An Evening with The Tannahill Weavers
This is a seated show. In the late 18th and early 19th century Scotland was in a turmoil of change. Highlanders were being driven from their lands and into the burgeoning Lowland factory systems. This brought two quite distinct cultures together, the mystic Celtic culture of the North and the old Anglo/Scots culture of the Lowlands. They were married by the double barreled shotgun of necessity and the Industrial Revolution. But this forced union brought forth a cultural heritage which, thanks to people like Robert Burns and Robert Tannahill, outlasted the worst of the Industrial Revolution. It married the mystic beauty of the Celtic music to the coarse, brawling, but vitally human music, poetry and ballads of the Lowlands. It is precisely this strangely moving yet lustily stirring quality that the Tannahill Weavers have captured in their arrangements of the traditional music and songs of Scotland. All of their material is traditional, but as good musicians should, they have transformed it and brought it into the modern world, vitally alive and kicking. HT, Stringbark and Greenhide, Newcastle, Australia The Tannahill Weavers are one of Scotland’s premier traditional bands. Their diverse repertoire spans the centuries with fire-driven instrumentals, topical songs, and original ballads and lullabies. Their music demonstrates to old and young alike the rich and varied musical heritage of the Celtic people. These versatile musicians have received worldwide accolades consistently over the years for their exuberant performances and outstanding recording efforts that seemingly can’t get better…yet continue to do just that. The Tannahills have turned their acoustic excitement loose on audiences with an electrifying effect. They have that unique combination of traditional melodies, driving rhythmic accompaniment, and rich vocals that make their performances unforgettable. As the Winnipeg Free Press noted, “The Tannahill Weavers – properly harnessed – could probably power an entire city for a year on the strength of last night’s concert alone. The music may be old time Celtic, but the drive and enthusiasm are akin to straight ahead rock and roll.” Born of a session in Paisley, Scotland and named for the town’s historic weaving industry and local poet laureate Robert Tannahill, the group has made an international name for its special brand of Scottish music, blending the beauty of traditional melodies with the power of modern rhythms. The Tannahill Weavers began to attract attention when founding members Roy Gullane and Phil Smillie added the full-sized highland bagpipes to the on-stage presentations, the first professional Scottish folk group to successfully do so. The combination of the powerful pipe solos, Roy’s driving guitar backing and lead vocals, and Phil’s ethereal flute playing breathed new life into Scotland’s vast repertoire of traditional melodies and songs. Three years and a dozen countries later, the Tannahills were the toast of Europe, having won the Scotstar Award for Folk Record of the Year with their third album, The Tannahill Weavers. Canada came the next summer, with thousands at the national festivals in Vancouver, Winnipeg and Toronto screaming an approval that echoed throughout the Canadian media. The Regina Leader-Post wrote, “The Tannahill Weavers personify Celtic music, and if you are given to superlatives, you have to call their talent ‘awesome’.” Website | Bandcamp | Facebook
Fantastic Negrito
3x GRAMMY® Award-winner Fantastic Negrito releases his highly anticipated new album, Son of a Broken Man, on October 18 2024 via his own Storefront Records. The new album sees Fantastic Negrito encapsulating his inimitable style, from hard-hitting guitar riffs to expressive ballads, with the unexpected twists that have become his trademark. It stands as one of his most personal works to date, exploring family, deception, and the human desire to hide the true self as he dives deep into the struggle between father and son. Born Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz, Fantastic Negrito’s story is a testament to resilience and the transformative power of music. By now much has been made of Negrito’s unique story – growing up in an orthodox Muslim household, a doomed major label deal, the near-fatal car crash that permanently damaged his guitar playing hand—as well as the remarkable redemption arc that began in 2015, when he won the first-ever NPR Tiny Desk Contest. He has since earned three GRAMMY® Awards for “Best Contemporary Blues Album,” and shared stages with everyone from Sturgill Simpson to Chris Cornell to Bruce Springsteen. He’s collaborated in the studio with the likes of Sting, E-40, and Tank and The Bangas, performed on countless headline world tours and at festivals such as Lollapalooza, Glastonbury, Newport Folk, and WOMAD, and founded the Revolution Plantation, an urban farm aimed at youth education and empowerment. Website
Forever Since Heedfest
Cul de Sac Kids Robert Pollard-obsessed Gary Smith met Neighbor Steve Casker in 2017 after moving into the same cul-de-sac within days of each other. They soon bonded over a common love of beer and music. In 2020, Guided By Voices released Surrender Your Poppy Field containing the track Cul-de-Sac Kids. Shortly after, the idea of a GBV cover band of the same name was realized with Gary (Bob vox) Steve (guitar), and brothers Barry & Perry Mayer forming the rhythm section. Garage gigs led to proper gigs, and they added Textbook Committee veteran Andy Cline on guitar to form the current lineup. Fresh off their Heedfest debut in Dayton, OH last August, CdSK continue adding Pollard-penned tunes to their growing covers catalog and love bringing their garage rock energy to any GBV tribute event that comes calling. Guided By ChoicesYes, the band name sounds eerily similar to another very well known band, and it should! Guided By Choices is the passion project of Speedfossil founder, Garret Vandermolen, and is fronted by Fireking head honcho and Magnetic Fields member, Anthony Kaczynski. Garret and Anthony both LOVE Guided By Voices, and when Garret wanted to put together a group to play all GBV material, a group in which he could also indulge his passion for playing bass, he and Anthony were kindred spirits. They also needed a drummer and two guitarists, and fortunately the other members of Speedfossil were way into the idea of playing Guided by Voices songs (with Michael Scotti taking on a role reversal, playing guitar instead of bass) and, VOILA!, Guided by Choices was born. Bright Paper WerewolvesEchoing like a siren with endurance like the Liberty Bell, Bright Paper Werewolves are a Philadelphia-area tribute to the continuing greatness that is Guided By Voices. Consisting of lead singer Mikey Wilcox, guitarists Matt Bilik and Scott Sonneborn, bassist John Douglas Smith, and drummer Rick Hass, they bring the hits (both popular and obscure) to the insatiable fans of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band of our time. Instagram | Facebook DumbchargerFrom the rolling hills of Tennessee, Dumbcharger is a Guided by Voices cover band bringing raucous, lo-fi indie rock to life. With The Sphinx on guitar, Smash Panda on drums, and Max Banger on bass and vocals, the group channels the spirit and sound of GBV with unfiltered passion. Their performances are a raw, high-energy homage to one of indie rock’s most beloved acts, turning every show into a joyful, beer-fueled singalong. Dumbcharger is a must-see for fans looking to relive or discover the magic of Guided By Voices.
School of Rock Chapel Hill’s End of Season Showcase
Free Show / $10 Suggested Donation 11:00 – Doors 11:30 – The Cure vs. The Smiths 12:30 – Elvis Presley vs. Elvis Costello 1:30 – Best of Cream 2:30 – Best of Queens of the Stone Age 3:30 – Buffer Time 3:45 – Epic Albums: Jimi Hendrix Experience’s “Are You Experienced” 4:45 – Best of Paramore 5:45 – Best of Smashing Pumpkins 6:45 – End of Show Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Facebook Event
Low Cut Connie
“This record is all kink and no shame,” says Adam Weiner of ART DEALERS, the tough, sexy and tender new album coming from Low Cut Connie. “With Low Cut Connie, I try to create a safe space for you to just absolutely get your freak on.” For years now, Low Cut Connie has built its grassroots coalition of oddballs, underdogs, and fun-loving weirdos with songs that celebrate life on the fringes of polite society. The band’s infamously wild, passionate live shows provide a total release – of stress, of inhibition, of shame – working up a primordial rock n roll sweat for fans to get blissfully soaked in. The new album, and its full-length companion film, sizzle with that same cathartic sweat, reminding us that it’s time to get dirty again, and to feel alive. ART DEALERS sits at the intersection of sleazy and soulful – a collection of risky, romantic, life-affirming anthems, all dedicated to you. “I think rock n roll exists to be a red-blooded, countercultural medium,” says Weiner, who has performed under the Low Cut Connie moniker for over a decade, “You’re supposed to get your hair messed-up.” That imperative comes through in the adults-only tone of songs like the opening “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know,” a sinuous, lurid rocker that sounds like walking through depraved Times Square in 1978 – neon-lit and nasty with a snapping beat. The speedy, fuzzed-up garage-rocker “Whips and Chains” calls out Trump and the current wave of neo-fascism, without ever losing its boogie rhythm section. But there’s also tenderness behind the curtain here, as on the yearning first single “Are You Gonna Run?” and “Call Out My Name”, which evoke the sweet sad love that punky boys like the New York Dolls and the Ramones used to have for tough girls like the Ronettes and the Shangri-La’s. The sounds throughout the record comprise a grimy modern urban landscape, a soulful but broken place that Weiner and his band (including rock n roll guitar hero, Will Donnelly, in his 9th year in Low Cut Connie) have been gravitating towards throughout the band’s history. Weiner grew up amid the lawns and strip malls of suburban New Jersey, and his own teen dreams were lit up by the beacon of the big city, where he could shed his skin like so many artists before. “If you think about it, so many great artists who we associate with the city were actually bridge and tunnel people,” Adam said. “Patti Smith, Lou Reed, Springsteen. Debbie Harry, Robert Mapplethorpe. People who came from the burbs had this vision of what they could achieve in the city, what attracted them to this art life, who they could turn into and what impressions they could make – if they could just get there.” ART DEALERS is in many ways a tribute to that feeling at the pumping heart of the city – that enlightened buzz that can come in a packed hothouse of creativity and free expression. Songs like the Grace Jones styled “Take Me to the Place” and the penetrating title song point to all the people who cross those bridges, who choose the art life, who find their liberation on the edges of propriety. Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
Dirtwire Pyrochrome Tour
Dirtwire stands poised between ancient Mother Earth and modern technology, a blend of ethnomusicology and the psychedelic trance state, gut-bucket delta blues and what the band variously dubs “back-porch space cowboy blues, swamptronica, and electro-twang.” It’s a sound informed by Dirtwire’s travels and performances around the globe, where East meets West and North joins South. From the favelas in Brazil, Femi Kuti’s Shrine in Lagos, Tokyo’s bluegrass clubs, Ayahuasca ceremonies in Central America, Gamelan performances in Bali, desert festivals in the Australian Outback, and the 20th anniversary of Kazakhstan’s modernized new capital Astana, the band spreads its message by building bridges across musical cultures in their own unique way. Dirtwire plays an array of instruments both ancient and modern, including West African kamale ngonis, jaw harps, space fiddles, whamola basses, Rickenbacher electric 12 string guitars, bowed Banjos and mouth harps from around the globe, all interwoven into modern laptop beat creation. Hailing from the underground west coast electronic bass music scene Dirtwire finds itself at the forefront of experimental electronic music production mixing in their wide array of world instruments with sampled beats and 808’s. Dirtwire’s live shows are a communal psychedelic journey, ranging from down home boot stomping get downs, to bass and blues electronic mashups, to ethereal cinematic beat driven soundscapes. Woven into each is the exploration of where live instruments meet computer production, and where tradition meets experimentation. Website | Bandcamp | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
The Wldlfe
The Wldlfe, comprised of Jansen Hogan, Carson Hogan, & Jack Crane, entered the scene in 2016 with their smash EP New, 2016 and have continued to grow a steadfast fanbase through their evergreen discography. An electrifying live act, The Wldlfe has toured sold-out shows across North America in 2023 while cultivating an audience hungry for more. Frontman Jansen Hogan’s magnetic stage presence and infectious charisma, paired with the skillful instrumentation of Carson Hogan and Jack Crane, usher fans into an unforgettable night of music and connection. With over 70 million global streams to date, The Wldlfe’s debut LP Heaven is a place, 2024 is out this August, marking the band’s new era, promising an unmistakable blend of pop melodies, powerful guitar riffs, and euphoric production. Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | TikTok
Missio – I Am Cinco Tour
Austin duo MISSIO—Matthew Brue and David Butler—fearlessly break the rules as they fuse elements of rock, electronic, indie, and hip-hop into an unmatched and uncompromising hybrid. They tie seemingly disparate threads together with honest and heartfelt lyrics meant to both provoke and inspire. Following the 2023-2024 Cinco EP series, the pair present their most definitive and dynamic vision with their full-length double-album, I Am Cinco [Nettwerk]. It collates five moods—I Am Sad, I Am High, I Am Awesome, I Am Angry and I Am Crazy—into one. Since 2015, MISSIO have painted this picture with Loner [2017], The Darker the Weather // The Better the Man [2019], Can You Feel The Sun [2020], and VILLAIN [2022]. Tallying over 1 billion streams, their catalog has notably resonated with the Gold-certified “Everybody Gets High” Between packing houses on tour, they appeared at festivals like ACL and Lollapalooza and incited praise from Atwood, Billboard, Rolling Stone, New Noise and Substream. The music initially took shape in Austin only to be completed on a creative sojourn to Mexico City. Excited to share the music with the world, everything set the stage for them to finally release I Am Cinco. “We’ve been to multiple countries and had 10 different sessions to write and record these 28 songs,” David leaves off. “We’re not just here to check a box; we’re here to be prolific.” Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify
Tycho
As Tycho, Scott Hansen blends swirling melodies into vaguely triumphant arcs that crisscross between stuttering beats and vocal samples, creating rolling sonic landscapes that extend into the horizon. The San Francisco based Hansen began releasing music in the early 2000’s with The Science of Patterns EP. His first full-length, Sunrise Projector, came out in 2004, and the critical acclaim continued in 2006 with the release of Past Is Prologue. In 2011 with the addition of collaborator and guitarist Zac Brown, Hansen’s meticulous process saw the release of Dive, the first record in a trilogy that was followed by Awake in 2014 and the GRAMMY-Nominated Epoch in 2016, two albums that featured Rory O’Connor on drums. Hansen expanded the scope of his project with the addition of vocalist Saint Sinner on 2019’s Weather, Tycho’s second GRAMMY nomination for Best Dance/Electronic Album. That release was quickly followed by its instrumental companion record Simulcast, a collaboration with alt-R&B artist rum.gold and the Weather Remixes project all in 2020. In addition to his original works, Tycho has remixed Odesza & Leon Bridges, Maggie Rogers, Spoon, The Knocks & Muna, Little Dragon, Thievery Corporation and Death Cab For Cutie. Over the course of the last fifteen years, Hansen has developed from a delicate solo performer into the iconic front man of a powerful live band featuring Brown, O’Connor and multi-instrumentalist Billy Kim. Tycho has evolved from a singular to a plural, and from an electronic, ambient experiment to a multi-dimensional audio visual live experience that bring the compositions to life. Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | Soundcloud
The Dip: Love Direction Tour Part II
The Dip is a Seattle-based Rhythm and Blues band that is known for its poignant songwriting, detailed arrangements, and vintage sound. Featuring a three-piece horn section, the group’s music harkens back to earlier soul and funk influences while hinting at the jazz foundations that brought the band’s members together. Along with singer and guitarist Tom Eddy, bassist Mark Hunter and drummer Jarred Katz are equally at home in a tight-pocketed groove as they are spacious free-improvisation. Trumpet player Brennan Carter joined by saxophonists Evan Smith and Levi Gillis serve as the band’s melodic counterpoint, playing off Eddy’s vocals to create a distinct sonic character that has drawn in millions of listeners to date. ‘Love Direction’, the follow-up to 2022’s ‘Sticking With It’ (which landed at #1 on the Billboard Current R&B Albums Chart) is the band’s fourth full-length studio album and second for Dualtone Records, due out 7/12/24. This new record is the sound of the band taking their next step forward. The interplay of old and new is on full display throughout the album; and, the group augments their classic sound with an expanded instrumentation throughout. Eddy says of the album’s inspiration: “As you get further along in a relationship, sometimes you lose your way. The things that came easily in the beginning get hard. The love is still there, it’s just that people and life are complicated. Sometimes you don’t have the tools in the toolbox to figure out what you need to do to support the other person, so you have to get help and ask for directions.” Still, despite the title, this latest record isn’t a collection of straightforward love songs, but an investigation into the different angles and challenges that relationships can bring. Expanding on the album’s theme, Eddy further notes “These aren’t ‘Love Songs’ in the most obvious sense. They deal with the middle stages, the hinterlands of love and life together – figuring someone out and what they need, learning how to communicate, and examining your own faults. We set out to write music that felt more grown, a little wiser. The songs that emerged all pointed in the Love Direction.” Their last album cycle saw the band headline and sell-out shows at iconic venues across the country. They have also had the opportunity to support new friends like Lake Street Dive and The Black Pumas, while also appearing at major festivals including Bonnaroo and Outside Lands. No strangers to the road, this new album represents a reflection on the band’s touring gravitas as well as the promise of a new destination appearing on the horizon. Directions now in hand, The Dip is looking forward to furthering this exploration into all matters of the heart by bringing this expansive and detailed new recording to life in their next travels together. Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | Soundcloud | TikTok
