7/30 Friday Jon Lee & The Apparitions- Rail Pub (6-9p) Payne Bridges – Foxy Loxy Cafe (6p) Eric Culberson Band- Plant Riverside (7-10p) Aerosmith Tribute Band- Coach’s Corner The Woofs- Barrelhouse South Donna Savage- Starland Yard (8p)
7/31 Saturday Anders Thompson Trio- Over Yonder (4-7p) Salt Flat Pickers – El Rocko (5-8p) Isaac Smith Band – Service Brewery (6-8:30p) Eric Culberson- Congress Street Social Club (7p) Ray Lundy – Cockspur Grill (7p) Free Spirits – Jazz’d (7:30p) Spare Parts – World of Beer Thomas Claxton & The Myth – Coach’s Corner ($15) JD Music Group – Barrelhouse South Insight, Sex at Tiffany’s- Wormhole
8/5 Thursday Tommy Prine, Bobby Magyards- Hilton Head Coligny Theater (7p, $25)
Dog Days, JULU, Charlotte Masters – Savoy Society
WEEKLY SHOWS Tues – Culberson Open Jam – McDonoughs
Wed – Eric Culberson Band – McDonoughs Open Mic – Wormhole
Thursday – Danielle Hicks Crosby Duo – New Realm Brewery (6-9p)
Fri – Swamptooth- Service Brewery (6p)
Sat – Hitman – 2 Cracked Eggs (9a-1p)
Sun – Hitman – 2 Cracked Eggs (9a-1p) Voodoo Soup – Congress Street Social Club
Supremely weird, supernaturally talented and criminally underrated, Brainiac was considered by many to be “the next big thing” when their story was cut short with the tragic death of front man Tim Taylor. A collection of noisy, frantic B-sides, covers, and previously unreleased tracks was released on Record Store Day, and is now streaming on your service of choice. The documentary about the band, Transmissions After Zero, is also highly recommended. – tom
I really dig The Lipschitz tracks from their upcoming album Chevron. This song and “computer sun” have been floating around for a while, but the promise of a full album of infectious, caffeinated, garage rock tracks like this is pretty exciting. If you fondly remember the SAV scene during the Cray Bags/Wet Socks era, you definitely should track this album down. Chevron is out 7/31. — tom
Spanning 97 minutes, the EPIC new Fucked Up four-part album is epic. Epic! Four Parts! Narrative vocal lines, constructed by a playwright, are traded between the sweet pop aria of Maegan Brooks Mills and Tuka Mohammed and the harsher, hardcore lines delivered by the immaculate Damian Abraham. Not to mention, incredible punk riffs and sweet melodies throughout. Everything you could want in a prog-punk album. Matt Berninger and Julien Baker make appearances too. Name drop! This is my personal favorite effort since the exceptional David Comes To Life. Remember that time that Fucked Up played Savannah? Yeah, that was awesome. — joshua
IDLES has led a recent resurgence of post-punk United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland bands—post post-punk?—topping charts on their island and making some headway into the U.S. market. (Click here for the best Tiny Desk Concert ever). The lads pay homage to the first wave of post-punk with this killer Gang of Four cover. Instant cool. — joshua
Remember that post-punk wave I mentioned in the paragraph above? Yeah, here’s another great release from that deep pool of new U.K. artists taking notes from late 70’s early 80’s post-death-of-punk music, albeit with a bit more Birthday-Party-experimentation. Disjointed at times, there are several really beautiful moments in the distortion here. Straight grooves. — joshua
Looks like a good weekend, especially on Saturday. If you only make it out once this weekend, Saturday would be my pick. And again, you can start early and end whenever you want. Don’t neglect the Living Color/Hobstank show at Victory North. Living Color has been playing with the same band since 1992 (?), so you know they have got it down good. That is the show I am most looking forward to this week. Sorry about the late posting, but I am trying to get every show I can find (not easy to do anymore) and lots of shows aren’t posted until today. Anyway, get your shot and come hang out with other vaccinated people. It’s fun and educational.
7/23 Friday Ryan Taito – Rail Pub (6p) Baxter Elkins – Southbound Brewery (6p) Jason Bible- Churchill’s (6:30-9:30) Anders Thompson Trio- Cockspur Grill (7-10p) Baxter Elkins – Southbound Brewery (6p) The Fractions – Coach’s Corner (7p, $5) Eric Culberson Band- Billy’s Place (9p) Silver Tongue Devils – Wormhole Magnolia Moon – Barrelhouse South Matt Eckstine- Sea Wolf (10p)
7/24 Saturday Fleetwood Max – Tybee Post Chicago Tribute Band, Dropkick Turbo – Coach’s Corner (7p, $20-30) Damon and the Shitkickers- Over Yonder (4-7p) God…Jr? – El Rocko (5-7p) Kenny George Band – Service Brewery (6p) Phantom Wingo – Churchill’s (7p) Little Bird- Congress Street Social Club (7p) Eric Britt & The New American Hologram- Plant Riverside (7p) Anders Thompson Trio- Warehouse (8p) Okey Dokey, Chipper Bones, Persona La Ave – El Rocko ($10) Jon Lee & The Apparitions- Molly MacPherson’s (9p) Bad Cameo – Barrelhouse South BEEMO – Wormhole
7/25 Sunday Danielle Hicks Band – Starland Yard (6-9p)
7/26 Monday Living Color, Hoobastank – Victory North
7/28 Wednesday The Minks, Rev Bro Diddley & The Random Fucking Randos – Over Yonder (8p)
============================================= WEEKLY SHOWS Tues – Culberson Open Jam – McDonoughs
Wed – Eric Culberson Band – McDonoughs Open Mic – Wormhole
Thursday – Danielle Hicks Crosby Duo – New Realm Brewery (6-9p) Tommy Holland Open Mic – Coach’s Corner
Fri – Swamptooth- Service Brewery (6p)
Sat – Hitman – 2 Cracked Eggs (9a-1p)
Sun – Hitman – 2 Cracked Eggs (9a-1p) Voodoo Soup – Congress Street Social Club
“Nature sees my need to believe/And sends me shopping center sunsets/Electronic cigarettes/Car title cash regrets/Shopping center sunsets”
T. Hardy Morris has emerged from the pandemic with the brilliant album “The Digital Age of Rome,” which challenges us to consider the decadence and materialism of our times, but I find the record ultimately more upbeat than cynical. Sure, we might have to view the sunset from the nearly-deserted parking lot of that sad strip mall that we all know so well, but it’s still the sunset, still a promise of new directions in the night or with the next dawn. – bill
Savannah Stopover alum Lucy Dacus dropped her third album Home Video (via Matador Records) on June 25 and it has catapulted the young singer-songwriter to a whole new stratosphere of critical acclaim with feature articles in Rolling Stone and late night TV appearances. The coming of age album is her best yet; strong from start to finish- making it really tough to choose just one song. VBS (which stands for “Vacation Bible School”) showcases some of her best songwriting with her delicate voice able to deliver razor sharp opening lines like “In the summer of ’07/I was sure I’d go to heaven/but I was hedging my bets at VBS.” For anyone who has ever felt abandoned by an evangelical religion thrust upon them, Lucy Dacus’ story about summer bible camp is here to let you know you’re not alone. – kayne
If you Google Manchester Orchestra, one of the most frequently asked questions pops up: “is Manchester Orchestra emo?” Good question. Centered in the epic breadth of a Manchester Orchestra album you often find incredible lyrics melded to cascading, gigantic crescendos coupled with soft lows. (And always, incredible composition and arranging.) On their six studio album, Andy Hull has lulled his band into yet another spiritual quagmire. And it’s fucking gorgeous in there. Hull’s lyrical aptitude is akin to The National’s Matt Berninger in its willingness to express poetically, and quite well, the inner-most intimate moments of a singular life. Is that emo? Probably. – joshua
Chipper Bones, a post-post post band from here in the Garden, grooves in the reverb sun of two light-hearted singles new to the world and released together as an EP. An LP would be three songs, right? Singles are doubles now? Extended Play means two? Long Play is more than two? All this new technology and its easter eggs. We need new terms. And a search engine for the soul. Energy/Carry My Own Light is chill. And easy to listen to over and over again, and easy to find on streaming channels. Highly recommended. Would listen again. – joshua
A bunch of new, catchy, scrappy and stoned indie-rock tunes from Wavves? Please and thank you. Nathan Williams songs sound vaguely familiar at first listen, then burrow themselves into your brain upon repeated listening. Perfect for summer. – tom
7/16 Friday Isaac Smith Trio – Starland Yard (6:30p) Eric Culberson Band- Billy’s Place (8:30p) Actus Reius, Dead Reckoning, Yosemite in Black, Guns to Gallows – Wormhole 308 Ghost Train – Coach’s Corner Ember City – Barrelhouse South
7/17 Saturday Jon Lee Murphy Duo – Churchill’s (7-10p) Unifya – Coach’s Corner Revelry Soul – Congress Street Social Club Taylor Scott Band – Barrelhouse South
7/18 Tell Scarlett Trio – Collins Quarters (2p)
7/22 Thursday Charlie Fog Acoustic- Fiddlers (6p) 61 Ghosts – Wormhole
================================================= WEEKLY SHOWS Tuesdays – Culberson Open Jam – McDonoughs
Wednesdays – Eric Culberson Band – McDonoughs Open Mic – Wormhole
Thursdays – Danielle Hicks Crosby Duo – New Realm Brewery (6-9p) Tommy Holland Open Mic – Coach’s Corner
Fridays – Swamptooth- Service Brewery (6p)
Saturdays – Hitman – 2 Cracked Eggs (9a-1p)
Sundays – Hitman – 2 Cracked Eggs (9a-1p) Voodoo Soup – Congress Street Social Club
It’s another good week of shows coming up. Be sure to take advantage of your COVID vaccination and go out and see some friends and good music around town. There are plenty of shows around town, but a few that I would like to point out. Damon & The Shitkickers are playing on Saturday afternoon. Since Tony Beasley is behind the bar, it is the closest we have to a Jinx show at this time. If you are able to make the ride to Bluffton, Swamptooth is playing at Roasting Room on Saturday. If you haven’t been there yet, this would be a good chance to see a great band. Although I am not a great fan of tribute bands, the Prince tribute band at Coach’s on Saturday also sounds interesting. Another good show to consider is the Homegrown Show at Victory North on Thursday. Some of this area’s best musicians with a side of BBQ, what more could you ask for? Get your shot and come out rocking.
7/9 Friday Aaron Zimmer – Foxy Loxy Cafe (6p) Jeremy Riddle – Rail Pub (6-9p) Heavy Honey – City Market (7-10p) Parts & Labor, Stewart Marshall – Coach’s Corner (7p) Puff Mudd – Cockspur Grill (8p) Anders Thompson Trio- Warehouse (8p) CBDB – Barrelhouse South Wing It, 11:57 Band – Wormhole
7/10 Saturday Bottles & Cans – 2 Cracked Eggs (9a) Damon & The Shitkickers- El Rocko (4-6p) Ben Keiser- Ghost Coast Distillery (4-6p) Bottles & Cans – Congress Street Social Club (7p) Swamptooth- Roasting Room Bluffton Whiskey & Wine – Jazz’d (7:30p) Purple Madness – Coach’s Corner Broken Glow, Xulu Prophet- Wormhole DOTS, Street Clothes, Garlands – El Rocko (9p, $7) SexBruise? – Barrelhouse South
The weekend is here and the shows I am able to find and list seem to be getting bigger each week. This week, is a treat for all of you who grew up listening to 90’s music. Rock 106.1 is having it’s 20th Anniversary Party at the beautiful Trustees Garden on Saturday. Featured acts will be Puddle of Mudd, Filter, and Sponge. Sounds like a good day if that is your thing.
I would also like to give a special shout out to Savannahjams web site, run by our buddy Scott Siegel. That site also has a listing for upcoming shows. Scott seems to venture out a little farther than I do, I think he even crosses Victory to the wilderness area out there, whatever it may be. If you like this blog, you will probably like his also. And as always, be sure to like the hissing lawns site and feel free to share this page. And another thing, go get vaccinated and start seeing some shows, it is a little weird at first, but you will be happy you did it.
7/2 Friday Ember City – Rail Pub (6pm) Monkey Man – Starland Yard (6:30p) Elton John Tribute – Coach’s Corner ($25-35) Lyn Avenue- Plant Riverside (7p) Ray Lundy- Jazz’d (7:30) Stan Ray – Cockspur Grill (8p) Miss Paradise- Congress Street Social Club Tanner Fussell Band – Barrelhouse South
7/3 Saturday Wildwood- Ghost Coast Distillery (4p) Damon & The Shitkickers- Service Brewery (6-8:30p) Aaron Paul Zimmerman – DeSoto (6:30p) Ray Lundy- Oak 36 (7p) Ben Keiser- Jazz’d (7:30p) Rock 106 Concert at Trustees – Puddle of Mudd, Filter. Sponge, Lilakk ($26) Eric Culberson Band, Willie Jackson and the Tybee Blues Band – Tybee Post Theater Of Good Nature – Congress Street Social Club (7p) Tongues Of Fire, Dustin Price- El Rocko Cheating Alethia, Highland Drive – Wormhole Steelin’ Hearts – Barrelhouse South
7/4 Sunday Lyn Avenue- Collins Quarters Forsyth (2p) TG Live Band – Congress Street Social Club (7p)
There was nothing HalfAth’ed about this festival! Wow, that was fun! The only thing hotter than the temperature was the music!
Shit. I’m even more out of practice writing about music than I am taking pictures. Sigh. We’ll work on it. Let me just knock out the details and then you can check out the photos in the gallery while you should be working.
HalfAth Music Event was 18 Athens/Georgia musical acts over a sweltering Friday and Saturday in Savannah. Friday at Ships of the Sea then late Over Yonder (New venue, who dis?) in Starland, Saturday a marathon at El-Rocko. Legit production and the performances were uniformly impressive. Seriously, I’d have a hard time picking a favorite set. David Barbe fronting Elf Power for a cover of The Glands? T. Hardy Morris solo Over Yonder? Linqua Franqa holding court at El Rocko? Killer. The amount of Athens people in the crowd was a subject of jokes all weekend… Several of the artists had last performed at the 2020 Savannah Stopover… Live music is back, let the catharsis begin.
Seriously, I’ll work on the writing thing. Jeez.
Anyway, I took a bunch of photos, check em’ out after the jump …
It has been so nice seeing so many old friends at the shows that I have been to. If you have been vaccinated, I feel that it is a good time to be out. There are plenty of shows, many of them are early (Thank You, whomever is responsible for that) and there are a good bit of outside shows, if that makes you more comfortable. Don’t forget, the pandemic showed us what it is like to not have live music. Go support the shows that are out there.
6/25 Friday HalfAth Festival – Ships of the Sea (3:30-11p, $20/$22) Ryan Taito – Rail Pub (6p) Markus Kuhlmann – Foxy Loxy Cafe (6p) Jason Bible- Churchill’s (7p) Joe Nelson & James Pittman – Jazz’d (7:30p) Ray Lundy- Cockspur Grill on Tybee (8p) Susto – Service Brewery (SOLD OUT) Ember City- Barrelhouse South Chicago Tribute Band, Thomas Claxton & the Myth- Coach’s Corner Dead See Prophets- Wormhole T Hardy Morris, Caleb Darnell – Moodrights (11p, $20)
6/26 Saturday Keystone Postcard, Whaleboat- Block Party at Broughton & Montgomery St (12:45p) Half Ath Festival – El Rocko (4p, $10) Timesawyer Band – Service Brewery (6p) 502’s – Congress Street Social Club Dead Man’s Hand – Warehouse (8p) Insight, Lilakk, Redeye, Killfloor, Obvious Liars- Wormhole Toxic Oscar, Hitman – Coach’s Corner ($10)
6/27 Sunday Swamptooth- Plant Riverside (1-4p) Eric Britt- DeSoto (5p)
WEEKLY SHOWS Tues – Culberson Open Jam – McDonoughs
Wed – Eric Culberson Band – McDonoughs Open Mic – Wormhole
Thursday – Danielle Hicks Crosby Duo – New Realm Brewery (6p) Tommy Holland Open Mic – Coach’s Corner
What’s great about pop-punk is it’s over quick and you don’t have to know music theory to write it.
Wednesday night’s El-Rocko show started as a two-band pop-punk show celebrating the reunion of Jeff Two-Names—a reunion no one asked for—after two of their members left Savannah for good, forever, because they got better jobs.
Then two more bands, Sins of Godless Men and Cloudsoup were added, but they aren’t pop-punk, because Savannah can only have two pop-punk bands at a time. It’s a rule.
If the roof had collapsed and killed everyone in El-Rocko on Wednesday, pop-punk music would have ceased to exist in Savannah. Literally all 10 Savannahians who love, write and play pop-punk were there. Thankfully, nothing tragic happened. Enough tragic shit has already happened, I suppose. It’s time for fun. And Wednesday was incredible fun.
A return of Sins of Godless Men to the live stage delighted their one fan. Hard not to love loud rock ‘n’ roll and be completely infected by bassist Jeremiah Stuard’s on-stage moves. Plus, Sins has guitar/bass riffs for days and superb breakdowns held down by one of the best drummers in the entire southeast. (I am that fan).
Sandwiched between the headlining Christian dads (the drummer is a Reverend of some renown) and the brazen atheists, was the debut of a brand new pop-punk band. The Manarovs consists of former members of Jeff Two-Names, including Jeff himself, and the long-forgotten, thankfully short-lived Ramages.
Jeff blazed through some killer pop-punk solos over songs about space or something. It’s a narrative-writing band. Similar to most of The Lillingtons’ albums and that one Coheed and Cambria album. Hopefully there will be a picture book with the album that’s coming out soon.
After the first two songs, Jeff proclaimed, correctly, “If you don’t like those two, you won’t like the next seven.”
Jeff Two-Names, a band comprised of two real-life dads, set a new world record on Wednesday.
Several members of the Guinness World Record Company were on-hand to ensure accuracy, including the world-renowned Professor Phil and his Zenith Defy Lab time piece. They played three or four songs in 2 minutes and 14 seconds to the second. No one will debate that in court.
Then the in-famous Gilbert ‘Gil’ Cruz joined the Dad’s on vocals for some Drop Kick Murphys and Bouncing Souls tracks. At this point, the show turned very interactive as members of other bands, local producers, and recording engineers, jumped on stage to help with vocals. So everyone in the crowd felt comfortable singing along. Even Gil!
There was no half-circle of respect around the front of the stage at this show. Everyone was up front and center. Two dudes formed their own private mosh pit in the corner and seemed very happy about it.
The good thing about pop-punk is it’s over quick and the good thing about Dad’s playing pop-punk is the show will be done by 11 p.m. on a school night.
And the best thing about friends moving away is when they come back.
Still begs the question, who starts a pop-punk band in their 30s?
6/18 Friday Josephine Johnson – River House (6p) Jason Bible – Rail Pub (6-9) Mike’s Blue Rambles – North Beach Bar & Grill (7-10p) Ramona Quimby – Jazz’d (7:30p) High Velocity- Warehouse (8p) Antagonizers ATL, Patriot – Wormhole ($12)
6/19 Saturday Damon and the Shitkickers- El Rocko (4-6p) Ben Keiser- Ghost Coast Distillery (4p) Adam Nye – Foxy Loxy Cafe (6-9p) Matt Eckstine – River House (6p) Eric Culberson- Congress Street Social Club (7p) Anders Thompson Trio – City Market (7-10p) Back n Black – Coach’s Corner Ben Keiser Band- Barrelhouse South
6/24 Thursday Cracker – The Windjammer (Isle of Palms)
Weekly shows: Tues – Culberson Open Jam – McDonoughs
Wed – Eric Culberson Band – McDonoughs Open Mic – Wormhole
Thursday – Danielle Hicks Crosby Duo – New Realm Brewery (6p)
There’s this great story about the Atlanta band Mastodon.
Standing on the red carpet for the 2015 Grammy Awards, dressed in a full L.A. Dodgers uniform, guitarist Brent Hinds was trolling reporters by telling them he had just came from late night practice with the Dodgers and that he “only hits home runs.” Then he dropped a bag full of underwear, money and weed. After refusing to pick it up when asked, he was subsequently kicked out of the Grammys, allegedly.
That’s essentially the story of El-Rocko’s 5th Anniversary Party, except no one kicked Brent Hinds out.
Five years ago, Rocko’s original design leaned more towards cocktail lounge than rock ’n’ roll bar, but supply and demand (and ambitious staff members coupled with owner Wes Daniel’s music appreciation background) has driven it in a different direction.
This is probably true: For the first time in America in over a year a six-band bill, mixing Atlanta and Savannah bands, was put together with former Jinx staff slinging drinks behind the gold-flaked fancy bar, to celebrate five years of Wes’ Rock Lounge.
Savannah’s Basically Nancy and Atlanta’s Sporrs opened a 5 p.m. show (!) with some stellar punk/garage rock before local legends Reverend Bro. Diddley and The Hips played a killer set of psychedelic/indie rock. All great stuff, but the next band brought the madness that made the night.
The moment UPCHUCK struck the first chord, the first mosh pit in America in a year (also probably true) started. At the center of the dance floor a tornado formed, fed by ruckus hardcore punk, that nearly tore the place down.
Midway through UPCHUCK’s set, the floors were bowing and the rafters were literally swinging as water sprayed in all directions from unknown, unseen sources. Larry Jack made a home in the middle of it. It was almost like everyone there had spent a year locked inside not moshing. The pit even got political. Because everything is political. (Except this post).
After a nice recess for the floor and rafters, Brent Hinds, not dressed in a Dodgers’ uniform, sat in with the 4th Ward Afro Klezmer Orchestra and then manned the electric guitar for his project West End Motel to finish out the night. Around 1 a.m., frontman Tom Cheshire was just getting warmed up as West End Motel bounced through their best hits, officially declaring late night shows back in Savannah.
El-Rocko is, apparently, where rock now happens in Savannah and no one cares what’s in your bag, man.
