The Pandemics, The Swaggerin' Growlers, Outernational, Brook Pridemore, Forever In Motion
Saturday // Doors at 8:00
$8.00 - $10.00The Swaggerin' Growlers
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All good ideas start by about the fourth drink. In this case, it's four pints of a strong stout. The local beer variety store, Smiley's, carried growlers of it, so we figured what the hell, lets try it on draft. After all, we are brewers and musicians – arms manufacturers in the war against prohibition; The front line soldiers in the war against boredom. Therein lies the problem: we were completely fucking bored. The battle was not going well. We were in a band together. It was a good band, a damn fine one, but slow moving. A show once or twice a month, and no chance to tour outside of the occasional weekend out of town. Playing shows at the same five or so clubs. My own tension was rising, between a dead end job, a girl that just left me, and the frustration of a part time band, I was starting to genuinely go insane. I've got travelers blood, really. I'd spend whatever time I could burning gasoline and midnight oil, going as far as I could while making it back in time for work the next day. All the while, I was writing all of my jukebox and beatnik dreams down on any random scrap of paper I could find – A proper madman, completely in love with the world and completely in hate with the fact that I hadn't figured out a way to go see more of it. In short, stability was fucking killing me. But in the height of this despair, an idea hit me. The fourth drink does that, you know. Jonny: "Let's start a band. A band geared around touring." Seth: "Let me down this pint so I can think that's a good idea." Jonny: "Great! I'll buy the next round, so I can convince you that we should practice in your basement." And thus, somewhere in the Summer of 2004, the nefarious folk punk pirate ship, The Swaggerin' Growlers, was conceived. What was to become a complete rolling riot played their first show out on St. Patrick's day 2005, drinking whatever Guinness we could con out of the bar, and nearly getting into a flat out brawl with the other band that night – Fitting for us, a band that pretty much started out by raping The Pogues legacy of booze bundled bastardry. It didn't stop there, though, stylistically speaking: like any good pirate ship, we added influences with each place we stopped and plundered: Americana, Swing, Ska, Crackrock Steady, with our dirty DIY basement playing punk rock roots becoming more and more prevalent. Acoustic guitars switched to electric guitars. The distortion was turned up. The drums got faster and louder. We'd swing, we'd shuffle, we'd skank; All the while, pogoing around on stage like bunnies jacked up on methamphetamine. The band relocated to Boston, MA on account of unemployment and homelessness – all hail the mighty couch surfer's union local #452, and the hospitality of SPSC. Songs were written while standing in puddles of stale beer in a punk house kitchen, albums put out on a mix of unemployment checks and contract work that was a straight up hustle to get. People came and went and came back again, with each person bringing their own special breed of bastardry to the band. Fights were had, booze was drank, and shows were played (so many goddamn shows – hundreds upon hundreds). We've played with an incredible list of different bands, some of which are huge influences of ours, and discovered a golden rule: Birds of a feather drink together. We're the sort of assholes that will crowd surf while playing Accordion, after a heavy case of pre-set van drinking with the band going on after us and some traveler kids we picked up on the side of the highway. Mostly because that's exactly what happened on our most recent run out with The World / Inferno Friendship Society. Best goddamn punkrock circus you'll ever see, by the way. Anyways. By 2011, 2 full length albums have been released, a DVD, a full US tour, Canadian tour, and a fantastic crew of assorted musicians signing on for various shows and tours – with 4 core members and an ever growing list of associate members, we don't even know who is going to show up half the time and play unless they're in the van with us. We do know, however, it's going to be a hell of a party regardless – It always is. We bring unapologetic anarchistic joy, professionally and shamelessly. A new album is in the works, Outlaw Waltz, as well as a heavy touring schedule starting behind it's release. US, Canada, Europe when we can figure out who to bribe to get over there. Damn it feels good to be a Growler.
Outernational
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With roots directly planted in the original bohemian Greenwich Village, NYC's Outernational has assembled an arsenal of blistering rock and roll, defiant lyrics and an infectious sense of rhythm that is reminiscent of both The Clash and Rage Against The Machine. In fact, Tom Morello of RATM thought so much of the band that he produced their 6 track Debut EP Eyes on Fire (LISTEN), released December 2009 alongside the music video Sir No Sir (LISTEN) - a challenging criticism of the war in Afghanistan. In 2010, Outernational relentlessly toured North America as a headliner and support band. The band traveled to the Louisiana gulf coast to perform for oil spill recovery workers and also stopped in Arizona to oppose SB1070, confronting the racist immigration law with a reinvented cover of Woody Guthrie's Deportees, as a Mexican-influenced folk duet with Tom Morello. The Arizona trip was the inspiration for the band's new 18-track mixtape Todos Somos Ilegales (LISTEN) released in December 2011 as a name-your-price download. In 2011 the band began recording their debut LP, Welcome To The Revolution, funded entirely through fan donations via the path-breaking website Kickstarter. 13 new songs are finished and ready to see release, recorded at 10-time Grammy winner Jim Scott's PLYRZ studio. Tom Morello once again is assisting with production and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers is behind the drum kit. This new record, slated for a summer 2012 release is being driven be a radical vision for the future: a world without borders and a new hope for young people. This should not be a surprise to anyone keeping tabs on Outernational, as their defiant spirit of liberation and their relentless drive to infuse that spirit in a new generation is present in every song, as if each were a precious anthem for a whole other way the world could be, and a whole other way the people could relate to each other. In addition to the band's genre-bending rendering of rock and roll on record, their live performance is truly a face melting, foot stomping, fist pumping roller coaster. Guitarist Leo Mintek and bassist Jesse Williams provide the engine of the band's "Future Rock" sound while Dr. Blum, a singular personality on and off the stage serves as the band's one-man orchestra section, with duties including trumpet, piano, organ, harmonium and accordion. Then there's Miles Solay: militant revolutionary politics unleashed and a romantic fervor with his heart on his sleeve. You can't help but want to follow this band down the path of #FUTUREROCK and into a future where music is boxed-in no more; a world of people working in common for the common good.
Brook Pridemore
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A punk, folk, dancey, yell-y, sing-y good time. TURN UP THE IMMUNE SYSTEM IN THE MONITOR.