NYS Music 202​0

Category: Genres

  • Dead ‘Stock: The Story Behind the Grateful Dead’s Forgettable Woodstock Performance

    Even now, 51 years to the day, the performance by Grateful Dead at the legendary Woodstock Music Festival still leaves a mark. Although, for a variety of reasons, it’s a mark that the band and any eyewitnesses that evening may not wish to remember fondly. Weather, electrical and all the other ever-sprouting issues that arose during Woodstock all played factors that resulted in what many deem a less than memorable performance put forth by the Western newcomers that many had heard of but few had seen before.

    Due to scheduling issues and incessant rain, the band’s set on August 16, 1969 had already been pushed back from Saturday late afternoon to a 10:30 pm start time. By then, rain and the resulting mud had conquered the Bethel, NY festival grounds. The giant throng of spectators splayed across the hillside were getting soaked and restless waiting for the next act to start. Up until this point, the Grateful Dead were still only a band “on the rise” that was very much new to an East Coast crowd, by and large.

    Grateful Dead Woodstock

    The inauspicious start began when the band’s notoriously heavy gear caused the rotating stage that was being used to sink completely into the mud – something they had warned the event staff about beforehand. Phil Lesh’s bass monitor was somehow picking up the on-site helicopter’s radio signal. And the Dead’s sound technician, Owsley “Bear” Stanley, was making alterations to what he considered an inadequate in-house PA system. It resulted in him improperly grounding the stage equipment and giving new meaning to the term “electric rock.”

    Band members recall feeling a “light tingle” whenever they would touch their instruments. This all culminated with a now famous story about guitarist Bob Weir being thrown across the stage, supposedly during the “Saint Stephen” that began the show.

    It was raining toads when we played. The rain was part of our nightmare. The other part was our sound man, who decided that the ground situation on the stage was all wrong. It took him about two hours to change it, which held up the show. He finally got it set the way he wanted it, but every time I touched my instrument, I got a shock. The stage was wet, and the electricity was coming through me. I was conducting! Touching my guitar and the microphone was nearly fatal. There was a great big blue spark about the size of a baseball, and I got lifted off my feet and sent back eight or 10 feet to my amplifier.

    ~ Bob Weir, Rolling Stone interview

    Audio recordings only contain the first two minutes of the opening number, likely a result of this mishap. Things immediately lighten up a little afterwards with “Mama Tried,” a Merle Haggard song that the Dead had started covering earlier that year.

    The awkward start-and-stop rhythm of the show then rears its ugly head again thanks to another ten minutes of delay in order to deal with the sound setup. A “spirited” Ken Babbs from the Merry Pranksters takes to the MC role during this part of the show as he tries his best to entertain a crowd of hippies growing increasingly damp and restless. This also gives Country Joe McDonald the chance to pop up onstage and warn everyone about the “green acid” that was going around.

    After all the sound issues are resolved, the band launches into a moody “Dark Star” that serves as one of the musical highlights of the night. The near 20-minute rendition stretches out and descends into near ambience before rounding back into form. It features wonderful fills and textures provided by early keys player Tom Constanten who seems to be turned up abnormally high in this recording.

    Once the “Dark Star” burned out, the band trotted out another new number with “High Time” – a sentiment that was no doubt shared by many this evening. Garcia’s vocals come through aptly but this isn’t exactly a song to get a crowd up and dancing. The slow, drab composition seemed to be reflective of the current atmosphere.

    The band seems to cut their losses and ends theit set with a “Turn On Your Lovelight” that stretches out to almost 40 minutes. However,it starts with even more mayhem thanks to another “spirited” individual who jumps on stage and exclaims to everyone about “seeing the sun rise over the lake” and a “third Coast.” All this while the band is quietly playing the instrumental open to the song underneath it all.

    While it does seem to finally inject some life into the set, not even a Pigpen rap would be enough to save this show. The extensive jam meanders and shifts from pscychedelia to blues and back with little direction in between. It marked the end of a set that had high hopes at first but falls flat in its delivery thanks to the weather, sound issues, lucid ramblings from MCs and stage crashers alike, and one of the guitarists getting visibly electrocuted on stage.

    Grateful Dead Woodstock Music Festival Bethel, NY 8/16/69
    St. Stephen (cut), Mama Tried -> High Time (false start), Dark Star ->High Time, Turn On Your Love Light

  • Watch: Jazz at Chautauqua featuring Wynton Marsalis, Becky Kilgore and more

    Jazz at Chautauqua is held periodically and in 2016 hosted Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center during one week of the nine-week long program.

    Located in southwestern New York, near the Pennsylvania border, Chautauqua Lake is home to the Chautauqua Institution. There, a blend of arts programming, educational and religious opportunities and recreational activities are available to those who visit the grounds during the year.

    The Institution, originally the Chautauqua Lake Sunday School Assembly, was founded in 1874 as an educational experiment in out-of-school, vacation learning. It was successful and broadened almost immediately beyond courses for Sunday school teachers to include academic subjects, music, art and physical education.

    On September 21, 2012, a late-night set with Duke Heitger’s Swing Band at Jazz at Chautauqua featured the amazing voice of singer Rebecca Kilgore. Performing worldwide at jazz festivals, jazz parties, and on jazz cruises, Kilgore has been a frequent guest on National Public Radio’s ‘Fresh Air’ with Terry Gross, has appeared on ‘A Prairie Home Companion,’ and with Michael Feinstein at Carnegie Hall.

    Here is Rebecca Kilgore with Dan Block (tenor saxophone), Rossano Sportiello (piano), Frank Tate (string bass) and Pete Siers (drums) performing “I’m Thru with Love” at Jazz at Chautauqua weekend in 2011

    The Rebecca Kilgore Quartet (formerly known as BED) was a popular favorite on the jazz festival circuit: with Eddie Erickson (guitar/banjo/voice), Dan Barrett (trombone), and Joel Forbes (bass). Writer Bucky Pizzarelli says of Kilgore, “If Benny Goodman were alive today, he’d hire Becky to sing in his band.”

    The next night, September 22, Becky performed “It’s Always You” with Keith Ingham. The 1941 Jimmy Van Heusen/Johnny Burke song from The Road to Zanzibar, was originally sung by Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. Other members of Kilgore’s band include Dan Barrett (trombone), Dan Block (alto saxophone), Scott Robinson (tenor saxophone), Mike Greensill (piano), Howard Alden (guitar), Kerry Lewis (string bass) and Bill Ransom (drums).

    And from September 2009, here are Duke Heitger, Andy Schumm, Dan Barrett, Scott Robinson, Bob Reitmeier, Ehud Asherie, Marty Grosz, Frank Tate, and Pete Siers swinging around on “Linger Awhile.”

    From Jazz at Chautauqua in September 2009, featuring the late Tom Pletcher (cornet), Dan Barrett (trombone), Bob Reitmeier (clarinet), the late Jim Dapogny (piano), Frank Tate (string bass) and Pete Siers (drums). 

    From 2014 Jazz at Chautauqau, Kurt Weill performs a gorgeous “September Song” with a trio of Dan Levinson (tenor saxophone), Bob Havens (trombone), and Keith Ingham (piano).

    h/t Jazz Lives

  • Discover Local Music With EQXposure Featured Artists Including Lucas Garrett And More

    Each Sunday evening from 7-9pm on 102.7 FM, you’ll find EQXposure on WEQX, featuring two hours of local music from up and coming artists. Tune into WEQX.com this Sunday night to hear music from Lucas Garrett, Matt Bosson, Magic Trash Party, and many more!

    EQXposure

    WEQX has long been the preeminent independent station in the Capital Region of New York, broadcasting from Southern VT to a ever-expanding listening audience. NYS Music brings you a preview of artists to discover each week, just a taste of the talent waiting to be discovered by fans like you.

    Lucas Garrett – “All Around Me“

    The singer/guitarist hails from Upstate NY and continues to meld styles like progressive rock, folk, classic rock, and indie with every new song. He’s performed all over the capital region at coffee houses and reputable venues including Strand Theatre in Hudson Falls, Little Theater on the Farm in Fort Edward, Charles Wood in Downtown Glens Falls, and Hudson River Music Hall just to name a few. He’s remained busy recording new material since the release of his debut EP Evening’s Come, But It’s Not Dark and you can expect the same steady output in 2020. This is just one of more songs to come and if you want to know who’s on what, just take a look below.  

    Matt Bosson – “From Outer Space“

    This is a friend and former classmate of Tred’s. You know. Tred? From Every Other Tuesday With Tred. On Early EQX? Well, anyway they used to hang out in the Berkshires and now Matt Bosson is making sweet, sweet music in Los Angeles California. He’s spent some time as a singer/songwriter in multiple bands ranging in genres like punk and alt country. Most recently he has been releasing his most personal and unusual music as a solo artist.  

    Magic Trash Party – “Other Flowers“

    Magic Trash Party hails from Windham, NY and they are going for a ’40s-’60s classic pop vibe on this one. If you want to find out more about them like I did you can check out their Facebook page where their bio says they are a “Rock and Pop band from Upstate NY.” Yup. That’s all it says. With a name like Magic Trash Party, who needs details? The magic is in the mystery.  

  • Boo Riley Shares New Music Video For Single “Boo Riley”

    Boo Riley, a Manhattan-based indie artist, has released a new music video for recent self-titled single “Boo Riley!” The video follows the band through the subway, Tompkins Square Park, and into a gig at Arlene’s Grocery. This rambling video tour of some of New York’s timeless places serves as a little reminder of what New Yorkers can look forward too once the lockdowns end.

    Boo Riley

    This fun yet complex track possesses the detectable influences of the group’s sound. Classic rock, 80’s pop, and indie all blend together for a lovely and uplifting tune.

    On the video, Austin Lesch of Boo Riley shares, “I was listening to Wilco’s ‘Wilco (The Song)’ and loved the lyric ‘this is aural arms open wide, a sonic shoulder for you to cry on.’ I wanted to write a song inspired by that line, but with Boo Riley’s perspective. The video is an extension of this. We wanted to visualize what we were trying to do sonically.”

    For more from Boo Riley follow on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

  • Flashback: Watch performances from Day 1 of Woodstock 1969

    The historic Woodstock Music and Art Festival took place 51 years ago this weekend in Bethel, NY in 1969. Billed as “an Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music,” promoters Michael Lang and Artie Kornfeld brought together an all-time classic lineup of artists that spanned genres and put an exclamation point on a decade of change.

    Much has been written on the festival, and the (pre-COVID) thriving music festival scene in America owes a debt to the original Woodstock, adding a festival (and city name) to our collective lexicon and providing a template by which to measure all future music festivals.

    Woodstock 1969

    With today marking the anniversary of the first day of Woodstock, revisit performances from the eight artists who took the stage, including Richie Havens, who hurriedly took to the stage when Sweetwater was held up arriving to the site by helicopter.

    When asked by Lang to perform earlier than planned, Havens was initially resistant, thinking that he couldn’t get ready in time. With encouragement from John Morris, and learning that Tim Hardin was “scared shitless” to open the festival, Havens laughed and said,

    What can I say? OK, give me a couple minutes to get ready and to round up the rest of the group. I’ll do it.

    Richie Havens

    The stage crew was alerted and at 5:01pm, and once sound was set, Morris strode to the stage and announced,

    Well, it’s time for the music to begin. Let’s welcome, Mr. Richie Havens”

    John Morris

    And with that, the greatest music festival ever was off and running into the history books. Watch a performance from each of the eight artists who performed at Woodstock on August 15, 1969

    Richie Havens

    Sweetwater

    Bert Sommer

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA-NPCq_Jd8

    Tim Hardin

    Ravi Shankar

    Melanie

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr2l9inAryQ

    Arlo Guthrie

    Joan Baez

    Watch performances from every Woodstock artist with our full playlist

  • 24 Years Later: Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters join Phish at Darien Lake

    On August 14, 1997, Phish performed for the second time at Darien Lake Performing Arts Center. Just one stop was left on Phish’s Summer Tour – The Great Went in Limestone, ME. And, as is bound to happen, some bozos and pranksters showed up in the parking lot before the show, leading to history being made and generations of jam bridged together.

    phish darien lake
    photo via Kevin Shapiro

    A fluid first set was chock full of jams, and an early “Fluffhead” was reportedly punctuated with a roller-coaster climbing to its peak just as “Fluffhead” was peaking. The first “Tela” since fall 1996 and a raging “Antelope” set closer are among the other highlights.

    Fans reported seeing the famous Furthur bus in the parking lots that day, which had a Grateful Dead feel to them with Furthur Fest on tour that summer as well. Not many would expect Trey to bring out the head Prankster himself, Ken Kesey, later that night. Following an often overlooked segue out of “Harry Hood” in the second set, just as Anastasio started the narration part of “Col. Forbin’s Ascent,” their special guest came to the stage.

    So here we are again, standing at the base of the mountain, and this is a very different and interesting time for Col. Forbin here. Col. Forbin realizes on this particular day, he is not going to find the great and knowledagble Icculus at all, but instead he is going to find (laughs) Ken, Uncle Sam, Bozo, E-Z-Kesey standing there.

    Trey Anastasio, introducing Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, August 14, 1997

    Out walked Kesey dressed as Uncle Sam, and the crowd erupted.

    Ken Kesey with Phish

    Kesey – author, LSD advocate, founder of the acid tests and a key figurehead of sixties counter-culture – took hold of the moment and in a rambling, hilarious and surreal art performance, referenced the loss of Jerry Garcia, the Bozos, and the Wizard of Oz. Kesey spoke and sang to the beat of his own drum:

    My heart is sorely beset because from out amongst the tidbits of these vehicles moving through the nation we have lost an important part of us. For two years no one has seen high nor heard of the bozos. For two years the bozos have been missing. Where are the bozos? Well, what we heard was they were gonna try to make it hear to the Phish concert. We couldn’t catch them up at the Furthur Festival so we decided to come to the Phish concert.

    Ken Kesey

    Around the stage and audience were costumed Pranksters in key roles, making for one of the most infamous sit-ins in Phish history. Two years after Jerry Garcia’s death, Kesey had symbolically passed the torch to Phish

    Kesey began a “Wizard of Oz” narration, mentioning that his brother in Oz usually handles finding the bozos. “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” begins and out walks a helper, dress as the Scarecrow, to give a “Bozo Report.” At that moment, the band switched to an instrumental version of “If Only I Had a Brain”, ahead of The Scarecrow saying “We know they were at the Grateful Dead concert and the rumor was they went Phishing.”

    The Tin Man followed, reporting that he has a ‘foolish heart,’ with Kesey and Fishman singing “Has anyone seen the Bozos?” Instead of the Cowardly Lion following next, Frankenstein walks out with his master, and naturally, Phish breaks into Edgar Winter’s “Frankenstein” with the volume a little lower for Kesey to continue his narration.

    The Cowardly Lion was leading a paramilitary group in Northern Idaho and you brought me this? Wonderful!

    Ken Kesey

    Then, as Kesey and four other pranksters began to come up with lyrics for the Bozos, about 20 Bozo Clowns came running through the pavilion and found their way to the stage. Meanwhile, Kesey and the Pranksters continued to sing while Phish improvised over a funk groove. To close this collective hallucination, Kesey attempted a segue of his own:

    I see a bird. Out comes a bird. Could that possible be Mockingbird? What kind of bird can it possibly be in the nest when the Pranksters sing? I know it. I see it. I hear it. It’s a Mockingbird.

    Ken Kesey

    Alas, as Kesey and the Pranksters exited the stage, Trey remarked “See what happens if you take too much acid? 30 years later…” much to the audience’s approval. Trey then declared that because “the funk was too deep,” and they couldn’t stop the funk, the typical “Fly Famous Mockingbird” that follows “Col. Forbin’s Ascent” was passed over for “Camel Walk,” an early funk-filled Phish song, and a rarity at the time. Tune into the show via Phishtracks, and don’t sleep on the set closing “Taste.” At Superball IX, Phish shared a pro-shot clip of the show, footage of which can be seen above.

    phish darien lake

    Setlist via Phish.net

    Soundcheck: Buffalo Bill, The Old Home Place, Funky Bitch, Crosseyed and Painless

    Set 1: Ya Mar, Funky Bitch > Fluffhead, Limb By Limb, Free, Cars Trucks Buses, Tela > Train Song > Billy Breathes, Run Like an Antelope

    Set 2: Chalk Dust Torture, Love Me, Sparkle > Harry Hood -> Jam > Colonel Forbin’s Ascent -> Merry Pranksters Jam[1] -> Camel Walk, Taste

    Encore: Bouncing Around the Room, Rocky Top

    [1] Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters.

    The second set featured a remarkable jam after Harry Hood ended and before Forbin’s began, as well as an appearance by Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters. The Merry Pranksters Jam contained a Somewhere Over the Rainbow tease from Trey, an If I Only Had a Brain tease, a Spam Song quote, and a Frankenstein jam.

  • Wavy Cunningham and DJ Mercy Continue the Fight on Two New Projects

    If one thing is clear, it’s that Wavy Cunningham always makes music. I’ve seen him write a song in a notebook, and then release it days later. He never waits. He gave his fan base a week between the releases of his new EP, Fight Back, and album, Club Wavy. They set sails on July 31st and August 7th, 2020, respectively.

    Photo by Zach Hitt

    Always Be Closing

    Wavy might not yet be a household name, but his charisma and performance style converts first time listeners into fans with little effort. That’s how he got me to listen. I’ve seen this happen during live sets, both at shows where he’s the featured headliner, and guest spots on stage too. But his ease around people doesn’t negate his work ethic.

    Unique Style

    In fact, Wavy, along with his frequent collaborator and producer DJ Mercy, enjoy writing, recording, and releasing music in extremely quick succession, unlike certain artists who wait for “outside influences and people around them” to lead to an album’s refinement, Wavy says. 

    Every year, major league record labels dispose of a tremendous amount of resources for their artists to drop a project only once every few years, on average. However, Wavy releases multiple projects per year without a label, so I talked with Wavy about his process, his plan, and his methods. We also dug into his newest work, Club Wavy and previous efforts such as Catch Me If You Can (2016).

    More Music on Deck

    At this point in time, Wavy Cunningham and DJ Mercy have over five projects on Spotify with dozens of smaller EPs, demos, singles, and mixtapes collecting listens on SoundCloud. “We also have a bunch of unreleased projects,” says Wavy. It allows the duo to pull from a vast repertoire of well-written rhymes and vintage samples when it comes to live shows. And Wavy is not concerned about what others are doing. He mentions wanting to go his own way, instead of “running on the hamster wheel,” or following the same pattern that other artists do.

    The New Normal

    Speaking of shows, performance is Wavy’s bread and butter, in my opinion. So with a lot of the world shut down due to the dangers of the COVID-19 health crisis, we might not get to see his live vibe for songs like “Doin’ My Thing,” (one of my favorites) and “1B” for quite awhile. Wavy told me that platforms like Twitch and live streaming methods have allowed him and other artists to put on virtual shows. “We’ve done…a concert on Instagram Live and we pulled out unreleased tracks. It’s cool to [be able to] do that.” Wavy also said that he and DJ Mercy have tentative plans for another Internet set, in which they’ll perform an album from beginning to end.

    Most Improved Goes To…

    Although the concept of recording and turning over material so quickly may seem chaotic, Wavy has a plan for the future, and music waiting to be released. “Each project is a learning experience,” he says, in which he and Mercy have been able to learn from each studio session and improve the listening experience little by little. They’ve made little changes along the way that lead to a steady climb in quality. 

    Notably, Entreband’s MostlyEverything took care of the mix and master to balance out the technical sonics of both projects, and producers Frank Finesse, Phil Dreisin, Hyuka, and N-Pro all lent instrumentals to pair with Wavy’s flow. “We went for more original sounds…this time. There’s less samples and more elements of [live instruments],” Wavy says. These instruments perfectly balance tracks such as “Get Away” (Fight Back) and “Whattup?” (Club Wavy) both of which feature a glassy guitar intro.

    To close the latter of the projects, Club Wavy, Cunningham wrote “All We Need is Love.” This track contains a beautiful tribute to Breonna Taylor and other people who have been killed due to systemic racism and police violence. The swan song perfectly closes both projects and carries a message that will be heard the loudest.

    Verdict

    Overall, Fight Back and Club Wavy are strong entries into Wavy’s catalogue and will stay as his most cohesive work until he comes up with something, which probably won’t be long from now.

    Club Wavy and Fight Back are both available on all major streaming services, with the music video for “Whattup?” being available for views on YouTube and Facebook.

    Key tracks: Whattup?, Get Away, Never Ends, All We Need is Love

  • Hearing Aide: ShwizZ release ‘Big Things,’ provoke Musical Euphoria

    Nyack duo ShwizZ slams you against the blackboard in awe that all your basic math skills have fleeted. Not only does ShwizZ explore a multi-level, mixed-meter halfway house of genres, but also bulldoze your ear to the other end of the record collection with their latest Big Things. No algorithm can compute this formula. Not from two people.

    ShwizZ

    It’s hard to believe Big Things can lead you through all eight compositions without losing sight of what’s ahead. Something doesn’t add up. The duo – Ryan Liatsis and Andy Boxer – stab you with the sharp pain of “Splinter,” opening with an off the cuff funk tag. The tune walks on with staccato chunks of its bassline before Liatsis shoots out jarring guitar pads.

    These guys look bored amid a musical Mortal Kombat where nobody breaks a sweat. Boxer is collected behind the kit, unleashing cool six-stroke rolls and collapsing tom fills in-between Liatsis’ ever-changing soundscape. Liatsis begins to crack a smile as he waves through his solo, far beyond the musical speed-limit. Boxer listens and instigates. The strings are not phased.

    The albums second track “Khoi Khoi,” aides to more textured side of the duo. They explore a more mysterious side of scale that is oddly cathartic. That is until you’re stunned unexpectedly from your dream.

    ShwizZ gets creative with “Your Call is Very Important Us,” in a meter that seemingly races ahead of the ear. Boxer’s cymbal work is airy and effortlessly hangs with Liatsis on Guitar. The meter does not exist.

    There is no explaining how ironically calming this journey is. It’s the movie you can’t watch but inch closer to the screen. Liatsis has you on the hook with these roaring solos never loosing sight of the songs motif.

    An album favorite for the die hard rocker is “The Shwizzard.” A chunky lead and solid back beat make the track stand out gritty. Liatsis shoves the lead right in your face. The track embarks on short epics with classic rock feel.

    New York State’s theme of a “hearing aide” is unmasked by ShwizZ and their June release of Big Things. The album tunes the ears of the most complex listener and holds them to a higher standard.

  • Listen to Weezer’s “Beginning of the End (Wyld Stallyns Edit)” from Bill and Ted Face the Music soundtrack

    On August 28, we’ll get our first look at Bill S. Preston, Esq., and Ted “Theodore” Logan in nearly 30 years. Bill & Ted Face the Music finds Bill and Ted as adults, each with daughters, but the life-long friends have yet to fulfill their rock and roll destiny.

    They’ll run into a new batch of historical figures, as well as a few music legends, while they pursue the song that will set their world right and bring harmony in the universe. And every effort towards universal harmony needs a kickass soundtrack.

    bill and ted soundtrack

    Bill & Ted Face The Music, The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, is executive produced by Elliot Grainge, founder of 10K Projects. Premiering today, Weezer’s “Beginning Of The End (Wyld Stallyns Edit)” highlights the band’s characteristic SoCal rock sound and penchant for poppy melodies.

    The star-studded soundtrack features previously unreleased original songs from other notable rock acts including Mastodon, Cold War Kids, FIDLAR, Big Black Delta, and Lamb of God as well as newcomers like POORSTACY, Alec Wigdahl, and more. The album releases on all digital platforms on August 28, the same day the film will be available on demand and in select cinemas.

    Producer Grainge says of the soundtrack:

    I couldn’t be more excited to partner with Orion Pictures on their iconic Bill & Ted film franchise for 10K Projects’ first venture into the soundtrack world. Bill & Ted Face The Music is an ode to music enthusiasts around the world and taps into the Gen Z audience, a generation championed by 10K. We are delighted to have our own innovative acts Alec Wigdahl and POORSTACY featured on the soundtrack, next to some of the greatest rock acts of all time including Weezer, Mastodon and Lamb of God, bringing together artists from across generations to celebrate our shared love of music.

    – Bill & Ted Face the Music executive producer Elliot Grainge
    bill & ted face the music

    There are only two weeks to go before Bill & Ted Face the Music, and the soundtrack gives some hints as to what we can expect from the movie. Tracks by classic metal rockers Mastadon and Lamb of God are standouts, and perhaps they’ll have a cameo in the movie if they stand out on the soundtrack. The final track though, “That Which Binds Us Through Time: The Chemical, Physical and Biological Nature of Love; an Exploration of The Meaning of Meaning, Part 1” is best read in the voice of Ted “Theodore” Logan, a unique if not rambling title that might hold the key to existence as Bill & Ted know it.

    Bill & Ted Face The Music (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) tracklisting:

    1. Big Black Delta – “Lost in Time”
    2. Alec Wigdahl – “Big Red Balloon”
    3. Weezer – “Beginning Of The End (Wyld Stallyns Edit)”
    4. Cold War Kids – “Story Of Our Lives”
    5. Mastodon – “Rufus Lives”
    6. Big Black Delta – “Circuits Of Time”
    7. POORSTACY – “Darkest Night”
    8. Lamb Of God – “The Death Of Us”
    9. FIDLAR – “Breaker”
    10. Culture Wars – “Leave Me Alone”
    11. Blame My Youth – “Right Where You Belong”
    12. Wyld Stallyns (feat. Animals As Leaders, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah) – “Face the Music”
    13. Wyld Stallyns – “That Which Binds Us Through Time: The Chemical, Physical and Biological Nature of Love; an Exploration of The Meaning of Meaning, Part 1”

  • Ryan Dempsey takes a trip down Memory Lane

    Back in 2015 I took a closer look at Twiddle, who I had seen previously as a small-font band at music festivals around the Northeast. Nothing had stuck out just yet, beyond a surprise version of the “Duck Tales” theme song at The Big Up in 2010. But after seeing them in small rooms and grow to perform at The Palace in Albany and as far away as Lockn‘, my perspective of the band changed, for the better.

    The recent Roots Tour was a rousing success, where Twiddle made stops at venues that served as notable points in Twiddle’s history in Vermont. The Roots Tour – featuring archival and recently recorded streams, band interviews, plus two live streams from Higher Ground – brought out the best of the band, collectively and individually.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CDB5S_ahEx2/

    The band interviews were the hidden gem of the Roots Tour, and worth the price of admission alone. Each band member spoke individually, and later collectively, providing insight into each of the venues they performed at during the tour, and how that little corner of Vermont (of which there are many) affected Twiddle’s growth over the last 15 years, especially those important formative years.

    With three shows at Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction, VT taking place this weekend, NYS Music caught up with keyboardist Ryan Dempsey to talk about Roots Tour, how he has spent time during quarantine and where he would be had he not been a musician.

    ryan dempsey
    photo by Dave Decrescente

    Behind the keys for 15 years, Ryan Dempsey doesn’t wonder where the time has gone.

    “The time was well spent, and I really have no regrets. I’ve been having fun along the way. So sometimes it seems like a long time but other times I feel like it was just yesterday.“

    Twiddle started out at Castleton State College and almost immediately met Mihali Savoulidis and would form Twiddle. And it does surprise him how this all got started.

    The universe has a way of working itself out. I wouldn’t have imagined myself ever being a professional musician when I met Mihali. I was studying to go to L.A. and be a film director but I’m happy it worked out the way it did. I trusted Mihali’s leadership and his confidence in the fact that we would be a band one day and it would all work out.

    photo by Dave Decrescente

    The concept for Roots Tour, taking the viewer and band through the roots of Twiddle in Vermont, could have worked in a non-COVID-19 world. A tour, with exclusive tickets and chances to see the band at old haunts (The Perfect Wife, Nectar’s, and The Pickle Barrel, among others), would have been as well received as anything Twiddle has done in the last five years. But given the circumstances of no live music, the Roots Tour would be presented as a wholly online experience.

    I think it was a collective and unanimous vote between the full band that it would be a good time to bring up old footage and a bunch of material that we’ve been collecting for 15 years and releasing it in a documentary kind of style. I think it was just the right time to do it. We have been talking about it for years and we always said, “Just hold off, let’s hold off, let’s hold off,” and then, when COVID became prevalent, we thought it was just the perfect time to get down and look at all of our material we had over the years and compile it all together and see what we had. And I think it was a successful venture. 

    There was of course the nostalgia that will evoke and tap emotions in the unexpected places. For Dempsey, that place was the Eaglerock Estate, also known as the ’Twiddle House’ where Mihali, Ryan and Brook Jordan lived, wrote, rehearsed and played shows, and later met Zdenek Gubb who officially joined the band.

    Going there was very nostalgic and seeing my band there as adults and looking back and thinking back to when we were children or you know just out-in-the-world young adults and not having a clue what we were doing and scared to death on what we were doing, but always following our intuition. It was cool to go back to Eagle Rock and be with my brothers and have our own moment and go up to our rooms and have stories of years that we were there and how the music shaped itself in those early times. That was very cool. 

    Now with Roots Tour behind them, and three Drive-In shows in Vermont this weekend, Dempsey was asked what he was missing the most about playing live right now.

    I miss the gathering of people. I’m a very social person, so playing live is important for me because obviously it’s great to see fans interacting and showing their love for the music as we play on stage, but I also miss going out after and before shows talking to every fan I can, in the front or the back, and shooting the shit with them. A lot of good family with our fan base that I have come to know and learn to love over the years and I miss being able to interact with those people personally.

    photo by Dave Decrescente

    One would suspect that musicians of any ilk are spending their time in quarantine these past five months staying productive and writing songs. That is true for Dempsey as well, but with the distractions that come from not having a typical routine to fall into.

    So, my duck and my raccoon poop on me while I play so that’s affected my concentration; when I’m on the piano, I like to have one of the animals up there. But actually it hasn’t really affected it because I’ve been busy doing Cameos and we still practice with Twiddle, but it’s hard. It’s like when you work out, you get used to working out every day and then, when you stop, you kind of get out of your original routine. So I guess I’m not playing as much anymore even though I can still practice, but being able to be with Twiddle every day on the road, every day you wake up and you immediately go to soundcheck and you practice for hours. So without having that daily routine it’s kind of throwing me off. I still am trying to stay creative, but as far as practice, I should probably be a little bit more disciplined about practice.

    Now with 15 years of Twiddle under his belt, when asked to look back and give Ryan Dempsey in 2010 advice, he turned to the last five years of his life with his wife for words of wisdom.

    Watch out for that Alexandra girl, she’s coming for you. To relax a little bit more and not be so stressed out. To trust your intuition and just not listen to anyone, not family, friends or even haters – just do you and believe in your passion and your dream and not take shit from from anyone. 

    And what advice would he give his 2015 self? He thought of that Alexandra girl, simply saying “You’re about to meet the love of your life.”

    Now, with Drive-In shows this weekend in Essex, Twiddle will hold their first public performance since their Winter Tour in March. What does Dempsey expect from the show?

    “I expect us to be so nervous that we fall on our faces and make fools of ourselves. We will be so scared that we will start playing a song and we’re all gonna just forget the song! It is going to blow and the audience will say “you suck, I hate you Twiddle” and then I don’t know… I’d like to see people in bubbles… big plastic bubbles just rolling around while we play.”