AJ Lambert, daughter of Nancy Sinatra and granddaughter of Frank Sinatra, joined the family tradition with the release of Careful You on January 21. Lambert’s innate talent, clearly in her ancestral DNA, has produced a skillfully crafted record, featuring interpretations of songs from artists like Spoon, TV on the Radio, and of course her late, great grandfather.
This album follows Lambert’s extensive experience in the entertainment industry, having augmented a career which spans film music supervision, live performance (Here We Go Magic, The Homosexuals) and radio (“Siriusly Sinatra” on Sirius XM). Produced by Daniel Schlett of The War on Drugs and Boshra AlSaadi, the album includes drummer Parker Kindred (Joan As Policewoman) and bassist Josh Werner (Bill Laswell) as session musicians. The album is both an homage to artists such as Billie Holiday and other legends, and a bold reconstruction of the same musical history, featuring lavish ambient soundscapes in “Ebb Tide,” Lambert’s polished vibrato on “Sleep Warm” and a touch of glam with “You and Your Sister.”
Each track on the album is meticulously sculpted. Every instrument shines through the mix and Lambert’s vocals flow over it all. Songs like Frank Sinatra’s “Sleep Warm” are regarded with holy sanctity as she works to maintain, but slightly revise the original feeling; while songs like “(Glad I’m) Not a Kennedy” are a particular point of fun. The Shona Laing cover supersedes the original with even more flair and modern dance vibes.
The album isn’t perfect — the production is so clean and defined that you’ll find yourself yearning to hear some rambunctiousness. However, Careful You is an insight into how an artist like Lambert can carry on a familial legacy while providing some updated energy at the same time.
Key Tracks: Careful You, I Summon You, (Glad I’m) Not A Kennedy
Albany was certainly the place to be Friday, February 1. The Palace Theater hosted Umphrey’s McGee for another always-astounding performance, and the Pearl Street Pub threw a legendary after-show. Once the UM show concluded at The Palace, drummer Kris Myers and bassist Ryan Stasik made their way down the block to meet up with Aqueous guitarist Mike Gantzer. The three collaborated on an energetic, punk-rock tribute to Green Day‘s 1994 album Dookie that took the Pearl Street Pub’s crowd on a high-speed cruise down memory lane.
The trio took the stage with attendees anxious to take it all in. Set one blasted off with “Burnout,” “Having a Blast” and “Chump.” Stasik then dropped into the signature bass line of “Longview,” bringing about a crowd sing-a-long. One highlight of the night was a set of three Ween covers. In between Green Day hits “Longview” and “Welcome to Paradise,” the guys played Ween’s “The Grobe,” “It’s Gonna Be a Long Night,” and “Transdermal Celebration.” The set continued with Dookie tracks in sequential order, mixing in genre-relevant covers from Nirvana, The Ramones and Weezer. Craftily weaving in a tease that was also featured at the UM show earlier, “Norwegian Wood” (The Beatles) was heard throughout “In The End.” The end of the evening featured an epic trio of songs including “Brain Stew,” “Geek Stink Breath,” the first single from Green Day’s album Insomniac, and “Bad Mouth,” a Fugazi cover.
This date marked the 25th Anniversary of the release of Dookie, making the performance a celebratory collaboration. Mike Gantzer, Kris Myers and Ryan Stasik have performed full covers of the Green Day album on two other occasions: once as a late night tribute set at Summer Camp Music Festival 5/26/17 and again at Brooklyn Comes alive on 9/24/17.
(Unofficial Setlist)
Burnout, Having a Blast, Chump > Longview, The Grobe (1), It’s Gonna Be a Long Night (1), Transdermal Celebration (1), Welcome to Paradise, Pulling Teeth > Basket Case, She, Drain You (2), Sassafras Roots, When I Come Around, Coming Clean, I Wanna Be Sedated (3) > Blietzkreig Bop (3), Emenius Sleepus, In The End (4) > F. O. D. > All By Myself, My Name Is Jonas (5), Say It Ain’t So (5), Undone – The Sweater Song (5), Brain Stew
Encore: Geek Stink Breath, Bad Mouth (6)
1- Ween cover
2- Nirvana cover
3- The Ramones cover
4- Norwegian Wood (The Beatles) tease
5- Weezer cover
6- Fugazi Cover
In the midst of a polar vortex, fans of Umphrey’s McGee fought through the frigid cold to see the band take to the historic Palace Theatre stage in Albany. This is the group’s fourth performance at the Palace over the past five years, seemingly solidifying it as a staple tour stop in the northeast. Opening up the night, they had Robert Walter’s 20th Congress, featuring John Kimock and Scott Metzger.
photo by Dave Decrescente
The first set kicked off with the heavy rocker “Domino Theory,” off 2011’s Death by Stereo, setting the mood for the night with its driving metal sound. Following a type 1 jam, the group played “Got Your Milk (Right Here),” another rocking tune that hadn’t been played since the group’s Red Rocks run. Robert Walter joined the group for “Whistle Kids” from Umphrey’s recent 2018 release it’s not us. Walter took over keyboardist Joel Cummins’ Fender Rhodes for the song and led the group through the ensuing jam with Cummins by his side on the Hammond organ, raising the somewhat downtempo feel of the song into a short, but sweet prog jam. “The Linear” followed, continuing that progginess and going into the first real jam of the set, heavily featuring guitarists Brendan Bayliss and Jake Cinninger working with each other to create atmosphere and bring the song into “White Man’s Moccasins,” a jazzy tune that let Cinninger show off his chops a bit.
photo by Dave Decrescente
“Resolution” came next, raising the tempo immensely with its uplifting sound, and leading the group into a full band tease of The Beatles’ classic “Norwegian Wood.” The jam in “Resolution” was very spacey and electronic, creating a similar feel to what they did with “The Linear” earlier in the set but adding in the electronic drum kit from drummer Kris Meyers. Myers and percussionist Andy Farag took a mini drum jam before the group brought “Resolution” into “Upward,” a bluesy ballad by Bayliss that took the energy from “Resolution” and transformed it into the peak of the segment. To close out the set, Bayliss welcomed moe. drummer Vinnie Amico to the stage for a cover of ZZ Top’s “Cheap Sunglasses,” a classic by the Texas hard rock trio.
photo by Dave Decrescente
The second set was the highlight of the night, starting off with the prog metal masterpiece “Miss Tinkle’s Overture,” which really shows how all 6 members are a well oiled machine when they need to get down and technical. “Miss Tinkle’s” led the group into a dub reggae-esque jam once they had played through the composed sections before Cinninger brought the jam back into a metal sound for the “peak” of the jam. “Walletsworth” followed, continuing the heavy sound from “Miss Tinkle’s,” but not featuring any real jam besides Cummins taking a piano solo before the last chorus. “Waiting Room” kept the heaviness going, with its driving bassline and anthemic lyrics really getting the crowd raging for its brief performance.
photo by Dave Decrescente
To kick off the best segment of the set, the band started into the familiar opening chords of “1348,” which is always a welcome sound at an Umphrey’s show. The jam in “1348” was really interesting, the group mixed a dance sound with funky guitar riffing and really kept the groove driving until they suddenly broke into “Eat,” which was just heavy guitar riffage front to back. “Maybe Someday” came next, riding the wave of heaviness from “1348” > “Eat” and launching into a heavy metal jam that wove in and out of the composed sections of the song. Ending out the set was “The Floor” back into “1348,” completing the song from earlier in the set. “The Floor” is an incredible song to see live, it’s very dramatic and Middle Eastern-sounding at points, but also brings forth some of the group’s heaviest breakdowns.
This version of the song didn’t feature any jamming, but was a super tight version of the song and provided the perfect launchpad for dropping back into “1348.” The second half of “1348” was a culmination of all the energy they’d been building up throughout the second set, exploding into one last super heavy runaround of the main riff before ending the set. For the encore, the group sandwiched “Soul Food I” between two halves of “Puppet String.” The group seamlessly dropped out of the composed section of “Puppet String” into “Soul Food I,” performed the song, and then bassist Ryan Stasik dropped back into the “Puppet String” bassline and the rest of the band followed suit.
Umphrey’s McGee performed a heater of a show on Friday night in Albany, check out the photo gallery below for a taste of what the night looked like. Check back with NYS Music for coverage of the Dookie aftershow.
“Just so you know, we don’t read sheet music. For all those accusing us online of reading sheet music, how dare you!” So said bassist Marc Brownstein in good humor as he addressed The Capitol Theatre crowd on the second night of The Disco Biscuits’ magnificent three-night run at the Port Chester rock palace this weekend. The sentiment would immediately ring with an air of respect, as the jamtronica four piece went on to deliver a tremendous second show, the midpoint in a very all-around strong weekend of shows. Bustouts, new improvisational territory, and new instruments served as the fueling components of a successful, satisfying Disco Biscuits 2019 Port Chester run.
Friday night, it was clear the band were not here to joke around at the mighty Capitol Theatre. Well, there was a lot of joking around across all three days, but musically speaking, no joking around at all. A four song first set, which included “Vassillios,” “Orch Theme,” “Lunar Pursuit” and “Sweating Bullets” rewarded the diehards making it out for night one with lots of grooving stringed together a la some vintage patient jamming. The Disco Biscuits were really among the first in that “patient” style jamming—that would go on to influence the likes of Lotus, The New Deal, and so forth—which sees the band lock into steady, comfortable grooves and slowly alter things via the careful, improvisational contributions of all members involved.
Night one’s set two gave a better inclination as to some of the incredible playing that was waiting throughout the rest of the weekend. An inspired kickoff on the old school tune “Bernstein and Chasnoff” sandwiched a very cool inverted version of “Aquatic Ape,” and an unfinished “Spectacle” bled beautifully into a textbook “Basis For a Day” to close it all out.
Friday night the momentum of everything from the musicians to the crowd increased a good tenfold. The show opening “Little Lai” was a welcome party starter and quickly worked its way into a cool, murky stretch of improv before picking up speed and landing at one of the first true musical gems of the Cap weekend—a performance of the Sam Altman-penned song, “Onamae Wa.” This was a bustout for The Biscuits, having not played the tune since October of 2015, a gap of over one hundred shows.
But the biggest talk going around Friday night, and really this entire weekend, was of course guitarist Jon Gutwillig bringing out and performing on a new guitar, a shiny Languedoc. There have been rumors about where this mystery instrument had come from, but the confirmed word seems to be that it was a handoff from a close friend of Barber’s. Barber would switch between this and his other guitars through the rest of Friday and Saturday, to sublime results.
“King of the World” on night two’s second set brought one of the best bliss-type jams of Friday, a several minute stretch of slowly rising power rock propelled by bright chords and synchronicity between all four members. By the time the song reached “We Like To Party,” the band had procured a truly inspiring level of intensity, one that was reciprocated beautifully from their prototypical freewheeling audience. When it comes to matching the spirit of their favorite band, Biscuits fans are hard pressed to be rivaled for their enthusiasm.
All that recoiled energy had to release somewhere and The Biscuits channeled it outward through a fine funk improv session on “Caterpillar.” Consequently, the segue into “Bombs” went off without a hitch and by the end of the song, that ebb and flow of energy was ready to shoot a hole through the ceiling of The Capitol Theatre.
Word around The Cap was that Saturday would be the most musically satisfying of all three shows, and when fans know it, they know it. The band busted the concluding Cap show wide open with a mega Grateful Dead tribute: “Help On The Way,” “Slipknot” and “Franklin’s Tower” all delivered in full. “Help” and “Slip” were last performed by The Biscuits in the middle of 2015 and now assured this weekend of multiple rare bustouts. But it was the transition from “Franklin’s” into the Biscuits original “Spraypaint,” dynamic, directional and full of the momentum procured over the last two days, that set night three off to a running start.
“Shem-Rah-Boo” gave Saturday’s first set both a dose of dance funk and a headfirst spiral into that classic Bisco brand of dark trance. But then, just as soon, “Cyclone” shifted light to dark and featured beautiful moments of interplay between Gutwillig and keyboardist Aron Magner. A volcanic, dopamine-inducing return into “Spraypaint” solidified this set as one of the most bombastic of the entire run.
Two more jam-packed sandwiches structured the final set of the weekend, starting off with a “Voices Insane” packing a huge “Shelby Rose” within. Shelby, which was inverted, rocked in confident style between brighter chord jamming and that darker trace, making this a unique version for sure.
Another super cool moment, in a weekend of cool moments, came in the second sandwich, with the band teasing their return out of “Miracles” into an ending on “Little Shimmy In A Conga Line.” Across a span of several minutes, the band peaked a few times, playing with the notion as to whether they would close with Shimmy or just take Miracles all the way for a set finish. It might have thrown a number of people off, and it just helped to again reinforce how architectural this band can be with their musical decisions, in which the combination of technical ability and creative risk-taking can produce wonderous results. Reading sheet music? No way.
After a legendary 2018-19 NYE run, a highly praised two-night stand in Washington DC, and then this terrific Capitol Theatre run, it might be fair to say that The Disco Biscuits have earned a moment of time off. Their next performance dates are scheduled for April 26 and 27 at The Fillmore in New Orleans, smack dab in the middle of the musical madness that will be Jazzfest 2019.
Setlists
January 31, 2019
Set 1: Vassillios, Orch Theme, Lunar Pursuit, Sweating Bullets
Set 2: Bernstein And Chasnoff > Aquatic Ape1 > Bernstein And Chasnoff, Spy, Spectacle2, Basis For A Day
Encore: World Is Spinning
1 inverted version 2 unfinished
February 1, 2019
Set 1: Little Lai1, Onamae Wa2, Little Betty Boop3, Spaga4 > Abraxas5 > Spaga
Set 2: King Of The World1,3, We Like To Party1, Shadow6, Caterpillar, Bombs, Caterpillar
Encore: Home Again
1 unfinished 2 last played 10/30/15 (118 shows) 3 with ‘Changes’ jam (new work in progress) 4 with ‘The Stranger’ (Billy Joel) tease in intro 5 inverted version 6 last played 7/16/15 (124 shows)
February 2, 2019
Set 1: Help On The Way1, Slipknot!1, Franklin’s Tower2,3, Spraypaint, Sound One, Shem-Rah Boo2,4, Cyclone, Spraypaint
Set 2: Voices Insane, Shelby Rose5, Voices Insane, Little Shimmy In A Conga Line, Humuhumunukunukuapua’a2, Miracles2, Little Shimmy In A Conga Line
Encore: Helicopters
1 last played 7/17/15 (124 shows) 2 unfinished 3 last played 4/17/15 (131 shows) 4 with ‘Billie Jean’ (Michael Jackson) teases and ‘Changes’ jam 5 inverted version
On a snowy night in Ithaca on the precipice of the deep freeze, known as the Polar Vortex, a young college town crowd braved the elements to warm up to folk-rock breakout, Rayland Baxter and his 5-piece band. In the midst of a lengthy tour promoting his critically-acclaimed new release, Wide Awake, the set expectedly concentrated heavily on the new stuff, but sprinkled in songs from his entire catalog for a dynamic show.
The set list looked a bit like a roll call. Present was “Mr. Rodriguez,” “Angeline,” Willy, “Sandra Monica,” “Olivia,” Larocco and “Amelia Baker.” But all eyes, ears and minds were set on Baxter himself.
The frontman commanded the stage and audience like an old pro. The crowd was amped and excited; Baxter was game for a little friendly banter, going so far as to join in on a FaceTime with someone’s father. The obligatory “How’s it going?” query was answered, “It’s a massive Tuesday in Ithaca.” Baxter agreed, then took it and ran, describing his day flying in from Nashville. Later he would introduce “Olivia” as a Massive Tuesday for sensitivity dot com. When asked about his shoes, Baxter promptly took one off and put in a pitch for All Birds, followed by a pitch for his toothbrush brand of choice, of all things.
Even more, he controlled the crowd through music. At the powerful highs of “Everything to Me” and the extended jam of “Amelia Baker” they followed along in full rock out mode. They sang and danced together to the catchy hooks of “Hey Larocco” and “Casanova.” When Baxter broke it down in a mid set solo excursion, exploring some of his older, folksier material like “Dreamin’” and “Willy’s Song,” the ambient noise in the bar was dropped to an almost indistinguishable murmur. Respectfully and incredibly quiet to enjoy Baxter alone with his guitar, voice and an airy whisper of a whistle blown through his teeth.
Illiterate Light, a guitar and drum duo out of Harrisonburg, VA, warmed up the night with selections from their just-released EP, Sweet Beast. Bombastic drumming played from a standing position, fiery guitar leads and quality vocals, reminiscent of Jim James, put the stamp on an opening set that checked all the boxes. The venue had a room full of patrons from the get-go: the headliner had a crowd thoroughly ready for their set, the audience had an introduction to a great young band, and Illiterate Light had themselves a bevy of new fans.
Setlist: Strange American Dream, Mr. Rodriguez, Freakin’ Me Out, Everything to Me, Angeline, Sandra Monica, Young Man, Dreamin, Willy’s Song, Olivia, Hey Larocco, Casanova, Amelia Baker, Yellow Eyes, Let It All Go Man
AJ Lambert, granddaughter of Frank Sinatra and daughter of Nancy Sinatra, recently debuted the video for “Cleo,” a cover by artist John Cale. The track appears on her first full length solo album, Careful You, which was released earlier this month.
Careful You is an album of unique, poignant interpretations of songs by artists including Spoon and TV on the Radio, as well as some of her grandfather’s deep cuts such as “Sleep Warm” and “I’ll Be Seeing You.” The album was recorded with a full band and produced by Daniel Schlett (The War on Drugs, Amen Dunes) and Boshra AlSaadi (TEEN, Janka Nabay). AJ will tour in support of the release, with a full band featuring musicians from the album, such as drummer Parker Kindred (who also plays with Joan As Policewoman) and bassist Josh Werner (who recently collaborated on a release with Bill Laswell).
Speaking about the video for “Cleo,” Lambert said, “I just thought it would be fun to really play up the pop elements of the song in a new version… to me, it’s lyrically keeping with the theme of the record – namely thinking that love will save the day and then reckoning what happens, when it gets more complicated than that. Hence the ‘always a bridesmaid’ theme of the video, too.”
Last year, she released Lonely Songs, a collaborative EP with Greg Ahee of Protomartyr, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of her grandfather’s seminal album, Only the Lonely. In AJ’s words: “These songs let me say thank you to Frank. I’m so honored to carry on a bit of this tradition of being a song interpreter and it’s so much fun to do it in a modern way… I believe that good music is good music, no matter what era it’s from… Greg was a big fan of the album already so it was fun to collaborate.”
AJ Lambert has worked as a film music supervisor and bassist in various bands (including Here We Go Magic and a reunion of seminal punk icons, The Homosexuals). As a solo vocalist, she performs two complete Sinatra albums live – In The Wee Small Hours and Only the Lonely – with John Boswell on piano, at small clubs and theaters around the country. AJ also hosts “Third Generation” on Sirius XM’s “Siriusly Sinatra” channel and regularly performs at private and charity events. Whether performing with a pianist, a full band or on record, AJ Lambert’s style and interpretations of both standards and contemporary music alike are truly her own.
The family band has a certain quality that’s tough to emulate. In Binghamton, there’s a band that is doing just that. Composed of Michael Toyryla (guitar), Jesse Wheeler (guitar), Keagan Toyryla (bass/vox) and Caleb Wheeler (drums), Tijuana Danger Dogs are a rock and roll family. Michael and Jesse met in 1999, subsequently gigging in various hard-rock projects. In 2010, an accident left Michael unable to perform live. Continuing to pursue the passion, Michael worked at recovery and the duo were able to find their niche in the studio. Here they cut their teeth songwriting and producing. Eventually, after a miraculous recovery, Tijuana Danger Dogs were able to start performing live again. This time, each of the original two members brought their son on board. Keagan and Caleb rounded out the lineup and the rock family was in full action. Their new release, All My Friends: Vol. 1 finds the band with various featured vocalists. Each song offers a different view of the group and leaves a lot to look forward to in future releases.
Overall the album has an encompassing rock n’ roll theme,
dipping into such influences as Pearl Jam, Radiohead, and Green Day. The
featured vocalists provide nice variety in every tune and tend to be the
solidifying factor in the atmosphere of each song. While the rock is relentless
throughout, the songs sometimes lack a certain build and dynamic range, which
is partly a product of the production quality which can come off as more lo-fi.
The hooks on the songs are great, and the melodies stack up well against the
instrumental backdrops. The second track, “All My Friends (f. Tim Ruffo)” is a
nice country themed song that highlights some of the band’s best qualities. The
harmonies are executed well and the lead guitar offers a colorful solo. The
drum performance is tight and meshes well with the bass line.
There are some Fueled by Ramen (record label) type aesthetics on here, particularly in the third song, “Getaway (f. Asia Toyryla)” where the vocal inflections tend towards pop-punk. Little soundscape additions at the end of the tune add character to the recording and outline some of the interesting ideas the band includes in their tracks that will differentiate them from other rock families. The album runs the gamut of rock influences and dips into some of the budding ideas the band has of their own. Each track has a nice variety, though the energy is often static on portions of tracks. This isn’t to say the energy isn’t that of typical rock style- there are some hard hitting parts. It will be interesting to hear what the Tijuana Danger Dogs have planned next- future studio work and live shows are on the horizon for a band whose potential is evident in this release. Check out the album on their website and catch them live as they begin to hit the road again.
Cory Wong isn’t strictly vegan in case you were wondering. He’s the type that typically won’t pass up the best of anything. Best BBQ in the city? He’ll gnaw through it. But for this night of the tour, a veggie reset was needed, so we plopped ourselves into a corner table at Red Fern to catch up before his first Rochester gig at Flour City.
Ally Dean: How did Emily Browning become your opener for this tour?
Cory Wong: Emily C. Browning and I (not to be confused with Emily Browning the actress) met at a house concert in LA. She was playing at my friend’s house and I knew the taco truck that was gonna be there. Taco trucks in LA are really good. House concert at my friend’s house plus sick taco truck means I’m there. There were a bunch of musicians there and at the end of the night the guy coordinating wanted to have a jam session and asked me to lead it and she was there too.
AD: That’s sweet. I’ve been to a few low key house concerts in Upstate, NY where the crowd seemed to be mostly older folks, not necessarily musicians. Is there anything different about the house concert culture out in LA?
CW: This show was unique in that it was a well curated show put together by the PickUp community and it was invite only, but I’ve also been to shows in garages so it just depends. I’ve done a few house concerts that my friend hosted in Minneapolis.
Intimate shows like that definitely make me more nervous than playing to thousands of people at Red Rocks. The energy at a big show is unlike anything else, but in a small room like that you can see every person’s visceral reaction. And it can get weird. One person can throw off the energy and sometimes you have to just turn pro mode on. But it can also be way more fun when you can connect to the crowd at a much deeper level and sort of hang out.
(Food arrives, interviewing paused to nibble)
AD: Frank DeBlase interviewed you a few weeks ago for City Newspaper and when he asked “What’s something you always do?” you replied, “I always laugh and smile.” Being the cynical person I am, it made me want to know, what makes you mad?
CW: Plenty of things. When something is supposed to work one way and does all the time and out of nowhere seemingly just doesn’t, like computer problems. Why does this program not open? I woke up and now it’s not working. What happened over night?
And in musical settings, recording in studios requires fighter pilot focus in some cases and so much precision but it’s also a very creative process at the same time so it’s a lot to balance. In studio situations if I lose focus I get really frustrated if I mess up a take for everyone by doing something off script. Or we’ve got it really close, last take was amazing but we could make it tighter. So we go to do the exact same thing again, just better. Except this time maybe the drummer adds a gigantic drum fill that feels really inappropriate and in the wrong spot. So in a group setting someone hijacking the moment through lack of focus, lack of respect for the craft or the goal really frustrates me.
AD: In recording situations have you had particularly awkward experiences where it seems like one musician isn’t quite getting it? How do you navigate that?
CW: If that’s happening it takes more patience from everyone else in the room. In a lot of cases that person is also frustrated with themselves. Some people take negative reinforcement better than they do positive reinforcement, so understanding who you’re working with and how to communicate with everyone is important to get through the situation. Sometimes in the end you just have to wave a white flag and be done and know you’re gonna have to come back to do that part with someone else later, but not let the guy feel so bad about it. But then you feel bad when the album comes out and they see someone else’ name on it.
AD: Is there usually no telling them, they just learn on their own in that situation?
CW: It depends. I’ve had that happen to me before where someone hired me to play guitar on their record and some of it was good but they had a different vision in mind that I wasn’t necessarily seeing. I’m way better at reading what a producer wants from me now, and also a better musician now than I was ten years ago. But I have had that happen before where someone replaced my parts and I found out by reading the liner notes. The first couple times you get replaced it hurts. And the first couple times you have to do it to someone it hurts. You don’t want them to think it was anything personal. Everyone still gets paid even if their stuff doesn’t get used.
AD: What new music are you into right now?
CW: My favorite song of 2018 is “Things” by Louis Cole. He’s in KNOWER. It’s eclectic, fast, hard hitting, electro meets analog. He’s one of the sickest drummers. His solo record has some of that but it also reminds me of the Beach Boys with his singing. I listen to “Things” almost every day.
AD: Seems like it’s getting harder and harder to attain that high from music that you want to play on repeat.
CW: Totally. I can’t remember the last time I had that where it’s like “This is my song!” As far as other new stuff, I’m always seeking out what other guitar players are doing. Also recently been into Kimbra and Emily King.
AD: What have setlists been like on tour? Do you play through the entire album or mix it up?
CW: Definitely been mixing it up. We normally do some songs from each of my releases There are probably four songs we play most nights but we have a lot of material to draw from. Sometimes a live song will really connect with people even though it’s not one of my biggest Spotify songs so we’ll play it live more often. We’re rearranging and adapting. With Vulfpeck Jack likes to build a show which the jam fans aren’t wild about because they want to hear a different setlist every night.
AD: Speaking of connecting with people, I saw one of my favorite Rochester bands a few months ago and I was bummed that they barely interacted with the crowd at all.
CW: People have different comfort levels on stage. I sometimes do a stream of consciousness bit on stage and have fallen flat on my face or surprised myself like “oh that was funny, how did that happen?” But I’m comfortable with that. I’m 90% flaming extrovert. Of course there are still those times where I need to be alone to recharge, but then I’m back. I like people.
Show Review: Despite our two-hour hangout sesh, we didn’t talk much about what happens at Cory’s shows. I expected an awesome musical display, but what happened on stage that night involved more production than just a band playing through a set.
Once Cory emerged with his crew, he got right to business, laying out a few ground rules. He denounced how fans can tarnish the evening when “that tough guy stuff starts coming out.” He asserted, “I want that to go out the window. Whether their skin is lighter, darker, looser or tighter, they are no better than you and you are no better than them.” Immediately leveling fans helped connect everyone right from the start.
Once the show was in full swing, Cory Wong’s stage quirks were as entertaining as his nasty guitar work. His facial expressions made it seem as though he was telepathically carrying out a hilarious conversation with his bandmates as he bounced around stage, toothily grinning.
His brand of humor also translated to the visuals projected on screen. Before “Pleasin,” Cory announced, “We have a special surprise. We went halfsies with Flour City Station on super fast internet since it’s super expensive, but we have a direct line with someone in an isolation booth.” Before the video began, a man in the crowd sheepishly yet hopefully called out “Antwaun…?” He was not the only one pining for a glimpse of the singing legend himself. Moments later the singer appeared on screen while the band played along live. Though not in the flesh, Antwaun’s universally adored spirit permeated the room as fans joyously soaked in his pre-recorded cameo.
Later in the set, the commercial for Cory Wong’s “jam starter pack” was a comedic curveball for which the band came to a dead stop to broadcast mid-set. The fanny pack advertised was emblazoned with his logo, and among other things contained a packet of Smucker’s jam and a fluorite crystal. If anyone knows how to market to the jam community, it’s this guy. But you have to go to a show to get one since they’re not available online.
Aside from the merch commercials (yep there were multiple), their show sprinkled in an amusing array of lo-fi visuals- we’re talkin America Online logos and Tony Hawk Pro Skater demos. They provided an ironic contrast to the technical grooves laid down and created a multimedia experience that left the audience amused and amazed.
Black Suit Youth has played sold-out theaters with bands such as Story of the Year and Alien Ant Farm, and their newest CD was recorded in Atlanta by Peter Catalano, and listeners will immediately hear that “False South” is a terrific, high-energy rock album.
“False South” features blistering lead guitar work from Long Island’s Fed Canelos, heavy bottom end bass from Long Island’s Juan Orellana, hard hitting drums from New York City’s Robert Abrams, and rhythm guitar and lead vocals from Bryan Maher. Black Suit Youth plays an upbeat blend of hard rock, alternative, punk, and indie with an eye for arrangement and hooks.
Black Suit Youth formed in 2004, however this line-up is a rebirth of the band and has been together for about two years.
According to the band, their goal is to spread their music to as many rock fans as possible, whether it’s on stage in front of a thousand people or in smaller venues, one person at a time. You can catch Black Suit Youth live this month January 24th at Amityville Music Hall and January 26th at The Cobra Club in Brooklyn.
Check out their Facebook page and Bandcamp and look for additional Tri-State Area shows this winter as well as an East Coast/Midwest Tour in the spring.
Chicago groove rockers Mungion stopped at Buffalo Iron Works on January 27, their first stop in Buffalo since the release of their latest album Ferris Wheel’s Day Off. They’ll be hitting the road with Pigeons Playing Ping Pong in February and March so be sure to check them out.
