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Listings are in the opposite order of appearance: headliner is listed at the top, next is the support band(s), and the last band listed is the opener.


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Friday October 5 2018
  8:30PM doors -- music at 9:00PM
 
•••  ALL AGES
$13 in advance / $15 at the door
The Weeks
theweeksmusic.com/
 Southern rock
H.A.R.D.
soundcloud.com/havearadday
 Heavy Rock
Blue Oaks
www.blueoaksmusic.com/
 blues rock


The Weeks
Uel Dee - Guitar, Vocals
Cyle Bones - Vocals
Cain Cobra - Drums
Dee Bone - Bass
-from Jackson, MS/Nashville,TN

-High-energy, Rowdy, Raucous, Longhair Mississippi Glam Rock.

That's the sound of Easy, The Week's long-awaited followup to their breakthrough album, Dear Bo Jackson. Recorded at Ardent Studios in Memphis — a place filled with the ghosts (and gear) of the Replacements, ZZ Top, and Big Star, all of whom traveled to Ardent to create their own landmark albums — Easy finds The Weeks doubling down on a mix of groove, grit, and guitars. It's swaggering and sharply-focused, shining new light on a band of brothers who, although still in their mid-20s, have already logged a decade's worth of sweaty gigs together.

If Easy bears resemblance to the raw, rowdy attitude of the The Weeks' live show, it's because the album was written at the end of a busy, five-year period that found the group rarely leaving the road.

"We moved to Nashville in 2010," remembers frontman Cyle Barnes, who formed the band in Jackson, Mississippi, with his three longtime bandmates: drummer (and twin brother) Cain Barnes, guitarist Sam Williams, and bass player Damien Bone. "We spent 2011 to 2015 touring. November 2015 was the first time we ever spent an entire month in Nashville."

Those years on the road were eye-opening for The Weeks, all of whom were just teenagers when they began playing together in 2006. By their early 20s, the guys were touring Europe with Kings of Leon, promoting the newly-released Dear Bo Jackson in front of 20,000 people each night. Back in America, The Weeks continued playing their own club shows, too. The experience taught them how to bridge the gap between arena shows and smaller gigs. In short, it taught them how to be themselves, no matter the audience.

Appropriately, Easy consolidates the band's strengths. While the songs on 2013's Dear Bo Jackson were thick with horn arrangements, strings, and guest appearances, Easy is a leaner, louder beast. The Weeks began working on its 11 tracks after returning home from a long tour and taking some time to rest, reflect, and regroup. Newly energized, they began writing songs at Sam and Damien's home in Nashville, with Cyle and Williams splitting the bulk of the songwriting duties. The whole process relied on collaboration, with the full band fleshing out the newer songs.

"Everyone would come to the house, make food, hang out, and play music 'til four in the morning," Williams remembers. "We wrote 25 songs, then picked our favorites for the final tracklist.

Easy is driving and direct, captured in punchy sound by producer Paul Ebersold. The goal was to clear out any unnecessary clutter, focusing instead on The Weeks' biggest strengths: the elastic power of Cyle's voice, capable of a crooning drawl one minute and a roof-raising howl the next; the range of Sam's guitar playing, from Motown-influenced chord stabs to garage-rock blasts of sound; and the interlocking rhythms of Damien and Cain. They threw some curveballs into the mix, too, riding a lovely, lazy, organ-heavy groove on the southern soul song "Hands on the Radio" and punctuating songs like "Ike" with a small horn section. Along the way, they made good use the studio's vintage gear, finding room on a handful of songs for Elvis Presley's microphone, Big Star's snare drum, the "Green Onions" organ from Booker T. & the M.G.'s.

"We said, 'If we can do this song in five chords, let's do it,'" says Sam. "That way, whenever the curveballs do happen, they mean a lot. We focused on the songs first, and then we added stuff, as long as it didn't harm the energy or the groove. We wanted to pick our moments better."

Inspired by the real-life characters, places, and stories The Weeks encountered on tour, Easy is a record about where the band has been, as well as a sign of where they're going. "I wanted the stories to be real — a little dark, maybe — but I wanted them to be redeeming, too," says Cyle, who began turning the stories into proper songs once the tour ended. He tossed some personal tales into the mix, too, with songs like the autobiographical "Gold Doesn't Rust" focusing on the joy of plugging in, tuning up and rocking out.

"We just wanted to make a rock record," adds Damien, shrugging his shoulders at the simplicity of it all. The Weeks earned their road warrior credentials years ago, but they've never defined their ambition — or the wide range of their abilities — this clearly before.

And speaking of simple…what's the deal with that album title?

"We called it Easy because every time I make music with these guys, it's easy," says Cain, who has spent more than a third of his life as a member of The Weeks. "It feels good. But the other side of it is, there's nothing easy about being in a band. There's nothing easy about staying together for 10 years and still wanting to make music. We have the hardest and easiest job on the planet. But it works for us."




H.A.R.D.
-from Nashville, TN
-Sometimes you just need some heavy, intense rock to help get any bottled-up energy out. Hailing from Nashville, TN, rockers H.A.R.D (the acronym stands for "have a rad day") are out with their debut single, "Bellyacher," and it's a song that helps you do just that. Produced by Jordan Smith of Diarrhea Planet and featuring guest vocals from Cyle Barnes, the song's riotous energy is created with harmonizing guitars and clashing drums. And if that's not enough, the singer shouting "I don't give a fuck!" is cathartic enough in itself.

"'Bellyacher' was the first track Daniel and Thomas started working on after a couple years of not writing together," the group told us. "The heavy intro really got us excited to try this new vision we had for this new band. The lyrics originally started about a stressed friendship, but Thomas wanted to try something different and tell an interesting story. The story ended up being about the band being abducted by aliens and Tom Delonge saving them. Thomas is a huge Ancient Aliens and UFO buff and grew up listening to Blink-182 so it only felt right to pay homage to a fellow alien enthusiast."

They continued, "We chose 'Bellyacher' as our single because it's rowdy, has sweet guitar harmonies that we love so much, and also has guest vocals from our good buddy Cyle Barnes from The Weeks, who have taken us out on quite a few shows already this year."



Blue Oaks
Brendan Stone - Vocal/Guitar
Cody Walker - Drums
Stephen Hendry - Guitar
Seneca Barr - Keys
-from Folsom, CA

-Blue Oaks is an American folk/indie/rock project fronted by Brendan Stone founded in 2007.

Brendan has been described as one of “Certain singer-songwriters who soak up so many influences that they transcend genres.” Through infusing his love of lyrical folk music, porch blues, alternative and rock music, from solo singer-songwriter, to a full band that once had upright bass and even a musical saw player, down to just a duo at times with Cody Walker on Drums, Blue Oaks has taken many forms in it’s over 10 year span.

Working with producer Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Joyce Manor) Blue Oaks self released a debut vinyl "Hit By A Train From New York City Blues” on December 7th, 2013.

Stone made a move to Austin, TX in 2014. With a storybook of songs in tote spanning his life from 2005-2014. Studio sessions for a debut full length album began between Texas and California in January of that year.

Through numerous incarnations from home reel to reel demos to session work throughout 2015, songs took final form when Brendan moved back home to Sacramento in early 2016. Gaining a full band lineup to span tracks of the new LP, with Cody Walker on drums and Seneca Barr on keys “To Be Kind is Sin” was finished at Gold Standard Sounds in Sacramento with producer/mixing guru Matt McDermott at the helm in December of 2016.

“To Be Kind is Sin” was released in October of 2017. Expertly mastered by Emily Lazar, Chris Allgood at The Lodge NYC (Brand New, The Shins, Foo Fighters, Morrissey)