Tag: Murphy’s

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Manateees at Murphy’s

CREDIT: Josh Miller

Those familiar with the Memphis underground music scene need no introduction to Abe White. A fixture of the Midtown punk community for more than 15 years, White has played drums in the Oscars, True Sons of Thunder, and Sector Zero, just to name a few. He also fronts the incredibly authentic Alice Cooper tribute band founded by Jack Oblivian. In addition to playing in those groups, White also serves as songwriter and front man for the Manateees (yes, there are three E’s), a group that once boasted almost 10 members, but now performs as a three piece.

Josh Miller

Self-described as “a walk through Abe’s nightmares,” it’s understandable that the Manateees have taken the alienate-the-audience approach to punk music. White’s disdain for just about everything makes for some good song-writing material, and the Manateees have singles on punk labels across the country to prove it. In the latest Manateees single, “Hate on Parade” (out this spring on Total Punk Records), White tackles all the things he sees wrong with Memphis, and there’s a lot he’s unhappy with. But while the Manateees might seem intimidating, their music is approachable. It’s classic Memphis garage punk, with all the right guitar stabs and a pummeling rhythm section.

Rich Crook, another Memphis native, who played in the Reatards, Lost Sounds, and Knaughty Knights, will join the Manateees at Murphy’s Friday with his band Lover. White played drums for Lover on a European tour, solidifying the idea that every punk band out of Memphis shares members. But the Manateees’ and Lover’s music couldn’t be more different. The Manateees conjure up frightening blasts of punk rock; Lover rely on the power-pop hook, with songs about heartache, death, and a couple of other things not fit for print. – Chris Shaw

Manateees with Unwed Teenage Mothers and Lover at Murphy’s, Friday, February 21st, 7 p.m., $5.

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The Road South

New York native Richard James’ journey from the Big Apple to the Bluff City was a long one, but ultimately it has led to his emergence as a viable force in the local punk/garage-rock community.

James’ awakening as a musician occurred during the late 1960s in the New York City borough of Queens, where as a kid he discovered rock-and-roll.

“Two records really affected me,” James says. “The first was Led Zeppelin IV, the other was Bill Haley’s ‘Rock Around the Clock.’ It was right there with those two that I caught the sickness of loving rock music.”

At the age of 18, James enlisted in the army and relocated to Fort Campbell, Kentucky. And then in 1985, after three years of service, he migrated to Nashville and developed an affinity for Southern hospitality and live performance.

“New York was a very jaded place at that time,” he says. “It was not a place to explore one’s self or experiment musically. It was just way too competitive. There was a certain sense that you had to be weirder than weird, which is not me.

“One night in Nashville I was at a bar watching a touring band play, and they had a meltdown on stage,” James recalls. “The guitar player threw his guitar down in the middle of the set and walked off. I had had a few drinks and jumped up on stage and started playing guitar with them, even though I didn’t really know how. It was an epiphany for me.”

From that point on, James committed himself fully to playing guitar and writing songs, honing in on a sound equally influenced by classic punk rock and American roots music. Along the way, he also moved back to New York for a time, met and married fellow musician and songwriter Anne Schorr (the pair played around the New York area in the early to mid-’90s as the Broken Chains), and eventually resettled in Tennessee once and for all in 1997.

His current project, Richard James & the Special Riders, was formed in Nashville in 2004 and from the onset featured contributions from a rotating cast of backing musicians, including Schorr, onetime Memphian Marty Linville (Pisshorse), Jason Frazier, and former Tin Machine guitarist Reeves Gabrels. While in Nashville, the group produced several recordings, including the excellent debut LP Music for People Who Been Wrong(ed).

By 2006, however, James and Schorr had grown weary of the Nashville music scene and decided to roll the dice and take up shop in Memphis.

“I just found Nashville to be too sterile,” James says. “People in Memphis are more engaged in the local music scene and seem to like music more generally. It’s messed up, in a good way, and community-oriented — like New York was in the ’70s.”

Since coming to town, James has collaborated with several of the scene’s most noteworthy musicians, including Ross Johnson (Panther Burns, Alex Chilton), Jake and Toby Vest (The Third Man, The Bulletproof Vests), Patrick Glass (Noise Choir), and Marcus Battle, among others, as the Special Riders. At any given show, the group is composed of various combinations of local players behind James and (most of the time) Schorr.

“Richard has such a strong musical identity, other people just naturally fall in line,” Schorr says. “Despite the changes in lineup, the sound has become more consistent over the years.”

Late last year, James and company began laying down tracks at the Vest brothers’ local studio facility, Hi/Lo Recording, for what would become the group’s newest effort, The Hi, The Lo, The Night Life. As with previous efforts by Richard James & the Special Riders, the record explores familiar roots-punk territory but with a slightly more laid-back and twangy edge, largely thanks to the nimble lead guitar work of Jake Vest.

“Jake’s a great guitar player, because he doesn’t just impose his will on a song. He really listens,” James says. “All of the guys I play with now have that trait. They play for the music. They put their asses on the line and do what’s best for the song.”

This Friday night, Richard James & the Special Riders will celebrate the release of The Hi, The Lo, The Night Life with a special show at Murphy’s featuring an expanded lineup.

“We’ll have three guitars, maybe a couple of different drummers,” James says. “It’s going to be a fun show.”

http://www.myspace.com/rjames6

Richard James & the Special Riders Record Release Show, with Chinamen, Dream Team, and Allen Morrison

Murphy’s

Friday, February 25th

10 p.m.; $5

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Music Music Features

Bringing the Scene Together

CREDIT: Dan Drinkard

The Memphis rap and hip-hop scene is thought of nationally in terms of Three 6 Mafia, Yo Gotti, and 8Ball & MJG, all roughly similar artists. But the scene has grown more diverse — and, as a consequence, more fragmented — in the past decade.

This weekend, Friday, January 14th through Sunday, January 16th, independent promoter Kaviar Lewis seeks to put the spotlight on the local scene by bringing artists from different strands of the Memphis hip-hop scene together for three showcases at three local venues in a self-described “unification summit” dubbed “Mic Check.”

“I started to see the same people [at every show] and wanted to reach out,” Lewis says. “I made it a point to slowly start integrating the scene. Lots of guys are sitting at home making record after record and no one is seeing them. And I don’t care how many Facebook friends and YouTube hits you have, you have to be able to get onstage and move the crowd. Be an MC. That’s what it’s about.”

A quick primer on the schedule concerts:

Friday

The lineup Friday night at the Center for Southern Folklore was designed to “show the diversity of the hip-hop scene,” according to Lewis. A couple of the acts are more tangentially rap-related.

Artistik Approach, which pairs recent transplants Brandon Tolson (East St. Louis) and Siphne Sylve (New Orleans), incorporates R&B elements, doo-wop, and human beat box in a vocal-based style that, based on what I’ve seen and heard, is more lively than the band’s rather stiff name. And solo artist Ify is a Memphian of Nigerian descent whose music stands at the intersection of rock, pop, reggae, and R&B. Her look and style is reminiscent of Santogold.

Artistik Approach and Ify will share the stage with three more conventional rap acts. Knowledge Nick is a University of Memphis student and promising pure hip-hop MC whose dexterous flow can, like a lot of self-consciously “conscious” MCs, get a little wordy at times. UndenYable is “more street-oriented, but lyrical,” according to Lewis. And rounding out the bill is Detroit transplant Promise.

Dubbed “The Hip-Hop Happy Hour,” the night will include a meet-and-greet period from 7 to 8:30 and a panel discussion with local music-industry figures from 8:30 to 10. The music starts at 10. There is no cover for this event.

Saturday

The Saturday night lineup at Young Avenue Deli is meant to be a showcase for lyrically advanced pure hip-hop acts, according to Lewis.

The highlight here might be Cities Aviv, a young MC with punk roots who has put out a series of terrific internet singles (citiesaviv.bandcamp.com) in recent months, the best of which, “Coastin’,” will be released as a seven-inch single next month by the local Fat Sandwich label.

Total Savage is an energetic young white rapper who has toured with Lord T & Eloise and opened for Girl Talk at Minglewood Hall last year. New Orleans transplant Preauxx is a promising young MC who comes across, stylistically, in much the same way as emerging Memphis hip-hop contender Skewby.

Reggie Bean is an Orange Mound rapper with a smooth flow who scored a local radio hit of sorts a year ago with “All 4 U,” which was produced by Free Sol’s Elliot Ives. “He’s the most lyrical street dude I know,” Lewis says.

Rounding out the bill are Dutchess, whom Lewis describes as a fixture on the spoken-word and battle rap scenes, and Taktix, who emerged earlier in the decade as a member of the group Poisonous Dialects and is now a veteran of the local underground hip-hop scene. Last year, Taktix, Cities Aviv, and Ify all contributed to “Pushin’ Buttons,” a single from local DJ Homework.

Music starts at 10:30 p.m. Cover is $7 for under 21 and $5 for over 21.

Sunday

The Sunday night lineup at Murphy’s is devoted to local rap crews and features longtime stalwarts the Iron Mic Coalition alongside several crews in the more traditional Memphis rap vein, including the promising young bunch Team Black Embassy, whom Lewis describes as “Iron Mic for the ghetto.” Other crews on the bill are the INM Music Group, 3MK, and The Heavy Chevvy Boyz. Showtime is 10:30 p.m. Cover is $10.

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Hard-Working Harry

“I know what it’s like to be on both sides, so I try not to overstep my bounds,” says musician/producer Harry Koniditsiotis, who has engineered sessions for Al Kapone, Lover!, True Sons of Thunder, and, most recently, Midtown groups Bloody Foot of Rock and The Devil’s Handshake at his 5 and Dime recording studio.

This month, Koniditsiotis is stepping away from the control board for a pair of high-profile gigs with his shoegazer-style pop group Twin Pilot, who, along with The Lights, open for Swervedriver‘s Adam Franklin at the Hi-Tone Café on Thursday, October 11th, then return to the Hi-Tone for an acoustic set opening for Concrete Blonde‘s Johnette Napolitano on October 29th.

“It’s funny. I almost feel like it’s ’90s revival month at the Hi-Tone,” Koniditsiotis says. “I’m a big Swervedriver fan. For me, Johnette’s like the Patti Smith of the ’90s, so I’m stoked we’ve been asked to play with people of this stature.”

On Saturday, October 13th, Koniditsiotis’ rock outfit The Turn It Offs will play Murphy’s with Oxford, Mississippi-based garage rockers The Black and Whites and Japanese punk band Gito Gito Hustler. It’s the first gig in months for the Turn It Offs, who were forced to take a hiatus after guitarist Bryan Leonard accidentally severed a finger last April.

Then on October 26th, Koniditsiotis’ band The Angel Sluts and Leonard’s group The Six String Jets will host a pre-Halloween party at Murphy’s.

Between all the live shows, Koniditsiotis is scrambling to finish a number of recording projects. “The other day, we finished the layout for a full-length the Angel Sluts have coming out on Wrecked ‘Em Records,” he says. “Twin Pilot’s also working on an album right now, although we hit a stopping point last spring and haven’t been able to finish it up. All these catastrophes keep happening, but right now, it looks like everything’s going really well.”

Acoustic music fans, rejoice: On Wednesday, October 17th, Colorado-based alt-rootsy quintet the Boulder Acoustic Society is presenting old-time banjo and Celtic music workshops, followed by a 7:30 p.m. concert at the Center for Southern Folklore‘s Folklore Store at 123 S. Main. To learn more, call 525-3655 or go to SouthernFolklore.com.

On October 19th, the Folk Alliance and the Coffee House Concert Series present four homegrown singer-songwriters — Keith Sykes, Jimmy Davis, Cory Branan, and Blair Combest — at the Church of the Holy Communion. Tickets for this sure-to-sell-out event are on sale at Fiddler’s Green Music Shop, Cat’s Music, and High Point Coffee. For more information, call 336-6275 or go to CoffeeHouseConcerts.org.

And the Memphis Acoustic Music Association will be celebrating its 10th anniversary with contemporary guitar master Richard Gilewitz, who will perform at Otherlands on November 10th. For more details, visit MamaMusic.org.

Blues news: Wander into B.B. King’s Blues Club to see Beale Street mainstays Blind Mississippi Morris or Preston Shannon, and you’ll hear one of the world’s best sound systems, newly installed by local companies Ninth Wave Audio/Visual Design and EgglestonWorks. Twenty custom speakers were designed for the nightclub and its elegant restaurant upstairs, Itta Bena, and installed last month, just in time for King himself — who is slated to appear November 8th and 9th — to test ’em out.

Clarksdale, Mississippi-based record label Cat Head Presents just released septuagenarian harmonica slinger Big George Brock‘s live debut, Live at Seventy-Five. Captured at Clarksdale’s Ground Zero Blues Club this past May, Brock ably demonstrates why interest in his career — he’s just returned from his third European jaunt this year — is at an all-time high. To learn more about the album, go to CatHead.biz.

Tickets for the Blues Foundation‘s 24th International Blues Challenge — scheduled for January 31st through February 2nd, 2008 — are already on sale via Blues.org. Last year, more than 150 amateur acts from 34 states and eight foreign countries dueled for top honors in a talent-filled competition that, says foundation executive director Jay Sieleman, is the world’s largest annual gathering of blues acts.

Hats off to Jim Dickinson: On November 1st, Dickinson will be presented with the Americana Music Association‘s Lifetime Achievement Award at Nashville’s Americana Honors & Awards show. The musician/producer will be honored for his work with artists such as Ry Cooder, the Rolling Stones, Big Star, and the Replacements, as well as his solo oeuvre, which ranges from his seminal 1972 Atlantic release Dixie Fried to last month’s Killers From Space (on Memphis International Records), an 11-song collection of obscure cover tunes paired with one deliciously irreverent original, “Morning After the Night Before.”