THURS 30
Soft Opening/Month Mind/Alien House Asheville, N.C.'s Soft Opening purveys shambling, drawn-out doom and psyche-drone rock, filling up the spaces with haunting vocals, crashing and buzzing and wildly warped and sustained guitar notes, slow-pounding drum beats, and a sinister layer of heavy organ. Soft Opening just released their first official recording, a self-titled six-song 12" likely available at this Mojo show. A pair of Tampa experimental duos, Moth Mind and Alien House, support. (Mojo Books & Music, Tampa)
Florence + The Machine w/Hanni El Khatib In a little over a year, Florence Welch — the British songstress otherwise known as Florence + The Machine — has gone from emerging young artist to international superstar. Her 2009 debut, Lungs, topped the charts and went 4x platinum in the UK, but she didn't catch on in the U.S. until an unforgettable performance of "Dog Days Are Over" at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards exposed her to new audiences and caused the album to jump from No. 44 to 14 on the Billboard. She's been a musical force ever since, earning a Grammy nomination for "Best New Artist" and performing in an Aretha Franklin tribute at the awards show that night. This is one of two stops in Florida. *Sold Out* (Hard Rock Live, Orlando)
Jim 'Kimo' West Even though he's played backup for Weird Al Yankovic since the early 1980s, Jim "Kimo" West is more widely known for his mastery of the finger-style Hawaiian acoustic guitar tradition known as "ki ho'alu" or "slack-key." Basically, one or more of the strings are open-tuned or "slacked," and the bass and melody are picked and plucked at once, gently, as if set against the sound of a quietly burbling island stream. (Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg)
FRI 01
The Venturas Sarasota's own throwback band, The Venturas, draw on a repertoire that ranges from 1930s blues and jazz standards to present-day pop hits, all songs given swinging treatment and delivered in the sexy sandpaper purr of frontwoman Ally Couch. (Gulfport Casino Ballroom, Gulfport)
Daikaiju w/Auto?Automatic??/Set and Setting Musicians in kabuki masks dubbed "Secret-man" (guitar), "Rock-man" (guitar) "Hands-Man" (drums) and "Rumble-Man" (bass) serve up generous portions of tripped-out reverb-heavy instrumental surf-psychobilly rock. Post-prog rock trio Auto?Automatic?? and psyche-retro rockers Set and Setting open. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
Urizen w/Autumn Empire/Rising Down/Broken End Stereo Mixing two seemingly disparate genres — 8-bit electronica and hard-hitting metal-tinged rock 'n' roll — Urizen hails from Ft. Worth, Texas, and performs every show, big or small, with cheeky outrageousness and in handmade space gear (think Star Wars stormtrooper meets half-dressed football player). Looks like highly entertaining stuff; now imagine watching it at the Pegasus and you have yourself one interesting Friday night. (Pegasus Lounge, Tampa)
Bernard Allison w/Walker Smith Group Son of legendary Chicago blues guitarist Luther Allison (who most famously played backup to Howlin' Wolf), Bernard Allison is a Midwestern singer-guitarist who was exposed to the deep roots of blues at an early age and picked up a few things along the way playing with Koko Taylor and later as part of his dad's touring band. He's put out more than a dozen albums as a solo artist — his latest is Live at the Jazzhaus, is a 2011 CD/DVD release recorded in Germany last year — and infuses his driving, soulful blues with wah-wah guitar and a heavy funkified rhythm section. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
St. Pete Blues Allstars The next Side Door Blues event is an encore performance by the St. Pete Blues Allstars, which features seven of St. Pete's finest musicians (singer-pianist Liz Pennock, guitarists Jon Puhl and Dr. Blues, harmonica player Kim Harpo, saxman Mike Delaney, bassist Don Cox and drummer Denny McCarthy) in a program of Chicago, jump and other lick-ridden, rhythm-rolling blues. (Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg)
SAT 02
Psychedelic Furs England's seminal punk/New Wave band returns to the Bay area on a tour marking the 30th anniversary of their definitive sophomore release, 1981's Talk Talk Talk. "We'll play the entire album in the first set, take a 15-minute break, and then come back to play all the other hits and some of the misses," bassist Tim Butler joked in a recent interview with CL writer Gabe Echazabal. Read his full story on p. 50. (Capitol Theatre, Clearwater)
Matt Burke & Rebekah Pulley A night of rootsy acoustic songwriting showcasing the solo talents of brassy-toned Have Gun Will Travel frontman Burke along with honeyed-timbered folk rock mistress Pulley, of the Reluctant Prophets. (Hideaway Café, St. Petersburg)
Red Elvises w/The Vodkanauts Igor Yuzov's goofy world music-fused surf and rockabilly outfit rolls through the Tampa Bay area a few times a year, usually around Halloween, but also on the occasional off-date, which is fine by locals as the band is wildly popular here. Opening the show is surf rock staple The Vodkanauts in one of their last performances with drummer Tom Staley, an original founding member of NRBQ who played with the V-Nauts for the past four years and is leaving the fair shores of Florida to settle down in North Georgia. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
Bet Me I'm Lying w/Civil Action/Yesterdays Tragedy/Another Childhood Story Bet Me I'm Lying is a Largo rock group with post-punk and lo-fi grunge tendencies that's made up of five young musicians (ages 12 to 15) who haven't let their under-age status keep them from the road; the quintet just returned from their first tour, with stops in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
Brewgrass Festival w/The Virginia Dare Devils/Spacegrass feat. The Walker Brothers/Ramblegrass/Between Bluffs/Gypsy Wind/The Applebutter Express The Ale and the Witch teams up with Dunedin Brewery for this inaugural festival celebrating grassy Americana and craft brewskies. The musical bill is headed up by Asheville trio Virginia Dare Devils, which combines three-part harmonies, traditional mountain music melodies, improvised solos and swinging rhythms as led by singer and mandolin player Bobby Miller (who's studied with the likes of Larry Keel and the Rev. Jeff Mosier) and rounded out by Stefan Custodi (upright bass) and Griff Martin (flat top guitar). (Coliseum, St. Petersburg)
Pretty Voices / Zanesville / Gino & The Goons A triple punch of garage-punk flavors — raucous four-piece, Pretty Voices, which takes their snotty influence from Velvet Underground and Iggy Pop; twangy-leaning Zanesville, 2010 winners of the CL Best of the Bay Critic's Choice Award for "Best Example That Punk Is An Attitude, Not A Sound"; and Gino & The Goons, their sound rockabilly-tinged psyche something-or-other. (Emerald Bar, St. Petersburg)
Fifth Annual Hot Dog Show w/Palantine/Brahm Bones/Ironwood/Alien House/Liquid Jesus For the past five years, THX MGMT has thrown a Fourth of July live music party replete with a hot dog eating contest (no guarantees on whether they're all beef), barbecue, a kissing booth (watch out for herpes!) and lots of tasty local rock. Highlights of this year's bill includes (drumroll please) the return of Palantine! Actually, the group led by singer-guitarist Vinnie Cosentino played New World in January, but they've been holed up ever since working on a new album. They celebrate its impending completion by coming up for air to headline the Hot Dog Show with their thick, chugging, high-spirited rock n' roll and new songs like the seething fuzzed-out Foo Fighters reminiscent "Common Curse." Support sets by dark-washed Southern roots and alt country outfit Brahm Bones, dusky pop-tinged indie rockers Ironwood, their sound marked by the sweetly high-reaching vocals of key-playing frontwoman Jaclyn Hicks, and experimental sound explorers Alien House. Liquid DJ spins jams in between all the performances. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
SUN 03
Conrad Oberg A blind-since-birth blues rock phenom, 16-year-old Conrad Oberg started out on a toy piano at age two, could play anything he heard by four, eventually moved on to guitar and recorded his first album at 10 with backing by no less than Jerry Lee Lewis' own band, and was fronting his own group a year later. He may not yet be a legal adult, but he performs with the sort of seasoned Jimi Hendrix soul so many artists spend their whole lives trying to emulate. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
Deleted Scenes w/The Pauses/Beardsley "You are immaculate, girl, thank God above / you are everything that I want, my love," Dan Scheuerman of DC's Deleted Scenes croons earnestly in "Bedbedbedbedbed," his vocals set against a marching half-time, double-kick drum beat and ambient guitars. The quirky ballad is the first single off the indietronic shoegaze pop band's forthcoming second album, Young People's Church of the Air (due out September via Sockets Records). It premiered on Spin.com in June and will be offered as a 12" release with three non-album tracks beginning this Tuesday. Orlando progressive pop/electro-rock trio The Pauses support with the grungy-psyche sunny alt rock of Beardsley. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
TUES 05
RX Bandits Farewell Tour w/Maps + Atlases In April, California rock outfit RX Bandits, which incorporates elements of melodic reggae rock and punk-ska into their sound, announced that after more than 15 years of touring, their forthcoming U.S. summer tour would be their last. Band member Steve Choi clarified the meaning of "Farewell Tour" in a June Playmaker.com interview: "We're not breaking up. We're just doing our last tour. What we're gonna do in the future, we're not quite sure. That's a big question because it involves what we're going to do collectively and what we're going to do individually." The band plays a two-night Tuesday-Wednesday stand with support both nights from experimental folk rock four-piece Maps + Atlases. (The Social, Orlando)
WED 06
Mötley Crüe w/Poison/New York Dolls LA's iconic heavy glam metal makers Mötley Crüe hit town on their 45-date 30th Anniversary tour with all original members intact — Nikki Sixx, Mick Mars, Vince Neil and Tommy Lee. The big selling point? The band's setlist was put together by fans who voted on a survey at Motley.com that listed every song Crue has ever recorded — which means you can expect to hear tracks that haven't gotten the live treatment in almost 20 years. Fans also voted on Poison as the main support act, a bit more apropos (and likely more well-received) than openers New York Dolls and their old school punk sneer. (St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa)
Brock Butler MoonGoddess Entertainment welcomes Perpetual Groove singer-songwriter Brock Butler for an intimate evening of acoustic jams with support by Dennis Stadelman (Cope) and Chris Sgammato (The Funky Seeds). (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
Click here to visit our Music Events Listings and get a complete schedule of concert offerings for this week and beyond.
This article appears in Jun 30 – Jul 6, 2011.