Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band
This is a 18+ event with standing room only NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The latest album from Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band was written by candlelight and then recorded using the best technology available . . . in the 1950s. But listeners won’t find another album as relevant, electrifying and timely as Dance Songs for Hard Times. Dance Songs for Hard Times conveys the hopes and fears of pandemic living. Rev. Peyton, the Big Damn Band’s vocalist and world-class fingerstyle guitarist, details bleak financial challenges on the songs “Ways and Means” and “Dirty Hustlin’.” He pines for in-person reunions with loved ones on “No Tellin’ When,” and he pleads for celestial relief on the album-closing “Come Down Angels.” Far from a depressing listen, Dance Songs lives up to its name by delivering action-packed riffs and rhythms across 11 songs. The country blues trio that won over crowds on more than one Warped Tour knows how to make an audience move. “I like songs that sound happy but are actually very sad,” Peyton says. “I don’t know why it is, but I just do.”
Carbon Leaf
This is a 18+ event with standing room only Though Carbon Leaf had traditionally embraced a wall of sound approach in the studio, this time around they went back to the basics, focusing on raw, acoustic arrangements that placed the storytelling front and center. With guitarist Terry Clark handling engineering duties, the band—Privett, Clark, stringed instrument wizard Carter Gravatt, bassist Jon Markel, and drummer Jesse Humphrey—captured performances on and off over the course of roughly six months, experimenting with a wide variety of instruments and mic placements to generate a series of immersive, transportive sonic landscapes. “Space was a big thing for us when we were making these recordings,” says Clark. “Moving the microphones further away so we could really capture the room and the air helped add lot of the character and dimension these songs needed.” While some of the tracks here began life as instrumental demos from Gravatt, others first took shape as a capella lyrical or melodic ideas from Privett. Regardless of where each tune began, though, the finished product would inevitably wind up bearing the unmistakable fingerprints of all five bandmates, whose infectious chemistry consistently yields more than the sum of its parts. “We like to take a world-building approach in the studio,” says Privett. “We’ll stack things up and layer them on top of each other until we’ve got something that sounds way beyond just five guys in a room together.” That alchemy is obvious from the outset on The Hunting Ground, which opens with the churning “Everything’s Alright Mama.” Mixing gritty Appalachian folk with lilting Celtic influences, the track begins with both feet on the ground and builds into a soaring work of bittersweet beauty, balancing the mundane and the magical in equal measure as it reaches out into the void for connection. Like much of the album, it’s a bright, uptempo tune, but dig beneath the surface and you’ll find an underlying sense of sadness that permeates the often-impressionistic lyrics. The driving “Her Father’s Pride,” for instance, grapples with division on both a personal and a communal scale, while the rollicking “Smokey Joe Of The Poconos” explores what happens to those left behind in the name of progress, and the mesmerizing “Pale Blue Dot” zooms out to contemplate our place and our purpose in the greater scheme of the universe. It’s perhaps the muscular title track, though, that best encapsulates the sense of questioning and longing that defines the collection, with Privett singing, “Is this all we have, the natural world? Is anyone around?” “The idea of the hunting ground is that it’s this place where you’re searching for something out in the great wild unknown,” says Privett. ”How do you process grief? How do you fix your soul in the face of losing someone you care about? How do you carry on when life doesn’t go the way you’d planned?” In the end, of course, there are no easy answers to these questions, and that’s precisely the point. The hunt is an endless one, but it doesn’t need to be lonely. We’re all in the search together, and after more than a year of distance and isolation, it’s hard to think of anything we need more than a good old fashioned gathering.
All American Funk Parade w/ DJ Joe Hertler
This is a 21 and over event.Standing Room Only The All American Funk Parade will take all of the things that you thought you knew about yourself and smash them together in a big bowl and stomp on them until they all mashed into moosh and then they will pour Barbeque Sauce all over it until it oozes over the sides and dribbles onto the floor where you and all of your loved ones will DANCE ALL OVER IT UNTIL YOU NO LONGER KNOW WHO THE F#@% YOU ARE.
The Docksiders
18+ Event standing room only Imagine that its 1981 and you’re cruising the Atlantic shores of the Hamptonswith your friends. Bikinis are fluorescent, polo collars are popped, and boat shoesare rocked sockless. In the background, your booming sound system is playing thesoft-rock sounds of Michael McDonald, Olivia Newton-John, Hall & Oates,Christopher Cross and Air Supply.The Docksiders are made up of veteran musicians originally from Milwaukee,Wisconsin and now based in Las Vegas, Nevada – led by 3-time Grammy™nominee, Kevin Sucher. Their unique tribute act of your favorite soft rock songs ofthe 70s and 80s – now defined as Yacht Rock – have been entertaining hundredsof thousands of people for years – and audiences are only getting bigger!The Docksiders – hit song after hit song, costume changes, and visual production,is only topped by their world-class performance.The Docksiders – America’s Favorite Yacht Rock Band!™
Trifocal Presents The Music of Tony Hawk Pro Skater w/ Benna
21+ Event Standing room only “Come ring in the New Year with great live music based right here in Kalamazoo, MI! Trifocal is a Michigan based psychedelic funk rock trio that fuses elements of multiple genres to create a musical experience full of twists and turns. Throughout the many changes of feel and energy, their music maintains a sense of groove that is impossible to ignore. Trifocal has put out 3 new singles in 2023 that can be streamed on all platforms. Benna is a neo-rock-soul band from Kalamazoo, MI. This project formed with members of the Kalamazoo psychedelic rock band Buddhahandband. Follow them on instagram @benna.music and check out their latest single “Losing” streaming everywhere. For this special event, Trifocal has been putting together a setlist of covers featured on various versions of Tony Hawk Pro Skater, including but not limited to bands like Primus, CKY, and Goldfinger. It is gonna get wild!!!”
Sage Castleberry w/ Prior Noon and The Band McCain
18+ Event standing room only Michigan pop country artist Sage Castleberry has a musical style that brings together both old and new. Born into a family of musicians, he was exposed to a variety of genres, ranging from 80s hair bands to country music and everything in between. Picking up the guitar at just 10 years old, Castleberry has spent years mastering his art and eventually playing with many talented friends and even his own father and drummer, Tim Castleberry. Now that the songwriter is creating more of his own music, he is discovering his individual sound and perfecting his artistry. Sage is often found playing solo in West Michigan Breweries and restaurants, planning for the upcoming festival and outdoor season ahead. After the paramount success of his debut single “I Kinda Like It”, Castleberry then released a beautiful break up song called “Last Goodbye” followed by the idyllic and upbeat “Neverland”. Claiming his infectious pop country sound fueled by his diverse influences over the years, like Seaforth and Thomas Rhett, this artist displays an ever growing collection of music filled with great hooks and clever lyrics. “Leave with me together” is the title of his just released and Debut EP. The EP consists of five singles with the highlighted single of the group being titled “Leave With Me Together”. The song was written about Sage’s Grandparents, Jerry and Donna Castleberry, who died literally hand in hand, an hour apart from complications from Covid 19. This single is a heart wrenching song to honor his beloved “Gram and Pop”. The lyrics tell the story of their humble home and family life, followed by the sentiment shared by every true love, to stay together, forever. The endearing lyrics are accompanied by a lovely melody, rich vocals and accents of steel guitar. Garnering critical acclaim on release of his outstanding debut from the likes of Earmilk, Atwood Magazine, and Variance Magazine, Sage Castleberry is emerging exceptionally into the scene.
Belle & Sebastian w/ Haley Heynderickx
2024 Bell’s Beer Garden Summer Concert SeriesThis is a 18 and over event. With a legacy spanning three decades, Belle and Sebastian have truly earned their place in music history. The unique, unpredictable, and fiercely loved band have a plethora of accolades and plaudits to their name including winning the “Best Newcomers” BRIT in 1999, selling out the Hollywood Bowl, and contributing to the soundtrack for an array of films (Juno, The Power of Nightmares). Their most recent output, a trio of EPs titled How To Solve Our Human Problems, Parts 1-3 was a return to an earlier format, allowing the music to emerge organically on EP sessions. 2019 holds new music in the form of a soundtrack to Simon Bird’s upcoming film, Days of The Bagnold Summer, due for release later this year. Still regarded as “One of the most thoughtful and compelling bands out there” (The Times) Belle and Sebastian are soon to head to The Mediterranean to launch their 4 day festival at sea, The Boaty Weekender. This event emerges twenty years on from their pioneering holiday-camp-held festival The Bowlie Weekender. Catch them bringing joy to a stage near you soon.
Willi Carlisle w/ Golden Shoals
18+ Event standing room only WILLI CARLISLE is a poet and a folk singer for the people, but his extraordinary gift for turning a phrase isn’t about high falutin’ pontificatin’; it’s about looking out for one another and connecting through our shared human condition. Born and raised on the Midwestern plains, Carlisle is a product of the punk to folk music pipeline that’s long fueled frustrated young men looking to resist. After falling for the rich ballads and tunes of the Ozarks, where he now lives, he began examining the full spectrum of American musical history. This insatiable stylistic diversity is obvious in his wildly raucous live performances, where songs range from sardonic trucker-ballads like “Vanlife” to the heartbreaking queer waltz “Life on the Fence,” to an existential talkin’ blues about a panic attack in Walmart’s aisle five. With guitar, fiddle, button-box, banjo, harmonicas, rhythm-bones, and Willi’s booming baritone, this is bonafide populist folk music in the tradition of cowboys, frontier fiddlers, and tall-tale tellers. Carlisle recognizes that the only thing holding us back from greatness is each other. With a quick wit and big sing-alongs, these folksongs bring us a step closer to breaking down our divides.
Mary Timony w/ youbet
This is a 18+ and over event with standing room only “As an artist, you have to keep dealing with your shit. Otherwise, you can’t keep making your art.”—Mary TimonyFor more than 30 years, singer-songwriter and guitar hero Mary Timony has cut a distinctive path through the world of independent music, most recently as vocalist and guitarist of acclaimed garage-pop power trio Ex Hex (Merge) but also as a member of seminal post-punk band Autoclave (Dischord), celebrated leader of the deeply influential Helium (Matador), multifaceted solo artist (Matador, Lookout!, Kill Rock Stars), and a co-founder of supergroup Wild Flag (Merge). Described by Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein as “Mary Shelley with a guitar” and dubbed “a trailblazer and an innovator” by [Mary’s former guitar student] Lindsey Jordan a.k.a. Snail Mail, Timony has distinguished herself as one of her generation’s most influential guitarists and songwriters. Although she has remained a cult hero and critical favorite since the early ’90s, appearing everywhere from 120 Minutes episodes to Coachella sets, Timony’s many triumphs have long been counterbalanced by crippling doubt and self-nullification.Her fifth solo album, Untame the Tiger, approaches these emotions head on. Her first solo release in 15 years is a startling document of an artist fully coming into her own power during the fourth decade of her career. It is the product of lessons learned during life-altering struggle. The mystical, acoustic-driven Untame the Tiger emerged after the dissolution of a long-term relationship and was bookended by the deaths of Timony’s father and mother. The album was recorded during a two-year period during which she was the primary caregiver for her ailing parents. “This was the hardest thing I’ve been through. Every week I had to manage a new crisis.”Untame the Tiger was produced by Mary Timony, Joe Wong (composer on Master of None, Russian Doll, The Midnight Gospel, Krapopolis, host of The Trap Set podcast), and Dennis Kane. The album was recorded over the course of two years at Studio 606, Magpie Cage, 38North, and in Mary’s basement. Additional engineering by J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines). Musicians include Chad Molter (Faraquet, Medications), David Christian (Karen O, Hospitality), and Brian Betancourt (Cass McCombs, Devendra Banhart, Hospitality). The album was mixed by Dave Fridmann (MGMT, The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev), Dennis Kane, and John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr., Kurt Vile, Waxahatchee).
Sheer Mag w/ Mighty Big Rig
This is a 18 and over event.Standing Room Only Underlying every great record, every career-defining work of art, is a certain ineffable, increasingly rarified quality: unity of vision. Great songs need not announce their greatness: their marriage of idea with action, soul with sound, appears as something which is naturally effortless, unforced—they are what they are because they have no choice but to be. On Playing Favorites, Sheer Mag’s third full length and first with Third Man Records, this precise, matured clarity of vision is put on full display. Over the course of the past decade, Sheer Mag have labored to carve out a discernibly singular position within the canon of contemporary rock: toggling with ease between the refined flourishes of a “connoisseur’s band” and the ecstatic colloquialism of populist songwriting—yet displaying no strict loyalty to either camp—their sound, while oft-referenced, is unmistakably and immediately recognizable as theirs alone. With Playing Favorites, Sheer Mag have capitalized on a decade’s worth of devotion to their own collective spirit—a spirit refined in both the sweaty trenches of punk warehouses and the larger-than-life glamour of concert halls—emerging with a dense work of gripping emotions, massive hooks, and masterfully constructed power-pop anthems. This is the record the Philadelphian rock and roll four-piece has always been destined to make. Playing Favorites expands with a sense of undeniable vitality, buoyed by rock and roll’s singular capacity to channel a relentless compassion for human life. While at times marked by an intensified sense of melancholy, this newest offering takes stock of the confusing flow of daily life without moralizing, refusing to fall into antagonistic cynicism. Sheer Mag leans into the chaotic thrall of city living, of a life subdivided by Playing Favorites is undoubtedly a record by the same Sheer Mag that audiences of all stripes have spent the last decade falling in love with. In fact, for all of its sonic departures and evolutions, this record is perhaps the most “Sheer Mag” release yet. Not so much a return to form, but rather a realization of those greatest promises that the band has up until now only hinted at. With Playing Favorites, Sheer Mag cater to their tastes and their tastes alone: so long as they continue to do so, the future of rock and roll, that great human tradition, is in the best of hands.
