Diaspora Radio takes on Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young.
UPCOMING SHOWS
The (World Famous) Jazz Jam
APRIL 23 @ 6PM | DOORS 5:30PM | UPSTAIRS
Beat Night feat. Jennifer Militello
APRIL 26 @ 7PM | DOORS 6PM | UPSTAIRS
Come hear the new Poet Laureate of NH, backed by the Beat Night Band.
Jennifer Militello is the Poet Laureate of New Hampshire. She is the author of the hybrid collection Identifying the Pathogen (forthcoming, 2025), The Pact (Tupelo Press/Shearsman Books, 2021) and the memoir Knock Wood, winner of the Dzanc Nonfiction Prize (Dzanc Books, 2019), as well as four previous books of poetry: A Camouflage of Specimens and Garments (Tupelo Press, 2016), finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Award and the Sheila Margaret Motton Prize, Body Thesaurus (Tupelo Press, 2013), named one of the top books of 2013 by Best American Poetry and runner-up for the Poetry Society of America’s Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award, Flinch of Song, winner of the Tupelo Press First Book Award, and the chapbook Anchor Chain, Open Sail.
Her work has appeared in American Poetry Review, The Nation, The New Republic, The Paris Review, POETRY, Poetry London, The Poetry Review, and Tin House, as well as in Best American Poetry, Best New Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poems for Every Occasion, and 100 Poems to Save the Earth. She has been awarded the Barbara Bradley Award, the Yeats Poetry Prize, the Ruskin Art Club Poetry Award, the Betty Gabehart Prize, and the 49th Parallel Award, and grants and fellowships from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, Writers at Work, and the Millay Colony for the Arts.
Militello has taught at Brown University, the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and the Rhode Island School of Design, and is currently a faculty member in the MFA program at New England College. She lives in Goffstown, New Hampshire.
Tea Dance w/ DJ Skooch
APRIL 27 @ 3PM | DOORS 2:30PM | UPSTAIRS
Spill that tea.
21+ | 2:30pm doors/3pm start
Club D'Elf w/ special guest Lyle Brewer
APRIL 27 @ 9PM | DOORS 8PM | UPSTAIRS
Club d’Elf intends to move your booty and excite your intellect with their Moroccan-dosed psychedelic dub jazz.
21+
Club d’Elf has been helping audiences lose track of time for twenty five years with its mesmerizing synthesis of Moroccan traditional music and electronic, dubbed-out funk. Circling about bassist/composer Mike Rivard and drummer Dean Johnston, each Club d’Elf performance features a different line-up, drawn from a constellation of some of the most creative improvisers from the jazz, DJ, rock & world music scenes of Boston, NYC and beyond. The band’s music draws from a startlingly wide spectrum of styles, including jazz, hip hop, electronica, avant garde, prog-rock and dub. Under the tutelage of member Brahim Fribgane (who hails from Casablanca) the band has absorbed Moroccan trance music, which is now an essential part of the mix. Diverse audiences are drawn to Fribgane’s mesmerizing oud stylings, and Rivard’s commanding playing of the Moroccan sintir. Trance forms the central core of the Club d’Elf aesthetic, weaving together the band’s various influences.
In April 2022 the band released its latest album, ‘You Never Know’, which rose to #2 on the Relix chart. The record unfurls upon kaleidoscopic clouds of spiced smoke, shifting from chopped dub-jazz through trance epics that reimagine Boston as a city of bazaars. Club
d’Elf pay tribute to the music and musicians who have been primary influences, with half the album being covers of gnawa, Miles Davis, Joe Zawinul, Moroccan band Nass el-Ghiwane, and Frank Zappa. The other half consists of original music inspired by Rivard’s personal journey into darkness following a near death experience in the remote jungle of the Peruvian Amazon.
“You Never Know is a wide ranging romp, full of serenity, chaos, longing, improvisation and peerless musicianship inspired by music from India and Morocco as well as the maverick jazz of Miles Davis and Frank Zappa.” – Banning Eyre, Afropop Worldwide
Mama's Broke w/ Eliza Edens
APRIL 28 @ 6PM | DOORS 5PM | UPSTAIRS
Unique, rootsy Americana.
All Ages
Mama’s Broke, based out of New Orleans and Halifax, craft a sound that artfully weaves old-time, Quebecois, blues, punk, Celtic, Balkan and doom metal into a hypnotic and energizing tapestry of original music.
The connection between Amy Lou Keeler and Lisa Maria draws the listener in as they effortlessly move through dark, lonesome, and intricate acapella songs to fiery, ripping fiddle/banjo tunes accompanied by foot percussion and driving guitar rhythms. Their debut album Count the Wicked won them a Canadian Folk Music Award in 2017 for ‘Ensemble of the Year’ as well as a nomination for ECMA ‘Rising Star Award.’ Their sophomore album Narrow Line, released in 2022 on Free Dirt Records, was featured in The Bluegrass Situation, Hollar Country, No Depression, Folk Radio UK’s “top ten of the year” as well as being placed on NPR’s taste maker and Tiny Desk host Bob Boilen’s “What I’m Listening To Right Now” Spotify playlist. Narrow Line was nominated in 2023’s Canadian Folk Music Award ‘vocal group of the year’ as well as a Juno award (Best Traditional Roots Album of The Year).
In a perpetual state of transience, the duo has spent a majority of the previous decade pounding the transatlantic-tour-trail. They have supported acts such as Nick Shoulders, Sierra Ferrell, Tim Eriksen, and La Vent du Nord as well as co-headlined tours with Matt Heckler, Willi Carlisle and Rufus Nightjar. From notable international folk festivals to DIY punk houses to activist gatherings to opera houses and everywhere in-between, Mama’s Broke has garnered a passionate and loyal fanbase in North America, Europe, and the UK.
The (World Famous) Jazz Jam
APRIL 30 @ 6PM | DOORS 5:30PM | UPSTAIRS
Soggy Po' Boys (Weekly Residency)
APRIL 30 @ 9PM | DOWNSTAIRS
Happy Hour w/ Dave Gerard
MAY 1 | 5:30PM-8:30PM | DOWNSTAIRS
The Mallett Brothers Band & Jamie McLean Band
MAY 3 @ 9PM | DOORS 8PM | UPSTAIRS
Rock and roll lives!
The Mallett Brothers Band is an independent rock and roll / Americana / country band from Maine. Their busy tour schedule since forming in 2009 has helped them to build a dedicated fanbase across the U.S. and beyond while still calling the state of Maine their home. With a style that ranges from alt-country to Americana, country, jam and roots rock, theirs is a musical melting pot that’s influenced equally by the singer/songwriter tradition as by harder rock, classic country and psychedelic sound
Jamie McLean Band is a triple threat. The group’s energetic and captivating live show is undeniable. McLean’s fiery guitar has joined the ranks of Derek Trucks, Gregg Allman, Aaron Neville, Dr. John and more on stages from from Madison Square Garden to Japan’s Fuji Rock. His blue eyed southern soul vocals ooze real emotion. And his top line songwriting chops have crafted profound, honest and heartfelt songs that will keep you singing along, dancing along and feeling like the song was written about you. Jamie McLean Band creates a musical gumbo that incorporates New Orleans soul, middle Americana roots, Delta blues and New York City swagger.
Emo Night Portsmouth w/ The White Belts
MAY 4 @ 9PM | DOORS 8:30PM | UPSTAIRS
Cheer up, emo kids.
21 +
Dharma Down
MAY 5 @ 6PM | DOORS 5:30PM | UPSTAIRS
Transcendent jazz, spanning centuries & the globe.
Dharma Down delivers a musical adventure spanning centuries and the globe, while always pushing their genre bending music into the future. Presenting music from across the jazz compendium and the great American songbook, Dharma Down also skilfully draws on influences from Eastern European and Middle Eastern music, and turns this identity crisis into its biggest asset. The group’s debut album, Owl Dreams, prominently features original compositions inspired by American and Arabic traditions.
Myles Burr Presents: An Evening of Poetry & Music
MAY 8 @ 7PM | DOORS 6PM | UPSTAIRS
Our very own Myles Burr is back w/ sharp words, smooth sounds, & a stellar roster of poetic heavy-hitters.
18+ | FREE
Myles Burr Presents: An Evening Of Poetry & Music” is a showcase of local and touring Poets and Musicians from the seacoast and beyond. The evening starts with a special musical guest, then dives into spoken word over improvisational music provided by The Last Straws. The evening wraps up with a performance by Myles Burr & The Last Straws. This event is free and open to the public.
Musical Guest: Jack Shea
Poets: Maria Crawford, G. Ferragamo-G, Jim Rioux, Jonathan Frazer Lessard, Marissa Bognanno, Myles Burr
The Last Straws: Patrick Rowan, Nate Gruen, Ben Wellwood
Jack Shea is a Kittery, Maine-based songwriter and guitarist whose music is both sonically adventurous and deeply personal. Drawing influence from various genres – ‘60s psychelia, ‘90s rock, contemporary pop and electronic – Shea’s music runs the gamut from beat-driven, meditative acoustic music to cathartic rock songs.
Myles Burr is a poet and performer based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He has spent the last five years working on the revival of the poetry scene from Portsmouth, NH to Portland, ME. Burr is a prolific performer with residencies at The Press Room and Earth Eagle Brewings. Burr hosts a series of Poetry events along the Seacoast and fronts the band Myles Burr & The Last Straws. He is the author of six chapbooks, he is featured in five anthologies, and is the author of one full length collection.
A beat poet at heart, Myles specializes in freeform poetry and expressionism. Myles Burr’s live performances blend poetry and music into a theatrical experience often described as entrancing. He is in the midst of recording an Album with his band Myles Burr & The Last Straws and has just released an EP entitled “Futuristic Dread And Excitement.” He is heavily influenced by the Beat Generation, and performers such as Iggy Pop, Peter Murphy, David Bowie, and Nick Cave.
On the road, Burr has toured through most of The United States, performing anywhere from music venues, bookstores, coffee shops, and even the streets of New Orleans. There is beauty in every corner of the world, but what fascinates Myles Burr most of all is people and the human experience. “With a dedicated fervor, easygoing empathy, and magnetic charisma, Myles Burr rears the seacoast’s poetry scene.” -Neon Snooze Magazine 2023 issue 004
PMAC Adult Rock and Blues Show
MAY 9 @ 7PM | DOORS 6PM | UPSTAIRS
Get schooled by some impressive PMAC adult students.
All Ages
Join Portsmouth Music and Arts Center for an evening of rock and blues music performed by PMAC adult students. This concert features sets from four adult ensembles:
- Classic Rock Band
- Alt Rock Band
- Roots, Rock, Blues and Beyond I
- Roots, Rock, Blues and Beyond II
The Roots, Rock, Blues and Beyond Bands are led by Jim Dozet and the Classic Rock Band and Alt Rock Band are led by Nick Phaneuf.
About PMAC:
Portsmouth Music and Arts Center (PMAC) is a 501c3 nonprofit community music and arts school serving the Seacoast. PMAC’s mission is to build community through the arts by providing all people with the opportunity to achieve their full creative potential, regardless of their age, ability, or economic status. We accomplish this through high quality music and visual arts education programs and by creating ensemble, performance, and exhibition opportunities for students, professionals, and audiences.
PMAC’s Adult Ensemble program covers a variety of genres, instruments and is open to a variety of playing levels. For more information about PMAC’s adult ensemble opportunities and more, please visit pmaconline.org.
Ariel Posen w/ Justin Saladino
MAY 10 @ 7PM | DOORS 6PM | UPSTAIRS
Rooty sound with wide influence.
All Ages
Ariel Posen’s music occupies the space between genres. It’s a rootsy sound that nods to his influences — heartland rock & roll, electrified Americana, blue-eyed soul, R&B, Beatles-inspired pop — while still moving forward, pushing Posen into territory that’s uniquely his own.
Jenny Owen Youngs w/ Emmy Kinney
MAY 11 @ 7PM | DOORS 6:30PM | UPSTAIRS
Stellar songwriting.
All Ages
In the decade since Jenny Owen Youngs last released a full-length album, she’s toured the world, co-written a #1 hit single, launched a wildly popular podcast, landed a book deal, placed songs in a slew of films and television series, moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles to coastal Maine, and gotten married, divorced, and married again. She’s done everything, it seems, except release another album.
“After writing a zillion songs with other artists and immersing myself in other people’s voices for ten years, I finally started to get excited about making my own music again,” she explains. “It was like I took this extended sorbet course, and after that palate cleanser, I was ready to dig back in.”
With her exceptional new Yep Roc debut, Avalanche, Youngs delivers a main course worthy of the wait. Written with a series of friends including S. Carey, Madi Diaz, The Antlers’ Peter Silberman, and Christian Lee Hutson and recorded with producer Josh Kaufman (Bonny Light Horseman, The Hold Steady, Cassandra Jenkins, Josh Ritter), the collection is an achingly beautiful exploration of loss, resilience, and growth from an artist who’s experienced more than her fair share of each in recent years. The songs are deceptively serene here, layering Youngs’ infectious pop sensibilities atop lush, dreamy arrangements that often belie the swift emotional currents lurking underneath. The performances, meanwhile, are riveting and nuanced to match, gentle yet insistent as they reckon with the pain of regret and the joy of redemption, sometimes in the very same breath. The result is the most raw and arresting release of Youngs’ remarkable career, a brutally honest, deeply vulnerable work of self-reflection that learns to make peace with the past as it transforms doubt and grief into hope and transcendence.
“There’s a good deal of heartbreak and disappointment in this music,” Youngs explains, “but it ultimately gives way to excitement and promise, to the incredible, immeasurable bliss of falling in love and finding yourself again. These songs travel the whole emotional spectrum.”
That kind of range has been Youngs’ calling card from the very start. Born and raised in rural New Jersey, she fell in love with The Beatles at an early age before eventually finding her way to The Cranberries and Elliott Smith in high school. Her self-recorded debut, Batten Down The Hatches, landed a high-profile sync in the Showtime series Weeds and led to a deal with Nettwerk Records, which re-released the album along with her 2009 follow-up, Transmitter Failure. Widespread acclaim and dates with the likes of Regina Spektor, Ingrid Michaelson, Frank Turner, and Aimee Mann followed, but by the time Youngs released her third album, 2012’s An Unwavering Band Of Light, she was ready for a change of pace.
“I started making trips to LA and Nashville to write with other artists and for film and TV,” says Youngs, who’s had her own songs placed in shows like Grey’s Anatomy, Bojack Horseman, and Suburgatory. “The more writing I did, the more the creative wheels were greased, and the more I figured out the kind of work I loved to do and the kind of artists and producers I loved to do it with.”
Chief among them was Semisonic’s Dan Wilson, who signed Youngs to a deal at what would eventually become publishing powerhouse Hipgnosis. In 2016, Youngs co-wrote Pitbull’s “Bad Man,” which debuted at the 58th annual Grammy Awards; in 2017, she co-wrote Shungudzo’s “Come On Back,” which was featured in the Fifty Shades Freed soundtrack; and in 2018, she co-wrote Panic! At The Disco’s smash hit “High Hopes,” which went five-times platinum and broke the record for most weeks atop Billboard’s Hot Rock Songs chart. Along the way, Youngs also launched Buffering The Vampire Slayer, an episode-by-episode podcast devoted to Buffy The Vampire Slayer that attracted more than 160,000 monthly listeners and led to a book deal with St. Martin’s Press.
“I created Buffering with my wife at the time, and we were only about halfway through the series when we got divorced,” says Youngs, who wrote a new original song for every episode of the show. “The project was an enormous and important part of both of our lives, and we knew we needed to see it through, but we’d been together for nine years at that point, and it was an excruciating process figuring out how to disentangle ourselves from our personal relationship while maintaining our professional one.”
That emotional rollercoaster ride began turning up in Youngs’ writing, which felt increasingly more intimate and personal as she navigated her way through the pain of divorce and the excitement of falling in love with her second wife. Working under her own name once again, she dipped her toes back into the solo artist waters, releasing a series of singles and EPs that earned attention everywhere from the New York Times to Stereogum, all while continuing to maintain her busy schedule of writing sessions and podcast tapings. (Youngs and her ex-wife recently launched a second series called The eX-Files, and she has a narrative fiction podcast due out next year.)
“Eventually I just found myself sitting on this mountain of tracks that all felt like ‘Jenny Songs,’” she explains. “That’s how I knew I was ready to tackle a full-length album again.”
Working with Kaufman, Youngs tracked the music quickly and intuitively, recording guitars and vocals live on the floor in minimal takes. It was a new, at times daunting approach—in the past, she’d often painstakingly crafted songs a layer at a time—but the presence and magnetism of her performances was undeniable.
“I don’t think this album feels like anything I’ve ever made before,” she reflects. “It breathes and feels alive in ways I didn’t know was possible.”
That vitality is obvious from the outset on Avalanche, which opens with the bittersweet title track. Written with Madi Diaz, the song builds from a tentative whisper to a muscular declaration as it breaks the silence of an emotional bottleneck. “When I try to say the things I can’t / It comes out like an avalanche,” she sings with breathy, doubled vocals. “How else do I prove that I adore you?” Like much of the record, the track wrestles with learning to let go and surrender to forces beyond our control, with allowing yourself to tear down everything you’ve built in order to begin again on your own terms. The airy “Salt” grapples with the painful revelations that accompany a necessary parting of ways, while the soaring “Next Time Around” imagines the past lives and parallel universes where things might have turned out differently, and the tense “Everglades” explores the grey areas of honesty and sincerity, with Youngs slyly confessing, “I tell the truth but in between / I say a lot of things I don’t mean.”
Though much of the album is rooted in the romantic, Youngs’ writing is, at its core, an examination of human relationships in all their myriad forms (along with the indelible marks those connections inevitably leave on us). The tender “Goldenrod” works through the unexpected death of a friend and the unsaid goodbyes that still linger after their passing; the mesmerizing “Bury Me Slowly” excavates childhood trauma and explores the ways it shapes us as adults; and delicate closer “Now Comes The Mystery” contemplates the emptiness that death leaves behind. But even in the face of profound loss, there’s always the opportunity for a fresh start, a notion that’s perhaps best encapsulated by the hypnotic “Knife Went In,” which finds Youngs reveling in the joy of falling for someone whose scars match your own. “There’s a mark on my body / Where the knife went in / Like a map to the memory / Of who I’ve been,” she sings before later offering up a mirror image of the line: “You’re the light you’re the lantern / And you shine right through / I don’t know why you love me / But thank God you do / All I need’s what I wanted / And it all begins / At the place on your body / Where the knife went knife went in.”
It’s a moment of rapturous bliss born from devastating heartache, which is ultimately what Avalanche is all about. There’s no substitute for time when it comes to making our way through the darkness of pain and isolation, but there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel for anyone willing to make the journey. More than a decade after her last album, Jenny Owen Youngs has reached the other side.
DJ Chad Banks
MAY 11 @ 10PM | DOORS 10PM | UPSTAIRS
DJ Chad Banks takes us through a tour of the dirty south.
DJ Chad Banks
603 Mafia: Dirty South Rap Mix
w/ visuals by Mike Marchand
Sat 5/11
10pm doors/10pm show
21+ | $10
Mother's Day Blues Brunch: Bees Deluxe
MAY 12 @ 11AM | DOORS 10AM | UPSTAIRS
Eggs + Blues + Moms!
All Ages | $10
Hell-bent on their mission to bring the blues into the 21st century, Bees Deluxe pushes the limits, colors outside the lines of convention, and bends the genre to create a sound that is distinct, highly musical, and yet deeply respectful of the blues tradition.
Fronted and founded by British guitarist Conrad Warre, the band’s repertoire includes addictive originals, as well as fresh takes on tunes by artists ranging from Billie Holiday and Etta James – Joe Zawinul and Jimi Hendrix. Bees Deluxe has toured from Maine to Miami winning fans, amazing audiences, and sharing the stage with headliners like: Ronnie Earl, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Mike Zito, Walter Trout, Joanna Connor, Matt Schofield, and Roomful of Blues.
With the ability to play as a full four-piece, trio or duo, Bees Deluxe features the virtuoso guitar work and smoky vocals of Warre with Carol Band on keys, harp, and vocals, and Paul Giovine on drums and percussion. Each musician brings their own musical background and sensibility to the group and they share the spotlight on stage.
Bees Deluxe – “This is what Steely Dan would sound like if they played the blues” — John Kereiff, The Rock Doctors Hot Wax Album Reviews.
For more information about the band please visit: www.beesdeluxe.com
Book Release Party: Good Monster by Diannely Antigua
MAY 14 @ 7PM | DOORS 6:30PM | UPSTAIRS
Portsmouth’s award-winning poet laureate celebrates the release of her new book w/ guest readings & DJ Skooch!
18+ | FREE
Feat. readings by Myles Burr, Jake Baver, Johnathan Riley, and Alexandra Halaby.
Music by DJ Skooch
Copies of the book will be available for purchase.
Diannely Antigua (she/her) is a Dominican American poet and educator born and raised in Massachusetts. Her debut collection, Ugly Music, won a 2020 Whiting Award and the Pamet River Prize. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from NYU, where she was awarded a Global Research Initiative Fellowship to Florence, Italy. She was a finalist for the 2021 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship and the winner of fellowships from CantoMundo, Community of Writers, and the Academy of American Poets. Her work has appeared in the Best of the Net Anthology and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She currently serves as the poet laureate of Portsmouth, NH, and is the youngest and first person of color to hold the title. As host of the Bread & Poetry podcast, she aims to make poetry more accessible to the community, interviewing poets and non-poets alike about what poetry means to them.
Griffin William Sherry w/ Cold Chocolate
MAY 15 @ 8PM | DOORS 7PM | UPSTAIRS
Hat loving, foot stomping, music from the land of the way life should be.
18+
Living somewhere in-between modern catharsis and American myth, Griffin William Sherry’s roots continue to grow strong in the ever-evolving genres of Folk, Americana and Rock & Roll.
Griffin’s music is inspired by his New England rural roots. As such, he cobbles together an inimitable signature style, visceral and heartfelt, loud and passionate, each song taking on a voice of its own.
In 2011, He co-founded the independent band The Ghost of Paul Revere, capturing the hearts and minds of countless fans with a series of acclaimed releases and sold-out shows everywhere. He helped establish his own music festival, performed on national television, and garnered millions of streams. In 2019, his song The Ballad of the 20th Maine became the official Maine State Ballad, securing The Ghost of Paul Revere’s place in Maine music history.
In 2022, after writing music for seventeen years, Griffin’s begun work on his first solo record, taking a defiant step in a new direction.
Johnny Dynamite & The Bloodsuckers w/ Snoozer
MAY 16 @ 8PM | DOORS 7PM | UPSTAIRS
Glossy post-punk you can bring your mom to.
All ages
John Aaron Morisi better known by his stage name Johnny Dynamite is an American multi-instrumentalist, producer, and singer-songwriter. Inspired by the illustrative work of his grandfather, Morisi took on the name of one of his most iconic characters, an anti hero detective from the underworld; “Johnny Dynamite”. Morisi started his career playing in bands with DIY self-releases on Bandcamp, playing local shows in his native New York City and building up an audience through extensive touring and festival appearances. His solo debut “Heartbroken” (2020) garnered the attention of Philadelphia’s Born Losers Records who released his sophomore effort “Sleeveless” (2021) to critical acclaim from publications such as Post-Punk.com, Under The Radar Magazine, and CVLT Nation.
Over the course of his first two solo albums, Morisi has emerged as a succinct storyteller and songwriter. The character’s inside Morisi’s dream world are lucid, manic, and brimming with pangs of nostalgia. Poised against dark and atmospheric instrumentals, Morisi’s harrowed vocal delivery and lyrics paint a picture of lost youth, hopeless romanticism, and teenage rebellion. Morisi blends many different genres and connects the dots between different pockets of subculture; equal parts glossy new wave and anthemic rock n’ roll. Morisi’s signature beat centric production style incorporates big stadium drum samples, dreamy alternate guitar tunings and ethereal retro synth patches. Morisi’s sound has been compared to legacy acts such as Pet Shop Boys, INXS, and The Cure as well as more modern acts such as MGMT and M83.
Sapphic Factory: A Modern Queer Joy Dance Party
MAY 17 @ 10PM | DOORS 9:30PM | UPSTAIRS
Come dance.
All Ages
First 50 tickets: $16
Next 50: $20
All the rest: $25
IF YOU WANT TO GO OUT DANCING
AND CELEBRATE THE SOUNDS OF ETERNAL LONGING,
WE KNOW A PLACE…
❤️🧡🤍💖💜
SAPPHIC FACTORY 🌈
A MODERN QUEER JOY DANCE PARTY 🦋
come dance and be free to the music of muna, fletcher, phoebe bridgers,
boygenius, kim petras, marina, elio, ashnikko, girl in red, tegan and sara, and more. ✨
the sapphic factory: queer joy party has partnered with PLUS1 so that $1 per ticket goes to supporting the lgbt national help center and their work providing vital peer support, community connections, and resource information for the lgbt community. 💕
Taylor Marie Band + David Corson
MAY 18 @ 5PM | DOORS 6PM | UPSTAIRS
Up and coming country-pop.
All Ages
$5 Advanced / $10 Day of Show
The Taylor Marie Band is a local country-pop band from Dover, New Hampshire. Taylor writes music that reflects the everyday world of a young adult playing many different roles. Taylor has been playing and writing music since she was 12 years old and was originally inspired by her dad and Taylor Swift. Other inspirations include James Taylor, Kelsea Ballerini and Shania Twain. Taylor has played on radio stations such as 96.3FM JOPPA, 95.3 WMNH Granite State of Mind in Manchester and 92.5 The River. The band has played at venues and events such as Garrison Players Art Center in Rollinsford, NH, Market Days Festival in Concord, NH and Book and Bar in Portsmouth, NH. Her full band includes Jake Bartolin on lead guitar, Jake Kallander on bass and Travis Rummo on drums.
THE TAYLOR PARTY: THE TS DANCE PARTY
MAY 18 @ 10PM | DOORS 9PM | UPSTAIRS
The Original Fan Created TS Inspired Dance Party
18+
Hey, Lovers! Are you ready for it?
THE TAYLOR PARTY, the original Taylor Swift Inspired Dance Party. Come shake it off at our enchanting evening of Swifties, singing and dancing through all TS iconic Eras. Pick your Eras outfit, bring your besties, and come party in style! Long live the magic we’ll make.
TSN Parties LLC is not affiliated with, endorsed by, authorized by, sponsored by, or in any way officially connected with Taylor Swift or any of her respective business entities or their affiliates or subsidiaries, including but not limited to TAS Rights Management, LLC. The name Taylor Swift as well as related names, marks, emblems and images are registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Anick & Klaxton Quintet
MAY 19 @ 6PM | DOORS 5PM | UPSTAIRS
Press Room favorites Anick and Klaxton join forces w/ some of the top jazz musicians in the seacoast.
Press Room favorites Anick and Klaxton join forces with some of the top jazz musicians in the seacoast area for this special performance (Mike Effenberger on keys, Eric Von Oeyen on drums, and Matt Hogan on Bass). They will perform an eclectic mix of contemporary jazz and creative arrangements of pop tunes.
Berklee College of Music Professor Jason Anick, has earned a reputation among string players as an imaginative improviser, versatile composer, and insightful educator.Growing up playing fiddle tunes with his family and classical music with local orchestras, he developed a passion for improvisation, which led him to study jazz and classical music at Hartt Conservatory. In 2008, Anick started what would be a 10 year stint touring and recording with Grammy award-winning guitar virtuoso John Jorgenson while still a senior at Hartt Conservatory. As a band-leader, Anick has launched a variety of musical projects over the years, including the Gypsy Jazz group Rhythm Future Quartet, an Americana-inspired Acoustic Trio, and a contemporary jazz ensemble with pianist Jason Yeager. His string of recordings (Sleepless, Tipping Point, United, Travels, Rhythm Future Quartet and Friends) has earned him praise from Downbeat Magazine as a “Rising Star in the world of jazz violin.”
New England native, Chris Klaxton, has developed a reputation as a gifted multi-instrumentalist, an imaginative composer, and an effective educator. With degrees in both classical and jazz trumpet, Klaxton has received a rich and varied education, studying with: Brian Lynch, Terence Blanchard, Jason Carder, Dr. Robert Stibler, Stephen Guerra, Whit Sidener, and Gary Lindsay.
Perhaps the most significant musical relationship of Klaxton’s career is that with famed trumpeter, Clark Terry. Years of study, several years as valet / travel manager, and more than a decade of friendship with Clark, has left Chris saturated with lessons and anecdotes (musical and otherwise). Chris is proud to pass on a repertoire unique to Clark, a system of phrasing and rhythmic pronunciation, and a means of conveyance handed down directly from one of the founding fathers of the music.
Mike Effenberger is a recording and performing artist who has been living in the NH Seacoast since 2007. He received the Young Beacon in Jazz award from New School University in New York City, from which he graduated in 2005. While there, he studied with diverse artists including Jane Ira Bloom, Kenny Werner, John Hollenbeck, Reggie Workman, Fred Hersch, and Joanne Brackeen. Mike has curated an unmistakably individual voice that draws on gospel, minimalism, jazz, and 20th century music.
Eric von Oeyen is an active member of the Seacoast music scene, performing as a drummer and percussionist with a wide array of local and regional groups. From a young age he had an interest in music, starting on piano at the age of 8 before taking up the drums in middle school. He later earned his degree in Music Performance from the University of New Hampshire, where he had the privilege of sharing the stage and learning from jazz masters Clark Terry, James Moody, Rufus Reid, and Jeff Hamilton.
Specializing in jazz and improvisatory music, Eric can be seen performing with Zero Gravity (with Nathan Therrien and Bryan Killough), OurBigBand, Chris Klaxton, Taylor O’Donnell, and Stu Dias.”
Matt Hogan, bass, is glad to be back on the Seacoast after a long hiatus. A 2004 graduate of the Hartt school, Matt studied under jazz legends Nat Reeves and Steve Davis before moving to Boston. He enjoyed being part of both the Boston and NH scene, and spent many hours on the road with his bass. In 2009, Matt moved to Tokyo with his wife Sarah. There he performed on bass with ex-pat and Japanese musicians, learning just enough of the language to get in to trouble. His two beautiful children, Liam and June, were born in Japan. In late 2014, Matt returned to NH with his family, and quickly jumped back into the swing of things. He is currently the manager of the Ryan Seacrest Studio at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Matthew Logan Vasquez w/ Justin & The Cosmics
MAY 23 @ 8PM | DOORS 7PM | UPSTAIRS
The Delta Spirit frontman comes to Portsmouth for an intimate show.
All Ages
Matthew Logan Vasquez’s writing goes where he goes. Synonymous with the sound of Southern California in the early 2000s, MLV’s first and most prominent band, Delta Spirit formed in his home state in 2005 and went on to tour internationally, appearing on coveted festival stages like Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza and late night TV like Jimmy Kimmel and Letterman.
Now nearing 10 years of releasing music as a solo artist and a handful of side quest projects like Glorietta and Middle Brother, Vasquez’s upcoming record, Frank’s Full Moon Saloon has the self-dubbed Calitexican’s sound firmly planted in the Lone Star state, his current and teenage home. “I’m a product of both the 90’s Austin music scene (Old 97’s, Ian Moore, Reverend Horton Heat) and Southern California in the early 00’s (Elliott Smith, Richard Swift).”
With the primary goal to capture “the alchemy of a live honest moment” and make a more raw, song forward record, Vasquez recorded most of Frank’s Full Moon Saloon himself in the garage honky tonk of a beloved neighbor and mentor. The album features more exposed versions of songs from throughout his career as well as guest appearances from members of Dr. Dog, Dawes, Deep Sea Diver, and Shovels & Rope. Recommended listening for those drawn to the musical stylings of modern writers like David Bazan and Hamilton Leithouser and underground giants Doug Sahm and Ry Cooder.
Scissorfight w/ Viqueen + Condition
MAY 24 @ 9:30PM | DOORS 8PM | UPSTAIRS
New Hampshire’s All Right.
$20 Advanced / $25 Day of Show
21+
2016 marked the reemergence of Scissorfight. The retooled version of the band features new members Doug Aubin on vocals and Rick Orcutt behind the drums, along with founding members Paul Jarvis and Jay Fortin. A new pair of scissors, same fight. Different yet familiar. Carrying on the traditional and forging a new chapter.
Walk That Walk
MAY 25 @ 5:30PM | DOORS 5PM | UPSTAIRS
Imagine a handful of friends hanging out on a porch with just enough whiskey in them to sing the blues, but not quite enough to pass out.
Imagine a handful of friends hanging out on a porch with just enough whiskey in them to sing the blues, but not quite enough to pass out. That’s the sound conjured up by Walk That Walk. There’s no effort made here to reinvent the wheel that is the enduring genre of the blues. These guys only want to have lots of fun making music, and invite the listener to join the party. The result is their new release “Big World of Trouble” – a sometimes-hard-rocking, sometime-easy-going-folksy, always-soulful blues album that catches our attention from the first chord, and doesn’t relinquish it until the studio runs out of electricity.
As one of the premier bands on the impressive Boston blues scene, Walk That Walk is an east-coast phenomenon, but its midwestern roots run deep. The group’s material and fiery performances are born of the fertile sounds of Detroit and Chicago, where the electric blues was forged in the 1950s. The group has served as the New England touring band for two Rock’n’Roll Hall of Famers – Bo Diddley and Johnnie Johnson, pianist and co-writer in Chuck Berry’s legendary combo.
They honed their unique, toe-tapping sound by performing at 800+ shows – and earning extensive airplay on 500+ radio stations with their debut self-titled release, and subsequent studio recordings. They have been a mainstay act in the renowned Boston Blues Festival for many years, performing alongside greats including Levon Helm, Gatemouth Brown, Eric Burdon, Son Seals, and Big Jack Johnson. Their work includes long-running engagements at the major New England rooms including the original House of Blues, the renowned Harper’s Ferry, and Johnny D’s Uptown Lounge.
As front-man Poppa C notes, “if you’re not passionate and high energy when you perform, people will head for the exits.” These days, the only reason folks are near the exits at Walk That Walk shows is because there’s nowhere else to stand!
Katy Pinke w/ Norwood & Kate Possi
MAY 29 @ 8PM | DOORS 7PM | UPSTAIRS
A great night of indie singer-songwriters feat. NYC’s Katy Pinke.
18 + | $12 adv./$15 day of
Katy Pinke’s songs are self-examinations—cerebral and unsparing, but reaching toward a more promising future. The Manhattan-based singer-songwriter, painter and actor mixes the precise and wry delivery of The Roches and Connie Converse with the idiosyncratic songforms of her espoused hero Bill Callahan.
Pinke is currently on tour, celebrating the release of her self-titled debut album. It is a work which strips Pinke’s art down to its absolute essence. At the home studio of Phil Weinrobe (Adrianne Lenker, Cass McCombs), she recorded her vocals and minimal guitar accompaniments live with drummer Jeremy Gustin in front of an audience of a few friends. The idea was to capture the energy of Pinke’s live shows—storied events in the NYC indie rock scene. (Artists she has shared the stage with include Laura Veirs, Jolie Holland, TV On the Radio’s Kyp Malone, and Indigo Sparke.)
Norwood is a 26 year-old multi-instrumentalist songwriter and former Marine based out of the Northeast. He has collaborated with artists like Toth, Delicate Steve, Indigo Sparke, and Katy Pinke. His debut EP “Miss the Point” released on Island House Recordings in 2023, and was recorded in between A/C breaks during the dog days of summer in Brooklyn. It reflects on issues of identity upon getting out of the military, as well as a genuine warmth and gratitude for the people we connect with in life.
Kate Possi, a Boston native, has been playing around the Seacoast New Hampshire music scene for a couple of years now. Starting with the cello at 9 and later transitioning to guitar at 13, Possi has captivated audiences across New England with her indie-folk sound, both solo and with her band. Through her live performances, she shares her music with its themes like loss, heartbreak, and love. Thank you for being a part in this musical journey!
A Strange Day: Seventeen Seconds plus Cure Hits & B-Sides
JUNE 1 @ 7PM | DOORS 6:30PM | UPSTAIRS
It’s Saturday, I’m in love.
21+ | $20 adv./$23 day of
COME GET UR HUNNY This Party Is Killing You!: The Robyn Party
JUNE 1 @ 9:30PM | DOORS 9PM | UPSTAIRS
COME GET UR HUNNY FOR 2024
21+
ADVENTURE[s] Brooklyn brings their legendary pop night This Party Is Killing You!: The Robyn Party to NH for the first time EVER.This Party Is Killing You!: The Robyn Party is the original, greatest, and longest-running pop party celebrating the Swedish goddess of pop, Robyn, in all her many flavors, and the greatest pop night in the world. The legendary, infamous and now-internationally known night and its DJs/creators Russ Marshalek, Marley Magaziner, and Chris Choyce were featured by none other than Robyn herself in her short film Missing U, where she drops in on the party for a surprise DJ set.At The Robyn Party you’ll hear all of Robyn’s hits, b-sides, lost tracks, remixes, aaaannnd just maybe some tunes you won’t hear elsewhere, along with your other pop faves like Charli, Gaga, Carly, Mariah, and more.So so so so much more than just a “Robyn’s hits” party, The Robyn Party is a euphoric, make-out inspiring, uplifting, cry-dancing, life-changing night and a testament to the power of the dance floor.Some special tunes, giveaways, and surprises are in store…so hold tight! You’ll understand why so many sweat-drenched partygoers around the world have been heard to exclaim “The Robyn Party saved my life! “WE LOVE YOU.
Mike Maurice w/ Sophie Patenaude & Duquette
JUNE 5 @ 7PM | DOORS 6PM | UPSTAIRS
Three soulful singer-songwriters come together for one night of beautiful music.
18 + | $12 adv./$15 day of
Mike Maurice
Mike Maurice is a singer/songwriter & multi instrumentalist from Biddeford Maine who combines soulful, earthy instrumentation and melancholic undertones to create a sonic atmosphere. Influenced by the playing of John Mayer and the writing of Gregory Alan Isakov, Fleet Foxes & Bon Iver, his new album “Apartment Secrets” touches on love, loss and the inner dialogue that many can relate to from the isolation of the pandemic.
Mike and his band of talented multi-instrumentalist have built a growing community in New England playing at a wide variety of listening rooms and larger venues over the past decade including: State Theater, Port City Music Hall, PHOME, One Longfellow Square, Triad Theater in NYC, Wilbur Theater in Boston, and others. Mike recently opened for Caroline Cotter and the Wolff Sisters, who are playing in this year’s Boston Calling.
Learn more at www.mikemauricemusic.com
Duquette
“duquette” consists of Rob Duquette, of Jonathan Edwards touring band, on drums, guitar, and vocals. The legendary John Kumnick, bassist for Cyndi Lauper and David Bowie. And Club d’Elf guitarist Randy Roos of Berklee! Featuring backing vocals and lyrical dance accompaniment by Amanda Duquette. This is a group that has something for everyone to enjoy. DuquetteAllTimeMusic.com
Nick Goumas Quartet
JUNE 9 @ 6PM | DOORS 5PM | UPSTAIRS
One of our favorites is back for a dazzling night of jazz.
Nick Goumas Quartet
Tenor and soprano saxophonist Nick Goumas is a jazz musician who has developed his own mature , imaginative and identifying style. Nick performs with energy, feeling and musical integrity.
Drawing from the “ American Song Book “ along with today’s “ Jazz Standards” ; The Quartet’s post Bebop, contemporary straight ahead style along with a display of rhythmic and harmonic sense, produces some exciting jazz improvisation.The Quartet’s growing audience has a mixture of musicians and jazz aficionados alike. The Quartet is joined by three outstanding Boston area musicians who all have outstanding credentials Steve Hunt on piano , Jim Lyden on Acoustic bass and Peter Moutis on drums .
Joe Kaplow w/ Kate Possi
JUNE 12 @ 8PM | DOORS 7PM | UPSTAIRS
Indie folk goodness from the Golden State.
All Ages
Before I started my career I had a choice: to take over my parent’s thoroughbred farm in New Jersey or pursue music full time in California and relinquish the farm to sale. I still wonder what life would have looked like had I stayed, but who can resist the gold rush? Besides, I plan to get back there one day on another farm with some other red barn.
My music comes from life’s moments — smelling 4 acres of freshly cut grass, watching the steam from a horse’s breath in the early morning, finally holding the neck of my guitar after holding bridles and worn wooden handles all day. 4000 acres of freshly burnt wildfire, watching the steam from the Pacific Ocean’s breath in the early morning, finally holding the neck of my guitar after clutching the worn steering wheel of the tour van all day.
Now my reality is in Bonny Doon, CA, where mountains meet the sea. I am in my recording studio, aptly named Hippie Cowboy, every day. Slow and steady; keep it fun, stay engaged. All for the moment when the song finally sounds right. My dad passed away a couple years ago — his bullwhip is on the wall, his Harley is in the driveway. He visits me in dreams, and oh, the moment I wake up! Sometimes I write for him. Sometimes for my mom, who I hope will move out to California soon. Maybe she could volunteer at an equestrian center…
A person is made from their moments, like their music is made. I know this is a bio but I shouldn’t have to say much. Listen to the record. If I’ve done my job well, you will know me by the end.
Artist Statement
This is a special record to me. Unlike the past few, this one sounds like a more cohesive ‘band’ statement. Most of it was cut together live, in a room over five days. Rob, Elliott, and I had been playing for a long time with Mikey and then Hawes on drums, and while the music always felt great, the ‘band’ feeling hadn’t made its way into the recording studio. ‘Time Spent In Between’ and ‘Sending Money and Stems’ were very pieced together albums; me playing most of the instruments, collaborating with many different drummers but working one song at a time, etc. However, when Jeff moved back from Nashville and joined the band, it felt more cohesive. Maybe we gelled because Jeff came from the same musical world. In our little family Jeff championed nicknames, Elliott invented musical travel games, and Rob and I rolled our eyes at their enthusiasm for Arby’s. We travelled around sharing our art and feeling free. When we went to Enterprise, OR to record the first session, most of the songs were learned on the spot. We strove for the zenith moments when we knew the song well enough to not make errors but still had to fly by the seats of our pants to keep it from coming unglued. Everything has an arc like this. After all, when you know something well enough you can take the present for granted. After those sessions we toured our new songs for a year (it usually goes the other way around) and decided some of the songs were misunderstood the first time so we recorded them again, live and together. I am thankful and proud of that process and proud of them. The music captured on this record occurred in very special moments between four people who had a special bond, musically and beyond. We hope you enjoy it.
Kassi Valazza w/ Sequoia & Blue Cactus Duo
JUNE 15 @ 7PM | DOORS 6PM | UPSTAIRS
A modern country crooner.
21+
There is a cult-like fascination growing around Kassi Valazza following the self-release of her 2019 debut album Dear Dead Days and her surprise 2022 EP Highway Sounds. She is seated squarely at the vanguard of new American songwriters strengthening and broadening the sound of country music as she tours with celebrated acts such as Melissa Carper and Riddy Arman. The Southwestern native resides in Portland, a hotbed of songwriters producing albums that both bear the torch and bend the arc of American roots music, where she recently signed with Fluff & Gravy Records — a label known for launching Anna Tivel and Margo Cilker.
Valazza’s forthcoming new albumKassi Valazza Knows Nothing is a spellbinding collection of songs that dangle like protective magic talismans, catching dreams and glinting light. She hypnotizes listeners with a sturdy, yet gentle, voice and painterly songwriting imbued with an independent spirit. Though her music plays country cousin to British folk, calling to mind greats like Sandy Denny (Fairport Convention) and Karen Dalton, a Southwestern American streak carves its way through these solemn, sweetly sung melodies like a canyon.
On the upcoming 10-song set, multi-instrumentalists from Portland’s TK & the Holy Know-Nothings appear in varying roles as Valazza’s backing band: Taylor Kingman (guitars, bass, vocals), Jay Cobb Anderson (harmonica, guitars, pedal steel, bass), Lewi Longmire (pedal steel, piano, bass, trumpet), Sydney Nash (organ, Farfisa, cornet, Wurlitzer), and Tyler Thompson (drums). The group’s swirling psychedelia combines with Valazza’s gutsy and graceful vocal poetry for a singular sound that washes over the listener like a flash flood, heavy and without warning.
Album opener “Room In The City” introduces Valazza’s high-lonesome, but never lonely world with sharp harmonica and reeling organ. She sings of a touring musician’s longing for home, and a distant lover, with lyrical imagery of open skies, whistling winds, and sepia-toned rock formations: “Did you think I’d be out here feeling lonely? / If I said I thought so too it’d be a lie / When I talk to you it’s hard to be withholding / And I was born to chase this blue out of my eyes./ In the still, I often wonder about your breathing / I rise and fall to its rhythm late at night / Clay canyons turn to plaster in my grieving / And our ceiling overtakes the sky.”
Using the physical world around her to paint metaphors from the soul, Valazza carries us through her mind and heart, ever the effortless narrator. “Watching Planes Go By” spins a cautionary tale about the dangers of standing still in life and accepting one’s own fate. The song sets a curious and cosmic atmosphere of psychedelic folk-rock as Valazza reflects on the struggles of moving on, “Autumn leaves turn to yellow / and green turns to jealousy / Watching days go by.”
On “Corners,” fingerpicked acoustic guitar dances with bounding bass and twinkling piano, as twanging telecaster and a gentle backing choir flow behind Valazza like a stream through a lonesome vista. “The clouds move slower than they ever seemed to / Still, they find a way to pass me by,”she sings on her breezy lament about the longing that comes with an unhealthy love, “My friends, though, they wonder what I’m used to / To love a man who never treats me right.”
“Smile” opens with a familiar telecaster honky-tonk squawk and a half-time trot, but Valazza sings in deference to traditional bar-room tales. Hers is about acceptance when love is not enough, about being satisfied having met someone at all, and keeping only a farewell note as a souvenir. “I guess I could have left the light on / Or stayed awake to see you home / But good intentions go unnoticed / And I fare better on my own.” In her careful hands, the typical loved-and-lost tale becomes an ode to self-realization and the liberating feeling of going it alone.
As her journey winds down to “Welcome Song” — the album’s final Valazza-original preceding a perfect closing cover of Michael Hurley’s “Wildegeeses” — tension from her nearly behind-the-beat band pushes and pulls the listener into a whirlwind of stream-of-consciousness lyricism. The opening verse, “As I was laying on my floor / Hiding dreams from the t.v. / I heard a knocking at my door / While my eyes faked sleeping,” paints an immaculate mental picture of both the physical surroundings of the narrator and what she’s feeling and thinking at the time. It’s clear that every line Valazza writes carries extreme weight, every simple word is carefully chosen and placed with intention.
Kassi Valazza Knows Nothingcaptures the romanticism of country crooners with the intuition of a realist poet. Exploring themes of love and longing through metaphors from the natural world, Valazza manages to cut straight to the heart of the human experience, her lucid songs full of delightfully languid characters that haunt the hallucinatory soundscapes her band creates.
Led by kindred spirit songwriters Steph Stewart and Mario Arnez, Blue Cactus got their start among the active honky-tonk circuit of North Carolina, developing an electrified twang that now branches out effortlessly into folk, alt-country, and psychedelic-tinged rock. Blue Cactus has supported a diverse set of artists over its eight-year history (The War & Treaty, Town Mountain, and Junior Brown, among others), Stewart’s introspective lyricism and Arnez’s skill for lush arrangements making the band potent in the studio and on stage. Praised by No Depression for their ability to paint “beautiful pictures of limitless possibility” in roots music, Blue Cactus has drawn comparisons to Gillian Welch and Emmylou Harris.
Their sophomore album, Stranger Again, released in 2021 on Sleepy Cat Records, nabbed enthusiastic attention from tastemakers including No Depression, American Songwriter, FLOOD Magazine, Talkhouse, and INDY Week among others. Following their critically acclaimed 2017 debut and a string of singles in 2020, Stranger Again saw the band taking their sound to an ambitious new plane, where country-rock and light psychedelia mingle, vocals soaring over twangy slide guitars and propulsive basslines.
Between the comfort of classic country and the glamor of 70s rock, Blue Cactus resuscitate a fleeting style of honest-to-goodness country music considered valueless to a “new” country music where songwriting is officiated by financial analysts and teams of marketing plutocrats instead of woebegone troubadours. With a high lonesome twang, a Lucinda-like southern drawl, and blistering guitar techniques, Blue Cactus exercises the honky-tonk muscles to firmly bear the flag for a new generation of country music.
Twen w/ Raavi
JUNE 21 @ 7PM | DOORS 6PM | UPSTAIRS
These indie rockers are coming up fast.
18+
Twen is a van-lifeing rock band that emerged onto the east coast music scene in 2017 with their distinct blend of shoegaze, indie rock, and post-punk influences. Though the band was formed in 2016 by lead vocalist Jane Fitzimmons and guitarist Ian Rollins Jones, their emergence post-pandemic has marked the beginning of what is essentially an entirely new project; save for their keeping the name “Twen”.
This latest chapter is marked by the band booking their own tours, designing and screen printing their own merch, directing and editing their own music videos, and producing and mixing their own albums; all to a degree which would seem impossible to believe, if you didn’t know that they also built their own mobile-home from scratch and have been living in it, traversing the North American continent for the past 3 years.
The duo-led 5 piece are readying their 3rd LP to be released in 2024, but have already debuted lead single ‘SeaStar’; an early 00’s throwback to Southern California beach anthems that finds the band further evolving from the coy, shoegaze aesthetics of ‘Awestruck’ (2019) – to a modern classicism; characterized on their 2nd LP ‘One Stop Shop’ (2022) by political (yet hopeful) lyrics, indelible hooks and a home-grown sonic mix that rewards the listener with each subsequent spin.
With over 350 shows under their belt across North America and Europe, including arena appearances supporting Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Wet Leg, Whitney, Tacocat, & White Reaper, Twen’s live show exhibits their all-around relevance as a DIY rock band thriving in the digital age.
Horsegirl w/ TV Buddha
JUNE 26 @ 8PM | DOORS 7PM | UPSTAIRS
Fuzzy indie rock meets swirly shoegaze.
All Ages
Horsegirl is a noisy rock trio from Chicago composed of Penelope Lowenstein (she/her), Nora Cheng (she/her), and Gigi Reece (they/them). Horsegirl draws inspiration from shoegaze and post-punk, in the realm of ‘90’s American and UK indie underground.
Matt Michienzie Band
JUNE 27 @ 8PM | DOORS 7PM | UPSTAIRS
Award-winning bluegrass from California.
Matt Michienzie originally hails from Foxboro, MA. For the past five years, Matt has resided in Los Angeles, where he plays with his countrified, bluesified, and grassified band. His passion as a songwriter is vividly clear: Matt sings from his heart and gives it his all in everything he plays. Whether fronting a bluegrass group, jam band, or country band, Matt is able to combine his influential and eclectic music curiosities in a very tasteful and unique way.
Not unlike many California grass bands, MMB is a progressive bluegrass project. The roots of the band are in bluegrass…although they have a keen interest in incorporating other genres into their sound, such as jam, soul, or traditional country. The band currently consists of fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and bass. In December 2022, Matt Michienzie Band flew back east to Matt’s neck of the woods to open for Tim Reynolds and TR3 at the Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River, MA. This would begin their travels as a band.
In summer 2022, the band made their Grass Valley debut at the Father’s Day Festival, hosted by the California Bluegrass Association.
Just recently, the band won 1st Place Band at the Topanga Banjo and Fiddle Contest – one of the longest running contests of it’s type. In October 2023, the band competed in the Battle of the Bands at Huck Finn Jubilee in SoCal and took home first place.
The band has most recently opened for the Kitchen Dwellers, AJ Lee and Blue Summit, Water Tower Band, etc…
On their 2024 slate, the band will be playing at the Long Beach Bluegrass Festival, Topanga Banjo Fiddle Contest, Rambling Peaks Festival, The Western Swingout Festival and more…
Illiterate Light: Slow Down Time Tour w/ NOVA ONE
JULY 11 @ 8PM | DOORS 7PM | UPSTAIRS
A real rock and roll show.
21+
Illiterate Light thrives on subverting expectations. Though just a duo, singer-guitarist JeffGorman and drummer Jake Cochran make surprisingly pummeling and catchy alternativerock. Since the band’s 2015 inception, they’ve intently focused on their unorthodox liveshow with Cochran standing behind his kit and Gorman playing synth bass with his foot ashe sings and strums his guitar. Fiercely egalitarian and independent, the two not only splitup songwriting duties and arrangement ideas, they even built bike-powered stages:bringing the fans into the live experience and envisioning a greener future for shows.But with their latest albumSunburned, out January 27 via Thirty Tigers, Gorman and Cochranhave turned their attention inward to their songwriting and studio craft. It’s their most fully-realized and ambitious LP yet, one that’s full of immediate songs that update and revolutionizethe band’s approach to making music. There are rich keyboard and programmed percussiontextures now populating their songs, as well as soaringly anthemic choruses, and hefty dosesof fuzz. “On our first record, we were very live-focused and wanted to make sure whatever wewere writing was translated in person,” says Gorman. “Without that crutch, we could be moreadventurous and take more risks. We definitely weren’t timid in the studio.
The Thing
JULY 12 @ 8PM | DOORS 7PM | UPSTAIRS
LONG LIVE THE THING.
The Thing is a four piece from New York City.
The band originated in High School when Michael Carter, Jack Bradley, and Zane Acord bonded over a shared love for rock & roll. Over the years they honed their craft, self recording and writing songs influenced by 60’s pioneers such as the Kinks, Grand Funk Railroad, and artists of The Nuggets Compilation. As they progressed in skill and knowledge the band started to envision a career inspired by the likes of Brian Jonestown Massacre, King Gizzard, and The Black Keys.
The Thing started playing shows and creating a buzz around New York City in the Winter of 2022. Shortly after, the band embarked on small tours up and down the east coast. Their energetic live performances earned the attention of honest music lovers.
Their debut record “Here’s The Thing” was released in April 2023. The record is a compilation of songs written throughout the early years of the band. It was self recorded and produced deep in the hills of Sharon, CT, continued in their Crown Heights apartment, then finished in the band’s East Williamsburg studio, Onion Records. While each environment was set up with humble equipment, the band’s commitment for authentic recording and their passion for rock & roll is what makes the album unique.
With the album out in the wild and the addition of Lucas Ebeling on the kit, The Thing is relentlessly touring, recording new music, and breaching the modern world of rock & roll.
Katy Kirby w/ Mei Semones
JULY 25 @ 8PM | DOORS 7PM | UPSTAIRS
Holy smokes, I’m in love
All Ages
Let’s face it: There’s no such thing as “real life”. There is only experience and the negotiations we undertake in order to share it with other people. On her second album Blue Raspberry, the New York-based songwriter Katy Kirby dives headlong into the artifice of intimacy: the glitter smeared across eyelid creases, the smiles switched on with an electric buzz, the synthetic rose scent all over someone who’s made herself smell nice just for you. An exegesis of Kirby’s first queer relationship, Blue Raspberry traces the crescendo and collapse of new love, savoring each gleaming shard of rock candy and broken glass along the way.
Originally from Spicewood, Texas, Kirby was living in Nashville when she started writing Blue Raspberry’s title track, the first of the album’s songs to take shape. “‘Blue Raspberry’ is the oldest song on the record. I began to write it a month or so before I realized, I think I’m queer,” she says. “There’s a tradition of yearning in country love songs. I like the male yearning songs better, usually. I started writing ‘Blue Raspberry,’ and I was thinking about, if I was in love with a woman, what would I love about her? Especially if she was someone that I couldn’t touch, but that I was pining for. What would I be caught on? And I thought that I would probably be particularly charmed by the choices she made on how to look after she woke up in the morning. I thought about tackiness, and the ways that’s a dirty word. That’s where the title comes from—loving someone for those choices, for the artificiality.”
Blue Raspberry follows Kirby’s acclaimed debut album Cool Dry Place, which was also recorded in Nashville and released in February of 2021. While the songs on that record unfold amidst Kirby finding her voice, Blue Raspberry is a polished and confident sophomore effort that deepens the questions that bubbled through Cool Dry Place about how people can reach each other despite all the hazard zones where human connection caves in.
After realizing that her romantic interest in women went beyond the confines of a songwriting exercise, Kirby kept writing songs that sought to untangle that false binary between the real and the fake, to celebrate the spectacles people put on for each other when they’re falling in and out of love. She committed herself completely to the work of drawing out these songs, often stealing away to her van to write immediately after playing an opening set while on a 2021 tour with Waxahatchee. For the first time since she started writing songs, Kirby stopped tamping down on her impulse to craft ornate, generously embellished music. “I felt less embarrassed about just wanting to write really gorgeous songs,” she says. She started weaving more intricate chord progressions and melodies into her work, and in turn she felt emboldened to hold onto the more baroque flourishes of her lyrics without whittling them down into plainer lines.
Many of the songs that make up Blue Raspberry stemmed from a single page of lyrical fragments, words and phrases that kept their hold on Kirby even as she slipped them into multiple settings. Images repeat on different songs throughout the album: cubic zirconia gleaming at a woman’s throat, the lab-grown substitute indistinguishable from earth-crushed diamonds; salt crystallizing as seawater dries on reddened skin; teeth that shine in a grin and then bite till they bruise. These refrains and reprises lend a tight narrative cohesion to the record, elevating its sharp queries into all the unlikely shapes love takes as it surges through you.
To underscore Blue Raspberry’s lyrical themes, Kirby worked with her band to develop a newly lush sonic palette replete with orchestral gestures arranged by her friend Rowen Merrill. “I felt like I was intending to write love songs for the first time. Once I realized they were queer love songs and celebrating artificiality, I wanted them to sound like they were bidding for a spot in the wedding reception canon,” she says. “It was more fun to just go for it than to try to restrain ourselves. Especially if we were just accepting the fact that we were trying to make objectively beautiful music, whatever that means.”
Together with producers Alberto Sewald and Logan Chung, Kirby looked to albums like Andy Shauf’s The Party and Lomelda’s Hannah as models for Blue Raspberry’s abundant but spacious gorgeousness. Piano and strings echo together on the gentle ballad “Salt Crystal,” while scrapes of cello punctuate each heartbroken line of “Alexandria,” a song about the dissolution of Kirby’s first queer relationship and recorded live in one take. Cymbals and organs stagger across the offbeat “Drop Dead,” one of the album’s most playful songs that highlights the sly humor in Kirby’s lyrics: “There’s no virgin territory for a body like hers.” On the album’s title track, Kirby sings trailed by a pitch-lowered echo of her own voice, her guitar chords hanging in the air like question marks. Her imagery seizes upon the bright, garish colors of mass-produced material, homing in on its sensory intensity while casting aside any judgment about its source. “Her eyes burn white as Styrofoam right into me,” she sings, rendering a cheap, disposable substance into shocking magic.
“Why wouldn’t that be enough?” Kirby sings throughout the album, a question that’s never answered and never drops. Every attempt at love strains toward the idea of the real thing, that totalizing force that makes everything around it perfect forever. But if no one ever gets there, why wouldn’t the straining itself suffice? Blue Raspberry shivers with the idea that the key to the treasure is itself the treasure—even if it’s plastic, even if its gold coating flakes off at your touch, even if despite all your searching you never find the lock.
El Dorado
JULY 28 @ 8PM | DOORS 7PM | UPSTAIRS
True, honest Country music.
We can talk about their beginnings, their roots, their lineage and their heritage, but that does not even begin to scratch the surface that is the iceberg of El Dorodo. Before the age of woefully crafted template songs that littered radio all across America, there was an age of radio and song craft that spoke to everyone on a common level. These words tell stories — stories of heartache, stories of past good times…but mostly heartache. A universal understanding of the human emotion coupled with every great sound that music has to offer, all in one place.
El Dorodo is all of these things and all of these things are Country music. El Dorodo appreciates, respects and loves all types of “good” music. You may hear aspects of these different genres represented in our music. We are fans first. Our hearts lie in Country/Western/Old Time music and culture. We represent true, honest Country music to be consumed by the masses and we do so with full hearts. Our aim is to get back to the basics of love…El Dorodo is country music.
John Cruz w/ Gooseberry
August 2 @ 7PM | DOORS 6PM | UPSTAIRS
Legendary indigenous Hawaiian singer-songwriter John Cruz makes his Press Room debut w/ bluesy NYC indie rockers Gooseberry opening up.
John Cruz
John Cruz (Hawaiian/Chamorro/Native American-Cherokee/ Japanese/Caucasian) has distinguished himself as one of the most talented artists to come from Hawai‘i, known for his heartfelt melodies and passionate, soulful vocals that his fans have grown to love. His song “Island Style” has become one of the most cherished themes of Hawai‘i.
He engages audiences with his rich storytelling through songs ranging from Hawaiian to Blues, Folk, Americana, Roots and Country. He delivers spellbinding performances, with music that references Hawaiian roots and “Island style” life, while incorporating
contemporary folk-rock rhythms and virtuosic riffs. Captivating guitar, soulful vocals and a compassionate, genuine heart make Cruz one of Hawai’i’s most talented and beloved Artists.
Cruz is multi-Na Hoku Hanohano Award-winner (Hawai‘i’s
“Grammys”), and was featured on the Grammy Award-winning album Slack Key Guitar, Vol. 2, the first album to win in the newly-created “Hawaiian Music” category (now retired) at the Grammys, and the first-ever Hawaiian album to win a Grammy.
“John is a great songwriter and a great singer…he’s one of the best.” — Jackson Browne
“one of the finest contemporary singer songwriter-musicians you’ll hear, Hawaii-based or otherwise… Cruz’s honeyed, husky voice is a marvel — real world honest whether touching on subjects painfully personal or sweetly hopeful” — Hawai’i Magazine
Gooseberry
Gooseberry is a trio from Brooklyn, New York born during the Fall of 2019. Their combination of alternative rock, indie, and blues is a recipe for a unique sound that Gooseberry delivers in each song. The band consists of Asa Daniels (guitar, vocals), Evin Rossington (drums), and Will Hammond (bass).
Since the release of their 2022 debut EP, Broken Dance, Brooklyn, NY indie rock trio Gooseberry has been busy. Their eminently engaging music has tickled the ears and stirred the hearts of both music fans and the industry itself. The band has racked up hundreds of thousands of streams, garnered praise from editorial stalwarts Under the Radar, Ones to Watch, and more.
Yet, more than anything, in the ten months since the release, Gooseberry has been focused on doing what they do best: playing shows. Deeply connected to the scene in NYC and Brooklyn, they have dazzled crowds from the iconic Baby’s All Right to the legendary Knitting Factory. “We are super fortunate to call a lot of really great – and buzzing – NYC bands our friends” says Daniels. “We feel ourselves part of that community and eternally grateful for being welcomed with such open arms. Our hometown has truly shaped what this band has become.” Gooseberry has played all along the east coast, often with local heartthrobs (My Son The Doctor, Meyru, Cab Ellis) and major touring acts (BabyJake, Grady Spencer & The Work, Tanner Usrey, Maybird) alike.
Now, the power trio is back with a new slate of songs born in Greenpoint and honed to perfection on the road. Conceived and fleshed out over the course of a year, Validate Me as a cohesive piece of art eloquently showcases the unique alternative rock sound that is wholly Gooseberry. “Life as a trio allows us to really lean into dynamics,” explains Daniels. “We can hit you with a squall of distortion and guttural shouts, then shift on a dime and sing you a lullaby.”
Thematically, Validate Me grapples with the relationship between love and making art, magnifying the sacrifices and leaps of faith both require. “Anger as a device can lead to both polished and rough expressions of passion,” says Daniels. “Much of that anger manifests from fear, which drives us down many wayward paths, whether it be fear of rejection, fear of too much understanding, or fear of losing control.”
In addition to Daniels, Rossington, and Hammond, the record features performances by honorary fourth member, Dan Janis, on saxophone and flute. Tracked at two Manhattan studios, Precision Sound Studios and Orbital Music & Sound, the record was produced by the band along with Grammy-nominated engineer Colin Bryson. Longtime collaborator and Grammy-award winning engineer James Meslin (Dream Theater, Liquid Tension, John Petrucci) mixed the record.
What the trio created during these sessions is a record that is foundationally, fundamentally, whole-heartedly Gooseberry. No more, no less. Daniels’s dynamic songwriting soaring over Rossington’s bombastic drums; Hammond’s fluid bass lines the glue holding it all together. Road-keen musicianship wrapped around witty lyricism. More than anything, though, Validate Me proves that Gooseberry knows exactly who they are – gritty rock born at the nexus of DIY and arena-ready pop – and good god they are unapologetic about it.
Mule Variations
SEPTEMBER 8 @ 6PM | DOORS 5PM | UPSTAIRS
Swampy blues from some of Boston’s best musicians.
An exciting blend of the best Americana songs, musical styles, and songwriters! Inspired by musical heroes Tom Waits, JJ Cale, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters, Pops Staples, singer-songwriter Kevin Connolly (voted “Best of Boston”) has put together a powerful approach to playing their songs, along with several complimentary originals. Covering blues, pop, soul, and country, Mule Variations pays tribute and gets down to the serious business of having fun and features some of Boston’s best musicians! We call it LO-FI-SWAMP-GROOVE.
