Tampa Calling

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. Read the rest of this entry »

A band of Florida traveling bards and minstrels aka the Citrus Circuit Tour made a stop at New World Brewery on Saturday, featuring Lake Worth’s Truckstop Coffee, Daytona’s Lauris Vidal, Gainesville’s The Takers and Bradento-based Have Gun, Will Travel.

Have Gun, Will Travel

With three new songs and a Tom Petty cover, Have Gun, Will Travel (HGWT) continues to innovate at each show. Accordingly, HGWT’s set had New World Brewery dancing up a storm and singing their hearts out to old favorites like “When We Were Kings” and “Blessing and a Curse” (affectionately know by fans as “Bop Ba Da” after the chorus that stays in your head all the way home). Read the rest of this entry »

You know what they say, “when it rains, it pours,” and such is the case this week with three shows in four days. While I don’t expect anyone else to adhere to such a rigorous schedule, I do think you can find something you like in one (or more) of these shows. If you do make it out to any, find me and we’ll tell fish tales over a beer.

Wednesday, June 24 @ The Ritz Ybor: Grayson Capps

———–>THIS IS A FREE SHOW<——-—-

I am so excited about this show. Honestly, I just assumed Grayson Capps would never come to Florida. BUT! Here he is and he’s bringing his full band, The Stumppknockers, with him. If the sound of Southern soul mixed with back-country stomp with a little road-house blues sounds like something that might tickle your fancy, you need to get to The Ritz on Thursday night for this show.

When I last wrote about Grayson I said, “I find myself drawn to the drunks, whores and vagabonds that haunt Grayson’s songs. They’re like old friends you keep up with via letters in the mail, and with a new album comes new updates.” It’ll be nice to finally meet this motley crew of characters in person.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

(MORE SHOW INFO + MP3s AFTER THE JUMP)
Read the rest of this entry »

Musicians tend to disparage their local music scenes, but when it comes to Florida, neo-folk troubadour Lauris Vidal (pictured, photo by Charles Brewer III) says they likely don’t know how good they’ve got it. He didn’t. The 31-year-old Daytona-based musician (who plays guitar, tenor banjo, lap steel and a ukulele he crafted from a banjo neck and cigar box) grew up here, but spent five years performing for DC’s thankless audiences. “It was so cold and closed in DC, and you had to work so hard for no appreciation at all,” he told me during a recent phone coversation.

While the Sunshine State may seem like a cultural dead end, Vidal says Floridians are generally open to original music, including his own brand of shambling, Southern gothic-tinged roots. “Coming back here and playing and having people of all ages really appreciate it, and show it, felt amazing. It’s one of the reasons why I want to work so hard in Florida and help Florida’s national reputation.” Read the rest of this entry »

Wednesday, March 18: I arrived to Austin by 9:30am, exhausted from the previous night’s St. Patty’s Day festivities. On the plane Flee and Jo Ellen (from WMNF and The Globe respectively) had the privilege to watch me zonk out with mouth agape for most of the 2 hour flight.

Excitement was high as soon as I deplaned. Dozens of people carrying guitar cases were scurrying about the terminal as if late for a very important meeting. I took a shuttle to the “Little” Ramada on the far ass north of town, where I would be staying during my visit. The driver ran me down the key places to visit in Austin (Bat Country, The Capitol), the great restaurants to visit (Guero’s) and that I shouldn’t walk the streets around my hotel alone at night. At first impression Austin seemed tired and run down, with haggard bums adorning every street corner.

Upon arriving to the hotel, I met two bands off the bat: Colombia’s Raton Perez and London’s Little Thief. I took advantage of my “journalist status” and did a quick interview with each:

Raton Perez (Screamo Heavy Metal)

Little Thief (Pop Punk ala Arctic Monkeys)

Read the rest of this entry »

“What a diff’rence a day makes” – María Méndez Grever

The music portion of SXSW has begun and Austin is infested with indie rockers, scenesters, hipsters and musicians from all over the world. The snarky t-shirts and iPhones of the interactive and film portion have been replaced with leather, tight pants and guitar cases. And they’re everywhere.

Try to imagine if every bar, club and art gallery in Tampa and St. Pete tented their parking lots and had full concert lineups on indoor and outdoor stages for 6 straight days. It’s a lot to take in. Not to mention, the stimulation of the local economy here – from stage and equipment rental to groceries and clothing – is staggering.

These Arms Are Snakes at Red Eye Fly. More photos after the jump.

There are many methods of navigating the music portion of “South by.” You can meticulously plot your path, you can wander from bar to bar (if you have a wristband or a badge) or you can do a combination of both. Modes of transport can include car (shout out to Monica Armendazzle), cab, bus, shuttle, bike (they ought to rent these), rickshaw, horse-and-buggy, and finally your own two feet. 

Ivan is in town now, as well as some folks from Creative Loafing Atlanta, so we’ve been coordinating via text. This has worked to avoid overlap and to catch wind of “secret” parties such as last night’s Playboy Party held in a warehouse on E. 12th in which Jane’s Addiction played a surprise hour-long set. Word on the street is that Metallica will be doing a similar stunt tonight to promote their new Guitar Hero game. We’ll see.

Read the rest of this entry »

Lots of concerts to pick and choose from this February 20-22 weekend (for a complete list, click here), but if you haven’t already made concrete plans, why not show some support to the local and regional acts who always work extra hard for your lovin’? Here are highlights from the Florida band concert calendar:

Friday, Feb. 20 Grey Market w/Palantine/Spellbinder/Lush Progress/Magic Shoppe An appealing local bill headed up by drums-and-guitar duo GreyMarket, which produces driving alt-rock with dark waves of drama and electro flourishes. Palantine brings the crunch, Spellbinder the ’70s prog-metal vocals and riffs, Lush Progress the classy symphonics, and Magic Shoppe the psychedelic funk. State Theatre, St. Petersburg.

Friday, Feb. 20 Buffalo Strange, Ringside Cafe, St. Petersburg.

Friday, Feb. 20 Thomas Wynn & the Believers w/Have Gun Will Travel/The Takers/Lauris Vidal/Experimental Pilot Tampa Bay is more known for its Americana acts than Orlando is, but Thomas Wynn comes over from O-Town with a satchel full of rugged tunes and a penchant for Southern rock. The guy is good. He’s joined by a bevy of Bay area acts that will make for a strong bill. New World Brewery, Ybor City (write-up by Eric Snider).

Saturday, Feb. 21 Giddy-up, Helicopter! CD Release Party. Czar, Ybor City.

Saturday, Feb.  21 Rachel Goodrich w/The JeanMarie/The Wedding Party. Rachel Goodrich is a quirky South Florida indie-pop multi-instrumentalist/songwriter whose rich foxy voice is set against songs pondering halos and demons and stars and nighttime adventures and whatever other delightful topics tickle her fancy. New World Brewery, Tampa. (Goodrich pictured above; photo by Yvette Labov.)

Saturday, Feb. 21 The Sheaks w/Gino and the Goons/Steady State/The Fuzz. Flannagans Pub, St. Petersburg.

Saturday, Feb. 21 Lorna Bracewell. Grand Central Peddler’s Fair, Grand Central District, St. Petersburg

With temperatures in the 30’s, a steady stream filed into Ybor’s New World Brewery for the release of Tampa-based alternative-country band Roppongis Ace’s first CD, Into the Night.

The album was recorded this December at Steve Connonely’s Zen studios while Drummer Max Norton and Singer/Guitarist Alex Spoto were on break from college. Spoto says the title simply stemmed from what their recording experience included. “Not much sleep and we went into the night,” he said.

And last night’s performance had the crowd there into the night as well. Many of them have watched the band grow since they were in high school, playing small shows around town.

They were joined by Max’s older brother Jessie on bass and harmonica.

It would seem a salty blues man in his sixties has crawled into Spoto’s vocal chords and made a happy home there. Spoto wrote all the songs on the album, but noted how vital collaboration from the Norton Bros. was to making the sound a complete package.

A new addition to the band was Rebekah Pulley’s bassist, Rob Pastore holding down the steel pedal.

Right off the bat, Roppongi’s Ace had the crowd pumped, but when the speakers filled with a ‘thickfreakness‘ dense version of  ”So it goes”, it seemed that even the most modest of attendees took to stompin‘ without a moments thought. That included Norton and Spoto’s family, who can only beam with pride at the turnout and support for the young band’s talent. More below the jump: Read the rest of this entry »

Have Gun, Will Travel performing at New World Brewery Sat., Dec. 27.

After the Radon show , I skedaddled over to New World Brewery just in time to catch Have Gun, Will Travel in another fine Thx Mgmt-hosted bill. HGWT is consistently one of my favorite live acts because they continue to innovate each time I see them with fresh improvisations on their material and inevitably a new song or two. Read the rest of this entry »