” by Peter Caddy, about the formation of a community in Ireland where the term ‘New Age’ came from where they use spiritual guidance: “I can do it” and “I can climb the biggest mountain.” I’m slowly getting my way through it. I love the weirdness and empowerment feeling.

    I keep missing movies I want to see. Grand Budapest Hotel stuck as a landmark for me where I was like ‘Yeah, I seriously like that one.’

    I’ve been checking out producers and such, my bandmates provided these albums they’ve been listening to and mine hasn’t gone out yet. Warpaint, Can, my daughter is now only spinning Megan Trainor. She had gone into World Pop 40 on Spotify, and now she has been listening to it as a guilty pleasure that she comes up with. So sonic to indie to pop to indie pop to kraut rock.

    PM: In listening to Megan Trainor, had you noticed any similarity between “All About that Bass” and “Contact?”

    MG: All about that bass… I hadn’t thought of that. I like the lyrics, some of her songs go straight back to 1950’s with a modern twist, but some is exactly out of there.

  • Cross Country Interview with the One and Only Zach Deputy

    Talents in the music world like Zach Deputy are a rare breed. The multi-instrumentalist singer and songwriter is from Savannah, Georgia ( I thought he told ya?) He is currently  on tour to support his newest album Wash It In The Water. With his upcoming show November 29 at Buffalo Iron Works he recently took the time to talk with me about tour life, our great state of New York and much more.

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    Tim Merrill: Where in the world is Zach Deputy today on this fifth day of November?

    Zach Deputy: That’s today I’m assuming (haha)? I just crossed the California border into Arizona. We are in Tempe, AZ right now. I’ve got a show in Tempe tonight at the Marquee Theater

    TM: You’ve got a show later this month in Buffalo. The show is five days after Thanksgiving. How do you plan on spending your Thanksgiving?

    ZD: What am I doing for Thanksgiving? Probably hanging out with the Worm. A bunch of Wormtown Family. I’ve spent Thanksgiving there two or three times over the past few years.

    TM: You’re no stranger to playing in Buffalo. Is there anything you like to do when you pass through town?

    ZD: I’m always down to play disc golf. I love the wings at the Anchor Bar. Some people claim they’re the best. Some people don’t. But yea, that place is awesome. Those wings are legit!

    TM: When you’re  on tour traveling through the rest of the great state of New York how do you like to spend your time off stage?

    ZD: I love Keuka Lake. Swimming in that lake is awesome! I’ve been sick before and jumped in and felt instantly better. I love New York. Lake George, tons of places upstate. Except for the winters. I’m a Southern boy

    TM: You’re latest album Wash It In The Water was released a few months ago. What song(s) are you having fun playing on tour off the album?

    ZD: I’ve been playing a few different versions of “Put It In The Boogie.” Maybe four different versions but they are always different.  I’ve had a lot of fun opening up the jam on that song, especially the solo.

    TM: At what age did you pick up your first instrument?

    ZD: I’ve always told people that I played my voice first. Before my recollection it was there. But I picked up the guitar at 13. Got one for my 13th birthday.

    TM: Whats in store for Zach Deputy in 2017?

    ZD: I’m always trying to work on my craft. I’m always trying to give back the love that was so freely given to me. Just trying to make this thing bigger and better. You know, onward and upward. Wherever that takes me!

    Doors are at 7 PM and the show starts at 8 PM Tuesday November 29 at Buffalo Iron Works. Tickets are available here. Bring your dancing shoes. See you there!

  • Lotus Completes Halloween Weekend in Buffalo

    Lotus completed a two night run in Buffalo October 29-30 with a Space Disco Theme on Halloween, complete with the Town Ballroom’s giant Disco Ball shining on a crowd who were dressed to impress.

    The room filled in shortly after Jimkata took the stage to a sold out show. Lotus followed and absolutely crushed the room and blew the roof off the place.

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    October 29 Setlist
    Set 1: Middle Road, I’ve Been a Fool (Toy Guns), Uffi, Destroyer, Bubonic Tonic>In the Bliss>Bellwether
    Set 2: Fearless, Ashcon, 128>Philly Hit>Did Fatt>128, Turquoise, Greet the Mind
    Encore: Sodium Vapor, Age of Inexperience

    October 30 Setlist
    Set 1: Nematode, Opo, Arupa>Sift>Mikesnack>Hammerstrike, Eats the Light
    Space Disco Set: Space Disco Intro Story>Snooze 4 Love>Stellar Triangulation*>Bizarre Love Triangle>Giffards Airship*, Sextant*, Ra Ako St>Life on Mars>Like a Prayer>Get Lucky
    Encore: Jump Off, Disappear in a Blood-Red Sky
    *original music written for Space Disco Set

    Check out live download here for night 1 and night 2.

  • Tom Hamilton’s American Babies Transcends a Reincarnation of the Dead

    When the venue space is sufficient and the sound is solid in any direction you choose to wander, there’s only one more thing you need from a show, and that’s mind-blowing music.  That is exactly what we got from Tom Hamilton’s American Babies show at Buffalo Iron Works on November 2nd.

    Hayley Jane and the Primates delivered an impressive belting opening set built for the largest stadium.  Hayley lead this group of focused musicians and commands her stage with not only a strong vocal range reminiscent at times of Nancy Wilson or the roaring 20’s but kept the audience captivated with movement, dancing and expressions.  It’s when everyone watched to see what she would do next that the power of a good lead vocalist lies.  You would expect Hayley, adorned with feathers in her hair, for the Primates to back her musically with jam grooves.

    Yet Hayley isn’t the only thing that kept us on our toes as they moved through the music adding tinges of alternative and winding back beat flairs that make us long for what’s next.  Then they played “Mama.”  Hayley strapped on a washboard and everything changed.  Bluegrass vocal harmonies between Hayley and the band ripped us open with tales of the mountains and we were immediately taken there.  Hayley Jane and the Primates is not your average jam band and will absolutely put you on a musical roller coaster through the festivals, clubs and finally drop you off in the mountains by the fire. They were an opener well chosen for Tom Hamilton’s American Babies.

    Hamilton settled the crowd in for what you may think is a set layered from his work with Grateful Dead counterparts but then something surprising happened, his music began to defy categorization.  Hamilton layered his music in a way that takes you on a trip through his own musical inspirations. Tinges of classic rock, including heavy rhythms, melodic tones and even whispers of punk made their appearance throughout his set.  Tom stated that through his music, he “delves deeper” and brings out his own musical influences.  Yes, the basis of this group may be found in the roots of jam and trance but layered throughout is a trip through musical time as we hear riffs reminiscent of everything from Led Zeppelin, to Ramones and Tool.

    Tom’s title release, “An Epic Battle Between Light and Dark” sent the audience on a tour through what Tom considered a battle not only mentally but musically as we were captivated by cool back beats and entranced by a full array of guitar solos and rhythms.  If you were looking for a Grateful Dead reincarnation, you wouldn’t quite find it here but you would find something more complex.  Tom Hamilton’s American Babies took the genre to a new level by adding his own personal experiences and influences, keeping the music relevant in order to give you a ride worth taking.  “An Epic Tour from East to West” is hitting most major cities. To find the next stop on Tom Hamilton’s ride visit their site.

  • Shonen Knife Return to Buffalo

    A very eclectic crowd showed up at Buffalo’s Mohawk Place on Friday, November 4th, made up of regulars, some older patrons, and some visible Japanophiles. The kinds of people based on visual looks you wouldn’t expect to be at the same show. Somehow, they all came together for quite a novelty show; a Japanese all-girl garage-pop band by the name of Shonen Knife.

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    Shonen Knife, currently made up of guitarist Naoko Yamano, bassist Atsuko Yamano, and latest drummer Risa Kawano, have had quite the long, strange history for what at first seems just like another garage band, this one just happens to be from Osaka. Since their albums got their first American release on Sub Pop records in the mid-80’s, they’ve made fans out of Nirvana, Sonic Youth, and L7, along with Matt Groening and Mike Judge. They even played some dates with Nirvana on their Nevermind tour, various festivals like Lollapalooza, Fun Fun Fun Fest, Fuji Rock Fest, and had a tribute album made for them, Every Band Has A Shonen Knife Who Loves Them, featuring underground 80’s punk acts like Sonic Youth, L7, Babes in Toyland, and the wonderfully named The Mr. T Experience.

    Shonen Knife does have a soft spot for Buffalo. Their current American record label, Good Charamel Records, is based in Buffalo and run by Goo Goo Dolls bassist Robby Takac. They also released a live DVD at the very same Mohawk place establishment from their 2009 American tour.

    When they finally took the stage, after having three opening acts, Shonen Knife came out wearing dresses looking like they were flattened disco balls, playing sparkling instruments, and going straight into their fast, tight bubblegum punk songs that left a good portion of the full crowd dancing. They hardly let anyone have a chance to take a break from the fun at the frantic pace they went on at.

    The show lasted 75 minutes, but it somehow simultaneously felt like it passed by really quickly and took forever. All their songs are around two to three minutes, so they were able to fit quite a lot in for an average set. Not to mention getting various synchronized motions during and after the songs. Hell, there was only a few seconds of downtime between the songs, with Risa either doing a quick 1,2,3,4 on her cymbals or Atsuko shouting a 1,2,3,4. What downtime there was when they talked to the audience, in the best conversational English they could muster, was spent introducing the next song, or talking about their new album, Adventure, and it’s 1970’s influences.

    I suppose this next part is expected, given most American’s common perception of stereotypical Japanese music, but the song lyrics are about cute things. Like cats, complete with a “meow meow meow” chorus line, capybaras, tangerines, and how fun roller coasters are. Dare I say, the only unpleasant thing they sang about all night was wasabi. But Atsuko said she likes it before starting to sing, so maybe I’m convinced it’s gotten better since the last time I tried it.

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    Even when the band left the stage, with the audience demanding an encore, I figured they would come back eventually. It’s a tradition at most major rock shows. But this was a small venue with everyone cramped for space, where it felt like anything could happen. So when Shonen Knife came back onstage for a two-song encore after some audience chanting, it somehow felt more earned than when it happens in an arena setting.

    For a band with a visible American cult following, along with being around since 1981, it’s was odd for me at first seeing a band with Shonen Knife’s cred playing here, one of many Buffalo venues mainly catered toward local bands. Now I wonder if they play at any larger venues here in America, if it may ruin their mystique. I don’t blame them for wanting to play in a small, cramped space like the Mohawk Place. It just makes the fun all the more infectious, which makes for a better experience.

  • Vibe and Direct Play Nietzsche’s

    On what felt like the first Buffalo weekend it actually felt like fall, a band from Cleveland made their first appearance at Nietzche’s on Friday, October 21st. While many other bars nearby in Buffalo’s Allentown district had people flocking in from the cold, this establishment had quite the treat in Vibe & Direct.

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    The band, made up of Doug Rab on bass, Mike Miller on guitar and electronic effects, and Danny Giannetto on drums, plays a self-described psychelectrojam dance party. It comes down to Miller playing his guitar in a blues-smooth jazz sounding style, with plenty of fast strumming thrown in, Rab bouncing around on bass wearing his lensless green sunglasses, poofball golf hat, and shirt saying “Electrolytes, it’s what plants crave,” and Giannetto throwing off drum licks like Carter Beauford of the Dave Matthews Band.

    Despite the band’s proclamation of psychelectrojam, the jam part is what stands out most. The psychelectro aspects didn’t feature in every song, they moreso enhanced, but that didn’t stop the audience there from bobbing their heads along with the sharp beats. A band engaging in lengthy jam sessions needs to know where the other members are heading, chord-wise and tempo-wise, so that the entire song doesn’t fall apart. Thank goodness these players have those skills. No matter where they were in the middle of their various jams, nobody gave the impression they were lost, nor struggling.

    The song that best epitomized Vibe & Direct’s set and style was a cover of Seals & Croft’s “Summer Breeze,” from early in the set. It started off respectable enough, channeling the same yacht rock vibe the original captures. But once the first 3 minutes of the song were up, they went on an original jam session that had you forgetting they were playing a cover. It was a shame they had to take a 10-minute break after finishing because of technical difficulties involving Miller’s computer.

    Vibe & Direct kept at it until 2 am, playing through roughly two and a half hours with an intermission. It was also the night the Chicago Cubs won the National League pennant, and will face the band’s hometown Cleveland Indians in the World Series. Miller had to make a comment that two championships for Cleveland in one year would be too much for him. They certainly kept those huddling in the cramped standing space entertained, and no doubt those listening at the bar or passing by outside could find something to like too.