Ticker: News Bits from Charleston’s Music Scene
More Big Concerts at the Charleston Music Hall
The Charleston Music Hall (37 John St.) has a busy winter schedule on the horizon. Comedian Wyatt Cenac (of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart) is set for a performance on Wed. Jan. 16 as part of the annual Charleston Comedy Festival. Indie songsmith Jeff Mangum (of Neutral Milk Hotel fame) is solid for Tues. Jan. 29. The massive Holy City Pop showcase on Sat. Feb. 2 will feature the Explorer’s Club, Slow Runner, Luke Cunningham Band, and guests.
This week, the Charleston Music Hall announced a two more big shows featuring Charleston bands. Local groove-rock/roots ensemble Sol Driven Train will celebrate the release of a new studio album at the venue on Fri. Feb. 22. Charleston-based country/Americana duo Shovels and Rope will perform on Sat. March 2 at 7 p.m.
Sol Driven Train (provided)
Sol Driven Train — singer/guitarist Joel Timmons, sax player/singer Russell Clarke, singer/guitarist/trombonist Ward Buckheister, bassist Rusty Cole, and drummer Wes Powers — recorded their new 10-song collection Underdog at Charleston Sound earlier in 2012. The band welcomed local musicians Danielle Howle (vocals), Ross Bogan (organ and piano), Cameron Harder-Handel (trumpet). Noodle McDoodle (ukulele), and Davis Buckheister (tuba) to the sessions. Charleston-based singer Elise Testone, an American Idol 2012 finalist, made a guest appearance on the album as well.
Shovels and Rope, comprised of multi-instrumentalists and vocalists Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent, spent much of 2012 on the road traveling to across the U.S. in support of an echo-y, harmony-laden, self-produced studio album titled O’ Be Joyful. The disc landed on numerous “best-of-the-year” lists. A rockumentary film titled The Ballad of Shovels and Rope by the Moving Picture Boys is due early this year.
Advance tickets for all of the Charleston Music Hall concerts are on sale at the Charleston Music Hall Box Office, by phone at (800) 514-3849, or online at charlestonmusichall.com.
Wintertide Acoustic Series on the Isle of Palms
Popular Isle of Palms restaurant and creekside music venue Morgan Creek Grill (80 41st Ave.) launches its annual Wintertide Acoustic Series this week under the direction of the venue’s talent buyer and house player Rene Russell. Things kick off on Fri. Jan. 4 from 7-10 p.m. with performances by local songwriters Travis Allison and Laura Thurston. The weekly series will continue through the month. Russell, Chris Boone, and Shawn Hagan will play a “songwriter-in-the-round” set on Fri. Jan. 11. Danielle Howle and Caroline Aiken will share the stage on Fri. Jan. 18. Jason Connelly, Forrest Baldwin, and the Cordovans Duo will swap tunes and harmonies on Fri. Jan. 25. Admission is $5. Visit Visit morgancreekgrill.com for more.
Battle of the Bands at the Music Farm
Presented by College of Charleston local indie label King City Records, the College of Charleston Battle of the Bands is solid at the Music Farm on Sat. Jan. 12 at 8 p.m. The event will showcase five independent Carolina acts, including songwriter Tom Mackell, Boone, N.C.-based rock quintet Donnie Dies, local pop-rock band Stop Light Observations, bluesy alt-rock singer/guitarist Tyler Boone (of King City) and his combo, and local reggae -rock band South Street.
A panel of judges includes promoter/manager Joel Frank (of Y’all Entertainment), promoter/manager Ben Bounds (of Follywood Productions, Y’all Entertainment), freelance music writer Devin Grant (The Post and Courier, Charleston Grit), blogger/musician Tim Brennan (Charleston Grit), editor/producer Becca Finley (The Music Initiative, Balcony TV), indie label exec, educator Heather McDonald (1770 Records), and music event organizer and promoter Eddie White (Awendaw Green). The judges will score each band’s set to determine the winner.
The music starts at 9 p.m. Admission is $5. Proceeds will benefit the American Cancer Society for cancer research. Visit the Facebook event page and kingcityrecords.com for more details.
Please Kill Me‘s Leg’s McNeil and Gillian McCain at the Tin Roof
Veteran music critic and author Legs McNeil (of Punk, Spin, and Nerve fame) will visit Charleston this month for a special reading of his 1997 book Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk. McNeil and and his co-author Gillian McCain (the Program Coordinator for the Poetry Project at St. Marks Church in New York City) will conduct a meet-and-greet and read passages from the book and other writings at the Tin Roof at 7:30 p.m. on Mon. Jan. 28.
Please Kill Me traces the history of punk rock in America and the U.K. — from the Warhol era and the impact the Stooges other early ’70s acts through the heyday of CBGBs (the Ramones, Richard Hell, Television, etc.) and beyond. McNeil and McCain were on the scene back in the day, and they’ve followed the effects and unexpected twists in rock and pop music since the initial punk explosion ever since.
Tin Roof bartender and punk aficionado Johnny Puke is super-excited about the event. So is Metronome Charleston. Check out pleasekillme.squarespace.com for info on the authors and their works, and visit reverbnation.com/venue/tinroofwashley for more.
Old You Finishing New Full-Length at Truphonic
Busy Charleston groove-rock quartet Old You — lead singer/guitarist Young-Mi Feldsott, drummer John Pope, bassist Paul San Luis, and lead guitarist Caleb Bodtorf — are currently working on the final tracks and mixes of a new studio album at Truphonic Recording in West Ashley with acclaimed local engineer Majeed “MJ” Fick at the helm.
“We are working on 15 tunes,” says Bodtorf. “Whether or not they all make the cut is still up in the air. We’re still hesitant to announce a specific release date, however, we are anticipating it will be sometime in March. The sound we’ve been trying to capture is finally coming into focus — warm yet dark, bleak but hopeful … a reserved style of psychedelia that is meditative, but provides ample movement in order to transitions between the highs and lows. We keep talking about the behavior of water to describe the music we have been making; whales noise amongst the ebb and flow of the tides. We’re finally happy to have a collection of tunes that we are proud to call our debut album.”
Old You at the Royal American, Dec. 2012 (photo by Ballard Lesemann)
Old You has been playing in town and around the Southeast for two and a half years. The forthcoming collection follows the 2012 mini-album titled So Steady, a seven-song collection mixed at Charleston Sound Studios that blends elements of pop, blues, soul, tip-hop, and art-rock.
Fick and his team at Truphonic have been keeping busy in 2012 working on projects with local duo Yellowknife, Chicago based Novi Novak, Nashville-based LIV Productions and their artist J Cyrus, Atlanta-based Young Mercy, Dirty Dave, and sessions with the Jazz Artists of Charleston’s Leah Suarez and Charlton Singleton, among others. The studio also launched an online video series called Truphonic Live which features footage of bands in action in the main studio rooms.
Visit oldyoumusic.com and truphonic.com, and click the video clip of Old You performing their song “I Love Your New Girlfriend” below for a taste of what’s to come.
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About the Author
Ballard Lesemann is a musician and writer. Born and raised in Charleston, S.C., he spent years playing in bands and working for Flagpole Magazine in the bustling music town of Athens, Ga. He returned to his hometown and served more than seven years as the Charleston City Paper's music editor. He's better at drumming than he is at playing guitar.
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