Show Review: Lonnie Walker

Vintage 21, Raleigh
December 20, 2008

Approaching the doors my expectation was to watch a rock show in the foreign surroundings of a warehouse district night spot dressed up as a progressive Christian church. What I found was a space remodeled and re-fit as a performance venue with very few overtones of the cloth. A Non-denominational contemporary Christian church, Vintage 21, now occupies the space best known for its former tenant, Jillian's, and organizes events such as rock concerts under its sub lease arrangement v21 Productions. Within the brick walls that once held the massive game room sports bar, pool tables have yielded way to a concert room floor with a mixed - seating in the rear, standing room at the stage - type of arrangement. The former bar area, which I secretly hoped would provide for a small nostalgia fix, has crumbled away in favor of a grand riser style stage which prominently draws the eyes. As I stepped through the propped open double doors into the darkened stage room, a crowd of 500 plus was dancing to The Never's closing song. The grandeur of the room was smartly alluring and its energy engaging, I was remiss that I arrived later and would only catch the final two acts of the four act bill.

Headlining the event in both billing and order was the dually residing Raleigh/Greenville group Lonnie Walker. Lonnie Walker's colorfully old-fashioned story telling back drops a combustible mix of Dillon-esque 60's era folk rock and very hip indy twang. Well written and well composed, their one-liner intensive lyrics match with easy and comfortable grooves for music you listen to on Saturday night, and then "hear" on Sunday as the metaphors tumble around in your head collecting meaning before becoming entwined in your greater understanding of life, love, and letting go. With their elemental presence and swagger on stage, one would believe Lonnie Walker indigenous to a region where microphones and guitars occur as an element of nature and folk music is the native tongue.

Lonnie Walker's performance drew upon the energy of a committed crowd of followers who sang along to every lyric. With a showing of skill and musicianship, Lonnie Walker treated us to a cover of Greenville connection cult classic synth monster Future Islands whose stark, dire, distressed sounds are the essence of unique and until Saturday night, considered by most as unreplicable.

With an early to start and early to finish show, some of us retreated down the street to a small bar to see the night through. The humor of the moment was, "hey, now we don't have to go to church tomorrow, we already went." The obvious contrast behind the joke was the passively presented and multi-purposed V21 whose clean lines and dark format provided an enjoyable room to see a great show and left us wondering how exactly a church holds sermon at a markedly live music oriented venue.

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Next on the calendar for v21 Productions is a true-to-form culturally diverse booking of regional pro wrestling Gouge Pro Wrestling on 1/9/2009. I'm going by the way; I absolutely have to see this.

The avant-garde "happening" seen in the above image at the right end of this broadly shouldered stage holding Sunfold's Kenny Florence underscored the creativity of Terpsikhore Record's art/music mash-up showcase at the culturally varied and urbanly tethered Vintage 21 Saturday night. With the intention for art to occupy the environment both on stage and off, the blank canvass of v21's sharp black space proved a welcoming choice.

More Images from Saturday Night:

Lonnie Walker








the happening




Vintage 21 images

as I walk through the valley of darkness I will keep my eyes closed...

Vintage 21 - front end

The sparsely arranged white walls of the venues brightly lit front end catch a municipal art-exhibit feel.

MAX Indian CD Release Party in Pictures

Local 506, Chapel Hill
December 13, 2008

If Local 506 sells out of PBR during a CD release party it's usually not because they forgot to stock the fridge and more likely because the releaser’s followers came out in force of numbers to celebrate. That said, the image above was taken just before MAX Indian took stage, and just after High Life stepped in to fill the vacuum left by a rapidly depleted PBR supply. Enjoy the pictures!

To make an on-line purchase of MAX Indian, You Can Go Anywhere, Do Anything, follow this link: buy CD

MAX Indian

The Old Ceremony

The last two PBR's and an acceptable alternative

DJ Steph Ross

The Love Language

crowded at the stage

Show Review: Wembley

BCHQ, Durham
December 6, 2008

Saturday night's modest crowd of two dozen was given room to stretch their arms and minds as the narrow murky walls of Durham's eclectic Bull City Head Quarters were shoved apart by a performance by Wembley so robust and lusty that attentions were blinded to all surroundings. With compulsively bouncy piano rhythms and disarming melodies, this Hillsborough indy outfit is a sleeper band that is ready for the alarm clock to go off.

There is a worldly quality to this group, if not from the successfully demonstrated British pop undertones, then from song writing that draws on introspection and entirety. The masterful application of vocal effects through a minimal PA arrangement turned a small venue into a large stage just on presence alone. Venturing so far from the straight forward norm of a dry mic and a hot guitar, there was a sense that this music was made beyond the influence of our localized indy rock fingerprint.

Just as it is heard on the CD-R handed out after the show, Elizabeth Hull's softly antiqued voice breezed in like wind-chill accentuating the lofty ring of Neven Carswell's cool crisp Thom Yorke-like vocals, so beautifully balanced it was as though they were singing to each other rather than harmonizing for the microphones. Elizabeth Hammond's blending of a grainy traditional drum set with a poppy synth drum pad was as entertaining to watch as was it to listen to and underscored the band's bravery for the unique while Tracy Sumner's expressionless shoegaze bass strumming further promoted a sense of invasion music. This is a local group that could step onto the world stage with none the wiser that they aren't from London or Glasgow.

It would appear that the faithful caught the last Wembley show of the year on Saturday but as their myspace blog suggests, they may be retreating to record a few more songs before they reappear in February at The Pinhook.

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Images from Saturday night:

Wembley at BCHQ 12-6-08


Neven and Tracy after the show


Elizabeth's drum kit and synth pad

Sequoya: Sleep and Dream of Fire

purchase from CD Baby

Once I wrote a song about going to jail. It was a minor keyed emo tale about strife and troubles that I thought to be pretty clever. After playing it for a friend the response came, "so what personal experience are you drawing from?" Seeing as I have never been to jail nor have I even committed a jailable offense, there was none. So why favor a fictional tale rather than draw from a painful bag of my true misfortunes? My lesson was found in the vulnerability and damage exposed on Sleep and Dream of Fire, the latest album from Sequoya. This album comes to terms with wounds that will never heal and broken questions which have no answer. Bonnie and Matthew have spilled their hearts upon the table and asked us, "What color is the blood?" There is no anthem to be found here, just true-to-form folk music that pairs the listener with the artist and hikes an emotional trail of guarded fears and troubled memories. This is mature songwriting that has the guts to reach deep into a bag of pain and pull forth the stories, none of which by the way, are about a fictitious trip to jail.

The importance of this album reaches further than just listing Sequoya's artistic address. It is also significant to the Durham independent DIY music culture. With the self described "DIY Musicians Collective" Subdivision 67 and "local to Durham DIY Indie Label" 307 Knox Records promoting a local DIY infrastructure, the trampled grass of a lawn the morning following an open invitation house party showcasing a full bill of Durham DIY acts, and the rising frequency of minimalist DIY and duo bands booking headlining positions in local shows, the signs of a billowing new DIY music culture in Durham stands unobstructed. Sequoya successfully employing minimalist and DIY techniques to record, produce, and promote Sleep and Dream of Fire is a victory for the movement in that it stands as further proof that it posesses tangible, sustainable, and desirable qualities.

To mobilize a following as I am describing, the first component is music that inspires. Sequoya masters a technique of story telling through music and song that uses metaphor to put the listener in the shoes of the artist and draws upon common ground in order for the listener to relate. No better example of this metaphorical story telling than on "Satellite" which compares estranged love to a hunk of metal in space or the "My Father" lyrics "When my father left for space, I was not awake" painfully describing a father who walked out on an expecting mother. By the way, this song and "Cosmonauts Wife" seem to be the same story told from two different perspectives, a surprising and delightful energy from a talented songwriter. I suggest listening to these one after the other and make your own conclusion. Sequoya proves that DIY doesn't mean simple and terse also. There is art found in the arrangement and recording technique of this album. The elaborate layers of harmonies found in "Rocket" represent a track that could have been mulled over by a team of studio engineers, a rare quality for DIY recording.

Bonnie's blog on blogspot, "I'm so happy that it's done, but after completing a project there is a sadness that goes along with the joy. I chalk it up to nervousness and the uncertainty of what's to come, but that's the fun part" strikes me as the dissonance created in the anticipation of a response, not unlike the combination of fear and excitement of saying "I Love You" for the first time and panning for the same words to be returned. With a fresh and meaningful album to fuel live performance and a eagerly growing local music scene to fill out the schedule, the response could be overwhelming. The Pinhook hosts Sequoya's official CD Release party for Sleep and Dream of Fire on Saturday December 6, 2008.

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Show Review: I Was Totally Destroying It

Duke Coffee House, Durham
December 1, 2008

If I Was Totally Destroying It ever had a jam session sizing up one another's abilities and searching for a sign for why they should make music together, the uncommon balance of drive and control found in the vocal harmonies of John Booker and Rachel Hirsh on the super contagious "Hey Alright" had to be the sound they heard and aspired to evolve. The separation between wall-of-sound versus listenable loud garage rock is found in the dynamics of a band playing full-tilt together as opposed to going ape for forty-five minutes in their own corner of the stage. The unique register of John and Rachel's blended vocals, the throaty growl of a matched pair of American Telecasters playing as a single instrument, and the surge of a complimenting and cohesive synth, bass, and drums are the dynamics that I found highly listenable from this loud garage rock band at Duke Coffee House last night.



As I can readily demonstrate should an unsuspecting relative or neighbor mistakenly wander into my music room and say, "hey, let me hear you play something," anyone can plug an electric guitar into a tube amp and blow somebody's head off. The difference between "anyone" playing a guitar and an artist using the instrument to create a desired tone is in the nuances of how the guitar, pedals, and amps are set up and dialed in. One glance at the pedal board that feeds John Booker's amp tells a story of a man eating, sleeping, and living guitar tone.



The warm buzzing brown sound of John's tele last night was material witness that the obsession has not been for not. Add an elaborate melding with the draconic ripping of Curtis Armstead's Orange fed tele and there is further proof that with these two, there is more than meets the eye. Far from the traditional rhythm guitar/lead guitar approach, Curtis and John are both all over the neck, all the time. Seemingly one starts a riff and the other finishes it. Watching the full set I don't believe I witnessed a single traditional chord being strummed the entire night, but rather two guitars making tone bigger than either could alone.

"Hat's off to I Destroyed It," said Jordan Jeffares of Atlanta indy phenom Snowden who as he said it, knew that he was "totally destroying" the name of their local based opener. Smirks grew around the room but fortunately no beer cans were released at the stage. He may have missed the name but the gesture was genuine, IWTDI opened a small Monday show on a cold night and brought the heat. With the subtleties of their louds and softs that mold a unique brand of garage rock, it isn't a stretch of the imagination to visualize IWTDI on a much larger stage outside on a warm summer evening soon.

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