We’re working with the folks at one of our favorite joints, Underground Arts, and we’ll be giving away a ton of tickets to their shows in the coming weeks.
They just announced that The Polyphonic Spree will perform at the club on November 2. That will be a lot of people on stage and a huge wall of symphonic sounds!
Like us on facebook and email us at FreeJumpStuff@gmail.com to enter to win a pair of tickets (give us your name and put “SPREE” in the subject line).
If you want to play it safe and get your own tickets, find details for the show here.
ill Fated Natives: Doing It For The Tribe.
Text by Dave Miniaci. Images by Grace Dickinson.
Some bands are very systematic in how they play shows and write music. ill Fated Natives is not one of those bands. Case in point: The band played an entire show without having a setlist.
“I just said to the crowd, ‘We don’t know what we’re doing. We’re just gonna see what happens,’” says bassist Bets Charmelus with a laugh.
This is the nature of the young band, which formed in 2013. Its members, all in their early to mid 20s, are constantly improvising. They feed off an environment based on feeling and emotion, and the support of their “Love Tribe,” a group of fellow musicians and artists.
The members of the rock/blues band have been playing music most of their lives.
Charmelus and singer O. Thompson attended Central High School together, though they weren’t close. Charmelus admits – apologetically – that he hated Thompson in high school, a fact that still surprises the soft-spoken singer.
“Yeah, why? I was just so quiet,” says Thompson, who hails from Mt. Airy.
Charmelus says he didn’t like Thompson because he was on the football team and Charmelus thought of him as a jock. But one day, Thompson approached Charmelus about getting together to jam.
“I heard this guy turn on his amp and play Jimi (Hendrix)’s version of ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ and was like, ‘Man, I can’t hate this guy,’” Charmelus says.
Drummer Joseph “Joey Stix” Pointer later joined the band, forming a power trio.
The members of the band take pride in playing raw, emotional music and also in playing off each other, both in practice and in concert.
“It’s really easy to sit down in front of a keyboard and pull up a program with thousands of instruments at your disposal,” says Charmelus. “You don’t really have three people with different energy getting together and writing and rehearsing, rehearsing, rehearsing. That’s kinda gone the way of the dinosaur. So it’s ill-fated. And at the same time, music comes from live performance. So it’s native.”
The band released its EP, Savages, in March. The album hits hard with dirty blues riffs and flourishes of jazz. It’s easy to see how their music could play well live. And it does, as shown by intense, well-attended performances this year, notably during a residency, dubbed “Electric Church,” at The Fire.
Derek Dorsey, who has been booking and promoting bands at The Fire for a decade, was hooked on the band after seeing them play for the first time.After a few more performances, Dorsey knew he had to get them in regularly.
“I got to see them when they were still a young band and saw them blossom,” he says. “It was like when John Legend was at The Fire, just him on stage with an acoustic guitar. They’ve really grown.”
Dorsey says the band sold out their first show less than a year after playing their first set at The Fire, a feat he can’t recall happening quicker for a local band. They bring a certain kind of energy, he adds. The band members didn’t wear shirts one night and on another, they played without a setlist. The ill Fated Natives fans in the Love Tribe sang along at every show.
“It’s a bunch of people who are artistic and putting themselves out there,” Charmelus says of the Tribe. “We all go to each other’s shows and support one another. It’s like coming out and playing a show and being plugged into a battery. They know all the words and get the rest of the crowd pumped up. That’s family.”
The band also spent time at this year’s SXSW, where they were part of a special Philly-centric showcase.
“It was life changing, an experience,” Thompson says. “It was a perfect five days for us – to have us all together because we had never done a big road trip like this before.”
The band is ready to take off, with more shows and hopes for a full-length album in its near future. And though they are hoping to make an even bigger name for themselves, the band members are still thrilled to play the music they love for the people who love to hear it. That includes themselves.
“I feel like 70 percent of what I’m doing is strictly coming from what they’re doing,” Pointer says of his bandmates. “But the other 30 is the people there. I’m good once I touch my instrument and I can feel the energy from everyone. It’s those connections that make it. If Bets is feeling a little weird that day, I gotta give him the energy to keep going. If we just got this crazy triangle of energy going on, nothing else matters. We feed off each other so much.”
We’re working with the folks at one of our favorite joints, Underground Arts, and we’ll be giving away a ton of tickets to their shows in the coming weeks.
They just announced that Purling Hiss will open for Thee Oh Sees on September 12.
Like us on facebook and email us at FreeJumpStuff@gmail.com to enter to win a pair of tickets (give us your name and put “HISS” in the subject line).
If you want to play it safe and get your own tickets, find details for the show here.
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 caught up with Josh and Jessica Craft, the beer-loving team behind the free music education program called Rock To The Future.
Josh Craft’s band, The Bee Team, was performing at The Khyber about 7 or 8 years ago when he met Jessica McKay.
“We hit it off,” Josh recalls.
But he left the club with the phone number of Jessica’s roommate, Sarah Paul, who had dragged Jessica out that night.
Sarah and Jessica ran a house venue called 719 House and Josh reached out to Sarah to do a performance there. A few weeks later, as Josh arrived at 719 to do the show, he found Jessica banging on the drums.
“This girl is amazing,” he remembers saying to himself.
He soon found himself giving Jessica guitar lessons in exchange for cooking lessons. They began dating, started a band together (Conversations With Enemies, now simply called Conversations) and then launched a nonprofit after school music program for underserved Philadelphia teens called Rock to The Future.
In 2012, they got married.
Rock to The Future recently celebrated its five-year anniversary.
The program was launched thanks to a $15,000 grant Jessica received from Women for Social Innovation. She quit her job in the finance world to be the executive director of the Fishtown-based organization, which aims to inspire creativity, build better social skills and improve students’ academic performance at no cost to the students or their families.
Josh, who had been teaching music for several years, served as the program director.
Neither took a salary for the first year or so. To make ends meet, Josh and Jessica worked in catering. Josh kept doing private music lessons on the side. Jessica did promo work with Monster Energy drink, among other jobs.
“We were juggling three different lives,” Josh says.
They did whatever they could that didn’t interfere with the hours between 3 and 6, when their students took lessons.
In 2010, they served 13 students. Now, they annually have more than 300 students in after school programs, summer camps and mobile workshops at locations throughout Philadelphia. Rock to The Future has a full-time staff of four, plus three part-timers and a lot of volunteers.
Their students have performed at events around the city and even at a Sixers’ game. Every year, the student bands record an album with Mad Dragon Records, part of Drexel University’s Music Industry program.
Josh and Jessica are with the students at every step along the way.
“It’s inspiring working with kids,” Jessica says. “As much as we’re doing it to impact the kids’ lives, it really inspires us.”
In March, Josh and Jessica’s band released its debut album as Conversations (their last full album as Conversations With Enemies was in 2012). It’s nine songs of witty, summer-sounding indie rock with hints of Weezer and The Beach Boys, for whom Conversations opened last year.
When the two aren’t finding a moment to relax at Bottle Bar East, they also perform together as a two-piece act called Which Craft.
“We just kind of do everything together,” Jessica says with a laugh.
In Place: “Maybe Around the Fourth Listen, You Will Start to Kind of Make More of a Connection.”
Our Tim Mulhern caught up with Brandon Cassel of the relatively new, two-man instrumental rock band called In Place. They talked about the band’s origins, inspirations and aspirations.
How and when did you and Justin Leggio come together to form In Place?
We formed In Place during the summer of 2013, but we met, believe it or not, early school years. We are actually childhood friends. We played in our first band in seventh grade. So yeah, we’ve played in a bunch of bands [and] we took some time off. And then we started up, played a little bit and since summer of 2014, we’ve been trying to grind pretty hard.
Did your friendship inspire you guys to come back together to play music?
Definitely. I would say that we are definitely comfortable with each other when we play. We kind of know where the other person is going to go with their parts.
As an instrumental duo, In Place stands out in the Philly scene. Do you think you have to prove your music to your audiences or are they generally receptive to what you guys are doing?
I think that they are generally receptive. We typically get positive feedback and encouragement. We’re not the most accessible. We like to kind of think that we’re definitely a “grower band.” That maybe not be the first or second or even third listen but maybe around the fourth listen, you will start to kind of make more of a connection and attachment to the actual song.
What was the writing and recording process like for “Koolwhip City”?
Typically, the way that we start when we write music is with what we call a sketch. It’s just a really good idea. Maybe it’s a riff, a melody or a drum beat. So this sketch, “Koolwhip City,” came about and we liked the way it sounded. We spent a couple weeks and we developed it. I always say that music is really a true time capsule of where the artist or musician was in their life. So when we listen back to “Koolwhip City,” we can remember where we were and how we felt as individuals.
How does “Koolwhip City” compare to “The Pet,” In Place’s other single?
When we put out “The Pet,” we definitely wanted to put out a track that was a little bit more intense. We started saying that “The Pet” is almost kind of like controlled chaos. Because while it’s extremely contained, you go through the movements of the song really quickly and there’s a lot going on. The tension and release is pretty significant. We wanted the first song to be a little bit more aggressive and I think we achieved that with “The Pet.” But when we were talking about “Koolwhip,” of course we have multiple sides to us, and we felt that “Koolwhip” really represented the sound that we are currently moving in the direction of.
Are these tracks building to a full-length release?
Right now we are writing and demoing for a more significant effort. I would say more so for an EP. I don’t think that we’re ready for a full-length yet.
Have you developed connections with other bands in the scene?
Through playing around the scene we definitely have become friends with other instrumental bands. One would be Air is Human. Another one, Allora Mis, as well as the instrumental rock band Mohican. They are all, for the most part, Philly-based.
Where do you want to see In Place go in the future?
A giant priority for us is to just to keep writing as much as we can. Ultimately, the biggest goal is to improve the sound that we are starting to really develop right now.
Text and images by Chip Frenette.
The Welcome America celebration wrapped up with the 4th of July Jam on Saturday.
Local artist, singer songwriter Eric Steven, who performs as Twin Ghost, played an acoustic to get things started. Steven’s set featured all original tracks performed without any backing other than a sign language interpreter who stood at stage right.
The music did not pause long after Twin Ghost’s set. Zella Day, the 20-year old alternative pop singer, quickly took to the stage as the crowds filed on to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and the seating area located in front of the stage on Eakin’s Oval. Day did not seem phased by the slow arrival of concert goers in the seating area. She remarked about the large crowd that was quickly lining the security barricades bordering the seating area and flowing down the Parkway.
The weather threatened the event with rain during the day but only a brief shower occurred just before showtime. Despite the threat of rain, the crowd of several hundred thousand jammed the parkway for what Mayor Michael Nutter called”The biggest free concert in America.”
The opening ceremonies also featured a performance by the vocal acappella group Brotherly Love. The five young Philadelphians sang the Star Spangled Banner with all members wearing matching Sixers home jerseys. During the intro, the group was compared to Philadelphia’s famous Boyz II Men, whom enjoyed much success in the 1990s (and performed at this event in 1998 and 2011).
As the night progressed, pop duo MKTO, born from the Nickelodeon television show Gigantic, took to the stage. MKTO was formed after Malcolm Kelley and Tony Oller met in their roles as best friends on the show. The group introduced their hit “Thank You” with Oller saying, “This is a song about doing something people tell you that you can’t do.”
The song peaked at number two on the Australian charts in 2012 and also had success on the New Zealand and Dutch charts. They also performed their song that had arguably its best success, “Classic,” which made the top 100 on seven different charts including number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. The pop duo also performed their latest single “Bad Girls,” which was well received by a group of young girls who danced wildly through the entire performance.
The Roots then took to the stage as the house band for the remainder of the night. The Roots’ position as the house band for the 4th of July celebration has become a Philadelphia tradition. Founding members Amir “Questlove” Thompson and Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter formed The Roots when they attended the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts in 1987. The Roots started their evening off with their classic live track “Proceed,” mixed with their own version of the Action News theme song.
When The Roots finished playing their first of three sets, they were joined by country singer Jennifer Nettles.
“It is a treat to play with the Roots,” said Nettles, who is half of the band Sugarland.
She further showed her confidence in the group when she performed her new Single, “Sugar,” for the first time live. Nettles stated that she wasn’t certain how well she would do playing it, but she said she was confident that The Roots would hold it down. Nettles laughed and smiled during her whole time on stage.
Following Nettles set, The Roots went back to their own tracks. Their second set featured a heavy emphasis on bass with solos by bass guitarist Mark Kelley and a sousaphone performances by Damon “Tuba Gooding, Jr.” Bryson. The biggest highlight of the second set had to be a mash up performed by Jeremy Ellis made up of samples from Philadelphia pop artists.
What started out with The Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme, grabbing the crowd’s attention instantly, progressed on to samplings of Bel Biv Devoe, Patti LaBelle, The Spinners, Harold Melvin and Blue Notes and so many others that it was quite impossible to keep track of. The energetic performance by Jeremy Ellis was performed on a pair of Native Instruments MASCHINEs. Ellis is considered to be one of the most proficient users of the devices and the art of finger drumming. Ellis’ performance was full of so much vigor and enthusiasm that in the end he was rubbing one of the MASCHINEs against his face and eventually knocked over the table that his devices and laptop were on and holding each of the MASCHINEs like a victorious athlete, over his head and grinning ear to ear.
The Roots were then joined on stage by singer/producer Miguel, who has become a performer in recent years after spending a majority of his career behind the scenes. In 2013, Miguel took home the Grammy for Best R&B Song for his single “Adorn,” which was also nominated for the BET Award for Video of the Year. During Miguel’s set at The 4th of July Jam, he performed several the tracks from his newly released album Wildheart, including “Coffee” and his collaboration with Lenny Kravitz (not in attendance), “Face the Sun.”
Following the set by Miguel, the crowd on the Parkway was treated to a special surprise guest, CeeLo Green of Gnarls Barkly and The Voice.
Green as a solo artist has continued his success taking home 2012 Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance for “Fool for You.” A more memorable track that also was a bit controversial was his 2011 Grammy Award winning, “Fuck You,” which was toned down for radio and television airplay as “Forget You.”
Green made sure to entertain the crowd on the Parkway with the help of “The World’s Greatest House Band.” They did not disappoint, performing Green’s hits “Crazy” and “Bright Lights, Bigger City.”
Anthony Green from Circa Survive @ Underground Arts with CRUISR, Boom Forest and Mannequin Pussy on July 16.
We’re really excited about our show next week at Underground Arts featuring Anthony Green, the frontman from Circa Survive. It’s a Red Bull Sound Select show, so tickets are only $3 if you RSVP here.
Opening the show will be CRUISR, who just played the Wells Fargo Center a few weeks ago, and awesome Philly transplants Mannequin Pussy. We’re also bringing Nashville’s Boom Forest to Philly for the first time.
Our host and DJ for the evening will be Brian Langan from Needle Points.
If you’ve been to any of our past parties at Underground Arts, you know this will be a blast. Stay tuned for after party details to be announced soon.
Mannequin Pussy Gets Silly in Philly.
Text by Brian Wilensky. Images by Michael Bucher.
There’s a conversation happening in the basement of Marisa Dabice’s house in West Philly. The singer and guitarist for Mannequin Pussy and Thanasi Paul, the band’s other guitar player, are discussing the logistics of getting to an upcoming gig in the Boston area with drummer Kaleen Reading. Whose car is available? Who’s down to drive? It’s mid-April and it’s five hours to Beantown, but no one’s concerned about the trip just yet because the show isn’t until May. The next issue on the docket is about playing a birthday party.
“I’m always down to play,” says Paul.
A few snags in their schedule are discussed. It’s not looking good for the party.
After setting up the drum set and plugging in and tuning their guitars, the band blasts through a couple new and a couple old songs, only stopping momentarily to try out a different length for one of the new songs’ verses.
“Let’s try that part four times instead of two,” offers Dabice while playing through the verse.
However, she isn’t singing at practice tonight because she’s been sporadically fighting off bronchitis for days, maybe weeks. In the wake of her ailment, Kat Bean of the post-punk trio Amanda X fills in on vocals for “Clue Juice” at their gig at Everybody Hits less than a week later because Dabice still feels under the weather.
Dabice and Paul, who have known each other since they were five years old, play the song at the practice with Reading, working through its adjusted structure with ease as if it’d never been changed. It shows that this is a tune they’ve been woodshedding for a while. Actually, they were prepping these new songs for a recording session they just wrapped up at Kensington’s Headroom Studio for a split EP with Amanda X to be released later this year.
The practice is quick and they head back upstairs, past Dabice’s roommates in the kitchen, where something garlicky is sizzling in a frying pan. It’s raining outside and a cop car flies down the street with its lights ablaze. Each of the bandmates takes a spot on the front porch, which is mostly bare aside from a snow shovel and a chair that Dabice helps herself to. Each of the three seem comfortable, as if this is where they belong and they don’t want to be anywhere else.
That attitude may apply to where Mannequin Pussy is at the moment for the band as whole, but also as a band relatively new to Philly. Dabice and Paul moved to Philly last summer and fall, respectively, whereas Reading lives in New Jersey. Dabice and Paul started the band as a two-piece in New York City around 2011. They then met Reading and brought her in to move Paul out from behind the drum set to play guitar, the instrument he’s more comfortable with, in 2013. Even being just shy of living in Philly for a year, the bandmates already feel the advantages to the new city.
“It was after our first tour that the second we got back to New York, we realized how everyone else lives in the rest of the country,” says Dabice about the cost of living in New York City. “It was like that slap in the face. ‘What am I doing?’ Especially when you really want to be free to create something and continually keep working.”
Being able to live in a city she can afford is critical for Dabice since she’s a musician who writes not only for the cathartic release but also for connecting with those who listen to her play.
“The act of wanting to create something really drives you insane,” she continues after a pause, as if to consider every word. “If you desire to do something but you’re not actively doing it, then you’re feeling like a failure before you even start. And I got to this point in New York that I felt so creatively atrophied because my mind was on everything else. But I still had this desire to perform and to write music.”
Despite the ongoing degeneration she was experiencing in New York, Dabice still found some time to write with Paul. Many of the songs on their neck-breaking debut album Gypsy Pervert, a 10-song blast that’s barely 20 minutes long, were written as early as 2011. They finally made them into a full-length cassette in early 2014 before Tiny Engines pressed it to vinyl in September of that year.
But because of being held down by full-time jobs in New York City, they felt much less freedom to go on tour at will, which was really impeding the band. This is what can make it tough to be active within a scene in a city with such high overhead like New York is known for having.
“Philly seemed like it was cool and more reasonable to live in,” Paul says. “You can actually do fun things and not have to kill yourself and work all the time. In New York, you can play shows on the weekends and maybe call out a couple days a month. But that’s it.”
The musicians in New York aren’t the only ones taking the heat on the cost of living there. It’s forced many others in its scene to work double-time to keep up. And it’s the pace of the city’s gentrification that’s changing the DIY landscape.
“We were able to pay our rent,” says Edan Wilber of the now defunct warehouse space in New York, Death By Audio, where Mannequin Pussy performed many times. “I mean, it wasn’t aways on time but we were still able to pay it. It ended up being a thing where we went from having a handful of shows every month to me booking every night of the month just to be open.”
Wilber adds that having to overextend himself ultimately over-saturated the calendar for those who attended shows at DBA.
“I wouldn’t have booked it if I didn’t want to see it,” says Wilber, reconciling the need for the money to keep the venue open.
As for the gentrification of DBA’s Williamsburg neighborhood, he says he saw it coming.
“DBA was in a desirable neighborhood but it was on the outskirts,” he says. “So that’s why we were able to exist for so long – because nobody came out there. It was just so far out of the way. Then apartment buildings started showing up. They started redoing the waterfront and it was becoming all these luxury condos. So it’s insane how long we were able to stay and do what we did in the face of such a neighborhood.”
Since the demise of DBA, Wilber has since moved back to Florida, where he grew up, into a house with his girlfriend. He says he’s enjoying simple things that New York took away from him like cutting the grass. Looking back at his time in New York, Wilber says that going to shows in warehouses inspired him to put on even more shows, which is likely a sentiment shared across all DIY scenes.
But in New York, Tyler Kane a promoter for Shea Stadium and booker for Brooklyn Night Bazaar, is still trying to encourage growth in DIY music and to further foster a community.
“When you’re 13, 14, 15 and 16 years old, you want to go to shows and be a part of the community,” Kane says. “I really think we should focus on having more all-ages spaces and not keep them from getting shut down. So kids can go and be inspired by music and be a part of the community.”
Now approaching their first full year in Philly, the members of Mannequin Pussy have already observed some positive differences in the local DIY scene. Some of them are a bit obvious, such as the accessibility of practice space.
“I like being able to practice in someone’s basement in a house,” Reading says, “rather than in New York, where you’re paying rent to live somewhere, plus paying rent to practice somewhere.”
Dabice, however, has been taking note of other aspects of her new city since becoming involved in the Philly DIY community. She sees how everyone in the scene works together to help each other, not to get ahead of one another.
“When we lived in New York, we would get asked to play a show, people would ask me, ‘Hey, how’d you get that show?’” Dabice says. “And it’s like, ‘Yo, we got that show because they fucking asked us to play.’ The question they were really asking was, ‘Are you working with a booking agent? Do you have a PR person? Could you help me out with getting into that?’ Whereas here, I’ve noticed we’ll get on a really strong bill and our musician friends will be like, ‘Hey, I heard you got on that show. That’s going to be sick I’ll see you there.’”
It’s that sort of community feeling that truly empowers artists. In just a short period, Mannequin Pussy has felt the dramatic change from where they’ve come from, whether they’re writing new songs, getting booked on outstanding bills or just being able to live in a place that allows them to do what they live for.
“I feel so inspired by Philly,” Dabice says. “Because it seems like the people who are here are artists and musicians. They’re not just talking. I feel like in New York, people are either talking about what they wanted to make or about money. Whereas here, people are actually doing stuff. So, you see what they’re doing and you’re like, ‘Oh shit, I’ve got to light my own fire, too.’”
No-Maddz and Bok Nero @ Reef.
Text and images by Donte Kirby.
The No-Maddz, aided by opening act Bok Nero, brought Caribbean vibes and moved hips to South Street’s Reef last Friday night.
Up-and-comer Bok Nero preformed to a sparse crowd lining the walls of the Reef’s dance floor. Nero ditched the stage minutes into his performance in favor of taking advantage of the open space left by the crowd. Nero bounced from end to end of the floor rapping and singing the occasional hook.
The audience that came early gave Nero the benefit of the doubt and fans closest to the stage two-stepped or at the very least, shoulder-bobbed along. Those who danced got Nero’s full attention and were serenaded with lyrics like, “don’t take your love away,” from a track Nero didn’t give new fans the luxury of identifying.
Back on stage, the host, dressed in a floral shirt, sung a tune that beckoned the ever growing crowd to come closer to the stage. He hyped the crowd with a chant until a fever pitch was reached and the band finally graced the stage to much applause.
From the start, No-Maddz rock infused reggae had the crowd moving their feet. Reggae medleys that mixed funky guitar solos with Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On,” a bit of Sean Paul and “Sexual Healing” to round it off. There were no breaks between songs, just smooth transitions to songs like “Romance” off their album Sly & Robbie presents No-Maddz.
No-Maddz had something for fans and newcomers alike. Portions worked in Heavy D’s “Now That We Found Love” with their own original lyrics and up tempo reggae. It was hard to tell where original songs began and covers ended. The only certainty was that it was backed by a funky reggae tune that welcomed any kind of movement.
After a set that had No-Maddz members playing instruments and dancing in the crowd, with more than a little bit of pelvic thrusting and good vibes all around, the set ended like it began; with raucous applause.
Text and images by Chip Frenette.
It was a throwback night at Underground Arts last weekend as classic ’90s bands Soul Asylum (above) and Meat Puppets jammed like it was 1993 all over again.
When the Meat Puppets took to the stage, the energy was quickly turned up by the crowd. Brothers Cris (bass and vocals) and Curt (guitar and lead vocals) Kirkwood got down to business right away without much talk but with their unique blend of what can only be described as psychedelic cowpunk. Heavy hanging bass rifts with churning guitars along with Shandon Sahm’s maniac drumming filled the next hour and a half along with Cris Kirkwood’s odd but entertaining facial expressions that serve as a wealth of stage antics on their own.
Soul Asylum then followed, starting their set off with “Somebody to Shove.” They played all of their ’90s guitar pop hits. The band peaked with their smash 3-times platinum album Grave Dancers Union in 1992. The album featured “Runaway Train,” which lead singer Dave Pirner and Soul Asylum to take home the 1993 Grammy Award for Best Rock Song.
They also played tracks from their follow up album, Let Your Dim Light Shine, which also went platinum. They did not hesitate to capitalize on the tracks from that era, such as “Black Gold” and “Misery,” to keep the crowd’s attention between a smattering of tracks from their other albums that have been produced over the years, up to their most recent 2012 offering titled Delayed Reaction.
Despite the many changes, Dave Pirner, the only remaining original member, still keeps the band sounding the same as it did over twenty five years ago when they were at their peak. With Pirner is drummer Michael Bland, who has played with Prince and Paul Westerberg. Closing the rhythm section on bass is long time studio musician Winston Roye, who has worked with Ace of Bass and Shakira. Alongside of Pirner on guitar since 2012 is Justin Sharbono, filling in the spot once held by Soul Asylum co-founder Dan Murphy. Sharbono is also from Minnesota – along with Bland and Pirner – thus keeping Soul Asylum grounded in its Minneapolis roots.
The World Takes opened the night. Singer/guitarist Stephen Maglio offers unbridled enthusiasm while on stage, clearly having a lot of fun playing music in front of a crowd. Along with Jim Stager on bass guitar and DJ Bonebrake on drums, the short but energy-filled set served more than its purpose to open up the night as fans of the Meat Puppets and Soul Asylum filled up Undergrounds Arts.
After the set Maglio was seen mingling with the crowd and stepping outside frequently to enjoy conversation with the doormen and just about anyone who would talk to him, all the while graciously thanking everyone who was at the show.
JUMP: The Philly Music Project 