About this Event
$15 ADV Tickets // $20 Day of show // 7pm Doors // 8pm show //21+
Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage
Songwriter and comix artist Jeffrey Lewis began recording homemade cassettes in New York City in 1998; his critically acclaimed, unusual and word-dense songs lead to Jeffrey signing to Rough Trade Records in 2001 (record label of The Smiths, The Strokes, Belle & Sebastian, etc.). Creating a brilliant style of scuzzy urban indie-rock-folk, like a 21st Century mash-up of Sonic Youth, Pete Seeger and R. Crumb, Jeffrey has played countless gigs all over the world, both solo and with bandmates, including playing as the opening act for bands like the Mountain Goats, Daniel Johnston, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, Dinosaur Jr, The Fall, Dr. Dog, Pulp, Roky Erickson, The Vaselines, and more.
Upcoming full-length album “The Even More Freewheelin Jeffrey Lewis” is slated for USA release on March 21, 2025. The previous official album “Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage: Bad Wiring” released on Don Giovanni Records (USA) and Moshi Moshi Records (internationally) in November 2019 (garnering rave reviews), but Jeffrey has also digitally self-released four DIY albums from his apartment in the interim period. The highly anticipated new studio album was recorded in Nashville with producer Roger Moutenot (Yo La Tengo, Lou Reed, Sleater-Kinney)! Jeffrey continues to wring folksy spiel and garage bohemianism from his ramshackle guitar, whether with his full band or solo, while sometimes incorporating his often politically subversive visual artwork and cartoons into live appearances. Some of these audio/visual projects have been hosted on History.com, such as “The Story of Sitting Bull,” a Jeffrey Lewis illustrated song which won a Webby Award in 2011 for “Best Writing on the Internet;” Jeffrey's “The Story of Keith Haring” was commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art in 2021.
As of 2024 the 4-piece line-up of Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage includes Mallory Feuer on violin and keyboard, Kait Pelkey on bass and Brent Cole on drums.
The Grasping Straws
Grasping Straws’ grungy, jazz-infused abstractions come together with a scream and a whisper in angry, angsty softness that’s raw, controlled and ever surprising.
The project was formed in 2012 by Mallory Feuer who, inspired by antifolk and the music emanating from New York’s basements, started performing, developing, screeching, sleeping on floors, and meeting soulmates. The most recent recordings feature Jim Bloom (drums), Sam Goldfine (bass) and Marcus Kitchen (lead guitars), but the band is often seen live as a solo project, or featuring many additional artists, friends and collaborators.
“We adapt to the space we’re in. Musical collaboration and sharing is a study of humanness. Our recordings are moments in time captured like a sonic time capsule.”
Their self-released debut album attracted glowing reviews in the underground press, and took the band on the road through much of the US, Canada and Europe opening for a host of cool bands like Illiterate Light, Peuk, Church Girls, Bent Knee, Dish Pit, Maya Lucia, and Camp Saint Helene.
Their latest collaboration, with video and performance artist Erica Schreiner, was shown at G Biennale and Art All Night film festivals.
Major Matt Mason
Major Matt Mason USA is the performing name for musician, poet, and producer Matt Roth. Originally from Shawnee, Kansas, Matt cut his teeth playing guitar for local Lawrence, KS freak out and math rock bands Magic Nose and Dracomagnet in the early 1990s
In 1994 Matt moved to New York City where he became active in the anti-folk and DIY music scene of New York’s East Village. Centering around the infamous Monday night, open mic, Antihoots at the Sidewalk Cafe, the scene was an early stomping ground for an array of artists including Beck, Regina Spektor, The Moldy Peaches, Langhorne Slim, John S. Hall (King Missile), Jeffrey Lewis, Shilpa Ray, Kimya Dawson, Diane Cluck, and many more.
In 1998 MMM released his debut solo album Me Me Me in the US. The album was licensed for the UK and Europe on Teenage Fanclub drummer Francis MacDonald’s label, Shoeshine Records. He would continue to release two more albums with Shoeshine: 2002’s Honey Are you Ready for the Ballet and 2004’s Bad People Rule The World. In 2005 Matt released a one-off project under the moniker of Kansas State Flower and in 2007 he returned as Major Matt Mason USA with the album Senile Pie Strive Pip Melancholy.
In 2001 he formed the band Schwervon! with Nan Turner. Schwervon! would go on to release five albums and a handful of singles, including a 7” on, Pavement member, Bob Nastanovich’s label Broker’s Tip Records.
During his time in New York, he established Olive Juice Music, a recording studio, independent record label, and online record distro headquartered in his apartment in the Lower East Side. Olive Juice Music would go on to host the OJ All Day Music Fest, for three years, as well as the OJ Distro, a hub for over three hundred independent releases in the early days of online mailorder. OJ Studios has produced recordings for many notable artists including: Kimya Dawson, Daniel Johnston, Jeffrey Louis, Adam Green (Moldy Peaches), Toby Goodshank, The Lovely Eggs, L.D. Beghtol (Magnetic Fields), Dan Fishback, Paleface, Phoebe Kreutz, Elastic No No Band and more.
In 2012 Matt moved back to Shawnee, Kansas and re-inserted himself into the Kansas City Music/ Poetry Scene. In 2015 he started a poetry blog entitled Beef Jerky Clouds and in 2017 formed a side project, Broken Heart Syndrome, featuring Pat Tomek of The Rainmakers on drums.
Major Matt Mason USA continues to perform as a solo act and as a band. Through his combined projects he has shared the stage, opening, for luminaries such as Belle and Sebastian, Guided By Voices, Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), The Vaselines, The Wedding Present, Daniel Johnston, Lucy Dacus and many more.
As of the fall of 2019 Major Matt Mason USA has been performing with Brian Hurtgen on drums and more recently Dane Bridges on Bass.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, Kansas City, United States
USD 19.22
