Jesse Roper + Pressing Strings
AGE RESTRICTION: Only Ages 21+ can purchase tickets for this show. NO REFUNDS/EXCHANGES for anyone underage who purchases or attempts to use these tickets. Doors: 7:00 PM Show: 7:30 PMJesse RoperBased in Victoria, BC, Jesse Roper is a blues/Americana artist with a penchant for writing modern indie-infused blues music and delivering bombastic live performances buoyed by his virtuosic guitar playing. His innate and impressive musical talent has served him well, giving him the flexibility to play with soul icon Booker T. Jones, rock veteran Colin James, blues belter Beth Hart, and Canadian legend Burton Cummings. The stage is where Roper shines. It has been his home since overcoming crippling stage fright during his early twenties. Fear is a part of Roper’s past that barely seems real today – especially when you see the in-concert image of a six-string soldier, hair matted to his face, tearing up the stage, without a hint of second-guessing. Roper’s last album ‘Horizons’ marked a sonic high point in his career thus far. Working closely with famed JUNO-nominated producer Gus van Go (Metric, The Stills, Whitehorse, Arkells, The Trews, Sam Roberts) on that new collection of songs has pushed Roper into creating some of his best work. “Recording with Gus and Werner F was on a whole new level. Roper released the first single off his upcoming LP (to be released in late 2023) “Make It All Work Out” on March 29th, 2023. The song charted on Canadian terrestrial and satellite radio throughout the spring and early summer. Now all eyes are on the next release, “Throw This Rope” produced by Gus van Go (Metric, Whitehorse, Sam Roberts Band). The song will be the second of multiple energetic, fresh, soulful and r&b inspired tracks from a forthcoming LP that harkens the voices of JJ Cale, The Teskey Brothers, Ben Harper and others – while maintaining Roper’s strong and unique expression in the genre. When asked to describe the song, Jesse remarks, “Throw This Rope is about being told how to run your life and career by folks who are currently running theirs aground. I sure don’t know everything and I never will but I’ve been given every manner of advice from folks who have no idea what they’re talking about. It’s frustrating sometimes.”Pressing StringsWhen music is given the benefit of instinct, imagination and inspiration, the results are guaranteed to be good. So it ought to come as no surprise that the critically-acclaimed Annapolis Maryland-based trio, appropriately dubbed Pressing Strings, has infused those elements within their musical mantra from the beginning. The band — Jordan Sokel (Guitar/Vocals), Nick Welker (Bass, Vocals), and Justin Kruger (Drums, Vocals) can trace its origins to Sokel’s initial fascination with some iconic influences, among them, the usual suspects — Dylan, Marley, Simon, Withers, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Led Zeppelin, etc., as well as some more under the radar artists like Taj Mahal, R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, and Nick Drake. Fascination became fulfillment once he picked up the guitar and started writing songs. That’s when his course became clear. After growing up in New Jersey and Arizona, he eventually moved to Arnold, Maryland to attend high school and eventually university at Salisbury University. However once there, he found he began having doubts about his career choice. That’s when he made it his mission to pursue his musical muse. Still in college, he formed Pressing Strings with one of his buddies.
Scott H. Biram ~ Driftwood Soldier
AGE RESTRICTION: Only Ages 21+ can purchase tickets for this show. NO REFUNDS/EXCHANGES for anyone underage who purchases or attempts to use these tickets. Doors: 7:00 PM Show: 8:00 PMScott H. BiramScott H. Biram, a proud Texan raised on the outskirts of Austin, is a maverick in the tradition of Doug Sahm, Roky Erickson (13th Floor Elevators) and Gibby Haines (Butthole Surfers). Shortly after releasing his third record (2003’s Lo-Fi Mojo), the 28-year-old’s life was nearly cut short after a near-fatal head-on collision with a big rig semi. He was still bedridden when he made his Rehabilitation Blues EP, the predecessor to his 2005 debut for Bloodshot Records, The Dirty Old One Man Band. Flash forward to 2022. After almost thirty years of tirelessly writing, recording and touring the front and backroads of America as a solo bluesman, collecting a wide array of critical accolades, Biram found himself suddenly stopped cold by the pandemic. Once again, unwilling to allow outsized forces slow him down, he took advantage of the shutdown to write, record and produce nine new songs and two traditional covers for his new album, The One & Only Scott H. Biram, his 13th overall and 9th for Bloodshot Records. “I’m constantly trying to go back to the junky, lo-fi sounds of my early records,” says Biram. “But it’s harder to do now. The more you learn about production, the harder it is to convey that genuine unproduced feeling. I have to compromise between overproduced and lo-fi, so it sounds pro, but still keeps that grittiness.” “I tend to be all over the place. My brain’s restless. If something interests me, I’ll write a song about it. I have a kinda rootsy, blue collar approach with blues, country and folk, but I always throw in some of my heavier influences from metal and hard rock. I consider myself a singer and guitarist, above everything else.” The music on The One and Only Scott H. Biram has the down home, in-your-face feel that Biram is noted for. “No Man’s Land” opens with a blues turnaround played on a twanging electric guitar, backed by a stomping bass and drum backbeat. Biram growls out a lyric, describing the hazards of growing up poor in a small Texas town, breathing the fumes from oil wells and brush fires. “I was remembering a bumper sticker I saw as a kid that said, ‘Oil Field Trash and Proud of It!’” Driftwood SoldierDriftwood Soldier isn’t your average mandolin-bass foot-stomping gutter-folk duo. Growling and crooning, muttering about lost love, brimstone, and the glorious view from the underside of a rusty world order, Owen holds the rhythm on mandolin and foot percussion. To his left, Bobby stretches bass notes into lyrical vines that vibrate somewhere north of your liver and flower unexpectedly at night. This is the kind of roots music that grows through the cracks in a West Philly sidewalk and drinks its rainwater laced with motor oil. Their second full-length album, Stay Ahead of the Wolf, arrived late in 2019. It was produced with Erin McKeown and mixed by Grammy winner Ted Hutt. Unfazed by a world in disarray, Stay Ahead of the Wolf crawled up onto its four legs and went barrelling through the digital ether, carrying with it this strange beast’s howl.https://driftwoodsoldier.com
Patrick Sweany ~ Anthony Revolta
*All events are 21+ valid ID required for entry*7 PM Doors7:30 PM ShowPATRICK SWEANY likes the spaces in between. On a given night (or on a given album) he’ll swing through blues, folk, soul, bluegrass, maybe some classic 50s rock, or a punk speedball. He’s a musical omnivore, devouring every popular music sound of the last 70 years, and mixing ’em all together seamlessly into his own stew. Yet, the one thing that most people notice about Patrick isn’t his ability to copy – it’s his authenticity. Like his heroes, folks like Bobby “Blue” Bland, Eddie Hinton, Doug Sahm, Joe Tex, Patrick somehow manages to blend all of these influences into something all his own. It’s no wonder that as a kid he immersed himself in his dad’s extensive record collection: 60s folk, vintage country, soul, and, of course, blues. Patrick spent hours teaching himself to fingerpick along to Leadbelly, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and other folk-blues giants. In his late teens, Patrick began playing the clubs and coffeehouses around Kent, OH. He quickly gained a reputation for the intricate country blues style he was developing: part Piedmont picking, part Delta slide – with an equally impressive deep, smooth vocal style. Now, twenty years, six critically acclaimed records and one massively viral song (“Them Shoes”) later, Patrick Sweany has expanded his touring radius to 49 states, Canada, and Europe, both headlining and supporting acts such as The Black Keys, Tedeschi Trucks, The Wood Brothers, Hot Tuna, and others on tour. Latest record, Ancient Noise (a title lifted from fellow NE Ohio musicians Devo), was recorded to tape at legendary Phillips Recording in Memphis with GRAMMY-winning producer/engineer Matt Ross-Spang at the helm. It features the incredible backing talents of Ken Coomer on drums (ex-WILCO), Ted Pecchio on bass (Susan Tedeschi, Col. Bruce Hampton), and Charles Hodges from Al Green’s Hi Rhythm Section on keyboards.ANTHONY REVOLTA (of CTHULU MARTINI)https://linktr.ee/cthulhumartini