THURSDAY, JANUARY 31
Jucifer w/Tickle/Servants and the Mist Singer/guitarist Gazelle Amber Valentine has rather pretty vocals — sweet, clear, high and dulcet-toned — but she sticks to harsher-edged shrieks and gut-clenching roars in Jucifer’s 2010 album, Throned in Blood. Over the past several years, the two-piece (rounded out by drummer-husband Edgar Livengood) has been incorporating elements of hardcore punk, drone, doom and black metal into their sludgy sound, increasing the heaviness and taking the loud factor to eardrum-busting, wall-of-noise territories. This year marks Jucifer’s 20th anniversary. (Brass Mug, Tampa)
RedFeather/Florida Night Heat/Loud Valley/The Mother Machine A Black Valley Collective showcase featuring four fine quality bands, three from the Tampa Bay area, one from Orlando. St. Pete’s RedFeather is a psych folk ensemble with a sound that calls to mind Rocky Mountain ridges — acoustic guitar picks and strums winding amid keyboard melodies, tribal percussion, and nature-driven lyrics delivered in the echoing lead calls of Mark Etherington with ethereal-sweet backup by keys mistress Jaqlyn Troubadour. Florida Night Heat plows through propulsive rock instrumentals with power trio interplay and deep shades of psychedelia and sludge-stoner griminess. The Mother Machine brings ‘60s-informed garage-blues-trippiness to the table while Loud Valley rounds out the evening with dreamy waltzing roots pop marked by hymnal vocal harmonies and bright, lushly textured instrumentation. (Black Valley Collective, St. Petersburg)
Acme Jazz Garage The funky, bluesy organ-fueled jazz quartet made up of vet local musicians — bassist Phillip Booth, guitarist Matt Swenson, drummer Tim Diehl and keysman Mike Aloia — lands at Ella’s for some Thursday night rocking and grooving. (Ella’s Americana Folk Art Café, Tampa)
Corrections House Experimental supergroup Corrections House is composed of four musicians who all practice some form of non-traditional (sludge, black, avant garde, post) metal in their daily lives: Mike IX Williams (Eyehategod), Sanford Parker (Nachtmystium), Bruce Lamont (Yakuza/Bloodiest) and Scott Kelly (Neurosis). The live show is billed as four solo sets of “experimental/spoken word/acoustic” material that concludes in a collaborative climax. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 01
Infected Mushroom w/Shreddie Mercury A rollercoaster of brain-fizzling electronics twist, turn, collide and coalesce in the music of Israeli psytrance duo Infected Mushroom. Their explosions of psychotropic sonics draw on elements of dubstep, reggae, moombahton and electro house, and are loaded with a high sense of drama and humor. Vocal cuts are processed and distorted to either end of the spectrum, from helium high to sub-deep brazzle, like those in cheeky ADD-riddled track, “U R So Fucked” off Infected Mushroom’s 2012 eighth album and debut on Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak label, Army of Mushrooms. The duo hits town on the tail end of their “Unveiled Tour” with their eye-popping, jaw-dropping 3D-landscaped light show, created by the same people behind The Skrillex Cell. (Amphitheatre, Ybor City)
G-Eazy w/Skizzy Mars G-Eazy’s playful beats and lyrics about raging and ladies keep true to the hip-hop game, but are given a retro twist via his Greaser hair, letterman jacket, and sampling of 1960’s tracks like “Runaround Sue” by Dion and the Belmonts. His alternative approach becomes a sort of new age doo-wop when he uses indie rock band Grizzly Bear’s “Two Weeks” as the backbone of his track “Acting Up” featuring female vocalist Devon Baldwin. He’s opened for the likes of Lil Wayne, A$AP Rocky, and Drake, and the young music mogul is currently holding his own as headliner on his tour with Skizzy Mars. (Local 662, St. Petersburg) —Shannon Kelly
Empire Cinema w/Rug/Goodnight Neverland A triple serving of locally brewed indie talent as headed up by Empire Cinema. The alt-rock four-piece dropped a self-titled EP in November marked by post punk-flavored vocals riding wailing, echoing and distorted guitar, and a dark, dissonant driving appeal that hints at the band’s Modest Mouse influences. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
Zach Deputy w/Big Something/Funky Seeds Zach Deputy brings his quirky one-man act back to town, this time landing in the ‘Burg. Deputy’s bluesy guitar licks and howling vocals are paired with funky hip-hop beats in his self-proclaimed “island-infused, drum n’ bass, gospel ninja soul,” his songs delivered live in looped instrumentals. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg) —Shannon Kelly
Sister Sin w/Doro Swedish old school heavy metal and hard rock purveyors Sister Sin – led by howling and sneering growling frontwoman, Liv Jagrell — hit town backing fourth album Now and Forever (Victory Records). For fans of Judas Priest. (Brass Mug, Tampa)
Hotel Carolina w/Brendan James/Matt Duke/Griffin House/Ari Hest/Michael Tolcher/Sarah Miles/many more What began as a music fest in South Carolina featuring nationally touring singer-songwriters has grown into a multi-city event that, as of 2013, now includes St. Pete Beach. Among the artists scheduled to appear at the Friday-Saturday surfside event are New York acoustic pop rocker Ari Hest, who has a lightly seductive, husky vocal, and sweetly crooning New Jersey-born songstress Sarah Miles. (Postcard Inn, St. Pete Beach)
Ballyhoo! w/Kayavibe/Burning Tree Pop-reggae rockers Ballyhoo! deliver smooth vocals and chill vibrations. Just like their song, “Bounce,” Kayavibe wakes up the crowd with a punk-edged island flavor complete with tasty guitar shredding. Burning Tree opens the night with their electrified grooves and peppy choruses. This show is a B.Y.O.H.S. (bring your own hacky sack) affair hosted at the perfect outdoor venue for enjoying the breezy sonic ambiance. Now, we just need some hammocks … (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg) —Shannon Kelly
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 02
Arlo Guthrie: 100th Birthday Tour In his bio, when Arlo Guthrie claims he was born with a guitar in one hand and a harmonica in the other, he’s only half-joking. His blood courses with music, storytelling and American folklore — and how could it be otherwise with a father like Woody Guthrie? The younger Guthrie has spent the better part of 50 years honoring his father’s legacy while forging a respectable one of his own, highlighted by songs like “Alice’s Restaurant” and “City of New Orleans.” To celebrate Woody’s 100th birthday, Arlo takes both his and his old man’s songs on the road for this “Here Comes the Kid” tour. (Capitol Theatre, Clearwater) —Shae Krispinsky
Halcyon w/Iris Calling The regular Skipperdome appearance of acoustic guitar-wielding folk music duo Halcyon, featuring Deb Hunseder and Steph Callahan. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)
SubAp! 2-Year Anniversary Party w/Have Gun, Will Travel/set & setting/INJ/SYS/You Blew It The online ’zine run by CL freelance writer Ray Roa commemorates a fatty two years of reporting on the Bay area’s music and culture scene with a free live music shebang featuring some Suburban Apologist favorites, from the sepia-toned Old West Americana balladry and alt country barroom rompers of Have Gun Will Travel, to the expansive pounding and grinding drone dispensed by instrumental quartet set and setting, freshly returned from an East Coast tour. Also of note: the reunion of Tampa punk outfit INJ/SYS. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
Willie Nelson w/Lukas Nelson He might be celebrating his 80th year on earth this April, but outlaw country legend Willie Nelson is still plowing ever forward like the Texas workhorse that he is, even issuing a series of studio albums to mark the occasion and hitting the road to hawk copies of his memoir, Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die — Musings from the Road, and hype a new LP that drops a few weeks before his birthday. Let’s Face the Music and Dance is a collection of pop, rock, jazz and country classics as re-worked by Willie Nelson and Family, another addition to Nelson’s enormous repertoire of more than 60 LPs. Guitar rocking 20-something son Lukas accompanies dad on his current tour, warming up the stage and likely joining Willie for a few tunes. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)
Phunky Leap Jam Refugee Camp w/Beebs and Her Money Makers/Skull and Bone Band/Green Sunshine/Legacy/The Funky Nuggets/more Even though Lakeland’s Funky Leap Jam music fest was canceled, some local acts scheduled to play it make the best of a bad situation with this ‘Refugee Camp’ bill. Beebs and Her Money Makers – the septet fronted by the throaty-voiced kazoo-jamming songstress otherwise known as Beebs – head up the festivities with their energetic blend of Southern psych rock, blues pop, funk, hip-hop and soul. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
G. Love and Special Sauce The Philly-based alt hip hop/blues pop artist was the first to release an album on Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records label, which has been his home since 2004; G. Love and Special Sauce’s last album was 2011’s Fixin’ to Die. (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg)
Jane Siberry Since 1981, Canadian pop-folk songstress Jane Siberry has released more than a dozen LPs, her dulcet vocals cooing through songs like the post-punk tinged 1984 charter “Mimi on the Beach,” and joined by the lower intones of k.d. lang in 1993’s “Calling all Angels.” The latter is her internationally-selling hit, which you might remember best as that song performed by the Six Feet Under cast in a poignant scene toward the end of the HBO series’ run. Local upright bass mistress Anne Van Atta opens with a set of her original material. (Location To Be Announced)
California Guitar Trio & Montreal Guitar Trio Two instrumental trios from opposite sides of the country deliver a blend of New Age, blues, world, prog rock, jazz and classical music on acoustic guitars. The Robert Fripp-trained steel-string players of CGT (Bert Lams, Paul Richards and Hideyo Moriya) assembled in 1991 and add hints of humor and surf rock to their sound while MG3’s nylon-string virtuosos have been at it since 1999, and infuse shades of Latin, Brazilian and Cuban music spice into their own stringed sonics. (Largo Cultural Center, Largo)
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 04
Gojira w/Devin Townsend Project/The Atlas Moth Extreme metal outfit Gojira (led by the Duplantier brothers, guitarist/vocalist Joe and drummer Mario) has delivered an onslaught of heavy music direct from France since 1996. Last year saw the release of fifth full-length, L’Enfant Sauvage, which Pitchfork.com gave high marks and called “one of the most riveting and challenging metal records of the year.” (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 05
The Used w/We Came As Romans/Crown The Empire/Mindflow The Used’s fifth studio album, Vulnerable, stays true to their trademark style of anguished vocals, bar chord riffage and thick basslines as evidenced in first single “The Taste of Ink.” But the Utah foursome infuses the album with a whimsical vibe, and lead singer Bert McCracken whispers his way through verses and choruses with added distortion and electronic crutches. The Used headlines the 2013 “Take Action Tour.” Warm-up by three rising bands. We Came as Romans has a heavier hardcore sound complete with double-bass drums and throaty screams backed by pretty boy vocals. Crown the Empire offers synth-fueled post-hardcore instrumentals and occasional growls, while Mindflow changes up the bill with their Brazilian progressive metal. Take Action has been shedding light on important social issues that affect young people through more than 10 years of tours; this one spreads awareness of the “It Gets Better Project,” which supports LGBT teens enduring those awkward adolescent years. (The Ritz Ybor, Ybor City) —Shannon Kelly
The Lowe Family A big family group (seven siblings and their parents) that’s been active for upwards of 25 years. Mom and Dad Lowe (on vocals and trumpet) come from musical backgrounds, and the Lowe siblings grew up studying and performing music together; all six sisters play violin along with a range of instruments that encompass banjos, keys, harp, marimbas, drums, Irish pennywhistle and bodhran, while sole brother Doug plays piano, organ, bagpipes, and electric and upright bass as well as composing, writing and arranging The Lowe Family’s music. Their variety show-style repertoire jumps from classical and Celtic music to showtunes, jazz, bluegrass and gospel music, all marked by high-octane choreography and rising six-part vocal harmonies. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 06
Terror/H20 w/Backtrack/Code Orange Kids You see a name like Terror, you think, ‘I bet there’s something real scary about this band.’ You’d be wrong — unless you have a fear of gritty barked lead vocals, forcefully shouted multi-voice choruses and crushing riff-raging instrumentals. Victory Records drops the California group’s sixth LP, Live by the Code, in April. Co-headlining this coast-to-coast tour is H2O, formed in 1995 by Sick of It All roadie-turned-vocalist Toby Morse, and considered a high-quality staple of the NYC hardcore punk scene. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
Bob Marley Tribute w/Tribal Style This Wednesday would have been the 67th birthday of Bob Marley, an iconic game-changer in reggae music whose popularity brought the Jamaican genre into homes around the globe, not to mention introduced Rastafarianism and a whole new culture of pot-smoking to potential practitioners of either or both. The Bay area’s own roots-and-dub-grooving Marley-influenced outfit Tribal Style — featuring Jamaica-bred Tenn brothers Muthoni (keys, vox), Tokunbö (drums, electronics) and Mugabe (bass, vox), along with guitarist Blake Yeager and DJ/percs man Blenda — pays tribute to the late great during this mid-week jam; admission is $5. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
CLICK HERE to see a complete rundown of shows taking place this week and in the coming weeks.
This article appears in Jan 31 – Feb 6, 2013.