The members of Phish returned to Madison Square Garden for an unprecedented 15th time in 2017 on Friday, December 29, 2017, and while the first set showcased a few stumbles along the way, the band showed it’s still pushing brand new boundaries heading into its 35th year.
With biting winds and the repetitiveness of yet another MSG jaunt, fans filled the sideways, bars and restaurants of midtown Manhattan, pre-show prepping for an unpredictably wild night. Off the bat, the band slid into the slinky intro of “Cavern,” typically a set closer. While Trey Anastasio mixed up a few lyrics, he set the tone for the evening. A lengthened “Blaze On” followed that fell into jazzy ambiance before bassist Mike Gordon leaped into his song, “555.”
“I Always Wanted It This Way,” keyboardist Page McConnell’s tune, stretched out from 1980s-like quirkiness into a vast yet quite dark jam. “Martian Monster” and “Heavy Things” saw the band have a little fun, notably the interplay between Anastasio and McConnell in the latter. “Destiny Unbound,” somewhat of a rarity, injected a breath of life into the crowd. Stretching to nearly nine minutes, this version of “Destiny” is longer than all in recent memory, but it was clear the band hadn’t practiced it much prior.
“Ocelot” slowly turned into a jam that featured Anastasio’s slinky fretwork, built up to a peak rife with tension. A little bit of his old school bravado from the mid-1990s was on display, dancing runs of notes up and down with little abandoned. While some fans are growing a bit weary of The Garden, Phish doesn’t appear to be among them. Launching into the set closing “Walls Of The Cave,” Phish was set to send us all to the restrooms and beer lines with a little extra pep in our steps. Anastasio had a little trouble with the intro, but he was pushed by excellent drum work by Jon Fishman, who was quietly the most important piece of the band in the set. With his extra effort rubbing off on Anastasio, Phish set “WotC” into orbit with a frenetic finish, capped off by incredible lighting from Chris Kuroda, who has incorporated seemingly every house light in the building with his rig to make for quite a stunning visual component.
The tone was immediately set when the first strums of “Sand” echoed through the sold out Garden. Anastasio quickly made use of his new toys on his completely redesigned guitar rig. Designed by Custom Audio Electronics, the set features new cabinets and a wide array of new options for Anastasio to incorporate.
With the “Chalk Dust Torture” that followed, the band unleashed a jam that quickly became the highlight of the night. After the typical song portion, Anastasio bullied his way into a quiet jam that really felt forced and out of place. It seemed as if they simply decided they’re going to launch a completely separate segment, which really should be titled “Chalk Dust Torture->Jam” on the official setlist. That was quickly forgotten, as the quiet melodies bled into an Allman Brothers-sounding jam. Gordon and McConnell continued forcing Anastasio to enter new territories before dissolving into what can only be described as a siren-sounding jam.
The execution of the segue into “Ghost” was as smooth as it gets. Almost contrary to the jam before it, this “Ghost” was led in force by the rhythm section. Gordon and Fishman landed on a smooth groove, to which McConnell responded with wavy synth runs to give the jam a dreamy finish.
“Backwards Down The Number Line” may not be everyone’s favorite song, but no one can argue that it’s about as fun of a Phish song as there is. The previous 41 minutes was Phish showing us that nothing gets stale with this band. The following eight minutes was them telling the crowd how it’s as important to the show as the band is. When Anastasio sang the closing “you decide what it contains” lyric, the people on the Chase Bridge went into pure bliss. A very quick “Simple” gave way to the drums of “Split Open And Melt.” This “Melt” was the perfect cap to a show that took a left at every right hand turn. The middle segment was eerie, haunting and quite strange. It was a dissolution into some ambient work by McConnell and Gordon, before Anastasio brought the song — and set — to a close. It was the most improv heavy “Melt” since the SPAC, 2013 version.
For the encore, that bravado of Anastasio resurfaced. “Julius” may have been about the only predictable part of the show, but it gave Anastasio one more chance to show he’s most exciting and innovative guitarist in rock and roll today. The rocking finish was coupled with Kuroda lighting the Garden in some of the most impressive ways of his career, and that’s saying something.
Tonight Phish goes for No. 16 at the Garden. If the first two nights are foreshadowing tonight, we are in for another gem.
Four long months after the final notes of the Baker’s Dozen’s “Tweezer Reprise,” Phish retook the Jell-O stage at MSG on December 28, 2017, for their “Triumphant Return” to the world’s most famous arena. If there were any doubts as to whether they could play with the intensity and passion of the Baker’s Dozen, they were abandoned almost immediately as New York was treated to a show that carried a similar magic to those of the previous run at the Garden. The only noticeable difference was the bitter cold and lack of gourmet donut wrappers on the floor.
The band took no time getting the show on the road with a spacey ‘AC/DC Bag’ which saw Trey sitting back on the solo and letting the rest of the band organically develop a patient groove, which would foreshadow the jamming style of the night. ‘Wolfman’s Brother’ emerged out of the white lights and provided the first (of many) jam highlight of the evening. The band quickly transitioned from the classic Wolfman’s funk to a dark, murky jam that gave the feeling that you took the wrong turn down a shrunken alley on the lower east side, but there was no going back because you already devoted to making it past the sketchy brown walls and back to a world of streetlights and pretzel vendors. An early first set ‘Roggae’ broke out of the darkness and saw masterful interplay between all four band members as they reached a glorious peak that shook the garden.
Another first set highlight came next in the funky ‘Tube’ which saw an extended jam reminiscent of the Dick’s 16 ‘No Men in No Man’s Land.’ Trey played around with his effects to create an echoed funnel over the fast-building Mike led jam. It was brought so far into space they had to take a couple of seconds to catch themselves before fumbling back into the final verse of the song. There was so much packed into this short ‘Tube’ that I still almost don’t believe it only clocked in at just over eight minutes. A standard ‘Bouncing Around the Room’ came next and gave everyone a chance to catch their breaths before the band went right back at it with an exceptionally rocking ‘Back on the Train.’ For a while in recent years, this song played the role of keeping the energy in a setlist up without doing anything too special, but the last few we have seen has broken that mold and become must listen to first set highlights.
A funky ‘Your Pet Cat’ followed and kept up the energy in the room before a dark ‘Waking up Dead’ showcased Mike’s songwriting ability and Trey’s prog-rock roots in the solo. An oddly placed, but much appreciated, set closing ‘Theme From the Bottom’ followed, and quickly broke the mold from a traditional ‘Theme’ jam as the band built a peak similar to a summer 2014 ‘Bathtub Gin.’ The only other time ‘Theme’ closed out a first set was 12/13/1999. While the first set may look standard on paper, it was anything but. Nearly every song saw the band taking a risk and going off the deep end, as they have been doing all year.
After a smile-fueled set break, the band to the stage with a rocking ‘Wilson’ which got everyone in the crowed fired up and ready to boogie. As soon as the opening notes of ‘Wilson’ began, there was a feeling in the air that the second set was going to be special, as second sets that open with Wilson are historically very strong (the last two prior to this shows were 9/6/15 and 7/27/14). ‘No Men in No Man’s Land’ came hot off the high energy ‘Wilson’ produced and catapulted the show from “Wow” to “Did that just happen?!?” The multi-part behemoth saw an array of the band’s play styles from funk to rock to space, and created soundscapes that swirled through the air from Page’s new synth, which defined the sound of 2017 Phish. Clocking in at just over 24 minutes, this NMINML is a jam that will be listened to for a long time. Out of the madness came a familiar riff as Trey transitioned into another anticipated jam vehicle, ‘Twist.’ The band took no time getting things going as they built the versatile song into a fervent funk jam which shot laser beams from one end of the garden to the other. Out of the funk peak saw a push back into darkness from Mike and Fish, which lasted for a few minutes leading many to believe they were going into ‘Steam,’ though Trey had different ideas.
The transition to ‘Everything’s Right’ wasn’t the cleanest, but once the vocals started it did not matter one bit. The new song has been a consistently strong jam vehicle since it’s debut, and this version was no exception, as it dissolved into a misty canal then slingshot the band back into space as they effortlessly transitioned into ‘2001.’ While this ‘2001’ didn’t really break the mold of the song’s structure, it was played exceptionally well with a little extra mustard and no (blatant) missed notes. The band was not about taking a break during this set, so what better song to cap it off with than ‘Harry Hood?’ This Hood saw a patient build with all four members contributing to the jam leading to the peak. While it wasn’t the most over the top peak they’ve played, there was on old school feel to the way Trey approached the ending solo which filled the garden with uncontrollable joy and plentiful high-fives.
A standard ‘The Wedge’ was placed in the encore role for only the second time in the song’s history (the first being the infamous 11/14/1995 show), and just when everyone thought they were done Trey played the opening notes to “Slave to the Traffic Light” and ripped us back in. Slave is another song that will always keep you satisfied while not quite living up to the glory of it’s younger days, but this version seemed to have a little extra something in it. The jam leading to the peak showcased a band that did not want to stop as Mike, Page and Fish pushed the structure of the song to its limits while Trey held a note for what felt like an eternity and drove the crowd wild. When he finally let go and exploded into the peak it was as if 20,000 people who had just been holding their breath underwater for two minutes came up for air at once and completely let go of any control they had of their bodies. It was a phenomenal way to end an amazing show, and this was only the first night.
Setlist via Phish.net
Set 1: AC/DC Bag, Wolfman’s Brother, Roggae, Tube > Bouncing Around the Room, Back on the Train, Your Pet Cat, Waking Up Dead > Theme From the Bottom
Set 2: Wilson > No Men In No Man’s Land > Twist > Everything’s Right > Also Sprach Zarathustra > Harry Hood
Not all bands make it. Some break up. Some grow apart, others go on hiatus. and fewer return. Mister F is a band about to go on hiatus. The group formed in March of 2013 with 3 members of Timbre Coup joining forces with Scott Hannay of Capital Zen, to form a prog-rock jamband, and one that had a slew of songs right out of the gate. A cover of Particle’s “Elevator” (inspired, purely by coincidence, by a video my friend Mark mad 10 years earlier) was a highlight, as were original tunes “This one Goes to 11” and “Hedgehog” among others. Drummer Matt Pickering gave me the heads up and had incredible enthusiasm for this project, and the half full Hollow agreed that this enthusiasm was well placed for Mister F’s debut, and not just among Arrested Development fans.
Over 5 years, they’ve played more than 580 shows, produced one studio album, with another on the way in 2018, but for now, they’re stepping back from the road and performing for the near future. Their final show, for now, will be at The Hollow on December 30 with Goose, starting a hiatus in the same place where the band started their journey nearly 5 years ago.
But how did the band end up here, calling for a hiatus after five solid years and a strong core fan base across the Northeast and Midwest? Was it preventable, a series of unfortunate events, or something else? With their final show before hiatus this week, NYS Music spoke to members of Mister F, past and present, as well as former managers, to get the first hand account of what led to this asterisk on their career. Read the story of a band who spent 5 years working tirelessly to make it as touring musicians, and discover what drove the band to get this far, and to decide to put the brakes on, for now.
Scott Hannay: We started writing music toward Mister F in late 2012 as a side project – a way to throw some tours in here and there, as Zen and Timbre Coup weren’t able to be in tour mode at that time. We all wanted to get ourselves out there. It quickly became a vehicle to do that, and overwhelmed the other bands. I was let go from Capital Zen, who moved on without me, and later that year, Timbre Coup also folded.
Matt Pickering: When Timbre Coup was slowing down, the 3 of us who were living in the bandhouse were still interested in going full steam ahead and touring as often as possible. At the time, we really wanted to keep the same instrument switching aspects TC had and besides Dan (Gerken), Scott was really the only other person we could think of who played bass, guitar, and keys. We knew him as a keys player from shows with Capital Zen and we were quickly impressed with his guitar and bass skills when he sent us hopeful future parts/tracks that he wrote. Scott was great from the get-go and he was totally on board with our plan to play 140 shows a year. That was how the last 5 years of my life started.
Andrew Chamberlaine: Before Joining Timbre Coup I was pursuing a degree in Music Ed at (The College of) Saint Rose. I had known Ben for a while because we were in the Music program at SCCC together. I played in a band for a short time With Dmitry Bolotny (who went on to form Dirty Paris shortly after) and crossed paths with the rest of Timbre Coup while playing a gig with them at Savannah’s in Albany sometime around 2008-ish. A few months after that gig I got a message from Matt asking me to try out for their band.
We all knew that changes were coming for Timbre Coup so Mister F was formed out of necessity to continue our passion for creating unique music. Initially we wanted to keep the ball rolling with Timbre Coup and make necessary changes but it didn’t work out that way so we re-branded and started from scratch (more or less). In hindsight creating Mister F with most of our existing lineup allowed us to create some really cool new music and fix a lot of the things we felt Timbre Coup fell short with. TC’s music was pretty complex (I mean how does one dance to a song that’s in 7/8, 5/4, and 4/4 at the same time?! lol) so we decided to tone in back and reach our audience better while still keeping the music unique and original. At the very least we discovered two things with Mister F; 1: you really can make a song groove in an odd time signature, and 2: the van doesn’t smell good after a while.
As Mister F began touring, there was a drive to the band to set goals for themselves. Relationships that had been developed over years as fans and musicians, particularly with Umphrey’s McGee, lead to official after-shows and greater opportunities and encouragement.
Ben Pickering: I felt like there were a lot of factors pushing us when we first started touring. We started traveling as soon as we had enough material to play a show. Our sixth show was an Umphrey’s McGee after-show in Chicago. The relationships we made with bands in previous years allowed us to pick up great gigs and some great festival plays really early on. It felt really good and it didn’t take too long to feel like we achieved more in a couple years with Mister F than we did in our previous bands. Getting opening slots for some of the bigger band almost felt like we got their approval and helped push us to work as hard as we could. We’ve always been very goal oriented, whether it be playing X amount of shows in a year, or hitting a couple big festivals a summer, we always focused on one thing at a time and got it done. And we’ve always had a great team helping us along the way: David Limentani our booking agent, Mike Dean and Aaron Hagle both former managers, and Greg Bell were huge factors in getting us to this point.
Mike Dean: I think I had only heard one or two songs the band recorded in their practice room by the time I decided to make the move to Albany. I was a huge fan of Timbre Coup at the time, and knew what the guys could bring to the table musically. Aside from the logistics of moving roughly 700 miles away and entering an industry in which I had no experience, it was a no brainer.
We were fortunate to be able to kind of pick up right where Timbre Coup left off. Already having lots of contacts for venues, promoters and festivals along the East coast was a huge plus. From that point, it was just a matter of increasing that base of contacts all across the country and trying to work our way further from home each tour. Most of what actually gave the guys their running start was their desire to tour relentlessly from the get-go. By 2014, we were already hitting 130+ shows a year. We did quite a few Umphrey’s McGee after parties during my time with Mister F. It was always a right place/right time scenario, and we were lucky enough to get the “official” stamp a number of times, which helped considerably with turnout.
As things got rolling early, all signs were positive. The band dealt with ironing out aspects of their sound, including ending the instrument switching mid-set that was a staple of Timbre Coup and early Mister F.
MP: We were so young when we started Timbre Coup but we learned everything we know about how to play shows in that band. We were very serious about it, but it takes a few years to learn the business and really be on the road. So we started Mister F with lots of experience and one thing we wanted to do was find our sound. We were going for more funky, a bit less edgy. Timbre Coup had so much material so it’s hard to sum it up but it was prog based and more math-y fusion. We were shooting for a toned down version and with more keys. Just changing one member makes you sound incredibly different, though. So while we were writing early on, we worked fast but were very picky and choosy with what we went with. A couple years in we also decided to keep Ben on bass and off guitar, and Scott on keys and off guitar and bass. The instrument switching every show turned into a challenge. It also made it hard for us to find our sound we had so many that we could choose from with in our own band members we felt it was best and we wanted to put our best foot forward.
SH: Our early goal after our other band obligations went by the wayside was just to tour as much as possible. We worked hard at booking ourselves in all sorts of places, doing it in-house with the help of our former manager Mike Dean. He had moved up from North Carolina to work for us because he was a good friend who believed in us and really went to bat for us, and I’ve always understood that’s the kind of person you want as your manager. We were reaching out to all our friends we’d made from our old bands to open for them, some were reaching out to open for us, we tried really hard to get everything we set our minds to. We got an opening slot for Suckerpunch (tDB/New Deal/Lotus side project) at the Howard Theater in Washington DC in our third month as a band, just because our friends rallied for us.
Mike Dean: I reached out about the opening slot for Snarky Puppy the day I saw the show announced at Upstate Concert Hall in Clifton Park, NY. We were playing directly before Snarky Puppy at Mantrabash festival in NC a few weeks before said show, and I still hadn’t heard anything back. I’m pretty fuzzy on the exact details, but at some point after our set, Ben was backstage talking to Michael League (bass/band leader for Snarky Puppy) and mentioned how we had tried reaching out about the gig. Michael said he’d touch base with their management as soon as he had cell service and make it happen. A few days later I got a call from an unknown number and it was Snarky Puppy’s manager informing me that Mister F got the gig!
Over the next two years, the band soldiered on, touring around the east half of the country and filling festival bills and drawing larger and larger audience at the club level. Then the band ran into some unfortunate circumstances beyond their control.
SH: Unfortunately money for these things don’t always align with the opportunity. To make matters worse, our van was broken into and we had two instruments stolen, one of which a very unique and expensive custom-built guitar belonging to Andrew which he had to use buy now pay later loans to acquire. Mike ended up not being able to keep up with the small amount we were able to offer him, and his time with us came to an end around the same time Andrew gave his notice.
MD: I hit that point where it became impossible to balance the life on the road with my own personal financial obligations. I think almost anyone who has ever been involved with a touring band at this level can relate. It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make. Working for Mister F was the most enjoyable and rewarding experience I’ve ever been apart of, and it was tough to leave that behind. I’ll always cherish the friendships and memories I made during my time with the band.
Andrew departed the band not because the guitar was stolen, but due to financial and family reasons.
AC: As much as it sucks having a guitar stolen that’s worth five times as much as your car at the time, that had little to do with my departure. I had two main reasons for leaving Mister F. The obvious one is money. Money had always been tight with both of our projects (Timbre Coup and Mister F), and we were working our asses off to create what we thought was good, forward-thinking music and I thought we were doing a pretty good job, however my wallet never seemed to agree. Around the same time Mister F formed I took a teaching position at Parkway Music. Both were growing at the same time and the balancing act became impossible. I only had one choice if I wanted to use my guitar and music to pay my bills on time. I love creating my own original music, there’s nothing quite like it, but I also love teaching the guitar & teaching people about music. I now have around 45-50 students, manage the lessons department at Parkway and can honestly say I love my job!
The other reason was family. Being on the road as often as we were led to missing out on a lot of things, which for a while I dealt with. The main factor for me was the loss of my last grandparent, my Grandmother Ila. She had always supported me, really ALL of my family has always supported my musical endeavors which is why I’ve been able to take it this far (shout-out to my girlfriend, mom, dad, aunts, uncles and friends!) But she was a huge reason I was even able to pursue my passion in the first place. Sometimes you have a family member that really holds the whole family together, so when she passed away I knew I had to step in and pick up the pieces and be there for those who needed me as much as I’d needed them before.
Guitarist Mike Candela replaced Andrew on short notice
SH: At this point, we had a southern tour scheduled with McLovins less than a month away, with no manager and no guitarist. Mike Candela reached out to us because he’d just left his band. It was perfect timing, and he was able to learn the material and come on the road right away. Our writing dynamic was never the same, and it felt more like a bandaid had been affixed. Mike is one hell of a guitarist, but musical differences upon finding someone on such short notice eventually became apparent.
Mike Candela: I actually opened for Mister F with my previous band Dale and the ZDubs. I left DZD due to creative and personal issues with frontman Dale Rodman. After leaving DZD I actually hit up Scott Hannay and asked if they had ever thought of a second guitarist and he initially told me they were good as a 4 piece but to come sit-in anytime. After Andrew left, Scott hit me up and we hit the road. In my time with the band we handled the road pretty well I think. We were fortunate in terms of the bands we played with and the venues we played at and got to play in front of a lot of people. We all were personal and talkative with the fans we already had who would come to shows and made a bunch of new ones. Musically I think we were constantly pushing ourselves play our best each night. In terms of growth, it seemed to me like we were always generating interest and praise, but we always tried to handle it with humility and stay focused on our goals as a band.
I ended up departing the band for a number of different reasons. I wasn’t really aware of how badly the band wanted new material and thus didn’t try to write any songs. I was also very different stylistically from Andrew as a player, especially when it came to solos. I have always been more of a funk/jam player rather than a progressive/jazz guy. Colin was available and a much better fit for the band in my opinion. Obviously I left on good terms and have since sat in with the band a bunch, as well as covering for Colin when he had surgeries for kidney stones.
When Mike didn’t work out, the band found Fat Aztec guitarist Colin Shore to fill in, but there were complications.
SH: We then looked to Colin Shore for our full-time replacement. We’d played with his band Fat Aztec and had him sit in with us before. We’d had a lot of great musical conversations with him, and had unanimously decided “he’s the guy”. He took over mid-July 2016. But shortly after he started suffering severe kidney stone issues that put Mike Candela back in the van with us for two full tours toward the end of the year. While it was fun playing with Mike again, we were all that time unable to pursue the growth in the areas that we were hoping to continue growing with Colin.
Colin Shore: Fat Aztecwas coming to a pretty organic close at the time. The other members of the band were moving on into other non-musical endeavors while I was still interested in chasing the tour life. My joining with Mister F happened at a good time in my musical career for sure.
Having to take a break from touring to deal with medical issues was a huge drag. I was very fortunate that the guys in the band are such good folks and good friends that they were willing to work with me and be patient despite the roadblock. There may have been some slight interruption to our musical advancement at the time. But overall I felt a renewed sense of purpose and connection with the band coming back into the fold in 2017. I felt the band really evolve musically throughout the year.
Starting in 2017, Colin was healthy and a new manager, Aaron Hagele, joined the band to work with the band and get things back on track. The bands van died only a few months into 2017, just as plans to record an album came into the picture. A Kickstarter with a simple goal of $100 was easily met, but they could not both fund an album and buy a new van.
SH: We didn’t owe it to people to buy a van, we owed it to them to record an album. And we were forced into an expense of minivan rentals for subsequent runs while not making any more than we were before. We then decided to take some time off from touring to complete the album that we owe everyone, and to figure out what as a band we need to do to carry on in a productive way without putting our own well-being at risk.
Aaron Hagele: I started working with Mister F fall of 2016, when Mike was touring with the band temporarily. Colin is a beast, but in the most tasteful restrained way possible. The first time I heard him play I knew he had something unique, the ability to shred and play amazing runs but the restraint to play tastefully and listen on stage, being ever present. I however, would have worked with them with or without Colin. Matt and Ben Pickering as well as Scott Hannay are some of my oldest music industry friends, I had been gig trading with their previous bands going back 7 years. I wanted to work with them because I have always been inspired by ALL of their musicianship: Matt is one of my favorite drummers ever, with chops for days; Ben couldn’t be smoother in the pocket if he tried (which often seems like he doesn’t have to) and Scott has one of the most gifted musical minds on the planet, seriously.
The real underlying reason is I thought I could help them further themselves on a professional level, improve aspects of their organization and help them grow; I wish I would have been able to do more. The reason I ultimately left was because it was clear that I was no longer able to help them enough to merit my role. It had been too little too late to affect the change needed to right the ship, I had become busy with my own band, and it had become clear that the guys no longer wanted to tour in the same way. We remain very close friends, and in fact Goose will be opening for Mister F in Albany on December 30th for a Twiddle afterparty, and as is tradition, hopefully they will have me up for a sit in!
There are a lot of ‘What ifs’ in the story of Mister F. What if the vans hadn’t broken down? What if touring led to a steady increase in revenue over the years? But more importantly, for touring bands out there who are just getting going, what are the lesson to be learned from the (still unfinished) story of Mister F? Fate is a fickle bitch who plays her hand as she sees fit, and certain fates fell upon Mister F in a slow moving succession that led them to this point. But maybe in a way, they did make it. Andrew Chamberlaine offers this parting thought on what might have changed the band’s circumstances:
“Luck, and maybe more of a “business mentality” but who the hell wants to treat art or music like a business?! So much of this industry is based on luck. For every successful band/musician we know of there are at least 100 bands/musicians with more talent and originality that we won’t hear of because they didn’t catch that break or weren’t in the right place at the right time. I always think “Well what if I gave it more time?,” but the fact is time is finite for us all, just do what you love and have fun with the little time you have here on Earth and I can guarantee you’ve “made it” in your own right.”
Ithaca’s growing music scene includes prog soul project Noon Fifteen. This band of seasoned musicians have blended elements of 60’s rock and 70’s blues, creating catchy songs that make it impossible to sit still. The songs on their debut release, Volume 1, showcase powerhouse vocals, intriguing musical arrangements, and captivating story lines.
The EP captures attention from the first track, “Knock Knock Knock.” Sassy chanteuse Mandy Goldman sings about the time her drunken neighbor was banging on her door in the middle of the night. The story takes a surprising twist as she waits for an apology, and hopes that it would come in the form of an Olive Garden gift card. Goldman’s powerhouse vocals are backed by funky rhythms, starring Harry Nichols on bass and Chris Armitage on drums. The songs have a timeless quality, achieved in part through the use of vintage instruments, with Joe Massa on guitar and Sam Lupowitz on keyboard. Saxophones punctuate the melody, adding yet another layer of dimension to this plucky little number.
A couple other songs on Volume 1 incorporate horns (trumpet and sax), as well as a string section featuring violins and cellos. One of them is “Dave Coulier.” This tale of passion and revenge features a character who realizes that she is only loved when she is needed. “I will be the girl to fix it for you,” later becomes the bitter line “I won’t be the girl to fix it for you.” The instrumentation also reflects the change. It starts as a jangly and upbeat love song, with some hand claps thrown in for good measure. It becomes progressively darker as the narrator becomes more embittered, and picks up as she exacts vengeance. Each chapter is separated by a dramatic musical interlude. The song was originally titled “You Oughtta Know,” but Alanis Morissette already used that title for one of her songs.
“Her (Morisette’s) song is about Dave Coulier, the actor who played Uncle Joey on Full House,” Nichols told NYS Music. “So, in a moment of randomness equal to that of the song’s overall composition, we called the song Dave Coulier.”
Overall, the EP is a jam, with infectious grooves, skillful arrangements, and rich vocals. As the title Volume 1 suggests, this is just the beginning for this group. Just don’t let the name throw you: it’s always a good time to listen to Noon Fifteen.
They played moe.down this past summer, they opened for J.J Grey and Mofro at NYC’s PlayStation Theatre, they released an EP—Ripe, a relatively still new six-piece pop-funk outfit from the Boston Berkley scene, has had a year of accomplishments. This weekend was another notch, when they made a terrific debut at The Capitol Theatre on Saturday, December 16. With a couple of guest bands joining, it revealed itself over its course of the evening as a really special kind of show.
One of these guests were Juice, a fellow Boston group of a similar musical flavor. The pairing of these two bands was perfect, as it made for a full night of uniformly bright personality and musical zest.
Juice channeled the finessed pizazz of a Broadway production. But their material was a mix of R&B and pop rock, that also radiated an extremely positive mood from the start. Among other strengths, like their charismatic electric violinist Christian Rose, Juice have a real vocal power going for them—something becoming less of a rarity for jam scene acts than it’s been in the past. Most of the material of their set featured at least a couple members either harmonizing or rapping improvised bars.
If you can believe it, the band’s banger for the night, and a topper for the entire evening, was a take on Kanye’s “Gold Digger.” It didn’t sound like such at first, but the band put a Little Feat-inspired, piano-touched funky groove behind the song that made it surprisingly heady and listenable. They finished out very strongly, with a song that they announced would be on an upcoming album: a tune that revolves around a great, gospel-inspired chorus of “Mercy, mercy.” It actually echoed the sound and feel of the more soaring section of Tedeschi Trucks Band number.
As they started out, Ripe introduced a similar yet also unique brand of this positive-funk Now it was something like a modern, more revamp of 80s dance pop. It also got slightly groovier in tandem with its building—as Ripe would reveal over the course of the night, they were good at taking things up from an already good level to an even higher one. By the third song into their set—which now was delivering a sound that fused The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Stevie Wonder, they’d tapped into a huge momentum already.
Robbie Wulfsohn, Ripe’s almost dizzingly enthusiastic lead singer, had enough personality for everybody in the theatre, but there was the “it” kind of talent to back it up. To his band’s suave yet hard-pushing grooves, he stood out still as a strong point, with a far-reaching, soulful, youthful voice that didn’t let up as the night went on.
“This is crazy,” he was panting to the crowd halfway through the set. He was no doubt addressing the surreality of the night, the fact that his still very much up and coming Boston band of friends was getting this golden opportunity to do their thing in the big, majestic space of The Capitol Theatre.
For that golden opportunity, they were really doing it up right all night. Track after track, the components from Ripe, from the two-man horn section, to the two-man guitar team, to the dramatic builds, was combustible with energy, and radiating a concoction of confidence and gratitude. The amount of hype the entire band was clearly feeling thankfully fueled a set of more than solid playing, with strong solos from all around, and even some squaring-off-style improv sprinkled throughout.
For the crowd that they managed to bring into the Capitol Theatre, they rocked them. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the Cap’s audience absolutely ate this show up. People jumped around, they danced like they were drunk, they screamed in the middle of songs, many sang along for the entirety of the show.
The fun boiled over at some point. Ripe’s guitarist, Jon Becker, at one point snuck away from the stage, only to reappear in amusing fashion in the presidential box above everybody’s heads. Right after this, the band invited up Christian Rose from Juice to add a few short but shiny violin rips to one of their jams.
At the tail end of what Wolfsohn called the “final stretch” of the night, Ripe laid down a pretty remarkable, multi-segmented version of The Lion King’s “I Just Can’t Wait To Be King.” Taken through a few different waves of funk, a couple builds, and even a quick section of jazzy space that preluded a big return to the chorus, if was a keen choice for rounding off a big night of music.
Ripe and Juice might be some names to listen for in the coming times. For all the fun and musical radiance this Capitol Theatre show brought, it certainly also came across as a rock concert equivalent to stepping up to a big plate, and knocking it out of the park.
Chris Eves and The New Normal debut their album Find Your Way this Friday night, December 22 at Funk n Waffles in downtown Syracuse, and on a busy night of Christmas parties and shows, its a must-see show given the prowess shown on this release. Recorded, produced and mastered at More Sound Studios in Syracuse by The New Normal and Andrew Greacen, this homegrown album and band sound ready to deliver in a live setting.
Chris Eves Band
Opening tracks “Remember to Forget” and “Green and Blue” show off the guitar work of Jay Lock, with the latter a stand out track on the album, truly soaring to height after height. “Walking on a Wire” is light and poppy in a Dave Matthews/Dispatch way, down to the built in crowd sing along. “Find Your Way” – all eight minutes of it – is a journey of a song, with peaks and valleys with an Assembly of Dust vibe throughout, down to Mike D’Ambrosio’s keys, which shine even more on “On Rainy Days.”
The album doesn’t have a lull or soft spot, and halfway through there’s a steady rock groove that gets harder with “The Chains You Wear,” with an early Soundgarden vibe. “Fall” is the hardest rocking track, bringing to mind moe.’s “McBain” and “George” amid an accelerated raging first half and a mellow reflective second one that turns up with Bayliss/Cinninger-esque guitar licks. Eves’ vocals are a treat throughout the album – like a diamond in the rough of jam band vocalists – notably, on the soul-extending “New Normal” and song of longing that closes the album, “Flown Away.”
Most tracks clock in between 4-6 minutes, giving a sign that these songs will stretch out much further in a live setting. After a few listens to the album, two things are apparent: Find Your Way is a debut album with shine and depth, and The New Normal might be the best new band out of Syracuse.
Key Tracks: Green and Blue, When the Stars Start Falling, Fall
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.
It’s no secret that the Disco Biscuits are touring, improvisational machines. The trance-fusion foursome offers their die-hard fan base countless opportunities to catch them on the road throughout the year, even if they tend to favor the East Coast, their home base in Philadelphia, PA and the renowned Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado. What remains annually constant, is their long-running Montage Mountain mania. Camp Bisco is now boasting a ‘save the date’ and offering alumni pre sale tickets to bring your ass to the party, taking place from July 12-14, 2018.
After being held in a total of four different locations and taking a break in 2014, Magner, Barber, Brownie and Allen will bring their flair to Montage Mountain, with Scranton acting as the festival’s residence for the fourth consecutive year. While freshly crafted festivals are popping up each year, Camp Bisco managed to hold its own, on and off since ‘99. With its 16th festival and year in operation, the recurring party provides six Biscuits sets, mesmerizing laser shows, abundant art and camping, cool downs in the pool, 5k marathons, zany color wars and other activities over the course of three jam-packed days. Although hosted and heavily based around the Biscuits, fans favoring a multitude of genres, specifically electronic dance music, find their way to the mountain. In the past, favorable acts have included STS9, Bassnectar, Pretty Lights, Gramatik, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Lotus and more.
Partying isn’t the only thing taking precedence over the weekend, the quartet makes sure they give back to the community by promoting fundraising and food drives, having raised money for hurricane relief and even gathering young fans to register to vote.
An alumni pre-sale begins this Thursday, Dec. 21 at noon at the Camp Bisco website with the password: ALUMNI. You can catch The Disco Biscuits for the last time in 2017 at NYC’s Playstation Theater from Dec. 28-31.
The Camp Bisco 2018 lineup is still TBA but check out the official 2017 aftermovie and NYS Music’s coverage of last year’s fest here to hold you over:
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.
‘Marilyn’ from Cal Kehoe, with Tom Marshall, is light, airy and a pleasant thing to have stuck between your ears. I mean that in a good way, the chorus is a bit of an earworm. At face value, the video and music elegant and emotional, but dig a little bit deeper and listeners will find that the creation of this piece makes it more even more spine-tinglingly good. The production quality is top notch. The song moves effortlessly, making it a great piece of work to add their resume. Before we get into the music itself, there’s a small history lesson to be learned first.
The song was conceived by Cal Kehoe, Tom Marshall, Anthony Krizan of the Spin Doctors and independent artist Sherman Ewing. Kehoe says this is the second song a series of tracks that he collaborated on. He will be releasing more tracks over the course of the next few months. Kehoe spoke about the tracks and video’s conception.
Tom and I met at Madison Square Garden at a Phish show in 2009. We began talking about music, favorite guitar players, favorite Phish songs, etc. I stayed in touch with Tom and we became friends . Last year, I was playing a VIP side stage in Hartford, CT where Phish was performing and Tom came to see my band. He was impressed enough with my guitar work and vocals that he offered to work with me on some original compositions.
I wrote music for 5 or 6 different songs, until one finally resonated with Tom. That song became “Limbo”, which was loosely based on the Netflix series, “Stranger Things.” During the collaborative process, Tom sent me an unfinished demo he had written with Anthony Krizan and Sherman Ewing. I began to write and work with Tom on the demo he sent and that song evolved into the final product – “Marilyn”. From there, Tom and I went down to Anthony Krizan’s studio in New Jersey and began recording some vocals and guitar. Tom and his daughter Anna Marshall appear as the background singers on the song “Marilyn”.
We completed the recording at Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, CT with Greg Giorgio (mixing, production for The National, Trey Anastasio, Kurt Vile, etc.) with the help of Rob Allen (formerly of Augustines) on drums and Crispin Cioe (the Uptown Horns, Rolling Stones) on saxophone.
It’s an incredible thing when musicians of different strokes come together and create a beautiful piece of music. The song is truly beautiful and the video footage accompanying the track further proves that point. Dancers grace the stage and perform an elegant routine that matches perfectly with the songs tone.
The song somewhat differs from his prior work, although there are still traces of his earlier characteristics. It’s jammy with some rock feel but this track leans more towards easy-listening elements. It boasts some sultry saxophone, open chords on an acoustic guitar in the background and one of the catchiest chorus riffs you’ll hear. Most impressive is his guitar solo in this track and across most of his tracks. Every note is logical and fitting for the style, even though it seems he’s trying to break into a scene that thrives off of ten minute guitar solos. He stays humble, wails high up on the fret board for a few bars and backs off. It’s perfect for the genre and revealing in its modesty.
It seems he’s found a great group of artists that he works well with and initial signs show it’s going to really pay off. Keep track of his newest releases on his YouTube channel, personal page and Facebook page.
“I Always Wanted It This Way,” keyboardist Page McConnell’s tune, stretched out from 1980s-like quirkiness into a vast yet quite dark jam. “Martian Monster” and “Heavy Things” saw the band have a little fun, notably the interplay between Anastasio and McConnell in the latter. “Destiny Unbound,” somewhat of a rarity, injected a breath of life into the crowd. Stretching to nearly nine minutes, this version of “Destiny” is longer than all in recent memory, but it was clear the band hadn’t practiced it much prior.
The band took no time getting the show on the road with a spacey ‘AC/DC Bag’ which saw Trey sitting back on the solo and letting the rest of the band organically develop a patient groove, which would foreshadow the jamming style of the night. ‘Wolfman’s Brother’ emerged out of the white lights and provided the first (of many) jam highlight of the evening. The band quickly transitioned from the classic Wolfman’s funk to a dark, murky jam that gave the feeling that you took the wrong turn down a shrunken alley on the lower east side, but there was no going back because you already devoted to making it past the sketchy brown walls and back to a world of streetlights and pretzel vendors. An early first set ‘Roggae’ broke out of the darkness and saw masterful interplay between all four band members as they reached a glorious peak that shook the garden.
Scott Hannay: 
There are a lot of ‘What ifs’ in the story of Mister F. What if the vans hadn’t broken down? What if touring led to a steady increase in revenue over the years? But more importantly, for touring bands out there who are just getting going, what are the lesson to be learned from the (still unfinished) story of Mister F? Fate is a fickle bitch who plays her hand as she sees fit, and certain fates fell upon Mister F in a slow moving succession that led them to this point. But maybe in a way, they did make it. Andrew Chamberlaine offers this parting thought on what might have changed the band’s circumstances:
