NYS Music 20​19

Category: Buffalo

  • Black Crowes Tour Official – Several NY Sheds on Itinerary for 2020

    The Black Crowes announced tour dates on Monday to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the band’s debut album Shake Your Money Maker. The tour will see the Robinson brothers visiting amphitheaters across the country beginning June 17 in Austin performing their debut album in its entirety along with select hits.

    Chris and Rich Robinson appeared on Monday’s Howard Stern show to make the tour announcement. The extensive tour makes stops at Bethel Woods, Jones Beach, Saratoga and Darien Lake in New York and wraps at the Forum in Los Angeles on Sept. 19.

    The Black Crowes

    While this is being billed as a Black Crowes reunion, the brothers Robinson will not be performing with any of their former bandmates on this tour. Joining the Robinsons in the band are Isiah Mitchell (guitars), Tim LeFebvre (bass), Joel Robinow (keyboards) and Ojha (drums). The band last performed in 2013 with each of the brothers forming their own bands in the meantime.

    Tickets are on sale now. For information, visit the Black Crowes website here.

    June 17 – Austin360 Amphitheater – Austin, TX
    June 19 – Dos Equis Pavilion – Dallas, TX
    June 20 – Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion – Houston, TX
    June 23 – BOK Center Tulsa, OK

    June 24 – Walmart AMP – Rogers, AR
    June 26 – Oak Mountain Amphitheater – Birmingham, AL
    June 27 – Cellairis Amphitheater at Lakewood – Atlanta, GA
    June 30 – Coral Sky Amphitheatre – West Palm Beach, FL
    July 1 – Tampa, FL – MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
    July 3 – PNC Music Pavilion – Charlotte, NC
    July 4 – Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek – Raleigh, NC
    July 7 – Ascend Amphitheatre – Nashville, TN
    July 8 – Ascend Amphitheatre – Nashville, TN
    July 10 – Veteran United Home Loans Amphitheater – Virginia Beach, VA
    July 11 – Jiffy Lube Live – Washington, DC
    July 14 – BB&T Pavilion – Camden, NJ
    July 15 – Bethel Woods Center for the Arts – Bethel, NY
    July 17 – PNC Bank Arts Center – Holmdel, NJ
    July 18 – Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater – Wantagh, NY
    July 21 – Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion – Gilford, NH
    July 22 – Xfinity Center – Boston, MA
    July 24 – Xfinity Theatre – Hartford, CT
    July 25 – Saratoga Performing Arts Center – Saratoga Springs, NY
    July 28 – Budweiser Stage – Toronto, ON
    July 29 – DTE Energy Music Theatre – Detroit, MI
    July 31 – Darien Lake Amphitheatre – Buffalo, NY
    Aug. 1 – KeyBank Pavilion – Pittsburgh, PA
    Aug. 13 – Xcel Energy Center – Minneapolis, MN
    Aug. 15 – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – Chicago, IL
    Aug. 16 – Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center – Indianapolis, IN
    Aug. 18 – Blossom Music Center – Cleveland, OH
    Aug. 20 – Riverbend Music Center – Cincinnati, OH
    Aug. 23 – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – St Louis, MO
    Aug. 26 – Providence Medical Center Amphitheater – Kansas City, MO
    Aug. 28 – CHI Health Center – Omaha, NE
    Aug. 30 – Red Rocks Amphitheatre – Denver, CO
    Sept, 1 – USANA Amphitheatre Salt Lake City, UT
    Sept. 4 – White River Amphitheatre – Seattle, WA
    Sept. 5 – Sunlight Supply Amphitheater – Portland, OR
    Sept. 8 – Concord Pavilion – Concord, CA
    Sept. 9 – Shoreline Amphitheatre – Mountain View, CA
    Sept. 11 – MGM Grand Garden Arena Las Vegas, NV
    Sept. 12 – Ak-Chin Pavilion Phoenix, AZ
    Sept. 18 – North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre – San Diego, CA
    Sept. 19 – The Forum – Los Angeles, CA

  • Hearing Aide: Aqueous ‘Burn it Down’

    Buffalo-based four-piece, Aqueous, explores their indie dance-rock roots with their latest EP ‘Burn it Down.’ Comprised of Mike Gantzer (vocals/guitar), Dave Loss (guitar/keys/vocals), Evan McPhaden (bass), and Rob Houk (drums), Aqueous has been evolving, and this EP embodies that evolution. It consists of four songs, all between 3 to 4 minutes long. Though each song has it’s own Aqueous groove, but you can also hear the heavy influences in each one; going from a rebellious indie-rock jam in the album’s title song to an electro-pop rock dance anthem with “On the Edge.”

    Burn It Down signifies a straight up paradigm shift for Aqueous. We dove headlong into our rock, indie, and dance roots, and put a much sharper focus on concise, badass rock and roll song writing. We really wanted to further explore a certain attitude that has always been a part of all of us but that might’ve been a little underrepresented in our music up until now. 

    Mike Gantzer – Aqueous (guitar/vocals)

    The band is in the first leg of an extensive fall tour, and they have been subtly teasing fans with the EP by covering songs that heavily influenced the music. These include songs from Weezer, Chromeo, Blink-182, Queens of the Stone Age, Tears for Fears and more.

    While the EP is not what fans would normally expect from Aqueous, it is no doubt catchy and exciting. Aqueous has always been well known for their songwriting, and this is highlighted in the EP. Burn it Down sends a powerful message about living your personal truth. It tells a story of a fresh start rising from the ashes.

    This EP is about not being afraid to stand up and make a change that will get you closer to living your truth, whatever that might be. It’s about self honesty, and about questioning unhealthy situations and relationships, and calling bullshit when it needs to be called. It’s meant to say ‘whatever your situation is, it’s never too late to just tear the whole thing down and start over’. 

    Mike Gantzer

    Burn it Down is available on all streaming platforms now.

    Key Tracks: On the Edge, Little Something to Me

  • In Focus: Turkuaz Skates Into Buffalo

    The calendar may have turned to November but the Halloween spirit was strong in Buffalo with Turkuaz dressing up in celebration of our neighbors’ to the north national pastime, ice hockey! Sammi Garett and Shira Elias even dropped their gloves and staged a hockey fight that had to be broken up by referee Chris Brouwers to the delight of the packed crowd at the Town Ballroom.

    Setlist: Nightswimming, Doktor Jazz, Make You Famous, Heat Drop, If I Ever Fall Asleep, E.Y.E., Mister Man, Digitonium, Big Business > Murder Face, Take ‘Em Down, Every1’s A Winner > Superstatic, Better Get Ready > Lookin’ Tough, Feelin’ Good, Gogo Mr. Dodo, The Shape I’m In
    Encore: Monkey Fingers

  • In Focus: Explosions In The Sky Light up Asbury Hall in Buffalo

    Post-rockers Explosions In The Sky embarked on a nationwide tour which brought them to Asbury Hall in Buffalo for only the second time in their career. After 20 years of making music, the band’s only other appearance in Buffalo was at the Tralf in 2008.

    Setlist: A Song for Our Fathers, The Birth and Death of the Day, The Only Moment We Were Alone, Greet Death, Yasmin the Light, Have You Passed Through This Night?, Disintegration Anxiety, Your Hand in Mine, Magic Hours, Catastrophe and the Cure, Colors in Space.

  • Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band announces Blues Revolution Tour featuring special guests

    The Big Damn Blues Revolution Tour will bring together three artists who are both master musicians and amazing showmen. With five stops across New York in November, The Reverend Peyton, Dom Flemons and J.D. Wilkes will take the blues-roots-folk music that they love and live on a unique tour. Each night will culminate with a special jam session featuring all three artists. 

    Blues Revolution Tour

    The tour begins November 6 in Asheville, N.C., then heads north for a date in Brooklyn at Knitting Factory on November 13. From there, shows in Saratoga Springs (Nov 16), Syracuse (Nov. 19), Buffalo (Nov. 20) and Corning (Nov. 21) will bring blues-driven folk across the Empire State.

    The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, a 2019 Blues Music Award nominee, includes the Reverend’s wife, “Washboard” Breezy Peyton, drummer Max Senteney and is led by the Reverend Peyton, considered to be the premier fingerpickers playing today. A singularly compelling performer and persuasive evangelist, the rootsy, country-blues styles that captured his imagination early in life led him to Clarksdale, Mississippi to study under such blues masters as T-Model Ford, Robert Belfour, and David “Honeyboy” Edwards. The recently released album Poor Until Payday debuted at #1 on the iTunes Blues Chart and #4 on the Billboard Blues Chart.

    Joining Reverend Peyton is Don Flemons, who draws from a repertoire of more than 100 years of American folklore, ballads, and tunes. A Grammy Award winner and two-time Emmy nominee, Dom Flemons is known as “The American Songster” and is a music scholar, historian, and multi-instrumentalist – an expert player on the banjo, fife, guitar, harmonica, jug, percussion, quills, and rhythm bones. His 2018 Smithsonian Folkways release Dom Flemons Presents Black Cowboys received a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album. Flemons co-founded the Carolina Chocolate Drops, who won a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album in 2010 and were nominated for Best Folk Album in 2012.

    J.D. Wilkes is a true Renaissance man — musician, visual artist, author, filmmaker, and self-proclaimed “Southern surrealist.”  Also an accomplished multi-instrumentalist (notably on harmonica and banjo), Wilkes has recorded with Merle Haggard, John Carter Cash, Mike Patton, and Hank Williams III. Wilkes is perhaps best known as the founder of the Legendary Shack Shakers, a Southern Gothic rock and blues band whose fans include Stephen King, Robert Plant, and former Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra. Rolling Stone named Wilkes “best frontman” at the 2015 Americana Music Association Festival for his performance with the band.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wItG_D3Vuvc

    Big Damn Blues Revolution Tour Dates:

    Wed., Nov. 6  ASHEVILLE, NC  The Grey Eagle

    Thurs., Nov. 7 WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. The Ramkat

    Fri., Nov. 8  RALEIGH, NC The Pour House Music Hall

    Sat., Nov. 9   LEESBURG, VA  Third Annual Chad Dukes Veterans Day Jamboree @ Tally Ho Theater; without Dom Flemons

    Sun., Nov. 10  ANNAPOLIS, MD  Rams Head On Stage

    Tues., Nov. 12 BOSTON, MA  City Winery  

    Wed., Nov. 13  BROOKLYN, NY  Knitting Factory

    Thurs., Nov. 14  SELLERSVILLE, PA   Sellersville Theater 1894; without Dom Flemons

    Fri., Nov. 15  TUCKERTON, NJ   Lizzie Rose Music Room; without Dom Flemons

    Sat., Nov. 16  SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY   Cafe Lena; without Dom Flemons

    Sun., Nov. 17  HAMDEN, CT Space Ballroom

    Tues., Nov. 19  SYRACUSE, NY   Westcott Theatre; without Dom Flemons

    Wed., Nov. 20  BUFFALO, NY The Tralf

    Thurs., Nov. 21  CORNING, NY Corning Museum of Glass

    Fri., Nov. 22  MORGANTOWN, WV 123 Pleasant Street

    Sat., Nov. 23  COLUMBUS, OH Woodlands Tavern

    Fri., Nov 29  INDIANAPOLIS, IN  The Vogue; without Dom Flemons

    Sat., Nov 30  NEWPORT, KY  The Southgate House Revival; without Dom Flemons

  • Hearing Aide: The Drunken Hearts ‘Wheels of the City’

    I can imagine it is sometimes difficult to be called an Americana band. I’ve heard a number of music fans hear that description and respond, “You mean they sound like Mumford and Sons, or The Avett Brothers?” That response is not only limiting, it’s unfair. Listening to The Drunken Hearts pending release, Wheels of the City, dispels the notion that they are a one dimensional entity. There is country, with pedal steel and banjo, as well as elements of soul, some of the classic Laurel Canyon sound, touches of rock comparable to Drive-By Truckers, and alt-country stylings reminiscent of Son Volt.

    The Drunken Hearts

    The album, recorded at Denver’s Silo Sound Studios, starts out with “Fire in a House,” slowly building an intro, leading to a verse, a piano melody, and continuing with layers of other instrumentation and backing vocals. The tune eventually deconstructs to some degree toward the end, sonically arriving back where it began. “Alive ‘n Free” reflects the overall upbeat feel of Wheels of the City, as evidenced by the lyrics

    “Sometimes in life, you get to where you want to / Sometimes in love, you fall just where you’re meant to / Sometimes this world shows you how to be free / Alive ‘n free.”

    The addition of strings and a female accompanying vocal on “Passchendaele” lend a sense of sad elegance to a song about one of the most prolonged battles of World War I, and a soldier discovering lost love after returning home from war. “In the Middle” is an uptempo tune that can easily have the listener singing along, tapping their toes and swaying to the music.

    “Two Hearts (On a Limb)” perhaps best fits the “Americana” genre, although The Drunken Hearts display a much broader range than any one single style. That range is displayed on “Wheels of the City.” The title tune begins with a country music feel, and as horns come in midway through the song, it morphs a bit into a soul sound. That subtle transition reflects the chameleon-like qualities of the songs, and the band as a whole. By virtue of the way the songs take advantage of multiple band members’ instrumental skills, this may well be a group that hits its stride in live performances more so than in a recording studio. That’s not to say Wheels of the City is lacking in any way, it’s simply that some bands build their chops over the course of hundreds of live gigs, and the band took a decidedly different approach to this release – writing and recording eleven new songs in eleven days, rather than recording familiar pieces that had been road tested.

    The album closes with “The Cave,” which begins with a spoken word intro and leads into an instrumental section which is markedly different than the rest of the album. As noted, the band’s novel approach to this recording was a rather daring roll of the dice, with unknown possibilities.

    Wheels of the City will be released on multiple platforms as well as the band’s website on Friday, October 18. For more about the band, click here.

    Key Tracks: Alive ‘n Free, Two Hearts (On a Limb), Wheels of the City

    The Drunken Hearts current tour will provide opportunities to see them throughout New York State. All five of those shows are in support of Yonder Mountain String Band. The Saturday, October 19 show will be a homecoming of sorts for bassist and vocalist Jon Macartan, a native of nearby Guilderland, New York, in the capital region. The New York State days are listed below.

    Wednesday, October 16, at Buffalo’s Tralf Music Hall Tickets here.

    Thursday, October 17, at Center for the Arts of Homer Tickets here.

    Saturday, October 19, at Putnam Place in Saratoga Springs Tickets here.

    Thursday, November 11 at Brooklyn Bowl Tickets here.

    Sunday, November 17 at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock Tickets here.

  • Head North Announces Headlining Buffalo and NYC Shows, New Album in the Works

    Buffalo’s Head North has booked two shows in December. It’s been two years since the alternative band’s last live performances. They’ll be playing Brooklyn at The Knitting Factory on Dec. 19, then a show in their hometown at Mohawk Place on Dec. 21. Joining them for both dates is Tennessee-based singer/songwriter Bogues. Ticket information is available here.

    Over the summer, Head North released the single “Rhodora,” the first taste of their upcoming sophomore album. This and other new material has been recorded at the band’s own space, Bigfoot! Studios, at the helm of frontman/producer Brent Martone. It’s a follow-up to 2017’s The Last Living Man Alive Ever in The History of The World. For more about that album, see the NYS Music interview.

  • Injury Postpones Gordon Lightfoot Tour

    Gordon Lightfoot has postponed the October and November dates of his “80 Years Strong” due to a leg injury the Canadian balladeer sustained while working out earlier this year.

    The 80 year-old Lightfoot was scheduled to perform dates at Binghamton’s Broome County Forum on Oct. 25, Buffalo’s Kleinhans Music Hall on Oct. 28, Rochester’s Kodak Center on Oct. 29 and Utica’s Stanley Theater on Nov. 3.

    Gordon Lightfoot

    A statement from Lightfoot’s representatives stated, “Doctors orders have mandated that Gordon will not be sufficiently recovered, due to complications from an injury sustained while working out at his gym, and will be unable to travel in time for his upcoming tour.”

    Tickets already purchased may be refunded at the point of sale and all tickets will be honored at the rescheduled dates, which are expected to be some time in June.

  • November 17 dont’ miss the next MFDF Funk Night at Nietzsche’s

    Buffalo’s MFDF Funk Night returns to Nietzsche’s on Thursday, November 21, with special guests Sam Pavlovich (Intrepid Travelers) on bass and Matt Felski (Scarlet Begonias) on drums. They’ll be joined by hosts Matt Fantini of Space Junk and Donny Frauenhofer of Intrepid Travelers, DF3 and The Truth.

    Presented by NYS Music, MFDF Funk Night is only $5 for two sets of fun(k) starting at 9pm at Nietzsche’s. Hosts Fantini and Frauenhofer bring a rotating cast of local, regional, and national artists each month for a night of improvised heavy funk.

    The final funk night of 2019 is set for Thursday, December 21. Save the date!

  • Hot Tuna Plan Late 2019 Shows, Kicking off in NYC

    This November and December, guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Casady will take to the road to close 2019 as Hot Tuna and wrap up their 50th year with acoustic shows with electric holiday performances as well.

    Town Hall in New York City will host the tour kick off with two nights of electric Hot Tuna on Nov. 29 and 30, with special guest Steve Kimock. The Jefferson Airplane alums will then team up with Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams for 11 shows around the Northeast and Midwest, including stops in Troy, Poughkeepsie and Buffalo. Hot Tuna will then close out 2019 in Florida with shows on Dec. 28 in Clearwater and Dec. 31 in Ft. Lauderdale with an electric performance. Full tour dates can be found below.

    Hot Tuna Fall Tour Dates

    Nov. 29-30 – The Town Hall – New York, NY*
    Dec. 2 – Musikfest Cafe at ArtsQuest Center – Bethlehem, PA^
    Dec. 3 – Troy Savings Bank Music Hall –  Troy, NY^
    Dec.     5 – Bardavon 1869 Opera House – Poughkeepsie, NY^
    Dec. 6 – The Colonial Theatre – Keene, NH^
    Dec. 7 – Garde Arts Center – New London, CT^
    Dec. 9 – Asbury Hall – Buffalo, NY^
    Dec. 10 –  The Palace Theatre – Greensburg, PA^
    Dec. 11 –  Kent Stage – Kent, OH^
    Dec. 13 – Park West – Chicago, IL^
    Dec. 14 –  Fitzgerald – St. Paul, MN^
    Dec. 15 – Turner Hall Balroom – Milwaukee, WI^
    Dec. 28 – Bilheimer Capitol Theatre – Clearwater, FL
    Dec. 31 – Parker Playhouse – Fort Lauderdale, FL+

    * w/ Steve Kimock
    ^ w/ Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams