The Jonas Brothers are from the shore region of New Jersey. So, in effect, the Jonas Brothers are from the Jersey Shore. Its alllll starting to make sense…not really.

Tues, Aug 31^st, at the Quicken Loan Arena in Cleveland, thousands of young girls will gather to worship at the feet of the Jonas Brothers, three. Joe, Nick and Kevin are the JB and they’ve slowly been separating a generation of tweens from their disposable income with albums, t-shirts and movies.

The latest album Lines, Vines and Trying Times debuted at #1 on the Billboard chart, selling a quarter of a million cd’s just months after their previous album. Which isn’t making the reality that you have to take your kid to see the Jonas Brothers any easier.

They are handsome and here’s the kicker, actually talented. Sure their music is a bit overproduced and maybe they’re Disney byproducts and maybe we’re conditioned by “the man” to buy their slick, shiny style. Here’s the part that could irritate you even more, they’re actually really good. Nick, the youngest has released his own solo album to a frothing swirl of adoring fans. It wasn’t outstanding, but it was respectable.

The Jonas Brothers 2010 tour features a set list that looks pretty substantial—I say this with a limited, guilty pleasure working knowledge of the Jonas Brothers catalog. Songs like Feeling Alive, Heart and Soul, I Wouldn’t Change a Thing, a duet with opener Demi Lovato. Demi Lovato is the opener, she’s holds a guitar, I’m unclear as to whether she plays a guitar. (She’s a fellow Disney kid…I also think she’s dating a “Jo Bro”.) Make sure you don’t miss that. Off the record, they are slated to play “Lovebug”, which is the only song that doesn’t make me want to poke my eyes out.

Dust off your earplugs and bring your Groucho Marx glasses—the ones with the attached nose and moustache and hit the Jonas Brothers show. Sure, maybe tickets have been sold out since last year. But, their stuff is at least listenable and they will most definitely going to do an encore. Bring comfortable shoes.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Straight outta Dayton, the Christian metalcore band, The Devil Wears Prada is bringing their show through the Cleveland area. They’re young and they’re fashionably reckless, and they have more merch to sell than KISS. The Devil Wears Prada is also playing two consecutive nights at Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights, Aug 28 and 29, doors at 7:00pm. Your Demise and Miss May I are slated to open.

TDWP has a rabidly loyal fan base because of their highly passionate performances. Their live shows are stirring and active, the guys never stop moving. The Devil Wear’s Prada has a keyboardist that is highly instrumental to their mix, even he manages to pump up the crowd with constant energy. The Devil Wears Prada is young but their confidence in their music is evident.

Fans love this band; critics can’t deny that their music does have its brilliant moments, though it is argued that their songs seem to lack direction. Also, the band has a sort of frantic chaos that could be hard to digest if you weren’t an active fan. Based on some light set list research, TDWP is slated to perform songs like Des Moines and new piece, Assistant to the Regional Manager. An homage to television’s “The Office”? Nice.

TDWP is a hot ticket anyway you slice it up. Love them or not, you should make some time to see these guys live. The summer’s almost over!

Popularity: 14% [?]

I once fell off of a karaoke stage singing “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”. Needless to say my love affair with Pat Benatar is ongoing. Maybe because for a short time as an adolescent I thought she and Joan Jett were the same person. I digress. However, this brings me to my next point—one product is recession proof: nostalgia. Had REO Speedwagon and Pat Benatar toured together in the early 1980’s, maybe we would have all been different people.

Nostalgia is the name of the game with a number of summer shows. However, it only works when the bands are as good as you remember them. I suspect that REO and Pat Benatar have kept their skills sharp over the years. REO Speedwagon and Pat Benatar are going to be setting up at the Tower City Amphitheater for a night of hot action, doors are at 7pm.

The word on the street is that both bands played “everything”. Everything as in all the songs that you want to hear. This is a challenge, as both REO and Benatar both have impressive catalogs. Some reflection of their online setlists of past shows verifies their ambition. Spoiler alert, both bands did encores, so, stick around.

REO is mainly a power ballad band and one can only wonder if 59 year old singer Kevin Cronin can stand up to the rigors. The sentiment and raw emotion on “Keep on Loving You” and “Can’t Fight this Feeling” could be hard to deliver, but all reports are coming back he sounds amazing.  However, with the bands multi-dimensional sound and content, it’s hard to choose just one favorite, but those two songs are big ones. The band is also set to perform in front of a huge video screen with accompanying visual aids.

Along the tour, Pat Benatar has presented a fantastic setlist as well. She has done “Invincible”, coincidentally also the song that incited a love for spandex in my young life. “We Belong” and “Shadows of the Night” were on the list, and Heartbreaker will probably be a part of her rousing encore.  Find your acid washed jeans and bring back some memories.

Popularity: 10% [?]

By: Julia Kazar

Indie pop group Miniature Tigers is coming to Musica in Akron on Wednesday August 11th.  Formed just a few short years ago, Miniature Tigers are quickly making a name for themselves.  In 2006, Rolling Stone Magazine named the band “one of the 25 best bands on MySpace” and their first two EPs, White Magic and Black Magic, both received four stars from Death + Taxes, an indie music magazine.  The band has since released two new full length albums; Tell it to the Volcano, which was released in the fall of 2008, and Fortress, which was released this summer.  

Fortress has already been receiving a lot of positive press.  “Goldskull,” one of the songs off the new album, has a hypnotic beat and chanting lyrics that creates the perfect mood.  It’s a relaxing song; it’s very easy to just listen to it and zone out for a few minutes from the rest of life.  Miniature Tigers have created something unique with this song, and if they decide to play it at their show on Wednesday night, it will be interesting to see how they’ll pull it off.

The show is at Musica on Wednesday, August 11th at 7:30.  It will definitely be one of a kind and filled with some amazing music.   Tickets are $10, make sure to get them soon so you don’t miss this show!  The Spinto Band, The Moonmen and Travis Caudle open.

Popularity: 15% [?]

By Denver Collins

Lords of the Highway

Cleveland’s Lords of the Highway will share their sleazy, bawdy, rockabilly chops to Annabell’s this Friday.  They will be performing with Alleycasters, with their own brand of rock/punk/psychobilly and Devil Strip, featuring members of Dropgun and Road of Sin.

The Lords of the Highway have been bringing their high-energy performances to the area for about 18 years, encapsulating what a punk-hillbilly rock band should be: loud, crazy, raunchy and ready to party.  Its members (on the latest album Die, Monster, Die) are Dennis Bell on lead guitar/vocals, Joey Hissem on drums and “Sugar” on upright bass.  Their sound has a classic, 1950s roadhound quality to it while incorporating drinking, yelling and general ne’er-do-wellism.

Their antics have brought them a big local following but have upset some on the national stage.  The band contested for a spot on the TV show “The Next Great American Band,” but their sexually-driven and antics on stage were so appalling for judges Sheila E. and Goo Goo Dolls frontman John Rzeznik they were booted out.

The Alleycasters are comprised of Joey Kash on lead vocals and guitar, Shane “Vain” Elvis on lead guitar and vocals, Roger Wilco on bass and Wayne Smith on drums and backups.  Playing both originals and covers, the band pulls their style from a variety of influences; from Elvis and Chuck Berry to The Rev. Horton Heat and Social Distortion.  Their style of hillbilly punk-rock is loud, proud and sure to entertain.

Devil Strip members are Billy Farkas on vocals and guitar, Dave Busch on lead guitar, Matt Riemenschneider on bass and Lou Giffels on drums.  The sound is hard and heavy but keeps a quick pace.  The show is free in the basement of Annabell’s and is scheduled to start at 10 p.m.

Popularity: 14% [?]

By Jessica Lumpp  

Anthony Green is like Spider-man on stage. When hears music of his band, Circa Survive, surround him, he goes wild.

Just like I did when my phone rang with my Circa Survive ringtone, “Living Together. “ It was the band’s press manager calling to connect me with Green, who just happens to be my favorite artist, ever.

He was walking his dog with his wife in suburban Pennsylvania. But, I kind of wanted him to be doing something cooler for our chat.  Getting a tattoo?  Shopping for a Harley? Writing some new lyrics?

Perhaps I just didn’t want to picture him in full-fledged husband mode because I wanted my first question to be, “Will you marry me?”

He seemed relaxed and spoke in a smooth, calming tone - contrary to his manic, high-pitched singing. I successfully masked my love for him, however, and held it together to have an informative conversation with him.

He had just got back from touring in the U.K., and was glad to be home despite only having 72 hours before leaving for Arizona to kick off another tour. The five-piece psychedelic rock group is hitting the road to promote its third album Blue Sky Noise, which shows a matured side of the band.

“We made a natural, fluid progression from record to record,” Green said. “We wanted to make it [Blue Sky Noise] perfect.”

When it came to writing this album, the band was ready for change, and that started with Colin Frangicetto, guitarist, writing the track, “I Felt Free.”

“It was during a time when I was not feeling well, and I wasn’t writing anything,” Green said.  But after hearing “I Felt Free,” he thought, “This is great. Let’s mess around with it a little more.”

With other members of the band writing, it allowed them to progress musically and produce a record they’ve all been yearning to create. “My writing style has always been really weird. I write weirder stuff,” Green said.

The album is a strong, cohesive set of songs that Green said happened because “at the end of the day, the ones we liked all shared a similar thematic quality.”

“There’s a desperate victory that happens on the album,” he said. “It’s a lot more symbolic that it happened both subconsciously and because it was reflecting what we were going through.”

Success of the album can also be attributed to David Bottrill, the Grammy-winning producer, who worked on Blue Sky Noise. Green said the band chose Bottrill because he isn’t like a lot of other big producers who don’t let the band have a say in their own records.

“He wanted it to be our album when we walked away at the end of the day,” Green said. “

On Circa Survive’s tour, they plan to play music from all three of their albums, but Green says we will hear a lot from the newest record.  They are making their way from the west coast to the east and will be stopping in Akron to play at Musica August 17.

Green is known for bringing a lot of energy to the stage, and we are in for an exciting show. I witnessed him climbing across the ceiling on rafters over the crowd and belting out notes upside-down when they came to Cleveland back in March.

I was curious if he had any antics like this planned for us, but informed him I wasn’t sure if the architecture of Musica lent itself to shimmying like a koala bear.

“I don’t need anything,” he said laughing. “The music is a catalyst and makes me forget everything.”

I asked him how he pulls off those perfect vocals while hanging upside-down.

“They’re not perfect,” he said laughing. “I waver a lot, and I’m not super focused on making everything sound perfect.

I begged to differ.  After 15 minutes of talking to him, it was proving to be more difficult than I had anticipated to not let on that I was a creepy, super fan.

Finally, defeated and flattered he admitted, “Well thank you, I guess it just takes practice.”

Popularity: 32% [?]

By: Julia Kazar

Like some twang with your crunch?  With a little bit of country and a little bit of rock the Brackish Water Band is heading to Annabell’s in Akron on Thursday August 5th. They will be performing on the upstairs stage. The band is ready to rock your face Hank Williams style, or something like that.  Needless to say their going to have some fun and we’re going to wear ten gallon hats.

The Brackish Water Band

Ten years ago, The Brackish Water Band formed out of the hills of Washington (state). Over the years the band has evolved into the good time country powerhouse they are today.  See the picture to my right?  Does those guys look anything less than a stellar foot-stomping good time? Currently the band is made up of; Joe T, James B, Ben D and Johnny B, along with a few special necessary components that have joined them on the road for their tour this summer.  Expect nothing less than greatness.

Annabell’s…Akron…Thursday.  Be there or, well, don’t.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Popularity: 15% [?]

By: Julia Kazar

Shmalex, Joshy and Rawrb!, the members of the fun loving humorcore band Psychostick, are getting ready to wrap up their summer tour, but not before a stop at The Carriage House in Louisville.  The concert takes place this Saturday, July 31st.  Opening for the band is Look What I Did, a hardcore metal band from Nashville.  Get ready for a night of head banging and eardrum shattering music.

Psychostick

About a month ago I had the chance to talk to Rawrb! aka Rob Kersey, the band’s lead vocalist, about the tour and what Psychostick is currently working on.  “We recently released a few new songs that fans can purchase on iTunes, or through our website.  Other than, that touring has kept us pretty busy; we haven’t had a whole lot of time to think about anything else,” Rob tells me.

The show will feature songs off Psychostick’s two CDs; 2003’s We Couldn’t Think of a Title, and Sandwich, which was released last year.  We Couldn’t Think of a Title contains the bands über popular hit, “BEER!!!!!!,” an ode to the drink of choice for the band.  It is guaranteed to be played at some point this Saturday.

Even though Psychostick might seem like they have a harsh exterior, they are really all about just having a good time.  Their show on Saturday night will be no exception; be ready for a good time.  Doors open at 7, make sure you get there early so you don’t miss any of the fun.  Tickets are $10 in advance and $13 at the door.

Popularity: 16% [?]

By Mark C. Horn  

The last time the Black Keys played NE Ohio in November of 2009 it was at Musica in Akron as a tribute to artist friend, the late Alfred McMoore.  It was also just last year that Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney were working on solo projects and there were rumors of fallout.  The duo recovered, putting out a ground-breaking album called Blackroc.  But what of the Black Keys?

Speed ahead to 2010 and Auerbach and Carney have come home with their best album to date, Brothers, and nine consecutive weeks among the top 35 sellers on the Billboard Top 200 charts.  Their native Ohio fans were chomping at the bit to see them live.

So Saturday night, Akron’s favorite sons hit Cleveland’s Nautica stage before a sold-out crowd of 5,000-plus.  Despite its growing fame and fortune and playing on every major television talk show, the duo played as if they were auditioning for the favor of the crowd.  In others words, the Keys worked their asses off; as if they were on the assembly line at one of Akron’s long-gone rubber factories.

The show was highlighted by songs from the Black Keys new album, Brothers, recorded almost completely at the infamous Alabama Muscle Shoals Studios.  This more refined, soulful Delta Blues-laced album sounded polished on the outdoor venue’s big stage.

The band played in front of a backdrop of larger-than-life tire treads on the stage risers and a canvas of clenched black hands shaking in red, paying homage to both their Rubber City roots and to the new album, soulful statement.

The Keys opened the night with some oldies from previous releases including classic rock-blues album Thickfreakness.  Auerbach jammed, part Hendrix/ part Page, and played with retro riff appeal as Carney blasted his kit relentlessly, much like Bonham.

“Busted” came across with Auerbach playing in all his heavy low fuzz finest along with high-pitched licks, which have become one of Auerbach’s trademarks. Carney took center stage on “Chop and Change” where he literally beat his golden Ludwig set to death, but what a way to die. “Stack Shot Billy” was a highlight in terms of sheer volume and spot-on sound for both.

The crowd acknowledged the more widely-known “Your Touch” and “10 AM Automatic”, both of which recalled early-day Keys efforts, as the two used their two-man approach with a full sound of buzzsaw guitar and pounding drum drive.

It was almost too hard to believe, but halfway through, the duo was joined by accompanying musicians to help fill out the sounds of cuts from Brothers.  Auerbach and Carney opened the Brothers portion of the set with “Everlasting Love”, “Next Girl”, “Howling For You” and the first single, “Tighten Up” .

The additions of keyboardist Leon Michels and bass player Nick Movshon allowed Auerbach to focus more on his vocals and guitar playing and created a fuller, more powerful sound.  The bass complemented the bombast of Carney’s drums, which at times showed great restrained finesse, even playing his ride with a tambourine.

The further into the new material the band got, the more appreciative the teeming crowd got.  In fact, the audience was so mesmerized by the Keys accompaniment; they would have cheered if the band had played “Whip It”.

The Keys ended their regular set with “I Got Mine” and, by the time they had left the stage, there was no doubt that an encore was due.  After approximately five minutes, which seemed like eternity for Keys’ fans, the duo re-emerged and knocked out “Too Afraid to Love You”, “Sinister Kid” and “Til I Get My Way.”

The only part of the live set they have yet to master is interacting with the crowd sufficiently.  The few times Auerbach spoke to the audience it went bananas.  Imagine if he had gotten beyond hello and thank you.  But that is just not his style.

What the Keys do best is play unfettered, funky, rockin’ blues.  And on this sweltering night, the crowd and band were on the same page as brothers and sisters simply enjoyed no frills refreshing, cool grooves on a hot night.

Popularity: 9% [?]