Free Times Music Crawl

Yes, loyal Free Times reader, what is quite possibly the most important presidential election in decades is just over one month away. And with the economy crashing and gas prices rising, we’re sure you have plenty on your mind. But right now, we say forget Barack Obama. Forget John McCain. Forget “Yes, we can!” and The Straight Talk Express. Because it’s time for the Straight Rock Express – it’s time for The Crawl.

Originated in 1999 as an effort to highlight musical talent in and around Columbia, the Free Times Music Crawl celebrates its ninth installment on Saturday, spreading 30 outstanding local, regional and national acts across six stages in the Vista. For a mere $5 – not much more than a gallon of gas, these days – patrons can freely visit stages at the Art Bar (where there are two stages), Flying Saucer, Headliners, Mellow Mushroom and Wet Willie’s for a full evening of eclectic and cutting-edge music. Wristbands sold at each venue will enable patrons to visit all six stages.

If you already love local music, this is your chance to celebrate it. And if you don’t, this is your chance to find out what all your cooler, hipper friends have been raving about. Whether your tastes lie in earnest power-pop, kick-ass bluegrass or balls-to-the-wall rock ‘n’ roll, the Crawl’s got you covered. And it’s the only local festival dedicated entirely to boosting the music scene in Columbia.

As for the crawling, this year’s event is possibly the most crawl-friendly yet. With Art Bar, Flying Saucer and Mellow Mushroom centralized around the corner of Gervais and Park and Headliners and Wet Willie’s a short hop down Gervais, Crawlers can easily park and walk throughout the evening.

This year, the Crawl kicks off at 7 p.m. with earnest Charleston indie rockers All Get Out taking the Outdoor Stage at Art Bar, with the rest of the stages starting shortly thereafter. Some of you might be conditioned to skip the opening acts of local rock shows, but skipping even one of the early acts would be downright foolish – there’s no filler on our sonic smorgasbord.

All Music Crawl proceeds go directly to paying the bands, promoting the event and supporting charity. A portion of this year’s proceeds will be donated in honor of the late Mike Scott to the American Cancer Society. There’s nothing like a little philanthropy mixed in with a night of awesome music.

The following is a comprehensive preview of the acts scheduled to play this year’s Crawl. Contributing are Tug Baker, Kevin Foster, Eric Greenwood, Eva Moore, Kevin Oliver, Bryan Reed and Logan Young. – Patrick Wall

Art Bar
Outdoor Stage
1211 Park Street
Columbia, South Carolina 29201
(803) 929-0198
artbarsc.com
All Get Out
7-7:30 p.m.
Yes, Charleston quartet All Get Out derives its name from the turn of phrase “Loud as all get out,” which, story goes, frontman Nathan Hussey heard while watching television. And, to be sure, All Get Out is an aurally imposing band – simple, unassuming folk chords and melodies are bashed out on twangy, single-coil guitars, amplified to sweet, natural breakup through cranked tube amps and kicked into high gear via boutique boost pedals.
Yes, All Get Out is, indeed, loud as all get out. But while other bands use volume to cover for their dearth of hooks or lack of talent, All Get Out instead use volume to impart the emotional weight of its songs, delivering its message with earnest melodies and catchy choruses. Nathan Hussey’s dramatic tenor ranges from hushed, half-muttered croons to dynamic shouts, with bassist Mike Rogers and second guitarist Mel Washington providing rich harmonies. Both live and on record, Hussey’s and Washington’s guitars clang and clash, spiraling to lofty crescendos before crashing into gorgeous, glorious feedback. And let’s not leave out drummer Gordon Robert Keiter, who hits with such conviction and passion that he can’t help but be physically moved by his performance.
Yes, All Get Out is a band on the rise, and it’s doing it the old-fashioned way – a rigorous touring schedule, wise promotion and gobs of great songs. The band’s full-length follow-up to its excellent debut Spitting EP drops in November. – P. Wall

All Get Out

The Decade
8-8:30 p.m.
The Decade’s adherence to the tried-and-true formula of one part churning guitars, one part memorable hooks and a heaping helping of earnest vocals has won the band a fast following, bringing it to the crest of the Capital City’s burgeoning pop-punk wave. Last year’s Read Between the Lines EP was a bona fide sleeper hit, filled with fist-pumping, tongue-in-cheek teenage-riot anthems like “Maximum Ride” and “Kevin Bacon Lettuce and Tomato.” The Who’s Pete Townsend might have once quipped that “The kids are all right,” but The Decade is certainly much more than that. – P.Wall

Marry a Thief
9-9:30 p.m.
If the Music Crawl had a yearbook, we might vote these boys Most Likely to Have A Song on the Soundtrack of The OC. (That’s a good thing.) Like The Doves or U2, Marry A Thief lays down moody, layered songs with a pop gloss and an irresistible momentum. The U2 comparisons don’t stop there: Erich Skelton has a rich, room-filling voice like Bono or Coldplay’s Chris Martin. The music is dreamy, yes, but just try not to pump your fist during the anthemic passages of songs like “Epileptic” – really, go ahead and try it. Your hand will explode into flames. – E. Moore

Marry a Thief

This Machine is Me
10-10:30 p.m.
Living, breathing, kick-ass proof that retrofitted electro pop is here to stay, this synth-savvy outfit is indeed a well-oiled, well-conceived contraption firing on all the right modern rock cylinders. Anchored by the everygirl alto of Jayna Doyle, the rest of the boys in the band have finally caught on: play hard, play tough and just get out of her way. Powerful yet not imposing, emotional though definitely not emo, there’s nothing mechanical or stale about songs like “Case Closed” or “11+2=12+1.” – L. Young

Venice is Sinking
11 p.m.-midnight
For a while there, it seemed as if Venice is Sinking spent more time here in the Capital City than in its Athens hometown, what with the quintet’s apparent residencies at Art Bar and the dearly departed Art Garage. But it’s been some time since we’ve heard from the dream-pop five-piece.
“We’re excited to be coming back,” says singer-guitarist Daniel Lawson. “Columbia is like a second home of sorts for us.”
So what has Venice is Sinking been doing in its extended absence? Certainly not sitting on its thumbs; in fact, the quintet has been writing and recording not one but two albums, each planned for release next year. The first, AZAR – presumably not named after Columbia political gadfly Joe Azar – was recorded at Baucom Road, the western North Carolina studio of super producer Scott Solter (Mountain Goats, Spoon), over an arduous eight-month period that found the band braving sickness, personnel losses and rising gas prices. But it’s for the best – AZAR will “blow y’alls minds,” according to drummer Lucas Jensen. The second, as-yet-untitled record was recorded live in Athens’ Georgia Theatre, much in the same way as Cowboy Junkies’ Trinity Sessions.
If either album is even half as good as the band’s debut, Sorry About the Flowers, then either will be nothing short of breathtaking. Flowers cemented Venice is Sinking as one of those rare bands that can transform the mundanities of tiny, specific moments and explode them into grand, sweeping things of beauty. To paraphrase Wordsworth, Venice is Sinking wanders lonely as a cloud, ably gliding on cinematic arrangements – revolving mostly around Lawson’s thick guitar lines and Karolyn Troupe’s incomparable viola – and first-rate vocal harmonies. The music made by this exceptional quartet is passionate, adventurous and uniquely American, making Venice is Sinking one of the most noteworthy bands in Athens’ storied musical tradition. – P. Wall

Venice is Sinking

Art Bar
Indoor Stage
1211 Park Street,
Columbia, South Carolina 29201
(803) 929-0198

The Rise of Science
7:30-8 p.m.
This quintet evolved through several iterations before reaching its current sound of polished, proggy, emotional rock. Catlin Boswell’s voice is unique; at first I thought it was a girl singing, as his register is higher and clearer than the singers of most rock bands, reminiscent of a cross between Shudder to Think’s Craig Wedren and The Mars Volta’s Cedric Bixler. The band incorporates strings and orchestration into its sprawling, languorous compositions, and the hooks unfurl slowly. The songs work through a dramatic dynamic range, building gradually from idiosyncratic balladeering to cinematic epic rock. – E. Greenwood

Cassangles
8:30-9 p.m.
With its phonetically malapropistic name, Columbia’s Cassangles defies any qualifying genre distinction. There are scraps and strains of familiar sounds to be sure, but they’re fused together loosely in chaotic bursts of energy and underscored by the youthful disdain of form and structure. The brashness of this band’s ethos is infectious. With flowery bass lines reminiscent of Minutemen-era Mike Watt and experimental deconstructive guitar work, Cassangles attacks its lengthy instrumentals with a penchant for the unorthodox and the unexpected, particularly in the animalistic percussion that veers in and out of jazz phrasing and punk calamity. Not to be missed. – E. Greenwood

Daniel Machado
9:30-10 p.m.
Never let it be said that Columbia guitarist and songwriter Daniel Machado is not an ambitious artist. Themes In American Friction, the fourth solo release and sixth overall album from the former Guitar Show frontman, is a primer on glossy guitar pop that he says is a nonfictional, autobiographical coming-of-age rock opera chronicling his own experiences growing up during the past 20 years. The best personal stories are often the most universal in appeal, and that’s the case here, especially since Machado cushions the confessions in contemporary yet classic sounds. – K. Oliver

Daniel Machado

The Reverie
10:30-11 p.m.
A bit more present and involved than perhaps its name would suggest, Marshall Brown’s quartet does have the whole sparkle-and-fade thing down to a pseudoscience. And with several high-profile gigs here in town recently, The Reverie is poised to offer its best shiver and shake yet. Calm and collected in a Jeff Buckley haze – with Brian Wilson and Muse’s Matthew Bellamy safe at the eye – Brown’s voice is a thing of beauty for sure. And when things start to get a little shoegaze, it’s Brown who reigns it all back in. Come out and see what Brown will do for you. – L. Young

The Reverie

Magnetic Flowers
11:50 p.m.-12:20 a.m.
Magnetic Flowers make some of the best indie folk-rock Columbia has to offer. Their songs are bombastic indie anthems combining the aesthetics of Conor Oberst and the English-majors-gone-rockers literary penchant of Okkervil River. The band’s 2007 album Pasts, Presents and Futures was named as Free Times writer Kevin Oliver’s top local release, and with good reason: It’s like a collection of short stories put to music, and the music is as grand and emotive as the lyrics. Having four guys on stage who can sing has opened up layered vocal parts and harmonies that fill out the music’s lofty mien. – T. Baker

Death Becomes Even the Maiden
12:50-1:45 a.m.
Death Becomes Even The Maiden is not a name for a catchy band. But Eric Greenwood, the bassist and singer of the Capital City trio, is quick to admit that, surprisingly enough, Death Becomes Even The Maiden’s songs are catchy. But to clarify, we’re using the term “catchy” less as a euphemism for “gimmicky” and more as a woefully inadequate placeholder for the word “memorable.” Songs such as these are guaranteed to leave an impression.
For a taste, try the band’s latest recording, the Pink EP, a single in the classic sense: two songs on one seven-inch record. A-side “The Chop” digs deep with a melodic bass line slicing through a fog of synth-chords before the beat drops and the song turns around into its post-punk snarl. Joy Division’s moodiness meets Gang of Four’s staccato vocal delivery. But it’s tempered by blips of Dinosaur Jr feedback in the guitars and becomes something very close to pop. Good thing it’s balanced by its flipside, “The Only Thing I Feel for You is the Recoil,” a frantic guitar-charged gallop bookended by hissing amplifiers. “Sort of a Jekyll and Hyde,” says Greenwood of the EP. With barreling drums and a vocal delivery from Greenwood that starts off urgent and builds its way up to enraged as he scorches his throat through the chorus, “Recoil” is ignition for a mosh pit – but still there’s that hook. Don’t be surprised to find yourself screaming right along.
The band’s influences are clear: post-punk jitters keep the band’s math-rock proclivities from sitting still while The Pixies’ loud-quiet-loud dynamic gets cranked up. But it’s a testament to the trio’s chemistry that the songs can be so simultaneously urgent and approachable. “I almost feel like I need to apologize for being too catchy,” Greenwood says. No apologies necessary. – B. Reed

Death Becomes Even The Maiden

Flying Saucer
931 Senate Street
Columbia, SC 29201
(803) 933-9997
beerknurd.com

The Daylight Hours
8:45-9:30 p.m.
Sure, it took David Adedokun a couple of years to see his album How To Make a Mess of Things come to pass, but rest assured it wasn’t out of writer’s block. (These things don’t pay for themselves, you see.) Besides, it might’ve been for the best that these songs had some time to gestate, because they emerge here as fully realized gems of heart and soul. To know Adedokun is to know his love of life and, well, love. These songs play like a conversation between friends at a quiet bar – all that’s missing are the distilled spirits and the bromance. – K. Foster

Sunshone Still
9:45-10:30 p.m.
Chris Smith, the lone constant of Sunshone Still, is a hush-voiced storyteller, a tiptoe parade of American frontier mythology. His Ten Cent American Novels, which centers on the life and times of Manifest Destiny-era war hero Kit Carson, is a gentle, wizened slice of Americana. “A Time To Be Womaned” soars on its muted saloon brass and bounding banjo and carries a ragtime feel with the introduction of a Dixieland clarinet in its bridge. It also churns along where other songs – namely the ambling “Klamath Lake” – are content to shuffle along kicking up sepia-toned dust. The record turns its yellowed pages with leather-soft acoustic strums as the distant moan of electric guitar strokes their faces longingly. It’s here, in this ability to create such vivid, if dream-smudged, images, that Sunshone Still commands the rapt attention of its listeners. – B. Reed

Sunshone Still

Danielle Howle
10:45-11:30 p.m.
What would a Music Crawl be without Danielle Howle, one of the pillars of Columbia’s music community? Howle first emerged nigh on 20 years ago, performing “Sitting On My Big Front Porch” for a local compilation. She was thereafter a member of Lay Quiet Awhile, whose artful folk-pop garnered a national following thanks in part to an East Coast and U.K. tour with the Indigo Girls. By the mid-’90s, Howle had struck out on her own, releasing albums with and without her occasional backing band, The Tantrums, and performing with the likes of Elliott Smith and Bob Dylan. – K. Foster

Danielle Howle

Hot Lava Monster
11:45 p.m.-12:30 a.m.
Uncertain which band you should toss your panties at this weekend? Look no further than Hot Lava Monster. Like Led Zeppelin commandeering the DJ booth at WARQ as part of an educational guerrilla mission, Hot Lava Monster takes the stage to remind us of some of the fundamentals of rock.
Since the release of the album The Belly of a Whale a few years ago, the band has been playing throughout the Southeast and writing music. “Overall I think the songs are going in a more straight-ahead rock direction; however, every time I think that, we write something way outside of that,” says guitarist Mike Schaming.
Note, too, that Hot Lava Monster has Music Crawl cred to spare. At a Crawl several years ago, frontman Patrick Baxley sprinted all the way across Five Points to grab something from his apartment, sprinted back to Pavlov’s where the rest of the band was taking the stage, vomited into the dumpster outside, and leapt on stage to begin the show. Do us proud, men. – E. Moore

Hot Lava Monster

Josh Roberts & the Hinges
12:45 a.m.-until
Roberts is fresh off an engagement at the Nickelodeon Theatre where he heralded in Are You Going To Eat That? – an acoustic assortment of songs he’s been working on when not focusing on his primary creative outlet. For this headlining Music Crawl set, expect Roberts to weave in some of these intimate songs with his regular, more rowdy material. They might not share similar sonic templates, but the touchstone is Roberts’ most excellent way with words. Whether he’s inspired by The Tudors, Smokey and the Bandit or contemplating the duality of man, Roberts taps in to something universally true, amazing and truly amazing.
Backing Roberts as The Hinges are Leslie Branham (banjo, guitar, voice), Jon Joiner (drums), Corey Stephens (bass) and Robert Walker (guitar). The rhythm section of Joiner and Stephens comes from Milledgeville, Ga., which seems appropriate because Roberts’ former band, Captain Easy, was incredibly popular in that Southern hideaway. Indeed, Roberts and his band of Hinges have been making their own headways into the Southeast, quickly becoming a popular draw everywhere from Memphis to Monroeville, Ga.
On stage and in the studio, Josh Roberts and the Hinges embody that spark that made titans of Dylan in the ‘60s, Neil Young in the ‘70s and Springsteen in the ‘80s. Truly, Roberts and company will close out the night with exceptional aplomb. – K. Foster

Josh Roberts & The Hinges

Headliners
700 Gervais Street
Columbia SC 29201
(803) 796-2333
headlinerscolumbia.com

Blind Syght
8:20-9:05 p.m.
This heavy rock quartet – replete with the typical “rock” misspelling in its name – makes the trip up from the Charleston area, where it’s a staple of the live scene in clubs like Goose Creek’s The Dive. With a melodic and commercially accessible yet hard-edged sound, Blind Syght will appeal to fans of fellow Charlestonians Deepfield or any number of national acts on the WARQ playlist. – K. Oliver

The Starseed Project
9:20-10:05 p.m.
If your iPod playlists lean heavily toward late-‘90s rock such as Stone Temple Pilots, Collective Soul and Big Wreck, then you need to hear The Starseed Project, in effect the local equivalent. Forged a couple of years ago from members of several other local bands across a wide range of genres, somehow they have ended up with a solid, monolithic sound on songs such as “Overcome” –perfect for sweaty, fist-pumping rock fans to sing along with. – K. Oliver

Testing Ground
10:20-11:05 p.m.
Mediocre bands whine and crumble under adversity; bands like Testing Ground, however, come out stronger than ever. Case in point: After a long hiatus following frontman Ryan Wilson’s motorcycle accident, Testing Ground burst back onto the scene with Growing Pains, its strongest effort to date. Bursting with the energy of Solid State-era Stretch Arm Strong – both live and on record – Testing Ground deals in melodic, angst-ridden punk-rock anthems that demand your full, fist-pumping attention. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: If “Marilyn Meteorite” ever got a chance on modern-rock radio, Testing Ground could be Columbia’s next big thing. – P. Wall

Testing Ground

Run Run Run
11:20 p.m.-12:05 a.m.
Los Angeles’ Run Run Run is one of the leading lights of a West Coast psychedelic rock revival: The band’s blend of shoegazer pop and grunge favors bold and immediate hooks, alternately dreamy and disillusioned. The quartet’s latest EP, Good Company, was released in January, and reaped immediate benefits: Airplay on KROQ translated into touring slots with Interpol, The Bravery and Sparta, which in turn propelled the band to a trip to Austin for the 2008 South by Southwest Festival. – P. Wall

Run Run Run

Luna Halo
12:20 a.m.-until
Consider Luna Halo a testament to hard work. The story starts when frontman Nathan Barlowe – erstwhile of CCM hotshots Reality Check – left his hometown of Raleigh and moved to Nashville, where he formed the first incarnation of Luna Halo; the band had a few good years, but eventually dissolved, leaving Barlowe with nothing more than a name. Undaunted, Barlowe drafted his younger brother, Cary, and began again. The band swelled to a quartet, released Shimmer to glowing reviews in 2000 … then sat on its hands until releasing a self-titled follow-up after many delays in 2007.
So there’s the tribulations – what’s the happy ending? How about that Luna Halo comes Rick Rubin-approved: The band is now housed on Rubin’s Columbia imprint, American Recordings. Luna Halo’s sound is tight and dynamic, like any modern rock band worth its salt should be, and will win fast friends among fans of WARQ’s playlist. – P. Wall

Luna Halo

Mellow Mushroom
1009 Gervais Street
Columbia, SC 29201
(803) 933-920
mellowmushroom.com

The Choir Quit
8:30-9:15 p.m.
The charming, whimsical indie-slash-anti-folk produced by The Choir Quit – singer-guitarist William Busbee and drummer-keyboardist Jon Dorrell – recalls the best moments of Beat Happening, The Moldy Peaches, Beck (circa Stereopathic Soul Manure) and Lach, all infused with titanic doses of effervescent sunshine. It’s like a monkey crapping a rainbow in your brain or injecting liquid happiness directly into your carotid artery. You will be smiling. We promise. The band released its proper debut, This is the Choir Quit, back in August. – P. Wall

Nick Pagliari

Nick Pagliari
9:30-10:15 p.m.
This welcome new face on the local scene is actually a bit of a ringer: He’s originally from Memphis, spent some time in Nashville working as a songwriter, and one of his songs, “Safe and Sound,” was featured in the Hilary Swank movie P.S. I Love You. Now that he’s a South Carolinian, Pagliari has just issued his second full-length CD, Please and Thank You, which bounces from tightly wound power pop gems to some limber, Jay Farrar-like alt country tunes. – K. Oliver

David Reed

The Private Life of David Reed
10:30-11:15 p.m.
After 10 years with Closer (formerly The Thomas Reed Band), this year saw the beginning of a new chapter in the musical life of David Reed. His solo debut, Missteps and Miscommunications, released on his manager’s indie label Chamberlain Records, takes the pristine guitar rock of his former bands down a few notches, allowing Reed’s emotionally invested songwriting to come to the forefront without losing the pop hooks and vocal immediacy. Think Damien Rice filtered through Cheap Trick, or a less tragic Jeff Buckley.
“Closer was always very formula-oriented when it came to writing songs, and I was ready for something a little more,” Reed says. “I still love the journey of writing a great pop song, but I wanted more freedom. In the end, it was an easy decision.”
It’s a decision that has paid off artistically, with songs like “Misery Loves Company” showing a different side of Reed’s songwriting skill set.
“That song is so different from anything I have ever done,” Reed says. “It is not a rock song. Lyrically, it deals directly with being across the country and being in a relationship at the same time.” – K. Oliver

The Papa String Band
11:30 p.m.-until
Get past the silly pun for a name, and the Papa String Band – get it? – is a pretty serious contender in the local jam-rock scene, which could use a shot in the arm or two. Columbia, once home to a plethora of jam-friendly bands the likes of Sourwood Honey, Mountain Express, King Hippo and others, needs a headliner-capable jam band to step up.
Enter the Papa String Band. Singer/mandolinist David LaBruyere and guitarist Brett Mello formed the group as an acoustic act after playing on local riverbanks for friends, and last year they expanded Papa String to a full band with the addition of keyboard, drums, and bass – the latter spot filled by former Mountain Express bassist Gary Bishop.
The result is still heavily acoustic, but the additional instrumentation allows the musicians to stretch out and improvise even more, which fits well with the semi-Dead kind of songs they write. The inevitable Grateful Dead comparison was made even more obvious last month as the band performed an entire set of Dead tunes as part of Art Bar’s Spirit of ‘68 Festival. – K. Oliver

Wet Willie’s
(21+ Only)
800 Gervais St
Columbia, SC 29201
(803) 779-5650
Will Erickson
8:15-9 p.m.
The slightly funky acoustic pop of this Tampa transplant is reminiscent of the early days of Hootie, Cravin’ Melon and Edwin McCain, back when they, too, were slugging it out in the sports bars as human jukeboxes playing “Brown Eyed Girl” and “All Along the Watchtower” every night. Erickson has a couple albums’ worth of his own songs already, however, including 2007’s Ghost Songs, and his reggae-tinged playing style has made him a fast favorite around town. – K. Oliver

The Friendly Confines
9:15-10 p.m.
When the Friendly Confines started playing together around a year ago, their output was based on taking singer-songwriter Rob Lindsey’s songs and arranging them for a full band. But in their short time together, the Confines have become a collaborative creative force, shifting and shaping Lindsey’s songs as well as giving birth to new songs that fully realize the band’s potential. The songs are versatile and varied – raucous rockers, moving sing-a-long ballads, pop-rock psalms and Springsteen-covering-Hold-Steady jams. All of the above can be found on their soon-to-be-released album, which is destined to be one of the best local releases of the year. – T. Baker

The Fossil Record
10:15 p.m.-11 p.m.
Allow me a quick story about The Fossil Record. I download so many songs a day that I can’t keep track, and occasionally I’ll put iTunes on shuffle and be surprised with what comes up. A while back when a Fossil Record song came on, I thought, “Who are these guys? This is great. Did I download this from [insert fancy hip record label here]?” Singer Chris Compton crafts some terrific tunes that provide a good, straight-forward rocking while still having that je ne sais quoi that makes ears perk up while shuffling through iTunes libraries. – T. Baker

Leslie

Leslie
11:15-12 a.m.
You know the old saying about everything old becoming new again? Leslie certainly does. If its music is any indication, the Charleston trio of retro-rockers has done its homework and come back to school with a backpack full of influences. The trio combines the best of early Aerosmith, AC/DC, Rick Derringer, The Cult and a host of other classic crotch-rockers in such an electrifying live show that it makes them seem utterly contemporary and vital. They’re turning heads nationally, especially after touring with the Mooney Suzuki – a trek that resulted in Leslie’s singer and guitarist Sadler Vaden not only filling in for the other band’s injured guitarist, but co-writing a song with Mooney Suzuki frontman Whammy James Jr. and appearing with them in a film shoot for the movie Tropic Thunder (it got cut from the theatrical release but will reportedly show up on DVD later).
The band is currently putting the finishing touches on their long-awaited debut album and touring with some other notable names including Bang Camaro and Stonerider. – K. Oliver

Analog Moon

Analog Moon
12:15 a.m.-until
If you’re a regular showgoer, you’ve noticed that Analog Moon’s name doesn’t pop up on local club calendars with the frequency it used to. The reason: Mastermind Todd Britton hightailed it to Asheville a few months ago. But despite the distance, the band goes on – much to the joy of fans of the band’s decidedly old-school, jam-friendly rock.
Its name – and the name of its latest record, A.M. Radio – belies a fondness for the early days of FM radio; indeed, Analog Moon’s closest sonic touchstones might be classic rock staples Traffic, The Band, David Bowie and Pink Floyd. But the quartet mines the past with a contemporary flair, incorporating its generations-old influences into a versatile modern sound that is neither hackneyed nor dated.
Another throwback reason to check out Analog Moon: One killer light show. – P. Wall

All venues except Wet Willie’s will admit 18-plus for Music Crawl. Wet Willie’s is 21 and up. For more information on Music Crawl, email music@free-times.com or call 765-0707 ext. 138.