If you’re in New York City this week, you should consider checking out one of the upcoming shows from Girl Ray. The London-based group features Poppy Hanking on guitar/vocals, Iris McConnell on drums, and Sophie Moss on bass. They started the group two years ago as teenagers going to school in North London and now they’re on their first tour in the U.S.
Poppy’s songwriting is influenced by pop artists like ABBA and The Beatles and indie artists like Neutral Milk Hotel. Their newest album, which cleverly rhymes with their band name, is called Earl Grey. The vinyl version album is sold out on Bandcamp, but listeners may still enjoy online or on Spotify. They recorded the album at Ramsgate’s Big Jelly Studios and they claimed they little crazy during the process giving it their all. The organ sounds throughout give it a full texture coupled with the distorted guitar. The vocal harmonies are fragile and exciting to listen to.
The girls are still teenagers, and their sound reflects the uncertainty young adults feel as they move through life and have to make important decisions. They’re just what young listeners need to hear in terms of heartbreak and losing friendships. Their music videos are a bit quirky and show their individual personalities.
After a stop in Washington DC, you can catch them at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on March 23rd in Brooklyn, The Bowery Ballroom on the 24th in Manhattan, and back again in Brooklyn on the 25th at Union Pool.
Irish Americana-pop duo Hudson Taylor, comprised of brothers Harry and Alfie Hudson Taylor, will release their new EP, Feel It Again, capturing their fresh sound and three tracks produced by Ryan Hadlock (The Lumineers, Vance Joy). They’ve also announced tour dates in both Ireland and the US, where they will be supporting Gabrielle Aplin.
The brothers honed their craft busking on the streets of their hometown of Dublin, as well as cities all over Europe, leading to the release of their debut album, Singing for Strangers, in 2015. Most recently, the band enjoyed a very successful 2017, playing to one of the biggest crowds of the weekend at the Electric Picnic festival in September, and their lead-off Irish single “Feel It Again” was one of the biggest national airplay hits of 2017. Hudson Taylor’s Irish autumn tour was a sell-out and they also played huge shows with Picture This, The Script and Kodaline.
Fresh from a sold out UK tour, Hudson Taylor are currently touring in Europe in support of their brand new single “Run With Me.” The brothers will visit North America for a tour supporting Gabrielle Aplin, kicking off in February, before returning to Ireland in March for an eight-date tour which will coincide with the release of Feel It Again.
Hudson Taylor Tour Dates (supporting Gabrielle Aplin):
Feb. 21 – Toronto, ON – Velvet Underground Feb. 22 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
Feb. 24 – Cambridge, MA – Sonia’s
Feb. 25 – Washington, DC – U Street Music Hall
Feb. 27 – Philadelphia, PA – The Foundry at The Fillmore
Feb. 28 – Columbus, OH – A&R Music Bar
March 1 – Chicago, IL – Bottom Lounge
March 3 – Denver, CO – Globe Hall
March 5 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court
March 7 – Portland, OR – Holocene
March 8 – Seattle, WA – Chop Suey
March 10 – West Hollywood, CA – Troubadour
March 11 – San Francisco, CA – Slim’s
Ireland Headlining Tour:
March 27 – Belfast – Elmwood Hall
March 28 – Dublin – Olympia Theatre
March 29 – Cork – Opera House
March 31 – Galway – Radisson Hotel
April 1 – Limerick – The Big Top
April 2 – Castlebar – TF Royal Acoustic Room
April 4 – Derry – The Glassworks
April 5 – Carlow – The Tower
The Lizards they have….. arrived! Toronto-based Phish tribute band The Lizards will tour throughout New York and New England this winter, with the first show taking place on January 26 at The Westcott Theater in Syracuse, followed by February stops in Ithaca, Rochester and The Hollow in early March. Phish fans in need of a winter fix can catch one of Canada’s finest exports and let their 20+ minute jams warm you up as you await Phish to announce Summer 2018 dates.
Known for recreating the authentic Phish experience for dedicated phans, and even featuring their own light show directed by the infamous TG5, The Lizards put on a must-attend show. For their first foray throughout the Northeast, The Lizards guitarist Rich Grossman talked to NYS Music to chat Baker’s Dozen, the origins of The Lizards and what the scene is like north of the border.
Pete Mason: Let’s get the backstory on The Lizards – you’ve played the states a bit already, but when did the band first get together and start playing?
Rich Grossman: We started up in 2013 right after Phish had come to Toronto. It was the first time they had been here since 2000 and I was stoked to get to see them in my hometown. After a cancelled and rescheduled show, it got me thinking about the “state of affairs” of the jam scene in Toronto. There used to be a number of clubs that serviced the scene in TO, but they had long closed and we eventually found ourselves having to travel stateside to see this music often. Not that we don’t love making the pilgrimage, but the real heart of the jam world has always been the community. By Canadians being nomadic, and not rebuilding at home, we weren’t strengthening our side of the community. I thought starting a Phish tribute would be an amazing way to bring new life into the scene.
I had known Ben (drums) for years and we had played together in a number of bands, jam and not, so I contacted him first. Neither of us had real candidates for piano or bass so I went to Facebook. I posted something like “does anyone know a piano player who wants to jam some Phish tunes?” and a buddy tagged Joel, our keys player. We’d never met, but I got his number and asked him if he was into it. Not only did he say yes, but when I mentioned we couldn’t find a bass player, he brought Phill to the table. The first time we jammed was the first time a lot of us met each other. We charted out a lot of material, rehearsed it even more and booked a show at The Comfort Zone. Back in the day, this was the hub for jam music in TO. Growing up I would see Charlie Hunter, Ominous Seapods, Merl Saunders and other jam acts there, but management changed over the years and it became a late night rave scene. For whatever reason, they let us put on a show there for next to nothing and we must’ve had 250 people show up the first time. A lot of friends for sure, but a lot of people that just caught word of it showed up. Since then, we’ve done countless more shows in Toronto and in the past year, have started to take it down to you guys. The response is always the same. No matter what country we’re in, people are so grateful that they get to hear this treasured music. It’s very endearing to me, and I know that if I had seen a Phish tribute band and not started one, I would react the same way.
PM: What aspects of Trey’s guitar playing and tone drew you into honing his sound?
RG: Once we started the band, the game was on to get the sound. On the first gig, I played a PRS Santana III.The guitar has a very different sound than Trey’s Languedoc, but I could mask the differences with some of the other gear Trey would use like specific pedals. He’s famous for using 2 tubescreamers going into a compressor, so I started there. Over the year or two I amassed almost all pieces to recreate his mid 1.0 sound (93-97) including the Mesa Mark III red stripe, the ross compressor, the whammy II and more. I then started using a Languedoc clone that was built by a luthier in Toronto. It was based off of the Koa 98 model. Once I got that, the tone was really happening. After that, I would add pieces here and there that came later in his career like the boomerang, super tremolo, supa-puss, black cat vibe, etc. I haven’t really “updated” my rig in a few years, because I feel like I have enough pieces of the puzzle to make the gig happen. Trey changes his rig so often these days, to keep up would put me in debt.
PM: How much of Baker’s Dozen did you get to see?
RG: I was one of the lucky ones this summer 🙂 Bought my tickets well in advance and lucked out pretty good. I’m a full time musician and to take weekends off in the summertime can prove to be challenging, so I bought tickets to the first Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday show. Red Velvet, Jam Filled and Powdered night. Thank you Phish!
PM: For those of us down south, what’s the scene like in Toronto and elsewhere in Ontario and Quebec for Phish and jam fans?
RG: To be honest, it’s the best I’ve seen it in years. Since The Lizards started, there have been a few Dead and Allman Brothers tributes that have started to perform as well. The other American “Phishy” tributes like Pink Talking Fish and Jazz is Phish have started to come up as well. Toronto has over 2 million people in it, but the jam band community is pretty niche, so we usually see a lot of the same happy faces at shows. Outside of Toronto, I’d say the scene is pretty small. There’s a dedicated group of heads out in Southwest Ontario like Hamilton and St. Catherines but not much else in our province or in Quebec. We have a huge country, but only 35 million people live here so an already small community gets smaller up here and more sprawled out.
PM: How do The Lizards stand out among phish tribute bands?
RG: I think what sets us apart from the other bands is that we really try to recreate the live experience aurally and visually. We have a dedicated lighting director (Toby) and sound engineer (Kory) that tour with us, bring, set up and tear down their own gear and work just as hard as us to make the show as much of a spectacle that it can be. Musically, everything is subjective. Some people will like us and some people won’t, but the show looks and sounds amazing, so that’s where I think we stand out.
Following a recent announcement that he would be going on his first solo tour since 2009, former Talking Heads front man David Byrne has announced that he will be expanding his travels this year and embarking on a massive world tour. The tour will be supporting his new solo album American Utopia, his first solo album since 2004’s Grown Backwards, and working its way through North and South America, as well as Europe. Byrne’s sole New York state stop on the tour will be at Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center in Canandaigua.
The tour will be based around new songs, as well as songs that many listeners are already familiar with. Byrne is excited as it will be, “The most ambitious show I’ve done since the shows that were filmed for ‘Stop Making Sense,’ so fingers crossed.”
He also tweeted, “The show concept is simple, much like the concept for Stop Making Sense. There, it was ‘bit by bit show what goes into making a show, and then activate it.’ Here, it is ‘allow everyone to be mobile on an empty stage’ and imagine what that allows.”
According to his website, every headline show ticket purchased for a U.S. show online will include a CD of the new album, which is set to be released March 9. Tickets will go on sale Jan. 19, and can be purchased directly from his website. You can check out the full list of dates below:
David Byrne 2018 World Tour:
March 16 – Santiago, Chile – Lollapalooza Chile
March 18 – Buenos Aires, Argentina – Lollapalooza Argentina
March 19 – Buenos Aires, Argentina – Teatro Gran Rex
March 20 – Montevideo, Uruguay – Teatro de Verano
March 24 – Sao Paulo, Brazil – Lollapalooza
April 3 – Mexico City, Mexico – Metropolitan Theater
April 5 – Monterrey, Mexico – Auditorio Pabellón
April 7 – Guadalajara, Mexico – Corona Capital Guadalajara
April 14 – Indio, CA – Coachella
April 15 – Tucson, AZ – Centennial Hall
April 17 – San Diego, CA – San Diego Civic Theater
April 18 – Las Vegas, NV – Smith Center for the Arts
April 19 – Mesa, AZ – Mesa Arts Center-Ikeda Theater
April 21 – Indio, CA – Coachella
April 24 – Dallas, TX – Winspear Opera House
April 25 – Oklahoma City, OK – The Criterion
April 27 – San Antonio, TX – Tobin Center for the Performing Arts
April 28 – Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall Outside Lawn
May 4-6 – Atlanta, GA – Shaky Knees
May 6 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium
May 8 – Asheville, NC – Thomas Wolfe Civic Auditorium
May 9 – Charlotte, NC – Ovens Auditorium
May 10 – Durham, NC- Durham PAC
May 12 – Washington, DC – The Anthem
May 13 – Pittsburgh, PA – Benedum Center for the Arts
May 15 – Milwaukee, WI – Riverside Theater
May 16 – Madison, WI – Orpheum Theater
May 17 – Minneapolis, MN – Orpheum Theater
May 19 – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – TCU Place
May 20 – Edmonton, Alberta – Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
May 21 – Calgary, Alberta – Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
May 23 – Vancouver, British Columbia – Queen Elizabeth Theater
May 24 – Seattle, WA – Paramount Theater
May 27 Portland, OR – Keller Audiorium
May 28 Eugene, OR – Hult Center
May 30 – Salt Lake City, UT – Capitol Theatre
June 2 – Chicago, IL – Auditorium Theater
June 5 – Des Moines, IA – Des Moines Civic Center
June 7 – Kansas City, MO – Kauffman Center for the Arts
June 8 – St. Louis, MO – Peabody Opera House
June 9 – Indianapolis, IN – Farmers Bureau Lawn Amphitheater
June 14 – Oxford, England – New Theatre
June 15 – Glasgow, Scotland – Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
June 17 – Birmingham, England – Birmingham Symphony Hall
June 18 – Manchester, England – Manchester Apollo
June 19 – London, England Eventim Apollo
June 22 – Prague, Czech Republic – Metronome Festival
June 23 – Prague, Czech Republic – Metronome Festival
June 25 – Zagreb, Croatia – IN music Festival
June 26 – Wien, Austria – Museumsquartier
June 30 – Ewijk, Netherlands – Down The Rabbit Hole
July 31 – Ewijk, Netherlands – Down The Rabbit Hole
July 1 – Ewijk, Netherlands – Down The Rabbit Hole
July 5-8 – Werchter, Belgium – Rock Werchter
July 6 – Roskilde, Denmark – Roskilde Festival
July 5 – Gdynia, Poland – Open’er Festival
July 11 – Oeiras, Portugal – Cool Jazz Festival
July 13 – Bilbao, Spain Bilbao – BBK Live Festival
July 13 – Barcelona, Spain – Cruilla Barcelona
July 14 – Barcelona, Spain – Cruilla Barcelona
July 17 – Zürich, Switzerland – Theater 11
July 19 – Ravenna, Italy – Ravenna Festival
July 20 – Perugia, Italy – Umbria Jazz Festival
July 21 – Trieste, Italy – Piazza UNita
July 27 – Camden, NJ – XPoNential Music Festival
July 31 – Boston, MA – Blue Hills Bank Pavilion
Aug. 1 – Shelburne, VT Shelburne Museum – The Green
Aug. 3 – Toronto, ONT – Sony Center for the Performing Arts Aug. 5 – Canandaigua, NY – Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center
Aug. 8 – Grand Rapids, MI – Devos Performance Hall
Aug. 10 – Detroit, MI – Fox Theater
Aug. 11 – Huber Heightes, OH – Rose Music Center
Aug. 12 – Cincinnati, OH – PNC Pavilion at Riverbend
Aug. 16 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theater
Aug. 18 – San Jose, CA – City National Civic Auditorium
Aug. 21 – Sacramento CA – Community Theater
Aug. 24 – Santa Barbara, CA -Santa Barbara Bowl
Aug. 28 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheater
Pete Mason: Let’s get the backstory on 
The tour will be based around new songs, as well as songs that many listeners are already familiar with. Byrne is excited as it will be, “The most ambitious show I’ve done since the shows that were filmed for ‘Stop Making Sense,’ so fingers crossed.”