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MAJORS STARS bring their legendary heavy psychedelic garage rock jams to euphoric and glorious heights. We are also thrilled to host the MOUNTAIN MOVERS and their electric Neil Young tinged explorations and the indie folk-rock gems of ROSE THOMAS BANNISTER! Tickets $10-15.Kickoff the summer months with the heavy and uninhibited MAJORS STARS (Boston), who bring their legendary psychedelic garage rock jams to euphoric and glorious heights. We are also thrilled to play host to the MOUNTAIN MOVERS (MA/CT) and their electric Neil Young tinged explorations and also the the indie folk-rock gems of ROSE THOMAS BANNISTER (NYC) with her band in a very rare appearance for the area...
ARTIST BIOS:
Out of the roiling miasma of timeless time comes a long-promised delivery from one of the constants of our era: Major Stars, and their new LP, More Colors of Sound. Fueled by overdriven guitars andgut-punching rhythm, these veteran rock-ers are stalwart in their delivery of trippy, psyched-out extremes. Over the 27 years since The Rock Revival (their Twisted Village debut), they can be counted on to come back around every three or four years or so, with something heavy picked up on their journey. This time, it’s been since 2019’s Roots of Confusion Seeds ofJoy—but what’s a few years in the larger scheme of things? Because ‘larger’ IS the Major Stars scheme of things, one that’s always cut deeply into the grooves. YES. It’s been since the late 90s that Major Stars have been transmitting their signal. But even eternity wasn’t built insuch an arc of time: Wayne Rogers and Kate Biggar have been crossing necks dating back to the 80s, with Crystallized Movements’ screaming psych-punk hybrids. Tom Leonard, Major Stars’ current third axeman, has been in the mix almost as long: Luxurious Bags’ amorphous low-fi (that’s him!) was released on Twisted Village too, and Kate and Wayne and him all played together in Vermonster. After the demise of Magic Hour—Wayne and Kate’s proto-freak-folk outfit with Damon & Naomi—the three of them formed Major Stars, with Wayne singing and Dave Lynch on drums. Which brings us... not quite to today, but, the More Colors of Sound lineup is as-was for Roots of Confusion Seeds of Joy: Kate, Tom, Wayne, Dave Doug on bass, Casey Keenan on drums and Noell Dorsey singing lead. More Colors of Sound had been earmarked as a title for nearly twenty years when they started work on the album that would finally bear its name. For the first ten Major Stars releases, Wayne wrote everything, but due to the way things were in 2020 and 2021, Tom and Noell wrote a bunch of things together, along with Wayne’s stuff. By the time they got to Gloucester’s Bang-A Song Studios, there was enough music for a double LP! A double’sa once-in-a-lifetime dream scenario, but once they’d done the overdubs, they skinnied it down to the 44 minutes here—22 minutes of each song-writing team. Ultimately democratic, not too long... you don’t see that much nowadays! As ever(and ever), the crush of the three guitars as they riff with the rhythm defines Major Stars’ sound. The work of two writing camps has produced a song-centric focus on More Colors of Sound—one, of course, shot through with distorted tones, fevered neck-wringing solos and several extended jam-mers—but the production overall has a cleaner sound than its predecessor. That, plus the increased number of writers on deck gives the title a kind of kismet to go along with its historical weight, and that’s alright! On More Colors of Sound, Major Stars find new hues inside the incendiary approach that’s launched them so ecstatically since early times; another jarof infinity captured with a quality all its own—and it’s all in the grooves!
New Haven’s long running Mountain Movers (guitarist/vocalist Dan Greene, bassist Rick Omonte, guitarist Kryssi Battalene, & drummer Ross Menze) have been playing together for over a decade now, making their recorded debut on a slew of singles released from 2011-2013, but it wasn’t until 2015’s “Death Magic” (released on New Haven label Safety Meeting) that the potential of that iteration of the group became clear; Mountain Movers are a force of nature. The camaraderie & sensitivity to each others playing has only grown over time, crystallizing on the group’s trio of albums for Trouble In Mind; 2017’s eponymous “Mountain Movers” served as a reintroduction of the group to a larger audience, while 2018’s “Pink Skies” raged like a group confident in its strengths, and 2020’s prescient “World What World”, written & recorded before the world shut down slightly shifted focus away from the jams & back toward the weight of guitarist/songwriter Dan Greene’s poetic tales of magical realism. The band’s ninth album “Walking After Dark” finds a happy medium between both aspects of the band’s strengths; Greene’s lyrical compositions and the group’s long-form improvised jams.
Rose Thomas Bannister (fka Ember Schrag) is a singer-songwriter and guitarist originally from western Nebraska who is living and performing in Brooklyn. Rose has been described as “a nimble guitarist, a gripping storyteller, clever lyricist and a strong, dynamic singer with a direct, clear, matter-of-fact voice” (New York Music Daily). She is known for curating experimental and folk music concerts and collaborating with an eclectic list of artists, such as the late Susan Alcorn, Alec K Redfearn, PG Six, Kath Bloom, Franklin Bruno and Jessica Pavone. RoseThomas is currently supporting her third release (first on vinyl) "The Little Wren." In song structure, she experiments with shifting time signatures and tonal surprises. Her highly specific biblical imagery takes on a darker edge than her prior releases, without sacrificing pathos or wit. On the “B” side, she moves away from the Old Testament with a song cycle based on Macbeth. She's focused obsessively on familial betrayal and naturalistic symbols. It's a catalog of flora and fauna, mostly birds - some sinister, some innocent victims.
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Event Venue
Epsilon Spires, 190 Main St, Brattleboro, VT 05301-2837, United States
Tickets
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.
