Rachel Mallin and The Wild Type at the Tank Room, 1/21/17
Past interview subjects Rachel Mallin and The Wild Type recently brought their indie rock vibes to the Tank Room. They are one of my favorite local bands. Check out the new song “Wait For It.”
Royal Teeth at the Tank Room, 1/21/17
Past interview subjects Royal Teeth recently lit up the Tank Room with two hours of indie-pop jams. It was the last night of the tour for the New Orleans-based band. They threw down with one of the best sets I’ve seen in a long time. I covered the show for X1051. There are a lot of happy-clappy indie rock bands out there these days, but Royal Teeth bring the heat live. The interplay was tight and the vocals were perfect. The energy and passion in Royal Teeth’s music and live performances is inspiring.
Check out the live version of the new single “Kids Conspire.”
Here’s the classic “Mais La.”
The epic, joyful song “Wild” always gets crowds fired up.
Much love to Royal Teeth for an epic night. Keep on bringing your glorious music to the world and beasting it hardcore!
Royal Teeth’s Nora Patterson
The Blackbird Revue at the RecordBar, 1/19/17
Kansas City-based band the Blackbird Revue recently played their final KC show before moving to Los Angeles. I covered the show for X1051. The Blackbird Revue lit up the RecordBar with their passionate indie rock and glorious harmonies. Check out “Good Things” and the live debut of “The Love We Knew.”
77 Jefferson at the Riot Room, 1/13/17
77 Jefferson recently hit the Riot Room with their reggae vibes. The local band has a big national following. Groove out on these quality vibes!
The Phantastics at the Riot Room, 1/6/17
Kansas City-based band the Phantastics recently celebrated their fifth anniversary at a sold out Riot Room. Check out the soulful, funky grooves of “Protein.”
The Floozies and Jason Hann at the Midland, 12/23/16
Lawrence-based duo the Floozies recently smashed the Arvest Bank Theatre at the Midland with a set of future electronic funk. Near the end of the show, the past interview subjects were joined by special guest percussionist Jason Hann (The String Cheese Incident/EOTO) for some blazing jams. Check out this video of some of the action.
Emmaline Twist live at RecordBar, 12/27/16
Kansas City-based band Emmaline Twist brought their potent post punk and shoegaze vibes to the Middle Class Records launch party at the RecordBar on December 27th. Take a listen to this rocking live version of “Vega.”
McClain and Molly Balloons at the Midland, 12/23/16
I recently ran into past interview subject and balloon beast Molly Balloons during a set break at the recent Floozies show at the Arvest Bank Theatre at the Midland in Kansas City. You know we had to go live and chat it up!
Quintron and Miss Pussycat at the RecordBar, 10/9/16
2016 was a great year for live music in Kansas City. It was such a great honor to cover so many quality shows this year. Here is a rundown of my favorite gigs of the year.
Quintron and Miss Pussycat at RecordBar
The garage rock insanity and sweaty mayhem of New Orleans-based Quintron and Miss Pussycat at RecordBar was my favorite show of 2016. Backed by the drumming of the robotic Drum Buddy, the strangely funky grooves and interplay between organist Quintron and percussionist/puppeteer Miss Pussycat had the crowd dancing hard all night. Some songs sounded like if you played “96 Tears” underwater while drinking a bunch of NyQuil. It was weird, wonderful and complete perfection.
Femi Kuti and the Positive Force at CrossroadsKC at Grinders
Femi Kuti and the Positive Force at CrossroadsKC at Grinders, 7/9/16
The eldest son of afrobeat legend Fela Kuti honored his father’s legacy while pushing the sound into the future at CrossroadsKC. Backed by a 14-piece band, mufti-instrumentalist Femi smashed through two hours of politically charged songs with infectious grooves. The musicianship was topnotch and the messages of empowerment and unity are needed now more than ever.
M83 at the Arvest Bank Theatre at the MidlandArvest Bank Theatre at the Midland
M83 at the Midland, 6/1/16
M83 delivered a high-energy set of indie-pop at te Arvest Bank Theatre at the Midland. The new material of Junk worked really well live meshed seamlessly with their classic tracks. The production and lighting was also top level. It was a glorious evening of French-tinged indie rock.
Here’s a snippet of the classic “Midnight City,”
Yellowman and McClain at Prohibition Hall, 7/22/16
Reggae-dancehall legend Yellowman smashed KC with an epic performance this year. He came at 1:30 in the morning and he smashed through nearly two hours of classic tunes. King Yellowman was Jamaica’s top-selling artist of the ’80s, but his live show proves that he is no nostalgia act. Something isn’t purely nostalgic when it is right in front of you, blowing your mind. Yellowman’s set was hard-hitting blur of blazing reggae vibes, lyrical dexterity and calisthenics. All hail King Yellowman!
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