INDIE FOLK | Rebekah Todd
Fri. Aug. 28
10 p.m.
Free
The Mill
Rebekah Todd’s most recent release, 2014’s Roots Bury Deep, is an engrossing album. Todd’s voice, sounding like it was recorded in a massive cathedral or museum, is a powerful instrument that seems to run on pure emotion. “I always try to get lost in the performance,” Todd says. “That is my goal. And I want the audience to get lost as well. I want them to sort of lose time.” Even with a stylistic unity in the production, each of the nine tracks seems to be its own creation. Todd says there’s a good reason for that. “A lot of bands, when they record, do all the drums one day, then all guitars the next day, and on and on,” Todd says. “And I find that it makes everything sound monotonous, because you’re not able to take the time to get into the atmosphere of the songs. I do one song at a time, which is sort of annoying to the producer, but when the record’s done, each song has its own vibe. And it was really important to make sure the vibe for each song was where we wanted it to be.” Todd often tours with a full band called the Odyssey, but she’s also played in a duo setup with upright bassist William Seymour. “I almost enjoy it more, because it’s very organic and raw,” she says. “You just have a couple of stringed instruments and your voices. It lets the songwriting shine a little more.” —Vincent Harris FRIDAY
SOUTHERN ROCK | Weigh Station
Mon. Aug. 26
9 p.m.
Free
Pour House
Four-man southern rock band Weigh Station is hosting a celebration for the release of their new album Outlaw Inlaw this week. Though they’ve played together since 2006, the band has only recently turned their attention to making their recordings available to the public. When previewing the release, I started getting flashbacks of my dad’s mechanic shop. It was as if the band had taken all of his favorite tunes and crafted them together into ballads about hard work and the struggles of love. Outlaw Inlaw is Eric Clapton or Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers-style classic rock meets modern country. “The versatility of our songwriting and the way we recorded it flows well from start to finish,” says the band’s lead guitarist, Tom Leonczyk. “There’s a little bit of something for everyone. We are definitely a rock ‘n’ roll band, but there are also elements of funk, soul, folk, and a little country.” —Kaleb Eisele MONDAY
barn jam | Red Cedar Review
Martin Stephenson, Nathan Kalish, Little Sebastian, the Trongone Band, Rust, and South Rail Bluegrass Band
Wed. Sept. 2
6 p.m.
$5 donation
Sewee Outpost
Since its inception eight years ago, the Awendaw Green Barn Jam has become a staple of the Charleston music scene, bringing in at least six acts every Wednesday night for a casual evening of good grooves and community mingling. “I used to think it was all about the music, but now I realize that the important part is that it gets people off their couch to meet other humans around music,” says Barn Jam founder Eddie White. “I never fully understood how powerful music is until I ventured into producing these shows.” Each week, the sounds you may hear are as diverse as Japanese rock, Dixie hip-hop, and Celtic folk. At the Wed. Sept. 2 session, for example, White has brought in English folk-pop artist Martin Stephenson, Michigan roots artist Nathan Kalish, pop-rockers Little Sebastian, harmonizing folksters the Trongone Band, Atlanta Americana act Rust, and local bluegrass groups Red Cedar Review and South Rail Bluegrass Band. As for refreshments, barn jams are always BYOB, and you can count on their much-loved wood-fired pizzas prepared outside where all the action’s at. The Roost Bar N’ Grille will also be at the Wed. Sept. 2 edition. Kids are welcome (there are plenty of toys there) as are pets so long as they’re leashed (the dogs, not the children). Early arrivers can also get in a game of disc golf at the Sewee Outpost, which generally shares its space with Awendaw Green. —Kelly Rae Smith WEDNESDAY
STONER PUNK | GYMSHORTS
w/ Dumb Doctors
Tues. Sept. 1
9 p.m.
$5
The Royal American
The cover of No Backsies, the most recent album by the Rhode Island stoner-punk quartet GYMSHORTS, is one of those classic, funny-but-obnoxious images that the Circle Jerks and the Dead Kennedys used to do so well in the early ’80s: a chain-smoking, irritated, skateboard-wielding stray dog urinating the album’s title up against a brick wall. The music contained within is equally unforgiving and curt: Nine short stabs of pummeling rhythms and choppy, stripped-down riffs, with singer/guitarist Sarah Greenwell putting the often wry, funny lyrics in a stray-cat-yowl stranglehold. It’s a ragged sound that’s deceptively well-constructed. “We sound tight, because we play all the time,” Greenwell says of the band’s full-on intensity. “We love to play together. It’s become second nature to us.” In fact, their playing style is so physically taxing the band’s typical set runs less than 30 minutes, and even then the band starts to feel spent during the show. “It usually hits us about halfway through a set,” Greenwell says with a laugh. “We’re like, ‘Fuck, we need some water … or some beer.’” The band formed in 2013 after Greenwell met guitarist Devin Domonic at a party. She played bass in Domonic’s band Male Perverts before breaking off with him to form GYMSHORTS and release their self-titled debut album. Two albums in three years is pretty great for a band that, to hear Greenwell tell it, doesn’t especially look forward to making records. “We all hate recording, to be honest,” she says. “It’s a pain in the ass. I don’t like playing the same thing over and over and again. We like playing live, so when we do record, we want it to have that same energy.” —Vincent Harris TUESDAY
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