The first of many publicity shots with the Bowerbirds looking in completely opposite directions.

Starting the set with “This Year” (with the accordion!) the crowd was happy to sit back and take in the show quietly swaying to the beat. For their part, the Bowerbirds seemed to feed off the room’s calm energy, passing through each song in the set with minimal outward effort, their talent carefully hidden behind a passive and flannel veil.

Really, dozens of these.

For their part, the crowd was almost aggressively quiet, as if trying to show their respect and fandom by being absolutely silent. The only group who dared to chit chat were given an intense “shush” from a rather brawny looking individual, the only one brave enough to make any additional noise. There were plenty of audience members happy to just give dirty looks through their silent superiority.

Seriously? What are they looking at? Ok, ok… I’ll stop.

Halfway through the set, we were rewarded for our good behavior with “Walk the Furrows” and some of the most impressive finger picking from Philip Moore, Bowerbirds front man. This was also the debut for the violin, proving that Bowerbirds really do leave no instrument unplayed. For “Brave World” a few tunes later, Philip took to the keyboard and essentially lit the damn thing on fire.

The entire band demonstrated really spectacular musicianship, while lacking even the slightest discernible amount of arrogance. Typically, musicians at this level maintain an astounding level of pompous-ass-ness. But Philips, along with bandmates Beth Tacular and Matt Damron, have avoided this unfortunate side-effect of talent, while honing skills that would put most of their blowhard counterparts to shame. Tip of the hat, Bowerbirds.

Ok, last one, I promise. But really? What’s so interesting? I want to see, too!

Working our way through the set, each song brought new surprises with more interesting vocals and lyrics, in addition to the ever growing list of instruments. Finally, with “Hush,” we finally saw the triangle in action. Musical instrument Bingo!

By Jesy: who really did not need to hear her coworker referring to his “spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch” earlier. Thanks buddy.

Missed a golden opportunity to make himself king for a photo

As the set progressed, the show took on a near theatrical quality, each song advancing us further into the psyche of Kasher, or at least the psyche he wanted shown for an hour or so. Halfway through the set, Kasher led the band through “A Red So Deep” and brought the entire crowd to a complete silence. There was a well planned and well executed eerie feeling emanating through the venue, as a nearly fanatical fan base hung on every note in the almost total quiet. Except for the dude next to us, regulating the only two chatty cathys back to the bar.

Despite his fans’ intensity, or perhaps feeding off of it, Kasher took Cursive through 11 tunes before engaging with the crowd directly. Once taking a break to chat up the crowd, Kasher seemed to lose the intensity of the set and actually rambled a bit through a story about some skank he dated when he was 14. But we all learned an important lesson about venereal disease and hand jobs.

Whoo!

However far from the concentration of the rest of the show his storytime took us, Kasher quickly got back on course with “I Am Gemini.” The crowd quickly jumped back to their state of total Kasher reverence, quietly swaying along with the rest of the set, many of them already planning for the next time he rolls through Chicago.

By Jesy: who is, herself, planning dinner round two just an hour after the first ended.

The bright blond hair of Waters front man Van Pierszalowski was especially shiny against what could be generously described as the less-than-clean backdrop of the Metro in Chicago last Friday night. Supporting Delta Spirit, Waters has been keeping busy since last visiting Chicago in January. Despite what has surely been a hectic schedule, Pierszalowski and crew put on another great set, opening for the sold out show.

Seriously, that hair could direct air traffic at LaGuardia.

Opening with “San Francisco” and “Out of the Light,” Waters started with some solid choices off of their debut album before moving in to butter up the audience. Promising us that the band drove “straight to Chicago” after finishing the prior night in Milwaukee, Pierszalowski had fans and newbies alike cheering at our city’s triumph over our little brother to the north. So much for “the good land,” huh Milwaukee?

Moving into the meat of the set, with “Back to You,” Waters began riding line between hippie-jam-band-freakout and solid indie rock band with surprising success. The band managed to strike a balance between indie rockers and electronic euro keyboard instrumental band; what initially felt like two bands sewn together like so many mismatched vintage tees sold on etsy, had an authenticity that’s rare enough in music, let alone on etsy.

Sadly, it looked nothing like this… at least to most of the audience.

With the introduction of “Ones You’ve Had Before,” we got a bit more insight into Pierszalowski’s psyche, at least, the jealous rage side of it. From there, things got a bit more lighthearted before taking us way down for “Mickey Mantle,” their ultra quiet, light-a-lighter-and-sing-a-long tune. While the Metro is far less contained than the Lincoln Hall stage we last saw them at, the singalong proved more successful than the January attempt, at least from my vantage point. Though I missed the intimacy of having the band right down in the crowd with us, I can’t say I blame them for not wanting to mix it up on the eternally sticky Metro floor.

Closing out with “For the One,” Waters left the crowd, which had filled in every available gap in preparation for the rest of the show, perfectly poised for Delta Spirit, and hopefully to buy some Waters merch on the way out.

By Jesy: who is genuinely saddened by what counts as “late” to her anymore.

Canaan describes everything that’s been going on saying, “This has been amazing, it’s like eating cookie dough-it tastes soooo good. I feel like a piece of news or promotion and publicity comes everyday and it blows me away. Really the most rewarding part of all of this for me, aside from the promotion and being on the “One’s to Watch” lists-which I’m humbly honored to be on-but, the underlying message to me is that my song is resonating with people and that’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”  As for Canaan’s thoughts of being on tour with Sugarland? “It’s stupid, just ridiculous, right? A little over a week from now I’ll be in Toledo Ohio, walking on stage in front of thousands of people, with a band behind me, singing my songs for 30 minutes and bringing the party to Ohio. I couldn’t ask for anything more right now.”

We had the chance to chat with Canaan to find out even more about touring with Sugarland, playing the legendary Grand Ole Opry and getting his song cut by one of country music’s hottest stars, Jason Aldean.

PV: Congratulations on EVERYTHING, and we say that just in hopes of not leaving anything out; you’ve been SO busy since the last time we caught up with you.

Canaan: Right? It’s been amazing, thank you. I truly can’t express how great and surreal everything has been. I’m just so excited about it all.

PV: You’re going on tour with Sugarland all summer right?

Canaan: Yes! All the way through September. There’s a break during May and parts of April; but then we run through June, July, August and a couple days in September. It’s going to be sick!

PV: You opened for Sugarland last year too, Kristian Bush actually came on stage and sang with you right?

Canaan: Yes, it was so cool. Kristian and I actually just put out a video doing a little promotion for the tour and how excited we are to be on the road together.

I actually told him, ‘dude, you need to come out and sing “We Got Us” with me‘ and he was like, ‘Canaan, you’re gonna have a harder time getting me off your stage then you are getting me on it, trust me.‘  We are just all so excited about it. I’m so honored to be on this tour too. When we were filming the promo Kristian told me, “You know Jennifer and I are crazy about you and only pick people to go on the road with us that we think are the top of artists and the best of the best and we really believe in you.” To hear that just blew me away, you know?  Having that support every night, just walking on to that stage and being able to reach people and share my music with the world like I’ve dreamed and having him say that behind it all, is amazing.

PV: You are also are booking shows and stuff in between your time on tour with Sugarland too, so, if their tour isn’t stopping in someone’s town, your fans still have a chance to see you outside of it.

Canaan: Yes, we’re doing a bunch of stuff , as much as we can, to stay busy and get out there. I actually just found out I’m opening for Carrie Underwood in Canada for a new country music festival they are having up there. She’s the headliner and I’m getting to open for her, so that’s going to be nothing short of insane. It’s so crazy!!

PV: You’ve got to live out a few lifetime dreams recently by taking the stage at the famed Grand Ole Opry and Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.

Canaan: Yes, those were both extreme honors and dreams for a long time. I actually have three shows at the Opry under my belt now in about a month. That’s amazing to me. I was so emotional the first time I was on that stage, it was and still is a great honor. I got to share the stage with people like Lionel Richie, Vince Gill and George Strait, are you kidding me? It all feels like the best dream, and I’m living it, wow.

Photo credit: Chris Hollo – Grand Ole Opry

PV: As if things aren’t at the pinnacle of exciting for you, one of country’s hottest stars right now, Jason Alden, is actually cutting a song you wrote  called “Black Tears” for his next album.

Canaan: It’s crazy!  I actually wrote that song with one of my best friends Tyler Hubbard while I was in school at Belmont. Tyler’s band, Florida Georgia Line actually cut a demo of it and released it on iTunes and that’s how Jason found it. It’s wild and we’re honored he’s recording  and releasing it.

PV: Did we see that you got to go on spring break too?

Canaan: Haha, Yes! I just did a few spring break shows sponsored by Redbull in Panama City. It felt like the old school MTV spring break days, it was an amazing time for sure.

Photo Credit: Katy Screws

PV: Also, before we forget, congratulations on all of the great success of  ”We Got Us,” it’s doing so well on the charts, with fans and on radio.

Canaan: Thank you so much. Seriously, standing back, it’s incredible. To have something you wrote, really hitting marks with radio and everything, especially the people who send me messages on twitter and facebook telling me how they relate to the song, or it describes where they are in their lives with someone, that’s an indescribable feeling, it really is, means the world.

PV: You mentioned you’ve hit a new highlight in your career so far, we’re dying to know what it is.

Canaan: I recently did a show in Atlanta with WUBL 94.9 The Bull and it was surreal. It was the first time I didn’t have to sing. During my song, “We Got Us”, which is my current single, I stepped away from the mic and the whole crowd-a few thousand strong-was singing my song to me, the whole chorus, they sang it all. That was the first time that has ever happened and is the complete highlight of my career so far. I’m actually glad they were singing for me honestly because I wouldn’t have been able to finish, I was that emotionally moved by it.

PV: If we haven’t covered every base, is there possibly anything else to share?

Canaan: Actually, the Country Music Hall of Fame asked me to be an honorary memeber. They called and said they’d love to give me a private tour and have my friends and family come down for it. I get to be apart of it and have everyone come and check it out. So that’s just an incredible honor too.

PV: And, you’re heading to Vegas this weekend to play a show right before the big ACM Awards, right?

Canaan: Yes, I’m playing the ACM Experience on Sunday, April 1st, before the awards and I’ll be hanging around Fam Jam too. I can’t wait to get out there.

PV: Before we let you go, we’ve noticed that you’ve launched a new weekly webisode series on YouTube too.

Canaan: Yeah, the “Canaan Chronicles,” just trying  a fun new way for fans to see what I’ve been up to and keep them there in the action of it all with me. We have videos from when I made my debut at the Opry and then one from spring break and a few others from what’s been going on lately. I love the support of every single person out there, it really means so much, so any way I can connect and show my love back and make them feel right there with me,  I’m down for doing.

To keep up with all of Canaan’s adventures you can follow him on Twitter( @canaansmith), “like” him on Facebook , visit his official website at www.canaansmith.com (where you can also get all of Canaan’s tour dates-including when he’ll be with Sugarland), follow his  new Tumblr blog, or check out weekly webisodes on his YouTube account.

You can also check Sugarland’s official website for all tour information.

To get a FREE download of Canaan’s song “All In My Head” sign up for his email newsletter here.

You can buy Canaan’s single “We Got Us” (if you haven’t already, shame on you for denying your ears) on iTunes.

AND most importantly DON’T FORGET to call and request “We Got Us” at your favorite local radio stations today!

*By Candace, who thinks 6 months from now Canaan will team up with Pinky and the Brain for world domination…it’s the only logicial next step at the pace he’s going.

You know all those numbers in your cell representing people you never talk to? Sometimes you wonder how they are and sometimes you wonder WHO they are. Well, Those Mockingbirds frontman, Adam Bird, is on a mission to say “hello” and possibly ask “who are you?” to the 600 contacts stored in his iPhone. And he’s launched a blog, The Last Time We Spoke, to document it all. We like to call it a the docu-blog because it keeps us coming back daily. Sometimes we laugh, sometimes we cry.  Other times we feel bad because the situations are so awkward (imagine when he has to call his ex-girlfriends!) However, one thing remains the same as we reach the end of every entry- we can’t wait ’till he dials our numbers.

*By Joelle, who is wondering how many phone conversations she has had with Adam over the past decade or so.

Lostprophets have debuted the action-packed video for “Bring ‘Em Down.” Of course, the content wasn’t made available in America from the band’s official YouTube page, but we managed to track it down:

*By Joelle, who thanks Google Alerts for letting her know this video came out.

As a music writer, lover, and fan , it’s probably safe to say that no matter how you look at or listen to music, that there are maybe a handful of artists that can catch your ideals about music off guard and this past fall I had the pleasure of meeting one who did just that.

During his Pittsburgh stop at Club Cafe on his “Ten Buck Tour” (rightfully named as tickets for the shows were the better of $10.00 or under) Joshua James etched an everlasting memory of captivating music to all who were lucky enough to be in attendance.

Not really knowing too much about the artist before this show, other than his song “Coal War” being featured in the FX show- Sons of Anarchy, I wasn’t sure what to expect or nearly prepared for the captivating performance that was about to come.

With the striking of the first chord on his guitar and lyric it wasn’t hard to lose sight of everything around you and find yourself solely focused on James. Every great second if you could remember to blink, looking around at the packed club, you witnessed that everyone else seemed to be in the same trance. This guy performed with every muscle he had, that could make you almost feel numb to any emotion he wasn’t expressing in song , and left his soul, in an intense fashion, on that stage. Each tune performed, from both older albums to his latest were gripping, haunting and in a way unrelenting to anything other than pure honesty from James.

“I find solace and beauty in darkness and depression,” admits James, who grew up in his native Lincoln, Nebraska, skateboarding and sneaking listens to music his parents banned, like classic rockers Jim Morrison and The Doors, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, “But there are contrasts to everything. You have to combine the sweet and salty, the ugly and beautiful. Music is very therapeutic for me. It’s all about making a connection with humanity, with the audience, in ways that I normally wouldn’t be able to.”

“I feel strongly about the things I sing about,” nods James. “I want people to know how I feel, which sounds kind of dumb, because who cares how I feel? If someone feels similarly, though, that’s what I’m looking for. That’s the most important thing. If you can relate to what I’m going through, then I’ve achieved my goal.”

If you can’t relate to this guy then you aren’t listening. Only vetting himself to being a songwriter for a little over 6 years, the old-soul, and darker feel of his writing would make him appear to be someone veteran-ed towards 30 years of even the most powerful writers.

After the show, those who stuck around to speak with James about his music may have been surprised to find the singer who was so potent in expressing emotions on stage  was actually timid, almost meek manored offstage, which proves a point even more clearly than before-this man is a true performer. Coming alive on stage enough to entangle the audience into his own world is something only a few truly great artist can do.

Even when interviewing James there was a calm demeanor to his personality.

PV- You’re music seems to always have vibrant emotion behind it, how is your new music different from past albums?

JJ-  I think the new songs might be my most honest. There have been very intense experiences that my body and mind have gone through in the past couple of years and the new record will sere as a photograph of that time.

PV- Who/what are some of your current musical influences?

JJ- The weather, the mountains, my lover, my friends, my animals and the kindness of strangers.

PV-Have you experienced a specific moment in your musical career that stands out as a strong or changing moment for you?

JJ- I really don’t have just one. That’s like asking which child a mother loves more. The experience that I’ve been fortunate enough to share with people through singing has literally changed the way I view the world.

PV- The way you perform with such intensity is completely complimented by your grounded nature off stage, what keeps you so down to earth?

JJ-I suppose my lover, my wife, the greatest woman I know. My animals and garden help too.

To find out more about Joshua James (trust us, you want to) you can check out his official website, Facebook and follow Joshua on Twitter.

By Candace, who still is blown away, months later, by the show this guy put on in a small Pittsburgh club.

These Lions is comprised of Anthony Jardine (Vocals/Lead Guitar), Bryan Humphreys (Bass Guitar),Pam Pilipovich(Cello), David Rocco (Drums) and Tim Mulhern (Guitar). The five talented musicians each bring a unique styling to the group that creates a tone that captivates audiences and draws in new fans every day. Stemming from lead singer Anthony Jardine’s solo project, the band, whom feel more comfortable with each other than without, take a lot of pride with one another as musicians. “Our music just feels better together, it’s united.” shares Jardine. “We’re all good friends, which makes it better and easier to work with one another. You have better chemistry like that.” With a sound inspired and influenced by ecletic musicians like Goldheart Assembly, Jeff Buckley, Band of Horses, Yeasayer and even classical composers, These Lions, who are established in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, have quickly boasted themselves on the top of local music scene. Being labeled “the band the watch in 2011 and 2012” by some of Pittsburgh’s prestigious music critics, the band is looking forward to expanding their undertaking as a collective group this year with their first tour, reaching a broader audience, and finishing their second album Two.

The band sounded off with us recently about their first single “Feel”  (which is the first single from their sophomore album they are working on this year) how they chose their single and what they are really looking forward to this year:

PV- What about “Feel” struck the right chord for you guys to choose it as your first single:

TL- We’ve really been excited about this song for a while now, we all embraced it and had no doubt that it would be the first single we released. The song itself, we feel, represents where we are and where we are headed as a band. It’s a good look into who we are.

PV-  What’s the meaning behind the song?

TL- Well, we believe in the idea that Tony will write the lyrics in a way that relates to his personal experiences, but we also want the listener to be able to take those lyrics and create their own interpretation. We feel that some of the magic is lost in music if the listener has a direct explanation of what the lyrics are instead of having the opportunity to take them and being able to apply them to their own life.

PV- You have a big year coming up, what are you most looking forward to?

TL- We’re really excited about hitting the road on our first tour, we’re going to a bunch of venues along the East Coast from Boston and New York, to Philly and Washington D.C., that’s something we can’t wait for and we’re excited about getting back into the studio to finish our second album Two.

CD Review:

One is a great starting point for this band. It shows what they are about, setting a new grade for a genre of alternative rock music. As if having a Cello in the band didn’t help highlight a current edge, the straight-clean vocals of Jardine shoot out creating a lively story, (this isn’t even including his falsetto-that we’re in love with) that gets absorbed, not overwhelmed with instrumentation from the other players in the band.  Each song possesses dynamic shifts, well choreographed lyrics and strength in the diverse instrumentation.  In other words, as a whole, These Lions make it work and make it work well. As a young band we can not WAIT to hear the direction they continue to take as they grow into their own.

Song to hear: “So High” If we had to pick one song for you to hear from this album “So High” is definitely the one. It showcases every essential sound this band has to offer and is captivating from the lyrics to the Cello exposed melody.

To check out more on These Lions and to find out if they are coming to a venue near you on their 2012 East Coast Tour (kicking off this JUNE) you can follow them on Twitter, connect with them on facebook, reverbnation and myspace.

(Photo credit on band photos: Katelyn Petriatis)

*By Candace, who is naming These Lions one of my top bands to watch in 2012! These cats got it going on (no pun intended).

Preview the upcoming documentary, Butch Walker: Out of Focus. Looks like the producers did an amazing job capturing the essence of Walker’s music, fans and personal life. Are you as excited as we are?

By Joelle, who produced a Butch Walker: Living Legend tribute in Planet Verge zine many moons ago.