Author: Michael Witthaus

LaBelle Winery welcomes comic Juston McKinney

Ever a relatable comedian, Juston McKinney tries to find the local angle wherever he performs. His latest YouTube special, On the Bright Side, was filmed in Concord. It begins with a story about a The Price Is Right contestant from Massachusetts winning a trip to the Capitol City.

The prize came with a round-trip flight — between Los Angeles and Manchester. “She’s gotta go all the way out and come all the way back,” McKinney joked. “She didn’t win a vacation; she won the longest tax-free liquor run in history!”

For a July 13 show at Labelle Winery, some anecdotes will come from closer to home. “My grandfather ran McKinney Dairy in Derry, and that’s where he met my grandmother,” the comic said in a recent phone interview. The punch line: “So she ended up marrying the milkman!”

McKinney primarily performs in New England, which keeps him nearer to his family; he lives in Newmarket. This makes for a lot of repeat business, forcing him to keep his act fresh. “I try to tell people that if you give me a year and I come back, I’ll have an 80 percent different show.”

It can be a double-edged sword for fans with a favorite bit; the memory bank can only be so full before it overflows. Consider a recent comment on Facebook. “It said, ‘I saw you 20 years ago, and I’m still laughing at your Old Navy button fly joke.’ I have no freaking idea what the Old Navy button fly joke is,” McKinney recalled. “I gotta message the guy … because if it’s really good, I’m gonna do it again.”

Another side effect of keeping to the region is making the rest of the country feel slighted. “People are getting mad that I’m not leaving,” he said. “They’re literally like, ‘Oh, you’ve got something against South Dakota?’ So I’m trying to get out a little bit, just to give something to these fans. I just did Ohio, and now I’ll do Detroit. I usually try to do Vegas every couple of years.”

To enjoy family time with his wife and two teenage sons, McKinney maintains a light summer schedule.

“I have a house with a water view … yeah, we put an above ground pool in the backyard,” he joked. “My whole trick has been balancing being a dad with being a comedian. Not looking back when these years have passed and going, ‘Oh, my kids are going to college [and] I’ve been on the road 40 weeks a year.”

Unsurprisingly, McKinney mines his home life for laughs — to a point. “Sometimes my wife will cut it right in the bud and go, ‘You’re not doing a joke about that,’” he said. “I get in this argument about how I’m gonna frame the joke, and finally I’ll say, ‘Alright, I’ll make it about my friend.”

On the other hand, McKinney’s boys can be a bit more agreeable about inspiring his standup.

“I’ll say something funny, and they’ll say, ‘You should do a joke about that.’ As long as it’s not at their expense, and they’re not the butt of the joke. My kid the other day WTF’d me in a text because I was late. I go, ‘You don’t WTF your parents!’ He goes, ‘Dad, I didn’t spell it out, it’s just the abbreviation.’ I’m like, ‘So is FU; don’t you put it in a text to me.’ He’s like, are you going to do a joke about that?’ I go, ‘I don’t know, but you’re gonna get in trouble if you do it again.’”

He tends to avoid flashpoint topics like politics, but in McKinney’s hands, even the war in Ukraine can provide a chuckle. In On the Bright Side, he observes that their draft age tops out at 60. “That’s kind of pushing it; I mean, I go to bed at nine thirty. I got a CPAP machine; I’m gonna need an outlet,” he said. “Is that a problem?”

This idea would never work in the United States, McKinney added. “We can’t get 18- to 60-year-olds to go to work, let alone go to war,” he said. “We should draft people into jobs.”

Juston McKinney
When: Thursday, July 13, 7:30 p.m.
Where: LaBelle Winery, 14 Route 111, Derry
Tickets: $40 at labellewinery.com

Featured photo: Juston McKinney. Courtesy photo.

The Gravel Project provides DMB lead-in

For fans of original local music, the show always starts early at Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion, on the venue’s Hazy Little Stage. Situated just beyond the Gilford amphitheater’s entrance, the second stage hosts some of the region’s finest local talent, with each act chosen to complement the headlining performer.

Upcoming are the countrified Not Leaving Sober ahead of Sam Hunt on July 7, and blood harmony band Town Meeting prior to Counting Crows’ July 14 show. In August, singer-songwriter April Cushman precedes Jelly Roll, with jam band stalwarts Supernothing playing prior to a Slightly Stoopid and Sublime with Rome double bill.

In a perfect pairing, the concert season closes out on Sept. 30 with ’90s acolytes Donaher teeing off for the Goo Goo Dolls. The Hazy Little Stage’s full schedule can be found on the venue’s website.

Providing the prelude to Dave Matthews Band’s July 11 show is The Gravel Project, a Boston band offering a vintage rock and soul sound that pairs with the bill-toppers like a salted pretzel and a cold IPA. On guitar and vocals, Andrew Gravel leads a novel configuration of his brother Jordan on keys, drummer Dave Fox and Eguie Castrillo playing percussion.

Gravel has been the band’s one constant since it began in 2013, though for the past six years he, his brother and Fox have formed its nucleus.

“The fact that we call it a project means we’ve got other people who come and play with us from time to time,” Gravel said by phone recently. “It kind of describes the whole nature of it.”

Playing without a bassist is uncommon but wasn’t always the case. The choice came out of necessity; a few years back, when their then-bass player didn’t make it to a couple of gigs, Jordan crafted a low end on his keyboards.

“We were like, ‘that was actually really good,’” Gravel recalled; they kept at it after that. “It was an organic direction for us at the time … then it brought a level of consistency to the lineup that we hadn’t felt prior.”

Live at Wellspring, released in February, is the first album to include a female voice in a prominent role. Having another vocalist “was something I always wanted to explore,” Gravel said. “A lot of these songs [are] meant for more than one singer.”

Though the vocalist who appeared on Wellspring is gone, with a rotating roster now accompanying the band (American Idol alum Erika Van Pelt joins them in Gilford), the added element on the live LP made Gravel realize that a woman on stage made a big difference. “It opened the band up for us, and there’s definitely a commitment to keep that role filled.”

The Gravel Project has played Meadowbrook’s side stage before; last year they opened for Tedeschi Trucks Band. Like DMB, that slot reflected Gravel’s influences as a performer “Nineties rock was the soundtrack to my childhood, but even before that, in the eighties, when I was younger, my parents were always just playing tons of Beatles in the house,” he said. “A lot of Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin … that stuff kind was from the very beginning real close to my heart.”

Early on, Gravel played a Fender Stratocaster. These days he toggles between two Gibson guitars — the iconic Les Paul, and a hollow body ES-335.

“That’s a big part of my sound, the vintage Gibson thing,” he said. “I’m also a sponsored artist by Two-Rock, which are these amazing amplifiers made out of California. They capture the spirit of the Sixties Blackface Fender sound [and] take it a little bit further.”

To extend the theme, Jordan plays both Hammond B3 and Fender Rhodes organs. “He loves, just like I do, the vintage gear,” Gravel said. “I mean, you just can’t beat it.”

Gravel is pleased to be opening DMB’s two-night stand. “It’s certainly an honor to be involved,” he said. “It’s such a loyal fan base that loves good music, and we’re excited to bring something that’s different [but] closely enough related. I think all his fans are certainly into great songs, and they’re also into extended jams and improvisation.”

The Gravel Project
When: Tuesday, July 11, 5:30 p.m.
Where: Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion, 72 Meadowbrook Lane, Gilford
More: thegravelproject.com
Ticket for Dave Matthews Band required – $74 and up at livenation.com

Featured photo: The Gravel Project. Courtesy photo.

Rising band Feverslip plays Manchester

If having headliner acts checking out their sets is a harbinger of greater things, Feverslip is a band on the rise. At last year’s Great American Ribfest, Great White’s then-lead singer Andrew Freeman not only watched them perform; he also hopped on stage and helped them finish a song.

A few months later, ex-Saving Abel front man Scotty Austin was so impressed seeing them open for him at Wally’s Pub in Hampton Beach that he connected them with his producer, Malcolm Springer. Soon after that night, Feverslip was in Nashville, working with Springer.

The first fruits of the project arrived in April, when they released the rollicking single “Aces.” Another track from the album in progress will drop in early July. The new song is representative of the band’s no-nonsense rock ’n’ roll, which evokes Aerosmith, AC/DC and classic acts like the Yardbirds and Rolling Stones.

It’s music that’s punchy, powerful, and especially good when played live.

They went to Music City looking to translate that energy to the studio. “Where we’re most at home is just playing on stage, and that’s something that was cool about the recording process,” lead singer Sam Vlasich said in a recent phone interview. “I really hope that people can take away that vibe from the new material.”

Feverslip is a regional supergroup that includes Maine guitarists Liv Lorusso and Jordon Brilliant, who met at a Portland open mic and have performed for several years as a duo, Liv ‘n Brilliant. The two found Vlasich after his band Red Sky Mary split. Vlasich knew drummer Harrison Foti and bass player Brad Hartwick from sharing the bill with their previous band Victim of Circumstance.

The quintet began the new project with heavy preparation, a novel move for them.

“We did three weeks or so of the pre-recording process,” Vlasich said. “It was cool because I’ve never really had an experience where we got to just focus on writing songs and getting them tight, so when we go into the studio we can make them sound good with some live takes.”

Working with Springer was “just amazing,” Vlasich continued. “He totally got what the band was about, and what we want to do. He allowed us to dig our feet in and say, ‘OK, we’re just going to do it; we wanna be a badass rock band.’”

Songwriting is a collaborative process involving all band members.

“We’ll try everything, no matter where it takes us,” Vlasich said. “The best songs always seem to come about when somebody has some sort of riff, whether it’s Jordan or Liv or Brad, some sort of lick idea. Then we just kind of go, ‘OK, that sounds good.’ … Once we have a verse and chorus down, then I’m kind of able to scream on top of it until I find a melody that suits it.”

As a vocalist, Vlasich is inspired by Bon Scott, Brian Johnson and Robert Plant. “That’s just the stuff I was raised on,” he said. “As a kid singing in my hairbrush, peeking out the window making sure nobody rolled up to catch me making noise upstairs in my room alone, that’s kind of the stuff I was singing.”

The rest of the group has similar roots, he said.

“Liv loves Aerosmith and Jordan is Guns N’ Roses, and Brad loves The Who and Iron Maiden. Who I also love — the older ’80s metal stuff is great. We share similar influences but in different regards; they mesh well together.”

A June 30 appearance at Shaskeen Pub will be Feverslip’s third at the Manchester venue, though Vlasich noted that he did a lot of shows with his former band there. They have several bookings in the area over the summer months, including a return to Ribfest on July 23, and Manchester’s Strange Brew Tavern on July 28. They’ll play Portsmouth’s Press Room in early August.

Vlasich has his sights on wider horizons.

“I would love to get on the road [and] hit a lot more places than Red Sky Mary, playing these songs. Because I think they’re just good rock songs, and they need an audience to sing along to the choruses. And if AC/DC or Aerosmith needs an opening band, that would also make my life…. Getting to watch your favorite band play every night after opening up for them, that’s the dream right there.”

Feverslip
When: Friday, June 30, 9 p.m.
Where: Shaskeen Pub, 909 Elm St., Manchester
More: feverslip.com

Featured photo: Feverslip. Courtesy photo.