Manic Presents / Premier Concerts Update 10-18-2018

Manic Presents / Premier Concerts Guest Post:


Hello and welcome to another weekly installment of the Manic Presents Redscroll Blog. A fresh blog post means NEW show announcements and the upcoming show schedule for the current week.

Just announced at College Street Music Hall is jam band veterans Umphrey’s McGee on (1/31). At Space Ballroom we’re hosting another monthly installment of HaHa Hamden feat. Howie Mason & more on (11/12); Twiddle’s own Mihali will perform at Space Ballroom on (12/06); Big Freedia, the New Orleans Queen of Bounce, arrives at Space Ballroom on (1/10); Psychedelic indie/garage rocker King Tuff stops by Space Ballroom on his Infinite Smiles Tour (1/21), supporting him will be all female Australian psychedelic rock group Stonefield; and finally, Pennsylvania indie emo singer Petal returns to CT to perform at Space Ballroom (1/26).

This week’s show schedule includes a packed weekend starting on Friday, (10/19) with Southern California reggae/hip-hop group Dirty Heads headlining College Street Music Hall with Jukebox the Ghost and Just Loud. Also on (10/19) Destroyer will be playing a solo set at Space Ballroom with support from Kath Bloom. On Saturday, (10/20) we have the Arlo Guthrie Family Band celebrating 50 years of Alice’s Restaurant at College Street Music Hall and Low Cut Connie back in CT at Space Ballroom (10/20) with Ruby Boots and &More! On Sunday (10/21) Big Data brings their Alt Nation Tour with Castlecomer and Fitness to Space Ballroom and progressive rock indie artist Matthew Perryman Jones stops by Cafe Nine. Our weekly Manic Monday at Cafe Nine features Toby Driver (of Kayo Dot) and others on (10/22). Additionally, indie rock group, The Wombats headline College Street Music Hall with opening support from Barns Courtney and Layton on (10/23), and Aqueous at Space Ballroom (10/24) with Mungion! Be sure to check out any of these great shows!

CONTEST TIME! Enter for a chance to win WAVVES LP: You’re Welcome, Beach Fossils LP: Somersault, and a pair of tickets to see California indie rock group WAVVES co-headline show with the dreamy indie band Beach Fossils at College Street Music Hall (10/27) with Kevin Krauter of Hoops!
Enter here: https://goo.gl/forms/7WICZ9mkNZ82Ngiu1

Read below for more upcoming shows announcements!

Upcoming Shows

Friday, October 19th

*Dirty Heads w/ Jukebox The Ghost and Just Loud

$35/All Ages/Doors 7:00PM

College Street Music Hall – New Haven, CT

INFO: After two decades spent chiseling their unique, multi-genre infused sound, Dirty Heads have finally come into their own. Since the release of their 2008 debut Any Port in a Storm, the five-piece band — Jared Watson (vocals), Dustin “Duddy B” Bushnell (vocals/guitar), Jon Olazabal (percussion), Matt Ochoa (drums) and David Foral (bass) — has consistently experimented with their sunny style, leaning heavily on reggae fused with hip-hop cornerstones and scaling back for more acoustic fare, darting between extremes. But it’s with their fifth and self-titled album that the group has felt fully confident in a body of work, ready to bring their unique style to the masses.

“It’s the most core Dirty Heads album we’ve done,” explains Watson, who formed the collective with Bushnell in 1996. “One of the most important things about this album is the reason we self-titled it. This album has all of the elements that we’ve tried to play around with. We had to go through those other albums to really find out exactly who we are, where it was natural. Now, I just think our sound is better and more confident.”
TICKETS GOING FAST: https://ticketf.ly/2zWNLiO

Friday, October 19th

*Destroyer (solo) w/ Kath Bloom

$20 ($18 adv)/All Ages/Doors 7:00PM

Space Ballroom – Hamden, CT

INFO: Of his 12th studio album and its enigmatic title, Destroyer’s Dan Bejar offers the following: Sometime last year, I discovered that the original name for “The Wild Ones” (one of the great English-language ballads of the last 100 years or so) was “Ken.” I had an epiphany, I was physically struck by this information. In an attempt to hold on to this feeling, I decided to lift the original title of that song and use it for my own purposes. It’s unclear to me what that purpose is, or what the connection is. I was not thinking about Suede when making this record. I was thinking about the last few years of the Thatcher era. Those were the years when music first really came at me like a sickness, I had it bad. Maybe “The Wild Ones” speaks to that feeling, probably why Suede made no sense in America. I think “ken” also means “to know.”

ken was produced by Josh Wells of Black Mountain, who has been the drummer in Destroyer since 2012. The album was recorded in its entirety in the jam space/studio space that the group calls The Balloon Factory. However, unlike Poison Season, ken was not recorded as a “band” record, though everyone in the band does make an appearance.
TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE HERE: https://ticketf.ly/2IVSw0r

Saturday, October 20th

*Arlo Guthrie Band w/ Sarah Lee Guthrie

$35-$75/All Ages/Doors 7:00PM

College Street Music Hall – New Haven, CT

INFO: In 1965, a teenaged Guthrie performed a “friendly gesture” that proved to be fateful. Arlo was arrested for littering, leading him to be deemed “not moral enough to join the army.” Guthrie attained international attention at age 19 by recounting the true events on the album Alice’s Restaurant in 1967. The Alice’s Restaurant Massacree has become an anti-establishment anthem and an essential part of the Thanksgiving holiday season, still broadcast widely on terrestrial, internet and satellite radio. Alice’s Restaurant achieved platinum status and was made into a movie in 1969, in which Arlo played himself, by the esteemed director Arthur Penn. 1969 also brought Arlo to the rock festival of the ages – Woodstock. His appearance showcased Arlo’s hit Coming Into Los Angeles, which was included on the multi-platinum Woodstock: Music From The Original Soundtrack And More (1970).

In 1983, after more than 15 years with Warner Records, Arlo left the “music industry” to become a truly independent artist, and established Rising Son Records (RSR), one of the first indie labels in existence. RSR is still in active operation serving as his recording and production company. To date RSR has released over twenty titles, both all new material and remastered versions of his classic records, including the Grammy nominated Woody’s 20 Grow Big Songs (1991) featuring Arlo, his brother, Joady and sister, Nora. In Times Like These (2007), was recorded with the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Arlo’s friend and musical director for symphony shows, John Nardolillo. Arlo’s most recent release, Alice’s Restaurant 50th Anniversary (2016) is a 2 CD-set that captured the magic of his historic, commemorative tour, recorded live at The Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, MA. This performance was also filmed by Jim Brown and continues to air on PBS stations across the country.
TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE HERE: https://ticketf.ly/2J0PlzQ

Saturday, October 20th

*Low Cut Connie w/ Ruby Boots, &More

$15/All Ages/Doors 7:00PM

Space Ballroom – Hamden, CT

INFO: Since Low Cut Connie’s debut record Get Out the Lotion (NPR’s Fresh Air Top 10 albums of 2011), they’ve firmly established their reputation as one of the most exciting live shows in the US, with Greg Kot (Sound Opinions / Chicago Tribune) exclaiming they are “the essence of what rock n roll should be” and the New York Times stating “The group’s live show is a strange phenomenon.”

Adam Weiner’s $100 junker piano, named Shondra, is the backbone of their boogie strain of rock n roll. Recently adding longtime Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings member Saundra Williams, the result is what Rolling Stone describes as “a mix of Seventies Stones (but dirtier), the New York Dolls (but tighter) and Jerry Lee Lewis (but Westerberg-ier)…with an extra sense of bare-knuckled grit and sonic thwump.”

On their 5th studio album Dirty Pictures (Part 2), released via Contender Records, the band urges all current and former youths: Feel your feelings. Feel sadness, feel love, feel wildness. Give your feelings away to others and maybe it will lift us up. It’s this musical and emotional literacy that sets the band apart, with their world-weary but life-affirming attitude that inspires their cult following and notable cheerleaders such as Barack Obama, Sir Elton John, Howard Stern.
TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE: https://ticketf.ly/2zRwB6j

Sunday, October 21st

*Big Data w/ Castlecomer, Fitness

$20 ($18 advance)/All Ages/Doors 7PM

Space Ballroom – Hamden, CT

INFO: Big Data is a paranoid electronic music project from the Internet, formed out of a general distrust for technology and The Cloud (despite a growing dependence on them). Helmed by producer, Alan Wilkis, Big Data aims to explore the relationship between man and machine, and how the internet has reshaped the human experience.
TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE: https://ticketf.ly/2OXMvzJ

Sunday, October 21st

*Matthew Perryman Jones w/ Molly Parden

$12/21+/Doors 8PM

Cafe Nine – New Haven, CT

INFO: A performing songwriter by trade, Matthew Perryman Jones is actually a seeker, at heart. With each entry in his discography, his musical and moral compass points toward an artistic horizon he has yet to explore. Sometimes, he turns his gaze to examine his own inner world. Other times, he looks to the inspirations found in the letters Vincent Van Gogh penned to his brother Theo, in the idea of duende as proffered by Federico García Lorca, and in the poetic verses of Sufi poets Hafiz and Rumi.

Of his most recent release, American Songwriter wrote that, “MPJ’s songwriting acumen could easily be used as a musical template to demonstrate how less can be so much more. [He] sounds cinematic and slowly worms its way inside your brain, feasts upon your emotions, and ultimately burrows down into your soul.” It could be said that Matthew makes soul music — not based on how it sounds, but on where it originates and where it resides.
TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE: https://ticketf.ly/2KZWdQ2

Monday, October 22nd

*Toby Driver (of Kayo Dot) w/ Reduction Plan, Limousine

Free with RSVP (or $5 at the door)/21+/Doors 7PM

Cafe Nine – New Haven

INFO: TOBY DRIVER is best known as the frontman and bandleader of the prolific experimental band, Kayo Dot (ex-maudlin of the Well). In the past two decades, he has masterfully explored the limitlessness of music, from weird metal to beautiful post-rock, from austere ballads to tripped-out 70s fusion and beyond. He has worked with a number of forward-thinking luminaries including Trey Spruance (Secret Chiefs 3), John Zorn, G. Stuart Dahlquist (Burning Witch, Asva), Jeremiah Cymerman, Mario Diaz de Leon, Gyan Riley, and many more, and his music appeared as part of Peter Hopkins Miller’s installation, Stained Glass, in the 2017 edition of the Venice Biennale. Throughout his many projects: maudlin of the Well, Vaura (with Kevin Hufnagel (from Gorguts)), Stern (with Chuck Stern from Time of Orchids), The Tanks (with Ches Smith and Brandon Seabrook), Clefter (with Gyan Riley and Timba Harris (from Secret Chiefs 3)), Tartar Lamb, free-improv trio Bloodmist (with Jeremiah Cymerman and Mario Diaz de Leon), his solo works, and most of all Kayo Dot, Driver’s adventurousness shines brightly. Whereas most musicians attach an identity to themselves in terms of scene or style, Driver’s music is the sound of the abandonment of identity, and the refusal to answer the question “Who are you?” Paradoxically, perhaps his defining characteristic as a composer and musician is this fearlessness of looking into the unknown.
RSVP HERE: https://ticketf.ly/2AEePnv

Tuesday, October 23rd

*The Wombats w/ Barns Courtney, Layto

College Street Music Hall – New Haven, CT

$22-$25/All Ages/Doors 7PM

INFO: Recorded at The Pool in Bermondsey (in April 2017) and One Eyed Jacks in Wimbledon (August to October 2017) with producers Mark Crew (Bastille, Rag’n’Bone Man) and Catherine Marks (Wolf Alice), ‘Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life’ finds The Wombats stepping up to the frontline of alt-pop innovation alongside The xx, Perfume Genius and The 1975. From the ultramodern whooshes and AI heartbeats of ‘Cheetah Tongue’ to the Vampire Weekend-doing-‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ that is ‘Dip You In Honey’, it sounds like a 2040s indie record today, slavered in Blade Runner synths, future grooves, celestial solos and space age melodies.

Encapsulating The Wombats is about to get far trickier. ‘Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life’ is a giant leap into maturity, a record that’s still instantly sing-along but demands to be taken seriously. “It’s probably my proudest moment,” Murph says. “We always figure out a way to triumph in the face of adversity. Occasionally we’ve been given a bad rap but we’ve always come through. It’s like in The Shawshank Redemption when he swims through a river of shit but comes out clean on the other side, that’s this album for me. It’s the album we always should have made.”

If beautiful people ruin The Wombats’ lives, the resulting album will make your year. The ‘Bats take wing.
TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE HERE: https://ticketf.ly/2HEdGvZ

Wednesday, October 24th

*Aqueous w/ Mungion

Space Ballroom – Hamden, CT

$15 ($13 adv)/All Ages/Doors 7PM

INFO: After forming in Buffalo in 2006, Aqueous (pronounced “ay-kwee-us”) has earned a reputation as one of the most promising improvisational rock acts in the country. Best known for their “groove rock” stylings, guitarist Mike Gantzer, guitarist/keyboardist David Loss, bassist Evan McPhaden, and drummer Rob Houk have developed a unique sound characterized by meticulous compositions and rich exploratory jams that easily transition from laidback, in-the-pocket grooves to furious, high-intensity peaks. Composed of longtime friends, over the years, Aqueous’ members have developed near-psychic abilities with one another, enabling them to stretch each song while maintaining a staggering degree of precision. In a live setting, the group’s undeniable technical prowess truly shines, making for dynamic performances that bring fans back night after night.

Whether they’re headlining and selling out venues across the U.S. or performing stand-out sets at notable events like Summer Camp, The Peach Music Festival, Jam Cruise, and Suwannee Hulaween, it’s clear that fans across the country are clamoring to hear more from the Buffalo-based four-piece. With the hype around the group growing, Aqueous is making a huge breakout as the project enters its second decade of existence. Do yourself a favor, and discover firsthand what the buzz is all about.
TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE: https://ticketf.ly/2tzzbbL

SHOW ANNOUNCEMENTS

Monday, November 12th

*HaHa Hamden feat. Darren Sechrist and more!

$5 (Tickets exclusively sold at the door)/All Ages/ Doors 7PM

Space Ballroom (Front Room) – Hamden, CT

INFO: Presented by Fistfull of Jokes.
(TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR)

Thursday, December 6th

*Mahali (of Twiddle)

$20 ($15 adv)/All Ages/ Doors 7PM

Space Ballroom – Hamden, CT

INFO: Mihali Savoulidis is the lead singer and guitarist for Vermont rock quartet, Twiddle. Barely 30 years old, the Jersey native has already drawn crowds at such notable rock shrines as Red Rocks, The Capitol Theatre and Bonnaroo. Twiddle’s fan base is growing rapidly, and Mihali’s signature vocals and guitar work are more than partly responsible for this undeniable momentum.

Most laud Mihali for his dexterity on guitar, but it’s his lyrics and songwriting capabilities which set his solo act apart. It is the soul of what many hope to find in a solo act. His mastery of pedals, specifically the repetitive phenomena known as “looping,” beat boxing, and guitar riffs, all prep a multi-textured canvas for song. Mihali’s words are genuine. Shaped by his journey through grief and redemption, he writes songs that serve as a light to many who find themselves lost in their own darkness.
TICKETS ON SALE NOW: https://ticketf.ly/2QScfh4

Thursday, January 10th

*Big Freedia

$30 ($25 adv)/All Ages/Doors 7PM

Space Ballroom – Hamden, CT

INFO: Big Freedia, known as the Queen of Bounce, is a New Orleans-based rapper and ambassador of Bounce music. After dominating the New Orleans club scene for over a decade, Big Freedia is now bringing the Bounce movement to a world-wide stage with her hit reality show, Big Freedia Bounces Back on Fuse TV. The weekly docu-series, now in its sixth season, follows the life of a choirboy turned Bounce rapper and remains the highest rated original series on the network.

In 2016, Freedia was featured on Beyonce’s Grammy-winning single, “Formation.”
TICKETS ON SALE FRI. 10/19 @ 10AM : https://ticketf.ly/2O8pPQk

Monday, January 21st

*King Tuff w/ Stonefield

$20 ($18 advance)/All Ages/Doors 7PM

Space Ballroom – Hamden, CT

INFO: When asked to describe the title track from his new record, Kyle Thomas—aka King Tuff—takes a deep breath. “It’s a song about hitting rock bottom,” he says. “I didn’t even know what I wanted to do anymore, but I still had this urge—this feeling—like there was this possibility of something else I could be doing… and then I just followed that possibility. To me, that’s what songwriting, and art in general, is about. You’re chasing something, there is something out there calling to you and you’re trying to get at it. ‘The Other’ is basically where songs come from. It’s the hidden world. It’s the mystery. It’s the invisible hand that guides you whenever you make something. It’s

the thing I had to rediscover—the sort of voice I had to follow—to bring me back to making music again in a way that felt true and good.”

After years of non-stop touring, culminating in a particularly arduous stint in support of 2014’s Black Moon Spell, Thomas found himself back in Los Angeles experiencing the flipside of the ultimate rock and roll cliche—that of an exhausted musician suddenly unsure where to go or what to do, held prisoner by a persona that he never meant to create, that bore little resemblance to the worn out person they now saw in the mirror. Thomas was suddenly at odds

with the storied rock and roll misfit mythology that he’d spent the past ten years, four full-length albums, a handful of EPs, and multiple live records, unwittingly bringing to life.

“At that point I had literally been on tour for years,” recalls Thomas. “It was exhausting. Physically and mentally. At the end of it I was like, I just can’t do this. I’m essentially playing this character of King Tuff, this crazy party monster, and I don’t even drink or do drugs. It had become a weird persona, which people seemed to want from me, but it was no longer me. I just felt like it had gotten away from me.”
TICKETS ON SALE NOW: https://ticketf.ly/2NE8kqU

Saturday, January 26th

*Petal

$15/All Ages/Doors 7PM

Space Ballroom – Hamden, CT

INFO: Despite our best efforts, there are some things we just can’t outrun. Everything catches up to us in the end, no matter what we do to hide from it. It’s a reality that Petal’s Kiley Lotz examines on Magic Gone, the band’s latest full-length album on Run For Cover.

Recorded over the course of a month at Studio 4 in Conshohocken, PA, Magic Gone is a bitingly honest look at adulthood, accountability, responsibility, mental health and the difficulties that go along with each of them. “I was a closeted queer person struggling with chronic mental health disorders,” says Lotz of the three year period that inspired the album. “There comes a moment where all the paranoia, anxiety and pain become too much and you realize the structure you built to survive is no longer is going to serve you. I had to make some very big life changes to make sure I didn’t die. It was not easy taking that level of control over my life after spending many years worrying about upsetting others and being the best and most successful person I could be.”

That’s not to say that the last few years have only been negative for Lotz – there were a lot of great moments, too. She moved from New York City to Philadelphia, changed her focus from acting and theatre to music, toured with Julien Baker, Slingshot Dakota, and Kevin Devine, and chose to come out and live openly as queer, which she looks back on as one of the most beneficial decisions she’s ever made. “Coming out was the beginning of a long and continuing process of self actualization, of taking a hard look at myself and the problems I had, and how I could fix them,” says Lotz.
TICKETS ON SALE NOW: https://ticketf.ly/2Nlx5bo

Thursday, January 31st

*Umphrey’s McGee w/ Robert Walter’s 20th Congress

$26.50/All Ages/Doors 7PM

College Street Music Hall – New Haven, CT

INFO: The music of Umphrey’s McGee unfolds like an unpredictable conversation between longtime friends. Its six participants—Brendan Bayliss [guitar, vocals], Jake Cinninger [guitar, vocals], Joel Cummins [keyboards, piano, vocals], Andy Farag [percussion], Kris Myers [drums, vocals], and Ryan Stasik [bass]—know just how to communicate with each other on stage and in the studio. A call of progressive guitar wizardry might elicit a response of soft acoustic balladry, or a funk groove could be answered by explosive percussion. At any moment, heavy guitars can give way to heavier blues as the boys uncover the elusive nexus between jaw-dropping instrumental virtuosity and airtight songcraft.

The conversation continues on their eleventh full-length album, it’s not us [Nothing Too Fancy Music]—which was released January 12, 2018.

“It represents the band, because it basically runs the gamut from prog rock to dance,” says Brendan. “We’ve mastered our ADD here. The record really shows that.”
TICKETS ON SALE 10/19 @ 11AM: https://ticketf.ly/2QX5zOP

**Tickets are available for all these shows in the shop (cash only for ticket sales) without the online fees. **