Last month, we announced our second show and the day is nearly here. It all goes down Friday. Join us January 18, 2013 at Union Hall for a great night of music with Los Encantados, Grand Resort, Chase King, and The Soft Collapse. Read on for more details.
We had so much fun putting on our first show and we are pumped to do it again. The bands on the bill are all amazing, and Union Hall is a great venue. It's got bocce, books, beer, and bitchin' bands. It's located at 702 Union Street in the heart of Brooklyn. I hope everyone who made our first event so successful can return, and really, that all of you readers in the NYC area can make it out.
Doors are at 7:30, music starts at 8:30 and the show costs $10. You can buy advance tickets here and RSVP on Facebook here. Once again, we will have a photographer for the night and you can see that we have yet another sweet gig poster designed by James Rudy.
If you've been following our site for any length of time, you should recognize these bands. Here's a little bit more about them.
Los Encantados is a six-piece indie-rock band that draws on sounds ranging from tropical to punk and fuses them into a delectable combination. I profiled them in October for my second NYC music podcast. They have a three EP series out called Same Damn Soul and dress all in white live. Check out their song "OMFD" from the second volume.
Grand Resort unfortunately had to cancel due to sickness.
Chase King is singer-songwriter who plays in a tight band with three of his friends from Gainesville. He specializes in an assured yet boundary-pushing style of alt-country/folk/indie. He too was in the recent NYC podcast episode and I profiled him on the site. I can only ever find "Bed of Lies" to embed, which is a very good song of course, but trust me that the rest of his album South Tropical Trail is really great, too.
The Soft Collapse may not have been on a NYC podcast (yet), but they are no strangers to the Dig. This three-piece band seems at home in both rock and classical, as their songs include cello in the mix with the electric guitars and drums. I'll be doing a bit more extensive of a profile on them soon, but in the mean time, check out "Dust To Me" from their Dancing On Ledges EP and a little background from & interview with Ryan Montgomery.
Before The Soft Collapse, the three of us (Rob Galgano, Ryan Montgomery, and Dave Teufel) were in a band called Heroes in the Seaweed, around 2003 – 2005, who released an EP called Warmth In Your Distance. Prior to that, Rob was part of a project called Neo Cyber Christ.
The Soft Collapse came into existence sometime between 2006 and 2008. Ryan had been working six or seven days a week and coming up with lyrics on the subway and writing melodies at night. The first record, Little Songs, was recorded almost entirely live in 2009 but wasn’t released until New Year’s Day of 2011. Most of those tracks are the result of that very insular period for Ryan.
The second record, Comm-a, was a collaboration with talented singer-songwriter Jane Cramer, who contributed two of her own songs. The title is a reference to Ryan saying apostrophe instead of comma on the earlier record. It’s meant to be about accepting ones mistakes and choosing to move forward.
Our most recent release is called Dancing On Ledges and is a bit of a stylistic shift. It’s angrier and in certain respects more experimental.
All three records were recorded at The Seaside Lounge.
TWD: How long have you lived in NYC? What is one of your favorite things about it or places to go? Favorite neighborhood?
Ryan: 13 years, all in Brooklyn. My favorite place currently is Nitehawk Cinema in Williamsburg. My favorite neighborhood is Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens though.
TWD: What was one of your most powerful live music experiences as a concert-goer?
Ryan: A. A. Bondy at Mercury Lounge a few years ago. He had them turn all the house lights down and just threw up two clamp lights. It was great.
TWD: Who do you want to see live you haven’t?
Ryan: Somehow I’ve never seen PJ Harvey and I’ve been a fan since like 1994. Not sure why that is, honestly.
TWD: What is your favorite music video?
Ryan: I’ve been seeing some amazing stuff by this guy Tobias Stretch. I want to figure out how to convince him to make a video for us.
TWD: If you could ensure one song survives forever and one song gets removed from history and memory, what you choose?
Ryan: Keep Elliott Smith’s “Somebody That I Used To Know” and kill that fucking Gotye song.
TWD: What is your go to jukebox song?
Ryan: Stevie Wonder’s version of “Blowin’ In The Wind”.
TWD: Which TV character would you want to meet if they were a real person?
Ryan: This is your most challenging question… I’m gonna go with the mom from Homeland.
TWD: If you were on a deserted island and could only have a board game for amusement, which you could play with anyone living or dead, what game would you pick and who would you play?
Ryan: I’d have a rematch on one of two games that have taken place in the past few years and have had unfair outcomes: Apples to Apples with Maggie Carleen, my cousins, sister, and wife-to-be or Risk with Dave Conwell.
TWD: Who is one of your favorite authors and what is one your favorite books of theirs?
Ryan: Tana French. All of them.
TWD: What was the best film you watched in 2012?
Ryan: Tough one. The Master was fantastic.
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This show is going to be exciting. Can't wait to see you all there!