Bearly Dead is an all-star cast of players with deep roots in the New England jam & festival scene. While the band plays all of the Grateful Dead classics, they also dive into an extended catalog, which may include any song that any member of the Dead ever performed. With over 230 songs in rotation and new material being added all the time, Bearly Dead performs wildly different set lists every night and ensures that each show is a unique experience. With no designated “Jerry” or “Bobby”, this band is able to breathe new life into songs with their fresh, high-energy approach to them. Bearly Dead is a setlist-nerd’s dream!
Founded during an intense snowstorm in April 2015, Bearly Dead played its first show at Church of Boston, marking the beginning of its hallowed Wednesday Night Residency. In September of that year, Church was sold and the band found a new home on Wednesday nights at Thunder Road in Somerville. During their 5 years at Thunder Road, Bearly Dead was nominated twice for the Boston Music Award’s “Live Music Residency of the Year,” and burst onto the scene as New England’s premier Grateful Dead tribute band. The band has had the opportunity to play at some of Massachusetts’ most prestigious venues, including The Paradise Rock Club and The Worcester Palladium, as well as headlining turns at The House of Blues Boston, The Sinclair, and The Middle East Downstairs. Bearly Dead has also become a staple in the New England festival scene with appearances at Disc Jam, Wild Woods, Luna Light, Wormtown, Yasgur Road Reunion, Great North, Kind Mind Campout, and many more.
Bearly Dead’s Wednesday Night Residency at Thunder Road continued unabated every week since its inception in September 2015 until the club’s closing in 2020. The phrase “Never Miss A Wednesday Show” became ubiquitous around Boston…and you really never knew what might happen! Thunder Road was a beacon to all musicians on Wednesday nights to come join in the fun, with notable appearances by Mike Campbell (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers), Paul Wolstencroft (Slightly Stoopid), Steve Molitz (Particle/Phil Lesh & Friends), Kebbi Williams (Tedeschi Trucks Band), Rob Compa (Dopapod), Hayley Jane (Hayley Jane & The Primates), Johnny Trama (Dub Apocalypse), and Gary Backstrom (Gary Backstrom Band); and a surprise appearance by Jerry Garcia’s “Wolf” guitar in 2018 on Jerry Garcia’s birthday! While one door closes, many more will open – stay tuned to see what Bearly Dead will do for the next 5 years!
For Briston Maroney, it’s been a journey to arrive at the current moment. A mental, physical, emotional, and musical one. But it’s left him equipped: not only with a deep understanding of self, discovered through life’s trials and errors, but just as important, with a piece of art that reflects his personal growth. Sunflower, Maroney’s debut album, is the culmination of the past decade of the now-22-year old’s life. “It’s all of the things I’ve been stoked about since I was 12 coming together,” the wise-beyond-his-years, Nashville-based singer-songwriter says with a laugh of his striking album. “It’s been a literal and physical relationship with the record as far as coming to a point where I understand what parts of me it represents, what it means to me as a person and what it means for my entire life.”
Recorded between the summer of 2019 and early 2020 in LA with acclaimed producer John Congleton, Sunflower is “definitely a milestone,” Maroney admits. “I’d be lying to say I didn’t feel a little bit of that. And why not let yourself enjoy it?” It’s also a gut-punch of fuzzy power chords (“Sinkin”) and genteel acoustics (“Cinnamon”); deftly-composed pop songs (“Freeway”) and hard-charging rockers (“Rollercoaster”). “I put all of myself into it,” Maroney adds of the 10-track LP. In retrospect, he adds, “I definitely have this sense of calmness now. I did what I was capable of doing and I’m just glad I was around my friends and my people to help me get to this point.”
An energetic live performer with a craft first honed in basements, living rooms, and jam-packed clubs, Maroney quickly developed a style steeped in the sweat and sounds of Nashville’s DIY scene. After self-releasing his 2017 debut EP Big Shot and amassing a strong local fan base, Maroney ultimately attracted the attention of Canvasback Music. After signing with the label, his subsequent releases – Carnival (2018), Indiana (2019), and Miracle (2020) – remained entirely self-written with just a single producer credited on each project, namely Grammy Award-winning producer Tone Def and UK-based producer Jim Abbiss (Arctic Monkeys, Adele).
When Maroney began to tour the US and Europe alongside other artists, co-writing sessions became commonplace as they created music together while on the road. It was at this point he made the conscious decision that he would seek out additional songwriters and producers to work with on his debut full-length project; as Maroney’s music world grew, so too did his desire for collaboration.
While Maroney is the first to admit he was ‘terrified-in-a-good-way’ to be working alongside top-notch talents with the likes of Manchester Orchestra’s Andy Hull and venerated songwriter Dan Wilson on the creation of Sunflower, over time he came to understand a simple lesson. That being, “If you’re approaching what you’re doing from a place of love and kindness and passion you can be as open and flowing artistically as you want to be with your collaborators,” he says. “I learned a ton from writing with those people,” Maroney continues. “I think the biggest thing I took away is you get to decide how open you want to be, and you get to decide how much of a stage you want to set for emotions in songwriting.”
If there was a sense of apprehension heading into such sessions, it’s only because songwriting, for Maroney, has long been such a highly personal process. “It’s been my journal for a really long time,” he explains. “There’s a beauty in songwriting. It’s a scrapbook. It’s a photo album. And if you’re really putting your heart into what you’re doing and writing songs for the right reasons, every one of them should take you back to a very specific place.” For Maroney, the songs that comprise Sunflower take him along the long and winding path to the present, from his time as a young, upstart-tween musician busking at the Knoxville farmer’s markets to playing dank basement gigs, sobering up amid personal struggles, and finally arriving right now at his most fully-realized self.
“Hopefully this record is representative of my journey,” Maroney says, singling out the opening track “Sinkin” as summing up the record to him in a single cut. “Here’s 100 percent of who I am,” he says of the brash and bursting song. “It feels the most connected to my heart.”
“I hope that people hear the record and see the songs as windows into what I’ve been experiencing and hopefully they’ll relate to that,” Maroney says, continuing. “I know these songs will continue to do that for me.”
Working with producer John Congleton, Maroney explains, was about learning to trust his impulse. While Maroney had long been the first to question initial instincts, Congleton taught him to respect his gut. “He communicates really directly and really taught me a lot about speaking precisely and speaking about what you want to accomplish with a song and a record,” Maroney recalls. “Whereas I have a tendency to be really abstract. I learned to be able to switch into that mode. He had my back the whole time.”
Maroney gushes as he reflects on the session with Congleton that resulted in “It’s Still Cool If You Don’t.” Their initial stab at writing together, “was the first experience of really letting go,” Maroney contends of the song. “Just coming in and having a silly idea and being down to see where it goes.” Working on “Cinnamon” alongside seasoned songwriter Jenny Owens Young, which Maroney describes as a “quieter more low-key song,” was by contrast an exercise in “being all gushy” and exploring his feelings on love. “That was really fun to write a love song with someone else who was also in love with a person,” Maroney offers.
Where “Rollercoaster,” an older track that Maroney and his band typically closed out their sets with, was his attempt at getting a bit raucous, the track “Deep Sea Diver,” which Maroney penned with Dan Wilson, was a far more meditative affair. Or as Maroney says with a laugh, “It’s like, well, if this really pissed off angry rock thing doesn’t work here’s my best attempt at trying to be John Prine.”
If anything, the process of assembling Sunflower was the best way Maroney learned to take his foot off the gas a bit and ease into his life in a more gratifying way. Where he admits at times throughout the recording process he was “squeezing it so hard,” completing a brilliant debut album to him “was so much about just learning to be a little more laid back,” Maroney says with a smile. “I still feel really connected to it, but I’m so stoked to share it and especially one day play it live,” Maroney adds of Sunflower. “Right now, I am just so thankful and happy.”
The Record Company is breaking old habits on Play Loud. The Los Angeles trio was ready for a change when it came time to make their third album, and they got it: Play Loud pushes the group into uncharted territory with a dozen new tracks that move beyond the homemade sound of The Record Company’s first two albums. Band members Alex Stiff, Chris Vos, and Marc Cazorla brought in GRAMMY-winning producer Dave Sardy (Oasis, Wolfmother, Modest Mouse, LCD Soundsystem) to help broaden their sound.
“We came to the table for our third record with strong demos on songs that could have passed for our first two records, and asked, ‘Can we beat it?'” says singer Chris Vos. “And for the first time, we allowed talented people to come into our small circle to push the music higher.”
“In the past, we were really insular. Everything was just us,” says Stiff, who also played guitar and keyboards and sang on the album. “We totally flipped the process on this record to allow for every idea and possibility, so it wasn’t just the three of us, closed off in our bubble. It was like, ‘Let’s take some risks and see what we can really do.'”
As the title implies, Play Loud is a bigger sounding album, with songs packed full of taut grooves and stick-in-your-head hooks. It’s upbeat, and you can hear why Chris Vos described a common theme in the process as simply: “Fun.” Though there are echoes aplenty of The Record Company’s origins — including recording all the basic tracks together live in the studio during a brief window in May 2020 — there’s also a willingness to try out new sounds and styles. Lead single “How High” pairs bristling guitar with a sleek bassline and distorted vocals, while “Paradise” lays back in a deep pocket with a spare, locked-in rhythm from bass and drums, bright bursts of guitar and, on the chorus, swelling keyboards that give the song a sense of lift. There’s dirty electric guitar and a ’90s hip-hop influence on the pulsing track “Gotta Be Movin,'” and a punchy bassline, tight backing vocals and just the right amount of a pop sensibility on “Never Leave You.”
“We definitely wanted to expand,” says Cazorla, who played drums and keyboards on the new album. The Record Company got started in 2011 and were selling out small venues in Los Angeles before they released their first album, 2016’s GRAMMY-nominated Give It Back to You. Stiff produced the debut which yielded three Top 10 hits at Triple-A radio, including “Off the Ground,” which reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Songs chart. Stiff also produced the trio’s 2018 follow-up, All of This Life, which cracked the Billboard 200 albums chart and launched another Adult Alternative chart-topper with “Life to Fix.” Yet when it came time to make their third record, the musicians knew they wanted to try something different.
Why did you shake things up on Play Loud?
Vos: You can’t stay the same and expect new things. Where is the fun in that? Sardy said at the very beginning, “to make a great record you need to be around people who lose sleep over it.” He did. We did.
Stiff: I stated right off the bat that we should try a new producer. I was ready to learn from someone with tons of record making experience, and focus on being creative, rather than wearing so many hats at once.
What did you learn from working with new collaborators?
Cazorla: That we don’t have the answers to everything. We were fortunate to work with
some great people, and it’s helpful to listen to them and take some guidance where needed, and also to stand firmly up for the stuff that we believe in and find that great end result together. The best possible version of the song.
Vos: We collaborated in our writing process with a couple of people, like Shungudzo or Sam Hollander and Kevin Griffin or Dave, who awoke inspiration within us to find new ideas, or greatly improve upon existing ones. Every second of every song on the record is authentic to both who we are and where we are as people. It was a fresh feeling to have that experience because you got to participate with others in a process that adds to your own, and that opened new possibilities up.
What did Dave Sardy bring to the process?
Stiff: Even the first time we met him, all of us left that day with new knowledge about how to make something bigger than what we could conceive on our own. He also has an amazing studio with a lot of crazy gear that inspired ideas. It’s not just about expensive mics, sometimes we’d use a mic from an ’80s boombox to record. He brings a craft of experimentation that is an art in itself.
Vos: Nothing gets past Dave. He demands ideas and performances achieve a certain level. We as a band feel the same. I easily had a couple of nervous breakdowns making the record, and I think that’s what it takes. The melodies on this record, alongside Dave’s production, made me step away from a lot of my moves as a singer. It got me out of my normal comfortable zone and made me grow through the challenge of singing authentically from a different place. To refine and redefine how I saw singing and melody. That’s a delight.
What effect did the pandemic have on making this album?
Cazorla: We had much more time, so we took a few months before we went into record in May 2020 to really go over everything with a fine-tooth comb: every word, every phrase — everything, and it felt really great to be able to do that.
Vos: From the beginning, Alex was in his home studio making rock solid inspiring demoes for us to feed off of. That started the whole ball rolling from a strong place. There was nothing else to do but work on these songs and make them the sole central focus in our lives. We’ll probably never have a chance quite like that again. Through the whole process it is the band’s job to make sure we know what we want to say, to work as hard to get the best results, and to always do music you feel opens your heart to the listener.
What do you hope Play Loud does for the band?
Vos: I want the record to reach the people it’s supposed to reach. I don’t know how many that is — I don’t care about the numbers so much as the record is just finding its way to people who can hear the honesty that we put into it. We worked harder on this record than we’ve worked on any other record. We made a record we love.
Stiff: When this album drops is exactly our 10-year anniversary, and we just feel like it’s our time. It’s different than what some of our fans might expect from us, but we felt we had to evolve, and we found new ground and a bigger sound.
Warren Haynes broke his shoulder in a fall so this show is being rescheduled. We’ll let you know what the new date is as soon as we find out. All tickets will be honored for the new date.
GOV’T MULE Announces
Headlining Spring Tour Dates
In Support of Chart-Topping Blues Album
Heavy Load Blues
General On Sale Begins February 4th at 10am Local
“Warren Haynes is a meaty and masterful player, as well as a soulful singer and songwriter
– an all-star.” – Rolling Stone
“Gov’t Mule is an essential, iconic American band.” – Guitar World
“[Warren Haynes is] one of the most celebrated, legendary guitar pros.” –Billboard
“[Gov’t Mule’s] songs stomp and wail with unmistakable energy and heft.” – NPR
“Brilliant and never predictable…an effortless combination of blues, soul and classic roots-rock…innovative and commanding.” –American Songwriter
“One of the greatest live bands in existence.” – Music Connection
“Heavy jam legends Gov’t Mule lay bare their roots on Heavy Load Blues, resulting in one of the most satisfying albums of the year.” – PopMatters
“Heavy Load Blues is raw, heavy, and immediate.” –AllMusic
“Haynes and the band deliver a world-class musical experience.” – Goldmine
January 31, 2022 – Renowned quartet Gov’t Mule – led by GRAMMY®Award-winning vocalist, songwriter, guitar legend, and producer Warren Haynes – has announced a run of headlining Spring tour dates supporting their critically acclaimed, chart-topping blues album, Heavy Load Blues. Commencing April 6th in Syracuse, the month-long outing includes their rescheduled New Year’s shows in Philadelphia and New York City, the latter of which are now set for April 8th and 9th still at The Beacon Theatre, the band’s unofficial home-court venue. Other stops along the tour include Albany, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Memphis, St. Louis, Oklahoma City and New Orleans, where Gov’t Mule will return on April 29thfor a very special show during the first weekend of Jazz Fest. Details for New Orleans including venue, lineup and ticketing coming later this week. Additionally, the road warriors will be performing at select festivals this year including SweetWater420 Festival in Atlanta and Riverbend Festival in Chattanooga. Full routing below.
Artist pre-sale tickets will be available Wednesday, February 2nd at 10am ET with the general on sale beginning Friday, February 4th at 10am local time. Please visit www.mule.net for ticketing details and check with the venue’s website for local health and safety requirements.
“We’ve really been looking forward to getting back out on the road and doing a ‘proper’ tour to play all these new songs,” shares Haynes. “I don’t know who’s more excited – the fans or the band. We can’t wait to get back to playing every night. Most of these venues are ones we’ve played before and love, but there are a few new places we’re eager to visit. We’re also thrilled to reschedule our New Year’s shows and continue our ‘Black and Blue’ theme, which I think is different from what people may have expected. See you out there!”
Heavy Load Blues (Fantasy Records), the band’s first-ever blues album, debuted at #1 on theBillboard Blues Albums chart upon its November 2021 release, marking Gov’t Mule’s third album to enter the Billboard charts at the top spot in their storied career. Heavy Load Blues, which has amassed 3.4 million total global streams, also peaked on the Amazon Best Sellers in Blues chart and Music Connect’s Blues Albums chart, among many other charting positions. PRESS HEREto listen. The 13-track album, produced by Haynes alongside engineer and co-producer John Paterno (Elvis Costello, Michael Landau, Bonnie Raitt, Robbie Williams, Los Lobos), encompasses an even mix of Haynes’ originals, such as “Heavy Load,” and revered covers, including their rendition of the Tom Waits classic “Make It Rain,” a groovy arrangement of the Junior Wells standard “Snatch It Back and Hold It,” and more originally made famous by the likes of Howlin’ Wolf, Elmore James, Ann Peebles, Bobby “Blue” Bland, and The Animals. A deluxe edition featuring additional studio and live tracks, including another Haynes original and covers originally by Savoy Brown, Sonny Boy Williamson, Muddy Waters, Otis Rush and more, is also available now. Though technically considered a studio album, Heavy Load Blues was recorded live in the studio at The Power Station New England on analog tape, utilizing vintage guitars, amps and other equipment to capture an authentic sound.
Worldwide, Heavy Load Blues has received critical praise and acclaim from the likes of Consequence, Guitar World, BrooklynVegan, No Depression, Ultimate Classic Rock, PopMatters, Downbeat, Classic Rock, Relix, Guitar Magazine, Paste and many more, including numerous 9- and 8-out-of-10-star reviews. Additionally, Haynes was a recent guest on NPR Weekend Edition for an in-depth discussion on the new album – PRESS HERE to listen.
Gov’t Mule – Haynes,Matt Abts [drums], Danny Louis [keyboards, guitar, and backing vocals], and JorgenCarlsson [bass] – returned to the stage earlier this month for their first shows of 2022 at Island Exodus 12, the band’s annual destination “concert-cation” event at Jewel Paradise Cove Resort in Jamaica. The 5-day extravaganza (January 16-20) saw Mule perform three full shows along with performances from Dawes, The War and Treaty and RonHolloway for a truly memorable experience.
GOV’T MULE TOUR DATES *New dates in bold
April 6 – Syracuse, NY @ Landmark Theatre
April 7 – Albany, NY @ Palace Theatre
April 8 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre (originally 12/30/21)
April 9 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre (originally 12/31/21)
April 11 – McKee Rocks, PA @ Roxian Theatre
April 13 – Wilkes-Barre, PA @ F.M. Kirby Center
April 14 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Met (originally 12/29/21)
April 15 – Erie, PA @ Warner Theatre
April 16 – Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre
April 17 – Grand Rapids, MI @ 20 Monroe Live
April 19 – Fort Wayne, IN @ Clyde Theatre
April 21 – Memphis, TN @ Soundstage at Graceland
April 22 – Little Rock, AR @ The Hall
April 23 – St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant
April 25 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Jones Assembly
April 27 – Mobile, AL @ Saenger Theatre
April 28 – Atlanta, GA @ SweetWater 420 Festival
April 29 – New Orleans, LA @ TBA
April 30 – Tuscaloosa, AL @ Druid City Music Hall
June 3-5 – Chattanooga, TN @ Riverbend Festival
Photo Credit: Jay Sansone
ABOUT GOV’T MULE & WARREN HAYNES
Gov’t Mule – Warren Haynes [vocals, guitar], Matt Abts [drums], Danny Louis [keyboards, guitar, and backing vocals], and Jorgen Carlsson [bass] – has galvanized a global fan base with their honest, organic and daring music and improvisational virtuosity, leading them to be recognized as one of the most timeless, revered and active bands in the world whose spot amongst rock titans remains unshakable. Led by visionary GRAMMY Award-winning artist and guitar legend Warren Haynes – a cornerstone of the American music landscape – the enduring, globally revered group has showcased its intelligence and breadth over the course of 20+ studio and live albums, thousands of memorable performances and millions of album and track sales. Gov’t Mule has become a human encyclopedia of great American music while adding to that canon with their signature sound. The band’s flexible interplay in the studio and on stage makes them a true living, breathing ensemble and Haynes is lauded as one of the most formidable guitarists and vocalists of the modern era and a prolific songwriter and producer. Throughout his prolific career as part of three of the greatest live groups in rock history – Allman Brothers Band, Gov’t Mule and the Dead – and an acclaimed solo artist, Haynes has become one of music’s most treasured storytellers.
In the interest of keeping our guests and staff protected and healthy, as well as reduce the chance of COVID outbreaks that could put future tour dates in jeopardy, Beach Bunny and Empire Live will require all attendees of Beach Bunny’s upcoming show on May 9, 2022 to show proof of a full COVID-19 vaccination.
All attendees will be required to show one of the following for entry along with a government issued ID:
Your vaccine card
A clear and legible photocopy of your vaccine card
Photo of your vaccine card on your phone
A digital vaccine passport or record
A negative COVID-19 test result obtained within 72 hours of the event
We are also requesting all attendees wear masks for the duration of the show.
Twiddle: With 12 years of relentless touring behind them, Vermont-based rock band Twiddle has built an impressive resume spanning Red Rocks to Bonnaroo, and multiple sellouts of historic rock venues including Port Chester, NY’s Capitol Theatre, and Washington D.C.’s 9:30 Club. And with the second half of the band’s third studio album, PLUMP, on the horizon, the band’s career continues to catapult forward. Buoyed by the generous support of 359 Kickstarter donors, the 27-song album does more than showcase the group’s beautiful music, but also tells an important story, comprised in PLUMP Chapters 1 & 2.
Recorded during a two-year span with legendary producer Ron St. Germain, PLUMP serves as a reflection of four brothers’ triumphs and struggles, both individual and as a whole. On Chapter 1, songs like “Lost in the Cold” and “Every Soul” detail what it’s like to hit rock bottom and how to rise back up. “So many fans have shared how these songs carried them through very difficult times, and that alone makes this all worth it,” said Brook Jordan, Twiddle’s percussionist and vocalist.
Comparatively, Chapter 2 contains genre-bending instrumentals, as well as mystifying epics like “Nicodemus Portulay” and “Orlando’s.” More than ten years later, these songs mirror the earliest Twiddle arrangements of 2004-2005 when Mihali Savoulidis and Ryan Dempsey were collaborating in their freshmen dorms at Castleton State College. The completion of PLUMP is timely, coming at a moment when the band’s fervent fan base is at an all-time high and expanding rapidly.
In the live setting, more and more people are invigorated by Twiddle’s community, promoting positivity and the band’s skillful improvisational music. So many like-minded people believe in the greater good, and they find that good in Twiddle.
Twiddle is comprised of Zdenek Gubb on bass and vocals, Ryan Dempsey on keyboards and vocals, Mihali Savoulidis on guitar and lead vocals, and Brook Jordan on percussion and vocals. A more detailed biography of each band member, along with upcoming tour dates and updates, can be found at TwiddleMusic.com
2007 manifested Twiddle’s debut release, The Natural Evolution of Consciousness. This breakout album showcased the band’s eclectic inspirations, imaginative lyrical abilities, and superb instrumentation. Twiddle’s sophomore production, Somewhere on the Mountain (2011), delves into the human spirit, speaking to our ambition, grief, and love. Live at Nectar’s (2014), is a double disc live album recorded in August of 2013 at Burlington, Vermont’s Nectar’s. Live at Nectar’s truly captures Twiddle in its element, the live experience.
Lark Hall welcomes Nane to its stage on Wednesday, March 9th at 8pm.
About this event
Nané is a high-energy six-piece outfit from Austin, TX who caught the attention of Brittany Howard in June 2020 with their “Blue Velvet” music video. Howard selected them as one of her five picks for this year’s NPR Tiny Desk Contest, commenting on the groove while giving major props to lead singer Daniel Sahad who she applauded for his “no holds barred” performance.
Sahad hails from the Dominican Republic. His grandparents are respectively Black, White, Latino and Arab (Lebanese). An offspring of globalism, Daniel comes from a lineage of courageous individuals who broke barriers to pursue their dreams. Called Nané as a term of endearment by his family in the Dominican Republic, Sahad determined the band’s name with a communal approach in mind – when you call him Nané, you’re family too
Nané (the band) came together in 2016 at The University of Texas at Austin where Daniel and guitarist, Ian Green, would drink and play cover songs for their friends. The pair quickly realized their potential to write original music together. The boys added bass player Scott McIntyre to the lineup and began writing their debut album while performing with Dayglow drummer, Brady Knippa, and Black Pumas keyboardist, JaRon Marshall. Nané rose quickly on the Austin music scene, playing a series of sold-out shows in front of the shimmering curtains of Stay Gold
In their first year as a band, Nané has headlined for crowds of over 1,000 people, as well as opened shows for Black Pumas, Bob Schneider, Eric Tessmer and Sir Woman. They also spent time in the studio recording their debut record with Grammy-award winning drummer, John Speice IV, on production and Adrian Quesada of the Black Pumas engineering and mixing.
Their debut album was released on November 13, 2020 and is making waves in press and radio!
American Music masters Sam Bush, Mike Marshall and Edgar Meyer join together with George Meyer for a special collaboration usually only heard on the summer bluegrass festival circuit! Expect to hear works from the genre bending Short Trip Home album of many years ago as well as new music written especially for this tour. Edgar’s son George is charting his own course in the musical world and represents the next generation of artists expressing their unique voices and perspective. He certainly has strong roots!
Artist & VIP Package Pre-sale: January 12, 10am–January 13, 10pm MASS MoCA Member & WEQX pre-sale: January 13, 10am–10pm
Not yet a member? Become one here.
General Tickets On Sale: January 14, 10am
Information about the VIP Ticket Package is available here.
Lucius, the ethereal indie pop band fronted by singers Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig, returns to MASS MoCA to kick off a national tour with an ambitious new stage show built, rehearsed, and first performed in the Hunter Center.
Make a Plan
All ticket-holders over the age of 12 must show proof of a full COVID-19 vaccination (accompanied by a photo ID for those over 18). Read our COVID-19 FAQ here.
Preferred ticket buyers get the best view in the house and free museum admission on the day of or after the event.
This performance is general admission, standing room only, and will take place inside MASS MoCA’s Hunter Center. Masks are required for all indoor spaces, except while eating and drinking, regardless of vaccination status.
No outside food or beverages will be allowed in the venue during the event. Small bites and drinks are available for purchase during the show from our museum cafe, Lickety Split.
Please note: museum admission is not included with your event ticket unless noted. Purchase museum admission here.
All events at MASS MoCA are accessible to all audiences. Please contact boxoffice@massmoca.org if you would like to inquire about accessibility needs and services.
By purchasing a ticket to join MASS MoCA’s visitors, staff, and artists on the museum campus, you agree to follow a Courtesy Code, detailed here. Our full COVID FAQ is here.
Even after eighteen intense years of bouncing, bellowing and soul-baring your way to the top, some successes strike when you’re not looking. While The Wombats were hard at work remotely constructing their fifth album Fix Yourself, Not The World from LA, London and Oslo, a new generation of TikTokers were sending the band viral by making over 600,000 videos – some viewed over 100 million times – around the opening lines of the Oliver Nelson remix of their 2015 Glitterbug album track ‘Greek Tragedy’: “We’re smashing mics in karaoke bars, you’re running late with half your make-up on”.
“I think one influencer made a video of her dancing, singing the opening, and then it took off and every man and his dog were doing it,” says singer Matthew ‘Murph’ Murphy of a viral breakout that has seen the remix streamed 30 million times, the original track 120 million (sending it gold in the US) and add 2.4 million to their monthly Spotify listeners since January 2021. “Someone sent me Charlie Puth singing it like whilst having some granola. I guess people were searching ‘what is this song?’ It turned out that remix was on some Hed Kandi compilation [Dusk ‘Til Disco, 2015] and that was the only outlet for it. It’s cool that random celebrities are singing the opening lines to something I wrote a long time ago, it’s great that it’s doing well but it’s just completely random.”
The success of the ‘Greek Tragedy’ remix is further illustration, if any were needed, of The Wombats’ ability to remain relevant to new generations of fans through the timeless power of their songwriting alone. Formed at the Liverpool Institute Of Performing Arts in 2003, they were the three-headed guitar pop sensation – Murph, bassist Tord Øverland Knudsen and drummer Dan Haggis – that erupted out of Merseyside with Top Twenty hits like ‘Let’s Dance To Joy Division’ and ‘Moving To New York’ during the late-‘00s indie rock explosion, stamped their mark on the era with 2007’s fervidly melodic debut album A Guide To Love, Loss & Desperation, and then transcended it. By 2011’s This Modern Glitch (a UK Number 3 hit) and 2015’s Glitterbug (Number 5) they’d easily hurdled the shift to streaming and become a playlist phenomenon thanks to tracks such as ‘Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves)’, ‘Techno Fan’, ‘1996’, ‘Emoticons’ and their online secret weapon ‘Greek Tragedy’.
Murph’s magnificent way with melding deeply infectious melodies with dark, wry and surreal confessions from his fractured psyche and shame-filled romantic history – combined with the band’s gradual embrace of the synthetic tones and textures of modern pop – endeared them to new waves of young streaming fans (over half are under 24) and has seen their popularity continually expand. Their sets at festivals such as Reading & Leeds would draw the biggest crowd flockings of the entire weekend, and the UK tour for 2018’s Top 3, silver-certified fourth album Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life (home of ‘Turn’, ‘Cheetah Tongue’ and post-row domestic confessional ‘Lemon To A Knife Fight’ and currently nudging 300 million streams) culminated in a celebratory show at Wembley Arena, complete with dancing wombats.
“Top five gig ever,” Murph remembers, “I’m very proud that we’ve stuck in like some dirty little warthogs. It hasn’t been the easiest road but we’ve always kept our focus and it’s paying off…I thought it was gonna stay in that mid-2000s indie rock phase forever and then swarms of younger people are now getting into the band and finding the older stuff.” Testament to the strength of your songwriting? “I think for me it’s a combination of hard work and that lyrically and musically we’ve always done what we like. I’ve never tried to tone it down for any commercial gain. I like weird, odd lyrics, crazy titles or strange concepts for songs. I struggle to write songs that come from more of an accessible or blander place.”
Not a band averse to internal frictions, The Wombats took a well-earned break after the Beautiful People tour wrapped up at Reading & Leeds 2019 and reconvened early in 2020, first as a group at Murph’s home studio in LA where a “bedrock” of four or five songs came together, then working and recording remotely throughout 2020 once lockdown hit, marshalled by a variety of producers including Jacknife Lee, Gabe Simon (Dua Lipa, Lana Del Rey), Paul Meaney (Twenty One Pilots, Nothing But Thieves) and regular Wombats desk-man Mark Crew. “The plan before we started was David Byrne – a decent amount of brass going on – meets LCD Soundsystem,” Murph says of the album’s intended direction. “All I had in the back of my head was to keep it real and as organic as possible and not throw the kitchen sink at it. Then we ended up throwing the kitchen sink at it. Somehow the kitchen sink just appears no matter how much I’d like it to disappear. It’s great, but we’ve absolutely lobbed everything at it again.”
With Murph in Highland Park in Los Angeles, Tord in Oslo and Dan in London, discussing each day’s plan via Zoom, then recording separately and sending individual files to the producers to mix into the finished tracks, the recording was “pure madness, to be honest. Dan and Tord can be like fire and ice and the fact that I was away and disconnected made things madder than they needed to be. I wouldn’t recommend it.”
The Wombats have the bond and experience to power through such setbacks however; Fix Yourself, Not The World turned out to be a remarkably cohesive, inventive and forward-thinking guitar pop record, and arguably their best yet. Incorporating cutting edge electronica, pop and R&B elements into the melodic energies of classic new wave, alt-rock and indietronica, it’s a record that will appeal equally to fans of Talking Heads, New Order, The Cure and Charli XCX. It also finds Murph turning a psychological corner: where Beautiful People… was full of semi-comic stories from the brink, or the midst, of meltdown, Fix Yourself, Not The World – as its title suggests – reads more like a self-help manual for the domesticated malcontent.
“The pandemic and all the social upheaval massively influenced the idea that the most powerful thing I can do as a human being is to shake my fist at myself rather than shake my fist at the outside world,” Murph explains. “There was this Jungian theory about if you change something within yourself or your actions, you immediately change something in society as a whole.”
Throughout the album, there’s a whole lot of fixing going on. The trash disco funk punk of ‘You Flip Me Upside Down’ – set in James Murphy’s Brooklyn wine bar The Four Horsemen, if not one of his catchiest fever dreams – has Murph admitting “I don’t wanna sit around and just get high” as the hedonistic life loses its lustre in the head-clearing rush of fresh love: “It’s aware that the party scene is not gonna be as fulfilling as I may have thought it was in the past,” Murph says. On ‘This Car Drives All By Itself’, a melting pot of space pop, acid house, The Tom Tom Club, ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ and gang chant punk, he repurposes the concept of the self-driving vehicle as a topical metaphor for coming to terms with humanity’s helplessness. “I thought that that was a great way of saying, we row but the universe steers,” he says. “We’re not in control as much we think and I want to learn to be okay with that.”
Where Beautiful People… spotlit the plate-flinging paranoias behind marital bliss, Fix Yourself… focusses more on the transformative release of romantic commitment. ‘Wildfire’ is a heat-hazy tribute to his wife, ‘If You Ever Leave, I’m Coming With You’ an electropop ode to obsessive devotion, ‘Ready For The High’ a sultry buzz rock note-to-self to accept the good times now they’re here. Portishead-esque ballad and first release ‘Method To The Madness’ pinpoints his honeymoon in Barcelona as the breakthrough moment when Murph decided to dump his demons and “fuck my sadness”, and even a song called ‘Everything I Love Is Going To Die’ is an upbeat New Order/Cure homage about trying to live to the fullest while we still can. “Icarus was my best friend,” Murph sings, “so I’m gonna make him proud in the end”.
“I’m maybe learning to start not beating myself up so much,” Murph says. “There’s only a finite amount of time that we have in these ridiculous vessels of ours and we should try to enjoy it. The whole album is kind of about not trying to control anything but just completely letting go.”
Well, not completely. Dotted with snippets of Murph discussing the everyday niggles and irritations that drive him to distraction, ‘Worry’ details the superstitions, paranoias and idiosyncrasies tormenting him daily, from needing everything to be in multiples of three to an irrational fear of mariticide. “It’s supposed to be inside the head of someone who’s losing it a bit,” he explains. And the space rock ‘Work Is Easy, Life Is Hard’ finds just as much fear and confusion in the bark of the online attack dog.
“It’s about cancel culture,” Murph says of pointed lines like “why don’t you chop my tongue out?” and “you don’t speak for me”. “The toxicity of social media. One of my friends said there’s no room for nuance in anyone’s opinions or views on the world, you’re either with us or you’re against us. I think people are sucked into a vortex of pretty bad ideologies when I feel like wouldn’t it be nice if we formed our own ideology individually and talked about them properly, rather than shoving them down people’s necks or cancelling people for not agreeing with us? Where is the conversation, because it’s not gonna progress anywhere without being able to talk to one another intelligently. Maybe the things you’re talking about are far, far, far too complex to be put in 280 characters.”
The Wombats, on the other hand, are becoming pan-generational masters at weaving the complexities of the everyday struggle to stay sane, happy and psychosis-free into forty-five minutes of exuberant future rock, as ever more young streamers are discovering in their millions. As their unstoppable ascent continues, next year they headline London’s O2 Arena. Ready for another high?
Primus Announces 46-date, coast-to-coast extension of its wildly popular
‘A Tribute To Kings’ Tour, paying tribute to Rush
The tour finds the band performing Rush’s ‘A Farewell To Kings’ in its entirety
The second leg of ‘A Tribute To Kings’ will include its first stops in Canada and feature special guests Battles, Black Mountain, and The Black Angels
Primus has announced an extensive, 46-date, coast-to-coast extension of its wildly popular ‘A Tribute To Kings’ Tour, paying homage to prog-rock legends, Rush. ‘A Tribute To Kings’ will find the Bay area trio performing Rush’s 1977 album ‘A Farewell To Kings’ in its entirety, following a set of their own music. As bassist Les Claypool told Rolling Stone, the tour is about paying tribute to a band that has given him so much inspiration over the years.
“Hemispheres was my first concert,” Claypool said, referring to Rush’s 1978 album and tour. “Originally we’d always kind of joked around about doing Hemispheres…but we settled on Kings, because A) it was the first Rush record I ever heard and B) it contains ‘Cygnus X-1,’ which has always been my favorite Rush tune. It seems to be a good one for us to tackle; 2112 seemed a little obvious.”
The announcement follows the massive success of the first leg of ‘A Tribute To Kings,’ which was long-delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. It’s just the latest in a long series of Rush-related milestones for Primus, who first opened for their musical heroes in 1992.
“Geddy, Alex and Neil had been superheroes to Larry, Herb and I in our teens,” Claypool recalled, “so when we all became pals while touring together in the early ’90s, we were pretty delighted; partially because of the musical geek-out factor but mostly because the three guys whom we had admired so much from afar, turned out to be truly great, down-to-earth humans, and like us, a tad eccentric.”
Kicking off in Oklahoma City before winding its way throughout the US, the second leg of ‘A Tribute To Kings’ will also include the tour’s first stops in Canada, beginning with two dates in Toronto on May 13-14. Rush was formed in Toronto in 1968. The second leg will also feature special guests Battles, Black Mountain, and The Black Angels.
A special pre-sale, including VIP upgrade options, will go on sale at 10am local time today (12/14). Tickets go on sale to the general public at this Friday, December 17th at 10am local time. For ticketing and show info, please visit www.primusville.com/tour
Primus will once again partner with On Location & CID Entertainment for the ‘A Tribute to Kings’ tour to offer ticket packages that include one premium ticket, invitation to a Q&A experience with Primus, exclusive VIP merch, and more. For full details, visit https://www.cidentertainment.com/events/primus-tour/
LETTUCE Thursday, April 21 Empire Live 7pm doors * 8pm show
Artist Presale: Thurs. 12/9 at 10am local (Code: LOVE)
On-Sale: Fri. 12/10 at 12pm ET/9am PT
No matter how far we comb the outer reaches of the galaxy in search of the funk, it eventually finds us—or it does not.
You see, funk lives, grows, breathes, and blossoms. Like any living thing, it needs to be fed in order to flourish. LETTUCE both feed the rich history of funk and also combine it with strains of hip-hop, rock, psychedelia, jazz, soul, and go-go. The GRAMMY® Award-nominated six-piece—Adam Deitch [drums, percussion, arrangement], Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff [guitar], Erick “Jesus” Coomes [bass], Ryan Zoidis [alto, baritone, tenor sax, Korg X-911], Eric “Benny” Bloom [trumpet, horns], and Nigel Hall [vocals, Hammond B-3, Rhodes, clavinet, keyboards]—once again break rules, push boundaries, and uplift on their sixth full-length studio offering, Resonate [Round Hill Records].
“Funk is a living and breathing thing with a ton of sub-genres,” affirms Deitch. “Our goal is to add our own stamp to that by moving things around and bringing in jazz chords, psychedelic passages, big horns, and elements from the instrumental side of hip-hop. Funk is known as a very tightknit artform. We extend the template with improvisation on the spot. It forces us to react, pay attention, and listen to each other. By combining everything, we try to add something to the culture we love so much.”
Reverence for this culture rings out loud and clear throughout a catalog of fan favorite releases. Their discography comprises Outta Here [2002], Rage! [2008], Fly [2012], Crush [2015], the EP Mt. Crushmore [2016], the live album Witches Stew [2017], and Elevate [2019]. The latter lifted LETTUCE to new heights. Notably, it garnered a 2020 GRAMMY® Award nomination in the category of “Best Contemporary Instrumental Album” and bowed at #1 on both the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Albums Chart and iTunes Top R&B Albums Chart. Elevate also soared to the Top 15 on the Billboard Jazz Albums, R&B Album Sales, and Heatseekers Charts. Not to mention, it put up 3 million streams within six months, and simultaneously received acclaim from BrooklynVegan, Billboard, Rolling Stone, NPR, and more.
Throughout 2019, LETTUCE siphoned all of this energy back into the studio. Written and recorded during the same Colorado Sound sessions that spawned Elevate, the band brought Resonate to life alongside iconic producer and engineer Russ Elevado [D’Angelo, The Roots, Erykah Badu].
“Russ had worked with all of our heroes,” smiles Deitch. “When we found out he was a fan, we were completely blown away and super inspired, so I ended up writing more than I’ve ever written for a record. He made us play our best. We came in extra prepared and tried to have a plethora of tempos and feels. There are rap vibes, trippy moments, and old school soul. Everything flows.”
“We hadn’t been in the studio for at least four years,” adds Zoidis. “Of course, we’d played together a ton on tour. Deitch is constantly writing and thinking of our next musical move though. By the time we got in, we had so much material and were focused. It was an empowering moment for the band. We were in a place where the chemistry couldn’t have been better. We got to capture it on tape with Russ at the controls.”
“It’s exploratory,” “Shmeeans” elaborates. “Some aspects represent our past, and other aspects represent our present and future. It’s the most we’ve ever recorded at once, so we really present a full picture.”
LETTUCE introduces this picture with the first single “Checker Wrecker.” Drawing on a longstanding collective passion for Washington, D.C. go-go music, they welcome scene legends Big Tony Fisher of Trouble Funk and Tyrone “Jungle Boogie” Williams of Rare Essence into their ecosystem. Funk guitars and simmering horns dip in and out of a percussive pocket before the track struts into swaggering chants, “Put some stank on it,” backed by warbling synths and spacey organ. Plus, Shmeeans drops “one of them funky solos.”
“Go-go is the missing link between hip-hop and funk,” says Deitch. “Tony has played with us in D.C., so we asked him to join us in the studio. ‘Jungle Boogie’ was down, too. The song is a happy moment of connecting the dots.”
Upheld by deft riffing, hummable horns, and “Tower of Power energy,” Resonate ignites with the boisterous “Blaze,” which the band kicked around live for years. “If you’re a classic LETTUCE fan, you’ll know it,” smiles “Shmeeans.”
Meanwhile, “Moksha” would be born from a moment of fate. Exploring the edges of psychedelia, legendary sitarist Indrajit Banerjee blesses the tune with sitar conjurations floating in and out of ethereal guitar transmissions.
“I bought a sitar at a pawn shop in Austin,” recalls “Shmeeans.” “However, I needed to learn how to tune it. I ended up finding Indrajit online. He invited me over to his house and helped me with tuning. It took a minute, but I realized he was this master player. We’ve had him jam on stage, and he’s on the record now. It’s a really cool, serendipitous story.”
Nearing the nine-minute mark, the closer and title track “Resonate” sees the band once again tread new territory. “It’s definitely a mood piece,” adds Deitch. “There’s a meditational vibe. It’s where we’re at now. You can relax to it—or smoke a joint to it. The title is up for interpretation. If you let good vibes resonate with the people around you, they’ll hit hearts, minds, and souls.”
“Jesus” concurs, “It’s important to us for the attendee of our concerts to experience a really great feeling and after that to Resonate it out to the rest of the world wherever they go and to whomever they meet.”
In the end, LETTUCE are more alive than ever on Resonate.
“I want you to know you’re listening to a bunch of best friends who have been playing together for more than 25 years,” Deitch leaves off. “We were major parts of each other’s lives before the band. It’s a true democracy. We all agree on the vision. We like to hit people in the heart and in the gut as opposed to the head. Maybe, you want to put Resonate on and dance or just grab the aux cord where you are, plug it in, and play it loud.”
Jesus adds, “I hope fans take away a sensation of genuine emotion and personal transformation.”
“Hopefully, Resonate stamps a moment in time for you,” concludes Zoidis. “It touches on all of the important funk sub-genres that made us who we are. Funk definitely found us. No matter how hard we try to put it down, it takes over and makes sure we’re doing what we’re here to do!”
