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Cleveland, Indie, Live Shows, Music, Punk, Review, Rock

Concert Review: Cobra Skulls / Nothington / Signals Midwest – Beachland Tavern – Cleveland, OH – 10/05/2011

6 October, 2011 Brian Mc Leave a comment

I need to be honest with you on a couple of things. First, I have not been that kind to my teeth for years and neglected to take them to the dentist for a long while. Second, I have never been to a punk show at the Beachland Tavern. Both are true statements, and both were taken care of yesterday.

After I had the pleasure of getting the shit drilled out of my teeth for a couple of hours after the paying gig, I headed out to the glorious Beachland Tavern to take in my first ever punk rock show in the Waterloo District featuring Cobra Skulls, Nothington, and Signals Midwest. For the record, there have been plenty of punk rock shows at the Beachland ever since the venue opened its doors in 2000, I just never made it to one.

Why?

I have no freaking idea and I kind of hate myself for it. Enough of me beating myself up over missing countless good and wholesome punk rock performances by one of my favorite Cleveland venues. Let’s talk about last night.

Local punk/indie/rockers Signals Midwest opened the night with their fine and technical style. 1/2 of this band are homies of mine, and I am pretty sure I will charm the other 1/2 soon. Rocking out to songs like “In Tensions” off their latest release Latitudes & Longitudes, the band had no problem warming up the crowd and other bands, for that matter, all who of which gathered around the stage to hear these guys out. This has to be said: This band has the ability to be the next best thing to come out of Cleveland, OH. If you have not heard these guys yet, do yourself a favor and check out their Bandcamp page.

San Francisco’s Nothington followed shortly after and hand down blew me away with their performance. Having just gotten into these guys a couple of weeks ago, I was beyond impressed with their sound. It reminded me of all of the good things about 90s punk rock that surrounded me growing up. Already familiar with their recent release, Borrowed Time, I was treated to some of their older material and really liked what I heard.

Primary vocalist Jay Northington actually took a moment from their set to give praise to the local openers Signals Midwest saying that they were “the raddest local band” he’d heard in a long time. He was dead serious too. Later Northington commented on his last trip to Cleveland with his former band, Tsunami Bomb, when they played the old Grog shop years ago…or so he thought. Apparently he had been to Cleveland since but was too messed up to remember.

The band cranked out a ton of foreign tracks through their set but I did manage to pick out a few I knew like “Stop Screaming” and “Far To Go” with Chris Matulich taking over vocal duties. At the end of their awesome set, Northington and their drummer hung out on stage where he played a very old song of his that he said “validated” what he’s been doing on the road all these years. The entire crowd basically stopped what they were doing to listen to the song. I was unable to catch the name of it, but it was pretty damn awesome. Their set seemed short-lived, but luck for me they are playing a Fun Fun Fun Fest after show and I will be there.

The headliners of the night, Cobra Skulls, took to the stage and were more of a comedy act than a punk rock band. The band, that’s been around since 2005, cranked out old and new tracks and made every effort to throw in a joke or comment that resulted in tons of laughs though out. I know I kept cracking up when Adam Beck congratulated the entire crowd multiple times and then congratulated his band for being so professional and playing two songs in a row.

“Hot Sand”, “Faith Is A Cobra” and “Solastalgia” were a few of the many tracks they played that kept the crowd going. I want to say they covered Bad Religion’s “Give You Nothing”, but I honestly am not 100% sure – I know, I am a bad reviewer. I do know that Devin Peralta killed it singing “¡Hasta Los Cobra Skulls Siempre!” to the crowd as well as one of my all time favorite Cobra songs, “Muniphobia”. The band seemed to play an endless amount of songs and when they tried to finish up their set with Phil the merch guy on banjo (which was amazing), the fans still begged for Cobra Skulls to play more.

Lucky for the fans, most of the band was done, but Beck wasn’t and started playing 80s cover songs to which the entire crowd san along to. Admitting he was a huge fan of Eddie Money, Beck broke into “867-5309 (Jenny)” followed by aHa’s “Take On Me” and Cutting Crew’s “Just Died In Your Arms”. In all the year of going to live shows, I have never seen people most of 80s pop rock, but last night that happened. Beck promised his performance was not affiliated with Cobra Skulls and he just kept playing covers. In fact, I am not sure how much longer he went because I left during Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'”. I wanted to stay, but had to venture on home.

For my first punk rock show at the Beachland Tavern, I must say it was the best one I have ever been to there. Signals Midwest impressed, Nothington stole the show, and Cobra Skulls brought on the fun. It was definitely a good night to be out and about with good friends and great music.

Acoustic, Cleveland, Country, Folk, Good Times, Live Shows, Music, Outlaw Country, Review, Rock, Rockabilly

Concert Review: Wagons / Dirt Daubers / Heelsplitter – Beachland Tavern – Cleveland, OH – 09/11/2011

14 September, 2011 Brian Mc Leave a comment

Well Cleveland, I hate to say it, but you all missed out Sunday night on one hell of a show. I am not one to usually say things like that, but Sunday night was an amazing night of music and chances are, you were not there. For those of you who were though, I am sure you can all agree that Wagons, The Dirt Daubers, and Heelsplitter all put on a memorable show.

Sunday night was all about Americana, folk, and outlaw country inside the Beachland Tavern. Making a triumphant return to the best little venue in Cleveland, Henry Wagons and his band Wagons traveled all the way from Melbourne, Australia making sure that Cleveland was one of their stops. About a year ago, Henry Wagons came to the states without his band and played a solo set at the Beachland Tavern. Later that night Wagons told me that he would bring the rest of his band back soon and play Cleveland again. The man kept his word.

Local openers Heelsplitter wowed me instantly with their “Frankenbass”, a homemade upright bass with the body being a drum and one string bolted to neck of the instrument. The two bearded males and cute female act played some awesome songs and had me actually question myself at one time, “are these guys really from Cleveland?” The band reminded me of Split Lip Rayfield, a band I really adore, but did not completely rip them off. Frankenbass, banjos, washboard, and no drums provided for a great start to the night. I loved it when the trio all switched up their instruments and played more tunes. I witnessed various Frankenbass playing styles from plucking to beating the hell out of and must say, marveled at its creation.

Up next was the husband / wife act The Dirt Daubers. Featuring JD Wilkes of the Legendary Shack Shakers, the duo, normally a threesome, admitted that they were missing their bass player and Jess would be filling in on the kick drum. Their set was full of rockabilly, blues, country goodness and it was just two people on the stage playing the music. Never mind the fact that Jess was dressed in quite the adorable dress, she kicked that drum all through their set in high heels as if she had done it many times prior. Laughs were shared by the duo and crowd she Jess admitted a couple songs in that “this is fucking hard” and soon said that if she kept playing the kick drum she was going to have one Popeye leg.

JD looked like Buddy Holly in a way with his banjo and harmonicas strapped to him. Throughout their set, they played songs from their upcoming new album titled Wake Up Sinners. I could not help but be amazed when JD would rip a harmonica out of one of the holsters attached to him and would play it. I was more impressed when JD grabbed his washboard and showed the crowd his secret to not using a strap to secure the washboard – he stuck the legs in his front pockets.

The duo played a few more songs and covered Elvis as well as Gene Autry. Towards the end of their set played a fast paced jam featuring a kazoo. It was the best kazoo playing I have ever heard.

I wanted to hear more from the couple, and I think they wanted to play more, but had to kindly exit the stage and make way for the headliners.

It turned out a lot of people came to see The Dirt Daubers over Wagons and I thought for a moment some people might pick up and leave before the main act, but Jess told the crowd how amazing and fun they were the other night. She even stated that Henry dedicated each of the seven songs on his set to each of the seven people that were in the bar the night before. I would estimate that there were about 20 people in the tavern by the time Wagons took stage.

Opening with “Shake & Tumble” off the bands brand new release, Wagons turned the heads of anyone who was not looking at the stage. It was not all business for the band as Henry talked to the crowd throughout songs confessing he knows “what a big deal primetime television is” and admitted that he has been powered by buttered vegetables for the last couple of days.

Henry mentioned Cracker Barrel quite a few times. The man loves his American cuisine. He even took a moment to ask the crowd where he could get some bacon ice cream and seemed disappointed when someone screamed back IHOP.

While playing “Save Me”, Henry left his band behind and jumped into the crowd headband and all. Masking the best of his surroundings, he joked with the crowd how the band was probably sick of him and soon returned to his brethren and played “Never Been To Spain”. I heard Henry play this song last year at his solo performance, but when the band backed him up this time, I was just floored with how awesome it sounded. The band then moved into Wagons’ version of “The Gambler”, where Henry told the crowd that he wanted to be the next Kenny Rogers.

Before the band broke into “Driving Home” Henry asked for tips on getting to Chicago. Someone mentioned toll booths and, of course, Henry found humor and asked “tall boobs?”

The rest of the band was included in discussions as well and props were given to This Way Out, the sweet shop that lies below the Beachland. Once of the band members actually bought a shirt there prior to the show. They did not say why, but after the show I found out he did that because he was wearing a Cincinnati Bangles shirt. He was not trying to be crude, he seriously had no idea. Apparently someone yelled at him before the show started.

Hoping to hear more songs by Wagons, they played more personal “Moon Into The Sun” and then closed the night with “Willie Nelson”, a track about, you guessed it… The soon crowd was all singing along “he likes some salt and pepper with his evening meal” with the band and soon after the set came to an end.

There could have been two people or two hundred in the tavern Sunday night. The band did not care one bit and played their hearts out to all those who attended. The people that were lucky enough to witness that which is Wagons showed their approval throughout the entire set. Ironically one of the guitarists told everyone that he had played a ton of shows and Cleveland was one of the best shows he ever played. He was dead serious too. After everything was said and done I was chatting with the band and it was either Mark or Chad that told me he was dead serious about what he said. He loved the tavern that he just played in and was glad to have been able to do so. They all told me they would be back again one day to rock out. I know that is not a lie either. I see big things coming from this Aussie outlaw county band.

Acoustic, Cleveland, Country, Folk, Interview, Live Shows, Music, Music News, Outlaw Country, Rock

Henry Wagons Checks In…

8 September, 2011 Brian Mc Leave a comment

It’s no secret, Broken Headphones loves Henry Wagons and his band Wagons (two consecutive posts might hint at that…). The guy beyond hilarious and his band dishes out some of the best outlaw country/rock I’ve heard in a long time.

I just hammered out a review of the latest Wagons release the other day for your reading pleasure and decided I might as well touch base with Henry through the magical forces of email. Currently Henry and his band are touring North America in support of their new release titled Rumble, Shake and Tumble. Here’s what he had to say:

Henry, what brings you back to the states?

My global brainwashing mission is in full effect! I eventually want to take over the world with one of those swirly patterns on a TV transmission. Playing music with my band is the first step.

Were you able to bring your band along this time?

I have brought 3 stinky dudes with me.

How has the tour been so far?

It’s been great. Pretty much Seattle and Canada so far. I’m still bracing myself for the rest. I want to try as many weird burgers as I can.

I understand you flew to Toronto Monday night in a small plane with old men. How did that go?

It was a little bumpy and a little grumpy (old men).

How’s the tour been this round? Did that stupid hurricane affect you at all?

The only hurricane style event we have faced was the powerful massage shower in our Toronto hotel room.

What can someone expect to see at a Wagons show?

A lot of pent up energy expressed from many hours in the van and in airport customs queues. All the bodily fluids that are retained within our bodies from a aeroplane pressurised cabin come out on stage in the form of blood sweat and tears.

Most importantly, are you rocking the headband?

You know it.

Wagons are actually playing the Beachland Tavern this Sunday! Tickets are only $8. As I have mentioned previously in posts, Wagons are already big deal in Australia. 8 bucks…do it!

Acoustic, Akron, Alt Rock, Good Reads, Indie, Live Shows, Music, Photography, Pop Rock, Review, Rock, The Awesome

Concert Review: Daytrotter’s Barnstormer Tour 5 – Akron, OH – 08/31/2011

5 September, 2011 Brian Mc Leave a comment

It was a beautiful night this past Wednesday at the Conrad Botzum Farmstead located in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park just outside of Akron, Ohio.

Thanks to Sean Moeller of Daytrotter, the Barnstormer Tour 5 took over the farmstead for the night and turned it into one of the more unique venues that I have attended in quite some time.

What normally is a place for people to gather for parties and weddings showcased five unique bands including Wildlife, Princeton, Doug Paisley, White Rabbits and Hacienda within the walls of a giant barn. Each band set up on one side of the barn throughout the evening hours turning it into their very own stage. The atmosphere was perfect for such an event.

Having been to the 100-plus year old barn at the Conrad Botzum Farmstead before, I knew it was going to act as a beautiful landscaping for a great idea. Daytrotter for the last five years has done something different in means of live music performances by creating the Barnstormer Tour with one idea in mind – live music in barns. Sure, it may sound a little hick-ish, but it is more personable and traditional than any other type of live performance out there.

Daytrotter did the Barnstormer Tour mostly on their own and kept costs down. Tickets were sold on their website for a reasonable $20 exclusively to fans or they could be purchased at the day of the show for a few bucks more. There were no food vendors littering the grounds with $10 beers and $14 pretzels, no security telling you to bend over and spread ’em before you entered the area, and there was really only one rule: smokers please smoke by the firepit. In fact, this was a BYOB event (or BYOP for those who brought pretzels), and all who did maintained their trash and showed the utmost respect to the grounds.

Arriving much earlier than anticipated, bands were busy unloading their gear from white vans and transporting it up six steps to the large wooden porch that led into the giant barn. All who arrived for the show immediately marveled at the barn and explored the scenery. Some hung close to the stage area in the bard while others frolicked in the grass. One black and white striped pants wearing female was even seen skipping about in the fields of grain that reached beyond the fence.

The music started just before the sun began its departure into the western sky at around 6:30 pm. While in the barn, the sun actually made its way into the windows of the barn as Wildlife played their set opening up the evening. The pop-rock band from Ontario, who were all dressed in black, were actually quite impressive to watch even though the barn was just a tad too warm thanks to the sun pounding on the barn walls. “What a great idea” said one of the band members as they told the crowd they dressed alike on purpose forgetting about the sun. Whoops!

Princeton followed shortly after to a slowly increasing crowd. Perhaps it was the temperatures cooling down, or the fact that many of the fans, including myself, had a few beers in them, but everyone seemed very relaxed. Reminding me a lot of Phoenix, the band was heavy on the keyboards and encouraged the crowd to move a little. After seeing them live, I am intrigued by their sound and will be checking them out a little more in-depth shortly.

Doug Paisley, also from Ontario, took a more intimate approach and played to the decent sized crowd unplugged. This could be a misconception on my end, but I was not even aware he was playing in the barn while I was sitting by the campfire. It was only until I heard a loud uproar of clapping did I realize I was missing a performance. I quickly made way back into the barn and moved up front to take in Paisley’s set. Soft-spoken yet powerful songs came from that man and I have to say, I really enjoyed what i heard and if any artist should have played in that barn, it should have been Paisley. Oh, I should also mention the near assault of Paisley by a resident barn bat. No one was injured in the event.

White Rabbits stole the night as far as I am conderned. The UK band played song newer songs at the beginning of their set and by the end returned to a more falmilular rhelm. People were loving what they had heard and were jumping and dancing about. Luckily for everyone crammed in the barn, the floors never gave out. Having just gotten into White Rabbit a couple of week prior to the show, I was excited to hear a couple of the songs I remembered digging.

Hacienda closed out the night with some wholesome and soulful Texas rock-n-roll. The band, who recently just finished up recording at local native Dan Auerbach’s (Black Keys) Nashville studio, played a few new selections to the hyped up crowd. I was lucky enough to catch them support Auerbach as his backing band a few years back when Auerbach went on his solo tour. I knew well in advance that I was going to get into their set, and that I did.

The Barnstormer Tour was simple and fitting. It was the bands, the fans, and a whole lot of scenery for all to enjoy. It was indeed one of the more unique concerts I have attended, and it was only 5 minutes away from my residence – bonus.

The Akron Barnstormer stop was the first time Daytrotter invaded northeast Ohio and proved to be a successful display of live music for all who attended. I know there was concern on poor ticket sales for the Akron stop, but from what I saw, there was a good number of folk who attended and appeared to be having a good time. Of course it would have been nice to see thousands of people standing in and around the barn, but I suppose there is always next year.

Sean Moeller’s vision of taking live music literally to its roots in turn was a memorable experience I was happy to say I was a part of. I was stoked years ago when Moeller found an original idea to share bands by having them record sessions at his studio also known as the Daytrotter Session. I really feel he’s outdone himself by making the Barnstormer Tour more than a one time idea.

Here’s hoping that next year’s Barnstormer Tour considers returning to northeastern Ohio again. I’ll also be excited to see what bands he picks to have play out regardless if Ohio is a stop or not. I’d even be willing to travel to attend another Barnstormer Tour, it was that enjoyable.

Acoustic, Akron, DIY, Download This!, Experimental, Folk, Good Times, Metal, Music, Pop, Post-Hardcore, Punk, Rock

Friday Night At The Gurley House

27 August, 2011 Brian Mc Leave a comment

Once again, the Gurley House in Akron, OH, has proved for a great evening of music. There is nothing quite like seeing a show in the basement of a house that just makes it that much more personal.

Tonight I got to see four bands, some of which I have heard of and some who I have been wanting to check out after hearing about them through friends. The result was four performances by different genre bands all of which caught my attention in various ways.

My resident pal Roscoe started off the night with an electric acoustic solo performance. He played some of his material, some of which I really think needs to be recorded. Seriously, it was good shit and even though he hardly plays solo shows anymore, he had no problem jamming out a few tunes.

The Ohioans followed with an acoustic set. The last time I saw them is when they opened for Jeff Rowe in the very same basement a few weeks back. I was really impressed by their initial set and really enjoyed the acoustic session. If you like folky rock you need to check out this up and coming local act. Head on over to their BandCamp page and download their self-titled album for free and see why I dig these guys so. Check out the track “512”, one of my favs off the album.

Michigan’s Protected Left were supposed to be the headliners of the night, but one of the bands was running late due to a previous commitment. The threesome had no problem shifting slots and just rocked out hard to the gathering of music loving people. This band seriously rocked. Mixing punk, metal, and thrash (sweet sweet thrash…), the band got all technical at times when playing reminding me of shit Strung Out likes to pull yet kept a melodic pop-punk feel throughout. I loved this band’s sound and really hope to see them push out a full length one day. Until then, head on over to their BandCamp page and download their 3-song EP titled Songs Of The Doomed for free. Check out “At Least I Didn’t Cut My Ear Off” and tell me it is not catchy and just bad ass to listen to. Not only do they play good tunes, but they are also a bunch of cool peoples to hang out with. Really stoked I had the opportunity to meet them and see them play. Can’t wait thill them come back to Ohio again.

The last band to play the night was a local act I had heard of through friends but had never seen (or heard) before. The band, Cherry Cola Champions, not only has a great name for their two man act, but also pretty much blew me away with their set. Just download the Cherry Cola Champions EP for free and see what I mean (check out “Fievel Goes Midwest”). I honestly did not think I was going to be able to get into them after their first song, but suddenly I was hooked. It was experimental at times and very post-hardcore. I look forward to seeing these guys again.

So that was my Friday night. What did you do? Never mind telling me, I’m too tired now… Just do me a favor and check out the bands I just talked about. They are all free downloads and worth listening to.