Author: Michael Witthaus

The Music Roundup 21/09/16

Local music news & events

• Frenetic: Along with playing and writing with Godsmack singer Sully Erna, Chris Lester is a fixture on the regional music scene, from the beloved Mama Kicks and Monkeys With Hammers to his ubiquity as a solo performer at places like this upscale Salem restaurant and bar. He’s also an entertaining guitar geek; his Instagram offers an ongoing display of alluring and unique axes, from Les Pauls to Stratocasters to a geometric bass. Go Thursday, Sept. 16, 7 p.m., Copper Door, 41 South Broadway, Salem. See chrislester.me.

• Electric: Anyone claiming that electronic music is only knob-twirling hasn’t witnessed a performance by Evanoff. The Colorado band is a music machine. Yes, there are a pair of Ableton-equipped laptops onstage, synched together like twin minds and packed with loops, effects and other studio-created sounds, but when the group’s namesake, JJ Evanoff, plays guitar, he evokes Hendrix and Zappa, not Skrillex. Friday, Sept. 17, 8 p.m., Shaskeen Pub, 909 Elm St., Manchester, $15 in advance at theticketing.co/events/Evanoff.

• Celtic: Incredibly, the calendar is already halfway to St. Patrick’s Day, a mark that Steven DeLuca will celebrate with a set of Irish music at a recently opened pub with Guinness on tap and bottles of Magner, and items on the menu like boxty (two potato pancakes covered in cheese and bacon with a side of sour cream) and Irish coffee made with Slaine whiskey. Saturday, Sept. 18, 6 p.m., Casey McGee’s Irish Pub & Music Hall, 8 Temple St., Nashua, caseymcgees.com.

• Eclectic: Everything is wonderful about the union of John Hiatt & Jerry Douglas. Storied songwriter Hiatt met Dobro master Douglas in 1988 while working on the Dirt Band’s star-packed Will The Circle Be Unbroken, Vol. 2, but it took more than three decades for their first album Leftover Feelings to happen, in the same Nashville studio where the Everly Brothers recorded and Chet Atkins produced so many hits. Sunday, Sept. 19, 7 p.m., Capitol Center for the Arts, 44 S. Main St., Concord, tickets $49 to $69 at ccanh.com.

• Ecclesiastic: A fitting follow-up to Sunday brunch, Signed, Sealed, Delivered – The Spirituality of Soul offers vocals from Pastor Emilia Halstead and Mary Fagan, with music from the Jazz Sanctuary House Band focusing on the soul and Motown era. Fagan has been jazzing it up of late, recently performing in New York City with the JT Wildman and Hot Papa jazz bands. The worship service happens monthly. Sunday, Sept. 19, 1 p.m., First Congregational Church, 177 N. Main St., Concord, concordsfirstchurch.org.

Community motion

Yoga studio hosts music and art

As 2020 dawned, Wyn Doran was feeling the glow of her moving debut EP, Thick of It, and working on new music. Like the rest of the world, by March she was locked down and satiating her creative impulses with intimate livestreams, always thinking of bigger things.

In November she hit upon an idea that would lead to a nomination in the New England Music Awards’ new digital performance category, along with a nod for New Hampshire’s Best in State prize.

Doran released “Starry Eyes” in 2020, a duet with Justin Wiggins augmented by the Pennichuck Middle School Chorus singing via Zoom, each member on a tiny retro television. For self-described “choir nerd” Doran, the collaboration, which also included songwriters from the U.K. and Brooklyn, was a dream come true.

“To put it quite simply, it’s a really huge part of my connection to music, and for the first time, I had a song where I could actually hear a choir behind it,” she said in a recent phone interview, adding that the logistics weren’t easy. “I wasn’t really sure how to pull it off, but the choir director was really excited, because that was also a class. My heart goes out to all the students going through the BS of learning online. … For choir, there was no way to sing in a room.”

For Doran, who had a creative breakthrough working with singer-songwriter Ben Folds a few years back, working with other writers in the pandemic was an unexpected benefit in an otherwise stifling time.

“I have different collaborators from all over the globe,” she said, “which I couldn’t have done without the … pandemic.”

Being alone with her thoughts for months on end sparked a desire to dig into her local surroundings. This led to Doran’s latest endeavor, with Vibe Yoga in Nashua — a curated musical showcase preceded by an art display by the studio’s owner, Melissa Coppola. The two met and bonded over their shared experiences leaving the corporate world, and a desire to do more for their hometown.

“It was always in her vision to not just provide yoga to the Nashua community but also bring art and music into it,” Doran said. “We were talking about what can we do? We thought about our ideal shows outside of the city, and how they foster an environment of true listening and appreciation.”

The first show in a hoped-for series — “We’re going to hold our breath a little bit into September about lining up October,” Doran said — happens Thursday, Sept 9, and includes Doran, Aaron Emmanuel and Elizabeth Wyld.

Wyld and Doran met while both were touring in 2018, and the two will share a bill in Allston, Mass., two days before the Nashua show. The indie singer-songwriter released her debut album, Quiet Year, last May.

“I’m hoping to bring artists that I met and loved when I was on the road to my city,” Doran said. “That’s how Elizabeth came along. Aaron Emmanuel is an awesome voice from Boston that I’ve seen perform in Somerville. He felt like a great person to round out our first bill.”

The connection to Coppola’s yoga studio is rewarding for more than the community activism it’s inspired. Doran has dealt with chronic pain for over a decade, and the fitness regimen Vibe offered her was a tonic.

“Pursuing the artist lifestyle and actually writing the darn songs that have been festering in my soul, plus yoga, have been two things that have really made a difference in my life,” she said. “That’s definitely a huge piece of me being so excited to tap into the Nashua community. Ten years ago I’d never even tried it. Now I’m definitely a believer.”

Live at Vibe w/ Wyn Doran, Elizabeth Wyld & Aaron Emmanuel
When: Thursday, Sept. 9, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Vibe Yoga, 182 Main St., Nashua
Tickets: $12 — proof of vaccine required; more at VibeYoga603.com

Featured photo: Wyn Doran, Elizabeth Wyld and Aaron Emmanuel. Courtesy photo.

The Music Roundup 21/09/09

Local music news & events

• Twofer: With their unique blend of country and Latin music, Kat & Alex impressed American Idol audiences last year and are currently on tour opening for Scotty McCreery, a singer who took top Idol honors in 2011. Last fall the pair put out the single “How Many Times” in both English and Spanish, and earlier this year they released their first all-Spanish song, “Gira De Desamor,” continuing their genre-bending rise. Thursday, Sept. 9, 8 p.m., Casino Ballroom, 169 Ocean Blvd., Hampton, tickets $15 to $55 at tickemaster.com.

• Departure: A one-man band with loops and foot percussion, ODB Project is Michael Dion, former guitarist and lead singer of progressive bluegrass stalwarts Hot Day At The Zoo and lately the leader of roots rock band Daemon Chili. Dion builds a big sound around favorites like Grateful Dead’s “New Speedway Boogie” and turns the ’60s protest song “For What It’s Worth” into a loping blues romp, complete with lap slide. Friday, Sept. 10, 9 p.m., Penuche’s Ale House, 16 Bicentennial Square, Concord, $5 at the door, 21+.

• Funkified: Closing in on 20 years together, Lettuce is an eminently danceable band dedicated to the notion that “funk lives, grows, breathes, and blossoms; like any living thing, it needs to be fed in order to flourish.” The Grammy-nominated group currently includes Adam Smirnoff on guitar, a rhythm section of drummer Adam Deitch and bassist Erick Coomes, horn players Ryan Zoidis and Eric Bloom and Nigel Hall on keys. Saturday, Sept. 11, 6 p.m., Marty’s Driving Range, 96 Old Turnpike Road, Mason, $40 at etix.com.

• Fusion: Enjoy an outdoor show from Cold Chocolate, a Boston trio blending elements of roots rock, funk and bluegrass into a singular sound. The band began when singer-guitarist Ethan Robbins, then studying music at Oberlin College, met upright bassist Kirsten Lamb and the two started looking for ways to stretch the boundaries of bluegrass. Ariel Bernstein joined later on percussion, and sometimes a banjo or fiddle makes it a quartet. Sunday, Sept. 12, 2 p.m., Fletcher-Murphy Park, 28 Fayette St., Concord, $12 at ccanh.com.

• Transition: Manchester’s top spot for indie comedy is in new hands, as Ruby Room Comedy presents Andy Haynes on Sept. 8, followed a week later by Tookey Kavanaugh, Kathleen DeMarle and Mike Gray. Nick Lavallee and Dave Carter grew the effort from its beginnings in 2013 as a launching pad for up and coming local talent, to a showcase for standups from across the country, and the midweek tradition promises to continue. Wednesday, Sept. 15, 8 p.m., Shaskeen Pub, 909 Elm St, Manchester, facebook.com/RubyRoomComedy.

Wide ranging

Concord band celebrates debut album

For Andrew North, the stage and the studio are two distinct places, with the latter a place for adventure. Phosphorescent Snack, the debut album from North and his band the Rangers, is a multi-tracked gem, with elements of funk, soulful pop and progressive jazz. It’s Steely Dan meets Frank Zappa at a 1969 Chicago Transit Authority listening party.

“Electrostatic Chills” expresses a solid groove intention, while the instrumental “Epiphone” showcases the four band members’ prowess: North on keys, drummer Dale Grant, bass player Chip Spangler and horn wizard Rob O’Brien. That the song is missing the instrument it’s named after is not lost on North.

“Yeah, there’s no guitar on the album, which has kind of become a point of pride for us,” he said in a recent interview.

Other standouts include “Down the Pipes,” with its echoes of Dixieland jazz, the can-do anthem “Dig Deep” and “Aditi,” the latter sounding like an unmistakable nod to a certain Vermont jam band.

“It’s hard to admit, because when we say we’re Phish-influenced, the reaction can go either way,” North agreed. “But there’s no question I‘ve soaked up so much of that over the decades, and it comes across in what I do. … I’ve stopped trying to downplay it.”

The connection is understandable; North moved from Burlington, Vermont, to Concord five years ago, bringing the energy of his first home along with him. Andrew North & the Rangers is a multigenerational ensemble; Grant has played drums for close to five decades, including sessions with members of Yes, Survivor and Cheap Trick, while the younger Spangler’s resume includes work in far-away places like Alaska.

Like many bands, the quartet planned to complete its debut disc in 2020, but when the pandemic ended live shows, time was used to polish it a bit more. O’Brien, who plays an electronic Roland Aerophone he affectionately calls Dustbuster that can emit a multitude of sounds, opened his laptop and created walls of horns that would please Earth, Wind & Fire.

“Covid-19 gave us a good chance to sit down and work the tracks up with some overdubbing,” North said, “and obviously, if you let Rob loose with a chance to take more than one pass at a song, he’ll take full advantage.”

North and his mates marked the record’s release with an August show at Area 23, a Concord haven for original bands like theirs. They’ll appear at Newmarket’s venerable Stone Church on Sept. 2.

“I was in a jam band in like 2006, and we were dying to get a gig at Stone Church,” North said, “and they never gave us the time of day… so I may be irrationally excited about that one.”

On Sept. 4 they’ll play a late set at the Keene Music Festival, a massive outdoor showcase of regional bands on multiple stages. Along with North’s group, Plague & Pestilence, a side project featuring Dead Harrison’s Jason Skulls and Lucretia X. Machina from Lucretia’s Daggers, will play its first public show.

Jake McKelvie & the Countertops, Jonee Earthquake Band, Kennedy Drive, Tyler Allgood and the Humans Being are among the New Hampshire bands represented at the event, which runs from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

“This is our first one and I’m really excited about it,” North said. “We’ve been kind of incubating in Concord for a while, and the music scene here has really started to gel in the last few years, which has been fun. Places like Area 23 really help to nurture it.”

Andrew North & the Rangers will appear again in their Concord hometown later this year, at Penuche’s Ale House on Friday, Oct. 22, and Area 23 on Friday, Nov. 5.

Andrew North & the Rangers
When: Thursday, Sept. 2, 8 p.m.
Where: Stone Church, 5 Granite St., Newmarket
Tickets: $5 – more at facebook.com/andrewnorthandtherangers
Also appearing Saturday, Sept. 4, at Keene Music Festival in Downtown Keene – City Tire Stage, 7:15 p.m.

Featured photo: Andrew North and the Rangers. Courtesy photo.

The Music Roundup 21/09/02

Local music news & events

• Songbird: With a set list of covers ranging from Lulu to Sara Bareiles, Marlena Phillips also offers original music and engaging energy. She’s spent close to three decades entertaining audiences of all types, from resorts to restaurants. Last June, she appeared at the Rex Theatre in Manchester, opening for Cars tribute act Panorama. Recently, Phillips released the sunny love song, “Meant to Love You” and the country-flavored “Running Under Water.” Thursday, Sept. 2, 6 p.m., LaBelle Winery, 345 Route 101, Amherst. See marlenaphillips.com.

• Jokemeister: A big finish in Season 2 of Last Comic Standing led Kerri Louise to star in a Women’s Entertainment Network reality show with her husband, comic Tom Cotter; Two Funny focused on raising their twin sons. In 2016 she published the tongue-in-cheek how-to guide Mean Mommy, offering “inspiration, encouragement and non-stop laughter that will last way longer than the warm feeling on your baby’s butt.” Friday, Sept. 3, and Saturday, Sept. 4, at 8:30 p.m., Chunky’s Cinema, 707 Huse Road, Manchester, $20 at chunkys.com.

• Supergroup: A regional showcase includes Marble Eyes, which came together during the pandemic when Pink Talking Fish bassist Eric Gould and Mike Carter, guitarist for The Indobox, made good on a years-long promise to jam together. The two recruited Seacoast mainstay Max Chase to play keyboards, and Kung Fu drummer Adrian Tramontano, and their driveway sessions at Gould’s house were elating. Saturday, Sept. 4, 6 p.m., Prescott Park, 105 Mercy St., Portsmouth, $8 donation suggested, prescottpark.org.

• Rocksteady: Enjoy an extra weekend night at I Love Dancehall, Part Two, an event that dives into the dance music born at the intersection of Jamaican reggae and dub, a genre much discussed recently with the death of legendary producer Lee “Scratch” Perry. Hosted by local luminaries DJ K-Low and DJ Ace, the show includes live performances from C-Scharp, Mic Vee, Illijah, Young Chrigga, Dynamic , Xiomy and Fate-One. Sunday, Sept. 5, 8 p.m., 603 Bar & Grill, 1087 Elm St, Manchester , $10 cover; 21+.

• Crossover: With a lead vocalist, harpist, cellist and piano player, Sons of Serendip isn’t the sort of band one expects to cover Kansas, Keane or Stevie Wonder, but they do, injecting classical elements into pop songs. Formed by a group of graduate student friends at Boston University, they made it to the finals of America’s Got Talent, and later the Billboard charts, with their ethereal reimagining of current hits. Wednesday, Sept. 8, at 8 p.m., Capitol Center for the Arts, 44 S. Main St., Concord, $35 and up at ccanh.com.

The Music Roundup 21/08/26

Local music news & events

• High energy: An outdoor summer concert series continues with Cold Engines performing an early evening set for the beach chair and blanket crowd. A gathering of solid regional players, the band was founded by Dave Drouin (The Brew) and Aaron Zaroulis in 2015. They’ve made five well-received albums — the latest is Couyon, released in June —and won multiple awards, including a NEMA for Rock Band of the Year. Thursday, Aug. 26, 6 p.m., Swasey Park, Swasey Parkway, Exeter. See coldengines.com.

• Cool cat: Veteran singer-guitarist Pete Massa draws from a decades-spanning selection of covers, including classic rock, blue-eyed soul, reggae, rhythm and blues. When he’s not doing the solo acoustic thing, Massa fronts a raucous band with rockabilly inclinations that features him on a big Gretsch Electromatic guitar, with drums, an upright bass, and a pair of horn players, offering a festive throwback party vibe. Friday, Aug. 27, 5 p.m., Big Kahuna’s Smokehouse, 1158 Hooksett Road. Hooksett. See petemassa.com.

• First finale: Eight hard rock bands appear at the Last Call Till Fall Festival, an all-ages event that includes food, games and prizes, with guests 12 and younger gaining free admission. Kings Petition, a Manchester band that released a three-song EP a year ago, tops the bill, which includes Thirteen 13All, Adherence, Paul Jarvis, Drunk Off Diesel, SkunkHunt, Black Headress and Witch Trot, for a metallic afternoon. Saturday, Aug. 28, 12:30 p.m., Auburn Pitts, 167 Rockingham Road, Auburn, $20 with barbecue included.

• Laugh it up: Quintessential New England comic Juston McKinney holds forth for four shows in downtown Concord. The standup’s secret sauce is an ever-changing set of always funny material, a keen observer’s eye for regional foibles and a knack for humorous self-deprecation, along with a skill for illuminating life’s absurdities with smiling kindness. Friday, Aug. 27, 8 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 28, 5:30 and 8 p.m., and Sunday, Aug. 29, 7 p.m., Capitol Center for the Arts, 44 S. Main St., Concord, tickets $29.50 at ccanh.com.

• Dead in the water: Billed as a long, strange trip on the water, Grateful Dead tribute act Not Fade Away Band set sail on the vintage Winnipesaukee Belle paddleboat for a cruise that also offers craft beer from Fore River Brewing Co., including a Strata Magnolia IPA. Named after a Buddy Holly song famously covered by the Dead, the group is considered one of the area’s best at recreating their sound. Tuesday, Aug. 31, 6:30 p.m., Wolfeboro Town Dock, 84 S. Main St., Wolfeboro, $18, pay at boarding, 21+.

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