The Folks at Three Sheets ( 372 Elm St.) in New Haven have done a swell job shedding the image left behind by Elm Bar and have turned their business into a destination point in downtown New Haven. They have great food, some fabulous micro brewery beers on tap and best of all, all the shows are free.
This Saturday at Three Sheets punk rock returns with local goth/horror punks Death Church, Connecticut music awards winners for "Best Punk" The Lost Riots, and coming down from Worcester, Ma are the Social Distortion sounding Slitstitch.
Big big big show in Danbury CityCenter on Sunday starting at noon. A ton of awesome bands are joining forces to raise money for Ann's Place, a support center for cancer patients.
New Band Alert! Saint Cobra are a New Haven area quartet who are new to the scene but they have been starting strong. With a barrage of shows and a building fan base its only a matter of months before Saint Cobra will become a household name. Guitarist and vocalist Mykl Sivak took some time out and answered some questions for us.
Tomb and Thirst hails from New Haven and has been taking the Elm City on a ride through the world of Metal, doom, sludge, and grindcore. Releasing a self-titled CD late last year they are on their way to becoming one of the premier bands to see in the area. Check out an interview with guitarist Dave Lutz.
CT is huge and new bands are always popping up all over the place. Check out a new track from Head With Wings, called Time Will Never Let Me Be. It's going to be on their upcoming debut EP currently in production.
Brian Conner (aka King Weekend, Bricon) is a CTIndie contributor and Western Connecticut hero. He has been a bunch of bands (White Mountain, Guilty Faces, Debachery) and knows pretty much everyone in this part of the state. Brian Connor Convention (or BriCon for short) is a quasi-yearly show put on by Brian Connor featuring friends bands. This BriCon will be the last in CT for some time (possibly ever) as Brian is moving to Texas to fulfill his destiny.
From the ashes of old bands comes new ones. When the members of Speedy Ortiz's other bands split up (the sadly missed: Quilty, Graph and Ovlov) members of these bands got together to explore their tastes in a new setting: SPEEDY ORTIZ.
Murdervan
The Vultures
Red Blade
Defcon 5
Thee Musical Marinades
Saturday, March 10
Cherry Street Station
491 North Cherry Street Extension
Wallingford, CT 06492
21+ - $4
8pm doors - Music starts early at 8:45pm
New Haven grungy rockers Murdervan are playing one final gig to properly send off their guitarist Shaun Bowen, who will be moving to California soon for school. So head on down this Saturday and celebrate with the band and a bunch of other great bands from the New Haven area.
While some might say that musical revivals come every 20 years or so, as is happening now with grunge, others say that certain musical influences are always there in the background waiting for the right band to put them in a more modern context. Right now there seems to be psychedelic revival happening, where modern bands are taking the best parts of late 60’s and 70’s rock and giving them a fresh new outlook. In a way, this new outcropping of bands is neo-traditionalist in their intentions. Whatever you want to call it, there are some exciting sounds happening right now.
This revival has been going on for a while now, and a lot of this new psyche has been centered on California.
“There are a lot of cool things going on right now in that a lot of the bands playing this music are all linked by the West Coast,” said Howlin’ Rain guitarist/vocalist Ethan Miller.
Miller should know what he is talking about because he has been involved with this sort of music for a while, whether it was the incendiary power of his previous band, Comets On Fire, or his current project he has been at ground zero for this psychedelic rebirth. Over the course of four albums, COF blazed a red hot trail over the underground rock landscape. In fact, Howlin’ Rain was started as a side project (in a band where many members had side projects) in 2004 in order to feed Miller’s need to make more melodic music. COF broke up in 2006 after the release of their excellent, “Avatar” record for Sub Pop and now Miller was ready to pursue Howlin’ Rain to its full potential.
“It was like we were all standing in the center of a room with Comets On Fire and decided to walk away from the center of the room, but not close any of the doors on the way out,” said Miller.
Howlin’ Rain released their debut record in 2006 on independent label, Birdman, went on tour with the Queens Of The Stone Age and eventually caught the eye of uber-producer Rick Rubin, who eventually signed the band to his American Label and acted as a quality control consultant for the band. The highly lauded “Magnificient Fiend” followed in 2008, with Birdman handling the vinyl. The band experienced some line up changes and issued the “The Good Life” EP in 2011. It has been a while since there last full length and that’s all about to change when they drop their new record “The Russian Wilds” on Valentine’s Day.
Once again Rubin served as the quality control officer, while the hands-on production work was handled by Tim Green. This is the first record that is going to showcase the band’s new stable and quite kick ass line-up of Isaiah Mitchell (guitar, vocals), Raj Ojha (drums), Cyrus Comiskey (bass), Joel Robinow (keys, vocals), who join Miller (guitar, vocals) in this journey to the center of the mind.
In fact, one could say, Miller is “psyched” about this new line-up.
“There is something to be said about rehearsing three times a week, and in the process you become finely honed weaponry, where you can just fire it up and burn down a stage,” said Miller.
They were also aiming for a very classic feel to this album. In the press materials, there are mentions of such albums as Jimi Hendrix’s “Electric Ladyland”, Steely Dan’s “Gaucho” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Darkness On The Edge Of Town” as influences. But before you think this record is some psychedelic/jazz/bar band hybrid, you have to understand that the influences aren’t necessarily musical in a literal sense.
“We were going for the spirit of those records and not getting too hung up on specifics. After a day in the studio, I might go home and put on “Electric Ladyland” to get into a certain frame of mind. We’re doing this in a creative way. We’re connecting with those records spiritually,” said Miller.
They have succeeded spectacularly because not only does “The Russian Wilds” sound wonderful and contain some the band’s best songs, as well as ripping guitar work from both Mitchell and Miller, it also captures a certain vibe, one that hasn’t reared its head in a long time. It’s a big rock record and is not afraid of that tag.
So here is a chance to see a band in its prime, with a killer line up and a great new album, up close and personal. Come on down, and you can say you saw the band back when they played smaller bars and clubs. You don’t want to kick yourself for missing this one.
Manic Productions Presents:
Howlin’ Rain
D. Charles Speer & The Helix
The Voodoo Fix
Friday December 9, 9pm
Scotty O'Boyle's
523 North Colony Street, Meriden, CT 06450
Free admission
21+
DJ's will begin spinning the classics at 9 sharp. Think lots of Deep Purple, Priest, Sabbath, Rainbow, Blue Oyster Cult, etc. Nightbitch will perform at midnight
Drink specials and $2 PBR bottles guaranteed to keep your lazer burnin' HOTT
...reindeer fucker for those in the know
SEASONAL ATTIRE:
Gentlemen are encouraged to wear Santa outfits or homely sweaters.
Ladies are encouraged to dress as slutty elves.
While their name might be a little bit misleading, because there are no Jeffs in the band, brothers Jake (guitar/vocal) and Jamin (drums) Orrall play a stripped down version of garage rock that touches on punk, glam, psycehedelia, power pop and 70’s hard rock. While some people say they the duo sounds like Weezer, to these older and more seasoned ears, I hear traces of the Ramones, Cheap Trick and a whole bunch of bearded anonymous 70’s riff mongers in their sound. Whatever you want to call it, they take all these cool influences and turn it into one energetic and thoroughly enjoyable racket.
To put it bluntly, this shit rocks.
On their newest record (and fifth overall) entitled “We Are The Champions”, which was released through the duo’s own Infinity Cat Recordings, they bring the rock early and often giving a listener an infectious jolt of rock n roll, that’s sure to tickle the their pleasure centers.
Opener “Hey Friend” builds off a primitive, yet effective, beat from Jamin and adds a psychedelic, Middle Easter sounding guitar riff to the mix as Jake sings about loving your mom… and dad. “Cool Out” is a Ramones-like speed workout, while “Bummer” piles on epic and catchy rawk riffs. “Shredder” lives up to its name, as the band plays fast and furious with a riff that is eerily reminiscent of Turbonegro in their “Apocalypse Dudes” hey day. This one just accelerates and accelerates until it explodes in your lap. “Ripper” quite frankly, rips with its combo of punk speed and groove laden riff breakdowns, while “Diamond Way” is pure power pop bliss. Closer “Wastoid Girl” merges all that is good about the band’s sound into one rousing finale. (They also made a very cool video of this song, which will hopefully be featured below. One thing though, it does contain some nudity.)
What’s even more amazing about the duo, is that Jake only plays with three strings on his guitar and Jamin uses just three drums and three cymbals. It’s interesting how they can turn this minimalism into maximum rock’n’roll and have been doing so since they started playing together in their hometown of Nashville back in 2002.
So here’s a chance to see a really excellent band in a nice intimate performance space. Still, this band does sound like they would go better with booze, and The Space, is alcohol free, but no problem, you can just cross the parking lot to the Outer Space and get your drink on if you are so inclined.
So, what are you waiting for?
Manic Productions Presents:
JEFF The Brotherhood
Colleen Green
Ovlov
Dead Wives
Friday, September 2, 2011
The Space
295 Treadwell Street
Hamden, CT
7:00pm - $10 – All Ages and 21+ to drink in the Outer Space
Also playing:
"Green One" is Colleen Green's first release for Hardly Art! Four tracks of lovely, catchy, fuzzy songs that range from 80s pop goulash to psychedelic drone; from 90s power punk to homemade Sebadoh-style songs of heartache.
Ovlov is an alternative grunge rock band based out Newtown, Ct. As Steve and Dave's previous band, Home Movies, had finally come to its slow but certain demise, they decided to pick up where they left off with a heavier take on the pop rock scene, and a new name, of course. Priding themselves on being the loudest band in the room, Ovlov craft alternative rock songs that are smart and infectious. They may wear their influences on their sleeve, but that shouldn’t suggest that they’re simply retreading old territory. The grunge elements are all there, but they’re rearranged in a way that feels fresh. Ovlov perform their songs with such infectious energy and enthusiasm that you’ll banish any thought of this being some winking, ironic tribute to the sounds of yesteryear. If anything, they are carrying that lo-fi torch into the future.
Dead Wives started in 2007, inspired by songwriters such as Robert Pollard and Lou Barlow to compile a vast musical catalog. Their fifth and most recent demo tape was completed in summer 2010, with more apparently on the way, all of which heavily incorporate the muddiness of 80’s proto-grunge. Dead Wives' current lineup formed in 2009, a dynamic 3-piece including members of Ovlov and The Screw-Ups. Some initial reviews described the music as “skate-rock,” a tag the band has proudly adopted. Their “Scuz Bucket” EP was self-released in February 2011.
Red Fang deal in the type of whiskey fueled musical badassery that should endear them to all lovers of kick ass riff rock, for both the beer chugging beard-o's and beardless hell raisers alike. They do a great job of mixing an up-yours attitude of doing-it-yourself with some of the best riffs this side of the Melvins or Clutch.
This fearsome foursome from Portland, Oregon has been building their following through great music, relentless touring and a couple of hilarious music videos that capture the band in all their dude-tastic glory. They have come a long way since I saw them open for the Fucking Champs and Birds of Avalon at a VFW hall in Wallingford many years ago.
The first of these videos, for “Prehistoric Dog,” a track off their self-titled debut CD released by Sargent House in 2009, shows the band running afoul of some angry LARPing nerds in a park. The video perfectly captures the essence of a band that is as much about self-deprecating fuck-it humor as they are serious about shredding as tightly as a frog's asshole.
“That was 110 percent the director Whitey McConnaughy’s idea. He just took us to a bar and explained the concept to us. We were laughing our asses off, so we just knew it would be good and to be honest we wouldn’t be quite on the radar without it,” said guitarist/vocalist Maurice Bryan Giles.
This clip helped raise the band’s profile quite a bit and eventually lead to a deal with Relapse Records, who just put out the band’s sophomore effort, “Murder The Mountains” earlier this year. They definitely don’t succumb to any slump on this one, as the band, which also includes Aaron Beam (bass/vocals), David Sullivan (guitar) and John Sherman (drums), steps up to the plate and delivers a fine slice of riff rock, tempering their frantic pace with slower tempos, lush atmospheres and great songwriting.
Giles said that they were very pleased on how the record turned out and will put some of the credit to producer Chris Funk, who is more known for producing indie rock bands like the Decemberists, than anything approaching hard rock or metal. Using an outside the metal box producer has worked wonders for fellow label mates Baroness and Tombs, who used John Congleton, another noted indie rock producer for their latest, critically acclaimed platters. So it was a bit of risk that paid off.
“Chris approached us and expressed interest in producing the record. I was a little leery at first because the Decemberists sound totally different from us. But he persisted and we found out that he has an appreciation for all types of music,” said Giles.
In fact, the band and Funk formed a fruitful creative partnership in the studio. The band members were pushing each other and Funk would encourage them to take their music wherever they thought it should go.
“Chris is a great producer, great motivator and good with getting the ideas out and getting them done,” said Giles.
The biggest difference between “Murder” and their debut is that the newer one sounds a little more produced and works with differing tempos throughout. Giles said that the first one was more of a punk record while this one has more diverse ideas and sounds.
He is completely right in that regard, because if anything “Murder The Mountains”, shows the band stretching their songwriting wings a bit and going a little outside of their comfort zone. It’s a diverse record with a diverse amount of sounds and tempos because some of the songs on it are older while some are newer. It just takes their sound in some newer directions.
While the record is easily one of the best pure hard rock experiences of the year, the band once again turned to McConnaughy to make a video for lead single, “Wires”. This one shows how the band spends a check from their label and features a cameo from comedian Brian Posehn, who utters a hilarious one liner, and once again captures the band in their ragged glory.
“The characters in the video are very close to who we are. I admit it, I’m a dude,” said Giles.
But don’t let the beards fool you, the band are also, shall we say a bunch of foodies. For instance, there is a recipe for Red Fang Pad Thai by Beam in Steve Seabury’s awesome metal themed cooking book, “Mosh Potatoes”. And it is delicious. (Trust me, I got the book for a girlfriend who is way into cooking and collecting cookbooks and she cooked me this and it was really good.) Even though, that wasn’t the only recipe submitted. Giles submitted a recipe for something called Chicken L’Orange, but was denied. This recipe includes ramen noodles, an egg, diced chicken and orange marmalade.
“It’s what I call budget fancy. It’s from my salad days,” said Giles with a laugh.
Luckily they have the music thing going for them, as you can see them on the Jagermeister Stage at the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival which plays the Comcast Theater in Hartford on Sunday, July 24, where they will be bring their wild and woolly rock to the masses.
Get there early, you might just discover a new favorite band and if you want some cooking tips, I’m sure they’ll give those to you, too.
Mayhem Festival
Comcast Theater
61 Savitt Way
Hartford CT
Sunday July 24, All Ages, 2:15 pm, $25 - $75
On Saturday, September 25th locals Broken, The Vultures, Lord Fowl and Iron Hand will be performing at Cafe Nine as part of a benefit show for local musician Jamie Saxton who is currently battling cancer.
"We're doing up a benefit show for Jamie Saxton, longtime friend and area musician (of Beer Scouts of America, Five9Five, & Tijuana Hot Cocks), who is currently wrestling with cancer. Our hope is to put a lot of people in a room, get some good music going, some raffling, and some good times and hopefully our proceeds will help ease the burden on the Saxtons during an already difficult time. Please help spread the word and come down ready to drink, get rowdy, and win some prizes all for a really good cause. Show starts promptly at 9pm! So don't show up at 10 thinking you're not missing anything."
There's a $10 suggested donation for the show (or more if you can). In addition, there will be a raffle with prizes from a lot of New Haven area businesses including Firehouse 12, Haven Skate Park, Lovecraft Tattoo, and more.
Even if you don't know Jamie, the show alone, featuring some of New Haven's best punk and hard rock bands, should be well enough reason to get yourself to Cafe Nine on September 25th.
Catering for the event will be provided by Consiglios, baked goods by Shamar & friends..
Raffle includes prizes by:
-Tie-dies by the Moody Family -Tickets to Long Wharf Theater -Haven Skate Park -The Mighty Mighty Bosstones -Channel 1 -Lovecraft Tattoo -Brass City Tattoo -Safety Meeting Records -Photoshoot by Lipgloss Crisis (makeup by Jamie Arabolos) -Massage by Songbird Therapeutics -BAR -Sullivan's Restaurant -Petco package -Art by Jo Kramer, Rob Beam, U-C-E-R, Katro
~all photos above and below from rev. aaron michael pepelis
Sure the new Danzig record is better than expected, but if you really want a dose of some sleazy hard rock action, you should look a little closer to home, look to Connecticut's own Nightbitch. Their mission is simple. "We have a manifesto for this band, which is wicked women, unholy passion and fire nights," said guitarist Ryan Adams. What, you may ask, is a fire night? According to Adams it's a night of crazed rock'n'roll debauchery, one where you drop all inhibitions and go crazy like your life depended on it. You can dress any way you like. "If any of us owned a pair of leather pants, we would wear them to a fire night," said Adams. So leather pants, or no pants, Nightbitch delivers the goods. They merge the best of traditional metal and hard rock and combine it with the sweaty hip thrust of the first few Danzig records. The band formed about a year ago when Adams, who also plays in recently signed to Metal Blade black metallers Ipsissimus, was looking to start another project, one that combined his love of classic metal and hard rock. First he needed a strong vocalist. A mutual friend introduced him to powerhouse vocalist Phil Swanson, of critically acclaimed underground metal duo Hour Of 13. Swanson liked what he heard and the band which also includes Chris Taylor on drums and Mark Eles on bass, was formed. But first they needed a name, on that would fit the band's musical and aesthetic outlook. You would think this would be the hard part, but it was actually easier than expected. "We wanted to come up with the sleaziest name we could. One that would fit the music and concept of the band. One of us just blurted out the name at practice and we all said, 'That's it'," said Adams. They have a demo out and it's filled with tales of sex and magic, werewolves copulating and even ritual masturbation. It's all very lurid, very virile and very awesome. They plan to release the demo as a cassette through the No Visible Scars label in August. There will two versions of it. The standard edition will include a pin, a sticker as well as an insert, while the special edition will feature all the above goodies, but will be wrapped in leather and stamped with a sigil. Adams said releasing it on cassette is good way to weed out the true from the false out there, plus it's a cool way to present the music, one that fits well with the band's aesthetic. There will also be a vinyl version of it available in October, released through Iron Age vocalist's Jason Tarpey's Cyclopean Records. On the live the front, the band has played a few local shows and even opened for Pentagram, but come September, they take Nightbitch international, as they travel to Dublin, Ireland, to be part of the Dublin Doom Day, an international fest of doom metal bands. For the actual show, they will be backing Swanson for an Hour Of 13 set, but the night before the show, they will get a chance to spread the Nightbitch gospel as they play a pre-show gig as a warm up. All this attention is all good to Adams, who is pleasantly surprised at how far the band has gone in such a short time, especially a band with such modest, yet praiseworthy goals. "We just want to bring a sleazy swagger to Connecticut," said Adams. Well, amen to that. So break out your leathers for a fire night, because Nightbitch is coming, or is that...err, cumming your way. Lock up your daughters.
