After 10 years, Connecticut rockers Throne return with their self-titled full length album. Brothers Casey and Derek Trafton, have revived Throne after disbanding in 2009 when their cousin Justin Trafton left the band.
In many ways, the Trafton brothers strive to create a sound that is modern while still longing for the sounds of their days touring with bands like Blink-182 and Good Charlotte.
Few bands have succeeded at this sound in recent, but with the commercial success of Twenty-One Pilots and the return of Blink-182, Throne seems to attempt this.
What comes through is a very different sound that can be described as a sort of Nu Metal, punk rock. In their nearly ten-year hiatus, the Trafton brothers worked with electronic music, which is clearly an influence in songs such as “That’s Just Me.”
Throne’s self-title is a far departure from their debut album Balladry. In this latest, the band strives for more pop, catchy choruses, while creating a deeper and darker sound. Throne has become more related to bands like Royal Blood as to their pop-punk days.
The second half of the album is much stronger with the final three songs on the album, “Make it Move,” “Breathing Room,” and “Stranger Things” all seeming unique to the rest of the album.
Ten years later Throne has developed into a more mature sounding band, with a much darker sense about themselves and their music.
Key Tracks: Make it Move, Breathing Room, Stranger Things
With one hundred years of rock and roll experience combined, Deep Purple, and Judas Priest have announced that they will team up for a co-headlining, 25-city tour across North America.
Three of those twenty five cities on the tour will include stops in New York starting on Aug. 9, at the Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, Aug. 2, at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Bethel, and Aug. 5, at the Darien Lake Amphitheater in Darien Center.
Since its formation in 1968, Deep Purple has released 20 studio albums throughout its 50 year career including 2017’s Infinite. The band has sold over 100 million albums world-wide and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on 2016.
Formed in 1969, Judas Priest has recorded eighteen studio albums, selling over 50 million world-wide. The band won a Grammy award in 2010 for Best Metal Performance for the song “Dissident Aggressor.” The band’s latest studio effort, Firepower, released in March is its most successful album, selling 49,000 copies the first week and debuting at number five on the Billboard 200 chart.
Deep Purple/Judas Priest North America Tour Dates:
Aug. 21 – Riverbend Music Center – Cincinnati, OH
Aug. 22 – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – Chicago, IL
Aug. 24 – Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill – Detroit, MI
Aug. 25 – Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort – Mt. Pleasant, MI* Aug. 27 – FirstOntario Centre – Hamilton, ON
Aug. 29 – Bell Centre – Montreal, QC
Aug. 30 – Centre Videotron – Quebec City, QC Sept. 1 – Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater – Wantagh, NY Sept. 2 – Bethel Woods Center for the Arts – Bethel Woods, NY Sept. 5 – Darien Lake Amphitheater – Darien Lake, NY
Sept. 6 – PNC Bank Arts Center – Holmdel, NJ
Sept. 8 – Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach – Virginia Beach, VA
Sept. 9 – BB&T Pavilion – Camden, NJ
Sept. 11 – PNC Music Pavilion – Charlotte, NC
Sept. 12 – Daily’s Place – Jacksonville, FL
Sept. 14 – Verizon Amphitheatre – Atlanta, GA
Sept. 16 – Mississippi Coast Coliseum – Biloxi, MS
Sept. 18 – Starlight Theatre – Kansas City, MO
Sept. 20 – Treasure Island Casino – Welch, MN*
Sept. 21 – Harrah’s Council Bluffs – Council Bluffs, IA*
Sept. 23 – Pepsi Center – Denver, CO
Sept. 26 – Mattress Firm Amphitheatre – San Diego, CA
Sept. 27 – FivePoint Amphitheatre – Irvine, CA
Sept. 29 – Shoreline Amphitheatre – Mountain View, CA
Sept. 30 – Toyota Amphitheatre – Wheatland, CA
Scott Hannay Plays Video Games (Multiplayer Edition) opened up for Pink Talking Fish on Saturday, April 21 at Putnam Place, and have released the video for “Chemical Plant Zone” from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Scott shares some insight on the set below.
“This particular multiplayer edition was significant to me, as I had Pat (Nolan) and Rye (Wylie), a rhythm section I’d played with locally in a number of different projects for years as I was growing as a musician, and also Colin (Shore), who enjoys the best games to win real money, and who I’d just spent more than a year out there in the trenches on tour with. Everyone came together without a rehearsal aside from a short bit of testing questionable sections at soundcheck, as is the way all of these sets have been. I have charts and notation put together to help separate parts for everyone, and keep communication clear so we can all have a super-enjoyable time playing the music of our childhood that a lot of us at the time never realized was so listenable and memorable…and then jam it out proper.”
Scott Hannay Plays Video Games (Multiplayer Edition) will next perform on Friday, May 25 at JP Bruno’s in Glens Falls, NY as part of the official 102.7 WEQX Primus Afterparty. The lineup includes Scott Hannay – keys (Mister F), Matt Pickering – drums (Mister F), Lowell Wurster – percussion (Lucid), Matt Richards – keys (Formula 5), Bill Comstock – bass (Brickdrop) and Matt Dempsey – guitar (Cosmic Dust Bunnies) More info can be found here. Read our January interview Scott and get a behind the scenes look at from where his unique project developed.
For comparison, here’s a gameplay video of the Chemical Plant Zone on Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
The Disco Biscuits played night two of a three-night run at The Fillmore in Philadelphia last weekend on April 20.
The show featured two seamless sets of Biscuits who dusted off both “Commercial Amen” and “Boom Shanker,” both of which hadn’t been played since 2010. The Disco Biscuits next head to Asheville and Colorado at the end of May, along with hosting their annual Camp Bisco in July.
April 20, 2018 Setlist
Set 1: Helicopters > Little Betty Boop > Commercial Amen > Helicopters, Save The Robots
The next installment of Funk Night in Albany takes place on Thursday, May 24 at Parish Public House with Beau Sasser Trio taking the stage. Featuring Adam Siegel (saxophone), organist supreme Beau will be joined by Adrian Tramontano (Kung Fu) and Justin Henricks (Wurliday, Beau Sasser’s Escape Plan). Tickets are only $10 with music starting at 9pm. See below for a review and gallery of the last Funk Night in Albany on April 5!
It was a chill evening for a school night as the Parish Public House prepared to host NYS Music’s presentation of Funk Night on Thursday, April 5. The headliner was a mash up of local artists from Turkuaz, Kung Fu, the Eric Krasno Band and Wurliday.
The laid back atmosphere was accentuated by the devil may care approach to the start. Only the instruments stood on stage once the clock struck nine. Each of the musicians were chatting it up at the bar with patrons and fans. No one seemed to notice or care what time it was. The music was going to be what it was going to be, and those in the house were okay with that.
The collection of artists were fronted by Wurliday guitarist Justin Henricks and Kung Fu keyboardist Beau Sasser. Neither of the two are strangers to one another. In fact, most of the night’s lineup has been associated with Henrick’s Wurliday over the past year. Sasser played organ on a couple of tracks in the band’s debut release Bedtime Blazer last May. The two go back even further, as Henricks played guitar for Sasser’s Escape Plan before deciding to branch off to launch Wurliday.
The evening started off with two instrumental jams also featuring Reed Sutherland on bass, Turkuaz’s Mikey Carruba on drums and John Drabik on guitar. But, the modest lighting at the Parish Public House wasn’t able to adequately shine the line on all the talent. The spotlight shined mostly on Henricks and Sasser before Mary Corso took to the stage.
Corso, too, is no stranger to Wurliday. She’s lent her booming take-me-to-church gospel voice to the band over the past several months. She exhibited that voice singing a few Motown covers. She tied the bow on the whole Wurliday package as the troupe busted into “Getting There” and “Once More” off of “Bedtime Blazer.” Corso is now moving on to pursue other projects. Last month, she announced a duo project with Dan Mayer. The two are currently touring together.
The group stretched out two sets throughout the night, playing a dazzling array of funk music to satisfy a sizable crowd that was enough to fill out the back room of the Parish Public House. Sasser was electrifying on the organ, and the improvisational work throughout the group got people grooving and dancing before the stage. Drabik, who impressed a GE Theatre crowd while playing with the Bryan Brundige Collective at Capital Records last month, continued to amaze an audience with his guitar work from the shadows.
From the back of the room, a member of the crowd took care while taking the show poster down from the wall. He rhetorically asked, “Where were you tonight?” before stuffing the poster in his back pocket.
This review was originally published by The Spot 518.
Aqueous concluded a brief headlining run with a stop at The Haunt in Ithaca on Saturday, April 21. With nary a repeat for these four shows, the jams were plentiful and on this springlike evening (finally) the improv took a darker, more sinister vibe for much of the show which enthralled the enthusiastic crowd.
To celebrate five and a half decades on the air, SUNY Geneseo’sWGSU will host a music festival and food truck rodeo on Friday, April 27 from 4-7 pm. “Genny Fest” takes place on the college campus and is free and open to students and the general public.
Festival-goers can catch music from up-and-coming New York City musicians, all-girl rock band Jackknife Stiletto and singer-songwriter Allison Leah. Seven food trucks will be on site, so there’s sure to be something for everyone. Proceeds from t-shirt sales and donations of cash or nonperishable food will benefit Foodlink.
Following the festival, The Geneseo A Cappella concert takes place at the College Union Ballroom (tickets are $5, and will be available at the door).
I first caught Hartley’s Encore late last year when they performed at Guthrie Bell’s 25th anniversary show at The Hollow. Funk is on the rise in Albany, and Hartley’s Encore honed in on the reason why – the influence of funk forefathers Soulive whose albums are influencing the next generation of funk musicians. Their self-titled debut album is an alive EP, all killer, no filler.
The core of Hartley’s Encore – Luke Malamood, Jeff Nania and Chris Oliver – graduated from Guilderland High School in 2003, but their playing together goes back to the early 90’s when they were in first grade and Luke learned to play piano at Jeff’s while Jeff was learning trumpet. The core of Hartley’s Encore, Luke Malamood (keys/vocals), Jeff Nania (saxophone) and Chris Oliver (guitar) sat down with NYS Music to get behind the band name, talk about their early introductions to funk and their love of Soulive.
Pete Mason: Where does the band’s name originate from?
LukeMalamood: It comes from the time Chris and I were working on this project in fall 2016 and Titanic was on TV and my daughter was watching it and as the ship is sinking, the band keeps playing even as they know they are going to their certain death, but it provided relief for those who were trying to survive. The band leader, Wallace Hartley, is the one who says ‘it’s been an honor and a privilege’ and it was easy to find some info about him. In a loose way, this is right around the time we’re gearing up for the craziest presidential election ever, and people were saying the world is coming to an end, so Hartley’s Encore is a loose tribute to the band and bandleader and we think it’s important that we do what we do.
Chris Oliver: For me, the encore thing, when we decided on it, it was real in an historical sense, but Luke and I have played together for years, and he and I reuniting was its own encore. So it made sense to have the name Hartley’s Encore.
PM: What was the experience like working with Alan Evans (Soulive) at Iron Wax Studios?
Jeff Nania: We did the second Chronicles album with Alan and one thing I like about this approach is that he doesn’t make you try to sound a particular way, he has the mics and know-how to make you sound the best. Before having heard us, because we didn’t have any recordings yet, he asked for three records we really liked that he could use to get a vibe for our sound.
CO: Tower of Power Tower of Power, The Meters Rejuvenation and Dr. John Desitively Bonnaroo were the three we shared, and it’s pretty clear to some extent that we wear our influences on our sleeve. When we got there, he said ‘give me a year’ to reference, and I said “Whatever year ‘Hey Pocky Way’ came out.” (1988) Alan was pretty hands off and wanted to make us sound as good as he could. I was pretty intimidated from a musical standard but I went in there and he lets you go in there and do you. He prioritizes the artist remaining true to who they are, and as a guitar player and songwriter we were allowed to go in there and just be us.
LM: There was an intimidation factor working with Alan that grew out of the first time I saw Soulive in October of 2003. We had just graduated from high school and a bunch of our friends had gone to Bonnaroo and everyone was all about Soulive. When we went to see him, it was incredible seeing any of them. Neal Evans is my hero, he has to be one of the funkiest dudes on the planet. His left hand I would put up against any bassist in the business. When Neal was active in Lettuce, even with Jesus Coomes who’s a monster bassist, Neal was also hold down the bass parts. Even though I’d met Neal and Alan, it felt like hallowed ground just being there with Neal’s brother. It was like hip hop beats with jazz and funk. He was probably the biggest question mark having met Neal and (Eric) Krasno in the past, but Alan I didn’t know too well. He was the coolest guy and I couldn’t have asked for this experience to be any better and professional. I got to play on one of Neal’s organs and he was the coolest, sweetest dude. Justin Henricks had a great experience working on the Wurliday record so it was a no brainer for us to work with him. He met and exceeded our expectations. Both Wurliday and Hartley’s Encore had the album mastered by Brad Smalling at EverGroove Recording Studio, so two funk bands from the Albany area got the same treatment done on their first albums.
PM: What were the early funk experiences that tipped you towards making genre of music?
CO: I was probably the last person to get on the funk train. When I moved back to Albany a few years ago, Luke sent me a Meters album and “People Say” was the one that hooked me.
LM: I have been obsessed with Soulive since I first saw them play at Rev. Hall in the fall of 2003. Are they a “funk” band per se…I mean, I hate labels in music to begin with. Plus, I’ve yet to read a definition of the word “funk” anywhere that I can wholeheartedly endorse. To me, with funk, it’s like, I know it when I hear it. Soulive is jazz, soul, hip-hop, and of course, funk. More importantly, I look at Soulive, and their cousins Lettuce (really the whole “Royal Family”), plus probably Dumpstaphunk and Galactic, as the godfathers of the growing modern funk/soul scene, as it currently exists. I was in college from 2003-2007, at Villanova, right outside of Philly. Between being at home and being away at school, with all of the incredible Philly venues at my fingertips, I got to see all of these modern funk/soul godfathers when I was relatively young, and I listened to them a lot (Jamiroquai too). Those guys never shied away from celebrating their influences, so through them, I got really turned-on to a lot of the funk/soul OGs: James Brown, Parliament/Funkadelic, Stevie Wonder, The Meters, Earth, Wind & Fire, Tower of Power, and Average White Band, to name a few. Of course I had heard “Cold Sweat,” “Superstition,” “September” and even “Cissy Strut” before, but these modern godfathers really wet my appetite to go back and dig in some more.
Then, (though I’d spent one boozy night in NOLA with some buddies during my senior year in college), my first real trip to New Orleans was in March 2009, a that trip changed my life (in more ways than one). Among other things, I made my first trip to the Louisiana Music Factory, a legendary record store in New Orleans, and got my hands on my first Meters record, which I believe was Rejuvenation. As one of my favorite singer/songwriter/pianist/keyboardists, Jon Cleary, has said, “Funk is the ethnic folk music of New Orleans,” and once I got my first real taste of that, being down there, I was hooked. Ever since then, with multiple trips back to New Orleans, countless nights at Brooklyn Bowl (especially for Bowlive!), and really me just digging deep into the genre, I’ve connected the dots between the modern funk/soul godfathers of today’s scene and the OGs. I am now way down the funk/soul Rabbit Hole, have been for years! It feels real good in here, and there’s a lot of love to go around, so I’ve got no plans of coming out any time soon!
JN: I think I discovered Soulive in my sophomore year of high school. When I was younger my dad was a jazz head and I was constantly listening to jazz in high school, especially Blue Note records which was legendary label, with Wayne Shorter and Coltrane’s most famous albums. I was dating a singer/songwriter who she worked at Coconuts in Stuyvesant Plaza and she gave me a handful of CDs. There were two that popped out – Medeski Martin and Wood’s Shack-Man and The Dropper. Soulive Turn it Out was the first record I had heard of theirs. I dug it at the time because Blue Note was putting out some new jazz and I was coming at it from a new angle.
PM: What has the Albany reception been like, having only started out a little more than a year and a half ago?
LM: I’d give credit to Justin (Henricks) who started the Funk Night at City Beer Hall (ed note: now held at Parish Public House) that started to be a time when I could get out to see live music again after having two kids. Much like funk night, the reception has been pretty consistent and incredible as we’ve had max capacity shows and shows with like seven people there. In the funk and soul genre, we’ve only had a jam band thing in Albany and that overlaps to the funk scene, as well as an Indie scene. I think there is a healthy scene here in Albany and we can do it with the best in terms of being a small city. There are a lot of things that go into the reality of venues on given nights. Early on, we leaned heavily on friends and family to turn out. But gradually, slowly, we started to organically make some fans, the kind who keep coming to shows and we know by name. We were lucky enough to have Greg Bell add us to some big shows, including his 25th anniversary show. Slowly but surely, we started to see some people organically catching onto this, and that’s really what I think our goal would be – play once or twice a month and get people out to the show and have a celebration.
CO: Both Luke and I will admit we are better songwriters than musicians. When we put our heads down and kept getting big on our own, Jeff took us under his wing, and given his playing in the region for the past seven or so years, we started to meet musicians and people who were in the scene and it kind of allowed us to get to where we are now and it helped us tremendously. I got out to see Justin Henricks and people who were doing it in Albany and that connection came from Jeff.
LM: this is a snapshot of who we are now, and we can attribute it to people like Greg Bell putting us on shows and NYS Music giving us some love and helpful in getting us to be able to be welcomed in this community.
Hartley’s Encore released their self-titled debut album on April 20 and will have to album release shows in coming weeks. Catch them at The Hollow on Friday, April 27 with Victory Soul Orchestra and at Bowery Electric on May 18 with Sauce on the Side. At both shows, Luke, Jeff and Chris will be joined by a rotating rhythm section of Josh Gordon and Brad Monkell (bass), Mike Gilet and Erik Pravel (drums), Phil Chow (trumpet), and Alex Gonzalez (percussion). Hartley’s Encore is now available on Spotify and Apple Music.
Buffalo rap group 14 trapdoors – Short Moscato, Bendyface and Wza – have partnered with Mass Appeal to premiere the video for “Holy Water,” a vividly mind-altering experience. The self-produced single unveils clever rhymes traded bar-for-bar atop a minimalistic track highlighted with an echoing bass, ticking snares and haunting operatic rock backing ad-libs.
Directed by S’likedat, the psychedelic rollercoaster reflects on their hometown life in Buffalo, New York and symbolizes their cleansing relationship with music. 14 trapdoors explains, “Holy Water supposed to cleanse the soul. We use music to cleanse our soul. The music is our holy water,” with Short Moscato calling the song “a collage of our lives.”
With the focus on the Queen City, Wza says, “We wanted to show the world how we get down here in Buffalo. The video is a tripped-out glimpse into how we’re living and the friends and fellow artists we surround ourselves with for motivation and inspiration.” And that trippy video by S’likedat? Bendyface considers it “either the cure or cause of epilepsy.” They’ll perform at Mohawk Place on Tuesday, April 24.
14 trapdoors have self-made a sub genre of hip hop, coined New Trap Boom Bap, and draw on a wide range of influences that span Aesop Rock, Big L, El-P, Jay Z and fellow Buffalo artists Westside Gunn and Conway, as well as Pink Floyd, Prince and Led Zeppelin. “People who gravitate toward the golden age of ‘90s boom bap will fuck with it because we focus on lyricism and new age youngins will fuck with it because we have songs with a more ‘trappy’ vibe,” Bendyface says.
The rappers met on the Buffalo hip hop scene and decided to pool their assets during the summer of 2016 when they all happened to release projects at the same time. They are all solo artists and Bendyface is also a member of the duo Chronic Collective. WZA mixed and mastered their recordings, resulting in them spending a lot of time together at his studio.
The name 14 trapdoors pays homage to their hometown. The 14 represents the summation of the digits in their 716 area code and trapdoors is a reference to the city’s DIY scene. “Everybody you know is trapping something out their house, whether it deals with music, art or drugs, and when you are a rapper, you need all three of those things,” WZA says. “So you find yourself walking through many trapdoors.”
They attribute their sound to Buffalo, a city where one of hip hop’s most respected eras still gets its props. “Our whole stance on music is that It’s all about truly being yourself and being honest with yourself,” WZA says.
A growing community of belly dancers from the Northeast and beyond will come together on May 12 at the Charles R. Wood Theater in Glens Falls, NY for Coalescence IV, an evening of entertainment for the entire family. The fourth annual belly dance fundraiser donates 100% of proceeds to support Randy’s Patient Assistance Fund at the C.R. Wood Cancer Center, Glens Falls Hospital.
Randy’s Patient Assistance Fund supports patients in need by covering co-pays, gas cards for transportation to treatment, lodging assistance for those undergoing daily treatments, prepaid minutes for cell phones and prescription co-payments. The fund was set up in memory of Randall Favreau who was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2011. He could have used all these services, but there were no resources available for him at that time. Upon his passing, his wife used some of his insurance monies to help start this much needed fund. Since then, through the generosity of the community, Glens Falls Hospital has been able to keep this fund open and help many patients.
The lobby will open at 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 12 for concessions and a basket raffle, with all prizes awarded immediately following intermission. Tickets are on sale now at the Wood Theater Box Office. More event info can be found here.
After 10 years, Connecticut rockers Throne return with their self-titled full length album. Brothers Casey and Derek Trafton, have revived Throne after disbanding in 2009 when their cousin Justin Trafton left the band.
