Upcoming Concerts

With an extensive and amazing track record of unique and imaginative performances featuringhis curious instrument and copious amounts of originality, Mike Silverman aka That1Guy has set himself apart as a true one-of-a-kind talent that rivals any other artist currently in the entertainment industry. Averaging 150-200 shows a year all over North America and Canada, he has been a consistent favorite at such festivals as: Wakarusa, Electric Forest, Big Day out, All Good, Bella, High Sierra, Summer Meltdown, Montreal Jazz Festival, and many more. He was also the ʻTap Water Awardʼ winner at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for best musical act. His legendary collaboration and multiple tours with Buckethead as The Frankenstein Brothers has further cemented his virtuoso story as a creative visionary as well.
His innovation continues to soar with the announcement of another tour kicking off in January 2015. Along with his pioneering main instrument, The Magic Pipe, a monstrosity of metal, strings, and electronics, facilitates the dynamic live creation of music and magic in ways only That1Guy can conjure, expect to see magic as well now integrated into the already clever performance. With this addition of incorporating magic seamlessly into his live shows, he has legitimately achieved an all inclusive audio/visual performance unlike anything experienced before. “So much of my music has miraculous qualities to it because itʼs hard to tell whatʼs going on. There are lots of slights of hand and sonic misdirection. It feels like I was meant to do magic”.
Silvermanʼs backstory is very similar to many musicians that have come before him. He grew up a self proclaimed music geek, soaked in the influence of his jazz musician father, and enrolled in San Francisco Conservatory of Music before joining the local jazz scene himself as a sought-after percussive bassist. This is where the similarities end, though, and where That1Guy truly began. “In my case, being a bass player, I just felt very restricted by the instrument itself,” he says. “Iʼve always wanted to sound different and have my own sound. I was headed that way on the bass, but for me to fully realize what I was hearing in my head sonically I was going to have to do it my way”. His influential and innovative double bass style eventually evolved into what we see today as That1Guy and ʻThe Magic Pipeʼ.
As his story continues to develop, Billboard has famously noted, “In the case of Mike Silvermanʼs slamming, futuristic funk act… the normal rules of biology just donʼt apply.”

Language is definitely not suitable for all ages because of Kim.

The Wonder Years are a band & they are a band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania & they came to life in 2005 & they write songs & those songs are sometimes about people they love & those songs are sometimes about people you might have loved & those songs are sometimes about a city that could be the city you live in or a neighborhood that feels like it could be your neighborhood & they put those songs on albums & they put those songs on The Upsides in 2010 & they put those songs on Suburbia I've Given You All and Now I'm Nothing in 2011 & on The Greatest Generation in 2013 & on No Closer to Heaven in 2015 & those albums were loved by critics & even more loved by fans & their shows are awash with a genuine emotional energy that only they can pull out of a room & The Wonder Years are a band made up of old friends & they play rock & roll music & they play it like they mean it & they have played it in a lot of places & in front of a lot of people & they have played it in dive bars & arenas & outside with the whole sky bowing & they have played it on five continents & they have played it in thirty countries & they are still counting & Sister Cities is their new album & it is an album about how all of our distance might not be so wide after all & it was written with the world on fire & all of the songs sound like they are trying to build you a bridge from somewhere bad to somewhere better & The Wonder Years are a band & they are also bridge builders.
-Hanif Abdurraqib

An exhilarating blast of blues, soul and funk, Music!Music!Music! marks the recorded debut of the musical partnership between guitarist Charlie Hunter and vocalist Lucy Woodward.

The duo first performed together in January 2018, when Woodward — fresh off supporting her fourth solo album, 2016’s Til They Bang on the Door — joined forces with Hunter as a last minute fill-in on a tour he’d originally booked with Mexican singer-songwriter Silvana Estrada (whose visa application had been denied by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security). Bonded by their shared love of blues, Hunter and Woodward quickly constructed a setlist of favorite songs and hit the road. Within less than a week of playing shows together, they realized that they’d hit upon something very special, indeed.

Recorded in November 2018 at Stephen Lee Price’s studio in High Point, NC, with longtime Hunter collaborator Derrek Phillips on the drums, Music!Music!Music! features eleven radically reworked covers of songs by artists ranging from Blind Willie Johnson and Bessie Smith to Nina Simone and Terence Trent D’Arby. Soulful, spacious and deliciously in the pocket, Music!Music!Music! showcases the dazzling interplay between Hunter’s funky guitar and Woodward’s powerful voice, while also reflecting the spontaneity and good vibes of the duo’s live performances.

Hunter and Woodward will return to the road this spring to take Music!Music!Music! to the people. The tour for the album will stretch over much of 2019, with the duo going to Europe and Japan as well as all over North America.

Opus One Comedy Presents Some of Pittsburgh's Finest Comedians with Anne Casper, Vanessa St. Clair, Brandon Schell, Holly Price, James Pelps, Deric Brown & Hosted by Cassi Bruno

NEW YORK, N.Y. — “I made this album because I needed a pick-me-up from the blues that’s all around us,” Willie Nile says of his new album Children of Paradise, out on July 27th on the artist's own River House label through Virtual Label. “The music always lifts my spirits, and that’s what these songs do for me and it’s why I wrote them. Hopefully they can lift others’ spirits as well.”

With 12 bracing new originals and an immediate sound that reflects the artist’s deep affinity for rock ’n’ roll’s gritty roots, Children of Paradise ranks with Nile’s most distinctive and resonant work. Co-produced by Nile and Grammy-winner and longtime collaborator Stewart Lerman (Elvis Costello/Patti Smith/Norah Jones), the album features such timely compositions as “Seeds of a Revolution,” “All Dressed Up and No Place to Go,” “Don’t,” "Earth Blues,” and “Getting’ Ugly Out There.” The heartfelt “Lookin’ for Someone” was co-written with longtime friend Andrew Dorff, a seasoned songwriting pro who wrote country hits for the likes of Blake Shelton, Tim McGraw, Dierks Bentley and Kenny Chesney. Dorff died unexpectedly shortly after the song was written, and Nile has dedicated Children of Paradise to him.

With Nile on acoustic and electric guitars and piano, the record features Nile’s longstanding live band: guitarist Matt Hogan, bassist Johnny Pisano, and drummer Jon Weber. The sessions also featured renowned guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Steuart Smith (Eagles/Rosanne Cash/Rodney Crowell) and in-demand keyboardist Andy Burton (John Mayer/Rufus Wainwright/Ian Hunter).

Nile’s enthusiasm for Children of Paradise is infectious — and impressive, considering how many records he’s made. “It’s one of my personal favorites for sure,” he states. “I thought from the time I started putting this album together that it was going to be something special. It’s full of fire and passion and spirit, and it feels like real life to me. The songs come out of the box roaring and rocking, yet there are also songs of intimacy and tenderness. It’s got all the power and promise of what I love best about rock ’n ’ roll. It’s heartfelt, pissed off, in love, on fire and out of its mind all at the same time. A perfect recipe for a good party and a great album.”

The haunting photographic portraits that grace the album’s cover and booklet, Nile explains, “are of people in my Greenwich Village neighborhood, by the great Italian photographer Cristina Arrigoni. Some are homeless, some are not. They are on the outside fringes of society but they’re all the children of paradise, as are all of us. Cristina Arrigoni brings out a dignity in them that is beautiful, deep and moving.”

The photographs convey the same emotional urgency that’s contained in the album’s title track, a song he wrote with Martin Briley and recorded years ago. It was inspired by the great 1943 Marcel Carné film Children of Paradise, which takes place in Paris on the Boulevard of Dreams. Nile explains, “It's always been one of my favorite songs, and I started playing it again with my band in the past year. There’s a theme of redemption and salvation in it that always appealed to me. What I always loved most about rock ’n’ roll was that it offered light and a sense of hope in an often dark and difficult world, and that still holds true for me to this day. The song reflects that, and it also seemed relevant to the overall themes on this album, so I decided to re-record it.”

The album's topical leanings are further reflected on the ironically playful “Getting’ Ugly Out There.” “That was my reaction to the ugliness around the world that’s on TV 24 hours a day,” Niles notes, adding, “It’s so utterly disheartening to people of good will everywhere, and there comes a time to stand up and fight back. Writing these songs was my way of doing that. There are plenty of decent people everywhere, but with all the lies and distortions told by so many in power it gets confusing and it’s hard to know who to believe and which end is up. But I believe in the basic goodness of most people, and that's where these songs come from.”


About Willie…
Nile's gem-filled catalog encompasses blazing rock ’n’ roll, thoughtful folk-rock, intimate acoustic balladry and even an album of Bob Dylan covers. And while it’s hard to think of many recording artists who are doing some of their best work this far into their careers, Nile continues to seek out new creative challenges and conquer new musical territory. He’s amassed an enthusiastic international fan base along the way that includes such admirers as Bruce Springsteen, with whom he's guested onstage on several occasions, and Pete Townshend, who personally requested him as the opening act on the Who’s historic 1980 U.S. tour. The list of avowed Nile fans also includes Bono, Lou Reed, Paul Simon, Ian Hunter, Graham Parker, Jim Jarmusch, Little Steven and Lucinda Williams, who once remarked, “Willie Nile is a great artist. If there was any justice in this world, I'd be opening up for him instead of him for me.”

That kind of positive feedback, along with the loyalty of his fans, helps to keep Nile going. With more rounds of domestic and international touring planned and a feature documentary film about Nile in the works, he’s looking forward to taking his new material on the road.

“Venues will have to have the fire department on hand when we come to town because we’re planning on burning every place down when we play,” he says. “I refuse to let these suckers kill my buzz. I want to bring some positive energy to the party. It’s all well and good to raise some hell when there's good cause, but at the end of the day I believe in the restorative power and potential in music to bring things to another level. I want to bring some hope to the party, and hopefully some beauty, along with the fire and brimstone.”

About Willie…
Nile's gem-filled catalog encompasses blazing rock ’n’ roll, thoughtful folk-rock, intimate acoustic balladry and even an album of Bob Dylan covers. And while it’s hard to think of many recording artists who are doing some of their best work this far into their careers, Nile continues to seek out new creative challenges and conquer new musical territory. He’s amassed an enthusiastic international fan base along the way that includes such admirers as Bruce Springsteen, with whom he's guested onstage on several occasions, and Pete Townshend, who personally requested him as the opening act on the Who’s historic 1980 U.S. tour. The list of avowed Nile fans also includes Bono, Lou Reed, Paul Simon, Ian Hunter, Graham Parker, Jim Jarmusch, Little Steven and Lucinda Williams, who once remarked, “Willie Nile is a great artist. If there was any justice in this world, I'd be opening up for him instead of him for me.”

That kind of positive feedback, along with the loyalty of his fans, helps to keep Nile going. With more rounds of domestic and international touring planned and a feature documentary film about Nile in the works, he’s looking forward to taking his new material on the road.

“Venues will have to have the fire department on hand when we come to town because we’re planning on burning every place down when we play,” he says. “I refuse to let these suckers kill my buzz. I want to bring some positive energy to the party. It’s all well and good to raise some hell when there's good cause, but at the end of the day I believe in the restorative power and potential in music to bring things to another level. I want to bring some hope to the party, and hopefully some beauty, along with the fire and brimstone.”

The experiential music of City of the Sun is the sound you didn’t know you were missing. New York City’s powerhouse trio flip the perception of instrumental music, attracting a whole new generation to the genre.

Formed in 2011, City of the Sun features guitarists John Pita, Avi Snow, and percussionist Zach Para. The band’s sound has an array of influences including indie rock, American folk, flamenco, and blues; it’s been called worldly, cinematic, a mix between Rodrigo y Gabriela and Explosions in the Sky.

COS has since been established as significant players in the post-rock sphere. They’ve sold out New York’s top indie venues Brooklyn Steel, Irving Plaza, Bowery Ballroom and Gramercy Theater; toured with Peter Bjorn & John, G.Love, STS9, and Thievery Corporation; were featured emerging artists at Panorama NYC, Billboard’s Hot 100, Firefly, Bottle Rock Napa music festivals; and scored “The C Word” documentary soundtrack (directed by Meghan O’Hara and narrated by Morgan Freeman).

After completing two European tours including major sold-out shows in Athens, Greece, the band released UNTITLED EP. Lead track “Perfect Instance” has gained 18 million Spotify streams to date, contributing to over 70 million plays on the platform overall.

Elephant Wrecking Ball is an instrumental, electronic, trombone-led power trio that successfully weaves a variety of influences from jazz, hip hop, electro and the avant-garde. Coupling a grounded sense of discipline with exuberant musical exploration, they are dedicated to making music that is unlike any other, constantly striving for a memorable, new sound.

Comprised of Scott Flynn on the trombone, Dan Africano on Bass, and Neal “Fro!” Evans on the drums, the three musicians have an extensive list of musical credentials, having performed and recorded with the likes of John Brown’s Body, Dopapod, Turkuaz, Pretty Lights, Ghost Light, Big Daddy Kane, Odesza, Break Science, and many others.

This show has been postponed to April 8. All tickets purchased will be honored for the new date, or can be returned to your point of purchase for a refund.

If you were to trace the sonic contour of Velvet Negroni’s debut album, NEON BROWN (out 30th August 2019 on 4AD), you might end up with something resembling a map to his island of one. It’s a singular place, with the squeak and thrum of guitar strings looped over drum machine beats accented by steely marimbas, all creating a pocket for one of the most authentic and original artistic voices ever committed to tape.



You follow his voice as it rhymes in double time, or hiccups and la-las through a break, or croons from a room down the hall, as it unfolds into another story of lost love, or another joke about lost drugs, as it tries to make sense of a life spent in the (sometimes harrowing) pursuit of communion. On NEON BROWN, Velvet Negroni is a griot relaying the life and times of his own island—we’re listening to him attempt to make emotional contact with the rest of us.



Turns out what sounds like a lonely island is in fact the city of Minneapolis. Velvet Negroni grew up in an outer suburb of the Twin Cities as Jeremy Nutzman, a black kid adopted into a white evangelical Christian family. His fundamentalist missionary of a mother drove him to virtuosity, both as a classically trained concert pianist and a competitive figure skater, but he had to climb out his bedroom window to play guitar in his first band. When he finally made it out of the church and into Minneapolis’ music community, he acted out, becoming a full on enfant terrible. Before he was Velvet Negroni, he performed under a schizophrenic rotation of various aliases, consciously trying to freak out the city’s over-conscious backpacker rap scene. He spent years getting kicked out of clubs, living in squatter’s apartments and practice spaces, crashing on couches on cold three season porches, hustling to get by, whether selling his own ink drawings or someone else’s dime bags. Through his extended delinquency he became the coolest dude on the scene: He developed an inimitable fashion of derelict chic, and always found a place to hang, even if he had to literally sing for his supper.



As the tumult and momentum grew, in 2016 Nutzman finally landed on a persona that he felt he could be proud of, getting as close as he could to a version of himself that he could really be. It was in a fancy cocktail bar in Austin, Texas that he hatched this last iteration, a more evolved, more lived in, yet still somewhat droll persona, Velvet Negroni. And through his musical talent and his voice, he inevitably made connections, later that year collaborating with Tickle Torture on “Full Court Press,” his homage to his hometown hero, Prince (and the video finally gave him the opportunity to showcase his competitive skating talent). Then in 2017, he was hooked up with an opening slot on Bon Iver’s tour, and that connection led to another, culminating in a writing credit on Kid Cudi and Kanye West’s “Feel the Love” off their 2018 album Kids See Ghosts. That same year, he released his first singles on b4, “First Time” and “Crybaby.” But all these successes felt too random, and he nursed anxieties that they were random enough that they would prove to be short lived. And living and performing without his own space, using whatever he found in his pockets in a fruitless and exhausting attempt at maximizing his creative output, inevitably was: In the winter of 2018, Velvet Negroni found himself in the hospital.



When he got out that spring, Velvet knew the engine of his creative life, a reliable machine fueled by the short term urgency of various chemicals and the violent deadline of TONIGHT WE HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO FINISH THIS SONG—well, he realized that ride just wasn’t going to work for him anymore. But he didn’t have or know of any other way to coax his muse out of its cave. It was during this summer of discontent that he relied on his friends, the producer Psymun (Future, Young Thug, Dua Saleh) and Tickle Torture, to get him to the studio every day, to help him build a new creative structure, song by song. Together with his friends, Velvet Negroni rebuilt his sonic palette, and in time, over weeks and then months, he found his voice, and was able to compose the stories on NEON BROWN, stories he’s been waiting a lifetime to tell.

Bill Toms
“Bill Toms is a poet, a soul-shouter and guitar slinger with one foot in the gutter and an eye on the heavens above. And man, does he front a great rock n' soul band!” - Will Kimbrough/

While it’s hard to put a finger on any one sound that defines “American music,” the compositions of Bill Toms are as close a template as any. The Pittsburgh native, along with his band Hard Rain, delivers a sound that takes the greatest of America’s most beloved genres and melds them into a poetic representation of the best the country has to offer.

With his ninth full-length studio release, Good For My Soul (street date October 27), Toms channels a foot-stomping, wall-shaking blend of soul, blues, gospel, and rock vibes, all brought together with his lyrical specialty -- stories of everyday men and women doing their best to stay ahead while still managing to keep a dream or two in their heads.

Soaring horns, gritty licks, toe-tapping rhythms, and Toms’ own rough-hewn vocals will draw listeners in, as well as well-deserved comparisons to the greats such as Dr. John, Little Feat, Springsteen, Joe Tex, The Blasters, Otis Redding, and Rufus Thomas.

“The idea of a horn section behind my songs has been something I’ve thought about for a while,” explains Toms. “Albert King, and all the Stax artists come to mind when I think of what true rhythm and blues can do. I wanted a piece of that; creating dynamics, and drama within the song; and fostering the deep emotion that a great horn section can give. The words also needed this place-- in order to be fully interpreted as the representation of ‘my America,’ and the people who make up my small part of this world.”

Good For My Soul was recorded in February 2017 by Oscar-winning composer Rick Witkowski, who also co-produced the set with Will Kimbrough (Rodney Crowell, Todd Snider). Both artists have collaborated with Toms frequently on parts of his earlier catalog.

Toms launched his musical career in 1987 as lead guitarist of Pittsburgh’s legendary band Joe Grushecky and The Houserockers, During that period, he opened for and played with such legendary names as The Band, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Little Feat, and Stevie Ray Vaughn. While playing guitar, co-writing, and adding backup vocals for the Houserockers, Toms and the band recorded six studio albums and one live concert album. In 1995, The Houserockers released American Babylon, which was recorded and produced by Springsteen himself.

As a solo artist, Toms has opened for the likes of Buddy Guy, Levon Helm, Marshall Crenshaw, The Kennedys, Steve Forbert, and Ellis Paul. He’s plotting a string of regional east coast dates to support Good For My Soul, as well as a full European tour in 2018.
For more information and tour dates, please visit www.billtoms.com

Publicity: Mike Farley/Michael J. Media Group/608-848-9707/ mike@michaeljmedia.com

DISCOGRAPHY

With Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers:
“Rock and Real” - Rounder Records, 1989
“Swimming with the Sharks” - Rounder Records, 1991
“End of the Century” - Razor and Tie, 1992
“American Babylon”- Razor and Tie, 1995
“Coming Home” - Big Star, 1997
“Down the Road Apiece, Live” - Schoolhouse Records, 1999
“True Companion” – Schoolhouse Records, 2003

With Bill Toms and Hard Rain:
“Paradise Avenue” - Schoolhouse Records, 1997
“My Own Eyes” - Moondog Records, 1999
“This Old World” - Moondog/Schoolhouse Records, 2001
“The West End Kid” – Moondog Records, 2005
“Spirits, Chaos, and a Troubadour Soul’ – AmeriSon Records, 2008
“Live at Moondogs: Another Moonlight Mystery” – AmeriSon Records, 2009
"Memphis" - Terraplane Records, 2011
"Deep In The Shadows" - Terraplane Records, 2015

"Good For My Soul" - Terraplane Records, 2017

Bill Toms Solo:
“One Lonesome Moment” - Out of the Rain Records, 2002

Join us for a special Happy Hour from 6pm - 7:30pm featuring $5 drafts/glasses of wine, $9 pizzas, and $7 signature cocktails. The show will begin at 8pm

Pete Correale is a professional stand up comedian originally from New York. His comedy is reflective of his life and the experiences he’s been through. Being married for almost twenty years and having a young daughter, Pete’s never at a loss for material. With a conversational delivery and disarming regular New York guy attitude, Pete makes you feel like you’re listening to the funniest guy at a party as opposed to just another comedian on a stage; combined with top notch writing skills, this has led Pete to the top of the stand up profession.

Pete has performed numerous times on The Tonight Show, Letterman and Conan. As well as filming two of his own one-hour television comedy specials. The first special - The Things We Do For Love aired on Comedy Central and was voted by Time Out Magazine as the #2 Comedy special of 2008. His second one-hour special debuted on Showtime in 2016, this one titled Let Me Tell Ya. It was filmed at the famous Vic theatre in Chicago, and Pete once again delivered a stellar performance. Pete has also released two comedy albums, Give It A Rest in 2010, and his second album Made For Radio which was released in June 2018 and quickly rose to number one on the iTunes comedy charts.

Aside from stand up, Pete has used his comedic skills in various other platforms throughout his career. As a writer he’s been hired for several projects, most recently as part of the staff on the CBS sitcom Kevin Can Wait which he did for both seasons. He also made a few guest appearances the show playing Larry the Fish Guy.

Pete was also the co-host on a daily two-hour live comedy radio show on SiriusXM titled Unleashed. He did this show with comedian Jim Breuer for four years from 2008 to 2011. And In 2012 Pete began a podcast with comedian Sebastian Maniscalco titled simply enough The Pete and Sebastian Show. Starting off with a couple of microphones and an internet connection, Pete and Sebastian kept at it, and today the show airs every Friday afternoon on SiriusXM the Raw Dog channel before being released as a free podcast episode. Currently up to episode 353 and still going strong, the Pete and Sebastian Show is one of the most popular comedy podcasts on air today and the fans have been showing their support in full force most everywhere Pete headlines.

Every pair of online tickets purchased comes with one (1) CD copy of Sleater-Kinney’s forthcoming album. You will receive an additional email with instructions on how to redeem your album after your purchase. U.S. / Canadian residents only. Offer not valid on any resale tickets.

Sleater-Kinney's The Center Won’t Hold is the first new album from the celebrated band since their 2015 album, No Cities To Love, available August 16 on Mom + Pop. After years of legendary collaboration, rock’n’roll giants Carrie Brownstein (guitar/vocals) and Corin Tucker (guitar/vocals) sound bigger and bolder than ever. The new album was produced by Annie Clark (St. Vincent), and hailed by The FADER as “one of the most furious, dynamic records of their career.” The New York Times called them “one of rock’s most enduring and respected acts” and Rolling Stone gave the record 4 stars and raved, “one of America’s greatest bands does battle with modern apathy on thrilling LP.”


Sleater-Kinney set a new bar for punk’s political insight and emotional impact. Now, at the height of their formidable powers, the feminist icons continue to challenge themselves, break all the rules and push boundaries. This new creative chapter in the acclaimed band’s musical journey is poised to win over both longtime admirers and new fans alike.

It's been a long time coming for BJ the Chicago Kid, and not just because, after four mixtapes and one indie classic, he's now dropping his major-label debut on Motown, the modern yet deeply soulful 'In My Mind.' You've been hearing his voice everywhere though, on the songs by some of the greatest artists of our era (punctuating tracks by Dr. Dre, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, Kehlani and ScHoolboy Q's Grammy Award-nominated smash "Studio."). Notable Collaborations include Vic Mensa, Chance The Rapper, Dom Kennedy, Freddie Gibbs, Ty Dolla $ign, Xzibit and, most recently, OG Maco, Joey Bada$$ and Hannibal Burress. But go back even farther and you'll find BJ was fated for this life.

Bryan James Sledge cooed his first note to an audience when he was five years old. His mom was a choir director and his whole family was in the congregation: BJ the youngest of three boys who all sang on Sunday. Yet outside was the constant backbeat of his youth: trunk music, rap and old school soul, the same thump that he'd hear falling asleep at night, and at the whole-block cookouts that happened every Saturday. His dad, though also a choir director, exposed him to that secular inspiration firsthand. By night his father did concert security, and he took his boy to gigs. Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation Tour (the one with the panther) changed BJ forever, and the experience got swirled up with the stuff he heard at home: the Chi-Lites, Luther, Curtis, even Babyface.

The kid wrote his first song as a teen. He'd been focused on drums, and you can still hear that in the way his voice clings to the pocket, but, as happens, he caught feelings for a girl and wrote a poem about it. Producer Kevin Randolph, a family friend, saw promise in BJ's pen and mentored him in the ways of song. And when it was time, he helped BJ secure his ticket to Los Angeles. That first job, singing backup with gospel duo Mary Mary, led to studio time (vocals, songwriting) with Lalah Hathaway, Musiq Soulchild, Joe, Mario, and Mary J. Blige, among others. In 2005 alone he went into the booth with Stevie Wonder and onto the Grammy stage with Usher and James Brown. A year later came the big one: Kanye West's "Impossible" for "Mission: Impossible III."

It's understandable if you've heard BJ and not known it -- the man's melody is classic and his voice is elastic; he sounds like a sample. But he proved his knack for present-day soul on 2012's self-released album, 'Pineapple Now-Laters,' a diverse collection of songs that moved from a cappella excellence to swaggy rap 'n' blues to the heartfelt "His Pain," featuring Kendrick Lamar. Call it a favor returned -- BJ's on Lamar's 2009 EP, and works with the whole T.D.E. family. ScHoolboy Q's single "Studio" followed, capping an impressive run of collaborations with West Coast legends like Warren G and Xzibit, and Chicago new-schoolers like Chance the Rapper and Vic Mensa. BJ's 'M.A.F.E. Project' tape in 2014 broadcast the message: "Music Ain't for Everyone."

Of course, BJ was destined for the winner's circle, and just as he came up in a supportive Chicago 'hood, he's been building up his music community steadily. He even pitched in on Dr. Dre's long-awaited Compton on the way to now, but it's his time to shine, and for fans of all those guys to realize they've been fans of BJ all along. 'In My Mind' is the first true open door to his world, to a place where the Bible comes first, but Belly might be second. Where blunts burn and oxtails simmer. It's a window into the psyche of a soul man who watches Tom & Jerry regularly, but keeps up with the bangers from around the way. This man who sings "Church" -- with a hook that so perfectly illustrates the line he walks: "She said she wanna drink, do drugs, and have sex tonight/But I got church in the morning" -- is not so far removed from the so-called kid raised on the Windy City's South Side. Most of all, 'In My Mind' is a set of staggeringly great songs from a man who knows The Classics as well as he does The Now.

Take his James Brown flip, "Woman's World," where vintage sound meets modern perspective. Or "Heart Crush," which connects a timeless sentiment (fast love's slow fizzle) with an atmospheric, alt-R&B sound. There's the steamy stuff like "Turnin Me Up," which finds BJ channeling both D'Angelo and Marvin Gaye while leading his live band. And romantic fare like "Shine," a piano ballad tailor-made to weaken knees on deployment. "New Cupid," especially, crisscrosses generation and genre with ease, borrowing the iconic "Oh yeah!" from "Mr. Big Stuff," sampling a Raphael Saadiq cut, and featuring a heartbroken Lamar.

'In My Mind' transcends basic classification -- it's as imaginative as its title implies, but as real BJ the Chicago Kid's love for this music.

Though he grew up in the generally frozen landscape of Troy, New York, Sean Rowe spent many of his formative summers in DeLand, Florida — a small town between Orlando and Daytona Beach — where his father was a residential caretaker at a home for troubled youths. It was there, in a mercifully air-conditioned, mostly unused building filled with donated musical instruments, that Sean taught himself to play drums and then bass. For those who have wondered where his distinctly low and percussive approach to guitar playing comes from, I believe you now have your answer.

During those same years, when he wasn’t listening to heavy metal or building his early musical chops, Sean was in the woods exploring, foraging, and obsessively learning all that he could about the natural world around him. Since then, his fascination with the subject has only grown and through his new web-series, Can I Eat This?, he’s found a means of indulging two of his great passions: music and nature. In each of the forthcoming episodes of Can I Eat This?, Sean will guide a fellow musician on a foraging mission for all manner of wild foods. The two will use their harvest to prepare some tasty creation and end their adventure by performing a cover song together. Look for new episodes this summer!

This year started with a successfully-funded Kickstarter campaign to support the production of Sean’s new full-length album. For this record, he teamed up with longtime producer and friend Troy Pohl, who helmed production on the albums Magic, Madman, Her Songs, and various other EPs. The two traveled to Eau Claire, Wisconsin to team up with producer and multi-instrumentalist Shane Leonard and engineer Brian Joseph at Joseph’s famed Hive Studio. All involved have described the experience as something quite remarkable and Sean is eager to release the finished work later this year.

Over the course of his career, Sean Rowe has recorded five full-length albums and several EPs. His music has been used widely throughout film and television, with notable examples including NBC’s hit dramas The Blacklist and Parenthood. Rowe’s song “To Leave Something Behind” was one of two non-score tracks to be featured in Ben Affleck’s hit 2016 feature film, The Accountant. The song accompanied the film’s final scene and has since received nearly 4.5 million streams on Spotify alone. He tours nearly nonstop and later this year, he’ll return to Europe for two weeks with stops in the U.K., Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and Germany.

Born on the streets of Los Angeles, Starcrawler is a band possessed by the spirit of its own hometown, every movement charged with a manic electricity. Since forming in 2015, vocalist Arrow de Wilde, guitarist/vocalist Henri Cash, bassist Tim Franco, and drummer Austin Smith have gone from bashing out songs in the garage to winning the love of such legendary artists as Shirley Manson and Elton John. They’ve also opened for the likes of Beck, Foo Fighters, Spoon, The Distillers, and MC5, bringing their unhinged energy to an already-fabled live show—a spectacle that’s simultaneously lurid and glorious and elegant as ballet. On their sophomore full-length Devour You, Starcrawler captures that dynamic with a whole new precision, revealing their rare ability to find a fragile beauty in even the greatest chaos.

Produced by Nick Launay (Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, L7), Devour You takes the feral intensity of their 2018 self-titled debut and twists it into something grander and more gracefully composed. With its more elaborate and nuanced yet harder-hitting sonic palette, the album came to life at the famed Sunset Sound, where the band spent their downtime playing H-O-R-S-E at the basketball hoop and drinking lots of Mexican Cokes. Adorned with so many unexpected flourishes—choir-like backing vocals from a local Girl Scouts troop, tuba and trombone riffs courtesy of Cash (the band’s 18-year-old musical polymath)—the result is a selection of songs radiating both raw sensitivity and untamable power.

Heavy and swinging and brutally catchy, “Bet My Brains” shows the psychic kinship at the heart of Starcrawler’s songwriting. “That song came from thinking about the mole people in New York and Vegas and the Catacombs in France, and the underground village of people who live in the sewers of the L.A. River,” says de Wilde. “I was fascinated with the fact that there’s whole other world happening right under our feet.” Cash adds: “Arrow and I hadn’t even talked about it yet, but I’d already written something about the same thing—about how these people’s eyes adapt to pitch-blackness, and they end up going crazy from never seeing the sunlight.”

Elsewhere on Devour You, Starcrawler drifts from the dreamy piano lilt of “No More Pennies” to the rock-and-roll disco of “You Dig Yours” to the pure punk vitriol of “Toy Teenager” (a song about de Wilde’s refusal to be abused the fashion industry, and about how “people look at my body and just want to put me on a platter”). And on “Born Asleep” the band lets their love for country music shine, slipping into a modern-day murder ballad spiked with pieces of hazy poetry (sample lyric: “I remember when you cut your lip, sippin’ on a soda can/And the time when you fell and tripped, screaming at the ice cream man”).


Elsewhere on Devour You, Starcrawler drifts from the dreamy piano lilt of “No More Pennies” to the rock-and-roll disco of “You Dig Yours” to the pure punk vitriol of “Toy Teenager” (a song about de Wilde’s refusal to be abused by the fashion industry, and about how “people look at my body and just want to put me on a platter”). And on “Born Asleep” the band lets their love for country music shine, slipping into a modern-day murder ballad spiked with pieces of hazy poetry (sample lyric: “I remember when you cut your lip, sippin’ on a soda can/And the time when you fell and tripped, screaming at the ice cream man”).



All throughout the album, Starcrawler taps into the kinetic chemistry they discovered soon after forming—a process Smith describes as a “slow-burning candle of finding the right people to play with.” In assembling the band, de Wilde first contacted Smith after seeing a Facebook photo of him playing drums (“I hit him up and he came to my birthday party, and then he turned out to be a really good drummer,” she recalls. “Right away it was like, ‘Jackpot!’”) In searching for a guitarist, de Wilde next approached Cash, a fellow student at her performing-arts high school in downtown L.A. “I saw him one day and thought, ‘That guy looks cool,’” she says. “‘He’s carrying a tuba, he’s got long hair, I’ve seen him wearing Cramps T-shirts: he’s gotta know at least something on guitar.’” But while Cash has since emerged as a monster guitarist, her instincts were only partly right. “When I was younger I didn’t want to play guitar, I wanted to play the drums because my dad played guitar—although sometimes I’d take a broomstick and jam along to AC/DC live footage,” says Cash. “It wasn’t until Arrow hit me up that I realized it was meant to be.”

Starcrawler then finalized their lineup with the addition of Franco—an old friend whom de Wilde reached out to after a moment of strange serendipity (“I was in the car with my mom and stressing out about finding the right bass player, and then Tim and his brother turned out to be on their bikes right in front of us,” she says). With their early band practices mostly consisting of Runaways covers, the band quickly bonded over a shared love for L.A.’s most unglamorous spaces. “I’ve been obsessed with Hollywood Boulevard ever since I was little,” notes de Wilde. “People travel so far and spend so much money to see it ’cause it makes them think of Marilyn Monroe—when in reality it’s so disgusting, which is why I love it. But really a lot of the L.A. that I grew up with and reminisce about is kind of fading now.”

As an antidote to the toxic mildness overtaking so much of the city, Starcrawler’s live show has only become more outrageous over the years, an element strengthened by their increasingly telepathic connection. “We all know each other in a much deeper way now,” says Smith. “Like, Arrow knows exactly when I’m going to hit the crash cymbals, so she moves to match up with that. It’s completely changed how we play together.” Prone to spitting fake blood and slapping phones from the hands of crowd members, de Wilde has proven to be a once-in-a-lifetime performer, captivating enough to command a room with just the widening of her eyes. “We want to put on a real show and give people some kind of escape from all the shit going on in the world,” she says. “And with the album, I want people to put it on and feel excited, and hopefully get goosebumps. I always want there to be a dramatic response.”

Everyone leaves a legacy behind. No matter how big or small, our words and actions echo forever and make a lasting imprint.

Two decades since their 1999 formation in Southern California, that truth weighed heavy on the members of gold-selling metal mavericks Atreyu—Alex Varkatzas [vocals], Brandon Saller [drums/vocals], “BIG” Dan Jacobs [guitar], Travis Miguel [guitar], and Porter McKnight [bass].

Of course, their musical legacy speaks for itself. 2002’s Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses established them as an influential force, while 2004 follow-up The Curse sold 450,000-plus copies as the group rose to global renown. A Deathgrip on Yesterday and 2007’s Lead Sails Paper Anchor both bowed in the Top 10 of the Billboard Top 200 with the latter garnering a gold certification from the RIAA—a highly rare accomplishment for a 21st century rock band.

Following a hiatus post-Congregation of the Damned in 2009, the musicians returned firing on all cylinders with Long Live during 2015. It crashed the Top 30 of the Billboard Top 200 and earned widespread acclaim from Revolver, Loudwire, AXS, and Kerrang! who dubbed it “a hell of a return.” Along the way, the boys sold out countless headline shows in addition to sharing the stage with everyone from Slipknot and Linkin Park to Chris Cornell and Avenged Sevenfold.

As they commenced writing for their seventh full-length, In Our Wake [Spinefarm], the band posed an important question…
“What are you going to leave behind?”, asks Brandon. “We named the album In Our Wake, because a lot of the concepts address this question. There are lyrics about dealing with your own personal demons and darkness. Some of it is about our children, which his who we live directly in our wake. Others are about the general public and the outpouring of hate and fear—especially in our country. We created something of a concept record without even trying.”

“Everything we do causes a ripple or a wake,” adds Alex. “It can be positive and good, or it can be fucked up and horrible. However, we are the masters of our own destiny. We want to leave something good behind.”

Following a two-year tour cycle for Long Live, Atreyu regrouped in Southern California and started sharing ideas for what would become offering number seven. Ceremoniously, they all agreed it would be the right time to reunite with producer John Feldmann who famously helmed Lead Sails and Paper Anchor.

“Long Live was really heavy and reminiscent of our early material,” continues Brandon. “While we were on the road, fans kept asking to hear more from Lead Sails and Paper Anchor. It made us revisit that era of the band. It was a fun, experimental, and explorative time for us, which is so fun. We wanted to give ourselves and the landscape of heavy music a jolt, so we reached out to Feldmann.”

The band recorded in two chunks bookended by Brandon’s touring obligations for Hell Or Highwater. Working out of Feldmann’s Los Angeles studio, they embraced this new approach as the producer still made them “wonderfully uncomfortable and willing to push harder,” according to Alex.

“Every song with the exception of two was fully written in the studio,” says Brandon. “We’d split off into groups and crank out two ideas per day. We’d never written a fresh idea from scratch every day. Spontaneity makes things flow so much better though. We also never spread an album out like this either. We laid the foundation with five recordings, sat with them, and finished with a better picture of where we wanted to go.”
As a result, the record sees Atreyu once again evolve. The first single and title track “In Our Wake” hinges on a slow burning, but bombastic percussive buildup before charging ahead with an undeniable chant and fiery fretwork.

“It’s a deep one,” admits Alex. “We looked up to Chris Cornell and Chester Bennington, and their deaths were fresh during the writing process. It made us think of what we’ll leave in our wake. We have a choice to change the lives of others for the better.”
A ticking clock gives way to a stadium-size chant on follow-up single “The Time Is Now.” It seesaws between a robust beat and scorching call-and-response by Alex and Brandon as they carry the carpe diem chorus.

“It’s all about just grabbing life by the balls, picking yourself up by your bootstraps, and realizing you only have one shot at this,” Brandon goes on. “That was very reminiscent and reflective of this album. In our heads, there’s no time to fuck around or just do what we’ve always done. We have to really fucking go for it. Tomorrow isn’t promised, so we went for it.”
Meanwhile, “Terrified” swings from a hypnotic refrain into an acoustic bridge, illuminating the diversity at the heart of In Our Wake. Closer “Super Hero” [feat. M. Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold & Aaron Gillespie of Underoath] conjures visions of “Atreyu meets Queen meets Disneyland meets E.L.O.” with its cinematic orchestration, horns, flutes, and grandiose production.

“It’s about being your kid’s superhero, so we invited other singers who are fathers to join us,” Brandon explains. “Everyone wrote his own respective part and gave perspective on what fatherhood meant to him. I wanted it to feel like the music from the Soaring Over California ride at Disney’s California Adventure park. It ends on such a huge note and offers a breath of fresh air.”

In the end, In Our Wake doesn’t just reaffirm Atreyu’s legacy, it expands it like never before.

“We want to give listeners an experience,” Alex concludes. “Every track functions as its own moment. There’s something that you can hopefully come back and listen to again and again.”

“I feel like this is the record that people will remember our band by,” Brandon states. “I’m saying that because the best parts of Atreyu happened on it. We’re continuing something we began a long time ago. This band means everything to me. We’ve been through incredible highs and incredible lows. We’ve loved each other, and we’ve wanted to kill each other. Somehow, twenty years later ,it’s reached a whole new level. I feel like we’re alive, and Atreyu has never been more on fire than we are now.” – Rick Florino, July 2018

Mike Doughty, the singer, songwriter, producer, author and founder of seminal 90’s band Soul
Coughing will be playing their debut LP Ruby Vroom in full across the U.S. in 2019.
Doughty will be joined by a full band on these special dates. While they will be performing Ruby
Vroom in its entirety, in the original sequence, what the audience experiences will be different
each night. “When I was looking for something to do between album cycles I decided to tour
Irresistible Bliss in full” explains Doughty. “It was incredibly fun forcing myself to work within that
structure. The decisions you make when putting together a set list are different from the ones
you make when sequencing a record. This is like performing a single, hour-long piece of music.”
Rather than an exact replication of the studio recording, Doughty plans to use a variety of cues
and hand signals to adjust the performance in real time. “Live we turn into a musical super-
organism. We’re basically doing a real-time remix of the record at each show” tells Doughty. “It
won’t not be a note-for-note performance. I’m very proud of the record we made; it’s the sonic
embodiment of lower Manhattan in the early 1990’s. Yet there’s a whole other version of this
record that lives in my head. I’m extremely excited to see how it evolves night after night.”
Doughty has released 11 solo albums in the 21st Century, including Haughty Melodic and Stellar
Motel, and a memoir, The Book of Drugs (he’s currently writing a second one). He makes
electro tracks under the names UUL and Dubious Luxury; his opera Revelation was staged in
conjunction with WNYC; he’s currently writing songs with Wayne Kramer from the MC5. He
recently posted his 100th weekly new song for his Patreon subscribers. And, finally, he has
three improvised-music bands in Memphis, where he lives: Moticos, Baby Men, and Spooky
Party.

Mike Doughty, the singer, songwriter, producer, author and founder of seminal 90’s band Soul
Coughing will be playing their debut LP Ruby Vroom in full across the U.S. in 2019.
Doughty will be joined by a full band on these special dates. While they will be performing Ruby
Vroom in its entirety, in the original sequence, what the audience experiences will be different
each night. “When I was looking for something to do between album cycles I decided to tour
Irresistible Bliss in full” explains Doughty. “It was incredibly fun forcing myself to work within that
structure. The decisions you make when putting together a set list are different from the ones
you make when sequencing a record. This is like performing a single, hour-long piece of music.”
Rather than an exact replication of the studio recording, Doughty plans to use a variety of cues
and hand signals to adjust the performance in real time. “Live we turn into a musical super-
organism. We’re basically doing a real-time remix of the record at each show” tells Doughty. “It
won’t not be a note-for-note performance. I’m very proud of the record we made; it’s the sonic
embodiment of lower Manhattan in the early 1990’s. Yet there’s a whole other version of this
record that lives in my head. I’m extremely excited to see how it evolves night after night.”
Doughty has released 11 solo albums in the 21st Century, including Haughty Melodic and Stellar
Motel, and a memoir, The Book of Drugs (he’s currently writing a second one). He makes
electro tracks under the names UUL and Dubious Luxury; his opera Revelation was staged in
conjunction with WNYC; he’s currently writing songs with Wayne Kramer from the MC5. He
recently posted his 100th weekly new song for his Patreon subscribers. And, finally, he has
three improvised-music bands in Memphis, where he lives: Moticos, Baby Men, and Spooky
Party.