Genre: Rock

Max Ink’s Matinee Concert Series

Max Ink’s Matinee Concert Series

 

BAG POLICY

Bags (max size 12″ x 6″ x 12″) are allowed and will be searched upon entry. Exceptions will be made for necessary medical equipment and bags for nursing mothers. We encourage you to pack light with only the necessities to make the entry process as smooth as possible.

PAYMENT POLICY

We are a cashless facility meaning that we are unable to accept cash as a form of payment. Our Box Office and Coat Check will only accept credit and debit. Our Bars will only accept credit, debit, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Please note that artist merchandise sales are separate and may still accept cash.

 

Heartless Bastards

Heartless Bastards

 

BAG POLICY

Bags (max size 12″ x 6″ x 12″) are allowed and will be searched upon entry. Exceptions will be made for necessary medical equipment and bags for nursing mothers. We encourage you to pack light with only the necessities to make the entry process as smooth as possible.

PAYMENT POLICY

We are a cashless facility meaning that we are unable to accept cash as a form of payment. Our Box Office and Coat Check will only accept credit and debit. Our Bars will only accept credit, debit, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Please note that artist merchandise sales are separate and may still accept cash.

 

Heartless Bastards

No salve soothes quite like music does. Like the ultimate balm, it releases tension and stress and reinvigorates the spirit. With a warm patchwork of rock ‘n’ roll, psychedelia, folk, alternative, and blues, Heartless Bastards unlock healing and catharsis within their music. Whether in the studio or on stage, the Austin-based band fronted by vocalist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Erika Wennerstrom calm as they captivate. After generating over 100 million total streams and enrapturing audiences at legendary venues such as Red Rocks Amphitheatre, the group continue to connect with listeners everywhere through boundary-breaking sonics and straight-from-the-heart lyrics.

“Music is medicine,” observes Erika. “It gives me a sense of purpose beyond just creating art. The idea someone might find comfort in it or it can actually help another person is incredible to me. I don’t know if I ever thought about it in those terms when I was younger. I’ve realized it over the years though.”

At the turn-of-the-century, Erika founded Heartless Bastards in Cincinnati, OH. Inspired by the likes of Joan Jett, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and more, she cut early demos in 2003, performing the bulk of the instruments herself. A bartending gig inspired the name Heartless Bastards. The bar’s touch screen game posed the question, “What is Tom Petty’s backing band?” and offered “The Heartless Bastards” as an answer option, so she accepted this humorous twist of fate and adopted it as her band’s moniker.

The band initially came to life with Stairs and Elevators in 2005, building a discography of fan favorites highlighted by All This Time [2006], The Mountain [2009], and the seminal Arrow [2012]. The latter captured #2 on the Billboard Top Independent Albums Chart, went Top 10 on the Tastemaker Albums Chart, and even cracked the Top 200. “Only For You” notably amassed north of 42.6 million Spotify streams and 17.2 million YouTube views. In the wake of the album, Time attested, “Wennerstrom’s voice is one of the cornerstones of their success. It is tender even when it is severe, and she is unabashedly soulful even when she rocks, almost as though she were at once performing a slow country ballad and singing alongside Mark Bolan from T. Rex.”

Meanwhile, 2021’s A Beautiful Life arrived to widespread praise from Uncut, Glide, and Classic Rock with Pitchfork going as far as to claim, “A Beautiful Life is her best album as a vocalist, as she finds new ways to bend her voice to different styles and sounds.” In addition to sharing the stage with The Flaming Lips, The Decemberists, Wolfmother, Lucinda Williams, and The Avett Brothers, they lit up festivals a la Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, Newport Folk Festival, High Sierra Music Festival, and more. Through it all, Heartless Bastards constantly evolve.

“The vibe is pretty eclectic,” she goes on. “My voice ties it together. The earlier albums were a bit more garage- and punk-influenced. We’ve drawn from classic rock, indie, and folk too. I love music, and I’m always exploring sounds.”

In 2022, they celebrate the 10th anniversary of Arrow with a special limited-edition re-release on vinyl, new acoustic recordings, and the addition of the previously unavailable “Got to Have Rock and Roll,” “Parted Ways,” and “Bye Bye Baby Blues” originally by George “Little Hat” Jones.

“Arrow is the album that reached the most people,” she smiles. “It’s cool to celebrate the success of it and give fans something else. The response to ‘Only For You’ made me feel connected to people everywhere in a beautiful way. I’ll always be grateful for Arrow.”

In the end, Heartless Bastards might just be able to heal what ails you.

“Ultimately, I hope people enjoy themselves when they’re listening to our records or seeing us live,” she leaves off. “Playing shows really brings me a lot of joy. I hope the connection translates. I’m ready to tour a lot and release more music.”

Freakin Halloweekend: Early Show

Freakin Halloweekend: Early Show

 

BAG POLICY

Bags (max size 12″ x 6″ x 12″) are allowed and will be searched upon entry. Exceptions will be made for necessary medical equipment and bags for nursing mothers. We encourage you to pack light with only the necessities to make the entry process as smooth as possible.

PAYMENT POLICY

We are a cashless facility meaning that we are unable to accept cash as a form of payment. Our Box Office and Coat Check will only accept credit and debit. Our Bars will only accept credit, debit, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Please note that artist merchandise sales are separate and may still accept cash.

 

Early Show (with kids costume contest!)
Doors 3:00 PM | Show 4:00 PM
Tickets $10 Adults / $5 Kids 12 & under
★ bit.ly/HalloweekendEarlyHNS★

featuring the music of Pat Benatar (performed by Kelly Maxwell and Friends) and Cake (performed by members of Birdseye, Mickey Sunshine, & Purra)

*$20 for both shows!
★ bit.ly/HalloweekendHNS★

Freakin Halloweekend: Late Show

Freakin Halloweekend: Late Show

 

BAG POLICY

Bags (max size 12″ x 6″ x 12″) are allowed and will be searched upon entry. Exceptions will be made for necessary medical equipment and bags for nursing mothers. We encourage you to pack light with only the necessities to make the entry process as smooth as possible.

PAYMENT POLICY

We are a cashless facility meaning that we are unable to accept cash as a form of payment. Our Box Office and Coat Check will only accept credit and debit. Our Bars will only accept credit, debit, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Please note that artist merchandise sales are separate and may still accept cash.

 

Late Show (with adult costume contest!)
Doors 6:30 PM | Show 7:30 PM
Tickets $15 (18+)
★ bit.ly/HalloweekendLateHNS★

featuring the music of Nirvana (performed by members of The Qualms, The Gubers, and Bashford), Beck (performed by members of The Shabelles, Gentle Brontosaurus, and Something to Do), Garbage (performed by members of The German Art Students and Bing Bong), Erykah Badu (performed by Niko Murphy and members of The Periodicals and Adem Tesfaye Band), & Daft Punk (performed by The Earthlings)

*$20 for both shows!
★ bit.ly/HalloweekendHNS★

The Record Company

The Record Company

 

BAG POLICY

Bags (max size 12″ x 6″ x 12″) are allowed and will be searched upon entry. Exceptions will be made for necessary medical equipment and bags for nursing mothers. We encourage you to pack light with only the necessities to make the entry process as smooth as possible.

PAYMENT POLICY

We are a cashless facility meaning that we are unable to accept cash as a form of payment. Our Box Office and Coat Check will only accept credit and debit. Our Bars will only accept credit, debit, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Please note that artist merchandise sales are separate and may still accept cash.

 

The Record Company

At 2pm on December 19, 2022 — the dreaded final day of the year in the music business — The Record Company got a telephone call from the, um, record company. It was the head of the label, who’d been sitting on their new demos for months, while the band sat in limbo. It was a scene out of a movie about the bad luck bands sometimes have with big record labels: a pleasant “hello” led to a Charlie Brown’s teacher murmur that amounted to “you’re dropped from the label, Happy Christmas, fellas.”

Apparently, the label was going “in a different direction” — Hollywood code for “The Record Company’s many radio hits and Grammy nomination are no guarantee that you’re going to push further into their idea of mainstream, or that you’re great at TikTok.”

“It was tough to swallow,” says bassist Alex Stiff, “because we had already set out to write the most stripped-back and raw record we’d done in years, and they had demos of this new music, and ultimately dropped us. Combine that with some new economic realities, a canceled tour, and we really felt like everything was crashing down at once.”

On The 4th Album, The Record Company see that rejection as a rite of renewal, a way to cleanse themselves, to start over. They head back to their roots: creating the raw, self-produced, blues-based music that in past years earned them multiple Billboard #1 AAA songs, a Grammy nomination, and brought them from playing small clubs to arena tours supporting John Mayer and Bob Seger.

These “roots” would include half-working dumpster guitars, no-name drum sets from garage sales, no click tracks or studio tricks, all recorded in the bass player’s living room. “Almost every band you love at some point tends to drift away from that raw spark that made them unique in the first place,” says drummer Marc Cazorla. “They search for bigger sounds, bigger budgets, more expensive instruments, producers, mixers, etc. We’ve been subject to that as well, but now we’ve come back full circle to what matters most: making raw, honest music that moves peoples’ souls.”

The band titled the new collection “The 4th Album” to signify the start of a new chapter. When the needle drops, we hear TRC lead singer Chris Vos spit out an offhanded quip: “I ain’t ever givin’ up,” an impromptu line that is an instant touchstone for anyone who’s ever seen their dreams fading, and then been able to regain hope. That line quickly became a call-to-arms for the band and a rock-solid theme for this album.

Says bassist Alex Stiff: “We all want to be moving on the steady rise forever, but then one day that momentum stops, and you’re not prepared for it. This song is very autobiographical as to what we were going through. Finding the answer required a lot of soul searching, but ultimately we found it through the music. For us, it was saying: ‘I’m not doing a dance for anyone anymore.’”

On The 4th Album, the band uses the same microphones that have been dropped at bar gigs a few too many times, and the same tarnished 2008 computer with recording software mostly laughed at by today’s standards. The album cover shows a hand-cut metal sign given to the band by a fan at a 2021 show in St Louis, Missouri. For the live show, the band is performing as a trio again, purposely scaling back bigger lineups they’ve used in the past. “We keep going back to a less-is-more philosophy with the new songs, and that translates to the show as well. The space between us is the 4th member,” says singer Chris Vos.

On songs like “I Found Heaven (In My Darkest Days),” we hear Chris singing about walking a troubled path, but finding salvation in music, set to his harmonica and gospel roots wailing. “Talk To Me” displays a Motown-style drum and bass funk groove, while “Highway Lady” sets a 70’s smooth AM Radio backdrop, with the city views seemingly far behind in the rear view mirror, singing: “Highway Lady, where we gonna go today?”

The 4th Album finds the band at peace with themselves operating as outsiders in an ever- changing musical landscape. “You’re not going to find us posting goofy videos, salad recipes, or telling the internet what every song is about,” says Chris. “We’ve had some ups and downs, but we’ve managed to find a way through it, and put it all back into the music.”

The 4th Album is due for release September 15th, on Round Hill Records.

Trapper Schoepp

In 2019, Trapper Schoepp published a song with Bob Dylan called “On, Wisconsin” – making him the youngest musician to share a co-writing credit with the Nobel Prize Winner. The song led to a #1 trending article in Rolling Stone and 100+ tour dates worldwide.

The Wisconsin songwriter has released 5 albums worldwide since 2012 via Xtra Mile Recordings (UK) + SideOneDummy (US). Primetime Illusion (2019) was produced by Patrick Sansone (Wilco) and Rangers & Valentines (2016) was produced by Brendan Benson (Raconteurs) in Nashville. Relix Magazine called the latter a “mini masterpiece” and PBS noted that he has: “Story songs that explore and explode the conventions of rock and roll.”

Recorded in the midst of the pandemic, Trapper’s 2021 album ‘May Day’ was called, “Easily one of the best albums of the year” by San Francisco Examiner and “Charming 100% Americana opus” by Rolling Stone France. He’s also just released a folk album which was recorded at Johnny Cash’s Cabin in Tennessee and produced by Patrick Sansone and John Jackson (The Jayhawks/Sony Legacy).

Trapper has acted as a musical ambassador for rare disease research organization Harmony 4 Hope since 2015, inspired by his own battle with chronic pain. He’s also acted as an ambassador for Gibson Guitars, Guitars 4 Vets and Connecting to Cure. Schoepp’s music has been prominently placed in Netflix shows such as ‘Kingdom’ and ‘Vampire In The Garden’ – as well as The Onion, The Washington Post, Keen, Fox Racing, NFL, the Food Network, etc.
Trapper has toured the world with artists like The Wallflowers, Old 97’s, The Jayhawks and Frank Turner, and headlined tours across Europe/USA with stops at historic spaces like New York’s Town Hall, LA’s Roxy Theatre and SXSW.

More information: www.trapperschoepp.com

Off With Their Heads

Off With Their Heads

 

BAG POLICY

Bags (max size 12″ x 6″ x 12″) are allowed and will be searched upon entry. Exceptions will be made for necessary medical equipment and bags for nursing mothers. We encourage you to pack light with only the necessities to make the entry process as smooth as possible.

PAYMENT POLICY

We are a cashless facility meaning that we are unable to accept cash as a form of payment. Our Box Office and Coat Check will only accept credit and debit. Our Bars will only accept credit, debit, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Please note that artist merchandise sales are separate and may still accept cash.

 

Off With Their Heads’ new album Be Good is available now.

“All the other records were about moping around and feeling sorry for yourself,” says frontman Ryan Young. “This one is less about feeling sorry for yourself and more about accepting how goddamn miserable you are.”

Young and the band members—bassist Robbie Smartwood, guitarist John Polydoros, and new drummer Kyle Manning—holed up at The Hideaway in Minneapolis with additional recording at Pachyderm Studios, a mid-century mansion where Nirvana recorded In Utero, to make Be Good. Young produced the record himself, and it was the first time he enjoyed the process, or at least tolerated it. “I don’t like how the old records sound, and I hate recording so much,” he says. “You could just hear all the dumb shit on them where I was like, whatever, just let it go, I want to get out of here.”

Forced acceptance is a big theme of Be Good, though it’s a hard-learned one, often emerging in the form of primal screams in the band’s trademark style of gruff-punk. “Hands up to the sky and shout at the top of your lungs, ‘til the floor falls out!” Young yells on the title track, sounding somewhere between motivational speaker and hard-nosed therapist.

Much of the self-deprecation that defined the band’s previous work has been adjusted. It was the years spent out of the van, developing a life at home in Chicago, that gave Young his newfound, slightly more positive perspective. “Not being on the road 250 days a year, actually trying to develop some sort of life outside of playing shows and drinking, you’d be surprised what that does,” he says.

If ever there was a time for Ryan Young’s distinct brand on cautious optimism, it’s now. “The title is an answer to that question of what you’re supposed to do now that the world is so awful and the climate of this stupid country is so shitty,” he says. “Be good, be loud—that’s sometimes all you can do, I guess, as cheesy as that sounds.”

Skintones, Last Giant, & Drunk Drivers

Skintones, Last Giant, & Drunk Drivers

 

BAG POLICY

Bags (max size 12″ x 6″ x 12″) are allowed and will be searched upon entry. Exceptions will be made for necessary medical equipment and bags for nursing mothers. We encourage you to pack light with only the necessities to make the entry process as smooth as possible.

PAYMENT POLICY

We are a cashless facility meaning that we are unable to accept cash as a form of payment. Our Box Office and Coat Check will only accept credit and debit. Our Bars will only accept credit, debit, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Please note that artist merchandise sales are separate and may still accept cash.

 

Ryan Montbleau Band

Ryan Montbleau Band

 

BAG POLICY

Bags (max size 12″ x 6″ x 12″) are allowed and will be searched upon entry. Exceptions will be made for necessary medical equipment and bags for nursing mothers. We encourage you to pack light with only the necessities to make the entry process as smooth as possible.

PAYMENT POLICY

We are a cashless facility meaning that we are unable to accept cash as a form of payment. Our Box Office and Coat Check will only accept credit and debit. Our Bars will only accept credit, debit, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Please note that artist merchandise sales are separate and may still accept cash.

 

Ryan Montbleau

For as long as he can remember, Ryan Montbleau’s been a seeker. From the jungles of Peru to the volcanoes of Hawaii, from the beaches of Costa Rica to the streets of Brooklyn, from the backseat of a 16-passenger van to backstage at Carnegie Hall, the acclaimed singer/songwriter has spent much of his life crisscrossing the globe on a perpetual search for meaning, purpose, and understanding. It’s a quest that’s guided him both personally and professionally over the years, one that’s come to define not only his music, but his very sense of self. And yet, listening to Montbleau’s ambitious new multi-part album, Wood, Fire, Water, and Air, there is a profound sense of satisfaction in sitting still, a recognition that perhaps all those spiritual treasures he’s been chasing for so long were closer than he thought.

“My whole adult life has been this journey of trying to figure out where home is,” Montbleau reflects. “I think I’ve finally found it.”

Set to roll out across four distinct EPs, Wood, Fire, Water, and Air marks Montbleau’s first studio release since putting down permanent roots in Burlington, Vermont, where he recently purchased a house after more than two decades of living on the road. While much of the material here was written in fits and starts over the past several years, it’s clear that the desire for stability was very much on Montbleau’s mind even before he settled on the banks of Lake Champlain, and the songs reflect a maturity and self-awareness that can only come from the difficult work of rigorous self-examination. Montbleau is quick to credit therapy for his growth of late, but he sings about more than just himself here, mixing sly humor and deep revelations as he meditates on the ties that bind all of us perfectly imperfect humans together. Taken as a whole, it’s a broad, insightful collection balancing boisterous rock and roll energy with intimate folk introspection, a sprawling, magnetic record all about listening, letting go, and living life.

“I’ve been through a lot over these past few years,” says Montbleau, “and I’ve experienced some monumental shifts in my perspective. The only way for me to write about it was to just get as honest and vulnerable as I could.”

Honesty and vulnerability have been hallmarks of Montbleau’s career since the early 2000’s, when he first began performing around his native Massachusetts. In the years to come, he’d go on to collaborate with artists as diverse as Martin Sexton, Trombone Shorty, Tall Heights, and Galactic, and rack up more than 100 million streams on Spotify alone. Along the way, Montbleau would share bills with stars like Tedeschi Trucks Band, Ani DiFranco, The Wood Brothers, Rodrigo y Gabriela, and Mavis Staples, but it was his ecstatic headline shows—often more than 200 of them a year—that solidified his reputation as a roots rock powerhouse and an inexorable road warrior. NPR’s Mountain Stage compared his “eloquent, soulful songwriting” to Bill Withers and James Taylor, while Relix celebrated his “poetic Americana,” and The Boston Herald raved that “he’s made a career of confident, danceable positivity.”

That positivity would serve Montbleau well on the long and winding road to Wood, Fire, Water, and Air. Work on the record first began in the summer of 2019 at the gorgeous Guilford Sound studio in southern Vermont, where Montbleau and producer Adam Landry (Deer Tick, Rayland Baxter) laid down basic tracks with a rotating cast of players. At the time, Montbleau had little idea what he was getting himself into.

“I honestly didn’t know what this project was going to be for a very long time,” he explains. “All I knew was that I had a bunch of songs I was really excited about, and that I wanted to take a new approach to recording them.”

For much of his career, Montbleau had worked fast and loose in the studio, capturing music as raw and organically as possible. This time around, though, he found himself craving a bolder, more fully realized sound, and by the time he finished basic tracking in Guilford, it was clear that his work had only just begun. What followed was a yearlong odyssey of adding, subtracting, revising, and reimagining, as Montbleau and mixer/engineer James Bridges fleshed out the sessions with a broad array of instruments, textures, and colors.

“It took a long time for me to get to a place where I could trust myself enough to stretch out like this,” says Montbleau, who experimented with synthesizers and drum machines and added piano and mandolin to his repertoire for the project. “I’d always kind of deferred to other people’s expertise in the studio, but learning to trust my ears and get my hands dirty with the music was a totally empowering experience.”

As the songs took shape, it became clear to Montbleau that there were discrete themes at work within the larger collection, both sonically and emotionally. Rather than release the entire 15-track record all at once, then, he decided he would unveil the album more deliberately over the course of four separate EPs, each inspired by an element of the natural world. First up: Wood, a rustic, earthy trio of tracks taking stock of just what it means to be human in these bewildering times. Songs like the playful “Perfect” and soulful “Ankles” wrap weighty ruminations inside deceptively lighthearted packages, and the spare, stripped-down arrangements make for an ideal bridge between Montbleau’s earlier work and the more adventurous sounds to come on the album’s second installment, Fire. Infused with an infectious energy and feel-good pop optimism, Fire showcases the rock and roll side of Montbleau’s personality, celebrating the joy and liberation that comes with learning to live in the moment.

“The songs on Fire were a chance for me to just let loose and have fun,” says Montbleau. “They were an opportunity to not overthink things for a change, to trust my gut and follow what felt good.”

The arrival of Water quickly cools things down, though, bringing the music back to Earth with a more sober, meditative quality. Montbleau wrote several of the tracks while doing medicine work in Peru, and the healing, regenerative nature of that trip is obvious on songs like the dreamy “Forgiveness,” which features extensive keyboard contributions from avant-garde icon John Medeski. By the time we reach the album’s final chapter, Air, Montbleau seems to have found peace within himself, coming to terms with the transient, fleeting nature of our existence. “Just know that you are not alone,” he sings on “The Dust,” “and that’s all you get to know now.”

“Even though COVID kind of upended everything with my career, this past year has been a rare chance for me to stay put for a while and focus on what really matters,” says Montbleau, who recently invited his girlfriend and her daughter to move in with him in Burlington. “I feel like I finally have a real family life now, and I’m living on stable ground for the first time.”

That doesn’t mean the hunt for purpose and meaning is over. Ryan Montbleau will always be a seeker, and that’s alright. As Wood, Fire, Water, and Air so beautifully demonstrates, sometimes the search is its own reward.

Caryatids, Unmanned Ship, Dusk, & Sex, Fear

Caryatids, Unmanned Ship, Dusk, & Sex, Fear

 

BAG POLICY

Bags (max size 12″ x 6″ x 12″) are allowed and will be searched upon entry. Exceptions will be made for necessary medical equipment and bags for nursing mothers. We encourage you to pack light with only the necessities to make the entry process as smooth as possible.

PAYMENT POLICY

We are a cashless facility meaning that we are unable to accept cash as a form of payment. Our Box Office and Coat Check will only accept credit and debit. Our Bars will only accept credit, debit, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Please note that artist merchandise sales are separate and may still accept cash.

 

Jared James Nichols

Jared James Nichols

 

BAG POLICY

Bags (max size 12″ x 6″ x 12″) are allowed and will be searched upon entry. Exceptions will be made for necessary medical equipment and bags for nursing mothers. We encourage you to pack light with only the necessities to make the entry process as smooth as possible.

PAYMENT POLICY

We are a cashless facility meaning that we are unable to accept cash as a form of payment. Our Box Office and Coat Check will only accept credit and debit. Our Bars will only accept credit, debit, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Please note that artist merchandise sales are separate and may still accept cash.

 

Jared James Nichols

You can’t teach the blues. It’s not something that can be codified in music books or learned on YouTube. It goes much deeper than that and it comes from the inside. It’s about the way the guitar strings are bent and the sound gets transmuted directly from a player’s soul. It’s simple at the end of the day. Either you’ve got it, or you don’t. JARED JAMES NICHOLS has definitely got it. The Wisconsin-born, Los Angeles-based singer, writer and guitarist’s new EP Old Glory & The Wild Revival channels blues grit and gusto through bombastic arena-size rock ‘n’ roll. It’s raw, raucous and righteously real.

As soon as he got his first guitar at 14-years-old, the stage immediately called to Jared. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he grew up minutes away from The Alpine Valley Resort—where Stevie Ray Vaughan performed his last show. However, no divine coincidence could truly foreshadow just how adept at the six-string he would eventually become. He personally traces the beginning of his story back to a blues jam that his mother brought him to. “Two weeks after I got an electric guitar, I was on stage with all of these old cats from Chicago playing the blues,” he recalls with a smile. “The music immediately resonated with me. It was all about the feeling and the soul behind it. None of these guys were music nerds. They were true blues guys playing what they felt. That power and reality struck a chord in me.”

Soon, he found himself practicing for twelve hours every day. Hitting up the local jams, he ended up sharing the stage with legends including Buddy Guy, “Honeyboy” Edwards, and “Big Jim” Johnson as well as opening for Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Derek Trucks. By his 21st birthday, he had logged over 500 gigs. After a short stint at Berklee School of Music in Boston, he headed out to Los Angeles where he garnered numerous accolades at the world-renowned Musicians Institute, winning the 2010 Jerry Horton guitar contest, the 2011 Les Paul tribute contest, and the 2011 “Outstanding Guitarist” award.

2012 saw him release his debut EP, Live at the Viper Room, gaining the notice of both Guitar World and Guitar Player and inking a deal with Sony/MTV’s Hype Music Publishing. However, everything simply laid the groundwork for Old Glory & The Wild Revival. Teaming up with Aerosmith engineer Warren Huart, Jared began working on the five-song set in early 2013. Honing his voice as a guitarist, songs like the first single “Let It Go” speak through a delta-style soul with the right amount of rock bravado. “That one is a blues rock song about love and give and take,” he reveals. “It’s got its own style and it opens the door to what I’m doing”.

Elsewhere on the EP, “Blackfoot” charges forward with a riff as sharp as a tomahawk and a whole lot of spirit punctuated by Jessica Childress of The Voice’s backing harmonies. “In Wisconsin, I was surrounded by Indian reservations and culture,” he continues. “I’d do casino and reservation tours as a kid. When I wrote the song, I was reading about all of these badass tribes. I love that spirit and vibe inherent in Native American culture. The Blackfoot were truly bad motherfuckers. That lick is what I feel their culture represented.”

On stage, it truly comes to life. Jared’s presence becomes amplified with guitar in hand. Audiences have experienced that everywhere from his performances at NAMM and SXSW to the iconic Sturgis Buffalo Chip Festival where he will play alongside ZZ Top and Kid Rock and the Harley-Davidson 110th Anniversary in Milwaukee this summer. Ultimately, he lives up to that idea of Revival in the EP’s title. “I want people to get excited,” he concludes. “I want them to feel like anything is possible in this music. I want them to know great blues rock exists. If I can give someone the same inspiration I was blessed with, I’ve done something right.”

Cage Willis

Genre bending, Alternative Outlaw, Southern Rock artist Cage Willis breaks all the rules with his debut album, Who I Am. Like dynamite drenched in gasoline, Who I Am delivers an undeniably explosive listening experience.

Willis’ powerfully honest vocal, attitude fueled guitar playing, and inspirational songwriting will have you immersed in an instant. The debut album, produced by hit songwriter Chris Robertson of Black Stone Cherry, will leave your soul overflowing. A beautifully balanced masterpiece of modern tones paired with classic southern flavor.

Candy Cigarette

Since its inception in 2019 by then 10 year old identical twins Isaac and Lucas Deitz, Candy Cigarette has been bringing a unique blend of blues and straight-up rock n’ roll to audiences across their home state of Wisconsin and beyond. Playing shows at the Turner Hall Ballroom, Blues from the Top Music Festival, Summerfest, The Miramar Theatre and the Homegrown Blues Festival supporting artists like Jared James Nichols, Bourbon House and The Jimmy’s.

Featuring Lucas – vocals/guitar, Isaac – vocals/bass and Evan – Drums, this trio is set to help usher in the next generation of powerful blues rock.