Kickin' Out the Jams w/the Fighting Jamesons

@ Shamrockfest 2015.

We spent the end of February having a blast in Indiana at all three of the 9 Irish Brothers locations in Lafayette as well as the new one in Indianapolis. Leading into March we zipped out to Charlotte, North Carolina to perform at Amos Southend. After that we went to Salisbury, Maryland to play at the brand new Headquarters Live venue-- they have a really unique and fun setup; a converted firehouse turned into a music venue and bar, we had a wonderful time and those folks are definitely putting Salisbury on the map for concert-goers-- we can't wait to return!

We came back home to Norfolk after Salisbury to play Shamrockin' In Ghent; the Deloreans kicked off the night with their stylish 80's tribute set. Despite the weather, the rain and cold wasn't holding anyone up-- Colley Avenue was filled with people ready to party, and we had a blast jamming out for the St. Paddy's celebration.

The next day we were quite busy in Raleigh, North Carolina-- luckily the rain stopped just in time for us to play-- though the wind and runoff water from the roof of the stage provided a serious challenge, we prevailed. We opened for Carbon Leaf at the festival during the day, then we had the honor of closing out the night, as they had been having numerous groups all day long; with a full set later that night a Tir Na Nog. The house was packed full of people and they were most definitely a fun wild crowd that night: full of moshers, happy boozers, and people pumped up for the pre-St. Paddy's celebration! We had a killer night, and were glad to see some new faces as well as folks who had came to see us before.

@ Tir Na Nog

For St. Paddy's this year we performed at the National in Richmond. Born Crooked opened up the night with their bluesy hard-hitting brand of rock' n roll. They remind me a bit of the White Stripes and the Black Keys. It was refreshing to have something that fit the bill with us, it's great to have a band opening for us that is particularly different from us and adds variety to the lineup for the night. They came along and played with us once more when we rode out to play at the Southern in Charlottesville. Unfortunately the Newport News show was cancelled, however stay tuned as we will be doing a make-up date for it in the near future.

Then we set off for Shamrockfest 2015 in Washington D.C. where we took to the Dewey Beach stage after the energetic Go Go Gadget and gave D.C. an hour of our finest raging celtic-punk tunes; we did a set consisting of some classic Irish folk covers as well as some original material from both the first and second album. Our bassist Ryan Ware and our buddy Cooper even met up with some of the dudes in Reel Big Fish while walking around! Afterwards we came back home to Viriginia Beach to play the Shamrock Marathon and the marathon's after-party at Murphy's as well.  

Fairly recently we added several new shirt designs to our merchandise catalog-- so be sure to check that out at our online merch store (personally, the new fist logo design is my favorite!)-- we've got some exciting plans ahead-- so stay tuned to our Facebook, Twitter, and our official website for the details to come.

A diamond in the rough.... from my vinyl vault: Burzum

Burzum's 1st album

I was lucky enough to scoop up a good deal on this particular record at Skinnies Records in Norfolk. There were also some really nice re-releases of Mayhem, Darkthrone, and Burzum there as well that hopefully I'll get around to picking up eventually. It wasn't an easy process of elimination that day between those choices-- as each of these groups helped start an entirely new style of heavy metal, but I figured why not start off with this intriguing classic as a very first for the Black Metal section of my collection.  Rather than be redundant of other blog and/or site that has spoken of Varg Vikernes controversial past and points of view (none of which are what interests me in him), I have chosen this record because of its importance to the history of heavy metal. Its significant for its rather large role in supporting the creation of the black metal sub-genre, and especially for the concept of the one-man black-metal band.

To outsider ears of heavy metal-- some will struggle to hear the difference between death metal and black metal. Especially since in the time since the original scenes have moved on, newer bands have embraced both styles and infused them. At the time though, these original groups made every effort to musically state that they were separate and a new breed if you will. This album encompasses practically all of the characteristics of black metal: unlike death metal, where the guitarist often did just power chords or even just drop-tuned and played the top three strings to create the deep chugging-riff style typical of that style-- black metal guitarists were often using full bar chords (particularly as minor chords) with tons of distortion. The vocal styles are both screaming yes, but rather then simply write it off, its notably a different technique: death metal was distinct in its low-guttural approach (such as the Swedish death metal band Entombed for example) whereas black metal vocals tended to be not necessarily high-pitched, but not concentrated on achieving a low growl, more of just the most fierce scream of terror the frontman could deliver. The drumming certainly had the most similarities: lots of double bass and often blast-beats as well.

Inside of album gatefold.

Rather than give you a track-by-track detail (as there are more than enough of those reviews on Metal-archives of all sorts of opinion)-- I'd rather sum up the sides of the record and also make note of its overall atmosphere. It's important to realize that black metal is about atmosphere. Both the first self-titled album, and the included Aske mini-LP included are loaded with tremolo-picked blistering icy distorted guitar, pummeling drums, blood curdling eerie vocals. Surprisingly, there are strange creepy ambient noise moments, a bit of calm before the storm. The entire record is a unique blend of heavy metal, that is both haunting and eerie. There is a unique air to this style and sound, it possesses a strangely addictive quality-- it technically should be considered one of the worst things you've ever heard, since it breaks a lot of rules musically and also for recording production. Yet the fun in this musically speaking is much like Halloween-- it's an entertaining form of heavy metal to be sorta scared of at the same time. This might sound strange at first, but historically speaking this is not dissimilar to anything before with say Screaming Jay Hawkins popping up out of a coffin during his songs, or Alice Cooper "executing" himself on stage-- its now just taken on its own form within the realm of heavy metal.

Some other quite interesting and rare things compared to even other black metal acts at this early point in the movement, was that Burzum never played live, and never has played live (and quite possibly maybe never will). This was very rare at the time, as how was a record supposed to draw any attention at all if you never performed it to help make it known? So naturally this struck people as odd. Also, Burzum was simply just Varg Vikernes--- he played all the instruments and recorded it entirely by himself, so unlike Darkthrone and Mayhem- he was strictly a one-man band. Not only was this very uncommon for black metal, but this is extremely not common for metal in general. Quite possibly the most important thing would be the intentional direction of the production of this record. Varg chose intentionally "bad" sounding things. He made the guitar scratchy with too much overdrive, he only has the drums set up to be just audible enough without trying to a achieve the "big" drum rock'n roll sound that most bands aimed for in the studio, and he allowed the vocals too scream and clip over-top of the recording sometimes (apparently he recorded these by screaming into a headset as he stated in the documentary Until The Light Takes Us). He intentionally used the cheaper equipment, and did things not recommended for the "ideal" sound, and sloppily selected reverb and mix settings. Hahaha, can you imagine how weird this was for the recording engineer? Weirdest day at work ever!

Back of record.

Some have argued that this is an overrated album in the vast amounts of black metal now available since its heyday in the nineties. However, before judging so harshly it should be considered that this album created a template in which most bands of this style after Burzum would follow. It should be kept in mind at the time this album came out, other than Mayhem & Darkthrone-- there was virtually nothing else that sounded like this. Though of course Bathory is a huge influence, and there was also Venom before-- while groups such as these made vital contributions to the very existence of black metal-- it didn't truly become its own style until Burzum, Mayhem, and Darkthrone put out their significant releases marking the turning-point of this new music). Everything about this record was musically rebellious to the current thriving thrash and death metal of the time: the style, the production, the theme, the look, and the atmosphere were all unique. This album in particular was not only significant to the birth of black metal, not only a blueprint for the enormous amount of black metal to follow in its footsteps, but also forever put Norway on the map for heavy metal and has wrote a very interesting chapter in the story of heavy metal.

Top 10 Best Experiences While Busking EVER……

Yuri Lemeshev of Gogol Bordello.

Top 10 Best Experiences While Busking EVER……

1. Why it just so happens I met my lovely lady Stephanie while busking! Best tip I ever got!

2. Meeting Gogol Bordello while busking outside the Norva. Before the show I did see Eugene Hutz- regrettably I admit I froze and other than saying, "Hey" I just froze. I know- I'm an idiot! Lol. Luckily I did not repeat this mistake all night. I met pretty much met the entire band- including- their accordionist Yuri Lemeshev! I actually met a good chunk of the band both before and after the show- while I was busking before the show he said to me, "Sounds good" and nodded- I was kind've afraid to say much at the time- I'd be lying if I said I wasn't totally starstruck.

Jason Webley!

After the show, I met Yuri again with Sergey Ryabtsev their violinist. Sergey is sooooo funny and cool- he's really full of personality- HE FREAKED OUT when I asked him to sign my CD of their first album,"Voi-La Intruder" (which for any of you remember that wonderful place while it was there- I picked up one day at Relative Theory Records! UGH! I miss that place!)- he was like, "Oh my God! I can't believe you have this!! We have to get Yuri in on this one! YURI!!!!!" I'm pretty sure what he meant was that because of the whole Mysapce craze at the time with their song, "Start Wearing Purple" (though that song is also on the first album- the version that mostly came into the public eye was the Underdog Worldstrike one) and their latest album at that time (my personal favorite so far to date!), "Super Taranta!"- so they were really excited and surprised to see someone asking them to sign the old one. Later the other band members signed my copy of Super Taranta- it's a memorable night I'll never forget- Gogol Bordello- along with Korpiklaani, Beirut, Flogging Molly, and some other bands- they are one of THE MAIN REASONS I was inspired to start playing accordion.

3. Meeting the Drowningmen and getting into their show for free w/Moneybrother and Flogging Molly on the Green 17 Tour. Unforgettable night.

4. Meeting Jason Webley before he played at the Taphouse in Norfolk, VA. He came up to me and introduced himself and was really nice (he looked much different in person- as he had short hair- and every photograph I had seen of him was with long hair) I made really nice tips that night and used it to buy his records- and he put me on the guest list and got me in his show for free.

w/Aly aka Lady Lamb.

He was a really great guy- not just as a musician- but it was great to get the feeling that he actually cared and was enthusiastic to talk to the fans. His performance by the way- was incredibly memorable- and he has the greatest commanding ability of forcing everyone to just shout and scream along even if they don't know the words. He does a lot of neat fun audience participation in challenging one half of the room to be louder than the other. He does some cool accordion improv- he lets the audience pick songs sometimes for him too- that night he did a cool 80s pop song improv- people just shouted them out and he'd think about it for about 2 split seconds- and start playing whatever songs people called out. Instead of that whole audience worshipping the performer vibe- he creates a different vibe where its like a big party and he's the life of it- musically impressing and hanging out with everyone.

5. Meeting Aly Spaltro (aka Lady Lamb and the Beekeeper)- she offered to get me in the Beirut concert for free- though I already had a ticket, I had a neat chat with her. She put on an incredible opening act! Though only slightly an odd pairing with Beirut (I can't explain why)- she is incredibly captivating- I can often lose interest in watching the lone-singer-songwriter on a guitar- but she had the whole room in the palm of her hand.

Similar to the tattoo the girl on Colley had...

Though this second part didn't really occur because of busking it's still awesome- that same night after the show Zach Condon of Beirut signed my record and said, "That's a very nice accordion". I told him I was surprised that their accordionist, Perrin Cloutier was playing a chromatic button accordion since all the photos I'd seen of their live shots before showed him using a piano accordion- and he goes, "Yeah he recently switched/learned button too- he locked himself in a room for a week" lol though that was brief it was totally awesome. I also met Luke also shortly approximately around this time I think (because I know I've mentioned seeing Beirut before to them all) and then he introduced me to Hunter and John and later on we had Nate aboard- and that's part of how our band met. : )

6. The second time I got to see Drowningmen live when they were touring with Alkaline Trio- while busking outside- Matt Chapin who plays trumpet in Mewithoutyou came up to me and showed me this really awesome huge accordion tattoo on his arm and struck up a neat conversation with me when he said, "That's awesome man- check this out- my grandfather played accordion!" Also while busking after the show was over- people were super nice and excited and into the accordion tunes- their spirits were so high after Alkaline Trio finished up.

7. Improv jamming with various friends/people in the street- Aaron Evans (glockenspiel & guitar) & Mike Twark (drums)- good guys, Wes Sutherland- good harmonica player- always had fun hanging out with Wes- we'd hang out a bit both go hit a corner- and meet up again later- I miss seein' him around- I hope he makes it into a blues band someday- it'd be the perfect fit! Charles from DJ P & Mr. T on violin- I love that guy! He's so nice- and he kills it at the violin- unfortunately we only got to jam together a few times- one time at this cafe together with this guy on tables and the energy was just really clicking'…. various other strangers- a guy who played spoons, a guy who juggled……

8. Another tattoo: this was incredibly funny and cool- busking on Colley avenue- this girl walks up to me and flexes her arm (but she had to use her other hand to jokingly push her "muscle" up- she was a tiny thing lol) and its a tattoo of an accordion and says, "Squeeze this!" lol so awesome. Before that it was just an ordinary day lol.

9. Busking in Williamsburg- early morning before Accordion Festival once- and then later that year before a Reckless Passengers gig at William & Mary: ) 

10. Getting hired for various gigs- some weddings, a French speaking club, Valentines Day, and some restaurant gigs all from giving my number to people in the street who liked what they heard- being fortunate to find a gig for the first 4 months I moved to Alexandria too. : )

DROWNINGMEN SHOW!!!!

Nato Bardeen w/Drowningmen @ the Jewish Mother

It's now the 3rd time I've seen the Drowningmen play; this time it was at the Jewish Mother, and like always their performance was top-notch. They did an incredible set with a nice selection of stuff from the new album, "All the Unknown" and their 1st album, "The Beheading of the Songbird". For those who don't know this band- seriously, I highly recommend that you just dive right into this stuff- these albums are basically classics of our time. I can't stress how much you should see this band live if you can, their performances are always so much intense.

They were relatively recently signed to Flogging Molly's own label Borstal Beat Records (the only band other than Flogging Molly themselves so far to date)- it should be really interesting to hopefully see the label handpicking and releasing other great bands on this label in the future as well. I can't find much of any information about any future plans from the label on the net/interviews with the band, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

James Smith w/Drowningmen @ the Jewish Mother.

Drowningmen have a neat instrumental setup- piano and organ, two guitars, sometimes mandolin, bass, and drums. Part of what I love about watching them play, is that the frontman in this band is quite versatile; Nato Bardeen switches between guitar, piano/organ, and the occasional mandolin and theremin appearances. He is a captivating frontman, the songs are well crafted and he channels them seemingly effortlessly to the audience.

For some songs, James Smith remains on guitar while Nato does additional keys along with Gabe Messer at the organ, creating a neat swirling effect. Jeff and Nato on guitars together create well layered sounds with excellent riff work. One example of such crafts and also one of the highlights of their set-list is a number from the first album called, "Caroline, You're A Mess" with a constant crashing feel, backed with an heavy propulsive beat. It's such an addictive moment on that album and a climatic point in their live show. Crowd-pleaser and potentially a lead single from the first album, "Rita" features a brief melodic guitar inro that introduces and enforces the melody of the vocal lines in the moments to follow. It's a song that wins the heart of the audience and has them singing along with its user-friendly chorus, even though they've maybe never heard it before.

Nato Bardeen of Drowningmen

Some really interesting moments in there set are their songs, "Player Piano (Web We Weave)" from the first album, along with, "The Waltz" plus, "Bored In A Belly", from the second album all have these neat waltz beats coupled with a hard indie-rock feel at times.  they are truly unique- as I can't think of anyone they sound too much a like- just similar pinches here and there.

Gabe Messer w/Drowningmen

Todd Eisenkerch (bass) and Rory Dolan (percussion/drums) give the band the driving rhythmic backbone it needs. Rory in particular, has a a somewhat peculiar set-up and a very unique drumming style, he's definitely a hard-hitting drummer; pounding away at the kit much more savagely than most, but his dynamics are top-notch, he even takes it back appropriately for the softer moments and breaks out some mallets.

Drowningmen write very articulate and enormously infectious indie-pop gems. It's a wonderfully layered sound: waves of organ, ripping guitars; all topped with a unique lead voice, and followed by a tight driving rhythmic force. Some bands you go see, it's a fun night; but it becomes just another night and gets lost in the back of your mind. That's not the case with these guys, they make you remember them each time.