THURSDAY, JUNE 15
MORNINGWOOD w/BIG CITY ROCK Coed NYC act Morningwood brought its sexy, bass-driven dance-rock to town a couple of months back supporting The Sounds. Since then, Morningwood's buzz has gotten pretty damn noisy, and the band has adopted a suspiciously Donnas-esque visual presence and a hip high profile. Don't write 'em off as too postured to care about, though, because they're actually pretty good. Big City Rock hails from Los Angeles (home of Rock Kills Kid, but apparently it was a different kind of rock, because Big City Rock isn't a suspect), is signed to Atlantic, and has a similarly trendy but much more pandering Old Wave-meets-cheesy arena rock sound. Ugh. Irony wins again. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
FOXY SHAZAM!/SIMPLEKILL The name Foxy Shazam! is so intentionally over-the-top stupid that no one could blame you if you hoped that something so cleverly retarded should warrant your attention. No, no one could blame you for thinking that. You'd still be wrong, though, because Foxy Shazam! sounds like it's auditioning to be Mike Patton's backing band for a Faith No More reunion tour, only nowhere near as good as the most optimistic music fan in the world might think that sounds. The band gets 100 points for effort, but it also gets 100 points for being irritating and employing far too many freak-metal clichés. The first of the two sentences that make up Simplekill's Purevolume.com bio says "Melodic alternative metalcore from South Florida with screaming and singing." The second sentence is a list of the more famous groups from which Simplekill is indistinguishable. At least Foxy Shazam! remembers when some bands used to get ahead by trying to not sound like every other act in its genre. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
FRIDAY, JUNE 16
IL DIVO Fresh-faced, multicultural pop/classical/variety vocal group Il Divo is, simply (and alliteratively) put, a boy band for baby boomers. Four cute dudes — from America, France, Spain and Switzerland — whose mean age probably hovers near 30, put contemporary, ambitious spins on material by everyone from Frank Sinatra to Celine Dion to, no shit, Ennio Morricone. This show, on Ford Amphitheatre's more intimate Pavilion stage, is the band's first in this market. (Ford Amphitheatre, Tampa)
BATTLE BASICS It's another installment of Tampa's top-notch MC battle series. This isn't some half-assed rhyme contest packed with illiterate mall kids who somehow got the woefully wrongheaded idea that they sound like Trick Daddy when they do that thing in their throats — Battle Basics regularly draws impressive talent from all over the state. After you've been verbally beaten to a metaphorical pulp, if you can't stand to hang around and see the looks on all the faces in the crowd when they realize you're the one that just got smoked up on the stage, cross the street and check out … (Orpheum, Ybor City)
BREAKDOWN CD RELEASE PARTY …Tampa mouthpiece Breakdown's record-release celebration. This hometown MC has a very clean, very smooth flow steeped in straightforward, socially aware old-school influences, but he's got his own tone, and rides soulful, upbeat grooves with natural ease. The new disc is called Social Studies, and while there's no additional info at press time, I'm sure its birthday will be attended by sets from several other talented Bay area peers. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
WSLR BENEFIT w/MALCOLM HOLCOMBE Always gruff and spooky, Holcombe's voice could never be classified as "pretty," but it gets your attention anyway. He's a native of the North Carolina mountains, and most of his songs are talky roadside stories. A regular visitor to the Suncoast, Holcombe knows what he's doing, and there are worse ways to spend a night than with his dusty growl at Fogartyville. (Fogartyville Café, Bradenton) Cooper Levey-Baker
SATURDAY, JUNE 17
SAMMY HAGAR It's been years since he was the Red Rocker who couldn't drive 55. Hell, it's been years since — this according to the opinion of an overwhelming majority — he turned the greatest rock band on the face of the planet into an Adult Contemporary parody of itself. (I happen to dig both incarnations of VH, myself.) But the eternally excitable liquor mogul continues to take his party, and drinking partner/Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony, on the road, to the delight of many. I'm not saying I'm up for another run through "There's Only One Way to Rock," or even some new Hagar material, but I definitely wouldn't mind strumming some acoustic guitar and getting loaded with the guy — if he's buying. (Ford Amphitheatre, Tampa)
ROBIN TROWER The 62-year-old British guitarist-singer has long been known as a poor man's Hendrix, which is not the slight it might seem: Trower has always managed to channel the late legend's acid-blues sound while still managing an identity of his own. His 1974 album Bridge of Sighs is rightly regarded as a vital piece of the classic-rock canon. (Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg) ES
DOWNSIDE/MAGNETIC NORTH/RED ARROW Downside hails from Deltona, Fla., and plies a hard sound that splits the difference between the classic New Wave of British Heavy Metal sound and more jagged, attitude-laden ’80s-era American fare. Clearwater’s Magnetic North offers a hipper, bouncy garage-pop sound, rich in fuzzy guitar tones and sing-along choruses. There’s a definite lo-fi/four-track-obsessive Sebadoh-type vibe going on here: Magnetic North ain’t exactly for fans of ambitious, meticulously crafted modern rock, but it’s got a good beat and you can dance to it. Red Arrow is a Dunedin-based project with an interesting, slightly experimental and slightly Goth-y guitar-pop sound. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
Editor's note: The above item has been changed since it was first published due to an error in identifying magnetic north.
NORTH/REASON TO BURN/RADIO MINOR It's an Orlando invasion backing up local boys North at the Tavern this Saturday night. North has that catchy garage/punk thing down, and gets props for admitting in its lyrics that it's based in the Suncoast. Reason to Burn has a heavier, screamo-style sound than the headliner, while Radio Minor is more throwback hardcore punk than either two. In other words, this show, like, totally rocks. (The Tavern on Main, Sarasota) CLB
TEN 33/SINCE REMEMBERED/CALL TO PRESERVE/WITH BLOOD COMES CLEANSING Thank you, Purevolume.com, for providing a place for every young hardcore/metalcore/spazcore band in the world to post their marvelous, mediocre and sickeningly bad songs, so that I may go there, listen, and mete out judgment as I see fit. I am so appreciative, I am mentioning you twice in this week's Music Menu, in the hopes that you will continue to fill my life with the guitar-based music of energetic youth, in all its glory and putrescence. Ten 33 is from the awesome town of Richmond, Va., and is a pretty awesome hardcore band; so is Winston-Salem, N.C.'s Since Remembered, with vocals you'll either love or despise (that kid sounds, seriously, about 9 years old and extremely pissed off). Rockledge, Fla.'s Call to Preserve is more metallicious and less original; and Alabama's With Blood Comes Cleansing is even more metallicious than Call to Preserve — and a bit frightening, to be honest. (688 Skatepark, Clearwater)
SUNDAY, JUNE 18
RX BANDITS/THE EXIT/MEN WOMEN & CHILDREN/DESE Veteran ska-punk unit RX Bandits went right on inspiring all-ages crowds to skank and circle-pit as its genre's late-'90s popularity waned to nothing, and is still a live favorite with many. The sound has evolved a bit, to include a more sophisticated melodic-rock vibe, but the horns are still right where they've always been. The Exit is a cult-revered trio that somehow mixes influences as diverse as The Police, The Clash, No Knife and early Jimmy Eat World, and comes up with a very smooth, accessible personality of its own. Hey kids, do you dig on Head Automatica? Well, Men, Women & Children is the other funk-rock sex-disco-pop unit formed by an ex-member of Glassjaw, and it doesn't skimp on the camp or the danceability. Good, fun stuff. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE BARBER OF SEVILLE The Florida Lyric opera presents myriad musical moments from Rossini's beloved, iconic work. This performance is sung in English, and narrated by Rosalia Maresca. (Tarpon Springs Performing Arts Center, Tarpon Springs)
TUESDAY, JUNE 20
THE REFUGEE ALL STARS OF SIERRA LEONE w/AMANDLA TUNESMITH It's been said that some of the most powerful music is borne of strife, and the African ensemble known as The Refugee All Stars of Sierra Leone serves as a particularly compelling argument. Comprised of professional Sierra Leonean musicians forced by civil war to flee their homeland for refugee camps in Guinea, the band came together amidst violence, displacement, destitution and distrust. But there's more than anger, sorrow and revolutionary rhetoric to this group's visceral blend of West African styles, reggae and raw folk-blues; there's also hope, and joy. The Refugee All Stars' often-positive sound and vibe are an inspiring display of humanity's astonishing but rarely displayed capacity for perseverance and belief in the essential goodness of its own. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY/STROMKERN/DJ ACUCRACK After helping to shape Skinny Puppy's early soundscape, Austria-born, Canada-based musician Bill Leeb joined forces with producer/programmer Rhys Fulber to form the notably less creepy industrial/electronica project Front Line Assembly in '86. Since then, the unit has enjoyed some success via singles, but is much more well-known among diehard genre fans and Old Wave Nite addicts who dance to Front Line's tunes, but couldn't tell you the name of the act if you threatened them with daylight. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
THE APERS Punk-revival hooligans The Apers are leaving the thick beer, strong pot, attractive hookers and whatever the hell else the Netherlands has to offer, and bringing their old-school Ramones-style pop-punk to South Tampa's Top 5 Records. If you simply cannot say no to hand-claps and bubblegum harmonies executed over buzz-saw guitars, then your ship has come in. Youngstown, Ohio's Johnie 3, which has a slightly more Gilman Street- and Screeching Weasel-inspired sound, tags along. (Top 5 Records, Tampa)
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21
MURDER BY DEATH/LUCERO/VERDERA The show that picky, thirtysomething rock Nazis like myself have been waiting for since the last time either of the co-headliners came to town. Lucero does rootsy, punky whiskey-and-regret rock better, and with more inimitable personality, than just about anybody else in the vague 'n' varied alt-country folder, while Murder by Death's cinematic, somewhat Southern gothic storytelling is a beautiful and moody thing wholly unto itself. Find out more by reading this week's music feature, then buy your tickets early — and get there early, too, as Verdera's definitely worth an attentive listen as well. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
This article appears in Jun 14-20, 2006.