Joe's music blog

Hairball moved to Wooly's

Joe Lawler — Fri, 24 May 2013 22:58:04 GMT

Saturday's Nitefall on the River concert featuring Hairball has been moved from the Simon Estes Amphitheater to Wooly's do to rain.

All previously purchased tickets will be honored, and it will still be an all ages show. Doors are at 7 p.m., with the show starting at 8 p.m.

Marcato raising money through Indiegogo

Joe Lawler — Fri, 24 May 2013 15:56:23 GMT

Local rock band Marcato is looking to raise some money for its upcoming "Artifact" EP and is doing so through the crowdfunding site Indiegogo.

$15 gets you a digital download, $25 gets you a hard copy of the EP and a shirt, $50 gets that, a hoodie and a poster, $100 gets you credited on the album, two tickets to any Marcato show and all the above mentioned rewards.

The band hasn't been playing shows while working on the EP, so that means a lot of money going out without any coming in. But they will be playing tonight at Mindrite's final show at Wooly's.

Blue Oyster Cult, Sevendust, Skid Row and more on Iowa State Fair free stages

Joe Lawler — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:45:03 GMT

The Iowa State Fair announced its free stage lineup today. Sadly, there's no 90s hip hop/R&B act on the bill, but classic rock and country fans should find plenty of acts to like. Here it is:

Fairview Stage

Aug. 8-9: The Nadas

Aug. 10: Rumley Brothers

Aug. 11: Vicci Martininez

Aug. 12-13: Natalie Stovall Band

Aug. 14: Ben Taylor

Aug. 16-17: The Blue Band

Aug. 18: Vintage Trouble

Anne and Bill Riley Stage

Aug. 8-9: Home Free

Aug. 11: Building 429

Aug. 17: Jason D. Williams

Aug. 18: Sevendust

Budweiser Stage

Aug. 8: Blue Öyster Cult

Aug. 9: Skid Row

Aug. 10: Blackhawk

Aug. 11: Outlaws

Aug. 12-13: Hairball

Aug. 14: Country Gold with Leroy Van Dyke, Lynn Anderson, Leonna Williams, Eddy Raven

Aug. 15-16: Firehouse

Aug. 17: L.A. Guns

Aug. 18: Foghat

Susan Knapp Amphitheater

Aug. 8: The Farm

Aug. 9: Greg Bates

Aug. 10: James Wesley

Aug. 11: Kristen Kelly

Aug. 12: Jerrod Niemann

Aug. 13: Thomas Rhett

Aug. 14: Jana Kramer

Aug. 15: Jason Boland & The Stragglers

Aug. 16: Tyler Farr

Aug. 17: Dean Alexander

Aug. 18: The Henningsens

Two great shows for two great kids

Joe Lawler — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:15:53 GMT

These are both important shows, but I thought putting them together might help shine a big of extra light on each of them.

On June 6 Vaudeville Mews and 4th Street Theatre will host Benefit Songs for Teddy Reid, to raise money for Teddy, a one-yea rold who will soon undergo a kidney transplant. Performing at the venues will be Love Songs for Lonely Monsters, New Member Charles, Dark Horse Patrol, Typical Males, The High Crest, Ben Wantland, Jim Enos, Aaron Winters and Joel and Jen Kinser.

On June 9 the Smiles for Preston bluegrass festival will be held at the Sandpiper Recreation Shelter at Saylorville Lake to raise money for Preston Tassi. Preston is one and is suffering from Moebius syndrome, which causes facial paralysis. The Rubys, Ortonville Circus, Smilin' Otis and Ira Grace and the Bible Belt Prophets will all perform. Money raised from the show will go toward a "smile surgery" to help restore movement to Preston's face.

Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals coming to Wooly's

Joe Lawler — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:18:14 GMT

Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo has had a few new projects his his legendary metal band called it quits 10 years ago. The latest is Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals. They'll play Wooly's on Aug. 2.

Anselmo has a new album due out in July, "Walk Through Exits Only." You can hear the new song "Userper's Bastard Rant" on Rolling Stone.

Tickets are $25 and go on sale Friday through ticketfly.com.

Roots rockers John Butler Trio coming to Hoyt Sherman

Joe Lawler — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:44:11 GMT

The Australian band The John Butler Trio played Nitefall on the River three years ago, and will return to Des Moines to play Hoyt Sherman Place on Aug. 3.

Last time they played Des Moines it was just as the band's 2010 album "April Uprising" was being released. The band hasn't released a new studio album since then, but did release a live album, "Live at Red Rocks," in 2011.

Tickets are $29.50-$37.50 and go on sale Friday through Ticketmaster, or at the Hoyt Sherman box office, where you won't pay any ticketing fees.

Iron & Wine to play Hoyt Sherman Place

Joe Lawler — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:14:54 GMT

Singer-songwriter Iron & Wine (real name Sam Beam) will return to Des Moines for a Sept. 25 show at Hoyt Sherman Place. Beam last played Des Moines in June of 2011, check out the photo gallery for that here.

Iron & Wine's fifth album, "Ghost on Ghost," came out last month.

Tickets are $25.50-$35.50 and go on sale Friday through Ticketmaster.

Here's the fist video off "Ghost on Ghost," "Joy."

Yonder Mountain String Band playing Nitefall on the River

Joe Lawler — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:47:15 GMT

You had to know this was coming. Colorado bluegrass act Yonder Mountain String Band will play Nitefall on the River Aug. 7. The band has played Nitefall/Alive concert on a regular basis for years, playing its 1,000th show as a band at Simon Estes Amphitheater in 2007. You can download that show on archive.org.

The Devil Makes Three will open the show. Tickets are $22.50 and go on sale Friday through ticketfly.com.

Lazerfest 2013 review blog

Joe Lawler — Mon, 13 May 2013 19:14:41 GMT

I spent around 12 hours yesterday in Boone, attending Lazer 103.3's annual Lazerfest. I'll start with the Central Iowa Expo itself, which hosted Lazerfest for the second time. Last week the grounds were under several inches of snow, the end result of which was a lot of fun. Nowhere near the amount of mud that was regularly present at the Indianola Balloon Grounds, but quite a change from last year. Pretty much any area with grass was mud by the end of the night.

The big change this year was Lazerfest was held on a Friday, instead of the usual Sunday. There seemed to be a strong turnout early on, but there was also a steady flow of new attendees into the grounds. Around 4 p.m., when All That Remains took the stage, the crowds seemed to get really substantial.

Young Guns was my surprise act for this year. The UK band was playing its first show in Iowa, and singer Gustav Wood talked about first hearing about our state from Slipknot's 2001 album, "Iowa." I missed most of Halestorm's set due to a deadline, but was pleased to see singer Lzzy Hale come back on stage to join David Draiman's Device on the song "Close My Eyes Forever." Hale sounded amazing, and the song was the highlight of the Device set. Draiman's band was OK, but didn't ever reach the highs he's hit with Disturbed.

Volbeat was amazing again, playing in a better slot to a larger crowd than last year. Their sound seems to have gotten a little more mainstream active rock sounding since their last stop, but the extra polish didn't diminish the show at all.

One thing that Lazerfest did seem to be missing this year was some of the classic rock appeal it's had in year's past. Alice Cooper, Queensryche (who were announced for Lazerfest, but ended up playing an after party due to a delayed flight), Slash and Sebastian Bach have filled that role in recent years. Of course, with Bush and Alice in Chains having hits that are approaching and in some cases more than 20 years old, maybe they filled that slot this year. Yikes, the 90s as classic rock.

There were also some interesting cover songs this year. Device closed out its set with its take on Nine Inch Nail's "Wish." Volbeat played a bit of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire," and their "Sad Man's Tongue" owes quite a bit to "Folsolm Prison Blues." The band also played a little tribute to Slayer's Jeff Hanneman with a bit of "Raining Blood." Sick Puppies played Foo Fighers' "All My Life," and their sound guy even started off their set testing the mics with a bit of audience call and response on the "Spongebob Square Pants" theme.

In what I like to think of as an unofficial Lazerfest/80/35 crossover, Bush snuck a bit of Talking Heads' "Once in a Lifetime" into the middle of "Everything Zen." They also played a cover of The Beatles "Come Together."

Overall, I'd say Bush's Gavin Rossdale was the biggest rock star of the evening. He dove out into the crowd, and Bush has probably had the widest mainstream appeal of any of the acts playing Friday. I don't know if anyone really gives a damn about anything after "16 Stone," but the band was smart to play a ton of songs from the album.

Papa Roach is a band that has never appealed to me much. I'm not going to complain about their performance, but I'm also not going to spend a lot of time writing about it. It hit the notes a fan would want from a Papa Roach show.

Closing out the night was Alice in Chains. The band has had the uphill battle of replacing original vocalist Layne Staley. William DuVall is the man with the unenviable task of filling that role, but I thought he sounded like a fine replacement, especially when augmented with Jerry Cantrell's vocals. But the band isn't relying just on old hits to fill out its setlist, working in songs from "Black Gives Way to Blue" and even a new song, "Hollow," off the upcoming "The Devil Put Dinosaur Bones Here."

Live on Locust with Trampled by Turtles, William Elliot Whitmore

Joe Lawler — Wed, 08 May 2013 18:14:55 GMT

First Fleet Concerts/Wooly's will be hosting Live on Locust on Sept. 8, a street party and concert featuring Trampled by Turtles and Iowan William Eliot Whitmore.

TBT sold out Wooly's in February, and Whitmore is always a strong draw on the area.

Tickets are $25 and go on sale Friday through ticketfly.com.

11 more acts added to 2013 80/35

Sarah Day Owen — Wed, 08 May 2013 01:59:48 GMT

The Des Moines Music Coalition will include 11 new acts that will perform at the July 5-6 80/35 Music Festival.

Portland indie rockers Menomena (pictured), Detroit rappers Apollo Brown and Guilty Simpson and local acts H.D. Harmsen and Gloom Balloon were among the acts added to the bill. Escondido, The Pines, Water Liars, Maxilla Blue, Prissy Clerks, SP3: Steve Bellow and the Trio and Mighty Shady were also announced. See more on each of the bands.

They join headliners David Byrne & St. Vincent and Wu-Tang Clan. The latest batch brings the total number of announced bands up to 30. About 40 acts are expected to play the festival.

See the full festival guide.

Menomena and Maxilla Blue perform on July 5, all the other newly announced bands play July 6. The last day to purchase tickets at the $29 one-day or $49 two-day price is Tuesday. After that tickets are $39 per day or $65 for both days. Tickets are available at midwestix.com or ZZZ Records, 2200 Ingersoll Ave.

Lazerfest 2013 Spotify playlist

Joe Lawler — Fri, 03 May 2013 15:43:13 GMT

I've had this Spotiy playlist made up for a while, and with Lazerfest now just a week away, it seemed like a good day to make it live.

Let's just hope next Friday is a little less snowy than today.

Everclear, Live, Filter and Sponge to play Des Moines RAGBRAI party

Joe Lawler — Thu, 02 May 2013 19:28:44 GMT

‘90s acts Everclear, Live, Filter and Sponge will perform a free concert on the Court Avenue Bridge when RAGBRAI rolls into downtown on July 23. The RAGBRAI Des Moines Planning Committee has announced the show today.

The concert will be a part of a RAGBRAI events village along the Principal Riverwalk, Walnut Street and Court Avenue bridges. RAGBRAI Des Moines Planning Committee member Chris Diebel said the group is expecting as many as 20,000 attendees between riders and fans.

Diebel said six local and regional acts will perform on a second stage in front of the World Food Prize Building, though those bands won't be announced until a later date. In all, there will be live music from 11 a.m.-10 p.m. between the two stages, with fireworks after 10 p.m.

Everclear, Live, Filter and Sponge are touring together this summer as a part of the Summerland 2013 Alternative Guitars Tour.

Formed in 1992, the Portland band Everclear is best known for the hits “Santa Monica,” “I Will Buy You a New Life” and “Father of Mine.” Last summer Everclear released its eighth album, “Invisible Stars.”

Live is a Pennsylvania act that lit up the charts with songs like “Lightning Crashes,” “I Alone” and “Selling the Drama.” Live’s singer, Ed Kowalczyk, left the band in 2009, with Chris Shinn now handling lead vocals.

Filter is best remembered for the 1995 hit “Hey Man, Nice Shot” as well as “Take a Picture.” The group’s sixth album, “The Sun Comes Out Tonight,” will be released in June. Frontman Richard Patrick is the brother of actor Robert Patrick (“Terminator 2”). The band has a cover of The Turtles' "Happy Together" featured in previews for the upcoming "The Great Gatsby."

Filter - Happy Together (The Great Gatsby Edit) from Jaya Prime on Vimeo.

The Detroit band Sponge broke through with the 1994 album “Rotting Pinata,” featuring the hit “Molly (16 Candles Down the Drain). The group’s seventh album, “Stop the Bleeding,” came out last month.

Tunes on the Terrace kicks off Friday

Joe Lawler — Thu, 02 May 2013 15:08:41 GMT

Cafe Baratta and the Iowa Arts Council will start a new lunchtime concert series, Tunes on the Terrace on the outdoor terrace of the State Historical Museum this Friday. The concert fruns from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. and this Friday's first act will be David Zollo.

Here's the remainder of the schedule:

May 10: Chad Elliott

May 17: Nick Leo

May 24: Paige Harpin with Nick Leo

May 31: The High Crest

June 7: David Zollo

June 14: Chad Elliott

June 21: The High Crest

June 28: Paige Harpin

Admission is free, but I'm sure Baratta's would appreciate if you purchased your lunch from them.

Dustin Smith's new video, "Let's Ride It"

Joe Lawler — Wed, 01 May 2013 20:45:31 GMT

Here's another new video, Dustin Smith & The Sunday Silo's "Let's Ride It." It's a good week for videos by Iowa bands.

And just to tie all the blogs I posted today together, Dustin Smith will be perfoming June 8 at Ankeny Unplugged, the same date as Parlours and H.D. Harmsen. I didn't plan that, but it's worked out nicely.

New video for Parlours' 'Slowly From the Earth'

Joe Lawler — Thu, 02 May 2013 16:41:34 GMT

H.D. Harmsen isn't the only Ankeny Unplugged act with cool news this week. Parlours will headline the June 8 date of the concert series (the same show Harmsen is playing with Dustin Smith and Blue-Eyed Son), and today the band released a new video for the song "Slowly From the Earth."

It's got some awesome axe-smashing a piano footage.

The video was director by Kate Allen of Des Moines and features jewelry by Tia Rodemeyer of AwkwardPaws (and about 27 different Juice covers).

HD Harmsen on Daytrotter, full Ankeny Unplugged lineup

Joe Lawler — Wed, 01 May 2013 14:06:03 GMT

Last week HD Harmsen released his debut album, "Papoose," and this week he's got a session up on Daytrotter. You can listen to the session here, or download it if you're a member.

I'm including the Ankeny Unplugged schedule in the same post because Harmsen and his band, The Electrophones, are playing one of the AU dates. Ankeny Unplugged is held Saturdays in June at Wagner Park in Ankeny. It looks like $10 early bird passes for the entire season are stil available. Tickets are $3 at the gate.

The schedule is:

June 1st:

Giving Tree Band

Andy Fleming of Brother Trucker

Har-di-Har

The High Crest

June 8th:

Parlours

Dustin Smith and the Sunday Silos

H.D. Harmsen and the Electrophones

Blue-Eyed Son

June 15th

Rogue Valley

Seedlings

MaryBeth Doran

Mary McAdams

June 22nd

Freedy Johnston

Annalibera

Savannah Smith

Dylan Boyle

The Flaming Lips, Matt & Kim, Bob Mould and More at Omaha's Maha Music Festival

Joe Lawler — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:49:43 GMT

I dont post a lot of blogs about out of state shows, but I know a lot of people travel over to Omaha for Maha, and there are a lot of Flaming Lips fans in Des Moines, so the fact that they're headlining the Aug. 17 festival makes it noteworthy.

The fifth annual Maha Music Festival will be held at the Aksarben Village and will feature The Flaming Lips, Husker Du frontman Bob Mould, Matt & Kim, The Thermals, Thao & the Get Down Stay Down, Sons of Fathers, Millions of Boys, Digital Leather, Criteria, The Millions, Paper Rock Dynamite and Hers.

Tickets are $45 and are on sale now through etix.com.

Weird Al to 'Perform This Way' at Hoyt Sherman in August

Joe Lawler — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 15:36:12 GMT

Weird Al Yankovic, a musician who I spent way too much time listening to in elementary and middle school, will perform at Hoyt Sherman Place on Aug. 4.

In case you've been totally pop culturally uninformed for the last quarter century, Weird Al is a parody artist who has put a comedic spin on pop favorites. "Beat It" became "Eat It." "I Love Rock & Roll" became "I Love Rocky Road." "My Sharona" became "My Bologna."

He's also written songs that aren't about food, like the "Star Wars" reworking of "American Pie," "The Saga Begins."

Tickets are $39.50-$59.50 and go on sale Friday through Ticketmaster.

Here's one of Weird Al's more recent works, the Grammy-nominated Lady Gaga parody "Perform This Way":

Kenny Chesney review blog

Joe Lawler — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 03:51:34 GMT

The weather is finally getting warmer, but summer still isn’t here quite yet. You wouldn’t have known it from Kenny Chesney’s show at Wells Fargo Arena Saturday night, which had a distinctly summer feel.

Chesney’s “No Shoes Nation” tour played to a nearly sold out crowd that hung on the country star’s every word. But Chesney has become an act who has transcended country, becoming a Jimmy Buffett-esque figure espousing a relaxed lifestyle and cold drinks.

“You and Tequila,” “Keg in the Closet” and “Beer in Mexico were just a sampling of Chesney’s drinking songs, while “How Forever Feels,” “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem” and “How Forever Feels” gave a taste of Chesney’s love for the tropics.

“It’s been a few years since we’ve been here, I’m not sure why,” Chesney told the crowd, referring to his 2011 show in Des Moines. “This is unbelievable.”

Over the course of two hours Chesney played nearly 25 songs, with the majority of the songs coming from the last 10 years. “How Forever Feels” and “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy” (which closed the show), were the sole representatives of Chesney’s 90s work.

But that’s probably fitting. It was with 2002’s “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problems” that Chesney made the big leap to his current relaxed sound. Fans hoping for the early hits will likely have to wait for another tour.

Rising acts Kacey Musgraves and The Eli Young Band opened the show. Musgraves had a talented group of musicians, but their sound doesn’t seem entirely right for an arena. A smaller room might be more fitting, but as she continues on the tour I’m sure the band will grown into the spaces.

The Eli Young Band sounded good, though singer Mike Eli’s vocals got lost a bit in the mix at times. The band won over the crowd early on with a cover of Lynyrd Skynryd’s “Gimme Three Steps,” then cemented its standing with the group’s latest single, “Say Goodnight.”

Signs on the doors into Wells Fargo Arena warned of the strobe lights used in the show. It was a pretty impressive stage show, with lights and screens everywhere. But the special effects never overshadowed Chesney and his seven-piece band.

Both Musgraves and The Eli Young Band had some interesting covers in their set. Musgraves put her spin on Weezer’s “Islands in the Sun,” while The Eli Young Band got the crowd swaying with Tom Petty’s “Learning to Fly.”

“It’s Saturday night, you better start acting like it,” Chesney told the crowd, leading into his song “Out Last Night.” “Tomorrow I want you to be able to relate to every single word in this song.”

Chances are they can.

The Uncluded (Aesop Rock and Kimya Dawson) coming to Wooly's

Joe Lawler — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:02:49 GMT

The Uncluded is kind of an odd pairing. It's rapper Aesop Rock and folk singer Kimya Dawson (The Moldy Peaches, most of the "Juno" soundtrack). The group will play Wooly's on July 1.

Next month the duo will release its debut album, "Hockey Fright," on the Minneapolis label Rhymesayers. The two worked together in Dawson's 2011 album, "Thunder Thighs," but "Hockey Fright" is more of a 50/50 collaboration.

Last April Dawson played in Ames and I interviewed her in advance of the show. Here's what she had to say about the collaboration:

“I liked the way we sounded together... Years ago me and Adam (Green of The Moldy Peaches) and his brother had a really goofy project, AKA, where we were doing silly songs over a drum machine. But the songs were more flexible. When the beat changes there’s less room for messing up. Normally when I play I’ll start talking in the the middle of a song or stop and start over when I mess up. You have to make sure you really know the song...But I didn’t play guitar in The Moldy Peaches either. I was just standing there, singing. So I have just stood with a microphone, waiting my turn.”

Tickets are $18-$20 through ticketfly.com.

Here's the video for "Delicate Cycle":

One Fund Boston benefit With Adam Ezra, Bonne Finken, Jason Walsmith

Joe Lawler — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:42:38 GMT

Live LIVE Music is making its May 29 Adam Ezra Group show at The Gas Lamp a benefit for One Fund Boston, a charity that has raised $23 million for people affected by the Boston Marathon bombing.

The Adam Ezra Group is from Boston.

Tickets are $6 in advance through Tikly and a dollar out of every ticket sold will go to the fund. You can also choose to donate more on the Tikly page, or make a donation at the concert.

Bonne Finken and Jason Walsmith of The Nadas will open the show.

2013 Mixies Playlist

Joe Lawler — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 23:59:05 GMT

Monday night Juice hosted the first Mixies Awards Ceremony at Vaudeville Mews. It seemed to go pretty well, and hopefully we'll do it again next year.

Since the Mixies are a music award, it only makes sense to include some songs by the winners and other artists mentioned in this week's issue.

2013 Mixies Awards ceremony is Monday at Vaudeville Mews

Joe Lawler — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 15:02:32 GMT

It's that time of year when Juice hands out its Mixies Awards, Juice's celebration of the local music scene. This year we're having a little ceremony at 8 p.m. Monday at Vaudeville Mews, 212 Fourth St. You'll be able to meet this year's winners, tell me I made great or horrible choices and see a short performance by Trouble Lights.

Admission is completely free. It's not a bad way to spend a Monday night. Plus, if you show up I can guarantee a free high five from each and every Mixies winner. If I have enough beers I might even show off my intergender thumb wrestling championship* skills.

Worst case scenario: You see a free show and enjoy some cheap beer. Your DVR will hold "How I Met Your Mother" until you get home.

*Runner up.

Melissa Etheridge, Sublime with Rome, The Dirty Heads and more at Saturday in the Park

Joe Lawler — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:04:41 GMT

Sioux City's annual Saturday in the Park festival returns on July 6 in Grandview Park. It's a free festival that always lines up some pretty sweet acts. For 2013 the lineup is:

Melissa Etheridge, Sublime with Rome, The Dirty Heads, ZZ Ward and Tallgrass.

The festival usually has a second stage with local acts.

Again, this is totally free, no tickets required. You just walk up and enjoy the music. As you might expect, a lot of people go.

In the past the event has had Wilco, Ben Harper, Grace Potter, Santana, Phil Lesh, BB King, The Neville Brothers and lots of other great acts.

Again, for free.