An Evening with Big Head Todd and the Monsters Featuring Ronnie Baker Brooks and Hazel Miller

Since their formation in the mid-’80s, Big Head Todd & the Monsters have continued to evolve and explore, moving beyond their Colorado club circuit roots to become one of the most adventurous, respected and durable bands in America. Through constant touring and a zeal to travel down new musical avenues in the studio, BHTM (as their dedicated fans call them) have honed their collective stew of influences into a trademark hybrid sound that’s immediately recognizable. Now, with Black Beehive, their maiden release on Shout! Factory (February 4, 2014), the quartet has made its most personal and poignant album to date, a collection of new studio tracks that, says co-founder and figurehead Todd Park Mohr, “allows us to truly reach our audience through the language of the blues.”

Recorded at Butcher Boy Studios in Chicago, Mohr’s hometown of the past seven years, and produced and mixed by Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalist Steve Jordan (whose previous production credits include John Mayer, Buddy Guy, Solomon Burke and Robert Cray), Black Beehive arrives a quarter-century after the group’s debut album, Another Mayberry, first put Big Head Todd & the Monsters on the map beyond their home base. Today, the original trio—Mohr on guitar and vocals, Brian Nevin on drums and vocals and Rob Squires on bass and vocals—along with keyboardist/pedal steel guitarist Jeremy Lawton, who joined in 2004, are still opening themselves to new possibilities even as they further explore their roots. “It has some contemporary elements that bridge a gap between alternative pop and traditional blues,” says Mohr about Black Beehive, whose title refers to the late British soul singer Amy Winehouse, the inspiration behind the album’s title track.

The band approached the recording in an old-school organic fashion, playing together in the studio, which Mohr describes as “a big open space,” and sticking to the basics. “I played resonator guitar on almost every song and most of the album is kind of simple: guitar, slide guitar, drums and bass,” he says. “We only had two guests on the album. One was Eddie Shaw, who was Howlin’ Wolf’s harmonica player for many years, and Ronnie Baker Brooks, who played guitar. And Steve Jordan played on almost every track—various things, percussion, rhythm guitar.”

Jordan, whose incredible career began when he joined Stevie Wonder’s band as a teenager, later going on to perform in the Saturday Night Live band, Paul Shaffer’s World’s Most Dangerous Band on Late Night with David Letterman, and backing John Belushi and Dan Akroyd when they toured as The Blues Brothers, has an unbelievable production roster but is also well-known as a drummer. A member of the John Mayer Trio, Jordan also toured and recorded with Keith Richards and the X-pensive Winos, joined Eric Clapton for his 2006 European tour, and has also worked with Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, B.B. King, James Brown and more.

Mohr first met Jordan through the legendary guitarist Hubert Sumlin, who died in 2011. “We were planning to have an 80th birthday party for Hubert,” says Todd, “and Steve was the musical director. When Hubert passed away it ended up being a tribute at the Apollo Theater: Eric Clapton and Billy Gibbons and Keith Richards—there were probably 35 incredible musicians at this thing. I was immediately awestruck by Steve’s command of the material and his understanding of it and his ability to get it done on short notice with all these people. I thought this guy would be an unbelievable producer for me to work with. I sent him some demos and he was up for it.”

As he began writing material for the album, Mohr drew from both his own life experiences and events in the news. The title track was written following Winehouse’s death. “I love her voice and her performances, and obviously her shenanigans were part of her persona,” says Mohr. Several other songs were also ripped from the headlines, including “We Won’t Go Back,” which Mohr penned about the 2010 Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East, and “Fear, Greed and Ignorance,” whose topical lyrics declare that it’s those three dishonorable traits that are “driving you America off the edge of the road.”

Not every track is quite so pointed, however. “Hubert’s Dream,” is a nod to the late Mr. Sumlin, while album opener “Hey Delila” is Mohr’s tribute to another blues giant, Memphis Minnie. “I happened to acquire a great example of her instrument, which was a 1941 Spanish National resonator guitar. Plus, she has an incredible life story,” he says. “Everything About You” is dedicated to NASA, who called upon BHTM to awaken the Discovery space shuttle crew with their song “Blue Sky” in 2011, marking the first time live music was ever used for that purpose.

Among the album’s other tunes, “Josephina” and “Seven State Lines” are what Mohr describes simply as “blues-based themes,” while “I Get Smooth” is “a comedy piece.” The cautionary tale “Travelin’ Light” is the story of lovers who “threw away our hearts and fled” and the moving “Forever Bonnie” is based on a true story of a “gentleman who got a love letter delivered to him 53 years later by the Postal Service.” Black Beehive also includes, as a bonus track, Big Head Todd & the Monsters’ burning take on the Jimmy Reed blues classic “Baby What You Want Me To Do,” a song that Jordan requested they cut.

For BHTM, Black Beehive serves as both a reaffirmation of the band’s roots and a step into the next 25 years. Founded as a trio in Boulder, Colorado in 1986, Big Head Todd & the Monsters quickly built a strong reputation on the local club circuit. As word of their soulful and intense live show traveled around the nation they found themselves filling larger and larger venues. BHTM have now played Denver’s historic Red Rocks Amphitheatre more than 20 times, and are embedded in the fabric of Colorado’s music scene.

Beginning with Another Mayberry in 1989, critics noticed what audiences at BHTM live shows already knew. The All Music Guide praised the “subtlety of Mohr’s lyrics” and his “individual world view.” But it was the follow-up, 1990’s Midnight Radio, that truly established the band as a creative force to be reckoned with. Its popularity led to a major label contract and the release of the platinum-selling Sister Sweetly in 1993. With subsequent albums such as 1994’s Strategem and 1997’s Beautiful World, the band earned a place among the top names on the jam band circuit, solidified by 1998’s Live Monsters, the first official concert recording by Big Head Todd & the Monsters. Riviera was released in 2002, followed by 2004’s Crimes of Passion, of which The London Times stated “American rock doesn’t get anymore classy than this.” Later that year, Live at the Fillmore was released to critical praise. All Music Guide called the release, the band’s first with Jeremy Lawton, “loud, proud, and full of righteous raw ambience.”

The band, which has always proudly controlled its own business dealings and marketing, gave away 2007’s All the Love You Need through their email list, radio stations, and magazines. Their ninth studio album, Rocksteady, followed in 2010. Said Examiner.com, “With Rocksteady, the Colorado boys prove they can sprinkle in a plethora of differing music styles and still rock.” 2011’s 100 Years of Robert Johnson, the album preceding Black Beehive, found the group paying tribute to the pioneering bluesman while performing as Big Head Blues Club (along with other notable blues legends, including B. B. King, Charlie Musselwhite, Cedric Burnside, David “Honeyboy” Edwards, Sumlin, Ruthie Foster, and Lightnin’ Malcolm). The band toured behind the album with a few of the guest artists, marking some of the final performances by both Edwards and Sumlin. Mohr kland appve a more mature perspecists at the aforementioned ed artist at the aforementioned tribute show at the Apollo Theatre. paid tribute to Sumlin in 2012 when he served as a featured artist at his tribute show at the Apollo Theatre.

With all of that history behind them, it would be easy for Big Head Todd & the Monsters to play the nostalgia card and fall back on past glories, but that’s of no interest to them. BHTM still performs, and devoutly loves, the material that first brought them to their fans – material they now approach with a fresh, seasoned perspective. “As a writer and as a human being there’s a big difference between being 21 and 47,” says Mohr. “Having said that, I think a lot of those compositions are still lyrically sound, even though it’s hard for me to imagine that I would have had the experience to write about the stuff I did. Obviously, I think the band has gotten better over the years because when you develop yourself you continue to improve, and I think we have improved musically. As a writer, I’m really pleased with where I’m at right now.”

“A lot of it had to do with my experience with the Robert Johnson project,” he adds. “That had a large impact on how I looked at music. For a large portion of my career, I’ve been trying to reproduce the success of Sister Sweetly, just as a touchstone of ‘this is a pop song, or rock-pop.’ Pop songs have pretty narrow rules when it comes down to it. Generally you need a chorus and a bridge. The blues material from Robert Johnson’s day, the prewar blues, was so fascinating to me because of the fact that it is pop music but there are no choruses. It’s a different way of having repetition and themes and a different goal for a pop song. The music is shared by everybody because it’s passed down through tradition. The whole spirit of what one is going for is radically different than pop and that really became exciting for me because I could see a new way to reach people.”

When Big Head Todd & the Monsters launch their extensive national tour behind Black Beehive in January—which will continue through the summer and hit most major markets—they will be honing the album’s ageless blues along the way, and simultaneously affirming their own longevity. It’s clear that they possess a rare musical wholeness that has not only survived for 25 plus years, but still has them looking forward to creating music together night after night. “The other guys have shown great support of my songwriting and what I’m able to do, and all of the band members bring a lot to the plate, both musically and as a unit,” says Mohr. “No one ever expects a band to last this long. We’re very, very lucky.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Walk Off the Earth with Parachute, Camera2

Walk Off The Earth have announced a headlining North American tour to start off 2014.  The tour kicks off on Jan 16 in Minneapolis and routes through March 6 in Los Angeles, with Parachute supporting on the run.  A full list of North American tour dates is below.  Tickets will be available for pre-sale on Oct 29 and will go on sale to the general public on Nov 1.  The Canadian band’s lively set incorporates their wildly popular covers with original songs from their Columbia Records debut full length, R.E.V.O., which is available now.  R.E.V.O. features the band’s breakout hit single “Red Hands,” which hit #1 on the Adult Alternative radio charts and entered the Top 15 at the Adult Pop radio format.  Their follow up single “Gang of Rhythm” is impacting at radio now.

Walk Off The Earth were just nominated for a YouTube Music Award in the Response of the Year (best fan remix, parody or response video) category for their cover of Taylor Swift’s “I Knew You Were Trouble”, and have been confirmed to perform at the first ever YouTube Music Awards ceremony next month in NYC alongside Lady Gaga, Arcade Fire, Eminem, Avicii, MIA, and Earl Sweatshirt.  The YouTube Music Awards celebrate artists who receive the highest levels of engagement with fans from all over the world, through views, likes, shares, comments, subscriptions and more. The inaugural ceremony will be hosted by actor and musician Jason Schwartzman along with comedian Reggie Watts, with Spike Jonze serving as creative director.  Fans can vote at youtube.com/musicawards from now until the live show on November 3 at 6pm ET.

In addition, Walk Off The Earth recently won a CASBY Award at home in Canada, where “Red Hands” has been certified Double Platinum and R.E.V.O. has been certified Gold.  In addition to accepting their award for Favourite New Artist, the group performed a short set for the packed crowd at the event.  Watch the band perform their new single “Gang of Rhythm” at the award show here.

Walk Off The Earth features multi-instrumentalists Gianni Luminati, Marshall, and Sarah Blackwood on vocals, Taylor on keyboards, and Joel Cassady on drums.  WOTE have an incredibly loyal fanbase, with over 1.5 million subscribers to their YouTube channel and over 795k fans on Facebook.  The band gained notoriety for their creative multi-million-viewed YouTube videos ranging from a cover of the Weeds theme “Little Boxes” to Taylor Swift’s “I Knew You Were Trouble” to their most well known cover of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know” with all five band members playing one guitar, which has been viewed over 154 million times.  Walk Off The Earth released an album of original songs, R.E.V.O., which stands for the band’s motto Realize Every Victory Outright, on Columbia Records earlier this year.  R.E.V.O. features hit single “Red Hands” as well as their newest single “Gang of Rhythm.”  Walk Off The Earth have brought their energetic live show around the world, including a well received set at Lollapalooza and sold out headlining shows in cities from NYC and LA to Toronto, Tokyo, Singapore, London, and Paris.

Bring Me The Horizon with Of Mice and Men, Issues, letlive.

When Bring Me The Horizon finally returned home from their last world tour in December 2011, they’d been on the road for two whole years.

Their third album There Is A Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It. There Is A Heaven, Let’s Keep It A Secret had proved both a critical smash and their worldwide breakthrough, smashing into the Top 20 on both sides of the Atlantic and going to Number 1 in Australia. They’d sold out shows across Europe, Asia, Australasia and North and South America. Played astonishing, show-stealing gigs everywhere from the Vans Warped Tour to Reading & Leeds Festivals. Inspired an obsessed army of devotees, not to mention an almost-as-vociferous band of haters.

Now that they had to do the hardest thing for any band in their position – essentially, the hottest breakthrough metal band on the planet – to do: nothing.

For frontman Oli Sykes, the band’s first proper downtime since they formed in Sheffield in 2004 was a much-needed chance to take care of business, both of the commercial (Bring Me The Horizon signed to RCA after three albums on indie Visible Noise) and personal variety (“writing became my passion again”.

Consequently, when the time came to begin work on their fourth album, Sempiternal (an old English word meaning “everlasting”), Oli found himself in a “better position and clearer mindframe than ever before – I was working at 110% whereas before it was always 50%, because there was stuff going on that was hindering me”.

But he also knew that a clear head alone would not be enough to craft a truly game-changing modern rock record. This time around, Bring Me The Horizon were determined to deliver an album that – in the words of guitarist Lee Malia – was “as close to perfect as we could make it”. Before, BMTH albums had often been put together on the hoof between tours, but for Sempiternal they had plenty of time and a license to experiment. It was time to rip up the rulebook and start again.

Previous BMTH albums were no strangers to electronic sounds, but this time around Oli brought in Jordan Fish, formerly of atmospheric electronic-rockers Worship, to help integrate keyboards and programming into the band’s sound from the very start of the process. Initially, he was supposed to play a support role, but soon he was writing with Oli, and bouncing ideas off Lee, and slowly-but-surely he became an integral member of the band.

Jordan jokes about falling on his feet by joining BMTH just as they look likely to become one of the biggest rock bands in the world, though he’s certainly paid his dues (“I’ve done all the shit bits of being in a band, just without anyone knowing about it…”) and he also played a vital role in overhauling BMTH’s sound, his electronic soundscapes adding depth and space to their raw rock power.

“We’ve never wanted to just be beholden to the metalcore thing,” says Oli, who as boss of his own, wildly successful clothing line Drop Dead, has long defied the metal stereotype. “We always said we want to push boundaries, but this time we pulled it off. Jordan opened up a lot of stuff that we’ve always wanted to do, but couldn’t.”

“Before, we used to build up and then go into something super-heavy,” says Lee. “But we’ve moved on a bit from that: it can still sound massive but it’s not just based around a breakdown.”

But they didn’t stop there. Oli also changed up the way he worked, taking singing lessons, spending hours crafting perfect lyrical soundbites and even studying the science of “what makes a melody catchy”.

“The idea behind Sempiternal is that we wanted every song to have a different theme musically and lyrically,” says Oli. “And that whatever song you listen to, you should know what it’s about, at a certain level, straight away.”

And the results of Bring Me The Horizon’s new approach, and the hugely intense recording sessions at Angelic Studios in Banbury (“Whenever we took a break, I could tell it was killing Oli,” says Jordan, “He’d be itching to get back to work”) are splattered all over Sempiternal. An album of astonishing versatility, it ranges from the controlled menace of Seen It All Before to the naked aggression of Anti-Vist; from the bubbling electronica of Can You Feel My Heart? to the metallic attack of The House Of Wolves; from the irresistibly anthemic chorus of Shadow Moses to the uncompromising fury of Go To Hell.

Meanwhile, Oli’s newly-bolstered voice is a revelation, swooping from heartfelt croon to cathartic scream and all points in-between, while his lyrics grapple with both his own personal issues and wider concerns, from the attack on religion in The House Of Wolves (“I had stuff to deal with and there were a lot of people pushing me towards religion,” says Oli, “But I couldn’t stomach it”) to giving a verbal smackdown to keyboard warriors on Anti-Vist (“The whole internet generation drives me insane,” he says, “People think they’ve got a platform to spout any old shit”).

In short, Sempiternal is here to reclaim the word “epic” from the people who save you money on your car insurance. No wonder the band is already attracting unprecedented levels of buzz, not just from the hard rock enclaves where Bring Me The Horizon have long been superstars, but from the mainstream.

Already, since their return, they’ve proved their unique versatility by playing – and conquering – everything from a small Sheffield Leadmill show for hardcore fans to a headline slot at Vans Warped UK to a Maida Vale set for Radio 1’s Rock Week (quite a baptism of fire for new-boy Jordan).

Then, with broadsheets and music magazines alike electing BMTH as poster boys for the UK’s new wave of hard rock, Radio 1 premiered Shadow Moses on daytime radio, not once but twice, lighting up Twitter and providing a rallying point for the whole rock scene in the process. It was no one-off either: weeks later, Bring Me The Horizon are still staples of the playlist.

“What must builders be thinking when they listen?” ponders Lee. “It must be weird for people who never listen to that sort of music… It’s still weird for us!”

They’d better get used to it, because Lee, Oli, Jordan, bassist Matt Kean and drummer Matt Nicholls are poised to become THE rock success story of 2013. And Oli Sykes, for one, is ready for it.

“Everyone starts off listening to pop music but they get hungry for something a bit more exciting,” says Oli, who was converted to the rock cause as a teenager by Linkin Park. “A whole lot of people want that – there just hasn’t been a band that have done it for a while, there hasn’t been that band to get people into better music. I would love Bring Me The Horizon to be that band for this generation.”

 

 

Yonder Mountain String Band

Although the Yonder Mountain String Band was formed in Nederland, CO, its origins go back to Urbana, IL, where college student and banjo player Dave Johnston met mandolin player Jeff Austin. Austin moved west and settled in Nederland. Johnston joined him there, and the two met bass player Ben Kaufmann and guitarist Adam Aijala at a club called the Verve. In December 1998, they formed the Yonder Mountain String Band to open for a band at the Fox Theatre in Boulder. They developed a following among bluegrass fans and also among jam band fans as they played extensively and worked their way up the bar and club circuit in the West. In the fall of 1999, they released their debut album, Elevation, on their own Frog Pad Records label. By the fall of 2000, they were playing in larger venues, such as the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. They released a live recording as their second album, Mountain Tracks, Vol. 1, in the spring of 2001, and followed with another studio set, Town By Town, in the fall of 2001. A second live album, Mountain Tracks, Vol. 2, was released in 2002, again followed by a studio effort, Old Hands, in 2003. Mountain Tracks, Vol. 3, a double disc live set, appeared in 2004. In February 2006, Mountain Tracks, Vol. 4 was released. Three months later, Vanguard Records released a self-titled studio album by the group. The Yonder Mountain String Band returned to its own Frog Pad label for Mountain Tracks, Vol. 5, issued in April 2008. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi

Nonpoint

Nothing can stop Nonpoint.  The band continues to deliver unique, uncompromising, and undeniable hard rock. Weathering lineup changes, label shifts, and other trials and tribulations, founding members Elias Soriano [vocals] and Robb Rivera [drums] regrouped with fresh blood—Dave Lizzio [guitar], Adam Wolosyzn [bass], and Rasheed Thomas [guitar]—and captured pure fire this time around.  In addition, they remain one of the most consistent and incendiary live acts on the scene. Having shared the stage with everyone from Sevendust and Stone Sour to Papa Roach and Buckcherry as well as appearing at festivals such as OZZfest, each performance stands out as an experience their fan base fervently follows.  At the end of the day, Rivera wants to give back via the music. “We try to help people through our art,” he exclaims. “So many kids have connected to our songs over the years, and they’ve supported us unconditionally. We fought through so much, and we never gave up. I hope they get a positive message from this.  It doesn’t feel like we have some kind of goal. It feels like we have a purpose, which is to put out hopeful music. When this process started, a fuse got lit. We’re not stopping until it all burns.”  Nonpoint’s flame will only rise higher.

Amon Amarth with Enslaved, Skeletonwitch

Not many bands can claim their ninth album, Deceiver of the Gods, as the most powerful, dynamic, and downright aggressive of their career, but then Amon Amarth have consistently upped their game with every successive release. Having exploded onto the Swedish melodic death metal scene with Once Sent From The Golden Hall every album has arrived bursting at the seams with power, melody and immersive storytelling centered around the richness of Norse mythology. With 2013 marking Amon Amarth’s twenty-first year, as well as the fifteenth anniversary of their debut full-length, their longevity and reputation for releasing killer album after killer album places them on a similar trajectory to the likes of Slayer and Cannibal Corpse, which is rarified company to be in. Likewise, having seen many younger faces flocking to their shows alongside their longtime faithful, the band are enjoying themselves now as much as they ever have.

Falling in Reverse with Escape the Fate, Chelsea Grin

Falling in Reverse is an American post-hardcore band formed in 2006,  signed to Epitaph Records. The band is led by lead singer Ronnie Radke, along with guitarist Jacky Vincent, drummer Ryan Seaman, rhythm guitarist Derek Jones, and bassist Ron Ficarro.

They released their debut album, The Drug in Me Is You, on July 26, 2011, which peaked at number 19 on the Billboard 200, selling 18,000 copies in its first week of sales. “Raised by Wolves”, “The Drug in Me Is You“, “I’m Not a Vampire“, and “Good Girls, Bad Guys” were all released as singles to promote the album.

Their second studio album, Fashionably Late, was released on June 18, 2013, which peaked at number 17 on the Billboard 200. “Alone” and “Fashionably Late” were released as singles to promote the album. Ronnie (Lead vocalist) also has a solo rapping career.

In This Moment with Devour the Day, Butcher Babies

Change. Some people welcome it. Others resist it. Some seek it out. Others fear the unknown. Sometimes it happens beyond our control. Whatever one’s mindset, change is inevitable. The challenge comes with how we face it and deal with the consequences.

For vocalist Maria Brink and guitarist Chris Howorth, the duo at the heart of In This Moment, change came unexpectedly when they found themselves rebuilding the walls around their foundation. Stripped down to their essence, the core of In This Moment is on fire with their fourth album, aptly titledBlood.

“I knew that I wanted this album to bring out elements we’ve never shown before. This alluring, darker, sinful side of us that no one has ever seen,” says Brink. “We wanted to find something new within ourselves, and with this album, I’m definitely the boldest I’ve ever been. I’m not trying to push boundaries. It’s not a conscious thing. It’s a natural artistic place.”

Brink and Howorth began tracking Blood with producer Kevin Churko late last year at The Hideout Studio in Las Vegas, their 3rd with Churko at the helm. “In January [2012], we began writing and recording more songs,” says Howorth. “Kevin put no limits or restrictions on us. There was no setting the clock this time. He just wanted us to record until the songs were the best they could be.”

The powerful title track, “Blood,” was the first one written for the album and it’s one of Howorth’s favorites. “It really set the tone for the whole record and kicked a bunch of doors down,” he says. “I think it’s a really unique song that doesn’t sound like anything I’ve heard before, and I’m really proud of that. My other fave is “Hello.” I like it because it’s so heavy and melodic at the same time. Crushing riffs and huge choruses never get old to me. This song is In This Moment 101. Our fans will love it.”

In This Moment began in Los Angeles in 2005, when Brink and Howorth met at an open jam. Their debut album, Beautiful Tragedy, landed the band on the 2007 and 2008 editions of Ozzfest. Their first collaboration with Kevin Churko came with the release of 2008’s The Dream – earning them a slot on the 2009 Warped Tour.  Their third album, A Star-Crossed Wasteland (2010) was their highest-charting album.

Time on the road was both educational and inspirational in the making of Blood, says Brink. “Watching all those bands helped me let go of my fear, following my art and not worrying about ‘Is this too much?’ or ‘Am I pushing too far?’ or ‘Are people going to judge me?’ I’m going to do what I do in my moment to create, and people are either going to love it or not. There will always be people who don’t get it. You’ve got to do it for yourself and create your own path. This album is the most fearless I’ve ever felt making music.”

Working as a duo to write and record the new album brought Brink and Howorth even closer. “Maria and I are amazing friends and business partners,” says Howorth. “We created this band, we trust each other and we’re like family. We’re very protective about In This Moment. It’s very sacred. The trials and tribulations made us more resolved to make things happen.”

With the release of Blood, In This Moment is geared for the next level — as musicians, songwriters and performers. “I want the band to become widespread,” says Brink, “and that doesn’t mean selling out. If you change who you are to become part of another world, then your art is cut short and you jeopardize what you believe in. We’re not doing that. Our music is for us first, we write it for us, we’re doing our own special thing that you can only identify with us. We can do that and still be connected, still love the underground world, and tap into new crowds and people who can understand  the music. We love what we’re doing and are ready to have more people know about us.”

Savoy with Dotexe

Born in Boulder, CO and based in Brooklyn, NY; SAVOY is a live electronic music hybrid consisting of DJs Ben Eberdt, Gray Smith and drummer Mike Kelly. The SAVOY experience can be described as a high energy dance party and laser spectacular that has been referred to as “mind blowing” on multiple occasions. With the combination of a inimitable live show and original repertoire, SAVOY has climbed their way up to national notoriety as well as established themselves as not only purveyor of one of the best parties around, but as world class song writers and producers.Club hits, blog dominating remixes, and arena rock-ing swagger; SAVOY is bridging the gap from the dance world to the mainstream. Think Daft Punk meets Metallica and give it a bottle of gin and you got SAVOY…In 2012, SAVOY continues to rock mainstream festivals, live venues, nightclubs and arenas around the world while they produce with and for many high profile artists. Following a triumphant sold-out performance at the Fillmore Auditorium this past November, Savoy are poised to deliver another unforgettable night in their first headline gig at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheater.

Supercat “The Wild Apache” aka Don Dadda

Pioneer Reggae music artist, SuperCat, is a deejay who achieved widespread  popularity during the 1980’s and early 1990’s DanceHall movement.  His nickname “The Wild Apache” was given to him by his mentor Early B.  he is the elder brother of Reggae artist “Junior Cat”.

Music By: Waggy Tee, Supa Sound, & More

Men 21+

Ladies 18+

Edon

Edon is a 15-year-old student and singer/songwriter. He has played piano since he was nine years old and has been singing even longer. After growing a fan base through his YouTube covers of Top 40 songs, Edon recently completed a successful run on the NBC show “America’s Got Talent”, where he reached the finals out of thousands of auditioning contestants. Sharon Osbourne observed that Edon reminds her of a young Billy Joel. Edon has received favorable tweets from artists whose covers he’s performed, including Andy Grammer and Sara Bareilles, and was featured in a fan appreciation video created by The Plain White T’s. He has performed at the JUF General Assembly, and recently has completed concerts across the country. The Chicago Sun-Times has said that “the young crooner gains more fame and fans with each performance.” And the Chicago Tribune writes that Edon’s talent “as he sings and plays the piano often blows audiences away.”

Revolution Live Presents Blackberry Smoke – Fire In The Hole Tour 2014

The members of Southern Rock quintet Blackberry Smoke are no strangers to hard work. Playing up to 250 dates each year, the guys are on the road more often than not, and they’ve seen tangible results of their labor. The band has toured with and befriended idols such as The Marshall Tucker Band, ZZ Top (with Billy Gibbons jamming with the band on a Florida stop), Lynyrd Skynyrd and George Jones. The band was even asked to play for Jones on his 80th birthday, not long after the country legend turned in a guest appearance on the band’s sophomore album. They’ve toured Europe thrice over, and had their songs featured in video games (EA Sports’ NASCAR 08) and films (Swing Vote), as well.

Mixing elements of gospel, bluegrass, arena rock, soul and more than a touch of outlaw country, Blackberry Smoke has earned a passionate fanbase that continues to grow as the band itself evolves. The band is as blue collar as the bandanas its members wear.

“Our fanbase is as organic as you can get,” says drummer Brit Turner. “Each fan has been won by live performance or good old word of mouth.”

In a little more than a decade together, Blackberry Smoke has released three full-length albums—including 2012’s The Whippoorwill, the band’s first for country megastar Zac Brown’s Southern Ground label—two EPs and a live DVD, Live at the Georgia Theatre, which serves as the perfect showcase for the band’s raucous, rockin’ good-times-for-all take on rock ’n’ roll. A chunk of the DVD’s concert footage has aired numerous times on Palladia, and the band also shot a DirecTV concert that has aired countless times.

Brit, along with singer and guitarist Charlie Starr, bassist and vocalist Richard Turner, guitarist and vocalist Paul Jackson and keyboardist Brandon Still, have slugged it out on the road for more than a decade, but now regularly sell out headline appearances across the country and overseas. The band’s audience, Brit says, feels like more than fans, which is appropriate given that their families are their biggest supporters. (A word to the wise: hitting on the pretty ladies in the front row might get you decked.)

Though these road dogs rarely have downtime, they recently managed to carve out enough time to record their newest batch of songs for The Whippoorwill, an album that serves as a platform for smart, battle-tested songwriting and for the band’s ability to leave audiences breathless.

Despite the additional resources at its fingertips, the band decided that The Whippoorwill would be largely an in-house affair—its own songs, done its own way. Consequently, the band is more excited for this album’s release than any effort thus far.

“I remember not being able to sleep well at night when we were making this new album,” Charlie recalls. “I was so excited about which songs we were going to cut the next day. After it’s done and we can hold it in our hands and be proud of it we know that there’s another one that will have to be made in the not too distant future, but it feels really good to have this one finished; we’re all really proud of it.”

With Zac Brown and the entire Southern Ground team behind them, Charlie and the boys are experiencing all the benefits of life on a larger label. For an already busy band, business is booming.

“The only time we stop or take any time off is when someone’s wife has a baby,” Charlie adds, chuckling. “So, we’ve had to come up with a fictitious band member whose fictitious wife is having a fictitious baby.”

Yet even though they have a wealth of experience under their belts, with the release of The Whippoorwill, the guys find themselves in uncharted territory.

“We’ve never done an album and actually planned a tour around it,” Charlie confesses. “It’s always been ‘tour constantly and whenever the album is done, it comes out.’ It’s a new thing for us to actually plan this far ahead.”

And while the recording process for The Whippoorwill might have afforded the band a few additional luxuries—“It was strange being able to go into a nice recording studio without having to not pay ourselves for awhile to get the money to do it,” Brit says—the band still found itself backs against the wall. Fortunately, that’s exactly where Blackberry Smoke seems to thrive.

“For all the planning ahead, we still had to get it done in four-and-a-half days, so it’s not like we had time to stretch out and find the most comfortable chair in the studio,” Charlie says. “In a perfect world, I’d like to take a little bit more time to record, but it’s not possible until they add more hours in the day and more days in the week. We’re used to doing it that way anyway.”

Regardless of whatever pressures the band might have been under while the red light was on in the studio, that stress isn’t evident on any of The Whippoorwill’s 13 tracks. For example, album opener, “Six Ways to Sunday,” is a footstomping tune that mirrors the song’s carefree attitude, and could be mistaken for an old Motown track at times. At the same time, the title track has the effortless blues approach of ’70s-era Pink Floyd, but with more grease. Nothing feels forced.

Indeed, the band’s history together gives them a natural chemistry when writing the songs that could easily find a home with a diverse set of audiences.

Straddling the line between paying homage to one’s heroes and blatant theft is a tricky business, but it’s a divide that the members of Blackberry Smoke traverse with ease. The band invites a few comparisons to the hallowed forefathers of Skynyrd, but don’t expect to hear the same worn out clichés in their songs that every other band with country, pop or rock leanings have already espoused.

“We’re not in the business of writing the same song over and over and over,” Charlie says bluntly.

Speaking of “over and over,” at many points it would have been easy for these blue-collar musicians to get tired of bashing out song after song in distant dives and hang it up, get straight jobs and rock out as weekend warriors—if at all. But despite some lean years, they kept building an audience and keeping up with wives, children and girlfriends from long distances. So what’s kept them so passionate?

As Brit Turner emphasizes, it’s not necessarily dreams of stardom. It’s simply the love of the game. “We love it or we wouldn’t do it.”