Years & Years, Cyn @ Vic Theatre // Chicago, IL
Photos courtesy of Jen Machuca | October 16, 2018 | Palo Santo Tour
Black Joe Lewis @ Goodwill Social Club // Winnipeg, Manitoba
Words & photos courtesy of Jenn Kostesky | September 30 2018
Austin based blues funk rockers Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears made a stop at the Goodwill Social Club in Winnipeg, Manitoba September 30th in support of their new album “The Difference Between Me & You”.
The show marked the band’s first appearance in Winnipeg since their set at the inaugural (but now defunct) Interstellar Rodeo festival in 2015. In the midst of a month plus tour of the US and Canada, the band was tight, locking in and grooving through their sweaty set. The Sunday night crowd danced in place to favorites “Booty City”, “I’m Broke” and “Sugarfoot” sprinkled between tunes from the new album. Not having had enough funky, grungy blues at the end of the set, the crowd demanded more. Their cries were answered with a simple exclamation of “Encore!” from Joe Lewis before he and the Honeybears rocked through one more song.
A light, breezy opening set came from Chicago’s Paul Cherry and his band. Cherry’s fluffy jazz pop provided the audience a smooth come up to the grittier soulful sounds of Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears.
Paul Cherry
Shindignation Festival @The Engine Rooms, London
Photos courtesy of Gili Dailes | September 1, 2018
Featuring: Higher Ground, Nightlife, Follow the Hawk, Victory Lane, Finding Kate, Thunder to the Left, Jack the Envious and Bad Sign
Shindignation was a one day DIY-style music festival, spread across 4 venues in East London, showcasing an impressive line-up made of local bands ranging from Punk-Rock to Neo-Soul.
It was rather impossible for me to keep bouncing between the 4 venues and so I settled at the main one- The Engine Rooms (normally a rehearsing space)- where I was happy to discover local up and coming bands alongside the more experienced ones.
Black Pistol Fire & The Love Tongues // Winnipeg, Manitoba @ Pyramid Cabaret
Photos & Words courtesey of Jenny Ramone | 25 August 2018
Austin, TX based garage rock duo Black Pistol Fire brought their frenetic live show to the Pyramid Cabaret in Winnipeg, Manitoba on August 25. The show marked both the band’s first appearance in the city as well as the start of their end-of-summer tour taking them across Western Canada, Seattle and Atlanta. Members Kevin McKeown and Eric Owen showed no signs of start of tour jitters as they tore through their 90 minute set. Owen, while not the flashiest drummer, is a hard hitting, rock solid one, holding down the beat while McKeown jumps off the bass drum, stumbles across the stage and literally falls to the ground while not missing a note on the guitar. Stage antics aside, the duo are both remarkable musicians who play as a tight unit, feeding off of one another’s energy. The pair had the near capacity crowd hanging on every note from the second they hit the stage. Songs “Bully”, Lost Cause” and “Speak of the Devil” got the crowd singing along and head banging. To cap off the night, McKeown lept from the stage onto the hands of the adoring, adrenaline filled fans to play the solo in “Crow’s Feet” while crowd surfing. Judging by the enthusiasm of the crowd, Black Pistol Fire will be welcomed back to Winnipeg anytime and will likely be playing to a crowd twice the size the next time they are through.
Support for the evening was provided by Winnipeg’s sleazy 80’s tinged rockers, the Love Tongues. Lead by vocalist Ewan Turnbull, whose voice falls somewhere between Chris Cornell and a young Steven Tyler, the 5 piece band’s heavy, grungy sound was the perfect compliment to Black Pistol Fire’s slightly more polished garage rock.
Sylvan Esso & Moses Sumney // Washington, DC @ The Anthem
Photos courtesey of Anna Moneymaker | 26 July 2018
Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer @ Knox United Church, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Photos & review courtesy of Jenn Kostesky | 21 June 2018
The Reverend Rambler:
Vancouver blues duo the Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer played a sweaty set in downtown Winnipeg’s historic Knox United Church June 21st as part of the 2018 TD International Winnipeg Jazz Festival. The band, accompanied by Winnipeg’s Andrina Turenne on backup vocals, fought through a power outage that would cut their vocal mics and eventually the stage lighting during fan favorite “Don’t Make ‘Em Like They Used To”. Without missing a beat, they uncovered the church piano and continued acapella until the technical issues were resolved. The sweltering summer heat combined with the band’s ability to adapt to challenges on the fly while still delivering the goods will make this a show the audience members won’t soon forget.
Winnipeg’s the Reverend Rambler brought his brand of gospel and punk infused blues rock to the church as support for the evening.
Stone Sour with Nothing More @ Roundhouse, London, UK
Rainsford @ Gramercy Theatre, New York, NY
On tour with Aly & AJ for their Promises Tour 2018
Photos and review by Stefanie Dabs | 11 June 2018
On Monday, June 11th, Rainsford ( a.k.a. Rainey Qualley) — a singer/ songwriter based in
Los Angeles— played to an enthusiastic sold out crowd at the Gramercy Theatre in New York
City.
Rainsford is currently on tour with Aly & AJ as the support act for their Promises Tour
2018—It’s her first time on tour and in my opinion she did an excellent job with getting the crowd going.
Rainsford sang songs including “Up In The Air” and “Japanese Time” off of her EP Emotional
Support Animal that you can listen to on Spotify. “Japanese Time,” one of her latest singles,
also has a music video that was directed by Jamie Strachan — an amazing photographer that I
personally admire— that can be found on youtube.
Be sure to catch her if she plays a gig near you. She is definitely one to watch that will be
blowing up on the pop scene.
Aly & AJ:
