Concerts, Dec. 19-25
by Leilani PolkTHURSDAY, DECEMBER 19
Thy Art Is Murder w/I Declare War/Fit For An Autopsy/The Last Ten Seconds of Life/Kublai Khan If the band name isn’t indication enough of Thy Art Is Murder’s extreme deathcore tendencies, perhaps the title of their sophomore LP (2012’s Hate) or the demonic hell-spawned creatures ripping their way from the fiery hellish depths of the album cover will clue you in. Or, you know, the crushing music, full of abrasive gut-wrenched vocals, blasted beats and plenty of crushing guitar riffage. The Australian outfit signed to Nuclear Blast Records in January for a worldwide 2013 re-release of Hate after becoming the first extreme metal band to break the ARIA Top 40 charts. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
Justin Timberlake A pop icon who’s been at the forefront of the public conscious after six years of silence on the music front. Justin Timberlake dropped the relentlessly ear wormy single “Suit and Tie” in January, and continued his grand re-emergence with The 20/20 Experience, released in two parts, in March and September, as his third and fourth studio LPs. Both are the high quality we’ve come to expect from JT — crossing the lines between pop, hip hop, soul and R&B with sexy smooth grooves and the usual silky vocal serenades. His enormous world tour comes no closer than Orlando, but based on his spectacular comeback appearance on the MTV Video Music Awards, the drive is likely well worth it. (Amway Center Arena, Orlando)
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20
Crowbar 7-Year Anniversary Party w/The Heavy Pets/The Funky Nuggets“It's that kind of room where you could do a local in here and have 100 people show up and it'll be comfortable, or you could do a smaller national or a regional act and do 300 and people would be having a good time, a good vibe …” Tom DeGeorge said in the 2006 CL article introducing his co-venture, Crowbar, to the public. Back then he explained he didn’t want to get pigeonholed into hosting any set type of music. “I want to do an array. ... so I think if we start with that mentality and bring in all types of music — we want to be a music venue and we want to be a place where people can hang out when we don't have bands; they can either be in there listening to music or chill out here and relax.” So far he’s succeeded; the Ybor watering hole/music venue/hang spot has established a significant presence in the scene and serves a diversity of music fans and their favored genres. Crowbar celebrates its durability with a double header of South Florida jams led by The Heavy Pets. The Ft. Lauderdale-based quintet just issued a Two Horses EP with a few new tracks; “Last Babies” has indie rock appeal, its pacing, lead vocal phrasing and lyrical matter reminiscent of Modest Mouse, but amped up with fuzzed-out basslines, while “Keep Me Running” is more straightforward groove and prog-oriented rock. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
A Rockapella ChristmasThe Sing Off is back on air for a fourth season after a year off in 2012, which means America’s interest in a cappella music is perking back up and no doubt Rockapella is reaping the rewards with boosted attendance at their concerts. Not that the world’s most famous a cappella group needs much help; Rockapella has been creating or re-creating songs using only vocals (four harmonizers and a percussionist) for 27 years and 18 albums. Five of those are Yuletide-themed, so the group has plenty of material to draw from during their annual holiday tour, now in its 10th year; traditional hymns (“I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”), pop standards (“Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree”), quirky classics (“Christmas Don't Be Late (The Chipmunk Song)”) and more modern odes (Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime”). (Capitol Theatre, Clearwater)
Alexander & The Grapes Beer & Record Release Party w/Matt Hires/The Heavy Metals The next local band to jump on the craft beer wagon, Alexander & the Grapes, collabed with Cigar City Brewpub to come up with AATG India Pale Ale, a double IPA brewed with Dade City-grown Muscadine grapes (“Smooth, crushable, fruity, hoppy, 9.2% abv, drinks more like 6.5%”). AATG IPA will be on tap at New World during the Grapes’ dual beer and vinyl release party celebrating the brew’s debut and the unveiling of their newly-pressed Falling Apart 7". (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
Chiodos w/Our Last Night/Set It Off/Variance Last year saw two newer Chidos members replaced by two tried-and-true formers — vocalist Craig Owens re-assumed his frontman post after Brandon Bolmer’s exit while drummer Tanner Wayne left, too, and was replaced with his predecessor Derrick Frost. A new album was recorded in September with producer David Bottrill (Tool, Muse) and a fresh track (“Behvis Bullock”) has made it onto recent setlists, but no release date or title for their fourth full-length has been confirmed as yet. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
[page]Christie Lenee CD Release Show Hometown gal Christie Lenee settled in Philly several years back, but her local ties remain and she regularly returns to the Bay area to perform guitar-driven material touching on folk, rock, jazz, classical and even flamenco aesthetics. Lenee has a nice set of pipes, but she shines brightest when she’s playing and lately she’s let her guitar do the singing. Her versatile guitar capabilities are remarkable, her acoustic fingerstyle wizardry on display in new instrumental album, Chasing Infinity. Her axe of choice is a soprano 12-string that adds a lush yet buoyant richness to compositions full of melody and harmonics, sometimes backed by a full band (as she’ll be on this night celebrating Chasing Infinity’s release), sometimes riding solo on the sounds of her own fluid multi-layered flicks, plucks and percussive taps and flourishes. Lenee has performed with Tim Reynolds (Dave Matthews Band) on numerous occasions; the videos on her YouTube channel are worth checking out. (Hideaway Cafe and Recording Studio, St. Petersburg)
Ben Prestage Every one man band has his own distinctive method of making up for the absence of other players. Multi-instrumental talents are a prerequisite, as are the skills to switch between them fluidly or juggle a few at once or loop sounds into a backtrack to play against. Florida-based Ben Prestage does everything in real time, his instrument arsenal covering acoustic, Dobro, lap-steel and cigar box guitars along with a diddley bow, banjo, fiddle, harmonica and foot-drum kit to keep the rhythms. He sings in a crusty drawl over his mix of swampy blues, backcountry roots and vintage Americana, and rounds it out with a look that Rip Van Winkle might sport if he’d fallen asleep in the Everglades, then woke up from his 100-year nap ready to try his hand at being a troubadour, or maybe a train conductor. (Ale and the Witch, St. Petersburg)
Tres Bien w/Wolf-Face/Zulu Wave/Levels/Hey There, Battleship We don’t see nearly enough of Tres Bien around these parts, since half the members of the St. Pete-spawned vintage psych rock quartet (Cody Wilson and Mikey Rollingchild) re-located to LA awhile back, forming the more garage pop-oriented Levels with bassist/singer Roxor Evensen. A&E Editor Julie Garisto called new Levels tune “Regret” an instant classic, “melodically infectious, ass-kicking power pop with a ghostly background vocal — hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo — and other deft touches that will haunt you for days.” Family ties bring the waylaid members back to town, so Tres Bien steps out to play the 2nd annual X-mas/apocalypse-themed End of the World Party. Levels supports, as do three noteworthy locals. (Local 662, St. Petersburg)
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21
Seventh Annual Brokenmold Holiday Party w/SWIMM/Deaf Poets/Good Graeff The much beloved bird-flipping Santa tee-shirts are representative of the atmosphere we’ve come to expect from the Brokenmold Holiday Party — festive merriment with fuck-you rock n’ roll attitude. At least in spirit, anyway; in reality, everyone’s usually full of good cheer at these things since the music is consistently excellent. The seventh annual installment is proof positive, headed up by SWIMM, an LA-by-way-of-Melbourne, Fla. duo pushing psychedelic garage rock in a new self-released Feel EP; additional players flesh out the lineup in a live setting. Also of note: Deaf Poets, a Miami-spawned guitar-drums combo that switches between grimy garage blues to slower-paced shoegaze odes to dreamier melodic washes of sound. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
Tampa Bay Metal Fest 2013 w/The Absence/Exotype/Silenmara/From The Embrace/Riptorn/Detoura/Maverick Hunter/Slikk Wikked/Jormundgandr/Garroted/City Of Stages/Aergia/Atlas While it might seem like the area is on the downturn when it comes to spawning death metal talent, events like Tampa Bay Metal Fest 2013 prove that Central Florida’s metallic sounds are alive and thrashing. Plus we still have famed staples like The Absence representing. Signed to Metal Blade Records for three studio LPs (the last was Enemy Unbound in 2010), the melodic death metal quintet sets hoarsely-textured vocals and guttural bellows over a churning aggro-technical sound. Brand new single “Oceans” carries plenty of axe crunch and energetic shredding, but also segues into restrained, tuneful instrumental breaks marked by Latin-tinged acoustic guitar. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
Hallucination Before Christmas The ridiculously big seasonal soiree and canned food drive thrown by electro music-repping Hallucination Recordings has been described as a collision of Christmas and Halloween; flamboyant attire — club kid, cosplay, goth, fetish — is encouraged and a freaky-festive atmosphere rules the night. Guest DJs preside in each of The Ritz’s three rooms and among this year’s performers are old hands, including electro house DJ/producer/remixer Tommie Sunshine and Hallucination founder/Rabbit in the Moon leader Monk, and newer acts like Proper Villains, who jumps off dubstep into electro, house, DnB, hip-hop, and UK garage territories. Organizers ask for a minimum of three nonperishable food donations (the most in-demand items are peanut butter, breakfast cereal, and canned tuna, veggies and fruits); everything goes to Feeding America Tampa Bay. Tickets are $20 with a donation; more without. Don’t come empty-handed. (Czar at The Ritz Ybor, Ybor City)
[page]Big Finish 2013 w/Joystick/Don Walrus/Chilled Monkey Brains/Crowd Bites Wolf/Madison Turner/Station Cases/Dénouement/69 Fingers?/Can't Do It/Lipschitz I imagine it’s called ‘Big Finish’ because it’s the last big show of the year at Epic Problem. Robot House presents the 10-band showcase covering punk, ska and hardcore sounds as led by New Orleans septet Joystick, crafting hard-driving ska-punk with a two-horn blast of trumpet and trombone. A diversity of Florida acts round out the bill. (Epic Problem, Tampa)
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 22
Chris Isaak Rockabilly crooner and sometimes actor Chris Isaak hits town to play select cuts off his most recent ‘50s-era Sun Studio-inspired release, 2012’s Beyond the Sun, which finds him covering classics by the greats who played the Memphis studio, among them, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and BB King. Since this date is part of his “Holiday Tour 2013,” he’ll also deliver holiday fare off his 2004 Christmas album in addition to select other material (there’s a “Wicked Game” in there somewhere). (Mahaffey Theater, St Petersburg)
Shaun Hopper w/Joe Smothers Enjoy one last display of fine musicianship before pre-Christmas crunchtime really kicks into high gear during this evening performance of picking, plucking and fret-jumping by Bay area-brewed finger-style guitarist Hopper. His percussive techniques and intricately arranged melodies hint at classical, New Age, jazz, alt pop and folk music aesthetics. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 25
New Granada Annual Xmas Night Extravaganza w/set and setting/Feral Babies/Blast & the Detergents Christmas is one of those holidays that many of us both love and dread, sometimes in equal measure. The luxury of spending extended time with your family verses the inevitable awkward moments that arise because of it. The decadent feasting versus the almost painful fullness of your belly afterwards. The gift-giving and excess of generosity verses the stress of figuring out just how to make it work when you’re so financially strapped. New Granada gives you the chance to blow off some steam with its annual live music presentation, this year leaning to heavier sounds with the post-metal neo-classical instrumentals of set and setting while Feral Babies and Blast & the Detergents bring balls-out punk n’ hardcore to the table. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
CLICK HERE to see a complete rundown of shows taking place this week and in the coming weeks.