Free First Friday Concert feat. Baskery (SWE) & Fresno (BRA) w/ Brave Baby & Hazy Ray

BASKERY

No matter where they go in the world, people tell the sisters that they’ve never heard or seen anything like it, that they have a completely unique sound and perform with what seems to be an inexhaustible energy. That’s Baskery’s aim, to never stop surprising. Baskery is a band built on what three people can do together. The music is not to be confused with country or bluegrass just because the instrumentation involves a double bass, a six string banjo and acoustic guitar.

The trio is not bound to any genre and this is what makes Baskery a little hard to figure out just by listening to their albums. It’s all there in the live act, because it is real. The three sisters can’t recall when or why they started playing, the music’s always just been there. “Performing live has become the most natural thing to us”. That’s where the high energy level on stage hails from, a pure and reckless love to the art of performing music.

In their late teens the sisters joined forces with their dad, who since decades was a one man band playing old blues and country tunes for a living. They got introduced to the music business in a quite unglamorous way: “We played cover songs in pubs and bars, still we never played songs we didn’t like just to please the crowd”. This foundation of classic “roots music and Americana” settled in their hearts, but also awoke the urge of breaking the rules of traditional music.

Baskery is all about turning the music on its head, blending the straightforwardness of punk with the subtlety of singer/songwriting.
Baskery has successfully toured all over the world, performing at festivals such as Glastonbury (UK), Woodford(AUS), SXSW (US), Colours of Ostrava (CZ), Portland Waterfront Blues Festival (US), Calgary Folk (CAN), California World Fest (US),Lowlands (NL), Azkena Rock (ES), Storsjöyran(SWE), Bergen Fest (NOR), Toender (DK)Shrewsbury Folk Festival (UK), Four Corners Folk Festival, (US), Sisters Folk Festival (US) and many more.

Baskery on Facebook | Baskery on Twitter | Official Website

FRESNO

Fresno is the one of the most popular brazilian rock bands. Featured on the biggest brazilian music festivals, the band, formed in 1999, is releasing its seventh studio album called ‘Eu Sou A Maré Viva’. Fresno is known by its sharp guitars, heavy keyboard work, orchestrations and passionate songwriting heard on Billboard’s Top100 hit singles like ‘Desde Quando Você Se Foi’, ‘Eu Sei’ and ‘Infinito’. ‘Infinito’ – the album – was among the Rolling Stone Brasil’s 25 best brazilian albuns of the year.

The video for ‘Maior Que As Muralhas’, features paralympic atheletes showcasing an astinonishing amout of willpower through interviews and stories about their lives, on a documentary-like scheme. It was highly acclaimed by mainstream media and featured on most of the ‘videos of the year’ lists from 2013.

‘Eu Sou A Maré Viva’, Fresno’s fresh new album, is a daring effort aiming for even bigger audiences, while maintaining the band’s mindset that kept their fanbase so close for 15 years and counting. Featuring guest appearances by multi-awarded rapper Emicida and platinum selling traditional brazilian folk legend Lenine, the band is more powerful than ever and sounding in a way that places them firmly amongst the bands to look forward closely in 2014.

Fresno on Facebook | Fresno on Twitter | Official Website

BRAVE BABY

Brave Baby was formed in 2012 when long time friends and band mates Keon Masters (vocals/guitar), Wolfgang Zimmerman (vocals/drums), and Christian Chidester (guitar/vocals) began playing with Jordan Hicks (bass) and Steven Walker (keys/percussion). The band spent most of 2012 writing and self-producing what would become the band’s debut album Forty Bells, released in early 2013 on Charleston indie label Hearts and Plugs. Production was lead by producer and drummer Wolfgang Zimmerman in the bands’ storage unit turned intimate practice/studio space in the Elliotborough neighborhood of Charleston, SC

Brave Baby on Facebook | Brave Baby on Twitter | Official Website

HAZY RAY

The story of Hazy Ray started with the half jazz-half soul, alternative compositions of singer/songwriter Joshua Ray. Adding trombone phenom, Mike Hayes, to the mix not only yielded a name for the project, but also injected a strong blues element that was previously a rare occurrence in Ray’s music. The blues was a surprise to Ray much like Mike’s energetic and addictive stage presence. In April of 2011, Hayes and Ray were joined by adding “Flecktone”-inspired double-bassist, Mitch Curtis. This influence is undoubtedly the source of the unison line transitions and runs found in the band’s new tunes “Stay and Fight” and “My Song”. After adding Curtis, Hazy Ray began a rampage of 30 live performances in 40 days, which started in New Orleans, Louisiana and concluded by recording their first album, “Deep and Shallow”, at Wire Roads Studios in Houston, Texas. During that process, guitarist Ryan Noormohamed came in to the mix; laying down shredding solos on “Deep and Shallow” and “Rainy Day”. “It is rare that you meet a musician who wants to be part of a group project AND has no limits.” said Josh Ray of Ryan. At the conclusion of the recording process, drummer Saint John Wesley took a leave of absence and Houston native Willie McCullen would take his place. McCullen brings the perfect percussive match to Ray’s writing style with a seemingly unlimited bag of chops that will turn any drummer’s head. At the end of 2011, the band relocated to New Orleans and with them took Willie McCullen. Hazy Ray has begun its viral spread through Louisiana by landing on bills with singer/song-writer John Lefler of Dashboard Confessional, Everclear, and Grammy award winning Rapper/Actor Ludacris. After releasing “Deep and Shallow” in the spring of 2012, Hazy Ray continued to play regular live shows in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Houston, and College Station. The 2012 summer revealed a need for expansion of the group’s operation, Alabama and Tennessee answered that call. Hazy Ray has now added Nashville to its list of regular cities and with two tours in line for 2013, Hazy Ray is excited to get out and play music to the masses.

Hazy Ray on Facebook | Hazy Ray on Twitter | Official Website