Some shots from last night’s Green Day show at the forum. More will be featured in a follow-up review of the show that will be posted sometime tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Billie Joe Armstrong and 12-year-old fan Giovanni Sosto, from Costa Rica, share some stage time during “Know Your Enemy.”

Metal Monday came early this week with Sunday evening’s show at Czar’s Imperial Palace featuring Torche, House of Lightning and Averkiou. Death Metal, one of Tampa’s more unqiue claims to fame, has influenced a plethora of subgenres including the hardcore scene I grew up in. It was awesome to see how many old school hardcore kids made it out on a Sunday night along with a whole new group of metal afficiandos.

Torche

Hailing from Miami, Torche has a rabid fan base hooked on their unique sound – part thrash with a twist of melodic hardcore, and dare I say a bit of twang, all against a solid metal foundation. Decibel Magazine called Torche’s music a “whole new beast built from the DNA up.” Ever since Torche’s Meanderthal (Hydrahead Records) took the No. 1 spot on Decibel’s 2008 Top 40 Extreme Albums list, the band’s fan base has rapidly expanded. Thankfully, their intensity remains intact. (MORE PICS AFTER THE JUMP)

Live, the band exceeds expectations, drawing in the audience until everyone is at least nodding along if not full-on head-banging. You can see that these musicians love what they do and are having a party on stage to which the whole crowd is invited. As a gift to fans from back in the Floor days, the crowd went nuts when “Scimitar” was played. When the audience demanded an encore, the band requested a bit of patience while Rick re-assembled drums that had come undone in the intensity of Torche’s climactic conclusion. The audience happily obliged, waiting late on a Sunday night for the band to squeeze in just a couple more songs.

Their energetic stage presence had me capturing Steve and Jonathan nonchalantly hanging out in mid-air repetitively:

To really experience the mid-air nonchalance, click on the photo to view them in a larger size.

Torche’s 2009 EP (with DVD) Healer / Across the Shields (Hydrahead Records) is out now for your home enjoyment.

Torche is Steve Brooks (Guitars/Vocals), Jonathan Nuñez (Bass), and Rick Smith (Drums)

House of Lightning

The elusive and mysterious House of Lightning (ex-Dove) made one of their too rare appearances opening up for Torche. The crowd reveled as the waves of thrash crashed down upon them.

As a music photographer, few things are as entertaining to capture as the myriad faces of metal framed by hair swirling around like awful red lighting. As you can see, during House of Lightning’s set, the opportunities for capturing metal mugging were endless.

Word on the street is that House of Lightning has been recording, so hopefully a record will be coming soon!

Averkiou

In spite of being the only non-metal band of the evening, Gainesville’s Averikou did a good job of holding the attention of the mostly metal mania audience. Averkiou is, on the one hand, a prototypical shoegaze band, and are frequently compared to Swervedriver, Guided By Voices and, of course, My Bloody Valentine. Averkiou produces a delicious sound that is nearly tactile while at the same time, straight up indie pop. Check out their new album, Throwing Sparks (Clairecords/Barracuda Sound), which has received universal praise with the most common complaint from reviewers being that it is too short!

Averikou is Matt Brink, David Quarles, Chad Darby, James Hernandez and Jason Shusterman

Check out my shots from the Maxwell show at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater this past Thursday, July 30. Apparently the neo-soul singer is bashful; the handful of photographers were granted access to shoot the first three songs, but only from the very back of the auditorium.

“I’m so blessed to / have spent the time / with my family and the friends I love/ with my short life / I have met so many people I deeply care for”

These final chanted lyrics of Yeasayer’s “Red Cave” go a ridiculously long way in summarizing exactly what my recent trip to Chicago for the fifth annual Pitchfork Festival meant to me. While I’d been to the fest several times in the past (the first three, actually), this marked the first time that a huge group of old friends (LBHS stand up!) were able to meet up and enjoy the city and the music and the drunken shenanigans together. (Pictured at right: Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips; all photos by R. Kevin Rose.)

What’d I learn? well, for starters… we are all official members of the POSI-ADULT CREW. Not straight edge — not even close — but definitely upbeat and affable. Positive, if you will. A group of kids raised on (amongst many, many other things) Bad Brains’ “P.M.A.”, Seven Seconds, Dag Nasty, Gorilla Biscuits, etc., who grew into a geographically dispersed crew of adults … all of us still kinda “Screaming For Change” in our own unique ways. (LOTS MORE PICS AND SHENANIGANS AFTER THE JUMP)

Admittedly, the relentless POSI-CORE tunes we were simultaneously improvising & singing all weekend (titles I somehow managed to remember include “Don’t Die!,” “Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes,” “Si Se Puede,” “Why Did You Leave?” … you get the picture) were more than a touch tongue-in-cheek. But facts are facts; my old school crew only jokes about mosh-ing kids to a nub — we don’t actually do it.

So that’s the scene — about 20 of us (ages: 35-40) lazily taking in the festival during day followed by way-too-long nights of heavy drinking / mild partying at night. By the end of the weekend, a ringing, unifying consensus had emerged: We’re all getting way too fucking old to ride hard for days on end like that. Realization aside — wow. What a blast!!! I saw some great bands / acts, got plenty of much-needed re-connect time (I hadn’t seen some of these fine folks in YEARS!!!), laughed ’til my sides hurt, punished my liver thoroughly and survived to write this little wrap-up piece about it.

While I could easily re-count endless minutiae and I’ve written up several drafts about what our posse did, all the bars, all the food, all the hi-jinx, and so on & so forth, would likely be lost on y’all. Instead … I’m just gonna riff on what turned me on about this year’s fest. By day – check it:

FRIDAY: Got to the fest just in time for Tortoise (pictured below, at right). They took the stage to a relatively mellow response and got the party started. Confident, focused and tasteful without any over-arching sense of urgency … kind of a nice way to ease into the whole thing. They played “DJed,” which has gotta be pretty rare as the tune is long with a capital “L” and it travels in a multitude of directions. There was a little girl on her dad’s shoulders, maybe 3 years old, who was TOTALLY mouthing along to John McEntire & Jon Herndon’s boom-bap … made me smile ear to ear. One of my fave bands of the last 15+ years, these hometown heroes set the bar pretty high, even if it wasn’t the most intense set I’ve ever seen them play.

Yo La Tengo was next. They came on, did their thing, nice and simple and melodic indie jamming. I guess they’ve been steadily perfecting that schtick since I first saw them in the early ’90s. They probably should’ve opened.

Most of the crew had congregated by this point, all of us pumped for The Jesus Lizard, which ended up being great. David Yow told more than a few horribly tasteless jokes, spit a shit-ton of loogies, offered a snappy retort when a stage dive kinda fell apart (”Thanks for your support”) and proved himself a remarkably impressive reservoir of energy for someone that was unquestionably one of the best front-persons on the planet 20+ years ago. But y’know — Yow’s more or less icing. Duane Denison had that silly-stupid Fripp-ian fret stretch technique, sparks and shards of perfectly dischordant guitar. David William Sims laid the bass lines down, complete with his signature lunging head-snap move. And drummer Mac McNeilly had that metronomic and taut attack that kept it all chugging along. Got right up front for the end of the set and their sound was dialed in. They wrapped it up and I was left with the distinct sense that this was, unfortunately, as intense as things were gonna get all weekend … and I was right. The crew decided to forgo Built To Spill in favor of the Bottom Lounge, and while I kinda would’ve liked to have stuck around to see BTS, I was uncharacteristically going with the flow. Much much more drinking and silliness ensued.

SATURDAY: The cab dropped us off at Cobra Lounge, a coupla blocks from the park. We took some shots, had a few beers and got our minds right for Yeasayer. This was my first time seeing them and as I mentioned in my preview post, they were the only band I felt I HAD to see. And they were good and I was real happy to enjoy their live set. I guess they’ve parted ways with their drummer, which kinda sucks, but they’d replaced him with both a kit drummer and a percussion dude who was playing a barrage of samples like a human drum machine. Yeasayer played at least three new songs, and there were more than a few jams from All Hour Cymbals. About two-thirds of the way into their set, as one of the new songs started, so did the rain and most of us got a little wet, though that tiny shower subsided just as the band’s dancey outro kicked in. It was a pretty darned rave-y moment … more than a bit ecstatic. Then, the sun came poking through the clouds as they made their way through “Sunrise,” almost as if they’d planned the weather. They closed with the aforementioned “Red Cave” and I was content. That being said, their singer needs a little work on his live vocals. All in all, I was extremely pleased with my maiden Yeasayer voyage and I still can’t wait to hear their next record.

Doom (formerly known as MF Doom, pictured masked at left) was solid and it was nice to have some hip-hop front and center. But I preferred the small club set I saw him perform years ago. Watched a few of his tunes but was careful to hurry back to smallest stage in time to catch Lindstrøm (pictured at the bottom of the post). This Swedish disco / house producer definitely brought it: relentless thumping four-on-the-floor and Moroder-esque chord progressions. Fantastic stuff. Could’ve zoned out to him a lot longer than he performed as I was feeling prettay loose by that point. But that was that … my group was moving on.

Headed to a barbeque at a friend’s house, where we drank more beer, ate brats and listened to a healthy dose of Husker DU, Naked Raygun, Descendents, Rites Of Spring, Replacements, etc. Goooood times. The beer ran out and someone came back from a beer run with a bottle of Cazadores. Next thing I remember, we were clown-car packed into Brian Costello’s whip with Fear’s “Lets Have A War” blasting from the speakers (”There’s too many of us, there’s too many of us, there’s too many of us…”). The tequila was passed around and, well… I don’t remember much past that point.

SUNDAY: While I really wanted to strike out on my own and see DJ/Rupture and The Walkmen (pictured lat left), among various others, the crew was all meeting at Cos’ for his birthday grill out. In the end I acquiesced. Brian went big with the grilled meat and veggies, and I plowed through as much of the yumminess as I could manage.

We grabbed another cab (only used my $14 three-day-pass ONCE, on the initial trip from ORD), so as not to miss Grizzly Bear … who RULED! They fought through sound issues and executed a superb selection of tracks both old and new. I’ve actually listened to a bootleg of their set four or five times since after returning home, which is absolutely unheard of for me. (I think the only other live recording I’ve listened to that many times is Santana’s Lotus. Seriously.) But yeah – they were so good, soooo good. Really makes me wanna travel somewhere to see them in a darker, smaller space where they’ll obviously get to play longer. They’re on top right now. If you’re into dynamic, original music and you haven’t checked them out yet — well, you might wanna rectify that ASAP.

Flaming Lips were next, but I figured I’d check out The Very Best first and re-join my friends a little later. I stumbled back to the “C” stage and was treated to what, for me, was the biggest surprise of the weekend. Club beats laced with African singing and dancing, really really positive vibes. Gonna have to listen to that Mixtape from last year a little closer now that I have a better idea of what they’re all about. I watched their whole set, then stumbled back to my friends, who’d all pretty well decided that the Lips had turned into a novelty act. So we left. And just as we were headed out the front gate, the Lips started to tear into some older jams and they sounded pretty damn tight and I was somewhat bummed to miss it. We grabbed cabs, met at another bar where I randomly bumped into one of my favorite singers ever (Gared O’Donnell [ex-Planes Mistaken For Stars]).

So yeah, there’s more but I’ll save that for the memoirs. I’m so glad I was able to go (thanks to Joran and Leilani for hooking up the passes for Kevin and I). Seriously — so happy I got to get away for a few days and enjoy some great live music and some freakishly awesome Chicago weather (I dont think it got hotter than 80 degrees the whole trip) … but even more importantly, some great friends. Here’s hoping you get to do the same sometime real real soon!

MORE PICS:

Lindstrøm

Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear.

Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear.

Bassist Kathy Foster of The Thermals

Grizzly Bear

More Flaming Lips

And more …

And just a little more.

A photo review of last night’s American Idol Live concert at the St. Pete Times forum. To check out a review of the show, click here.

A piano duel between Matt Giraud and Scott MacIntyre.

Adam Lambert and Kris Allen

Kris Allen on keys.

Kris Allen, up close.

Anoop Desai, Allison Iraheta, Kris Allen, Adam Lambert, Lil Rounds, Danny Gokey and Megan Joy

Matt Giraud at the piano, Michael Sarver and Megan Joy singing in the background.

Kris Allen on guitar.

More Kris Allen — the money shot.

]]> http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/tampacalling/2009/07/29/photo-review-american-idol-live-at-st-pete-times-forum/feed/ 7 http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/tampacalling/2009/07/24/photo-review-reel-big-fish-and-the-english-beat-at-the-ritz-ybor/ http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/tampacalling/2009/07/24/photo-review-reel-big-fish-and-the-english-beat-at-the-ritz-ybor/#comments Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:40:12 +0000 Tracy May http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/tampacalling/?p=9129 Pics from the Wednesday night show.]]>

A series of shots from the Wednesday, July 22 show featuring Reel Big Fish, the English Beat and The Supervillains at The Ritz Theater in Ybor City.

Reel Big Fish

(More pics after the jump)

The English Beat

The Suppervillains’ guitarist Skart pictured below.

Pedals on our Pirate Ships finally sailed into Tampa on July 21! Which explains how I found myself out late on a Tuesday work night at Transitions Art Gallery to see Pedals on our Pirate Ships (Richmond), The Wild (Atlanta) and Regular Size People Fight (Tampa).

Pedals on our Pirate Ships

My friend Jeff made me some mix CDs last winter and the song that immediately caught my attention was “Peter Pan Syndrome,” with its chorus “Will you be my Wendy? Will you be my Tinkerbell? / Don’t be silly you can be my Tiger Lily still” and lines like “We don’t have goals but we have lots of fun” and “but secretly we all miss our mothers, we seek security in the arms of lovers.” When I couldn’t get the song out of my head, I looked up the band with a peculiar name, Pedals on our Pirate Ships, listened to the rest of the songs posted on their Myspace page, and was hooked.

Hailing from Richmond, VA, these folk punk rockers play extremely fun and catchy tunes with just a tinge of introspection. In “Reinventing Bryan Adams” Matt belts out “Why do they call it goodbye, doesn’t feel so good to me, why don’t we call a spade a spade, say what we really mean… look me in the eye and say loving you is fucking killing me” At the show, a small but enthusiastic crowd sang along at the top of their lungs to the crowd favorites, including “Peter Pan Syndrome” and “Night of the Living Wage.”

Originally, Pedals on our Pirate Ships was Matt Seymour’s solo acoustic project featuring an extensive guest and former member list including the following musicians: Michael Otley, Jameson Price, Tim Baker, Casey Martin, Lindsay Sisk, Tim Barry, Nick Bergheimer, Tim Carroll, Ian Cassidy, David Donaldson, Lindsey Driscoll, David Hughes, Joe Hunt, Joe Mager, Josh Small, Daniel Rickey, and Adam Thompson. It’s amazing how much more fun a show is when the band is having as much fun as the audience and that was certainly true at this show. Adding to the visual joy of Pedals on our Pirate Ships, the drummer uses a steamer trunk as a bass drum.

Pedals on our Pirate Ships currently are Matt Seymour (vocals/guitar) with Adrienne Brown (vocals/melodica/tambourine) and Louis Cyrtmus (drummer)

The Wild

We arrived during The Wild’s set. I liked them immediately and not just because they had a banjo in their punk rock band. Hailing from Atlanta, The Wild also plays music in the folk punk genre. Like Pedals on our Pirate Ships, they had a great time playing and as a consequence the audience had a great time listening. I look forward to checking out their recorded material.

The Wild is Kylee (drums), Ben (Bass), Dianna (Tambourine and vocals and more!) and Witt (guitar and vocals)

Regular Size People Fight

Regular Size People Fight features a group of talented Tampa musicians from Dukes of Hillsborough, Watson and The Tim Version playing post-punk. It was fun to see these guys doing something a bit different… I haven’t heard their record Yowza! (Fast Crowd Records) yet but No Idea Records describes it as “Smart lyrics and clever guitar riffs that will make you want to crack open a cold one and sing along.”

For more photos, please check out the following links:

WMNF’s 4th Annual Americana Fest at Skipper’s Smokehouse went off without a hitch this past Saturday, July 11, a hand clappin’, boot stompin’ good time that showcased the vast array of talent in Florida’s Americana scene.

Have Gun, Will Travel

Originally masterminded by Ted Lukas, Americana Fest is all grown up. This year featured ten outstanding Florida Americana bands: Ted Lukas & the Misled, Will Quinlan & the Diviners, Have Gun, Will Travel, Thomas Wynn & the Believers, Nervous Turkey, Black Finger, Roppongi’s Ace, Mike Dunn & the Kings of New England, Matt Butcher and The Nine Volts plus a national headliner: Blue Mountain.

Thomas Wynn & The Believers

As typical on summer days in the lighting capital of the world (Tampa really does mean “sticks of fire”), downpours threatened throughout the day. In spite of inclement weather, Americana Fest was packed with folks eager to see the array of homegrown talent with music lovers of all ages in attendance.

Kids building sandcastles at Skipper’s smokehouse

According to Wikipedia, Americana is the “amalgam of roots music fused by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the American musical ethos; specifically those sounds that are merged from folk, country, rhythm & blues, rock & roll and other external influential styles.” In the absence of individual set reviews, suffice to say that each of these alt country bands delivered inspired performances tapping into the full range of musical influences of the Americana genre. It was common to see band members making guest appearances during other sets to add a harmony here and there, or provide some necessary instrumentation. The sense of community among these musicians was inspiring.

Missed out on this show? Next up for Americana fans in Tampa: WMNF presents The Avett Brothers (with Matt Butcher and The Revolvers) at The Cuban Club on Saturday, July 18.

The Nine Volts

The Nine Volts are Larry Fulford (drums), James Mitchell (guitar/ mandolin), Adam Wheeler (bass) and Conrad Wilson (vocals/ guitar).

Matt Butcher

Black Finger

Black Finger is Greg Lovell, Andy McAusland, Sean Fernandez, and Jesse Dalton.

Mike Dunn & The Kings of New England

Mike Dunn and The Kings of New England is Mike Dunn (Vocals, Guitar, Piano) and depending on the performace an assortment of the following regal players: Jacob Kaplan (Bass Guitar), Joey Bradshaw (Rhythm Guitar, Vocals), Cannon Lee (Drums), Kyle Pierce (Guitar, Pedal Steel), Andy Simmonds (B3 Organ, Vocals), Chris Martin (Drums, Bass Guitar, Vocals), Daniel “Bones” Anderson (Drums, Smiles), C.J. Mask (Lead Guitar, Vocals), Jeff Snow (Drums, Metal History), Dean Lorenz (Shred) and Susan “Soon to be” Snow (Violin).

Roppongi’s Ace

Roppongi’s Ace is Alex Spoto (Vocals, Guitar, Fiddle), Max Norton (Drums, Hootin’), Jesse Norton (Bass, Harmonica, Hollerin’), and Rob Pastore (Pedal Steel).

Nervous Turkey

Nervous Turkey is Ernie Locke (Vocals, Harp, Guitar), Aaron Fowler (Drums), and Mark Cunningham (Organ).

Thomas Wynn & The Believers

Thomas Wynn & The Believers is Thomas Wynn (lead vocals/guitar), Olivia Wynn (vocals/organ-piano/tambo), Justin Beckler (guitar), John Hembree (bass), Thom Damon (drums) and Chris Bell (harmonica).

Have Gun, Will Travel

Have Gun, Will Travel is Scott Anderson (elec. guitar, lap steel), Jean-Paul Beaubien (drums), Matthew Burke (voice, accoustic guitar), Daniel Burke (bass guitar, voice) and Joshua Hernandez (viola)

Will Quinlan & The Diviners

For this performance, Will Quinlan & The Diviners was Will Quinlan (Vox/Guitar), Soraya Zaumeyer (vox/keys), Daniel Burke (upright bass), Scott Anderson (electric & lap steel guitars), Alex Spoto (Fiddle) and Jesse Martin (drums).

Ted Lukas & The Misled

Ted Lukas & The Misled is Ted Lukas (guitar/vocals), Mark Tinker (bass), Sonny John Sundstrom (guitar/vocals), and Sean Doyle (drums/vocals)

Blue Mountain

Blue Mountain is Cary Hudson (Guitar, vox), Laurie Stirratt (bass, vox) and Frank Coutch (drums,vox).

For more photos, please visit the following links:

In three short years, the Reax/ThxMgmt Hot Dog Show has established itself as a must-attend event of the summer, providing a great opportunity to see a diverse group of bands, catch up with old friends, make some new ones, and of course, witness a hot dog-eating contest. This year, the Hot Dog Show took place on Friday, July 3, at Crowbar. I arrived just in time to see the first female victory in the hot dog eating contest (sorry – I didn’t catch her name!), which was followed by an animated performance by Bealsville/Plant City-based Shunda K of Yo Majesty! Bringing the evening to a dance party conclusion was Sunbears! (Jacksonville).

Sunbears!

The last time I saw Sunbears! in November 2008, I was impressed by their ability to deliver a complete visual experience to go along with their sugary pop, even outside at New World Brewery. Sunbears! has enhanced their candyland set to greater dayglo heights with a variety of props, including a giant red balloon, bubbles and confetti, oh my! Recorded last fall, the Sunbears! cover of Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough” now adds a bit of unintentional poignancy to their act … at least until the shock of Michael Jackson’s death wears off. The audience danced up a storm to the Sunbears!’ happy-go-lucky pop tunes while throwing confetti to the beat. Sunbears! is also fun to listen to on disc and their current EP, Dream Happy Dreams, is a perfect summer dance soundtrack. Really, who couldn’t use a little auditory uplifting given the state of the world? I look forward to hearing and seeing what is next for this talented duo!

Sunbears! is Jonathan Berlin (keys, guitar and vox) and Jared Bowser (drums/vox)

Shunda K!

Shunda K, moniker of Lashunda Flowers, is a talented local hip hop artist who defies expectations by incorporating both spirituality and sexuality into her lightning fast rhymes. She is currently allowing fans to download her music for free so head over and check her out!

For more photos, please visit the following links:

“There’s so much joy in what we do up here…” Craig Finn of The Hold Steady exclaimed to fans near the end of their set at The Ritz on July 2, 2009, “…we are all the Hold Steady!”

The joy rang loud and proud throughout their set. Fans of The Hold Steady don’t just come and watch the band — they participate and follow along with the band antics.

As everyone knows by now (or should know), our little enclave Ybor City makes multiple appearances in Hold Steady lyrics including:

Ybor city is tres speedy but they throw such killer parties.
Killer parties almost killed me. – Almost Killed Me

The Hold Steady is Craig Finn (vocals, guitar), Tad Kubler (lead guitar), Franz Nicolay (keyboards, vocals, harmonica, accordion), Galen Polivka (bass) and Bobby Drake (drums).

The show was a Jim Beam sponsored soiree featuring lots of fun giveaways and prizes including a Hold Steady autographed guitar given away by Creative Loafing’s Joran Slane with the help of the Jim Beam girls.

GreyMarket

Straight from their wildly successful set at Heatwave, GreyMarket opened up the show in near darkness (reportedly at their request). I still managed to capture a few shots…

This electronic alt-duo have quite the buzz going at the moment with a slew of summer shows scheduled. Check out their website for dates!

GreyMarket is Michael Gargiulo (drums, laptop and backup vocals) and L. Cave McCoy (lead vocals, guitar and pedals).

For more photos, please visit the links below: