This weekend we are pleased to have not one, but TWO, house shows for you. Really could not be any more excited for the lineups we’ve put together for the next two nights. First up, tomorrow night, we’ll be hosting a handful of Nashville artists: The CO, Emily Reid, Reed Pittman and Joseph LeMay. The show is at 5008 Longstreet Drive in Brentwood (just off the Concord Road exit), and music starts at 8:00. Parking is available across the street in the church parking lot. Tickets can be purchased here in advance.
Next up, on Saturday night, we are hosting our first ever East Nashville house show, at The Refinery (617 Shelby Avenue). We’ve assembled an incredible trio of bands from all over the country, with Nashville’s Allen Thompson Band, San Francisco’s Branches, and Chicago’s Bears of Blue River ready to show Music City a really great time. Music starts at 8:00 and parking is available in the church parking lot adjacent to the house. Advance tickets for this show can be purchased here.
A farmer who relies on his crops for a living will plow and plant his fields in order to receive a good return at harvest time. It is not enough to have a bounty of sunshine, rich soil or adequate rainfall. He has a role to play. The real risk, however, is in the gamble with the weather. The hopeful farmer can spend toilsome hours preparing his acres and still yield nothing in a season of drought or flood. Such is the music industry. Many artists and bands enter into it with high hopes of building a fan base and traveling the world, but find that they don’t end up traveling so far from home and their only avid fans still put new socks in their stockings. Success, as in the fields, is dependent upon many variables. In the case of Atlas Genius, a four-piece band from Adelaide, South Australia, that variable was timing.
I first heard of Atlas Genius last spring when my friend, Jordan, returned from spending a few months in Australia. She played a song called ‘Trojans’ through her iPod dock and said that this band was blowing up over there. The song was contagious and attached itself to the inside of my skull. After learning a little more about them, I found out that they had almost called it quits and were going to return all of their focus to school. However, their springtime arrived just in time. Dozens of record labels began to contact them and after spending last spring in the states, themselves, they decided to sign with Warner Bros. Their debut EP, “Through the Looking Glass”, continued to receive warm welcomes from new fans worldwide.
Keith Jeffrey, Michael Jeffrey, Steven Jeffrey and Darren Sell took a different approach than most bands in the making of the album. For two years, they spent their days building their own studio that fit to their likings, and played shows at night covering songs by bands like The Police and The Beatles. “We had a lot of song ideas and it was important to us to have our own studio where we could experiment and hone in on our sound,” drummer Michael Jeffrey shared.
Just a year later, their lives have drastically transformed. They are beginning to be a common name on iTunes charts, they are selling out most of their shows, and they have recently finished their first full-length album, titled “When It Was Now”, available on February 19th, and you can pre-order your own copy now on iTunes. You can also download a free song off of their new album on their website. It’s funny to think that the guys of Atlas Genius were known mainly as a cover band for almost three years and now they’re on their way to being covered by other bands.
With a colorful groove, stirring beats and catchy melodies, it’s hard not to like them. Try them out for yourself and they might become one of your favorites, too. For some bands, it’s all in the timing. Atlas Genius stuck it out through the drought and now they are riding upon a deluge that is carrying them around the world, and picking us up along the way.
– Adam Naylor
The band will be touring the US extensively throughout 2013, with a stop in Nashville for 3rd & Lindsley’s “Nashville Sunday Night” on June 9. If the first leg of their tour is any indication, you may want to get your tickets well in advance as every show has sold out thus far. With their debut album “When It Was Now” out on February 19, we’ll be hearing quite a bit from these Aussies for years to come.
The pulsing dance beats and wailing synth riffs that Machines Are People Too dish out are atypical to the sounds most think of when they hear music from the east Tennessee hills. Formed in Chattanooga in 2010 by Brian Sylvester (vocals) and JJ Clark (production) and quickly joined by additions Cain Lassiter (keys) and Ivan Garcia (drums), they began infecting the Southeast with a sound uniquely their own.
With synth-pop instrumentals and hauntingly distinctive vocals from Sylvester, the band has spent the last two years touring across the country playing a wide range of venues spanning local bars and clubs, to festivals such as Bonnaroo and Nocturnal Wonderland. In July of 2012, they released their first EP, Dreams, produced by Lars Stalfors, who has worked with the likes of The Mars Volta and Matt & Kim. Dreams represents the band’s eclectic range spanning five tracks. The composition begins with the trance inducing dance tune, “Freaks,” and closes with the more subtle and emotive, “Better Than This.” Dreams is available for purchase on iTunes.
While Machines Are People Too got their start in Chattanooga, several of the members grew up in Nashville, and they have not forgotten their music city roots. The band has played a number of shows around the city lending their diverse sounds to the ever-growing cultural and musical melting pot that is Nashville. Their most recent Nashville appearance was at Mercy Lounge’s 10 Year Anniversary Party, alongside other talented acts such as, Magnolia Sons, Cherub and Jeff the Brotherhood.
You can catch the next Machines Are People Too experience on February 15th at The East Room, where they will be headlining the Winter 2013 East Nashville Underground. They are also due to play at the Showercap Festival in Athens, GA on April 20th. The band recently finished recording the first track for their second EP that is set to release this spring.
It is likely that “let me go” is the first phrase many of us ever heard uttered by the Los Angeles based band,Family of the Year, in their hit song, “Hero”. It is just as likely that we might go against their request, as none of us will be letting them go any time soon. With so many bands vying for our attention, FOTY stands uniquely apart from the many, due in part to their tight chemistry both on and off the stage. Just like a family, Joseph Keefe, Sebastian Keefe, Alex Walker, Jamesy Buckey and Christina Schroeter lived under the same roof in Los Angeles while recording their first full-length album, ‘Loma Vista’. When asked about living in such close quarters, they admitted that there was only one bed and one couch in the whole house. Sebastian shared, “It was fun, really fun,” and quickly added, “would never do it again.” Lucky for us, we get to reap the benefits of all their long, meticulous hours in that crowded house on Loma Vista Drive.
‘Loma Vista’ offers a seamless mixture of complementary styles while staying true to its name, just like, yep, a family. You want dance-y? Boom (boom, tap), you got it. Need more melancholy and reflective? It’s there for you, love. Unlike a family, however, FOTY has grown at an excessive rate in only just over three years, having formed in 2009. They have toured with bands such as Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Good Old War, Mumford & Sons and Bell Brigade. They were selected out of almost 700 bands to open for Ben Folds and the Boston Pops Orchestra in Boston, MA after only two previous live performances as a band. Not only that, but they are already selling out venues in the United States, as well as across Europe.
When asked what they would like to say to their fans, Joseph responded, “We don’t know what we’re doing.” Still, it appears that they are doing it well, and it’s that kind of honesty that gains trust and support from a perceptive listening audience. As Family of the Year‘s music continues to fall on fresh ears, their family of fans will continue to grow, and, even though they don’t want to be our hero, we just might go against them on that, too.
Family of the Year will be playing tomorrow night at 3rd & Lindsley as part of Lightning 100’s “Nashville Sunday Night”. Tickets are still available for the show with The Devil Makes Three and Sturgill Simpson at the 3rd & Lindsley website. Hope to see you all there!
If asked to describe the band Abandon Kansas I suppose I would have two words for you: Folk electronica. Well, perhaps I would add, spiritually inclined synth-rock. Or maybe, lyrical indie-pop with infectious melodies and smooth vocals. And would I go so far as to say Keane meets a club remix? No, let’s not go there. I am no fan of band comparisons. Instead, I’ll say this: I have never really heard anything like Abandon Kansas. And I like it.
This four man band that formed back in 2005, in (you guessed it) Kansas—Wichita to be exact—seems to be able to do just about anything. Take their newest single “Turn it to Gold,” for example. You download the song from iTunes and suddenly you’re lost in a relentlessly driving, danceable, hopeful pop track. You try to stop yourself from tapping your feet, but you can’t. And if you’re anything like me, you’re out of your chair before the first chorus has even ended, fist-pumping toward the sky as you sing along. “Take the darkest part of me and turn it to Gold, oh, oh…”
Now, take a breather, and watch this acoustic YouTube version of the same song. One voice, one guitar, one amazing scat solo. Oh, wait, you think, so they are an indie-folk band? But I thought—Stop yourself right there. Don’t worry about figuring it out. Just keep listening. Abandon Kansas will only keep surprising you.
On Friday, January 25th Cause A Scene will be kicking off the first show of 2013 with Abandon Kansas as the feature. And I honestly could not think of a better band to be headlining this show. As I began digging a little deeper into the history, and what appears to be the mission of Abandon Kansas, one fundamental thing struck me—this is a band that loves its fans. From my first visit to their website (www.abandonkansaslovesyou.com) to reading about their fourth annual Living Room Tour (an “acoustic house tour booked by fans in fans’ living rooms”) I realized that Abandon Kansas understands that the people who listen to their music are perhaps as important as the music itself, that playing shows on a large stage to a packed audience is great, but that playing intimate shows, shows where band and listener get to interact, is equally valuable.
Often by the time one “discovers” a band, the musicians have a certain level of acclaim or notoriety that can distance them from their listeners and likewise distance the listeners from them—the raised stage being the most obvious barrier. As show-goers we often have the opportunity to see a favorite band in a mid- to large-sized venue. If lucky, we even get the chance to queue up for a signed CD and a handshake. A conversation with a band member might go like this:
“I loved your show.”
“Thanks! And thanks for coming out.”
Next.
What strikes me as particularly special about Abandon Kansas is that they have gained a certain level of acclaim and notoriety. (In 2009 they were signed to a label, Gotee Records, have been played regularly on RadioU and have toured frequently nationwide for a more than half a decade.) And still, they have committed, every year, for four years, to embark on a living room tour in which they play in the homes of fans, for an intimate group of fans. I can honestly say I have never heard of such a thing in my life. And it’s awesome.
I hope, like me, you’ll come out for the first show of the year and take the opportunity to join Cause A Scene in supporting the incredible movement that is the House Show and in supporting a band that gives back so much to their fans. And let’s not forget that the music will be great. I know I can’t think of a better way to spend a Friday night.
