We keep our eyes peeled for new tour dates announcements each week and compile them on Tuesdays for this handy column… Since releasing their debut album North Hills in 2009,
Have you ever imagined seeing one of your favorite bands back in the day? You know, when they were playing bars and frat parties for anyone that would listen? Seeing them now, it’s hard to imagine that acts like Phish or Dave Matthews Band ever played for 50 people and a case of beer but they did – and they weren’t as polished as they are now. So when Keller Williams announced the Keller and the Keels Play Your Couch contest (in support of their album Thief), the possibility of winning was pretty damn exciting.
[Poster block hand carved by contest winner Nick Dellinger]
In a YouTube announcement last September, Keller’s daughter picked the winners name from a salad bowl. That winner turned out to be Nick Dellinger from Richmond, VA. The prize? A private 90-minute performance for Nick and 49 of his friends by Keller Williams, flat picking champion Larry Keel and his beautiful bass playing wife, Jenny Keel.
The complexities of Keller, Larry & Jenny’s schedule are neither subtle nor mutually dependent. It took about seven months for everyone to find a date that worked. Logistics, on the other hand, turned out to be pretty simple: Nick, Keller, Larry & Jenny all happen to live in Virginia. As for the “couch”, everyone lucked out because Nick happens to be a family friend of the Campbell’s, who own a farm right outside of Fredericksburg, VA (Keller’s Home). READ ON to find out how this intimate show went…
Well you asked for it. Last week we announced on Twitter – and also right here on HT – that we were taking suggestions for this weeks Cover Wars and we are men and women of our words. We went with ChefRobD’s suggestion to take a look at covers of The Crunge by Led Zeppelin.
The Crunge was released in 1973 on Houses Of The Holy and combines odd-time signatures with a James Brown-esque funk riff, a pairing that as it turns out is a match made in heaven.
For those of you who sent in suggestions that were not selected, hang tight because we are already working on next week’s edition which also was a suggestion gathered from Twitter feedback.
The Contestants:
Artist: Bustle In Your Hedgerow
Live Show: 2009-01-17
The Skinny: Marco Benevento and Joe Russo of the Benevento/Russo Duo plus Dave Dreiwitz of Ween and Scott Metzger of Rana make up this instrumental Led Zeppelin tribute band. This performance of Crunge is lifted out of a three song medley from this 2009 show where Crunge was sandwiched between Trampled Under Foot and How Many More Times. I’ve left a little of the audio of both of the songs in for context, but to hear the entire segment you should click on over to the full show at the Live Music Archive.
READ ON for more covers of The Crunge from the likes of Gov’t Mule…
The four bandmates of the surging British rock band Yuck have a collective age well below a century, yet this band demonstrates an innocent wisdom well beyond their salad days. In chatting with guitarist Max Bloom, it’s easy to embrace the honest intentions behind this band. They compiled a knockout debut album and took SXSW by storm, not because they had grand ambitions of making a big splash on the indie world or getting a buzzy reception from the music media, but simply because they have fun writing and playing music together.
They had some momentum behind them from the previous success of Cajun Dance Party, a band that both Max Bloom and Daniel Blumberg played in, but they self-produced their self-titled album and found joy in the creative process. Yuck makes it easy for people to pull for them, not just because the sound is a throwback to the fuzzy guitar rock of the ’90s, but because they are in it for all the right reasons.
Hidden Track: I know you and Daniel were in another band previously, but listening to this album, it strikes me as one of those albums that is so good in part because perhaps it’s bits and pieces of things you’ve had in your head forever. You know, the old mantra that debut albums are so good, because you’ve had your whole life to work on it?
Max Bloom: Right, with the old band, I wasn’t really involved in the creative part of it. I wasn’t even playing guitar, I was just playing bass. I didn’t really want to be in that band for a long period of time. Although, the majority of what I learned and actually used had really been in the past year. With the album, it was made quite instinctively.
I think debut albums are always quite interesting, because the band makes them without the knowledge that it’s ever going to get heard. A band just makes the music for the joy of it, rather than being at the stage where they have to care. Me and Daniel were kind of just making songs and making music, because it was fun. The idea of people hearing it was definitely not on our minds. I think it was kind of just a selection of songs rather than an album, more of a summary of a period of time.
READ ON for more of Ryan’s chat with Max Bloom of Yuck…
Mixing intimate venues with larger theaters, Paul Simon’s tour in support of So Beautiful or So What has gotten off to a good start according to the mostly glowing reviews
Duran Duran performing at Club Epic, Minneapolis MN 4.22.11.
The lineup has been announced for Lollapalooza, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year on August 5th-7th at Chicago’s Grant Park.
At the top of the bill are Eminem, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, Muse and HT favorites My Morning Jacket. Other HT favorites Grace Potter & The Nocturnals and Ween have also successfully snuck their way into a mostly indie-centric lineup.
This year’s lineup for ‘Perry’s Place”, the electronic-themed stage, features festival mainstays Girl Talk, Pretty Lights, Kid Cudi and many others.
Three day passes will run you $215. READ ON for the full lineup…
The Mountain Goats have confirmed a string of headlining West Coast tour dates in support of their new album ‘All Eternals Deck’ (Merge Records), including a show at the El
Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter will release Marble Son on August 2, 2011. Marble Son is the band’s fourth album and the first that was co-produced by Jesse Sykes
Eminem, Coldplay, Foo Fighters and Muse wll inhelp Lollapalooza ring in its 20th anniversary as the headliners of the annual U.S. music festival. The full lineup for Lollapalooza 2011, which
