An Evening With Mike Gordon
2023 Bell’s Beer Garden Summer Concert SeriesThis is a 21 and over event. Mike Gordon is bassist and co-founder of the seminal improvisational American rock band Phish. He returns in 2023 with the first outing with his solo band in three years. His sixth solo LP, Flying Games, is out in May on Megaplum/ATO Records. It’s an album filled with constant and wildly hypnotic movement, each moment animated by unexpected sounds that morph and expand and spin off into their own strange orbits, revealing entirely new dimensions of the kaleidoscopic musicianship he’s displayed as a bassist for the last four decades.
Toad The Wet Sprocket w/ Marcy Playground – SOLD OUT!
2023 Bell’s Beer Garden Summer Concert SeriesThis is a 21 and over event.VIP TICKETS INCLUDE: One (1) Event Ticket Meet & Greet and Photo Opportunity with Toad the Wet Sprocket Invitation to Exclusive Pre-Show Acoustic Performance One (1) Limited Edition Event Poster One (1) Commemorative Laminate Celebrating 30 years as a band, Toad the Wet Sprocket is still making music and touring with the same spirit of unwavering independence that started it all over three decades ago. The band is thankful for the continued help and enthusiastic support of their fans, which helped spur the release of All You Want and also serves as inspiration for the band to tour and play live. They also continue to support their most recent releases, New Constellation (2013) and The Architect of Ruin EP (2015). Toad the Wet Sprocket share in the kind of musical chemistry that can only come from meeting in high school and writing, recording and touring on albums over the course time. After Bread & Circus, they followed with Pale in 1990, fear in ’91, Dulcinea in 1994, and Coil in 1997, as well as some compilations along the way. While most will still feel the comforting familiarity of the Billboard-charting hits, “Walk on the Ocean”, “All I Want”, “Something’s Always Wrong”, and “Fall Down”, fans will also be well familiar with tracks with lyrics that resonate for so many life milestones like “The Moment”, “I Will Not Take These Things for Granted” and so many more.
black midi w/ Circuit Des Yeux
2023 Bell’s Beer Garden Summer Concert SeriesThis is a 21 and over event. Five facts about black midiOne. black midi are: Geordie Greep (guitar, vocals), Cameron Picton (bass, vocals), and Morgan Simpson (drums). Two. Coincidentally, Morgan and Geordie both played in church bands growing up Three. The band met at the BRIT School. Geordie and Matt borrowed the name from a Japanese music genre where a MIDI file is stuffed with so many musical notes that its visual representation looks solid black. MIDI files do not contain sound. Four. After leaving school Cameron worked in the Wimbledon branch of stationery store Ryman. Geordie taught music. Morgan briefly toyed with the idea of becoming a professional footballer but eventually chose drumming and teaching music. Five. black midi got their first gig two weeks after leaving school, in June 2017, at south London’s renowned Windmill venue. It led to a Windmill residency, a publishing contract, a record deal, a Mercury nomination for Schlagenheim, and you reading this. Myths about black midiOne. black midi don’t expect, or want, you to take themselves or their music too seriously. black midi music can be exuberant, cathartic, theatrical, comic, absurdist, over-abundant, intense, cinematic, brutal, restlessly brilliant. Two. None of black midi’s released music is entirely improvised. They did spend a long time jamming at the start, but would record the jams and select the best bits to replay as part of structured recordings. Three. The BRIT School’s importance in the black midi story can also be overplayed. Yes, the school was where they met, and their generous facilities afforded the group time and space in their final year to experiment and rehearse until they had a better idea of what they could become.The album“Geordie had a dream that we called the album Hellfire, he kept saying it all the time” ‘Hellfire’ has long burned in black midi’s world. First, Geordie imagined it was the title of their debut album; Cavalcade was mostly recorded at Hellfire Studio, Dublin; then Cameron dreamed it should be the title of their third. The skeleton of the new album was assembled while Cavalcade was being made, with the meat put on the bones at London’s Hoxa HQ. The main difference between Cavalcade and Hellfire is a switch from third-person to first-person storytelling. Cavalcade depicted everyone from cabaret singers to cult leaders, while Hellfire largely sticks to more morally suspect characters, given power by their direct dramatic monologues, their flamboyant appeals to our degraded sense of right and wrong. You’re never quite sure whether to laugh at or be horrified by the tales these people tell. One connection between Cavalcade and Hellfire is that the mysterious military mining corporation behind the previous album’s Diamond Stuff reappears in Cameron’s new song Eat Men Eat. “I really enjoy the storytelling on Eat Men Eat, Welcome to Hell and 27 Questions,”says Morgan, who didn’t write any of Hellfire’s words.“I find myself laughing when we play them at gigs.”As on Cavalcade, most of the lyrics came from Geordie, but Cameron does some of his best-ever work on the forcefully sweet Still, the album’s least abstract, most lyrically personal song. The range, power and potent production of black midi’s music has never been greater than on Hellfire, partly thanks to genius producer Marta Salogni, who’d worked on Cavalcade opener John L. But, as always, the type of music black midi play isn’t as important as its quality. And whatever you think about black midi’s music isn’t as important as how you feel about it.
CANCELED – Sierra Ferrell – Long Time Going Tour
Hey all, the Sierra Ferrell show in the Beer Garden next week has been cancelled. Please see below for a message from the artist: “Sadly, I will miss the next six dates on my touring schedule: 7/8- Winnipeg Folk Festival – Winnipeg, MB 7/9- Bayfield, WI 7/10- Fish Creek, WI 7/12- Kalamazoo, MI 7/13- Detroit, MI 7/14- 4848 Festival – Snowshoe, WV We’ve been working really hard for you all, and have loved every minute of it, but I need to slow down for a bit. I know you’re disappointed, and so am I, but I also know that some rest will do me good. I’ll be back on stage soon and can’t wait to see you then.” Refunds will be processed, any further questions on your refund please reach out to https://fal.cn/3zIFK.
Barbaro
Standing Room Only This is a 21 and over event. The heralded Minneapolis-based group Barbaro forges an exciting new musical path on About the Winter, their inaugural outing for StorySound Records. Featuring guitarist Kyle Shelstad, bassist Jason Wells, and violinist Rachel Calvert, the gifted, young band developed a strong following for their modernist bluegrass sound on their 2020 debut, Dressed in Roses. Their new album, however, represents a “coming of age” for Barbaro, according to Shelstad, as it more authentically reflects the band’s adventurous musical evolution over the past few years. About The Winter showcases the dynamic interplay arising from Shelstad’s string band roots blending with Calvert’s and Wells’ backgrounds in classical music. The album’s ten tracks also reveal the group deftly integrating electric instrumentation into the group’s acoustic-grounded music. Barbaro, together with the pivotal assistance provided by producer Brian Joseph (Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens), has fashioned a captivating pastoral Americana sound on About the Winter that is both traditional and progressive.
Jesse Ray & The Carolina Catfish w/ The House Bandits
Standing Room Only This is a 21 and over event. The wild and energetic rock duo of Jesse Ray and the Carolina Catfish will be performing live at Bell’s Eccentric Cafe in Kalamazoo, MI on Saturday October 28th. Show Starts at 8:00 PM Jesse Ray and the Carolina Catfish is a multiple Jammie award winning Rock, Rockabilly, and Blues band from Grand Rapids, MI who are known for their amazing sound and killer live performances! Tickets: $12 ADV
Horseshoes & Hand Grenades
Standing Room Only This is a 21 and over event. After 12 years, 6 albums, innumerable sold out shows, and countless libations, Americana mavericks Horseshoes & Hand Grenades appropriately consider themselves a “family” on a wild, wonderful, and often whacky roller coaster. The bond between the quintet— Adam Greuel, David C. Lynch , Collin Mettelka , Russell Pedersen and Samual Odin — fuels their creativity and chemistry on stage and in the studio. “Sometimes, it feels like we’re modern day cowboys on some kind of strange journey,” Adam affirms with a laugh. “We’re five friends who set out to do something we enjoy doing, meet interesting people, see old friends, and make some new buddies along the way. Because of that sense of friendship, everything seems to happen organically.” That’s been the case since these five musicians first met in Stevens Point, WI at college, joined forces, and hit the road harder post-graduation in roughly 2013. They have ignited stages alongside everyone from Greensky Bluegrass, Yonder Mountain String Band, The Infamous Stringdusters, and Trampled By Turtles to Railroad Earth, Merle Haggard, and Marty Stuart in addition to appearances at festivals such as Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Delfest, High Sierra Music Festival, Blue Ox Music Festival, Northwest String Summit, John Hartford Memorial Festival, and many more. Their five albums take the listener through a wide range of musical and emotional landscapes, something surely provoked by the five different members all sharing songwriting duties. Their most recent album, “Miles in Blue” is an 18-track album that celebrates their 10 years together as a band. While the album certainly nods to their tried and true blend of “new-time old-time” music, it also explores new musical avenues as the band pushes themselves to discover what else “can be”. “It marks a point of growth,” explains Adam. “We’ve got those ripper type tunes we’re known for on there, but we’re experimenting with other elements. Little pieces of everybody are encapsulated in this record. We were really conscious of allowing our respective musical curiosities into the fold. Sam drops in a jazz and classical feel. Dave brings that Zydeco, Cajun, and old school blues vibe. Collin turned up this kinda pop folk energy, and Russell gives us the old-timey banjo feel. For me, I’m trying to play out my singer-songwriter curiosities. There are five songwriters in the band, and we’ve gotten better at harnessing our individual creativity and bringing it to the collective.” The boys found the perfect place to bottle those signature spirits. They retreated to Cannon Falls, MN in order to live and record at Pachyderm Studios — where Nirvana recorded In Utero — for just a week. Joined by the Hard Working American’s Chad Staehly in the producer’s chair, they tracked the eighteen numbers that would comprise Miles in Blue over the course of a marathon session. The Horseshoes & Hand Grenades family grows stronger by the day. “The best part of this has been building a community,” Adam leaves off. “In this day and age, it’s wise to look for things that bring people together rather than separate them. We’re creating an extended family too.
Gibson Brothers
This is a 21 and over event.Standing Room Only There’s a reason why Ricky Skaggs pulled Eric and Leigh Gibson off the stage at the Ryman two decades ago and offered to produce their debut record. The same thing that led David Ferguson and Grammy Award winning producer and Black Keys front man Dan Auerbach to co-write and produce their 14th album “Mockingbird” (2018) and release it on his own label Easy Eye Sound alongside cultural icons such as Hank Williams Jr. and Dr. John: the Gibson Brothers are the real deal. They can pick. They can sing. And they can write a damn good country song. They’ve won about every bluegrass award you can name and released albums on almost every premier Americana label you can think of including Sugar Hill and Rounder, and, if that’s not enough, their songs have been recorded by bluegrass legends no less than Del McCoury. It’s a resume almost anybody in country music would be proud to have. But despite all of this, the Gibson Brothers are not yet household names. Their latest album, “Darkest Hour,” produced by dobro master Jerry Douglas might just change that. As soon as you hear Leigh singing with Alison Krauss [“I Feel The Same Way As You”] on the new project you realize that his voice is as good as anyone in music today. Add the brother harmony to that and they have something truly unique. While “Mockingbird” featured gorgeous production, recreating the sound on stage was difficult. “We put together a little band to go out and try to recreate it,” Eric told me, but we couldn’t. We would have to have such a huge band to try to recreate that record, but we did the best we could. The result is arguably the strongest record The Gibson Brothers have ever made. The songs recorded in the first recording period featured Mike Barber (bass), Justin Moses (mandolin),Eamon McGloughlin (fiddle), and of course, Jerry Douglas, adding in John Gardner (drums),Guthrie Trapp (electric guitar), and Todd Parks (bass) for the final tracks, “Darkest Hour “showcases just how easily Eric and Leigh move from what Dan Auerbach dubbed “country soul”(“I Go Driving”) to high octane bluegrass (“What a Difference a Day Makes” and “Dust”) with Douglas always keeping the spotlight on the songs themselves.Their talent level is well-established, and for the Gibson Brothers, they just want to keep writing, singing, and standing on a stage.
Brother Wolf w/ Aweful – FREE SHOW!
This is a 21 and over event.Standing Room Only Brother Wolf is from Michigan. This multifaceted creative, with an extensive background in communications arts (Professor of Communication Studies), has published music and art zines, as well as recorded, mixed, and mastered albums for dozens of bands and solo artists. The frontman of Michigan-based alt-rock bands Head and Love Fossil, he recently redirected his energies, devoting them to his solo work. Brother Wolf, three years since self-admittance to in-patient rehab, is channeling pure signal, healing through the fuzz of no regrets and a future wed to his true love and only addiction – rock and roll.Following up his 2019 EP Show Me Your Teeth, No Masters explores many hard-hitting topics through its ten tracks, from foreshadowing a future-is-female world to promoting anti-racism through healing, this record covers a full spectrum of progressive anthems. Brother Wolf is a multi-instrumentalist, performing the majority of the instruments and arrangements on No Masters. Through a non-linear process, Brother Wolf creates sonic collages with layers of guitar, occasional horns, strings, and piano, always driven by a strong foundational melodic bass line. Lyrically inspired by the wordplay in hip hop, Brother Wolf’s theatrical vocals add a layer of poetic justice to his compositions. Melodies reminiscent of Bowie, Thurston Moore, and Josh Homme unite to create the unique sound of Brother Wolf.A consistent message throughout the entirety of the album is an improvement, both of the self and society as a whole. Straying from nay-saying and platitudes, Brother Wolf delivers thick rock with layers of thunder and melody, transmitted through the beat of a tender honest heart. Through listening and feeling Brother Wolf’s sounds, listeners are inspired to live a life of positive action rather than passive complacency. Brother Wolf empowers listeners to take control of their own lives while simultaneously emphasizing the responsibility we have toward one another. Aweful from Chicago:https://www.facebook.com/awefulband/ http://m-nyc.thedelimagazine.com/category/bands-covered/aweful https://linktr.ee/aweful
Samantha Fish ft. Jesse Dayton w/ Eric Johanson
This is a 21 and over event.The first-ever collaborative album from Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton, Death Wish Blues is a body of work born from a shared passion for pushing the limits of blues music. As one of the most dynamic forces in the blues world today, Fish has made her name as a multi-award-winning festival headliner who captivates crowds with her explosive yet elegant guitar work, delivering an unbridled form of blues-rock that defies all genre boundaries. Dayton, meanwhile, boasts an extraordinary background that includes recording with the likes of Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings, touring as a guitarist for seminal punk band X, working with Rob Zombie on the soundtracks for his iconic horror films, and releasing a series of acclaimed solo albums. Produced by the legendary Jon Spencer of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Death Wish Blues ultimately melds their eclectic sensibilities into a batch of songs both emotionally potent and wildly combustible. For both Fish and Dayton, the making of Death Wish Blues helped fulfill their longtime mission of opening up the blues genre to entirely new audiences. “I’ve played all kinds of music in my life, punk and country and Americana and so much else, and for me this was another wonderful rabbit hole to fall down,” says Dayton. “I love that it’s coming at a moment when we’re starting to see the resurgence of rock guitar for the first time in a long time, and I think it’s going to turn a lot of people on to a kind of music they’ve never experienced before.” Fish adds: “The main reason why I make music has always been the connection it creates with others. It’s a way to communicate with the world around me, to tell stories that people can then take and apply to their own lives and maybe feel more understood. We had such a fun time making this album, and I hope that it leaves everyone with the same feeling of joy that we all felt in the studio.”
