Tampa Calling

Tampa singer/songwriter Matt Hires has signed to F-Stop Music, a new imprint label under Atlantic Records that will issue his debut EP Live From Hotel Cafe on Oct. 7. Hires CD release party will take place Wed., Oct. 8, New World Brewery, Ybor City.

An expressive vocalist with impressive range and a gifted lyricist, Hires offers a winning split between folk and strum pop, offering songs that are smart, touching and grabby.

Photo by Reid Rolls. Photo by Kallie Brynn.

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Hipsters, run for the hills. AC/DC is scheduled to rattle the St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, on Sun., Dec. 21 — and it will take a major disaster to keep me from attending. The highly underrated hard rock titans are masters of heavy riffs and swinging rhythms that make you wanna shake your ass, an anomaly in the metal world. The lyrics? Deliciously horny double entendres that speak to the sexual beast that’s been at the core of rock ‘n’ roll since its inception.

AC/DC are hitting the road in support of its full-length Black Ice. The disc drops Oct. 20 and features the savage stomp “Rock ‘N’ Roll Train,” which I blogged about here. The band performed at the St. Pete Times Forum back when it was called the Ice Palace on March 21, 2001. After the tour wrapped, they went on a hiatus that lasted until this year. AC/DC singer Brian Johnson lives in Sarasota so the audience will likely be peppered with family and friends, which should all but guarantee a first-rate performance from the charismatic frontman (who also happens to be a nice guy, I hung with him a couple times when I lived in Sarasota).

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Skipper’s Smokehouse’s 28th anniversary weekend celebration wrapped Sunday (Sept. 28) with rousing sets by some of Tampa Bay’s top rock acts. Hat Trick Heroes’ skilled-beyond-their-years teenage members closed the evening with a performance that offered a proverbial rattling of the venue’s famed oaks. The power trio brought the audience to the lip of the stage with Santino Rumore’s (pictured) precision guitar attacks, older brother Micheal’s full-throttle vocals/propulsive bass work and Christian Peters’ no-quarter drum bashing.

The tight threesome offered an unrelenting set marked by finely crafted, cock-strutting originals such as “Chasing My Tail” — which recently won the band a CL Best of the Bay for Best Hard Rock single. The band also delivered crushing covers of Led Zeppelin’s “Dazed and Confused” and The Doors’ “The End” before exiting the stage to boisterous cheers around 9:30. Michael’s cold kept him quiet in the hours leading up to his performance, but once on stage, the 18-year-old unleashed a rock ’n’ roar that made the young women huddled underneath him howl.

The Best of the Bay winner for Best New Band, Tailgunner Joe and the Earls of Slander, also proved grippingly potent with their expert blend of punk and roots rock — prompting one concertgoer to favorably compare the young local act to The Raconteurs. The Tampa-based quartet’s set largely consisted of cuts from their excellent, at times topical but never preachy, six-song EP The Red Scare, which in addition to smart originals includes a rollicking cover The Romantics’ 1979 smash “What I Like About You.” The audience ate it up in concert.

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Check over on PoHo blog for news about Creative Loafing filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy court reorganization.

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Many years ago, I played bass in a band called The AmeriCar Underworld. Of all of the shit we pulled (we were once banned from the Ritz, Brass Mug and Stone Lounge simultaneously), one story seems to keep floating around. To this day, if I meet someone who remembers me from the ACU, I still hear “Oh, didn’t your band get in a fight with The Afghan Whigs?”. Maybe we did, maybe we didn’t…

I’ve been in Cincinnati, OH (home of the defunct Whigs) on vacation for over a week and I’ve seen John Curley (former bassist for the Whigs) lurking around the neighborhood and at a few shows. On Saturday, I headed down to the MidPoint Music Fest to catch Wussy’s set and there he was again. I approached him after the band played, in hopes of making peace after 14 years. I had noticed him eyeing me during the show; and sure enough, he said I looked familiar. Then without warning, before I could atone for past sins and transgressions, I was in a headlock getting the shit beat out of me.

John Curley (formerly of The Afghan Whigs) beating the snot out of me. (photo by Jen Sandwich)

When forced to choose between the truth or the legend, always go with the legend.

Once I’m back in Tampa on Tuesday, I’ll share the truth behind the legend, some insights into why Cincinnati of all places has a flourishing music scene and reviews of two amazing ‘Nati bands, Wussy and Why?, that I saw play while up here.

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Skipper’s Smokehouse wraps up its 28th Anniversary weekend with a local band showcase that we — CL — had a hand in choosing, which means, y’know, we highly recommend it. Here’s the skinny:

Local Music Extravagonzo: Hat Trick Heroes w/Tailgunner Joe and the Earls of Slander/Katherine Kelly & Sons of Hippies/Basic Rock Outfit/Sarge and the Aeromen, 5 p.m., Sun. Sept. 28, Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa, $10.

Here’s my write-up on the gig.

Hat Trick Heroes pounding home Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs”

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I’ve been feeling like shit the past few days. Hunkered down at my apartment Friday and my parents’ place Saturday. Last night, I waited until everyone went to bed (my cousin and his wife were visiting from Pennsylvania) and then spent $1.99 of my folks’ hard-earned money on Cool Hand Luke (thanks ma and pa).

I laughed. I sniffled. I cheered the rugged individualism, the rebellion, the killer grin Luke flashed — even with a slug through his neck. Love that movie. On Saturday, in honor of the actor’s passing, I posted a list of my 10 favorite Newman flicks here at the Daily Loaf, along with clips of each selection.

“That old Luke smile”

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Here’s a look at my new Bar Tab logo and a snippet from my latest column. Were you one of the approximately 1,000 people who partied it up at CL’s Best of the Bay Awards Show at Tampa Theatre? Then perhaps you recall the flask I chugged on stage. Good times. From my current Bar Tab, which is now found in Bad Habits:

The original plan was for me to enter the stage with a whiskey bottle filled with iced tea — and, once at the podium, chug, chug, chug. But I balked. Didn’t want to be accused of engaging in any bullshit. Instead, I stumbled to the podium and grasped it with both hands as if to steady myself. It was, at least in part, acting — I think. I asked the audience to give me a moment and then flashed my flask. The longer I held it to my lips the louder the crowd roared — or at least that’s the sound I heard inside my mind. By the time I wiped my mouth on my sport coat sleeve, I was definitely loaded.

Click here to read entire column.

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It’s Thursday. Time to get stoked for the weekend. Here’s what we have for ya in the latest issue of CL (pictured). Plus, this just in, Anberlin at Vinyl Fever tonight at 8 p.m.

• Skipper’s 28th Anniversary bash wraps with Hat Trick Heroes, Tailgunner Joe & the Earls of Slander and more on Sunday.

• Bonerama, GreyMarket, Lyle Lovett, John Hiatt, King of Spain and more in Music Week.

• Jenny Lewis, Will Bernard, Sing it Loud and more records reviewed in Spins.

• Jeremy Gloff returns to 1987.

• David Gilmour live.

• Backspin with Valerie Carter.

• And don’t forget about my “Dear Dubya” feature.

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I just researched the ticket prices for the Counting Crows/Maroon 5 show at the Ford Amphitheatre on Fri., Oct 3 — info I needed for my blurb in next Wednesday’s MusicWeek section — and I’m ready for a nap. Exhausted, I tell ya.

Here’s my saga:

First I went to the Ford Amphitheatre website and clicked on the concert. Easy enough. Once there, I scrolled down to several icons that said “Buy Tickets.” Each of these required me to join the Live Nation Ticket Club and fill out some info. Pass. I scrolled down a little farther to an icon that said “Ticket Info,” but it was just general stuff about the box office and such.

I tried a few other clicks. My only conclusion was that you cannot find out ticket prices on the FordAmp website without joining a club.

So I called the general phone number. After waiting awhile, I got a woman in the box office who wasn’t sure why I could not get ticket info on the website. She quoted me ticket prices over the phone, adding that buying them at the box office window was the cheapest way.

In descending order, the prices went:

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OK, it’s not genius. Hell, it’s not even that funny. But it’s kinda funny. And it’s a slow-ass day in the music world, y’know, with everyone worried about the United States of America becoming a Banana Republic and all.

“The Ballad of Sarah Palin”

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Last week, I wrote about my acquisition of a new turntable, my first since the early 1990s, and pledged to do some comparisons between CDs and LPs, which is a heated debate in the audiophile community (with most audiophiles, I’m told, favoring vinyl).

First, you should know that I am not an audiophile, nor even an aspiring audiophile. But I do want my home system to sound as good as it can within my budget. Even if you’re not all that concerned about the fidelity of your stereo system, it’s still an interesting discussion, especially since the LP is making a comeback in a boutique sort of way. Just this fall, major labels have begun to issue back titles on high-grade vinyl.

Using those titles, of course, would be the best comparison test against CDs, and the publicist at EMI Capitol tells me that a 180-gram vinyl copy of the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds is on its way to me. Until then, we’ll use available materials.

Namely, an old standby for me: Miles Davis. I chose his tune “Eighty-One” from the 1965 album E.S.P., which features his great 1960s band: drummer Tony Williams, bassist Ron Carter, pianist Herbie Hancock and saxophonist Wayne Shorter.

I grabbed a barely-used vinyl copy from my long-ignored closet stash of LPs, and pulled out the CD. Synching the disc and record up was easy enough, but I immediately ran into a problem, which puts a major caveat into this debut listening test.

The turntable produced a seriously audible hum at substantial volume. So, uh, that’s gotta be figured out.

But onward anyway.

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For my CL music feature this week I compiled a list of the Top 10 protest songs inspired by the Bush administration.

See, folks, there’s an upside to everything. Bright Eyes, Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam are among the artists that made the tally.

Here’s the story, titled “Dear Dubya” in the print edition that’s hitting newsstands today.