POP PUNK | Mayday Parade
Tues. April 22
$20/adv., $23/door
Music Farm
The guys in Tallahassee, Fla.-based Mayday Parade first came together in the early 2000s. At the time, they were just a group of dudes practicing in a warehouse, but since then the crew has blossomed into a killer pop-punk crew of BFFs. “We understand each other more now and can practically predict what each of us are trying to do musically,” says drummer Jake Bundrick. “It’s nice to have come this far and still remain good friends. Believe it or not, that’s hard to do.” Lyrically, the band has evolved from their 2006 EP Tales Told By Dead Friends to their most recent 2013 record Monsters in the Closet, as the boys in Mayday Parade matured — one member even has a young child. In fact, one of the driving themes behind their new music is the idea that we are all in this together, and, well, that’s a comforting thought. “I just want people to realize they’re not alone in life. Both bad and good things happen to everyone,” Bundrick says. —Kalyn Oyer TUESDAY
PSYCHE BLUES | People’s Blues of Richmond
w/ The Marcus King Band
Thurs. April 17
9 p.m.
$5
Royal American
The People’s Blues of Richmond shake, rattle, and roll like a rusty pick-up cruising down a country road, with clouds of dust in the rear view, the windows down, and the stereo blasting some James Gang. The Richmond trio’s psych-blues boogie blends thundering muscularity with the pliable bottom-end of a saucy bar wench’s curvy caboose. Guitarist Tim Beavers and bassist Matt Volkes connected in college, grieving the loss of a mutual friend. That woozy, drug-addled woe fueled the sound of their 2010 debut, Hard-On Blues. Afterwards the core duo added a full-time drummer and organ player. That new lineup drove last summer’s follow-up Good Time Suicide, a fitting description of the band’s dark, increasingly carnival-esque sound. However, the new players didn’t fit PBR’s hard-touring ethos and departed shortly after the album’s release. Beavers and Volkes pared back to a trio, adding drummer Nekoro Williams, son of the Wailers’ percussionist Drummie Zeb. Williams’ outstanding feel compensates for the loss of keyboards, giving the band a keen rhythmic ebb and flow. He augments the builds when the tunes get jammy, adds subtle syncopation during the churning hard-blues moments, and provides intoxicating dub bounce during the band’s slower, bluesy ballads, as evident on their new live concert release, The Oil Change Tapes. —Chris Parker THURSDAY
BREEZE-HOP | Aer
w/ Ground Up, DJ Smiles
Sat. April 19
$15/adv., $18/door
Music Farm
Feel-good hip-hop duo Aer, a.k.a. David von Mering and Carter Schultz, blend rap, reggae, pop, and indie rock. Not surprisingly, the band’s lyrics center on gettin’ high, makin’ music, and just having a good time. Before Aer released their albums, 2011’s What You Need and 2012’s The Bright Side, they were dropping full-length mixed tapes. “We started out as a rock band when we were 16 and juniors in high school,” says Mering. “After that, Carter was in Costa Rica for six months, and I would send him beats I had made that he would sing over.” These days, Mering and Schultz have been touring with big names like Macklemore + Ryan Lewis. “It was one of the cooler moments of our career,” says Schultz. And there are more collabs in the future. “We’re going to make a lot of music videos and do a huge tour with some big names this summer, but we aren’t allowed to talk about it yet,” says Mering. —Kalyn Oyer SATURDAY
Haunted Folk | Shivering Timbers
w/ Andrew Scotchie and the River Rats, Kelly McFarling, Chris Rodrigues, Austin Miller
6 p.m.
Wed. April 16
$5 donation
Awendaw Green
w/ Elonzo
10 p.m.
Thurs. April 17
$5
Tin Roof
You know your band’s off to a good start when you can get The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach to produce your debut. And that’s just what happened for Akron, Ohio-based indie-folk-rockers Shivering Timbers with their 2010 record We All Started in the Same Place. The Shivering Timbers story began when the husband-and-wife duo of Jayson and Sarah Benn began writing songs for their then-infant daughter, Suzi. Those tunes led the pair to hit the stage; eventually they added drummer Daniel Kshywonis to the mix. Marked by a style that’s folkie, nimble, and haunted with lingering lullabies, the Shivering Timbers have the ability to morph into something a bit more rock ‘n’ roll, too. Evidence of that can be heard on “Generations,” a track off their latest album Sing Sing. The tune allows Sarah’s voice to resonate beautifully as Jayson gets crunchy with a set of heavily distorted guitar riffs, a la Auerbach. While it’s hard to nail down a particular influence, Sarah reveals that touring with local darlings Shovels and Rope a couple of years back had a big impact on their music. Audiences can expect six-year-old Suzi to make an appearance on both chord organ and tambourine. —John A. Zara Wednesday and THURSDAY
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