In the meantime, let’s take a look at this week’s shows. Since I’m a little pressed for time I’ll try to mention as many shows as I can and we’ll get back to detailed analysis next week. Okay here we go!

This week Tremont Music Hall had David Allan Coe but had to postpone it till November. So this weekend they have Deas Vail and Amy Broome on Friday the 1oth and Matt Hires, Wakey Wakey and Brandon Kirkley & The Firecrackers on Saturday September 11th. Both these shows are all ages. Check out Tremont Music Hall’s website for times and prices.

This week at the Milestone Club, they are probably still hung over from the Gun Club Weekend / Appalucia Fest this past weekend but will get no time to recover as they will host the Houstons w/ Sin Ropas and Father Murphy on Thursday the 9th, Valient Thorr brings their trippy/ metal/ cosmic sound to the Ghetto Fortress on Friday the 10th along with Junius, Howl and 2013 Wolves. One of my former label mates Harvey Milk return to the Milestone on Saturday the 11th along with Grids and Hex Machine. All of the above shows are 18+. Check out the Milestone Club website for more details.

Over at Snug Harbor you’ll be able to check out Andre Williams & The Goldstars w/ the Troublewalkers on Saturday September 11th and Dexter Romweber Duo w/ Temperance League on Sunday the 12th. Btw, has anyone noticed Snug Harbor has a new website? It’s built using tumblr and contains a ton of videos of upcoming artist!

I would like to mention that Amos Southend will be hosting Woofstock on Saturday September 11th. This is the second annual Woofstock and is presented by the Great Dane Friends of Ruff Love and Blue Ridge Boxer Rescue. This is an excellent event featuring all kinds of fun people and animal related activities so bring your dog and come on out to the event. If you don’t have a dog, come out anyway and look at some of the wonderful dogs that I’m sure will be up for adoption. I love boxers and great danes and think this is a great cause so go by and check it out! It runs from 11am till 4pm and features fun for the whole family!

Sunday night brings the one and only Public Enemy to Amos Southend w/ Fucked Up, The Banned and Crew Grrl Order. Say what you want about Flavor Flav selling out to the highest bidder but Chuck D has never backed down from his never ending fight against ignorance and hatred and the bad part is that anthems like “Fight the Power” and “Bring the Noise” are just as relevant now as they were then. And that’s sad when you think about it…. In any case, if you can afford the steep ticket price ($35) go check out some hip hop pioneers that are still going strong!

Btw, for all you indie fans out there, The Pixies are playing Ovens Auditorium tonight, September 9th,  and it promises to be a great show filled with rarities and b-sides! If you’re going send me a review! It should be an awesome show!

Also for those who don’t know, tickets go on sale this Friday for NOFX and the Bouncing Souls at the Fillmore in Charlotte, NC! This show is scheduled for February 4th, which happens to be a Friday night! Tickets are $25 plus surcharges. This is gonna be one huge party!! I’m already stoked and it’s still several months away!

Anyway, that’s all for this week! I’ll be back next week with more previews of shows!! Come hang out with us on September 16th at Tremont Music Hall! We’ll see you then!

Thanks for the support!

Ryan Dead

This Monday September 6th the Milestone is open for Labor Day with Harptallica, All Girl Boys Choir and KP Soloman5000. You may ask “what’s Harptallica?” The answer is simple it’s two girls playing Metallica on harps. I really can’t describe it any better than that. And as weird as it may seem to you, it actually works. It’s amazing to me how Metallica doesn’t sound unusual as an arrangement for harp. It ends up sounding like any other classical harp arrangement, which is a testament to the composing of the early Metallica stuff. ( Master of Puppets, Ride The Lightning..) In any case it’s cool way to end the Labor Day weekend. Also on the show is All Girl Boys Choir featuring ex Gore Gore Girls/ Kelly Osbourne Band/ Lillux and the wonderful soulful, stylings of KP Soloman 5000, also of 25 Minutes to Go. So if you’re looking for a good way to unwind after a long holiday weekend come to the Milestone and chill out to the tranquil sounds of Master of Puppets(??). Doors are at 8pm and admission is $8.00 for over 21 and $10 for under 21.

Mr. Invisible are a trio of MCs/Producers/DJs that have been performing locally, in various forms, for over ten years with their own brand of progressive hip hop, securing an endorsement deal through a major electronic instrument company, touring with DJ Vadim and releasing two disks of material along the way.  I hit up Justin Aswell from the group, and we discussed their influences, method of writing and the upcoming release they are working on.

How young were you when you first started becoming interested in playing music?
For all of us it started off early.  Personally, I’ve been studying privately since about 10.  Marley and I took lessons growing up as kids.  Blake and I have been making music together for over a decade.

Were you initially drawn to percussion, or is that something that just occurred later on?
Percussion was definitely the first.  I used to go to my brother’s marching band rehearsals and kick it with the drumline.  My first goal in music was to become drum captain.

You teach drums, right?  Tell us about that.

Yeah, I’ve been teaching drumlines and private students for roughly 8 years now.  Mostly marching band kids and high\school seniors getting ready for the college shift.  It’s dope and really ironic.  I’ve learned a shit ton from teaching.  I’m actually starting to look for avenues teaching production, djing and rhyming.

You guys have secured an endorsement deal with Native Instruments, how did they contact you and what has that meant for you guys?

They hit us up on our YouTube channel due to it’s content and view count.  Our YouTube page was already doing really well on it’s own but now things are really picking up.  Since the first Native Instrument videos have been up we’ve already had an increase in music and merch sales.  More importantly for us though, our fans have really been spreading the word and pushing our name.  With their help Mr. Invisible is becoming viral.

I would naturally assume hip hop is the main form of music you listen to, what other styles do you really get into?
Honestly, I don’t know what the main form of music I listen to would be.  Hip-hop is definitely a top candidate but I equally listen to metal, ambient and for a lack of a better term “world music” on my iPod.  But you gotta keep in mind I spend more time listening to vinyl than my iPod.  The genres I listen to are very broad when it comes to records.  I mean for example I’ll go through a crate I’m going through now.  So far in this crate I’ve listened to Jimmy Smith, Frank Zappa, Herbie Mann, Edgard Varese, Jan Hammer Group, Dreams and Hugh Masekela to name a few.

How does that sort of stuff affect the output you have with Mr. Invisible?
Wow, that’s a huge question for us.  Things like ambient and world music have ironically changed the lyrical content.  I think that’s because it allows us to really look into what ideas and concepts really impact us.  When we listen to vinyl it’s a huge inspiration to the beats even if it’s something we’re not sampling.  The musicianship and musical ideas those players have are just so more rich in feeling than most music today.  Listening to hip-hop is more about perfecting the craft as a whole.  I listen to somebody like Rakim or Pharaoh Monch and I’m taking notes, you know what I mean?  Ill and I will listen to an Organized Konfusion track and literally break down all the rhythms and rhyme schemes.  Now with metal and 20th century classical, we’re incorporating the technicality like polyrhythms, metric modulations, and more brainy musical ideas into to Mr. I’s sound.  Damn, that was wordy as hell!

What are some hip hop groups that inspired you early on?  Are there many current hip hop artists you are feeling?

Early on it was crews and labels like Native Tongues, Rawkus Records and Project Blowed just to name a few.  Then later we were spending more time digging further back into the “fast rap” era like Rakim, Kool G Rap and Big Daddy Kane type shit.  As for current hip hop?  Shit, I’m honestly just listening to Queen City Hip-hop.  Cats like Ike Turnah and JJ Bass are really making music I enjoy more than most “big name” groups.  Do research.

I’ve listened to the EP and Until Then quite a bit.  The EP is great, but has the feeling of a big single, a collection of dope songs.  The album comes across as much more thematic and almost narrative, with songs flowing together really well.  Was there a concept you had when making Until Then?

The whole concept of Until Then started when we recognized we were hitting a new plato in our writing.  We had a whole batch of music that we’d recorded over a 3 year span that seemed like it wasn’t going to “fit” into the new music we were making.  To find our sound we’d been experimenting in making more classic hip hop and also more instrumental soundscapes.  When we put it all together we realized that it felt like an album.  Instead of wasting all of that material we decided to give the fans this record “Until Then”.  We also thought it would help people see how the new sound is more of a cohesive combination of the blast sound of the EP and the classic hip hop/downtempo of Until Then.  Right now, they might all seem like totally different styles but by the next record it will all make sense… Hopefully, haha.

Can you tell us about your process for digging?
Research, practice and review.  Researching the genres we think create the Mr. I sound like funk, 20th century classical, prog rock and of course classic breaks.  We’ll do things like read liner notes, find articles on musicians and even things as basic as watching YouTube videos.  We practice by putting in the time in the record stores digging through vinyl and learning how dope music looks.  Eventually, you can tell just by the artwork if a record is ECM, Bluenote or Black Jazz (Dope labels, in case you were wondering!).  After that, we go through everything we purchase again and catalog it all.  During that time, we review what we have and really get a handle on the pieces of the puzzle.  It’s kinda like we’re organizing all the colors on the palate before we start painting.

I know you guys normally sample strictly from vinyl, are there other “rules” you guys lay out for yourselves?
Well, first off, we don’t strictly sample.  I’d say it’s about 90%-95% samples but we also use some drum machines and keyboards to embellish when the times right.  I guess we do have loose rules for sampling though.  More so me than Ill-use.  I won’t sample anything that was released after I was born and we rarely sample any well known artist.  Some people use nothing but shit like Billy Joel or Parliament, but not us.  I mean, there’s no harm it if you use it sparingly but I’d rather use something deeper in the vaults.

Are you going to include your routines on an album at any point?
Oh definitely!  Our next album is actually looking like its going to be an Audio/Video release.  So everything you’re hearing on the CD will also be on the DVD.  It’s gonna be basically an album of routines and music videos with some random visual stimulation here and there.  We’re really stoked on the idea and we’re already building up content.  Should be a interesting endeavor!

You can find out more about Mr. Invisible’s music and upcoming events at their official website, http://www.mrinvisible.net

Over at the Tremont Music Hall they are starting the holiday weekend early on Thursday September 2nd with LA, California’s Autolux, with Gold Panda and Cement Stars. Autolux seem to specialize in building an incredible wall of sound. Some songs drift on like ambient waves of sound in the middle of an ocean of tranquility while in other songs the waves crash into the shore with a spectacular effect. Heady stuff indeed! Gold Panda I’m not so sure about. It’s all manipulated riffs and beats and loops and it’s extremely trippy. I think this is how the rave sounds when you’re on a ton of drugs. Charlotte’s Cement Stars are more to my taste with some nice 80’s sounding synth, smooth harmonies and breathy lyrics. Honestly at times these guys remind me of the Petshop Boys and maybe straying as far modern as Radiohead. Should be a great atmospheric show to chill out to after a long week. Doors are at 8pm and admission is $10 in advance and $12 at the door with a $3 surcharge for under 21. Plus it’s an all ages show!

Friday September 3rd at Tremont Music Hall they host F-Dux with Edifide, Ghost Unknown, Hoodlumz and The East Derrelycs. East Detroit’s F-Dux honestly seems like a white DMX to me. Lyrics of murder and mayhem aren’t my cup of tea but he pulls it off well with some great production. Charlotte’s own Edifide seem like the odd man out on this bill. These guys appear to have taken a different path and actually apologize for obscenities on their previous releases, vowing to try to keep obscene subject matter and language off their newer stuff. I have to give it up, I really dig their flow and beats, and I have to give props to them for trying to be positive role models. Ghost Unknown, also from Charlotte, is a little farther out there lyrically and I’m not sure I totally dig it but it’s not bad. Also of interest is Hoodlumz who surprised me by being from Mooresville, NC. That’s right Racetown U.S.A., and I mean that in a Nascar type way. Hoodlumz are two white guys and a white girl who could use a little better production on their recordings but it will be interesting to see what they develop into. As it stands all I heard on the myspace was short clips of each of them spitting a verse individually, but they do get props for sampling Whitesnake’s “Still of the Night”! Also playing are the East Derrelycs, which I didn’t find a link for on the Tremont site so I apologize for not talking more about them. Doors are at 8pm and admission is $7 bucks plus a $3 surcharge if you are under 21. This show is also all ages.

This Friday September 3rd Snug Harbor host Lamb Handler w/ the Matt Kurtz One and Zoe Vette & The Revolvers. Lamb Handler are one of my favorites on the local scene, playing a smooth rock and roll sound that has recently been sprinkled with elements of country. Don’t let the jangle fool you, these guys are still the shepherd’s of rock in Charlotte! Also on the bill is the indescribable Matt Kurtz One. Imagine someone kicking out the jams like the MC5, but only having one member in the band. That’s right, one man to play drums, guitar, bass, keyboard and vocals, and he pulls it off rather well. I was really jamming off the videos on his myspace, you should definitely check it out. Also on the show is femme fatale Zoe Vette & The Revolvers, with a grrrlll power message and flaming crotches, what’s not to love. This will definitely be a hard rocking show and a really good time at Snug Harbor.

Thurday September 2nd the Milestone Club welcomes Greg Ginn and Gary Piazza with  Buck Mountain Stranglers and  Great Architect. In case you live under a rock Greg Ginn is the legendary guitarist for Black Flag and still records on SST records. The band nowadays plays country-ish instrumentals and is pretty out there. Still it’s a chance to check out a man who was a pioneer of American punk. Opening on this show will be handled by the hilarious Buck Mountain Stranglers and Great Architect.

The rest of the weekend at the Milestone Club who is a big 3-day festival the entire weekend. It’s the Appalucia Gun Club Weekend aka Lolappalucia, aka Buck Boswell Fest or “My Cold Dead Hands” fest. Whatever you want to call it, it’s going on all weekend at the Ghetto Fortress. It starts with a bang (pardon the pun) on Friday night September 3rd with 2013 Wolves, Hectagons, The Overmountain Men and Leadville Social Club. Saturday the 14th things definitely take a wilder turn with Gore Gore Luchadores, PPR, Appalucia, IED and Nesh. Sunday night the whole thing goes into overdrive with Andy the Doorbum, Babyshaker, 25 Minutes to Go, The Bout It Boyz and For Disaster. Whew! That’s a ton of bands on a holiday weekend. I think you should get a medal for going to all three nights of it and surviving. But at least you have Monday off…. Doors are at 8pm all 3 nights and admission is $8 for over 21 and $10 f0r under on Friday night and $6 for over 21 and $8 for under on the other two nights. And no there is no package deal to get admission to all three nights. Now that’s a show where you get more bang for your buck! Or is it more Buck for your buck! Just picking Buck!! Sorry couldn’t resist the pun!

Well that’s it for this week! You guys have a safe and happy Labor Day weekend and we’ll see you next week!

Thanks for the support!

Ryan Dead

If you are looking for an introduction to what is going on with Charlotte hip hop, Quantum Foundry’s debut LP is not a bad place to start.   If you’re interested in copping the free EP they have available, you can find it at http://www.myspace.com/quantumfoundry and hopefully you’ll be able to cop the album at a show when they return from their hiatus this October.

First off the Milestone Club will have a homecoming of a Charlotte fave tonight Wednesday August 25th when they welcome Wet Mango, Perfo, Human Pippi Armstong, Ovenrake and Rainbow Dragoneyes. Wet Mango features Christina Fuentes who was last known in Charlotte as Sonic Death Rabbit. This is her first Charlotte show since moving back to the left coast and she will be back with her signature Gameboy meets bass in yo’ face sound. It’s kinda techno, it’s kinda videogamish, it’s kinda indescribable, but considering all the attention that has been popping up with underground hip hop performers using nintendo sounds and in some cases even playing nintendos I will lay one more title on Christina and that’s pioneer. She’s been rocking the gameboy sound for a long time as Sonic Death Rabbit and now carries on the tradition as The Wet Mango. Also on the bill are Salisbury NC/ Chicago Ill garage rock band Perfo, casio keyboard enthusiasts and all around strange dude Human Pippi Armstrong and The Wet Mangos tourmates, Ovenrake. Ovenrake also uses gameboys and other sound chips to carve out bass heavy, unusual music. Lastly on the bill is Rainbow Dragoneyes, who also finds another way to take advantage of a nintendo sound chip. This is being billed as the Trans-American Chip tour, come check it out and be enlightened to a form of music that’s sure to blow your mind! Doors are at 8:00pm and admission is $6 for over 21 and $8 for under 21. 18+ only please.

The Milestone Club will also be the sight of the final show for The Lights Fluorescent, this Saturday August 28th. It’s been quite sometime since TLF came on the scene and slowly took it by storm. Rarely has a band erupted onto the scene in such a way as to capture not only the hearts of the critics, but the fans as well. Whether you liked them for the songwriting, or the wonderfully layered music or for their incredible live performances you have to admit one thing, this guys could do it all. I thought for sure that one day I would be writing about how cool it was to have an awesome indie/ rock band from Charlotte that made it onto the major, wiping away the “hometown of Firehouse” label that Charlotte has been stuck with. Hell even the Evett’s list Concord as their hometown. Anyway sadly, it wasn’t to be and now we must bid farewell to a truly great Charlotte band. This Saturday the light goes out, but hopefully only until someone else flips the switch.. Also on the show that night are a great assortment of Charlotte indie/ garage rock bands including Hammer No More the Fingers, Junior Astronomers, The Lesser Pauls and Perry Fowler. Make it out and come early, it’s gonna be packed. Doors are at 8pm and admission is $6 for over 21, $8 for under 21. 18+ only please!

Meanwhile over at Tremont Music Hall the media is all in a frenzy over the impending arrival of You Hang Up. Their show is Thursday August 26th and you may ask, “what is all the fuss over these guys?” To that regard I have one word for you…. Malcolm. As in, “Malcolm in the Middle“. That’s right Malcolm in the Middle star Frankie Muniz plays drums for You Hang Up. With all the media blitz that Frankie brings to the band you have to wonder, “Are they any good?” Well I’ll put it this way, it’s not exactly my cup o’ tea but it sounds as good as any other music I hear in the “modern rock” genre. The songs are passable, angsty but not dangerous and it’s all polished up nicely. So show up for the novelty and stay to hear stuff that 106.5 should be eating up, if they weren’t stuck in the 90’s… Opening are The Decour and Matchgrip. Doors are at 7:00pm and admission is $12 in advance and $15 DOS with an additional $3 surcharge for under 21. Oh yeah, and it’s all ages.

This Saturday August 28th Tremont Music Hall is hosting the Flat Tires with special guests Mad Brother Ward & The Dividers and Asound. If you remember back to the start of the year we had The Flat Tires and Mad Brother Ward on the first Stillnotdead show of the year and it was a blast! This time they are back and they’re not taking any prisoners! The Flat Tires are a relentless rockabilly/ psychobilly band that currently hails from Hickory, NC and have a great time blasting tunes down their audience’s throat. I don’t think you’ll find a rowdier rockabilly band in existence, hell they even encourage their own audience to hurl beer cans at them! Also no stranger to controversy is Mad Brother Ward,who will be backed by his band the Divders. This guy has been a staple on the local scene since early in the 80’s, appear and disappearing with equal skill. Still for all of his crankiness you’ll be hard pressed to find better straight up punk rock than Mad Brother Ward & The Dividers. Not only will they not worry about hurting your feelings, they scream in your face with an obnoxiousness rarely accomplished by so many punk bands nowadays. In an age where it’s cool to seem “defiant and snotty” as an image,  MBW are the real deal. Any local punks wanting lessons on how it’s done should report to Tremont this Saturday because Ward is definitely a punk rock icon and school will be in full session Saturday night. Opening are Connelly Springs NC band the Asound, who owe a huge tribute to bands such as Black Sabbath and Blue Cheer, in other words loud and sludgy! Doors are at 8:00pm and admission is $6 plus an additional $3 surcharge for under 21.

Well that’s it for this edition. We’ll have more next week with our special Laborday weekend edition! Also look out later this week we’ll start posting the videos from Punk Rock Picnic 3! See you at the shows!!

Thanks for the support!

Ryan Dead

First off, over at the Tremont Music Hall the place will be rocking Saturday night, August 21st as Stillnotdead.com is proud to present the Overmountain Men with special guests Appalucia and Jeremiah & the Howling Owls. The Overmountain Men are of course led by the awesome songwriting of David Childers and features some really ace musicians including Geoff White, Robert Childers, Randy Saxon and Bill Noonan. The expertise onstage will become evident as they proceed to crank out a show guaranteed to blow you away. Appalucia in the meantime are regulars to the Country Tuesday crowd and play some authentic, mountain man/ hillbilly music. Columbia SC band Jeremiah & The Howling Owls were added to the show just recently due to Temperance League being unable to play. This is a big break for those guys, who already have a reputation as an outstanding live band. This should be tons of fun and a great night of Americana/ Roots/ Country music. Doors are at 8:00pm and admission is $8 in advance and $10 DOS with a $3 surcharge for under 21.

Over at the Milestone Club on Friday August 20th is a show that we will most definitely not see Creative Loafing at.. You see the Milestone Club welcomes the 201o Coney Island Cockabilly Roadshow. What is that you ask? Honestly I’m not completely sure myself. I do know it will feature Jelly Boy the Clown and the Squidling Bros. Sideshow, Jason and the Punknecks, Guitar Bomb, Viva Le Vox, Charlotte’s own Hick’ry Hawkins, The Holyroller Sideshow and Selia D’Katzmeow Carmichael. What that equals I have no idea other than it’s gonna be a night of bizarre sideshow acts and music that seems to have a trashy twinge to it. I’m sure there is one thing it won’t be and that’s boring, which pretty much means it won’t be in CL. Doors are at 8pm and admission is $10 for over 21 or $12 for under 21.

This Saturday August 21st I also want to mention that longtime Charlotte duo The Battle Beast are having their cd release party at Snug Harbor, the powerful two man (beast?) band will be joined by openers Stronghold Crusader and IED, who just rocked the house at the Punk Rock Picnic! This will be a great night of hard hitting performance art and music. Battle Beast have long been a main stay in the subculture of two man bands we seem to have a ton of here in Charlotte and what sets them apart from their colleagues is the amount of art they sneak into their rhythmic attack. Mood lighting and bizarre mask have been main stays at past shows so one has to wonder what new plan of assault the band will have for their cd release party. Only way to find out is to show up!

Well that’s it for this edition. Don’t forget about the Charlotte Zombie Walk this coming Friday that I mentioned in the previous article. Until next week, take care and we’ll see you out at the shows!

Thanks for the support,

Ryan Dead

Also you don’t have to be dressed as a Zombie to attend, there will be expert makeup artist on hand to zombify you once you get there! It should be a blast, especially to watch people react to the “Zombies” walking around downtown. Badger told me a story of one year they encountered a gospel choir at the corner of Trade and Tryon and from what he said hilarity ensued. This year it should be quite a spectacle indeed as they have almost 200 Zombie participants confirmed. Come, give blood and have a bloody, great time for charity!!

You can check out their myspace page by clicking the image to the left and check out Badger’s Haunt Consulting and everything else he has going on at www.rabidbadger.biz !