Flogging Molly
Event on 2012-05-25 18:30:00

Supporting Acts: Brothers of Brazil

Flogging Molly

What makes a band truly remarkable? Insightful lyrics? Memorable melodies? Blow-your-mind live performances? The truth is that it takes all of those things along with a boundless enthusiasm, an infectious energy and a supreme devotion to the fans. With this rare combination, a band may ascend past "good," – or even the record industry's Holy Grail, "marketable" – and reach sublime. Drawing on the hardships and joys of their own lives and a musical history ranging from old world Celtic to modern day punk rock, the seven members of Flogging Molly do just that, and they do it with a charm and an ease that makes them one of the most accessible bands performing today. "We're not a traditional band," explains Dublin born singer/songwriter, Dave King. "We are influenced by traditional music and inspired by it, and we put our own little twist on it." Founded in Los Angeles in 1997 by the expatriate King, Flogging Molly got its start and its name from a local bar called Molly Malone's where the band played and grew and laid down the blueprint for its eventual success. As every member of Flogging Molly will emphatically explain, there were no predetermined expectations for the band's sound. From night to night playing to a packed house at Molly Malone's, the sound evolved organically. Traditional Celtic instruments like violin, mandolin and accordion blended seamlessly with grinding guitars and pounding drums. Without consciously attempting it, Flogging Molly merged the music of King's childhood in Dublin with the music of his adulthood in L.A. "If it didn't have mandolin, accordion, fiddle and whistle, it would be punk rock, and if it didn't have guitar, bass and drums, it would be traditional Irish music," King admits, adding, "You can't be bothered being labeled." With a sound anchored in such diverse influences and with band members ranging in age from their 20s to their 40s – a decidedly non-MTV-friendly demographical mix, Flogging Molly was not embraced by the mainstream music industry. The band simply didn't fit any preconceived notions of what a "successful" band was. Not deterred in the least, Flogging Molly embraced a DIY philosophy (that's "do-it-yourself" for those of you not in the know). Their amazing work ethic and rapidly growing fan base led them to DIY-style record label, Side One Dummy, and the two fit hand in glove. In 2000, their Side One Dummy debut, Swagger, featuring the anthemic "The Likes of You Again" and "Black Friday Rule" along with the best ode to a hangover yet, "The Worst Day Since Yesterday" (which later found its way into the Angelina Jolie-Brad Pitt film, Mr. and Mrs. Smith), obliterated initial expectations and sold over 50,000 copies before Flogging Molly headed back into the studio to record their 2002 follow up, Drunken Lullabies, which included instant classics like the rousing "Rebels of the Sacred Heart" and the doleful "The Son Never Shines (on Closed Doors)." 2004's Within a Mile of Home once more showcased the band's ability to play driving rock and roll on one track then slide effortlessly into lilting, pastoral harmonies on the next and contained a beautiful duet between King and Lucinda Williams on "Factory Girls." Flogging Molly's latest album, Float, recorded in King's native Ireland, delivers still another iteration of the band's sonic evolution. More mature yet retaining the immediacy that marks all of their work, Float may find the widest audience acceptance of any Flogging Molly album. Hard charging tunes "Paddy's Lament" and "You Won't Make a Fool Out of Me" give way, as listeners have come to expect, to more sober ruminations on tracks like "Float." The overall effect is a symphonic layering of sound that possesses a unique rhythmic flow from boisterous to bereaved and back again. Long time fans and new discoverers will be equally astounded. First, last and always a live band, Flogging Molly tours quite a bit more than the average group. On the road seemingly at all times, the band is a regular on the Warped Tour. Even still, their fans can't get enough. People traveled from all over the country to catch them playing with another Celtic-rock powerhouse, Dropkick Murphys, in Philadelphia in September 2007. Flogging Molly's annual Green 17 Tour begins 2008's St. Patrick's Day celebration on February 1st – because you can never get an early enough start on St. Patrick's Day – and will take the band to 30 cities for a total of 34 shows before it's over. For Flogging Molly, a bar band at heart, the contact with their fans is essential. "I feel as good about meeting [the fans] as they feel about meeting me," says bassist Nathen Maxwell, "because they're just as happy as I am. They're just people like everybody else, and that's how I look at myself." Spend 10 minutes in a room with the members of Flogging Molly, and you will have no doubt about their passion for their music. As mandolin and banjo player Bob Schmidt describes it, "We're deadly serious about what we do. As much as it's a good time and a fun thing, it's no joke to us." Guitarist Dennis Casey echoes that sentiment, saying, "I just give it all I've got because I just believe in it that much." Flogging Molly isn't a mere band, they're a seven member nuclear family. They are as devoted to one another as they are to the music they create. It's no wonder their extended family – the legion of loyal Flogging Molly fans – keeps growing every day.

at Main Street Armory
900 East Main Street
Rochester, United States

M83
Event on 2012-05-23 20:00:00

M83

M83 Hurry Up, We're Dreaming "We didn't need a story, we didn't need a real world. We just had to keep walking and we became the stories We became the places." With these soft spoken words on the simply-titled opening track–"Intro"– M83 mastermind Anthony Gonzalez introduces us to his sixth record and first double disc album, Hurry Up, We're Dreaming. Dauntlessly singing into the void that was left behind since Saturdays=Youth, Gonzalez suddenly surges with overwhelming emotion as the music mounts an invisible precipice. Historically, he softly eased you into his world, introducing you to the lush and radiant spaces between captivating melodies and intimate lyrics, but not this time. Not on this record. Graduating from the fuzzy, fumbling emotional cobwebs and draped ambiance of past records, Hurry Up, We're Dreaming careens past its audience. Brazenly stretching out along the horizon, spilling glittery, golden arms of sound across the landscape, it holds your breath hostage without you even noticing you were missing it. If it seemed that Anthony was basking in the sunshine-drenched days of his youth when he released Saturdays in 2008, then it can be said that in 2011, at the age of 30, he is tempestuously charging towards his future with Hurry Up, We're Dreaming. Relocating to Los Angeles from Antibes, Gonzalez surrounded himself with players pivotal to completing his childhood dream of a double disc record. Producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Beck, NIN, The Mars Volta, Goldfrapp) and guitarist Brad Laner (from 90's band Medicine) had been hugely influential on Anthony growing up and now were central to the new record's creation. "In France there is this show on TV where at the end there is a musical guest who plays one or two songs. I remember one night when I was a teenager being at home watching the best of performances and looking at this crazy bass player with a big afro and thinking, 'Wow this guy is so cool.' "And now I am working with him. It's so intense that thinking about it makes me feel weird. But it's weird in a super good way. Same thing with Brad, I was listening to his music when I was first getting into music and now he's on my album." Anthony and Justin met backstage in 2009 at Scotland's T In The Park. Later, "he came to me very genuinely stating that 'he was a fan and that he would love to work with me,'" explains Gonzalez. "I love when people do that because I can tell it's coming from the heart. He was sincere and that's the way I like to work with people." Stepping away from his work with producers Ken Thomas and Ewan Pearson on Saturday, Gonzalez freckles his new chapter with signature M83 fingerprints while pushing himself beyond the constricting emotions of a guarded musician. Bored with being frustrated and shy, Anthony is respectful of the precious time given to him and doesn't want to leave behind any regrets, thus thrusting himself into the spotlight vocally. He tests out different ways of singing, ranging from a spectral breathy whisper to a howling scream, and each voice clings to us like a dew-heavy spider web at dawn. Fans will recognize band member Morgan Kibby, her vocals flirting with the shadowy places in between verses, leaping off the record in spoken word or blending with an adult choir. Morgan will join Anthony on tour but she was never meant to sing as much on this record as she had on pervious projects. Quenching his desire to work with a different person on each record, Gonzalez added LA-based chanteuse Zola Jesus to the mix for the completion of "Intro." "The song was already written but I really wanted a female vocal on it and I was kind of struggling to find the right person, but then I heard her music and it just made sense." Where Saturday=Youth is drenched in lustful exploration and hungry adolescent wonder, Hurry Up is decadently cunning and seductive. "Intro" and "My tears are becoming a sea" eerily croon to you, swirling all of the glitter and growth from the past records into an epic swell, mysteriously and dramatically warning you of the impact you are about to experience. "Midnight City" (disc one) and "OK Pal" (disc two) are humid, adrenaline driven dreams unlike anything we have heard from M83 in the past. "Midnight City" adeptly sweeps you through abandoned concrete streets swimming in broken neon light and aggressively pushing and pulsating to synthetic beats. While "OK Pal" catcalls you to a locker full of mapped out Peter Gabriel-esque echoing lyrics, leaving you stranded in a post-apocalyptic landscape. These journeys are about awakening, craving and conquering. Throughout Hurry Up, We're Dreaming Anthony carries the listener to different countries of sound in his own universe, "We didn't need a story, we didn't need a real world. We just had to keep walking and we became the stories- we became the places." Drifting away from his previous records and reigned in politeness he unleashes all that he has been dreaming of and yearning for. Even when he takes a second to look back on "Echoes of Mine" the velvety, elderly voice of a woman heartbreakingly tells the story of a girl drenched in the shadows of her youth, knowing she has to grow up. Grandiose in scale and inspired by Smashing Pumpkin's revered double disc Melancholy & The Infinite Sadness, Anthony has long had the goal to create his own monumental double disc record. "I saw when I was a teenager that I could dig into it [the album]. It was like a treasure. If I were a teenager nowadays I would try to find something as creative as this album. They had so much to say in their songs." Impressed with the juxtaposing sun and moon artwork featured on Melancholy, Anthony focuses in on another natural duality: siblings. The cover artwork mirrors this relationship, featuring a photograph of a little boy with a little girl sitting on a bed. The photograph perpetuates the conversation for the two distinct voices we behind each disc, representing two sides of an overall piece that are almost the same. "I want people to listen to it as two different human beings that are connected somehow, but every song on the album has a secret on the other side." Soaring and scraping up against the sky while sharing each uncharted frontier with new collaborators is what M83 does best. Gracefully coming into the next decade of his life, Anthony delivers what makes each record sincere, innocent, and full of joy: he gives us his past and his future. "I think it is a reflection of my 30 years of being a human being. It's a compilation of all my previous music together. It's a retrospective of myself." ilovem83.com | facebook.com/m83music | mute.com

at Marquee Theatre
730 North Mill Avenue
Tempe, United States

Ruckelshaus | Milstein | Aprilfreddie | Poweralley | Where Can i Buy a car From a Police Auction? – What you need | Best Penny Auction Software | Charlotte Locksmith | parler en public | Polaris 380 Pool Cleaners: Hugely Successful | was ist kratom koennen euch gerne erleutern und wo ihr das Kratom online bestellen | GWM Dealers | Be Well Informed With Your Next Personal Finance Venture – Tips You Need To | News: Kids clothing tips | Discounts on Used Honda Civic Parts | Tips For Traveling With Confidence Whatever Your Destination | Black Friday