Author: Michael Witthaus

Gin Blossoms-Vertical Horizon twin bill hits town

Gin Blossoms singer Robin Wilson knows his band’s odds of making the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame are slim — “There’s a pretty deep bench you gotta work your way through before you get to us,” he said in a recent phone interview. It’s OK, though; the music HoF in Wilson’s home state of Arizona inducted them in 2017. Better still, the ’90s band is buzzing in the current zeitgeist.

They were name-checked on the season opener of Apple TV+’s hit show Ted Lasso and drafted into a Twitter war during the Phoenix Suns’ NBA playoff run. The Lasso mention was especially gratifying for Wilson. “‘Hey Jealousy’ is the best Gin Blossoms song,” the American football turned English soccer coach played by Jason Sudeikis said, “but ‘Follow You Down’ is my favorite.”

The latter song came at a critical juncture in the band’s career. After their major label debut New Miserable Experience went multiplatinum, Gin Blossoms founder and creative leader Doug Hopkins was consumed by addiction, left the band, and later died by suicide. “Follow You Down” was the lead single of their 1996 follow-up, Congratulations I’m Sorry. It would be their first and only Billboard No. 1.

“That helped legitimize the rest of the band,” Wilson said. “If that hadn’t happened, we would have been living in Doug’s shadow forever. ‘Follow You Down’ and ‘Till I Hear It From You’ — those songs were our opportunity to really prove that we had what it took … then for Ted Lasso to say it’s his favorite song 30 years later, it’s pretty … cool.”

“Follow You Down” came late in the process, recalled Wilson, when their record label demanded another hit.

“They were perfectly clear that they didn’t want just another song,” he said. “That’s about as much pressure as any band can ever be under; trying to follow up a multi-platinum debut, and then being told you’re not quite there yet. … I take an immense pride in what we did … but it’s not like we cured cancer; we just wrote a good song.”

Their first two albums represented a commercial pinnacle, and the group disbanded in 1997, but a reunited Gin Blossoms has continued to make new music since the early 2000s. Their most recent, 2018’s Mixed Reality, is a gem. For Wilson the creative spark is always around.

“It’s a deep ingrained passion I’ve had my whole life,” he said. “The first time I ever wrote a song, I think I was in the third grade, writing about UFOs and stuff. … It’s easy to perform, it’s easy to write. The hard part is being in a band and compromising with your bandmates, finding the middle ground, and even that isn’t as difficult as a lot of other things.”

Wilson is working on a solo project, Poppin’ Wheelies. It’s currently a soundtrack to an animation series that he hopes to place on Cartoon Network, Netflix or a similar platform. A video for one of the songs, “Little Stars,” is up on YouTube and has an unmistakable Gin Blossoms sound.

“My vision is Scooby Doo in outer space with great humor, retro ’70s, Saturday morning nostalgia,” he said. “On top of that it would be full of just great animation, and the music video sequences would be the standout moments. I’d like it to basically be like Spinal Tap in outer space.”

Perhaps he should pitch to Apple, given the Ted Lasso connection?

“That’s definitely one of my targets, but my agent is saying he’s not sure they’re really interested in animation … but a big part of Poppin’ Wheelies is guest stars and licensed music; in that sense I think they’d really get it. Clearly they have the budget we’d be hoping for, and it’s a prestige network.”

Gin Blossoms & Vertical Horizon
When: Saturday, Sept. 18, 1 p.m.
Where: Anheuser-Busch Brewery, Merrimack
Tickets: $29 and up at ticketmaster.com
More: 16 and over unless accompanied by a parent. Children under 5 not permitted.

Featured photo: Gin Blossoms. Courtesy photo.

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.

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.