INSTRUMENTAL ROCK | Pan
w/ Meet the Sky
Thurs. Feb. 7
$5
Tin Roof
Columbia-based Pan has 34,000 friends on Facebook, but as the members of this instrumental outfit have learned, all is not as it seems. “The fans started to pour in and we just thought that they really liked our music,” guitarist Ian Flegas says. “We finally figured it out when people started commenting on the page about bread.” (FYI: “pan” is Spanish for “bread.”) You won’t find any loaves of Bimbo bread at Pan’s Charleston show, but you will hear tracks from their epic 2012 album These Are the Things I Love and I Want to Share Them With You. But unlike their musical forebears — Fang Island and Godspeed You! Black Emperor — Pan likes to keep their songs short and sweet and upbeat. “We write music that makes our blood flow,” Flegas says. “When our blood flows, our audience’s blood flows — or at least that’s what we strive for.” He adds, “Each time you listen, you can imagine something different, which is what’s cool about instrumental music.” If you miss the Tin Roof show, you can see Pan on the C2 show Eclectic Evenings in May. —Susan Cohen THURSDAY
- Andy Cox
Electro | The Mantras
w/ Big Something
Wed. Feb. 6
10 p.m.
$8/advance,
$10/door
The Pour House
Just blame it on ADHD. It’s not only a handy excuse for our faltering education system, it’s how the Mantras explain their promiscuous musical tastes. The Greensboro, N.C., act may be led by two jazz studies grads — guitarist Keith Allen and bassist Brian Tyndall — but when the boys first joined forces in 2005, they decided to look to the Allman Brothers and the Grateful Dead for inspiration, not Coltrane and Miles. Over time, the Mantras have added touches of progressive rock, electronic, and world music to their sounds. For example, on “House of Cards” off their new studio album, Jambands Ruined My Life, the King Crimson-style art-rock morphs into a thrash-metal groove. Other tracks include the space-funk jam (“Dr. Ssanasinod”) and the intriguing Afrobeat/Middle-Eastern blend of “Man You Rawk.” The album is also the first to feature a sixth member, keyboardist J.W. Powell, who adds texture to the songs and expands melodies. —Chris Parker WEDNESDAY
Country Folk | Paul Edelman
Sat. Feb. 9
8 p.m.
The Sparrow
When long-time Philly-based country folkster Paul Edelman decided the time had come to leave the Keystone State, he set his sights on the singer-songwriter capital of the Carolinas, Asheville, N.C. And rightfully so. The beautiful mountain town is home to roots rockers, bluegrassers, and the disciples of Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, and Townes Van Zandt. “I needed to be in an environment more conducive to my goals,” Edelman says. “That’s one of the things so attractive about Asheville, so many players who’ve really dove in to full-time musicianship and everything that means.” For years, Edelman has played and toured as the Jangling Sparrows, but he has slowly begun to give up that moniker. Edelman is a self-proclaimed “rambling soul,” so it should shock no one that many of his songs are about the road. “I’ve always romanticized about traveling, and when I do, I like the crannies of a place, the parts of someplace that really help you understand what makes the people there tick,” Edelman says. “But I’m more a creature of balance. I have a home life and that helps me feel connected when I go out on the road.” —Chris Haire SATURDAY
Hootie Rock | Southwood
Thurs. Feb. 7
10 p.m.
Wild Wild Cafe
North Charleston
Thanks to spots opening for Hootie and the Blowfish and Collective Soul, the guys in Charleston-based Southwood have been making a name for themselves throughout the Southeast. Their new EP, Dixiana, is a Hootie-meets-Tom Petty ode to hot summer days and walks along Folly Beach. “We wanted to tell some stories that resonated within us,” lead singer Mitch Wetherington says. Guitarist Henri Gates adds, “We were able to really express ourselves with Dixiana, and I think you can hear it in the songs.” Southwood recently held an EP release party at Midtown Bar and Grill, and they’ve been hitting the local scene pretty hard since then, picking up gigs at the Tin Roof and the Mt. Pleasant Wild Wing. The chicken chain, in particular, has a particular fondness for Wetherington, Gates, and their bandmates; Southwood is about to embark on a Wild Wing tour of sorts that’ll send them to Columbia, Hilton Head, and Savannah. For music and more info, visit southwoodband.com. —Davin Turkewitz THURSDAY
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