The new album by Blvck Hippie is called If You Feel Alone At Parties. Josh Shaw has refined his sparkling indie rock sound to perfection on these 11 songs. He makes longing and alienation sound beautiful.
For the title track, director Lawrence Shaw went literal, putting his brother Josh in a rocking house party where he knows no one. Then he meets a cute girl (Vivian Cheslack) who wants to get to know him better. It’s so loud in here. Wanna go somewhere more chill? Will Josh close the deal? Only one way to find out:
If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.
“We’re back!” There ought to be a banner with those words draped over the Hernando DeSoto Bridge this weekend, marking the grand return of the Beale Street Music Festival. After being shuttered for the last two years, making it three years since the last edition, the perennial gathering of music lovers is roaring back to life with more momentum than ever.
The typical BSMF experience always runs the spectrum from your favorite blockbuster artist to that new unheard-of band that blows your mind. And as for the former, concert-goers need little additional information on why Megan Thee Stallion, Weezer, or Van Morrison are phenomenal. But for the typical out-of-town fan, too many artists based in Memphis fall in the latter category. Naturally, given that Memphis still rules the airwaves and charts as in days of yore, plenty of our local artists need no introduction, either. But chances are good that everyone will discover something new about the Bluff City after this weekend.
Randy Blevins, vice president of marketing and programming at the Memphis in May International Festival, thinks this makes BSMF especially valuable to the city. “People talk about going to other places and exploring to learn about new music,” he says. “Most of our ticket-holders come from over 200 miles away. They’re coming from all 50 states and five or six different countries. So most of the people there are not Memphians. There are a lot of people coming here from out of town; exposing them to these Memphis acts that Memphians know and love is part and parcel of helping promote Memphis. You might show up because you bought tickets to see Counting Crows, and out of nowhere you learn about Don Bryant. The average person may or may not know about him. That’s Memphis pumping through the blood. We’re helping to spread the word.”
Sure, we all love songs by Smashing Pumpkins or DaBaby or Sarah McLachlan. Of course the Indigo Girls and Shaggy and Lindsey Buckingham are phenomenal. Toad the Wet Sprocket, Soccer Mommy, and Robert Randolph are worth a special trip. But given that it’s such a point of pride for the festival, and in light of the fact that this year’s BSMF boasts the most local acts ever — “at least over the past two decades for sure,” Blevins says — today we celebrate the native talent that makes Memphis ground zero for so much musical innovation and style. Here, by the day of their appearance, are the hometown heroes that make this music festival a little different from most.
Al Kapone (Photo: SP Stylistic Photography)
FRIDAY
Three 6 Mafia Bud Light Stage, 10:35 p.m. No group represents the staying power of Memphis hip-hop like Three 6 Mafia, who’ve parlayed their relatively obscure, ’90s cult status into global celebrity through the staying power of their game-changing beats and attitude. Now their horror-movie soundtrack to life on the Memphis streets, which won them an Oscar, has morphed into the crunk and trap genres. See where it all began.
Al Kapone Bud Light Stage, 6:15 p.m. Kapone came up alongside Three 6 Mafia back in the day, and also contributed to the award-winning Hustle & Flow soundtrack. His “Whoop That Trick” from the film lives on as an anthem for the Memphis Grizzlies. Lately, he’s become more eclectic but always grounded, telling the Memphis Flyer’s Michael Donahue: “At some point I’m still just a songwriter, a guy from the projects and the hood.”
Amy LaVere (Photo: Todd V Wolfson)
Amy LaVere Zyn Stage, 5:45 p.m. This singer, songwriter, and bassist extraordinaire is such a fixture on the local scene that it’s easy to forget that she’s a Louisiana native. It was in Memphis that she really found her voice, and she even lured her husband Will Sexton here from his native Texas. We dubbed LaVere’s most recent album, 2020’s Painting Blue, “dark and beautiful.”
Kenny Brown Coca-Cola Blues Tent, 9:05 p.m. Hailing from North Mississippi, Michael Donahue calls Brown a “Hill Country Hero.” Given the way the blues ebbs and flows, only to be reinvented by stalwart artists like Brown, that’s not an exaggeration. He learned well from the likes of R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough. No wonder his latest album, with The Black Keys and Eric Deaton, snagged a 2022 Grammy nomination.
Earl the Pearl Coca-Cola Blues Tent, 6 p.m. Born in 1936, Earl Banks is a living link to the blues in its rawest, earliest expression. Having first played with Joe Hill Louis, he went on to define the Memphis blues style for decades and can still be seen on Beale Street nearly every week. From Jimmy Reed to Howlin’ Wolf and B.B. King, Earl the Pearl makes every blues his own, with a guitar tone like quicksilver.
NLE Choppa (Photo: @damnjohnnie)
SATURDAY
NLE Choppa Zyn Stage, 7:30 p.m. With “one of the greatest flows in current hip-hop,” as M.T. Richards wrote in 2020, NLE Choppa brings a unique angle to trap music. This “creature of Memphis’ strobe-lit skating rinks” honors his Jamaican heritage by “sprinkling patois in rap’s everyday vocabulary.” He’s created a unique sound and credits his hometown: “So many good artists are in Memphis,” he says.
Project Pat Zyn Stage, 6:15 p.m. Few artists are as close to the Three 6 Mafia orbit as Project Pat, self-described brother of Juicy J, whose biggest hits were on the Hypnotize Minds label owned by J and DJ Paul. Yet Project Pat has crafted his own identity with Dirty South classics like “Chickenhead,” “Ballers,” “Don’t Save Her,” and the ever-relevant “Ghetty Green.”
Duke Deuce Zyn Stage, 4:50 p.m. With his hit single “Crunk Ain’t Dead,” Duke Deuce has let it be known where he’s coming from. Son of Duke Nitty, a producer for Gangsta Blac and Nasty Nardo, the rapper’s name-checked his hometown in debut tracks, “Memphis Massacre” and “Memphis Massacre 2.” Last year, his debut album Duke Nukem debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart.
Lil Wyte Zyn Stage, 3:25 p.m. It’s no accident that Lil Wyte is a natural ally of rapper Frayser Boy. Growing up in Frayser helped Lil Wyte transcend any racial barriers, as he proved himself in the world of Three 6 Mafia enough to release his debut on the Hypnotize Minds label, with hits like “Oxy Cotton” and “My Smokin’ Song.”
White $osa Zyn Stage, 3:25 p.m. Kicking off the Zyn Stage string of Memphis rappers, White $osa is unique in that his name inspired his rapping, rather than vice versa. Originally gaining fame through an Instagram account that’s now up to 129,000 followers, it turned out he had a flair for flowing rhymes as well. Since turning to music, his collaboration with NLE Choppa has garnered 21 million streams on Spotify.
Blvck Hippie Bud Light Stage, 2 p.m. As Jesse Davis wrote in the Memphis Flyer, this group’s 2019 track “Hotel Lobby” is “one of the catchiest Memphis-made songs in recent memory.” With indie-pop songs marked by “excellent arrangements” and group founder Josh Shaw’s “open and honest lyrics,” and fresh off a series of concerts at South by Southwest, Treefort Music Fest, and Audiotree promoting their new LP, If You Feel Alone at Parties, Blvck Hippie is one gem to keep an eye on at this year’s festival.
Tora Tora Terminix Stage, 2:15 p.m. If you thought that Memphis was all about blues, soul, and hip-hop, think again. These metal masters have been honing a distinctly Mid-South variant of their chosen genre since the ’80s, when a trio of hits like “Walkin’ Shoes,” “Guilty,” and “Dancing with a Gypsy” (the latter featured in the film Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure) powered a career that includes 2019’s Bastards of Beale.
Don Bryant & the Bo-Keys Coca-Cola Blues Tent, 9:25 p.m. Don Bryant has lost none of the power of his voice since he began performing over half a century ago. Indeed, his delivery has matured as if aged in an oak barrel, and now that he has ace neo-soul group the Bo-Keys backing him up, we dubbed his latest LP, YouMake Me Feel, an “instant classic” of pure, down-home soul.
Ghost Town Blues Band Coca-Cola Blues Tent, 7:55 p.m. This group is proof positive that the blues still offers plenty of room for innovation. Not your typical bar combo, Ghost Town Blues Band blends traditional blues with Stax-era soul and even includes novel instruments like cigar box guitars and electric push brooms in their arrangements. Expect the unexpected.
Barbara Blue Coca-Cola Blues Tent, 2:10 p.m. Blue is a queen of Beale Street, a regular performer at Silky O’Sullivan’s who has worked with some serious contenders in the past (including three albums with Taj Mahal’s Phantom Blues Band in the 1990s). Her latest album even features the legendary Bernard “Pretty” Purdie on drums. World-class blues, soul, and jazz live on with Barbara Blue.
Moneybagg Yo
SUNDAY
Moneybagg Yo Bud Light Stage, 7:40 p.m. It was only five years ago that Zandria Robinson reported on Moneybagg Yo’s album release party for his debut, Federal 3X, and now he’s a leading star in the trap music universe. His 2020 album, A Gangsta’s Pain, debuted at No. 1 on the charts. Yet he continues to appreciate his hometown, gifting Covid-related supplies to local schools after that album conquered the charts.
Jucee Froot Bud Light Stage, 2:10 p.m. If Memphis hip-hop is dominated by male stars, Jucee Froot is bucking that trend with her meteoric climb to fame. Since 2020, when she released her debut Black Sheep on Atlantic, she’s had tracks featured in soundtracks for the film Birds of Prey and the series P-Valley and Insecure.
Cory Branan
Cory Branan Zyn Stage, 2 p.m. Rolling Stone got it right when they dubbed this consummate singer/songwriter “a country boy with a punk-rock heart.” Since the late ’90s, when he found his voice in the Memphis indie scene, he’s been perfecting the combination of those elements in his music and lyrics. He’s also a phenomenal guitarist. Watch for a new album later this year.
Blind Mississippi Morris Coca-Cola Blues Tent, 3:25 p.m. Blind Mississippi Morris is Beale Street royalty, and no festival named for the famed blues district would be complete without his uniquely powerful harmonica playing and singing. The recipient of the Mississippi Music Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award and a two-time winner of the Premier Player Grammy Award for Harmonica Player of the Year, Morris combines the grit and grind of the blues like no other.
Melvia “Chick” Rodgers Coca-Cola Blues Tent, 3:25 p.m. A vocal powerhouse, Melvia “Chick” Rodgers-Williams grew up in the historic Black neighborhood of Orange Mound, singing in her father’s church. Being steeped in the passions of gospel music stuck with her, as she followed her musical star on USO tours and a successful career in Chicago. With BSMF, she’s bringing it all back home.
BSMF 2022: Liberty Park Logistics
The Beale Street Music Festival is such an institution in Memphis, and so closely associated with Tom Lee Park, that any change to the winning formula is hard to fathom. Yet fathom it we must, as the BSMF situates itself on new grounds this year so that work may continue apace on the riverfront space where it typically lives. And if Tom Lee Park, once given its remake, promises to be better than ever, the 2022 iteration of the festival will have a glory all its own, nestled in the shadow of the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. To get a sense of what has changed and what has remained, Memphis Flyer asked BSMF’s Randy Blevins to give us the lay of the land.
Memphis Flyer:It must have caused quite a shake-up to relocate away from your usual home. How will the experience be different for festival-goers? Randy Blevins: We’re going to be at the fairgrounds at Liberty Park just for this year while Tom Lee Park is under construction. As far as the festival is concerned, the layout is a different shape. Where everything at Tom Lee Park is kind of lined up north to south, the fairgrounds at Liberty Park are in a big rectangle. It’s still a big site. Two of the main stages will have the Liberty Bowl in the background, and the other main stage will have East Parkway in the background. There’ll be two main entrances on the north and on the south. And in the middle is Tiger Lane.
It actually surprises people who may have only driven on Tiger Lane or to the Coliseum. Once you’re there, you realize that’s a really big space. The fairgrounds had the Mid-South Fair for such a long time, and there’s plenty of room for the experience. So it’ll include all the things you’re used to seeing, just placed a little differently. All three stages will be triangulated with plenty of space between them. From the fountain at Tiger Lane, you’ll be able to see one stage to the south and another to the north. So it’ll create a really electric atmosphere.
How will parking be handled this year? We’re trying the best we can to make things easy and nice for everybody. There is on-site parking, and that area is accustomed to holding big events. And there are all these other locations, like CBU and other places that turn their surface lots into parking. We’ve also arranged with MATA to have a free rapid shuttle coming from Downtown. Most of our fans are coming from 100, 200 miles away, spending on average two to three nights at a hotel in Memphis. And most of our hotels are Downtown. That’s why Tom Lee Park works so well. So this year we’ll have a rapid shuttle, which will pick up at two locations: B.B. King and Union, and on Second Street by the [Renasant] Convention Center. Ticket-holders will be able to hop on the rapid shuttle and get dropped off at two locations, then take the shuttle back Downtown to continue to hang out on Beale Street and enjoy all the nightlife down there. If you’ve ever been Downtown after the festival, it’s packed. So we want that to continue. And if people want to use that, it’s free, but they have to register online first. They just show their ticket and they can hop the shuttle and ride about every 10 minutes or so, depending on traffic.
We’re also coordinating to set up a couple hundred spaces at the University of Memphis, and you’ll be able to buy access to a parking spot next to the Holiday Inn there, and then ride a shuttle from the U of M to the site and back. That’s just for Memphians who might not want to go Downtown and don’t want to deal with congestion around Liberty Park. It might be a nice option if you’re coming in from Cordova or Germantown.
The festival’s been delayed for years because of the pandemic. What procedures are in place to address Covid? We have a disclaimer on everything and we have a plan ready to go if anything happens, as we did last year when we had a half festival with the barbecue cooking contest at limited capacity. Whatever comes down from the Shelby County Health Department, we’ll comply and do what needs to be done. The world’s used to this now.
Have artists made different requests as far as vaccinations and the like? There have been different requirements from artists, but that’s become less and less part of the conversation as the months and weeks have come along. Currently we’re not asking for proof of vaccination from the public. But currently, anything is possible. Some of the artists have different requirements for ground transportation that’s picking them up or in the backstage areas. They might request masks. The vendors and backstage crews will meet each specific artist’s requirements.
After the 2020 festival was canceled, did many ticket holders opt to just redeem their tickets when the festival resumed? We have a decent number of deferrals. We did not get a lot of refund requests. Many folks just decided, “Whenever you come back, we’re in.” It shows the staying power of the story. It’s a great deal of trust, if you’ve paid hundreds of dollars for tickets, in some cases, and you’re flying blind because you don’t know who we’re going to book. So we felt pretty good that 90 percent of the people weren’t just saying, “Give me my money back.” It could have happened. We were prepared for whatever.
Has it been difficult to gear up for this after such a long hiatus? Just a short time ago, we were at a skeleton staff of only five people and the future of everything was a giant question mark. A festival depends on bringing people together in big groups. We don’t receive money from the city or the state or anything to cover overhead. And we had a reserve saved up for a rainy day, but a rainy day is a bad year, not a year with literally nothing. Who would have ever predicted that, right? So it was really tough. To be in the situation we’re in now, back to doing a big, full-on festival, is really good. There were no guarantees just a short time ago, when everything was shut down and there were just five of us, basically, living month to month. We just started hiring people and getting back up to full staff this fall. And we’re glad to be back, and glad that we’re getting such a good reception to this.
Beale Street Music Festival Schedule 2022
Friday, April 29, 2022 Gates at 5 p.m.
Bud Light Stage Three 6 Mafia 10:35-11:50 p.m. DaBaby 9:15-10:05 p.m. Waka Flocka Flame 7:45-8:45 p.m. Al Kapone (Memphis) 6:15-7:15 p.m.
Zyn Stage Sarah McLachlan 10:15-11:45 p.m. Van Morrison 8:15-9:45 p.m. Kurt Vile & The Violators 6:35-7:40 p.m. Amy LaVere (Memphis) 5:45-6:20 p.m.
Terminix Stage Sammy Hagar & The Circle 10:30-midnight Dirty Honey 9-10 p.m. Glorious Sons 7:30-8:30 p.m. Black Pistol Fire 6-6:55 p.m.
Blues Tent JJ Grey & Mofro 10:45-12:15 p.m. Kenny Brown (Memphis) 9:05-10:15 p.m. Janiva Magness 7:30-8:35 p.m. Earl the Pearl (Memphis) 6-7 p.m.
Saturday, April 30, 2022 Gates at 1 p.m.
Bud Light Stage Death Cab for Cutie 9:35-11:05 p.m. Spoon 7:55-9:05 p.m. Grouplove 6:20-7:25 p.m. Toad the Wet Sprocket 4:45-5:50 p.m. Soccer Mommy 3:15-4:15 p.m. Blvck Hippie (Memphis) 2-2:50 p.m.
Zyn Stage Megan Thee Stallion 10:45-11:35 p.m. Sarkodie (Ghana) 9-10:15 p.m. NLE Choppa (Memphis) 7:30-8:30 p.m. Project Pat (Memphis) 6:15-7:05 p.m. Duke Deuce (Memphis) 4:50-5:45 p.m. Lil Wyte (Memphis) 3:25-4:25 p.m. White $osa (Memphis) 2:15-3 p.m.
Terminix Stage Smashing Pumpkins 10:15-11:45 p.m. Stone Temple Pilots 8:30-9:45 p.m. Chevelle 6:50-8 p.m. Rival Sons 5:15-6:20 p.m. Ayron Jones 3:45-4:45 p.m. Tora Tora (Memphis) 2:15-3:15 p.m.
Blues Tent Robert Randolph & the Family Band 11-12:15 p.m. Don Bryant & the Bo-Keys (Memphis) 9:25-10:30 p.m. Ghost Town Blues Band (Memphis) 7:55-9 p.m. Hurricane Ruth 6:25-7:30 p.m. Mitch Woods & His Rocket 88’s 5-6 p.m. Brandon Santini 3:35-4:35 p.m. Barbara Blue (Memphis) 2:10-3:10 p.m.
Sunday, May 1, 2022 Gates at 1 p.m.
Bud Light Stage Lil Wayne 9-9:50 p.m. MoneyBagg Yo (Memphis) 7:40-8:30 p.m. Shaggy 6:10-7:10 p.m. Stonebwoy (Ghana) 4:45-5:45 p.m. Third World 3:20-4:20 p.m. Jucee Froot (Memphis) 2:10-2:50 p.m.
Blvck Hippie’s Josh Shaw at Black Lodge (Photo: Phen Hildreth)
Just seconds into the song “Art School” during Blvck Hippie’s first hometown show following a six-week tour in support of their album If You Feel Alone at Parties, singer/guitarist Josh Shaw’s mic stand dipped downward, seemingly of its own volition. As I watched the musician follow a rapidly descending microphone (while still singing into it) I thought to myself, “This is what Josh does — roll with the punches.”
But the latest Memphian musician to sing on the popular indie music platform Audiotree Live later described this mic stand snafu as simply “hilarious.”
“I was like ‘Oh god, I need to bend down,’” Shaw said. “And then ‘Oh god, my knees.’”
Making light of a moment like this illustrates something essential about the singer/guitarist: What has been accomplished with the band is other-worldly, but Shaw is still as endearing a person as ever.
Still, the band’s success is undeniable. Blvck Hippie sits at just over 30,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. On January 26th it was announced that Blvck Hippie will be joining the South by Southwest official festival lineup this year in Austin, Texas.
Admittedly, I have a history with Shaw that’s getting more and more difficult not to brag about. In 2017, I shared the bill with him in what was his first live performance fronting a band (then going by St.John). In 2018, we were tourmates, and 2019 saw us become roommates. I remember when he burst out of his room with an unplugged electric guitar and the opening riff to “Bunkbed” — “You gotta hear this thing I came up with today!”
All this to say that catching Blvck Hippie at Black Lodge was far from my first rodeo with Shaw, drummer Casey Rittinger, and their brand of self-proclaimed “sad-boy indie rock.”
Shaw says, if he had to guess, the band’s big sound comes from the group maturing, as well as an improvement in the way he writes his guitar parts. The current lineup is composed of “really great artists who have their own things to add.” Undoubtedly this includes the suave Celest Farmer, joining Shaw on guitar, and the talented bassist Tyrell Williams.
“During tour, we really came into our own as a band, and we really want to come out to every show punching people in the face with our sound,” Shaw says.
That description may not be far off from what listeners can expect from the next Blvck Hippie record. “We’re going to get angrier and more aggressive with our music,” Shaw says. “While on tour I saw Black people in a ton of different cities headbanging to my songs. That affirmed that what I’m doing matters and is reaching people. It gives me the confidence to be myself more and make the music I want to make.”
This confidence has enabled Shaw to elevate not just one voice, but to increase representation for POC in indie/alternative music in general. When it came time to fill the bill for Blvck Hippie’s first show of the year, Shaw made sure to provide a platform for Black out-of-town artists, the surfy Bluphoria and math-rock-inspired Rest Ashore.
“I’ve been a huge fan of Rest Ashore for two years so it was amazing to get to play with them,” Shaw says. “It’s important to me that when Black bands come to Memphis we give them a reason to want to come back. It’s important to put on a safe welcoming show for them.”
Shaw says that they felt the safest they’ve ever felt in a musical space during Blvck Hippie’s past tour at a Black-run DIY venue in Cleveland. While Josh cites Black bands like Bartees Strange and Enumclaw rising to mainstream prominence since summer of 2020, the singer says more Black-owned and Black-run venues are necessary to inspire representation in the scene.
“Through touring and the internet, especially TikTok, we’ve been able to reach new audiences and a lot of times we’ve been the first band people have seen that look like us,” Shaw says. “We get comments all the time from Black people that it’s nice to see people that look like them making indie rock, and this is amazing to hear.”
As for their own group’s recent success, Shaw says things have been “wild” since the Audiotree performance. The band hasn’t processed everything yet.
“It’s very humbling to be able to represent Memphis in all the places we’re getting to play,” Shaw says. “Playing shows in Memphis solidifies that for me — I wouldn’t want to be doing this for any other city.”
Blvck Hippie‘s newest single “Rhodes Ave” is about growing up, says frontman Josh Shaw. “I lived in a house on Rhodes Avenue for the first 8 years of my life and my memory of that street inspired this song. I credit much of my musical inspiration to years spent listening to my parents’ music in that house on Rhodes — this song acts as tribute to those early influences.”
Josh’s brother Lawrence Shaw, who appears with Josh on the single’s cover, created the animated lyric video for the song. “It was inspired by the nostalgic nature of reminiscing on your childhood home — the comfort that can be found in those memories and how fleeting that feeling can be. My interpretation of the song is the strain of trying to recreate an idea of what your ‘perfect’ life would be, but knowing that you will not be able to have it, i.e. ‘I know I can’t give you the big house and a dog, just more empty promises and a shoreline full of fog.'”
Music Video Monday Blvck Hippie
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Memphis-based indie rockers Blvck Hippie released their new single, “Bunkbed,” Friday, August 7th. The song is five minutes of frenzied post-rock, all urgency communicated on bent guitar strings. Bandleader Josh Shaw’s vocals sound frantic to escape the speaker system, as befits a track recorded in the midst of a pandemic-induced quarantine.
Blvck Hippie has kept busy these past months, recording a pair of singles at Sun Studios (the second is due in September), laying down a live video for Crosstown Arts’ Against the Grain series, and performing at the protests against police brutality at City Hall. “Now you can’t play shows, you have to think through everything and figure out how you want to get in front of who you want to get in front of,” Shaw tells me over the phone.
Blvck Hippie’s Josh Shaw
“We were able to record two songs at Sun,” Shaw says of “Bunkbed” and the forthcoming single. Earlier in the pandemic, “they do recordings, but they can’t do tours,” he explains. “So we got the opportunity to be there from 11 to 11.” The process, Shaw says, of recording music in the historic studio during the day, when it’s usually full of tourists from across the globe, was surreal. Not to mention a little daunting. “So many greats have been here. I hope we don’t suck,” Shaw says, laughing.
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By any measure, the new single definitely does not suck. In fact, it finds Blvck Hippie harnessing the melodicism of their debut EP in tandem with the energy of the group’s live performances. With “Bunkbed” Shaw rakes the listener over the emotional coals, and the band displays chops that blend elements of indie rock, power-pop, and post-rock, making a confident vehicle for Shaw’s plaintive delivery. The single already scored a positive review from Afropunk, who called it, “the feel bad song of the summer.”
With the exception of their time recording, Shaw says, “The only real way we’ve been playing live music recently is by playing protests.”
Shaw said he had already been to protests as a participant when a friend called him and asked him if Blvck Hippie would be interested in performing. Shaw was eager to back up his convictions with his art, and he understood how music might give protesters another source of strength. “The overwhelming feeling of consistently protesting some kind of inequality, it becomes very tiring on people,” he says. “Music is one of the things that can make everybody feel that everything is going to be okay.”
And, the singer says, everyone did their best to be safe and take precautions to mitigate the potential spread of the virus. People “kept to the bubble of who they came with,” Shaw says, noting that he and his drummer live together — and that it was nice to have enough distance on the makeshift stage that he didn’t have to worry about being hit in the head with a bass stock. Protesters wore masks and kept to their groups, Shaw remembers, and performers brought their own microphones. In the end, Shaw says, the cause is an all-important one.
Blvck Hippie perform at Memphis City Hall.
Shaw continues: “It’s really hard not to feel helpless and feel like you have no control over anything. Even to the point where it’s like I can’t control whether I live or die due to police brutality, or any of my family members or anybody I’m close to. It’s crippling the feeling of not having control,” he explains. “And being able to use the one thing that you have close to yourself, which is music, that’s all I love to do and want to do. And being able to use that as a voice for me and other people like me, made me feel like I had a little bit of control. It was an amazing feeling.”
The musician says it was affirming, too, to get to support Black live with his music. Shaw creates in a genre overwhelmingly populated by white artists, and he says, it felt good to associate his music with this cause. “Getting to play protests was really cool,” he says, “because the genre of music I do isn’t really considered by mainstream media outlets as being ‘Black.’ So it’s nice to be able to do something empowering Black people by playing the music I am. There were a bunch of little Black kids one time we played a protest. They were all in front being really excited, super jazzed up. It’s really cool getting to show them, ‘Hey, man, Black art is just anything a Black person does that’s art.’”
Memphis-based indie rock band Blvck Hippie released one of the catchiest Memphis-made songs in recent memory a little over one year ago, in January 2019.
“Hotel Lobby,” from the Blvck Hippie EP, opens with a drum shuffle followed by a descending bass line; when the piano and whining guitars hit, it’s already obvious the band has neo-soul arrangements on lockdown. And it just gets better from there.
Blvck Hippie, fronted by Josh Shaw, 24, has toured in support of the EP, undergone multiple lineup changes, and is currently working on new material. After seeing the new lineup at work at a concert at the Lamplighter Lounge, I called Shaw, who was cooking vegan pasta sauce at the time, to find out what was in store for Blvck Hippie.
The band will perform at Philly’s Got-You-Covered Fest in Cooper-Young on Saturday, January 25th, and at Pagan Mom House with Sun Not Yellow, Madd Well, Wednesday, January 29th, at 8 p.m. But that’s not all that Blvck Hippie has up its sleeve.
It’s no understatement to say that Shaw has immersed himself in music of late. He works at the School of Rock performance academy and is studying recording at the University of Memphis. He already has a music industry degree from Lambuth University. Of course, that’s when he’s not writing, recording, rehearsing, and performing with Blvck Hippie, a band that grew out of Shaw’s solo shows and demo tapes.
“Toward the end of my senior year of college I started being a little more open with sharing the music I’d been writing,” Shaw says. “I was pretty private about it at first, recording a lot in my room and in the studio on campus and keeping it to myself.”
Josh Shaw
So, after spending some time in Toronto, Canada, with his brother, Shaw decided to double down on making music. He moved back to Memphis from Jackson and bought some new gear. “I got a better electric guitar and a looper pedal,” he says.
After being booked at a festival, Shaw put together a band. “I decided January of 2018, that whole year was going to be only band shows,” he explains. Of course, the band would need a name. “I was a very weird, eccentric child, so my mom used to call me her little black hippie,” Shaw explains. He says he thought, “So I’ll just use that.”
With a name and a full roster, Blvck Hippie released its self-titled EP on January 1, 2019. That four-song example of indie-pop perfection was recorded at Young Avenue Sound with Calvin Lauber, and for a year, the band toured and played locally in support of it.
In addition to the excellent arrangements, the EP, along with the rest of Blvck Hippie’s music, is characterized by Shaw’s open and honest lyrics. Just as the songwriter who used to record in his room had struggled taking his songs public, he was unsure about being so open in his songwriting. But he had taken strength from the art of confessional songwriters when he needed it, and he was inspired by their example. “If I’m that open and honest, then I can help somebody else who might be going through a rough time,” Shaw says.
Blvck Hippie faced a new challenge when Blake Galloway, the band’s second guitarist, moved to Colorado. Shaw explains, “After losing a band member who was one of the founding members [I had to] reevaluate everything and [say], ‘What is it about us that I like? And what is it about us that can change and improve?’”
Shaw continues: “Every time somebody leaves, you feel like, ‘Aw, man, why did I even let this person into my heart? I should have just stayed solo.’ But I decided to embrace it as much as I can. Writing, arranging, recording — I do all the cooking of it, but if you don’t allow other people to throw seasoning in it, you might end up with a bland dish and not know it because you’re the only one who tasted it.”
Blvck Hippie
For the moment, the band is a trio — guitar, bass, and drums, but plans are in the works to add keyboards, trumpet, and euphonium. “Once everything hits the fan, you have to sit down and figure out why you’re still doing this,” Shaw says, explaining that he decided forced lineup changes were, from one perspective, just an excuse to build on what he likes in the group.
The two upcoming house concerts are on par for Blvck Hippie’s indie (as in “independent”) aesthetic. Shaw says he has made merchandise at his parents house, and the band’s self-titled EP was self-funded as well. “It’s something that’s done out of necessity,” Shaw admits. There are benefits, though, to an indie approach. “It’s a culture that embraces the different and weird,” Shaw says. “So you just automatically feel comfortable no matter what happens. You’re like, ‘Hey, I know this is an intimate setting and everybody’s here just to enjoy the experience. If I break a string, if I sing the wrong note, everything’s okay.’”
Blvck Hippie performs at Philly’s Got-You-Covered Fest at 1054 Philadelphia Street in Cooper-Young on Saturday, January 25th, at 8 p.m.; and at Pagan Mom House with Sun Not Yellow, Madd Well, Wednesday, January 29th, at 8 p.m.
