House Show Video: Depth & Current

NMF VIDEO UPDATE: Jacob Abello at The Sooner Theater PART ONE

VIDEO UPDATE: Sherree Chamberlain Band in the studio

• And don’t forget you can see Sherree Chamberlain Band, Jacob Abello and Gentle Ghost for free FRIDAY, MARCH 26.
  

VIDEO UPDATE: Brother Gruesome, The Boom Bang and DEERPEOPLE at Vault (Feb. 20) PART TWO

LOUD NOISES.

Now that I have your attention, please take a look at the remainder of video coverage from Vault’s show Saturday.

Your ears won’t thank you, but your heart will.

• OH DEER!

• MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK

VIDEO UPDATE: Brother Gruesome, The Boom Bang and DEERPEOPLE at Vault (Feb. 20) PART ONE

• DOUBLE TROUBLE

If you didn’t get a chance to catch up with why Brother Gruesome is worth buying a cassette player for then watch as Todd Jackson and Levi Watson tear up Vault.

Jackson had lost his voice celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but something about the rawness of his vocals added to the intimacy of the show.

• BOOM TO THE BANG

I know who to blame if I ever lose my hearing.

The Boom Bang.

The loudest band in Oklahoma played one of its most energetic sets to date. Climbing amps, throwing tambourines and general madness was everywhere. Keep your eyes on these kids to do some bigger than big things.

SHOW PREVIEW and VIDEO UPDATE: “on.” episode 16 (part 2) – Josh Jones of Evangelicals singing “Stoned Again”

(from left Brother Gruesome Todd Jackson and Levi Watson)

• GRUESOME TWOSOME
  

Here’s a chance to get to know Brother Gruesome before its show in Stillwater on Saturday.

Calling Todd Jackson while he’s celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans is a mistake.

Lots of yelling is involved.

Celebrating Jackson’s music is a much better idea and that’ll be possible Saturday at 10 p.m. when his band Brother Gruesome joins Stillwater’s DEERPEOPLE and Oklahoma City’s The Boom Bang at Vault, 716 S. Main St.

Jackson and Levi Watson comprise Brother Gruesome, an Oklahoma City duo who’s crafting seductively simple rock tracks catchy enough to make you strap on dancing shoes and dreamy enough to make you forgot only two people are playing.

Brother Gruesome isn’t your father’s rock band, but the duo records for your creepy uncle’s tape deck. Brother Gruesome chose to contain its first music effort via cassette tape.

Jackson said he has a connection to the classic plastic device.

“I started recording on cassettes when I first started writing, and it felt like the right thing to do at the time,” Jackson said. “CD’s as a medium is on their way out. Listen to tracks on ITunes then you’ll listen to them cassette player, it’s just a lot different sound.”

The five tracks from the self-titled EP took about 10 months to record for a good reason.

Hit rewind a few times on a dusty Sony Walkman, and you’d find Jackson and Watson playing in a psychedelic six-piece named The Hex. This is where he caught the attention of the Evangelicals in the early 2000s.

Since then, Jackson has spent his time playing with Brother Gruesome and the Evangelicals, a band who has opened for acts the Flaming Lips and Conor Oberst.

Evangelicals frontman Josh Jones said Jackson takes an active role in Evangelicals with the direction that band has taken. Evangelicals bassist Kyle Davis said there’s more to Jackson than his musical prowess.

“For shows he does guitar, plays keyboard, does backing vocals and he’s even handy with a wrench,” Davis said.

A majority of these talents will be on display tomorrow. Leave your wrenches at home.

• DON’T FORGET THIS DATE…

VIDEO UPDATE: “on.” episode 15 Erin Austin (OK Sweetheart) Valentine’s Day Special

• JUST SOME OLD FASHIONED LOVE SONGS

Her band is known as OK Sweetheart, and that’s a fitting nickname for Erin Austin.

After a brief introduction at Stonewall Tavern, the OK Sweetheart gang followed “on.” upstairs into an apartment that sits above Cafe 88.

Austin broke into a duo of love songs, which make it hard not to feel all woozy. Maybe it’s Austin’s warm voice, or maybe it’s the fact Valentine’s Day is so close.

Nonetheless, she seemed like a fitting choice for the first “on.” Valentine’s Day special.

• GETTING TO KNOW ERIN AUSTIN

Listen to a couple Erin Austin songs, and it’ll take you a few moments to pinpoint what decade from your parents’ vinyl collection she came from.

Austin’s husband Rob Gungor said Austin, 27, recently adhered to a strict diet of The Beatles, The Zombies and early Randy Newman songs to avoid sounding like today’s popular artists.

The diet paid off.

Graced with a talent for stunningly simple songwriting, Austin can generate all the warmth of a dozen Beatles songs and add a carefree, soothing twist.

It’s no surprise her full band is named OK Sweetheart.

Before moving to Oklahoma in 2001, Austin grew up in Oriskany, N.Y., and would invent dances while her father played guitar. Austin has come a long way from performing talent shows for her parents, graduating from Oral Roberts University and moving to California. She said music always has been a part of her life.

“If I hear something or think of something (then) I have to write it down and develop it more,” Austin said. “It’s like a compulsion. If there was no music, I just wouldn’t know what to do with myself.”

She said she began writing an album in 2007, and her work has attracted indie artists like Midlake and local Oklahoma musicians. Clay Welch of Tulsa’s Callupsie plays guitar when OK Sweetheart tours and Patrick Ryan of Tulsa’s Dead Sea Choir plays drums.

Ryan said he’s attracted to the drumming in Austin’s music because McKenzie Smith of Midlake and Gungor wrote the parts.

“It’s drumming 101,” he said. “It’s not about playing crazy, but playing simple really well.”

Austin said OK Sweetheart plans to visit the South by Southwest Music Festival in March to play shows to attract a record label.

If she has to settle for one label, then this OK Sweetheart might have to break more than a few hearts.

• SEE HER TONIGHT

Friday February 12 @ Opolis
Sherree Chamberlain
Samantha Crain
Erin Austin

9 p.m. | All Ages | $7 Day of show
*$2 surcharge under 21

• TOO FAR? THEN STAY IN STILLWATER

Saturday February 13 @ Vault
James Price
Satori
James McLaughlin

10 p.m. | All Ages | $5 Day of show

“on.” LIVE CONCERT REMINDER: James Price and The Non playing tonight

Dead Week is no more at OSU.

That statement is truly music to my hears and there’s plenty more music to come tonight.

“On.” featured artists The Non and James Price are playing shows in Stilly. Here’s all you need to know.

• JAMES PRICE BAND (FREE show at the Nazarene Student Center at 9 p.m. and make sure to bring a CAN OF FOOD)

• THE NON ($6 show at Vault at 10 p.m. and Deerpeople and Evangelicals are set to open)

“on.” LIVE SHOW PREVIEW: Deerpeople/Evangelicals/The Non

A great way to liven up your DEAD WEEK.

• DEERPEOPLE (Stillwater, OK)

• EVANGELICALS (Norman, OK)

• THE NON (OKC, OK)

“on.” tour no. one – Owl City “Fireflies”

Earlier this month a video shot from the crowd of a Flaming Lips show inspired me to drive to Norman and shoot the free Owl City show.

I’m not much of a Top 40 hits person, but it was fun shooting from a different perspective.

Also, I somehow managed to get into the show with VIP passes when security was turning people away from the capacity show.

Let me know what you think of this kind of video.