Dresden Dolls

They’re back!

CANNIBAL CORPSE to embark on a 2 and a half week tour with Dying Fetus, Vital Remains, and Devourment

CANNIBAL CORPSE will be hitting the road for a 17 date run that takes the band through the east coast, south, and Midwest. The mighty CANNIBAL CORPSE will be kicking things off on Friday November 5^th in Wilmington, NC at The Soapbox Laundrolounge and will finish things up on Monday November 22^nd in Asheville, NC at The Orange Peel. Joining CANNIBAL CORPSE on the road is Dying Fetus, Vital Remains, and Devourment. The tour is being brought to fans by BC Rich, Metal Blade Records, Good Fight Entertainment, and Relapse Records. Head over to MySpace.com/CannibalCorpse and CannibalCorpse.net for additional touring news.

Fans can check out two live songs as well as an interview taken from the Scion Rock Fest that went down Saturday, March 13, 2010 in Columbus, OH on Metal Blade’s YouTube Channel via the following links:

Cannibal Corpse interviewed at Scion Fest 2010 HERE

Cannibal Corpse “Scalding Hail” live at Scion Fest 2010 HERE

Cannibal Corpse “Unleashing the Bloodthirsty” live at Scion Fest 2010 HERE

http://facebook.com/cannibalcorpse

http://www.myspace.com/cannibalcorpse

http://www.cannibalcorpse.net 

Cannibal Corpse

Cannibal Corpse has smashed—nay, hammer smashed—every boundary set before them, defied every censor set upon them, and besmirched every country that would have them. After two decades of unending death metal torment, the band’s calling cards are many: the depraved lyrics, the blinding technical prowess, the dominating stage presence, the legions of dedicated fans, the million and a half albums sold. From their bloody Caesarian inception in 1988 and debut splatterfest Eaten Back To Life (1990), Cannibal Corpse have mangled the minds and stereo systems of death metal youth from Buffalo to Sydney to Tokyo to Tampa while playing a crucial role in inspiring a new wave of musicians like The Black Dahlia Murder and Cattle Decapitation.

In the far-flung death metal universe, the name Cannibal Corpse has achieved godfather status—not only for the band’s morbid musical legacy but because of their commitment to the scene as a whole. “Part of the reason we may have ended up in a leadership position in the scene is because we’ve been consistent,” bassist Alex Webster offers. “We’ve tried to stay 100% death metal in the kind of music we make, and we’ve always tried to take younger death metal bands on tour to help give back to the scene we’ve been so lucky with. So if we’ve become godfathers of death metal in any way, it’s because we care about the scene, and we’ve been consistently caring about it for our entire career.”

Indeed, the list of crucial Corpse slabs rolls off the tongue like something mangled and abscessed, but still vicious: 1992’s Tomb Of The Mutilated, 1994’s The Bleeding, 1996’s Vile—the album that marked the band’s new era under the gruesome vocal reign of George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher—1998’s Gallery Of Suicide and 2006’s brutally effective Kill. The band’s mainstream breaches over those years are well-documented: the infamous appearance in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective; a cameo in the World Of Warcraft computer games (the series recently introduced a character named “Gorge the Corpsegrinder”); a sadistic live performance at the birthday party of Elijah Blue, the musical progeny of Gregg Allman and Cher. In recent years, Cannibal’s influence has spawned new levels of genuflection from underground acts like Cannabis Corpse, who bow in deference to the masters—and the leaf—with albums entitled Blunted At Birth and Tube Of The Resinated. There are even a couple of dudes in Detroit who call themselves Acoustic Corpse and do unplugged versions of Cannibal classics like “Fucked With A Knife,” “Dismembered And Molested” and “I Cum Blood.”

The band themselves, however, just keep on killing. Having hacked and flayed their way through hordes of flesh-eating carcass fuckers, blood-slicked suicide galleries and compulsive disembowelers, the mighty Corpse have seen fit to expand their killing field for a bit of the old mass extermination. Witness their eleventh studio album, Evisceration Plague, wherein the band mushroom-clouds their own homicidal visions to pandemic proportions. Deep, festering cuts like “Scalding Hail,” “Carnivorous Swarm” and the title track see an ossified populous summarily decimated by wholly unnatural disasters conceived in the unkempt minds of co-lyricists and original members Webster and Paul Mazurkiewicz (drums). “We wanted death on an epic scale, as opposed to the individual, murderer-stalking-his-prey stuff we’ve done in the past—although the album still has a few of those songs,” Webster explains with a laugh. “It’s not War And Peace or anything—it’s a gore story—but the body count is higher than ever before.”

Aided and abetted by guitarists Rob Barrett and Pat O’Brien—not to mention the unmistakable throat of Mr. Fisher—Webster and Mazurkiewicz dismembered and reassembled their latest monstrosity at Mana Recording Studios in St. Petersburg, Florida, under the expert eye of Hate Eternal mastermind Erik Rutan. “I think it’s the tightest and most musically competent record we’ve ever done,” Webster says. “Not that the other ones weren’t competent, but it would be hard to find flaw with the execution of this one—the performances are rock solid. Musically, the goal was to make cool, catchy songs that are just as brutal and heavy as any of the older, more obscure stuff we’ve done. Our mission is to be a brutal death metal band, and if we get there by writing a technical song or a catchy groove song, that’s fine, as long as it’s brutal death metal at the end of the day.”

Robert Randolph & The Family Band

Robert Randolph ~ We Walk This Road

Artist Notes

This record is a celebration of African-American music over the past one hundred years and its social messages from the last thirty. Although we cover a whole timeline of different eras on We Walk This Road, what ties these songs together remain their message of hope, their ability to uplift.

After we finished our last record, Colorblind, we began searching for a great producer to help guide the follow up. We wanted someone who understood me and the road I’ve walked this far, who understood our connections of my roots within rock and gospel and the church, who would help us put those things in their most compelling context.

T Bone Burnett shared the vision of how gospel, blues and rock could be put together in a way that could relate to my history and connect to my present. It was important to us that we make the record we wanted to make, even if the end result was unclassifiable. We just focused on making great songs and great music that spoke to me, and that reflected the way I try to speak to the world.

We recorded We Walk This Road over about two years, after T Bone had finished his record with Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. We went into the studio with virtual libraries of songs, whole volumes worth of material to go through. T Bone brought in old archival songs from the twenties and thirties and many of them were in the public domain. I had songs that I had written with the band, or that other artists had sent me, and we sat down and starting sifting through history.

When we found something we liked, we would either cover it or re-work it using our own words or melodies. Through this creation came an education. T Bone opened a lot of doors for me serving as a link between the past and the present. He knows how to take something from the past and bring it into the present while still allowing the artist to make it his own, in the same way that Hendrix took Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” and made it belong to him.

 We connected the last one hundred years of African-American music in the way people used to: You write your own songs, you cover other people’s material, you re-work older songs. We had some amazing people come in to help. Leon Russell came by to hang out and wound up playing piano on the last track, “Salvation.” Ben Harper plays guitar and sings on “If I Had My Way.” The base of that song came from Blind Willie Johnson, and it was really difficult to get right. It was a country tune for a while. I had honestly given up on it. But Ben came down and said, “Let me get in there! I know just what to do!” He went in there and smoked the choruses, and I thought, “Now we’ve got a tune.” It’s one of my favorite songs on the record.

Where We’ve Been

I grew up in the House of God church. The pedal steel was a big part of our church tradition. I grew up watching older guys play, and I started playing when I was fifteen. When I was nineteen, someone gave me tickets to a Stevie Ray Vaughan concert. After that, I wanted to play pedal steel like Stevie Ray played his guitar. I wanted to take another path than the people who played traditional pedal steel to take it to a whole new level.

We started playing and touring around New York City in 2000, playing clubs like Wetlands, and things started to take off. We were selling out large New York clubs with no record deal, and it started to spread to Philly and Boston. Soon, we signed to Warner Brothers, and word began to get around about us nationally. Great artists like Eric Clapton and Dave Matthews and B.B. King accepted us. Young artists, too: we toured with the Roots and Pharrell and John Mayer. We have been fortunate to be accepted by a wide range of fan bases, and we have been able to build from there. I definitely feel as if everything has been working up to this moment, to this record.

Where We’re Going

I’m very excited to play these tracks live. Those people who have been our fans and followers should see the progression from our last record to this one, and the road we’ve taken won’t seem too foreign to them. When people come to see us, they know that it’s really about the message, about making them feel good. Hopefully, this record will inspire them in the same way. It certainly makes me feel happy. I can’t see myself recording depressing lyrics, lyrics that leave people without a sense of hope. It’s not in me to use the power of the microphone to make music like that. That’s why this record is uplifting – it’s got great messages. It’s all there.

My goal is to open the door for people, in the same way that musical doors have been opened for me. I want to take this musical history and make it relevant to give people a better idea of who I am and where I came from. I think even though I’m a young guy who was born into the era of hip-hop and contemporary gospel, I can help bridge the cultural gap between people who are seventy-five years old and kids who are fifteen years old by reaching back into this history of music.

We Walk This Road was done in our belief in what we all need right now: young voices saying something positive without preaching in hopes of inspiring people. When you stick to what you believe in, and with the roots of where you come from, things will always work out.

Tickets Available June 25^th, 10am.

Citizen Cope

With THE RAINWATER LP, Citizen Cope offers the clearest distillation yet of his distinct musical approach, a laidback gumbo of acoustic blues, singer/songwriter rock ‘n’ roll and deep soul grooves.  Born Clarence Greenwood, but known to friends and fans as simply “Cope,” the Brooklyn-based artist has crafted an album redolent of such classic tunesmiths as Randy Newman and Stevie Wonder – both major touchstones for his emotively penned songs.  As such, it’s virtually impossible to put a finger on Citizen Cope’s idiosyncratically inimitable sound.

“The only way to explain my music is to say you gotta listen to it,” Greenwood says.  “I don’t think there is any easy description of it.  Somebody once said something about ‘urban folk,’ which I wasn’t mad at.”

THE RAINWATER LP comes nearly four years after Citizen Cope’s acclaimed 2006 third album, EVERY WAKING MOMENT.  Not that Greenwood wasn’t busy – the hard-touring troubadour spent much of that time on the road, introducing fans new and old to his already substantial body of work.

“It was longer than I’d expected between records,” he says, “but it was like a culmination of all the records getting into peoples’ psyche.  I just kept on touring, doing songs from all three records, and then I started getting ideas for songs.  I got inspired to make another album and put it out myself.”

Like the music therein, THE RAINWATER LP – as well as Citizen Cope’s new RainWater Recordings, Inc. – takes its name from a number of deeply personal sources.  “It’s pure,” Greenwood says.  “It’s also the name of someone that was close to me when I was growing up, so it just made sense.”

Memphis-born, DC-raised, and now Brooklyn-based, Greenwood’s musical journey began in the mid-1990s, when he first drew local acclaim for both his intimate songwriting and unique sonic fusion.  His official debut album, CITIZEN COPE, was released in 2002, while THE CLARENCE GREENWOOD RECORDINGS followed two years later.  The road to THE RAINWATER LP also included guest appearances on blockbuster albums by Santana and Dido, while Citizen Cope songs such as  “Let The Drummer Kick” and “Bullet And A Target” have been featured in a wide array of films, television series, and advertisement

Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk

www.dumpstaphunk.com

“Dumpstaphunk is the best funk band from New Orleans right now.”
The New York Times

“…musically hard-nosed and rooted in 1970s inner city funk.”
Offbeat Magazine

“…the groove is nasty and the funk is deep.”
Harp Magazine

“Ivan Neville was blessed not only with a pedigree and last name that are golden in the music world, but also the skills to back them up.”
Times Picayune

“Dumpstaphunk is ready to usher in a new age of funk to the masses.”
Jambase

“What began as a side project has evolved into a funk explosion that is gathering disciples everywhere they go.”
Lagniappe Mobile

“Quite possibly the greatest funk band you’ll hear today!”
Metro Wize

“Ivan’s so good…I play with him.”
Keith Richards

“Dumpstaphunk play perhaps the purest brand of funk around”
Honest Tune

“Dumpstaphunk updates the classic ’70s oeuvre with a hard urban edge, a little jam-band stretching, and a light sprinkling of New Orleans R&B/jazz vibe”
Bullz-Eye

Read more: http://www.myspace.com/dumpstaphunk#ixzz0xXwj18w9

Dave Barnes

As singer/songwriter Dave Barnes tells it, he had a Harry Potter moment while in college. Like the poor, misunderstood boy living under the stairs with his Uncle and Aunt, Barnes also belonged to a magical tribe, but up to that point hadn’t realized it. “I was thinking I was weird, or something was wrong with me. But when I found the magazine Performing Songwriter, I thought, ‘you mean there’s a group of people who relate to this? Who have a hard time talking when there is a melody in their head or will run off and call their voicemail so they can remember how this one lyric goes?’”That’s right, Dave, you’re a wizard. Well, a songwriting wizard, anyway. So get out of that cramped room and get to Hogwarts-er, Nashville. …A few years later, Barnes graduated from Middle Tennessee State University with a degree in Recording Industry Management-”I’m one of the few musicians in the world actually using my major,” he laughs-and became a performing songwriter himself, relocating to Nashville to see what might happen.At first very little was happening, with Barnes cutting his teeth in a 50-capacity room-and drawing just seven people at one point. But just a few years later, after crisscrossing the country and selling vanloads of two independent albums-Brother, Bring The Sun and Chasing Mississippi, the artist had landed songs on television and in films, and was well known to thousands who’d discovered his soulful, supple way with a melody, wrapping itself around a lyric that sneakily burrows under the skin. Those fans include Vince Gill and Amy Grant (who made guest appearances on Chasing Mississippi) and John Mayer, who said on his blog: “Go where this guy is taking you. My man’s aim is true!”Where is Barnes taking listeners? Judging by a spin of his latest, Me and You and the World, just about anywhere. The Steely Dan jazz-pop of “Someday.” The Blind Boys of Alabama-style gospel of “Carry Me Through.” The lighters-in-the-air sing-along chorus of “When A Heart Breaks.” The crowd favorite and first single, “Until You.” Or, perhaps, the delicate, cello-laced ballad of “On A Night Like This.” It’s all here. “I always want my songs to be served individually,” Barnes says. “As we approach production, what I’m always the most conscious of is, ‘is this song sounding like it needs to sound?’ I do want the record to sound good, but I’m a lot more concerned with an individual song. That’s all that anybody’s listening to at one point anyway.”

Me and You and the World refers to Barnes’ expanded lyrical perspective. Profoundly affected by his work with the Mocha Club (mochaclub.org)-which builds orphanages and supplies medical care in Africa-and service trips he’s taken to the continent, the songwriting began shifting. As he says, “You can beat your fans up when you write about yourself all the time. I never want them to be like ‘okay, give us a break you egomaniac.’ Now I love to write about my experiences, but I think this record is much more about realizing there are so many other stories to tell.”Born in South Carolina, Barnes grew up in rural Mississippi, first gravitating to the hip-hop popular with his classmates (first CD: Young MC), then latching on to the soul, blues and soulful rock favored by his Jackson-born mother and Clarksdale-born father. “We listened to so much Motown and old school R&B. That was just completely normal for Dad, growing up in that world. He’s told me so many stories of being in Clarksdale, going down to the City Hall and seeing these amazing bands playing.”Newly arrived in Nashville, armed with just his acoustic guitar, Barnes gravitated to the folk scene. After playing his fair share of solo acoustic shows, though, Dave made has way back to his roots, and found himself looking for music with both depth and groove. This lead Barnes to embrace Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan and seemingly everything in between. “I’ve been on a massive Toto kick lately,” he shares, gleefully, just after communicating his affection for Phil Collins’ melodies in Invisible Touch-era Genesis.This would be a good time to mention that it’s a bad idea to take Barnes seriously all of the time, or perhaps most of the time. A YouTube search turns up almost as many homespun comedy clips as fan-shot performances. Infact, Barnes has a stand-up comedy sideline, selling out a 350-seat Nashville theater for a show that included no guitars. “I just remember, in the middle of the routine, thinking, ‘this is maybe the most fun I’ve ever had.’ Because it was working well and people were responding.”Strangely enough, Barnes never made a conscious decision to arrive where he is today. As he puts it, one thing just led to another, without much of a master plan. “I am thankful that many young singer/songwriters ask me, ‘dude, how did you do it? Give me the roadmap.’ But the truth is,’ I don’t know.’ I can’t tell you that I’ve ever planned anything. And I like that, because it must mean I am meant to do this. Right?”Undoubtedly, Barnes’ enthusiastic audience agrees.

DEFTONES
the biggest band in the world

www.deftones.com

The meaning of “Deftones” (by Stef Carpenter):

“I listened to a lot of rap at the time, but, I always imagined being in a band but I could never pick out a name. I was like, “how do bands just pick their names?” You know, some bands, you got these metal bands that try to make their name all ugly and whatever. I wanted to pick a cool name, something that would just stand out but you know, not be all cheese-ball at the same time. Well, I was really into old classic music, like from the 50’s and shit like that. I was like, “Tones,” you know there’s a lot of bands from that era that has “The Tones” in it. And “Def,” just cuz I listen to a lot of LL COOL J, Public Enemy, you know, like Def Jam and all that. Then I thought, “Deftones,” that would be kinda cool. Def would be mean “cool” and Tones would be like. the sound of the old days but being vague. cuz we didn’t do just one kind of music. It was pretty heavy, but it has never been focused on one particular style of music.”

The Hold Steady

www.theholdsteady.net

During our time as The Hold Steady, I’ve made a lot in interviews and onstage monologues about what little ambition we had when we started this band. We weren’t sure if we would play shows or release records. We had seriously managed expectations. But in the end, we did end up playing shows and releasing records, and we are better people for it. We’ve seen a lot of the world, met a ton of great people, and played a whole bunch of rock and roll music. Our efforts have been rewarded beyond our wildest dreams. It’s not exactly a mind-blowing statement when I say that this is the best job I’ve ever had. That said, there are sacrifices and discomfort that come with this territory: busted relationships, distance from family, physical exhaustion, disconnection from civilian life, ringing ears, interminable waiting around, trying to get through a ninety minute show when you have food poisoning, etc.

Our new record, Heaven is Whenever, is about struggle and reward. It’s about accepting suffering as a necessary part of a joyous life. It’s about how love can help us rise above these struggles. It’s about faith. It’s about how bad it hurts to settle for less. It’s about not being scared to try. It’s about four guys who still believe in the power and glory of rock and roll. Because even after a thousand soundchecks, a thousand load-in and load-outs, fifty missed birthdays, and a few hundred electrical shocks, our reward still vastly outweighs the struggle. In fact, the reward would not exist without the struggle. Thus, this struggle is inherently part of the reward. And in this way, the fantasy of playing rock and roll for a living is a lot like real life. 

 The title of this record comes from a lyric in the song “We Can Get Together”, which states “Heaven is whenever/We can get together.” In the end, that might say it best. The most amazing part of this life is the opportunity to share music with a supportive audience. It is not lost on us that people make sacrifices of their own to see us perform. They spend money on tickets and travel, they get baby sitters, they take time off work. It’s an honor for us to be a recipient of this kind of dedication. So when we say Heaven is Whenever, we mean that the greatest of rewards is our privilege of being able to tour and share our music and our lives with yours.

Thank you for being a part of this.

Craig Finn

The Hold Steady

Wintersleep

Wintersleep are a Canadian indie rock band from Halifax, Nova Scotia. What started out as a side-project eventually turned into one of the most popular live shows in Atlantic Canada. Wintersleep are a part of Dependent Music, a music label/collective that began in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in 1994. While they only have two CD releases, the first self-titled and the second untitled, Wintersleep have a large and faithful following due to their extensive touring through Canada and Europe.
Their music style is rooted in indie rock and has ambient and occasional shoegaze elements. Performances have been described as “entirely honest” and “deeply moving” with “captivating ambiance”. While playing live, the band attempts to make the listener as much a part of the music as the band themselves by encouraging everyone to sing along.

Doors: 8; Show: 9 ; 18+; $22 advance; $25 day of show

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

www.myspace.com/sharonjonesandthedapkings

www.daptonerecords.com/sharonjonesandthedapkings.html

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings have come a long way since their humble beginnings nearly a decade ago. Steeped in the gilded and gritty sounds of gospel, soul, and funk, this nine-piece act continued to electrify fans, disc jockeys, critics, record collectors, and bloggers the world over with their heart-felt sound. Their devotion to soul music is clearly demonstrated on the band’s four critically acclaimed albums Dap Dippin (2002), Naturally (2005), 100 Days, 100 Nights (2007), and their newest release I Learned The Hard Way (2010), all captured and released by the independent Daptone Records, in Brooklyn, NY. Their albums recall an analog era led by iconic studios like those at Motown and Stax Records and have thrust the fifty-four year old Augusta, GA native and crew into the multimedia limelight.

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings have recently appeared on The Colbert Report, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with David Letterman, The Mo’nique Show, The CBS Evening News with Russ Mitchell, NBC’s Talk Stoop, and NPR. In the past they have appeared on CNN, Good Morning New York, VH1, Conan O’Brien, Craig Ferguson, BBC Television, NPR radio shows like Morning Edition and Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and have been covered in a slew of publications, including feature stories in New York Magazine, The New York Times Sunday Magazine and Arts section, USA Today, The New York Post Page Six, The Village Voice, The Washington Post, Newsweek, The Associated Press, and Entertainment Weekly.

As distinguished as their recordings may be, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings have become truly renowned thanks to their incredible live show and relentless touring. Although it’s no easy task to keep such a vast ensemble on the road, the band continues to pack hundreds of clubs worldwide, including two consecutive sold out shows this spring at New York’s legendary Apollo Theatre and show-stopping sets at SXSW, Coachella, Lollapalooza, Roskilde, Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits and WOMAD.

On April 6th, 2010, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings marked history with the release of their fourth album, I Learned The Hard Way. After selling a mere 100,000 copies of their previous album, 100 Days, 100 Nights, since its release in 2007, the band went on to move 23,000 copies of I Learned The Hard Way in the first week, putting the album at #15 on the Billboard 200. And, the album continues to climb the Billboard charts hitting at #2 for Independent albums and #6 for R&B/Hip-Hop albums. Produced by Bosco Mann and recorded in its entirety on an old Ampex eight-track tape machine at Daptone Records’ “House of Soul Studios,” the record drips with warmth and spontaneity rarely found since the golden days of Muscle Shoals and Stax Records. Ms. Jones’s voice, never stronger, evokes at once the raw power of Tina Turner, the moaning soulfulness of Mavis Staples, the rhythmic swagger of James Brown, and the melodic command of Aretha Franklin. From the lush Philly-soul fanfare that ushers in the top of the album with “The Game Gets Old,” to the stripped down Sam Cooke style that closes it with “Mama Don’t Like My Man,” the band dances seamlessly through both the most simple, crafted arrangements with subtlety and discipline. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings are the “Daptone Sound” at its finest. They are a celebration of, and a testament to, the soulful and beautiful possibilities of music.

Orgone

Orgone Hype:Los Angeles based band Orgone is many souls with a cosmic connection, a natural creative force and musicians who have played together for years. They are self schooled and continue to shape their musical voice as a solid unit of guys who hang, spin records and jam out their shared inspirations. With a rooted sense of funk, soul, afrobeat, deep rhythms and an intimate understanding of dj culture as well as each others’ individual talents, Orgone seamlessly slides through multiple styles and dynamic performances. The group continuously injects whatever they play with a heavy brand of raw funk power.

At the core of the band is a rhythm section comprised of close friends who have played together for more than 10 years. Having grown artistically as a unit they function as one organic and intuitive whole. The orginal 5-member band started out by putting their own gritty takes on tunes by the likes of the JBs, the Meters, Booker T. and the MGs, Grant Green and Funkadelic among many others. They quickly gained underground respect and die hard fans. With their searing live sets and original instrumentals, Orgone soon released their debut self titled CD, “Orgone,” in 2002. The result was a collection of all original down home, transcendental, tough and gritty funk instrumentals.

The band fast grew to include a powerful three-piece horn section and a fiery soul singer who all shared the same spirit and deep reverence for the music that inspired them. Singer, Fanny Franklin, joined the groups’ recordings after they were floored seeing her perform with Dakah, the 30-piece hip hop orchestra, and asked her to record with them. Their first recording together, Orgone’s cover of “Funky Nassau”, became a ubiquitous DJ fave worldwide- first appearing on 7″(Nuff Rope) and then getting a 12″ club re-edit by renowned dj Danny Krivit (Nuff Rope). It then appeared on Ubiquity’s Rewind Volume 4 comp, which began the band’s relationship with the prestigious label.

Gaining worldwide recognition for their raw studio recordings and exciting live sets led to the release of “The Killion Floor” on Ubiquity records- a full length album of hard hitting afro-soul & funk from the 9 piece band. While enjoying comparisons to classic acts like Rufus, War & Mandrill, or modern funk staples like Sharon Jones or Breakestra, they’re quick to point out that Orgone is unique.
“We draw from a wide musical and production palette … it’s a reflection of the music and production aesthetics that we love.”
Orgone backs this up by taking the listener on a musical journey from the sound of Los Angeles to horn and percussion driven Lagos to a New York club and to the raw sounds of New Orleans. The title of the album “The Killion Floor” is derived from the Orgone apartment/studio facility where the majority of the album was recorded. Singer Franklin delivers monster performances on tracks like the Memphis-drenched “Who Knows Who,” the laid-back and cosmic “Said and Done,” and the apocalyptic sound of “Do Your Thing”. The album also features guest appearances by singer Noelle Scaggs (from the Rebirth), trumpeter/arranger Todd Simon (Dapkings, Antibalas, CPK, Breakestra), and guitarist/producer Dan Ubick (CPK/ Lions).

The band’s reputation amongst the funk, soul, and hip hop fraternity is further backed-up by an impressive and ever growing resume that expands their reach. This includes a spot in an Adidas campaign, a tour with and backing band for Bun B(from UGK), Pharoahe Monch, Plantlife (including a BBC performance for Jools Holland), Little Brother, Nice and Smooth, Black Sheep and New Orleans funk legend Eddie Bo at a Hurricane Katrina benefit. Members of Orgone also have featured in the make-up of Ubiquity acts the Lions, Connie Price and the Keystones, Breakestra, and have performed with the Pharcyde, De La Soul, Too Short, Macy Gray among many others. To top it off, most of the group can be heard on recent major recordings by Alicia Keys, Estelle, Anthony Hamilton, Jennifer Hudson, Solange Knowles and many other R&B/Soul artists.

Orgone continues to tour, impressing audiences and winning new fans at festivals & clubs nationally and overseas. 2009 saw the release of their second fully independent CD “bacano”, a collection of all original cold-blooded funk gems representing what’s always been going down in Orgone’s funky, sweaty home-grown recording spot. It’s a recorded history of the band and its musical family throwing down: check the lethal neck-busting bass intro of founding member Tim Glum on “You Already Doin It”, the 3-Detroit thump of bassist Dale Jennings on the deep hypnotic funk soundscape of “Vibromeyer”, the dance floor soul of singer Gino Garafalo on the undeniably hip-shaking “Come Around” and the sub-atomic gut punch of Orgone bassist Ethan Phillips on the heavy psychedelic groove of “Hott Karl”.
Orgone live and recorded is 100% organic heart and soul an aesthetic and an attitude born out of half a lifetime of playing together.

Doors: 8; Show: 9 ; 18+; $22 advance; $25 day of show

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

www.myspace.com/sharonjonesandthedapkings

www.daptonerecords.com/sharonjonesandthedapkings.html

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings have come a long way since their humble beginnings nearly a decade ago. Steeped in the gilded and gritty sounds of gospel, soul, and funk, this nine-piece act continued to electrify fans, disc jockeys, critics, record collectors, and bloggers the world over with their heart-felt sound. Their devotion to soul music is clearly demonstrated on the band’s four critically acclaimed albums Dap Dippin (2002), Naturally (2005), 100 Days, 100 Nights (2007), and their newest release I Learned The Hard Way (2010), all captured and released by the independent Daptone Records, in Brooklyn, NY. Their albums recall an analog era led by iconic studios like those at Motown and Stax Records and have thrust the fifty-four year old Augusta, GA native and crew into the multimedia limelight.

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings have recently appeared on The Colbert Report, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with David Letterman, The Mo’nique Show, The CBS Evening News with Russ Mitchell, NBC’s Talk Stoop, and NPR. In the past they have appeared on CNN, Good Morning New York, VH1, Conan O’Brien, Craig Ferguson, BBC Television, NPR radio shows like Morning Edition and Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and have been covered in a slew of publications, including feature stories in New York Magazine, The New York Times Sunday Magazine and Arts section, USA Today, The New York Post Page Six, The Village Voice, The Washington Post, Newsweek, The Associated Press, and Entertainment Weekly.

As distinguished as their recordings may be, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings have become truly renowned thanks to their incredible live show and relentless touring. Although it’s no easy task to keep such a vast ensemble on the road, the band continues to pack hundreds of clubs worldwide, including two consecutive sold out shows this spring at New York’s legendary Apollo Theatre and show-stopping sets at SXSW, Coachella, Lollapalooza, Roskilde, Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits and WOMAD.

On April 6th, 2010, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings marked history with the release of their fourth album, I Learned The Hard Way. After selling a mere 100,000 copies of their previous album, 100 Days, 100 Nights, since its release in 2007, the band went on to move 23,000 copies of I Learned The Hard Way in the first week, putting the album at #15 on the Billboard 200. And, the album continues to climb the Billboard charts hitting at #2 for Independent albums and #6 for R&B/Hip-Hop albums. Produced by Bosco Mann and recorded in its entirety on an old Ampex eight-track tape machine at Daptone Records’ “House of Soul Studios,” the record drips with warmth and spontaneity rarely found since the golden days of Muscle Shoals and Stax Records. Ms. Jones’s voice, never stronger, evokes at once the raw power of Tina Turner, the moaning soulfulness of Mavis Staples, the rhythmic swagger of James Brown, and the melodic command of Aretha Franklin. From the lush Philly-soul fanfare that ushers in the top of the album with “The Game Gets Old,” to the stripped down Sam Cooke style that closes it with “Mama Don’t Like My Man,” the band dances seamlessly through both the most simple, crafted arrangements with subtlety and discipline. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings are the “Daptone Sound” at its finest. They are a celebration of, and a testament to, the soulful and beautiful possibilities of music.

Orgone

Orgone Hype:Los Angeles based band Orgone is many souls with a cosmic connection, a natural creative force and musicians who have played together for years. They are self schooled and continue to shape their musical voice as a solid unit of guys who hang, spin records and jam out their shared inspirations. With a rooted sense of funk, soul, afrobeat, deep rhythms and an intimate understanding of dj culture as well as each others’ individual talents, Orgone seamlessly slides through multiple styles and dynamic performances. The group continuously injects whatever they play with a heavy brand of raw funk power.

At the core of the band is a rhythm section comprised of close friends who have played together for more than 10 years. Having grown artistically as a unit they function as one organic and intuitive whole. The orginal 5-member band started out by putting their own gritty takes on tunes by the likes of the JBs, the Meters, Booker T. and the MGs, Grant Green and Funkadelic among many others. They quickly gained underground respect and die hard fans. With their searing live sets and original instrumentals, Orgone soon released their debut self titled CD, “Orgone,” in 2002. The result was a collection of all original down home, transcendental, tough and gritty funk instrumentals.

The band fast grew to include a powerful three-piece horn section and a fiery soul singer who all shared the same spirit and deep reverence for the music that inspired them. Singer, Fanny Franklin, joined the groups’ recordings after they were floored seeing her perform with Dakah, the 30-piece hip hop orchestra, and asked her to record with them. Their first recording together, Orgone’s cover of “Funky Nassau”, became a ubiquitous DJ fave worldwide- first appearing on 7″(Nuff Rope) and then getting a 12″ club re-edit by renowned dj Danny Krivit (Nuff Rope). It then appeared on Ubiquity’s Rewind Volume 4 comp, which began the band’s relationship with the prestigious label.

Gaining worldwide recognition for their raw studio recordings and exciting live sets led to the release of “The Killion Floor” on Ubiquity records- a full length album of hard hitting afro-soul & funk from the 9 piece band. While enjoying comparisons to classic acts like Rufus, War & Mandrill, or modern funk staples like Sharon Jones or Breakestra, they’re quick to point out that Orgone is unique.
“We draw from a wide musical and production palette … it’s a reflection of the music and production aesthetics that we love.”
Orgone backs this up by taking the listener on a musical journey from the sound of Los Angeles to horn and percussion driven Lagos to a New York club and to the raw sounds of New Orleans. The title of the album “The Killion Floor” is derived from the Orgone apartment/studio facility where the majority of the album was recorded. Singer Franklin delivers monster performances on tracks like the Memphis-drenched “Who Knows Who,” the laid-back and cosmic “Said and Done,” and the apocalyptic sound of “Do Your Thing”. The album also features guest appearances by singer Noelle Scaggs (from the Rebirth), trumpeter/arranger Todd Simon (Dapkings, Antibalas, CPK, Breakestra), and guitarist/producer Dan Ubick (CPK/ Lions).

The band’s reputation amongst the funk, soul, and hip hop fraternity is further backed-up by an impressive and ever growing resume that expands their reach. This includes a spot in an Adidas campaign, a tour with and backing band for Bun B(from UGK), Pharoahe Monch, Plantlife (including a BBC performance for Jools Holland), Little Brother, Nice and Smooth, Black Sheep and New Orleans funk legend Eddie Bo at a Hurricane Katrina benefit. Members of Orgone also have featured in the make-up of Ubiquity acts the Lions, Connie Price and the Keystones, Breakestra, and have performed with the Pharcyde, De La Soul, Too Short, Macy Gray among many others. To top it off, most of the group can be heard on recent major recordings by Alicia Keys, Estelle, Anthony Hamilton, Jennifer Hudson, Solange Knowles and many other R&B/Soul artists.

Orgone continues to tour, impressing audiences and winning new fans at festivals & clubs nationally and overseas. 2009 saw the release of their second fully independent CD “bacano”, a collection of all original cold-blooded funk gems representing what’s always been going down in Orgone’s funky, sweaty home-grown recording spot. It’s a recorded history of the band and its musical family throwing down: check the lethal neck-busting bass intro of founding member Tim Glum on “You Already Doin It”, the 3-Detroit thump of bassist Dale Jennings on the deep hypnotic funk soundscape of “Vibromeyer”, the dance floor soul of singer Gino Garafalo on the undeniably hip-shaking “Come Around” and the sub-atomic gut punch of Orgone bassist Ethan Phillips on the heavy psychedelic groove of “Hott Karl”.
Orgone live and recorded is 100% organic heart and soul an aesthetic and an attitude born out of half a lifetime of playing together.

Yard Dogs Road Show

www.yarddogsroadshow.com

The Yard Dogs Road Show is a hobo cabaret, a living patchwork of vaudeville and rock and roll. In the enchanting land of stage show entertainment theirs is both pleasant and formidable terrain.  They require a sensitivity to the subtle and the absurd. They lead the modern hobohemian on a visual and sonic journey through part of history that may or may not have existed – followed by an ambitious return to the emotional challenges of our punch-drunk contemporary world. It’s a true story on stage: sword swallowers, dancing dolls, fire eaters and sunset hobo poetry – all animated by the live sounds of the Yard Dogs cartoon heavy band. Yard Dogs Road Show is pure visual and sonic voodoo.

Born from the saloon vaudeville that toured the Wild West in the late 1800’s and slammed into the underworld of modern American road culture. The Yard Dogs create a timeless space for the union of ancient theatrical alchemy and modern pop culture.

The Before Now and How Did

There is some speculation as to the origin of all this.  Not for the want of mystery but for the difficulty in translating an experience that was navigated by the overly-romantic and sleep deprived. Shows came and went leaving very little time to fully comprehend what was going on.  Some say the carnival-inspired performance art of the Yard Dogs Road Show began as a three piece jug band performing in road houses and dance halls and at informal gatherings, including Oregon’s modern day acid tests with Ken Kesey and The Merry Pranksters. Some say they traveled in a 1967 Ford Galaxy 500 and the evolution of their show revealed itself in the flames of a campfire on Dog Creek Road: dancing dolls with feather fans, an hombre in silver sunglasses eating fire, a dreamy guitar boy with golden locks, a bearded swami capable of conjuring the supernatural . Others say this story is complete hogwash and it was actually the brainchild of a unemployed “cowboy” and his faithful muse – transient artists with an incredible talent for brainstorming impossible ideas while under the influence of poppy tea and wishful thinking.  By chance these conversations were overheard by an ambitious young poet who decided to actualize them for the sake of all impossible dreams everywhere. When the three finally immerged from their stupor they realized that they were in show business. An almost homeless lifestyle sprinkled with moments of outstanding glory and recognition. But mostly uncertain days. The only thing they could rely on was the fact that there would always be glitter under their fingernails and confetti in their bed.  Truly a life of horseshit and confetti.

Either way, that was eight years ago, and the unlikely troupe of gypsies has been performing on stages ever since.

The Bread and Butter

In an historical sense we are a family run show. We endeavor to operate a values based entertainment business that sustains itself on pure democracy and creative collaboration.  The Yard Dogs are a naturally occurring phenomenon – favored by those seeking an unsullied entertainment experience. We are continually working towards a refinement of showmanship and musicianship while simultaneously finding creative ways to embrace our community and the forever present unexpected.

The Untold and Who Knows

We have many plans that require many miles.  Some say the show will settle down, maybe in your town – in a small theater or even under canvas – just long enough to flatten the grass and feed the baby.  Whatever the future holds we want you to be there, dressed in your finest masquerade.  Now is the time to alter the course of our journey and we hope that you will be there to witness the charade.

The Yard Dogs

Ford Theatre Reunion

The FORD THEATRE REUNION! Featuring your FAVORITE STANDARDS and ASTOUNDING ORIGINAL WORKS performed by the world’s most RESPECTED MUSICAL PLAYERS! BREATHTAKING FEATS of UNTOLD HUMAN ENDURANCE! ASTONISHING PERFORMANCES and RARE & EXOTIC DANCES! RESTORATIVE NOSTRUMS and MAGIC TRICKS! UNICORNS of ALL SHAPES & COLOURS! Don’t fall for recitalists of dubious ability: THE FORD THEATRE REUNION IS THE MOST ACCLAIMED TRAVELING COMPANY THAT HAS EVER GRACED THE PLANET!* *thefordtheatrereunionandit’saffiliatesoffernoguaranteeastothevalidityoftheseclaims litigation is utterly futile

The Meatmen

www.myspace.com/themeatmenrule

Punk pranksters the Meatmen had one of the nastiest, most offensive senses of humor in all of hardcore — and that’s saying something. Politically incorrect before the term existed, frontman Tesco Vee — the one constant in the band’s lineup — kept things as gleefully stupid and tasteless as possible, cracking graphic jokes about various bodily functions while baiting women, minorities, homosexuals, rival punk bands, and handicapped children. The Meatmen’s music was generally standard-issue hardcore punk, with nods to heavy metal in their latter years; much more important, however, was their sheer outrageousness, which was the real basis for their following.Meatmen founder Tesco Vee was born Robert Vermuellen, and grew up mostly in Lansing, MI, where he discovered the music of Detroit proto-punkers like the MC5 and the Stooges. Starting in his teenage years, he published several punk fanzines, chronicling the Midwestern scene in one called Touch & Go. In 1980, he adopted the stage name Tesco Vee (the first part after his favorite record store) and teamed with brothers Rich and Greg Ramsey (bass and guitar, respectively) to form the Meatmen. Initial drummer Jim Forsey quickly gave way to Eliot Rachtman, and the Meatmen soon built a following for on-stage antics that had little to do with Vee’s day job as a fourth-grade teacher.Later in 1980, Vee teamed with Necros bassist Corey Rusk to found Touch & Go Records, which released the Meatmen’s 1982 debut EP, Blood Sausage. It was followed in short order by another EP, Crippled Children Suck; it was later reissued as part of an LP that also included demos and outtakes. By this time, Rachtman had been replaced first by Mr. X and then by ex-Necros drummer Todd Swalla; meanwhile, Greg Ramsey had also quit to have brother Rich take over his guitar slot, at which point Mike Achtenbourg joined on bass. Vee, uninterested in the business aspects of running a record label, also ceded control of Touch & Go to Rusk, who would build it into one of the most influential indie labels of the ’80s. The Meatmen’s — and Touch & Go’s — first full-length LP, We’re the Meatmen…and You Suck!!, appeared in 1983, and contained both Blood Sausage tracks and live versions of Crippled Children material. Following its release, the first version of the Meatmen disbanded, and Vee relocated to Washington, D.C.With help from ex-Minor Threat guitarists Lyle Preslar and Brian Baker, Vee recorded the solo EP Dutch Hercules in 1984. Preslar and Baker subsequently formed the backbone of a musically potent new version of the Meatmen, which featured bassist Graham McCulloch and drummer Eric Zelzdor. Leaving Touch & Go for Homestead, this lineup released War of the Superbikes in 1985. Baker subsequently left the group to start the early emo band Dag Nasty, and was replaced by Stuart Casson. Casson, in turn, left halfway through the recording of 1986’s Rock & Roll Juggernaut (now on Caroline), and was replaced by James Cooper; when Cooper left in 1987, Casson came right back. Also in 1987, Zelzdor departed and gave way to Mark “Gooly” Kermanj. This lineup embarked on a farewell tour in 1988, which produced the live album We’re the Meatmen…and You Still Suck!!!Two years after the Meatmen’s breakup, Tesco Vee emerged from retirement to form the Hate Police, which recorded several singles and an album over 1990-1993. Meanwhile, Touch & Go compiled the entirety of the Meatmen’s recordings for the label on 1991’s evocatively titled Stud Powercock: The Touch and Go Years. In 1993, after the Hate Police disbanded, Vee teamed with a Meatmen-influenced band called True Grit to form a third version of the Meatmen, this time featuring guitarist Norman Voss, bassist Mark Davis, and drummer Mark Glass. Vee formed his own Meatking label to issue the new lineup’s first effort, the limited-edition Toilet Slave, in 1994. The follow-up, 1995’s Pope on a Rope, featured new drummer Rob San Pietro and landed the group support slots with the likes of Gwar and Butt Trumpet. War of the Superbikes, Vol. 2, released by Go Kart in 1996, featured the entirety of the original album plus a selection of new songs to fill out the CD. A final EP, Evil in a League with Satan, appeared in 1997 before the group broke up once again. A decade later, the Meatmen returned to the studio to begin work on Cover the Earth, which was released in 2009 and followed by a mammoth U.S. tour.

Easy Action

www.myspace.com/easyaction

Easy Action, out of Detroit, features John Brannon & Harold Richardson of Negative Approach. 

The Loaded Nuns

http://www.myspace.com/theloadednuns
http://www.zodiackillerrecords.com 

“Straight ahead, no-bullshit punk rock”~Razorcake

“they do rather give it a welly with the tunes” MAXIMUMROCKNROLL






Vibrolas

www.myspace.com/vibrolas

Chris, Leila, & Andy decided they needed an excuse to end up face down in the gutter, and since they enjoyed rockin out so much, the Vibrolas were born – or something like that . . .