Celebrate Creative Philly With JUMP, Geekadelphia, Streets Dept, Phrequency and Streets and Stripes.
Before you quit reading, please note that there will be free beer at this free event.
So, the event? It will be a bunch of us talking about all that is cool in the city, and why we cover this stuff on our blogs (and in our print mag).
We’ll likely talk about how you can start your own media empires, including a print publication (if you still dig that sort of thing). It ain’t all that difficult … we’ve been doing it for more than a year now!
And seriously, there’s free beer.
This is part of Philly Tech Week. It will take place at PhilaMOCA, the former Mad Decent headquarters at 12th and Spring Garden, from 6 to 8 today. Check here for more info.
The next print issue of JUMP drops on June 1 and it is shaping up nicely. We’ve got stories about The Tough Shits, the Holmesburg Jam, Rebel Bar, An Albatross, The Cold Fronts (below, shot by Rick Kauffman) and El Malito and the 33rd Century (above, by G.W. Miller III).
Our cover boys for the issue are OCD: Moosh & Twist, the fresh-faced hip hop duo who rep Philly on nationwide tours (in the image below, photographed by Marie Alyse Rodriguez). These two 19-year old guys flow so smooth, with their voices complementing each other as though they’ve been working together forever – which they nearly have. They met in the first grade.
They haven’t even dropped a full album but their mixtapes have gone viral. You can download them for free here. And catch Team OCD on stage on June 2 at The Roots Picnic.
The Black Dahlia Murder and Nile @ The TLA.
Text and images by Chad Sims.
I have to begin by revealing that I grew up in South Florida, so I was exposed to death metal at a young age (Tampa was the home of U.S. death metal through the 90s). I listened to stuff like Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel and Malevolent Creation. By high school, I lost interest in metal. Not until college did some friends turn me on to the newer breed of extreme metal bands including Nile.
In 2005, I finally got to see Nile (at the time, still on Philadelphia’s own Relapse Records) with an opening band called The Black Dahlia Murder (above and at right).
Last Wednesday, I got to see these two bands share a stage again at the Theatre of the Living Arts but this time the roles were reversed.
Nile (bottom image) played an amazing set of their unique brand of Egyptian-themed death metal, finishing with their song, “Black Seeds of Vengeance” (below). These guys were, quite frankly, amazing. I can’t wait until they come back to Philly as a headlining act.
The Black Dahlia Murder closed the show and certainly got the crowd going. So much energy was emanating from the stage and singer Trevor Strnad (dude is a performer!) that people couldn’t help but go crazy.
Skeletonwitch and Hour of Penance opened the show.
There is something of a heavy metal renaissance going on. If you ever were into metal or even the least bit interested in the genre, you owe it to yourself to check out some of these new bands. In the coming weeks and months there are a number of great shows coming up at Theatre of the Living Arts and other venues. Give them a look.
Tuesday: The Jam House @ The Legendary Dobbs.
Big show on Tuesday at The Legendary Dobbs featuring some of our favorite young hip hop talents, including Chocolate Milk (above) and Dewey Decibel (below). Dice Raw, who will be featured in the summer issue of JUMP, will also perform, as will numerous others.
The event will be hosted by Rone, who recently dropped some new stuff with our fall 2011 issue cover girl Patty Crash (below).
Chances Are Your Bartender Rocks.
As part of our partnership with Philly Beer Scene magazine, we’re documenting Philly’s relationships between music and beer. For the most recent issue of Philly Beer Scene, G.W. Miller III discovers that nearly every bartender in Philly is in a band. Seriously.
Take a minute next time you order a beer. Talk to the person pulling your pint – they might just be a talented individual with amazing stories to tell.
At nearly every bar in Philadelphia, you’ll find musicians who perform around the region – and some who’ve toured around the world – pouring lagers and ales.
These folks aren’t like the aspiring actors you’ll find in New York or Los Angeles. Many of the local folks tend bar because they have a passion for their art, not because they’re struggling to enter the business.
“I do it because I’m a musician,” says Standard Tap bartender Maxx Stoyanoff-Williams, the frontman for Philadelphia-based good-time band Black Landlord. “It offers the most flexible schedule I can get.”
You’ll find Stoyanoff-Williams behind the bar on Mondays and Saturdays. The rest of the week, he’s making music.
“It’s not like a nine-to-five job,” he says. “If you need a night off or if you’re leaving for a few weeks to tour, you can.”
Several in his nine-member band (above) tend bar somewhere – drummer Bob Bannon at Union Transfer, guitarist Adam Campos at Kung Fu Necktie and sax player Michael Tramontana at The Abbaye, which is owned by Black Landlord percussionist Marc Sonstein.
“I actually thought every bartender in this city is a musician at some point,” jokes Campos.
Memphis Taproom bartender Keith Greiman (right) fronts the band Prowler. Alison Wadsworth at Fergie’s Pub is part of the band Fantasy Square Garden. Kurt Hunte at The Institute has performed around Europe with Mark Ronson & The Business Intl. Chris Doyle from the band Sun Airway tends bar at The Barbary, where nearly everyone serving drinks also makes music.
One former Grape Room bartender, Pat Callahan, was also a guitarist in a band that opened for Seether one night at The Grape Room. The Seether crew watched Callahan’s band and they liked his style. They asked him to become a member of Seether.
“Four days later, he was playing Wembley Stadium,” says Anthony Caroto, who tends bar and books bands at the Manayunk club.
Everyone who works at the Grape Room has a music connection. Caroto previously managed the band Psychostick, a “comedy metal” band from Arizona. Owner Brian “Scooter” Hassinger was the drummer for the seminal Philly band Stargazer Lily.
“Drinking and being an artist literally go hand in hand,” Stoyanoff-Williams says.
He hung out at Tattooed Mom’s on South Street during the mid-1990s. He eventually became a bar-back there after his former band, The Goats – who had shared stages with the Beastie Boys and Cypress Hill, broke up.
He began tending bar a few years later and has been doing it ever since. He avoids scheduling Black Landlord concerts on Saturdays, as that is his busiest night at the bar.
“I’d lose a significant portion of my rent money,” he says.
Otherwise, bartending and being a musician line up perfectly for him.
“I make enough money,” Stoyanoff-Williams says. “I’m not going to get rich. I want to play music as much as I can – now I have five days per week for music. I’d rather have that than the extra money.”
Toy Soldiers On The Road (With a New Song!).
Seth Klinger just released this video highlighting Toy Soldier‘s weeks on the road as they headed to SXSW and beyond. Check it out. And catch Toy Soldiers at the World Cafe Live on June 16.
Yellow Ostrich @ Johnny Brenda’s.
Text and images by Grace Dickinson.
Yellow Ostrich swung by Philadelphia again on Tuesday to play a show at Johnny Brenda’s, opening with a song about swimming with whales from their 2011 album, The Mistress. It was the band’s fourth time at the venue but their first time as the headliner for the night.
Members Only: Making Music They Want to Make.
Text by Kiara McKnight. Image via the Members Only Reverbnation page.
The bandmates in Members Only have been working non-stop to make a name for themselves in the music scene since they formed about one year ago.
With Sammy Roland on guitar, Cameron Alexander on bass, Gabe Rosen on drums and Andrew Migliore on guitar and synth, the group has performed around the city, including The M Room, Tritone and the Raven Lounge. With each performance, they’ve steadily grown their fan base.
Last month, Members Only released their first EP Talk to Me, featuring the single “Come Back.” Although the EP was recently released, the writing process has been in the works for a number of years. Songs like “Fuck” and “Lines” were written more than two years ago.
“Writing for us has never been hard because we don’t see any safety nets,” said Migliore. “It’s not like said, ‘Oh, we have to do this because we’re some certain genre.’ We’re going to make the music we want to make.”
Not seeing safety nets seems to be a recurring theme for the indie pop/punk band. Having worked with and built relationships with local hip hop collective, The Astronauts, as well as with artists like Theodore Grams, the band plans on breaking down barriers between the two genres.
“We’re trying to mix hip hop and rock in a music light and in a business light,” said Rosen. “We’re the only rock band on All Flamerz. The only reason that’s a big deal to me is because that’s a step toward what we’re trying to get at. We just want to break down that wall and hit different audiences.”
The band looks to various rock and indie artists for inspiration, such as The Clash, Elvis Costello, The Libertines, The Ramones, The Strokes and The Arctic Monkeys. However, it’s Philly artists like DRGN King, Dr. Dog, Chiddy Bang, Hall and Oates, and even Will Smith who have made the greatest impact on the band.
“Anyone who’s still true to Philadelphia past their fame, we definitely respect a lot because that’s what we want to do,” said Rosen. “We’re Philadelphia until the day we die.”
Members Only recently finished out their tour promoting the new EP. In addition to continuing to put out new music, the band is working on crafting a Members Only mini-documentary. They also have plans to purchase a warehouse where they’ll manufacture their clothing line, My Capital Domain.
If you ask the band where they see themselves in five years, they’ll unanimously reply, “Selling out Madison Square Garden for the third time!”
Text by Chad Sims. Images by Art Andrews.
The Heritage Hunter Tour, featuring co-headliners Opeth and Mastodon, rocked the Electric Factory on Monday.
The bands are supposedly alternating who plays first every night of the tour. Mastodon ended this night and it was an awe inspiring event. 
They proved to me that there is no metal band that currently comes close to their blend of power, technicality and songwriting. The majority of their set came from their most recent album The Hunter.
Opeth predates Mastodon by a decade and are obviously one of the latter band’s influences but at this show I was glad they played first.
They would have seemed anticlimactic had they played last.
Swedish metal band Ghost opened the show.
Cheers Elephant, Chubby Checker and Funk Church.
Check out the new Cheers Elephant video that our writer, Kevin Brosky, mentioned in our spring 2012 issue cover story about the band.
For bonus points, see if you can find Kevin in the crowd scene toward the end of the video. (Photo at right by Colin Kerrigan).
While pulling up that video, we stumbled across the video below of the Cheers gang performing with the legendary Chubby Checker. Pretty random, eh?
Speaking of Chubby Checker, did you know that his son, Shan Egan, is a Philly musician? Here he is below performing at the Hard Rock Cafe with his band, Funk Church. That’s him in the sweet red jumpsuit.
JUMP: The Philly Music Project 