As we continue our look at the best of and the brightest in music in 2017, we shift our focus to up and coming bands that are ready to burst on to the national stage. While our staff picks may mirror those of last year, NYS Music readers have voted for a new act that’s ready to join the ranks of other popular New York bands with bight futures.
And if you’ve missed any of our previous voting results from earlier this week, check out our winners for Best Venues, Best Albums and Best Festivals.
For the second year in a row, our staff has selected Aqueous as a band on the rise as the Buffalo, NY quartet continues their steady progression towards national relevancy. Playing bigger festivals, opening for acts like The Disco Biscuits, and collaborating with members of moe., fellow Upstate New Yorkers, in addition to a steady touring schedule have all contributed to this band’s surge in popularity. This should come as no surprise to Buffalo area music fans who have been singing the group’s praises for years now. They’ll get to enjoy Aqueous back in their hometown as they ring in the new year at Town Ballroom. Tickets are still available and can be purchased here.
At least the readers of NYS Music have offered up a new taste this year for their Band on the Rise selection as they’ve chosen The Other Brothers. Fresh off the heels of their recently released EP Jones, this band has seen a steady rise in prominence in 2017 thanks to increased exposure this summer at local festivals like Disc Jam and strong word of mouth. They hang their hat on being able to mix delicate ballad-like songs with focused and heavy jamming in the live setting.
Artists You Should Know
We’re always looking for new music, especially bands from New York State, and this year we stepped up our game and found bands from all corners of the state playing our local bars and clubs, just getting started.
We checked in with our readers, and they overwhelmingly suggested three New York artists: The Backseat Bullets (for fans of shoegaze and a 90s grunge influence), Aqueous (jam stalwarts of Buffalo), and Hartley’s Encore, the new funk powerhouse in Albany.
Meanwhile, we asked the staff who were some artists readers should know about, and we ended up with an impressive list of 21 different artists to check out. There’s no sense in sending you off to listen to three or four bands worth checking out when there is so much variety in store. So here’s the NYS Music Staff list of Best Artists You Should Know for 2017.
Music Festivals are constantly curated and in recent times, unfold in abundance as live music lovers today are spoiled to have their preferred picks of summertime get downs. However, there’s only one original festival that can be credited with truly sparking an endless movement–Woodstock. We’re lucky enough to see footage, listen to wild tales of the 1969 live music renaissance and visit the stomping grounds where the magic of Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin and so many more were unleashed. Now, New York State has big plans to step in with financial funding to commemorate the fest with a 2019 50th Woodstock anniversary event.
After rumors have circulated among fake bills, rock music fans can rest knowing that a dream will soon be reality. According to LocalSyr, “The Regional Economic Development Council announced earlier this week includes nearly $690,000 for the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts — that’s located on the site of the original Woodstock Music Festival.”
Promoter Michael Lang put together two previous anniversary versions of the iconic festival; the first in nearby Saugerties at Winston Farm in 1994. The event featured a raucous mud-throwing performance from Green Day, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Primus and Bob Dylan. The 1999 edition, held on a deactivated air force base in Rome, is most remembered for its tumultuous ending. Attendees rioted, starting fires and looting vendors as the final bands performed. Allegations of rape throughout the weekend also tainted the festival, putting any further incarnations of it in doubt.
Having showcased three days of peace, music and love to over 400,000 attendees, the 2019 event will offer the same three-day setup at the 11-year old venue. Bethel Woods oozes history from its amphitheater to its Woodstock Museum that often showcases clothing and special effects from its generation’s biggest stars, offering you a way to get lost in time and get on the bus for a bit.
We won’t get to see Hendrix shred the “Star-Spangled Banner,” hear Jerry Garcia sing songs to fill the air or listen in awe as Joplin unleashes her raspy vocals to an endless crowd but we can only expect the biggest names to make their way out to the late 1960s and 1970s resurgence. No one who was there will ever be the same, and we’re hoping this statement at least holds up half way for its 50th anniversary bash.
Just last month, after a seven-year run in Chicago, Illinois, indie folkmaster Chaz Hearne returned home to Rochester to continue his music career in his hometown. Hearne is a folk musician that enjoys the roots but is not shy to cross genres and experiment. Although banjo is his primary axe, Hearne is a multi-instrumentalist that performs everything from finger picked acoustic tunes to all-out rock anthems on banjo, guitar, piano, and violin, adding layered vocal harmonies. Regardless of the tune, Hearne performs with passion, honesty, and fragility.
Ben Albert of NYS Music was humbled to sit down and converse with Chaz Hearne about his experience in Chicago, the message behind his conceptual songwriting, and his new politically critical concept album, Rise of Voluminous. The conversation was recorded in collaboration with Rochester Groovecast and released as a Rochester Groovecast podcast episode. Take a peek below and click the play button to listen to the episode. Scroll farther below to find a timestamp of the show.
TIMESTAMP:
00:17: Chaz Hearne- Fun in 82
05:12: Episode Intro
07:19: Interview Part One
14:11: Chaz Hearne- Spicy in The Dim Halls
17:15: Interview Part Two
39:29: Closing Comments
41:21: Raw Performance by Chaz Hearn
Groove-heavy americana quintet Donna The Buffalo of Trumansburg, is returning to Rochester this weekend to distribute an eclectic mash of folk, roots, country, reggae, jam and zydeco, to a devoted local crowd. Accompanied by Rochester’s own, Aaron Lipp and the Slacktones, the foot-stomping, hug-sharing, and partner-twirling will take place on Saturday, Dec. 9, at 7:30 PM at Anthology. Advanced tickets are $22.50 and the gate price is $25.
“I love playing music. I love playing the fiddle…I love to sing. I never thought too much about it. I never wondered why I play music. I’ve just always done it. There was never anything else I was gonna do instead. There has never been a question. I was drawn to music. I love listening to it. I love playing it. Music fills me up. It’s one of my languages.” -Tara Nevins of Donna the Buffalo
Nearly thirty years since their humble beginnings, Donna the Buffalo is warming into an extensive winter tour, traveling from New York, to Florida, to Texas, with many show stops in between. There is good reason Donna the Buffalo has toured extensively for the better part of thirty years. The group provides a dynamic high-energy performance that is at one moment completely fun-loving and carefree, then in the next, undoubtably heartfelt and deeply insightful. At every show, the audience experiences poetic stories about life, family, and the human condition. To top off the enthusiasm brought by their live performance, Donna The Buffalo brings improvisation and spontaneity to the table. The band doesn’t work off a set list, rather, co-leaders Jeb Puryea and Tara Nevins take turns choosing the next song in real time.
When I asked Nevins if she had any advice for a young musician with aspirations to pursue the music industry, she retorted, “Do it because you love it don’t do it because you think you’ll be famous. And enjoy the journey..” I think it is crystal clear that Tara Nevins and all of the Donna the Buffalo family do indeed play music that they love, and do indeed enjoy the journey.
If you’re in the Rochester area, check out Donna the Buffalo on Saturday, Dec. 9, and everyone, stay tuned, Donna the Buffalo is recording a new record in February.
Brandi Carlile fans are some of the luckiest fans in the world. They can see Carlile just about any time they’d like to because she always seems to be on tour. She’s performed at least once a month, almost every single month since 2014 and will continue this streak well on into 2018, making several stops in New York along the way. These shows include a three-night run at the Beacon Theatre on April 5, 6 (Sold Out) and 7, the Palace Theatre in Albany on May 6 and the State Theatre in Ithaca on May 8. Tickets for all of these shows are available now and are modestly priced. Again, the April 6 show and the Beacon Theatre is sold out.
Carlile will be touring with her five-album discography and will likely showcase some new material from her soon to be released collection, By the Way, I Forgive You. Listeners can get a taste of the new album by checking out the single, “The Joke.” It’s sentimental and a bit melancholy, which isn’t unheard of for Carlile. But taking into account this track’s tone coupled with some emotional album artwork, it raises the question, what will the rest of the album sound like? That question will be answered on February 16, 2018.
Anyone unfamiliar with Carlile’s work should give her the old college try. Her music is wholesome, moving, catchy and beaming with energy. On top of her extensive musical career, she and her bandmates, Tim and Phil Hanseroth also found the time and energy to create a nonprofit called the Looking Out Foundation. They, “band together with fans, nonprofits, and corporations to translate voices of song to voices of action,” as well as donating $1 from every concert to their efforts and related charities.
Tour Dates:
April 5 – Beacon Theatre – New York, NY April 6 – Beacon Theatre – New York, NY (SOLD OUT) April 7 – Beacon Theatre – New York, NY May 6 – Palace Theatre – Albany, NY May 8 – State Theatre – Ithaca, NY
Canada’s finest Celtic music export, Enter the Haggis, will return to the Putnam Den this Saturday, December 9, with Albany’s Black Mountain Symphony kicking the night off. Haggis Heads will unite for an energetic night of Celtic rock as part of the group’s “Broken Arms” Tour. Trevor Lewington (guitar, mandolin, keyboard, vocals for Enter the Haggis) spoke with NYS Music this week to discuss their New York fans, the Irish connection found at shows around the state, and how their studio work remains fresh after more than 20 years.
Pete Mason: Given New York’s large Irish community spread out around the state, do you find the crowds to be different when you play in New York, or are Haggis Heads a universal fanbase?
Trevor Lewington: There’s a strong connection between the US and Ireland so just about anywhere you go in this country you’ll find people with Irish roots. That said, obviously New York has one of the largest expat Irish populations so when you play in a band with pipes and fiddle, there’s big support. Our music also blurs the lines between a number of styles and many Haggis Heads across the country have little or no connection to Ireland, which is cool too. There really is something about Irish and Celtic music in general that draws the listener in and tends to get people dancing and having a good time.
PM: How was your recent show at the Westcott Theater in Syracuse? And you’ve got shows in February in Buffalo and Rochester coming up?
TL: We’ve definitely been busy recently! Besides the Upstate shows, the last couple months have taken us to California, Texas and Ireland. The Westcott show was awesome as usual – we play a wide range of venues from seated theaters to standing rock clubs and the Westcott (and Putnam Den) are two of the most rockin’.
PM: How do you feel your music has evolved over the past few years?
TL: We started as very much a Celtic/Irish Rock band and over about 10 albums have gone in all sorts of directions. Leading up to our last couple of releases we were getting further from the Celtic sound and then had a furious swing right back to our roots as a band. I think we needed a little time away from it to get excited about Celtic Rock again. We’ve also come to realize that for whatever reason this band plays Celtic Rock music in a very natural and authentic way – it helps having a Scottish piper and a fiddle player who grew up competing on the Canadian fiddle circuit.
PM: Given that 2012’s The Modest Revolution was written based on stories found in a 2012 edition of Toronto’s The Globe and Mail, and another album was written based on letters from fans, how does giving your albums themes keep the studio experience fresh?
TL: Not only did it keep things fresh but it was a great way to engage listeners. Plus, it’s usually our songs that are based on specific stories that seem to connect with our fans. That said, we’re embarking on a new record and this time I mostly just pulled lyrics from the depths of my heart and brain… and my liver… this is starting to sound a bit like haggis.
Rochester-based songwriter and vocalist Sharon Coates recently released her second album just in time for winter, entitled here now. This eleven-track jukebox brings a variety of styles to our ears, with a persistent folk and americana intention, only complimented by her soft vocal timbre.
Her intriguing lyrical stories take us through her personal timeline, apparent in her reminiscent song “The Town Where I Live,” and in her evolution of complex concepts through poetry in “Cathedral.” Joining her on the record are instrumentalists Dave Drago, Alex Northrup, Jacob Walsh and Dave Chisholm, and in sync, their sound is familiarized as Southern country, with use of an accordion, banjo, organ, and even a trumpet to round out the sound.
With interesting rhythm changes and unique guitar strumming patterns, songs like “Mexico” and the major-minor combative “Just Don’t” stand out as the album’s commanders. The song’s opening track “A Bullet Ain’t Got A Name” has a slight Tom Petty hint to it, with a light, smooth groove to introduce Coate’s new chapter. Her initial release was back in 2016, and it wasn’t long before she was ready to release new material to her listeners, and this album was well delivered the second time around. There’s no reason for her to be here now, when she’s been here all along, releasing music back-to-back.
Despite her library of music, Sharon Coates puts her music in few places. To listen to her full album, you can go to her Bandcamp site, or stream a few songs form her album below.
Dave DiPrimo Band has just released Reflections, their sophomore full-length album. NYS Music met up with members of the folk rock quartet at Java’s Cafe, where just two months ago they played to a packed house during the Rochester Fringe Festival. Their saxophonist was unable to attend, but Michael Slattery, the photographer who did the artwork for the album cover, was available for the interview.
Dave DiPrimo Band at Java’s Cafe during the 2017 Rochester Fringe Festival Photo: Joseph DiPrimo
Paula Cummings: Dave, you started as a singer/songwriter. What made you want to start a band?
Dave DiPrimo: Being a singer/songwriter, there’s only so much you can do. Your songs come to fruition, but they never turn out the way you expect them to. They’re kind of empty. It was also kinda lonely, always doing one thing, just you on stage. There’s no one to turn around and make faces at when you say stupid stuff. No drummer to make fun of you or tell you to stop blabbering when you’re talking too long. Playing with a full band makes the songs sound better and fuller – their musicianship and the instrumentation they provide. It’s more fun to play with people, especially good people. And these guys, you know, they’re okay. (Laughter)
PC: Who are the other members of the band, and what do you play?
Reid Hoffmeier: I’m Reid and I drum for the Dave DiPrimo Band.
Ian Benz: My name is Ian and I play bass. Me and Dave went to Boy Scouts 6 years ago. That’s where we met. Six months later, I started playing in Ivy’s Panic Room. He knew that I’ve been playing bass for a while. He contacted me. And this has been working out pretty well.
DD: Karis Gregory plays saxophone and lead guitar on some songs. I go to Nazareth College with him. In previous iterations of this band, he filled in for certain shows. When the band was changing, I brought him on full time.
PC: That leads to my next question. You’re all in college. How do you balance the demands of being students and musicians?
DD: Very carefully! We try to practice as much as we’re available. This has been a busy time of year. We haven’t been playing too many shows, as we’ve been finishing the album. It can be a lot to try to organize practice and shows with school, but we’ve been doing okay so far. We haven’t had any VH1 Behind The Music meltdown moments.
RH: This is one of the few things I do for fun outside of college and work, so whenever we have something that pops up, I just cut everything else and make this a priority. It’s hard juggling three jobs essentially, but having a job you care about and is entertaining to do, with a bunch of friends, you make it number one.
IB: It’s not that bad. Weekends usually work out, and there’s only a couple weekends left in the semester. I’m cramming it in, but it’s totally worth it.
PC: You were featured on the Rochester Indie Musician Spotlight, where you had the distinction of being the youngest artist on the series. What was that like?
DD: It was pretty cool. It was an interesting experience to have the cameras there. Dan Gross, the host, is A) a talented professional and B) just a really great guy, so we were happy to be on the show with him. That was before we had Ian with us. We got Ian two months after that. It was a cool jumping point to have our first show together as a taped session. We also did a little recording at WITR, too. We did a live EP with them. Those kinds of sessions, where it’s not just a show but there’s something permanent left over, that’s cool. We signed the (WITR) wall near Joywave and a lot of bands who have done stuff there. We took up an obnoxious amount of space.
RH: Dead center above the door, so walking in and out you always see it.
WITR Studio Photo: Bailey Gribben
PC: Tell me about the album. What is the overall theme?
DD: I feel like every time I write an album, it starts as a story with a start and finish. And I feel like by the time it’s done and in the right order, it’s not anymore. It’s kind of little vignettes. It’s called Reflections. Everything I wrote is not about things currently going on in my life, for the most part. They’re all sort of nostalgia and looking back. For example, on the last track on the album, “Glory Days,” there’s a line referencing this past New Year’s Eve when we had a fun time at one of our live shows. There’s a joke that’s made about that evening.
PC: You guys are young, but have this old soul vibe going on.
RH: We’re just more mature than everyone else!
DD: We’re old and cool and wise… Our music has so many influences. As a songwriter, I’m inspired by soul, alternative, punk and rock, and some emo stuff. All these different genres look back and reflect on the past. I feel like there are not too many folk songs looking towards a bright future. It’s all dwelling on stuff.
PC: When and where was it recorded?
RH: I don’t remember the date. It was over the summer, but we did it in one day. It was exhausting. I didn’t get home until midnight.
DD: It was at The Green Room in Ontario. Matt Ramerman, our engineer, is the owner of The Green Room. We did the session there. A month or two later, I went back. He had moved his studio from Ontario to Rochester. I went back and added some keys and worked on mixing some more.
PC: How did this recording experience differ from the first album?
DD: Even as we were listening to the rough mix in the studio for Reflections, it just felt like it was going to be a more satisfying product.
RH: We put a lot of effort and hours into it. Not just in the studio, in the weeks leading up to the recording: the practice, the ideas back and forth. We had already played these songs a number of times, but we just kept nitpicking – “I want to change this, let’s run it through.” We listened to it for the first time a couple weeks ago. It was a lot of fun.
DD: Ian, Reid and Karis put so much effort into the album, and into practice – making sure they were on and ready. I think at most we only needed three or four takes.
PC: I like the album artwork.
Michael Slattery: One day, I got out of work and I saw these clouds from a distance. I went home and got my camera; I went chasing the clouds. I took a nice picture and that’s the picture that’s on the back of the CD. And as I was driving home, I looked into my side mirror. I saw the cloud again and I thought it would be cool to take a picture of the cloud back through the mirror.
DD: I love Mike’s photos. I think it fits the mood really well. And I really like my brother Joe’s photo on the inside of the four silhouettes.
Reflections was released on November 25. It’s available to stream on their website and Spotify, and purchase on CD Baby, iTunes and Google Play. Follow Dave DiPrimo Band on Facebook and Twitter for upcoming performances and news.
Rochester alternative folk group Dave DiPrimo Band has released their latest single, “Know You Best.” The song comes from their forthcoming sophomore album Reflections, which is set to release on Saturday, November 25.
“Know You Best” is the first track on the new full-length LP. In this intensely emotional tale of longing for connection, pleading lyrics give way to bellowing vocals in the chorus. The song establishes the nostalgic tone that pervades the entire album.
Dave DiPrimo Band is: Dave DiPrimo on vocals/guitar/keys, Reid Hoffmeier on drums, Ian Benz on bass, and Karis Gregory on saxophone (and sometimes guitar). While based in the folk tradition, DDB weaves in influences from genres as far flung as soul and punk to create a sound that’s both timeless and contemporary.
David Crosby brought his friends to The Egg on Friday, November 17 for a sold out performance that featured tracks off his new album Sky Trails, as well as songs from the 60’s and 70’s by CSNY, CPR and The Byrds. Crosby’s Friends this evening included Jeff Pevar on guitar, James Raymond on keys, Mai Agan on bass, Steve DiStanislao on drums, and Michelle Willis on keys and vocals.
David Crosby and Friends at The Egg
Shortly after opening with “In my Dreams,” a prime sample of Crosby, Stills and Nash’s late 70s elevator rock sound, Crosby dove into the first of a few CPR tracks, “Morrison” and later “At the Edge” and the powerful “Breathless,” as he spread out his vast catalog throughout the evening.
After a show in Boston that had an audience member taking issue with Crosby’s anti-Trump stance, there were four instances this evening where he took jabs at Trump, with no vocal disdain from the audience. There was also the groovy “She’s Got to be Somewhere,” a song about a spy, influenced by Trump, and the first track off Sky Trails.
Crosby shared stories throughout the evening, the first about The Byrds touring in England for the first time in the 60s, and told of how they were scared to meet The Beatles because they had copied their look, clothes, hair, shoes, sound and all. While performing one night, Crosby saw Mick Jagger and John Lennon in the crowd, and while he was nervous to meet either of them, they were as mellow as could be when they got to talking after the show. This led to Crosby offering a Ravi Shankar album to George Harrison, which had a profound influence on the quiet Beatle and his music in the years that followed. Crosby and Friends then performed “Laughing” which was written for Harrison.
The touching CSN classic “Guinevere” was followed by referencing the Boston audience member, leading Crosby to wonder if “maybe they thought it was a Stephen Stills show,” before discussing the impact of Eisenhower’s “Military industrial Complex” speech and how it had an early influence on his view of American politics. With cheers and applause from the audience, he briefly spoke against the buying of Congress (and how there may only be five good ones left), which led into the short acapella song from an era of protest against the Vietnam War “What are their names?” Keeping the spirit of the era alive, a pairing of “Long Time Coming” and an extended “Deja Vu” with a soft jazzy interlude closed the first set.
“Delta,” a song written on Warren Zevon’s piano (thanks to Jackson Browne when he was helping Crosby get clean) and “My Country Tis of Thee” with a CSN spin on the American staple stood out in a shorter second set. An encore of Neil Young’s “Ohio” had Crosby encouraging the crowd to sing the chorus “Four dead in Ohio,” and left the audience emboldened to take the spirit of the era from which these songs were born.
While the show had plenty of reminiscing, Crosby’s show was far from a novelty act or nostalgia show. There were a few songs from his forthcoming album Sky Trails that were performed this evening amid plenty of classics from across his Canon. The 76 year old showed no signs of slowing down or mailing in his performance as he heads into the twilight of his career. Crosby is fired up and ready to go.
