hissing lawns

Blouses at The Jinx – photos

by Peterson Worrell • February 25, 2015

If you missed The Jinx’s Halloween celebration this year, well you definitely missed out on one of the biggest parties around. Tons of good people and great bands made for an awesome night. It’s not often that the bands from the Jinx’s annual celebration reprise their cover band status for the night (except those nerds in The Ramoneagains), but every so often one band shines so much that they have to. Case in point: Ambrose as Blouses. Savannah’s premiere Prince cover band, at the request of friends of theirs from Savannah Sweet Tease Burlesque Revue, once again donned their garish outfits and glitter (so much glitter) to deliver one last encore to the people. Things got a little weird, but in a good way, just like one would expect from an actual Prince performance. Check out some shots below and if you see a Sweet Tease around town, make sure to thank them for one last night of partying like it’s 1999!

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American Aquarium, Nightingale News, Don Chambers at The Jinx – photos

by Tom Cartmel • February 24, 2015

Savannah favorite American Aquarium rolled through The Jinx again Saturday night, this time supporting their excellent new crowd funded album Wolves. The show was sold out (rightfully so), the new songs sounded great live, and the band was the kind of tight that only comes with playing a few thousand shows together. Really, really, excellent, to the surprise of no one that has seen them in the last couple years.

Coy Campbell’s new project, Nightingale News, impressed, too. Coy’s songs had a little more “bite” live than the excellent Bell Rope recording, fleshed out by resonator guitar played lap steel style by Stu Harmening, upright bass courtesy of Rachael Shaner, and the drumming of Markus Kuhlmann. I’m very much looking forward to seeing them on a regular basis and getting more familiar with the songs. Super stuff.

I caught just enough of opener Don Chambers to get one decent pic.

More photos after the jump.

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Coastal Rock Productions announces A.U.R.A. Fest 2015 in Statesboro

by bill • February 24, 2015

Coastal Rock Productions, spearheaded by Timothy Walls, has programmed some great shows in all-ages venues over the past few months. The shows definitely tend toward the heavy side, but Coastal Rock is clearly interested in promoting both establish bands and up-and-coming bands, acts that fit neatly into specific genres like metal and punk and acts that defy easy categorization.

Now Coastal Rock Productions has announced A.U.R.A. Fest 2015 — that’s All Underground Rock All Day — on April 25th at Bigshow’s in Statesboro (about an hour from Savannah). (Click here for some of the history of A.U.R.A. Fest, which Coastal Rock produced for a number of years over a decade ago.)

The lineup includes Lazer/Wulf, Me and the Trinity, Bear Fight!, SHEHEHE, The Apprehended, Solomon’s Ghost, Seagulls, A Call for Kylie, Vatican, and Spray Tan.

Check out the announcement video:

Not surprisingly, we’ve posted some pics of a few of these acts here at hissing lawns. Click on through for a selection.

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The Rough & Tumble at A-Town Get Down 2015 – photos

by JWaits • February 24, 2015

The Rough & Tumble at the 2015 A-Town Get Down:

The Rough & Tumble

Caleb Klauder Country Band at ArtLab Sessions – photos

by JWaits • February 23, 2015

As Savannah’s music scene continues to grow, a brand new avenue for showcasing both local, and touring talent has been created from the minds of Jay Rudd (City Hotel) and Matt Eckstine (The Accomplices) called ArtLab Sessions. The two primary photographer/videographers at present are Kelly Roetto and myself, with Matt skillfully handling the live recordings while Jay works from the producer’s chair.

Recently we had the pleasure of recording a session with Caleb Klauder Country Band who was in town to play a show with The Accomplices. We’ll put a link up when the videos are finished, but in the meantime here are a few still shots from that session.

In Defence, Mother, Shiloh, Trophy Wives and Generation Pill at The Guild Hall – photos

by Tom Cartmel • February 23, 2015

Thursday night was frigid, at least in Savannah terms. After a long day working in the cold I quickly got ready and left the house before I came to my senses and stayed home, and boy, am I glad I didn’t succumb to laziness/comfort, as this Coastal Rock Productions show at The Guild Hall was a lot of fun. Come on, any band with a song named “Veronica Mars, Bringer of War” has to be worth seeing right?

I missed Generation Pill, unfortunately, but arrived shortly before Trophy Wives took the stage. They put out another solid set of old school female fronted punk rock. I’d never seen Shiloh before, and I guess I won’t again, it was apparently the hardcore band’s last show. Mother then played an entertaining set of their own hardcore (“Georgia sludge violence” from their Facebook, seems about right).

I learned right before In Defence came on that their singer had broken his foot the night before, and, sure enough, he hopped up to the stage with a ghetto cast on his foot. Ghetto cast? Apparently you wrap a tee shirt around your foot and then bind it with packing tape. Huh. You learn something every day. He quickly evaluated the situation and grabbed two chairs to possibly use as crutches, but ended up kneeling on them for the entirety of the show. The band ripped through a set of classic thrash/metal/punk/hardcore/something/something with song titles including “No War but Star Wars”, “”Don’t Fuck with the Dungeon Master”, “Curbside Dentistry”, “LEGOcy of Brutality” and “Reinventing Rob Halford”. The between song banter was equally side splitting, with stories about playing taco restaurants and at one point a giant 20 sided die was rolled, volleyed and kicked around. What were they rolling for? I’m not sure, maybe a Spell of Healing? I’m pretty sure it failed. The set, though, was definitely a success. I would go see In Defence again in a heartbeat.

I took some pictures, check them out after the jump.

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Saturday night includes big shows at The Jinx & Hang Fire in Savannah

by bill • February 21, 2015

We’ve already noted the plethora of options tonight (Saturday, 2/21) for live music lovers in Savannah, so consider this post just a quick update. The Blind Boys of Alabama will be headlining the A-Town Get Down Festival, which wraps up at midnight at the Morris Center.

By that time, shows at Hang Fire and The Jinx will be in full swing. I’ve already posted about Jinx opener Nightingale News, but don’t forget that the headliner is Raleigh-based American Aquarium, which has a devoted Savannah following. American Aquarium’s new album Wolves was recently released and just yesterday Paste premiered the new video for “Losing Side of Twenty-Five” (beautiful widescreen production values, so take it full screen):

I also previewed the American Aquarium show at The Jinx in my Unplugged column in Do Savannah.

Around the corner at Hang Fire, four bands will take the stage: Crazy Bag Lady, Warehouse, Breathers and Culture Vulture. Click here for the Facebook event invite, which has all sorts of info and links.

Warehouse was a sensation in their first Savannah visit, so expect an excited crowd tonight for the second trip. Here’s the new single “Omission”:

Introducing Kittenfest

by Garrett Deming • February 20, 2015

Since the dawn of file sharing in the internet age, record sales have ceased to dominate the music industry. For independent artists this has created multiple opportunities to gain a wider audience through internet distribution, and with such an expanded opportunity to hear music, we’ve seen live performance become the main source of income and exposure for independent musicians. More than any other phenomenon over the last few decades, the emergence of festivals as gathering places to hear new music has proved a great benefit both to musicians and listeners.

Most of these festivals started from humble beginnings – look to Connecticut’s Gathering Of The Vibes, Savannah’s own Stopover Festival, and even Bonnaroo as examples of this. The popularity of festivals grows, and this April will see a new gathering bringing its variety to Savannah. Kittenfest celebrates its tenth year in 2015, and its first in the low country.

Soft lineup for Kittenfest Savannah 2015

Touting an impressive list of bands both local and national, Kittenfest is the brainchild of Sarah Florio and a close group of childhood friends and family. The New Jersey-born Savannah resident with a love of music, community and a good time has held the festival yearly since her 15th birthday. For that occasion her younger sister Maxine and good friend Tyler (of Savannah psych-rock favorites Omingnome) converted the backyard of the Florio house into a stage for a few friends’ bands, and they have continued the tradition each year. “When we started there were maybe 30 people and five bands,” says Florio. “The next year it was 10 bands, then upwards of 30. After a few years we added a few days and had people camping, bands from all over the place.”

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Trinity Sanctuary Concerts: Thursday Night Opry featuring American Hologram, The Accomplices, and City Hotel – photos

by JWaits • February 20, 2015

Here are photos from the latest Thursday Night Opry presented by Trinity Sanctuary Concerts, featuring American Hologram, The Accomplices, and City Hotel.

American Hologram

The Accomplices

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Savannah Stopover 2015 Spotlight – The Prettiots

by Peterson Worrell • February 20, 2015

With March quickly approaching on the horizon, there’s one thing that on the mind of most locals around town. Sure, there’s green beer and shamrocks coming up, but that can wait for a bit. Besides, we all know St. Patrick’s Day is a month long celebration anyway. I’m talking about Savannah’s now 5 year old music festival Savannah Stopover.

Stopover’s come a long way since its inception as any Savannah local will tell you. What began as a waypoint for bands making their way to the musical hotbed SXSW has since come into its own and is now recognized as one of Savannah’s premier music festivals. Previous years featured acts such as of Montreal, Ex Hex, Peelander-Z, Tweens, Grimes, The Love Language, Chelsea Light Moving, Hunters, and way too many more notable bands than I can mention in the couple of paragraphs. When you take into account the combination of stellar acts, the perfect setting of downtown Savannah (never underestimate the appeal of unfettered traversing with beer in hand), the dedicated team backing Stopover, and the awesome local flavor of Savannah, it’s really no wonder that the “little Georgia music festival that could” has come so far. This year’s line up sports over 100 acts and can be a bit daunting for the uninitiated and veterans of the festival alike. Have no fear though, as your friendly guides here at hissing lawns are more than happy to share a few of our favorite acts with you over the next few weeks as we build up to March 5-7.

Our first featured act are The Prettiots (a mouthful I know, it’s pronounced like a mashup of “pretty” and “idiots”), a trio out of New York comprised of Kay Kasparhauser (vocals, ukulele), Rachel Trachtenberg (drums), and Lulu Prat (bass).

photo by Colin Dodgeson

The indie-pop trio weave saccharine melodies that deal with expected pop subjects like high school lovers in a tongue-in-cheek manner similar to what you’d expect from other acts like Garfunkel and Oates. Don’t let them fool you though, The Prettiots have a certain bite and they’re not afraid to let anyone know it. Throw on top of that the fact that they have a tremendous DIY ethic promoting their show schedule, which is nothing to scoff at itself, and it’s no wonder that even in a cutthroat city like New York, The Prettiots have established themselves as one of the coolest bands around.

Be sure to catch The Prettiots at Hang Fire on March 6th at 7pm. And be sure to keep an eye out here for our previews of the other upcoming acts that you shouldn’t miss at Stopover 2015! See you there!

photo by Carlos Santolalla

Wet Socks’ new video puts the sex back in libraries (nsfw)

by bill • February 19, 2015

If all libraries were like this, print would not be dying.

Wet Socks‘ new video (nsfw, unless you work someplace pretty freaking cool) for “Library Card” — the final song on Drips, released last year by Retro Futurist Records — is, like the band itself, fun and smokin’:

By the way, have you seen hissing lawns’ interview with Wet Socks just before their winter tour?

We’re big fans of Wet Socks, even if they premiered the new video somewhere else (jk, we’re sure the folks at Scene Point Blank are very nice), and we’re even bigger fans after this excellent video.

Larry Jack’s Magical Music Tour – 2/19/15 – 2/25/15

by Larry Jack Sammons • February 19, 2015

Hey guys,
Well, it’s plenty cold this week, but that didn’t seem to slow the music choices down any. This is one of the busiest weekends so far this year, especially Saturday, when there are so many choices it is just not fair. And, looking ahead, it is just gonna keep getting busier next month.

Thursday 19th – The weekend starts with several choices. There is a punk show at Guild Hall, a grown-ups show at the Trinity Church, a dance show at Barrelhouse South, and a punk-blues show at Jinx. Take your pick, they should all be good.
In Defence. Shiloh, Trophy Wives, Generation Pill – Guild Hall (7-11)
American Hologram, Accomplices, City Hotel – Trinity United Methodist Church (7:30, all ages, $10)
Big Mean Sound Machine (dance music with horn section) – Barrelhouse South
Gallows Bound (Appalachian punk blues), Seaboard Stompers – Jinx ($5)

Friday 20th – Another night of multiple choices. I think any of these shows will be good too. And remember, the weather will be better tomorrow!
Bottles & Cans (Sav’h blues) – Mansion On Forsyth (9p)
City Hotel (Sav’h bluegrass) – Rocks On The Roof
Joe Cat (Athens singer-songwriter), Alex Raffray (Forced Entry frontman) – Sentient Bean (8p)
Magic Rocks (Sav’h classic rock) – Molly MacPherson’s
Orange Constant (Statesboro jam rock) – Barrelhouse South
Tell Scarlett (Sav’h pop rock) – Dub’s (8p)
Culture Vulture CD Release Party (Sav’h instrumental progressive rock), Kyle, Unicycle Escape Pod (Sav’h prog rock) – Graveface Records (7p, all ages)

Saturday 21st – There are way too many places I want to be today. All of these shows will be top-notch. Another night of punk at the Hang Fire, with one of my favorites, Crazy Bag Lady, who will be hitting the road for a tour soon. There is Americana at the Jinx, with American Aquarium, and I really want to see opener Nightingale News, Coy Campbell’s new band. A really fun band, Funk You (great name) is playing at the Social Club, there will be some dancing going on there. The Accomplices are opening for Caleb Klauter at the American Legion in Thunderbolt, I expect that to be an excellent show. And the A-Town Get Down Festival will be going on at the Charles Morris Center, you can find plenty of coverage of the bands there elsewhere. I also listed several other bands that I would like to catch that evening, but even I won’t be able to see all of them.
A-Town Get Down Festival – Charles Morris Center (12-11, $25)
Accomplices, Caleb Klauter (Portland honky tonk) – American Legion in Thunderbolt
American Aquarium (Raleigh alt-country), Nightingale News, Don Chambers – Jinx ($10)
Crazy Bag Lady (Sav’h punk), Warehouse, Breathers, Culture Vulture – Hang Fire (10p)
Funk You (Augusta funk) – Congress Street Social Club
Lovely Locks – Rocks On The Roof
Southern Belles – Barrelhouse South
Crazy Man Crazy (Sav’h rockabilly) – Wormhole Bar
Blackrune (Sav’h dream drone) – Graveface Records (6-9, all ages)

Monday 23rd – A Monday show at Hang Fire.
Ghost Foot (Shreveport rock), Wet Socks (Sav’h garage grunge), Gulf Shores, Generational Pill (Sav’h garbage music) – Hang Fire

Tuesday 24th – A Tuesday show at Hang Fire. They are trying to kill me.
COEDS (Sav’h rawk and roll). Drgn King (Philadelphia psychedelic) – Hang Fire
Clouds and Satellites (Sav’h Americana) – Foxy Loxy Cafe

Wednesday 25th – A rare solo show from the ginger Lovely Lock at one of my least favorite venues.
Britt Scott (Lovely Locks) – Rocks On The Roof