\\<\/iframe\>
✔️= Critic’s Pick
Crankdat Track and field at Kent State is apparently just not that cool. Just ask Christian Smith, who turned down a full athletic scholarship and dropped out of college to see what might happen when he stopped dividing his attention between sports, school and sounds. “My grades slipped, my athletic performance was not progressing at the rate that I wanted it to, and my musical career was coming to a standstill,” Smith, who is better known as Crankdat, recently said. “I wasn’t getting the proper sleep needed to be able to grind away at all of the commitments I had. The last thing I wanted to do was become a jack of all trades and a master of none, so I swallowed my pride and cleared off my table of everything except for what I wanted to do.” If nearly 200 million Soundcloud streams — plus the support of The Chainsmokers, DJ Snake, Skrillex and Diplo — means anything, then the 21-year-old is on his way. (Shephard’s Beach Resort, Clearwater) INFO
Blood Bath & Beyond w/Highway Advisory Radio Ray Gurka is playing a much quieter set on the patio at Mermaid Tavern, but someone ordered up one metric ton of thrashy butt-punk for the inside. You can thank St. Petersburg metal band Blood Bath & Beyond for the latter and beg your bartender for ear protection if you show up to the gig. (Mermaid Tavern, Tampa) INFO
Attila w/Suicide Silence/Volumes/Spite/Rings of Saturn Atlanta deathcore outfit Attila seems to enjoy controversy (one batch of band shirts that read, “I will find your fucking bitch and fuck her right in front of you” ruffled feathers in 2014), but we doubt any of the group’s fans are conflicted about whether or not they want to attend this rager, where California deathcore band Suicide Silence opens the show. (Orpheum, Ybor City) INFO
Summer of Soul w/Rev Billy C. Wirtz We’re not sure who ordered all the metal this Sunday (four shows listed here fall into the category), but here’s a reminder that the Palladium’s Summer of Soul series rolls on with this performance from the rambling “Master of the 88 Key Disaster” Rev. Billy C. Wirtz. “Think Floyd Cramer meets Rod Serling,” is how the show is described. “Jerry Lee Lewis on mushrooms. From Mennonites to midget wrestlers with lots of history on the side.” (Side Door Cabaret at Palladium, St. Petersburg) INFO
✔️ Ensepulcher w/Spit/Disevered If a band can be defined by the sum of its parts, then California death-metal outfit Ensepulcher is doing more than alright. Made up of members of better-known bands like Acephalix, Fiend and Haggus, Ensepulcher is set to make noise at the American Legion in Seminole Heights in support of a filthy 2017 cassette, No Sanctity in Death. Tampa bands Disevered and Spit open the show. (American Legion Post 111, Tampa) INFO
✔️Weltesser w/Ether/Alex Nicosia Bay area metal fans don’t have to travel very far for a show on Sunday (seriously, it feels like 80 percent of the shows on August 12 are metal), but Ether, from West Palm Beach, traveled a healthy distance to be at this St. Petersburg record-shop gig with local faves Weltesser and Alex Nicosia. (Planet Retro Records, St. Petersburg) INFO
ALSO PLAYING
Ol’ Dirty Sundays w/DJ Casper/DJ Fader (Crowbar, Ybor City) INFO
Cadillac Cowboys (Ella’s Americana Folk Art Cafe, Tampa) INFO
Ray Gurka (Mermaid Tavern, Tampa) INFO
Julie Black (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa) INFO
Sweet Sounds Of Jamaica w/The Freecoasters/AJ The Rastaman (Fubar, St. Petersburg) CANCELED
One Step From Falling w/The Prosecution/Tower 7 (Fubar, St. Petersburg) INFO
Steel Pulse (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg) INFO
Ed Woltil and the Loaded Question w/Ronny Elliott (Independent Bar and Cafe, Tampa) INFO
HER! Sundays w/Cheryle/Kiya/Queen of Ex (Hooch and Hive, Tampa) INFO
This article appears in Aug 9-16, 2018.
