Hope everyone’s Thanksgiving weekend has been amazing!!! Here are some photos of Tandoori Knights from Wednesday at the Hi-tone. I think I have my new favorite King Khan band. And I think I need Bloodshot Bill’s entire discography stat!
Tonight (11/26) at The Buccaneer (1368 Monroe Ave.) San Francisco, California’s Culture Kids will be playing….
Culture Kids feature members of Moonhearts and Ty Segall! They will be joined by locals Moving Finger and Manatees! This show will start at 10:0pm, is $5, and 21 and up!
Tomorrow night (11/27) head to the Hi-tone for the country stylings of Jonny Corndawg!
Happy Thanksgiving Eve! Want something awesome to get into tonight?
Tandoori Knights will be playing the Hi-tone (1913 Poplar Ave.) tonight! Tandoori Knights is a project from King Khan (Almighty Defenders, King Khan & BBQ Show, King Khan and the Shrines) and Bloodshot Bill (The Ding Dongs).
DJ Buck Wilders and The Hook Up will also be there spinning records. Cover is $12, 18 and up, doors open at 9:00pm.
November 24, 2011
Hi-tone Cafe (1913 Poplar Ave.) Arma Secreta (record release), with Milkbath 9:00pm, 18 and up, $7
Murphy’s (1589 Madison Ave.) El Karaoke Grande’s Turkeyoke
9:00pm, 21 and up, No Cover but tip your KJ
Word is El Karaoke Grande is a bit under the weather, so Turkeyoke might be not happen….
November 25, 2011
Hi-tone Cafe (1913 Poplar Ave.) Cheap Time (Nashville), Mannequin Men (Chicago) 9:00pm, 18 and up, $8
Here’s another reminder for tonight’s show at The Lamplighter featuring Philadelphia’s Br’er and Anderson Special (a new Memphis band). Check out this video from Br’er…..
This show is free, but put back a little of your cash to donate to Br’er since Philadelphia is a bit of a drive!
Looking for more shows? Check out April’s extensive list at Tennessee Trash!
Looking for a little trouble to get into this evening?
Woodenmouth, Unstoppable Juggernaut, and Bombay Alleys
Check out the interview I posted on Thursday with Woodenmouth, and head to Murphy’s (1589 Madison) to see them play tonight! The band will be taking a brief hiatus, so this might be the last chance you get to see them until the summer months. Unstoppable Juggernaut will also be playing, and if you haven’t seen these guys yet you are in for a treat. Seriously, two people should not be able to make sounds like that! Slacker rockers The Bombay Alleys will also be playing. Want to know a little more about them? Check out this interview I did back in August. This show starts at 10pm, is $5, and 21 and up.
Chris Davidson Benefit Featuring The Subteens, No Comply, Youniverse
Many of you probably remember the story of Chris Davidson who while riding his bicycle home back in August was hit by an automobile and died later in the evening. Tonight, the Hi-tone (1913 Poplar Ave.) has put together another benefit concert for his family, to help pay for his headstone. The bands that have been listed to play are The Subteens, No Comply, and Youniverse (though I have a feeling more than that are playing). Much like the last benefit show for Davidson, this is a free show with donations taken at the door. If you have other plans and can’t make it by the Hi-tone tonight, a website in Davidson’s honor has been set up that also accepts donations!
Richard James & The Special Riders, Modern Convenience, and Anne Schorr
Tonight at The Beauty Shop (966 S. Cooper), Richard James & The Special Riders will be bringing their brand of dirty rock and roll to an otherwise classy venue. Modern Convenience will also be performing and Richard’s trusty bass player (and wife) Anne Schorr will do one of her solo sets. If you haven’t seen Anne perform by herself, expect something radically different than the Special Riders, and also expect to be blown away! This is also a birthday party for Lindsey and Tia. The show starts at 10:00, is $5, and 21 and up.
Also……
Tomorrow night (November 20th) at The Lamplighter (1702 Madison Ave.), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s Br’er will be we playing.
I’m very curious about how these guys are going to sound in a room as small as The Lamplighter! Locals Anderson Special will be opening this set, and it is their first show! This show is free, but please bring some money to donate to the out of town band. Gas isn’t cheap and Philadelphia is a long drive….. Also, thanks to Jack Katze for cluing me in that this show is happening.
Finally…..
Ever looking to see if a show is going on one evening, checked this site, and realized I’ve been slacking on the job? Thank God for April Novak! She’s been compiling a very extensive show list on her blog Tennessee Trash! Honestly, if it isn’t on her list, then it probably isn’t happening.
Even if you haven’t seen Woodenmouth perform before, chances are you’ve seen their members play live. Vocalist, guitarist, and keyboardist Jason Dawson, guitarist, vocalist Darcie Polson, and drummer Steve Langford all perform together in The Collected Works. Bassist Chris Seaton and Langford perform together in Twin Pilot, and Polson can also be seen playing drums with The Burning Sands. Though their debut album, Grief. Good Grief, had been floating around awhile on mp3 and as a flash drive that they sold at shows, earlier this year the band gave the record a proper CD release (which was thankfully available in time for their opening slot with Cursive at the Hi-tone). This Saturday, November 19th, Woodenmouth will be playing at Murphy’s with The Bombay Alleys (who I interviewed back in August) and Unstoppable Juggernaut. This show will be $5, starts at 10pm and is 21 and up, and will be one of their last before a very brief hiatus. I sent the band a few questions, which they answered collectively.
MRC: You guys are all (or have been) a part of different projects that sound radically different from Woodenmouth. What in the songwriting process do you think accounts for Woodenmouth’s sound?
Woodenmouth: It’s like the old proverb of blind men and the elephant, but in reverse; we all compose the elephant by feeling the different parts of it, and never does any one of us realize that it is an elephant. Songs always start with something that someone put together individually, but that could be as simple as a riff or a complete song with structure. No matter how much they are already put together, though, we all throw in our own pieces, make changes, and rewrite parts. It is scary to write music for Woodenmouth sometimes, because you know it is going to be completely re-written. At the same time, that always seems to make it better. It is true that we listen to and play drastically different kinds of music outside of Woodenmouth, and allowing all of those diverse voices to have equal contribution to songwriting exhibits the ‘amalgamist’ style we embrace.
MRC: Tell me a little bit about the insect songs. What inspired them? Will we see more insect songs on future Woodenmouth releases?
Woodenmouth: We had this idea a while ago to write a series of songs, one named after each insect order, called “music about insects about people.” The idea is that each song is about a human characteristic that is symbolized by a kind of insect, and the song pulls pieces from both the insect and characteristic. For instance, “Coleoptera” is about defense mechanisms, and the lyrics make that pretty clear.
We’d like to finish “music about insects about people,” writing and recording one song for each of the 32 insect orders. We’re working on two more right now.
MRC: You guys were already well into the writing process of your second album when Grief. Good Grief. was released. What is the progress of this record? What can we expect out of its sound?
Woodenmouth: We’ve written about half of it, and the rest of it is in different stages of development. The sound is just as eclectic as the first record while being more cohesive. We’ve grown and changed a lot since the writing sessions that produced ‘grief,’ which has led to us being better at working with one another and tackling more ambitious songwriting.
MRC: How did the four of you come together to form this band? What is the chemistry like between you guys? (specifically with each of you contributing to the songwriting process and all of your varied music tastes).
Woodenmouth: Steve and Jason had been jamming some and coming up with unique sounds. They wanted to get some unique individuals to accompany their attempt to carve out something new. Once we all entered the little building behind Jason’s house in Cooper Young, we started melding into a unit immediately. We are often at one another’s throats; everyone’s tastes, opinions, styles, and motivations often clash, but that leads to what has become our sound. Jason is poetic, sappy, theory-driven, and controlling. Steve scorns poetic, sappy stuff, is more shoot-from-the-hip Rock and Roll, and is also controlling. Chris is a methodical and deliberate math-rock and post-rock enthusiast, and is as well controlling. Darcie is spirited and organic, has a garage-rock sensibility, and, at times, can be controlling.
MRC: Where can people get Woodenmouth’s music if they want it? What can we expect to see from Woodenmouth in the near future?
iTunes and most other online distributors, as well as local retailers Shangri-La, Goner, and Spin Street.
This spring, we’ll be playing out more frequently with new material we’re currently fine-tuning. We are planning to record the follow-up to grief’ this summer.
Also….Today is Jason Dawson’s birthday, so make sure you say “Happy Birthday” to him when you see him at the show Saturday night.
If you missed Pixies last night at The Orpheum, then you missed one of the best shows I’ve seen in quite a while…..
Their current tour is in support of 1989’s Doolittle. They opened the show up with “Dancing The Manta Ray,” a B-Side from “Monkey Gone to Heaven.”
It was particularly difficult to get any decent photos of Joey Santiago from my camera, because he stood off to the right side of the stage and the spotlight was never really on him. The band played the entire Doolittle album from start to finish.
A microphone at David Lovering’s mouth, and a huge heart on the screen….This was during “La La Love You.”
While I can certainly understand not having $62 to spend on a concert, if you missed this show because you were being stubborn, then you made a huge mistake….
Also, just a quick reminder….El Karaoke Grande got his John Dwyer fix last week and will be returning to Murphy’s for his weekly karaoke gig! This starts at 9:00pm and is 21 and up. Please bring dollars to tip him so he can buy more lucha masks and songs!
Tomorrow night at Murphy’s (1589 Madison Ave.), The Original Cyndi returns!
It’s been more than a year since these guys last played out. If you are fan of glam and Lou Reed’s solo work then I highly recommend you check these guys out. The cover is only $3 (perfect if you blew $62 bucks the previous evening to see Pixies), and is 21 and up.
Tav Falco’s Panther Burns will be joined by Posies guitarist Ken Stringfellow, and Ross Johnson’s Problem (Johnson was once Falco’s drummer). This show is $15, doors open at 9:00, and this show is 18 and up. It’s been close to a decade since Tav Falco last performed in Memphis, so you don’t want to miss this show.
Tav Falco isn’t the only one celebrating a homecoming to Memphis tomorrow night. Austin, Texas’ The Rocketboys will be playing the Young Avenue Deli (2119 Young Ave.) tomorrow night. The band’s singer/guitarist/keyboardist Brandon Kinder performed with Memphis indie band Dora back in the early 00’s before leaving Memphis for Abilene, Texas for college. The Rocketboys will be joined by The Winter Sounds and Jeremy Stanfill. Doors open at 9:00 and the show is 18 and up.
If you didn’t make it out to Murphy’s last night for Manatees, Creamers, and Moving Finger, here is a little of what you missed.
Manatees
If you haven’t seen Manatees yet, I highly recommend you check them out. The band is fronted by Abe White (True Sons of Thunder, The Oscars) and also features Keith Hall (Black Blood Division, Mouth Karate) on bass, and Charlotte Watson (Bake Sale) on drums. Think really dirty garage punk done Memphis style (though at times I hear elements of Flipper in their songs).
Creamers
Austin Texas’ Creamers had a very straight forward punk rock sound (think Black Flag or The Germs). While they sounded great and played their hearts out, they unfortunately suffered from the indifference of a Tuesday night crowd in Memphis.
Creamers recently released their debut 7″ “Modern Day” on Jolly Dream Records. Click here if you are interested in purchasing their music.
Moving Finger
When Noise Choir called it quits last year, I was bit bummed, but thankfully JB Horell and Patrick Glass are continuing to play together with Moving Finger. Also featuring Laurel Ferdon on drums, this band has moved away from the surf rock sensibilities of both Noise Choir and Horrell and Glass’s other project Mouth Karate, and embraces a more punk and garage sound.
If you’re looking for something to get into tonight, there is really only one option worth spending your hard earned dollars on.
Last Thursday Davila 666 brought it (as usual), though I have to admit that Barreracudas didn’t quite live up to their recordings in the live setting. Here are some photos from the show…
Barreracudas
Davila 666
Tonight (November 7) at the Beauty Shop (966 S. Cooper St.) DJ Witnesse will be spinning records.
Beauty Shop Mondays are never a bad way to start the week. No cover. 10pm. Free!
November 8, 2011
Austin, Texas punk rock outfit The Creamers will be playing Murphy’s (1589 Madison) Tuesday night. The band recently released their debut 7″ on Jolly Dream records. They will be joined by locals Moving Finger, whom I haven’t seen since they played their first show at The Buccaneer back in the summer. If you were a fan of Noise Choir or Mouth Karate, Moving Finger features JB Horrell and Patrick Glass who were both part of those bands. Local punk outfit Manatees, who I missed when they opened for Davila 666 last Thursday will also be opening. New band Toxie will also be playing. This show should start around 10:00 and is 21 and up. Expect a $5 cover.
November 9, 2011
San Francisco Psych-punk outfit Thee Oh Sees will be returning to the Hi-tone this Wednesday night. These guys completely rocked the Hi-tone back in February, and I’m looking forward to seeing them again. Australia’s Total Control, featuring members of Eddy Current Suppression Ring, and Memphis’ own Tiger High will be opening.
Memphis Rock City! 