We’ve closed up the shop for the holidays. While we’re away, why not fire up our free Record Store Locator app and visit one of your local indie record stores?
Perhaps there’s an interview, review, or feature you might have missed? Catch up and we’ll see you back here on Wednesday, 1/2.
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
I was so tired of being upset / Always wanting something I never could get / Life’s an illusion, love is a dream / But I don’t know what it is / ‘Cause everybody’s happy nowadays / Everybody’s happy nowadays
RIP Pete Shelley. We’re gonna miss you and bunch of good friends we lost in the turmoil of 2018. God, what a ride.
This Idelic Hour makes 2018 a wrap. It’s what us “Hollywood homies” call a “shut down.” It’s really just a final episode for the year which happens to always coincide with my birthday and a bunch of kids and music biz Christmas stuff. Now it’s time to rest…well, almost ha!
I want to thank Jon and The Vinyl District for just “being.” I’m truly grateful that The Vinyl District allows me to express myself each Friday.
VIA PRESS RELEASE | What do two Faces do when their lead singer (bon vivant Rod Stewart) doesn’t show up for the Ooh La La recording sessions? They work on a soundtrack for an obscure film by actor and friend Alexis Kanner (most famous for his guest roles on the late-‘60s TV series The Prisoner), and draft the uppermost rank of British rock royalty to play on it!
Indeed, given the pedigree of the personnel on this project, it is rather stunning how obscure this 1976 album from Faces members Ron Wood and Ronnie Lane remains, having only been issued on CD abroad and for a brief time at that (and never reissued on LP); one suspects it has much to do with the flop of the film (which appears to have only been screened at the Canadian Film Festival), and the fact that the original LP was released four years after it was recorded in 1972.
Just listen to the roll call of session men on Mahoney’s Last Stand, which was produced by Glyn Johns, himself a British rock and roll noble of good standing and fresh from producing Paul McCartney and Wings’ Red Rose Speedway when he worked on this album: Pete Townshend (guitar and “special electronic effects”), Blind Faith and Family member Rick Grech, fellow Faces Ian McLagan and Kenney Jones, soon-to-be fellow (for Wood) Rolling Stones habitués Ian Stewart, Bobby Keys, and Jim Price, Micky Waller (Wood’s fellow member in the Jeff Beck Group of the late ‘60s), and Grease Band member Bruce Rowland to name but a few.
As for the music, much of it has a rustic, rural feel in keeping with the film’s setting, which follows the misadventures of a recluse who rents a ramshackle farm in the Canadian countryside, with some nods (“Woody’s Thing”) towards the blues-rock Wood would explore with Keith Richards in the Stones. But without a doubt the highlight is Lane’s “Just for a Moment,’ which is here in both vocal and instrumental versions; it’s a prime example of the wistful roots- rock that made Lane’s post-Faces solo career so compelling.
VIA PRESS RELEASE | Bernie Worrell (1944-2016) needs little introduction.
He was an American keyboardist, arranger, and composer best known as a founding member of Parliament/Funkadelic and for his work with Talking Heads. The list of his musical collaborations is extensive and includes renowned artists and acts from the likes of Manu Dibango, Fela Kuti, Jack Bruce, Mike Watt and Les Claypool. Bernie Worrell’s list of achievements is equally impressive: highlights include his induction in as a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 and receiving an honorary Doctor of Music Degree from the New England Conservatory of Music in 2016.
Next to his important body of work with Parliament/Funkadelic, Bernie Worrell released several amazing solo albums that include classics such as All The Woo In The World (1978), Funk Of Ages (1990) and of course the one we are presenting you today, Pieces Of Woo: The Other Side (1993).
Pieces Of Woo: The Other Side was the iconic keyboardist’s fourth solo album was recorded and released in 1993. The album has an all-star line up that includes several renowned artists from the likes of Fred Wesley, Buckethead, Bill Laswell, and Umar Bin Hassan (The Last Poets).
As we bring this week of salutes to a close, a dominant theme emerges. It can perhaps be defined as an assortment of artists tapping into deep traditions and reliable genres. In so doing, they retain the essence of the familiar while producing new possibilities.
5. Nathan Bowles, Plainly Mistaken (Paradise of Bachelors) & Sarah Louise, Deeper Woods (Thrill Jockey) Durham-based multi-instrumentalist Nathan Bowles has been on the scene since the ’90s, first with the Virginia-based improv-drone band Pelt, then as part of the Appalachian old-time string band Black Twig Pickers, and more recently as a solo artist; along the way he’s taken part in numerous collaborations, including with the late Jack Rose, Steve Gunn and Hiss Golden Messenger. What makes Bowles’ music in any context such a treat is his comfort with both the avant-garde and the traditional music of his region, and more so that he has no problem with the two disciplines rubbing together and creating sparks. His second solo effort, 2016’s Whole & Cloven, was very good, but Plainly Mistaken is a knockout as he works in a full-band (trio) context for the first time. Opening with a swell cover of Julie Tippetts’ “Now if You Remember,” from there everything just rolls.
Deeper Woods is the third solo album from fellow North Carolina resident Sarah Louise Henson, though many were introduced to the guitarist’s work through the first record by House and Land, her duo with multi-instrumentalist Sally Anne Morgan (who played fiddle alongside Bowles in the Black Twig Pickers). Their LP made it abundantly clear that the pair’s approach to roots was respectful but not overly reverent, so Deeper Woods’ bold stylistic leaps aren’t especially surprising (nor is its level of quality, as House and Land came in at the seventh spot in TVD’s 2017 best new releases list), even as her prior record, which was the 12th volume in Vin Du Select Qualitite label’s solo acoustic series (it came out in 2016), didn’t predict she’d end up here. What does it sound like? In my prior short review, I compared her to Haley Fohr in terms of weight and scope, but stylistically it can be pegged as serious-minded psych-folk lingering on the edge of the experimental.
4. Anna & Elizabeth, The Invisible Comes to Us (Smithsonian Folkways) & The Other Years, S/T (No Quarter) The duo of Anna Roberts-Gevalt and Elizabeth LaPrelle work in a similar mode to the abovementioned House and Land (there are Virginia roots in common), which may make it seem like we are retracing territory in the handing out of accolades, but The Invisible Comes to Us is ultimately quite different in execution and cumulative effect, while still excelling in the grand endeavor of extending folk traditions (after a year’s worth of researching the archives of song collector Helen Hartness Flanders, this record is the byproduct).While the folk foundation is strong (there are moments that even resonate as British), there is a striking amount of range across these two sides, with rock-tangible moments emerging and then subsiding and likewise with unexpected dips (and a few big dives) into an avant-garde sensibility that brings NYC in the old days to mind (well, the ’70s-’80s, at least). All this unearthed potential is uncommonly strong.
Yes, another duo, this one from Kentucky, and yes, one that’s deeply invested in old-time folk. Why is this list seemingly traveling down a particular rabbit-hole? Well, my retort to that prognosticated query is that multi-instrumentalist Anna Krippenstapel and Heather Summers have delivered some of the most beautiful harmony singing that I’ve heard not just this year, but in a long time. Additionally, the solo vocal turns are superb, and the playing top flight; Krippenstapel has worked with Joan Shelley and Freakwater. She plays guitar and fiddle, while Summers brings guitar and banjo. Maybe most impressively, eight of the ten songs on The Other Years are originals, with only one of these exceptions a traditional tune (“Fair Ellen”). The other is a take of Michael Hurley’s “Wildegeeses,” which should hopefully illuminate the acumen that helps define this stellar debut. It’s the kind of record of you can listen to five times in a row and then want to listen to again. Recommended if you like getting goosebumps.
People of a certain age get all choked up when they listen to commercial folk of the sort produced by The Serendipity Singers. People of a younger age tend to just choke.
You have to cross a seemingly insurmountable generational divide to understand the toothless appeal of this relentlessly cheerful nonet, whose anodyne choir spiel had nothing whatsoever in common with the raw-boned school of folk personified by Woody, Lead Belly, and Bob.
Slick, choral, and tending towards the abominably cute, the Serendipity Singers’ roots stretched back not to the Appalachian Mountains or to some shotgun shack in rural Mississippi but to “How Much Is That Doggy in the Window.” And they were anything but a bunch of Wobblies-loving protest types–far from singing out against President Lyndon Baines Johnson as the Vietnam War ratcheted up, this very square crew of shameless opportunists serenaded him at The White House.
Yet love them people do, and if there’s one thing I love it’s a mystery. What really became of Amelia Earhart? Why do I have to go the whole way to Asia to eat at a Kenny Rogers Roasters restaurant? And what the hell do people like about this shlock?
Determined to find out, I did something truly dangerous–I sat back, poured myself some Sleepytime Tea cut with rat poison, turned on 1998’s Don’t Let the Rain Come Down: The Best of the Serendipity Singers, and actually listened to them.
And guess what? I’m still mystified. The best I can come up with is that the Serendipity Singers evoke memories of a simpler time, when dad went off to work, mom stayed in the kitchen, and everybody’s tastes in music were for shit.
Springfield, IL | Dumb Records announces move to Monroe Street: Black Sheep Cafe, one of the nation’s longest-running venues for all-ages shows, and Dumb Records, an independent record store, are moving from Springfield’s South Town area to the heart of the city’s downtown. The relocated operation at 416 and 418 E. Monroe St. will be known as Dumb Records, shearing the Black Sheep name. The move that was teased in a Facebook posting on Thanksgiving Day was confirmed Thursday at www.blacksheepspringfield.com. There is no opening date yet for the new space. The record store, currently at 1107 South Grand Ave. E., closes on Sunday…Brian Galecki, the sole owner of Dumb Records and one of four owners of Black Sheep, admitted he was initially”dragging his feet” about the move but said opportunities abound for the operation. “Moving to Monroe Street feels good,” he said Thursday. “We’re going to be right in the middle of downtown, and it’s exciting. It’s important for us to get our foot in the door downtown.
Howell, NJ | The Record Store in Howell is closing after 30 years in business: It’s the end of an era as The Record Store in Howell plans to close their doors at the end of January. It may come as a surprise that lack of business isn’t the reason for the closure of the Route 9 fixture. Jeff Laga, the owner of The Record Store, says that he’s simply “not interested in the business.” It’s sad because in this digital world we live in, The Record Store is a place you can go to discover and reminisce in a way you can’t while sitting in front of a computer. Many local music lovers are bummed by this news. If there’s ever been a time to get to The Record Store, it’s now. According to APP, most items are 20 percent off and that includes CDs, toys, books, and more. An official “Going Out of Business Sale” will start on Jan. 1. As far as the iconic cassette tape sign on top of The Record Store, the owner says on Facebook it’s something that would be great to save, but it’s going to be a difficult task.
Las Vegas, NV | On The Record unleashes ‘startenders’ program on Las Vegas Strip: On The Record is helping usher in a new era in beverage distribution. If it takes hold, those who sling drinks might find themselves on the side of Strip hotels, alongside such DJ headliners as Tiesto, The Chainsmokers and Calvin Harris. OTR, Houston Hospitality’s new speakeasy and nightclub at the Park MGM, is presenting a bartender-in-residency program, in the same tenor of DJ residencies in nightclubs on and off the Strip. Yes, these are the top cocktail creators and personalities in the beverage universe. These tenders of bar are to be featured at On The Record’s Vinyl Parlor as the club opens Dec. 28 with Lady Gaga’s official after-party celebrating her opening at Park Theater. Just announced is comic rap star Lil Dicky the as club’s New Year’s Eve headliner.
Cratediggers And Fashion-Heads Alike Will Find Something To Wear In Record Store Day Tees’ Interactive Online Shop! …Each Record Store Tee is fully-licensed and printed on high quality, premium shirts (men’s and women’s cuts available), featuring dynamic and colorful designs, with both vintage and modern record store iconography. Proceeds from each sale go directly back to the record stores, plants and businesses featured. Shirts are available individually, or better yet, as part of a subscription service, which allows you to customize shirts to your liking. Nearly two dozen designs are available right now, from beloved shops like Music Millennium, Anthony Able’s Record Shop, Darkside Records and Gallery, The Sound Garden, Dimple Records, Easy Street, Zia Records, Graywhale, Josey Records, Schoolkids, Twist & Shout, Electric Fetus, Vintage Vinyl, as well as Bong Load Records, Kindercore Vinyl and Furnace Record Pressing (whose logo was designed by Shepard Fairey) and the team at Record Store Tees is adding new designs monthly.
VIA PRESS RELEASE | Music is a universal element of human life. It’s a tie that binds us together, a force that breaks down walls and carries us forward, a refuge where we turn for hope, and a channel for our despair. On February 22nd, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings will release The Social Power of Music, a new box set that examines these roles of music in our lives from many angles and through many voices. Over four CDs, 80+ tracks, and an illustrated 124-page booklet, The Social Power of Music presents some of the most powerful moments in Smithsonian Folkways’ vast and ever-expanding catalog, putting them in conversation with each other to highlight the ways song has shaped the societies we live in.
The Social Power of Music looks at this music through four different perspectives. Disc 1: Songs of Struggle channels the visceral power of the fight for civil rights, featuring household names from Folkways’ archives including Woody Guthrie, The Freedom Singers, and Pete Seeger, and songs that defined a generation. Disc 2: Sacred Sounds presents music from many religions and spiritual practices, in some cases drawing from rarely heard or known ceremonies. Disc 3: Social Songs and Gatherings shows how we use music to come together, often in celebration. Disc 4: Global Movements looks to the use of roots music in key political movements around the world, tapping into anti-fascist verses, odes to the working class, and polemics against governmental corruption and violence.
The box set, and the idea of music’s centrality to the way people connect to one another, inspired the upcoming Smithsonian Year of Music, which presents music and sound events in Washington, DC and around the country every day throughout 2019. The series will kick off with a listening party for the compilation on January 2, 2019 at Songbyrd Record Café and Music House in Washington, DC. “The Social Power of Music” will also be the animating theme of the 2019 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which takes place annually on the National Mall.
Industrial electro rockers HOLY WOW hail from NYC and specialize in the kind of Gothic pop that made household names out of The Jesus and Mary Chain and Echo and the Bunnymen.
Their newest single, “Hey Dragon,” is a stadium-primed barn burner that rides a relentless bass groove into a full on Rolling Stones, gospel-tinged climax. The blissed out, fuzz-driven undertones and buzzsaw riffs are a perfect match for lead singer Dmitry Wild’s dynamic vocals which oscillate from Lou Reed-like speak singing to Brandon Flowers-esque rock operatics.
“Hey Dragon” is off the forthcoming debut, Modern Ancient Man, which marks the first time Mr. Wild has taken the leadership role among the prolific line of bands he’s been associated with. The new skin seems to suit him well, as the whole LP is laced with a sweet spot swagger that continues to impress after repeat listens.
They are not just the hottest band to come out of New Orleans in the last few years. They are also eager to give back to the city they call home and where they first burst on the scene. On Friday, December 14 and Saturday, December 15, Tank and the Bangas will lead a group of volunteers and build a home with the New Orleans area Habitat for Humanity.
“When you change someone’s life for the better, you are really changing your own,” says lead singer Tarriona “Tank” Ball. To that end, one hard-working New Orleans family will be the beneficiaries of the effort by the band and their fans.
Fans can register to volunteer and fundraise for what has been dubbed, “The Banga Build.” To encourage fundraising among fans, Tank and the Bangas will award prizes for those who reach certain fundraising goals. Fundraising incentives include a t-shirt, a signed poster, tickets to their NYE show, and coffee (or drinks) with the band.
For more information or to register for the Banga Build, please visit www.bangabuild.org.
Meg Myers has been on our radar for a number of years now, and despite our own vinyl predilections, our introduction to Meg came via a slew of videos released over time—often haunting, tense, claustrophobic, and kinda eerie.
As such, it delights us to no end to report that in person Meg’s quite easily the opposite of that persona—well, at least on this sunny Saturday at DC’s Som Records. She’s warm, funny, engaging—and with hugs all around after the record rummage.
So, let’s take you to the record store—we’re record shopping with Meg Myers at Washington, DC’s Som Records!
We now shift into the first part of our roundup of the best new releases of 2018, and below (and right off the bat) you’ll notice a few labels popping up more than once. More than twice, even. After much consideration, this is just how the cookie of quality crumbles in this calendar year, though the juxtapositions are still worthwhile.
10. The Chills, Snow Bound (Fire) & Modern Studies, Welcome Strangers (Fire) Led by singer-songwriter and sole constant member Martin Phillipps, New Zealand’s The Chills have long been one of my favorite melodic-rock endeavors. As a youngster in the 1980s, I grabbed the band’s early records towards the tail end of that decade; they were on the Kiwi label Flying Nun, a sure sign of quality, though the platters were released in the US at the time through Homestead. As the scope of Phillipps’ songs continued to grow, his profile rose as he moved on to Slash. After ending a long break in recording in 2013 The Chills found a solid home with Fire in the UK. Best lists routinely focus on groundbreaking or at least considerably ambitious stuff, but Snow Bound isn’t blazing a trail, with the main ambition here to write and record a solid, memorable set of songs; what they’ve achieved is another batch of notably strong Chills material nearly 40 years after Phillipps formed the group, and that is no small thing.
Modern Studies are a band from Scotland-via-Lancashire whose 2016 debut Swell to Great impressed me quite a bit. I also dug their track on “Avocet Revisited,” which was a short V/A covers tribute to the very cool Bert Jansch album. Welcome Strangers expands upon their prior baroque folky atmospheres while never totally leaving them behind, in part through their continued use of organic instrumentation, including double bass, harmonium and piano alongside electric guitar and bass, brass and string arrangements and the occasional tasteful use of electronic rhythms. Often dancy and poppy in way that could trigger rampant delight in a busload of ABBA fans, the tandem vocals of Emily Scott and Rob St. John are invitingly warm, but there are also experimental (though never discomfiting) elements aplenty (plus some Krautrock-ish undercurrents), and the cumulative effect is bold without ever faltering into the grandiose. Without ever faltering much at all in fact, across a record loaded with unexpected twists.
9. Madison Washington, (((( FACTS ))))) (Def Pressé) & Obnox, Bang Messiah (Smog Veil) Where so much contemporary hip-hop zigs, Madison Washington zags, and that’s cool with me. The duo of California/New York-based emcee Malik Ameer and Sheffield, England resident DJ/producer thatmanmonkz are named after the man who led the first and only successful slave rebellion in the USA, so rest assured that (((( FACTS ))))) (which follows up their debut EP “Code Switchin’”) will leave you feeling smarter, though to call Madison Washington a scholarly thing is inapt; throughout this 2LP, they instill much more of a party vibe. I said they like to zag, and after an opener that sorta picks up where the EP left off, the thrust shifts into a funky zone (underscoring Ameer’s bi-coastal situation) that references P-Funk and reminds me at times of Outkast. But it’s all so much more than a revamp/ rehash. To restate sentiments from my earlier short review, it’s some of the best hip-hop I’ve heard in a long time.
Hip-hop and a general sense of funkiness are but flavors in Bang Messiah’s overall recipe, but they are essential ingredients rather than the sort of slapdash additives that seem like a good idea but then turn out to be barely palatable at best (the dangers of cooking while high). Main Obnox man and Clevelander Lamont “Bim” Thomas’ prior credits are substantial, including the Compulsive Gamblers, Bassholes (with former member of the Gibson Bros. Don Howland), and This Moment in Black History, bands that might make it clear to the uninitiated that Obnox combines hip-hop and rock, though the garage/ punk/ scuzz background keeps this far away from a baseball cap turned backwards scenario. Instead, Bang Messiah is a weird and noisy affair, and with staying power as it connects as a record of ideas. And as Obnox has amassed a sizable discography, it’s been this way for a while; I haven’t heard everything, but I’ve soaked up more than a few. This is the best one yet.
Honolulu, HI | The world’s best record shops #135: Hungry Ear Records, Hawaii: …Hungry Ear’s racks boast collections of rare reggae and rock classics (the huge Beatles mural that covers the back wall of the store may give that away), but their bread and butter is Hawaiian and local music: from disco by Nohelani Cypriano to smooth, jazz-tinged grooves from Momi Riley. To Yamashita, this is music he wants to hand down to another generation. “I remember the days when a record store was not only a repository of great music, but also a place where you could meet like-minded people and hang out,” Yamashita says. “A lot of kids aren’t on a professional path and I’d love to give them the tools to integrate into the world outside school, friends and parents, without feeling they have to lose themselves. We’d love it if kids rediscovered the pleasure of spending afternoons after school at our store.”
Racine, WI | Records live here: Longshot Vinyl Lounge opens in Downtown Racine: To Jada Pfarr, those ones and zeros of digitized music cannot compete with good old long-play vinyl records. Now, the Kenosha woman has turned that love of records into a new Downtown Racine store, Longshot Vinyl Lounge, at 324 Sixth St. “I’m a record collector, and my husband is a record collector,” Jada said Monday. “This is what we would be doing on Friday night: putting on records and looking through all the stuff, and we love to record-shop. “And we — especially me — just don’t like record shops,” she said. “They’re dusty; there’s a million records. You have to spend hours of time.” With one particular Milwaukee record store in mind, Pfarr continued: “There’s nowhere to sit down, there’s no bathroom — not a public bathroom, anyway. They have live acts, but it’s cramped, it’s small. They have DVDs; they have all this other stuff in there.” Jada owns the business but said that she and her husband, Jeff, “just kind of came up with the concept of: Let’s make a record store that you’d hang out in…”
Berlin, DE | Berliner Meister Schallplatten direct to disc recording: The Berlin-based Label Berliner Meister Schallplatten is producing live recorded vinyl using Direct-to-Disc methods. Up until the 1950s, most recordings were made direct to vinyl but, with the emergence of new technology, direct-to-disc became marginalised until it nearly vanished from professional recording practices. In 2012 sound engineers Stephan Flock and Rainer Maillard founded the Label Berliner Meister Schallplatten. They made a name for themselves thanks to their bespoke methods of recording and producing an unmistakable quality for the artists they represent. When the opportunity came up to buy a lathe cutter that was destined for destruction, they had a vision not only to preserve the knowledge and the technical know-how but also to establish a new tradition of professional direct-to-disc recording.
Michelle Obama Talks Stevie Wonder, Jackson 5 and Other Childhood Music Memories With Questlove: …Discussing her earliest albums, Obama recalled the first record she received as a gift was Stevie Wonder’s Talking Book, which she was actually given twice one Christmas. “That’s how good an album it was,” she said in a clip premiering exclusively with Billboard. One copy came from her parents and the other from her maternal grandfather, Southside, who she described as the “musical core of our family.” That version included the lyrics in braille, which she studied while she listened to the music, hoping to better understand the artist behind it all…That was the first album she ever owned as a child. But as music fans know, there’s a big difference between the first album you ever received and the first one you bought for yourself. Those early purchases were reserved for the Jackson 5, whose “ABC” and “The Love You Save” she bought on 45 RPM single vinyl records and mostly only played in her bedroom, dancing and singing along.
Vinyl Edition Of Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ Film Soundtrack Coming In February. The film soundtrack is already becoming one of the band’s fastest-selling albums throughout the world. Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody film soundtrack is set to be released as a 2-LP set on 8 February. The 22-song soundtrack album, produced by Brian May and Roger Taylor, features the first-ever release of audio tracks from Queen’s legendary performance at Live Aid as well as other rare live tracks and their biggest hits. Rolling Stone hailed it as “more than just a greatest hits,” praising it as, “a fun imaginative way to relive the band’s genius.” The Bohemian Rhapsody film soundtrack will come as a vinyl double album specially cut at Abbey Road Studios. Continuing the celebration of Queen’s iconic music, a special picture disc edition of the album, as well as a 7” single featuring the original ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’/‘I’m In Love With My Car’ pairing, will also be released on Record Store Day, 13 April 2019. While not featured in the film, ‘I’m In Love With My Car’ is joke-referenced several times in the film. Now the track gets its moment.
VIA PRESS RELEASE | As part of an ongoing campaign to commemorate Creedence Clearwater Revival’s 50th anniversary, Craft Recordings is pleased to present an official short form audio-visual project offering a fresh take on their timeless standard, “Have You Ever Seen The Rain.” Following the “Fortunate Son” video moment earlier this year, “Have You Ever Seen The Rain” conveys a wholly different dimension of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s enduring relevance—separate from politics or American traditions, something more personal and eternally youthful. Filmed in “Big Sky Country” Montana, the project pays tribute to nostalgia, friendship and adventure.
Directed by Laurence Jacobs—who has directed and produced videos for artists including Andrew Bird, Steve Martin, Elvis Costello, and Valerie June–the project features Jack Quaid (The Hunger Games, Logan Lucky, HBO’s Vinyl and Amazon’s upcoming series, The Boys), Sasha Frolova (FOX’s Red Sparrow, Netflix’s Snowpiercer, KENZO’s The Everything) and Erin Moriarty (Marvel’s Jessica Jones, Amazon’s The Boys). “I knew I wanted to tell a coming-of-age story,” Jacobs explains. “Something distinctly real that encapsulated identity. Not teenage years, but specifically your early 20s when you’re still growing and trying to become someone.” The result is a story that captures early adulthood’s wild rush of nostalgia and freedom, mixed with heartbreak and melancholy-emotions of which the song is emblematic.
Continues Jacobs, “My writing partner [Luke Klompien] and I developed this story about three best friends hanging in Montana until one of them moves away. The whole experience was so meaningful. Our crew poured so much love into this thing, and we worked with wonderful Montanans who just opened their doors and wanted to be a part of the experience.”
The next generation of the legendary Neville family steps up to the plate with drummer/vocalist Omari Neville’s first appearance at the Hi Ho Lounge with his hot new band, the Fuel. Omari’s father, Cyril Neville, the iconic singer and percussionist for the Meters, the Neville Brothers, the Uptown Allstars, and numerous other bands and projects, will join his son on stage as a special guest.
Omari Neville was raised in the orbit of the Neville Brothers band, which also included his three uncles, Art, Charles, and Aaron, as well as the projects of his cousins Charmaine, Ivan, and Ian among other assorted Neville kin. He has been playing drums since he was a child and has matured into one of the finest drummers in the city. He is also a formidable vocalist.
The Fuel is an all-star aggregation that features two veterans of the definitive era of the Neville Brothers—guitarist Eric Struthers and bassist Daryl Johnson. “Stormin’” Norman Caesar, a veteran of numerous Neville-related projects including the seminal rap-funk hybrid band DEFF Generation is on keyboards, and Gregg Molinario is also on guitar.
