Upcoming Shows

North Warren, Pescatarian At Best, Handmade Wolves, Socially Suspect

TodayMarch 31, 20238:00pm $10.00

Indie rock, indie punk, alternative emo pop

Jagged Little Pill - The Alanis Morissette Tribute, Weeze - A Tribute to Weezer

TomorrowApril 1, 20238:00pm $10 advance / $15 door

Jagged Little Pill is the go-to Alanis Morissette tribute band, nailing all her biggest and best hits. With a pounding rhythm section, rocking guitars and spot-on vocals, you will think you're at an Alanis concert.

Skerryvore

TuesdayApril 4, 20238:00pm $25.00

Over the last 16 years, Skerryvore have brought their performances to audiences across the globe, from their early days in Scottish West Coast halls and bars, to Festival crowds in USA, Canada, Australia and throughout the UK and Europe. Picking up Scottish music's 'Live Act of the Year' twice on the way -- the band's wide....

Recently Added Shows

PHUN (Phish Tribute)

FridayApril 28, 20238:00pm $10 advance / $15 door

The Midwest's best Phish Tribute Band is returning to Shank Hall! PHUN continues to deliver you the Phish experience, with their own grooves and jams that will melt faces and get you on your feet! PHUN has been blessed with the opportunity to share the music of Phish with crowds all over the Midwest for over ten years.....

Lost Orange Cat, Panalure

SaturdayMay 6, 20238:00pm

Lost Orange Cat burst onto the Milwaukee music scene in 2018. Musically featuring their original songs inspired by a broad variety of styles and genres. They are always pushing the boundaries of their creativity to find new sounds that feel familiar. The band's live performance brings the force of a locomotive led by....

Tejon Street Corner Thieves

TuesdayMay 9, 20238:00pm $15.00

Outlaw Alt-Folk group Tejon Street Corner Thieves hails from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, bringing new energy to the Bluegrass genre by mingling darker subjects and tones with depth-driven lyricism and performative musicianship. The musicians behind Tejon have been playing together since 2013, where they gained....

Sophie B. Hawkins

ThursdayMay 11, 20238:00pm $25.00

Sophie B. Hawkins burst onto the international music scene with her 1992 platinum-selling debut album, Tongues and Tails, which included the indelible hit song Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover, and earned her a Best New Artist Grammy nomination. The last three decades have brought multiple awards, sold out concerts,....

Larry McCray

TuesdayMay 16, 20238:00pm $25.00

Rust belt blues shouter and guitar slinger Larry McCray was born in 1960 in Magnolia, Ark., about 12 miles from the Louisiana line. He spent his early years on a farm as the second youngest of nine siblings. After trying his hand at saxophone in school, his older (and only) sister, Clara, introduced Larry to the guitar and....

Robert DeLong & Dreamers, Carr

WednesdayMay 24, 20238:00pm $25 | $99

War Hippies

SaturdayJune 3, 2023$20.00

War Hippies -- the country music duo and lifestyle brand from USMC and U.S. Army combat veterans Scooter Brown and Donnie Reis -- arrived on the scene in 2022 with a bang and have already garnered widespread critical acclaim for their genuine songwriting and stellar live performances. With a combined 25 years of touring....

Mo Lowda & The Humble

WednesdayAugust 2, 20238:00pm $15.00

Born out of the house show scene in Philadelphia, Mo Lowda & the Humble is an indie rock band that has since evolved into a nationally and internationally touring act. Coming off of their latest full-length release, ‘Ready Coat’ (2020), the band tours all over the country, including festivals like Firefly, Peach Fest,....

Iona Fyfe

SaturdayAugust 5, 20238:00pm $25.00

40 oz. to Freedom

SundayAugust 6, 20238:00pm $12 advance / $15 door

40oz to Freedom is a professional Sublime tribute band, and winner of the 2010 San Diego Music Award for Best Tribute Artist. 40oz has toured the entire US and Canada for more than 13 years developing one of the largest tribute band followings in the world. 40oz to Freedom was founded in SoCal, and is currently based in....

Dead Letter Office (R.E.M. Tribute)

SaturdayAugust 12, 20238:00pm $15 advance / $20 door

Dead Letter Office has dedicated themselves to faithfully reproducing the music and energy of a live R.E.M. show. Since 2014, Dead Letter Office has been thrilling audiences throughout the U.S. & Canada, providing a show that's been sorely missed since R.E.M called it quits. Dead Letter Office not only performs R.E.M.'s....

JAMCO. Comedy Series featuring Justin Hayes, Jonathan Ziegel and Jamal Harrington

SaturdayAugust 26, 20238:00pm $15 advance / $20 door

Justin Hayes is a product of the Northwest, but his comedy is worldly. With his uncanny ability to connect with a wide audience and an innate sense of humor, he is able to reach any socio-economical group. Justin took 3rd....

Soft Machine

SundayOctober 22, 20237:00pm $25.00

Alternative Concert Group Presents

Chapel Hart The Glory Days Tour

ThursdayApril 6, 20237:30pm

The Grand Theater, Wausau, WI

Get tickets

Chapel Hart The Glory Days Tour

FridayApril 7, 20237:30pm $50

The Pablo Center, Eau Claire, WI

Get tickets

Chapel Hart The Glory Days Tour

SaturdayApril 8, 20238:00pm

At the Pabst Theater, Milwaukee, WI.

Tickets on sale at pabsttheatergroup.com.

Tommy Emmanuel

SundayOctober 15, 20238:00pm

At the Pabst Theater, Milwaukee, WI.

Tickets on sale at pabsttheatergroup.com.

Loreena McKennitt

SundayNovember 5, 20237:30pm $55 | $75

At the Barrymore Theatre, Madison, WI.

Tickets on sale at barrymorelive.com or by phone at 608-241-8633 (Mon-Fri noon-5pm).

Quick Calendar

Moonchild are a LA-based multi-instrumentalists Amber Navran, Max Bryk, and Andris Mattson. In 2015, they signed to Tru Thoughts and officially released their album 'Please Rewind' on the Brighton imprint. This was greeted with an overwhelming response and the album racked up reviews in specialist music magazines: Echoes & Jazz Thing, and radio spins from Gilles Peterson (BBC 6Music), Don Letts (BBC 6Music) and Robert Elms (BBC Radio London). The album's first single "The Truth" acquired 1.5 million Spotify streams, and their second offering "Don't Wake Me" was featured as KCRW's 'Today's Top Tune'. Releasing "The Truth" (DJ Jazzy Jeff & James Poyser remix) earlier this year to great acclaim, Moonchild are set to release their new album 'Voyager' on 26th May via Tru Thoughts.

In the short space of three years, Moonchild have released two acclaimed albums, and collaborated or played live with many notable names in the soul-jazz scene including Stevie Wonder, Jill Scott, India.Arie, Leela James, The Internet, Kamasi Washington and more. Attracting international tastemaker support from the likes of Gilles Peterson (BBC 6 Music), WHUR-DC, KCRW and LA 102.3, the band have also found themselves being praised by a host of iconic artists including Jill Scott, Robert Glasper, Laura Mvula, James Poyser, Jazzy Jeff, Jose James and Tyler, The Creator.

Speaking of Stevie Wonder, in 2014 Moonchild were swept off their feet by an unimaginable offer; they were called up by DJ Kevin Nash from Stevie Wonder's radio station L.A. 102.3 KJLH and offered the chance to open for Wonder in 24 hours' time. Wonder later told the band that he had heard their music the day before and loved it so much that he ordered the radio station to invite them as performers for his House Full of Toys Benefit Concert.

Since infiltrating LA's iconic music scene, Moonchild only have positive things to say about their involvement and how it inspires them. Andris affirms that "There's so much good music coming out of LA right now, a real creative energy surrounding the city". Moonchild's sound epitomises the LA mix of intricate, progressive musicality with the classic laid-back and blissful sound with which the West Coast has been associated across the decades.

'Voyager' follows two years after their widely-praised album 'Please Rewind', marking a new level of maturity in the band's sound. Recorded in a series of sessions in a cabin at Lake Arrowhead, California, Moonchild blend their trademark style of soul and new-school jazz whilst exploring themes of relationships. "Voyager is also the name of the satellite that has music on it -- which is cool" Amber adds.

Last year the band supported The Internet and Kamasi Washington on their US tours. Since finishing the new album, the band are looking forward to announcing a string of tour dates across USA, Europe and Asia. "We feel like we progress and get better with each album and we're really excited to put this out." Andris enthuses.

Austin Antoine is a performance artist that blends music and poetry. All of his passions effortlessly mix with abilities that span from singing soulful solos to conquering an opposing rapper in a contest of improvised wit. After graduating California Institute of the Arts in the Bachelor of Fine Arts program for theater, Austin has sustained artistic success through touring performances, musical collaborations, and hosting creative workshops. His work can be seen with NBA 2k, Viacom CBS, Sofar Sounds, Guinness Book of World Records, and Buzzfeed.

He also stars in the 2021 film "Summertime", directed by Carlos López Estrada.

His latest EP The Rest is History is available on all streaming platforms.

Born in Miami, during World War II, Chris Smither grew up in New Orleans where he first started playing music as a child. The son of a Tulane University professor, he was taught the rudiments of instrumentation by his uncle on his mother's ukulele. "Uncle Howard," Smither says, "showed me that if you knew three chords, you could play a lot of the songs you heard on the radio. And if you knew four chords, you could pretty much rule the world." With that bit of knowledge under his belt, he was hooked. "I'd loved acoustic music -- specifically the blues -- ever since I first heard Lightnin' Hopkins' Blues In My Bottle album. I couldn't believe the sound Hopkins got. At first I thought it was two guys playing guitar. My style, to a degree, came out of trying to imitate that sound I heard."

In his early twenties, Smither turned his back on his anthropology studies and headed to Boston at the urging of legendary folk singer Eric von Schmidt. It was the mid-'60s and acoustic music thrived in the streets and coffeehouses there. Smither forged lifelong friendships with many musicians, including Bonnie Raitt who went on to record his songs, "Love You Like A Man" and "I Feel the Same. (Their friendship has endured as their career paths intertwined over the years.) What quickly evolved from his New Orleans and Cambridge musical experiences is his enduring, singular guitar sound -- a beat-driven finger-picking, strongly influenced by the playing of Mississippi John Hurt and Lightnin' Hopkins, layered over the ever-present backbeat of his rhythmic, tapping feet (always mic'd in performance).

Smither's first albums, I'm A Stranger, Too! (1971) and Don't It Drag On (1972) were released on Poppy Records, home of kindred spirit Townes Van Zandt. By the time Smither recorded his third album, Honeysuckle Dog with Lowell George and Dr. John helping out, United Artists had absorbed Poppy and ultimately dropped much of their roster, including Smither. Smither made his next record in 1985, when the spare It Ain't Easy on Adelphi Records marked his return to the studio.

By the early '90s, Smither's steady nationwide touring and regular release of consistently acclaimed albums cemented his reputation as one of the finest acoustic musicians in the country. His 1991 album, Another Way to Find You, was recorded live in front of an in-studio audience with no overdubs or second takes. This would be the first of two albums with Flying Fish Records. His next recording, Happier Blue, was embraced by Triple A radio and received the NAIRD (now AFIM) award as Best Folk Recording of 1993. Up On The Lowdown (1995) marked the first of a trio of albums to be recorded with producer Stephen Bruton at The Hit Shack in Austin and his first of five albums with roots label HighTone Records. Up On the Lowdown rode the crest of the newly formed Americana radio format wave and sparked considerable interest abroad. A tour of Australia with Dave Alvin and extensive solo touring in Europe led to an expanding global interest in Smither. His song, "I Am the Ride," from this album inspired the independent film, The Ride, for which Smither also composed the original score.

In early 1997 Smither released Small Revelations. It climbed the Americana and Triple A radio charts and led to concert dates with B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Nanci Griffith, and the hugely successful, original Monsters of Folk' tour with Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Dave Alvin and Tom Russell. Small Revelations also generated several film projects for Smither. Emmylou Harris recorded his song, "Slow Surprise," for the The Horse Whisperer soundtrack on MCA. And his recording of "Hold On" was used in the indie feature film Love From Ground Zero. Smither also shared insight into his guitar style and technique on two instructional DVDs, available from Homespun Video.

His CD, Drive You Home Again (1999), garnered four-stars from Rolling Stone. And with it, Smither continued to tour world-wide. Shortly after, in 2000, Smither released his one-man-tour-de-force, Live As I'll Ever Be. Recorded in-concert at various clubs and concert halls in California, Dublin, Galway, Boston, and Washington DC, it has proven to be a fan favorite, capturing Smither at what he loves to do: performing in front of an audience.

Train Home (2003) was Smither's last record for HighTone and his first with producer David Goodrich. Over a six-week period, basic tracks for Train Home were recorded in the relaxed environment of Smither's home near Boston. Working with new session musicians, the record is simultaneously sparse and assured. Bonnie Raitt graciously provided backing vocals and slide guitar on Smither's cover of Bob Dylan's "Desolation Row." And Smither's "Seems So Real" from the CD earned a Folk Alliance Award as "Song of the Year."

In 2005, jazz great Diana Krall covered "Love Me Like A Man," introducing what is now a blues standard to a whole world of jazz fans. Shortly after, Smither's song "Slow Surprise" was included in the independent film, Brother's Shadow. In addition, Smither narrated a two-CD audio book recording of "Will Rogers' Greatest Hits." Continuing to expand his creative horizon, Smither was invited to contribute an essay to Sixty Things to Do When You Turn Sixty, a 2006 collection of essays by American luminaries on reaching that milestone. In 2009, Melville House published Amplified, a book featuring 16 short stories by notable American performing songwriters. Smither's story Leroy Purcell about a touring musician's encounter with a Texas State Patrolman leads off the collection.

With the release of his 12th recording Leave The Light On (2006) on his own imprint, Mighty Albert, Smither began a new label relationship with the renowned acoustic and modern folk label, Signature Sounds. For the recording, Smither reunited with producer David Goodrich and session musicians Mike Piehl, Lou Ulrich and Anita Suhanin. As an added treat, Smither invited good friend and Grammy Award-winning multi- instrumentalist, Tim O'Brien, along with rising American roots stars, Ollabelle, to add their distinctive talents on several tracks. Smither followed this with Time Stands Still (2009), his most stripped down recording in some time, working with just two accompanists after the same trio had played a rare band performance -- a non-solo setup required in order to play a Netherlands festival.

About the recording Smither says, "We're the only three guys on this record, and most of the songs only have three parts going on. We had a freewheeling feeling at that festival gig, and we managed to make a lot of that same feeling happen in this record." In 2011 Smither put out two fan projects: a collection of live tracks from newly discovered concert recordings from the 1980s-1990s titled Lost and Found and the rollicking EP, What I Learned in School, on which Smither covered six classic rock and roll songs.

Smither followed these fan-projects with Hundred Dollar Valentine (2012), a ????? (MOJO) studio record of all Smither-penned songs. With longtime producer David "Goody" Goodrich at the helm, this collection sported Smither's trademark acoustic guitar sound and evocative sonic textures meshed with spare, brilliant songs, delivered in a bone-wise, hard-won voice.

In 2014 Smither released Still on the Levee (2014) -- a double-CD retrospective. Recorded in New Orleans at the Music Shed, this career-spanning project features fresh new takes on 24 iconic songs from his vast career and some very special guests including the legendary Allen Toussaint and Loudon Wainwright III.

The coffee table style book Chris Smither Lyrics 1966-2012 and Signature Sounds' Link of Chain -- an all-star tribute record including a stellar list of artists offering their takes on some Smither favorites including Josh Ritter, Bonnie Raitt, Loudon Wainwright III, Dave Alvin, Peter Case, Tim O'Brien, Patty Larkin, and many others were fan-favorite accompaniments to the retrospective CD .

In March 2018, Smither released his eighteenth record, Call Me Lucky (Signature Sounds/Mighty Albert) once again teaming up with producer and multi-instrumentalist David Goodrich. Also joined by Billy Conway (Morphine) and Matt Lorenz (The Suitcase Junket), Smither recorded eight new originals along with some very special and surprising covers at the Blue Rock studios in the Texas hills in June 2017.

In October 2020, More From The Levee, the followup to the 50-year career retrospective Still on the Levee, was released.

Acoustic Guitar: Smither sings about "the big things -- life, love, loss -- in a penetrating and poetic yet unpretentious way."

Paul Cebar cut his teeth musically in the coffeehouse folk scene of the mid-'70s in Milwaukee. First paying gigs took place in late '76 with an emphasis on solo recasting of small combo jump-blues and other early R&B. Upon graduation from New College in Sarasota, Florida, with a thesis addressing rhythm & blues varieties featuring a hearty emphasis on Louis Jordan and Buddy Johnson, Cebar dedicated himself to trodding the boards in earnest and spent substantial amounts of time testing the waters out New York way while exploring band dynamics with a soul and New Orleans-minded crew called the R&B Cadets back home. The Cadets ranged about from 1980 to 1986 and featured the grand original tunes of John Sieger alongside the winning assortment of B sides and obscurities that were the fruits of Cebar's research. Concurrently, he kept alive the spark of his solo work with a small group which came to be known as The Milwaukeeans. Throughout the early 80s, this combo featured Rip Tenor on tenor sax, Alan Anderson on upright bass, Robyn Pluer on vocals and Paul on acoustic guitar and vocals, and drew most of its repertoire from '30s, '40s and '50s jazz and R&B.

With the demise of the Cadets in mid-1986, Cebar and Pluer, Tenor and Anderson welcomed drummer Randy Baugher and early Cadet saxophonist/vocalist Juli Wood to a new dance-floor fortified version of The Milwaukeeans which reflected Paul's ongoing and deepening fascination with African, Latin American and Caribbean rhythm & blues analogues. Rambling about the Midwest for the remainder of the '80s with occasional forays east and south, The Milwaukeeans began to rely more and more upon the original material that began to emerge in the aftermath of years of interpolation and grappling with favorites.

The first studio album, "That Unhinged Thing," which was culled from a number of years of recording, finally saw the light of day in 1993. It sparked a wider itinerary in the touring department, with initial forays to the west coast and Canada, as well as returns to the east and south. Following the release of the record and six months of touring, founding member and estimable vocalist Robyn Pluer left the band to attend to le private life.

Rebuffing the command of the record label, Shanachie, that he add a female vocalist, Cebar and cohorts ventured forth into the storm without a label umbrella for what turned into two years of enthusiastic touring with much attendant hand-wringing. Finally, they landed on the shores of a little label that could (for awhile), Don't Records, a Milwaukee-based, heart-driven indie. In the summer of '95, they set about making "Upstroke for the Downfolk," while upon its release in the fall of that year began to make inroads at adult album alternative radio outlets nationwide. The single "Didn't Leave Me No Ladder" ushered the fellows to a new level of visibility and the vans rolled on.

A six-song EP, "I Can't Dance For You," followed in the spring of '96 and was superseded by "The Get-Go," a full-length recording released in the fall of '97. Radio support was more sporadic, though the fan corps kept growing. But halfway through '98, Don't's distributor declared bankruptcy and its inventory was impounded. With its merchandise out of reach, Don't found it increasingly difficult and ultimately impossible to carry on.

In 2001, 15 1/2 years into the dance band incarnation of The Milwaukeeans, the fellows presented, "Suchamuch",a long-requested live album recorded at Martyr's in Chicago and continued to offer their multifarious wares to all and sundry. The present day incarnation of Tomorrow Sound took shape with the arrival (8 years back) of bassist, Mike Fredrickson, joining 22 year veterans Reggie Bordeaux on drums and Bob Jennings on saxophones and keyboards.

The peripatetic pageant continues unabated with renewed focus on "the song " in the context of the increasingly forceful rhythmic exploration that is at the heart of Cebar's quest. Stripping back to 4 pieces has opened up space for the understated command of Bob Jennings' keyboard and saxophonic thinking. Field Marshall Cebar's pithy guitar musing comes to the fore building upon the muscular rhythmic lattice laid by Reggie and Mike. With an ever-deepening appreciation for the funk and the polyglot rhythmic conception that is their trademark, Paul Cebar Tomorrow Sound said More! More! More! in 2004. Way to thrive in 2005! Dipped their wicks in 2006, Partied like '11 in 2007, and have their wild heads on straight in 2008. Fine fine Fine into 2009! funked it again and again and again and again in '10, made like 2107 in '11, and have packed up the worry they shelved in '12, incorporated the added vim they were flirtin' with in '13 and are full-on sportin' A-team in '18

Presently spreading the word with their gangling, headlong and insouciant record,"FINE RUDE THING", Paul Cebar Tomorrow Sound want and need you to come on out and help them get down.

Many musicians have graced the stage with Paul in the course of the aforementioned wander. He'd like to thank them all again for the loving spirit they brought to bear on the music. A partial list would include: Rip Tenor, Alan Anderson, Robin Pluer, Guy Hoffman, Juli Wood, Randy Baugher, Peter Roller, Tony Jarvis, Greg Tardy, Mac Perkins, Paul Scher, Michael Kashou, Michael Walls, Ethan Bender,Patrick Patterson, Romero Beverly and the present day crew, Bob Jennings, Reggie Bordeaux,and Mike Fredrickson. Viva le Musicianers!!!!!!!

If you Google "Capelton Hill," you won't find much. The search engine will correct and redirect you: did you mean Mapleton Hill? Capelton Hill is a place that somehow still exists outside the grasp of algorithms and internet surveillance, in the rolling green foothills around North Hatley, Quebec. Without people who know the place, it basically wouldn't exist. But those who know it won't know it forever; their times will end, and their knowledge of and relationship to Capelton Hill will end as well.

This includes the members of Canadian band Stars, whose connections to North Hatley trace back to when vocalist Torquil Campbell's grandfather built homes in the area in the late 1800s. For bandmates Campbell, Amy Millan, Chris Seligman, Evan Cranley, and Patty McGee, Capelton Hill is a place where things don't change. The same scrappy chairs sit on the porch year after year, the same ancient stove haunts the kitchen, and old wood boards grow pale under the sun.

But around these things, people grow and age: the years march on, unforgiving, and remind us that like our parents and grandparents, we too will no longer exist here. The impossibly vivid explosions of emotion we feel for these places, which seem like some cosmic, universal force, will disappear.

The new record from Stars is about this place, these relationships, the inevitable decay of them all, and the joy and life that happens in between. It is called From Capelton Hill, a collection of 12 tracks that all, at their root, tie back to North Hatley.

"I guess what From Capelton Hill means to me is from memory, from the past, from a place that seems permanent but isn't, and I think that that sense of impermanence is a big part of what's in the record: realizing that things don't last forever, and that even the things that I thought would be there forever aren't going to be," says Campbell. "Capelton Hill is a place where things in my mind, in my life, they've never changed. And yet it will go."

These hard-won revelations aren't solely the stuff of creeping dread; whether by nature or necessity, they're also coloured on the record with a peaceful acceptance, like watching a world-ending tidal wave cresting and marveling at its magnitude. More than ever, the music on From Capelton Hill feels like a direct channeling of Stars' decades-long pursuit: "This band has always been us trying to navigate what it means to be inside a life that is going to end," says Millan. "And we're getting closer."

The record's cover art tells this story, too. (It marks the first occasion that the members of Stars have been on the cover of a release.) The photo shows the band, dressed to the nines and stern like in an early 1900s family portrait, waist-deep in North Hatley's Lac Massawippi in the pouring rain. The image evinces that which From Capelton Hill will tell listeners: this is Stars at their most courageous and naked.

"What I love about the album," Millan continues, "is that we're chasing the truth of the matter rather than chasing a hook. We're just telling the truth."

The music for From Capelton Hill was composed between Seligman and Cranley over the first half of 2020, and after a first attempt to assemble the record from afar with mixed results, the band convened in Montreal to record with Marcus Paquin and Jace Lasek at Mixart Studios, Lasek's Breakglass Studio, and the band's own space, Zoomer. McGee says that after months of trying to work remotely, once they gathered in a room together, everything clicked--first as friends, then as a working band.

"We're a bunch of fuckin' jokers that get together and play music together, and the emotional spirit of that keeps us going," McGee says. "We always want to be an electronic band, and we always end up being a human band. Those two things always meet."

Campbell agrees: the band's greatest work isn't their recorded output, but the relationships they've built with one another. "Just being together for 20 years is a piece of art in and of itself," he says.

From Capelton Hill begins with tinny dialogue from the 1964 film Seance On A Wet Afternoon : "Your guardian angel has put candles on both your knees; one on each knee." Synths dance across a fading sunset sky before Campbell's voice and McGee's drums swell toward the chorus, buoyed by keys and guitar: "Tell me what the future will be/Take my hands and practice palmistry," Campbell sings.

Lead single "Pretenders" follows, a triumphant, romantic, Thelma and Louise-level commitment to seeing things through, even as the walls close in: "We laid our bets, we made our beds on staying young forever," Millan and Campbell sing in harmony on the soaring indie-anthem chorus. Millan wrote the song's lyrics as a "love letter" to Campbell and the band's origins. "When we wrote all those songs 20 years ago, we were young," says Millan. "That's what being in a band is: you're putting down your chips on feeling young and being young. It doesn't necessarily work out because time does its thing."

"Obviously, we lost that bet," says Campbell. "But we are young in the moment of singing it. That's the incredible thing about music: you are young in the moment of singing that line, even if you're 80."

Elsewhere, "That Girl" is a gentle synth lament, with Millan mourning the person she was, which time has taken from her. "My body is changing so much, your face changes with age, the people that I look at across the stage from me look different," says Millan. "There's already something you've lost just in time passing."

The record closes on the tender, acoustic "Snowy Owl," with Millan and Campbell swapping verses and twinning each other on the choruses. It might be the final chapter in the long, winding book that the two have been writing for decades, about two characters that continue to try to be together but keep destroying one another. Campbell says the song is the epilogue to their stories. "I don't know what comes after," he says. "I just make records about other people and in the end, they turn out to be about me."

In the end, From Capelton Hill is about a group of people who have spent more than 20 years together, and who have now started to face the awful, necessary calculus that each human eventually must do: when will all of this end? The lyrics of "Capelton Hill," in its bittersweet, end-of-season farewell to the ramshackle house in North Hatley, offer a useful equation: "Close up the house for one more year, wave to the lake and drive away/That feeling in your chest, it isn't fear, it's just the passing of the day."

When Alexa Dirks started describing her latest album as Begonia, Powder Blue, she turns to vivid imagery: her baby blanket, the airiness of clouds on a summer day, chlorine-filled water in a hotel pool, circa-1970s Elvis Presley wearing an ill-fitting jumpsuit, her collection of faded denim jackets. "Powder Blue is more of an emotion," explains the Winnipeg, Canada, native. "The name of this album needed to be something that encompasses all of the feelings that these songs give me when they are put together. When I listen to them as a unit, they send me back to the words, the color."

Fittingly, Powder Blue's music feels timeless and classic, as well as eclectic. Trip-hop beats and propulsive grooves pulse throughout the album, shadowing Dirks' stunning voice; she alternates between a dusky croon and an expressive, belting delivery. The album nods to vintage soul ("I'm Not Dying," "Crying") sunny R&B ("Bleeding Heart") and soaring balladry ("Chasing Every Sunrise"). Yet the album is firmly in the realm of contemporary music: Standout "The Only One" is modern, keyboard-polished pop that features Dirks' most powerful vocal performance on the album.

Begonia has exhibited such power since emerging into the Canadian music scene on the strength of her critically acclaimed 2017 EP Lady In Mind and her 2019 debut full-length album, Fear. The latter was nominated for a JUNO Award for Adult Alternative Album Of The Year and was longlisted for The Polaris Music Prize. Songs from the album were also heard in numerous productions on Netflix & Oprah Winfrey Network, and NPR named Begonia as one of 10 Artists You Need to Know.

Fear is a deeply personal album bursting with ruminations on solitude, self-doubt, anxiety, and panic, all bundled up in that serene feeling that comes with an artist fully embracing their past and present self. Although Powder Blue's lyrics do mention specific situations--"NYE 2013" describes vivid heartbreak at a memorable party--the album wrestles with life's thornier moments in more evocative ways.

"Crying" espouses embracing defiance in the face of harsh criticism and pigeonholing, while the narrator of "I'm Not Dying" has finally realized they'll be okay after a breakup. On the flipside is "Married By Elvis," where a couple embraces unconventionality, and "Chasing Every Sunrise," which describes a tender and vulnerable (if imperfect) relationship.

With Powder Blue, Dirks is also trying to let go of needing concrete lyrical definition. "I still feel like I have to be like, 'Let me explain to you exactly where I was coming from,' even though I don't always want to do that," she says. "I don't want to tell people how they should feel or what they should think when they listen to the music."

Powder Blue emerged during a challenging time for Dirks, as she was navigating emotional ups and downs. "Some of it was written when I'm feeling lower than I ever have in my life," she confesses. "And then some of it was written through all these different waves of taking care of myself--and then not taking care of myself."

Despite the turmoil from which it emerged, Powder Blue represents Dirks feeling settled by coming to terms with her past and present. "The last record I wrote felt a bit more frantic," she says. "And it's so interesting that this was all written during the time of pandemic, amidst a sense of loss and longing, but it doesn't feel as frantic to me. Even the name Powder Blue, it feels like a bit calmer even though there are still moments of release. There is a sense of calm in the unknown."

Marty Ross is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who is best known for his role in the TV series the New Monkees, as a member of the power pop band The Wigs and as a singer in 2018 through 2022 with the legendary west coast session players The Wrecking Crew.

Ross was born in Eugene, Oregon. His mother Margaret, born in England, was a folk singer, his father Gordon was a professor of history at Rockford College, now known as Rockford University. Ross became proficient at the tenor banjo by his 5th birthday and learned to play the guitar at 6 years old. He was influenced by his mother's folk harmonies and his Uncle Bob Fisher's (his mom's brother) sense of rock and roll. Fisher quit the band he was in to move from England to live with the Ross family in the late 1960s in Rockford, Illinois. The band he quit would go on to become the popular rock band Mott The Hoople. Ross was schooled in Rockford and during his father's sabbatical Ross went to high school in London, United Kingdom, Barcelona, Spain then returned to finish schooling in Rockford. It was in Spain that Ross learned flamenco guitar which eventually became part of his style of play. Following high school graduation, he enrolled at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois majoring in music but before the end of his freshman year moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to begin his music career. In Milwaukee he joined the power pop band The Wigs. The band's album File Under Pop Vocal was a regional hit. He later auditioned for and was offered a part in the pop rock music group New Monkees and in the television series of the same name.

As a member of The Wigs, Ross appeared in the motion picture My Chauffeur and sang on camera the song "Fire!" which he wrote. Jim Cushinery of The Wigs wrote seven songs for the film making the band's contribution to the film a total of eight songs. The soundtrack to My Chauffeur was released in June 2013. Ross also performed a song for the film Murphy's Law, produced three songs and performed a cover of the Deep Purple classic "Hush" for the movie "Stateside" and the opening theme for Kounterfeit. Ross wrote and produced songs for the feature films "Mod Squad","The Runner" and many others. He can also be heard singing in the Showtime movie "Noriega: Gods Favorite ". Ross teamed with Randy Gerston to produce for the movie Blair Witch Project the single mix of " The Order Of Death" by Public Image Limited. Ross co-wrote a song with composer Billy Sullivan for the documentary film Platoon: Brothers in Arms. In 2019 Ross co-wrote a song with composer Billy Sullivan for the film The Truth About Marriage.

Ross appeared in the 1987 syndicated musical situation comedy television series New Monkees produced by Columbia Pictures Television. The producers selected him for one of the four leading roles after auditioning over 5,000 people. The series was produced by Bob Rafelson, Burt Scheneider and Steve Blauner of the original TV show The Monkees. After the show was cancelled Ross rejoined Jim Cushinery and Bobby Tews from The Wigs to form the band 57 Braves. He eventually shifted his career from a live performer to one of a music composer for film and TV. He provided songs for over 300 episodes of television including, but not limited to traditional music from different and varied musical cultures throughout the world. These instrumentals proved to be useful in many shows including Nash Bridges, Soldier Of Fortune, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, The Ricki Lake Show, CBS Sports, Fame Fortune and Romance, Home Videos of The Stars and numerous TV movies.

Southbound will bring forth their special blend of Southern Rock that Southeast Wisconsin has enjoyed for more than 30 years. Southbound specializes in classic, blues, and southern rock with a jam-based groove. With a reputation of producing authentic versions of the best rock music in history, Southbound maintains the integrity of music they cover while adding a touch of their own originality and improvisation. Southbound has enjoyed much success in the Midwest performing in front of large audiences and high-profile concerts. Southbound has built an extraordinary following which appeals to a wide range of music lovers who appreciate great rock and roll.

"Southbound is like the house band for the entire city of Milwaukee, playing practically every week at bars, clubs, and festivals, as well as traveling throughout the state. Though the group packs its sets with crowd-pleasing covers, Southbound recorded a CD of original compositions. So, in addition to works by the Allman Brothers (whose "Southbound" inspired this band's name), the Grateful Dead, and the Rolling Stones, fans can now shout for Southbound's own material..." -- The Onion.

"The knock on 'cover bands' - groups that play songs written by others - is that lack of original material (whatever that means) automatically assigns them second-class status. The sentiment ignores the fact that much of today's 'post modern,' 'Information Age' music -- sample based electronic and hip-hop, for example - is culled, with varying degrees of legality, from previously recorded or written material. It also fails to recognize that some cover bands please crowds by combining accessible material with top-notch musicianship, including improvisation within cover songs. The members of the local band Southbound, who play tunes by the Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers, Doors and others, aren't exactly losing sleep over the cover band label." -- Milwaukee Magazine

A Milwaukee institution, The Sociables live show draws a devoted following and has an uncanny ability to relate to those with a love of music. The Sociables have opened for Molly Hatchet, REO Speedwagon, Foghat, Marshall Tucker Band, George Thorogood, Kansas, the Outlaws, and many more. The Sociables have been nominated for the WAMI "Top Cover Rock Band" category numerous times. "The group strives to be a Southern Rock powerhouse and has, in turn, gained the respect of the artists who made this music popular," from the VanZant Brothers. Bobby Ingham & Phil McCormick from Molly Hatchet stated, "If it wasn't for bands like the Sociables our music may not be in such demand in the Milwaukee area." Doug Grey from The Marshall Tucker Band has been a friend for a long time and has also provided positive comments on the band. Most of the national acts always wonder why The Sociables are not out nationally.

"I try to take things I love and use them in a new way," said triple Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Peter Case of his 16th solo album Doctor Moan. Case brings his considerable songwriting ability to an 11-song collection, largely performed on piano, including his first solo recorded instrumental. Released by Sunset Blvd Records on March 31, Case's piano-based songs are emotionally, sonically and stylistically rich.

As a founding member of the early punk era trio The Nerves, in 1977 Case toured the nation sharing bills with the Ramones, Mink DeVille, Pere Ubu, and Devo. The Nerves single "Hanging on the Telephone," was covered by Blondie. In 1979, Case formed the Plimsouls, a record-breaking live act in California, recording albums for Planet/Elektra and Geffen. Their independent single, "A Million Miles Away," entered the Billboard charts and remains a garage rock standard, performed by bands around the world. The band performed in the cult classic film Valley Girl and the Nerves and Plimsouls timeless teenage rock 'n' roll continues to appeal to fans of each new generation.

After the Plimsouls, Case rediscovered his musical roots on his self-titled solo debut, produced by T Bone Burnett. The New York Times declared Peter Case the best album of 1986. It earned a five-star Rolling Stone review and a Grammy nomination. As one of the first songwriters of his generation to turn from rock music toward an acoustic sound, Case also helped usher in what became known as Americana music.

There are singer-songwriters, and there are troubadours. Singer-songwriters are sensitive, polished souls, sharing their journal entries with the world, whereas troubadours do their best just to stay out of jail. In the wake of Ben de la Cour's astonishing new record, Shadow Land, you can add his name to the top of the list of younger troubadours to whom this ever-so-occasionally poisoned chalice is being passed.

Shadow Land shimmers. It's both terrifying and soothing, suffused with honesty, craft and a rare soul-baring fearlessness but with enough surprises to keep the listener guessing. It gets down and dirty with electric guitar but also features Ben's diffident fingerpicking in quieter moments. Ultimately, it is a darkly beautiful meditation on what it means to be human. Ben's voice renders raw emotion with authority as he recounts tales of suspicious characters, lost love, murder, bank robbers, suicide and mental illness against a backdrop of a dark and haunted America.

Ben de la Cour's music has been featured on SiriusXM Outlaw Country, BBC Radio, Paste Magazine and NPR while receiving high praise from American Songwriter, Maverick Magazine, No Depression,Twangville and Dusted Magazine amongst others. He is a former Kerrville New Folk Winner and currently spends over a hundred days a year on the road touring the U.S, Canada, Europe and Australia.

It is a true, and nowadays rare, musician who writes lyrics so vulnerable and authentic that an audience is irrevocably captured by the powerful experience of sharing the journey. An album that is essentially an autobiographical account of personal mistakes, change, and growth, offers listeners a chance to reflect on their own experiences and connect with another's story.

With Griffin House's upcoming album, So On And So Forth, it is clear the artist digs deep and offers up his narrative after much reflection. House is now a young family man and artist who is choosing sobriety and celebrating the path to his success, through songs which share his perspective on how people remember the past with rose-colored glasses, how we grow up and realize what we deeply need, and how we must find happiness in ourselves in the present.

"The record has a lot to do with recognizing the ego in one's self and letting it die. It can feel like your whole identity is being wiped away, and you don't even know who you are anymore. For the person singing these songs, holding on to one's own individuality in order to remain special or important in the world has started to became far less important than being content with being a good, decent, and loving person. But old habits die hard," adds House.

The project was tracked last summer at Lakehouse Recording Studios, in Asbury Park, New Jersey. House's ties to Asbury Park go all the back to 2004, when he was invited to tour with Patti Scialfa. His first show in the boardwalk town was opening a show for Scialfa at the Paramount Theatre. It was there that Griffin met her husband, Bruce Springsteen, and all the wonderful characters in their crew and band. Those memories and experiences made returning to Asbury Park over a decade later to record So On And So Forth feel like a full circle moment in his career.

House recorded the essentially live project with no click track and very little overdubbing. Lakehouse owner, Jon Leidersdorff, helped assemble the band. Prior to walking into the studio, House had never met the musicians and had no idea how the songs would turn out. He adds, "The experience ended up being one of the most fun and positive of my career. The process was stress-free and freeing." The resulting album reflects this journey -- a leap of faith with triumphant results.

Recording and performing for over a decade, House has toured with Ron Sexsmith, Patti Scialfa, Josh Ritter, John Mellencamp, Mat Kearney, and The Cranberries. He received early critical acclaim on the CBS Sunday Morning, and his songs have since been featured in countless films and television shows such as One Tree Hill, Army Wives, and Brothers and Sisters. He has also appeared on Late Night with Craig Ferguson. Most recently, CNN Newsroom invited House to perform "Paris Calling," from So On and So Forth, live on the air, and the song has been picked up by radio prior to being serviced. House has released ten albums and continues to headline his own national tours. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his wife Jane and their two daughters.

"Patience is a virtue." Those words are tattooed across Coleman Williams' right arm, forever reminding the alternative-country singer/songwriter of the benefits of taking one's time.

The lesson wasn't always so clear. As the great-grandson of Hank Williams Sr., grandson of Hank Williams Jr., and only son of Hank 3, Coleman spent years waging an internal battle with the expectations thrust upon him by his own lineage. He represented the fourth generation of country music's most legendary family -- hence his nickname, "IV" -- and the pressure to launch his own career was enormous. Although Coleman would eventually make his mark with Southern Circus -- the genre-bending debut from his band, IV and the Strange Band, combining southern storytelling and country textures with 100-watt guitar amps and DIY attitude -- he needed to break free first and discover his own musical approach along the way. [read more="Read more" less="Read less"]

"Before I even knew who I was, people were already expecting things of me," he says. "It felt like there was zero freedom of expression for someone with the last name 'Williams.' Singing about a bloodline didn't appeal to me, though. I wasn't interested in fitting into a shadow that already existed. What did appeal to me was the underground scene in Nashville."

Coleman became a fierce champion of Nashville's house-show circuit as a teenager, drawn in by the scene's supportive spirit and DIY ethics. This was a community that valued principles over pedigrees. A community that offered artists of all stripes a place to express themselves. From punk shows to heavy metal gigs to electronic experiments, Coleman loved it all... and for the first time in his life, he felt like he belonged somewhere.

"I was a weird kid who grew up in an unusual situation,"he says. "When I began going to house shows in Nashville, I felt like I'd found a family of people whom nobody else wanted -- kids who were different and misunderstood -- and during these two-hour shows, everyone belonged, everyone felt accepted, and everyone had a place. The experience taught me to trust my instincts. It gave me a new sense of independence. I have to believe that's why Hank Williams made music, too; he could see what it did for people."

Inspired to blaze his own trail, Coleman left town after high school and traveled across America, developing musical tastes that were as diverse as the country itself. Over the decade that followed, he became a history buff, a poet, a metalworker, and an educator. Back home in Nashville, he continued his lifelong practice of writing songs, developing the unique sound -- a blend of the amplified and the acoustic, laced with fiddle one minute and heavy guitars the next -- that would later fill Southern Circus. Coleman took his time. He wanted the sound to be right. Patience is a virtue, after all.

Local producer Jason Dietz became a fan of Coleman's songs, prompting the two to begin collaborating. Guitarist David Talley joined them, as did banjo player, Daniel Mason and drummer Carson Kehrer. All five musicians (along with fiddler Laura Beth Jewell and steel player, John Judkins who both appear on the record) came from different musical backgrounds, but they worked together to build something new, using Coleman's acoustic tunes as the blueprint for a southern sound that was soothing one minute and strident the next. An album began taking shape. Just shy of his thirtieth birthday, Coleman Williams made his long-awaited debut with"Son of Sin," a single that was released in 2021 by IV and the Strange Band.

"I like to say, 'What doesn't kill you makes you stranger,'" he explains. "I love strangeness and I love my Strange Band. The most genuine people in this world are those who allow themselves to be the weirdos they truly are, because once you repress yourself, that's when you become someone you're not."

Coleman channeled this love of the weird and self-certainty into Southern Circus which bounces between autobiographical songs and story-driven tracks inspired by Coleman's historical interests. On "Inbred," he turns the true-life tale of the Fugates -- a Kentucky family whose inbred history attracted the attention and anger of religious zealots during the 1800s -- into a song about Christian hypocrisy. "Malice" is a swaggering country song based upon a newspaper article about a married couple who each decided to poison the other on the same morning, while "Drinking Sad"pays tribute to the outlaw country bar songs that soundtracked Coleman's childhood. Appropriately, modern-day outlaw Jaime Wyatt appears on the hauntingly elegant "Broken Pieces," contributing vocals to a song about, as Coleman puts it, "the idea someone can't truly love you unless they know how fucked up you really are."

Perhaps nothing encapsulates Coleman Williams' story better than "Stand Your Ground," a seize-the-day anthem that advises its listener to roll with the world's punches and refuse to remain knocked down. The song opens with a leisurely lope, only to segue into a faster section propelled by train beats, banjo arpeggios, and Coleman's anthemic melodies. There are flashes of country twang and rock & roll grit throughout, fused together by a man who's not afraid to blur the dividing line between those camps. Southern Circus offers a peak into Coleman's personal world, and under this Big Top, all southern sounds -- and all people -- are welcome.

"PT Barnum always said, 'The clowns are the heart of the circus,'" Coleman notes. "The circus is all about expression -- about being yourself and finding a unique family, just like the house-show scene -- and clowns embody that spirit. They're comfortable with being themselves, and they're trying to give you a pure, emotional catharsis. I love that. I feel like I'm the clown of this southern circus."

Southern Circus finds a balance between spectacle and spirit, determination and deliverance, melodies and muscle. It's the sound of a man honoring his family tree while planting his own garden. To make it, Coleman had to leave home, explore sounds that stretched beyond his bloodline's catalog, and challenge the world's expectations that he'd join family business. Southern Circus is his homecoming: an album that finds him not falling into a legacy, but earning it.

In 2004 The Goddamn Gallows began their rough and tumble voyage and haven't looked in the review mirror since. Leaving six studio albums in their path, they have been reinventing their music with every record. Spit from the heart of America's Rust Belt, arising from a night of flophouse violence. Drifting across the states, they cemented their sound in Portland, OR and later in Los Angeles, CA, where they lived in abandoned buildings, squatter camps, storage units and shoebox apartments. In 2007, they left everything behind and spent the next four years living out of whatever vehicle would get them to the next town. [read more="Read more" less="Read less"]

Building upon their original sound of twanged-out, punk rock "gutterbilly" (Life of Sin 2004 and Gutterbillyblues 2007), they began picking up stray musicians along the way and adding to their sound; washboard, accordion, mandolin and banjo (Ghost of th' Rails 2009 and 7 Devils 2011) creating a sound referred to as "hobocore", "gypsy-punk" or "americana-punk", while never being stuck in any one sound. Enter 2018 and The Goddamn Gallows have reinvented themselves once again with The Trial. From rockabilly, psychobilly and punk rock, to bluegrass and metal, The Trial infuses disparate sounds into a new strange recipe of seamless genre bending profundities. Chock full of impromptu antics of the shocking variety and hauntingly eclectic instrumentation, The Goddamn Gallows have made legions of fans with their legendary, live shows. The Goddamn Gallows, takes their progression of mixing punk rock, bluegrass, psychobilly, and metal to a whole new level! The Goddamn Gallows have now partnered with Sailor's Grave Records to help deliver the next chapter of their legacy to the world. The Trial begins now.

Brothers Joshua and Jeremiah Zimmerman and their band The Silent Comedy know trouble. Facing that trouble head on permeates their work. Rough-hewn, expansive American rock & roll with dirt under its nails and whiskey on its breath, the music of The Silent Comedy channels the iron spine of the blues, Honky-Tonk sweat, and punk swagger into a euphoric declaration that when trouble rears its worrisome head it's time to crack knuckles, lock arms, and lift our voices high.

The brothers spent their formative years traveling the world with missionary parents before settling in California. In search of catharsis, the teens found solace in songwriting and stage lights. The young band proved capable of raucous shows and word spread. Years of touring followed, performing with Dave Matthews Band, Queens of the Stone Age, Mumford and Sons, Arctic Monkeys, and Vampire Weekend, and festival plays at Bonnaroo, Wakarusa, Under The Big Sky, Summer Meltdown and more.

The band recorded and self-released a series of albums including Sunset Stables (LP), The Silent Comedy (EP), Common Faults (LP) and Cruelty & Clemency (EP). Studio collaborations with Kris Kristofferson and members of Dave Matthews Band followed. Still, the brothers weren't satisfied. They needed to capture the magic of their live show. They found the answer in Grammy-nominated producer Chris "Frenchie" Smith (...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Jet, The Darkness). The resulting sessions led to a body of work that includes the EP Friends Divide and LP Enemies Multiply.

The brothers channeled a time of conflict into Enemies Multiply. Born of a rough patch in the Zimmerman's lives, it was too personal, too raw. The project was shelved. As the United States entered a period of elevated tensions and discord in 2016, the band decided to revisit the album and release it on their own "I realized that the feeling of this type of era in history is what we wrote this music for." Joshua recalls.

Near the end of recording Enemies Multiply Joshua found himself struggling with an acute mental health crisis. After a tour of Europe, the band took a hiatus. Joshua returned to visual storytelling, filming and directing content for television including material for the series Vikings and Wild Crime. Jeremiah channeled his talent for songwriting and production into scoring and sound design for television and podcasts (including breakout Stephen King project Strawberry Spring).

This time away from the band has sparked a creative renaissance. After six years spent on opposite coasts the brothers find themselves both living in Nashville, TN. Collaboration on film opened new artistic doors. "We are writing together in a different way now" explains Joshua. "The guard rails have been taken off a bit."

As was the case with Enemies Multiply, the churn of contemporary reality has driven The Silent Comedy to action. While their lyrics are often focused on the darker side of humanity, they also bring catharsis and comfort to people who find themselves in difficult times. Heeding the call, The Silent Comedy is ready once again to bring their medicine to the masses.

Fittingly, the band's first release in years is a diesel-fueled, anthemic reinterpretation of the Fleetwood Mac classic "The Chain". Recorded at the end of the Enemies Multiply sessions, there is a raw urgency to it that is unique among their recordings; Joshua's mental health crisis peaked during vocal tracking. "Fleetwood Mac was in a period of turmoil when they recorded the original," explains Joshua. "this seems like a fitting tribute in a strange way."

The road these brothers have wandered has been fraught, and not without peril. Yet, the music of The Silent Comedy has always served as a source of comfort in the face of uncertainty, chaos, and despair. "If our music continues to have that effect on anyone at all, then we will be here, making more of it" says Joshua. "Dark songs for dark days."

Stars in their native Australia and cult heroes around the world, the Hoodoo Gurus are a band who blend their passion for '60s and '70s rock & roll with a delight for the joys of pop culture -- vintage exploitation cinema, television comedies, dance crazes, and roadside attractions, among other things. Their songs were usually rooted in classic garage rock, surf, and AM Pop formulas, but with the punch of power pop (especially on 1985's Mars Needs Guitars) and the crunchy guitars of hard rock (especially prominent on 1989's Magnum Cum Louder and 2004's Mach Schau), while the lyrics shifted between sincere contemplations of love and heartache and witty celebrations of all that was cool and trashy. The excellence of their material and the joyous ferocity of their performances won them a loyal audience that kept them in the game even after four decades together, when they released 2022's Chariot of the Gods.

Singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter Dave Faulkner began putting together the band after he left the Perth proto-punk outfit the Manikins. He soon teamed up with three other musicians on the Perth underground scene -- guitarists Kimble Rendall (formerly of the XL Capris) and Roddy Radalj (who had played with the Scientists) and drummer James Baker (ex-Victims). After comparing notes at a New Year's Eve party, they began working on material and adopted the name Le Hoodoo Gurus. The three-guitar lineup wasted little time, and by October 1982, they had put out their first single, "Leilani," through the Australian indie label Phantom Records. Not long after the record came out, they dropped the "Le" from their name, and the song did well enough to earn the group a few appearances on Australian TV. However, Rendall dropped out and went on to a successful career as a director in film and television. Radalj left in solidarity with Rendall, and to fill out the lineup they brought aboard bassist Clyde Bramley, who played with the Sydney group the Hitmen. Bramley was sharing a flat with Brad Shepherd, the former guitarist with Fun Things, and Bramley soon brought Shepherd into the group.

The Hoodoo Gurus had built enough of a buzz that the Australian label Big Time signed them up, and their first album, Stoneage Romeos (named after a Three Stooges short), was issued in March 1984. The LP went gold in Australia on the strength of the singles "I Want You Back" and "My Girl," and A&M Records licensed it for American release the following September, though their re-sequenced edition was given a drab new cover that did little to attract the eye. Within a few months of Stoneage Romeos appearing in shops, drummer James Baker was fired from the Gurus, and Mark Kingsmill took his place behind the kit. August 1985 brought their second album, Mars Needs Guitars! It peaked on the Australian charts at number five, and would go on to earn triple-platinum status there. In America, Elektra took up the group's contract, and thanks to extensive touring (including several dates opening for the Bangles), the album charted at a respectable number 140 in the States. For 1987's Blow Your Cool!, the group opted for a more polished production and a bit less lyrical eccentricity; the LP charted high in Australia (going all the way to number two) and moved more units in America than Mars Needs Guitars!, while members of the Bangles and the Dream Syndicate pitched in on backing vocals. After the touring cycle for Blow Your Cool! was completed, Clyde Bramley left the band, and Rick Grossman became their new bassist. Unhappy with their record contract, the Hoodoo Gurus filed a lawsuit to win their freedom, which kept them off the road for most of 1988, and it wasn't until mid-1989 that their next album appeared as part of an international deal with BMG. Magnum Cum Louder was produced by the band themselves, and boasted a tougher and more straightforward sound than Blow Your Cool! It went platinum at home, and topped out at number 101 in the U.S. The opening tune, "Come Anytime," would later become the theme song for the Australian TV series Thank God You're Here.

In 1991, the Hoodoo Gurus delivered the album Kinky, which included the hit singles "Miss Freelove '69" and "1000 Miles Away," and earned them another platinum award in Australia. A pair of compilations were issued in 1992; Electric Soup gathered their biggest hits and went triple platinum, while Gorilla Biscuit was devoted to B-sides and rare tracks. Crank was issued in 1994, and was followed by several rounds of international touring, including a number of dates in Brazil, where they had developed a sizable audience. The Hoodoo Gurus parted ways with BMG and signed with Mushroom Records for 1996's Blue Cave, while Zoo Entertainment released it in the United States. An arm injury suffered by Mark Kingsmill forced the band to postpone their touring in support of the LP, and their run of Australian dates didn't end until December 1996. A month later, Dave Faulkner broke the news that the Hoodoo Gurus were breaking up at the end of 1997. After another successful tour of Brazil, the band booked an extensive number of farewell dates that kept them occupied until January 1998. The final tour coincided with another pair of collections from the Gurus' back catalog: Electric Chair was devoted to their more raucous rock & roll numbers, and Armchair Gurus featured ballads and love songs. After the tour was completed, a live album was released, 1998's Bite the Bullet, that featured material from the final shows.

The four members of the group each pursued solo projects, while a career-spanning two disc anthology, Ampology, came out in 2000. By September 2001, Faulkner, Shepherd, Grossman, and Shepherd got the itch to play shows again, and re-formed under the name the Persian Rugs, where they indulged their 1960s rock influences. The Persian Rugs would issue an album in 2003, Turkish Delight, and even contributed a new version of "Be My Guru" to a Hoodoo Gurus tribute album, Stoneage Cameos. The Gurus reunited under their own name in 2003 to record a version of "What's My Scene," rewritten as "What's My Team," for the National Rugby League, with the band's share of the proceeds going to cancer charities. Their eighth studio album, Mach Schau, was released in March 2004; it was produced by Kim Salmon of the Scientists and the Beasts of Bourbon. In 2007, the Australian Recording Industry Association inducted the Hoodoo Gurus into their Hall of Fame, and they did several rounds of international touring, including an Australian "Clash of the Titans" tour where they shared the bill with Radio Birdman and the Stems.

In 2009 the Hoodoo Gurus struck a deal with Sony Music Australia, which resulted in their ninth full-length studio album, 2010's Purity of Essence. In 2012, with their 30th anniversary in sight, the Gurus released another career-spanning compilation, Gold Watch: 20 Golden Greats, which combined 19 favorites from their library along with one new tune. 2014's Gravy Train was a four-song EP that presented fresh recordings of three songs that had to be left off Stoneage Romeos in 1984, as well as a remake of "Leilani." The recordings featured all current and former members of the group, each playing on the songs suitable for their time of membership. The Hoodoo Gurus remained active as a live act over the next 18 years, staging major shows in Australia and occasionally touring elsewhere. The band scheduled a rare North American tour for the fall of 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic led to the shows being rescheduled twice before they were postponed indefinitely. However, they chose to use their time off profitably, and completed their first full-length album since 2010. Featuring 14 songs on CD and with three additional tracks on vinyl, Chariot of the Gods was released in March 2022; the Gurus performed the songs in full in a live streamed concert on March 10, with Australian tours planned for later in the year.

Arts Fishing Club makes their musical berth in Nashville, TN and travels primarily throughout the midwest and east coast. Their sound blends modern indie-folk (Gregory Alan Isakov, The Head and the Heart, and Jose Gonzales) with classic 90s jam bands (Dave Matthews Band, Phish, OAR) to create a unique take on acoustic rock that will make you dance one moment and search your soul the next. In addition to the above influences, AFC is often compared to Edward Sharpe and Ben Harper.

After completing a 1,600 mile 60+ show walking tour from Maine to Nashville as one of The Walking Guys (Google us!), Christopher Kessenich (guitar/vox) has been focusing on piecing together the members of Arts Fishing Club. He met Matt Siffert (bass) in spring 2016 at songwriters campfire. The two took to each others' songwriting and began meeting to workshop songs. Then in late July, Kessenich was introduced to Peter Eddins (Keys) who landed in Nashville after completion of his Movie Scoring and Composition degree from Berkelee School of Music. The three began playing shows together and everything clicked.

On AFC's debut EP:The music drips with genuine reflection on classic stylings, including a bit of blues, pop, and certainly what we might call classic rock. If you're looking for a nice "kick back and enjoy" album, you can't go wrong with Arts Fishing Club." - Greg Jones / Ear To The Ground Music

The group has gotten busy testing their sound on the road. Playing notable venues: The 40 Watt, Smith's Olde Bar, Philly Folk Fest, and Newport Folk Festival.

Arts Fishing Club is excited to be heading into the studio in Fall of 2017 to record their debut album as a group. Be on the lookout for more exciting things coming your way!

Arts Fishing Club - The name?

Arts Fishing Club is an allegory to the pursuit of artistry itself.

At the end of the day, we believe all artists are just throwing out lines into some intangible sea of creativity. There are no rules in art, so no one really has any idea what they're doing. But if you cast the right line at the right time and place, art can unlock a deeper wisdom that is hidden inside us in some way, shape, or form.

We paint, we draw, we film, we act, we write, we skate, and we play music. These are all just different lines we cast out to tap into the creative wisdom inside of us. Of course the more you fish, the "better" fisherman you become (just as the more you Art the better Art-er you become) but at the end of the day, if the fish aren't hungry, you ain't catching anything. Nobody can control whether the fish are biting and nobody can control Art. But we can relentlessly cast out another line with hope in our hearts and the belief that there is value in the search whether or not you come up empty handed... And that search is what we plan to do.

Fishing is about being in the boat with the people we love, exploring nature, and pursuing adventure. Landing a big catch is a consequence of relentless pursuit.

That approach to fishing is how we approach music. It's our search to make sense of this world. To try to explain the questions we have that we cannot answer with words alone. It's an adventure, it's personal, it's social, it's frustrating, and it's joyous, but most of all... its about being in the boat.

Rooted in Midwest punk rock...

...Bad Year formed in 2019 and calls Milwaukee home. Inspired by heartbreak, angst, and self-reformation, Bad Year injects the scene with anthemic chorus hooks and brutal optimism. In the spirit of promoting positive aspects of empathy and mental health, their cathartic melodies are known for freely inspiring listeners with a sense of mutual understanding and hope. The group put a fresh, more decorated feel on musical incarnations and lived experiences of the past.

Bad Year's groundbreaking debut EP "Handshakes'' received immediate acclaim from listeners and an unmediated Wisconsin Area Music Industry (WAMI) Award nomination while the title track's music video gained over 100k views within its first month. The trio refrained from allowing a pandemic to slow their upbeat tempo with their one-off single "Blackout". Keeping the momentum and expanding boundaries of incendiary music composition, "Blackout" was Bad Year's first production with highly sought-after producer, Nick Rad. Ending 2020 on a high note, "A Moment In Time" EP, was released and creates acoustic landscapes of sound that evoke feelings, energies, and memories.

The recent feeling of shared musical experiences has been sorely missed. With the music community recovering from feeling displaced and longing for connection together, these desires will surely be met by this upcoming release. Born from lived experience and forged from the pandemic, the recent singles Killing Me, Paranoid Failure, and The End have exceeded listeners' expectations. The spankin' new EP and singles like Charcoal Black are no exception. We hope our songs help listeners get through hard times because let's admit it, life sucks sometimes.

Expanding our intellectual horizons, shaping relationships, and allowing the lyrical composition process to elegantly represent our experiences are among the endless activities that make us feel alive. Bad Year is not only an outlet for us to express and voice our true emotions that helps heal and improve our lives, but it's a setting where we freely aim our practice to give back to society and help others by making music that others can identify with. As musicians, we hope that our fans experience a sample of the passion and healing that we've experienced through our influences through hard times. We are blessed to continue to have abundant opportunities granted to us and are honored to work together with organizations that promote our shared beliefs. Our goals consist of continuing to share our music in hopes of working together to help spread a love of music, raise mental health awareness, and offer harm reduction and prevention methods to the public. Bad Year is determined to continue spreading love and positivity through our music and friendships.

What makes our band stand out amongst others? We're the only band that's resurrecting a lost art. Pop-Punk has returned on the back of a STALLION named Doubter. If we're not allowed to finish our work, this music will be lost to the withering passage of time; scattered by forces of entropy as our world is destroyed and made new. To us this is music, but to some distant relative of mankind, it will be understood as the idea upon which society rests.

This idea...is Doubter.

Live with us
Laugh with us
Love with us
LEARN with us
and escape the shackling concept of what you THINK music is.
There's only one sure thing in this crazy mixed up world we're living in.... and that's Doubter.

The q is silent.

Hailing from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, tiqmmy combine their influences from emo, pop-punk, hip-hop, and alt-rock to make genre blended songs full of honest lyrics and personal songwriting.

The Keystones are an alternative rock group based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Born in Waukesha, the very same place as the electric guitar, the members of this 3-piece outfit pay homage to the biggest names in 2000s modern rock -- Arctic Monkeys, The Killers, The Strokes, Wallows and Catfish and the Bottlemen -- all while carving out a distinct, indie-alternative stadium sound that brings something entirely new to the genre. With a blend of Brit-indie-grunge and new-age alternative tracks, the band is prepared to do more than just play shows that put audiences on their feet -- they want to make the town that created the guitar as we know it proud.

Alt-electro alchemist and Glassnote recording artist, Robert DeLong, has racked up 151 Million+ Streams on Spotify, more than 28 million views on Youtube and 61 million streams on Pandora. His 2018 collaboration with K.Flay, "Favorite Color is Blue," went Top 10 at Alternative radio and has been streamed over 21 million times worldwide. His single "Global Concepts" went platinum in Australia. He's performed on the TV shows, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Late Night with David Letterman and Conan, as well as elite festivals across the globe including Coachella, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Outside Lands, Bottle Rock, Firefly, Groovin' the Moo (Australia), Splendour in the Grass (Australia), Lowlands (Holland) and Reading and Leeds (UK). His latest album, Walk like Me (released in Nov. 2021), was the outcome of a period of extreme personal evolution for DeLong, where he took time to re-explore who he is musically, spiritually, interpersonally, and lyrically and the result was a stunning album detailing the journey of self-discovery. This album features collaborations with Canadian electro-pop phenom LIGHTS on "Did It to Myself," and two songs with the super-talented artist, ASHE on "Better In College" and "Rest of My Life." These singles were met with global praise including placement on Spotify's New Music Friday in 12 countries as well as key placements on Apple, Amazon and YouTube.

From clubs and arenas to festivals, including Lollapalooza, Bumbershoot, Firefly, Reading and Leeds, Los Angeles-via-Brooklyn band DREAMERS (Nick Wold and Nelson) have shared stages with the likes of X Ambassadors, The 1975, Bleachers, Atlas Genius, Catfish and The Bottlemen, and Weezer while garnering coverage from FADER, Entertainment Weekly and Paste, among others, and performing on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. In 2016, the band released their debut full-length album This Album Does Not Exist, featuring the top 10 Alternative radio hit, the electro-sprinkled pop gem "Sweet Disaster." Three other songs also charted nationally: the '90s throwback "Drugs," the crooning "Wolves (You Got Me)," and the soulful, brisk power-pop of their single "Painkiller." In 2019 released LAUNCH FLY LAND, their second full-length album that spawned the top 10 alternative radio hit "Die Happy." In 2020, the band released two more alternative radio hits: Heat Seeker" ft. grandson, which was featured in Spotify's Rock This Presents..Best Rock Songs of 2020, and the dark-pop love song "True Crime" ft. DeathByRomy. In 2021, the band came back with yet another collaboration: DREAMERS teamed up with legendary rapper Big Boi and UPSAHL for "Palm Reader," off their EP of the same name, which also got the remix treatment by legendary rock band All Time Low. In 2022, the band released infectiously catchy "Black Confetti," and "Body Language" ft. Kiiara as well as the summer banger "Robbery" with Sueco. DREAMERS closed out the year with the two-track release "Internet Junkie" and "Betting On A Good Time" and two successful tours: the No More Bad Days tour with The Score followed by the "Cameras & Coastlines" tour with Smallpools.

Robert DeLong & Dreamers VIP Experience includes:

One general admission ticket
Early entry into the venue
Invite to an intimate soundcheck with Robert DeLong & Dreamers
Q&A session with Robert DeLong & Dreamers
Limited Edition Tour Poster; autographed by Robert DeLong and Dreamers
Crowd-free merchandise shopping
Official Soundcheck laminate
Limited availability

Winner of Scots Singer of the Year 2018, and Musician of the Year 2021 - the first singer to do so - at the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards, Aberdeenshire folksinger Iona Fyfe has become one of Scotland's finest young ballad singers, and has been described as "one of the best Scotland has to offer." (Global-Music.de). She has toured throughout the UK, Poland, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Canada and Australia, and performed with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra as part of the World Premiere of Disney Pixar's Brave in Concert at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. In 2018, Iona performed at Interceltique Festival De Lorient where she was described as "a Scottish folksinger, magical and charismatic" (Rolling Stone, France). She was nominated for "One to Watch" and "Best Live Performance" at the Sunday Herald Scottish Culture Awards 2018, was a finalist in the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year for 2017 and 2021, and won the 2017 Molloy Award at Birmingham Irish Trad Fest.

Iona's debut album Away From My Window was held to critical acclaim and received nationwide airplay on programmes such as BBC Radio 2 The Folk Show with Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio Scotland's Travelling Folk, Take The Floor and BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal. "Away From My Window" was premiered at a sold-out Celtic Connections performance featuring a larger musical ensemble and live on-stage sampling of source singers.

A follow up, released in 2019, Dark Turn of Mind is Iona's first EP entirely in English, and features six ballads and songs found in both Appalachia and Aberdeenshire and has been described as "a new interpretation to the country genre" -- Maverick. In 2020, Iona was invited to be an Official International Showcase Artist at Folk Alliance International held in New Orleans, resulting in an invitation to perform for the Library of Congress's Homegrown concert series.

Iona graduated from The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with a first-class honours degree in Traditional Music, and holds an FLCM Diploma (Fellow of London College of Music, equivalent to a Masters) in Traditional Voice from London College of Music. She is a fierce advocate for the official recognition of the Scots Language and is a fine exponent of the Doric dialect, winning the title of Performer of the Year at the Scots Language Awards 2020. Iona also sits on several respected folk and university organizational boards, and has letters attesting to her worth as a Scottish cultural music ambassador through her music.

Outside of the music, Iona has campaigned for and gotten music giant Spotify to add Scots officially to their language list, and in her advocacy for music and culture has recently won the 2022 Equality Award from the Scottish Trades Union Congress, for equality within the music industry.

Globally acclaimed by critics and fans alike for his unique acoustic and electric ?ngerstyle guitar playing, Adrian Legg masterfully blends diverse musical styles, in?uences and inspirations to create a distinctive sound all his own. With multiple awards and accolades spanning four decades, Legg has been heralded as a "guitarist of astonishing virtuosity, (whose) imagination and melodic invention seem unbounded," (Q magazine); "ridiculously talented," (Music Week) and "simply the best acoustic guitar player I've ever heard."(guitar icon Joe Satriani). Setting the stage for his international success in the decades to follow, Legg was named as Acoustic Guitarist of the Decade by the UK's Guitarist Magazine(1984-94), and Best Acoustic Fingerstylist in Guitar Player Magazine's Readers' Poll for four years in a row. (1993-96).

But there's even more to Adrian Legg's draw as an engaging, one-of-a-kind performer. Described by Audio Magazine as a "kind of cross between Robert Fripp and Garrison Keillor," Legg is more fully characterized as a "genuine entertainer who excels at not only painting pictures, if not frescoes, and telling stories with music-- but also wittily regaling his audiences with tales from his life and travels and his cogent and often oblique yet thought-provoking observations on a spectrum of topics. It's all part of his dedication to making his performances a fullblooded emotional experience."

Over his career, Legg has released a dozen or more recordings of his original compositions, which are consistently described as "thrilling, engaging, emotionally compelling and evocative." Legg encapsulates his own music by saying, "I'm a collision between European classicism and the American guitar."

Loyal fans around the globe enthusiastically appreciate Legg's witty, entertaining stories, often shared in between songs onstage and on his live albums. As noted by popular BBC radio personality Andy Kershaw, "Quite simply, there is no one else like him," citing Legg's "dazzling technique and equally large dollops of spirit, humor, passion, eclecticism and spontaneity."

For Legg, the essence of his creativity is in live performance."Playing live is the whole point," he stresses."Everyone makes a journey, an effort; we all come together -- me, the audience,the people who run the venue -- to share this wonderful, universal, human emotional interaction. This is where music lives; it has a huge social value which I think is very important."

When it comes to musical technique, Legg plays ?ngerstyle guitar, mixing an alternating-bass style with harmonics, banjo-peg retuning and single or double string bending. Often, he plays a piece entirely in arpeggios (similar to a classical guitar style) and extensively uses altered tunings and capos to create his signature sound.

In addition to his well-honed gifts as a performer, Legg is an innovator in guitar design and ampli?cation technology, an instructor, photographer, writer, author, and an at-large commentator for National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" which still regularly uses many of his varied guitar interpretations of its theme music. So it's no wonder that What's Up magazine hails London-born Legg as "the greatest British import since Newcastle Brown Ale."

Since their arrival on the music scene in the first wave of 1960s psychedelia, the name Soft Machine has become synonymous with musical experimentation, instrumental virtuosity, and inspired creativity all animated by a truly adventurous, progressive spirit. Although the personnel may have changed over the years, the commitment of those playing in Soft Machine today has remained consistent.

Some of the very brightest stars in the British jazz firmament have served in the ranks of this revered musical institution. Robert Wyatt, Mike Ratledge, Elton Dean, Hugh Hopper, Karl Jenkins, John Marshall, Roy Babbington, Allan Holdsworth, John Etheridge, Theo Travis, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen, Andy Summers, Jack Bruce, Gary Husband, and many others, have all focussed their own unique musicality to help shape the band's sound and personality.

Just like those earlier configurations, since they began recording and working live in 2004 as Soft Machine Legacy and the arrival of Theo Travis in 2006, the current lineup continues to defy easy categorization For Theo Travis, there's a rich combination of elements that combine to form what he believes to be Soft Machine's appeal. "I like the freedom, I like the variety of colors, the band improvisation. The fact that it has such a strong catalogue of music going back over 50 years from which we dip into and play. With a lot of jazz stuff, you do it and people come up and say 'good gig' or whatever, but it's not like it means something in the same way as a band that has history and a cultural significance in the way that Soft Machine has. For me, it's a suitable combination of rock, jazz, improv, melody, risk-taking, textures, and experimental looping. It's pretty much all the things I like to play in."

Their latest album, Other Doors, sees them move seamlessly between hardcore improvisation, pop-tinged ebullience, muscular rock, and visceral jazz along with shimmering electronica and ambient overtones. The album also signifies another change within the Softs' roster, marking the first recording to feature new bassist Fred Baker, who had guested with the band on occasion dating back to 2008 but actually took over permanent live duties from Roy Babbington in 2021. Baker, a superb musician with connections to the whole of the extended Canterbury family tree that includes a long-established duo with Phil Miller and the band In Cahoots, has enjoyed touring with Soft Machine. "We recently played a large theatre in Istanbul and it was sold out. There were lots of young people and they were coming up after the gig wanting things signed which was fantastic." Alongside the new compositions which Baker enjoys, is Soft Machine's impressive back catalogue which is featured through their live shows. Giving people an opportunity to hear these compositions in a live setting is important, he believes. "My big thing with all this music is I see it like in a way that people used to look at, say classical music or early music. . . it's keeping the music alive and in the present, enabling people to revisit music that they might only have heard on record. I'm so glad to be part of it."

The release of Other Doors in 2023 is also the end of an era as the last studio session with the legendary John Marshall, who first joined the group in 1972 and at the age of 81 has decided to retire. Marshall's place has been taken by another good friend of the band, drummer and composer Asaf Sirkis. Lauded by Robert Wyatt who says of Sirkis, "there's nothing he can't do when he puts his mind to it," Asaf had previously played with Soft Machine when Marshall was unable to tour due to ill health. However, a fan of the group since he first heard Softs' 1975 album, Bundles, featuring Allan Holdsworth, the music of the group has been incredibly influential on his whole outlook and career. "It's very exciting for me especially because of my history. Obviously, I'm a relative latecomer compared to the others in Soft Machine but it's the music I grew up listening to and not just Soft Machine, but the music of all the various people that have played in the band over the years. So, it's really exciting, like the closing of a big, big circle for me."

Marshall's departure from recording and performing now leaves John Etheridge, who joined the group in 1975, as the last surviving member of the group with roots in Soft Machine's 1970s heyday. A highly respected player, Etheridge has performed in a variety of settings across his long and distinguished career but, he says Soft Machine feels like his spiritual home. "I definitely feel when I pick up the guitar and play under the banner of Soft Machine, I feel different to any of my other gigs. It's my favorite of all things I do by far. When I play with the Soft Machine, that is when I really feel like I'm contacting the player I want to be."

Whilst the primary focus is on new work and improvisation their ability to call up almost any part of the back catalogue is something all members relish. The latest album, Other Doors, includes Joy Of A Toy, which was first heard on 1968's debut, The Soft Machine. This much-loved number, written by Kevin Ayers, has been included in the band's recent live set for a while now. Putting it on the album seemed very natural, says Etheridge. "Of course, it's long before my time and it wasn't something I knew but it's a great piece. Fred Baker transcribed the original with Kevin Ayers' charming bass playing. it's got a sort of nice bounce about it. . . As a group, we are always, looking for variety, not for its own sake but to cover a broader territory. So, to be playing the second-ever Soft Machine single alongside brand-new compositions is something that's a really good approach. There's a degree of eccentricity about that's very important to Soft Machine."

This is Soft Machine - a living, breathing music that is as vital and relevant today as it ever was. Both long-time fans and new converts alike can take heart in the knowledge that the Soft Machine family tree -- with its deep roots in the musical revolution of the '60s - continues to sprout healthy new limbs well into the new century, showing no signs of slowing. The legacy is in very good hands indeed. In 2018 Soft Machine released the album 'Hidden Details' which reached the Number 1 slot in the Amazon.co.uk Jazz Fusion chart. It also reached Number 1 for 8 weeks in the prestigious progressive radio chart from Philadelphia USA 'Gagliarchives' with Tom Gagliardi. Following the 50 date, 50th Anniversary World Tour, Soft Machine released a live album at the prestigious Los Angeles club the Baked Potato. - 'Live at the Baked Potato' was released in 2020 to great acclaim.

All shows 21+

Check the schedule for more detailed information or subscribe to our

RSS feed