SOLD OUT: Judah & The Lion w/ Friendly Savages & Votary
2014-10-29 20:00 - 23:55 (America/Chicago)
THIS CONCERT IS SOLD OUT AND NO MORE TICKETS WILL BE SOLD AT THE DOOR.

JUDAH & THE LION

“Friend of a friend” is the way it all came together, three very different people from very different places, united by a shared love of music. As a band, Judah & the Lion owes much to fate and to the small town feel of Nashville, the city that brought the trio together from scattered parts of the country. The three met while attending Belmont University in the city, introduced to each other through music and mutual friends.
“We all had similar stories, despite the fact that we’d grown up in different places,” explains mandolin player Brian Macdonald, “Judah is the Southerner, I’m the Chicago city slicker, and Nate is the laidback, bearded Rocky Mountain guy.”
One listen and you can hear the influence of each of their youths. Judah Akers in his Tennessee hometown, listening to the soulful crackle of Ray Charles records, Nate Zuercher, a Colorado kid into rugged rock’n’roll, Macdonald driving through the suburbs of Chicago, blasting everything from Frank Sinatra to Billy Joel.
Somehow, all these sounds have come together in Judah & the Lion – the old school sincerity of Southern gospel and soul, the energy of rock and the time-tested pop of classics and hits from the past. And through it all, there is the sound too – of their shared obsession, the feverishly nostalgic twang of bluegrass, country and traditional folk music.
Judah & the Lion is a modern pop band with a feel as old as hills and holler, Akers’ topical lyricism matched with the familiar feel traditional instrumentation – mandolin, banjo and the kind of vocal harmonies that make the heart ache.
“We’re all very different people but it has been obvious since the day we met that we should make music together,” says banjo-player Nate Zuercher, “Though we’re different, we have similar philosophies as to what is important in life and that is a huge part of what keeps us going strong. We know it is important to enjoy where you’re at, to love the people you’re with and live a bold and passionate life. That looks different for each of us but allows us to relate and understand each other.”
“We met because Judah was asking around about a banjo player,” remembers Macdonald, “Nate played banjo and I was just starting to move from guitar to mandolin, so we both went to meet up with Judah and we just connected on a personal level.”
The three played together soon after that initial meeting and “we connected right off the bat,” remembers Macdonald. “It wasn’t like Judah had said he wanted to start a band. He had some songs and he wanted to hear what they sounded like with a banjo. But when we played, it felt right and it sounded good. And we just knew we’d keep playing together.”
That playing together resulted in two successful EPs, First Fruits and Sweet Tennessee. The latter blasted onto the Billboard charts, hitting the Top 20 in a variety of genres – No. 2 on “Bluegrass,” No. 9 on “Heatseekers” and No. 15 on “Folk.” Sweet Tennessee also made it to #1 on iTunes “Singer/Songwriter” chart and broke into the Top 25 overall albums chart. The band has hit the road repeatedly in support of both releases, making the cross-country trek for extensive national tours and playing to sold-out crowds throughout the South and (of course!) in their Nashville hometown.
Whether you’ve heard the band play live or merely listened to those first two releases, you can feel the growing connection between the trio, a musical bond of true and deeply felt emotion. Judah & the Lion possess a resonance beyond their years and a sincerity of feeling that comes in part from childhoods spent performing at youth groups and at Sunday worship.
And while their debut EP was a collection of worship songs, the tracks on their full-length album are inspired by a wide variety of themes, narratives eloquently reflecting the trio’s continually evolving lives… and sound.
Recorded March of 2014, Kids These Days embraces the band’s folk trio roots and expands from there, banjo/mandolin/harmony forming a sonic backbone that incorporates everything from keyboards to electric bass into a heady mix of old and new instrumentation.
“We really wanted this record to show really where we are in our lives now,” explains Akers, “We wanted people to be able to dance to these songs and have a freshness about them that made them lasting. Honestly, we just love life and love people and hope that comes through.”
On Kids These Days, the band explores a new range of emotional territory, writing about love and fear and joy and all the nuanced spaces in-between. The songs on this album are about past and future, adventure and family, confusion and hope – a collection of stories about being young, about finding your way, while discovering – yourself.
“This record is filled with energy and a youthful spirit that absolutely encompasses our circumstances,” say Zuercher of the album’s expansive, high energy feel, “We don’t have much but we’ve got a whole lot of life and passion for what we do and who we are and we hope that people can grab a hold of that when they hear this record. It has been awesome to be able to move forward and utilize some new sounds but we still feel like this record is US.”
In the end, Judah & the Lion has become the happy sum of disparate parts, Southern grit, Midwestern openness, the exuberant freedom of the West, all brought together to make a truly joyful noise.
Judah & The Lion on Facebook | Judah & The Lion on Twitter | Official Website.
FRIENDLY SAVAGESFriendly Savages is a young, up and coming folk/rock band based in Austin, TX. Over the last year and a half, the group has made big waves in the Austin music scene with their catchy melodies, haunting lyrics, and high-flying vocals. In 2012 they were called “Austin’s newest folk rock buzz band” by the Austin Chronicle. Building on the success of their full-length debut album, “O, Joshua!,” Friendly Savages has made a name for itself as “one of the best groups working in Austin today” (The Horn). Take a few minutes to listen to the album and you’ll understand what the buzz is about–the songs are at turns funny and thoughtful, happy and sad, simple and profound. The band wields a musical and lyrical depth which is rare in today’s folk/rock scene. Or in any other, for that matter. As Back Down South put it, “they’re a band you just need to be listening to, ok?”Friendly Savages on Facebook | Friendly Savages on Twitter | Official Website
VOTARYVotary is a contemporary pop band hailing from College Station, TX. Soon after becoming a full band, Votary won the Texas A&M Battle of the Bands competition and quickly began gaining popularity in the Bryan/College Station area. In the Spring of 2013 Votary released their debut album “Ground Beneath Us” which included the popular single “Hey Teresa” . Votary is currently focused on writing and recording new material for their next EP set to release in the Spring of 2014. Recently Votary has had an extensive live performance schedule including opening for David Ramirez, Tim Halperin, and Green River Ordinance! Votary’s sound has been compared to Ben Rector, Parachute, Matt Nathanson, and Ben Folds. The band includes: Jack Thweatt – Vocals/Guitar, Travis Thompson – Keyboard, Michael Burgess – Bass, Conner Wright – Drums.Votary on Facebook | Votary on Twitter | Official Website

The Rocky Horror Picture Show by the shadow cast of Cepheid Variable: 2 showings, early (8pm) and late (midnight)
2014-10-31 23:00 - 23:55
Tickets for the early showing (doors at 7pm, film starts at 8pm):

Tickets for the late showing (doors at 11pm, film starts at 12am):

This event will sell out. Strongly encouraged to buy tickets in advance. Strongly encouraged to come fully dressed up in costume! Prop bags will be sold at the venue by Cepheid Variable, if you bring your own props, DO NOT BRING: liquids, food or candles (open flames). This film is rated R, not suitable for under 18. NO PHOTOGRAPHY ALLOWED.
The Village Cafe (210 W 26th St) in downtown Bryan is offering ticket holders for either showing 25% off any food items and $1 off any drink with their ticket for tonight’s show. Must present ticket at counter.

Grand Stafford Theater & Cepheid Variable present:
The Rocky Horror Picture Show by the shadow cast of Cepheid Variable
Two showings on Halloween night, early showing at 8pm (doors 7pm) and late showing at midnight (doors at 11pm).

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a 1975 British musical comedy horror film and an adaptation of The Rocky Horror Show, a musical stage play, book, music, and lyrics by Richard O’Brien. Directed by Jim Sharman from a screenplay by Sharman and O’Brien, the production is a humorous tribute to the science fiction and horror B movies of the late 1940s through early 1970s.
Still in limited release nearly four decades after its premiere, it has the longest-running theatrical release in film history. It gained notoriety as a midnight movie in 1977 when audiences began participating with the film in theaters. The film has a large international cult following and is one of the most well-known and financially successful midnight movies of all time. In 2005, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
THE CAST: CEPHEID VARIABLECe· phe· id var· i· a· ble (1) Function: noun Date: circa 1903 any of a class of pulsating stars whose very regular light variations are related directly to their intrinsic luminosities and whose apparent luminosities are used to estimate distances in astronomy. Ce· phe· id var· i· a· ble (2) Function: programming Date: circa 1969 any of a group of Texas A&M students whose very irregular activities are related directly to their love of science fiction, fantasy, or horror and whose luminous abilities are used to coordinate outlandish programs. Cepheid Variable stands as a Texas A&M Student Organization devoted to the support and promotion of all things science fiction, fantasy, horror, science, and technology, and the support of the community that grows around them through an atmosphere of acceptance and kinship. Cepheid Variable seeks to promote creativity, enrich imagination, and build active learning opportunities through a variety of educational programs, demonstrations, and presentations.
For more information about the play, film adaptation, audience participation, what to expect and videos to learn the dances visit The Official Fan Club Website for The Rock Horror Picture Show.

For more information on Cepheid Variable and their shadow cast visit Cepheid Variable’s Facebook Page
This film & performance may not be suitable for all audience and all ages. This film is rated R. Minors to be accompanied by an adult.

Homebrew Live: F13 Showcase feat. In The Trench, No Such Thing, Isonomist & Distance, Here
2014-11-01 21:00 - 23:55
Grand Stafford Theater and Rock 103.9 present Homebrew Live FREE Concert Series sponsored by Rock 103.9 Homebrew, Rock Signal Productions & Mobile Toys, Inc. This month F13 Music showcases its artists IN THE TRENCH, NO SUCH THING & more TBA.
IN THE TRENCH

In The Trench has established a reputation, not only for their original and exceptionally tight style, but for putting together one of the most exciting live performances you will find anywhere.
Vocalist Stephen Harding, and guitarists Jarrod Cook and Michael Giroux, welcome the addition of bassist Seneca Homeyer (Zero And Falling) and drummer Mark McBride (Red Team Go, Miphix, Emura).
Their self-titled debut album (2009) shares similarities with their new material (release date TBA). However, the unmistakable improvement in songwriting, vocals, and musicianship in general, brings with it a somewhat more refined, and intense flavor. Brutal screams, crushing power-grooves, and chainsaw guitar riffs are now accompanied by sharper, more dynamic transitions and multi-layered screaming & singing vocals.
In The Trench on Facebook | Official Website
NO SUCH THING
No Such Thing is a rock band from Austin, TX.
No Such Thing on Facebook
ISONOMIST
Isonomist is a metal band from Temple, TX.
Isonomist on Facebook

Sons of Bill w/ David Wax Museum & Ottoman Turks
2014-11-05 20:00 - 23:00
SONS OF BILL

“This is a record that takes me back to some of the creative heights we achieved in Wilco,” says producer Ken Coomer about Sons of Bill’s latest LP Love and Logic, due out on Thirty Tigers September 30, 2014. “I’m only interested in making records that are still going to be relevant ten years from now, and this is one of them. It’s unmistakably the real thing.”
This is an ambitious album for the three brothers Sam, Abe, and James Wilson, who share equal duty singing and writing throughout Love and Logic. The Virginia roots obviously run deep, with dreamy pedal steel, banjo, and three part harmonies that could have only been learned at church. But the record moves into enough layered pop productions and rock and roll bravado throughout to keep you guessing as to just who these boys are, and what they’ve been listening to.
It’s easy to say that Sons of Bill can sound more like Townes Van Zandt or early R.E.M. depending on the track, even moving into their own brand of down-home psychedelia that American Songwriter described as a “countrified Pink Floyd.” But the real achievement of Love and Logic is the songwriting, the Wilson brothers’ ability to craft literate and deeply introspective lyrics while still managing to deliver it all as a rock and roll band. It’s a soul-searcher’s soundtrack for an over-stimulated age. A roots rock album that stands out in 2014.
Sons of Bill became more than Charlottesville’s best kept secret with the release of the Sirens LP, a brash rock and roll record, which debuted on the Billboard top 200 and #12 on the Heatseekers chart in 2012. The band toured extensively on both sides of the Atlantic for a year and a half and gained some notoriety for their fiery live performances and road dog work ethic. But Love and Logic certainly marks a turning point for the band– a more sober, reflective, version of themselves– the sound of a band coming into its own.
No doubt the single biggest influence on the band is their father and namesake, William Wilson, professor emeritus of theology and literature at the University of Virginia and part-time picker in the Virginia piedmont. There was no stereo in the Wilson household, but the home was filled with songs: Hymns, murder ballads, songs about love, songs about work, songs about death, all played with the passion of a southern gentleman who could never quite shake the cold light of professorial logic.
“We didn’t grow up with our parents’ Beatles and Stones records,” says Abe. “We didn’t really grow up with any records at all. We had to discover most rock and roll on our own. But we grew up with my dad singing, and felt at a young age how much it all meant to him. We learned that music wasn’t just pleasurable, it was important.” So while the subject matter of Love and Logic may not stray too far from the tradition, it’s this sense of urgency, a heady theological quality, which gives it legs, and makes Sons of Bill stand out amongst their contemporaries.
In songs like “Bad Dancer,” James (who teaches a course on William Faulkner when he’s not touring with his brothers) wrestles with young love, his father’s expectations, and the trials of being a sensitive Southern boy: “Once Southern boys they all loved R.E. Lee, and once Southern girls loved R.E.M. Were they all in confederacy against you? Or were you just like them?”
James is an obvious Virginian of the old school, being both a writer and teacher as well as a musician. While lots of people are selling the South these days– NASCAR, bass boats, and barbecue– there’s a complicated, more beautiful and literary side of Dixie that hasn’t been aired out in pop music.
“I think, in an abstract way, that Faulkner is a writer who reinvented what Southern literature means for his time and place, and he ended up with something new and yet timeless” says James. “When I listen to some so-called ‘Southern’ bands these days, I can’t help but feel some dishonesty, like what is timeless and meaningful about the people and its history is being sold cheap.”
On Love and Logic, James’ earnest, ardent voice contrasts with his brother Abe’s, a soft-spoken pianist with a sly, more British sense of melody and structure who emerges as the real poet of the band. Songs like “Lost in The Cosmos,” a haunting waltz dedicated to Big Star’s lesser known and suicidal front-man Chris Bell, lulls the listener with a cadence of searching phrases that whirr around in your head a long time after his songs have gone silent.
Sam Wilson is the eldest of the brothers and the most accomplished musician in the band, a classical guitar major who spent half a decade as a jazz musician in New York City. Sam is the reason there were no auxiliary musicians on Love and Logic, as he jumps from guitarto pedal steel, piano, dobro, vibraphone, to vocals depending on the track. But it’s Sam’s sound on the pedal steel that really holds Love and Logic together sonically, as it moves from folksy to ethereal, familiar to unexpected, glib to heartbreaking.
What makes Sons of Bill so great is their ability to be so unabashedly at home with themselves in a time when some roots bands feel like they are trying a little bit too hard, and rock and roll bands are starting to feel desperately over-conceptualized. Maybe that’s part of playing music with your brothers: No point in faking it.
Sons of Bill on Facebook | Sons of Bill on Twitter | Official Website
DAVID WAX MUSEUM

When future music historians look back at the strong currents circulating between the Americas in the 21st century, they will find Los Lobos, Calexico, and a charismatic Missourian singing tight harmony with a Southern belle rattling the jawbone of a donkey. David Wax and Suz Slezak front the David Wax Museum, and together with their band they fuse traditional Mexican folk with indie rock and American roots to create a Mexo-Americana aesthetic. Combining Latin rhythms, infectious melodies, and call-and-response hollering, DWM was hailed by TIME for its “virtuosic musical skill and virtuous harmonies” and has built a reputation among concertgoers all over the U.S, Canada, Europe and China for “kicking up a cloud of excitement with their high-energy border-crossing sensibility” (The New Yorker). With the release of Knock Knock Get Up (September 2012), David Wax Museum has reached a level of cross-cultural integration and musical fluency that allows them to speak electrifying and heartfelt poetry with a tongue that is wholly their own.
Knock Knock Get Up is a fiercely original, rhythmically undeniable love letter to the Museum’s growing global audience. It’s peppered with field recordings and natural sounds from the city of Santiago, Tuxtla in the Mexican state of Veracruz. From deep in sun-drenched southern Mexico where most of the album’s songs were conceived, the earliest version of Knock Knock Get Up traveled all the way to the frozen winter landscape of the Great North Sound Society in southern Maine. The album is the band’s second made in collaboration with producer Sam Kassirer (Josh Ritter), and was recorded in a month-long marathon at Kassirer’s rustic farmhouse studio in January 2012. The Wax Museum’s fourth LP is a mature and playful evolution of the band’s sound: classical Mexican strumming patterns are translated onto electric guitars sporting halos of fuzz; the leona, a deep-voiced traditional Mexican guitar plays licks like an old-time, stand-up bass; and the track “Vivian” was first written as a bluegrass hoedown before it grew a Caribbean inspired accordion hook and a Brazilian drum part in the studio. With an expanded musical palate of autoharps, organs and mariachi trumpet loops, Knock Knock Get Up is gritty, intoxicating and vibrantly lush.
David Wax Museum’s eclectic sound has deep roots in Mexican and American soil. On several trips south of the border, including a yearlong Harvard fellowship, David Wax has immersed himself in the country’s rich traditional music culture, son mexicano, learning from the form’s living masters. Suz Slezak was homeschooled by her father on a small farm in rural Virginia, and reared on music – old time, Irish, classical, and folk. The two met in 2007 and began blending their unique musical perspectives to form the band.
The bonfire of success David Wax Museum has kindled with its innovative, grass-roots approach is currently roaring. After years busking at house concerts and touring with The Avett Brothers, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, and the Old 97s, DWM picked up the 2010 Boston Music Awards Americana Artist of the Year. In 2011 they released their second album, the acclaimed Everything Is Saved. The album’s single “Born with a Broken Heart” won the BMA’s Song of the Year. But critical mass came with the band’s breakout performance at the 2010 Newport Folk Festival, an opportunity won by DWM fans in an online competition. NPR called their concert at Newport a highlight of the entire weekend, Bob Boilen of All Songs Considered filed their sound under “pure, irresistible joy”, and the Museum was invited back to Newport to play the 2011 main stage. With an illustration in The New Yorker, #8 on Paste Magazine’s list of the Best Live Acts of 2011, and a nod from TIME magazine as one of the top ten acts of 2011’s South by Southwest, David Wax Museum has become one of the hottest new indie bands around.
David Wax Museum on Facebook | David Wax Museum on Twitter | Official Website
OTTOMAN TURKSOttoman Turks is a Dallas/Bryan/College Station-based four piece that was formed at the beginning of 2010 out of the ashes of a former band. Somebody had written a few songs, so we all got together and figured them out somewhat and then we played two shows without knowing what we were doing. They went well enough, so we figured we’d continue.
Over the years we have gained and lost a couple members, but the core of the group, and the sound we hope to cultivate, have remained essentially the same. A mixture of rough and rowdy blues, fast train songs and sad country ballads, with some skewed jazz and doo wop thrown in.
We have been repeatedly praised for our energetic live shows, which is where we have our most fun. The songs we write are largely built for the stage, and we prefer to showcase them that way. We appeal to a large array of audiences, and have played shows that reflect that – from biker parties by the Brazos to a grocery store opening in a Dallas suburb (that one was a weird one).Ottoman Turks on Facebook

The Weeks w/ The Bots & Sol Cat
2014-11-06 21:00 - 23:55
THE WEEKS

“If my Southern heart’s still pumping blood/I’ll bury my money in the mighty Mississippi mud,” sings The Weeks’ Cyle Barnes on Dear Bo Jackson’s “Brother In The Night.” “If my Southern lungs won’t let me breathe/I’ll wait for the cicadas and I’ll let ‘em push it out for me.”
With that powerful verse, The Weeks staked a claim as heirs to the timeless tradition of Southern rock. In 2013, the band released their label debut album, Dear Bo Jackson, on Serpents and Snakes Records, spent the year on their “Thick As Thieves Tour” and were included in Rolling Stone magazine’s “Hottest Live Photos of 2013” feature after a raucous set at NYC’s Mercury Lounge. (www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/the-hottest-live-photos-of-2013-20121212/the-weeks-0322913). During the summer, the band hopped over the pond for a UK/European Arena tour with Kings of Leon and then they came home to play at the Voodoo and Austin City Limits festivals.
Since then, the band headlined the Communion Tour, which was handpicked by Mumford & Sons’ Ben Lovett, played direct support to Jake Bugg at The Ryman, sold out the Mercy Lounge in Nashville twice, and have barely left the road with no plans to do so soon. Headed now into the festival circuit, they have already confirmed Bonnaroo, Shaky Knees, Mountain Jam, Wakarusa, Firefly, Spring Jam and Middle of the Map.
The Weeks are about to release an EP to celebrate the 7th anniversary of the band (formed when they were 15). The highlight of this EP will be a re-recording of the first song they ever wrote, “Buttons.” To this day, it is a fan favorite and their most-requested song. It was never properly captured on tape til now. The follow up to Dear Bo Jackson will be recorded over this spring and summer.
Born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, The Weeks (Cyle Barnes – vocals; Sam Williams – guitar; Damien Bone – bass; Cain Barnes – drums; Alex Admiral Collier – keyboards) came together in 2006 and instantly came to define the sound of Southern Rock in the 21st Century – their grunge-powered, high-octane anthems rich with a bottomless Delta soul far deeper than the boys’ teenage years would suggest. Like any great rock ‘n’ roll outfit worth its salt, The Weeks played as often as humanly possible, with countless club dates across the Southeast and tours alongside such like-minded acts as Local H, North Mississippi Allstars, and the one and only Meat Puppets. Their extraordinary energy and outsized performances – not to mention a series of well-received independently issued releases – earned them a fervent fan following and ultimately, a deal with the like-minded Serpents and Snakes Records, who reissued the band’s second full-length outing, Gutter Gaunt Gangster.
By summer 2010, it had become clear that sleepy Jackson could no longer contain the mighty Weeks. The band left their old Mississippi home for the bright lights of Nashville, and, as Williams says, “it’s been non-stop ever since.”
Where GGG – like all The Weeks’ previous recordings – was recorded fast and on the cheap, the band opted to take a more leisurely tack in making Dear Bo Jackson. They spent six months at pre-production, resulting the most fully articulated demos of their career. When time came to record the album proper, their search for a producer led them to Paul Moak, a Grammy Award-nominated producer/engineer/mixer and perhaps most importantly, a fellow Jacksonian.
The Weeks set to work at Moak’s Music City studio, The Smoakstack, determined to push themselves further than ever before. Drawing inspiration from such iconic works of Americana as The Band’s Music From Big Pink, the band’s first goal was to incorporate new musical elements into their own inimitable take on Americana.
Much of Dear Bo Jackson’s all-inclusive sound can be credited to The Weeks’ very own Garth Hudson, Collier, whose compositional background and proficiency on an array of instruments enabled the band to build their inventive arrangements from within. Adding color to such standouts as “King Sized Death Bed” and “Gobi Blues” are legendary pedal steel guitarist Bucky Baxter – “the most unbelievable musician I’ve ever seen in person,” says Williams – as well as their buddy Carl Gatti on trombone and faux French Horn. What’s more, friends from throughout the new Nashville rock scene – including Jonny “Corndawg” Fritz – dropped into The Smoakstack to lend backing vocals and a collective stamp to the proceedings.
With Dear Bo Jackson, The Weeks enriched their already well-seasoned sonic stew with the classic flavors of soul, R&B, funk, and heavy boogie to fashion a forward-facing sound all their own. Big brass, lush strings, and twangy pedal steel fused into their distinctive sludge pop, with Williams’ greasy guitars and the highly charged engine room of Bone and Cain as well as the ever-distinctive Collier. Throughout the album, Cyle rends his throat raw as he testifies dramatic and truthful tales of modern Southern lives, always full of hope despite often punishing circumstances.
The press on the record was filled with deserving accolades. Rolling Stone said, “The Weeks’ nervy, careening jangle and scraggily, Southern-stoner look immediately bring to mind Youth and Young Manhood-era Kings of Leon comparisons,” while the Associated Press hailed, “Here’s more proof Nashville, TN, is saving rock ‘n’ roll one band at a time.” Relix claimed, “The Weeks’ breakout album, Dear Bo Jackson, is a big-hearted rock stew – a delicious blend of Southern rock riffs, soulful horns and punk attitude,” and American Songwriter said, “The Weeks groove and grunt their way through this tribute to Mississippi, the band’s home state.” Blurt exclaimed, “Dear Bo Jackson is a remarkable collection of blazing southern rock, soul, funk, alt country and just about anything else that is still good about music today,” while Paste said, “The band’s sound blends classic Southern rock influences with a grungy yet soulful twist to give the band a sound all their own.”
As The Weeks barrel into the future without a net or a rulebook, they are not looking backwards for a second as they continue to explore their Mississippi roots and current place in the world, with all the profound joy and unfathomable sadness that entails.
The Weeks on Facebook | The Weeks on Twitter | Official Website
THE BOTS

Los Angeles brothers and bandmates Mikaiah Lei (Lead Vocal, Guitar, Bass), and Anaiah Lei (Drums & Percussions, Backing Vocal), recorded their first album together when they were just 15 and 12. Their distinctive sound brings together the veracity of garage/punk while paying homage to the American blues and ballad tradition. While The Bots are deeply intertwined in the American music narrative, they are simultaneously carving out a wholly new, powerful, uniquely personal storyline that is truly The Bots sound.
Although a young band, they have already self-released three albums and completed two Vans Warped Tours, two AFROPUNK Festival Tours, countless European Festivals, and support tours with Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Blur and Damon Albarn’s Africa Express, Refused, and Bad Brains, to name a few.
Fall 2013 saw their debut release with FADER Label, the four-song EP Sincerely Sorry with a full-length release slated for the summer of 2014. Spring 2014 saw them conquer the stages at Coachella, receiving features in Vanity Fair, The Hollywood Reporter, Revolt, Spin, Rolling Stone and a full-length feature in the Los Angeles Times, where the brothers promise “to change perceptions with their new album.”
New York Times Magazine predicts, “They are on the cusp of stardom.”
The Bots on Facebook | The Bots on Twitter | Official Website
SOL CATThere is no such thing as a landlocked island, except the one where Sol Cat seems to live. It’s like a place where the mind isn’t fully aware of its surroundings, and confusion welcomes the creativity it inspires. Sol Cat’s eponymous self-released debut album doesn’t necessarily transport you to South Florida from Nashville, TN, but that is an appropriate enough concept. If Music City defines firm lines between genres, Sol Cat’s album champions redistricting, creating challenging new sounds in this arena of the traditional.
Think of a midnight drive somewhere warm, certainly the top is down, and yes, a beauty is in the passenger seat. The six-piece band suggests you can take this foggy, dreamlike scenario with you wherever you go. However, Sol Cat finds its own contentment and happiness in the valleys of Middle TN, grateful for the opportunity to tap into the mystical and spiritual musical foundation on which the land is built. The Athens of the South has an appeal any artist can feel — an enticing, drawing temptation.
Before relocating, Sol Cat’s members spent their time across the country, Miami to Los Angeles, New York City to The Gulf of Mexico. Musical influences span just as wide, yet an eclectic and oceanic resonance remains prevalent in their sound. Smooth grooves along the lines of George McCrae mix with semi-psych synth layers, while the likes of The Talking Heads and Laid Back inspire bouncy bass and slick guitar riffs.
With such a range of cultural and artistic influence, the creative process is equally interesting. Vocalist and writer Brett Hammann steers the musical direction of the band while guitarist Johnny Fisher leads the group into new and uncharted territory. Drummer Ryan Usher provides the rhythmic backbone for bassist Aaron Martin, who also acts as Sol Cat’s Art Director. Lead guitarist Jaan Cohan brings catchy licks and skills to melt any face, leaving keyboardist and studio engineer Jeremy Clark to play intuitively as the music essentially produces itself.
The group is now prepared and eager for the road, with its groundwork set for the message to spread. The Sol Cat sound is not as unfamiliar as it is forgotten; and those feelings and emotions poured into music past are ready to gracefully wash over a new generation.
-Pedro Sanchez IIISol Cat on Facebook | Sol Cat on Twitter | Official Website

Free First Friday Concert feat. Roxy Roca, Hazy Ray & T. Sax (formerly Taz & Co.)
2014-11-07 20:00 - 23:55
Grand Stafford Theater presents our Free First Friday Concert Series featuring soul/funk, seven-piece group from Austin, ROXY ROCA joined by Louisiana/local favorites, NOLA/horn/rock HAZY RAY.
ROXY ROCA

“I’m on a mission from God,” Taye Cannon deadpanned before breaking into laughter. “Well, maybe not exactly, but it kinda felt that way at first, and it still does sometimes.”
Ok, so the Blues Brothers reference is a little cringe-worthy, but it’s an apt description for the path Cannon traveled assembling Austin-based ROXY ROCA, although the Blues Brothers story starts off in jail, and Taye’s starts in, well, Alabama. Close enough.
“I grew up in the deep south immersed in my dad’s music — Jackie Wilson, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, James Brown. Basically, if it had a groove, my dad had it. When Motown 25 hit the TV it was all over — I knew this was what I wanted to do. I remember staying up all night with my cousins, emulating James Brown and Michael Jackson in our grandfather’s carport.”
Things didn’t work out the way he expected, at least not right away. Teenage years, rebellion, and punk rock created a detour for the fledgling belter. “I couldn’t really sing yet, but I made up for it with volume and conviction.” Cannon took what he learned about showmanship from James Brown and combined it with his raw aggression and parlayed it into a successful run fronting Austin darkwave pioneers Mocktigers. The thrill of performing was just what he imagined it would be, but something was missing.
“I started telling people I wanted to be a soul singer and I got a lot of sideway looks, like, ‘Really? Where is this coming from?’ They all knew me as the crazy frontman from Mocktigers that screams himself hoarse night after night. They didn’t know this other side of me. So, things kind of stalled for a while.”
Then, a chance meeting changed everything. “I said, ‘Hey, do you want to start a soul band with me?’ and he said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’” Cannon is talking about veteran Austin guitar slinger Errol Siegel. “I thought, ‘Man, that was easy, who’s next? Well, Errol and I both knew Roger (Wuthrich) from previous bands and it turned out he was into it too — he just said, ‘Anything you want to do, I’m in.’ I knew these guys were great players, so I had no doubt they could do it. For whatever reason, they saw something that made them think I could too. So, we were on our way.”
One by one they recruited players for their “mission.” Bob Villwock on keys, just in from CA. Tom Hays on trombone. Paul Kresowik, former drummer for globetrotting soul/funk outfit Diplomats of Solid Sound. Houston Rawls, former tenor saxman for T Bird and The Breaks. Most recently, the band welcomed Royce Phillips Jr. on alto sax. “We just started connecting the dots, figuring out who we knew that had a passion for soul music, the chops to play it right, and the desire to be poor,” explains Siegel. “We knew this was going to be a labor of love, which is really just another way of saying, ‘You better love this, because we sure as hell can’t pay you.’”
After a year of recruiting, woodshedding, and writing, ROXY ROCA made their debut at an ACL Festival after-party. The wait was worth it. The band exploded out of the gate firing on all cylinders. “We felt like we had one chance to prove ourselves so we knew we had to leave it all on the stage that night.”
Since that night, the buzz has spread quickly, leading to more high-profile shows with B.B. King, Fitz and The Tantrums, Mayer Hawthorne, Orgone, Honey Island Swamp Band, Brownout, The Monophonics, Maneja Beto, T-Bird and The Breaks, and others. The band was an official showcasing artist at SXSW 2012 and 2013. This year’s showcase at Lustre Pearl, called the “Best of SXSW 2013″ by NYC-based BlackBook Magazine, was a major funk/soul event with sets from ROXY ROCA, Ruby Velle and The Soulphonics, The Dynamites featuring Charles Walker, The Diplomats of Solid Sound, and more.
The band continues to hone their chops and develop their sound. They recently wrapped up production on their new record, recorded at EAR Studio in Austin with producer Lars Goransson at the helm and are looking forward to its release later this summer.
So, what’s on the horizon for ROXY ROCA? Cannon doesn’t even blink. “Straight to the top. I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t really believe I could. I told you man, I’m on a mission from God.”
Roxy Roca on Facebook | Roxy Roca on Twitter | Official Website
HAZY RAYHazy Ray is an amalgamation of sights and sounds you may have seen and heard before, but never blended together so distinctively to create an experience that ensnares the senses and communicates the soul. The five piece band boldly describes their sound as “… at the core, true rhythm & blues,” pulling from their vast influences that range from Jamie Cullum and Dave Matthews to Radiohead and Maroon 5. Hazy Ray’s head-turning sound is equal parts new and familiar, as the band continuously draws from a seemingly-endless bag of tricks. In 2011, the band’s premiere performance in New Orleans birthed the signature sound they now brand as “New Orleans Rock.” Their debut album, “Deep and Shallow,” was recorded at Houston’s Wire Road Studios later that year.
On stage, Hazy Ray is known for their precise and exceptionally energetic live show that leaves audiences dancing to new charts and singing along to familiar, albeit different, covers.The Texas natives stepped onto the New Orleans scene quickly, landing on bills with singer/song-writer John Lefler of Dashboard Confessional, Everclear, Free-Sol, Hunter Hayes, Grammy award-winning Rapper/Actor Ludacris, blues greats Tinsley Ellis and Tab Benoit, and festival headliners Cowboy Mouth, Chicago, and Earth, Wind, and Fire. Music Festival appearances at Springboard South (Houston), Gretna Music Fest, French Quarter Fest, and performances during SXSW and Jazz Fest this past year show promise into future festivals. The band’s 2012 and 2013 summer tours have expanded the group into a National Touring Act, performing across 15 states. Hazy Ray has concluded their summer tour and performed their 100th show of the year by headlining the New Orleans House of Blues Parish Room.Hazy Ray on Facebook | Hazy Ray on Twitter | Official Website
T. SAX
Formerly Taz & Co, T. Sax got the flow to make yo booty go whoa. With our hip hop covers spanning from modern to the 90’s, our only mission is to party and have a great time. The instrumentation of sax/keys/bass provided by the very best (Edward Louis Matthews, Patrick Rock, and Joshua Letton) fit in a tight pocket provided by Santi Tani on drums. One time seeing T. Sax and you’ll understand why this band keeps being asked back to perform in downtown Bryan. Featuring songs from Notorious BIG to Damian Marley, come let the melodies flow over you!Official Website

Midnight Express
2014-11-08 21:00 - 23:55
MIDNIGHT EXPRESS

Midnight Express was formed in 2002 and is based in Bryan-College Station; The Band performs live Classic Rock & ROLL music covering hit songs from the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, AND more!
Midnight Express consists of 9 professional musicians that include a 4-piece horn section along with a great sound engineer. The Band strives for perfection when delivering the great classic rock songs the way they were played back then.
Midnight Express has performed with Cowboy Mouth, Brave Combo, Foghat and Grammy award winner Joe Nichols.
Midnight Express on Facebook | Official Website

Second Sunday Films: Life is Beautiful
2014-11-09 15:30 - 19:30
LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL

Second Sunday Foreign Film returns to Grand Stafford Theater this November! Come join us Sunday, November 9th at 3 PM for an Italian film directed by Roberto Benigni.
“Life is Beautiful” is about a Jewish book keeper named Guido living in Italy in the 1930s. He falls in love and marries a woman from a nearby city. They have a son and live happily together until the occupation of Italy by German forces. In an attempt to hold his family together and help his son survive the horrors of a Jewish Concentration Camp, Guido imagines that the Holocaust is a game and that the grand prize for winning is a tank.
Tickets include movie and intermission treat provided by Frittella Italian Cafe.

Signals & Avindale w/ Odd Folks & Adults
2014-11-13 20:00 - 23:55
SIGNALS

Embracing their defiant brand of alternative rock and gaining a rabid fan base thanks to their incredible live show, Signals have become a hot commodity over the past few years with the release of their 2012 album ” Guided Missiles and Misguided Men. But with the release of their stunning new single We Must Be Gods, the Tucson natives are truly becoming legendary.
Deploying every shred of musical prowess in their artillery, Signals have poured mind and soul into their new single We Must Be Gods – and it shows. Blending the unique vocal style , incendiary guitar lines and soaring melody, the band’s newest single is an insight of musical exploration that at once both packs a punch, while finding the pockets of calm and peace in the chaos – a talent that has made the band such a exhilarating force in the music world at large . Waiting to be released in the spring of 2014 , Hindsight EP is already being hailed as a “refreshing voice from the norm”.
Signals on Facebook | Signals on Twitter | Official Website
AVINDALE

Avindale is an Indie/Alternative band from El Paso, TX formed in mid 2007. Their sound can be described as a mixture of ambient yet powerful guitar melodies, distinct bass lines that can carry a mood of their own and still adapt to the sound as a whole, drums with dynamic beats, and vocal melodies that can be appealing to diverse audiences. Their influences range from Pink Floyd, U2, and modern bands such as Circa Survive, Deftones, Death Cab for Cutie, and As Cities Burn. The band has released 2 Eps and 2 singles in the course of their career, the first EP titled “Cycles” released in 2011, which they supported with approximately 4 weeks of touring, and the second one titled “Lost In A Place Some Call Home” recorded with engineer/producer Dryw Owens (From Indian Lakes, Culprit ) in Sacramento California which was released July 23 2013. Their 2 new singles “Azure” and “Not Even Gold” which were recorded at Sonic Ranch Studios were released on jan 24, 2014. The band is currently in the process of booking a full US tour to support the EP, as well as Japanese release through “Cars and Calories Records” and distributed through Tower Records scheduled for March 23rd 2014, which they intend to support with a Japanese tour in the summer of that same year. What sets the band apart from others is a sound that is unique. Their hometown music scene has not had much to offer, pushing them to bring something new to the listener. The considerable distance from other cities with a stable or even growing music scene has not put a halt to the band, it instead has motivated them to work even harder and get their music heard.
Avindale on Facebook | Official Website
ODD FOLKSOdd Folks is a 5-piece rock band from College Station, TX featuring members from various local groups in the area. Stay odd.Odd Folks on Facebook | Official Website
AdultsAdults is a music band for the kids.Adults on Facebook | Official Website

Austin Meade CD Release Show
2014-11-14 21:00 - 23:55
AUSTIN MEADE
Austin Meade is a singer/songwriter based out of College Station, Texas. In March of 2013 he branched out from behind the drums and started writing his own music. With classic influences as well as many modern Americana and Blues influences, you can find Austin’s music somewhere in the middle. Austin has shared the stage with artists such as Cody Canada, Jason Eady, Brandon Jenkins, The Damn Quails, Josh Grider, Thieving Birds and many more. Meade’s EP, “Long Ways To Go” and first full length album, “Chief of the Sinners” are available now.
Austin Meade on Facebook

Software Developers Cartel
2014-11-18 18:30 - 22:00, 2014-12-16 18:30 - 20:00
Craft Cocktails will begin at 4:30pm as usual on Tuesdays and continue through the night.
Software Developers Cartel – Bright Minds From Central Texas
The first in a new series of Mini-conferences and meetups about current trends, methods and frameworks in software development – from new advanced hardware devices to a simple app, using an awesome framework to build a web app in no time or hacking an AR Drone in javascript. Developers having fun practicing their craft, and learning new stuff.
Our purpose is to create a space where developers form can come and share their professional and personal experiences with any technology available. By sharing this experience, we hope to create, maintain and grow a community of curious and passionate developers while fostering and promoting best practices in software development and dev frameworks/tools.
Official Website

The O's w/ The Pettit Brothers & Ottoman Turks
2014-11-19 20:00 - 23:55
THE O’S

We started our group in the summer of 2008, and after having known each other through all of our other groups (Polyphonic Spree, Young Heart Attack, Slick 57, Rose County Fair, Hi-Fi Drowning, etc), it was an easy upstart and took no time jumping in head first. We both had songs that we felt needed to be played but no band to use as an outlet. Three months later, we entered the recording studio and recorded an EP which ended up being half of our first album “We Are The O’s” (2009 Idol Records).
We have since toured relentlessly all across the US, UK, Europe, and even jaunted to Hawaii, hi-fiving friends and fans alike; just trying to keep ourselves out on the road and creating new music for good people. In 2011, we recorded our second album with the Grammy award winning Stuart Sikes. Entitled “Between The Two,” we decided to play every instrument on the album and had Stuart man the helm. It was liberating and excited and brought us further than we had been before.
We hit the road again jumping back and forth across the great ponds, made music videos, bought and broke vans, bought and broke gear, ate poorly, ate well, had fun and not so much fun, met amazing people, learned a lot about life, forgot a lot of things, slept a little, bought and wore out hundreds of pairs of pants and shirts, resoled our cowboy boots countless times, played with incredible artists, performed on TV shows, talk shows, radio shows, festivals, clubs, bars, restaurants, several different countries and continents, swam in clear water, dredged through the gulf, and other countless, endless adventures to name.
We did this all as we have always, to make good music for good people.
And into the future we go with “Thunderdog”, our third studio album to be released in July 23, 2013. We decided to record the majority of the new album, at the recommendation of our great producer, Chris “Frenchie” Smith, in Tornillo, TX at the legendary Sonic Ranch Studio. It’s a state of the art, top notch studio where we could stay on site, eat on site, and record without distractions (other than the delicious Sonic Ranch “Salsa de Roja” that lead to many debates on whether or not anything would taste good without it afterwords…) We finished up the album at The Bubble in Austin, TX and look forward to getting it out the door and into everyone’s hands!
See you folks on the other side and we look forward to the ride.
The O’s on Facebook | The O’s on Twitter | Official Website
THE PETTIT BROTHERSDarryl Pettit and Lonnie Pettit, the Pettit Brothers, have been performing together for over 40 years and are now playing with musicians from Schulenburg, Bastrop and Austin areas. Recently the Pettit Brothers have shared the bill with bands like Rick Broussard’s Two Hoots and a Holler, Sean Orr & Texas Gold, The Paladins, The Modern Don Juans, Sid King, Joe Clay, The Royal Rythmaires and Flametrick Subs.
Track 1-3 recorded at Fort Horton Studios, Wyldwood, TX; mixed by Billy Horton. Track 4-9 recorded live at Sengelmann Hall, Schulenburg, TX; mixed by Sean Orr. Mastered by Sean Orr. Album to be released later this year!Official Website
OTTOMAN TURKSOttoman Turks is a Dallas/Bryan/College Station-based four piece that was formed at the beginning of 2010 out of the ashes of a former band. Somebody had written a few songs, so we all got together and figured them out somewhat and then we played two shows without knowing what we were doing. They went well enough, so we figured we’d continue.
Over the years we have gained and lost a couple members, but the core of the group, and the sound we hope to cultivate, have remained essentially the same. A mixture of rough and rowdy blues, fast train songs and sad country ballads, with some skewed jazz and doo wop thrown in.
We have been repeatedly praised for our energetic live shows, which is where we have our most fun. The songs we write are largely built for the stage, and we prefer to showcase them that way. We appeal to a large array of audiences, and have played shows that reflect that – from biker parties by the Brazos to a grocery store opening in a Dallas suburb (that one was a weird one).Ottoman Turks on Facebook

Cereus Bright w/ Should've Been Cowboys & The Collection (The Dirty Guv'nahs CANCELLED)
2014-11-20 21:00 - 23:55
Due to unforeseen circumstances, The Guv’s regret they have to cancel several dates including ours here in Bryan. We are working with them on a time to come back and make it up to everyone. Ticket buyers will receive an email from us soon regarding refunds. This show will still take place with Cereus Bright & Should’ve Been Cowboys + one more band TBA though.
CEREUS BRIGHT

Cereus Bright finds its muse—and its name—from the Cereus: a white desert flower that blooms only at night. This flower, blossoming in the most desolate of places, is a symbol of art and story, which draw their beauty from brokenness and heartache. In their lyrics and melodies, Cereus Bright aims to embrace life as both messy and beautiful.
Their songs showcase strong, passionate harmonies singing stories of real life—hope and heartbreak, adventure and stillness. Tyler Anthony plays guitar, piano, and sings, Evan Ford layers harmonies while playing mandolin and lead guitar. Bassist Matt Nelson and drummer Luke Bowers provide driving rhythm and nuanced texture. On special occasions, they are joined by violinist Kaitlyn Ferry and cellist Gideon Klein.
Ideologically, Cereus Bright makes a strong case for Folk music. Recently the genre of folk has come to mean “acoustic pop”, blending together into a sea of kick drums, hand claps, and escalating banjo riffs. In its roots, Folk music is meant to communicate; to use simple, melodic music to communicate stories of success and heartbreak, to transport and convict listeners. This is Cereus Bright’s goal—drawing you in with beautiful melodies so they can move you with poetic yet direct lyrics. Connections with bands like the Avett Brothers, Fleet Foxes, and the Head and the Heart are apt comparisons and major compliments.
Cereus Bright self-released their second recording, the five song EP, Happier Than Me, on November 12, 2013; exactly a year after the release of their first EP recording, Goldmine. This year has seen the band in near constant motion, crisscrossing the country in support of Jackie Green, Philip Philips, The Infamous Stringdusters, and Count This Penny. Currently, Cereus Bright continues to lay their roots around the country, with dates supporting Sturgill Simpson, The Dirty Guv’nahs, and Judah And The Lion on the books for fall 2014.
Cereus Bright on Facebook | Cereus Bright on Twitter | Official Website
Should’ve Been Cowboys

Should’ve Been Cowboys is a modern southern rock band hailing from Bryan, Texas. Formed over a year ago, they have been performing throughout Texas ever since. Consisting of Clayton Tumlinson’s smooth vocal melody, Taylor Stewman’s searing lead, Nathan Garcia’s dynamic drumming, and Brenton Kim’s solid bass foundation, Should’ve Been Cowboys is a fun, high-energy band bound to leave you asking for more.
Should’ve Been Cowboys has been working the scene and playing music since the original group was formed around two years ago. They have roughly sixty shows under their belt, including playing for several disease awareness benefits, The Brazos Valley Earth Day Festival in College Station, as well as The Grand Prix of Houston. They found themselves in a position to be a great supporting band and have opened for bands such as Sol Cat, Leopold and His Fiction, Least of These, Page 9, Hounds of Jezebel, and The Docs. Should’ve Been Cowboys crave nothing more than putting on an incredible show and they love leaving the crowd wanting one more song. Only two things are certain: Should’ve Been Cowboys SHOULD NOT have been cowboys, and nothing but great things are in store for this band.Should’ve Been Cowboys on Facebook | Should’ve Been Cowboys on Twitter | Official Website
The Collection

“Every once in a while, an event will occur in one’s life which crushes like a wave and destroys whatever the norm has been until then. This is “Ars Moriendi,” the first full length record from David Wimbish and his NC based band ‘the Collection.’ In the early stages of writing this new album, and on the heels of their second cross-country tour, the band lost a dear friend to suicide, and their experience in the wake became the undeniable mold in which “Ars Moriendi” would be cast. As such, the album itself enfolds its listeners and brings them into a ground-shaking world where they are forced to ask the same questions the members of the Collection bore through the difficult process.
“I realized, when it happened, I’ve never worked through or questioned death that much,” says Wimbish. “It’s felt far away, and this time it slammed me in the face.”
Questions arise from song to song, wrestling unapologetically with life, death, hope, and the point of it all. Married with these themes is an overarching tone of redemption, both in lyric and musicality.
Wimbish, a film composer and recording engineer, brings to the table a thread of stories and ideas which hold together this multi-sensory experiment. His words, simple and hard-hitting, are embedded deep within a full symphony of endless texture. Though he is responsible for these compositions, David takes his helm behind acoustic guitar and lead vocals, entrusting his musical vision to some of Carolina’s most versatile musicians.
David’s wife, Mira-Joy, shares lead vocals and harmonies while also providing the appropriately ominous hum of accordion. Long-time bandmates introduce not just a solid rhythmic spine, but one of character to accent a unique cleverness in the songwriting, utilizing instruments anywhere from drum and bass to phin and didgeridoo. Surrounding all of this are vast sections of wind, brass, and strings, sifting cinematically through each piece with an ebb and flow that feels as natural to the listener as their own breathing.
However, the Collection is not just a bunch of musicians playing music, but a community of artists, nurses, farmers, students, and everyone in between doing life together. The majority of the members live in the heart of Greensboro, North Carolina, and invest intentionally in relationships with their neighbors in hopes of bettering the area as a family.
“We don’t want fans, we want family,” admits Wimbish, passionately. “It’s incredible to us that people would even listen to our music, and it’s so much more important for us to connect with those people than to figure out how to get fans.”
With this at the core of the band’s values, it’s no wonder that the 15+ member dynamic is constantly shifting and reshaping itself as folks come and go. It is also no wonder that, as they grew ready for production, David Wimbish and his friends decided to travel their wide state to record this album in various locations, from beach homes to mountain cabins, from farm house living rooms to old church sanctuaries.
“Our music, and these songs especially, were written in community,” Wimbish points out, “And we felt like something of that would be lost if we were to lock ourselves away in a cold studio for six months to record them. Instead, we wanted to record in places of aesthetic inspiration and have our friends and family around for the experience.”
Committed wholeheartedly to this endeavor, Edd Kerr (The Fair and the Foul, Farewell Friend) shared the engineering chair with David every step of the way. He set up and tore down a more-or-less “portable” studio from location to location, improvising at each new turn, day in and day out for the entire six-month process. Once tracking and editing were complete, the record was handed over to Jeff Stuart Saltzman (Typhoon, Deer Tick) for mixing and Dave Mcnair (Bob Dylan, David Bowie) for mastering.
The final product of “Ars Moriendi” may be described as a pure expression of the Collection, a sound and message that embodies the band’s character through and through. David and his team have poured their all into this project, and the outcome of their hearts on the line is more than a sellable product – it is beauty. ” – Kevan ChandlerThe Collection on Facebook | The Collection on Twitter | Official Website

Gungor w/ Daniel Gonzales
2014-11-21 21:00 - 23:55
GUNGORWe don’t have to look far to find the results of what happens when filters are removed and people create what they think they want to create. Most often, it’s chaos.
It takes the truly gifted artist, at the exact moment when personal uncertainty is as its peak, to reach within and draw out music both noticeably free from constraints and laser-like in its focus.
Michael Gungor, through the musical collective known simply as Gungor, has achieved just such a work. Setting aside his reliance on what he called “metaphysical constructs I’d known all my life,” Gungor has tapped his considerable musical reserves for a song set simultaneously re- velatory in its lyrical content, ambitious in its sonic scope and compelling in its approachability.
Finally given the opportunity to self-identify, Gungor uses his skills as an accomplished multi- instrumentalist, arranger and producer on “I Am Mountain” to kick off a journey of stories told, some personal, some allegorical, but all honest and forthright.
“There’s that sense of searching, wandering and loss within all these songs,” Michael says. “On the other side of that, there’s a rebirth of hope and life within that. There’s a freedom and em- brace of mystery and the unknown, and finding a joy and childlikeness within that.”
Michael’s path of creative rediscovery allows the tracks on “I Am Mountain” to exist in their own needs, be it the dark east/west musical dichotomy of “The Beat of Her Heart” or the me- lodic hooks of “Long Way Off,” from the galloping synths of “God And Country” to the descent from beauty into deconstruction in “Upside Down.”
Michael shares vocalizations in Gungor with wife Lisa, and together they interact, counter-play and underscore each song’s arc with precision and versatility, be it the plaintive whisper of “Yesternite,” the lost-then-found effect choices made on “Wandering” and ‘70s-era evocation on the chorus of “Let It Go”.
In this age of musical homogeneity, such diversity might be a danger sign. But Gungor’s deft manipulation of such moments piques interest not only in the immediacy of an individual song, but throughout the album’s listening experience as a whole. That variety is most assuredly on purpose.
“I recently had the best meal of my life, an eight-course Japanese/sushi thing,” Michael says, “and just the balance of the plates they’d bring and how they handled each of the flavors after the next to build to something, it was amazing.
“That’s how I wanted to approach this record,” he continues. “To have a palate cleanser when its needed, something easy to go down, a breath for a second when things get too dark or heavy.
“Any good film, meal, symphony, album, whatever, has those kinds of moments that allow you to breathe.”Gungor on Facebook | Gungor on Twitter | Official Website
DANIEL GONZALESDaniel Gonzales is a singer/songwriter out of Dallas, TX currently living in College Station performing with his full band this night.Daniel Gonzales on Facebook

Cody Canada & The Departed w/ Folk Family Revival & The Docs
2014-11-22 21:00 - 23:55
CODY CANADA & THE DEPARTEDCody Canada was 16 years old when he made his way from Yukon to Stillwater, Oklahoma. He had been searching for some inspiration; a place to call home musically. What he found was a creative nirvana of musicians who were generating the music that would stay with him for the rest of his life. “It was like the greatest place on earth, “ Cody recalls. “I met Tom Skinner, Scott Evans, Bob Childers, Jimmy LaFave, the Red Dirt Rangers and they were all playing this really, really good music. It was kind of in that same vibe as the Allman Brothers and The Band. But what came out of it was really diverse. There were more country acts like Jason Boland. The All American Rejects were the rock guys. Then you had the whole Red Dirt hippie thing…I didn’t even know what Red Dirt was until somebody told me. I got turned on to it all and it’s stayed with me ever since.”
During the 15 years that Canada was front man for Cross Canadian Ragweed, he successfully tapped into those influences on each of their nine albums. Four of those nine charted on Billboard’s Top 10 Country Albums over the course of the years, thousands of albums were sold and the band played to sell out crowds across the country helping to spread “red dirt” music. But the one thing that Canada wanted to do in honor of his musical heartland never came to fruition…until now.
In the wake of Cross Canadian Ragweed’s decision to part ways, Cody resurfaced with an armament of musicians and a mission in mind. With his long time Ragweed band mate, Jeremy Plato (bass) the two made a seamless transition into the world of The Departed, as in ‘Cody Canada and The Departed”. “We kicked around several ideas for names,“ Canada said. “We’re all from different bands and we wanted something to sound like we came from different places. The Departed was right on the money.” Along with Canada and Plato, The Departed rounds out with Seth James on guitar (Seth James Band, Ray Wylie Hubbard), Steve Littleton on B3 organ and keys (Live Oak Decline, Stoney LaRue & the Arsenals, Medicine Show) and Dave Bowen on drums (Stoney LaRue, Bleu Edmondson, Dale Watson).
Because they have traveled in the same circles for years, the band members are all familiar with each other and familiar with each other’s style of playing. More than likely they’ve all played on the same stage at one time or another already. It’s this familiarity with each other that made their first project so uncomplicated. Although The Departed is writing and will record original material, the band’s first priority was getting into the studio and cutting the Oklahoma tribute album that Cody had been wanting to do for years. The result is This Is Indian Land, The Departed’s debut album set for release this spring.
This Is Indian Land is a 15-track deep “buffet of really kick-ass Okie songs,” Canada states. He jokingly says “It might sound like originals because not many people have ever heard these songs”. But in fact, the album is loaded with well-known selections like Kevin Welch’s “Kickin’ Back in Amsterdam” and “True Love Never Dies”, JJ Cale’s “If You’re Ever in Oklahoma” and Rock and Roll Hall-of-Famer Leon Russell’s “Home Sweet Oklahoma”.
Of course there were a few tracks picked for more personal reasons. Cody notes, “’The Ballad of Rosalie’ (Randy Pease) was the first song I ever heard in Stillwater. ‘Little Rain Will Do’ (Greg Jacobs) is just an awesome historical song I’ve been wanting to record since the first time I heard it. Randy Crouch’s ‘Face On Mars’ really kind of frightened us. A lot of people wanted us to do it but we didn’t know what to do with it. We sat there for a whole day trying to get it arranged and find a groove for it. We made it happen and it’s one of my favorites on the album”.
This Is Indian Land was recorded at Yellow Dog Studios in Austin, TX. As if the album content and inspiration weren’t Oklahoma enough for The Departed, Yellow Dog Studios and owner Dave Percefull got their start in Tulsa. “It really kind of tied it all together,” Cody says. “I walked in and saw all the pictures of these Stillwater guys hanging on the wall and thought ‘Man, this is exactly where this album needs to be cut”.
Cody Canada & The Departed is already making waves on the road. With the recording of the album behind them and a brand new year in front, the band has hit the road like only professionals know how to do. As excited as they are about their gigs, they are taking it all very seriously. “It’s funny because with Ragweed we got to a point where we didn’t have to practice. We were playing so many shows we could just get up there and do the tunes, right? Well now it’s a new band playing new songs so we’ve got to learn everything, get our game together and practice. It’s a whole lot of fun. I can’t sleep at night. It keeps me awake, not from worry but from excitement. We’re just ready to tear it up.”Cody Canada & The Departed on Facebook | Cody Canada & The Departed on Twitter | Official Website
FOLK FAMILY REVIVALFolk Family Revival, comprised of the Lankford brothers – Mason, Barrett and Lincoln – and Caleb Pace, has been described as Americana, folk and country, but their unique sound has influences spanning rock and bluegrass as well. As the primary songwriter, Mason fronts the band with vocals and guitar, Barrett plays bass, Caleb is found on electric guitar, mandolin and lap steel, and Lincoln backs the band up on drums and percussion. Childhood friends (and brothers), the foursome has already been featured on Fox26 and live radio and has opened for artists like Willie Nelson, Hayes Carll, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Cody Canada & the Departed, Robert Ellis, and Bob Schneider. In their not-so spare time, the boys enjoy practicing new music in their shed, working on cars and reinforcing the bond that makes them such a moving and awe-inspiring act – despite their young age. Unfolding, which debuted July 12, 2011, was produced and mixed by Jeffery Armstreet at Red Tree Recording Studio in Magnolia, Texas – where the band currently resides. The album was mastered by Grammy winning engineer Gavin Lurssen.Folk Family Revival on Facebook | Folk Family Revival on Twitter | Official Website
THE DOCSWhen the Docs are playing, the sheer energy coming from the stage will pull you in, and the aura they create in the room will keep you riveted. Pulling from a wide range of influences and diverse backgrounds, they evoke the full range of emotion in their audiences with a raw, passionate sound that fuses the soft, harmonious tones of traditional Southern music and the aggressive energy of progressive rock. This is a tight-but-loose four-piece band that stretches and pushes the boundaries of current rock and roll. But The Docs didn’t start out as a high energy, in-your-face modern rock band. Each member brought his musical influences and professional background to the mix.The Docs on Facebook | The Docs on Twitter | Official Website

Pecha Kucha Night
2014-11-25 17:00 - 19:00
Pecha Kucha Night

Craft Cocktail & Craft Beer Tuesday will have an exciting addition on Tuesday, November 25th!
The Institute for Applied Creativity is partnering with AdventGX and Grand Stafford Theater to bring Bryan – College Station and A&M communities together to celebrate creativity. We’re hosting a new, quarterly event officially sponsored by Pecha Kucha, a global movement for informal discussions in casual settings. We’re doing this to learn about people and groups in our local community. Good Pecha Kucha presentations are the ones that uncover the unexpected — unexpected talent, unexpected ideas. The format is simple: 20 slides for 20 seconds each. It’s very informal and the subjects are really diverse. We would like to invite you to present in the future! If you are interested in participating, please contact Carol LaFayette at lurleen@viz.tamu.edu
Admission is free with a suggested donation of $10.

#TheCollection
2014-12-01 20:30
RealMusicIsLife Ent. and DopeArtCollective present: #TheCollection. A collective gathering of some of the dopest talent locally, regionally, and nationally. The night will be filled with art of all kinds – poetry, hip-hop & R&B, dance, as well as music and art in many other forms. This is not your average open mic – artists will either be invited to perform or will be selected from an audition prior to the event.
The purpose of this event is to give exposure to artists who, in other cases, would not receive such a platform. #TheCollection allows for engagement with the community at large as it is the responsibility of the artist to bring the art where it is needed the most. #TheCollection hopes to become a beacon for artists to come and present their craft to a group of potential fans. Some of the art forms presented would otherwise not be exposed without a platform of this kind, so we are collectively bringing the community and the artists together for a one-of-a-kind extravaganza! With the future in mind, we will simultaneously be giving performing artists the experience needed to take their gift to the world regardless of the genre.
Special Guest Appearances from:
Texas Grand Slam 2014 Winner – Jeremyah TheFluentOne Payne
Texas Grand Slam 2014 Runner Up – Christopher Michael
Houston VIPs own – Outspoken Bean
Texas Grand Slam Finalist – James Church
Mic Check Slam Poets – Laura Welsh and Madi Mae Parker

Also featuring:
Anonymous Pencil
Lady Zaki
Vital
ArtisticVirtuoso
Aleenah Spencer
And More!
DJ Yeti will be spinning on the 1s and 2s, and providing the jams for the after-party!
Come kick it with the DopeArtCollective, its gonna be all the way live!

The Connection: Uniting Healthcare Professionals for a Cause featuring music by Andrew Duhon and food by BJ's
2014-12-02 17:30 - 20:00
The Connection: Uniting Healthcare Professionals for a Cause is a FREE event, open to the public and inviting community members to gather and network while enjoying craft cocktails and live music once every other month.
ANDREW DUHONAndrew Duhon began writing in high school spurred on by a fascination with the literary works of Emerson and Thoreau as well as poets Walt Whitman and Robert Frost. During the summer of ’04 Andrew worked and lived at an old retreat house on the outskirts of the French Quarter. It was then that he fell in love with the character of New Orleans. A year later hurricane Katrina left the city and his former French Quarter home crippled. The blues that he had found in the French Quarter rang true as he continued to write.
The honesty in Andrew Duhon’s songwriting is a result of the self-realization that he has found through his writing. His music and performances reflect his personal perspective in a very real way, and his voice leaves no gaps in the experience as he sings with a conviction all too befitting of his raw, personal writings.Andrew Duhon on Facebook | Andrew Duhon on Twitter | Official Website
The Connection is sponsored Texas A&M Health Science Center, Light Pediatric Dentistry, Encompass Home Health, Allegiance Ambulance and Rock Prairie Behavioral.

Caspa 500 Tour
2014-12-03 21:00 - 23:55
Silver Platter Ent. & Grand Stafford Theater present: The Caspa 500 Tour. Tickets for this concert are on sale now here. This concert is 17+.
CASPACaspa: You know the name… Now know the facts.
A global force in dubstep, his commitment and creativity is coded deep into the scene’s earliest framework: the Dopest Ghost In Town was hard at work long before the seismic cultural explosion in the late 2000s. Long before dubstep even had a name.
We need to rewind to 2003.
Back then west Londoner Gary McCann was representing England as a basketball player. When his sports career was stopped abruptly by an injury he shifted his focus fully to beats and applied the same pro attitude. Under the name Quiet Storm he fully immersed himself in the most exciting, creatively daring and technical benchmark setting underground musical movement since jungle… Which was the genre that turned him on to electronic music in the first place.
Endless ground-breaking, scene-shaping manoeuvres have followed in every aspect of his career: As a DJ he was a key figure on pioneering pirate station Rinse FM during the early 2000s, he’s been the support act of choice for the mighty Prodigy in 2012 and 2013 and was booked by Pete Tong as the first dubstep DJ to play in Ibiza in 2009.
As a producer not only has he remixed the biggest names in the widest realms of electronic music (Depeche Mode, Deadmau5, Buraka Som Sistema, Swedish House Mafia and many more) but he was also the first dubstep producer to officially remix a US rap artist (Ludacris – ‘How Low Can You Go’). Meanwhile as a label owner he’s been responsible for signing the debut productions by fellow bass titans Rusko, Emalkay and N-Type.
These are just a handful of highlights. Other massive achievements fire from all directions: Alongside Rusko he delivered the world-renowned ‘Fabriclive 37’ album – the first ever commercially released dubstep mix, it’s regarded as the genre’s authoritative blueprint and influenced an entire generation of young artists. His three imprints – Storming Productions, Sub Soldiers and Dub Police – have amassed a repertoire of over 500 tracks and 11 albums from some of the most exciting names in the game. Celebrating their 10th anniversary in 2014, Caspa has developed Dub Police to become one the most consistent brands in the genre. Be it through its global events or its constant mission to represent and nurture the finest international talent, the label has scored so much respect that to many fans Dub Police is dubstep.
As a producer Caspa’s clout is equally boundary breaking… His genre-smelting remix of TC’s ‘Where My Money’ was the first moment dubstep infected other genres and forged the concrete link between dubstep and drum & bass. His incendiary hype-raiser ‘War’ with The Prodigy’s Keith Flint took dubstep to stadium-shattering new levels while his BBC Radio 1-supported Mr Hudson hook-up ‘Back For The First Time / Love Never Dies’ was a key moment in the relationship between dubstep and daytime radio playlists.
Over the course of two albums (2009’s ‘Everybody’s Talking, Nobody’s Listening’ and 2013’s ‘Alpha Omega’) and countless singles, his distinctive, uncompromising heavyweight approach refuses to follow trends or kowtow to commercial expectations. His heart forever beating to an underground drum, Caspa is one of the few original dubstep producers who refuses to flip flavours for fickle trends. Whether you’re vibing to his earliest genre-defining cuts such as ‘Rubber Chicken’ and ‘Cockney Violin’ or you’re bouncing off the walls to the brutal beauty of ‘Champion Skank’ you’ll know this: Caspa is passionately dubstep, through and through… As you’ll see when he drops his brand new material in late 2014!
This unique attitude is also represented through his dedicated work as a DJ. A consummate selector behind critically acclaimed mixes such as the agenda-setting ‘Fabriclive 37’, the launch of Dub Police’s own ‘My Style’ collection and his own ‘Dubstep Sessions’ series – he’s notorious for packing dubs so exclusive most DJs would happily sell their teeth for them.
All arenas, all territories…. His fast-paced style has enthralled crowds from Kazakhstan to Kuala Lumpur via every possible well-known festival in the world including Sonar where he played to over 60,000 ravers between Dizzee Rascal and The Chemical Brothers. And Cape Town Electronic Music Festival where he extended his trip to spend time in the townships, passionately sharing some of his musical techniques.
Yet no matter how many large the crowds are, or how high profile the international shows are, Caspa has never lost the connection with his underground club roots. In the past he’s taken his own 70,000 watt PK soundsystem to venues so he could guarantee the perfect sonic dynamics his music should be experienced at… And his unique 500 tour concept – forthcoming in autumn 2014 – is equally devoted to the true roots of dubstep culture.
The ground-breaking, scene-shaping manoeuvres continue… Deep into his second decade and Caspa continues to remain a global force in dubstep. More committed and more creative than ever before, he is constantly looking to take his sound, his label, his artists and his skills to untold new levels.
So now you know the facts. Stay locked… This is just the beginning.Caspa on Facebook | Caspa on Twitter | Official Website

SOLD OUT: Penny & Sparrow w/ Joseph
2014-12-04 21:00 - 23:55
THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT AND NO MORE TICKETS WILL BE SOLD AT THE DOOR.

PENNY AND SPARROWPenny & Sparrow is American singer-songwriter duo of Andy Baxter and Kyle Jahnke out of Austin, Texas. Formed in 2011 after living as roommates at the University of Texas, the duo began their musical endeavor as a hobby and creative outlet. Their first tune, “Creature” was recorded in a small apartment behind an orphanage with one microphone and a laptop. “If you listen closely, you can hear kids screaming and laughing in the background of each song,” says Baxter. “After just one song, we knew writing and recording was something we didn’t want to stop doing.” Through the years, Penny & Sparrow has steadily grown both in discography and audience.
While the instrumentation in each of the three released albums (Creature (2011), Tenboom (2013), Struggle Pretty (2014)) may differ, Penny & Sparrow has garnered a reputation of blending sincere lyrics with haunting melodies and harmonies in every song. The raw and emotive quality of their songs has been known to push crowds to near silence for an entire set.
Though most of their recordings are layered with strings and percussion, many fans are surprised to find that Andy and Kyle normally tour with no added instruments – simply two microphones and a guitar. Though there are no added gimmicks on stage, Penny & Sparrow regularly silence crowds not far after the first note is sung. “We like playing as a duo because it’s how each song was first written,” states Baxter.
“Struggle Pretty”, released Spring 2014, is the latest album by Penny & Sparrow. The album was written and recorded inside the East Austin house that Andy and Kyle, along with their wives, lived in together. “Struggle Pretty” is vast with instrumentation and creativity, while still staying true to the harmony-centric roots found in “Creature” and “Tenboom.” Kyle and Andy teamed up with producer Chris Jacobie for the album, who helped capture the spirit and sound of the duo. From the somber “to haunt, to startle,” to the sweeping “Bread and Bleeding,” each song has its own voice within the album. The team began the recording process in September 2013, and finished late February 2014.
“We wanted to record this album in the house we lived in for a lot of reasons,” explains Jahnke. This house is special to both of our families, and we wanted this record to embody that. We want to have our friends come and record during the day and then drink bourbon with us after. Along with that, this house has a very unique sound that we wanted to highlight.” The duo wanted to create a sense of community and camaraderie around the house and music. To involve family and friends both creatively and relationally. The result of the work put in for “Struggle Pretty” was a sincere, inspiring, and exciting twelve-song album. Penny & Sparrow on Facebook | Penny & Sparrow on Twitter | Official Website
JOSEPHJOSEPH IS: A band of three sisters from the beautiful Pacific Northwest. JOSEPH IS: Honest words and genetically perfected harmonies. JOSEPH IS: Native. Dreamer. Kin.
Joseph, the name of our grandfather.
We are family. We are kin. When we share our sounds and stories we offer them to you – to find yourself in them – and we invite you into this kinship, togetherness, belonging.
Joseph, a small town in eastern Oregon.
We grew up camping at the lake, staying at our Grandpa Jo’s farmstead playing cards on the porch, riding down his long dusty driveway in the back of a pick up truck, watching thunderstorm shows, flying over fields on tire swings. This is where we’re from. This is our land.
Joseph, a dream interpreter.
The ancient story of Joseph is compelling. He lived by his visions from God even in small beginnings – interpreting the dreams of fellow inmates in an Egyptian prison – he eventually became a high appointed officer to Pharaoh, directing the course of the nation. He believed in things. He hoped. Believing takes more courage than doubting, though doubting looks sexy and feels more powerful. Many of us set our aims low to avoid disappointment, but good narratives happen in the efforts and failings of hope. What are your dreams? What would it look like to believe in them? Joseph on Facebook | Joseph on Twitter | Official Website

Suddenlink Presents - Free First Friday Concert feat. KP & The Boom Boom w/ Hazy Ray & Daniel Gonzales Band
2014-12-05 20:00 - 23:55
KP & THE BOOM BOOMKP and the Boom Boom formed in the fall of 2010 in Austin, TX. They made major waves around town in 2013, releasing a three-track EP produced by AJ Vallejo, debuting a music video for their single, “Feel It,” and stirring up buzz with a multitude of high-energy performances.
Come see a show and you’ll realize why the band has garnered such a strong following. Frontwoman Kate Priestley sparkles with energy at center stage. Surrounding her, her six bandmates command a critical mass of instruments—in addition to guitar, bass, and drums, there are two members blowing on horns and another switching off between a vibraphone, timbales, bongos, congas, and other assorted percussion. The crowd hugs the stage, pulsing to a singular groove.
Inevitably, your feet start to move and the scene pulls you in. Within the sweaty depths of the dance mob, what started as a spectacle starts to feel more like a happening.
“Our music is about positivity, it’s about having a good time,” explains Priestley. “We want to tell the audience that it’s OK to be human—it’s OK to go through our life journeys and feel all these emotions. You’ve got to take the positives out of the highs and lows in life.”
For a band that inspires so much booty-shaking, KP and the Boom Boom get remarkably cerebral. Informed by her world travels, UK-born Priestley writes hyper-aware lyrics about the human condition, focusing on hope and transcendence rather than the troubles of the present. Ranging from a syrupy sing-chant to a powerful wail, her vocals recall the future-gazing acid jazz of bands like Jamiroquai and the Brand New Heavies.
The band’s sound, while cohesive and compelling, evades sure description. Pull it apart and you’ll find hallmarks of funk, soul, disco, R&B, jazz, and world music—artifacts of the band’s highly collaborative approach to songwriting. A funky stew, for sure, but once fermented and distilled it yields an aesthetic that’s uniquely their own.
It feels at once highly innovative and effortlessly danceable—music for the mind and the body. “We base our music on these soulful grooves that make you want to move. I think we are starting to create our own genre that people are really starting to recognize.”
Call it neo soul or acid jazz or world disco—whatever they’re playing, KP and the Boom Boom act like an organism onstage, morphing seamlessly from texture to texture, navigating the gamut between sparse syncopations and massive cathartic grooves, and with the precision and confidence of a band that realizes its identity. They are musicians’ musicians just as much as they are heroes of the dancing masses.
This year, Mayor Lee Leffingwell and the City of Austin proclaimed March 20, 2014 KP and the Boom Boom Day.
The band will be back in the studio this year to record their highly anticipated first full-length album. On September 12th, they will perform for UTOPIAfest 2014. The Horn named KP and the Boom Boom among the “biggest and brightest in the local scene” with other acts such as Brownout (playing back up the Wu-Tang Clan’s GZA), Wheeler Brothers, and Aaron Behrens of Ghostland Observatory.KP & The Boom Boom on Facebook | KP & The Boom Boom on Twitter | Official Website
HAZY RAYHazy Ray is an amalgamation of sights and sounds you may have seen and heard before, but never blended together so distinctively to create an experience that ensnares the senses and communicates the soul. The five piece band boldly describes their sound as “… at the core, true rhythm & blues,” pulling from their vast influences that range from Jamie Cullum and Dave Matthews to Radiohead and Maroon 5. Hazy Ray’s head-turning sound is equal parts new and familiar, as the band continuously draws from a seemingly-endless bag of tricks. In 2011, the band’s premiere performance in New Orleans birthed the signature sound they now brand as “New Orleans Rock.” Their debut album, “Deep and Shallow,” was recorded at Houston’s Wire Road Studios later that year.
On stage, Hazy Ray is known for their precise and exceptionally energetic live show that leaves audiences dancing to new charts and singing along to familiar, albeit different, covers.The Texas natives stepped onto the New Orleans scene quickly, landing on bills with singer/song-writer John Lefler of Dashboard Confessional, Everclear, Free-Sol, Hunter Hayes, Grammy award-winning Rapper/Actor Ludacris, blues greats Tinsley Ellis and Tab Benoit, and festival headliners Cowboy Mouth, Chicago, and Earth, Wind, and Fire. Music Festival appearances at Springboard South (Houston), Gretna Music Fest, French Quarter Fest, and performances during SXSW and Jazz Fest this past year show promise into future festivals. The band’s 2012 and 2013 summer tours have expanded the group into a National Touring Act, performing across 15 states. Hazy Ray has concluded their summer tour and performed their 100th show of the year by headlining the New Orleans House of Blues Parish Room.Hazy Ray on Facebook | Hazy Ray on Twitter | Official Website
DANIEL GONZALESDaniel Gonzales is a singer/songwriter out of Dallas, TX currently living in College Station performing with his full band this night.Daniel Gonzales on Facebook

SOLD OUT: St. Paul & The Broken Bones w/ Somebody's Darling
2014-12-06 21:00 - 23:55
THIS CONCERT IS SOLD OUT AND NO MORE TICKETS WILL BE SOLD AT THE DOOR.

ST. PAUL & THE BROKEN BONESGrit, elemental rhythm, tight-as-a-drumhead playing, and a profound depth of feeling: these are the promises of a great soul band. And St. Paul & The Broken Bones deliver on those promises.
Half The City is the compelling full-length Single Lock/Thirty Tigers debut of the Birmingham, Alabama-based sextet, who have already created a maelstrom of interest with their roof-raising live shows and self-released four-song 2012 EP. Produced by Ben Tanner of Alabama Shakes, and recorded and mixed in the storied R&B mecca of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, the album harkens back to the region’s classic soul roots while extending the form with electrifying potency.
Front man Paul Janeway’s handle “St. Paul” is a wry allusion to the vocalist’s grounding in the church. Like many a legendary soul singer, Janeway, a native of the small town of Chelsea, Alabama, was raised on the gospel side, in a non-denominational, Pentecostal-leaning local church. Virtually no non-religious music could be heard in his devout household. Janeway says, “The only secular music that I heard at all was a ‘70s group called the Stylistics, and Sam Cooke. That was about it. The rest of it was all gospel music. When I was about 10 years old, I was groomed to be a minister. My goal in life until I was about 18 years old was to be a preacher.”
He adds, “My pastor was the reason that I learned to play guitar. They would let me play guitar and sing in church. What was weird was that he would never let me sing lead – I’d sing background vocals. I always thought, ‘Well, maybe I’m just a good background vocalist.’ So I never thought I could really, really sing, at all. I never thought it would be a living, ever.”
Though his time in the church exposed Janeway to key influences in gospel music – the Mighty Clouds of Joy, Alex Bradford, Clay Evans – he began moving away from his youthful path in his late teens. He began attending open mic nights in Birmingham’s clubs and diversified his listening, excited by some decidedly left-of-center talents. “Tom Waits and Nick Cave were the really big attractions,” he says. “They have that passion. They’ve built this aura. They’re showmen to the teeth. And that’s what got me – it’s like going to church, in a weird way. At about the same time, I began listening to the great soul singers like Otis Redding, James Carr, and O.V. Wright. I was trying to find something that made my earbuds tingle.”
Seeking his musical comfort zone, Janeway had an incongruous stint in a band that played Led Zeppelin covers, but, he confesses today, “That’s not what I do.” However, his early work in the rock vein brought him together with bassist Jesse Phillips. The pair became close friends and were soon writing together; “Sugar Dyed,” “Broken Bones and Pocket Change,” and “That Glow,” all heard on Half The City, were among the first fruits of their collaboration.
The other members of the Broken Bones are all drawn from Alabama’s deep talent pool. Guitarist Browan Lollar, from the Muscle Shoals area about 100 miles north of Birmingham, previously played with Jason Isbell’s 400 Unit. “We never thought Browan would ever be interested in this band – he was too big-time for us,” says Janeway. “Jesse had met him while he was on tour with another band out of Birmingham. He asked Browan to come to the studio, and he showed up. I think we caught him at the right time. He wasn’t busy, and he said, ‘Man, I really want to be a part of this.’”
Jasper, Alabama, native Andrew Lee signed on via his acquaintance with Phillips. “We just picked him up on the way to the studio,” Janeway recalls. “Jesse said, ‘I know this guy, why don’t I just call him.’ And 30 minutes later, he’s sitting there playing drums on ‘Sugar Dyed.’ Andrew’s just a hell of a drummer.” Brass players Allen Branstetter and Ben Griner are both graduates of the music program at Birmingham’s Samford University. Janeway says his vision of the band always called for a two-man horn section, a la the celebrated Memphis Horns, and he approached Griner, although the latter’s main instrument was tuba. “I told Ben, ‘Man, I’ve got to have horns. Do you think you can play trombone?’ He said, ‘I’ll give it a shot.’ And he brought Allen with him.”
All six members share writing credit on 10 of the songs on Half The City, with Janeway contributing lyrics. “We firmly believe in a shared, communal writing process,” the singer says. “These guys are extremely talented. The drummer wrote horn parts. Browan threw something in. It’s very collective. We just get in a room. Sometimes we’ll have the scales for a song, or sometimes we’ll have this little riff. That’s how we do it.”
In Tanner — who logged time at Muscle Shoals’ aptly named FAME Studios, where scores of memorable soul records were cut — St. Paul and the Broken Bones found a like-minded producer and label boss. Half The City is among the first releases on Single Lock Records, the imprint co-founded by Tanner, John Paul White of the Civil Wars, and Will Trapp
“When we started getting cranked up and nobody really knew who the hell we were, we got Ben to mix our original four-song EP,” says Janeway. “We just hit it off. He said, ‘Hey, guys, I’m in the process of starting this label. Obviously you can say no, but we’d love for you to be a part of it.’ And we said, ‘Hell, yeah.’”
Reaching back nearly 50 years to methods employed the great epoch of deep Southern soul, Tanner and the group eschewed studio trickery for an in-the-moment approach during sessions at the Nutthouse in Muscle Shoals, AL. Fittingly, the album was mixed at FAME. Janeway explains, “We said, ‘We’re doing this as old-school as we can.’ We did it to tape. We did it live. What you hear is taken from about three takes, and we took the best take. I love it. It’s raw. You hear all the scrapes.” Special guests include Al Gamble on piano, organ and wurlitzer, Daniel Stoddard on pedal steel, Jamie Harper on baritone sax and Tanner on piano, organ and background vocals.
Half The City – vital, direct, emotionally affecting – presents the same engaged, high-voltage, in-the-pocket sound that St. Paul & The Broken Bones produce at their live dates, where Janeway’s extroverted performing style enraptures his audiences.
“I’m going to be dancing, getting in the aisles, climbing on tables,” he says. “That’s just the way we do it. It really takes me back to church. There’s not a lot of difference. When I get on stage, it’s, ‘All right, it’s time to pour it on.’”St. Paul & The Broken Bones on Facebook | St. Paul & The Broken Bones on Twitter | Official Website
SOMEBODY’S DARLING

If you haven’t yet heard about Somebody’s Darling, an inventive rock band from Dallas, Texas, chances are you will soon. The group has played relentlessly over the last five years, clocking in over 500 shows through multiple headlining tours, numerous festival stops and supporting great artists like Shovels & Rope, Lucero and Divine Fits. The group has gained such a strong reputation across Texas – with their frenetic performances and energetic live show – that they were recently honored by Red Bull Music and invited to become an official Red Bull Sound Select Artist.
SD is spearheaded by lead singer Amber Farris, whose unrefined yet tender vocals belt out blistering songs that command the attention of anyone in earshot. She’s oft-likened to great singers such as Bonnie Raitt, Susan Tedeschi and Erika Wennerstrom (Heartless Bastards), but there’s no borrowing, and you can’t really make comparisons.
Adult Roommates, available September 16, is the band’s third full-length release and their first new recorded music in two years. Fans of My Morning Jacket, Wilco, Dawes, and the Black Keys will appreciate the band’s unique sound – with roots in live expression rather than that studio-perfected sort of vibe, drawing on a range of vintage influences.
Somebody’s Darling on Facebook | Somebody’s Darling on Twitter | Official Website

SOLD OUT: Drowning Pool w/ Signal Rising, Hindsight & Wellborn Road
2014-12-07 20:00 - 23:55
THIS CONCERT IS SOLD OUT AND NO MORE TICKETS WILL BE SOLD AT THE DOOR.
THIS CONCERT WAS MOVED FROM BOULEVARD 217 IN COLLEGE STATION TO GRAND STAFFORD THEATER IN BRYAN.
Tickets for this concert are on sale here.
DROWNING POOLAt this point, absolutely nothing can stop Drowning Pool. The platinum selling Texas quartet continues to roll forward fearlessly on their fifth full:length album and third for Eleven Seven Music. Their patent arena ready, fist:pumping hard rock remains intact even as they welcome new singer Jasen Moreno into the fold. Make no mistake about it. This is Drowning Pool at their most focused, fiery, and fierce.
Upon the end of 2011, the three original members—C.J. Pierce [Guitar], Stevie Benton [Bass], and Mike Luce [Drums]—decided to release their third singer, Ryan McCombs. Instead of folding up and simply going away as many artists would, they dusted themselves off and began searching for his replacement
immediately. It didn’t matter what anyone said or thought. Drowning Pool would continue making records and playing shows. They had already survived the tragic passing of founding vocalist Dave Williams in 2002 and parting ways with his successor in 2005. The music still beckoned them to forge ahead.
“This business is a marathon not a sprint,” says Benton. “You’re going to have a lot of ups and downs. That’s how life is. There are no more surprises because we’ve survived all of these disasters already. We’re more of a unit than ever before. We’ve become adept at rolling with the punches, and we’ve always got each other’s backs.”
“Giving up has never been an option for us,” affirms Pierce. “It’s frustrating we have to go through the singer switch, but that’s the hand we were dealt. Mike, Stevie, and I have been friends for 20 years, and we love writing, recording and playing music together. Why would we stop now? After we parted ways with Ryan, I jumped on the guitar and started writing songs again as soon as I could. A handful of them reflect the frustration we experienced, and a handful of other songs are about moving on to better times.”
Those better times began when Moreno sent an audition tape to the band. Even though they’d known him for over a decade and toured with his band Suicide Hook, he humbly and unassumingly contacted them as numerous other singers did.
For the vocalist, the opportunity to simply try out for one of his favorite bands was an honor enough. “I just tried my best,” remembers Moreno. “Back in the day, there was a clear moment when I knew these guys had something special. My band was opening for them at an outdoor festival. They had this wall of
sound and thunderous energy so I turned around and looked at the stage. Dave had this shovel, and he was banging it on the stage as hard as he could in time with the snare drum. It was awesome visually and you could feel it. I’ll never forget that. I kept moments like that in mind going into this.”
After “putting him through the ringer”, as Pierce puts it, Moreno nailed the audition. His range and talent also enabled the outfit to perform songs such as “Told You So” and “Follow” from 2001′s Sinner, which haven’t been performed live since the death of Williams.
“He’s really a singer for the fans,” continues Pierce. “We haven’t had this kind of advantage in a long time. He’s got the widest vocal range of anyone we’ve worked with, but he’s also got his own sound. We actually had to go back and learn some of the songs he suggested to us. We have more freedom now to do whatever we want.”
Benton elaborates, “It’s exciting to have new blood. He’s on fire about being a part of this, and that’s contagious. It’s like we can’t stop writing songs now. Jason lives and breathes it. We can play any song we’ve ever written and he can sing it like the day it came off the record.”
However, the new music packs the biggest punch. In early 2012, they retreated to “House of Loud” studios in New Jersey to record with Kato Khandwala again. The producer also helmed their 2010 self titled effort, which spawned their highest:charting radio hit to date, “Feel Like I Do”. Everything was amped up for the new album though.
The heavier moments hit harder, while the melodic moments are even more poignant. From the double bass drum stomp at the beginning of “Anytime Anyplace” to the razor sharp riffing of “Die For Nothing”, which Pierce likens to “A super heavy 2012 version of ‘Tear Away’,” Drowning Pool bare their teeth.
“I feel like this record goes back to the band’s roots,” comments Luce. “Even before Dave joined the band, C.J., Stevie, and I used to just step into a room, jam, and see what happened. Jasen does that with us now. He brings a lot to the band, and it’s three:dimensional now. This album is faster and heavier than Sinner, but it’s equally melodic. After a decade, we know what we can deliver.”
In a career earmarked by radio hits such as “Bodies” and “Step Up”, first single “Saturday Night” wields the mightiest hooks and grooves the band has ever cooked up. It’s a raucous, rowdy, and rousing headbanger about touring life. Moreno reveals, “It’s about living your life in the moment, going for it, and not worrying about the future. You can’t overthink it. You’ve just got to do it.”
“A lot of our music can be very aggressive,” Pierce goes on. “We’ve never done a fun song. Being out on the road, every night really is like Saturday night. We always have a good time. This describes the lifestyle for anybody who’s ever wondered.”
On the other end of the spectrum, Pierce penned a heartfelt dedication to Williams and others who have died with the emotionally charged and searing “In Memory Of…”
“After Dave passed away, I wanted to write a special song,” the guitarist adds. “Initially, it was meant to be a ‘hats off’ to Dave. A few years later, it incorporated Dimebag Darrell, who we were very close with. Then, Paul Gray passed away. At that point, I decided to make the song more general. It’s a dedication to all of the people we’ve lost. Now, it was the right time for this. Jasen sang on it, and it just came alive.”
Drowning Pool continue to deliver on record, on stage, and beyond. They’ve toured Kuwait, Iraq, Korea, and Guantanamo Bay, performing for the soldiers. They championed the Lane Evans Health Act, emphasizing the best health care for veterans, even introducing then Senator Obama to the bill at Capitol Hill. Obama pushed it in the Senate, and it became codified as law for returning heroes. They’ve kicked asses on high:profile tours such as Crüe(Fest and OZZfest, sharing bills with everyone from Mötley Crüe and Papa Roach to Ozzy Osbourne and System of a Down. At radio they continue to get even stronger, “Feel Like I Do” reached #2 on the active rock radio chart, giving them their greatest success yet, even besting “37 Stitches” which landed at #5.
Ultimately, this new album isn’t a new beginning or an end. It’s a continuation of the Drowning Pool legacy—and a fitting one at that.
“In the immortal words of Dimebag Darrell, we’re trying to ‘Keep on keepin’ on’,” concludes Luce. “Drowning Pool is alive and kicking and in some respects more than ever. We’re lifers.”
“Drowning Pool is still Drowning Pool,” assures Moreno. “Even though there’s a new element involved, I’m not here to change anything. I have tremendous respect for the guys and the fans. This band will always be Drowning Pool.” — Rick Florino, December 2012.Shinyribs on Facebook | Official Website
SIGNAL RISINGRock that will snatch you up….draw you in! Signal Rising (formerly Linus) came together to create music that our fans connect with. We are a regional touring rock band based out of College Station, TX. Signal Rising has exploded on the scene over the last three years playing dates with national touring acts Ten Years, Fair to Midland, Earshot, The Hectic, Flyleaf, Static X, Pat Travers, Skidrow, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, The Last Place You Look, Deuce,New Medicine and Saturate. Using monstrous guitar riffs, explosive drums, enthralling bass lines and soaring Vocals to draw in new fans at every concert, club gig, and acoustic show!Signal Rising on Facebook | Official Website
HINDSIGHTThe riff and percussion driven hard rock band “Hind§ight” formed in Sugar Land, Texas at around the turn of the millennium with a group of young musicians desiring to make music that would both rock hard but melodically inspire the minds of an audience. Hind§ight’s music is focused on the life experiences of each of the band members. So, if you are at a Hind§ight concert, feel free to ask them about some of the stories behind the songs. If you are looking for disingenuous Disney pop music written by industry song writers for pop singers who need auto-tune just to get out of bed in the morning, this is not your band and may god have mercy on your soul. If you want some rock music that you can jam to and relate to in your daily life come and rock out with us.Hindsight on Facebook | Official Website
WELLBORN ROADEstablished 2005, Wellborn Road has carved its name as one of the heavy weights in the Texas hard rock and metal scene. The band was formed in College Station, Texas. Their debut album “Home” proved to be an uncompromised, raw, and unique record. The band is currently jamming everywhere possible and working on their sophomore album.Wellborn Road on Facebook | Official Website

Closed for a Private Event
2014-12-09
Grand Stafford Theater will be closed for a private event on Tuesday, December 9th. Craft Beer and Cocktail Tuesday will resume Tuesday, December 16th.
For more information about booking your next special event at Grand Stafford Theater, please email Sarah at sarah@grandstaffordtheater.com

Shinyribs w/ Austin Meade
2014-12-12 21:00 - 23:55
SHINYRIBSShinyribs is the continuation of Kevin Russell’s musical journey that began in Beaumont, TX when, at 14, he found his father’s guitar under his bed, along with a sewing machine, a billy club and a box of comic books. Luckily he chose the guitar.
Following his family’s oil boom and bust migratory path he landed in Shreveport, LA where he formed his first band. Picket Line Coyotes were a Husker Du meets Elvis Costello hybrid that lived and died between the “Arklatexabamassippi” borders much like their unfortunate animal namesake.
That’s what took him to Austin where The Gourds were born from those Coyote ashes. That storied band of pumpkins came to an end after 18 years of good times and hard travelin’. From that point on Russell, has been riding high on the Shinyribs river of country-soul, swamp-funk and tickle.
A Shinyribs show is an exaltation of spirit. It’s a hip shaking, belly laughing, soul-singing, song-slinging, down-home house party. All styles of American music are likely to be touched on, squeezed on, kissed on by this world-class band featuring Winfield Cheek on Keyboards, Keith Langford on Drums, Jeff Brown on Bass and the Tijuana Train Wreck Horns. Whether on his 6 string Uke or his Electric guitar or singing a cappella, Russell will entertain you like no one else.
The freedom with which he moves, coupled with his incredible voice is an experience in and of itself. His original songs laced with magicalrealism along with novel interpretations of popular songs old and new (George Jones, TLC, Leadbelly, T-Pain) are the true art that runs throughout. He’s Burl Ives meets Al Green; Hank, Jr. meets Teddy Pendergrass. Wendell Berry meets Chuck Berry.
Truly something not to be missed; a unique musical experience and an original expression of our colorful musical heritage.Shinyribs on Facebook | Official Website
AUSTIN MEADE
Austin Meade is a singer/songwriter based out of College Station, Texas. In March of 2013 he branched out from behind the drums and started writing his own music. With classic influences as well as many modern Americana and Blues influences, you can find Austin’s music somewhere in the middle. Austin has shared the stage with artists such as Cody Canada, Jason Eady, Brandon Jenkins, The Damn Quails, Josh Grider, Thieving Birds and many more. Meade’s EP, “Long Ways To Go” and first full length album, “Chief of the Sinners” are available now.
Austin Meade on Facebook

Homebrew Live feat. The Inators w/ Critical Misfire & BAMH
2014-12-13 21:00 - 23:55
THE INATORSThe Inators is loud guitar bass drum indie pop. The Inators is Dan, Fred, Johnny, and Kelly. With influences from 6L6, EL84, Tim, and 12AX7, The Inators combine elements of The Only Ones, The Replacements, Gin Blossoms, Cheap Trick, The Knack, a little Husker Du, and a dash of Beatles, to produce rock-n-roll that is a bit power pop and a bit pop punk. As an outcome, The Inator’s songs are sweet, hopeful, bitter, and betrayed.
Dan hadn’t been in a band for a long time and wanted to do the band thing again because he was tired of writing songs for his computer to listen to. Kelly was in so many bands, adding another gig as a drummer didn’t make any difference to him. Kelly knew Johnny, who had a bass. Johnny knew Fred, who had guitar. So, that’s it right: songs+guitar+bass+drums=band.The Inators on Facebook | Official Website
CRITICAL MISFIREIn a town full of country and heavy metal acts, Critical Misfire sticks out like a sore thumb, filling the gap left between the two musical factions. With a healthy dose of 90’s inspired grunge rock and a taste for punk and pop, Critical Misfire delivers where other bands fall short…catchy hooks and hard-driving delivery. After hijacking an open mic night and following up the next week with a full set, Critical Misfire is making progress at an accelerated pace.Crtical Misfire on Facebook | Official Website
BIRTH AT THE MASSACRES HOUSEBAMH is a one-man metal band from Bryan, TX.BAMH on Facebook

Second Sunday Foreign Film: Cinema Paradiso
2014-12-14 15:30 - 19:00
CINEMA PARADISO

Second Sunday Foreign Film returns to Grand Stafford Theater this December! Come join us Sunday, December 14th at 3 PM for an Italian film directed by Giuseppe Tornatore.
“Cinema Paradiso” is about a boy who grew up in a native Sicilian Village and returns home as a famous director after receiving news about the death of an old friend. The film is mainly played in a flashback as Salvatore reminiscences about his childhood and his relationship with Alfredo, a projectionist at Cinema Paradiso. Under the fatherly guidance of Alfredo, Salvatore begins to fall in love with film making. Salvatore learns the skills that become a stepping stone for his future career in the world of film making. The film shows the changes in cinema and the dying trade of traditional film making, editing and screening. A heartwarming story – perfect for the holiday season.
Tickets include movie and intermission treat provided.

Distance, Here w/ A Deathbed Promise & Forever Today
2014-12-20 21:00 - 23:55
DISTANCE, HEREDistance, Here is a band from Bryan, Texas. D,H is about loving one another, no matter what, just as we are commanded to do. People have different political, moral, and religious beliefs, but this does not mean we have to be enemies. This is the message that Distance, Here is ultimately trying to get across. Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these.Distance, Here on Facebook
A DEATHBED PROMISEWe are a rock band from Bryan, TX.A Deathbed Promise on Facebook
FOREVER TODAYWe are a new Alternative/Rock band from Bryan/College Station, TX.Forever Today on Facebook

First Friday at Grand Stafford Theater
2015-01-02 17:00 - 23:55
Come out and celebrate the beginning of a new year! The Stafford will be open for January First Friday, no cover.
