hissing lawns

Larry Jack’s Magical Music Tour – 1/28/16 – 2/2/16

by Larry Jack Sammons • January 28, 2016

Hey guys,
This should be another decent looking music week around town. This weeks’ highlights for me will be the Savannah Stopover Lineup Announcement at the Jinx on Saturday, even though I never know more than a handful of the bands (or sometimes less than that) and Thursday’s show at the Barrelhouse South, a performance of the Rolling Stones’ “Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out”, which is the album that the Stones declared themselves “The Greatest Rock & Roll Band in the World”. There are plenty of other shows to choose from, I have listed some of the more interesting ones.

Thursday 28th
Thomas Oliver (Sav’h singer-songwriter), Craig Tanner (Sav’h singer-songwriter) – Wormhole (7p, $5, includes CD, yes it is really 7pm)
Steepwater Band (Chicago blues rock) performing the Rolling Stones “Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out” – Barrelhouse South
Eric Culberson Band (Sav’h blues) – Bayou Cafe
Jason Bible (Train Wrecks frontman) – Molly MacPherson’s
Nate Hall, Dead Oak – Jinx ($6)

Friday 29th
City Hotel (Sav’h bluegrass) – Rail Pub (6p)
Charlie Fog Band (Sav’h Grateful Dead covers) – Congress Street Social Club
Groovetown Assault, Kota Mundi (Sav’h reggae rock) – Barrelhouse South
Bonnie Blue – Molly MacPherson’s

Saturday 30th
Damon & The Shitkickers (Sav’h outlaw country) – Congress Street Social Club
Jubal Kane (Sav’h jukebox blues) – Warehouse
COEDS (Sav’h rawk), Street Clothes, Garden Giant (Sav’h garage rock) – Stopover Lineup Release Party – Jinx
Universal Sigh, Lyn Avenue – Barrelhouse South
Mallory Jean – Molly MacPherson’s

Sunday 31st
Sunday Bluegrass Brunch – Tybee Island Social Club (12-3p, all ages)

Monday -1st
Rottenblush, Hot Plate (Sav’h math rock), Destroyer Of Light (TX) – Jinx ($7)

Tuesday 2nd
Ray Lundy (Bottles & Cans frontman) – Foxy Loxy Cafe (7p, all ages)

looking back and looking ahead: an interview with T. Hardy Morris

by bill • January 26, 2016

These seem like good days for T. Hardy Morris.

Last year’s album Hardy & The Hardknocks: Drownin on a Mountaintop — an exhilarating, sort-of-dirty melding of southern rock and grunge — was a hit with both fans and critics (and one of my favorite albums of last year). Morris just finished up a run of shows with Shakey Graves and has just been confirmed for the 2016 Savannah Stopover. Hardy & The Hardknocks will be opening for Dwight Yoakam at the Georgia Theatre in Athens on March 4. He’ll also be joining American Aquarium at the Lincoln Theatre in Raleigh on Feb. 5th for the band’s 10th anniversary celebration.

And Morris always has music in the works with his other projects Diamond Rugs and Dead Confederate.

On top of all that, Morris seems to be adjusting just fine to life as a father, writing songs on a screened porch outside Athens after his wife and baby have gone to bed. Plus, the 36-year-old can still pass for 19. He must be doing something right.

Hardy & The Hardknocks at Bragg Jam 2015 in Macon

I’ve been a big fan of all of Hardy’s projects for a few years now, and I’m convinced that he will become an increasingly important figure in the music and culture of the South. So when he and The Hardknocks came to Savannah in December for a MusicFile Productions gig at The Jinx — Stopover 2016 performers Justin Osborne of SUSTO and Breakers were also on the bill — I snagged him for an interview. We talked for a while across Congress Street at Sorry Charlie’s, where he ordered four — just four — of the briniest oysters available (maybe that’s a creative secret?).

In conversation, Morris is soft-spoken, thoughtful, warm. This interview has obviously been edited, but fairly lightly.

hissing lawns: So what type of music did you grow up listening to?

T. Hardy Morris: The earliest songwriter that I really got into was John Prine, from my dad. Some of the first songs that I remember ever hearing were John Prine songs. My mom was a big Neil Young fan. John Prine and Neil Young were the first things that I learned how to play on guitar. And then after that a lot of the southern rock stuff – the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and like 90s country was big in Augusta at the time. My middle school years were filled with southern rock and 90s country, though I really did kind of clamber on to Neil Young and John Prine early on.

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Jucifer and HOTPLATE at The Jinx – photos

by Tom Cartmel • January 25, 2016

I made it out Thursday to listen to HOTPLATE and feel Jucifer at The Jinx.

I’m continually impressed by HOTPLATE and their insanely precise, mathy, cerebral, instrumental rock. Weird ass time signatures and catchy riffs will get me every time.

And Jucifer…well Jucifer literally shook dust from the crevices of The Jinx while also cleaning out the ear drums of any unknowing or ~~stupid~~ brave patrons who didn’t come equipped with ear protection. The duo and their “white wall of death” pulled no punches, and we wouldn’t want it any other way.

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Savannah Stopover announces full 2016 lineup, confirms more venues for March 10-12

by bill • January 25, 2016

Ra Ra Riot, Blitzen Trapper, Yuck, Mr. Little Jeans, and Futurebirds will headline the 3-day Savannah Stopover, which will take place from March 10-12 at venues across Savannah’s famed Historic District.

Today’s press release from the festival confirmed over 50 additional bands that join the 40 or so that have already been named. In the coming weeks, Stopover might announce additional bands and confirm a few single occasion events like Stopover In The Yard.

As we’ve noted before in this space, Stopover is all about discovery. You won’t know all the bands in the lineup, but you can spend the better part of three days wandering from venue to venue and checking out acts that Stopover staff has spent much of the past year selecting. We love it.

Savannah Stopover also confirmed more venues today. Here’s that list, to date:

Ships of the Sea North Garden
Trinity United Methodist Church
Club One
Wild Wing Cafe
Congress Street Social Club
The Rail Pub (outdoor garden)
Ampersand 2nd Floor
The Jinx
Abe’s On Lincoln (secret shows)

The Artist Lounge will once again be below ground at 109 West Broughton (formerly Sub zero). The Stopover HQ and Ticketing Office will be at 220 West Broughton Street, with the opening date to be announced. Of course, tickets are now on sale.

On Friday and Saturday, the atrium of the Jepson Center for the Arts will be used for the Band Poster Exhibition and for bar service during the concerts at Trinity.

Up-and-coming acts noted in today’s festival press release include Porches, Alex G, Diet Cig, PWR BTTM, Mothers, Mass Gothic, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, White Reaper, All Dogs, and Twin Limb.

On Saturday, March 12th, the festival will host a daylong showcase featuring two Savannah-based record labels, Graveface Records and Furious Hooves Records, along with Noisy Ghost PR. The festival will also host 3 to 5 secret shows over the weekend, which will be announced one hour prior to the performance via Twitter.

The 6th annual Savannah Stopover will include about 100 bands from across the country and around the world, many of whom will be traveling to SXSW the following weekend.

Like the festival itself, emerging acts dominate the list of 12 local Savannah bands chosen for this year: Triathalon, Jeff Zagers, Breakers, Curbdogs, Sunglow, Culture Vulture, Twisty Cats, Miquel Moure, COEDS, Sundial Kings, Street Clothes, and Damon and the Shitkickers.

Stopover is also kicking off an Ambassadors Program for fans to sell tickets and earn reward points that can used for free festival passes and other perks.

So here’s the full list of 2016 Stopover acts, with the Savannah-based bands broken out at the end:

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The Weeks & Buffalo Rodeo at Cosmic Charlie’s in Lexington, Ky. – review + photos

by bill • January 24, 2016

I was in central Kentucky on personal business again last weekend, and a friend reminded me that The Weeks would be playing club shows in Lexington and Louisville while I was there. No brainer.

I saw The Weeks at three festivals in 2014, but not at all since then — the Mississippi band now based in Nashville had taken a break from touring for most of 2015 to develop new material. So I jumped at the chance to catch them at Cosmic Charlie’s near the UK campus. It was my first time at the dive-y but still sort-of-collegiate 18+ 300-capacity club that, at least on the night I was there, has good sound and nicely varied lighting. A similar venue in Savannah would have a lot more tattoos and piercings, a lot more older patrons (i.e., I felt kind of ancient), and no doubt much worse lighting on the bands (because, Savannah). I’d go back to Cosmic Charlie’s in a heartbeat.

The Weeks started their killer 75-minute set (can’t all club headliners start doing sets that long?) with “The House I Grew Up In”, which pretty much had the crowd hooked from the start. If some of the photos after the jump feel a little same-y, it’s because I couldn’t really risk giving up my spot so close to the stage.

The Weeks played eight new songs off their upcoming record — those were sprinkled into the set with tracks that lots of us in the audience already knew the lyrics to, including “Slave to the South”, “Stigmata”, and more. “Buttons” was the final song of the initial set, with the brilliant, almost-bluesy “Brother in the Night” capping the encore.

It’s hard to get a full sense of the new songs just from hearing them in a rollicking club set, but a couple of tracks are out there already, at least in acoustic versions. Both “Grind Your Teeth” and “Quicksand” were on the Cosmic Charlie’s setlist — here they are live in studio at Nashville’s Lightning 100 in December:

The Weeks seemed super comfortable with the new material — obviously they’ve worked hard on it — and songs like the two above work perfectly with lead singer’s Cyle Barnes deep-voiced, passionate delivery. The crowd in Lexington was quick to find and sing the choruses even of the new work, like “He lived his life like a bottle rocket” from another new song that I assume will be called “Bottle Rocket” (although the alternate refrain of “He lived his life like a levee breaking” had even broader resonance).

The four core members — Cyle Barnes (vocals), Cain Barnes (drums), Samuel Williams (guitar and vox), and Damien Bone (bass) — have been playing together since 2006 when they were teenagers, and they were joined in Lexington by a fifth musician (whose name I don’t know) on guitar, vocals, and a little keys.

I love The Weeks’ take on alt-Southern rock — especially the variations in tempo, the occasionally soaring vocals, and the artistic instincts that allow each song take on its own personality. The live shows are particularly thrilling because of the band’s chaotic energy, which makes shooting photos challenging but fun too. Fortunately, I had my pocket-sized Fuji x100t with me, which can find a shot in almost any conditions.

Buffalo Rodeo from Bowling Green, Ky. (home to Cage the Elephant and also the town where I was born) opened the show with psych rock that started out pretty mellow but became more intense as the set progressed. The talented band has just launched a PledgeMusic campaign to buy a new touring van. I’m excited to hear more of their music.

More photos of both bands after the jump. (And my apologies to Cain Barnes — and to all the other drummers that can’t get good shots of.)

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COEDS, Brown Widow, Sins Of Godless Men at The Wormhole – photos

by Peterson Worrell • January 23, 2016

This one will just be a quick write up, because I’ve spoken about most of these bands at length before and can’t really express how great they are. Savannah locals COEDS and Sins Of Godless Men have both been tearing up the scene for a minute now and if you haven’t seen them yet, you should make a point to do it as soon as possible. Brown Widow, who hails from North Carolina, rounded out this awesome bill with their folk rock sound that included every instrument you could think of from a banjo to a trumpet. A special shout out should also be given to the Wormhole for hosting this show fairly last minute as the original house venue had a slight mishap! Check out a few shots below and as always, hit the jump for the full set!

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The annual Singer-Songwriter Edition of the Thursday Night Opry at Trinity – photos

by bill • January 23, 2016

I’ve been covering arts and culture in Savannah for many years, and I still have trouble wrapping my head around how much talent we have in this relatively small metro area.

In recent years, Trinity United Methodist Church on Telfair Square has proved a sterling venue for both touring and homegrown musicians. The church hosts shows during the Savannah Music Festival and Savannah Stopover, and the Trinity Sanctuary Concerts series also produces shows throughout the year.

This past Thursday was the annual Singer-Songwriter Edition of the quarterly Thursday Night Opry. This installment featured CC Witt, Jason Bible, Tom Cooler, Anna Chandler (of COEDS and Lovely Locks), Markus Kuhlmann (of Clouds & Satellites and Waits & Co.), A.M. Rodriguez, and Jay Rudd (of City Hotel and Paving Gravy). Each of the seven artists performed three originals, and then they all joined forces at the end for a spirited, beautifully arranged version of Traveling Wilburys’ “Handle With Care”.

Here’s a gallery of photos by Jon Waits (JWaitsphoto), a regular contributor here at hissing lawns, plus one stray shot by me. Click on through for more. Some photos by Don Teuton and more shots by Jon can be seen on the Facebook event page and the Trinity Sanctuary Concerts page (please give it a “like”).

Anna Chandler

Tom Cooler

A.M. Rodriguez

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Larry Jack’s Magical Music Tour – 1/21/16 – 1/23/16

by Larry Jack Sammons • January 21, 2016

Hey guys,
It looks like this is gonna be another good weekend downtown, so bundle up and head out for a couple of these great shows. Thursday has a couple of good choices, I am especially looking forward to the Trinity show and the Jucifer (bring earplugs!) concert. If you are near Tybee that night, be sure to swing by the Social Club for Lobo Marino, a very interesting duo that I bet you would like. Friday has several choices, with good shows at Wormhole, Jinx, and Molly’s. I hope to catch at least two of the three (who knows, I may make all three). Saturday also has a few choices, with Megan Jean at Abe’s and Same As It Ever Was at Jinx. The Accomplices were supposed to be at Social that night, but that show was cancelled due to lead singer Matt Eckstine’s recent illness. He is now on the road to recovery, but be sure to send some positive thoughts his way. And you may want to use his illness as an excuse to stop smoking (my public service announcement for the year). I hope to see you around this weekend.

Thursday 21st
CC Witt, Jason Bible, Tom Cooler, Anna Chandler, Markus Kuhlman, Eck Bohymn, AM Rodriguez, Jay Rudd – Thursday Night Opry at Trinity Church (7:30, $10, all-ages)
Flying Bacon Cheeseburgers – Molly MacPherson’s
Jucifer, Hot Plate – Jinx
Eric Culberson Band – Bayou Cafe
Lobo Marino – Tybee Social Club (8p)

Friday 22nd
Listen 2 Three – Congress Street Social Club
The Mustard, Roshambeaux – Barrelhouse South
Train Wrecks – Molly MacPherson’s
Paleface – Wormhole
Scott H. Biram, Strahan & Good Neighbors, AM Rodriguez – Jinx

Saturday 23rd
Beauregard, No Need – Barrelhouse South
Same As It Ever Was – Jinx
Megan Jean & The KFB – Abe’s on Lincoln

Sunday 24th
Bluegrass Brunch – Tybee Social Club

Torche, Jeff Carey and Day Old Man at The Jinx – photos

by Tom Cartmel • January 20, 2016

Torche returned to The Jinx Thursday and it was, in a word, fantastic. If you know of a finer live heavy rock/metal/doom pop outfit, I would be surprised. Thunderously heavy, melodic, hook laden guitar goodness at its best. A pretty much perfect set list drawn from their entire catalog. Seriously great set. I really can’t say enough good things about Torche and the set.

Day Old Man is a fairly new bass/drums duo out of Atlanta who seem as if they been playing together since, oh, I don’t know, birth, maybe? To keep the audience’s attention with the limited palette of just a bass guitar and drums takes some serious chops. They had them. Oh, they also had some amazing tights and sequined shirts. Yep.

Okay, now that we have that out of the way….let’s talk about Jeff Carey, the experience sandwiched between the two aforementioned sets. His Facebook page calls what he plays “noisy computer music”, but that, uhhh, doesn’t really cover it. Visually, it is just him on stage, 40 or so epileptic fit inducing LED strobes behind him, while he manipulates a gaming joystick in one hand and a gaming keypad with the other.

What did it sound like, you ask? Okay…imagine you’re stuck in a weird ass hallway in a mall that happens to be between the LOUDEST ARCADE you have ever heard and a Radio Shack where a meth head is screwing with the LOUDEST white noise generator you can imagine. Okay, take out any melody or song structure that you are imagining. Now, make it noisier, twitchier, and more confrontational, like you’re trying to drive the audience out the door. I’ve seen thousands of sets and this was something that I’ve not even come close to seeing. Fascinating in a train wrecky kind of way, very, very challenging, brutal, singular stuff. Almost literally stunning. I watched a lot of hardened metal heads walk out the door shaking their heads “no” while one young lady stood in front of him seemingly mesmerized. I’m still trying to process the whole thing.

Anyway, pictures….

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Keller Williams with City Hotel at Southbound Brewing Company – photos

by JWaits • January 17, 2016

Southbound Brewing Company has begun to establish itself as more than just a brewery & tasting room by also hosting large scale events, and concert performances. With a local following and now presenting larger acts & touring artists, they’re one of Savannah’s newest spots to watch for your favorite musicians. I was booked to shoot the recent Keller Williams concert, and both he and local favorites City Hotel played to a sold-out crowd. Many thanks to Southbound Brewing Company for giving us permission to post these shots from the event.

City Hotel

Keller Williams

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a roundup of our 2015 year-in-review posts

by bill • January 16, 2016

So this blog has been around for over two years now, and we’re looking forward to a great 2016 covering the music scene in Savannah and beyond.

We are always considering ways of expanding the reach and the work of hissing lawns, but we’re constrained by having a relatively small number of active contributors. If you are interested in writing for us, please send a message via the hissing lawns Facebook page. We have particular needs for contributors who follow hip-hop, rap, jazz, blues, and some brands of pop and rock, but we are game for pretty much anything. We’d like to have more reviews, previews, interviews, playlists, photo galleries — everything.

In case you missed any of them, here’s a quick roundup of our year-end posts looking back at 2015:

So much music, so little time…Tom’s Best of 2015

2015 songs & soul where you seek it – photos by Jon Waits

Old Dogs Can Learn New Tricks / A Review of 2015 by Kyle Brown

Larry Jack’s Year End Review – 2015

Songs From The South- The 20 Best Tracks of 2015 by Kayne Lanahan

Petee’s 2015 Year In Review

bill’s 2015 year in review

Hang Fire’s Last Dance with Crazy Bag Lady

by Chipper_Bones • January 14, 2016

It was finally closing time. After months of deliberation and setbacks, the inevitable close of the Hang Fire Bar on Whitaker Street finally occurred last Monday, January 4th, 2016. It is truly the end of an era. As many of you know, the venue not only welcomed all of Savannah’s local talent over the years but also hosted nationally acclaimed acts such as King Tuff, Natalie Prass. But more importantly, it was a watering hole where you always had a friend: whether it was your college buddy, the guy behind the bar, or someone you had too much to drink with that one time. Crazy Bag Lady was invited to perform one last time and did the occasion justice. Their blend of raucous punk rock and stoner metal makes beers disappear and gets your heart racing yet watching lead singer Josh Sterno’s enraged commands over those cathartic rhythms agitates you in a way to think why good things never fucking last.

Crazy Bag Lady’s Josh Sterno is an atom bomb. The always-energetic frontman seemed to feel even more inspired this evening. He appeared last to the stage smeared in black paint, dressed in pseudo-military garb, looking deranged like he had just come back from tour (like combat tour, not a stupid band touring).

And Sterno’s behavior was that of an atom bomb, unhinged, and ready to explode at any second. And that was his purpose, he wanted everyone in there to lose their shit with him and leave the place in wreckage. He punched himself in the face, wrapped the mic around his neck, and stared out during songs like, “Out of the Way” and “Mobile Phone” not satisfied with the crowd’s lack of movement. At one point in the set he turned to see a sidewalk crowded with smokers and went outside to tell them what he thought. Punk rock is about living in the moment and focusing on the energy the band gives off and bring more energy in return. After this little incident, Crazy Bag Lady had the crowd in the palm of their gloved hand.

Their set was reminiscent to a more brutish Pure Mania, Nervous Breakdown-era Black Flag, and their pop-ier moments a nod to the New York Dolls. The players in Crazy Bag Lady also give off that same intensity as their singer, except their focuses stay inward ensuring that the music stays tight, slick, and allow for Sterno to do the motivating. The crowd pushed each other around like pinballs and grins were had all around.

When the last song arrived, Sterno found the for lease sign that had condemned Hang Fire and lifted it up to the crowd to a melee of boos, curse words, and even someone pouring beer on it. And with that, they played one last number with a chorus that preached, “We’re the last punks standing!” On this night, in the face of local business owners getting priced out of their space (like so many do), Crazy Bag Lady gave us something to be proud about, and gave us something to be mad about. Cheers, boys, and thanks Hang Fire for all the good times.

Crazy Bag Lady

for rent