Legendary Shack Shakers, Bleed & Beaumont James and the Wild Claims, The Cooperage, 7/24/19

I've got a lot of respect for local promoters who help bring interesting music to our fair city.  Such was the case last week when Extension Cord presented a triple bill of great music at the Cooperage featuring Legendary Shack Shakers, Bleed, and Beaumont James and the Wild Claims.

photo courtesy of Gigshotz by Stephen Bloch

Extension Cord has brought some seriously awesome bands to town including the Mallet Brothers, Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, and on a pleasant summer's eve, the Legendary Shack Shakers out of Murray, Kentucky.  While active for more than two decades, I only recently stumbled upon the Legendary Shack Shakers and their unique take on the ever-evolving Americana sound.  Rooted in a myriad of southern musical styles and fronted by the uber-charismatic JD Wilkes, the Legendary Shack Shakers were by far one of the more interesting and lively acts I've seen in some time.  Blending together rock, blues, rockabilly, and a tinge of punk, the Shack Shakers delivered a ruckus performance that was dialed up to eleven.  The highlight of the evening was watching Wilkes cut loose on the harmonica with unabashed sound and fury, especially during their standout number, "Blood on the Bluegrass," from 2003's Cockadoodledon't LP.  The quirky Wilkes lead a group of top tier musicians in a set that transported the listeners into the roots music of the south with great storytelling to boot.

photo courtesy of Gigshotz by Stephen Bloch

Opening for the Legendary Shack Shakers was Bleed, another band that has been around for quite some time, but I haven't had the pleasure to see perform live.  Bleed hails from Milwaukee and has been melting faces and ringing eardrums since the late 90's.  Bob Merkt, the singer, and guitarist for Bleed was a great performer as a frontman for the band.  He helped guide the band to an almost non-stop barrage of tunes which had a very bluesy-grunge feel.  Bleed's drummer was particularly entertaining to watch as he played standing up with reckless abandon and really glued the sound together.

photo courtesy of Gigshotz by Stephen Bloch

Finally, on the bill was Beaumont James and the Wild Claims who were playing their farewell show, as James is moving to Colorado.  James is a local alternative country singer-songwriter and his group's opening set was simply outstanding (on par with the other acts of the evening).  James's voice is distinctive and helps adds a real sense of depth to his group's sound.  Most of their set came from James's 2018 debut record and featured some good improvisational fiddle jams as well.  I'm bummed that I didn't hear of James earlier, but pleased to have caught his set opening for the Legendary Shack Shakers.

photo courtesy of Gigshotz by Stephen Bloch

As an overall takeaway, I have to tip my hat to Mark and the crew at Extension Cord for putting together a great bill of music on a Wednesday night.  Good shows are always those that stretch the listener to think about music in meaningful and different ways.  The combination of the alt-country Beaumont James, the grunge-punk of Bleed and the psycho-billy southern storm of the Legendary Shack Shakers lead to a heck of a night of good tunes!

Fort Frances- Festa Italiana, US Celluar Stage 7/21/19

It's been a minute since we've seen Fort Frances perform. Ailo, the group's last LP released in 2016 took the Chicago quartet around the country and beyond. Since that tour wrapped up, life has gotten busy with band members getting married and having kids, all while working on a dynamic follow-up record to Ailo which is set for release this fall. 

Fort Frances took a brief tour of America's Dairyland with a run of shows here in Wisconsin this weekend, taking them to Neenah, Door County, Green Bay, and finally here in Milwaukee for an evening set at Festa Italiana, one of Milwaukee's many summer celebrations held on the Summerfest grounds. The group even created drink Koozies for the occasion! 

Playing an ethnically-themed festival is not an easy task for a band that focuses on original singer-songwriter driven material. David McMillin and the crew brought their A-game however, and engaged the crowd with a retrospective mix of originals spanning the band's nearly decade-long career along with a smattering of well-placed covers inserted as well.  Highlights included classic numbers like "Ghosts of California," and "Losing You," from 2011's Atlas LP, alongside a well-done rendition of "These Are the Mountains Moving," (a song McMillin penned while riding on a train from Chicago to Colorado), and "Best of Luck" from Ailo. Two brand new tunes released as singles from Fort Frances's forthcoming record drew some of the best reactions from the crowd. "A Thousand Years From Now," is one of McMillin's best songs in terms of themes and lyrics, and was very well-received.  "Double-Take," a song that deals with the modern parlance of our times, is another new number that garnered a great reaction from the crowd and featured tremendous energy from the group. 

While Fort Frances is known for original numbers, they sprinkled in enough covers to draw listeners unfamiliar with the band to their stage to enjoy their gelato and check out their performance.  McMilllin did a soulful rendition of Bill Wither's "Lovely Day." Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky" prompted some impromptu dancing from fest goers, and for longtime Fort Frances fans from around the globe, they nailed "Summertime" by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, a song they're well-known for covering and that prompted lots of dancing and fun in the crowd.

One thing that is well-noticed with Fort Frances is how the band has improved their chops over the past several years. McMillin alternates from guitar to keyboard and his soulful vocals soared over the large festival stage. Jason Ryan, the multi-instrumentalist of the band, was equally impressive on guitar and keyboard. Aaron Kiser, the band's drummer, has really developed a unique style of his own with heavily nuanced drumming licks. Kiser also has started a new band, "Steal My Phace" which focuses on reinterpreting material from the catalog of the Grateful Dead and Phish. Kiser provided lots of backing vocal harmonies throughout the evening as well and is widely entertaining as a performer.  While founding bass player, Jeff Piper was not with Fort Frances for this show (as his wife and he welcomed their beautiful son to the world this past week), Dennis Furr did a great job filling in on bass and back-up vocals as well.

Fort Frances is a superb live act, one that has the power to engage fans of all ages. We can't wait to see them perform new material when they return to the Dairy State this fall in support of their new release. They are a super-fun, and must see act for sure!

Phish- Alpine Valley Music Theater, 7/13/19 and 7/14/19

photo by Rene Huemer, 2019 Phish from the road

As I sat down to write this blog post I realized something astonishing... I've been listening to Phish and attending their concerts for over half of my life.  It all started twenty-five years ago, when I saw my first Phish show back on 6/17/94 at the Eagles Ballroom in Milwaukee.  When you think about a band that has been around that long and remains relevant enough to play a three-night stand at Alpine Valley, a venue that holds 35,000 fans each night, that's a pretty astounding feat.  And in all of those years, and the decade that preceded my first show in 1994, the band has never, ever, repeated a setlist, guaranteeing that every concert is a truly special and unique experience for their fans.  

photo by Rene Huemer, 2019 Phish

Phish is nothing if not one of the most unique and enduring touring acts out there.  Their songs can range in length from two minutes to over thirty minutes, as fans experienced this weekend at Alpine Valley. They have perhaps the most robust musical catalog in the business, consisting of thirteen studio records, plus a vast repertoire of tunes that are unreleased on record but are often performed live.  There are literally hundreds of songs that fall into this category. In addition, Phish loves covering songs by other artists, so there are boon of those songs that they can choose from as well.  Phish's setlists can vary from classic numbers to brand new songs, as the band is constantly evolving and writing new music.  In this 2019 Summer Tour, Phish incorporated twenty new songs into their catalog and played 200 different numbers (courtesy of Phish.net).  I cannot think of any other active band, jam band or otherwise, that would be able to pull off such a feat.  Perhaps never having a "hit" has helped Phish in this respect as the performances are known to be unique, one-of-a-kind affairs.  If you go into a Phish concert with the expectation of, "I must hear this song, that song, or the other song," you will most likely walk away disappointed.  If you enter the show with a sense of open-ended wonder for what the band is going to do, you're more likely to be pleasantly surprised.

photo by Rene Huemer, 2019 Phish

The Phish community itself is a unique group of individuals who take their fandom seriously, rise to new heights of nerdy, and are beloved for it.  Like heavy-duty Major League Baseball fans, Phish fans are eager to share their memories of their favorite songs, past shows, and general good times, just as baseball fans will recount special moments of games from the past and former stars.  The nostalgia factor that drives fans to baseball also does so with Phish to a certain extent.  There is also a lot of statistical nerdery going on.  Thanks to the interwebs and sites like "Jambase" and "Phish.net" one can figure out the average "vintage" of a given Phish show as well as how often certain numbers are played.  There is also a lot of strategizing and discussion that goes on regarding what the band will play on any given night.  This conversation can be between you and your buddy who you go to the show with, or a complete stranger who ends up as your parking lot or show neighbor.  People at Phish shows LOVE talking about Phish, and will eagerly engage in trying to predict the setlist for the given night.

Despite having a fan base that, for the most part resides in the over thirty demographic these days, Phish's popularity seems as high as ever. Granted, if you didn't care for Phish twenty-five years ago in the Eagles Ballroom opening with "Runaway Jim," hearing the famous song about the old dog who takes off on an adventure jammed out for well over ten minutes Saturday night at Alpine isn't going to necessarily win you over nowadays.  Phish's technical playing has improved by leaps and bounds, but the flavor of their show remains quirky, spontaneous, zany and free-flowing.  And in many ways, that's the magic of Phish, isn't it?  For longtime fans, it's a chance to hear the band re-imagine songs that we grew up with... songs that were scribbled on "dream setlists" in math classes... songs that were cranked on boom boxes and car cassette stereos on Maxell XLII grey cassette tapes with the treble down to avoid the inevitable "hiss"... songs that we connected to and that take us back to a different and simpler time.   

photo by Rene Huemer, 2019 Phish

Phish also continues to grow as a band, releasing new material.  Last Halloween, Phish took on the musical costume of Kasvot Vaxt, a made-up Scandinavian band and performed a set of brand new original songs under that alias. Who even thinks something like that up?  Phish, that's who.  In classic Phish fashion, many of those tunes have quickly become crowd favorites, including "Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S." which tells this listener, "This is what space smells like," repeatedly.  It made for a rocking encore on Saturday night with 35,000 fans strong at Alpine Valley, belting out the refrain together. Saturday's first set relied heavily on the nostalgia  with the band playing lots of older tracks including, "AC/DC Bag," to open the show, along with "Ya Mar," and "Character Zero".  In classic Phish fashion, these tracks were complimented by newer material like 'Blaze On,' from 2016's Big Boat record, which received the best jam of the first set, and "The Final Hurrah" from 2018's Kasvot Vaxt performance. Second set kicked off with "Haley's Comet," and also featured a great jam sequence that took fans on a flowing journey through "A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing," from 2004's Undermind LP, into "Runaway Jim," which got a nice jam treatment. "Ghost," from 1998's Story of a Ghost was another set highlight and had a great spacey mid-section jam.

While the venue and band were, of course, the same, the Sunday Phish show had a totally different vibe and energy to it, as the band went into the very deep crevasses of its catalog for a show packed with a plethora of bust outs.  The first set opened with a rare version of "The Landlady," off of 1992's A Picture of Nectar record, which is rarely played.  Following was perhaps the biggest bust out of the tour, "Olivia's Pool," which hasn't been played since 1997 and has a fun-loving rock 'n roll vibe.  First set also featured a '"Meatstick," which went into a killer version of "Vultures," and then into another uber rare track, "Spock's Brain."  If that wasn't enough, set two of Sunday's show opened with two songs that I had never heard before live but showcase Phish's ability to make new classics. "Mercury" and "Ruby Waves," flowed perfectly together,  the latter of which provided an epic thirty-eight-minute jam that has the "Phish.net" community gushing. "You Enjoy Myself -> Catapult -> Contact -> You Enjoy Myself," closed the show with another great piece of music.  All totaled, the second set on Sunday lasted a whopping 118 minutes and was the longest set of tunes I've ever seen them do.  Was it epic?  Oh yes, it was!  I'd rank Sunday 7/14/19 as one of the best Phish concerts I've ever seen in fact.  #Nevermissasundayshow

So to Trey, Mike, Page, and Fishman... keep doing you.  You bring a lot of smiles and joy to a lot of people and bring people together.  I hope that you continue to do so, as your phans will keep coming back...even those who have been fans for twenty-five plus years and are still going strong.

Saturday, July 13, 2019 live recording thanks to Jam.Buzz

Sunday, July 14, 2018 live recording thanks to Jam.Buzz

Joseph Huber- Moondog Album Review

Clocking in at nearly 74 minutes, the fifteen tracks that comprise Moondog make up Joseph Huber's most ambitious work to date.  The album is incredibly diverse and showcases Huber's trademark storytelling amidst a variety of different settings and soundscapes. The heart of Moondog is rooted in what we've learned to love from Joseph Huber over the years... infectious fiddle and mandolin hooks, narrative lyrics that allow the listeners to transport themselves into the songs, folksy grooves, and a healthy dose of harmonica sprinkled in as well.  However, don't be surprised if you hear some different arrangements on Moondog and even some electric guitar and pedal steel thrown into the mix as well.  Moondog offers listeners a more mature view of the world with raw sincerity and a sense of earnestness that only Joseph Huber can deliver.  

"We graced the fiddle with a dance, and the song that we sung, Served to remind us that we're not yet unyoung, And the music flowed through us like a river runs, For a river knows that the waters are one," Huber sings on "When the Waters Were One," the second track off of his latest release, Moondog.  In many ways, these lines encapsulate much of the record, as Huber wrestles with themes of life, love, experience and a more broad world view against the symbolism and beauty of his north-central Wisconsin roots that often serve as a muse for Huber's compositions. From start-to-finish, Moondog is an engaging listen and an album that invites listeners to relisten, reflect and revisit songs as, like the life and times in which they were written, things aren't always so straightforward.  

Highlight tracks include the title track, "Moondog" which leads off the record.  This tune is as catchy as they come and tells the tale of a true rambling man.  It's primed to be a staple of Huber's live set and a darn fun number.  "Another Man's Shoes," is an ode to considering others' perspectives and the importance of empathy.  "A Northwoods Waltz" is also poised to be a classic Huber live track, with homages to Huber's frequent excursions and upbringing in northern and central Wisconsin.  It's already become one of my new favorite tunes and is an ear grub if there ever was one.  "Geronimo" is a rocker which features electric instrumentation and a driving beat which places it as an uplifting centerpiece on the record.  "Rivers of Smoke's" reflective imagery runs deep and also stands out as an exceptionally reflective and heartfelt tune. Huber even takes the words of famous Irish poet W.B. Yeats and sets them to a song in "The Wild Swans At Coole" which precedes the hauntingly beautiful climatic finale of "Pale, Lonesome Rider," the last track on the record.

photo by Sara Zarling

What's amazing, masterful, and unique about Moondog is that it is written, arranged, recorded, and produced by Joseph Huber, making it a true DIY project in the purest sense of the term. Huber has always prided himself in being his own person and having complete creative control on his records.  This sense of independent spirit and passion holds true on Moondog and makes it both one of Huber's finest releases to date as well as a stalwart testament to love, life, nature and the power of the human spirit.

You can purchase Moondog by visiting http://www.josephhubermusic.com.  Huber will be playing the famously awesome Anodyne Coffee location on Bruce Street on Thursday, August 1st.  Tickets are available here: 

Bon Iver, Lord Huron, Julien Baker- American Family Amphitheater, Summerfest 6/29/19

photo by Brian Norman

Bon Iver is nothing if not a unique, one-of-a-kind act. When asked to describe the band, there is not one sole description that works.  Sometimes folk, sometimes electronic, sometimes driven by heavy drums, and at other times driven by simple acoustic riffs on piano or guitar, Justin Vernon and his cracker-jack set of musicians are, at their best, a mesmerizing ensemble.  Bon Iver, while no stranger to Milwaukee, made their first Summerfest appearance in front of a very well-attended amphitheater crowd.  Only the side sections of the bleachers were empty.  The band played a healthy eighteen song set which included tunes from across the Eau Claire native's career with this group.  While over a third of the set came from 22 A Million, Bon Iver's most recent release from 2016, plenty of tracks from 2011's Bon Iver record and 2007's For Emma, Forever Ago made it into the set, along with some cuts from 2009's Blood Bank E.P. as well.

The performance was noteworthy for its production as well, especially as the band is not currently on a tour.  Each song contained a wide array of visual imagery, unique lights, and oftentimes sweeping soundscapes.  Justin Vernon looked like a cross between a musical mad scientist and a guy who you'd have a beverage with at the neighboorhood block party, wearing a  Christian Yelich shirt with cut off sleeves and donning a set of headphones as he jumped between keyboard, sampler and guitar throughout the band's set.  Vernon, of course, fluctuated from falsetto to his natural voice throughout the set and even in the middle of individual songs.  Highlights included the debut of Bon Iver's latest single, "Hey, Ma" a track off of their forthcoming record set for release later this year.  Other stand-out tracks included a beautiful set opener of "Perth," the lead-off song from 2011's Bon Iver release, a reimagined mid-set, "Minnesota, WI" also off of Bon Iver, a moving set-closing combo of "22 (OVER S∞∞N)" into "Creature Fear" from For Emma, Forever Ago.  Sean Carey, Bon Iver's longtime drummer, was on fire in the amphitheater and his well-nuanced licks and pounding rhythms drove the show.

photo by Brian Norman

Opening for Bon Iver were two stellar acts, Lord Huron and Julien Baker, each of which was deserving of a Summerfest headling slot on a ground's stage.  Lord Huron performed a thirteen song, hour-long set before the headliner.  The Los Angeles rock/Americana band fronted by Ben Schneider has evolved quite a bit since we last saw them as the headlining act at the Rock the Green Sustainability Festival in 2017.  Lord Huron has a new record out, 2018's Vide Noir which pushes the band's sonic boundaries the most in its career to date.  In addition, Schneider and company have really honed in on creating jams and soundscapes within their songs that hook the listeners and propel their songs in different directions.  Coupled with enhanced visual production and with band members stretching their musical range, Lord Huron delivered a stellar performance of emotive folk-rock, county, and blues that even channeled an emo rock vibe at times.  Like Bon Iver, Lord Huron kept their set close to their most recent release while also performing noteworthy tracks from their back catalog.  "The Night We Met," from 2012's debut "Lonesome Dreams" LP got a more folksy reworking live and received renewed acclaim after appearing in the Netflix drama 13 Reasons Why in 2017.

photo by Brian Norman

Julien Baker lead off the triple-bill concert.  The young twenty-three-year-old singer-songwriter was perhaps the most crazily emotive artist of the evening.  Singing and playing guitar to a scattered crowd in the American Family Insurance Amphitheater, Baker delivered the most on the big stage with body language that echoed the often heavy sentiments in her songs.  Make no mistake about it, Baker has a message and is not always a happy camper, but yet presents her songs in such a relatable and genuine way.  Baker's prophetic guitar work coupled with her imperfect yet angelic vocal delivery made her early performance noteworthy and memorable.  For the latter half of Baker's set, she brought on stage a violin player who helped create richer timbres and textures to accompany the emotions of Baker's songs, the majority of which came from her 2017 Turn Out The Lights release.

THE SET LIST 

1. "Perth"

2. "10 d E A T h b R E a s T ⚄ ⚄"

3. "715 - CR∑∑KS"

4."666 ʇ"

5. "Heavenly Father"

6. "Towers"

7. "Blood Bank"

8. "Beach Baby"

9. "Hey, Ma"

10. "Minnesota, WI"

11. "8 (circle)"

12. "____45_____"

13. "33 "GOD""

14. "Skinny Love"

15. "22 (OVER S∞∞N)" 

16. "Creature Fear"

Encore

17. "Holocene"

18. "The Wolves (Act I and II)"