A Will Away

From the upper east coast, during the hottest part of the year, these four guys turned it up a notch at the indoor stage of Stubb's (http://www.stubbsaustin.com/).

This sweet little venue is at the bottom of the stairs from the famous restaurant, or behind the stage of the outdoor amphitheater, depending on which way you enter. The venue is a fairly snug little room with a nice sized stage, a low slung ceiling, and a bar at the back of the room This provides Stubb's indoor stage to be the perfect setting for an intimate road show performance.

A Will Away (https://www.awillaway.com/) wasted no time in firing up the crowd in the 90+ degree at 8:30 at night. plowing through the first several songs and a couple of guitar changes before hearing from the lead singer. Telling the crowd about their journeys on the road and this tour, A Will Away perfectly mixed that spot of levity with the well crafted songs.

Although it is possible the oppressive heat had the crowd a little down, A Will Away proved to be an amazing and energetic start to the night. The greatest point was bringing the crowd in on their performance with 'Pay Raise'. No way you can not answer their questions or cheer the song, but singing along and seeing the crowd lift up at this point in the show proved A Will Away deserves their spot headlining...




and soon!












Laters

Caught up in the moment

So it happens, I totally missed a write up of a local performance. More damning is that it was the debut performance of another Austin original.

So here I am again at Stubb's ( http://stubbsaustin.com/ ). I said it in a previous post (http://livemusicinaustin.blogspot.com/2011/06/ponder-this.html ), I love this inside stage. Takes me back to the garage, basement shows I saw in my late teens, early twenties in New Orleans, La. Very dark inside with the exposed ceiling. Bar to the back and bathrooms tucked away in almost impossible to find locations, BUT understand this is better because it is Stubb's. Access to the outside for you smokers from a door just to the side of the stage, a solo pool table cordoned off in another room and most importantly an A_M_A_Z_I_N_G view from the balcony/restaurant above the stage. The stage is well lit and the sound is great.

The Roosevelts ( http://www.facebook.com/theroosevelts ) had their debut performance at Stubb's inside. The band is fronted and founded by James Mason and Jason Kloess, formerly of EPMB fame (and more recently the cover band The Good Nights.) Well, no more cover songs here. With a whole new set list of originals, this band is ready to break out and breakthrough! The Roosevelts have that definitive "Austin sound". If you are from around here you know the sound can't be described. If you are not from around then do some music searches on the web, you will find those Austin bands and you will hear and feel that Austin sound The Roosevlets most adeptly keep to. The band also employs the standard arrangement of rhythm and lead guitars, bass and drums keeping tempo, but the keys really pull it all together.


The Roosevelts have melodies and lyrics that are both fun and moving. You hear the songs and are instantly drawn into them like you've heard them before. You are singing the hook two bars in. By the end of the night you will have picked out your favorite tune and will look forward to seeing this band again. I managed to be the outlaw, and against the venues 'strict' "NO VIDEO" soup nazi command at the door, I did capture and record the majority of the show. Watching it afterwards, shows the brilliance these two young men posses. Not just in writing the music and weaving the stories, but in the fun they have on stage! My girlfriend has a stupid band/musician crush on the lead singer and managed to sit and watch all of the video clips like she was at the show AND she has already picked out her new favorite misery...a track about a lady in white or a white dress. Very cool story told in song form, listen for it when you go to a show! Nonetheless my point is that she DID NOT attend the performance, but was still captivated by it. My friends, that is some powerful shit for a new band!

All of these things went through my mind as I watched their performance again on video. It was a VERY large crowd draw for a debut performance. James and Jason can say they have a devoted following. This is not bewildering for a new band, but amazing and admirable.



p.s. - because I was so busy bootlegging the show, I didn't take any photos. So I had to pull stills from some of the video.

Laters

Ponder this

Downstairs at Stubbs ( http://stubbsaustin.com/ ) is freaking A W E S O M E !!! I fuckin love this. That basement feel to a bar, the dark dusty feel and look (with the bar at the back) takes me back to old school punk shows and house shows back in New Orleans! It is just the perfect place to see a local band or a touring act that comes through. You can get personal down in front with the band and have a great time. Now once the music starts you can't fucking having a conversation, even if you lean over and yell in their ear.

So, one of my favorite local bands to follow is Eagle Pritchard Murray Band a.k.a. EPMB ( http://www.facebook.com/epmbmusic ) and they did a great job of opening for the headliner, Ponderosa. Always fun and always a great time, is their M.O. They even had some folks who jumped outta the crowd and started dancing (badly at that, but at least they did and were having a GREAT TIME.) A nice little change up to the song order was great. Like the professionals that they are, they started it up tempo, brought the middle of the set down a little, and then ended it on fire. Jason Eagles lead guitar blended too well into the music during the solos ( pedal issue or sound guy...ehh whatevs) so I look forward to the next one. Can't wait to see another show with a full set, hopefully some additions to the line up (horns?), a new revised set list, and end the show with SEVERAL uptempo songs that have the whole place dancing and singing along!

Ponderosa ( http://www.ponderosamusic.com/ ) is from Georgia and touring to support their new album that just released. This is what I refer to as "drinking whiskey straight outta the bottle" music. NO, it is not that rowdy rocker, southern fried music that makes you wanna punch your dog, wreck truck, and cry about her cheatin heart. This is the sit back in the chair and listen to the southern sounds of a keyboard fill the air with some fucking killer vocal harmonies that had me looking  for the back-up singers onstage (there were none)! The lead guitarist was doing some star wars shit with his effects pedals and it just added to an overall wonderful show. Check out their website for future dates, take a listen and DL the album or some tracks if you like.

Laters

Dark Tranquility/Devil Wears Prada/KillSwitch Engage

OK, so maybe you weren't there [sigh]. OK, just hear me out. IT WAS VERY VERY f**kng cold! Did I say it was COLD!

Dark tranquility is from Gothenburg, way up at the top of the world, and as they said 'halfway around the world we're giving an outdoor concert. There is snow this deep [hand gestures 3ft] at home. Austin Texas you're fucking awesome!' Yup short sleeves and all, in some 30+ degree weather, was a nice change for them this time of year. Although they played a short set it was very obvious that they are built for speed. I would've been very happy to be upfront, but Angelina Skye was with me, height was an issue. Anyway they killed it, Dark Tranquility was such a great starter for what was coming. Oh Yeah, and it would be dickish of me not to mention that the new album for Dark Tranquility drops on 03/09/10. Check out a sampling on their myspace music page. Just DO IT, dammit.

Ahhhh The Devil Wears Prada, these young guys absofuckinlutely know how to perform on stage. It was beautiful to watch, kinda like synchronized swimming in the summer Olympics. HA! But really, these are the guys that I CAME TO SEE (and Angel too). Loved the performance, all the energy had the whole audience going. Again, here I know they're music and they definitely have a catalog to support being a headliner, but I guess I'll catch that show some other time. BY THE WAY they had they're name before the dumbass movie was out. I do believe these guys would be pegged as Christcore music, but don't label it, LOVE IT! Now that my blood was circulating from they're VERY contagious energy on stage it was time for the kill....

Alright now...KillSwitch Engage is finishing their tour without there lead singer. Citing 'personal reasons', Howard Jones was absent and in his place was Phil Labonte of 'All That Remains'. Now this, NO DOUBT, made Angelina very, VERY happy as she loves "All That Remains'. The lead guitarist for KSE really brought the energy and you could tell there was some great camaraderie between him and the replacement singer Phil. Once KSE set it off, Angel was even more excited as she realized she knew their songs. I wasn't really impressed by the replacement lead singer, seemed that this wasn't exactly his key, BUT there was a whole lot of 'all of you know this song so sing along with us' then the lead singer would go through some of the lyrics and then hold the mic out over the audience. Tell ya what, definitely some die hard, hard core fans, they didn't miss a a beat, they just screamed and sang along with the band the whole way through. Props to Phil as he definitely made a show of it. We, as an audience, were given big props by the band for being there, in the FREEZINGFUCKINGCOLDNIGHTINAUSTINTEXAS, and still supporting them without their lead singer. Overall was a great performance and makes me smile knowing that the philosophy "The show must go on!" really does mean something in today's musical environment.

Later