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.
Kalamazoo Academy Of Rock
This is an all ages event. Kalamazoo Academy of Rock is back at Bell’s! These youth bands have been wow-ing audiences for years – come on down for a show like no other! For more information about KAR visit www.kzoorock.com
Kalamazoo Academy Of Rock
This is an all ages event. Kalamazoo Academy of Rock is back at Bell’s! These youth bands have been wow-ing audiences for years – come on down for a show like no other! For more information about KAR visit www.kzoorock.com
Desmond Jones w/ Mighty Big Rig and Fake Baseball
This is a 21 and over event.Standing room only Desmond Jones- Think Zappa meets Weird Al in the middle of a type 2 jam and has a Ween baby. The award-winning five-piece rock group has shared the stage with bands like Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Papadosio, Here Come the Mummies, Andy Frasco, Dopapod, Ripe, Joe Hertler, Joe Russo, and so many more. 800 shows in 10 years has made the band tighter than ever- and with 4 studio albums and over 100 original songs under their belt- every set is a unique and fresh surprise for both longtime fans and new listeners. Get ready to dance, laugh and probably cringe.- 2023 Performing artist, The Midwest House (SXSW)- 2022 and 2023 “Best Original Band” Revue West MI (Best of the West)- 2019 “Album of the Year” Listener’s Choice WYCE Jammies (Hello, Helou)
Kalamazoo Academy Of Rock
This is an all ages event. Kalamazoo Academy of Rock is back at Bell’s! These youth bands have been wow-ing audiences for years – come on down for a show like no other! For more information about KAR visit www.kzoorock.com
Kalamazoo Academy Of Rock
This is an all ages event. Kalamazoo Academy of Rock is back at Bell’s! These youth bands have been wow-ing audiences for years – come on down for a show like no other! For more information about KAR visit www.kzoorock.com
Joshua Powell & Bonehawk
This is a 21 and over event.Standing Room Only Joshua Powell is the exhausted wizard at the helm of IN’s most haunted rock band. From his hardcore roots in the Floridian swamps and beyond the fever dream of his folk era, his literary lyrics dig for enlightenment in a surrealist muck. “Four LP’s and over 900 shows later, the midwestern road dog’s ever- evolving, transcendent style embraces hallucinatory metal and grimy psychedelia.” -Audiotree Bonehawk is a Rock and Roll band from Kalamazoo, Michigan playing a modern approach to 70’s era psychedelic hard rock, heavy metal, jam, and blues. For fans of Thin Lizzy, Allman Brothers, Iron Maiden, Dio, and ZZ Top, BoneHawk brings a modern take with their own sound of big buzzy riffs, smooth vocals, thunderous drums, and tons of guitar harmony interplay. In 2014, Bonehawk’s debut album, Albino Rhino, was self-released and made more than a splash locally. The record spread west where the band was picked up by San Francisco label Ripple Music, who rereleased Albino Rhino internationally. After countless nation wide tours, festivals, and re-pressings of their debut record, Bonehawk decided to regroup and begin work on new songs. In 2016, Bonehawk released a split album and also a tribute to Thin Lizzy. 2020 marked the long awaited return of Bonehawk with the release of Iron Mountain and a new lineup consisting of Matt Helt (Vocals & Guitar), Nate Cohn (Drums), Cam Mammina (Guitars), and Matt Smith (bass). 2020 marked the long awaited return of Bonehawk with the release of Iron Mountain and a new lineup consisting of Matt Helt (Vocals & Guitar), Nate Cohn (Drums), Cam Mammina (Guitars), and Matt Smith (bass).
The Waco Brothers w/ The Bright Shiners
This is a 21 and over event.Standing Room Only Shaking off the plague days like a snake sheds its skin the WACO BROTHERS stumble out of the empty, burning desert with a fierce thirst and an epic new album: THE MEN THAT GOD FORGOT. It’s the first collection of original WACO tunes since 2016’s GOING DOWN IN HISTORY and comes to you viatheir own label Plenty Tuff Records. The Waco Brothers got together in Chicago in the mid-90s; battle weary punk musicians who wanted nothing more than to play classic country covers for free beer in their adopted home city. Their residencies at bars like the Wrigleyville Tap and Augenblick became legendary for the sheer volume, speed and energy they brought to this task. After an early & particularly deranged appearance at SXSW Rolling Stone dubbed the Wacos “Clash meets Cash” and they unleashed a fistful of ferocious albums and endlessly entertaining live gigs that defined the Insurgent Country movement. Every night is still Friday night for the WACO BROTHERS but these new songs lace that reckless exuberance with a more sober awareness of the tsunami of cynical corruption & materialism that infects our everyday existence. BEST THAT MONEY CAN BUY rips its verses from what’s left of honest journalismwhile IN THE DARK provides a requiem for functioning democracy AND boasts the best twin-lead guitar solo since Thin Lizzy. The album ends with NOWHERE TO RUN a deceptively gentle dance number (inspired by a night on the Outlaw Country Cruise where the Wacos backed up their hero Lee “Scratch” Perry) that presents the struggle for social and economic justice as neverending. GEORGE WALKS WITH JESUS is a song about George Jones walking with Jesus. The WACO BROTHERS lost their powerhouse drummer Joe Camarillo to a stroke in January 2021 and it took some time to regroup. They’d often been joined onstage by violinist Jean Cook and drummer Dan Massey (ex-Robbie Fulks) who had deputized for Joe for years, so now the time seemed right to add them both as permanent members. The current line-up is: Jean Cook – violin & vocals, Tracey Dear – mandolin & vocals, Alan Jesus George Jones Mr. Spanky Captain Giggles Sproketts Doughty Vega – bass & vocals, Jon Langford – guitar & vocals, Dan Massey – drums, Dean Schlabowske – guitar & vocals THE MEN THAT GOD FORGOT is the 10thWaco Brothers full length album & was recorded with Mike Hagler at Kingsize Soundlabs in Chicago in 2022. The cinematic brass parts were arranged and performed by longtime collaborator Max Crawford with Dave Smith. Other Waco Cousins appearing are Barkley Mckay on piano and organ, Patty Vega on jingling tambourine and Andre Michot of the Lost Bayou Ramblers on accordion.
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
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
