THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24
Jel w/Serengeti/Matthew David Alt hip-hop artist Jel (Jeffery James Logan) is an Anticon staple (he co-founded the indie LA label in 1998) who does some light non-traditional rapping — more like undercover rhyme-slinging and broken vocalizing — and uses retro drum tech (an SP-1200 beat-machine) to arrive at his low-bit, bumpin’ and grindin’, cut-and-chopped trip hop atmospherics. Jel is known for being one of the first artists to play his beat-machine live, using little or no sequencing and with pads so he can tap out each snare, bass kick, cymbal and loop with his fingers. He’s currently touring behind recently-released third LP, Late Pass. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
Soulfly w/The Defiant/Progressive Chemistry/Hang Em High Soulfly has experienced nearly a dozen lineup shifts over a 16-year tenure, although Sepultura former Max Cavalera — who originally formed the groove/thrash metal group — has remained constant as its leader. His harsh guttural roars rocket over intense riffage and double-bass rhythms currently delivered by son Zyon Cavalera, enlisted as a full time drummer this year and appearing on Savages, the band’s ninth and latest LP. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
Peelander-Z w/The Casualties/Negative Approach/Feral Babies/Wolf-Face The Japanese action comic punk band makes their annual stop in Tampa, delivering their usual cheeky live antics (playing while hanging from venue rafters, handing off instruments to volunteers and jumping into the crowd to fool around, leading a full-audience limbo dance, etc.) and bag full of tricks (luchadores masks, gaudy-vibrant costumes, silly props, signage). (Orpheum, Ybor City)
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25
USF Homecoming Week Concert w/Wiz Khalifa and DJ Enferno It’s a celebration of green and gold at USF-Tampa as the college celebrates Homecoming Week leading into the USF Bulls football game against Louisville on Sunday. The events culminate this Friday with the Running of the Bulls Parade and post-parade concert. Upward of 50 floats make their way from the Marshall Center to Fowler Fields, where West Coast ganja-loving emcee Wiz Khalifa performs with DJ Enferno. Wiz is touring behind his fourth studio album and second under Atlantic, O.N.I.F.C., an acronym that stands for “Only Nigga in First Class” or, for more PC audiences, “One Night in First Class.” (Fowler Fields, USF-Tampa)
Hot Havana Night w/Jon Secada This fundraiser in support of the Bill Edwards Foundation for the Arts transforms the lobby and Atrium of the Mahaffey into a tropical oasis where guests are serenaded by Cuban-born international AC pop star Jon Secada and served scrumptious Cuban food and libations. (Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg)
Tomcat Blake & Friends Blues-rock guitar slinger and smoky-voiced singer Tomcat Blake hails from St. Louis, Mo., and infuses his sizzling sound with elements of country, rockabilly and soul. On this night, he’s joined by TC Carr, Sarasota Slim and Sandy Atkinson. He and his band also play Ringside Café Oct. 31 and Ale and the Witch Nov. 3. (Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg)
Blast! Friday w/Poco The easy-going country-folk outfit came up in the late 1960s, one of three acts spawned from the late Buffalo Springfield. Originally started by guitarist Jim Messina (who left after two albums to form Loggins and Messina) and pedal steel virtuoso Rusty Young, Poco has issued 19 albums to date (the most recent 2013’s All Fired Up). Only a few tracks ever made it to the Billboard Top 40: the AC ballad “Crazy Love” and more country pop ode, “Call It Love.” (Cleveland Street, downtown Clearwater)
Noisia A Dutch DJ-production trio with a drum n’ bass foundation, from which they lift-off into other beat-driven electro soundscapes full of fuzzy buzzing low-end and sonic experimentalism. Noisia manages three of their own record labels (Vision, Division and Invisible) and self-releases all their recordings, though 2010 debut Split the Atom was picked up by Deadmau5’s mau5trap label and treated to a special edition re-release in 2012. (Amphitheatre, Ybor City)
Malaya CD Release Show w/Not Tonight Josephine/others My first introduction to Malaya was earlier this year at Hard Rock Rising, an international battle of the bands competition, and although they didn’t snag the win, their spirited performances did manage to leave a lasting impression. The female-fronted outfit has a sound much akin to Paramore, a mix of alt rock and punk pop aesthetics; lead howler Robin Carbonell is cute yet commanding while the band is hard-grinding and tight. This show celebrates the release of their first full-length, The Pieces That Make Us, funded by fans via Kickstarter.com. (Local 662, St. Petersburg)
Sam Ash Drum Bash Local drums and percs educator Jim Chambers returns for the fifth annual installment of his free, family-friendly beat-keeping extravaganza/recital that shines the spotlight on 20 of Chambers’ best students. Show starts at 6 p.m. (Sam Ash Music, Tampa)
Free Your Rhyme w/Jinx/Dynasty/The Rukus/DJ Lesage/DJ Shafiq “We spit for the love, not the fame, let it thump, let it bang, let it rain, let it sang,” Jinx asserts with Miss Bronx in “Get Down (Rumba),” the first single off his latest LP, The Gem in I. This CD release show also doubles as the inaugural event hosted by Jinx’s fresh production company, Free Your Rhyme. Jinx stages a full album performance of The Gem in I as backed by DJ Lesage and the Gwan Massive band, with guest spots and warm-up by other big names in the local hip hop game. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
The Supervillains w/Spiritual Rez/The Crazy Carls Orlando’s reggae-ska party band hits town on the heels of releasing a new full-length, Volume 8. Boston-bred funk-leaning septet Spiritual Rez joins them and hypes a forthcoming fourth album, Apocalypse Now. (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg)
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26
Zappaween 18 w/Bogus Pomp The Frank Zappa tribute act led by shredding guitar wiz Jerry Outlaw stages the 18th edition of its traditional Halloween-time Zappa presentation. No word on the setlist or band lineup — Bogus Pomp doesn’t believe in spreading that sort of useful info — but you can expect tight choppy playing with brass accompaniment, and I’m guessing there might be a “Cheepnis” in there somewhere … (Local 662, St. Petersburg)
98Rock Halloweenie Roast w/Alice Cooper/Papa Roach/Heaven’s Basement/Bullet For My Valentine/Pop Evil/Black Veil Brides Tampa Bay’s rock station presents its annual Halloween scare-stravaganza as headlined by the godfather of all things ghoulish, shock rock extrodinaire Alice Cooper, who’s still raging behind 26th studio LP Welcome 2 My Nightmare. Bullet for My Valentine brings thrashing, seething heavy metal direct from Wales while Papa Roach delivers rapped up hard rock. Other dark-vibing rock acts round out the packed lineup. (MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, Tampa)
The Deer Tracks w/DCV9/Mojave Wilde The Deer Tracks’ David Lehnberg and Elin Lindfors complement each other like yin and yang; they both have bohemian airs and long hair, his is a shorter and shaggier sable, artfully shaved and adorned with dangling feathers while hers is a mane of palest flaxen trailing down her back in tousled strands. Her vocals are high, sweet ethereal coos to his slightly lower, breathy tenor, and their music — self-styled “Northern Light” electronica that blends chillwave and experimental pop aesthetics — is a restrained overlap of melody and cacophony carried on stuttering beats and imbued with twinkling sonic embellishments, digital artifacts, static fragments, and found sounds as created with traditional instruments (melodica, glockenspiel, electric guitars, synths, piano, trumpet) and improvised sound-making devices (music boxes, silverware, coffee mugs). (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
A Start Called Fresh Party An exhibition of street art paired with a showcase of hip-hop talent, including Vinny Virgo, Miss Bronx, T. Scott, KeithCharlesSpacebar, Gatsby of West Egg and Louis Junior. Hosted by Mike Mass and Dustin DeVars. (Pachyderm Wing Co., Tampa)
Tesseract w/Scale The Summit/Anciients/Akeldama/Notions Tesseract serves up progressive metal direct from the UK, is signed to Century Media, and is touring behind ambitious, critically-acclaimed 2013 sophomore full-length, Altered State, which AllMusic praised as “a follow-up album that doesn’t just live up to their debut, but blows it out of the water.” (Orpheum, Ybor City)
OTEP w/Stolen Babies/New Years Day/Lydia Can’t Breathe/Red Calling/Under Fallen Order/Bastards of Doom Nu metal band OTEP returns to town, again, after announcing that 2013’s conceptual full-length Hydra — produced by Ulrich Wild (Pantera, Deftones) — would be their last. No word yet on what namesake frontwoman Otep Shamaya plans on doing once her band retires from the road. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27
An Evening with John Fogerty The classic swamp rocking guitarist re-imagined a dozen well-known odes and deeper cuts from both his solo repertoire and his days with Creedence Clearwater Revival on this year’s Wrote a Song for Everyone, teaming up with a cavalcade of noteworthy country, pop and rock artists to give each song its own distinctive flavor, and writing a few new tunes, too. Rolling Stone’s David Fricke gave it a five-star review, calling it some of the best music Fogerty has produced since Creedence. “His singing is strong and engaged, even scalding when he goes up against Kid Rock in ‘Born on the Bayou,’ and the current state of Fogerty’s guitar playing is summed up in his shootout with country picker Brad Paisley in ‘Hot Rod Heart.’” Other highlights: “Proud Mary,” recorded in New Orleans with Allen Toussaint, Jennifer Hudson and the Rebirth Brass Band, and “Fortunate Son” with Foo Fighters. On this tour, Fogerty performs one CCR album in its entirety, alternating between Cosmo’s Factory and Bayou Country from date to date. (Carol Morsani Hall at Straz Center for Performing Arts, Tampa)
Lipbone Redding Lipbone got his name for his “voicestrumentals” — his knack for mimicking brass with his mouth, employing overtone or harmonic singing (which makes a sort of resonant buzzing tone not unlike a didgeridoo), and flapping his lips in odd rhythmic cadences. He also has a soulfully gruff vocal quality that fits with his quirky style, and his utterances are accompanied by loosely strummed acoustic guitar. (The Ale And The Witch, St. Petersburg)
Reverend Horton Heat w/Wayne “The Train” Hancock/Gotohells It’s been a few years since Jim “Reverend Horton” Heath graced Bay area audiences with his suited-up brand of psycho-punkabilly prowess. But he and his band — upright bass slayer Jimbo Wallace and beat-basher Scott Churilla — are finally returning for a night of knock-down, drag-out good times with some impressive, more traditional-style ‘billy warm-up from juke joint swinger Wayne “The Train” Hancock. St. Pete’s own Gotohells round out the bill with a little rock n’ roll sleaze. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
MONDAY, OCTOBER 28
Melissa Ferrick The Straz Center welcomes folk rock songstress and multi-instrumentalist Melissa Ferrick to launch the ninth season of its Club Jaeb music series. Ferrick has been active for more than two decades and has 17 albums to her credit, most recently 2013’s lush and rootsy the truth is. The songwriting is a lot less angry on this album than on past ones, according to Ferrick. “There’s not as much finger pointing,” she told CL writer Tiffany Razzano in a June interview (read it here). “The finger actually gets turned around the other way, toward myself, and it feels more grown up. It feels really good; it feels like this is progress.” (Jaeb Theater at Straz Center for Performing Arts, Tampa)
Barenaked Ladies It’s hard to imagine a Barenaked Ladies without both Steven Page and Ed Robertson but the latter has been leading his remaining bandmates without his bespectacled sidekick for four years now and the Canadian AC rock quartet has issued two albums since Page’s exit; the latest, Grinning Streak, dropped over the summer. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29
Big Pre-Fest in Little Ybor w/Bouncing Souls/Teenage Bottlerock/many more A two-day (Tuesday-Wednesday) Ybor music festival leading up to the 12th annual edition of The Fest in Gainesville, and featuring nearly 100 Fest-bound bands at four venues in Ybor. More info here. (Crowbar, New World Brewery, Orpheum, The Ritz, Ybor City)
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30
Michael Franti & Spearhead One of the warmest and most genuine artists I’ve ever had the pleasure of interviewing was Michael Franti, right after he’d suffered from a burst appendix while on tour in 2009. He didn’t have to talk to me; as far as I was concerned, his health gave him a free pass from doing press. But I got him on the phone, it was an amazing 15-minute conversation, and I’ve had a soft spot for him ever since. He and his band’s buoyant, life-affirming music dives into reggae, hip-hop, rock, jazz, folk and funk aesthetics; new album All People is injected some pop-dance bounce. Live, Franti is an effervescent showman who seems to have boundless energy packed into his rangy 6’6 frame, not to mention springs built into his big bare feet. (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg)
The Green w/Shwayze/Kimie Hawaii-bred reggae rockers The Green just issued a third full-length recording, Hawai‘i ‘13, which also marks the third time the sextet has topped Billboard’s Reggae charts. The 15 tracks follow the genre’s usual lyrical subject matter (love, unity, fellowship, activism) but with added nods to their island home, all set against The Green’s sonicscape of fat wet basslines, R&B sweet vocal harmonies, keyboards that veer from groovy to spacey, and easy swaying rhythms that pick up the pace in more guitar riffy tracks like “Something About It” and slow it back down to a more easy soulful tempo in romantic ballads like “Chocolate and Roses.” (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
Selena Gomez & The Scene Over the past 24 hours of this writing, Disney-spawned pop star Selena Gomez has managed to make headlines for a minor sound malfunction on The View, falling off the stage at a concert in Virginia, getting tearfully emotional during her performance of “Love Will Remember” in Brooklyn (she later claimed it was because she wasn’t allowed to take Instagram pics with fans after the show and not because she was feeling regrets about breaking it off with one-time beau Justin Bieber), wearing a sheer white shirt with a black bra, and confessing to her crush on Canadian rapper Drake. The multi-platinum “Come & Get It” actress/singer brings her “Stars Dance” tour to town, and though she’s backing her first solo studio LP of the same name, she’ll be joined by her band, The Scene. (Tampa Bay Times Forum, Tampa)
CLICK HERE to see a complete rundown of shows taking place this week and in the coming weeks.
This article appears in Oct 24-30, 2013.
