If you're full of candy and feel no shame about any mischief you got in to last night then you made it to our Halloween Party last night. If you're still trying to figure out how to get home in your costume then this review is for you.
Hot Tub Johnnie started the show up by waking the dead and making them dance with his chain rattling DJ Set. Jesse Blaze Snider joined us in the hot tub and on stage with scary good music and commentary, Hot Sauce Holiday gave us a full sized candy bar performance, The Slit opened new wounds on the audience by putting razor blade audio candy in our buckets and Khildlike treated us with his special guests and microphone tricks. 10-31-16
-J. Gray
Jesse Blaze Snider is here to save the world.
He is writing songs for NFL Monday Night Football, NASCAR, Smithsonian, A&E, ESPN, his father Dee Snider and more.
He has performed on live TV for millions and has been seen on MTV, VH1, HBO, A&E, AOL's Top 11 Countdown, Sony Playstation's Qore and many others.
His voice has been lent to countless products and networks, including runs as "the voice" of Pizza Hut, Cheetos, Gamestop, The Buried Life, Spike's Video Game Awards, "Once" the Musical and the Rooster from the original Burger King Chicken Fries commercial.
Currently Jesse is the voice of Kia Motors, narrates "Food Paradise" on Travel Channel, does promos for Nickelodeon, and top secret video games make him sign NDAs that preclude him from speaking about them.
Jesse is always looking for new ways to save the world as he builds a wonderful life for his family of 6 out in LaLa Land. His daughter Parker Pryde Snider was born 8/7/16 on the 405 Freeway in Los Angeles.
On 9/16/16 Jesse will release "16" his first full length solo album.
All songs written by Jesse Blaze Snider and his fabulous friends!
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Hot Sauce Holiday is for everyone that wants to kick over their office desks and start dancing. We are for the eccentric outsiders, the burners, and the lovers. Join us in taking on the banality of convention.
Hot Sauce Holiday is a five piece cabaret rock band from Los Angeles. Their live shows emphasize crowd participation and a great deal of improv. Bongo-solos, skits, poetry, and dance numbers have been known to break out. They have been known to feature burlesque dancers, hula hoop artists, and scandalous routines involving Playboy playmates. Genre-wise the sound varies from song to song drawing influence from 60's psychedelic and folk, to early punk, 80's electro, disco, and even a bit of barbershop. The song lyrics are surreal and witty with every band member trading off on vocals or singing in harmonies. In addition to over 20 originals the band has a variety of party cover songs they are able to play ranging from George Michael to Motorhead. So leave the outside world behind you for a couple hours and come experience the originality, joy, and chaos that is Hot Sauce Holiday. Hunnypot Approved good time guarantee!
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The Slit is a fierce blend of aggression and angst packaged neatly in nuggets of throttling guitar rock; a tumultuous, pummeling titan, equal parts Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, with a psychedelic metal tinge and punk tendencies. Their tracks are exceptional, but you have to like heavy, grinding rock to appreciate it the whole way through.
The Slit is a band that combines elements of classic rock, metal, punk, grunge and psychedelia into a very unique style. They define what it means to fire on all cylinders all throughout their songs. But whether opting for maximum aggression or pulling back on the reigns a bit and dropping in an infectious melody, you would be hard-pressed to find a single moment of weakness.
In late 2011, a raw invention emerged into the music scene. khildLike (Yes, with a k) is a hip hop duo arising from southern kalifornia's 818, (San Fernando Valley). The duo konsist of a soulful singer (khosen) & an immakulate word smith (Life). Influenced by the hip hop legends; Fugees, OutKast, & Little Brother, the duo are well on their way to sweeping the industry and kulture alike with their raw street honesty and sweet soulful melodies.
Far East Movement is BACK! Remember when their “Like a G6” played at all the clubs in every single town? This time they are fusing themselves with enigmatic masked DJ Marshmello, featuring South Korean rapper Chanyeol from K-pop boy band EXO, and popular Californian R&B singer Tinashe.
Behind their success beaming fame, the group shares their struggles about racially charged comments on social media and identity crisis. Take their identity, as Korean Americans. You are not 100% Korean, but Americans do not see you as fully an American either. The band revealed, "You get execs that say, 'you're too Asian,' how do we make this less Asian?'" They felt rejected, because they do not fit in.
Pushing all negativity aside, once again, Far East Movement proved that talent is global without borders. This Identity LP is an international project, focusing on breakthrough of stereotypes. Hence the album title, bridging artists from the east with ones from the west.
Bring your eyes and ears to play, and you will feel the positive vibes bursting out of the album.
P.S. While you stare at model Softest Hard, take notice of how witty they unveil Marshmello in the video too!
Legendary Shack Shakers will be hitting the road this fall/winter, making their way through the Midwest in November, and Florida in December. The November run of dates will be with country music artist Chuck Mead, and the Florida dates with Texas favorites The Reverend Horton Heat. To round out the tours (and the year), Legendary Shack Shakers and The Reverend Horton Heat will be playing an exciting New Year’s Eve show with Jello Biafra, The WildTones, and more at Will’s Pub in Orlando, Florida. Take a peek at the full list of tour dates and venues below.
Nov 8 | Chicago, IL | City Winery #
Nov 9 | Minneapolis, MN | VFW Post 246 #
Nov 10 | Madison, WI | High Noon Saloon #
Nov 11 | Rock Island, IL | Rock Island Brewing Co. #
Nov 12 | Lincoln, NE | 1867 Bar #
Nov 13 | Kansas City, MO | Knuckleheads Saloon #
Dec 28 | Deland, FL | Cafe DaVinci @
Dec 29 | West Palm Beach, FL | Respectable Street @
Dec 30 | St. Petersburg, FL | State Theater @
Dec 31 | Orlando, FL | Will's Pub (Outdoor Stage) @ *
Feb 10 | San Diego, CA | The Casbah
Feb 17 | San Jose, CA | The Ritz
w/ Chuck Mead #
w/ Reverend Horton Heat @
w/ Jello Biafra *
If you haven’t seen the Legendary Shack Shakers in a while, don’t worry, they’ve been tucked away writing a new album, due to release in 2017. Next year is bound to be chock full of good old rowdy fun from these hard working guys, but in the meantime, hit up a show or head over to LSS’s Hunnypot artist page for a special sneak peek.
In the spirit of Halloween, our next video pick is a live recording from 1990. Check out The Cramps covering Johnny Burnette’s “Tear It Up” in Amsterdam! This rockabilly/punk band formed in the 70s around founding members and offstage couple, lead singer Lux Interior and guitarist Poison Ivy. Credited with being one of the first punk bands and part of the CBGB punk movement in New York, they are also considered the innovators of the subgenre “psychobilly.” The Cramps had a wide range of influences and became the influence for many genres afterward. Famous for their rambunctious and sexually suggestive live shows, The Cramps left their mark on the music industry forever. The Cramps played their last show in 2006 and disbanded completely after Lux Interior’s death in 2009.
This video is a perfect showcase of their quintessential performances, featuring Lux Interior-- clad only in sheer-panel underwear and heels-- crawling and climbing on speaker stacks, shoving microphone heads in his mouth, and tearing stuff up in general (get it?). Even in ladies’ underwear, Lux Interior is and always will be more punk than pretty much everybody.
Swedish superduo Galantis retains the catchiness in pop with techno EDM once again. Galantis is Christian "Bloodshy" Karlsson from Miike Snow, plus Linus Eklöw, aka Style of Eye. They are best known for their 2014 single "Runaway (U & I)" and 2016 single "No Money".
Galantis’s latest single “Love On Me” stirs big waves featuring chart-topper Hook N’ Sling aka Anthony Maniscalco. ARIA nominated Hook N’ Sling earned tens of millions of spins online, and gained BBC Radio 1 support from Danny Howard after releasing a remix of “Tokyo by Night” with DJ Axwell.
The track is accompanied by a simple keyboard chord progressions, where the steel drum synth doubles as the melody, with percussion grooves and melodic bass pinned to the vivaciously resonating vocals. Expressive and forceful, the music video is visually flamboyant simulating thousand armed Avalokiteśvara, kaleidoscopic views and vibrant colors. Avalokiteśvara embodies Buddha Amitābha’s merciful attempts to reach and care for people’s suffering multitudes.
Enough said, come watch and lit up your day mid week!
Male model turned musician David Welles leads his self-proclaimed cyberpunk band ONWE in a new music video for their song “In the City” off upcoming album David Welles. The album follows up on 2014’s jk bb EP. Brooklynites might recall Welles’s social media campaign from that year, where Welles friend-requested many people in a sort of guerilla marketing for ONWE. If not, you can easily catch yourself up on the fun with the existing EP in preparation for the album!
ONWE, a blatant play on the French word ennui (meaning “boredom,” for those of us who’d care to forget our high school vocabulary drills), is not shy about the term “heavy handed” in regards to their message about the apathetic youth. Their music challenges this apathy, social and economic inequalities, and gender.
The video for “In the City” is officially described, “David Welles and his cult of Bushwick party people engage in ritualistic hedonism during an impeccably lit advertorial photo-shoot.” It indeed features a wide cast of faces under the direction of Madison Velding-VanDam and producer Kelsey Tyler. The plain backdrops familiar to anyone who’s seen a commercial frame ONWE’s “impeccably lit” cast on a shoot gone awry. You’ll definitely want to buy what ONWE is selling.
ONWE’s full length album will be available through Seayou Entertainment on November 18th.
Gender bending Hunnypot alum and Washington native Michete has a new video out for their song “Recognize This Pussy”! If you missed the performance at The Mint on October 3rd, check out this video to get in the Michete spirit. The track is filled with signature Michete pop culture references, including video games for the gamers out there, layered on a quintessential rap topic, getting that paper. Michete is concerned with two things in “Recognize This Pussy,” and those are, making money, and recognizing that pussy. It’s empowering, a gender-neutral take on popular modern adage, “fuck bitches get money.” This blend of witty and humorous lyrics on top of an unapologetically in your face manner of presentation forces us to rethink our ideas on gender and sexuality while simultaneously encouraging us to do life for ourselves.
The video was directed and edited by Ruby Paiva and Reed McCoy and features cameos from Seattle artists ZELLi, Worshiprr, and NAVVI frontwoman Kristin Henry. This crew, headed by Michete, traverses streets and parks together in the video to feature the strength of the pussy that ought to be recognized. Michete’s call to arms, “Where my ladies up in here that don’t need that?” is a rallying point in between the main lyrics of the song. Whether you’ve got a pussy or not, you’ll want to get in touch with your inner bad bitch when you watch this video!
Join us on Monday, November 21st from 6-8pm for this special panel discussion with experts in the Music Supervision and Placement field. This free event is also open to the public and will take place at Musicians Institute Concert Hall. The panel is comprised of:
Frankie Pine is an award-winning music supervisor, putting together memorable, provocative, and engaging soundtracks for high profile film and television projects. Her diverse work spans multiple genres, from popular television dramas like “Brothers and Sisters” and “Army Wives,” to comedy feature films like “Santa Claus 2” and “Tooth Fairy,” to indie box office hits like “Magic Mike.”
She is currently supervising Aaron Sorkin’s hit television series “The Newsroom”, Amazon's original streaming show The Ranch staring Ashton Kutcher as well as the inspired country music drama “Nashville”. Along with her television expertise, she has extensive film credits, serving as music consultant on such successful films as Steven Soderbergh’s “Ocean’s 11, 12 and 13,” and on the soundtrack for the Academy Award-winning movie “Traffic” for which she received a Grammy nomination.
In addition to her work as a music supervisor, Pine also serves as a Music Consultant for ABC Television and has served as Interim Music Executive at New Line Cinema as well as Music Executive at PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, which included overseeing music for such outstanding films as Dead Man Walking, Notting Hill, and The Big Lebowski.
Frankie works under her banner of Whirly Girl Music. Additional accolades include a 2012 Guild of Music Supervisors award for Best Music Supervisor for the indie film “Magic Mike” and an RIAA Certified Gold Record for “How to Be a Player.”
John Anderson is the ringmaster of Hunnypot Unlimited, a multifaceted Music Publishing, Artist Representation, Marketing and Film & Television Placement organization specializing in discovering and cultivating fresh music talent. The Hunnypot Unlimited brand is synonymous with quality music and recognized as one of the premier industry tastemaker sources. Hunnypot provides exclusive promotion, marketing, brand development and placement representation of owned and non-owned copyright and recording assets through expansive relationships within the music, film, television, ad and gaming communities using unique, forward thinking approaches to business and distinct and creative grass roots campaigns.
Hunnypot provides exposure to cutting edge music and changes the palate of listeners worldwide through endorsement, promotion, packaging and/or planning of live music concerts and events. Hunnypot Radio and the Hunnypot Website provide instant awareness of Hunnypot artist activity as well as contemporary music news and other culturally relevant media.
John spent the first 20 years of his career in the music industry as an integral member of Windswept Music Publishing. He helped take the company from a fledgling start-up to the largest independent Music Publisher in the world, a feat that resulted in one of the most lucrative catalogue sales in Music Publishing history. In 2008 John applied the A&R/Publisher/Placement model to the branded Hunnypot name and established itself as a leading independent music publishing/placement company representing the catalogues of Far East Movement, Louis Prima Jr., The Dollyrots, Barnyard Stompers, Mochipet, Young Creatures, The Cataracs, Dr. Hollywood, A House For Lions, Bearheart, J*LABS and Ghost Lit Kingdom. John’s early track record as a song-plugger boasts hits like Eric Clapton’s “Before You Accuse Me” and Vanessa Williams’ career-defining song “Save The Best For Last.”
Over the course of his industrious Publishing career, John has worked closely with some of the biggest songwriters of all-time including Sean Garrett (Usher “Yeah”, Fergie “London Bridge”), Mike Elizondo (50 Cent “In Da Club”, Mary J. Blige “Family Affair”) and Albert Hammond (Julio Iglesias “To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before,” The Hollies “The Air That I Breathe”). As Sr. Vice President of Film & Television Music for Windswept, John was essential in the synchronization and licensing careers of such seminal artists as Pete Townsend, John Mellencamp, Nick Cave, The Allman Brothers and Willie Nelson as well as new stars like Corrine Bailey Ray, Snow Patrol, Kings of Leon, Beyonce, Mickey Avalon and Lady Sovereign. Some personal placement triumphs for John include Snow Patrol “Chasing Cars” in Grey’s Anatomy, The Who songs featured in the entire CSIfranchise, Kings of Leon’s “Molly’s Chamber” for Volkswagon, and The Dollyrots “Because I’m Awesome” for both Hewlitt/Packard and Kohl’s Department Stores.
As one of the key A&R representatives for Windswept, some of John’s signings included Fischerspooner, The Dollyrots, Meat Beat Manifesto, The Cramps, Talib Kweli, Blackstar, The Coup, Hi-Tek, The BellRays, Johnette Napollitano (Concrete Blonde), and Sky Cries Mary.
I fell in love with Homeshake last Sunday night. You might know the lead singer Peter Sagar for his work with beloved indie songwriter Mac Demarco. In fact, I would say Peter Sagar is largely responsible for the iconic sound we attribute to Mac Demarco, as the echo-y guitar and synth present in all of Mac’s most famous songs is actually the trademark of Sagar.
But that’s beside the point. Regardless of how you feel the two compare, Homeshake’s music is hard to not like. Complete with catchy guitar riffs, groovy bass lines, and tripped-out synth and vocals their tunes put you in a trance. Obviously, I’m not the only one to get into them in the past year, because this year’s turnout was crazy compared to last year’s at the same venue. When I arrived at Rickshaw Stop the line to get in was so long, nobody knew how we were all going to fit (Rickshaw Stop is a pretty small room, after all). However, my friend who attended last year said that when they played before they didn’t even fill the venue.
During my wait I bonded with the strangers in front of and behind me in line, all of whom were incredibly kind. This is particularly shocking, especially when compared with Mac Demarco’s notoriously irritating, self-proclaimed (in The Fader magazine) “art-ish student” fan base. In fact, it’s been a long time since I’ve gone to a concert that had such a friendly, casual feel. Sagar himself was even selling his own merch, kindly talking with their fans like it was no big deal before the show.
However, when Homeshake actually stepped on the stage everything changed. They group exuded a sort of urban class that was undeniably sexy (as pretty much any person in the crowd could tell you, because we were all whispering to each other about it). Taking sips of water from his whisky-on-the-rocks-style glass, Sagar stood behind his synth and growled into his mic “can we get things a little darker up here.” The lights dimmed to almost black, to which he responded “okay, maybe a little lighter” and the lights settled on a green wash. The whole crowd and the rest of the band chuckled. Sagar, however, only responded with a slight smirk. I swooned.
Their set was simple, with little commentary between songs other than Sagar muttering a few sly jokes and thank you's through a voice changer that made him sound like some kind of helium-happy cartoon. Their minimalist style fit the music perfectly. The whole crowd swayed as Homeshake rolled through song after song—an experience that for me felt almost spiritual. In the words of another attendee: “It’s like they’re kicking ass, know it, and don’t even care.” I didn’t think about anything else throughout their whole set—I was too busy staring at the lead singer and basking in their beachy, mellow tunes to be bothered.
Overall the night was filled with great music, great people, and good vibes. Seeing Homeshake live isn’t even comparable to listening to their records—and this is from someone who has been listening to their album “Midnight Snack” on repeat for months. Something about their performance completely fills the room, and their casual composure sets a tone that gave me so much more appreciation for their music outside of the typical doc-martens toting, mom-jeans wearing indie scene. I left completely elated, and will definitely scrabble to get my hands on any tickets to see them again.
Photo Credit: Funcheap SF
Some may remember Maggie Rogers’s song “Alaska” from the viral video of Pharrell listening to it at his masterclass at NYU Clive Davis Institute, but others may have found this gem through word of mouth or their own discovery. Rogers’s unique sound is wonderful in its own right, inspiring feelings in each person that gives her a listen. Music means something different to each and every one of us. Since our world views are shaped by our unique lives, it’s guaranteed that each person can take something different from Rogers’s music. Her Facebook is home to a heartfelt personal letter from Rogers herself, praising the faults in all of us, and sharing her vision of music and a willingness to experience the world as it happens. In her words, “Sometimes I think it's magic – this thing we can't see, but makes us all feel the same way. When it's real, it raises hair and makes the air taste sweeter.”
“Alaska” now has its music video counterpart, as of October 18th. Directed by Zia Anger, the video is true to her roots as a hiker and environmentalist. Rogers sashays her way through nature, dancing amongst trees and fields. She is dressed comfortably in what we can likely assume is similar to her daily dress, as such, the video feels like a personal peek into her life, her mind. Rogers is joined by others and the video transitions to a party in the woods that seems almost spiritual. A large crowd of people are shown releasing their inhibitions through dance, laughter, and even love. Finally, like a dream, Rogers disappears into nature as though she were a wood nymph.
This writer could tell you how the music sounds and how it made her feel, but you should really experience it for yourself, let the music speak to your own soul, and take from it what you will.