Author: Michael Witthaus

Country rockers play Hudson, host song circle

The initials in EXP Band stand for “experienced players” — front man Rob Randlett, bassist Erik Thomas, lead guitarist John Andrews and drummer Curtis Marzerka are all veteran musicians. Their modern country sound, however, arrived a bit late in their careers.

Randlett spent his early years rocking hard, but in 2014 he got some advice from Hillsboro producer Ted Hutchinson that sent him in a southern direction.

“He told me, ‘I know you like doing the rock thing,’” Randlett said recently by phone, “‘but country’s where you need to be, and that’s where your voice suits you. If you do that, you’ll see things will change.’”

Hutchinson had good ears; Randlett guested with Jodi Cunningham’s band a few times, and soon her fans were asking when his band would be coming to town. So piece by piece he put one together and started playing out.

“Everything was modern country,” he said. “Fresh, because it was right on the radio.”

Since then, the group has gigged all over New England, playing NASCAR and Bike Week, while Randlett himself won New Hampshire Country Music Association and national honors — best male vocalist in 2018 and best modern country male and band the following year.

With Covid-19, their schedule has constricted, but EXP is still doing shows. The next one is Friday, Nov. 6, at The Bar in Hudson, a favorite spot for them, Randlett said.

“It’s just a very homey, feel-good type of a place … a small venue, and it’s very relaxing,” he said.

A Nov. 7 date at Concord’s Area 23 has been moved to December, but they will be at the Manchester VFW the following week, on Friday the 13^th.

Along with playing Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney and Chase Rice covers, Randlett is an original artist. The Army vet’s latest endeavor is a Bluebird Café styled song circle, fittingly happening Nov. 11 at Tower Hill Tavern in Laconia. He hopes this Songwriters Night event will be the first of many.

“We’re just starting out,” he said. “The music industry is tough right now, along with everything else. Because of Covid, they’re not really allowing full bands inside, but there are solo artists some places, depending on the ownership.”

Tower Hill regularly books Randlett and jumped at the chance to host the event.

“As soon as I posted asking, if I did a songwriters night, would anybody want to do that, he was like, ‘I wanna do it here; we have to do it here,’” Randlett said.

All musicians are welcome.

“It’s kind of like a Nashville thing, but it doesn’t have to be all country,” Randlett said. “It could be blues, rock, whatever you want it to be. If there’s some 16-year-old kid that’s a great songwriter, you know, and his mom and dad want to bring him down to show off his talent, that’s cool. It’s all about bringing musicians together again.”

He looks forward to hosting Songwriters Night on Veterans Day, noting that he hopes to draw attention to a holiday that’s often misunderstood by the general public.

“I thought it was a cool day because military is a big part of my heart and my music. To be able to share this on Veterans Day means a lot to me,” he said.

EXP will appear as a full band on Nov. 6, at The Bar. Randlett is optimistic that it’s a harbinger.

“I think things are moving in a positive direction,” he said. “People are now becoming accustomed to what the outlook is when they go out in public [and] I feel as long as you follow the rules and work with the bar owners, music can continue. When things get out of control and people don’t abide by the rules and do the wrong thing, that’s when problems happen.”

EXP Band
When: Friday, Nov. 6, 8 p.m.
Where: The Bar, 2B Burnham Road, Hudson

Songwriters Night
When: Wednesday, Nov. 11, 6 p.m.
Where: Tower Hill Tavern, 264 Lakeside Ave., Laconia
More: Facebook.com/EXPBandNH

Featured photo: EXP Band. Courtesy photo.

Music and comedy with a Halloween twist

With all the horrors already unleashed by 2020, what’s the point of Halloween? Everyone already has a mask, and fright is a constant condition. What could be added to that?

In a word, laughs. Of all the entertainments that carefully made their way back into public spaces, comedy has provided special relief to the shell-shocked citizenry. On Friday, Oct. 30, in Nashua and on Halloween night in Manchester, Chunky’s Cinema Pub continues a tradition begun last year with a Dueling Pianos costume party. Area favorite Jim Tyrrell appears at both events, with Jeff Gaynor joining him one night and Julian Chisolm the next.

The format is right out of a Billy Joel song, with tips and requests stuffed in a jar — and with this special event, there will be plenty asking for “Monster Mash,” “Thriller” and “Purple People Eater.” Add to that a crowd that’s encouraged to dress up for the occasion.

But there’s an additional twist, said Rob Steen, whose Headliners Comedy Club is presenting the shows, in a recent phone interview. Audience participation drives the evening.

“Say you want to hear ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ — you put a dollar in and they play it,” he said. “But your wife might not want to hear that song, so she could put two or three dollars in to stop them. For the players, money is more of a device to dictate where the show goes.”

This makes the crowd a third instrument for the two keyboard warriors.

“So every show is different, you know?” Steen said. “In some venues I booked I’ve heard, ‘The pianos weren’t really funny last time, but they’re really good this time.’ I say, ‘Well, your crowd kind of sucked.’ I mean, I shouldn’t say it like that, but it’s all dictated by what the crowd does.”

Steen has booked the three New Hampshire Chunky’s (the other is in Pelham) for several years, but when the curtain lifted to permit live entertainment in late spring, his shows were especially vital for the venue.

With the pandemic, film studios froze release dates, Steen said.

“Chunky’s called me and said, ‘We can’t play any movies because there’s nothing coming out … we need live entertainment.’ So we did the comedy, the pianos, we got the tribute acts, and we also had kids’ shows, which have been selling out crazy.”

Having the cinema/restaurant available provided a critical lifeline to Steen in return, as his showcase comedy club in downtown Manchester shuttered on March 13 and has been dark since — though it will open again on Nov. 7, with headliner Will Noonan joined by local comic Paul Landwehr and Steen.

Staffing problems and uncertainty about regulations nearly delayed Headliners’ reopening to December, but as of Oct. 22 all systems were go.

“Capacity limits is the biggest concern, as we need a certain amount of seats to be viable,” Steen said. “They have increased a bit, which is good. However, distancing and safety regulations make it nearly impossible to have more capacity, and the cost to have plexiglass around every table would be very expensive. We still would lose lots of seating.”

Chunky’s doesn’t present the same problems, Steen said.

“It’s a very large room, so spacing isn’t an issue. Ceilings are very high. We are 25 feet from the crowd. So guidelines are easier to follow. … Smaller venues have a bigger challenge, mainly due to space restrictions.”

Steen, New England’s busiest comedy promoter, presses on, meeting each challenge with the same pluck that makes his crowd work as a comic look easy. Weekly shows are planned for his showcase club, along with weekend events at both the Manchester and Nashua Chunky’s. One-off shows happen often at Murphy’s Taproom in Bedford, Nashua’s Flight Center, the Pasta Loft in Milford and other places, as well as larger events at the Capitol Center and Palace Theatre.

New Year’s Eve is Steen’s biggest night of the year, and though it won’t be the same as in the past, Steen is determined to ring in 2021 at several venues throughout the state, whatever Covid-19 brings.

“My friends say I’m like a cockroach, [that] I don’t get killed, that I’m lucky,” he said. “When preparation and opportunity meet — that’s what luck is.”

Dueling Pianos Halloween Party – Two Shows
When: Friday, Oct. 30, 8 p.m. at Chunky’s Cinema, 151 Coliseum Ave., Nashua, and Saturday, Oct. 31, 8 p.m. at Chunky’s Cinema, 707 Huse Road, Manchester
Tickets: $20 at headlinerscomedyclub.com
Also: Headliners Comedy Club at Hilton Doubletree Manchester is expected to reopen Nov. 7 with Will Noonan headlining.

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

Halloween dance party is right for the times

Among the many entertainments challenged by the pandemic, EDM — electronic dance music — faced a unique hurdle. A lively audience is integral to the experience, almost as important as the DJ throwing beats. Manchester DJ Omari Nkosi summed up the problem succinctly.

“It’s not that easy to keep people six feet apart on a dance floor,” he said recently by telephone. “You run into issues.”

Nkosi and his promotion company Pangea have weathered Covid-19’s choppy waters since lockdown was lifted to stage a number of events. They did it by presenting clear screening, masking and distancing rules for shows at hometown spots like Jewel Music Venue and Whiskey’s 20.

The upcoming Covenant Halloween Vampire’s Ball at Whiskey’s 20 will offer one less difficulty, because everyone will gladly wear a mask.

“That’s the beauty of it,” Nkosi said. “Having a costume party just kind of makes it a lot easier.”

DJs appearing at the event include Nkosi, Trippa, Wiggles and Midas.

Midas — real name John Manning — will be spinning in Manchester for the first time since lockdown began. His one post-quarantine show happened in Providence, Rhode Island, an early October event he described as “straight out of a Stanley Kubrick movie” in a recent phone interview.

“Each section had like five people and you were in your own little plastic case,” he said. “It was so surreal.”

Working in front of a crowd that night, however, provided a familiar rush.

“It filled my soul,” Midas said. “I needed that. It’s like I forgot that I needed it, like a plant needs sunlight. I forgot that I need to do gigs and be able to play and see people and actually be able to send energy back and forth. Now that being said, everyone’s dancing in their own section with their five friends and it’s back to the Kubrick movie.”

Midas is a veteran of the city’s dance scene as well as the radio host of Late Night Delight every Saturday on WMNH 95.3. The latter is an alter ego experience, he said.

“I love the station; everybody there is awesome and it’s its own living breathing part of Manchester,” he said. “I love all kinds of music, and my show is an opportunity for me to not play for a dance floor … it’s listening music. If I want to just do some ambient type of stuff or play five different styles or a tribute, I can and often do. I really try to reinvent the wheel every week.”

Though his radio sets often lean to classic artists like The Beatles, Midas’s touch isn’t old-school.

“The digital age is great for a DJ, because I can have all my music at my fingertips,” he said. “I love it, I embrace it, I can’t wait to see what’s next. Things just keep getting crazier and crazier.”

His appearance at Whiskey’s 20 will lock into a club groove.

“I’m going to try all kinds of surprises,” Midas said. “Things that make you go, ‘Hell, yeah, I can’t believe I’m hearing this right now!’ It’s an electronic music event, so I’m going to stay within the realm of that and party with everybody. I also want it to be dirty and scary at times. So I’ll walk the line between a few different feelings that will definitely be fun. Lots of remixes, because it seems like that’s the kind of thing you want to hear — a bunch of awesome remixes.”

Nkosi looks forward to sparking a creative vibe at the upcoming party.

“Halloween tends to bring out the wild side of people,” he said, recalling a performance at the now-closed Red Door in Portsmouth a few years back. “I was playing techno at 100 to 124 BPM. … Now, I’m a 128 to 130 guy. I like to rock straight techno, but people were just eating it up. Halloween definitely makes you do a lot of things that you normally wouldn’t be able to do.”

Covenant Halloween Vampire’s Ball
When: Tuesday, Oct. 27, 8 p.m.
Where: Whiskey’s 20, 20 Old Granite St., Manchester
Tickets: $10 at the door

Featured photo: Midas. Courtesy photo.