Alex Battles and the Whiskey Rebellion at Southpaw

I can in all honesty say that Alex Battles' music a rockin' good time, good for dancin' and all that. What I want to say is more like "Damn that's some funny stuff". There are some really hilarious lyrics in their songs. Clearly this is intended start-to-finish to be good time, none too serious party music. It succeeds admirably.

Posted: 5/21/2011 at 7:31pm     Tags: Alex Battles  Alex Battles and the Whiskey Rebellion  Southpaw 

Gangstagrass at Southpaw

Having never seen Gangstagrass live I wasn't sure what I would get. Were they just a studio creation which sucked live? Would they sound like they do on the album? The answers are "no" and "mostly". The songs weren't exactly the same since some of the samples are missing, and the band could be tighter. But on the whole it worked. It was catchy, songs had good flow, and they pulled it off with a somewhat new line-up. I'll definitely be seeing these guys again.

Posted: 4/30/2011 at 8:26pm     Tags: Gangstagrass  Southpaw 

The Newton Gang at Southpaw

I saw two bands this evening whose albums I own despite having never seen them perform live. The Newton Gang sound exactly the same live and on their album. Lead singer JD (as you can see from his guitar strap) said it took five years to get the album recorded. Well that explains that!

Posted: 4/30/2011 at 4:57pm     Tags: Brooklyn Country  Southpaw  The Newton Gang 

The Dust Busters at Southpaw

I'm not sure whether this is a photoset of a rootsy folk band called The Dust Busters or of an impressively complex mic setup. There were so many mics I couldn't shoot around them! I guess that's what happens when everyone in the band sings and most of the instruments need to be mic-ed as well.

Posted: 2/6/2011 at 6:23pm     Tags: Jackson Lynch  Southpaw  The Dust Busters  too many mics 

The Calamity Janes at Southpaw

The Calamity Janes performed on the large Southpaw stage and hardly made use of it, the reason being that they used a traditional (?) single-mic setup and everyone sings backing vocals on most of the songs. I don't think I have ever seen a musical group take the "group" part so literally. In the future they will be billed as New York's densest old-timey band, as well as probably its youngest, and quite possibly its best.

Posted: 2/5/2011 at 7:41pm     Tags: literal group  Southpaw  The Calamity Janes 

The Sweet Divines at Southpaw

Posted: 1/25/2010 at 5:22pm     Tags: drink bracelet  Southpaw  The Sweet Divines